once existed, of
various merit, and of different authors, which have left few or no
memorials behind them, but have perished promiscuously amidst the
indiscriminate ravages of time, of accidents, and of barbarians. Amongst
the principal authors whose works are lost, are Varius and Valgius; the
former of whom, besides a panegyric upon Augustus, composed some
tragedies. According to Quintilian, his Thyestes was equal to any
composition of the Greek tragic poets.

The great number of eminent writers, poets in particular, who adorned
this age, has excited general admiration, and the phenomenon is usually
ascribed to a fortuitous occurrence, which baffles all inquiry: but we
shall endeavour to develop the various causes which seem to have produced
this effect; and should the explanation appear satisfactory, it may
favour an opinion, that under similar circumstances, if ever they should
again be combined, a period of equal glory might arise in other ages and
nations.

The Romans, whether from the influence of climate, or their mode of
living, which in general was temperate, were endowed with a lively
imagination, and, as we before observed, a spirit of enterprise. Upon
the final termination of the Punic war, and the conquest of Greece, their
ardour, which had hitherto been exercised in military achievements, was
diverted into the channel of literature; and the civil commotions which
followed, having now ceased, a fresh impulse was given to activity in the
ambitious pursuit of the laurel, which was now only to be obtained by
glorious exertions of intellect. The beautiful productions of Greece,
operating strongly upon their minds, excited them to imitation;
imitation, when roused amongst a number, produced emulation; and
emulation cherished an extraordinary thirst of fame, which, in every
exertion of the human mind, is the parent of excellence. This liberal
contention was not a little promoted by the fashion introduced at Rome,
for poets to recite their compositions in public; a practice which seems
to have been carried even to a ridiculous excess.--Such was now the rage
for poetical composition in the Roman capital, that Horace describes it
in the following terms:

Mutavit mentem populus levis, et calet uno
Scribendi studio: pueri patresque severi
Fronde comas vincti coenant, et carmina dictant.--Epist. ii. 1.
* * * * * *

Now the light people bend to other aims;