Then Jove himself, in royal habit dressed,
With starry diadem upon his head,
And o'er his shoulders an imperial vest
Worn upon holidays.--The king displayed
A sceptre, pastoral shape, with hooked crest:
In a rich jacket too was he arrayed,
Given by the inhabitants of Sericane,
And Ganymede held up his splendid train.
--A. Tassoni
A MODEL YOUNG LADY OF ANTIQUITY
(Pliny, the Younger, writes the following in a letter relative to
the death of Minicia Marcella, the daughter of his friend, Fundanus.)
Tristissimus haec tibi scribo, Fundani nostri filia minore defuncta,
qua puella nihil umquam festivius, amabilius, nec modo longiore vita
sed prope immortalitate dignius vidi. Nondum annos quattuor decem
impleverat, et iam illi anilis prudentia, matronalis gravitas erat, et
tamen suavitas puellaris cum virginali verecundia. Ut illa patris
cervicibus inhaerebat! Ut nos amicos paternos et amanter et modeste
complectabatur! ut nutrices, ut paedagogos, ut praeceptores, pro suo
quemque officio diligebat! quam studiose, quam intellegenter lectitabat!
ut parce custoditeque ludebat! Qua illa temperantia, qua patientia, qua
etiam constantia novissimam valetudinem tulit! Medicis obsequebatur,
sororem, patrem adhortabatur, ipsamque se destitutam corporis viribus
vigore animi sustinebat.
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