Therefore the love was made in
autumn; the hunting followed properly, when the heats of that
scorching country were declining. The winter was passed in jollity,
as the season and their love required; and he left her in the latter
end of winter, as is already proved. This opinion is fortified by
the arrival of AEneas at the mouth of Tiber, which marks the season
of the spring, that season being perfectly described by the singing
of the birds saluting the dawn, and by the beauty of the place,
which the poet seems to have painted expressly in the seventh
AEneid:-
"Aurora in roseis fulgebat lutea bigis,
Cum venti posuere . . .
. . . variae circumque supraque
Assuetae ripis volucres, et fluminis alveo,
AEthera mulcebant cantu."
The remainder of the action required but three months more; for when
AEneas went for succour to the Tuscans, he found their army in a
readiness to march and wanting only a commander: so that, according
to this calculation, the "AEneas" takes not up above a year
complete, and may be comprehended in less compass.
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