Epic Poetry

"There are three recensions of the text of the Samaveda Sanhita, the Kauthuma Sakha or recension is current in Guzerat, the Jaiminiya in the Carnatic, and the Ranayaniya in the Mahratta country."

"The Collection is made up of hymns, portions of hymns, and detached verses, taken mainly from the Rgveda, transposed and re-arranged, without reference to their original order, to suit the religious ceremonies in which they were to be employed."

"The Samaveda, or Veda of Holy Songs, third in the usual order of enumeration of the three Vedas, ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rgveda or Veda of Recited praise."

"The singers of Gayatri celebrate you, Indra, lord of song and joy, with the hymns of Sama Veda."

"Lord Krishna, the divine persona of Gita, also says, of the Vedas, I am Sama. (10.22)."

"The essence of Sama is Udgitha, the cosmic resonance of Aum. That Aum, chant, sing and worship in meditation."

"Although puranas and later works make mention of no less than a thousand samhitas of the Samaveda only two have come down to us, viz., those of the Kauthumas (considered the vulgate), and of the Jaiminiyas or [[w:Talavakara|Talavakaras. P.313"

"Sama Veda is the Veda of Bhakthi"

"If the Rig Veda is the word, the Sama Veda is the song or the meaning, and If Rig Veda is the knowledge, the Sama Veda is its realization."

"It consists hymns of the Rigveda put to a musical measure. Hence the text of the Sama Veda is an alternative version of the Rig Veda. Its secret is in its musical annotation and rendering."

"The Sama Veda represents the force of spiritual knowledge and the power of devotion. The book was revealed to Vayu rishi."

"Trayee: The three Vedas: The term 'tray', or triad, often used to denote the Vedas, is collectively applied to Rg, Sam, and Yajur."

"He Jaimini divided the Veda into four, namely Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva. The histories and the Puranas are said to be the fifth Veda."

"De l'Eneïda dico, la qual mamma fummi, e fummi nutrice, poetando: sanz'essa non fermai peso di dramma."

"Magnorum haud unquam indignus avorum."

"Aestuat ingens Imo in corde pudor mixtoque insania luctu Et furiis agitatus amor et conscia virtus."

"Hunc, oro, sine me furere ante furorem."

"Fors et virtus miscentur in unum."

"Iuppiter ipse duas aequato examine lances Sustinet et fata imponit diversa duorum, quem damnet labor et quo vergat pondere letum."

"Ni te tantus edit tacitam dolor."

"Ulterius temptare veto."

"Sit Romana potens Itala virtute propago."

"Ulterius ne tende odiis."

"Stetit acer in armis Aeneas volvens oculos dextramque repressit; Et iam iamque magis cunctantem flectere sermo Coeperat, infelix umero cum apparuit alto Balteus et notis fulserunt cingula bullis Pallantis pueri, victum quem vulnere Turnus Straverat atque umeris inimicum insigne gerebat. Ille, oculis postquam saevi monimenta doloris Exuviasque hausit, furiis accensus et ira Terribilis: 'tune hinc spoliis indute meorum Eripiare mihi? Pallas te hoc vulnere, Pallas Immolat et poenam scelerato ex sanguine sumit.' Hoc dicens ferrum adverso sub pectore condit Fervidus."

"Vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras."

"Cedite Romani scriptores, cedite Graii: Nescioquid maius nascitur Iliade."

"Et profugum Aenean, altae primordia Romae, Quo nullum Latio clarius extat opus."

"Nec tu divinam Aeneida tempta, sed longe sequere et vestigia semper adora."

""Aeneida" prosa prius oratione formatam digestamque in XII libros particulatim componere instituit, prout liberet quidque, et nihil in ordinem arripiens. Ac ne quid impetum moraretur, quaedam inperfecta transmisit, alia levissimis verbis veluti fulsit, quae per iocum pro tibicinibus interponi aiebat ad sustinendum opus, donec solidae columnae advenirent."

"Talem enim monstrare Aenean debuit, ut dignus Caesari, in cuius honorem haec scribebantur, parens et auctor generis praeberetur."

"Nam utique meliores, quia certiores, erant primae illae litterae quibus fiebat in me et factum est et habeo illud ut et legam, si quid scriptum invenio, et scribam ipse, si quid volo, quam illae quibus tenere cogebar Aeneae nescio cuius errores, oblitus errorum meorum, et plorare Didonem mortuam, quia se occidit ab amore, cum interea me ipsum in his a te morientem, deus, vita mea, siccis oculis ferrem miserrimus.'Quid enim miserius misero non miserante se ipsum et flente Didonis mortem, quae fiebat amando Aenean, non flente autem mortem suam, quae fiebat non amando te, deus, lumen cordis mei et panis oris intus animae meae et virtus maritans mentem meam et sinum cogitationis meae? non te amabam, et fornicabar abs te, et fornicanti sonabat undique: 'euge! euge!' amicitia enim mundi huius fornicatio est abs te et 'euge! euge!' dicitur ut pudeat, si non ita homo sit. et haec non flebam, et flebam Didonem extinctam ferroque extrema secutam, sequens ipse extrema condita tua relicto te et terra iens in terram. et si prohiberer ea legere, dolerem, quia non legerem quod dolerem. tali dementia honestiores et uberiores litterae putantur quam illae quibus legere et scribere didici."

"Virgil falls infinitely short of Homer in the characters of his poem, both as to their variety and novelty. Æneas is indeed a perfect character, but as for Achates, though he's styled the hero's friend, he does nothing in the whole poem which may deserve that title. [...] I do not see any thing new or particular in Turnus. [...] In short, there is neither that variety nor novelty in the persons of the Æneid, which we meet with in those of the Iliad."

"Nor is it sufficient for an epic poem to be filled with such thoughts as are natural, unless it abound also with such as are sublime. Virgil in this particular falls short of Homer. He has not indeed so many thoughts that are low and vulgar; but at the same time has not so many thoughts that are sublime and noble. The truth of it is, Virgil seldom rises into very astonishing sentiments, when he is not fired by the Iliad. He everywhere charms and pleases us by the force of his own genius; but seldom elevates and transports us where he does not fetch his hints from Homer."

"There are few readers who do not prefer Turnus to Æneas."

"My chief objection (I mean that to the character of Aeneas) is, of course, not so much felt in the three first books; but, afterwards, he is always either insipid or odious, sometimes excites interest against him, and never for him."

"It was surely no affectation in Virgil when he desired to have the Aeneid burnt; he had made that poem the task of his life, and in his last moments he had the feeling that he had failed in it."

"The Roman epic abounds in moral and poetical defects; nevertheless it remains the most complete picture of the national mind at its highest elevation, the most precious document of national history, if the history of an age is revealed in its ideas, no less than in its events and incidents."

"Doubtless it was the "Æneid," his artificial and unfinished epic, that won Virgil the favour of the Middle Ages. To the Middle Ages, which knew not Greek, and knew not Homer, Virgil was the representative of the heroic and eternally interesting past. But to us who know Homer, Virgil's epic is indeed "like moonlight unto sunlight;" is a beautiful empty world, where no real life stirs, a world that shines with a silver lustre not its own, but borrowed from "the sun of Greece.""

"Virgil is unhappy in his hero. Compared with Achilles his Aeneas is but the shadow of a man."

"A man, an adult, is precisely what [Aeneas] is: Achilles had been little more than a passionate boy. ... With Virgil European poetry grows up."

"The Aeneid, the supposed panegyric of Augustus and great propaganda-piece of the new regime, has turned into something quite different. The processes of history are presented as inevitable, as indeed they are, but the value of what they achieve is cast into doubt. Virgil continually insists on the public glory of the Roman achievement, the establishment of peace and order and civilization, that dominion without end which Jupiter tells Venus he has given the Romans:But he insists equally on the terrible price one must pay for this glory. More than blood, sweat and tears, something more precious is continually being lost by the necessary process; human freedom, love, personal loyalty, all the qualities which the heroes of Homer represent, are lost in the service of what is grand, monumental and impersonal: the Roman State."

"The Aeneid enforces the fine paradox that all the wonders of the most powerful institution the world has ever known are not necessarily of greater importance than the emptiness of human suffering."

"Virgil's is a poem that at once sustains the discourses of political power and questions them as well."

"Aeneas exhibits a new kind of tragic heroism: that of the public servant who labors for others selflessly... It is important to grasp the meanings of the Roman word pietas inasmuch as this, the only quality assigned Aeneas in the prologue, furnishes the most common description of him throughout the epic: pius Aeneas. The adjective and noun describe the right relationship that exists between a human being and (1) the gods, (2) his public responsibilities as citizen or political leader, (3) his family, and (4) other human beings. ... The pageant of [Aeneas'] exit from Troy is a masterpiece of Vergilian symbolism. Not content with the simple legend that Aeneas carried his father from the defeated city, Vergil adds to the picture little Ascanius stepping along at Aeneas' side, and in the father's hands he places a small receptacle containing the penates or household gods. Aeneas, in the center of the tableau, fulfills the first three aspects of pietas. Not only is he obeying the gods but he is carrying the religious symbols which will serve as the basis of important rituals in his new land. Not only is he showing family devotion with his filial act toward Anchises his father (as legend prescribed) but he is leading his son by the hand so as to continue the family. ... The total family group centered on Aeneas represents the public mission of the hero, who serves as the necessary link between old Troy (Anchises) and new Troy in Italy (Ascanius). Aeneas' duty, which he selflessly carries out, is to bring the Trojans to Italy and make possible their lasting settlement. This he admirably accomplishes, then dies three years later without having had time to enjoy his achievement."

"The Aeneid, trans. John Dryden (1697)"

"The Æneid of Virgil, trans. Christopher Pitt (1740)"

"The Æneid of Virgil, trans. John Conington (1870)"

"The Æneids of Virgil, trans. William Morris (1876)"

"Virgil: Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid I–VI, trans. H. R. Fairclough (W. Heinemann, 1918)"

"Virgil: Aeneid VII–XXI, The Minor Poems, trans. H. R. Fairclough (W. Heinemann, 1918)"