s ground but for a
short time; for the Romans, as fickle as ferocious, soon grew weary of
it, and were falling back into their barbarous enjoyment of gladiators
and cruel spectacles, when the poet Pacuvius arose, and restored tragedy
as far as it could be restored among such a people. He was a nephew of
Ennius, and, by descent, tinctured with the Grecian manner. Pacuvius was
not only a poet of considerable merit, but a painter also, whose
productions were greatly admired; particularly his decorations of a
temple of Hercules, which Pliny has mentioned with lavish praise.

To Pacuvius succeeded his disciple ACCIUS, whose first drama appeared in
the very same year that Pacuvius produced his last. By the advice of his
master he chiefly adhered to the subjects which had before made the
business of the dramatists of Athens, translated several of the
tragedies of Sophocles into the Latin language, and wrote a vast number
of pieces, some of which were comedies. Thus he gained a considerable
share, and in fact reaped the harvest of which Andronicus and Pacuvius
had sown the seed. Thus it often happens in life that the fruits of one
man's virtues, genius, and industry are devoured by a successor.[A]

Yet Accius was unquestionably a lofty and excellent poet, though his
style was censured for harshness. Being told of this fault by Pacuvius,
he replied "I have no cause to be ashamed of it: I shall hereafter write
the better for it. It is with genius as with fruit, that which is sour,
grows sweet as it ripens, while that which is early mellow rots before
it ripens."

No man was held in higher respect than Accius. He received the greatest
marks of honour at Rome. A high magistrate severely reprimanded a man
for uttering the name of Accius without reverence; and an actor was
punished for mentioning his name on the stage. His exalted opinion of
his own dignity may be inferred from the following anecdote respecting
him, transmitted to posterity by Valerius Maximus. Once when Julius
Caesar entered an assembly of poets, Accius alone abstained from rising
to do him homage. He respected Caesar as much as any of them, but he
thought that in an assembly of the learned, the superiority lay on the
part of the poets, and the grandeur of the greatest conqueror was
diminished before the lustre of the best writer.[B]

As the writings of Livius Andronicus, Pacuvius and Accius constitute the
first epoch in the Roman drama, they are generally spoken