Latin poetry tradition (in which he adopted the metrical form of the Epode or 'Iambic Distich'). Horace was a contemporary of Virgil and, like the epic poet, he wrote verses in dactylic hexameter, but in a conversational and epistolary style. Virgil's hexameters are generally regarded as "the supreme metrical system of Latin literature." Latin poetry The history of Latin poetry can be understood as the adaptation of Greek models. The verse comedies of Plautus are considered the earliest surviving examples of Latin literature and are estimated to have been composed around 205-184 BC. The start of Latin literature is conventionally dated to
Janus Dousa 1569 Dousa published his first collection of poems (epigrams, satires, elegies, etc.). A new collection appeared in 1575. This collection contains (among other poems) five "Odae Lugdunenses" on the siege of Leiden. In 1584 a volume of epodes was issued. In 1585 Dousa wrote the "Odae Britannicae". 1586 saw the release of a new book of elegies. In 1599 and 1601 Dousa’s historiographical works appeared. In 1603 a poetic volume called "Echo" and a collection of three odes was released. Some more works were issued posthumously. Apart from these literary works Dousa published collections of text-critical remarks on and editions