Hauserat insolitos promissae virginis ignes Augustus primoque rudis flagraverat aestu; nec novus unde calor nec quid suspiria vellent, noverat incipiens et adhuc ignarus amandi. non illi venator equus, non spicula curae, 5 non iaculum torquere libet; mens omnis aberrat in vulnus, quod fixit Amor. quam saepe medullis erupit gemitus! quotiens incanduit ore confessus secreta rubor nomenque beatum iniussae scripsere manus! iam munera nuptae 10 praeparat et pulchros Mariae sed luce minores eligit ornatus, quidquid venerabilis olim Livia divorumque nurus gessere superbae. incusat spes aegra moras longique videntur stare dies segnemque rotam non flectere Phoebe. 15 Scyria sic tenerum virgo flammabat Achillem fraudis adhuc expers bellatricesque docebat ducere fila manus et, mox quos horruit Ide, Thessalicos roseo nectebat pollice crines. Haec etiam queritur secum: “quonam usque verendus 20 * * * * * Page 243 EPITHALAMIUM (X.) Unfelt before was the fire the Emperor Honorius had conceived for his promised bride, and he burned, all unexperienced, with passion’s first fever, nor knew whence came the heat, what meant the sighs--a tyro and as yet ignorant of love. Hunting, horses, javelins--for none of these he now cares nor yet to fling the spear; Love’s wound occupies all his thoughts. How often he groaned from the very heart; how often a blush, mantling to his cheeks, betrayed his secret; how often, unbidden of himself, his hand would write the loved one’s name. Already he prepares gifts for his betrothed and selects to adorn her (though their beauty is less than hers) the jewels once worn by noble Livia of old and all the proud women of the imperial house. The impatient lover chafes at the delay; the long days seem as though they stood still and the moon as though she moved not her slow wheel. Thus Deidamia, girl of Scyros, e’er yet she sees through his disguise, inflamed with love the young Achilles, and taught his warrior hands to draw the slender thread and passed her rosy fingers through the locks of that Thessalian of whom all Ida was soon to stand in awe. Thus too he communed with himself: “How long * * * * * Page 244