Page:Statius (Mozley 1928) v1.djvu/147

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

SILVAE, II. iii. 6–32

Phoebus? Do you, O Naiads, relate the cause, and you, compliant Fauns—ye will suffice—inspire my song.

Frightened troops of Nymphs were fleeing from Pan; on he came, as though all were his quarry, yet on Pholoe alone was he bent. By copse and stream she fled, shunning now the hairy following limbs, now the wanton horns. Through Janus’ grove,[1] scene of battles, and Cacus’ deadly haunts; through the fields of Quirinus she came running a-tiptoe and gained the Caelian wilds; there at last wearied out and fordone with fear—where to-day stands the quiet home of hospitable Melior—she gathered her saffron robe closer about her, and sank down on the edge of the snow-white bank. Swiftly follows the shepherd-god, and deems the maid his bride; already he allays the panting of his fevered breast, already he hovers lightly o’er his prey. Lo! with speedy steps Diana approaches, as she ranges the seven hills and tracks the flight of a deer on Aventine; the goddess was vexed to see it, and turning to her trusty comrades: “Shall I never keep this unseemly, wanton brood from lustful rapine? Must my chaste band of followers ever grow fewer?” So speaking she drew a short shaft from her quiver, but sped it not from the bent bow or with the wonted twang, but was content to fling it with one hand, and touched—so ’tis said—the left hand of the drowsy Naiad with the arrow-feathers. She awaking beheld at once the day and her wanton foe, and lest she should bare her snow-white limbs plunged just as she was with all her raiment into the lake, and at the

  1. ↑ The precinct of Janus was at the foot of the Capitol, the den of Cacus on the Aventine, on which hill was a shrine of Diana.

109

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.