Et dubitamus adhuc virtutem extendere factis,
Aut metus Ausonia prohibet consistere terra[553]?
The means through which the vision of this distant future is revealed, are the voice of Jove himself in unfolding the volume of the fates to Venus, that of the beatified shade of Anchises in exhibiting the spectacle of his unborn descendants to Aeneas, and the art of Vulcan in framing the ‘fabric of the shield surpassing all description.’
The glory attributed to Augustus in the shield of Aeneas is that of a great warrior and conqueror, the champion, not, like C. Julius, of the popular against the aristocratic party in the State, of the Provinces against the Senate, but of the nation against its old enemies, the monarchies of the East. He appears as celebrating a mighty triumph, and dedicating three hundred temples to the gods of Italy in thankful acknowledgment of his victory. The glory announced in the prophecy of Jupiter is that of the establishment by Augustus of an Empire of Peace, as the completion of his warlike triumph—
Aspera tum positis mitescent saecula bellis:
Cana Fides et Vesta, Remo cum fratre Quirinus
Iura dabunt[554].
And in the revelation of Anchises, Augustus is spoken of as—
Augustus Caesar, Divi genus: aurea condet
Saecula qui rursus Latio, regnata per arva