animated strain of
the whole, and the harmony of the versification, our admiration is
excited, at beholding subjects, so common in their nature, embellished
with the most magnificent decorations of poetry.

During four days which Augustus passed at Atella, to refresh himself from
fatigue, in his return to Rome, after the battle of Actium, the Georgics,
just then finished, were read to him by the author, who was occasionally
relieved in the task by his friend Mecaenas. We may easily conceive the
satisfaction enjoyed by the emperor, at finding that while he himself had
been gathering laurels in the achievements of war, another glorious
wreath was prepared by the Muses to adorn his temples; and that an
intimation was given of his being afterwards celebrated in a work more
congenial to the subject of heroic renown.

It is generally supposed that the Aeneid was written at the particular
desire of Augustus, who was ambitious of having the Julian family
represented as lineal descendants of the Trojan Aeneas. In this
celebrated poem, Virgil has happily united the characteristics of the
Iliad and Odyssey, and blended them so judiciously together, that they
mutually contribute to the general effect of the whole. By the esteem
and sympathy excited for the filial piety and misfortunes of Aeneas at
the catastrophe of Troy, the reader is strongly interested in his
subsequent adventures; and every obstacle to the establishment of the
Trojans in the promised land of Hesperia produces fresh sensations of
increased admiration and attachment. The episodes, characters, and
incidents, all concur to give beauty or grandeur to the poem. The
picture of Troy in flames can never be sufficiently (169) admired! The
incomparable portrait of Priam, in Homer, is admirably accommodated to a
different situation, in the character of Anchises, in the Aeneid. The
prophetic rage of the Cumaean Sibyl displays in the strongest colours the
enthusiasm of the poet. For sentiment, passion, and interesting
description, the episode of Dido is a master-piece in poetry. But Virgil
is not more conspicuous for strength of description than propriety of
sentiment; and wherever he takes a hint from the Grecian bard, he
prosecutes the idea with a judgment peculiar to himself. It may be
sufficient to mention one instance. In the sixth book of the Iliad,
while the Greeks are making great slaughter amongst the Trojans, Hector,
by the advice of Helenus, retires i