—— “Omnes mortales sese laudarier optant;” —— and he seemingly compares himself to a Courser, who rests after his triumphs in the Olympic games:— “Sic ut fortis Equus, spatio qui sæpe supremo Vicit Olumpiaco, nunc senio confectus quiescit(196).” Connected with his Annals, there was a poem of Ennius devoted to the celebration of the exploits of Scipio, in which occurs a much-admired description of the calm of Evening, where the flow of the versification is finely modulated to the still and solemn imagery:— “Mundus cœli vastus constitit silentio, Et Neptunus sævus undeis aspereis pausam dedit: Sol equeis iter repressit unguleis volantibus, Constitere amneis perenneis—arbores vento vacant(197).” With this first attempt at descriptive poetry in the Latin language, it may be interesting to compare a passage produced in the extreme old age of Roman literature, which also paints, by nearly the same images, the profound repose of Nature:— —— “Tacet omne pecus, volucresque feræque, Et simulant fessos curvata cacumina somnos; Nec trucibus fluviis idem sonus; occidit horror Æquoris, et terris maria acclinata quiescunt.” Horace, in one of his odes, strongly expresses the glory and honour which the Calabrian muse of Ennius had conferred on Scipio by this poem, devoted to his praise: “Non incendia Carthaginis impiæ, Ejus qui domita nomen ab Africa Lucratus rediit, clarius indicant Laudes quam Calabræ Pierides(198).” The historical poems of Ennius appear to have been written without the introduction of much machinery or decorative fiction; and whether founded on ancient ballads, according to one opinion(199), or framed conformably to historical truth, according to another(200), they were obviously deficient in those embellishments of imagination which form the distinction between a poem and a metrical chronicle. In the subject which he had chosen, Ennius wanted the poetic advantages of distance in place or of time. It perhaps matters little whether the ground-work of a heroic poem be historical or entirely fictitious, if free scope be given for the excursions of fancy. But, in order that it may sport with advantage, the event must be remote in time or in place; and if this rule be observed, such subjects as those chosen by Camoens or Tasso admit of as much colouring and embellishment as the _Faery Queen_. It is in this that Lucan and Voltaire have erred; and neither the soaring genius of the one, nor brilliancy of the other, could raise their themes, splendid as they were, from the dust, or steep the mind in those reveries in which we indulge on subjects where there is no visible or known bound to credulity and imaginings. Still the Annals of Ennius, as a national work, were highly gratifying to a proud ambitious people, and, in consequence, continued long popular at Rome. They were highly relished in the age of Horace and Virgil; and, as far down as the time of Marcus Aurelius, they were recited