Ennius ut noster cecinit, qui primus amoeno
Detulit ex Helicone perenni fronde coronam,
Per gentes Italas hominum quae clara clueret.
Lucretius, 1. 117-119.
Let us venerate Ennius like the groves, sacred from their antiquity, in
which the great and ancient oak trees are invested not so much with
beauty as with sacred associations.--Quintilian, 10. 1. 88,--translated
by Sellar.
Q. Ennius, 'the Father of Latin Literature,' was born at Rudiae, a town
of Calabria and a point of contact between the Italian and Greek
civilizations. He served with the rank of centurion in the Roman army in
Sardinia and attached himself to Cato the Censor. In 204 he came to
Rome, where he lived modestly, supporting himself by teaching Greek and
by his writings. There he became an intimate friend of the great Scipio.
The most famous of his works are the tragedies, written on Greek models,
and the _Annals_, a long epic poem in eighteen books, whose subject is
the history of Rome from the earliest times to Ennius' own day. We have
fragments of about twenty-five of the tragedies. Of the _Annals_ about
six hundred lines are preserved.
Ennius introduced the dactylic hexameter into Latin poetry.
He was versatile, widely read in Greek literature, a man of practical
interests and intellectual vigor. His intense patriotism was rewarded by
an enduring popularity.
For Reference: Sellar, _Roman Poets of the Republic_ (Oxford, 1889),
chapter 4; the collections of the fragments by Vahlen (Leipzig, 1854)
and by Muller (St. Petersburg, 1885).
Metres: Dactylic Hexameter, B. 368; A. & G. 615: _Selections_ 1-5.
Trochaic Septenarius, B. 366, 2; A. & G. 620: _Selections_ 6, 7. Elegiac
Stanza, B. 368, 369; A. & G. 616: _Selection_ 8.
_1._ 'Lines of tender regret and true hero-worship.'--Sellar. Cf. Livy,
1. 16. 2, 3. Prose translation in Sellar, _Roman Poets of the Republic_,
p. 110. 3. qualem...genuerunt: How great a guardian of our country did
the gods create in thee!--Sellar. 4. O pater, o genitor: pater is a
title of respect, genitor the actual parent. sanguen: an ante-classic
neuter collateral form of sanguis. 5. intra luminis oras: within the
realms of light (Sellar), a favorite expression with later poets.
_2._ 'Sentiments truly regal and worthy of the race of the Aeacidae.'
Cicero, _De Officiis,_ 1. 12.
This is Pyrrhus' reply to Fabricius and other envoys sent to negotiate
for the ransom of the Roman prisoners after the battle of Heraclea, 280
B.C.
Prose translation and fine comment in Sellar, Roman Poets of the
Republic, p. 99.
1. dederitis: perfect subjunctive in a prohibition. 2. nec cauponantes
bellum: not making petty traffic of war. 3. vitam: accusative of
specification. 5. accipe: to Fabricius, while ducite (1. 8) is to all
the envoys. 7. eorundem: scanned as three syllables. 8.
volentibus...dis: under favor of the great gods.--Sellar. Final s in
volentibus as in vivus (_Selection_ 8. 2) is neglected in scanning.
_4._ These lines were often quoted. They are imitated by Vergil,
_Aeneid,_ 6. 845-846:
Tu Maximus ille es,
unus qui nobis cunctando restituis rem.
Prose translation in Sellar, Roman Poets of the Republic, p. 106.
1. cunctando: by biding his time.--Sellar. rem equals rem publicam. 2.
noenum equals ne, not + oenum, old form of unum, one. This eventually
contracts into non. rumores: what men said of him.--Sellar.
_5._ One of the grandest lines in Latin poetry. Cicero says of it (_De
Republica_, 5.1): 'For brevity and for truth it is like the utterance of
some oracle.'
1. Moribus...virisque: By olden custom and great men Rome stands.
virisque: of. Sir William Jones, _An Ode in Imitation of Alcaeus_:
What constitutes a state?
Not high-raised battlement, nor labored mound,
Thick wall or moated gate:
Not cities fair with spires and turrets crowned:
No;--men, high-minded men,--...
Men, who their duties know,
But know their rights, and knowing dare maintain.
_6._ From the _Telamo_, spoken by Telamon on receiving tidings of his
son's death. Sellar describes the passage as 'this strong and scornful
triumph over natural sorrow.'
Prose translation in Sellar, _Roman Poets of the Republic_, p. 113.
1. ei re sustuli: to that end (i.e. with full knowledge of the fact) I
bred them. re: dative, B. 52, 3; A. & G. 98, d, NOTE.
_7._ From the _Telamo_. This is Epicurean doctrine. Cf. Tennyson, _The
Lotos-Eaters, Choric Song_ at end:
like Gods together, careless of mankind.
For they lie beside their nectar, and the bolts are hurl'd
Far below them in the valleys, and the clouds are lightly curl'd
Round their golden houses, girdled with the gleaming world:
Where they smile in secret, looking over wasted lands,
Blight and famine, plague and earthquake, roaring deeps and fiery
sands,
Clanging fights, and flaming towns, and sinking ships, and praying
hands.
But they smile, _etc_.
Prose translation in Sellar, _Roman Poets of the Republic_, p. 78.
1. deum: genitive with which caelitum agrees. 3. abeat: is not so.--
Sellar.
_8._ Prose translation in Sellar, _Roman Poets of the Republic_, p. 76.
Note the alliterations in the passage. 1. dacrumis: older form of
lacrimis and related to it as dingua to lingua. nec...faxit: and let
none weep at my funeral, faxit is perfect subjunctive. 2.
Volito...virum: I still live as I fly along the lips of men. _Cf_.
Vergil, _Georgics_, 3. 9: victorque virum volitare per ora, and
Shakspere, _Sonnet_ 82:
You still shall live--such virtue hath my pen--
Where breath most breathes, even in the mouths of men.