THE SORCERIES OF CANIDIA.

From Horace.

(Canidia and other witches, having enticed a boy of high birth into some secret cell, proceed to bury him in the earth, up to the chin; in order that, when he has perished with hunger in that situation, his liver etc. may serve as ingredients for a draught, by administering which Canidia purposes to regain the affection of Varus, who has deserted her. The poem commences with the entreaties of the boy, and concludes with the imprecations which he utters when about to be abandoned to famine and inhumation.)

“Father of Gods, who rul’st the sky, The earth and all the heavenly race! What means this noise, why savagely On me is turn’d each frightful face?— By thy dear babes, if aid e’er lent Lucine to thee in child-birth hour, By this proud purple ornament, By hands ne’er clasp’d to crave before, I beg thee, Dame! thou wilt declare Why she-wolf like thou me dost eye.” Stript of his tests of lineage fair He stood, who rais’d this piteous cry— A boy, of form which might have made The Thracian furies’ bosoms kind. Canidia with her uncomb’d head And hair with vipers short entwin’d, Commands wild fig-trees, once that stood By graves, and cypresses uptorn, And toads foul eggs, imbued with blood, And plume, by night-owl lately worn, Herbs too, which Iolchos and Spain Produce, renown’d for poisons dire, And bone from hungry mastiff ta’en, Straight to be burn’d in magic fire. And now the witch strode through the house, Hell-waters scattering wide around; Her hair like hedgehog’s bristling rose, Or like the boar’s whom hunters wound. Veia, by pity unrestrain’d, With pick-axe hastes the ground to tear, And toil’d till sweat she panting rain’d, That the poor wretch imburied there Might slowly die, in sight of food Renew’d each day, his head so far Extant from earth, as from the flood The heads of swimmers extant are; That the parch’d marrow and the dry Liver for a love-draught might be, When fixt upon the feast the eye, The craving eye should cease to see. All Naples says in verity, And all the neighbouring towns beside, That Folia lewd of Rimini Was present there, that dreadful tide— She who with verse Thessalian sang Down from their spheres the stars and moon. Her uncut thumb with livid fang The fell Canidia biting soon: “Night and Diana,” scream’d she out, “Of my deeds faithful witnesses! Ye who spread silence wide about, When wrought are sacred mysteries! Now aid me: in my foe’s house bid Your wrath and power divine to hie, Whilst in their awful forests hid, O’ercome with sleep, the wild beasts lie: May suburb curs, that all may jeer, Bay the old lecher, smear’d with nard {94}, More choice than which these fingers ne’er Have, skilful, at my need prepar’d. But why have charms by me employ’d, Less luck than her’s, Medea dread, With which her rival she destroy’d, Great Creon’s child, then proudly fled, When the robe bane-imbued, her gift, Enwrapp’d the new-wed bride in flame? But neither herb, nor root from rift Of lone rock ta’en, are here to blame; In every harlot’s bed lies he Anointed with oblivion; Ah, ah, ’tis plain he walketh free Protected by some mightier one. But Varus! thou shalt suffer yet! Thou shalt re-seek these longing arms, And ne’er from me re-alienate Thy mind, enthrall’d by Marsan charms. A cup more powerful I for thee Will soon prepare, disdainful wretch! Ere shall the sky sink ’neath the sea, And that shall o’er the earth out-stretch, Than with my love thou shalt not burn, Like pitch, which in these flames I throw.” Not with mild words their bosoms stern To melt, as erst, the boy sought now; But madly reckless he began The direst curses forth to rave: “And do not think your sorceries can Yourselves from retribution save: Your curse I’ll prove; my deathless hate By sacrifice ne’er sooth’d shall be; But when I perish, bid by fate, A night-ghost ye shall have in me. With crook’d nails I’ll your faces tear, For great is injur’d spirits might, On your breasts seated, hard I’ll bear, And banish sleep with ceaseless fright; Ye through the streets with stones the crowd To death shall pelt, ye hags obscene! Your limbs, no sepulture allow’d, The wolves shall tear and birds unclean. My parents who, though grey and old, Shall me survive, their youthful boy When they that spectacle behold Shall clap their hands and smile for joy.”