Incedunt arbusta per alta, securibu' caedunt, Percellunt magnas quercus, exciditur ilex, Fraxinu' frangitur, atque abies consternitur alta. Pinus proceras pervortunt: omne sonabat Arbustum fremitu siluai frondosai.[96] In the longest consecutive passages,--the dream of Ilia, the auspices of Romulus, and that from book seventh, already quoted as illustrative of the poet's character,--there is, notwithstanding the roughness of the lines, something also of Homeric rapidity;--a quality which the Latin hexameter never afterwards attained in elevated poetry. The diction also of the Annals is generally fresh and forcible, sometimes vividly imaginative. But perhaps the most admirable quality of its style is a grave simplicity and sincerity of tone. Especially is this the case in passages expressing appreciation of strength and grandeur of character, as in those fragments from the speeches of Pyrrhus and of Appius Claudius Caecus, already quoted, and in the famous lines commemorative of the resolute character and momentous services of Fabius Maximus. Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem: Noenum rumores ponebat ante salutem: Ergo plusque magisque viri nunc gloria claret.[97] These lines leave on the mind the same impression of antique majesty, as is produced by the unadorned record of character and work accomplished inscribed on the tombs of the Scipios. This truly Roman quality of style, depending on a strong imaginative sense of reality, is one of the great elements of power in the language of Lucretius. III. CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS GENIUS AND INTELLECT. III.--From a review of the extant fragments both of the Tragedies and the Annals of Ennius, it appears that his prominent place in Roman literature, and influence over his countrymen, were due much more to a great productiveness and activity, and to an original force of mind and character, than to any artistic skill displayed in the conception or execution of his works. A consideration of the spirit and purpose of his greatest works has led to the conclusion that they were, in a considerable measure, inspired by the genius of Rome, and were thus rather the starting-point of a new literature than the mechanical reproduction of the literature of the Greeks. It remains to consider what inference may be formed from these fragments as to the character of his genius, of his imaginative sentiment and moral sympathies, and of his intellectual power.