The Roman Poets of the Augustan Age: Virgil

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II. Relation of the Eclogues to the Greek Pastoral

Origin of the pastoral dialogue

Artistic form given to these primitive elements by Theocritus

Difference between the pastoral life of Sicily and rural life of

Italy

III. Truth of feeling in the Eclogues

Inferiority of the Eclogues in truth and vividness of repre-

sentation

- Allusive personal references in the Eclogues

Mythological and geographical allusions

The sentiment of Nature in the Eclogues

The love of home and of the land

The passion of love.

Style and rhythm of the Eclogues

Their Italian character

CHAPTER V.

MOTIVES, FORM, SUBSTANCE, AND SOURCES OF THE GEORGICS.

I. Original motives of the Poem

Desire to treat of rural life in the spirit of Hesiod

Influence of Maecenas on the choice of the subject

Virgil's sympathy with the old class of husbandmen.

II. Form of poetry adopted by Virgil.

What forms of poetry available for Virgil's purpose?

Character of didactic poetry among the Greeks

New type of didactic poetry introduced by Virgil

III. National interest and substance of the Poem

Italian character of the subject.

Connexion of the subject with national history.

Exceptional character of the concluding episode

IV. Sources of the Poem

1

Materials derived by Virgil from his own life

From Greek and Roman writers on agriculture

Relation of the Georgics to the Works and Days'

to the Alexandrine Metaphrastae

RELATION OF THE GEORGICS TO THE POEM OF LUCRETIUS.

Influence of Lucretius on the ideas, method, and style of the

Georgics

199

Virgil's recognition of his relation to Lucretius.

200

Identity of feeling in the two poets

Difference in position and sympathies

Difference between the philosophic poet and poetic artist.

II. The Lucretian idea of Nature in the Georgics

Nature more fully revealed in Lucretius than in earlier poetry

Idea of the struggle of man with Nature in Lucretius

Lesson drawn by him from this idea

Presence of the same idea in other Roman writers

Virgil's sense of the life of Nature derived from Lucretius

Idea of the struggle with Nature as ordained by Providence

Scientific beliefs of Lucretius as adopted or rejected by Virgil

III. Dedications and Invocations in the two Poems

Lucretius Virgil's chief model in technical execution.

Address to Maecenas compared with address to Memmius

Eulogy of Caesar compared with eulogy of Epicurus

Meaning of their Invocation of Supernatural aid

211

212

Varieties of religious feeling and belief in the Augustan Age

218

Union of various modes of religious belief in the Invocation

Proems to the other Books of the Georgics

225

227

IV. Comparison of Virgil with Lucretius in didactic expo-

sition and illustration

Method of science in Lucretius, of art in Virgil

229-243

229

Greater selection and elimination of materials in Virgil

Illustration of Virgil's subject from his sense of beauty

230

231

from his sense of the life of Nature.

232

from his sympathy with the life of animals

233

from his conception of human energy in conflict with

Nature.

234

from literary and mythological associations

235

from astronomy, antiquity, religious usages

238

Inferiority of Virgil to Lucretius in the use of imaginative

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Purpose of the episodes in Lucretius and in the Georgics

The minor episodes in the Georgics

Episodes at the end of Books iii. and iv.

Episode of the omens accompanying the death of Julius Caesar

Episode of the Glory of Italy

THE GEORGICS A POEM REPRESENTATIVE OF ITALY

258-276

The Georgics an original work of Latin genius

258

Technical value of the poem as an exposition of Italian hus-

bandry.

260

Relation of the illustrative matter to the cultivated Italian mind
Feeling of the dignity of labour an Italian sentiment
Italian feeling and representation of Nature

Italian character of the religious sentiment of the poem
of its ethical and political sentiment

THE ROMAN EPIC BEFORE THE TIME OF VIRGIL

Distinction between primitive and literary epic

Absence of primitive epics from Roman literature

TRoman epic originates in the imitation of the Greek epic

New character given to the Roman epic from the national

sentiment and commemorative instinct

from admiration of great men

277-291

New type of Roman epic introduced by Varro Atacinus
Type of historical epic rejected in the maturity of Roman art

CHAPTER IX.

FORM AND SUBJECT OF THE AENEID.

I. Purpose of the Aeneid and motives determining the form

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II. Adaptation of the legend of Aeneas to Virgil's purpose

298-307

Adaptation of the legend of Romulus to a poem founded on

national sentiment

298

Deficiency of the legend of Aeneas in national and human

Connexion of the legend with the Homeric cycle of events

303

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Its recognition by the State for more than two centuries

Connexion with the glory of the Julian family.

Largeness of scope afforded by the vagueness of the legend

Adaptation to a poem representative of Rome in the Augustan

III. Composite character of the Aeneid illustrated by an

examination of the Poem .

Twofold purpose of Virgil in composing the Aeneid

Native and Greek sources employed by him

Prominence given to his double purpose in the statement of the

This double purpose traced in the details of the action

The Aeneid a new type of epic poetry

CHAPTER X.

THE AENEID AS THE EPIC OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

I. Modes of National Sentiment expressed in the Aeneid. 322-331

Pride of Empire

Sense of national continuity

Patriotic Italian sentiment

Antagonism to other races

II. Influence of the Religious Idea of Rome on the action of

Influence of this idea on the religious motives of the poem

Ethical aspect of religion in the Aeneid

III. Place assigned to Augustus in the Aeneid.

342-349

Augustus the typical embodiment of Roman imperialism .

Meaning given by Virgil to his relation to Aeneas

Imaginative and ethical value of the idea on which the Aeneid

is founded