Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/83

 Charge in his Government. Thus was his Life as chast as his Stile, and those who can Critick his Poetry, can never find a blemish in his Manners; and one would rather wish to have that purity of Mind, which the Satyrist himself attributes to him; that friendly disposition, and evenness of temper, and patience, which he was Master of in so eminent a degree, than to have the honour of being Author of the Æneis, or even of the Georgics themselves.

Having therefore so little relish for the usual amusements of the world, he prosecuted his Studies without any considerable interruption, during the whole course of his Life, which one may reasonably conjecture to have been something longer than 52 years; and therefore it is no wonder that he became the most general Scholar that Rome ever bred, unless some one should except Varro. Besides the exact knowledge of Rural Affairs, he understood Medicine, to which Profession he was design'd by his Parents. A Curious