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the philosophic poet was restored to the admiration of the world through the indefatigable perseverance of Poggio Bracciolini. A history of the discovery of ancient manuscripts has been frequently mentioned as a work that would prove highly interesting to the scholar and the man of taste; and, in such a volume, Poggio would merit every encomium which gratitude could furnish. It is from the following lines in a latin elegy by Christoforo Landino, on the death of this celebrated ornament of his age, that we learn where to pay our acknowledgements for the first of philosophic poems. Landino, recording the discoveries of his friend, exclaims,

Illius-manu nobis, doctissime rhetor,
Integer in Latium, Quintiliane, redis;
Illius atque manu, divina poemata Sili
Italici redeunt, usque legenda suis:
Et ne nos lateat variorum cultus agrorum,
Ipfe Columellæ grande reportat opus:
Ette, LUCRETI, longo post tempore, tandem
Civibus et Patriæ reddit habere tuæ.

We are likewise indebted to Poggio for Plautus, parts of Statius, and Valerius Flaccus; but in rescuing from oblivion the sublime

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disciple of Epicurus, he has conferred an obligation of incalculable extent. It is astonishing how numerous have been the imitations, in almost every european language, of this exquisite poet, and that Virgil possessed a high relish of, and a desire to copy his beauties, every page of the Georgics affords proof.

Whether Lucretius can lay claim to perfect originality in the conception and execution of his poem, is a subject of considerable uncertainty; little of the didactic poetry of the Greeks is left, and the Opera et Dies of Hesiod, though conveying precepts in verse, can, with scarce any probability, be considered as furnishing a model for the philosophic genius of the Roman. That verses, however, inculcating the tenets of the different schools of philosophy, existed in Greece, wants not the fullest testimony; and the poem of Empedocles on the doctrines of Pythagoras, was so celebrated for its energy and harmony, that it was publicly recited, along with the works of Homer and Hesiod, at the Olympic Games. Many, indeed, have not hesitated to avow, that the Roman Bard found his prototype in this

production of the Sicilian: but the assertion is founded merely on conjecture, and, perhaps, the whole controversy may be now deemed beyond the limit of inquiry.

We shall, therefore, consider this work of Lucretius as the earliest specimen which has descended to us of the philosophic poetry of the ancients; for though, in common with the writings of Hesiod, it may be included under the Genus Didactic, as endeavouring to teach and instruct through the medium of versification, yet, as aspiring to develop the principles of natural and moral philosophy, it takes a higher station than any poem on Agriculture can ever hope to attain. To combine the most exquisite poetry with the clashing and recondite dogmata of the grecian schools, was an arduous task, and to which very few, even in the first ranks of genius, could be supposed equal. However various and hostile may be the ideas with regard to the tenets of Lucretius, of his merit as a poet, I should imagine, there can be but one opinion. He who has acquired a just taste for sublime sentiment and luminous description, will find his highest gratification in

the perusal of his pages, nor will he hesitate to place him at the head of Roman poetry. Even Virgil, deservedly celebrated as he is for pictoresque delineation, has not surpassed, either in design or colouring, the glowing landscapes of the elder bard. How rapturous must have been the enjoyment of the poet of Mantua in contemplating and dwelling upon the beautiful and highly finished pictures of his predecessor! What a study for intellect so congenial, so capable of emulating the excellence it delighted to admire! Numerous passages in the Georgics breathe the very spirit of Lucretius, and should the curious reader undertake the task of comparison, he would soon perceive how conscious Virgil must have been that the very words of his Master were of worth too great to be superseded. In fact, not only the imagery, but almost every epithet, in the digressional and episodic parts of this wonderful poem, is so appropriate, so imbued with a tint essential to the harmony of the whole, that, to attempt its change were to destroy the effect of the piece. The same judgment which led Virgil to study and to imitate the works of Lucretius, as models for descriptive poetry, has influenced too the poets of England, and Spenser,

Milton, Thomson, and Gray, have frequently caught the manner, and copied the hues and grouping, of this enchanting artist. "The Persians," observes Dr. Warton, " distinguish the different degrees of the strength of fancy in ' different poets, by calling them, painters or sculptors. Lucretius, from the force of his" images, should be ranked among the latter." He is, in truth, a Sculptor-Poet. His images have a bold relief." * Dropping, however, the language of a sister art, though frequently' happily employed in illustrating the beauties and defects of poetry, it may be remarked, that the diction of Lucretius is peculiarly adapted to the nature of his theme; when explaining the abstruse theories of philosophy, his phraseology is uniformly plain and perspicuous, yet often possessing due dignity from the subject, and, in many instances, exhibiting an admirable specimen of simple grandeur. In his similes and episodes, the richest ornaments of style, the boldest metaphors and figures, and a construction of verse that even Virgil has not exceeded, unite to develop and

* Warton on the Writings and Genius of Pope, vol. ii. page 105.

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