Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/44

xxvi The Poet is so far from affecting this Sort of Wit, that he rarely ventures on so spirited a Turn of Fancy, as in these following Instances.

Juno upbraids Venus, and Cupid ironically, that two Deities cou'd be able to get the better of one weak Woman,

Memorabile nomen, Una dolo Divûm, si fæmina victa duorum est. Æn. B. 4. l. 95.

Euryalus, going upon an Enterprise, expresses his Concern for his surviving Mother, if he shou'd fall, and recommends her to the Care of Ascanius, who answers,

Namque erit ista mihi genitrix, nomenque Creüsæ Solum defuerit—

Venus is importunate in her Sollicitations to Vulcan, to make Armour for her Son: He answers,

Absiste precando Viribus indubitare tuis—Æn. B. 7.

At the first kindling of Dido's Passion, he has this most natural Thought,

Illum absens absentem auditque, videtque.

But to return to Ovid; tho' I cannot vindicate him for his Points, I shall endeavour to mollify his