cribed to Donatus, it is related, that this woman had certain dreams and presages, which the physician, recurring to his powers as an astrologer, endeavored to elucidate; but the fact, in all probability, was, that being herself a woman of superior understanding and moreover captivated by the sweet disposition and early indication of transcendant genius in her son, she took this method of working on the credulity of her husband, and inclining him, as if directed by the Fates, to give Virgil that education to which her rank and his talents so justly entitled him. Accordingly, he passed the "initia ætatis" at Mantua, thence he removed to Cremona, and afterwards to Milan. In all these places he prosecuted his studies with the most diligent application, associating with the eminent professors of every department of science, and devoting whole nights to the study of the best Latin and Greek authors: in the latter he was greatly assisted by his proximity to Marseilles, the only Greek colony that maintained its refinement and purity of language amidst the overwhelming influence of all the barbarous nations that surrounded it. At first, he devoted himself to the Epicurean philosophy, but receiving no satisfactory reasons for its tenets from his master, the celebrated Syro, he passed over to the academic school, when physic and mathematics became his favorite sciences, and these he continued to cultivate, at leisure moments, during his whole life. At Milan he composed a great number of verses, on various subjects, and in the warmth of early youth, framed a noble design of writing a Heroic Poem, On the Wars of Rome; but, after some attempts, was discouraged from proceeding by the abruptness and asperity of the old Roman names. And here, it is said, he formed the plan, and collected the materials, of all those pieces which were to assist in the civilization of his countrymen, and contest the palm of excellence with the compositions of the greatest poet the world had produced. Some of these he had even begun, but a too intense application to his studies, together with abstinence and night watching, had so impaired his health, that an immediate removal to a more southern part of Italy was deemed absolutely necessary for the preservation of his existence. Virgil fixed upon Naples, and, visiting Rome in his way, had the honor, through the interest of his kinsman and fellow-student, Varus, of being introduced to Octavius, who received him with the greatest marks of esteem, and earnestly recommended his affairs to the protection of Pollio, then lieutenant of Cisalpine Gaul, where Virgil's patrimony lay, and who generously undertook to settle his domestic concerns. Having this assurance, he pursued his journey to Naples. The charming situation, the salubrity of the air, and the constant society of the greatest and most learned men of the time, who resorted to this place, not only reestablished his health, but contributed to the formation of that style and happy turn of verse in which he surpasses all his contemporaries, and, in less advantageous language, equals even Homer himself. It is singular that Virgil, deservedly called the prince of Latin poets, proposed only to employ this particular talent in the amassing of such wealth as might enable him to prosecute, with less interruption, those nobler studies to which his elevated genius inclined him, and which he describes in these admirable lines: Me vero primum dulces ante omnia Musæ, But to rank among the poets of their country, was, at this time, the ambition of their greatest heroes, statesmen, and orators of the age. Cicero, Octavius, Pollio, Julius Cæsar, and even the stoical Brutus, had been carried away by the impetuosity of the stream; but that genius which had never deserted them in the Forum, or on the day of battle, shrunk dismayed at a comparison with the lofty muse of Virgil: and, although they endeavored, by placing their poems in the celebrated libraries, to hand them down unimpaired to posterity, scarcely a single verse of these illustrious authors survived the age in which they lived. This preponderance of fashion, however, was extremely favorable to Virgil; as he had for some time devoted himself to the study of the law, and even pleaded one cause, with indifferent success, he now altogether abandoned the profession, and resumed with increased ardor the cultivation of that talent for which he afterwards became so eminently distinguished. Captivated at an early age by the pastorals of Theocritus, he was ambitious of being the primitive introducer of that enchanting species of poetry among the Romans. His first performance in this way, entitled Alexis, is supposed to have appeared U.C. 709, when the poet was in his twentyfifth year. Palamon, which is a close imitation of the fourth and fifth Idylls of Theocritus, was probably his second; but as this period of the life of Virgil is enveloped in a considerable degree of obscurity, and few writers on the subject having condescended to notice such trifling particulars as chronological arrangement, etc., little more than surmise can be offered to satisfy the researches of the curious. The fifth Eclogue of Virgil is composed in allusion to the death and deification of Cæsar, and is supposed by Mr. Wharton, whose profound erudition undoubtedly rendered him competent to decide, to have been written subsequently to Silenus, his sixth Eclogue. This is said to have been publicly recited on the stage, by the comedian Cytheris, and to have procured its author that celebrity and applause which the peculiar beauty and sweetness of the poem so justly merited. The fatal battle of Philippi, U.C. 712, in which Augustus and Antony were victorious, at once annihilated every shadow of liberty in the commonwealth. Those veteran legions, who had conquered the world, fought no more for the dearest rights of their country; but at one time were its protectors, and at another its ravagers. As the amor patriæ no longer inspired them, the treasury of the Roman Empire proved inadequate to allay their boundless thirst for wealth; Augustus, therefore, to silence their clamors, distributed among them the flourishing colony of Cremona, and to make up the deficiency, added part of the state of Mantua. In vain, as Appian relates, did the miserable mothers, with famishing infants at their breasts, fill the Forum with their numbers and the air with their lamentations; in vain did the inhabitants complain of being driven like vanquished enemies from their native homes; such scenes are familiar to the conquerors in a civil war; and those legions, who had sacrificed their own and country's liberty, must be recompensed at the expense of justice and the happiness of thousands. Virgil, involved in the common calamity, had recourse to his old patrons, Pollio and Mæcenas, and, supported by them, petitioned Augustus, not only for the possession of his own property, but for the reinstatement of his countrymen in theirs also; which, after some hesitation, was denied, accompanied by a grant for the restitution of his individual estate. Full of gratitude for such distinguished favor, Virgil composed his Tityrus, in which he has introduced one shepherd complaining of the destruction of his farm, the anarchy and confusion of the times; and another, rejoicing that he can again tune his reed to love amidst his flocks; promising to honor, as a superior being, the restorer of his happiness. Deus nobis hæc otia fecit. Namque erat ille mihi semper Deus ; * illius aram *Deus was used among the Romans for any superior Being or Genius, and metaphorically for any emperor, great man, or patron; differing considerably from the meaning of the word God in English. Thus Cicero, speak Unfortunately for Virgil, his joy was not of long continuance, for on arriving at Mantua and producing his warrant to Arrias, a captain of foot, whom he found in possession of his house, the old soldier was so enraged at what he termed the presumption of a poet, that he wounded him dangerously with his sword, and would certainly have killed him, had he not escaped by swimming hastily over the Mincius. Virgil was therefore compelled to return half the length of Italy, with a body reduced by sickness, and a mind depressed by disappointment, again to petition Augustus for the restoration of his estate. During this journey, which from the nature of his wound was extremely slow, he is supposed to have written his Moeris, or ninth Eclogue, and this conjecture is rendered more probable by the disjointed matter, and continual want of connection, perceivable through the whole composition; displaying evidently the disorder at that time predominant in the poet's mind. However, on his arrival at Rome, he had the satisfaction to find that effectual orders had been given, and the farm resigned into the hands of his procurator or bailiff, to whom the above pastoral is addressed. The Sibylline Oracles having received information from the Jews that a child was to be born, who should be the Saviour of the world, and to whom nations and empires should bow with submission, pretended to foretell that this event would occur in the year of Rome 714, after the peace concluded between Augustus and Antony. Virgil, viewing this prophecy with the vivid imagination of a poet, and willing to flatter the ambition of his patron, composed his celebrated Eclogue, entitled Pollio, in which he supposes the child, who was thus to unite mankind and restore the golden age, to be the infant with which Octavia, wife to Antony, and half sister to Augustus, was then pregnant by her former husband Marcellus. In this production the consul Pollio, Octavia, and even the unborn infant, are flattered with his usual delicacy; and the rival Triumviri, though a short time before in open hostility, have the honor of equally sharing the poet's applause. While Pollio, who seems to have been the most accomplished man of his age, and is celebrated as a poet, soldier, ing of Plato, says, "Deus ille noster" and Lucretius," Deus ille fuit Deus inclyte Memmi," of Epicurus; and Silius Italicus (lib. xiii. 784) calls Virgil himself a god. It appears, therefore, from these examples, that the poet might very well deify Augustus; but when he adds farther, "that he will frequently sacrifice to him at his altar," it must be considered as poetical license, and the effervescence of gratitude; for the Romans, as a nation, did not elevate Augustus to the rank of Deus till at least five years after Virgil had written this, or U.C. 719. orator, and historian, was engaged in an expedition against the Parthini, whom he subdued, Virgil addressed to him his Pharmaceutria, one of the most beautiful of all his Eclogues, and in imitation of a poem of the same name by his favorite author, Theocritus. This production is the more valuable, as it has handed down to posterity the superstitious rites of the Romans and the Heathen notions of enchantment. Virgil himself seems to have been conscious of the beauty of his subject, and the dignity of the person whom he was addressing, and accordingly has given us, by the fertility of his genius and the brilliancy of his imagination, some of the most sublime images that are to be found in any of the writings of antiquity. By the advice, and at the earnest entreaty of Augustus, Virgil, in his thirty-fourth year, retired to Naples, and laid the plan of his inimitable Georgics: a design as new in Latin verse, as pastorals, before his, were in Italy. These he undertook for the interest, and to promote the welfare of his country. As the continual civil wars had entirely depopulated and laid waste the land usually appropriated for cultivation, the peasants turned soldiers, and their farms a scene of desolation, famine and insurrection were the inevitable consequences that followed so overwhelming a calamity. Augustus therefore resolved to revive the decayed spirit of husbandry, and began by employing Virgil to recommend it with all the insinuating charms of poetry. This work took up seven of the most vigorous years of his life, and fully answered the expectation of his generous patron. The Georgics must be allowed to contain all those masterly beauties which might be expected from an exalted genius, whose judgment and imagination were in full maturity, and who had leisure to give the last polish and perfection to a work so exquisitely conceived. In the introduction to the third Georgic he hints at his projection of the Eneis, and by one of the finest allegories in ancient poetry, has expressed an intention of erecting a monument, lasting than brass," in honor of Augustus. Et viridi in campo templum de marmore ponam more After this, he takes advantage of the noblest privilege of his art, and breaks away in a fit of prophetic enthusiasm, predicting success in his intended enterprise, and, under the imagery of an ancient triumph, delineates the future glories of his magnificent design. Augustus, having conquered his rival, Antony, gave the |