Page:Statius (Mozley 1928) v1.djvu/151

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SILVAE, II. iii. 63—iv. 7

small indeed, but destined perchance to live throughout long ages. Thou in whose tranquil breast dwells courteous dignity and gay, yet thoughtful virtue, refusest slothful ease and unjust power and overweening ambition, but takest the mid-path between duty and pleasure, thou whose loyalty is unstained, whose heart has known no storms, whose life is lived apart, yet ordered and planned for all to see, thou who readily spurnest gold, yet dost excel in setting thy wealth in array and bringing thy riches to the light: long mayst thou flourish and live on in youthfulness of mind and heart to rival Priam and Tithonus, and to surpass the years that thy mother and thy sire took with them to Elysium; this guerdon have they won for thee from the stern Sisters, they and the lofty fame of great-hearted Blaesus, which, preserved from silent oblivion by thy witness, shall flourish once again.[1]

IV. MELIOR’S PARROT


This elegy on Melior’s parrot recalls of course Ovid’s similar poem (Am. ii. 6), while it is also a kind of parody of Statius’s own Epicedia. For talking birds in ancient times, Pliny, Nat. Hist. x. 117, is the locus classicus.


Parrot, prince of birds, glib-tongued favourite of thy master, parrot that cleverly dost mimic human speech, who has cut short thy chatter by so sudden a stroke? Yesterday, hapless one, thou didst join our feast, though doomed to die, and we saw thee plucking the dainties of the table and moving from couch to couch till after midnight. Greetings also and well-conned words hadst thou repeated. But

  1. ↑ The praise of his patron seems to show that Melior, like Vopiscus and Pollius, cultivated an elegant leisure.

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