Page:Ten Tragedies of Seneca (1902).djvu/468

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SENECA'S TRAGEDIES.
[Lines 676—713

Evafit, & penetrale funeftum attigit; Totas opes effudit, & quidquid diu Etiam ipfa timuit, promit; atque omnem explicat Turbam malorum: arcana, fecreta, abdita. Et trifle Iseva comprecans facrum manu, > 680 Peftes vocat, quafcunque ferventis creat Arena Libyae, quafque perpetua nive Taurus coercet frigore ArcSoo rigens; Et omne monftrum. tra(fta'inagici9 cantibus Squammifera latebris turba defertis adeft. 685 Heic fera Terpens corpus immenfum trahit, Trifidamque linguam exfertat, & quasrcns quibus Mortifera veniat carmine audito ftupet, Tumidumque nodis corpus aggeftis plicat, Cogitque in orbes. parva funt, inquit, mala, 690 Et vile telum eft, ima quod tellus creai: Coelo petam venena. jam nunc tempus eft Aliquid movere fraude vulgar! altius. Hue ille vafti more torrentis jacens Defcendat anguis, cujus immenfos duze, 695 Major minorque, fentiunt nodos ferae; Major Pelafgis, apta Sidoniis minor. Preffafque tandem folvat Ophiuchus manus, Virufque fundat. adfit ad cantus meos Laceffere aufus geraina Python numina. 700 Et hydra, & omnis redeat Herculea manu Succifa fei"pens, casde fe reparans fua. Tu quoque reliilis pervigil Colchis ades, Sopite primum cantibus Terpens meis. Poftquam evocavit omne ferpentum genus, 705 Qongerit in unum frugis infaufta: mala: Quoecunque general invius faxis Etyx; ' Quas fert opertis hieme perpetua jugis Sparfus cruore Caucafus Promethei; Pharetraque pugnax Medus, aut Parthus levis; 710 Et queis fagittas divites Arabes linuut; Aut quos fub axe frigido fuccos legunt Lucis Suevi nobiles Hercyniis.


magical paraphernalia and is getting ready with something, which for a long time she has not had the courage to tackle; she then brings into view a whole host of instruments of mischief, secret preparations, mysterious objects and things utterly unknown to any one but herself, and with her left hand raised (the left hand was always used before the gods that dealt in the black art) she utters a solemn, doleful prayer, and invokes all the pests and plagues, the elements of death and destruction, to come to her aid!—Whatever are produced in the scorching sands of Libya,—or whatever glacial Taurus, with its arctic, rigorous cold, has kept back beneath its perpetual