Handling his great wealth in no niggard spirit he does not hesitate to double his lavish expenses and after giving wondrous games in honour of his soldiery and of Honorius reserves yet greater for Rome. They say that Jove at Minerva’s birth showered gold upon lucky Rhodes; that while Bacchus forced an egress from his father’s thigh Hermus grew pale and turned to that same metal; that Midas, fated to suffer hunger as a punishment for his greed, converted to shining gold everything that he touched. Be these stories true or false thy liberality exceeds the waters of Hermus, the touch of Midas, the Thunderer’s shower. Thy hands, as prodigal of gifts as of daring deeds, o’ershadow the past and will o’ershadow the future. Should fire have melted the countless mass of silver thou bestowest as though it were the cheapest of metals, lakes and rivers of silver might have been formed. Thou too, Latonia, queen alike of the woods and of the stars, art moved by no small care for Stilicho; thou toilest to distinguish our spectacles with the forest’s noblest denizens, and on the dizzy summits of Alpine rocks layest aside thy bow and summonest * * * * * Page 60 et pharetratarum comitum inviolabile cogis concilium. veniunt umeros et brachia nudae armataeque manus iaculis et terga sagittis, incomptae pulchraeque tamen; sudoribus ora 245 pulverulenta rubent, sexum nec cruda fatetur virginitas; sine lege comae; duo cingula vestem crure tenus pendere vetant. praecedit amicas flava Leontodame, sequitur nutrita Lycaeo Nebrophone telisque domat quae Maenala Thero. 250 ignea Cretaea properat Britomartis ab Ida et cursu Zephyris numquam cessura Lycaste. iungunt se geminae metuenda feris Hecaërge et soror, optatum numen venantibus, Opis progenitae Scythia: divas nemorumque potentes 255 fecit Hyperboreis Delos praelata pruinis. hae septem venere duces; exercitus alter Nympharum incedunt, acies formosa Dianae, centum Taygeti, centum de vertice Cynthi et totidem casto genuit quas flumine Ladon. 260 has ubi collectas vidit, sic Delia coepit: “O sociae, mecum thalami quae iura perosae virgineo gelidos percurritis agmine montes, cernitis ut Latio superi communibus ornent hunc annum studiis? quantos Neptunus equorum 265 donet ab orbe greges? laudi quod nulla canendae fratris plectra vacent? nostram quoque sentiat idem quam meritis debemus opem. non spicula poscit iste labor; maneant clausis nunc sicca pharetris, omnis et a solitis noster venatibus arcus 270 * * * * * Page 61