revives so imperceptibly, that it is hard to tell where the one ceases, and the other begins.
When he is going off from the Story of Apollo and Daphne; how happily does he introduce a Compliment to the Roman Conquerors.
———Et conjux quoniam mea non potes esse,
Arbor eris certè———
Tu Ducibus lætis aderis, cum læta triumphum
Vox canet, & longæ visent Capitolia pompæ.
Postibus Augtistis eadem fidissima custos
Ante fores stabis; mediamque tuebere quercum.
Met. B. i.
He compliments Augustus upon the Assassination of Julius; and, by way of Simile, takes the Opportunity from the Horror that the Barbarity of Lycaon gave.
———Sic cum manus impia sævit
Sanguine Cæsareo Romanum extinguere nomen, &c.
Julius is deify'd, and looks down on his adopted Son.
———Natique videns benefacta, fatetur
Esse suis majora, & vinci gaudet ab illo.Met. B. 15.
And immediately follows,