Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 2.djvu/60

 ample of this kind, and leave the rest to your Obser­vation, when next you review the whole Æneis in the Original unblemish'd by my rude Translation. 'Tis in the first Book, where the Poet describes Neptune composing the Ocean, on which Æolus had rais'd a Tempest, without his permission. He had already chidden the Rebellious Winds for obeying the Commands of their Usurping Ma­ster: he had warn'd them from the Seas: he had beaten down the Billows with his Mace; dispell'd the Clouds, restor'd the Sun-shine, while Triton and Cymothoe were heaving the Ships from off the Quick-Sands; before the Poet wou'd offer at a Similitude for illustration.

This is the first Similitude which Virgil makes in this Poem, and one of the longest in the whole; for which Reason I the rather cite it. While the Storm was in its fury, any Allusion had been improper: For the Poet cou'd have compar'd it to nothing more impetuous than it self; consequently he could have made no Illustration. If he cou'd have illustrated, it had been an ambitious Ornament out of season, and would have diverted our Concernment: Nunc, non erat hisce locus; and therefore he deferr'd it to its proper place.

These are the Criticisms of most moment which have been made a­gainst the Æneis, by the Ancients or Mo-