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| dic age quo petiit Iovis armiger astra volatu, dic age quos flores, que lilia fregit arator, dic Frigios damas laceratos dente molosso, dic Ligurum montes et classes Parthenopeas, carmine quo possis Alcide tangere Gades et quo te refluus relegens mirabitur Hyster, et Pharos et quondam regnum te noscet Helysse. Si te fama iuvat, parvo te limite septum non contentus eris, nec vulgo iudice tolli. En ego iam primus, si dignum duxeris esse, clericus Aonidum, vocalis verna Maronis, promere gimnasiis te delectabor ovantum inclita Peneis redolentem tempora sertis, |
Come tell thou what the flight wherein the bearer of Jove's weapons sought the stars; come tell what were the flowers, what the lilies, that the Ploughman crushed; tell of the Phrygian does torn by the stag-hound's tooth; tell of the mountains of Liguria and the Parthenopaean fleets, in verse whereby thou mayst reach the Alceian's Gades and whereby Ister may flow back and read and wonder at thee, and Pharos and once Elissa's realm may know thee. If fame delight thee thou wilt not accept to be hedged in narrow confine, nor to be extolled by the judgment of the common folk. Lo I, taking the lead if thou deem me worthy, clerk of the Aonides, vocal attendant upon Maro, shall rejoice to present thee to the applauding schools, thine illustrious temples redolent with Peneian garlands; even as the herald mounted |