Et genitor Mavors, Vestaque mater, ades:
Quosque pium est adhibere deos, advertite cuncti :
Auspicibus vobis hoc mihi surgat opus!
Longa sit huic aetas dominaeque potentia terrae,
Sitque sub hac oriens occiduusque dies!'
Ille precabatur. Tonitru dedit omina laevo
Jupiter, et laevo fulmina missa polo.
Augurio laeti jaciunt fundamina cives,

Et novus exiguo tempore murus erat.

Hoc Celer urget opus, quem Romulus ipse vocarat,
'Sintque, Celer, curae,' dixerat, 'ista tuae:

Neve quis aut muros aut factam vomere fossam
Transeat, audentem talia dede neci.'
Quod Remus ignorans humiles contemnere muros
Coepit et, 'his populus,' dicere, 'tutus erit?'
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,
'Sicque meos muros transeat hostis,' ait.

830

835

840

845

Dat tamen exsequias. Nec jam suspendere fletum
Sustinet, et pietas dissimulata patet.

850

Osculaque applicuit posito suprema feretro,

Atque ait: 'Invito frater adempte, vale !' Arsurosque artus unxit. Fecere quod ille,

Faustulus et maestas Acca soluta comas: Tum juvenem nondum facti flevere Quirites.

855

violently into it; hence premens stivam.-828. Vestaque mater. She is called mother, not on account of any particular relation in which she stood to Romulus, but as all the gods are called father and mother by men.-829. Advertite, sc. animos vestros, numina vestra.-832. Oriens occiduusque dies, the rising and setting day; that is, the place where the sun rises and sets, the east and west. So Fast. ii. 136: Hoc (Caesare) duce Romanum est solis utrumque latus; i. 85: Jupiter arce sua totum cum spectet in orbem Nil nisi Romanum quod tueatur habet.-837. Celer, one of the companions of Romulus.-843. Rutro, telo quodam rustico.-845. Lacrimas devorat, he suppresses his grief, flere palam non vult (847).-852. Invito, sc. mihi.-853. Arsurosque artus unxit. The anointing of dead bodies before burning is a very ancient custom; we find it even in Homer. No doubt the reason of it was to remove any disagreeable impression which the corpse might make on those present.-854. Faustulus et Acca (Laurentia), by whom Romulus and Remus had been brought up.-855. Nondum facti Quirites.

Ultima plorato subdita flamma rogo est.
Urbs oritur quis tunc hoc ulli credere posset ?-
Victorem terris impositura pedem.

Cuncta regas et sis magno sub Caesare semper,
Saepe etiam plures nominis hujus habe.
Et quotiens steteris domito sublimis in orbe,
Omnia sint humeris inferiora tuis.

860

The name Quirites was not given to the Romans till their union with the Sabines. See above, Fast. ii. 475.-856. Ultima, not the last flame, but at last.

FASTORUM LIB. V.

THE DEATH OF CHIRON.

PELION Haemoniae mons est obversus in Austros,
Summa virent pinu, caetera quercus habet.
Phillyrides tenuit. Saxo stant antra vetusto,
Quae justum memorant incoluisse senem.
Ille manus olim missuras Hectora leto

Creditur in lyricis detinuisse modis.
Venerat Alcides exhausta parte laborum,
Jussaque restabant ultima pene viro.
Stare simul casu Trojae duo fata videres :

Hinc puer Aeacides, hinc Jove natus erat. Excipit hospitio juvenem Philyreïus heros,

Et causam adventus hic rogat, ille docet.
Perspicit interea clavam spoliumque leonis,

'Virque,' ait, 'his armis armaque digna viro.'
Nec se, quin horrens auderent tangere setis
Vellus, Achilleae continuere manus.
Dumque senex tractat squalentia tela venenis,
Excidit et laevo fixa sagitta pede est.
Ingemuit Chiron, traxitque e corpore ferrum,
Et gemit Alcides Haemoniusque puer.

385

390

395

400

381. Haemoniae, Thessaliae.-383. Phillyrides, the Centaur Chiron, son of Philyra. The l is here doubled for the sake of the verse, as the first syllable is otherwise short. Compare v. 391: Philyreïus heros.384. Justum senem. Chiron is always praised for his justice.-385. Manus -leto, Achillem.-387. Alcides. Hercules, so called from his grandfather Alcaeus, the father of Amphitryon.-389. Trojae duo fata, duo viros Trojae fatales; namely, Hercules, who destroyed Troy, to punish the faithlessness of Laomedon, and Achilles (puer Aeacides, the grandson of Aeacus, father of Peleus).-394. Virque, ait, his armis, sc. dignus.-397. Squalentia tela veneno. The arrows of Hercules were

Ipse tamen lectas Pagasaeis collibus herbas
Temperat, et varia vulnera mulcet ope.
Virus edax superabat opem, penitusque recepta
Ossibus et toto corpore pestis erat.
Sanguine Centauri Lernaeae sanguis echidnae
Mixtus ad auxilium tempora nulla dabat.
Stabat ut ante patrem lacrimis perfusus Achilles :
Sic flendus Peleus, si moreretur, erat.
Saepe manus aegras manibus fingebat amicis:
Morum, quos fecit, praemia doctor habet.
Oscula saepe dedit; dixit quoque saepe jacenti :
'Vive precor, nec me care relinque pater.'
Nona dies aderat, cum tu, justissime Chiron,

Bis septem stellis corpora cinctus eras.

405

410

dipped in the poisoned blood of the hydra of Lake Lerna.-401. Pagasaeis collibus. Pagasae is a town of Thessaly, in the harbour of which the Argo was built. Here, however, Pagasaeus is put generally for Thessalus, for Thessaly abounded in medicinal herbs. Ipse tamen. Chiron was celebrated for his skill in the art of healing.-408. Si moreretur, if he were dying.-409. Fingebat, he stroked. So above, Fast. ii. 418: Et fingit lingua corpora bina sua.-414. Chiron was changed into the constellation Centaur.

FASTORUM LIB. VI.

JUPITER PISTOR.

THE Conquest of Rome by the Gauls took place, according to the usual account, B. c. 390.

CINCTA premebantur trucibus Capitolia Gallis:

Fecerat obsidio jam diuturna famem. Jupiter ad solium superis regale vocatis, 'Incipe,' ait Marti. Protinus ille refert:

345

'Scilicet ignotum est, quae sit fortuna meorum,

Et dolor hic animi voce querentis eget?

350

Si tamen, ut referam breviter mala juncta pudori,
Exigis: Alpino Roma sub hoste jacet.

Haec est, cui fuerat promissa potentia rerum?
Jupiter, hanc terris impositurus eras ?
Jamque suburbanos Etruscaque contudit arma:
Spes erat in cursu: nunc lare pulsa suo est.
Vidimus ornatos aerata per atria picta

355

Veste triumphales occubuisse senes. Vidimus Iliacae transferri pignora Vestae

Sede. Putant aliquos scilicet esse deos.

360

349. Scilicet, expression of bitter irony.-354. Impositurus eras. Imponere, to set one over, to give one the rule over another.-355. Jamque -arma. Its power had been on the increase; the surrounding nations (suburbanos, as Fast. vi. 59: suburbani dant mihi munus idem, where Aricia, Laurentum, and Lanuvium, are meant; ib. 723: suburbano clarus triumpho, over Algidum), and the Etrurians (Veii) were already conquered.-356. Spes erat in cursu, on the rise. Metam. xiii. 508: In cursuque meus dolor est.-357. Aerata per atria, the halls covered with brass; if the reading is correct, Ovid has here transferred the custom of his own age to earlier and simpler times. Picta Veste, the Toga Praetexta, worn by the higher magistrates, and by those who had obtained triumphs. The story of the elders who would not abandon the city, and were all murdered, is well known.-359. Pignora Vestae, the pledge of Vesta; namely, for the greatness of Rome. The sacred fire had been conveyed to Caere.-360. Aliquos esse deos, they suppose that the gods have still some power. In this sense we more commonly find aliquid esse. Metam. vi. 543: Si numina divum Sunt aliquid. Mars says: it is superfluous that the sacred fire has been rescued, for