409 



VIRGILIUS, PUBLIUS MARO. 



VIRGINIA. 



410 



though ho never attains the vigour of this writer, whom he had care- 

 fully studied, he haa avoided that abruptness and harshness which often 

 eh'Uiioterirte the Hues of Lucretius, and remind us of the antiquated 

 verses of Euuius. 



The yEneis of Virgil is the great national epic of the Romans. It 

 is said that Virgil iu his will gave instructions that the ^Eneid should 

 bo burnt, either because it was imperfect, or for some other reason 

 which is not known ; but that on Tucca and Varius urging to him 

 tli at Augustus would not permit this, he bequeathed the work to 

 them on the condition that they should add nothing, and leave the 

 imperfect verses as they were. The ^Eueid was published by Tucca 

 and Varius after Virgil's death, and was universally admired. The 

 poem consists of twelve books, which contain the story of the wander- 

 ings of .^Eneas after the fall of Troy, and his final settlement iu 

 Latium after the defeat of Turnus and the Rutuli. The Homeric 

 poems are the model of the ^Eneid ; the merit of invention is entirely 

 wanting. The first six books are an imitation of the 'Odyssey;' the 

 last six books are founded on the ' Iliad.' Though the adventures of 

 /Eneas are the direct subject of the ^Eueid, the glories of Rome and 

 the fortunes of the Julian House, to which Augustus belonged, are 

 skilfully interwoven in the texture of the poem. The foundation of Alba 

 Longa and the transfer of the seat of empire from that city to Rome, 

 are announced iu the first book of the ^Eneid, by Jupiter, to be the 

 will of the Fates ; and the great family of the Cseears is declared to 

 be the descendant of ^Eneas. The adventures of the Trojan hero at 

 the court of Dido, queen of Carthage, give occasion to hint at the 

 future rivalry between the Romans and the Carthaginians, and the long 

 contest which waa destined to end in the triumph of the descendants 

 of the Trojan hero. The numerous allusions to actual circumstances 

 and to the history of the republic were adapted to create or to confirm 

 a popular notion of the Trojan descent of the Romans. Though the 

 ^Eneid contains many fine passages, its poetical merits are greatly 

 below those of the' Iliad' and 'Odyssey.' The poem wants the 

 unity of purpose and integrity of construction which so eminently 

 characterise the ' Iliad,' and it is deficient in that truth and simplicity 

 which form the never-tiring charm of both the ' Iliad ' and the 

 'Odyssey.' The Trojan heroes of the ^Eneid are insipid personages; 

 and the chief actor YEneas fails to excite our sympathy as much as 

 his rival Turnus or the fierce Mezenttus. But Virgil had other models 

 besides Homer. .The poets of the Alexandrine school were his study, 

 and particularly Apollouius of Rhodes, whom he has often imitated. 

 It must be admitted that Virgil's subject was barren, and it required 

 considerable skill to invest it with poetic interest. He accomplished 

 this indirectly by giving to ifc an historical colouring and connecting 

 the fortunes of Rome and of his great patron Augustus with the 

 illustrious names of Troy. He scattered over his work an abundance 

 of antiquarian lore, in which he was well skilled ; and the great 

 extent of his learning and his skilful adaptation of it to his purpose 

 are conspicuous all through the work. Virgil was pre-eminently a 

 learned poet ; and if he had not originality and strong feeling, he had 

 at least good taste. His poem can bear no comparison with the 

 ' Iliad ' as a complete work. It does uot abide in the memory as an 

 entire thing; yet numerous single passages are remembered with 

 pleasure a clear proof that its merits are to be estimated rather by 

 an examination of the details than by the general effect, and conse- 

 quently that it fails in satisfying the highest conditions of art, which 

 require such a unity of parts as shall render them all subordinate to 

 one general conception. The ^Eneid contains many obscure passages; 

 and though Virgil is generally used for early instruction in schools, he 

 is in fact one of the most difficult Roman writers. 



The influence of Virgil on the literature of Rome might be the 

 subject of a copious essay. His works were a text-book for the Roman 

 youth and a model for the poets. Those who followed him as epic poets 

 were certainly greatly inferior to him. There are indeed many fine pas- 

 sages in Lucan and Silius Italicus, but a love of rhetorical ornamenl 

 always infected the literature of Rome, and in the later ages of the 

 empire all good taste was sacrificed to it. Virgil was also the greal 

 classical poet of the middle ages. From the time of Charlemagne to 

 the present day we may trace him in innumerable imitators an: 

 admirers. 



Several short poems attributed to Virgil are printed in the collected 

 editions of his works. 1, 'Culex, or the Gnat,' a kind of Bucolic 

 poem, in 412 hexameters, which has little merit, and is probably 

 founded on a genuine poem of the same name by Virgil. 2, ' Ciris 

 or the mythus of Nisus and Scylla.' This poem haa been attributes 

 to Cornelius Gallus and others. 3, ' Copa,' a short poem in elegiac 

 verse, containing an invitation by a woman who is attached to a tavern 

 to persons to come in and make merry there. ' Critics have assignee 

 the authorship of this little poem to various persons. 4, ' Moretum, 

 in 123 verses, is probably a fragment of a larger poem which describe! 

 the daily labours of a cultivator of the soil. This poem contains th 

 description of the labours of the first part of the day only. The author 

 ship of this poem is also uncertain. 5, 'Catalecta,' a collection o 

 fourteen smaller poems. 



The first edition of Virgil, which was printed about 1469, in smal 

 folio, has the following title : ' P. Virgilii Maronis Opera et Catalecta 

 Roma3, Cour. Suueynheyrn et Am. Pannartz,' with a dedication by 

 Giovanni Andrea, bishop of Aleria in Corsica, to Tope Paul II. Th 



ext was printed from bad manuscripts. This edition ia very rare : it 

 vas reprinted in 1471. Virgil was printed by Aldus at Venice, 8vo, in 

 501 ; this edition also is very scarce. Virgil was often printed with 

 he commentaries of Servius and others at the clo.se of the 15th and the 

 jeginutng of the 16th centuries. The edition of Robert Stephens, 

 aris, fol., 1532, contains the commentary of Servius. The edition of 

 . L. de la Cerda, which is valuable for the commentary, appeared at 

 Madrid, in 3 vols. fol. : the several volumes were published in the 

 years 1608, 1612, and 1617. The edition of Dan. Heinous, ^appeared 

 it Leyden, 12mo, in 1636; that of Nicholas Heinsius. which is much 

 >etter, was first published at Amsterdam in 1676. The edition of C. 

 . Heyne, on which great labour was bestowed, was published from 

 .he year 1767 to 1775, at Leipzig, in 4 vols. 8vo, with a very copious 

 ndex : this edition was reprinted in 1788 with improvements. The 

 'ourth edition of Heyne, by G. P. E. Wagner, has the following title : 

 Publius Virgilius Maro, Varietate Lectionis et Perpetua Adnotatione 

 llustratus a Christ. GottL Heyne, Editio Quarta, curavit G. Phil. 

 Sberard Wagner,' Lipsise, 5 vols. 8vo, 1830-42. The text has been 

 corrected after the best manuscripts, the Medicean, Vatican, and 

 others ; the punctuation has been improved, and the orthography 

 amended. The text may be had separately, in a single volume entitled 

 the ' Publii Virgilii Maronis Carmina ad pristinam Orthographiam quoad 

 ejus fieri potuit revocata, edidit Philippus Wagner,' Leipzig, 8vo, 1831. 

 This volume also contains the ' Orthographia Vergiliana.' Of the edition 

 of A. Forbiger, a trd edition appeared iu 3 vols. 8vo, Leipzig, 1852. 



The editions of the several parts of Virgil are very numerous. A 

 ;olerably complete list of all the editions and translations is .given by 

 Schweigger, ' Handbuch der Classischen Bibliographic,' vol. ii., pp. 

 1145-1258. There is a good German translation of the Bucolics by 

 J. H. Voss with valuable notes : the second edition is by Abraham 

 Voss, Altona, 1830. J. H. Voss also translated the Georgics : both 

 the translation and the commentary of Voss are highly esteemed. 

 Martyn's prose English translations of the Bucolics, London, 1749, and 

 of the Georgics, 1741, are valued for the commentaries. A complete 

 translation of Virgil by J. H. Voss appeared at Brunswick, in 3 vols, 

 8vo, 1799, and has gone through several editions. The ^Eneid was 

 translated into Scottish verse by Gawin Douglas, bishop of Dunkeld, 

 and published at London in 1553. The English versions of Virgil are 

 numerous. John Ogilby's translation into verse appeared at London in 

 1649 and 1650. The verse translation of Dryden was published by 

 Tonson, London, 1697, with a " hundred sculptures." There is a trans- 

 lation in blank verse by Dr. Joseph Trapp, with notes : it is a very dull 

 version. The YEneid translated by C. Pitt, and the Eclogues and 

 Georgics by Joseph Wartou, with observations by Spence and others, 

 was published by Dodsley, 4 vols. Svo, London, 1753. The Georgics 

 translated by Sotheby contains the original text and the versions of 

 Delille, Voss, Soave, and Guzman. 



The materials for the life of Virgil are chiefly derived from the Lifo 

 attributed to Tiberius Claudius Douatus, which, in its present form, is 

 an uncritical performance, but has the appearance of being founded on 

 good materials. It is printed in Wagner's Virgil with notes, and in 

 some other editions also. The works already referred to, with Baehr's 

 ' Geschichte der Roinischen Literatur,' contain abundant references to 

 the editions, translations, and commentaries on Virgil's poems. 



VIRGI'NIA, a Roman maiden, daughter of L. Virginius, whose 

 name is famous in the early history of Rome. Her etory is one of the 

 most beautiful in Roman history. She possessed extraordinary beauty, 

 and had been virtuously brought up by her parents. She was be- 

 trothed to L. Icilius, a tribune of the people. Appius Claudius, one 

 of the decemvirs, attempted to seduce her; but finding that her 

 virtue was stronger than his temptations, he had recourse to fraud 

 and violence. Her father Virginius was absent at Mount Algidus, 

 where he commanded a division of the army against the ^Equi. The 

 decemvir thought this a favourable opportunity, and instigated M. 

 Claudius, one of his clients, to claim the girl as his slave. Accord- 

 ingly, one day when, accompanied by her nurse, she was going to the 

 foruin, where schools were then kept in the tabernse, the client of 

 Appius Claudius seized her, asserting that she was the daughter of one 

 of his slaves, and consequently was his property. The nurse raised 

 loud cries, and called on the people for help. A crowd came together, 

 and the girl was rescued ; but the claimant declared that he would 

 establish his right before a court of justice. The case was accordingly 

 brought before the tribunal of Appius Claudius himself, where the 

 client stated that Virginia was the daughter of one of his slaves, and 

 had been carried off into the house of Virginius, as he would prove by 

 the evidence of Virginius himself; and he added, that until the return 

 of Virgiuius she should be kept in the house of her lawful master. 

 Great opposition was made by the friends of the girl to this claim, but 

 Appius Claudius affected to think the demand of his client just. 

 Icilius now stepped forward and claimed the girl as his betrothed 

 wife; and when threats were unavailing, he implored Claudius to 

 think of the consequences. Icilius was immediately surrounded by 

 the lictors of the decemvir, and declared a disturber of the peace ; but 

 in order to have at least the appearance of justice on his side, Appius 

 Claudius adjourned the case till the next day, adding that he would 

 then enforce the law whether Virginius returned or not. Two mes- 

 sengers were speedily sent to Virgiuius to inform him of the danger of, 

 his daughter. Appius Claudius also sent a secret message to request 



