Page:Statius (Mozley 1928) v1.djvu/125

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SILVAE, II. i. 125–147

infancy still was near, had begun to draw level with the toils of Hercules; yet already was he firm of stride, and his height outstripped his dress, and the garments seemed to shrink upon the lad, for what garments, what apparel did not thy kindly lord hasten to procure thee? He constrained not thy breast in a narrow tunic,[1] nor cramped thy shoulders in a straitening cloak; nor did he drape thee in large, ill-fitting folds, but ever suiting the raiment to thy years now garbed thee in scarlet, now in grass-green clothing, now in the soft blush of purple, or rejoiced to kindle the flash of gems upon thy fingers; unfailing was thy attendant train, unfailing were his gifts; the bordered robe[2] alone was lacking to thy modest beauty.

Such was the fortune of that house. Suddenly Fate lifted her hand to strike. Wherefore, O goddess, dost thou banefully unsheathe those cruel talons? Doth not his beauty move thee, or his piteous tender age? Fierce Procne would not have had the heart to rend him for her lord, nor would the savage Colchian have persisted in her cruel ire, even though he had been the son of Aeolian Creusa; from him would grim Athamas have turned aside his maddened bow; Ulysses though hating Hector’s ashes and Troy full sore would have wept to hurl him from the Phrygian towers.[3] ’Tis the seventh day, and already those eyes are dull and cold, and Juno of the underworld hath clasped him and seized

  1. ↑ Or, keeping the MS. reading, translate “he would fasten a short tunic on thy chest, and contract the web with a narrow Cloak.” Cf. Theb. vi. 74 ff. In any case the meaning, first made clear by Macnaghten (Journ. Phil., 1891), is that Glaucias was always given clothes which fitted exactly, neither too large nor too small.
  2. ↑ The toga with a purple border, worn by free-born children up to the age of 16. Glaucias was slave-born.
  3. ↑ Procne slew her son Itys and gave him as food to her husband Tereus; Medea was deserted by Jason for Creusa; Aeolian = Corinthian, because Sisyphus, King of Corinth, was son of Aeolus, cf. “Sisyphii portus,” Theb. ii. 380; Athamas in madness slew his son Learchus; Astyanax, son of Hector, was flung by Ulysses from the walls of Troy.

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