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believed, that Folia of Ariminum, [a witch] of masculine lust, was not
absent: she, who with her Thessalian incantations forces the charmed
stars and the moon from heaven. Here the fell Canidia, gnawing her
unpaired thumb with her livid teeth, what said she? or what did she not
say? O ye faithful witnesses to my proceedings, Night and Diana, who
presidest over silence, when the secret rites are celebrated: now, now
be present, now turn your anger and power against the houses of our
enemies, while the savage wild beasts lie hid in the woods, dissolved in
sweet repose; let the dogs of Suburra (which may be matter of ridicule
for every body) bark at the aged profligate, bedaubed with ointment,
such as my hands never made any more exquisite. What is the matter? Why
are these compositions less efficacious than those of the barbarian
Medea? by means of which she made her escape, after having revenged
herself on [Jason's] haughty mistress, the daughter of the mighty Creon;
when the garment, a gift that was injected with venom, took off his new
bride by its inflammatory power. And yet no herb, nor root hidden in
inaccessible places, ever escaped my notice. [Nevertheless,] he sleeps
in the perfumed bed of every harlot, from his forgetfulness [of me]. Ah!
ah! he walks free [from my power] by the charms of some more knowing
witch. Varus, (oh you that will shortly have much to lament!) you shall
come back to me by means of unusual spells; nor shall you return to
yourself by all the power of Marsian enchantments, I will prepare a
stronger philter: I will pour in a stronger philter for you, disdainful
as you are; and the heaven shall subside below the sea, with the earth
extended over it, sooner than you shall not burn with love for me, in
the same manner as this pitch [burns] in the sooty flames. At these
words, the boy no longer [attempted], as before, to move the impious
hags by soothing expressions; but, doubtful in what manner he should
break silence, uttered Thyestean imprecations. Potions [said he] have a
great efficacy in confounding right and wrong, but are not able to
invert the condition of human nature; I will persecute you with curses;
and execrating detestation is not to be expiated by any victim.
Moreover, when doomed to death I shall have expired, I will attend you
as a nocturnal fury; and, a ghost, I will attack your faces with my
hooked talons (for such is the power of those divinities, the Manes),
and, broodi