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Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

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"^BarthCALPl UN I us SICULUSaitua part asunder <strong>and</strong> its soil upturned <strong>and</strong> beasts'^plunge out from the chasm cleft in the earth ; yetoften from those same rifts the golden arbutessprang amid a sudden fountain spray (of saffron).^O lucky Corydon, unhampered by palsied eld;lucky in that by the grace of heaven it was your lotto set ^ your early years in this age I Now if fortunehas vouchsafed to you close sight of our worshipfulEmperor-god, if there <strong>and</strong> then you marked hiscountenance <strong>and</strong> mien, tell me, come, tell me,Corydon, what I may deem to be the features of thegods.O would that I had not been clad in peasant garbElse should I have gained a nearer sight of my deity :but humble dress <strong>and</strong> dingy poverty <strong>and</strong> brooch<strong>with</strong> but a crooked clasp prevented me ; still, in away, I looked upon his very self some distance off,<strong>and</strong>, unless my sight played me a trick, I thoughtin that one face the looks of Mars <strong>and</strong> of Apollowere combined." Such arrangements for letting beasts rise from imdergroundin the arena are well illustrated by the excavationsat the Amphitheatrum Flavium (the "Colosseum").* The beauty of an artificially contrived garden in theamphitheatre contrasts <strong>with</strong> the savage beasts; <strong>and</strong> thespectators are refreshed by jets of saffron water,explains demittere as " inserere aut intro porrigere."The metaphor may be from planting.28s

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