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-languid and tedious; and perhaps the poet is not happy in the discovery of Ulysses to Penelope. She is too cautious and distrustful; and we meet not that joyous surprize expected on such an occasion.

THE ENEID OF VIRGIL.

THE distinguishing excellencies of the Eneid are elegance and tenderness. Virgil is less animated and less sublime than Homer; but he has fewer negligencies, greater variety, and more dignity. The Æneid has all the correctness and improvements of the Augustan age. We meet no contention of heroes about a female slave; no violent scolding, nor abusive language; but the poem opens with the utmost magnificence.

The subject of the Eneid, which is the establishment of Æneas in Italy, is extremely happy. Nothing could be more interesting to the Romans than Virgil's deriving their origin from so famous a hero as Eneas. The object was splendid itself: it gave the poet a theme, taken from the traditionary history of his country; it allowed him to adopt Homer's mythology; and afforded him frequent opportunities of glancing at all the future great exploits of the Romans, and of describing Italy in its ancient and fabulous state.

Unity of action is perfectly preserved in the Æneid. The settlement of Æneas in Italy by order of the gods is constantly kept in view. The episodes are properly linked to the main subject; and the nodus or intrigue of the poem, is happily formed. The wrath of Juno, who opposes neas, gives rise to all his difficulties, and connects the human with the celestial operations through the whole poem.

Great art and judgment are displayed in the Æneid; but even Virgil is not without his faults. One is, that he has so few marked characters. Achates,

Cloanthes, Gyas, and other Trojan heroes, who accompanied Æneas into Italy, are undistinguished figures. Even Æneas himself is not a very interesting hero. He is described, indeed, as pious and brave; but his character is not marked by those strokes that touch the heart. The character of Dido is the best supported in the whole Æneid. Her warmth of passion, keenness of resentment, and violence of character, exhibit a more animated figure than any other Virgil has drawn.

The management of the subject, also, is in some respects exceptionable. The six last books received not the finishing hand of the author; and, for this rea son, he ordered his poem to be committed to the fames. The wars with the Latins are in dignity infe rior to the more interesting objects previously presented to us; and the reader is tempted to take part with Turnus against Æneas.

The principal excellency of Virgil, and what he possesses beyond all poets, is tenderness. His soul was full of sensibility. He felt himself all the affecting circumstances in the scenes he describes, and knew how by a single stroke to reach the heart. In an ep ic poem this merit is next to sublimity. The second book of the Æneid is one of the greatest master-pieces ever executed. The death of old Priam, aud the family pieces of Æneas, Anchises, and Creusa, arè as tender as can be conceived. In the fourth book, the unhappy passion and death of Dido are admira ble. The interview of Æneas with Andromache and Helenus, in the third book; the episodes of Pallas and Evander, of Nisus and Euryalus, of Lausus and Mezentius, are all striking instances of the power of rais ing the tender emotions. The best and most finished books are the first, second, fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and twelfth.

Virgil's battles are in fire and sublimity far inferior to Homer's. But in one important episode, the descent into hell, he has outdone Homer in the Odyssey by many degrees. There is nothing, in all antiquity,

equal in its kind to the sixth book of the Eneid. The scenery, the objects, and the description, are great, solemn, and sublime.

With regard to the comparative merit of these two great princes of epic poetry, it must be allowed that Homer was the greater genius, and Virgil the more correct writer. Homer is more original, more bold, more sublime, and more forcible. In judgment they are both eminent. Homer has all the Greek vivacity; Virgil, all the Roman stateliness. The imagination of Homer is the most copious; that of Virgil the most correct. The strength of the former lies in warming the fancy; that of the latter, in touching the heart. Homer's style is more simple and animated; Virgil's, more elegant and uniform.

LUCAN'S PHARSALIA,

LUCAN is inferior to Homer and Virgil ; yet he de serves attention. There is little invention in his Pharsalia; and it is conducted in too historical a manner to be strictly epic. It may be arranged, however in the epic class, as it treats of great and heroie adventures. The subject of the Pharsalia has all the epic dignity and grandeur; and it possesses unity of object, viz. the triumph of Cæsar over Roman liberty.

But, though the subject of Lucan is confessedly heroic, it has two defects. Civil wars present objects too shocking for epic poetry, and furnish odious and disgusting views of human nature. But Lucan's genius seems to delight in savage scenes,

The other defect of Lucan's subject is, that it was too near the time in which he lived. This deprived him of the assistance of fiction and machinery, and thereby rendered his work less splendid and amusing. The facts on which he founds bis poem were too well known, and too recent, to admit fables, and the inter position of gods.

The characters of Lucan are drawn with spirit and force. But though Pompey is his hero, he has not made him very interesting. He marks not Pompey by any high distinction, either for magnanimity or valor. He is always surpassed by Cæsar. Cato is Lucan's favorite character; and whenever he introduces him, he rises above himself.

In managing his story, Lucan confines himself too much to chronological order. This breaks the thread of his narration, and hurries him from place to place. He is also too digressive; frequently quitting his subject to give us some geographical description, or philosophical disquisition.

There are several poetical and spirited descriptions in the Pharsalia; but the strength of this poet does not lie either in narration or description. His narration is often dry and harsh; his descriptions are often over-wrought, and employed on disagreeable objects. His chief merit consists in his sentiments, which are noble, striking, glowing, and ardent. He is the most philosophical and the most patriotic poet of antiquity. He was a stoic; and the spirit of that philosophy breathes through his poem. He is elevated and bold; and abounds in well-timed exclamations and apostrophes.

As his vivacity and fire are great, he is apt to be carried away by them. His great defect is want of moderation. He knows not where to stop. When he would aggrandize his object, he becomes tumid and unnatural. There is much bombast in his poem. His taste is marked with the corruption of his age; and instead of poetry, he often exhibits declamation.

On the whole, however, he is an author of lively and original genius. His high sentiments and his fire serve to atone for many of his defects. His genius had strength, but no tenderness nor amenity. Compared with Virgil, he has more fire and sublimer sentiments; but in every thing else falls infinitely below him; particularly in purity, elegance, and tender

ness.

Statius and Silius Italicus, though poets of the epic class, are too inconsiderable for particular criti

cism.

TASSO'S JERUSALEM.

JERUSALEM DELIVERED is a strictly regular epic poem, and abounds with beauties. The subject is the recovery of Jerusalem from Infidels by the united powers of Christendom. The enterprize was splendid, venerable, and heroic; and an interesting contrast is exhibited between the Christians and Saracens. Religion renders the subject august, and opens a natural field for machinery and sublime description. The action, too, lies in a country, and in a period of time, sufficiently remote to admit an intermixture of fable with history.

Rich invention is a capital quality in Tasso. He is full of events finely diversified. He never fatigues his reader by mere war and fighting. He frequently shifts the scene; and from camps and battles transports us to more pleasing objects. Sometimes the solemnities of religion; sometimes the intrigues of love; at other times the adventures of a journey, or the incidents of pastoral life, relieve and entertain the reader. The work at the same time is artfully connected; and in the midst of variety, there is perfect unity of plan.

Many characters enliven the poem; and these distinctly marked and well supported. Godfrey the leader of the enterprize, is prudent, moderate, and brave; Tancred, amorous, generous, and gallant. Rinaldo, who is properly the hero of the poem, is passionate and resentful; but full of zeal, honor and heroism. Solyman is high-minded: Erminia tender; Ar mida artful and violent, and Clorinda, masculine. In drawing characters, Tasso is superior to Virgil, and yields to no poet but Homer.

He abounds in machinery. When celestial beings interpose, his machinery is noble. But devils, en

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