“ Some imitators, like a flock of sheep,1
For ever in the steps of Virgil keep :2
Him for my shepherd while I proudly own,3
Sometimes I stray, and dare to walk alone ;4
And though my Virgil lead me, let him have5
Me for his pupil, never for his slave.6
His be the model, his the glorious laws7
By which he rightly won a world’s applause.8
These let me follow ; if perchance I dare9
To borrow something from the riches there,10
Let it, at least, attempt to seem in place,11
And veil in fashions new its antique face.”12