. History of Rome and of the Roman people, from its origin to the Invasion of the Barbarians;. have enjoyed but little pojiularity either during his lifetime orin the century following. The graffiti of Pomjieii, which reproduce the verses of Vergil,Propertius, and ()vi<l, ipiote not a line from Horace. Vergil, who fled from the world, hasremained popular, and legend seized upon him even in the Middle Ages; to the people Horacewas unknown, because for legend mystery is needful, which there was in Vergils life, whilethere was none at all in that of Horace, who gives us the particulars of its
. History of Rome and of the Roman people, from its origin to the Invasion of the Barbarians;. have enjoyed but little pojiularity either during his lifetime orin the century following. The graffiti of Pomjieii, which reproduce the verses of Vergil,Propertius, and ()vi<l, ipiote not a line from Horace. Vergil, who fled from the world, hasremained popular, and legend seized upon him even in the Middle Ages; to the people Horacewas unknown, because for legend mystery is needful, which there was in Vergils life, whilethere was none at all in that of Horace, who gives us the particulars of its daily course in thefullest detail. But he was very popular with men of letters, and is freipiently (juoted orimitated bv Christian writers. LITERATURE IN THE TIME OF AUGUSTUS. 311 woods and fields, and Nature in all her forms, echoing her soul withhis own,* he lavishes his affection upon all that he beholds, andendows it all with life that he may represent it as loving,suffering, and weeping. Everywhere he finds grief and tears :sunt lachrymae rerum. He detests the wicked madness of and he is touched, is grieved, at whatever dies (mentem mortaliatangunt),* whether it be the heifer breathing out her gentle lifebeside the well-filled crib, or the bird struck down from the clouds,or the bull falling dead in the furrow at his mates side, who * Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artusMens agitât molem et magno se corpore hominum, pemdumque genus . . (Aeneid,^).Vergil is so struck by the spectacle of this universal life that he goes so far as to say : Animostollent sala {Georg. ii. 35o). ^ Scelerata insania belli (vii. 461). » Bust from the Museum of the Capitol. * Aeneid, i. 462. 312 AUGUSTUS, OR THE FOUNDATION OF THE EMPIRE. bewails him with fraternal lamentation.^ For Cato the earth is ameans of gain ; for Vergil she is the nourishing goddess, mother ofall beings. In the sj^ring-time she receives her celestial spouse, themighty Aether, descending in
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