Sit trabibus, fragilemque mecum 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 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 impétueux, souvent marche au hasard; Chez elle, un beau désordre est un effet de l'art;+ 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 dif ferent from that of a savage. It is a mighty disagreeable sight, to observe a lyric writer of taste and reflexion 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 * Horat. L. III. Od. ii. Boileau, Art Poétique, L. ii. v. 72. con 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. 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 valour. . Parthos feroces Vexet eques metuendus hastâ, &c. Those who are used to the LABOURED HAPPINESS of all Horace's expressions* 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 the 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 Cæsar was prevented by death from revenging the defeat of Crassus.† This glorious task, unsuccessfully attempted by Marc Antony, • 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 labour. + Sueton: in Cæsar, c. 44. Plut. in Vit. Anton. Julian in Cæsar, p. 324. edit. Spanheim. seemed seemed to be reserved for the prudence 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 Crassus.* 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 sub mission: Jus, imperiumque Phrahates Cæsaris accepit genibus minor.† Cæsar returned in triumph to Rome, with the Parthian hostages, and the Roman ensigns, which had been taken from Crassus. 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. Horat. L. I. Od. ii. L. III. Od. v. L. II. Serm. i. v. 15, &c. + Horat. L. i. Epist. xii. Vell. Pater. L. ii. c. xciv. Tacit. Annal. L. ii. c. i. Sueton. in Octav. c. xxi. and in Tiber. c. xiv. Dion Cassius, L. liv. p. 736. edit. Reimar. Justin, L. xlii. c. v. Joseph. Ant. L. v. c. Cæsar dum magnus ad altum Fulminat Euphraten bello, victorque volentes Whilst Cæsar humbled the Parthians, Virgil was composing the Æneid. It is well known, that this noble poem occupied the author,, without being able to satisfy him, during the last twelve years of his life, from the year 723 to the year 735. The public expectation was soon raised, and the modest Virgil was sometimes obliged to gratify the impatient curiosity of his friends. Soon after the death of young Marcellus,† he recited the second, fourth, and SIXTH books of the Eneid, in the presence of Augustus and Octavia. 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 ENEAS, and from that specimen he ventures to foretell the approaching birth of a poem which will surpass the Iliad. Actia Virgilium custodis litora Phœbi, Cæsaris et fortes dicere posse rates. Donat. in Virgil. + Marcellus died in the latter end of the year 731. Usseri Annales, p. 555. Donat. in Virgil. Cedite Cedite Romani scriptores, cedite Graii, 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 Eneid, 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 Æneid, 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 Æneid. Can we seriously suppose, THAT HORACE WOULD HAVE BRANDED WITH SUCH WANTON INFAMY, ONE OF THE MEN IN THE WORLD WHOM HE LOVED AND HONOURED THE MOST? Nothing remains to say, except that Horace was himself ignorant of his friend's allegorical meaning, which the Bishop of Gloucester 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 GLOUCESTER has really united the se Propert. L. ii. El. xxv. v. 66. + Horat. L. i. Od. iii. L. i. Serm. v. ver. 39, &c. |