Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 7.djvu/35

 VIRGIL 15 when the author himself read them sounded well, without him were empty and dumb. He read to Augustus the whole of his " Georgics," and on another oc- casion three books of the " /Eneid," the second, the fourth, and the sixth, the last with an effect upon Octavia not to be forgotten, for she was present at the read- ing, and at those great lines about her own son and his premature death, which begin " Tu Marcellus en's," it is said that she fainted away and was with diffi- culty recovered. She rewarded the poet munificently for this tribute to her son's memory. For three years longer he worked steadily on the poem, and in B.C. 19 he resolved to go to Greece and devote three entire years to polishing and finishing the work. He got as far as Athens, where he met Augustus returning from the East, and determined to go back to Italy in his company. He fell ill, however, during a visit to Megara, the voyage* between Greece and Italy did not improve his health and he died a few days after landing at Brundisium, in the year b.c. 19. His body was transferred to Naples, and he was buried near the city at Puteoli. By his will he left some property to his friends Varius and Nicca, with the injunction that they should burn the unfinished epic. The in- junction was never carried out, by the express command of the emperor, who directed Varius to publish the poem without any additions of any kind. An order carefully executed, for as the "JEneid" stands there are numerous imper- fect lines. This epic poem on the foundation of Rome by a colony from Troy is based on an old Latin tradition, and is modelled on the form of the poems of Homer. The first six books remind the student of the adventures of Ulysses in the " Odyssey," while the last six books, recounting the contest of the Trojan settlers under iEneas with the native inhabitants under their King Latinus, fol- low the style of the battle-pieces of the " Iliad." The most striking and original part of the plan of the poem is the introduction of Carthage and the Carthaginian queen, on whose coasts iEneas, in defiance of all chronology, is described as suffer- ing shipwreck. The historic conflict between Rome and Carthage, when Han- nibal and his cavalry rode from one end of Italy to another, and encamped under the walls of Rome itself, left an indelible impression on the imagination of the Romans. The war with Carthage was to them all that the Arab invasion was to Spain, or the Saracen hordes to Eastern Europe. It was the first great struggle for empire in times of which history holds record, between the East and the West, between the Semitic and Aryan races, and Virgil, with consummate skill, took the opportunity of predicting the future rivalry between Rome and Car- thage, and the ultimate triumph of the former power. All through the poem there are allusions to the history of Rome, and to the descent of the Julian house from the great Trojan hero. The hero .Eneas, himself, is rather an insipid char- acter, but, on the other hand, Dido is painted with .great force, truth, and tender- ness. The visit to Carthage gives occasion for the narrative of the fall of Troy in the second and third books, while the sixth book, describing the landing in Italy and the hero's descent to the infernal regions, has been regarded as con- tnining the esoteric teaching of the ancient mysteries, and has influenced deeply