(154) O decus, O famae merito pars maxima nostrae. Vir. Georg. ii.
Light of my life, my glory, and my guide!
O et praesidium et dulce decus meum. Hor. Ode I.
My glory and my patron thou!

One would be inclined to think, that there was a nicety in the sense and
application of the word decus, amongst the Romans, with which we are
unacquainted, and that, in the passages now adduced, it was understood to
refer to the honour of the emperor's patronage, obtained through the
means of Mecaenas; otherwise, such language to the minister might have
excited the jealousy of Augustus. But whatever foundation there may be
for this conjecture, the compliment was compensated by the superior
adulation which the poets appropriated to the emperor, whose deification
is more than insinuated, in sublime intimations, by Virgil.

Tuque adeo quem mox quae sint habitura deorum
Concilia, incertum est; urbisne invisere, Caesar,
Terrarumque velis curam; et te maximus orbis
Auctorem frugum, tempestatumque potentem
Accipiat, cingens materna tempora myrto:
An Deus immensi venias maris, ac tua nautae
Numina sola colant: tibi serviat ultima Thule;
Teque sibi generum Tethys emat omnibus undis. Geor. i. 1. 25, vi.

Thou Caesar, chief where'er thy voice ordain
To fix midst gods thy yet unchosen reign--
Wilt thou o'er cities fix thy guardian sway,
While earth and all her realms thy nod obey?
The world's vast orb shall own thy genial power,
Giver of fruits, fair sun, and favouring shower;