Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/383

 ELEGIES AND EPIGRAMS

��Addideratque iras, sed et has decuisse

putares; Addideratque truces, nee sine felle,

minas.

Et " Miser exemplo sapuisses tutiiis," in- quit;

" Nunc mea quid possit dextera testis eris. Inter et expertos vires numerabere nostras, Et faciam vero per tua dainna tidem. 3 o Ipse ego, si nescis, strato Pythoue super- bum

Edonmi Phcebum, cessit et ille mini; Et, quoties meminit Peneidos, ipse fatetur

Certius et gravius tela nocere niea. Me uequit adductum curvare peritius ar-

cum, Qui post terga solet vincere, Parthus

eques : Cydoniusque mihi cedit venator, et ille

Inscius uxori qui uecis author erat. Est etiam nobis iugens quoque victus

Orion,

Herculeaeque mauus, Herculeusque co- nies. 40 Jupiter ipse licet sua fulmina torqueat in

me,

Hserebnnt lateri spicula nostra Jovis. Csetera quse dubitas melius mea tela doce-

buut,

Et tua non leviter corda petenda mihi. Nee te, stulte, tuae poteruut defendere

Musse;

Nee tibi Phrebaeus porriget anguis opem." Dixit, et, aurato quatieus mucroue sagit-

tain,

Evolat in tepidos Cypridos ille sinus. At mihi risuro tonuit ferus ore minaci,

Et uiihi de puero non metus ullus erat. 50 Et xnod6 quk uostri spatiantur in urbe

Quirites,

Et mod5 villarum proxi:na rnra placeut. Turba frequens, facieque simillima turba

dearuin,

Splendidaper medias itque reditque vias; Auctaque luce dies gemiuo fulgore corus-

cat. Fallor ? an et radios hinc quoque Phce-

bus habet ? Hsec ego non fugi spectacula grata severus,

Impetus et qu6 me fert juvenilis agor; Lumina luuiiuibus male providus obvia

misi,

Neve oculos potui continuisse meos. 60 Uuam forte aliis supereminuisse notabam; Principium nostri lux erat ilia mall.

��him, but you would have deemed it an added grace ; and he spoke words of threat- ening cruelty, full of spite. " Wretch," he said, " thou hadst been wiser to learn my power by the spectacle of others' pain? now thou shalt in thine own person prove what my arm can do. Thou shalt be numbered among those who have felt my strength; thy pangs shall strengthen men's belief in me. Perhaps thou art ignorant that I, even I, subdued Apollo, made haughty by his victory over Python; to me that great god had to yield. Whene'er he thinks on Daphne, he confesses that my darts carry surer and deadlier harm than his own. The Parthian horseman, who con- quers as he flees, draws not his bow more skilfully than I. The Cydonian hunter yields the palm to me, and Cephatus, who slew his wife unwittingly. Huge Orion I overcame, and the strong hand of Her- cules, and Hercules's friend. Jove him- self may turn his thunderbolts against me, but before they strike, my arrows have pierced the side of Jove. If thou still doubtest, my weapons will teach thee the rest better than words, my weapons, with which not lightly shall I seek thy heart. Deem not, fool, that thy Muses can succor thee, nor that the serpent of Apollo the healer can give thee any aid ! " So he spake, and, shaking his arrow with the golden tip, he flew away into the warm breast of his mother Cypris. But I smiled derisively at his fierce threats, and had not the slightest fear of the boy.

And now I took my pleasure, sometimes in the city parks, where our citizens prom- enade, sometimes in the suburban places of resort. Crowds of girls, with faces like to the faces of goddesses, came and went radi- antly through the walks; the day bright- ened with a double splendor. Surely, the sun himself stole his beams from their faces. I was not stern with myself; I did not flee from the gracious spectacle, but let myself be led wherever youthful impulse directed. Rashly I sent my gaze to meet theirs; I could not control my eyes. Then by chance I noted one supreme above the others, and the light of her eyes was the

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