As the Case is stated between these two great Poets by the most moderate Criticks; _Homer_ excelled in Fire, and Invention; and _Virgil_ in Judgment. _Invention_ has been already enough considered: _Judgment_, and _Fire_ are farther to be discoursed of. That _Virgil_ excelled in Judgment, we all allow. But _how far_ did he excel? Did he not _very much_? Almost beyond Comparison? I shall here say very little of _Homer_'s Errours, and _Virgil_'s Excellencies in that Respect. The latter I shall speak of in my Notes; And the former I have no mind to: Both, because it has been so frequently, and largely done already; and also, because it is an uneasy Task; and I had much rather remark upon Beauties, than upon Faults; especially in one of the greatest Men that ever lived; and for whom I have an exceeding Love, and Veneration. I think he is unjustly censured by my Lord _Roscommon_, and Others, for his _Railing Heroes, and Wounded Gods_. The one was agreeable to the Manners of those Ages, which he best knew: And as to the other, Those who are thus wounded are subordinate Deities, and supposed to have Bodies, or certain Vehicles equivalent to them. Indeed, as _Jupiter_ is invested with Omnipotence, and other Attributes of the supreme God; I know not how to account for his being bound and imprisoned by his Subjects, and requiring the Assistance of a Giant to release him: And tho' the _Wound_ of _Mars_ may be no Impropriety; yet his _Behaviour_ upon it is very strange: He roars, and runs away, and tells his Father; and the God of War is the veriest Coward in the Field. Nor can I forbear thinking, notwithstanding all the Refinements of Criticks, and Commentators, that the Figure which _Vulcan_ makes in the Synod of the Gods is a little improper, and unheroical. But, as I said, I care not to insist upon these Things; nor do I deny that _Virgil_ has Faults, and that too in his first Six Books, which are most correct, and least liable to Exception. I shall in my Remarks take Notice of some Passages, which I think to be such. No _Mortal_ was ever yet the Author of a Work absolutely perfect: There are but _Two_ such in the World; if we may properly say so: For the _World_ it self is one of them. _Virgil_ then greatly excelled _Homer_ in Judgment: So much, that had he been greatly excelled by him in Fire, the Advantage, upon the Comparison in these two Respects, would have been on his Side. But I shall not consider, on the other hand, how far _Homer_ exceeded _Virgil_ in Fire; because I utterly deny that he exceeded him in it at all.