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Debauched Romulus, will you see and endure this? You are shameless and voracious and a gambler. Was it this then, you one and only general, that took you to the furthest island of the West? was it that that worn-out profligate of yours, Mentula, should devour twenty or thirty millions? What else then, if this be not, is perverted liberality? Mis ancestral property was first torn to shreds; then came his prize-money from Pontus, then in the third place that from the Hiberus, which the gold- bearing river Tagus knows all about. And him do the Gauls and Britains fear? Why do you both support this scoundrel? or what can he do but devour rich patrimonies? Was it for this f t that you,

father-in-law and son-in-law, have ruined everything?

Alfenus, ungrateful and false to your faithful comrades, do you henceforward (ah cruel!) not pity your beloved friend? — henceforward not shrink from betraying me, deceiving me, faithless one? Do the deeds of deceivers please the gods above? — All this you disregard, and desert me in my sorrow and trouble; ah, tell me, what are men to do, whom are they to trust? For truly you used to bid me trust my soul to you (ah unjust!), leading me into love as if all were safe for me; you, who now draw back from me, and let the winds and vapours of the air bear k away all your words and deeds unratified. If you have forgotten this, yet the gods remember it, remembers Faith, who will soon make you repent of your deed.


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 Paene insularum, Sirmio, insularumque ocelle, quascumque in liquentibus stagnis manque vasto fert uterque Neptunus, quam te libenter quamque laetus inviso, vix mi ipse crcdens Thyniam atque Bithynos liquisse campos et videre te in tuto. o quid solutis est beat i us curis cum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino labore fessi venimus la rem ad nostrum desideratoque acquiescimus lecto? hoc est, quod unumst pro laboribus tantis. salve, o venusta Sirmio, atque ero gaude: gaudete vosque, o Lydiae lacus undae: ridete, quicquid est domi cachinnorum

Amabo, mea dulcis Ipsithilla, meae deliciac, mei lepores, iube ad te veniam meridiatum. et si iusseris, illud adiuvato, nequis liminis obseret tabellam, neu tibi lubeat foras abire. verum, siquid ages, statim iubeto

O furum optime balneariorum Vibenni pater et cinaede fili, cur non exilium malasque in oras itis, quandoquidem patris rapinae notae sunt populo?....

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Sirmio, bright eye of peninsulas and islands, all that in liquid lakes or vast ocean cither Neptune bears: how willingly and with what joy I revisit you, scarcely trusting myself that I have left Thynia and the Bithynian plains, and that I see you in safety. Ah, what is more blessed than to put cares away, when the mind lays by its burden, and tired with labour of far travel we have come to our own home and rest on the couch we longed for. This it is which alone is worth all these toils. Welcome, lovely Sirmio, and rejoice in your master, and rejoice ye too, waters of the Lydian lake, and laugh out aloud whatever laughter you have in the depths of your home.

I entreat you, my sweet Ipsithilla, my darling, my charmer, bid me to come and rest at noonday with you. And if you do bid me, grant me this kindness too, that no one may bar the panel of your threshold, nor you yourself choose to go away, but stay at home. But if you will at all, then

bid me come at once....

Cleverest of all clothes-stealers at the baths, father Vibennius and you his profligate son, off

with you into banishment and the dismal regions, since the father's plunderings are known to all the world.... 5


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Dianac sumus in fide puellac ct pueri integri: [Dianam pueri integri] puellaeque canamus. o Latonia, maximi magna progenies IoVis, quam mater prope Deliam deposivit olivam, montium domina ut fores silvarumque vircntium saltuumque reconditorucrr, amniumque sonantum. tu Lucina dolentibus Iuno dicta puerperis, tu potens Trivia et notho's dicta lumine Luna, tu icursu, dea, a menstruo \ metiens iter annuum rustic! agrfeolae bonis tecta frugibus expfes. sis quocumque tibi placet sancta nomine, Romu lique, antique ut solita's, bona -sospitcs ope gentem

Poetae tenero, mco sodali velim Caecilio, papyrc, dicas Vcronam veniat, Novi relinquens Comi moenia Lariumquc litus: nam quasdam volo cogitationes amici accipiat sui meique. quare, si sapiet, viam vorabit, 20


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We girls and chaste boys are lieges of Diana. Diana let us sing, chaste boys and girls. child of Latona, great offspring of greatest Jove, whom thy mother laid down by the Delian olive-tree, that thou mightest be the lady of mountains and green woods, and sequestered glens and sounding rivers; thou art called Juno Lucina by mothers in pains of travail, thou art called mighty Trivia and Moon with counterfeit light. Thou, goddess, measuring out the year with monthly course, fillest full with goodly fruits the rustic home of the husbandman. Be thou hallowed by whatever name thou wilt; and as of old thou wert wont, with good help keep safe the race of Romulus.

I ask you, papyrus leaf, to tell the gentle poet, my friend Caecilius, to come to Verona, leaving the walls of Novum Comum and the shore of Larius: for I wish him to receive certain thoughts of a friend of his and mine. Wherefore if he is wise he will c. 5


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 quamvis Candida miliens puella cuntem rcvocet manusque collo ambas iniciens roget morari; quae nunc, si mihi vera nuntiantur, ilium deperit impotente amore: nam quo tempore legit incohatam Dindymi dominam, ex eo misellae ignes interiorem edunt medullam. ignosco tibi, Sapphica puella Musa doctior: est enim venuste Magna Caecilio incohata Mater

Annales Volusi, cacata charta, votum solvite pro mea puella: nam sanctae Veneri Cupidinique vovit, si sibi restitutus essem desissemque truces vibrare iambos, electissima pessimi poetae scripta tardipedi deo daturam infelicibus ustulanda lignis. et haec pessima se puella vidit iocosis lepide vovere divis. nunc, o caeruleo creata ponto, quae sanctum Idalium Uriosque apertos quaeque Ancona Gnidumque harundinosam colis quaeque Amathunta quaeque Golgos quaeque Durachium Hadriae tabernam, acccptum face redditumque votum, si non illcpidum neque invenustumst. at vos interea venite in ignem, pleni ruris et infacetiarum annales Volusi, cacata charta.


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devour the way with haste, though his fair lady should call him back a thousand times, and throwing both her arms round his neck beg him to delay. She now, if a true tale is brought to me, dotes on him with passionate love. For since she read the beginning of his Lady of Dindymus, ever since then, poor girl, the fires have been wasting her inmost marrow. I can feel for you, maiden more scholarly than the Sapphic muse; for Caecilius has indeed made a lovely beginning to his Magna Mater.

Chronicle of Volusius, dirty waste paper, discharge a vow on behalf of my love; for she vowed to holy Venus and to Cupid that if I were restored to her love and ceased to dart fierce iambics, she would give to the lamefooted god the choicest writings of the worst of poets, to be burnt with wood from some accursed tree: and the lady saw that these were the worst poems ' that she was vowing to the merry

>

gods in pleasant sport. Now therefore, O thou whom 1° the blue sea bare, who inhabitest holy Idalium and open Urii, who dwellest in Ancona and reedy Cnidus and in Amathus and in Golgi, and in Dyrrhachium the meeting-place of all Hadria, enter the vow as received and duly paid, so surely as it is not out of taste nor inelegant. Meantime come you here into the fire, full of rusticity and clumsiness, chronicle of Volusius, dirty waste paper. °

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 iMalest, Cornifici, tuo Catullo, malest, me herculc, et [ei] laboriose, et magis magis in dies et horas. quern tu, quod minimum facillimumquest, qua solatus cs allocutione? irascor tibi. sic meos amores? paulum quid lubet allocutionis, maestius lacrimis Simonideis

Egnatius, quod candidos habet dentes, renidet usquequaque. si ad rei ventumst subsellium, cum orator excitat fletum, renidet ille. si ad pii rogum fili lugetur, orba cum flet unicum mater, renidet ille. quicquid est, ubicumquest, quodcumque agit, renidet. hunc habet morbum, neque elegantem, ut arbitror, neque urbanum. quarc monendum te est mihi, bone Egnati. si urbanus esses aut Sabinus aut Tiburs aut parous Umber aut obesus Etruscus aut Lanuvinus ater atque dentatus aut Transpadanus, ut meos quoque attingam, aut quilubet, qui puriter lavit dentes, tamen renidere usquequaque te nollem: nam risu inepto res ineptior nullast.

quaenam te mala mens, miselle Ravide, agit praecipitem in meos iambos? quis deus tibi non bene advocatus vecordem parat excitare rixam?


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Your Catullus is ill, Cornificius, ill and in distress, and that more and more daily and hourly. And you, the lightest and easiest task, with what cheering word have you consoled him? I am getting angry with you — what, treat my love so? Give me only some little word of comfort, something as moving as the tears of Simonides!

Egnatius, because he has white teeth, is everlastingly smiling. If people come to the prisoner's bench, when the counsel for the defence is making everyone cry, he smiles: if they are wailing at the funeral of an affectionate son, when the bereaved mother is weeping for her only boy, he smiles: whatever it is, wherever he is, whatever he is doing, he smiles: it is a malady he has, neither an elegant one as I think, nor in good taste. So I must give you a bit of advice, my good Egnatius. If you were a Roman or a Sabine or a Tiburtine or a thrifty Umbrian or a plump Etruscan, or a black and tusky Lanuvian, or a Transpadane (to touch on my own people too), or anybody else who washes his teeth with clean water, still I should not like you to be smiling everlastingly; for there is nothing more silly than a silly laugh.....

What infatuation, my poor Ravidus, drives you headlong in. the way of my iambics? What god invoked by you amiss is going to stir up a senseless


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 an ut pervenias in ora vulgi? quid vis? qualubet esse notus optas? eris, quandoquidem meos amores cum longa voluisti amare poena

Ameana tota milia me decem poposcit, ista turpiculo puella naso, decoctoris amica Formiani. propinqui, quibus est puella curae, amicos medicosque convocate: non est sana puella, nec rogare qualis sit solet aes imaginosum

Adeste, hendecasyllabi, quot estis omnes undique, quotquot estis omnes. iocum me putat esse moecha turpis, et negat mihi vestra reddituram pugillaria, si pati potestis. persequamur eam, et reflagitemus. quae sit, quaeritis. illa, quam videtis turpe incedere, mimice ac moleste ridentem catuli ore Gallicani. circumsistite eam, et reflagitate, ' moecha putida, redde codicillos, redde, putida moecha, codicillos.' non assis facis? o lutum, lupanar, aut si perditius potes quid esse. sed non est tamen hoc satis putandum. quod si non aliud potest, ruborem ferreo canis exprimamus ore: conclamate iterum altiore voce


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quarrel? Is it that you wish to be talked about? What do you want? would you be known no matter how? So you shall, since you have chosen to love my lady, — and long shall you rue it.

Ameana asked me for a round ten thousand; that girl with the ugly nose, the mistress of the bankrupt of Formiae. You relations, who have the charge of the girl, call together friends and doctors: the girl is not right in her mind, and never asks the looking-glass what she is like.

Hither from all sides, hendecasyllables, as many as there are of you, all of you as many as there are. An ugly drab thinks she may jest with me, and says she will not give me back your tablets, if you can submit to that. Let us follow her, and demand them back again. You ask who she is. That one whom you see strutting with an ugly gait, grinning like a vulgar mountebank with the gape of a Cisalpine hound. Stand round her and call for them back again. ' Dirty drab, give back the tablets, give back the tablets, dirty drab! ' Don't you care a penny for that? O, filth, O beastliness! or anything else that I can call you filthier still! But we must not think this enough. Well, if nothing else can do it, let us force a blush from the brazen face of the beast: call


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 ' moecha putida, redde codicillos, redde, putida moecha, codicillos.' sed nil proficimus, nihil movetur. mutandast ratio modusque nobis, siquid proficcre amplius potestis: ' pudica et proba, redde codicillos.

Salve, nee minimo puella naso nee bello pede nee nigris ocellis nee longis digitis nee ore sicco nee sane nimis elegante lingua, decoctoris arnica Formiani. ten Provincia narrat esse bellam? tecum Lesbia nostra comparatur? o saeclum insapiens et infacetum

- O funde noster, seu Sabine seu Tiburs, (nam te esse Tiburtem autumant, quibus non est cordi Catullum laedere: at quibus cordist, quovis Sabinum pignore esse contendunt) sed seu Sabine sive verius Tiburs, fui libenter in tua suburbana villa, malamque pectore expuli tussim. non imntercnti quain nimi metis venter, dum^sumptuosas appeto, dc^ch't, cenas. nam, Sestianus dum volo esse conviva/ oratione^rn in Antium petitorem - plenam veneni et pestilentiac legi. hie me gravedo frigida et frequens tussis quassavit usque dum in tuum sinum fugi et me recuravi otioque et urtica.


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out again with louder voice, 'Dirty drab, give back the tablets, give back the tablets, dirty drab! ' We do no good: she does not mind. We must change our plan and method, if you can do better so — ' Maiden modest and chaste, give back the tablets.'

I greet you, lady, you who neither have a tiny nose, nor a pretty foot, nor black eyes, nor long fingers, nor dry mouth, nor indeed a very refined tongue, mistress of the bankrupt of Formiae. Is it you who are pretty, as the Province tells us? is it with you that our Lesbia is compared? O, this age! how tasteless and illbred it is!

My farm, whether Sabine or Tiburtine (for those affirm that you are Tiburtine, who do not love to annoy Catullus, but those who do will wager anything that you are Sabine)— but at all events, whether you are Sabine or more rightly Tiburtine, I was glad to be in your retreat, 'twixt country and town, and to clear my chest of the troublesome cough, which my greediness gave me (not undeservedly) whilst I was running after costly feasts. I wanted to go to dinner with Sestius, and so I read a speech of his against the candidate Antius, full of poison and plague. Thereupon a shivering chill and a constant cough shook me to pieces, till at last I fled to your bosom, and set myself right again by a diet c. 6


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 quare refectus maximas tibi grates ago, meum quod non es ulta^peccatum. nee deprecor iam, si nefaria scripta Sesti recepso, quin gravedinem et tussim non mi, sed ipsi Sestio ferat frigus, qui tunc vocat me, cum malum librum legi

Acmen Septimius suos amores tenens in gremio ' mea ' inquit 'Acme, ni te perdite amo atque amare porro omnes sum assidue paratus annos quantum qui pote plurimum perire, solus in Libya Indiaque tosta caesio veniam obvius leoni.' hoc ut dixit, Amor, sinistra, f ut antef dextra, sternuit approbationem. at Acme leviter caput reflectens et dulcis pueri ebrios ocellos illo purpureo ore saviata ' sic ' inquit ' mea vita Septimille, huic uni domino usque serviamus, ut multo mihi maior acriorque ignis mollibus ardet in medullis.' hoc ut dixit, Amor, sinistram ut ante, dextram sternuit approbationem. nunc ab auspicio bono profecti mutuis animis amant amantur. unam Septimius misellus Acmen mavolt quam Syrias Britanniasque: uno in Septimio fidelis Acme facit delicias libidinesque. quis ullos homines beatiores vidit, quis Venerem auspicatiorem?


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of laziness and nettle broth. So now, having recovered, I return you my best thanks because you did not punish my error. And henceforth, if I ever again take in hand the abominable writings of Sestius I freely consent that the chill shall bring catarrh and cough, not upon me, but upon Sestius himself, for inviting me just when I have read a stupid book.

Septimius, holding in his bosom his darling Acme, says, ' My Acme, if I do not love thee to desperation, and if I am not ready to go on loving thee continually through all my years as much as he who can love most desperately, may I in Libya or sunburnt India meet a green-eyed lion alone.' As he said this, Love on the left, as before on the right, sneezed goodwill. Then Acme, slightly bending back her head, kissed with IO that rosy mouth her sweet love's swimming eyes, and said, ' So, my life, my darling Septimius, may we ever serve this one master, so surely as (I swear) more * strongly and fiercely than ever burns for me the flame in my melting marrow.' As she said this, Love, as before on the left, now on the right sneezed goodwill. And now, setting out from a good omen, heart in heart they live, loving and loved. Poor Septimius prefers Acme alone to Syrias and Britains. In Septimius, him alone, his faithful Acme takes her fill of loves and pleasures. Who ever saw human beings more blest? Who ever saw a mo re fo rtunate love?

■— — ^— iff" — — —

6—2


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 lam ver egelidos refcrt teporcs, iam caeli furor aequinoctialis iucundis Zephyri silescit auris. linquantur Phrygii, Catulle, campi Niceaeque ager uber aestuosac: ad claras Asiac volemu.s urbes. iam mens praetrepidans avet vagari, iam laeti studio pedes vigescunt. o dulces comitum valete coetus, longe quos simul a domo profectos diversae variae viae reportant

Porci et Socration, duae sinistrae Pisonis, scabies famesque munda, vos Vcraniolo meo et Fabullo verpus praeposuit Priapus ille? vos convivia lauta sumptuose de die facitis? mei sodales quaerunt in trivio vocationes

Mellitos oculos tuos, Iuventi, siquis me sinat usque basiare, usque ad milia basiem trecenta. nee mi umquam videar satur futurus, non si densior aridis aristis sit nostrae seges osculationis.


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Now spring brings back balmy warmth, now the glad gales of Zephyr are hushing the rage of the equinoctial sky. Deserted be the Phrygian plains, Catullus, and the rich land of burning Nicaea: away let us fly to the renowned cities of Asia. Now my soul flutters in anticipation and yearns to stray; now my eager feet rejoice and grow strong. Farewell, dear bands of fellow travellers, who set out together from your far away home, and whom divided ways through changing scenes are bringing back again.

Porcius and Socration, Piso's two left hands, you plague and mere famine, has that obscene Priapus preferred you to my dear Veranius and Fabullus? Are you spending money and holding splendid rich banquets at vast expense in broad daylight, whilst my old friends must hunt in the streets for an invitation?

Your honeyed eyes, Juventius, if one should let me go on kissing still, I would kiss them three hundred thousand times, nor would I think I should ever have enough, no, not if the harvest of our kissing were thicker than the ripe ears of corn.


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 Disertissime Romuli ncpotum, quot sunt quotque fuere, Marce Tulli, quotque post aliis erunt in annis, gratias tibi maximas Catullus agit pessimus omnium poeta, tanto pessimus omnium poeta quanto tu optimus omnium's patronus

Hesterno, Licini, die otiosi multum lusimus in fmeis tabellis, ut convenerat esse delicatos. scribens versiculos uterque nostrum ludebat numero modo hoc modo illoc, reddens mutua per iocum atque vinum. atque illinc abii tuo lepore incensus, Licini, facetiisque, ut nee me miserum cibus iuvaret nee somnus tegeret quiete ocellos, sed toto indomitus furore lecto versarer, cupiens videre lucem, ut tecum loquerer simulque ut essem. at defessa labore membra postquam semimortua lectulo iacebant, hoc, iucundc, tibi pocma feci, ex quo perspiccres meum dolorem. nunc audax cave sis, precesque nostras oram us cave despuas, ocelle, ne poenas Nemesis reposcat a te.:o est vcmens dea: lacdere hanc caveto.


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Most skilled in speech of the descendants of Romulus, all who are, and all who have been, and all who shall be hereafter in other years, Marcus Tullius,—to thee his warmest thanks Catullus gives, the worst of all poets; as much the worst poet of all as you are the best advocate of all.

Yesterday, Licinius, we made holiday and played many a game with my tablets, as we had agreed to take our pleasure. Each of us pleased his fancy in writing verses, now in one metre, now in another, answering each other, as we laughed and drank our wine. I came away from this so fired by your cleverness and humour, Licinius, that my food did not ease my pain, and sleep spread no rest over my eyes, but raging with frenzy I tossed about all over my bed, longing to see the dawn, that I might talk to you and be with you. But when my limbs were worn out with fatigue and lay half-dead on my couch, I made this poem for you, my sweet friend, that from it you might learn my pains. Now be not too proud, and do not, I pray you, apple of my eye, do not reject my prayers, lest Nemesis demand penalties from you in turn. She is a mighty goddess—beware of offending her.


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 a Illc mi par esse deo videtur, ille, si fas est, superare divos, qui sedens adversus identidem te spectat et audit dulce ridentem, misero quod omnis eripit sensus mihi; nam simul te, Lesbia, aspexi, nihil est super mi [vocis in ore] lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artus flamma demanat, sonitu suopte tintinant aures, gemina teguntur lumina nocte. Lib Otium, Catulle, tibi molestumst: otio exultas nimiumque gestis. otium et reges prius et beatas perdidit urbes

Quid est, Catulle? quid moraris emori? sella in curuli struma Nonius sedet, per consulatum perierat Vatinius: quid est, Catulle? quid moraris emori

Risi nescio quern modo e corona, qui, cum mirifice Vatiniana mens crimina Calvus explicasset, admirans ait haec manusque tollcns, 'di magni, salaputtium disertum! '


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He seems to me to be equal to a god, he, if it may be, seems to surpass the very gods, who sitting opposite thee again and again gazes at thee and hears thee sweetly laughing. Such a thing takes away my senses, alas! for whenever I see thee, Lesbia, at once no voice at all remains within my mouth, but my tongue falters, a subtle flame steals secretly through my limbs, my ears tingle with inward humming, my eyes are quenched in twofold night.

Idleness, Catullus, does you harm, you riot in your idleness and wanton too much. Idleness ere now has ruined both kings and wealthy cities.

What is it, Catullus? why do you not make haste to die? That wen Nonius sits in the curule chair; Vatinius forswears himself by his consulship. What is it, Catullus? why do you not make haste to die?

A fellow in the crowd made me laugh just now: when my dear Calvus had drawn out in splendid style his accusations against Vatinius, he lifted up his hands in wonder and 'Great gods (says he), what an eloquent manikin!'


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 Otonis caput (oppidost pusillum) fet Eri rusticcf semilauta crura, si non omnia, displiccre vellem tibi et Fuficio seni recocto. LIVb Irascere iterum meis iambis immerentibus, unice imperator

Oramus, si forte non molestumst, demonstres, ubi sint tuae tenebrae. te campo quaesivimus minore, te in circo, te in omnibus libellis, te in templo summi Iovis sacrato; in Magni simul ambulatione femellas omnes, amice, prendi, quas vultu vidi tamen sereno. ■fa, vel te sic ipse-f" flagitabam, ' Camerium mihi, pessimae puellae! ' quaedam inquit, nudum reduc[ta pectus], ' en hie in roseis latet papillis.' sed te iam ferre Herculi labos est. non custos si fingar ille Cretum, non si Pegaseo ferar volatu, non Ladas [si] ego pinnipesve Perseus, non Rhesi niveae citaeque bigae: adde hue plumipedas volatilesque, ventorumque simul require cursum; quos iunctos, Cameri, [ut] mihi dicares, defessus tamen omnibus medullis et multis langoribus peresus


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Otho's head (very small it is) and your half-washed legs, rustic Erius these points at least, if not all about them, I should wish to be disliked by you and Fuficius, that old fellow renewed to youth again.

You will again be angered by my iambics, my innocent iambics, you one and only general.

I beg you, if I may without offence, show me where is your dark corner. I have looked for you in the lesser Campus, in the Circus, in all the booksellers' shops, in the hallowed temple of great Jove. At the same time, in the portico of Magnus, I caught hold of all the girls, my friend, who nevertheless faced me with untroubled look. Ah, even so I myself kept asking them for you 'Give me my Camerius, you wicked girls!' One of them, baring her naked bosom, says 'Look here, he is hiding between my rosy breasts.' Well, to bear with you is now a labour of Hercules. Not though I should be moulded in brass like the fabled warder of Crete, not though I were borne aloft like flying Pegasus, not if I were Ladas or wingfooted Perseus, not if I were the swift snow-white pair of Rhesus could I overtake you: add to these the feather-footed gods and those that fly, and with them call for the swiftness of the winds; though you should harness all these, Camerius, and press them into my service, yet I should be tired out in my very marrow, and worn away with many


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 essem te, mi amice, quaeritando.* tanto ten fastu negas, amice? die nobis ubi sis futurus, ede audacter, committe, crede luci. num te lacteolae tenent puellae? si linguam clauso tenes in ore, fructus proicies amoris omnes: verbosa gaudet Venus loquella. vel si vis, licet obseres palatum, dum vestri sim particeps amoris

O rem ridiculam, Cato, et iocosam dignamque auribus et tuo cachinno. ride, quidquid amas, Cato, Catullum: res est ridicula et nimis iocosa.

Pulcre convenit improbis cinaedis, Mamurrae pathicoque Caesarique. nee mirum: maculae pares utrisque, urbana altera et ilia Formiana, impressae resident nee eluentur: morbosi pariter, gemelli utrique, uno in lectulo erudituli ambo, rivales socii puellularum. pulcre convenit improbis cinaedis.

Caeli, Lesbia nostra, Lesbia ilia, ilia Lesbia, quam Catullus unam plus quam se atque suos amavit omnes, nunc in quadriviis et angiportis magnanimi Remi nepotes.


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faintings, my friend, while searching for you. Do 2 you deny yourself so haughtily, my friend? Tell us where you are likely to be, out with it boldly, trust me with it, give it to the light. Do the milkwhite maids detain you? If you keep your tongue shut up within your mouth, you will waste all the gains of love; Venus loves an utterance full of words. However, if you will, you may lock up your lips, so long as you let me be a sharer in your love.

O, Cato, what an absurdly funny thing, worthy for you to hear and laugh at. Laugh, as much as you love Catullus, Cato. The thing is too absurd and funny....

I

Well agreed are the abominable profligates, Mamurra the effeminate, and Caesar — no wonder either. Like blots on each, one from the city and one from Formiae, are deeply impressed, and will never be washed out. Diseased alike, very twins, both on one sofa, dilettante writers, rivals and partners in love. Well agreed are the abominable profligates. '°

LVI 1

O, Caelius, my Lesbia, that Lesbia, Lesbia whom alone Catullus loved more than himself and all his own, now in the crossroads and alleys serves the filthy lusts of the descendants of lordly-minded Remus.


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 Bononiensis Rufa uxor Meneni, saepe quam in sepulcretis vidistis ipso rapcre de rogo cenam, cum devolutum ex igne prosequens panem ab semiraso tunderetur ustore.

Num te leaena montibus Libystinis aut Scylla latrans infima inguinum parte tam mente dura procreavit ac taetra, ut supplicis vocem in novissimo casu contemptam haberes, a nimis fero corde?

Collis o Heliconii cultor, Uraniae genus, qui rapis teneram ad virum virginem, o Hymenaee Hymen, o Hymen Hymenaee, cinge tempora floribus suave olentis amaraci, flammeum cape, laetus hue hue veni niveo gerens luteum pede soccum, excitusque hilari die, nuptialia concinens voce carmina tinnula, pelle humum pedibus, manu pineam quate taedam.


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Rufa of Bononia the wife of Menenius, she

whom you have often seen in the graveyards grabbing the baked meats from the very pyre, when as she ran after the loaf rolling down out of the fire she was thumped by the half-shaved slave of the under- taker.

Was it a lioness from Libyan mountains or a Scylla barking from her womb below that bare you, you that are so hard-hearted and monstrous as to hold in contempt your suppliant's voice in his last need, ah, too cruel-hearted one?

Haunter of the Heliconian mount, Urania's son, thou who bearest away the tender maid to her bridegroom, O Hymenaeus Hymen, O Hymen Hymenaeus!

Bind thy brows' with the flowers of sweet marjoram, put on the marriage veil, hither, hither merrily come, bearing on thy foot the yellow shoe, I

and wakened on this joyful day, singing with resonant voice the nuptial songs, strike the ground with thy feet, shake with thy hand the pine torch. 15


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 namque Vinia Manlio, qualis Idalium colens venit ad Phrygium Venus iudicem, bona cum bona nubet alite virgo, floridis velut enitens myrtus Asia ramulis, quos Hamadryades deae ludicrum sibi rosido nutriunt umore. quare age hue aditum ferens perge linquere Thespiae rupis Aonios specus, nympha quos super irrigat frigerans Aganippe, ac domum dominam voca coniugis cupidam novi, mentem amore revinciens, ut tenax edera hue et hue arborem implicat errans. vosque item simul, integrae virgines, quibus advenit par dies, agite in modum dicite 'o Hymenaee Hymen, o Hymen Hymenaee.' ut lubentius, audiens se citarier ad suum munus, hue aditum ferat dux bonae Veneris, boni coniugator amoris.


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For now shall Vinia wed with Manlius, Vinia as fair as Venus who dwells in Id^lium, when she came to the Phrygian judge; a good marden with a good omen,

like the Asian myrtle shining with flowering sprays, which the Hamadryad goddesses with dewy moisture nourish as a plaything for themselves. 5

Hither then, come hither, haste to leave the Aonian caves of the Thespian rock, which the nymph Aganippe cooling besprinkles from above; 3°

and call to her home the lady of the house, full of desire for her new husband, binding her heart with love, as the clinging ivy here and there straying clasps the tree.

Ye too with me, unwedded virgins, for whom a like day is coming, come, in measure say, O Hymenaeus Hymen, O Hymen Hymenaeus! ,

that hearing himself summoned to his own office, hither more readily may come the herald of chaste Venus, the coupler of chaste love.

c. 8


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 quis deus magis est -J* amatis petcndus amantibus? quern colent homines magis caelitum? o Hymenaee Hymen, o Hymen Hymenaee. te suis tremulus parens invocat, tibi virgines zonula soluunt sinus, te timens cupida novus captat aure maritus. tu fero iuveni in manus floridam ipse puellulam dedis a gremio suae matris, o Hymenaee Hymen, o Hymen Hymenaee. nil potest sine te Venus, fama quod bona comprobet, commodi capere: at potest te volente. quis huic deo compararier ausit? nulla quit sine te domus liberos dare, nee parens stirpe nitier: at potest te volente. quis huic deo compararier ausit? quae tuis careat sacris, non queat dare praesides terra finibus: at queat te volente. quis huic deo compararier ausit?


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What god is more worthy to be invoked by lovers who are loved? whom of the heavenly ones shall men worship more than thee? O Hymenaeus Hymen, O Hymen Hymenaeus!

Thee for his children the aged father invokes, for thee the maidens loose their robes from the girdle: for thee the new husband listens fearfully with eager ear.

Thou thyself givest into the hands of the fiery youth the blooming maiden from the bosom of her mother, O Hymenaeus Hymen, O Hymen Hymenaeus! 6o

No pleasure can Venus take without thee, such as honest fame may approve; but can, if thou art willing. What god dare match himself with this god?

No house without thee can give children, no parent rest on his offspring; but can, if thou art willing. What god dare match himself with this god?

A land that should want thy sanctities would not be able to produce guardians for its borders — but could, if thou wert willing. What god dare match himself with this god?

8—2


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 claustra pandite ianuae, virgo i* adest. viden ut faces splendidas quatiunt comas? tardet ingenuus pudor: quem tamen magis audiens flet, quod ire necesse est. flere desine. non tibi, Au- runculeia, periculumst, nequa fetnina pulcrior clarum ab Oceano diem viderit venientem. talis in vario solet divitis domini hortulo stare flos hyacinthinus. sed moraris, abit dies: [prodeas, nova nupta.] prodeas, nova nupta, si iam videtur, et audias nostra verba, vide ut faces aureas quatiunt comas: prodeas, nova nupta. non tuus levis in mala deditus vir adultera probra turpia persequens a tuis teneris volet0 secubare papillis, lenta *qui velut adsitas vitis implicat arbores, implicabitur in tuum complcxum. sed abit dies:5 prodeas, nova nupta.


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Throw open the fastenings of the door; the bride is coming. See you how the torches shake their shining tresses? * * noble shame delays.

* * Yet listening rather to this, she weeps for that she must go.

Cease to weep. Not to you, Aurunculeia, is there danger that any fairer woman shall see the bright day coming from ocean.

So in the painted garden of a rich owner stands a hyacinth flower — but you delay, the day is passing; come forth, new bride.

Come forth, new bride, if now you will, and hear our words. See how the torches shake their golden tresses! — come forth, new bride.

Your husband will not, lightly given to some wicked paramour, following shameful ways of dis- honour, wish to lie apart from your soft breast.

As the pliant vine entwines the trees planted near it, so will he be entwined in your embrace. But the day is passing; come forth, new bride.


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 tollite, o pueri, faces: flammeum video venire, ite, concinite in modum ' io Hymen Hymcnaee io, io Hymen Hymenaee.' ne diu taceat procax Fescennina iocatio, * * en tibi domus ut potens et beata viri tui, quae tibi sine serviat (io Hymen Hymenaee io, io Hymen Hymenaee), usque dum tremulum movens cana tempus anilitas omnia omnibus annuit. io Hymen Hymenaee io, io Hymen Hymenaee. transfer omine cum bono limen aureolos pedes, rasilemque subi forem. io Hymen Hymenaee io, io Hymen Hymenaee. aspice, intus ut accubans vir tuus Tyrio in toro totus immineat tibi. io Hymen Hymenaee io, io Hymen Hymenaee.


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Raise aloft the torches, boys: I see the wedding

veil coming. Go on, sing in measure, Io Hymen

Hymenaeus io, io Hymen Hymenaeus! Let not the

merry Fescennine raillery be silent-long.

See how mighty and rich for you is the house

of your husband; be content to be mistress here,

(Io Hymen Hymenaeus io, io Hymen Hymenaeus!)

even till hoary old age, shaking a trembling head, nods assent to all for all. Io Hymen Hymenaeus io, io Hymen Hymenaeus!

Bear over the threshold with a good omen your golden feet, and enter the polished door. Io Hymen Hymenaeus io, io Hymen Hymenaeus!

See how your husband within, reclining on the purple couch, is all eagerness for you. Io Hymen Hymenaeus io, io Hymen Hymenaeus!, 70


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 illi non minus ac tibi pectore uritur intimo flamma, sed penite magis. io Hymen Hymenaee io, io Hymen Hymenaee. mitte bracchiolum teres, praetextate, puellulae: iam cubile adeat viri. io Hymen Hymenaee io, io Hymen Hymenaee. vos bonae senibus viris cognitae bene feminae, collocate puellulam. io Hymen Hymenaee io, io Hymen Hymenaee. iam licet venias, maritc: uxor in thalamo tibist ore floridulo nitens, alba parthenice velut luteumve papaver. at, marite, (ita me iuvent caelites) nihilo minus pulcher es, neque te Venus neglegit. sed abit dies: perge, ne remorare. non diu remoratus es, iam venis. bona te Venus iuverit, quoniam palam quod cupis capis et bonum non abscondis amorem.


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In his inmost heart no less than in yours burns the flame, but deeper within. Io Hymen Hymenaeus io, io Hymen Hymenaeus!

Let go, young boy, the smooth arm of the maiden, let her now come to her husband's bed. Io Hymen Hymenaeus io, io Hymen Hymenaeus!

Ye, good women, well wedded to ancient husbands, set the maiden in her place. Io Hymen Hymenaeus io, io Hymen Hymenaeus!

Now you may come, husband: your wife is in the bridechamber, shining with flowery face, like a white '9° daisy or yellow poppy.

But, husband, so help me the gods, you are no less beautiful, nor does Venus neglect you. But the day is passing. Go on then, delay not.

Not long have you delayed. Already you come. May chaste Venus help you, since openly you take °° your desire and do not hide your honest love.


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 illc pulveris Africi siderumque micantium subducat numerum prius, qui vostri numerare vult multa milia ludi. ludite ut lubet, et brevi liberos date, non decet tarn vetus sine liberis nomen esse, sed indidem semper ingenerari. Torquatus volo parvulus niatris e gremio suae porrigens teneras manus dulce rideat ad patrem semihiante labello. sit suo similis patri Manlio et facile *'omnibus noscitetur ab insciis et pudicitiam suae «o matris indicet ore. talis illius a bona matrc laus genus approbet, qualis unica ab optima mat re Telemacho manct::. fama Penelopeo. claudite ostia, virgines: lusimus satis, at, boni coniuges, bene vivite et munere assiduo valcntcm^0 exercete iuventam.


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Let him first count up the number of the dust of Africa and of the glittering stars, who would number the many thousands of your joys.

Sport as ye will, and soon give birth to children. It is not fit that so old a name should be without children, but that they should be ever born from the same stock.

I would see a little Torquatus, stretching his baby hands from his mother's bosom, smile a sweet smile at his father with half-open lip.

May he be like his father Manlius, and easily be recognised by all, even those who do not know, and declare by his face the fair fame of his mother.

May such honour, coming from his chaste mother, approve his descent, as for Telemachus son of Penelope remains unparagoned the honour derived from 22; his noble mother.

Maidens, shut the doors. We have sported enough. But ye, happy pair, live happily, and in your office 2^ exercise joyously your vigorous youth.

9—2


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 Vesper adest, iuvenes, consurgite: Vesper Olympo expectata diu vix tandem lumina tollit. surgere iam tempus, iam pinguis linquere mensas; iam veniet virgo, iam dicetur Hymenaeus. Hymen o Hymenaee, Hymen ades o Hymenaee! cernitis, innuptae, iuvenes? consurgite contra; f> nimirum Oetaeos ostendit Xoctifer ignes. sic certest; viden ut perniciter exiluere? non temere exiluere, canent quod "'"visere par est. I lymen o Hymenaee, Hymen ades o Hymenaee! non facilis nobis, aequales, palma paratast; u aspicite, innuptae secum ut meditata requirunt. non frustra meditantur. habent memorabile quod sit nee mirum, penitus quae tota mente laborent. nos alio mentes, alio divisimus aur,-: ij iure igitur vincemur, amat victoria curam. quare nunc animos saltern committite vestros; dicere iam incipient, iam respondere decebit. Hymen o Hymenaee. Hymen ades o Hymenaee! Hespere, qui caelo fertur crudelior ignis? qui natam possis complexu avellere matris, complexu matris retinentem avellere natam, et iuveni ardenti castam donare puellam. quid faciunt h< ipta crudelius urbe? Hymen o Hymenaee, Hymen ades u Hymenaee!


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Youths. The evening is come, rise up, ye youths. Vesper from Olympus now at last is just raising his long looked-for light. Now is it time to rise, now to leave the rich tables; now will come the bride, now will the Hymen-song be sung. Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus!

Maidens. See ye, maidens, the youths? Rise up to meet them. For sure the night star shews his Oetaean fires. So it is indeed; see you how nimbly they have sprung up? it is not for nothing that they have sprung up: they will sing something which it is worth while to look at. Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus!

Youths. No easy palm is set out for us, comrades; look how the maidens are conning what they have learnt. Not in vain do they learn, they have something worth remembering; no wonder, since they labour deeply with their whole mind. We have distracted elsewhere our thoughts, elsewhere our ears; fairly then shall we be beaten; victory loves care. Wherefore now at least match your minds with theirs. Anon they will begin to speak, anon it will be fitting for us to answer. Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus!

Maidens. Hesperus, what more cruel fire moves in the sky? for thou canst endure to tear the daughter from her mother's embrace, from her mother's embrace to tear the clinging daughter, and give the chaste maiden to the burning youth. What more cruel than this do enemies when a city falls? Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus!


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 Hespere, qui caelo lucet iucundior ignis?:6 qui desponsa tua firmcs conubia flamma, quae pepigere viri, pepigerunt ante parentes, nee iunxere prius quam sc tuus cxtulit ardor, quid datur a divis felici optatius hora? Hymen o Hymenaee, Hymen ades o Hymenaee! v. * * * Hesperus e nobis, aequales, abstulit unam, namque tuo adventu vigilat custodia semper, nocte latent fures, quos idem saepe revertens, Hespere, mutato comprendis nomine Eous. [Hymen o Hymenaee, Hymen ades o Hymenaee!] at lubet innuptis ficto te carperc questu. quid turn, si carpunt, tacita quern mente requirunt? Hymen o Hymenaee, Hymen ades Hymenaee! ut flos in saeptis secretus nascitur hortis, ignotus pecori, nullo convulsus aratro, quern mulcent aurae, firmat sol, educat imber, multi ilium pueri, multae optavere puellae: idem cum tenui carptus defloruit ungui, nulli ilium pueri, nullae optavere puellae: sic virgo dum intacta manet, dum cara suis est; cum castum amisit polluto corpore florem, nee pueris iucunda manet nee cara puellis. Hymen Hymenaee, Hymen ades o Hymenaee!


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Youths. Hesperus, what more welcome fire shines in the sky? for thou with thy flame confirmest the contracted espousals, which husbands and parents have promised beforehand, but have not united till thy flame has arisen. What is given by the gods more desirable than the fortunate hour? Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymcnacus!

Maidens. Hesperus, friends, has taken away one

of us...

Youths. For at thy coming the guard is always awake. By night thieves hide themselves, whom thou, Hesperus, often overtakest returning, Hesperus the same but with changed name Eous. [Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus!]

But girls love to chide thee with feigned complaint. What then, if they chide him whom they desire in their secret heart? Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus!

Maidens. As a flower springs up secretly in a fenced garden, unknown to the cattle, torn up by no 4° plough, which the winds caress, the sun strengthens, the shower draws forth, many boys, many girls, desire it; when the same flower fades, nipped by a sharp nail, no boys, no girls, desire it: so a maiden, whilst she remains untouched, so long she is dear to her own; when she has lost her chaste flower with sullied bod) r, she remains neither lovely to boys nor dear to girls. Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus!


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 72 C. VaUn Catulli

iber ut vidua in nudo vitis quae nascitur arvo numquam sc extollit, numquam mitem cducat uvam, sed tcncrum prono deflectens pondere corpus iam iam contingit summum radice flagellum; hanc nulli agricolae, nulli coluere iuvenci. at si forte eademst ulmo coniuncta marita, multi illam agricolae, multi coluere iuvenci: sic virgo dum intacta manet, dum inculta senescit; cum par conubium maturo tempore adeptast, cara viro magis et minus est invisa parenti. [Hymen o Hymenaee, Hymen ades o Hymenaee!] 5 b at tu ne pugna cum tali coniuge, virgo. non aequumst pugnare, pater cui tradidit ipse, r.o ipse pater cum matre, quibus parere necessest. virginitas non tota tuast, ex parte parentumst; tcrtia pars patrist, pars est data tertia matri, tertia sola tuast: noli pugnare duobus, qui genero sua iura simul cum dote dederunt. Hymen o Hymenaee, Hymen ades o Hymenaee

Super alta vectus Attis celeri rate maria Phrygium ut ncmus citato cupidc pede tetigit adiitquc opaca silvis redimita loca deae, stimulatus ibi furenti rabie, vagus animi, devolvit ill acuto sibi pondera silice.


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Youths. As a widowed vine which grows up in a bare field never raises itself aloft, never brings forth a mellow grape, but bending its tender form with 5° downward weight, even now touches the root with the topmost twig; no farmers, no oxen till it: but if it chance to be joined in marriage to the elm, many farmers, many oxen till it. So a maid, whilst she remains untouched, so long is she aging untilled; but when in ripe season she has gained an equally matched marriage, she is more dear to her husband and less distasteful to her father. [Hymen, O sb Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus!]

But you, maiden, strive not with such a husband; it is not right to strive with him to whom your father himself gave you, your father himself with your mother, whom you must obey.

Your maidenhead is not all your own; partly it belongs to your parents, a third part is given to your father, a third part to your mother, only the third is yours; do not contend with two, who have given their rights to their son-in-law together with the dowry. Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus!

Borne in his swift bark over deep seas, Attis, when eagerly with rapid foot he reached the Phrygian forest, and entered the goddess's shadowy abodes crowned with woods; there, urged by raging madness, bewildered in mind, he cast down from him with sharp flint-stone the burden of his members. c. 10


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 itaquc ut relicta sensit sibi membra sine viro, etiam recente terrae sola sanguine maculans niveis citata cepit manibus leve typanum, typanum, -f-tubam Cy belles +, tua, Mater, initia, quatiensque terga tauri teneris cava digitis canere haec suis adortast tremebunda comitibus. ' agite ite ad alta, Gallae, Cybeles nemora simul, simul ite, Dindymenae dominae vaga pecora, aliena quae petentes * celere exules loca sectam meam executae duce me mihi comites rapidum salum tulistis truculentaque pelage et corpus cvirastis Veneris nimio odio, hilarate *erae citatis erroribus animum. mora tarda mente cedat; simul ite, sequimini Phrygiam ad domum Cybellcs, Phrygia ad nemora deae, to ubi cymbalum sonat vox, ubi tympana reboant, tibicen ubi canit Phryx curvo grave calamo, ubi capita Maenades vi iaciunt ederigerae, ubi sacra sancta acutis ululatibus agitant, ubi suevit ilia divae volitare vaga cohors:; quo nos decet citatis celerare tripudiis.' simul haec comitibus Attis cecinit notha mulier, thiasus repente Unguis trepidantibus ululat, leve tympanum remugit, cava cymbala recrepant, viridem citus adit Idam properante pede chorus. furibunda simul anhelans vaga vadit, animam agens, comitata tympano Attis per opaca nemora dux, veluti iuvenca vitans onus indomita iugi: rapidae ducem sequuntur Gallae properipedem. itaque ut domum Cybellcs tetigcre lassulae,


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So when he felt his limbs to have lost their manhood, and yet with fresh blood dabbling the face of the ground, swiftly with snowy hands she seized the light timbrel, timbrel, trumpet of Cybele, thy mysteries, Mother, and shaking with soft fingers the hollow ox-hide thus began she to sing to her com- panions tremulously: ' Come away, ye Gallae, go to the deep forests of Cybele together, together go, wandering herd of the lady of Dindymus, who swiftly seeking alien homes as exiles, following my band as I led you in my train, have endured the fast-flowing brine and the raging seas, and have unmanned your bodies from utter hatred of love, cheer your Lady's heart with swift wanderings. Let slow delay depart from your mind; go together, follow to the Phrygian house of Cybele, to the Phrygian forests of the goddess, where the noise of cymbals sounds, where timbrels re-echo, where the Phrygian fluteplayer blows a deep note on his curved reed, where the Maenads ivy-crowned toss their heads violently, where with shrill yells they shake the holy emblems, where that wandering company of the goddess is wont to rove, whither for us 'tis meet to hasten with rapid dances.'

So soon as Attis, woman yet no true one, sang this to her attendants, the revellers suddenly with quivering tongues yell aloud, the light timbrel rings again, clash again the hollow cymbals, swift to green Ida goes the rout with hurrying foot. Then too frenzied, panting, uncertain, wanders, gasping for breath, attended by the timbrel, Attis, through the dark forests their leader, as a heifer unbroken starting aside from the burden of the yoke. Fast follow the Gallae their hurrying leader. So when they gained the house of Cybele, faint and weary, after much toil

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 nimio c labore somnum capiunt sine Cerere. piger his labante langore oculos sopor operit: abit in quiete molli rabidus furor animi. sed ubi oris aurei Sol radiantibus oculis lustravit aethcra album, sola dura, mare ferum, pepulitque noctis umbras vegetis sonipedibus, ibi Somnus excitum Attin fugiens citus abiit: trepidante cum recepit dea Pasithea sinu. ita de quiete molli rapida sine rabie simul ipse pectore Attis sua facta rccoluit, liquidaque mente vidit sine quis ubique foret, animo aestuante rusum reditum ad vada tetulit. ibi maria vasta visens lacrimantibus oculis, patriam allocuta maestast ita voce miseriter. 'patria o mei creatrix, patria o mea genetrix, ego quam miser relinquens, dominos ut erifugae famuli solent, ad Idae tetuli nemora pedem, ut apud nivem et ferarum gelida stabula forem et earum f omnia adirem + furibunda latibula? ubinam aut quibus locis te positam, patria, reor? cupit ipsa pupula ad te sibi derigere aciem, rabie fera carens dum breve tempus animus est. egone a mea remota haec ferar in nemora domo? patria, bonis, amicis, genitoribus abero? abero foro, palaestra, stadio et guminasiis? miser a miser, querendumst etiam atque etiam, anime. quod enim genus figuraest, ego non quod habuerim? ego \ mulier, ego adolcscens, ego ephebus, ego puer, ego guminasi fui flos, ego eram decus olei: mihi ianuae frequentes, mihi limina tepida,


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they take their rest without bread; heavy sleep covers their eyes with drooping weariness, in soft slumber departs the raging madness of their mind. But when the sun with the flashing eyes of his golden face lightened the clear heaven, the spaces of hard earth, the wild sea, and chased away the shades of night with eager tramping steeds refreshed, then Sleep fled from wakened Attis and quickly was gone; him the goddess Pasithea received in her fluttering bosom. So after soft slumber, free from violent madness, as soon as Attis himself in his heart reviewed his own deed, and saw with clear mind without what and where he was, with surging mind again he sped back to the waves. There, looking out upon the waste seas with streaming eyes, thus did she piteously address her country with tearful voice. ' O my country that gavest me life! O my country that barest me! leaving whom, ah wretch! as runaway servants leave their masters, I have borne my foot to the forests of Ida, to live among snows and frozen lairs of wild beasts, and visit in my frenzy all their lurking-dens, — where then or in what region do I think thy place to be, O my country? Mine eye- balls unbidden long to turn their gaze to thee, while for a short space my mind is free from wild frenzy. I, shall I from my own home be borne far away into these forests? from my country, my possessions, my friends, my parents, shall I be absent? absent from the market, the wrestling-place, the race-course, the playground? unhappy, ah unhappy heart, again, again must thou complain. For what form of human figure is there which I had not? I, to be a woman —! I who was a stripling, I a youth, I a boy, I was the flower of the playground, I was once the glory of the palaestra: mine were crowded doorways, mine warm 65


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 mihi floridis corollis rcdimita domus erat, linquendum ubi essct orto mihi sole cubiculum. ego nunc deum ministra et Cybeles famula ferar? ego Maenas, ego mei pars, ego vir sterilis ero? ego viridis algida Idac nive amicta loca colam? ego vitam agam sub altis Phrygiae columinibus ubi cerva silvicultrix, ubi aper nemorivagus? iam iam dolet quod egi, iam iamque paenitet.' Roseis ut huic labellis sonitus * citus abiit*, geminas deorum ad aures nova nuntia referens, ibi iuncta iuga resolvens Cybele leonibus laevumque pecoris hostem stimulans ita loquitur, 'agedum' inquit 'age ferox [i], fac ut hunc furor [agitet], fac uti furoris ictu reditum in nemora ferat, mea libere nimis qui fugere imperia cupit. age caede terga cauda, tua verbera patere, fac cuncta mugienti fremiti! loca retonent, rutilam ferox torosa cervice quate iubam.' ait haec minax Cybelle religatque iuga manu. ferus ipse sese adhortans rapidum incitat animo, vadit, fremit, refringit virgulta pede vago. at ubi umida albicantis loca litoris adiit, tenerumque vidit Attin prope marmora pelagi, facit impetum: ille demens fugit in nemora fera: ibi semper omne vitae spatium famula fuit. dea magna, dea Cybelle, dea domina Dindymi, procul a mea tuus sit furor omnis, era, domo: alios age incitatos, alios age rabidos.


text: More Celtic Fairy Tales/The Black Horse

title: More Celtic Fairy Tales/The Black Horse


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thresholds, mine the flowery garlands to deck my house when I was to leave my chamber at sunrise. I, shall I now be called — what? a handmaid of the gods, a ministress of Cybele? I a Maenad, I part of myself, a barren man shall I be? shall I dwell in icy snow-clad regions of verdant Ida, I pass my life under the high summits of Phrygia, with the hind that haunts the woodland, with the boar that ranges the forest? now, now I rue my deed, now, now I wish it undone.' From his rosy lips as thus the voice came quickly forth, bringing a new message to both ears of the gods, then Cybele loosening the fastened yoke from her lions, and goading that terror of the herd who drew on the left, thus speaks: ' Come then,' she says, ' come, go fiercely, let madness hunt him hence, bid him hence by stroke of madness hie him to the forests again, him who would be too free, and escape from my sovereignty. Come, lash back with tail, endure thy own blows, make all around resound with bellowing roar, shake fiercely the ruddy mane on thy brawny neck.' Thus says wrathful Cybele, and with her hand unbinds the yoke. The monster stirs himself and rouses him to fury of heart; he speeds away, he roars, he breaks the brushwood with ranging foot. But when he came to the watery stretches of the white-gleaming shore, and saw tender Attis by the smooth spaces of the sea, he rushes at him — madly flies Attis to the wild woodland. There always for all the space of his life was he a handmaid.

Goddess, great goddess, Cybele, goddess, lady of Dindymus, far from my house be all thy fury, O my queen; others drive thou in frenzy, others drive to madness.


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 Peliaco quondam prognatac vertice pinus dicuntur liquidas Neptuni nasse per undas Phasidos ad fluctus et fines Aeeteos, cum lecti iuvenes, Argivae robora pubis, auratam optantes Colchis avertere pellem ausi sunt vada salsa cita decurrere puppi, caerula verrentes abiegnis aequora palmis; diva quibus retinens in summis urbibus arces ipsa levi fecit volitantem flamine currum, pinea coniungens inflexae texta carinae. ilia rudem cursu prima imbuit Amphitriten. quae simul ac rostro ventosum proscidit aequor, tortaque remigio spumis incanduit unda, emersere + feri candenti e gurgite vultus aequoreae monstrum Nereides admirantes. ilia * siqua alia viderunt luce marinas mortales oculis nudato corpore Nymphas nutricum tenus extantes e gurgite cano. tum Thetidis Peleus incensus fertur amore, tum Thetis humanos non despexit hymenaeos, tum Thetidi pater ipse iugandum Pelea sensit. o nimis optato saeclorum tempore nati heroes, salvete, deum * gens, o bona matrum progenies salvete, iterum * salvete bonarum *. s vos ego saepe meo vos carmine compellabo: teque adeo eximie taedis felicibus aucte, Thessaliae columen Peleu, cui Iuppiter ipse, ipse suos divum genitor concessit amores.


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Pinetrees of old, born on the top of Pelion, are said to have swum through the liquid waters of Neptune to the waves of Phasis and the realms of Aeetes, when the chosen youths, the flower of Argive strength, desiring to bear away from the Colchians the golden fleece, dared to course over the salt seas with swift ship, sweeping the blue expanse with fir-wood blades, for whom the goddess who holds the fortresses of city-tops made with her own hands the car flitting with light breeze, binding the piny structure of the bowed keel. That ship first hanselled with voyage Amphitrite untried before.

So when she ploughed with her beak the windy expanse, and the wave churned by the oars grew white with foam-flakes, forth looked, wild visages, from the foaming tide the Nereids of the deep wondering at the strange thing. On that day, if on any other, mortals saw with their eyes the seaNymphs standing forth from the hoary tide naked as far as the paps. Then is Peleus said to have caught fire with love of Thetis, then did Thetis not disdain mortal espousals, then the Father himself knew in his heart that Peleus must be joined to Thetis. O ye, in happiest time of ages born, hail, heroes, sprung from gods! hail, kindly offspring of good mothers, hail again! you often in my song, s you will I address. And specially thee, greatly blessed by fortunate marriage torches, pillar of Thessaly, Peleus, to whom Jupiter himself, the king of the gods himself granted his own Love. Thee c. 11


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 tene Thetis tenuit pulcherrima Nereine? tene suam Tethys concessit ducere neptem, Oceanusque, mari totum qui amplectitur orbem? Ouis simul optatae finito tempore luces advenere, domum conventu tota frequentat Thessalia, oppletur laetanti regia coetu: dona ferunt prae se, declarant gaudia voltu. deseritur *Cieros, linquunt Phthiotica Tempe, Crannonisque domos ac moenia Larisaea, Pharsalum coeunt, Pharsalia tecta frequentant. rura colit nemo, mollescunt colla iuvencis, non humilis curvis purgatur vinea rastris, non falx attenuat frondatorum arboris umbram, non glaebam prono convellit vomere taurus, squalida desertis rubigo infertur aratris. ipsius at sedes, quacumque opulenta recessit regia, fulgenti splendent auro atque argento. candet ebur soliis, collucent pocula mensae, tota domus gaudet regali splendida gaza. pulvinar vero divae geniale locatur sedibus in mediis, Indo quod dente politum tincta tegit roseo conchyli purpura fuco. Haec vestis priscis hominum variata figuris heroum mira virtutes indicat arte, namque fluentisono prospectans litore Diae Thesea cedentem celeri cum classe tuetur indomitos in corde gerens Ariadna furores; necdum etiam sese quae visit visere credit, ut pote fallaci quae turn primum excita somno desertam in sola miseram se cernat harena. immemor at iuvenis fugiens pellit vada remis,


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 Can) i. LXIV

did fairest Thetis clasp, daughter of Nereus? to thee did Tethys grant to wed her granddaughter, and Oceanus, who circles all the world with sea?

Now when that longed-for day in time fulfilled had come for them, all Thessaly in full assembly crowds the house, the palace is thronged with a joyful company. They bring gifts in their hands, they display joy in their looks. Cieros is deserted; they leave Phthiotic Tempe and the houses of Crannon and the walls of Larissa; at Pharsalus they meet, and flock to the houses of Pharsalus. None now tills the lands; the necks of the steers grow soft; no more is the ground of the vineyard cleared with curved rakes; no more does the pruners' hook thin the shade of the tree; no more does the ox tear up the soil with downward share; rough rust o creeps over the deserted ploughs. But Peleus' own abodes, so far as inward stretched the wealthy palace, shine with glittering gold and silver. White gleams the ivory of the thrones, bright shine the cups on the table; the whole house is gay and gorgeous with royal treasure. But see, the royal marriage bed is being set for the goddess in the midst of the palace, smoothly fashioned of Indian tusk, covered with purple of the shell tinged with rosy stain.

This coverlet, broidered with shapes of ancient men, with wondrous art sets forth the worthy deeds of heroes. For there, looking forth from the wavesounding shore of Dia, Ariadna sees Theseus, as he sails away with swift fleet, Ariadna bearing uncurbed madness in her heart. Not yet can she believe she beholds what yet she does behold; since now, now first wakened from treacherous sleep she sees herself, poor wretch, deserted on the lonely sand. Meanwhile the youth flies and strikes the

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 irrita ventosae linquens promissa procellae. quern procul ex alga maestis Minois ocellis saxea ut effigies bacchantis prospicit, eheu, prospicit et magnis curarum fluctuat undis, non flavo retinens subtilem vertice mitram, non contecta levi velatum pectus amictu, non tereti strophio lactentis vincta papillas, omnia quae toto delapsa e corpore passim ipsius ante pedes fluctus salis adludebant. sed ncque turn mitrae neque turn fluitantis amictus ilia vicem curans toto ex te pectore, Theseu, toto animo, tota pendebat perdita mente. a misera, assiduis quam luctibus externavit spinosas Erycina serens in pectore curas ilia *ex tempestate, ferox quo tempore Theseus egressus curvis e litoribus Piraei attigit iniusti regis Cortynia templa. Nam perhibent olim crudeli peste coactam Androgeoncac poenas exsolvere caedis electos iuvenes simul et decus innuptarum Cecropiam solitam esse dapem dare Minotauro. quis angusta malis cum moenia vexarentur, ipse suum Theseus pro caris corpus Athenis proicere optavit potius quam talia Cretam funera Cecropiae nee funera portarentur; atque ita nave levi nitens ac lenibus auris magnanimum ad Minoa venit sedesque superbas.= hunc simul ac cupido conspexit lumine virgo regia, quam suavis expirans castus odorcs lectulus in molli complexu matris alebat, quales Eurotae progignunt flumina myrtus aurave distinctos educit verna colores, non prius ex illo flagrantia declinavit


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 Can;/. LXIV

waters with his oars, leaving unfulfilled his empty pledges to the wind)- storm; at whom afar from the weedy beach with streaming eyes the daughter of Minos, like a marble figure of a bacchanal, looks forth, alas, looks forth, tempest-tost with great tides of passion. Nor does she still keep the delicate coif on her golden head, nor has her veiled breast covered with her light raiment, nor her milkwhite bosom bound with the smooth girdle; all these, as they slipt off around her whole form, before the maiden's very feet the salt waves lapped. She for her headgear then, she for her floating raiment then, cared not, but on thee, Theseus, with all her thoughts, with all her soul, with all her mind (lost, ah lost!) was hanging, unhappy maid! whom with unceasing floods of grief Erycina maddened, sowing thorny cares in her breast, even from that season, what time bold Theseus setting forth from the winding shores of Piraeus reached the Gortynian palace of the lawless king.

For they tell how of old, driven by a cruel pestilence to pay a penalty for the death of Androgeos, Cecropia was wont to give as a meal to the Minotaur chosen youths, and with them the flower of unwedded maids. Now when the crowded walls were troubled by these evils, Theseus himself for his dear Athens chose to offer his own body, rather than that such deaths, living deaths, of Cecropia should be borne to Crete. Thus then, speeding his course with light bark and gentle gales, he comes to lordly Minos and his haughty halls. Him when the maiden beheld with eager eye, the princess, whom her chaste couch breathing sweet odours still nursed in her mother's soft embrace, like myrtles which spring by the streams of Eurotas, or the varied colours which the breath of spring draws forth, she turned not her burning eyes


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 lumina, quam cuncto concepit corpore flammam funditus atquc imis exarsit tota medullis. heu misere exagitans immiti corde furores sancte puer, curis hominum qui gaudia misces, quaeque regis Golgos quaeque Idalium frondosum, qualibus incensam iactastis mente puellam fluctibus in flavo saepe hospite suspirantem! quantos ilia tulit languenti corde ti mores! fquanto saepe magis fulgore expalluit auri; cum saevum cupiens contra contendere monstrum aut mortem appeteret Theseus aut praemia laudis. non ingrata tamen frustra munuscula divis promittens tacito fsuccendit vota labello. nam velut in summo quatientem bracchia Tauro quercum aut conigeram sudanti cortice pinum indomitus turbo contorquens flamine robur eruit (ilia procul radicitus exturbata prona cadit, late *casu cuncta* obvia frangens), sic domito saevum prostravit corpore Theseus no nequiquam vanis iactantem cornua ventis. inde pedem sospes multa cum laude reflexit errabunda regens tenui vestigia filo, ne labyrintheis e flexibus egredientem tecti frustraretur inobservabilis error. Sed quid ego a primo digressus carmine plura commemorem, ut linquens genitoris filia vultum, ut consanguineae complexum, ut denique matris, quae misera in gnata deperdita fleta, omnibus his Thesei dulcem praeoptarit amorem, aut ut vccta ratis spumosa ad litora Diae, aut ut earn [molli] devinctam lumina somno liquerit immemori disccdcns pectorc coniunx? saepe illam perhibent ardcnti corde furentem


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away from him, till she had caught fire in all her heart deep within, and glowed all flame in her inmost marrow. Ah! thou that stirrest cruel madness with ruthless heart, divine boy, who minglest joys of men with cares, and thou, who reignest over Golgi and leafy Idalium, with what tides did ye toss the burning heart of the maiden often sighing for the golden-headed stranger! what fears did she endure with fainting heart! how did she often grow far paler than with the gleam of gold, when desiring to contend with the savage monster Theseus was setting forth to win either death or the meed of valour. Yet not unsweet were the gifts, though vainly promised to the gods, which she kindled with silent lip. For as a tree which waves its boughs on Taurus' top, an oak or a cone-bearing pine with sweating bark, when a vehement storm twists the grain with its blast, and tears it up; — afar, wrenched away by the roots it lies prone, breaking in its fall all that meets it — so did Theseus lay low the conquered no bulk of the savage, vainly tossing his horns to the empty winds. Thence he retraced his way, unharmed and with much glory, guiding his devious footsteps by the fine clew, lest as he came forth from the windings of the labyrinth the inextricable entanglement of the building should bewilder him.

But why should I leave the first subject of my song and tell of more; how the daughter, leaving her father's face, the embrace of her sister, then of her mother last, who lamented, undone by grief for her daughter, chose before all these the sweet love of Theseus; or how the ship was borne to the foaming shores of Dia; or how when her eyes were bound with soft sleep her spouse left her, departing with forgetful breast? Often in the madness of her burning


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 clarisonas imo fudisse e pectore voces, ac turn praeruptos tristem conscendere montes, unde aciem in pelagi vastos protenderet aestus, turn tremuli sal is adversas procurrere in undas mollia nudatae tollentem tegmina surae, atque haec extremis maestam dixisse querellis, frigidulos udo singultus ore cientem. ' Sicine me patriis avectam, perfide, ab aris, perfide, deserto liquisti in litore, Theseu? sicine discedens neglecto numine divum immemor a, devota domum periuria portas? nullane res potuit crudelis flectere mentis consilium? tibi nulla fuit dementia praesto, immite ut nostri vellet miserescere pectus? at non haec quondam blanda promissa dedisti voce mihi; non haec miseram sperare iubebas, sed conubia laeta, sed optatos hymenaeos: quae cuncta aerii discerpunt irrita venti. iam iam nulla viro iuranti femina credat, nulla viri speret sermones esse fideles; quis dum aliquid cupiens animus praegestit apisci, nil metuunt iurare, nihil promittere parcunt: sed simul ac cupidae mentis satiata libidost, dicta nihil metuere, nihil periuria curant. certe ego tc in medio versantem turbine leti eripui, et potius germanum amittere crevi, quam tibi fallaci supremo in tempore deessem; pro quo dilaceranda feris dabor alitibusque praeda, neque iniacta tumulabor mortua terra, quaenam te genuit sola sub rupc leaena? quod mare conceptum spumantibus expuit undis,


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heart they say that she uttered piercing cries from her inmost breast; and now would she sadly climb the rugged mountains, thence to strain her eyes over the waste of ocean-tide; now run out to meet the waters of the rippling brine, lifting the soft vesture of her bared knee. And thus said she mournfully in her last laments, uttering cold sobs with tearful face: —

' Thus then, having borne me afar from my father's ' home, faithless lover, thus hast thou left me, faith- ' less Theseus, on the lonely shore? thus departing, 'unmindful of the will of the gods, forgetful, ah! dost ' thou carry to thy home the curse of perjury? could ' nothing bend the purpose of thy cruel mind? was ' no mercy present in thy soul, to bid thy ruthless ' heart incline to pity for me? Not such were the 'promises thou gavest me once with winning voice, t o ' not this didst thou bid me hope, ah me! no, but ' a joyful wedlock, but a desired espousal; all which ' at once the winds of heaven blow abroad in vain. ' Henceforth let no woman believe a man's oath, let ' none believe that a man's speeches can be trust- ' worthy. They, while their mind desires something ' and longs eagerly to gain it, nothing fear to swear, ' nothing spare to promise; but as soon as the lust ' of their greedy mind is satisfied, they fear not then ' their words, they heed not their perjuries. I — thou ' knowest it — when thou wert tossing in the very whirl ' of death, saved thee, and set my heart rather to let rso ' my brother go than to fail thee, now so faithless ' found, in thy utmost need. And for this I shall be ' given to beasts and birds to tear as a prey; my corpse ' shall have no sepulture, be sprinkled with no earth. ' What lioness bore thee under a desert rock? what 'sea conceived thee and vomited thee forth from his

c. 12


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 quae Syrtis, quae Scylla rapax, quae vasta Chary bd is, talia qui redd is pro dulci praemia vita? si tibi non cordi fuerant conubia nostra, saeva quod horrebas prisci praecepta parentis, at tamen in vostras potuisti ducere sedes, quae tibi iucundo famularer serva labore, Candida permulcens liquidis vestigia lymphis purpureave tuum consternens veste cubile. sed quid ego ignaris nequiquam conquerar auris, externata malo, quae nullis sensibus auctae nee missas audire queunt nee reddere voces? ille autem prope iam mediis versatur in undis, nee quisquam apparet vacua mortalis in alga, sic nimis insultans extremo tempore saeva fors etiam nostris invidit questibus aures. Iuppiter omnipotens, utinam ne tempore primo Gnosia Cecropiae tetigissent litora puppes, indomito nee dira ferens stipendia tauro perfidus in Cretam religasset navita funem, nee malus hie celans dulci crudelia forma consilia in nostris requiesset sedibus hospes! nam quo me referam? quali spe perdita nitor? discernens ponti truculentum fubi dividit aequor? an patris auxilium sperem? quemne ipsa reliqui, respersum iuvenem fraterna caede secuta? coniugis an fido consoler memet amore, quine fugit lentos incurvans gurgite remos? praeterea nullo litus, sola insula, tecto, nee patet egressus pelagi cingentibus undis: nulla fugae ratio, nulla spes: omnia muta, omnia sunt deserta, ostentant omnia letum.
 * Idomeneosne petam montes? a, gurgite lato


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foaming waves? what Syrtis, what ravening Scylla, what waste Charybdis bore thee, who for sweet life returnest such meed as this? Though marriage with me had not been dear to thee for dread of the harsh bidding of thy stern father, yet thou couldst have led me into thy dwellings to serve thee as a slave with labour of love, laving thy white feet with liquid water, or with purple coverlet spreading thy bed. But why should I cry in vain to the senseless airs distracted with woe, — the airs that are endowed with no feeling, and can neither hear nor return the messages of my voice? He meanwhile is now tossing almost in mid-sea, and no human being is seen on the waste and weedy shore. Thus overweening fortune too in this supreme hour has cruelly grudged her ears to my complaints. Almighty Jupiter, O that never, once the Attic ships had touched Gnosian shores, nor bearing the dreadful tribute to the savage bull the faithless sailor had unmoored his cable for Crete, nor that this evil man, hiding cruel designs under a fair outside, had reposed in our dwellings as a guest! For whither shall I return, lost, ah lost? on what hope do I lean? shall I seek the mountains of Idomeneus? — how broad the flood, how savage the tract of sea which divides them from me! Shall I hope for the aid of my father? — whom I deserted of my own will, to follow a lover dabbled with my brother's blood? Or shall I console myself with the faithful love of my spouse, who is flying from me, bending his tough oars in the wave? and here too is but the shore, with never a house, a desert island; no way to depart opens for me; about me are the waters of the sea, no means of flight, no hope; all is dumb, all is desolate; all shows me the face of death. Yet

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 non tamen ante mihi languescent lumina morte, nee prius a fesso secedent corpore sensus, quam iustam a divis exposcam prodita multam, caelestumque fidem postrema comprecer hora. quare facta virum multantes vindice poena, Eumenides, quibus anguino redimita capillo frons expirantes praeportat pectoris iras, hue hue adventate, meas audite quercllas, quas ego, vae, misera extremis proferre medullis cogor inops, ardens, amenti caeca furore. quae quoniam verae nascuntur pectore ab imo, vos nolite pati nostrum vanescere luctum; sed quali solam Theseus me mente reliquit, tali mente, deae, funestet seque suosque.' Has postquam maesto profudit pectore voces, supplicium saevis exposcens anxia factis, annuit invicto caelestum numine rector, quo *motu tellus atque horrida contremuerunt aequora concussitque micantia sidera mundus. ipse autem caeca mentem caligine Theseus consitus oblito dimisit pectore cuncta, quae mandata prius constanti mente tenebat, dulcia nee maesto sustollens signa parenti sospitem Erechtheum se ostendit visere portum. namque ferunt olim, fclassi cum moenia divae linquentem gnatum ventis concrederet Aegeus, talia complexum iuveni mandata dedisse. ' gnate mihi longa iucundior unice vita, reddite in extrema nuper mihi fine senectae, gnate, ego quern in dubios cogor dimittere casus, i\U quandoquidem fortuna mea ac tua fervida virtus


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'my eyes shall not grow faint in death, nor shall the sense fail from my wearied body, before I demand ' from the gods just vengeance for my betrayal, and ' call upon the faith of the heavenly ones in my last ' hour. Therefore, O ye that visit the deeds of men 'with vengeful pains, ye Eumenides, whose foreheads 'bound with snaky hair bear on their front the ' wrath which breathes from your breast, hither, ' hither haste, hear my complaints which I (ah, 'unhappy!) utter from my inmost heart perforce, 'helpless, burning, blinded with raging frenzy. For 'since my woes come truthfully from the depths 'of my heart, suffer not ye my grief to come to ' nothing: but even as Theseus left me desolate, ' so, goddesses, may he bring ruin on himself and ' his own! '

When she had poured forth these words from her sad breast, earnestly demanding vengeance for cruel deeds; the Lord of the heavenly ones bowed assent with sovereign nod, and with that gesture trembled the earth and stormy seas, and the heavens shook the quivering stars. But Theseus himself, darkling in his thoughts with blind dimness, let slip from his forgetful mind all the biddings which formerly he had held firm with constant heart, and raised not the welcome sign to his mourning father, nor showed that he was safely sighting the Erechthean harbour. For they say that erewhile, when Aegeus was trusting his son to the winds, as with his fleet he left the walls of the goddess, he embraced the youth and gave him this charge: ' My son, my only ' son, dearer to me than all my length of days, re- ' stored to me but now in the last end of old age, 'my son, whom I perforce let go forth to doubtful \6 'hazards, — since my fortune and thy burning valour


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 eripit invito mihi te, cui languida nondum lumina sunt gnati cara saturata figura: non ego te gaudens laetanti pectore mittam, nee te ferre sinam fortunae signa secundae, sed primum multas expromam mente querellas, canitiem terra atque infuso pulvere foedans; inde infecta vago suspendam lintea malo, nostros ut luctus nostraeque incendia mentis carbasus obscurata fdicet ferrugine Hibera. quod tibi si sancti concesserit incola Itoni, quae nostrum genus ac sedes defendere Erechthei annuit, ut tauri respergas sanguine dextram, turn vero facito ut memori tibi condita corde haec vigcant mandata, nee ulla oblitteret aetas, ut simul ac nostros invisent lumina collis, funestam antennae deponant undique vestem, candidaque intorti sustollant vela rudentes, quam primum cernens ut laeta gaudia mente agnoscam, cum te reducem aetas prospera sistet.' Haec mandata prius constanti mente tenentem Thesea ecu pulsae ventorum flamine nubes aerium nivei montis liquere cacumen. at pater, ut summa prospectum ex arce petebat, anxia in assiduos absumens lumina fletus, cum primum inflati conspexit lintea veli, praecipitem scse scopulorum e vertice iecit, amissum credens immiti Thesea fato. sic funesta domus ingressus tecta paterna morte ferox Theseus qualem Minoidi luctum obtulcrat mente immemori talcm ipse recepit.


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'tears thee from me, unwilling me, whose failing 'eyes are not yet satisfied with the dear image ' of my son, I will not let thee go gladly with ' cheerful heart, nor suffer thee to bear the tokens of ' prosperous fortune: but first will bring forth many ' laments from my heart, soiling my gray hairs with 'earth and showered dust: thereafter will I hang ' dyed sails on thy roving mast, that so the tale of ' my grief and the fire that burns in my heart may ' be marked by the canvas stained with Iberian 'azure. But if she who dwells in holy Itonus, who 'vouchsafes to defend our race and the abodes of ' Erechtheus, shall grant thee to sprinkle thy right 'hand with the bull's blood, then be sure that these ' biddings live, laid up in thy mindful heart, and ' that no length of time blur them: that as soon as ' thy eyes shall come within sight of our hills, thy 'yardarms may lay down from them their mourning ' raiment, and the twisted cordage raise a white sail: ' that so I may see at once and gladly welcome the ' signs of joy, when a happy hour shall set thee here ' in thy home again.'

These biddings at first did Theseus preserve with constant mind; but then they left him, as clouds driven by the blast of the winds leave the lofty head of the snowy mountain. But the father, as he gazed out from his tower top, wasting his eyes care-worn in constant tear-floods, when first he saw the canvas of the bellying sail, threw himself headlong from the summit of the rocks, believing Theseus destroyed by ruthless fate. Thus bold Theseus, as he entered the chambers of his home, darkened with mourning for his father's death, himself received such grief as by forgetful ness of heart he had caused to the daughter of Minos. And she


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 quae tamen aspectans cedentem maesta carinam multiplices animo volvebat saucia curas. At parte ex alia florens volitabat Iacchus cum thiaso Satyrorum et Nysigenis Silenis, te quaerens, Ariadna, tuoque incensus amore. qui turn alacres passim lymphata mente furebant euhoe bacchantes, euhoe capita inflectentes. harum pars tecta quatiebant cuspide thyrsos, pars e divulso iactabant membra iuvenco, pars sese tortis serpentibus incingebant, pars obscura cavis celebrabant orgia cistis, orgia, quae frustra cupiunt audire profani; plangebant aliae proceris tympana palmis aut tereti tenues tinnitus aere ciebant, multis raucisonos efflabant cornua bombos barbaraque horribili stridebat tibia cantu. Talibus amplificc vestis decorata figuris pulvinar complexa suo velabat amictu. quae postquam cupide spectando Thessala pubes expletast, Sanctis coepit decedere divis. hie, qualis flatu placidum mare matutino horrificans Zcphyrus proclivas incitat undas Aurora exoriente vagi sub limina Solis, quae tarde primum dementi flamine pulsae procedunt, leviterque sonant plangore cachinni, post vento crescente magis magis increbescunt purpureaque procul nantes ab luce refulgent, sic ibi vestibuli linquentes regia tecta ad se quisque vago passim pede discedebant.


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the while, gazing tearfully at the retreating ship, was revolving manifold cares in her wounded heart.

In another part of the tapestry youthful Bacchus was wandering with the rout of Satyrs and the Nysaborn Sileni, seeking thee, Ariadna, and fired with thy love; who then, busy here and there, were raging with frenzied mind, Evoe! crying tumultuously, Evoe! 55 shaking their heads.

Some of them were waving thyrsi with shrouded points, some tossing about the limbs of a mangled steer, some girding themselves with writhing serpents: some bearing solemnly dark mysteries enclosed in caskets, mysteries which the profane desire in vain to hear. Others beat timbrels with uplifted hands, or raised clear clashings with cymbals of rounded bronze: many blew horns with harsh-sounding drone, and the barbarian pipe shrilled with dreadful din.

Such were the figures that richly adorned the tapestry which embraced and shrouded with its folds the royal couch. Now when the Thessalian youth had gazed their fill, fixing their eager eyes on these wonders, they began to give place to the holy gods. Hereupon, as the west wind ruffling the quiet sea with its breath at morn urges on the sloping waves, when the Dawn is rising up to the gates of the travelling sun, the waters slowly at first, driven by gentle breeze step on and lightly sound with plash of laughter; then as the breeze grows fresh they crowd on close and closer, and floating afar reflect a brightness from the crimson light; so now, leaving the royal buildings of the portal, hither and thither variously with devious feet the guests passed away. After

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 quorum post abitum princeps e vertice Peli advenit Chiron portans silvestria dona; nam quoscumque fcrunt campi, quos Thessala magnis montibus ora creat, quos propter fluminis undas aura aperit flores tepidi fecunda Favoni, hos indistinctis plexos tulit ipse corollis, quo permulsa domus iucundo risit odore. confestim Penios adest, viridantia Tempe, Tempe, quae silvae cingunt super impendentes, fMinosim linquens f Doris celebranda choreis, non vacuus: namque ille tulit radicitus altas fagos ac recto proceras stipite laurus, non sine nutanti platano lentaque sorore flammati Phaethontis et aeria cupressu. haec circum sedes late contexta locavit, vestibulum ut molli velatum fronde vireret. post hunc consequitur sollerti corde Prometheus, extenuata gerens veteris vestigia poenae, quam quondam fsilici restrictus membra catena persolvit pendens e verticibus praeruptis. inde pater divum sancta cum coniuge natisque advenit caelo te solum, Phoebe, relinquens unigenamque simul cultricem montibus fldri: Pelea nam tecum pariter soror aspernatast nee Thetidis taedas voluit celebrare iugalis. qui postquam niveis flexerunt sedibus artus, large multiplici constructae sunt dape mensae, cum interea infirmo quatientes corpora motu veridicos Parcae coepcrunt edere cantus. his corpus tremulum complectens undique vestis Candida purpurea *talos incinxerat ora, at roseae niveo residebant vertice vittae, aetcrnumque manus carpebant rite laborem.


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their departure, from the top of Pelion came Chiron leading the way, bearing woodland gifts. For all the flowers that the plains bear, all that the Thessalian region brings to birth on its mighty mountains, all the flowers that near the river's streams the fruitful gale of warm Favonius discloses, these he brought himself, woven in mingled garlands, cheered with which the house smiled with grateful odour. Forthwith Peneus is there, leaving verdant Tempe, Tempe girt with impendent forests to be haunted by

Dorian dances; not empty-handed; for he bore, torn up by the roots, lofty beeches and tall bay trees with straight stem, and with them the nodding plane and the swaying sister of flame-devoured Phaethon, and the tall cypress. All these he wove far and wide around their home, that the portal might be greenly embowered with soft foliage. Next follows him Prometheus wise of heart, bearing the faded scars of the ancient penalty which whilom, his limbs bound fast to the rock with chains, he paid, hanging from the craggy summits. Then came the Father of the Gods with his divine wife and his sons, leaving thee, Phoebus, alone in heaven, and with thee thine 3°° own sister who dwells in the mountains of Idrus; for as thou didst, so did thy sister scorn Peleus, nor deigned to be present at the nuptial torches of Thetis.

So when they had bent their limbs on the white seats, bountifully were the tables piled with varied dainties: whilst in the meantime, swaying their bodies with palsied motion, the Parcae began to utter soothtelling chants. White raiment enfolding their aged forms robed their ankles with a crimson border; on their snowy heads rested rosy bands, while their hands duly plied the eternal task. The

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 THE

AND

BY

NEW EDITION, REVISED AND AUGMENTED.

COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME.

549 AND 551 BROADWAY.

1875.

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left hand held the distaff clothed with soft wool; then the right hand lightly drawing out the threads with upturned fingers shaped them, then with downward thumb twirled the spindle poised with rounded 3' whorl; and so with their teeth they still plucked the threads and made the work even. Bitten ends of wool clung to their dry lips, which had before stood out from the smooth yarn: and at their feet soft fleeces of white-shining wool were kept safe in baskets of osier. They then, as they struck the wool, 2 ° sang with clear voice, and thus poured forth the fates in divine chant, chant, which no length of time shall prove untruthful.

' O thou who crownest high renown with great ' deeds of virtue, bulwark of Emathian power, famed ' for thy son to be, receive the soothtelling oracle 2 5 ' which on this happy day the Sisters reveal to thee; ' but do ye run, drawing the woof-threads which the ' fates follow, ye spindles, run.

' Soon will Hesperus come to thee, Hesperus, who ' brings longed-for gifts to the wedded, will come with 'happy star thy wife, to shed over thy spirit soul- 33° 'quelling love, and join with thee restful slumbers, ' laying her smooth arms under thy strong neck. ' Run, drawing the woof-threads, ye spindles, run.

' No house ever covered such loves as these; no ' love ever joined lovers in such a bond as links 'Thetis and Peleus, heart in heart. Run, drawing ' the woof-threads, ye spindles, run.

' There shall be born to you a son that knows ' not fear, Achilles, known to his enemies not by his ' back but by his stout breast; who right often 34° ' winner in the contest of the wide-ranging race shall ' outstrip the flame-fleet footsteps of the flying hind. ' Run, drawing the woof-threads, ye spindles, run.


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 non illi quisquam bello se conferet heros, cum Phrygii Teucro manabunt sanguine *rivi, Troicaque obsidens longinquo moenia bcllo periuri Pclopis vastabit tertius heres. currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi. illius egregias virtutes claraque facta saepe fatebuntur gnatorum in funcre mat res, cum *incultum cano* solvent a vertice crinem putridaque infirmis variabunt pectora palmis. currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi. namque velut densas praecerpens cultor aristas sole sub ardenti flaventia demetit arva, Troiugenum infesto prosternet corpora ferro. currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi. testis erit magnis virtutibus unda Scamandri, quae passim rapido diffunditur Hcllesponto, cuius iter caesis angustans corporum acervis alta tepefaciet permixta flumina caede. currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi. denique testis erit morti quoque reddita praeda, cum teres excelso coacervatum aggere bustum excipiet niveos percussae virginis artus. currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi. nam simul ac fessis dederit fors copiam Achivis urbis Dardaniae Neptunia solvere vincla, alta Polyxcnia madefient caede scpulcra, quae, velut ancipiti succumbens victima ferro,


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' Against him not a hero shall match himself in ' war, when the Phrygian streams shall flow with ' Teucrian blood, and the Trojan walls, with tedious 'war beleaguering, the third heir of Pelops shall ' lay waste. Run, drawing the woof-threads, ye ' spindles, run.

' The hero's surpassing achievements and re- ' nowned deeds often shall mothers own at the ' burial of their sons, loosing dishevelled hair from 35° ' hoary head, and marring their withered breasts with ' weak hands. Run, drawing the woof-threads, ye 'spindles, run.

' For as the husbandman cropping the thick ears ' of corn under the burning sun mows down the ' yellow fields, so shall he lay low with foeman's ' steel the bodies of the sons of Troy. Run, drawing ' the woof-threads, ye spindles, run.

' Witness of his great deeds of valour shall be ' the wave of Scamander which pours itself forth ' abroad in the current of Hellespont, whose channel 'with heaps of slain corpses he shall choke, and make ' the deep streams warm with mingled blood. Run, ' drawing the woof-threads, ye spindles, run.

' Lastly, witness too shall be the prize assigned ' to him in death, when the rounded barrow heaped ' up with lofty mound shall receive the snowy limbs ' of the slaughtered maiden. Run, drawing the woof- ' threads, ye spindles, run.

' For so soon as fortune shall give to the weary ' Achaeans power to loose the Neptune-forged circlet ' of the Dardanian town, the high tomb shall be 'wetted with Polyxena's blood, who like a victim ' falling under the two-edged steel, shall bend her


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 io

proicict truncum submisso poplite corpus. currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi. quare agite optatos animi coniungite amores. accipiat coniunx felici foedere divam, dedatur cupido iamdudum nupta marito. currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi. anxia nee mater discordis maesta puellae secubitu caros mittet sperare nepotes. currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi. Talia praefantes quondam felicia f Pelei carmina divino cecinere * e pectore Parcae. praescntes namque ante domos invisere castas heroum et sese mortali ostendere coetu caelicolae nondum spreta pietate solebant. saepe pater divum templo in fulgente revisens annua cum festis venissent sacra diebus, conspexit terra centum procumbere tauros. Parnasi vcrtice summo Thyadas effusis cuantis crinibus egit, cum Delphi tota certatim ex urbc ruentes acciperent laeti divum fumantibus aris. saepe in letifero belli certamine Mavors aut rapidi Tritonis era aut Rhamnusia virgo armatas hominumst praesens hortata catervas. sed postquam tcllus scelercst imbuta nefando, iustitiamque omnes cupida de mente fugarunt, pcrfudere manus fraterno sanguine fratres, destitit extinctos natus lugere parentes, optavit genitor primaevi funera nati, liber ut innuptae poteretur More novercae, ignaro mater substernens se impia nato