[942] Although it may be a deviation from the direct path, yet, having noticed in so much detail the unfaithfulness of Virgil to his original, I will also give an instance of the accuracy of Horace. In the Seventh Ode of the First Book, he has occasion to refer to the places made famous in Homeric song; and Athens with him is Palladis urbs; so Argos (ἱππόβοτον) is aptum equis, Mycænæ (πολύχρυσος) dites, Larissa (ἐριβώλαξ) opima. Lacedæmon is patiens, an epithet corresponding with no particular word in Homer, but not contradicted by any; it had acquired the character since his time.
[943] Il. v. 303. See also Il. xx. 285.
[944] Il. xii. 382.
[945] Ibid. 445-50.
[946] Homer names a Demoleon, son of Agenor; but he is slain fighting for the Trojans. Il. xx. 395.
[947] Æn. vi. 233.
[948] The aim of the poet as such is finely, but somewhat too exclusively, expressed in the Sonnet of Filicaja, Dietro a questi ancor io.
[949] Od. xvii. 385.
[950] Od. xxii. 331.
[951] Od. iii. 267.