prospiciens, prolem sancta de conjuge natam ferre simul nomenque suum curasque jubebi nec, nisi cum senior Pylios aequaverit anno aetherias sedes cognataque sidera tanget. hanc animam interea caeso de corpore raptar fac jubar, ut semper Capitolia nostra forumqu divus ab excelsa prospectet Julius aede.' Vix ea fatus erat, media cum sede senatus constitit alma Venus, nulli cernenda, suique Caesaris eripuit membris, nec in aëra solvi passa recentem animam caelestibus intulit astı dumque tulit, lumen capere atque ignescere se emisitque sinu. Luna volat altius illa, flammiferumque trahens spatioso limite crinem stella micat, natique videns benefacta fatetur esse suis majora, et vinci gaudet ab illo. hic sua praeferri quamquam vetat acta paternis libera fama tamen nullisque obnoxia jussis invitum praefert, unaque in parte repugnat. sic magni cedit titulis Agamemnonis Atreus; Aegea sic Theseus, sic Pelea vincit Achilles. denique, ut exemplis ipsos aequantibus utar, sic et Saturnus minor est Jove. Juppiter arces temperat aetherias et mundi regna triformis ; terra sub Augusto: pater est et rector uterque. Di, precor, Aeneae comites, quibus ensis et ig cesserunt, dique Indigetes, genitorque Quirine Urbis, et invicti genitor Gradive Quirini, Vestaque Caesareos inter sacrata penates, et cum Caesarea tu, Phoebe domestice, Vesta, quique tenes altus Tarpeïas Juppiter arces, quosque alios vati fas appellare piumque est : tarda sit illa dies et nostro serior aevo. faveatque precantibus absens. 870 as exegi, quod nec Jovis ira nec ignis rum nec edax abolere vetustas. a dies, quae nil nisi corporis hujus 875 SHORTER POEMS. I. THE FASTI. THE word fasti, properly applied to those days of the year on which it was permitted (fas) to transact public business, came to be applied to the Roman Calendar, or systematic arrangement and classification of the days of each month. Ovid's purpose in this poem was to cast this calendar into a poetic form, describing whatever was peculiar and characteristic in the Roman usages, -as festivals and rites, and working into it whatever traditions and myths were current among the people. The Roman religion was so meagre in the elements of fable, that its mythology, as presented in this work, is hardly more than a clumsy adaptation and vamping over of Grecian myths. It was, however, as rich in form and ceremonial as it was poor in story; and the most valuable and original portions of the Fasti are those which describe fragments of these primitive rites, which had managed to survive the inroad of the more fashionable Greek and Oriental forms of worship, and still lingered in the community. Some of them, indeed, held their own for centuries longer, and some were transformed and adopted into the Christian calendar. Only six books of the Fasti, containing the months from January to June inclusive, are extant. It is a much disputed question whether the other six books have been lost, or were never written. It is probable that they were written in the rough, but unfinished at the time of the poet's exile, and never published. At any rate, there are no citations in ancient authors from any but the first six books. The following extracts from the fourth book (April) contain a description of two very ancient festivals, with the traditional account of the founding of Rome, introduced in the usual manner of the poet. 1. The Festival of Pales (April 21). NOX abiit, oriturque Aurora. Parilia poscor: Non poscor frustra, si favet alma Pales. Alma Pales, faveas pastoria sacra canenti, Certe ego de vitulo cinerem stipulasque fabalis Tertia res durae culmen inane fabae. Pastor, oves saturas ad prima crepuscula lustra : Et tegat ornatas longa corona fores. Caerulei fiant vivo de sulphure fumi, [FASTI Ure mares oleas, taedamque, herbasque Sabinas, 725 730 735 740 Libaque de milio milii fiscella sequetur: Adde dapes mulctramque suas, dapibusque resectis Consule (dic) pecori pariter pecorisque magistris : 745 750 755 |