444 
When Virgil: lost his. patrimony, in 
éonsequence ‘of the division of lands, 
which we have mentioned, he applied to 
Varus, with whom he had contracted a 
close and intimate friendship. By Varus 
he was recommended to Pollio, then 
governor of his. native province, whose 
favour, at length, introduced him to the 
ecurt of Augustus, From this great 
protector of ‘learning and the arts, he 
obtained a grant, by which his lands were 
éxempt from the general division. If com- 
mentators have not been too eager to re- 
present passages in the Bucolics, as con- 
taining personal allusions to himself, he ap- 
- pearsto refer to this cireumstance in ‘the ist 
Eclogue, ‘ Hic illum vidi juvene) ma," &c. 
nie the request of Mecznas and Augus- 
s, he undertook the Georgics, on which 
ra was occupied no less than seven years. 
When we consider that the Poem con- 
gists only of four books, this will appear 
an excess of literary caution; and in the 
quick and exuberant Puets of the present 
day, may not a little detract from their 
estimation of Virgil’s powers. It must 
be admitted, that his genius was not of a 
rapid erowth, and that invention was 
not one of his peculiar attributes 
this caution enabled him. to produce the 
most. finished didactic Poem, that ever 
was presented to the world. Had he 
lived to complete the A’neid, that Poem, 
though less original, would have been 
equally polished and elegant. He is 
supposed to have written the Georgics at 
Naples, though probably the plan was 
partly laid at Milan; the precepts con- 
tained in the Poem better suiting, in the 
opinion of many, the soil of Lombardy, 
than that of Naples. Augustus could 
not but be pleased to see a work of this 
nature, at a time when he wished to 
soothe the minds of the people, just re- 
lieved from the horrors of civil war, and 
to encourage the proprietors of lands. to 
cultivate them on their own account. 
Till then, their»possessions had been pre- 
carious, and they were unwilling to cul- 
tivate them; not “knowing whether them- 
selves or others were to reap the fruits 
of their labours. That he completed the 
Georgics at Naples, is clear from the last 
lines of the fourth book. 
At the mature age of forty-two, he 
began the /Eneid, though, from the fol- 
lowing passage in the sixth Eclogue, 
Cum canerem reges et prwlia, Cynthius 
aurem 
Vellit et. admonuit, pastorem, Tytyre, 
pingues 
Pascere oportet oves, ccdeetan dicere carmen. 
The Life and Poems of Virgil. 
But, 
, /Eneid to the flames; 
[June I, 
it may be conjectured, either that he had 
collected materials, and even written 
part of it in his youth, or that he had’ 
already tried his “strength in, an Epie 
Poem, on another subject, which, in his . 
maturer years, he destroyed as unworthy 
of him, It is well known that our Pope 
had composed a long Epic, entitied, 
“¢ Alcander,” «which, by the advice of 
Atterbury, he committed to the flames. 
Virgil applied himself to the. composition 
of the A°neid, with his characteristic in- 
dustry and caution. So extensive was 
his reputation by this time, and such the 
idea entertained of his poetical powers, 
that every one was impressed with the 
expectation of a nescio guid majus Iliade, 
of something that should surpass the 
Thad itself. Augustus, himself, while en- 
gaged in an expedi ition against the 
Cantabri, frequently solicited him by 
letter, to send him the first lineaments of 
his Poem; with which request Virgil 
Bieri! complied, by recitmg before 
him the second, fourth, and sixth books. 
He was no less than eleven years ent 
ployed on the composition of the Poem, 
and had proposed to devote a retire~ 
ment of three years more, in polishing 
and completing it; after which, it was 
hig intention to apply the remainder of 
his life in the studies of philosophy, But 
in this design he was interrupted by 
death, and he left his Poem in an unfi- 
nished state. Not that there appears to 
be any foundation for the opinion, com- 
monly entertained, that he meant to ex- 
tend the Poem to “twenty-four books, in 
imitation of the iad. It is not easy to 
conjecture by what means he could have 
increased the interest, without destr oy=- 
lng. the unity of the action, which 
evidently closes at the death of Turnus, 
and. the conquest of Latium. Whatever 
were his intentions, he sat out for Greece, 
and in his journey met Augustus, who 
was then returning from the East. T} 1s 
determined lim to return to Italy with 
the Emperor; but his curiosity carrying 
him to Megara, he was there seized with 
a languishing distemper, which increasing 
upon "him in his passage, he arrived at 
Brundusium in such an.ill state of health, 
that he died there on the 22d of Septem- 
ber, in the year of Rome 737, .in the 
fifty-fourth year of his. age. 
When he found his distemper increase, 
he earnestly demanded his manuscripts, 
in order, 1% is supposed, to commut. his 
as he justly consi- 
dered it an imperfect work. But the 
zeal of his friends, Tucca and Varius, 
refused to assist in such a cates 
ig 
