locks of both. The Thunderer rejoices in his very uncertainty, and to their hesitating mother her ignorance brings delight; Eurotas cannot make distinction between his own nurslings.
When all had returned to the palace, Theodosius, anxious for the world’s just governance, is said to have addressed thee in these terms:
“Had fortune, my dear son, given thee the throne of Parthia, hadst thou been a descendant of the Arsacid house and did the tiara, adored by Eastern lands afar, tower upon thy forehead, thy long lineage would be enough, and thy birth alone would protect thee, though wantoning in idle luxury. Very different is the state of Rome’s emperor. ’Tis merit, not blood, must be his support. Virtue hidden hath no value, united with power ’tis both more effective and more useful. Nay, o’erwhelmed in darkness it will no more advantage its obscure possessor than a vessel with no oars, a silent lyre, an unstrung bow.
“Yet virtue none shall find that has not first learned to know himself and stilled the uncertain waves of passion within him. Long and winding is the path that leads thereto. What each man learns in his own interests learn thou in the interests of the world. When Prometheus mixed earthly and heavenly elements and so formed human kind, he stole man’s spirit pure from his own heavenly home, held it imprisoned and bound despite its outcries, and since humanity could be formed in no other way he added two more souls.[155] These fail and perish with the body; the first alone remains, survives the pyre and flies away. This soul he stationed in the lofty fastness of the brain to control and oversee the work and labours of the body. The other
[155] Claudian here follows the Platonic psychology which divides the soul into τὸ ἐπιθυμητικόν, τὸ θυμοειδές, the two (” geminas” ) baser elements, and τὸ λογιστικόν (the “haec” of l. 234).
illas inferius collo praeceptaque summae passuras dominae digna statione locavit. quippe opifex veritus confundere sacra profanis distribuit partes animae sedesque removit. 240 iram sanguinei regio sub pectore cordis protegit imbutam flammis avidamque nocendi praecipitemque sui. rabie succensa tumescit, contrahitur tepefacta metu. cumque omnia secum duceret et requiem membris vesana negaret, 245 invenit pulmonis opem madidumque furenti praebuit, ut tumidae ruerent in mollia fibrae. at sibi cuncta petens, nil conlatura cupido in iecur et tractus imos compulsa recessit, quae, velut inmanis reserat dum belua rictus, 250 expleri pascique nequit: nunc verbere curas torquet avaritiae, stimulis nunc flagrat amorum, nunc gaudet, nunc maesta dolet satiataque rursus exoritur caesaque redit pollentius hydra. “Hos igitur potuit si quis sedare tumultus, 255 inconcussa dabit purae sacraria menti. tu licet extremos late dominere per Indos, te Medus, te mollis Arabs, te Seres adorent: si metuis, si prava cupis, si duceris ira, servitii patiere iugum; tolerabis iniquas 260 interius leges. tunc omnia iure tenebis, cum poteris rex esse tui. proclivior usus in peiora datur suadetque licentia luxum inlecebrisque effrena favet. tum vivere caste