I cannot quit the subject of the Troubadours without one or two concluding observations. To these rude bards we owe some new notions of poetical justice, which never seem to have occurred to Horace or Longinus, and are certainly more magnanimous, as well as more true to moral feeling, than those which prevailed among the polished Greeks and Romans. For instance, the generous Hector and the constant Troilus are invariably exalted above the subtle Ulysses and the savage Achilles. Theseus, Jason, and Æneas, instead of being represented as classical heroes and pious favourites of the gods, are denounced as recreant knights and false traitors to love and beauty. In the estimation of these chivalrous bards, a woman's tears outweighed the exploits of demi-gods; all the glory of Theseus is forgotten in sympathy for Ariadne; and Æneas, in the old ballads and romances, is not, after all his perfidy, dismissed to happiness and victory, but is plagued by the fiends, haunted by poor Dido's "grimly ghost," and, finally, doomed to perish miserably.[18] Nor does Jason fare better at their hands; in all the old poets he is consigned to just execration. In Dante, we have a magnificent and a terrible picture of him, doomed to one of the lowest circles of hell, amid a herd of vile seducers, who betrayed the trusting faith, or bartered the charms of women. Demons scourge him up and down, without mercy or respite, in vengeance for the wrongs of Hypsipyle and Medea. Guarda quel grande che viene E per dolor, non par lagrima spanda; Quanto aspetto reale ancor ritiene! Quelli è Giasone-- --Con segni e con parole ornate Isifile inganno---- Tal colpa a tal martiro lui condanna, Ed anche di MEDEA si fa vendetta. INFERNO, C. 18. "Behold that lofty shade, who this way tends, And seems too woe-begone to drop a tear; How yet the regal aspect he retains! 'Tis Jason-- --He who with tokens and fair witching words Hypsipyle beguil'd-- Such is the guilt condemns him to this pain; Here too Medea's injuries are aveng'd!"-- CAREY. And Chaucer, in relating the same story, begins with a burst of generous indignation: Thou root[19] of false lovers, Duke Jason, Thou slayer, devourer, and confusion Of gentil women, gentil creatures! The story of his double perfidy is told and commented on in the same chivalrous feeling: and the old poet concludes with characteristic tenderness and simplicity-- This was the mede of loving, and guerdon That Medea received of Duke Jason, Right for her truth and for her kindnesse, That loved him better than herself I guesse! And lefte her father and her heritage: And of Jason this is the vassalage That in his dayes was never none yfound So false a lover going on the ground.