ista senes licet accusent convivia duri: nos modo propositum, vita, teramus iter. illorum antiquis onerantur legibus aures : hic locus est in quo, tibia docta, sones, quae non iure vado Maeandri iacta natasti, turpia cum faceret Palladis ora tumor. una contentum pudeat me vivere amica ? hoc si crimen erit, crimen Amoris erit: mi nemo obiciat. libeat tibi, Cynthia, mecum rorida muscosis antra tenere iugis. illic aspicies scopulis haerere Sorores et canere antiqui dulcia furta Iovis, hic ubi te 1 prima statuent in parte choreae, 1 te 5 me 0. 18 23 30 40 rise. Let stern old men denounce those revels of love; only let us, my life, pursue our chosen path. Their ears are burdened with the precepts of antiquity; but this is the place where thou, skilled pipe, shouldst sound, thou that of old didst float along Maeander's shallows, where unjustly thou wast cast when thou didst swell the cheeks of Pallas and mar the fairness of her face.1 23 Shall I feel shame to live content in the service of one mistress? If this be a crime, to Love's door shall the crime be laid; let no one charge me therewith! And, Cynthia, be it thy joy to dwell with me in dewy grottoes on the mossy hills. There shalt thou see the Sisters clinging to the crags, while they chant the sweet loves of Jove in olden time, how he was consumed with fire for Semele, how madly he loved Io, and then how in likeness of a bird he flew to the abodes of Troy. (But if none hath e'er had strength to o'ercome the might of the winged one, why am I alone accused of the crime that all must share?) Nor shalt thou, Cynthia, grieve the demure faces of the Holy Maids; even their choir knows what it is to love, if it be true that for all their chastity a certain Muse lay upon the rocks of Bistonia locked in the arms of one that seemed Oeagrus. And there, when they shall place thee in the foremost rank of their dance, and Bacchus stands in the midst with his wand of skill, then will I suffer the holy ivy berries to hang about my head; for without thee my wit availeth naught. 1 Minerva first made a pipe of bone and played upon it; but, catching sight of her reflection in the Maeander, she perceived that her cheeks puffed out to play disfigured her beauty, and cast the pipe into the stream. XXXI 1 QVAERIS, cur veniam tibi tardior? aurea Phoebi Porticus a magno Caesare aperta fuit; tanta erat in speciem Poenis digesta columnis, inter quas Danai femina turba senis. tum medium claro surgebat marmore templum, et patria Phoebo carius Ortygia : et duo Solis erant 2 supra fastigia currus; et valvae, Libyci nobile dentis opus, altera deiectos Parnasi vertice Gallos, altera maerebat funera Tantalidos. deinde inter matrem deus ipse interque sororem Pythius in longa carmina veste sonat. 4 9 10 16 hic equidem Phoebo visus mihi pulchrior ipso 6367∞ 5 8 XXXII 4 Qvi videt, is peccat: qui te non viderit ergo, non cupiet: facti lumina crimen 5 habent. nam quid Praenesti dubias, o Cynthia, sortes, quid petis Aeaei moenia Telegoni? 1 A new elegy in μ, no break in NFL. 2 et duo erant Hertzberg: et quo 3 5-8 transposed to follow 16 by Dousa. 4 No break in NFL, separated by Beroaldus. 5 lumina crimen 5: crimina lumen NFL. XXXI THOU askest why I am late in coming to thee. To-day was the golden colonnade of Phoebus opened by mighty Caesar; so vast it was to view, laid out with Punic columns,1 between which stood the many daughters of the old man Danaus. Next in the midst of all the temple rose built of shining marble and dearer to Phoebus than his Ortygian home. And on the topmost roof were two chariots of the Sun, and the doors were of Libyan ivory wrought in wondrous wise. One told the fearful tale of the Gauls hurled down from off Parnassus' peak,2 and one the death of the daughter of Tantalus. And last between his mother and his sister stood the Pythian god himself, clad in long raiment, his voice uplifted in song. Fairer he seemed to me than Phoebus' self, as he sang with silent lyre and parted lips of stone. And round about the altar stood Myron's kine, four counterfeit oxen, statues that seemed to live. XXXII WHO sees thee sins: he then that hath not seen thee will not desire thee: 'tis the eyes must bear the blame. Else why at Praeneste seekst thou oracles of double import? Why seekst thou the walls of Aeaean Telegonus? Why does thy chariot 1 I.e., of Punic marble: yellow marble stained with red, now known as giallo antico. 2 In 278 B.C. the Gauls attacked Delphi, but were driven off by storm and earthquake. Cp. III. XIII. 51-54. cur tua te 1 Herculeum deportant esseda Tibur? sed de me minus est: famae iactura pudicae non tua deprenso damnata est fama veneno: sin autem longo nox una aut altera lusu 10 20 consumpta est, non me crimina parva movent. 30 1 cur tua te Baehrens: curva te N: cur vatem FL. 2 Lanuvium Jortin: dicit anum N: ducit anum FL. 3 meretur N: mereris FL. 4 nostras f: nostra NFL. maledixit Schneidewin: me ledit FLN. |