When, as Eurystheus' will was told,
Necessity from Father Jove
To bring the hind with horns of gold 55
His persecuted offspring drove:
Which erst, in sacred pomp array'd,
Taygeta had given to please th' Orthosian maid. [1] 54
This as he urged in warm pursuit,
His eyes survey'd the region there 60
Which chilling Boreas render'd bare,
Admiring the tall olive's shoot;
Then sweet desire possess'd his soul
To plant the consecrated root
Around the twelve-times circled goal. 65
And now to crown the solemn feast,
The hero comes, propitious guest,
With deep-zoned Leda's twinborn pair.
To them the glorious charge he gave,
Ascending to Olympus' height, 70
To fix the contest's laws, and crown the brave
Who sped his victor car, or won the palm of might. 67
Then justly noble Theron's fame
My mind exhorts me to proclaim;
And sing th' Emmenidæs' high race, 75
Whom Jove's equestrian offspring grace
With honours and rewards divine,
So bright their virtuous actions shine.
By them the sacred rites are paid,
By them the liberal banquet laid 80
With more abundant plenty stored
Than often crowns a mortal board. 74
- ↑ I. e. Diana: so named from her salutary obstetrical influence, or from a mountain of Arcadia.
The younger scholiast gives a long account of the reason why this stag with gilded horns was offered to Diana, who had benevolently metamorphosed into the form of that animal Taygeta, the daughter of Atlas.
the full moon of that month, the new moon of which immediately followed the summer solstice.
