Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 3.djvu/376

850 Line 662.Nor I, his mighty Syre, cou'd ward the Blow.

I have mention'd this Passage in my Preface to the Æneis; to prove, that Fate was superiour to the Gods; and that Jove cou'd neither de­fer nor alter its Decrees. Sir Robert Howard has since, been pleas'd to send me the concurrent Testimony of Ovid; tis in the last Book of his Metamorphoses; where Venus complains, that her Descendant, Julius Caesar, was in danger of being Murther'd by Brutus and Cassius, at the head of the Commonwealth-Faction, and desires them to prevent that Barbarous Assassination. They are mov'd to Compassion; they are concern'd for Caesar; but the Poet plainly tells us, that it was not in their power to change Destiny: All they cou'd do, was to testifie their sor­row for his approaching Death, by fore-shewing it with Signs and Pro­digies, as appears by the following Lines.

Talia nequicquàm toto Venus aurea Coelo Verba jacit: Superosque movet: Qui rumpere quanquam Ferrea non possunt veterum decreta Sororum, Signa tamen luctus dant haud incerta futuri.

Then she Addresses to her Father Jupiter, hoping Aid from him, be­cause he was thought Omnipotent. But he, it seems, cou'd do as little as the rest, for he answers thus.

—sola