DE RAPTU PROSERPINAE

[278]emicat horror aquis et pendula fila secutustransit harundineos arcano frigore nodosvictricemque ligat concreto sanguine dextram.damnosum piscator onus praedamque rebellemiactat et amissa redit exarmatus avena.25L. (LXXVII.)In Iacobum magistrum equitum.Per cineres Pauli, per cani limina Petri,ne laceres versus, dux Iacobe, meos.sic tua pro clipeo defendat pectora Thomaset comes ad bellum Bartholomaeus eat;sic ope sanctorum non barbarus inruat Alpes,5sic tibi det vires sancta Susanna suas;sic quicumque ferox gelidum transnaverit Histrum,mergatur volucres ceu Pharaonis equi;sic Geticas ultrix feriat romphaea catervasRomanasque regat prospera Thecla manus;10sic tibi det magnum moriens conviva triumphumatque tuam vincant dolia fusa sitim;sic numquam hostili maculetur sanguine dextra:ne laceres versus, dux Iacobe, meos.LI. (LXVIII.)In sphaeram Archimedis.Iuppiter in parvo cum cerneret aethera vitro,risit et ad superos talia dicta dedit:[279]The dread paralysing force rises above the water’s level and climbing up the drooping line, passes down the jointed rod, and congeals, e’er he is even aware of it, the blood of the fisherman’s victorious hand. He casts away his dangerous burden and lets go his rebel prey, returning home disarmed without his rod.L. (LXXVII.)Against James Commander of the Cavalry.[114]By the ashes of S. Paul and the shrine of revered S. Peter, do not pull my verses to pieces, General James. So may S. Thomas prove a buckler to protect thy breast and S. Bartholomew bear thee company to the wars; so may the blessed saints prevent the barbarians from crossing the Alps and Suzanna[115]endow thee with her strength; so, should any savage foe seek to swim across the Danube, let him be drowned therein like the swift chariots of Pharaoh; so may an avenging javelin strike the Getic hordes and the favour of Thecla[116]guide the armies of Rome; so may thy guests dying in their efforts to out-drink thee assure thy board its triumph of hospitality and the broached casks o’ercome thy thirst; so may thy hand ne’er be red with an enemy’s blood—do not, I say, pull my verses to pieces.LI. (LXVIII.)Archimedes’ Sphere.When Jove looked down and saw the heavens figured in a sphere of glass he laughed and said to[114]Nothing is known of this man. Birt dates the poem 401.[115]Suzanna was martyred under Diocletian.[116]There were several virgins, saints, and martyrs of this name. Claudian probably means the proto-martyr of Iconium, the friend and companion of S. Paul.

[278]

emicat horror aquis et pendula fila secutustransit harundineos arcano frigore nodosvictricemque ligat concreto sanguine dextram.damnosum piscator onus praedamque rebellemiactat et amissa redit exarmatus avena.25

emicat horror aquis et pendula fila secutus

transit harundineos arcano frigore nodos

victricemque ligat concreto sanguine dextram.

damnosum piscator onus praedamque rebellem

iactat et amissa redit exarmatus avena.25

L. (LXXVII.)

In Iacobum magistrum equitum.

Per cineres Pauli, per cani limina Petri,ne laceres versus, dux Iacobe, meos.sic tua pro clipeo defendat pectora Thomaset comes ad bellum Bartholomaeus eat;sic ope sanctorum non barbarus inruat Alpes,5sic tibi det vires sancta Susanna suas;sic quicumque ferox gelidum transnaverit Histrum,mergatur volucres ceu Pharaonis equi;sic Geticas ultrix feriat romphaea catervasRomanasque regat prospera Thecla manus;10sic tibi det magnum moriens conviva triumphumatque tuam vincant dolia fusa sitim;sic numquam hostili maculetur sanguine dextra:ne laceres versus, dux Iacobe, meos.

Per cineres Pauli, per cani limina Petri,

ne laceres versus, dux Iacobe, meos.

sic tua pro clipeo defendat pectora Thomas

et comes ad bellum Bartholomaeus eat;

sic ope sanctorum non barbarus inruat Alpes,5

sic tibi det vires sancta Susanna suas;

sic quicumque ferox gelidum transnaverit Histrum,

mergatur volucres ceu Pharaonis equi;

sic Geticas ultrix feriat romphaea catervas

Romanasque regat prospera Thecla manus;10

sic tibi det magnum moriens conviva triumphum

atque tuam vincant dolia fusa sitim;

sic numquam hostili maculetur sanguine dextra:

ne laceres versus, dux Iacobe, meos.

LI. (LXVIII.)

In sphaeram Archimedis.

Iuppiter in parvo cum cerneret aethera vitro,risit et ad superos talia dicta dedit:

Iuppiter in parvo cum cerneret aethera vitro,

risit et ad superos talia dicta dedit:

[279]The dread paralysing force rises above the water’s level and climbing up the drooping line, passes down the jointed rod, and congeals, e’er he is even aware of it, the blood of the fisherman’s victorious hand. He casts away his dangerous burden and lets go his rebel prey, returning home disarmed without his rod.L. (LXXVII.)Against James Commander of the Cavalry.[114]By the ashes of S. Paul and the shrine of revered S. Peter, do not pull my verses to pieces, General James. So may S. Thomas prove a buckler to protect thy breast and S. Bartholomew bear thee company to the wars; so may the blessed saints prevent the barbarians from crossing the Alps and Suzanna[115]endow thee with her strength; so, should any savage foe seek to swim across the Danube, let him be drowned therein like the swift chariots of Pharaoh; so may an avenging javelin strike the Getic hordes and the favour of Thecla[116]guide the armies of Rome; so may thy guests dying in their efforts to out-drink thee assure thy board its triumph of hospitality and the broached casks o’ercome thy thirst; so may thy hand ne’er be red with an enemy’s blood—do not, I say, pull my verses to pieces.LI. (LXVIII.)Archimedes’ Sphere.When Jove looked down and saw the heavens figured in a sphere of glass he laughed and said to[114]Nothing is known of this man. Birt dates the poem 401.[115]Suzanna was martyred under Diocletian.[116]There were several virgins, saints, and martyrs of this name. Claudian probably means the proto-martyr of Iconium, the friend and companion of S. Paul.

[279]

The dread paralysing force rises above the water’s level and climbing up the drooping line, passes down the jointed rod, and congeals, e’er he is even aware of it, the blood of the fisherman’s victorious hand. He casts away his dangerous burden and lets go his rebel prey, returning home disarmed without his rod.

L. (LXXVII.)

Against James Commander of the Cavalry.[114]

By the ashes of S. Paul and the shrine of revered S. Peter, do not pull my verses to pieces, General James. So may S. Thomas prove a buckler to protect thy breast and S. Bartholomew bear thee company to the wars; so may the blessed saints prevent the barbarians from crossing the Alps and Suzanna[115]endow thee with her strength; so, should any savage foe seek to swim across the Danube, let him be drowned therein like the swift chariots of Pharaoh; so may an avenging javelin strike the Getic hordes and the favour of Thecla[116]guide the armies of Rome; so may thy guests dying in their efforts to out-drink thee assure thy board its triumph of hospitality and the broached casks o’ercome thy thirst; so may thy hand ne’er be red with an enemy’s blood—do not, I say, pull my verses to pieces.

LI. (LXVIII.)

Archimedes’ Sphere.

When Jove looked down and saw the heavens figured in a sphere of glass he laughed and said to

[114]Nothing is known of this man. Birt dates the poem 401.

[115]Suzanna was martyred under Diocletian.

[116]There were several virgins, saints, and martyrs of this name. Claudian probably means the proto-martyr of Iconium, the friend and companion of S. Paul.

[280]“hucine mortalis progressa potentia curae?iam meus in fragili luditur orbe labor?iura poli rerumque fidem legesque deorum5ecce Syracusius transtulit arte senex.inclusus variis famulatur spiritus astriset vivum certis motibus urget opus.percurrit proprium mentitus Signifer annum,et simulata novo Cynthia mense redit,10iamque suum volvens audax industria mundumgaudet et humana sidera mente regit.quid falso insontem tonitru Salmonea miror?aemula naturae parva reperta manus.”LII. (XXXVII.)Gigantomachia.Terra parens quondam caelestibus invida regnisTitanumque simul crebros miserata doloresomnia monstrifero complebat Tartara fetuinvisum genitura nefas Phlegramque retexittanta prole tumens et in aethera protulit hostes.5fit sonus: erumpunt crebri necdumque creatiiam dextras in bella parant superosque lacessuntstridula volventes gemino vestigia lapsu.pallescunt subito stellae flectitque rubentesPhoebus equos docuitque timor revocare meatus.10Oceanum petit Arctos inocciduique Trionesoccasum didicere pati. tum fervida natostalibus hortatur genetrix in proelia dictis:“O pubes domitura deos, quodcumque videtis,[281]the other gods: “Has the power of mortal effort gone so far? Is my handiwork now mimicked in a fragile globe? An old man of Syracuse has imitated on earth the laws of the heavens, the order of nature, and the ordinances of the gods. Some hidden influence within the sphere directs the various courses of the stars and actuates the lifelike mass with definite motions. A false zodiac runs through a year of its own, and a toy moon waxes and wanes month by month. Now bold invention rejoices to make its own heaven revolve and sets the stars in motion by human wit. Why should I take umbrage at harmless Salmoneus and his mock thunder? Here the feeble hand of man has proved Nature’s rival.”LII. (XXXVII.)The Battle of the Giants.Once upon a time mother Earth, jealous of the heavenly kingdoms and in pity for the ceaseless woes of the Titans, filled all Tartarus with a monster brood, thus giving birth to that which proved a very bane. Her womb swollen with this monstrous birth she opened Phlegra’s side and brought forth foes against heaven. With a noise as of thunder they burst forth in profusion and, scarce born, prepare their hands for war, as with twofold trail[117]they writhe their hissing course. Suddenly the stars grow pale, Phoebus turns his rosy steeds and, impelled by fear, retraces his steps. The Bear takes refuge in the Ocean, and the unsetting Triones learned to endure setting. Then their angry mother stirred up her sons to war with words such as these: “Children, ye shall conquer[117]They were twiform;cf.l. 81.

[280]

“hucine mortalis progressa potentia curae?iam meus in fragili luditur orbe labor?iura poli rerumque fidem legesque deorum5ecce Syracusius transtulit arte senex.inclusus variis famulatur spiritus astriset vivum certis motibus urget opus.percurrit proprium mentitus Signifer annum,et simulata novo Cynthia mense redit,10iamque suum volvens audax industria mundumgaudet et humana sidera mente regit.quid falso insontem tonitru Salmonea miror?aemula naturae parva reperta manus.”

“hucine mortalis progressa potentia curae?

iam meus in fragili luditur orbe labor?

iura poli rerumque fidem legesque deorum5

ecce Syracusius transtulit arte senex.

inclusus variis famulatur spiritus astris

et vivum certis motibus urget opus.

percurrit proprium mentitus Signifer annum,

et simulata novo Cynthia mense redit,10

iamque suum volvens audax industria mundum

gaudet et humana sidera mente regit.

quid falso insontem tonitru Salmonea miror?

aemula naturae parva reperta manus.”

LII. (XXXVII.)

Gigantomachia.

Terra parens quondam caelestibus invida regnisTitanumque simul crebros miserata doloresomnia monstrifero complebat Tartara fetuinvisum genitura nefas Phlegramque retexittanta prole tumens et in aethera protulit hostes.5fit sonus: erumpunt crebri necdumque creatiiam dextras in bella parant superosque lacessuntstridula volventes gemino vestigia lapsu.pallescunt subito stellae flectitque rubentesPhoebus equos docuitque timor revocare meatus.10Oceanum petit Arctos inocciduique Trionesoccasum didicere pati. tum fervida natostalibus hortatur genetrix in proelia dictis:“O pubes domitura deos, quodcumque videtis,

Terra parens quondam caelestibus invida regnis

Titanumque simul crebros miserata dolores

omnia monstrifero complebat Tartara fetu

invisum genitura nefas Phlegramque retexit

tanta prole tumens et in aethera protulit hostes.5

fit sonus: erumpunt crebri necdumque creati

iam dextras in bella parant superosque lacessunt

stridula volventes gemino vestigia lapsu.

pallescunt subito stellae flectitque rubentes

Phoebus equos docuitque timor revocare meatus.10

Oceanum petit Arctos inocciduique Triones

occasum didicere pati. tum fervida natos

talibus hortatur genetrix in proelia dictis:

“O pubes domitura deos, quodcumque videtis,

[281]the other gods: “Has the power of mortal effort gone so far? Is my handiwork now mimicked in a fragile globe? An old man of Syracuse has imitated on earth the laws of the heavens, the order of nature, and the ordinances of the gods. Some hidden influence within the sphere directs the various courses of the stars and actuates the lifelike mass with definite motions. A false zodiac runs through a year of its own, and a toy moon waxes and wanes month by month. Now bold invention rejoices to make its own heaven revolve and sets the stars in motion by human wit. Why should I take umbrage at harmless Salmoneus and his mock thunder? Here the feeble hand of man has proved Nature’s rival.”LII. (XXXVII.)The Battle of the Giants.Once upon a time mother Earth, jealous of the heavenly kingdoms and in pity for the ceaseless woes of the Titans, filled all Tartarus with a monster brood, thus giving birth to that which proved a very bane. Her womb swollen with this monstrous birth she opened Phlegra’s side and brought forth foes against heaven. With a noise as of thunder they burst forth in profusion and, scarce born, prepare their hands for war, as with twofold trail[117]they writhe their hissing course. Suddenly the stars grow pale, Phoebus turns his rosy steeds and, impelled by fear, retraces his steps. The Bear takes refuge in the Ocean, and the unsetting Triones learned to endure setting. Then their angry mother stirred up her sons to war with words such as these: “Children, ye shall conquer[117]They were twiform;cf.l. 81.

[281]

the other gods: “Has the power of mortal effort gone so far? Is my handiwork now mimicked in a fragile globe? An old man of Syracuse has imitated on earth the laws of the heavens, the order of nature, and the ordinances of the gods. Some hidden influence within the sphere directs the various courses of the stars and actuates the lifelike mass with definite motions. A false zodiac runs through a year of its own, and a toy moon waxes and wanes month by month. Now bold invention rejoices to make its own heaven revolve and sets the stars in motion by human wit. Why should I take umbrage at harmless Salmoneus and his mock thunder? Here the feeble hand of man has proved Nature’s rival.”

LII. (XXXVII.)

The Battle of the Giants.

Once upon a time mother Earth, jealous of the heavenly kingdoms and in pity for the ceaseless woes of the Titans, filled all Tartarus with a monster brood, thus giving birth to that which proved a very bane. Her womb swollen with this monstrous birth she opened Phlegra’s side and brought forth foes against heaven. With a noise as of thunder they burst forth in profusion and, scarce born, prepare their hands for war, as with twofold trail[117]they writhe their hissing course. Suddenly the stars grow pale, Phoebus turns his rosy steeds and, impelled by fear, retraces his steps. The Bear takes refuge in the Ocean, and the unsetting Triones learned to endure setting. Then their angry mother stirred up her sons to war with words such as these: “Children, ye shall conquer

[117]They were twiform;cf.l. 81.

[282]pugnando dabitur; praestat victoria mundum.15sentiet ille meas tandem Saturnius iras,cognoscet, quid Terra potest, si viribus ullisvincor, si Cybele nobis meliora creavit!cur nullus Telluris honos? cur semper acerbisme damnis urgere solet? quae forma nocendi20defuit? hinc volucrem vivo sub pectore pascitinfelix Scythica fixus convalle Prometheus;hinc Atlantis apex flammantia pondera fulcitet per canitiem glacies asperrima durat.quid dicam Tityon, cuius sub vulture saevo25viscera nascuntur gravibus certantia poenis?sed vos, o tandem veniens exercitus ultor,solvite Titanas vinclis, defendite matrem.sunt freta, sunt montes: nostris ne parcite membris;in Iovis exitium telum non esse recuso.30ite, precor, miscete polum, rescindite turressidereas. rapiat fulmen sceptrumque Typhoeus;Enceladi iussis mare serviat; alter habenasAurorae pro Sole regat: te Delphica laurusstringet, Porphyrion, Cirrhaeaque templa tenebis.”35His ubi consiliis animos elusit inanes,iam credunt vicisse deos mediisque revinctumNeptunum traxisse fretis; hic sternere Martemcogitat, hic Phoebi laceros divellere crines;hic sibi promittit Venerem speratque Dianae40coniugium castamque cupit violare Minervam.[283]heaven: all that ye see is the prize of victory; win, and the universe is yours. At last shall Saturn’s son feel the weight of my wrath; shall recognize Earth’s power. What! can any force conquer me? Has Cybele born sons superior to mine? Why has Earth no honour? Why is she ever condemned to bitter loss? Has any form of injury passed me by? There hangs luckless Prometheus in yon Scythian vale, feeding the vulture on his living breast; yonder, Atlas supports the weight of the starry heavens upon his head, and his grey hair is frozen stiff with cruel cold. What need to tell of Tityus whose liver is ever renewed beneath the savage vulture’s beak, to contend with his heavy punishment? Up, army of avengers, the hour is come at last, free the Titans from their chains; defend your mother. Here are seas and mountains, limbs of my body, but care not for that. Use them as weapons. Never would I hesitate to be a weapon for the destruction of Jove. Go forth and conquer; throw heaven into confusion, tear down the towers of the sky. Let Typhoeus seize the thunderbolt and the sceptre; Enceladus, rule the sea, and another in place of the sun guide the reins of dawn’s coursers. Porphyrion, wreathe thou thy head with Delphi’s laurel and take Cirrha for thy sanctuary.”This exhortation filled their minds with vain hopes. They think themselves already victors o’er the gods, imagine they have thrown Neptune into chains and dragged him a prisoner from Ocean’s bed. One thinks to lay Mars low, one to tear Phoebus’ locks from his head; one assigns Venus to himself, another anticipates in thought his marriage with Diana, and another is all aflame to do violence to chaste Minerva.

[282]

pugnando dabitur; praestat victoria mundum.15sentiet ille meas tandem Saturnius iras,cognoscet, quid Terra potest, si viribus ullisvincor, si Cybele nobis meliora creavit!cur nullus Telluris honos? cur semper acerbisme damnis urgere solet? quae forma nocendi20defuit? hinc volucrem vivo sub pectore pascitinfelix Scythica fixus convalle Prometheus;hinc Atlantis apex flammantia pondera fulcitet per canitiem glacies asperrima durat.quid dicam Tityon, cuius sub vulture saevo25viscera nascuntur gravibus certantia poenis?sed vos, o tandem veniens exercitus ultor,solvite Titanas vinclis, defendite matrem.sunt freta, sunt montes: nostris ne parcite membris;in Iovis exitium telum non esse recuso.30ite, precor, miscete polum, rescindite turressidereas. rapiat fulmen sceptrumque Typhoeus;Enceladi iussis mare serviat; alter habenasAurorae pro Sole regat: te Delphica laurusstringet, Porphyrion, Cirrhaeaque templa tenebis.”35His ubi consiliis animos elusit inanes,iam credunt vicisse deos mediisque revinctumNeptunum traxisse fretis; hic sternere Martemcogitat, hic Phoebi laceros divellere crines;hic sibi promittit Venerem speratque Dianae40coniugium castamque cupit violare Minervam.

pugnando dabitur; praestat victoria mundum.15

sentiet ille meas tandem Saturnius iras,

cognoscet, quid Terra potest, si viribus ullis

vincor, si Cybele nobis meliora creavit!

cur nullus Telluris honos? cur semper acerbis

me damnis urgere solet? quae forma nocendi20

defuit? hinc volucrem vivo sub pectore pascit

infelix Scythica fixus convalle Prometheus;

hinc Atlantis apex flammantia pondera fulcit

et per canitiem glacies asperrima durat.

quid dicam Tityon, cuius sub vulture saevo25

viscera nascuntur gravibus certantia poenis?

sed vos, o tandem veniens exercitus ultor,

solvite Titanas vinclis, defendite matrem.

sunt freta, sunt montes: nostris ne parcite membris;

in Iovis exitium telum non esse recuso.30

ite, precor, miscete polum, rescindite turres

sidereas. rapiat fulmen sceptrumque Typhoeus;

Enceladi iussis mare serviat; alter habenas

Aurorae pro Sole regat: te Delphica laurus

stringet, Porphyrion, Cirrhaeaque templa tenebis.”35

His ubi consiliis animos elusit inanes,

iam credunt vicisse deos mediisque revinctum

Neptunum traxisse fretis; hic sternere Martem

cogitat, hic Phoebi laceros divellere crines;

hic sibi promittit Venerem speratque Dianae40

coniugium castamque cupit violare Minervam.

[283]heaven: all that ye see is the prize of victory; win, and the universe is yours. At last shall Saturn’s son feel the weight of my wrath; shall recognize Earth’s power. What! can any force conquer me? Has Cybele born sons superior to mine? Why has Earth no honour? Why is she ever condemned to bitter loss? Has any form of injury passed me by? There hangs luckless Prometheus in yon Scythian vale, feeding the vulture on his living breast; yonder, Atlas supports the weight of the starry heavens upon his head, and his grey hair is frozen stiff with cruel cold. What need to tell of Tityus whose liver is ever renewed beneath the savage vulture’s beak, to contend with his heavy punishment? Up, army of avengers, the hour is come at last, free the Titans from their chains; defend your mother. Here are seas and mountains, limbs of my body, but care not for that. Use them as weapons. Never would I hesitate to be a weapon for the destruction of Jove. Go forth and conquer; throw heaven into confusion, tear down the towers of the sky. Let Typhoeus seize the thunderbolt and the sceptre; Enceladus, rule the sea, and another in place of the sun guide the reins of dawn’s coursers. Porphyrion, wreathe thou thy head with Delphi’s laurel and take Cirrha for thy sanctuary.”This exhortation filled their minds with vain hopes. They think themselves already victors o’er the gods, imagine they have thrown Neptune into chains and dragged him a prisoner from Ocean’s bed. One thinks to lay Mars low, one to tear Phoebus’ locks from his head; one assigns Venus to himself, another anticipates in thought his marriage with Diana, and another is all aflame to do violence to chaste Minerva.

[283]

heaven: all that ye see is the prize of victory; win, and the universe is yours. At last shall Saturn’s son feel the weight of my wrath; shall recognize Earth’s power. What! can any force conquer me? Has Cybele born sons superior to mine? Why has Earth no honour? Why is she ever condemned to bitter loss? Has any form of injury passed me by? There hangs luckless Prometheus in yon Scythian vale, feeding the vulture on his living breast; yonder, Atlas supports the weight of the starry heavens upon his head, and his grey hair is frozen stiff with cruel cold. What need to tell of Tityus whose liver is ever renewed beneath the savage vulture’s beak, to contend with his heavy punishment? Up, army of avengers, the hour is come at last, free the Titans from their chains; defend your mother. Here are seas and mountains, limbs of my body, but care not for that. Use them as weapons. Never would I hesitate to be a weapon for the destruction of Jove. Go forth and conquer; throw heaven into confusion, tear down the towers of the sky. Let Typhoeus seize the thunderbolt and the sceptre; Enceladus, rule the sea, and another in place of the sun guide the reins of dawn’s coursers. Porphyrion, wreathe thou thy head with Delphi’s laurel and take Cirrha for thy sanctuary.”

This exhortation filled their minds with vain hopes. They think themselves already victors o’er the gods, imagine they have thrown Neptune into chains and dragged him a prisoner from Ocean’s bed. One thinks to lay Mars low, one to tear Phoebus’ locks from his head; one assigns Venus to himself, another anticipates in thought his marriage with Diana, and another is all aflame to do violence to chaste Minerva.

[284]Interea superos praenuntia convocat Iris.qui fluvios, qui stagna colunt, cinguntur et ipsiauxilio Manes; nec te, Proserpina, longeumbrosae tenuere fores; rex ipse silentum45Lethaeo vehitur curru lucemque timentesinsolitam mirantur equi trepidoque volatuspissas caeruleis tenebras e naribus efflant.ac velut hostilis cum machina terruit urbem,undique concurrunt arcem defendere cives:50haud secus omnigenis coeuntia numina turmisad patris venere domos. tum Iuppiter infit:“O numquam peritura cohors, o debita sempercaelo progenies, nullis obnoxia fatis:cernitis ut Tellus nostrum coniuret in orbem55prole nova dederitque alios interrita partus?ergo, quot dederit natos, tot funera matrireddamus: longo maneat per saecula luctutanto pro numero paribus damnata sepulcris.”Iam tuba nimborum sonuit, iam signa ruendi60his Aether, his Terra dedit confusaque rursuspro domino Natura timet. discrimina rerummiscet turba potens: nunc insula deserit aequor,nunc scopuli latuere mari. quot litora restantnuda! quot antiquas mutarunt flumina ripas!65hic rotat Haemonium praeduris viribus Oeten;hic iuga conixus manibus Pangaea coruscat;hunc armat glacialis Athos; hoc Ossa moventetollitur; his Rhodopen Hebri cum fonte revellit[285]Meanwhile Iris, messenger of the gods, summons the immortal council. There come the deities of river and lake; the very ghosts were there in heaven’s defence. Hell’s shady portals could not hold Proserpine afar; the king of the silent himself advances in his Lethaean chariot. His horses fear the light which hitherto their astonished eyes have never looked upon and, swerving this way and that, they breathe forth thick vapour from their soot-black nostrils. As, when an enemy’s siege-engine affrights a town, the citizens run together from all sides to defend their citadel, so gods of all shapes and forms came together to protect their father’s home. Them Jove thus addressed: “Deathless army, whose dwelling-place is, and must ever be, the sky, ye whom no adverse fortune can ever harm, mark ye how Earth with her new children conspires against our kingdom and undismayed has given birth to another brood? Wherefore, for all the sons she bore, let us give back to their mother as many dead; let her mourning last through the ages as she weeps by as many graves as she now has children.”The clouds echo the blast of heaven’s trumpets; on this side Heaven, on that Earth, sounds the attack. Once more Nature is thrown into confusion and fears for her lord. The puissant company of the giants confounds all differences between things; islands abandon the deep; mountains lie hidden in the sea. Many a river is left dry or has altered its ancient course. One giant brandishes Thessalian Oeta in his mighty hand, another gathers all his strength and hurls Pangaeus at the foe, Athos with his snows arms another; this one roots up Ossa, that tears out Rhodope and Hebrus’ source, dividing the

[284]

Interea superos praenuntia convocat Iris.qui fluvios, qui stagna colunt, cinguntur et ipsiauxilio Manes; nec te, Proserpina, longeumbrosae tenuere fores; rex ipse silentum45Lethaeo vehitur curru lucemque timentesinsolitam mirantur equi trepidoque volatuspissas caeruleis tenebras e naribus efflant.ac velut hostilis cum machina terruit urbem,undique concurrunt arcem defendere cives:50haud secus omnigenis coeuntia numina turmisad patris venere domos. tum Iuppiter infit:“O numquam peritura cohors, o debita sempercaelo progenies, nullis obnoxia fatis:cernitis ut Tellus nostrum coniuret in orbem55prole nova dederitque alios interrita partus?ergo, quot dederit natos, tot funera matrireddamus: longo maneat per saecula luctutanto pro numero paribus damnata sepulcris.”Iam tuba nimborum sonuit, iam signa ruendi60his Aether, his Terra dedit confusaque rursuspro domino Natura timet. discrimina rerummiscet turba potens: nunc insula deserit aequor,nunc scopuli latuere mari. quot litora restantnuda! quot antiquas mutarunt flumina ripas!65hic rotat Haemonium praeduris viribus Oeten;hic iuga conixus manibus Pangaea coruscat;hunc armat glacialis Athos; hoc Ossa moventetollitur; his Rhodopen Hebri cum fonte revellit

Interea superos praenuntia convocat Iris.

qui fluvios, qui stagna colunt, cinguntur et ipsi

auxilio Manes; nec te, Proserpina, longe

umbrosae tenuere fores; rex ipse silentum45

Lethaeo vehitur curru lucemque timentes

insolitam mirantur equi trepidoque volatu

spissas caeruleis tenebras e naribus efflant.

ac velut hostilis cum machina terruit urbem,

undique concurrunt arcem defendere cives:50

haud secus omnigenis coeuntia numina turmis

ad patris venere domos. tum Iuppiter infit:

“O numquam peritura cohors, o debita semper

caelo progenies, nullis obnoxia fatis:

cernitis ut Tellus nostrum coniuret in orbem55

prole nova dederitque alios interrita partus?

ergo, quot dederit natos, tot funera matri

reddamus: longo maneat per saecula luctu

tanto pro numero paribus damnata sepulcris.”

Iam tuba nimborum sonuit, iam signa ruendi60

his Aether, his Terra dedit confusaque rursus

pro domino Natura timet. discrimina rerum

miscet turba potens: nunc insula deserit aequor,

nunc scopuli latuere mari. quot litora restant

nuda! quot antiquas mutarunt flumina ripas!65

hic rotat Haemonium praeduris viribus Oeten;

hic iuga conixus manibus Pangaea coruscat;

hunc armat glacialis Athos; hoc Ossa movente

tollitur; his Rhodopen Hebri cum fonte revellit

[285]Meanwhile Iris, messenger of the gods, summons the immortal council. There come the deities of river and lake; the very ghosts were there in heaven’s defence. Hell’s shady portals could not hold Proserpine afar; the king of the silent himself advances in his Lethaean chariot. His horses fear the light which hitherto their astonished eyes have never looked upon and, swerving this way and that, they breathe forth thick vapour from their soot-black nostrils. As, when an enemy’s siege-engine affrights a town, the citizens run together from all sides to defend their citadel, so gods of all shapes and forms came together to protect their father’s home. Them Jove thus addressed: “Deathless army, whose dwelling-place is, and must ever be, the sky, ye whom no adverse fortune can ever harm, mark ye how Earth with her new children conspires against our kingdom and undismayed has given birth to another brood? Wherefore, for all the sons she bore, let us give back to their mother as many dead; let her mourning last through the ages as she weeps by as many graves as she now has children.”The clouds echo the blast of heaven’s trumpets; on this side Heaven, on that Earth, sounds the attack. Once more Nature is thrown into confusion and fears for her lord. The puissant company of the giants confounds all differences between things; islands abandon the deep; mountains lie hidden in the sea. Many a river is left dry or has altered its ancient course. One giant brandishes Thessalian Oeta in his mighty hand, another gathers all his strength and hurls Pangaeus at the foe, Athos with his snows arms another; this one roots up Ossa, that tears out Rhodope and Hebrus’ source, dividing the

[285]

Meanwhile Iris, messenger of the gods, summons the immortal council. There come the deities of river and lake; the very ghosts were there in heaven’s defence. Hell’s shady portals could not hold Proserpine afar; the king of the silent himself advances in his Lethaean chariot. His horses fear the light which hitherto their astonished eyes have never looked upon and, swerving this way and that, they breathe forth thick vapour from their soot-black nostrils. As, when an enemy’s siege-engine affrights a town, the citizens run together from all sides to defend their citadel, so gods of all shapes and forms came together to protect their father’s home. Them Jove thus addressed: “Deathless army, whose dwelling-place is, and must ever be, the sky, ye whom no adverse fortune can ever harm, mark ye how Earth with her new children conspires against our kingdom and undismayed has given birth to another brood? Wherefore, for all the sons she bore, let us give back to their mother as many dead; let her mourning last through the ages as she weeps by as many graves as she now has children.”

The clouds echo the blast of heaven’s trumpets; on this side Heaven, on that Earth, sounds the attack. Once more Nature is thrown into confusion and fears for her lord. The puissant company of the giants confounds all differences between things; islands abandon the deep; mountains lie hidden in the sea. Many a river is left dry or has altered its ancient course. One giant brandishes Thessalian Oeta in his mighty hand, another gathers all his strength and hurls Pangaeus at the foe, Athos with his snows arms another; this one roots up Ossa, that tears out Rhodope and Hebrus’ source, dividing the

[286]et socias truncavit aquas summaque levatus70rupe Giganteos umeros inrorat Enipeus:subsedit patulis Tellus sine culmine campisin natos divisa suos.Horrendus ubiqueit fragor et pugnae spatium discriminat aër.primus terrificum Mavors non segnis in agmen75Odrysios impellit equos, quibus ille Gelonossive Getas turbare solet: splendentior igniaureus ardescit clipeus, galeamque nitentesadrexere iubae. tum concitus ense Pelorumtransigit adverso, femorum qua fine volutus80duplex semifero conectitur ilibus anguis,atque uno ternas animas interficit ictu.tum super insultans avidus languentia currumembra terit multumque rotae sparsere cruorem.Occurrit pro fratre Mimas Lemnumque calentem85cum lare Vulcani spumantibus eruit undiset prope torsisset, si non Mavortia cuspisante revelato cerebrum fudisset ab ore.ille, viro toto moriens, serpentibus imisvivit adhuc stridore ferox et parte rebelli90victorem post fata petit.Tritonia virgoprosilit ostendens rutila cum Gorgone pectus;adspectu contenta suo non utitur hasta(nam satis est vidisse semel) primumque furentemlongius in faciem saxi Pallanta reformat.95ille procul subitis fixus sine vulnere nodisut se letifero sensit durescere visu(et steterat iam paene lapis) “quo vertimur?” inquit,[287]waters that before were one; Enipeus, gathered up with its beetling crags, scatters its waters over yon giant’s shoulders: robbed of her mountains Earth sank into level plains, parted among her own sons.On all sides a horrid din resounds and only the air divides the rival armies. First impetuous Mars urges against the horrid band his Thracian steeds that oft have driven in rout Getae or Geloni. Brighter than flame shines his golden shield, high towers the crest of his gleaming helmet. Dashing into the fray he first encounters Pelorus and transfixes him with his sword, where about the groin the two-bodied serpent unites with his own giant form, and thus with one blow puts an end to three lives. Exulting in his victory he drives his chariot over the dying giant’s limbs till the wheels ran red with blood.Mimas ran forward to avenge his brother. He had torn Lemnos and with it Vulcan’s fiery house from out the foaming main, and was on the point of hurling it when Mars’ javelin prevented him, scattering the brain from his shattered skull. What was giant in him died, but the serpent legs still lived, and, hissing vengeance, sought to attack the victor after Mimas’ death.Minerva rushed forward presenting her breast whereon glittered the Gorgon’s head. The sight of this, she knew, was enough: she needed not to use a spear. One look sufficed. Pallas drew no nearer, rage as he might, for he was the first to be changed into a rock. When, at a distance from his foe, without a wound, he found himself rooted to the ground, and felt the murderous visage turn him, little by little, to stone (and all but stone he was) he called out, “What is happening to me? What

[286]

et socias truncavit aquas summaque levatus70rupe Giganteos umeros inrorat Enipeus:subsedit patulis Tellus sine culmine campisin natos divisa suos.Horrendus ubiqueit fragor et pugnae spatium discriminat aër.primus terrificum Mavors non segnis in agmen75Odrysios impellit equos, quibus ille Gelonossive Getas turbare solet: splendentior igniaureus ardescit clipeus, galeamque nitentesadrexere iubae. tum concitus ense Pelorumtransigit adverso, femorum qua fine volutus80duplex semifero conectitur ilibus anguis,atque uno ternas animas interficit ictu.tum super insultans avidus languentia currumembra terit multumque rotae sparsere cruorem.Occurrit pro fratre Mimas Lemnumque calentem85cum lare Vulcani spumantibus eruit undiset prope torsisset, si non Mavortia cuspisante revelato cerebrum fudisset ab ore.ille, viro toto moriens, serpentibus imisvivit adhuc stridore ferox et parte rebelli90victorem post fata petit.Tritonia virgoprosilit ostendens rutila cum Gorgone pectus;adspectu contenta suo non utitur hasta(nam satis est vidisse semel) primumque furentemlongius in faciem saxi Pallanta reformat.95ille procul subitis fixus sine vulnere nodisut se letifero sensit durescere visu(et steterat iam paene lapis) “quo vertimur?” inquit,

et socias truncavit aquas summaque levatus70

rupe Giganteos umeros inrorat Enipeus:

subsedit patulis Tellus sine culmine campis

in natos divisa suos.

Horrendus ubique

it fragor et pugnae spatium discriminat aër.

primus terrificum Mavors non segnis in agmen75

Odrysios impellit equos, quibus ille Gelonos

sive Getas turbare solet: splendentior igni

aureus ardescit clipeus, galeamque nitentes

adrexere iubae. tum concitus ense Pelorum

transigit adverso, femorum qua fine volutus80

duplex semifero conectitur ilibus anguis,

atque uno ternas animas interficit ictu.

tum super insultans avidus languentia curru

membra terit multumque rotae sparsere cruorem.

Occurrit pro fratre Mimas Lemnumque calentem85

cum lare Vulcani spumantibus eruit undis

et prope torsisset, si non Mavortia cuspis

ante revelato cerebrum fudisset ab ore.

ille, viro toto moriens, serpentibus imis

vivit adhuc stridore ferox et parte rebelli90

victorem post fata petit.

Tritonia virgo

prosilit ostendens rutila cum Gorgone pectus;

adspectu contenta suo non utitur hasta

(nam satis est vidisse semel) primumque furentem

longius in faciem saxi Pallanta reformat.95

ille procul subitis fixus sine vulnere nodis

ut se letifero sensit durescere visu

(et steterat iam paene lapis) “quo vertimur?” inquit,

[287]waters that before were one; Enipeus, gathered up with its beetling crags, scatters its waters over yon giant’s shoulders: robbed of her mountains Earth sank into level plains, parted among her own sons.On all sides a horrid din resounds and only the air divides the rival armies. First impetuous Mars urges against the horrid band his Thracian steeds that oft have driven in rout Getae or Geloni. Brighter than flame shines his golden shield, high towers the crest of his gleaming helmet. Dashing into the fray he first encounters Pelorus and transfixes him with his sword, where about the groin the two-bodied serpent unites with his own giant form, and thus with one blow puts an end to three lives. Exulting in his victory he drives his chariot over the dying giant’s limbs till the wheels ran red with blood.Mimas ran forward to avenge his brother. He had torn Lemnos and with it Vulcan’s fiery house from out the foaming main, and was on the point of hurling it when Mars’ javelin prevented him, scattering the brain from his shattered skull. What was giant in him died, but the serpent legs still lived, and, hissing vengeance, sought to attack the victor after Mimas’ death.Minerva rushed forward presenting her breast whereon glittered the Gorgon’s head. The sight of this, she knew, was enough: she needed not to use a spear. One look sufficed. Pallas drew no nearer, rage as he might, for he was the first to be changed into a rock. When, at a distance from his foe, without a wound, he found himself rooted to the ground, and felt the murderous visage turn him, little by little, to stone (and all but stone he was) he called out, “What is happening to me? What

[287]

waters that before were one; Enipeus, gathered up with its beetling crags, scatters its waters over yon giant’s shoulders: robbed of her mountains Earth sank into level plains, parted among her own sons.

On all sides a horrid din resounds and only the air divides the rival armies. First impetuous Mars urges against the horrid band his Thracian steeds that oft have driven in rout Getae or Geloni. Brighter than flame shines his golden shield, high towers the crest of his gleaming helmet. Dashing into the fray he first encounters Pelorus and transfixes him with his sword, where about the groin the two-bodied serpent unites with his own giant form, and thus with one blow puts an end to three lives. Exulting in his victory he drives his chariot over the dying giant’s limbs till the wheels ran red with blood.

Mimas ran forward to avenge his brother. He had torn Lemnos and with it Vulcan’s fiery house from out the foaming main, and was on the point of hurling it when Mars’ javelin prevented him, scattering the brain from his shattered skull. What was giant in him died, but the serpent legs still lived, and, hissing vengeance, sought to attack the victor after Mimas’ death.

Minerva rushed forward presenting her breast whereon glittered the Gorgon’s head. The sight of this, she knew, was enough: she needed not to use a spear. One look sufficed. Pallas drew no nearer, rage as he might, for he was the first to be changed into a rock. When, at a distance from his foe, without a wound, he found himself rooted to the ground, and felt the murderous visage turn him, little by little, to stone (and all but stone he was) he called out, “What is happening to me? What

[288]“quae serpit per membra silex? qui torpor inertemmarmorea me peste ligat?” vix pauca locutus,100quod timuit, iam totus erat; saevusque Damastor,ad depellendos iaculum cum quaereret hostes,germani rigidum misit pro rupe cadaver.Hic vero interitum fratris miratus Echioninscius, auctorem dum vult temptare nocendo,105te, Dea, respexit, solam quam cernere nullibis licuit. meruit sublata audacia poenaset didicit cum morte deam. sed turbidus iraPalleneus, oculis aversa tuentibus atrox,ingreditur caecasque manus in Pallada tendit.110hunc mucrone ferit dea comminus; ac simul anguesGorgoneo riguere gelu corpusque per unumpars moritur ferro, partes periere videndo.Ecce autem medium spiris delapsus in aequorPorphyrion trepidam conatur rumpere Delon,115scilicet ad superos ut torqueat improbus axes.horruit Aegaeus; stagnantibus exilit antrislongaevo cum patre Thetis desertaque mansitregia Neptuni famulis veneranda profundis.exclamant placidae Cynthi de vertice Nymphae,120Nymphae, quae rudibus Phoebum docuere sagittiserrantes agitare feras primumque gementiLatonae struxere torum, cum lumina caeliparturiens geminis ornaret fetibus orbem.implorat Paeana suum conterrita Delos125auxiliumque rogat: “si te gratissima fudit[289]is this ice that creeps o’er all my limbs? What is this numbness that holds me prisoner in these marble fetters?” Scarce had he uttered these few words when he was what he feared, and savage Damastor, seeking a weapon wherewith to repel the foe, hurled at them in place of a rock his brother’s stony corpse.Then Echion, marvelling, all ignorant, at his brother’s death, even as he seeks to assail the author of the deed, turned his gaze upon thee, goddess, whom alone no man may see twice. Beaten audacity well deserved its punishment and in death he learned to know the goddess. But Palleneus, mad with anger, turning his eyes aside, rushed at Minerva, striking at her with undirected sword. Nigh at hand the goddess smote him with her sword, and at the same time the snakes froze at the Gorgon’s glance, so that of one body a part was killed by a weapon and a part by a mere look.Impious Porphyrion, carried by his serpents into the middle of the sea, tries to uproot trembling Delos, wishing to hurl it at the sky. The Aegean was affrighted; Thetis and her agèd sire fled from their watery caverns; the palace of Neptune, regarded with awe by all the denizens of the deep, lay deserted. The summit of Cynthus rang with the cries of the gentle nymphs who had taught Phoebus’ unpractised hand to shoot at the wandering beasts with his bow, they who first had prepared the bed for weeping Latona when, in labour with the lights of heaven, she blessed the world with twin offspring. Delos in terror called her lord Phoebus to help her and begged him for aid. “In remembrance of the

[288]

“quae serpit per membra silex? qui torpor inertemmarmorea me peste ligat?” vix pauca locutus,100quod timuit, iam totus erat; saevusque Damastor,ad depellendos iaculum cum quaereret hostes,germani rigidum misit pro rupe cadaver.Hic vero interitum fratris miratus Echioninscius, auctorem dum vult temptare nocendo,105te, Dea, respexit, solam quam cernere nullibis licuit. meruit sublata audacia poenaset didicit cum morte deam. sed turbidus iraPalleneus, oculis aversa tuentibus atrox,ingreditur caecasque manus in Pallada tendit.110hunc mucrone ferit dea comminus; ac simul anguesGorgoneo riguere gelu corpusque per unumpars moritur ferro, partes periere videndo.Ecce autem medium spiris delapsus in aequorPorphyrion trepidam conatur rumpere Delon,115scilicet ad superos ut torqueat improbus axes.horruit Aegaeus; stagnantibus exilit antrislongaevo cum patre Thetis desertaque mansitregia Neptuni famulis veneranda profundis.exclamant placidae Cynthi de vertice Nymphae,120Nymphae, quae rudibus Phoebum docuere sagittiserrantes agitare feras primumque gementiLatonae struxere torum, cum lumina caeliparturiens geminis ornaret fetibus orbem.implorat Paeana suum conterrita Delos125auxiliumque rogat: “si te gratissima fudit

“quae serpit per membra silex? qui torpor inertem

marmorea me peste ligat?” vix pauca locutus,100

quod timuit, iam totus erat; saevusque Damastor,

ad depellendos iaculum cum quaereret hostes,

germani rigidum misit pro rupe cadaver.

Hic vero interitum fratris miratus Echion

inscius, auctorem dum vult temptare nocendo,105

te, Dea, respexit, solam quam cernere nulli

bis licuit. meruit sublata audacia poenas

et didicit cum morte deam. sed turbidus ira

Palleneus, oculis aversa tuentibus atrox,

ingreditur caecasque manus in Pallada tendit.110

hunc mucrone ferit dea comminus; ac simul angues

Gorgoneo riguere gelu corpusque per unum

pars moritur ferro, partes periere videndo.

Ecce autem medium spiris delapsus in aequor

Porphyrion trepidam conatur rumpere Delon,115

scilicet ad superos ut torqueat improbus axes.

horruit Aegaeus; stagnantibus exilit antris

longaevo cum patre Thetis desertaque mansit

regia Neptuni famulis veneranda profundis.

exclamant placidae Cynthi de vertice Nymphae,120

Nymphae, quae rudibus Phoebum docuere sagittis

errantes agitare feras primumque gementi

Latonae struxere torum, cum lumina caeli

parturiens geminis ornaret fetibus orbem.

implorat Paeana suum conterrita Delos125

auxiliumque rogat: “si te gratissima fudit

[289]is this ice that creeps o’er all my limbs? What is this numbness that holds me prisoner in these marble fetters?” Scarce had he uttered these few words when he was what he feared, and savage Damastor, seeking a weapon wherewith to repel the foe, hurled at them in place of a rock his brother’s stony corpse.Then Echion, marvelling, all ignorant, at his brother’s death, even as he seeks to assail the author of the deed, turned his gaze upon thee, goddess, whom alone no man may see twice. Beaten audacity well deserved its punishment and in death he learned to know the goddess. But Palleneus, mad with anger, turning his eyes aside, rushed at Minerva, striking at her with undirected sword. Nigh at hand the goddess smote him with her sword, and at the same time the snakes froze at the Gorgon’s glance, so that of one body a part was killed by a weapon and a part by a mere look.Impious Porphyrion, carried by his serpents into the middle of the sea, tries to uproot trembling Delos, wishing to hurl it at the sky. The Aegean was affrighted; Thetis and her agèd sire fled from their watery caverns; the palace of Neptune, regarded with awe by all the denizens of the deep, lay deserted. The summit of Cynthus rang with the cries of the gentle nymphs who had taught Phoebus’ unpractised hand to shoot at the wandering beasts with his bow, they who first had prepared the bed for weeping Latona when, in labour with the lights of heaven, she blessed the world with twin offspring. Delos in terror called her lord Phoebus to help her and begged him for aid. “In remembrance of the

[289]

is this ice that creeps o’er all my limbs? What is this numbness that holds me prisoner in these marble fetters?” Scarce had he uttered these few words when he was what he feared, and savage Damastor, seeking a weapon wherewith to repel the foe, hurled at them in place of a rock his brother’s stony corpse.

Then Echion, marvelling, all ignorant, at his brother’s death, even as he seeks to assail the author of the deed, turned his gaze upon thee, goddess, whom alone no man may see twice. Beaten audacity well deserved its punishment and in death he learned to know the goddess. But Palleneus, mad with anger, turning his eyes aside, rushed at Minerva, striking at her with undirected sword. Nigh at hand the goddess smote him with her sword, and at the same time the snakes froze at the Gorgon’s glance, so that of one body a part was killed by a weapon and a part by a mere look.

Impious Porphyrion, carried by his serpents into the middle of the sea, tries to uproot trembling Delos, wishing to hurl it at the sky. The Aegean was affrighted; Thetis and her agèd sire fled from their watery caverns; the palace of Neptune, regarded with awe by all the denizens of the deep, lay deserted. The summit of Cynthus rang with the cries of the gentle nymphs who had taught Phoebus’ unpractised hand to shoot at the wandering beasts with his bow, they who first had prepared the bed for weeping Latona when, in labour with the lights of heaven, she blessed the world with twin offspring. Delos in terror called her lord Phoebus to help her and begged him for aid. “In remembrance of the

[290]in nostros Latona sinus, succurre precanti.en iterum convulsa feror.”[291]time when Latona entrusted thine infant life to my care, help me who thus call upon thee. Behold, once more they seek to uproot me.…”[118][118]Like theDe raptu Proserpinae, theGigantomachiawas probably never completed. S. Jerome in his commentary on Isaiah (viii. 27) quotes from aGigantomachia, not giving the name of its author. It is possible that the lines, which do not occur in Claudian’s poem as we possess it, belong to a final portion which has been lost. But it is more likely that they come from some other poet’s work and that the abrupt end of Claudian’s poem is due not to loss but to the poet’s sudden death.

[290]in nostros Latona sinus, succurre precanti.en iterum convulsa feror.”

[290]

in nostros Latona sinus, succurre precanti.en iterum convulsa feror.”

in nostros Latona sinus, succurre precanti.

en iterum convulsa feror.”

[291]time when Latona entrusted thine infant life to my care, help me who thus call upon thee. Behold, once more they seek to uproot me.…”[118][118]Like theDe raptu Proserpinae, theGigantomachiawas probably never completed. S. Jerome in his commentary on Isaiah (viii. 27) quotes from aGigantomachia, not giving the name of its author. It is possible that the lines, which do not occur in Claudian’s poem as we possess it, belong to a final portion which has been lost. But it is more likely that they come from some other poet’s work and that the abrupt end of Claudian’s poem is due not to loss but to the poet’s sudden death.

[291]

time when Latona entrusted thine infant life to my care, help me who thus call upon thee. Behold, once more they seek to uproot me.…”[118]

[118]Like theDe raptu Proserpinae, theGigantomachiawas probably never completed. S. Jerome in his commentary on Isaiah (viii. 27) quotes from aGigantomachia, not giving the name of its author. It is possible that the lines, which do not occur in Claudian’s poem as we possess it, belong to a final portion which has been lost. But it is more likely that they come from some other poet’s work and that the abrupt end of Claudian’s poem is due not to loss but to the poet’s sudden death.

[292]DE RAPTU PROSERPINAELIBRI PRIMI PRAEFATIO(XXXII.)Inventa secuit primus qui nave profundumet rudibus remis sollicitavit aquas,qui dubiis ausus committere flatibus alnumquas natura negat praebuit arte vias:tranquillis primum trepidus se credidit undis5litora securo tramite summa legens;mox longos temptare sinus et linquere terraset leni coepit pandere vela Noto.ast ubi paulatim praeceps audacia crevitcordaque languentem dedidicere metum,10iam vagus inrumpit pelagus caelumque secutusAegaeas hiemes Ioniumque domat.LIBER PRIMUS(XXXIII.)Inferni raptoris equos adflataque currusidera Taenario caligantesque profundaeIunonis thalamos audaci promere cantu[293]RAPE OF PROSERPINEBOOK I PREFACE(XXXII.)He who first made a ship and clave therewith the deep, troubling the waters with roughly hewn oars, who first dared trust his alder-bark to the uncertain winds and who by his skill devised a way forbidden of nature, fearfully at the first essayed smooth seas, hugging the shore in an unadventurous course. But soon he began to attempt the crossing of broad bays, to leave the land and spread his canvas to the gentle south wind; and, as little by little his growing courage led him on, and as his heart forgot numbing fear, sailing now at large, he burst upon the open sea and, with the signs of heaven to guide him, passed triumphant through the storms of the Aegean and the Ionian main.BOOK I(XXXIII.)My full heart bids me boldly sing the horses of the ravisher from the underworld and the stars darkened by the shadow of his infernal chariot

[292]

(XXXII.)

Inventa secuit primus qui nave profundumet rudibus remis sollicitavit aquas,qui dubiis ausus committere flatibus alnumquas natura negat praebuit arte vias:tranquillis primum trepidus se credidit undis5litora securo tramite summa legens;mox longos temptare sinus et linquere terraset leni coepit pandere vela Noto.ast ubi paulatim praeceps audacia crevitcordaque languentem dedidicere metum,10iam vagus inrumpit pelagus caelumque secutusAegaeas hiemes Ioniumque domat.

Inventa secuit primus qui nave profundum

et rudibus remis sollicitavit aquas,

qui dubiis ausus committere flatibus alnum

quas natura negat praebuit arte vias:

tranquillis primum trepidus se credidit undis5

litora securo tramite summa legens;

mox longos temptare sinus et linquere terras

et leni coepit pandere vela Noto.

ast ubi paulatim praeceps audacia crevit

cordaque languentem dedidicere metum,10

iam vagus inrumpit pelagus caelumque secutus

Aegaeas hiemes Ioniumque domat.

(XXXIII.)

Inferni raptoris equos adflataque currusidera Taenario caligantesque profundaeIunonis thalamos audaci promere cantu

Inferni raptoris equos adflataque curru

sidera Taenario caligantesque profundae

Iunonis thalamos audaci promere cantu

[293]RAPE OF PROSERPINEBOOK I PREFACE(XXXII.)He who first made a ship and clave therewith the deep, troubling the waters with roughly hewn oars, who first dared trust his alder-bark to the uncertain winds and who by his skill devised a way forbidden of nature, fearfully at the first essayed smooth seas, hugging the shore in an unadventurous course. But soon he began to attempt the crossing of broad bays, to leave the land and spread his canvas to the gentle south wind; and, as little by little his growing courage led him on, and as his heart forgot numbing fear, sailing now at large, he burst upon the open sea and, with the signs of heaven to guide him, passed triumphant through the storms of the Aegean and the Ionian main.BOOK I(XXXIII.)My full heart bids me boldly sing the horses of the ravisher from the underworld and the stars darkened by the shadow of his infernal chariot

[293]

(XXXII.)

He who first made a ship and clave therewith the deep, troubling the waters with roughly hewn oars, who first dared trust his alder-bark to the uncertain winds and who by his skill devised a way forbidden of nature, fearfully at the first essayed smooth seas, hugging the shore in an unadventurous course. But soon he began to attempt the crossing of broad bays, to leave the land and spread his canvas to the gentle south wind; and, as little by little his growing courage led him on, and as his heart forgot numbing fear, sailing now at large, he burst upon the open sea and, with the signs of heaven to guide him, passed triumphant through the storms of the Aegean and the Ionian main.

(XXXIII.)

My full heart bids me boldly sing the horses of the ravisher from the underworld and the stars darkened by the shadow of his infernal chariot

[294]mens congesta iubet. gressus removete profani.iam furor humanos nostro de pectore sensus5expulit et totum spirant praecordia Phoebum;iam mihi cernuntur trepidis delubra moverisedibus et claram dispergere limina lucemadventum testata dei; iam magnus ab imisauditur fremitus terris templumque remugit10Cecropium sanctasque faces extollit Eleusis.angues Triptolemi strident et squamea curviscolla levant attrita iugis lapsuque serenoerecti roseas tendunt ad carmina cristas.ecce procul ternis Hecate variata figuris15exoritur, levisque simul procedit Iacchuscrinali florens hedera, quem Parthica velattigris et auratos in nodum colligit ungues:ebria Maeonius firmat vestigia thyrsus.Di, quibus innumerum vacui famulatur Averni20vulgus iners, opibus quorum donatur avarisquidquid in orbe perit, quos Styx liventibus ambitinterfusa vadis et quos fumantia torquensaequora gurgitibus Phlegethon perlustrat anhelis—vos mihi sacrarum penetralia pandite rerum25et vestri secreta poli: qua lampade Ditemflexit Amor; quo ducta ferox Proserpina raptupossedit dotale Chaos quantasque per orassollicito genetrix erraverit anxia cursu;unde datae populis fruges et glande relicta30cesserit inventis Dodonia quercus aristis.Dux Erebi quondam tumidas exarsit in iras[295]and the gloomy chambers of the queen of Hell. Come not nigh, ye uninitiate. Now has divine madness driven all mortal thoughts from my breast, and my heart is filled with Phoebus’ inspiration; now see I the shrine reel and its foundations totter while the threshold glows with radiant light telling that the god is at hand. And now I hear a loud din from the depths of the earth, the temple of Cecrops re-echoes and Eleusis waves its holy torches. The hissing snakes of Triptolemus raise their scaly necks chafed by the curving collar, and, uptowering as they glide smoothly along, stretch forth their rosy crests towards the chant. See from afar rises Hecate with her three various heads and with her comes forth Iacchus smooth of skin, his temples crowned with ivy. There clothes him the pelt of a Parthian tiger, its gilded claws knotted together, and the Lydian thyrsus guides his drunken footsteps.Ye gods, whom the numberless host of the dead serves in ghostly Avernus, into whose greedy treasury is paid all that perishes upon earth, ye whose fields the pale streams of intertwining Styx surround, while Phlegethon, his rapids tossed in spray, flows through them with steaming eddies—do you unfold for me the mysteries of your sacred story and the secrets of your world. Say with what torch the god of love overcame Dis, and tell how Proserpine was stolen away in her maiden pride to win Chaos as a dower; and how through many lands Ceres, sore troubled, pursued her anxious search; whence corn was given to man whereby he laid aside his acorn food, and the new-found ear made useless Dodona’s oaks.Once on a time the lord of Erebus blazed forth

[294]

mens congesta iubet. gressus removete profani.iam furor humanos nostro de pectore sensus5expulit et totum spirant praecordia Phoebum;iam mihi cernuntur trepidis delubra moverisedibus et claram dispergere limina lucemadventum testata dei; iam magnus ab imisauditur fremitus terris templumque remugit10Cecropium sanctasque faces extollit Eleusis.angues Triptolemi strident et squamea curviscolla levant attrita iugis lapsuque serenoerecti roseas tendunt ad carmina cristas.ecce procul ternis Hecate variata figuris15exoritur, levisque simul procedit Iacchuscrinali florens hedera, quem Parthica velattigris et auratos in nodum colligit ungues:ebria Maeonius firmat vestigia thyrsus.Di, quibus innumerum vacui famulatur Averni20vulgus iners, opibus quorum donatur avarisquidquid in orbe perit, quos Styx liventibus ambitinterfusa vadis et quos fumantia torquensaequora gurgitibus Phlegethon perlustrat anhelis—vos mihi sacrarum penetralia pandite rerum25et vestri secreta poli: qua lampade Ditemflexit Amor; quo ducta ferox Proserpina raptupossedit dotale Chaos quantasque per orassollicito genetrix erraverit anxia cursu;unde datae populis fruges et glande relicta30cesserit inventis Dodonia quercus aristis.Dux Erebi quondam tumidas exarsit in iras

mens congesta iubet. gressus removete profani.

iam furor humanos nostro de pectore sensus5

expulit et totum spirant praecordia Phoebum;

iam mihi cernuntur trepidis delubra moveri

sedibus et claram dispergere limina lucem

adventum testata dei; iam magnus ab imis

auditur fremitus terris templumque remugit10

Cecropium sanctasque faces extollit Eleusis.

angues Triptolemi strident et squamea curvis

colla levant attrita iugis lapsuque sereno

erecti roseas tendunt ad carmina cristas.

ecce procul ternis Hecate variata figuris15

exoritur, levisque simul procedit Iacchus

crinali florens hedera, quem Parthica velat

tigris et auratos in nodum colligit ungues:

ebria Maeonius firmat vestigia thyrsus.

Di, quibus innumerum vacui famulatur Averni20

vulgus iners, opibus quorum donatur avaris

quidquid in orbe perit, quos Styx liventibus ambit

interfusa vadis et quos fumantia torquens

aequora gurgitibus Phlegethon perlustrat anhelis—

vos mihi sacrarum penetralia pandite rerum25

et vestri secreta poli: qua lampade Ditem

flexit Amor; quo ducta ferox Proserpina raptu

possedit dotale Chaos quantasque per oras

sollicito genetrix erraverit anxia cursu;

unde datae populis fruges et glande relicta30

cesserit inventis Dodonia quercus aristis.

Dux Erebi quondam tumidas exarsit in iras

[295]and the gloomy chambers of the queen of Hell. Come not nigh, ye uninitiate. Now has divine madness driven all mortal thoughts from my breast, and my heart is filled with Phoebus’ inspiration; now see I the shrine reel and its foundations totter while the threshold glows with radiant light telling that the god is at hand. And now I hear a loud din from the depths of the earth, the temple of Cecrops re-echoes and Eleusis waves its holy torches. The hissing snakes of Triptolemus raise their scaly necks chafed by the curving collar, and, uptowering as they glide smoothly along, stretch forth their rosy crests towards the chant. See from afar rises Hecate with her three various heads and with her comes forth Iacchus smooth of skin, his temples crowned with ivy. There clothes him the pelt of a Parthian tiger, its gilded claws knotted together, and the Lydian thyrsus guides his drunken footsteps.Ye gods, whom the numberless host of the dead serves in ghostly Avernus, into whose greedy treasury is paid all that perishes upon earth, ye whose fields the pale streams of intertwining Styx surround, while Phlegethon, his rapids tossed in spray, flows through them with steaming eddies—do you unfold for me the mysteries of your sacred story and the secrets of your world. Say with what torch the god of love overcame Dis, and tell how Proserpine was stolen away in her maiden pride to win Chaos as a dower; and how through many lands Ceres, sore troubled, pursued her anxious search; whence corn was given to man whereby he laid aside his acorn food, and the new-found ear made useless Dodona’s oaks.Once on a time the lord of Erebus blazed forth

[295]

and the gloomy chambers of the queen of Hell. Come not nigh, ye uninitiate. Now has divine madness driven all mortal thoughts from my breast, and my heart is filled with Phoebus’ inspiration; now see I the shrine reel and its foundations totter while the threshold glows with radiant light telling that the god is at hand. And now I hear a loud din from the depths of the earth, the temple of Cecrops re-echoes and Eleusis waves its holy torches. The hissing snakes of Triptolemus raise their scaly necks chafed by the curving collar, and, uptowering as they glide smoothly along, stretch forth their rosy crests towards the chant. See from afar rises Hecate with her three various heads and with her comes forth Iacchus smooth of skin, his temples crowned with ivy. There clothes him the pelt of a Parthian tiger, its gilded claws knotted together, and the Lydian thyrsus guides his drunken footsteps.

Ye gods, whom the numberless host of the dead serves in ghostly Avernus, into whose greedy treasury is paid all that perishes upon earth, ye whose fields the pale streams of intertwining Styx surround, while Phlegethon, his rapids tossed in spray, flows through them with steaming eddies—do you unfold for me the mysteries of your sacred story and the secrets of your world. Say with what torch the god of love overcame Dis, and tell how Proserpine was stolen away in her maiden pride to win Chaos as a dower; and how through many lands Ceres, sore troubled, pursued her anxious search; whence corn was given to man whereby he laid aside his acorn food, and the new-found ear made useless Dodona’s oaks.

Once on a time the lord of Erebus blazed forth

[296]proelia moturus superis, quod solus egeretconubiis sterilesque diu consumeret annosimpatiens nescire torum nullasque mariti35inlecebras nec dulce patris cognoscere nomen.iam quaecumque latent ferali monstra barathroin turmas aciemque ruunt contraque Tonantemconiurant Furiae, crinitaque sontibus hydrisTesiphone quatiens infausto lumine pinum40armatos ad castra vocat pallentia Manes,paene reluctatis iterum pugnantia rebusrupissent elementa fidem penitusque revulsocarcere laxatis pubes Titania vinclisvidisset caeleste iubar rursusque cruentus45Aegaeon positis aucto de corpore nodisobvia centeno vexasset fulmina motu.Sed Parcae vetuere minas orbique timentesante pedes soliumque ducis fudere severamcanitiem genibusque suas cum supplice fletu50admovere manus, quarum sub iure tenenturomnia, quae seriem fatorum pollice ducuntlongaque ferratis evolvunt saecula fusis.prima fero Lachesis clamabat talia regiincultas dispersa comas:“O maxime noctis55arbiter umbrarumque potens, cui nostra laborantstamina, qui finem cunctis et semina praebesnascendique vices alterna morte rependis,qui vitam letumque regis (nam quidquid ubiquegignit materies, hoc te donante creatur60debeturque tibi certisque ambagibus aevi[297]in swelling anger, threatening war upon the gods, because he alone was unwed and had long wasted the years in childless state, brooking no longer to lack the joys of wedlock and a husband’s happiness nor ever to know the dear name of father. Now all the monsters that lurk in Hell’s abyss rush together in warlike bands, and the Furies bind themselves with an oath against the Thunderer. Tisiphone, the bloody snakes clustering on her head, shakes the lurid pine-torch and summons to the ghostly camp the armèd shades. Almost had the elements, once more at war with reluctant nature, broken their bond; the Titan brood, their deep prison-house thrown open and their fetters cast off, had again seen heaven’s light; and once more bloody Aegaeon, bursting the knotted ropes that bound his huge form, had warred against the thunderbolts of Jove with hundred-handed blows.But the dread Fates brought these threats to naught, and, fearing for the world, gravely laid their hoary locks before the feet and throne of the lord of Hell, and with suppliant tears touched his knees with their hands—those hands beneath whose rule are all things set, whose thumbs twist the thread of fate and spin the long ages with their iron spindles. First Lachesis, her hair unkempt and disordered, thus called out upon the cruel king: “Great lord of night, ruler over the shades, thou at whose command our threads are spun, who appointest the end and origin of all things and ordainest the alternation of birth and destruction; arbiter thou of life and death—for whatsoever thing comes anywhere into being it is by thy gift that it is created and owes its life to thee, and after a fixed

[296]

proelia moturus superis, quod solus egeretconubiis sterilesque diu consumeret annosimpatiens nescire torum nullasque mariti35inlecebras nec dulce patris cognoscere nomen.iam quaecumque latent ferali monstra barathroin turmas aciemque ruunt contraque Tonantemconiurant Furiae, crinitaque sontibus hydrisTesiphone quatiens infausto lumine pinum40armatos ad castra vocat pallentia Manes,paene reluctatis iterum pugnantia rebusrupissent elementa fidem penitusque revulsocarcere laxatis pubes Titania vinclisvidisset caeleste iubar rursusque cruentus45Aegaeon positis aucto de corpore nodisobvia centeno vexasset fulmina motu.Sed Parcae vetuere minas orbique timentesante pedes soliumque ducis fudere severamcanitiem genibusque suas cum supplice fletu50admovere manus, quarum sub iure tenenturomnia, quae seriem fatorum pollice ducuntlongaque ferratis evolvunt saecula fusis.prima fero Lachesis clamabat talia regiincultas dispersa comas:“O maxime noctis55arbiter umbrarumque potens, cui nostra laborantstamina, qui finem cunctis et semina praebesnascendique vices alterna morte rependis,qui vitam letumque regis (nam quidquid ubiquegignit materies, hoc te donante creatur60debeturque tibi certisque ambagibus aevi

proelia moturus superis, quod solus egeret

conubiis sterilesque diu consumeret annos

impatiens nescire torum nullasque mariti35

inlecebras nec dulce patris cognoscere nomen.

iam quaecumque latent ferali monstra barathro

in turmas aciemque ruunt contraque Tonantem

coniurant Furiae, crinitaque sontibus hydris

Tesiphone quatiens infausto lumine pinum40

armatos ad castra vocat pallentia Manes,

paene reluctatis iterum pugnantia rebus

rupissent elementa fidem penitusque revulso

carcere laxatis pubes Titania vinclis

vidisset caeleste iubar rursusque cruentus45

Aegaeon positis aucto de corpore nodis

obvia centeno vexasset fulmina motu.

Sed Parcae vetuere minas orbique timentes

ante pedes soliumque ducis fudere severam

canitiem genibusque suas cum supplice fletu50

admovere manus, quarum sub iure tenentur

omnia, quae seriem fatorum pollice ducunt

longaque ferratis evolvunt saecula fusis.

prima fero Lachesis clamabat talia regi

incultas dispersa comas:

“O maxime noctis55

arbiter umbrarumque potens, cui nostra laborant

stamina, qui finem cunctis et semina praebes

nascendique vices alterna morte rependis,

qui vitam letumque regis (nam quidquid ubique

gignit materies, hoc te donante creatur60

debeturque tibi certisque ambagibus aevi

[297]in swelling anger, threatening war upon the gods, because he alone was unwed and had long wasted the years in childless state, brooking no longer to lack the joys of wedlock and a husband’s happiness nor ever to know the dear name of father. Now all the monsters that lurk in Hell’s abyss rush together in warlike bands, and the Furies bind themselves with an oath against the Thunderer. Tisiphone, the bloody snakes clustering on her head, shakes the lurid pine-torch and summons to the ghostly camp the armèd shades. Almost had the elements, once more at war with reluctant nature, broken their bond; the Titan brood, their deep prison-house thrown open and their fetters cast off, had again seen heaven’s light; and once more bloody Aegaeon, bursting the knotted ropes that bound his huge form, had warred against the thunderbolts of Jove with hundred-handed blows.But the dread Fates brought these threats to naught, and, fearing for the world, gravely laid their hoary locks before the feet and throne of the lord of Hell, and with suppliant tears touched his knees with their hands—those hands beneath whose rule are all things set, whose thumbs twist the thread of fate and spin the long ages with their iron spindles. First Lachesis, her hair unkempt and disordered, thus called out upon the cruel king: “Great lord of night, ruler over the shades, thou at whose command our threads are spun, who appointest the end and origin of all things and ordainest the alternation of birth and destruction; arbiter thou of life and death—for whatsoever thing comes anywhere into being it is by thy gift that it is created and owes its life to thee, and after a fixed

[297]

in swelling anger, threatening war upon the gods, because he alone was unwed and had long wasted the years in childless state, brooking no longer to lack the joys of wedlock and a husband’s happiness nor ever to know the dear name of father. Now all the monsters that lurk in Hell’s abyss rush together in warlike bands, and the Furies bind themselves with an oath against the Thunderer. Tisiphone, the bloody snakes clustering on her head, shakes the lurid pine-torch and summons to the ghostly camp the armèd shades. Almost had the elements, once more at war with reluctant nature, broken their bond; the Titan brood, their deep prison-house thrown open and their fetters cast off, had again seen heaven’s light; and once more bloody Aegaeon, bursting the knotted ropes that bound his huge form, had warred against the thunderbolts of Jove with hundred-handed blows.

But the dread Fates brought these threats to naught, and, fearing for the world, gravely laid their hoary locks before the feet and throne of the lord of Hell, and with suppliant tears touched his knees with their hands—those hands beneath whose rule are all things set, whose thumbs twist the thread of fate and spin the long ages with their iron spindles. First Lachesis, her hair unkempt and disordered, thus called out upon the cruel king: “Great lord of night, ruler over the shades, thou at whose command our threads are spun, who appointest the end and origin of all things and ordainest the alternation of birth and destruction; arbiter thou of life and death—for whatsoever thing comes anywhere into being it is by thy gift that it is created and owes its life to thee, and after a fixed

[298]rursus corporeos animae mittuntur in artus):ne pete firmatas pacis dissolvere leges,quas dedimus nevitque colus, neu foedera fratrumcivili converte tuba. cur impia tollis65signa? quid incestis aperis Titanibus auras?posce Iovem; dabitur coniunx.”Vix illa[119]: peperciterubuitque preces, animusque relanguit atroxquamvis indocilis flecti: ceu turbine raucocum gravis armatur Boreas glacieque nivali70hispidus et Getica concretus grandine pennasdisrumpit pelagus, silvas camposque sonoroflamine rapturus; si forte adversus aënosAeolus obiecit postes, vanescit inanisimpetus et fractae redeunt in claustra procellae.75Tunc Maia genitum, qui fervida dicta reportet,imperat acciri. Cyllenius adstitit alessomniferam quatiens virgam tectusque galero.ipse rudi fultus solio nigraque verendusmaiestate sedet: squalent inmania foedo80sceptra situ; sublime caput maestissima nubesasperat et dirae riget inclementia formae;terrorem dolor augebat. tunc talia celsoore tonat (tremefacta silent dicente tyrannoatria: latratum triplicem compescuit ingens85ianitor et presso lacrimarum fonte reseditCocytos tacitisque Acheron obmutuit undiset Phlegethonteae requierunt murmura ripae):[119]illaς; Birt readsillewith the betterMSS.[299]cycle of years them sendest souls once more into mortal bodies—seek not to break the stablished treaty of peace which our distaffs have spun and given thee, and overturn not in civil war the compact fixed ’twixt thee and thy two brothers. Why raisest thou unrighteous standards of war? Why freest the foul band of Titans to the open air? Ask of Jove; he will give thee a wife.”Scarce had she spoken when Pluto stopped, shamed by her prayer, and his grim spirit grew mild though little wont to be curbed: even so great Boreas, armed with strident blasts and tempestuous with congealed snow, his wings all frozen with Getic hail as he seeks battle, threatens to overwhelm the sea, the woods, and the fields with sounding storm; but should Aeolus chance to bar against him the brazen doors idly his fury dies away and his storms retire baulked to their prison-house.Then he bids summon Mercury, the son of Maia, that he may carry these flaming words to Jove. Straightway the wingèd god of Cyllene stands at his side shaking his sleepy wand, his herald cap upon his head. Pluto himself sits propped on his rugged throne, awful in funereal majesty; foul with age-long dust is his mighty sceptre; boding clouds make grim his lofty head; unpitying is the stiffness of his dread shape; rage heightened the terror of his aspect. Then with uplifted head he thunders forth these words, while, as the tyrant speaks, his halls tremble and are still; the massy hound, guardian of the gate, restrains the barking of his triple head, and Cocytus sinks back repressing his fount of tears; Acheron is dumb with silent wave, and the banks of Phlegethon cease their murmuring.

[298]

rursus corporeos animae mittuntur in artus):ne pete firmatas pacis dissolvere leges,quas dedimus nevitque colus, neu foedera fratrumcivili converte tuba. cur impia tollis65signa? quid incestis aperis Titanibus auras?posce Iovem; dabitur coniunx.”Vix illa[119]: peperciterubuitque preces, animusque relanguit atroxquamvis indocilis flecti: ceu turbine raucocum gravis armatur Boreas glacieque nivali70hispidus et Getica concretus grandine pennasdisrumpit pelagus, silvas camposque sonoroflamine rapturus; si forte adversus aënosAeolus obiecit postes, vanescit inanisimpetus et fractae redeunt in claustra procellae.75Tunc Maia genitum, qui fervida dicta reportet,imperat acciri. Cyllenius adstitit alessomniferam quatiens virgam tectusque galero.ipse rudi fultus solio nigraque verendusmaiestate sedet: squalent inmania foedo80sceptra situ; sublime caput maestissima nubesasperat et dirae riget inclementia formae;terrorem dolor augebat. tunc talia celsoore tonat (tremefacta silent dicente tyrannoatria: latratum triplicem compescuit ingens85ianitor et presso lacrimarum fonte reseditCocytos tacitisque Acheron obmutuit undiset Phlegethonteae requierunt murmura ripae):

rursus corporeos animae mittuntur in artus):

ne pete firmatas pacis dissolvere leges,

quas dedimus nevitque colus, neu foedera fratrum

civili converte tuba. cur impia tollis65

signa? quid incestis aperis Titanibus auras?

posce Iovem; dabitur coniunx.”

Vix illa[119]: pepercit

erubuitque preces, animusque relanguit atrox

quamvis indocilis flecti: ceu turbine rauco

cum gravis armatur Boreas glacieque nivali70

hispidus et Getica concretus grandine pennas

disrumpit pelagus, silvas camposque sonoro

flamine rapturus; si forte adversus aënos

Aeolus obiecit postes, vanescit inanis

impetus et fractae redeunt in claustra procellae.75

Tunc Maia genitum, qui fervida dicta reportet,

imperat acciri. Cyllenius adstitit ales

somniferam quatiens virgam tectusque galero.

ipse rudi fultus solio nigraque verendus

maiestate sedet: squalent inmania foedo80

sceptra situ; sublime caput maestissima nubes

asperat et dirae riget inclementia formae;

terrorem dolor augebat. tunc talia celso

ore tonat (tremefacta silent dicente tyranno

atria: latratum triplicem compescuit ingens85

ianitor et presso lacrimarum fonte resedit

Cocytos tacitisque Acheron obmutuit undis

et Phlegethonteae requierunt murmura ripae):

[119]illaς; Birt readsillewith the betterMSS.

[299]cycle of years them sendest souls once more into mortal bodies—seek not to break the stablished treaty of peace which our distaffs have spun and given thee, and overturn not in civil war the compact fixed ’twixt thee and thy two brothers. Why raisest thou unrighteous standards of war? Why freest the foul band of Titans to the open air? Ask of Jove; he will give thee a wife.”Scarce had she spoken when Pluto stopped, shamed by her prayer, and his grim spirit grew mild though little wont to be curbed: even so great Boreas, armed with strident blasts and tempestuous with congealed snow, his wings all frozen with Getic hail as he seeks battle, threatens to overwhelm the sea, the woods, and the fields with sounding storm; but should Aeolus chance to bar against him the brazen doors idly his fury dies away and his storms retire baulked to their prison-house.Then he bids summon Mercury, the son of Maia, that he may carry these flaming words to Jove. Straightway the wingèd god of Cyllene stands at his side shaking his sleepy wand, his herald cap upon his head. Pluto himself sits propped on his rugged throne, awful in funereal majesty; foul with age-long dust is his mighty sceptre; boding clouds make grim his lofty head; unpitying is the stiffness of his dread shape; rage heightened the terror of his aspect. Then with uplifted head he thunders forth these words, while, as the tyrant speaks, his halls tremble and are still; the massy hound, guardian of the gate, restrains the barking of his triple head, and Cocytus sinks back repressing his fount of tears; Acheron is dumb with silent wave, and the banks of Phlegethon cease their murmuring.

[299]

cycle of years them sendest souls once more into mortal bodies—seek not to break the stablished treaty of peace which our distaffs have spun and given thee, and overturn not in civil war the compact fixed ’twixt thee and thy two brothers. Why raisest thou unrighteous standards of war? Why freest the foul band of Titans to the open air? Ask of Jove; he will give thee a wife.”

Scarce had she spoken when Pluto stopped, shamed by her prayer, and his grim spirit grew mild though little wont to be curbed: even so great Boreas, armed with strident blasts and tempestuous with congealed snow, his wings all frozen with Getic hail as he seeks battle, threatens to overwhelm the sea, the woods, and the fields with sounding storm; but should Aeolus chance to bar against him the brazen doors idly his fury dies away and his storms retire baulked to their prison-house.

Then he bids summon Mercury, the son of Maia, that he may carry these flaming words to Jove. Straightway the wingèd god of Cyllene stands at his side shaking his sleepy wand, his herald cap upon his head. Pluto himself sits propped on his rugged throne, awful in funereal majesty; foul with age-long dust is his mighty sceptre; boding clouds make grim his lofty head; unpitying is the stiffness of his dread shape; rage heightened the terror of his aspect. Then with uplifted head he thunders forth these words, while, as the tyrant speaks, his halls tremble and are still; the massy hound, guardian of the gate, restrains the barking of his triple head, and Cocytus sinks back repressing his fount of tears; Acheron is dumb with silent wave, and the banks of Phlegethon cease their murmuring.

[300]“Atlantis Tegeaee nepos, commune profundiset superis numen, qui fas per limen utrumque90solus habes geminoque facis commercia mundo,i celer et proscinde Notos et iussa superboredde Iovi: ‘tantumne tibi, saevissime frater,in me iuris erit? sic nobis noxia virescum caelo Fortuna tulit? num robur et arma95perdidimus, si rapta dies? an forte iacentesignavosque putas, quod non Cyclopia telastringimus aut vanas tonitru deludimus auras?nonne satis visum, grati quod luminis experstertia supremae patior dispendia sortis100informesque plagas, cum te laetissimus ornetSignifer et vario cingant splendore Triones;sed thalamis etiam prohibes? Nereia glaucoNeptunum gremio complectitur Amphitrite;te consanguineo recipit post fulmina fessum105Iuno sinu. quid enim narrem Latonia furta,quid Cererem magnamque Themin? tibi tanta creandicopia; te felix natorum turba coronat.ast ego deserta maerens inglorius aulaimplacidas nullo solabor pignore curas?110non adeo toleranda quies. primordia testornoctis et horrendae stagna intemerata paludis:si dicto parere negas, patefacta cieboTartara, Saturni veteres laxabo catenas,obducam tenebris solem, compage soluta115lucidus umbroso miscebitur axis Averno.’”[301]“Grandchild of Atlas, Arcadian-born, deity that sharest hell and heaven, thou who alone hast the right to cross either threshold, and art the intermediary between the two worlds, go swiftly, cleave the winds, and bear these my behests to proud Jove. ‘Hast thou, cruel brother, such complete authority over me? Did injurious fortune rob me at once of power and light? Because day was reft from me, lost I therefore strength and weapons? Thinkest thou me humble and cowed because I hurl not bolts forged by the Cyclops and fool not the empty air with thunder? Is it not enough that deprived of the pleasant light of day I submit to the ill-fortune of the third and final choice and these hideous realms, whilst thee the starry heavens adorn and the Wain surrounds with twinkling brilliance—must thou also forbid our marriage? Amphitrite, daughter of Nereus, holds Neptune in her sea-grey embrace; Juno, thy sister and thy wife, takes thee to her bosom when wearied thou layest aside thy thunderbolts. What need to tell of thy secret love for Lato or Ceres or great Themis? How manifold a hope of offspring was thine! Now a crowd of happy children surrounds thee. And shall I in this empty palace, sans joy, sans fame, know no child’s love to still instant care? I will not brook so dull a life. I swear by elemental night and the unexplored shallows of the Stygian lake, if thou refuse to hearken to my word I will throw open Hell and call forth her monsters, will break Saturn’s old chains, and shroud the sun in darkness. The framework of the world shall be loosened and the shining heavens mingle with Avernus’ shades.’”

[300]

“Atlantis Tegeaee nepos, commune profundiset superis numen, qui fas per limen utrumque90solus habes geminoque facis commercia mundo,i celer et proscinde Notos et iussa superboredde Iovi: ‘tantumne tibi, saevissime frater,in me iuris erit? sic nobis noxia virescum caelo Fortuna tulit? num robur et arma95perdidimus, si rapta dies? an forte iacentesignavosque putas, quod non Cyclopia telastringimus aut vanas tonitru deludimus auras?nonne satis visum, grati quod luminis experstertia supremae patior dispendia sortis100informesque plagas, cum te laetissimus ornetSignifer et vario cingant splendore Triones;sed thalamis etiam prohibes? Nereia glaucoNeptunum gremio complectitur Amphitrite;te consanguineo recipit post fulmina fessum105Iuno sinu. quid enim narrem Latonia furta,quid Cererem magnamque Themin? tibi tanta creandicopia; te felix natorum turba coronat.ast ego deserta maerens inglorius aulaimplacidas nullo solabor pignore curas?110non adeo toleranda quies. primordia testornoctis et horrendae stagna intemerata paludis:si dicto parere negas, patefacta cieboTartara, Saturni veteres laxabo catenas,obducam tenebris solem, compage soluta115lucidus umbroso miscebitur axis Averno.’”

“Atlantis Tegeaee nepos, commune profundis

et superis numen, qui fas per limen utrumque90

solus habes geminoque facis commercia mundo,

i celer et proscinde Notos et iussa superbo

redde Iovi: ‘tantumne tibi, saevissime frater,

in me iuris erit? sic nobis noxia vires

cum caelo Fortuna tulit? num robur et arma95

perdidimus, si rapta dies? an forte iacentes

ignavosque putas, quod non Cyclopia tela

stringimus aut vanas tonitru deludimus auras?

nonne satis visum, grati quod luminis expers

tertia supremae patior dispendia sortis100

informesque plagas, cum te laetissimus ornet

Signifer et vario cingant splendore Triones;

sed thalamis etiam prohibes? Nereia glauco

Neptunum gremio complectitur Amphitrite;

te consanguineo recipit post fulmina fessum105

Iuno sinu. quid enim narrem Latonia furta,

quid Cererem magnamque Themin? tibi tanta creandi

copia; te felix natorum turba coronat.

ast ego deserta maerens inglorius aula

implacidas nullo solabor pignore curas?110

non adeo toleranda quies. primordia testor

noctis et horrendae stagna intemerata paludis:

si dicto parere negas, patefacta ciebo

Tartara, Saturni veteres laxabo catenas,

obducam tenebris solem, compage soluta115

lucidus umbroso miscebitur axis Averno.’”

[301]“Grandchild of Atlas, Arcadian-born, deity that sharest hell and heaven, thou who alone hast the right to cross either threshold, and art the intermediary between the two worlds, go swiftly, cleave the winds, and bear these my behests to proud Jove. ‘Hast thou, cruel brother, such complete authority over me? Did injurious fortune rob me at once of power and light? Because day was reft from me, lost I therefore strength and weapons? Thinkest thou me humble and cowed because I hurl not bolts forged by the Cyclops and fool not the empty air with thunder? Is it not enough that deprived of the pleasant light of day I submit to the ill-fortune of the third and final choice and these hideous realms, whilst thee the starry heavens adorn and the Wain surrounds with twinkling brilliance—must thou also forbid our marriage? Amphitrite, daughter of Nereus, holds Neptune in her sea-grey embrace; Juno, thy sister and thy wife, takes thee to her bosom when wearied thou layest aside thy thunderbolts. What need to tell of thy secret love for Lato or Ceres or great Themis? How manifold a hope of offspring was thine! Now a crowd of happy children surrounds thee. And shall I in this empty palace, sans joy, sans fame, know no child’s love to still instant care? I will not brook so dull a life. I swear by elemental night and the unexplored shallows of the Stygian lake, if thou refuse to hearken to my word I will throw open Hell and call forth her monsters, will break Saturn’s old chains, and shroud the sun in darkness. The framework of the world shall be loosened and the shining heavens mingle with Avernus’ shades.’”

[301]

“Grandchild of Atlas, Arcadian-born, deity that sharest hell and heaven, thou who alone hast the right to cross either threshold, and art the intermediary between the two worlds, go swiftly, cleave the winds, and bear these my behests to proud Jove. ‘Hast thou, cruel brother, such complete authority over me? Did injurious fortune rob me at once of power and light? Because day was reft from me, lost I therefore strength and weapons? Thinkest thou me humble and cowed because I hurl not bolts forged by the Cyclops and fool not the empty air with thunder? Is it not enough that deprived of the pleasant light of day I submit to the ill-fortune of the third and final choice and these hideous realms, whilst thee the starry heavens adorn and the Wain surrounds with twinkling brilliance—must thou also forbid our marriage? Amphitrite, daughter of Nereus, holds Neptune in her sea-grey embrace; Juno, thy sister and thy wife, takes thee to her bosom when wearied thou layest aside thy thunderbolts. What need to tell of thy secret love for Lato or Ceres or great Themis? How manifold a hope of offspring was thine! Now a crowd of happy children surrounds thee. And shall I in this empty palace, sans joy, sans fame, know no child’s love to still instant care? I will not brook so dull a life. I swear by elemental night and the unexplored shallows of the Stygian lake, if thou refuse to hearken to my word I will throw open Hell and call forth her monsters, will break Saturn’s old chains, and shroud the sun in darkness. The framework of the world shall be loosened and the shining heavens mingle with Avernus’ shades.’”

[302]Vix ea fatus erat, iam nuntius astra tenebat.audierat mandata Pater secumque volutatdiversos ducens animos, quae tale sequaturconiugium Stygiosque velit pro sole recessus.120certa requirenti tandem sententia sedit.Hennaeae Cereri proles optata virebatunica, nec tribuit subolem Lucina secundamfessaque post primos haeserunt viscera partusinfecunda quidem; sed cunctis altior extat125matribus et numeri damnum Proserpina pensat.hanc fovet, hanc sequitur: vitulam non blandius ambittorva parens, pedibus quae nondum proterit arvanec nova lunatae curvavit germina frontis.iam matura toro plenis adoleverat annis130virginitas, tenerum iam pronuba flamma pudoremsollicitat mixtaque tremit formidine votum.personat aula procis: pariter pro virgine certantMars clipeo melior, Phoebus praestantior arcu;Mars donat Rhodopen, Phoebus largitur Amyclas135et Delon Clariosque lares; hinc aemula Iuno,hinc poscit Latona nurum. despexit utrumqueflava Ceres raptusque timens (heu caeca futuri!)commendat Siculis furtim sua gaudia terris[infidis Laribus natam commisit alendam,140aethera deseruit Siculasque relegat in oras][120]ingenio confisa loci.Trinacria quondamItaliae pars iuncta fuit; sed pontus et aestusmutavere situm. rupit confinia Nereusvictor et abscissos interluit aequore montes,145[120]Heinsius bracketed these lines as spurious, and neither D nor V has l. 140.[303]Scarce had he spoken when his messenger trod the stars. The Father heard the message and, communing with himself, debated long who would dare such a marriage, who would wish to exchange the sun for the caves of Styx. He would fain decide and at length his fixed purpose grew.Ceres, whose temple is at Henna, had but one youthful daughter, a child long prayed for; for the goddess of birth granted no second offspring, and her womb, exhausted by that first labour, became unfruitful. Yet prouder is the mother above all mothers, and Proserpine such as to take the place of many. Her mother’s care and darling is she; not more lovingly does the fierce mother cow tend her calf that cannot as yet scamper over the fields and whose growing horns curve not yet moonwise over her forehead. As the years were fulfilled she had grown a maiden ripe for marriage, and thoughts of the torch of wedlock stir her girlish modesty, but while she longs for a husband she yet fears to plight troth. The voice of suitors is heard throughout the palace; two gods woo the maiden, Mars, more skilled with the shield, and Phoebus, the mightier bowman. Mars offers Rhodope, Phoebus would give Amyclae, and Delos and his temple at Claros; in rivalry Juno and Latona claim her for a son’s wife. But golden-haired Ceres disdains both, and fearing lest her daughter should be stolen away (how blind to the future!) secretly entrusts her jewel to the land of Sicily, confident in the safe nature of this hiding-place.Trinacria was once a part of Italy but sea and tide changed the face of the land. Victorious Nereus brake his bounds and interflowed the cleft mountains

[302]

Vix ea fatus erat, iam nuntius astra tenebat.audierat mandata Pater secumque volutatdiversos ducens animos, quae tale sequaturconiugium Stygiosque velit pro sole recessus.120certa requirenti tandem sententia sedit.Hennaeae Cereri proles optata virebatunica, nec tribuit subolem Lucina secundamfessaque post primos haeserunt viscera partusinfecunda quidem; sed cunctis altior extat125matribus et numeri damnum Proserpina pensat.hanc fovet, hanc sequitur: vitulam non blandius ambittorva parens, pedibus quae nondum proterit arvanec nova lunatae curvavit germina frontis.iam matura toro plenis adoleverat annis130virginitas, tenerum iam pronuba flamma pudoremsollicitat mixtaque tremit formidine votum.personat aula procis: pariter pro virgine certantMars clipeo melior, Phoebus praestantior arcu;Mars donat Rhodopen, Phoebus largitur Amyclas135et Delon Clariosque lares; hinc aemula Iuno,hinc poscit Latona nurum. despexit utrumqueflava Ceres raptusque timens (heu caeca futuri!)commendat Siculis furtim sua gaudia terris[infidis Laribus natam commisit alendam,140aethera deseruit Siculasque relegat in oras][120]ingenio confisa loci.Trinacria quondamItaliae pars iuncta fuit; sed pontus et aestusmutavere situm. rupit confinia Nereusvictor et abscissos interluit aequore montes,145

Vix ea fatus erat, iam nuntius astra tenebat.

audierat mandata Pater secumque volutat

diversos ducens animos, quae tale sequatur

coniugium Stygiosque velit pro sole recessus.120

certa requirenti tandem sententia sedit.

Hennaeae Cereri proles optata virebat

unica, nec tribuit subolem Lucina secundam

fessaque post primos haeserunt viscera partus

infecunda quidem; sed cunctis altior extat125

matribus et numeri damnum Proserpina pensat.

hanc fovet, hanc sequitur: vitulam non blandius ambit

torva parens, pedibus quae nondum proterit arva

nec nova lunatae curvavit germina frontis.

iam matura toro plenis adoleverat annis130

virginitas, tenerum iam pronuba flamma pudorem

sollicitat mixtaque tremit formidine votum.

personat aula procis: pariter pro virgine certant

Mars clipeo melior, Phoebus praestantior arcu;

Mars donat Rhodopen, Phoebus largitur Amyclas135

et Delon Clariosque lares; hinc aemula Iuno,

hinc poscit Latona nurum. despexit utrumque

flava Ceres raptusque timens (heu caeca futuri!)

commendat Siculis furtim sua gaudia terris

[infidis Laribus natam commisit alendam,140

aethera deseruit Siculasque relegat in oras][120]

ingenio confisa loci.

Trinacria quondam

Italiae pars iuncta fuit; sed pontus et aestus

mutavere situm. rupit confinia Nereus

victor et abscissos interluit aequore montes,145

[120]Heinsius bracketed these lines as spurious, and neither D nor V has l. 140.

[303]Scarce had he spoken when his messenger trod the stars. The Father heard the message and, communing with himself, debated long who would dare such a marriage, who would wish to exchange the sun for the caves of Styx. He would fain decide and at length his fixed purpose grew.Ceres, whose temple is at Henna, had but one youthful daughter, a child long prayed for; for the goddess of birth granted no second offspring, and her womb, exhausted by that first labour, became unfruitful. Yet prouder is the mother above all mothers, and Proserpine such as to take the place of many. Her mother’s care and darling is she; not more lovingly does the fierce mother cow tend her calf that cannot as yet scamper over the fields and whose growing horns curve not yet moonwise over her forehead. As the years were fulfilled she had grown a maiden ripe for marriage, and thoughts of the torch of wedlock stir her girlish modesty, but while she longs for a husband she yet fears to plight troth. The voice of suitors is heard throughout the palace; two gods woo the maiden, Mars, more skilled with the shield, and Phoebus, the mightier bowman. Mars offers Rhodope, Phoebus would give Amyclae, and Delos and his temple at Claros; in rivalry Juno and Latona claim her for a son’s wife. But golden-haired Ceres disdains both, and fearing lest her daughter should be stolen away (how blind to the future!) secretly entrusts her jewel to the land of Sicily, confident in the safe nature of this hiding-place.Trinacria was once a part of Italy but sea and tide changed the face of the land. Victorious Nereus brake his bounds and interflowed the cleft mountains

[303]

Scarce had he spoken when his messenger trod the stars. The Father heard the message and, communing with himself, debated long who would dare such a marriage, who would wish to exchange the sun for the caves of Styx. He would fain decide and at length his fixed purpose grew.

Ceres, whose temple is at Henna, had but one youthful daughter, a child long prayed for; for the goddess of birth granted no second offspring, and her womb, exhausted by that first labour, became unfruitful. Yet prouder is the mother above all mothers, and Proserpine such as to take the place of many. Her mother’s care and darling is she; not more lovingly does the fierce mother cow tend her calf that cannot as yet scamper over the fields and whose growing horns curve not yet moonwise over her forehead. As the years were fulfilled she had grown a maiden ripe for marriage, and thoughts of the torch of wedlock stir her girlish modesty, but while she longs for a husband she yet fears to plight troth. The voice of suitors is heard throughout the palace; two gods woo the maiden, Mars, more skilled with the shield, and Phoebus, the mightier bowman. Mars offers Rhodope, Phoebus would give Amyclae, and Delos and his temple at Claros; in rivalry Juno and Latona claim her for a son’s wife. But golden-haired Ceres disdains both, and fearing lest her daughter should be stolen away (how blind to the future!) secretly entrusts her jewel to the land of Sicily, confident in the safe nature of this hiding-place.

Trinacria was once a part of Italy but sea and tide changed the face of the land. Victorious Nereus brake his bounds and interflowed the cleft mountains

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