ded Hydra; and the
Chimaera, which breathes forth a flame, and is a compound of three
animals. These several mixed natures, the creatures of imagination, are
not only introduced with great art after the dreams; but as they are
planted at the very entrance, and within the very gates of those
regions, do probably denote the wild deliriums and extravagances of
fancy, which the Soul usually falls into when she is just upon the verge
of death.

Thus far AEneas travels in an allegory. The rest of the description is
drawn with great exactness, according to the religion of the heathens,
and the opinions of the platonic philosophy. I shall not trouble my
reader with a common dull story, that gives an account why the heathens
first of all supposed a ferryman in hell, and his name to be Charon; but
must not pass over in silence the point of doctrine which Virgil has
very much insisted upon in this book, that the souls of those who are
unburied, are not permitted to go over into their respective places of
rest till they have wandered a hundred years upon the banks of Styx.
This was probably an invention of the heathen priesthood, to make the
people extremely careful of performing proper rites and ceremonies to
the memory of the dead. I shall not, however, with the infamous
scribblers of the age, take an occasion from such a circumstance, to run
into declamations against priestcraft, but rather look upon it even in
this light as a religious artifice, to raise in the minds of men an
esteem for the memory of their forefathers, and a desire to recommend
themselves to that of posterity; as also to excite in them an ambition
of imitating the virtues of the deceased, and to keep alive in their
thoughts the sense of the soul's immortality. In a word, we may say in
defence of the severe opinions relating to the shades of unburied
persons, what has been said by some of our divines in regard to the
rigid doctrines concerning the souls of such who die without being
initiated into our religion, that supposing they should be erroneous,
they can do no hurt to the dead, and will have a good effect upon the
living, in making them cautious of neglecting such necessary
solemnities.

Charon is no sooner appeased, and the triple-headed dog laid asleep, but
AEneas makes his entrance into the dominions of Pluto. There are three
kinds of persons described as being situated on the borders; and I can
give no reason for their being stationed there in so pa