Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

INTRODUCTION'v\ith the East which Grattius had jast mentioned.There is more of the Roman note in the allusion to thesimple board of ancient heroes of Rome (321); butit must always be remembered how, from Enniusonwards, Latin authors born far from the capitalitself tended to speak and \\Tite as Romans. If,then, we cannot add the descriptive FaUsciis to hisname, it is left *' Grattius "" ^^^thout cognomen orpraenomen.If Grattius ever ^^Tote lyric poetry,'' it is long sincelost. His sole surviving work is his Cynegetica, ofwhich we have one book of about 540 hexametersmutilated towards its end. Here, like several other\^Titers of antiquity, he treats of the chase and especiallyof the rearing and training of dogs for huntingpurposes. The sources of his material are not easyto trace. ^ Some authorities affirm, while othersdeny, his debt to the Cynegeticus of Xenophon (orpseudo-Xenophon) and to Plutarch. It seems atleast likely that some Greek author of the Alexandrianperiod lay behind his list of dogs, in which theAsiatic breeds come before the European, with the" Celtae "'^ sandwiched between " Medi " and" Geloni " (155-57). The Latin influence which ismost noticeable upon Grattius is that of Virgil,especially his Georgics.The debt of subsequent wTiters to Grattiuswas of the slightest ; largely for the reason that a° The spelling Gratius in Ovid is less correct. BuechelerEh. Mus. 35 (1880), p. 407 :cf. C.I.L. vi. 19-117 sqq.* This hypothesis is bricfiy discussed by Enk, prohg. pp.2—3" Enk, op. cit. pp. 31-32.^ Can his Greek original have meant " Galatian " insteadof " Gaulish " ? Radermacher, Rh. Mus. 60 (1905), p. 249.144