The remaining Trojans chose him to lead
them forth and settle them in some foreign country. Ilioneus in his
speech to Dido calls him expressly by the name of king. Our poet,
who all this while had Augustus in his eye, had no desire he should
seem to succeed by any right of inheritance derived from Julius
Caesar, such a title being but one degree removed from conquest:
for what was introduced by force, by force may be removed. It was
better for the people that they should give than he should take,
since that gift was indeed no more at bottom than a trust. Virgil
gives us an example of this in the person of Mezentius. He governed
arbitrarily; he was expelled and came to the deserved end of all
tyrants. Our author shows us another sort of kingship in the person
of Latinus. He was descended from Saturn, and, as I remember, in
the third degree. He is described a just and a gracious prince,
solicitous for the welfare of his people, always consulting with his
senate to promote the common good.
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