[18] v. vii.
[19] Macrob. Sat. iii. 98, 19, calls Suevius vir doctissimus.
[20] "The original motive of the poem can only have been the idea that the gnat could not rest in Hades, and therefore asked the shepherd whose life it had saved, for a decent burial. But this very motive, without which the whole poem loses its consistency, is wanting in the extant Culex."— Teuffel, R. L. § 225, 1, 4.
[21] Its being edited separately from Virgil's works is thought by Teuffel to indicate spuriousness. But there is good evidence for believing that the poem accepted as Virgil's by Statius and Martial was our present Culex. Teuffel thinks they were mistaken, but that is a bold conjecture.
[22] The missing the gist of the story, of which Teuffel complains, does not seem to us worse than the glaring inconsistency at the end of the sixth book of the Aeneid, where Aeneas is dismissed by the gate of the false visions. That incident, whether ironical or not, is unquestionably an artistic blunder, since it destroys the impression of truth on which the justification of the book depends.
[23] For instance, v. 291, Sed tu crudelis, crudelis tu magis Orpheu looks more like an imperfect anticipation than an imitation of Improbus ille puer crudelis tu quoque mater. Again, v. 293, parvum si Tartara possent peccatum ignovisse, is surely a feeble effort to say scirent si ignoscere Manes, not a reproduction of it; v. 201, Erebo cit equos Nox could hardly have been written after ruit Oceano nox. From an examination of the similarities of diction, I should incline to regard them as in nearly every case admitting naturally of this explanation. The portraits of Tisiphone, the Heliades, Orpheus, and the tedious list of heroes, Greek, Trojan, and Roman, who dwell in the shades, are difficult to pronounce upon. They might be extremely bad copies, but it is simpler to regard them as crude studies, unless indeed we suppose the versifier to have introduced them with the express design of making the Culex a good imitation of a juvenile poem. Minute points which make for an early date are meritus (v. 209), cf. fultus hyacintho (Ecl. 6); the rhythms cognitus utilitate manet (v. 65), implacabilis ira nimis, (v. 237); the form videreque (v. 304); the use of the pass. part. with acc. (v. ii. 175); of alliteration (v. 122, 188); asyndeton (v. 178, 190); juxtapositions like revolubile volvens (v. 168); compounds like inevectus (v. 100, 340); all which are paralleled in Lucr. and Virg. but hardly known in later poets. The chief feature which makes the other way is the extreme rarity of elisions, which, as a rule, are frequent in Virg. Here we have as many as twenty-two lines without elision. But we know that Virgil became more archaic in his style as he grew older.
[24] Molle atque facetum Virgilio annuerunt guadentes rure camenae.— Sat. i. x. 40.
[25] E.g. tutthon d' osson apothen becomes procul tantum; panta d' enalla genoito becomes omnia vel medium fiant mare, &c.
[26] Virgil as yet claims but a moderate degree of inspiration. Me quoque dicunt Vatem pastores: sed non ego credulus illis. Nam neque adhuc Vario videor nec dicere Cinna Digna, sed argutos inter strepere anser olores. Ec. ix. 33.
[27] Ec. v. 45.