Visa virûm facies: pariter pallorque ruborque Purpureas hausere genas: oculique verentes
Ad sanctum rediere patrem. Postquam ordine mensæ Victa fames, signis perfectam auroque nitentem läsides pateram famulos ex more poposcit, Qua Danaus libare deis seniorque Phoroneus Assueti. tenet hæc operum cælata figuras : Aureus anguicomam præsecto Gorgona collo Ales habet. jam jamque vagas (ita visus) in auras Exilit illa graves oculos languentiaque ora
Pene movet, vivoque etiam pallescit in auro. Hinc Phrygius fulvis venator tollitur alis : 640 Gargara desidunt surgenti, et Troja recedit. Stant mosti comites, frustraque sonantia laxant Ora canes, umbramque petunt, et nubila latrant. 645 Hanc undante mero fundens, vocat ordine cunctos Cœlicolas Phœbum ante alios, Phœbum omnis ad
Laude ciet comitum famulûmque, evincta pudica Fronde, manus: cui festa dies, largoque refecti Thure, vaporatis lucent altaribus ignes. Forsitan, o juvenes, quæ sint ea sacra, quibusque Præcipuum causis Phœbi obtestemur honorem, Rex ait, exquirunt animi. non inscia suasit
As on the heroes first they cast their eyes,
O'er their fair cheeks the glowing blushes rise, 630 Their downcast looks a decent shame confess'd,
Then on their father's rev'rend features rest.
The banquet done, the monarch gives the sign To fill the goblet high with sparkling wine, Which Danaus us'd in sacred rites of old,
With sculpture grac'd, and rough with rising gold, Here to the clouds victorious Perseus flies, Medusa seems to move her languid eyes,
And, ev'n in gold turns paler as she dies.
There from the chase Jove's tow'ring eagle bears, On golden wings, the Phrygian to the stars : Still as he rises in th' ethereal height, His native mountains lessen to his sight: While all his sad companions upward gaze, Fix'd on the glorious scene in wild amaze; And the swift hounds, affrighted as he flies, Run to the shade, and bark against the skies. This golden bowl with gen'rous juice was crown'd,
The first libations sprinkled on the ground, By turns on each celestial pow'r they call; With Phoebus' name resounds the vaulted hall, The courtly train, the strangers, and the rest, Crown'd with chaste laurel, and with garlands dress'd,
While with rich gums the fuming altars blaze, Salute the God in num'rous hymns of praise.
Then thus the King: Perhaps, my noble guests, These honour'd altars, and these annual feasts, To bright Apollo's awful dame design'd, Unknown, with wonder may perplex your mind,
Relligio magnis exercita cladibus olim Plebs Argiva litant: animos advertite, pandam: Postquam cœrulei sinuosa volumina monstri, Terrigenam Pythona, deus, septem orbibus atris Amplexum Delphos, squamisque annosa terentem Robora, Castaliis dum fontibus ore trisulco Fusus hiat, nigro sitiens alimenta veneno, Perculit, absumptis numerosa in vulnera telis, Cyrrhæique dedit centum per jugera campi Vix tandem explicitum, nova deinde piacula cædi Perquirens, nostri tecta haud opulenta Crotopi Attigit. huic primis, et pubem ineuntibus annis, Mira decore pio, servabat nata penates Intemerata toris. felix, si Delia nunquam
Furta, nec occultum Phœbo sociasset amorem. Namque ut passa deum Nemeæi ad fluminis undam, Bis quinos plena cum fronte resumeret orbes Cynthia, sidereum Latonæ fœta nepotem Edidit: ac pœnæ metuens (neque enim ille coactis Donasset thalamis veniam pater) avia rura
Eligit: ac natum septa inter ovilia furtim Montivago pecoris custodi mandat alendum.
Non tibi digna, puer, generis cunabula tanti, 689 Gramineos dedit herba toros, et vimine querno,
Great was the cause; our old solemnities From no blind zeal, or fond tradition rise; But sav'd from death, our Argives yearly pay, These grateful honours to the God of Day. When by a thousand darts the Python slain With orbs unroll'd lay cov'ring all the plain (Transfix'd as o'er Castalia's streams he hung, And suck'd new poisons with his triple tongue), To Argos' realms the victor god resorts, And enters old Crotopus' humble courts. This rural prince one only daughter blest, That all the charms of blooming youth possess'd; Fair was her face, and spotless was her mind, Where filial love with virgin sweetness join'd. Happy! and happy still she might have prov'd, Were she less beautiful, or less belov'd! But Phœbus lov'd, and on the flow'ry side Of Nemea's stream, the yielding fair enjoy'd: Now, ere ten moons their orb with light adorn, Th' illustrious offspring of the God was born, The Nymph, her father's anger to evade, Retires from Argos to the sylvan shade; To woods and wilds the pleasing burden bears, And trusts her infant to a shepherd's cares.
How mean a fate, unhappy child, is thine! Ah how unworthy those of race divine? On flow'ry herbs in some green covert laid, His bed the ground, his canopy the shade,
Ver. 664. Python slain] He has omitted some forcible expressions of the original; Septem-atris-terentem--nigro-centum per jugera. All of them picturesque epithets.
Texta domus: clausa arbutei sub cortice libri Membra tepent, suadetque leves cava fistula somnos, Et pecori commune solum. sed fata nec illum Concessere larem: viridi nam cespite terræ Projectum temere, et patulo cœlum ore trahentem Dira canum rabies morsu depasta cruento Disjicit. hic vero attonitas ut nuntius aures Matris adit, pulsi ex animo genitorque, pudorque, Et metus, ipsa ultro sævis plangoribus amens Tecta replet, vacuumque ferens velamine pectus Occurrit confessa patri. nec motus, at atro Imperat, infandum! cupientem occumbere leto.
Sero memor thalami, mœstæ solatia morti, Phoebe, paras. monstrum infandis Acheronte sub imo Conceptum Eumenidum thalamis: cui virginis ora, Pectoraque, æternum stridens a vertice surgit Et ferrugineam frontem discriminat anguis : Hæc tam dira lues nocturno squalida passu Illabi thalamis, animasque a stirpe recentes Abripere altricum gremiis, morsuque cruento Devesci, et multum patrio pinguescere luctu. Haud tulit armorum præstans animique Chorobus;
Seque ultro lectis juvenum, qui robore primi
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