BRM349577 Illustration of the poem \'The Gnat\' (\'Culex\'), attributed to Virgil (oil on canvas) by Boisselier, Antoine Felix (1790-1857); Private Collection; (add.info.: story of a shepherd who falls asleep but is protected from attack by a serpent by an insect who stings him to awaken him; the shepherd is saved from death and kills the serpent but also crushes the gnat to death; later the gnat appears in a dream to reproach him for ingratitude and the shepherd, stung with remorse, erects a stone monument to his saviour; Publius Vergilius Maro (c.70 BC -19 BC); formerly in collection Brame & Lorenceau;); French, out of copyright.