by Catullus
aut tereti tenuis tinnitus aere ciebant;
multis raucisonos efflabant cornua bombos
barbaraque horribili stridebat tibia cantu.
talibus amplifice vestis decorata figuris
pulvinar complexa suo velabat amictu.
In another part of the tapestry youthful Bacchus was wandering with the rout of Satyrs and the Nysa-born Sileni, seeking thee, Ariadne, and fired with thy love;... who then, busy here and there, were raging with frenzied mind, while “Evoe!” they cried tumultuously, “Evoe!” shaking their heads. Some of them were waving thyrsi with shrouded points, some tossing about the limbs of a mangled steer, some girding themselves with writhing serpents: some bearing in solemn procession dark mysteries enclosed in caskets, mysteries which the profane desire in vain to hear. Others beat timbrels with uplifted hands, or raised clear clashings with cymbals of rounded bronze: many blew horns with harsh-sounding drone, and the barbarian pipe shrilled with dreadful din. Such were the figures that richly adorned the tapestry which embraced and shrouded with its folds the royal couch.
quae postquam cupide spectando Thessala pubes
expleta est, sanctis coepit decedere divis.
hic, qualis flatu placidum mare matutino
horrificans Zephyrus procliuas incitat undas,
Aurora exoriente vagi sub limina Solis,
quae tarde primum clementi flamine pulsae
procedunt leviterque sonant plangore cachinni,
post vento crescente magis magis increbescunt,
purpureaque procul nantes ab luce refulgent:
sic tum vestibuli linquentes regia tecta
ad se quisque vago passim pede discedebant.
Now when the Thessalian youth had gazed their fill, fixing their eager eyes on these wonders, they began to give place to the holy gods. Hereupon, as the west wind ruffling the quiet sea with its breath at morn urges on the sloping waves when the Dawn is rising up to the gates of the travelling Sun, the waters slowly at first, driven by gentle breeze, step on and lightly sound with plash of laughter; then as the breeze grows fresh they crowd on close and closer, and floating afar reflect a brightness from the crimson light; so now, leaving the royal buildings of the portal, hither and thither variously with devious feet the guests passed away.
quorum post abitum princeps e vertice Pelei
advenit Chiron portans siluestria dona:
nam quoscumque ferunt campi, quos Thessala magnis
montibus ora creat, quos propter fluminis undas
aura parit flores tepidi fecunda Favoni,
hos indistinctis plexos tulit ipse corollis,
quo permulsa domus iucundo risit odore.
confestim Penios adest, viridantia Tempe,
Tempe, quae silvae cingunt super impendentes,
Minosim linquens doris celebranda choreis,
non vacuos: namque ille tulit radicitus altas
fagos ac recto proceras stipite laurus,
non sine nutanti platano lentaque sorore
flammati Phaethontis et aerea cupressu.
haec circum sedes late contexta locavit,
vestibulum ut molli velatum fronde vireret.
post hunc consequitur sollerti corde Prometheus,
extenuata gerens veteris vestigia poenae,
quam quondam silici restrictus membra catena
persolvit pendens e verticibus praeruptis.
inde pater divum sancta cum coniuge natisque
advenit caelo, te solum, Phoebe, relinquens
unigenamque simul cultricem montibus Idri:
Pelea nam tecum pariter soror aspernata est,
nec Thetidis taedas voluit celebrare iugales.
After their departure, from the top of Pelion came Chiron leading the way, and bearing woodland gifts. For all the flowers that the plains bear, all that the Thessalian region brings to birth on its mighty mountains, all the flowers that near the river’s streams the fruitful gale of warm Favonrus discloses, these he brought himself, woven in mingled garlands, cheered with whose grateful odour the house smiled its gladness. Forthwith Penëus is there, leaving verdant Tempe, Tempe girt with impendent forests [ ] to be haunted by Dorian dances; not empty-handed, for he bore, torn up by the roots, lofty beeches and tall bay-trees with upright stem, and with them the nodding plane and the swaying sister of flame-devoured Phaethon, and the tall cypress. All these he wove far and wide around their home, that the portal might be greenly embowered with soft foliage. Him follows Prometheus wise of heart, bearing the faded scars of the ancient penalty which whilom, his limbs bound fast the rock with chains, he paid, hanging from the craggy summits. Then came the Father of the gods with his divine wife and his sons, leaving thee, Phoebus, alone in heaven, and with thee thine own sister who dwells in the heights of Idrus; for as thou didst, so did thy sister scorn Peleus, nor deigned to be present at the nuptial torches of Thetis.
qui postquam niveis flexerunt sedibus artus
large multiplici constructae sunt dape mensae,
cum interea infirmo quatientes corpora motu
veridicos Parcae coeperunt edere cantus.
his corpus tremulum complectens undique vestis
candida purpurea talos incinxerat ora,
at roseae niveo residebant vertice vittae,
aeternumque manus carpebant rite laborem.
laeva colum molli lana retinebat amictum,
dextera tum leviter deducens fila supinis
formabat digitis, tum prono in pollice torquens
libratum tereti versabat turbine fusum,
atque ita decerpens aequabat semper opus dens,
laneaque aridulis haerebant morsa labellis,
quae prius in levi fuerant exstantia filo:
ante pedes autem candentis mollia lanae
vellera virgati custodibant calathisci.
haec tum clarisona pellentes vellera voce
talia divino fuderunt carmine fata,
carmine, perfidiae quod post nulla arguet aetas.
So when they had reclined their limbs on the white couches, bountifully were the tables piled with varied dainties: whilst in the meantime, swaying their bodies with palsied motion, the Parcae began to utter soothceiling chants. White raiment enfolding their aged limbs robed their ankles with a crimson border; on their snowy heads rested rosy bands, while their hands duly plied the eternal task. The left hand held the distaff clothed with soft wool; then the right hand lightly drawing out the threads with upturned fingers shaped them, then with downward thumb twirled the spindle poised with rounded whorl; and so with their teeth they still plucked the threads and made the work even. Bitten ends of wool clung to their dry lips, which had before stood out from the smooth yarn: and at their feet soft fleeces of white-shining wool were kept safe in baskets of osier. They then, as they struck the wool, sang with clear voice, and thus poured forth the Fates in divine chant. That chant no length of time shall prove untruthful.
o decus eximium magnis virtutibus augens,
Emathiae tutamen, Opis carissime nato,
accipe, quod laeta tibi pandunt luce sorores,
veridicum oraclum: sed vos, quae fata sequuntur,
currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi.
adveniet tibi iam portans optata maritis
Hesperus, adveniet fausto cum sidere coniunx,
quae tibi flexanimo mentem perfundat amore,
languidulosque paret tecum coniungere somnos,
levia substernens robusto bracchia collo.
“O thou who crownest high renown with great deeds of virtue, bulwark of Emathian power, famed for thy son to be, receive the truthful oracle which on this happy day the Sisters reveal to thee; but run ye on, drawing the woof-threads which the fates follow, ye spindles, run. “Soon will Hesperus come to thee, Hesperus, who brings longed-for gifts to the wedded, soon will come thy wife with happy star, to shed over thy spirit soul-quelling love, and join with thee languorous slumbers, laying her smooth arms under thy strong neck. Run, drawing the woof
-threads, ye spindles, run.
currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi.
nulla domus tales umquam contexit amores,
nullus amor tali coniunxit foedere amantes,
qualis adest Thetidi, qualis concordia Peleo.
currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi.
nascetur vobis expers terroris Achilles,
hostibus haud tergo, sed forti pectore notus,
qui persaepe vago victor certamine cursus
flammea praevertet celeris vestigia cervae.
“No house ever harboured such loves as these; no love ever joined lovers in such a bond as links Thetis with Peleus, Peleus with Thetis. Run, drawing the woof-threads, ye spindles, run. “There shall be born to you a son that knows not fear, Achilles, known to his enemies not by his back but by his stout breast; who right often winner in the contest of the wide-ranging race shall outstrip the flame-fleet footsteps of the flying hind. Run, drawing the woof-threads, ye spindles, run.
currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi.
non illi quisquam bello se conferet heros,
cum Phrygii Teucro manabunt sanguine
Troicaque obsidens longinquo moenia bello,
periuri Pelopis vastabit tertius heres.
currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi.
illius egregias virtutes claraque facta
saepe fatebuntur gnatorum in funere matres,
cum incultum cano solvent a vertice crinem,
putridaque infirmis variabunt pectora palmis.
“Against him not a hero shall match himself in war, when the Phrygian streams shall flow with Teucrian blood, and the third heir of Pelops shall lay waste the Trojan walls, with tedious war beleaguering. Run, drawing the woof-threads, ye spindles, run. “The hero’s surpassing achievements and renowned deeds often shall mothers awn at the burial of their sons, loosing dishevelled hair from hoary head, and marring their withered breasts with weak hands. Run, drawing the woof-threads, ye spindles, run.
currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi.
namque velut densas praecerpens messor aristas
sole sub ardenti flaventia demetit arua,
Troiugenum infesto prosternet corpora ferro.
currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi.
testis erit magnis virtutibus unda Scamandri,
quae passim rapido diffunditur Hellesponto,
cuius iter caesis angustans corporum acervis
alta tepefaciet permixta flumina caede.
currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi.
“For as the husbandman cropping the thick ears of corn under the burning sun mows down the yellow fields, so shall he lay low with foeman’s steel the bodies of the sons of Troy. Run, drawing the woof-threads, ye spindles, run. “Witness of his great deeds of valour shall be the wave of Scamander which pours itself forth abroad in the current of Hellespont, whose channel he shall choke with heaps of slain corpses, and make the deep streams warm with mingled blood. Run, drawing the woof-threads, ye spindles, run.
* * * * *
denique testis erit morti quoque reddita praeda,
cum teres excelso coaceruatum aggere bustum
excipiet niveos perculsae virginis artus.
currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi.
nam simul ac fessis dederit fors copiam Achivis
urbis Dardaniae Neptunia solvere vincla,
alta Polyxenia madefient caede sepulcra;
quae, velut ancipiti succumbens victima ferro,
proiciet truncum summisso poplite corpus.
currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi.
“Lastly, witness too shall be the prize assigned to him in death, when the rounded barrow heaped up with lofty mound shall receive the snowy limbs of the slaughtered maiden. Run, drawing the woof-threads, ye spindles, run. “For so soon as Fortune shall give to the weary Achaeans power to loose the Neptune-forged circlet of the Dardanian town, the high tomb shall be wetted with Polyxena’s blood, who like a victim falling under the two-edged steel, shall bend her knee and bow her headless trunk. Run, drawing the woof-threads, ye spindles, run.
quare agite optatos animi coniungite amores.
accipiat coniunx felici foedere divam,
dedatur cupido iam dudum nupta marito.
currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi.
non illam nutrix orienti luce revisens
hesterno collum poterit circumdare filo,
anxia nec mater discordis maesta puellae
secubitu caros mittet sperare nepotes.
currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi.
“Come then, unite the loves which your souls desire: let the husband receive in happy bonds the goddess, let the bride be given up — nay now! — to her eager spouse. Run, drawing the woof-threads, ye spindles, run. “When her nurse visits her again with the morning light, she will not be able to circle her neck with yesterday’s riband; nor shall her anxious mother, saddened by lone-lying of an unkindly bride, give up the hope of dear descendants. Run, drawing the woof-threads, ye spindles, run.”
talia praefantes quondam felicia Pelei
carmina divino cecinerunt pectore Parcae.
praesentes namque ante domos invisere castas
heroum, et sese mortali ostendere coetu,
caelicolae nondum spreta pietate solebant.
saepe pater divum templo in fulgente revisens,
annua cum festis venissent sacra diebus,
conspexit terra centum procumbere tauros.
saepe vagus Liber Parnasi vertice summo
Thyiadas effusis euantis crinibus egit,
cum Delphi tota certatim ex urbe ruentes
acciperent laeti divum fumantibus aris.
saepe in letifero belli certamine Mavors
aut rapidi Tritonis era aut Amarunsia virgo
armatas hominum est praesens hortata catervas.
Such strains of divination, foreboding happiness to Peleus, sang the Fates from prophetic breast in days of yore. For in bodily presence of old, before religion was despised, the heavenly ones were wont to visit pious homes of heroes, and show themselves to mortal company. Often the Father of the gods coming down again, in his bright temple, when yearly feasts had come on his holy days, saw a hundred bulls fall to the ground. Often Liber roving on the topmost height of Parnassus drove the Thyades crying “Evoe!” with flying hair, when the Delphians, racing eagerly from all the town, joyfully received the god with smoking altars. Often in the death-bearing strife of war Mavors or the Lady of swift Triton or the Rhamnusian Virgin by their presence stirred up the courage of armed bands of men.
sed postquam tellus scelere est imbuta nefando
iustitiamque omnes cupida de mente fugarunt,
perfudere manus fraterno sanguine fratres,
destitit extinctos gnatus lugere parentes,
optavit genitor primaevi funera nati,
liber ut innuptae poteretur flore novercae,
ignaro mater substernens se impia nato
impia non verita est divos scelerare penates.
omnia fanda nefanda malo permixta furore
iustificam nobis mentem avertere deorum.
quare nec talis dignantur visere coetus,
nec se contingi patiuntur lumine claro.
But when the earth was dyed with hideous crime, and all men banished justice from their greedy souls, and brothers sprinkled their hands with brothers’ blood, the son left off to mourn his parents’ death, the father wished for the death of his young son, that he might without hindrance enjoy the flower of a young bride, the unnatural mother impiously coupling with her unconscious son did not fear to sin against parental gods: — then all right and wrong, confounded in impious madness, turned from us the righteous will of the gods. Wherefore they deign not to visit such companies, nor endure the touch of clear daylight.
LXV. ad Ortalum
Etsi me assiduo confectum cura dolore
sevocat a doctis, Ortale, virginibus,<
br />
nec potis est dulcis Musarum expromere fetus
mens animi, tantis fluctuat ipsa malis —
namque mei nuper Lethaeo in gurgite fratris
pallidulum manans alluit unda pedem,
Troia Rhoeteo quem subter litore tellus
ereptum nostris obterit ex oculis.
* * * * * * * *
LXV. To Hortalus
THOUGH I am worn out with constant grief, Hortalus, and sorrow calls me away, apart from the learned Maids, nor can the thoughts of my heart utter the sweet births of the Muses, tossed as it is with such waves of trouble; — so lately the creeping wave of the Lethaean flood has lapped my own brother’s death-pale foot, on whom, torn away from our sight, under the shore of Rhoeteum the soil of Troy lies heavy.
* * * *
numquam ego te, vita frater amabilior,
aspiciam posthac? at certe semper amabo,
semper maesta tua carmina morte canam,
qualia sub densis ramorum concinit umbris
Daulias, absumpti fata gemens Ityli —
sed tamen in tantis maeroribus, Ortale, mitto
haec expressa tibi carmina Battiadae,
ne tua dicta vagis nequiquam credita ventis
effluxisse meo forte putes animo,
ut missum sponsi furtivo munere malum
procurrit casto virginis e gremio,
quod miserae oblitae molli sub veste locatum,
dum adventu matris prosilit, excutitur,
atque illud prono praeceps agitur decursu,
huic manat tristi conscius ore rubor.
Never shall I speak to thee, never hear thee tell of thy life; never shall I see thee again, brother more beloved than life: but surely I shall always love thee, always sing strains of mourning for thy death, as under the thick shadows of the boughs sings the Daulian bird bewailing the fate of Itylus lost. Yet, in such sorrows, Hortalus, I send to you these verses of Battiades translated, lest haply you should think that your words have slipped from my mind, vainly committed to wandering winds: as art apple sent as a secret gift from her betrothed lover falls out from the chaste bosom of the girl, which — poor child, she forgot it! — put away in her soft gown, is shaken out as she starts forward when her mother comes; then, see, onward, downward swiftly it rolls and runs; a conscious blush creeps over her downcast face.
LXVI.
Omnia qui magni dispexit lumina mundi,
