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return to the army; and the critic is rescued. from the Tartarean punishment of an in-: effectual purfuit after a

Dream of a dream,, and fhadow of a fhade.'

They, whose taste faftidiously disrelishes this bold amendment, as hazardous, in their. opinions, as a fpunge to the national debt, are folicited to retain the verfes, formerly gla-. ring in the front of the Æneid; verses as poetical as the prefen, and scarcely open. to fuch material exceptions.

"Ille ego, qui quondam gracili modulatus avenâ: "Carmen, et egreffus filvis vicina coëgi

Ut quamvis avido gauderent arva colono, "Gratum opus agricolis; --at nunc horrentia Martis"Arma, virumq; cano."

Thefe lines, it may be reply'd, have been expunged for ages, and are rejected by ura nimous concurrence. I am not to flatter myfelf, that my own prefumption merits. to be fo favorably received: but plaufibilisy in claffical fpeculations fanctifies refineY 2

ment;

ment; and it is meant to fubmit a conjecture, not to enjoin a truth.

The few of candid erudition, whofe fincerity of esteem for our poet parts reluctantly with the fmalleft relique of his mufe, bid me linger on this enchanted ground. An attempt to reconcile the myf tery, if it fails of their affent, may lay claim: to their indulgence.*

By the philofophical epitome, placed in the mouth of ANCHISES, VIRGIL feems to have inclined to the Pythagorean system. The diftinguishing principle of this creed was the tranfmigration of fouls into other bodies after death. This notion, however fully'd with incoherencies, was pure religion when compar'd with Epicurean bigotry affert

ing

The errors of words and phrases, pointed out on the paffage in queftion, may not be rigidly acceded to by thefe gentlemen. The fmiles of 1nch critics carry commendation, and are worthy of respect. I hope they will treat the objections, not as the voice of a caviler, but as the refult of deliberate attention.

ing the mortality of the foul; a bigotry the most unaccountable, that ever difgraced hu Popular enthufiafm admitted

man nature.

but a partial transmigration.

VIRGIL, when he exhibited ANCHISES, the poetical JULIUS, in a formal office of atténdant on his fon to the gates of Aïdes, could not have proposed to turn the old man into ridicule; which had been effectually compaffed by a peremptory declaration, that all his fuggeftions were built upon fallacy. He is principally to be confidered as a prophet, who adapted the facts, which. he foretold, to the poet's political ideas. The eftablishedopinions concerning the realms of PLUTO were a field open to VIRGIL'S cen◄ fure, or acquiefcence; he might be defirousto pay a larger tribute of applaufe to the Epicurean fyftem, though backward to fubscribe to a doctrine, which had been confuted in the reception of its oppofite, from the earliest exertions of glimmering philosophy..

There are two gates of fleep, (that is, of death) whereof one is faid to be composed

of

of horn, through which iffue the true, fhades (thofe, which may be concluded fuch). the other (gate) completely fhining with polished ivory. But (alas !) the regions of, the dead fend up falfe dreams (or fhadows) to mankind.*

In this view. VIRGIL infinuates his abfolute difbelief of all the feveral tenets, formed by popular approbation, relative to a future. ftate; that only excepted, which afferts a general tranfmigration of fouls.

ENEAS is difmiffed out of the other gate by way of diftinction; one of the

"pauci, quos æquus amavit.

"Jupiter,"

demanded

* Sed falfa ad cœlum mittunt infomnia manes. This line, it is obvious, is differently to be understood from the former verfe, but one. Sed' feems to refer to the fplendor of the ivory. gate, through which it might rather be construed, that fcenes fhould iffue founded in truth, or at leaft on what is furmifed to be fuch. (See Dr. JORTIN's remark on the word), The verfe.

may

1

VIRGIL'S ENEID, B. VI. 327

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demanded a poetical close to his eccentric expedition. This was probably at least the judgement of VIRGIL, though not indulged to ULYSSES in the lefs refined labors of HOMER.

may be read in a parenthesis; as it has no immediate connection with the preceding. If VIRGIL had not fome particular defign in this verfe, he would have retained the foregoing' quà,' and have omitted manes.'

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