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encrease the interest of the story; by conveying dark and imperfect glimpses of futurity, and, at the same time, introducing striking and uncommon incidents, and splendid and ornamental descriptions.--It is no very safe enterprise, however, for the poet to wander far, in this region of enchantment. Portents and prodigies are instruments, which cannot be wielded, with safety, by an unskilful hand. Injudiciously employed, they will be the means of shocking probability, and even degenerate into the monstrous, the ludicrous, and the burlesque.Horace was well aware, that this kind of machinery was very nice, in the management, and liable to abuse; since he cautions the poet, against the intemperate use of supernatural agency.--Nec deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus.-The occasion must be so important, as to justify an inversion of the common relations of cause and effect, and the intervention of deity, in an extraordinary manner. Nor will it suffice, that the crisis may be urgent and momentous; the interference and agency must be conformable to the religion, the superstitions, the popular prejudices, the received traditions, of the people, to whom the poet addresses himself.-And still, even with the utmost care and genius, in the use of such machinery; passages of this kind are those, which are least relished, by modern readers. They have a beautiful effect, in the modern mock heroic, a strong argument, to prove them unfit for the serious, as we see, for instance, in the Rape of the Lock, and in the sportive mythology of Prior; but, in serious modern composition, they excite disgust and ridicule. The mixture of Pagan mythology, with Christianity, is shocking.-The case, however, was otherwise, with the cotemporary readers of the ancient poets.-The Greeks believed deyoutly, in stories of omens, prodigies, and divine apparitions; and abounded in superstitious rites. The rites

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of Cybele--the Idai Dactyli--the gloomy sacrifice of Proserpine-the Eleusinian mysteries-the various oracular shrines, gratified, and nourished this spirit.-The Romans were even more superstitious, than the Greeks, whose rites and ceremonies, as well as those of the Egyptians, they engrafted on such as were indigenous, particularly among the Etrurians, who surpassed most people, in fanaticism. The fables of Numa and the nymph Egeria--the story of the Ancylia-the institution of the rites of the Lupercalia, and the peculiar ado ration of the god Pan-the various modes of divination —their Lectisternia—their dictators, nominated to drive nails in the capitol-their Sibylline oracles-their various sacerdotal orders-the vestal virgins, with the sacred fire-the Pontifices-the Flamens-the Haruspices-the Salii-the Sodales Titi-the Potiti and Pinarii.

These, and a multitude of other strange and varied superstitions, must have nourished, in the general mind of the Roman people, credulity, and a fanatical spirit, and disposed it, to delight in omens and prodigies.The history of Livy is a full proof, how much this credulous and superstitious temper prevailed among the Romans. We are surprised, at first glance, to find, in a writer, abounding in good sense, and profound reflection, like Livy, a collection of stories, fit only to frighten old women and children, round a winter's fire. The relation of the foreign and domestic events, of the year, is regularly closed, by a narrative of the prodigies" and apparitions for the season; all of which were, in after times, collected, in the work of Obsequens.* But, our wonder will vanish, on a moment's reflection. The noble and admirable historian did not himself believe

* Julius Obsequens, de Prodigiis.He wrote under Honorius the emperor.

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the tales he recounted, but he thought his annals would have been defective, without them. He well knew, that a great majority of his readers, not only believed, but, gladly received, such wonderful narratives; and, in writing as he did, he only conformed, to the taste and opinions of the times. It is observable, that, if the exquisite taste, and sound discretion, of Virgil, seem to forsake him, in any respect, it is in the too copious use, indeed, I might almost say, the wanton introduction of prodigies, the unnecessary violation of the laws of physical nature and probability. In addition to this, we must remark the disposition, to turn every thing into an omen. Homer leads the way, in this course of the marvellous, and he is followed, neither reluctantly nor slowly, by succeeding poets; and even surpast, in the multitude, and boldness of prodigies, by Virgil.

Some of the most notable prodigies, in Apollonius, are the apparition of Glaucus-the speech delivered by the ship Argo-the Harpies-the appearance of Thetis, and her nymphs, emerging from the deep, and assisting to raise the vessel over the rocks--the bird, that reproaches Mopsus and his companion, for staying with Jason-the appearance of the courser rising from the waves, and rushing over the sands--the successive transformations, and final apparition, of the Hesperian nymphs-Triton, rising from the lake, and delivering a sod, in token of amity--the transformation of that same sod, into an island-the wonderful conformation and 'strange death of Talus-all these are extraordinary things, and partake much of the nature of a fairy tale, or the stories of the Arabian Nights. But, Virgil, who had the specious miracles, and the portents, both of Homer and Apollonius Rhodius, before his eyes, has surpassed them both, in the marvellous.-The prodigies of Virgil, exclusive of the frequent intervention of deities,

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on various occasions, which he has introduced, with an unsparing hand, are the following, among many others; the serpents, which twine themselves, round Laocoon, and his children, in the second book, which abounds, above all others, in divine apparitions, and prodigiesas this book contains the grand event, of the destruction of Troy, the poet probably meant, by this device, to exalt his narrative, and make it worthy of the subject. What a grand spectacle is presented to us, when Venus appearing, removes the film from the eyes of her son, and shows him the combined deities, hostile to Troy, actively engaged, in the destruction of the devoted city.

"Cum mihi se, non ante oculis tam clara, videndam "Obtulit, et purâ per noctem in luce refulsit"Alma parens, confessa deam qualisque videri "Calicolis, et quanta solet," &c.

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66 Divum, inclementia divum

"Has evertit opes, sternitque a culmine Trojam.Aspice, namque omnem quæ nunc obducta tuenti "Mortales hebetat visus tibi, et humida circum "Caligat nubem eripiam," &c.

"Apparent diræ facies, inimicaque Troja "Numina magna deum."

The obstinacy, and desire of death, of Anchises, who was determined, at first, to perish, and not to survive the ruin of Troy, are overcome, and he determines, to accompany Æneas, in consequence of a prodigy.

"Talia vociferans gemitu tectum omne replebat, "Cum subitum dictuque oritur mirabile monstrum; "Namque manus inter, mœstorumque ora parentum, "Ecce levis summo de vertice visus Iuli. "Fundere lumen apex, tactuque innoxia molli "Lambere flammâ comas, et circum tempora pasci."

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In the progress of the book, Creusa, whose absence is necessary to the future events of the poem, is snatched from her husband, in a wonderful manner, and reappears, for a short space, in a mode equally extraordinary.

"Heu, misera conjux, fatone crepta Creusa "Substitit, erravitne viâ, seu lassa resedit, "Incertum; nec post oculis est reddita nostris. "Infelix simulachrum, atque ipsius umbra Creuse, "Visa mihi ante oculos, et nota major imago.

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Obstupui, steteruntque comæ, et vox faucibus
hæsit."

In the beginning of the third book, we find a portent, which, from its romantic wildness, has been the subject of imitation with succeeding poets.* It is called, by

the author himself

"Horrendum et dictu mirabile monstrum.".

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The gore, spouting from the rind of the lacerated myrtle, and the lamentable groans, and accents of Polydorus, sounding from the stem, which had sprung up over his dead body. Virgil seems to be aware of the boldness of this fiction, since he endeavours to palliate the recital, and to speak with hesitation.

"Nam quæ prima solo ruptis radicibus arbos
"Vellitur, huic atro liquuntur sanguine guttæ,
"Et terram tabò maculant.

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Eloquar an sileam, gemitus lacrymabilis imo “Auditur tumulo; et vox reddita fertur ad aures.”

I shall not speak of the harpies, or of the appearance of Polyphemus, in the same book, because these are not

* See Dryden's mask of King Arthur, &c.

the

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