THE ROMAN POETS OF

THE REPUBLIC

BY

W. Y. SELLAR, M.A., LL.D.

PROFESSOR OF HUMANITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
AND FORMERLY FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD

RE-ISSUE OF THE THIRD EDITION

OXFORD

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

M DCCCC V

HENRY FROWDE, M.A.

PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

LONDON, EDINBURGH

NEW YORK AND TORONTO

[Dedication of the Edition of 1881.]

TO

J. C. SHAIRP, M.A., LL.D.,

PRINCIPAL OF THE UNITED COLLEGE, ST. ANDREWS,

PROFESSOR OF POETRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD,

IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT

OF MUCH ACTIVE AND GENEROUS KINDNESS,

AND OF

A LONG AND STEADY FRIENDSHIP,

THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

In preparing a second edition of this volume, which has been for some years out of print, I have, with the exception of a few pages added to Chapter IV, retained the first five chapters substantially unchanged. Chapters VI and VII, on Roman Comedy, are entirely new. I have enlarged the account formerly given of Lucilius in Chapter VIII, and modified the Review of the First Period, contained in Chapter IX. The short introductory chapter to the Second Period is new. The four chapters on Lucretius have been carefully revised, and, in part, re-written. The chapter on Catullus has been re-written and enlarged, and the views formerly expressed in it have been modified.

In the preface to the first edition I acknowledged the assistance I had derived from the editions of the Fragments of the early writers by Klussman, Vahlen, Ribbeck, and Gerlach; from the Histories of Roman Literature by Bernhardy, Bähr, and Munk, and from the chapters on Roman Literature in Mommsen's Roman History; from a treatise on the origin of Roman Poetry, by Corssen; from Sir G. C. Lewis's work on 'The Credibility of Early Roman History'; from the Articles on the Roman Poets by the late Professor Ramsay, contained in Smith's 'Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'; and from Articles by Mr. Munro in the 'Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology.' In addition to these I have, in the present edition, to acknowledge my indebtedness to the History of Roman Literature by W. S. Teuffel, to Ribbeck's 'Römische Tragödie,' to Ritschl's 'Opuscula,' to the editions of some of the Plays of Plautus by Brix and Lorenz, to that of the Fragments of Lucilius by L. Müller, to the Thesis of M. G. Boissier, entitled 'Quomodo Graecos Poetas Plautus Transtulerit,' to Articles on Lucilius by Mr. Munro in the 'Journal of Philology,' and to the edition of Lucretius, and the 'Criticisms and Elucidations of Catullus' by the same writer, to Schwabe's 'Quaestiones Catullianae,' to Mr. Ellis's 'Commentary on Catullus,' to R. Westphal's 'Catull's Gedichte,' and to M. A. Couat's 'Étude sur Catulle.' I have more especially to express my sense of obligation to Mr. Munro's writings on Lucretius and Catullus. In so far as the chapters on these poets in this edition may be improved, this will, in a great measure, be due to the new knowledge of the subject I have gained from the study of his works.

I have retained, with some corrections, the translations of the longer quotations, contained in the first edition, and have added a literal prose version of some passages quoted from Plautus and Terence. Instead of offering a prose version of the longer passages quoted from Catullus, I have again availed myself of the kind permission formerly given me by Sir Theodore Martin to make use of his translation.

Edinburgh, Dec. 1880.

PREFATORY NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

In revising this work for a new edition the most important change I have made is in the account of Terence, contained in Chapter VII. I have to acknowledge the kind permission of Messrs. A. & C. Black to make use of the article on Terence which I wrote for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, in which I first expressed the modification of my views on that author. I have added some notes to the Chapter on Catullus, suggested by the opinions expressed in the Prolegomena to the Edition of B. Schmidt. In the Chapter on Naevius I have availed myself of a suggestion contained in a paper by Prof. A. F. West, 'On a Patriotic Passage in the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus,' which appeared in the American Journal of Philology, for my knowledge of which I am indebted to his courtesy in sending the article to me. I have introduced various verbal changes in different parts of the book, implying some slight modification of the opinions originally expressed. Several of these were suggested by critics who noticed the earlier editions of the book, to whom I beg to express my thanks.

W. Y. S.

January, 1889.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL CHARACTER OF ROMAN POETRY.