nunc flavam niveo miratur vertice matrem. haec modo crescenti, plenae par altera lunae: adsurgit ceu forte minor sub matre virenti laurus et ingentes ramos olimque futuras 245 promittit iam parva comas; vel flore sub uno ceu geminae Paestana rosae per iugera regnant: haec largo matura die saturataque vernis roribus indulget spatio; latet altera nodo nec teneris audet foliis admittere soles. 250 Adstitit et blande Mariam Cytherea salutat: “salve sidereae proles augusta Serenae, magnorum suboles regum parituraque reges. te propter Paphias sedes Cyprumque reliqui, te propter libuit tantos explere labores 255 et tantum transnare maris, ne vilior ultra privatos paterere lares neu tempore longo dilatos iuvenis nutriret Honorius ignes. accipe fortunam generis, diadema resume, quod tribuas natis, et in haec penetralia rursus, 260 unde parens progressa, redi. fac nulla subesse vincula cognatae: quamvis aliena fuisses principibus, regnum poteras hoc ore mereri. quae propior sceptris facies? qui dignior aula 264 vultus erit? non labra rosae, non colla pruinae, non crines aequant violae, non lumina flammae. quam iuncti leviter sese discrimine confert umbra supercilii! miscet quam iusta pudorem temperies nimio nec sanguine candor abundat! * * * * * Page 261 loveliness, now the snowy neck and golden hair of the mother. The one is like unto the crescent moon, the other to the full. So grows a young laurel beneath the shadow of its parent tree and, small as it now is, gives promise of great branches and thick foliage to come. Or as ’twere two roses of Paestum on one stalk; the one day’s fulness has brought to maturity; steeped in the dews of spring it spreads abroad its petals; the other yet nestles in its bud nor dares receive the sun’s warmth within its tender heart.