Theocritus—Encomium of Ptolemy.

Oh may a young Torquatus bending

From his mother’s breast to thee,

His tiny infant hands extending,

Laugh with half-open’d lips in childish ecstasy:

May he reflect the father in his face:

Known for a Mallius to the glancing eye

Of strangers unaware, who trace

In the boy’s forehead of paternal grace

A mother’s shining chastity.