Master Virgil : the author of the Æneid as he seemed in the middle ages a series of studies / by J.S. Tunison.

  • Joseph S. Tunison
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Master Virgil : the author of the Æneid as he seemed in the middle ages a series of studies / by J.S. Tunison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    seated between his two friends, Maro and Horace, he was between sighs and tears, lets us into a knowledge of the chronic asthmatic complaint to which Virgil was subject. The poems of Horace evince the kindness and lovahleness of his friend. If there is a lack of important details in the biography, it is due to a want of incident in Virgil’s career, and to what may he called a lack of variety and color in his outward seeming. He is rarely represented to us by his early biographer except in company with his books. His own poems he read, we are informed, with exquisite modulation and emphasis. Sometimes, in the enthusiasm of such a reading, he thought of felicitous phrases to complete verses which he had found impossible to finish in his closet. Tradition ])oiuts out two lines tu5 having been perfected in this manner. He had written “MIsenum yEolidem,” and in pronouncing these two words, it suddenly occurred to him to add “Quo nou praestantior alter;” and so with the other verse: .•Vere ciere viros—Marteinque accendere cantu. The contrast between his character and that of Horace was as lively as their friendship. Both were scholars; but the one was e.s.sentially a man of the world, the other a man of books. Horace was a man whom everybody could approach, and whom all were delighted to know. His wit charmed every circle. He Avas gifted Avith that genial sympathy Avhich unlocks CA'cry heart. The psissions of the high-born youth, the humors of the street, the scurrility of the vaporing rustics on the road to Brundisiura Avere all alike interesting to him. But Virgil Avas such an one as only his most intimate friends could approach. To the j)eople of the cities Avhich he frequented, his tall figure and shambling gait Avere better knoAvn than he could luiA^e wished; for even the respectful plaudits of the multitude
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