Statius: Thebaid, Vol. 2 & Achilleid

she calls an assembly; the unhappy children clung to the goer. And they, no less sluggishly, all burst from their roofs, and the rush is to the highest citadels of Pallas: hither we are crowded in haste and gathered without order; soon with drawn sword she commanded silence, the instigator of crimes, and thus dared to speak in the midst: "I prepare to sanction a supreme task by the prompting of the gods and deserved grief, O widowed Lemnians—strengthen your minds and banish your sex!—if you are weary of preserving empty homes forever and the shame of your flower of youth lying hidden, and years sterile in long lamentations, I have found, I promise, a way—nor are the deities wanting—by which Venus is to be renewed: only expend courage equal to your griefs, and indeed let it be granted to me to know this first. The third winter will sing; to whom are the connubial bonds or the secret honor of the marriage chamber? For whom has the breast warmed with a spouse? Whose labors has Lucina seen, tell me, or whose throbbing vows swell with the just months? By which peace it is given as a custom for wild beasts and birds to be yoked. Alas, sluggish ones! Could the Grecian father give avenging weapons to his daughters and, joyful for their sorrows, drench the secure sleep of the youths in blood: but are we an inert mob? But if there is need of nearer acts, behold, let the Rhodopeian wife teach [us] courage, having avenged the marriage chambers with her own hand and having feasted equally with her husband. Nor do I compel you, immune from crimes or secure: my house is full and huge, behold, perceive, the sweat."