Page:Statius (Mozley 1928) v1.djvu/49

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SILVAE, I. i. 42–65

Temese[1] has exhausted the wealth of all her mines; a cloak hangs from thy shoulders; the sword sleeps by thy untroubled side: even so vast a blade does threatening Orion wield on winter nights and terrify the stars. But the steed, counterfeiting the proud mien and high mettle of a horse, tosses his head in greater spirit and makes as though to move; the mane stands stiff upon his neck, his shoulders thrill with life, and his flanks spread wide enough for those mighty spurs; in place of a clod of empty earth his brazen hoof tramples the hair of captive Rhine. Seeing him, Adrastus’ horse Arion[2] would have been sore afraid, yea Castor’s Cyllarus fears as he looks forth upon him from his neighbouring temple. Never will this steed suffer another master’s rein; this curb is his for ever, one star, and one star only will he serve. Scarce doth the soil hold, and the ground pants beneath the pressure of so vast a weight; and not of iron or bronze: ’tis under thy deity it trembles, ay, even should an everlasting rock support thee, such as would bear the peaks of a mountain piled upon it, or have endured to be pressed by the knee of heaven-sustaining Atlas.

No lengthy tarrying drew out the time. The present beauty of the god itself makes labour sweet, and the workmen intent upon their task marvel at their greater vigour. Towering cranes creak and rattle; continuous runs the roar over the seven heights of Mars, and drowns the wandering noises of mighty Rome.

  1. ↑ A town in Bruttii, on the west coast, famous for copper-mines; cf. Odyssey, i. 184.
  2. ↑ The horse of Adrastus, king of Argos, leader of the Seven against Thebes; see Theb. vi. 301. Neptune was supposed to have been his father.

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