Page:Statius (Mozley 1928) v1.djvu/55

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SILVAE, I. ii. 2–27

the Latian hills? For whom, O Paean, dost thou ply thy quill anew and hang the eloquent ivory from thy tress-strewn shoulders? Lo! far away the goddesses troop down from musical Helicon, and toss on high with ninefold torch the flame that hallows wedded union and streams of song from Pierian fountains. Among them pert-faced Elegy draws nigh, loftier of mien than is her wont, and implores the goddesses as she goes about, fain to support her one lame foot,[1] and desires to make a tenth Muse and mingles with the Sisters unperceived. The mother of Aeneas[2] with her own hand leads forth the bride, downcast of look and the sweet blush of chastity upon her; herself she prepares the couch and the sacred rites, and with a Latin girdle dissembles her deity and tempers the brilliance of eyes and cheeks and tresses, eager to yield before the new bride.

Ah, now do I learn what day is this, what hath caused this solemn rite: ’tis thou, Stella, thou whom that choir—fling wide the gates!—is hymning; for thee Phoebus and Euhan and the swift Tegean[3] from the shades of Maenalus bring garlands. Nor do winsome Love and Grace grow weary in scattering countless blossoms and cloudy perfumes o’er thee as thou holdest close-locked the snow-white limbs of thy longed-for bride. And now roses, now lilies mixed with violets dost thou receive upon thy brow, as thou shieldest the fair face of thy mistress.

This then was the day, laid up in the white wool of the Fates, whereon the marriage-song of Stella and Violentilla should be proclaimed and sung. Let cares and fears give place, and the clever hints

  1. ↑ The elegiac couplet has the pentameter as its second line, composed of five instead of six feet; cf. Ovid, Am. iii. 1. 8 “et, puto, pes illi (Elegeia) longior alter erat.” The second line, therefore, limps. We may suppose that Stella had written love-poetry in this metre.
  2. ↑ i.e., Venus.
  3. ↑ i.e., Bacchus and Mercury.

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