The Works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 14

by John Dryden

Note II.

O virgin!——&c.
If, as you seem, the sister of the day,
Or one at least of chaste Diana's train.—P. 244.

Thus in the original—

O quam te memorem, virgo————
An Phœbi soror, an nympharum sanguinis una?

This is a family compliment, which Æneas here bestows on Venus. His father Anchises had used the very same to that goddess when he courted her. This appears by that very ancient Greek poem[99], in which that amour is so beautifully described, and which is thought Homer's, though it seems to be written before his age.