The fourth Aeneid says of Dido, after certain effects of her
taking shelter with Aeneas in the cave appear,
_Conjuijium vocat, hoc proetexit lomine culpam,_ V. 172,
which Mr. Dryden renders thus:
She called it marriage, by that specious name
To veil the crime, and sanctify the shame.
Nor had he before less happily rendered the 39th verse of the second
Aeneid:
_Scinditur in certum studia in contraria vulgus._
The giddy vulgar, as their fancies guide,
With noise, say nothing, and in parts divide.
"If these are the lines which they call flat and spiritless, I wish mine
could be flat and spiritless too! And, therefore, to make short work, I
shall only beg Mr. Dryden's leave to congratulate him upon his admirable
flatness, and dulness, in a rapture of poetical indignation:
Then dares the poring critic snarl? And dare
The[21a] puny brats of Momus threaten war?
And can't the proud perverse Arachne's fate
Deter the[21a] mongrels e'er it prove too late?
In vain, alas! we warn the[21a] hardened brood;
In vain expect they'll ever come to good.
No: they'd conceive more venom if they could.
But let each[21a] viper at his peril bite,
While you defy the most ingenious spite.
So Parian columns, raised with costly care,
[21a] Vile snails and worms may daub, yet not impair,
While the tough titles, and obdurate rhyme,
Fatigue the busy grinders of old Time.
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