The Roman Poets of the Republic Part 46

His powers of observation, thought, feeling, and imagination, are characterised by a remarkable vitality and sincerity. His strong intellectual and poetical faculty is united with some of the rarest moral qualities,--fort.i.tude, seriousness of spirit, love of truth, manly tenderness of heart. And if it seems that his great powers of heart, understanding, and genius led him to accept and to teach a philosophy, paralysing to the highest human hope and energy, it is to be remembered that he lived at a time when the truest minds may well have despaired of the Divine government of the world, and must have honestly felt that it was well to be rid, at any cost, of the burden of Pagan superst.i.tion.

[Footnote 1: i. 943-45.]

[Footnote 2: 'And they placed the dwelling-places and mansions of the G.o.ds in the heavens, because it is through the heavens that the night and the moon are seen to sweep--the moon, the day, and night, and the stern constellations of night, the torches of heaven wandering through the night, and flying meteors, the clouds, the sun, the rains, the snow, the winds, lightning, hail, the rapid rattle, the threatening peals and murmurs of the thunder.'--v. 1188-93.]

[Footnote 3: Cf. Munro, Introduction, ii. pp. 311, etc.]

[Footnote 4: Cf.

Quaerentem dictis quibus et quo carmine demum Clara tuae possim praepandere lumina menti Res quibus occultas penitus convisere possis.

i. 143-5.]

[Footnote 5: i. 2-4.]

[Footnote 6: i. 17-18.]

[Footnote 7: i. 256.]

[Footnote 8: ii. 317-19.]

[Footnote 9: ii. 362-63.]

[Footnote 10: i. 718-19.]

[Footnote 11: iv. 460-61.]

[Footnote 12: iv. 136-38.]

[Footnote 13: v. 255-56.]

[Footnote 14: ii. 624-25.]

[Footnote 15: ii. 639.]

[Footnote 16: vi. 1179.]

[Footnote 17: iii. 896.]

[Footnote 18: iii. 28-30.]

[Footnote 19: v. 745.]

[Footnote 20: i. 68-9.]

[Footnote 21: v. 1193.]

[Footnote 22: vi. 254.]

[Footnote 23: v. 96.]

[Footnote 24: v. 340.]

[Footnote 25: iii. 842.]

[Footnote 26: i. 926-27.]

[Footnote 27: vi. 34.]

[Footnote 28: ii. 10.]

[Footnote 29: Prevost Paradol, _Nouveaux Essais de Politique et de Litterature_.]

[Footnote 30: 'But as when there have been at the same time many and mighty shipwrecks, the mighty sea is wont to drive in all directions the rowers' benches, rudders, sailyards, prows, masts, and floating oars, so that along all the coasts of land there may be seen the tossing flag-posts of ships, to warn mortals that they shun the wiles, and force, and craft of the faithless sea, nor ever trust the treacherous alluring smile of the calm ocean; so if once you will suppose any finite number of elements, you will find that the many surging forces of matter must disperse and drive them apart through all time, so that they never can meet and gather into union, nor stay in union and wax in increase.'--ii. 552-64.]

[Footnote 31: iv. 587.]

[Footnote 32: i. 64-5.]

[Footnote 33: 'Then comes forth the Spring and Venus, and the harbinger of Spring steps on before them, the winged Zephyr; and near their footsteps, Mother Flora, scattering her treasures before her, fills all the way with glorious colours and fragrance.'--v. 737-40.]

[Footnote 34: Cp. 'Keats has, above all, a sense of what is pleasurable and open in the life of Nature; for him she is the _Alma Parens_: his expression has, therefore, more than Guerin's, something genial, outward, and sensuous. Guerin has above all a sense of what there is adorable and secret in the life of Nature; for him she is the _Magna Parens_; his expression has, therefore, more than Keats', something mystic, inward, and profound.' _Essays in Criticism_, by M. Arnold, p.

130. _Third Edition._]

[Footnote 35: v. 842.]

[Footnote 36: 'Nor can the strong bridges endure the sudden force of the rushing water: in such wise, swollen by heavy rain, the stream with mighty force dashes upon the piers.'--i.

285-87.]

[Footnote 37: 'Percolatur enim virus,' etc.]

[Footnote 38: 'Finally, in their wandering they made their dwelling in the familiar woodland grottoes of the nymphs, from which they marked the rills of water laving the dripping rocks, made slippery with their abundant flow,--dripping rocks, with drops oozing out above the green moss,--and gushing forth and forcing their way over the level plain.'--v.

944-52.]

[Footnote 39: 'And in like manner we see sh.e.l.ls paint the lap of the earth, where with its soft waves the sea beats on the porous sand of the winding sh.o.r.e.'--ii. 374-76.]

[Footnote 40: 'When the dawn first sheds its new light over the earth, and birds of every kind, flying over the pathless woods through the delicate air, fill all the land with their clear notes, the suddenness with which the risen sun then clothes and steeps the world in his light, is clear and evident to all men.'--ii. 144-49.]

[Footnote 41: 'Just as when first the morning beams of the bright sun glow all golden through the gra.s.s gemmed with dew, and a mist arises from meres and flowing streams; and as even the earth itself is sometimes seen to steam; then all these vapours gather together above, and taking shape, as clouds on high, weave a canopy beneath the sky.'--v. 460-66.]

[Footnote 42: Excursion, Book ii:--

'The appearance, instantaneously disclosed,' etc.]

[Footnote 43: ii. 356.]

[Footnote 44: ii. 317.]