The ftxtb Book of the ENEID. 47 



foul : but Virgil had heard of nothing better ; and it was 

 jmpoiTible for him to defcribe what he could not conceive. 



In this Elyfium, which, with all its iniperfedlion, is, as well 

 as the infernal world, founded on the beft ideas of retributive 

 juftice that could be expeded from a pagan, the poet places, in 

 a ftate of endlefs felicity, " the {hades of the pure and the 

 " pious ; of heroes who have died in defence of their country ; 

 " of ingenious men who have employed their talents in adorn- 

 " ing human hfe with elegant arts, or in recommending piety 

 *' and virtue J and of all who, by a<Ss of beneficence, have 

 " merited the love and the gratitude of their fellow-creatures." 



To a company of thefe happy beings, who had flocked round 

 the two flrangers, and efpecially to the poet MusEUS, whom 

 {he knew, the Sybil addrefTed herfelf, defiring to be informed 

 where Anchises relided. We have no certain habitations, re- 

 turned the poet ; we wander about, and amufe ourfelves, 

 wherever we pleafe ; but follow me to yonder rifing ground, 

 and I fhall put you in a path that will conduft you to him. 



Some writers blame Virgil for not making Eneas find 

 Homer in this part of Elyfium ; and infinuate, that the Roman 

 poet muft have been both invidious and ungrateful, in ne- 

 gledling fuch an opportunity of doing honour to his great ma- 

 tter, to whom he owed fo much. Thofe critics do not confider 

 that Eneas was dead an hundred years before Homer was 

 born. Our poet has been cenfured for a fuppofed anachronifm, 

 in making Eneas and Dido contemporary; and here he is 

 found fault with for having judicioufly avoided a real anachro- 

 nifm. 



It chanced that Anchises was at this time in a remote val- 

 ley, reviewing, in their ftate of pre-exiftence, fome of his pofte- 

 rity, who were afterwards to diftinguilh themfelves in the Ro- 

 man republic. When he faw his fon advancing towards him, 

 he held forth both his hands, gave him an a{Fedionate welcome, 

 and wept for joy. The hero would have embraced his fa- 

 ther ;. 



