Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

RUTILIUS NAMATIANUShonours amid crowded trophies were a task likeendeavouring to reckon up the stars. The gUtterin^temples dazzle the wandering eyes : I could wellbelieve such are the dwelling-places of the very gods.What shall I say of streams suspended on airyarches," where scarce the Rainbow-Goddess couldraise her showery waters ? ^ You might rather callthem mountains grown up to the sky : such astructure Greece would praise, as giant-wrought.Rivers diverted are *" lost sight of within thy walls :the lofty baths consume whole lakes.'^ No less arethy dewy meads filled also with their own rivulets,and all thy walls are a-babble with springs from thesoil.Hence a breath of coolness tempers the summerair, and the crystal well relieves a harmless thirst.Nay, once a sudden torrent of waters seething hotbroke forth, when thine enemy ^ trod the roads bythe Capitol : had it lasted for ever, mayhap I haddeemed this mere chance ; but it was to save theethat it flowed ; for it came only to vanish. Whyspeak of woods enclosed amid thy panelled palaces,^where native birds sport with varied song ? In thespring that is thine never does the year fail in itsmildness : baffled winter respects thy charms.< e.g. water from the Anio supplied the aqueducts calledAnio Veins and Anio Xovus.^ celsa refers to the imposing loftiness of the public baths;locus to such lakes as Alsietinus, Sabatinus (Lago di Bracciano)and Sublacensis (near Subiaco), from which water was broughtinto Rome by aqueducts and stored in large cisterns.'Legend had it that when Titus Tatius and his Sabinesreached the gate of Janus under the Capitol, the god sent outboiling water from the earth and discomfited the enemy.f The reference is to gardens enclosed within colonnadeswhich had panelled ceilings.773