Note 5 — CHAP. I.
John Ernest Galliard translation
The Explanation of Sic vos non vobis, &c., for the Satisfaction of those who do not perfectly remember it.
Virgil having composed a Distich, containing the Praise of Augustus, and a Compliment on his good Fortune, fix'd it on the Palace Gate, without any Name subscrib'd. Augustus, making strict Enquiry after the Author, and Virgil's Modesty not suffering him to own the Verses, one Bathillus, a Poet of a mean Reputation, owned himself the Author, and received Honour and Reward from the Emperor. Virgil, somewhat scandalized at this Accident, fixed an Hemistich in these Words (Sic vos non vobis) four times repeated under the other, where he had placed the former Verses. The Emperor was as diligent to have these Hemistichs filled up, but no-body appearing to do it, at length Virgil supplied them thus:
Hos ego Versiculos feci, tulit alter Honores; Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves. Sic vos non vobis vellera fertis oves. Sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes. Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves.
i.e. These Verses I made, but another has taken the Applause of them.
So ye Birds build not your Nests For yourselves. So ye Sheep bear not your Wool For yourselves. So ye Bees make not your Honey For yourselves. So ye Oxen submit to the Plow Not for yourselves.
Upon this Discovery, Bathillus became the Ridicule of Rome, and Virgil acquired a double Reputation.
The Distich, which Bathillus claim'd for his, was this:
Nocte plut totâ, redeunt spectacula manè, Divisum Imperium cum Jove Cæsar habet.
i.e. It rain'd all Night; in the Morning the publick Shews return: Jove and Cæsar divide the Rule of the World. The Compliment is, that Cæsar designing to exhibit Sports to the People, though the preceding Night was rainy and unpromising, yet such Weather returned with the Morning, as did not disappoint the Solemnity.