The inscriptions he composed himself, in mediocre verse, full of Virgilian reminiscences.
And the metrical vehicle which he conceived as the only one adequate to his great theme was a rude experiment, which was ultimately developed into the stately Virgilian hexameter.
It is constructed very much on the principle of a modern edition, and is partly founded on the extensive Virgilian literature of preceding times, much of which is known only from the fragments and facts preserved in the commentary.
The style and rhythm, indeed, were not exactly Virgilian; but the translation found many admirers, and was read with pleasure by Pope himself.
And although it took several generations of poets to beat their music out to the perfection of the Virgilian cadences, yet in the rude adaptation of Ennius the secret of what ultimately became one of the grandest organs of literary expression was first discovered and revealed.