It is often said of Vergil by way of
reproach, that his work was an imitation of Homer, and the first six books
of the Aeneid are compared to the Odyssey, the last six to the Iliad. But
while Vergil may be accused of imitation of subject matter, his style is
his own, and is entirely different from that of Homer. There is a tender
grace in the Roman writer which the Greek does not possess. Vergil also
lacks that purely pagan enjoyment of life; in its place there is a tender
melancholy that suggests the passing of the golden age. This difference of
treatment, this added grace and charm, which are always mentioned as
peculiarly Vergil's own, united with his poetical feeling, and skill in
versification, are sufficient to absolve him from the reproach of a mere
imitator.
The Aeneid was greatly admired and imitated during the Middle Ages, and
still retains its high place in literature.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND CRITICISM, THE AENEID.
R. W. Brown's History of Roman Classical Literature, n. d., pp. 257-265;
John Alfred Church's Story of the Aeneid, 1886;
Domenico Comparetti's Virgil in the Middle Ages, Tr. by Benecke, 1895;
C. T. Cruttwell's Virgil (see his History of Roman Literature, n. d. pp.
252-375);
John Davis's Observations on the poems of Homer and Virgil, out of the
French, 1672;
James Henry's Aeneidea: or Critical, Exegetical, and Aesthetical Remarks
on the Aeneis, 1873;
James Henry's Notes of Twelve Years' Voyage of Discovery in the first six
Books of the Aeneid, 1853;
J.
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