I shall here close the first Volume of the HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE, in which I have treated of the Origin of the Romans—the Progress of their Language, and the different Poets by whom their Literature was illustrated, till the era of Augustus. At that period Virgil beautifully acknowledges the superiority of the Greeks in statuary, oratory, and science; but he might, with equal justice, (and the avowal would have come from him with peculiar propriety,) have confessed that the Muses loved better to haunt Pindus and Parnassus, than Soracte or the Alban Hill. From the days of Ennius downwards, the literature and poetry of the Romans was, with exception, perhaps, of satire, and some dramatic entertainments of a satiric description, wholly Greek—consisting merely of imitations, and, in some instances, almost of translations from that language. We may compare it to a tree transplanted in full growth to an inferior soil or climate, and which, though still venerable or beautiful, loses much of its verdure and freshness, sends forth no new shoots, is preserved alive with difficulty, and, if for a short time neglected, shrivels and decays. END OF VOLUME I. _James Kay, Jun. Printer,_ _S. E. Corner of Race & Sixth Streets_ _Philadelphia._ INDEX Afranius, his Comedies, vol. i. p. 170. Agriculture, advantages of Italy for, ii. 6–11. Antias, Q. Valerius, Latin Annalist, ii. 74. Antipater, Cælius, Latin Annalist, ii. 72. Antonius, Marcus, character of his eloquence, ii. 117. His death, 119. Arcesilaus founds the New Academy, ii. 208. Asellio, Sempronius, Latin Annalist, ii. 73. Atellane Fables, i. 229. Attius, his Tragedies, i. 214. Brutus, his Historical Epitomes, ii. 107.