The necessity of reducing all these things into one Body, and under the Allegories of a single Action, makes it appear how great a difference there is between the designs of Homer, and that of Virgil: And that if the Latin Poet did imitate the Greek, yet the applicaaion of it is so remote and difficult, that it should never make his Poem pass for a new Copy, nor rob him of the glory of the invention.
Let us see then the Collection which Virgil has made of all these Matters; and the general Fiction, which together with the Truths it disguises, makes up the Fable and Life of the Poem.
"The Gods preserve a Prince amidst the Ruin of a mighty State, and make choice of him to be the maintainer of their Religion, and the Establisher of a more great and glorious Empire than the first. This very Hero is likewise elected King by the general consent of those, who had escap'd the universal Wrack of that Kingdom. He conducts them through Territories from whence his Ancestors came, and by the way instructed himself in all that was necessary for a King, a Priest, and the Founder of a Monarchy. He arrives and likewise finds in this new Country, the Gods and Men dispos'd to entertain him, and to allow him Subjects and Territories. But a neighbouring Prince, blinded by Ambition and Jealousie, could not see the Justice and the Orders of Heaven, but opposes his Establishment, and is assisted by the Valour of a King, whose Cruelty and Impiety had divested him of his States. This opposition, and the War this pious stranger was [1]forc'd to, renders his establishment more just by the Right of Conquest, and more glorious by the overcoming and cutting off of his Enemies."
The model being thus fram'd, there was nothing wanting but to look into History, or into some Authentick Fables, for Hero's whose Names he might borrow, and whom he might engage to represent his Personages. The obligation he lay under of accommodating himself to the Manners and Religion of his Country, invited him to look after them in the Roman History. But what Action could he take thence, which might furnish him with a Revolution and Establishment of Government, that was proper to his purpose? Brutus had expelled the Kings, and placed the People in that which they then called their Liberty: But this Name was Odious and Prejudicial to Augustus; and this Action was quite opposite to the Design which the Poet had of confirming the Re-establishment of Monarchy. Romulus first founded Rome, but he laid the Walls thereof in his Brother's Blood; and his first Action was the Murder of his Uncle Amulius, for which none could ever find a satisfactory excuse: And then, it was very difficult to suppose these Heroes to have taken Voyages.
Besides,
- ↑ Testaturq; Deos iterum se ad prælia cogi. Æneed. lib. 12.
