Others, belike, with happier grace
From bronze or stone shall call the face,
Plead doubtful causes, map the skies,
And tell when planets set or rise:
But, Roman, thou, do thou control
The nations far and wide;
Be this thy genius, to impose
The rule of peace on vanquished foes,
Show pity to the humbled soul,
And crush the sons of pride.
Conington.
But Vergil was not alone an intense patriot. He was also ardently
attached to the new imperial administration; and he seems to have set
himself the difficult task of knitting together again into harmony with
Augustus' rule the different classes of Roman citizens so long rent
asunder by factional strife and civil war. He attempts this by reminding
his fellow-citizens of their glorious past and tracing the hand of
destiny in unbroken manifestation from Æneas to Cæsar and to Cæsar's
heir. Thus Jupiter is seen promising to Venus for her Trojan descendants
"endless, boundless reign." This glorious reign is to culminate in the
great Cæsar, who with his heir Augustus shall inaugurate the Golden Age
again.
The _Æneid_ itself may be said in a sense to focus upon Augustus, for
in the vision which is granted to Æneas in the underworld of the long
line of his mighty descendants, it is Augustus who is singled out for
most glowing tribute as the chief glory of the race that is to be:
This, this is he, so oft the theme
Of your prophetic fancy's dream,
Augustus Cæsar, god by birth,
Restorer of the age of gold
In lands where Saturn ruled of old,
O'er Ind and Garamant extreme
Shall stretch his reign, that spans the earth.
Look to that land which lies afar,
Beyond the path of sun or star,
Where Atlas on his shoulder rears
The burden of the incumbent spheres.
Egypt e'en now and Caspia hear
The muttered voice of many a seer,
And Nile's seven mouths, disturbed with fear,
Their coming conqueror know.
Conington.
Such strains as these in the setting of such a poem, embodying all that
most delicately and most powerfully stimulated the Roman pride of birth
and country, would do much to confer upon the ruling emperor historic
and divine sanction.
Perhaps connected with the national character of the _Æneid_ is the
strong religious motive which animates the whole. Rome was not produced
by chance. The poet never lets us lose sight of the fact that all has
been predestined for ages past. Æneas from the first is in the hands of
heaven, fated indeed to wander, to endure disappointment, suffering,
loss that would have tried beyond endurance a man of weaker faith; but
fated as well to work out a glorious destiny. And Æneas, like the
typical Roman after him, believed in his destiny. He calmly consoles his
shipwrecked friends upon the wild shores of Africa in the face of
seemingly irreparable disaster: