Phoebus’ every breath from the Castalian spring, the tripod’s every moan within the shrine of prophecy--all these are poetry. Of prose the Muses will have none. In poetry only can I express myself, so wholly does my patron, Apollo, possess me. IV. (LIV.) _Description of a Herd._ Not such were the beauteous herds that the land once ruled over by triple Geryon produced. Not such the bulls thou bathest, Clitumnus, in thy stream for pious vows to offer duly to Tarpeian Jove. Not such the steer that, they say, scattered the sand of Tyre[62] what time he brought home his well-loved burden. Not the fields of Crete, nor Gnossos that knew of passion for a bull, nor Ida could have pastured the like. Even he whose monstrous figure united ill-assorted limbs, the Cretan child[63] who by his strange form revealed his mother’s shame--even he could scarce have shown a shape so fair had _all_ his rough limbs resembled those of his sire. [61] Aeternalis was proconsul of Asia in 396 (_Cod. Theod._ iv. 4. 3, xi. 39. 12). [62] _Tyrias_, because Europa was the daughter of Phoenix, eponymous king of Phoenicia. Ovid depicts her as being carried away from Tyre (_Fasti_ v. 605; _Met._ ii. 845). [63] _i.e._ the Minotaur. * * * * * Page 178 V. (LXXXVI.) _Est in conspectu longe locus._ Est procul ingenti regio summota recessu, insula qua resides fluctus mitescere cogit in longum producta latus, fractasque per undas ardua tranquillo curvantur brachia portu. VI. (LXXVIII.) _Rimanti telum ira facit._ In iaculum, quodcumque gerit, dementia mutat. omnibus armatur rabies. pro cuspide ferri cuncta volant, dum dextra ferox in vulnera saevit. pro telo geritur quidquid suggesserit ira. VII. (LXXXVII.) _De quadriga marmorea._ 1. Quis dedit innumeros uno de marmore vultus? surgit in aurigam currus, paribusque lupatis unanimi frenantur equi: quos forma diremit, materies cognata tenet discrimine nullo. 2. Vir redit in currum; ducuntur ab axe iugales; ex alio se quisque facit. quae tanta potestas? una silex tot membra ligat ductusque per artem mons patiens ferri varios mutatur in artus. * * * * * Page 179 V. (LXXXVI.) _A distant Scene._ There is a place deep buried in a huge bay where an island, stretching far out into the sea, stills the rough waves to quiet, and steep cliffs, jutting out into the broken water, curve themselves into a peaceful harbourage. VI. (LXXVIII.)[64] _Anger affords a weapon to him who seeks one._ Whate’er it carries, that rage converts into a weapon. Wrath supplies all with arms. When an angry man thirsts for blood anything will serve him for a spear. Fury turns a stick into a cudgel. VII. (LXXXVII.) _Statue of a Chariot._