When therefore there are found in Virgil and Horace two similar passages,
|
Virg. |
To tame the proud, the fetter'd slave to free: |
Dryden. |
Imperet bellante prior, jacentem |
Hor. |
Let Cæsar spread his conquests far, |
it is surely not necessary to suppose with a late critick, that one is copied from the other, since neither Virgil nor Horace can be supposed ignorant of the common duties of humanity, and the virtue of moderation in success.
Cicero and Ovid have on very different occasions remarked how little of the honour of a victory belongs to the general, when his soldiers and his fortune have made their deductions; yet why should Ovid be suspected to have owed to Tully an observation which perhaps occurs to every man that sees or hears of military glories?
Tully observes of Achilles, that had not Homer written, his valour had been without praise:
Nisi Ilias illa extitisset, idem tumulus qui corpus ejus contexerat, nomen ejus obruisset.
Unless the Iliad had been published, his name had been lost in the tomb that covered his body.
Horace tells us with more energy that there were brave men before the wars of Troy, but they were lost in oblivion for want of a poet.
Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona
Multi; sed omnes illachrymabiles
Urgentur, ignotique longá
Nocte, carent quia vate sacro.
