Haec pagina emendata et bis lecta est

sērō[1] sēnsit sē ā prīncipibus circumventum esse; ēdictum enim rēgis semel prōpositum nec rescindī[2] nec mūtāri poterat.

“Omnia maerēns temptāvit, quō modō vātem cōnservāret, sed nihil reperiēbat; cumque prīncipēs convēnissent hominisque mortem postulārent, trīstis vātem ad bēstiās damnāre coāctus est.”

“Vah!” inquit Cornēlia. “Haec mihi vehementer displicent.[3] Nōnne modo dīxī mē[4] iam diū[5] caedis sanguinisque taedēre?”

At Anna: “Manēdum,” inquit, “dum[6] reliqua audiās. Vātēs interim nihil[7] terrēbatur; sed in spēluncam leōnum plēnam dēmissus, cum saxum magnum suprā collocātum esset nē quā[8] effugere posset, laudēs tamen clārē deō suō cantavit.

“Iam rēx, vigiliīs dispositīs, animō maximē conturbātō domum sē contulerat, ubi nec cibum capere nec somnō quiēscere potuit; sed noctem tōtam sollicitus vigilābat. Cum diēs dēmum illūxisset,[9] ē lectō surrēxit et celeriter ad spēluncam pervēnit. Quō ubi ventum est, vōce lāmentābilī: “Vērī deī vātēs,” inquit, “adhūc vīvis?”

“Tum ē spēluncā audīta est vōx vātis: ‘Semper vīvās, ō rēx! Salvus sum; nam deus patrius nūntium mīsit, quī faucēs[10] leōnum praeclūderet.‘[11] Quō audītō, rēx gaudiō ēlātus saxum āmovērī iussit; vātēsque incolumis ē spēluncā in lūcem redditus est.”

“Euge!” inquit Cornēlia. “Quam gaudeō rem ēventum tam fēlīcem habuisse!”

At Sextus: “Quid factum est,[12] obsecrō, illīs prīncipibus scelestīs, quī tantum dolum frūstrā fabricatī[13] erant?”

  1. sērō, too late.
  2. rescindō, scindere, -scidī, -scissus, tr., revoke.
  3. displiceō, -ēre, -uī, -itum, intr., be displeasing.
  4. mē: obj. of taedēre.
  5. iam diū: see note on IV, 113.
  6. -dum: particle, just (wait).
  7. nihil: adv. acc.; cf. III, 40.
  8. quā: cf. eā, IV, 9.
  9. illūcēscō, -lucēscere, -lūxī, intr., dawn.
  10. faux, faucis, f.; pl., jaws.
  11. praeclūdō, -clūdere, -clūsī, -clūsus, tr., shut, stop.
  12. factum est, with abl., became (of).
  13. fabricor, -ārī, -ātus sum, tr. devise