P Sufenas Virius Lupus
You who are of Arcadian stock,
offspring of the Great Bear,
Kallisto, daughter of Lykaon
of wolfish aspect —
You are the new Arkas,
the young bear venturing forth.
Many wish to possess your hide
as a trophy of their successful hunt.
But you are a ferocious creature,
a wolf and a stalker of prey
as swift as a Gaulish greyhound
and as dogged in the pursuit.
May not a hair of your smooth skin
succumb to the harm of the hunt,
may hare and deer, boar and lion
be scattered and broken by you.
May the lion-slaying Herakles,
far-shooting Apollo and his arrows,
fierce Ephesian maiden Artemis
and Silvanus of the bordering woods
bless you, O Antinous,
master of hounds and hunter.
neosalexandria 