# The Works of Virgil (Dryden)/Life of Virgil

Authorship based on John Dryden: a bibliography of early editions and of Drydeniana (1967), by Hugh Macdonald, p. 57.
THE
LIFE
OF
Pub. Virgilius Maro.
IRGIL was born at Mantua, which City was built no less than Three Hundred Years before Rome; and was the Capital of the New Hetruria, as himself, no less Antiquary, than Poet, assures us. His Birth is said to have happen'd in the first Consulship of Pompey the Great, and Lic. Crassus; but since the Relater of this presently after contradicts himself; and Virgil's manner of Addressing to Octavius, implies a greater difference of Age than ​that of Seven Years, as appears by his First Pastoral, and other places; it is reasonable to set the Date of it something backward: And the Writer of his Life having no certain Memorials to work upon, seems to have pitched upon the two most Illustrious Consuls he could find about that time, to signalize the Birth of so Eminent a Man. But it is beyond all Question, that he was Born on, or near the Fifteenth of October. Which Day was kept Festival in honour of his Memory, by the Latin, as the Birth-Day of Homer was by the Greek Poets. And so near a resemblance there is, betwixt the Lives of these two famous Epic Writers, that Virgil seems to have follow'd the Fortune of the other, as well as the Subject and manner of his Writing. For Homer is said to have been of very mean Parents, such as got their Bread by Day-labour; so is Virgil. Homer is said to be Base Born; so is Virgil. The former to have been born in the open Air, in a Ditch, or by the Bank of a River; so is the ​latter. There was a Poplar planted near the place of Virgil's Birth, which suddenly grew up to an unusual heighth and bulk, and to which the Superstitious Neighbourhood attributed marvellous Virtue. Homer had his Poplar too, as Herodotus relates, which was visited with great Veneration. Homer is describ'd by one of the Ancients, to have been of a slovenly and neglected Meen and Habit, so was Virgil. Both were of a very delicate and sickly Constitution: Both addicted to Travel, and the study of Astrology: Both had their Compositions usurp'd by others: Both Envy'd and traduc'd during their Lives. We know not so much as the true Names of either of them with any exactness: For the Criticks are not yet agreed how the word [Virgil] should be Written; and of Homer's Name there is no certainty at all. Whosoever shall consider this Parallel in so many particulars; (and more might be added) would be inclin'd to think, that either the same Stars Rul'd strongly at the Nativities of them both, ​or what is a great deal more probable; that the Latin Grammarians wanting Materials for the former part of Virgil's Life, after the Legendary Fashion, supply'd it out of Herodotus; and like ill Face-Painters, not being able to hit the true Features, endeavour'd to make amends by a great deal of impertinent Landscape and Drapery.
Without troubling the Reader with needless Quotations, now, or afterwards; the most probable Opinion is, that Virgil was the Son of a Servant, or Assistant to a wandring Astrologer; who practis'd Physic. For Medicus, Magus, as Juvenal observes, usually went together; and this course of Life was follow'd by a great many Greeks and Syrians; of one of which Nations it seems not improbable, that Virgil's Father was. Nor could a Man of that Profession have chosen a fitter place to settle in, than that most Superstitious Tract of Italy; which by her ridiculous Rites and Ceremonies as much enslav'd the Romans, as the Romans did the Hetrurians by their Arms. This Man ​therefore having got together some Mony, which Stock he improv'd by his skill in Planting and Husbandry, had the good Fortune, at last, to Marry his Master's Daughter, by whom he had Virgil; and this Woman seems, by her Mother's side, to have been of good Extraction; for she was nearly related to Quintilius Varus, whom Paterculus assures us to have been an Illustrious, tho' not Patrician Family; and there is honourable mention made of it in the History of the second Carthaginian War. It is certain, that they gave him very good Education, to which they were inclin'd; not so much by the Dreams of his Mother, and those presages which Donatus relates, as by the early indications which he gave of a sweet Disposition, and Excellent Wit. He passed the first Seven Years of his Life at Mantua, not Seventeen, as Scaliger miscorrects his Author; for the initia ætatis can hardly be supposed to extend so far. From thence he removed to Cremona, a Noble Roman Colony, and afterwards to Milan. In all ​which places he prosecuted his Studies with great application; he read over, all the best Latin, and Greek Authors, for which he had convenience by the no remote distance of Marseils, that famous Greek Colony, which maintain'd its Politeness, and Purity of Language, in the midst of all those Barbarous Nations amongst which it was seated: And some Tincture of the latter seems to have descended from them down to the Modern French. He frequented the most Eminent Professors of the Epicurean Philosophy, which was then much in vogue, and will be always in declining and sickly States. But finding no satisfactory Account from his Master Syron, he pass'd over to the Academick School, to which he adher'd the rest of his Life, and deserv'd, from a great Emperour, the Title of the Plato of Poets. He compos'd at leisure hours a great number of Verses, on various Subjects; and desirous rather of a great, than early Fame, he permitted his Kinsman, and Fellow-student Varus, to derive the Honour of ​one of his Tragedies to himself. Glory neglected in proper time and place, returns often with large Increase, and so he found it: For Varus afterwards prov'd a great Instrument of his Rise: In short, it was here that he form'd the Plan, and collected the Materials of all those excellent Pieces which he afterwards finish'd, or was forc'd to leave less perfect by his Death. But whether it were the Unwholsomness of his Native Air, of which he somewhere complains, or his too great abstinence, and Night-watchings at his Study, to which he was always addicted, as Augustus observes; or possibly the hopes of improving himself by Travel, he resolv'd to Remove to the more Southern Tract of Italy; and it was hardly possible for him not to take Rome in his Way; as is evident to any one who shall cast an Eye on the Map of Italy: And therefore the late French Editor of his Works is mistaken, when he asserts that he never saw Rome, till he came to Petition for his Estate: He gain'd the Acquaintance of the Master of the ​Horse to Octavius, and Cur'd a great many Diseases of Horses, by methods they had never heard of: It fell out, at the same time, that a very fine Colt, which promised great Strength and Speed, was presented to Octavius: Virgil assur'd them, that he came of a faulty Mare, and would prove a Jade, upon trial it was found as he had said; his Judgment prov'd right in several other Instances, which was the more surprizing, because the Romans knew least of Natural Causes of any civiliz'd Nation in the World: And those Meteors, and Prodigies which cost them incredible Sums to expiate, might easily have been accounted for, by no very profound Naturalist. It is no wonder, therefore, that Virgil was in so great Reputation, as to be at last Introduced to Octavius himself. That Prince was then at variance with Marc. Antony, who vex'd him with a great many Libelling Letters, in which he reproaches him with the baseness of his Parentage, that he came of a Scrivener, a Ropemaker, and a Baker, as Suetonius tells us: Octavius ​finding that Virgil had passed so exact a judgment upon the Breed of Dogs, and Horses, thought that he possibly might be able to give him some Light concerning his own. He took him into his Closet, where they continu'd in private a considerable time. Virgil was a great Mathematician, which, in the Sense of those times, took in Astrology: And if there be any thing in that Art, which I can hardly believe; if that be true which the Ingenious De le Chambre asserts confidently; that from the Marks on the Body, the Configuration of the Planets at a Nativity may be gathered, and the Marks might be told by knowing the Nativity, never had one of those Artists a fairer Opportunity to shew his skill, than Virgil now had; for Octavius had Moles upon his Body, exactly resembling the Constellation call'd Ursa Major. But Virgil had other helps: The Predictions of Cicero, and Catulus, and that Vote of the Senate had gone abroad, that no Child Born at Rome, in the Year of his Nativity, should be bred up; because the ​Seers assur'd them that an Emperour was Born that Year. Besides this, Virgil had heard of the Assyrian, and Egyptian Prophecies, (which in truth, were no other but the Jewish,) that about that time a great King was to come into the World. Himself takes notice of them, Æn. 6. where he uses a very significant Word, (now in all Liturgies) hujus in adventu, so in another place, adventu propriore Dei.
At his foreseen approach already quake, Assyrian Kingdoms, and Mœotis Lake. Nile hears him knocking at his seven-fold Gates———
Every one knows whence this was taken: It was rather a Mistake, than Impiety in Virgil, to apply these Prophesies which belonged to the Saviour of the World to the Person of Octavius, it being a usual piece of flattery for near a Hundred Years together, to attribute them to their Emperors, and other great Men. Upon the whole matter, it is very probable, that Virgil Predicted to him the ​Empire at this time. And it will appear yet the more, if we consider that he assures him of his being receiv'd into the Number of the Gods, in his First Pastoral, long before the thing came to pass; which Prediction seems grounded upon his former mistake. This was a secret, not to be divulg'd at that time, and therefore it is no wonder that the slight Story in Donatus was given abroad to palliate the matter. But certain it is, that Octavius dismissed him with great Marks of esteem, and earnestly recommended the Protection of Virgil's Affairs to Pollio, then Lieutenant of the Cis-Alpine Gaule, where Virgil's Patrimony lay. This Pollio from a mean Original, became one of the most Considerable Persons of his time: A good General, Orator, States-man, Historian, Poet, and Favourer of Learned men; above all, he was a Man of Honour in those critical times: He had join'd with Octavius, and Antony, in revenging the Barbarous Assassination of Julius Cæsar: When they two were at variance, he would neither ​follow Antony, whose courses he detested, nor join with Octavius against him, out of a grateful Sense of some former Obligations. Augustus, who thought it his interest to oblige Men of Principles, notwithstanding this, receiv'd him afterwards into Favour, and promoted him to the highest Honours. And thus much I thought fit to say of Pollio, because he was one of Virgil's greatest Friends. Being therefore eas'd of Domestick cares, he pursues his Journey to Naples: The Charming situation of that Place, and view of the beautiful Villa's of the Roman Nobility, equalling the Magnificence of the greatest Kings; the Neighbourhood of the Baiæ, whither the Sick resorted for recovery, and the States-man when he was Politickly Sick; whither the wanton went for Pleasure, and witty Men for good Company; the wholesomness of the Air, and improving Conversation, the best Air of all, contributed not only to the re-establishing his Health; but to the forming of his Style, and rendring him Master of that ​happy turn of Verse, in which he much surpasses all the Latins, and in a less advantageous Language, equals even Homer himself. He propos'd to use his Talent in Poetry, only for Scaffolding to Build a convenient Fortune, that he might Prosecute with less interruption, those Nobler Studies to which his elevated Genius led him, and which he describes in these admirable Lines.
Me verò primùm dulces ante omnia Musæ Quarum sacra fero ingenti perculsus amore, Accipiant, cælìq vias, & sidera monstrent, Defectus Solis varios, Lunæq; labores: Ʋnde tremor terris, &c.
But the current of that Martial Age, by some strange Antiperistasis drove so violently towards Poetry, that he was at last carried down with the stream. For not only the Young Nobility, but Octavius, and Pollio, Cicero in his Old Age, Julius Cæsar, and the Stoical Brutus, a little before, would needs be tampering with the Muses; the two latter had taken great ​care to have their Poems curiously bound, and lodg'd in the most famous Libraries; but neither the Sacredness of those places, nor the greatness of their Names, cou'd preserve ill Poetry. Quitting therefore the Study of the Law, after having pleaded but one Cause with indifferent Success, he resolv'd to push his Fortune this way, which he seems to have discontinu'd for some time, and that may be the reason why the Culex, his first Pastoral, now extant, has little besides the novelty of the Subject, and the Moral of the Fable, which contains an exhortation to Gratitude, to recommend it; had it been as correct as his other pieces, nothing more proper and pertinent cou'd have at that time bin addressed to the Young Octavius, for the Year in which he Presented it, probably at the Baiæ, seems to be the very same, in which that Prince consented (tho' with seeming reluctance) to the Death of Cicero, under whose Consulship he was Born, the preserver of his Life, and chief instrument of his Advancement. There is no ​reason to question its being genuine, as the late French Editor does; its meanness, in comparison of Virgil's other Works, (which is that Writers only Objection) confutes himself: For Martial, who certainly saw the true Copy, speaks of it with contempt; and yet that Pastoral equals, at least, the address to the Dauphin which is prefix'd to the late Edition. Octavius, to unbend his mind from application to publick business, took frequent turns to Baiæ, and Sicily; where he compos'd his Poem call'd Sicelides, which Virgil seems to allude to, in the Pastoral beginning Sicelides Musæ; this gave him opportunity of refreshing that Prince's Memory of him, and about that time he wrote his Ætna. Soon after he seems to have made a Voyage to Athens, and at his return presented his Ceiris, a more elaborate Piece, to the Noble and Eloquent Messala. The forementioned Author groundlesly taxes this as supposititious: For besides other Critical marks, there are no less than Fifty, or Sixty Verses, alter'd ​indeed and polish'd, which he inserted in the Pastorals, according to his fashion: and from thence they were called Eclogues, or Select Bucolics: We thought fit to use a Title more intelligible, the reason of the other being ceas'd; and we are supported by Virgil's own authority, who expresly calls them Carmina Pastorum. The French Editor is again mistaken, in asserting, that the Ceiris is borrow'd from the Ninth of Ovid's Metamorphosis; he might have more reasonably conjectur'd it, to be taken from Parthenius, the Greek Poet, from whom Ovid borrow'd a great part of his Work. But it is indeed taken from neither, but from that Learn'd, unfortunate Poet Apollonius Rhodius, to whom Virgil is more indebted, than to any other Greek Writer, excepting Homer. The Reader will be satisfied of this, if he consult that Author in his own Language, for the Translation is a great deal more obscure than the Original.
Whilst Virgil thus enjoy'd the sweets of a Learn'd Privacy, the Troubles of Italy ​cut off his little Subsistance; but by a strange turn of Human Affairs, which ought to keep good Men from ever despairing; the loss of his Estate prov'd the effectual way of making his Fortune. The occasion of it was this; Octavius, as himself relates, when he was but Nineteen Years of Age, by a Masterly stroke of Policy, had gain'd the Veteran Legions into his Service, (and by that step, out-witted all the Republican Senate:) They grew now very clamorous for their Pay: The Treasury being Exhausted, he was forc'd to make Assignments upon Land, and none but in Italy it self would content them. He pitch'd upon Cremona as the most distant from Rome; but that not suffising, he afterwards threw in part of the State of Mantua. Cremona was a Rich and noble Colony, setled a little before the Invasion of Hanibal. During that Tedious and Bloody War, they had done several important Services to the Common-Wealth. And when Eighteen other Colonies, pleading Poverty and ​Depopulation, refus'd to contribute Mony, or to raise Recruits; they of Cremona voluntarily paid a double Quota of both: But past Services are a fruitless Plea; Civil Wars are one continued Act of Ingratitude: In vain did the Miserable Mothers, with their famishing Infants in their Arms, fill the Streets with their Numbers, and the Air with Lamentations; the Craving Legions were to be satisfy'd at any rate. Virgil, involv'd in the common Calamity, had recourse to his old Patron Pollio, but he was, at this time, under a Cloud; however, compassionating so worthy a Man, not of a Make to struggle thro' the World, he did what he could, and recommended him to Mecænas, with whom he still kept a private Correspondence. The Name of this great Man being much better known than one part of his Character, the Reader, I presume, will not be displeas'd if I supply it in this place.
Tho' he was of as deep Reach, and easie dispatch of Business as any in his time, yet he designedly liv'd beneath his ​true Character. Men had oftentimes medled in Publick Affairs, that they might have more ability to furnish for their Pleasures: Mecænas, by the honestest Hypocrisie that ever was, pretended to a Life of Pleasure, that he might render more effectual Service to his Master. He seem'd wholly to amuse himself with the Diversions of the Town, but under that Mask he was the greatest Minister of his Age. He wou'd be carried in a careless, effeminate posture thro' the Streets in his Chair, even to the degree of a Proverb, and yet there was not a Cabal of ill dispos'd Persons which he had not early notice of; and that too in a City as large as London and Paris, and perhaps two or three more of the most populous put together. No Man better understood that Art so necessary to the Great; the Art of declining Envy: Being but of a Gentleman's Family, not Patrician, he would not provoke the Nobility by accepting invidious Honours; but wisely satisfied himself that he had the Ear of Augustus, and the Secret of the Empire. ​He seems to have committed but one great Fault, which was the trusting a Secret of high Consequence to his Wife; but his Master, enough Uxorious himself, made his own Frailty more excusable, by generously forgiving that of his Favourite. He kept in all his Greatness exact measures with his Friends; and chusing them wisely, found, by Experience, that good Sense and Gratitude are almost inseparable. This appears in Virgil and Horace; the former, besides the Honour he did him to all Posterity, return'd his Liberalities at his Death: The other, whom Mecænas recommended with his last Breath, was too generous to stay behind, and enjoy the Favour of Augustus: He only desir'd a place in his Tomb, and to mingle his Ashes with those of his deceased Benefactor. But this was Seventeen Hundred Years ago. Virgil, thus powerfully supported, thought it mean to Petition for himself alone, but resolutely solicits the Cause of his whole Country, and seems, at first, to have met with some Encouragement: But ​the matter cooling, he was forc'd to sit down contented with the Grant of his own Estate. He goes therefore to Mantua, produces his Warrant to a Captain of Foot, whom he found in his House; Arrius who had eleven Points of the Law, and fierce of the Services he had rendred to Octavius, was so far from yielding Possession, that words growing betwixt them, he wounded him dangerously, forc'd him to fly, and at last to swim the River Mincius to save his Life. Virgil, who us'd to say, that no Virtue was so necessary as Patience, was forc'd to drag a sick Body half the length of Italy, back again to Rome, and by the way, probably, compos'd his Ninth Pastoral, which may seem to have been made up in haste out of the Fragments of some other pieces; and naturally enough represents the disorder of the Poet's Mind, by its disjointed Fashion, tho' there be another Reason to be given elsewhere of its want of Connexion. He handsomely states his Case in that Poem, and with the pardonable Resentments of Injur'd Innocence, ​not only claims Octavius's Promise, but hints to him the uncertainty of Human Greatness and Glory: All was taken in good part by that Wise Prince: At last effectual Orders were given: About this time, he Compos'd that admirable Poem, which is set first, out of respect to Cæsar; for he does not seem either to have had leisure, or to have been in the Humour of making so solemn an Acknowledgment, till he was possess'd of the Benefit. And now he was in so great Reputation and Interest, that he resolved to give up his Land to his Parents, and himself to the Court. His Pastorals were in such Esteem, that Pollio, now again in high Favour with Cæsar, desired him to reduce them into a Volume. Some Modern Writer, that has a constant flux of Verse, would stand amaz'd how Virgil could employ three whole Years in revising five or six hundred Verses, most of which, probably, were made some time before; but there is more reason to wonder how he could do it so soon in such Perfection. A course ​Stone is presently fashion'd; but a Diamond, of not many Karats, is many Weeks in Cutting, and in Polishing many more. He who put Virgil upon this, had a Politick good end in it.
The continu'd Civil Wars had laid Italy almost waste; the Ground was Uncultivated and Unstock'd; upon which ensu'd such a Famine, and Insurrection, that Cæsar hardly scap'd being Ston'd at Rome; his Ambition being look'd upon by all Parties as the principal occasion of it. He set himself therefore with great Industry to promote Country-Improvements; and Virgil was serviceable to his Design, as the good keeper of the Bees, Geor. 4.
Tinnitúsque cie, & matris quate cymbala circum, Ipsæ consident———
That Emperour afterwards thought it matter worthy a publick Inscription
Rediit cultus Agris.
​Which seems to be the motive that Induced Macænas, to put him upon Writing his Georgics, or Books of Husbandry: A design as new in Latin Verse, as Pastorals, before Virgil were in Italy; which Work took up Seven of the most vigorous Years of his Life; for he was now at least Thirty four Years of Age; and here Virgil shines in his Meridian. A great part of this Work seems to have been rough-drawn before he left Mantua, for an Ancient Writer has observ'd that the Rules of Husbandry laid down in it, are better Calculated for the Soil of Mantua, than for the more Sunny Climate of Naples; near which place, and in Sicily, he finish'd it. But lest his Genius should be depressed by apprehensions of want, he had a good Estate settled upon him, and a House in the Pleasantest part of Rome; the Principal Furniture of which was a well-chosen Library, which stood open to all comers of Learning and Merit; and what recommended the situation of it most, was the Neighbourhood of his Mecænas; and thus ​he cou'd either visit Rome, or return to his privacy at Naples, thro' a pleasant Rode adorn'd on each side with pieces of Antiquity, of which he was so great a Lover, and in the intervals of them, seem'd almost one continu'd Street of three days Journey.
Cæsar having now Vanquish'd Sextus Pompeius, a Spring-tide of Prosperities breaking in upon him, before he was ready to receive them as he ought, fell sick of the Imperial Evil, the desire of being thought something more than Man. Ambition is an infinite Folly: When it has attain'd to the utmost pitch of Human Greatness, it soon falls to making pretensions upon Heaven. The crafty Livia would needs be drawn in the Habit of a Priestesse by the Shrine of the new God: And this became a Fashion not to be dispens'd with amongst the Ladies: The Devotion was wondrous great amongst the Romans, for it was their Interest, and, which sometimes avails more, it was the Mode. Virgil, tho' he despis'd the Heathen Superstitions, and ​is so bold as to call Saturn and Janus by no better a Name than that of Old Men, and might deserve the Title of Subverter of Superstitions, as well as Varro, thought fit to follow the Maxim of Plato his Master; that every one should serve the Gods after the Usage of his own Country, and therefore was not the last to present his Incense, which was of too Rich' a Composition for such an Altar: And by his Address to Cæsar on this occasion, made an unhappy Precedent to Lucan and other Poets which came after him, Geor. 1. and 3. And this Poem being now in great forwardness, Cæsar, who in imitation of his Predecessor Julius, never intermitted his Studies in the Camp, and much less in other places, refreshing himself by a short stay in a pleasant Village of Campania, would needs be entertained with the rehearsal of some part of it. Virgil recited with a marvellous Grace, and sweet Accent of Voice, but his Lungs failing him, Mecænas himself supplied his place for what remained. Such a piece of ​condescension wou'd now be very surprizing, but it was no more than customary amongst Friends, when Learning pass'd for Quality. Lelius, the second Man of Rome in his time, had done as much for that Poet, out of whose Dross Virgil would sometimes pick Gold; as himself said, when one found him reading Ennius: (the like he did by some Verses of Varro, and Pacuvius, Lucretius, and Cicero, which he inserted into his Works.) But Learned Men then liv'd easy and familiarly with the great: Augustus himself would sometimes sit down betwixt Virgil and Horace, and say jestingly, that he sate betwixt Sighing and Tears, alluding to the Asthma of one, and Rheumatick Eyes of the other; he would frequently Correspond with them, and never leave a Letter of theirs unanswered: Nor were they under the constraint of formal Superscriptions in the beginning, nor of violent Superlatives at the close of their Letter: The invention of these is a Modern Refinement. In which this may be remarked, in passing, that ( ​humble Servant) is respect, but (Friend) an affront, which notwithstanding implies the former, and a great deal more. Nor does true Greatness lose by such Familiarity; and those who have it not, as Mecænas and Pollio had, are not to be accounted Proud, but rather very Discreet, in their Reserves. Some Play-house Beauties do wisely to be seen at a distance, and to have the Lamps twinckle betwixt them and the Spectators.
But now Cæsar, who tho' he were none of the greatest Soldiers, was certainly the greatest Traveller, of a Prince, that had ever been, (for which Virgil so dexterously Complements him, Aeneid. 6.) takes a Voyage to Ægypt, and having happily finish'd that War, reduces that mighty Kingdom into the Form of a Province; over which he appointed Gallus his Lieutenant. This is the same Person to whom Virgil addresses his tenth Pastoral; changing, in compliance to his Request, his purpose of limiting them to the number of the Muses. The Praises of this Gallus took up a ​considerable part of the Fourth Book of the Georgics, according to the general consent of Antiquity: But Cæsar would have it put out, and yet the Seam in the Poem is still to be discern'd; and the matter of Aristæus's recovering his Bees, might have been dispatched in less compass, without fetching the Causes so far, or interessing so many Gods and Goddesses in that Affair. Perhaps some Readers may be inclin'd to think this, tho' very much labour'd, not the most entertaining part of that Work; so hard it is for the greatest Masters to Paint against their Inclination. But Cæsar was content he shou'd be mention'd in the last Pastoral, because it might be taken for a Satyrical sort of Commendation; and the Character he there stands under, might help to excuse his Cruelty, in putting an Old Servant to death for no very great Crime.
And now having ended, as he begins his Georgics, with solemn mention of Cæsar, an Argument of his Devotion to him: He begins his Æneis, according to the ​common account, being now turn'd of Forty. But that Work had been, in truth, the Subject of much earlier Meditation. Whilst he was working upon the first Book of it, this passage, so very remarkable in History, fell out, in which Virgil had a great share.
Cæsar, about this time, either cloy'd with Glory, or terrify'd by the Example of his Predecessor; or to gain the Credit of Moderation with the People, or possibly to feel the Pulse of his Friends, deliberated whether he should retain the Soveraign Power, or restore the Common-wealth. Agrippa, who was a very honest Man, but whose View was of no great extent, advis'd him to the latter; but Mecænas, who had throughly studied his Master's Temper, in an Eloquent Oration, gave contrary Advice. That Emperor was too Politick to commit the over-sight of Cromwell, in a deliberation something resembling this. Cromwell had never been more desirous of the Power, than he was afterwards of the Title of King: And there was ​nothing, in which the Heads of the Parties, who were all his Creatures, would not comply with him: But by too vehement Allegation of Arguments against it, he, who had out-witted every body besides, at last out-witted himself, by too deep dissimulation: For his Council, thinking to make their Court by assenting to his judgment, voted unanimously for him against his Inclination; which surpriz'd and troubled him to such a degree, that as soon as he had got into his Coach, he fell into a Swoon. But Cæsar knew his People better, and his Council being thus divided, he ask'd Virgil's Advice: Thus a Poet had the Honour of determining the greatest Point that ever was in Debate, betwixt the Son-in-Law, and Favourite of Cæsar. Virgil deliver'd his Opinion in Words to this effect. The change of a Popular into an Absolute Government, has generally been of very ill Consequence: For betwixt the Hatred of the People, and Injustice of the Prince, it of necessity comes to pass that they live in distrust, and mutual Apprehensions. But ​if the Commons knew a just Person, whom they entirely confided in, it would be for the advantage of all Parties, that such a one should be their Soveraign: Wherefore if you shall continue to administer Justice impartially, as hitherto you have done, your Power will prove safe to your self, and beneficial to Mankind. This excellent Sentence, which seems taken out of Plato, (with whose Writings the Grammarians were not much acquainted, and therefore cannot reasonably be suspected of Forgery in this matter,) contains the true state of Affairs at that time: For the Commonwealth Maxims were now no longer practicable; the Romans had only the haughtiness of the Old Commonwealth left, without one of its Virtues. And this Sentence we find, almost in the same words, in the first Book of the Æneis, which at this time he was writing; and one might wonder that none of his Commentators have taken notice of it. He compares a Tempest to a Popular Insurrection, as Cicero had compar'd a Sedition to a Storm, a little before.
Ac veluti magno in populo, cum sæpe coorta est Seditio, sævitque animis ignobile vulgus Jamque faces, ac saxa volant, furor arma ministrat. Tum pietate gravem, & meritis si forte virum quem Conspexere silent, arrectisque auribus adstant. Ille regit dictis animos, & pectora mulcet.
Piety and Merit were the two great Virtues which Virgil every where attributes to Augustus, and in which that Prince, at least Po∣litickly, if not so truly, fix'd his Character, as appears by the Marmor Ancyr. and several of his Medals. Franshemius, the Learn'd Supplementor of Livy, has inserted this Relation into his History; nor is there any good Reason, why Ruæus should account it fabulous. The Title of a Poet in those days did not abate, but heighten the Character of the gravest Senator. Virgil was one of the best and wisest Men of his time, and in so popular esteem, that one hundred thousand Romans rose when ​he came into the Theatre, and paid him the same Respect they us'd to Cæsar himself, as Tacitus assures us. And if Augustus invited Horace to assist him in Writing his Letters, and every body knows that the rescripta Imperatorum were the Laws of the Empire; Virgil might well deserve a place in the Cabinet-Council.
And now Virgil prosecutes his Æneis, which had Anciently the Title of the Imperial Poem, or Roman History, and deservedly; for though he were too Artful a Writer to set down Events in exact Historical order, for which Lucan is justly blam'd; yet are all the most considerable Affairs and Persons of Rome compriz'd in this Poem. He deduces the History of Italy from before Saturn to the Reign of King Latinus; and reckons up the Successors of Æneas, who Reign'd at Alba, for the space of three hundred Years, down to the Birth of Romulus; describes the Persons and principal Exploits of all the Kings, to their Expulsion, and the settling of the Commonwealth. After this, he touches ​promiscuously the most remarkable Occurrences at home and abroad, but insists more particularly upon the Exploits of Augustus; insomuch, that tho' this Assertion may appear, at first, a little surprizing; he has in his Works deduc'd the History of a considerable part of the World from its Original, thro' the Fabulous and Heroick Ages, thro' the Monarchy and Commonwealth of Rome, for the space of four Thousand Years, down to within less than Forty of our Saviour's time, of whom he has preserv'd a most Illustrious Prophecy. Besides this, he points at many remarkable Passages of History under feign'd Names: the destruction of Alba, and Veii, under that of Troy: The Star Venus, which, Varro says, guided Æneas in his Voyage to Italy, in that Verse,
Matre deâ monstrante viam.
Romulus his Lance taking Root, and Budding, is describ'd in that Passage concerning Polydorus, lib. 3.
​——————— Confixum ferrea texit Telorum seges, & jaculis increvit acutis.
The Stratagem of the Trojans boring Holes in their Ships, and sinking them, lest the Latins should Burn them, under that Fable of their being transform'd into Sea-Nymphs: And therefore the Ancients had no such Reason to condemn that Fable as groundless and absurd. Cocles swimming the River Tyber, after the Bridge was broken down behind him, is exactly painted in the Four last Verses of the Ninth Book, under the Character of Turnus. Marius hiding himself in the Morass of Minturnæ, under the Person of Sinon:
Limosoque lacu per Noctem obscurus in ulvâ Delitui ———
Those Verses in the Second Book concerning Priam;
Jacet ingens littore truncus, &c.
seem originally made upon Pompey the Great. He seems to touch the Imperious, ​and Intriguing Humour of the Empress Livia, under the Character of Juno. The irresolute and weak Lepidus is well represented under the Person of King Latinus; Augustus with the Character of Pont. Max. under that of Æneas; and the rash Courage (always unfortunate in Virgil) of Marc Anthony in Turnus; the railing Eloquence of Cicero in his Phillipics is well imitated in the Oration of Drances; the dull faithful Agrippa, under the person of Achates; accordingly this Character is flat: Achates kills but one Man, and himself receives one slight Wound, but neither says nor does any thing very considerable in the whole Poem. Curio, who sold his Country for about Two hundred Thousand Pound, is touch'd in that Verse.
Vendidit hic auro patriam, dominumque potentem. Imposuit.———
Livy relates that presently after the death of the two Scipio's in Spain, when Martius took upon him the Command, a Blazing ​Meteor shone around his Head, to the astonishment of his Souldiers: Virgil transfers this to Æneas.
Lætasque vomunt duo tempora flammas.
It is strange that the Commentators have not taken notice of this. Thus the ill Omen which happen'd a little before the Battel of Thrasimen, when some of the Centurions Lances took Fire miraculously, is hinted in the like accident which befel Acestes, before the Burning of the Trojan Fleet in Sicily. The Reader will easily find many more such Instances. In other Writers there is often well cover'd Ignorance; in Virgil, conceal'd Learning.
His silence of some Illustrious Persons is no less worth observation. He says nothing of Scævola, because he attempted to Assassinate a King, tho' a declar'd Enemy. Nor of the Younger Brutus; for he effected what the other endeavour'd. Nor of the Younger Cato, because he was an implacable Enemy of Julius Cæsar; nor could the mention of him be pleasing to Augustus; and that Passage
​His Dantem jura Catonem,
may relate to his Office, as he was a very severe Censor. Nor would he name Cicero, when the occasion of mentioning him came full in his way; when he speaks of Catiline; because he afterwards approv'd the Murder of Cæsar, tho' the Plotters were too wary to trust the Orator with their Design. Some other Poets knew the Art of Speaking well; but Virgil, beyond this, knew the admirable Secret of being eloquently silent. Whatsoever was most curious in Fabius Pictor, Cato the Elder, Varro, in the Ægyptian Antiquities, in the Form of Sacrifice, in the Solemnities of making Peace and War, is preserv'd in this Poem. Rome is still above ground, and flourishing in Virgil. And all this he performs with admirable Brevity. The Æneis was once near twenty times bigger than he left it; so that he spent as much time in blotting out, as some Moderns have done in Writing whole Volumes. But not one Book has his finishing Strokes: The sixth seems ​one of the most perfect, the which, after long entreaty, and sometimes threats of Augustus, he was at last prevail'd upon to recite: This fell out about four Years before his own Death: That of Marcellus, whom Cæsar design'd for his Successor, happen'd a little before this Recital: Virgil therefore with his usual dexterity, inserted his Funeral Panegyrick in those admirable Lines, beginning,
O nate, ingentem luctum ne quære tuorum, &c.
His Mother, the Excellent Octavia, the best Wife of the worst Husband that ever was, to divert her Grief, would be of the Auditory. The Poet artificially deferr'd the naming Marcellus, till their Passions were rais'd to the highest; but the mention of it put both Her and Augustus into such a Passion of weeping, that they commanded him to proceed no further; Virgil answer'd, that he had already ended that Passage. Some relate, that Octavia fainted away; but afterwards she presented the Poet with two Thousand one Hundred ​Pounds, odd Money; a round Sum for Twenty Seven Verses. But they were Virgil's. Another Writer says, that with a Royal Magnificence, she order'd him Massy Plate, unweigh'd, to a great value.
I sunk Flocks, Tillage, Heroes; Mantua gave Me Life, Brundusium Death, Naples a Grave.