Page:Statius (Mozley 1928) v1.djvu/161

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SILVAE, II. vi. 38–60

stars. No womanly charm was in thy countenance, no effeminate grace upon thy brow, as with those whom after the reproach of fading beauty men bid lose their sex,[1] but an earnest, manly beauty was thine; nor was thy gaze insolent, but thine eye was gentle yet stern with fire, like Parthenopaeus to behold, when now decked in his helm[2]; simple the ruffled charm of thy locks, thy cheeks not covered yet, but bright with their first down: such are the lads that Eurotas nurtures by Leda’s stream, such the boys that in the unstained freshness of boyhood go to Elis,[3] and approve their budding youth to Jove. How indeed in song can I trace the growth of modesty in his young mind, of his calm steadiness of character and a spirit riper than his years? Often would he chide his willing lord, and aid him with deep and zealous counsel; he shared thy joys and sorrows, nor ever lived to himself, but guided his looks by thy countenance; worthy was he to exceed in fame the Haemonian Pylades[4] and the Athenians’ loyalty[5]; but let not his praise o’erstep his fortune: not more faithfully did Eumaeus, sick at heart, long for the return of tardy Ulysses.

What god, what chance makes choice of wounds so deadly? whence are the Fates so unerring in their power to harm? Ah! how much braver, Ursus, hadst thou been, stripped of thy wealth and

  1. ↑ i.e., when the boyish beauty is beginning to fade into manhood. Others take “crimina dubiae formae” as “the crime that causes ambiguous appearance” (crime, because forbidden by Domitian, cf. iii. 4. 73, iv. 3. 13).
  2. ↑ Parthenopaeus was one of the Seven against Thebes (see Theb. ix. 699), a warrior with the look of a maiden; the name means “maiden-faced.”
  3. ↑ i.e., to the Olympian games.
  4. ↑ i.e., Patroclus (Haemonian = Thessalian), as faithful to Achilles as Pylades was to Orestes.
  5. ↑ Of Theseus to Pirithous (Cecrops, ancient king of Athens).

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