250 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



that this irrevocable decree had been declared l^ 

 many oracles and prognoftics, among others, by 

 the prefage of a ferpent, which devoured ten little 

 birds in the neft, with their mother. There is in 

 Vttlcan^s difcourfe a great deal of fwaggering, to 

 fay no worfe of it, for he infinuates, that there 

 were arms which he could have made, in complai- 

 fance to Feniis, capable of counteracting the courfe 

 of Fate, and the will of Jupiter himfelf, to whom 

 he gives the epithet of omnipotent, by way of de- 

 fiance. Obferve, farther, by the wa,y, the rhime 

 of thefe two verfes, in which the fame word is 

 twice repeated^ fucceflively, without any apparent 

 neceflity. 



.fi cura fiiiflet 

 .annare fuiflèt. 



Vtdcaity intoxicated with love, knows neither 

 what he fays, nor what he does. He is completely 

 deranged in his expreffion, in his thoughts, and 

 in his adions, for he forms the rtfolution of fabri- 

 cating magnificent armour for the illegitimate fon 

 of his faithlefs fpoufe. It is true, he avoids naming 

 him. She has pronounced his name but once, 

 out of difcretion J and he fuppreffes it altogether, 

 out of jealoufy. To Feniis alone the fervice is to 

 be rendered. It appears as if he believed flie was 

 going perfonally to engage in combat : "If for 



" war 



