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AUGUSTUS.every where mentions the popular belles in omens and prodigies: but this was the generat superstition of the times; and totalty to renounce the prejudices of superilitious education, is the Iast heroic sacrifice to philosophical scepticita. In generat, however, the creduli ty of Livyappears to be rather affected than real; and his account of the exit os Romulus, in the following passage, may bQadduced as an instance in confirmation os this remarh. His immortalibus editis operibus, quum ad exercitum recensendum concionem in campo ad Caprae paludem haberet, subita coorta tempestate cum magno fragore tonitribusque tam denso regem operuit nimbo, ut con pectum ejus concioni
ab uterit : nec deinde in terris Romulus fuit. Romana pu-ἷeS, sedato tandem pavore, psquam ex tam turbido die frena ta tranquilla lux rediit, ubi vacuam sedem regiam vidit: et fatis credebat Patribus, qui proximi feterant, sublimem raptum procella ; tamen veluti orbitatis metu icta, moesum aliquamdiu flentium obtinuit. Deinde a paucis initio falso, Deum Deo natum, regem parentemque urbis
Romani salvere unives Romulum jubent; pacem precibus exposcunt, uti volens propitius suam semper fospitet progeniem. Fuisse credo tum quoque aliquos, qui discerptum
rogem Patrum manibus taciti arguerent: manavit enim hic
quoque, Uf pero cura, fama. Illam alteram admiratio viri, j pavor praesens nobilitavit. Constio etiam unius hominis addita rei dicitur Mes namque Proculus Tubus sollicita civitate desiderio regis, las infensa Patribus, gratais, ut
traditur, quam Uis magnae rei auctor, in concionem prodis. Romulus, inquit, Quirites, parens urbis hujus, prima hodierna luce coelo repente rit fus, se mihi obvium dedit quum profusius horrore venerabundusque asitissem, petens precibus, At contra intueri fas esset; Abi, nuncia, inquit, Romanis, ses ita velle, ut mea Roma caput o bii tetra
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rum sit e proinde rem militarem colante ficiant pue, ita poseris tradant, nullas opes humanas armis Romanis re si fere
posse. Hic, inquit, locutus, sublimis abiit. Mirum, quantum illi viro nuncianti haec fidei fuerit; quamque de siderium Romuli apud plebem exercitumque, facta fide immortalitatis, lenitumst. Scarcely any incident in ancient history favors more os the ma rvellous than the account ab ave delivered respect-ing the fit si Roman king: and amidit ali the solemni tymith whicli it is relateit, v e may perceive that the historian was not the diape of credulity. There is more implied, than the author thought proper to avo , in thesentence, Fuisse credo, &c. In whaicver light this anecdotebe viewed, it is involved in perplexity. That Romulus affected a despotic power, is not only highly probabie, frona his aspiring disposition, but stems to he confirmed by his recent appotniment of the Celeres, as a guard tollis person. He might theros ore naturalty in cur the odium of the Patricians, whose importance was diminis hed, and their institution rendered abortive, by the encrease of his power. But that they slaould choose the opportunity ofa military revie , sor the pui pose of removing the tyrant
by a violent death, seems not very consistent mitti thedictates even os common pruden ce; and it is the more incredibie, as the circumstance whicli favored the eXecUtion of the plot, is represented to have been entiret y A fortuitOUS Occurrenoe. The tempes: whicli is se id to have happened, is not easily reconcitable with our knowledge of that phenomenone Such a cloud, or mist, as Could have en velo ped Romulus fro in the eyes of the assembly, is not a natural concomitant of a thunder-storm. Thereis sonae rea n to suspeet, that botii ille noisse and Cloud,
is they adluatly existed, were artificiat ; the former intended
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to divert me attention of the spectators, and the lalter toconceat the transaction. The word fragor, a noise orcrassi, appears to be an Unnecessary addition Where thun
examination Τ But the body, without doubi, was secreteilto favor the imposiure. The whole narrative is stronglymarhed with circum stances calculated to affect creduintity with ideas of national importance ; and to Counte- nance the desigia, there is evidently a chasm in the Roman
history immedia tely prece ling this transaction, and inti mately connected with it. Livy was borri at Patavium, and has been charged by Asinius Ρollio and others with the provinciat diales of his country. The objections to his Ρatavini ty, as it is called, relate chiefly to the spei ling of sonae words ; in whicli, ho ever, there laenas to be nothing so peculiar,
as either to occasion any obscurity or merit reprehenson.
Roman hillory, it may not be improper to draw a stiori comparison het Neen them, in respech of their principalqualities, as writers. With regarii to language, there istes s apparent assectation in Livy than in Sallus f. The narrative of both is distinguis hed bu an elevation os style :the elevation os Sallust laenas to be osten supportes by the
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os historical, and semetimes of national importance. In the dra ing of characters, Sallust infuses more expression, and Livy more fulnest into the seatures. In the speeches ascribed to particular persens, these writers are equalis elegant and animate i.
then prevalled over me most extensive of the Roman provinces, but of the extraordinary patias with which so great a work mus: have been propagated, when the ari os printingwas unknown. In the fifteenth century, upon me revivat oflearuing in Europe, the name of this great writer recoveredits ancient veneration; and Alphonsus of Arragon, Witha superstition characteris sic of that age, re quested of thepeopte os Padua, where Livy was horn, and is seid toliave been buried, to be favored by them with the hand which had written so admirabie a Work. The celebrity of Virgit has proved the means os ascertaining his birth with more eXactnest than is common in the biographical memoirs of ancientP writers. Ηe was horn at Andes, a village iii the ne ighbourhood of Mantua, on me 1 sth of October, seventy years be fore the Christian aera. His parenis mere of moderate condition ; but by their industry they acquired sonae territorial possessions, whicli devolved to their son. The fit si se ven years of his life were spent at Cremona, whence he went to Mediolanum,now Milan, at ibat time the seat of the liberat aris, and
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denominated, as we learn stom Pliny the younger; Novae Athenae From this place, he asterwards moveil to Na-ples, where lic applied himself with great assiduity to Greela and Roman literature, particularly to the physical and mathematical sciences; for Which he eXpresses a strong predi lection in the second book of his Georgics.
vero Is imum dulus ante omnia Musae, marum sacra fero ingenti perculsus amore, Accipiunt; coelique vias et iidera monstrenI; Defectus Solis varios, Lunaeque labores: de Iremor Ierris r qua vi maria alta tumescant Obicibus ruptis, rursusque in seipsa residant: mid tantum Oceano properent se tingere soles Hiberni: vel quae tardis mora noctibus ob n.
When by a proscription os the Triumvirate, the tantios Cremona and Mantua were distributed amongst the veterati soldlers, Virgil had the good fortune to recovertiis possessions, through the favor os Asinius pollio, ille deputy of Augustus in thos e paris ; to whom, as weli asto the emperor, he has testi fled his gratitude in beautifus
The iii st production of Virgil was his Bucolics, consisting of ten eclogues, written in imitation of the Idyllia or pastoral poenas of Theocrstus. It may be qtiestioned, whether any language which has iis provinciat dialecis, but is brought to perfection, cara ever be weli adapted, in that state, to the use of pastorat poetry. There is suchan apparent incongruity between the simple ideas of the rural swa in and the polisaed langu age of the Courtier, that it seems impossibie to reconcile them together by theia most art os composition. The Dorie dialect of Theocritus, there re, abstractedly from ali consideration ofsimplicrty of sentiment, must ever give to the Sicilian
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2IIT HE LIFE o Phard a pre- eminen Ce in this species os poeti y. Thegre ater part of the Bucolics of Virgil may be regarded aspoenas of a peculiar nature, into Whicli the author has happily transfused, in elegant versification, the nativem anne is and ideas, without any mi Xture of the rustici tyos pastoral life . With respeet to ille fourth eclogue, ad-dresied to Pollio, it is avowedly of a nature superior tolliat os pastoral sul edis:
Sicelides Mus re, paullo mioria canamus.
Virgil engaged in bucolic poetry at the reques of Asinius Pollio, whom he highly esteemed, and for one ofwhose sons in particular, with Cornelius Gallus, a poetlikewi , he enteria ined the warmesst affection. He has celebrated them ali in these poems, which were begun, we are told, in the twenty-ninth year of his age, and completed in three years. They were held in so great esseemamong si the Romans, immedia tely after their publication, that it is seid they were frequently recited iapon thest age, for the entertuitament of the audience. Cicero, upon hearing s me lines of them, perceived that theywere written in no common stra in of poetry, and desii edthat the ' whole eclogue might be recited : which beiugdone, he eXclaimed, Magnae spes altera Romae ' An-
η Commentators seem to have gi ven an erroneOUS and Un- hecoming sense to Cicero's exclamation, when they suppos ethat the objeci ilia dersto od, as conne ' ed with altera, relate l
E juxta inaniνs, m me es altera Romae. AENEID. XII. Cicero,
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Virgil's nexi veork was the Georgics, the idea of whichis talien frona thc the wortis and Days; of Hesiod, the poet of Ascra. But between the produCtions of the two poets, there is no other similarity than that of their common subject. The precepis of Hesiod, in respera os agriculture, are delivered with ait the si inplici ty of an unlettered cultivator of the fiet is, intermi Redwith pla in morat reflexions, natural and apposite; whilethose of Virgil, equalty precise and important, are embellisti ed with ait the dignit y of sublime versification. Thu rk is addi eZed .lo Mecaenas, at whose request it appearSto have been undertaken. It is divi ted into four books.
the third, of catile, hors es, meep, go ais, dogs, and of things that a re huriful to catile ; the foui th is employedon bees, their proper habitations, food, polity, the dis eas esto whicli they a re liable, and the remedies of them, withthe method of mahing honey, and a varie of other Considerations connected rasith the subject. The Georgicswere rari iten at Naples, and employed the author duringa period of seven years. It is sa id that Virgil had concluded the Georgics with a labored eulogium ori liis poetical frien d Gallus ; but the lalter incurring abGUt this time the displeas ure of Augustus, he was induced toCicero, at the time when he could have heard a spectinen of Virgil's Eclogues, must have been neat his granii climaeteri C ;besides th t his virtu es and talents had long been conspi-CUCUS, and were pacto the state of hope. It is probabie, therefore, that altera referred to sonae third person, sp0kenos immediately before, as one who promised to do honor tollis country. It might refer to Octavitis, of whom Cicero, at this time, entertained a high opinion; or it may have been spolien in an absolute manner, Without a reference to any Person.
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sano et ii, and substitute the beauti l epi de of Aristaeus and Eurydice. These beauti fui poems, considered meretv as didacticiliave the jussest claim to utili ty. In what relates to agri-ςulture in particula a , the precepis were judicio usiy adapt-ed to the climate of Italy, and must have conveyed much valvabie information to those who were destro us os culti-vating that important ari, which was held in great honora mongst the Romans. The fame rema rh may be made, mitti greater latitude os application, in respect of the other subjects. But when we eκamine the Georgics as poetical compossitions, when we attend to the elevated style in Whicli they are written, the beauty of the similes, the emphatic sentiments interspersed, the elegance of diction, theani maled strain of the whole, and the harmony of the versification ; our admiration is excited, to belloid subjectsso common in their nature, embellimed with the most mas-nificent decorations of poetry.
During Hur days whicli Augustus passed at Atella, tore res h himself stom fatigue in his return to Rome, after the batile of Actium, the Georgics, just then finished, were read to hi in by the author, who was occasionalty relievedin the task by his friend Mectenas. We may ea sily conceive the satisfaction ei oyed by the em peror, to find that while he himself had been gathering laureis in the at-
pared by the Muses to adoria his temples ; and that an intimation was gi ven of his being afterwards celebrated in a work more congenial to the subjech of heroic reno .
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having the Julian family represented as lineal descendanis of the Trojan Eneas. In this celebrated poem, Virgillias happily uni ted the characteristic s of the Iliad and Odyssey, and blended them so judiciolisty together, thatthey mutuatly contribute to the generat effect of the whole. By the esteem and sympathy excited for the filial pietyand missortunes of AEneas at the catastrophe of Troy, the reader is strongly interested in his subsequent adventures ; and every obstacle to the establisiament of the Trojans in the promised land of Hesperia, produces fressi sensations os en creassed admiration and attachinent. Theepi des, characters, and incidenis, ait Concur to give beau ty or grande ur to the poena. The picture of Troyin flames can never be sussciently admired. The incomparabie portrait os Priam, in Homer, is admirably accommodated to a different siluation, with the addition of Anchises, in the AEneid. The prophetic rage of the Cumaean Sibyl displays in the stronges: colors the enthusiasin of the poet. For sentiment, paston, and interesting description, the epis de of Dido is a master-piece in poetry. But Virgil is not more conspicuous for strengili os description than proprietv of sentiment; and whereuer heta kes a hint frona tne Grecian bard, he prosecutes theidea with a judgment peculiar to himself. It may besufficient to mention one instance. In the si Xth book of the Iliad, while the Greelis a re mali ing great seu gliter amongs the Trojans, Hector, by the advice of Helenus, reti res into the citu, to des re that his mollier would offerus prayers to the Goddesse Pallas, and 'ow to her a nobie sacrifice, is 1he would drive Diomed frona the walis of Troy. Immediately before his return to the fretit oi batile, he has his last interview with Andromache, wnOm liemeets with his infant son AstyanaX, who is carriea by inurse. There occurs, upon this occasion, One Oi u C
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the boy in his arnis, and pours fortit a prayer, that hemay one day be superior in fame to his sether. In thesinae manner AEneas, having armcd himself for the deci sive combat with Turnus, addi esses his son Ascanius in a beauti fiat speech, whicli, while expressive of the strong- est paternat affection, contains, instead os a prayer, a nobie and emphatic admonition, sui table to a youth whohad ne arly attained the period os adult age. It is assollo S
Disce, tueri virtutem ex mr , .crumque laborem ;Fortunam ex aliis r nunc Ie mea Textera hello Defensum dubii, magna inter priarmia ducet. Tu facilo, mox cum matura adolevs; II GIIS, Sis memor: M IE animo repEIEnIcm eae la Ivortim,
Et inter AEneas, cis avunculus eariter or. AENEID. XII.
Virgil, though born to stiine by his own intrinsic pomers, certainly owed much of his excellence to the wondei fulmeriis of Homer. His susceptibist imagination, vivid and corree , was impregnated by the Odyssea , and warmedwith the fi re of the Iliad. Rivalling, or rather on semeoccasions surpassing his glorious predecesibi 'in the characters of Heroes and of Gods, he sustalias their dignitymith se uniform a lustre, that they stem indecd morethan mortal.
Whether the Iliad or the AEneid be the more persedicompossitiora, is a question whicli has osten been agitate J, but perhaps mill never be determined to generat satisfaction. In comparing the genius of the two poet8, hOwever, allowance ought to be made for the difference of circumstances in whicli they composed their respeecive works.