Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/39

Rh In the End, Inclination, as it does always, gets the better of Discretion.

This last Fable shows how touchingly the Poet argues in Love Affairs, as well as those of Medea, and Scylla. The two last are left by their Heroes, and their Reflections are very natural, and affecting. Ovid seem'd here to have had Virgil's Passion of Dido in his Eye, but with this Difference; the one had convers'd much with Ladies, and knew they lov'd to talk a great deal: The other consider'd no less, what was natural for them to say, than what became them to say.

Virgil has, through the whole Management of this Rencounter, discover'd a most finish'd Judgment. Æneas, like other Men, likes for Convenience, and leaves for greater. Dido, like other Ladies, resents the Neglect, enumerates the Obligations the Lover is under, upbraids him with Ingratitude, threatens him with Revenge, then by and by submits, begs for Compassion, and has Recourse to Tears.

It appears from this Piece, that Virgil was a discerning Master in the Passion of Love: And they that consider the Spirit, and Turn of that inimitable LineQui Bavium non odit cannot doubt but he had an equal Talent for Satyr.

Nor does the Genius of Ovid more exert on the Subject of Love, than on all others. In the Contention of Ajax, Ulysses his Elocution is Rh