[77] Both Hadrian and Claudian were Egyptians. [78] Nothing is known about this Alethius. * * * * * Page 202 sic non imbriferam noctem ducentibus Haedis Ionio credam turgida vela mari, sic non Tartareo Furiarum verbere pulsus 5 irati relegam carmina grammatici: nulla meos traxit petulans audacia sensus, liberior iusto nec mihi lingua fuit. versiculos, fateor, non cauta voce notavi, heu miser! ignorans, quam grave crimen erat. 10 Orpheos alii libros impune lacessunt nec tua securum te, Maro, fama vehit; ipse parens vatum, princeps Heliconis, Homerus iudicis excepit tela severa notae. sed non Vergilius, sed non accusat Homerus: 15 neuter enim quaestor, pauper uterque fuit. en moveo plausus! en pallidus omnia laudo et clarum repeto terque quaterque “sophos”! ignoscat placidus tandem flatusque remittat et tuto recitet quod libet ore: placet. 20 XXIV. (LXXXIII.) _De lucusta._ Horret apex capitis; medio fera lumina surgunt vertice; cognatus dorso durescit amictus. armavit natura cutem dumique rubentes cuspidibus parvis multos acuere rubores. * * * * * Page 203 beneath the northern pole, never to entrust my bellying sails to the Ionian Sea what time the Kids bring round the rainy nights, never, driven by the Furies’ hellish blows, to re-read the verses of an angry pedant,[79] ’twas not, I swear, impudent effrontery that moved me, nor did my tongue exceed a just outspokenness. I admit I incautiously found fault with a few lines, not realizing, luckless wight, the heinousness of my offence. Others attack the books of Orpheus and nothing is said; nor does thy fame, Maro, support thee in safety. The very father of poetry, Homer, lord of Helicon, knew the stigma of the censor’s pen. Yet neither Vergil nor Homer complains, for neither was a quaestor and both were poor. See, then, I applaud! See, in terror I praise every word and loudly cry again and again “bravo!” Let him be appeased and pardon at last, let him cease from wrath--and with secure voice recite whate’er he will; I applaud. XXIV. (LXXXIII.) _The Lobster._ Long horns project from his head; fierce eyes stand out from his forehead; his back is protected by the armour of his self-grown shell. Nature herself has rendered his skin a sufficient defence, covering it with small, red, pointed spikes. [79] The “pedant” is doubtless Alethius himself and the “verses” the very poem which Claudian has already read once and criticized unfavourably. * * * * * Page 204 XXV. (XXX., XXXI.) _Epithalamium dictum Palladio V. C. tribuno et notario et Celerinae._ PRAEFATIO