to the three companies of Maenads, how the Tuscan sailors, turned to curved dolphin-shapes, leapt into the sea from the vine-clad ship, and how fragrant streams flowed for thee through Dia's midst and the folk of Naxos drank thy wine therefrom. While thy white neck bows beneath the trailing ivy-clusters, the Lydian turban shall crown thy hair, O Bassareus. Thy smooth throat shall stream with scented oil of olive, and thy flowing robe shall strike thy naked feet. Dircean Thebes shall beat the womanish timbrel for thee, and goat-footed Pans shall make music on the pipes of reed. Hard by the great goddess, Cybelle, her head tower-crowned, shall clash the harsh cymbals to the Idaean dance. Before the temple gates shall stand the bowl, and the priest shall draw wine therefrom with golden ladle and pour it on thy sacrifice. 39 Of all this will I sing, things meet for no lowly accent, but with such voice as thundered from the lips of Pindar. Do thou only set me free from this haughty tyranny and vanquish mine anguished soul with slumber. XVIII WHERE the sea, shut out from dark-shadowed Avernus, beats with its laughing wave on Baiae's warm and steaming pools, where Misenus, trumpeter of Troy, lies in his sandy tomb, and the way built by the toil of Hercules is loud with the sea-billow; where the cymbals clashed in honour of the Theban god, when with kindly intent he visited the cities of men—but at nunc invisae magno cum crimine Baiae, quis deus in vestra constitit hostis aqua ?— hic1 pressus Stygias vultum demisit in undas, errat et in vestro spiritus ille lacu. quid genus aut virtus aut optima profuit illi mater, et amplexum Caesaris esse focos? aut modo tam pleno fluitantia vela theatro, et per maternas omnia gesta manus ? occidit, et misero steterat vicesimus annus : tot bona tam parvo clausit in orbe dies. i nunc, tolle animos et tecum finge triumphos, stantiaque in plausum tota theatra iuvent, Attalicas supera vestes, atque omnia magnis gemmea sint ludis: ignibus ista dabis. sed tamen huc omnes, huc 2 primus et ultimus ordo: est mala, sed cunctis ista terenda via est; exoranda canis tria sunt latrantia colla, scandenda est torvi 3 publica cumba senis. ille licet ferro cautus se condat et aere, mors tamen inclusum protrahit inde caput. Nirea non facies, non vis exemit Achillem, Croesum aut, Pactoli quas parit umor opes. [hic olim ignaros luctus populavit Achivos, Atridae magno cum stetit alter amor.4] 4 This couplet is clearly alien to its present context. conceivable that it should be transposed to follow II. vI. 16. 10 20 30 It is now, ah, hateful Baiae, dark with deep guilt, what baleful god stands by your waters?—here he sank smitten down to the Stygian wave,1 and that noble spirit wanders o'er your mere. 11 What availed him birth or virtue or his mother's piety? What availed him his union with the house of Caesar, or the waving awnings of the theatre so thronged but yesterday, or all that his mother's hands had wrought for him? He is dead, cut short unhappy in his twentieth year. Such glory compassed in such narrow room! 17 Go to now, exalt thy soul with pride and dream of triumphs, rejoice when whole theatres spring to their feet to cheer, outdo the cloth-of-gold of Attalus, at the great games let all be bright with gems! All these glories thou shalt yield up to the fires of death. And yet hither at last come all, come noble and come base; bitter is the way, but all must tread it; all must assuage the triple throat of the baying hound, and climb the boat of that grim greybeard that waits for all. Though a man seek to save himself by walls of iron and of brass, yet death shall drag forth his head from its sheltering place. Beauty saved not Nireus, nor might Achilles; nor was Croesus succoured by wealth born of Pactolus stream. [29 Such grief once wasted the perplexed Achivi, when Atrides' new passion cost them dear.] 1 Marcellus, nephew of Augustus, died at Baiae 23 B.O. 1 at tibi, nauta, pias hominum qui traicis umbras, XIX OBICITVR totiens a te mihi nostra libido: quam possit vestros quisquam reprehendere cursus et rapidae stimulos frangere nequitiae. testis, Cretaei fastus quae passa iuvenci quidve Clytaemestrae, propter quam tota Mycenis 10 20 1 hoc Lachmann; huc NFL. suae Markland: tuae NFL. 31 But to thee, O ferryman of pious souls, let them bear this body void of its spirit; his soul hath soared starward far from the paths of men by the road that Claudius, victor of Sicily, and Caesar trod. XIX OFT thou reproachest me with the lust that rules us men. Believe me, 'tis rather of your womankind that lust is lord. Ye, when ye have burst the reins of despised modesty, ne'er set a limit to the frenzy of your heart. Sooner shall the flame be quenched amid the burning corn, and streams return to the fountain whence they sprang, sooner shall the Syrtes yield a calm haven and wild Malea give the mariner kindly welcome on its shores, than any man shall have power to check you in your course or break the goads of your headlong wantonness. 11 Witness be she that suffered the scorn of the Cretan bull, and put on the false horns of the firwood cow. Witness Salmoneus' daughter that burned with passion for Thessalian Enipeus, and was ready to yield all her body to the watery god. Myrrha too is a reproach to your sex, that, fired with love for her aged sire, was transformed and hidden in the leaves of a strange tree. For why should I tell of Medea, when the mother, dearly though she loved her children, appeased her anger by their slaughter? Or why should I tell of Clytemestra, that in Mycenae brought shame on all the house of Pelops by her adultery? |