Sit Romana potens Itala uirtute propagoOther poets might have produced fine poetry on the greatness of conquest and dominion The supremacy of the Aeneid, and its
continuing importance when the Roman Empire has turned out after all to be less than eternal, depends on two things One is the
haunting beauty of Virgil's verse, never equalled in Latin literature, the other is his ability to present at the same time, with justice
but also with passion, both the achievement of Empire and also its inevitable human cost The exquisite balance comes out clearly
when Aeneas is brought the shield, glittering with the representation of Rome's martial history, culminating in the figure of
Augustus receiving tribute from a conquered world. Aeneas marvels at the wonderful work, but of course he cannot really
understand it, as these events have not yet happened; but he must bear the weight of them:
These figures, on the shield divinely wrought,
By Vulcan laboured, and by Venus brought,
With joy and wonder fill the hero's thought.
Unknown the names, he yet admires the grace;
His shoulder bears the fame and fortune of his race.(trans. Dry den, adapted).
Detail Of A Mosaic Pavement (fourth century A.D.) in the villa at Lullingstone, Kent. The scene of Europa and the bull is
accompanied by an inscription in faultless Latin elegiacs which presupposes a knowledge, even here in the remote province of
Britain, of Virgil's Aeneid: 'If jealous Juno had seen the swimming of the bull, more justly would she have repaired to the halls of
Aeolus.' This alludes to Juno's mission to the god of the winds in Aeneid I.
Such was Virgil's fame that a number of spurious poems were ascribed to him. At least one, the Culex, was a deliberate fake,