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<< Hanc olim veteres vitam coluere Sabini. »

Voilà les Sabins.

<< Hanc Remus et frater.

Voilà les habitants primitifs de Rome, Pélasges et Aborigènes.

«

Je saisis l'élément étrusque.

Sic fortis Etruria crevit. »>

« Scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma,
<< Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces.

Enfin Rome se constitue, et enveloppe les sept collines de ses murailles et de son unité.

Pour ma part, il m'est impossible de ne pas donner à ces vers un sens profondément historique: sous des trésors d'élégance, d'harmonie, de beauté et de politesse, Virgile cachait un génie naïf, amant des traditions et tout à fait archaïque. En vain quelques critiques ont voulu nous le faire voir comme entièrement envahi par les idées et l'esprit de son temps; non, bien différent d'Horace, il aime surtout la nature simple et les temps primitifs : c'est pour les chanter qu'il est poëte. Seulement il ne refusera pas d'emprunter à un siècle poli l'élégance du langage. Il ne saurait retrouver la lyre d'Orphée; il rougirait de celle d'Ennius. Pur de ces affectations puériles qui nuisent parfois à Salluste et à Lucrèce, il chante avec la langue de tous, qu'il porte à son comble de perfection et de fini, et sa muse, à la fois originale et populaire, reste comme le type immortel de la poésie pour les temps de politesse et de civilisation.

FIN.

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