Note 3 — JAMES HARVEY ROBINSON (continued 5)

Æneid, ix., 448, 449, as translated by William Morris. Petrarch here makes an excursus in order to free Virgil from the reproach of Augustine, who asserts that the poet mendaciously promises (Æneid, i., 278, 279) the Romans an endless empire. These words, Petrarch points out, were discreetly put into Jove's mouth, whereas, when speaking for himself, Virgil refers (Georgics, ii., 498) to res Romanæ perituraque regna.