Page:Statius (Mozley 1928) v1.djvu/311

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SILVAE, V. i. 51–78

graces of the soul are praised for ancestry or gift of loveliness; and falsely great they lack a true renown;[1] but though a brilliant lineage was thine, and the blessing of a beauty that husbands would prize, yet thy own boast is prouder, that thou knewest but one bed, didst feed but one passion in thy secret heart. That love no Phrygian ravisher would have outraged, no Dulichian suitors, nor that adulterer who polluted his brother’s innocent spouse with Mycenaean gold.[2] Ay, did you offer the riches of Babylon or weight of Lydian treasure or the lordly wealth of Ind or Araby or China, she had preferred to die poor in untainted chastity, and given her life to save her honour. Yet was there no forbidding sternness in her look, nor o’ermuch austerity in her ways, but a gay and simple loyalty, and modesty blent with charm. Yet if some dread crisis had summoned her to harder tasks, gladly would she have borne on her lord’s behalf the assault of armed bands or the lightning’s stroke or the perils of mid-ocean. Happier was thy fate, that adversity ne’er proved how true thy devotion, how great thy anxiety for thy spouse. Ay, happier was thy path, and thy prayers merited heaven’s favour for thy husband, while day and night thou didst weary the gods, and lie prostrate at every altar and adore the present godhead of our gentle lord. Thy prayers were heard, and Fortune came with favouring step. For he beheld the quiet industry, the unsullied devotion of a loyal youth, whose mind was busy with schemes, whose alert intelligence and sober judgement were

  1. ↑ “potentes,” occasionally used in Statius = “great,” “important,” cf. i. 61, “divitias p.” = “lordly wealth,” and v. 2. 29.
  2. ↑ Paris, the wooers of Penelope, Thyestes who seduced Aërope the wife of Atreus.

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