18038.) Lyceum of Ancient Literature—Valerius Flaccus. 
limity and humility. He has laboured 
his work with great minuteness, and there 
is a pleasing variety inthe conduct of 
the poem, though the plan perhaps is not 
sufficiently epic and is somewhat too re- 
dundant in episodes. Its principal _me- 
rit consists in having afforded Virgil a 
model for the beautiful story of Dido. 
The love of Medea for Jason is drawn 
with a degree of nature and truth, that 
leave us only to regret that it is not de- 
lineated with more energy, and greater 
strength of colouring. The style, though 
sometimes harsh, is in general even and 
correct, seldom rising to excellence, and 
never sinking i into absurdity. ‘Those who 
are accustomed to the flights of Pindar 
and the majesty of Homer, will bestow 
little praise on the innoccnt mediocrity 
of Apollonius. 
Valerius Flaccus was gifted with 2 great- 
ershare of poetical inspiration than ‘Apol- 
lonius, and deserves to be ranked among 
the few writers whose copies have sur- 
passed the originals. Quintilian,* that 
severe but enlightened and impartial 
judge, who does not condescend expressiy 
t» mention ettherStatius or Silius Italicus, 
speaks of Flaccus with esteem and regret. 
Vfe was superior in learning and taste to 
the Greek poet, who has many geographi- 
cal errors, and appears to have been little 
acquainted either with history or philoso- 
phy. The opinions of modern critics are 
upon the whole, favourable to Flaccus. 
Scaliger, Barthius, and Borrichius allow 
him considerable merit; and, admitting 
the occasional! hatshnes of his style, con- 
tend that he has frequently high and no- 
ble flights, and that his florid and exube= 
rant diction would have been softened 
and polished, had he lived to revise his 
poem. Heinsius}thinks that among the 
Romans who have adorned epic poetry 
by their writings, there is no one who 
better deservesto be named after Virgil. 
Hfe is copious in his invention, elegant 
and yet bold in his fancy, and correct in 
his manner. ‘There is occasionally so 
much of real genius displayed in the 
poem, that we are apt to regret that he 
did not adopt a more original subject, in- 
stead of following the footstep of ae 
It is observable that the best parts of the 
poem are precisely those in which he has 
discarded Apollonius, and pursued the 
dictates of his own native genius; but as 
if exhausted by the effort, he returns, with 
‘Multum in Val. Flacco auper amisi- 
mus.” Inst. Orat. lib, x. ¢.1 
+ Pret, ad Val. Flaoc, 
| 
servile indolence, to a model so much in 
ferior to him. 
He has been censured, and justly so, 
for the unseasonable magnificence of his 
opening. Unmindful of the rule laid 
down by Horace* which inculcates mo- 
desty and simplicity in the first lines of an 
epic poem, by which the poet announces 
his design and invokes his muse. Thus 
the proposition end invocation of the 
Odyssey and the Acneid are remarkable 
for their terseness and simplicity. Lacan 
even omits the ceremony of an invoca- 
tion, and after a few lines by way of pror 
position, he immediately rushes on his 
subject. 
Quis furor, 5 Cives? 
ferri, &c. 
But nothing can exceed the pomp with 
which Flaccus begins his poem. ‘The in- 
vocation toApollo and the address to Ves- 
pasian, are expressed in these lofty and. 
sonoreus lines. 
quz tanta licentia 
Fhebe mone si Cumez mihi conscia vatis 
Stet casta cortina domo, si laurea digna 
Fronte viret. Tuque 6 pelagi cui major 
aperti 
Fama, Caledonius portquam 
vexit 
Oceanus, Plirygios prius indignatus Talus, 
Eripe me populis & habenti nubila terre, 
Sancte pater, veterumque fave veneranda ca- 
canent 
Facta viram, versam proles sua pandit Idu- 
men, 
Namque potest. Solymo nigrantem pulvere 
fratrem 
Spargentemque faces, & in omni turre fu- 
entem. 
tua carbasa 
But, as may be expected, this magnifi- 
cent style is ill preserved throughout the 
poem, and whenever Flaccus has so're- 
strained his native genius as to follow the 
plan, and almost the language of Apollo- 
nius, he is tame and uninteresting. His 
diction is pure, though occasionally 
rugeed. Weabounds more in poetical 
expressions, and in the narrative parts is 
less prosaic than Statiusand Silius, For 
the knowledge of antiquity displayed in 
the poem, he i is unquestionably indebted 
to the Greek. [here is some appearance 
of invention, avd an affectation of the 
marvellous runs through the whele. The 
manners are delineated with propriety, 
and the characters are various and well 
discriminated. They are,.it must be 
confessed, little remarkable either for 
their morality, or civility. Apollonius 
SN I a er 
* Horat. Ars Poct, 196 et seq. 
‘ ae and 
