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upiter having affembled the Gods in his Palace, by Juno's advice fends Minerva to the Trojan Camp, to induce them to break the Treaty made with the Greeks, and to Oblige them to recommence Hoftilities.

B. IV.

THE

*FOURTH BOOK

OF THE,

ILIA D.

A

ND now Olympus' fhining gates unfold;
The Gods, with Jove, affume their

Thrones of Gold:

Immortal

It was from the beginning of this book that Virgil has taken that of his tenth Eneid, as the whole tenour of the ftory in this and the last book is followed in the twelfth. The truce and the folemn oath, the breach of it by a dart thrown by Tolumnius, Jutu na's inciting the Latines to renew the war, the wound of meas, his fpeedy cure, and the battel entuing, all these are manifeftly copied from hence. The folemnity, furprize, and variety of thefe circumftances feem'd to him of importance enough, to build the whole catastrophe

of

Immortal Hebè, fresh with bloom divine,

The golden goblet crowns with purple wine: While the full bowls flow round, the pow'rs employ Their careful eyes on long-contended Troy.

When Jove, difpps'd to tempt Saturnia's spleen, Thus wak'd the fury of his partial Queen.

Two pow'rs divine the son of Atreus aid, 30 Imperial Juno, and the martial maid;

But high in heav'n they fit, and gaze from far,
The tame spectators of his deeds of war.

of his work upon them; tho' in Homer they are but openings to the general action, and fuch as in their warmth are still exceeded by all that follow them. They are chofen, we grant, by Virgil with great judgment, and conclude his Poem with a becoming majefty: Yet the finishing his scheme with that which is but the cooleft part of Homer's action, tends in fome degree to fhew the disparity of the poetical fire in these

two authors.

. 3. Immortal Hebè.] The Goddess of Youth is introduc'd as an attendant upon the banquets of the Gods, to fhew that the divine beings enjoy an eternal youth, and that their life is a felicity without end. Dacier.

. 9. Two pow'rs divine.] Jupiter's reproaching these two Goddesses with neglecting to assist Menelaus, proceeds (as M. Dacier remarks) from the affection he bore to Troy: Since if Menelaus by their help had gain'd a complete victory, the fiege had been rais'd, and the city deliver❜d. On the contrary, Jano and Minerva might suffer Paris to escape; as the method to continue the war to the total deftruction of Tray. And accordingly a few lines after we find them complotting together, and contriving a new scene of miseries to the Trojans.

Not

Not thus fair Venus helps her favour'd knight,
The Queen of Pleafures fhares the toils of fight,
Each danger wards, and constant in her care
Saves in the moment of the last despair.

Her act has refcu'd Paris' forfeit life,

Tho' great Atrides gain'd the glorious ftrife.

. 18. Tho' great Atrides gain'd the glorious ftrife.] Jupiter here makes it a queftion, Whether the foregoing combate should determine the controverfy, or the peace be broken? His putting it thus, that Paris is not killed, but Menelaus has the victo ry, gives a hint for a difpute whether the conditions of the treaty were valid or annull'd, that is to fay, whether the controversy was to be determin'd by the victory or by the death of one of the combatants. Accordingly it has been difputed whether the articles were really binding to the Trojans. or not? Plutarch has treated the queftion in his Sympofiacks, 1. 9. qu. 13. The fubftance is this. In the firft propofal of the challenge Paris only mentions the victory, And who his rival shall in arms fubdue: Nor does Hector who carries it fay any more. However Menelaus understands it of the death by what he replies: Fall he that must beneath his rival's arms, And live the reft Iris to Helen speaks only of the former; and Idays to Priam repeats the fame words. But in the folemn oath Agamemnon fpecifies the latter, If by Paris flain- and If by my brother's arms the Trojan bleed. Priam alfo understands it of both, faying at his leaving the field, What Prince hall fall heav'n only knows (I do not cite the Greek because the English has preserv'd the fame nicety.) Paris himself confeffes he has loft the victory, in his fpeech to Helen, which he would hardly have done had the whole depended on that alone: And laftly Menelaus (after the conqueft is clearly his by the Alight of Paris) is till fearching round the field to kill him, as if all were of no effect without the death of his adverfary. It appears from hence that the Trojans had no ill pretence to break the treaty, fo that Homer ought not to have been directly accus'd of making Jupiter the author of perjury in what follows, which is one of the chief of Plato's objections against him.

Then fay ye Pow'rs! what fignal iffue waits 20 To crown this deed, and finish all the Fates? Shall heav'n by peace the bleeding kingdoms fpare, Or rowze the Furies and awake the war?

Yet, would the Gods for human good provide,
Atrides foon might gain his beauteous bride,
25 Still Priam's walls in peaceful honours grow,
And thro' his gates the crowding nations flow.
Thus while he spoke, the Queen of heav'n, enrag'd,
And Queen of war, in clofe confult engag'd:
Apart they fit, their deep defigns employ,
30 And meditate the future woes of Troy.

Tho' fecret anger fwell'd Minerva's breaft,
The prudent Goddess yet her wrath fuppreft;
But Juno, impotent of paffion, broke

Her fullen filence, and with fury spoke.

35 Shall then, O tyrant of th' ætherial reign! My schemes, my labours, and my hopes be vain?

. 31. Tho' fecret anger fwell'd Minerva's breat.] Spondanes takes notice that Minerva, who in the firft book had reftrain'd the anger of Achilles, had now an opportunity of exerting the fame conduct in respect to herself. We may bring the parallel close, hy obferving that the had before her in like manner a fuperior, who had provok'd her by fharp expreffions, and whofe counfels ran against her fentiments. In all which the Poet takes care to preferve her ftill in the practice of that Wijdom of which he was Goddess,

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