lapsuroque tuos umeros obieceris orbi? te nobis trepidae sidus ceu dulce carinae 275 ostendere dei, geminis quae lassa procellis tunditur et victo trahitur iam caeca magistro. Inachius Rubro perhibetur in aequore Perseus Neptuni domuisse pecus, sed tutior alis: te non penna vehit; rigida cum Gorgone Perseus: tu non vipereo defensus crine Medusae; 281 ilium vilis amor suspensae virginis egit: te Romana salus. taceat superata vetustas, Herculeos conferre tuis iam desinat actus. una Cleonaeum pascebat silva leonem; 285 Arcadiae saltum vastabat dentibus unum saevus aper, tuque o compressa matre rebellans non ultra Libyae fines, Antaee, nocebas, solaque fulmineo resonabat Creta iuvenco Lernaeamque virens obsederat hydra paludem. 290 hoc monstrum non una palus, non una tremebat insula, sed Latia quidquid dicione subactum vivit, et a primis Ganges horrebat Hiberis. hoc neque Geryon triplex nec turbidus Orci ianitor aequabit nec si concurrat in unum 295 vis hydrae Scyllaeque fames et flamma Chimaerae. Certamen sublime diu, sed moribus impar virtutum scelerumque fuit. iugulare minatur: tu prohibes; ditem spoliat: tu reddis egenti; eruit: instauras; accendit proelia: vincis. 300 * * * * * Page 47 sustainedst with thy shoulders the tottering world in its threatened fall? The gods gave thee to us as they show a welcome star to frightened mariners whose weary bark is buffeted with storms of wind and wave and drifts with blind course now that her steersman is beaten. Perseus, descendant of Inachus, is said to have overcome Neptune’s monsters in the Red Sea, but he was helped by his wings; no wing bore thee aloft: Perseus was armed with the Gorgons’ head that turneth all to stone; the snaky locks of Medusa protected not thee. His motive was but the love of a chained girl, thine the salvation of Rome. The days of old are surpassed; let them keep silence and cease to compare Hercules’ labours with thine. ’Twas but one wood that sheltered the lion of Cleonae, the savage boar’s tusks laid waste a single Arcadian vale, and thou, rebel Antaeus, holding thy mother earth in thine embrace, didst no hurt beyond the borders of Africa. Crete alone re-echoed to the bellowings of the fire-breathing bull, and the green hydra beleaguered no more than Lerna’s lake. But this monster Rufinus terrified not one lake nor one island: whatsoever lives beneath the Roman rule, from distant Spain to Ganges’ stream, was in fear of him. Neither triple Geryon nor Hell’s fierce janitor can vie with him nor could the conjoined terrors of powerful Hydra, ravenous Scylla, and fiery Chimaera.