The sun., 1896-10-18


eating. so TO speak. in early life. as models for
their Latin verse, the writings Of Virgil and Of
Horace. may not have had In forming the high
spirit OF tho upper class in France and England.
the two countries where Latin verso hns most
ruled the schools, and tho two countries which
most have had high upper class and high
upyer class spirit 2" II would be, at all events.
no exaggeratisn to sav that the poems OF Virgil.
and especially the !Fn cid. havo contributed
more than any other works OF art in modern
times not only to stump the impression Of an
cient Rome on the imagination. but to educate
the sensIbilty to generous emotion as well as to
literary beauty. There 10 probably no author,
even at the present day. OF whom somo knowl-
edge may be with more certainty assumed
among cultivated people OF every nation.
".
It Ia only in the present century that tho
question has been raised whether this great
reputation. this unbroken ascendancv Of 800
years. was deserved. The earliest witness who
might be called against his claims to this high
distinction is Virgil himself. In. the Eclogues
and Gcorgcs, the delight which he feels in
the exercise Of his art is qualified by sense OF
humility arising from the recognition OF some
want OF elevation in his subject. In his last
hours he desired that the iEned should be
impulse arising from the depression OF illness
may be inferred from the requeet which he lad
previously made to Varius before leav-
ing Italy. that, II anything happened
to him. he should destroy the IFneid."
In a letter written to Augustus, he speaks of
himself "a having undertaken u work Of such
vast compass, almost from perverston Of
mind" No poet could we'll be animated by a
loftier ambition than was Virgil. yet few great
poets seem TO have been so little satisfied with
their own success. II was not In his nature to
feel or express tho con edent sense OF superiority
which sustained Lucrotius in his self-appointed
task. nor even that satisfaction with the work
he had done. and that assurance Of an abiding
place in the memory OF men, which relieved
the ironical se!f-disparagemcnt OF Horace
The current and obvious explanation OF
the poets passionate and pathetic de-
sire that the work to which he had
given eleven years of his maturest power
should not survive him In the unfinished state,
In respect OF STYLE. In which the poem was left.
Virgil had set aside three years for the final re-
vision Of the work. and the excislon of the tenn
porary mnkeshifs which had been originally
inserted. with full knowledge of their made
quacy. in order not to check the ardor Of
composition. After having devoted three years
OF his youth to tho execution Of a work so slight
Eclogues. he might we'll feel depressed by the
thought that work of such high purpose and
40 vast scope as the IFneid. and
work OF which such expectations were
entertained. should be given to the world
before receiving the ultimate touch OF the
masters hand. Such is the common way OF
accounting for Virgils dying ndjuration. but
Prof. Sellar suggests that the words in the
poets letter to Augustus. Il fancy myself to
have been almost under the influence Of some
fatuity in engaging on 80 great work." II they
arc to be taken as n true expression OF the
writer's feelings, impy n deeper ground of
dissats faction with his undertaking. Nirgirs
modesty seems 10 have been a weakness !nc-
dental to his greatest gifts. his sense OF per-
fection. his sensltiveness to every kind OF excel
lrnce. His large and intense appreciation
Of the genius Of others, from the oldest
Greek to the latest Latin poet, his regard
for the authority OF the past. his attitude OF a
scholar In many schools. his willing acceptance
of Homer as his guide through all the unfamIl-
lar region OF heroic adventures. were scarcely
compatible with the buoyant spirit as of some
dlscorerer OF unknown lands. which was needed
to support him In an enterprise so nrduous and
40 long sustained as the composition OF a great
literary epic. The task which he had set him
self required OF him to combine into one har-
should bear the stamp OF originality, OF being n
new thing in the world. the characteristics and
excellences OF various minds belonging TO va
rious times. With such aims. IL was scarcely
possible that the actual execution of Virgirs
work should not fall below his ideal OF per-
fection. Especially must he have recognized
his own deficiency in tho pure epic impulse
which seems to have borne Homer along with
out conscious effort. Virgil could not feel, or
make others feel, the cu minatng interest In tho
combat between Turnus and Eneas which
Homer feels, and makes others feel. In the COM
bat between Hector and Achilles. In his earlier
national poem the Georglcs. the Latin poet had
vindicated the glory of tho ploughshare In op-
position to the glory of the soil. and In his later
battle pieces he must have felt his immeasur-
able inferior!ty to the post of the Had. Yet
neither the precedents of epic poetry nor his
purpose of celebrating tho national glory of
Rome permitted him to leave this part of his
task uninterrupted.
As the comparison of his own epic poem with
the greatest of the Greek epics WAS probably
the source OF Virgirs own dissatisfaction with
the +Eneid. so II has been the cause of the ad-
verse criticism to which the poem has been ex-
posed In recent times. or these adverse criti-
cisms, that Expressed by Niebuhr both in his
History OF Rome and In his historical lectures,
was among the earliest. In the former he er-
pressed the belief that Virgil. at the approach
of death. wished ITO destroy what. in those
solemn moments. he could not but view with
sadness. rs the groundwork of a false reputa-
tion.' In the latter, Niebuhr says. Tho
whole of the Eneid, from the beginning to
the end, Is misconceived idea.
Virgil Is one OF the remarkable instances of the
way in which man can miss his true calling
His was lyric poetry. 1t is pity that
posterity 30 much overrated the very work
which was but failure" Although the opin-
ions expressed by Niebuhr on literature were
often more arbitrary than authoritative, and
Prof. Sellar, for his part, dlsssnts
from this verdict on the merits OF the Ene!d
he admits that it was in accordance with the
most advanced criticism of the time when it
Was written, both in Germany and In Eng
land. The writer by whom the critical
taste of England was most stimulated
and enlarged about the same time WAS
and in his "TAbls Talk" such dis
paraginG dicta as this occur more than once:
- II you take from Virgil his diction and metre.
what do you leave him ?" The whole tone OF the
which arose out or the admiration of