Studies in the Poetry of Italy, Part I. Roman

Name: Studies in the Poetry of Italy, Part I. Roman
Author: Miller, Frank Justus

Miller, Frank Justus

Latin poetry -- History and criticism

The second and third books give a history of the Roman kings after
Romulus, with glimpses of the victory of the Horatii, the dreadful death
of the treacherous Mettius Fufetius, the disgusting impiety of Tullia,
and the rape of Lucretia, which precipitated the banishment of the
Tarquins. The fourth and fifth books cover the period from the founding
of the republic to the beginning of the war with Pyrrhus, which is
described in the sixth book. This contains the fine passage in which
King Pyrrhus refuses to accept money for the ransom of captives. He
says to the Roman ambassadors:

  Gold for myself I wish not; ye need not proffer a ransom.
  Not as hucksters might let us wage our war, but as soldiers:
  Not with gold but the sword. Our lives we will set on the issue.
  Whether your rule or mine be Fortune's pleasure,--our mistress,--
  Let us by valor decide. And to this word hearken ye also:
  Every valorous man who is spared by the fortune of battle,
  Fully determined am I of his freedom as well to accord him.
  Count it a gift. At the wish of the gods in heaven I grant it.

                                                        Lawton.

The seventh book treats of the First Punic War, which he touches upon
but lightly, since this subject had been so fully covered by his
predecessor. Then follow, in the remaining books, the Macedonian,
Ætolian, and Istrian wars, the history being brought down to within a
few years of the writer's death. In the last book the old poet very
fittingly compares himself to a spirited horse who has won victories in
his day, but now enjoys his well-earned rest in the dignity and
inactivity of age.

As we survey these broken fragments, we gain some appreciation of the
cruelty of that fate which preserved to posterity the ten tedious books
of Lucan's _Pharsalia_, the seventeen books of Silius' _Punica_, and the
twelve books of the _Thebaid_ of Statius, but swept away this great work
of Rome's first genuine poet--a work rendered triply valuable because it
was the first Roman experiment in hexameters, because in it the Latin
language was just molding into literary form, retaining still much of
its early roughness and heaviness, and because of the priceless
contribution to Roman antiquities which it could have furnished us.


3. PUBLIUS VERGILIUS MARO

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Studies in the Poetry of Italy, Part I. RomanMiller, Frank Justus

Philosophy

Studies in the Poetry of Italy, Part I. Roman

Miller, Frank Justus

Latin poetry -- History and criticism

The second and third books give a history of the Roman kings after
Romulus, with glimpses of the victory of the Horatii, the dreadful death
of the treacherous Mettius Fufetius, the disgusting impiety of Tullia,
and the rape of Lucretia, which precipitated the banishment of the
Tarquins. The fourth and fifth books cover the period from the founding
of the republic to the beginning of the war with Pyrrhus, which is
described in the sixth book. This contains the fine passage in which
King Pyrrhus refuses to accept money for the ransom of captives. He
says to the Roman ambassadors:

  Gold for myself I wish not; ye need not proffer a ransom.
  Not as hucksters might let us wage our war, but as soldiers:
  Not with gold but the sword. Our lives we will set on the issue.
  Whether your rule or mine be Fortune's pleasure,--our mistress,--
  Let us by valor decide. And to this word hearken ye also:
  Every valorous man who is spared by the fortune of battle,
  Fully determined am I of his freedom as well to accord him.
  Count it a gift. At the wish of the gods in heaven I grant it.

                                                        Lawton.

The seventh book treats of the First Punic War, which he touches upon
but lightly, since this subject had been so fully covered by his
predecessor. Then follow, in the remaining books, the Macedonian,
Ætolian, and Istrian wars, the history being brought down to within a
few years of the writer's death. In the last book the old poet very
fittingly compares himself to a spirited horse who has won victories in
his day, but now enjoys his well-earned rest in the dignity and
inactivity of age.

As we survey these broken fragments, we gain some appreciation of the
cruelty of that fate which preserved to posterity the ten tedious books
of Lucan's _Pharsalia_, the seventeen books of Silius' _Punica_, and the
twelve books of the _Thebaid_ of Statius, but swept away this great work
of Rome's first genuine poet--a work rendered triply valuable because it
was the first Roman experiment in hexameters, because in it the Latin
language was just molding into literary form, retaining still much of
its early roughness and heaviness, and because of the priceless
contribution to Roman antiquities which it could have furnished us.


3. PUBLIUS VERGILIUS MARO

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Studies in the Poetry of Italy, Part I. Roman

Studies in the Poetry of Italy, Part I. Roman

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