Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

RUTILIUS NAMATIANUSthe scions of Romulus : clemency in victory tempersarmed strength : both names " befit thy characterhence thy noble pleasure in war and in mercyit vanquishes the dreaded foe and cherishes thevanquished. The goddess who found the olivetreeis worshipped, the deity too who discoveredwine, and the youth who first drove the ploughsharein the soil ^ : the healing art through the skill ofthe god Paeon won ^ altars : Hercules by his renownwas made divine : thou, too, who hast embracedthe world in triumphs fraught with law,dost make all things live under a common covenant.Thee, O goddess, thee every nook of the Romandominion celebrates, beneath a peaceful yoke holdingnecks unenslaved. The stars, which watch allthings in their unceasing motion, never looked on afairer empire. What like unto thy power did itfall to Assyrian arms to link in one r The Persiansonly subdued neighbours of their own. The mightyParthian kings and Macedonian monarchs ^ imposedlaws on each other through varying changes.It was not that at thy birth thou hadst more soulsand hands : but more prudence and more judgementwere thine. By wars for justifiable cause and bypeace imposed without arrogance thy renownedglory reached highest wealth. That thou reignestis less than that thou deservest to reign : thy deedssurpass thine exalted destiny. To review thy high' Paeoniam : the Greek adjective is iraiwvios. Rutiliusis not, however, unclassical here; for Ingram {Hermathenaix. 407) illustrates the use of Paeonius in Virgil, Ovid, andother poets :cf. Avianus vi. 7, Paeonio magistro.^ The Seleucid kings of Syria, who succeeded to part of theempire won by Alexander of Macedon, and whose wars withParthia brought sometimes victory, sometimes defeat.3d 2771