XVII. Kal. Iul. 15th
The third day will come, on which thou, O Thyone of Dodona, wilt stand visible on the brow of Agenor’s bull. It is the day on which thou, O Tiber, dost send the filth of Vesta’s temple down the Etruscan water to the sea.
XVI. Kal. 16th
If any trust can be put in the winds, spread your canvas to the West Wind, ye mariners; to-morrow it will blow fair upon your waters.
XV. Kal. 17th. XIV. Kal. 18th
But when the father of the Heliades shall have dipped his rays in the billows, and heaven’s twin poles are girdled by the stars serene, the offspring of Hyrieus shall lift his mighty shoulders above the earth: on the next night the Dolphin will be visible. That constellation once indeed beheld the Volscians and the Aequians put to flight upon thy plains, O land of Algidus; whence thou, Postumius Tubertus, didst win a famous triumph over the neighbouring folks and didst ride victorious in a car drawn by snow-white horses.
XIII. Kal. 19th
Now twice six days of the month are left, but to that number add one day; the sun departs from the Twins, and the constellation of the Crab flames red; Pallas begins to be worshipped on the Aventine hill.
XII. Kal. 20th
Now, Laomedon, thy son’s wife rises, and having risen she dispels the night, and the dank hoar-frost flees from the meadows. The temple is said to have been dedicated to Summanus, whoever he may be, at the time when thou, Pyrrhus, wast a terror to the Romans.
XI. Kal. 21st
When that day also has been received by Galatea in her father’s waters, and all the world is sunk in untroubled sleep, there rises above the horizon the young man blasted by the bolts of his grandsire and stretches out his hands, entwined with twin snakes. Familiar is the tale of Phaedra’s love, familiar, too, the wrong that Theseus did, when, too confiding, he did curse his son to death. Doomed by his piety, the youth was journeying to Troezen, when a bull cleft with his breast the waters in his path. Fear seized the startled steeds; in vain their master held them back, they dragged him along the crags and flinty rocks. Hippolytus fell from the car, and, his limbs entangled by the reins, his mangled body was whirled along, till he gave up the ghost, much to Diana’s rage. “There is no need for grief,” said the son of Coronis, “for I dll restore the pious youth to life all unscathed, and to my leech-craft gloomy fate shall yield.” Straightway he drew from an ivory casket simples that before had stood Glaucus’ ghost in good stead, what time the seer went down to pluck the herbs he had remarked, and the snake was succoured by a snake. Thrice he touched the youth’s breast, thrice he spoke healing words; then Hippolytus lifted his head, low laid upon the ground. He found a hiding-place in a sacred grove and in the depths of Dictynna’s own woodland; he became Virbius of the Arician Lake. But Clymenus and Clotho grieved, she that life’s broken thread should be respun, he that his kingdom’s rights should be infringed. Fearing the example thus set, Jupiter aimed a thunderbolt at him who knew the resources of a too potent art. Phoebus, thou didst complain. But Aesculapius is a god, be reconciled to thy parent: he did himself for thy sake what he forbids others to do.
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