Page:Statius (Mozley 1928) v1.djvu/223

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SILVAE, III. iii. 209—iv. 12

and for the last time farewell! Never while thy son lives shalt thou suffer the despair of Tartarus, or the sorrow of a grave forgotten. Ever shall thy altar exhale the scent of flowers, ever shall thy happy urn drink Assyrian perfumes, and tears, a greater honour. Thy son shall make sacrifice to thy spirit, and from thy own soil raise a monument to thee. My song too, won by his own worth, he dedicates to thee, glad to have given this sepulchre also to thy ashes.

IV. THE TRESSES OF FLAVIUS EARINUS


A poem upon the dedication of the tresses of the Emperor’s favourite Earinus; they were to be sent in a golden box to the temple of Asclepius at Pergamum, his birthplace. The dedication of hair was an ancient Greek custom (cf. Achilles in the lliad), and should not be confused with the first clipping of the beard, for which see Petronius, 29, Suetonius, Nero, 12, Juvenal, viii. 166. Martial has similar poems, ix. 16, 17, 36.


Speed, ye tresses, and may ocean smile upon your passage! Speed, while ye softly rest upon the enwreathed gold! Speed onward, for gentle Venus will give you a fair voyage, and make the South winds tranquil, and perchance will take you from the dangerous bark and convey you over the sea in her own shell. Accept, O son of Phoebus,[1] these much-praised locks that Caesar’s favourite presents to thee, accept them joyfully and show them to thy unshorn sire. Let him compare their beauteous sheen, and long deem them the tresses of his brother Lyaeus. Perchance too with his own hand he will shear a lock from his hair’s unfailing glory, and enclose it for thee in other gold.

Pergamus, more blest by far than pine-clad Ida,

  1. ↑ Asclepius

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