Page:Statius (Mozley 1928) v1.djvu/599

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THEBAID, IV. 704–729

baffled, and the cattle seek in vain the rivers where they bathed. Even so, when ebbing Nile buries itself in mighty caverns and gathers into its mouth the life-giving streams of Eastern winters, the flood-deserted valleys steam, Egypt gapes wide and waits expectant for the roar of her sire’s waves,[1] till by dint of many prayers he give sustenance to the Pharian fields and bring on a great year of harvest.

Dry is guilty Lerna, dry Lyrcius and great Inachus, and Charadrus that rolls down boulders on his stream, bold Erasinus whom his banks ne’er contain, and Asterion like a billowy sea; oft hath he been heard on pathless uplands, oft known to break the repose of distant shepherds. But Langia alone—and she by the god’s command—preserves her waters in the silence of a secret shade. Not yet had slaughtered Archemorus[2] brought her sorrowful renown, no fame had come to the goddess; nevertheless, in far seclusion, she maintains her spring and grove. Great glory awaits the nymph, when the toiling contests of Achaean princes and the four-yearly festival of woe shall do honour to sad Hypsipyle and holy Opheltes.[3]

So then neither burning shields nor close-fitting breastplates have they power to carry—so fiercely doth fiery thirst[4] scorch them—not only their mouths and the throat’s passage are parched, but a fever rages within, their hearts beat heavily, the veins are thick congealed, and the tainted blood cleaves to the dried-up tissues; then the crumbling, sunburnt earth exhales a hot vapour. No rain of

  1. ↑ i.e., Nile, as source of Egypt’s fertility; so Tib. i. 7. 24 “Nile pater.”
  2. ↑ The name means “Beginner of Doom,” and denoted the beginning of doom for the Argive host. Cf. v. 647. Elsewhere the infant is called Opheltes.
  3. ↑ i.e., when the Nemean festival is established with its games in honour of Opheltes (the infant whom Hypsipyle nursed, and who was slain by the serpent).
  4. ↑ For other descriptions of thirst cf. iii. 328, vi. 471.

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