[81] Italiam non sponte sequor——
Tis with Regret I seek Th' Italian Coasts.
Tho' even here, I would observe by the Way, the unalterable Resolution of Æneas, and his abrupt leaving the Queen, might have been express'd as well, if his Speech had ended where it does now, and the Verse been continued on afterwards. It is certain, no good Account can be given of most of these Hiatus's; and therefore it is very difficult to find out the Elegance of them. There may be a Grace, possibly, in some seeming Defects; as in those false Quantities, which Virgil sometimes, but sparingly admits, to awaken in his Reader an Attention to the Rules of Poetry, by so becoming a Violation of them. But tho' a Lisp, a Mole, or a slight Cast of the Eye, may add new Beauties to the Beautiful, Lameness and Deformity never can.
But whatever is the Determination concerning Virgil (for I would not be too peremptory in mine) modern Writers, and especially those of our own Country, take, undoubtedly, too great a Liberty in imitating him, who purposely leave many half Lines, both in their English and Latin Poems. This is often but an Indulgence of their Sloth; sometimes of their Want of Words, or of Wit; they leave part of a Verse, because they know not how to finish it; and sometimes, perhaps, it is owing to an Affectation of Elegance. To me, I must confess, these Gaps, in Reading, are always offensive; not to say absurd and ridiculous. But so it is, they receive a Sanction, it seems, from the Authority of Virgil. Allowing he left some designedly, it does not follow our Writers have a Pretence to the same Liberty. They shall have it in abundance, if they'll attempt another Æneis. In the mean Time, I would have them consider a little the Difference between a Poetical Essay, and an Epic Poem; or if that be their Attempt, the Difference, still, between theirs and Virgil's.
Nor are they guilty of less Presumption, who, under the sacred Name of Virgil, arrogantly transgress the Laws of Quantity. In the Course of a long Work, that requires the greatest Nicety and Conduct, such a Liberty, when used with Caution and Modesty, is not only excuseable, but elegant: But what is this to our little poetical Businesses? In vain is Virgil here alledg'd, of all Authorities the greatest, or Cæsura, of all Figures the usefullest! 'Tis true, that immortal Poet uses this License sometimes, not only in the Æneis, but in the Georgics, and even in the Eclogues: The Prince of Poets, and the great Arbiter of Verse, might claim a discretionary Power of suspending the Laws of it, as he saw Occasion; but for us to invade his Prerogative, under Pretence of imitating his Example, is the same as if a Subject should usurp the Authority of a King, and justify himself by that very Authority. We are not, however, totally debarr'd this Liberty; nor yet indulged it in the same Degree with Virgil; much less ought we to extend it beyond him.
Scarce any Thing is of greater Difficulty, or Moment, in the poetic Style, than the true Use of Epithets. Nothing loads a Poem, or tires the Reader more, than too great a Redundancy of them. Now they are always redundant, unless their Substantives receive from them either new Ideas, or some Illustration and Ornament too of their own. And yet with the Observation of these Rules, it is possible they may be redundant, that is, a Poem may be clogg'd with too many of them. I shall lay before you some Examples of both Kinds of Epithets; and shall take Care to make Choice of such as may not only illustrate the Point before us, but many other Beauties of the poetic Style.
Of the former Sort of Epithets, that add new and distinct Ideas to their Substantives, the following Verses will furnish many. In Virgil's most admirable Description of the Plague raging among the Cattle, in the third Book of the Georgics, we have these Lines:
[82] Sæpe in honore Deum medio stans hostia ad aram,— Inter cunctantes cecidit moribunda ministros.
Oft standing at the Altar, and with Wreaths, And woolly Fillets bound, the Victim Bull, In the mid Honour of the Gods, fell dead Between the ling'ring Sacrificer's Hands.
And a few Lines after: