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INTRODUCTION
recur too often, and that aliases must be found
Variety is good ; but here it was carried to excess.
The following list of variants for Romani may not
be exhaustive, but is surely too long : Aeneadae,
Aurunci, Ausonidae and Ausonii^ Dardanidae, Dardani
and Dardanii, Dauni and Daunii, Evandrei, Hectorei,
Hesperii, Idaei, Iliad, Itali, Laomedontiadae, Latii and
Latini, Laurentes, Martigenae, Oenotri, Phryges and
Phrygil, Priamidae, Rkoetei, Saturnii, Sigei, Teucri,
Troes, Troiugenae, and Tyrrheni. The Carthaginians
also are called by nearly a dozen different names.
I have thought it best not always to follow Silius in
this particular.
The great Roman poets, Lucretius and Virgil,
Catullus and Horace, have their place apart ; and
Silius has no claim to be ranked with these or near
them. Yet, when defects are admitted and due
qualifications made, the reader of the Punica, once
he has surmounted the obstacles, will find much
pleasant walking there. If anyone doubts whether
Silius could write poetry, let him read the twentythree
lines in which the aspect and habits of the god
Pan are described (xiii. 326-347). If Ovid had written
these charming verses, every scholar would know
them and critics would be eloquent in their praise.
Silius is full of incidental narrative, and he tells
a short story well, though it must be admitted
that his main narrative is too apt to hang fire.
And one quality he has which is a constant comfort
and satisfaction to some at least of his
readers. Though inferior to Statius in brilliance
and far inferior to Lucan in intellectual force, he
is almost entirely free from that misplaced ingenuity
which pervades the whole of their works and makes
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