Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1877-10-30

7t .E'fI AOEA'1 .f.. .t.. d.
A visit to Naples would be quite in
complete without taking a stroll to
Posilipo and the grotto, over the en-
| trance of which is shown the tomb of
the great poet. Here is erected little
domed building with inches in it, sur
rounded with trees and ivy, designa-
ting the last resting place of Publius
Virgilius Marc. Here the light
the warmful, genial light of an Italian
sun-for nearly nineteen centuries has
warmed the soil and renewed the ver-
dure that will ever sweetly bloom
through all the ages with the undying
fragrance of poesy.
Virgil died at the age of fifty-one
years. His death occurred at Brundu-
SUM on his way back from a visit to
Greece. His body was brought for bu-
rial to that Naples he loved so WE'LL
Whether his grave lies in the exact spot
now shown to travellers is not really
certain, but we have no reason to doubt
the tomb marks the real site of his final
resting place. Surely the location is
fitting enOugh-the western terminus
of that wonderful and picturesque Chi
ala Tor quay that curves with thelcres-
ent form of Naples's fair bay; Just
enough out of the city and in the coun-
try to combine the charms of both,
where we breathed an air of gentle
warmth, filled with the fragrance of a
thousand flowers, the odor of which
was increased by the slow evaporation
of the night dews under the first rays
of the rising sun of July morning.
And that glorious sky above US, a bright
and glowing azure, rejecting itself in
the silvery waves of the bay, whilst
right and left the whole of the scenery
we beheld family through luminous
mist, we thought this fairy land, with
the sweet and almost holy feelings that
controlled and affected US, must have
had their influence also upon the nature
and genius of the poet when he lived
and breathed the same atmosphere and
looked upon the same scenery so long
ago.
AS we walked slowly back into the
noisy city, our thoughts continually re-
verted to the quiet, lovely spot we had
left, and many were the memories of
our boyhood and school-boy days that
suggested themselves by the visit made
and enjoyed so much. .e-t
1t may not be amiss in this cOnnec-
tion to tax your patience for moment,
to submit an idea or so about the poet,
his great epic-the Eneid-and its
hero, Eneas. 1t has recently been our
pleasure to re-read the Eneid and while
we were as ever impressed with the
wonderful genius of the Mantuan poet,
we no longer cherish our boyhOod's
admiration for Eneas as the model hero.
He certainly lacked some of the heroic
qualities that old Homer gives to Achil-
les. The Iliad doubtlessly had unlim.
tied charms to the mind and heart of
Virgil, SO much so that his poetic tenn
perament heartily appreciated and ad-
mired all the destinations of such a
wonderful production, and be evidently
knew and felt, by the promptings of his
real genius and fervid Imagination, that
this absorbing ''tale of Troy" could be
heightened with a sequel and farther
challenge the admiration of the world.
Nearly nineteen hundred years testifies
to his success. Virgil has always stood
in the front rank of the Latin poets.-
We are in the habit of regarding him
as the representative poet of the Ro-
mans-as much so as we look upon Ho-
mer as the poet of the Greeks. And in
this same connection of our mutual ad-
miration for both, the genius of both is
presented to us in relating the story of
Troy, getting their heroes from the siege
and fall of the heroic old city. Our po-
| ct, it is true, takes up and renews the
strain thousand years after the Iliad,
and Odyssey first thrilled the hearts of
their hearers, in that olden time, long
ere the mother wolf t'1ll' ~ .'3- -
"In Mars's cave supinely laid, 'Tu 1A, 80,
Around her udders undismayed r,- rr..,- -,
The gamesome infants hung,
While she, her loose neck backward thrown,
| CaresSed them fOnd1v -onp nv one it'
And shaped them with her tongue" l az
This history of these "home.born
deities, of mortal BIRTH" may have
tempted the poet to weave into song the
greatness of his own nation and race,
dating a new era-inaugurating that
golden period he refers to in the Polio,
when he sees with prophetic ken 8
"Another Argo bear her hero-crew, E
Another Tephys steer, still wars shall be,
A me,o Achilles for second Troy
In the Eneid we readily see combi-
nation Of the marvellous sequel follow
ing the exploits of Agamemnon and
his Greek warriors up to the fatal night
that Troy fell into the hands Of the
Greeks, and AEneas fled, thus beginning
that most perilous journey, by sea and
land, demanded by the oracles of the
Goods.
We remarked that Eneas did not now
come up to our idea of the model hero
that Virgil made him appear. We are
not disposed to accept his extreme "pi-
ety"-his great reverence for the mes
sages the Gods were always sending
him-as sufficient excuse for his shame
less, heartless desertion and flight from
queen Dido, that most hospitable Queen
OF Carthage, who received and weicom-
ed him to her kingdom when he was
shipwrecked; treated him like king
sympathized witd him in his misfor.
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