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XXVII.
When guilt goes forth, let lapwings shrill,
And dogs and foxes great with young,
And wolves from far Lanuvian hill,
Give clamorous tongue:
Across the roadway dart the snake,
Frightening, like arrow loosed from string,
The horses. I, for friendship's sake,
Watching each wing,
Ere to his haunt, the stagnant marsh,
The harbinger of tempest flies,
Will call the raven, croaking harsh,
From eastern skies.
Farewell!--and wheresoe'er you go,
My Galatea*, think of me:
Let lefthand pie and roving crow
Still leave you free.
But mark with what a front of fear
Orion lowers. Ah! well I know
How Hadria glooms, how falsely clear
The west-winds blow.
Let foemen's wives and children feel
The gathering south-wind's angry roar,
The black wave's crash, the thunder-peal,
The quivering shore.
So to the bull Europa gave
Her beauteous form, and when she saw
The monstrous deep, the yawning grave,
Grew pale with awe.
That morn of meadow-flowers she thought,
Weaving a crown the nymphs to please:
That gloomy night she look'd on nought
But stars and seas.
Then, as in hundred-citied Crete
She landed,--"O my sire!" she said,
"O childly duty! passion's heat
Has struck thee dead.
Whence came I? death, for maiden's shame,
Were little. Do I wake to weep
My sin? or am I pure of blame,
And is it sleep
From dreamland brings a form to trick
My senses? Which was best? to go
Over the long, long waves, or pick
The flowers in blow?
O, were that monster made my prize,
How would I strive to wound that brow,
How tear those horns, my frantic eyes
Adored but now!
Shameless I left my father's home;
Shameless I cheat the expectant grave;
O heaven, that naked I might roam
In lions' cave!
Now, ere decay my bloom devour
Or thin the richness of my blood,
Fain would I fall in youth's first flower,
The tigers' food.
Hark! 'tis my father--Worthless one!
What, yet alive? the oak is nigh.
'Twas well you kept your maiden zone,
The noose to tie.
Or if your choice be that rude pike,
New barb'd with death, leap down and ask
The wind to bear you. Would you like
The bondmaid's task,
You, child of kings, a master's toy,
A mistress' slave?'" Beside her, lo!
Stood Venus smiling, and her boy
With unstrung bow.
Then, when her laughter ceased, "Have done
With fume and fret," she cried, "my fair;
That odious bull will give you soon
His horns to tear.
You know not you are Jove's own dame:
Away with sobbing; be resign'd
To greatness: you shall give your name
To half mankind."
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Impios Parrae.
Impios parrae recinentis omen
ducat et praegnans canis aut ab agro
raua decurrens lupa Lanuuino
fetaque uolpes;
umpat et serpens iter institutum, 5
si per obliquom similis sagittae
terruit mannos: ego cui timebo
prouidus auspex,
antequam stantis repetat paludes
imbrium diuina auis inminentum, 10
oscinem coruum prece suscitabo
solis ab ortu.
Sis licet felix, ubicumque mauis,
et memor nostri, Galatea, uiuas,
teque nec laeuus uetet ire picus 15
nec uaga cornix.
Sed uides quanto trepidet tumultu
pronus Orion? Ego quid sit ater
Hadriae noui sinus et quid albus
peccet Iapyx. 20
Hostium uxores puerique caecos
sentiant motus orientis Austri et
aequoris nigri fremitum et trementis
uerbere ripas.
Sic et Europe niueum doloso 25
credidit tauro latus et scatentem
beluis pontum mediasque fraudes
palluit audax.
Nuper in pratis studiosa florum et
debitae Nymphis opifex coronae 30
nocte sublustri nihil astra praeter
uidit et undas.
Quae simul centum tetigit potentem
oppidis Creten: 'Pater, o relictum
filiae nomen pietasque' dixit 35
'uicta furore!
Vnde quo ueni? Leuis una mors est
uirginum culpae. Vigilansne ploro
turpe commissum an uitiis carentem
ludit imago 40
uana quae porta fugiens eburna
somnium ducit? Meliusne fluctus
ire per longos fuit an recentis
carpere flores?
Si quis infamen mihi nunc iuuencum 45
dedat iratae, lacerare ferro et
frangere enitar modo multum amati
cornua monstri.
Impudens liqui patrios Penates,
impudens Orcum moror. O deorum 50
si quis haec audis, utinam inter errem
nuda leones.
Antequam turpis macies decentis
occupet malas teneraeque sucus
defluat praedae, speciosa quaero 55
pascere tigris.
Vilis Europe, pater urget absens:
quid mori cessas? Potes hac ab orno
pendulum zona bene te secuta
laedere collum.
Siue te rupes et acuta leto
saxa delectant, age te procellae
crede ueloci, nisi erile mauis
carpere pensum
regius sanguis dominaeque tradi 65
barbarae paelex.' Aderat querenti
perfidum ridens Venus et remisso
filius arcu.
Mox, ubi lusit satis: 'Abstineto'
dixit 'irarum calidaeque rixae, 70
cum tibi inuisus laceranda reddet
cornua taurus.
Vxor inuicti Iouis esse nescis.
Mitte singultus, bene ferre magnam
disce fortunam; tua sectus orbis 75
nomina ducet'.
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