ave character--is in fact a serious poem, and as such any
youth may read it _to himself_, scarcely to another. The very subject
touches on that mystical, though natural sanctity that every uncorrupted
man is conscious of in the temple of his own person. To _impart_ a
thought of it is a deterioration. But a master must not hear it; and
even for a very inferior reason. He cannot be a critical instructor.

GRATIAN.--You are right: that was a deep observation of Juvenal; it gave
the caution,

"Maxima debetur pueris _reverentia_."

I have often thought that good masters have ever shown very great tact
in reading the Classics, where there is so much, even in the purest,
that it is best not to understand.

AQUILIUS. (I choose to give myself that name)--Or rather to pass lightly
over, for you cannot help seeing it; put your foot across it, and not
lengthways; as you would over a rut in a bad bit of road, which may
nevertheless lead to a most delightful place at the end. I cannot but
think the "Atys" to be a borrowed poem. It is quite Greek--unlike any
thing Roman. What Roman ever expressed downright mad violent action? How
much there is in it that reminds you of the story of Pentheus of
Euripides. Both deny a deity, and both are punished by their own hands.
But the resemblance is less in the characters than in the vivid pictures
and rapidity of action; and the landscape glows like one fresh from
Titian's pencil. Our friend Landor, here, I see, calls the author
"graceful." He says of Virgil that he is not so "graceful as Catullus."

CURATE.--Grace, as separate from beauty, I suppose, means something
lighter. It admits a feeling not quite in earnest, not so serious but it
may be sported with.

GRATIAN.--It is a play, however, at which only genius is expert. It is
many years since I read Catullus,--I confess I thought him rather a
careless fellow, and that his Lesbia was but a doll to dress out in the
tawdry ribbons of his verse.

AQUILIUS.--Whatever his Lesbia was, his verses are chaste; and if I find
a Lesbia that is not as his verse, I think it a duty of charity to
conclude there were two of the name; and we know that one Lesbia was a
feigned name for Clodia.

GRATIAN.--That is not very complimentary to the constancy of Catullus.

CURATE.--I am afraid we are speaking of a virtue that was not Roman. I
have been reading Catullus very recently, and was so much pleased with
his gracefulness, that I thought it no bad pra