_absolutely necessary_, or _very requisite_. The Narration in the Second and Third Books is not a _Part_ of the Action; but it _gives Reasons_ for it, and so is _Necessary_: The Adventures of _Nisus_ and _Euryalus_ in the Ninth Book, of _Mezentius_ in the Tenth, and of _Camilla_ in the Eleventh, are all _requisite_, but not _absolutely necessary_; and yet they are properly _Parts_ of the main Action, tho' _collateral_, not _direct_. The Loves of _Dido_ and _Æneas_ in the Fourth Book, the Sports at the Tomb of _Anchises_ in the Fifth, the Description of Hell in the Sixth, the Story of _Cacus_, and the Decorations of the Shield in the Eighth, are all supposed by some to be entirely ornamental, and no Parts of the main Action. And This perhaps they may imagine to be a great Point yielded to the Disadvantage of _Virgil_. Admitting it were so, _Homer_ would gain nothing by it; most of them being taken from him, and he having more of such _Excrescencies_, if they must be so called. But This in Reality is no reasonable Objection against either. The Episode of _Dido_ and _Æneas_ shall be considered in my Remarks upon the Fourth Book. The Descent into Hell is a direct Part of the Action; the Heroe going thither to consult his Father's Ghost concerning the Operations of the War, and the future Fate of Himself, and his Posterity (for _all_ Action, even in an Heroic Poem, does not consist in _Fighting_:) And it would be very strange, if, in a Work of such a Length, the Poet might not be allowed to take that Occasion, to describe the Regions thro' which his Heroe passed, and to make the noblest, and most surprizing Description that ever the World saw. The same may be said of the Casting, and Engraving of the Shield, which contains a considerable Part of the _Roman_ History; as does the Speech of _Anchises_ in the foregoing Division; both introduced with exquisite Art, and Judgment. For the rest; granting that they are purely ornamental; and that while the Poet is describing them, the Action stands still, as the Criticks express themselves: There let it stand, with all my heart, 'till _Virgil_ thinks fit to set it a going again. If the Action stands still, I am sure the Poem does not; and the Reader, I think, must be very phlegmatick, if his Spirits do. What if those Episodes are not Parts of the Action? They are Parts of the Poem, and with the greatest Skill inferred in it. What if they are not absolutely _necessary_? They are very _convenient_; and that is sufficient. For if we allow that they are entirely ornamental, we deny that they are impertinent, or superfluous; no Things in the World being more uniform, or more naturally and elegantly connected. Nor does _Virgil_ ever commit the Fault of those whom _Horace_ justly condemns; by whom _Purpureus, late qui splendeat, unus & alter Assuitur pannus----_