You ask whence I suppose the name of the month of May to be derived. The reason is not quite clearly known to me. As a wayfarer stands in doubt, and knows not which way to go, when he sees roads in all directions, so, because it is possible to assign different reasons, I know not where to turn; the very abundance of choice is an embarrassment. Declare to me, ye who haunt the springs of Aganippian Hippocrene, those dear traces of the Medusaean steed. The goddesses disagreed; of them Polyhymnia began the first; the others were silent, and noted her sayings in their mind. “After chaos, as soon as the three elements were given to the world, and the whole creation resolved itself into new species, the earth subsided by its own weight, and drew the seas after it, but the sky was borne to the highest regions by its own lightness; the sun, too, not checked by gravity, and the stars, and you, ye horses of the moon, ye bounded high. But for a long time neither did Earth yield pride of place to Sky, nor did the other heavenly bodies to Phoebus; their honours were all equal. Often someone of the common sort of gods would dare to sit upon the throne which thou, Saturn, didst own; not one of the upstart deities took the outer side of Ocean, and Themis was often relegated to the lowest place, until Honour and comely Reverence with her calm look united in lawful wedlock.
From that union sprang Majesty, who regulates the whole world, and who was great on the very day she was born. Without delay she took her seat high in the midst of Olympus, a golden figure far seen in purple vest. With her sat Modesty and Fear. You might see every divinity modelling his aspect upon hers. Straightway respect for dignities made its way into their minds; the worthy got their due, and nobody thought much of himself. This state of things in heaven lasted for many a year, till fate banished the elder god from heaven’s citadel. Earth brought forth the Giants, a fierce brood, enormous monsters, who durst assault Jove’s mansion; she gave them a thousand hands, and snakes for legs, and said, ‘ Take arms against the great gods.’ They set themselves to pile up the mountains to the topmost stars and to harass great Jupiter in war. From heaven’s citadel Jupiter hurled thunderbolts and turned the ponderous weights upon their movers. These weapons of the gods protected Majesty well; she survived and has been worshipped ever since. Hence she sits beside Jupiter, she is Jupiter’s most faithful guardian; she assures to him his sceptre’s peaceful tenure. She came also to earth. Romulus and Numa worshipped her, and others after them, each in his time. She keeps fathers and mothers in honour due; she bears boys and maidens company; she enhances the Hctor’s rods and the ivory chair of office; she rides aloft in triumph on the festooned steeds.”
Polyhymnia ended. Clio and Thalia, mistress of the curved lyre, approved her words. Urania took up the tale; all kept silence, and not a voice but hers could be heard. “Great was of old the reverence for the hoary head, and wrinkled eld was valued at its true worth. Martial exploits and doughty wars were work for youths, who in defence of their own gods kept watch and ward. In strength unequal, and for arms unfit, age often stood the country in good stead by its advice. The senate-house was then open only to men of mature years, and the very name of senate signified a ripe old age. The elders legislated for the people, and certain laws defined the age at which office might be sought. An elder man used to walk between younger men, at which they did not repine, and if he had only one companion, the elder walked on the inner side. Who would dare to talk bawdy in the presence of an old man? Old age conferred a right of censorship. This Romulus perceived, and on the men of his choice he bestowed the title of Fathers: on them the government of the new city was conferred. Hence I incline to think that the elders (maiores) gave their own name to the month of May, and that in doing so they had their own age in view. And Numitor may have said, ‘ Romulus, grant this month to the old men,’ and the grandson may not have been able to resist his grandsire. No slight proof of the proposed honour is furnished by the next month, the month of June, which is named after young men (iuvenes).” Then Calliope, her unkempt hair bound up with ivy, thus began, first of her choir: “Tethys, the Titaness, was wedded of old by Ocean, who encompasses the earth, far as it stretches, with his flowing waters.
Their daughter Pleione, as report has it, was united to Atlas, who upholds the sky, and she gave birth to the Pleiades. Of them Maia is said to have surpassed her sisters in beauty and to have lain with sovran Jove. She on the ridge of Mount Cyllene, wooded with cypresses, gave birth to him who speeds through the air on winged foot. Him the Arcadians, and hurrying Ladon, and huge Maenalus—that land accounted older than the moon—worship with honours due. An exile from Arcadia, Evander came to the Latin fields and brought his gods on shipboard. On the spot where now stands Rome, the capital of the world, there were trees, and grass, and a few sheep, and here and there a cottage. When they had come hither, ‘ Halt ye,’ said his prophetic mother, ‘ for that rural scene will be a place of empire.’ The Nonacrian hero obeyed the prophetess his mother, and halted as a stranger in a foreign land. He taught the natives many sacred rites, but first of all the rites of two-horned Faunus and of the wing-footed god. Faunus, thou half-goat god, thou art worshipped by the Luperci in their loin-cloths what time the severed hides purify the crowded streets. But thou didst bestow thy mother’s name upon the month, O thou inventor of the curved lyre, patron of thieves. Nor was this the first proof that thou didst give of thine affection: thou art supposed to have given to the lyre seven strings, the number of the Pleiades.” Calliopea ended in her turn and was praised by the voices of her sisters. What am I to do? Each side has the same number of votes. May the favour of all the Muses alike attend me, and let me never praise anyone of them more or less than the rest.
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