Theocritus. On the contrary, I believe there are few, if any, that more admire the beauties of that ancient writer. I consider him as the father of pastoral poetry, to whom we are originally obliged for every thing that has been well written in this kind, and to whom we owe even the Bucolicks of Virgil. Theocritus is like a rich mine, in which there is a plenty of ore; but a skilful hand is required to separate the dross from the pure metal. Those who would imitate his Doric rusticity, ought to write in Greek; for it is not to be imitated in any other language. We have no dialect peculiar to the country people: for though many words are used, which are not known in cities, yet they are various in different counties; some being peculiar to the east, others to the west, others to the north, and others to the south. A pastoral therefore, written in any of our rustic dialects, would be almost unintelligible, except in two or three counties; and the phrases of the most rude and stupid of our people, instead of giving an air of innocence and simplicity to a poem, disgust the reader by their grossness and absurdity.

To conclude; whosoever would excel in pastoral poetry, may find plenty of ore in the rich mine of Theocritus: but the art of refining and purifying it must be learned from Virgil.

THE

LIFE OF VIRGIL.

THE history of the lives of most of the famous persons of antiquity has been so obscured by fiction, that the very existence of many of them has been rendered doubtful. This is not entirely the case of Virgil; for we know that there was such a person, and are at no loss to discover his age and country. But so many improbable and fabulous stories have been told concerning him by the old grammarians, that it is very hard, at this distance of time, to distinguish between truth and falsehood. We shall therefore content ourselves with relating only what is certain, or probable; and return the idle and improbable fictions to the inventors of them.

of

PUBLIUS VIRGILIUS MARO was born at a village Year called Andes, now Petula", said to be about three Rome miles from Mantua, on the Ides or fifteenth day of

a Euseb. Chron. Donat. &c.
b Ray's Observations, &c. p.

221.

C

Οὐιργίλιος Μάρων ὁ ποιητὴς ἐγεν νήθη τούτου τοῦ ἔτους εἰδοῖς ὈκτοCglass. Phlegon apud Photium.

Maja Mercurium creastis Idus.
Augustis redit Idibus Diana.
Octobres Maro consecravit Idus.
Idus sæpe colas et has et illas,
Qui magni celebras Maronis Idus.
MART. lib. xii. ep. 67.

684.

of

684.

Year October, in the year of Rome 684, when Pompey Rome and Crassus were consuls. It is agreed, that his mother's name was Maia: but there is some dispute about the very name and quality of his father. Donatus, or the writer of Virgil's life under that name, says it was Maro; and Servius and Probus affirm that it was Virgil. The latter seems to have been in the right: for, as Ruæus justly observes, if the father's name had been Maro, the son's would have been Publius Maro Virgilius, according to the custom of the Romans, instead of Publius Virgilius Maro. Probus says he was a countryman; Donatus tells us, that some report him to have been a potter; though many are of opinion that he was at first a hired servant of one Magus or Magius, who gave him his daughter as a reward for his industry; and entrusted him with the care of his farm and flocks, and that he increased his small fortune, by buying woods, and managing bees. Ruæus thinks, and not without reason, that if the daughter's name was Maia, as all agree, the father's name must have been Maius, and not Magus or Magius. He observes farther, that this corruption of the name of Virgil's grandfather has given rise to a gross mistake of some later writers; that the old man was a magician, and that he instructed his grandson in magical rites, which seems to be confirmed by the incantations mentioned in the seventh Eclogue. Servius affirms, that Virgil was a citizen of Mantua, which seems

Ol. clxxvii. 3. Virgilius Maro in pago, qui Andes dicitur, haud procul a Mantua nascitur, Pom

peio et Crasso Consulibus. Euseb. Chron. Thus also most of the grammarians.

of

684.

very probable and indeed, the politeness of his Year manners, and his intimacy with some of the greatest Rome men of that age, even in his younger days, seem to intimate, that his birth was not so mean, as it is generally represented.

When Virgil was five years old, his intimate 689. friend and contemporary poet Horace was bornf; and two years afterwards, his great patron Au- 691. gustus. At the age of twelve years, he was sent to 696. study at Cremona", where he continued till he put

Donatus tells us some idle stories of prodigies attending the birth of Virgil. His mother, when she was with child of him, dreamed she was delivered of a branch of a bay-tree, which no sooner touched the ground, than it took root, and grew up into a fair tree, adorned with flowers and fruits. One would have thought, that this denoted rather that the child would become a great conqueror. The grandeur of this omen seems however to be a little diminished; for the next day, as the good woman was trudging along the road with her husband, she was delivered of our poet in a ditch. The child did not cry, and had so sweet a countenance, that it was not doubted but he would come to good fortune. A twig of a poplar was stuck immediately in the place, which soon outgrew all that were planted at the same time. We may conclude from the sudden and great thriving of the poplar, that the ditch was not a dry one, and consequently not a very commodious lying-in chamber. This famous tree, it seems, was

consecrated by the name of Vir-
gil's tree, and the breeding wo-
men used to make vows under
it for their safe delivery.

f Ol. clxxviii. 4. Horatius Flac-
cus, Satyricus et Lyricus Poëta,
libertino patre Venusi nascitur.
Euseb. Chron.

Natus est Augustus, M. Tullio Cicerone et Antonio Coss. ix. Cal. Octobr. paullo ante solis exortum. Sueton. Aug. c. 5.

h Olymp. clxxx. 3. Virgilius Cremonæ studiis eruditur. Euseb. Chron.

Donatus says, he studied at Cremona, till his seventh year; “Initia ætatis, id est, usque ad "septimum annum, Cremonæ "egit." Joseph Scaliger reads sedecimum instead of septimum; and takes the liberty to amend the whole passage thus; "Initia "ætatis, id est, a xiii usque ad "sedecimum annum Cremonæ egit, et xvii anno virilem to

gam sumpsit." But, as this critic adds a xiii, to make Donatus agree with Eusebius, and changes septimum into sedecimum, without the authority of any manuscript; it seems more reasonable to believe that this pas

d

of

Year on his manly gown, which, according to the custom Rome of the Romans, was in the seventeenth year. Soon 700. after he went to Milan, where having stayed but a 701. short time, he proceeded to Naples, as Donatus tells us; but, according to Eusebius, to Rome. That he studied some time at Naples, is affirmed also by Servius so that we may venture to believe Donatus, that he spent some time there, in the study of Roman and Greek literature, physic, and mathematics, before he went to Rome'. It is not easy