Part 22 (2/2)

Nay not real the groans; ever so help me the G.o.ds!

This truth taught me my Queen by force of manifold 'plainings After her new groom hied facing the fierceness of fight. 20 Yet so thou mournedst not for a bed deserted of husband, As for a brother beloved wending on woefullest way?

How was the marrow of thee consumedly wasted by sorrow!

So clean forth of thy breast, rackt with solicitous care, Mind fled, sense being reft! But I have known thee for certain 25 E'en from young virginal years lofty of spirit to be.

Hast thou forgotten the feat whose greatness won thee a royal Marriage--a deed so prow, never a prower was dared?

Yet how sad was the speech thou spakest, thy husband farewelling!

(Jupiter!) Often thine eyes wiping with sorrowful hand! 30 What manner G.o.d so great thus changed thee? Is it that lovers Never will tarry afar parted from person beloved?

Then unto every G.o.d on behalf of thy helpmate, thy sweeting, Me thou gavest in vow, not without bloodshed of bulls, If he be granted return, and long while nowise delaying, 35 Captive Asia he add unto Egyptian bounds.

Now for such causes I, enrolled in host of the Heavens, By a new present, discharge promise thou madest of old: Maugre my will, O Queen, my place on thy head I relinquished, Maugre my will, I attest, swearing by thee and thy head; 40 Penalty due shall befall whoso makes oath to no purpose.

Yet who a.s.sumes the vaunt forceful as iron to be?

E'en was that mount o'erthrown, though greatest in universe, where through Thia's ill.u.s.trious race speeded its voyage to end, Whenas the Medes brought forth new sea, and barbarous youth-hood 45 Urged an Armada to swim traversing middle-Athos.

What can be done by Hair when such things yield them to Iron?

Jupiter! Grant Chalybon perish the whole of the race, Eke who in primal times ore seeking under the surface Showed th' example, and spalled iron however so hard. 50 Shortly before I was shorn my sister tresses bewailed Lot of me, e'en as the sole brother to Memnon the Black, Winnowing upper air wi' feathers flas.h.i.+ng and quiv'ring, Chloris' wing-borne steed, came before Arsinoe, Whence upraising myself he flies through aery shadows, 55 And in chaste Venus' breast drops he the present he bears.

Eke Zephyritis had sent, for the purpose trusted, her bondsman, Settler of Grecian strain on the Canopian strand.

So willed various G.o.ds, lest sole 'mid lights of the Heavens Should Ariadne's crown taken from temples of her 60 Glitter in gold, but we not less s.h.i.+ne fulgent in splendour, We the consecrate spoils shed by a blond-hued head, Even as weeping-wet sought I the fanes of Celestials, Placed me the G.o.ddess a new light amid starlights of old: For with Virgo in touch and joining the furious Lion's 65 Radiance with Callisto, maid of Lycaon beloved, Wind I still to the west, conducting tardy Bootes, Who unwilling and slow must into Ocean merge.

Yet though press me o'night the pacing footprints of G.o.dheads, Tethys, h.o.a.ry of hair, ever regains me by day. 70 (Lend me thy leave to speak such words, Rhamnusian Virgin, Verities like unto these never in fear will I veil; Albeit every star asperse me with enemy's censure, Secrets in soothfast heart h.o.a.rded perforce I reveal.) Nowise gladdens me so this state as absence torments me, 75 Absence doomed for aye ta'en fro' my mistress's head, Where I was wont (though she such cares unknew in her girlhood) Many a thousand scents, Syrian unguents, to sip.

Now do you pair conjoined by the longed-for light of the torches, Earlier yield not selves unto unanimous wills 80 Nor wi' the dresses doft your bared nipples encounter, Ere shall yon onyx-vase pour me libations glad, Onyx yours, ye that seek only rights of virtuous bed-rite.

But who yieldeth herself unto advowtry impure, Ah! may her loathed gifts in light dust uselessly soak, 85 For of unworthy sprite never a gift I desire.

Rather, O new-mated brides, be concord aye your companion, Ever let constant love dwell in the dwellings of you.

Yet when thou sightest, O Queen, the Constellations, I pray thee, Every festal day Venus the G.o.ddess appease; 90 Nor of thy unguent-gifts allow myself to be lacking, Nay, do thou rather add largeliest increase to boons.

Would but the stars down fall! Could I of my Queen be the hair-lock, Neighbour to Hydrochois e'en let Oarion s.h.i.+ne.

He who scanned all the lights of the great firmament, who ascertained the rising and the setting of the stars, how the flaming splendour of the swift sun was endarkened, how the planets disappear at certain seasons, how sweet love with stealth detaining Trivia beneath the Latmian crags, draws her away from her airy circuit, that same Conon saw me amongst celestial light, the hair from Berenice's head, gleaming with brightness, which she outstretching graceful arms did devote to the whole of the G.o.ds, when the king flushed with the season of new wedlock had gone to lay waste the a.s.syrian borders, bearing the sweet traces of nightly contests, in which he had borne away her virginal spoils. Is Venus abhorred by new-made brides?

Why be the parents' joys turned aside by feigned tears, which they shed copiously amid the lights of the nuptial chamber? Untrue are their groans, by the G.o.ds I swear! This did my queen teach me by her many lamentings, when her bridegroom set out for stern warfare. Yet thou didst not mourn the widowhood of desolate couch, but the tearful separation from a dear brother? How care made sad inroads in thy very marrow! In so much that thine whole bosom being agitated, and thy senses being s.n.a.t.c.hed from thee, thy mind wandered! But in truth I have known thee great of heart ever since thou wast a little maiden. Hast thou forgotten that n.o.ble deed, by which thou didst gain a regal wedlock, than which none dared other deeds bolder?

Yet what grieving words didst thou speak when bidding thy bridegroom farewell! Jupiter! as with sad hand often thine eyes thou didst dry! What mighty G.o.d changed thee? Was it that lovers are unwilling to be long absent from their dear one's body? Then didst thou devote me to the whole of the G.o.ds on thy sweet consort's behalf, not without blood of bullocks, should he be granted safe return. In no long time he added captive Asia to the Egyptian boundaries. Wherefore for these reasons I, bestowed 'midst the celestial host, by a new gift fulfil thine ancient promise. With grief, O queen, did I quit thy brow, with grief: I swear to thee and to thine head; fit ill befall whosoever shall swear lightly: but who may bear himself peer with steel? Even that mountain was swept away, the greatest on earth, over which Thia's ill.u.s.trious progeny pa.s.sed, when the Medes created a new sea, and the barbarian youth sailed its fleet through the middle of Athos. What can locks of hair do, when such things yield to iron? Jupiter! may the whole race of the Chalybes perish, and whoever first questing the veins 'neath the earth hara.s.sed its hardness, breaking it through with iron. Just before severance my sister locks were mourning my fate, when Ethiop Memnon's brother, the winged steed, beating the air with fluttering pennons, appeared before Locrian Arsinoe, and this one bearing me up, flies through aethereal shadows and lays me in the chaste bosom of Venus. Him Zephyritis herself had dispatched as her servant, a Grecian settler on the Canopian sh.o.r.es. For 'twas the wish of many G.o.ds that not alone in heaven's light should the golden coronet from Ariadne's temples stay fixed, but that we also should gleam, the spoils devote from thy golden-yellow head; when humid with weeping I entered the temples of the G.o.ds, the G.o.ddess placed me, a new star, amongst the ancient ones. For a-touching the Virgin's and the fierce Lion's gleams, hard by Callisto of Lycaon, I turn westwards fore-guiding the slow-moving Bootes who sinks unwillingly and late into the vasty ocean. But although the footsteps of the G.o.ds o'erpress me in the night-tide, and the daytime restoreth me to the white-haired Tethys, (grant me thy grace to speak thus, O Rhamnusian virgin, for I will not hide the truth through any fear, even if the stars revile me with ill words yet I will unfold the pent-up feelings from truthful breast) I am not so much rejoiced at these things as I am tortured by being for ever parted, parted from my lady's head, with whom I (though whilst a virgin she was free from all such cares) drank many a thousand of Syrian scents.

Now do you, whom the gladsome light of the wedding torches hath joined, yield not your bodies to your desiring husbands nor throw aside your vestments and bare your bosom's nipples, before your onyx cup brings me jocund gifts, your onyx, ye who seek the dues of chaste marriage-bed. But she who giveth herself to foul adultery, may the light-lying dust responselessly drink her vile gifts, for I seek no offerings from folk that do ill. But rather, O brides, may concord always be yours, and constant love ever dwell in your homes. But when thou, O queen, whilst gazing at the stars, shalt propitiate the G.o.ddess Venus with festal torch-lights, let not me, thine own, be left lacking of unguent, but rather gladden me with large gifts. Stars fall in confusion! So that I become a royal tress, Orion might gleam in Aquarius' company.

LXVII.

O dulci iocunda viro, iocunda parenti, Salve, teque bona Iuppiter auctet ope, Ianua, quam Balbo dic.u.n.t servisse benigne Olim, c.u.m sedes ipse senex tenuit, Quamque ferunt rursus voto servisse maligno, 5 Postquam es porrecto facta marita sene.

Dic agedum n.o.bis, quare mutata feraris In dominum veterem deseruisse fidem.

'Non (ita Caecilio placeam, cui tradita nunc sum) Culpa meast, quamquam dicitur esse mea, 10 Nec peccatum a me quisquam pote dicere quicquam: Verum istud populi fabula, Quinte, facit, Qui, quac.u.mque aliquid reperitur non bene factum, Ad me omnes clamant: ianua, culpa tuast.'

Non istuc satis est uno te dicere verbo, 15 Sed facere ut quivis sentiat et videat.

'Qui possum? nemo quaerit nec scire laborat.'

Nos volumus: n.o.bis dicere ne dubita.

'Primum igitur, virgo quod fertur tradita n.o.bis, Falsumst. non illam vir prior attigerit, 20 Languidior tenera cui pendens sicula beta Numquam se mediam sustulit ad tunicam: Sed pater illius gnati viola.s.se cubile Dicitur et miseram conscelera.s.se domum, Sive quod inpia mens caeco flagrabat amore, 25 Seu quod iners sterili semine natus erat, Et quaerendus is unde foret nervosius illud, Quod posset zonam solvere virgineam.'

Egregium narras mira pietate parentem, Qui ipse sui gnati minxerit in gremium. 30 Atqui non solum hoc se dicit cognitum habere Brixia Cycneae supposita speculae, Flavos quam molli percurrit flumine Mella, Brixia Veronae mater amata meae.

'Et de Postumio et Corneli narrat amore, 35 c.u.m quibus illa malum fecit adulterium.'

Dixerit hic aliquis: qui tu isthaec, ianua, nosti?

Cui numquam domini limine abesse licet, Nec populum auscultare, sed heic suffixa tigillo Tantum operire soles aut aperire domum? 40 'Saepe illam audivi furtiva voce loquentem Solam c.u.m ancillis haec sua flagitia, Nomine dicentem quos diximus, ut pote quae mi Speraret nec linguam esse nec auriculam.

Praeterea addebat quendam, quem dicere nolo 45 Nomine, ne tollat rubra supercilia.

Longus h.o.m.ost, magnas quoi lites intulit olim Falsum mendaci ventre puerperium.'

<script>