_Sicelides Musæ, paulo majora canamus; Non omnes arbusta juvant, humilesque myricæ. Sicilian_ Muses, raise a loftier Strain; Not all in Groves and lowly Shrubs delight.
Not that I suppose Pastoral totally to reject the Sublime, as I shall have Occasion to shew more fully hereafter.
For the present, I suppose, it will suffice to produce one or two Instances, out of innumerable, of the Style we are upon. In the second _Æneid_, _Venus_, shewing her Son what Gods were united for the Destruction of _Troy_, gives us this Specimen of it:
_Non tibi Tyndaridis facies invisa Lacænæ, Culpatusve Paris; Divûm inclementia, Divûm, Has evertit opes, sternitque à culmine Trojam._
'Tis not _Tyndarian Helen_'s hated Form, Nor much blam'd _Paris_; Heav'n, inclement Heav'n O'erturns this Realm, and levels tow'ring _Troy_.
_Hic ubi disjectas moles, avulsaque saxis Saxa vides, mistoque undantem pulvere fumum; Neptunus muros, magnoque emota tridenti Fundamenta quatit, totamque à sedibus urbem Eruit; hic Juno Scæas sævissima portas Prima tenet, sociumque furens à navibus agmen Ferro accincta vocat. Jam summas arces Tritonia (respice) Pallas Insedit, nimbo effulgens, & Gorgone sæva. Ipse Pater Danais animos, viresque secundas Sufficit, ipse Deos in Dardana suscitat arma_.
Here, where you see that Rubbish, Heaps confus'd, Stones wrench'd from Stones, and thick redounding Smoke Blended with Clouds of Dust; great _Neptune_ shakes The Walls, and with his massy Trident heaves The City from its deep Foundations. There Relentless _Juno_, girt with Steel, has seiz'd The _Scæan_ Gates; and raging from their Ships Calls her confed'rate Forces. Next (that Way bend thy Eyes) the lofty Tow'rs _Tritonian Pallas_ has possess'd; there sits, With her dire _Gorgon_. In a beamy Cloud, Effulgent _Jove_ himself the _Grecian_ Troops With Courage, and new Strength supplies; himself Excites the Gods against the _Dardan_ Arms.
_Dixerat; & spissis noctis se condidit umbris. Apparent diræ facies, inimicaque Trojæ Numina magna Deum._
She said; and in th'involving Shades retir'd: The direful Shapes appear, and Foes to _Troy_, Forms of the awful Gods.
And in the last Book, the Poet thus introduces _Æneas_ going to engage with _Turnus_: