Fable, with relation to this History of
Æneas
, it may not, perhaps, be amiss to examine it in this Light, so far as regards my present Purpose. Whoever looks into the Abridgment above mentioned, will find that the Character of
Æneas
is filled with Piety to the Gods, and a superstitious Observation of Prodigies, Oracles, and Predictions.
Virgil
has not only preserved this Character in the Person of
Æneas
, but has given a place in his Poem to those particular Prophecies which he found recorded of him in History and Tradition. The Poet took the matters of Fact as they came down to him, and circumstanced them after his own manner, to make them appear the more natural, agreeable, or surprizing. I believe very many Readers have been shocked at that ludicrous Prophecy, which one of the
Harpyes