In his historical epics he derived his subjects from his own age, praising his patrons Stilicho (_On the Consulate of Stilicho_) and Honorius (_on the Consulate of Honorius_), and inveighing against Rufinus and Eutropius, the rivals of Stilicho. Of poems on other subjects, ‘his three books of the unfinished Rape of Proserpine are among the finest examples of the purely literary epic.’ --Mackail. ‘Claudian is the last of the Latin poets, forming the transitional link between the Classic and the Gothic mode of thought.’ --Coleridge. 3. Style. ‘His faults belong almost as much to the age as to the writer. In description he is too copious and detailed: his poems abound with long speeches: his parade of varied learning, his partiality for abstruse mythology, are just the natural defects of a lettered but uninspired epoch.’ --North Pinder. QUINTUS ENNIUS, 239-169 B.C. 1. Life. [Sidenote: ENNIUS.] He was born at Rudiae in Calabria (about 19 miles S. of Brundisium), a meeting-place of three different languages, that of common life (Oscan, cf. _Opici_), that of culture and education (Greek), that of military service (Latin). Here he lived for some twenty years, availing himself of those means of education which at this time were denied to Rome or Latium. We next hear of him serving as centurion in Sardinia, where he attracted the attention of Cato, then quaestor, and accompanied him to Rome, 204 B.C. Here for some fifteen years he lived plainly, supporting himself by teaching Greek, and making translations of Greek plays for the Roman stage, and so won the friendship of the elder Scipio. In 189 B.C. M. Fulvius Nobilior took Ennius with him in his campaign against the Aetolians, as a witness and herald of his deeds. His son obtained for Ennius the Roman citizenship (184 B.C.) by giving him a grant of land at Potentia in Picenum. _Nos sumus Romani, qui fuimus ante Rudini._ The rest of his life was spent mainly at Rome in cheerful simplicity and active literary work. 2. Works. The chief are:-- (1) +Tragedies.+--Mainly translations, especially from Euripides. A few fragments only remain. ‘It was certainly due to Ennius that Roman Tragedy was first raised to that pitch of popular favour which it enjoyed till the age of Cicero.’ --Sellar. (2) +Annales.+--An Epic Hexameter poem, in 18 books, which dealt with the History of Rome from the landing of Aeneas in Italy down to the Third Macedonian War (Pydna, 168 B.C.). About 600 lines are extant. ‘In his Annals he unfolds a long gallery of national portraits. His heroes are men of one common aim--the advancement of Rome; animated with one sentiment, devotion to the State. All that was purely personal in them seems merged in the traditional pictures which express only the fortitude, dignity and sagacity of the Republic.’ --Sellar. 3. Style.