Pube tenus: poftrema immani corpore priftis,
Delphinum caudas utero commissa luporum.

Æneid. 3.

THERE is a Medal of Sextus Pompeius, with a Representation of Scylla on the Reverse, which not only may serve to illuftrate these Descriptions, but will likewise give the Reader the Pleasure of another Comparison.

2

HE feems likewife to have had this Line of HORACE in his Mind,

-Ut turpiter atrum

Definat in pifcem mulier formosa superne.

THE Moral of the ILIAD is, by fhewing the ill Effects of Civil Diffenfions, designed to promote an Union against the common Enemy, which was a very instructive Leffon for HOMER'S Countrymen at the Time he wrote. This MILTON finely imitates in the Reflection he makes on the Concord of the fallen Angels,

O Shame to Men! Devil with Devil damn'd
Firm Concord holds, Men only disagree

of Creatures rational, tho' under Hope
of heavenly Grace: And GOD proclaiming Peace,
Yet live in Hatred, Enmity, and Strife
Among themselves, and levy oruel Wars,
Wafting the Earth each other to deftroy:

As

As if (which might induce us to Accord)
Man had not hellish Foes enow befides,

That Day and Night for his Deftruction wait.

THE Characters of Eneas and Satan, tho', in one Particular, directly oppofite, are both a Compound of thofe of Achilles and Vlyffes; thus, we fee Satan, in the Courfe of the Poem, a wife and prudent Leader, of great Courage and Ambition, a faithful Friend, &c. I have often thought, that the Character of Achilles, which is Courage to a Height, is very ill introduced in the ILIAD. At his first Appearance in the Poem, he is represented making a Speech, advising his Countrymen to raise the Siege, and fave themselves by Flight.

Α'τείδε, νῦν ἄμμε παλιμπλαγχθέντας δίω

Αψ απονοσήσειν, είκεν θάνατὸν γε φύγε μεν·
Εἰ δὴ ὁμοῦ πόλεμός τε δαμᾶ καὶ λοιμὸς Αχαιούς

are the first Words he fays. Here, he makes
the Plague not the only Motive for a Re-
treat;
he feems to apprehend an equal
Danger from the Enemy, and infinuates as
much Lofs. The only poffible Apology for
HOMER is, That Achilles spoke this only
out of Resentment to Agamemnon: But
that could not be the Cafe, as this Speech

is

is prior to their Quarrel, or, at least, prior to the Explication of any fuch Refentment; fo that it must have an Effect quite the contrary from prejudicing us in favours of his Bravery.

As Satan refembles Achilles, fo does Beelzebub Patroclus; and, in Imitation of HOMER, MILTON has join'd them in a most intimate Friendship.

If thou beeft be, but Oh, how fall'n! how chang'd
From him who in the happy Fields of Light,
Cloth'd with transcendent Brightness, didft out-shine
Myriads tho' bright! If he whom mutual League
United Thoughts and Counfels, equal Hope
And Hazard in the glorious Enterprize,
Join'd with me once, now Mifery hath join'd
In equal Ruin.

THIS resembles the laft Part of the Speech Patroclus's Ghoft makes to Achilles in the 23d ILIAD. Our Author has imitated the rest of the fame Speech in his fifth Book, where Satan thus accofts Beelzebub,

Sleepeft thou, Companion dear? What Sleep can clofe
Thy Eye-Lids? Thou to me thy Thoughts

Waft wont, I mine to thee was wont to impart:
Both waking we were one; how then can now
Thy Sleep diffent?

IN

In both the following Paffages the thought is the fame; but VIRGIL has varied a little from the Original, by changing the Chariot to a Boat; which Alteration has a very good Effect.

μέγα δι έβραχε φήγιν άξων
Βρεθοσύνη δεινὴν γὰὸ ἄγων θεον, ἄνδρα τ' ἄρισον.
-Simul accipit alveo

Ingentem Æneam. Gemuit fub pondere cymba
Sutilis, & multam accepit rimosa paludem.

IN HOMER, an ordinary Chariot groans under Minerva and Diomede; but, here, a Vehicle of a higher Nature bends under the Weight of Æneas, which far exalts him above HOMER'S Hero and Goddess. I could, indeed have wifhed the last Line had been fpared, fince it rather feems to extenuate than increase the Miracle.; as, in HOMER, the Epithet Onywvos properly does. Hence, this of MILTON, fpeaking of Satan.

Then with expanded Wings he fteers his Flight
Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air

THAT FELT UNUSUAL WEIGHT.

'Tis worth remarking, How a great Author can embellifh the most common, and trivial Things, and render them both surprising and entertaining. Thus, to compare a Multi

tude

tude to the Leaves of Trees, or Sand on the Sea-fhore, are the most trite and barren Similes in Nature; yet MILTON has improved and applied them fo artfully, that they appear vaftly beautiful.

Λίων γὰ φύλλοισιν εοικότες ή ψαμμάθοισιν

Quam multa in fylvis autumni frigore primo
Lapfa cadunt folia.

Hom.

Virgil

Thick as autumnal Leaves that ftrow the Brooks
In Vallombrofa, where the Etrurian Shades
High over-arch'd embow'r;

BUT MILTON'S Comparison is by far the exactest; for it not only expresses a Multitude, as the above of HOMER and VIRGIL, but also the Pofture and Situation of the Angels. Their lying confusedly in Heaps, covered with the Lake, is finely represented by this Image of the Leaves in the Brooks. Moreover, the falling of a Shower of Leaves from the Trees, in a Storm of Wind, very well represents the Dejection of the Angels from their former Celestial Manfions'; and * their faded Splendor wan, is finely expreffed by the paleness and witheredness of the Leaves: OVID ufes this very Simile, to exprefs a Paleness. Befides the Propriety of

+ Book 4th.

Ꭰ

the