Non ego miror opes, nec me tua regia tangit,
Nec, de tot Priami dicar ut una nurus.

Non tamen ut Priamus Nymphae socer esse recuset;
Aut Hecubae fuerim dissimulanda nurus.
Dignaque sum, et cupio fieri matrona potentis,
Sunt mihi, quas possint sceptra decere, manus.
Nec, me, faginea quod tecum fronde iacebam,
Despice: purpureo sum magis apta toro.
Denique, tutus amor meus est tibi; nulla parantur
Bella, nec ultrices advehit unda rates.
Tyndaris infestis fugitiva reposcitur armis:
Hac venit in thalamos dote superba tuos.
Quae si sit Danais reddenda, vel Hectora fratrem,
Vel cum Deiphobo Polydamanta roga.
Quid gravis Antenor, Priamus quid censeat ipse,
Consule; quis aetas longa magistra fuit.
Turpe rudimentum, patriae praeponere raptam ;
Causa pudenda tua est: iusta vir arma movet.
Nec tibi, si sapias, fidam promitte Lacaenam,

Quae sit in amplexus tam cito versa tuos.
Vt minor Atrides temerati foedera lecti

Clamat, et externo laesus amore dolet;
Tu quoque clamabis. Nulla reparabilis arte
Laesa pudicitia est: deperit illa semel.
Ardet amore tui: sic et Menelaon amavit.
Nunc iacet in viduo credulus ille toro.
Felix Andromache, certo bene nupta marito!
Vxor ad exemplum fratris habenda fui.
Tu levior foliis, tunc cum, sine pondere succi,
Mobilibus ventis arida facta volant.

Et minus est in te quam summa pondus arista,
Quae levis assiduis solibus usta riget.

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90

95

ICO

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ΙΙΟ

Hoc tua, nam recolo, quondam germana canebat,

Sic mihi diffusis vaticinata comis:

Quid facis, Oenone? quid arenae semina mandas? 115 Non profecturis littora bobus aras.

Graia iuvenca venit, quae te, patriamque, domumque

Perdat: iö prohibe; Graia iuvenca venit.
Dum licet, obscaenam ponto, Di, mergite puppim.
Heu! quantum Phrygii sanguinis illa vehit.
Dixerat; in cursu famulae rapuere furentem.
At mihi flaventes diriguere comae.
Ah! nimium vates miserae mihi vera fuisti!

Possidet en! saltus illa iuvenca meos.
Sit facie quamvis insignis, adultera certe est.
Deseruit socios, hospite capta, Deos.
Illam de patria Theseus, nisi nomine fallor,
Nescio quis Theseus, abstulit ante sua.
A iuvene et cupido credatur reddita virgo.

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125

Vnde hoc compererim tam bene, quaeris? amo! 130
Vim licet appelles, et culpam nomine veles;
Quae toties rapta est, praebuit ipsa rapi.

At manet Oenone fallenti casta marito:
Et poteras falli legibus ipse tuis.

Me Satyri celeres, silvis ego tecta latebam,

Quaesierunt rapido, turba proterva, pede: Cornigerumque caput pinu praecinctus acuta Faunus in immensis qua tumet Ida iugis. Me fide conspicuus Troiae munitor amavit, Admisitque meas ad sua dona manus.

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Quaecunque herba potens ad opem, radixque medendi Vtilis in toto nascitur orbe, mea est.

Me miseram, quod amor non est medicabilis herbis! Deficior prudens artis ab arte mea.

Ipse repertor opis vaccas pavisse Pheraeas
Fertur, et a nostro saucius igne fuit.

Quod neque graminibus tellus fecunda creandis,
Nec Deus, auxilium tu mihi ferre potes.
Et potes, et merui; dignae miserere puellae;
Non ego cum Danais arma cruenta fero:
Sed tua sum, tecumque fui puerilibus annis:
Et tua, quod superest temporis, esse precor.

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150

2.

LAODAMIA PROTESILAO.

EP. XIII.

THIS Epistle is supposed to be addressed by Laodamia, daughter of Acastus, to her husband Protesilaus, who, having determined to take part in the expedition against Troy, had repaired to Aulis in Boeotia, which is named by Homer as having been the gathering-place of the Grecian fleet. Later poets told that the ships were long detained in that harbour by an adverse wind, raised by Artemis in vengeance for the death of a consecrated stag slain by Agamemnon, and that they were unable to set forth till the wrath of the goddess was at length appeased by the sacrifice of Iphigenia, daughter of the guilty chief.

Protesilaus, son of Iphiclus, son of Phylacus, is mentioned by Homer, Il. 2. 695, as the chief who led against Troy, in forty dark ships, the men of Phylace, Pyrasus, Antron and Pteleus Thessalian towns lying round the Pagasaean Gulf. As he was leaping from his bark, far the foremost of all the Achaeans, he was slain by a Dardanian warrior, leaving behind him in Phylace a sorrowing spouse. He is named cursorily in some other passages of the Iliad. The legend, as embellished by subsequent poets, is briefly narrated in the compilation which bears the name of the 'Fables of Hyginus,' Fab. 103. In that account the slayer of Protesilaus, who, by Homer, is simply called Aápdavos ȧvýp, is said to have been Hector; and so the story is told by Ovid, when describing the arrival of the Grecian host before Troy,

Hostis adest, prohibent aditu, litusque tuentur

Troes, et Hectorea primus fataliter hasta,
Protesilae, cadis.' Met. 12. 66.

Different authors gave the glory to different champions, enumerated by

the Scholiast on Homer, among whom we find Aeneas. The assertion that the name borne by Protesilaus before his death was Iolaus, meets with little countenance from ancient writers.

Ausonius, indeed, derives the appellation from прŵтоs ỏλéolai, bu: takes it for granted that he bore it from his birth,

'Protesilae, tibi nomen sic fata dederunt,

Victima quod Troiae prima futurus eras.' Epig. 20.

So too in his Epitaphia Heroum, 12. Propertius alludes to that part of the tale, according to which Protesilaus is said to have been permitted to return to life for a brief space, that he might again behold his widowed bride,

Illic Phylacides iucundae coniugis heros

Non potuit caecis immemor esse locis:

Sed cupidus falsis attingere gaudia palmis,

Thessalis antiquam venerat umbra domum.' I. 19. 7.

And Lucian, who introduces the hero in two of his Dialogues of the Dead, represents Pluto as granting him leave of absence for a whole day, which serves to explain Statius Silv. 2. 7, 121

'Vnum, quaeso, diem deos silentum
Exores; solet hoc patere limen

Ad nuptas redeuntibus maritis.'

In the poem of Catullus, addressed to Manlius, much of which seems to be imitated from some writer of the Alexandrian School, there is a beautiful digression on the bereavement of Laodamia : it is there said that the gods in wrath deprived her of her lord, because the nuptials had been celebrated with impious haste, before the fitting sacrifices had been duly offered,

Quam ieiuna pium desideret ara cruorem

Docta est amisso Laodamia viro.'

Finally, we remark that Virgil associates Laodamia, in the realms of Pluto, with the unhappy dames whose death was caused by love.

MITTIT, et optat amans, quo mittitur, ire, salutem

Aemonis Aemonio Laodamia viro.

Aulide te fama est vento retinente morari:
Ah! me cum fugeres, hic ubi ventus erat?
Tum freta debuerant vestris obsistere remis,
Illud erat saevis utile tempus aquis.

5

Oscula plura viro, mandataque plura, dedissem.
Et sunt, quae volui dicere, plura, tibi.

Raptus es hinc praeceps: et, qui tua vela vocaret,
Quem cuperent nautae, non ego, ventus erat.
Ventus erat nautis aptus, non aptus amanti.
Solvor ab amplexu, Protesilaë, tuo;

Linguaque mandantis verba imperfecta reliquit,
Vix illud potuit dicere triste Vale.
Incubuit Boreas, arreptaque vela tetendit;
Iamque meus longe Protesilaus erat.
Dum potui spectare virum, spectare iuvabat;
Sumque tuos oculos usque secuta meis.
Vt te non poteram, poteram tua vela videre:
Vela diu vultus detinuere meos.

At postquam nec te, nec vela fugacia vidi;
Et quod spectarem, nil, nisi pontus, erat;
Lux quoque tecum abiit; tenebris exsanguis obortis.
Succiduo dicor procubuisse genu.

Vix socer Iphiclus, vix me grandaevus Acastus,
Vix mater gelida maesta refecit aqua.

IO

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Officium fecere pium, sed inutile nobis.
Indignor miserae non licuisse mori.

Vt rediit animus, pariter rediere dolores;
Pectora legitimus casta momordit amor.

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Nec mihi pectendos cura est praebere capillos:
Nec libet aurata corpora veste tegi.

Vt quas pampinea tetigisse Bicorniger hasta
Creditur; huc illuc, quo furor egit, eo.

Conveniunt matres Phylaceides, et mihi clamant,

Indue regales, Laodamia, sinus.

Scilicet ipsa geram saturatas murice vestes:

Bella sub Iliacis moenibus ille geret?

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