The conventional view that Trapp wished to change by the interpolation of Milton was that, whereas Virgil merited the laurel for judgment and decorum, Homer possessed greater "fire," "sublimity," "fecundity," "majesty," and "vastness" (to use Trapp's terms). Homer was praised as the great original and inventor; Virgil followed in his steps with more refinement and rationality, showing everywhere that good sense and polished concision of expression characteristic of the Augustan age (so, for instance, René Rapin claimed in the well-known _Comparaison_).[3] One blossomed with the wild abundance and grandeur of nature; the other displayed that cultivated order shown in fields and gardens. Trapp accepts all that was granted to the Roman poet, but he claims for Virgil, Homeric qualities also: his borrowings are merely the basis for his invention (witness the tale of Dido); and as for the fire of sublimity, Trapp, like a critical Prometheus, filches that also. Among the many instances of the Virgilian fire given in the Preface, he cites "the Arrival of _Aeneas_ with his Fleet and Forces" in the tenth book. His translation runs thus: Amaz'd stood _Turnus_, and th' _Ausonian_ Chiefs; 'Till, looking back, they saw the Navy move Cov'ring the Sea, and gliding make to Shore. Fierce burns his Helm; and from his tow'ring Crest Flame flashes; and his Shield's round Bossy Gold Vomits vast Fires: As when in gloomy Night Ensanguin'd Comets shoot a dismal Glare; Or the red Dog-Star, rising on the World, To wretched Mortals threatens Dearth, and Plagues, With Baleful Light; and saddens all the Sky. (360 _ff._) Trapp does not play the trite old game of setting the texts of Homer and Virgil in comparison, but what comes to his mind at once in his note, and rightly, given the language of his translation, is Milton describing Satan: Like a Comet burn'd, That fires the Length of _Ophiucus_ huge In th' Artick Sky; and from his horrid hair Shakes Pestilence and War. (II. 708-711) Similarly, when Aeneas hastens to meet Turnus in the twelfth book, Miltonic translation and Miltonic original are brought together to show the similarity between Virgilian and Christian sublime: _Aeneas_ ... with Joy Exults; and thunders terrible in Arms. As great as _Athos_, or as _Eryx_ great, Or Father _Apennine_, when crown'd with Okes He waves the ruffled Forest on his Brow, And rears his snowy Summit to the Clouds. (902 ff.) * * * * * On th' other Side _Satan_ allarm'd Collecting all his Might, dilated stood; Like _Teneriff_, or _Atlas_ unremov'd: His Stature reach'd the Sky, and on his Crest Sat Horrour plum'd. (IV. 985-989)