[485] —Nec tu divinam Æneida tenta.
But what follows is not so well:
Sed longe sequere, & vestigia semper adora.
For this, with an Appearance of Modesty, insinuates, that he follow'd Virgil: But at how great a Distance! with what unequal Steps! How unlike is his Way of Writing, and Thinking! But even Statius is not without his Beauties, tho' his Poem is not properly Epic; for the Heroes of his Thebais are too much upon a Level, no one is superior to the rest; and, besides, there are two Actions, one unfortunate; and the other happy. Tasso is, indeed, truly heroic, and has justly attain'd no small Esteem. But, to pass by other Particulars, he is too full of Magic, Enchantments, Machinery, and aerial Personages. Of the same Fault our Countryman Spencer is still more remarkably guilty, who treads almost perpetually upon enchanted Ground, and the greatest Part of whose Characters are Fairies, Ghosts, Magicians and Giants. He is all over Allegory, pursues not one Action but several, and such as have so little Relation to each other, that it is difficult to see any Connection. But, in other Respects, this most ingenious Writer was born a Poet, if any one ever was. If we consider his Versification, and especially his Copiousness of Invention, he is justly celebrated, among the Poets of the first Class.
If Milton did not write an Heroic Poem, properly so call'd, yet he certainly wrote an excellent one, such as deserves, or rather is above all Commendation. He is no slavish Imitator of Homer and Virgil, he opens a Way entirely new, and entirely his own: In Fruitfulness of Invention, Sublimity of Genius, in the Weight and Lustre of his Thoughts and Words, and, lastly, in the Perfection of his Judgment, he is, perhaps, equal to either of them, tho' he wrote in a Language much inferior to both theirs, especially Homer's; and is particularly much less correct than Virgil. Let other Moderns imitate Milton, by imitating Homer and Virgil less: Let them improve and form themselves, as much as possible, by their Genius, their Judgment, and their Way of Writing and Thinking: To do this, is to imitate; but to transcribe their Poems, or, at least, a great Part of them, into their own, is not Copying, but Stealing.
[486] Nec circa vilem, patulumque moraberis orbem Nec verbum verbo curabis reddere, fidus Interpres.
Nor think it essential to an Heroic Poem, to describe the Anger of some great General, the Return of a King into his own Country, a Colony transplanted from one Region to another, the Description of Æolia, and the Winds, the solemn Celebration of Funeral Games, a Descent into Hell, or a Hero furnish'd with celestial Armour: But rather avoid these, and many other Subjects, which are treated of by Homer and Virgil; and for that very Reason, because they are so. Whoever attempts an Heroic Poem, must form a new Plan, and guard against the Stroke of Horace's Satire:
[487] O imitatores, servum pecus.
Let him strike out with that noble and daring Spirit of Lucretius;
[488] Avia Pieridum peragro loca, nullius ante Trita solo; juvat integros accedere fontes, Atque haurire; juvatque novos decerpere flores, Insignemque meo capiti petere inde coronam, Unde prius nulli velarunt tempora Musæ.