No More Learning

VIRGILIANUS PEDO. [Pedo. )
He was also instructed by Syron an Epicurean,
VIRGI'LIUS, or VERGI’LIUS. The latter and probably at Rome. Virgil's writings prove
appears to be the more correct orthography, as in that he received a learned education, and traces of
the name of Virginius or Verginius, but custom Epicurean opinions are apparent in them. The
has given the preference in modern times to Vir- health of Virgilius was always feeble, and there is
gilius.
no evidence of his attempting to rise by those
1. M. VIRGILIUS, the frater or first cousin of means by which a Roman gained distinction, ora-
T. Aufidius, was tribune of the plebs in B. C. 87, tory and the practice of arms. Indeed at the time
when, at the instigation of the consul Cinna, he when he was born, Cisalpine Gaul was not in.
brought an accusation against Sulla, when the cluded within the term “ Italy," and it was not
latter was on the point of crossing over to Greece till B. C. 89 that a Lex Pompeia gave even the
to conduct the war against Mithridates ; but Sulla Jus Latii to the inhabitants of Gallia Transpadana,
left Rome without paying any attention to Vir- and the privilege of obtaining the Roman civitas by
.
:
EN, P. 321, 2)
isul in A. D. 69 rith the
23 says that his fatta vad
and that his modern
de proscribed ; bet u be treas
No. 1, it is probable at
a mistake, unless he ad or
le of his maternal gradaci
der Calvisius Sabize; and
Led the wife of his carena
As a common soldier, through
litied adultery with her 1 *
was reckoned a sacred by *
e the eagles and standards ret
For that offence be 3
of Caligula, but by the content
used and obtained sekuests rely **
the command of a legiak Een
sposed to the imputation of bersy
goblet at the table of the expert
e was notwithstanding artistas
ng the reign of Nero, to the potention
Narbonensis, with the title of us
be ruled with justice and start
afterwards in Spain as the
vugh his friendship with Galiu be
consulship on the accession of the
1re. During the short resto de Luca
ment deraired almost entirely
d Cornelius Lacy, the praefect de
troops. The processina er saberes
eloped his evi passions, and he said
deterrimus mortalium.
Galba to cboose Otho a bis carros, IN
supposed by some te bare ben parissa *
99
1


## p. 1264 (#1280) ##########################################

1264
VIRGILIUS.
VIRGILIUS.
regard to the si
in the sixth by
death of Marce
his whole poer
parts in the lat
whole of bis ei
Wwok (v. 606),
"Auroramque
appears to allo
standards tak
cinius Crassus
R C. 20 (Dion
of Virgil refe
working at bis
filling a mngistratus in their own cities. The languishing condition of agriculture in Italy after
Roman civitas was not given to the Transpadani | the civil war, and to point out the best method,
till B. c. 49. Virgil therefore was not a Roman may take its place with other exploded notions. The
citizen by birth, and he was above twenty ycars of idea of reviving the industry of a country by an ela.
age before the civitas was extended to Gallia borate poem, which few farmers would read and still
Transpadana
fewer would understand, requires no refutation.
It is merely a conjecture, though it is probable Agriculture is not quickened by a book, still less
that Virgilius retired to his paternal farm, and here by a pocin. It requires security of property, light
he may have written some of the small pieces, taxation, and freedom of commerce. Maecenas may
which are attributed to him, the Culex, Ciris, have wished Virgil to try bis strength on something
Moretum, and others. The defeat of Brutus and better than his Ecloguies ; and though the subject
Cassius by M. Antonius and Octavianus Caesar does not appear inviting, the poet has contrired to
at Philippi B. c. 42, gave the supreme power to the give it such embellishment that his faine rests in
two victorious generals, and when Octavianus re- a great degree on this work. The concluding
turned to Italy, he began to assign to his soldiers lines of the Georgica were written at Naples
lands which had been promised them for their (Georg. iv. 559), but we can bardly infer that the
services (Dion Cass. xlviii. 5, &c. ). But the soldiers whole poem was written there, though this is the
could only be provided with land by turning out literal meaning of the words,
many of the occupiers, and the neighbourhood of
Cremona and Mantua was one of the districts in
Haec super arvorum cultu pecorumque canebam. ”
which the soldiers were planted, and from which the We may however conclude that it was completed
former possessors were dislodged. (Appian, Bel. after the battle of Actium B. C. 31, while Caesar
Civ. v. 12, &c. ) There is little evidence as to the was in the East. (Compare Georg. iv. 560, and
circumstances under which Virgil was deprived of ii. 171, and the remarks of the critics. ) His
bis property. It is said that it was seized by a Eclogues had all been completed, and probably be-
veteran named Claudius or Clodius, and that Asi- fore the Georgica were begun (Georg. iv. 565).
nius Pollio, who was then governor of Gallia The epic poem of Virgil, the Aeneid, was pro-
Transpadana, advised Virgil to apply to Octa- bably long contemplated by the poet. While
vianus at Rome for the restitution of his land, and Augustus was in Spain B. c. 27, he wrote to Virgil
that Octavianus granted his request. It is sup- to express his wish to have some monument of his
posed that Virgilius wrote the Eclogue which poetical talent ; perhaps he desired that the poet
stands first in our editions, to commemorate his should dedicate liis labours to his glory as he had
gratitude to Octavianus Caesar. Whether the done to that of Maecenas. A short reply of Virgil
poet was subsequently disturbed in his possession is preserved (Macrob. Sat. i. 24), in which he
and again restored, and whether he was not firmly says, “ with respect to my Aeneas, if it were in a
secured in his patrimonial farm till after the peace fit shape for your reading, I would gladly send the
of Brundusium B. C. 40 between Octavianus Caesar poem ; but the thing is only just begun ; and in-
and M. Antonius, is a matter which no extant deed it seems something like folly to have under-
* authority is sufficient to determine,
taken so great a work, especially when, as you
Virgil became acquainted with Maecenas before know, I am applying to it other studies, and those
Horace was, and Horace (Sat. i. 5, and 6. 55, &c. ) of much greater importance. ” The inference that
was introduced to Maecenas by Virgil. Whether may be derived from a passage of Propertius (Eleg.
this introduction was in the year B. C. 41 or a ii. 34, v. 61), in which he speaks of the Iliad as
little later is uncertain ; but we may perhaps con- begun and in progress, and from the recent death
clude from the name of Maecenas not being men- of Gallus, also mentioned in the same elegy, is that
tioned in the Eclogues of Virgil, that he himself Virgil was engaged on his work in B. c. 24 (Clinton,
was not on those intimate terms with Maecenas Fast
. B. c. 24). An allusion to the victory of
which ripened into friendship, until after they Actium in the same elegy, compared with the pas-
were written. Horace, in one of his Satires (Sat. sage in Virgil (Aeneid, viii. 675 and 704) seems
i. 5), in which he describes the journey from Rome to show that Propertius was acquainted with the
to Brundusium, mentions Virgil as one of the party, poem of Virgil in its progress ; and he may have
and in language which shows that they were then heard parts of it read. In B. c. 23 died Marcellus,
in the closest intimacy. The time to which this the son of Octavia, Caesar's sister, by her first
journey relates is a matter of some difficulty, but husband ; and as Virgil lost no opportunity of
there are perhaps only two times to which it can gratifying his patron, he introduced into his sixth
be referred, either the events recorded in Appian book of the Aeneid (v. 883) the well-known al-
(Bell. Civ. v. 64), which preceded the peace of lusion to the virtues of this youth, who was cut off
Brundusium B. c. 40, or to the events recorded by by a premature death.
Appian (Bell. Civ. v. 78), which belong to the
“ Heu miserande puer, si qua fata aspera rumpas,
year B. c. 38. But it is not easy to decide to
Tu Marcellus eris. ”
which of these two years, B. C. 40 or B. c. 38, the
journey of Horace refers. It can hardly refer to Octavia is said to have been present when the
the events mentioned in Appian (Bell. Civ. v. 93, poet was reciting this allusion to her son and to
&c. ) which belong to the year B. c. 37, though have fainted from her emotions. She rewarded
even this opinion has been maintained. (Hora the poet munificently for his excusable fattery.
Tius Flaccus. )
As Marcellus did not die till B. c. 23, these lines
The most finished work of Virgil, his Georgica, were of course written after his death, but that does
an agricultural poem, was undertaken at the sug- not prove that the whole of the sixth book was
gestion of Maecenas (Georg. iii. 41), and it was written so late. Indeed the attempts which ma
probably not commenced earlier than B. c. 37. dern critics make to settle many points in ancient
Tbe supposition that it was written to revive the literary history, are nct always managed with due
When Aus
where he had
Virgil at Ath
tended to mak
panied the em;
His health, wh
completely bro
rival at Brun
RC 19, not be
year. His rei
which had bee
on the road (1
teoli (Pozzuoli
stone from X
the tomb of
passes through
Via Puteolana
may have do
would agree
patus.
The inscrip
tomb,
* Mantua me
Partheno
we cannot su
poet, though I
Virgil nam
half-brother
one half of hi
tenas, L. Vas
that in his I
Aeneid, to w
touches, but
Whatever be
the Aeneid,
friends Variu
extant testim
the unfinishe
:
an
The poet
his patrons,
property and
the murdens
liberally,
good one, w
his parents
became blind
tained a mo
also died be
study of Vi
agriculture,
Donatus cal
astrology an
complexion
He was m
is free from
passage in
VOL. I.


## p. 1265 (#1281) ##########################################

. VIRGILIL'S.
1268
VIRGILIUS.
sre
ime in la's e
i
dec not. The
1 centy ITRES
would read and
a book, cn
66
srce Vaccess
is
pnet has contre
bai ha fax 91
2. The cxcom
re written a les
A Lard! Enter the
jere, though 123 *
day.
a pecorumqae caelen
de that it was create
DB 631, rise
Ipare Georg. it. 59,
is of the wind Eis
mpeted, and przla de
begin Georg. ir. 351
irgil, the Aeseid, vor
sed by the pret
A B C 27. be rete in
have some moannes: : 18
1ps he desired that he met
abours to his glory as
enas A stort res van
& Sati 24, in the be
to my Aeneas, if it went
ajing, I vould giando se
* is only just begun; 2
thing like four to fare con los
Fork, especials when a mi
ng to it other studies, and D
regned to the nature of the evidence. This passage In his fortunes and his friends Virgil was a
In the sixth book was certainly written aſter the happy man. Munificent patronage gave him ample
death of Marcellus, but Virgil may have sketched means of enjoyment and of leisure, and he had the
his wholo poem and even finished in a way many friendship of all the most accomplished men of the
parts in the later books before he elaborated the day, among whom Horace entertained a strong
whole of his sixth book. A passage in the seventh affection for him. He was an amiable good-tem-
book (v. 606),
pered man, free from the mean passions of envy
Auroramque sequi Parthosque reposcere signa," and jealousy ; and in all but health he was pros.
appears to allude to Augustus receiving back the perous. His fame, which was established in his
standards taken by the Parthians from M. Li life time, was cherished after his death, as an in-
cinius Crassus B. c. 53. This event belongs to heritance in which every Roman had a share ; and
B. c. 20 (Dion Cass. liv. 8); and
if the passage death of Augustus, and continued such for centuries
his works became school-books even before the
of Virgil refers to it, the poet must have been after. The learned poems of Virgil soon gave em-
working at his seventh book in B. C. 20.
Aulus Gel-
When Augustus was returning from Samos, ployment to commentators and critics.
where he had spent the winter of B. c. 20, he met lius has numerous remarks on Virgil
, and Macro-
Virgil at Athens. The poct it is said had in- bius, in his Saturnalia, lins filled four books (ii-
tended to make a tour of Greece, but he accom-
vi. ) 'with his critical remarks on Virgil's poems.
panied the emperor to Megara and thence to Italy. One of the most valuable commentaries of Virgil
,
His health, which had been long declining, was now
in which a great amount of curious and instructive
completely broken, and he died soon after his ar-
matter has been preserved, is that of Servius
rival at Brundusium on the 22d of September [SERVIUS). Virgil is one of the most difficult of
B. C. 19, not having quite completed his fifty-first the Latin authors, not so much for the form of the
year. His remains were transferred to Naples, expression, though that is sometimes ambiguous
which had been his favourite residence, and placed enough, but from the great variety of knowledge
on the road (Via Puteolana) from Naples to Pu- that is required to attain his meaning in all its ful
teoli (Pozzuoli) between the first and second mile. nessTo understand the Aeneid fully requires
stone from Naples. The monument, now called great labour and every aid that can be called in
the tomb of Virgil
, is not on the road which from the old commentators to those of the present
passes through the tunnel of Posilipo ; but if the
Via Puteolana ascended the hill of Posilipo, as it to him Dante paid the homage of his superior
Virgil was the great poet of the middle ages too.
may have done, the situation of the monument
would agree very well with the description of Do- genius, and owned him for his master and his
model. Among the vulgar he had the reputation
natus.
The inscription said to have been place
of a conjurer, a necromancer a worker of miracles ;
tomb,
it is the fate of a great name to be einbalmed in
fable.
“ Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc
The ten short poems called Bucolica were the
Parthenope. Cecini pascua, rura, duces. "
earliest works of Virgil, and probably all written
we cannot suppose to have been written by the between B. C. 41 and B. C. 37.
These Bucolica are
poet, though Donatus says that it was.
not Bucolica in the same sense as the poems of
Virgil named, as heredes in his testament, his Theocritus, which have the same title. They have
half-brother Valerius Proculus, to whom he left all a Bucolic form and colouring, but some of them
one half of his property, and also Augustus, Mae- have nothing more. They are also called Eclogae
cenas, L. Varius and Plotius Tucca. It is said or Selections, but this name may not have originated
that in his last illness he wished to burn the with the poet. Their merit consists in their versi-
Aeneid, to which he had not given the finishing fication, which was smoother and more polished
touches, but his friends would not allow him. than the hexameters which the Romans had yet
Whatever he may have wished to be done with seen, and in many natural and simple touches.
the Aeneid, it was preserved and published by his But as an attempt to transfer the Syracusan muse
friends Varius and Tucca. It seems from different into Italy, they are certainly a failure, and we
extant testimonies that he did express a wish that read the pastorals of Theocritus and of Virgil with
the unfinished poem should be destroyed.
a very different degree of pleasure. The fourth
The poet bad been enriched by the liberality of Eclogue, entitled Pollio, which may have been
his patrons, and he left behind him a considerable written in B. C. 40 after the peace of Brundusium,
property and a house on the Esquiline Hill near has nothing of the pastoral character about it, as
the gardens of Maecenas. He used his wealth the poet himself admits in the first lines,
liberally, and his library, which was doubtless a
“ Sicelides Musae paulo majora canamus,
good one, was easy of access. He used to send
Non omnes arbusta juvant humilesque myricae,
his parents money every year. His father, who
Si canimus sylvas, silvae sunt consule dignae. ”
became blind, did not die before his son had at-
tained a mature age. Two brothers of Virgil | Virgil was aware that he was not following his
also died before him. Poetry was not the only professed model, and that the poem was Bucolic
study of Virgil ; he applied to medicine and to only in name. It is allegorical, mystical, half his.
agriculture, as the Georgica show, and also to what torical and prophetical, aenigmatical, anything in
Donatus calls. Mathematica, perhaps a jumble of fact but Bucolic. Pope's Messiah, a kind of imi-
astrology and astronomy. His stature was tall, his tation of Virgil, is also not an Eclogue. The first
complexion dark, and his appearance that of a rustic. Eclogue is Bucolic in form and in treatment, with
He was modest and retiring, and his character an historical basis. The second Eclogue, the Alexis,
is free from reproach, if we except one scandalous which the critics suppose to have been written before
passage in Donatus, which may not tell the truth. I the first, is an amatory poem, with a Bucolic colour.
4 M
on the
acquarted the
importance. " The inference
im a passage of Properts Ek
which he speaks of the liais
Ogress, and from the recente
entized in the same erT, SISI
red on his work in Germany
An allusion to the riders
ame elegr, compard sith the problem
(4 creid, til 615 and 714) se
Propertius was
in its progress; and he was te
it read. In86 23 die Nuus
letaria, Caesar's sister, br ber is
das Virgil lost no TEST
s patron, he introduced into ha diri
Aeneid (v. 883) the sel-kber: 2
: virtues of this routh, who was to
ture death.
erande puer, si qua fala 1çe YETU
cellus eris. "
a
. VOL. IIL
1 said to have been present there
reciting this allusion to her ear and to
ited from her emotions. She mounted
munificently for his erricable foret,
ellas did not die till BCI
course written after his death, het zbar. Das
re that the whole of the sites hot 18
so late. Indeed the attempt CD
ities make to settle man Posts RH
history, are put always masamal rak in
4


## p. 1266 (#1282) ##########################################

1266
VIRGILIUS.
VIRGILIUS.
colouring
of antic
through
torian of
always
of origis
strong is
it is not
the Od
we have
ing, which indeed is the characteristic of all Virgil's | indebted to his extensive reading of the Gieck
Eclogues, whatever they may be in substance. The poets.
third, the fifth, the seventh, and the ninth are The Aeneid, or adventures of Aeneas after the
more clearly modelled on the form of the poems of fall of Troy, is an epic poem on the model of the
his Sicilian prototype : and the eighth, the Phar- Homeric poems. It was founded upon an old
maceutria, is a direct imitation of the original Greek. Roman tradition that Aeneas and his Trojans
The tenth, entitled Gallus, perhaps writteu the settled in Italy, and were the founders of the
last of all, is a love poem, which, if written in Roman name. In the first books we have the
elegiac verse, would be more appropriately called story of Aeneas being driven by a storm on the
an elegy than a Bucolic. All the Eclogues of Virgil coast of Africa, and being hospitably received by
abound in allusions to the circumstances and per. Dido queen of Carthage, to whom he relates in
sons of the time ; but these allusions are often ob- the episode of the second and third books the fall
scure. Though the Eclogues contain many pleasing of Tray and his wanderings. In the fourth book
lines, they present very great difficulties arising the poet has elaborated the story of the attach-
both from the construction of the poems, and the ment of Dido and Aeneas, the departure of Aencas
language. Those who find them easy are not per- in obedience to the will of the gods and the suicide
Bons who are much alive to the perception of diffi- of the Carthaginian queen. The fifth book con-
culties ; and those who bestow upon them very tains the visit to Sicily, and the sixth the landing
liberal praise, have the merit at least of being of Aeneas at Cumae in Italy, and his descent to
easily satisfied. Virgil borrowed many lines from the infernal regions, where he sees his father An-
Theocritus ; but the adaptation of a few lines does chises, and has a prophetic vision of the glorious
not give to his poems the genuine rustic cast of destinies of his race and of the future heroes of
some of the best pieces of Theocritus. We do not Rome. In the first six books the adventures of
feel that the Eclogues of Virgil represent rural life Ulysses in the Odyssey are the model, and these
or rural manners in Italy ; and such a represent books contain more variety of incident and situa-
ation, even if Virgil could have given it, is incom- tion than those which follow. The critics have
patible with the leading idea that pervades some of discovered an anachronism in the visit of Aeneas
the Eclogues. Julius Caesar Scaliger preferred to Carthage, which is supposed not to hare been
Virgil's Eclogues to those of Theocritus, a curious founded until two centuries after the fall of Troy,
instance of perverted judgment.
but this is a matter which we may leave without
The “ Georgica ” or “ Agricultual Poem" in discussion, or admit without allowing it to be a
four books is a didactic poem, which Virgil dedi- poetical defect. The last six books, the history
cated to his patron Maecenas. He treats of the of the struggles of Aeneas in Italy, are founded on
cultivation of the soil in the first book, of fruit trees the model of the battles of the lliad. Latinus,
in the second, of horses and other cattle in the the king of the Latini, offers the Trojan hero his
third, and of bees in the fourth. In this poem danghter Lavinia in marriage, who had been be-
Virgil shows a great improvement both in his taste trothed to Turnus, the warlike king of the Rutuli.
and in his versification. If he began this poem be. The contest is ended by the death of Turnus, who
fore he had finished the Eclogues, he went on falls by the hand of Aeneas. The fortunes of
working at it and correcting it after he had laid Aeneas and his final settlement in Italy are the
his Eclogues aside. It has been attempted to show subject of the Aeneid, but the glories of Rome
that the first book was written before B. c. 35, and of the Julian house, to which Augustus be-
but there is no conclusive evidence on this point. longed, are indirectly the poet's theme. In the
It has been stated when it was finished. Neither first book the foundation of Alba Longa is pro-
in the Georgics nor elsewhere has Virgil the merit mised by Jupiter to Venus (Aeneid, i. 254), and
of striking originality ; his chief merit consists in the transfer of empire from Alba to Rome ; from
the skilful bandling of borrowed materials. His the line of Aeneas will descend the “ Trojan
subject, which was by no means promising, he Caesar,” whose empire will only be limited by
treated in a manner both instructive and pleasing ; the ocean, and whose glory by the heavens. The
for he has given many useful remarks on agriculture future rivalry between Rome and Carthage, and
and diversified the dryness of didactic poetry by the ultimate triumphs of Rome are predicted. The
numerous allusions and apt embellishments, and poem abounds in allusions to the history of Rome;
some occasional digressions without wandering too and the aim of the poet to confirm and embellish
far from his main matter. In the first book (v. 1, the popular tradition of the Trojan origin of the
&c. ) he enumerates the subjects of his poem, Roman state, and the descent of the Julii from
among which is the treatment of bees ; yet the Venus, is apparent all through the poem. It is ob-
management of bees seems but mengre material jected to the Aeneid that it has not the unity of
for one fourth of the whole poem, and the author construction either of the Iliad or of the Odyssey,
accordingly had to complete the fourth book with and that it is deficient in that antique simplicity
matter somewhat extraneous - the long story of which characterises these two poems. Aeneas, the
Aristaeus. The Georgica is the most finished spe- hero, is an insipid kind of personage, and a much
cimen of the Latin hexameter which we have ; superior interest is excited by the savage Mezen-
and the rude rigor of Lucretius, and the antiquated tius, and also by Turnus, the unfortunate rival
rudeness of Ennius are here replaced by a versi- of Aeneas. Virgil imitated other poets besides
fication, which in its kind cannot be surpassed. Homer, and he has occasionally borrowed from
The Georgica are also the most original poem of them, especially from A pollonius of Rhodes. If
Virgil, for he found little in the Works and Days, Virgil's subject was difficult to invest with in.
of Hesiod that could furnish him with hints for the terest, that is his apology ; but it cannot be denied
treatment of his subject, and we are not aware that that many parts of his poem are successfully ela-
there was any work which he could exactly follow borated, and that particular scenes and incidents
as a whole. For numerous single lines he was are treated with true poetic spirit. The historical
learned
does not
feeling,
dustry
many o
commen
has the
poets,
and on
can, Sil
belong
display,
Rome, is
who foll
The la
poems,
been an
Gnat is
ters, ofte
of Scylla
in 541
nelius G
that it is
the nam
ameters,
contains
first par
the Mo
Sinalus
scribed,
* Aff
Toi
i
Pes
Cn
The Cc
female
Caupon
selves.
various
Catalec
that th:
elegiac
The
printed
and P
This ro
of no
Venice
close o
teenth
with t
edition
comme
1608-
sius
well
1727,
taries
the us


## p. 1267 (#1283) ##########################################

VIRGILIUS.
1207
VIRGILIUS.
of the Greek
seas after the
e model of the
| pea ad
od Ex T22
fuaderns the
ks we bare te
a states on
tabs rece red by
Sird books the
la tbe fora bora
story of the strach
. departure of Aesca
mds and the score
The fifth books
the sixth the latung
aly, and his descens
he sees his faber do
ic visioa of the giornata
of the future de
books the adreciens
are the model, and text
lety at incident and so
folios. The dita base
ism in the vist aldera
colouring which pervades it, and the great amount Tib. Claudius Donatus, an “Index absolutissimus
of antiquarian leaming which he has scattered in Mauri Servii Honorati Commentarios in Vir.
through it, make the Aeneid a study for the his- gilium," and an “ Index Auctorum in Servii Com-
torian of Rome. Virgil's good sense and taste are mentariis citatorum. ” All these matters make the
always conspicuous, and make up for the defect edition of Masvicius very useful. P. Burmann's
of originality. As a whole, the Aeneid leaves no edition appeared at Amsterdam, 1746, 4 vols. 4to.
strong impression, which arises from the fact that C. G. Heyne bestowed great labour on his edition
it is not really a national poem, like the Iliad or of Virgil, 1767—1775, Leipzig, 4 vols. 8vo, with
the Odyssey, the monument of an age of which a copious index: it was reprinted with improve-
we have no other literary monument ; it is a ments in 1788. In the fourth edition of lleyne's
learned poem, the production of an age in which it Virgil, by G. P. E. Wagner, Leipzig, 1830, 4 role
does not appear as an embodiment of the national | 8vo, the text has been corrected after the best
feeling, but as a monument of the talent and in- MSS. , the punctuation improved, and the ortho-
dustry of an individual. The Aeneid contains graphy altered or. amended. The text of this
many obscure passages, which a long series of edition is also published separately in a single
commentators have laboured to elucidate. Virgil volume with the title “ Publii Vergilii Maronis
has the merit of being the best of the Roman epic Carmina ad pristinam Orthographiam quoad ejus
poets, superior both to Ennius who preceded him, fieri potuit revocata, edidit P. Wagner, Leipzig,
and on whom he levied contributions, and to Lu- 1831, 8vo. " It also contains the “ Orthographia
can, Silius Iulicus, and Valerius Flaccus, who Vergiliana," or remarks on the orthography of many
belong to a later age. The passion for rhetorical words in Virgil, arranged in alphabetical order.
display, which characterises all the literature of The works of rgil have been more fortunate
Rome, is much less offensive in Virgil than in those than those of most of the writers of antiquity, for
who followed him in the line of epic poetry. there are many very old MSS. of his poems. That
The larger editions of Virgil contain some short which is called the Medicean, may probably have
poems, which are attributed to him, and may have been written before the downfal of the Roman
been among his earlier works. The Culex or empire. An exact fac-simile of it was published
Gnat is a kind of Bucolic poem in 413 hexame- by Foggini at Florence, 1741, 4to. The Codex
ters, often very obscure ; the Ciris, or the mythus Vaticanus, which is also of great antiquity, was
of Scylla the daughter of Nisus, king of Megara, published by Bottari, Rome, 1741, folio, but it is
in 541 hexameters, has been attributed to Cor. said not to be so accurate a copy as the fac-simile
nelius Gallus and others, but Scaliger inaintains of Foggini. Wagner in his Praefatio has briefly
that it is by Virgil; the Moretum, in 123 verses, discussed the relative ages of these two MSS. ;
the name of a compound mess, is a poem in hex. but there seem to be no grounds for deciding the
ameters, on the daily labour of a cultivator, but it question. They are both undoubtedly very old.
contains only the description of the labours of the The editions of the several parts of Virgil and the
first part of the day, which consist in preparing school editions are very numerous. The “ Hand-
the Moretum : the female servant of the rustic buch der Classischen Bibliographie” of Schweigger,
Simulus is a negress ; none was ever better de. ii. pp. 1145—1258, contains a long list. The edi-
. scribed,
tion of A. Forbiger, 3 vols. 8vo, Leipzig, 1836,
Afra
and a second edition, 1845–1846, contains a
genus, tota patriam testante figura,
Torta comam, labroque tumens et fusca colo-sufficiently copious commentary for ordinary use,
which is composed of selections from the commen-
rem,
Pectore lata, jacens mammis, eompressior alvo, tators and his own notes.
The Bucolica were translated into German verse
Cruribus exilis, spatiosa prodiga planta. ”
by J. H. Voss with useful notes ; and a second
The Copa, in elegiac verse, is an invitation by a edition by A. Voss, appeared at Altona, 1830.
female tavern keeper or servant attached to a J. H. Voss's poetical translation of the Georgics is
Caupona, to passengers to come in and enjoy them- highly esteemed. His complete translation of
selves. There are also fourteen short pieces in Virgil appeared at Brunswick in 3 vols. 8vo, 1799.
various metres, classed under the general name of Martyn, professor of Botany at Cambridge, pub-
Catalecta. That addressed “Ad Venerem,” shows lished a prose version of the Georgica, London,
that the writer, whoever he was, had a talent for 1741, and of the Georgica, 1749, with many va-
elegiac poetry.
luable notes. The commentary of Martyn on the
The first edition of Virgil, a small folio, was Georgica is perhaps the best that has appeared for
printed at Rome about A. D. 1469 by Sweynheym the elucidation of the matter of the poem. Gawin
and Pannartz, and dedicated to Pope Paul II. Douglas, bishop of Dunkeld, translated the Aeneid
This rare edition was reprinted in 1471, but it is into Scottish verse, London, 1553. Ogilby's verse
of no great value. The Virgil printed by Aldus at translation was published at London, 1649 and
Venice in 1501, 8vo, is also very scarce. At the 1650 ; and Dryden's was published by Tonson,
close of the fifteenth and the beginning of the six- London, 1697. The blank verse translation of
teenth centuries there were many prints of Virgil, | Dr. J. Trapp is very poor. The Aeneid translated
with the commentary of Servius and others. The by C. Pitt, and the Bucolica and Georgica by
edition of J. L. de la Cerda, which is valued for the Joseph Warton, were published by Dodsley, Lon-
commentary, appeared at Madrid in 3 vols. folio, don, 1783, 4 vols. 8vo. Sotheby's poetic version
1608—1617. The valuable edition of Nic. Hein- of the Georgica contains the original text and the
sius was published at Amsterdam in 1676. The versions of De Lille, Soave, Guzman, and Voss.
well printed edition of P. Masvicius, Leeuwarden, The chief authority for the Life of Virgil is the
1727, 2 vols. 4to, contains the complete commen- Life by Donatus, which, though not a critical per-
taries of Servius, Philargyrius, and Pierius, with formance, is undoubtedly founded on good ma-
the “ Index Erythraei," the Life of Virgil byterials. It is printed in Wagner's edition of Virgil
4 N 2
supposed not to bare been
turies after the fall of in
which we may leare without
without a lowing is to
e last sir books the best
legeas in Ita. r, are facile
sarties of the lint Les
tini, offers the Triza bert
in marriage, who had been des
the warlike king of the Road
ded by the death of Turma, r»
id of Aeneas Tie farrone i
final settlement in leas and
Aeneid, but the pionies of Rw
an house, to which larases de
directly the poet's theme is the
foundation of Alba Longa s pes
ter to Venus (deel 1 354,20!
i empire from Alba to Roer; for
Aeneas will descend the True
ose empire wil only be listed
ad whose glory by the bearen 1
5 between Rome and Caribice,
triumphs of Rome are priistai The
ids in allusions to the history o Roy
tradition of the Trojan organ of the
66
m of the poet to confirm and asked
ate, and the descent of the desire
apparent all through the poem liige
the Aeneid that it has not the Bri
ion either of the Iliad or of the listen
it is deficient in that antique capita
haracterises these two poems destes
an insipid kind of pers wage, 28.
interest is ereiied br the ser les
und also by Turmus, the ankorena eta
neas Virgil imitated other pees lescent
er, and he has arasionally banned to
especially from Apollonius of Roxes I
u's subject was difficult to in res rid
s, that is his apology ; but it carpet be dete
I mint parts of his poem are come
ated, and that particular scenes and
treated with true poetic spirit. The baza


## p. 1268 (#1284) ##########################################

1268
VIRGINIA.
VIRGINIA.
with notes. The editions, translations, commen- evening. Virginius immediately obtained_lenre
taries, and essays on Virgil form an enormous mass of absence, and was already on his way to Rome,
of literature, iu which the poet is rather buried when the messenger of Appius arrived, instructing
than embalmed.
[G. L. ] his colleagues to detain him.
VIRGI'NIA. 1. The daughter of L. Virgi- Early next morning Virginius and his daughter
nius, a brave centurion, the attempt made upon
came into the forum with their garments rent,
whose chastity by App. Claudius was the imme- The father appealed to the people for aid, warning
diate cause of the downfall of the Decemvirs, who them that all were involved in a like calamity.
had in violation of Inw continued in possession of Icilius spoke still more vehemently; and the
their power' at the beginning of B. C. 449.