ubere; suscipiunt matris post viscera poenae. advolat Armenius certo mucrone recisos edoctus mollire mares damnoque nefandum aucturus pretium; fecundum corporis imbrem[87] sedibus exhaurit geminis unoque sub ictu 50 eripit officium patris nomenque mariti. ambiguus vitae iacuit, penitusque supremum in cerebrum secti traxerunt frigora nervi. Laudemusne manum, quae vires abstulit hosti, an potius fato causam tribuisse queramur? 55 profuerat mansisse virum; felicior extat opprobrio; serviret adhuc, si fortior esset. Inde per Assyriae trahitur commercia ripae; hinc fora venalis Galata ductore frequentat permutatque domos varias; quis nomina possit 60 tanta sequi? miles stabuli Ptolomaeus in illis notior: hic longo lassatus paelicis usu donat Arinthaeo; neque enim iam dignus haberi nec maturus emi. cum fastiditus abiret, quam gemuit, quanto planxit divortia luctu! 65 “haec erat, heu, Ptolomaee, fides? hoc profuit aetas in gremio consumpta tuo lectusque iugalis et ducti totiens inter praesaepia somni? libertas promissa perit? viduumne relinquis Eutropium tantasque premunt oblivia noctes, 70 crudelis? generis pro sors durissima nostri! femina, cum senuit, retinet conubia partu, [87] codd. _ignem_; Postgate _imbrem_. * * * * * Page 143 than he becomes a prey to suffering. Up hastens the Armenian, skilled by operating with unerring knife to make males womanish and to increase their loathly value by such loss. He drains the body’s life-giving fluid from its double source and with one blow deprives his victim of a father’s function and the name of husband. Eutropius lay doubtful of life, and the severed sinews drew a numbness deep down into his furthest brain. Are we to praise the hand that robbed an enemy of his strength? Or shall we rather blame the fates? It would have been better had he remained a man; his very disgrace has proved a blessing to him. Had he had his full manly vigour he would still have been a slave.