Contents:
And therefore the length of some of the Modern Italian, and English Compositions, is against the Rules of this kind of Poesy. Heroic Verse, as it is commonly call'd, was us'd by the Latins in this sort of Poem, as very Ancient and Natural. The first of the Georgics, Quid faciat laetas segetes, quo sydere terram. The Sound of the Verses, is almost as different as the Subjects. But the Greek Writers of Pastoral, usually limited themselves to the Example of the first; which Virgil found so exceedingly difficult, that he quitted it, and left the Honour of that part to Theocritus.
The French sometimes crowd together ten, or twelve Monosyllables, into one disjoynted Verse; they may understand the nature of, but cannot imitate, those wonderful Spondees of Pythagoras, by which he could suddenly pacifie a Man that was in a violent transport of anger; nor those swift numbers of the Priests of Cybele, which had the force to enrage the most sedate and Phlegmatick Tempers. The Greek Tongue very naturally falls into Iambicks, and therefore the diligent Reader may find six or seven and twenty of them in those accurate Orations of Isocrates.
The Latin as naturally falls into Heroic; and therefore the beginning of Livy 's History is half an Hexameter, and that of Tacitus an entire one. Ours and the French can at best but fall into Blank Verse, which is a fault in Prose. The misfortune indeed is common to us both, but we deserve more compassion, because we are not vain of our Barbarities. As Age brings Men back into the state and infirmities of Childhood, upon the fall of their Empire, the Romans doted into Rhime, as appears sufficiently by the Hymns of the Latin Church; and yet a great deal of the French Poetry does hardly deserve that poor title.
I shall give an instance out of a Poem which had the good luck to gain the Prize in , for the Subject deserv'd a Nobler Pen.
Nor can I forbear wondering at that passage of a Famous Academician, in which he, most compassionately, excuses the Ancients for their not being so exact in their Compositions, as the Modern French, because they wanted a Dictionary, of which the French are at last happily provided. Perrault, and boasts of the vast number of their Excellent Songs, preferring them to the Greek and Latin. In the quotation of a verse of Virgil 's; for contise r. In the same Past. The whole Verse is to be thus read, The thin-leav'd Arbute, hazle Graffs receives.
War and prepare in the singular. And Worms that shun the Light, r. On, the first word of the Verse, r. Heads and Hands r. Directions to the Binders, how to place the several Parts of this Book in Binding. Title and Dedication to the Lord Clifford. The Life of Virgil, and Preface to the Pastorals. Dryden 's Translation of Virgil.
The Names of the Subscribers to the Cuts of Virgil. The Names of the second Subscribers. The Dedication to the Marquess of Normanby. Page 1 LOrd Chancellor. Vernon, Esq —63 15 Will. Dobyns, Esq —68 Geor. Walsh, Esq —94 Geor. Page 43 Earl of Darby. Hamond, Esq — 58 Henry St. Johns, Esq — 59 Steph. Hopkins, Esq — Aeneid 11th. The Occasion of the First Pastoral was this. When Augustus had setled himself in the Roman Empire, that he might reward his Veteran Troops for their past Service, he distributed among 'em all the Lands that lay about Cremona and Mantua: The Commentators can by no means agree on the Person of Alexis, but are all of opinion that some Beautiful Youth is meant by him, to whom Virgil here makes Love; in Corydon 's Language and Simplicity.
His way of Courtship is wholly Pastoral: Many of the Verses are translated from one of the Sybils, who prophesie of our Saviour's Birth. Mopsus and Menalcas, two very expert Shepherds at a Song, begin one by consent to the Memory of Daphnis; who is suppos'd by the best Criticks to represent Julius Caesar. Mopsus laments his Death, Menalcas proclaims his Divinity. Two young Shepherds Chromis and Mnasylus, having been often promis'd a Song by Silenus, chance to catch him asleep in this Pastoral; where they bind him hand and foot, and then claim his Promise.
Henry Lord Herbert Baron of Chirbury. This Pastoral contains the Songs of Damon and Alphesiboeus. The first of 'em bewails the loss of his Mistress, and repines at the Success of his Rival Mopsus. The other repeats the Charms of some Enchantress, who endeavour'd by her Spells and Magic to make Daphnis in Love with her. This Pastoral therefore is fill'd with complaints of his hard Usage; and the Persons introduc'd, are the Bayliff of Virgil, Moeris, and his Friend Lycidas.
Charles Montague Esq r: Treasury, Chancellor, and under Treasurer of his Maj ts. A time as tedious as Aeneas pass'd in his wandring Voyage, before he reach'd the promis'd Italy. But I consider'd, that nothing which my meanness cou'd produce, was worthy of your Patronage. At last this happy Occasion offer'd, of Presenting to you the best Poem of the best Poet. If I balk'd this opportunity, I was in despair of finding such another; and if I took it, I was still uncertain whether you wou'd vouchsafe to accept it from my hands.
And you have been pleas'd not to suffer an Old Man to go discontented out of the World, for want of that protection, of which he had been so long Ambitious. I have known a Gentleman in disgrace, and not daring to appear before King Charles the Second, though he much desir'd it: At length he took the confidence to attend a fair Lady to the Court; and told His Majesty, that under her protection he had presum'd to wait on him. With the same humble confidence I present my self before your Lordship, and attending on Virgil hope a gracious reception.
The Gentleman succeeded, because the powerful Lady was his Friend; but I have too much injur'd my great Author, to expect he should intercede for me. Virgil wrote his Georgics in the full strength and vigour of his Age, when his Judgment was at the height, and before his Fancy was declining. There is requir'd a continuance of warmth to ripen the best and Noblest Fruits. After which his Judgment was an overpoize to his Imagination: He grew too cautious to be bold enough, for he descended in his Fourth by slow degrees, and in his Satires and Epistles, was more a Philosopher and a Critick than a Poet.
In the beginning of Summer the days are almost at a stand, with little variation of length or shortness, because at that time the Diurnal Motion of the Sun partakes more of a Right Line, than of a Spiral. He seems at Forty to be fully in his Summer Tropick; somewhat before, and somewhat after, he finds in his Soul but small increases or decays. From Fifty to Threescore the Ballance generally holds even, in our colder Clymates: His succeeding years afford him little more than the stubble of his own Harvest: I have call'd this somewhere by a bold Metaphor, a green Old Age; but Virgil has given me his Authority for the Figure.
Amongst those few who enjoy the advantage of a latter Spring, your Lordship is a rare Example: Your Conversation is as easie as it is instructive, and I cou'd never observe the least vanity or the least assuming in any thing you said: A clearness of Notion, express'd in ready and unstudied words. No Man has complain'd, or ever can, that you have discours'd too long on any Subject: I dare not excuse your Lordship from this fault; for though 'tis none in you, 'tis one to all who have the happiness of being known to you. For too much of heat is requir'd at first, that there may not too little be left at last.
A Prodigal Fire is only capable of large remains: And yours, my Lord, still burns the clearer in declining. The Blaze is not so fierce as at the first, but the Smoak is wholly vanish'd; and your Friends who stand about you, are not only sensible of a chearful warmth, but are kept at an awful distance by its force. His beginnings must be in rashness; a Noble Fault: It takes not from you, that you were born with Principles of Generosity and Probity: But it adds to you, that you have cultivated Nature, and made those Principles, the Rule and Measure of all your Actions. The World knows this, without my telling: Yet Poets have a right of Recording it to all Posterity.
Dignum Laude Virum, Musa vetat Mori. Epaminondas, Lucullus, and the two first Caesars, were not esteem'd the worse Commanders, for having made Philosophy, and the Liberal Arts their Study. To have both these Vertues, and to have improv'd them both, with a softness of Manners, and a sweetness of Conversation, few of our Nobility can fill that Character: One there is, and so conspicuous by his own light, that he needs not.
But to preserve this whiteness in its Original Purity, you, my Lord, have, like that Ermine, forsaken the common Track of Business, which is not always clean: You have chosen for your self a private Greatness, and will not be polluted with Ambition. It has been observ'd in former times, that none have been so greedy of Employments, and of managing the Publick, as they who have least deserv'd their Stations. I have laugh'd sometimes for who wou'd always be a Heraclitus?
I have seen many Successions of them; some bolting out upon the Stage with vast applause, and others hiss'd off, and quitting it with disgrace. But while they were in action, I have constantly observ'd, that they seem'd desirous to retreat from Business: Greatness they said was nauseous, and a Crowd was troublesome; a quiet privacy was their Ambition. Some few of them I believe said this in earnest, and were making a provision against future want, that they might enjoy their Age with ease: They saw the happiness of a private Life, and promis'd to themselves a Blessing, which every day it was in their power to possess.
But they deferr'd it, and linger'd still at Court, because they thought they had not yet enough to make them happy: They wou'd have more, and laid in to make their Solitude Luxurious. A wretched Philosophy, which Epicurus never taught them in his Garden: Like the Wretch who call'd Death to his assistance, but refus'd it when he came. The Great Scipio was not of their Opinion, who indeed sought Honours in his Youth, and indur'd the Fatigues with which he purchas'd them. A place of forgetfulness, at the best, for well deservers.
The undermining Smile becomes at length habitual; and the drift of his plausible Conversation, is only to flatter one, that he may betray another. Yet 'tis good to have been a looker on, without venturing to play; that a Man may know false Dice another time, though he never means to use them. He who carries a Maidenhead into a Cloyster, is sometimes apt to lose it there, and to repent of his Repentance.
For almost every Man will be making Experiments in one part or another of his Life: And the danger is the less when we are young: For having try'd it early, we shall not be apt to repeat it afterwards. Your Lordship therefore may properly be said to have chosen a Retreat; and not to have chosen it 'till you had maturely weigh'd the advantages of rising higher with the hazards of the fall.
Res non parta labore, sed relicta, was thought by a Poet, to be one of the requisites to a happy Life. Why shou'd a reasonable Man put it into the power of Fortune to make him miserable, when his Ancestours have taken care to release him from her? Let him venture, says Horace, Qui Zonam perdidit. He who has nothing, plays securely, for he may win, and cannot be poorer if he loses.
But he who is born to a plentiful Estate, and is Ambitious of Offices at Court, sets a stake to Fortune, which she can seldom answer: If he gains nothing, he loses all, or part of what was once his own; and if he gets, he cannot be certain but he may refund. In short, however he succeeds, 'tis Covetousness that induc'd him first to play, and Covetousness is the undoubted sign of ill sense at bottom.
The Odds are against him that he loses, and one loss may be of more consequence to him, than all his former winnings. A good Conscience is a Port which is Land-lock'd on every side, and where no Winds can possibly invade, no Tempests can arise. There a Man may stand upon the Shore, and not only see his own Image, but that of his Maker, clearly reflected from the undisturb'd and silent waters. Virgil seems to think that the Blessings of a Country Life are not compleat, without an improvement of Knowledge by Contemplation and Reading.
A foundation of good Sense, and a cultivation of Learning, are requir'd to give a seasoning to Retirement, and make us taste the blessing. God has bestow'd on your Lordship the first of these, and you have bestow'd on your self the second. Eden was not made for Beasts, though they were suffer'd to live in it, but for their Master, who studied God in the Works of his Creation. Neither cou'd the Devil have been happy there with all his Knowledge, for he wanted Innocence to make him so. Wherever inordinate Affections are, 'tis Hell.
Such only can enjoy the Country, who are capable of thinking when they are there, and have left their Passions behind them in the Town. The truth of it is, the Sweetness and Rusticity of a Pastoral cannot be so well exprest in any other Tongue as in the Greek, when rightly mixt and qualified with the Doric Dialect; nor can the Majesty of an Heroick Poem any where appear so well as in this Language, which has a Natural greatness in it, and can be often render'd more deep and sonorous by the Pronunciation of the Ionians. But in the middle Stile, where the Writers in both Tongues are on a Level: But tho' the Scene of both these Poems lies in the same place; the Speakers in them are of a quite different Character, since the Precepts of Husbandry are not to be deliver'd with the simplicity of a Plow-Man, but with the Address of a Poet.
Among these different kinds of Subjects, that which the Georgics goes upon, is I think the meanest and the least improving, but the most pleasing and delightful. Natural Philosophy has indeed sensible Objects to work upon, but then it often puzzles the Reader with the Intricacy of its Notions, and perplexes him with the multitude of its Disputes. But this kind of Poetry I am now speaking of, addresses it self wholly to the Imagination: It is altogether Conversant among the Fields and Woods, and has the most delightful part of Nature for its Province.
It raises in our Minds a pleasing variety of Scenes and Landskips, whilst it teaches us: A Georgic therefore is some part of the Science of Husbandry put into a pleasing Dress, and set off with all the Beauties and Embellishments of Poetry. And if there be so much Art in the choice of fit Precepts, there is much more requir'd in the Treating of 'em; that they may fall in after each other by a Natural unforc'd Method, and shew themselves in the best and most advantagious Light.
Nor is it sufficient to range and dispose this Body of Precepts into a clear and easie Method, unless they are deliver'd to us in the most pleasing and agreeable manner: For there are several ways of conveying the same Truth to the Mind of Man, and to chuse the pleasantest of these ways, is that which chiefly distinguishes Poetry from Prose, and makes Virgil 's Rules of Husbandry pleasanter to read than Varro 's. Where the Prose-writer tells us plainly what ought to be done, the Poet often conceals the Precept in a description, and represents his Country-Man performing the Action in which he wou'd instruct his Reader.
Where the one sets out as fully and distinctly as he can, all the parts of the Truth, which he wou'd communicate to us; the other singles out the most pleasing Circumstance of this Truth, and so conveys the whole in a more diverting manner to the Understanding. I shall give one Instance out of a multitude of this nature, that might be found in the Georgics, where the Reader may see the different ways Virgil has taken to express the same thing, and how much pleasanter every manner of Expression is, than the plain and direct mention of it wou'd have been.
It is in the Second Georgic where he tells us what Trees will bear Grafting on each other. To let us see just so much as will naturally lead the Imagination into all the parts that lie conceal'd. This is wonderfully diverting to the Understanding, thus to receive a Precept, that enters as it were through a By-way, and to apprehend an Idea that draws a whole train after it: For here the Mind, which is always delighted with its own Discoveries, only takes the hint from the Poet, and seems to work out the rest by the strength of her own faculties.
We shou'd never quite lose sight of the Country, tho' we are sometimes entertain'd with a distant prospect of it. I know no one digression in the Georgics that may seem to contradict this Observation, besides that in the latter end of the First Book, where the Poet launches out into a discourse of the Battel of Pharsalia, and the Actions of Augustus: And afterwards speaking of Augustus 's Actions, he still remembers that Agriculture ought to be some way hinted at throughout the whole Poem.
He ought in particular to be careful of not letting his Subject debase his Stile, and betray him into a meanness of Expression, but every where to keep up his Verse in all the Pomp of Numbers, and Dignity of words. I think nothing which is a Phrase or Sayingin common talk, shou'd be admitted into a serious Poem: And herein consists Virgil 's Master-piece, who has not only excell'd all other Poets, but even himself in the Language of his Georgics; where we receive more strong and lively Ideas of things from his words, than we cou'd have done from the Objects themselves: To begin with Hesiod; If we may guess at his Character from his Writings, he had much more of the Husbandman than the Poet in his Temper: He was wonderfully Grave, Discreet, and Frugal, he liv'd altogether in the Country, and was probably for his great Prudence the Oracle of the whole Neighbourhood.
These Principles of good Husbandry ran through his Works, and directed him to the choice of Tillage, and Merchandise, for the Subject of that which is the most Celebrated of them. He is every where bent on Instruction, avoids all manner of Digressions, and does not stir out of the Field once in the whole Georgic. His Descriptions indeed have abundance of Nature in them, but then it is Nature in her simplicity and undress.
Thus when he speaks of January; the Wild-Beasts, says he, run shivering through the Woods with their Heads stooping to the ground, and their Tails clapt between their Legs; the Goats and Oxen are almost flead with Cold; but it is not so bad with the Sheep, because they have a thick Coat of Wooll about 'em. Nor has he shewn more of Art or Judgment in the Precepts he has given us, which are sown so very thick, that they clog the Poem too much, and are often so minute and full of Circumstances, that they weaken and un-nerve his Verse.
But after all, we are beholding to him for the first rough sketch of a Georgic: He delivers the meanest of his Precepts with a kind of Grandeur, he breaks the Clods and tosses the Dung about with an air of gracefulness. His Prognostications of the Weather are taken out of Aratus, where we may see how judiciously he has pickt out those that are most proper for his Husbandman's Observation; how he has enforc'd the Expression, and heighten'd the Images which he found in the Original.
The Second Book has more wit in it, and a greater boldness in its Metaphors than any of the rest. We may I think read the Poet's Clime in his Description, for he seems to have been in a sweat at the Writing of it. The Third Georgic seems to be the most labour'd of 'em all; there is a wonderful Vigour and Spirit in the description of the Horse and Chariot-Race.
The Scythian Winter-piece appears so very cold and bleak to the Eye, that a Man can scarce look on it without shivering.
But Virgil seems no where so well pleas'd, as when he is got among his Bees in the Fourth Georgic: His Verses are not in a greater noise and hurry in the Battels of Aeneas and Turnus, than in the Engagement of two Swarms. And as in his Aeneis he compares the Labours of his Trojans to those of Bees and Pismires, here he compares the Labours of the Bees to those of the Cyclops. There is more pleasantness in the little Platform of a Garden, which he gives us about the middle of this Book, than in all the spacious Walks and Water-works of Rapin 's. The Speech of Proteus at the end can never be enough admir'd, and was indeed very fit to conclude so Divine a Work.
After this particular account of the Beauties in the Georgics, I shou'd in the next place endeavour to point out its imperfections, if it has any. The Aeneis indeed is of a Nobler kind, but the Georgic is more perfect in its kind. The Aeneid has a greater variety of Beauties in it, but those of the Georgic are more exquisite. In short, the Georgic has all the perfection that can be expected in a Poem written by the greatest Poet in the Flower of his Age, when his Invention was ready, his Imagination warm, his Judgment settled, and all his Faculties in their full Vigour and Maturity.
The Poet, in the beginning of this Book, propounds the general Design of each Georgic: His Majestyes Solicitor Gen ll: The Subject of the following Book is Planting.
In handling of which Argument, the Poet shews all the different Methods of raising Trees: Describes their Variety; and gives Rules for the management of each in particular. He then points out the Soils in which the several Plants thrive best: After which Virgil directs himself to Mecaenas, and enters on his Subject. In the latter part of the Book he relates the Diseases incident to Cattel; and ends with the Description of a fatal Murrain that formerly rag'd among the Alps.
Virgil has taken care to raise the Subject of each Georgic: In the First he has only dead Matter on which to work. In the second he just steps on the World of Life, and describes that degree of it which is to be found in Vegetables. In the third he advances to Animals. And in the last, singles out the Bee, which may be reckon'd the most sagacious of 'em, for his Subject. In this Georgic he shews us what Station is most proper for the Bees, and when they begin to gather Honey: In the last place he lays down a method of repairing their Kind, supposing their whole Breed lost; and gives at large the History of its Invention.
William Trumbull K t. The Design of it, is to form the Mind to Heroick Virtue by Example; 'tis convey'd in Verse, that it may delight, while it instructs: The Action of it is always one, entire, and great. Either so necessary, that without them the Poem must be Imperfect, or so convenient, that no others can be imagin'd more suitable to the place in which they are.
But with Brick or Stone, though of less pieces, yet of the same Nature, and fitted to the Cranies. Nothing of a Foreign Nature, like the trifling Novels, which Aristotle and others have inserted in their Poems. By which the Reader is miss-led into another sort of Pleasure, opposite to that which is design'd in an Epick Poem.
One raises the Soul and hardens it to Virtue, the other softens it again and unbends it into Vice. One conduces to the Poet's aim, the compleating of his Work; which he is driving on, labouring and hast'ning in every Line: Virgil imitated the Invention of Homer, but chang'd the Sports. For he took his opportunity to kill a Royal Infant, by the means of a Serpent, that Author of all Evil to make way for those Funeral Honours, which he intended for him.
I can think of nothing to plead for him, but what I verily believe he thought himself; which was, that as the Funerals of Anchises were solemniz'd in Sicily, so those of Archemorus should be celebrated in Candy. For the Original of the Stage was from the Epick Poem. Narration, doubtless, preceded Acting, and gave Laws to it: What at first was told Artfully, was, in process of time, represented gracefully to the sight, and hearing. Out of his Limbs they form'd their Bodies: What he had Contracted they Enlarg'd: They flow'd from him at first, and are at last resolv'd into him.
Nor were they only animated by him, but their Measure and Symetry was owing to him. His one, entire, and great Action was Copied by them according to the proportions of the Drama: If he finish'd his Orb within the Year, it suffic'd to teach them, that their Action being less, and being also less diversify'd with Incidents, their Orb, of consequence, must be circumscrib'd in a less compass, which they reduc'd, within the limits either of a Natural or an Artificial Day. So that as he taught them to amplifie what he had shorten'd, by the same Rule apply'd the contrary way, he taught them to shorten what he had amplifi'd.
Tragedy is the minature of Humane Life; an Epick Poem is the draught at length. And better a Mechanick Rule were stretch'd or broken, than a great Beauty were omitted. Great, I must confess, if they were altogether as true as they are pompous. Are radical Diseases so suddenly remov'd? A Mountebank may promise such a Cure, but a skilful Physician will not undertake it. An Epick Poem is not in so much haste; it works leisurely; the Changes which it makes are slow; but the Cure is likely to be more perfect.
The effects of Tragedy, as I said, are too violent to be lasting. If it be answer'd that for this Reason Tragedies are often to be seen, and the Dose to be repeated; this is tacitely to confess, that there is more Virtue in one Heroick Poem than in many Tragedies. A Man is humbled one Day, and his Pride returns the next. Chymical Medicines are observ'd to Relieve oft'ner than to Cure: For 'tis the nature of Spirits to make swift impressions, but not deep.
It is one Reason of Aristotle 's to prove, that Tragedy is the more Noble, because it turns in a shorter Compass; the whole Action being circumscrib'd within the space of Four-and-Twenty Hours. He might prove as well that a Mushroom is to be preferr'd before a Peach, because it shoots up in the compass of a Night. A Chariot may be driven round the Pillar in less space than a large Machine, because the Bulk is not so great: And besides, what Virtue is there in a Tragedy, which is not contain'd in an Epick Poem?
Where Pride is humbled, Vertue rewarded, and Vice punish'd; and those more amply treated, than the narrowness of the Drama can admit? We are naturally prone to imitate what we admire: And frequent Acts produce a habit.
If the Hero's chief quality be vicious, as for Example, the Choler and obstinate desire of Vengeance in Achilles, yet the Moral is Instructive: And besides, we are inform'd in the very proposition of the Iliads, that this anger was pernicious: That it brought a thousand ills on the Grecian Camp. We abhor these Actions while we read them, and what we abhor we never imitate: The Poet only shews them like Rocks or Quick-Sands, to be shun'd.
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They are Poetically good if they are of a Piece. Though where a Character of perfect Virtue is set before us, 'tis more lovely: This is the Aeneas of our Author: These are the Beauties of a God in a Humane Body. When the Picture of Achilles is drawn in Tragedy, he is taken with those Warts, and Moles, and hard Features, by those who represent him on the Stage, or he is no more Achilles: Yet even thus he appears a perfect Heroe, though an imperfect Character of Vertue.
Horace Paints him after Homer, and delivers him to be Copied on the Stage with all those imperfections. Therefore they are either not faults in a Heroick Poem, or faults common to the Drama. After all, on the whole merits of the Cause, it must be acknowledg'd that the Epick Poem is more for the Manners, and Tragedy for the Passions. The Passions, as I have said, are violent: Ill habits of the Mind are like Chronical Diseases, to be corrected by degrees, and Cur'd by Alteratives: The Matter being thus stated, it will appear that both sorts of Poetry are of use for their proper ends.
The Stage is more active, the Epick Poem works at greater leisure, yet is active too, when need requires. For Dialogue is imitated by the Drama, from the more active parts of it. One puts off a Fit like the Quinquina, and relieves us only for a time; the other roots out the Distemper, and gives a healthful habit.
I proceed from the greatness of the Action, to the Dignity of the Actours, I mean to the Persons employ'd in both Poems. There likewise Tragedy will be seen to borrow from the Epopee; and that which borrows is always of less Dignity, because it has not of its own. A Subject, 'tis true, may lend to his Soveraign, but the act of borrowing makes the King inferiour, because he wants, and the Subject supplies.
I know not of any one advantage, which Tragedy can boast above Heroick Poetry, but that it is represented to the view, as well as read: This is an uncontended Excellence, and a chief Branch of its Prerogative; yet I may be allow'd to say without partiality, that herein the Actors share the Poet's praise.
Tryphon the Stationer complains they are seldom ask'd for in his Shop. They are a sort of stately Fustian, and lofty Childishness. I forbear to instance in many things which the Stage cannot or ought not to represent. But I have more than once already maintain'd the Rights of my two Masters against their Rivals of the Scene, even while I wrote Tragedies my self, and had no thoughts of this present Undertaking. You come, my Lord, instructed in the Cause, and needed not that I shou'd open it.
Your Essay of Poetry, which was publish'd without a Name, and of which I was not honour'd with the Confidence, I read over and over with much delight, and as much instruction: I was loath to be inform'd how an Epick Poem shou'd be written, or how a Tragedy shou'd be contriv'd and manag'd in better Verse and with more judgment than I cou'd teach others. He is more oblig'd than he is willing to acknowledge: For where I own I am taught, I confess my want of Knowledge. A Judge upon the Bench, may, out of good Nature, or at least interest, encourage the Pleadings of a puny Councellor, but he does not willingly commend his Brother Serjeant at the Bar, especially when he controuls his Law, and exposes that ignorance which is made Sacred by his Place.
We are naturally displeas'd with an unknown Critick, as the Ladies are with a Lampooner, because we are bitten in the dark, and know not where to fasten our Revenge. But great Excellencies will work their way through all sorts of opposition. Heaven knows if I have heartily forgiven you this deceit. You extorted a Praise which I shou'd willingly have given had I known you. Nothing had been more easie than to commend a Patron of a long standing. Thus like Apelles you stood unseen behind your own Venus, and receiv'd the praises of the passing Multitude: And I doubt not this was one of the most pleasing Adventures of your Life.
I have detain'd your Lordship longer than I intended in this Dispute of preference betwixt the Epick Poem, and the Dramae: But I suppose, without looking on the Book, I may have touch'd on some of the Objections. In both of which he observes no Method that I can trace, whatever Scaliger the Father, or Heinsius may have seen, or rather think they had seen. I have taken up, laid down, and resum'd as often as I pleas'd the same Subject: Yet all this while I have been Sailing with some side-wind or other toward the Point I propos'd in the beginning; the Greatness and Excellency of an Heroick Poem, with some of the difficulties which attend that work.
The Comparison therefore which I made betwixt the Epopee and the Tragedy was not altogether a digression; for 'tis concluded on all hands, that they are both the Master-pieces of Humane Wit. In the mean time I may be bold to draw this Corollary from what has been already said, That the File of Heroick Poets is very short: The next, but the next with a long interval betwixt, was the Jerusalem: I mean not so much in distance of time, as in Excellency.
Spencer has a better plea for his Fairy-Queen, had his action been finish'd, or had been one. And Milton, if the Devil had not been his Heroe instead of Adam, if the Gyant had not foil'd the Knight, and driven him out of his strong hold, to wander through the World with his Lady Errant: I have that Honour for them which I ought to have: Before I quitted the Comparison betwixt Epick Poetry and Tragedy, I shou'd have acquainted my Judge with one advantage of the former over the latter, which I now casually remember out of the Preface of Segrais before his Translation of the Aeneis, or out of Bossu, no matter which.
The stile of the Heroick Poem is and ought to be more lofty than that of the Drama. The Critick is certainly in the right, for the Reason already urg'd: The work of Tragedy is on the Passions, and in Dialogue, both of them abhor strong Metaphors, in which the Epopee delights. A Poet cannot speak too plainly on the Stage: There an Author may beautifie his Sense by the boldness of his Expression, which if we understand not fully at the first, we may dwell upon it, 'till we find the secret force and excellence.
We must beat the Iron while 'tis hot, but we may polish it at leisure. I must now come closer to my present business: He has a whole Confederacy against him, and I must endeavour to defend him as well as I am able. But their principal Objections being against his Moral, the duration or length of time taken up in the action of the Poem, and what they have to urge against the Manners of his Hero, I shall omit the rest as meer Cavils of Grammarians: Macrobius has answer'd what the Ancients cou'd urge against him: But let both be fairly stated, and without contradicting my first Opinion, I can shew that Virgil 's was as useful to the Romans of his Age, as Homer 's was to the Grecians of his; in what time soever he may be suppos'd to have liv'd and flourish'd.
To inculcate this, he sets forth the ruinous Effects of Discord in the Camp of those Allies, occasion'd by the quarrel betwixt the General, and one of the next in Office under him. Both Parties are faulty in the Quarrel, and accordingly they are both punish'd: As the Poet, in the first part of the Example, had shewn the bad effects of Discord, so after the Reconcilement, he gives the good effects of Unity. For Hector is slain, and then Troy must fall. By this, 'tis probable, that Homer liv'd when the Persian Monarchy was grown formidable to the Grecians: Such was his Moral, which all Criticks have allow'd to be more Noble than that of Virgil: But we are to consider him as writing his Poem in a time when the Old Form of Government was subverted, and a new one just Established by Octavius Caesar: In effect by force of Arms, but seemingly by the Consent of the Roman People.
Sylla, in his turn, proscrib'd the Heads of the adverse Party: Sylla, to be sure, meant no more good to the Roman People than Marius before him, whatever he declar'd; but Sacrific'd the Lives, and took the Estates of all his Enemies, to gratifie those who brought him into Power: Such was the Reformation of the Government by both Parties. So the Fabrique of consequence must fall betwxt them: And Tyranny must be built upon their Ruines.
This comes of altering Fundamental Laws and Constitutions. After the Death of those two Usurpers, the Commonwealth seem'd to recover, and held up its Head for a little time: But it was all the while in a deep Consumption, which is a flattering Disease. Not to trouble your Lordship with the Repetition of what you know: After the death of Crassus, Pompey found himself out-witted by Caesar; broke with him, over-power'd him in the Senate, and caus'd many unjust Decrees to pass against him: Thus the Roman People were grosly gull'd: At last the two Battles of Philippi, gave the decisive stroak against Liberty; and not long after, the Commonwealth was turn'd into a Monarchy, by the Conduct and good Fortune of Augustus.
Your Lordship well knows what Obligations Virgil had to the latter of them: He saw, beside, that the Commonwealth was lost without ressource: The Heads of it destroy'd; the Senate new moulded, grown degenerate; and either bought off, or thrusting their own Necks into the Yoke, out of fear of being forc'd. Yet I may safely affirm for our great Author as Men of good Sense are generally Honest that he was still of Republick principles in Heart. If he had not well studied his Patron's Temper, it might have Ruin'd him with another Prince.
But Augustus was not discontented, at least that we can find, that Cato was plac'd, by his own Poet, in Elisium; and there giving Laws to the Holy Souls, who deserv'd to be separated from the Vulgar sort of good Spirits. That Romulus was no Hereditary Prince, and though, after his Death, he receiv'd Divine Honours, for the good he did on Earth, yet he was but a God of their own making: And I meddle not with others: Though at the same time he confess'd freely, that if he could have chosen his Place of Birth, it shou'd have been at Venice: Which for many Reasons I dislike, and am better pleas'd to have been born an English Man.
But to return from my long rambling: These things, I say, being consider'd by the Poet, he concluded it to be the Interest of his Country to be so Govern'd: This was the Moral of his Divine Poem: That it was the receiv'd Opinion, that the Romans were descended from the Trojans, and Julius Caesar from Julus the Son of Aeneas, was enough for Virgil; tho' perhaps he thought not so himself: Or that Aeneas ever was in Italy, which Bochartus manifestly proves.
Even the Seals which we have remaining of Julius Caesar, which we know to be Antique, have the Star of Venus over them, though they were all graven after his Death, as a Note that he was Deifi'd. Neither were the great Roman Families which flourish'd in his time, less oblig'd by him than the Emperour. These are the single Stars which are sprinkled through the Aeneis: But there are whole Constellations of them in the Fifth Book.
I, Insist not on their Names: And this was the Poetical Revenge he took. For genus irritabile Vatum, as Horace says.
I think these are not bare Imaginations of my own, though I find no trace of them in the Commentatours: But one Poet may judge of another by himself. The Vengeance we defer, is not forgotten. I hinted before, that the whole Roman People were oblig'd by Virgil, in deriving them from Troy; an Ancestry which they affected. We, and the French are of the same Humour: They would be thought to descend from a Son, I think, of Hector: Spencer favours this Opinion what he can.
His Prince Arthur, or whoever he intends by him, is a Trojan. I have transgress'd my Bounds, and gone farther than the Moral led me. But if your Lordship is not tir'd, I am safe enough. Thus far, I think, my Author is defended. I must prepare that Subject by shewing how dext'rously he mannag'd both the Prince and People, so as to displease neither, and to do good to both, which is the part of a Wise and an Honest Man: I shall continue still to speak my Thoughts like a free-born Subject as I am; though such things, perhaps, as no Dutch Commentator cou'd, and I am sure no French- man durst.
From this Consideration it is, that he chose for the ground-work of his Poem, one Empire destroy'd, and another rais'd from the Ruins of it. This was just the Parallel. And Helenus, a Son of Priam, was yet surviving, and might lawfully claim before him. It may be Virgil mentions him on that Account. In this case, the Poet gave him the next Title, which is, that of an Elective King. Ilioneus in his Speech to Dido, calls him expresly by the Name of King. For what was introduc'd by force, by force may be remov'd. Since that Gift was indeed no more at bottom than a Trust.
Virgil gives us an Example of this, in the Person of Mezentius. And came to the deserv'd End of all Tyrants. He was descended from Saturn, and as I remember, in the Third Degree. He is describ'd a just and a gracious Prince; solicitous for the Welfare of his People; always Consulting with his Senate to promote the common Good. We find him at the head of them, when he enters into the Council-Hall.
Speaking first, but still demanding their Advice, and steering by it as far as the Iniquity of the Times wou'd suffer him. As for himself, he was contented to take care of his Country Gods, who were not those of Latium. Wherein our Divine Author seems to relate to the after practice of the Romans, which was to adopt the Gods of those they Conquer'd, or receiv'd as Members of their Commonwealth. Yet withal, he plainly touches at the Office of the High Priesthood, with which Augustus was invested: And which made his Person more Sacred and inviolable, than even the Tribunitial Power.
I know not that any of the Commentatours have taken notice of that passage. If they have not, I am sure they ought: And if they have, I am not indebted to them for the Observation: The words of Virgil are very plain. Aeneas succeeded not, but was Elected. Troy was fore-doom'd to fall for ever. Augustus 'tis true, had once resolv'd to re-build that City, and there to make the Seat of Empire: But Horace writes an Ode on purpose to deter him from that Thought; declaring the place to be accurs'd, and that the Gods would as often destroy it as it shou'd be rais'd.
But by this, my Lord, we may conclude that he had still his Pedigree in his Head; and had an Itch of being thought a Divine King, if his Poets had not given him better Counsel. I will pass by many less material Objections, for want of room to Answer them: Piety, as your Lordship sees, takes place of all, as the chief part of his Character: They appear to him in his Voyage, and advise him; and at last he re-places them in Italy, their Native Country.
For his Father he takes him on his Back: The Funerals of his Nurse: And then the Poem had been left imperfect: For we could have had no certain prospect of his Happiness, while the last Obstacle to it was unremov'd. Of the other parts which compose his Character, as a King, or as a General, I need say nothing: The whole Aeneis is one continued Instance, of some one or other of them: But herein, Segrais, in his admirable Preface to his Translation of the Aeneis, as the Author of the Dauphin 's Virgil justly calls it; has prevented me.
Him I follow; and what I borrow from him, am ready to acknowledge to him. They value themselves on their Generals; we on our Souldiers. I shall sayperhaps as much of other Nations, and their Poets, excepting only Tasso: If you wou'd set us more Copies, your Example would make all Precepts needless. In the mean time, that little you have Written is own'd, and that particularly by the Poets, who are a Nation not over-lavish of praise to their Contemporaries, as a principal Ornament of our Language: And shall use him less often than I have occasion for him.
Yet I dwell on many things which he durst not touch: For 'tis dangerous to offend an Arbitrary Master: In short, my Lord, I wou'd not Translate him, because I wou'd bring you somewhat of my own. His Notes and Observations on every Book, are of the same Excellency; and for the same Reason I omit the greater part.
Homer, who had chosen another Moral, makes both Agamemnon and Achilles vicious: What follows is Translated literally from Segrais. Virgil had consider'd that the greatest Virtues of Augustus consisted in the perfect Art of Governing his People; which caus'd him to Reign for more than Forty Years in great Felicity.
He has given all these Qualities to Aeneas. But knowing that Piety alone comprehends the whole Duty of Man towards the Gods; towards his County, and towards his Relations, he judg'd, that this ought to be his first Character, whom he would set for a Pattern of Perfection.
That Quality which signifies no more than an intrepid Courage, may be separated from many others which are good, and accompany'd with many which are ill. A Man may be very Valiant, and yet Impious and Vicious. But the same cannot be said of Piety; which excludes all ill Qualities, and comprehends even Valour it self, with all other Qualities which are good. Can we, for Example, give the praise of Valour to a Man who shou'd see his Gods prophan'd, and shou'd want the Courage to defend them? To a Man who shou'd abandon his Father, or desert his King in his last Necessity?
Thus far Segrais, in giving the preference to Piety before Valour. I will now follow him, where he considers this Valour, or intrepid Courage, singly in it self; and this also Virgil gives to his Aeneas, and that in a Heroical Degree. His Testimony is this in the Eleventh Book. I give not here my Translation of these Verses; though I think I have not ill succeeded in them; because your Lordship is so great a Master of the Original, that I have no reason to desire you shou'd see Virgil and me so near together: But you may please, my Lord, to take notice, that the Latin Author refines upon the Greek; and insinuates, That Homer had done his Heroe Wrong, in giving the advantage of the Duel to his own Country-man: Though Diomedes was manifestly the second Champion of the Grecians: For he had a Head-piece of his own; and wanted only the fortitude of another, to bring him off with safety; and that he might compass his Design with Honour.
The French Translator thus proceeds: Hereupon he gives so many instances of the Heroe's Valour, that to repeat them after him would tire your Lordship, and put me to the unnecessary trouble of Transcribing the greatest part of the three last Aeneids. In short, more could not be expected from an Amadis, a Sir Lancelot, or the whole round Table, than he performs. He is neither the first nor last; but in the midst of them; and therefore is safe if they are so. Who knows, says Segrais, but that his fated Armour was only an Allegorical Defence, and signifi'd no more than that he was under the peculiar protection of the Gods; born, as the Astrologers will tell us out of Virgil who was well vers'd in the Chaldaean Mysteries under the favourable influence of Jupiter, Venus, and the Sun: But in defence of Virgil, I dare positively say, that he has been more cautious in this particular than either his Predecessour, or his Descendants.
It seems he was no War-luck, as the Scots commonly call such Men, who they say, are Iron-free, or Lead-free. Yet after this Experiment, that his Arms were not impenetrable, when he was Cur'd indeed by his Mother's help, because he was that day to conclude the War by the death of Turnus, the Poet durst not carry the Miracle too far, and restore him wholy to his former Vigour: I need say no more, for Virgil defends himself, without needing my assistance; and proves his Heroe truly to deserve that Name.
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