he might have therein; yet 'tis plain, that Menelaus, Paris, and Helen are so far the principal Personages concern'd, that if this Action had been finished with respect to them, it would have been quite finish'd: it would not have made a part of the Action and of the Revenge of Achilles, but a compleat Action; which would have put an End to the Revenge, and render'd the Anger of this Hero ineffectual. Therefore Homer has not finish'd this Action: Paris being hard put to it escapes, and Menelaus is wounded with a Dart by Pandarus; by this means Achilles begins to be reveng'd, and this Incident becomes an exact Episode.
Virgil has manag'd the Episode of Dido another way. He has finish'd it so, that the Union of his main Action is as Regular as the Art of Poetry requires. The Address of this great Poet consists in ordering it so, that Dido, in whom this Incident is compleat, was not the chief Personage; and her Marriage was only a simple Circumstance of an Action, that is not finish'd, and yet is the Soul and the only Foundation of this particular Action: in a word, Æneas is the Hero of this Episode, which is only invented to retard the Settlement of this Hero in Italy.
This is manifest, if we would but reflect on what the Skill and Care of the Poet has left us about it. Juno, who carried on all this Intrigue, was very little concern'd for Dido's Happiness. If she had lov'd her so well, she should have diverted the Trojan Fleet from her Coasts; upon which place she her self did cast them,[1] which was the only Cause of this Queens Miseries. When she proposes the Match to Venus with so much Ardency, 'twas only the top of her Countenance. [2] Her whole Aim was to keep Æneas in Africk, and to bestow on Carthage the Empire of the World, which belonged only to Italy, and depended upon the Stars of this Hero. You see then the only thing she drives at, the rest is only counterfeit, and a Means whereby she endeavours to accomplish this End.
Dido her self makes it appear how less considerable her Person is than that of Æneas, and that she is only brought in to hinder the Designs of this Prince. 'Tis she, that courts him, and would have him for her King, Husband, and Protector, against the Rage of her Brother and the Incursions of Iarbas. But she could only obtain a Marriage for a Month or so, as was customary now and then in those times. Æneas tells her plainly, that the Name of Husband should be no Hinderance to his Departure, and his Designs for Italy: and he declares, that this Condition of not leaving Carthage was not in the Articles of their Alliance.
The
