Virgil. The inscription on his tomb (said to have been written by himself) was:
Mantua me genuit; Calabri rapuere; tenet nunc
Parthenope; cecini pascua, rura, duces.
In Mantua was I born; Calabria saw me die;
Of sheep, fields, wars I sung; and now in Naples lie.
Virgil (The Christian), Giacomo Sannazaro (1458-1530).
Marco Girolamo Vida, author of Christias (in six books), is also called “The Christian Virgil” (1490-1566).
⁂ Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, of Spain, is called by Bentley “The Virgil and Horace of Christians” (348-*).
Virgil of our Dramatic Poets (The). Ben Jonson is so called by Dryden (1574-1637).
Shakespeare was the Homer or father of our dramatic poets; Jonson was the Virgil, and pattern of elaborate writing. I admire rare Ben, but I love Shakespeare.--Dryden.