Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

RUTILIUS NAMATIANUSprefect held praetorian control. Yet greater glorydwells in his mind and tongue. He has shown whatkind of dwelling-place eloquence demands : eachman's power in oratory will depend on his desire tobe good."The half-light of dewy morn gleamed from apurple sky ; we spread our sails bent in curvesslantwise ; and for a time give a wide berth to theshore which the Munio ^ blocks with shoals : thenarrow river-mouth heaves restlessly with treacheroussurf. Thereafter we sight the scattered housetopsof Graviscae,*^ plagued often with a marshy smell insummer-time ; and yet the wooded neighbourhoodis green with close-grown groves, and pine-treeshadows wave o'er the margin of the sea. Then wedescry, all unguarded now, desolate Cosa's ancientruins and unsightly walls. ^' 'Tis with a qualm thatI adduce mid serious things the comic reason for itsdownfall ; but I am loath to suppress a laugh. Thestory runs that once upon a time the townsfolk wereforced to migrate and left their homes behindbecause rats infested them! I'd sooner believe inlosses suffered by the Pygmies' infantry ^ and incranes leagued solemnly to fight their wars. Notfar from here we make the port which the nameof Hercules distinguishes : a softer breeze followsXow the Mignone.^*Graviscae, the port of Tarquinii, being in the Maremma,had unhealthy air. Like its pine-groves, this small placehas disappeared.•*Cosa is now Ansedonia : its harbour was the PortusHerculis, now Porto Ercole.' The first mention of Milton's " small infantry warred onby cranes " is in Homer, Iliad III. 3-6.789