The Roman Poets of the Augustan Age: Virgil Part 16

The magnificent temples of deities blending the attributes of native Italian G.o.ds with those of the G.o.ds of Olympus seemed to preside over the tumult and active business of the Forum; and the majesty of the Capitoline Jove was still recognised as the manifestation of the stability and power of the State. But the Roman imagination was at the same time beginning to be impressed by a new symbol of Divine agency, which was felt in all national concerns. The ideal majesty of Jove was merging, as an object of veneration, in the actual majesty of Caesar, regarded as the vicegerent of the Supreme Power. All these phases of religious belief, Greek and Italian, old and new, some appealing to the popular, some to the educated mind, meet in the poetry of the Augustan Age, and nowhere in more close conjunction than in this Invocation. They appear in still stranger connexion with the later results of science and philosophic thought. It is impossible to find any principle of reconcilement in accordance with which their proper place in the reasonable intelligence of the age may be a.s.signed to each. They came together in Virgil as a composite result of the union of his literary and philosophic tastes with his religious feeling and national sympathies. So far as we can attach any truth of meaning to this Invocation, we must look upon it as a symbolical expression of Divine agency and superintendence in all the various fields of natural production.

Virgil is much more sparing than Lucretius in the proems to his other books. In the second book there is a brief invocation to Liber, who is introduced, with rich pictorial colouring, as the special G.o.d of the vintage; and at lines 3946 there is an appeal to Maecenas, which disclaims, perhaps not without some reference to the contrary practice of Lucretius, all intention to detain his hearer 'through digressions from the main theme and long preambles.' In the fourth there is again a brief appeal to Maecenas, a statement of the subject, an admission of its homely character,-'In tenui labor,'-an expression of the hope that, even out of these materials, great glory may ensue if Apollo hears the poet's prayer and no unpropitious powers impede the course of his song. The introduction to the third book is more extended, and more interesting from the light which it throws on the motives which determined Virgil to the choice of the subject of his epic poem. Here, too, as in the first and second books, there is an appeal to the tutelary deities of the herds and flocks, the Italian Pales, and the 'Pastor ab Amphryso,'-the Apollo ????? of Greek legend and rural wors.h.i.+p. The a.s.sociations of Greek poetry are also evoked in the reference to the woods and streams of Lycaeus, to the lowing herds of Cithaeron, to the dogs that range over Taygetus, and to the famous horses of the Argive plain. The choice of the subject is justified by the contrast suggested between its novelty-'silvas saltusque sequamur Intactos'-and the hackneyed poems founded on mythological subjects which his immediate predecessors in poetry had written in imitation of their Alexandrine prototypes. But he indicates here, with a new application of the words of Ennius, the aspiration to compose a great national epic in celebration of the exploits of Caesar:-

temptanda via est, qua me quoque possim Tollere humo victorque virum volitare per ora(344).

Under the allegory of the games which he proposed to celebrate, and the marble temple which he proposed to raise on the banks of the Mincio, he a.s.sociates the thought of his early home with his ambition to rival the great works of Greek genius (for this seems to be the meaning of the lines

Cuncta mihi, Alpheum linquens lucosque Molorchi, Cursibus et crudo decernet Graecia cestu)(345),-

and to spread the fame of Caesar through distant ages. This invocation must have been written later than the crowning victory of Actium, but before the plan of the Aeneid had definitely a.s.sumed shape in the poet's mind. From the allegorical representations of the designs in gold, ivory, and marble for the ornaments of the temple, and still more clearly from the direct statement

Mox tamen ardentis accingar dicere pugnas Caesaris(346),

it may be inferred that his first idea was to make the contemporaneous events the main subject of his epic, and to introduce the glories of the Trojan line as accessories. Under what influence he changed this purpose, making contemporary events subsidiary and the ancient legend the main argument of his poem, will be considered in the chapters devoted to the examination of the Aeneid.

IV.

As affecting the arrangement and ill.u.s.tration of their materials, there is this essential difference between the poems of Lucretius and Virgil, that the one is a great continuous argument, the development of speculative truths depending on one another; and its professed aim is purely contemplative,-the production of a certain state of mind and feeling. The other is the orderly exposition of a number of precepts, depending on experience and special knowledge; its professed aim is the mastery over a great practical occupation. Lucretius uses poetry as the vehicle of science, Virgil as the instrument of a useful art. In the first we expect, and we find, in so far as the poem was left completed, rigorous concentration of thought, and an exhaustive treatment of the subject. In the second we expect, and we find, an orderly and convenient arrangement, and such a selection of topics as, while producing the impression of a thorough mastery of the subject, leaves also much to be filled up by the imagination or experience of the reader. Still, that Virgil regarded Lucretius as his technical model may be inferred from the use which he makes of several of his formulae, such as 'Principio,' 'Quod superest,'

'His animadversis,' 'Nunc age,' 'Praeterea,' by which the framework of his argument is held together. Virgil uses these more sparingly, and with a more careful selection, so as, while producing the impression of continuity of thought, not to impede the pure flow of his poetry with the mechanism of logical connexion. He follows Lucretius also, who here observed the practice of the Greek didactic poets, in maintaining the liveliness of a personal address by the frequent use of such appeals as these, 'Nonne vides,' 'Contemplator,' 'Forsitan et ... quaeras,' 'Vidi,'

'Ausim,' etc.

In ill.u.s.trating and giving novelty to his various topics Virgil has the example of Lucretius to justify him in catching up and dwelling on every aspect of beauty or imaginative interest which they are capable of presenting. And it is here that the more careful art of Virgil, and the fact that he attached more value to the perfection of his art than to the knowledge he imparts, give him that technical superiority over the older writer which, notwithstanding the tamer interest of his subject, and perhaps the tamer character of his own genius, has made the Georgics a poem much more familiar to the world than the 'De Rerum Natura.' Virgil, for one thing, enjoys greater freedom of omitting any set of topics,-any of those details on which Cato or Varro would have felt themselves bound to be specially explicit,-which would detract unduly from the beauty and general amenity of his exposition; or by a simple touch (such as the 'Ne saturare fimo pingui,' etc.) he can suggest the necessity of attending to such topics, while leaving their full realisation to the reader. He thus, by greater selection and elimination of his materials, avoids the monotony and the long prosaic inters.p.a.ces between the grander bursts of poetry which his vast argument imposes on Lucretius. But, further, he avails himself of many more resources to give variety of interest and literary charm to the topics which he successively deals with. Each and all of these topics,-the processes of ploughing and sowing, the signs of the weather, the grafting of trees and the pruning of the vine, the qualities of horses and cattle, the tending of sheep and goats, the observation of the habits of bees,-bring him into immediate contact with the genial influences of the outward world. The vastness as well as the abstract character of his subject forces Lucretius to pa.s.s through many regions which seem equally removed from this genial presence and from all human a.s.sociations. It is only the enthusiasm of discovery-the delight in purely intellectual processes-that bears him buoyantly through these dreary s.p.a.ces; and it is only the knowledge that from time to time glimpses of illimitable power and wonder are opened up to him, and admiration for the energy and clear vision of his guide, that compel the flagging reader to accompany him. But Virgil leads his readers through scenes, tamer indeed and more familiar, yet always bright and smiling with some homely charm, or rich and glowing with the 'pomp of cultivated nature,' or fresh and picturesque with the charm of meadow, river-bank, or woodland pasture.

The secret of the power of Lucretius as an interpreter of Nature lies in his recognition of the sublimity of natural law in ordinary phenomena. The secret of Virgil's power lies in the insight and long-practised meditation through which he abstracts the single element of beauty from common sights and the ordinary operations of industry. Thus, to take one or two instances of the way in which the charm of Nature is communicated to the drudgery of rural labour:-what a sense of refreshment to eye and ear is conveyed by the lines which describe the practical remedies by which the farmer mitigates the burning drought of summer:-

Et c.u.m exustus ager morientibus aestuat herbis, Ecce supercilio clivosi tramitis undam Elicit; illa cadens rauc.u.m per levia murmur Saxa ciet, scatebrisque arentia temperat arva(347).

Again, what a picture of rich woodland beauty is created out of the occurrence, in the midst of practical directions, of some homely traditional maxims, in accordance with which farmers judged of the probable abundance of their crop:-

Contemplator item, c.u.m se nux plurima silvis Induet in florem et ramos curvabit olentis: Si superant fetus, pariter frumenta sequentur, Magnaque c.u.m magno veniet tritura calore(348).

So too, in a technical account of the different varieties of soil, he brings before the mind, by a single descriptive touch, a picture of abundant harvest-fields,-

non ullo ex aequore cernes Plura domum tardis decedere plaustra iuvencis(349);

and enables us to feel the charm of a rich pastoral country,-with its lonely woodland glades, its br.i.m.m.i.n.g river flowing past mossy and gra.s.sy banks, and the shelter and shade of its caves and rocks, in the midst of homely directions for the care of mares before they foal:-

Saltibus in vacuis pasc.u.n.t et plena secundum Flumina, muscus ubi et viridissima gramine ripa, Speluncaeque tegant, et saxea procubet umbra(350).

In the inculcation of his practical precepts his aim is even more to exalt the dignity and to exhibit the delight of rural labour, than to explain its methods or inculcate its utility.

He imparts a peculiar vivacity, grace, and tenderness to his treatment of many topics by the a.n.a.logy which he suggests between the life of Nature and of man. The perception of a.n.a.logy originates in the philosophical and imaginative thought of Lucretius; and it is in the second Book, in the composition of which, as Mr. Munro has shown, Virgil's mind was saturated with the ideas, feelings, and language of his predecessor, that this element of poetical interest is most conspicuous. The following examples, occurring in the technical exposition of the growth and tending of trees, are all taken from the second Book; and two of them, those marked _g_ and _h_, are immediately suggested by Lucretius:-

(351)_a._ Parva sub ingenti matris se subicit umbra.

_b._ tenero abscindens de corpore matrum.

_c._ Exuerint silvestrem animum.

_d._ Miraturque novas frondes et non sua poma.

_e._ Mutatam ignorent subito ne semina matrem.

_f._ atque animos tollent sata.

_g._ Viribus eniti quarum et contemnere ventos Adsuescant.

_h._ Ac dum prima novis adolescit frondibus aetas, Parcendum teneris.

_i._ Ante reformidant ferrum.

_k._ Praecipue dum frons tenera imprudensque laborum.

Many more examples might be added from the other Books. The force of many of the epithets applied to material objects, such as 'ignava,' 'laeta et fortia,' 'maligni,' 'infelix,' etc., consists in the suggestion of a kind of personal life underlying and animating the silent processes of Nature.

Virgil, too, like Lucretius, shows the close observation of a naturalist, and a genuine sympathy with the pains and pleasures of all living things, especially of the animals a.s.sociated with the toil or amus.e.m.e.nt of men.

The interest of the third Book arises, to a great degree, from the truth and vivacity of feeling with which he observes and identifies himself with the ways and dispositions of these fellow-labourers of man,-with the pride and emulation of the horse, the fidelity and companions.h.i.+p of the dog, the combative courage of the bull and his sense of pain and dishonour in defeat, the patience of the steer and his brotherly feeling for his yoke-fellow in toil, and with the attachment of sheep and goats to their offspring and to their familiar haunts(352). The interest of the fourth Book, again, turns on the a.n.a.logy implied between the pursuits, fortunes, wars, and state-policy of bee-communities and of men. It is the sense of this a.n.a.logy that imparts a meaning deeper than that demanded by the obvious force of the words-a more pathetic feeling of the vanity of all earthly strife-to that final touch in the description of the combat in mid-air between two hosts, led by rival chiefs:-

Hi motus animorum atque haec certamina tanta Pulveris exigui iactu compressa quiesc.u.n.t(353).

In thus relieving the dryness of technical detail, by availing himself of every aspect of beauty a.s.sociated with it, and by imparting the vivacity of human relations and sensibility to natural objects, Virgil makes use of the same resources as elicit springs of poetic feeling from many of the dry and stony wastes through which the argument of Lucretius leads him.

There are others however employed by Virgil, which Lucretius uses more sparingly or not at all. There are, in the first place, all those which arise out of the conception of the 'human force,' impersonated in the 'st.u.r.dy ditcher,' the 'farmer roused to anger,' the 'active peasant,'

contrasting with and conflicting with that other conception of the life of Nature. And as in Lucretius the speculative ideas, penetrating through every region of the wide domain traversed by him, elicit some poetic life out of its barrenest places, so the two speculative ideas, of Nature as a living force, and of man's labour, vigilance, forethought in their relation to that force, impart a feeling of imaginative delight to Virgil's account of the most common details of the husbandman's toil. The strength and vivacity thus imparted to the style has been well ill.u.s.trated by Professor Conington in his Introduction to the Georgics. It may be noted however that, even in this imaginative recognition of the strength and force of man in conflict with the force of Nature, Virgil is still following in the tracks of Lucretius. Such expressions as

Ingemere et terram pressis proscindere aratris- ferro molirier arva- magnos manibus divellere montes-

in the older poet first opened up this vein which was wrought with such effectual results by his successor. But Conington has, in his notes, drawn attention to another vein of feeling, which is all Virgil's own, and which enables him to give further variety and charm to these homely details. The husbandman has not only his hard and incessant struggle-'labor improbus'-but he has the delight of success, the joy of contemplating the new beauty and richness, created by the strength of his arm. This feeling breaks out in the 'Ecce' of the line already quoted,-

Ecce supercilio clivosi tramitis undam;

in the 'iuvat' of

iuvat Ismara Baccho Conserere, atque olea magnum vestire Taburnum(354);-

and in the 'canit' of the line

Iam canit effectos extremus vinitor antes(355).

Another set of a.s.sociations, interwoven with the rich and firm texture of the poem, are those derived from earlier science and poetry. Of the resources of learned allusion Lucretius makes a singularly sparing use.

The localising epithets and mythological names in which Virgil's poem abounds possessed no attraction for his austerer genius, nourished by the severe models of an older time, and rejecting the ornaments and distractions from the main interest familiar to Alexandrine literature.

Virgil had already shown in the Eclogues this tendency to overlay his native thought with the spoils of Greek learning. Such phrases as 'Strymoniae grues,' 'Pelusiacae lentis,' 'Amyclaeum canem,' 'Idumaeas palmas,'-the references to the 'harvests of Mysia and Gargarus,' to the 'vines of Ismarus,' 'Cytorus, waving with boxwood,' etc. etc., must have been charged, for Virgil's contemporaries, in a way which they cannot be for a modern reader, with the memories of foreign travel or of residence in remote provinces, or with the interest attaching to lands recently made known. To us their chief interest is that by their strangeness they enhance the effect with which the more familiar names of Italian places are used. Thus the contrasted pictures of the illimitable pastures of Libya and of the wintry wastes of Scythia enable us to realise more exquisitely the charm of that fresh(356) Italian pastoral scene immediately preceding, the description of which combines the tender feeling of the Eclogues with the deeper realism of the Georgics. Thus too the great episode on the beauty and riches of Italy (ii. 136176) is introduced in immediate contrast to the account of the prodigal luxuriance of Nature in the forests and jungles of the East. But even to a modern reader such expressions as these-

Vos silvae amnesque Lycaei- vocat alta voce Cithaeron- O, ubi campi Spercheusque, et virginibus bacchata Lacaenis Taygeta, etc.,