But they are impudent enough to discharge
themselves of this blunder by haying the contradiction at Virgil's
door. He, they say, has shown his hero with these inconsistent
characters--acknowledging and ungrateful, compassionate and hard-
hearted, but at the bottom fickle and self-interested; for Dido had
not only received his weather-beaten troops before she saw him, and
given them her protection, but had also offered them an equal share
in her dominion:-
"Vultis et his mecum pariter considere regnis?
Urbem quam statuo, vesra est."
This was an obligement never to be forgotten, and the more to be
considered because antecedent to her love. That passion, it is
true, produced the usual effects of generosity, gallantry, and care
to please, and thither we refer them; but when she had made all
these advances, it was still in his power to have refused them.
After the intrigue of the cave--call it marriage, or enjoyment only-
-he was no longer free to take or leave; he had accepted the favour,
and was obliged to be constant, if he would be grateful.
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