Page:The poems of Gaius Valerius Catullus - Francis Warre Cornish.djvu/103



away from him, till she had caught fire in all her heart deep within, and glowed all flame in her inmost marrow. Ah! thou that stirrest cruel madness with ruthless heart, divine boy, who minglest joys of men with cares, and thou, who reignest over Golgi and leafy Idalium, with what tides did ye toss the burning heart of the maiden often sighing for the golden-headed stranger! what fears did she endure with fainting heart! how did she often grow far paler than with the gleam of gold, when desiring to contend with the savage monster Theseus was setting forth to win either death or the meed of valour. Yet not unsweet were the gifts, though vainly promised to the gods, which she kindled with silent lip. For as a tree which waves its boughs on Taurus' top, an oak or a cone-bearing pine with sweating bark, when a vehement storm twists the grain with its blast, and tears it up; — afar, wrenched away by the roots it lies prone, breaking in its fall all that meets it — so did Theseus lay low the conquered no bulk of the savage, vainly tossing his horns to the empty winds. Thence he retraced his way, unharmed and with much glory, guiding his devious footsteps by the fine clew, lest as he came forth from the windings of the labyrinth the inextricable entanglement of the building should bewilder him.

But why should I leave the first subject of my song and tell of more; how the daughter, leaving her father's face, the embrace of her sister, then of her mother last, who lamented, undone by grief for her daughter, chose before all these the sweet love of Theseus; or how the ship was borne to the foaming shores of Dia; or how when her eyes were bound with soft sleep her spouse left her, departing with forgetful breast? Often in the madness of her burning