Page:Statius (Mozley 1928) v1.djvu/61

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SILVAE, I. ii. 83–110

None ever, mother, have I so fiercely pressed, thrusting home oft-repeated wounds. And yet I saw eager Hippomenes[1] run the cruel course, but even at the very goal he was not so pale; and I saw, too, the youth of Abydos,[2] whose arms did vie with oars, and praised his skill and often shone before him as he swam: yet less was that heat wherewith the savage sea grew warm; thou, O youth, hast surpassed those loves of old. I myself, amazed that thou couldest endure such gusts of passion, have strengthened thy resolve and wiped thy streaming eyes with soothing plumes. How oft has Apollo complained to me of his poet’s grief! Grant him at last, O Mother, the bride of his desire. Our comrade is he, and loyally bears our standard; he could tell of armed prowess and heroes’ famous deeds and fields flowing with blood, but his quill is dedicate to thee and he prefers to walk in gentle poethood and twine our myrtle with bay. The follies of lovers are his theme, and his own or others’ wounds; O Mother, what reverence hath he for thy Paphian godhead! ’twas he that bewailed the death of our poor dove.”[3]

He made an end, and from his mother’s soft neck hung persuasive, making her bosom warm with his covering wings. With a look that scorned not his petition she replied: “A large request and rarely granted e’en to lovers that I myself have proved, this of Pieria’s young votary! Marvelling at this maiden’s peerless beauty, that rivalled the glory of her sires and her family’s renown, I took her to me at her birth and cherished her in my bosom: nor, child, has my hand grown weary of giving comeliness

  1. ↑ The successful suitor to the hand of Atalanta, whom he defeated in a race.
  2. ↑ i.e., Leander.
  3. ↑ Stella, we may gather, had written a poem on the death of a dove (a bird sacred to Venus); the parallel of Lesbia’s sparrow (Catullus 2, 3), suggests that the dove was Violentilla’s.

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