alto
Prospiciens summa placidum caput extulit unda[565].
Apollo is introduced taking part in the battle of Actium with something of the proud bearing which the greatest of his statues perpetuates—
Actius, haec cernens, arcum intendebat Apollo
Desuper[566].
And as an augury of this late help afforded to his descendant, he appears in the action of the poem as guiding the hand, and encouraging the spirit of the mythical ancestor of the Julii in his first initiation into battle—
Macte nova virtute, puer: sic itur ad astra,
Dis genite, et geniture deos: iure omnia bella
Gente sub Assaraci fato ventura resident:
Nec te Troia capit[567].