Quasve referre parem? sed nunc, est omnia quando
Iste animus supra——— Æn. 11. l. 509.
Ista quidem quia nota mihi tua, magne, voluntas.
Jupiter——— Æn. 12. l. 108.
But the Sun has its Spots; and if amongst thousands of inimitable Lines, there shou'd be some found of an unequal Dignity with the rest, nothing can be said for their Vindication more, than, if they be Faults, they are the Faults of Virgil.
As I ought to be on this Occasion an Advocate for Ovid, whom I think is too much run down at present by the critical Spirit of this Nation; I dare say, I cannot be more effectually so, than by comparing him in many Places with his admir'd Contemporary Virgil; and tho' the last certainly deserves the Palm, I shall make use of Ovid's own Lines, in the Tryal of Strength betwixt Achelous and Hercules, to show how much he is honour'd by the Contention.
———Non tam
Turpe fuit vinci, quam contendisse decorum. Met. B. 9.
I shall finish my Remarks on our Author, by taking Notice of the Justness and Perspicuity of his Allegories; which are either Physical or Natural; Moral or Historical. Of the first Kind is the Fable of Apollo and Pythion; in the Expla-
