What has been hitherto discoursed, includes both Judgment and Invention. That Homer excels Virgil in the latter of These, is generally taken for granted. That he invented before him, and invented more, is an undoubted Truth: But it does not from thence follow that he invented better, or that he had a better Invention. For to say that Virgil betrays a Barrenness of Genius, or Scantiness of Imagination, (even in comparison with Homer) is a most groundless, and unjust Reflection upon him. It is his exact Judgment which makes both his Fancy, and his Fire seem less to Some, than they really are. And then we must consider that it was the Fashion among the Romans to adopt all Learning of the Greeks into their own Language: It was so in Oratory, and Philosophy, as well as in Poetry. And therefore it is no Consequence that Virgil was of a narrower Invention than Homer himself, because in many things he copied from him: And yet That Inference is continually made, and those things unreasonably confounded. And after all; Virgil did not copy so much from Homer, as some would make us believe; from whose Discourse, if we had no other Evidence, one would imagine the Latin to be little more than a Translation, and an Abridgment of the Greek. The admirable Choice of his Subject, and Heroe, for the Honour of his Country; his most artfully interweaving the Roman History, especially at those three remarkable Divisions in the First, the Sixth, and the Eighth Books; his Action, and the Main of his Fable; the exquisite Mechanism of his Poem, and the Disposition of it's Parts, are entirely his own; as are most of his Episodes: And I suppose it will be allowed that his Diction and Versification were not taken from Homer. To pass over many other things which might be mentioned, and some of which I shall mention in my Notes; Why must Dido and Æneas be copied from Calypso and Ulysses? The Reason is plain: Dido and Calypso were Women, (if the latter, being a Goddess, may be called so;) and Ulysses and Æneas were Men; and between those Men and Women there was a Love-Adventure, and a Heroe detained by it. That is all the Resemblance between the Persons immediately concerned. Jupiter's Message by Mercury indeed is plainly taken from Homer by Virgil: But Virgil might very well think of that Imitation, after he had laid the Plan of Dido's Episode; which is quite of another Nature from Calypso's, and introduced with a quite different Design. For the same Reason, I suppose, the Conversation between Venus and Jupiter in the First Æneid must be taken from Homer; because Thetis has a Conference with that God (in favour of her Son too) in the First Iliad. Virgil mentions Sea and Land, Heaven and Earth, Horses and Chariots, Gods and Men; nay he makes use of Hexameter Verse, and the Letters of the Alphabet; and Homer, tho' in a different Language, had I confess, done all This before him. But where Virgil really does (as he often does) imitate Homer; how does he at the same time exceed him! What Comparison is there between the Funeral Games for Patroclus, and those for Anchises? Between the Descent of Ulysses into Hell, and that of Æneas? Between the merely ornamental Sculptures upon Homer's Vulcanian Shield, and the Roman History, and the Triumphs of Augustus upon Virgil's? In my Notes I shall be more particular: At present, I cannot forbear saying, that to be such an Improver is at least almost as much Glory, as to be the original Inventer.[14]
As the Case is stated between these two great Poets by the most moderate Criticks; Homer excelled in Fire, and Invention; and Virgil in Judgment. Invention has been already enough considered: Judgment, and Fire are farther to be discoursed of. That Virgil excelled in Judgment, we all allow. But how far did he excel? Did he not very much? Almost beyond Comparison? I shall here say very little of Homer's Errours, and Virgil's Excellencies in that Respect. The latter I shall speak of in my Notes; And the former I have no mind to: Both, because it has been so frequently, and largely done already; and also, because it is an uneasy Task; and I had much rather remark upon Beauties, than upon Faults; especially in one of the greatest Men that ever lived; and for whom I have an exceeding Love, and Veneration. I think he is unjustly censured by my Lord Roscommon, and Others, for his Railing Heroes, and Wounded Gods. The one was agreeable to the Manners of those Ages, which he best knew: And as to the other, Those who are thus wounded are subordinate Deities, and supposed to have Bodies, or certain Vehicles equivalent to them. Indeed, as Jupiter is invested with Omnipotence, and other Attributes of the supreme God; I know not how to account for his being bound and imprisoned by his Subjects, and requiring the Assistance of a Giant to release him: And tho' the Wound of Mars may be no Impropriety; yet his Behaviour upon it is very strange: He roars, and runs away, and tells his Father; and the God of War is the veriest Coward in the Field. Nor can I forbear thinking, notwithstanding all the Refinements of Criticks, and Commentators, that the Figure which Vulcan makes in the Synod of the Gods is a little improper, and unheroical. But, as I said, I care not to insist upon these Things; nor do I deny that Virgil has Faults, and that too in his first Six Books, which are most correct, and least liable to Exception. I shall in my Remarks take Notice of some Passages, which I think to be such. No Mortal was ever yet the Author of a Work absolutely perfect: There are but Two such in the World; if we may properly say so: For the World it self is one of them.
Virgil then greatly excelled Homer in Judgment: So much, that had he been greatly excelled by him in Fire, the Advantage, upon the Comparison in these two Respects, would have been on his Side. But I shall not consider, on the other hand, how far Homer exceeded Virgil in Fire; because I utterly deny that he exceeded him in it at all.
This, I am sensible, will seem a bold Assertion. Many who, upon the Whole, prefer Virgil, give him up here: Many, I say; for Some do not. And never was any Author more injured, than he has been, by some Criticks, especially Modern ones, in the Article of Genius, and Poetical Fire. What do these Gentlemen call Fire? Or how much Fire would they have? It is impossible to instance in Particulars here; I shall do That in my Notes: I can now only refer to some general Heads, among a Multitude more, which I cannot so much as mention. In the First Book, Juno's Speech, Æolus, the Storm, the Beginning of Dido's Passion: Almost the whole Second Book throughout: Polyphemus, and Ætna in the Third: The Sports, and the Burning of the Ships, in the Fifth: The Sibyl's Prophetick Enthusiasm, and the Descent into Hell in the Sixth: Juno's Speech again, the Fury Alecto, the Occasion of the War, and the Assembling of the Forces in the Seventh: The Story of Cacus in the Eighth, the Cyclops, and the Shield: In the Ninth, the Beginning of warlike Action; at
Hic subitam nigro glomerari pulvere nubem
Prospiciunt Teucri, & tenebras insurgere campis, &c.
Nisus and Euryalus; and the amazing Exploits of Turnus in the Enemy's City: In the Tenth, the Arrival of Æneas with his Fleet and Forces, at
Ardet apex capiti, cristisque à vertice flamma
Funditur, & vastos umbo vomit aureus ignes, &c.
It is needless, and would be almost endless, to recite the Rapidity of the War in the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Books; Mezentius; Camilla; the Speeches of Turnus, to Drances, to Latinus, to his Sister Juturna; and lastly, the single Combat between Æneas and Him:
At Pater Æneas, audito nomine Turni,
Deserit & muros, & summas deserit arces;
Præcipitatque moras omnes, opera omnia rumpit,
Lætitia exultans, horrendumque intonat armis:
Quantus Athos, &c.
Which reminds me, by the way, that the same Persons, who blame Virgil for want of Fire, blame his Heroe for want of Courage; and with just as much Reason. I agree, that each of these Poets in his Temper and Spirit extremely resembles his Heroe: And accordingly, Homer is no more superior to Virgil in true Fire, than Achilles is to Æneas in true Courage. But what necessarily supposes the Poetical Fire, and cannot subsist without it, has not been yet mentioned upon this Head; tho' it was taken Notice of upon another: I mean, Moving the Passions, especially those of Terrour and Pity. The Fourth Book throughout I have above referred to: The Death of Priam; The Meeting of Æneas and Andromache; Nisus and Euryalus again: Evander's Concern for his Son before his Death, and his Lamentation after it; The Distress of Juturna, and the Fury in the Shape of an Owl flapping upon the Shield of Turnus, are some Instances selected out of many. The Truth is, (so far as it appears from their several Works) the Greek Poet knew little of the Passions, in comparison of the Roman.