Claudian, volume 2 (of 2): With an English translation by Maurice PlatnauerClaudianus, Claudius
General
Claudian, volume 2 (of 2): With an English translation by Maurice Platnauer
Claudianus, Claudius
Claudianus, Claudius -- Translations into English
some keen of scent; shaggy Cretans bay, slender Spartans, and Britons
that can break the backs of mighty bulls. Britomartis scours the woods
of Dalmatia and the precipitous ridges of Pindus, her hair flying in
the wind. Thou, Leontodame, surroundest the glades of Gaul and huntest
the marshes of Germany, tracking out any huge boar, his tusks flexed
with age, that may have taken shelter among the sedges that flank the
Rhine. Swift Hecaërge tires the cloud-capped Alps, the valleys of the
Apennines, and the snows of Garganus. Thero with her dogs explores the
caves of Spain and from their recesses ousts the horrid bears of whose
bloody jaws full oft Tagus’ flood has failed to quench the thirst,
and whose bodies, numbed with cold, the holm-oak of the Pyrenees
o’ershadows with its leaves. The manlike maiden Nebrophone hunts the
mountains of Corsica and Sicily and captures deer and other harmless
beasts, beasts that are the joy of the rich amphitheatre and the glory
of the woods.
Whatsoever inspires fear with its teeth, wonder with its mane, awe
with its horns and bristling coat--all the beauty, all the terror of
the forest is taken. Guile protects them not; neither strength nor
weight avails them; their speed saves not the fleet of foot. Some roar
enmeshed in snares; some are thrust into wooden cages and carried off.
There are not carpenters enough to fashion the wood; leafy prisons
are constructed of unhewn beech and elm. Boats laden with some of the
animals traverse seas and rivers; bloodless from terror the rower’s
hand is stayed, for the sailor fears the merchandise he carries. Others
are transported over land in wagons that block the roads with the long
procession,
* * * * *
Page 66
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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