Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 2.djvu/29

 Posterity. That it was the receiv'd Opinion, That the Romans were descended from the Trojans, and Julius Cæsar from Julus the Son of Æneas, was enough for Virgil; tho' perhaps he thought not so himself: Or that Æneas ever was in Italy, which Bochartus manifestly proves. And Homer, where he says that Jupiter hated the House of Priam, and was resolv'd to transfer the Kingdom to the Family of Æneas, yet mentions nothing of his leading a Colony into a Foreign Country, and setling there: But that the Romans valued themselves on their Trojan Ancestry, is so undoubted a Truth, that I need not prove it. Even the Seals which we have remaining of Julius Cæsar, which we know to be Antique, have the Star of Venus over them, tho' they were all graven after his Death, as a Note that he was Deifi'd. I doubt not but it was one Reason, why Augustus should be so passionately concern'd for the preservation of the Æneis, which its Author had Condemn'd to be Burnt, as an Imperfect Poem, by his last Will and Testament; was, because it did him a real Service as well as an Honour; that a Work should not be lost, where his Divine Original was Celebrated in Verse, which had the Character of Immortality stamp'd upon it.

Neither were the great Roman Families which flourish'd in his time, less oblig'd by him than the Emperour. Your Lordship knows with what Address he makes mention of them, as Captains of Ships, or Leaders in the War; and even some of Italian Extraction are not forgotten. These are the single Stars which are sprinkled through the Æneis: But there are whole Constellations of them in the Fifth Book. And I could not but take notice, when I Translated it, of same Favourite Families to which he gives the Victory, and awards the Prizes, in the Person of his Heroe, at the Funeral Games which were Celebrated in Honour of Anchises. Rh