CHAPTER I.
GENERAL CHARACTER OF ROMAN POETRY.
PAGE
Recent change in the estimate of Roman Poetry[1]
Want of originality[2]
As compared with Greek Poetry[3]
" " with Roman Oratory and History[4]
The most complete literary monument of Rome[5]
Partly imitative, partly original[6]
Imitative in forms[7]
" in metres[8]
Imitative element in diction[9]
" " in matter[11]
Original character, partly Roman, partly Italian[13]
National spirit[14]
Imaginative sentiment[15]
Moral feeling[16]
Italian element in Roman Poetry[17]
Love of Nature[17]
Passion of Love[19]
Personal element in Roman Poetry[20]
Four Periods of Roman Poetry[24]
Character of each[24]
Conclusion[26]
CHAPTER II.
VESTIGES OF INDIGENOUS POETRY IN ROME AND ANCIENT ITALY.
Niebuhr's theory of a Ballad-Poetry[28]
The Saturnian metre[29]
Ritual Hymns[31]
Prophetic verses[33]
Fescennine verses[34]
Saturae[35]
Gnomic verses[36]
Commemorative verses[37]
Inferences as to their character[38]
From early state of the language[39]
No public recognition of Poetry[40]
Roman story result of tradition and reflection[41]
Inferences from the nature of Roman religion[43]
From the character and pursuits of the people[44]
Roman Poetry of Italian rather than Roman origin[45]
FIRST PERIOD.
FROM LIVIUS ANDRONICUS TO LUCILIUS.
CHAPTER III.
BEGINNING OF ROMAN LITERATURE. LIVIUS ANDRONICUS. CN. NAEVIUS, 240-202 B.C.
Contact with Greece after capture of Tarentum[47]
First period of Roman literature[49]
Forms of Poetry during this period[50]
Livius Andronicus[51]
Cn. Naevius, his life[52]
Dramas[55]
Epic poem[57]
Style[59]
Conclusion[60]
CHAPTER IV.
Q. ENNIUS, 239-170 B.C., LIFE, TIMES, AND PERSONAL TRAITS. VARIOUS WORKS. GENIUS AND INTELLECT.
Importance of Ennius[62]
Notices of his life[63]
Influences affecting his career[64]
Italian birth-place[64]
Greek education[65]
Service in Roman army[66]
Historical importance of his age[68]
Intellectual character of his age[69]
Personal traits[71]
Description of himself in the Annals[72]
Intimacy with Scipio[74]
His enthusiastic temperament[75]
Religious spirit and convictions[77]
Miscellaneous works[78]
Saturae[81]
Dramas[83]
Annals[87]
Outline of the Poem[88]
Idea by which it is animated[91]
Artistic defects[93]
Roman character of the work[94]
Contrast with the Greek Epic[95]
Contrast in its personages[95]
Contrast in supernatural element[96]
Oratory in the Annals[97]
Description and imagery[99]
Rhythm and diction[101]
Chief literary characteristics of Ennius[105]
Energy of conception[106]
Patriotic and imaginative sentiment[109]
Moral emotion[111]
Practical understanding[113]
Estimate in ancient times[115]
Disparaging criticism of Niebuhr[117]
Conclusion[118]
CHAPTER V.
EARLY ROMAN TRAGEDY. M. PACUVIUS, 219-129 B.C. L. ACCIUS, 170-ABOUT 90 B.C.
Popularity of early Roman Tragedy[120]
Partial adaptation of Athenian drama[121]
Inability to reproduce its pure Hellenic character[123]
Nearer approach to the spirit of Euripides than of Sophocles[125]
Grounds of popularity of Roman Tragedy[127]
Moral tone and oratorical spirit[129]
Causes of its decline[132]
M. Pacuvius, notices of his life[134]
Ancient testimonies[135]
His dramas[136]
Passages illustrative of his thought[137]
Of his moral and oratorical spirit[139]
Descriptive passages[141]
Drama on a Roman subject[142]
Character[142]
L. Accius, notices of his life[143]
His various works[145]
Fragments illustrative of his oratorical spirit[147]
" " of his moral fervour[148]
" " of his sense of natural beauty[149]
Conclusion as to character of Roman Tragedy[150]
CHAPTER VI.
ROMAN COMEDY. T. MACCIUS PLAUTUS, ABOUT 254 TO 184 B.C.
Flourishing era of Roman Comedy[152]
How far any claim to originality?[153]
Disparaging judgment of later Roman critics[154]
Connection with earlier Saturae[155]
Naevius and Plautus popular poets[156]
Facts in the life of Plautus[157]
Attempt to fill up the outline from his works[159]
Familiarity with town-life[160]
Traces of maritime adventure[161]
Life of the lower and middle classes represented in his plays[162]
Love of good living[163]
Love of money[164]
Artistic indifference[165]
Knowledge of Greek[165]
Influence of the spirit of his age[166]
Dramas adaptations of outward conditions of Athenian New Comedy[167]
Manner and spirit, Roman and original[171]
Indications of originality in his language[172]
" " in his Roman allusions and national characteristics[173]
Favourite plots of his plays[176]
Pseudolus, Bacchides, Miles Gloriosus, Mostellaria[177]
Aulularia, Trinummus, Menaechmi, Rudens, Captivi, Amphitryo[180]
Mode of dealing with his characters[188]
Moral and political indifference of his plays[189]
Value as a poetic artist[193]
Power of expression by action, rhythm, diction[194]
CHAPTER VII.
TERENCE AND THE COMIC POETS SUBSEQUENT TO PLAUTUS.
Comedy between the time of Plautus and Terence[201]
Caecilius Statius[202]
Scipionic Circle[203]
Complete Hellenising of Roman Comedy[204]
Conflicting accounts of life of Terence[205]
Order in which his Plays were produced[206]
His 'prologues' as indicative of his individuality[207]
'Dimidiatus Menander'[209]
Epicurean 'humanity' chief characteristic[210]
Sentimental motive of his pieces[211]
Minute delineations of character[212]
Diction and rhythm[214]
Influence on the style and sentiment of Horace[215]
Comoedia Togata, Atellanae, Mimus[216]
CHAPTER VIII.
EARLY ROMAN SATIRE. C. LUCILIUS, DIED 102 B.C.
Independent origin of Roman satire[217]
Essentially Roman in form and spirit[219]
" " in its political and censorial function[220]
Personal and miscellaneous character of early satire[222]
Critical epoch at which Lucilius appeared[223]
Question as to the date of his birth[224]
Fragments chiefly preserved by grammarians[227]
Miscellaneous character and desultory treatment of subjects[228]
Traces of subjects treated in different books[229]
Impression of the author's personality[230]
Political character of Lucilian satire[232]
Social vices satirised in it[233]
Intellectual peculiarities[236]
Literary criticism[238]
His style[240]
Grounds of his popularity[243]
CHAPTER IX.
REVIEW OF THE FIRST PERIOD.
Common aspects in the lives of poets in the second century B.C.[247]
Popular and national character of their works[250]
Political condition of the time reflected in its literature[251]
Defects of the poetic literature in form and style[253]
Other forms of literature cultivated in that age[254]
Oratory and history[255]
Familiar letters[256]
Critical and grammatical studies[257]
Summary of character of the first period[258]
SECOND PERIOD.
THE CLOSE OF THE REPUBLIC.
CHAPTER X.
TRANSITION FROM LUCILIUS TO LUCRETIUS.
Dearth of poetical works during the next half century[263]
Literary taste confined to the upper classes[265]
Great advance in Latin prose writing[266]
Influence of this on the style of Lucretius and Catullus[267]
Closer contact with the mind and art of Greece[268]
Effects of the political unsettlement on the contemplative life and thought[270]
" on the life of pleasure, and the art founded on it[271]
The two representatives of the thought and art of the time[272]
CHAPTER XI.
LUCRETIUS. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
Little known of him from external sources[274]
Examination of Jerome's statement[275]
Inferences as to his national and social position[281]
Relation to Memmius[282]
Impression of the author to be traced in his poem[283]
Influence produced by the action of his age[284]
Minute familiarity with Nature and country life[286]
Spirit in which he wrote his work[288]
His consciousness of power and delight in his task[289]
His polemical spirit[291]
Reverence for Epicurus[292]
Affinity to Empedocles[293]
Influence of other Greek writers[295]
" of Ennius[297]
His interests speculative, not national[298]
His Roman temperament[299]
CHAPTER XII.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF LUCRETIUS.
Three aspects of the poem[300]
General scope of the argument[301]
Analysis of the poem[303]
Question as to its unfinished condition[313]
What is the value of the argument?[316]
Weakness of his science[317]
Interest of the work as an exposition of ancient physical enquiry[325]
" from its bearing on modern questions[326]
Power of scientific reasoning, observation, and expression[327]
Connecting links between his philosophy and poetry[333]
Idea of law[333]
" of change[336]
" of the infinite[339]
" of the individual[340]
" of the subtlety of Nature[341]
" of Nature as a living power[342]
CHAPTER XIII.
THE RELIGIOUS ATTITUDE AND MORAL TEACHING OF LUCRETIUS.
General character of Greek epicureanism[348]
Prevalence at Rome in the last age of the Republic[350]
New type of epicureanism in Lucretius[352]
Forms of evil against which his teaching was directed[355]
Superstition[356]
Fear of death[361]
Ambition[366]
Luxury[367]
Passion of love[368]
Limitation of his ethical views[370]
His literary power as a moralist[372]
CHAPTER XIV.
THE LITERARY ART AND GENIUS OF LUCRETIUS.
Artistic defects of the work[376]
" arising from the nature of the subject[377]
" from inequality in its execution[378]
Intensity of feeling pervading the argument[380]
Cumulative force in his rhythm[381]
Qualities of his style[382]
Freshness and sincerity of expression[383]
Imaginative suggestiveness and creativeness[385]
Use of analogies[387]
Pictorial power[389]
Poetical interpretation of Nature[390]
Energy of movement in his descriptions[391]
Poetic aspect of Nature influenced by his philosophy[393]
Poetical interpretation of life[395]
Modern interest of the poem[397]
CHAPTER XV.
CATULLUS.
Contrast to the poetry of Lucretius[399]
The poetry of youth[400]
Accidental preservation of his poems[401]
Principle of their arrangement[402]
Vivid personal revelation afforded by them[404]
Uncertainty as to the date of his birth[405]
Birth-place and social standing[408]
Influences of his native district[410]
Identity of Lesbia and Clodia[412]
Poems written between 61 and 57 B.C.[414]
Poems connected with his Bithynian journey[418]
Poems written between 56 and 54 B.C.[421]
Character of his poems, founded on the passion of love[424]
" " " on friendship and affection[426]
His short satirical pieces[430]
Other poems expressive of personal feeling[437]
Qualities of style in these poems[438]
" of rhythm[439]
" of form[440]
The Hymn to Diana[441]
His longer and more purely artistic pieces[442]
His Epithalamia[443]
His Attis[447]
The Peleus and Thetis[448]
The longer elegiac poems[455]
Rank of Catullus among the poets of the world[457]

CORRIGENDA ET ADDENDA.

Page xii, line 25 from top, for Ampitryo read Amphitryo.

" 43, note, for Altus read Attus.

" 90, line 26 from top, for Fos read Flos.

" 157, note 2, add the words, 'Terence, who was by birth a foreigner, was probably brought to Rome as a child.'

" 194, line 25 from top, for The Italian liveliness, &c., made them, read Their liveliness, &c., made the Italians.

" 194, third line from bottom, for nisim read nisam.

" 213, line 12 from top, for Æschylus read Æschinus.