Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

90

Nec mora, transiluit: rutro Celer occupat ausum ;
Ille premit duram sanguinolentus humum.
Haec ubi rex didicit, lacrimas introrsus obortas
Devorat, et clausum pectore vulnus habet.
Flere palam non vult, exemplaque fortia servat,
"Sic" que "meos muros transeat hostis" ait.
Dat tamen exsequias: nec jam suspendere fletum 140
Sustinet, et pietas dissimulata patet.

Osculaque applicuit posito suprema feretro;

Atque ait, "Invito frater adempte, vale!"

106 I

106 3

XVIII.

WHAT BECAME OF SILVIA.

The children to the river,

The mother to the tomb.-MACAULAY.

AN anxious lover, stayed on his way to visit his mistress by a swollen torrent which he cannot cross, to shame the river-god, tells, amongst others, the story how Anio rescued Silvia when she sought a refuge in her shame.-(AMORUM, III. 6.)

The lover addresses the river-god, and threatens him with infamy if he stays his course.

ΙΟ

AMNIS, arundinibus limosas obsite ripas,

Ad dominam propero: siste parumper aquas!
Nec tibi sunt pontes, nec quae sine remigis ictu
Concava traiecto cymba rudente vehat.
Parvus eras, memini, nec te transire refugi,
Summaque vix talos contigit unda meos.
Nunc ruis adposito nivibus de monte solutis,
Et turpi crassas gurgite volvis aquas.

Quid properasse iuvat, quid parca dedisse quieti
Tempora, quid nocti conseruisse diem ?

Tu potius, ripis effuse capacibus amnis,......
Sic aeternus eas... labere fine tuo!

100

150

119

106 I

123

Non eris invidiae, torrens, mihi crede, ferendae,
Si dicar per te forte retentus amans.

128

River-gods should sympathise with lovers, and help them; for they are not proof against love: witness Inachus and Achelous and Nilus.

Flumina deberent iuvenes in amore iuvare:
Flumina senserunt ipsa, quid esset amor.
Inachus in Melie Bithynide pallidus isse
Dicitur et gelidis incaluisse vadis.

Cornua si tua nunc ubi sint, Acheloë, requiram,

20 Herculis irata fracta querere manu;

149

£149 p.144. I.

Nec tanti Calydon, nec tota Aetolia tanti,
Una tamen tanti Deianira fuit.
Ille fluens dives septena per ostia Nilus,

Qui patriam tantae tam bene celat aquae,
Fertur. in Euadne collectam Asopide flammam
Vincere gurgitibus non potuisse suis.

128 a

Anio, too, to whose banks Silvia came with tearful complaints. He prayed her to stay her tears, and to take him for her mate, promising her

all honour.

30

40

Nec te praetereo, qui per cava saxa volutans
Tiburis Argei pomifera arva rigas:

Silvia cui placuit, quamvis erat horrida cultu,
Ungue notata comas, ungue notata genas.
Illa gemens patruique nefas delictaque Martis
Errabat nudo per loca sola pede.
Hanc Anien rapidis animosus vidit ab undis,
Raucaque de mediis sustulit ora vadis,
Atque ita "quid nostras" dixit "teris anxia ripas,
Silvia, ab Idaeo Laomedonte genus?

Quo cultus abiere tui? quid sola vagaris,
Vitta nec evinctas impedit alba comas?
Quid fles et madidos lacrimis corrumpis ocellos,
Pectoraque insana plangis aperta manu?
Ille habet et silices et vivum in pectore ferrum,
Qui tenero lacrimas lentus in ore videt.
Silvia, pone metus: tibi regia nostra patebit,
Teque colent amnes. Silvia, pone metus.
Tu centum aut plures inter dominabere nymphas :
Nam centum aut plures flumina nostra tenent.
Ne me sperne, precor, tantum, Troiana propago:
Munera promissis uberiora feres."

1063 100

p. 134. B

115

90

112

106 2

124

Thrice she tried to flee, but had no strength left. She threw herself

into the stream.

50

Dixerat. Illa oculos in humum deiecta modestos .134 B.
Spargebat teneros flebilis imbre sinus.

Ter molita fugam ter ad altas restitit undas,
Currendi vires eripiente metu.

125

60

Sera tamen scindens inimico pollice crinem,
Edidit indignos ore tremente sonos,
"O utinam mea lecta forent patrioque sepulchro
Condita, quum poterant virginis ossa legi!
Cur, modo Vestalis, taedas invitor ad ullas
Turpis et Iliacis infitianda focis?

Quid moror et digitis designor adultera vulgi?
Desint famosus quae notet ora pudor."
Hactenus, et vestem tumidis praetendit ocellis,
Atque ita se in rapidas perdita misit aquas.
Supposuisse manus ad pectora lubricus amnis
Dicitur, et socii iura dedisse tori.

152 III.

107 d

106 a

If you, says the lover, have ever been guilty of any love, it must have been one to be concealed. I am ashamed to waste words on so mean a

stream.

70

80

Te quoque credibile est aliqua caluisse puella :
Sed nemora et silvae crimina vestra tegunt.
Dum loquor, increvit latis spatiosius undis,

Nec capit admissas alveus altus aquas.
Quid mecum, furiose, tibi? quid mutua differs
Gaudia? quid coeptum, rustice, rumpis iter?
Quid, si legitimum flueres, si nobile flumen,

111

153 2

106

p. 144 III.

107 c

A. 3.

Si tibi per terras maxima fama foret?
Nomen habes nullum, rivis collecte caducis,
Nec tibi sunt fontes, nec tibi certa domus.
Fontis habes instar pluviamque nivesque solutas, 138 VI.
Quas tibi divitias pigra ministrat hiemps.
Aut lutulentus agis brumali tempore cursus,
Aut premis arentem pulverulentus humum.
Quis te tum potuit sitiens haurire viator?

Quis dixit grata voce "perennis eas"?
Damnosus pecori curris, damnosior agris.

Forsitan haec alios, me mea damna movent.
Huic ego... vae demens!... narrabam fluminum
Iactasse indigne nomina tanta pudet. [amores?

120

106 3

XIX.

THE STOLEN BRIDES.

Hard by, the towers of Rome he drew,

And Sabine maids in public view

Snatch'd mid the Circus games.-CONINGTON's Aeneid.

ARGUMENT.

THE new people, unable to obtain marriage alliances with the surrounding tribes, carry off the Sabine girls who come to their games. The Sabines make war upon them, but are pacified by the intervention of their daughters, who are already reconciled to their position.— (FASTI, III. 181; and de ARTE AMAT., I. 101.)

See LIVY, I. 9-13.

The neighbours, in their pride of wealth, despised this lowly colony, and refused to give their daughters in marriage to its inhabitants.

IO

MOENIA iam stabant, populis angusta futuris,
Credita sed turbae tunc nimis ampla suae.
Quae fuerit nostri, si quaeris, regia nati,
Aspice de canna straminibusque domum.
In stipula placidi carpebat munera somni,
Et tamen ex illo venit in astra toro.

Iamque loco maius nomen Romanus habebat:
Nec coniux illi, nec socer ullus erat.
Spernebant generos inopes vicinia dives:
Et male credebar sanguinis auctor ego.

In stabulis habitasse et oves pavisse nocebat,
Iugeraque inculti pauca tenere soli.

106 3

149

124

107 c

p.140, B

Extremis dantur connubia gentibus: at quae
Romano vellet nubere, nulla fuit.

107,150

The people gather in their simple theatre. In the middle of their games the men mark each his damsel, and rush down upon them.

Primus sollicitos fecisti, Romule, ludos,
Quum iuvit viduos rapta Sabina viros.
Tunc neque marmoreo pendebant vela theatro,
Nec fuerant liquido pulpita rubra croco.
Illic, quas tulerant nemorosa Palatia, frondes

99

« ZurückWeiter »