NOTES TO THE POEMS
A retentive memory and enormous reading and infor-
mation, together with a style rhetorical but of extreme
lucidity and ^ brilliance, qualified him to excel in
historical writing. He first made his name at twenty-
five with his Essay on Milton, published in the " Edin-
burgh Review." The " Lays of Ancient Rome"
(1842) have the same qualities as his prose.
The Tarquin dynasty, expelled from Rome for the
crime of Sextus Tarquinius, got support from the
peoples of the surrounding districts, including Clusium,
Tusculum, Veii, and Luna, and marched against
Rome.
P. 15, 1. 5. Consul; one of the two chief magistrates of
Rome.
1. 12. Lars Porsena : King of Clusium.
P. 16, 11. 22-26. Ramnian, Titian : the Ramnes and the
Tities were two of the three old patrician tribes of
Rome. The third, the Luceres, was represented by
Horatius.
P. 17, 1- 9- Fathers : the Senate, the Roman parliament.
1. 13. Tuscan (army) : belonging to Etruria (Tuscany).
P. 18, 1. 7. Umbria: the province north of Rome, and east
of Etruria.
1. 19. Luna : a town in the extreme north of Etruria.
1. 29. The she-wolf's litter: the Romans. According to
the legend, Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome,
were suckled by a she-wolf.
P. 19, 1. 21. Mount Alwrnus : a peak in the Apennines, in
Etruria.
1. 25. Augurs: Roman officials who foretold future
events from, omens.
1. 33. Lucumo : a title of honour bestowed on Etruscan
kings, nobles and priests.
P. 20, 1. 7. Etruria : a province north of Rome, now
Tuscany.
P. 22, 1. i. Sextus : the son of Tarquinius Superbus, King
of Rome, through whose crime Tarquinius was de-
posed and banished from the city.
1. 9. Palatinus: one of the seven hills on which Rome
was built.
1. 13. Father Tiber : Rome stands on the river Tiber.
P. 23, 1. 32. Volscian : the Volsci lived in Latium, the
province just to the south of Rome.
P. 24, 1. i. Juno: the queen of the gods, and wife of
Jupiter.
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