SOURCE: “Some Remarks on Naevius as Poet and as Man” in Naevian Studies: A Dissertation, W. F. Humphrey, 1931, pp. 58-66.

In the following excerpt, De Graff explains why it is so difficult to evaluate Naevius’s merit as a writer and points out that many fragments of his work are extant solely because they were used as examples in grammar texts.

There are certain great names in the world of letters which are immortal¹ Upon them has been impressed the stamp omnium temporum et aetatum et locorum², which marks them as classic. In the chorus of universal approval which greets them there is scarcely a discordant note. To estimate their value there is no need to read innumerable tomes compiled in exegesis of them by the literati of many generations. But there are other authors who have not made so general an appeal. Their reading public has been...