Page:Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius.djvu/97

Rh Sileni in quest of Ariadne, on another compartment of the coverlet. So far, the reader of the poem has represented one of the crowd gazing at the triumphs of needlework and tapestry in the bridal chambers. Now, place must be made for the divine and heroic guests, and their wedding-presents: Chiron, with the choicest meadow, alpine, and aquatic flowers of his land of meadows, rocks, and rivers; Peneius, with beech, bay, plane, and cypress to plant for shade and verdure in front of the palace; Prometheus, still scarred with the jutting crags of his rocky prison; and all the gods and goddesses, save only Phœbus and his twin-sister, absent from some cause of grudge which we know not, but which the researches of Alexandrine mythologists no doubt supplied to the poet. Anon, when the divine guests are seated at the groaning tables, the weird and age-withered Parcæ, as they spin the threads of destiny, in shrill strong voices pour forth an alternating song with apt and mystic refrain, prophetic of the bliss that shall follow this union, and the glory to be achieved in its offspring. Here are two quatrains for a sample, relating to Achilles the offspring of the union:—