VIRGIL MASTER OF EPIC AND TRAGEDY SAYS RAND

"Virgil's surprise for his readers is his combining of tragedy and epic in a remarkable and unheard of way", said Professor E. K. Rand '94, last Wednesday afternoon in the second of the series of lectures on "Four Great Poets".

Professor Rand spoke specifically on the three great works of Virgil: the "Eclogues", "Georgics", and the "Aeneld". Of the Georgics he said , "Here the author's great art in the arrangement of matter and sense of climax is most evident. His phrases and lines flow on with an undulating rhythm, with occasional bursts into epic which do not, in spite of the decided change, break the continuity of the plot".

In answer to the criticism heaped on "Plus Aeneas" in modern times on account of the hero's treatment of Dido, Professor Rand defended him on the grounds that his reputation was well established and understood as purely a national hero. "The tragedy of Dido", said Professor Rand in conclusion, "is tragedy undefiled, no less for the hero than for the heroine".