Mergique marinis
Fluctibus in salso victum vitamque petentes[35],
recalls the vivid and natural life of those that haunted the isle of Calypso—
τανύγλωσσοί τε κορῶναι
εἰνάλιαι τῇσίν τε θαλάσσια ἔργα μέμηλεν[36].
His lively personal observation and active interest in the casual objects presented to his eyes in the course of his walks are seen in such passages as—
Cum lubrica serpens
Exuit in spinis vestem; nam saepe videmus
Illorum spoliis vepres volitantibus auctas[37].
There is also much truth and liveliness of observation in his notices of psychological and physiological facts; as in those passages where he establishes the connexion between mind and body, and in his account of the senses. With what a graphic touch does he paint the outward effects of death[38], the decay of the faculties with age, and the madness that overtakes the mind—