Yet it is very significant that Kotlyarevsky in his first Ukrainian work did not produce anything along these lines. Neither did his interest in the people and their speech lead him to make a scientific study of the language of the people. In this he differs sharply from the Czech scholar Dobrovsky and he differs equally sharply from Lomonosov and the other writers who founded modern Russian literature. Poland too had its own development on the basis of French pseudo-classicism which later passed into the Romantic period. Kotlyarevsky started on the basis of the old classical culture of the Ukrainian schools and stood nearer to the enlightened sceptics of the eighteenth century than to the younger group of Romantic authors. There is a story that he had commenced the _Eneida_ during his studies at the Poltava seminary and had worked over it for many years. It is perhaps possible, for there is much in it that reminds us of a work conceived in a school perhaps as a definite and humorous reaction to the excessive Latin training that was customary at the time. It was a bold idea to undertake a travestying of the _Aeneid_ but it was something that might be done under the conditions prevailing, as other authors of Russia had done. The use of the vernacular was only a slight extension of the normal usage for a burlesque epic should not, under the strict rules, have been written in the high style and we can therefore understand the course of Kotlyarevsky’s reasoning in starting upon this work. The most significant fact is that the author definitely decided to depict Aeneas and his companions as Ukrainian Kozaks wandering around Europe in search of a new home. The comparison was obvious but it took a mind of considerable penetration to grasp the situation. Then as now the vast majority of classical students insisted upon seeing the ancients in a vacuum which had no relation to present reality. On the other hand in the very first paragraph Kotlyarevsky sets the key note. Aeneas was a clever fellow And he was a superb Kozak. He stood all ills and did not bellow, Surpassed his men on every tack. But when the Greeks old Troy had fired And made of it what they desired, He took his pack and drew a sigh. A group of Trojans he did rally, All banished boys, to make a sally And showed his heels to Troy for aye. The very opening stanza could not fail to bring to the mind of every Ukrainian the parallel between Aeneas and the Kozaks from the ruined Sich and with that as his text Kotlyarevsky worked on, following the Aeneid very closely and yet modifying the adventures of the Roman hero so that they would fit perfectly into the position of the Kozaks. His skill in selecting the proper details and episodes show his amazing talent in this difficult task.