Sunday, November 27, 2022
The Dullness of Vergil
A.D. Leeman, Orationis Ratio, Vol. I (Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1963), p. 12:
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In fact the only reason why Virgil is thought 'dull' by some of his modern readers is that these readers are too 'dull' in Latin to perceive his subtlety, variety and novelty of expression. We know the conceptual and factual meanings of most Latin words, we even know, with the help of statistics, which words are 'poetic' and which 'unpoetic'; but who among us can claim to feel all the shades of meaning of a Latin word, who can see its whole 'colour', who can taste its full 'flavour'?
