* * * * * Page 164 eunuchus? quae bella tulit? quas condidit urbes? illas praeterea rerum natura creavit, hos fecere manus: seu prima Semiramis astu Assyriis mentita virum, ne vocis acutae 340 mollities levesve genae se prodere possent, hos sibi coniunxit similes; seu Parthica ferro luxuries vetuit nasci lanuginis umbram servatoque diu puerili flore coegit arte retardatam Veneri servire iuventam. 345 Fama prius falso similis vanoque videri ficta ioco; levior volitare per oppida rumor riderique nefas: veluti nigrantibus alis audiretur olor, corvo certante ligustris. atque aliquis gravior morum: “si talibus, inquit, 350 creditur et nimiis turgent mendacia monstris, iam testudo volat, profert iam cornua vultur; prona petunt retro fluvii iuga; Gadibus ortum Carmani texere diem; iam frugibus aptum aequor et adsuetum silvis delphina videbo; 355 iam cochleis homines iunctos et quidquid inane nutrit Iudaicis quae pingitur India velis.” Subicit et mixtis salibus lascivior alter: “miraris? nihil est, quod non in pectore magnum concipit Eutropius. semper nova, grandia semper diligit et celeri degustat singula sensu. 361 nil timet a tergo; vigilantibus undique curis nocte dieque patet; lenis facilisque moveri supplicibus mediaque tamen mollissimus ira nil negat et sese vel non poscentibus offert; 365 * * * * * Page 165 a eunuch ever do? What wars did such an one fight, what cities did he found? Moreover, nature created the former, the hand of man the latter, whether it was from fear of being betrayed by her shrill woman’s voice and her hairless cheeks that clever Semiramis, to disguise her sex from the Assyrians, first surrounded herself with beings like her, or the Parthians employed the knife to stop the growth of the first down of manhood and forced their boys, kept boys by artifice, to serve their lusts by thus lengthening the years of youthful charm. At first the rumour of Eutropius’ consulship seemed false and invented as a jest. A vague story spread from city to city; the crime was laughed at as one would laugh to hear of a swan with black wings or a crow as white as privet. Thus spake one of weighty character: “If such things are believed and swollen lies tell of unheard of monsters, then the tortoise can fly, the vulture grow horns, rivers flow back and mount the hills whence they spring, the sun rise behind Gades and set amid the Carmanians of India; I shall soon see ocean fit nursery for plants and the dolphin a denizen of the woods; beings half-men, half-snails and all the vain imaginings of India depicted on Jewish curtains.”