GRAMMAR OF LATIN POETRY. 8.1. THE first thing that must be noticed by every reader or writer of poetry is, that it has a language and a character of its own, totally independent of its metrical form. It is raised so much above the common tenor of language, that the ancients called it the speech of the gods. Twist and distort a truly poetic passage into any shape, arrange it in any form, and it will still retain the disjecta membra poeta. On the other hand, the strictest attention to the rules of prosody cannot give to a prosaic fragment a tinge of poetic hue. In order, therefore, to produce good compositions in Latin verse, it is necessary to analyse minutely the modes of arrangement, construction, and decoration, employed by the best Roman poets. Let us take, for instance, the description of a country life, as given by Horace, Epod. 2. 1—10. Beatus ille, qui procul negotiis, Ut prisca gens mortalium, Paterna rura bobus exercet suis, Solutus omni fœnore. Neque excitatur classico miles truci, Forumque vitat, et superba civium Ergo aut adultâ vitium propagine 5 10 1 Grandis et ornata vox est poetarum; in eâ cum licentiam statuo majorem esse quam in nobis (oratoribus) faciendorum jungendorumque verborum, tum etiam nonnullorum voluptati vocibus magis quàm rebus inserviunt. Cic. de Or. 20. Neque enim concludere versum Dixeris esse satis: neque, si quis scribat, uti nos, Sermoni propiora, putes hunc esse poetam. Ingenium cui sit, cui mens divinior, atque os Magna sonaturum, des nominis hujus honorem.-Hor. Sat. i. 4. 39–43. B 1. Beatus, not simply felix: the verb est omitted for the sake of terseness. See below, § 20. Prisca is a poetical 2. Ut prisca, an apposite simile. word; and if used at all in prose, it would rather have been priscorum. See below, § 35. 3. Paterna rura, not agros. Observe the force and beauty added by the adjective 'paterna.' 5 Classico truci. Observe how these words are elevated above the level of prose! How superior to 'bellica tuba'! 6. Horret, not simply timet; 'shudders at.' too, is not merely ferum, but iratum. The sea, 7, 8. Superba...limina. How much more poetical than 'the houses of the Great' ! Limina is elegantly put for domos, by the figure synecdoche. See below, § 50. (1.) 9, 10. The vines are not called 'vites,' but adulta vitium propago; and he is said not 'jungere,' but 'maritare,' by a metaphor which, in prose, would be turgid and bombastic. A work such as the Eclogues or Georgics of Virgil, the Heroïdes of Ovid, or selections from the Tristia or Fasti, and more especially the Odes of Horace, thus illustrated vivá voce by a teacher of taste and elegance, would be of infinite service to his pupils in the art of composition, by improving their judgment, their perception of beauty, and their skill in imitating the best examples. §2. Hence we see, that even in the simplest and plainest poetical description, where the author aims at but a slight elevation of style and splendour of decoration, how much there is which distinguishes it from mere prose, in the way of metaphor, epithets, and illustration. It is by scrutinising and dissecting passages in this manner, and afterwards committing them to memory, that the student will acquire such a stock of poetical language as will render Latin versification comparatively easy; he will thus learn, by practice, how to combine and dispose his words, so as to produce the effect which he cannot but observe in his models; and it is principally to this point that the teacher should direct his instructions. The construction of an elegiac couplet, which is usually the first thing attempted, requires little beyond an effort of memory on the part of the pupil. But to catch the features of Latin poetry as distinguished from prose, in such a way as to make use of them in translation from the freer English of original passages, is a work which requires the exercise of observation, taste, and judgment on the part of the scholar, and much attention and discernment on the part of the instructor. Instead of being driven to lean upon their Gradus for poetical phrases, beginners should be early accustomed to depend upon their own application of classical writers to the purposes of poetical composition. They should be made to observe the leading distinctions of poetry in the books they are reading, and to commit to memory such passages as contain a larger proportion of poetic diction. The following general rules will be further illustrated below. §3. a. In poetry the order of words is often inverted; they are not arranged by any strict rules of government; particles are not confined to the places assigned them in prose. Parts of speech are interchanged; the substantive is used for the adjective, the singular number for the plural, the passive voice for the active, the active for the passive, the present for the perfect tense, &c. b. Foreign constructions, especially Grecisms, abound in poetry. Old words are recalled to service, new ones are invented. Uncommon expressions and combinations mark its aversion to vulgar usage. c. Poetry accumulates epithets, in which prose is very sparing. d. It delights in expressing the names of men, places, and things, by ingenious and ornamental tropes and synonymes: Achilles becomes Pelei natus; Jupiter, divûm pater atque hominum rex; Pindar, Dirceus cycnus; fish, humida gens ponti; sunbeams, lucida tela diei; woods, frondifera domûs avium; Parnassus, Pierium jugum; the Egyptians, gens fortunata Canopi; three years will be called tres messes, or tertia Ceres, or jam tertia ducitur æstas. But such expressions in prose would be cold and trivial. e. Poetry elevates common matters, and dwells upon incidents and circumstances which prose would pass over almost unnoticed: thus, while a prose narrator would say, It was night,' the poet says, "Nox erat, et cœlo fulgebat luna sereno inter minora sidera;" or, " Nox erat, et bifores intrabat luna fenestras;" or, 66 Jamque quiescebant voces hominumque canumque." f. Where prose is general, poetry is particular; where prose puts the genus, poetry introduces the species: thus, for the sea generally, the poet uses Adria, Tyrrhenum, Egeum, Myrtoum mare; for any tree, ulmus, populus, ornus, quercus; for a mountain, he says Athos or Rhodope, or "the Acroceraunian mountains of ill name." This is a great beauty, and should be particularly noticed. g. In tropes and figures, it is daring and luxuriant: Neptunus is put for the sea; seges ferrea, for the lifted spears of an army; when it rains, "multo descendit Jupiter imbre; when it thunders, "porta tonat cœli." But all these peculiarities will be explained at greater length below. § 4. It may be well here to give a brief and popular sketch of the different kinds of poetry, and their most strikng characteristics. a. To begin with the Epic poem: Grandeur and dignity are the distinguishing features of this style. Its diction is of the purest and most elevated kind. It will admit of nothing mean or low. Its epithets, figures, and tropes, particularly metaphors, must be bold and forcible; and they may be used abundantly. Archaisms have place here with great effect, as in Virgil we find aulai, olli, sic fatur, &c. Proper names, especially of rivers, woods, and mountains, are ornamental, particularly when accompanied by short descriptions, or picturesque epithets: as, " Audiit omnis sulphured Nar albus aqua." If common-place and vulgar circumstances are necessarily introduced, they must be elevated so as to lose their meanness. When a fire is to be lit, " quærit pars semina flammæ," En. vi. 6. When it thunders, "ingeminant abruptis nubibus ignes," En. iii. 199. Dido loves Æneas; but the poet does not say, "formosum Ænean ardet," as he does in the Eclogues, nor "lascivus leniter afflat Amor," as Ovid or Propertius would express it; but "gravi jamdudum saucia curâ vulnus alit venis, et cæco carpitur igne ;-est mollis flamma medullas," En. iv. 1. 2. 65. When the subject is passionate or pathetic, epithets should be sparingly used; all high-flown words and daring or fanciful metaphors avoided; such figures as apostrophe, exclamation, interrogation, are in place; the sentences should be short; the language simple and natural. But in descriptions and narratives the very reverse of this is done. The language should be full, animated, and ornamental; the verse flowing on without interruption. with every variety of feet, cæsura, and length of syllable; the sentences should be longer, and closed with fulness and rotundity; the metaphors bold and ingenious; the similes and comparisons luxuriant. All antithesis, paronomasia, affected alliteration, and quaint conceits, must be studiously avoided; while, on the other hand, care must be taken not to fall into bombast, unnatural stiffness, or excess of ornament. Obs. 1. Under this head may be comprised Historical, Philosophical, and Didactic poetry; in all of which truth, though relieved by ingenious fictions, is supposed to prevail. Obs. 2. The Historical poem, being fettered down to a certain order of real events, necessarily falls below the Epic properly so called, in which the circumstances are entirely at the poet's disposal. It must, therefore, depend for success upon animated and nervous language, vivid description, happy display of character; episodes, orations, sentiments, and striking situations. The Pharsalia of Lucan, and the Punic War of Silius Italicus, are specimens of this kind. Obs. 3. Much the same may be said of Philosophic and Didactic poems. Their object is to display a set of truths in the most attractive form; and their interest depends little upon the subject itself, which might be better taught in prose, but upon extraneous decoration. Such are the "De Naturâ Rerum" of Lucretius; and the Georgics of Virgil. b. Pastoral poetry naturally follows. Its tone and character are much softer than those of the epic; but nevertheless it has its share of dignity and gracefulness, and rejects whatever is low, really vulgar, and inelegant. The great model of this kind of poetry, Theocritus, does not confine himself exclusively to pastoral subjects; his matter is sometimes epic, though his manner is still pastoral. Virgil, |