aurea roranti micuerunt cornua vultu. non illi madidum vulgaris harundine crinem velat honos; rami caput umbravere virentes Heliadum totisque fluunt electra capillis. palla tegit latos umeros, curruque paterno 165 intextus Phaëthon glaucos incendit amictus. fultaque sub gremio caelatis nobilis astris aetherium probat urna decus. namque omnia luctus argumenta sui Titan signavit Olympo: mutatumque senem plumis et fronde sorores 170 et fluvium, nati qui vulnera lavit anheli; stat gelidis Auriga plagis; vestigia fratris germanae servant Hyades, Cygnique sodalis lacteus extentas adspergit circulus alas; stelliger Eridanus sinuatis flexibus errans 175 clara Noti convexa rigat gladioque tremendum gurgite sidereo subterluit Oriona. Hoc deus effulgens habitu prospexit euntes deiecta cervice Getas; tunc talia fatur: “sicine mutatis properas, Alarice, reverti 180 consiliis? Italae sic te iam paenitet orae? nec iam cornipedem Thybrino gramine pascis, ut rebare, tuum? Tuscis nec figis aratrum collibus? o cunctis Erebi dignissime poenis, tune Giganteis urbem temptare deorum 185 adgressus furiis? nec te meus, improbe, saltem terruit exemplo Phaëthon, qui fulmina praeceps in nostris efflavit aquis, dum flammea caeli * * * * * Page 87 gleamed the golden horns that cast their brilliance all along the banks. No common crown of reeds adorned his oozy locks. The green branches of the daughters of the sun[29] shadowed his head and amber dripped from all his hair. A cloak was flung over his broad shoulders, a cloak whose grey texture was set aflame with an embroidery of Phaëthon and his father’s chariot. Resting beneath his breast an urn glorious with engraved stars makes clear its heaven-sent beauty. For there Phoebus had set in the sky all the sad stories of his woe: Cycnus changed into a swan, Phaëthon’s sisters transformed into trees, and the river that washed the wounds of his dying son; the charioteer is there in his icy zone, the Hyades follow on their brother’s traces, while the Milky Way sprinkles the outstretched wings of Cycnus who bears him company; the constellation of Eridanus[30] himself wets the clear southern sky in its tortuous course and with starry stream flows beneath Orion’s dread sword.