never sang, but I could honestly expand 

 upon his beauty ; for he is both fair and 

 beautiful from tip to toe — 



Hie, et 

 Candidus et talos a vertice pulcher ad imos. 



Terrible as he is among the delicate, 

 undersized songsters, he is one of the fine 

 notes of force, form, and color in all our 

 fields and woods. Human history owes 

 much to Nero ; even the poets have thrived 

 upon his record; the shrike should have 

 been named nerornithos. 



139 



