$1. THE

HE Profopopeia is a Figure which confifts in defcribing good and bad qualities of the mind, or the paffions or appetites of human nature as real and diftinct perfons; in clothing with corporeal forms, or endowing with speech and action imaginary beings, or general notions and abstracted ideas; in introducing perfons filent as speaking, or perfons deceased as living; and in making rocks, woods, rivers, temples, and other inanimate beings, assume the powers and properties, and exprefs the emotions. of living, and even reasonable creatures,

§ 2. A Profopopeia confifts in defcribing good and bad qualities of the mind, or the paffions and appetites of human nature as real and distinct perfons.

Thus Virtue and Pleasure are reprefented by SILIUS ITALICUs as two females, in different appearances and of oppofite parties, courting the regards of young SCIPIO. Though the passage is large, yet perhaps the beauty may more than atone for its length.

In a gay bow'r, contiguous to his feat,
Th' illuftrious youth beneath a laurel-fhade
Reclin'd, and in his penfive breast revolv'd
The public weal: when, lo! before his view
In ftature far furpaffing human fize,
VIRTUE and PLEASURE from their airy tour,
Alighting ftood; one on his better hand,

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* From @gwoo and wow, the fiction of a person.

The

The other on his left. Around the brows
Of PLEASURE aromatic odours breath'd,
In loose ambrofial ringlets wav'd her hair;
Her veft with Tyrian purple glow'd, adorn'd
With interwoven gold, her forehead wore
A rich embroid'ry, and her roving eyes
In fudden glances fhot lafcivious fires.
Reverse was the appearance VIRTUE made;
Rough was her front; her locks uncomb'd; her look
A thoughtful majefty exprefs'd; her air
And gait were almost mafculine, but mix'd
With an ingenuous modefty, and down
From her high fhoulders flow'd a fnowy veft.
PLEASURE the blooming ftripling first accofts,
And on her proffers for fuccefs relies.

"Whence, whence this madness, amiable youth? "Are Canna's carnage, the enfanguin'd Po, "And the Moonian lake, more throng'd with death "Than the black Stygian pool, are these effac'd "From thy remembrance,that thou need'ft must tempt "Amidst the dreadful flaughter of the field "Untimely fate! Would you in peace enjoy "Atlantic kingdoms and imperial domes, "Strive not with danger, nor expofe your life "To hoftile weapons, and the ftorms of war. › "VIRTUE, that knows no mercy, will command "To mow down armies, and to rush thro' flames. Thus to the fhade, fhe immaturely hurl'd "Your uncle, fire, PAULUS, profufe of life, "The DECII, and a countless train befides; And now the writes their names upon their urns, And builds them lofty pyramids of praife, While their pale ghofts, infenfible of fame,., "Are wand'ring thro' the dreary realms below,

"Follow

"Follow my better counfel, lovely youth, "Then shall thy life in one soft tenor run: "No trump fhall wake thee ftarting from thy couch, "No northern fnows fhall chill thy tender limbs, "Nor fhalt thou fweat with Cancer's raging heats, "Nor spread thy frugal table on the grafs "Diftain'd with purple gore; no parching drought, "No duft in arms, no toils with terrors mix'd, "Shall difcompofe thy peace; but ev'ry day,

And ev'ry hour fhall o'er thee glide ferene, "And the foft feries of my balmy joys "Shall give the promise of extended age. "What fountains do th' indulgent Gods provide "Of pleafures ftreaming for the good of man, "Such as themselves poffefs, whofe endless date Is all one cloudlefs, unmolested peace? "I match'd ANCHISES with the Queen of Love, "And hence the founder of your race arose: "I taught the am'rous Sire of Gods and men "In fhapes of birds and bulls to masquerade, "And to his wishes gain th' unguarded fair. "Then hear my voice: thy life is on the wing, "And when 'tis paft can be recall'd no more. "With what rapidity do months, days, hours, "Rush to oblivion; but the memory

"Of the full bliss with which I crown their flight "Still lives. How many on the verge of life "Have mourn'd they drank so sparing of my joys?" She spoke, and ended her mellifluent lore. Next VIRTUE. "What, fhall meretricious arts Seduce a blooming youth to guilt and fhame, "With reafon by the Deities endow'd, "And the celeftial feeds of pow'rs divine? "As much as Gods furpafs the human race,

"Sa

"So much the human race furpaffes brutes. "The truly virtuous are by nature form'd "Divinities, t' adorn and blefs mankind; "But minds in fenfuality immers'd, "By an irrevocable law are doom'd "To hell, to horrors, and to endless night. "Souls, confcious of their origin divine, "And acting worthy their etherial birth, "Enter the gates of heav'n expanded wide "For their admiffion, when they quit their clay.. "Why should I tell how HERCULES fubdu'd "Each foe, each danger that withstood his courfe? "Or how great BACCHUS, loaden with the fpoils, "Grafping the standards of the vanquish'd eaft, "Rode thro' the towns in his triumphal car "Drawn by his tigers, bent beneath his yoke? "Or why fhould I relate the bravé exploits, "The high rewards of LEDA's famous twins, "Invok❜d as Gods by failors in distress, "Tofs'd by the mountain-furges of the main? "Or fhall I fet your ROMULUS in view, "Who'scap'd the lot of mortals, and upfoar'd "On his own merits to the blefs'd abodes? "How has th' almighty Artist fashion'd man "With an erected fhape, and brow fublime, "To view and comprehend his native skies? "While birds and beasts, and monfters of the wood, "Grov❜ling and prone, pore ever on the ground, "Nor lanch one wish, one thought to realms on high. "If you improve the favours of the Gods, "Soon fhall you mount upon the wings of fame, "The admiration and the praise of all. "Reflect with me upon the rife of Rome: "So weak at firft fhe wanted pow'r to crush

"Fidena,

"Fidena, menacing deftructive war,

"So fmall, that all her wishes were confin'd "T' enjoy her own asylum's narrow spot, "But thro' her valour and refiftless arms, "She to a matchlefs height of glory foar'd. "Peruse the records of eventful time, "How many cities once fupremely blefs'd; "By lux'ry fapp'd, in defolations lie. "No anger of the Gods, no darts, no foes, "Have heap'd such baleful mischiefs on the world, "OPLEASURE! as thy dire impoison'd sweets! Thee Drunkenness attends with brainless roar, Thee Prodigality with thoughtless wafte, "And round thee Infamy perpetual flies "On gloomy wings, and execrates thy way: "But Praife and Glory wait upon my steps, "The fhouts, the thunders of immense applause; "And Viary, clapping her refplendent plumes, "In laurell'd triumph will conduct my fons, "My fav'rites, to their thrones above the ftars. " "Sacred my manfion, and it stands fublime, "Built on a mountain: hard and rough th' afcent, "(The truth, the honeft truth I choose to tell, "And fcorn all fubterfuges, all disguise) "And sweat and labours must the fummit gain. "All, all of which will amply be repaid

At thine arrival: from the tow'ring height "Down fhalt thou glance thine eyes upon mankind, "Wand'ring inglorious in the vales below. "What dignity, what happiness are here! "Not the poor dow'ry which the fickle hand "Of Fortune throws, and then at will refumes. "'Tis true you must experience the reverse "Of the voluptuous life that PLEASURE boafts.

"Stretch'd