The soldier dar'd on sea or land.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
A few fragments only of his works have reached posterity. His tragedy of THYESTES is highly praised by Quintilian. That judicious critic does not hesitate to say, that it may be opposed to the best productions of the Greek stage. Jam Varii Thyestes cuilibet Græcorum comparari potest. Varius lived in high favour at the court of Augustus. After the death of Virgil, he was joined with Plotinus and Tucca to revise the works of that admirable poet. The Varus of Virgil, so often celebrated in the Pastorals, was, notwithstanding what some of the commentators have said, a different person from Varius, the author of Thyestes.
Section XIII.
[a] The rural delight of Virgil is described by himself:
Rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes;
Flumina amem, sylvasque inglorius. O ubi campi,
Sperchiusque, et virginibus bacchata Lacænis
Taygeta! O quis me gelidis sub montibus Hæmi
Sistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbrâ?