DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9260#0031
PREFACE.
Y The animated Thoughts, and lively Images of this Poem, are numerous. None ever painted more to the
Llfe, than our Author , tho' feveral Grotefque Figures are now and then feen in the fame Groupe. I he
moft plentiful Scafon, that gives Birth to the fined Flowers, produces alfo the ranked Weeds. Ovid has
foown in one Line, the brighteft Fancy fometimesi and in the next, the pooreft Affectation.
V-nus makes Court to Adonis,
«... - Et eccel
Opportuna fud blanditur Topulus umbra i
Et requievit humoprejfitque & gramen & ipfum. Met. B. 10. L jf6.
Phoebus requefts 'Phaeton to defift fromhis Requeft.
- Confiliis, non curribus utere noftris.
Caneus in the Battle of the Centaurs wounds Latreus in feveral Places.
> Vulnufque in vulnere fecit.
Thefe are fome of our Poet's Boyifms. There is another Affeaation, call'd by guintifian 'O^agov, or a
'witty Folly, which wou'd not have appear'd quite fo trifling, had it been lefs frequent.
Medea perfuades the Daughters of Tdias to kill their Father, in order to have his Youth renew'd. She,
that loves him be ft , gives the firft Wound,
Et, ne fit feeler at a, facit fcelus — Met. B. 7.
Althea is enrag'd at her Son Meleager, and to do Juftice to the Manes of her Brothers, deftroys him,
Impietate pia efi •
Envy enters Athens, and beholds the flourilhing Condition of the City,
Vixque tenet lacrymas, quia nil lacrymabile cernit.
Ovid was much too fond of fuch Witticifms, which are more to be wonder'd at, becaufe they were not
the Fafhion of that Age, as Punns, and Quibbles arc of this. Virgil, as I remember, is not found trifling
in this Manner above once, or twice.
"Deucalion vacuum lapides jabtavit in orbem,
Unde homines nati, durum genus ....... G. B. 1. 1. 63.
Juno is in Indignation at ^yEneas upon his Arrival in Italy.
Num capti potuere capi ? mm incenfa cremavit
Troja viros? - 7- 1-
The Poet is fo far from Affeflring this fort of Wit, that he rarely ventures on fo fpirited a Turn of Fancy,
as in thefe following lnftances. .... ~ • • « , j 1 n 1 L c t
Juno upbraids Venus and Cupid, Ironically, that two Deities cou'd be able to get the better of one weak
Woman.
—— Memorabile nomen,
Una dolo Divum fi famina viffa duorum eft. JEn. B. 4. 1. 9f-
Euryalus, going upon an Enterprife, expreffes his Concern for his furviving Mother, if he fhou'd fall,
and recommends her to the Care of Afcanius, who Anfwers,
Namque erit ifta mihi genitrix, nomenque Creufa
Solum defuerit ———
Venus is importunate in her Sollicitations to Vulcan , to make Armour for her Son: He Anfwers,
Abfifte precando
Viribus indubitare tuis - JEn. B. 7.
At the firft kindling of "Dido's, Paflion, he has this moft natural Thought,
, Ilium abjens abfentem audit que, viditque.
But to return to Ovid, tho' I cannot vindicate him for his Points, I fliall endeavour to mollify ^Criticks,
^hen thev give him no quarter for his Didion, and attack him fo inflexibly for ending his Lines w£ Mono.
fyllables,'as _fi quis -ft non, &c and, as I thmk, he cannot be excus'd more advantageoufly, than
by affirming, that where he has done it once, Virgil has twenty times
.- & cum G. 1.
.-■ fi quis G. 2.
... nec dum G. 2.
.-fi quam *•
-jam bos xcn. iz.
—— nunc nunc &c.
There are a ereat many Endings of Lines in this manner, and more indeed than feems confiftent with the
Majefty of Heroick Verfe. When Lines are defign'd to be fermoni propriores, this Liberty may be allowable,
not fo when the Subied requires more fonorous Numbers. Virgil feems to endeavour to keep up his Verh-
fication to an Harmonious Dignity, and therefore, when fit Words do not offer with fome eafe, he ll rather
break off m an Hemiftich, than that the Line fhou'd be lazy / and languid. He well knew, how effential C
# * # # * 2 was
Y The animated Thoughts, and lively Images of this Poem, are numerous. None ever painted more to the
Llfe, than our Author , tho' feveral Grotefque Figures are now and then feen in the fame Groupe. I he
moft plentiful Scafon, that gives Birth to the fined Flowers, produces alfo the ranked Weeds. Ovid has
foown in one Line, the brighteft Fancy fometimesi and in the next, the pooreft Affectation.
V-nus makes Court to Adonis,
«... - Et eccel
Opportuna fud blanditur Topulus umbra i
Et requievit humoprejfitque & gramen & ipfum. Met. B. 10. L jf6.
Phoebus requefts 'Phaeton to defift fromhis Requeft.
- Confiliis, non curribus utere noftris.
Caneus in the Battle of the Centaurs wounds Latreus in feveral Places.
> Vulnufque in vulnere fecit.
Thefe are fome of our Poet's Boyifms. There is another Affeaation, call'd by guintifian 'O^agov, or a
'witty Folly, which wou'd not have appear'd quite fo trifling, had it been lefs frequent.
Medea perfuades the Daughters of Tdias to kill their Father, in order to have his Youth renew'd. She,
that loves him be ft , gives the firft Wound,
Et, ne fit feeler at a, facit fcelus — Met. B. 7.
Althea is enrag'd at her Son Meleager, and to do Juftice to the Manes of her Brothers, deftroys him,
Impietate pia efi •
Envy enters Athens, and beholds the flourilhing Condition of the City,
Vixque tenet lacrymas, quia nil lacrymabile cernit.
Ovid was much too fond of fuch Witticifms, which are more to be wonder'd at, becaufe they were not
the Fafhion of that Age, as Punns, and Quibbles arc of this. Virgil, as I remember, is not found trifling
in this Manner above once, or twice.
"Deucalion vacuum lapides jabtavit in orbem,
Unde homines nati, durum genus ....... G. B. 1. 1. 63.
Juno is in Indignation at ^yEneas upon his Arrival in Italy.
Num capti potuere capi ? mm incenfa cremavit
Troja viros? - 7- 1-
The Poet is fo far from Affeflring this fort of Wit, that he rarely ventures on fo fpirited a Turn of Fancy,
as in thefe following lnftances. .... ~ • • « , j 1 n 1 L c t
Juno upbraids Venus and Cupid, Ironically, that two Deities cou'd be able to get the better of one weak
Woman.
—— Memorabile nomen,
Una dolo Divum fi famina viffa duorum eft. JEn. B. 4. 1. 9f-
Euryalus, going upon an Enterprife, expreffes his Concern for his furviving Mother, if he fhou'd fall,
and recommends her to the Care of Afcanius, who Anfwers,
Namque erit ifta mihi genitrix, nomenque Creufa
Solum defuerit ———
Venus is importunate in her Sollicitations to Vulcan , to make Armour for her Son: He Anfwers,
Abfifte precando
Viribus indubitare tuis - JEn. B. 7.
At the firft kindling of "Dido's, Paflion, he has this moft natural Thought,
, Ilium abjens abfentem audit que, viditque.
But to return to Ovid, tho' I cannot vindicate him for his Points, I fliall endeavour to mollify ^Criticks,
^hen thev give him no quarter for his Didion, and attack him fo inflexibly for ending his Lines w£ Mono.
fyllables,'as _fi quis -ft non, &c and, as I thmk, he cannot be excus'd more advantageoufly, than
by affirming, that where he has done it once, Virgil has twenty times
.- & cum G. 1.
.-■ fi quis G. 2.
... nec dum G. 2.
.-fi quam *•
-jam bos xcn. iz.
—— nunc nunc &c.
There are a ereat many Endings of Lines in this manner, and more indeed than feems confiftent with the
Majefty of Heroick Verfe. When Lines are defign'd to be fermoni propriores, this Liberty may be allowable,
not fo when the Subied requires more fonorous Numbers. Virgil feems to endeavour to keep up his Verh-
fication to an Harmonious Dignity, and therefore, when fit Words do not offer with fome eafe, he ll rather
break off m an Hemiftich, than that the Line fhou'd be lazy / and languid. He well knew, how effential C
# * # # * 2 was