Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/42

 Depopulation, refus'd to contribute Mony, or to raise Recruits; they of Cremona voluntarily paid a double Quota of both: But past Services are a fruitless Plea; Civil Wars are one continued Act of Ingratitude: In vain did the Miserable Mothers, with their famishing Infants in their Arms, fill the Streets with their Numbers, and the Air with Lamentations; the Craving Legions were to be satisfy'd at any rate. Virgil, involv'd in the common Calamity, had recourse to his old Patron Pollio, but he was, at this time, under a Cloud; however, compassionating so worthy a Man, not of a Make to struggle thro' the World, he did what he could, and recommended him to Mecænas, with whom he still kept a private Correspondence. The Name of this great Man being much better known than one part of his Character, the Reader, I presume, will not be displeas'd if I supply it in this place.

Tho' he was of as deep Reach, and easie dispatch of Business as any in his time, yet he designedly liv'd beneath his