rewarded on the occasion. Virgil, provoked at the falsehood of the impostor, again wrote the verses on some conspicuous part of the palace, and under them the following line:
Hos ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honorem;
> I wrote the verse, another filched the praise;with the beginning of another line in these words:
*Sic vos, non vobis,*
Not for yourselves, you——repeated four times. Augustus expressing a desire that the lines should be finished, and Bathyllus proving unequal to the task, Virgil at last filled up the blanks in this manner:
> 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.
* Not for yourselves, ye birds, your nests ye build;
* Not for yourselves, ye sheep, your fleece ye yield;
* Not for yourselves, ye bees, your cells ye fill;
* Not for yourselves, ye beeves, ye plough and till.