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INTRODUCTION
xxi

he himself would deign to listen, and would interpret the harder places to the younger folk; he praised the beauties and forgave the faults.

"And the young folk envied the fame of the bards, which in their own land still echoes through the woods and the fields; of bards to whom dearer than the laurel of the Capitol is a wreath plaited by the hands of a village girl, of blue cornflowers and green rue."