probably derived from the Etruscans, and until Ennius
introduced the heroic hexameter the strains of the Italian bards flowed
in this metre. The structure of the Saturnian is very simple, and its
rhythmical arrangement is found in the poetry of every age and country.
Macaulay adduces as an example of this measure, the following line from
the well-known nursery song:

'The queen was in her parlor,
Eating bread and honey.'

From this species of verse, which probably prevailed among the natives
of Provence (the Roman Provencia) and into which at a later period,
rhyme was introduced as an embellishment, the Troubadours derived the
metre of their ballad poetry, and thence introduced it into the rest of
Europe."

Literature with the Romans was not of spontaneous growth; it was
chiefly due to the influence of the Etruscans, who were their early
teachers, they lacked that delicate fancy and imagination that made the
Greeks, even before they emerged from a state of barbarism, a poetical
people. The first written literature of the Romans was in the form of
history, in which they excelled. Like other nations, they had oral
compositions in verse long before they possessed any written
literature. The exploits of heroes were recited and celebrated by the
bards of Rome as they were among the Northern nations. Yet these lays
were so despised by the Romans that we can scarcely see any trace of
their existence except in certain relics which have been borrowed from
true poetry and converted into the half fabulous history of the infant
ages of Rome. That the Romans, as a people, had no great national
drama, and that their poems never became the groundwork of a later
polished literature was due to the incorporation of foreigners into
their nation who took little interest in the traditions of their
earlier achievements. Father Ennius (239-169 B.C.), as Horace calls
him, was the true founder of Latin poetry. He enriched the Latin
language, gave it new scope and power; and paid particular attention to
its grammatical form. What he has done was so well done, that it has
never been undone, although later ages added new improvements to the
language. In fable Rome was an imitator of Greece; but nevertheless
Phaedrus (16 A.D.) struck out a new line for himself, and became both a
moral instructor and a political satirist. Celsus, who lived in the
reign of Tiberius, was the author of a work on medicine which is used
as a textbook even in