Thomas
Gray
Archive

"[Translation from Statius, Thebaid IX 319-26]"

"[Translation from Statius, Thebaid IX 319-26]"


1 Crenaeus, whom the nymph Ismenis bore
2 To Faunus on the Theban river's shore,
3 With new-born heat amidst his native stream
4 Exults in arms, which cast an iron gleam.
5 In this clear wave he first beheld the day;
6 On the green bank first taught his steps to stray,
7 To skim the parent flood and on the margin play:
8 Fear he disdains and scorns the power of fate,
9 Secure within his mother's watery state.
10 The youth exulting stems the bloody tide,
11 Visits each bank and stalks with martial pride,
12 While old Ismenus' gently-rolling wave
13 Delights the favourite youth within its flood to lave.
14 Whether the youth obliquely steers his course
15 Or cuts the downward stream with equal force,
16 The indulgent river strives his steps to aid.

You can use this form to contribute an annotation to or a query about the selected passage. Your contribution will be sent to the editor for review, and will subsequently appear together with your contact details as part of the existing commentary. All contributions are covered under the Open Publication License v1.0. Please note that the form will only be submitted to the editor if all required fields are filled in. Thank you for your contribution!

Contribute a note or query

  line(s)     to  



Your details





Spelling has been modernized throughout, except in case of conscious archaisms. Contractions, italics and initial capitalization have been largely eliminated, except where of real import. Obvious errors have been silently corrected, punctuation has been supplied. The editor would like to express his gratitude to the library staff of the Göttingen State and University Library (SUB Göttingen) for their invaluable assistance.