Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

MINOR LATIN POETSdumque intermixti captatur spiritus oris,carmine doctiloquo ^ ulcani vincla parate,quae Martem nectant Veneris nee bracchia laedantinter delicias roseo prope livida serto.namque ferunt Paphien, Vulcani et Martis amorem,inter adulterium nee iusti iura maritiindice sub Phoebo captam gessisse catenas,ilia manu duros nexus tulit, ilia maritiferrea vincla sui. quae vis fuit ista doloris ?an fortem faciebat amor ? quid, saeve, laboras ?cur nodos Veneri Cyclopia flamma paravit ?de roseis conecte manus, Vulcane, catenisnee tu deinde liges, sed blandus vincla Cupido,ne palmas duro nodus cum vulnere laedat.lucus erat Marti gratus, post vulnera Adonispictus amore deae ; si Phoebi lumina desint,tutus adulterio, dignus quem Cypris amaret,quem Byblos coleret, dignus quem Gratia servet.22 divitias S : delicias Burman. prope S : modo Baehrens.2^ manus S : manu Schrader : Venus Baehrens.^2 comodus S : nodus cum Baehrens, alii alia.^* pictus S : dictus vel lectus vel dignus Wernsdorf : huiusBaehrens :laetus Biese {in not.).« i.e. arms so delicate that rose-leaves might almost makethem black and blue.* Addressed to Vulcan as the injured husband of Venus.* i.e. to fashion iron chains.^ After the death of her beloved Adonis from a woundinflicted by a boar in the forest, Venus might be imagined todislike all woods. The passage implies that she made anexception in the case of the grove where she met her lover Mars,and so it is "decorated," " lit up " by the beautiful presenceof the enamoured goddess, pictus may be right, thoughamore is less directly instrumental than the concrete ablativesin Lucr. V. 1395-1396, anni tempora pingehant viridantesfloribus herbas; Sen. 3Ied, 310, stellisque quibus pingitur526