Dunbar 261 42 Coun. Dow. of Northampton 263 Aeneid 3d. Page 43 Earl of Darby 267 44 Bp. of Durham 270 45 Bp. of Ossery 276 46 Dr. John Mountague 279 47 Dr. Brown 286 48 Dr. Guibbons 293 Aeneid 4th 49 Earl of Exeter 296 50 Lady Giffard 298 51 Lord Clifford 303 52 John Walkaden Esq 307 53 Henry Tasburgh Esq 318 54 Mrs. Ann Brownlow 326 Aeneid 5th 55 Duke of St. Albans 327 56 Earl of Torrington 332 57 Anth. Hamond Esq 340 58 Henry St. Johns Esq 345 59 Steph. Waller Dr. of Laws 347 60 Duke of Glocester 349 61 Edmond Waller Esq 359 Aeneid 6th 62 Earl of Denbigh 362 63 Sir Tho. Dyke Bar. 370 64 Mrs. Ann Bayner 371 65 John Lewknor Esq 374 66 Sir Fleetwood Shepherd 378 67 John Poultney Esq 380 68 John Knight Esq 382 69 Robert Harley Esq 394 Aeneid 7th 70 Earl of Rumney 400 71 Anthony Henley Esq 404 72 George Stepney Esq 407 Page 73 Coll. Tho. Farringdon 416 74 Lady Mary Sackvill 420 75 Charles Fox Esq 432 Aeneid 8th 76 Earl of Ailesbury 434 77 The Hon. Mr. Robert Bruce 447 78 Christopher Rich Esq 450 79 Sir Godfry Kneller 458 Aeneid 9th 80 Earl of Sunderland 464 81 Thomas Foley Esq 468 82 Col. Geo. Cholmondley 476 83 Sir John Percivall Bar. 481 84 Col. Christoph Codrington 486 85 Mr. John Closterman 494 Aeneid 10th 86 Ld. Visc Fitzharding 498 87 Sir Robert Howard 511 88 Sir John Leuson Gore Bar. 517 89 Sir Charles Orby 531 90 Tho. Hopkins Esq 536 Aeneid 11th 91 Duke of Shrewsbury 538 92 Sir Walter Kirkham Blount Bar. 541 93 John Noell Esq 546 94 Marquiss of Normanby 549 95 Lord Berkley 569 96 Arthur Manwareing Esq 573 Aeneid 12th 97 Earl of Chesterfield 578 98 Brigradier Fitzpatrick 585 99 Dr. Tho. Hobbs 595 100 Lord Guilford 611 101 Duke of Ormond 618 The Names of the second SUBSCRIBERS A. LOrd Ashley Sir James Ash Bar. Sir James Ash Bar. Sir Francis Andrew Bar. Charles Adderley Esq Mrs. Ann Ash Edw. Ash Esq Mr. Francis Atterbury Sam. Atkins Esq Tho. Austen Esq Ro. Austen Esq B. Earl of Bullingbrook Sir Ed. Bettenson Bar. Sir Tho. Pope Blount Bar. Sir John Bolles Sir Will. Bowes Will. Blathwayt Esq Secretary of War Will. Barlow Esq Peregrine Bertye Esq Will. Bridgman Esq Orlando Bridgman Esq Will. Bridges Esq Char. Bloodworth Esq The Hon. Henry Boyl Esq Rich. Boyl Esq Chidley Brook Esq Will. Bromley Esq of Warwicksbire Mich. Bruneau Esq Tho. Bulkley Esq Theoph. Butler Esq Capt. John Berkeley Mr. Jo. Bowes Prebend of Durham Mr. Jeremiah Ball. Mr. John Ball. Mr. Richard Banks Mrs. Elizabeth Barry Mr. Beckford Mr. Tho. Betterton Mrs. Catharine Blount Mr. Bond. Mr. Bond. Mrs. Ann Bracegirdle Mr. Samuel Brockenbo-rough Mrs. Elizabeth Brown Mr. Moses Bruche Mr. Lancelton Burton C. Earl of Clarendon Lord Hen. Cavendish Lord Clifford Lord Coningsby Lord Cutts Lady Chudleigh of the West The Hon. Char. Cornwallis Son to the Lord Cornwallis Sir Walt. Clarges Bar. Sir Ro. Cotton Sir Will. Cooper The Ho. Will. Cheyney James Calthorp Esq Charles Chamberlayn Esq Edmond Clifford Esq Charles Cocks Esq Tho. Coel Esq Tho. Coke Esq Hugh Colville Esq Jo. Crawley Esq Courtney Crocker Esq Henry Curwyn Esq Capt. James Conoway Mr. Will. Claret Mr. John Clancy Mr. Will. Congreve Mr. Henry Cook Mr. Will. Cooper Mrs. Elizabeth Creed D. Dutchess of Devonshire Paul Docmenique Esq Mountague Drake Esq Will. Draper Esq Mr. Mich. Dahl Mr. Davenport Mr. Will. Delawn Mrs. Dorothy Draycot Mr. Edward Dryden E. Earl of Essex Sir Edw. Ernle Will. Elson Esq Tho. Elyot Esq Thomas Earl Major General F. Sir Edm. Fettiplace Bar. Sir Will. Forester Sir James Forbys Lady Mary Fenwick The Ho. Colon. Finch The Ho. Doctour Finch The Ho. Will. Fielding Rich. Francklin Post-master Esq Charles Fergesen Esq Com. of the Navy Doctor Fuller D. of Lincoln Henry Farmer Esq Tho. Finch Esq Tho. Frewin Esq Mr. George Finch G. Sir Bevill Granville Bar. Oliver St. George Esq Tho. Gifford Esq Rich. Goulston Esq Richard Graham Esq Fergus Grahme Esq Will. Grove Esq Dr. Gath M. D. Mr. George Goulding Mr. Grinlin Guibbons H. Lord Archibald Hamilton Lord Hide Sir Richard Haddock Sir Christop Hales Bar. Sir Tho. Hussey Rob. Harley Esq Rob. Henley Esq Memb. of Parl. Will. Hewer Esq Roger Hewett Esq He. Heveningham Esq John Holdworthy Esq Matt. Holdworthy Esq Nath. Hornby Esq The Ho. Bern. Howard Craven Howard Esq Mansel Howe Esq Sam. Hunter Esq Mr. Edward Hastwell Mr. Nich. Hawksmore Mr. Whitfeild Hayter Mr. Peter Henriques Mr. Ro. Huckwell J. John James Esq William Jenkins Esq Sam. Jones Esq Mr. Edw. Jefferyes K. Jos Keally Esq Coll. James Kendall Dr. Knipe Mr. Mich. Kinkead L. Sir Berkeley Lucy Ba. Lady Jane Leveson-Gower Tho. Langley Esq Patrick Lamb Esq Will. Latton Esq James Long of Draycot Esq Will. Lownds Esq Dennis Lydal Esq Mr. Char. Longueville M. Char. Mannours Esq Tho. Mansell Esq Bussy Mansel Esq Will. Martyn Esq Henry Maxwell Esq Charles Mein Esq Rich. Minshul Esq Ro. Molesworth Esq The Ho. Henry Mordaunt Esq George Moult Esq Christoph Mountague Esq Walter Moyl Esq Mr. Charles Marbury Mr. Christoph Metcalf Mrs. Monneux N. Lord Norris Henry Nevile Esq William Norris Esq Mr. William Nicoll O. Ro. Orme Esq Dr. Oliver M. D. Mr. Mich. Owen P. The Right Hon. Charles Earl of Peterborough Sir Henry Peachy Bar. Sir John Phillips Bar. Sir John Pykering Bar. Sir John Parsons Ro. Palmer Esq Guy Palmes Esq Ben. Parry Esq Sam. Pepys Esq James Petre Esq Will. Peysley Esq Craven Peyton Esq John Pitts Esq Will. Plowden of Plowden Esq Mr. Theoph. Pykering Prebend of Durham Coll. Will. Parsons Captain Phillips Captain Pitts Mr. Daniel Peck R. Dutchess of Richmond Earl of Radnor Lord Ranelagh Tho. Rawlins Esq Will. Rider Esq Francis Roberts Esq Mr. Rose S. Lord Spencer Sir Tho. Skipwith Bar. Sir John Seymour Sir Char. Skrimpshire J. Scroop of Danby Esq Ralph Sheldon Com. Warw. Esq Edw. Sheldon Esq John Smith Esq James Sothern Esq The Ho. James Stanley Esq Ro. Stopford Esq The Hon. Major Gen. Edw. Sackville Col. J. Stanhope Col. Strangways Mr. James Seamer Mr. William Seeks Mr. Joseph Sherwood Mr. Laurence Smith Mr. Tho. Southern Mr. Paris Slaughter Mr. Lancelot Stepney T. Sir John Trevillion Bar. Sir Edm. Turner Henry Temple Esq Ashburnam Toll Esq Sam. Travers Esq John Tucker Esq Maj. Gen. Charles Trelawney Maj. Gen. Trelawney Col. John Tidcomb Col. Trelawney Mr. George Townsend Mr. Tho. Tyldesley Mr. Tyndall V. John Verney Esq Henry Vernon Esq James Vernon Esq W. Ld. Marquiss of Winchester Earl of Weymouth Lady Windham Sir John Walter Bar. Sir John Woodhouse B. Sir Francis Windham James Ward Esq William Wardour Jun. Esq Will. Welby Esq Will. Weld Esq Th. Brome Whorwood Esq Salw. Winnington Esq Col. Cornelius Wood. Mrs. Mary Walter Mr. Leonard Wessel Ec. 1. l. 1 To the Right Hon ble John Lord Sommers Baron of Eresham L d High Chancell r of England c. Virgil's Pastorals The
constrain To dress his Thoughts in English o're again Himself cou'd write no otherwise than thus His old Encomium never did appear So true as now Romans and Greeks submit Something of late is in our Language writ More nobly great than the fam'd Iliads were Ja. Wright To Mr. Dryden on his Translations AS Flow'rs transplanted from a Southern Sky But hardly bear or in the raising dye Missing their Native Sun at best retain But a faint Odour and but live with Pain So Roman Poetry by Moderns taught Wanting the Warmth with which its Author wrote Is a dead Image and a worthless Draught While we transfuse the nimble Spirit flies Escapes unseen evaporates and dyes Who then attempt to shew the Ancients Wit Must copy with the Genius that they writ Whence we conclude from thy translated Song So just so warm so smooth and yet so strong Thou Heav'nly Charmer Soul of Harmony That all their Geniusses reviv'd in thee Thy Trumpet sounds the dead are rais'd to Light New-born they rise and take to Heav'n their Flight Deckt in thy Verse as clad with Rayes they shine All Glorify'd Immortal and Divine As Britain in rich Soil abounding wide Furnish'd for Use for Luxury and Pride Yet spreads her wanton Sails on ev'ry Shore For Foreign Wealth insatiate still of more To her own Wooll the Silks of Asia joins And to her plenteous Harvests Indian Mines So Dryden not contented with the Fame Of his own Works tho' an immortal Name To Lands remote he sends his learned Muse The Noblest Seeds of Foreign Wit to chuse Feasting our Sense so many various Ways Say Is 't thy Bounty or thy Thirst of Praise That by comparing others all might see Who most excell'd are yet excell'd by thee George Granville ERRATA In the Dedicatory Preface to the Marquess of Normanby PAg. 7. line 32. read of Republican Principles in his Heart p. 9. where Atis is mention'd as having a claim by Succession before Aeneas my Memory betray'd me for had I consulted Virgil he calls not the Son of Polites by the name of Atis but of Priamus 'T is true he mentions Atis immediately afterwards on the account of the Atian Family from which Julius Caesar was descended by his Grandmother as I have there mention'd p. 26. towards the bottom of this Page here is a gross Errour which is easily corrected by reading Ten Months instead of Three the Sense will direct you to the place p. 28. In the quotation of a verse of Virgil's for contise r. confise p. 30 f. Juturna took his opportunity r. this opportunity There are other Errata both in false pointing and omissions of words both in the Preface and the Poem which the Reader will correct without my trouble I omit them because they only lame my English not destroy my meaning Some of the most considerable Errata PAstoral 2. l. 43. r. nor scorn the Pipe Past 4. l. 36. for Cold r. Gold Past 6. l. 72. f. this r. thy In the same Past l. 1. f. Scicilian r. Sicilian Past 8. l. 19. read the whole line thus Scarce from the World the Shades of Night withdrew Georgic 1. l. 96. after the word Arbute place the Comma not after the next word Hazle as it is printed which destroys the Sense The whole Verse is to be thus read The thin-leav'd Arbute hazle Graffs receives l. 139. the note of Interrogation is false at the end of the Line it ought to be a Period l. 393. f. skins r. skims Geor. 2. l. 203. and 204. the Rhymes of both are false printed instead of Wars and prepares r. War and prepare in the singular l. 296. f. tracts r. tracks Geor. 4. l. 354. And Worms that shun the Light r. and Lizards shunning Light Aeneid 1. l. 79. f. Elus r. Eolus l. 97. r. Eolus again l. 640. f. Fate r. Fame l. 1054. f. Dimede r. Diomede Aen. 2. l. 2. f. the lofty Couch r. his lofty Couch Aen. 3. l. 40. f. Horrour r. Terrour l. 142. blot out the Period at the end of the Verse and place a Comma Aen. 4. l. 824. f. pious pious r. pious Prince Aen 5. l. 188. f. ptwo r. Prow Aen. 6. l. 488. f. but but r. but once only l. 747. f. van r. vain l. 1133. f. three r. two Aen. 7. l. 43. dele the Period at the end of the Verse l. 266. f. On the first word of the Verse r. In. l. 446. f. native Land r. another Land l. 549. f. crowns her Lance r. wreaths her Lance. l. 68. f. fill r. feed l. 732. f. reinfor'd r. reinforc'd l. 946. f. rosie Fields r. dewy Fields l. 1087. f. yied r. yield Aen. 8. l. 674. f. lifeless Limbs r. listless Limbs Aen. 10 l. 497. blot out the Period at the end of the Verse and place a Comma l. 735. f. shall r. will l. 864. f. loving Lord r. Sov'raign Lord. l. 924. f. Planks were r. Plank was l. 1286. f. Sholuder r. Shoulder l. 1311. f. to his Throat the Sword apply'd r. to the Sword his Throat apply'd Aen. 11. l. 120. f. Heads and Hands r. their loaded Hands l. 528. f. Heros r. Heroes Directions to the Binders how to place the several Parts of this Book in Binding 1. Title and Dedication to the Lord Clifford 2. The Life of Virgil and Preface to the Pastorals 3. Poems on Mr. Dryden's Translation of Virgil. 4. The Names of the Subscribers to the Cuts of Virgil. 5. The Names of the second Subscribers 6. The Pastorals 7. The Dedication to the Earl of Chesterfield with an Essay on the Georgics 8. The Georgics 9. The Dedication to the Marquess of Normanby 10. The Aeneis THE NAMES OF THE SUBSCRIBERS TO THE Cuts of Virgil Each Subscription being Five Guineas PASTORALS Page 1 LOrd Chancellor 1 2 Lord Privy Seal 6 3 Earl of Dorset 10 4 Lord Buckhurst 17 5 Earl of Abingdon 20 6 Lord Visc Cholmondely 26 7 Ld. Herbert of Chirbury 31 8 Lord Clifford 35 9 Marq. of Hartington 41 10 The Hon. Mr. Ch. Mountague 45 Georgic 1st 11 Sir Tho Trevor 49 12 Sir John Hawles 56 13 Joseph Jeakyl Esq 61 14 Tho. Vernon Esq 63 15 Will. Dobyns Esq 68 Geor. 2d 16 Sir Will. Bowyer 71 17 Gilbert Dolbin Esq 75 18 Geo. London Esq 80 19 John Loving Esq 87 20 Will. Walsh Esq 94 Geor. 3d. 21 Duke of Richmond 96 22 Sir J. Isham Bar. 106 23 Sir Tho. Mompesson 110 24 John Dormer Esq 113 25 Frederick Tylney Esq 117 Geor. 4th 26 Richard Norton Esq 122 27 Sir Will. Trumbull 125 28 Sir Barth Shower 138 29 Symon Harcourt Esq 141 30 John Granvill Esq 146 Aeneid 1st 31 Prince George of Denmark 201 32 Princess Ann of Denmark 210 33 Dutchess of Ormond 211 34 Countess of Exeter 214 35 Countess Dowager of Winchelsea 227 36 Marchioness of Normanby 230 Aeneid 2d 37 Duke of Somerset 234 38 Earl of Salisbury 243 39 Earl of Inchiqueen 247 40 Earl of Orrery 257 41 Ld. Visc
in those Turns like Ovid but much more sparing of them in his Aeneis than in his Pastorals and Georgicks Ignoscenda quidem scirent si ignoscere Manes That turn is Beautiful indeed but he employs it in the Story of Orpheus and Eurydice not in his great Poem I have us'd that License in his Aeneis sometimes but I own it as my fault 'T was given to those who understand no better 'T is like Ovid's Semivirumque bovem semibovemque virum The Poet found it before his Criticks but it was a darling Sin which he wou'd not be perswaded to reform The want of Genius of which I have accus'd the French is laid to their Charge by one of their own great Authors though I have forgotten his Name and where I read it If Rewards cou'd make good Poets their great Master has not been wanting on his part in his bountiful Encouragements For he is wise enough to imitate Augustus if he had a Maro The Triumvir and Proscriber had descended to us in a more hideous form than they now appear if the Emperour had not taken care to make Friends of him and Horace I confess the Banishment of Ovid was a Blot in his Escutcheon yet he was only Banish'd and who knows but his Crime was Capital and then his Exile was a Favour Ariosto who with all his faults must be acknowledg'd a great Poet has put these words into the mouth of an Evangelist but whether they will pass for Gospel now I cannot tell Non fu si santo ni benigno Augusto Come la tuba di Virgilio suona L'haver havuto in poesia buon gusto La proscrittione iniqua gli perdona But Heroick Poetry is not of the growth of France as it might be of England if it were Cultivated Spencer wanted only to have read the Rules of Bossu for no Man was ever Born with a greater Genius or had more Knowledge to support it But the performance of the French is not equal to their Skill and hitherto we have wanted Skill to perform better Segrais whose Preface is so wonderfully good yet is wholly destitute of Elevation though his Version is much better than that of the two Brothers or any of the rest who have attempted Virgil. Hannibal Caro is a great Name amongst the Italians yet his Translation of the Aeneis is most scandalously mean though he has taken the advantage of writing in Blank Verse and freed himself from the shackles of modern Rhime if it be modern for Le Clerc has told us lately and I believe has made it out that David's Psalms were written in as errant Rhime as they are Translated Now if a Muse cannot run when she is unfetter'd 't is a sign she has but little speed I will not make a digression here though I am strangely tempted to it but will only say that he who can write well in Rhime may write better in Blank Verse Rhime is certainly a constraint even to the best Poets and those who make it with most ease though perhaps I have as little reason to complain of that hardship as any Man excepting Quarles and Withers What it adds to sweetness it takes away from sense and he who loses the least by it may be call'd a gainer it often makes us swerve from an Author's meaning As if a Mark be set up for an Archer at a great distance let him aim as exactly as he can the least wind will take his Arrow and divert it from the White I return to our Italian Translatour of the Aeneis He is a Foot-Poet he Lacquies by the side of Virgil at the best but never mounts behind him Doctor Morelli who is no mean Critick in our Poetry and therefore may be presum'd to be a better in his own Language has confirm'd me in this Opinion by his Judgment and thinks withall that he has often mistaken his Master's Sense I wou'd say so if I durst but I am afraid I have committed the same fault more often and more grosly For I have forsaken Ruaeus whom generally I follow in many places and made Expositions of my own in some quite contrary to him Of which I will give but two Examples because they are so near each other in the Tenth Aeneid Sorti Pater aequus utrique Pallas says it to Turnus just before they Fight Ruaeus thinks that the word Pater is to be referr'd to Evander the Father of Pallas But how cou'd he imagine that it was the same thing to Evander if his Son were slain or if he overcame The Poet certainly intended Jupiter the common Father of Mankind who as Pallas hop'd wou'd stand an impartial Spectatour of the Combat and not be more favourable to Turnus than to him The Second is not long after it and both before the Duel is begun They are the words of Jupiter who comforts Hercules for the death of Pallas which was immediately to ensue and which Hercules cou'd not hinder though the young Heroe had address'd his Prayers to him for his assistance Because the Gods cannot controul Destiny the Verse follows Sic ait atque oculos Rutulorum rejicit arvis Which the same Ruaeus thus construes Jupiter after he had said this immediately turns his eyes to the Rutulian Fields and beholds the Duel I have given this place another Exposition that he turn'd his Eyes from the Field of Combat that he might not behold a sight so unpleasing to him The word Rejicit I know will admit of both senses but Jupiter having confess'd that he could not alter Fate and being griev'd he cou'd not in consideration of Hercules it seems to me that he shou'd avert his Eyes rather than take pleasure in the Spectacle But of this I am not so consident as the other though I think I have follow'd Virgil's sense What I have said though it has the face of arrogance yet is intended for the honour of my Country and therefore I will boldly own that this English Translation has more of Virgil's Spirit in it than either the French or the Italian Some of our Country-men have translated Episodes and other parts of Virgil with great Success As particularly your Lordship whose Version of Orpheus and Eurydice is eminently good Amongst the dead Authors the Silenus of my Lord Roscommon cannot be too much commended I say nothing of Sir John Denham Mr. Waller and Mr. Cowley 't is the utmost of my Ambition to be thought their Equal or not to be much inferiour to them and some others of the Living But 't is one thing to take pains on a Fragment and Translate it perfectly and another thing to have the weight of a whole Author on my shoulders They who believe the burthen light let them attempt the Fourth Sixth or Eighth Pastoral the First or Fourth Georgick and amongst the Aeneids the Fourth the Fifth the Seventh the Ninth the Tenth the Eleventh or the Twelfth for in these I think I have succeeded best Long before I undertook this
the Fair Sex however if they had the Desertour in their power wou'd certainly have shewn him no more mercy than the Bacchanals did Orpheus For if too much Constancy may be a fault sometimes then want of Constancy and Ingratitude after the last Favour is a Crime that never will be forgiven But of Machines more in their proper place where I shall shew with how much judgment they have been us'd by Virgil and in the mean time pass to another Article of his defence on the present Subject where if I cannot clear the Heroe I hope at least to bring off the Poet for here I must divide their Causes Let Aeneas trust to his Machine which will only help to break his Fall but the Address is incomparable Plato who borrow'd so much from Homer and yet concluded for the Banishment of all Poets wou'd at least have Rewarded Virgil before he sent him into Exile But I go farther and say that he ought to be acquitted and deserv'd beside the Bounty of Augustus and the gratitude of the Roman People If after this the Ladies will stand out let them remember that the Jury is not all agreed for Octavia was of his Party and was also of the first Quality in Rome she was present at the reading of the Sixth Aeneid and we know not that she condemn'd Aeneas but we are sure she presented the Poet for his admirable Elegy on her Son Marcellus But let us consider the secret Reasons which Virgil had for thus framing this Noble Episode wherein the whole passion of Love is more exactly describ'd than in any other Poet. Love was the Theme of his Fourth Book and though it is the shortest of the whole Aeneis yet there he has given its beginning its progress its traverses and its conclusion And had exhausted so entirely this Subject that he cou'd resume it but very slightly in the Eight ensuing Books She was warm'd with the graceful appearance of the Heroe she smother'd those Sparkles out of decency but Conversation blew them up into a Flame Then she was forc'd to make a Confident of her whom she best might trust her own Sister who approves the passion and thereby augments it then succeeds her publick owning it and after that the consummation Of Venus and Juno Jupiter and Mercury I say nothing for they were all Machining work but possession having cool'd his Love as it increas'd hers she soon perceiv'd the change or at least grew suspicious of a change this suspicion soon turn'd to Jealousie and Jealousie to Rage then she disdains and threatens and again is humble and intreats and nothing availing despairs curses and at last becomes her own Executioner See here the whole process of that passion to which nothing can be added I dare go no farther lest I shou'd lose the connection of my Discourse To love our Native Country and to study its Benefit and its Glory to be interessed in its Concerns is Natural to all Men and is indeed our common Duty A Poet makes a farther step for endeavouring to do honour to it 't is allowable in him even to be partial in its Cause for he is not ty'd to truth or fetter'd by the Laws of History Homer and Tasso are justly prais'd for chusing their Heroes out of Greece and Italy Virgil indeed made his a Trojan but it was to derive the Romans and his own Augustus from him but all the three Poets are manifestly partial to their Heroes in favour of their Country For Dares Phrygius reports of Hector that he was slain Cowardly Aeneas according to the best account slew not Mezentius but was slain by him and the Chronicles of Italy tell us little of that Rinaldo d'Estè who Conquers Jerusalem in Tasso He might be a Champion of the Church but we know not that he was so much as present at the Siege To apply this to Virgil he thought himself engag'd in Honour to espouse the Cause and Quarrel of his Country against Carthage He knew he cou'd not please the Romans better or oblige them more to Patronize his Poem than by disgracing the Foundress of that City He shews her ungrateful to the Memory of her first Husband doting on a Stranger enjoy'd and afterwards forsaken by him This was the Original says he of the immortal hatred betwixt the two Rival Nations 'T is true he colours the falsehood of Aeneas by an express Command from Jupiter to forsake the Queen who had oblig'd him but he knew the Romans were to be his Readers and them he brib'd perhaps at the expence of his Heroe's honesty but he gain'd his Cause however as Pleading before Corrupt Judges They were content to see their Founder false to Love for still he had the advantage of the Amour It was their Enemy whom he forsook and she might have forsaken him if he had not got the start of her she had already forgotten her Vows to her Sichaeus and varium mutabile semper femina is the sharpest Satire in the fewest words that was ever made on Womankind for both the Adjectives are Neuter and Animal must be understood to make them Grammar Virgil does well to put those words into the mouth of Mercury If a God had not spoken them neither durst he have written them nor I translated them Yet the Deity was forc'd to come twice on the same Errand and the second time as much a Heroe as Aeneas was he frighted him It seems he fear'd not Jupiter so much as Dido For your Lordship may observe that as much intent as he was upon his Voyage yet he still delay'd it 'till the Messenger was oblig'd to tell him plainly that if he weigh'd not Anchor in the Night the Queen wou'd be with him in the Morning Notumque furens quid femina possit she was Injur'd she was Revengeful she was Powerful The Poet had likewise before hinted that her People were naturally perfidious For he gives their Character in their Queen and makes a Proverb of Punica fides many Ages before it was invented Thus I hope my Lord that I have made good my Promise and justify'd the Poet whatever becomes of the false Knight And sure a Poet is as much priviledg'd to lye as an Ambassador for the Honour and Interest of his Country at least as Sir Henry Wootton has defin'd This naturally leads me to the defence of the Famous Anachronism in making Aeneas and Dido Contemporaries For 't is certain that the Heroe liv'd almost two hundred years before the Building of Carthage One who imitates Bocaline says that Virgil was accus'd before Apollo for this Error The God soon found that he was not able to defend his Favourite by Reason for the Case was clear he therefore gave this middle Sentence That any thing might be allow'd to his Son Virgil on the account of his other Merits That being a Monarch he had a dispensing Power and pardon'd him But that this special Act of Grace might never be drawn
into Example or pleaded by his puny Successors in justification of their ignorance he decreed for the future No Poet shou'd presume to make a Lady die for Love two hundred years before her Birth To Moralize this Story Virgil is the Apollo who has this Dispensing Power His great Judgment made the Laws of Poetry but he never made himself a Slave to them Chronology at best is but a Cobweb-Law and he broke through it with his weight They who will imitate him wisely must chuse as he did an obscure and a remote Aera where they may invent at pleasure and not be easily contradicted Neither he nor the Romans had ever read the Bible by which only his false computation of times can be made out against him this Segrais says in his defence and proves it from his Learned Friend Bochartus whose Letter on this Subject he has Printed at the end of the Fourth Aeneid to which I referr your Lordship and the Reader Yet the Credit of Virgil was so great that he made this Fable of his own Invention pass for an Authentick History or at least as credible as any thing in Homer Ovid takes it up after him even in the same Age and makes an ancient Heroine of Virgil's new-created Dido Dictates a Letter for her just before her death to the ingrateful Fugitive and very unluckily for himself is for measuring a Sword with a Man so much superiour in force to him on the same subject I think I may be Judge of this because I have Translated both The Famous Author of the Art of Love has nothing of his own he borrows all from a greater Master in his own profession and which is worse improves nothing which he finds Nature fails him and being forc'd to his old shift he has recourse to Witticism This passes indeed with his Soft Admirers and gives him the preference to Virgil in their esteem But let them like for themselves and not prescribe to others for our Author needs not their Admiration The Motives that induc'd Virgil to Coyn this Fable I have shew'd already and have also begun to shew that he might make this Anacronism by superseding the mechanick Rules of Poetry for the same Reason that a Monarch may dispense with or suspend his own Laws when he finds it necessary so to do especially if those Laws are not altogether fundamental Nothing is to be call'd a fault in Poetry says Aristotle but what is against the Art therefore a Man may be an admirable Poet without being an exact Chronologer Shall we dare continues Segrais to condemn Virgil for having made a Fiction against the order of time when we commend Ovid and other Poets who have made many of their Fictions against the Order of Nature For what are else the splendid Miracles of the Metamorphoses Yet these are Beautiful as they are related and have also deep Learning and instructive Mythologies couch'd under them But to give as Virgil does in this Episode the Original Cause of the long Wars betwixt Rome and Carthage to draw Truth out of Fiction after so probable a manner with so much Beauty and so much for the Honour of his Country was proper only to the Divine Wit of Maro and Tasso in one of his Discourses admires him for this particularly 'T is not lawful indeed to contradict a Point of History which is known to all the World as for Example to make Hannibal and Scipio Contemporaries with Alexander but in the dark Recesses of Antiquity a great Poet may and ought to feign such things as he finds not there if they can be brought to embelish that Subject which he treats On the other side the pains and diligence of ill Poets is but thrown away when they want the Genius to invent and feign agreeably But if the Fictions be delightful which they always are if they be natural if they be of a piece if the beginning the middle and the end be in their due places and artfully united to each other such Works can never fail of their deserv'd Success And such is Virgil's Episode of Dido and Aeneas where the sourest Critick must acknowledge ' that if he had depriv'd his Aeneis of so great an Ornament because he found no traces of it in Antiquity he had avoided their unjust Censure but had wanted one of the greatest Beauties of his Poem I shall say more of this in the next Article of their Charge against him which is want of Invention In the mean time I may affirm in honour of this Episode that it is not only now esteem'd the most pleasing entertainment of the Aeneis but was so accounted in his own Age and before it was mellow'd into that reputation which time has given it for which I need produce no other testimony than that of Ovid his Contemporary Nec pars ulla magis legitur de Corpore toto Quam non legitimo faedere junctus Amor. Where by the way you may observe my Lord that Ovid in those words Non legitimo faedere junctus Amor will by no means allow it to be a lawful Marriage betwixt Dido and Aeneas He was in Banishment when he wrote those Verses which I cite from his Letter to Augustus You Sir says he have sent me into Exile for writing my Art of Love and my wanton Elegies yet your own Poet was happy in your good graces though he brought Dido and Aeneas into a Cave and left them there not over-honestly together May I be so bold to ask your Majesty is it a greater fault to teach the Art of unlawful Love than to shew it in the Action But was Ovid the Court-Poet so bad a Courtier as to find no other Plea to excuse himself than by a plain accusation of his Master Virgil confess'd it was a Lawful Marriage betwixt the Lovers that Juno the Goddess of Matrimony had ratify'd it by her presence for it was her business to bring Matters to that issue That the Ceremonies were short we may believe for Dido was not only amorous but a Widow Mercury himself though employ'd on a quite contrary Errand yet owns it a Marriage by an innuendo PalchramqueVxorius Vrbem Extruis He calls Aeneas not only a Husband but upbraids him with being a fond Husband as the word Vxorius implies Now mark a little if your Lordship pleases why Virgil is so much concern'd to make this Marriage for he seems to be the Father of the Bride himself and to give her to the Bridegroom it was to make way for the Divorce which he intended afterwards for he was a finer Flatterer than Ovid and I more than conjecture that he had in his eye the Divorce which not long before had pass'd betwixt the Emperour and Scribonia He drew this dimple in the Cheek of Aeneas to prove Augustus of the same Family by so remarkable a Feature in the same place Thus as we say in our home-spun English Proverb He kill'd two Birds with one stone