Quem, precor, inter nos habitura silentia finem? quando dabit caras littera grata vices? me timidum vel te potius dixisse superbum convenit? alterius crimen utrumque tenet. transfluxere dies et, dum scripsisse priorem 5 paenitet, aeternas itur in usque moras. sed quid agam? coepisse vetat reverentia vestri; hinc amor hortatur scribere. vincat amor. “fors iuvat audentes” prisci sententia vatis. hac duce non dubitem te reticente loqui; 10 audax aut si quid penitus peccasse videbor, arguar, ingrati non subiturus onus. Romanos bibimus primum te consule fontes et Latiae accessit Graia Thalia togae, incipiensque tuis a fascibus omina cepi 15 fataque debebo posteriora tibi. ergo lacessitus tandem rescribe roganti et patria florens sorte, Probine, vale. * * * * * Page 269 delay and to console thy friend speak to him from far away with richer eloquence; hither let many a letter hasten with winged speech, to find its way to my shelves and to my heart. Augustus disdained not to write to poor Vergil and my muse shall never bring thee shame. Farewell. XLI. _Letter to Probinus._[110] How long, pray, shall there be silence between us? When shall a welcome letter win a dear return? Is it right to call me timid or rather thee proud? Surely each shares the other’s fault. The days slip away and while each is ashamed to be the first to write our hesitation leads to an unbroken silence. Yet what am I to do? Respect forbids me to write first; love encourages me to do so. Let love have his way. Fortune favours the brave, as the old poet sang. Under her guidance I could not hesitate to speak, though thou still keep silence. If I shall seem overbold or guilty of some grave fault, thou mayst blame but I shall not bear the burden of ingratitude. ’Twas when thou wert consul that I first drank of the stream of Latin song and that my Muse, deserting Hellas, assumed the Roman toga.[111] From thy consulship my youth drew its omens and to thee I shall owe my future destiny. Be moved by my importunity and after so long a delay answer my letter. Farewell, Probinus; be thy father’s fortune thine. [110] See note on i. 8 and Introduction, p. xiii. [111] See Introduction, p. xiii. * * * * * Page 270 XLII. (LIII.) _De apro et leone._ Torvus aper fulvusque leo coiere superbis viribus, hic saeta saevior, ille iuba; hunc Mars, hunc laudat Cybele. dominatur uterque montibus; Herculeus sudor uterque fuit. XLIII. (LXXV.) _In Curetium._