trunk of an oak, and after the hero has sufficiently inspected, and admired, and handled them, the description, or painting of the shield is given; and this is rendered so tame and tedious by the constant repetition of the demonstrative phrases, "here is," and "there is," "hard by this," and "not far from that," that it required all the poetic adornment which the skill of Virgil could impart to it, to prevent it from becoming insupportable to the reader. Besides, it is not Æneas who delineates this picture, for he knows nothing of the meaning of the figures which he admires,

rerumque ignarus imagine gaudet;

nor is it Venus, though she probably knew as much of the future fate of her beloved grandson as did her liberal spouse; but it is the poet himself who describes it, and the action consequently remains suspended during the description. Not one of his characters takes any part in it, nor is it of the slightest importance to what follows whether one thing, or another, is represented on the shield. We see throughout

the dexterous courtier, intent on garnishing his subject with flattering allusions,—not the great genius, relying on the innate vigor of his work, and disdaining all external means of exciting interest. The shield of Æneas is consequently a mere episode, destined solely to flatter the national pride of the Romans; a separate streamlet, which the poet has guided into the current of his song, to render it more lively. The shield of Achilles, on the contrary, is the produce of its own fruitful soil; since it was requisite that a shield should be made, and since the labors of divinity are never limited to the production of the useful alone, unaccompanied by the agreeable, it became necessary that this shield should be ornamented. The art consisted in treating these ornaments merely as ornaments,—in incorporating them with the subject so as to make their introduction appear to arise out of it; and this can be done only after the manner of Homer. That great poet decorations of his

makes Vulcan elaborate the

shield, because he desires to produce a piece of

workmanship worthy of his skill. Virgil, on

the contrary, would lead us to imagine that the shield was executed for the sake of the ornaments, since he has deemed the latter of sufficient importance to demand a separate description, long after the shield which bore them was completed.

NINETEENTH SECTION.

The Ancients were not acquainted with the Science of Perspective. Pope has committed a Mistake in this Particular.

The objections made by the elder Scaliger, Perrault, Terrasson and others, to Homer's shield of Achilles, are well known, as are likewise the replies made to them by Dacier, Boivin and Pope. It appears to me, however, that these last have often gone too far, being led away, by their confidence in the justice of their cause, to make assertions which are as incorrect in themselves, as they are ill calculated to vindicate the poet.

In order to meet the chief objection, that Homer has filled his shield with a vast crowd of figures, for which there could not possibly be room within its circumference, Boivin undertook to make a delineation of it in conformity with

Since

the requisite dimensions. His idea of the several concentric circles is very ingenious, though it is not borne out in the smallest degree by the words of the poet; nor do we anywhere else find the least indication of the ancients having employed shields divided in this manner. Homer himself describes the shield as 66 σακος παντοσε δεδαιδαλμενον,”—labored in every part with art—I should rather be inclined, if it were necessary to gain room, to take in the concave surface also; for it is well known that the ancient artists were not in the habit of leaving this part empty, as is shown in the shield of Minerva by Phidias. Boivin, however, not only neglects to take advantage of this example, but he even increases unnecessarily the number of the representations; dividing what is plainly a single picture in the poet into two and even three separate compositions, thus diminishing his space by at least one half. I am perfectly

*

well aware of the motives which induced him to do this, but I think he ought not to have yielded

* See Note 44, end of volume.