The Roman Poets of the Republic, 2nd editionSellar, W. Y. (William Young)
History
The Roman Poets of the Republic, 2nd edition
Sellar, W. Y. (William Young)
Latin poetry -- History and criticism
[Footnote 95: Ἔννιος Ῥωμαῖος ποιητής· ὃν Αἰλιανὸς ἐπαινεῖν ἄξιόν
φησι . . . . δῆλον δὲ ὡς ἐτεθήπει τοῦ ποιητοῦ τὴν μεγαλόνοιαν καὶ
τῶν μέτρων τὸ μεγαλεῖον καὶ ἀξιάγαστον.--Suidas, vol. i. p. 1258, ed.
Gaisford.]
[Footnote 96: Cf. Iliad, xxiii. 114-120; and also Virgil, Aen. vi.
179:--
Itur in antiquam silvam, stabula alta ferarum,
Procumbunt piceae, sonat icta securibus ilex,
Fraxineaeque trabes cuneis et fissile robur
Scinditur, advolvunt ingentis montibus ornos.
]
[Footnote 97: 'One man, by biding his time, restored the commonwealth.
He cared not for what men said of him, as compared with our safety:
therefore now his fame waxeth brighter day by day.']
[Footnote 98: 'He watched the courage of his force, to see if any
murmur should arise for some pause to the long battle, some rest from
their weary toil.']
[Footnote 99: 'As sang our Ennius, the first who brought down from
pleasant Helicon a chaplet of unfading leaf, the fame of which should
be bruited loud through the nations of Italian men.']
[Footnote 100: 'When the old dame had risen, and with trembling
limbs had brought the light, thus she (Ilia), roused in terror from
her sleep, with tears tells her tale: "Daughter of Eurydice, whom
our father loved, my strength and life now fail me through all my
frame. For methought that a goodly man was bearing me off through the
pleasant willow-groves, by the river-banks, and places strange to me.
Thereafter, O my sister, I seemed to be wandering all alone, and with
slow steps to track my way, to be seeking thee, and to be unable to
find thee near; no footpath steadied my step. Afterwards methought I
heard my father address me in these words--'Daughter, trouble must
first be borne by thee; afterwards thy fortune shall rise up again from
the river.' With these words, O sister, he suddenly departed, nor gave
himself to my sight, though my heart yearned to him, though I kept
eagerly stretching my hands to the blue vault of heaven, weeping, and
calling on him with loving tones. With pain and weary heart at last
sleep left me."']
[Footnote 101: Aen. ii. 270.]
[Footnote 102: 'Regret and sorrow fill their hearts, while thus they
say to one another, O Romulus, God-like Romulus, how great a guardian
of our country did the gods create in thee! O father, author of our
being, O blood sprung from the gods! it is thou that hast brought us
forth within the realms of light.']
[Footnote 103: E.g. passages such as the following:--
Quique altum Praeneste viri, quique arva Gabinae
Junonis gelidumque Anienem et roscida rivis
Hernica saxa colunt, quos dives Anagnia pascit,
Quos, Amasene pater.--Aen. viii. 682-5.
]
[Footnote 104: 'O father! O fatherland! O house of Priam, palace,
closing on high-sounding hinge, I have seen thee, guarded by a barbaric
host, with carved and deep-fretted roof, with ivory and gold royally
adorned.']
[Footnote 105: 'But they rise superior in spirit, and spurn the first
sharp wounds of war.']
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