Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 3.djvu/369

Rh that pass through the Portal of the Mouth, or, Hedge of the Teeth: (which is Homer's expression for speaking.)

Aen. the 7th. Li. 109.Strange to relate, the Flames involv'd in Smoke, &c.

Virgil, in this place, takes notice of a great Secret in the Roman Divi­nation: The Lambent Fires, which rose above the Head, or play'd about it, were Signs of Prosperity, such were those which he observ'd in the second Aeneid: which were seen mounting from the Crown of Ascanius,

Ecce levis summo de vertice visus Iuli. Fundere lumen apex.

Smoky Flames, (or involv'd in Smoke) were of a mix'd Omen; such were those which are here describ'd: For Smoke signifies Tears, because it produces them, and Flames Happiness. And therefore Virgil says that this Ostent was not only mirabile visu, but horrendum.

Line 367.One only Daughter heirs my Crown and State.

This has seem'd to some an odd Passage: That a King shou'd offer his Daughter and Heir, to a Stranger Prince, and a wanderer, before he had seen him, and when he had only heard of his arrival on his Coasts: But these Criticks have not