(1) 'Quantum haurire animus Musarum ec fontibu' gestit.' (2) 'Cum sciam nil esse in vita proprium mortali datum Jam quae tempestate vivo, chresin ad me recipio.' (3) 'Ut pueri infantes credunt signa omnia ahena Vivere et esse homines, sic istic omnia ficta Vera putant.' Virgil's 'rex ipse Phanaeus' is said by Servius to be imitated from the Χῖός τε δυναστής of Lucilius. Other imitations are pointed out in Macrobius and in Servius. An apparent imitation by Catullus has been already noticed.] [Footnote 330: Cic. de Fin. i. 3.] [Footnote 331: 'Detrahere et pellem nitidus qua quisque per ora Cederet, introrsum turpis.' ] CHAPTER IX. REVIEW OF THE FIRST PERIOD. The poetic literature reviewed in the last five chapters is the product of the second century B.C. The latest writers of any importance belonging to the earlier period of the poetry of the Republic were Lucilius and Afranius. Half a century from the death of Lucilius elapsed before the appearance of the poems of Lucretius and Catullus, which come next to be considered. But before passing on to this more familiar ground, a few pages may be devoted to a retrospect of some general characteristics marking the earlier period, and to a consideration of the social and intellectual conditions under which literature first established itself at Rome. With striking individual varieties of character, the poets whose works have been considered present something of a common aspect, distinct from that of the literary men of later times. They were placed in different circumstances, and lived in a different manner from either the poets who adorned the last days of the Republic or those who flourished in the Augustan age. The spirit animating their works was the result of the forces acting on the national life, and the form and style in which they were composed were determined by the stage of culture which the national mind had reached, and the stage of growth through which the Latin language was passing under the stimulus of that culture. Like nearly all the literary men of later times, these poets were of provincial or foreign birth and origin. They were thus born under circumstances more favourable to, or at least less likely to repress, the expansion of individual genius, than the public life and private discipline of Rome. Their minds were thus more open to the reception of new influences; and their position as aliens, by cutting them off from an active public career, served to turn their energies to literature. Their provincial birth and Greek education did not, however, check their Roman sympathies, or prevent them from stamping on their writings the impress of a Roman character.