Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

GRATTIUSprofession. Some show deficiency on the store ofspirit ; some have feeble bodies to play them ftilseat times excessive mettle is unsuitable. Bethinkyou—what sort of Thessalian horse bathes in Peneus'stream, or what is the grey sort on which its nativeMycenae fixes its gaze ? Assuredly it is huge,assuredly it will throw its legs high in air. Whatbetter steed ever traversed the race-course in Elis ? ^'Yet let it not touch our hunting-work : its vigour istoo impetuous for an attack on the hard fighting of theforests. Doubtless Syene'^ on the level plain ha^ horsesto admire which are not Mild, and those of Parthiahave kept their reputation in their own flat countryif such a horse comes to the crags of Taburnus near*^the Caudine Forks or to rugged Garganus or overthe Ligurian Alps, he will collapse before his taskwith hoofs battered.^ And yet he has spirit andwill mould himself to my methods if ordered : butheaven alongside of merit imposes defects. On theother hand, you find the horses of the Callaeci ^ cantraverse the jagged Pyrenees. I should not, however,venture to try the conflict with a Spanish steed toserve me : amid sharp stones they scarce yield theirstubborn mouths to the steel; but all Nasamonia^controls her horses with light switches. The boldand hard-toiling Numidian folk free theirs even" i.e. at the Olympic games.* Syene (Assouan) in Upper Egypt below the FirstCataract.*Taburnus was in Samnium : Garganus in Apulia.^ i.e. owing to the stony nature of the ground.' The Callaeci were a people of Hispania Tarraconensis.f The Nasamonian tribe dwelt in the eastern part of theSyrtis Major in N. Africa.20I