f the climate, and of the perils
to which he was exposed, when the barbarians plundered the surrounding
country, and insulted the very walls of Tomi. In the midst of all his
misfortunes he sought some relief in the exercise of his poetical
talents. He died at Tomi in the 60th year of his age, A.D. 18. Besides
his amatory poems, Ovid wrote the _Metamorphoses_ in 15 books, which
consist of such legends or fables as involved a transformation, from the
Creation to the time of Julius Caesar, the last being that emperor's
change into a star; the _Fasti_ in 12 books, of which only the first six
are extant, a sort of poetical Roman calendar, with its appropriate
festivals and mythology; and the _Elegies_, written during his
banishment. Ovid undoubtedly possessed a great poetical genius, which
makes it the more to be regretted that it was not always under the
control of a sound judgment. He exhibits great vigor of fancy and warmth
of coloring, but he was the first to depart from that pure and correct
taste which characterizes the Greek poets and their earlier Latin
imitators.

* * * * *

We now turn to the history of prose literature among the Romans. The
earliest prose works were Annals, containing a meagre account of the
principal events in Roman history, arranged under their respective
years. The earliest Annalists who obtained reputation were Q. FABIUS
PICTOR and L. CINCIUS ALIMENTUS, both of whom served in the Second Punic
War, and drew up an account of it, but they wrote in the Greek language.
The first prose writer in the Latin language, of whom any considerable
fragments have been preserved, is the celebrated Censor, M. Porcius
Cato, who died B.C. 149, and of whose life an account has been already
given. He wrote an important historical work entitled _Origines_. The
first book contained the history of the Roman kings; the second and
third treated of the origin of the Italian towns, and from these two
books the whole work derived its title; the fourth book treated of the
First Punic War, the fifth book of the Second Punic War, and the sixth
and seventh continued the narrative to the year of Cato's death. There
is still extant a work on agriculture (_De Re Rustica_) bearing the name
of Cato, which is probably substantially his, though it is certainly not
exactly in the form in which it proceeded from his pen. There were many
other annalists, of whom we know little more than the names, and wh