.......

Hanc ubi praepetibus pennis lapsuque volantem

Conspexit Marius, divini numinis augur,

Faustaque signa suae laudis reditusque notavit,

Partibus intonuit caeli pater ipse sinistris:

Sic aquilae clarum firmavit Iuppiter omen.

1 Iovis pinnata satelles, i.e. the Eagle. Cf. Pindar, Pyth. i. 6: εὕδει δ’ ἀνὰ σκάπτῳ (= σκήπτρῳ) Διὸς αἰετός, and sleeps on the staff of Zeus his eagle.

3 Surrigit (= surgit) = raises up; very rare in this sense. The v.l. Sūbigit (for sŭbigit) = carries aloft.

Compare Plutarch’s story of the eagle’s nest, with seven young ones in it, which fell into the lap of Marius when a boy, predicting (so the diviners said) that Marius would be seven times Consul.

[B5]