Though I be now like to the snowy Alps, I was as hot as Aetna in my youth; All fire, i' faith, true heart of oak, right steel A ruffian, lady.

It is best, therefore, to take the Aetna into account in studying Vergil's life, even though we reserve a place in our memories for that stray phrase de qua ambigitur.

When Aetna on their backs by Jove was thrown.

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Seneca attributed the Aetna to Vergil in ad Lucilium 79, 5: The words "Vergil's complete treatment" can hardly refer to the seven meager lines found in the third book of the Aeneid.]