perbacchata domos nullis incendia causis et numquam caelo spectatum impune cometem, qui primum roseo Phoebi prolatus ab ortu, qua micat astrigera senior cum coniuge Cepheus; 245 inde Lycaoniam paulatim expulsus ad Arcton crine vago Getici foedavit sidera Plaustri, donec in exiguum moriens vanesceret ignem. Sed gravius mentes caesorum ostenta luporum horrificant. duo quippe lupi sub principis ora, 250 dum campis exercet equos, violenter adorti agmen et excepti telis inmane relatu prodigium miramque notam duxere futuri. nam simul humano geminas de corpore palmas utraque perfossis emisit belua costis: 255 illo laeva tremens, hoc dextera ventre latebat intentis ambae digitis et sanguine vivo. scrutari si vera velis, fera nuntia Martis ora sub Augusti casurum prodidit hostem, utque manus utero virides patuere retecto, 260 Romula post ruptas virtus sic emicat Alpes. sed malus interpres rerum metus omne trahebat augurium peiore via, truncataque membra nutricemque lupam Romae regnoque minari. tunc reputant annos interceptoque volatu 265 vulturis incidunt properatis saecula metis. Solus erat Stilicho, qui desperantibus augur sponderet meliora manu, dubiaeque salutis * * * * * Page 145 fires destroying houses from no known cause, a comet--ne’er seen in heaven without disaster--which first rose where Phoebus lifts his rosy morning beam and old Cepheus shines together with starry Andromeda, his spouse; then it withdrew little by little to the constellation of Lycaon’s daughter[51] and with its errant tail dimmed the stars of the Getic Wain until at last its dying fires grew feeble and vanished.