Bucolics

The Latin race belongs to this city, from which it holds everything. Just as the puppies of dogs are similar to the mother, and the kids of goats original: "percussis agnorum hic catulos canis similes sic" are similar to their parents, so he thought Rome differed from other cities not just in size, but in its own standing. He wishes it to be compared to the height of the world, or to the rest of the world, in which one is permitted to see God. When he makes this comparison, comparing the kid to the goats in size, he does not create a dissonance of kind. However, when he says the lion is greater than the dog, he creates a difference in both kind and size, just as he had done regarding the city of Rome.

He says, "I thought that Rome was such a thing to other cities, as a kid is usually compared to goats." For I used to say that it was greater in its own right than the [average] city. But now, truly, I say that it stands apart in every way. For it is the seat of the gods. He proves this by the verse: "As much as the bending viburnums are wont to be among the cypresses." original: "Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi." A famous line from Virgil's first Eclogue where Tityrus compares other cities to small shrubs and Rome to a towering tree. For the viburnum The wayfaring tree, a low-growing shrub. is very short, whereas the cypress is a most lofty tree.

This way of speaking is found in Varro and in the works of Aristotle; it is also found in Cicero. Why are bodies "bending" or "flexible"? Because they were touched by such great things. To the highest magnitude and excellence of the gods, mortals are compared. From this, as if marveling at the kid, he wishes to have been able to attain liberty original: "libertat" by the grace of justice. Love of liberty—and while others are desirous of liberty in a different way, that free-born man from the ravo? wishes it to be felt here; he wishes to stand by his own will. Just as Virgil...