Chapter VIII

THE ROMAN EPIC BEFORE THE TIME OF VIRGIL 280-294
Distinction between primitive and literary epic 280
Absence of primitive epics from Roman literature 281
The Roman epic originates in the imitation of the 282
Greek epic
New character given to the Roman epic from the 283
national sentiment and commemorative instinct
---- from admiration of great men 284
---- from capacity for works of massive execution 285
National characteristics of the poem of Naevius 286
Historical substance of the early Roman epic 287
Representative character of the Annals of Ennius 288
Later annalistic and panegyrical poems 289
New type of Roman epic introduced by Varro Atacinus 291
Type of historical epic rejected in the maturity of 292
Roman art