Musae quae pedibus magnum pulsatis Olympum (Muses who Strike Great Olympus with Your Feet) is the revolutionary introduction to the Annales (Annals) of Quintus Ennius, announcing a new program in Roman epic that was followed by writers of Latin epic poetry from Lucretius to Petrarch. Not only does Ennius invoke the Muses by their Greek name, breaking with his predecessors Livius Andronicus (fl. 240 B.C.) and Gnaeus Naevius (fl. 235 B.C.), but he also uses for the first time in Latin epic the Greek epic meter, dactylic hexameter. The significance of these two related poetic innovations for the future of Roman epic cannot be overemphasized, for Ennius, whose various works survive only in paltry fragments, was one of the most important early Roman poets.

Quintus Ennius was born in southern Italy at Rudiae in 239 B.C. near present-day Lecce, in an area where Oscan and Greek, as well...