proloquar :atque utinam patriae sim verus haruspex ! frangitur ipsa suis Roma superba bonis. certa loquor, sed nulla fides; neque enim Ilia quondam verax Pergameis Maenas habenda malis : sola Parim Phrygiae fatum componere, sola fallacem patriae serpere dixit equum. ille furor patriae fuit utilis, ille parenti : experta est veros irrita lingua deos. 60 XIV MVLTA tuae, Sparte, miramur iura palaestrae, cum pila veloces fallit per bracchia iactus, nunc ligat ad caestum gaudentia bracchia loris, 1 ludos Auratus: laudes NFL. 2 15, 16 transposed after 10 by Housman. 10 15 16 11 59 I will speak out; and may my country find me a true seer! Rome is being shattered by her own prosperity. I speak sure truth, but none believe me ; for neither was the frenzied maid of Ilium ever to be deemed a true seer amid the woes of Troy: she only cried that Paris was building Phrygia's doom, she only that, freighted with treachery, the horse stole on her home. Her madness carried profit for her country and for her sire. The tongue that none believed proved that the gods were true. Ат XIV Ar many of the laws of thy wrestling-grounds do I marvel, O Sparta, but most at the plenteous blessings of the schools where thy women train, inasmuch as a girl may without blame disport her body naked among wrestling men, when the swift-thrown ball cheats the player's grasp and the hooked rod clanks against the rolling hoop, and dust-besprinkled the woman stands at the race's furthest goal and endures wounds in the cruel boxing-match. Now she binds the glove to her hands that rejoice in its thongs, now whirls in a circle the discus' flying weight; now with hoar-frost sprinkling her hair she follows her father's hounds o'er the long ridges of Taygetus, now tramples the ring with her steeds, girds the sword to her snowy flank and shields her virgin head with hollow 1 The pancratium has no English equivalent: it was a rough-and-tumble fight combining boxing and wrestling. qualis Amazonidum nudatis bellica mammis fertur nec fratres erubuisse deos. nec digitum angusta est inseruisse via; nec quae sint facies nec quae sint verba rogandi invenias: caecum versat amator iter. quod si iura fores pugnasque imitata Laconum, carior hoc esses tu mihi, Roma, bono. 14 17 20 30 XV Sic ego non ullos iam norim in amore tumultus, et data libertas noscere amoris iter, 1 harenis Volscus: habenis N: athenis FL. 3 comae Canter: domi NFL. amictus L: amicus NF. bronze, like the warrior throng of Amazons who bathe bare-bosomed in Thermodon's stream, or as Pollux and Castor on Eurotas' sands, the one destined to conquer with his fists, the other with his steeds: amid these twain, men say, Helen bared her breasts and carried arms, nor called a blush to her brother's cheek. 21 Thus Sparta's law forbids lovers to hold aloof and grants to each to walk by his mistress' side in the open streets; there none fear for her honour nor keep her under watch and ward: there none need dread the bitter vengeance of some stern husband. Thou needst no herald; thyself thou mayst speak of thine own business; no long delay shall affront thee. No raiment of Tyrian purple beguiles the wandering eyes of lovers, nor shall thy mistress vex thee with long tiring of her scented hair. 29 But here my love goes girt by a vast crowd, leaving no narrow passage whereby so much as a finger may reach her. Nor canst thou discover what mien to wear nor with what words to proffer thy request: shrouded in darkness is the path o'er which the lover ponders. But if thou, O Rome, wouldst but follow the laws and wrestling of the Spartans, then wouldst thou be the dearer to me for this blessing. XV So may I know no further storms in my love, nor may ever the night come whereon I must lie wakeful without thee! When the modesty of my boyhood's garb1 was hidden away, and freedom was given me 1 Before the age of puberty boys wore a striped toga (praetexta). On reaching puberty they assumed the toga virilis, which was all of white. illa rudes animos per noctes conscia primas imbuit, heu nullis capta Lycinna datis ! tertius (haud multo minus est) cum ducitur annus, vix memini nobis verba coisse decem. cuncta tuus sepelivit amor, nec femina post te ulla dedit collo dulcia vincla meo. 10 1 testis erit Dirce tam vero crimine saeva, a quotiens famulam pensis oneravit iniquis, 4 saepe vago Asopi sonitu permota fluentis credebat dominae pone venire pedes. 20 1 At this point NFL mark a new elegy. Some verses have clearly fallen out. 2 immites 5: immittens NFL. 3 vincta 5: victa NFL. |