XXIV.
“Believe it, that these ignorant men should be
“Blind and deprived of judgment, is God’s doom;
“Who makes them loathe the light of poetry,
“That envious Death may wholly them consume.
“Besides that Song can quicken and set free
“Him that is prisoned in the darksome tomb,
“Though foul his name, if Cirrha him befriend[5].
“Its savour myrrh and spikenard shall transcend.
XXV.
“Æneas not so pious, nor of arm
“So strong Achilles, Hector not so bold,
“Was, as ’tis famed; and mid the nameless swarm,
“Thousands and thousands higher rank might hold:
“But gift of palace and of plenteous farm,
“Bestowed by heirs of them, whose deeds they told,
“Have moved the poet with his honoured hand,
“To place them upon Glory’s highest stand.
XXVI.
“Augustus not so holy and benign
“Was as great Virgil’s trumpet sounds his name.
“Because he savoured the harmonious line,
“His foul proscription passes without blame.
“That Nero was unjust would none divine,
“Nor haply would he suffer in his fame,
“Though Heaven and Earth were hostile, had he known
“The means to make the tuneful tribe his own.
