Excerpt from The Latin Classics, Vol. 1: Drama Ethics This view, perhaps, may do the early Latins some wrong, for at the feasts (where, if ever, a Roman was inspired with the joy Of life), young men recited songs in praise of ancient worthies. These were extemporized, and were probably of little artistic merit, for none has been preserved in litera ture. Cato records the fact that he had heard them, but gives no specimens. The custom was entirely dead before the time of Cicero, who keenly regretted its passing - not so much, it may be suggested, because Of the literary merit Of these eulogies, as for antiquarian and patriotic considerations. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.