Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 2.djvu/69

 and in his Sword: (for that of Turnus was not his own, which was forg'd by Vulcan for his Father) but a Weapon which he had snatch'd in haste, and by mistake, belonging to his Charioteer Metiscus. That after all this, Jupiter, who was partial to the Trojan, and distrustful of the Event, though he had hung the Balance, and given it a jog of his Hand to weigh down Tur­nus, thought convenient to give the Fates a collateral Security, by sending the Screech-Owl to discourage him. For which they quote these words of Virgil,

In answer to which, I say, that this Machine is one of those which the Poet uses only for Ornament, and not out of Necessity. Nothing can be more Beautiful, or more Poetical than his description of the three Diræ, or the setting of the Balance, which our Milton has bor­row'd from him, but employ'd to a different end: For first he makes God Almighty set the Scales for St. Gabriel and Sathan, when he knew no Combat was to follow; then he makes the good Angel's Scale de­scend, and the Devil's mount; quite contrary to Virgil, if I have Translated the three Verses, according to my Author's Sense.

For I have taken these words Quem damnet labor, in the Sense which Virgil gives them in another place; Damnabis tu quoque votis; to sig­nify a prosperous Event. Yet I dare not condemn so great a Genius as Milton: For I am much mistaken if he alludes not to the