His imagination appears also to have been impressed by that sense of outward pomp and magnificence which exercised a strong spell on the Roman mind in all ages, and obtained its most complete and permanent realisation in the architecture of the Empire. A short passage from one of his tragedies, the Andromache, may be quoted as illustrative of this influence, even in the writings of Ennius, though naturally it is much more apparent in the style of those poets who witnessed the grandeur of Rome in her later era:-- O pater, O patria, O Priami domus, Saeptum altisono cardine templum! Vidi ego te, astante ope barbarica, Tectis caelatis, lacuatis, Auro ebore instructum regifice![104] While his peculiar poetical feeling is present chiefly in the fragments of the Annals, the moral elements of his poetry may be gathered both from his epic and dramatic remains. Strength and dignity of character are the qualities with which his own nature was most in sympathy. Yet in delineating the agitation of Ilia, the shame of Cassandra, and the sorrow of Andromache, he reveals also much tenderness of feeling,--the not unusual accompaniment of the manly genius of Rome. A similar tenderness is found in union with the grave tones of Pacuvius and Accius, and in still greater measure with the fortitude of Lucretius and the majesty of Virgil. The masculine qualities which most stir his enthusiasm are the Roman virtues of resolution (constantia), sincerity, magnanimity, capacity for affairs. Thus a latent glow of feeling may be discerned in the lines which record the brave resolution of the Roman people during the first hardships of the war with Pyrrhus-- Ast animo superant atque aspera prima Volnera belli dispernunt;[105] and in this strong and scornful triumph over natural sorrow, from the Telamon:-- Ego cum genui tum morituros scivi, et ei rei sustuli: Praeterea ad Trojam cum misi ob defendendam Graeciam, Scibam me in mortiferum bellum, non in epulas mittere.[106] The generosity and courage of a magnanimous nature are stamped upon the kingly speech which he puts into the mouth of Pyrrhus. A frank sincerity of character reveals itself in such passages as the following:-- Eo ego ingenio natus sum, Aeque inimicitiam atque amicitiam in frontem promptam gero.[107] There is no subtlety nor rhetorical point in the expression of his serious convictions. The very style of the tragedies, which, as Cicero says[108], 'does not depart from the natural order of the words,' is a symbol of frankness and straightforwardness. He shows also, in his delineations of character, high appreciation of practical wisdom, and of its most powerful instrument in a free State, the persuasive power of oratory. This appreciation is expressed in the lines so much admired by Cicero and Aulus Gellius[109], though ridiculed by the purism of Seneca: