But sometimes, likewise, when he unfolds the Principles of Matter, the Causes of Things, and the Phænomena of Nature. It is certain, Virgil is much indebted to him, tho' he has much improv'd his Manner.
Another Imperfection in Lucretius is, that he never makes any Excursions into poetical Fiction. Some Digressions he has, but they are rather philosophical, than poetical; and therefore don't diversify the Subject, nor afford the Reader sufficient Refreshment. He has some, indeed, philosophical; but then they are impious, such as reason against Providence, the Foundations of Religion, and the Immortality of the Soul. One, however, I must except, that upon the Plague of Athens; which contains, indeed, a poetical Description, but nothing of poetical Fable. It must be own'd, this Poet reasons too much in the Manner of the Schools, the Philosopher appears too open, he wants the Gentility to conceal his Beard, and temper his Severity. Poetry and Philosophy, indeed, were both to be join'd together, but the one ought to be as the Handmaid to the other; which Virgil would not have fail'd to have taken care of, had he been engag'd on such a Subject. Not so Lucretius, who appears more a Philosopher than a Poet, and yet of Poets not the meanest: Virgil, in his Georgics, appears more a Poet than a Husbandman, and yet of Husbandmen the greatest.
I can't see why, in a Work of this Kind, Nature may not be so explain'd, as to admit sometimes of poetical Fiction; in the same Manner that Virgil describes the Cyclops forging the Thunderbolts?
[264] Tres imbris torti radios, tres nubis aquosæ Addiderant, rutili tres ignis, & alitis Austri: Fulgores nunc terrificos, sonitumque, metumque, Addiderant operi, flammisque sequacibus iras.
Three Forks of darted Hail, of wat'ry Cloud Three more they added; three of glaring Fire, As many of the winged southern Wind; Then dreadful Flashes, and the roaring Noise, And Rage, and Terror, and avenging Flames.
Here the Formation of the Thunder is poetically feign'd; the Matter and the Adjuncts explain'd physically; Philosophy is made the Basis, and Poetry the Superstructure.
I know of no modern Poem of this Sort worth mentioning, except Buchanan's Sphere, which is a Work by no means contemptible. But as Natural Philosophy has, by the Help of Experiments, been lately brought to much greater Perfection than ever; this Kind of Poetry, no doubt, would have made proportionable Advances, if the same Age that shew'd a Boyle, a Halley, and a Newton, had produc'd a Virgil; or if we had not been so much worse Poets than the Ancients, as we are better Philosophers. We have, indeed, some poetical Essays on the[265] Circulation of the Blood, the Air-pump, the Microscope, and the Telescope, and the like: But these are short Descriptions, no ways reducible to the Species of Poetry before us. 'Tis true, they may in some Sense be reduc'd under the Title of Didactic, tho' not of Preceptive Poetry; they teach by Description, not by Precept.
But the next Kind I mention'd, relating to the Business or Pleasures of Life, do both. Under this Head Virgil's Georgics stand foremost, containing the most useful Rules for Husbandry in all its Branches, Agriculture, the Method of raising Trees, or Cattle, or tending of Bees. The Pleasure that naturally results from reading them, is chiefly owing to the Pleasure and Advantage which attends a Country Life. Here Virgil has imitated Hesiod, as he has Theocritus in his Eclogues, and Homer in the Æneis; I should rather have said, has exceeded each in their peculiar Way of Writing, unless, perhaps, we ought to except Theocritus: But Hesiod he his left so far behind him, that he scarce deserves to be mention'd in the Comparison. The good old Man of Ascræa is at best but a downright Yeoman, whereas Virgil appears with the Learning of a Scholar, and the Elegance of a Gentleman. From his Georgics, then, all the Maxims that relate to this Subject must be illustrated.
The first Rule I would lay down, is, That we ought to select with Judgment such Circumstances as are capable of shining in Verse; not that we are to omit the gravest Precepts, but to express them by their most poetical Adjuncts:
[266] Jam vinctæ vites, jam falcem arbusta reponunt; Jam canit extremos effœtus vinitor antes: Sollicitanda tamen tellus, pulvisque movendus; Et jam maturis metuendus Jupiter uvis.