must have had wonderful influence on the natives of the country, and even on those foreigners, who visited that land of wonders, who found their imaginations strongly possest, with a sort of mysticism. This may plainly be seen, in the writings of Plato. It is also to be remembered, that the writers of Alexandria might have found another source of the gloomy, the solemn, the mystical, and prophetic, in the sacred Scriptures. Ptolemy Philadelphus had caused the inspired writings of the Jews to be translated into Greek, and thus rendered the perusal, of those mysteriously sublime volumes, accessible to the generality of readers. It is certain, that, in the writings of the Pleiades, may be found passages, which seem to be palpable imitations, from the Old Testament. -With respect to Virgil, there can be no doubt, of his being deeply skilled, in all the learning of the Egyptians. A similar spirit and disposition, to that of the Egyptians, might, also, be remarked, among the Etrurians, with respect to the number of their religious mysteries, the claim to remote antiquity, the multitude of their traditionary legends, and even the massiveness of their buildings, and public monuments.- -There were, in Italy, many places ennobled, by ancient superstitions, and venerable legends: such as the sacred grove of the nymph Egeria-the territory of Cuma, with the grotto of the Sibyl, the lake Avernus, and the Acherusian marsh, which were supposed to communicate with the infernal mansions; an opinion, in no wise strange, considering the mephitic exhalations, which prevailed, in those regions. -The Italians had, also, the Sibylline oracles, written, in a mysterious strain, of inflated enthusiasm, and religious obscurity. In Virgil, there is an entire eclogue, evidently made up, of imitations from passsges in Isaiah, prophetic of the coming of the Messiah, which sufficiently demonstrates, that he could not have been unac quainted quainted with the prophetic and poetical parts of the Old Testament. "At tibi prima, puer, nullo munuscula cultu, 66 Compare these lines, with the celebrated passage in Isaiah- -" The wilderness, and the solitary place, shall "be glad for them: and the desert shall rejoice, and "blossom, as the rose. The glory of Lebanon shall "come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the "box together. The wolf, also, shall dwell with the "lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid: and "the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, -" and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and "the bear shall feed. Their young ones shall lie down "together, and the lion shall eat straw, like the ox. "And the sucking child shall play upon the hole of "the asp, and the weaned child, shall put his hand on "the adder's den." From what has been already said, respecting the education, the habits, and circumstances of life, of Apollonius and Virgil, and a consideration how highly they were both accomplished, it must naturally be expected, that a character of learning should predominate in their works. We find, accordingly, that this is the case, in an eminent degree.-The knowledge, of ancient traditions and legends, of mythology, and genealogies, of the origin of families, states, and cities, of rites, and ceremonies, ceremonies, and an acquaintance with the writings of all the authors of merit, who preceded them, appears, both in Apollonius and in Virgil. The scholiast of Apollonius points out many passages, in which his author is supposed to have availed himself, of the ideas of the poets, who preceded him, and whose works no longer exist. In other passages, he evidently imitates Homer, and sometimes attempts to rival his master. In the beauty of his sentiments, in the strain of morality, which he inculcates, and in the dramatic form, so prevalent in the poem of Apollonius, it appears, how much he had profited, by a diligent perusal of the great tragic writers, of the Grecian stage. In particular, it will be seen, how far he was indebted to Euripides, for his first ideas, of the character of Medea, whom he has pourtrayed, with such ability.-Virgil spent his youth in Naples, which was the residence of several teachers of philosophy, and polite learning, and prosecuted his studies, with great industry, and intenseness, perusing the most elegant of the Greek and Roman writers. In addition to the many famous authors, from whose works Apollonius drew resources, and with all of whom Virgil was, no doubt, familiar, the productions of Apollonius himself, and the other great masters of the Alexandrine school, were presented to his imitation. Many additional aids were afforded to him, by the treasures comprised in his own language. He borrowed many ideas, and even adopted whole lines, from the venerable Ennius, and from him, perhaps, imbibed much of his Tuscan mythology, and religious predilections. He is said, to have confest, though in rather ungracious terms, his obligations to this writer. He owed yet more, where he was not so ready to own the debt, to the sublime and philosophical Lucretius.--From this source, he has derived much of the beauties of his style and diction, and many of the graces graces of his versification; his pregnant brevity; and sedate majesty of manner. It appears, in fine, that Virgil possest, in an eminent degree, the various stores of learning, and that he made the most happy and judicious use of them, for the embellishment and perfection of his poem.-It is remarked of the Eneid, that, it preserves to us more of the religion of the Romans, their rites and traditions, than all the other Latin poets (except Ovid) put together: and gives us the form and appearances of their deities, as strongly as if we had so many pictures of them preserved to us, done by some of the best hands in the Augustan age. The reader will. see this fully evinced, by recurring to Spence's Polymetis. Let us now consider Apollonius, and Virgil, with respect to pathos, or the selection and management of the circumstances and topics, which are adapted to excite emotions in the mind, and particularly those of terror, pity, and love. And it must be observed of them, in common, that, without the nauseating affectation of sentiment, the tautologous detail, and exposi tion of feeling, the declamatory display of passion, am. plification of narrative, and enumeration of circumstances, they employ the simple unadulterated language of nature. They do not weaken the emotions, by an anxious study, and vain solicitude, to impress more deeply, and aggravate them. They preserve a discretion, and judicious retention, in the narrative. They do not overload it, with circumstances, but show an equal judgment, in what they relate, and what they omit, selecting those particulars, which pierce the heart, at a single touch. Among the pathetic passages, in Apollonius, the reader will be disposed, to pay particular regard to the following-the parting of Jason from his mother; and the grief and deplorable state of Æson, his aged father-the episode of the Lemnian women-the untimely untimely and tragical death of the young monarch Cizycus, and his wife-the loss of Hylas-the description of Phineus and his sufferings; and the tender gratitude of Parrhebius-the death of Idmon, and of Mopsusthe description of the conflicts of Medea-of her purpose to destroy herself-her feelings, on leaving, for ever, the palace of her father-her expostulations, with Jason, and the leaders of the Argonauts, when she is apprehensive of being abandoned by them, to the fury of her father-the tragical death of Absyrtus, and, particularly, the circumstance, of his cruel sister being sprinkled with his blood-the conscious shame, and self-accusation, of Jason and Medea, when they appear, before Circe the distress of the Argonauts, and the women, who accompany them, on the Lybian wilds.All these, and many more, show our author unrivalled, in the pathetic; and peculiarly excellent, in the choice of those natural and appropriate circumstances, which give life and reality to the narrative, which make it, as it were, a vivid picture; and come directly home, to the feelings and affections of the mind. Let us now turn to Virgil, and particularize some of his most pathetic passages; that we may have Apollonius, and his illustrious imitator before us, in one view.Here, we may note the narrative of the death of Sichaus -the frank and favourable reception, which Dido affords to the Trojans, a reception fated to end in her own ruin the caresses she bestows on the god of love, who sits plotting her destruction "Inscia Dido insideat quantus miseræ deus." The death of Laocoon, and his children, in the second book-the lamentable fate of Priam; particularly, that electrifying circumstance, of his sliding in the blood of his own son, as he is dragged along, by the unrelenting Pyrrhus |