Cum foribus velles ad Troiam exire paternis,
Pes tuus offenso limine signa dedit.
Ut vidi, ingemui: tacitoque in pectore dixi:
Signa reversuri sint, precor, ista viri.
Haec tibi nunc refero, ne sis animosus in armis:
Fac meus in ventos hic timor omnis eat.
Sors quoque nescio quem fato designat iniquo,
Qui primus Danaûm Troada tangat humum.
Infelix, quae prima virum lugebit ademptum !
Dî faciant, ne tu strenuus esse velis!
Inter mille rates tua sit millesima puppis,

Jamque fatigatas ultima verset aquas.
Hoc quoque praemoneo; de nave novissimus exi.
Non est, quo properes, terra paterna tibi.
Cum venies, remoque1 move veloque carinam :
Inque tuo celerem litore siste gradum.2
Sed tua cur nobis pallens occurrit imago?
Cur venit a verbis multa querella tuis?
Excutior somno; simulacraque noctis adoro:
Nulla caret fumo Thessalis ara meo.

90

95

100

105

Thura damus, lacrymamque super; qua sparsa relucet,

Ut solet adfuso surgere flamma mero.

Hoc quoque, quod venti prohibent exire carinas,
Me movet invitis ire paratis aquis.
Quis velit in patriam, vento prohibente reverti ?
A patria pelago vela vetante datis.

110

Ipse suam non praebet iter Neptunus ad urbem: 1
Quo ruitis? Vestras quisque redite domos.
Quo ruitis, Danai? Ventos audite vetantes:

Non subiti casus, numinis ista mora est.
Quid petitur tanto, nisi turpis adultera, bello?
Dum licet, Inachiae, vertite vela, rates.

115

120

125

Sed quid ego revoco haec? Omen revocantis abesto,
Blandaque compositas aura secundet aquas!
Troasin invideo, quae si lacrimosa suorum
Funera conspicient nec procul hostis erit;
Ipsa suis manibus forti nova nupta marito
Imponet galeam barbaraque arma dabit.
Nos sumus incertae, nos anxius omnia cogit
Quae possunt fieri facta putare timor.
Dum tamen arma geres diverso miles in orbe,
Quae referat vultus est mihi cera tuos:
Hanc specto teneoque sinu pro conjuge vero
Et tanquam possit verba referre queror.
Per reditus corpusque tuum mea numina juro
Perque pares animi conjugiique faces,*

1 Suam urbem. Troy is called "his own "with reference to Neptune, because he shared with Apollo the task of building its walls. Below, "Inachiae is "Argive" or "Grecian," from Inachus, an old king of Argos. Cf. Hor. Carm. ii. 3: "Divesne prisco natus ab Inacho Nil interest."

2 Troasin. A Greek dative from "Troas," a Trojan woman. For a similar form, cf. Verg. Aen. iii. 65: "Et circum Iliades crinem de more solutae." Below, "nec procul," etc., means that the Trojan wives, although they may be fated to see the death of their relatives, and

130

have the enemy close at their doors, will still enjoy the occasional converse with their husbands, and themselves arm them for the fight; and delay them (producetque) a few moments.

3 Diverso in orbe. "In a world far removed from ours; i.e., in a remote part of the globe, viz. Asia. So Verg. Georg. iii. 32: "Et duo rapta manu diverso ex hoste tropaea;" i.e., enemies widely separated from each other; also Ovid has "At nos diversi medium coeamus in aequor.”

Faces. "And by the coeval torches of my love and wed

Perque, quod ut videam canis albere capillis,
Quod tecum possis ipse referre caput,
Me tibi venturam comitem quocunque vocaris
Sive (quod heu timeo) sive superstes eris.
Ultima mandato claudetur epistola parvo!
"Si tibi cura mei, sit tibi cura tui."

135

PHYLLIS DEMOPHOONTI.

Demophoon, a son of Theseus, returning from the Trojan war, was hospitably entertained by Phyllis, queen of Thrace. Demophoon left for Athens, promising to return within a month. After waiting four months in vain, Phyllis wrote him this letter:

HOSPITA, Demophoon, tua te Rhodopeïa1 Phyllis
Ultra promissum tempus abesse queror.

Cornua cum Lunae pleno semel orbe coïssent,

Litoribus nostris anchora pacta tua est. Luna quater latuit; toto quater orbe recrevit; Nec vehit Actaeas Sithonis unda rates.2

66

lock," i.e. "my love which has never wavered since our union." In the next line "ut" is put for utinam," "I wish that." But the distich is probably spurious. Below, in "sive (quod heu timeo)," Laodamia checks herself before uttering the illomened words "sive moriaris," or "interficiaris."

1 Rhodopeia. Thracian, from Rhodope, a mountain of Thrace. Cf. Hor. Carm. iii. 25: "Thracen ac pede barbaro Lustratam

5

Rhodopen." Below, "Cornua," etc., seems to mean "at the full moon," when the horns of the crescent are entirely lost in the full orb. After one month, apparently, the ship was due (pacta), although I do not see that the actual words "cornua," etc., necessarily mean a time longer than that between the new and full moon.

2 Actaeas .. rates. "Attic ships." "Acte" was an old name for Attica, probably

S

10

Tempora si numeres, bene quae numeramus amantes,
Non venit ante suum nostra querella diem.
Spes quoque lenta fuit; tarde, quae credita laedunt,
Credimus invita1 nunc et amante nocent.
Saepe fui mendax pro te mihi: saepe putavi
Alba procellosos vela referre Notos.
Thesea devovi, quia te dimittere nollet;
Nec tenuit cursus forsitan ille tuos.

2

Interdum timui, ne, dum vada tendis ad Hebri,
Mersa foret cana naufraga puppis aqua.

Saepe deos supplex, ut tu, scelerate, valeres,
Sum prece thuricremis devenerata focis.3
Saepe, videns ventos caelo pelagoque faventes,
Ipsa mihi dixi; Si valet, ille venit.

Denique fidus amor, quidquid properantibus obstat,
Finxit; et ad causas ingeniosa fui.

At tu lentus abes; nec te jurata reducunt
Numina; nec nostro motus amore redis.

15

20

Theseus did so, and on that supposition execrated his conduct. Otherwise the indicative mood would have been used.

3 Thuricremis... focis. Frankincense was a usual ingredient in offerings. Cf. Hor. Carm. i. 19: "Hic vivum mihi caespitem hic Verbenas pueri ponite, thuraque Bimi cum patera meri;" and Verg. Eclog. viii. 65: "Verbenasque adole pingues et mascula thura." Below, in the expression

"verba et vela dedisti," there is a mixture of the real (vela dare ventis) and the metaphorical (verba dare ventis). Generally speaking, "dare verba" is "to cheat or deceive." Cf. Persius, Sat. iii. 19: "Cui verba? (sc. das)."

Demophoon, ventis et verba et vela dedisti:
Vela queror reditu, verba carere fide.
Dic mihi, quid feci, nisi non sapienter amavi?
Crimine te potui demeruisse meo.

25

35

Unum in me scelus est, quod te, scelerate, recepi :
Sed scelus hoc meriti pondus et instar habet.1 30
Jura, fides, ubi nunc, commissaque dextera dextrae ;
Quique erat in falso plurimus ore deus?
Promissus socios ubi nunc Hymenaeus in annos,
Qui mihi conjugii sponsor et obses erat?
Per mare, quod totum ventis agitatur et undis;
Per quod saepe îeras, per quod iturus eras;
Perque tuum mihi jurâsti (nisi fictus et ille est),
Concita qui ventis aequora mulcet, avum:
Per Venerem, nimiumque mihi facientia 2 tela,
Altera tela arcus, altera tela faces:
Junonemque, toris quae praesidet alma maritis,
Et per taediferae mystica sacra deae.

Si de tot laesis sua numina quisque deorum
Vindicet, in poenas non satis unus eris.

1 Instar habet. Besides this substantival use of "instar " the word is employed in the sense of "like" or "after the fashion of," as in Heroid. vii. 19: "Ut condas instar Carthaginis urbem;" and in Verg. Aen. ii. 15: "Instar montis equum." Below, avum is apparently Aegeus, the grandfather of Demophoon, who threw himself into the sea, on the supposed death of Theseus, and became a sea deity.

66

40

corona meo." The darts of Venus were too much after Phyllis' own heart to be resisted. 3 Junonemque. Juno in her capacity of Pronuba, or the presider over marriage. Below,

taediferae deae" is Ceres, at whose rites the worshippers at Athens went at night-fall, with torches, to the temple of Eleusis, in memory, probably, of Ceres wandering in search of her daughter Proserpine, when carried off by Pluto; when

Facientia. "Too fatally suited to me.' ." Cf. Ovid, Heroid. xvi. 190: "Ad talem formam non facit iste locus:" and Propert.'iii. 1, 20: "Non faciet capiti dura To seek her through the world.”

"Proserpine gathering flowers, Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis Was gathered, which cost Ceres all that pain