point, a striking antithesis. This is no wholesome food for boys."[1] Jouvancy seems to say the same, when he speaks of the "abruptness and ruggedness of Seneca's style."
§ 3. Latin Poets.
Phaedrus wrote several books of fables, partly translations, partly imitations of the famous fables of Aesop. The gracefulness, precision, elegance, and simplicity of style, make the fables of Phaedrus excellent reading to start with in lower classes. Besides, his sound moral precepts afford other pedagogical advantages.
Ovid is the most gifted of Roman poets, more brilliant than Virgil, unsurpassed in his power of describing and "painting," and in his ease and fluency of versification. Father Jouvancy, in a few words, expresses the best judgment that can be passed on this writer: "Would that he were as chaste and pure as he is elegant and pleasing." This is only too true. Therefore, his works must be read with great caution. There are some of his productions of whose existence young students should be ignorant. The Amores, Ars Amandi, Remedia Amoris, cannot be condemned in too strong terms. The poet himself confesses: "Nil nisi lascivi per me discuntur amores." Critics, who cannot be suspected of squeamishness or religious prejudice, have severely censured the erotic poems of Ovid, as "gems of frivolousness, handbooks of lasciviousness, which on young readers must produce the effects of sweet poison that enters into the
- ↑ Nägelsbach.
