XIV. BRISEIS TO ACHILLES. The fair Briseis, her whom from thy tent (LORD DERBY.) IN this pathetic epistle Briseis complains of the craven way in which Achilles has abandoned her, and appeals to be allowed to share his return.-(HEROIDES, III.) Why do you desert me? Is my love not worth having? I saw all my kindred slain before my eyes, but to be yours was full compensation. IO QUA merui culpa fieri tibi vilis, Achille ? Et fueram patriae pars ego magna meae. Tres cecidisse: tribus, quae mihi, mater erat. Pectora iactantem sanguinolenta virum. 111 106 3 112 127 107 c p.137,D 152,1 5 It is said that you are going to sail away. It would not be a heavy addition to your freight to take me too, as a captive, not as a wife. 20 Quin etiam fama est, quum crastina fulserit Eos, S107, 152'11.2 119 b 107 138, 30 Quam sine me Phthiis canescant aequora remis, Si tibi iam reditusque placent patriique Penates, Let the noblest of Greek matrons be your wife if I may only live in the house. I could put up even with ill-treatment from her to be near you. Inter Achaeïadas longe pulcherrima matres 40 In thalamos coniux ibit eatque tuos, Quae mihi nescio quo non erit aequa modo, Et leviter dicas "haec quoque nostra fuit." 119 a 150 p. 161, II. 1, 2 154 152, I. 4 107 Why do you hang back from the war? Agamemnon rues his haste, and all Greece prays for your help. Let my added prayers turn the scale. 50 Quid tamen exspectas? Agamemnona paenitet irae, 134 Propter me mota est, propter me desinat ira: Sola virum coniux flexit. Felicior illa! At mea pro nullo pondere verba cadunt. 107 d 106 3 I will get sent as envoy from the Greeks: old memories must bend you. Sed tibi pro tutis insignia facta placebant, 60 70 Partaque bellando gloria dulcis erat. 141 4 An tantum, dum me caperes, fera bella probabas, {152, Di melius! validoque, precor, vibrata lacerto Plus ego quam Phoenix, plus quam facundus 140 I 152 I. 5 Do rescue me; or, if you are tired of me, let your own sword slay me. But rather show to me the same generosity that you would show to an enemy, and spare my life. Nunc, quoque... sic omnes Peleus pater impleat ⁄. 153, G Nec miseram lenta ferreus ure mora. 132 a 131 119 b p. 132, I. B. 3 150 p. 164, V. I a Cur autem iubeas? Stricto pete corpora ferro: p. 153, E XV. THE STORY OF EVANDER. At length they come To poor Evander's lowly home.-CONINGTON'S Aeneid. And he slow Cacus in a cave of stoon.-CHAUCER, MONK'S TALE. ARGUMENT. EVANDER, a king of Arcadia, being banished from his own country, comes with his mother, Carmentis, to Latium, and settles on the Palatine. There he entertains Hercules on his return from Spain. Cacus, a freebooter on a neighbouring hill (the Aventine), steals Hercules' cattle, and meets with fit punishment.--(FASTI, I. 461, foll.) Compare with this the account in LIVY i. 7, which connects the story with some later Roman customs, and VIRGIL, AEN., VIII. Carmentis shares with her son the exile which she had foretold. PROXIMA prospiciet Tithono Aurora relicto 125 Te quoque lux eadem, Turni soror, aede recepit, Unde petam causas horum moremque sacrorum ΙΟ Ipsa mone, quae nomen habes a carmine ductum, Orta prior luna...de se si creditur ipsi... A magno tellus Arcade nomen habet. Hic fuit Evander, qui quamquam clarus utroque, 116 Quae simul aethereos animo conceperat ignes, 106 a She comforts her son in his flight by the remembrance that it is fate, and no fault of his, that banishes him, and by the example of others who have shared the same lot. 20 30 Cui genetrix flenti "Fortuna viriliter" inquit, Passus idem est Tyriis qui quondam pulsus ab oris 106 2 107 d 123 1073 140 107 They reach together the mouth of the Tiber, and Carmentis greets their new home, and prophesies its future greatness. Vocibus Evander firmata mente parentis 125 112 40 Iamque ratem doctae monitu Carmentis in amnem 106 a Fluminis illa latus, cui sunt vada iuncta Terenti, 106 I Utque erat, immissis puppim stetit ante capillis, 115 Et procul in dextram tendens sua brachia ripam JP. 144. D.h. Neve daret saltum properans insistere terrae, 106 a 50 "Di" que "petitorum" dixit "salvete locorum, Fluminaque et fontes, quibus utitur hospita tellus, 119 |