Ceres, whose temple is at Henna, had but one youthful daughter, a child long prayed for; for the goddess of birth granted no second offspring, and her womb, exhausted by that first labour, became unfruitful. Yet prouder is the mother above all mothers, and Proserpine such as to take the place of many. Her mother’s care and darling is she; not more lovingly does the fierce mother cow tend her calf that cannot as yet scamper over the fields and whose growing horns curve not yet moonwise over her forehead. As the years were fulfilled she had grown a maiden ripe for marriage, and thoughts of the torch of wedlock stir her girlish modesty, but while she longs for a husband she yet fears to plight troth. The voice of suitors is heard throughout the palace; two gods woo the maiden, Mars, more skilled with the shield, and Phoebus, the mightier bowman. Mars offers Rhodope, Phoebus would give Amyclae, and Delos and his temple at Claros; in rivalry Juno and Latona claim her for a son’s wife. But golden-haired Ceres disdains both, and fearing lest her daughter should be stolen away (how blind to the future!) secretly entrusts her jewel to the land of Sicily, confident in the safe nature of this hiding-place. Trinacria was once a part of Italy but sea and tide changed the face of the land. Victorious Nereus brake his bounds and interflowed the cleft mountains * * * * * Page 304 parvaque cognatas prohibent discrimina terras. nunc illam socia ruptam tellure trisulcam opposuit Natura mari: caput inde Pachyni respuit Ionias praetentis rupibus iras; hinc latrat Gaetula Thetis Lilybaeaque pulsat 150 brachia consurgens; hinc indignata teneri concutit obiectum rabies Tyrrhena Pelorum. in medio scopulis se porrigit Aetna perustis, Aetna Giganteos numquam tacitura triumphos, Enceladi bustum, qui saucia terga revinctus 155 spirat inexhaustum flagranti vulnere sulphur et, quotiens detractat onus cervice rebelli in laevum dextrumque latus, tunc insula fundo vellitur et dubiae nutant cum moenibus urbes. Aetnaeos apices solo cognoscere visu, 160 non aditu temptare licet, pars cetera frondet arboribus; teritur nullo cultore cacumen. nunc movet indigenas nimbos piceaque gravatum foedat nube diem, nunc motibus astra lacessit terrificis damnisque suis incendia nutrit. 165 sed quamvis nimio fervens exuberet aestu, scit nivibus servare fidem pariterque favillis durescit glacies tanti secura vaporis, arcano defensa gelu, fumoque fideli lambit contiguas innoxia flamma pruinas. 170 quae scopulos tormenta rotant? quae tanta cavernas * * * * * Page 305