Page:Statius (Mozley 1928) v1.djvu/459

thy weight of cares! ’Tis not the sundering of our marriage-bond that moves me, nor a widowed youth; although our love is still fresh, nor has our couch yet since the bridal lost the first glow of passion. ’Tis thy own safety, O beloved—I hasten to confess it—that wrings my heart. Wilt thou seek thy realm unarmed, unfriended, and be able to quit thine own Thebes, should he refuse it? Yea, Report, that is ever cunning to catch the mind of princes, tells that he is proud and arrogant in his stolen power, and ill-disposed to hear thee; nor had he yet reigned a full year.^[1] Terrified too am I now by soothsayers, now by entrails that speak of threatening gods, by flight of birds, or by disturbing visions of the night; and ah! never do I call to mind that Juno came falsely to me in my dreams. Whither doth thy journey lead thee? except it be a secretly cherished passion that draws thee to Thebes, and union withanobler house.” Then at last the Echionian youth brief-laughing consoled his wife’s tender grief, and set timely kisses on her sorrowful cheeks and stayed her tears: “Free thy mind of fear; prudent counsels, believe me, win peaceful days; cares beyond thy years become thee not. But should one day the Saturnian father take knowledge of my fate, and Justice, if she think at all to glance down from heaven and defend the right on earth: then perchance that day shall dawn for thee, when thou shalt see thy husband’s walls, and go in queenly pomp through two cities.”

So saying he hurried forth from the chamber that he loved, and sadly accosts Tydeus, already the partner of his enterprise, already sharing his troubles