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CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE SIXTH BOOK OF THE AENEID.

As the reaſonable De La Bruyere obſerves, "Qui ne ſait étre un ERASME, doit penſer à étre un EVEQUE."

POPE'S WORKS, vol. IV. p. 321. with the Commentaries and Notes of Mr. WARBURTON.

LONDON: ORIGINALLY PRINTED 1770. REPRINTED 1794.

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..... a moſt clear, elegant, and deciſive Work of Criticiſm, which could not, indeed, derive Authority from the greateſt Name, but to which the Note: This Book is aſcribed, and I think with great Probability, to the very learned and ingenious Author, to whom the Public is indebted for the Hiſtory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Be the Writer who he will, the Reader will ſay with me, that the Work is, [...]. Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian, Page 192. greateſt Name might, with Propriety, have been affixed.

CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE DESIGN OF THE SIXTH Book of the AENEID.

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THE Allegorical Interpretation which the Biſhop of Gloceſter has given of the Sixth Book of the Aeneid, ſeems to have been very favourably received by the Public. Many writers, both at home and abroad, have mentioned it with approbation, or at leaſt with eſteem; and I have more than once heard it alledged, in the converſation of ſcholars, as an ingenious improvement on the plain and obvious ſenſe of Virgil. As ſuch, it is not undeſerving of the notice of a candid critic; nor can the enquiry be void of entertainment, whilſt Virgil is our conſtant theme. [2] Whatever may be the fortune of the chace, we are ſure it will lead us through pleaſant proſpects and a fine country.

That I may eſcape the imputation as well as the danger of miſrepreſenting his Lordſhip's Hypotheſis, I ſhall expoſe it in his own words. ‘The purpoſe of this Diſcourſe is to ſhew that Aeneas's adventure to the INFERNAL SHADES, is no other than a figurative deſcription of his INITIATION INTO THE MYSTERIES; and particularly a very exact one of the SPECTACLES of the ELEUSINIAN1.’ This general notion is ſupported with ſingular ingenuity, dreſſed up with an eaſy yet pompous diſplay of Learning, and delivered in a ſtyle much fitter for the Hierophant of Eleuſis, than for a Modern Critic, who is obſerving a remote object through the medium of a glimmering and doubtful light: ‘Ibant obſcuri, ſolâ ſub nocte, per umbram.’

His Lordſhip naturally enough purſues two different methods which unite, as he apprehends, in the ſame concluſion. From general principles peculiar to himſelf, he infers the propriety [3] and even neceſſity of ſuch a Deſcription of the Myſteries; and from a compariſon of particular circumſtances he labours to prove that Virgil has actually introduced it into the Aeneid. Each of theſe methods ſhall be conſidered ſeparately.

As the learned Prelate's Opinions branch themſelves out into luxuriant Syſtems, it is not eaſy to reſume them in a few words. I ſhall, however, attempt to give a ſhort idea of thoſe general principles, which occupy, I know not how, ſo great a ſhare of the Divine Legation of Moſes demonſtrated.

‘The whole Syſtem of Paganiſm, of which the Myſteries were an eſſential part, was inſtituted by the Antient Lawgivers for the ſupport and benefit of Society. The myſteries themſelves were a School of Morality and Religion, in which the vanity of Polytheiſm2, and the Unity of the Firſt Cauſe, were revealed to the Initiated. Virgil, who intended his immortal Poem for a Republic in action, as thoſe of Plato and [4] Tully were in precept, could not avoid diſplaying this firſt and nobleſt art of Government. His perfect Law-giver muſt be initiated, as the antient Founders of States had been before him; and as Auguſtus himſelf was many ages afterwards.’

What a crowd of natural reflections muſt occur to an unblaſſed mind! Was the civil magiſtrate the mover of the whole machine; the ſole contriver, or at leaſt the ſole ſupport of Religion? Were antient laws ALWAYS deſigned for the benefit of the people, and NEVER for the private intereſt of the Lawgiver? Could the firſt fathers of rude ſocieties inſtruct their newmade ſubjects in philoſophy as well as in agriculture? Did they all agree, in Britain as in Egypt, in Perſia as in Greece, to found theſe ſecret ſchools on the ſame common principle; which ſubſiſted near eighteen hundred years at Eleuſis 3 in its primaeval purity? Can theſe things be? Yes, replies the learned prelate; they are: ‘Egypt was the myſterious mother of Religion and Policy; and the arts of Egypt were diffuſed with her colonies over the antient World. Inachus carried the Myſteries [5] into Greece, Zoroaſter into Perſia4 &c. &c.’—I retire from ſo wide a field, in which it would be eaſy for me to loſe both myſelf and my adverſary. THE ANTIENT WORLD, EIGHTEEN CENTURIES, and FOUR HUNDRED AUTHORS GENUINE AND APOCRYPHAL5 [6] would, under tolerable management, furniſh ſome volumes of controverſy; and ſince I have peruſed the two thouſand and fourteen pages of the unfiniſhed Legation, I have leſs inclination than ever to ſpin out volumes of laborious trifles.

I ſhall, however, venture to point out a fact, not very agreeable to the favourite notion, that Paganiſm was entirely the Religion of the magiſtrate. The Oracles were not leſs antient, nor leſs venerable than the Myſteries. Every difficulty, religious or civil, was ſubmitted to the deciſion of thoſe infallible tribunals. During ſeveral ages no war could be undertaken, no colony founded, without the ſanction of the Delphic Oracle; the firſt and moſt celebrated amongſt ſeveral hundred others6. Here then we might expect to perceive the directing hand of the magiſtrate. Yet when we ſtudy their hiſtory with attention, inſtead of the Alliance between Church and State, we can only diſcover the antient Alliance between the [7] Avarice of the Prieſt and the Credulity of the People.

For my own part, I am very apt to conſider the Myſteries in the ſame light as the Oracles. An intimate connection ſubſiſted between them7: Both were preceded and accompanied with faſts, ſacrifices, and luſtrations; with myſtic ſights and preternatural ſounds: But the moſt eſſential preparation for the ASPIRANT, was a general confeſſion of his paſt life, which was exacted of him by the Prieſt. In return for this implicit confidence, the Hierophant conferred on the Initiated a ſacred character; and promiſed them a peculiar place of happineſs in the Elyſian fields, whilſt the ſouls of the Profane (however virtuous they had been) were wallowing in the mire8. Nor did the Prieſts of the Myſteries neglect to recommend to the brethren a ſpirit of friendſhip, and the love of virtue; ſo pleaſing even to the moſt corrupt minds, and ſo requiſite to render any ſociety reſpectable in its own eyes. Of all [8] theſe religious ſocieties, that of Eleuſis was the moſt illuſtrious. From being peculiar to the inhabitants of Attica, it became at laſt common to the whole Pagan world. Indeed, I ſhould ſuſpect that it was much indebted to the genius of the Athenian writers, who beſtowed fame and dignity on whatever had the leaſt connection with their country; nor am I ſurpriſed that Cicero and Atticus, who were both initiated, ſhould expreſs themſelves with enthuſiaſm, when they ſpeak of the ſacred rites of their beloved Athens.

But our curioſity is yet unſatisfied; we would preſs forwards into the ſanctuary; and are eager to learn, WHAT was the SECRET which was revealed to the Initiated, and to them alone. Many of the Profane, poſſeſſed of leiſure and ingenuity, haved tried to gueſs, what has been ſo religiouſly concealed. The SECRET of each is curious and philoſophical; for as ſoon as we attempt this Enquiry, the honour of the Myſteries becomes our own9. I too could frame an hypotheſis, [9] as plauſible perhaps, and as uncertain as any of theirs, did I not feel myſelf checked by the apprehenſion of diſcovering what never exiſted10. I admire the diſcretion of the Initiated; but the beſt ſecurity for diſcretion is, the vanity of concealing that we have nothing to reveal.

The examples of great men, when they cannot ſerve as models, may ſerve as warnings to us. I ſhould be very ſorry to have diſcovered, that an ATHEISTICAL HISTORY1 was uſed in [10] the celebration of the Myſteries, to prove the Unity of the Firſt Cauſe, and that an ANTIENT HYMN2 was ſung, for the edification of the devout Athenians, which was moſt probably A MODERN FORGERY of ſome Jewiſh or Chriſtian Impoſtor. Had I delivered THESE TWO DISCOVERIES, with an air of Confidence and Triumph, I ſhould be ſtill more mortified.

After all, as I am not apt to give the name of Demonſtration to what is mere conjecture, his Lordſhip may take advantage of my Scepticiſm, and ſtill affirm, that his favourite Myſteries were Schools of Theiſm, inſtituted by the Lawgiver. Yet unleſs Aeneas is the Lawgiver of Virgil's Republic, he has no more buſineſs with the Myſteries of Athens, than with the laws of Sparta. We will, therefore, reflect a moment on the true nature and plan of the Aeneid.

An Epic Fable muſt be important as well as intereſting: Great actions, great virtues, and [11] great diſtreſſes, are the peculiar province of Heroic Poetry. This rule ſeems to have been dictated by nature and experience, and is very different from thoſe chains in which Genius has been bound by artificial Criticiſm. The importance I ſpeak of, is not indeed always dependant on the rank or names of the Perſonages. Columbus, exploring a new world with three ſloops and ninety ſailors, is a Hero worthy of the Epic Muſe; yet our imagination would be much more ſtrongly affected by the image of a virtuous Prince ſaved from the ruins of his country, and conducting his faithful followers through unknown ſeas and through hoſtile lands. Such is the Hero of the Aeneid. But his peculiar ſituation ſuggeſted other beauties to the Poet, who had an opportunity of adorning his ſubject with whatever was moſt pleaſing in Grecian fable, or moſt illuſtrious in Roman hiſtory. Aeneas had fought under the walls of Ilium; and conducted to the Banks of the Tyber a Colony from which Rome claimed her origin.

The character of the Hero is expreſſed by one of his friends in a few words; and, tho' drawn by a friend, does not ſeem to be flattered:

Rex erat Aeneas nobis; quo juſtior alter,
Nec pietate fecit, nec bello major & armis3.

[12] Theſe three virtues, of JUSTICE, of PIETY, and of VALOR, are finely ſupported throughout the Poem4.

1. I ſhall here mention one inſtance of the Hero's juſtice, which has been leſs noticed than its ſingularity ſeems to deſerve.

After Evander had entertained his Gueſts, with a ſublime ſimplicity, he lamented, that his age and want of power made him a very uſeleſs Ally. However, he points out auxiliaries and a cauſe worthy of a Hero. The Etruſcans, tired out with the repeated tyrannies of Mezentius, had driven that monarch from his throne, and reduced him to implore the protection of Turnus. Unſatisfied with freedom, the Etruſcans called loudly for revenge; and, in the Poet's opinion, revenge was juſtice.

Ergo omnis furiis ſurrexit Etruria juſtis:
Regem ad ſupplicum praeſenti Marte repoſcunt5.

Aeneas, with the approbation of Gods and men, accepts the command of theſe brave rebels, and [13] puniſhes the Tyrant with the death he ſo well deſerved. The conduct of Aeneas and the Etruſcans may, in point of juſtice, ſeem doubtful to many; the ſentiments of the Poet cannot appear equivocal to any one. Milton himſelf, I mean the Milton of the Commonwealth, could not have aſſerted with more energy the daring pretenſions of the people, to puniſh as well as to reſiſt a Tyrant. Such opinions, publiſhed by a writer, whom we are taught to conſider as the creature of Auguſtus, have a right to ſurprize us; yet they are ſtrongly expreſſive of the temper of the times; the Republic was ſubverted, but the minds of the Romans were ſtill Republican.

2. Aeneas's piety has been more generally confeſſed than admired. St. Evremond laughs at it, as unſuitable to his own temper. The Biſhop of Glouceſter defends it, as agreeable to his own Syſtem of the Lawgiver's Religion. The French wit was too ſuperficial, the Engliſh ſcholar too profound, to attend to the plain narration of the Poet, and the peculiar circumſtances of antient Heroes. WE believe from faith and reaſon: THEY believed from the report of their ſenſes. Aeneas had ſeen the Grecian Divinities overturning the foundations of fated Troy. He was perſonally acquainted with his mother Venus, and with his perſecutor Juno. Mercury, who commanded him to leave Carthage, [14] was as preſent to his eyes as Dido, who ſtrove to detain him. Such a knowledge of Religion, founded on ſenſe and experience, muſt inſinuate itſelf into every inſtant of our lives, and determine every action. All this is, indeed, fiction; but it is fiction in which we chuſe to acquieſce, and which we juſtly conſider as the charm of Poetry. If we allow, that Aeneas lived in an intimate commerce with ſuperior Beings, we muſt likewiſe allow, his love or his fear, his confidence or his gratitude, towards thoſe Beings, to diſplay themſelves on every proper occaſion. Far from thinking Aeneas too pious, I am ſometimes ſurprized at his want of faith. Forgetful of the Fates, which had ſo often and ſo clearly pointed out the deſtined ſhores of Latium, he deliberates, whether he ſhall not ſit down quietly in the fields of Sicily. An apparition of his father is neceſſary to divert him from this impious and ungenerous deſign.

3. A Hero's valor will not bear the rude breath of ſuſpicion; yet has the courage of Aeneas ſuffered from an unguarded expreſſion of the Poet:

Extemplo Aeneae ſolvuntur frigore membra
Ingemit6.

On every other occaſion, the Trojan chief is [15] daring without raſhneſs, and prudent without timidity. In that dreadful night, when Troy was delivered up to her hoſtile Gods, he performed every duty of a Soldier, a Patriot, and a Son.

Moriamur & in media arma ruamus.
Una ſalus victis, nullam ſperare ſalutem7.

Iliaci cineres, & flamma extrema meorum,
Teſtor, in occaſu veſtro, nec tela, nec ullas
Vitaviſſe vices Danaûm; &, ſi fata fuiſſent
Ut caderem, meruiſſe manu8.

To quote other proofs of the ſame nature, would be to copy the ſix laſt books of the Aeneid. I cannot, however, forbear mentioning the calm and ſuperior intrepidity of the Hero, when, after the perfidy of the Rutuli, and his wound, he ruſhed again to the field, and reſtored Victory by his preſence alone.

Ipſe neque averſos dignatur ſternere morti;
Nec pede congreſſos aequo, nec tela ferentes
Inſequitur: ſolum denſa in caligine Turnum
Veſtigat luſtrans, ſolum in certamina poſcit9.

At length, indignant that his victim has eſcaped him, his contempt gives way to fury:

Jam tandem invadit medios, & Marte ſecundo
Terribilis, ſaevam nullo diſcrimine caedem
Suſcitat, irarumque omnes effundit habenas10.

[16] The Heroic character of Aeneas has been underſtood and admired by every attentive reader. But to diſcover the LAWGIVER in Aeneas, and A SYSTEM OF POLITICS in the Aeneid, required the CRITICAL TELESCOPE 1 of the great W [...]n. The naked eye of common ſenſe cannot reach ſo far. I revolve in my memory the harmonious ſenſe of Virgil: Virgil ſeems as ignorant as myſelf of his political character. I return to the leſs pleaſing pages of the Legation: So far from condeſcending to proofs, the Author of the Legation is even ſparing of conjectures.

‘Many political inſtructions may be drawn from the Aeneid.’ And from what book which treats of MAN, and the adventures of human life, may they not be drawn? His Lordſhip's Chymiſtry (did his Hypotheſis require [17] it) would extract a SYSTEM OF POLICY from the ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS.

‘A Syſtem of Policy delivered in the example of a great prince, muſt ſhew him in every public occurrence of life. Hence, Aeneas was of neceſſity to be found voyaging, with Ulyſſes, and fighting, with Achilles2.’

There is another public occurrence, at leaſt as much in the character of a LAWGIVER, as either voyaging or fighting; I mean, GIVING LAWS. Except in a ſingle line3, Aeneas never appears in that occupation. In Sicily, he compliments Aceſtes with the honour of giving laws to the colony, which he himſelf had founded.

Interea Aeneas urbem deſignat aratro,
Sortiturque domos: hoc, Ilium, & haec loca, Trojae
Eſſe jubet; gaudet regno Trojanus Aceſtes,
Indicitque forum, & patribus dat jura vocatis4.

In the ſolemn treaty, which is to fix the fate of his poſterity, he diſclaims any deſign of innovating the laws of Latium. On the contrary, he only demands a hoſpitable ſeat for his Gods and his Trojans; and profeſſes to leave the whole authority to king Latinus.

Non ego, nec Teucris Italos parere jubebo,
Nec mihi regna peto: paribus ſe legibus ambae
[18]Invictae gentes aeterna in foedera mittant.
Sacra Deoſque dabo: ſocer arma Latinus habeto,
Imperium ſolemne ſocer: mihi moenia Teucri
Conſtituent, urbique dabit Lavinia nomen5.

‘But after all, is not the fable of the Aeneid the eſtabliſhment of an empire?’ Yes, in one ſenſe, I grant it is. Aeneas had many external difficulties to ſtruggle with. When the Latins were defeated, Turnus ſlain, and Juno appeaſed, theſe difficulties were removed. The Hero's labor was over, the Lawgiver's commenced from that moment; and, as if Virgil had a deſign againſt the Biſhop's Syſtem, at that very moment the Aeneid ends. Virgil, who corrected with judgment, and felt with enthuſiaſm, thought perhaps, that the ſober arts of peace could never intereſt a reader, whoſe mind had been ſo long agitated with ſcenes of diſtreſs and ſlaughter. He might perhaps ſay, like the Sylla of Monteſquieu, ‘J'aime à remporter des victoires, à fonder ou détruire des états, à faire des ligues, à punir un uſurpateur; mais, pour ces minces détails de governement, où les Génies médiocres ont tant d'avantages, cette lente exécution des loix, cette diſcipline d'une milice tranquille, mon ame ne ſçauroit s'en occuper6.’

[19] Had Virgil deſigned to compoſe a POLITICAL INSTITUTE, the Example of Fenelon, his elegant Imitator, may give us ſome notion of the manner in which he would have proceeded. The preceptor of the Duke of Burgundy profeſſedly deſigned to educate a prince for the happineſs of the people. Every incident in his pleaſing Romance is ſubſervient to that great end. The Goddeſs of Wiſdom, in a human ſhape, conducts her pupil thro' a varied ſeries of inſtructive adventures; and every adventure is a leſſon or a warning for Telemachus. The pride of Seſoſtris, the tyranny of Pygmalion, the perfidy of Adraſtus, and the imprudence of Idomeneus, are diſplayed in their true light. The innocence of the inhabitants of Boetica, the commerce of Tyre, and the wiſe laws of Crete and Salentum, inſtructed the prince of the various means by which a people may be made happy. From the Telemachus of Fenelon, I could paſs with pleaſure to the Cyropoedia of Xenophon. But I ſhould be led too far from my ſubject, were I to attempt to lay open the true nature and deſign of that philoſophical hiſtory. We muſt return from Fenelon and Xenophon to the Biſhop of Gloceſter.

His Lordſhip props the legiſlative character of Aeneas with an additional ſupport: ‘Auguſtus, who was ſhadowed in the perſon of Aeneas, was initiated into the Eleuſinian Myſteries7. [20] Ergo, &c. This doctrine of types and ſhadows, though true in general, has on this, as well as on graver occaſions, produced a great abuſe of reaſon, or at leaſt of reaſoning. To confine myſelf to Virgil, I ſhall only ſay, that he was too judicious to compliment the Emperor, at the expence of good ſenſe and probability. Every age has its manners; and the poet muſt ſuit his Hero to the Age, and not the Age to his Hero. It is eaſy to give inſtances of this truth. Marc Antony, when defeated and beſieged in Alexandria, challenged his competitor to decide their quarrel by a ſingle combat. This was rejected by Auguſtus with contempt and deriſion, as the laſt effort of a deſperate man8; and the world applauded the prudence of Auguſtus, who preferred the part of a General to that of a Gladiator. The temper and good ſenſe of Virgil muſt have made him view things in the ſame light; yet, when Virgil introduces Aeneas in ſimilar circumſtances, he gives him a quite different conduct. The Hero wiſhes to ſpare the innocent people, provokes Turnus to a ſingle combat, and, even after the perfidy and laſt defeat of the Rutuli, is ſtill ready to riſk his perſon and victory, againſt the unhappy life and deſperate fortunes of his Rival. The laws of Honor are different in different Ages; and a behaviour [21] which in Auguſtus was decent, would have covered Aeneas with infamy.

We may apply this obſervation to the very caſe of the Eleuſinian Myſteries. Auguſtus was initiated into them, at a time when Eleuſis was become the COMMON TEMPLE OF THE UNIVERSE. The Trojan Hero could not with the ſmalleſt propriety ſet him that example; as the Trojan Hero lived in an age when thoſe rites were confined to the natives of Greece, and even of Attica9.

I have now wandered through the ſcientific maze in which the Biſhop of Glouceſter has concealed his firſt and general argument. It appears (when reſumed) to amount to this irrefragable demonſtration, ‘THAT IF THE MYSTERIES WERE INSTITUTED BY LEGISLATORS (which they probably were not) AENEAS (who was no Legiſlator) MUST OF COURSE BE INITIATED INTO THEM BY THE POET.’

And here I ſhall mention a collateral reaſon aſſigned by his Lordſhip, which might engage Virgil to introduce a deſcription of the Myſteries: the PRACTICE OF OTHER POETS. This proof is ſo exceedingly brittle, that I fear to handle it; and ſhall report it faithfully in the words of our ingenious Critic10.

[22] ‘Had the old Poem under the name of Orpheus been now extant, it would perhaps have ſhewn us, that no more was meant than Orpheus's Initiation; and that the hint of this Sixth Book was taken from thence.’

As nothing now remains of that old Poem, except the title, it is not altogether ſo eaſy to gueſs what it would or would not have ſhewn us.

‘But farther, it was cuſtomary for the poets of the Auguſtan age to exerciſe themſelves on the ſubject of the Myſteries, as appears from Cicero, who deſires Atticus, then at Athens, and initiated, to ſend to Chilius, a poet of eminence, an account of the Eleuſinian Myſteries; in order, as it would ſeem, to inſert them into ſome poem he was then writing.’

The Eleuſinian Myſteries are not mentioned in the original Paſſage. Cicero uſing the obſcure brevity of familiar Letters, deſires that Atticus would ſend their friend Chilius, ΕΥΜΟΛΠΙΔΩΝ ΠΑΤΡΙΑ1, which may ſignify twenty different things, relative either to the worſhip of Ceres in particular, or to the Athenian Inſtitutions in general; but which can hardly be applied to the Eleuſinian Myſteries2.

[23] ‘Thus it appears that both the antient and modern poets afforded Virgil a pattern for this famous epiſode.’

How does this appear? From an old Poem, of whoſe contents the Critic is totally ignorant, and from an obſcure paſſage, the meaning of which he has moſt probably miſtaken.

Inſtead of conjecturing what Virgil might or ought to do, it would ſeem far more natural to examine what he has done. The Biſhop of Glouceſter attempts to prove, that the Deſcent to Hell is properly an Initiation; ſince the Sixth Book of the Aeneid really contains the ſecret Doctrine as well as the Ceremonies of the Eleuſinian Myſteries.

What was this SECRET DOCTRINE? As I profeſs my ignorance, we muſt conſult the Oracle. ‘The ſecret Doctrine of the Myſteries revealed to the Initiated, that JUPITER ... AND THE WHOLE RABBLE OF LICENTIOUS DEITIES, [24] WERE ONLY DEAD MORTALS3.’ Is any thing like this laid open in the Sixth Book of Virgil? Not the remoteſt hint of it can be diſcovered throughout the whole Book; and thus, to uſe his Lordſhip's own words, SOMETHING (I had almoſt written EVERY THING) is ſtill wanting "to complete the IDENTIFICATION4.

Notwithſtanding this diſappointment, which is cautiouſly concealed from the reader, the learned Biſhop ſtill courſes round the Elyſian Fields in queſt of a Secret. Once he is ſo lucky as to find Aeneas talking with the Poet Muſaeus, whom tradition has reckoned among the founders of the Eleuſinian Myſteries. The Critic liſtens to their converſation; but, alas! Aeneas is only enquiring, in what part of the garden he may find his Father's ſhade; to which Muſaeus returns a very polite anſwer. Anchiſes himſelf is our laſt hope. As that venerable ſhade explains to his ſon ſome myſterious doctrines, concerning the Univerſal Mind and the Tranſmigration of Souls, his Lordſhip is pleaſed to aſſure us, that theſe are THE HIDDEN DOCTRINES OF PERFECTION revealed only to the Initiated. Let us for a moment lay aſide Hypotheſis, and read Virgil.

It is obſervable, that the three great Poets of Rome were all addicted to the Epicurean philoſophy; a Syſtem, however, the leaſt ſuited to a Poet; ſince it baniſhes all the genial and active [25] Powers of Nature, to ſubſtitute in their room a dreary void, blind atoms, and indolent Gods. A Deſcription of the Infernal Shades was incompatible with the ideas of a Philoſopher, whoſe diſciples boaſted, that he had reſcued the captive World from the Tyranny of Religion, and the Fear of a Future State. Theſe ideas, Virgil was obliged to reject: But he does ſtill more; he abandons not only the CHANCE of Epicurus, but even theſe Gods, whom he ſo nobly employs in the reſt of his Poem, that he may offer to the Reader's imagination a far more ſpecious and ſplendid ſett of Ideas.

Principio coelum, ac terras, campoſque liquentes,
Lucentemque globum Lunae, Titaniaque aſtra
Spiritus intus alit, totamque infuſa per artus
Mens agitat molem, & magno ſe corpore miſcet5.

The more we examine theſe lines, the more we ſhall feel the ſublime Poetry of them. But they have likewiſe an air of Philoſophy and even of Religion, which goes off on a nearer approach. The mind which is INFUSED6 into the ſeveral parts of Matter, and which MINGLES ITSELF with the mighty maſs, ſcarce retains any Property of a Spiritual Subſtance; and bears too near an [26] affinity to the Principles, which the impious Spinoza revived rather than invented.

I am not inſenſible, that we ſhould be ſlow to ſuſpect, and ſtill ſlower to condemn. The poverty of human language, and the obſcurity of human ideas, makes it difficult to ſpeak worthily of THE GREAT FIRST CAUSE. Our moſt religious Poets, in ſtriving to expreſs the preſence and energy of the Deity, in every part of the Univerſe, deviate unwarily into images, which are ſcarcely diſtinguiſhed from Materialiſm. Thus our Ethic Poet:

All are but parts of one ſtupendous Whole,
Whoſe body Nature is, and God the ſoul7;

and ſeveral paſſages of Thomſon require a like favourable conſtruction. But theſe writers deſerve that favour, by the ſublime manner in which they celebrate the great Father of the Univerſe, and by thoſe effuſions of love and gratitude, which are inconſiſtent with the Materialiſt's Syſtem. Virgil has no ſuch claim to our indulgence. THE MIND of the UNIVERSE is rather a Metaphyſical than a Theological Being. His intellectual qualities are faintly diſtinguiſhed from the Powers of Matter, and his moral Attributes, the ſource of all religious worſhip, form no part of Virgil's creed.

[27] Yet is this creed approved8 by our Orthodox Prelate, as free from any mixture of Spinoziſm. I congratulate his Lordſhip, on his indulgent and moderate temper. His Brethren (I mean thoſe of former times) had much ſharper eyes for ſpying out a latent Hereſy. Yet I cannot eaſily perſuade myſelf, that Virgil's notions were ever the creed of a religious Society, like that of the Myſteries. Luckily, indeed, I have no occaſion to perſuade myſelf of it; unleſs I ſhould prefer his Lordſhip's mere authority to the voice of Antiquity, which aſſures me, that this Syſtem was either invented or imported into Greece by Pythagoras; from the writings of whoſe diſciples Virgil might ſo very naturally borrow it.

Anchiſes then proceeds to inform his ſon, that the ſouls both of men and of animals were of celeſtial origin, and (as I underſtand him) parts of the Univerſal Mind; but that by their union with earthly bodies they contracted ſuch impurities as even Death could not purge away. Many expiations, continues the venerable ſhade, are requiſite, before the ſoul, reſtored to its original Simplicity, is capable of a place in Elyſium. The far greater part are obliged to reviſit the upper world, in other characters and in other bodies; and thus by gradual ſteps to reaſcend towards their firſt perfection.

[28] This moral Tranſmigration was undoubtedly taught in the Myſteries. As the Biſhop aſſerts this from the beſt authority, we are ſurprized at a ſort of diffidence, unuſual to his Lordſhip, when he advances things from his own intuitive knowledge. In one place, this Tranſmigration is part of the hidden Doctrine of Perfection9; in another, it is one of thoſe principles, which were promiſcuouſly communicated to all10. The truth ſeems to be, that his Lordſhip was afraid to rank among the ſecrets of the Myſteries, what was profeſſed and believed by ſo many Nations and Philoſophers. The pre-exiſtence of the human ſoul is a very natural idea; and from that idea ſpeculations and fables of its ſucceſſive revolution through various bodies will ariſe. From Japan to Egypt, the Tranſmigration has been part of the popular and religious creed1. Pythagoras2 and Plato3 have endeavoured to demonſtrate the truth of it, by facts, as well as by arguments.

Of all theſe viſions (which ſhould have been confined to the Poets) none is more pleaſing and ſublime, than that which Virgil has invented. Aeneas ſees before him his poſterity, the Heroes of antient Rome; a long ſeries of airy forms [29] ‘Demanding life, impatient for the ſkies,’ and prepared to aſſume, with their new bodies, the little paſſions and tranſient glories of their deſtined lives.

Having 4 thus revealed the ſecret Doctrine of the Myſteries, the learned Prelate examines the Ceremonies. With the aſſiſtance of Meurſius5, he pours out a torrent of Erudition to convince us, that the ſcenes thro' which Aeneas paſſed in his deſcent to the Shades, were the ſame as were repreſented to the Aſpirants in the Celebration of the Eleuſinian Myſteries. From thence, his Lordſhip draws his great concluſion, That the Deſcent is no more than an emblem of the Hero's Initiation.

A ſtaunch Polemic will feed a diſpute, by dwelling on every acceſſary circumſtance, whilſt a candid Critic will confine himſelf to the more eſſential points of it. I ſhall, therefore, readily allow, what I believe may in general be true, that the Myſteries exhibited a theatrical repreſentation of all that was believed or imagined of the lower world; that the Aſpirant was conducted through the mimic ſcenes of Erebus, Tartarus, and Elyſium; and that a warm Enthuſiaſt, in deſcribing theſe awful Spectacles, might expreſs himſelf as if he had actually viſited the [30] infernal Regions6. All this I can allow, and yet allow nothing to the Biſhop of Glouceſter's Hypotheſis. It is not ſurpriſing that the COPY was like the ORIGINAL; but it ſtill remains undetermined, WHETHER VIRGIL INTENDED TO DESCRIBE THE ORIGINAL OR THE COPY.

Lear and Garrick, when on the ſtage, are the ſame; nor is it poſſible to diſtinguiſh the Player from the Monarch. In the Green-room, or after the repreſentation, we eaſily perceive, what the warmth of fancy and the juſtneſs of imitation had concealed from us. In the ſame manner it is from extrinſical circumſtances, that we may expect the diſcovery of Virgil's Allegory. Every one of thoſe circumſtances perſuades me, that Virgil deſcribed a real, not a mimic world, and that the Scene lay in the Infernal Shades, and not in the Temple of Ceres.

The ſingularity of the Cumoean Shores muſt be preſent to every traveller who has once ſeen them. To a ſuperſtitious mind, the thin cruſt, vaſt cavities, ſulphureous ſteams, poiſonous exhalations, and fiery torrents, may ſeem to trace out the narrow Confine of the two Worlds. The lake Avernus was the chief object of religious horror; the black Woods which ſurrounded it, when Virgil firſt came to Naples, were perfectly ſuited to feed the ſuperſtition of the People7. It was generally believed, that this [31] deadly flood was the entrance of Hell8; and an Oracle was once eſtabliſhed on its banks, which pretended, by magic rites, to call up the departed Spirits9. Aeneas, who revolved a more daring enterpriſe, addreſſes himſelf to the Prieſteſs of thoſe dark Regions. Their converſation may perhaps inform us, whether an Initiation, or a deſcent to the Shades, was the object of this enterprize. She endeavours to deter the Hero, by ſetting before him all the dangers of his raſh undertaking:

Facilis deſcenſus Averni:
Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradum, ſuperaſque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor eſt10.

Theſe particulars are abſolutely irreconcileable with the idea of Initiation, but perfectly agreeable to that of a real deſcent. That every ſtep, and every inſtant, may lead us to the grave is a melancholy truth. The Myſteries were only open at ſtated times, a few days at moſt in the courſe of a year. The mimic deſcent of the Myſteries was laborious and dangerous, the return to light eaſy and certain. In real death, this order is inverted:

Pauci, quos aequus amavit
Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad aethera virtus,
Diis geniti, potuere1.

[32] Theſe Heroes, as we learn from the ſpeech of Aeneas, were Hercules, Orpheus, Caſtor and Pollux, Theſeus, and Pirithous. Of all theſe, Antiquity believed, that before their death they had ſeen the habitations of the dead; nor, indeed, will any of the circumſtances tally with a ſuppoſed Initiation. The adventure of Eurydice, the alternate life of the brothers, and the forcible intruſion of Alcides, Theſeus, and Pirithous, would mock the endeavours of the moſt ſubtle Critic, who ſhould try to melt them down into his favourite Myſteries. The exploits of Hercules, who triumphed over the King of Terrors,

Tartareum ille manu cuſtodem in vincla petivit,
Ipſius à ſolio regis traxitque trementem2,

was a wild imagination of the Greeks3. But it was the duty of antient Poets, to adopt and embelliſh theſe popular Traditions; and it is the intereſt of every man of taſte, to acquieſce in THEIR POETICAL FICTIONS.

After this, we may leave ingenious men to ſearch out what, or whether any thing, gave riſe to thoſe idle ſtories. Diodorus Siculus repreſents Pluto as a kind of undertaker, who made great improvements in the uſeful art of funerals4. Some have ſought for the Poetic Hell in the mines of Epirus5, and others in the Myſteries [33] of Egypt. As this laſt notion was publiſhed in French6, ſix years before it was invented in Engliſh7, the learned author of the D. L. has been ſeverely treated by ſome ungenerous Adverſaries8. Appearances, it muſt be confeſſed, wear a very ſuſpicious aſpect: But what are appearances, when weighed againſt his Lordſhip's declaration, ‘That this is a point of honor in which he is particularly delicate; and that he may venture to boaſt, that he believes no Author was ever more averſe to take to himſelf what belonged to another9?’ Beſides, he has enriched this myſterious diſcovery with many collateral arguments, which would for ever have eſcaped all inferior Critics. In the caſe of Hercules, for inſtance, he demonſtrates, that the Initiation and the deſcent to the Shades were the ſame thing, becauſe an Antient has [34] affirmed that they were different10; and that Alcides was initiated at Eleuſis, before he ſet out for Taenarus, in order to deſcend to the Infernal Regions.

There is, however, a ſingle circumſtance, in the narration of Virgil, which has juſtly ſurprized Critics, unacquainted with any, but the obvious ſenſe of the Poet; I mean the IVORY GATE. The Biſhop of Gloceſter ſeizes this, as the ſecret mark of Allegory, and becomes eloquent in the exultation of Triumph1. I could, however, repreſent to him, that in a work which was deprived of the Author's laſt reviſion, Virgil might too haſtily employ what Homer had invented, and at laſt unwarily ſlide into an Epicurean idea2. Let this be as it may, an obſcure expreſſion is a weak baſis for an elaborate Syſtem; and whatever his Lordſhip may chuſe to do, I had much rather reproach my favourite Poet with want of care in one line, than with want of taſte throughout a whole Book3.

[35] Virgil has borrowed, as uſual, from Homer, his Epiſode of the Infernal Shades, and, as uſual, has infinitely improved what the Grecian had invented. If, among a profuſion of beauties, I durſt venture to point out the moſt ſtriking beauties of the Sixth Book, I ſhould perhaps obſerve, 1. That after accompanying the Hero through the ſilent realms of Night and Chaos, we ſee with aſtoniſhment and pleaſure a new Creation burſting upon us; 2. That we examine, with a delight which ſprings from the love of Virtue, the juſt empire of Minos; in which the apparent irregularities of the preſent Syſtem are corrected; where the Patriot who died for his Country is happy, and the Tyrant who oppreſſed it is miſerable. 3. As we intereſt ourſelves in the Hero's fortunes, we ſhare his feelings: The melancholy Palinurus, the wretched Deiphobus, the indignant Dido; the Grecian Kings, who tremble at his preſence, and the venerable Anchiſes, who embraces his pious ſon, and diſplays to his ſight the future glories of his race; all theſe objects affects us with a variety of pleaſing ſenſations.

Let us for a moment obey the mandate of our great Critic, and conſider theſe awful ſcenes as a mimic ſhew, exhibited in the Temple of Ceres, by the contrivance of the Prieſt, or, if he pleaſes, of the Legiſlator. Whatever was animated (I appeal to every reader of taſte), whatever [36] ever was terrible, or whatever was pathetic, evaporates into lifeleſs Allegory:

tenuem ſine viribus umbram.
Dat inania verba,
Dat ſine mente ſonum, greſſuſque effingit euntis.

The end of Philoſophy is Truth; the end of Poetry is Pleaſure. I willingly adopt any interpretation which adds new beauties to the Original; I aſſiſt in perſuading myſelf, that it is juſt; and could almoſt ſhew the ſame indulgence to the Critic's as to the Poet's fiction. But ſhould a grave Doctor lay out fourſcore pages, in explaining away the ſenſe and ſpirit of Virgil, I ſhould have every inducement to believe, that Virgil's ſoul was very different from the Doctor's.

I have almoſt exhauſted my own, and probably my reader's patience, whilſt I have obſequiouſly waited on his Lordſhip, through the ſeveral ſtages of an intricate Hypotheſis. He muſt now permit me to alledge two very ſimple reaſons, which perſuade me, that Virgil has not revealed the Secret of the Eleuſinian Myſteries; the firſt is HIS IGNORANCE, and the ſecond HIS DISCRETION.

I. As his Lordſhip has not made the ſmalleſt attempt to prove that Virgil was himſelf initiated, [37] it is plain that he ſuppoſed it, as a thing of courſe. Had he any right to ſuppoſe it? By no means: That ceremony might naturally enough finiſh the education of a young Athenian; but a Barbarian, a Roman, would moſt probably paſs through life without directing his devotion to the foreign rites of Eleuſis.

The Philoſophical ſentiments of Virgil were ſtill more unlikely to inſpire him with that kind of devotion. It is well known that he was a determined Epicurean4; and a very natural Antipathy ſubſiſted between the Epicureans and the Managers of the Myſteries. The Celebration opened with a ſolemn excommunication of thoſe Atheiſtical Philoſophers, who were commanded to retire, and to leave that holy place for pious Believers5; the zeal of the people was ready to enforce this admonition. I will not deny, that curioſity might ſometimes tempt an Epicurean to pry into theſe ſecret rites; and that gratitude, fear, or other motives, might engage the Athenians to admit ſo irreligious an Aſpirant. Atticus was initiated at Eleuſis; but Atticus was the Friend and Benefactor of Athens6. Theſe extraordinary exceptions may be proved, but muſt not be ſuppoſed.

[38] Nay, more; I am ſtrongly inclined to think that Virgil was never out of Italy till the laſt year of his life. I am ſenſible, that it is not eaſy to prove a negative propoſition, more eſpecially when the materials of our knowledge are ſo very few and ſo very defective7; and yet by glancing our eye over the ſeveral periods of Virgil's life, we may perhaps attain a ſort of probability, which ought to have ſome weight, ſince nothing can be thrown into the oppoſite ſcale.

Altho' Virgil's father was hardly of a lower rank than Horace's, yet the peculiar character of the latter afforded his fon a much ſuperior education: Virgil did not enjoy the ſame opportunities, of obſerving mankind on the great Theatre of Rome, or of purſuing Philoſophy, in her favourite ſhades of the Academy.

Adjecêre bonae paulò plus artis Athenae:
Scilicet ut poſſem curvo dignoſcere rectum,
Atque inter ſilvas Academi quaerere verum8.

[39] The ſphere of Virgil's education did not extend beyond Mantua, Cremona, Milan and Naples9.

After the accidents of civil war had introduced Virgil to the knowledge of the Great, he paſſed a few years at Rome, in a ſtate of dependance, the JUVENUM NOBILIUM CLIENS10. It was during that time that he compoſed his Eclogues, the haſty productions of a Muſe capable of far greater things1.

By the liberality of Auguſtus and his courtiers, Virgil ſoon became poſſeſſed of an affluent fortune2. He compoſed the Georgics and the Aeneid, in his elegant Villas of Campania and Sicily; and ſeldom quitted thoſe pleaſing retreats even to come to Rome3.

After he had finiſhed the Aeneid, he reſolved on a journey into Greece and Aſia, to employ three years in reviſing and perfecting that Poem, and to devote the remainder of his life to the ſtudy of Philoſophy4. He was at Athens, with Auguſtus, in the ſummer of AVC 735; and whilſt Auguſtus was at Athens, the Eleuſinian Myſteries were celebrated5. It is not [40] impoſſible, that Virgil might then be initiated, as well as the Indian Philoſopher6; but the Aeneid could receive no improvement from his newly-acquired knowledge. He was taken ill at Megara. The journey encreaſed his diſorder, and he expired at Brunduſium, the twenty-ſecond of September of the ſame year 7357.

Should it then appear probable, that Virgil had no opportunity of learning the SECRET of the Myſteries, it will be ſomething more than probable, that he has not revealed what he never knew.

His Lordſhip will perhaps tell me, that Virgil might be initiated into the Eleuſinian Myſteries, without making a Journey to Athens: ſince thoſe Myſteries had been brought to Rome long before8. Here indeed I ſhould be apt to ſuſpect ſome miſtake, or, at leaſt, a want of preciſion in his Lordſhip's Ideas; as Salmaſius9 and Caſaubon10, men tolerably verſed in Antiquity, aſſure me, that indeed ſome Grecian Ceremonies of Ceres had been practiſed at Rome [41] from the earlieſt Ages; but that the Myſteries of Eleuſis were never introduced into that Capital, either by the Emperor Hadrian, or by any other: And I am the more induced to believe, that theſe rites were not imported in Virgil's time, as the accurate Suetonius ſpeaks of an unſucceſsful attempt for that purpoſe, made by the Emperor Claudius, above threeſcore years after Virgil's death1.

II. None but the Initiated COULD reveal the ſecret of the Myſteries; and THE INITIATED COULD NOT REVEAL IT, WITHOUT VIOLATING THE LAWS, AS WELL OF HONORAS OF RELIGION. I ſincerely acquit the Biſhop of Gloceſter of any deſign; yet ſo unfortunate is his Syſtem, that it repreſents a moſt virtuous and elegant Poet, as equally devoid of taſte, and of common honeſty.

His Lordſhip acknowledges, that the Initiated were bound to Secrecy by the moſt ſolemn obligations2; that Virgil was conſcious of the imputed impiety of his deſign; that at Athens he never durſt have ventured on it; that even at Rome ſuch a diſcovery was eſteemed not only IMPIOUS but INFAMOUS: and yet his Lordſhip maintains, that after the compliment of a formal Apology,

Sit mihi fas, audita loqui3.

[42] Virgil lays open the whole SECRET of the Myſteries under the thin Veil of an Allegory, which could deceive none but the moſt careleſs readers4.

An Apology! an Allegory! Such artifices might perhaps have ſaved him from the ſentence of the Areopagus, had ſome zealous or intereſted Prieſt denounced him to that court, as guilty of publiſhing A BLASPHEMOUS POEM. But the Laws of Honor are more rigid, and yet more liberal, than thoſe of Civil Tribunals. Senſe, not words, is conſidered; and Guilt is aggravated, not protected, by artful Evaſions. Virgil would ſtill have incurred the ſevere cenſure of a Contemporary, who was himſelf a man of very little Religion.

Vetabo, qui Cereris ſacrum
Vulgârit arcanae, ſub iiſdem
Sit trabibus, fragilemque mecum
Solvat phaſelum5.

Nor can I eaſily perſuade myſelf, that the ingenuous mind of Virgil could have deſerved this Excommunication.

Theſe lines belong to an Ode of Horace, which has every merit, except that of order. That Death in our Country's cauſe is pleaſant and honourable; that Virtue does not depend on the caprice of a popular Election; and that [43] the Myſteries of Ceres ought not to be diſcloſed, are ideas which have no apparent connection. The beautiful diſorder of Lyric Poetry, is the uſual Apology made by Profeſſed Critics on theſe occaſions:

Son ſtyle impetueux, ſouvent marche au hazard;
Chez elle, un beau deſordre eſt un effet de l' art6.

An inſufficient Apology for the few, who dare judge from their own feelings. I ſhall not deny, that the irregular notes of an untutored Muſe have ſometimes delighted me. We can very ſeldom be diſpleaſed with the unconſtrained workings of Nature. But the Liberty of an Outlaw is very different from that of a Savage. It is a mighty diſagreeable ſight, to obſerve a Lyric Writer of Taſte and Reflection ſtriving to forget the Laws of Compoſition, disjointing the order of his Ideas, and working himſelf up into artificial Madneſs, ‘Ut cum Ratione inſaniat.’ I had once ſucceeded (as I thought) in removing this defect, by the help of an Hypotheſis which connected the ſeveral parts of Horace's Ode with each other. My Ideas appeared (I mean to myſelf) moſt ingeniouſly conceived. I read the Ode once more, and burnt my Hypotheſis. But to return to our principal ſubject.

[44] The Date of this Ode may be of uſe to us; and the date may be fixed with tolerable certainty, from the mention of the PARTHIANS, who are deſcribed as the enemies againſt whom a brave youth ſhould ſignalize his valor.

Parthos feroces
Vexet eques metuendus haſtâ, &c.

Thoſe who are uſed to the LABOURED HAPPINESS of all Horace's expreſſions7 will readily allow, that if the Parthians are mentioned rather than the Britons or Cantabrians, the Gauls or the Dalmatians, it could be only at a time when a PARTHIAN WAR engaged the public attention. This reflection confines us between the years of Rome 729 and 735. Of theſe ſix years, that of 734 has a ſuperior claim to the Compoſition of the Ode.

Julius Caeſar was prevented by death from revenging the defeat of Craſſus8. This glorious taſk, unſucceſsfully attempted by Marc Antony9, ſeemed to be reſerved for the prudence [45] and felicity of Auguſtus; who became ſole maſter of the Roman World in the year 724; but it was not till the year 729, that, having changed the civil adminiſtration, and pacified the Weſtern provinces, he had leiſure to turn his Views towards the Eaſt. From that time, Horace, in compliance with the Public wiſh, began to animate both Prince and People to revenge the manes of Craſſus10. The cautious Policy of Auguſtus, ſtill averſe to war, was at length rouſed in the year 734, by ſome diſturbances in Armenia. He paſſed over into Aſia, and ſent the young Tiberius with an army beyond the Euphrates. Every appearance promiſed a glorious war. But the Parthian monarch, Phrahates, alarmed at the approach of the Roman Legions, and diffident of the fidelity of his ſubjects, diverted the ſtorm, by a timely and humble ſubmiſſion:

Jus, imperiumque Phraates
Caeſaris accepit gentibus minor1.

Caeſar returned in Triumph to Rome, with the Parthian Hoſtages, and the Roman enſigns, which had been taken from Craſſus.

[46] Theſe buſy ſcenes, which engage the attention of Contemporaries, are far leſs intereſting to poſterity, than the ſilent labours, or even amuſements of a man of Genius.

Caeſar dum magnus ad altum
Fulminat Euphraten bello, victorque volentes
Per Populos dat jura, viamque adfectat Olympo.
Illo Virgilium me tempore dulcis alebat
Parthenope, ſtudiis florentem, ignobilis otî.

Whilſt Caeſar humbled the Parthians, Virgil was compoſing the Aeneid. It is well known, that this noble Poem occupied the Author, without being able to ſatisfy him, during the twelve laſt years of his life, from the year 723 to the year 7352. The public expectation was ſoon raiſed, and the modeſt Virgil was ſometimes obbliged to gratify the impatient curioſity of his friends. Soon after the death of young Marcellus3, he recited the ſecond, fourth, and SIXTH books of the Aeneid, in the preſence of Auguſtus and Octavia4. He even ſometimes read parts of his work to more numerous companies; with a deſire of obtaining their judgment, rather than their applauſe. In this manner, Propertius ſeems to have heard the SHIELD OF AENEAS, and from that ſpecimen he ventures [47] to foretell the approaching birth of a Poem, which will ſurpaſs the Iliad.

Actia Virgilium Cuſtodis litora Phoebi,
Caeſaris & fortes dicere poſſe rates
Qui nunc Aeneae Trojani ſuſcitat Arma
Jactaque Lavinis moenia litoribus.
Cedite Romani ſcriptores, cedite Graii,
Neſcio quid majus naſcitur Iliade5.

As a friend and as a Critic, Horace was entitled to all Virgil's confidence, and was probably acquainted with the whole progreſs of the Aeneid, from the firſt rude ſketch, which Virgil drew up in Proſe, to that harmonious Poetry, which the author alone thought unworthy of poſterity.

To reſume my Idea, which depended on this long deduction of Circumſtances; when Horace compoſed the ſecond ode of his third Book, the Aeneid, and particularly the Sixth Book, were already known to the Public. The deteſtation of the Wretch who reveals the Myſteries of Ceres, though expreſſed in general terms, muſt be applied by all Rome to the author of the Sixth Book of the Aeneid. Can we ſeriouſly ſuppoſe, THAT HORACE WOULD HAVE BRANDED WITH SUCH WANT ON IN FAMY, ONE OF THE MEN IN THE WORLD WHOM HE LOVED AND HONOURED THE MOST6?

[48] Nothing remains to ſay, except that Horace was himſelf ignorant of his friend's allegorical meaning, which the Biſhop of Gloceſter has ſince revealed to the World. It may be ſo; yet, for my own part, I ſhould be very well ſatisfied with underſtanding Virgil no better than Horace did.

It is perhaps ſome ſuch fooliſh fondneſs for Antiquity, which inclines me to doubt, whether the BISHOP OF GLOCESTER has really united the ſevere ſenſe of ARISTOTLE with the ſublime imagination of LONGINUS. Yet a judicious Critic, (who is now, I believe, ARCHDEACON OF GLOCESTER) aſſures the Public, that his Patron's mere amuſements have done much more than the joint labours of the two Grecians. I ſhall conclude theſe obſervations with a remarkable paſſage from the Archdeacon's Dedication7: ‘It was not enough, in YOUR ENLARGED VIEW OF THINGS, to reſtore either of theſe models (ARISTOTLE or LONGINUS) to their original ſplendor. They were both to be revived; or rather A NEW ORIGINAL PLAN OF CRITICISM to be ſtruck out, WHICH SHOULD UNITE THE VIRTUES OF EACH OF THEM. This Experiment was made on the two greateſt of our own Poets [49] (Shakeſpeare and Pope), and by reflecting all the LIGHTS OF THE IMAGINATION ON THE SEVEREST REASON, every thing was affected which the warmeſt admirer of antient art could promiſe himſelf from ſuch a union. BUT YOU WENT FARTHER: By joining to theſe powers A PERFECT INSIGHT INTO HUMAN NATURE; and ſo ennobling the exerciſe of literary, by the juſteſt moral cenſure, YOU HAVE NOW AT LENGTH ADVANCED CRITICISM TO ITS FULL GLORY?’

Appendix A POSTSCRIPT.

[]

I WAS not ignorant, that, ſeveral years ſince, the Rev. Dr. Jortin had favoured the Public, with a DISSERTATION ON THE STATE OF THE DEAD, AS DESCRIBED BY HOMER AND VIRGIL1: But the Book is now grown ſo ſcarce, that I was not able to procure a ſight of it till after theſe Papers had been already ſent to the preſs. I found Dr. Jortin's performance, as I expected, moderate, learned, and critical. Among a variety of ingenious obſervations, there are two or three which are very cloſely connected with my preſent ſubject.

I had paſſed over in ſilence one argument of the Biſhop of Gloceſter, or rather of Scarron and the Biſhop of Gloceſter; ſince the former found the Remark, and the latter furniſhed the Inference. ‘Diſcite juſtitiam moniti, & non temnere Divos,’ cries the unfortunate Phlegyas. In the midſt of his torments, he preaches Juſtice and Piety, [52] like Ixion in Pindar. A very uſeful piece of advice, ſays the French Buffoon, for thoſe who were already damned to all Eternity:

Cette ſentence eſt bonne & belle:
Mais en enfer, de quoi ſert elle?

From this judicious piece of Criticiſm his Lordſhip argues, that Phlegyas was preaching not to the Dead, but to the Living; and that Virgil is only deſcribing the Mimic Tartarus, which was exhibited at Eleuſis for the inſtruction of the Initiated.

I ſhall tranſcribe one or two of the reaſons, which Dr. Jortin condeſcends to oppoſe to Scarron's Criticiſm.

To preach to the Damned, ſays he, is labour in vain. And what if it is? It might be part of his puniſhment, to exhort himſelf and others, when exhortations were too late. This admonition, as far as it relates to himſelf and his companions in miſery, is to be looked upon not ſo much as an admonition to amend, but as a bitter ſarcaſm, and reproaching of paſt iniquities.

It is labour in vain. But in the poetical ſyſtem, it ſeems to have been the occupation of the Damned to labour in vain, to catch at meat and drink that fled from them, &c.

[53] His inſtruction, like that of Ixion in Pindar, might be for the uſe of the living. You will ſay, how can that be? Surely nothing is more eaſy and intelligible. The Muſes hear him—The Muſes reveal it to the Poet, and the inſpired Poet reveals it to mankind. And ſo much for Phlegyas and Monſieur Scarron.

It is prettily obſerved by Dr. Jortin, ‘That Virgil, after having ſhone out with full ſplendor through the Sixth Book, ſets at laſt in a cloud.’ The IVORY GATE puzzles every Commentator, and grieves every lover of Virgil: Yet it affords no advantages to the Biſhop of Gloceſter. The objection preſſes as hard on the notion of an Initiation, as on that of a real Deſcent to the Shades. ‘The troubleſome concluſion ſtill remains as it was; and from the manner in which the Hero is diſmiſſed after the Ceremonies, we learn, that in thoſe Initiations, the Machinery, and the whole Shew, was (in the Poet's opinion) a repreſentation of things, which had no truth or reality.’

Altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto:
Sed FALSA ad coelum mittunt INSOMNIA manes.

‘Dreams in general, may be called vain and deceitful, ſomnia vana, or ſomnia falſa, if you will, as they are oppoſed to the real [54] objects, which preſent themſelves to us when we are awake. But when falſe dreams are oppoſed to true ones, there the Epithet falſa has another meaning. True dreams repreſent what is real, and ſhew what is true; falſe dreams repreſent things, which are not, or which are not true. Thus Homer and Virgil, and many other poets, and indeed the nature of the thing, diſtinguiſh them.’

Dr. Jortin, though with reluctance, acquieſces in the common opinion, that by ſix unlucky lines, Virgil is deſtroying the beautiful Syſtem, which it had coſt him eight hundred to raiſe. He explains too this prepoſterous conduct, by the uſual expedient of the Poet's Epicureiſm. I only differ from him in attributing to haſte and indiſcretion, what he conſiders as the reſult of deſign.

Another reaſon, both new and ingenious, is aſſigned by Dr. Jortin, for Virgil explaining away his Hero's deſcent into an idle dream. ‘All communication with the Dead, the infernal powers, &c. belonged to the Art Magic, and Magic was held in abomination by the Romans.’ Yet if it was held in ABOMINATION, it was ſuppoſed to be real. A writer would not have made his court to James the firſt, by repreſenting the ſtories of Witchcraft as the Phantoms of an over-heated Imagination.

[55] Whilſt I am writing, a ſudden thought occurs to me, which, rude and imperfect as it is, I ſhall venture to throw out to the Public. It is this. After Virgil, in imitation of Homer, had deſcribed the two Gates of Sleep, the Horn and the Ivory, he again takes up the firſt in a different ſenſe: ‘QUA VERIS FACILIS DATUR EXITUS UMBRIS.’ The TRUE SHADES, VERAE UMBRAE, were thoſe airy forms which were continually ſent to animate new bodies, ſuch light and almoſt immaterial Natures as could without difficulty paſs through a thin tranſparent ſubſtance. In this new ſenſe, Aeneas and the Sybill, who were ſtill incumbered with a load of fleſh, could not pretend to the prerogative of TRUE SHADES. In their paſſage over Styx, they had almoſt ſunk Charon's boat.

Gemuit ſub pondere cymba
Sutilis, & multam accepit rimoſa paludem.

Some other Expedient was requiſite for their return; and ſince the Horn Gate would not afford them an eaſy diſmiſſion, the other paſſage, which was adorned with poliſhed Ivory, was the only one that remained either for them, or for the Poet.

By this explanation, we ſave Virgil's judgement and religion, though I muſt own, at the [56] expence of an uncommon harſhneſs and ambiguity of expreſſion. Let it only be remembered, that thoſe, who, in deſperate caſes, conjecture with modeſty, have a right to be heard with indulgence.

FINIS.
Notes
1.
See Warburton's Diſſertation, &c. in the third volume of Mr. Warton's Virgil. I ſhall quote indifferently that Diſſertation or the Divine Legation itſelf.
2.
At leaſt of the vulgar polytheiſm, by revealing that the Dii Majorum Gentium had been mere mortals.
3.
From their inſtitution, 1399 years before the Chriſtian aera (Marm. Arundel. Ep. 14), till their ſuppreſſion, towards the end of the fourth century.
4.
Though I hate to be poſitive, yet I would almoſt venture to affirm, that Zorcaſter's connection with Egypt is no where to be found, except in the D. L.
5.

See a liſt of four hundred Authors, quoted, &c. in the D. L. from St. Auſtin and Ariſtotle, down to Scarron and Rabelais. Amongſt theſe authors we may obſerve Sanchoniatho, Orpheus, Zaleucus, Charondas, the Oracles of Prophry, and the Hiſtory of Jeffrey of Monmouth.

The biſhop has entered the liſts with the tremendous Bentley, who treated the laws of Zaleucus and Charondas as the forgeries of a ſophiſt. A whole ſection of miſtakes or miſrepreſentations is devoted to this controverſy: But Bentley is no more, and W [...]n may ſleep in peace.

I ſhall, however, diſturb his repoſe, by aſking him on what authority he ſuppoſes that the old language of the Twelve Tables was altered for the conveniency of ſucceeding ages. The fragments of thoſe laws, collected by Lipſius, Sylburgius, &c. bear the ſtamp of the moſt remote antiquity. Lipſius himſelf (tom. i. p. 206.) was highly delighted with thoſe Antiquiſſima Verba: But what is much more deciſive, Horace (L. II. Ep. i. Ver. 23), Seneca (Epiſtol. 114), and Aulus Gellius (XX. 1), rank thoſe laws amongſt the oldeſt remains of the Latin tongue. Their obſolete language was admired by the lawyers, ridiculed by the wits, and pleaded by the friends of antiquity as an excuſe for the frequent obſcurities of that code.

Had an adverſary to the Divine Legation been guilty of this miſtake, I am afraid it would have been ſtyled an egregious blunder.

6.
See Vandale de Oraculis, p. 559. That valuable book contains whatever can now be known of Oracles. I have borrowed his facts; and could with great eaſe have borrowed his quotations.
7.

The prophet Alexander, whoſe arts are ſo admirably laid open by Lucian, inſtituted his Oracle and his Myſteries as regular parts of the ſame plan. It is here we may ſay, with the learned Catholic, ‘Les nouveaux Saints me font douter des Anciens.’

8.
See Diogen. Laert. vi. 39. & Menag. ad loc.
9.

I ſhall ſum them up in a curious paſſage of the celebrated Freret. ‘Les ſectes philoſophiques cherchoient à diviner le Dogme caché ſous le voile des Ceremonies; & tachoient de le ramener chacune à leur doctrine. Dans l'hypothéſe des Epicuriens, adoptée de nos jours par M. M. Leclerc & Warburton,’ (Leclerc adopted it in the year 1687; Mr. Warburton invented it in the year 1738) ‘tout ce qu'on révéloit aux adeptes après tant de préparatifs & d'épreuves, c'eſt que les Dieux adorés du Vulgaire, avoient été des hommes, &c. Les Stoiciens & les Hylozoiſtes ſuppoſoient qu'on enſeignoit aux Initiés, qu'il n'y avoit d'autres Dieux que les élémens & les parties de l'univers materiel. Enfin ſuivant les nouveaux Platoniciens, ces Symboles ſervoient à couvrir les dogmes d'une Théologie & d'une Philoſophie ſublimes, enſeignées autrefois par les Egyptiens & les Chaldéens.’ Mr. Freret inclines, though with great diffidence, to the laſt opinion. Mem. de l'Academie des Inſcriptions, &c. tom. xxi. p. 12. Hiſt.

10.
Je ne ſuis pas ſi convaincu de nôtre ignorance par les choſes qui ſont, & dont la raiſon nous eſt inconnuë; que par celles qui ne ſont point & dont nous trouvons la raiſon. Oeuvres de Fontenelle, tom. xi. p. 229.
1.
The Fragment of Sanchoniatho's Phoenician Hiſtory. Euſebius and biſhop Cumberland have already obſerved, that the formation of the world is there attributed to the blind powers of Matter, without the leaſt mention of an Intelligent Cauſe.
2.
Orpheus's Hymn to Muſaeus, quoted by Juſtin Martyr, and ſeveral other Fathers, but rejected as ſpurious by Cudworth (Intellectual Syſtem, p. 300), by Leclerc (Hiſt. Eccl. p. 692), and by Dr. Jortin (Remarks on Eccleſiaſtical Hiſt. vol. 1. p. 199). The firſt of theſe, the immortal Cudworth, is often celebrated by the Biſhop of Glouceſter; Leclerc's literary character is eſtabliſhed; and with reſpect to Dr. Jortin, I will venture to call him a learned and moderate Critic. The few who may not chuſe to confeſs, that their objections are unanſwerable, will allow that they deſerved to be anſwered.
3.
Aeneid, i. 548.
4.
M. de Voltaire condemns the latter part of the Aeneid, as far inferior in fire and ſpirit to the former. As quoted in the Legation, he thinks that Virgil ‘—s'épuiſe avec Didon & rate à la fin Lavinie;’ a pretty odd quotation for a Biſhop; but I moſt ſincerely hope, that neither his Lordſhip nor Mrs. W [...]n are acquainted with the true meaning of the word Rater.
5.
Aeneid, viii. 495.
6.
Aeneid. i. 96.
7.
Aeneid, ii. 353.
8.
Idem, ii. 431.
9.
Idem, xii. 464.
10.
Idem, xii. 497.
1.
Others are furniſhed by Criticiſm with a Teleſcope. They ſee with great clearneſs whatever is too remote to be diſcovered by the reſt of mankind; but are totally blind to all that lies immediately before them. They diſcover in every paſſage ſome ſecret meaning, ſome remote alluſion, ſome artful allegory, or ſome occult imitation, which no other reader ever ſuſpected: But they have no perception of the cogency of arguments, the contexture of narration, the various colours of diction, or the flowery embelliſhments of fancy. Of all that engages the attention of others they are totally inſenſible; while they pry into the worlds of conjecture, and amuſe themſelves with phantoms in the clouds. Rambler.
2.
D. L. vol. I. p. 212.
3.
Aeneid, iii. 137.
4.
Idem, v. 755.
5.
Aeneid, xii. 189.
6.
Oeuvres de Monteſquieu, tom. iii. p. 555.
7.
D. L. p. 228.
8.
Plutarch, in Vit. M. Anton. tom. i. 950. Edit. Wechel.
9.
Plutarch, in Vit. Theſei, tom. i. p. 16. Herodot. viii. 65. Cicero de Nat. Deor. i. 42. The gradation of Athenians, Greeks, and mankind at large, may be traced in theſe paſſages.
10.
D. L. vol. I. p. 233.
1.
Chilius te rogat, & ego ejus rogatû; [...]. Cicero ad Attic. i. 9.
2.

As the B. of G. alledges the authority of Victorius, I ſhall ſhelter myſelf under the names and reaſons of Groevius and the Abbé Mongault, and even tranſcribe the words of the former. ‘Non eſt ut hic intelligantur ritus illi ſecretories, qui tantùm Myſtis noti erant, & ſine Capitis periculo vulgari non poterant, ſed illa ſacra & ceremoniae, quibus in Eleuſiniis celebrandis utebantur in omnium oculis Eumolpidae; quaſque Poetae & priſ [...]i Scriptores alii commemorant paſſim: aut fortè per Eumolpidas intelligit tectè ipſos Athenienſes: ut petierit Chilius, Athenienſium leges & diſciplinam ſibi deſcribi & mitti.’

3.
D. L. vol. I. p. 154.
4.
Idem, p. 277.
5.
Aeneid, vi. 724.
6.
Quomodo porro Deus iſte ſi nihil eſſet niſi animus, aut infixus aut infuſus eſſet in mundo. Cicero de Naturâ Deor. l. i. c. 11.
7.
Pope's Eſſay on Man, Epiſtle I. ver. 267.
8.
D. L. vol. I. p. 278.
9.
D. L. vol. I. p. 279.
10.
Idem, p. 142.
1.
See our modern Relations of Japan, China, India, &c. and for Egypt, Herodotus, l. ii.
2.
Ovid. Metamorph. xv. 69, &c. 158, &c.
3.
Plato in Phaedro & in Republic. l. x.
4.
I ſhall mention here, once for all, that I do not always confine myſelf to the ORDER of his Lordſhip's PROOFS.
5.
Meurſii Eleuſinia, five de Cereris Eleuſinae ſacro.
6.
See D. L. vol. I. particularly p. 280.
7.
Strabo, l. v. p. 168.
8.
Silius Italicus, l. xii.
9.
Diod. Sicul. l. iv. p. 267. edit. Weſſeling.
10.
Aeneid, vi. 126.
1.
Idem, vi. 129.
2.
Aeneid, vi. 395.
3.
Homer. Odyſſ. l. xi. ver. 623. Apoll. Biblioth. l. ii. c. 5.
4.
Diodor. Sicul. l. v. p. 386. Edit. Weſſeling.
5.
Leclerc Biblioth. Univerſelle, tom. vi. p. 55.
6.
By the Abbé Teraſſon, in his Philoſophical Romance of Sethos, printed at Amſterdam in the year 1732. See the Third Book, from beginning to end. The author was a Scholar and a Philoſopher. His book has far more variety and originality than Telemachus. Yet Sethos is forgotten, and Telemachus will be immortal. That harmony of ſtyle, and the great talent of ſpeaking to the heart and paſſions, which Fenelon poſſeſſed, was unknown to Teraſſon. I am not ſurprized that Homer was admired by the one, and criticized by the other.
7.
See D. L. vol. I. p. 228, &c. The firſt edition was printed in London, in the year 1738.
8.
Cowper's Life of Socrates, p. 102.
9.
Letter from a late Profeſſor of Oxford, &c. p. 133.
10.
D. L. vol. III. p. 277.
1.
Idem, vol. I. p. 229.
2.
Idem, vol. I. p. 283.
3.

Horace ſeems to have uſed as unguarded an expreſſion

Et adſcribi quietis
Ordinibus patiar Deorum.
Od. l. iii. 3.

The word and idea of Quietis are perfectly Epicurean; but rather claſh with the active paſſions diſplayed in the reſt of Juno's ſpeech.

His Lordſhip (D. L. vol. II. p. 140) accuſes Virgil himſelf of a like inattention; which, with his uſual gentleneſs, he calls an abſurdity.

4.
See the Life of Virgil by Donatus, the Sixth Eclogue, and the Second Georgic, ver. 490.
5.
Lucian in Alexandro, p. 489.
6.
Cornel. Nepos, in Vit Attici, c. 2, 3, 4.
7.
The Life of Virgil, attributed to Donatus, contains many characteriſtic particulars; but which are loſt in confuſion, and diſgraced with a mixture of abſurd ſtories, ſuch as none but a Monk of the darker ages could either invent or believe. I always conſidered them as the interpolations of ſome more recent writer; and am confirmed in that opinion, by the life of Virgil, pure from thoſe additions, which Mr. Spence lately publiſhed, from a Florence MS. at the beginning of Mr. Holdſworth's valuable obſervations on Virgil.
8.
Horat. l. II. ep. ii. ver. 43.
9.
Donat. in Virgil.
10.
Horat l. IV. od. xii.
1.
Donat. in Virgil.
2.
Prope Centies Seſtertium, about eighty thouſand pounds.
3.
Donat. in Virgil.
4.
Id. ibid.
5.
They always began the fifteenth of the Attic month Boedromion, and laſted nine days. Thoſe who take the trouble of calculating the Athenian Calendar, on the principles laid down by Mr. Dodwell (de Cyclis Antiquis) and by Dr. Halley, will find, that A V C. Varr. 735, the 15th of Boedromion coincided with the 24th of Auguſt of the Julian year. But if we may believe Dion Caſſius, the Celebration was this year anticipated, on account of Auguſtus and the Indian Philoſopher. L. LIV. p. 739. edit. Reimar.
6.
Strabo, l. xv. p. 720.
7.
Donat. in Virgil.
8.
D. L. vol. I. p. 188.
9.
Salmaſius ad Scriptores Hiſt. Auguſt. p. 55.
10.
Caſaubon ad Scriptor. Hiſt. Auguſt. p. 25.
1.
Sueton. in Claud. c. 25.
2.
D. L. vol. I. p. 147.
3.
Idem, p. 240.
4.
D. L. vol. I. p. 277.
5.
Horat. l. III. od. ii.
6.
Boileau, Art Poetique, l. ii. v. 72.
7.
Curioſa Felicitas. The ingenious Dr. Warton has a very ſtrong diſlike to this celebrated character of Horace. I ſuſpect that I am in the wrong, ſince, in a point of Criticiſm, I differ from Dr. Warton. I cannot however forbear thinking, that the expreſſion is itſelf what Petronius wiſhed to deſcribe; the happy Union of ſuch Eaſe as ſeems the gift of fortune, with ſuch juſtneſs as can only be the reſult of care and labor.
8.
Sueton. in Caeſar. c. 44.
9.
Plut. in Vit. Anton. Julian in Caeſar. p. 324. edit. Spanheim.
10.
Horat. l. I. od. ii. L. III. od. v. L. II. ſerm. i. v. 15, &c.
1.
Horat. l. I. epiſt. xii. Vall. Pater. l. II. c. xciv. Tacit. Annal. l. II. c. i. Sueton. in Octav. c. xxi. and in Tiber. c. xiv. Juſtin, l. XLII. c. v. Dion Caſſius, l. LIV. p. 736. edit. Reimar. Joſeph. Ant. l. XV. c. v. Ovid. Faſt. v. ver. 551, &c.
2.
Donat. in Virgil.
3.
Marcellus died in the latter end of the year 731 Uſſerii Annales, p. 555.
4.
Donat. in Virgil.
5.
Propert. l. II. el. xxv. v. 66.
6.
Horat. l. I. od. iii. L. I. ſerm. v. ver. 39, &c.
7.
See the Dedication of Horace's Epiſtle to Auguſtus, with an Engliſh Commentary and Notes.
1.
Six Diſſertations on Different Subjects, publiſhed in a Volume in Octavo, in the year 1755, It is the Sixth Diſſertation, p. 207-324.
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TextGrid Repository (2020). TEI. 4650 Critical observations on the sixth book of the à neid. University of Oxford Text Archive. . https://hdl.handle.net/21.T11991/0000-001A-5EB4-0