Ariosto has older authorities. Her intrigue with Pan was said to have been manifested by its fruits, and more scandal is reported of her in the Classical Dictionary.
What fame Eliza, she so chaste of sprite, &c.
Stanza xxviii. line 1.
In rescuing the character of Dido, Ariosto has yet better foundation; since it is agreed that Virgil has overleapt a space of 300 years in order to bring her and Æneas together. Ariosto probably eulogizes her chastity on the ground of the story of her having killed herself to avoid marrying Iarbas. Hence Petrarch in his triumph of chastity places her among his examples of chaste women.
Authors I love, and pay the debt I owe,
Speaking their praise; an author I below.
Stanza xxviii. lines 7 and 8.
Gli scrittori amo e fò il debito meo;
Ch’ al vostro mondo fui scrittore anche io.
The characterizing St. John as an author is to be sure as ridiculous as making St. James a Moor-slayer; but we must recollect that every age, every country, and every sect, entertains notions of persons which must be monstrous in the eyes of those who are not swayed by their partialities; and some future æra may wonder to hear two men of Ariosto’s age, cited even in the present century in France and England, one as a loyal knight, and the other as a saint, who were both guilty of homicide and premeditated perjury.
