immediately for Italy (though the tempest drove him on the coast of Carthage); Segrais will by no means allow that supposition, but thinks it much more probable that he remained in Sicily till the midst of July, or the beginning of August; at which time he places the first appearance of his hero on the sea, and there opens the action of the poem. From which beginning, to the death of Turnus, which concludes the action, there need not be supposed above ten months of intermediate time for arriving at Carthage in the latter end of summer; staying there the winter following; departing thence in the very beginning of the spring; making a short abode in Sicily the second time; landing in Italy, and making the war, may be reasonably judged the business but of ten months. To this the Ronsardians reply, that having been for seven years before in quest of Italy, and having no more to do in Sicily than to inter his father, after that office was performed, what remained for him, but, without delay, to pursue his first adventure? To which Segrais answers, that the obsequies of his father, according to the rites of the Greeks and Romans, would detain him for many days; that a longer. time must be taken up in the refitting of his ships, after so tedious a voyage, and in refreshing his weather-beaten soldiers on a friendly coast. These indeed are but suppositions on both sides; yet those of Segrais seem better grounded. For the feast of Dido, when she entertained Æneas first, has the appearance of a summer's night, which seems already almost ended,, when he begins his story; therefore the love was made in autumn : the hunting followed properly, when the heats of that scorching country were declining. The winter was passed in jollity, as the season and their love required; and he left her in the latter end of winter, as is already proved. This opinion is fortified by the arrival of Æneas at the mouth of Tyber, which marks the season of the spring;that season being perfectly described by the singing of the birds saluting the dawn, and by the beauty of the place: which the poet seems to have painted expressly in the Seventh Æneid : Aurora in roseis fulgebat lutea bigis, Cùm venti posuere ; varia circumque supraque1 Assueta ripis volucres, et fluminis alveo, Ethera mulcebant cantu, · The remainder of the action required but three months more; for when Æneas went for succour to the Tuscans, he found their army in a readiness to march, and wanting only a commander: so that according to this calculation, the NEIS takes not up above a year complete, and may be comprehended in less compass. I 2 By the negligence of the printer, this and the preceding hemistick were exhibited in the original copy of 1697, as one line; and the errour was adopted in all the subsequent editions. See En. vii. v. 26. 2 According to Heyne, the action of the ENEID employs not more than six months. Disquis. I. de Carm. Epico, p. 51. This, amongst other circumstances, treated more at large by Segrais, agrees with the rising of Orion, which caused the tempest described in the beginning of the first book. By some passages in the PASTORALS, but more particularly in the GEORGICKS, Our poet is found to be an exact astronomer, according to the knowledge of that age. Now Ilioneus, whom Virgil twice employs in embassies, as the best speaker of the Trojans, attributes that tempest to Orion, in his speech to Dido: Cum subito assurgens fluctu nimbosus Orion, - - - -. He must mean either the heliacal or achronical rising of that sign. The heliacal rising of a constellation is, when it comes from under the rays of the sun, and begins to appear before daylight. The achronical rising, on the contrary, is, when it appears at the close of day, and in opposition of the sun's diurnal course. The heliacal rising of Orion is at present computed to be about the sixth of July; and about that time it is, that he either causes or presages tempests on the seas. Segrais has observed farther, that when Anna counsels Dido to stay Æneas during the winter, she speaks also of Orion : Dum pelago desavit hiems, et aquosus Orion. If therefore Ilioneus, according to our supposition, understand the heliacal rising of Orion, Anna must mean the achronical, which the different epithets given to that constellation seem 1.500. 697 chines have is en mis pront; ought to be Expunged wicie were gous, anu pon nations, for the most part, worshipped the same deities; as did also the Trojans from whom the Romans, I suppose, would rather be thought to derive the rites of their religion, than from the Grecians, because they thought themselves descended from them. Each of those gods had his proper office, and the chief of them their particular attendants. Thus Jupiter had, in propriety, Ganymede and Mercury; and Juno had Iris. It was not for Virgil then to create new ministers; he must take what he found in his religion. It cannot therefore be said, that he borrowed them from Homer, any more than from Apollo, Diana, and the rest, whom he uses as he finds occasion for them, as the Grecian poet did but he invents the occasions for which he uses them. Venus, after the destruction of Troy, had gained Neptune entirely to her party; a favour Ariosto, who with all his faults, must Non fu si santo ni benigno Augusto, a od 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 NEIS is most scandalously mean, though he has taken the advantage of writing in blank verse, and freed himself from the shackles of modern rhyme 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 rhyme as they 3 Robert and Ant. Chevalier, who published a translation of Virgil into French in 1582. Segrals's translation into French verse appeared first in 1668. |