Verse 424. Or swift Harpalyce, &c.] The Translation follows Huetius, who reads Eurum instead of Hebrum; I have endeavour’d to image the Rapidity of Harpalyce in the Run of the Verse. Nor is this too Extravagant for Virgil, who in the seventh Æneid, paints the Swiftness of Camilla in as bold a Manner, in those charming Lines which fly along with the Virgin they describe.
Illa vel intactæ segetis per summa volaret
Culmina, nec teneras cursu læsisset aristas;
Vel Mare per medium fluctu suspensa tumenti
Ferret iter, celeres neque tingeret æquore Plantas.
Verse 504. The good Æneas am I call’d, &c.] To defend this Passage which may disgust a squeamish modern Critic, I shall transcribe the Words of a very ingenious Author, whom I am proud to call my Friend, and to quote upon any Occasion.[1] ‘Custom and Prejudice have now render’d it unpolite, and even shocking, for a Man, almost in any Case, to commend himself: But it was not thus anciently. It is certain, that it was not thus in the Times of those Heroes whom Homer describes; and Homer therefore acts with Propriety, in making Ulysses say that Nestor
- ↑ See the Essay on Mr. Pope’s Odyssey, Part 1. Page 50.
