I doubt not but one reason why Augustus should be so
passionately concerned for the preservation of the "AEneis," which
its author had condemned to be burnt as an imperfect poem by his
last will and testament, was because it did him a real service as
well as an honour; that a work should not be lost where his divine
original was celebrated in verse which had the character of
immortality stamped upon it.
Neither were the great Roman families which flourished in his time
less obliged by him than the emperor. Your lordship knows with what
address he makes mention of them as captains of ships or leaders in
the war; and even some of Italian extraction are not forgotten.
These are the single stars which are sprinkled through the "AEneis,"
but there are whole constellations of them in the fifth book; and I
could not but take notice, when I translated it, of some favourite
families to which he gives the victory and awards the prizes, in the
person of his hero, at the funeral games which were celebrated in
honour of Anchises.
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