BY THE EOMA.NS. 15 



places to the surface which, we inhabit, and should sud- 

 denly behold the earth, and the sea, and the vault of 

 heaven ; should perceive the broad expanse of the clouds and 

 the strength of the winds; should admire the sun in his 

 majesty, beauty, and effulgence; and, lastly, when night veiled 

 the earth in darkness, should gaze on the starry firmament, the 

 waxing and waning moon, and the stars rising and setting 

 in their unchanging course, ordained from eternity, they 

 would, of a truth, exclaim, ' there are gods, and such great 

 things are their work/ " It has been justly said, that these 

 words would alone be sufficient to confirm Cicero's opinion 

 of "the golden flow of the Aristotelian eloquence" ( 21 ), and 

 that there breathes in them somewhat of the inspired genius 

 of Plato. Such a testimony as this to the existence of 

 heavenly powers, from the beauty and infinite grandeur of 

 the works of creation, is indeed rare in classical antiquity. 



That which we miss with regard to the Greeks, I will not 

 say in their appreciation of natural phsenomena, but in the 

 direction which their literature assumed, we find still more 

 sparingly among the Eomans. A nation which, in conformity 

 with the old Siculian manners, manifested a marked predilec- 

 tion for agriculture and rural life, might have justified other 

 hopes ; but with all their capacity for practical activity, the 

 Eomans, in their cold gravity, and measured sobriety of 

 understanding, were, as a people, far inferior to the Greeks 

 in the perception of beauty, and far less sensitive to its influ- 

 ence ; and were much more devoted to the realities of every- 

 day life, than to an idealising poetic contemplation of nature. 



These inherent differences between the Greek and Roman 

 mind are faithfully reflected, as is always the case with 

 national character, in their respective literatures ; and I must 



