probably from some author in this period, a poem of about a hundred lines, entitled Pervigilium Veneris, in imitation of the Carmen Sæculare of Horace; it was formerly ascribed to Catullus.

Gaspar Barth published in 1613, in the collection entitled Poeta Latini venatici et bucolici, four odes, said to have been found by him in an old Ms. at Marbourg, which he ascribed to Spurinna; they were the production of a later age. Serenus is also said to have written several small poems on the various labors of the field, opuscula ruralia; of which the Moretum, commonly ascribed to Virgil (§ 362. 2), is supposed to be one. The Pervigilium Veneris is a hymn in honor of Venus, and takes its title in reference to the festival of Venus in April, held during three successive nights, which were devoted to music, dancing, and pleasure (nocturne pervi gilationes cf. Ovid, Fast. iv. 133); it has been ascribed to various authors; the piece is given in Lemaire's Minor Latin Poets (cited § 348.) 2d vol.-See Schöll, Litt. Rom. 11. 340. 111. 24.

§ 329. After the 2d century, although a few lyric pieces may be found among the remains of the minor poets, there is nothing worthy of particular notice, within the remaining period included in our division, except the songs and hymns of the Christian poets. Among the earliest of these authors of Christian hymns were Hilarius and Prudentius (cf. § 387). Those of the former were expressly designed to be sung; and are said to have been set to music by Hilary himself. Damasus, who attained to the Pontificate in the 4th century, left a number of hymns, among which is one in rhyme. The works of Ambrose bishop of Milan, in the latter part of the same century, contain a collection of sacred hymns.

The collections of the Minor Latin Poets contain the lyric pieces above referred to: e. g. in Lemaire's (cf. § 348. 2.) are the Carmen de fortuna, by Symposius; de beata vita, by Pentadius; de ætate, by Lindinus.-On the Christian poets who wrote in Latin, we refer to the Supplement of Bahr, cited § 299. 8. For references on the subject of lyric poetry generally, and that of the Greeks, see § 26.-On Roman lyric poetry, Dunlop, as cited § 299. 8.-Charactere der vorn. Dichter. v. 301 ss.-R. Schomberg, The character and writings of Pindar & Horace. Lond.1769. 8.-Cf. § 363.

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$330. (d) Bucolic or Pastoral Poetry. Virgil appears to have been the first among the Latin poets to attempt the composition of pastorals. He commenced, as did the poets in every other department, with an imitation of the Greeks. The Eclogues of Virgil are, in a great measure, borrowed from the Idyls of Theocritus. If the Roman poet has less of natural simplicity, and of that minute accuracy and vividness which are the result of original observation; he has, on the other hand, the merit of a more judicious selection of incidents, and a greater freedom from what is gross and offensive. The Bucolics were among the earliest of the poetical compositions of Virgil, and were greatly admired by the Romans. The 6th Eclogue, entitled Silenus, was recited in the theatre, shortly after its composition, by Cytheris, the celebrated actress of mimes.

§ 331. After Virgil we find no pastoral writer until the latest period included in our view of the Latin authors. Calpurnius, who lived in the latter part of the 3d century after Christ, composed eclogues in imitation of Virgil and Theocritus. He was probably the author of the pastoral pieces which have sometimes been ascribed to Nemesian, a poet of the same period. The eclogues of Calpurnius are not without merit, but he is far inferior to his models (cf. § 384. 2.).-The name of Idyl is given to a number of the poems of Ausonius (§ 385), who flourished in the next century; but the subjects and style of these pieces are not such as to bring them properly under the head of pastoral poetry. The same remark is applicable to the Idyls of Claudian (§ 386). There is a performance from Severus Sanctus, a Christian poet of the same century, which may perhaps more justly be considered as a pastoral poem, and which is not wholly destitute of merit.

The poem of Severus, entitled De mortibus boum, is given in Lemaire's Poetæ Lat. Minores, cited § 348. — On the Pastoral Poetry of the Romans, see Charaktere der vorn. Dichter. vii. 242-256.-Schöll, Litt. Rom. 1. 352.-Harrington, Essay upon Virgil's Bucolics. Lond. 1658. 12. -Diss. de Carmine Bucolico, in Lemaire's Virgil, vol. 1. p. 53.On the Greek Pastoral Poetry, see references given § 30.- About the time of the revival of letters there seems to have been

a great fondness for pastoral poetry, and many pieces of this kind were composed in Latin. Before the middle of the 16th century, a Collection of no less than thirty-eight bucolic authors was published by J. Oporinus (in his Autor. Bucol. Basil. 1546. 8). — Cf. Sulzer, Allg. Theorie ii. p. 592.

§ 332. (e) Elegiac Poetry. In this variety of poetical composition, the Romans had many successful authors. Like the other departments of poetry and literature generally, it flourished most in the age of Augustus. It commenced with Catullus, whom we have noticed already as the first author of lyric pieces

(§ 327). Cornelius Gallus succeeded and excelled him in the elegy; he was ranked among the best poets of this class (cf. § 359).-But Tibullus and Propertius (cf. § 360, 361) are more celebrated names. "With reason did the ancients doubt to which of them to ascribe the first rank among the Latin elegists. Both possess many qualities which raise them above ordinary poets to a place of eminence; while each has peculiarities of distinguished excellence. Tibullus has a high degree of elegance and propriety of expression; Propertius a great richness, a great variety of poetic erudition. In the one the purity of his language shows a writer born and educated in the Roman capital; in the other, the character of his diction indicates an author deeply versed in Grecian productions. The one is more delicate; the other more nervous. The first has the appearance of having written with ready simplicity; the other of having thought what he ought to write; if the one is more natural, the other is more careful. You may love the one, and admire the other."

§333. There was another elegiac poet of the Augustan age, scarcely less eminent; by some even considered as the superior. Ovid is less tender than Tibullus, and less chaste than Propertius; but more original, and of a more free imagination, than either. His works generally are characterized by little imitation of the Greeks, and by independent reliance on his own resources. Ovid was one of the greatest versifiers among the Latin poets: his verse is like the flowing of the stream from a full fountain in this respect both Tibullus and Propertius must be confessed to stand below him. Three of his works, the Amores, the Tristia, and the Letters from Pontus, belong to the head of elegiac, poetry (cf. § 364). — C. Pedo Albinovanus, a friend of Ovid, is usually placed in the list of elegiac poets, although it is not agreed by all the critics that he was the author of the elegies by some ascribed to him (cf. § 366). After the Augustan age we find nothing important in this branch of poetry. Arborius, in the 4th century, a relative of Ausonius (§385) is said to have imitated Propertius; an extant elegy ascribed to him is far inferior to its model. The Itinerary of Rutilius, in the 5th century, is in elegiac verse (cf. § 389). Some of the Christian poets (§ 329) composed pieces in elegiac

verse.

1. The elegy of Arborius (ad Nympham nimis cultam) is found in Lemaire's Poet. Lat. Minores, vol. 1.-There is extant an elegy by a writer named Lupercus Servastus, of the 5th century, (de cupiditate) given in the same vol. of Lemaire.

2. Before leaving this topic, it may be proper to allude to the songs called nania. They were sung to the flute, in funeral processions (cf. P. IV. § 340.); but seem to have been more of a panegyrical than of an elegiac character. "We are not to suppose them," says Niebuhr, "like the Greek threnes and elegies; in the old times of Rome, the fashion was, not to be melted into the tender mood and to bewail the dead; but to pay him honor. We must therefore imagine the nenia to have been a memorial lay, such as were sung at banquets (cf. § 27.); indeed, the latter were perhaps no others than what had first been heard at the funeral." Perhaps we have some specimens or fragments of the nania, in such inscriptions as are found on the stones belonging to the sepulchre of the Scipios (cf. P. I. §133. 2).—Niebuhr's Hist. Rom. 1st vol. p. 194. Phil. ed.

3. On the origin of elegiac poetry &c. see references (29.--Respecting the elegiac poetry of the Romans, Schöll, Litt.Rom.1.324.-Fr.Aug. Wideburg, De Poetis Roman. Elegiacis. Helmst. 1773. 4. -F.G.Barth, super Elegia, maxime Romanorum, in his ed. of Propertius, cited below 361. 3.Pack, Essay upon the Roman Elegiac Poets, in Addison's Dissertation upon the most celebrated Roman Poets. Lond. 1721. 8. Cf. Class. Journ, 1x. 346. — E. C. Chr. Bach, Geist der röm. Elegie. 1809. 8.-Fraguier, as cited § 29.-Souchay, on Latin elegiac poets, Mem. Acad. Inser. VII, 334. xvi. 399.-Durini, Dissertatio de carm. eleg. natura &c. in the Collect. of C. Michaler, cited § 348. 2. — A collection of the modern Latin elegiac poets was published by Michaler. Vindob. 1784. 2 vols. 8.

§334. (f) Didactic Poetry. The Romans paid but little attention to didac tic poetry, until the third period of our division; i. e. from the civil war B. C. 88 to the death of Augustus A. D. 14. In the previous period Ennius had indeed composed a poem on eating (cf. 351), and translated a Greek philosophical poem. But the first who gained any distinction in this kind of poetry was Lucretius; his poem on the nature of things has ever commanded especial notice as a didactic performance. Cornelius Severus is ranked among the didactic poets, on account of his poem entitled Etna, although it is by some ascribed to a later author. (§ 335, 365).

The most finished didactic poem is found in the Georgics of Virgil. It was composed on the suggestion of Mecenas; the four books treat of agriculture, the culture of trees, the training of animals, and the keeping of bees. "It is in this work," says Schöll, "that Virgil shews all his genius. He commenced

it at the age of 34, and did not cease to amend it until the end of life. The Latin language does not contain a more perfect work." It has been a model for imitation to modern poets of all nations. The name of Orid must not be omitted in this place, as several of his works belong to the didactic class. His eminence in elegiac verse has already been noticed; he is to be consid ered also as one of the great didactic poets of the Augustan age. Some may perhaps consider it proper to put Horace in the list of didactic authors on account of his Art of Poetry.

There were in this period several poets of inferior grade who composed didactic verse. Gratius Faliscus wrote a poem on hunting, a fragment of which is still extant (cf. § 367). Cæsar Germanicus (cf. § 370), Æmilius Macer (§ 371), and Marcus Manilius (§ 369), are included among the didactic poets of the Augustan age. We may mention also Varro Atacinus, the author of a work entitled Chorographia, which was a sort of description of the universe, and another on navigation entitled Libri Navales.

The fragments of various poems of Varro Atacinus are given in Lemaire's Poet. Lat. Min. vol. 4th. Cf. also Harles, Brev. Not. Suppl. 1. 165.

§335. In the next period, extending from the death of Augustus to the Antonines, there was no very eminent production in this branch of poetry; although we must assign to this period Terentianus Maurus, author of a poem on letters, syllables, feet, and metres, which Schöll pronounces ingenious and elegant. The ancients cite a poem on metres as the work of Cæsius Bassus, who was much commended for his lyrical pieces (328). There is extant a poem on weights and measures, by some ascribed to Rhemnius Fannius Palemon, said to have been a grammarian of the 1st century, but by others ascribed to Priscian, of a much later age. Lucilius Junior is mentioned by Seneca (Quæst. nat. iii. 26) as a poetical friend, and is by some supposed to be the author of the poem entitled Etna (§ 334). We may perhaps properly name here the tenth book of Columella (§ 500a), which is in hexameter verse, and is entitled Cultus hortorum; it seems to have been suggested by a passage in the Georgics of Virgil (iv. 147), where he expressly says he shall leave the subject of horticulture for another writer.

The poem of Terentianus is given in the Grammatical Collect. of Putschius, cited § 422.—Cf. Fr. Reinert, De vita Terent. Mauri. Lemg. 1808. 4.-A fragment of Bassus is given in the same Collect.- The poem on Weights &c. (de ponderibus et mensuris) is given in the 4th vol. of Lemaire's Poet. Lat. Minores. Cf. Harles, Brev. Not. p. 353. Suppl. i. p.12.-Fragments of Lucilius are also found in Lemaire's Minor Poets, vol. 3d. The 7th vol. of the same also contains Columella on gardening.-Cf. Schöll, Litt. Rom. 11. 306 38.

$336. The last period included in our view of Roman literature is not without names of didactic poets; but none of them are of special celebrity. Nemesian, of the 3d century, is probably the most important (cf. 6383). Sammonicus, whom we shall have occasion to notice as a physician (§ 555), was the author of an inferior poem on diseases and their remedies. The last book in the treatise of Palladius on agriculture is a didactic poem in elegiac verse, upon the art of grafting (§ 500b). The principal work of Avienus (§ 381. 4) was a didactic performance. Several of the Christian poets, as Commodian, Prudentius, and others, composed didactic poems.

It may be suitable to remark, before leaving this topic, that we find among the Romans a few specimens of that kind of poetry which the Greeks termed Gnomic; in which the composition consists of moral sentences or maxims (cf. § 31). The principal gnomic author of the Romans was Dionysius Cato, who lived in the 2d century (§ 382). The remains of Publius Syrus, a celebrated mime of the Augustan age (§ 319), may be ranked perhaps in the same class. For references on Didactic poetry generally, see P. II. §32. - - On the Roman didactic poets, Schöll, Litt. Rom. 1. 246 ss. 11. 306. Dunlop, vol. 111. Lond. ed. particularly on the Georgics of Virgil, and the didactic parts of Ovid. See also the sections below, in which the poets above mentioned as didactic are noticed separately.-On the sententious poetry, J. Elphinstone, as cited below, § 368. 3.

337. Since the Fable may be considered as a form of didactic poetry, it may be proper to notice it here. "The Esopian fable," says Schöll, "gained little attention from the Romans. The Roman orators either did not know the use made of it by the Greeks, or from their serious turn of character they rejected it. The fable of Menenius Agrippa (see Livy ii. 32) is a solitary instance, where it is employed for the purpose of rhetorical ornament. Aulus

Gellius (Noct. Att. ii. 29) relates that Ennius inserted adroitly, in one of his satires, the fable of the lark (cassita). His example was followed by Lucilius. But the first who treated the fable as a form of poetry having its appropriate rules, was Horace. His fable of the city-mouse and country-mouse (mus urbanus and rusticus; Sat. ii. 6) is well known. After him, Roman literature presents us with no fables until the reign of Tiberius."

In his reign flourished Phædrus, who received his freedom from Augustus. He was the principal author of fables among the Romans (cf. § 372). "He had the merit of first making known to the Romans the fables of Æsop; not that all his fables are translations of those of the Phrygian philosopher (cf. § 184); but those which seem to be properly his own, or of which at least we do not know the Greek originals, are in the manner of Æsop. He is as original as La Fontaine, who like Phædrus borrowed the subject in a great number of his fables." The next author of fables in Latin verse is Flavius Avianus (cf. § 381), who employed the elegiac metre instead of the iambic (cf. § 372). Julianus Titianus, who lived under Caracalla, wrote fables in prose, or rather translated into Latin prose the fables of Babrius (cf. § 31, 184). We find no other fabulists within the period included in our notice.

There are extant 80 fables in Latin prose, under the name of Romulus, of whose person and age nothing is known; Warton (Hist. Eng. Poetry i. 246) says the work was probably fabricated in the 12th century. They were published in the Ulm Collection, which was the earliest collection of Latin fables, printed at Ulm, 1473. fol. - There is also a collection of 60 fables, in elegiac metre, which are but so many of the fables of Romulus, versified by some unknown author; Fuhrmann (klein. Handb. p. 727) says probably by Hildebert, bp. of Tours, who died A. D. 1136. They were published under the title Anonymi Fabula, by I. Nic. Nevelet, in his Mytholog. Esop. Francft. 1618. 8.-There is likewise a collection of 67 fables in prose, which are merely variations or mutilations of those of Romulus. These were published by J.F. Nilant, in his work styled Fabula Antiqua &c. Lugd. Bat. 1709. 12.-There are also 95 fables in Latin, considered by some as translations from a lost collection in Greek by Cyrillus, called also Constantine the Philosopher, bishop of Thessalonica in the 9th century; they were in 4 books, and the Latin title is Quadripartitus Apologicus, or Speculum sapientia; published by B. Cordier, with the title Apologi Morales. Vienna, 1630. 12. Cf. Schöll, Litt. Grecque vi. 214.

For notices of other fabulists, and of Collections of Latin fables, see Sulzer, Allg. Theorie vol. 11. p.162 ss.-On the Roman fabulists, see references given below, § 372.

§ 338. (g) The Epigram. In this form of poetry the Romans appear to have been very successful in the time of their first attempts in literature. Several epigrammatists flourished in the period preceding the war of Sylla and Marius (the second of our division 301). Aulus Gellius (xix. 9) speaks of three in particular, viz. Porcius Licinius, Q. Lutatius Catullus, and L. Valerius Edituus; and remarks that some of their epigrams are not surpassed in elegance by anything known to him in Latin or Greek poetry. L. Pomponius, perhaps the same that has been noticed as an author of Atellane comedies (318), is also mentioned as an epigrammatist by Priscian.

§339. Many of the small poems of Catullus are properly regarded as epigrams. The Garland of Meleager (cf. $35) had been compiled before his time, and thus he might easily become familiar with the style of the Greek epigrams. Some of his pieces are allowed to possess distinguished merit; of the crowd of epigrammatists whose names occur in the period before the death of Augustus, he is decidedly the best. Among these names we find those of Virgil, and Cicero, and his brother Quintus; of Julius Cæsar, Augustus, and Mecenas; from each of whom some remains are preserved in the Latin Anthology. Licinius Calvus was celebrated for the sarcastic tone of his epigrams; in the only one now extant in full, he satirizes Pompey's mode of scratching his head. Domitius Marsus was ranked among the best epigrammatists in the time of Augustus; there seems to have been a collection of epigrams by him, entitled Cicuta; only two pieces now remain.

§340. Passing by others of this period who have a place in the Anthology, we come to Martial, in the following period of Roman literature; to whom the critics, almost without an exception, have awarded the palm in preference to Catullus and every other Latin epigrammatist. His pieces are marked by something of that point which is considered essential in a modern epigram (cf. § 34). Several less important names belong to this period. A number of epigrams are contained among the remains of Petronius Arbiter. The pieces in the Greek Anthology ascribed to an author called Tatoos and Tairovhizios, are supposed by some to be the productions of Cornelius

Lentulus Gætulicus, whom Suetonius cites as a historian, and Martial names as a poet. L. Asinius Gallus, son of Virgil's friend Asinius Pollio; Alfius Flavus, mentioned by Seneca the rhetorician as an eminent orator of his time; Septimius Serenus, surnamed Faliscus (cf. § 328); Vulcatius Sedigitus, so called from the number of his fingers; and Sentius Augurinus, lauded by Pliny the younger (Ep. iv. 27. ix. 9) for the delicacy and irony of his pieces; must be included in the catalogue of epigrammatists. We may add Pliny himself, and Seneca the philosopher, unless we suppose the epigrams contained in the writings of the latter to be interpolations by some scholastic author. The emperor Hadrian or Adrian was the author of epigrams in Greek as well as Latin. There are some pieces from a poet by the name of Florus, who was living in the time of Adrian, and is by some supposed to be the same as L. Annæus Florus the historian (§ 536).

§ 341. In the last period included in our glance, from the Antonines A. D. 160 to the overthrow of Rome A. D. 476, there were many productions of an epigrammatic kind. The more distinguished authors were Ausonius and Claudian. In the works of the former (cf. § 385) we find about 150 epigrams, generally framed after the manner of Martial, but inferior to their model in force and point. About 40 epigrams are ascribed to Claudian; 2 are in Greek; but some of these pieces are not considered as genuine (cf. §386). Several of the Christian poets might be mentioned among the epigrammatists.

It is perhaps worthy of notice here, that in the later ages some of the Latin poets imitated the frivolous devices that were invented by certain Greeks of the Alexandrine school, who amused themselves in composing little poems, in which the verses were so formed and arranged as to present the figure of an altar, egg, musician's pipe (cf. § 68. 2), or other object. A specimen of this sort of effort is given in a Latin poem by P. Optatianus Porphyrius, who lived in the time of Constantine the Great. He had been banished by that emperor; but he regained his favor by the poem here mentioned. It was a eulogy on the emperor made up of a series of poems, having something of the epigrammatic character, but representing by their form different objects, one an altar, another a flute, another a sort of organ, &c. It included also other devices; e. g. in one poem the first line was composed of words of two syllables, the second of words of three syllables, and so on; another poem was a complicated acrostic of 20 lines, the first letters of which, taken from top to bottom, formed the words Fortissimus Imperator; the letters in the 14th place formed the words Clementissimus rector ; and the last letters, Constantinus invictus.

§ 342. Anthologies. This term has been applied to collections of Latin epigrams as well as Greek. They include many epigrams from unknown authors. It should also be remarked that they include not only such epigrams as were preserved in ancient manuscripts, but many others which are epigrams in the original sense of the term, i. e. inscriptions, placed on public or private monuments. The latter class have been drawn from monuments scat tered over Italy and the Roman provinces, but found in greatest number in the region of Rome itself.. Collections of the Greek epigrams began to be made more than 100 years before Christ. (See $35.) But it does not appear that the Romans thought much of similar collections of Latin epigrams. Perhaps we may consider the Priapeia as being something of the kind, since it consists of little poems pertaining to the god Priapus, very probably written by different authors, although sometimes ascribed to Virgil (§ 362).

1. The modern Latin Anthologies seem to have originated in the collecting and publishing of actual inscriptions found on ancient monuments. An Italian of the 15th century, Pizzocolli, known also by the name of Cyriacus Anconitanus, is said to have been the first to enter upon this work. Under the direction of Nicolas I. he traveled in Italy, Hungary, and Greece, for the purpose of copying inscriptions both Greek and Latin. He prepared a volume of prose inscriptions, and another of inscriptions in verse; and although no part of bis collection was printed until about 200 years afterwards, yet his example influenced other scholars to pursue the study of inscriptions, and a number of collections were published during the 16th and 17th centuries. Ten or twelve such works, at least, preceded the first edition of Gruter's collection (cf. P. I. § 130).

2. The Anthology differs from the mere collection of inscriptions, not by excluding epigrams preserved only on monuments; for, as has been observed, many such are admitted. But the Anthology properly admits only those pieces which seem to possess some merit as literary productions, while the collection of the other kind will receive the most insignificant or trivial inseription, although it may contain merely detached words, or proper names. Several collections of these more select and choice pieces were published in the 17th and 18th centuries. The one which is considered the most complete, and the best in arrangement, is the Latin Anthology of Burmann, cited ( 348. 2. The 1st volume of this is devoted chiefly to epigrams and small poems, drawn from manuscripts; while a great part of the 2d volume is occupied with inscriptions properly so called, and originally taken from existing monuments. The pieces contained in the work are arranged in 6 books. Of the collections that come under the class of the Anthologies, the earliest that is mentioned by Fabricius is that of P. Pithecus (entitled Epigrammata vetera &c). Par. 1590. 12.