Ecce alia monstra. Celsa qua Tenedos mare Dorso repellit, tumida consurgunt freta, Undaque resultat scissa tranquillo minor. Qualis silenti nocte remorum sonus Longe refertur, cum premunt classes mare, Pulsumque marmor abiete imposita gemit. Respicimus, angues orbibus geminis ferunt Ad saxa fluctus: tumida quorum pectora Rates ut altæ, lateribus spumas agunt: Dat cauda sonitum; liberæ ponto jubæ Coruscant luminibus, fulmineum jubar Incendit æquor, sibilisque undæ tremunt; Stupuere mentes. Infulis stabant sacri Phrygioque cultu gemina nati pignora Laocoonte, quos repente tergoribus ligant Angues corusci: parvulas illi manus Ad ora referunt: neuter auxilio sibi Uterque fratri transtulit pias vices, Morsque ipsa miseros mutuo perdit metu. Accumulat ecce liberûm funus parens Infirmus auxiliator; invadunt virum Jam morte pasti, membraque ad terram trahunt. Jacet sacerdos inter aras victima. The main points are the same in both, and in many places the same words are used. But those are trifles, and too evident to require mention. There are other signs of imitation, more subtle, but not less sure. If the imitator be a man with confidence in his own powers, he seldom imitates without trying to improve upon the original; and, if he fancy himself to have succeeded, he is enough of a fox to brush over with his tail the footprints which might betray his course. But he betrays himself by this very vanity of wishing to introduce embellishments, and his desire to appear original. For his embellishments are nothing but exaggerations and excessive refinements. Virgil says, “Sanguineæ jubæ”; Petronius, “liberæ jubæ luminibus coruscant”; Virgil, “ardentes oculos suffecti sanguine et igni”; Petronius, “fulmineum jubar incendit æquor.” Virgil, “fit sonitus spumante salo”; Petronius, “sibilis undæ tremunt.” So the imitator goes on exaggerating greatness into monstrosity, wonders into impossibilities. The boys are secondary in Virgil. He passes them over with a few insignificant words, indicative simply of their helplessness and distress. Petronius makes a great point of them, converting the two children into a couple of heroes. Neuter auxilio sibi Uterque fratri transtulit pias vices Morsque ipsa miseros mutuo perdit metu. Who expects from human beings, and children especially, such self-sacrifice? The Greek understood nature better (Quintus Calaber, lib. xii.), when he made even mothers forget their children at the appearance of the terrible serpents, so intent was every one on securing his own safety.