The Roman Poets of the Republic, 2nd edition

CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.
GENERAL CHARACTER OF ROMAN POETRY.
	PAGE
Recent change in the estimate of Roman Poetry	1
Want of originality	2
As compared with Greek Poetry	3
" " with Roman Oratory and History	4
The most complete literary monument of Rome	5
Partly imitative, partly original	6
Imitative in forms	7
" in metres	8
Imitative element in diction	9
" " in matter	11
Original character, partly Roman, partly Italian	13
National spirit	14
Imaginative sentiment	15
Moral feeling	16
Italian element in Roman Poetry	17
Love of Nature	17
Passion of Love	19
Personal element in Roman Poetry	20
Four Periods of Roman Poetry	24
Character of each	24
Conclusion	26
CHAPTER II.
VESTIGES OF INDIGENOUS POETRY IN ROME AND ANCIENT ITALY.
Niebuhr's theory of a Ballad-Poetry	28
The Saturnian metre	29
Ritual Hymns	31
Prophetic verses	33
Fescennine verses	34
Saturae	35
Gnomic verses	36
Commemorative verses	37
Inferences as to their character	38
From early state of the language	39
No public recognition of Poetry	40
Roman story result of tradition and reflection	41
Inferences from the nature of Roman religion	43
From the character and pursuits of the people	44
Roman Poetry of Italian rather than Roman origin	45
FIRST PERIOD.
FROM LIVIUS ANDRONICUS TO LUCILIUS.
CHAPTER III.
BEGINNING OF ROMAN LITERATURE. LIVIUS ANDRONICUS. CN. NAEVIUS, 240-202 B.C.
Contact with Greece after capture of Tarentum	47
First period of Roman literature	49
Forms of Poetry during this period	50
Livius Andronicus	51
Cn. Naevius, his life	52
Dramas	55
Epic poem	57
Style	59
Conclusion	60
CHAPTER IV.
Q. ENNIUS, 239-170 B.C., LIFE, TIMES, AND PERSONAL TRAITS. VARIOUS WORKS. GENIUS AND INTELLECT.
Importance of Ennius	62
Notices of his life	63
Influences affecting his career	64
Italian birth-place	64
Greek education	65
Service in Roman army	66
Historical importance of his age	68
Intellectual character of his age	69
Personal traits	71
Description of himself in the Annals	72
Intimacy with Scipio	74
His enthusiastic temperament	75
Religious spirit and convictions	77
Miscellaneous works	78
Saturae	81
Dramas	83
Annals	87
Outline of the Poem	88
Idea by which it is animated	91
Artistic defects	93
Roman character of the work	94
Contrast with the Greek Epic	95
Contrast in its personages	95
Contrast in supernatural element	96
Oratory in the Annals	97
Description and imagery	99
Rhythm and diction	101
Chief literary characteristics of Ennius	105
Energy of conception	106
Patriotic and imaginative sentiment	109
Moral emotion	111
Practical understanding	113
Estimate in ancient times	115
Disparaging criticism of Niebuhr	117
Conclusion	118
CHAPTER V.
EARLY ROMAN TRAGEDY. M. PACUVIUS, 219-129 B.C. L. ACCIUS, 170-ABOUT 90 B.C.
Popularity of early Roman Tragedy	120
Partial adaptation of Athenian drama	121
Inability to reproduce its pure Hellenic character	123
Nearer approach to the spirit of Euripides than of Sophocles	125
Grounds of popularity of Roman Tragedy	127
Moral tone and oratorical spirit	129
Causes of its decline	132
M. Pacuvius, notices of his life	134
Ancient testimonies	135
His dramas	136
Passages illustrative of his thought	137
Of his moral and oratorical spirit	139
Descriptive passages	141
Drama on a Roman subject	142
Character	142
L. Accius, notices of his life	143
His various works	145
Fragments illustrative of his oratorical spirit	147
" " of his moral fervour	148
" " of his sense of natural beauty	149
Conclusion as to character of Roman Tragedy	150
CHAPTER VI.
ROMAN COMEDY. T. MACCIUS PLAUTUS, ABOUT 254 TO 184 B.C.
Flourishing era of Roman Comedy	152
How far any claim to originality?	153
Disparaging judgment of later Roman critics	154
Connection with earlier Saturae	155
Naevius and Plautus popular poets	156
Facts in the life of Plautus	157
Attempt to fill up the outline from his works	159
Familiarity with town-life	160
Traces of maritime adventure	161
Life of the lower and middle classes represented in his plays	162
Love of good living	163
Love of money	164
Artistic indifference	165
Knowledge of Greek	165
Influence of the spirit of his age	166
Dramas adaptations of outward conditions of Athenian New Comedy	167
Manner and spirit, Roman and original	171
Indications of originality in his language	172
" " in his Roman allusions and national characteristics	173
Favourite plots of his plays	176
Pseudolus, Bacchides, Miles Gloriosus, Mostellaria	177
Aulularia, Trinummus, Menaechmi, Rudens, Captivi, Amphitryo	180
Mode of dealing with his characters	188
Moral and political indifference of his plays	189
Value as a poetic artist	193
Power of expression by action, rhythm, diction	194
CHAPTER VII.
TERENCE AND THE COMIC POETS SUBSEQUENT TO PLAUTUS.
Comedy between the time of Plautus and Terence	201
Caecilius Statius	202
Scipionic Circle	203
Complete Hellenising of Roman Comedy	204
Conflicting accounts of life of Terence	205
Order in which his Plays were produced	206
His 'prologues' as indicative of his individuality	207
'Dimidiatus Menander'	209
Epicurean 'humanity' chief characteristic	210
Sentimental motive of his pieces	211
Minute delineations of character	212
Diction and rhythm	214
Influence on the style and sentiment of Horace	215
Comoedia Togata, Atellanae, Mimus	216
CHAPTER VIII.
EARLY ROMAN SATIRE. C. LUCILIUS, DIED 102 B.C.
Independent origin of Roman satire	217
Essentially Roman in form and spirit	219
" " in its political and censorial function	220
Personal and miscellaneous character of early satire	222
Critical epoch at which Lucilius appeared	223
Question as to the date of his birth	224
Fragments chiefly preserved by grammarians	227
Miscellaneous character and desultory treatment of subjects	228
Traces of subjects treated in different books	229
Impression of the author's personality	230
Political character of Lucilian satire	232
Social vices satirised in it	233
Intellectual peculiarities	236
Literary criticism	238
His style	240
Grounds of his popularity	243
CHAPTER IX.
REVIEW OF THE FIRST PERIOD.
Common aspects in the lives of poets in the second century B.C.	247
Popular and national character of their works	250
Political condition of the time reflected in its literature	251
Defects of the poetic literature in form and style	253
Other forms of literature cultivated in that age	254
Oratory and history	255
Familiar letters	256
Critical and grammatical studies	257
Summary of character of the first period	258
SECOND PERIOD.
THE CLOSE OF THE REPUBLIC.
CHAPTER X.
TRANSITION FROM LUCILIUS TO LUCRETIUS.
Dearth of poetical works during the next half century	263
Literary taste confined to the upper classes	265
Great advance in Latin prose writing	266
Influence of this on the style of Lucretius and Catullus	267
Closer contact with the mind and art of Greece	268
Effects of the political unsettlement on the contemplative life and thought	270
" on the life of pleasure, and the art founded on it	271
The two representatives of the thought and art of the time	272
CHAPTER XI.
LUCRETIUS. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
Little known of him from external sources	274
Examination of Jerome's statement	275
Inferences as to his national and social position	281
Relation to Memmius	282
Impression of the author to be traced in his poem	283
Influence produced by the action of his age	284
Minute familiarity with Nature and country life	286
Spirit in which he wrote his work	288
His consciousness of power and delight in his task	289
His polemical spirit	291
Reverence for Epicurus	292
Affinity to Empedocles	293
Influence of other Greek writers	295
" of Ennius	297
His interests speculative, not national	298
His Roman temperament	299
CHAPTER XII.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF LUCRETIUS.
Three aspects of the poem	300
General scope of the argument	301
Analysis of the poem	303
Question as to its unfinished condition	313
What is the value of the argument?	316
Weakness of his science	317
Interest of the work as an exposition of ancient physical enquiry	325
" from its bearing on modern questions	326
Power of scientific reasoning, observation, and expression	327
Connecting links between his philosophy and poetry	333
Idea of law	333
" of change	336
" of the infinite	339
" of the individual	340
" of the subtlety of Nature	341
" of Nature as a living power	342
CHAPTER XIII.
THE RELIGIOUS ATTITUDE AND MORAL TEACHING OF LUCRETIUS.
General character of Greek epicureanism	348
Prevalence at Rome in the last age of the Republic	350
New type of epicureanism in Lucretius	352
Forms of evil against which his teaching was directed	355
Superstition	356
Fear of death	361
Ambition	366
Luxury	367
Passion of love	368
Limitation of his ethical views	370
His literary power as a moralist	372
CHAPTER XIV.
THE LITERARY ART AND GENIUS OF LUCRETIUS.
Artistic defects of the work	376
" arising from the nature of the subject	377
" from inequality in its execution	378
Intensity of feeling pervading the argument	380
Cumulative force in his rhythm	381
Qualities of his style	382
Freshness and sincerity of expression	383
Imaginative suggestiveness and creativeness	385
Use of analogies	387
Pictorial power	389
Poetical interpretation of Nature	390
Energy of movement in his descriptions	391
Poetic aspect of Nature influenced by his philosophy	393
Poetical interpretation of life	395
Modern interest of the poem	397
CHAPTER XV.
CATULLUS.
Contrast to the poetry of Lucretius	399
The poetry of youth	400
Accidental preservation of his poems	401
Principle of their arrangement	402
Vivid personal revelation afforded by them	404
Uncertainty as to the date of his birth	405
Birth-place and social standing	408
Influences of his native district	410
Identity of Lesbia and Clodia	412
Poems written between 61 and 57 B.C.	414
Poems connected with his Bithynian journey	418
Poems written between 56 and 54 B.C.	421
Character of his poems, founded on the passion of love	424
" " " on friendship and affection	426
His short satirical pieces	430
Other poems expressive of personal feeling	437
Qualities of style in these poems	438
" of rhythm	439
" of form	440
The Hymn to Diana	441
His longer and more purely artistic pieces	442
His Epithalamia	443
His Attis	447
The Peleus and Thetis	448
The longer elegiac poems	455
Rank of Catullus among the poets of the world	457

CORRIGENDA ET ADDENDA.

Page xii, line 25 from top, for Ampitryo read Amphitryo.

" 43, note, for Altus read Attus.

" 90, line 26 from top, for Fos read Flos.

" 157, note 2, add the words, 'Terence, who was by birth a foreigner, was probably brought to Rome as a child.'

" 194, line 25 from top, for The Italian liveliness, &c., made them, read Their liveliness, &c., made the Italians.

" 194, third line from bottom, for nisim read nisam.

" 213, line 12 from top, for Æschylus read Æschinus.

" 215, note, for debacehentur read debacchentur.

" 230, foot of the page, for divitias read divitiis.

" 287, line 12 from top, for arbonis read arboris.

" 289, line 16 from top, for ardera read ardua.

" 289, line 32 from top, for and read or.

" 296, line 9 from bottom, for by read to.

" 343, line 7 from bottom, for fungiferentis read frugiferentis.

" 413, note 1, add the words, 'Cicero also, in his letters to Caelius, addresses him as mi Rufe,' Ep. II. 9. 3, 12. 2.

The Roman Poets of the Republic, 2nd edition

About This Book

CONTENTS.

CORRIGENDA ET ADDENDA.