EUGENIUS was proceeding in that part of his discourse, when CRITES interrupted him.
"I see," said he, "EUGENIUS and I are never likely to have this question decided betwixt us: for he maintains the Moderns have acquired a new perfection in writing; I only grant, they have altered the mode of it.
"HOMER describes his heroes, [as] men of great appetites; lovers of beef broiled upon the coals, and good fellows: contrary to the practice of the French romances, whose heroes neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep for love.
"VIRGIL makes AENEAS, a bold avower of his own virtues,
"Sum pius AENEAS fama super aethera notus;
"which, in the civility of our Poets, is the character of a Fanfaron or Hector. For with us, the Knight takes occasion to walk out, or sleep, to avoid the vanity of telling his own story; which the trusty Squire is ever to perform for him [p. 535].
"So, in their Love Scenes, of which EUGENIUS spoke last, the Ancients were more hearty; we, the more talkative. They writ love, as it was then the mode to make it.
"And I will grant thus much to EUGENIUS, that, perhaps, one of their
Poets, had he lived in our Age,
"Si foret hoc nostrum fato delupsus in aevum,
"as HORACE says of LUCILIUS, he had altered many things: not that they were not natural before; but that he might accommodate himself to the Age he lived in. Yet, in the meantime, we are not to conclude anything rashly against those great men; but preserve to them, the dignity of Masters: and give that honour to their memories, quos libitina sacravit; part of which, we expect may be paid to us in future times."