Quid attinet tot ora navium gravi Contra latrones atque fervilem manum, Hoc, hoc, tribuno militum ? AT CARMEN V. Pueri in Canidiam veneficam dirae. To Deorum quidquid in coelo [a] regit Quid ifte fert tumultus? et quid omnium Per liberos te, fi vocata partubus Lucina veris adfuit, Per hoc inane purpurae decus precor, Ut haec trementi queftus ore, conftitit Impube corpus, quale poffet impia Et uncta turpis ova ranae fanguine, [a] Quidquid in coelo regis. 20 5 15 20 Et knight of diftinction. To what purpose is it that fo many brazen-beaked fhips of immenfe bulk, fhould be had out against pirates and a band of flaves, while this, this fellow is a military tribune. ODE V. The imprecations of a boy against the witch Canidia. BUT, oh whatever power of the gods rules the earth and human race, what means this tumult? and what the hideous looks of all these old bags, fixed upon me alone? I conjure thee by thy children (if invoked Lucina was ever present at any real birth of yours) I conjure thee by this empty honour of my purple, and by Jupiter, who muft difapprove these proceedings; why do you look at me like a step-mother, or as a wild beast ftricken with a dart? While the boy made these complaints with a faultering voice, he ftood, with his badgest of diftinction taken from him, a delicate body, fuch as might foften the impious breasts of the favage Thracians: Canidia, having her hair and uncombed head interwoven with little vipers, orders wild fig-trees torn up from groves, orders funeral cypreffes, and eggs befmeared with the gore of a loathfome toad, and feathers of the nocturnal fcreech-owl, and thofe herbs which Iolchos,‡ and Spain, fruitful in poisons, tranfmits, and bones, * The Toga Praetexta, which the children of the nobility wore, was bordered with purple. The Toga Praetexta, and the Bulla, which latter was a piece of gold or filver made in the shape of an heart. A town in Theffaly. Et offa ab ora rapta jejunae canis, Flammis aduri Colchicis. At expedita Sagana per totam domum Spargens Avernales aquas, Horret capillis, ut marinus, afperis, Echinus, aut [a] currens aper. Abacta nulla Veia confcientia Ligonibus duris humum. Exhauriebat, ingemens laboribus: Quo poffet infoffus puer 25 30 Longe die bis terve mutatae dapis Inemori fpectaculo; Cum promineret ore, quantum extant aqua 35 Sufpenfa mento corpora, Exfuca [b] uti medula, et aridum jecur Amoris effet poculum; Interminato cum femel fixae cibo Intabuiffent pupulae. 40 Canidia rodens pollicem, Quid dixit? Aut quid tacuit? O rebus meis Non infideles arbitrare, Nox, et Diana, quae filentium regis, Arcana cum fiunt facra : [a] Aut Laurens aper. HEINS. 50 Nunc, [b] Exfecta, execta. Excfa uti medulla. HEINS.. bones, fnatched from the mouth of a hungry bitch, to be burnt in Colchian * flames. But Sagana, tucked up for expedition, sprinkling the waters of Avernus † all over the house, briftles up with her rough hair, like a fea-urchin, or a boar pursued. Veia, deterred by no remorfe of confcience, groaning with the toil, dug up the ground with the fharp fpade: where the boy, fixed in, might long be tormented to death at the fight of food varied two or three times in a day; while he stood out with his face, juft as much as bodies fufpended by the chin in fwimming, project from the water, that his parched marrow and dried liver might be a charm for love; when once the pupils of his eyes had wafted away by being fixed on the forbidden food. Both the idle Naples, and every neighbouring town believed, that Folio of Ariminum, a witch of masculine luft, was not abfent from thefe rites: he who with her Theffalian incantations, forces the charmed conftellations and the moon from heaven. Here the fell Canidia, gnawing her unpaired thumb with her livid teeth, what faid fhe? or what did fhe not fay? Oh ye faithful witneffes to my proceedings, Night, and Diana, who prefides o'er filence, when the fecret myfteries VOL. I. R are * Colchian, fuch as Medea of Colchos made ufe of, that is, according to art. † Avernus was a lake in Campania, whose waters were held facred to the Infernal Deities. Nunc, nunc adefte: nunc in hoftiles domos Iram atque numen vertite : Formidolofis dum latent filvis ferae, Dulci fopore languidae: Senem, quod omnes rideant, adulterum Latrent Suburanae canes, Meae laborarint manus. 55 Nardo perunctum, quale non perfectius 60 Quid accidit? cur dira barbarae minus Marfis redibit vocibus. Majus parabo: majus infundam tibi Priufque coelum fidet inferius mari, |
