To the college of Feciales was intrusted in ancient Rome the preparation of treaties. XXXVIII. “Strong be thy armament, as fits thy strength Of mandate--powerful thy Lernæan clave.” Quis facta Herculeæ non audit fortia clavæ? Propert. l. iv. Eleg. 10. “When thy artillery’s roar is heard o’er Ocean’s plain.” While o’er the encircling deep Britannia’s thunder roars. Thomson, _Castle of Indolence_, Canto ii. XXXIX. “And lording o’er thy empire of the Deep.” Our dominion of the sea seems to be in some degree indicated by this line of Ovid, from his splendid panegyric on Julius Cæsar: Scilicet æquoreos plus est domuisse Britannos! _Met._ xv. 752. XLIV. ----“Resistless spread Through boundless Asia, forced to bear thy arms.” ----Super et Garamantas et Indos Proferet imperium * * * Nec vero Alcides tantum telluris obivit; Nec qui pampineis victor juga flectit habenis, Liber, agens celso Nisæ de vertice tigres * * Tu regere imperio populos, &c. Virg. _Æn._ vi. It is the glory of England to be able to claim the excellence in which Virgil admitted that the Romans were surpassed: Excudent alii spirantia mollius æra, Credo equidem; vivos ducent de marmore vultus; Orabunt causas melius, cœlique meatus Describent radio et surgentia sidera dicent. In all these arts which Virgil excepts, it is our fortune to shine pre-eminent. Our bar is unquestionably the first in the world; our astronomers and scientific men are the first; our workers in the metals and engravers are the best; and our sculptors are not excelled. “VICTORIA blesses with her hand--not harms.” ----Victoria læta. Hor. _Sat._ i. 1. ----prima viam Victoria pandit! Virg. _Æn._ xii. XLV. “Your bosoms, boundless wealth and luxury, tame.” At postquàm Fortuna loci caput extulit hujus, Et tetigit summos vertice Roma Deos; Creverunt et opes, et opum furiosa cupido; Et, cùm possideant plurima, plura volunt. Quærere ut absumant, absumpta requirere, certant; Atque ipsæ vitiis sunt alimenta vices. Sic, quibus intumuit suffusâ venter ab undâ, Quo plus sunt potæ, plus sitiuntur aquæ. In pretio pretium nunc est: dat census honores, Census amicitias; pauper ubique jacet! Ovid. _Fast._ i. 209. I shall conclude with the passage with which Euripides ends his _Iphigenia in Tauris_:-- Ὦ μέγα σεμνὴ Νίκη, τὸν ἐμὸν Βίοτον κατέχοις, Καὶ μὴ λήγοις στεφανοῦσα. “Oh great and august VICTORIA, hold my life, nor fail to crown it with thy smile!” William Stevens, Printer, Bell Yard, Temple Bar. FOOTNOTES: