﻿88 THE AGE OF TETRONIUS ARBITER. 



Cf. Ovid. Ars Amat. 3. 337 : 



" Et profugum Aenean, altae pvimordia Eomae, 

 Quo nullum Latio clarius exstat opus." 



" Tityrus et friiges Aeneiaque arma legentur, 

 Roma, triumphati dum caput orbis eris." 



Ovid. Amor. 1. 15. 25 ; 



Ovid. Trist. 2. 533 : 



" Et tamen ille tuae feli.\ Aeneidos auctor 

 Contulit in Tyrios arma virumquc toros ; 

 Nee legitur pars ulla magis do corpore toto 

 Quam non legitimo foedore junctus amor." 



Masson places the poem Amor. 1. 15 in the year 18 B. C. (736 U. C), immediately 

 following the year in which Virgil died ; pro^•ing conclusively, therefore, the instanta- 

 neous appreciation of the great epic of Yirgil. The book Ars Amat. was commenced 

 in 10 B. C. (744 U. C), and published, according to Masson, between May and Sep- 

 tember 2 B. C. (752 U. C), or, accorduig to Jahn, in 2 B. C. (752 U. C.) or the 

 commencement of 1 B. C. (753 U. C.) ; so that the above poem, whicli speaks so 

 strongly of the lasting fame of the -lEneid, was written from eight to sixteen years 

 after the death of Vii'gil. The last-quoted book, Tristia, was written during Ovid's 

 exile in Pontus, between 9 A. D. (702 U. C.) and 12 A. D. (765 U. C), or from 

 twenty-seven to thii'ty years after Virgil's death, proving the continued popularity of 

 the poet. 



If there were need of other e^-idence of the immediate, g^eral, and lasting popu- 

 larity of the ^neid, it might be found in the fact stated by Suetonius, in his book 

 "De illustribus Grammaticis" (c. 10): " Quintus Caecilius Epirota, Tusculi natus, 

 libertus Attici equitis Eomani, ad quem sunt Ciceronis epistolae, cum filiam patroni, 

 nuptara Marco Agrippae, doceret, suspectus in ea et ob hoc remotus ad Cornelium 

 Galium se contulit ; vixitque una familiarissime, quod ipsi Gallo inter gravissima cri- 

 mina ab Augusto objicitur. Post deinde damnationem mortemque Galli scholam ape- 

 ruit ; sed ita, ut panels et tantum adolescentibus praeciperet, praetextato nemini, nisi si 

 cujus parenti hoc officium negare non posset. Primus dicitur Latine ex tempore dis- 

 putasse primusque VirgUium et alios poetas novos praelegere coepisse, quod etiam 

 Domitii INIarsi versiculus indicat : 



Epirota, tenellorum nutricula vatum." 



The success of the ^Eneid, so soon after its publication, was undoubtedly much aided 

 by tlie poetic reputation of Virgil, already firmly established by his pre\dous produc- 



