Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/196

 190 THE CITY. BOOK. HI.. it precious to all nations and all ages. We know that .^neas foundetl Lavinium, whence sprang the Albans and the Romans, and that, consequently, he was re- garded as the first founder of Rome. There had been clustered about him a multitude of traditions, which we find already recorded in the A^erses of old Nsevius, and in the histories of Cato the Elder, when Virgil seized upon this subject and wrote the national poem of the Roman city. The arrival of .^neas, or rather the removal of the gods of Troy into Italy, is the subject of the -^neid. The poem sings this man, who traversed the seas to found a city and transport his gods to Latium : — " Dum conderet urbem Inferretque Deos Latio." "We must not judge the -^neid after our modern ideas. Men often complain at not finding in -^neas bravery, dash, passion. They tire of that epithet ofpioz(S which is continually repeated. They are astonished to see this warrior consulting his Penates with a care so scru- pulous, invoking some divinity at every new turn of affairs, raising his arms to heaven when he ought to be fighting, allowing himself to be tossed over all sens by the oracles, and shedding tears at the sight of danger. Nor do they fail to reproach him with coldness to- wards Dido; and they are tempted to say, with the unhappy queen, — " NuUis ille movetur Fletibus, aut voces ullas tractabilis audit." But this is because there is no place here for a warrior, or a hero of romance. The poet wishes to represent a priest, ^neas is the chief of a worship, a