1 L U f W^&-*-*^* r " DEATH OF ICARVS (A POMPEIAN WALL PAINTING) PVBLI VERGILI MARONIS AENEIS: BVCOLICA: GEORGICA GREATER POEMS OF VIRGIL VOL. I CONTAINING THE FIRST SIX BOOKS OF THE AENEID EDITED BY J. B. GREENOUGH AND G. L. KITTREDGE BOSTON, U.S.A., AND LONDON PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY IQOO COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY J. B. GREENOUGH AND G. L. KITTREDGE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PREFACE. THIS edition is a careful revision of the one published in 1882. The text, as in the former edition, follows Ribbeck in the main, adhering, however, to the received reading where he seems to be not fully supported by his own apparatus criticus. The illustrations have been much increased in number and improved in execution. Many of the new ones have been inserted in the text instead of in the notes in order to present them more directly to the eye of the student when he is reading the passages that they illustrate. The pictures are intended to represent only objects or conceptions which were familiar to the minds of the poet and his contempora- ries, and consequently nothing modern has been admitted among them. For the sake of the associations, however, a number of views of the scenes in which the action takes place have been included. The introduction deals more fully than that of the former edition with the life and times of Virgil, as well as with his literary models. There have been added also an entirely new Sccount of the development of epic poetry and a discus- sion of the influence of Virgil on modern, especially English, literature. With the same purpose of showing the continuity 20O4921 iv Preface. of literary tradition a large number of passages from modern poetry covering a wide range have been inserted in the notes. These passages are either direct imitations of Virgil or they deal with ideas suggested by his works. Consid- erable matter not necessary for young students has been omitted from the notes to appear in a separate volume de- signed for teachers only. Thus the notes have been simpli- fied and the bulk of the book has not been perceptibly increased. A fuller explanation of the metrical form and more detailed directions for reading have also been added. J. B. GREENOUGH G. L. KlTTREDGE. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. ABBREVIATIONS. Ann. Inst. Annali (Bolletino) dell' Insti- tute di Corrispondenza Archeologica. Rome. A rch. Zcit. Archaologische Zeitung. Berlin. Baum. Baumeister, Denkmaler des klassischen Altertums. Munich. Compt. Rend. Compte-Rendu de la Commission Impe'riale Archeologique. St. Pe"tersbourg. De Clarac. Musee de Sculpture. G. P. Herculanum et Pompei, par H. Roux Ain^. Paris, 1840. Inghirami. Galena Omerica. Lutz. Miinchener Antiken von Carl Fr. A. von Liitzow. Micali. Monument! per servire alia Storia, etc. Mill. A. L. Millin's Mythologische Gallerie. Berlin, 1848. Miiller. Denkmaler der alien Kunst, C. O. Muller. Gottingen, 1832. Miiller-Wieseler. Denkmaler der alten Kunst (revised by Wieseler). Mus. Chiar. Museo Chiaramonte. Mus. Flor. Museum de Florence. Nicolini. Case di Pompei. Overbeck. Griechische Kunst-Mytholo- gie, von J. Overbeck. Leipzig, 1873-78. R. R. Raoul Rochette, Monumenti in- editi. Sepolcri. Gli Antichi Sepolcri, da Pietro Sante Bartoli. Rome, 1727. Smith. Smith's Dictionary of Antiqui- ties. Visconti. Visconti, Iconographie Ro- maine. Zaftn. Die schonsten Omamente aus Pompeii. IN THE TEXT. PAGE Death of Icarus. Wall painting at Pompeii. Baum. . . Frontispiece. Juno. Statue. Mus. Chiar. 3 Ideal portrait of Virgil. Vatican Fragments 3 The Parcae with Minerva. Relief. Miiller-Wieseler 5 Neptune in his car, with sea-horses. Gem. Hirt. 9 Hunting Scenes. Wall paintings. Zahn n Jupiter. Statue. Mus. Ckiar. 12 Temple of Augustus (Maison Carrte) at Nismes. Photograph. . . 14 Flying Mercury. Vase painting. Nicolini 15 vi List of Illustrations. PAGE Warrior with two spears. Vase painting. Com ft. Rend. ... 16 Diana hunting. Relief. Mus. Chiar 17 Building of Carthage. Vatican Fragments 20 Amazons defeated by Theseus. Ancient sarcophagus. Photograph. 22 Fortune seated on a throne (solium). Bronze from Pompeii. Pre- suhn 23 Reception of Ilioneus by Dido. Vatican Fragments 25 Bride with Veil. Wall painting. Monumenti delflstituto. ... 29 Lady with diadem (corona}. Statue. Compt. Rend. 29 Dido and ^Eneas at the feast. Vatican Fragments 34 Trojan horse drawn within the walls. Women supplicating Pallas. Priam seated. Cassandra raving on the walls. H. & P. . 36 Sacrifice of Iphigenia. Relief. R. R. 39 Theft of the Palladium. Wall painting. Monumenti deWIstituto. 41 Laocobn. Vatican Museum. Photograph 43 Cassandra. Vase painting. R. R 49 Murder of Priam. Vase painting. Miiller-Wieseler 54 Pallas. Statue. Mus. Chiar 56 The fiery omen. Vatican Fragments 59 Flight of ^neas. Gem. Mus. Flor. 61 Part of the Tabula Iliaca, carved (or cast in gypsum) with illustra- tions of the Sack of Troy as told by Stesichorus. Jahn, Bilder- chronik 64 ./Eneas's vision of the Penates. Vatican Fragments 65 Apollo Musagetes. Statue. Museo Pio- Clementina 68 Sacrifice. Relief on the altar of Mercury at Pompeii. Photograph. 69 Harpies. Ancient mausoleum. Monumenti deir Istituto. . . . 73 Offerings to the dead. Vase painting. Mus. Borb 77 Veiled Roman sacrificing. Statue. Photograph 80 Scylla. Ancient vase 81 Chain-mail (lorica). Fragment found in a tomb. Compt. Rend. . 83 Temple at Agrigentum. Photograph 85 View of Mt. jEtna. Photograph 87 Polyphemus. Wall painting in Pompeii. Nuovi Scavi 89 View of the coast of Sicily. Rocks of the Cyclops. Photograph. . 90 View of Trapani (Drepanum). Photograph 91 Dido sacrificing. Vatican Fragments. . , 92 Ceres. Statue. Mus. Chiar 94 Youth with chlamys. Statuette. Miiller-Wieseler 97 Roman marriage. Pronuba uniting the pair. Ancient sarcophagus. 99 List of Illustrations. vii PAGR Mercury Psychopompus (with caducous, etc ), presenting shades to Pluto and Proserpina. Wall painting from tomb. SepoUri. . 101 Mercury. Statue. Mus. Chiar 102 Bacchic scene. Ancient sarcophagus in Vatican Museum. Photo- graph 104 Sortes. Italian form of divination. Priestess of Fortune at Praeneste drawing the oracular sors. Gior. Sea 106 Orestes and the Furies. Vase painting. R. R no Hecate. Archdologisch-epigraphische Mittheilungen ill Death of Dido. Vatican Fragments 117 Venus and Neptune. Vatican Fragments 119 Carchesium. Ancient vase. Annali delTlstituto 122 Serpent (genius loci) tasting the offerings on an altar. Youth with sacred bush. //. 6 P. 123 Galley. Wall painting at Pompeii. Baum 126 Nereids. Ancient Stucco 128 Horse with trappings. Roman tomb. Lindenschmidt, Tracht. . 131 Dares and Entellus. Relief. Photograph 136 Ulysses shooting with the bow. Vase painting. Monumcnti deiristituto 138 Neptune. Baum 147 Neptune. Gem. Baum 148 Neptune and Amphitrite in car. Triton, etc. Relief 149 Vicinity of Cumae. Photograph 152 ./Eneas, Achates, and the Sibyl. Vatican Fragments 1 52 Theseus and the Minotaur. Vase painting 154 Orpheus and Eurydice. Naples Museum. Photograph. . . . 157 Hercules and Theseus carrying off Qerberus. Painting from a tomb. Sepolcri 157 Promontory of Misenum. Photograph 161 Charon receiving his passenger and fare. Ancient lamp. Bartoli, Lucerne 164 Cer'.erus. jneas and the Sibyl. In the background, judgment of the shades. Vatican Fragments 168 Laodamia. Ancient relief. Baum 170 Tantalus, Ixion, and Sisyphus. Wall painting from a tomb. Sepolcri 175 Augustus with the civic crown. Ancient bust. Photograph. . . 181 Marcus Aurelius receiving submission. From photograph of the walls of the Capitol at Rome 182 viii List of Illustrations. PAGE Numa. Ancient bust. Visconti. '.183 Triumphal chariot. From photograph of the walls of the Capitol at Rome 184 Pompey. Ancient statue. Visconti 185 Charon and shades. Relief 187 IN THE NOTES. FIG. 1. Samian Juno. Coin Mill. 2. Juno of Lanuvium. Coins Miiller. 3. Minerva hurling thunderbolt. Coin Mill. 4. Ruins of theatre at Aspendos G. &> K. 5. Jupiter looking down on the world. Wall painting. . . H. &* P. 6. Youth reading a scroll. Wall painting H. &> P. 7. Man clothed in skin of wild beast. Relief Micali. 8. Temple of Janus. Coin Mill. 9. Diana. Statuette H. & P. 10. Genii making garlands. Wall painting //. dr> P. 1 1 . Ransom of Hector's body. Relief De Clarac. 12. Amazon G. & K. 13. Plan of Temple of Venus at Pompeii. Overbeck's Ruins at Pompeii. 14. Vaulted chamber in baths at Pompeii. . . . Overbeck's Pompeii. 15. Celestial Venus. Wall painting H. S 3 P. 1 6. Female apparel. Wall painting H. S" P. 17. Monile (Harpy) Monumenti deiristituto. 1 8. Crater wreathed (?). Relief Mill. 19. Patera. Vase painting. . 20. Lamps. Found at Pompeii ff.&*P. 21. Woman decorating a Hermes with a fillet. Relief. . . . Liitz. 22. Palazzo Vecchio at Florence Photograph. 23. Hinged door and lintel. Found at Pompeii. . Overbeck^s Ruins. 24. Plan of the house of Pansa at Pompeii. . . . Overbeck's Ruins. 25. Plan of Greek house G. <5r K. 26. Apollo. Wall painting H. &> P. 27. Pallas. Ancient MS. of Homer . Inghirami. 28. Apollo sitting on tripod Micali. 29. Cybele journeying to Rome. Relief Ann. Inst. 30. Curetes, Cybele, Jupiter, and goat. Relief . Mill. 31. Ulysses and the sirens. Gem - . . . . . . . Mill. List of Illustrations. ix FIG. 32. View of Leucate Photograph. 33. Athlete's equipment. Found at Pompeii ff. & P. 34. Metae. Relief Ann. Inst. 35. Head of Pallas. Statue Hirt. 36. Artisans erecting a building. Minerva superintending. Derrick with curious treadmill for raising heavy stones. Relief Mill. 37. Hunting scene. Wall painting H. & P. 38. Head of Jupiter Ammon. Coin Mill. 39. Head of Paris. Bust Lutz. 40. Bacchic procession : Bacchanal with double tibia. Others with torch and thyrsus, and with tambourine. Vase. . Arch. Zeit. 41. Iris. Vase painting Gerhard, Vasengtmaldt. 42. Sacrifice Cooking on spits Baum. 43. Symbolic representation of powers of light (sun, moon, Lucifer, and an unknown armed youth). Boat represent- ing the sea. Vase painting Ann. Inst. 44. Trireme. Relief Chefs-d'CEuvre, etc. 45. Greek ornament (maeander). Vase Ann. Inst. 46. Athlete with fillet of ribbon. Statue Ann. Inst. 47. Cestus (a) G. &> K. (V) Statue of Pollux Hirt. 48. Priestess with acerra. Wall painting ff.&P. 49. Lares in their customary attitude, with trees representing the olives before the house of Augustus. Relief. . . . Hirt. 50. Siren. Relief Mill. 51. Sleep and Death carrying home the body of Memnon. . Vase painting Baum. 52. Young hero with headless spear ; in his hand a tessera. Vase painting. 53. Mausoleum of Augustus. Ruin Photograph. 54. Tailpiece. Corcyra L'Univers. INTRODUCTION. THE AUGUSTAN AGE. THE time of Virgil, the so-called Augustan age, was the most flourishing period of Roman literature. From the first contact of the Romans with the more cultivated Greeks, they had gone on adapting their unpolished tongue to literary uses, practising all forms of literature after Greek models and studying with assiduity the art of writing both in prose and poetry. The process had been a slow one. The chief writers of the early period were foreigners who were content to translate the great works of Greece into Latin, or, at most, rudely to imitate them. But, by the be- ginning of the first century B.C., prominent Romans had be- gun to devote themselves to literature. The great Scipionic circle was imbued with the Greek spirit and fostered art in all its forms. Lucilius (B.C. 148-103), a Roman knight, wrote satires in rough verse, but with considerable original- ity, preserving the spirit without slavishly following the details of his models. And in the first century B.C. we find a long list of Roman names in literature, Varro, Lucretius, Catullus, Cicero, Gallus, Julius Caesar, and Sallust. Litera- ture, though still looked upon with suspicion by the con- servative, could be indulged in without real loss of reputation. All this study came to its full fruit in the reign of Augustus. The Augustan age is usually reckoned from about the death of Caesar, B.C. 44, to the death of Augustus, A.D. 13. Many circumstances united to make this a flourishing literary xii Introduction. period. First : Literature became fashionable. Earlier, except with a very few persons, such pursuits had been looked upon as idle or even pernicious, and devotion to them had brought little or no reward. But Augustus was wise enough to see in literature a powerful agency in establishing sound government and securing his own power. He there- fore gave every encouragement to letters, and his people followed his example. Everybody of any consequence be- came a writer or at least a critic. Second : It was a period of peace, of exhaustion after the great struggles of the civil wars. Third : Politics had ceased to present a career for men ambitious of distinction, and Fourth : There was a real pride in the well won glories of Rome, an interest in the subjects of literary art which prompted expression both in prose and poetry. But probably the greatest stimulus to literary activity at Rome came from the gradual introduction of the literature of Alexandria, which had begun in the last half of the second century B.C. The seeds of Greek culture, which were scat- tered far and wide by the overthrow of Grecian liberty, had been particularly fruitful in that city. Here two great libraries were established, and a long line of scholars, critics, and authors flourished for centuries. The old literary tradi- tions were broken ; civilization had become more complex, and literature assumed a distinctly modern tone. There was a great revival of learning, and writers tried their hand at almost every form of composition, learned treatise, history, epic, lyric, elegiac, didactic poetry, epigram and satire, in numerous and voluminous specimens. The study of this great body of literature could not but excite the rude but ambitious Romans to imitation. All these influences, added to a skill in the art of writing acquired by the long apprenticeship of the Republican period, contributed to raise Augustan literature to its highest mark. Life of Virgil. xiii LIFE OF VIRGIL. By general consent, Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) stands first in rank among the writers of this flourishing period. He was born B.C. 70, in Andes, in the municipality of Man- tua, in North Italy. 1 DONATUS'S Vita Vergilii. The life of Virgil which passes under the name of Tib. Claudius Donatus, a work doubtless originally 'founded on fact,' but much distorted and ampli- fied in the building, is our chief source for details in regard to the poet. According to this, he was the son of humble parents. His father was said by some to have been a work- man in pottery, by others a hired servant of one Magius, by whom he was entrusted with important business and later made his son-in-law. Many omens preceded Virgil's birth, and as an infant he gave signs of a happy destiny. His boyhood was passed at Cremona up to his i5th (or i7th) year, when he assumed the virile toga (the Roman boy's 'coming out '). The text here is evidently corrupt. Probably the time at Cremona was the last two or three years of his boyhood, during the completion of his early education. From here, the author says, he went to Milan (a still larger city with superior advantages), and shortly afterwards to Naples. Here he gave his most urgent attention to Greek and Latin literature, but was very zealous also in the pursuit of medicine and mathematics. Having become unusually learned and skilful in these branches of study, he went to Rome, where he became acquainted with the head groom of Augustus and practised veterinary medicine in the imperial stables. Hereupon he received as pay regular rations of bread as one of the grooms. A colt was sent to Augustus, * Five years before Horace, and seven before Augustus His birthday is said to have been October is. xiv Introd^lction. which Virgil saw and declared to be of unsound constitution. This proved to be the case. Augustus, in return, ordered his bread ration to be doubled. At another time he gave a like diagnosis in the case of a dog, whereupon Augustus doubled his rations again. Augustus was in doubt whether he was really the son of Octavius, and thought Virgil, from his knowledge of horses and dogs, might discover the truth. Virgil replied gravely, "You are the son of a baker." Augustus was amazed and asked how he knew that. " Why, when I stated conclusions which could only be determined by the wisest of men, you have twice rewarded me with loaves of bread, a thing which was the act of a baker or the son of a baker." Augustus enjoyed the joke and said, "But henceforth you shall be rewarded, not by a baker, but by a generous prince." He made much of him and recommended him to Asinius Pollio, a man of great literary ability and prominent in the state. Virgil was tall, dark, with a coun- trified (rusticus) expression of face and uncertain health. He was troubled with affections of the throat and stomach, as well as headache, and also frequently spit blood. He was a very sparing eater and drinker. He became worth nearly ten million sesterces ($500,000) from the generosity of friends, and had a house on the Esquiline, near the gardens of Maecenas, though he lived for the most part in retirement in Campania and Sicily. Melissus says he was very slow of speech and almost like an uneducated man. The poetic art he essayed while a mere boy, when he wrote a couplet on Balista, a master of a school of gladiators, whose body was buried under a heap of stones on account of his infamous robberies : Monte sub hoc lapidum tegitur Balista sepultus Nocte die tutum carpe viator iter. After that he wrote the Catalecta, Moretum, Priapeia, Epi- Life of Virgil. xv grams, Dirae, and Cukx, at the age of 15 years. He wrote also the Aetna, about which there is some question. Pres- ently, having begun Roman history, dissatisfied with his material and the roughness of the names, he changed (transit^ to the Bucolics, especially to do honor to Pollio. Alfenus, Varro, and Cornelius Gallus, because they had saved him from loss in the distribution of land to the veterans of Philippi. Then he published the Georgics in honor of Maecenas, who had aided him, when almost unknown, against the violence of, some say, a veteran Claudius, others, a centurion Arrius, by whom he came near being killed in a quarrel in reference to their lands. Lastly he began the id, which he left unfinished at his death. AUTHENTIC BIOGRAPHY. Most of the details in Donatus must be legendary, but as authentic biography it is clear that Virgil was educated at Cremona, Milan, and Rome ; and the earlier doubtful poems, Ciris, Culex, etc., must have been written, so far as they are genuine, during this time. Further, in the progress of his education he showed great aptness for poetry and philosophy, but he studied oratory without success. He gave particular attention to the dogmas of the Epicurean school under the instruction of one Syron. The Georgics show many marks of the influence of this creed. When a little under thirty (in the year B.C. 41), he suddenly came to the notice of the great men of Rome. The city of Cremona, forty miles distant from Virgil's home at Mantua, had taken the part of Brutus and Cassius ; and, after the defeat of the Republican party, the territory of that city, with a part of that of Mantua, was confiscated to bestow on the victorious soldiery of the triumvirs. Virgil's little farm was seized among the rest. But Asinius Pollio, military governor north of the Po, had already taken a warm interest in the young poet. By his advice Virgil went to Rome, xvi Introduction. where Octavianus himself assured him of the peaceable possession of his estate (see Eel. i.). But new troubles followed in the State, and a new division of lands. Pollio had taken part with Antony, and was dis- placed. Disputes of boundary a lawsuit, perhaps ex- posed Virgil to the rage of the rude claimant, who chased him, sword in hand : he was even forced, it is said, to swim across the Mincius to save his life (see Eel. ix.). Happily an old fellow-student, Alfenus Varus, who had succeeded Pollio, showed him still more effectual kindness. Another estate perhaps the charming one at Nola, in Campania appears to have been given him in exchange for his scanty and rudely disputed native lands. And soon after, partly for the sake of his health, which was delicate, and partly on account of his growing reputation, he removed to the milder climate of Rome. Here he became a favorite in the highest literary and court society. The young Caesar, not yet emperor or Augus- tus, was easily accessible to the flattery of genius. Accord- ing to the well-known anecdote, it was during his celebration of certain splendid games a bright holiday following a stormy night that Virgil posted, anonymously, the extrava- gant compliment of the following verses : Nocte pluit tota ; redeunt spectacula mane : Divisum imperium cum love Caesar habet. The verses were claimed by an inferior poet, Bathyllus, who received a handsome reward. This vexed Virgil, who posted the same couplet again with the following half-lines below: Hos ego versiculos Sic vos non vobis the latter four times repeated. Bathyllus owned himself unable to fill them out ; and Virgil proved himself the author by completing them as follows : Life of Virgil. xvii Hos ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores : Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves ; Sic vos non vobis vellera fertis oves ; Sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes ; Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves. So Bathyllus was made a laughing-stock, and Virgil at once became one of the most honored and popular men in Rome. But, with constitutional shyness, it is said he would shrink into the nearest shop or alley to avoid the public gaze. His favorite residence, after the year B.C. 37 (aet. 33), was in the neighborhood of Naples, where he lived a retired and busy life on his estate in Nola, enjoying the charms of the climate and the refined society of the Campanian capital. The next few years were spent in the composition of the Georgics, four books on husbandry, considered to be the most finished, elaborate, and complete of all his poems. These were written, it is said, at the request of Maecenas, who desired by all means to restore the old Roman virtues of thrift, industry, and fondness for rustic life. It was after the events of Actium, and the firm settlement of the empire under the single rule of Augustus (B.C. 30), that Virgil began his chief literary task, the composition of the ^Eneid. Reports and great expectations soon began to spread as to the coming work, as testified in the celebrated couplet of Propertius (ii. 34. 65, 66) : Cedite, Romani scriptores ; cedite, Grai : Nescio quid maius nascitur Iliade. A few years later, Virgil consented to read to Augustus, at his request, portions of the new poem in the presence of his sister Octavia, who had lately lost her son, the young Marcellus. In compliment to her he had inserted the beautiful lines (vi. 868-886) in allusion to her loss. As he recited these lines with great power and pathos, for among his accomplishments he was a most effective reader, xviii Introduction. Octavia swooned away ; and when she recovered, it is said, ordered 10,000 sesterces (about $500) to be paid to the poet for each of the memorial lines. When the ^Eneid in its general plan was brought to a close, many parts being still left unfinished in detail, Virgil set out on a journey to Greece, that he might give the leisure of a few years to its careful revision, and then devote the remainder of his life to philosophy. It was this voyage to which Horace wished prosperity in the celebrated ode, Sic te diva potens Cypri. (Od. i. 3.) But Augustus, arriving soon after at Athens from the East, prevailed on Virgil to go back with him to Italy. This journey proved fatal to him. He was tall, spare, swarthy, and of consumptive temperament. His delicate lungs hardly bore the harsh air of the coast, while his frame was racked with sea-sickness and worn with the fatigue of a visit to Megara on the homeward voyage. He barely lived to reach Italy, and died at Brundusium, September 22, B.C. 19, aged not quite 51. Unwilling to leave the yEneid in its unfinished state, he is said to have ordered it to be burned, and to have hardly yielded to the request of Augustus that it might be left to the judgment and revision of his friends, Tucca and Varius. He was buried, by his own desire, near Naples. At the crest of the rock that overhangs the grotto of Posilipo, beneath a low ivy-grown roof of stone, was formerly said to be the modest epitaph : MANTVA ME GENVIT: CALABRI RAPVERE : TENET NVNC PARTHENOPE : CECINI PASCVA RVRA DVCES, no doubt of a later date. The exact place of his burial is not certain. Virgil's Works. xix VIRGIL'S WORKS. The works ascribed to Virgil, besides the doubtful Car- mina Minora, viz. : Culex, a kind of idyllic epic, of some merit, Ciris, a poetical version of the story of Nisus and Scylla, in the manner of Ovid's Metamorphoses, Moretum, a kind of idyl representing the preparation of the moretum, a rustic salad, Copa, an invitation in elegiac verse to the pleasures of the tavern, and some still more doubtful little .poems (Catalecta^), are the following, which are unquestionably genuine : The Eclogues, Bucolica; the Georgics, Georgica; the ^neid, Aeneis. The subjects and characters of these works are very various, and they represent several different periods in Virgil's literary career ; but they were all composed more or less under the influence of the Alexandrian school, of the general effect of which upon Latin literature in the Augustan age something has been already said. With the Alexandrian writers Virgil obviously became acquainted very early. Parthenius, his instructor in Greek, was of that school, though he was not himself an Alexandrian. He came to Rome in 72 B.C. as a prisoner, but was evidently freed, and lived in Naples when Virgil came in contact with him. He was a very voluminous author, though his works are now mostly lost. Virgil's Moretum is an imitation of an idyl of his master. The Eclogues are imitations of Theo- critus, who was of the same school. The Georgics were modelled after a work of the same name by Nicander of Colophon, also of the school, and the ^neid was no doubt influenced as much by the Argonautica of Apollonius of l By some supposed to xx Introduction. Rhodes as by the Iliad and Odyssey. The effect of these writers accounts for the distinct modern tone in Virgil's works, so different from the simple barbarism of Homer. He represents an entirely new civilization, the beginning of European modes of thought and feeling. Especially is this evidenced in the dramatic episode of Dido, which marks the changed position which woman took in the Alexandrian literature. In contrast with the mere chattels of the early Greek works, Dido is a modern woman. The actions, the speech, and the whole play of emotions of all the characters in that episode distinctly belong to the later civilization (cf. p. 307). This was all prepared for by the poetry of the Alexandrian period, in which the char- acters are drawn with true civilized complexity, and in which love, in the modern romantic sense, is a fundamental theme a treatment utterly foreign to the Greek classic literature. Another clear indication of this new spirit is found in the fact that the epithets, which in Homer seem to express in an artless manner a single obvious impression in a simple mind, disappear later, or, if used at all, appear affected and otiose. So through this Alexandrian influence, Virgil is, as it were, the first of the moderns, and is only an ancient writer in that his formal models belong to the heroic age. His real inspiration comes from a state of society and habits of mind infinitely nearer to our own than were those of classic Greece. CARMINA MINORA. The Carmina Minora, not printed in this edition, are of such uncertain authorship and have had so little influence on later literature, that it seems un- necessary to discuss their character here. ECLOGUES. These ten short pastoral poems, the earliest acknowledged works of Virgil, treat of the loves and songs Virgil's Works. xxi of herdsmen (j8ov/