[457] Preface to my _English_ Translation of _Virgil_'s _Æneis_.
[458] Ibid.
[459] The Reader will understand this Distinction much better by the
Examples which the Author has mention'd in his Preface to the _Æneis_;
and I shall, for that Reason, take the Liberty to transcribe some of
them. "The Storm, in the first Book of _Virgil_, driving the Fleet on
the Coast of _Carthage_, is an Incident, not an Episode, because the
Hero himself, and the whole Body of his Forces, are concern'd in it; and
so it is a direct, and not a collateral Part of the main Action. The
Adventures of _Nisus_ and _Euryalus_, in the 9th Book, are Episodes, not
Incidents; _i.e._ not direct Parts of the main Action."
[460] Thus prov'd by _Bossu_: The _Iliad_ begins with the Plague, which
lasts ten Days. The Poet allows for the Recovery of the _Grecians_ 10,
Battles that follow 5, Funeral Rites of _Patroclus_ 11, and of _Hector_
11; in all, 47.
[461] The _Odyssey_, according to the same Author, Book III. c. XII.
takes up 58 Days. And the _Æneis_ is reduc'd within half a Year, or
a single Campaign, beginning where Dr. _Trapp_ does. I know not how
_Bossu_ came to be so misrepresented.
[462] Art. Poet. ℣ 73.
[463] Book II. c. XIX.
[464] ℣ 103.
[465] De Art. Poet. ℣ 121.
[466] Ibid. ℣ 121.
[467] Περι ποιητικης, cap. XXIII.
[468] Æn. L. III. ℣ 26.
[469] ℣ 34.
[470] ℣ 59.
[471] Il. XIX. ℣ 407.
[472] Æn. III. 664.
[473] Ibid. 672.
[474] Æn. VII. 808.
[475] Περι ποιητικης, c. IX.
[476] Ibid.
[477] Lib I. Ep. II. 3.
[478] De Art. ℣ 317.
[479] ℣ 73.
[480] Lib. I. Sat. IV. 43.
[481] De Art. Poet. ℣ 335.
[482] Ibid. 23.
[483] See p. 45. of the Author's Preface to the _Æneis_, where the
Comparison between these two Poets is drawn out at large. As the
Case is commonly stated, _Homer_ excell'd in _Fire_ and _Invention_,
and _Virgil_ in Judgment; but Dr. _Trapp_ does not allow _Homer_'s
Superiority in any Respect. "It is a great Error (says he) to think that
all Fire consists in quarrelling and fighting, as do three Parts in four
of _Homer_'s, in his _Iliad_. The Fire we are speaking of is Spirit and
Vivacity, Energy of Thought and Expression, which Way soever it affects;
whether it fires us by Anger, or otherwise, nay, tho' it does not fire
us at all, but even produces a quite contrary Effect. However it may
sound like a Paradox, it is the Property of this poetical Flame, to
chill us with Horror, and make us weep with Pity, as well as kindle us
with Indignation, Love, or Glory. Not that _Virgil_ is deficient in that
Sort of Fire, the fierce, the rapid, the fighting."
Mr. _Pope_'s Sentiments of these two Poets are somewhat different; the
Reader shall have the Pleasure of comparing them; "This Fire (says he)
is discern'd in _Virgil_, but discern'd as thro' a Glass, reflected, and
more shining than warm, but every where equal and constant: In _Lucan_,
and _Statius_, it bursts out in sudden, short, and interrupted Flames:
In _Milton_ it glows like a Furnace, kept to an uncommon Fierceness
by the Force of Art: In _Shakespear_, it strikes before we are aware,
like an accidental Fire from Heaven: But in _Homer_, and in him only,
it burns every where clearly, and every where irresistibly." _Pope_'s
Translation of _Homer_'s _Iliad_. Dr. _Trapp_ criticizes on this Passage.
[484] Lib. III. Ep. VII.
[485] Thebaid. L. X.
[486] De Art. Poet. 132.
[487] Lib. I. Ep. XIX. 19.
[488] Lucret. IV. 1.
_Just Published._
Selectæ e profanis Scriptoribus Historiæ, quibus admista sunt varia
honeste vivendi Præcepta, ex iisdem Scriptoribus deprompta. Editio
altera.
Mons. _Rollin_, in his _Method of Studying the Belles Lettres_, Vol.
I, p. 84, concludes a very advantageous Character of this Work in the
following Words:
"I know of no Book, which may be more useful, and at the same time
more agreeable to Youth. It contains excellent Principles of Morality,
collected with great Order and Judgment, with very affecting Passages of
History upon every Article."