And my white shield proclaimed my liberty.—P. [253].
The first shields which the Roman youths wore were white, and without any impress or device on them, to shew they had yet achieved nothing in the wars.
Note V.
And by my better Socrates was bred.—P. [253].
Socrates, by the oracle, was declared to be the wisest of mankind: he instructed many of the Athenian young noblemen in morality, and amongst the rest Alcibiades.
Note VI.
Sure on our birth some friendly planet shone;
And, as our souls, our horoscope was one.—P. [254].
Astrologers divide the heaven into twelve parts, according to the number of the twelve signs of the zodiac. The sign, or constellation, which rises in the east at the birth of any man, is called the Ascendant: Persius therefore judges, that Cornutus and he had the same, or a like nativity.