winged boy of Venus, O Neobule, has deprived you of your spindle and your webs, and the beauty of Hebrus[1] from Lipara of inclination for the labors of industrious Minerva, after he has bathed his anointed shoulders in the waters of the Tiber; a better horseman than Bellerophon himself, neither conquered at boxing, nor by want of swiftness in the race: he is also skilled to strike with his javelin the stags, flying through the open plains in frightened herd, and active to surprise the wild boar lurking in the deep thicket.
ODE XIII.
TO THE BANDUSIAN FOUNTAIN.
O thou fountain of Bandusia, clearer than glass, worthy of delicious wine,[2] not unadorned by flowers; to-morrow thou shalt be presented with a kid, whose forehead, pouting with new horns, determines upon both love and war in vain; for this offspring of the wanton flock shall tinge thy cooling streams with scarlet blood. The severe season of the burning dog-star cannot reach thee; thou affordest a refreshing coolness to the oxen fatigued with the plough-share, and to the ranging flock. Thou also shalt become one of the famous fountains, through my celebrating the oak that covers the hollow rock, whence thy prattling rills descend with a bound.
- ↑ Hebri. The name of a river (as above Enipeus, Od. iii. 7, 23), is attributed to a lover, yet the addition of his country's name indicates some individual easily recognizable. Anthon.
- ↑ Ovid represents Numa sacrificing to a fountain, and placing round it goblets crowned with flowers, a particular not mentioned by Horace, although it was, perhaps, a usual part of the solemnity, intended to invite the divinity to drink. Dac.
and as they were not usually so indulgent as fathers, their severity passed into a proverb. Torr.
