Roman Poets as Literary Historians Some Aspects of Imitatio ^

Literary history — like the history of any art — involves a special difficulty; it is that of reconciling a general scheme of development and a linear movement in time with the problem of the individual genius who creates new things. That has not been made easier in recent years when New Critics tried to expel the writer from the text, and then Deconstructionists called the very existence of the text into question. Yet literary history is fundamental to our studies, and this essay starts from the observation that every poet perforce indulges in literary his-