What follows next is no objection; for that implies a fault, and it
had been none in Virgil if he had extended the time of his action
beyond a year--at least, Aristotle has set no precise limits to it.
Homer's, we know, was within two months; Tasso; I am sure, exceeds
not a summer, and if I examined him perhaps he might be reduced into
a much less compass. Bossu leaves it doubtful whether Virgil's
action were within the year, or took up some months beyond it.
Indeed, the whole dispute is of no more concernment to the common
reader than it is to a ploughman whether February this year had
twenty-eight or twenty-nine days in it; but for the satisfaction of
the more curious (of which number I am sure your lordship is one) I
will translate what I think convenient out of Segrais, whom perhaps
you have not read, for he has made it highly probable that the
action of the "AEneis" began in the spring, and was not extended
beyond the autumn; and we have known campaigns that have begun
sooner and have ended later.
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