Ille ego, qui quondam gracili modulatus avena
Carmen, et, egressus silvis, vicina coegi
Ut quamvis avido parerent arva colono,
Gratum opus agricolis; at nunc horrentia Martis...
The characteristic modesty of our author, as well as the rugged and turgid structure of these lines, have authorised modern critics to conclude, that neither the sense nor expression of these four lines resembles the genuine productions of Virgil.
[90] A Latinism for "throwing back."
[91] See Vol. V. p. 174.
[92] Their mothers were half sisters, being both daughters of Lionel Cranfield, earl of Middlesex.
[93] Concio ad Clerum, a sermon preached before a learned body.
ÆNEÏS,
BOOK I.
ARGUMENT.