Virg. Æn. viii. 419.
Virgil’s treatment of his subject, the forging of the armour of Æneas, presents a curious contrast to Homer’s treatment of the forging of the armour of Achilles. Vulcan is the agent in both cases, but in the simple patriarchal era of Homer he is made to do it all himself, with the assistance only of “twenty pairs of bellows:”—
Φῦσαι δ’ ἐν χοάνοισιν ἐείκοσι πᾶσαι ἐφύσων.
The more refined contemporary of Augustus makes the Cyclops perform the porters’ work, and Vulcan merely look on.
XXXIV. “The rampant lions spurning Gallic chain!”
“Publica” respondit, “cura est pro mœnibus istis”
Juppiter: et pœnas Gallia victa dabit.
Ovid. Fast. vi. 377.