248 STUDIES OP NATURE. 



*' the fword againfl me." Vulcan is ftaggered, yet 

 ftill hefitates ; (he fixes his determination by a 

 rnafter-ftroke ; die folds him in her beautiful arms, 

 and earefles him. Let who can, render the force 

 of; Cun5îantem amplexu molli fovet.,..fenJit lata dolts 



and, above all, /orw^ confcia, which defies all 



the powers of tranflation. 



Vukans reply prefents perfed adaptations, to the 

 fituation into which he had been thrown, by the 



careffes of Mentis, 



Firgil gives him, firft, the title of Father : 

 Turn Patev asterno fatur deviclus amore, 



I have tranflated the word Pater y *' Father of 

 Arts," but improperly. That epithet belongs 

 more jiiftly to Apollo than to Fiilcan : it here 

 imports, the good Vulcan, Virgil frequently em- 

 ploys the word, father, as fynonymous with good. 

 He often appHes it to Eneas, and to Jupiter him- 

 felf : Tater Eneas, Pater omnipotens. The principal 

 charader of a father being good nefs, he quaUfies, 

 by this riame, his hero, and the Sovereign of the 

 Gods. The word, father, in this paflage, lignifies, 

 in the moft literal fenfe of the words, good man ; 

 for Vulcan fpeaks and aâ:s with lingular goodnefs 

 of dirpofition. But the word, father, taken apart, 



is 



