Vergil - A Biography by Tenney Frank
page 47 of 156 (30%)
page 47 of 156 (30%)
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Quare quae _cantus_ meditanti mittere _caecos_[10] Magna mihi cupido tribuistis praemia divae. What other poem could he have had in mind? The designation does not fit the _Culex_, which is the only poem besides the _Aetna_ that could be in question. It is best, therefore, to take the _Aetna_[11] into account in studying Vergil's life, even though we reserve a place in our memories for that stray phrase _de qua ambigitur_. [Footnote 9: Vessereau, _Aetna_, xx ff.; Rand, _Harvard Studies_, XXX, 106, 155 ff. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Seneca attributed the _Aetna_ to Vergil in _ad Lucilium_ 79, 5: The words "Vergil's complete treatment" can hardly refer to the seven meager lines found in the third book of the _Aeneid_.] [Footnote 10: Lucretius is very fond of using the word _caecus_ with reference to abstruse and obscure philosophical and scientific subjects.] [Footnote 11: When Vergil wrote the _Georgics_, on a subject which the poet of the _Aetna_ derides as trivial (264-74) he seems to apologize for abandoning science, in favor of a meaner theme, _Georgics_ II, 483 ff. Is not this a reference to the _Aetna_?] The poet after an invocation to Apollo justifies himself for rejecting the favorite themes of myth and fiction: the mysteries of nature are more worthy of occupying the efforts of the mind. He has chosen one out of very many that needs explanation. The true cause of volcanic eruption, he says, is that air is driven into the pores of the earth, and when this comes into contact with lava and flint which contain atoms of fire, |
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