Part 22 (1/2)
”Wherefore haste ye to conjoin in the longed-for delights of your love.
Bridegroom thy G.o.ddess receive in felicitous compact; let the bride be given to her eager husband. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.
”Nor shall the nurse at orient light returning, with yester-e'en's thread succeed in circling her neck. [Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.] Not need her solicitous mother fear sad discord shall cause a parted bed for her daughter, nor need she cease to hope for dear grandchildren. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.”
With such soothsaying songs of yore did the Parcae chant from divine breast the felicitous fate of Peleus. For of aforetime the heaven-dwellers were wont to visit the chaste homes of heroes and to shew themselves in mortal a.s.sembly ere yet their wors.h.i.+p was scorned. Often the father of the G.o.ds, a-resting in his glorious temple, when on the festal days his annual rites appeared, gazed on an hundred bulls strewn p.r.o.ne on the earth. Often wandering Liber on topmost summit of Parna.s.sus led his yelling Thyiads with loosely tossed locks. * * * * When the Delphians tumultuously trooping from the whole of their city joyously acclaimed the G.o.d with smoking altars.
Often in lethal strife of war Mavors, or swift Triton's queen, or the Rhamnusian virgin, in person did exhort armed bodies of men. But after the earth was infected with heinous crime, and each one banished justice from their grasping mind, and brothers steeped their hands in fraternal blood, the son ceased grieving o'er departed parents, the sire craved for the funeral rites of his first-born that freely he might take of the flower of unwedded step-dame, the unholy mother, lying under her unknowing son, did not fear to sully her household G.o.ds with dishonour: everything licit and lawless commingled with mad infamy turned away from us the just-seeing mind of the G.o.ds. Wherefore nor do they deign to appear at such-like a.s.semblies, nor will they permit themselves to be met in the day-light.
LXV.
Esti me adsiduo confectum cura dolore Sevocat a doctis, Ortale, virginibus, Nec potisest dulces Musarum expromere fetus Mens animi, (tantis fluctuat ipsa malis: Namque mei nuper Lethaeo gurgite fratris 5 Pallidulum manans adluit unda pedem, Troia Rhoeteo quem subter littore tellus Ereptum nostris obterit ex oculis.
Adloquar, audiero numquam tua _facta_ loquentem, Numquam ego te, vita frater amabilior, 10 Aspiciam posthac. at certe semper amabo, Semper maesta tua carmina morte canam, Qualia sub densis ramorum concinit umbris Daulias absumpti fata gemens Itylei)-- Sed tamen in tantis maeroribus, Ortale, mitto 15 Haec expressa tibi carmina Battiadae, Ne tua dicta vagis nequiquam credita ventis Effluxisse meo forte putes animo, Vt missum sponsi furtivo munere malum Procurrit casto virginis e gremio, 20 Quod miserae oblitae molli sub veste locatum, Dum adventu matris prosilit, excut.i.tur: Atque illud p.r.o.no praeceps agitur decursu, Huic manat tristi conscius ore rubor.
LXV.
TO HORTALUS LAMENTING A LOST BROTHER.
Albeit care that consumes, with dule a.s.siduous grieving, Me from the Learned Maids (Hortalus!) ever seclude, Nor can avail sweet births of the Muses thou to deliver Thought o' my mind; (so much floats it on flooding of ills: For that the Lethe-wave upsurging of late from abysses, 5 Laved my brother's foot, paling with pallor of death, He whom the Trojan soil, Rhoetean sh.o.r.e underlying, Buries for ever and aye, forcibly s.n.a.t.c.hed from our sight.
I can address; no more shall I hear thee tell of thy doings, Say, shall I never again, brother all liefer than life, 10 Sight thee henceforth? But I will surely love thee for ever Ever what songs I sing saddened shall be by thy death; Such as the Daulian bird 'neath gloom of shadowy frondage Warbles, of Itys lost ever bemoaning the lot.) Yet amid grief so great to thee, my Hortalus, send I 15 These strains sung to a mode borrowed from Battiades; Lest shouldest weet of me thy words, to wandering wind-gusts Vainly committed, perchance forth of my memory flowed-- As did that apple sent for a furtive giftie by wooer, In the chaste breast of the Maid hidden a-sudden out-sprang; 20 For did the hapless forget when in loose-girt garment it lurked, Forth would it leap as she rose, scared by her mother's approach, And while coursing headlong, it rolls far out of her keeping, O'er the triste virgin's brow flushes the conscious blush.
Though outspent with care and unceasing grief, I am withdrawn, Ortalus, from the learned Virgins, nor is my soul's mind able to bring forth sweet babes of the Muses (so much does it waver 'midst ills: for but lately the wave of the Lethean stream doth lave with its flow the pallid foot of my brother, whom 'neath the Rhoetean seaboard the Trojan soil doth crush, thrust from our eyesight. * * * Never again may I salute thee, nor hear thy converse; never again, O brother, more loved than life, may I see thee in aftertime. But for all time in truth will I love thee, always will I sing elegies made gloomy by thy death, such as the Daulian bird pipes 'neath densest shades of foliage, lamenting the lot of slain Itys.) Yet 'midst sorrows so deep, O Ortalus, I send thee these verses re-cast from Battiades, lest thou shouldst credit thy words by chance have slipt from my mind, given o'er to the wandering winds, as 'twas with that apple, sent as furtive love-token by the wooer, which outleapt from the virgin's chaste bosom; for, placed by the hapless girl 'neath her soft vestment, and forgotten,--when she starts at her mother's approach, out 'tis shaken: and down it rolls headlong to the ground, whilst a tell-tale flush mantles the face of the distressed girl.
LXVI.
Omnia qui magni dispexit lumina mundi, Qui stellarum ortus comperit atque obitus, Flammeus ut rapidi solis nitor obscuretur, Vt cedant certis sidera temporibus, Vt Triviam furtim sub Latmia saxa relegans 5 Dulcis amor gyro devocet aerio, Idem me ille Conon caelesti in lumine vidit E Beroniceo vertice caesariem Fulgentem clare, quam cunctis illa deorum Levia protendens brachia pollicitast, 10 Qua rex tempestate novo auctus hymenaeo Vastatum finis iverat a.s.syrios, Dulcia nocturnae portans vestigia rixae, Quam de virgineis gesserat exuviis.
Estne novis nuptis odio venus? anne parentum 15 Frustrantur falsis gaudia lacrimulis, Vbertim thalami quas intra lumina fundunt?
Non, ita me divi, vera gemunt, iuerint.
Id mea me multis docuit regina querellis Invisente novo praelia torva viro. 20 An tu non orb.u.m luxti deserta cubile, Sed fratris cari flebile discidium?
Quam penitus maestas excedit cura medullas!
Vt tibi tum toto pectore sollicitae Sensibus ereptis mens excidit! at te ego certe 25 Cognoram a parva virgine magnanimam.
Anne bonum oblita's facinus, quo regium adepta's Coniugium, quo non fortius ausit alis?
Sed tum maesta virum mittens quae verba locuta's!
Iuppiter, ut tristi lumina saepe manu! 30 Quis te mutavit tantus deus? an quod amantes Non longe a caro corpore abesse volunt?
Atque ibi me cunctis pro dulci coniuge divis Non sine taurino sanguine pollicita's Sei reditum tetullisset. is haut in tempore longo 35 Captam Asiam Aegypti finibus addiderat.
Quis ego pro factis caelesti reddita coetu Pristina vota novo munere dissoluo.
Invita, o regina, tuo de vertice cessi, Invita: adiuro teque tuomque caput, 40 Digna ferat quod siquis inaniter adiurarit: Sed qui se ferro postulet esse parem?
Ille quoque eversus mons est, quem maximum in orbi Progenies Thiae clara supervehitur, c.u.m Medi peperere novom mare, c.u.mque inventus 45 Per medium cla.s.si barbara navit Athon.
Quid facient crines, c.u.m ferro talia cedant?
Iuppiter, ut Chalybon omne genus pereat, Et qui principio sub terra quaerere venas Inst.i.tit ac ferri frangere duritiem! 50 Abiunctae paulo ante comae mea fata sorores Lugebant, c.u.m se Memnonis Aethiopis Vnigena inpellens nictantibus aera pennis Obtulit Arsinoes Locridos ales equos, Isque per aetherias me tollens avolat umbras 55 Et Veneris casto collocat in gremio.
Ipsa suum Zephyritis eo famulum legarat, Graia Canopieis incola litoribus.
+ Hi dii ven ibi vario ne solum in lumine caeli Ex Ariadneis aurea temporibus 60 Fixa corona foret, sed nos quoque fulgeremus Devotae flavi verticis exuviae, Vvidulam a fletu cedentem ad templa deum me Sidus in antiquis diva novom posuit: Virginis et saevi contingens namque Leonis 65 Lumina, Callisto iuncta Lycaoniae, Vertor in occasum, tardum dux ante Booten, Qui vix sero alto mergitur Oceano.
Sed quamquam me nocte premunt vestigia divom, Lux autem canae Tethyi rest.i.tuit, 70 (Pace tua fari hic liceat, Rhamnusia virgo, Namque ego non ullo vera timore tegam, Nec si me infestis discerpent sidera dictis, Condita quin verei pectoris evoluam): Non his tam laetor rebus, quam me afore semper, 75 Afore me a dominae vertice discrucior, Quic.u.m ego, dum virgo curis fuit omnibus expers, Vnguenti Suriei milia multa bibi.
Nunc vos, optato quom iunxit lumine taeda, Non prius unanimis corpora coniugibus 80 Tradite nudantes reiecta veste papillas, Quam iocunda mihi munera libet onyx, Voster onyx, casto pet.i.tis quae iura cubili.
Sed quae se inpuro dedit adulterio, Illius a mala dona levis bibat irrita pulvis: 85 Namque ego ab indignis praemia nulla peto.
Sed magis, o nuptae, semper concordia vostras Semper amor sedes incolat adsiduos.
Tu vero, regina, tuens c.u.m sidera divam Placabis festis luminibus Venerem, 90 Vnguinis expertem non siris esse tuam me, Sed potius largis adfice muneribus.
Sidera corruerent utinam! coma regia fiam: Proximus Hydrochoi fulgeret Oarion!
LXVI.
(LOQUITUR) BERENICE'S LOCK.
He who every light of the sky world's vastness inspected, He who mastered in mind risings and settings of stars, How of the fast rising sun obscured be the fiery splendours, How at the seasons a.s.sured vanish the planets from view, How Diana to lurk thief-like 'neath Latmian stonefields, 5 Summoned by sweetness of Love, comes from her aery gyre; That same Conon espied among lights Celestial s.h.i.+ning Me, Berenice's Hair, which, from her glorious head, Fulgent in brightness afar, to many a host of the G.o.dheads Stretching her soft smooth arms she vowed to devoutly bestow, 10 What time strengthened by joy of new-made wedlock the monarch Bounds of a.s.syrian land hurried to plunder and pill; Bearing of nightly strife new signs and traces delicious, Won in the war he waged virginal trophies to win.
Loathsome is Venus to all new-paired? Else why be the parents' 15 Pleasure frustrated aye by the false flow of tears Poured in profusion amid illuminate genial chamber?