Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Metamorphoses
The Metamorphoses
VALUABLE
STANDARD WORKS,
PRINTED FOR
TRAVELS
THE IONIAN ISLES,
IN
IN ALBANIA, THESSALY, AND GREECE,
Inl81Sand 1813.
By HENRY HOLLAND, M.D. F.R.S. &c. Ac.
In 3 vol3.8vo. illustrated by a Map and Twelve En-
graviiii;^!, Price \L 15s. lids. The id Edition.
2 IVorJcs printid for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown JLondon.
TRAVELS IN MEMOIRS
VARIOUS COUNTRIES OF THE EAST; OF THB
Being a Continnation of Memoirs relating to European COURT OF KING JAMES THE FIRS
and Asiatic Turkey, &c.
By LUCY AlKIN.
Edited by ROBERT WALPOLE, M.A. In 2 Vols. Svo.
Nearly ready.
4to. Price 3L 3s.
In the Years 1768, 1169, 1770,1771, 1772, and 1773. } LIFE OF BRYAN WALTON, D.D.
By JAMES BRUCE, of KINNAIRD, Esq. F.R,S. I Bishop of Chester, and Editor of the London BiW
I Polyglotta.
The Third Edition. In 7 Vols. Svo. with an eighth .
Volume, in royal 4to. consisting of Engravings, chiefly \ By the Rev. HENRY J. TODD, M.A. F.S.A. &c. Ac,
by Heath, Price 6L 6». in Boards. } 2 Vols. Svo. with Portrait.
MEMOIRS OF MEMOIRS OF
THE LIFE OF ANNE BOLEYN, JOHN, DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH,
Queen of Henry VIII, fFith his Original Correspondence,
By MISS BENGER. Collected from the Family Records at Blenheim, and
Two other authentic Sources.
Volumes, small Svo. Price 16*. Bds. 9d Edit,
with 2 Portraits. ByW^ILLIAM COXE, M.A.F.R.S.F.S.A.
By the same Author, Archdeacon of Wilts.
JCMOIRS of the late Mrs. ELIZABETH HAMILTON. The Second Edition. In 6 Vols. Svo. with an Atlas
2cl Edit, iu a Vols. Svo. with a Portrait, \L Is. Bds. iu 4to. Price bl. 5s. Bds.
JMOIRSof Mr. JOHN TOBIN, Author of the Honey same Author,
Also, by the
Moon. Iu Svo. Price 12s. Bds.
HISTORY of the HOUSE of AUSTRIA from the Foun-
dation of the Monarchy, by Rodolph of Hapsburgh,
HE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES, J
to the Death of Leopold the Second, 1218 to l'i92.
For the Recovery and Possession of the A New Edition, 5 Vols. Svo. Price 31. ISs. 6d. Bds.
MEMOIRS of the KINGS of SPAIN of the HOUSE of
i|)olp JLanD.
BOURBON, from the Accession of Philip the Fifth to
By CHARLES MILLS, Esq. the Death of Charles the Third, it(X) 178S, from —
Author of " A History of Muhammedanism." Original Documents and Secret Papers. The 2d
he Second Edition. Iu 2 Vols. Svo. Price IL is. Bds. Edition. In 5 Vols. Svo. Price St, in Boards; or in
Imperial 4to. 12;. 12s. Bds.
THE HISTORY OF GREENLAND. MEMOIRS of the LIFE and ADMINISTRATION of SIR
ROBERT W^ALPOLiE, Earl of Orford, with Original
New Edition, with Plates,and considerable Addi-
Correspondence and Authentic Papers never before
and Imx)rovemeuts. 2 Vols. Svo. \l, \s. Bds.
published. A New Edition, in 4 Vols. Svo, Price
tions
it, 6s.
IE LIFE OF JAMES THE SECOND, LIFE of HORATIO LORD WALPOLE, selected from
hisCorrespondence and Papers, and connected with
Etntf of Citglann, Qfc, the History of the Times from 1678 to 1757. 2 Vols,
Published the Original Stuart Manuscripts.
froivi Svo. Sd Edit. Price It. 6s. Bds.
By the Rev. J. S. CLARKE, L.L.D. F.R.S.
In 2 large Vols. 4to. Price 6t. 6s. in Boards. MEMOIRS OF THE
_;»
lice,
This
fiom
Work
tlie
comiirises the History of Great Britain and
latter Part of the Reign of Charles the First, to the PROTECTOR, OLIVER CROMWELL,
>e of King William's Reign. And his Sons, Richard and Henry :
Illustrated by original Letters, and other Family
ANNALS OF THE Papers.
EIGN of KING GEORGE the THIRD; By OLIVER CROMWELL, Esq.
A
Descendant of the Family.
Brought down to his Death.
With Six Portraits, from original Pictures.
By JOHN AIKIN, M. D.
In Two Vols. Svo. Price Second Edit. 2 Vols. Svo. Price U. Ss. Bds.
The 2d Edit. 11, Bs. Bds.
A GENERAL
IFE OF WILLIAM, LORD RUSSELL, HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF YORK,
IVith some Account of the Times in which he lived.
By LORD JOHN RUSSELL. By THOS. DUNHAM WHITAKER, LL.D. F.S.A. F.R.S.
With a Portrait engraved by Fittler, VicarofWhalley,and Rector of Heysham,iu Lancashire.
Parts I. to VI. ( Richmondshire.)
The 3d Edit, in 2 Vols. Svo. Price II. Is. bds.
Price 2i.2s. each ; or on large paper, with proof im-
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE pressions of the plates, Price 4/. 4s.
REMAINS OF HENRY KIRKE WHITE, SI. 16«.— Winchester, with 30 Plates, nied. 4to. iU
imp. 4to. hi. 5s.; cr. fol. 8/.; sup.-roy. fol. IK.— Yc
i
ff^itk an Account of his Life. with 35 Engravings, med. 4lo. 3^ 15s.; imp. 4to. 6J. •
By ROBERT SOUTHEY, Esq. Poet Laureate. cr. fol. 10/.; sup.-roy. fol. IH. J 2«.— Lichfield, with
In 2 Vols. 8vo. the 8th Edition, with a Portrait, and two Engravings, med. 4to. \l. 18s.; imp. 4to. Si. 3s.; si
other Engravings, Price It. \$. roy. folio, 61. G«.— Oxford, U
Plates, med. 4to. H. 4
imp. 4to. 2Z. a*.; sup.-roy. folio, il. is, Nos. Land'
oj' Canterbury are also published.
MEMOIRS OF THE
LIFE OF COLONEL HUTCHINSON, AN HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURi
Governor of Nottingham Castle and Town,
Written by his WIDOW LUCY.
ESSAY
RELATING TO
In S Vols. 8vo. 3d Edit. Price \t. Is. Bds.
REDCLIFFE CHURCH, BRISTOL.
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT By JOHN BRITTON, F.S.A.
In royal 8vo. Price 16s.; in medium 4to. Price \l.i
OP and iu imperial 4to. Price \L lis. &d. Bds.
DISCOVERIES AND TRAVELS IN ASIA. *»* The two Sizes in 4to. correspond with the Arc
By HUGH MURRAY, F.R.S.E. tectural Antiquities of Great Britain.
Author of Historical Account of Discoveries in Africa.
la 3 Vols. 8vo. 21. 2s. Bds.
THE EDINBURGH REVIEW,
2Dr Critical 3(ournaI.
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT Nos. I. to LXX. Price 6s. each.
OF
DISCOVERIES AND TRAVELS IN AFRICA. THE
In 2 Vols. 2d Edit, enlarged. Price li. 7». Bds. EDINBURGH ANNUAL REGISTER
Vols. I. to X. Price \\U 5».
<2»rcat "Britain i
graphical and Critical Remarks.
By Mrs. INCHBALD.
Containing a Series of Views illustrative of the Charac-
ter and prominent Features of the Coast. With elegant Engravings. In 23 Vols, royal 18r
Price 6/. 16s. 6rf.; or on fine Paper, with Portraits a
By WILLIAM DANIELL, A.R.A. Proof Imx'ressious of the Plates, Price 13/. in Bds.
The First Voyagk contains 28 Plates, illustrative of
the Coast from the Land's End, Cornwall, to Holyhead,
with descriptive Letter-press, 71. 10*. half-bound. THE MODERN THEATRE ;
The Skcond Voyage comprehends Holyhead and Port-
Or, a Collkction of Successful Modern Plays, acted
patrick, with the intermediate Parts, illustrated in the Theatres lloyal, London. Printed from 1
28 Plates, and detailed Narrative, 7f. io».
The Third Voyage comprises 42 Plates, with Descrip- Prompt-Books by Autliority of the Managers.
tions of the South-west Coast and Part of the Western Selected by Mrs. INCHBALD.
Isles of Scotland, 11. 10s. half-bound. In 10 Vols, royal 18mo. to correspond with Inchbal
The Fourth Voyage, comprehending the Isles of British Theatre, and Collection of Farces. Price 2i. I
Skye, Harris, and Lewis; the North-west and Nor- and on fine Paper, Price SU 15s. Bds.
thern Coast of Scotland; the Orkneys; and the East
Coast from Duncansby Head to Dundee, illustrated
with 12 Plates, 7i. 10». half-bound. A COLLECTION OF FARCES,
ann i3DtT)cr afterpiece?!,
CHRONOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL Which are acted at the Theatres Royal, Drury-La:
ILLUSTRATIONS Covent-Garden, and Hay-Market. Printed under (
A VISION OF JUDGMENT.
YSTEM OF UNIVERSAL GEOGRAPHY.
By M. MALTE BRUN, By ROBERT SOUTHEY, Esq. L..L.D. Poet Laureate,
Editor of the " Aniiales dea Voyages," &e. In thin 4to. Price 15s. Bds.
Parts II. and III. Price 'is. Gd. each.
Also,
The Work is to be completed in Seven Octavo Vo-
mcs. Five of which have been already published in THE POETICAL WORKS
le Origiucjl, containing 6fi5 pages of lelter-press, each
OF THE SAME AUTUOR,
sarly double the quantity of an ordinary volume. In U Vols, foolscap Svo. Price 5/. 10*. 6rf. Bds.
The Translation is printed on fine demy paper, and
ill be published Quarterly, in Parts, or Half-Volumes, Or separately, as foUoivs :
rice Is. Gd. each. JOAN of ARC. 6th Edit. 2 VBls. 16s.
THALABA. 3d Edit. 2 Vols. I6s.
i:XCURSIONS THROUGH IRELAND; MADOC. 4th Edit. 2 Vols. 16s.
imprising brief Historical and Topographical De- CURSE of KEH AM A. 4th Edit 3 Vols. Us.
leations of every Town and Village ; together with MINOR POEMS. 3 Vols. 18s.
escriptions of the Residences of the Nobility and RODERIC, the LAST of the GOTHS, a Tragic Poem:
sntry. Remains of Antiquity, and every other most in 2 Vols, foolscap Svo. 5lh Edit. I6s. Bds.
teresting Object of Curiosity. Forming a complete
:iide for the Traveller and Tourist. Illustrated with The LAY of the LAUREATE; CARMEN NUPTIALE.
imerous Engravings. To be published regularly in In foolscap Svo. Price 4s. Bds.
onthly Numbers, each to contain at least Eight En- A PILGRIMAGE to WATERLOO,
a Poem: infcan.Svo.
avings and 30 Pages of Letter-press, Price 2s. 6c/. with Eight Engravings, 10s. Gd. Bds.
!mo.; or 4s. in 8vo. with Proof Impressions of the CARMEN AULICA, written in 1814, on the Arrival of
ales. K
Nos.I.to XI are already published. the Allied Sovereigns in England. CARMEN
XCURSIONS in ESSEX, illustrated by 10(1 Plates, 2 TRIUMPHALE, for the Commencement of the
Vols, royal ISmo. II. lOs. ; or, demy 8vo. 21. 8s. Year 1814, in foolscap Svo. Price 3s. Bds.
XCURSIONS in SUFFOLK, illustrated by 100 Plates,
3 Vols, royal 18mo. \l. M)s.^; or demy 8vo. 21. Ss. SELECT
XCURSIONS in
2 Vols, royal ISmo.
NORFOLK, illustrated by 100 Plates, WORKS OF THE BRITISH POETS,
\l. los.; or demy 8vo. 2/. 8s. Bds. With Biographical and Critical Prefaces.
*t* A few
Copies of each County are printed on
super-royal 8vo. with India Proof Plates,
By DR. AIKIN.
Price Gl. 6s. Bds. In 10 Vols, royal ISmo. Price SL Also in 10 Vols, post
ISmo. Price 2/.
XCURSIONS in SURREY, Nos. I. to V.
KENT, and SUSSBX,TIos. I. to IV. of
each. THE POETICAL WORKS
OF
A SERIES OF ENGRAVINGS SIR WALTER SCOTT.
) illustrate the Works, Days, and Theogony of Hesiod, Complete a Portrait and Vignettes.
in 10 Vols. Svo. with
from Compositions of 6^ Boards.
JOHN FLAXMAN, R.A.P.S. DITTO, in 13 Vols. 12mo. With a Portrait. 31. 12s. Bds-
In folio. Price 21, lis. Gd. Boards. Separate TForks ojthe same Author.
Also maybe had. The LAY ofthe LAST MINSTREL. 15th Edit. 10». Gd.
Series of Engravings to illustrate the Iliad and MARMION, a Tale of Flotlden Field. 9th Edit. 14s.
Sir THIS TREiM, a Metrical Romance. 4th Edit. I5s.
Odyssey of Homer, in 2 Vols, folio, II. ia. Bds.
Series of Engravings to illustrate Dante. In B VLLADS and LYRICAL PIECES. 5th Edit. 7s. 6rf.
One Volume, folio. Price 4i. 4s. Bds. The LADY of the LAKE. 12th Edit. 14s. Bds.
Series of Engravings to illustrate ROKEBY, a Poem, in Six Cantos. 6th Edit. 14s.
Eschyliis.
In folio. Price 21. 9s. Bds. The LORD of ihe ISLES. 4th Edit. Svo. 14s.
The MINSTRELSY of the SCOTTISH BORDER. 5th
Edit, in 3 Vols. Svo. U. ICs.
The BRIDAL of TRlERMAlN; or, the VALEof St.
POETRY. JOHN. In Three Cantos. 5th Edit, in f.cap. Svo.
7s. Orf.
OF
JAMES MONTGOMERY. POETICAL VAGARIES, and VAGARIES
In 3 Volumes, l2mo. Price Gd. Bds.
\l. Ss.
VINDICATED.
The same Aitthor''a IVorks separately. By GEORGE COLMAN, the Younger.
lEENLAND, and other Poems. 2d Edit. 8s. Bds. The 2d Edit, in f.cap. Svo. with Wood Cuts after
le WORLD BEFORE THE FLOOD. In Ten Canios. Thurston, los.erf. Bds.
With other Poems. 5th Edit. 'Js. Bds.
le WESTINDIES, &c. 5th Edit. 6s. Bds. THE FUDGE FAMILY IN PARIS;
le WANDERER of SWITZERLAND, and other
In a Skrics of Lettkrs,from Phil. Fudge, Esq. — Miss
Poems. 8th Edit. 6s. Bds.
Biddy Fudge— Mr. Bob Fudge, &c.
.Edited by THOMAS BROWN, the Younger, Author of
THE MISCELLANEOUS POEMS llie Two-Penny Post Bag.
OF In Foolscap Svo. Price 7». Gd. Bds. 9th Edit
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, Esq.
la 4 Volumes 12mo. Price M. 12s. Bds. THE PLEASURES OF HOPE,
The following may be had separately :
' With other Poems.
le EXCURSION, in 4to. 21. 2s. Bds. By THOMAS CAMPBELL.
, in Svo. 2d Edit. 14s. Bds. In I2mo. (a New Edition, with Engravings from De-
>e RIVER DUDDON, in Svo. 12s. Bds. signs by R. We^tall, R. A.) Ss.Bds.
lie WHITE DOE of RYLSTONE, in 4to. II. Is. By the same Aitthor,
ie WAGGONER, a Poem: in Svo. 4s. 6rf. GERTRUDE of WYO.MING, or the PENSYLVANIAN
3TER BELL, a Tale, in Verse. 2d Edit. 6s. Gd. COTTAGE, and other Poems. In 12nio. the Ith
E.lit. with Engravings by C. Heath, from Designs
LiAJSiKsn.vmr. nnF T.n ,..h i«.. .,s.
Works printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London.
LALL.4 ROOKH, an Oriental Romance. AN EXAMINATION OF THE CHARGES
By THOMAS MOORE, Esq. MADE AGAINST
th Edit, in 8vo. Price I4«. .Also Illustrations to tlie UNITARIANS AND UNITARIANISM,
Poem, from Paintings by R. Westall, R. A. 8vo. lis.
And the improved Version,
By the Right Rev. Dr. MAGEK, Bishop of Raphoe, in
[ETRICAL LEGENDS OF EXALTED his "Discourses and Dissertations on Atonement and
CHARACTERS. Sacrifice;" with some Strictures on the Statements of
the Bisiioi- of St. David's, Dn. Hali^s, Dean Graves, Dr.
By JOANNA BAILLIE. Nares, Dn. PvE Smith, and MR.RENNer,,&c.; and on the
In One Vol. Bvo. Price Us. 2d Edit. System pursued by some recent Editors of the Greek
same Author,
Di/ the 'I'estament.
PLAYS on tlie PASSION^," a new Edition, in 3 Vols. By LANT CARPENTER, L.L.D.
8vo. Price W. 11». 6d.Qd-i. In 8vo. 14». extra Bds.
[SCBLLANEOUS PLAYS. 3d Edit, in Svo.9«. Bds.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF
i>SYCHE; or, the LEGEND of LOVE BIBLICAL LITERATURE;
^ND OTHER POEMS. a
Exhibiting View of the History and Fate of the Sa-
Lite Mrs. HENRY TIGHE. cred Writings, from the earliest Period to the present
By llie
I'ilh an elegant Portrait of the Author. In 8vo. 5th Century: including Biographical Notices of Trausla-
tors and other eminent Biblical Scholars.
Edit. \2s. Bds.
By the Rev. JAMES TOWNLEY,
Author of Biblical Anecdotes.
ELLEN FITZ- ARTHUR; In three thick Vols. 8vo. Price 21. 2s. Bds.
A METRICAL TALE. /AT FirE CANTOS.
InSvo. Price Bds.
7s.Cr2.
SERMONS,
~
^ s
ON TBG
i NATURE, OFFICES, AND CHARACTER
EDUCATION. OF JESUS CHRIST.
By the Rev. T. BOWDLER, A.M.
•RINCIPLES OF EDUCATION, A New Edition, in 3 Vols. 8vo. with 10 additional
Sermons, Price II. is, Bds.
Intellectual, Moral, and Physical,
By the Rev. LANT CARPENTER, L.L.D.
InSvo. Price iie. Boards. BIBLICAL CRITICISM
On tlie BOOKS of the OLD TESTAMENT, and TRANS-
LATIONS of SACRED SONGS, with NOTES, Critical
SYSTEMATIC EDUCATION; and Explanatory.
', Elementary Instruction in the various Deparl- By SAMUEL HORSLEY, L.L.D. F.R.S. F.A.S.
snls of Literature and Science, with Practical Rules
Late Bishop of St. Asaph,
r studying each Branch of Useful Knowledge.
In 4 Vols. 8vo. Price 2^ 2s. Bds.
r the Re V. W. SHEPHERD, the Re v. L A NT CARPEN-
TER, LL.D. and the Rev. J. JOYCE, By the same Author,
bird Edit, in 2 Vols. 8vo. illustrated with Plates by
SERMONS. 4 Vols. 8vo. U. 17«. 6d. Vol. III. may be
had separate,9s. and Vol. IV. 10*. 6d. Bds.
Lowry, &c. Price IL Us. 6d. Bds.
A TRANSLATION of the PSALMS of DAVID, with
Notes. New Edition, in 2 Vols. 8vo. 18*
rHE ELEMENTS OF ASTRONOMY: 5
DIVINITY.
LECTURES ON
BOTANY, CHEMISTRY, S^-c.
THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES. CONVERSATIONS ON BOTANY,
fFith Twenty Engrai'ings,
By RALPH WARDLAW, D.D. ofGlasgow. Tlic Third Edit. In 1 Vol. 1o«.o. Prir,. 1, fi>^. ..1.:..
iO.
WorTcs printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme,
and Broion, London.
A TREATISE MISCELLANEOUS,
f THE CULTURE OF THE VINE ;
A COURSE OF LECTURES
of Vineyards in Eng- ON
new Hints on the Formation
Also, a Treatise on
the Culture of the Pine-
of the Hot-Houae. DRAWING, PAINTING, AND ENGRAVING,
5,
and the Management Considered as Branches of Elegant Education.
By WILLIAM SPEECHLY. By W. M. CRAIG.
with Plates, Price 18s. Bds.
1 Vol. 8vo. 3d. Edit, Delivered in the Royal Institution on successive Sea-
sous, and read subsequently at the Russell Institution.
LECTURES ON In 1 Vol. 8vo. with Plates and Wood-cuts. 14«.Bds.
By J.R. JOHNSON, M.D. F.R.S. F.L.S. &c. &c. A new Edition, considerably enlarged.
In 12mo. with Plates. Price 9s. Bds.
\
HISTORY OF THE PERSECUTIONS
\ ENnURED BY
JUcto 2DiiserDations» THE PROTESTANTS
\
ON X Of the South of France, and more especially of the De-
>TTP
Hh. TMATTTRAT
JNAiUKAL. iilMUKY OF
HISTOPY RFFS
KJt til^i^9. i
J
partment of the Card, during the Years 1814, from
^816, &c. including a Defence of their Conduct,
1915,
and erpkiincd.
Stated
RECREATIONS IN' MATHEMATICS
By WILLIAM MORGAN, Esq. F.R.S.
Actuary of the Equitable Life Insurance Office.
AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY,
1 Vol. Svo. I2s. First composed by M. OZANAM.
By CHARLES BUTTON, LL.D. and F.R.S.&C.'
A CRITICAL EXAMINATION The 2d Edit. In 4 Vols. Svo. (with Plates) 3i.3». Bds.
OF THE
FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY. A GENERAL
tn a Series of EsVays.
COMMERCIAL DICTIONARY.
By G. B. GREENOUGH,
President of the Geological Society, F.R.S. F.L.S. By THOMAS MORTIMER, Esq.
In Svo. Price 9s. Bds.
The Second Edition, with considerable Alterations and
Additions. Corrected to Aug. 1S19.
METAMORPHOSES,
TRANSLATED INTO
ENGLISH PROSE;
WITH
AND
NOTES IN ENGLISH.
LONDON :
1822.
L0N1)0^:
PRIM FD BY WILLIAM CLOW ES,
Northumberland-court.
HI
f\ B R A"~#'^.x
A
[\ JAiJlSl t
"
PREFACE.
And again,
Sed cuncta timenius araantes.
METAMORPHOSEON,
LIBER PRIMUS.
TRANSLATION.
my design speak of forms changed into new bodies. Favour,
is to
ITO ye gods, the attempt, (for by you were these changes produced),
and carry down the chain of my poem, from the beginning of the world
to my own times.
NOTES.
The Metamorphoses of Ovid r^iay be beginning of the world, to the ase
considered as a colltctioii of tlie chief ill vvliich lie wrote. Tlie first bock
of those fables vvi.ich epic and di-amatic bcL'ins with the unravelhng oftliechnos,
poe's had introduced into their works,
and distiiiKuisliingit into four elements,
in order to gain attentidn from tlieir to eacli of which are assigned proper in-
readers, aiul raise their admiration. habitants, and last of all man is created.
These fables arc for the most part Afer this follow the four aj^es of the
founded in history. How they came to world, the war of the giants against
be changed in their circumsiaiices, so heaven, and the universal degeneracy
remote fiom credibility, will be taken of men. Jupiter finding that the ex-
notice of in the remaiks upon each ample of Lycaon changed into a wolf
fable in the course of the work. It is was not sutficient to reclaim them,
sufficient to observe at present, that sends an universal delnsje, from which
poets, to pive their subjects a greatw only Deucalion and Pyrrha escape, who
air of dignity, affected to relate every repair the loss of their kind by tlirowing
thinii witii extraordinary circumstances, stones behind them. Apollo kills the
and make the gods interpose in all Python, falls in love witJi Daphne, who
that concerned their heroes. This is changed into a laurel. The other
humour of the poets, joined to the rivers assemble, uncertain whether to
notions of tho.'e times, coi gratulate, or condole with ier father
superstitious
Inachus alone is ab-
produced an infinite number of fables, upon this event.
which Ov;d has here connected to- sent, anxious tor his daughter, whom
gether in one continued poem, of which Jupiter had changed into an heifer.
the whole universe is the scene, and Mercury kills Argus, whom Jure had
(hat takes in all the times from the appointed her keeper, soon after whir li
B
2 P. OVIDII ]NAS0N1S
r. An(f miirf, ft tcl-
liis.et caiui/i (junclti'git
I. Ante mare, et tellus, et, quod teglt omnia,
omnia, eiat iiniis vtil- coe lum
lux nuturtPiii totoorbc,
tjuem due re chaos; Unus erat toto naturas vultus in orbe.
moles rudis ifidiges-
tague ; Quern dixcre chaos ;
rudis indigestaque moles :
TRANSLATION.
In the begiiuiing, the sea, the earth, and the heaven, which co-
I.
vers was but one face of nature through the whole extent of the
all,
nniverse, Mhich they called chaos a rude and indigested mass nor any
; ;
NOTES.
lo, restored to her former sliape, bears has manageil his subject with that happy
a son to Jupiter named Epaplias, who addiess, as to slide from one circuin-
is woishipiieii .joiiitl\ with her hy the st.ince into another without violating it.
itgypfians. The poet then, by a very Tjie texture, as an excellent critic ob-
n.itural and easy transition, enters npoii serves, is so art'ul, tliat it may be com-
the story of Phiaton. par<'d to the work of his own Arachne,
1. In tmva fert.] Ovid follows here where the shade dies so gradually, and
tlie example of the epic poets, who tl.'e light revives so
imperceptibly, tliat
always begin by a proposition of their it is hard to tell wliere the one
ceases,
subject, and invoking the aid of the and the other begins. Deducite perpe^
muse. The rules laid down by the tuum carmen must therefore mean, tvjrry
critics for exordinms are here strictly down my cyclic poem {i. e., the chain,
observed, both with respect to simpli- the connexion of my poem) from the
city and brevity. begimiin^ of the world to the present time.
1. Mutatas dicere formas corpora.'] 5. Ante mare et tellus.] Ante is not
Some commentators make this an hy- here a preposition governing a case, as
pallage, instead of corpora mutata in according to some rea:li!!gs; ante mare
novas formas ; and tind a beauty in it, et terras ; but is to be taken adterbiidly,
that the proposition of a subject which fov primo, principio, ' at first in the be-
regards the changes and variations of ginning:' Mare, tellus, et cceluin erat
bodies sIk uld be frauied with a trans- unus vultus nuiurcE.
position of words. But it n)ay be ex- 7. Quem dl.rere Chaos.] The ancient
plained also without an hypallage, as philosophers, not beinu able to conceive
forma is otten used to signify the thing liow any tiling could be produced out
itself, thus formic deotum, tcrrurum, pro of nothing, laid it down as a principle,
ipsis diis feris. And our own poet, ex nihilo nihil jit, et in nihilum nil ]>osse
Trif.t. 1.7- reverti. Therefore in their accounts of
Carmina mutatas hominum diceniia for- the creation of the world, they always
tuas. suppose some pre-existing matter, out
4.
Perpetuum cavmen.] Perpetuum of which things were formed, and
carmen is the same witli what was al^o ranked in that orderly disposition in
known amonir the ancients by the name which they now appear. The system
of poema cyclicum. It was of several lieie followed is that of Hesiod, the
kinds as when a particular subject and
,
most ancient poet now extant, that
action were pitched open, of a reason- treats of the origin of things. Fortirst
able but to be included in a
lenjitli, he supposes a chaos or pre-existing
determined number of lines; or when a niHtter, out of which the world and four
poet gave the entire history of a prince. elements were formed and then de-
;
But the principal kind of cyclic poem manner in which these ele-
scribes the
was, when the poet carried his subject ments were disposed ; as that aether
fvora one fixed periorl of time lo an- possessed the highest place, air the
other, as from the beginning of the next, then water, and earth, on account
world to the Trojan war, and connected of its gravity, the lowest. This doc-
all the events together in a continued trine, monstrous as it appears, is no
train. It is in this last sense that Ovid other than a disfigured tradition of the
calls his metamorphoses pevpduum car- creation. Hesiod seems to have copied
men the parts being connected to-
; all from Sanchoniathon, who undoubtedly
gether by the most natural and easy drew his ideas from the writings of
transitions for a certain unity of story
:
Moses, since in some places he uses his
ie preserved through the whole, and he very expressions.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. I. 3
TRANSLATION.
thing but a lifeless lump, and the disagreeing seeds of jarring ele-
ments, confusedly jumbled together in the same heap. No sun as yet
gave light to the world, nor did the moon, in a course of regular*
'
changes, repair her pointed horns. The earth was not hung self-ba-
lanced in the surrounding air nor had the sea stretched out her arms to
;
embrace the distant coasts. For Avherever there was land, there too
was sea and air. Thus was the earth unstable, the sea uniiavigable,
and the air destitute of light nor did any thing appear in its real
;
form. For one constantly obstructed the course of the other because ;
in the same heap, cold struggled with hot, moist with dry, hard with
soft, and heavy bodies widi light. But God and kind nature put an
NOTES.
10. Titan.} The sun; so on
called qiiently must hold one another in a per-
account ofiiis supposed fatlier Hyperion, fect equilibrium or balance. This
who was one of tiie Titans. This Hy- power of gravitation is not only con-
jserion was tlie first who by his a-siduous stant and universal, but acts always in
observations discovered the course of proportion to the solid content of
the sun, moon, and other luminaries. bodies, and with a force which is in a
By tnem he regulated the times and direct simple proportion of the quantity
seasons, and transmitted that know- of the matter, and an inverse duplicate
ledge to others. No wonder then if lie proportion of the distance.
who was the father of astronomy, has 14. Amphitrite.'] The daughter of
l)een also feigned by the poets to be Oceanus and Doris, and wife to Nep-
th<5 father of the sun and moon. tune, god of the sea hencH she is here
:
n. Pliophe.'] The moon; so called made to stand for the sea itself. Some
because supposed to be the sister of take her to be no more than a poetical
Phoebus or tlie sun. personage, whose name, derived from
13. Pundi'vibus librata suis,} It is the Greek, signifies to surround. Ac-
plain from this that the poet had a very cording to this we may easily conceive
distinct notion of the gravitation of bo- how shi- cn;ne to be called the wife of
dies. Ail the parts of matter attract, Neptune, or of the sea, which encom-
and are mutually attracted, and coiiso passes the earth.
B 2
p. OVIDIl NASONIS
T}nis tt wtUof nnlura Ilanc Deus, et melior litem natura diremit.
ttircmil kaiir. /item.
JV,iin terras
abstitlit Nam ccelo terras, et terris abscidit undas :
ligaiit ca dissociatu
locis
Vis
puce concordi. Ignea convexi vis et sine pondere coeli
is^nrii cccli coiire.ri
ft '•inr pondcre emir • it , Emicuit, summfique locum sibi legit in arce.
legitijue locum .>i6i in Proximus est aer illi levitate, locoque.
summri tirce. A\'r est
prorimui illi fevitd'e Densiov his tellus elementaque grandia traxit ;
;
ioccique. 'I'cUiks est
deninr hit, tni.iitinic Et est
pressa sui. Circumfluus hu-
gravitate
ct
gratidia etemnita,
est grarilnte
mor 30
pressci
sui Jiiiincr cir-
ipsiiis. Ultima possedit, solidumque coercuit orbem.
cumjiuiit po-isedit ul-
tima loca, cdcrcuitque IL Sic ubi dispositam, quisquis luit ille dec-
solii/itiii orltem.
II.Ubi illf,qnisqii)S rum,
sectamque in membra
f'jtt fJeorum, xciidt re-
congeriem sir dispos}- Congeriem secuit,
tam, redcgilqiie sic-
tam ill m'.mliru. degit :
TRANSLATION.
end to this intestine discord for he separated earth from air, and
;
water from earth, and distinguished between the grosser air and the
jethereal heaven. When he had thus unravelled the whole system
of things, and extricated them from their state of confusion, he as-
signed to each its proper place, and combined them in harmonious order.
The light fiery element of vaulted sethereal heaven shone out, and
mounted to tlie highest region. To this the air succeeds in lightness
and place. The earth, still heavier, drew along with it, the more pon-
derous elements, and was pressed together by its own weight. The
circling waters sunk to the lowest place, and begirt the solid orb.
II. When thus he, whoever he was of the
gods, had divided the
mass, and by that division formed it into distinct members first of all, ;
NOTES.
Deus et melior natiua.~\ Nature is
31. make earth the heaviest of the four ele-
a word often used witliont any deter- ments, and place it in the centre ray, :
METAMORPHOSEON, Lin. 1. 5
Principio
^
terrain, ne non aequalis ab omni }>n>ictj>w gimmont
r • teiram ne iinii rsset
m
• • •
-rt 1
Parte loret, magni speciem giomeravit or- a-qnaUsahnmnifartc,
mngni mbis^
•
1 '" iji(cie)7i
Of-
DIS. OO Turn jussit f'retu (tif-
totidemque
•• svlvas,
coelura,
-1
inontes.
sinistra
AJr
4o
et Campos extendi, I c.l-
les subsidere, syivas
jussit
TRANSLATION.
that no inequality might be found on either side, he rolled up the earth
into the figure of a spacious globe. He then commauded the seas to
flow round, and swell with raging winds and to mark out shores upon ;
NOTES.
40. Partim sorbejitur ah ipsfi.l This is 45. Utque dver clexlrit.'] Afstronomers
meant of those rivers that, at some (lis- take notice of five parallel circles in the
tance from their fountains, disappear, heavens. First, the equinoclial, which
and continue tiieir course under ground. liesexactly in the middle between the
Such Virgil tells us was tlie Alplieiis in poles of the «orld, and has obtained
Peloponnesus. Such still are the Anas its name from tiie equality of
days and
in Spjin, and Rhone in France. Yet nights over the earth, while ti.e sun
all
intiiiitely powerful Being accon-ipiishes 'ihat on the north side of the equinoc-
the nio^t ditiicnlt works. Let hnn but tial is called the tropic of Cancer, be-
speak the word and it is done. There cause tlie sun describes it when in that
is the same
beauty here that was long sign of the ecliptic and that on the :
.since remarked by one of the most cele- south side is for the same reason called
brated critics among the ancients, in the the Uopic of Capricorn. As;ain,atthe
jfiat of the Hebrew lawgiver.
distance of twenty -three degrees and
6 P. OVIDll NASONIS
sic ciira Dd Oisttnxit
Sic onus inclusum numero distinxlt eodem
inclusiim onus iixlcin
niiiiiiroZ^'Xtiriim: plii- Cura Dei :
totidemque plagse tellure premuntur.
g(egiie toti<hm prt miin-
tiir ti lliitf. Qiiariim Quarum quae media est, nou esthabitabilis aestu;
plagnriun illri (j/i/t est
miditi, nun i:\t Itublta.
Nix tegit alta duavS totidein inter utiamque lo-
:
tli'itiinter ntramque,
Temperiemque dedit, mista cum frigore flammu.
(luli'que tcniperiun,
JlainmCi mixtti cum J'ligorc
TRANSLATION.
these in like manner did the care of God distinguish this enclosed mass
;
by the same number, and five corresponding tracts are impressed upon
the earth. That which possesses the middle place, cannot be inhabited
by reason of the immoderate heats. Two are perpetually involved in
deep snow between these he placed two more, and gave them a hap-
;
pier temper, partaking equally of heat and cold. Over these hangs
NOTES.
a half from the poles of the world, me torrid zone, except directly under the
two other parallels called the polar tropics ; and his greatest distance from
circles, either on account of theii neiy:h- their zenith, at noon, cannot exceed
bourhood to tlic poles, or rather be- fortj-seven degrees. Thus his rays be-
cause if we suppose whole frMme of
tlie ing often perpendicular, or nearly so,
the heavens to be turned round in the and never very oblique, must dart more
plane of tiie equinoctial, these circles forcibly, and in greater numbers, and
are marked out by tlie poles of the eclip- occasion intense heats in that tract.
tic. By means of these paralkls astro- The ancients believed it uninliabitable,
nomers have divided the heavens into being but little acquainted with the ex-
five zones or tracts. The whole spare tent and situation of the earth, course
between the two tropics is the middle of the winds, &c. But later discoveries
or torrid zone, whicli the equinoctial have not only found it stocked with in-
divides iuto two equal parts. On each habitants, but also a rich fertile soil,
side of this are the temperate zones, abounding in every thing needful for
which extend from the tropics to the the support and pleasure of life.
two polar circles. And lastly, the .50. Nix legit alfa dvas.} viz. The two
spaces enclosed by the polar circles polar or frigid zones. For as the sun
make up the frigid zones. as the Now never approaches nearer these than the
planes of these circles produced till they tropic on that side, and is, during one
reach tlie earth, willalso impress similar part of the year, removed by the ad-
parallels upon it.
and divide it in the ditional extent of the whole torrid zone,
same manner as tliey divide the heavens, his rays must be very oblique and faint,
hence astronomers also conceive ftve so as to leave them exposed to almost
zones upon the earth, corresponding to perpetual cold.
those in the heavens, and bounded by 51. Temperiemque dedit-l The tempe-
the same circles. rate zones lying between the torrid and
49. Quumm quce media est.] The un- frigid, partake of each, and are of a
derstandini; of tiiis depends upon know- middle temper between hot and cold.
sun. The ecliptic Here too the distinction of seasons is
ing the course of the
in which he moves, cutting tlie equator most manifest. For in either temperate
in two opposite points, at an angle of zone, when the sun is in that tropic,
twenty-three degrees and a half, runs which borders upon it, being nearly
obliquely from one tropic
to another, vertical, the heat must be very consi-
and returns again in a corresponding derable, and make its summer but :
Imminet his aer, qui, quant6 est pondere terras, A'cr immiitft fii.f, ijui
est taiitoonerosior ic.ni,
Pondus aquse levis tanto est onerosior igni.
; qiiunto pondus aquce
est. levins pondere ter-
IIJjc et nebulas, illic consistere nubes ra. Jussit et nebulas
consistere illic, jussit
Jussit, et liumanos motura tonitrua mentes, 55 etiam nubes consistire
Et cum fulminibus facientes frigora ventos. illic,et tonitrua mo-
tura mentes humunas,
His quoque non passim mundi fabricator haben- et ventos facientes
fri-
gora, cum fulmifiii>us.
dum Fabricator quoque
Aera Vix nunc obsistitur ilUs, mundi, non perniixit
permisit. iicra liabendum passim
(Cum sua quisque regant diverse flamina tractu) his ventis nunc enini,
;
trum : — 60 titur
tract u,lamei\ vij obsis-
illis quin liinient
TRANSLATION.
the air, which is by so much heavier than fire, as the weight of wa-
ter falls below the weight of earth.) Here he ordered clouds aud
storms to engender, aud thunder that fills with terror the human
breast, lightning, and the winds that bring on winter colds. Nor did
the great contriver of the world leave these to take an uncontrolled
possession of the sky. Even liow (though each wind governs his own
blasts in the tract assigned him) they can scarce be hindered from rend-
ing the world to pieces so great is the rage and discord of the brothers.
;
Eurus took his way towards the rising of Aurora, the balmy Nabathean
regions, Persia, and the moimtains whose summits are visited by the
early rays of the sun. The evening star, and shores warmed by the
NOTES.
and occasion winter. The intermediate to have her habitation in the eastern
spaces, while he is moving from one quarter of the world, and often stands
tropic to tiie other, niake spring and in the lar.sruage of poetiy for the east.
aiitunm. To prevent mistakes we must 61. NaOatliceaqttcre^na.] The realms
observe, that Ovir], considering the of the east: for we learn from Josephiis,
torrid zone as tlie middle re<i!on of the that N a bath, the son of Ismael, with
world, calls the north side tiie ri;;ht side his eleven brothers, took possession
of heaven, and the south the left. of all the country from tiie liiiphrares
61, Eurus ad yfurnrum,^ The poet, to the Red sea, and called it Nabathaea.
after observing tiiat the air is the proper Natural History speaks of
I'liny in his
region of the \vnii!s, proceeds to take the Nahatiiei in Arabia Felix. Persia
notice that God, to prevent their mak- was a noted kingdoinof Asia, eastward
ing havoc of the wiiole creation, sub- of Italy.
jected them to paiticnlar laws, and as- 63. Vesper et occiduo.'] The evening
signed each tiie quarter froo! whence fo region and coasts where the sun setr.,
direct his blasts. Enruswassent tow^ird that is, the western part of the world,
Aurora, and the eastern regions. Enrus was assigned to the zephyrs, or west
is the e<ist-\viiid, so called
by a Greek winds, so called by a Greek derivation,
derivation, because it b!ov.s from the because they cherish and enliven nature.
east. And as Aurora, or the Morning, 64. Scythiamseptemqvetrionnn] Scy-
was always ushered in by the sun, who thia, a northern region of Asia. Sep-
rises eastward, hence she was supposed tentrio, the northern quarter of ijie
p. OVIDII NASONIS
sunl proxima Zifhyro. Proxima sunt Zephyio :
Scythiam septemque
Horrifer Boreas inva-
sit Sc'iithiiim sepfciitri- trionem
Tell us con-
oiicniqiie:
triiria miitlesr'i! nh as- Horrifer invasit Boreas contraria tell us
: 65
iidiii^ niiijibii.s. plinio-
que iiusf.ro. Imposuit
Nubibus assiduis,plv\vioque madescitab Austro :
super hiic yEtliera li- Haec super imposuit liquidum et gravitate ca-
quidum et carentcm
graritale, 7/cc Itahen- reiitem
teui quicquam terren/v
fa CIS. -^thera, nee quicquam terrene fsecis habentem.
Vix (lisscpsenn
ea omnia certis limiti-
bus, cum sidera qua:
Vix ea limitibus dissepserat omnia certis :
pressa sub illtl massd Cum, quffi pressa diu niassa latuere sub ilia, 70
diu latuere, ca^pcriiut
(Jlcrtesccre toto cwlo. Sidera coeperunt toto effervescere
cceIo.
Neu ne) nlla regio orba
foret
(ct
orba suis ani- Neu regio foret ulla suis animantibus
:
TRANSLATION.
setting sun, border upon the abode of the zephyrs. Boreas with his
dreadful blasts invaded Scylhia aud the northern quarter. The region
opposite to this is wet with continual clouds, and the rainy south wind.
Over these he placed the liquid firmament of heaven, a light aethereal
substance, void of gravity, and purged from all the gross dregs of earth.
Scarcely had he distinguished all these by their assigned limits, when
the stars that had hitherto lain hid under the lumpish mass of the
chaos, began to shine out, and enlighten the whole expanse of heaA'^en.
And that no region might be without its proper inhabitants, he fills the
empty tract of heaven w ith stars and the forms of gods. The wa-
NOTES.
world, so called from the Triones, a is not strictly true. But the error is so
constellation of seven stars, near tlip small as not to dei-erve not ice, since from
north pole, known by the name of Dr. Halley's discourse ©f the barometer
Ciiailes' Wain. Boreas was the son of it appears, that if nn the surface of tlie
hirem, snfzis Japcto (Vromelhcm) Jin.rit mistam Jluvialibus undis in ej/igiem Deorum mode-
rantum cuncta.
TRANSLATION.
be the habitation of the smooth fishes the earth is peopled
ters fell to ;
the infant earth, newly divided from the high a;ther, still retaijied some
particles of its kindred heaven which the wise son of Japetus, temper-
;
ing with living streams, fashioned after the image of the gods who rule
NOTES.
78. Natus homo est."] We have I.ere and refusing to espouse Pandora, and
another proof that the ancient poets in only ol)serve that lie is fabled to have
their accounts of the creation of the formed man of tempered clay, whom
world, followed a tradition that had Mi.ierva, the goddess of sciences, ani-
been copied i'roni the writings of Moses. mated. There are two ways of ex-
The formation of man in Ovid, as well plaining this history. First, that the
as in Genesis, is the last work of the inhabitants of Scythia being at that
Creator. time exfFemely savage, and without
79. Munrli melioris origo.'] The au- laws, either v;ntten or traditional, Pro-
thor of a better world. So I h^ve trans- nietbeiis, a polite and knowing prnice,
lated it ; taUiiis; tlie meaning of the poet tanght iheni to lead a more humane life,
to be, that God created tiie woiid in a and instrncted them in agiicnltme,
bf'tter statethan that in which it now physic, and other sciences. This, in
appears. Man at first was perf ct and the hyperbolical language of the poets,
untiinted witli vice the earth, too,
: was called, his having formed a man
yielded every thing better, and in more whom the yoddess of sciences animated.
abundance, of her own accord. I am But there is still another explanation of
the more confirmed in this, because in this fable given by Lactantins. He
the account of the four ages of the takes it to have no other foundation,
world, which immediately follows, he bnt that Prometheus was the first who
speaks of man as gradually degenerat- tani'htthe art ofmaking statues of clay.
ing from a state of perfect simplicity This conjectuie is greatly strengthened
and innocence. by a fine monument stiii
extant, and
82. Quern satus Japeto.] The
story that seen in the first volume of
may be
of Hroiiietheiis will reqniie to be ex- Montfaiicon's Anticjitities. It repre-
plained somewbat largely. He was, sents Prometheus forming a man, and
according to the most received account, there you may see him working with a
the son of Japelns and Clymcne- 1 chisel a plain indication that the art
;
Cumqiiccatrra amma-
lia pronii apcctiiit ter- Pronaque cilm spectent animalia caetera terram,
ram, ritdit homini Of Os homini sublime dedit, ccelumque tueri 85
siiblimc :Jii.txitgiic eiini
tiieri rcrliim, it follere Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.
rifltiis irecd't ad xi-
dcr<i- Sir tilliis qua Sic, modo quae f uerat rudis et sine imagine tellus,
modo fitrraf ritdis et
Induit ionotas hominum conversa tiguras.
sine imaiiiiif, convema,
hiriiiif igiiolas Jigurax III. Aurea prima sata est setas, quse vindice
tiominwii.
III. Aurea atas pri- nullo,
ma
Sponte sua sine lege fidem rectumque colebat. 90
Cit .\ata, qua nullo
lindice, sua S)io/itc cd-
hbatfidcm rectumque Poena metusque aberant; nee verba minacia fixe
sine lege. Paiiu me-
t usque aberant ; vec Mxe. legebantur nee supplex turba timebat
:
TRANSLATION.
over all. And animals bend their looks downwards to
\vhile other
earth, he gave to man a lofty countenance, commanded him to lift his
face to heaven, and behold with erected eyes the stars. Thus the earth,
lately rude and without form, was changed, and put
on the figure of
man, till then vmknown.
The golden age came first, which, without any avenger, or the
III.
constraint of law, of its own accord practised faith and justice. Fear
and punishment were yet unknown nor were threatening penalties
;
NOTES.
nerva there appears, because, according tion. They had heard that the first
to Lucian, it was she that animated the man lived for some time in perfect in-
work of Prometheus. There yon Uke- nocence ; that the ground in the garden
wise see Psyche with her wings, riding of Eden yielded all kinds of fiuit, with-
in a chariot, becanse she was the sym- out beinj; cultivated ; and that the infe-
bol of the soul. It is plain that all this rior animals, submissive to his com-
was intended to siunify to ns, that the mands, paid him all due homage: but
statues of Prometheus were so perfect, that alter liis fail, all nature revolted
that they wanted nothing but a living against him. Hence this age of gold,
sonl to be self-moved. Without giving so celebrated by the poets, the inno-
into some such explication as this, how- cence of manners, the spontaneous pro-
shall we account for what the poet says duction of fruits, and the rivers of milk
here and afterwards, that man being not and honey. The ancients refer to Italy
as yet created, Prometheus mixed clay, and the reigns of Saturn and Janus,
and moulded him into his present figure, what the Scripture relates of Adam and
since he was a man himself, and an- the terrestrial paradise for antiquaries
:
tiquity gives us the history of his father seem now to be agreed, that Saturn
and ancestors. So far with respect to was Adam, and Janus, Noah. Would
the formation of man. Other particu- the short compass of these annotations
lars in the history of Prometheus will permit me to enter into a particular de-
come in more properly afterwards. tail, might, from a great number of
I
89. Aiirca prima sata est (Ftas.} After parallel circumstances, make the thing
the formation of man follow the four appear extremely probable. But I
ages of the world, which are denomi- shall content myself with referring
nated from four metals, in a succession those who have a curiosity to know
from better to worse, answering to the more of this, to the first book of Bo-
gradual degeneracy of mankind. The chart's Phaleg. Vossius' Treatise of
golden age comes first, and is a conti- Idolatry, and the first volume of Ba-
nuation of the same tradition we have nier's Mythology.
mentioned before. Truth in the poets 91. Verba mbmciafixo cere legebantur.]
is always disguised under a veil of fic- It was the custom among the ancients
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. I. 11
ondum
1 . . .
•infossae tnlesquc norant nulla
IS
TVT . 1 T
prsecipites cino-ebant
,•
JNon tuba directi, non sens cornua ilexi,
•
oppida
n •
: I'lUora -prater sua
nondiimprtFcivites fos-
«<r vins,ebri;t
.-
oppida;
Non galeae, non ensis erant sine militis usu :
I'X't^mfcornua Jiexi
Mollia secure perao'ebant
i O otia mentes. 100 a="sg«i««o«,c»«snwj
erant : mentes secura
. .
.,.
Ipsa quoque immuius.rastroquemtacta.nec ullis peragtUant moiih otia
o •
•( 1 i i 11 1
• sine usu militis. Ipsa
feaucia vomeribus, per se clabat omnia tenus. quoque teUusimnumis
M.- f n f
ox etiam iruges tellus inarata terebat:
, qu(E deciderant patula
•
TRANSLATION.
presence of their judge but all lived in perfect security, nor wanted the
;
with any shores beside their own. Towns were not as yet fenced round
with ivalls and deep ditches. Trumpets of straight, or clarions of
bended, brass, helmets, or swords, were not then known. Nations,
peaceable and secure, lived in soft tranquillity, without the help of
the soldier. The earth too of herself, untouched by the harrow,
nor wounded by plough-shares, plentifully furnished all kinds of fruit ;
and men, contented with the food which nature freely gave, gathered
the fruit of the strawberry-bush, and the wildings growing on the
mountains, and cornels, and black-berries sticking among the thorny
brambles, and the acorns that fell from the spreading oak of Jove.
There an eternal spring reigned, and gentle zephyrs, cherished by fos-
tering breezes the flowers that grew unsown in fields and meadows.
Soon too the earth, unploughed, yielded also crops of grain, and the
land, without being renewed, whitened with heavy ears of corn. Rivers
of milk and nectar ran through the plains, and yellow honey distilled
from the young oak.
NOTES.
to grave their laws on tables of brass, drawn with a masterly judgment, and
and fix them up in some conspicuous fuUof the finest strokes of poetry. See
places, that they might be open to the the fourth eclogue of the prose transla-
viewolall. This whole description is tion of Virgil.
V2 P. OVIDII NASONIS
caves, and thick shrubs, and twigs tied together with bark. Then
NOTES.
113. Salurno tenehrnsa in Tartara violent shock of a comet, was jolted
viissn.'\ The
fable of Jupiter's dethroning out of her natural position, and had her
his fatlier Saturn, is to be found at large poles driven at once to the distance
in all the writers of mytliolosy. The of twenty-three degrees and a half from
poets, who had placed tlie golden age the poles of the ecliptic. Whatever
under Saturn, refer tlie silver age to may be in that, according to our poet,
Jupiter. It was by him that the year after the age of gold comes one of sil-
was first divided into four seasons, for ver, then one of brass, and last of all
before there had been a constant spring. the iron age. All this, well understood,
This notion prevails universally among implies, that mankind did not at once
the poets, but probably had no other degenerate from their primitive inno-
foundation than tiieir fancying that this cence, but that it was by several steps
imaffe agreed perfectly to their ideas of and gnidations they arrived at that
those sweet and haiipy times. For how height of impiety, so pathetically la-
the ecliptic, if it had ever coincided mented by tiie ancient liistorians. We
with the equinoctial, should change its may observe, that this system in the
situation so mucli, as to to cut it now at poetical account is but ill put together.
an angle of twenty-three degrees and a For even in the age of Saturn, which,
half, is not easy to be conceived. Some according to them, was that of gold, we
modern astronomers indeed pretend to read of bloody wars, and dreadful
have discovered something of this kind ; crimes. Saturn, to mount the throne,
but beside that tlieir observations are drove his father fi om it Jupiter used
-.
very uncertain, supposing them even his father precisely as he had done
true, this declination of the ecliptic is Uranus, and established his empire in
so very inconsiderable, that many mil- the destruction of liis whole family.
lions of years must have passed before Jupiter enjoyed little more tranquillity,
it could change from a
perfect parallel- than had Saturn or Uranus; the com-
ism to its present degree of obliquity ; bination of the Titans and giants is a
unless we will suppose, with Mr. Whis- proof of it.
ton, that the earth, by the sudden and
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. I. 13
V^ela dabat ventis, nee adhuc bene noverat illos, cum quorum, fraudes-
que, dolique, insidite-
Navita, qua;que diu steterant in montibus altis, que, et vis, et scelera-
Fluctibus ignotis insultavere carinse. tus amor liabendi, subi-
ere. Naiita dabat vela
TRANSLATION.
were the seeds of Ceres first hiu-ied in long furrows, and oxen groaned
beneath the heavy yoke.
V. To these succeeded the third in order, a generation of brass, of
a fiercer make, and more prompt to horrid feats of war yet free ;
from impiety. The last was of hard and stubborn iron. Instantly all
kinds of wickedness broke out in tliis age, of a more degenerate turn :
riches, the great incentives to ill, which she had hid in deep caverns,
and deposited nigh the Stygian shades, are dug up. Then destructive
NOTES.
123. Semina Cerealia.'] Seeds of Ceres, 139. Stygiisque udmoverat umbris.]
i.e., corn; for Ceres, the dauchter That in deep caverns, and toward
is,
of Saturn and Ops, was the goddess of the centre, for Styx was feigned to
corn and tillage it being by her that
;
be a river of hell, where Pluto
men were first instructed in agricul- reigns over the infernal ghosts and
ture. mane?.
14 P. OVIDII NASONliS
i::Z;"^:-:^:^,u^n
Imminetexitlo vir conjugis, ilia mariti :
rfiV;«.
jucet
Picias
:
reliquit ultima
victa VI. Ncvc foi'et teiiis securioF ardiius 8stner I
et cirgo Astriea
caUs-
^ rr> ,
'•
Aficctasse teruut
r j.
coeleste gigantas
legnum
i^-i
terras madentes
fj'^^ ^it^que congcstos struxisse ad sidcra moiites.
VI. Note (et ne) ar-
duus etlnr foret securior tcrris,ferwit gigantas affectasse regnum coeleste, que struxisse
monies congestos ad alta sidera.
TRANSLATION.
iron appeared, and gold yet more destructive than iron war too was :
kindled, that fights with both, and brandishes in his bloody hand the
clattering arms. Men live by rapine the giiest is not safe from his ;
host, nor the father-in-law from the son-in-law peace and agreement :
too among brothers is become very rare. The husband watches for ihe
destruction of his wife, who again plots the death of her Inisband.
Cruel step-mothers mix the dismal wolf's-bane. The son, impatient,
inquires into his father's years. Piety lies vanquished and the virgin ;
Astrgea, last of all the heavenly deities, abandons the earth, drenched
in blood and slaughter.
VI. And that even the high mansions of aether might not be more
safe than this earth below, it is said that the giants affected the sove-
reignty of heaven, and piled up huge mountains one upon another, till
NOTES.
142. Quodpugnatutroque.'] The his- a disfigured tradition of the fall of the
tory of Philip of Macedou angels, and their rebellion against their
is well
known, who made more conquests hy Creator. But the more general opi-
bribes than by the sword, and was wont nion makes it a true history of some
to say, tliat he looked upon no fortress enterprise acainst Jupiter, who was a
as impregnable, where there was a gate powerful prince, beset wifh many for-
large enough to admit a camel loaded midable enemies. There were several
with gold. Hence Horace, Ode xvi. princes distinguished by the name of
Book 3, says, Jupiter, but the present falile is to be
understood of him who divided the em-
Diffidit urbicum pire with his two brothers, Neptune and
Partus vir Macedo, et subruit eemulos Pluto ; which by-tlie-by we may ob-
Reges muneribus, serve, was what gave occasion to the
famous partition of tiie government of
151. Nere/oref toris.] The history the universe, so celebrated by the
of the war of the giants against heaven, poets. Jupiter bad Phrygia, the isle of
is taken notice of by almost all the poets, Crete, and many other provinces. He
and is supposed by a great many to be built a palace on mount Olympus, which
METAMOllPHOSEON, Lib. I. 15
nuua monumentajera:
In faciemvertissehominum: sed et illapropago tsf\.r}aei:^;f'^:^
\Q() num. Sed et Ma pro-
^^ . ^ •!• •
J- Pogofuit contemytrix
Contemptrix superum, ssevaeque avidissima csedis superum, aiidissima-
r\, r T c , \ •
,
•
J. <?Mf sai:a ccedh, et vio-
Jbt violenta tuit. >!icires e sanguine natos. Je^ta facile sdres eos
.•
f"isse«afo. c sanguine.
VII. Qua; pater
1 utsummaviditSaturniusarce,
/* ^ , . VII. Qud[, ut pater
Ingemit et racto nondum vulgata recenti
: saturmus vidit summa
Foeda Lycaoniae referens convivia mensae, 165 r7nt)aZZl<vi,Zmet
Jove concipit iras sa liivoom<b nonrtwm
Ineentes animo, et dignas
O
Ei O . .
r >
vulgafa, facto recenti, .
;
'
',c . •
sentes, et dignas Jove ;
1
•
1
TRANSLATION.
they reached the stars. Upon this, almighty Jove, darting his thunder,
broke through Olympus, and dismoimted Ossa, that had been thrown
upon Pelion. When these huge bodies of giants
were thus buried under
the ruins of the mountains they had themselves heaped together, it is
said, that the earth, impregnated with the blood of
her own sons, be-
came very moist, and animated the warm gore and that all monu- ;
NOTES.
the poets regard as heaven ; the attempt of Thessaly, toward the Pelasgic gulf,
of his enemies to drive him from it, as Ossa, a mountain between Olympus
a war against heaven. Tlie heaping and Pelion. These the giants are said
mountains one upon another is a poet- to have heaped one upon another, in
ical fiction, the better to support the order to scale heaven,
idea of invading">5 the skies.
l68. Est via— Lactea nomen habet.J^
154. Perfregit Olympum.'] Olympus, The poet here gives a description of
a mountain in the confines of Thessaly the court of heaven, and supposing
and Macedonia. Pelion, a mountain what was called by the ancients the
16 P. OVIDTl NASONIS
i/rtc via est itn-sitperis {jr^^, j^gj. ggj suDcris ad mao;ni tectaTonantis, 170
ad Ivcta tii<ii:ni tonaii- -r, , i i a , a i
tis,iiomumqiuregaUni, Kegalemque donmni, dextra, lisvaque deoiuui
*aTr?a\whu\"m'deon^^^^^ Atria iiobilium valvis celebrantur apertis.
V,uris!'%bs ZI^M P^ltibs habitat di versa locis a fronte potentes, :
pitis; cum qua moiit jNfon ego pro mundi regno magis anxius laa
terrain, mare, sidera. rn r '
'^ '
^
TRANSLATION.
clear sky, and which, distinguishable by a remarkable whiteness, is
known by the name of the milky way. Along this the road lies open
to the palace of the great thunderer. On the right and left are the
com-ts of the nobler deities, Avith crowded gates. The gods of inferior
rank fix in different places, as they can. Facing the palace itself are
the houses of the more potent and illustrious inhabitants of heaven :
TRANSLATION.
"
wholly from one original. Now the whole race of men must be cut
" off
Avherever the circling ocean
" I rages against the sounding coasts,
swear by the infernal waves, that
" glide under the earth, along the
Stygian grove, all methods have been already tried but an iucu- ;
" rable
wound must be lopt away, that the sound and nobler parts be
"
not tainted by it. There are demi-gods and nymphs, a race of ru-
" ral
deities. Fauns, Satyrs, and Sylvians, inhabitants of the moun-
I "
tains, who, though not yet worthy to be received into the
" heavenly
mansions, deserve at least an undisturbed possession of the earth,
" which have assigned them. But is it possible, heavenly
" to \ye powers,
imagine, that they can live in safety, when Lycaon, noted for his
"
cruelty, has dared to form a plot against even me, who brandish the
"
thunder, who rule the gods ?"
Upon this a general murmur ran through the assembly and with ;
NOTES.
187. l^ereus.'] A
sea-god, the son and borrowed their names from Fauiiii.s,
of Oceanus and Tethys. Silvaiius, and Silenus, who were also
193. Faunlque, Satyrique, et monticola: rural deities,and reckoned the fathers
Sylvani.} Tliese were all rural deities, of those already mentioned.
C
18 P. OVIDII NASONIS
nwnim'^"{»it' mhius
^^^
grata minus pietas, Auguste, tuorum,
^^^^
grafu tiin; quam iiifi lUa Jovi Qui Dostquam vocc uianuq 1
Quaui I'lut :
^ , i i i r\^
vindicta. jiifamia tim- cupiens lalsam, summo delabor Ulympo,
Quam
^Zi\urfs':%"am''ct
^t deus hmnana lustro sub imagine terras.
piem esse faisum, dcia- Lon^a mora cst.q uantum noxag sit ubiq re pertum, :
tior summo Ulympo, f^_,~ .'l r n \ -n- • • •
Inimano
est
imajiiiie.
low'u
Mora
eiiumerare
u/r ix •
TRANSLATION.
of the attempt. Nor was the affectionate concern of your subjects less
grateful to you, Augustus, than that of the gods was to Jupiter who ;
signifying to them, with his voice and hand, to suppress their mur-
murs, they were all silent. How soon the clamour ceased, checked by
the authority of their sovereign Jupiter resuming his
speech, thus
:
broke silence ;
"
He, indeed (cease your cares), has already suffered the punish-
" ment due to his
crime but it is fit that you know what was his guilt,
;
" and
what vengeance followed it,
" The
cry of iuiquity had reached my ears, which wishing to find
"
false, I descend from the top of Olympus, and, disguised in human
" It were endless to
shape, traverse the earth. repeat the aggra-
" vated
guilt that every where prevailed report had fallen far short :
" of the truth. I had now passed Msenalus, infamous for its caverns
" filled with beasts of
prey, Cyllene, and the piny shades of cold
" Hence I enter the Arcadian realms, and unhospitable
Lycseus.
" house of the
bloody tyrant, just as the late twilight drew on the night.
NOTES.
216. Mcenala traimeram.'] Maenalus, Arcadia, sacred to Pan, and covered
or Maenala plural, a famous mountain with groves of pine-trees.
of Arcadia; so called from Maenalaus, si 8. Arcados hinc sedes.} That is,
the son of Areas. It was full of dens the realms of Lycaon, king of Arcadia,
where wild beasts lurked. a country famous in poetical story. It
217. Cyllene.~\ Cyllenus, or Cylene, was a midland region in Peloponnesus,
a mountain of Arcadia, sacred to Mer- very good for pasture, and therefore
cury; called hence by the poets Cyl- celebrated for shepherds and shepherd-
lenius. Lycaeus was also a mountain of esses, musically inclined.
METAMORPIIOSEON, Lib. I. 19
4lcum ve-
Sigrna dedivenissedeum; vulgusque precari 220 ^f^' ^'^'"' sqiie C(rpe-
irridet primo pia vota Lycaon,
: rut precart Lycaon
Cceperat .
m
•
TRANSLATION.
" I
gave the signal, that a god was come, and the people began to pay
*'
"
their adorations. Lycaon laughs at their credulity and prayers.
Presently, says he, I will know, by a plain proof, whether this be a
"
god or a mortal nor shall the truth remain long questionable. He
;
"
prepares therefore in the night to destroy me unexpectedly, when
" sunk in sleep. This dire experiment of the truth pleases him. Nor
"
wholly contented with that, he cuts the throat of a hostage that had
" been sent some time before by the nation of the Molossians, and
" softens part of the yet quivering limbs in boiling water the rest he ;
*'
roasted over the fire. These he ordered to be served up. No sooner
" were they set upon the table, than with avenging flames I overturned
" the house, and buried in its ruins the domestic gods, worthy of the
" same fate with their cruel master. Lycaon, terrified, takes to flight,
" and reaching the remote plains, fills them with savage howling, and,
" in His mouth foams with rage, and,
vain, endeavours to speak.
"
urged by a native thirst of slaughter, falls with redoubled fury upon
NOTES.
221. Irridet pia vota Lycaon.] The at the true liistoiy, we must observe,
fabulous history of this prince tells us, that the ancients distinguish two princes
that he was the sou of Pelasgus, and of of this name. The first was the son of
such shocking cruelty, that he murdered Phoroneus, and reigned in that part of
his guests, aud caused them to be served Greece which was afterward called
np at table. Jupiter hearing of it, went Arcadia, and to which he communicated
to his palace, and finding the tiie name Lycaonia, about 250 years
report
true, changed him into a wolf, and re- before Gecrops. The second, who is
duced his palace to ashes. But to come the subject of the present fable, suc-
C 2
20 P. OVIDII NASONIS
''''vnrf/'r«S'!^.'
^m* Occidit una domus ;
sed non domus una
cidit ; sed von una
perire 240
r>a perire. Fera Erifi- -Uigna luit qua terra patet, tera regnat bnnnys.
:
tura humani generis rorma lutura, rogaut qms sit laturus inaras :
Vojn'f'qlr'forma'sil
Thura? ferisuc paret populandas tradere gentes?
futuraierr^orbemor- Talia ouzerentes (sibi
' ^
enim fore caetera curaj)250
taltbus ; sit la-
quts ,
-^^ ^ . ,
,
. .
TRANSLATION.
" the defenceless flocks and still delights in blood. His garments are
;
"
changed into hair, his arms into legs, he becomes a wolf, and still re-
" tains strong marks of Avhathe was. His hoariness is the same: the
" same rage and violence appear in his countenance; his eyes sparkle
" as
formerly, and he is still the same image of savage fierceness.
Vni. " Thus was one house overthrown, but not one only deserved
" to
perish wherever the earth extends, the Furies reign in all their
:
NOTES.
ceeded him, and was a prince equally Arundel Marbles, by sacrificing human
polite and religious but by an inhu-;
victims.
luan-.ty which was but too common 24 K Fera regnat Erinnys-I Erinnys
in tliese rude was a name given to the Furies by the
ages, he polluted the
feasts of the as much as to say, £«»;
Lupercalia, whereof he Greeks ;
fS,
was the founder, according to tlie Contentio meniis.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. I. 21
Poenaplacetdiversa,-Genusmortalesubmidis260 J^gi^ur/^r^tS
manibus Cycinpum re-
Perdere, et ex omni nimbos dimittere ccelo. Ptrna di-
7r-ii--A Ti- i- poimtitur.
Frotinus /bonis Aqmlonem claudit m antris,
•
-r-. -1 1
versa placet 3o\\; per.
-r, 1
• •
1
•
j3 -i 1 -IT et qwecunnue Jiamina
JBarba gravis nimbis, cams tlmt unda capulis, fugant inductas nuhes:
Fronte sedentnebulse,rorantpenngeque sinusque. '^tus^'^^ilt(T*'madfdis
Utque
T.
manu lata ipendentia nubila pressit,
V '
"^'f-
tectus c^^^cA ad
vultum ttrribiUm, pi-
cea caligine. Barba
erat gravis nitnhis ; vnda Jiuit canis capillis: nebula sedent fronte ejus :
penneeiiue sitnuque
roraut. Utque pressit petideiitia nubila manu latii,
TRANSLATION.
mankind by an universal deluge, and pour down rain from all parts of
heaven. Immediately he shuts up the North-wind in the caves of jEoIus,
Avith all the cloud-dispelling blasts and then sends out the South-wind. ;
The South-wind abroad, scattering fogs from his moist wings his
flies :
countenance is covered with thick and horrid darkness his beard loaded ;
with showers and the water flow s in streams from his hoary locks
;
:
dark clouds gather round his forehead his wings, and the plaits of his ;
robe distil in drops. And still, as sweeping along, lie squeezed the hang-
ing clouds with his broad fist, a noise was heard, and redoubled showers
NOTES.
iiig throughthe centre of the earth, but o:ie eye in tl.eir forehead, and were
and upon which the whole frame of the employed by Jupiter in forging Iiis
heavens was supposed to tuni round; thunderbolts.
though later discoveries tell us, that S62. JEoliis antris.'] The caves in
only the earth moves round its axis, and which the vviuils were confined were
causes that appearance of the heavens. under the jwriidiction of .MjIus.
22 P. OVIDII NASONIS
hinc chnsi
fragor ftt,
«o
Y\i fraoor, liinc densi fund untur ab aethere nimbi.
ntmbt juiiiliiiiliir t •
i i
• •
r>r-i •
TRANSLATION.
came pouring from the sky. Iris, the messenger of Juno, clad in
colours of various dve, collects her waters, and feeds the clouds with
contniued supplies. Then corn is laid flat beneath the impetuous rains,
and the husbandman, defrauded of his hopes, laments to see the labour
of the long year perish. Nor cai) the floods poured down from heaven
satisfy the vengeance of Jove blue Neptune aids him with his auxiliary:
waves. He calls together the rivers who when assembled in the palace ;
of the watery tyrant " I have not now time (says he) for a long
:
" exhortation
pour out all your rage, so Jove requires open your
; ;
"
sources, bear down every obstacle, and with unbridled course hurry
" on waves."
your
He said: they return, and opening wide the mouths of their foun-
tains, roll on their streams with impetuous rage to the sea. The god
himself struck the earth with his trident she, with inward trembling, ;
opened her deep caverns, and poured out the gushing floods. The ex-
panded rivers, with spreading waves, rush into the open plains, and bear
NOTES.
271. Nuntia Junonis.'\ Iris, or the framed a genealogy for her too and ;
rainbow, was a divinity purely phy- we are told that she was the daughter
sical but Greek mythology, which
: of Thauinas, a poetical personage,
personified every thinjr, made lier a whose name is derived from a Greek
young woman, clothed in a ha;jit of word tliat signifies to admire ; which,
different colours, aiv.'ays seated by the after all, is proper enough to denote
throne of Juno, and ready to execute the (juality of the meteor they de-
lier orders. Hence she was feigned to signed to describe, there being no-
be the messenger of that goddess, as thing more admirable than that l)ow,
Mercury uas of Jupiter. 'Jhey have Mhich is lormtd by the diups of wa-
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. I. 23
arbusta
Cumque T^
satis arbusta simiil,' pecudesque,
-T T.^^> "
vi- »"!'?'"'«^9««
simul cum satis, pccit-
rOSque, desque, rirosque, tec-
m i „ i T •
taque, penetraliaqne •
J.
•
hujus,
11.1 .
que tenent sylvas, incursant altis ramis, pulsantque agitata robora. Lupus nat inter
et
oves; unda vehit fulvos leones j
TRANSLATION.
away the groves, with the standing corn, flocks, men, houses, and
temples vvith the sacred images and altars. If any house remained,
capable to withstand the violence of such a shock, yet the waves,
still
rising, overtopped it and the highest towers totter beneath the
;
rolling deep. And now earth and seas, jumbled together in one undis-
tinguished mass, were become a world of waters, and an ocean without
a coast.
One takes possession of a
hill, another sits in a hollow bark, and plies
his oars over the fieldshe had lately ploughed. Here they skim along
above the corn, or the tops of their houses buried under the waves.
There fishes are caught on the boughs of elm-trees. An anchor (if
chance so directs) is dropt upon a green meadow, or hollow keels crush
the tender vines : and
where of late the slender goats had cropt the
grass, ugly sea-calves now repose their enormous limbs. The Nereids
wonder to see groves, cities, and houses under the waves, dolphins
get into the woods, and run against the high boughs, and beat the tufted
oaks. The Avolf swims among the sheep the tawny lions and tigers ;
NOTES.
water in a c'.oud opposite to the suis rupiunt penetralia
ssy. Cumque
^^^^-
_ sucris.'\ Penetrale, the inmost recess or
Mille trahens varies adverso sole co- inmost part of any place, more particu-
iores.
larly of a temple.'
24 P. OVIDII NASONIS
vl^ fMml'i^JsuZ Unda vehit tigris nee vires fulmines apro ; 305
apro'.iiec crura vciocia Ci'ura nec ablato prosuiit velocia cervo.
prosiint ablato cerio. ^~. . t i ^
•
i
• •
i ,
fiiit purs maris, et la- Moiis ibi verticibus petit arduus astra duobus,
tiis ciiminisstdnlarujn tvt •
-r> , ^
TRANSLATION.
are borne up by the deep. The boar finds no safety in the resistless
force of his tusksnor the stag in the swiftness of his legs, noAv borne
;
away by the stream: and the A\andering bird, after having long
sought for land, whereon to rest, his wings at length failing, drops
into the sea. The unbridled fury of the sea had now overwhelmed
the highest hills, and the unvxsual w aves beat against the tops of the
mountains. The greater part are buried in the deep such as the ;
waters spared perish at length for want of food. / Phocis separates the
Boeotian from the Athenian lands a fruitful country while it was a ;
country, but now a part of the sea, and a w ide plain of suddenly col-
lected waters. Here a mountain, named Parnassus, advances with
two tops toward the stars, and, with his lofty front, rises above the
clouds. When here Deucalion (for the sea had covered all the rest),
carried in a little bark with the partner of his bed, first rested, they
adore the Corycyan nymphs, the deities of the mountains, and pro-
phesying Themis, who at that time gave oracles. He the most up-
right of men, and greatest lover of justice she, the most pious of ;
NOTES.
313. Sepa)'a^^onio*.] have here a We remarkable for having two summits,
description of mount Parnassus and its Aonia was a mountainous region of
situation : it was in Phocis, a region Hoeotia and Actaea au ancient name
;
ccbIo terras
•^
Tiiii
ostendit, et aetnera terns.
J.
•
innocuos, ambos cid-
tores numinis ,- in^jedt
Nee maris ira mauet positoq tricuspide telo, 330; ; "nJus" 'a^llSZ It
Mulcet aquas rector pelagi ; supraque profundum iTifefa'ten-'ilfNecirl
Exstantem.atquehumeros innatomurice tectum »««»•" manet; rector-
?"£ pelagi tricuspide
r^ ^ rr\ , j 1
•
BT
;
TRANSLATION.
clouds, and driving away the rain by the north wind, discovered earth
to heaven, and heaven to the earth. The rage of the sea too abated ;
for the governor of the deep laying aside his three-forked spear, smooths
the furrowed waves, and calls upon Triton, who instantly mounts from
the bosom of the ocean, having liis shoulders adorned with the finest
purple shells. The god commands him to blow his sounding trumpet,
and give the rivers and billows the signal to retire he immediately takes :
when touched the mouth of the god, dropping with his wet beard and
it ;
filled with his breath, sounded the bidden retreat, it was heard by all the
waters both of earth and sea: the waters, obedient to the call, retire
NOTES.
333. Ccendcum Tritona vocai.] The as here by Ovid, it tleiioted tliat one-
Tritons are repi eseuted by the poets as of the Tritons, who always preceded
monsters liavini; tlie lialf of their bodies Neptune, whose arrivaliie proclaimed
human, and tbe other half fish, with by the sound of his shell, and was Ihcrc-
shell trumpets in their hands, wliereby fore taken for that <;od. KeMod, v/lio
they make the sliore to resound. When has given his gcnealop'y, says he was the,
this name was used iu the singular. son of Neptune and Amphilrite.
26 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Mare jam habet littus; littus habet ; plcnos capit al veus amries :
jj^jj-^ Yi\z,xe
vcti
atnnes jtii'irina
.-ub- Jhlumina subsiclunt ; colles exire videntur.
sidunt; colles videntur
exire. Jliimiis surgit ; Surgit humus, crescunt loca decrescentibus un-
loca crixcutit uiidis
decrescoitibiif. Post-
dis. 345
que lon'ram diem, syiia' Postoue diem lonoam nudata cacumina sylvze
oatiiidiint iivdata ra- _^ t
i , r t, j i
cumiiia, teiiaitqiie u-
,
Ostenduiit, limumque tenent in iroiide rehctum.
d"'''uii'!fTr(ii''reridi- Redditus orbis erat: q uem postquam vidit inanem,
'ncicaiion ridu''"iv"a.
^^ dcsolatas agere alta silentia terras ;
num
vita-
terrent meutnn.
Nunc animi, miseranda, foret? Quo sola timorem
Quid aninti 6 miser- Ferre modo posses? Quo consolante dolores? 360
anda/oret nunc tihi,
si erepta j'uisses futis
sine me ? Quo modo posses tu solaferre timorem ? Quo consolante posses ferre dolores ?
TRANSLATION.
within, their channels. The sea now begins to be boimded byshores,
and the rivers decreasins:, cease to overflow their banks. Hills are
seen to rise out of the flood. Earth rears her visage, and places seem
togrow out of the deep as the waters decrease. In longer time the
woods shew their naked tops, and shattered boughs disfigured with
mud.
At length the world was wholly restored to view, which Avhen Deuca-
lion beheld, covered with desolation, and a silent waste, he thus ad-
dresses Pyrrha (the tears starting from his eyes): " O wife, O sister,
" O the
best, and only remains of your kind, whom a kindred pedi-
"
gree, and descent from brothers, then the marriage-tie had united
" to me and whom now the common
;
" have we even now any settled assurance of life the thick clouds
;
u Had fate
every where scattered roimd, still greatly alarm me.
" rescued you alone from this destruction, nor granted me as a part-
" ner of your pain, what must have been your distress ? How could
"
you have supported such a weight of woe ? or who would have soothed
" and calmed your mind, beset with so many terrors ? For I, believe
NOTES.
352. Patruelis origo.'] Deucalion was the son of Prometheus, and Pyrrha the daugh-
ter of Epimetlieu?. Prometheus and
Epimetheus were brothers, the sons of Japetus.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. I. 27
™
;
•
1-1 niis fiumi,pavensque,
Drpi
inemi, qua generis damnum reparabilenostri
ic,
1 J
TRANSLATION.
"
me, my mate, were you now buried iu the deep, would embrace a
" like Oh that I could re-
fate, and plunge into the same deep.
"
people the desolate earth by my father's arts, and infuse a soul
into
"the duly formed clay: now the whole human race survives in us
"
two, so it seemeth good to the gods, and we remain the patterns of
" human kind."
Here he ended, and both joined their tears. They agree to ad-
dress the heavenly poAvers in pious prayers, and seek relief from the
sacred oracles. They repair therefore, without delay, to the banks
of Cephisus, whose Maters,
though troubled, were yet gliding along
their wonted channel and, after besprinkling their head and gar-
;
ments with the consecrated stream, direct their steps towri.rd the
temple of the sacred goddess, whose roofs were defiled with moss,
and the desert As soon as they reached the
altars void of holy fire.
on the ground, and with trem-
steps of the temple, they fell prostrate
bling lips kissed the cold pavement then thus implored O righteous ;
:
minds are capable to relent tell by what means the loss of our kind :
may be repaired, and deny not your assistance in this forlorn case.
The goddess was softened by their pious prayers, and tlutb graciously
28 P. OVIDII NASONIS
£>ea est
sortetn,.!'dt%ditftim.
^ ¥ota d'eac est,
o ,sortemque dedit
- .
- . ^
: BiscefUte templo;
, >.» ^
pio ; it niate caput ; ±,t delate coDut ; cinctdsque resolvite vestes :
resolviteque cinctas /x l i . .- - • *
\_
vestes; juciaieqiie post Os
Ussaquepost tcrgimi magno^ jactttte parmtis.
parentis, "'obst^pufre pbstupuere (fiu rumpitque silentia voce :
recusal: 385
rum^t'ZiZZZ.cc. Pyrrha prior; jussisquedeaeparere
reciisafqiieparerejiis- Detque sibi veuiam, pavido roo;at ore: pavetque
sis detF ; roeatouepa-
Tirio ore nt det sibi
-.,• ti -," ,'*
Laedere jactatis maternas ossibus umbras.
^^
,
aut oracula Ussa reor dici jacere nos post terga jubeniur.
,
nobis, :
"^^ "t/!"^'"'momtis
"'/'''' Et iussos lapides sua ipost vestiaia
o mittunt.
ambo d'Jjidunt
i -J
TRANSLATION.
answered Depart from the temple, veil your heads, and, loosening
:
your garments, throw behind you the bones of your mighty mother.
Long they stood amazed, till Pyrrha first breaks silence, and refuses
to obey the dire commands of the
goddess. Mlth trembling mouth
she implores forgiveness, and dreads to offend her mother's shade, by
throwing behind her these holy relics. In the mean time they revolve
again and again the words of the oracle involved in deep mystery,
and ponder them with themselves. At length the son of Prometheus
thus, with mild benevolence, addresses his spouse Either my discern- :
ment fails, or the oracles are just, and advise no sacrilege. Our
mighty mother is the earth, and the stones in the body of the earth are,
as I imagine, called her bones these we are commanded to throw be-
—
:
hind us. Pyrrha, though pleased with the solution of her spouse, yet
fluctuates between hope and fear so much do both distrust the com- :
mands of heaven but where is the harm to try ? They descend yrowi
:
the mount, veil their heads, and unbind their vests, and, as commanded,
throw stones behind them. The stones, (who could believe it, did not
NOTES.
382. Kt vcUile caput.'] It was the cus- 395. Tita7iia.] Pyrrha was of the race
tom anions; tlie ancients to cover their of the Titans ;
for Japetus, lier grand-
heads in sacrifice and other acts of wor- fatlier, was the son of Titan and
ship. Terra.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. 1. 29
Saxa (quis hoc credat, nisi sit pro teste vetus- Saxa (quis credat hoc,
nisi vetustas sit pro
400 teste) cajitre ponere
tas?)^ , .
duritiem, suumque ri-
Ponere duritiem coepere, suumque rigorem ; gorem, moraque mol-
MoUirique mora, mollitaque ducere formam. liri, mollitaque, ducere
J'ormum. Mox ubi cre-
Mox, ubi creverunt, naturaque mitior illis verunt, nuturaqne mi-
tior contigit illis, tit
Contigit; ut qusedam, sic non manifesta, videri quadam forma homi-
Forma potest hominis, sed uti de marmore coep- nis, quanquam adhuc
7ion sic manifesta
po-
to, 405 test videri sed uti de ;
ccepto marmore, uon
Non exacta satis, rudibusque simillima signis. satis exacta similli-
maque rudibus signis.
Qu£e tamen ex illis aliquo pars humida siicco, Tamen pars ex illis,
Et terrena fuit, versa est in corporis usum :
qu(B fuit humida ali-
quo succo, et terrena,
Quod solidum nequit, mutatur in
est flectilq est versa in itsuin cor-
;
poris. Quod est soli,
ossa: dum, nequitque Jiecti,
mutatur in ossa. Quod
Quod modo vena fuit, sub eodem nomine man- modo fuit vena, mansit
sit. 410 sub eodem nomine. In-
que spatio l>revi, saxa
Inque brevi spatio, superorum munere, saxa missa manibus viri mu-
7iere superorum, trax-
Missa viri manibus faciem traxere virilem ; ere faciem virilem ; et
Et de foemineo reparata est foemina jactu. f(xmina est reparata
de jactu famine o. Inde
Inde genus durum sumus,experiensqiie laborum: sumus gemis durum,
experiensque laborum :
Et documenta damus, qua simus origine nati. 415 et damus dociimenta
IX. Caetera diversis tellus animalia formis qua origine simus nati.
IX. Tellus suA sponte
TRANSLATION.
antiquity bear witness to the tradition ?) began to lay aside their hard-
ness, and natural rigour, and softening by degrees, to assume a new
shape. Presently after, they are seen to swell, and partaking of a milder
nature, took upon them some appearance of human shape, though as
yet hut imperfect and confused, like rude images of marble just begun,
Avhere the chisel has not traced out the true likeness of features. The
moist and earthy parts were turned into flesh and juices for the use of
the body. What was solid and unyielding changes to bones, and what
was before a vein, still remains under the same name. Thus in a little
time, by the miraculous interposition of the gods, the stones thrown
by the man assumed the face and form of men, and those thrown by
the woman renewed the female race. Hence we are a hardy gene-
ration, patient of labour and fatigue, and give daily proofs of the
original whence we are sprung.
IX. The earth of her own accord produced other animals of different
forms, after that the native moisture was thoroughly digested by the
rays of the sun, and the mud and fens began to ferment with the heat ;
things thus nourished by the enlivening soil as in
for the fruitful seeds of
30 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Sic ubi
iseptemfluijf Sic ubi desevuit madidos
_ septemfluus
i agros
JVilus dcseruit 'iiarii- .
i- t,
.
i i
dos ugrox, ct reddidit Nilus, et antiquo sua numina reddidit alveo,
sua Jliimhia antiqun
alveo, limiisquc reccns jEthereoque recens exarsit sidere limus :
eodem corpore, pars Altera pars vivit ; rudis est pars altera tellus. 430
altera vivit, pars al-
tera est rudis tellus. Quippe ubi temperiem sumsere humorque, ca-
Quippe ubi hamorque
culorque sumsCrc tem- lorque,
jieriem, coiiripiu'il et .•
Hi
figuras
_
pnrtimque Reddidit antiquas 1 partim nova monstra creavit.
reddidit antiquus fi- _,. .
t»
guras ; partim creavit ilia quidem iiollet ; sed tc quoque, maxime ry-
nova monstra. Ilia tel-
lus quidem nollet, sed
_
tlion,
"^^^^^
mTxime'p!/tho7l]'''lnl genuit ; popuhsque novis, incognita serpens,
serpens incognita, eras Terror cras tantumspatii
:
'
de monte tenebas. 440
terror novis populis:
tenebas tantum spatii de monte.
TRANSLATION,
a kindly womb swelled, and in time took on a regular shape. Thus
when seven -channelled Nile forsakes the oozy fields, and recalls his wa-
ters to their ancient bed, and the fresh mud is warmed by the sun's
Eethereal rays the labourers, in turning up the glebe, find innumerable
:
animals, among which are some just begun, and in the first rudiments
of organization some imperfect, and short of their limbs nay, it often
;
:
happens, that in the same body one part lives, the other is a lump of
earth. For when heat and moisture are mixed in due proportion, they
conceive, and all things arise from these two. For though fire and
water are repugnant to each other, yet a moist vapour gives birth to
things, and this friendly discord is the source of generation. When
therefore the earth, covered with mud by the late deluge, was thoroughly
heated by the glowing rays of the sun, she produced innumerable species
of creatures, and partly restored the former shapes, partly gave birth to
new and unknown monsters. Unwillingly indeed, yet she produced thee
also, enormous Python, a serpent of an unusual kind, and the great
terror of this new race of mortals so vast and mountain-like thy bulk.
;
NOTES.
422. Sicubideseruit.'] The river Nile, pen regularly every year, and overflow
famous for its seven nioiitlis, by which it the whole fountry of ^gypt. To this
empties itself into the sea, is also re- the uncommon fertility of that kingdom
markable for its inundations, which hap- IS chiefly for when the waters
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. I. 31
decentia cnne
''^-
1 ^nhis,quicunque J.-
•
Quidque tibi, lascive puer, cum lortibus armis r fors, sed s^va ira cu-
-r^.^,-. ,1 1 pidinis dedit. Delius
Dixerat: ista decent humeros gestamma nos- deus, superbus ser.
,
•
TRANSLATION.
Him the god of the silver bow, who had never before tried his shafts,
but against the deer and timorous goats, transfixed with a thousand
arrows, having nearly spent the store of his full quiver, ere the expiring
monster shed his poison through the black wounds. And that time
might not efface the fame of such a deed, he instituted solemn games
with all kinds of sports, and called them Pythian, from the name of the
serpent he had subdued. Here the noble youths who conquered in
running, boxing, or driving his chariot, received the honour of an oaken
crown. For as yet there was no laui'el and Phoebus adorned his ;
through any blind chance, but by the dire decree of angry Cupid.
The Delian god, proud of his late victory over the serpent, had ob-
served him bending his bow with strained nerve, and thus insulted him :
" Lascivious
boy, what have you to do with gallant arms ? These better
" become
my shoulders, whose shafts are launched with unerring aim
"
against savage beasts and enemies , who lately pierced with innurae-
NOTES.
subside, they leave behind them great probably because laurels grow in abund-
quantities of mud, which settling upou ance upon its banks,
the land, fatten it, and keep it in con- 454. Delius hunc nuper.'] Apollo is
stant repair. here called Delius, because born in
452. Daphne Peneia.'] Daphne was Delos, ani&hnd of the ^Egean sea.
feigned to be the daughter of Penens,
-«*^
32 P. OVIDII NASONIS
qunntoquecitiicta ani-
7nalia cediint tibi, tan- Cunctatibi, tanto minor est tua gloria nostra. 465
to ttia ginria est minor Dixit et eliso percussis aere pennis,
;
nostril. Dixit ; et acre
eliso percussi.i pennis,
Impiger umbrosa Parnassi constitit arce :
TRANSLATION.
" rable arrows the monster
Python, whose enormous bulk covered whole
" acres. Be
you contented to kindle I know not what flames in the
" breasts of
lovers, nor affect the praise which I alone can justly claim."
To him the son of Venus " Your arrows, Phoebus, are sure on all, but
:
one to raise, and one to repel desire the first is of gold, whose burnished
;
point refulgent shines the other is blunt atid tipt with lead. This the
;
god lodged in the breast of the Peneian nymph, and with that wounded
Apollo in the marrow, through his bones. Presently the one burns with
allthe violence of love, the other hates the very name of a lover, de-
lighting only in pathless forests, and in the skins of beasts taken in hunt-
ing, and rivals Phoebe in her single life and rural joys. fillet binds A
her flowing locks, that were suffered to fall with graceful negligence
upon her shovdders. Many sued to her, but she, averse to the language
of courtship,
impatient, and unacquainted with man, frequents the
shady retreats of pathless woods, nor thinks of Hymen, love, or the
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. I. 33
llle quidem obsequitur: sedte decor iste, quod ter ante dedit hccma-
i.„ 7i(r. llle quidem iibse-
UUlao, qnitur, sed iste decor
vetat te ?sse quod op-
Esse vetat: votoque tuo tua forma repugnat. 489
ta.s, tuaqiie jornia re-
Phoebus amat: visaeque cupitconnubia Daphnes: pugnat tuo eoto. Pliee-
bus amat, pet itque con-
Quseque cupi t, sperat; suaq; ilium oracula fallunt. tiuhia ins(e Uapltnes .•
She, abhorring the nuptial torch as a crime, has her lovely cheeks co-
vered with blushes, and hanging upon her father's neck with fawning
" Grant me
arms, (says she), dearest parent, to enjoy a perpetual vir-
"
ginity it is no more than what Diana's father granted before."
; Fe-
neus yields to her request but her beauty contradicts her wishes, and
;
the charms of her person are an obstacle to her desires. Phoebus loves,
and aspires to the marriage of Daphne. He vainly too hopes to enjoy
what he seeks, and is betrayed by his own oracles and as light stubble :
burns in the naked fields, or dry hedges set on fire by the traveller's
torch, if by chance held too near, or left now about day-break so the ;
god burns, and nmirishing in his breast the flames of love, feeds with
hope a fruitless fire. He views her neck, round which her hair waves in
careless ringlets. How
graceful, says he, must it appear were it combed !
He views her eyes, sparkling like the stars, and her lips, which it is
not enough barely to view. He praises her fingers, hands, and arms,
NOTES.
48t>.Nee quid Hymen.} Hymenaeus that ofHymenaeia to the festival tliat
was one of the gods invoked in mar- was celebrated in honour of the god
jiage: hence the name of Hymen was who presided over marriages.
given to the i^nion of two >poiise.s, and
34 P. OVIDII NASONIS
odor levi
Ilia fiigu,
neque ad hiKc revocantis verba resistit.
.
\\\^ jgyj
aura; neque re.ilxtiC ~^r ^ -r\
menta gregesie
raria nescis, nescis
: teme-
Estque patet: per me concordant carminanervis.
quern fugias ; iileoque Certa quidem nostra est nostra tamen una sagitta
:
still more enchanting. She flies swifter than the wind. In vain he
endeavours to stop her by these alluring words :
"
Stay, Peneian nymph, I do not pursue you as an enemy lovely ;
"
nymph, stay it is thus that the lamb flies the wolf, the fearful doe
:
" the
lion, and doves, with trembling wings, the eagle thus each the ;
"
enemy he dreads. Love is the cause of my following. Ah, how I fear
" lest
you should fall, or the thorns pierce your feet, too tender to be
" The ways through which
hurt, and I be the cause of pain to you.
"
you hasten are rough and pointed: restrain, I pray, your flight run ;
" more
moderately, and I will pursue with less ardour yet think whom :
" it is
you please. I am no inhabitant of the mountains, or simple shep-
" herd here in mean You know
array, to watch the herds or flocks.
not, rash nymph, you know not whom you fly, and therefore fl}
" I .
" am adored at
Delphos, Tenedos, Claros, and Patara: Jupiter is my
" father.
By me things past, present, and to come, are revealed by ;
"
sure, but ah more deadly his, who made this cruel wound in abreast
" imtouched before. Medicine is
my invention I am honoured through ;
TRANSLATION.
" of
simples. Alas ! that love is not to be cured by herbs, and those
" arts which master 1"
give relief to all, are unprofitable only to their
The daughter of Peneus nor regards him, as he thus conti-
still flies,
nued his complaints, and the imperfect accent dies on her ear then too :
she appeared lovely the winds exposed her body to view, the meeting
;
blasts tossed back he^r flowing robe, and the gentle gales spread her
careless locks behind thus her flight increased her beauty. But the
:
youthful god, too eager to lose his time in empty compliments, and
urged by love, pursues his steps with quickened pace. As when a
greyhound has spied a hare in the open plain, and with redoubled
speed pursues his prey, she with equal speed eludes his steps the one :
just ready to fasten, hopes every moment to secure his hold, and, with
extended jaws, presses upon her heels the other, in doubt whether ;
NOTES.
533. Ut canis in vacuo ^ The simile is The short compass of these notes wiil
here dravni with all the strengt!) and not allow me to illustrate similar pas-
colouringofpoetry,and admirably fitted sages by comparing tliein miuutely witli
to give us an idea of tlie eagerness each other, though perhaps nothing could
wherewith the god pursued on tlie one contribute more to form the taste, and
hand, and the an.xiety wherewith the give the mind a right tincture. I shall
ciicris thnore.
.Sic
cell rspe ilia
Tanuii
t-\
•
-T,
Q ui taiiien iiiseqiutur, peiinis
j. -^
acljutus auioris,
•
r
540
An
positiique dextrd in
Cui QBUS Atconjuxquoniammeanonpotesesse
:
;
stipite, sentit pectus
adhuc trepidare sub novo cortice. Complext(sque ramos, ut membra, suis lacertis, dat os-
cula ligno lAgmim tamen:
refiigit oscula. Cui deus dixit : at quoniam non potes esse.
TRANSLATION.
already seized, escapes from his very bites, and starts from his mouth
as it touches her. Such was the god, and such the flying nymph he :
urged by hope, and she by fear. But the pursuer, wafted by the wings
of love, gains upon her, and denies her rest and now she hears his ;
steps close behind her now his breath fans her parting hair. The
;
nymph (her strength failing) grew pale, and spent with the labour "of so
long a flight, cast a mournful look upon the streams of Peneus Oh :
"
help me, father, in this extreme necessity, if you rivers are really
" deities. O earth, in which I have too much delighted, open to re-
" ceive me, or
change this form, the cause of all my sorrows."
Scarce had she ended her prayer, when a heavy numbness tied up her
joints
a filmy rind grows round her body her hairs sprout into leaves,
; ;
her arms into boughs and her feet, so swift of late, stick fast by dull
;
roots her head is covered by a shady top, and her beauty and neat-
:
ness alone remain. This too is the darling of Phoebus, who clapping
his hand upon the trunk, feels her bosom yet pant under the new bark.
Then entwining his arms in the boughs, heaps kisses upon the wood,
which seemed to start back, and decline his embraces to whom the :
"
god, Though you cannot be my wife, I yet espouse you for my tree.
NOTES.
imagination, that makes >is in a manner neck. Tiie reader is by this means ac-
spectators of the chase. The nympli quainted with the several successions of
first hears behind lier the sounding steps fear as they arise in the mind of tlie
of the deity she then perceives that
:
nympli, sees her danger still increas-
his shadow Iras readied her ; and last of ing, and is in pain for her every mo-
all, feels his breath panting upon her meiil.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. I. 37
Utque meiim mtonsis caput est juvemle capiUis, lu,. tu cadcm, nau-
Tu quoq perpetuos semper gere frondis honores. t:i,^;:;Za^f^
;
XL -i-i
Est nemus Hzemoniag, pra^rupta quod un- ^^^ qnoque, semper ge-
> i. ,,-.^ ;
HI 1
jecdomus,naiCsedes,na2Csuntpenetraliamagm
11
i.1' -»,„™-,-,4 J. qua Pefieus effiisus ab
i,,,^ pi„„„ 'ruhitur
Amnis:inhocresidensfactodecautibusantro,575 ^^;~ ^^^^- ^.»«-
Undis jura dabat, nymphisque colentibus undas. vi, wbua' ugHu^ntm
-^
-^
.
'11 n ^ 1
• • •
tenues fumos, implu-
L'Onvenuint illuc popularia tlumuia prmium ; uque s'ummas .^yivas-
nodding boughs, expressed its joy, and seemed to shake its shady top.
XL There is in Thessaly a valley called Tempe, enclosed on all sides
by a forest mounted on craggy rocks ; through this the river Peneus,
issuing from the bottom of rindus, rolls his foaming
waves. The river,
its mighty fall, raises thick mists, which scattering their drops in thin
by
vapours gently sprinkle the tops of the Avoods,
and spread the noise of
their fall to a great distance. This is the house, this the mansion,
this the retired sanctuary of the great river. Here, residing in a cave
formed by rocks, he gave laws to the Avaters. Hither all the neigh-
bowing streams first resort, uncertain whether to congratidate the
father, or lament his daughter's fate; Sphercheos, crowned with poplar,
restless Enipeus, aged Apidanus, gentle Amphrysus, and jEas then a :
NOTES.
574. HcEC domus, &:c.] The poets took their rise, the habitations of the
called the fountains, from whence rivers gods of these rivers.
38 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Moxqin'riia'am-
.cfttf.t. Moxciuc aniiies alii: qui, qua tulit impetus illos,
nes, qui una hiivctus t ii n .
niF, arraque. Lyeea consita arboribus; cum deus occuluit latas terras caliginil inductti,
teituitque fugam ejus, rapuitquc pudorem,. Interea Juno despexit in medios agros,
TRANSLATION,
numerous throng of kindred brooks, who each, according to his cun-ent,
after infinite windings, pour their streams into the sea. Inachus alone
is absent, and shut
up in his retired cave, mourns the loss of his daugh-
ter lo, and augments the flood with his tears imcertain whether yet ;
she enjoyed life, or wandered in the regions of the dead but as he can ;
find her no where, concludes that she is no where, and fears the worst in
his mind. Jupiter had seen lo returning from her father's brook, and
" O
said virgin, worthy of Jove, and destined perhaps to make some
:
" mortal
happy, retire under the shade of these high trees (pointing
" withal at the shade he
meant) to avoid the scorching heat of the
"
sun, who now darts his rays from the middle of his orb. But if you
" are afraid to enter alone these
coverts, where lurk the savage kind,
"
yet you may safely pass through the retired shades, under the pro-
" tection of a
god nor a god of mean rank, but who sway v.dth power-
;
El
t'
,,,.., ,. n .
Q,
Deprensi toties ^jam nosset furta maiiti.
uempostquamcoeiononreppent: autego tailor,
606 mcitvbi su svuseon-
;
•- i r- 11
set jurta
q7Jmnon
qua Jam
mnnti toties
repperit"ca.
Constitit in terris :
nebulasque
T recedere iussit.
J f'!,v"i!,'f"f
out ego ler(/or
'^','-^/'"'""'
. . . (Idapsa-
Con uo;is adventum praesenserat, mque nitentem <!"« "dsummo crtiiere
T 1,-J X -11 li.
Inacnidos vultus mutaverat ille juvencam. oil
mi A.
• eonstilil in terris; jus.
sitque nebulas rcce-
Bos quoque formosa est speciem Saturnia vacca?, ;
T(u'a(ifcntuZ''7ovju.
Quanquam
i invita,' probat:
r nee non et cuius,
J 7
et ^'^ywutaveraique
tus Inacl.ido^ mnilen-
v,a-
TRANSLATION,
vered the earth for a great way -with thick darkness, stopped her
flight, and enjo^yed, by force, the wished-for happiness.
Mean time Juno looked down from on high upon the Arcadian fields,
and wondering that the floating clouds should have the appearance of
night, under a bright day, was soon sensible that these were not ex-
haled from rivers, or marshy fens she therefore looks round every :
shape, retains her former beauty. Juno, though v/ith reluctance, praises
the make and sleekness of the coav, and, as if ignorant of the truth, in-
quires whose she was, whence, and from what herd. Jupiter, to
prevent any more questions about the owner, feigns that she was
produced out of the earth. Tlie daughter of Saturn hegs her of
him. ^Vhat could he do ? It was cruel to give up his mistress, and sus-
picious to refuse her shame urges on the one baud, loves dissuades on
:
the other but shame would at last have yielded to love, had he not
;
i
.
iiiJT'
Constiterat quocunque modo ; spectabat ad lo
, . ,
inj'elix
Tendere non habuit, qua; brachia tende ret Argo
: :
incubat non
terra,
scmjier habenti gra- Conatoque queri mugitus edidit ore.
men; pot atque Ihnosa
Ilia etiam
Pertimuitquesonos,propriaqueexterrita voce est.
jiumina.
cum rellrt
supplex
Venit et ad ripas, ubi ludere sgepe solebat,
tendere brachia Ar^o,
lion habuit bracliia
Inachidas ripas: novaque ut conspexit in unda 640
quw tenderrt
c.:if/itque m<i«itus
Argo:
ore
Cornua, pertimuit, seque externata refugit.
conato queri : pertimu- Naiades ignorant, ignorat et Inachus ipse.
itqae sonot, estque ex-
territu propria voce. Venit et ad ripas; ad ripas Inachidas, ubi sape solebat ludere; ut-
que conspexit nova cornua in unda,pertimuit, extcrnataquc refugit se.
TRANSLATION,
and bed, he would increase her suspicions, and make her imagine it
must be something moi*e than a cow. The goddess, possessed of her
rival, did not, however, immediately drop all suspicion : she distrusted
Jupiter, and
Avas apprehensive of treachery till at
length she : com-
mits her to the care of Argus, the son of Aristor.
Argus had a head compassed round with a hundred eyes, of which
two slept in their turns, the rest watched, and kept ahvays oh duty in
their station. In whatever Avay he stood, his looks were directed to lo:
lo was before his eyes, even when he turned from her. In the day-
time he suffers her to feed, hut when the sun retires under the earth,
he shuts her up, and ties a cord rovmd her neck, too delicate for such
rough usage. She feeds upon the leaves of the straAvherry-tree, and
bitter herbs. Instead of a bed, the unhappy lo sleeps upon the ground,
often too in places that were not covered with grass, and drinks of the
muddy rivers. ^^ hen she wanted to stretch out her suppliant arms to
Argus, she had no arms to stretch out to Argus, and endeavouring to
complain, her mouth was filled with lowings. She startled at the sounds,
and was terrified with the noise of her own voice she came too to the :
Spesq ;
mihi prima secunda nepotum utivni potes, remugis
fuit generi ;
:
ad
De grege nunc tibi vir, nunc de grege natus ha- ignarus parabamAt tibi
riiea verba. ego
potum secunda.
Sed nocet esse deum preeclusaque janua lethi Nunc virJiiit
; est hubendus
tibi de grege, jitmc natus de grege. N^ec licet mihijinire tantos dolores morte; sed nucet mihi,
me esse Deum : Januaqiie lethi pracliisa,
TRANSLATION.
himself knows her not. She follows her father and sisters, suffers her-
self to be touched, and offers her neck to their stroking hands, as they
stood admiring her. Aged Inachus having pulled up some grass, holds
it out to her; she licks his hands, and gives kisses to her father's palms ;
nor does she restrain her tears, and could she make words follow,
would beg his help, and acquaint him with her name and misfortunes.
Instead of words, letters which she printed with her foot in the sand,
made a mournful discovery of the unhappy change.
" Ahwretched me cried the disconsolate father and hanging upon
! ;
" the neck and horns of the snow-white cow, again exclaims, wretched
" me Art thou then the daughter whom I have sought so long round
!
" the world? Alas! to lose you, was a yet less calamity than thus to
" find you. You are silent, nor answer me with mutual words deep :
" are drawn from out your breast, and deprived of speech, you
sighs
" But I, a stranger to all, was pre-
express yourself only in lowings.
" the bed and and fed myself with the empty hope
paring nuptial torch,
" of a son-in-law, and grandchildren. Now a husband must be given
" to the herd nor
you from the herd, now your progeny must belong
:
NOTES.
655. Luctus eras levior.] Because he her thus transformed into a cow, thau
accouuted it a greater misfortune to see to lose her altogether.
42 P. OVIDII NASONIS
TRANSLATION.
" can I be relieved from these
mighty sorrows by death, hut it is a real
" misfortune that I am a
god, and the gate of death being shut against
•
"
me, extends my woes through endless ages."
While he thus lamented, starry Argus removes her from him, and
carries the daughter, thus cruelly torn from her father, into other
pas-
tures he himself retires to the
top of a hill at some distance, whence
:
Fii,i T
:
Corneus huic arcus, si non foret aureus illi. Ortygiam. deam stu-
diis, ipsaque virglni-
Sic quoque fallebat. Redeuntem colle Lyceo tate.
ritu
Cincta quoqne
Diunce, fulleret,
et posset credi Latonia, si non fore t huic arcus corneas, si non illi arciis aureus. Et quoque
sic fallebat.
TRANSLATION.
friend, says he, thou niayest sit down by me upon this stone ;
for neither
will you find a place more
and there is moreover here
fertile in grass,
a convenient shade for shepherds. The god sat down, and in various
discourses prolonged the flowing hours and by playing on his pipe;
and though part of his eyes were lulled in gentle slumbers, yet with the
other part he watches he inquires too how the pipe was first invented,
:
(for it was
then but a late discovery.)
XIII. To which the god In the cold mountains of Arcadia, there
:
thus she deceived. Pan saw her returning from Lyceus, and having his
NOTES.
682. y^tlnntiades.'] Mercniy, t!ie son were nymphs supposed to reside in
cf Maia, who was the daughter of Atlas. particular trees, and live and die to
689. Turn dens, Arcadice, &c.J The witii them. Nonacris, the name of a
poei here introduces a new fal)Ie, under mountain and city of Arcadia.
pretence of satisfying Argus' curiosity, G94. Orttjgiam deam.} Diana, who
with respect to the inveutiou of the was boin in the island of Delos, called
jcrt talia verba. Res- tx preciDus spretis lugisse per avia nympham ;
irrla^^TrcftrlfvyZ
Douec areiiosi placiduiii Ladonis ad amnem
pham'preeibu.^ spretis Veuerit
_-
: liic ilH,i. cursum impedientibus
' undis, '
fugisse per ana; donee . .
^
'vencrit ad piucidum Ut sc uiutarent, iiquidas orasse sovores :
nis: ethic or.tsse li- Fanaque, cuui prensaui siDi jam iSyriuga putarct.
TareTt Te^ undis iTp'e'- Corporepro nymphsB calamos tenuisse palustres,
dientibus'curstim iiii
Diuiique ibi suspirat, motos in arundine ventos
:
soporem, permulcens
lumina languida medicatAvirgil. IVec erat mora: lulnerat cum nutantem/alcato ense, qua
caput est coiifiue eollo: dejicitque turn cruentum saxo ; et maculat preeruptam cautem
sanguine. Argejaces ; lumenquc quod hubebasin tot lumina.
TRANSLATION.
head adorned -with a crown of pine leaves, thvis addressed her it re- :
mained for Mercury to repeat the words, and how the nymph, de-
spising his address, fled through pathless ways, till she came to the
gentle stream of sandy Ladon and that here the current stopping her
;
between us shall always remain and that hence some unequal reeds :
joined together with wax, still retain the name of the ungrateful fair.
The Cyllenian god (1 say) was about to relate this, when he perceived
all the eyes of Argus sunk in sleep, and his eye-lids covered with drowsy
slumbers immediately he suppressed his song, and with his magic
:
rod, stroking his languid eyes, confirms their rest then drawing with- :
out delay his crooked falchion, Avounds him nodding, just where the
head joined to the neck, and threw him down bloody from the rock,
is
staining the craggy steep with his gore. Argus thou art no more, and
NOTES.
713. Cyllenius.'] Mercury, so called from Cylleue, a iiiouutain of Arcadia, where
Le was born.
xMETAMORPHOSEON, Lib. I. 45
Extinctum est: centumq oculos nox occupat una. e.st exunetum: mxque
E- •. 1 o 1
ocuios.
;
occupat centum
satumia ex-
J
• .
CI
Et gemitu, et lacrymis, et luctisono muo;itu Quemsimui ac tetigit,
-In
procubuitque genibus
uni Jove Visa queri est, nnemq; oraremalorum. posuis m ?nargi»c
1
TRANSLATION.
the light taken in by so many eyes is extinguished one night has ;
seized them all these Saturnia takes, and spreads in the feathers of
:
the bordering bank then raising herself up with her neck aloof, and
;
casting to heaven those looks which then she only could, with sighs and
tears, and mournful lowings, she seemed to complain of Jupiter, and
beg an end of her misfortunes. The god throwing his arms round the
neck of his spouse, requested that she would at length end her punish-
ment. Henceforth, says he, cease your fears, she shall never more be
the cause of pain to you and calls to the Stygian waves to hear his
;
oath. How soon the goddess was pacified She recovers her former !
looks, and again appears what before she had been the hairs began to :
fall
away, her horns decrease, and the orb of her eye is contracted her :
NOTES.
7Q6. PelUcis Argoliccr.] The Greeks the father of lo settled with a colony
were called Aigoiici, from Argos, a of Egyptians,
city of Peloponnesus, where Inachus
46 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Nil de bore supaf.it j)g bovc iiil supevcst,' formoB nisi caudor, in ilia :
in ill<i ni.^i ca7idur Ji'r- „^ .
/ ^ ^ 1 ,
p"J"m'fr7iiUvrT'^""e- Eri^itur ;
metuito ; loqui ; nemorejuvencae 745
tuitqne lonui ; nc mil- ^xxg-[Q^i et timidc Verba interniissa retentat.
giat more jurencfr, " -
;
'^ , -, , . ,
^ ,
.
r,
.
,
.
,
timide rttcntat verba J\unc dea lini2;era colitur celebernma turba.
joiis
eiTipla tenet.
; teneique tanpiti 1 Jt*
sum ereaius
stirpe Perque suum, Meropisq caputtaedasq ;sororum,
cwlesti.edc notam tanti m i "j j !• •
-i
;
•
TRANSLATION.
mouth becomes and hands return, and her hoof vanish-
less, her arms
ing is parted nothing of the heifer now remains but
into five nails ;
the whiteness of her skin aud the nymph, conteuted with the service
;
of tM'o feet, raises herself upon them, yet fears to speak and mindful ;
of her former lowings, attempts, with trembling lips, the long inter-
rupted sounds. Now she is worshipped as a goddess by all the j9^gyp-
tian throng, and served by priests clad in white linen.
XV. To her at length Epaphus was bora, believed to be the son of
mighty Jove, and has temples jointly with his mother in ail the cities
of Egypt. To him Phaeton the son of Phoebus was equal in spirit and
years, whom once affecting great things, nor yielding to him, but boast-
ing of his sire the Sun, the grandson of Inachus could not bear, but
said, you are silly enough to believe your mother in every thing, and
swelled with the conceit of an imaginary father. Phaeton blushed, but
shame suppressed his rage he went to his mother Clymene, and told :
her of the insults of Epaphus " And,mother, (says he,) to grieve you the :
"
more, I, the boldand dauntless Phaeton, was silent at his reproaches.
NOTES.
751. PhaHton.'] The son of Apollo and Ihys. The poet tl'.ns introdiices his
the nymph Clymene, who is said to have story,which makes t!ie subject of the
been the dau;;htcr of Oceanus aud Te- followinK book.
METAMORPHOSEON, LiB.I. 47
utraque coelo
1 an
^,6*
iril
,-
criminis dicti
porrexit utraque
Brachia porrexit :
spectaiisque ad lumina
Solis, %Z'q^t 'ad'hn'nina
Per Jiubar,hoc,inquit, radiis iusigne coruscis, ?'""> inqnit Nate, ;
.'. T -J i 1 jurotibij)trliocjuuar
Nate, tibi juro, quod nos auditque videtque insigner'iduscoruscis. ;
Hoc te, quern spectas, hoc te, qui temperat or- VT-,Te'cllCsinfimTot
*"'*
Sole satum:
!-.„„,
"^^''-
si ficta
loquor.neget
° ipse
_
11770
videndum
^'^"^
tempemt orbem.
qvem spectas, te
Saturn hoc sole qui
a'»
-- .... ,.
i .' .' . .
loqiior Jicta, ipse neget
Se mull ; sitque oculis lux ista novissinia nostris. se videndum miia sh- -,
gradere et scitabere ab ;
:
-11 r
iahoriongus tibi n&sse
patrios pentites; do-
»«»* unde oritur est
tontermina nostra ter-
ryry
ipSO. //O ra. Si modo animus
Emicat exemplo laetus post talia matris tZU^lftpsJ. 'pit
'''<"« ^'^'"^ vost taUa
Dicta suae Phaethon, et concipit aethera mente '
:
dicto su<c matris extem-
^-, .
1
•
-1 T J
TXithlOpaSque SUOS, pOSltOSqUe sub IgnibUS IndOS plo emicat; et condpit
c 1
•
-i i J"i. i
• •
tethera metite. Traiir
bidereis, transit patnosque adit impiger ortus.
; sitque saas mhiopas,
Jndosque positos sub
ignibus sidercis; adilque impiger patrios ortus.
TRAiSrSLATION.
" I am ashamed that such it is not in
outrages can he offered us, while
" contradict them but if I am really heaven begotten,
"
my power to :
he conjured her by her own and Merop's head, and the nuptial torches
of his sisters, that she would give some undoubted tokens of his true
father. It is hard to say whether Clymene was more moved by the
her: she
prayers of Phaeton, or resentment of the crime charged upon
stretched out both her arms to heaven, and fixing her eyes upon the
sun " I swear," says she, " by this beam which darts around its shining
:
"
rays, which both hears and sees us, that you
are descended of that
" Sun Avhom
you behold that Sun who regidates times and seasons.
;
" If I and
speak falsely, may he ever after deny himself to my sight,
"
now, for the last time, shine upon me with his rays nor will it be ;
"
any great trouble to visit your father's dwelling the place where he ;
" rises is
contiguous to our earth if you are so inclined go, and you
will ;
LIBER SECUNDUS.
TRANSLATION.
I. rr^HEPalace of the sun was raised high on lofty columns, and
X
shone with burnished gold, and flaming carbimcles. Its top
was covered with polished ivory, and the folding gates diffused a silver
light. The workmanship exceeded the matter for there Vidcan had ;
graved the sea circling round the encompassed earth the earth itself, ;
and the heaven which hangs over this orb. The waves are graced by
the blue deities Triton with his sounding shell, changeable Proteus, and
;
j9i]geon embracing with his arms the immense bulk of whales Doris and ;
NOTES.
We
have seen, in the former book, submit. After giving him all necessary
that Phaeton had been insulted by Epa- instructions, the youth sets out but ;
phus, which occasioned iiis applying to not being able to command the horses,
his mother Clyniene, to know the cer- they forsake the beaten path, and hurry
tainty of his birth. After saying every him away through unknown tracts.
thing in her power to convince him, she Upon which Jupiter, to prevent an
at last advises him to repair to the pa- universal conflagration, hurls iiis thun-
lace of his father, and have it contirnied der against Phaeton, who, ttimbling
there. Tiiis book begins with a de- headlong from the chariot, falls lifeless
scription of the palace where Phaeton into the river Po.
is supposed to have arrived. Apollo 1. Regia &c.] Some think
soli s erat,
receives him kindly, and owns him for that the poet here had in his eye the
his son but he begging for some par-
:
temple and library built by Augustus,
ticular pledge, by which others also and consecrated to Apollo.
might be induced to believe it the god , 2. PiiropoJ] This is to be understood
swears by the river Styx, that he will of the carbuncle, which was of much
refuse him nothing: upon which he de- more considerable value than the
sires to conduct the chariot of tiie sun ruby.
for a day. Apollo endeavours in a long 9. Proteaque amhiginim.'] Proteus a
speech to dissuade him from so rash sea god, celebrated chiefly ainonj^ the
and hazardous a design but finding all ; poets for his power of assuming what
Jiis argument vain, is at last forced to shape he pleased.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. II. 49
jJSgaonaque prcnien-
jEo-seona suis immania terga lacertis 10 ; tern immania terga
et natas quarum pars nare videntur, balanarutii suis lacer-
Doridaque :
tis, Doridaque, et
na-
Pars in mole sedens virides siccare capillos ; tas : qnaritiii pars ri-
deiitur iiarc, pars se-
Pisce vehi qusedam facies non omnibus mia,
:
dens in mole videntur
siccare virides capil-
Nee diversa tamen; qualem decet esse sorormii. los; qttrrdam vehipisce.
Terra virosjurbesq; 15 Facies noii e^t una om-
gerit, sylvasque, ferasque tai/icn nee di-
nibus,
Fluminaq et
nymphas,
;
et caetera numina ruris. versa: liabolKiiit taleni
qualem facies sororum
Haec super imposita est coeli fulgentis imago ; decet e\sc. Terra gerit
sinis- viros, urbesque, syl-
Signaque sex foribus dextris, totidemque vasque, ferasque, /hi-
tris. minaque, et utimplias,
ctcater a numina ru-
Quo simul acclivo Clymenei'a limite proles ris. Imago fulgentis
cali est imposita super
Venit, et intravit dubitati tecta parentis ; 20 hffc : se.rque signa
Protinus ad patrios sua fert vestigia vultus ;
dextris foribus, tnti-
deriiqne sinistris. Quo
Consistitque procul :
neque enim propiora fere- simul ac proles Cli/-
meneia venit acclivo
bat limite,etintravit tecta
dubita tiparentisjpro-
Lumina. Purpurea velatus veste sedebat tinus fert sua vestigia
In solio Phoebus claris lucente smaragdis. ad patrios vultus: con-
st itit que procul: neque
A dextra,l6evaque, dies, etmensis,et annus, 25 enimferebat propiora
lumina. Phabus ve-
Saeculaque, et positae spatiis sequalibus horse : latus purpuretl veste
Verque novum stabat cinctum florente corona : sedebat in solio lu<:ente
Claris smaragdis. A
Stabat nuda jEstas, et spicea serta gerebat : dextrii l/evuque, dies,
et mensis, et anntis,
steculaquF, et hortr posit /r ttqiialibiis spatiis stah^nl ; vcrqtic ftovtnn stabat cinctum florente
coronA : ccstas nuda stabat, et gerebat spicea serta.
TRANSLATION.
her daughters, part of whom appear swimming in the figured main,
part sitting on a rock, divide their dropping locks, and some glide
through the waters on fishes. The features were not the same in all,
nor yet remarkably different a sister likeness might be observed in
;
every face. The earth is covered with men, cities, Avoods, wild beasts,
rivers, nymphs, and all the train of rural deities. Over these is placed
the image of refulgent heaven, where are represented the twelve signs
of the zodiac, six on either gate.
Whither when the son of Clymene had arrived by an ascending
path, and entered the habitation of his suspected sire, instantly he di-
rected his steps toward where he saw his father, and stood at some
distance, for he was not able to bear a nearer approach to the light.
Phoebus, arrayed in robes of purple, was seated on a throne that
sparkled with bright emeralds. On either hand were the days, months,
years, and ages, and the hours placed at equal distances here stood :
NOTES.
10. Mgceonaque.']
JEgdctou is spoken of sea iiymph, the daugjlitcr of Oceaniis
by Homer ou)y as a piant, and made and Tethys, and wife of Nerens.
the same withBriareus. But Ovid heie 18. Signaque se.v foribus.] The poet
follows the tradition of tliose who
say speaks here of the twelve signs of the
he was one of the sea cods. zodiac, six of which were engraven upon
n. Doridaque el nalas.^ Doris was a the right gate, and six upon the left.
50 P. OVlDII NASONIS
Auttimitii.i et (ctlaiii)
stabat sordlUiis calca-
Stabat et Autumnus calcatis sordidus uvis :
'pater Pliabe, publica Phoebe pater, si das hujus mihi nominis usum.
lux immcnsi riitindi, si
das mild usiim hiijiis Nee falsa Clymene culpam sub imagine celat ;
nominis, ncv Vlymene
celut ciilpamsubj'alsa Pignora da, genitor; per quae tua vera propago
imagine; da geiiitnr
jilgnora, per quic ego
Credar; et hunc animis errorem detrahe nostris:
crcdar esse tua vera Dixerat. At genitor circum caput omne mi-
propago ; et. detrahe
huuc errorvin iiostrls cantes 40
animis. JJUtrtit: At
Deposuit radios; propriiisque accedere jussit :
gcnitor deposuit radios
ii'.icanles circum omnc
Amplexuque dato, nee tu meus
esse negari
caput ; jussitq lie ilium
accedcre proprius :
Dignuses et Clymene
; veros, ait, edidit ortus.
amplexuque data, ait
quodvis pete munus
:
TRANSLATION.
naked, and adorned with garlands made of the ears of corn Autumn ;
rough with hoary hair. The Sun from the middle of his place beheld
with those eyes, wherewith he surveys all things, the young man sur-
prised, and struck Avith the unusual appearance of so many wonders :
"
What, (says he,) is the cause of your journey hither ? What wants
"
"
my son in this place ? For know, Phaeton, that you are my son, and
worthy to be owned such by your father."
" Public
light of this vast universe, replies the youth, father
"
Phoebus, if you permit me to call you by that name, and Clymene
" does not conceal a crime mider a false
pretence, give, father, some
" certain
token, by which it may be known that I am your son, and
*'
free my mind from this cruel uncertainty." He said when his :
father, putting off the rays that shone all around his head, commanded
him to advance, and embracing him " Yes, (says he,) you are my son
:
;
"
you deserve that name, nor has Clymene deceived you in the account
" of
your birth. To remove all further doubt, make what request you
"
please, that you may obtain it of me by a ready compliance. Wit-
•'
ness my promise, the lake by which the gods are wont to swear,
" that is
hid even from my pierciiig sight." Scarce hnd Pho?bus
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. H. 51
Magna petis, Phaethon, et quae nee viribus istis uonas mm est tuta.
Non tamen ignifero quisquam consistere in axe gerequod sit fas contin-
supcris. Licebit
Me valet excepto: vastiquoque rector Olympi, 60 lit quisque flaceut sibi,
tumen non quisqtiam
Qui fera terribili jaculatur f'ulmina dextra, superiim me excepto,
valet consistere in ig-
Non agat hos currus Et quid Jove majus habe- nifero axe. Rector
mus ? qhoque lasti Olympi,
guijaculatur ferajul'
Ardua prima via est; et qua vix mane recentes mina terrihili dextri,
non agat hos ciirrus,
Enitantur equi medio est altissima coelo ;
; et quid habemus mu-
Unde mare, et terras ipsi mihi ssepe videre 65 jus Jove Prima via '!
TRANSLATION.
ended his speech when he asks his father's chariot, and to commar.d
and guide the wing-footed horses for a day.
The sire repented of the oath he had taken, and shaking tin-ice his
"
radiant head Alas, my son, the promise 1 made you is become rash
:
"
by your request I wish it were in my power to recall what I have
;
"
thy wishes launch beyond the bounds of mortality nay, you igno- :
"
rantly affect more than comes within the province even of the gods.
"
Every one, no doubt, glories in his own power yet none of all the ;
"
heavenly train dares to mount the burning axle-tree, but I yea :
" Jove himself, the sovereign rider of the sky, whose tremendous right-
" hand hurls the rapid thunder, cannot guide this chariot yet who so ;
"
strong and powerful as Jupiter ? The first ascent is steep, and which
" the steeds, though fresh in the morning, cannot climb but with pain.
" The middle firmament is exceeding high, from whence even I cannot,
NOTES.
63. Ardua prima via est-l This whole continues his course round the earth
description is to he consifteied only in night and day without interruption, or
a poetical light, in which (however in- rather the earth by its diurnal revohi-
consistent it may be with the principles tion, causes that apparent motion of the.
of true astronomy) it must yet appear sun. And as thismotion is performed
extremely beautiful. In fact, the snn in a circle, whereof the earth is the
E a
*52 P. OVIDII NASONIS
feTrJ^uHriis Ziei"i''e-
^^ ^"^J'^J^" ""^ prsecsps, Tethys solet ipsa vereri.
7/ps"'Ad!iv\uod7ce'- Afl^e, quod assiduarapiturvertigineccelum: 70
iiDii rapiiur assidita Sidei'aque
*
alta traliit.celerique
^
volumine torouet.
vcrtigitie, trahitque tvt-, • , .^ .. .
,
ferut
jwijsyotatis,
cifus axis 7ir aii-
tv.' Forsuuuct
Coucipias
1 ....
aiiimo, delubraque^ „ ditia donis
Lsse ^per insidias iter est. formasque ferarum^
:
TRANSLATION.
without terror, behold the earth and ocean below, and my joints
shake with fear. The last stage is a mighty descent, and requires a
steady rein. Tethys herself, who receives me in her watery caves,
often fears that 1 should be tumbled headlong from above. Add,
moreover, that the heaven is carried round by a constant rotation, and
revolving with rapid force, hurries along in its course the high stars.
I steer against their motions nor does the impetuous current that
;
tion contrary to that of the rolling orbs. Suppose then, that the chariot
was given you what can you do ? Are you able to stem the rapid
;
snares, and the forms of starry monsters. And even though you keep
the direct way, nor are drawn aside by any wandering path, you must
yet pass between the horns of the threatening bull, oppose yourself to.
the Hcemonian bow, and brave the grinning visage of the fierce lion.
NOTES.
centre, there ean be nnthing of tliat as- fatigue of hisjouniey through the visible
cent or descent, or variation of dis- heavens. In like manner, because fron*
tance iVoin the earth which the poet here niornins; till noon he seems to the inha-
mentious. Th s, 1 say, is a strict philo- bitants of the earth to mount a continu-
poets have adopted tiieiu in tiieir writ- 69. Tetlajs.'] The daughter of CorIus
ings. Thus wiien he descends below and Terra, and wife of Oceanns. She
onr horizon, and is no more visible to is often, as here, made to slant! for the
Quos in pectore habent, quos ore et naribus illis ignibus, quos ha-
bent ill.
pcclore, quos
^ efflant, Bo tjjtlaiit ore et naribus:
iix putiuntur mc, si-
In promptu regere est : vix me patiuntur, ut acres iniil ac acres uiiiini in-
At tu, funesti ne sim tibi muneris aiictor : note, cave, ne sim tibi
uuctor funesti mune-
Nate, cave dmii resque sinit, tua corrige vota.
: ris, coririgeque tua vo-
ta, dum res sinit. i'ci.
Scilicet, utnostro genitum te sanguine credas, 90 licet petis certa plg-
credas
Pignora certa petis do pignora certa timendo
iiora, lit te ge-
:
;
nHuninostro sanguine;
Et patrio pater esse metu prober. Aspice vultus do certa pignora ti-
mendo, et prohor esse
Ecce meos utinamque oculos in pectora posses
:
puter metu patrio.
Ecce, aspice meos vul-
Inserere ;
et patrias intus deprendere curas !
tus: ulinamque posses
TRANSLATION.
The bends his claws into a wide extent, and the crab
scorpion too
with claws differently bent in lesser clasps, appears to oppose
your Nor will you find it easy to govern the mettled steeds,
course.
spiritedby those fires which glow in their breasts, and which they
breathe from their mouth and nostrils. Scarce can 1 restrain their
fury, when they are once heated, and their necks struggle with the
rein. But do you, my son, take care not to force from me a gift that
may l?e fatal to you and while it yet may be done, correct your rash
;
desires. You demand some sure pledge, by which to know that you
are my son. What surer pledges can you have than these my tears ?
Or better learn that I am your father, than by my fatherly care ?
Look on my or could your eyes penetrate into
face ; my heart, you
w^ould there find all the anxiety of a tender father. In fine, look
round through all the riches of lavish nature, and choose out a gift
from what is most valuable in earth, sea, or heaven, you shall
meet with no denial. I only plead against this one thing, which in
reality is a mischief not an honour Phaeton, you ask a mischief in-
:
,
•
;
Vulcania. Axis erat Aureus axis ei'at, teiDO aurcus, aurea summEe
Vu7muirr7umlZ^'ro. Cuivatura rotsB radiorum argenteus ordo. ;
fii'e opus ; ecce rigii Atria diiiugiunt stellse quarum agmina cogit
:
;
tnundumqvernbescere,
extremrr
AmbrosifB succo saturos praBsepibus altis 120
comuaque /-^ • -, -,
-, -, r
Luntr velut evanes-
Quadrupedesducunt adduntque sonantiairaena. :
cerc,impcrat veliiLihus
Horis jungerc eqiios: rictr celeres ferai^unt jtissa ejus: ducuntqne quadrupedes vomentes
ignem, saturos succo Anibrosicc ultis prasepibtis, adduntque frena sonantia.
TRANSLATION.
Here the fatlser ended his admonitions but Phaeton, regardless of :
what he said, still holds to his purpose, and burns with impatience to
moimt the chariot. Wherefore the father having delayed as long as he
could, brought at length the young man to the stately chariot, the gift of
Vulcan. The axle-tree was of gold, the pole also was of gold, and the
wheels were edged round with a golden rim. The range of spokes was
silver. The yoke was covered with rows of gems and precious stones, that
darted a clear light by reflecting the sun. And while magnanimous
Phaeton admires all these, and views with attention the elegance of the
work, lo, watchful Aurora opens the purple gates of the east, and her
courts strewed with roses. The stars disappear, Lucifer drives them
before him in troops, and moves himself the last from his station in the
heavens. Soon as the father saw the earth and sky covered with a
rosy blush, and the blunted horns of the moon just ready to vanish,
he commands the nimble hours to join the horses to the chariot. The
swift goddesses instantly obey, and lead from the high stalls the glow-
ing steeds, snorting fire, and satiated v,ith the juice of Ambrosia then ;
NOTES.
113. Plena roiarum atria.'\ Aurora is 190. Ambrosia succo saturos.] Am-
often painted by the poets as shrondcd brosia, wa«, according to llie poets,
in roses, nor is there any phrase more the food of the gods; in like man-
common in our own langnage, than the ner as nectar was feigned to be their
losy-colonred morn. drink, though we find them often con-
lip. DctPce/cres.JThehonrs are some- founded,
times described by the poets a« goddesses.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. II. 65
Turn pater ora sui sacro medicamine nati Turn pater contigit
ora sui nati sacro »«e.
Contigit, et rapidae fecit patientia flammee : dlcamine ; et fecit pa-
tientia rapidte flam-
Imposuitque comae radios ; prsesagaque luctns m(P ; imposuitque ra-
ilins coma':
Pectore sollicito repetens suspiria, dixit: 125 refctens-
que suspiria prcsaga
Si potes hie saltern monitis parere paternis tuctUs sollicito pec-
tore, dixit : Si lite sal-
Parce, puer, stimulis, et fortius utere loris. tern potes parere mo-
Spontesuaproperant: labor est inhiberevolentes. ^"rr/"'^M/"Tf
Nectibidirectos placeatvia quinque per arciis. utere ions fortius.
"Jere loris
Sectus in obliquum est lato curvarnine limes 130 labor est inh"bere"eoi
Zonarumque trium contentus fine polumque
" .--.-.
:
'qui,?que'ar^us directos
placeal tibi. Est limes
Effugit Australem, junctamq; Aquilonibus Arc- sectits in la- nbliquum
ton. to curvamiiie ; conten-
tiisque fine trium so-
Hac sit iter: manifesta rotae vestigia cernes. narum, effiigit pohim-
que avstralem. Arc-
Utque ferant aequos et ccelum et terra calores ; tonqiie junvtam Aqvi-
Nee preme, nee summum molire per aethera lonibus. Sit iter tibi
hac cernes mani-
via,
CUrrum. 135 festa vestigia rota
Utque et ctrlum, et
AltiCis egressus coelestia tecta cremabis ; terra ferant <rqicos ca-
lores, nee preme, nee
Inferius, terras Medio tutisdmus ibis.
:
molire curruin per
summum athera. Egressus altius, cremabis tecta coelestia, egressus inferius, cremabis terras :
Ibis tutissimus medio.
TRANSLATION.
add the sounding reins. Meantime Phoebus wet the face and temples
of his son with a celestial ointment, and made them proof against the
burning rays then fixing the beamy circle on his head, and fetching
;
from his anxious breast deep sighs, that were presages of his future
"
griefs, said
"
:
My son, if thou canst but follow this last advice of
your father, be sure to keep a stiff' rein, and spur them on but gently :
*'
they are apt of themselves to hasten too much, the great art lies in
" Nor must you drive the chariot on directly
restraining their speed.
" There is a tract that runs obliquely, form-
through the five circles.
"
ing a broad circle in the heavens, and which, confined within the
" limits of three zones, shuns the south pole, and the constellations
" that border upon the north winds, follow this path, where you will
" see plain prints of the wheels. And that heaven and earth may
" have their due proportion of heat, neitlier sink too low, nor drive the
" chariot
along the summit of the sky. By mounting too high you will
" set the
heavenly mansions on fire, and by falling too low, you will en-
"
danger the earth the middle way is the safest and best. Let not
;
NOTES.
129. Nee tilii directos placeat via quin- tlie two tropics, and the equinoctial.
gue per arcus.] Tliere is a considerable The equinoctial
runs exactly in the mid-
obscurity in this pnssage, arising from dle between the other circles so »hat :
tiie manner of expression. Piiabiis is Nee tibi directos placeat via qnirique
per
liere counselling Phaeton what tract to arcus must here understood to mean,
lie
follow, and tells liini that he is to pur- pursue not your way directly through
sue his w ay thronnh an oblique path, and that circle which is middlemost of the
not directly in the plane of ilie equator. five, but observe the tract that cuts its
This las' is what he calls the Via per obliqui ly.
quinqiie arcns dvectns. The (ive bows are 132. Junctamque Aquilomhus Arctnn.'\
here no other than the five parallel circles By Arctos, or the Bear, a constellation
by which astronomers distinguish the in the northern quarter of heaven, we
heavens. These are the two polar circles, are to understand the arntic jicTe.
56 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Dum potes,
.
TRANSLATION.
" the right -wheel bear you off toward the Avreathed serpent, nor the
" the shining altar but keep a direct course between both.
left to I
;
" leave the rest to foi'tune, which I pray may direct you, and be more
" careful of you than you are of yourself. See while I speak, the shady
"
night has reached the limits of the western shore nor is it permitted ;
"
darkness, shines out. Haste, snatch the reins ; or if you have a mind
" that can be moved
by advice, take my counsel, not my chariot, while
" it is
yet in your power, and you stand securely on the earth. A^^hile
" I
say, you are not yet mounted upon the axle-tree so rashly wished
"
for, suffer me to give light to the world, which you may enjoy in full
"
security." In vain he spoke. Phaeton with youthful heat mounts the
nimble chariot, and rejoicing to handle the reins that had been given
him, gives thanks to his father, who receives them with reluctance.
Meanwhile the restless horses of the sun, Pyroeis, Eous, and ^thon,
and the fourth Phlegon, fill the air Avith neighiugs, and breathing out
fire, beat with their feet the barriers of heaven which after that Te- ;
thys, ignorant of the fate of her grandson, had removed, and all the
wide vvaste of heaven wsl^ laid open before them, they spring out, and
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. II. 57
J-
Sent sent, cogiwscere ; ju-
ic onere assueto vacuos dat in aera saltus, loo siccvrrus dat saitus
^j y -J 1 fervorilnis.
lit vero summo 1
despexit ab
1
sethere terras niemorans te quoque
Infelix Plia'ethon penitus penitusque jacentes ; tHm^quamviscrcn^^
dus,et tua palustra te-
nebant te. Ut vero infelix Pha'cthon summo athere despexit terras penitus, petntusque ja-
centes.
TRANSLATION.
moving their feet swiftly through the air, cleave the opposing clouds,
and mounted upon their wings, outstrip the eastern wind arising from
the same parts. But the weight appeared small, and what the horses of
the sun could scarcely feel, nor was the chariot poised by its wonted
weight. And as hollow ships, when wanting due ballast, totter in the
deep, and are tossed to and fro, the unstable sport of winds and waves ;
high, and bounding through the air, is hurried on like one empty which ;
when the eager steeds perceived, they rush on, and leave the beaten
tract, nor follow the stated course in which they ran before. The youth
trembles, nor knows which way to turn the reins, or how to pursue his
way nor had he known, Avere the horses under command. Then did
;
the cold Triones first feel Apollo's ray, and strove in vain to dip in the
forbidden sea. Then too the serpent that borders upon the frozen pole,
before stiff', and benumbed with cold, nor formidable to any, roused by
the new flames, began to rage with inward heat. It is said, moreover,
that you, Bootes, fled in a mighty alarm, though naturally slow, and
Avain. But when the
cumbered with thy unhappy Phaeton beheld from
the height of heaven, the earth spread out far, very far beneath him,
NOTES.
171. Triones.'] This is meant of the seven that seem larger and brighter than
Ursa Major, a constellation consisting of the rest, and very much resemble a
twenty-seven stars. Of these there are waggon with a yoke of oxen.
58 P. OVIDII NASONIS
gando :
jam cupiins Jam Meropis
dici cupiens. Ita fertur, ut acta
did filiui Mcropis ;
ita fertur ut pintis Prsecipiti pinus Borea, cui victa remisit 185
ZliZ^r^cllr^remi'-
Fi'^ena suus rector, quam Dis, votisque
reliquit.
sit victa fra:nii, quam
Quid faciat? multum cceli post terga relictum;
que reliquit diis lotis-
que. Quid facial / Ante oculos plus est animo metitur utrumque
; :
Merop's son, he is hurried along like a ship tossed by the stormy north
wind, when the despairing pilot has abandoned the helm, and puts all
his confidence in the gods and prayer. What could he do ? He had
already left a long tract of heaven behind him. If he looks forward a
still
longer path meets his eyes. He measures both in his mind and ;
sometimes casts an eye upon the forbidden Avest, sometimes looks back
towards the east and full of amazement, is uncertain what to resolve
;
upon for neither does he quit the reins, nor can he hold them right,
:
nor does he know the names of the horses. Now too, in his fright,
he sees all parts of the heavens filled with objects of horror, and the
monstrous forms of huge wild beasts. There is a place where Scorpio
bends his arms on each side in two wide ciu-ves, and with his tail and
limbs enclosing a vast circuit, stretches himself through the space of
two celestial signs. Soon as the youth beheld him s veat in streams of
black poison, and threatening wounds with his forked
tongue, bereft of
his wits at once, he dropped the reins in a cold
fright which, when:
TRANSLATION.
themselves without check or control, hurry on throug^h unknown re-
gions of air, and regardless of the way, run wherever their fury drives,
rush against the stars fixed in the high firmament of heaven, and drag
the chariot through pathless wilds. Sometimes they mount aloft, again
they descend, and precipitating their course, bring the chariot still nearer
to the earth.
The clouds vanish in smoke, and the Moon wonders to see her bro-
ther's steeds beneath her own. The land in every place as it rises
than the rest, is seized by the flames, and rending, breaks iu
higher
chasms, and is drained of its moisture by the scorching heat. The grass
is burnt
up, the trees are consumed
with their leaves, and the parched
corn furnishes fuel to the spreading conflagration. But I complain of
trivial ills. Great cities with their walls perish, and tlie flames turn
whole nations with their people into ashes. The mountains and forests
are set on fire, Athos burns, and Cilician Taurus, and Tmolus, and CEte.
Ide too, formerly famous for her fountains, lutnow dry in spight of all
her springs and Helicon, the darling retreat of the Muses, and Hsemus,
;
NOTES.
violence of
217. Ardet Athos.'] Phaeton no loneer tains that suffered by tiie
able to guide the chariot, leaves tlie the flames, viz. : Atlios of Macedonia,
horses to wander without control ; who Taurus of Asia, Tmolus of Plirygia,
forsaking the beaten tract, approach so and Oilte of Thessaly.
near the earth as to set the higher parts 218. Ide.] A mountain of Phrygia.
of it on fire. The poet here enumerates 219. Helicon.'] A mountain of Boeotia,
some of the more remarkable moun- sacred to the Muses.
60 P. OVIDII NASONIS
civeres, favillamquc
Quoque eat, aut ubi sit, picea caligine tectus
eject at am, involvitur
undique callido fumo: Nescit; et arbitrio volucrum raptatur equorum.
tectusque pici H cali-
gine, nescit quo eat, aut ubi sit, et raptatur arbitrio volucrum equorum.
TRANSLATION,
not yet CEagrius. ^Etna rages with redoubled heat. Parnassus, with
its two summits, glows, and Eryx, and Cynthus, and Othrys, and
Rhodope now despoiled of its snows, and Mimas, and Dindyma, and
Mycale, and Citha^ron, famed for the sacred rites of Bacchus. Nor
does Scythia escape, tliough armed with her native frosts. Caucasus
flames, and Ossa with Pindus, and the high aspiring Olympus, the
lofty Alps, and the cloudy Apennine.
It was then that Phaeton, wherever he turned his eyes, beheld the
world around him in flames nor is he able to endure such mighty
;
and he perceives too that the chariot under him is on fire. And now he
cannot longer bear the showers of ashes, and the glowing sparks that
break round him, and is on every side involved in thick clouds of smoke.
Nor, covered thus in darkness, could he distinguish whither he went, or
NOTES.
220. ^bni.'\ A celebrated mountain 224. Scythia.'] A region to the north
of Sicily, thdt vomits up fire and smoke of Asia. Caucasus was a mountain of
221. Parnassusque biceps.l A moun- Scythia, famous chiefly for the story
tain of Phocis vvitii two summits, well of Prometheus, who was feigned by
known by the fictions of the poets. the poets to be bound iiere, and to
Eryx, a mountain of Sicily, sacred to have his liver perpetually gnawed by
Venus, whence she is often called Ery- a vulture, because he had stolen fire
cena. Cynthus is in the isle of Delos, from heaven, to animate his image of
famed for the birtii of Apollo and Diana ; clay.
whence he has goX the name of Cyn- 225. Ossaque cum Phtdo.] Two very
thius, and slie of Cynthia. Othrys, a high mountams of Thessaly. Olympus,
mountain of I'hessaiy. another mountain in the confines of
222. Rhodnpe.] A mountain of Thrace Thessaly and jNIacedonia.
covered with perpetual snows. Mimas 226. Alpes.] Very bigli mountains
a mountain of Ionia. that divide Italy from Gaul. A|>en-
223. Dindyma.'] .A mountain of Troas, nines, a long ridge of mountains th.it
called Dindymcne. Mycale a moun- divide Italy into two parts.
tain of Caria.
METAMOllPHOSEON, Lib. II. 61
Credunt Mthi.
Sanguine turn credunt in corpora sumnia vocato, op urn turn traxUse ni-
populos
terret
,
TRANSLATION.
cheus burn, and the gold, which the Tagus carries in its stream, is
melted by the flames. The swans, which have so often sung on the
banks of the Ma?onian rivers, in vain sought to avoid the heat in the
middle of Cayster. The frighted Nile fled to the extreme parts of
the earth, and hid his head, which yet lies concealed his seven dusty :
channels are now changed into seven valleys, destitute of water. The
same fate also pursues the Ismarian rivers. HebvUs with Strymon ;
and the western rivers, the Rhine, the Rhone, the Po, and Tyber, to
which the sovereignty of the universe had been promised.
The ground is deep cleft in all parts, and the light penetrating
through the chinks into the dire regions of Tartarus, startles the infer-
nal king and his spouse. The ocean contracts, and what lately was
sea, is now a naked plain of sand. The mountains, which had hitherto
been covered by the waves, now start up, and increase the number of
the scattered Cyclades. The fishes creep toward the bottom nor do ;
NOTES.
251. Tagus.'} A river of Spain, which feijnis tohave hid its head in this ge-
was said to bring down from the moun- neral conflagration.
tains great quantities of gold sand. 257. Hebrum, &c.] Hebrus and Stry-
These tliepoet, by an unusual hyperbole, mon, two rivers of Thrace, that run into
feigns to be now melted by the heal of the iEgean sea.
the sun, and iu that manner to be 259. Cuique fuit rerum promissa po-
Tybrin.] The Tiber is a
carried along by the current of the tentia river
river. famous in the writings of the poets. It
252. Mteonias.] Maeonia, so called runs through the midst of Rome, whence
from the river Ma?on, was the same the sovereignty of the universe, vvhicn
with Lydia. was promised to the Romans, is here po-
254. Nilus.} A very noted river of etically said to be promised to the
Tiber.
/Egypt, wliich, berause its source was 264. Cyclades.'] Tlie Cyclades are a
unknown to the ancients, the poet here cluster of islands in the iEgean sea.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. II. 63
Sustulit omniferos coUo tenus arida vultus 275 peiagi, j'ontesque con-
:
„ .
r . tractos undique, qui
:
si
meruique, o quid tua
(Presserat ora vapor) Tostos en aspice crines !
{;^af;ZiperitZ^^
Inaue
" oculis tantum,J tantum
">^" super ora favillee. r'*'" ignis, perire tuo
_ r , . igne, levureque cla-
Hosne mini fructus nunc lertilitatis honorem, aem auctore. Equidem
/-^rf . r
:
VII
vulnera aratri
•! J.
•
^'^ ref'Olvo fauces in
Officiique refers, quod adunci hac ipsa verba, (va
amidst her circling oceans and springs, which, now dried up on all
sides, were retired within the dark caverns of her hollow womb up- ;
lifts her all-bearing head, and, scorched by the sultry heats, covers
her face with her hand when shaking all nature with a sudden
;
trembling, she sunk down a little, and retired below her wonted seat ;
" If
you approve, and I have deserved the fate that threatens me,
" O
why, why, sovereign of the gods, do your thunders cease ? If I
" must from your
perish by the force of fire, let it be by fires darted
" hand nor let me suffer other than that of Ju-
right ;
by any power
" these words
piter. Scarce can I open my mouth to pronounce (for ;
Quod
trii',
si nee. gralia fra-
iiec iiica gratia
Fumat uterque polus; quos si vitiaverit ignis 295
tangit te, at miserere Atria vestra ruent. Atlas en ipse laborat !
gia cceli pcreun/, coii- Ulterius potuit, nee dicere plura; suumque 302
J'undimur in antiquum
chaos; si quid ad hue Rettulit OS in se, propioraque manibus antra.
jtuperest, eripe fiam-
mis, et eonsule sum- At pater omnipotens superos testatus, et
ipsum,
ma rerum. Tellus dix-
erat hac ; ntque enim Qui dederat currus, nisi opem ferat, omnia fato305
potuit idterius tole-,.
7'are I'aporcm, nee di-
Interitura »
:
'
o-ravi summam petit
i
arduus areem :
7
cere plura, rettulitque suum as in se, antraqne propiora manibus. At pater omnipo-
tens testatus superos, et ipsum Phoebura qui dederat currus filio, omnia interitura gravi
fato, nisi ferat opem ; arduus petit summam areem;
TRANSLATION.
"
share, and tortured with rakes and harroAvs all the year round ? That
" I furnish leaves for the flocks, corn and
pleasant food for man, and
" frankincense for the altars of the gods. But grant that I deserve
" thus to perish, how have the waters offended, or wherein is your bro-
"
"
ther guilty ? do the seas, whose sovereignty fell to his share,
Why
decrease, and shrink farther from heaven ? If you are moved by nei-
" ther a regard for your brother nor me, yet think of your own heaven.
" Look roiuid on all sides, the flames spread from pole to pole, and if
" these too are caught by the fires, your palaces must be involved in
" the general ruin. Lo Atlas becomes unequal to his task, and can
" scarce sustain upon his shoulders the glowing weight of heaven. If
" earth and seas perish, and the sumptuous palaces of heaven, we
" return again to the first chaos. Save from the flames, if ought yet
"
remains, nor suffer the universe to perish irrecoverably."
Here the Earth ended nor could she say more, choked by the
;
vapours
that surrounded her on all sides but drawing back her head within her-
;
self, retired to the caves that border upon the regions of the dead.
Then the almighty father having called all the powers above to witness,
and even him who had given the chariot to his son, that, without his
assistance, all must perish by a heavy fate ; mounts the lofty citadel of
NOTES.
296. Atlas.'] h mountain of Maurita- tobe transformed into tliis mountain,
nia, which, because of its great heijiht, ani was tiie first wlio had made any
was saiii to support the heavens. But considerable proficiency in the know-
Mytliologists derive this notion from At- ledge of astronomy.
las, a king of Mauritania, who was said
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. II. 65
TRANSLATION,
heaven, whence he was Avont to spread over the spacious earth the ga-
the brandished
thering clouds whence he rolls his thunder, and darts
;
lightning. But then neither had he clouds to spread over the earth,
nor showers to pour down from the vault of heaven. He thunders, and
with lifted arm hurls against the charioteer the forky brand, driving him
at once from life, and his seat, and extinguishing the fires by fires still
more cruel. The horses affrighted start a\ ith a sudden bound, shake the
yoke from off their necks, and disengage themselves from the broken
harness. Here lie the reins, there the axle-tree, torn from the pole ;
on one side the spokes of the wheels dashed in pieces, and all around
the fragments of the shattered chariot. But Phaeton, his yellow hair
seized by the flames, tumbles headlong, and shoots through a long tract
of air, as when in a serene sky a star falls, or seems at least to fall.
Him the mighty Po receives, in a region of the world far distant from
his native home, and with rolling waves washes his glowing face.
NOT ES.
3a3. Quon pvncul « palrlA
— excipit is morever areal person ; Apollodorus
Eridanus.} 'the Eridanus, otherwise the liaspreserved his genealogy, and Euse-
Po, is a river of Italy, and of" conse- bius, after Africanus, makes use of it to
quence far leniovtd from Etliiopia, the fix the epoch of Cecro|>s. But not to
country of Pliaiitoii. enter too far into thisdisciission,we siiall
We have thus gone throu<;h the story be satisfied with observing tliat lie was
of Phaeton, and taken notice of what conmionly reputed to be the son of
seemed most necessary for the under- Pliabus and Clyniene. The fable be-
standing of the poet's expressi(>ns. It fore us in all probability relates to some
is thought
by some to represent the en- remarkable conflagiation that iiappened
terprise of a rash Ittad-strortg youth, in his time. Aristotle believed upon the
who hearkened ratlier to his ambition faith of some ancient writers that in the
and than the suggestions of
coiirajje, age of this prince, tire fell from heaven,
•wisdom and prudence. But Pliaeton and destroyed cities and kingdoms.
F
66 P. OVlDll NASONIS
rigii
quern ciirnim, si iio.i
tenuit tumen e.vciitit
Plimthon, currus auriga paterni ;
Jlic situs est
magiiis ausis. Nil in Quern si non tenuit, magnis tamen excidit ausis.
miseraiiilis patci' cuii-
iliderat i-ultus obduc- Nam pater obductos luctu miserabilis aegro
tos luctu agro : et, si
modo
Condiderat vultus et, si modo credimus, unum
:
crcdiinus,J'erunt
uiiHiii diem isse sine Isse diem sine sole ferunt incendia lumen :
sole.Jncendia preebe-
bant lumen ; aliquis- Preebebant aliquisque malo fuit usus in illo.
;
TRANSLATION.
II. The Hesperian Naiads commit his body, smoking from the
thrice-forked flame, to a tomb, and inscribe these verses upon the tomb :
day passed without any sun the flames served to fiu-nish light, and
:
thus some benefit arose from this mighty disaster. But Clymene, after
saying whatever the grief arising from so cruel a cause could inspire,
mourning and distracted, and tearing her bosom, she ran over the whole
world and first seeking for the lifeless limbs of her son, then his bones,
;
found at length Iiis bones upon the banks of a foreign river. She hangs
over the place, and bathes in tears the name graven upon the marble,
and warms it with her naked breast. The daughters of the Sun are no
less overwhelmed with grief, and lament in tears (a fruitless tribute)
the death of their brother and beating their naked bosoms, lie round
;
the sepulchre, and call night and day upon Phaeton, who was not now
capable to hear their mournful complaints.
The moon had four times joined her horns in a full orb. They,
use had now made it habitual) uttered their
according to custom (for
lamentations when Phaethusa, the eldest of the sisters,
:
willing to lie
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. U. 67
dederant
Plangorem dederant, ^ quis Pliaethusa sororum
plangorem,
I quilms Phdtthusa,
Maxima, cum vellet terrse procumbere, questa est maxima sororum, cum
vellet procumbere ter-
Diriguisse pedes ad quam
conata venire
:
r<F, est questa pedes
diriguisse : ad quam
Candida Lampetie subita radice retenta est.
; caiidida Lampetie co-
Tertia cum crinem manibus laniare pararet 350 ;
nata venire: est
tenta subita radice.
re-
TRANSLATION.
down a little upon the ground, complained that her feet were on a sud-
den become stiff; to whom, as the fair Lampetie endeavoured to come,
she found herself kept back, and rooted to the ground. third, as in A
excess of grief she was going to rend her hair, tears away the leaves.
One grieves that her legs are held fast by a lumpish root, another that
her arms branch out into long boughs. And while they stand won-
dering at so unusual a prodigy, the bark closes upon their groins, and
by degrees encompasses their bellies, and breasts, and shoulders, and
hands their mouths now only remained uncovered, calling to their
:
mother What can the mother do, but run to and fro as
for aid.
frenzy guides, and kiss her sprouting daughters while yet she may.
That is not enough, she tries moreover to tear their bodies from the
trunks where they were enclosed, and strip the tender leaves from
their fingers but thence drops of blood flow, as from a wound.
:
Forbear, cries she who feels the smart, forbear, mistaken parent;
you tear a daughter's body in every tree and now farewell. Here :
the bark closing upon their faces, suppressed their farther words.
HI. Hence tears flow, which distilling in drops of amber from the
new-formed bouehs, harden in the sun, and received below by the
68 P. OVIDIl NASONIS
IV. Cycini.i, prole.t IV. Adfuit huic monstro, proles Stheneleia,
StheiieUia, nd/itit huic
monst.ro, qui quamvis
junctiis tibi <i malerno
Cycnus,
sanguine, tumen O Qui tibimaterno quamvis a sanguine junctus,
Pkai-'thou fuit propiar
tibi mentc. Ille relicto
Mente tanten, Phuethon, propior fuit. Ille relicto
(nam rexerat
impetio
popnjos Ligurum, et
(Nam Ligurum populos, et magnas rexerat urbes)
magnas urbaj imple- Imperio, ripas virides amnemque querelis
rat 1-ipas vir'ules, am-
nemque Erid mum, sil- Eridanum implerat, sylvamque sororibus auc-
vamque auctum soro- tam :
ribus quereUs: cum vox
esttenuata viro: ca- Ciam vox est tenuata viro
canaeque capillos ;
que ligat Uigitos ru- Penna latus vestit, tenet os sine acumine ros-
bentes : penna vestit la-
tus : rostrum sine acu- trum :
TRANSLATION.
limpid stream, are thence sent to shine iu the dress of the Latian
dames.
lY. Cycnus, the son of Sthenelus, was present at this amazing pro-
digy, who, though nearly allied to you, Phaeton, on the mother's side,
was yet nearer in affection. He leaving his kingdom, (for he reigned
over the people, and mighty cities of the Ligurians) filled with his
complaints the verdant banks of the Po, and the woods now increased
by the sisters when he perceives his voice to lessen and become shrill
; ;
white feathers conceal his hair a long neck is stretched out from his
:
1,, T
T^,
c
i i
J.
.•
:
vires
^"'" expertus
. .
^'*''-
ignipedum equo-
Numina neve tenebras inducere rebus 395 mer'mtse'\w^i "^i
;
velit
[Colligit amentes;
et adhuc terrore paventes, pUce' vociTe Tem'm-
Phoebus equos: stimuloque domans, et verbere j%Z^er'qf,%lVlxcv.
_..' natumque
Sffivit
Saivit
enim,
•
,.
objectat, et imputat
. .,,._
illis.j
*"' missos ignes,
que regaliter minas
predbus. p/iabus coi-
tidriit-
»,
TTT .i- T•
J.
• •
ligit equos amentes, et
VI, At pater omnipotens ingentia moenia cceli paveuhs adhiic terro.
TRANSLATION.
" birth of time and I
(says he,) has been enough restless since the first ;
" none will dare, but all acknowledge themselves unequal to so mighty
" a task let Jove himself make trial, that at least while his hands are
;
"
employed in wielding our reins, he may for some time lay aside his
" thunder that deprives fathers of their children. Then perhaps will
" he own, after proving the mettle of the fire-breathing steeds, that
" he who was unable to govern them, deserved not so severe a fate."
All the Gods assembled round the Sun as he was uttering these com-
that he would not suffer the
plaints, and with humble voice entreat
universe to be lost in endless darkness. Jupiter too excuses the fires
thrown at his son, and assuming an air of majesty mixes prayers
and threats. Phoebus upon this calls together his raging steeds that
yet shook with horror, and urges them with whip
and spur for he is ;
full of rage, and reproaches them with his son, and charges his death
upon them.
VI. But the Almighty Father walks round the great m alls of heaven,
and diligently searches, lest any part weakened by the violence of the
fire, might be in when finding all firm and in full strength, he
danger :
70 P. OVIDII NASONIS
7/ i^-j ^
Phabes : nee iiutlapotentia longa est^
gUJ^^'au,nf%J'uui.
Ultcrius medlo spatium Sol altus liabebat;
lapotentia est longa. CuHi subitille nemus, Quod nullacecidcrataetas.,.
Altus sol habebat s]ia- .
,'i ,
tium ultcrius medio, Lxuitliic humero
pliaretram, lentosque retendit
cum ilia subit tie?nus « j. •
j.\ i. i
'u
•
i.
quod nulla Mas ceei- Arcus; mque solo, quod texerat lierba, jacebat :
t^harkramhlnfero!re.
Et pictam posita pharetiam cervice premebat.
tenditgmitntusarcus, Jupiter ut vidit fessam,
'
et custode vacantem :
jacebutque ill solo quod -.^
'^
^ „ . . .
herba texerut, et pre- Hoc certe conjux lurtum mea nesciet, inquit:
7amce?1^7plZ!'}u. Aut si rescient, sunt, 6 sunt
jurgia tanti !
TRANSLATION.
next surveys the earth, and tlie works of men. But above the rest his
own Arcadia engaged his care. He restores her fountains, and rivers
not yet daring to glide. He clothes the earth with grass, and the trees
with leaves, and commands the desolate forests to recover their former
verdiu-e. While he thus often walks to and fro, he chanced to fix his
eyes upon an Arcadian virgin, and the fires received within his bones,
gathered fresh strength. Her employment was not to draw and soften
the wool, or vary her divided tresses but her gown was fastened with ;
a clasp, and a white fillet binds her unadorned hair. Now she bears
in her hand a slender spear, now is armed with a light bow. She was
a companion of Phoebe nor did any nymph frequent Msenalus, dearer
;
to the goddess than she. But favour lasts not long. The sun had now
passed his middle space in the high heavens, when, urged by the heat,
she entered a shady grove, which no art or age had formed here she :
put her quiver from off her shoulder, and unbraced her yielding bow,
and laying herself down upon the ground that was covered with grass,
gently reposed her neck upon the painted quiver. Jupiter, when he
saw her thus fatigued, and without a keeper, Sure, says he, my wife
will never know of this stolen embrace or if
by chance she should :
NOTES.
409. /ni>irg-i/je2VoHamn9.]Sohecalls 415. Ma:nalon.'] A celebrated mouD-
Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon. tain of Arcadia.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. II. 71
Jupiter: huic odio nemus est, et conscia sylva. ta, quisve poterat su-
TRANSLATION.
" have
you pursued the chase ?" The virgin starting from
the turf,
" Hail than Jove, were Jove himself
goddess, in my opinion greater
" He smiles, and hears, and is pleased with being
present to hear."
preferred before himself. He then embraces her, and with an eager-
ness not to be expected in a virgin. As she was about to tell him in
what wood she had been hunting, he stopped her by his caresses, and
discovered himself to her by his crime. She on the other hand, as
much as a woman could, (O daughter of Saturn, would you had seen
her, sure you would have been more gentle !) she, I say, strove M^ith
all her might but what maid or mortal can contend with Jove ? The
;
god, exulting in his success, returns to heaven. She detests the grove
and wood that were witnesses of her crime, and retreating from them
with precipitation, almost forgot her quiver, arrows, and bow which
she had hung upon one of the trees.
Meantime Diana with her virgin train appears upon mount Msenalus,
proud of the slaughter she had made of wild beasts, and how soon she
espies the nymph, calls her to her : she at first drew back, trembling,
lestJove might be also disguised in her. But when she saw her sur-
rounded with her n3'mphs, she knew there could be no deceit, and im-
NOTES.
441. Dictynna.] Diana, oi'Jro ruv have it, that she assumed this name
$iKT6^v from the nets or toils which the
of Bntomartis, her favourite
'" ho""""-
companion.
goddess used in hunting. Others will
72 P. OVIDir NASONIS
fin Z"n''"aJ?tcr'f,!
^^^ postquaiii paiiter nymphas incedere vidit:445
crricn ; seii.iit doioi Sensit abesse dolos: nuaierumque accessit ad
«6(v»r accessit.que ad
;
lateri detr, ut ante so- Juncta Deze lateri, nec toto -est agmme prima - " "
:
, , Arc
guida J'ralernis Jtam labens 455
mis, est nacta gelidum
vemus, dc quo rivus Ibat, et attritas versabat rivus arenas.
that labens cum mur-
mure, et rersubat at-
Ut localaudavit; summas pede contigit undas ;
tritas arenas. Lit lau- His quoque laudatis: Procul est,ait,arbiter omnis:
davit lova ; contigit
summns niidas pede. Nuda superfusis tingamus corpora lymphis.
His laudatis quoque,
ait, omnis arbiter est Parrhasiserubuit: cunctaevelaminaponunt: 460
procul, tiyigamns cor-
pom ntidti lymphis su-
Una moras quserit dubitanti vestisademptaest:
:
perfusi^.
erubuit.
Parrhasis
Cuncta po-
Qua posita nudo patuit cum corpora crimen.
nunt velainina. Cal-
listo una qunrit moras.
Attonitse, manibusque uterum celare volenti,
Vestis est adempta Illi procul hinc, dixit, nec sacros poUue fontes,
I
""^^
dubitanti. Quce positii, suo jussit secedere coetu. 465
crimen patuit cum Cynthia: deque
nudo corpore Cynthia dixit illi attonitoe, volentique celare uterum manibtis, J procul hinc,
nec pollue sacros fontes, jussitque secedere de suo cwtu.
TRANSLATION.
mediately joined them. Alas! how hard is it not to betray guilt by
our looks. She scarcely lifted her eyes from the ground, nor walked as
usual close by the side of the goddess, nor appeared the foremost of
the train but she was silent, and by her blushes gave plain signs of
;
her injured honour insomuch, that Diana (had she been aught but a
;
them also, Here, says she, no spies are near, let us strip, and bathe
ourselves in the crystal stream: Callisto blushed, all the nymphs
she only forms delays. Her fellows
pleased with the motion, undress,
round her, and obliging her reluctant to comply, discover her
press
crime with her naked body. Confounded, and endeavouring to con-
" Be
ceal with her hands her pregnant womb gone, (cries the god- ;
" dess with nor dare to pollute the sacred stream." And
indignation,)
immediately banished her from her
train.
NOTES.
460. Parrhasis.'] Parrhasia was a re- 465. Cynthia.] Diana so called, from
gion of Arcadia. Cynthiis, a mountain of Delos, where
she was born.
"^
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. II. 73
Quo simul obvertit saevam cum lumine mentem ipsum) fuerat Jiatus
de pellice. Quo simul;
TRANSLATION.
Thespouse of the great thunderer
had perceived this some time be-
fore, but deferred the punishment her vengeance prompted
her to take,
till a fit opportunity offered but now there is no farther reason for
;
born to her husband of Callisto. The goddess, regarding the child with
a stern look, cried " It is enough, base adulteress this one thing only
; ;
"
"
my vengeance ; I will destroy that beauty which rendered you so
lovely in the eyes of Jove." She said, and seizing her by the hair,
The out her
dragged her to the ground. suppliant nymph stretched
imploring hands. Her arms began
to grow rough with black shaggy
hairs her hands are bent, and shoot into pointed claws, and serve
;
reach the ears of Jove, she was deprived of speech. A surly threat-
from her hoarse throat.
ening voice, savage and full of terror, issues
retained her former
But,"though thus changed into a bear, she still
and, her sorrow s by unceasing groans, raised
understanding, expressing
her new unwieldy paws to heaven and though she coxdd not call Jove
;
ungrateful, she thought him so. Ah, how oiten, not daring to remain
74 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Ah quoties non ansa ^]j quoties, solii iioti aiisa Quiescere svlva^
quiescere solA sylvd, .
^ , '
,
^ .
.•'.'., '
erriivit ante domum. Ante doiiium, quandamque suis crravit in agiis
s'taJ^ 'Ah'quotic's Vst Ah
quoties per saxa
! canum latratibus acta est.
I^ff^^on-ve^u^f^ Venatrixque metu venantum territa fugit!
que fugit territa metu Saepe fcris latuit visis: oblita quid esset:
venantum. Seepejoris _^ * -i
.
i
tnsis, latuit oblita quid Ursaque conspcctos in moutibus liorruit ursos :
sUi'as Eri/mantliidax
nexililfUf plagis ; inci- Immotosque oculos in se sine fine tenentem
dit in mutrem, qua:
Arcade riso restitit ; et
Nescius extimuit propriiisque accedere aventi
:
ricinaiidera. junoin-
feaepe Ucos, causamquc Viae scitantibus, mnt,
tumuit postquam pel-
lex fulsit inter sidera : et descendit in
a-quora ad canam Tcthyn, senemque Oceanum; quo-
rum reverentia sa-pe movit Deos ; inftque scitantibus causatn tia.
TRANSLATION.
by herself in the solitary woods, did she approach toward her palace,
and haunt the fields and meadows once her own. How often was she
driven over the craggy steeps by the cry of her dogs, and thought her-
self a huntress, frighted by the pursuit of the hunters. Oft forgetting
what she was, she hid herself upon seeing her fellow-brutes and trem- ;
bled at the shaggy bear, though she too now was one nor dreaded less ;
the sight of rugged wolves, although her father was one of the number.
VII. Meantime Areas, who had now completed his fifteenth year,
being a stranger to the fate of his mother, while he is intent upon the
chase, while he chooses apt forests, and encloses the Erymanthian
woods with his plaited nets, chanced to rouse his mother, who stopped
upon seeing Areas, and looked at him like one who knew him. He
drew back, nor knowing what it meant, was frighted to observe her
eyes immovably fixed upon him, and as he perceived her about to ap-
proach, was going to pierce her breast with his wounding spear. The
almighty forbade it, and, carrying off both them, and the Avickedness
intended, snatched them in whirlwinds through the air, and placed them
illheaven, where they form two neighbouring constellations. Juno
swelled v/ith rage, when she saw her rival shine among the stars she ;
descends to the sea lo hoary Tethys and aged Ocean, both greatly
METAMORPIIOSEON,*LiB. II. 75
An quarUis quare
Quseritis aethereis quare regina Deorum
ego
regina rieortim adsini
Sedibus hue adsini ? Pro me tenet altera ccelum. hue iFthereis sedibtis?
Altera teiiet calum
Mentiar, obscurum nisi nox ciim fecerit orbem, pro me. Mentiar, ni-
si, cum nox fecerit or-
Nuper honoratas sumrao mea vulnera coelo 515 bim- obscuriim, videri-
illic, ubi
Videritis stellas circulus axem tis xtclliis, mea vulne-
ra, mtper honoratas
Ultimus extremum spatioque brevissimus ambit. sumnio caln, illic ubi
circulvs vlfimns, bre-
Est vero, cur quis Junonem laedere noht, vissiimtsqne spatio, am-
bit extremum axem.
OfFensamque tremat, qua; prosim sola nocendo ? Kit vero ctir qvis no-
TRANSLATION.
revered among the gods ; when, to them asking the cause of her
coming, she thus begins :
" Would
youknow why I the queen of the gods am come hither from
" the fethereal seats ? Another
reigns in heaven in my stead give no :
" credit to
my words, if, when night covers the earth in darkness, you
" see not in the most
conspicuous part of heaven stars lately honoured,
" to
my great affliction roll in their orbs, where the last circle, and
" smallest in compass, surround the poles of the world. then Who
" will henceforth tremble to offend Juno, or dread her resentment,
" whose vengeance serves only to exalt those on whom it is poured ?
" What mighty things have I done how vast and extensive is my !
" I had deprived her of human shape, and she is made a god-
power !
" dess. thus that I punish the guilty ? Is it thus that I prove
Is it
" the greatness of my power ? Let him claim for her her former shape,
" and take away this savage form, as he once did in the case of Gre-
" does he not cast Juno off, that he may marry her,
"
cian lo. Why
place her in my bed, and have Lycaon for his father-in-law ? But
"
you, if the wrongs done to a goddess your foster-child, moves your
"
indignation, allow not the seven Triones to touch your hallowed
NOTES.
beius sensit adulterium. Indexqtie non exorabilis, tendebat iter ad domiiium, detegeret la-
tentem culpam: qucm garrula cornix consequitur motis pennis, ut scitetur omnia.
TRANSLATION.
" waves but banish for ever from
:
your realms stars that have been
" received into heaven in reward of
adultery, that your pure streams
" not be defiled a base
may by strumpet."
VIII. The sea-deities consented the daughter of Saturn cuts the
;
white as the fair and spotless dove, nor yielded to the sacred bird whose
watchful voice guarded the capitol, or soft swan that delights in rivers.
His tongue occasioned the disgrace, his prattling tongue, I say, was
the cause that his colour, formerly the purest white, is now directly
contrary to white.
IX. There was not in all Thessaly a more beautiful nymph than
Coronis of Larissa: the Delphic god loved her, while she yet continued
chaste, or while he thought her so. But his own bird discovered her in-
fidelity and an inexorable informer, winged his way to his lord to dis-
;
cover the hidden crime. Him the prattling jack-daw follows with nimble
NOTES.
530. Ne pure tingatur in (equore pel- spoils of some animal she had slain. Ju-
lex.l To come now to the explication piter, the second of that name, king of
of this fable, Ly<aon had a daughter Arcadia, as we learn from Cicero, fell
named Callisto, who was fond of hunt- in love with her this gave rise to the
;
ing, and, according; to the custom of whole fable, as we tind it here related
those times, went always clothed in the by Ovid.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. II. 77
TRANSLATION.
pinions, to learn from him the secret of his journey; and having heard
all, you are the bearer, says he, of an unwelcome message despise ;
and you will find that my honesty was my ruin. For upon a certain
time Pallas had shut up Erichthonius, sprung from the earth without
a mother, in a basket woven of Actsean twigs, and committed him to
the care of three virgins, the daughters of two- shaped Cecrops but ;
without letting them know what the chest contained nay, and ex- ;
Aglauros, reproached her sisters with cowardice she unties the knots ;
with her hand within they behold a child, and a dragon laid along
;
by him. I acquainted the goddess with what had been done but ;
yet her anger will not prompt her to deny me justice here. For
Coroneus, a prince famous in Phocis, (I speak of all things well
^8 P. OVIDII NASONIS
ratqueimas radices
cutem. Conabar plan-
^t summa tollebar humo. Mox acta per auras
i>i
. , •
-f~, -xir- ^
gerenudapectorameis Jjivenor, et data sum comes mculpata Mmervae.
palmis: sedneoue jam r\
gerebam paimas, nee Q
j
uid
•
j.
tameu hoc prodcst, si du'O lacta voiucris i, ii-Tj?i i
TRANSLATION.
known) begot me ;
I was a
virgin of royal birth, and courted (despise
me not) by rich wooers. My beauty was the cause of all my misfor-
tunes for, as I was walking, in my usual manner, with slow
;
steps,
along the shore, and lightly treading upon the top of the sand, Nep-
tune saw and fell in love with me. And as he found that he
only
lost time in soliciting me by fine
speeches, he resolves upon violence,
and accordingly pursues me I fly, and, leaving the firm shore, vainly
:
sea conscia
A
• tibi.' Nyc'.i7nenen te-
Nyctimenen ?
quidem ; ,nerasse patrium cu-
^'^^ ' '^'" quidem est
riiln?*'
CUipcCj ^ avis; sed conscia cul-
(i
Hactenus vitam cum sanguine fudit. Candida
: et pariter vulnere, perfudit
membra pu-
niceo cruore; et dixit,
Corpus inane animee frigus lethale secutum est.
Pkabo potui dedi.tse
Poenitet heu sero pcenee crudelis amantem : tibi pwnas, sed
potui
peperisse prius : nunc
Seque, quod audierit, quod sic exarserit, odit ; duo moriemur in U7ia.
Hactenus locuta est et :
fudit vitam pariter cum satiguine. Frigus lethale secutum est corpus inane anima. Panitet
heu sero amantem crudelis pantr; oditque se quod audierit, quod sic exarserit :
TRANSLATION.
X. Can a story so well known over all Lesbos, have failed to reach
your ears that Nyctimene defiled her father's bed ? She is a bird in-
:
deed but conscious of her crime, shuns the light, and conceals her
shame in darkness, and is driven from the air by all the other birds.
While thus the daw is repeating her tale, the raven offended, replies,
May these boding presages light upon yourself; I despise the vain
omen. Nor does he drop his intended journey, but acquaints his master
that he saw Coronis in the arms of a Thessalian youth. The god upon
hearing his mistress's crime, drops the laurel crown. At once his
colour, harp, and gentle looks forsake him. Inflamed with rage, he
takes his wonted arms, and bending his bow from its extremities, trans-
fixed with an unerring shaft that breast which had been so often joined
to his own. The wounded
nymph gave a deep groan, and drawing the
arrow from the womid, her hands are stained with streams of purple
gore expiring, she said, Ah, cruel god, I have justly deserved punish-
;
ment, but should first have brought my child into the m orld now two ;
are destroyed in one. Thus far she spoke, and faint with loss of blood,
expired. A mortal coldness spread itself over her lifeless body.
The lover, alas, too late repents of his cruel revenge. He hates him-
self, that he had listened to the raven, and given way to the violence of
80 P. OVIDII NASONIS
odit avem per quam Odit avem, per quam crimen, causamque dolendi
erat coactus scire cri-
men raiisamgne do- Scire coactus erat: nervumque, arcumque, ma-
le ndi: odit neriumque,
arcuiiique mt.nu sngit- numque, 616
tcmeraria tela.
Odit; cumque manu, temeraria tela, sagittas:
tux,
JPoiitque collapsam :
Tanien Phcebus
vitiili.
Et dedit amplexus, injustaque justa peregit :
utj'mlit iiigrutos odores
in pectora ; et dedit Non tulit in cineres Iabi sua Phcebus eosdem
umplexus, peregitqiie
jiista iiijiista, nontulit Semina sed natum flammis uteroque parentis
:
TRANSLATION.
his rage, and hates the bird that had revealed to him her crime, the
<;ause of his resentment. He hates the bow, and the hand which had
touched the string, and with his hand the rash arrows that had inflicted
the wound and cherishes her as she lay upon the ground, endeavour-
;
when an axe poised from the right ear of a butcher, dashes to pieces
with a clear stroke the hollow temples of a sucking calf, in sight of its
complaining dam. He then poured upon her breast the ungrateful per-
fumes, embraced her corpse, and solemnized the funeral rites hastened
by his unjust anger. Phoebus did not suffer his offspring to mix with
the same ashes, but delivered his son at once from the flames and his
mother's womb, and carried him into tlie cave of double-formed
Chiron. The raven, who expected a reward for his faithful discovery,
was forbid any more to associate with white birds.
NOTES.
630. Gemini Chironis in antrum.] Chi- narrations, regularly connected one
ron the Centaur was the son of Sa- with another, which it is no very liard
turn and Pliilyre, the daughter of Oce- matter to unfold. But sometimes we
anus. meet with pieies detaclied, to the uii-
63a. Inter atcs albas vetuit considere derstandini? of which, history affords no
corvum.'] In the metamorphose of Ovid, help. Such is the fable of Coronis,
we often meet with a train of historical changed into a jack-daw for her too
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. II. 81
TRANSLATION.
XI. Meantime the Centaur rejoiced in his pupil of celestial race,
and was proud of the honour joined to his trouble. His daughter too,
with yellow hair falling loose upon her shoulders, came to see the
child. The nymph Chariclo, who bore her to the Centaur upon the
banks of a rapid river, had named her Ocyrrhoe she, not contented :
with her father's arts alone, sung the secrets of the Fates. Once, as
her mind was filled with the prophetic transport, and she felt the god
kindled in her breast, surveying the infant, she cried " Grow, child, ;
"
changed into a lifeless carcass, and again resuming the figure of a
" You too, beloved parent, not
god, shall twice renew your destiny.
" to and created under a law of nativity that pro-
subject mortality,
NOTES.
faithful report, and of the raven's co- were often the subject of poetical songs,
lour being changed from white to black, where the marvellous was not spared.
for the discovery he made to Apollo of On these principles it may be conjec-
his mistress's infidelity. Not to trouble tured, that the two fables under consi-
the reader with the moral lessons which deration include the history of two per-
mythologisls draw from them, I shall sons entirely unknown, but which, how-
content myself with observing, 1st, ever, probably refers to the times of
That often a bare resemblance of names the daughters of Cecrops, with whom it
has given rise to these fabulous meta- seems to have some connexion.
morphoses. 2dly, That the adventures 638.0cyr<ifM.]Oci/rrftof wasthedauf.i
which happened in the courts of princes ter of Chiron, and the nymph Clw"
G
82 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Tuqimuccarevater, fu quoQue,
ffT."!' cai'e pater, jam
J_
non mortalis etgevis
jam non mor talis:,
jam 1 '
TRANSLATION.
"
longs your life through all ages, shall then wish to die when tor-
" tured with
anguish from the baneful poison of a serpent received
*'
within your veins. The gods in pity, from an immortal, shall
" change
you to a mortal being, and the three goddesses of Destiny cut thy
" thread
of life." The nymph had still more to add but oppressed ;
with deep sighs, and her face bathed in tears, she thus went on :
" The
Fates prevent me, and I am forbid to reveal farther the use ;
" of
speech, too, is taken from me. My arts were not so much to be
"
desired, that for their sake I should draw upon myself the anger of
" the Far better had it been that I had never known futurity.
gods.
" Alas a human
! form seems now to depart from me I now desire ;
"
grass for my food, I long to expatiate in the open plains. I am
"
changed into a mare, and assume a kindred shape yet, why trans- ;
" formed all
over my father retains in his upper
" a human form ?" Indouble-shaped parts
;
and presently, not even words were heard nor was her voice
yet that
;
NOTES.
649. Tu quoque, &c.] In the war be- endeavoured to apply remedies, it
tween the Centaurs and Lapithje, Here 11- proved incurable, and occasioned such
lesaiming an arrow which had been dipt intolerable pain, that the gods in pity,
in theblood of the hydra of Lernns, at on tlie ninth day, translated him among
Elarus, it missed iiim, and wounded the stars, where he formed the constel-
Chiron in the knee. Hercules in vain lation Sagittarius.
METAMORPHOSEON, Liu. II. SS
Edidit hinmtus ;
et brachia niovit m nerbas. herbas. Tum digiti
Turn digiti coeunt, et quinos alligat ungues 670 '^^, ^j^ ^^l^^
Perpetuo cornu levis unoula: crescit et oris,' perpetuo comu.- spa~
i
,,.
o . tiutn it oris cl colli
, .
,,
Et spatuim; longae pars maxnna pallas
colli crescU: pars maxima
Cauda fit ; utque vagi crines per colla jacebant, u('q,fe^'i'agf{riul"'j'/-
In dextras abiere jubas ; pariterque novata est ^;f.g"f,f dcMrn"%has'.-
Et vox et facies nomenquoquenionstradedere. : pariterque a vox et
All. rlebat opemque tuam irustra Fhilyreius stra quoque dedere iiu
1 nmneu uovuiii.
nerOS, XII. PkUyreius he-
D,
Iliud erat tempus, quo te pastoria pellis 680 l%TaircoiTbZ''EZ
Texit ; onusque fuit baeulum svlvestre sinistrse : armque Messenia. ii-
, ,
.
T-- . ""^
• temyus quo
f 1 • ^''"''^
»T , ,
.n"s- '^ amor est
1
•
1 , 1 , Dumque
iNatus ei arte sua sylvis oecultat abactas.
; curte tiw, dmntuajis.
tula mullet te ; incus-
todita boves memorantur proce.isisse in agros Pylios. Natus Maid Atlantide videt has; et
oecultat eas abactas sua. arte silfis.
TRANSLATION.
of a mare, but rather of one counterfeiting a mare. But soon she
neighed outright, and stretched her arms toward the grass. Her fin-
gers grow together, and a smooth hoof of one continued piece of horn
binds together her five nails. Her face and neck are lengthened, her
train becomes a tail, and the hairs that lay scattered upon her neck,
pass into a right side mane. Her voice and shape at once are finished,
and the new form gave her also a new name.
XII. The Philyreian hero wept and in vain implored the aid of ;
Apollo for neither was it in your power to reverse the decrees of al-
;
mighty Jove, nor had this been permitted wast thou present. Thou wast
then in Elis, and the Messenian fields. This was the time Avhen you
was covered with a shepherd's cloak, and wore a club of oak in your
right hand, and in your left a pipe of seven unequal reeds. And while
love is all yovir care, while you attend only to the music of your flute,
some cows are said to have strayed unobserved into the plains of Pylos.
The son of Maia perceived them, and driving them away, artfully con-
cealed them in the woods. This theft had been taken notice of by
NOTES.
679. Elin, &c.] Elis and Messene which bore the name of Pylos one in ;
JVemo senserat hoc fur- Senserat hoc furtum nemo, nisi notus in illo
tum, nisi si7ie.r notus
ill illo rure: tola vici- Rure senex Battum vicinia tota vocabant.
:
cum loce dixit, rusti- Juncta suo pretium dabitur tibi foemina tauro.
ce, si vidisti quas ha-
ves ire hoc limite, fcr At senior, postquam merces geminata, sub illis
opem, et deme silentia
furto. Fcemina juncta Montibus, inquit, erunt et erant sub montibus ;
suo tauro dabitur pre- iUis.
tium tibi. At senior
postquum merces est Risit Atlantiades: et, Me mihi, perfide, prodis ?
geminata ,iiiquit erunt ,
me mihi; vertitque pectora perjura in durum silicem; qui nunc dicitur quoque index, ve-
tusque iiifantia est in saxo merito nihil.
TRANSLATION.
nobody but an old man well known in that country, whom all the
neighbourhood called Battus. He kept the forests and flourishing pas-
tures, Avith some sets of fine mares belonging to one Neleus, a rich
Pylian lord him the god feared, and taking him aside, with a mild
:
" discretion
may not go without a recompense, take for a reward this
" beautiful heifer
;" and gave him one the stranger, as he received :
" Go
it, made this reply secure, that stone shall sooner speak of your
;
and voice, " Shepherd (said he), if you saw any cows pass along this
"
way, help me to discover them, nor screen the theft in silence your ;
"
mountains;" and indeed they were under the mountains. The grand-
son of Atlas smiled " And dost thou then, perfidious, betray me to
:
"
myself? Dost thou, I say, betray me to myself?" This said,
he turned his perjured breast into a hard stone, which is now called
the Touch-stone, and imprints his infamy the upon undeserving
stone.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. II. 85
_,
oj ', t3 denstmmistri circutii-
_
O" \ •!• r^ 11
J.
bic super Acteeas agilis Cyllenms arces
OOA in gym ; 7icc amulet
72U abi^e longius, atidu^.
711
Inclinat cursus ;
et easdem circinat auras.
TpenfZi7ira'iisT'7i^
Quanto splendidior, quani caetera sidera, fulp'et «5'^« ci/Umius i/icu-
-f
. r,
' „ y'*-- ,
^ .
-j^/ nat cursus super arces
Luciier; et quanto te, Lucirer, aurea rnoebe ; Actieas,etcircinateas-
Tanto virginibus prajstantior omnibus Herse 'Luci/eVji'igct^'^vien-
Ibat: eratque decus pompee, comitumq suarum. catera si.
; vjam
djdior
N\
Ubstupuit forma Jove\ natus: etsetnere pendens
•, \T»i
on secus exarsit, quam cum balearica plum bum
1
'„]^-,*i7, Talque
spiendi-
T-
cus pomptB, suarumque co77iitum. Natns Jove obstupuit forTnlX, et pcndc7is tethere, exarsit non
secus, quiXm cum Balearica J'unda jacit pliMibum ; illtird volat, et inca7idescit eundo;
TRANSLATION.
XIII. Hence the wand-bearing god wafts himself upon equal wings,
and as he flew looked down upon the plains of Munychia, and the land
grateful to Minerva, and the thick-planted groves of Lyceus by chance
:
while yet she fears, and sees the priests stand thick around, wings
her flight in winding circles, and greedily hovers about her prey, not
daring to go far away so the active Cyllenian god bends his course
:
over the Actsean towers, and with wheeling flight circles round the
same air. As much as Lucifer exceeds in brightness the other stars :
NOTES.
727. Balearica.^ The Ealeares were They were called Baleares by a Greek
islands in the Mediterranean sea upon derivation, because the inliabilaiits were
the coast of Spain, the same that now very expert slingers.
go by the name of Majorca and Minorca.
86 P. OVIDIl NASONIS
ft invenlt sub nubihus
igiics qvos noil kubuit. Et, quos non habuit, subnubibusinvenit, ignes.
i'crtit iter, catoqiie Vertit iter, coeloque petit diversa relicto 730 :
relirfo pe/it riireixa,
iiec di'isimuldt, se tan- Nee se dissimulat : Tarda est Jiducia
forma.
ta (St fid ttvhi forma :
qitir forma, quamqnam Quae quanquam justa est ;
cura taraen adjuvat
I'stjusta, taiiien adju- illam :
vat ilium ciirii : per-
fitulcetque comas, col-
Pemiulcetq ; comas, chlamydemque, ut pendeat
locutque chlamydem
itt peiideat apt't ; ut apte,
limb us tot unique au-
rum appareat, nt teres Collocat : ut limbus, totumque appareat aurum :
virga qua dticit ct ar- Ut teres in dextra, qua somnos ducitetarcet, 735
cet somnos sit in dex-
trA; ut talaria iiiteant
tersis Pars
Virga sit: ut tersis niteant talaria plantis.
planti<t.
secreta damns habnit Pars secreta domus ebore, et testudine cultos,
trcs thalamos cultos Tres liabuit thalamos
ebore et testudine, quo- quorum tu, Pandroso,
:
TRANSLATION.
wise then when a Balearic sling throws out a lead bullet it flies ;
along, and glows in the whirl, and gathers, in its passage through
the clouds, the fires v.'hich it had not in the beginning. He changes
his course, and leaving heaven, makes toward Athens nor does he ;
ing with an air in his right hand the staff that procures and drives
away sleep, advances with the waving pinions tied to his feet. In
the more retired part of the palace Avere three contiguous rooms,
adorned with ivory and tortoise-shell Pandrosos possessed the right,
;
Aglauros the left, and Herse graced the middlemost. Aglauros first
descried the approach of Mercury, and ventured to ask the name of
the god, and the cause of his coming. To which the grandson of Atlas
and Pleione thus replied " I am he who bears the commands of my
:
^'
father through the air. Jupiter himself is my father. Nor will I
" invent
pretences be oidy faithful to your sister, and consent to be
;
"
kind, therefore, and take a lover's part." Aglauros beholds him Avith
the same eyes wherewith she had lately dared to violate the hidden
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. II. 87
TRANSLATION.
secrets of Minerva. She demands a great weioht of gold as the re-
ward of the service, and in the meantime obliges him to leave the
palace. The upon her the orbs of her stern
Avarlike goddess turns
means she would gain the favour of Mercury and of her sister, and
be enriched with the gold which her avarice had prompted her to de-
mand the goddess therefore repairs immediately to the dark retreat
;
of Envy, hideous with black gore. Her house lies hid in the deep
recesses of a cave, where no ray of light, nor gale of wholesome
wind can enter dismal, and full of listless cold, ever without fire,
;
the ground, and leaves the mangled bodies of the half-devoured ser-
88 P. OVIDir NASONIS
<}ue suum
supplieiuin. Talibus adfata est breviter Tritonia dictis :
Tritonia quamvis ode-
rat, tamen adfata est Infice tabe tua natarum Cecropis unam,
illam breviter talibus
dictt!''^iLMetlTtabl Sic opus est Aglauros ea est. Haud plura lo-
:
tongue. Smiles are ever banished from her, unless when caused by
the miseries of others nor, preyed upon by watchful cares, does she
;
taste the calm delights of sleep. She beholds with regret the successes
of ir.'^n, and pines away at the sight she torments, and is tormented,
;
virentem ingeniis,
Ingeniis opibusque,
et festS, pace virentem : 795 busque, et festa pave,
opi-
pectusque manu
sa : tangitque pectus
Jussa facit: ferrugine tincta manu tinctafcrrtigine,
Tangit et hamatis preecordia sentibus implet
: et implet prffcorUia
hamatis sentibus, in-
:
TRANSLATION.
joyful peace and scarce restrained the tears, because she saw nothing
;
that deserved a tear. But now she enters the apartment of the daugh-
ter of Cecrops, to execute the commands of the goddess, and strokes
her breast with a cankered hand, and conveys into her heart the jagged
thorns. She then inspires the subtle venom, and spreads the poison
through her bones, and lodges it in her bowels. And that these causes
of mischief might not wander through too wide a space, she places
her sister before her eyes, and the fortunate marriage she had in -view ;
the god too in a most amiable light and magnifies every thing to her
;
to
represent all as a crime to her rigid father. At length she seated
herself upon the threshold, to deny the god admittance when he came.
Mercury endeavoured to soften her by caresses, prayers, and soothing
90 P. OVIDII NASONIS
vocis. Jam saxum te- XIV. Has ubi verborum poenas mentisque
nebut colla, oraque
duruerunt, sedebatque profanae
signum exsorigtic. Ncc
Cepit Atlantiades dictas a. Pallade terras
lapis erat ulbus ; sua
;
TRANSLATION.
Speeches, but
in vain. Cease, replied she, for I am determined not
to stir hence till you are repulsed. Let us, answered the god briskly,
stand to that agreement; and opened the door in touching it with his
rod. She strove to rise, but the parts which we bend in sitting were
become immovable by their imweildy weight ! still she attempts to
raise herself upright, but the joints of her knees are stiff, a coldness
runs through her nails, and her veins, destitute of blood, look pale.
And as an incurable cancer commonly spreads wide, and adds the
sound parts to the tainted ; so a deadly cold by degrees creeps along
her breast, stops up respiration, and all the passages of life. She
never attempted to speak, nor had she attempted it, was there any
conveyance for her voice. Her neck was now turned to stone, her face
become hard, and there she sat a bloodless statue. Nor did the figure
retain ought of whiteness for the envy that had tainted her mind, ap-
;
TRANSLATION.
"
Sidonia) and drive to the shore a herd be-
left; (the natives call it
"
longing to the king, which you will there find feeding upon the
mountains." He said, and the bullocks driven from the mountains
already wander along the shore, where the daughter of the mighty
monarch was wont to amuse herself, accompanied by a train of Tyrian
virgins. Majesty and love but ill agree, nor can long continue in the
same abode. He therefore, the father and sovereign of the gods,
whose right hand is armed with the three-forked thunder, who with
a nod shakes the imiverse, laying aside the dignity of empire, puts on
the appearance of a bull, and mixing with the herd, lows, and frisks
about upon the tender grass. His colour is that of snow, unsullied
by the tread of feet, or the dissolving blasts of the watery south wind.
His neck rises in rolls of fat, and the double dewlaps hang from be-
tween his shoulders. His horns indeed are small, but such as you
might maintain were polished by a workman's hand, and more trans-
parent than the brightest gem. No threats appear in his forehead ; his
NOTES.
840. Sidonida.] Sidon was a cele- Europa, daughter of Agenor king of
brated and ancient city of Phoenicia. Tyre, equips a vessel to carry her off, on
845. Virginibus Tyriis.1 From Tj re, the prow of whicli was the figure of a
a famous island and city of Plicenicia, bull. Upon this foundation, the poets
not far from Sidon. who wrote the story, feigned that Ju-
850. Tauri faciem.] Astitius king of enamouied of Europa, forgetting
piter,
Crete, whose reign fell out about ]4i)0 liis
grandeur and majesty, assumed tlie
years before Christ, and more than 200 figure of a hull, to cirry olf his mistress.
years before the Trojan war. Tliis Sec the translation of Hoiacc, vol. I.
prince hearing much of the beauty of page [3i>3.]
92 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Nuiite mind innt in bullae in fronte minae nee formidabile lumen ;
;
front e; vec lumen est i, i i n/r- »
/ormi<iabiie,vuitjtsha- Facem vultus habet. Miratur Agenore nata,
bet pacem. Nata Age-
no7r miratur quod sit Quod tam
formosus, quod praelia nulla minetur.
tamformosus, quod mi-
netur nulla pralia. Sed, quamvis mitem, metuit contingere primo.
Sed jirimb metuit con-Mox adit: et flores ad Candida porrigit era.
tingere eiim quamvi.i >-> i i •,","'
.
:
voiuptas,
cZ!d''ida.'^^AmanfgZ" Oscula dat manibus vix ah, vix ceetera differt. '.
iuptas veniat : vix, ah Nunc latus in fulvis niveum deponit arenis : 665
vix differt ctrtera. Et
nunc alludit, exsultut- Paulatimque metu dempto, modo pectora prsebet
in viridi herbil ;
Virginea plaudenda manu modo cornua sertis
que
nunc deponit niveum
;
TRANSLATION.
eyes have nothing in them formidable, but every look expresses peace.
The daughter of Agenor admires his beauty, and wonders that he
threatens no battles. At first she is afraid to touch him, though so
gentle but soon adventures nearer, and holds out the flowers to his
;
Avhite mouth. The lover rejoices, and till he can enjoy the hoped-for
pleasure, kisses her hands scarce, ah scarce does he defer the rest.
;
And now he exults and wantons in the green meadows now rolls his ;
white body on the yellow sand and observing that her fears Avere gone, ;
LIBER TERTIUS.
TRANSLATION.
A ND now the god having put off the image of the fallacious bull,
-^^ discovered
himself, and had reached the Dicttean shore when ;
same action. The son of Agenor having in vain wandered the world
around (for who can pretend to discover the stolen delights of Jove),
avoids by a voluntary banishment, his country and the resentment of
his father, and in suppliant manner consults the oracle of Apollo, to
know what land was allotted him to dwell in. A
heifer, returns the god,
shall meet you in the desert fields, that has never yet borne the yoke.
NOTES.
1 .
Jamque Deus, &c.] Europa being sends his companions to a fountain that
carried off by Jupiter in the manner re- had been consecrated to Mars, to draw
lated in the preceding book, Agenor some water for libations there they are
:
her father sent his sons in quest of her, devoured by the dragon that guarded
with strict charge not to return till they the fountain. Wondering at their long
had found her. Cilix, after long wan- stay, he goes himself; and seeing the
dering, settled at last in Cilicia, to which havoc made by the serpent, encounters
he gave his name. Cadmus too, finding and kills him. Afterwards, by the ad-
his inquiry vain, and abandoning all vice of Minerva, he sows the teeth of
thought of returning to his native coun- the dragon,whence spring troops of
try, consults the oracle of Apollo, where armed men, who falling into fight with
he should settle lie received for an-
; one another, five only are left alive, who
swer, that he should build a city where assist in the building of Thebes.
he observed a cow with such and such The more common explication of this
marks to stop, and that he should name fable is, that the dragon was a king of
the country Bceotia. Finding things the country named Draco, the son of
succeed according to the advice of the Mars, and that the mysterious teeth
oracle, and resolving to return thanks were his subjects, who rallied after his
to the gods
by a solemn sacrifice, he defeat-
94 P. OVIDII NASONIS
TRANSLATION.
nor felt the weight of the crooked plough follow her steps, and in :
whatever pastures she first lays her down, there build your Avails, and
call it the Bo?otian city.
Scarce had Cadmus well got down from the Casfalian cave, when
he sees a heifer without a guide, walking a slow pace, and bearing
upon her neck no mark of servitude. He follows, and pursuing her
track with gentle steps, adores in silence the god whom he regarded
as his conductor in the way. And now he had passed the waters of
Cephisus, and traversed the fields of Panope,
when the cow stood still,
and raising to heaven her front, graceful with high horns, filled the
air with lowings, and looking back upon her companions that followed
behind, couched down, and reposed her side upon the tender grass.
Cadmus returns thanks, and imprints kisses upon the strange earth,
and salutes the unknown mountains and fields. He then prepared to
offer sacrifice to Jupiter, and commands his servants to bring some
water for libations from the running springs. Hard by there stood an
ancient grove, as yet not profaned by the axe, in the middle of which
was a cave, overrun with brambles and bushy sprigs, forming a low
arch by the shelvings of the rocks, and abounding Avith plenty of water.
Hid in this den was a dragon sacred to Mars, adorned with crests and
scales of gold : his eyes glare with fire, all his veins are turgid with
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. III. 95
Hos necat adflatos funesti tabe veneni. gam, sive ipse timor
Fecerat exiguas jam Sol altissimus umbras 50 :
prohibebat utmmque)
Twca/que hos morsu,
Ques mora sit sociis miratur Agenore natus, illos longis complexi-
bus ; hos afflatos tabe
Vestigatque viros. Tegimen direpta leoni funesti veneni. Jam
Sol altissimus fecerat
Pellis erat telum splendenti lancea ferro,
:
exiguas umbras, natus
Et jaculum: teloque animus prsestantior omni. Agenore miratur quce
sit ?nora sociis; vesti-
Ut neiiius intravit, lethataque corpora vidit, 55 gatque viros. Tegimen
erat direpta
pellis
Victoremque supra spatiosi corporis hostem leoni: telum, lancea
splendenti ferro, etja-
culum, animiisque prtEstantior omni telo. Ut intravit nemus, viditq ue lethata corpora, hos-
tcmqiie viciorem spatiosi corporis supra,
TRANSLATION.
poison, three tongues are brandished
from his mouth, and his teeth
stand dreadful in a triple row. When the men of Tyre with ill-fated
steps had reached the dismal grove,
and the urn let down for water
rebounded from side to side, the serpent roused, thrusts his head out of
the deep cave, and fills the air with dreadful hissings. The urns drop
from their hands, the blood forsakes their veins, and a sudden horror
seized their astonished limbs. He wreathes his scaly orbs in rolling
plaits,and by an immense leap is bent into a mighty fold, and up-
rearing more than half his body into the air, overlooks all the grove,
in
bulk enormous as the celestial dragon that separates the two bears. In
a moment he seizes the Phoenicians (whether they were preparing
;
lambentemtristiavui-
lin-
Tristia sanKuinea
'^
lambentem vulnera linfrua:
iicrn .••anguinea • , r ^ •
Imiwnm rf"^'"^'*^ e?
misit
conanime.
magnum, magna
Mamia ar-
HHus impulsu cuiii turribus ardua celsis
x
-» •
i r>
•
i
dua cum celsis turri- Moeniamotatorent; serpens sine vulnere mansit.
bill tnota im-
forent
pulsti alius. Serpens Loricreque modo squamis defensus, et atrae
nian\it sine vulncrc.
Duritia pellis, validos cute reppulit ictus.
JJifeiuusque. squamis
modo lorictF, et duri^ At non duritia jaculum quoque vincit eadem ;
65
tid atrip pellis, rep-
piilit valiilos ictus Quod medio lentse fixum curvamine spinse
cute. At lion liiicit
quoqiiejucuUnn ciiilfm Constitit; et toto descendit in ilia ferro.
ditritWi;quod constitit Ille dolore ferox caput in sua terga retorsit,
Jixxim medio curvu
mi7e\e'ntaZpiu'a:'Tet
descendit in ilia toto
Vulneraquc adspexit fixumque hastile momor- :
j-.
ferro. Ille ferox do- Qll.
lore retorsit caput in
sua terga, udsptxUque Idnue,ubi vi multapartemlabcfecitin
t. r '
.
omnem, 70 .
>
jerrum haret
I um vera, postquam
ossibus.
Spumaque
i^ if pcstifcros circumfluit albida
..
rictus
, .
,
•
:
rtr
rccens piaga accessit
ad lerraq; rasasonatsquamis ;quique halitusexitvo
solitas iras, gut- /-\ Oi 'i* i n • •
-a^
tura tumuerunt plenis Ore nigcr tstygio, vitiatas mticit auras.
7a"circ^im}"uH^ pei'tt ^P^® modo immensum spiris facientibus orbem
feros rictus; terraque Cinffitur:
^ intcrdum lono;^ " trabe rectior exit:
rasa squamis sonatfiia-
litusque nigir qui exit '^tygio ore, injicit vitiatas auras. Ipse modo cingitur spiris facientibus
immensum orbem : iuterdum exit rectior lo7igd trabe.
TRANSLATION.
bodies, and the victorious enemy of hideous size stretched upon them,
licking with bloody tongue the baneful wounds Faithful companions, :
yielded to the shock, yet the serpent remained unhurt, and fenced
with his scaly coat of mail, and the native hardness of his skin, he re-
pelled the mighty stroke with his plaited scales. But the same crusted
armour did not avail against his lance, which
deep-rooted in the mid-
dle joint of his yielding
spine, pierced with its pointed head into his
inmost bowels he, fierce with pain, writhes his head backwards, and
;
had worked it on every side with all his might, scarce wrenched it
from his back yet the point stuck fast in his But now this
;
spine.
fresh pain having increased his wonted
rage, his throat swells with
turgid veins, a white foam issues from his baneful mouth, the earth re-
sounds with his moving scales, and the poisonous steam that issues from
his infernal mouth infects the tainted air. Now he is enrolled in
spires
that rise in a maze of vast
rings sometimes he unfolds himself straight ;
NOTES.
72. Turn vera postquam.'] This whole inipossilile to read it witliout horror,
description of the dragon is wonder- and an uncommon concern for Cad-
fully sublime and poetical it is almost : mus.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. III. 97
flow from his venomous throat, and tinged the green herbs with
sprinkling drops. But the wound was slight because he recoiled
;
from the stroke, and drew back his wounded neck, and shrinking from
the wound, disappoints the blow, nor would suffer it to sink deep. At
in his throat, presses
length Cadmus, still pursuing, his spear lodged
forward, till a knotted oak retards his retreating foe, and the spear,
passing through his neck, pins him to the body
of the tree the tree :
bends under the weight of the serpent, and lashed by the extremity
of his huge tail, groans. ;
While the victorious hero surveys the enormous size of his vanquished
foe, a sudden voice was heard (nor could he at all guess
whence it pro-
ceeded, yet was it distinctly heard), Why, son ofAgenor, do you thus
contemplate the serpent you have slain?
Even you too shall be seen under
the form of a serpent. He, long astonished, lost his colour, and at the
same time, his courage an icy coldness ran through his veins, and
;
H
98 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Jtcc* Ptillas, fautrix Ecce viri fautrix superas delapsa per auras
viri, adest, dtla'psa
fer stiff t as auras ; Pallas adest: motajque jubet supponere terra;
jnbetque suppnnere
dentes vipereos, incre- Vipereos dentes populi incrementa futuri.
menta populi futuri,
motff terrtr. Parct :
Paret et ut presso fulcum pate fecit aratro, 'fi-dcwi^i
:
TRANSLATION.
his hair rose in bristles. When
lo, Pallas, the guardian of the hero,
Kwift gliding through the air, stood before him, aud bids him scatter
the dragon's teeth luider the furrowed earth, assuring him they were
the seeds of a future people. The chief obeys, and as he opened a
trench with the rmniing plough, scatters, according to command, the
teeth, whence was to spring a new race of men. Some time after,
(who almost can believe it !) the clods began to move, and first the
points of spears rise from the furrows in rows then helmets nodding ;
with painted crests, soon shoulders, and breasts, and arms loaded w ith
spears start up, and a crop of men armed with shields grows from the
earth. Thus when the curtains are drawn up in the joyful theatres,
first their countenances appear, and by de-
figures are wont to rise ;
grees the rest, till drawn up by an even tenor, they strike the eyes in
full proportion, and set their feet upon the extreme parts of the stage.
NOTES.
111. Aul(ea.'\ The curtain that, con- down upon the theatre ; and wlien the
cealed the theatre from the spectators, play was over, cr between the acts, they
till the actors appeared. To understand drew it up, whereas wo let it fall. The
perfectly the expression in the original, first they called premere aulera, the other
tolhmtur aulaa, it will be necessary to tollere aulaa. In drawing up the curtain
remark, that the metliod followed on therefore, upon the Roman stage, it was
the Roman stage was the very reverse gradually displayed and unfolded, until
of that in use with us ; for instead of the several figures that were painted
drawing up the curtatn to discover the upon it, appeared distinct and in full pro-
stage and actors, according to the pre- portion.
sent practice, the Romans let it fall
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. Til. 99
posuit urbem jussam P/iaehtis sortibus. II. Jam 'rheb(e stabant: jam Cadme, potcras videri
,
TRANSLATION.
cries out Forbear, nor blindly engage in civil wars. Then engaging
:
hand to hand with one of his earth-born brothers, he smites him with
his sword, while he himself falls by a dart thrown by a distant hand.
He too who slew him did not long survive, and breathes out the air
which he had so lately received. The dire example runs through the
whole crowd, and these sudden born brothers fall in fight with one
another by mutual wounds. And now the youth, fated to enjoy but a
short term of life, heat with throbbing breasts their bloody
mother ;
NOTES.
13). Jamstnhant Thehce.'] Diana fa- more early heroes, it was common to
tiijned wilh hunting:, had retired to the mix with it that of the gods, it was pre-
valley of Gargaphie, to bathe there in a tended that Juno, jealous of Europa,
fountain. Actscon, the sou of Aristaeiis had extended her Tengeance to her bro-
and Autonoe, having pnt off the exer- ther Cadmus and all his race. Ovid fur-
cise of hunting till next day, because of nishes lis with several examples of this
the heat, as was wandering in the
lie vengeance the first is the story of Ac-
:
woods with uncertain steps, chanced to taeon he was the grandson of Cadmus
:
come into the same place, where he saw by his daughter Autonoe, and that fam-
Diana and her whole chorus of nymphs ous Aristaeus, who, for having taught
naked. The goddess, full of confusion men the culture of olives, and other
at this accident, and resolving that he useful art?, merited to be ranked with
should never be able to divulge or boast the gods. As to the foundation of this
of it, changed him into a .stag : his dogs that Actaeon was
story, some pretend
soon after espying him pursue him as their his dogs, which were
really devoured by
proper prey, and tear him to pieces. become ravenous ; others, tliat having
The family of Cadmus after settling ruined himself by the expense he was at
in Greece,
proved extremely unhappy ; in keepin.': doffs, it was given out that he
and as in writing the history of those was (IcAOiiicd by them.
H 2
100 p. OVIDII NASONIS
gcnusriftantacoiijuse, rri . j_ ^ ^
tot ?tatos, natasquc, ct iot natos, iiatasque, pignora cara nepotes ; et
"IZS^o^IVliiJurl
Hos quoq jam juvenes. Sed scilicet Vltima
;
anteo'>itiim,suprema-
"'
Ante ooitum 116)710, suprcmaque
' .. juneru
~ debet.
' . .
que finiera P^nia nepos inter tot res tibi, Cadme,secundas
cornuiique alienana^ad-
dita fronti, I'osqiic ca- Causa fait luctus, alienaque cornua fronti
?ies ^atiattr sanguine
herili,/uit Gidme, pri- Addita,vosque canes satiatse sanguine herili. 140
ma causa Ivctus tibi
inter tot res senindas. At bene si
quaeras Fortunes crimen in illo,
:
TRANSLATION.
might you have been esteemed happy in your exile, and could boast of
having Mars and Venus for your father and mother-in-law add more- ;
grown up. But we find the last day of life is to be waited for by man,
and that no one ought to be called happy before his death and funeral,
the last scene of mortality. In this train of prosperity, Cadmus, the
first cause of grief, was your grandson, and horns not his own, branch-
ing from his forehead, and you dogs, glutted Avith your master's blood.
And yet if you consider well, you will find in him only a crime of for-
tune, no real fault for how can ignorance be deemed a crime ? There
;
was a mountain stained with the blood of many wild beasts and now ;
the sun had shortened the mid-day shades, and was equally distant from
both extremities of heaven, when the Hyanthian youth thus with mild
accent addressed the companions of his sports, as they were ranging the
pathless haunts of the wild beasts:
'•
Our nets, companions, and spears
" are wet m ith the of wild beasts and the day hath yielded us
slaughter ;
NOTES.
13i2. Soceri tibi Marsque Venuaque.] ed so potent and firmly settled on liis
For Cadmus married Harnionia, or as throne, that there was no danger of an
others will rather have it, Hermione, interruption. Bnt falling aftei ward into
llie (laughter of Mars and Venus. tliehands of Cyrus, and bein^' condemn-
135. Sed scilicet ultima semper.] This ed to be burnt alive, he recollected this
is the famous senleuceof Solon lo Crcc- memorable saying of the wise man, and
sus, when he was master of the rich and by that means saved his life, as the story
lioftrishing kingdom of Lydia,and seem- is related at
large by Herodotus.
METAMORPHOSEON, Ljb. III. 101
Fortunasque dies habuit Altera lucem satis. dies habuit satis fo-r-
tunct, cutn altera Au-
Cum Aurora reducet; 150
croceis invecta rotis rora invecta erociis
rotis reducet Inct m,
Propositutn repetamus opus: nunc Phcebus repetainiis propositvm
opus. i\0/«<: P/ioebus
utraq ; distiit idem utraque
Distat idem terra; finditque vaporibus arva. terra :
finditque ana
vujioribus : sistite pro -
Sistite opus prajsens nodosaque toUite Una
: : sens opus,
tolliteque
nodosa Una. Viri fa-
Jussa viri faciunt; intermittuntque laborem. ciunt jussa, intermit-
Vallis erat piceis et acuta densa cupressu ; 155 tuntquelahorein. Erat
vallis densa
piceis, et
Nomine Gargaphie, succinctae sacra Dianas : acuta cupres\u, no-
mine Gargupliie, sacra
Cujus in extremo est antrum nemorale recessu, succinetfF IJiantr ; in
Arte laboratuni nulla; simulaverat artem cujus exiremu recessu
est aitfrum nemorale
Ingenio natura suo. Nam pumice vivo
laboratuni nulla arte :
nattira suo ingenio si-
Et levibus tophis nativum duxerat arcum. 160 mulaverat artem ; nam
duxerat 7iutivum ar-
Pons sonat a dextra tenui perlucidus unda, cum vivo pumice, et li-
vibus tophis. Fons per-
Margine gramineo patulos incinctus hiatus.
lucidus sonat a dextra
Hie dea sylvarum venatu fessa solebat tenui undo, incinctus
patulos hiatus grami-
Virgineos artus liquid o perfundere rore. neo margine. Hie dea
TRANSLATION.
"
when another morning, mounted on saffron wheels,
sufficient sport ;
" back the day, we will resume our wonted diversion. Now
shall bring
" the sun is at equal distance from both quarters of the world, and
" cleaves the fiekls M-ith his heat. Cease then your present toils, and
"
gather up the knotted nets." They all consent, and remit their la-
bour. There was a valley thick set with pine-trees, and the sharp-
pointed cypress, by name Gargaphie, sacred to active Diana in the :
for Crocale the daughter of Israenus, more handy than the rest,
ga-
NOTES.
i6g. Ismenis Crocale.] Crocale was the daughter of Ismenu?, a river in BoeoHao
102- P. OVIDII NASONIS
Nepheieque.HyaieqHe, Excipiuflt
•
laticeiii Ncpheleque,
* i ' Hvaleque,
i •/
Rha- ^
Hhanisqite, et r'srcas, .
solet esse nubibus in- Is fuit in vultu visae sine veste Dianae. 185
fectis ab ictu adversi
solis, aut purpurete Quae quanquam comitum turba stipata suarum,
Aurora ; is color fuit
In latus obliquum tamen adstitit oraque retro :
in vultu Dianit iis<B
sitie veste : qua quam- Flexit et ut vellet promptas habuisse sagittas ;
:
TRANSLATION.
thers her hair which lay scattered upon her neck, into a knot, while her
own hung loose. Nephele, and Hyale, and Rhanis, and Psecas, and
Phiale, fetch up Avater, and pour it from their large urns. While the
Titanian goddess here bathes in the wonted stream, lo, the grandson
of Cadmus, who defeiTed the finishing of his sport till next day, wan-
dering with uncertain steps through the unknown grove, came into this
retired grotto so his fate directed him. How soon he entered the cave
;
whence the springs distilled on every side, the nymphs as they were
naked, upon seeing a man, smote their breasts, and filled all the grove
Avith sudden shriekings and pressing round Diana, covered her with
;
their bodies hut the goddess considerably taller than they, surpasses
;
them all by the head. The colour that is wont to be observed in clouds,
when struck by the rays of the opposite sun, or that of purple Aurora,
appeared in the countenance of Diana, seen without her raiment who ;
though surrounded Avith the crowd of her attendants, she yet shrunk
backwards, and viewed him from aside. How did she wish her arrows
had been at hand but wanting these, she took some of the water in
;
which she stood, and dashed it in his face and besprinkling his hair ;
with the avenging stream, added these words, the presages of his ap-
"
proaching woe Now, if it is in your power, boast of having seen me
:
"
without my raiment," Nor threatening more, she claps on his
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. TiU 103
Dat sparso
r capiti vivacis cornua cervi ;
'
'^"^
'f^«''. ^p"'''? cj>'-
.
1 . jiua iivacis cervi, dat
Datspatiumcollo: summasnuecacuminataures: -^patium coiio cacu-
Cum pedibusq manus, cum longis brachia mutat res. Mutat ma,mscvm
;
Inffemuit:
& vox ilia fuit: lacrymaeque per ora
'
''*"; "«<^'y. dicturus
erat me miscrum ; nul-
i i\/r A ^-^ •4-- *.
INonsuanuxerunt. IVlenstantumpristinamansit. la vox est simta. in
Quid faciat'' Tlepetatne domum, regalia tecta? fac,yLalueji"uL7uiit
An lateat sylvis r Timor hoc, pudor impedit iUud. ^IJ^^JZnlZ:^ ZZ
Dunidubitat: videre canes primusqiMelampus. su. Quidfadat? Re-
:
^ ~
Pampnagus, et Dorceus, et Oribasus Arcades lampns, ichnobatesque ;
OTA
/lU siigdx dedere .sigiia la-
Omnes; tratuJclimlxitisGnos-
TRANSLATION.
his neck, and
sprinkled forehead the horns of a lively stag, lengthens
his hands are changed to feet, his arms
sharpens the tops of his ears :
to long legs, and his body is covered with a spotted skin. Fear also is
added away flies the Autoneian hero, and wonders that he should be
;
so swift in running but when he saw his face and horns in the stream,
:
with Tempest and swift-footed Wing, and Catcher of quick scent, and
NOTES.
2o6. Primusque
Melampus.] Tlie have in the version, instead of the Latin
names here given to the dogs are all of names, given the original signification,
Greek derivation ;
thus Melampus is Pe- which may serve as a short explication
Black-foot, &€. To prevent
fiifius ?n"g-€r, of each,
therefore a tedious process of notes, I
104 P. OVIDU NASONIS
Napcquc concepta dc Deo uG lupo coHcepta Nape,
r pecudesque secuta
lu.vo,Pamc)/isq)iesrcu- 1 r .
i 1
oir '
. ,
*
,
et Dramas, et Cunacc,
Et
Stictegue, et Tigris, et Alee,
Alee, et Leucoii niveis,
et Asboliis atrls tillis, Et niveis Leucon, et villis Asbolus atris,
prffialtdiisque Lucmi, et cursu fortis Aello,
et Aillo for/is cursi{, Prffivalidusque Lacon,
et Tiious, et velox i,;/-
cicse cum J'ratre Cy-
Et Thous, et Cyprio velox cum fratre Lycisce :
jirio, et llarvalos dis- Et medio frontem distinctus ab albo
nigram
tinctiis quoad nigrum
J'rontcm ub ulbo medio, Harpalos et Melaneus, hirsutaq corpore I^chne: ;
et Mtlaneas, Lachiic-
qtte hirsuta cnrj'ore ;
Et patre Dictseo, sed matre Laconide nati,
Labros et AsTiodos, et acutse vocis rly lactor 224
et Labros, ct Agridos, ;
nati Dictao patre, si'd
__ „~ ,T-<ii J' 1
difflcilis,
nulla via.
qunque
lllc j
']^iTfugH [Actaeon ego sum : dominum cognoscite ves-
per loca per qua sa-pe trum :]
secutus J'ucrat. Htii
ipse fugit suos famit- Verba animo desunt resonat latratibus aether.
:
via est anticipata per compendia montis. Ctetcra tvrba coit Mis retinentibus dominum: con-
fertque dentes in corpore.
TRANSLATION.
Woodger wounded by a boar, and Forester beoot by a wolf,
lately
and Shepherdess that had been a keeper of cattle, and Ravener with
her two whelps, and Harrier a Sicynian dog of slender make. And
Runner, and Barker, and Spot, and Tiger, and Strong, and White
with his snowy hair, and Soot with black hair, and able-bodied
Lacon and Storm good at running, and Swift, and speedy Wolf
;
Mdth her Cyprian brother; and Snap with his spotted face, and
Black-coat, and Stickle, a rough-bodied bitch and Worrier, and ;
Rover fastened upon his shoulder. They had come out later, but sprung
before the rest by a short cut through the mountains these hung fast :
upon their master, till all the pack come up and fix their teeth in his
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. III. 105
and fills the well-known mountains with his dismal moans. Then sup-
pliant upon his bended knees, and
in the posture of one begging his
life, turns about his silent countenance instead of arms. But his com-
panions, ignorant of what had chanced, encourage the eager pack with
the usual cries, and every where look for Actteon, and call without
ceasing on Actseon, as imagining him absent. He turns his head at
the name, while they complain that he is absent, and through indo-
lence misses his share of the sport. He wished indeed he had been
absent, and that he had only seen, and not felt, the cruel bites of his
doc^s. They gather round him on all sides, and burying their jaws
in his body, tear in pieces their master, under the figure of a deceitful
stag. Nor was
the rage of the quiver-bearing goddess appeased, till
he had ended his life by an infinity of wounds.
HI. The rumour of this vengeance was differently received to ;
some the goddess seemed more cruel than was just others commend ;
her as worthy of the strict virginity she professed both sides pro- :
duce reasons for what they think. The wife of Jove alone does not so
much own, whether she blames or appro\es, as she rejoicas at the
calamity of a family sprung from Agenor, and transfers the hatred
106 P. OVIDll NASONIS
in socios generis, t'cce
recens causa subit pri-
In generis socios odium. Subit ecce priori
ori ; rioletque Semelem Causa recens ; gravidamque dolet de semine
esse gravidam de se-
miiie mngiii Jovis: turn
soliit linguam adjtcr-
magni
gia. Quid enim, dixit, EsseJovisSemelen. Turn linguamadjurgia solvit.
profeci toties perjiir- Profeci quid enim toties per jurgia? dixit.
giaf Ipsa .Semele est
petenda mihi. Si rife mihi est: ipsam, si maxima Juno
vocor mnxima Juno, Ipsa petenda
perdam ipscim; si decet Rite vocor, perdam si me
me tenere gemmaiitia
gemmantia dextra ;
movit
siinulavit
iiiibes atitequam
amim:
Ipsaque fit Bero'e, Semeles Epidauria nutrix.
potii-
it que caiios capillos od Ergo ubi, captato sermone, diuque loquendo,
temporu ; siilcavitque
Cittern rugis : et tulit curva membra trementi ptissn ; fecit vocem quoque anilem ; Jit que
ipsa Beroc, Epidatiria nutrix Semeles. Ergb ubi sermone captato, loquendo diu.
TRANSLATION,
she had conceived against the Tyrian harlot, to all the partners of
her race. When lo, a fresh occasion of discontent succeeds to the
former, and she grieves that Semele is with child by the blood of
"
great Jupiter. She then gave a loose to her rage What, (says she,) :
*'
titled the great Juno if it becomes me to hold the sparkling scep-
;
*'
ed of the race of Saturn, if she descend not to the Stygian waves,
" sunk
by her beloved Jove." Saying this, she rises from
her throne,
and hid in a yellow cloud, approaches the threshold of Semele. Nor
did she disperse the clouds that surrounded her, till she had put on the
her temples,
appearance of an old woman, and planted grey hairs upon
and fmrowed her skin with wrinkles, and moved her feeble limbs
with tottering pace. She learns too to tattle in the tone of age, and
becomes Beroe herself, the nurse of Semele. ^^^hen there-
Epidaurean
fore, in discourse designedly introduced, after lono; talking they came to
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. III. 107
Foraiarat. Rogat ilia Jovem sine nomine munus : maverat ignaram i'ad-
me'ida. Ilia rogat Jo-
Cui deus, Elige, ait: nullam patiere repulsam. vem munus sine nomi-
ne. Cui deus ait, elige,
Quoq; magis credas Stygii quoque conscia sunto
;
patiere nullam repul.
Numina ton-entis: timor, et deus ille deorum. sum. Quoque credos
magis, numina torren-
Lffitamalo, nimiiimq; potens, perituraq; amantis tis •Stygii snnlo quoque
coW'Cia: ille timor et
Obsequio Semele, Qualem Saturnia dixit, deus deorum. Semele
Te solet amplecti, Veneris cum foedus initis, lata malo, nimiumque
poteiis,pcriluraque ob-
Da mihi te talem. Voluit deus ora loquentis 295 sequio amantis, dixit :
da tc talem mihi, qua-
Opprimere. Exieratjam voxproperata sub auras. lem Saturnia solet am-
cum
Ingemuit neque enim non heec optasse, neque ille
:
plecti te, initis
j'wrius Veneris. Deus
Non jurasse potest. Ergo moestissiraus altum voluit opprimere ora
loquentis :jani voxpro-
^thera conscendit; nutuque sequentia traxit perata exierot sub au-
ras. Itigcmuit : neque
Nubila: quisnimbos, immistaque fulgura ventis enim \\\i. pott St non op-
Addidit, et tonitrus, et inevitabile fulmen. tasse hac, neque ille
non jurasse: ergo mce-
Ktissimus conscendit altum athera: traxit que nubila sequentia niilu queis addidit nimbos.
fiUguraque immista ventis, et toiUtrus, et inevitabile fulmen.
TRANSLATION.
the name of Jupiter, she sighs " I wish (said she) it may be Jupiter
;
"
indeed, but I am apt to fear every thing for many under the feigned
;
a nameless gift of Jupiter. To whom the god says " Choose what- ;
" ever
you will, and ask, without fear of a repulse and to confirm :
"
you yet the more, let t!ie majesty of the Stygian torrent witness this
"
promise he who is the terror and sovereign of the gods themselves."
;
" such
(said she) as the daughter of Saturn is wont to embrace you,
" when
you celebrate the sacred rites of Venus." Fain would the god
have stopped her as she spoke but the hasty choice had now passed
;
her lips. He groaned for neither is it possible for her not to have
;
Tamententat demere Q^^ tameii usque potcst, vires sibi demere tentat.
vires.<tibi quausquepo- J~ l I '
. .
eratnimiuin feritatis in
illo.Est aliud fulmen Est aliud le vius fulmen cui dextra Cyclopiim 305
;
more completqve tt m-
:
Nymphte Nyseides antris
pora materna. "ji'lo Occuluere suis lactisque alimenta dedcre. 315
;
Zmflfr'ttn 'fn%,nt
^^ DumquB ca per terras fatali lege geruntur;
'
TRANSLATION.
and the inevitable bolt. And yet as mvich as possible he abates of
his force, nor arms himself with the fires wherewith he had overthrown
the hundred-handed Typhseus these appeared too terrible. There is
:
gods call it thunder of a second rate. This he takes, and enters, sur-
rounded with majesty, into the palace of Semele but her mortal ;
frame could not sustain the shock of ethereal majesty, and she pe-
rished amid the glories she had desired. The infant, yet unfinished,
is taken from the womb of his mother and if we can credit ancient ;
story, enclosed abortive in his father's thigh, and there completes the
time wanting to his birth. Ino, his aunt, nursed him' privately in his
first cradle afterward the Nyseian nymphs hid him in their dark
;
NOTES.
303. Ti/phcea.] Typhoeus, a siant of name of IMeros, a word that in Greek
enormous size, and author of the war sijinifies the Tkiah. At the foot of this
which the Titans marie against Jupiter. mountain is the city f^ysa. As Bac-
313. Ino jnatertera.'] Ino was the therefore, according to the testi-
ciius
daughter of Cadmus, and sister to Se- mony of all antiquity, was educated on
inele : she received Bacchus from Ju- this mountain, which was sacred to Ju-
piter, and bred hira up privately un- piter, we may hence account, in some
known to Juno. measure, for the fabulous relation of the
314. Nyxeidcs.'] Pliny makes mention birth of Bacchus, given by the Greeks,
of Nysa, a moinitain of India, which viz., That he was so long carried in Ju-
Strabo and ^lian speak of under the piter's thigh.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. III. 109
TRANSLATION.
ao;ree to ask the opinion of experienced Tiresias, who had tried the
pleasure of each sex. For seeing once in a shady wood the bodies of
two large snakes twisted in conjunction, he had profaned them with
a stroke of his club, and of a man (strange to relate) became a woman,
and so continued for seven autumns in the eighth he again saw the
;
same serpents, and said " If such is the virtue of a stroke given you,
;
" as to vir-
change the sex of the giver into the contrary, I'll try the
" tue of a second stroke."
Again he struck the same snakes, when
his native sex returned, and he recovered his original form. He
therefore chosen
being judge of the
merry contest, declares in favour
of J upiter. Juno resenting it more than was fit, nor according to
what so trivial a debate required, condemned her judge to languish in
eternal night. But the omnipotent father (for it is not in the power
of any one god to cancel the acts of another), in recompense for the
loss of his sight, gave him the knowledge of things to come, and
softened his punishment by the honour that followed it.
110 p. OVIDll NASONIS
V. /«c ceichernmtis V. Die per Aoiiias fama celeberrimus urbes
^
famd per Aonias ur- , i i i ,,- nAn ,
ro, qui jam turn posset Teuipora maturse visurus lon^a senectse :
annum ad ter quinos : JN ulll liium JUVenCS, nullse tctlgere puelise. OOD
poteratque videri pu-
er, juvenisque.Multi juvenes, multa puellee cupiere ilium. Sed tam dira superbia fuit in
tener&formA; nulli juvenes, nulla puellce tetigtre ilium.
TRANSLATION.
V. He, greatly famed through the Aonian cities, gave unerring an-
swers to all that consulted him. The blue-eyed
Liriope made the
first essay and experiment of his infallible voice whom formerly ;
prophet appear vain and frivolous: but the event, the thing it-
self, the manner of his death, and the novelty of his madness,
confirms all. For the son of Cephisus had now added one to three
times five years, just turned off boy, and entering upon the
stage
of man. Many blooming youths and love-sick maids caressed him ;
he was grown up. Echo falls in love leau has admirably well expressed it in
with him, and watching the opportu- his art of "
" a poetry, Every thing assumes
nity of his speaking, that she might re- body, a soul, a look, a manner:
sound his last words, an ingenious dia-
"
every virtue becomes a divinity j Mi-
" nerva is
logue is made to pass between them by Venus Beauty,
the poet. " Echo is noPrudence,
more a mere voice that
Echo, however, unable to
" resounds
compass her desires, wastes away in in the air, but a nymph in
" fear for
langnishings, her body is changed into the cruelty of Narcissus."
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. 111. Ill
Quoque rnagis sequitur; flamma propiore ca- gantem per devia lus-
tra, et incaluit amore
lescit. ejus ; sequitur furtitn
Quoque se-
Non aliter, quam cum summis circumlita tsedis vestigia.
quitur magis, culescit
Admotam rapiunt vivacia sulfura flammam. propiore Jiamma : non
aliter quam cilm sul-
O quoties voluit blandis accedere dictis, 375 fura
lita
vivacia circum-
summis ttrdis, ra-
Et molles adhibere preces ! natura repugnat, piunt admotam Jiam-
mam. O qtioties voluit
accedere blandis dictis, et adhibere molles preces ! At natura ejus repugnat,
TRANSLATION.
or maid could touch his savage heart. The noisy nymph, who cannot
be silent -when another speaks, nor has learned first to speak herself, re-
sounding Echo, chanced lo spy him as he was driving
the timorous deer
into his nets. Echo was then a body, not a bare voice and yet the :
babbler had no other use of speech than what she now enjoys, to repeat
the last words out of many. Juno had done this to punish her because, ;
when she might often in her mountains have siu-prised the nymphs in the
embraces of her Jupiter, she slily engaged the goddess in a long dis-
course, that tlie nymphs might escape which, when the daughter of
;
Saturn discovered But small exercise, says she, shall be allowed this
;
use of
tongue wherewith 1 have been so often deluded, and a very short
voice. And she confirms her threats the execution in the
thy by yet :
end of speaking she redoubles the voice, and returns the words she hears.
When therefore she saw Narcissus wandering through the pathless fo-
rests, warmed by the lovely youth, she privately follows
his steps, and
the more she follows him, burns with fiercer flames just as when :
Perjlat ; it decep-
Responsura sono, Coeamus rettulit Echo.
it.
tus imagine allernee
vocis, aft: coiamus hue; Et verbis favet ipsa suis ; egressaque sylvis
Echoque respotisura
itulli unquam sono li- Ibat, ut injiceret sperato brachia collo.
fugit fugiensque, Manus complexibus aufer:
bentius, rettulit, coia- Ille :
mus. Et ipsa favet snis
verbis, egressaque sil-
vis, ibat ut injiceret
Ante, ait, emoriar, quam sit tibi
copia nostri :
brachia sperato collo. Rettulit ilia nihil, nisi. Sit tibi copia nostri :
c~t^ ^
tri. jiia rettulit nihil JSed tamcn hserct amor; crescitque '
dolore re-
nisi, sit tibi copia nos- 1
tri. IWa. spreta, latet pUlSSe.
S&S%S:':" Attenuant vigiles corpus miserabile cura:
ex
tt vivit
tempore
tn soUs antris.
illo
Sed Adducitquc
.1 cutem
... niacics et in aera succus :
'
^^ -rj ^
tamen amor hteret ;
dolore re-
Corpons omnis abit. Voxtantum, atque ossa
crescitque c +
pulsa;. Vigiles cures SUperSUnt.
attenuant miserabile
corpus maciesque adducic cutem; et omnis succus corporis abit in atra: tantum vox atque
:
ossa supersiint.
TRANSLATION.
nor suffers her to begin. What is in her power she is ready for, to
watch his voice, and re-echo to the sound. By chance the youth, sepa-
rated from the trusty train of his attendants, cries out, Is any one here?
And Echo answered, here : He is amazed, and casting his eyes on every
side, calls with a loud voice. Come. She calls the youth who called
her. He looks hack, and as he could still see nobody, says, Why do
you shun me ? And has as many words returned as he had spoken. He
persists,
and deceived by the appearance of an alternate voice, says,
Let us come together here. Echo, to whom no sounds could be more
agreeable, returned, Let us come together;
and immediately favouring
her own words, rushed from the woods, impatient to throw her arms
round his much-desired neck. He flies, and flying calls out. Cease
with your hands thus to embrace me, I will sooner die than bear that
thou mayest enjoy me. She answered nothing, but Thou mayest
me. The nymph despised, lurks in the woods, and hides her
enjoy
blushing face with leaves, and
from that time lives in solitary caves.
Yet her love still remains, and grows from the mortification of a re-
fusal anxious cares waste her miserable body, and leanness shrivels
;
her skin all the juice of her body flies off in air, her voice and bones
;
METAMORFHOSEON, Lib. III. 113
T . -nT
1
•
i 1 haiic, sic Inserat alias
•
I
^ •!
Luserat hic JNymphas; sic ccetus ante vniles. nymphas ortas undis
Inde manusal'iquis despectus ad a^tbera toUens, V!lZ"l^tus '^mel
Sic amet iste beet, sic non potiatur amato. 405 {>>f/"i>g"'>'(fespectits,
loiiens mantis ad at-
F. "Di
'. • •
•!
Dixerat. Assensit nrecbus Khamnusia justis. 'Afw, dixcrat ucet :
-ii- •
•/'-!• r iste amct sic,sic noHvo-
J.
received the form of a stone. Since then she lies hid in the woods,
and is never to be seen on mountains, yet is to be heard by all sound ;
beast, nor branch falliug from a tree had disturbed it was surrounded ;
with grass nourished by the neighbouring stream, and a wood that de-
fended the lake from the heat of the sun. Here the youth, fatigued
with heat and the labour of hunting, laid himself down, charmed with
NOTES.
409. Sic hanc sic alias.'] Narcissus by ourselves with too flattering a complai-
tiis cruelty reuderiiiw lijmself odious to sance, that our good qualities ought to
the nymphs, Nemesis gives ear to their he hid from us, nor we be tlie first to
prayers. Wherefore chancing to see his admire, much less to publish them. We
own image in a fonut;iin, he falls in love may say too that the hitle reality which
with If. in which vain passion he Ian- we for the most part find in those plea-
guishes witliout hopes of rehef, and is at sures we so eagerly grasp at, resemble
length changed into a flower of his own this vain phantom wherewith tlie youth
Dame. fell in love, and which threw him at la.st
The best manner of explaining tiiis into a languishing illness that occasion-
fable is to consider it as a useful lesson ed his death.
that unfolds to us the hurtful effects of 406. Rhamnusia.] The goddess Ne-
an immodciate self-love. The reflec- mesis, so called from Rhanmus, a town
tions Uiat may be drawn from it are in- of Attica, where she had a temple, and
! UBmerabh* Uiat we are not to regard
-.
was worshipped.
114 P. OVIDII NASdNIS
It ardet. Quoties de
dil irrita oscula fal Quid videat nescit; sed, quod videt, uritur illo: 430
laci fonti ! Quoties
mersit brachia cap- Atque oculos idem, qui decipit, incitat error.
tantia visum colltim,
in mtdiis aquis; nee
Credule, quid frustra simulacra fugacia captas ?
deprendit se in illis
Nescit quid videat, sed
.'
Quod petis, est nusquam :
quod amas avertere,
uritur illo quod videt : perdes.
atque idem error qui
decipit oculos, incitat
Ista repercussse, quam cernis, imaginis umbra est.
eos. creduie, quid Nilhabetistasui. Tccum
venitouemanetque
•
435
frustra captas simu-
'•
lacra fugacia ? Quod petis, nusquam est : avertere, et perdes quod amas. Ista forma quam,
cernis, est umbra repurcussa imaginis. Ista Itabet nil sui vetiitqtie manetque tecum
•
TRANSLATION.
the fountain, and the appearance of the place. And while he en-
deavours to quiet his thirst, another thirst grows and while he drinks, ;
might flow round the temples of Apollo, his youthful cheeks, ivory
neck, comely mouth, and complexion mixed of red, and a snowy
whiteness, and admires every thing for which he himself is to be ad-
mired. He foolishly admires himself, and he who approves is also
approved and while
;
he seeks he is sought, and equally raises the
flame, and suffers under it. How often did he give vain kisses to the
deceitful spring, how often thrust his arms into the Avaters to catch
the neck he saw, nor found what he fancied he embraced. He knows
not what it is he sees but what he sees raises the flame.
; And the
same error that deceives his eyes, provokes them. Why, fond youth,
do you thus vainly catch the flying image ? What you seek is no
'-^re what you loVe, turn but away and it is gone. \^^hat you see
;
.
-ily the shadow
of a reflected image, nor has any real existence :
METAMOKPIIOSEON, Lib. III. lis
TRANSLATION.
it came and remains with you, and will disappear, if you but remove.
Neither a regard to food nor rest can draw him thence but laid
upon ;
"
strangely is the lover deceived. And to add to my grief, we are
" not
separated by a great sea, or a long way, nor mountains, nor
" walls with
gates shut against us a shallow water hinders our
:
"
embraces. He himself wants to be clasped in my arms for as ;
I s
11/) p. OVIDII NASONIS
nlciitia ad
aiirrs. Ego sum in te, Uror amore mei flammas moveoque feroque.
:
ner loiiga
Longa meeie superant primoque extinguor in :
tires,
tempora ntea' vita su-
ajvo. 470
perant : extiuguorque
Nee
Nee mihi mors gravis posituro moiie dolores.
est
in prima gro.
mors est gravis tnilii Hie, qui diligitur, veliem diuturnior esset.
positurodolores inorte.
Veliem hie qui diligi- Nunc duo Concordes anima moriemur in una.
tur esset diiitiirnior.
Nunc duo ronrordcs Dixit, et ad faeiem rediit male sanus eandem ;
moriemur in una aiii-
ma. Dixit : et male Etlacrymisturbavitaqaas: obscuraquemoto 475
sanv-s, rediit ad ean- Reddita forma laeu est quam cum vidisset abire ;:
TRANSLATION.
"
my charms. You encourage, I do not know how, my hopes by
" that
friendly look, and when 1 stretch out my arms to embrace you,
"
you too stretch out yours. When I smile, you return it and when I ;
"
weep, I have observed the tears distil also from your eyes. You an-
" swer all nods and as far as I can from the motion of that
my judge
;
"
pretty mouth, you utter words that reach not my ears. It is myself,
" now I
begin to perceive, nor does the image any longer deceive me.
" I burn with the love of
myself, and both raise and suffer under
" the flames. What shall I do ? Shall I
address, or be addressed ?
" What then shall I ask ?
Already I possess what I desire, too
" much has made me
plenty O that I could from
poor. depart my
" own body ! A new wish indeed
a lover, to wish the absence of in
" what he loves. And now grief wears out m}' strength, and the
"
period of life that remains
is but short I
perish in bloom of youth, ;
" nor is death to me a misfortune, but the end of all mj' sorrows.
" I wish that he I love could survive but alas, his fate is insepara- ;
" ble from mine." He said and still deluded by the fatal passion,
;
returned to the same visionary face. His tears disturbed the sur-
face of the well, and his image is defaced by the motion of the
"
spring which when he saw begin to disappear
; Whither," cried he ;
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. III. 117
Quo fugis ? Oro mane uec me, ; crudelis, aman- clamavit, quo fugis 1
Oro mane, nee crudelis
tem desere me amantem.
Liceat adspicere, qtiod
Desere, clamavit. Liceat, quod tangere non est, von est tangere; et
prabere alimenta mi-
Adspicere, et misero preebere alimenta furori. sero furori. Dumime
Dumque dolet, summa vestem deduxit ab dnlet,
ub
deduxit restem
summa ora, percus-
ora, 480 sitque nuda pectora
marinoreis pa/mis.
Nudaque marmoreis percussit pectora palmis. Pectora percussa trax-
erunt tenuem rubo-
Pectora traxerunt tenuem percussa ruborem, rem non aliter quam ;
parte,
Parte rubent. Aut ut variis solet uva racemis parte; aut ut nvu in
variis racemis, nondum
Ducere purpureum, nondum matura, colorem. mutura, solet ducere
Quse simul aspexit liquefacta rursus in unda purpureum colorem.
simul in ;
Qua udsyexit
Non tulit ulterius :
sed, ut intabescere flav* unda rursus
non tulit
liquefac-
Cii, ull.cinis;
Igne matutineeve pruinse
levi cerae, sed ut Jiav(e cercc so-
lent intabescere levi
Sole tepente solent, sic attenuatus amore igue, matutinaveprui-
nic tepente sole, sic at-
Liquitur; et coeco paulatim carpitur igni. 490 tenuatus amore liqui-
Et neque jam color est misto candore rubori ;
tur; et caipitnr pau-
latim ctreo igni. Et
Nee vigor, et vires, et quse modo visa placebant, Jam neque color est ru-
bori mil to candore;
Nee corpus remanet, quondam quod amaverat nee vigor et vires, et
Echo. qua visa modo, place-
bant, tiec corpus quod
Quse tamen ut vidit, quamvis irata memorque Echo quondam amave-
Indoluit quotiesque puer miserabilis, Eheu, 495
:
rat, rcmanvt. Qua ut
Echo lidit, quamtis
iratumeniorqtie,tamcn.
Dixerat; lisec resonis iterabat vocibus, Eheu, indoluit: qiioliesqu<.
Cumque suos manibus percusserat ille lacertos, puer miserabilis di.xc-
rut eheu, hac itera-
Hsec quoque reddebat sonitum plangoris unn- bat eheu resonis voci-
bus. Cumque itlc per-
dem. cusserat sitos laccrtoi
maitibus, hac quiiqiic reddebat cundem sonUum plai/^uris.
TRANSLATION.
" do
you fly ? Stay, I conjure you, nor cruelly abandon your fond lover.
" Let me still see what it
is not
granted rae to touch let me still feed ;
" the
self-destroyiii"; flame." Amid his oTJef he rends his garment
from the upper border, and beats his naked breast Avith
palms white as
marble. His breast reddened a little with the blow, as when
apples ap-
pear of a lively red mixed with shining white or a grape not yet ripe, ;
puts on a purple blush in the pvarti -coloured clusters which when he be- ;
and air of youth and beauty, which so lately charmed'; nor does his
gi-aceful body remain, which formerly Echo had so much loved which :
when she saw, although offended, and mindful of his late usuage, she
grieved, and as oft the unhappy youth cried alas! she, with re-
echoing sound returned alas and when he struck his arms with
!
Dryades et planxcre.
Echo adsonat plangeii- Planxcre et Dryades,Plangentibus assonatEcho.
tibus. Jamque 'para-
bant rogiim, quassas- Jamque rogum, quassasquefaces, feretrumque
que faces, ferctrum-
gue. Corpus erat nus-
parabant :
TRANSLATION,
number of words. " Farewell," said he, and scarce had ended, when
Echo replied, farewell. He gently falling, lays his head upon the
tender grass, and night closes for ever those self-admiring eyes.
Then too, after being received into the infernal habitations, he beheld
himself in the Stygian waves. The Naiads mourned his fate, and cut-
ting off their hair, laid it on their brother's tomb. The Dryads too
mourn Echo resounds to their lamentations. And now they were
:
preparing a funeral pile, and torches, and a bier but his body was no
;
NOTES.
507. Plangenlibus assonut Echo.] This met with, to banish quite the remem-
ciicuiiistance is happily introduced by brance of her dear Narcissus, and what
the poet, and sjliewsat once tiie justness was only a natural consequence of the
and fcriility of his imagination. Echo loud complaints of the Naiads, is here
is represented
by this as unable, not- improved into a new scene of lamentation
withstanding all the ill usage she had for the death of that unfortunate youth.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. III. U$
ait :
quam
quoque luminis hujus
tu esses,
felijc
Quam felix esses, si situ quoqve fieres or-
Orbus, ait, fieres ne Bacchia sacra videres
;
!
bus htijiis luminis, ve
rideres Bucchia sacra!
Jamque dies aderit, jamque haud procul auguror Jamque dies
augurorque esse jam
aderit,
Turba ruunt
Vulgusq; proceresque, ignota ad sacra ferun-
tibus. :
matresque, nuruyque,
tur. 530 niintfF viris, vulgusqtie,
proceresque, ferunlur
Quis feror,Anguigenee, proles Mavortia, vestras ad ignota sacra. Quis
furor (ait Pentheus)
Attonuit mentes ? Pentheus ait, serane tantum
anguigeiKT, proles ma-
JEre repulsa valent? etadunco tibia cornu? vortia, atlo7iuit res-
tras tne7ites.' err ane re-
Etmagicie fraudes? ut quos non belliger ensis, pulsa are valent tan-
tum? Et tibia adu7ico
JVon tuba terruerint, non strictis aomina telis :
Et fraudes ma-
cor7iu?
Foeminse voces, et mota insania vino, gic(E?Vt fosmi/KT vo-
ces, et i-isania mota
Obscoenique greges, etinania tympana vincant? vino,gregesque ubscani ,
et i/iaitia lj/7npuna,
lincant cos qiios noii belliger ciisis, 71011 tuba non agmina strictis telis terruerint .'
TRANSLATION.
" that you might not bp-
it for you, if
3'ou too were deprived of sight,
" hold the sacred rites of Bacchus for (he dav will come, and I now
:
" that is
(Tue, but complain that I saw loo much under this darkness."
The son of Echion drives him from his presence, as he was uttering these
prophecies but a confirmation follows his words, and the predictions of
:
the sage are fulfilled. Bacchus comes, and the fields ring with festival
bowlings. The crowd runs out mothers and daughters-in-law, hus-
:
bands, rabble and nobles, all hasten in confused multitudes to the ce-
lebration of these till then imknown rites. " What madness (says Pen-
"
theus) has possessed your minds, O ye warlike race, sprung
from the
" teeth of the
dragon ? Can brass resounding to the strokes of brass,
" or the flute with the thus intoxicate
bending horn, ar.d magic fravids
"
you ? that the yells of women, and madness raised by wine, and a
" of effeminate wretches, and the hollow noise of drums, shall
" troop
prevail over you, whom neither the warlike sword nor trumpet could
" ? Shall I be left to won-
affright, nor batt^ilions with brandished spears
120 V. OVIUII NASONIS
Mirente ros scjitu /
Qui vecti per loitga
Vosne, senes, mirer qui longa per iequora-vecti
;
teguora, posuistis lure Hac Tyron, hac profugos posuistis sede Penates ;
sedc Tyrun, liDc pro-
fiigos penatis: Nunc Nuncsinitis sine Marte capi ? Vosne, acrior setas,
shiitis eain capi iinc
marte ? Mirirne t:os, Ojuvenes, propiorque mea3 quos arma tenere, ;
TRANSLATION.
der at you our sires, who ci'ossiug long seas, fixed in these seats Tyre
and your exiled gods But now suffer yourselves to be vanquished
;
without a stroke ? And you, O young men of a more vigorous age, and
nearer to my own, whom it becomes to be graced with arms, not fan-
tastic rods, who ought to be covered M'ith crested helmets, not gar-
n lands of flowers Be miridful, for heaven's sake, of what race you
.'
ti
are sprung, and assume the courage of that serpent, who though but
one, destroyed many. He died for his lake and springs do you con-
ii
;
quer for your own fame. He fought the strong, do you vajiquish
the
li
feeble foe, and regain your country's honour. If fate has doomed
that Thebes uuist soon fall, O may warlike engines, and troops of
(.i
ti
brave men beat down our walls, and fire and sword sound in our ears.
We
should then be wretched without infamy, and fall by a fate to be
lamented, not concealed: nor need we be ashamed of our tears. But
now Thebes will be taken by an unarmed child, whom neither wars
delight, nor darts, nor
the prancing steed, but hair perfumed with
myrrh, and chaplets of flowers, and purple, and gold interwoven
with flower garments. Whom
indeed I will speedily (do you but
NOTES.
54i.'. A'on Thyrsos.'] The whole fi-iintic with Thyrsuscs. The Tliyrstis was a
crowd thiit celel)rate(lthe rites of Bac- small arrow wrapped about with vine and
fhiis, both men and women, >vne ;u lued ivy branches, which covered its point.
METAMORPllOSEON, Lib. III. 121
TRANSLATION.
" stand
aside) force to own his fictitious father, and counterfeit rites.
" Had
Acrisius courage enough to despise the vain deity, and shut the
"
gates of Argos against him, and shall this strariger terrify Pentheus
" and all Thebes
go quickly, (this command he gave to his servants)
;
"
go, and bring hither the leader of the rout hound; nor let dull de-
"
lay retard the execution of my commands." His grandfather Cad-
mus, Athamas, and the whole company of his friends, chide him se-
verely, and in vain endeavour to restrain him. He is made fiercer by
their admonitions, and his
rage by being curbed increases, and is but
irritated the more, and their
struggles to hinder him, hasten on his ruin.
Thus I have seen a torrent, where no obstruction impeded its course, run
smooth, and with a gentle noise hut where beams or stones stopped up
;
NOTES.
559. Acrliio,'] Acrisius was the son Bacchus or his rites, shut the gates of
of Abas king oftlie Argives, and fathir Argos against them.
^sfDanae. He rcfitsinsr lo admit lilhrr
122 P. OVIDII NASONIS
^o'p'^^uufc^ daH^^^^^
O periture tuaque aliis documenta dature
;
documenta aliis uiii Mortc, ait cdc tuuiii nomeii, nomeiiq; pai'entuiTi,
;
morte, ede tuiim no-
men, nomenque parcn- Et patriam morisque novi cur sacra frequentes.
;
tum, et putriam, ctir-
que frtquentcs sacra
Ille metu vacuus, Nomen mihi, dixit, Acoetes ;
luariabeT'nori'enl
Mox cgo, uc scopuhs hffirerem semper in isdem,
que ille reliquit nihil
7nihi
Addidici regimen,
'^
dextra moderante, carinae
prater aquas. /-.i i i n • •
i
•
TRANSLATION.
VIII. and IX. Pentheus beheld him with eyes, which the rage he
was in had rendered terrible, and although he could scarce bear to de-
fer the time of his "
O wretclr (says he), soon to perish,
punishment :
" and by your death serve as an example to others, tell your name,
" and that of your parents, and your country, and why you frequent
" these solemnities of new invention." He, devoid of fear, answered ;
"
"
My name is Acoetes, my country Moeonia, and my parents of the
humble vulgar. My father left me no lands to be ploughed up by
" the laborious ox, nor wool bearing flocks, nor herds. He was him-
" self poor, and wont with a line, hooks, and a bending reed, to de-
" ceive and draw out the skipping fishes his art was his whole estate. ;
" When he bequeathed me his art Take, said he, successor and heir :
"
"
ofmy employment, all the riches that I possess, and, dying, left me
no other patrimony but the waters. This alone I could call my pa-
" ternal inheritance. But soon, that I might not always be confined
" to the same rocks, I learnt to guide the helm with a skilful right
"
hand, and made my observations on the watery constellation of the
" Olenian goat, and Taygete, and the Hyades, and the Bear, and the
"
quarters of the wind, and the harbours fit for ships. By chance, as
" I was
making for Delos, I came upon the coast of Chios, and reached
' the shore by plying our right-side oars, and I gave the nimble jump,
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. III. 123
Quisquis 6 faveas,nostrisquelaboribusadsis.
es, morVaif. ^EtllnX'^'el
''^xisocus
His quoque des veniam. Pro nobis mitte precari. dubUoquod
O.
JJicty s ait q uo non alius conscendere
:
J^J^
re,sed numen est in isto
corpore. Quisoms es,
o faveas, adsisquenos.
JfS;„ f
"
Mitte precari pro nobis, ait Dictys, quo non alius fuit ocior conscendere summas antennas,
relabique prenso rudente. Libys hoc, Jlavus Melanthus tutela prora: hoc.
TRANSLATION.
and set foot upon the wet sand. AVhen tlie night was spent, and
Aurora first began to appear, I rise, and order my men to take in
fresh water, at the same time pointing out the way which led to it.
I then mounted myself on a high hill, and looked round what the
air promised, and call my companions, and return to the vessel. Lo,
answered Opheltes, my chief mate, we are here, and having found, as
he thought, a prize in the desert fields, lead along the shore a boy of
virgin beauty. He, heavy with wine and sleep, seems to stagger, and
scarce can follow. I examine his dress, and looks, and gait, nor can
discover any thing in them, that spoke him a mortal. I immediately
suspected it, and said to my companions, I know not what divinity
inhabits that body but a divinity certainly inhabits it. Whoever
;
you are, favour us, and be propitious to our labours, and forgive the
rashness of my companions. Cease praying for us, said Dictys, than
whom none was nimbler to mount the main- top yards, or slide down
by catching hold of a rope. This Libys, and Melanlhus the pilot,
and Alchimedon, and Epopeus, who overlooked the oars, and timed
NOTES.
ixt. Dixi tamen, non Non tamen banc sacro violari pondere pinum
perpetiar fiaiic pinum
violiiri sacro ponoere ;
muiimu parsjuris hic, Perpetiar, dixi pars hic niihi maxima juris.
;
TRANSLATION.
the stroke with approve of; in a word, the whole crew, so
liis voice,
much were they blinded by a desire of the prize. Yet, said I, will
I not suffer the
ship to be profaned by so sacred a load I have the ;
NOTES.
t)36. A«.Ton nit Liber.] Naxos an island of the .Ea:ean i^ra, tijeniost noted of all
the CvcIacUs.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IH. 125
sig^ijicat mm
. .
Increnor
1
i\ cunctis; totumque immurmurat ao'-
nien .
'1
Meque ministerio scelerisque artisque removi 645 1^lfJ'/Jt Zrl' ^ol
^ st'ipui,dir!,i„c,rapiac
alius moderuminn ;re-
mov>que vie minl.'.tfrio
E quibus ^thalion, Te scilicet omnis in uno VtcrVporu cuncus"tl'.
Nostra salus positaest?ait. Etsubitipse meumq; :
tnmqueao,„eHi,i,mur-
t.Eiiuihus^lltlia-
petit di versa relicta.
lion ait : scilicet nostra
Explet opus Naxoque :
oniiii\ sains est posita
Tumdeus illudens, tanquam modo denique frau- ill te unu? ct iyse su-
explctque miu?n
dem 650 bit,
que diversu
oi> IIS, petit ,
Turn
pontum prospectat aduncd.
A'a.i I) relicta.
Senserit, e puppi dens illudens, tan-
Et flenti similis, Non hac mihi litlora, nautse, quam iiindo dtniquc
senserit frn iidein, pro.
Promisistis, ait: non hasc mihi terra rooata est. spi'ctat pvtitinn e pup.
pi udunca. Et similis
Quo merui poenam facto ?
quse gloria vestra est ; : Xuntir, non
flenti, ail
multi fallitis unum?
•t^^,t^-ILacrymas
Si pueruin juvenes,
Jamdudurn liebam.
si 655
manus impia
• •
prumisistis hac Httora
mini; terra
mihi; iirra h/ec
est rogata
m
nnc -imii
miiu. q uo
f'licto nienii pretnim ?
nostras Qiiic est I estra
gloria,
si Juvenes fallitis
Ridet: et impellit properantibus aiquora remis. pue-
ruin, si multi U71UUI .'
Per tibi nunc ipsum (nee enim preesentior illo Jaiiidudum Jlebain.
Manus impia ridet
Estdeus) adjuro, tam me tibi vera referre. nostras lacrymas, et
impi Hit (Tqunra pro-
perantibus remis. Adjuro nunc tibi per ipsum (nee enim dcus ullus est prascntiur illo) me
tam referre vera tibi ;
TRANSLATION,
" wretches swear
by the sea, and by all the gods, that it shall be so,
" and bid me Naxos was on our right-
give sail to the painted ship.
"
hand, and as I was accoidingly setting sail for the right, What are
"
you a doing, madman, what fury possesses you ?
says every one for
"
himself; stand to the left: the greater part signify their desire by
" I stood amazed, and said, let
nods, some whisper it in my ear.
" some other take the helm, and refused to have a hand in their crime
" or treachery I am insulted by them all, and the whole crew murmur
;
"
against me Of whom Jilthalion, as if, indeed, our whole security
:
"
depended on you, and himself, succeeds, and taking the helm, leaves
"
Naxos, and steers a different way. Then the god deriding them, as
" if he had now first perceived the fraud, looks from the crooked ship
" into the sea, and seemed to weep these, mariners, are not the shores :
" to which you promised to bear me, this is not the land I wished to
" see. have I done to merit this treatment ? What honour for
What
" I had now been
men a child, for many to deceive one
to insnare r
"
"
weeping for some time, the impious crowd laugh at my tears, and
beat the sea with labouring oars. Now I swear to you by Bacchus
"
himself, (nor is there any god more powerful than he) that what I
" relate
to you is no less true, than it is in appearance beyond belief:
126 P. OVIDII NASONIS
tnirantes, perstant in
verbere remorum, de- Velaque deducunt ; geminaque ope currere ten-
ducuntque vela ten- tant.
taique currere gemina
ope. Hcderie impedi-
unt rcmos,serpuntque Impediuiit hederse remos, nexuque recurvo
recurvo nexu, et dis- Serpunt, et gravidis distringunt vela corym-
tringtmt vela gravidis
Corymbis. Ipse cir-
bis. 665
cumdatus quoad fron-
tem racemiferis uiis, Ipse, racemiferis frontem circumdatus uvis,
figitat hastam velatam Pampineis agitat velatam frondibus hastam.
pampineis fro7idibus.
Circa queni tigres, si- Quein circa tigres, simulacraque inania lyncum,
tnulachraquc inania
J.yncum, fcraque cor- Pictarumque jacent fera corpora pantherarum.
pora piciarum pan- Exiluere viri sive hoc insania fecit,
: 670
therarum Jacent. Viri
exiluere, sive insania Sive timor: primusqueMedonnigrescerepinnis,
fecit hoc, sive timor :
miracula verteris f Et
rictus erant liifi, et
At Libys, obstantes dum vult obvertere renios,
spatium resilire manus breve vidit ; et illas
varis erat panda lo- In
fjuenti, cutisquc du-
rata trahebat squam- Jam non esse manus; jam pinnas posse vocari.
inani. At Libys, dum
Tult obvertere obstan- Alter ad intortos cupiens dare brachia funes,
tes remos, vidit manus
resilire in 'breve spa-
Brachia non habuit ; truncoque repandus in undas
tium; et illas
esse manus, jam posse
jam non Corpore desiluit. Falcata novissima cauda est,
rocari pinnas. Alter Qualia dividuse sinuantur cornua Lunse.
cupiens dare brachia
ad intortos funes, non halniit brachia, repatiriv.ique desiluit. in vtidas trtinco corpore. Cauda
7iovissima est falcata, (jtialia curnva dividufc Iti/itr sinuantur.
TRANSLATION.
the ship stood motionless in the sea, no otherwise than if laid
up in
a dry dock. They, wondering, persist in
plying their oars, and lower
the sails, and with redoubled strokes Branches
urge their course.
of ivy hinder the oars, and creep around them in
twining mazes, and
clusters of berries hang from the sails. The god himself having his
head encircled with bunches of grapes, brandishes his
spear covered
with sprouting vine-leaves round him are seen
tigers, and visionary
:
his tail became hooked, like the horns of the new moon.
The}' floimce
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IU. 127
in .spedeni,
Inque chori ludunt speciem
»• r :
lascivaque
1
iac- ("'ti'i'tQue
!-,(-,_ chori, jactantque las-
tailt boo ciixi corpora ; et efflant
mittlteqiie corpora
Protinus abstractus solidis Tyrrhenus Acoetes cruciutci diris tor-
Clauditur in tectis et dum crudelia jussae :
mentis, Styf^ice
Protlnus Tiirrhenus
nodi.
"
joints trembling, and scarcely myself, encouraged me by saying,
" Banish fear from your breast, and make for Chios. Arriving there,
" I
frequent the sacred rites of Bacchus at the lighted altars."
" We
have lent our ears, (says Pentheus), to a tedious far-fetched
"
tale, framed to prevail over our just anger by its delay. Servants,
"
drag him hence headlong, and overwhelm him, expiring in cruel
" Tuscan Acoetes is immediately hur-
tortures, with endless night."
ried away, and shut up in a strong But while the dire instru-
prison.
ments of torture, racks and flames are prepared, Fame tells us, that
the gates flew open of themselves, and that the chains fell from his
hands, loosening of their own accord.
X. The son of Echion still persists, nor does he now command others,
NOTES.
692. Prahuimus longis Pentheus.'] monies of the Orgies, was discovered
Pausanias says, that Pentheus having by the Bacchantes, who punished his cu-
mouuted a tree, to see the secret cere- riosity in tiie manner related by our poet.
128 P. OVIDII NASONIS
TRANSLATION.
but goes himself to where Cithferon, chosen for the celebration of these
sacred rites, resounded with the songs and loud voices of the Bacchantes.
As the mettled steed rages when the warlike trumpeter gives the alarm
with sounding brass, and burns with impatience for the fight, so the
sky struck with continued bowlings, transported Pentheus, and
his rage flames at hearing the distant shouts. There is near the
middle of the mountain a plain, skirted round with woods, itself
clear of trees, and visible on all sides. Here first his mother sees
him regarding the sacred mysteries with unhallowed eyes here ;
she first kindled into madness here she first darted at her own
;
Pentheus her leafy javelin, and cries, " O, my sisters, come quickly ;
" that frightful boar that ravages our fields, that boar I must strike."
The raging crowd rush upon him at once, all meet together, and
gather round him now trembling,
now uttering less violent words,
;
Qs'^
-.
.
, -vj- c ^ """ arbore, frondes
,
4es monita talibus exemplis frequentant nova sacra, dantqiie thura, coiuntque sanctas aras.
TRANSLATION.
Pentheus has now no arms to reach out to his mother but
shewing his ;
mutilated body, destitute of its limbs, Mother, says he, behold. Agave
howled at the sight, and tossed her neck, and brandished her locks in
air ;
and tearing off his head, grasped it in her bloody fingers, crying
" Not more suddenly
out, Lo, companions, this victory is my work."
does the wind bear off from a high tree the leaves loosened by autumn
,colds, than the mangled limbs of Pentheus are scattered by bloody
hands. The Theban matrons, awed by so tragical an example, fre-
quent the new mysteries, offer incense, and attend at the sacred altars.
NOTES.
734. Ismenides.'\ The Theban matrons, so called from Ismenns, a river of BcEOtia,
130 P. OVJDII NASONIS
LIBER QUARTUS.
ORRO. I. A T non Alcitho'e Minye'ias Orgia eenset
r. At AMthdi Mi-
nj/<'i:-'s non cen\et Oi-
^ia dti accipienda, set/
XJL Accipienda dei sed adhuc temeraria,
:
et vaticlnatics erat
iram lecsi ntanhiisfore
Vaticinatus erat. Parent matresque, nurusque,
saviim.Muiresquenu-
rusquc parent :
TRANSLATION.
Alcitlioe, the daughter of Minyas, is not yet brought to think
BUT that the mysterious rites of the god ought to be received but rash- ;
ly persists in denying, that Bacchus was the progeny of Jove, and has
her sisters her associates in the impiety. The priest had commanded
to celebrate the feast, and that both mistresses and slaves shoidd cease
from all manner of work, cover their breasts with skins, untie the
fillets that bound up their locks, adorn their hair with garlands, and
bear in their hands the leafy Thyrsus ;
denouncing the heavy indig-
NOTES.
I.At non Jlcitho'e.'] All the Theban these pretended prodigies are what we
ladies, awed by this fatal example of may now endeavour to explain. One
Pentiieus, resorted to the sacred cere- thing we may remark, that however
monies. But Alcithoe, daii^liter of little truth there is in them, the
pre-
Minyas, and her sisters, still coiitiuucd tended chastisements of Pentheus, the
obstinate, and while others were en- mariners, the daughter of Minyas, and
gaged at the festival, they and their Lycurfius, made Bacchus pass for a very
maids are busy with their usual woi k at revengeful divinity, and the priests did
home. To make the time pass on more not lad to improve the stories, to make
agreeably, one of them proposes, tliat his worship more venerable.
turn. The motion is readily agreed to, ter of Mmyas, the son of Orchomenus.
and she who tirst mentioned it, is en- 1. Orgia.'\ This was a general name
treated to begin. After revolvinj; some given by the Greeks to all religious
time within herself what was most likely rites, but more particularly those of
19 amuse, she tixes upon the story of Bacchus.
Pyrainus and Thisbe, 6. Pectora pelle tegi.] Four
things
From what Ovid says in the last and were required of the women concerned
this book, it evidently appears, that the in the celebration of this festival : to
establishment of the worship of Bacchus cover themselves with the skins of wild
in Greece, met with great opposition, beasts, to have tlieir hair hanging loose,
and that the partisans of it, in order to to adorn their heads with crowns of
make it be received, spread about a vine leaves, and to carry Thyrsuses in
n.ultitnde of marvetlons fictions. And their hands.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IV. 131
Telasq;calathosq;infectaq;pensareponunt: 10 ZZ'qlZ'eVsi^^eTn.
Thuraque dant: Bacchumque vocant, Bromium- fecta, dantque thura,
•r
vocantque BaccMim,
que, IjyffiUniqUe, Jiro7niumqice,Z,yaum-
bi-
Ignigenamque, satumque iterum, solumqiie VZlqT:teTZ^,^Xt
niatreiU. ^"'^blmatrem. Nyseus
.
, , .
1 '-IVT
•
1 . Til additur his, Tliyoneus-
Additur nis JNyseus, indetonsusque Inyoneus, queindetoinus.etcon-
Et cum Lenaeo genialis consitor uvse, ^Lelio''NylMiZsqw
Nycteliusq ; Eleleusq parens, et lacchus, et ^^^^STc^Xr; i ;
Evan :
* 15 plurtma nomina pree-
-,-, /~i •
1
•
A. terea, qua tu. Liber,
tA quae prseterea per Cjraias plurima gentes habes per Graias gen-
ttiea, bipennifcrumque
S*-''*^ Lycurgum sucrilegos ;
Sacrileo-os
o mactas Tvrrhenaque mittis in 'oequor
:
..'... mitisqiieTyr>henacor-
-^ n-1 1
• •
^ .' porainaquor. Tu pre-
Corpora, lu biiugum pictis msignia irsenis miscoiiabijvgumLyn-
r^ ^^
Colla premis lyncura
i
:
n
Bacchae,
Oa- i
se-
cum, itisignia pictis
jjuccIkf, sa.
featyriq ; /,e«L-.-
nnnntnr
4 '? *'' Q.^
" tyrique sequimtur,se-
. 7iexqueebrius,quisus-
titubantes artns
Quique senex ferula titubantes ebrius artus
SI n n
ustmet, et pando non lortiter heeret asello.
,
•
1
tjnet
ferula, et haret jton
jortiter pando aseiiu.
TRANSLATION,
nation of the god against all who continued obstinate. Matrons and
younger wives obey, and quit their webs, and work-baskets, and un-
finished tasks, and offer incense, and call him Bacchus, and Bromius,
and Lyaeus, and Fire-begotten, and Doubly-born, and the only god
that can boast of having two mothers. To these they add Nyseus,
Thyoneus, Lenseus, and the parent of the genial grape, and Nyctelius,
and father Eleleus, and Jacchus, and Evan, and all the other names
under vvhich you, Bacchus, are honoured in the several states of Greece :
for you
enjoy a never-fading yrmth, you are eternally a blooming boy ;
in heaven
you shine the most amiable of the gods, and Avhen you ap-
pear without yoiu" horns you have a virgin's face. By thee the east
has been subdued, to where swarthy India is bounded by the remote
Ganges, Pentheus, and ax-bearing Lycurgus, impious men, fell by
thy vengeance, O venerable god by thee were the Tyrrhene sailors ;
plunged into the sea. Thou controllest with painted reins the necks
and
of the harnessed
lynxes that draw thy chariot. Crowds of BacchsB
Satyrs follow thee, and old Silenus drunk, who supports his tottering
limbs with a staff, and sits but insecurely upon his crooked ass.
Wherever you go, youthful clamours accompany you, and female cries.
NOTES.
II.
Bacchumque vocant that the cups out of which men
We have here a catalogue Bromiumque.]
us,
of the names diank,wereniadeof the horns of beasts;
by which Bacchus was invoked. otlieis will have it, that he was the first
19. Cornibus.] Myihologists are di- who yoked oxen together to plough the
vided as to the reason of the ancients ground, alluding to the notions of
his
ascribing horns to Bacchus. Some tell being the same with Egyptiaa Osiris.
132 P. OVlDIf NASONIS
Quarunque ingrederU, una
clamor juvenilis, et Quacunque ingrederis; clamor juvenilis, et
una famincie voces, Foeminese voces, impulsaque tympana palmis,
tympamtque itnpiilsa
polinii, eraque ron-
caru, biixuxque limgo
Concavaque tera sonant, longocjue foramina
foriimine, stniaiit. Js- buxus.
menldes rogant lit ad-
sis iiiieis
Pacatus mitisque, rogant Ismenides, adsis :
jiacatusque,
coluittqufjussa sacra.
Sola Minyfides i?itus,
Jnssaque sacra colunt. Sola^. PvJinyeides intus,
turbuntcs festa intem- Jntempestiva turbantes festa Minerva,
pi'Mira M'inerva, aut
di'fiirit lanas, aut ver-
Autducunt lanas, aut stamina pollice versant,
tuvt stamina pollice,
aut hcerent tela, ur-
Aut hferenttel8e,famulasquelaboribus urgent. 35
gent que famulus laho- E cjuibus una levi deducens pollice filum :
lonia Derceti,
Palastini credunt ce.
quam An magis ut sumptis illius filia
pennis.
lebrasse stagna versS figurA, squatnis velantibus artus: an magis utfilia illius pennis sumptis.
TRANSLATION.
Drums beat with hands, and hollow cymbals resound, and the boxen
pipe tuney its note. The Ismenian matrons celebrate your sacred
rites, and be^ you would come among them mild and propitious. The
daughters of Minyas alone keep within doors, and disturbing the fes-
tival by their unseasonable work, either comb the wool, or twirl the
thread with nimble fingers, or hasten on the web, and keep their maids
close at work. Of whom, one drawing out the nice thread with skil-
ful thumb, while others, says she, are idle, and frequent these fan-
ciful solemnities, let us, whom Pallas abetter deity detains, endeavour
to sweeten the useful toil by various discourse, and relate by turns some
amusing tale to entertain our disengaged ears, and hinder the time
from appearing long. Her sisters are pleased v.ith the proposal, and
bid her tell the first story. She considers with herself which to choose,
perplexed by the great variety she knew, and is in doubt whether she
should tell of thee, Babylonian Dercetis, whom the Palest ines believed
to inhabit the lakes, with thy form changed, and thy limbs covered
with scales, or rather how her daughter, taking the wings of a dove, spent
NOTES.
33. Intempcstiva Minerva.'] That is, by that have no relation among themselves,
tliose arts of frugality and intliistry here introduces the dau(rhter of Minyas re-
described, which are said to have been counting several fables, that could not
invented by Minerva, but
first ill agreed have been well introduced in any other
with festivals of Bacchus. ninnner.
44. De te Babylonia narret Derceti ] 47. Su.nptis illius flia pemtis.] Lucian
spfi.k.n^of Otrceto.says: I have seen
in
Ovid, who h:is bfyond any other founil
t?je art of ceanecting stories together. Piianicia an image of tliis goddess, of a
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IV. 13J
Extremes
altis iii turribus
egerit annos. fgerit extremos aiiMOi
in altis turribus. An
Nai'san ut cantu, nimi unique potentibuf, herbis nt Nu'is cunfu, lier-
bisquc iiimium poteiiti-
Verterit in tacitos jutenilia corpora pieces :
bus, terterit juvenilia
Donee idem passa est. An,quce poma alba ferebat, corpora in tacitos pis-
ces, doiiec passa est
Ut nunc nigra ferat contactu sanguinis arbor. idiin. An vt arbor
qi'wferebat alba poma,
Haec placet: hanc,quoniam vulgaris fabulanon est, nunc Jcrat nigra con-
tactu sanguinis. Utec
Talibus orsa modis, lana sua fila sequente. fabula placet,
orsaqne
II. est hanc quoniam non
Pyramus etThisbe,juvenumpulcherrimus est
vulgarisfoinila, ta-
alter, 55 libus modis, lana, se-
quente siiafila.
Altera, quas Oriens habuit, preelata puellis, II. Pyramus et This-
be, alter pvlclterri7nus
Contiguas tenuere domos ubi dicitur altam :
juvemim.altera prirla-
Coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem. tapuellisquasoriens ha-
buit, tenuere contiguas
Notitiam primosque gradus vicinia fecit. domos, ubi Semiramis
dicitur cinxisse altam
urbem coctilibus muris, Vicinia fecit notiliam primosque gradus:
TRANSLATION.
her last years in the high towers of Babylon or how Na'is, by her ;
spells and potent herbs, turned the bodies of the youths she had en-
joyed into mute fishes, until at length she suffered herself the same
fate or how the tree, which formerly bore white fruit, has now its
;
berries of purple hue, from being stained with gore. This pleases her
best this, because a story less known, she began in this manner,
;
biiiit by Semiramis, who consecrated it thing farther about it. The parti-
not to Juno, as is j^emialK believed, but cular circumstances wherewith it is
to lier mother Derceto. From all which recounted, are only the embellishments
it
appears, tint tlie young princess of a poetical imagination. The story,
whom Uerceto exposed, was the famed however, contains an excellent moral,
Semiramis lier daughter. and may serve as a lesson both to
49. Nuis.] A nymph of the island parents and children to children,
:
of the Sun, called also Nosola, between that they be not too rash in entering
Taprobana and Carimania. into enL'agements, especially where the
55. Pijramus et Tliisbe.] Pyramus and dif!erent interests of families may form
Tliisbe vfere two youni£ lovers, who lived any considerable obstacles and to pa- :
cause their parents opposed the growing allowances for inclinations, that become
passion, they contrived to steal by night criminal only by their obstinacy.
from home, and meet under a midberry- 57. Ubi dicitttr altam, &c.] The mag-
tiee without the city. Tliisbe came first, nificence and greatness of Babylon is
and bemg obliged to tiy to a cave to taken notice of by almost all ancient
avoid a lioness, dropped her veil m the writers. Its walls are said to have been
fright :
this, had been torn in
after it 60 miles in compass, 87 feet in thickness,
pieces by the bloody teeth of that sa- and in height 330 feet.
que tectus, quo magis t issus erat teiiui I'lma, quam duxerat olim, bo
pfrteWpmmunis ut"ri- Cum fiei'et, pavies domui communis utrique.
I^ vitium nulli per seculalonga notatum;
unJ'rM'quii'i^
duxerat, cum fleret. (Quidnonsentitamorl) primi sensistis amantes.
Quid anior non sensil? -rt. n ,••
a
•
, •iii i
tit voci tccistis iter ;
\os amantes vrimi sen- tutgeque per illud
Murmure minimo transire solebant. 7a
blanditife
^^i^m^
secuia:
loTa
et fecistis iter
Ssene utconstiteraiit, hinc Thisbe, Pyramus illinc:
I'oct; blandttttrque so- -^
i-
„ .
'
it •
terant, hmc.
PyramusThisbe^
illinc, ...ut sinei'es nos toto corpore
Quantum crat, - jungi -
!
they say), why do you thus oppose the bliss of lovers ? What great
" matter would it be to suffer us to unite with our whole
persons or ;
hardfate, they agree to try, if in the silence of the night they can deceive
their keepers, and steal out of doors and having once got from their
;
houses, to leave also the city and lest, perhaps, they might wander
;
long in the open fields, to meet at the tomb of Ninus, and conceal them-
selves under the shade of a tree. For there, by the edge of a cool
spring, stood a tall mulberry- tree, bending under a load of snow-white
fruit the contrivance
:
pleases them, and the light seeming to depart
slowly, plunges at last into the sea, and night rises from the same sea.
Artful Thisbe, turning the hinge gently, gets out in the dark, and de-
ceives her domestics then covering her face with a veil, arrives at the
;
tomb, and sits down under the tree agreed upon. Love made her bold:
when, lo, a lioness, her frothing jaws besmeared with the fresh slaughter
of oxen, comes to quench her thirst in the waters of the adjoining
spring which, when Thisbe espied at some distance by the rays
;
of the
moon, she fled with trembling pace into a dark cave, and as she fled,
leaves her veil, which dropped from her back. The savage lioness hav-
into the
ing appeased her thirst with large draughts, as she returns
woods, tears with bloody mouth the thin veil, which she chanced to
NOTES.
88. Ad busta Nini.'] The sepulchre of nine in depth ; it had the appearance of
Ninus, according to the report of Dio- a strong citadel, at some distance fram
dorus, was ten stadia in breadth, and the city.
136 P. OVIDII NASONJS
" SeriCis egressus
Sr^ nr^^t vestigia vidit in alto 105
vere rert.a vestigia fe- Pulverc cei'ta terse, totOQue expalluit ore
r<r, e.rpalluitque toto -p. i. v •
ut vera reperit
ore.
ryramusrutverovestemquoquesanguine tmctam
ZZtnlf^X^ Una duos nox, inquit, perdet amantes
verdet duos aman-
iiox
Repperit;
^~" n/..^
E quibus ilia
' a,.
fuit long^
.. ..
tes, cqvibus ilia fuit dignissima vita :
dignissima longd vitd ; Nostra nocens anima est. Ego te, miseranda,
nostra anima est iio-
cens. Ego peremi te peremi, ^
llO
miseranda, qui jussi In loca plen^ metiis qui jussi nocte venires
vt venires node in lo- :
ferrum quo erat ac- Ut jacuit resupinus humi cruor emicat alte.
cinctics in ilia; nee ;
TRANSLATION.
find by itself in the fields.
Pyramus coming out later, sees the plain
prints of a wild beast in the deep dust, and a sudden paleness spreads
over all his face but when he found also the veil stained with blood
;
:
" One
night (says he) shall witness the death of two lovers she, in- ;
"
deed, was worthy of a longer life, but my soul is guiltv it is I that :
without delay, as he was dying, drew it from the warm woimd, and
lay
extended supine upon the ground. The blood
springs high, just as when
a pipe bursting, where the lead is decayed, throws out the waters from
the hissing flaw, and, spouting, breaks the air w ith its strokes. The
fruitof the tree, by the sprinkling of the
blood, puts on a dark
complexion, and the root, fattened by the flowing gore, tinges
the hanging midberries with a But now Thishe,
purple\olour.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IV. 1:^7
mam ;
cognovit lucem et ver-
sam formam in arbore,
incertam pomi color) hasret an baec sit.
(Sic facit har'et act hac sit, color
pom/ facit cam sic in-
Dum dubitat,tremebunda videtpulsare cruentuni certam. Dum il'ibital,
videt tremebunda mcnv-
Membra solum retroque pedem tulit oraque
;
:
bra piilsare criientum
buxo solum, tulitque pedem
retrb gereitsque ora
.-
place, and observing the appearance of the tree altered, she doubts if
she is right, so greatly was she surprised at the colour of the fruit. In
this uncertainty she sees
trembling limbs beat the bloody ground, and
starting back with a face pale as ashes, thrills with horror as the sea,
whose siu'face trembles when brushed by a gentle breeze. But when,
after staying a little, she found it to be her lover, she smites her arms,
worthy of gentle usage, with echoing blows, and tearing her hair, em-
braced the beloved body, and washed his wounds with her tears, mix*
ing these watery tokens of her sorrow with his blood then applying her ;
''
lips to his cold face,
"
Pyramus, (she cried,) what cruel disaster has
thus torn you from me ? Pyramus, answer it is your own dearest ;
"
Thisbe that calls hear, and raise your sinking countenance." At
:
"
Alas, (she cried.) ill-fated youth, your own hand and love have c\e-
138 P. OVIDII NASOINlS
porno, ubi
permaturuit et orsa est
quodqite super est re-
gis, requiescit in unci,
Dicere Leuconoe: Vocem tenuere sorores.
urnH..
III. Desinerat .-Tetnpusque medium fuit breve; et Leuconot est orsa dicere : /iorores tenuire
vocem.
TRANSLATION.
'*
stroyed you, I have also a hand bold enough for this one purpose ;
" I have love too this Avill
give me resolution for the wound.
; I will
" follow
you even in death, and be called the unhappy cause and com-
"
panion of your untimely fate and you, whom death only could tear
;
*'
from me, shall not even by death be torn from me. And you, O
" much to be
pitied parents of mine and his, be entreated this one thing
" in the words of us
both, that you would not envy those, whom con-
' stant love and the last moments have
joined, the happiness of being
•'
buried in the same tomb. And you, O tree, who now with
" your
boughs shade the mournful body of one, and are fated soon to cover
" those of
two, retain some token of this our death, and bear always
*'
fruit black, and suited to mourning, as monuments of the blood of
" both." She said and
fixing the point under the bottom of her breast,
;
she fell upon the sword, as yet reeking from the slaughter of her lover.
Her dying prayers reached the ears of both god and parents for the ;
NOTES.
167. Desinerat.'] The story that comes in history, yet it must be owned, that
next in order, is that of Leucothoe they sometimes regard only morality
changed into a shoot of frankincense ; and physics : such seems to be the story
but before the nymph enters upon it, now before us. Leucothoe passed for the
she explains tiie fable of Mars caught by daughter of Orchamus, king of Persia,
Vulcan in bed with Venus. These two because that prince was the first who
fables seem not to include in them any planted in that realm the tree which
thing historical, at least I have been b«ars incense, and which was called
able to find nothing satisfying on this Leucothoe. They add, that the prin-
subject. And indeed, though for the cess was in love with Apollo, because
most part fables have their foundatiou incense is an aromatic drug very much
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IV. \39
Sic fieri
turpis. Superi risgre diuque :
X-' S^^riuft-
Haec fuit in toto notissima fabula coelo
-J- ''i^rTnu
non tristibus optat fieri sic turpis. Superi ristre; heecqiie fabula fuit din notissima in toto
calo.
TRANSLATION.
speak, her sisters sitting round her in silent attention. Love hath cap-
tivated also this Sun, who moderates all things by his ethereal light.
Let us relate the amours of the Sun this god is thought to have first
:
discovered the adultery of Venus with Mars this god sees every thing ;
first. He was grieved at what had been done and betrayed to the ;
husband born of Juno, both the stolen embrace, and the place where
it was committed. He, amazed, and as if deprived of his senses,
dropped the work which he held in his skilful right-hand forthwith ;
he files out slender chains of brass, and nets, whose subtle meshes,
might deceive the most prying eye the finest threads could not ex-
;
ceed this work, nor those delicate fibrils, by which the spider hangs
from the top of a beam. He contrives it too to yield to the gentlest
touch and smallest movements, and draws it with the nicest artifice
round the bed. When the wife and adulterer came into the same bed,
caught both by the artifice of the husband, and his chains, which he
had prepared after a new manner, they stick locked fast in each other's
embraces. The Lemnian deity immediately threw open the ivory
folding-doors, and admitted the gods. They lay shamefully coupled
together ;
yet some of the gods (not the gravest, you may suppose)
NOTES.
nsed medicine, wh<'reof Apollo was
ho tiiralists, the heliotrope is a plant that
the inventor. The jealousy of Cly te is kills the incense-tree,
brought in, because, according to na-
140 P. OVIDII NASONIS
cythereui
nam memorem
exisu pee-
indtcit. o.
Exiffit indicii memorem Cvtheria
•'...JDCenam 190 :
tectos anions. Quid Laeclit ainore pan. Quid nunc, Hypenone nate,
Eurynome, sea
Edidit Eiirynorae, se('
postquamniiacrevit, 210 gfitis ediat partu:
Quam mater cunctas, tarn matrem filia vmcit.
Axe sub liespeno sunt pascua bolis equonmi ; origine prisci Ben.
Ambrosiam pro gramine habent. Ea fessa diur- fZTXTiiesperfJ.
215 Hobent ambrosiam pro
....
Tijg
Membra mmisterns
.
1 1
-^ gramine; ea initrit
membra jessa diumis
reparatque labori.
D.,.
umque ibi
i. .
1
quadrupedes
nutrit,
1
ibi ca
^i,--'-
coelestia
11
pabula car-
ministeriis,repuratque
labori. numquadru-
pedes carpunt
pabula ; noiqur iestia
TRANSLATION,
charming fair, born of Eurynome, the most beautiful of all
others, that
the nymphs of spicy Arabia. But when the daughter grew up, as much
as the mother excelled all other nymphs, so much did the daughter ex-
cel the mother. Her father Orchamus reigned over the cities of Per-
sia, andreckoned the seventh in descent from ancient Belus. The
is
pastures for the horses of the Sun are under the western quarter of
heaven there they are nourished with ambrosia instead of grass this
; ;
their heavenly food, and Night performs her revolution, the god enters
the of his darling fair, disguised in the shape of her mother
apartment
Eurynome, and sees Leucothoe close by a lamp, environed with twice
six maids, lengthening out the smooth threads Avith her twirling spin-
dle. Then, after giving her some kisses, with the moderation of a
mother to her dear daughter " I have, (says she,) a secret to impart :
" to
you, servants withdraw, nor take from a mother the privilege of
"
speaking with her daughter in private." They obeyed, and the god,
now left in her chamber without any witness " I, (says he,) am he ;
eculos mundi: crede, Mundi oculus mihi, crede, places pavet ilia
: :
:
places mihi. Ilia pavet:
metuque, ct coins, et raetuque,
fusus cecidh-e digitis
remiisis. Ipse timor Et colus, et fusus digitis cecidere remissis.
decxtit : nee ille mora-
tus longius, rediit in Ipse timor decuit nee longius ille moratus 230
:
tnansuetusqtie, crudus
Tendentemque manus ad lumina Solis, et, ille
defodit in alta hnmo Vim tulit invitse, dicentem, defodit alta
illam precantem, ten-
dentemque munus ad
Crudus humo :
tumulumque super gravis addit
lumina Solis, et dicen- arense. 240
tem. ille tulit vim milii
invita; addit qtte super
tumulum gravis are- Dissipat hunc radiis Hyperione natus iterque :
na. Natus Hyperione Dat tibi, quo possis defossos promere vultus.
hunc radiis
dissipat
datque iter tibi quo
;
Nee tu jam poteras enectum pondere terrae
poisis promere dtfossos
t'ultus. Nee tu 711/ m- Tollere, Nympha, caput: corpusque exsangue
pha poteras jam tol-
jacebas.
lere caput enectum
pondere terrie; jace-
Nil fertur volucrum moderator equorum 245
illo
bayque corpus ejsa/i- Post Phaethonteos vidisse dolentivis ignes.
gue. Moderator volu-
crum equorum fertur
vidisse nil dolentius
Ille
quidera gelidos radiorum viribus artus,
ille post Pha'ttkonteos vivum tentat revocare calorem.
Si queat, in
ignes. Illo quidem ten-
tat si viribus radiorum Sed, quoniam tantis fatum conatibus obstat.
queat revocare gelidos artua in vivum colorem, Sed quoniam fatum obstat tantis co?iatibus.
TRANSLATION.
drops the spindle afld distaff from her slackened fingers. Her very
fear became her nor did he longer delay to return to his true
;
shape
and wonted brightness but the virgin, though startled at the unex-
;
pected sight, yet charmed with the beauty of the god, gave herself up
silent to his embraces.
Clytie envies, (for neither had the Sun loved her with a common love)
and urged by a rival's resentment, publishes the intrigue, and after
spreading it by the voice of fame, discovers it to her father he, fierce :
and unrelenting, although she stretched out her arms to the Sun, and
protested that he offered violence, yet deaf to all her prayers, cruelly
buried her alive in the deep earth, and ordered a heap of heavy sand
to be thrown over her. The son of Hyperion disperses this with his
rays, and opens a way for you through which to force thy en-
tombed countenance but neither covddst thou now, fairest nymph,
;
raise thy head, oppressed by the load of earth, and thou layest a blood-
less carcass. It is said that the governor of the winged steeds met
with nothing more afflicting than this, since the lightnings in which
Phaeton expired. He
endeavours, if possible, by the force of his rays,
to recall the vital heat into her frozen limbs ; but because Fate opjwsed
an attempt so great, he sprinkles the body and place with fragrant
nectar and after complaining much, yet, says he, I am resolved you
;
shall reach the sky. Soon the body anointed with heavenly nectar
METAMOKPHOSEON, Lib. IV. 143
TRANSLATION.
dissoh'ed away, and moistened the
earth, with its odour and a shoot ;
she only kept her eye fixed upon the god as he moved
along, and turned
her face toward him. It is said that her limbs stuck fast in the
ground,
and that a livid paleness changed her partly into bloodless herbs ;
some streaks of purple are here and there retained, and a flov, er very
like to that of a violet covers her face. She, though held fast by a
root, still turns toward her beloved Sun, and though changed in
shape, yet retains her love.
NOTES.
251. Tanges tamen cethera dixit.] That Achaemenia and Arabia are often cele-
is, you shall spring from the earth an in- brated by the poets for their great fer-
cense-beariug tree, whose gums burnt in tility in frankincense, and all other avo-
the sacred solemnities of the matic plants,
gods, the
odour thereof shall ascend to htaven. '
-
144 P. OVJDU NASONIS
V. Dixerat : et /ac- V. Dixerat: et factum mirabile ceperat aures.
tum mirabile ceperat
aiirci. Pars negant Pars fieri potuisse negant pars omnia veros;
potuisse Jieri ; pars
memorant veros deos Posse deosmemorant: sed nonet Bacchus in illis.
posse omnia, sed non
Bacchus est tl in illis. Poscitur, Alcithoe, postquam siliiere sorores :
TRANSLATION.
V. She ended and the wondrous fact charmed their ears some
;
:
deny that it was now possible, others maintain that all things are in
the power of true gods, but will not grant Bacchus to be of the num-
ber. When all the sisters were silent, Alcithoe is requested to take
her turn, who swiftly throwing her shuttle through the hanging web ;
I speak not, said she, of the well-known amours of Daphnis the Ideau
was masculine, and took one of the fe- were descended of Ouranus and Tita,
minine gender, some very wise head- whose names import heaven and
piece feigned that S^cython had changed earth.
his sex. 283. Et Crocon, &c.] As to the fable
281. Te quoque nunc adamas.'] As to of Crocus and Smilax, we are told, that
what regards the metamorphosis of Cel- that constant and happy couple were
mius, we learn from Pliny, that he was changed into flowers, for having led a
a young man of remarkable wisdom and chaste aind innocent life.
METAMORPHOJ^EON, Lib. IV. 145
Unde sit infamis : quare malc^ fortibus undis 285 ^'^"^^ '">"'<' •^aimftris
r-. ,
•
II- sit irifami.s, quuic iner-
J , 1 , ,
C, r 1
• riatdcs eimtriiSre sub • /- 1
•
Perspicuus hquor est, Stagni tamen ultuna vivo '•oium. cunua jxiiustris
C-,
espite cmguntur, semperquevirentibus herbis.
, i-i 1 1
• """ ""St lUic, nee ulra-
siernes,necjuuci acuta
cusjiide. Liquor est jier-
spicuus: tamen ultima stagni cinguntur viio cespite, herbisque semper lirentibus.
TRANSLATION,
streams, and softens the limbs that are bathed in it: the cause is se-
cret, but the power of the fountain is well known. The Naiads nursed
in Idsean caves a child born to Mercury by the
Cytherean goddess his :
face was such wherein you might easily trace the features both of
father and mother he also had his name from both. He, when he was;
arrived at his fifteenth year, forsook his native mountains, and leaving
Ida, where he had been nursed, rejoiced to wander over unknown re-
gions, and visit unknown rivers curiosity lessening the fatigue. He ;
went to the Lycian cities, and the Carians that border upon the Ly-
cians here he saw a fountain, whose waters were clear and trans-
;
parent to the very bottom no fenny reeds, nor barren sedges, nor ;
pointed rushes deformed its banks the water is bright, yet the brink :
into one. Hermaphroditns finding him- cumstance was what gave to that foun-
self now to tain the reputation of changing the
partake of the nature of both
sexes, implores his parents, that the sex.
waters of that fountain .'miiiht have the '296. Lvcias.] Lycia was a province
same effect upon all that afterward en- of Asia Minor; Caria another province,
te red into them. adjoining to Lycia.
L
146 P. OVIDII NASONIS
nee qtitn soieat jiectcre Flectere quec soleat, nee qu?e eontendere eursu :
arcus, nee qua: soleat
contendere cwsu; sola-
qii at"J iT\-
i
i\aiaaiim celeri non nota iJianee.
oolaquc
illi fama est dixisse sorores 305
?;r.Stir«r//; S^epe suas :
suas dix-
forores stepe Salmaei, vel jaculum, vel pietas siime pharetras .i :
tsse lUi:
SaimactySume -f~,, "j. ..,' .
quid deeeat se. Nime iVloUibus aut lolus, aut moliiDus uicubat herbis.
t^::n:^n^!^:Z^ Sa^pe legit flores. Et tune quoque forte legebat,
"moiiibtl'^h(^{is^''''s7''l Cumpuerumvidit: visumque optavithabere.316
lezH flares, et legebat Nec tamen ante adiit, etsi properabat adire,
fortt tune quonue,eum, r\ v •,
•
• •
j
Ueus
-i
pido J sive es mortalii, qui genuSre te sunt beati, et frater est felix, et profectb soror,' si qua
est iibi, est fortunata, et nutrix qutr dedit ubera.
TRANSLATION.
ever dwells in the green grass but neither fit for hunting, nor skilled
;
to bend the bow, nor practised in the chase, and the only one of all
the Naiads not known to swift Diana. We
learn from Fame, that her
sisters often urged her Salmacis, take a dart or painted quiver, and
;
mix your ease with the hardy toils of hunting but she neither takes :
a dart, nor painted quiver, nor mixes her ease with the hardy toils of
hunting, but sometimes bathes her comely limbs in her own spring,
and often smooths her locks with a comb of box wood, and surveying
herself in the stream, consults what may best become her. Now
covering her body
with a transparent garment, she reposes on the soft
leaves, or the soft grass. Often she employs herself in gathering
flowers, and then by chance was gathering some, when she saw the
boy, and wished to enjoy
whom she saw. But although she hastened
to address the youth, yet she did not advance till she had adjusted her
mien, looked round that her robe sat well, settled her looks with nicest
care, and merited to be thought beautiful then thus began to speak :
:
the god of love if a mortal, happy they who begot you, happy your
;
brother, and happy indeed your sister, if any such you have, and the
NOTES.
311. CUoriaco pectine.'] That is, a torum, a moiinfain of Galatia, abound-
comb of box-wood, so called from Ci- iug in tJiis kind of wood.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IV. 147
Sed lonoe cunctis lonoeque potentior illis,' 325 **? *i «'"'* *?"""*
"*
„ .
.~,
.
T , '''". ** dtgnabere quam
>
•
1 ,v
Aut ebon tmcto est, aut sub candore rubenti, bus aprica arbore, aut
r \
C\um trustra resonant aera auxiiiaria, Lunae.
, tiricto ebori,autlun(c ru-
.
•
uie utpuer, et ut imb-
servatus ill vacuis her-
oumma pedum, i- j' -J
taloque tenus vestigia tingit.
.
bis,it huc,ethinciiiuc.
Nee mora; temperie blandamm captus aquarum, tsi^que'^^i^tZ.
Mollia de tenero velamina corpore ponit. ^" aiiudcntibus
345 Nec mora undis.
rr\ ^ captus tem- :
same bedchamber. The Naiad, after this, was silent the boy's face ;
was marked with blushes he was a stranger to love, but his blushes ;
ing back, and hid under a covert of shrubs, she lay there concealed,
and put down her bended knees to the
ground. He, but a boy, and
thinking himself unobserved upon the silent green, trips round and
round the fountain, and
dipsfirst the soles of his feet, and then as far
as the ankles in the to the shore.) Nor
sporting stream, {Waters playing
is there
any delay but pleased with the refreshing coolness of the in-
;
viting waters, he strips the airy garments from off his delicate limbs.
L 2
148 P. OVIDII NASONIS
TRANSLATION.
Then was Salmacis astonished, and inflamed with the desire of his
naked body the eyes too of the nymph burn, as when the sun shining
;
with a clear orb is reflected from the opposite image in a glass scarce :
can she bear delay, scarce defer the wished-for joy already she de- ;
sires to embrace him, already distracted with love, she hardly contains
herself. He, clapping his body with his hollow palms, swiftly leaps
into the water, and throwing out his arms in alternate strokes, shines
in the limpid stream, as if any one should shut images of ivory, or
white lilies within a crystal case. I have prevailed, cries the Naiad;
he is mine and throwing all her clothes to some distance, jumps into
;
the middle of the stream, and holds him, struggling to get loose, and
snatches reluctant kisses, and puts down her hands, and touches his
unwilling breast, and Avrithes herself round him, now one way, now
another. In fine, as he is striving to get from her, and endeavours, if
possible, to escape, she folds herself about him like a serpent, when
borne aloft by the regal bird she, as she hangs in the air, ties up
:
his head and feet, and with her tail entangles his spreading wings ;
and as ivy uses to creep round the tall trunks of trees, or the poly-
NOTES.
366. Polypus-'] A kind of fish, so the great grandson of Atlas ;
for Atlas
called from the great number of its feet, was the Maia the mo-
father of Rlaia,
wiierevviih it entangles its prey. ther of Mercury, and Mercury begot
368. AthQitindes. ] Hermaphroditus, Hermaphroditns.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IV. 149
TRANSLATION.
pus holds fast his enemy catched under the waves, by letting down
his claws on all sides. The descendant of Atlas still persists, and
denies the the hoped-for joy she presses hard, and clinging to
nymph ;
him by every limb, Though you thus struggle, says she, perverse youth,
yet shall you not escape so may the gods ordain, and let no day sepa-
;
rate him from me, or sever me from him. Her prayers were heard by
the gods for the bodies of both were united in one, and the same face
;
is
spread over them as if any one should see branches under a com-
;
mon rind unite in growing, and shoot up together. Thus, m hen their
bodies met together in a strict embrace, they are no more two, but a
single body under a double form such as could not be called either
;
son, who bears the name of both Mhoever enters into this fountain a
:
man, let him come out but half a man, and suddenly grow effeminate
in the waters he touches. Both
parents, moved,
confirmed the request
of their and the founlain witli an ambiguous
two-shaped son, tinged
medicine.
150 P. OVIDII NASONIS
VI. Finis erut die- VI. Finis erat dictis et adhuc Minyeia proles
:
tis, ct adlinc proles
Minye'ia ttrget opus,
spernitque deum, pro-
Urget opus, spernitque Deum, festuraque pro-
Janutquc festnm ; cum fanat: 390
subitb tympana noil
apparetitia obstrepv- Tympana cum subito non apparentia raucis
Cre raucis sonis; et ti- et adunco tibia cornu,
bia adunco cor/iu, Obstrepuere sonis :
myrrhdque crocique •
Zrr'nfius%t!ibm,
Fumida j
amdudum latitant per tecta sorores ; 405
faisaque simniachru Diversseque
'
locis igncs
° ac lumina vitant.
savaramferarum ulu-
tare. Sorores jamdudum latitant perfumida tecta, diversaque locis, vitant ignes et lumina.
TRANSLATION.
VI. There was now an end of their stories but the daughters of ;
Minyas still urge tasks, and despise the gods, and profane his festival ;
saffron and myrrh shed their fragrant odours and an accident almost :
beyond belief their webs began to look green, and the hanging cloth
;
vines, and what before were threads, have now the appearance of soft
tendrils. Vine branches spring from the looms, and the purple lends
its splendour to the painted grapes. And now the day was ended,
and the time come on, which can neither be called darkness nor light,
but the dubious confines of night and day suddenly the house seems :
to shake, and blazing torches burn, and the whole fabric shines with
bright fires, and deceitful forms of savage wild beasts howl. Already
the sisters hide themselves in the smoking house, and all, running dif-
ferent ways, endeavour to avoid the light and fires but while they :
thus seek to lurk, a thin membrane overspreads their tender limbs, and
their arms nor does the darkness suffer them to
light pinions enclose ;
know by what means they lost their former shape. They were not borne
NOTES.
399. Finis erut dictis.'] Tlie daughters fable is, that these sisters, after whom
of Mim/as, Alcithoe, Arsino'e, and Leiico- an exact search was made, having pri-
tho'e, still persisting in their obstinacy, vately left the city the Thebans, to con-
;
and refusing to in the worship of ciliate greater veneration for the god,
join
Bacchus, are transformed into bats. published the story of their being trans*
All that niythologists say upon this formed in this manner.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IV. 1 51
TRANSLATION,
up by feathers, and yet they supported themselves by pellucid wings.
Endeavouring to speak, they utter a voice vv^eak and feeble, proportioned
to their small bodies, and
express their low complaints in a squeaking
sound. They frequent houses, not woods, and, hating the day, fly abroad
in the night,and derive their name from the late evening star.
VII. The deity of Bacchus was now acknowledged over all Thebes :
and his aunt Ino every where relates the power of the new god of so :
many sisters, she alone was exempt from grief, unless what was occa-
sioned by her sisters. Juno beheld her with a soul elevated and vain,
NOTES.
4i6. Turn vera &o.] This fable
totis, hisgovernor what was contriving against
is founded on
history, and we have no- him, causes a vessel to be privately
thing to retrench but the marvellous. equipped, and having put on board his
Athamas, the son of Mollis, having father's treasures, embarked with his
espoused, after the death of his first sister Helle, and arrived at Colchos,
wife, Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, soon where he was well received. His sister
after divorced her for the sake of Ne- Helle chanced to fall overboard and
phele, by whom he had Pliryxus and was drowned, whence these straights
Helle. But that princess, being also got the name of Hellespont. Mean-
divorced in her turn, he took back Ino, time Alhanias, coming to discover the
and by her had Learchus and Melicerta. intrigues of his wife, suft'ered himself to
Ino could not bear the children of be so far carried away by his rage, that
Nephele, because, being first-born, he slew Learchus, whom Ino loved ten-
they had the right of succeeding to the derly, and wanted to sacrifice her also
crown ; and therefore sought, by all to his vengeance : that unhappy prin-
manner of ways, to destroy them. As cess, to avoid the king's fury, fled from
the city of Thebes was at tiiat time af- the palace with her other son Melicerta,
flicted with a cruel famine, which, it is and seeing herself pursued, ascended a
said, she occasioned, by poisoning the rock, whence she precipitated herself
grain before it was sown, she made the into the sea. It was given out, to com-
oracle of Apollo to be consulted upon fort the rest of that unfortunate family,
the subject ; and having gained the that the gods had changed Ino and Me-
priests to her interest, it was answered, licerta into sea-deities, under the names
that, to appease the angry gods, the of Leucothoe and Palemon. Divine ho-
Thebans must sacrifice the children of nonrs were paid them, and their wor-
Nephele :
Pliryxus, understanding from ship passed into several countries.
152 P. OVIDII NASONIS
j>uichris
iliac.
descendunt
Pallor hyems-
Iguoraut ubi Sit nign lera regia Ditis.
:
T\T-n J"j. ^•
que late tenent loca MiUe capax a.
'^^antqZ'^rquol
^rbs habct utquo frctum de tota flumina terra,
ducit ad 6'tygiam urbem sit, aut ubi /era regia tiigri ditis sit. Urbs capax habet mille aditus,
et portas undique apertas, utque J'retum accipit flumina de told terrd,
TRANSLATION.
in her offspring, in her consort Athamas, and in the foster god she :
could not bear it, but said within herself, Could one born of an adul-
tress transform the Mseonian sailors, and overwhelm them in the sea,
give the bowels of a son to be torn in pieces by his own mother, and
cover the three daughters of Minyas with new wings ? And can Juno
do nothing but lament the griefs unrevenged ? Is that enough for me ?
Is this my Himself teaches me what am I to do. It is
only power?
by the lessons of an enemy and as to what mad-
right to profit even ;
tinual clouds; along this path the ghosts of those newly deceased,
to whom funeral honours have been j)aid, descend. Paleness and winter
every where infest those dreary regions, and the ghosts newly arrived
know not the Avay that leads to the Stygian city, or where to find the pa-
lace of grim Pluto. This spacious city has a thousand avenues leading to
it, and a thousand gates ever open on and as the sea I'cceives
all sides ;
NOTES.
435. Siniulacraqne functa sepulclms.'] burial, were not ailowecUo pass the river
For such as liaii not received the ritesof Styx, qs welearn tVoni Homerand others.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IV. 153
Sic omnes animas locus accipit ille ; nee uUi tJe"mZZ Z'^eft
uin popuio.
Exio-uus populo est, turbamve accedere sentit. exiguus
Errant exsangues sine corpore et ossi bus umbree : dere. umbra: exsan-
filled with the crowd. The bloodless ghosts wander without body or
bones some frequent the forum, others the palace of the infernal king
: ;
and the threshold groaned under the sacred load, Cerberus up-reared
his mouth, and barked thrice from his triple throat she calls to
triple ;
sat before the gates of the prison, barred with adamant, combing from
their tresses the baleful snakes. The goddesses, how soon they knew
Juno amid the thick shades of darkness that surrounded her, rose up ;
the place which they guard, is called the place of woe here Tityus, ;
NOTES.
Nec ulli exiguus, &c.] That is,
441. Acheron and Night. They were three
whatever number of ghosts arrive there, in number, Tisiphone, and 3Ie-
Alecto,
it easily receives all, nor is sensible of gcera; the avengers of wickedness
and
the increase of number, either because crimes.
the place itself is of vast extent, or be- 456. Tityus.l The son of Jupiter and
cause souls take up po space. Elara, whom, because of his uncommon
449. Cerberus-I A dog which the poets bulk, the poets fabled to
be the sou of the
ravish Latona,
feigned to be the keeper of Pluto's pa- earth he, attempting to
:
'
conjuge Y et exponit
causas viteque, odiique ; quidqtie velit: Quod veUet,erat, ne regia Cadmi
TRANSLATION,
vultures. You, Tantalus, can never reach the water that flows round
your and the tree that hangs over you starts backward from your
lips,
grasp. Sisj^hus either runs after, or rolls up the stone, which will
soon tumble again from the summit. Ixion is whirled round, and both
follows and flies from himself. The daughters of Belus, who dared to
contrive the destruction of their husbands, are continually taking up
the water which they lose from their leaky vessels. All whom, the
daughter of Saturn beholding with a stern air, especially Ixion, and
again after him Sisyphus Why, says she, does this alone of the bro-
;
NOTES.
457. Tantale.'] Tantalus was the son piter formed a cloud in her shape, on
of Jupiter ; his crime is differently told which he begot the Centaurs. He was
by the poets. Some will have it that he afterward cast into Hell, and made fast
betrayed the secrets of the gods iutrust- to a wheel that incessantly turns round.
ed to him others, that at an entertain-
; 462. Belides.] The grand-daughters
ment he gave the gods, he caused his son of Belus ;
for Belus had two sons, Da-
Pelops to be served up. His punish- naus and jEgyptus the first had fifty :
ment of suffering the greatest extremity daughters, and the other as many sons.
of hunger and thirst, amid provisions of These latter demanded the fifty daugh-
all kinds within his reach, is universally ters in marriage but Danaus having ;
%^':^S'p>e^J^-
^«- Aesere inamabue
Laetva redit Juno: quam coelum intrare parantem
T-, .
,rm T •
re;^niim,rejerquetead
•
J.-
•
TRANSLATION.
terly extirpated, sisters might involve Athamas in some
and that the
dreadful crime ; she joins promises, commands, and entreaties together,
and solicits the goddesses. Juno having ended, Tisiphone, stung with
rage, shakes her hoary tresses, and threw back from her mouth the
snakes creeping round it, and thus began There is no need of long :
this hateful kingdom, and return to breathe the air of a better region.
Juno returns joyful, Avhom, as she entered heaven. Iris, the daughter
of Thaumas, purified by springling upon her celestial dew. Nor was
there any delay the cruel Tisiphone catches a torch soaked in blood,
;
and covers herself with a cloak red with fluid gore then begirt with a ;
twisted snake, she leaves the dark realms Grief and Fear, and Terror :
beset the passage then extending her arms twisted round with folds of
;
vipers, shook her locks the snakes thus tossed, are beard to dash ;
against each other; some lie scattered upon her shoulders, others
NOTES.
479, Thaumantias Jtis.'] Iris was the daughter of Thaumas and Electra, and the
messenger of Juno.
156 P. OVIDII NASONIS
ma prtecordia: turn
Consequitur uiotos velociter igmbus ignes,
^peVeundfmorScon- Sic victrix, jussique potcus, ad inania magni
r.rifoT..:&"'r«t RegnareditDltis: sumptumque recingitur an-
victrix, potensque jus- S'Uem. 510
«a \mg,ii dms"rLui'- Protiuus ^olides media furibundus in aula
|"r "^SSX- Clamat 16 comites, his retia pandite sylvis :
des inrne-
furibundus
dia aula, clamat: loco-
Hj^ modo cum gemina
o visa est mihi prole
i
lesena.
mites, pandite retia his sylvis ; hie letena est modb visa mihi cum gemind prole.
TRANSLATION,
sliding round her temples, utter dreadful hissings, and vomit gore, and
dart their forky tongues she immediately, with pestiferous hand, tear-
;
ing two snakes from her middle locks, throws them at Ino and Atha-
mas they creep round, and cling to their bosoms, and fire their souls
;
with frantic rage, nor are their bodies affected with any wounds, the
mind alone feels the dire contagion. She had also brought with her
a monstrous composition of liquid poison some foam of the mouth of ;
Cerberus, and venom of the hydra, and wandering errors, and the for-
getfulness of a blind mind, and villany, and tears, and rage, and the
love of murder, all pounded together, which mixing with fresh blood,
she boiled in a brazen kettle, and stirred about with a stalk of green
hemlock and while they stand trembling, she throws the furious
;
poison into both their breasts, and disturbs their inmost bowels then :
often tossing her torch in the same round, still urges the agitated fires,
and adds flame to flame. Thus triumphant, and discharged of the
commands of the goddess, she returns to the shady realms of Pluto,
and lays aside the snakes wherewith she had been wrapt round.
Immediately the son of -Slolus, filled with rage and madness, cries out
in the middle of his
palace. Ho, companions, spread your nets in these
woods, for here I just now saw a lioness Avith her two young and iiantie, ;
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IV. 157
Discutit ossa ferox. Turn denique concita mater, auras more fuiida:, J'e-
roxque discntit infan-
(Seu dolor fecit, seu sparsi causa veneni ;)
tia OSS a rigido saxo.
Turn dcnlque mater
Exululat passisque fugit male sana capillis 520
;
concita ,( scu dolor feeit
hoc, sett causa sparsi
Teque ferens parvum nudis, Melicerta, lacertis, venetii) exululaf,maU-
Evoe Bacche Bacchi sub nomine Juno
sonat. quc Sana, fiigit passix
capillts. Fcremque te
Risit: et, Hos usus prsestet tibi, dixit, alumnus. parvum Mclicerta nu-
dis lacertis,sunat Evoe
Imminet a^quoribus scopulus pars ima cavatur :
Baccke. Juno risit sub
7iotniiie Bacchi, et dix-
FIuctibus,et tectas defendit ab imbribus undas :
^^„„j„,„ pya.stet
.
Aiuii
lo
-^
/r-
'
Summa ris;et,
~ fontemque
^ *
in apertum
^ porri^it tibi/wsusus.- scopuius
imminet aquoribus:
86
qUOr. ima pars ca vat ur fluc-
~
tibus,'et defendit tac-
Occupat hunc (vires insania fecerat) luo t as undas ab imbribux. :
Mittit, onusque suum percussa recanduit unda. tem in tequor. I'no oc-
:
M.
Proxima cui ccelo cessit, Neptune, potestas
T
agna quidem posco
,
:
;
TRANSLATION,
follows the footsteps of his wife as of a wild beast then snatching :
Learchus from the bosom of his mother, smiling, and holding out his
littlearms, twice or thrice whirls him round in the air, in the manner
of a sling, and dashes, outrageous, his infant bones
against the hard
stone then at length his mother roused, (whether through occasion
:
laughed, and said, May the god you have nursed, do you this only
service. There is a rock that hangs over the sea, whose lower part is
hollowed by the waves, and defends the waters sheltered under it from
rain the summit is steep and
pointed, and stretches out a front over
:
request great things ; but shew some compassion to a kindred race, whom
you see tossed about upon the vast Ionian sea, nor disdain to receive
them into the number of your gods I sure, ought to have some in- :
TRANSLATION.
the middle of the deep, and thence derive
my Grecian name. Nep-
tune yielded to her request and taking from them all that was mortal,
;
changed their names, and gave them the form and majesty of gods.
Ino took the name of Leucothoe, and Melicerta was the
god Palemon.
VIII. Her Sidonian attendants tracing as far as they could the
prints of her feet, saw the last upon the very brink of the lock nor ;
longer doubting of her fate, they tore their hair and garments, and
bitterly lamented the house of Cadmus they threw the odium of all
:
upon Juno, and accused her of injustice, and a too barbarous revenge
of her rival. Juno could not bear their reproaches, but said, I will
make you also eternal monuments of my cruelty. Her threats were
immediately accomplished for she who had bore her the truest affec-
;
tion, cried, I will follow my queen even into the sea, and striving to
jump, stuck fast to the rock, nor could be moved from the place where
she stood. Another, while she endeavours to
repeat the blows upon
her breast, as is usual in sorrow, perceived her arms to become stiff.
This, as she stretches out her hands over the waters of the sea, con-
verted into a stone, continues to reach out her hands over the same
waters. In another, you might see her fingers suddenly hardened in
her hair, as she tore her locks, which she had seized
by the roots in ;
fine, every one remained in that posture in which she had been found
.it the
beginning of her change. Some transformed into birds fly
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IV. 159
Vipereos sparsi
'
/->^
^
iA •
,A'T.--.
Quem SI cura deum tarn certa vindicat ira,
J'ectus Sidone, sparsi
,
lamities, while they trace back the first sad disasters of their family,
and run over in discourse their past misfortimes. Whether, says Cad-
mus, was that serpent sacred to any deity, which I pierced with my
spear, when, having left Sidon, I scattered along the grouud the vi-
per's teeth, a kind of seed till then imknown: if for this crime the
avenging gods pursue me with so steady a hate, may I also be changed
to a
serpent, and sweep the ground with a long train. He said and, ;
changed to a serpent, sweeps the ground with a long train, and per-
ceives scales to crust over his hardened skin, and his black body va-
ried with
green spots he falls prone upon his breast, and his legs,
:
joined into one, by degrees shoot out into a spiry tail his arms still ;
infelix monstris.
his
Cadme, quid lioc? nhi
Cadme, quid hoc ? ubi pes ? ubi sunt humerique
pes? ubi sunt liumcri- manusque? 591
quemannsque ! Et co- Et
lor, et ficies, et dum color, et facies, et, dum loquor omnia ? Cur non
omnia? Cur
loquor
calestes, non vertitis
Me quoque,coelestes,in eundem vertitis anguem?
me quoque in eundem Dixerat ;
ille sua3 lambebat conjugis ora :
TRANSLATION.
that of a man, Draw near, said he, O wife, draw near, unhappy wife,
and while yet any thing of me remains, touch me take my hand while ;
that nature had left him. His wife, beating her naked breast with her
hand, cries. Stay, Cadmus, unhappy Cadmus, stay, nor glide away in
such a monstrous shape Cadmus, what means all this ? Where is your
:
foot ? Where
your shoulders and hands ? your colour, your face, and,
while I speak, every limb? Why, heavenly powers, do you not trans-
form me also into the same kind of serpent ? She said he licked his ;
wife's face, and crept into her dear bosom, as of one he knew, and
almost stifles her with embraces, and Avinds round her well-known neck.
Every one present (for they had attendants with them) is terrified ;
cably along till they come within the covert of an adjacent grove.
Nor
do they now shun the sight of men, or hurt Avith poisonous wound hut, ;
though serpents, still gentle ; they remember what they were before.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IV \CA
TRANSLATfON.
X. Yet was a mighty consolation to both under this change of
it
<•!» ;
the conqueror hung over the Lybian sands, bloody drops of the Gor-
into various
gon's head fell down, which the ground receiving, animated
snakes, whence these regions are filled and much infested with serpents.
Thence driven by jarring winds through the boundless expanse of
heaven, he is tossed on every side like a stormy cloud, and from the
summit of the sky surveys the far-distant earth, and flies over the whole
world. Thrice he saw the cold Bear-stars, and thrice the bending aims
of the Crab. Oft-times he is hurried to the west, often toward the
east ;
and now day declining, the hero, afraid of trusting
to his wings
during the darkness of night, stopt in the western part of the world,
in the kingdom of Atlas there he wanted to take a little rest, till the
:
morning-star had ushered in the bright Aurora, and Aurora the Chariot
of the Day. Here Atlas, the son of Japetus, reigned, in vastness of
body surpassing all men. The utmost boundaries of the world was
under this king, and the sea, whose waters are under the panting horses
of the sun, and receive nightly the burning axle. thousand flocks, A
NOTES.
turned
620. Jndc per immensum.] After tiie producing the Medusa's head,
defeat of the Gorj^'ons, Perseus passed him into a stone; that is, slew him in
through Mauritania, where the famous the mountains which bear his name ;
Atlas reigned. Tliat prince, warned by and carried off the golden apples from
an oracle to be on his guard against a son the gardens of the Hesperides, which
of Jupiter, denied him the common was kept by a dragon given them from
rights of hospitality, upon which Perseus Juno.
METAMORPHOSEON, Liu. IV . 163
Arbor: et nunc praedae titulum Jove natus iia- Atia, v"" tua aiimr
KtiKi f spoliabitur a urn, et na-
ueulL. f^fg Juie liabebit liiinc
ploits,
admire mine I beg for rest and a hospitable reception. He was
;
Atlas, a time will come, when your tree will be spoiled of its gold, and a
son of Jupiter have the honour of the prize. Fearing this. Atlas had
secured his gardens by strong walls, and given them to be kept by a
watchful dragon, and would suffer no strangers to enter his kingdom.
To our hero likewise he said Far hence, be gone, or the fame of your ;
preterided exploits,
and your relation to Jupiter, are like to avail you
but little. He adds violence too to his threats, and endeavours to force
him away reluctant, and addressing him sometimes in a resolute tone,
sometimes with all the ai'ts of persuasion. Finding himself unequal in
strength for who could pretend to be a match for the great Atlas ?
;
Since then, says he, you slight the offer of my friendship, accept this
gift when, turning his head the other way, he exposes from the left
;
woods his arms and shoulders become precipices and what was fot
; ;
164 P. OVIDII NASONIS
ft quod fuit caput
ante, est cacumen in
Quod caput ante fuit, summo est in monte ca-
summo monte. Ossa cumen.
fiuiit lapis. Turn auc-
tus in omnes partes, Ossa lapis fiunt: turn partes auctus in omnes
crevit in i7nmensum,
(sicDii voluiitis) et Crevit in immensuni, (sic Di statuistis et omne
omne ccelum cum tot
sideribus reqitievil in
Cum tot sideribus caelum requievit in illo.
illo.
Xr. Ilippotadesclan-
XI.CIauseratHippotades^eternocarcereventos:
serat ventos irterno Admonitorque operum coelo clavissimus alto
carcere, Luciferqve Pennis ligat ille resumptis
udmonitor operum enit Lucifer ortus erat-
ortus clarissimus alto Parte ab utraq;pedes; teloq ; accingitur unco 665 :
ccclo. J He ligat pedes
ab vtriique parte, re- Et liquiduni motis talaribus a'era findit.
su7nplis pennis, accin-
giturque unco telo, et
Gentibus innumeris circumque infraque relictis,
findit liquidum a'ira
miitis talaribus. Gen- ^thiopum populos, Cepheia conspicit arva.
tibus itinumeris relit- Illic immeritam maternoe pendere linguae
tis circumqtie infra-
que; conspicit populos Andromedam poenas injustus jusserat Ani-
^thiopum, area Ce- mon. 670
pheia. iii,c immms
Ammon jusserat Andromedam immerilam pendere poenas maternic lingus.
TRANSLATION,
merly his head, is now the summit of the mountain. His bones grow
into solid rock, and increasing on every side, he shoots out to an im-
mense size, (so the gods decreed), affording a support to heaven with
its whole host of stars.
XI. The grandson of Hippotes had shut up the winds in their eter-
nal caves and the Morning star that ushers in the labours of the day
;
now appeared with all his splendour in the high arch o/ heaven. He
binds to either foot the wonted wings, and arming himself with a
bearded dart, cuts the yielding air with his waving ancles. Leav-
ing nations without number below and around him, he at last
reaches the people of ^Ethiopia, and the realms of Cepheus. There
Ammon had unjustly doomed Andromeda to suffer punish-
guiltless
ment for her mother's crime ; whom, when the hero of the race of
NOTES.
662. Clauserat Hippotadcs.] After the 66-2. Ilippotades.'] ;5Zahis, the son of
adventure of Atlas, Perseus penetrated Jupiter and Acesta, and the grandson
as far as iEtliiopia, where lie rescued of Hippotes. Tliis prince, by an exact
Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus observation of the course of the winds,
and Cassiope, from the monster to the rising and setting of the stars, the
which she was exposed, married her, stated seasons of the year, the sitiiation
and brought her with him into Greece ; of countries, and the flux and reflux of
her mother having preferred her beauty the sea, arrived at such a knowledge of
to that of the Nereids, the oracle of the weather, that he could with great
Ammon pronounced, that her daughter exactness foretell the approach and du-
nuist be exposed upon a rock to a sea- ration of a storm.' Upon this the poets
monster. It is easy to see, that Ovid founded ilie notion of his being the god
<»rounds this narration of his upon his- of tile winds.
tory ; but that
he borrows the help of 6/0. AmmoJi.'] Jupiter Ammon, who
fiction by way of oruament to it. Cle- had a tem|»le in the deserts of Libya,
ravd Vossius, who attempted to trace and was vi'orshipped under the form
out the mysterious meaning, says, An- of a ram he being consulted in re-
:
dromeda had been promised to an in- gard to the sea-mouster, wiiich Nep-
.solent, inhuman pirate, who, by liis in- tune at the request of the Nereids had
cursions, infested the coasts of jEtlii- sent against tlie Ethiopians, had an-
opia, on condition that he would give no swered, that Andromeda must be ex-
molestation to commerce Perseus, who
; posed to it which the poet here, not
;
arrived at that time at Cepheus' court without reason, calls an unjust com-
with his small fleet, gave chase to the pi- mand.
rate, slew him and married Andromeda.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IV. 165
gales moved her waving tresses, and melting tears flowed down
her
cheeks, he would have taken her for a statue of marble. He stands
amazed, and without knowing it, nourishes the subtle flame and ;
struck with the appearance of her amiable form, almost forgot to wave
his wings in the air ; when he lighted, O
virgin, said he, worthy to
wear no such chains, but those only by which fond lovers are linked
together in soft embraces, tell me at my request your name, your
country, and why you are thus loaden with chains. She at first is
silent nor dares, as being a virgin, to speak to a man, and would with
;
her hands have hid her rising blushes, but that she Avas bound. Her
eyes (this was now her full extent of power) were bathed in tears.
Upon his often urging her for a reply, fearing lest she might seem to
conceal some crimes of her own, she discovers her name and country,
and her mother's guilty confidence of her beauty. She had not yet
ended her story, when the billows roared, and the monster with his
head high above the waves, is seen traversing the vast sea with his
breast spread wide over the
deep the virgin screams the mournful
; ;
arduus in nuhes. Ut
umbra viri est visa in summo
eqiiore, fera in umbram visam. Utque pro'pes Jovis,
stevit
cum vidit draconem in vacuo arvo, preebentem liventia terga Phabo, occupat aversum,figit-
que avidos ungues squamigeris cervicibus neu retorqueat strva ora.
TRANSLATION.
thus the stranger, You may have time enough for tears and grief, but
the season for relief is extremely short ? Were I to demand her for
my Avife I, Perseus the son of Jove, and her whom shut up in a
;
heaven, to add merit too to so many titles. I request that she may be
in the clouds on light pinions, and as his shadow appeared upon the
surface of the deep, the monster leaped in wild rage at the floating
shadow as when the bird of Jove spies in the silent plain a serpent
;
he
turning his livid back to the sun, he seizes him behind, and lest
should turn upon him his poisonous mouth, fixes his greedy talons in
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IV. lb/
JN unc laterura costas, nunc tenuissima cauda jaicato ensc, nunc ter-
qua
Desinit in piscem, falcato vulnerat ense. 726 ^J^^^ gZ"paTent,
Bellua puniceo
r mistos cum sanauine
O fluctus ""'"^ '^"^'"^ lutcruw.
ttitnc qua Cauda tc-
^- ^ . .
,•
;
TRANSLATION.
his scaly neck thus the winged hero precipitating his course with
:
rapid flight through the cleaving sky, stoops full on his back, and buries
the crooked sabre up to the hilt in the right shoulder of the raging
monster tortured by the cruel wound, sometimes he bounds aloft in
;
air, then sinks again under the waves sometimes turns quick upon his ;
foe, like a savage boar when chased with the mingled cries of sur-
rounding hounds. He on swift pinions avoids his eager bites, and
wherever it is most exposed, wounds with his crooked sword his back
covered with scaly armour sometimes passes it between his ribs, and
;
again where his tail lessening by degrees, ends in a fish the monster :
vomits up floods of water dyed with streaming blood the hero's pinions ;
wet with its sprinkling, bear him heavily, nor daring to trust any longer
to his dropping wings, he above
spies a rock whose summit a])pears
the smooth waves, but is covered by a troubled sea leaning upon this, ;
and holding its upper ridge with his left hand, he with repeated strokes
pierced the bowels of the savage monster. Shouts and loud applauses
fill the shore, and
ring in redoubled peals through tlie air. Cassiope
and her father Cepheus rejoice, and salute him, their son-in-law, and
own him the support and preserver of their house. The virgin, the
cause and reward of his labour, now loosed from her chains, walks
NOTES.
719' lnachidcs.'\ Perseus, so called Aigi vex, over whom A crisius, the grand-
fiom loacbusj the ancient king of the lather of our hero reigned.
168 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Ipse abluit
trices
7>iatius
haiistd uiidu,
i U--
Ipse manus hausta victrices abluit unda :
na ; sternitqne virgas
7Hita.i sub trquore, rt Sternit, et imponit Pliorcynidos ora Medusae.
imjmnlt oru JMcdusrc
Fhorcynklos. lirga Virga recens, bibulaque etiamnum viva medulla
recinx, ttiairmuinque Vim rapuit monstri, tactuque induruit hujus :
dotatatavtifacti;ta-
das Hymenaus Amor-
Argumeuta, sonant. Keseratis aurea valvis
que ignes sutiantur largis odoribus ; sertaque dependent lectin : lotique, lyr<rq)ie, tibiaqw,
et cantus,/elicia argumentu lali aiiimi, sonant : atria aurea, patent tola, valvis rescralis,
TRANSLATION.
along the shore ; he purges his hands, smeared tuith the monster s blood,
in water taken from the sea; and lest the hard sand might by its
propagate the wonder through the deep such even at this day is the ;
then seized Andromeda, the prize of his victorious fight, nor once de-
manded the dowry kingdom. Hymen and Love walk before them
shaking their torches, and the altars burn with rich perfumes gar- ;
lands hang from the roofs flageolets, and harps, and flutes, and songs,
;
1
._
780
dila, dcri(iquc,et saxa
horrentia jrwxosissyi-
"*•' I'ldisseqiie 2>assi}n
per agros, perque vias,
simulacra liominum,
Mxe repercusso, tormam aspexisse iVledustr. :
jcrarumque, conversa
ex ipsis in silicem, visa AfedusUl; se tamen adspexisse formam hurrejidts Mtdusa', repercusio
*re clypei, quod gerebat lava;
TRANSLATION,
The doors are thrown wide open, and the gilded halls displayed ; the
nobles of Cepheus' court sit down to a feast furnished out by the king
in the richest manner. When the banquet was ended, and their minds
cheered Avith the gifts of generous Bacchus, the grandson of Abas began
to inquire concerning the customs and manners of the country. When
Lyncides had satisfied him in every thing he had to ask on this sub-
like freedom addressed the gallant hero, and begged to
ject, he with
know by what bold adventure or successful arts he had cut off the head
of Medusa, bristling with snakes. The grandson of Abas tells him,
that beneath the cold Atlas there lies a vale, fenced on all sides with
solid walls, the entrance to which was guarded by the two sisters,
daughters of Phorcys, who had but one eye between them, whicli they
used by turns that he cunningly slipping in his hand, while it Avas
;
given from the one to the other, carried it off, and then through dark
recesses, and devious wilds, and rocks covered with trackless woods,
arrived at the habitations of the Gorgons,and saw in all the plains and
ways as he passed, images of men and wild beasts converted into stone
NOTES.
tunity of seeing Medusa ; that
782. A^re repercusso.] Tliis looking- afterward
glass or reflecting shield our hero is said Perseus seizing her by the liair with his
to have received of Minerva, and by left liand, and keeping his eye tixed
virtue of it could see without being seen. upon the image in the shield, took hi«
Lucian tells us, that Minerva herself falchion in his right, and cut off her
held this reflecting shield before him, head and then flew off before the other
;
and by that means gave him the oppor- sisters knew any thing of it.
170 P. OVIDIl NASONIS
shield which he bore in his left hand, beheld unhurt the figure of Me-
dusa and while sleep held both her and her snakes entranced, severed
;
her head from her neck the blood that flowed from the wound, gave
:
birth to winged Pegasus and his brother. To these he added all the
other dangers he had encountered in a long course of wandering; what
seas, and what lands he had seen under him from on high, and what
stars he had touched in tossing his wings yet he ended sooner than :
was expected ; upon which one of the nobles again begged to know,
why only one of the sisters had snakes alternately mixed with her hair.
Stranger, replied Perseus, since you require a history worthy to be re-
lated to this noble assembly, hear what you want to know she was :
her comely locks for I have met with those who had seen her. It is
;
unpunished, changed the Gorgon's head into hideous snakes. And now
too the same goddess, to strike the greater terror into her enemies,
bears upon her breast the hissing snakes of the Gorgon.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. V. m
LIBER QUINTUS.
ORDO.
I. inVUMQUE ea Cephenum medio Dana- I. Dumqve heros Da-
JL/ eius heros nae'lus commemorat ea
medio agmine CephC'
Agmine commemorat fremida regalia turba
;
niim ; regalia atria
complentur fremitu
Atria complentur nee conjugalia festa
:
turba ; nee clamor est
Qui canat, est clamor sed qui fera nunciet arma. qui canat conjugalia
;
festa ; sed qui nunciet
Inque repentinos convivia versa tumultus 5 fera arma. Possisque
u.isimulare convivia
Assimilare freto possis quod saeva quietum: versa j;j repentinos tu-
Ventorum rabies motis exasperat undis. multus, freto, quod
quietum, stcva rabies
Primus in his Phineus, belli temerarius auctor ventorum exasperat
motis ttndis. Phineus
Fraxineam quatiens aratse cuspidis hastam ; primus in his, et teme-
rarius auctor belli,
En, ait, en adsum prsereptae conjugis ultor 10 quatiens fraxineam
Nee mihi te pennae, nee falsura versus in aurum hastatn eerata: cuspi-
dis, ait: En, en adsum,
Jupiter, eripient. Conanti mittere Cepheus, ultor prarcptte con-
jugis. Nee penn<B,nec
Jupiterlversus in falsuni aurum eripient te mihi. Cepheus rcclamat illi couaiUi mittere ^a-
culum :
TRANSLATION.
I. A ND
while the hero Perseus, in the midst of Cepheus' assembly,
jLjL recounts these things, the royal courts are filled with a raging
multitude nor is the clamour such as proclaims a nuptial feast, but
;
such as denounces dreadful war and you might compare the enter-
:
tainment, thus converted into sudden disorder, to the sea, which, when
smooth, an impetuous storm of winds exasperates by the commotion of
the waves. Phineus the chief among them, and rash contriver of the
insurrection, brandishing an ashen, brazen-pointed spear Behold, ;
est tibi iiiotemjwreiiiw Quo peritura luit. i>isi SI, crudelis, id ipsmn'20
ilrudeTife'igis "id' ip- Exigis, ut percat luctuque levabere nostro.
:
sum, ut pereat, lera- Scilicet haud satis est, quod te spectante revincta
l^ereque nostro luctu.
ha ud est satis,
•Scilicet, est :
quod rtriucta est te
Et nullam quod opem patruus sponsusve tulisti
spectante, et quod tu
patruus sponstcsi'e tu-
listi nullam opem
dolebis insuper quod
••..__
Insuper a quoquam quod sit servata dolebis
Prsemiaq ? Quae, si tibi magna videntur :
1' eripies :
^
;
:
ittservala a quoquam,
eripiesque pramia /
i-
uDi
Jj,x illis
i
m
• • •
,-, •^^ . , j / j t) • •
i.
Persea, alter no vuitu, tJt stetit ilia toro ; stratis denique Perseus, tum
ignorat petatne hunc
«n ilium. Cunct tnsque brevi, misit hastam contortam viribus, quantas ira dabat, in
Perscum, nequicquam. Vt ilia stetit toro, tumdenique Peneus exsiluit stratis,
TRANSLATION.
" the
*'
acknoAvledgment returned for such great services do you recom- !
pense with this reward the life of Andromeda preserved, whom not
"
Perseus, if you require the truth, but the otfended power of the Ne-
"
reids, but Jupiter Animon, and that monster of the sea which came
" to be satiated with
my bowels, took from you. She was lost to you
" from that moment in which she was to have
perished but you, it ;
" would
seem, barbarous man, desire that ^very thing, that she may
"
perish, and want to be eased by my affliction. It is not therefore
"
enough, that she was bound in your very presence, and that you her
" uncle and Do you moreover grieve,
spouse offered no assistance.
" that she was
preserved by another and will you grasp at his re- ;
" wards ?
Which, if they appear great in your eyes, you should have
*'
boldly sought them on those rocks to which they were affixed. Suffer
" him who hath
gained them, by whom my old age is not childless,
" to bear
away the prize due to his merits, and contracted for by a
" solemn
promise and be persuaded, that not to you he was preferred,
;
Turn verh
et as-
mensas
moveri, se prohibevte.
animos. Erat Indus Athis, quern tiu- BelUca Pallas adest,
Datque et protegit fratrem <f-
mine Gange gide, datqne animos.
Athis erat Indus ifuem
Edita Limnate vitreis peperisse sub antris
Liinnute, editajluvii-
Creditur, egregius forma: quam divite cultu
nc Gangc, peperisse,
sub riti-fis antris, e-
annis 50
Augebat, bis adhuc octonis integer ; gregiiis farma, quam
uvgibat divite cvltu,
Indutus chlamydem, Tyriam,quam limbus obibat adliuc integer, annis
indutvs
Aureus: ornabant aurata mouilia colium ;
bis octoiiis;
chlamydem Tyriam,
Et madidos myrrha curvum crinale capillos. quam limbiis aureus
obibut : mimilia aura-
lUe quidem jaculo quam vis distantia misso ta ornabat colium, et
ciiriiim rrinale copil-
arcus. 55
Figere doctus erat ; sed tendere doctior l:ismadidos myrrhH.
nle quidem erat doc-
Tumquoq;
-, .
T^ .
T lentamanuflectentemcornuaPerseus
,.^ . .
J, 1 J.
'^ tus figcreqiiamvis dui-
fetipite, qui media positus tumabat
in ara, tautia jacuio misso ;
sed- doctior tendere ar-
cus. Perseus pevculit stipite, qui positus fumabat in media aru;e\xm turn quoque Jiecten-
tem lenta cornua ma?iu creditur ;
TRANSLATION,
from the couch, would have plunged the retorted weapon in his enemy's
breast, had not Phineus fled behind the altar and, O shocking; the ;
!
altar afforded shelter to the miscreant. The spear, however, not thrown
in vain, stuck in the forehead of Rhsetus, who, after he had fallen, and
that the lance was extracted from his scull, he spurned, and with his
blood besmeared the tables that stood near. But then the wild rabble,
inflamed with ungovernable rage, jointly hurl their weapons and ;
there some who cry out, that Cepheus, M'ith his son-in-law, ought
ai-e
to perish. But Cepheus was gone out from the entrance of the palace,
of hospitality to witness, that
calling Right and Faith, and the gods
this tumult was raised in spite of all his endeavours to suppress it. The
warlike Pallas interposes, and with her shield protects her brother,
and inspires bim with fortitude. There was an Indian, one Athis,
(whom Limnate, sprung from the river Ganges, is supposed to have
eminent for his
brought forth beneath these transparent streams)
which he set off by the richness of his habit, and as yet but
beauty,
sixteen years of age dressed in a purple tunic bordered with a golden
;
^"Js'imw iiiT"e/"non
Et comes, ct vcri non dissimulator amoris ;
liissimuiator'verinmn.
Postquam exlialantem sub acerbo vulnere vitam
lavit^'A'thhi"cih>7an-
Deploravit Athin quos ille tetenderat, arcus
;
cii.i
rat;
quos ille
et dixit :
tetende-
Cert a-
j^g^ longc^m
& nueri
^r
:
quo plus 65
fato laetabere 't.
.i
mina siiit tibi mecum ; Haec omnianondum
Invidise, quam lauQis, haoes.
Dixerat: emicuit nervo penetrabile telum:
fatoptrriuo'hiZI
Sir'SwK'"ir«< Vitatumque, tamen sinuosa veste pependit.
omnia hac, cim telum Vertit in huuc harpen spectatara csede Medusae
penetrabile emicuit ...-i
i-
nervo; vitatumque, ta- Aciisioniades, adigitque in pectus
i.-ii
at ille
i^A
7U •,.
•
j.
:
-i
•
he snatches the bow Avhich he had bent, and said Let the contest be :
now with me you shall not long rejoice in the youth's untimely fate,
;
whence more envy than honour accrues. Scarce had he ended, when
the piercing arrow sprang whizzing from the string, and, though avoided,
yet hung in the plaits of his robe. The grandson of Acrisius turns
in the slaughter of Medusa,
against him his falchion, already proved
and plunged it in his breast but he now expiring, with eyes swimming in
;
to the
darkness, looked round for Athis, and sinking upon him, carried
shades below the consolation of dying with his friend. When lo, Phor-
bas of Syene, the son of Methion, and Lybian Amphimedon, eager for
the fight, are tripped by the pavement made slippery with warm gore ;
the sword of Perseus prevents their rise, thrust between the ribs of
the and into the throat of Phorbas. But the hero did not attack
one,
with his sword Erythus, the son of Actor, whose weapon was a large
NOTES.
74. Si/enites.] Syene was a city of vflgypt upon the Nile.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. V. \16
TRANSLATION,
battle-axe, but seizes with both his hands a huge cup, high embossed,
and tosses the massy goblet at his head he vomits up red blood, and;
falling backward beats the ground with his dying head. He then slew
Folymedon sprung from the blood of Semiramis, and Abaris from near
^ount Caucasus, and Lycetus the son of Spherchius, and Elyces with
unshorn and Phlegias, and Clytus, and treads upon the heaps of
locks,
dying men he had piled up. Nor durst Phineus venture to engage hand
to hand with his
enemy, but darts his javelin, which, missing its aim, hit
Idas, who had in vain declined the war, and joined with either party :
Protenor, and Lyncides Hypseus. Among them was also aged Emathion,
an observer of equity, and one who
respected the gods who, because ;
his years
permitted him not to engage in the war, fights only with his
tongue, and walking to and fro among the troops, endeavours to ap-
NOTES.
86. The son of Sphercheus, a river of Thessaly.
Spherchioiiidem.']
176 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Chromis demctit caput Huic Chrcmis, amyjlexo tremulis altaria palmis,
erne huir, amptcxo al-
taria treimilis palmis :
Deraetit ense caput quod protinus incidit aras ; :
Quod pfotinus hicidit
ara ; atque ibi edidit
execruntia verba semi-
Atque ibi semiauimi verba execrantia lingua 105
animi lingua ; ct exspU Edidit, et medios aniniam exspiravit in ignes.
ravit animum in me-
dics Hinc
Hinc gemini fratres, Broteasque et csestibus Ani-
ignes. ge-
minifraCres, Broteas- Invicti, vinci si possent csestibus enses, [nion
gue ct Ammon, invicti
castibits, si enses pos- Phinea cecidere manu Cererisque sacerdos
:
quod ad tempnra al- Sed qui pacis opus citharam cum voce moveres ;
oenti vitta. Tti quo-
que Japetide, non ad- Jussus eras celebrare dapes, festumque canendo.
hibendtis in hos usus,
sed qui moveres cilha-
Cui procul astanti, plectrumque imbelle tenenti,
ram cum voce, opus Petalus, I, ridens, Stygiis cane C3etera, dixit, 1 15
pads eras jvssus cele-
Orare dopes, festum- Manibus : et Isevo mucronem tempore figit.
que, canendo. 'Cui ad-
stanti procul, tenenti- Concidit ct digitis morientibus ille retentat
que imbeUe plectrum Fila IvrsB casuQue canit miserabile carmen.
Petalus ridens dixit, _- •'.
^ „.
:
- ... .
TRANSLATION.
pease the impious tumult him Chromis pursues, and as with trembling
;
hands he embraced the altar, cuts off his head, which falling imme-
diately upon the altar, seemed there with faltering tongue to utter
M ords condemning their Avicked broils, and breathed out his soul amid
the sacred fires. Upon this two brothers, Broteas and Ammon, in-
vincible in combats of the cestus, (if the cestus was a match for
swords) fell by the hand of Phineus, and Ampycus the priest of Ceres
having his temples bound with a white fillet. You too, Japetides, not
fit for services like these, but who tuned
your voice in concert with the
peaceful lyre, and had been commanded to crown the entertainment
and nuptial feast with music to whom, standing at a distance, and
;
Letifer ille locus, quern postquam vulneris auctor aecrt'os farris. Fer-
missum .sf.etit in
Sino'ultantem
* aniraam, et versantem lumina vidit riim
_-, TT
.
1 TT 'j obliquo iiiguinc
vuiiquv hvjus.
•
ciiguiiie I'ujus.
1
Bactrms Haicyoneus. -Hoc quod premis, mquit, nie locus est let'ifer
line Quern postquam
hcl-iP+n
lldUcLij T^fi
iKifj trius Halcj/nueus auc-
tor muneris vidit siu-
De tot aa'ris
t>
terrae l~i exsang;ue
corpusque :
& reliquit.
i
gultantem ammum, et
Torquet in nunc hastam cahdo de vulnere raptam versuntem liimina, in-
quit : habcto hoc ter-
Ultor Abantiades media quai nare recepta
: rip quod fireinis de tot
agris; reliquitqiie cor-
Cervice exacta est, in partesque eminet ambas. pus exsaiigue. Aba/i-
TRANSLATION.
African endeavours too to snatch a bar from the left side of the door,
hut Coryphus the son of Marmanis pierced his right hand in the attempt,
and rivetted it to the wood. Abas, with his spear transfixed his side,
nor did he fall, but hung dying by the door-post to which his hand was
wedged. Melaneus is also slain, who had followed the camp of Perseus,
and Dorylas, rich in Nasamoniac land. Dorylas, rich in land, than whom
none possessed fields of greater extent, or gathered from them so many
heaps of grain. The missive steel stood fixed obliquely in his groin, a
mortal part; whom, when Bactrian Haicyoneus, the author of the wound,
saw breathing out in sobs his soul, and rolling his convulsive eyes, he
of so many acres formerly thine, and
taunting said, Take this only spot
left his bloodless carcass. The great grandson of Abas, impatient to
whirls against him the spear drawn from the warm
aA'enge his friend,
wound, which, entering by the ridge of his nose, pierced his neck, and
struck out from either side and, fortune directing his hand, he killed
;
N
178 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Clanlt momnrdit jam-
Occidit et Celadon Mendesius
lum ore. Celadon Men- occidit Astreus,
Matre Palaestina, dubio
de.Hvset pccidit : As- dubi p-eiiitore creatus. 145
trei/s occidtt, creatus
Tp'i.i
•
P
Paicstina mairc, sed/Cithionque sagax quonclam Ventura videre ;
iZ%r'sTgaV i^ere ^""0 ave deceptus falsa regisque Thoactes :
miger et
regis, Agyr-
tes infamis caso ge- Uimm
,i«„rv. 1ZlQ
i.^o
nnum. Conjurata ag- Hac pro parte socer irustra pius, et nova conjux,
i .
volant propter
ditie,
utrumque latus, prce- Tigris ut, auditis diversa valle duorum
terque et lumen et au- Extimulata fame, mugitibus armentorum : 165
res. Hac adplicat hu-
'oMros^ad saxa"mag7ia Nescit utro
potius Tuat ; et ruere ardet utroque :
columnar, gerensque
terga luta, versusque in adversa agmina, sustinet instantes. Chaonius Molpeus, et Nabatheus
£themon instabant, primus sinistrci parte, alter dextra, : Ut tigris extimulata fume, mugitibus
duorum armentorum auditis diversO, valle, nescit utro potius ruat,et ardet mere utroque :
TRANSLATION.
Mendesian fell, born of a Palestine mother, but of an un-
Astrseiis fell,
certain father. And Athlon sagacious at foreseeing things to come, hut
noAv deceived by a false prognostic and Thoactes the king's squire, and
;
TTtliomnn
Xiiueuiun • Neque enim Etiiemon
, ^Q^ temptcs, sedfurit ;
Sed furit et,' cupiens
r alto dare vulnera collo,' 170
:
«« cupiens ,iarevuine-
. . ra alto collo, jregtt
JNon circumspectis exactum viribus ensem ensemexacuimvirtbus
'
Fregit et extrema percussse parte columns
: ZlinaZTsFauu el
Lamina dissiluit ; dominique in gutture fixa est. SXT^tSr^^
Non tamen ad letum causas satis ilia valentes sutturedomim.Tamen
TM ii-m-i -r» ,• c "'*" plaga non deUit •
1.
:
r>,i
Ihescelus utque manu jaculum latale parabat
'^.""»
guis
.,«''
amicus
'»"*";.
tite vestros vultus, st
adest
"'er-
, et
1 j_
ZITZpyx ^u'gi^
Ementitus erat, clypeo quoque flumina septem
Jfj;,tr«^^;r^'T:
Argento partim, partim cselaverat auro, mi; inque petendo,
° * '^
deilera diriguit, mota
nee citra, nee ultra. At Nileiis, qui erat ementitus se genitum septemplice Nilo, et celaverat quo-
que Clypeo septem Jiumina, partim auro, partim argento, ait :
TRANSLATION.
to rush out, and is eager to
valleys, knows not on which side
in different
aiming a blow fuJl at his neck, broke his sword, wielded with incautious
in splinters, and the
strength, against the pillar, which immediately flew
point rebounding, stuck in its master's throat. But, as that Avound Avas
too slight to effect his death, Perseus stabs him with his Cyllenian fal-
chion, trembling, and in vain extending his feeble arms for mercy. But
the hero, when he saw his valour like to be overpowered by the multitude
of his enemies, Since you yourselves, says he, force me to it, I will seek
assistance even from an avert whatever friends are
enemy ; your sight
present and he produced the Gorgon's head. Seek another, said Thesce-
;
lus, whom thy prodigies may move, and as he prepared to dart the fatal
weapon, stuck in that posture a marble statue. Ampyx, who stood next
him, heaves his sword at the breast of Lyncidas full of a daring spirit,
nor could be moved
presses on, his right hand became stiff,
but as he thus
to one side or another. But Nileus, who falsely boasted that he was the
son of seven-mouthed Nile, and who had inlaid in his shield its seven
streams, partly in silver, and partly in gold liehold, says he, Perseus, ;
the origin of
my race, and carry to the silent shades of death this mighty
NOTES.
176. Cyllenide coiifodit harpe.'] That is, from Mercury, born on Cyllene, :i moim-
with his falchion, which he had received tain of Arcadia.
N 2
180 P. OVIDII NASONIS
adspice Persru pri-
mordia nostra: gentis, Aspice, ait,Perseu, nostras primordia gentis : 190
feres magna solatia tacitas solatia mortis ad umbras,
mortis ud tucitas um- Magna feres
bras, cecidisse tanto
viro. Ultima pars vo-
A tanto cecidisse viro. Pars ultima vocis
cis est suppressa in
In medio suppressa sono est: adapertaque velle
medio sono : Credasqtie
adaperta ora vclle lo-
Ora loqui credas ; nee sunt ea pervia verbis.
qui, necea sunt pervia
verbis.Eryx increpat Increpat hos, vitioque animi, non crinibus, inquit,
hos,inquitque; torpe-
tis vitioa7iimi,non cri-
Gorgoneis torpetis, Eryx, incurrite mecum 196
nibus Gorgoneis ; iti- Et prosternite humi juvenem magica arma mo-
currite mectim, et pros-
ternitehumi juvencm
ventem.
moventem magica ur- Incursurus erat ;
tenuit vestigia tellus :
ma. Erat incnrsurus,
tellus tenuit vestigia ; Immotusque siliex armataque mansit imago.
mansitque immotus si- Hi tamen ex merito poenas subiere. Sed unus 200
lex,armataque imago.
Hi tamen subiere pa- Miles erat Persei, pro quo dum pugnat, Aconteus,
nam
•«u/«ex mtriio
t,t merito ; sea
sed /-^( .a
^
-,1^
erat unus Aconteus,
CjOrgOne COUSpecta SaXO COUCrCVlt ObortO.
Tumpi^giwi, 'aorione Qucm ratus Astyages etiamnum vivere, longo
cmicrevito- Ense ferit sonuit tinnitibus ensis acutis.
fnsvccta,
bortosaxo: Quern As-
:
•
-r^ * e\r\r i
tyages rat us etiamnum lium stupet Astvagcs uaturam traxit eandem 205
I :
says he, by the cowardice of your minds, not by any power of the Gorgon ;
rush on with me, and level with the ground a youth who deals in magic
arms. He was going to rush on, when his feet stuck to the earth, and he
stood an immovable rock and armed statue. These all underwent the
fate they deserved but there was one Aconteus, a soldier of Perseus, in
;
While Astyages wonders, he took on the same nature, and the look of one
admiring continues in his marble face.
It were tedious to rehearse the names of men from among the vulgar.
Two hundred bodies yet remained for the fight two hundred bodies be- ;
truth, touches the bodies that stood next him they were all marble. He :
turns away his eyes, and Mith suppliant hands and arms extended, in
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. V. 181
Erant marmor
Corpora marmor erant, avertitur atque ita supplex, titur, atque supplex,
: ; aver-
;
Causa fuit meritas melior tua, tempore nostra. 220 odium, cupidove reg-
ni, compulit nos ad bel-
lum
Non cessisse piget, nihil, 6 fortissime, prseter Movimtis arma
pro conjuge. Tua causa
;
Hanc animam concede mihi tua czetera sunto. : fuit melior meritis,
nostril tempore.
Piget
Talia dicenti, neque eum, quem voce rogabat, non cessisse. O fortis-
sime, concede tiihil
Respicere audenti, Quod ait, timidissime Phineu, mihi pra:ter hanc ani-
Et possum tribuisse, et magnum munus inerti est, mam:
tua.
Cetera sunto
Persens ait ilU
(Pone metum) tribuam nullo violabere ferro. 226 audenti
: dicenti talia, 7ieque
respicere eum
Quin etiam mansura dabo monumenta per sevum : quem rogabat voce ;
timidissime
Inque domo soceri semper spectabere nostri
Phineu,
:
tribuam et quod pos-
Ut mea se sponsi soletur imagine conjux. sum tribuisse, et quod
est magnum munus
Dixit : et in
partem Phorcynida transtulit illam, inerti ; pone metum,
violabere nullo ferro.
Ad quam se trepido Phineus obverterat ore. 231 Quin etiam dabo mo-
Tum quoque conanti sua flectere lumina cervix. numenta mansura per
avum; setnperque spec-
Diriguit, saxoque oculorum induruit humor.
tabere in domo nostri
soceri, ut mea conjux
Sed tamen os timidum, vultusque in marmore soletur se imagine
sponsi. Dixit : ct
supplex, transtulit Phorcynida
in illam partem, ad
Submissoeque manus, faciesque obnoxiamansit. 235 quam Phineus obver-
II. Victor Abantiades
patrios cum conjuge muros terat
se trepido ore.
Cervix diriguit conanti
turn quoque flectere sua lumina, hum-orqne oculorum induniit saxo. Sed tamen, os timidum,
vultusque supplex, manusqtie submissee, faciesque obnoxia mansit in marmore. II. Victor
Abantiades
TRANSLATION.
cruel monster: and hence with that stone-making face of Medusa what-
ever she be hence with it, I entreat you.
;
Not hatred, nor the desire of
a kingdom urged me to war I took up arms for my wife. You had the
:
vengeful sword shall hurt you. Nay, I will even give a monument to
continue through ages, you shall he ever beheld in the house of my father-
in-law, that my wife may solace herself with the image of her betrothed
spouse. He said, and transferred the daughter of Phorcys to that side,
toward which Phineus had turned himself with a trembling countenance.
Then too, as he was endeavouring to turn away his eyes, his neck grew
stiff, and the moisture of his eyes hardened into stone but his timorous;
decta, rector parvte Exerees odium nee iniqua finis in ira est.
: 245
Seriphi, nee virtus ju-
venis spectata per tot Detrectas etiam laudes fictamque Medusse
:
TRANSLATION.
city and as the avenger and protector of his innocent mother attacks
;
Proetus. For Proetus, having expelled his brother by force of arms, had
taken possession of the citadel of Argos. But neither by the help of
arras, nor the citadel which he had unjustly seized, was he able to pre-
'
stood, and thus addressed the learned sisters The fame of a new foun-
:
NOTES.
250. Tritonia.'] Pallas so called from Seriphus in respect of Minerva, who was
Triton, tbe name of a lake and
river in directing her course westward toward
Africa, where she first appeared, and was Bwotia.
educated. 254. Virgineumque Helieona petit.] He-
252. Cythno Gyaroque relictis.'] Islands licon was a mountain of Baotia ; the
of the number of the Cyclades in the cpitliet Virgineus is here given it, because
vEgean sea they were to the right of
: it was sacred to the Virgin Muses.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. V. 183
Constitit: et doctas sic est afFata sorores. 255 «'"" rnonte consutu i
T-i p •
i
,
•
1 ,
• et SIC est uffata doctas
raraa novi tontis nostras pervemt ad aures ;
xorores. Fama novi
xcipit Uranie qusecunque est causa videndi 260 strum: vidi ipsum
:
^ ,. et,11,- 1 1 r» 11 1
acl latices deducit Pallada sacros ;
tibi, diva, vtdendi has
-i^
domo^, et gratissima
rontis,
Quae mirata diu factas pedis ictibus undas, fmnaes"mra, J""pe-
Silvarum lucos circumspicit antiquarum ; 265 j^Zis, "t d^duat'pai-
'•"^'^ ad sacros laHces.
Antraque, et innumeris distinctas floribus herbas
T-,,.^
vocat
.^ .!•• !•
loci
, QurF due m/rata U7idas
ictibus pedis,
:
from the blood of his mother. Urania replies whatever goddess, is the :
long the waters produced by the stroke of a horse's hoof, looks round upon
the groves of the ancient wood, and the caves, and the grass distinguished
by innumerable flowers, and praises the happiness of the muses, both in
their studies and retreats
upon which one of the sisters thus replies,
:
O Tritonia, who, had not your valour and native greatness inclined you
to nobler deeds, woidd
undoubtedly have made one of our company you ;
NOTES.
255. Doctas sic est affuta sorores.^ There terpe so called because she delij;hts, has a
is no part of mythology more controverted mask in her left hand, and a clnb in her
than what regards the mnses. pre- Some right. She was the inventress of tragedy,
tend that they were nine numi)er, in whi(;h is implied in the mask she bears.
others confine them ;
but the to three She holds commonly Hercules' club, pro-
most commonly received notion is, that bably because tragedy is a representation
they were nine in number, the daughters of the manners of heroes, among whom
of Jupiter and Mnemosyne. This is the Hercules was the most illustrious. Thalia,
tradition thai Ovid follows, whom we or the flourishing, who invented comedy,
afterward find in 268, calling them
v. holds also a mask in her right hand.
Mnemonidas. As ancient authors and Medals a
represent her leaning upon
monuments confound often the names of pillar. Melpomene, or the alluring, is
the muses, and tlie symbols by which they distinguished by the Barbiton, or harp,
are represented, it is worth while to ob- Terpsichore, or the diverting, is repre-
serve here the most common manner of sented with a flute in her hand, both on
describing them. Clio, the first of the medals and other monuments. Crato, or
muses, who derives her name from glory the amiable, is not easily distinguished,
or renown, holds in one hand a
guitar, and Polyhymnia, so called from singing many
in the other a
plectrum. She was sup- hymns, and not from the strength of her
posed to have invented the guitar. Eu- memory, as some authors pretend, is
184 P. OVIDII NASONIS
'Zr««/''wr«r-
^^^'^ refers ; meritoque probas artesque lociimqiie :
'ii^ll^y
tesquc, ct habcmux Et oTatam soitem, tuta? modo simus, habemus.
Mmnstnta. scri (adeo J^ed (vetitum est adeo scelen nihil) omnia terrent
/li/iil est vetitum see
teri) omnia terrent Virgineas mentes dirusque ante ora Pyreneus :
p n • •
giebant
cmlo.
repurgato
Impetus f'uit
Quaquc
o • •
n i
•
,
•
vim, quam
^t cadit in vultus, discussique ossibus oris
nos'effugt
mus sumptis alis. Ipse Tundit humuiii morieus scelerato sanguine ~ tinctam.
similis secuturo, stetit
arduus arce, dixit que ; qua via est vobis erit et mihi eadem, vecorsquejacit se e culmine summe tur-
ris,et cadit in vultus, moriensque tundit humum tinctam scelerato sanguine ossibus discussi oris.
TRANSLATION,
say right, and justly approve our profession and retreats and, if we are ;
but safe, our lot is happy. But (so daring is villany) every thing alarms
virgin minds, and fierce Pyreneus is still before our eyes nor am 1 yet ;
wholly recovered from the fright. That bold usurper had seized, with
Thracian arms, Daulis and Phocis, where he unjustly held the govern-
ment. We
were making for the temple of Parnassus he saw us on our ;
way, and adoring us by a fallacious worship, Muses, said he, (for he knew
us) stop nor scruple to shun, under my roof, the scorching sun, and heavy
;
rain, (for it rained apace), the gods have often before now entered an
humble cottage. Moved by his kind invitation, and the pouring rains,
we accept of his offer, and enter his hall. The rain was over, and the
south wind being now mastered by the north, the black clouds Avere
dispersed, and had left the heavens serene we then wanted to be gone. :
for you, the same is open to me and madly throws himself from the :
summit of the palace and falling upon his face, his bones are dashed
;
in pieces, and
dying, he beats the ground stained with his guilty blood.
NOTES.
painted a harp, as tlie inventress of
witli her voice, holds a vohime in her hand,
harmony. Urania, tiie lieavenly, invented as the inventress of tlie heroic poem,
astronomy, and has in iier hand a globe. See tlie translation of Horace, vol. 1-,
(,"alliype, so calkd fron) tiic sweetness of pajj;e J.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. V. 185
hiicquoque; etsuperos
celAsse se mentiti.i Ji-
Duxque gregis, dixit, sit Jupiter; unde recurvis
gur/s. Dixitque, Jupi-
ter Jit du.r grcgis,u7ide Nunc quoque formatus Libys est cum cornibus
laibys Amnion nunc Amnion.
qxioq ; est formatus
cum recurvis cornibus. Delius in corvo,
Deiiiis latuit in
proles Semeleia capro,
corvo,
proles Semele'ia in ca- Fele soror Phoebi, nivea Saturnia vacca, 330
Pisce Venus latuit, Cyllenius Ibidis alis.
Sa;';^''«fSS.
Venus pisce, Cyllenius Hactenus ad citharam vocalia moverat ora :
alts Ibidis. Hactenus -pv .
nemoi'isquc
'
.^,.
,.. ^ .-,„,,
levi consedit in umbra, ooo
^
they all sought safety in flight, till they arrived in j^gypt, and upon the
borders of the Nile that divides itself into seven channels. She relates
how earth-born Typhosus came hither also, and that the gods concealed
themselves by changing their shapes. Jupiter, she said, became a ram ;
whence Lybian Ammon is now figured with crooked horns. The Delian
god took on the appearance of a crow Bacchus, the son of Semele, that
;
Thus far she had joined her noisy voice in concert with the harp, and then
demanded our song. But perhaps you are not at leisure, nor have time
to attend to our song. Doubt not, (said Pallas,) but recite to me in order
NOTES.
331. Ih'uUs.'] The
Ibis is an ^Egyptian 333. Aonides.'] The muses, so called
bird, not unlike a stoik. It is high, from Aonia, a mountainous region of
has btifl legs aiui a long liilj, and eats up Boeotia.
the serpents that inilst the country.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. V. 187
que
Pachyne, tibi Lilybseo crura premuntur
Degravat ^Etna caput: sub qua resupinus arenas
9erpe resurgere: scd dextra
premuntur Lilybeo.
111 :
TRANSLATION,
Ausonio Peloro, lava
:
iirget Tyyhcea aiisum
sperare (Ethereas se-
dcs, subjectuiji mag-
nis molibus. Jlle qui-
dem nititur,
dgfn nititur. pitgnat
tibi, Pachyne, crura
your song ;
and then The muse re-
seats herself under a chequered shade.
lates, we gave the management of the
dispute to one. Calliope rises, and
having her hair tied with a sprig of ivy, tunes with her thumb the sounding
strings and then sings these lines in concert with the harmonious lyre.
;
VI. Ceres first taught to tear up the earth with crooked plough-shares ;
she first provided corn, and wholesome food for men she first enacted ;
laws. All good things are the gifts of Ceres, she is to be the subject of
my song Oh that my verse were only worthy of the goddess, for cer-
: !
tainly the goddess is worthy of verse. The vast island of Trinacria was
hiu-led on the
gigantic limbs of Typhoeus, and bears down under its un-
wieldy mass one who dared to aspire at the empire of heaven. He indeed
struggles, and attempts often to rise but his right hand is borne down ;
NOTES.
341. Prima Ceres unco.'] Natural his- pierce him with a chosen arrow; upon
tory very often conveyed to us under
is which the god, falling in love with his
tlie veil of fiction. ^Etua is seen often niece Proserpine, carried her off. Most
to vomit up flames. Instead of search- mythologists look upon this rape to be
ing for the source of this phaenomenon, only an allegory, which has an obvious re-
in the sulphur and bitumen wherewith lation to agriculture. Thus, according to
the caverns of this mountain are filled, lliem, the division which Jupiter makes
we are told that the jijiant Typhoeus, or of the time that this goddess was to stay
Enceladus, vanquished by the gods, was with her husband and her mother, means
buried under it, and that his struggles no more, but that the grain, after having
to throw off the load are the cause of the
lodged six months in the earth, appears
eruptions and earthquakes. One fable upon its surface, grows up, and ripens.
leads to another. It is feigned, that Pluto And as Sanchoniathon informs us that
fearing lest these violent shocks might Proserpine, Saturn's daughter, died very
lay open the foundations of the earth, and young, so the fable may be allegorized
pour in light upon his realms, came into by saying, she was ravished by Pluto,
Sicily to examine the condition of the isle. only because the name of that god
They add, that after finding all in good among the Phoenicians is Muth, which
order, he was seen by Venus who, piqued ; signifies deatii.
that tiie god was insensible to 347. Trinacris-I Sicily, so called by a
love, and
desirous to have flic lord of an Greek derivation, from its three promon-
empire,
which made a third part of flic miivcrsc, tories which are named immediately af-
subject to her, emratied her sou Cuoid to terward by the Doet.
188 P. OVIDII NASONIS
mc7poTeZia?c'apec?.
pido ilia tela qtiibus
superas omiies, molire-
que ccieres sagittas in
pectus Dei cui vovissi-
ma fortuna tripiicis
Victa domas, ipsumque, regit qui numina ponti.
Tartara quid
-r-i,
Jcit
.
• .
tamen
cessant? cur non matrisque tuumque
n n
Imperium proiers ? agitur pars tertia mundi.
•
,•
T , i i\
!)
que qui regit numina Abscessisso mihi Cercris quoque iilia Virgo,
.'
TRANSLATION.
tended on his broad back, he vomits clouds of ashes, and flames issue from
his dreadful mouth. Oft he strives to throw off the ponderous mass of
earth, and overturn the cities and mighty mountains that bear down his
body. Hence the earth shakes, and the king of the silent ghosts dreads
lest it should open, and the ground be parted by a wide chasm, and light
pouring in fright his trembling ghosts. To prevent this disaster, the Sty-
gian tyrant had quitted his dreary abode, and riding in a chariot drawn
by black horses, went round, viewing with attention, the foundations of the
Sicilian isle. But when, after a careful search, he found all places firm,
and that there was no ground of fear Venus, as she sate on her flowery hill,
;
chanced to see him thus wandering and embracing her winged son My ; ;
Cupid, (said she,) my arms, my hands, and my power, take those darts
with which you conquer all, and wedge thy swift arroAVS in the breast of
the god, to whom the last division of the triple kingdom fell. You hold in
bondage the gods above, nay even Jove himself: the baffled deities of the
sea, and he too who rules the deities of the sea, confess thy power. are Why
the realms of Tartarus exempted ? do not you extend the limits of your
Why
mother's empire and your own ? A
third part of the universe is now at
stake, and yet how great is our patience we are slighted in oiu" native skies,
:
and the empire of love is greatly weakened. Do not you see how Pallas
and the far-darting goddess defy my power ? the daughter of Ceres too will
NOTES.
3(53. Erycina.'] Venus, so called from Eiyx a mountain of Sicily, where she had a
temple.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. V. 189
Ludit, et aut violas, aut Candida lilia earpit ; que Plioebeos ignes suis
frondiliui ut veto. Ra-
Dumque puellari studio ealathosque sinumque mi dantfrigorajiumus
humida Jiores. Ver
Implet, et sequales certat superare legend o ;
perpetuumest ibi. Quo
Pene simul visa est, dileetaque, raptaque Diti 395 loco dum Proserpina
ludit, et carpit aut
Usque adeo properatur amor. Dea territa, moesto violas aut Candida li-
Ua, dumque implct ca-
Et matrehi, et comites", sed matrem ssepius, ore lathosque sinumque
puellari studio, et certat superare (Equates legendo, simul pene est visa, dileetaque, raptaque
Diti. Amor nsque adeo properatur. Dea territa clamat ma:sto ore et matrem et comites, sed
septus matrem:
TRANSLATION,
be a virgin unless we prevent it, for she affects the same hopes. If, there-
fore, I have any interest with you for the promoting of our joint kingdom,
join the goddess to her uncle. Venus ended. He opens his quiver; and
singles out one of a thousand arrows by the direction of his mother, but
than which there was not another of keener point, or surer aim, or more
obedient to the bow. Then bending against his knee with full force the
yielding horn, he pierced the heart of the god with a bearded arrow.
There is a lake of deep water, by name Fergus, not far from the walls
of Henna not Cayster, in his gliding waves, hears more or sweeter songs
:
The goddess frighted calls with a mournful voice upon her mother and
NOTES.
379. Junge deam patinio-] Proserpine was carried off by Pluto. Cayster was a
was the daughter of Jupiter, Pluto's bro- river of Ionia, fimions for the great quan-
tity of swans that frequented it banlcs.
ther.
386. Fergus.] A lake in the neighbour- 395. Diti.] Ditis was a name given to
hood of Henna, on whose borders Pro- Pluto, because he was esteemed the god
serpine was gathering flowers when she of the earth, whence riches are dng up.
190 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Veml7vTnphas7qn^
^o" po^es InvitsB Cereris
gener esse. Roganda,415
fuit. Quod si
u'^nssJ::^af::>?:^ JJ^^ raplenda componere magnis
novitque Demn, et in- Parva iiiihi fas est; et me dilexit Anapis.
quit, necibitis Iongius. -i-i .
^ , .1 . ..
A'o« poles esse gener -tiXorata externta nupsi. tamcu, uec, ut liaec,
Dixit et/iu partes diversas brachia tendens,
roganLZnr^pienfl
Quod si fas est milii componere parva magnis, Aiiapis et dilexit me; tamen nupsi exorata, nec
exterrita, ut hac. Dixit : et tendens brachia in diversas partes,
TRANSLATION.
her companions, but oftener upon her mother and as she had torn her ;
garment from the upper edge, the flowers she had gathered fell from the
loosened robe, and so much had she of childish innocence and
simplicity,
that this loss also raised the virgin's grief. The ravisher drives his cha-
riot, and calling each of the horses by name, encourages their speed, and
over their necks and manes shakes the reins discoloured with dark rust.
He urges his way through deep lakes, and the Palici, whose boiling
waters exhale sulphurous fumes and where the Bacchiadje, a race
sprung
;
head from the waves as far as the navel, kncAv the god, and said, Thou
shalt go no farther, nor canst thou be the son-in-law of Ceres
against
her will the virgin should have been asked of her mother, not seized by
:
Anapis also loved me yet was I courted, not frighted into marriage.
:
She said, and stretching out her arms on both sides, opposed his way.
The son of Saturn no longer smothered his rage, but encouraging his
NOTES.
407. BacchiadcB.] A
people of Corinth, on the istlimus, has the Ionian sea on one
in which number was Bacchias, v»ho be- side, and the ^Egean on the other,
ing expelled thence came into Sicily, and 40S. Incequales Partus.] Syracuse has
there built Syracuse. Corinth, situated two harbours, a greater and a less.
METAMORPIIOSEON, Lib. V. 191
Saturnius
Obstitit. Haud
ultra tenuit Saturnius iram : 420 obstitit.
hand ultra tenuit
in gurgitis ima iram, hortatusque ter-
Terribilesque hortatus equos, ribiles equos, condidit
Contortum valido sceptrum regale laceito .sceftrum rcgule con-
tortum valido lacerto,
Condidit. Icta viam tellus in Tartara fecit, inima gurgitis. Tellus
icta fecit viam in Tar-
Et pronos currus medio cratere recepit.
tara, et recepit pronos
At Cyane, raptamque Deam, contemptaque fontis currus medio cratere.
At Cyane ma^reiis rap-
Jura sui moerens, inconsolabile vulnus 426 tamque Detimjuraque
sui fontis coiitempta,
Mente gerittacita ; lacrymisque absumitur omnis :
gerit inconsolabile vul-
Et, quarum fuerat magnum modo numen, in illas nus tacita, mente ; ab-
sumittirque oinnis la-
Extenuatur aquas. Molliri membra videres :
crymis; ct extenuatur
in illas aquas, quarum
Ossa pati flexus: ungues posuisse rigorem, 430 fuerat modo magnum
de tota tenuissima ttiimen. Videres mem-
Primaque quseque liquescunt ; bra molliri, ossa pati
Caerulei crines, digitique, et crura, pedesque : Jiexus, ungues posuisse
rigorem : tenuissima-
Nam brevis in gelidas membris exilibus undas que qutrque de totH
prima liquescunt, cri-
Transitus est. Post hsec tergumque, humerique, nes carvlei digitique,
et crura pedesque ;
latusque, nam transitus est bre-
Illasuccendit pinus ab
JEtnH flammifera duabus manibus, irrequietaque tulit per pruinosas tenebras. Rursus at alma
dies hebetarat sidera, qucrrebut natam
TRANSLATION.
tremendous steeds, drives his royal sceptre, whirled with a strong arm,
to the bottom of the lake the earth struck, opened a passage into hell,
:
and received the descending chariot in the widening gap. But Cyane
lamenting the ravished goddess, and the slighted privileges of her injured
spring, hears about in her silent mind an inconsolable wound,
and is
wholly wasted away in tears, dissolving into those waters of which she
had so late been the great guardian goddess. You might have seen her
members melt to a fluid her pliant bones bend into various meanders,
;
and her nails lay aside their hardness. The more slender parts first dis-
solve away her sea-green locks, her fingers, legs and feet
: for the ;
grasp.
VII. Mean time Proserpine is sought by her frighted mother, in every
land and every sea. Neither Aurora rising with her ruddy hair, nor the
bright evening star saw her take any repose. She with both her hands
lights pines at flaming Mina.^ and restless bears them through the frosty
..
192 P. OVIDII NASONIS
occa-
ah ortu soHx aif
Lahore
Solis ad occasus, Solis quferebat ab ortu. 445
siis xitli". Fi'.isa
coUegeriit siti/n, nulti- Fessa labore oraque nulli
sitini collegerat ;
que coUiierant
foiites
ora,c inn forte viditca- Colluerant fontes cum tectam stramine vidit
:
F^LZZmMm, Nomen
Jlentemque, et paran
habet, variis stellatus corpora guttis.
'
TRANSLATION.
darkness. Again, when the approach of day had extinguished the stars,
she ran in quest of her daughter from the rising to the setting sun. Spent
with toil she had contracted a thirst, nor had any springs washed her
mouth when, by chance, she perceived a cottage covered with straw,
;
and knocked at the little door an old woman came out and saw the god-
:
dess, and gave her, as she was asking some water, a pleasant drink
drawn from parched barley. While she drinks, a youth of a hardened
look and daring impudence stood before the goddess, and laughed, and
called her greedy. She was offended, and part being not yet drank, the
goddess, as
he spoke, flung the liquor mixed with barley in his face. His
countenance is speckled by the drops, his arms are shaped into legs, a
to this change of form, and that his power of
long tail is jnoreover added
doing mischief may be the less, he is contracted into a diminutive frame,
nor does his size equal that of a small lizard. He flies from the old
woman, wondering and weeping, and wanting to touch him, and seeks a
crevice, and has a name suited to his colour, his body being painted with
various spots.
VIII. It were tedious to relate through what lands and seas the goddess
wandered the world was too little for her in the search. She returns to
:
speech at her command. Yet she gave manifest signs, and discovered on
the surface of her waters Persephone's girdle well known to her mother,
which had by chance dropt from her in that place, as she passed through
the sacred lake which when the goddess beheld, as if then only her
:
daughter had been ravished from her, she tore her neglected hair, and
beat her breast with repeated strokes. Nor as yet knows she where she
is, but exclaims against all lands alike and calls them ungrateful, and;
unworthy of her gifts Trinacria above the rest, in which she found the
:
tokens of her loss. For this the goddess, with vengeful hand, broke the
ploughs wherewith they turned up the earth in her rage the ox and ;
labourer were doomed to the same death. She commands the ground to
deny a return of what was thrown into it, and corrupts the seed as soon
as it is sown. The fertility of the soil, famed over ail the world, is now
no more the corn, as it springs, shrivels in the blade
: sometimes it is :
the world, and of corn cease at length your immense toils, nor be thus
;
194 P. OVIDII NASONIS
ccs stvpuit ceu saxea, Ante Jovem passis stetit invidiosa capillis.
J'uitque diu similis at-
tonita : vtque gravis
amentia est
Proque meo veni supplex tibi, Jupiter, inquit, 514
pulsa
gravi dolore, exitciir- Sanguine, proque
tuo. Si nulla est gratia matris,
ribus ill atherea's au-
ras. Ihi nubila loto
Nata
patrem moveat
: neu sit tibi cura precamur
vultu, stetit iniidiosa ante Jovem passis capillis. Jnqiiitque, ve/ii tibi Jupiter supplex pro meo
sanguine, proque tuo. Si gratia matris est nulla, nata moveat patrem neu cura precamtir
illius sit
TRANSLATION.
violently offended with a land faithful to you. Sicily has deserved
nothing, and opened against its will to the ravisher nor am I now a :
I am removed from
Why
preserve. my native seats, and have crossed
such spacious seas to reach Ortygia, I will relate at a more seasonable
time, when you shall be eased of your present cares, and Avear an aspect
of more content. The pervious earth affords me a passage, and conveyed
under its lowest caverns, I here lift up my head, and behold new con-
stellations of stars. As therefore I lightly glided under the earth, along
thejStygian waves, I there beheld your Proserpine: she looked dejected,
nor was fear yet banished her countenance. She is however a queen,
revered in the gloomy realms, and the powerful wife of the infernal ty-
rant. Upon hearing these words, tlie goddess, stupid with grief, stood
motionless like a statue, and had long the air of one lost in amazement.
But after that her cruel distraction had vented itself in a flood of sorrow,
she mounts the ^ethereal air in her chariot there with dishevelled hair,
:
and her countenance hid in clouds, she stands before the throne of Jove.
Jupiter, says she, I cornea suppliant to you in behalf of my blood and
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. V. 195
rilia digna tua est, si jam mea iilia digna est. do reddut earn. Ne-
que eiiiin txta /ilia est
Jupiter excepit commune est pignus, onusque
:
digna jircrdoiie ma-
est
Nata mihi tecum sed, si modo nomina rebus
:
rito, si
j(nn
rtica Jilia
dignu. Jupiter
Addere vera placet, non hoc injuria factum, 525 excepit : nuta est cmn-
mune pignus onusque
Verum amor est nobis gener ille pudori. mild tecum. Sed si
:
neque erit
modo placet addere
Tumodo,Diva, velis. Utdesintcsetera, Quantum est rera iiomina rebus.
Esse Jovis fratrem! quid hoc /actum 7wn est in-
. K,.
n
quod nee ca;tera desunt, jiiria
"^ verum amor;
^ •
Nec cedit nisi sorte mihi r sed tanta cupido neque ille gener erit
pudori nobis, modo tu
Si tibi dissidii ; repetat Proserpina coelum 530 diva velis. Ut catera :
E.i />• .
li-
X Acneronte suoturvis pepensse sub
•
incultis hortis,decerv-
antris.
serat puniceum po-
mum. curvii arbore,
presseratque suo ore septem grana sumpta de pallenti cortice. Ascalaphusque solus ex omnibus
viderat illud, quem Orphne haud ignotissima inter avernales nymphas, dicitur quondam peperisse
ex suo Acheronte sub Jnrvis antris,
TRANSLATION,
thine. If you have no regard for the mother, at least let the daughter
move the heart of her father nor value her the less, I pray you, that she
:
names, this rape is not an injury but love nor need we be ashamed of ;
our son-in-law, let but Ceres give her consent. Were other things want-
ing, yet is it not enough that he is the brother of Jove ?
But why do I
suppose that any thing is wanting, nor does he yield to me
in worth it ;
was by lot that hell fell to his share ? but if so great is your desire to
separate them, let Proserpine return to heaven, yet on this unalterable
condition, if as yet she hath touched no food for so it is provided by ;
ter ;
not so the Fates for the virgin had broke her fast, and as she wan-
:
The queen of gloomy Erebus groaned, and changed the base informer
to a bird and sprinkling his head with the waters of black Phlegethon,
;
formed it anew with feathers, a crooked beak, and large eyes. Thus no
longer himself, he is clad in yellow pinions his head becomes larger, :
his nails bending inward are turned to claws, and scarce can he move
the wings that spring from his sluggish arms. In fine, he becomes a
hateful bird the messenger of approaching grief, the screeching owl, a
;
you Sirens were of the number of her attendants ? And that, after having
in vain searched for her in all parts of the earth, to
give the waters also
a proof of your friendly care, you wished to hover over the waves sup-
ported by wings and found the gods propitious, and saw your limbs clad
;
in golden pinions ? But lest the sweetness of your voice formed to cap-
tivate the ear, and such harmony of sound should no more enjoy the use
of a tongue, your virgin beauty and human voice still remain.
X, But Jupiter, alike favouring his brother and disconsolate sister, di-
METAMORPIIOSEON, Lib. V. 197
Quamvis fortis eram, formosae nomen habebam me, nee altera posuit
casses studiosius. Sed.
:
Nee mea me facies nimiiim laudata juvabat. 582 quamvis fama forma
nunquam est petita
Quaque aliae gaudere solent, ego rustica dote milii,quamvis erumfor-
t is, habeba/n nomen for-
Corporis erubui crimenque placere putavi.
; mnsw. Nee mea fades
Lassa revertebar (niemini) Stymphalide silva: 585 nimium laudata juva-
bat me J egoque rustica
iEstus erat: magnumque labor geminaverataestum. erubui dote corporis,
qua alire solent gau-
Invenio sine vortice aquas, sine murraure euntes, dere, putaviqtie crimen,
Memini, re-
Perspicuas imo per quas numerabilis alte placere.
; vertebar lassa silvrl
Calculus omnis erat quas tu vix ire putares. : Stymphalide. Erat <f.r-
appeared mournful even to Pluto himself, has now an air of joy, like the
sun who, after being hid awhile in watery clouds, disperses the va-
;
pours, and shines in full splendour. Ceres, now easy because she had
re-
covered her daughter, inquires of Arethusa the cause of her wandering,
and how she became a sacred spring. The waters were silent, when the
goddess raised her head from the smooth surface and, with her
hand ;
wiping off the drops from her green tresses, thus began to relate the
loves of Alpheus.
I was, said she, formerly an Achaian nymph ; nor was any one more
studious to explore the forest, or pitch the toils. But although I never
affected the reputation of beauty, although 1 was rather of a masculine
habit, I yet was accounted fair. But I little regarded the praises given my
face, 1 was even simple enough to blush at those personal charms which
others are so fond of, and thought it a crime to please. Once, I remem-
ber, as tired with the chase, I was returning from the forest of Stym-
phalus, the weather was hot, and through the violent exercise appeared
now so.
doubly on, I found a silent current gliding in gentle
Walking
murmurs, and cleac as crystal to the very ground. Every pebble might
NOTES.
5?fi. Flutnlnis P.ieiA AInlipiis. whn watprpil Elis. a niovince of Pclononnestlf.
198 P. OVIDII NASONIS
TuTnlfrua^lTX'-
^^"^ salicta dabant, niitritaqiie populus unda 690
nntas
baiit
sua
umbras,
spoilt e aecltrtbus
Spontc
.'
suR
. .
iiatas I'ipis
^
'
declivibus
,. ....
umbras.
XI
ripis.Accessi.primum-Acccssi, primiuTique peclis vestigia tin :
?/"^,r/e"1em«^'iSe' Pop^ite
deindc tenus. Neque eo contenta, recingor ;
ua^veiamhtacurvasa-
nuriaotie merger
lici ; nuriaqtie
aquis : quas dumjerio-
JVuuaque mergoF aquis.
hoque
i_
ox
Quas dum ferioque tra-
*_„«
59o
que, truhoque, labe?is Mille modis labens, excussac^ue brachia jacto
millc vtodis, jactoque ;
cxcuf:sa brachia, sensi Nescio quod medio sensi sub gurgite murmur :
7ieicio, quod murmur
sub medio gurgite, ter-
Territaque insisto propioris margine ripse.
ritaque insisto mar-
gine propioris ripce. Quo properas, Arethusa? suis Alpheus ab undis,
Quo properas Arcthu- Quo properas iterum rauco mihi dixerat ore. 600
?
sii, Alpheus suis
dixerat
ab undis? quoproperas Sicut eram fugio sinc vcstibus. Altera vestes
tie rum dixeriit mihi -rt- rr\
^
:
^ ^ li . ••,,!_
ruucoore?fugio sicut Kipa mcas habuit. ianto magis mstat, et ardet:
eram, sine vestibus. Et quia nuda fui, sum visa paratior illi.
Altera ripa habuit
tneas vestes. Inst at Sic ego currebam sic me ferus ille premebat ;
:
tanto magis, et ardet :
et quia fui nuda, sum Ut fugere accipitrem penna trepidante columbse,
visa paratior illi. Ego
s if curreb(im,ille ferus
Ut solet accipiter trepidas agitare columbas. 606
sicpremebat me, ut
columns Solent fugere Usque sub Orchomenon, Psophidaque, Cylle-
accipitrem trepidante
jienitd, ut accipiter so-
nenque,
let agitare trepidas co-
lumbas. tSustinui cur-
Msenaliosque sinus, gelidumqueErimanthon,etElin
rere usque sub Orcho- Currere sustinui. Nee me velocior ille,
menon, r Psophidaque, gg(j tolerare diu cursus viribus impar 610
Cyllenenq^.
jue,, siniisqiie
eao
53
.-
^..„ -n
-ii
,
. .
i i
•
TRANSLATION.
be distinguished by the eye, and its motion so gentle as scarce to be per-
ceived. The hoai'y willows and poplars, nourished by the stream, fur-
nished a spontaneous shade along the shelving banks. I advanced, and
first dipt my feet, then waded to the ham nor content with that, I stript ;
and threw my thin garment upon a bending osier, and plunged naked into
the waters which, while I strike and draw in, winding my body a thou-
;
sand ways, and tossing out my springy arms, I heard I don't know what
murmur under the mid-stream, and frighted get to the margin of the
nearer bank. Whither dost thou hasten, Arethusa, cried Alpheus, from
the bottom of his brook ? Whither dost thou hasten, said he again, in a
hollow tone ? I run naked as I was, for my clothes were upon the other
bank he pushes harder, and is but the more inflamed and, as he saw
; ;
hawk, or as the hawk wont to drive through the clouds the trembling
is
doves. chase as far as Orchomenos, and Psophis, and
I sustained his
Cyllene, and the valleys of Msenalaus, and cold Erymanthus, and Elis.
Nor was he swifter but, unequal in strength, I was not able to sustain a
;
longer flight, he was able to undergo greater toil. Yet I run through the
plains, and over mountains covered with woods, rocks also and cliffs, and
where there was no path to direct me. The sun shone behind me, I saw
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. V. 199
''^ • • • , . .
P^^^ mannt, rosque ca-
Vertitur in proprias, ut se mihi misceat, undas. dit e capillis; et mutor
Delia rumpit humum. Csecis ego .-^
'^ mersa
*i*^ikj.-» cavernis
^^.v,»»*..^ in laticem citiiis qita^n,
7IU1IC renarro facta ti-
bi. Sed enim, amiiis cognoscit amatas aquas, oreqne viri quod sumpserat posito, vertitur in pro-
prias undus, ut misceat se mihi. Delia rvmpit hutnum, ego mersa ceecis cavernis
TRANSLATION.
a long shadow advance before my feet, if it was not perhaps my fear that
saw it but I certainly heard the sound of his steps close behind me, and
;
who has often carried your bow, and quiver stocked with arrows. The
goddess was moved, and taking a thick cloud, threw it round me. The
river looks about for me now hid in darkness, and not
knowing where I
was, searches round the hollow cloud and twice unable to find me, he ;
came to the place where the goddess had concealed me, and twice called
out, O What do you think was then the condition of my mind ?
Arethusa.
The same that of the lamb, when she hears the wolves howling round
as is
the high folds or the hare, when hid in a bush she sees the hostile
;
mouths of the dogs, and dares not stir from her Yet does he not
place.
depart, for he saw not the prints of my feet to reach any farther: he
therefore watches the cloud and the
place. chilly sweat spreads upon A
my limbs thus besieged, and blue distil from my whole body, and drops
wherever I move my feet a lake flows drops of dew fall from my hair. ;
the hurnan
shape, resumes his fluid form, that he might mix his streams
with mine but the Delian I, sinking, run
goddess cleaves the ground,
:
200 r. OVIDII NASONIS
advchor Ortygiam
qua grata inilii cog/io-
:
Advehor Ortygiam qua; me cognomine Divse 640 :
mine dir/r, prima et/K.i- Grata meae superas eduxit prima sub auras.
it me sub mperas au-
ras.
Xr. Hactemis Are-
XL Hac Arethusa tenus. Geminos Dea fertilis
lather vatnitmihi.Fero
dona Cereris, qute spur- jpsg
S sit,
-,
hospitio reeipit
S y-~,
somnoque
:
^ gravatum
~
/>
sa per latos u'ros.rcd.
Aggreditur lerro. Conantem ligere pectus
duntfrueiferas messes, t /'i r 'i.
•• '
'j. acts
mitiaque aiimenta. -Lynca Ceres tecit
rursusque per aera misit : obU
^re^p«'"fit!rjcfir<fl/t Mopsopiura juvenem sacros agitareju gales. .
tim7iniri<, reeipit hospitio, aggredifurque eum gravatum somno, ferro. Ceres fecit regem conan-
temjigere pectus, lyuca, tnisitqueMupsopiumjuve/iem, riirsus ugitare sacros jugules per dcra.
TRANSLATION.
through dark caverns till I arrive at Ortygia, which, dear to me from the
surname of the goddess, first granted me to review the welcome day.
XI. Thus far Arethusa. The fertile goddess yokes two snakes to her
golden car, and guiding them with a just rein, is carried along mid-
heaven, and cuts the yielding skies then descending, halts at Athens,
;
and resigns her chariot to Triptolemus, and teaches him to sow the seed,
as well in fallow fields, as in those Avhich, after a long intermission, have
been cultivated with care.
The youth driviug the chariot over Europe and Asia, turns at last
toward the coasts of Scythia, where Lyncus was king, and enters the
royal palace. Being asked whence he came,
the cause of his journey, his
name and country Athens, says he, is my native city, and Triptolemus
;
my name I came neither in a ship through the waves, nor travelled over
:
land, hut cut my way through the yielding sky. I bring with me the gifts
of Ceres, which, scattered over the wide fields, will give rich harvests,
and pleasant food. The barbarian envied him ; and that he himself might
be esteemed the author of so great a good, receives him hospitably, and,
when sleep had sealed his eyes, attempts his breast with his sword but ;
Additis, et
.
non
"...
Supplicium meruisse parum est, maledictaque culpui
^
Ibmius \n poenas; et, qua vocat ira, sequemuv. tientia mm elt iwem
Conataeque
^ loqui,
'
et magno
'" clamore protervas
*
670 '"'•"^ F.„wthides ri.
dent, sper/nintqiie mi-
I,
.
^
ntentare manus, pennas exire per ungues nadu verba; conate-
D-i
.
but as they attempt to speak, and with a scolding noise shake their threat-
ening hands, they saw feathers spring from under their nails, and pinions
spread upon their arms. They see each other's mouths shoot out in
horny beaks, and a neAV race of birds added to the woods. And Avheu
they thought to beat their breasts, raised by the motion of their arms,
they hang in the air a sisterhood of magpies, the scandal of the groves.
Yet still, though changed to birds they retain their prattling humour, full
of noisy clamour and incessant chattering.
NOTES.
66i. Mopsopiumjuvcnem.'] That is, the name sometimes given to Attica, from
Athenian youth, for Mopsopia was a Mopsopus, one of its kings.
202 P. OVIDII NASONIS
LIBER SEXTUS.
ORDO. dictis Tritonia talibus
T. Tritonia prffhue- aurem;
rat aiirem talihus dic-
tis: proliaveratque lar-
PRiEBUERAT
Carminaque Aonidum, justamque probaverat
mina Aonidum, jus- iram.
tatnque iram : turn ait Turn secum, laudare parum est laudemur et ipsae:
secnm, purum est Imi- ;
dare ; ct ipsa lande- Nuraina nee sperni sine pcena nostra sinamus.
inur nee Jinunms nos-
tra niiminaspcrni sine Maeoniseque animum Fatis intendit Arachnes 5 :
TRANSLATION.
I. had
while attended to these recitals, and ap-
all this
"|\ /|"INERVA
---S- proved the song of the Muses, and their
just resentment. Then
thus reflects " It is not
: that we
enough commend,
let also be commend-
us
ed, nor suffer our divinity to he insulted with impunity." Then bends
her mind on the fate of Moeonian Arachne, whom she had heard refused
to yield to her in the praises of the wool-working art. She was renowned
neither for her family nor place of birth, but for her art alone. Idmon
of Colophon, who tinged the spungy wool with Phocsean purple, was her
father her mother was dead but she too was from among the vulgar, and
: :
of the same rank with her husband. Yet she, though but meanly born.
NOTES.
This book begins witli the fable of for the trial. All (his is no more tlian
Minerva and Arachne, which the poet an ingenious fiction to describe the great
has connected in a very easy natural expertness of Arachne at working in
manner with relation to the Muses. That wool and silk. PJiny tells us, that she
goddess, from hearing the story of tiieir was the first who found out the art of
revenge, is led to reflect on her own spinning, and weaving cloths, an inven-
wrongs, and the boasts of Arachne, who tion wiiich is attributed also to Minerva.
acquired the fame of excelling all her a city of Lydia, famous for an oracle of
cotemporaries. But, not satisfied with Apollo.
that, she would pretend to equal even 9. Murice.] Murex: properly a fish,
Minerva herself The goddess, provoked whose blood served for making the finest
at tliis insolence, comes to her in the purple. Hence the word is often used
disguise of an old woman to dissuade by the poets for the colour itself. Phocaa
her from giving way to so ridiculous a was a city of i^olia, famous for pro-
vanity, but finding her still persist, she ducing the best purples.
accepts the challenge, and each prepares
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VI. 203
spectare testes
Sive rudem pnmos lanam glomerabat m orbes:
•
^ 1 , 1
batqutviUerarepetita
-victa.) paiiassimuiat
wrought, so much grace there was in her manner. For whether she
rolled up the shapeless wool into its first balls, or unravelled it with her
fingers, and by repeated
endeavours softened the fleeces equalling the
clouds in variously stretching tracts, or turned the smooth spindle with
her
nimble thumb, or flowered with her needle, you might perceive that she
had been instructed by Pallas which yet she denies, and disdaining so
:
great a mistress Let her, (says she,) come to a trial with me there is
:
;
"
despise not therefore my advice. Aspire to the highest fame among mor-
"
tals, for the arts of working in wool, but yield to the goddess, and
" with humble
voice, ask pardon for your rash presumption, the goddess
NOTES.
13. Hypa'pis-'] f/j/p«p<E was an incon- l6 Pactolides undas.'] Pactolns was the
town of Lydia, upon the descent
siderable name of a river in Lydia, famous for its
of mount Tymolus, near the banks of the golden sands.
Cayster.
204 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Cede dete; temeraria-
que, roga veniam sitp-
Cede Deae: veniamque tuis temeraria dictis
flice voce, tuts dictis :
ilia dabit veniam tibi
Supplice voce roga. Veniam dabit ilia roganti.
roganti, Arachne as- Aspicit banc torvis, inceptaque fila relinquit;
ficit tori'is ocults, re-
iinqiiitque inceptajilii; Vixque manum retinens, confessaque vultibus
rixquc relinens ma-
niim, confessaque irum
iram, 35
vultibits, resecutu est Talibus obscuram resecuta est Pallada dictis :
eb\curam Falluda ta-
lUnis dictU. Vents, Mentis inops, longaque venis confecta senecta :
TRANSLATION. ,
"
ing, and doting under the weight of age, and it is your misfortune to
" have lived so If you have any daughter, or
long.
" serve for them these daughter-in-law, re-
sage reproofs. I am sufficient for my own conduct,
" nor stand in need of
advice, and to make you sensible how little yom*
" admonitions know that I am still of mind does the same
" not the
prevail, ;
why
goddess come she decline the contest?" Then
herself, why does
the goddess " Lo! she comes ;" and casting off the
disguise of age, exhi-
:
bited Pallas. The nymphs and Mygdonian matrons adore the goddess. The
virgin alone is not daunted yet she blushed, and a sudden redness marked
;
her reluctant cheeks hut in a moment vanished again. As the air seems
;
streaked with purple when Aurora first approaches and soon after brightens
by the silver rays of the sun. She still persists in her design, and blinded by a
vain desire of conquest, rushes upon her own fate nor indeed does the daugh-:
NOTES.
45. Mygdonidesque nurus.'] Mygdonia the poet tells ns, were present when the
was a region of Phrygia, a country bor- goddess discovered herself; and all pro-
dering upon Lydia. As Arachne was fa- fess their respectand veneration. Arachne
mous in her way, and her works exquisite, alone remains unmoved. It is thus Ovid
many came from thence, and all the heightens the guilt of her obstinacy, and
neighbouring regions, to view them and makes her appear the more deserving of
admire their beauty. Many of these, her fate.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VI. 205
nr\Cecropia
.
n r
•'> 11
ralJas seopulum Mavortis in
T\/r t.-
•
quod tangit est usque
arce adcoidem.- tamen ui-
Tj; .,•
-i ji 'Ti. nomnie ni tima distant. lllic et
Jringit, et antiquam de terree litem. 71 untum aurum immit-
titurflis, et vetus argumentum deducitur in tela.
II. Pallas pingit seopulum Mavortis in arce Cecropia,ct antiquam litem de 7iomine terra.
TRANSLATION,
ter of
Jupiter refuse, or admonish her any further, or think now of waving
the challenge. Straight they repair both to their different posts, and stretch
out two webs of the finest threads. The web is tied round the beam the ;
slay separates the threads. The wool is inserted between by sliding shut-
tles, which their fingers drive along and when thus drawn within the
;
warp, the teeth, cut in the moving slay, strike. Both hasten on the work ;
and with mantles buttoned to their breasts, moA'e their pliant arms their ;
keenness preventing all sense of fatigue. The purple dyed in Tyrian ket-
tles is there Avoven, and fine shades of small difference just as the rain- ;
bow is wont to display a mighty arch along the heavens, when the rays
of the sun are reflected by the small drops of rain, where, though a thou-
sand different colours shine, yet the transition from one to another eludes
the most prying eye so insensibly do the touching colours blend, and yet
;
the extreme parts differ. Here too the pliant gold is interwoven with
their threads, and ancient fables are represented on their webs.
II. Pallas describes the rock of Mars in the citadel of Athens, and the
old dispute concerning the name of the countrj . Twice six-celestials, Jove
NOTES.
70. Cecropia Pallas, Sfc] This history ever produced a thing of most use to the
of the contest between Pallas and Arachue city, shoulil
have the naming of it. Nep-
gives Ovid room to introduce several tune, by a stroke of his trident, made a
other fables, which he feigns were repre- horse spring from the earth ; Minerva
sented in their pieces of tapestry. The produced an olive-tree, which procured
most considf rable is that of the quarrel her the victory.
between Neptune and Minerva, about Ibid. Cea-opia arce.'] The citadel of
giving a name to the city Athens. The Athens, from Cecrops, king of the Athe-
twelve great gods were chosen umpires of nians, who is said to have tirst built their
the dilTerence ; and
agreed, that which- city.
206 P. OVIDII NASONIS
it. *;
.
,
favour, he claims giving the name to the city. But to herself she gives
a shield, and a sharp-pointed spear a helmet adorns her head, and her ;
breast is defended by the -/Egis. She also represents the earth, when
struck by her spear, producing a pale olive-shoot loaded Avith berries, and
the gods wondering at the prodigy. Victory crowns her labour. But that
the rival of her praise may learn from examples what reward she may ex-
pect for her daring challenge, she adds at the four corners four contests,
lively in the colouring, and distinctly marked by little images. One corner
has Thracian Rhodope and Hamus once human bodies, but now trans- ;
TRANSLATION.
who dared to vie for beauty with the consort of mighty Jove. Nor did
Ilium or her sire Laomedon avail her, but, transformed to a noisy stork,
she cuts the air with her Avhitened pinions. The corner, which now alone
remains, represents childless Cinyras he clasping the steps of the tem-
;
ple, the bodies of his own daughters and, stretched upon the stone, seems
;
to weep. She edges round the work with wreaths of peaceful olive this ;
was the border of the piece, which she finished with her own tree.
The Mseonian nymph delineates Europa seduced by Jupiter under the
figm-e of a bull you would have taken the bull and the waves to be real.
:
NOTES.
93. Pingit et Jntigonen.'] Antigone was positions. If they demanded a princess
the daughter of Laomedon, king of Troy, in marriage, and were refused ; the cus-
and remarkable for her fine flowing hair, tom was, lo raise an army, and carry her
which she was so vain of, as to boast that oft"by force. The military engines, or
slie resembled Juno. The eoddess of- ships, were distinguished by some figures,
fended at her presumption, changed her according to the fancy of the master:
Imir into snakes. The gods afterward in these were either animals or birds, or some
compiission transformed lier to a stork. monster of fantastic form. This obser-
98. Cinyun orbam.] Cinyras was a vation is from hence rendered credible,
king of the Assyrians, who had several that v,e still meet with these representa-
daugiiters remarkable for their beauty. tions upon ancient moninnents, medals,
They growing insolent upon it, and pre- and coins. The poets, who described
tending to surpass even Juno iierseif, pro- these expeditions, instead of saying that
voked the goddess so far, that she trans- such a prince carried off by force a prin-
formed them into the steps of a temple, cess whom he had fallen in love with,
and changed the father too to a stone, as feigned that he transformed himself to a
lie was embracing these steps ; all that bull, a lion, or an eagle. If to this we
now remained of liis dauL'hters. add, that these kings often bore the name
J 03. Maonis elu.^am designat imagine of Jupiter, Apollo, or Neptime, and that
fauri Eunipcn.] Arachne, on her side, the priests ot these gods succeeded fre-
traced on her web the amours and meta- quently in their love adventures, by as-
morphoses of the gods. As there is nothing suming the name rif the deities whom
new or particular ni tliein, we shall satisfy they served we shall be at no loss to im-
;
ourselves with exjdaining tliem by one ge- derstand what the poets mean by these
Jveral reinaik ; which may serve also to metamorphoses of the gods, and ascribing
Jmravel a thousand other lictions of the to them so many different children. There
like natare. is another conjecture too offered to un-
In the first ages, men, and even kings ravel these chauircs. They tell us that the
themselves, were very rude and unpo- figures of ditferent animals were graved
lished. The want of education; and still upon ancient coins, and the money thus
more of a consistent system of moral stamped being used by lovers to sednce
principles, rendered them equally gross their mistresses, gave rise to the fictions
in their manners, and savage in their dis- of their assuming their different figures.
208 P. OVIDll NASONIS
•
vereriquetucluinaqua: a -i- i.* a- i- 1 J l
^ecu'el't^L^lK^'.
Fecit et Asterien aquila luctante teneri :
riem teiieri luctante Fccit olorinis LedaiTi recubare sub alis :
aqmlii; fecit Ledum ^ , t- -, ii r-, -i. • •
i-in
W
recubare sub ads oio- Addidit, ut hsatyn cclatus imagine pulchram 1
neZMfp^dt^ut'pas.
Tc quoque mutatum torvo, Neptune, juvenco 115
tor Miiemosynen: nt
Vii'jrine
» in iEolia Dosuit Tu visus Eaipeus, :
vurius serpens JJeoiiia. ^^. . . , ••
i
' •
•¥->• i^' i r ii-
Posuit te
Gigiiis Aloidas; arics liisaltida lallis.
quoque Mep-
Tullml7h,T%f'e'stis
Ut Saturnus equo geminum Chirona crearit.
; vtque modo gesserit pennas accipitris, modo terga leonis : ut pastor litserit Issen Ma-
est illic
careida. Ut Liber (Bacchus) deceperit Urigonenfalsd uvd: ut Saturnus mutatus eqao crearit
geminum Chirona-
TRANSLATION.
She seemed to look land she had just left, and call out to her
back to the
rising waves. She drew also Asterie struggling with an eagle that had
supine under the snowy pinions of a swan. She
seized her, and Leda laid
added too, how Jupiter, disguised under the form of a satyr, filled the fair
Antiope with a twin offspring how, as Amphitryon, he enjoyed Alcmena
:
;
ther of the winged horse, in a bird; and Melantho, in the form of a dolphin.
To all these she gave their true feathers and likeness, and added
too the real appearance of the places where they happened. There
Phoebus roves like a country swain one Avhile he appears with the Avings ;
the daughter of Macareus. There too you might see how Bacchus, ima-
ged like the clustering grape, deceived Erigone and how Saturn, in :
Ultima pars telse, tenui circumdata limbo, Pars ultima tela, cir-
cumdata tenui limbo,
Nexilibus flores liederis habet intertextos. hubet Jtnres intertex-
•
tos nexilibus hederis.
III. Non illiid Pallas, nonillud carpere Livor III. JVotiPallas, 7ion
successu flava virago: 130 Livor posiit carpere
Possit opus. Doluit illud opus. Flava vi-
Et rupit pictas coelestia crimina vestes, rago doluit successu,
et riipit pictas vestes
Utque Cytoriaco radium de monte tenebat ; exhibentes celestia cri-
mina.
Ter quater Idmonise frontem percussit Arachnes. Litque tenebat
radium de monte Cy-
Non tulit infelix laqueoque animosa ligavit
!
toriaco, percussit
quater frontem Idmo-
ter
haired goddess grieved at her success, and as she held in her hand a
shuttle from mount Cytorura, she three or four times struck the forehead
of Idmonian Arachne. The unhappy maid could not bear it but being ;
of a high spirit, tied up her throat in a halter. Pallas pitying her, bore
her up as she hung, and thus said "
Live, vile wretch, yet still hang
:
;
"
and, that you may ever live in suspense, I doom the same law of pu-
" nishment to all Then going off, she
yoiu* race, and latest posterity."
sprinkles her with the juice of an Hecateian herb and immediately her ;
hair, touched by the poisonous drug, fell off; and with them her nose and
ears. The head too becomes very little to her greatly lessened in her
NOTES.
i^g. Non illud Pallas.] Ovid, after this 136. Vive quidem, fende tamen.'] Pliny
elegant description of their several pieces tells us, in the history which he gives of
of woi kmanship, proceeds to inform us of Arachne, that she hanged herself; but
the hard fate of Arachne. Pallas appears mentions not the reason of her despair. It
in no very advantageous light. The work is evident by that, however, that she had
is faultless:even Envy itself can find no- some secret cause of discontent.
thing to blame and the goddess acts not
;
The conformity of her name and pro-
so much from a principle of equity and fession with that of the spider, and above
justice, as an impatience to see lierself ri- all, the resemblance of the Hebrew word
valled. The truth is, emulation and re- Arach, which signifies to spin, and which
venge often prevail among our poet's the Scripture sometimes uses in speaking
gods, which is not so much the fault of of spiders and their webs, gave rise to
Ovid as of the times for all the poets,
: this fable.
both Greek and Latin without exception, 139. Hecateidos herbce.] Aconite or
agree in representing the gods with a wolfsbane, from Hecate the same who,
:
shuttle made of box- wood, which and taught the use of poi-
grew in songlit after,
great abundance in Cytorus, a mountain sonous herbs.
ef Paphlagonia.
210 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Veitterhalet ctetera:de
qvo ilia tamen remit-
Caetera venter habet. De quo tamen ilia remittit
titstamen; et iirunca
Stamen; et antiquas exercet aranea telas. 145
exercct aiitiquns telns.
IV. Tot a L,ydiafre- IV. Lydia tota frerait. Phrygiseque per oppida
mit, rumorque fae) i it
per oppida
facti
J'/iri,'g/cr,
et occtipat maguum
orhem sermonibiis. ]\'i
Rumor it, et magnum sermonibus occupat orbem. ^
'^"NloiTfoi'ef'dlaa
^am
sata Tiresia, venturi prascia Manto,
feiicissi}namatnm,si Per
non. visa fuisset sibi. -xt .•
mcdias fuerat, divino concita motu,
t •
-i n,
• •
, .
Nam Manto sata Tu Vaticmata vias ismcnides, ite irequentes, :
^/emJiladi'vVomoZl
Et date Latonae, Latonigenisque duobus, 160
'^medialvia^-%''m"nid7s
^^^ prcce tliura pia; lauroque innectite crinem:
itefreguentes;€t date Ore meo Latoua iubct. Parctur et omnes :
IjatoncF,duobusqueLa- rtM. i
••
i • •
, r ^•l ±
ionigenis thura cum 1nebaides jussis sua tcHipora iroudibus omaut :
the happiest of mothers, if she had not seemed so to herself. For Manto,
the daughter of Tiresias a prophetess, urged by a divine impulse, had
"
proclaimed through the streets Haste, all ye Theban dames, and offer :
"
pious incense with prayers to Latona, and the two childi'en of Latona,
" and bind
3'our hair with laurel ; the goddess commands by my
it
NOTES.
146 Lydia totnfremit.'} The poet, after yet Arachne's fate, which was soon spread
the story of Arachne, introduces by a na- abroad every where, would sink deeper
tural and easy connexion that of Niobe. in her mind, as it recalled the image of
This Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus, a former companion. It was therefore
king of Lydia ; and before she left her fa- natural to think, that it would more parti-
ther'skingdom, was intimately acquainted cularly serve as a warning to her, to avoid
with Arachne, and a great admirer of her any competition that might draw upon her
ingenuity. Although she was now passed a like vengeance. This is t!:e foundation
into another country, and lived at Thebes; for bringing in her story.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VI. 2U
Ecce venit comitum Niobe celeberrima turba, 165 f^J^^i'tJi^fco^
intexto Phrvffiis auro ?«'". ^peptabuis
auro
Vestibus
'^"^ jto_
spectabilis
r intexto Phrygils vesti-
:
Et, quantum ira sinit, rormosa: movensque decoro bus ; et formosa quan-
:
na Ded accedit eodem:
Nescio quoque audete satam Titanida Cao
adjice hue septem na-185
tas, et tot idem juvencs,
Latonam praeferre mihi; cui maxima quondam et mox generosque ?fu-r
rusque. Nunc quarite
Exiguam sedem paritura^ terra negavit. quam causam nostra
superbia habeat ; audeteque prtrferre mihi Latonam Titanida satam nescio quo C<bo ;
cui quon..
dam paritiirtt, maxima terra negavit exiguam sedem.
TRANSLATION.
" mouth." Obedience is
paid and all the Theban matrons
;
adorn their
temples with leaves of laurel as commanded, and offer incense,
accom-
panied with humble prayers in the sacred flames. When, lo, Niobe
comes, surrounded with a crowd of attendants, shining with gold em-
broidered in her Phrygian robes, and beautiful as far as anger would
allow when tossing her hair that flowed down from her graceful head
;
on either shoulder, she stood still and with a haughty air casting around
;
her proud eyes, " What madness says she, to prefer celestial deities,
!
" tona of my
worshipped at the altars, and no incense burnt in honour
" ? Tantalus is to whom alone it was granted to sit
godhead
" at the table of the
my sire ;
of the Pleiads
gods I have for my mother a sister
:
:
*'
axletree of heaven Jupiter is my other grandfather I boast of him
: ;
" raised husband's lyre, with the people inhabiting within them,
" are
by my
subject to me and my spouse. To whatever part of the place I
" turn are seen to this is joined a face not
my eyes, immense treasures :
;p 2
342 P. OVIDII NASONIS
e-t facta parens duo- Tacta parens utei'i pars est hsec septima nostri.
:
"ephma'^parl ^nmtTi Sum felix. Quis enim neget hoc? felixque manebo.
"^l^Jgeth^fimnc.
^^^ quoquc quis dubitet? tutam me copia fecit.
boque felix; qui.i du-
Major sum, quam cui possit fortuna nocere. 195
p?a fecit '^nw'uitam. Multaquc ut eripiat multo mihi plura relinquet, ;
fortulmilUtl'iZer^^^^^
Excessere metum mea jam bona. Fingite demi
'vtqite eripiat miiita, Huic aliquid populo natorum posse meormia;
taineii rclinqmt mi/n _^ t t i i
multo plura. Mea bo- JN OH tamcn ad numerum
redigar spoliata duorura
t^!""i^tfa!i^fd Latonge Turba quo quanti^m distat ab orb^ 220
: !
" when in travel, the spacious earth refused a small retreat, neither
"
earth, nor seas, nor heaven would receive your goddess she was ba- :
" nished the universe, till Delos pitying the wanderer, said You roam :
" about a stranger on land, I float in the waves ; and gave her an un-
" stable place of rest. She became a mother to two this is but the se- ;
" I am
venth part of my issue. happy for who can deny this ? And I ;
" shall continue happy for who can doubt of this either ? Plenty hath
:
" leave me much more behind. many blessings have now raised me My
" above fear. Suppose I should be deprived of some part of this nu-
" merous progeny yet, thus stript, I shall not be reduced to two, the
;
" number of Latona by which, how far is she removed from one that is
;
" without
your aid, am, for all ages to come, driven from altars,
" that have been ever saered to Nor is this my only
ray worship.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VI. 213
Nec dolor hie solus. Diro convicia facto 210 Ate hie soMs dolor,
'i'antalis adjecit con-
Tantalis adjecit vosque est postpouere natis
: vicia diro facto, aitsa-
est
Ausa suis et me (quod in ipsara recidat) orbam
:
qiie
silts
postponcre lOi
iiatis : tt {quod
et exhibuit linguam scelerata paternam. recidat in ipsam) dixit
Dixit ;
me esse or bam ; et see-
Adjectura preces erat his Latona relatis 214 : lerata exhibuit tin-
gnajti paternam. La-
Desine, Phoebus ait(pcen8e moralonga) querelas. tona erat adject ura
preces his relatis.
Dixit idem Phoebe. Celerique per a'era lapsu, Phiebus ait ; desine
Contigerant tecti Cadmeida nubibus arcem.
querelas (mora pans
est tonga.) Pha:be dix-
Planus erat lateque patens prope moenia campus, it idem :
tectique nubi-
bus,contigerant arcem
Assiduis pulsatus equis ;
ubi turba rotarum, Cadmeida celeri lapsu
per a'tra. Campus erat
Duraque mollierant subjectas ungula glebas. 220 prope mopnia planus,
Pars ibi de septem genitis Amphione fortes patensque late, pul-
satiis ussiduis equis ;
Conscendunt in equos, Tyrioque rubentia fuco ubi turba rotarum,
duruque ungula mol-
Tergapremunt;auroque graves moderanturhabenas. lierant subjectas gle-
E quibus Ismenos, qui matri sareina quondam bas. Ibi pars de sep-
tcm genitis Amphione
Prima suae fuerat, dum certum flectit in orbem 225 conscendunt in fortes
equos,premuntque ter-
Quadrupedum cursus, spumantiaque ora coercet ; ga rubentia Tyriofuco,
Hei mihi conclamat medioque in pectore fixus, moderanturque habc-
!
; nas graves aura. E
Tela gerit frsenisque manu moriente remissis
;
quibus Jsmenos qui
fiiernt qvonduju prima
In latus a dextro paulatim defluit anno. sareina sute matri,
dum ftcctit cursus
quadrupedum in certum orbem, coercetque ora spumantia, conclu>nat hei mihi ! fixusqiie in medio
pectore, gerit tela,frenisque remissis manu moriente, defluit paulatim in latus d dextro urmo.
TRANSLATION.
"
grief: the daughter of Tantalus has added slighting reproaches to
" the horrid
fact, and dared to postpone you to her own breed, and (a
" curse which
may it fall upon herself) called me childless discovering ;
*'
a tongue, sacrilegious as was that of her father." Latona was going
to second this her relation with entreaties Cease, returned Phoebus, :
yoiir
complaints every moment is lost that defers our vengeance. Diana said
;
the same and .both hid in clouds, by a swift descent through the air,
;
Of whom Ismenus, who formerly had been the first grateful load to his
pregnant mother, while he guides his horse's steps in a winding ring, and
curbs his foaming mouth, cries out, alas and piercing through the middle
!
of his breast, bears therein the dart and dropping the reins from his
;
dying hand, sinks by degrees on one side over his horse's right shoulder.
NOTES.
224. E quibus Ismenos.'] Here Latona cause contagions distempers used to ba
engages Apollo and Diana to destroy all attributed to the immoderate heat of the
the children of Niobe. A fiction, that sun, hence they give out that Apollo and
has its foundation in truth, hands down to Diana had slain them with their darts for :
us, though obscured with fable, a very Eustathius upon Homer observes, that the
tragical piece of ancient history. In the poets, who ascribe to those divinities sud<-
time of Amphion and Niobe, a heavy pes- den deaths, and such as were owing to
tilence afflicted Tiiebes; and the pestilence, always imputed those of
spread its
desolation so far, as to leave not one of the men to Apollo, and those ef the women
thechfldrenof Niobe remaining; and be- to Diana.
214 P. OVIDII NASONIS
gathering storm, flies and lets down on every side the hanging sails,
;
that not a single blast of wind may escape. He gave, I say, the reins ;
but the dart overtook him, and stuck quivering in his neck be-
imerring
hind and the bare point stood out from his throat he, as his posture was
;
:
prone tumbled over his horse's neek and mane aud stained the ground ;
with his warm blood. Unhappy Phaedimus, and Tantalus, the heir of his
of riding, were
grandfather's name, having ended the wanted exercise
gone to try the youthful sport of wrestling. And now had they joined
breast to breast, struggling in a close grapple, when an arrow starting
from a full-stretched bow, went through both as they were thus joined
their
together. They groaned together together laid upon the ground ;
limbs, writhed with pain together as they lay, rolled for the last
;
time
their languid eye-balls and together breathed away their soul. Alphe-
;
nor beholds this, and, beating his torn breast, flies to bear up- their cold
limbs in his embraces, but falls in the pious office for the Delian god ;
through the wound. But not a single wound oidy prostrates beardless
Damasichthon he was struck where the leg begins, and where the
:
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VI. 215
corforihus, et (iisp(?iuit suprema oscula yer omnes natos nullo ordine, a quibus tendens
brachia
Uveatht ad caluin ait : crudelis Latona pascere nostro dolore; pascere; satiaque tua pectora meo
luctu :
TRANSLATION.
nervous ham makes a yielding joint and while with his hand he en-
:
deavours to draw out the fatal weapon, another arrow pierced his throat
up to the wing. The blood forced it out and, darting on high, springs
;
ness of the gods, and that they had such an extent of power ; for their
father Amphion sheathing a dagger in his breast, had put an end at once
to his life and griefs. Alas how much did this Niobe differ from that
!
Niobe, who had so lately driven away the people from the altars of Latona ;
and, with an air of majesty walked through the middle of the city, envied
by her own people, but now to be pitied even by an enemy she falls !
upon the cold bodies, and dispenses luidistinguished her last kisses among
216 P. OVIDII NASONIS
(nonqite pressit or a,
nisi Sexque datis leto, diversaque vulnera passis.
postqiiam spirit us
exit. J Hac frusira fu- Ultima restabat quam toto corpore mater, :
TRANSLATION.
all then raising her pale arms to heaven " Feed yourself, she
her sons :
;
*'
even after so many funerals I am superior." She said when the twang- ;
ing of the string, from a bow violently strained, v^^as heard, which
dealt
terror to all but Niobe alone she was become bold by her misfortunes.
:
The sisters stood round the biers of their brothers, in habits of mourn-
ing, and Avith their hair dishevelled one of whom drawing out the ;
arrow, sticking in her bowels, fell dying upon the pale corpse of her
brother. Another endeavouring to comfort her dejected mother, was
silent of a sudden, and doubled together
by an invisible wound nor ;
shut her mouth until she had breathed her last. One attempting in vain
to fly, sinks down another dies her sister one seeks by hiding her-
;
upon ;
Six now were dead of different wounds, and only the last remained whom ;
the mother guarding with her body and spreading robe, Grant me, she
cries, this one and the youngest it is but one of
many, and the youngest ;
NOTES.
De muUis minimam posco clamavit.] tiie Thc-
300. merous offspring. She addresses
It to the poet, not to ob-
were an injury bans in high strains of vanity, and boasts
serve here the great judgment and art iie of her advautages over Latona. All these
has shewn in this whole description. He are on purpose contrived to make her fall
begins by the character of Niobe, as na- appear the greater; nor does the poet
turally haughty and proud. This is heigli- himself suffer us to overlook a circum-
tened by an honourable marriage, the do- stance of so great weight.
minion over a mighty kingdom, and a nu-
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VI. 217
pensius venerantur cultu magna numina gemelUpara diva-. Utque saepe sit, a
facto propiore, re-
narrant facta priora, unus e quibus ait: veteres quoque coloni agris fertilis Lycite sprevere deam
haud impune.
TRANSLATION.
too that I demand. But Avhile she begs, the virgin, for whom she begs,
Childless now, she sat down among her dead sons and daughters
expires.
and husband, hardened into a statue by her woes. Her hair is not moved
by the wind a mortal paleness is seen in her countenance her eyes lan-
;
;
her tongue also stands congealed within her mouth, and hardens to her
palate and the blood stagnates in her veins.
;
Her neck can no more be
bent her arms and feet refuse their usual offices her bowels within her
; ;
turn to solid stone. Yet still she weeps and enclosed by a hurricane of ;
cident, to what passed of old. Of whoi;i one thus began his tale: Some
swains of old too, in the lands of fertile Lycia, despised the goddess not ;
with impunity. The thing indeed is but little known, because of the ob-
NOTES.
Heu quantum haec Niobe, Niobe distabat ab ilia lifelessbodies of her sons, all fall before
Quae modo l.atms popuUini submoverat aris :
Et mediam tulerat gressus resupina per urbem, her eyes and she is reduced at last to
;
This is Ovid's reflection after the death youngest too, out of all that number ;
of her sons. But he still goes on to heighten nor is even that request granted. Is it
the description. Niobe retains her former possible to represent
a more complete
pride and stateliness, nor will yield to the scene of misery and woe ? What richness
goddess, notwithstanding the late misfor- and luxuriance of imagination must a
tune : she is therefore made to encounter poet possess, who could bring together
a new and more alarming disaster. Her such a crowd of the most distressing cir-
daiighters, who stood round her, and cumstances .'
:
,
luque
'
suo
'
,^ P
portasse sinu duo numma natos.
.
^.^^ :
d)^,Td?du^gZihfofno- Jamque
Chimaeriferae, sol gravis ureret arva, cum
vercd invfta. Puer- Finibus in 340
pera fertur J ugisseju-
Lvciae,
J s dea fessa labore,'
' longo
upon the spot, the lake and pool noted for this prodigy. For my father
now advanced in years, and impatient of the fatigues of travel, had or-
dered me to drive thence some choice oxen, and
given me, when I went,
a guide of that nation with whom as I traversed the
;
pastures, lo, an altar,
black with the ashes of sacrifice, and surrounded with
trembling reeds,
stood in the middle of a lake. My
guide stopped, and, in a low trembling
voice, said, Favour me : I too, in a like accent, begged for favour. How-
ever, I inquired if this altar was sacred to the Naiads or Faunus, or some
native god of the country when the
stranger answered in these words
; :
O young man, no deity of the mountains claims this altar. She calls it
hers, whom formerly royal Juno banished the world whom wandering ;
Delos, when it swam a light island, hardly received upon her entreaties.
There Latona leaning upon a palm-tree, and the olive of Pallas, brought
forth twins in spite of her step-mother. The
newly-delivered goddess is
said hence to have fled from Juno, and to have carried in her bosom the
two deities her children. And now when the intense sun scorched the
plains in the regions of monster-breeding Lycia, the goddess weary with
long fatigue, and parched with the heat of the season, had contracted a
NOTES.
339. ChimarifercB Lycice,'] The Chi- eruptions of dame. The top of it was
luaera, according to the poets,was a inon- infested with lions, the middle afforded
ster, having the head of a lion, the body pasture for goats, and toward the bottom
of a goat, and the tail of a dragon but ;
it was
rocky, and full of dens, where ser-
in reality was no more than a mountain pents harboured,
of Lycia, whence there were sometimes
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VI. 219
Hi quoque vos moveant, qui nostro bracnia tenaunt ret humore, ct fauces
,1,1-j.Ja
Parva sinu; et casu tendebant brachia nati. 359 ^^^Vu^' "^^Jtl^s
non blanda Deee verba movere ? aqua erit nectar mm.
Quern potuissent
KIT
Hi tamen orantem perstant prohibere:
^ mmasque, simuivitam.Deiieruis
i,*-
procul abscedat, conviciaque uisuper acidunt.
I
• •
she discovered a lake of fine water in the bottom of a valley, where some
swains were gathering the bushy osier, and bulrushes, and sedge natural
to fens. The Titaness approached, and bending one knee to the earth,
that she might with greater ease drink of the refreshing stream, the rustic
crowd forbid it when the goddess thus addressed them as they withheld
;
her. "
Why
do restrain me from water ? The use of water is com-
you
" mon. Nature hath made neither sun nor air, nor the current
liquid
" one I come of her which yet
proper to any to partake; public bounty,
" I and
"
humbly beg of you to grant. I came not here to bathe my joints
while I speak to
aching limbs, but to quench my thirst. My mouth,
*'
scarce allows a pas-
you, is'without moisture my throat is parched, and ;
"
own, that together with it, I have received life from you you will give :
" me life in the water. Let these too move you who hold out their little
"
arms in my bosom :" and by chance her children held out their arms.
Whom woidd not these soft persuasions of the goddess have moved to
compassion ? Yet they persist in hindering her, notwithstanding her en-
treaties and add threats unless she departs, nay and insults too.
: Nor
was this enough they disturb the lake itself with their feet and hands,
:
and jumping maliciously to and fro, raise the soft mud from the marshy
bottom. Rage soon dispelled her thirst ; nor does the daughter of Coe us
220 p. OVIDII NASONIS
Ira distulit sitim, ne-
que ciiini filia Ccrijam
Distulit ira sitim. Neque enim jam filia Coei
supplicat iiidignis, nee nee dicere sustinet ultra
Supplicat indigiiis ;
ultra sustinet dicere
verba minora deii : tol- Verba minora Dea tollensque ad sidera palmas, :
__,-^,
:
stagni; sffpereniire in
,
%wfwi%rcentturpes Quamvis
siutsub aqua, sub aquamalediceretentant.
iinguasiitibu.s,pudure. Yox quoque iam rauca est, inflataque coUa tumes-
que puCso, quamvis suit T. T^ J ' T.
sub aqua, tentant ma- CUnt
ledlcere sub aqua. Vox
quoque est jam rauca, Ipsaque ddatant patulos convicia rictus.
coll/iq ; injiata tunics- colla intercepta videntur
convicia Terga caput tangunt ;
:
cunt :
ifsaque
dilatant yatulos ric-
tus. Spina viret: venter, pars maxima
corporis, albet ;
Caput tangunt
terga ; colla videntur Limosoque novse saliunt in gurgite ranae 381
intercepta: spina vi-
ret ; venter maxima VI. Sic ubi nescio quis Lycia de gente virorum
pars corporis, albet ; Rettulit exitium ; Satyri reminiscitur alter,
novteque rana: saliunt
in limoso gurgite.
VI. Ubi nescio quis
Quern Tritonica Latois arundine victum
rcttulit sic exitiu77i vi- Affecit pcena. Quid me mihi detrahis ? inquit.
rorum de gente Lycia ;
alter rcminiscitur Sa- Ah piget ah non est, clamabat, tibia tanti!
: 386
tyri, quern victum Tri-
tonica arundine, La-
Clamanti cutis est summos derepta per artus.
tois affecit posna. Quid Nee quicquam, nisi vulnus, erat. Cruor undique
iuquit detrahis me mi-
hi ? ah piget : ah cla- manat ;
mabut tibia non est
tanti. Clitic est dercpta per sutnmos artus illi clamanti : nee erat quicquam nisi vulnus. Cruor
manet uiidique,
TRANSLATION.
any longer deignto address in humble accents these base wretches, or
utter wordsbelow the majesty of a goddess but lifting up her hands to ;
heaven, May ye live for ever, says she, in that lake. The wishes of the
'
heads, and top of the lake oft to sit upon the bank, and
swim upon the ;
again leap back into the cold marsh even yet they exercise their
wretched :
bers the story of the satyr, whom, overcome in a challenge with the
Tritonian reed, the son of Latona punished for his presumption.
Why, says he, do you tear me from myself? Alas, I repent:
Sure, cried he, the pipe is not of so great moment: as he cries,
the skin is torn from off his limbs, and he is all over one continued wound.
The blood flows down on every side, the naked nerves appear, and
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VI. 221
TRANSLATION.
the trembling veins beat without any covering of skin. You might have
numbered his rising bowels, and the pellucid fibres on his breast. The
nymphs and sylvan gods, Fauns and his brother Satyrs, and Olympus
too, at that time renowned, lamented his fate ; and every swain that upon
those mountains fed the wool-bearing flocks, and horned herds. The
fertile earth was moistened, and being moist, received the
falling tears,
and drunk them up in her lowest veins which when she had joined into ;
one stream, changed to limpid water, they sprung from the ground ;
whence running in a steep channel to the rapid sea, they bear thetname
•of
Marsya, the clearest river of Phrygia.
VII. From these relations the crowd return again to the present dis-
asters, and mouni Araphion and his race extinct. The odium of all is
cast upon the mother yet it is said, the Pelops alone bewailed also her
;
fate and that having tore his garment, and gathered his robe upon his
;
breast, he discovered the ivory in his left shoulder. This shoulder at the
time of his birth, was of the same colour with the other, and formed of
flesh. But they tell us, that soon after the youth being slain by his father,
when the gods rejoined his mangled limbs, all but that which joins the
neck to the upper part of the arm were found. A piece of ivory was
NOTES.
393. Et tunc quoque clarus Olymfus.'] syas, who, even in Jiis master's life-time,
Olympus here is not to be taken for the had acquired considerable fame for his
mountain of that name, bsit for a disciple ; skill in playing on the flute,
^Z?ar"'rno?iTom-
I^efuit. Impositum estnon comparentis in usum
parvtitis: Peiopsqiie Partis ebui" factoque Pelops fuit integer illo. 410
:
timi cotunt :
urbesque ninnii-T'
j)ro]>inq}iie, Argosque, piilLJUcC
(^
syarte, Myce7iaque ad solatia reges.
Oraverc suos ivc
Felopeiades, et Caly- .
-r» • ^ -nx i i
don nondiim invUa ct Isparte,
Argosque,
relopeiadesque Mycenae,
orZmeZ::'^^lZ Et nondum torvffi Calydon invisa Dianae, 415
leTeq7e'ferox7pJfrT. Orchomenosque ferox, et nobilis sere Corinthus,
que, Ctlontpque humi- Messeneque ferax, Patraeque, humilesque Cleonae,
left, et Pylos Nelea, et t^.-xti t-» i ii -n- ,t rrt ,
TRANSLATION.
therefore inserted to supply the part wanting, and by that means was
Pelops restored entire to life.
VIII. All the neighbouring princes meet together, and the several
bordering cities engaged their kings to go in person to the consolation of
Thebes. Argos and Sparle, and Pelopean Mycenae, and Calydon not yet
odious to stern Diana: and bold Orchomenos, and Corinth famed for
brass, and fertile Messene, and Patree, and low Cleonae, and Pylas
ruled by Neleus, and Troszen not yet named from Pittheus and all ;
other cities within the isthmus, encompassed by double seas, and those
too without that are seen from this narrow isthmus. can believe Who
it ? Athens alone forbore to send. A
bloody war prevented this act
of humanity, and a fleet of barbarian ships blocking them up by sea,
alarmed the Mopsopian walls. Tereus of Thrace, with his auxiliary
forces, had routed these, and by his victories acquired an illustrious
name. Whomrenowned for wealth and power, and, as it happened,
deriving his pedigree from the great Mars, Pandion united to himself
by the marriage of his daughter Procne. Neither Juno who presides in
marriage, nor Hymen, nor the Graces attend these nuptials but the ;
Furies held torches snatched from a funeral the Furies prepared the ;
NOTES.
415. TorvcB Calydoninvisa DiancB.'] Ca- city of Peloponnesus Patra; of Acliaia
; ;
audire Na'idas et Dryadas incedere mediis silvis: si modo des similes cultus paratusque illis.
TRANSLATION.
bed, and the boding owl hovered over the palace, and settled on the roof
of the bed-chamber. With these threatening omens were Tereus and
Procne joined with these were they made parents. Thrace indeed con-
;
gratulated them, and themselves returned thanks to the gods and or- ;
dered the day, on which the daughter of Pandion was given to their re-
nowned prince, and that on which Itys was born,
to be kept as festivals :
Titan had now led the times of the revolving year through five au-
" If
tumns, when Procne thus in gentle accents addressed her spouse.
" I have
any influence with you, either send me to Athens to see my
"
sister, or let my sister come hither. You may promise to your
father-
"
in-law, that she shall make a quick return for to me you will be as ;
" some
propitious deity, if you procure me a visit from my
sister." He
orders his ships to be launched and with sail and oars entering the Ce-
:
cropian harbour, lands upon the Pirsean shore. When first he was ad-
mitted to his father-in-law, and they had mutually given their ri^ht hands,
with fatal omen their discoursebegins. He had begun to relate the cause
of his coming, the commands of his wif, and promise his sister's speedy
return, if sent. Lo, Philomela comes, richly adorned in fine apparel, but
far richer in beauty. Such are we wont to hear the Naiads and Dryads
described, when they wander in the forests and groves, were they but to
appear with the same ornaments and dress. As when fire is put under
224 P. OVimi NASONIS
Tereus exarsit virgine Non secus exarsit conspectn virgine Tereus, 455
cumpcclii, non secus
qua?ii si quis supponat Quam si quis canis igneni supponat aristis :
didit et laerymas, tan- Quid quod idem Philomela cupit ? patriosque la-
qttam et mandasset il- eertis 475
las. Pro superi, quan-
tum caca noctis mor- Blanda tenens humeros, ut ea visura sororem.
talia pectora habent!
Tereus creditur esse Perque suam, eontraque suam, petit usque salutem.
pius ipso molimine sce-
leris sumitque laudem a erimine.
: Quid quod Philomela cupit idem? blandaque tenens patriot
humeros lacertis, usque petit perque suam eontraque suam salutem, ut ea visura sororem-
TRANSLATION,
leaves
ripened ears of corn, or the catching flame spreads among the light
and hay laid up in stacks thus was Tereus inflaijied upon seeing the
;
virgin. Her beauty might indeed kindle love in any breast hut he is :
pushed on by an inbred lust and in those regions too the men are na-
;
turally prone to lewdness he burns by his own native desire, and those
:
solicit her with mighty presents, and expend his whole kingdom in the
with
attempt or again, to bear her away by force, and defend the rape
:
open war. And there is nothing so daring that he would not hazard,
thus
breast contain the
possessed by an unbounded passion; nor can his
struggling flames. And now he is impatient of delays,
and returns with
his own wishes
eager mouth to urge the commands of Procne, and pleads
under them. Love made him eloquent and, as often as he seemed to ;
he added tears too, as if she had also commanded them. Great gods What !
clouds of thick darkness blind the human mind Tereus, by the very at- !
What shall we think, that Philomela also joins in the request and, fondly ;
ampUititurpurentem,
Vincitur ambarum genitor prece. Gaudet, agit- velUt esse parens ejus:
neqiie eiiiin esset vii-
que 1IUS impliis. Genitar
vinritiir prece aiiiba-
Ilia patri grates et successisse duabus
; rum sororum. Ilia Phi-
Id putat infelix, quod erit lugvibre duabus. 485 lomela gaudet, agit
grates patri, (t infeliji;
Jam labor exiguus Phffibo restabat; equique piitat id siiccfssisse
diiuhus, quod erit lu-
Pulsabant pedibus spatium declivis Olympi :
giibre diiubas. Jam.
exiguus labor restabat
Regales epulte mensis, et Bacchus in auro Phwbo equique solis ;
Ponitur. Hiuc placido dantur sua corpora somno pnlsubant pedibus spu- :
tium declivis
At rex Odrysius, quamvis successit, in ilia 490 Regales epul<e Oli/inpi.
pomin-
et Bacehiis
^stuat: etrepetens faciem, motusque, manusque, J,";„-?^,;t'««r<,. mnc
Qualia vult fingit, quae nondum vidit et ignes :
sua corpora dantur
placido somno. At rex
Ipse suos nutrit, cura removente soporem. Odrysiiis,guamv>ssces-
sit o'stuat in ilia et
Lux erat: et generi dextram complexus euntis494 repetens faciem, mo-
:
Hanc ego, care gener, quoniam pia causa co'egit, quiiliu rult : et ipse
nutrit suos ignes, ciira
[Et voluere ambas, voluisti tu quoque, Tereu.] removente soporem.
Do tibi perque fidem, cognataque pectora supplex. Erat
:
lux et Pandion
coniplexus dextram ge-
:
been her father, nor indeed would that have checked his impiety. The
father yields at last to the desire of his two daughters she rejoices, and ;
return thanks to her father and, ill-fated nymph, calls that success which
;
was doomed to be fatal to both. To Phoebus now but little of his toil re-
mained, and his fiery steeds beat with their hoofs the descending tract of
heaven. A
royal banquet graces the tables, and wine is served up in
goblets of gold. Then all retire to taste the sweets of sleep. But the
Thracian king, though now withdrawn, yet still burns for her and re- ;
calling her face, and motions, and hands, fancy suggests what he had not
seen and he nourishes his own fires, restless care preventing sleep.
; It
was day; and Pandion grasping the right hand of his son-in-law, taking
his last farewell, with tears recommends his companion to Jiis care. I
commit, dear son, daughter to you, since a dutiful affection com-
this my
pels me to it for both have earnestly desired it (and you also, Tereus,
;
seem to desire it) and adjure by your honour, by your breast allied to. us,
and by all the gods above, that you guard and defend her with the fond-
ness of a father and send back to me as r^oon as possible (for every de-
;
Q
226 P. OyiDII NASONIS
I'i\Tt'"iib\ uui'^ietal
^^ quoqiie quampi'iniiim (satis est procul esse sc-
arf Me, reditu qiiam- roreui.)
r.-nm 'esse jirocni,) Si pietas uUa est, ad me Philomela, redito.
,^«''ri«i«^o.5c??r'w!J: Mandabat; pariterque suaj dabat oscula natse:
nat(v, et. mites lacry. Et Iftcrvmaj mites inter mandata cadebant. 505
»is cadeaant inter tt v^ i • •
i
mandata: pnposdt(jjie
dc.vtras utriusqiie «" T f
IWter ,
i~.
Utquc fidei pis^iius, dcxtras utnusque poposcit;
pigmn fidei, Junxitqiic SBQUe
que datasjunxit; natamque nepotem,
eas (tuias inter se ;ju-
bet que ut saliiteiit pro
Absentes memori pro se jubet ore salutent:
seinemori ore; natam-
que nefotemqiie ab-
Supremumque vale, pleno singultibus ore,
sentes : vixque dixit Vix dixit: timuitque suae presagia mentis, 510
supremnm rate ore
pieno si'^^ultibits : tl At simul imposita est pictae Philomela carinse;
muitqueprasagiamiB Admotumque fretuHi lemis, tellusque repulsa est ;
mentis. At stmul Phi- _^. t^ '
.
/»
lomcla est imposita
Vicimus, exclamat mecum mea vota leruntur. :
vicimus, mea vota je- ]Nfon aliter, Quam cum pedibus praedator obuncis
men ab ilia. Non aii- iter efFectum: iamque in sua littora fessis
ter quam cum ales Jo- Jamque
-^^ 1., \ t-> t ran .
speedily (it is enough that your sister is far removed from me).
These
were his commands at the same time he kissed his darling child, and
;
the gentle tears fell from him as he spoke to her. He then demanded both
their right hands, as a pledge of their fidelity, and, as he held tliem, joined
them together and desires, that with mindful mouth, they salute for him
;
his absent daughter and grandson and was scarce; able to pronounce the ;
last farewell, in a voice interrupted with sighs and dreaded the presages ;
of his own mind. No sooner was Philomela put on board the painted ship,
and the sea urged by the oar, the land seeming to recede ; are victorious, We
he cries 1 bear my wishes along with me. The barbarian exults, and with
:
pain forbears the expected joy nor turns his eyes any where
from her. As ;
when the rapacious bird of Jove has with crooked talons snatched a hare,
and carried her to his loffy nest tliere is no escape for the captive, the ra- ;
visher keeps his eye constantly upon his prey. And now the voyage was
ended, and they had gone out from the wearied ships upon the shore when ;
the king conveys the daughter of Pandion to a stately lodge, enclosed by an-
cient woods and there shuts her up pale and trembling, and dreading every
;
parentis cum
Nee mea virginitas, nee conjugialia jura? lacrymis j>iis, nee cura
sororis, nee mea vir-
Omnia turbasti. Pellex ego facta sorori :
ginitas, nee jura con-
Tu geminis conjux, Non hsec mihi debita poena. jugalia 7noi>ere
turbasti omnia:
te ?
ego
Quin animam banc (ne quid facinus tibi, perfide, sum facta jiellex soro-
ris, tu conjux geiiiinis.
restet) {H<£cpana non erat de-
Eripis? atque utinam fecisses ante nefandos 540 bita miliij. (Quin cm-
non) eripis hanc ani-
Concubitus vacuas habuissem
! criminis umbras. mam T (nc
quid faci-
nus restet tibi d per-
!Si tamen hsec
Superi cernunt ;
si numina Divum fide.) Ati/Jtc utinam
fecisses ante nefandos,
Sunt aliquid ;
si non perierunt omnia mecum ; concubitus .' habuis-
sem 7imbras vacuas
Quandocunque mihi poenas dabis. Ipsa pudore criminis. Tamen si
Projecto tua facta loquar. Si copia detur, 545 Superi cernunt hac :
si numina Vivilm su7it
TRANSLATION,
calls upon her father, often her sister, and above all, the mighty powers of
heaven. She trembles, like a timorous lamb, that snatched wounded from
the mouth of a hoary wolf, does not yet think itself secure or as the ;
dove when it beholds its plumes besmeared with gore, trembles still, and
dreads the cruel talons wherein she had lately stuck. But soon, when
tJiought returned, tearing her dishevelled hair, and like one plunged in
excess of grief, beating her arms, and stretching out her hands " Cruel :
"
barbarian, (she cries), savage and inhuman wretch, have neither the
" strict commands of a father uttered with
pious tears, nor a regard for
"
my sister, nor my virgin innocence, nor all the ties of the nuptial vow been
" able to move
you ? You have confounded all I am become my sister's:
"
rival, and you a husband to us both sure I never deserved so cruel a
:
" fate.
Why, perfidious wretch, do you not take away also my life, that
" no kind of O had you but
villany may be left unperpetrated by you.
" done it
before the criminal embrace, my ghost had been guiltless and
"
unstained. Yet, if the heavenly powers see these things if the ma- ;
"
jesty of the gods is not a mere fiction if with me all things are not
;
" come
to ruin one time or other vengeance will overtake thee. I my-
;
" If at
self, casting off all restraint of shame, will proclaim thy crimes.
"
liberty, I will come abroad, and publish them among the people ;
'
if
kept imprisoned in woods, I will fill the woods with my complaints,
" and move
the conscious rork^. Let heaven, and every god that inhabits
Q 2
228 P. OVIDII NASONIS
inota talibus dictis, wcc j^g^j j^jj^qj. j^^j, jj-,gtus est : causa stimulatus utr^-
metii.t est minor hac,
stimulatus que i50
utraqiie
causa liberat ensem ensem
quo fuit accinctus va-
Quo
.
fuit accinctus,
, An-
vagina liberat , , i
:
•
gina, cogitque iiiam
Arreptamque coma, nexis post terga lacertis,
tlffelTs "pZ \Tga, Vincla pati cogit. Jugulum Philomela parabat ;
pZpftaTLc'ui'cfnda
^°^ quoque post facinus (vix ausim credere) fertur
coiubrtEmiiiiiata: solet
Ssepe su'd lacerum repetisse libidine corpus.
salirc.et moriens, qua- o.- j-r« . ^ii-r^i
bustmet ad Procncu post talia facta reverti
,.•
rit vestigia domino', :
round, and seizing her by the hair, after forcing her arms behind her, he
compelled her to submit to chains. Philomela prepared her throat for the
mortal blow, and had conceived hopes of death upon seeing the sword.
But he haviug seized her tongue with pincers, cut it off with the cruel
sword, as she was raving with indignation, and calling constantly on the
name of her father, and struggling hard to speak. The quivering root
still remains, but the tongue itself is thrown to the ground, and faintly
murmurs as it lies trembling on the stained earth. And as a snake when
wounded writhes and tosses his tail, it leaps about and dying, seeks the ;
feet of its mistress. It is said too, (though I dare scarce believe it) that
even after so black a deed, he frequently indulged his lustful flame on
her mangled body.
Yet after all this baseness, he had the confidence to present himself to
Procne, who, when she saw her husband, inquires immediately after her
sister but he utters feigned groans, and tells an artful story of her death.
:
And procures credit from his 1?ears. Procne tears from her shoulder her
robe embroidered with copious flowers of gold, and is clad in sable weeds,
and raises in vain sepulchres, and offers expiations to the fictitious ghost,
and mourns the fate of her sister, which known must have a
inspired
passion very different from grief
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VI. 229
lempus erat, quo sacra solent inetenca rJaccln satis indignantia defv-
TRANSLATION.
of day had completed the year by a progress through the
The god
twelve signs of the Zodiac. What can Philomela do ? Watchful keepers
prevent her escape the walls of the lodge are built high of solid stone
:
:
ner speechless mouth can make no discovery of the crime. But urgent
grief quickens ingenuity, and in distress expedients readily
offer. She
fixed to a loom with perfect skill a web of the barbarian fashion, and by
notes interwoven in white thread, traced the bloody crime. This
purple
when and sig-
finished, she gave to one of the slaves that attended her,
nified by gestures that he must carry it to his mistress. He carried it as
desired to Procne, nor once suspected what was conveyed it. Ine m
matron of the savage tyrant unfolds the web, and reads the mournful
Excess of
story of her sister and, strange that she could,
: is silent.
checked her nor could her eager tongue find words to ex-
grief speech,
press her indignation there is no room for tears. :
But rushes impetu-
ous, determined to confound and
right wrong,and is wholly taken up in
the contrivance of revenge.
It was now the time when the Thracian matrons are wont to celebrate
to these rites.
the triennial feast of Bacchus. Night alone is conscious
By night Rhodope resounds with the shrill tinkling of brass. By night
the queen left the palace, arrayed according to the rites of the god, and
all the of that frantic solemnity. AVreaths of vine
carrying badges
leaves adorn her head, a deer's skin covers her left side, and a smooth
spear presses her shoulder. The terrible Procne thus hurries through
230 P. OVIDII NASONIS
iiidiiitque insignia
Bacchi rapta : etabdit Attonitamque trahens intra sua limina ducit. 600
viiltus froiidibus hede-
rariim :
Ut sensit tetigisse domum Philomela nefandam,
trahensque,
illicit attonitam intra Horruit infelix totoque expalluit ore.
;
sua limina. Ut infelix
Philomela seiisit se te- Nacta locum Procne, sacrorum pignora demit,
tigisse domum nej'an-
dam, horruit : eocyal- Oraque develat miserae pudibunda sororis :
TRANSLATION.
the woods, followed by a crowd of attendants, and agitated by the tumults
of indignation, pretends them such as Bacchus mspired. At length she
arrives at the solitary dome, and howls, and cries Evoe, and breaks open
the gates, and seizes her sister, and clothes her in the ensigns of the
god, and hides her face with leaves of ivy, and drawing her along,
full
of amazement, leads her within the limits of the court.
,As soon as the unhappy Philomela perceived that she had touched the
cold seizes her, and paleness spreads over all
guilty house, a shivering
her face. Procne having now found a fit retirement, removes the sacred
symbols of the deity, and unveils the blushing face of her wretched sister,
and fondly holds her in her embraces. But she, on the contrary, as one
that had stained her sister's bed, cannot bear to lift up her eyes but ;
with a dejected countenance, and willing to swear, and call the gods to
witness, that violence had brought the infamy her, her hand served
upon
instead of a voice, and proclaimed in signals her innocence. Procne
burns with passion, nor can she any longer contain her rage ; but check-
of her sister " It is not to tears
ing the unseasonable grief (says she)
:
" that we must now have recourse, but to the sword but to whatever else ;
Quid sit, adhuc dubito. Peragit dum talia Procne, l^l^^ ^lUsZiidma^
Ad matrem veniebat Itys. Quid possit, ab illo 620 matrem. Admomtacst
. -,
T ''.., ••i-1 AT abillo quid poss'it : til-
Admonita est: oculisque tuens immitibus, Ah quam
,
Inque vicem spectans ambos, Cur admovet, inquit, matrem labure ex ni-
AU 11
Alter j-i-
blanditias
i^
silet altera
T Ao -1 i. 11.
mid pietate : versa est
uerum at iwc, ad mu-
; rapta Imgua f
Quam vocat hie matrem, eur non vocat ilia sororem ? ^"^ amZfinmcemjn-
Cui sis nupta vide, Pandione nata, marito. admo-
9"iV; ^"'•.f^ifer altera
-r\ o
fecelusest
mlereo. o3or 1 • • •
r'i^
'"^^
blandttias,
sHet rapta ungua?
Degeneras.
Tvr J. -Lrj- ii*/~i i"
pietasmconiuge cur non ilia vocat so-
i\ ec mora ; traxit Ityn veluti (jangetica cervse
: rorem quam mc vocat
Lactantem
Utque domus '•J- foetum per silvas tigris opaeas.
altse partem tenuere remotam
reo est scelus. Nee est mora ; traxit Ityn : veluti Gangetica tigris
:
'
trahit
Z^';Z'c^^a^:t!s
nupta. Degeneras
pietas zn conjuge Je-
lactantem fat urn cervce
.-
TRANSLATION.
"
eyes, or the parts that injured yoiu* honour, or expel his guilty soul by
" a thousand wounds. What to fix
upon, I have not yet resolved, but
" determined I am to do
something great."
While Procne thus discourses to her sister, Itys ran up to his mother :
with stern eyes, ah, said she, how like you are to your father She said !
no more, but prepares in her mind the bloody deed, and burns with silent
rage. But as her son drew near, and saluted his mother, and folded his
little arms round her neck, and
joined kisses mixt with childish prattle,
the mother was softened to pity, her anger abated, and tears forced them-
selves from her unwilling eyes. But when she found that the natural
fondness of a parent disarmed her resentment, again she turned her eyes
to her sister, and looking by turns at both "
Why, (says she,) does one
" accost me with fond caresses the other stand silent bereft of her
:
"
tongue ? Why, as he calls me mother, does not she call me sister ? O
"
daughter of Pandion, think to what a husband thou art married. You
"
degenerate, conjugal duty in the wife of Tereus, would become a
" crime." No more she
wavers, but seizes Itys, as when a tigress on
the banks of the Ganges, drags through gloomy groves the tender suckling
of a hind. When they were come to a remote part of the lofty dome,
Procne plunges the sword into his bosom, now aware of his fate, and
NOTES.
636. Gangetica.] Indicafrom the Ganges, one of the greatest rivers in India.
232 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Procneferjt nj<e,
,
7f'm''s/n%ut'a,' e'/ fn'm Eiise fcrit Pi'ocne, latcri qua pectus adhseret ; 641
'^'rl^"!,i"n,1^ia-ncc
^ec vultum avertit. Satis illi ad fata vel unum
avertit viiitvtn. lei Vuluus evat I iusTulum feiTO Philomela resolvit,
vmim vulnus crat sa- _,.. ,,'•'". i- i .• >• \
ti.t illi ad
fata. fhiio- Vivaq adhuc, anunseq; aliquidretinentia membra,
;
thievtiaquc illiquid
tinima-: inde pars exul- His adhibet conjux ignarum Terea mensis :
:
.
TRANSLATION.
stretching out his hands, and calling her his dearest mother, and strug-
gling to throw his arms round her neck nor did she so much as turn ;
away her eyes. One stroke was sufficient to complete his fate. Philo-
mela lays open his throat with a sword his limbs still quivering, and re- :
taining somewhat of life, they tear in pieces. Part of them are boiled
in kettles, part roasted on spits ;
the floors run in streams of gore. The
unsuspecting Tereus to this inhuman feast, and falsely
wife invites the
pretending a mystic sacrifice in the manner of her country, at which it
was lawful for the husband only to be present, removed his attendants
and servants. Tereus himself, exalted on the throne of his ancestors,
feeds on the offered banquet, and greedily devours his own bowels and :
so great is the blindness of his mind, that he desires Itys may be called
to him. Procne can no longer dissemble her cruel joy, but impatient
to be herself the discoverer of her
bloody crime. You have within you,
says she, what you call He looks round him, and still inquires
for.
where he can As he
thus inquires, and again calls for his son,
be.
Philomela springs out, her hair dishevelled and stained with the infernal
murder, and throws the bloody head of Itys in his father's face nor at ;
any time did she more earnestly wish for speech, and to be able to
testify her joy in words suited to her wrongs. The tyrant pushes the
table from him with a hideous
cry, and calls the snaky furies from their
Stygian dens. Sometimes he resolves, by teai'ing open his breast, to dis-
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VI. 233
Et modb, si
possit, reserato pectore, diras f TiserafJ! pttore
Esferere inde dapes, semesaque viscera gestit. cgerere inde'diras da-
r~,P 1 i 1 1-1 , •
pes, semesaque viscera:
Flet modo, seque vocat bustum raiserabile nati
J.
TRANSLATION,
charge the direful repast, and half-eaten bowels anon he weeps, and ;
calls himself the wretched tomb of his own son now he pursues the :
daughters of Pandion with his naked sword. You would imagine that
the bodies of the Cecropian nymphs were supported by wings they were ;
indeed supported by wings. One wanders in the woods, the other shelters
herself under roofs. The marks of her cruelty may be yet seen on her
breast, and her feathers are stained with blood. He too, made swift by
his resentment and impatience of revenge, is changed to a bird, that bears
on his head crested plumes a long beak stands out in form of a spear,
;
NOTES.
667. Corpore Cecropidum.'] come We A verse of Aristophanes, in the first act of
now to the fabulous part of this story; hiscomedy of the birds, where Tereiis, to
that which the poets have devised to serve abate the astonishment of Eulpis, siir-
their purposes, which is thus explained prised to see that prince under so hideous
by Banier. As it was common in ancient afigure,^ivesussufficiently to understand,
times, to mix the supernatural with all these ancientfictions were often invented,
events of moment, and account for them or at least improved by the tragic poets,
by the intervention of the gods so it was ;
and especially this one, since Tereus says:
given out, that Procne had been trans- Sophocles has thoujzht fit to put me into
formed into a swallow, Philomela into a this disguise. The nightingale, that hides
nightingale, Itys into a pheasant, and itself in woods and tliickets, seems as it
Tereus into a lapwing. The mytliologists were industrious to cover Philomela's
find reasons corresponding to these me- shame and misfortunes ; and the swallow
tamorphoses they will have it, that these
: that frequents houses, sets forth the dis-
symbolical transformations were designed quietude of Procne, who in vain seeks
to figure the characters of these several after her son, whom slie inhumanly mur-
persons. As the lapwing is a bird that dered,
delights in they will have this to be
filth, 677. Sceptra loci, Sfc] From the fate of
an emblem of Tereus' impure morals ; Tereus, the poet passes to the story of
because the flight of that bird is very slow, Calais and Zethes. They were the sons
it signifies at the same time, that he was of Boreas, king of Thrace, by Orythia
not able to overtake the princesses, his the daughter of Erectheus,kingof Athens;
ship not being so good a sailer as theirs. wiiom that prince had carried oflT.
234 P. OVIDII NASONIS
maimit uti precibiM Quae solita cst, illi nimiumque domestica vento ;
quam viribus. At ubi t-\, •
,\ j- , -j •
j i i- •
nihil agitur bia,iditiis, nierito, dixit: quid enim mea tela reliqui,
-t^t
mZ'fclsq7e''7nimos';
^i freta coiicutio, Hodosaque robora verto,
"'^"''"umsdldTctfrni'^ Induroque nives, et terras grandine pulso.
VIS est apta mihi: vi Idem Bgo cum fratres cceIo sum nactus aperto,
yello tristia nubila: /tvt -i* ,w i- > •
, .
•
hi) luctor tanto moii- ^upposuique lerox imis mea terga caverms ;
t^^a^ls^^. SoUicito manes, totumquetremoribus orbem.
sibus, ignesque elisi ca-
VIS nubibus exiliant.
Hac Ope debueram thalamos petiisse socerque 700 :
-vr j ^ r i-"
±.1,1 •
^
i> on orandus
Egoidemcumsubiicon- erat, sed VI laciendus, brechtheus.
vexa foramina terree,
feroxgue seposui mea terga imis cavernis, sollicito manes, totumque orhem tremoribus. HAc ope
debueram petiisse thalamos : Erechtheusque Jion erat orandus,
sedfaciendus socer vi.
TRANSLATION.
love of justice, or his
mighty armies. To him were born four sons, and
as many of the female lot but two excelled, and were alike in
;
beauty.
Cephalus, the grandson of GEolus, Avas blessed in having Procris for his
wife but Tereus and the Thracians Avere a
;
great obstacle to Boreas, and
the god languished long without his dear
Orithyia, while he begs, and
prefers suppliant prayers to force. But when blandishments availed
nothing, swelling with rage, and those rougher arts, so usual and native
wind " am
to this :
Deservedly, (says he,) I now rejected ; for why did
" I relinquish and violence, and fierceness, and
"
my proper weapons, rage,
threatening blasts, and apply in humble prayers to my dishonour Vio-
" lence is
my proper talent by violence I drive the stormy clouds, and
" shake with
;
'•
oaks, harden snow, and heat the earth with hail. The same when en-
"
countering my brothers in the open air (for this is peculiarly my field)
" I
struggle with such mighty efibrts, that heaven from pole to pole re-
" echoes the dreadful
shock, and fierce lightnings, struck from hollow
clouds, play around. The same when pent within hollow subterraneous
*'
*'
caves, and opposing my back to earth's lowest caverns, I shake the
" infernal
regions and whole globe with earthquakes, it is thus I ought
" to have
pursued my bride nor courted Erechtheus to become my father-
;
"
in-law, but by force compelled him."
In these or such like blustering words Boreas, and shook his dreadful
wings by whose tossings the whole earth was fanned, and the wide sea
:
METAMORPHOSEON, Lin. VI. 235
Barbaque
~ '
dum
_
rutilis aberat submissa capillis, 715 meJZ"partns^77uiha-
- .. _ ^ .
herent pennas genito-
Implumes Calaisque puer, Zethesque fuerunt. ris, cetera matris. Ta-
Mox pariter ritu pennse coepere volucrum men memorant has
pennas non natas una
Cingere utrumque latus pariter flavescere malae.
;
ctim corpore,
barba submissa rutilis
dumque
Ergo, ubi concessit tempus puerile juventse, capillis aberat, puer
Vellera cum Minyis nitido radiantia villo. 720 Calaisque Zethesque
fuerunt implumes. Mox
Per mare non motum prima petiere carina. pennce ritu volucrum,
ccepere cingere pariter
utrumque latus : mala: coepcie pariter flavescere. Ergo ubi tempus puerile concessit juventtB ;
petiere primh, cari/td cum Minyis per mare non motum vellera radia?itia nitido villo.
TRANSLATION.
trembled. When the lover drawing his
dusky mantle over the mountain's
tops, sweeps the ground, and wrapt in darkness, emhraees with his yel-
low wings, Orithyia, aghast with fear. As he flies, the agitated flames
of love burn fiercer; nor did the ravisher check the reins of his aerial
course, till he reached the people and walls of the Ciconians. There
Actsean Orithyia was espoused to the cold tyrant, and became a mother,
being delivered of twins, who retained the wings of their father, but in
other things resembled their mother. Yet they tell us, these wings were
wanting at the time of their birth and that, until a beard of dusky hair
,
began to grow, the boys, Calais and Zethes remained unfledged. But
soon after, wings, like those of birds, began to enclose their sides, and at
once their cheeks were covered with yellow down. When therefore the
childish season of life gave way to that of youth and manhood, they em-
barked with the Argonauts, whose ship first essayed the hostile waves ;
and with them attempted the famed prize of the fleece, shining Avith ra-
diant gold.
NOTES.
710. Ciconum populos.'] A
people of a people of Thessaly, so called from
Thrace, inhabiting near mount Ismarns, Minyeus, one of its rivers; known after-
and the Bisconian lake. ward by the name of Orchomenos.
720. Cum Minyis.} The Minya were
236 P. OVIDII NASONIS
LIBER SEPTIMUS.
I.
ORDO.
Jamque Minya se-
I. TAMQUE fretum Minyae Pegasae^
puppe se-
cabant fretum Pega- tJ cabant,
stFil puppe, Phiiieiis-
que trahens inopem se- Perpetuaque trahens inopem sub nocte senectam
nectam sub perpetud
nocte
TRANSLATION.
I. A ND now
the Argonauts ploughed the sea in the Pegassean
ship, and
Jl\. had seen Phineus dragging on a needy old age in perpetual night the :
NOTES.
This book begins with the famed ex- When these things were known in Greece,
pedition of the Argonauts. Ovid having such of the youths as were most passion-
in tlie course of his narration come to Ca- ately fond of fame, began to form a de-
lais and Zethcs, and traced them to the sign of demanding back the treasures of
time when they embarked in this voyage, Athamas, and revenging the death of
is naturally led to give the particulars of Phryxus. Pelias, uncle to Jason, having
an event, so renowned in story. As it is driven his brother Eson fiom the throne
of importance to be well acquainted with of Joleos, and waiting to remove Jason,
this fable, I shall trace things from Iheir who might take it into his head to re-es-
source, and endeavour to explain all tiie tablish liis father Eson, would not lose so
fictions that are any way connected with favourable an opportunity and urged
;
it. Athamas, the son of jEolus, grandson liim to engage in a voyage, from which he
of Helen, and great grandson of Deuca- Blight reap so much glory and renown.
lion, marrying Ino, the daughter of Cad- As this expedition had been published
mus, soon after divorced her, to make over all Greece, many young princes were
way for Nephele, by whom he had Phryxus assembled at the court of Joleos ; who
and Helle. But disgusted with her, he having conferred the chief command on
took back Ino, who borne him two sons, Jason, embarked in the ship Argo, whence
Learclius and Melicerta. Ino, wiio now this was called the expedition of the Ar-
had greatly the ascendant of her husband, gonauti. Various are the conjectures as
hated the children of Nephele, who, as to this name some derive it from Argus,
;
naturally supposed,
the Argonauts, as
has been called the Hellespont, or the sea has intermixed with them, they shall be
of Helle. Upon his arrival in Colchis, explained in the course of the notes.
^etes gave him a kind reception, and 1.
Pegasaa puppe.] In the ship Argo,
some time after bestowed upon him his so called from Pegasus, the name of the
daughter Calciope in marriage ; but after- city and promontory of Thessaly, near to
ward coveting the treasures of his son-in- which this ship was built.
law, he pnt him to death, and seized them.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VII. 237
and after struggling long, when by reason she cannot conquer her frenzy :
" In vain
(says she), Medea, do you resist I know not what powerful god
;
"
opposes, and it is a wonder but this, or something sure extremely like it,
" is what For why else do the commands of my father
they call love.
"
appear to me too hard ? yea, and indeed they are too hard. Why
" these
my fears, lest he whom I saw so lately should perish ? What
" can be the cause of this
mighty fear ? Banish, unhappy nymph, if thou
"
canst, the flames that harbour in thy virgin breast. If indeed I could,
" I should act the wiser part. But a power, till now uufelt, urges me
" in spite of myself. Passion persuades one thing, and reason another.
" I see and approve the right, yet knowingly pursue the Avrong.
"
Why,
royal maid, do you burn for a stranger ? covet a husband from a
Why
NOTES.
3. Phineus visus erat.l The first re- river of Colchis that flows into the Euxine
markable incident in tliis expedition was sea.
the rescuing Phineus from the persecu- 7. Phryxeaque vellera poscmit.] The
tion of the harpies. golden fleece, so called from Phryxus,
6. Limosi Phasidos.] That is, they ar- who, as, we have seen, carried it to
rived at Colchis ; for tlic Phasis is a Chochos.
238 P. OVIDll NASONIS
Ihat" ucetqu'e preca- Occidat, in diis est. Vivat tamen idque precari ;
0«trf efdmjlsmclm-
^^ ^^^'^ amore licet. Quid enim commisit lason ?
misU; quam tiisi cru- Quam nisi crudclem non tangat lasonis setas,
Uclem, (ctas, ct genii.':, _ ^-iO ^ ^ ^ ,
pereuntcm
iOi '.
'ii
gHd^'tuf ffTehor me Couscelero? cur non tauros exhortor in ilium, 35
^^nios\I"cVrde
*^
ci^r Tcrrigenasquc feras, insopitumque
draconem ?
non et specto ilium Di meliora velint.
Quanquam"
non ista precanda,
vereuntem^ conscele- r^ r i -i t->
^ • •
i
ro-que ocuios videudof bed tacienda mini. Jrrodamne ego regna parentis,
cur non exhortor tau-
ros, terrigenasque fe- Atque ope
nescio quis servabitur advena nostra,
me sospes, sine me det lintea ventis, 40
ros, insopitumque dra-
conem in Ut,
ilium?
dii per
velint meliora : quaii- Virque ; pcenai Medea relinquar?
sit alterius
nescio quis advena ser- ]Nfon ca nobilitas auimo cst, ea gratia formee,
vabitur nostra, ope, ut tt, ,• r i •,• i i-
•
j_
sospes per me, det lin- Ut timeam iraudem, meritique oblivia nostri 46 .
TRANSLATION.
remote part of the world ? Thy native land can furnish objects worthy
of thy love. Whether he lives or dies is in the disposal of the gods.
Yet may he live and thus far 1 am allowed to wish, even without the
;
impulse of love. For what crime has Jason committed ? Or what breast
((
so savage, as not to be touched with his youth, valour, and noble race ?
Yea, and were these wanting, whom might not his beauty captivate ?
Sure he has captivated my heart. But without my aid he must be scorched
by the glowing breath of the bulls and encounter with hosts of earth-born
((
;
foes, a harvest raised from his own seed or fall a savage prey to the ;
devouring dragon. If indeed I can suffer this, sure a tigress must have
given me birth, and my heart within me is of rock and iron. Why
do
I not behold him to expire and profane my eyes with the bloody
;
scene why do I not animate the bidls against him, and the fierce sons
!
of earth, and the ever-wakeful dragon. The gods award better things.
<(
But in vain do I confide in empty prayers action and art are here ;
ii
nor dread his forgetting ol" my merit. He shall beside first plight his
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VII. 239
Quemq; ego cum rebus, quas totus possidet orbis, cuitusque, artesque
^sonidem mutasse velim: quo conjuge felix 60 lw"quem^ego'"ve*ihn
Et Dis cara ferar, et vertice sidera tangam. ^r^r/. Jn/ZJoS
Quid, quod nescio qui mediis concurrere in undis det.- quo coyijugc ferar
-P^.
l ' ... J^
., ^-^-i y J. Jelix, et cara (lis, et
Dicuutur montes, ratibusque inimica L-narybais tangam. sidera vertice.
Nunc sorbere fretum; nunc reddere; cinctaque, fJo^/Jaicuufur"SH-
SfPvis cnrrcrc mediis imdis,
ftorvis
^
f ^ ri an Charibdisque inimica
Scvlla rapax canibus Siculo latrare profundo
*
: do ratibus, mine sorbere
•/ i-
?iunc reddere fretujii;
Scyllaque rapax cincta savis canibus latrare siculo profundo?
TRANSLATION.
"
faith, and gods to witness our agreement. What, there-
I will call the
" canst thou fear ? Haste, then, and banish all
thou
fore, safe as art,
" Jason shall owe his whole remaining life to thee, and unite
delays.
" thee to him by the solemn nuptial torch. The crowd of mothers too
" shall celebrate thee through all the Grecian cities, as the preserver of
" their youth. Shall I then, wafted hence by the winds, abandon my
"
"
sister, my brother, my father, my gods, and native soil } not ? Why
"
My father is cruel, my country barbarous, my brother is but a child,
and sister concurs Avith my wishes.
my Love, the most powerful of
" the gods, urges me by an inward call. Nor are the things I relinquish
" the glory of preserving the Grecian youth,
great, but those I piu-sue :
" the knowledge of a better country, and towns, whose fame even here is
"
great, where reign politeness and the fine arts Jason too, whom
alone :
" I beyond all that the whole world can yield with whom for my
prize ;
"
with ravenous sea-dogs, howls in the Sicilian deep ? Yet holding Avhat
" I love, and the long seas:
leaning on Jason's breast, 1 shall safely pass
NOTES.
62. Nvscio qui mediis concurrere in tin- the Cyair.r, two clusters of rocks at lliu
yfeiT'fpsum^Verebor
Per frcta longa feral". Nihil ilium amplexa verebor:
di'^'confuge iolof^vu- ^^^^ metuam, metuam de conjuge solo.
^^^f ^^
casne conjugium. Me- Coniugiumne vocas, SDCciosaque nomina culpae
dea, imponisqne spc- T-i\/ri
cioaa nomina tu<e cut- Impouis, Medea, tusB
h
quui aspice quantum
rir\
70
i.
.'
•
i
m
•
,
TRANSLATION.
"
nought will embracing him or if I fear, it will be for my hus-
I fear, ;
" band alone. Do you call it a marriage then, Medea, and shelter under
" venerable names your crime ? Bethink yourself rather of your mighty
" in your mind, and avoid while it is yet in your
iniquity you harbour
"
power, the horrid guilt."
She said and now a sense of virtue, and the duty she owed her father,
:
and shame presented themselves to her and Cupid vanquished was about ;
flame was kindled anew her cheeks were covered with blushes, and her
;
her passion) can be persuaded that she regards a merely mortal face, nor
turns away from beholding him. But when the stranger began to speak,
and seized her right hand, and with submissive voice begged her aid, and
" I see what I
promised her his bed she replies with a flood of tears
;
:
Next day, soon as Aurora had dispersed the sparkling stars, the people
meet together in the sacred field of Mars, and range themselves along the
hills. The king himself in a robe of purple, and distinguished by an
ivory sceptre, takes his seat in the midst of the assembly. When, lo, the
NOTES.
96. Patrem soeeri cernentem cuncta fu- armed men were to spring up, who must
turi.'\yEctes, the father of Medea, whom be all exterminated; and lastly, to slay
he now considers as his future father-in- (lie wakeful monster that guarded the
law, was the son of Phoebus, the god who treasure. All this Jason, aided by Me-
sees and makes all things visible toothers. dea, performs, and carries off the prize.
104. Ecce adamanteis Vulcanum, «Scc.} This, in fact, may be no more, than that
We come now to the miraculous part of Medea, whom Jason had promised to mar-
the story. Jason has conditions pro- ry, and carry along with
him to Greece,
pounded to him ; first, to put under the at the solicitation of Calciope her sister,
yoke two bulls a present from Vnlcan ; Phryxus' widow, who saw her children a
whose feet and horns were of brass, and prey to a cruel tyrant, assisted her lover
that vomited clouds of fire. With these to rob her father's treasures, either by
he was to plough giving him a false key, or in some other
up a field sacred to
Mars, that had never been cultivated ;
manner, and set sail with him.
sow in it the teeth of a dragon, whence
R
242 P. OVIDII NASONIS
aratri
latos ignes, medicamina Suppositosque jugo pondus grave cogit
possunt tantum. Mul
Ducere, ea insuetum ferro proscindere campum.
7rk!aulaci dextrT,co- Miiantur Colchi Minyse clamoribus implent, 120;
their breasts rolling out the enclosed flames, and their scorched throats
resound. Yet the son of ^son holdhj advances to the encounter. They,
as he approaches, sternly turn upon him with threatening looks, and aim
their horns pointed with steel ; with cloven hoofs they spurn the dusty
ground, and lowing fill the air with clouds of smoke The Ajgonauts stand
congealed with fear he comes up, nor feels the flames breathed upon
: him ;
them to draw the ponderous load of the plough, and tear up the unaccus-
tomed plain with the share. The Colchians wonder his companions fill ;
the air with shouts, and him with fresh courage. He then takes
inspire
the dragon's teeth in a brazen helmet, and strews them over the ploughed-
up field. The ground, before impregnated with a strong poison, softens
the seed and the teeth, that had been sown, grow, and form themselves
;
into new bodies. And as an infant assumes the human form in its mo-
ther's womb, and is there nor till arrived at
completed in all its parts,
maturity issues into the common air; in like manner when the figure
• of
man is ripened in the bowels of the pregnant earth, it lises in the fertile
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VIL 243
Quodque magis mirum, simiil edita concutit arma. quodque est magis mi-
nim, concutit arma si-
Quos ubi viderunt prseacutae cuspidis hastas 131 mul edita. Quos ubi
Pelasgi viderunt pa-
111
caput Haemonii juvenis torquere parantes ; rantes torquere has-
Demisere metu vultumque, animumque Pelasgi. tasprctacuta cuspidis,
in caput Hamouii ju-
Ipsa quoque extimuit, quee tutum fecerat ilium : venis, demisere vul-
tumque, animu7nque
Utque peti vidit juvenem tot ab hostibus unura, metu. Ipsa quoque qu<e
fecerat ilium tutuin,
Palluit et subito sine sedit. 136
;
sanguine frigida extimuit, ufque vidit
JVeve parum valeant a se data carmen unum juvenem peti ab
gramina, tot
lios/ibus,palluit,et
Auxiliare canit secretasque advocat artes.
; subitoseditfrigida sine
sanguine. Keve gra-
llle, graven! medios silicem jaculatus in hostes, mina data a se valiant
A se depnlsum Martem convertit in
ipsos. 140 parum, canit auxiliare
carmen, advocatqui se-
Terrigenae pereunt per mutua vulnera fratres;
cretas artes. llle ja.
culatus gravem silieem
Civilique cadunt acie. Gratantur Achivi in medios hostes, con-
:
the same time whom when the Pelasgians saw, preparing to hurl their
:
sharp-pointed spears at the head of the Heemonian youth, they stood with
downcast eyes, and hearts sunk through fear. She too, to whom he owed
his safety, trembled and when she saw him singly attacked by such a
;
host of foes, suddenly the blood forsook her cheeks, and a paleness spreads
over all her looks. And lest the enchanted herbs she had given him should
not avail, she sings the never-failing auxiliary song, and calls in her re-
serve of secret arts. He, throAving a huge stone amid his foes, turns their
hostile rage thus averted
upon themselves. The earth-born brothers pe-
rish by mutual wounds, and fall in civil fight. The Greeks congratulate
him, caress the conqueror, and hold him fast locked in their embraces.
You too, barbarian maid, would have embraced him modesty opposed ;
the design, yet fain you would have embraced him but the awe of re- :
R 2
244 P. OVIDIl NASONIS
grand<cviq„e patres,
ferunt dona pro gnatis
Thura liquefiuut,
1 Inductaque comibus aurum 161
i- o i 7r>
i -i
rec(yHs,tiiiiraquecon- Victima vota cadit. Scd abest gratantibus /hson,
gesta Uquescunt flam
mH, volaque tirtima in- Jam propior leto, fessusque senilibus
annis.
liticfa qnod ad auritm
cortiibiis, cadit : icd
Cum sic iEsonides : O cui debere salutem
JEsonjam propior Icto,
fessiisque senilibiif an-
quanquam mihi cuncta dedisti,
Confiteor, conjux,
Excessitque fidem meritorum summa tuorum ; 166
7tis, abest gratfi?ifibiis.
Cum jUsonidcs .sic : <)
conJiix,cui coiijiteor me Si
tamen hoc possunt quid enim non carmina pos- ;
debere salutem quun-
dcdisti ciincta
;
sunt?
qiiam
milii, siimmaqtie ttio-
rum meritorem exres-
Deme meis annis; et demptos adde parenti.
sitfidem ; tu7ncn si ciir- Nee Mota est pietate rogantis
tenuit lacrymas. :
O quod scelus excidit pio ore ? an ego ergo videar posse transcribere spatiam tuee vita
C07IJUX, cui-
q%iam? Hecate non sinat hoc : ncc tu petis aqua : sed Jason, experiar dare majus tnuiius isto
quod petis.
TRANSLATION,
steals upon those eyes, that were strangers to it before, and the ^sonian
hero possesses the golden prize. Proud of the mighty spoil, and carrying
with him the author of the present, a no less glorious spoil, he reached
Aictorious with his wife the port of Jolcos.
II. The Hsemouian matrons and
aged sires carry gifts to the temples
for their son's safe return piles of frankincense dissolve upon the altai's,
;
and the devoted victim, with gilded horns, falls in sacrifice. J2son alone
isabsent on this occasion of joy, now on the verge of fate, and bending
under a weight of years. T^'hen thus the son of ^son addressed Medea.
" O have
spouse, to Avhora I owe my life and safety, although already you
"
granted every request, and the sum of your favours exceed belief; yet
" if take from
spells can do this, and what is it that spells cannot do ?
" the number of
my years, and add those you take to my father :" Nor
coidd he check the risi7ig teai-s. She was touched with the piety of the
request, and calling to mind her fatlier .^etes, whom she had abandoned,
ashamed of her own different spirit, yet striving to smother her remorse :
"
ask.
My art shall essay to prolong your father's life, without retrench-
NOTES.
59. H(cmoni(t matres.^ The next fiible tliat
1 comes in the course of the narration, is
,•
_, .- . .
\osque o cantus, artesque magariim, tellusque, qua instruis magas pallentibus herbis ;
TRANSLATION.
"
ing the number of your years. If the threefold goddess do but concur,
" and Three nights were wanting
propitious aid the mighty design."
that the horns of the moon might meet, and form a perfect orb. When
she shone full, and with a complete disc surveyed the earth, Medea leaves
the palace her garments flowing loose, her foot bare, and her hair float-
;
ing careless on her shoulders thus solitary and vmattended, she directs :
her wandering steps through the dreary silence of midnight. Men, beasts
and birds lay now dissolved in soft repose no murmurs rustle through ;
the hedges, no whispering winds shake the trees, the very leaves are
hush, and through all the air dread silence reigns. The stars alone
twinkle to these she rears her arms, and thrice turning round, thrice
:
sprinkling her Avith water from the running brook, opened her mouth in
three yells then with her knee bended on the hard ground " O
; night, :
"
(says she) faithful confidant of these my secrets, and ye golden stars
" that with the
moon succeed to the fires of the day and thou too three- ;
" fold
Hecate, the friend and abettor of my design ye charms, and ;
"
magic arts, and earth, to wliom the sorceress owes her magazine of
"
potent herbs air, Avinds, mountains, rivers, lakes, and all the gods of
;
NOTES,
183. Nudnpedem.] It is
worthy of re- wlien resolved on death slie ajjpnals to (lie
mark, that lliere is a peculiar enipliasis in gods, stand by the altars witii one foot
iiuda pedem,
nienlators
which therefore some com-
woidd ill cliange for pedes, it
being a part of these magical ri ics to ap-
bare.
^"'"" ""''^
,,•,.
i'"^'"" """^^'•'' '"
'"^^Z''"-
pear with only one foot bare. ^ irs^il, in
thefourtli book of
ihciEneid, makes Dido, Wliich manifestly alludes to this custom.
!246 P. OVIDII NASONIS
214
•^s:^u!Vm:::::i^Z Vindice decepta Graias
misistis in urbes,
patiens oneris nnco Jifunc oDus cst succis : per quos rcnovata senectus
aratro: vos dedistis in \^• l i
serpeniigenis fera bei- In florem redeat, prmiosquc recoUigat annos.
•
TRANSLATION.
" the groves, and all the gods of night, attend here. By your aid when
" 1 please, I roll back rivers to their springs, while the banks stand won-
"
"
dering. By your aid my incantations avail, to rouse the still, or calm
the troubled sea to gather or disperse the clouds to raise or allay
; ;
" the winds. By words and spells I break the serpent's jaws shake ;
^'
solid rocks, and tear up oaks and whole groves by the roots. At my
" nod the mountains tremble, earth
groans, and the pale ghosts start
" from their The moon too I compel to descend from heaven,
graves.
" flam-
though the Temessean brass aids her in her struggles even the ;
" crooked those necks that never before bore the yoke. You
plough
" turned the cruel war of the lulled
serpent breed upon themselves you ;
ab
CuiTus adest. Aderat demissus ab sethere currus. currus
atliere aderut. Quo si-
dtiiiiisus
Quo simul ascendit; fraenataq colla draconum 220 vml asceinlit, permiil-
;
s/tque fttF/iuta colla
Permulsit, manibusque leves agitavit habenas, draconum, ngilavitque
leves huheiias muni-
Sublimis rapitur subjectaque Thessala Tempe
:
bus ; rnpitur .lublhnls:
TJiessala
Despicit, et Creteis regionibus applicat angues despicitquc
Tempe suhjecta, et ap-
:
Et quas Ossa tulit, quas altus Pelion herbas, plicat aiigues Creteis
regionibus ; et perspi-
Othrysque, Pindusque, et Pindo major Olym cit herbas quas Ossa,
quas altus Pelion,
pus, 225 Othrysque, Pindusque,
el Olyvipu.\ major Pin-
Perspicit: etplacita partim radiee revellit: do, tulit ; et rcvcllit
Partim succidit curvamine falcis alienee. partim placitil radiee,
partim succidit cur-
Multa quoque Apidani placuerunt gramina ripis, ramine ahente falcis.
Multa jquoque Amphrysi: neque eras immunis, Multa quoque grami-
na cresceutia ripis Api-
dani, multa quoque
Enipeu :
crescentiaiipis.4/Hj)/i)y-
Nee non Penese, nee non Spercheides undae 230 si placuerunt : tieque
Enipeu, eras in immu-
Contribuere, aliquid, juncosaque littora Boebes. nis :nee non under Pc-
nee non undse
Carpit et Euboica vivax Anthedone gramen, }>etF,
Spercheidcs contri-
Nondum mutato vulgatum corpore Glauci. buere aliquid, junco-
saque littora Babes.
Et jam nona dies curru, pennisque draconum, Carpit et vivax gra-
men Euboicd Ant he -
Nonaque nox omnes lustrantem viderat agros 235 ;
done, nondum vnlga-
Cum rediit: neque erant pasti, nisi odore, dra-
tum corpore Glauvi
mutate. El j 0711 nona
cones; dies, nonaque nox vi-
derat Medeani histran-
Et tamen annosse pellem posuere senectae. tem omnes agros curru.
Constitit adveniens citra limenque, foresque; pennisqne draconutn :
cum rediit: nequedra-
Et tantiim ccbIo tegitur refugitque viriles
: cones erant pusti nisi
odore ; et tamtn po-
Contactus ; statuitque aras e cespite binas, 240 suere ptllem annos<e
senectte, Adveniens
constitit citra limenque, foresque ; et tegitur tantum ccclo : refugrtque cen tact us viriles: statuit-
quehijias aras e cespite,
TRANSLATION.
descended from above. This she mounts, and strokes with her hand the
harnessed necks of the dragons, and throws up the light reins. Instantly
she is borne aloft, and surveys from her airy height the valleys of Tempe,
and guides her snakes toward those chalky regions. Straight she marks
the herbs that grow on Ossa and lofty Pelion, Othrys, Pindus, and the
proud summits of Olympus. Part she tears up by their potent roots ;
part she cuts by the bending sickle's arch. Many plants she culls from
the banks of Apidanus, many from the banks of Amphrysus nor did ;
Enipeus escape her searching hand. Peneus too and Sperchius contri-
buted some, and the rushy shores of Bsebe. She crops also living herbs
along Euboic Anthedon, not yet rendered famous by the transformation
of Glaucus and now for nine days and nine nights had she been visit-
;
ing every soil, in her chariot drawn by winged dragons at length she re- :
turns, and her dragons, though fed only with the odours exhaled from her
•plants, had yet At her return, she
cast the skin of wringled old age.
and gates of the palace, with heaven oidy for
stood without the threshold
her canopy, and avoided the embraces of her husband, and raised two
NOTES.
223. Creteis rcgmiibus.'] i. e., Crcta 233. Dliilalo vulgatum corpore Gluuci-I
uhundantibus. Such was the countiy of He was a fisher, and changed into a
Tliessaly, where she now ahglited- The sea god. See his story, book .\iii, ver&e
jjanies of mountains, cities and rivers that 904.
follow, are all in
Thesr,aly or Bceotia.
1248 P. OVIDII NASONIS
which after
encompassing with vervain and forest boughs, she digs two
trenches hard by for the sacrifice, and thrusts a knife into the throat of
a black ram, and Then
besprinkles the wide ditches with blood. pouring
into them
goblets of liquid wine, and warm milk from brazen howls she ;
then lights them at the two altars and thrice lustrates the :
aged sire
^ ^^^?' *^i"ice with water, and thrice with
M sulphur.
Mean time the powerful medicine boils and bounces in a
large caldron,
and whitens with
swelling froth. There she infuses roots gathered in the
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VII. 249
Adjlcit
extreme lapides oriente petitos, Adjicit lapides petitos
extremo oriente, et are-
Et, quas oceani refluum mare lavit, arenas,
nas quas refluum mare
oceani lavit. Addit et
Addit et exceptas Luna per nocte pruinas, pruinas exceptas lunii
Et strigis infames, ipsis cum carnibus, alas ;
per nocte, et infames
alas strigis, cum ipsis
moon, and the flesh and ill-boding wings of a screech-owl and the en- ;
adds the head and bill of a crow, that had sustained a life of nine ages.
When with these, and a thousand other nameless ingredients, she had
completed the medicine intended for the exhausted body of Mson, she
stirs and blends them the peace-
together with an old withered branch of
ful olive, when lo, the thus turned round in the boiling
decayed stock,
first begins to look Avith leaves,
caldron, green, soon clothes itself
and isloaded with a sudden crop of ripe olives. Wherever too the fire
throws the foam over the brink of the hollow caldron, and the warm
drops fall upon the earth, the ground blooms and flowers and soft herbs
;
atque hac
situs, parte moratur,
^
1
m•
PetZTZ^d'^^jLtlnt'.
^^^ ^^^ poUicita est, Quo sit fiducia major
que earn sine [fine pa- Muncris hujus, ait qui vestras maximus sevo est
cisci pretium. Ilia
brevi spatio silet; et
-r^ .»'./
Dux gregis inter
*
:
,.
prodigy and, admonished, that to the nymphs who nursed him, the years
;
self was listless through age) his daughters receive her, whom the cunning
Colchian soon ensnares by a fallacious show of friendship. And while
she repeats, as the most mighty of her services, that she had chased
away from ^son wrinkles and old age, and dwells long on this
part of her stonj, a hope naturally arises to the virgin daughters of
Pelias, that by the like art their father may be restored to youth.
This accordingly they request of her, and importunately urge her to
name her price. She for some time is silent, and seems to doubt her
own power., and by an affected gravity holds their eager minds in sus-
the
pense but soon after, having granted her promise that you may
: ;
more confide, says she, in this my art, the leader of the flock, the
most advanced in age, shall by this preparation become a lamb. Imme-
diately a ram, exhausted
with years innumerable, is brought, his horns
NOTES.
•296. Pctil hoc Mdide This is
mvnus.'i Bacciiiis apply to Tctliys, to liave the
tiie reading given
by Biuman, whereas in aue of the nymphs, who niiiseJ him, re-
most of the eihtinns before him, we have newed, when he had just beheld Medea
jielit hoc. (I Tcthcin munus. But, as Baniei- do it ill favour of i1i)sou.
well observes, to what purpose should
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VU. 251
y~^ .
^., validosque succos,
Cornuaque exuitur, nee non cum cormbus annos cava trre. Artus cor- :
t 1 -i
:
lis neci, quem cantus
TRANSLATION.
winding round his hollow temples. When having opened his withered
throat with a Hsemonian knife, and stained with scanty blood thepiercing
steel, the sorceress plunges at once the limbs of the ram and her potent
juices into a hollow caldron. His limbs grow less, his horns are cast,
and with his horns his years shrink away, and tender bleatings are heard
from the middle of the caldron. Instantly, while they yet wonder at
the bleatings, a lamb springs out, and wantonly frisks about, and seeks
the suckling dugs. The daughters of Pelias are filled with amazement,
and as her promises were now confirmed by an experimental proof, more
importunately than ever urge their request. Thrice Phoebus had un-
yoked his steeds, plunged in the Iberian waves, and the sparkling stars
shone on the fourth night, when deceitful Medea set over a strong fire
pure water and herbs of no virtue. And now sleep, strong as death, pro-
cured by enchantment and the force of the magic tongue, relaxing the
bodies of the king and his guards, held them fast locked in his embraces.
His daughters as commanded, had,Avith the Colchian, entered his cham-
"
ber, and surrounded the bed.
" Whence this indolence ?
Why now (says she) do you hesitate ?
Unsheath your swords, and drain from his
"
body the aged juices, that I may fill his empty veins with youthful blood.
NOTES.
o;34. In Ibero gurgile jnersis.] That is, which the Ibenis, a river of Spain, called
in the Western or Atlantic Ocean, into thence Iberia, discharges itself.
262 P. OVIDII NASONIS
commits wickedness yet none can bear to behold their own strokes, but
;
turn away their eyes, and backward deal chance blows with cruel
right-
hands. He, covered with blood, yet raises his body upon his elbow, and
half mangled as he was, strives to rise from the bed and amid so
many ;
swords stretched out his pale arms. \^liat are you about (says
he) my
daughters, w hat arms you to the destruction of your father ? Then courage
and hands failed them. As he was about to have spoken more, Medea
tore away his throat with the words, and
plunged him thus mangled into
the boiling caldron.
V. VI. And had she not instantly moimted into the air with winged
dragons, she had not escaped veiigeance. She flies high, over shady
NOTES.
350. Quod nisi pennatis serpent ihux issct may serve as a key to these ancient fic-
in uuras.'\ Medea, after thus discharging tions.
lier revenge on Pelias, fearing tliedani;er \Vh' n any one escaped an evident and
that might ensue to licrsclf, speeds her it was given out that
threatening danger,
flight to Athens. The poet deserihing her he was changed into a bud or if, to es- ;
journey, mentions the several places she cape pursuit, he took refuge in a cave, he
passed over, or had a view of, in her airy nmst be a serpent. When sorrow save
vehicle ; and thence takes occasion to cause for many tears, the person dissolved
touch on many fables, which are now for into a fountain or if a virgin was lost in
;
the most part unknown. It were of no a wood, she became a nymph or dryad.
advantage to enlarge on subjects so little A resemblance of names too oft gave oc-
intereslinsr, and which history has passed casion to these fictions thus Cycnus was -,
TRANSLATION.
Pelion the habitation of the son of Philyre, and over Othrys, and the
places noted for the fate of old Cerambus,
who mounted into the air
on wings by the aid of the nymphs, when the ponderous globe was covered
with a deluge of waters, was not overwhelmed in the flood of Deucalion.
VII. She leaves on her left ^olian Pitane, and the image of the long
dragon made of stone, and the Idean grove, where Bacchus, imder the
image of a stag, concealed the steer stolen by his son.
deceitful
VIII. And where the father of Corythus lies buried under a scanty
mountain of sand.
IX. And the fields, which Mseris alarmed with unusual howling.
X. And the city of Eurypylus, Avhere the Coan mati'ons appeared with
horns, when the herd of Hercules departed thence.
XI. And Phfebean Rhodes, and the lalysian Telchines, whose eyes
thrust under his
corrupting every thing they beheld, Jupiter abhorring,
brother's waves.
XII. She passes too over the Cartheian walls of ancient Cea, where,
in after-times, Alcidamas wondered to see a meek dove arise from the
olor celebravit.
ilitc Phyllius imperio Imperio pueri volucresque, ferumque leonem
pueri Cycni, tradide- Tradiderat domitos taurum quoque vincere jussiis
:
rat volucresqueferum-
que leonem domitos : Vicerat ;
et spreto toties iratus aniore, 375
jussus quoque vincere
taurum, vicerat eum ; Prsemia poscenti taurum suprema negabat.
ct,irat us amores toties
spreto, negabat tau-
lUe indignatus, Cupies dare, dixit et alto ;
rum poscenti ea su-
illi
Desiluit saxo. Cuncti cecidisse putabant:
prema prtemia. Illc
indignatus dixit, cu- Factus olor niveis pendebat in aere pennis.
pies dare : et desiluit
alto saxo. Cuncti pti- XIV. Atgenitrix Hyrie servati nescia, flendo 380
tabant eum cecidisse ;
stA factus olor pende- Delicuit ; stagnumque suo de nomine fecit.
bat in acre niveis pen-
nis.
XV. XVI. Adjacet his Pleuron : in qua trepi-
XIV. At genitrix dantibus alis
Hyrie, nescia filii ser-
Opliias efFugit natorum vulnera Combe.
vati, delicuit flendo :
fecit que stagnum de XVII. XVIII. Inde Calaureae Latoidos aspicit
suo nomine.
XV. XVI. Pleuron arva,
adjacethis ; in quil
Ophias Combe effugit In volucrem versi cum conjuge conscia regis. 385
trepidantibus alis vul- Dextera Cyllene est ; in qua cum matre Menephron
nera 7mtorum.
XVII. XVIII. Inde Concubiturus erat, ssevarum more ferarum.
adspicit arva Calau-
rem Latoidos, conscia XIX. Cephison procul hinc deflentem fata ne-
regis versi in volucrem
cum conjtige. Cyllene potis,
est dextera, in qua Me-
nephron erat concubi- Respicit, in tumidam Phocen ab Apolline versi ;
TRANSLATION.
XIII. Thence she surveys the lakes of Hyrie and Cycneian Tempe, ;
at the request of the boy, had made him a present of some birds, and a
fierce lion tamed, being frequented to, to subdue a bull, he had subdued
him but enraged
;
to find his love so often slighted, denies the prize of the
bull,though begged as the last reward. The boy, indignant, replies, you
shall wish you had given it me, and leaps down from the high rock. All
imagined he had fallen into the sea, but transformed into a swan, he
hangs in air on snow-white wings.
XIV. But his mother Hyrie, not knowing that he was preserved, dis-
solved in tears, and formed a lake called by her own name.
XV. XVI. Hard by is Pleuron, where Combe the daughter of
Ophias escaped with trembling wings the wounds of her sons.
XVII. XVIII. Thence she beholds the fields of Calaurea sacred to
Latona, conscious of the transformation of their king with his wife into
birds. Cyllene is on the right, where Menephron, after the manner of
savage beasts, was to lie with his mother.
XIX. Far hence she saw also Cephisus bemoaning the fate of his
grandson, changed by Apollo to a bloated sea-calf and the palace of ;
hospitality enough, he also joins her to him by the sacred tie of marriage.
And now was Theseus his son arrived, unknown to his father, who by his
valour had established peace in the Isthmus between two seas. Medea
bent on his destruction, prepares a draught of aconite, which she had for-
merly brought with her from the Scythian coasts. This they tell us
sprung from the baneful teeth of the Echidnean monster. There is a
gloomy cave with a dark entrance, where may be seen a descending path,
NOTES.
398. Titaniacis draconibus.'] Either be- half of whose body was that of a lovely
cause sprung from the blood of the Titans, nymph, the other half a serpent, ugly and
as Piudar has it ; or because, terrilile.
according
to the Greek tradition, the chariot and 409. Speeus est.] There are many con-
winged dragons had been sent down to this descent
jectures offered to explain
her by Titan, i. e., the sun. The fables of of Hercules into hell. The most proba-
Phineus, Periphas, and the grand-daughter ble that which refers it to his slaying a
is
of Polypemon are famous serpent, that had its den in the
wholly unknown.
408. EchidnecB
canis-i Cerberus, who cave of Taenarus, which was reckoned
was born of the monster i^chidna; one the mouth of hell.
266 P. OVIDIl NASONIS
agros afbenit
viHder^agr'of Has concrcsse putant
nactasque alimenta feracis
;
acic
cussitque /acinus ab natO ^ 4JO
l7dita"nfb'uHs''moHs Attonitus tantuHiletl discrimine parvo
per carmina Committi potuisse nefas, fovet ignibus aras,
XXIII. At genitor
quanquam latatur na-
to sospite, attamen at- Muneribusque deos implet ; feriuntque secures
tonitus tantum nefas Colla torosa boum vinctorum cornua vittis.
potuisse committi par- 430
vo discrimine leti, fo- Nullus Erechthidis fertur celebratior illo
vet aras ignibus, im-
pletque deos muneri-
Illuxisse dies. Agitant convivia patres,
bus : securesque feri- Et medium vulgus nee non et carmina, vino
:
from hard rocks, the swains call aconite, .^geus himself, by the con-
trivance of his wife, presents this deadly potion to his son, as to an
enemy. Theseus had taken in his right hand the given cup, ignorant of
its baneful contents, when his father
spied on the ivory hilt of his sword,
the tokens of his race and struck the guilty draught from his mouth.
;
Terra negat sedem, sedem negat ossibus unda: 445 terram pinus late
sparsurtis corpora.
duresse vetustas Ijimes ad
Quae jactata diu fertur AlcathdCn,
et Lelegeia mafiia pa-
In scopulos. Scopulis nomen Scironis inhaeret. tet tutus, Scirone com-
posito: terraque nrgat
Si titulos, annosque tuos numerare velimus, sedem ossibus sparsi
Facta premant annos. Pro te, fortissirae, vota 449 \%''°''[';trstasiertur
Publica suscipimvis
^
Bacchi tibi sumimus haustus. durasse in scopuios.
:
fortisswie susciptmus
VOluptaS ; publica rota : tibi su-
"
bristly monster, is a happiness wholly derived from
thee. Epidaurus
" saw the club-bearing son of Vulcan fall by thy hands. The banks of
" and Eleusis, sacred
Cephisus belield the death of merciless Procrustes ;
*'
and the name of Scyron still adheres to the rocks. Were we to re-
" count
thy years and glorious acts, thy acts woidd exceed thy years.
" For the flow-
thee, great hero, we offer public vows in honour of thee ;
TRANSLATION.
some solicitude is ever interrupting our joy) ^geus enjoys not long, un-
disturbed, the happiness of having found his son Minos prepared for war;
who, though powerful in troops and a numerous fleet, is still more for-
midable for a fatherly resentment, and revenges the death of Androgeos
with just arms. But before entering upon war, he secures auxiliary
forces, and with a swift fleet, in which he was accounted strong, scours
the seas. And first he brings over to him Anaphe, and the realms of
Astypale Anaphe by treaty, the Astypalean realms by conquest then low
; ;
Mycone, and the chalky plains of Cimolus, and fertile Cythnos and Scy-
ros, and level Seriphos, and Paros rich in marble, and where the treache-
rous Sithonian betrayed the citadel, upon receiving the gold she had co-
vetously demanded. She was changed into a bird which still retains a
passion for gold the daw, black-footed, and covered with black feathers.
;
XXV. But neither Oliaros, Didyme, Tenos, Andros, Gyaros, nor Pe-
parethos abounding in olives, joined the Gnossian fleet. Minos there-
fore tacking to the left, makes for CEnopia, the kingdom of iEacus.
CEnopia was its ancient name, but ^acus himself called it .^gina after
his mother. The people rush out, impatient to behold a hero of such re-
NOTES.
456. Bella parat Minos."] Minos was the son of Lycastus, king of Crete, and very
powerful by soa.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VII. 259
mm
Cecropidis hffic est tellus Ea fcedera nobis. 486 bi: facioida
: mea nr-
neque e/iim- ullit
Tristis abit Stabuntque tibi tua fcedera magno,
: tellus est coiijiitictior
Cecropldis hue, sunt
Dixit ; et utilius bellum putat esse minari, nobis focdera ea. Hie
Quam gerere, atque suas ibi prseconsumere vires. abit tristis, dixit que,
tua fcedera itiibunt ti-
Classis ab (Enopiis etiamnum Lyctia muris 490 bimagno: ctputut esse
utilius minari bcllam
Spectari poterat; cum pleno concita velo quam gerere, atque
praconsumere ibi suas
Attica puppis adest, in portusque intrat amicos vires. Classis Lyctia
:
Quae Cephalum, patriseque simul mandata ferebat. ctiumttumpoterat spec- tart ab (Enupiis ?nuris;
^acidae longo juvenes post tempore visum cum Attica piippis con-
cita plena lelo adest,
Agnovere tamen Cephalum, dextrasque dedere, intratque in partus
Inque patris duxere domum. Spectabilis heros 496 C'ephalum,qua:simulaquc
amicos, fcrebat
-r\ .
'J
Major habet, Clvton et Buten, Pallante creatos. 500
. .
'
1 J 1 ,
'^''"^' ditxereque in da.
"""'* patris. Jleros
Fostquam congressus primi sua verba tulerunt, spectaoms, etiamnum
" a share in a
my arms taken up for a murdered son, nor refuse to becir
pious war. I ask satisfaction to the manes of injured
" " Your
Androgeos." To him the grandson of Asopus replied request :
" is
vain, nor can the city in which I reign comply, for no land is more
"
strictly allied to Athens than this, and mutual leagues subsist between
" us." Minos
departs sorrowfiU, and told him, as he withdrew, that his
confederacy should cost him dear yet thinks it better rather to threaten
;
war, than actually engage in it, and waste his strength there, in previous
trials. The Cretan fleet might yet be beheld from the O^nopian walls,
when an Athenian ship driving witli full sails appears, and enters the
hospitable port. In it came Cephalus, charged with the commands of
his
country. The young sons of iEacus, though it was now long since
they had seen him, yet knew Cephalus again and gave him their right
hands, and conducted him into their father's house. The gracefid hero who
beauty, enters, bearing in his hand
still retained the traces of his former
a branch of his Himself the eldest, is attended on each
country's olive.
side by two of inferior
age, Clytos and Butes
the son of Pallas. After the
usual compliments on the first were over, Cephalus lays before
meeting
260 P. OVIDII NASONIS
anxiiium: rtfert fa- AuxiHuiii
dux et )ura parentum,
:
' foedusque
71
lefert, et jura parentum:
. .
. j 1 •• i i
•
petite, sed sumite aux- JNec duDic vires, quas nffic Iiabet insula, vestras
11, ,
bi"!^'irel%^as"hac''i'n- Ducite,
et omnis eat rerum status iste mearum.
suia habet esse ves-
non dcsunt mihi miles, et
et oi/i7ns isle
jRoboia : Superest
r
trus, .
ri A
status rerum mearum hostl. 510
7unt, niiies superest Gratia Dis; felix et inexcusabile tempiis.
Tt'dts! wnp'us%''^fe-
Immo ita sit, Cephalus, crescat tua civibus opto
lix et inexcusabile. Im-
mo Res,' ait. Adveniens equidem modo gaudia cepi ;
ait Cephalus ila ^^ , ,
ullo ordine, neu mora vos longd ambage. Illi, quos requiris memori mente, jacent ossa, cinis-
que, et illi, quota pars rerum mearum, periere.
TRANSLATION,
them the particulars of the Athenian embassy, begs succours, recounts the
mutual treaties and alliances of their ancestors, and adds, that Minos
aspired after the dominion of all Greece. When he had thus delivered
the charge of his fellow-citizens, strengthened with all the force of elo-
quence, .^acus, leaning with his left hand upon his sceptre, thus replied :
*'
Ask not, O Athenians, but take the assistance you want, nor doubt that
" all the
strength of this island is at your command I offer the whole, ;
" the
enemy. Thank heaven it is a favourable season, and admits of no
" colour for a refusal." "
"
Nay, may it always be so, returns Cephalus,
may you ever increase in power and in number of citizens. Indeed as
" I came
along, it gave me mighty joy to meet so comely a troop of
"
youths, and all too of the same age, yet I miss many from among them,
" whom I remember to have
seen, when formerly 1 was entertained at
"
your court." jEacus fetched a groan, and thus spoke with a mournful
" Attend to a in the
voice. history deplorable in its beginning, but joyful
" end. I wish 1 could At
repeat it to you with all its circumstances.
" I shall a without order, or de-
present give you only summary account,
"
taining you with a long preamble.
" after whom
They are now bones and ashes
you so mindfully inquire, and in their fall how much was my
NOTES.
518. Flebile principiuni.] This fable of his kingdom; whence tliey suddenly ap-
ants transformed into men is generally was
peared a^ain, after the contagion
supposed to arise from the retreat of over and, at a time too, when ^gens
;
^geus' subjects into woods and cavefns, had despaiied of ever seeing them again,
tiuring a severe pestilence that ravaged
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VU. 261
Causa nocens cladis pugnatum est arte medendi. tale, caiifoque nocens
; tatita cladis luiebat,
Exitium superabat opem: quae victa jacebat. pugiiatum arte me- €<:(
denili. Exitiiim super-
Principio coelum spiss&. caligine terras abat opem ; qua j are-
bat vfcta. Priiicipio
Pressit et ignavos inclusit nubibus sestus
;
:
ccelum pressit terras
Dumque quater junctis implevit cornibus orbem 530 ^£^^^^ '^fnal'os %tus
mMbus. pumque lu-
Luna, quater plenum tenuata retexuit orbem,
Letiferis calidi spirarunt flatibus Austri. bimymtltu'^cor'nitZs,
Constat et in fontes vitium venisse, lacusque ;
fexii''%num'"orbew,
incultos serpentum multa per agros caUdi austri spirt,'.
Milliaque
-^
^ -n-
Jirrasse; atque suis rluvios temerasse venenis.
•
m:-
boo
*""' lettjertsjiatibus.
constat vitium et r,.
cii A I• •
nisse in fontes iacus-
btrage canum prima volucrumque, ovmmque, que, muitaque miiua
serpentum errusse per
boumque, incultos agros, atque
temerasse Jtuvios suis
Inque feris subiti deprensa potentia morbi. ve?ienis. Potentia su-
Concidere infelix validos miratur arator biti morbi est deprensa
prima strage canum,
Inter opus tauros medioque recumbere sulco.
; volucrumque, oiium-
Lanigeris gregibus balatus dantibus aegros 540 que, boumque inque fe-
ris. Infelix arator mi-
Sponte sua lanaeque cadunt, et corpora tabent. ratur validos tauros
concidere inter opus,
Acer equus quondam, magnseque in pulvere famae, recumbereque medio
svlco. ljun(£ suit sponte
Degenerat palmas veterunique oblitus honorum,
:
cadaiit lanigeris gre-
Ad prasepe gemit, morbo moriturus inerti. gilms dantibus tegros
balatus, et coryora ta-
Non aper irasci meminit non fidere cursu ;
545 bent, Equus quondam
acer, magna ip'efumte
Cerva; nee armentis incurrere fortibus ursi. in pulvere, degenerat
ad palmas ; oblitusque
veterum honorum, gemit ad prascpc, moriturus inerti icto. Non aper meminit irasci, nee cerva
fidere cursu; nee iirsi ineurrcre J'urtibus armentis :
TRANSLATION.
kingdom impaired a cruel plague raged among my subjects, occasioned
!
by the unjust resentment of Juno, who hated a land called by her ri-
val's name. \^^hile the calamity seemed natural, and the baneful
cause of a destruction so extensive lay concealed, we had recourse to
the medicinal arts but the spreading malady prevailed against all re-
;
fleecesspontaneously fall off, and their bodies pine away. The once
sprightly steed, and of great renown in the race, degenerates, and re-
gardless of the prize and his wonted honours, groans at the crib, doomed
to
perish by an inglorious fate. The boar forgets his rage, the stag
his fleetness, and the bears to rush among the stronger herds. A ge-
262 P. OVIDII NASONIS
reiiiur, ct rubor, ft
anhelitiis dint us trgrk
Aspera lingua tumet trepidisque arentia
;
venis
est indicium latentis
Ora patent; aurseque graves captantur hiatu.
Jtamma lingnu aspc-
:
Non stratum, non uUa pati velamina possunt;
raiumet; oraqiie arcn-
tia venis trepidis pa- Dura sed in terrS, ponunt praecordia nee fit :
TRANSLATION.
neral faintness seizes all: the woods, fields and highways are strewed
(1
with loathsome carcases the air is infected with the smell, and, strange
;
((
to relate, neither dogs nor ravenous birds, nor hoary wolves, would
((
touch the dead bodies, they rot and fall away, and emitting noxious
((
exhalations, spread the contagion far and wide. The infection now
((
falls with collected rage on the wretched swains, and riots within the
((
walls of our great cities. It begins with scorching the bowels flush- ;
ci
flame. The tongue grows rough and swells. Their mouths inflamed
the
by the strong beating of the veins, open Avide and greedily receive
((
((
out even them who administer remedies, and the authors suffer
upon
The more nearly and faithfully any one
exercising their own arts.
(I
by
((
the sooner he falls a victim to his cares. And when now all hope
attends,
of recovery is gone, and they see that the disease must end in death, they
C( nor regard the means of relief;
indulge themselves in all their desires,
for indeed nothing brings relief. And banishing all sense of shame
they lie promiscuously about the fountains, rivers,
and capacious wells,
nor is Iheir thirst extinguished but with life itself. Here numbers
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VII. 263
^^"''' eraves.
Inde graves multi nequeunt consurcrere, et ipsis 570 neque-
TRANSLATION.
oppressed with the disease, and unable to rise, die amid the waters,
which are yet still greedily drunk up. And so impatient the hapless
wretches grow of their hated beds, that they leap from them, and if
they want strength to stand, roll their bodies on the ground. All fly
their dwellings, all regard their houses as fatal and because the source
;
stretch their /eeiZe limbs to the pendant stars of heaven, breathing their
last promiscuously, as death chances to overtake them.) How melan-
choly was then the situation of my mind ? Could I do other than hate
life, and wish to share the fate of my people ? Wherever I turn my
brought to the temples, while y^t the priest was pronouncing the \ows,
264 P. OVIDII NASONIS
•
,
•
T
m^ZCa^ ^^!^^*-
et subit6 collapsa sine ictibus ullis
uuis ictibus, tinxit Exiffuo tinxit subiectos
sanguine cultros. 599
subjectos cultros exi- 17-1° tn .
• •
guo sanguine. Fibra .riDra quoquc SBgra notas vei'i, momtusquc DeoTum
-^-Ut inhumata
'tfafita. rlrporamZ'. premunt terras aut dantur in altos :
a
.
i
1
nec suiiicit arbor in ignes.
•
j
/n
i
•- i • •
indejletitiNec locus i o r
tumulos, nec arbor in ignes. Ego attonitus tanto turbine miserarum rerum, dixi,
sufficit in O
Jupiter, si/alsadicta non loquuntur te Isse sub amplexus ^gin<e Asopidos,
TRANSLATION.
" and
pouring the sacred wine between the horns, fall without waiting
*'
for the wound ? While even I was oifering sacrifice to Jupiter for my-
"
self, for my country, and my three sons, the victim uttered dismal low-
"
ings, and falling suddenly down, before it received any strokes, tinged
" the knives The diseased entrails too
applied to it with scanty gore.
" had lost all marks of
truth, and presages of the will of the gods the :
" baneful
distemper penetrates to the inmost bowels. These eyes have
" seen the carcases
lying in heaps before the gates of the temples nay, ;
•*
buried on the ground, or are thrown upon piles without the customary
" honours. And now all reverence and distinction ceases
they fight for ;
" the funeral and burn the bodies in funeral fires not their own.
piles,
" Friends are
wanting to mourn, and the souls of virgins and matrons,
" stroll about unlamented. sufficient cannot be
young and old, Space
found for graves, nor trees to feed the fires.
tempestuous flood of miseries O Jupiter, said
" Astonished at such a ;
"
I, if fame does not falsely report, that you went into the embraces of
" if you are not ashamed to own your-
jdEgina, the daughter of Asopus ;
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VII. 265
TRANSLATION.
selfmy father, either restore my lost subjects, or bury me too in the same
grave. He gave a signal by lightning and auspicious
thunder. I expected
the omen, and said May this be a happy presage of your returning fa-
;
I avowed not
I
yet gave kisses to the earth and the oak, and though
wishes in my
openly my hope, still I did hope, and cherished aspiring
mind. Mean time night comes on, and sleep creeps upon my limbs
weighed down with anxiety. The same oak seemed present before my
eyes, and to spread out its boughs covered with the same numerous
swarms of animals to tremble with a like motion, and scatter on the
;
selves from the ground, and stand with trunk erect and throw off their ;
266 P. OVIDII NASONIS
qui
Z'rZ',teni7q,TqLt
m, (Eurus enim attulerat) fuerit mutatus in Austros.
siti, et qui reservent
Hi
XXVI. Talibus atque aliis longumsermonibusilli
qu/rsita. pares an-
nis a7iimisqiie sequen-
tur te ad bella, cum
Implevere diem. Lucis pars ultima mensse
primum Eurus quifeli- Est data, nox somnis. Jubar aureus extulerat Sol :
citer attulite(enimEu-
rus
Flabat adhuc Eurus ; redituraque vela tenebat.
attulerat) fuerit
mutatus i}t Austros.
XXVI. IIU implevere longum diem talibus atque aliis sermonibus. Pars ultima lucis est data
mema, nox somnis. Aureus Sol extulerat jubar : Eurus adhuc Jiubat,tenebatque vela reditura.
TRANSLATION.
"
leanness, number of feet, and sable hue, and clothe their limbs in
" human form. Sleep withdraws waking, I condemn the vain vision, ;
" and complain that there is no relief in the gods. Still I heard an in
"
creasing murmm* in the palace, and human voices, to Avhich I Avas now
" in a manner become a stranger, assail my ears. While I suspect these
" and
too, an impression left by my dream, lo, Telamon enters in haste ;
"
throwing open the doors, Father, (says he), come forward you will ;
" see a wonder beyond hope or belief. I follow and see and know those
"
very men, whom I had beheld in the vision of my sleep. They
ad-
"
vance, and salute me king. I offer
up vows to Jove, and divide the
" and call them
city, and depopulated lands among my new subjects,
a name original. You
*'
myrmidons, that preserves the memory of their
" saw their of their ancient
persons, and they still retain the manners
" race a frugal generation, and patient of toil, eager to increase their
;
"
store, and who husband their acquisitions with care. These, alike in
"
years and courage, will follow you to the w ar, soon as the east wind,
" which
happily brought you hither, (for an east wind had brought them),
" shall to the south."
change
XXVI. In discourses, such as these they passed theday; the evening was
allotted to feasting,and night to sleep. The golden sun had now shed his
beams but still the east wind blew, nor would permit the sails to return. The
;
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VII. 267
his brother were mustering forces for the war. Phocus conducts the
Athenians to the inner recesses of the palace, finely adorned and being ;
set down with them, observed that the grandson of jEolus had in his
hand a dart made of wood to him unknown, and pointed with gold after :
some promiscuous conversation, " I am, (says he,) addicted to groves, and
" the hunter's for some time been in doubt from what tree
sport, yet have
" that is cut. Sure were it of ash, it must be of a brown colour,
javelin
" if of I cannot guess whence it is, but my
dog-tree it would be knotted.
" than this."
eyes have not seen a more beautiful weapon of its kind
One of the Athenian brothers rejoins " you will admire in this dart its
:
with conscious shame, conceals the occasion of his receiving it and re- ;
lacrymis
Dea, hoc.
telum, quis Hoc me, nate Dea, (quis possit credere ?) telum 690
possit credere T fucit Flere facit, facietque diu si vivere nobis
me jierejac'ictque diu, ;
si fata dederint 7iobis Fata diu dederint. Hoc me cum conjuge cara
vivere diu. Hoc per-
didit me cum card con- Perdidit. Hoc utinam caruissem munere semper !
dete, quod sit spectabi- Quod teneat lucis, teneat confinia noctis:
roscn ore, quod te-
lis
7teat confinia lucis, te-
Nectareis quod alatur aquis ; ego Procrin amabam :
neat coujinia noctis, Pectore Procris erat, Procris mihi semper in ore.
quod alatur Nertareis
aquis,ego amabumPro- Sacra tori, coi'tusque novos thalamosque^recentes,
cris.]Procri.s erat pec-
tore, Procris erat sem- Primaque deserti referebam foedera lecti a 710
per mihi in ore. Re- Mota Deaet, est
tuas, ingrate, querelas,
: Siste
ferebam sacra turi,coi-
tusque tiovos,thalamosque recentes,primaqtce fadera deserti lecti Dea est mota, et dixit, In-
grate, sistc tuas querelas,
TRANSLATION.
a flood of tears. "This dart, goddess born, (can you believe it), this dart
" is the cause of
my grief, and will long continue so, if the Fates have
assigned me a long period of life.
*'
This dart destroyed me, and my
' dearest wife. Would to heaven I had never enjoyed this fatal present.
" Procris was the sister of Orithyia, ravished by a god (as peradventure
" the greater fame of Orithyia may rather have reached your
ears.)
"
Though if you compare the faces and manners of the two, she seemed
" the more deserving of a rape. Her father Erechtheus joined her to me
" in marriage we Avere united too all the strictest ties of love. I
;
by
" was accounted happy, and was so iudeed and had
seemed good to
it
;
" the gods, might have been so still. It was now the second month after
" the nuptial contract, when saffron-coloured Aurora, dispelling the
" darkness of the morning, saw me as I was planting nets for the horned
"
stags, upon the high tops of ever-flourishing Hymettus and carried ;
" me off, against my will. Let me relate the truth, without offence to the
"
goddess ; amiable as she is with her rosy mouth, though she possesses
" the confines of light and darkness, and is fed Avith the juice of nectar,
" Procris alone was in my thoughts, Procris
yet I loved my Procris.
" ever in my mouth, 1 alleged the sacred ties of marriage, our late
"
union, the nuptial chambers, and my first and solemn engagements to
" the
forsaken fair. The goddess was provoked cease, says she, your ;
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VII. 269
Esse metus ccepit, ne )vira jugalia conjux 715 rata dea, met as capu
Non bene servasset. Faciesque, aetasque jubebant Z^'sZ^'^eUuraju:
Credere adulterium: prohibebant credere mores. gaua. Faciesque, atas.
- -,
\ n
• ""* mncta. Studeo
Immutatque meam (videor sensisse) riguram. quarere quo doieam,
Palladias ineo non cognoscendus Athenas :
fidem'Tr^^^'tiZl
Insfrediorque
"'o"-'-""'T. Ill-
domum. Culpa domus ipsa carebat
Castaq; signa dabat: dommoqueerat anxia rapto.
•
;
/«'«' hutc timori im..
mtitatqueCvideor sen-
sissej meamfiguram.
Vix aditu per mille dolos ad Erechthida facto 72C ; paUadLTl'tlfnas/n-
Ut vidi, obstupui meditataque :
poen^ reliqui ',ZfrplTciTelTtf:i.
Tentamenta fide male me, quin vera faterer, ra daimtque casta sig-
—, . ,s .
i.i-i:
•
li? ""' erat que anxia do-
Continui; male qum, ut oportuit, oscula lerrem. mine rapto. Aduuad
Tristis erat: sed nulla tamen formosior ilia, 730 S'^j'^f/, J^^.^Z
Esse potest
r tristi: desiderioque calebat *'«f obstupuj
pen'eque
. •
m
lu II- 1-
-
-iiA reliqui medUiita ten-
tamenta mate
COlllge quallS in
ConuiglS abreptl.
T-.,"^^i /••,
Fhoce, decor tuerit ; quam sic
-11- -Li
dolor ipse decebat.
ilia,
J
fidel.-
continui vie, quin fa-
te>e.r vera, mate, qitin
TRANSLATION.
' mind di-
complaints, ungrateful youth; go to your Procris: but if my
" vines
aright, sore will you repent your unhappy love and thus
in anger :
" violated the Her beauty and age alarm my fears, but
nuptial voav.
" her But I had been absent,
spotless morals forbid every suspicion.
" and
she, whom I had just left, was an example of a guilty flame, but
" love is
always full of fears and jealousies. I grow impatient to explore
" what must her
prove matter of grief to myself, and to solicit with gifts
" blameless Aurora cherishes these fears, and changes my
chastity.
" of Pallas,
shape, as I seemed then to perceive. I enter Athens, the city
" in a form
unknown, and go to mine own house. The house itself was
" without
flame, and carried all the marks of chastity full of concern ;
" for the absence of its master. AVhen after a thousand artifices I had
" at of Erech-
length with great difficulty found access to the daughter
"
theus, as soon as I saw her I stood amazed, and well nigh quitted
" the from owning
projected trial of her fidelity scarce could I refrain :
"
yet even in her grief beautiful beyond compare, and languished in sor-
" row
for the loss of her husband. Judge, young prince, what her beauty
" must What need I to
be, when even in tears she looked thus lovely.
" how often How often she
repeat her chastity
baffled all ?
my attempts
270 P. OYIDII NASONIS
uhicunque est, servo Servor, ubicunoue est : uni mea gaudia servo?
mea gaudiauni. Cut . •
j . r< ^• i.-
•
me dare
nocte,atigen
census
oquemu-
pro Muneraque augendo tandem dubitare coegi. 740
g^-^jg^j-^^Q ^r^\^ tectus ego en, male
pactus adulter
.
ncra, tandem co'tgi earn
dubitare. Exclamo en
ego male tectus, male
Verus eram conjux me, perfida, teste teneris.
:
respondit nihil,tantu m-
modo victa tacito pu- OfFensaque mei, genus omne perosa virorum 745
dore, fugit insidiosa li-
mina cum malo con-
Montibus errabat studiis operata Diana.
juge, perosaque omne Turn mihi deserto violentior ignis ad ossa
genus virorum offensa
mei, errabat montiOtis, Pervenit orabam veniam pecc^sse fatebar,
:
;
am, et fatebar me pcc- Hoc mihi confesso, Isesum priiis ulta pudorem, 751
casse, el me quoque po-
tuisse succumbere si- Redditur, et dulces concorditer exigit annos.
mili culpa datis mu-
neribus; si tanta mu-
Dat mihi prseterea, tanquam se parva dedisset
nera darentur. Bed-
ditur mihi confesso hoc,
Dona, canem munus quem cmn sua traderet illi:
TRANSLATION.
told me am reserved for one wherever he is; I keep my joys for him
I
((
alone ? Who in his senses might not have been satisfied with this trial
of fidelity ? But it contents not me I strive to wound myself, while I
;
promise vast sums for one night, and by increasing the bribe, bring her
at last to waver. Alas, cried I lo, I, the unhappy concealed, the un-
:
<(
am myself a Avitness of your infidelity. She made no reply, but over-
whelmed with silent shame, flies the treacherous house, and her en-
snaring husband, and for my offence, hating the whole race of men,
ranges the mountains, devoted to the exercises of Diana. Deserted
thus, the fire of love more violent than ever raged in my bones
(I I ;
begged forgiveness, and owned myself in fault, and that even I might
have yielded to the force of presents, had presents of so great value
t(
been offered. This confession restored her to my embraces, having
but too severely revenged hy absence the assault upon her modesty and ;
(C
we passed our years in the sweetest harmony. Besides, as if it was
((
but a small gift that she had given me herself, she presented me with
a dog, which her own Diana had given her, and promised that he
should surpass all others in running. She gave me a dart too, the same
that you see now in hands.
my
XXVII. " Would you know the fortune of the other present, the dog ?
hear then :
you will be surprised at the novelty of the wonderful fact.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VII. 271
ducere se ab ipso vulnere ; nee callida /era fugit recto limite, vel in spatium, sed decipit ora se-
quentis :
TRANSLATION.
" Theson of Laias had unfolded the mysterious lines, impenetrable to
the understandings of all who essayed it before ; and the dark songster,
precipitated from a rock, lay mindless
of her riddle. But impartial
Themis suffers not crimes like these to escape due vengeance. Instantly
another savage ravages the Theban plains and flocks and swains fall
;
by all to slip my Lelaps, for that was the name of my wife's present.
From the very first he struggles to break the hampering bonds, and
violently strains them with his neck. Scarce was he freed from the
his feet are
chain, when in a moment he appears no more the prints of ;
of her pursuer, and winds away in rings, to break the force of his
272 P. OVIDII NASONIS
J«:rfAf^"TiJ'
Et redit in gyrum, ne sit suus impetus hosti.
Hicimnmiet,sequitur- Imminetliic, sequituique parem similisnue tenenti
quepurem, similtsque -.j .. ^ ••/> *
ncie-
:
7oo
trd^rV"7"rtZ7ad Ad jaculi veitebar opera quod dextera librat :
feiix marito. Mutua Nec me quse caperet, non si Venus ipsa veniret,
cttra et socialiamor
habebat duos. Nee ilia Ulla erat. ^quales urebant pectora flammse.
prteferret thalamosjo- Sole fer^ radiis feriente cacumina primis,
vis meo ami>ri,nec erat
ulla qiite caperet me,
nan. si ipsa Venus ve
Venatum in silvas iuveniliter ire solebam : 805
niret: irguaies flam- JNec mecum lamulos, nec equos, nec naribus acres
miB urebant pectora. t t j i.
• •
TRANSLATION.
" career. He
darts upon her, and closely urges his rival ; at every stretch
" he his prey, hut still is baffled, and vainly chops the air. I theii
hopes
"
prepare to launch my javelin but while I brandish it for the throAv,
;
•'
and turn my eyes to fit my fingers to its thongs; looking back, with
" amazement I behold two marble statues in the middle of the
plain :
*'
one seems to fly, the other with barking to pursue. Some god un-
"
doubtedly (if you can suppose that any god here interposed) thus
"
changed them, that both might remain unconquered in the race."
XXXIII. Here he stopped. But, says Phocus, what is the crime you
" Let me
charge upon the dart ? When Cephalus thus resumed his tale.
"
begin this mournful recital with past joys these, Phocus, will I first ;
•'
rehearse, O son of ^acus, how I am pleased to reflect upon the happy
" time, those first years of marriage when I was so completely blessed in
;
" a wife, nor she less blessed in a husband. Mutual tenderness and en-
"
dearing love linked us both. Not Jove himself had been preferred to
"
"
my embrace nor could any nymph, not Venus in all her charms have
;
" refresh
me, you make me delight iu woods and pathless haunts tliat ;
"
bahmj breath of yours is ever catched with eagerness by my mouth.
" So)?ie
one, I know not who, overheard and, misled by the ambiguous
;
"
words, fancying the name (Aura) so often invoked, to Jie that of a
" the
nymph, imagined some nymph had captivated my heart.^nstantly
" rash informer of this fictitious crime to her
goes to Procris, and repeats
" the Love is easy of belief soon as she
sounds he had overheard. ;
"
hears it she faints away, and after a long interval reviving, complains
" of
her misfortune, and cruel fate, and charges me with breach of faith :
" thus
distracted by the appearance of a groundless crime, she dreads
" what
indeed is nothing, the empty shadow of a name and grieves as ;
hopes she may he deceived nor will credit the information. or charge
;
274 P. OVIDII NASONIS
TRANSLATION.
her hand witli a crime, unless she witnesses
it herself.
Returning
Aurora had chased away the darkness of the night I sally out, make :
for the woods, and victorious in the field Come gentle gale, (said I), :
and relieve my pain and suddenly, while I yet speak, mournful groans
;
strike my ear. Yet again I say. Come, delightful gale. The falling
leaves again making a rustling noise, 1 fancied it some wild beast, and
launched my flying spear. It was Procris, and hearing the wound
in the middle of her breast, Ah me (she cried). When know- !
tearing the breast of my robe, bind up the cruel wound, and endeavour
to stop the blood, and beg her to live, nor leave me thus under the
stain of her death. But strength failing her, and now just expiring,
she could only force out with faltering accent these few words By :
all the sacred ties of the nuptial bed I conjure you, by all the gods,
both of heaven and earth, by whatever made me once appear deserv-
ing, and by that love I bear you,
the cause of my death, which even now
cleaves to me in my last moments, suffer not Aura to share with you the
nuptial bed. She said then at last I perceived, and made her sensible
;
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VII. 275
TRANSLATION.
" that it was
merely the error of a name. But what did it avail me to
" convince her
of the mistake? She sinks down, and her little remaining
" Yet her expiring eyes are
strength vanishes with her loss o/ blood.
"
immovably fixed on me and, eased of her fears, she seems to die
;
ing hero, by this moving relation, had melted them all into tears when, ;
lo, JEsLCus enters with his two sons, and new-levied soldiers, whom, well
T 2
276 P. OVIDII NASONIS
LIBER OCTAVUS.
1.
ORBO.
Lucifer jam re-
I. XAM nitidum retegente diem, noctisque fu-
tegente nitidum diem, fj gante
fuganteqne temfora
noctix, JEurits cadit ; Tempora Lucifero, cadit Eurus; et humida sur-
et humida nubila sur-
gunt. Placidi austri gunt
dant cursum Caddis Nubila. Dant cursum redeuntibus Austri
Cephaloque redeiinti-
placidi
bus, quibus austris illi iEacidis,Cephaloque quibus feliciter acti
;
volat inter utrumque d ubiis pennis. Turris regia erat addita, vocalibus muris,
TRANSLATION.
I. A ND now
the morning star ushering in the bright day, and dis-
-^-*-
pelling the sable shades of night, the east wind falls, and humid
clouds arise. The kindly south winds favour the return of Cephalus,
and the sons of ^acus, and, urging their course, bear them sooner than
expected to the intended port. Mean time Minos lays waste the Lele-
gian coasts and previously tries the strength of his arras against the
;
hairs a purple lock hangs down from the middle of his head, the strength
and fortune of his kingdom.
Revolving Phoebe was now the sixth time filling her silver horns, and
still the fortune of the war was in suspense victory, doubtful which side
;
to take, long hovers between both with expanded wings. There was a
lofty tower rising from the vocal walls, on which the son of Latona is
said to have laid his golden harp, whose sound was thence communicated
to the stones. The daughter of Nisus was frequently wont in times of
NOTES.
Ovid, from the sto»y of Cephalus, gallant. This adventure is partly true ;
asses to that of Nisus and Sylla. For for, according to Pausanias, that princess
Slinos, finding that he could obtain no held correspondence with Minos during
succours from JEacns, proceeds directly the siege, gave him intelligence of the
against Athens, and beginning with the most secret resolutions of the council,
adjoining cities, lays first siege to Megara and at last gave him admission into the
or Nisa, of which Nisus was king. We town by the keys, which she took while
are told, that prince's destiny depend- her father was asleep, and which Ovid
ed on a red hair he had on his head ; and probably intended by the symbol of the
that Sylla, being in love with Minos, cut fatal hair.
it out, and made a present of it to her
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VIII. 277
illuc solita est ascendere filia Nisi, ejus inita-.sit saxo. Fi-
Saepe lia Alfii est srrpe soli
Et peteie exiguo resonantia saxa lapillo; ta ascendere illuc, et
petere resonuntia saxa
Tuni cum pax esset. Bellum quoque seepe solebat exiguo lapillo,tum cwn,
esset pax. Bello quo
Spectare, eque ilia rigidi certamina Martis. 20 qtce, solebat stepe spec-
tare ex ilia certamina
Jamque mora belli procerum quoque nomina norat, rigidi Martis. Jamque,
mora norat quo-
Armaque, equosque,habitusque, Cydoneasque pha- belli,
que nomina procerum,
retras. armaqtte,cquosque, ha-
usque, Cydoneasque bit
Noverat ante faciem duels Europaei;
alios
pharetras. Norerat
Pliis etiam,
quam nosse sat est. Hac judice, Minos,
ante alios faciem Ew-
ropa:i ducts, etiamplus
Seu caput abdiderat cristata casside pennis, 25 quam est sat nosse.
Hac judice, Minos, seu
In galea formosus erat; seu sumpserat auro abdiderat caput cas-
side cristata pennis,
Fulgentem clypeum, clypeum sumpsisse decebat. erutformosus ingaled;
Torserat adductis hastilia lenta lacertis seu sumpserat cli/pe-
vm fulgentem auro, ;
Sic Phcebum sumptis jurabat stare sagittis. tis lucertis, virgo lau-
dabat artem junctam
Ciam vero faciem dempto nudaverat aere, cum viribus. Seu sinu-
averat patulos arcus
Purpureusque albi stratis insignia pictis calamo imposito, Jura-
bat Phwbum stare sic
Terga premebat equi, spumantiaque ora regebat: sumptis sagittis. Cum
Vix sua, vix sanse virgo Nisei'a compos 35 vero nudaveratfaciem
dempto ffre ; purpure-
Mentis erat. Felix jaculum, quod tangeret ille, usque premebat terga
albi equi insignia pic-
Quseque manu premeret, felicia frsena vocabat. tis stratis,
regebatque
spumantia ora ; Nescia virgo vix erat .sua, vix erat compos same mentis, V^ocabat jaculum quod
ille tangeret feliXjfrccnaque qua munu tangeret felicia.
TRANSLATION.
peace to mount
thither, and with a small pebble strike the resounding
walls. In war
too she was often wont to behold thence the contests of
rigid Mars. And now by the long continuance of the war, she was be-
come acquainted with the names of the chiefs, their arms, horses, ivar-
like dresses, and the Cydonean quivers. But, above all the rest, she
marked the face and mien of the son of Europa, even more than Avas
consistent with her repose. In her judgment, Minos, whether he co-
vered his head with a helmet crested with waving plumes, looked grace-
ful in a helmet or if he bore on his arm a shield gleaming with bur-
:
nished gold, he was still amiable with the shield. Did he with nervous
arm launch the trembling dart, the admiring nymph commended his
strength and skill. If applying an arrow, he bends the circling bow, she
fancies that thus Phoebus must look, Avhen armed with his pointed reeds.
But when putting off the brazen helmet, he discovers his lovely face,
and arrayed in purple mounts a snow-white steed richly caparisoned in
flowers of gold, and guides with steady rein his foaming mouth, then in-
deed the Niseian maid is no longer mistress of herself, nor can control
her frantic mind, Happy, says she, is the dart which he touches, liappy
the reins w hich are his hand. She is strongly impelled (were
pressed by
the hostile battalions, or
possible) to direct her virgin steps through
it
launch her
body from the of the tower into the Gnossian camp, to
top
open the brazen gates to the enemy, or to do whatever else Minos might
\
NOTES.
23. Ewovai ducts. 1 Miuos, the sou of Jupiter and Eiuoua.
278 P. OVIDII NASONIS
TRANSLATION.
require. And
as she sat with her eyes fixed on the snowy tents of the
Dictean king, " I am uncertain,
" lament for this (says she), whether I ought to joy or
mournful war carried on against my country. I lament
" that Minos is an
to her that loves him and
enemy but for this war, ;
yet
" should have ever known him. Perhaps if I am offered as a hostage
I
" he may cease hostilities, and receive me as a
" companion and the pledge
of peace. If she who bare thee, loveliest of men, was
" charming as
god O thrice happy
thou art, what wonder that she fired the soul of a :
"
I, if gliding through the air on
" wings, I could rest in the tent of the
Gnossian king, and owning my quality and flame, ask with what dowry
" he might be won if only he asked me not to
betray my father's towers.
!
" For perish all the hoped-for joys, and nuptial bed, e'er I seek to prevail by
" a base attempt of treason. Though often the
" clemency of a mild con-
queror has made it a blessing to many, to fall under his sway. Hecertain-
"
ly prosecutes a just war, for the murder of his son, and is powerful in a
"
"
righteous cause, and in arms to defend his cause. We
shall be vanquished,
I doubt not. Which
fate, if it avails the city, why should his arms lay open
" to him these
walls, and not my love ? Better will it be that he conquer
"
siege, and expense of blood. O Minos,
without slaughter, a tedious how
" I tremble Mith anxious
fear, lest some hand should Avound thy
unwary
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VIII. 279
impensaque
Impensaque sui potetit superare cruoris. '"^^^^""^
Quam metuo certe, ne quis tua pectora, Minos, JH'nos ve qvuimpru-
iTi ,• J !• ,-. dens luli/eret tua per-
Vulneret imprudens quis emra tarn dims, ut in te toraf quisenime^tLm
I
!
• •
.
"
my wish." While yet is
revolving these things in her mind, night,she
the great nurse of care, draws on apace, and boldness grows upon her in
the dark. It was now the hour when the first sleep steals in downy
slumbers upon the breasts of mortals, overcharged with the fatigues of
the day. She enters softly her father's chamber and (oh theft ac- :
cursed !) the daughter robs her parent of his fatal lock and, possessed of ;
NOTKS.
S5 Fatali cnne.'\ The fatal hair ; i.
e., the lock upon which the fate of the city de-
pended.
280 P. OVIDII nAsonis
freto, mc
ducem pra- U i , i
:
/
stare sibi prcemia sceleris, preeibus consumptis, transit in violentam iram : infendensque manus,
furibwida sparsis capillis, cxclamat : Qui> fugis, o prelate mee patriff, prelate parenti, auctore
tantorum mcrilorum relicta ?
TRANSLATION.
the sacrilegious prize, carries off with her the spoil of her impiety and ;
issuing out by one of the gates, advances through the heart of the enemy
(such is her confidence in the merit of her deed),
to the monarch's tent
whom, full of amazement, she thus addresses " Love urged me to the :
" deed I
am, Scylla, the royal issue of Nisus I surrender into your
; :
" hands
my country and my father's palace, nor ask any reward but your-
" self. Take this
purple lock as a pledge of my love nor imagine that ;
"
you receive only a lock of hair, but my father's head." She then
made him an offer of the impious present, but Minos refused her gift,
and shocked at the thought of so uncommon a crime, " Wretch (says he) !
"
(cries she), leaving behind thee the author of thy success, thou Avhom
I
" have father ? Whither dost thou
"
preferred to my country, preferred my
to
barbarous man ? whose
fly, is both crime and merit. Can
victory my
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VIII. 281
TRANSLATION.
neither my present, nor and hopes fixed on thee alone,
my ardent love,
move thee to compassion For whither, thus abandoned, shall I repair ?
?
bid me this too ? Do you thus abandon me, ungrateful man ? Sure
Europa never gave thee birth, but inhospitable Syrtis, some ravenous
11,
But let me rather fall by some one of those whom 1 have so cruelly in-
jured. Why shouldest thou pursue a crime to which thou owest thy
success ?
Though treason to my father and country, it was the highest
merit to you. Sire indeed deserved such a husband, who within a wooden
heifer courted a lowering bidl, and bore in lier womb an unshapely
birth. Do these my complaints reach thy ears, or do the winds bear
282 P. OVIDII NASONIS
dissor-
tiiiuquefatum Dissortemque utero foetum Ecquid ad aures tulit.
dicta perveniunt ad Jf crveniunt mea
an mania venti
Qicta tuas (
tttas auresT an venti
J'erunt inania verba ;
Verba ferunt, idemque tuas, ingrate, carinas? 135
idcmque feit tuas cari- non est mirabile taurum
nas itigrate/ jatn Jam Jam jam Pasiplia'en
non est mlrabile Pa- tibi tu plus feritatis liabebas.
sipha'cn prceposuisse
Praeposuisse :
perare: undaque di- Nil agis, 6 frustra meritorum oblite meorum. 140
vulsa remis sonat. Ah
me terra re
mecum.
recedit simul
Insequar invitum puppimque amplexa recurvam
:
frustra
.i:frJ^L\.l
ohlite meorum Ppr fvpta lonoa
_
trahar. Vix dixerat.
dixerat, insilit undas :
iaies, "Zp^imfTct
Et modo factus erat fulvis Halyaetos alis) 146
ente 'vires haretque ut heereiitem rostro laniaret adunco.
comes mvidtosa Gnos- D^^Lt,'
_,, ......
siaca: carinas. Quam Ula mctu puppim dimittit at aura cadentem :
ut pater vidit, (nam
jam pendebat in auras, Sustinuisse levis, ne tangeret sequora, visa est.
et erat tnodo factus
Halya'itos fulvis alis.)
Pluma Plumis in avem mutata vocatm' 150
fuit.
Ibat, tit laniaret adun- Ciris a tonso est hoc nomen adepta capillo.
: et
co rostro illara haren-
tem. Ilia dimittit pup- II. Vota Jovi Minos taurorum corpora centum
pim metu : at aura le-
vis visa est sustinuisse Solvit, ut egressus
_
ratibus Curetida terram
cadentem, ne tangeret decoi'ata est reda
a-qiiora. Fuit pluma: & ' ct spoliis
Contipit, 1 . •
r i
fixis.
mutata plumis in a- Crcverat opprobrium generis fcedumque patebat
vem, vacatur Ciris, et
' ^ '
:
'-
him. In vain thou flyest, migrateful man. I will follow Ihee in spite,
" and grasping the crooked stern, shall be dragged through a length of
" seas." She said, and leaped into the waves, and love supplying her
with strength, at last reached the fleet, and hung, an unwelcome compa-
nion, by Minos' ship. Whom, when her father saw (for he, now a sea-
eagle, was suspended in air on tawny wings) he stooped from above to
tear with his crooked bill. She quits her hold through fear hut the light ;
air sustained her as she fell, nor touched she the surface of the sea. Wings
bore her up by these changed to a bird, she is called Ciris, a name de-
;
TRANSLATION.
grown up, and the shameful adultery of the mother notorious, from the
unnatural appearance of the doubled-formed monster. Minos therefore
resolves to remove from the palace this scandal of his house, and enclose
it in the numerous chambers of a
mazy labyrinth. Daedalus, highly famed
for his skill in architecture,
plans out the work, confounds all marks of
distinction, and leads the eyes into wild meanders, by a mazy train of
various paths. As limpid Meander strays in the Phrygian plains, and
rolls backward and forward its various stream, often with wonder survey-
ing its former banks now it points upward to its source, now glides
:
downward to the sea, and fatigues in various toil its wandering current.
Just so Daedalus forms innumerable
paths into endless Avindings, inso-
much that he himself can scarce find the way to the entrance, so mani-
fold and intricate are the
turnings. Here when he had shut in the
doubled-formed monster, partly of human shape, partly resembling a
bull when tAvice fed with Attic blood, the third nonennial lot had at
:
length subdued this devouring plague; and when, by aid of the virgin
princess, the puzzling entrance, hitherto gained by no former adventurer,
had been explored by a of ^Egeus, car-
guiding thread, instantly the son
rying with him the daughter of Minos, sails for Dia, and aftenuard bar-
barously abandoned the companion of his flight on that shore. Thus soli-
tary, and complaining bitterly of her hard fate, Bacchus aided and cherished
her, and, resolving to perpetuate her by a lasting star, snatches the croAvu
from off her head, and darts it to heaven. It mounts the yielding air, ami
284 P. OVIDII NASONIS
^
modo quas vaga ^ raoverat aura,
i
TRANSLATION.
in flight the jewels change to sparkling fires, and settle in the place
its
ranges feathers in order, beginning with the least, and rising by degrees ;
a long succeeding the shorter, as if they grew on the ascending cliff.
Thus often the rustic pipe gradually rises with unequal reeds. The middle
pinions he binds together with thread, and secures the bottom steins with
wax. Thus ranged, he forms them by a gentle bending into tlie figiu-e of
real wings. His sou Icarus stood by him, and
smiling, sometimes catched
the feathers as they floated in the moving air, not aware of the danger
NOTES.
183. DcBdalus intei-ea.'] Dsedalus was an with Athens, received him favourably.
Athenian, of the race of Eiechtheus, dis- Here he gave many proofs of his art, but
tinguished by his great skill in the nio- after some time, being suspected of fa-
clianic arts. A mean jealousy puslicd him vouring tJie queen's gallantries, he was
on a crime that was tiie soin'ce of all his imprisoned by Minos ; biU he soon found
misfortunes. He had undertaken the means to escape, and embarking, to speed
education of his sister's son, a youth of a I)is flight, contrived the use of sails. This
promising genius. Daedalus, fearing lie gave rise to the story of liis flying from
might prove a dangerous rival, secretly Crete on artificial wings. Icarus his son
murdered liim. This being discovered, perished in the voyage, and gave his name
he fled to Minos, who being then at war to the Icarian sea.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VIII. 285
TRANSLATION.
from them impending sometimes softened with his thumb the pliant wax,
;
and with his childish play retarded the wonderful work of his father.
When HOW the last hand was put to the design, the ingenious contriver
poised his body on equal wings, and hung suspended in the beaten air.
He then instructs his son " Remember, Icarus, to keep the middle
:
" tract
lest, flying low, the waves should clog thy wings, or, soaring
;
" Nor
high, the fiery rays of Phoebus burn them fly between both. :
" mark
yovce course by Bootes, or Helice, or Orion's naked sword, but
" follow me as
your guide." At the same time he gave him precepts for
flying, and fits the untried wings to his shoulders. While thus engaged,
and amid his admonitions, his aged cheeks are W<^t with tears^ and the
hands of the^father tremblecpl He gave kisses to his son, never again to
be repeated and, poTse^^ his pinions, flies before, anxious for his com-
;
panion like a parent-bird, when first from the towering nest she leads
;
forth her tender young to tempt the airy way. Thus he cheers him on,
and instructs him in the fatal art, nimbly moving his own wings, and
with attentive regard eyeing those of his son. These the angler, as with
his
trembling reed he ensnares the finny prey, or shepherd leaning on his
crook, or peasant guiding the plough, descries, and with amazement views ;
imagining they raust_be -gods,- who thus through the ethereal skies cut
the liquid wa^,— And now
they had passed Samos sacred to Jimo, and
Delos and Pares on their left on the right Avas Lebynthos, and Calymno
:
286 P. OVIDII NASONIS
lacertos ;
Remigioque carens non ullas percipit auras.
carcusqnc
remigio alarum, non
pcrcepit vllas auras.
Oraqnc rlnniantia pa-
Oraque coerulea patrium clamantia nomen
trium 7iomen, excipi-
nntur cmrulca aqua
Excipinntur aqua: quee nomen traxit ab illo. 230
quiB traxit nomt'n ab
;
At pater infelix, nee jam pater, iriare, dixit,
illo. At infelix pater,
7iec jam pater, dixit rcareT^ixit, ubi es ? qua te regione requiram,
Ivare, Icare dixit, ubi Icare, dicebat? Pennas aspexit in undis;
es'f quit regione requi-
Devovitque suas artes corpusque sepulchre
»
ram te ? Icare, di-
cebat : adspexit pcn-
iias in, undis, devovit-
Condidit ;
et tellus a nomine dicta sepulti-^ 235
que suas artes ; condi- Hunc miseri tumulo ponentem corpora nati
rtitque corpus sepul-
chro, et tellus est dic- Garrula ramosa prospexit ab ilice perdix :
ta (i nomine sepulti
pueri. Garrula perdix Et plausit pennis testataque gaudia cantu est ;
:
TRANSLATION.
abounding in honey. When the youth began to aspire at a more daring
flight, forsook his guide, and fond to trace the skies, soars aloft in air. The
rapid sun, now nearer, softened the fragrant wax that held together his
pinions it melts away he shakes his naked arms, and, stripped of his
:
;
oary wings, feels no resistance from the air. Then, calling his father,
i
plunges in the sea-green waves, which from him derived their name.
unhappy father, now no more a father, calls upon his Icarus.
*« But the
"
Where, where art thou, O
Icarus ? In what region of the world shall I
" search for thee ?" When he beheld his
pinions in the deep, and cursed
his own pernicious art. He next reposited the body in a tomb, and called
the country by the name of the youth interred/" partridge,
from a A
branching oak, beheld him paying these last duties to the body
of his ill-
fated son and, with fluttering wings and chirping notes, testified her
;
joy. A
single bird then, not known to former times,
for but late it was
transformed, a heavy crime against thee, Deedalus. For his sister, igno-
rant of the fates, had to him committed her son for instruction, a youth of
twice six years, and of a genius for the finest arts. He, from the spiny
bone observed in the backs of fishes, took the hint of a noble invention,
cut a continued of teeth inrange iron, and found out the use of the
edged
saw. He too was the first, who bound two branches of iron to one hinge,
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VIII. 287
Propter
i
humum volitat ponitque
.
r 1
in sepibus ova onte remansit.
:
men litre volucns
Ta-
, .
A^
;
'
non
Antiquique memor metuit sublimia casus.
tnint stca corpora ai-
^ ,
n^^ a j .
r.
feparserat Argolicas nomen vaga i'ama per urbes no-, r/ieseA laude, de-
datisque munerU>us,et
acceris, thuris. Vagafama sparserat nomen Tlieseos per Argolicas urbes : et populi quos dives
Achaia cepit, implo7-avere opem liujus magnis pertclis. Calydon suppiex petiit opem liujus sol-
licita prece, quamvis haberet Meieagron. Causa petendi
TRANSLATION.
that extending with ease, while one part stood fixed, the other might de-
scribe an equi-distant orb all around. Dsedalus, jealous of his superior
talents, precipitated him from the sacred tower of Minerva, pretending it
Avas an accidental fall. But Pallas, the patroness of ingenious men, bore
him up, and changed him to a bird, that through mid-air with pinions
winged his way. But the vigour of his genius, once so penetrating, passed
into his feet and wings his name too remained the same as before. Yet
;
this bird raises not his body high, nor builds his nest in boughs, or tower-
ing tops of trees, but with low flight sweeps the ground, shelters its eggs
in hedges, and, mindful of its former fall, dreads to soar aloft in air.
IV. And now the iEtneau land receives Daedalus fatigued with his long
flight ; and Cocalus taking up arms for his suppliant guest, was com-
mended by all for his mildness and humanity. Athens had now ceased to
pay her mournful tribute by the gallant behaviour of Theseus. The
with Jupiter and
temples are crowned, and they invoke warlike Minerva,
all the other
gods, whom they adore with the blood of victims, vowed
fame had now spread
offerings, and censers of frankincense. Winged
rich
the renown of Theseus through all the Grecian cities, and the nations of
populous Achaia applied to him in threatening dangers. Calydon too,
though guarded by Meleager, in suppliant terms implored his aid. The
cause of this request was a boar, the avenging minister of Diana's wrath.
288 P. OVIDII NASONIS
(Eiieos agrns qniinlo Sanguine etigne micant oculi, riget horrida cervix :
:
per latos armos cum Nee matura metit fleturi vota coloni.
rauco stridor e : denies
eequatttur Jndis denti- Et Cererem in spicis intercipit. Area frustra,
bus. Fulmen venit ab
ore .-
frondes ardent
Et frustra expectant promissas horrea messes.
afflati'bus. "ismodopro-
culcat segetes in cres-
Stemuntur °
.^
° cumr palmite foetus,
gravidi longo
t
.
one: i j.-
centi herba, nunc me- Baccaque cum ramis semper trondentis olivss 295
do any so large crop the Sicilian meads. His eyes glare with blood and
fire, his neck is rough with pointed thorns,
and his hack shoots up in
horrid spikes, that stand like an impenetrable rampart, guarded with
rows of spears. The foam in waves flies round his sounding flanks, his
tusks rival the Indian elephant thunder guards his horrid jaws, and
;
the fields are scorched with the steams issuing from his mouth. Now
he tramples down the growing blade of corn, or crops the yet luiripe
and intercepts
hopes of the disconsolate swain devours the ripening ears,
;
the labour of the year. In vain the threshing-floor, in vain the barns expect
the promised harvests. The grapes in clusters strew the fields, and loaden
boughs of the ever-oreen olive. He rages too amid the folds, neitlier dogs
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VIII. 289
Dift'ugiunt populi: nee se, nisi moenibus urbis, sunt defendere armen-
ta. Populi dijfiugiunt,
Esseputant tutos donee Meleagros, et una,
:
iiec futant se esse tu-
nisi manibus ur-
Lecta manus juvenum coiere cupidine laudis. 300 tos,
bis: donee Meieagros,
et una, lecta munus
Tyndaridai gemini, speetatus cestibus alter, juvemim coiire cupi-
Alter equo ; primaeque ratis molitor I'ason, dine laudis. Geini?ii
the herds. The people fly, nor think themselves secure but when shut up
within their walls until Meleager and a chosen band of youths draw
:
together from thirst of fame. The two sons of Tyndarus, one renowned
at the rigid gauntlet, the other for managing the horse Jason the first ;
who built a ship, and Theseus happy in his friendship for Pirithous, and
the two sons of Thestius, and Lynceus, the son of Aphareus, and swift
Idas, and Caeneus now no more a woman, brave Leucippus, and Acastus
famed at the dart, Hippothoos, Dryas, and Phoenix, the son of Amyntor,
and the twin sons of Actor, and Phyleus sent from Elis. Telamon too
Avas there, and the father of the great Achilles and the son of Pheres,
;
and Hyantian lolaus, with gallant Eurition, and Echion invincible in the
race ;
Narycian Lelex, Panopeus, bold Hyleus, Hippasus, and Nestor
then in his first years. And those whom Hippocoon sent from ancient
Amyclse the father-in-law too of Penelope, and Parrhasian Ancseus,
;
Mopsus, the sage son of Ampycus, and Amphiaraus of Obelus' line, as yet
unsold by his wife and Tegsean Atalanta, the glory of the Lycsean
;
NOTES.
304. Duo Thestiada.] Toxensand Plex- 3l6. Ampycidesque sagax.'] Mopsus, the
sons of Thestius, brothers to
ippiis, tlie son of Anipyciis, tlierefore called sagax,
Althea, the mother to Meleager. because he had the gift of foresight.
308. Actoridesque pares.'] Eurytus and Ibid. Et adhuc a coiyuge tutus CEcli-
Creatns, two brothers, the sons of Actor des.]Ampliiams, the sonof (Ecleiis. He
of Elis. They were afterward slain by was one greatly renowned for his pro
Hercules. phetic gifts. It is related of him, that
U
290 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Silva frequens trabi- Vincula pars adimunt canibus pars pressa se- :
bus, quam nulla atas
a,
ceciderat, incipit
vlano.vrospicitQuear- ^. quuntur
* , . • ^ i
tenZnl'relli'-'parl
Concava vallis erat: qua se demittere rivi
adimunt vincia cani- Assueraut pluvialis aqua3. Tenet ima lacunae 335
bus; pars sequimtur ^• ^ ^ • •
i -
you might truly say, was that of a blushing maid, in a maid, that of a
lovely boy. The Calydonian chief at once beheld, and at once wished
for the dame, with gods averse, and drew in the latent fire. happy, O
says he, the man by fate reserved for her embraces. Time and glory
suffer not more a mightier work of mighty praise rouses his soul.
;
Awood thick of trees, which no age had cut down, rises from a plain,
and overlooks the shaded fields below. When here the heroes Avere ar-
rived, some spread around the toils, some unbind and set on the dogs,
while part explore the monster's steps, and are impatient to trace their
own danger. There Avas a hollow valley whither rivulets of rain-water
were wont to roll in its marshy bottom sprung up the limber willow,
:
smooth sedges, and slimy rushes, with osiers, and lengthened stalks of
trembling reeds. Hence the boar roused, rushes violent amid his foes,
like lightning darted from the bursting clouds. In his career he levels
the grove, and bears down the wood with a crashing noise. The youths
NOTES.
foreseeing if he went to the Theban war over by Adrastus, who presented her with
he should never return, to avoid being a fine necklace, she betrayed her bus-
compelled to it, he kept ont of the way. band. He was therefore obliged to ac-
Hi» wife Eriphyle was the only person company the other leaders to the Theban
intrusted with the secret, as he believed war, and, we are told, was swallowed up
her fidelity impregnable. But being won with his chariot by the earth.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VIII. 291
TRANSLATION.
shout, and presenting their spears with nervous arm, brandish the broad-
pointed steel. He rushes impetuous, and disperses the dogs that oppose
him, repelling with slanting wounds the clamorous crew. The first spear,
launched by Echion with unavailing aim, slightly wounded a maple-tree
trunk. The next seemed to threaten the monster's back, but, darting with
aimed the
too much force, it went
beyond the mark Pegasean Jason :
have
Phoebus, (says the son of Ampycus), if I adore, and ever
''
stroke.
" adored
thee, grant me with aim to reach the mark." The
unerring
without
god consented, as far as fate allowed he struck the savage but ;
a wound Diana disarmed the flying javelin, which whizzed along a point-
;
less shaft. At this the monster's rage redoubles, quick as the winged
lightning fire flashes from his eye-balls, and flames expire from his
;
tliem off as
they lay. But Enasimus, the son of Hippocoon, escaped not
a mortal wound, for his nerves give way, nor sus-
pierced in the ham,
Perhaps the Pylian chief
tain him too
trembling and preparing to fly.
had here perished before the war, but that with violent effort aided
Trojan
292 P. OVIDII NASONIS
tufiJquc'iocordespe^ Despcxitque
loco tutus, quern fugerat, hostem
it ho.\tcm
qiieni Jtcge- Dentibus ille ferox in
rut. IClc ferox deiitilms querno stipite tiitis
t ritis in querno
stijiite, Imniinet exitio, sidensque recentibus armis 370
imminet exitio, s/deiis-
(/ue recentibus armis, Othriadte magni rostro femur hausit adunco
haiisit femur magni
Othriada: rostro advn-
At gemini, nondum ccelestia sidera, fratres,
CO. At gemini fratres,
nondum ccelestia side-
Ambo couspicui iiive candidoribus alba
,
'
•
-.j •, -,
cui,ambovectabuutnr
equis candidioribus tii-
Hastarum trcmulo quatiebant spicula motu, 375
te, ambo quatiebant Vuliiera fecisseiit : nisi setiger inter opacas
per auras sptcula has- -f.j , . .1.,
/^ i
•
xagitiam nervo, expu- JNec tamen ilia sui successu Isetior ictus,
An"ido''fi''lfsub "anr'e Q
utim Meleagros erat. Primus vidisse putatur ; 385
CTMOT corpus'Tet rube- ^t priiuus sociis visuui osteudissc cruorem :
TieimgroT'^' Primus
Cum clamorc animos jaciuiitque sine ordine tela. ;
niufostendisfe v^si'im
Turba nocet jactis, et, quos petit, impedit ictus. 390
cruorem sociis, et dixi'ise feres nieri/um honnreni virtutis. Viri cruhuerc, exhortantur que se, et
addunt anitnos cum clumore ; jaciuntque tela sine ordine. Turha nocet jactis, et impedit ictus
quos jtetit.
TRANSLATION.
by his spear, he vaulted on a tree that stood by him, and secure by his
situation, looked down on the foe he had escaped. He whetting his tusks
on an oaken trunk, stands ready for destruction ;
and trusting to his
newly-pointed weapons, with crooked jaws ranched the thigh of the great
Othryades. But the two brothers, not yet celestial constellations, rode
distinguished from the rest, on horses Avhiter than the driven snow. Both
with trembling motion brandished in air their pointed spears, and both
had wounded the bristly monster, but that he rushed into the shady woods,
impenetrable to horses or the winged steel, Telamon presses on, and
heedless in the eager pursuit, is stopped by the branching root of a tree,
and tumbles on the groiind. While Peleus raises him up, the Tegean
maid fits an arrow to the string, and drives it from the straightened bow.
The shaft grazing under the ear, pierced the skin, and dyed the bristles
around with scanty blood nor did she herself rejoice more at the suc-
:
cessful stroke than Meleager, He first observed the wound, and first
pointed it out to his companions nor, added he, shall thy valour want its ;
due reward. The heroes blush through a noble emulation they en- ;
courage and animate each other by joint acclamations, and pour in volleys
their multitude impede the aim, and mu-
undistinguished darts but their :
tually baffle the commissioned strokes. When lo, Arcadian Ancaeus with
METAMORPHOSEON, Lir. VIII. 2&3
the arm of a branching oak. Jason too launched his spear, which fortune
averting from the boar, lodged in the
bowels of a harmless dog, and
piercing them, it stuck fast in the ground.
But the son of CEneus ainas
with various event, for discharging two javelins, the one stood fixed in
the ground, the other the middle of his back.
pierced Instantly, while
294 P. OVIDII NASONIS
^manemyerum!"jl
Essc putaut sed tela tamen sua quisque cruentant.
:
TRANSLATION.
yet he rages, and wheels his body round disgorging blood and foam, the
author of the wound advances, and provokes his adversary anew, and
buries his shining spear in his opposed shoulders. His companions in
applauding shouts testify their joy, and hasten in congratulation to seize
his victorious right hand. They behold with wonder the huge monster
extended on a breadth of earth, and scarce yet think it safe to touch him ;
yet all tinge their weapons in his blood. Meleager, with his foot im-
"
pressed on the monster's baleful head, said Take, Nonacriau nymph, :
" these
spoils by conquest mine, and share in my glory." Immediately
he gives her the skin rough with horrid bristles, and head distinguished
by the huge tusks. She joyfully receives the gift, nor is less pleased with
the giver. The rest envied her, and a murmur ran through the whole
company. Above all, the sons of Thestus, stretching out their arms, ex-
claim with loud noise " Lay down these spoils, nor think, a weak woman
:
•'
as thou art, to intercept the honours due to us. Let not a vain con-
" fidence in
thy beauty deceive thee, nor hope for protection from the
"
giver infatuated by thy charms." They said, and snatch from her the
spoil, and from him the right of disposing of it. The hero could not
bear it, but swelling with martial rage, " Learn, (said he), ye ravishers
" of another's
praise, how much deeds differ from threats," and pierced
with his cruel sword the breast of Plexippus, dreading no sucli fate.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VIII. 295
Thestias, in flammam
triplices posuere sorores ;
tus excidit, et est ver-
sus a lachrymis in amo-
Staminaque impresso fatalia pollice nentes, rempana. Erat stipes,
quem cum Thestias ja-
Tempora, dixerunt, eadeni lignoque, tibique, ceret enixa partus, tri-
O modo nate, damus. Quo postquam carmine dicto V^K^" ""'"''^^ pfxere
injiammam,nciitesque
-^ _^' n
Jixcessere Deee ; rlagrantem mater ab igne 466 /"taiia stamina im-
presso pollice, dixe-
Eripuit torrem sparsitque liquentibus undis,
:
runt, O modb nate, da-
mus eadem tempora ti-
llle diu fuerat penetralibus abditus imis ; bique lignoque. Quo
carmine dicto, post-
Servatusque tuos, juvenis, servaverat annos.
P, ,. ,-
.
•",•.! r 9"0'n deee excessere,
•
p,, j-.T
Coepta quater tenuit. Pupnant materque, sororque,
^1
Jbit diversa trahunt unum duo nomma
,
pectus.
^
Mus, servatusque, ser-
vaverat
'^
tuos annos, o
,
TRANSLATION.
Nor he Toxeus, who seemed fo waver between the fear of a like
suffers
fate, and a desire to avenge his brother's death, long to deliberate but ;
again died in kindred blood his sword, yet warm with the late slaughter.
Althaea was bearing offerings to the temples of the gods for her son's
victory, when she sees her brothers brought off dead yVom thejield. Fetch-
ing a mournful groan, she fills the city with her lamentations, and changes
her embroidered robes to the sable weeds of sorrow. But when she heard
the author of their death, her grief vanished at once, and from tears her
soul is bent upon revenge. There was a billet, Avhieh, as the daughter of
Thestius lay labouring in the throes of birth, the triple sisterhood cast
upon the fire and spinning with thumbs impressed the fatal thread
; ;
" To thee
(they said), O new-born babe, and this brand we give the same
" Thus sung, the three goddesses departed. The mother
destiny."
snatched from the fire the flaming wood, and sprinkled it with water.
Long it had been kept in her most retired apartment, and thus preserved,
had preserved too the life of the young hero. This the mother now brought
out, and ordered a pile of split torches to be raised, and applies to it, when
raised, the hostile flames. Then four times essaying to cast the branch
upon the flaming pile, and four times repressed her hand. The mother
and sister struggle long within her, and these different titles draw dif-
ferent ways one and the same breast. Often her looks were pale from an
296 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Mt morio
yuif.v.i
erat Et modo iiescio QuiQ similis crudcie minanti
similis mmanfi nescw
quid crndcle, morio erat Y\x\i\xs, erat ; modo quern misereii credere posses.
gttcm posses credere
misereri. Cutiignc fe- Cdmque ferus lachrymas animi siccaverat ardor ;
rns ardor animi sic-
ca rerat lachryynas, tit-
Inveniebantur lachrymse tamen. Utque carina, 470
men lachryj/iip irivenie- Quam ventus, ventoque rapit contrarius sestus,
bantur. Vtque cari.
TM, quam, reiitus, tes- V^im geminam sentit, paretque incerta duobus :
TRANSLATION.
in her eyes, inflamed
apprehension of the future crime, often rage glowing
her countenance. Now her looks threatened some cruel purpose, now they
wore an air of compassion and when the fierce passionate ardour of her
;
soul had dried up her tears, still fresh tears would trickle down. And as
a ship tossed by tlie wind and contrary tide, sustains a double assault, and
fluctuates between both just so the daughter of Thestius wavers between
;
her
repugnant affections, and sometimes banishes, sometimes rouses
banished wrath. Yet the sister begins to prevail over the mother and, ;
to appease her kindred ghosts by blood, she aims at being pious by an act
of impiety. For when the pernicious flames began to rise. Let that pile,
said she, consume my bowels. And holding in her hand the fatal branch,
" Sister
as she stood before the sepvdchral altars goddesses (said she), ;
"
upon crime, and funeral upon funerals. Let the impious race perish by
" accumulated calamities. Shall CEneus be
happy in his victorious son,
" and Thestius be of his ? It is better that both mourn. Do you
spoiled
" recent shades, regard this my last duty, and
only, my brother's ghosts, ye
*' that cost me so dear, the guilty
accept kindly these funeral sacrifices
" of womb. Alas whither am I hurried ? Pardon,
pledge my unhappy !
METAMORPHOSEON, tiB. VIII. 297
Mantis ad
Deficiunt ad ccEpta manus. Meruisse fatemur deficiunt
ccepta:
fatemur ilium
Ilium, cur pereat mortis mihi
:
displicet auctor. meruisse cur pereat ;
avctor mortis displicet
Ergo impun^ feret ; vivusque, et victor, et ipso mihi. Ergo fi ret im-
; vivtisqve,et vic-
Successu tumidus regnum Calydonis habebit? 495 pune tor, et tumirius ipso
Vos cinis exiguus, gelidaeque jacebitis umbrae? successv, hubebit rrg-
ninii Cahjdonis? Vos
Haud equidem patiar. Pereat sceleratus et ille jtuebitis exigiius cinis,
;
gellritrquc vtnbrtF. E-
Spemque patris, regnique trahat, patriaeq ruinam. quidcm hand jmtiur.
;
Mens ubi materna est ubi sunt pia jura parentum ? Sceleratvs
;
pereat
Me traliut %ec\\m,spem-
et ;
Et, quos sustinui, bis mensum quinq ue labores ? 500 ?"« p«iris,rimiamqne
_'T^. .. .. -^ . .
I'eg'ii, patritrque. Ubi
O utinam primis arsisses ignibus infans est mens viuternal ubi
;
7iu)ic pia vota paren-
Idque ego passa forem vixisti munere nostro !
tum? et labores bis :
Nunc merito moriere tuo. Cape praemia facti ; qtiinqne mensium quos
sustinui? outinum ar-
Bisque datam, primCun partu, mox stipite rapto,
sisses iiifans primis ig-
nibus, egoque forem
Redde animani vel me fraternis adde sepulchris.
; passu id! vixisli nos-
tra munere, nunc nio-
Et cupio, et nequeo. Quid agam? niodo vulnera riere tuo merito. Cupe
fratrum 506 pramia fucti ; rcdde-
qne aiiimam hit da-
Ante oculos mihi sunt, et tantae cadis imago ; tum, primum pnrtu,
mux stipite, vel
Nunc animum pietas, niaternaque nomina frangunt. adne ruptome frattrnis se-
Me miseram male vincetis, sed vincite, fratres
!
pnlchris. Et cupin, et
neqneo, quid agam ?
:
Dummodo, quse dedero vobis solatia, vosque 510 mudo inilnera fratrum
sunt ante oculos mihi,
Ipsa sequar, dixit dextraque aversa trementi
: et imago tanta caidis ;
nunc pietus, materva-
Funereum torrem medios conjecit in ignes. qtie iiomiua frangunt
Aut dedit, aut visus gemitus est ille dedisse, animuni. Me misera7n!
mate incetis of' aires, i
" mere
ashes, and cold lifeless shades ? I cannot bear it let the wretch ;
" funerals of
my brothers. I would, but cannot what shall I do ? Now :
" that I
follow you, and that son whom I sacrifice to appease your injured
" ashes." tossed the fatal brand into
She said and averting ;
her
eyes,
the midst of the flames. It gave, or at least seemed to give, a groan and, ;
;
.
•
uterque est simul ex- Inoue leves abiit paulatim spintus auras: 524
tinctus, spiritusque
abiit paulatim in leves
»i,- ,/^ii t •
''
Altajacct Calydon. Lugent juvenesque sencsquc,
jaZl juvem'sque'!te. Vulgusque, proceresque gemunt scissceque capillos :
planguntur. Genitor
fusus humi, fcedat ca-
Nam de matre manus diri sibi conscia facti 530
nitiem vultusque se-
niles pulvere; incre-
Exegit pcenas, acto per viscera ferro.
patque spationim <e- Non mihi si centum Deus ora sonantia Unguis,
vum. Nam manus con-
scia sibi diri facti exe- Ingeniumque capax, totumque Helicona dedisset ;
git panas de matre, Tristia perscQuerer miserarum dicta sororum
ferro acto per viscera. _ ^ 1- .. . .
capux totumque Heli- Oscula dant ipsi, posito dant oscula lecto.
cona non persequerer
tristia dicta misera-
rum sororum. Imme-
Post
. ,„ cinerem, cineres haustos ad pectora
.
-
versant
,
.
:
versant haustos cineres ad pectora, jacentque affusa tumulo : complexaque saxo signata nomine,
fundunt laclirymas in nomina. Quas (prater Gorgenque, nurumque nobilis AlcmenaJ Lato'ia,
tandem exsatiatH clade Parthaonia domus,
TRANSLATION,
his bowels, and with heroic patience supports the mighty pains. Yet he
grieves to fall by an inglorious death, without a wound, and thinks Ancaeus
happy in his hasty fate. And now expiring with a sigh, he calls upon his
aged father, his brothers, his pious sisters, and the partner of his bed ;
perhaps too his mother. The flames and his pain increase, and again
langviish both are extinguished together, and his breath by degrees
;
blends with the thin air. Lofty Calydou is now sunk in sorrow young ;
and old, nobles and people mourn the Calydonian matrons, with hair ;
dishevelled, lament his fate. His wretched father, prostrate on the ground,
defiles his silver locks and aged face with dust, and chides his lingering
years. For the mother, conscious of her direful deed, with her own
hand
exacted punishment, and thrust a sword through her bowels. Had 1 a
mouth sounding with a hundred tongues, an imagination the most en-
larged, and all the that Helicon inspires, I coidd not yet describe the
gifts
mournful complaints of his wretched sisters. Regardless of decency, they
beat their breasts till they turn livid and while the body remains, che- ;
rish, and cherish it again cling to it in embraces, and even to the couch
;
on which it Avas laid. And when reduced to ashes, pressed the ashes en-
closed in an urn to their breasts, and lie prostrate roimd the tomb, and
kiss his name graved upon the stone, bedewing it with tears. Whom at
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VIII. 299
Allevat et
:
longas per brachia porrigit alas, longas alas per bra-
chia, facitque ora cor-
ora versasque per aera mittit. 545 nea, mittit que eas ver-
Corneaque f'acit,
sos per (iira.
v. Interea Theseus sociati parte laboris V. Interea Theseus,
discrimine spatii fal- Naiades hee fuerant quae, cum bis quinque juvencos
:
TRANSLATION.
age aud the rest -whom the Acarnanian river, proud of so renowned a
;
guest, had graced with the like honour. Nymphs bare-footed served up
in order the several courses, and when the tables were removed, poured
wine into a, bowl adorned with gems. Then the great hero surveying the
sea subjected to his eyes, " What place (says he) is that ? and points
" to it with his
finger inform me what name that island bears and yet
: :
" methinks it seems not one." To this the River " It is not in-
replies ;
" deed but five distinct islands we see their distance deceives the
one, ;
" criiice of twice five bullocks, and inviting all the rural gods to the so-
"
lemnity, celebrated tlie rural dance, regardless of me. I swelled, and
" with redoubled rage, as when my stream rises highest, poured along
" with a torrent mighty as my resentment, and tore woods from woods,
" and fields from fields and the nymphs (then at last mindful of me)
;
"
"
with the place of their festival, I hurried headlong to the sea. waves, My
with those of the main, rent the land before continued, and divided it
" into as many the isles Echidnides amid the waves."
parts, as you see
YI. " Yet, as you see, one is removed far, far from the rest, an island
"
gi'ateful to me mariners call it Perimele. From this beloved nymph
:
METAMOPiPllOSEON, Lib. VIII. 301
^r,ri
Quod pater Hippodamas
lundum
seffie
o tulit:
ir
inque pro- Q'«><i pater Wppoda-
mus tulit agre, pro-
pulii(fue corpora pa-
ritura nuts c scopulo
Pi'opulit e scopulo pariturae corpora natae. in profiiiidum. Ex-
"
Neptune, said I, who wields the trident, to whom belongs the kingdom
"
"
of the waters
encompassing the earth, in whom we sacred rivers end,
and whither we direct our streams, attend, and propitious hear my
" whom Had her father
prayer. It is I that have injured her I bear.
" been more mild and just, or less unnatural, he ought to have pitied her,
" and been reconciled to me. Aid us, O Neptune, and grant this unhappy
"
nymph, plunged into the sea by her father's cruelty, some place in thy
"
realms, or change her to a place. Her even thus I shall embrace. The
" ruler of the sea bent his head, and shook all his waters with his assent.
" The nymph was afraid, yet still swam I bore her up, and felt her
:
•'
heart leap trembling in her breast and as I felt it, perceived her Avhole
;
"
body to grow hard, and her chest to be crusted over with earth. While
" I
speak, new earth enclosed her swimming limbs, and a bulky island
"
grew upon her transformed members."
VII. Here the River was silent. The wonderful story made an im-
pression on them all only the son of Ixion, a contemner of the gods, and
:
ante
Leiexque omnes, Ante omnesQue Lelex, animo maturus et sevo,
matvrtisanimoet (ttio, c- -i t s o •
>•
ait sic : Potentia caii oic ait : Immcnsa est, nnemque
,
potentia coeli
habe7"Mem.Tq^t Non liabet : et quicquid Superi voluere, peractum
quid stiperi voluere, pcf fSlQ
^
est peractum. Qub. ^°^'. . , , .,,
^ . .
junlti iiil'annis juvL Tota domus duo suiit : idem parentque, jubentque.
u'''casii°''fatend!u'e ^^g*^
^^ Coelicolze
parvos tetigere penates;
paupertatetn, effecire levem, eX ferendam nee iniqnd mente. Nee refert utrum requiras illic do-
tninos famulosve, tota domus sunt duo: idem parent que, jubentque. Ergo ubi calicoloe tetigtre
parvos penates ;
TRANSLATION.
"
thinking they can alter at pleasure the forms of things." All were
amazed, nor approved his rash expressions especially Lelex, ripe in age ;
and understanding. " The power of heaven (says he) is immense and
" And to leave
boundless, nor can any thing resist the will of the gods.
" no
ground of doubt, among the mountains of Phrygia is an oak conti-
"
guous to a lime-tree, enclosed with a low wall. I myself have seen the
"
place for Pittheus sent me into the Phrygian realms, formerly subject
:
"
command, and both obey. When therefore the heavenly guests were
NOTES.
626. Jupiter hiic, specie mortali.'\ The how acceptable liospitalUy is to heaven,
fable of Philemon and
Baucis, which our and how sure of a recompense from the
poet here recounts in a strain so elegant gods.
and natural, is one of those that teach us
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VIII. 303
intraruntque humiles
Submissoque humiles intrarunt vertice postes ;
postes submisso ver-
Membra senex posito jussit relevare sedili: tice, senex jussit eos
relevare membra posi-
Quo superinjecit textum rude sedula Baucis. 640 to sedili, quo sedula
lude foco tepidum cinerem dimovit: et ignes Baucis super injecit
rude textum. Inde di-
Suscitat hesternos ; foliisque et cortice sicco movit tepidum cinerem
foco, et suscitat hester-
Nutrit : et ad flamraas anima producit anili : nos ignes, nutritque
foliis et sicco cortice,
Multifidasque faces, ramaliaque arida tecto et producit ad flam-
mas ani/nd anili ; de-
Detulit, et minuit, parvoque admovit aheno. 645
tulitque tecto multi-
Quod que suus conjux riguo collegerat horto, fidas faces, aridaque
ranialia et tninuit, ad-
Truncat olus foliis. Furca levat ille bicorni movitqtie parvo aheno:
Sordida terga suis, nigro pendentia tigno :
truncatque olus quod
suus conjux collegerat
Servatoque diu resecat de tergore partem riguo horto. foliis. Ille
levat sordida terga
Exiguam ; sectamque domat ferventibus undis : suis, pendentia nigro
tigno, bicorni furcd. ;
Interea medias fallunt sermonibus horas: 651 resecatque exiguam
Sentirique moram prohibent. Erat alveus illic partem de tergore diu
servato, domatque sec-
tam undis ferventibus.
Fagineus, curva clavo suspensus ab ansa :
Interea fallunt medi-
Is tepidis
impletur aquis artusque fovendos
; as horas sermonibus,
moram
Accipit. In medio torus est de mollibus ulvis 655 ^entiri"*^Ahveus fagi-
neus erat illic, sus-
Impositus lecto, sponda pedibusque salignis. pensus clavo ab ansH
Vestibus hunc velant, quas non nisi tempore festo curvd. Is impletur te-
pidis aquis ; accipit-
Sternere consuerant sed et hsec vilisque vetusque
:
que artus fovendos.
Vestis erat, lecto non indignanda saligno in medio est torus de
:
mollibus ulvis imposi-
Accubuere Dei. Mensam succmcta tremensq^': 660 tus lecto, sponda, pe
p)-, Tj^ 1 .
upon the hearth, and rouses the fire they had had the day before, and
nourishes it with leaves and dry bark, and with her aged breath blows
it into a flame then bringing split fagots and dry chips, breaks them,
;
and puts them under a small kettle. She next strips the leaves from
some plants, which her husband had gathered in his well-watered gar-
den. Philemon with a two-grained fork took down a rusty chine of
bacon, which hung on a sooty beam, and cut a slice from it, and plunges
itinto boiling water. Mean time they pass the hours in various dis-
course, and by pleasing chat shorten the delay. There was a beechen
pail that hung by its crooked handle on a peg that is filled
with warm
;
water, and offered to the guests, in which they might bathe their feet.
In the middle of the room was a bed, the feet and borders of sallow :
on this a heap of sedges were laid and covered with garments used only
on festival occasions. These too were coarse and old, yet might serve
for a Avillow bed. The tucked up, and
gods lie down. Baucis, her gown
one of its
trembling through age, sets before them a table. .Unhappily
feet was too short, which she remedied by thrusting under it a shell.
The unevenness thus removed, she wiped the level table with green
504 P. OVIDII NASONIS
stcoior bacca stncera Pomtur hic bicolov sinceraB bacca Mmervae,
Minerva; jwiiitiir kic, ^,. .,..,^ ^ i- r
coriiaqtif uiituninalla
conditaiitliquuldfffce,
Conditaque in liquida corna autumnaiia leece, 665
intiibaqiit', it radix, et Intubaque, et radix, et lactis massa coactl ;
miiisa voacti lact.is,
ovtiq; lei'iter virsatu Ovaque, non acri leviter versata favilla ;
que nee iimgee ^enectcr Jjantque locum mensis paulum seducta secundis.
de piu'pureis
-ii ••!
coUectse vitiDus uva.
I
Baucisque, timidusq
Quern Dis hospitibus domini mactare parabant
;
:
Philemon concipiunt '
preces manibus supi- 686
nis, et urant leniam
penna tardos setate fatigat
Ille celer ;
drawn, and gives place to the second course. This was of nuts and dried
figs with
wrinkled dates, and plums and fragrant apples in wide bas-
kets, and grapes gathered from the pm-ple vines. In the midst was
placed a milk-white honey-comb but above all, you might discern
;
welcome looks, and a cheerful willing mind. Mean time Baucis and
Philemon perceiving the bowl, as often as drunk off, to fill of its own
accord, and that the Avine grew up of itself, astonished at the strange
address the
appearance, they fall a trembling, and with uplifted hands
in and beg pardon for their entertainment and homely
gods prayers,
fare. There was but one goose, the guardian of the little cottage,
which the owners were preparing to kill for the gods, their guests. She,
aided by her wings, wearied them tardy through age, and long eluded
their pursuit, and at last seemed to fly for shelter to the gods them-
selves.
They interposed, and owning themselves to be gods, threatened
the impious neighbourhood with deserved punishment. Ye shall be
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. Vlfl. 30i
Impia, dixemnt. Vobis immunibus hujus 690 Dahitur vobis esse im~
munibus hvjus mali ;
Esse mali dabitur mod6 vestra relinquite tecta ;
: modo relinquite vestra
tecta, ac comitate nos-
Ac nostros comitate gradus ; et in ardua mentis tras gradus, et ite si-
mul in ardua montis.
Ite simul. Parent ambo, baculisque levati Ambo parent, levati-
Nituntur longo vestigia ponere clivo. que haculis, nilunttir
ponere longo
Tantum aberant summo, quantum semel ire sa- clivo. vestigiaTantum abe-
rant summo, quantutn
gitta 695 missa sagitta potest
ire semel Jiexere ocu-
Missa potest flexere oculos, et mersa palude
:
:
your priests, to have the care of your temple, and as we have lived toge-
ther in
perfect harmony, we beg the same hour of death. May I never
behold the tomb of
my wife, nor live to be buried after her. A grant
attends their wishes,
they are guardians of the temple while they lived,
and when, at
length, enervated with vears, as by chance they stood be^
X
306 P. OVIDII NASONIS
fpf^rlamidajyZ.
Baucida conspexit senior frondere Philemon. 715
dere. jamque cacu- crescente cacumine vultus,
mine crescente super Jamque supcF geminos
geminos vultus, dum Mutua, dura licuit, reddebant dicta; Valeque,
mu-
licuit reddel}aiit
tua d':cto, ilixereijue O conjux, dixere simul simul abdita texit :
simui;Ocn»ju.i,iaie,
frutix simul tent ora
niidiia. Tynm-ru^ in-
Qra
t
frutex.
, ,
...
Ostendit adhuc Tyane'ius illic
Incola QB gemiuo vicinos corpore truncos. 720
cola utlhuc osleiidit il- tt -i /•
c ii ^ \
•
i. ^^^
lie vicinos truncos de iigec mihi non vaui (neque erat cur rallere veilent;)
i •
^ -i
pluresjiguras, ut libi, Ssepe lapis poteras, arbor quoque seepe videri. 735
Proteu, incola maris
comylexi terrani. Nam Interdum, faciem liquidarum imitatus aqviarum,
modo videre te juvenem, Flumen eras: interdum undis contrarius ignis.
tnodo vi<lere tc leonem.
Nunc eras violentus aper, nunc anguis quem timerent tetigisse; modo cornua faciebant te tau-
rum. Sepe poteras videri lapis, sirpe quoque arbor. Interdum imitut us faciem liquidarum aqua-
riim, eras Jlumen : interdum ignis contrarius undis.
TRANSLATION.
" fore the sacred
steps relating these past adventures, each beheld the
" other
sprout with verdant leaves. And now their heads shooting up
in
"
boughs, while yet they could, they mutually exchanged discourse, and, at
"
once, said, Faithful spouse, farewell at once the hark closed upon their ;
" The inhabitants of Tyana still shew the contiguous trees formed
lips.
" of their bodies. This I learned of some old men, no vain pretenders,
" nor had
they any motive to deceive me. I, myself, indeed, saw the gar-
" lands
hanging from the boughs, and, adding fresh ones to them, said:
" The
good are the peculiar care of the gods, and they who honoured
JiJthem are now themselves honoured."
X. Here he ended, and both the story itself and the author of it made
an impression upon all present, especially Theseus, whom, desirous to
hear the wonderful acts of the gods, the Calydonian river leaning on his
" There
elbow, thus addresses are, iliustrious hero, beings whose form
:
"
aspired in flame."
NOTES.
731. Ut complexi terrain maris incola, Proteu.]
tibi, Tiie dift'ereut fictions of the
poets, in regard to Proteus, are well known.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VIII. 307
XI. Nee minils Autolyci conjux Erisichthone XI. Ncc conjux Au-
tolyci, 7iata Erisich-
nata thone, habet minus ju-
ris. Pater hvjuserat,
Juris habet. Pater hujus erat, qui numina Divum qui sperneret nvmina,
adoleret honores. divum,et adoleret nui-
Sperneret; et nullos aris 740 Ins honores oris. Ille
Ille etiam Cereale nemus violasse securi dicitiir ctiarn violasse
Cercale lumics securi;
Dicitur; et lucos ferro temerasse vetustos. et timerdsse vetustos
lucosfirro. In his in-
Stabat in his ingens annoso robore quercus ; gens quercus annoso
Una nemus : vittse mediam, memoresque tabellse,
robore stahat, una ne-
mus: Vittec, memores-
"
they compassed round its trunk, whose measure was fifteen yards com-
"
plete. In height it surpassed the rest of thp wood, as that aspired above
" the humbler grass. Yet did not the son of Triopa restrain the piercing
"
axe, but ordered his servants to cut down the hallowed tree, and oh-
"
serving them hesitate, snatching from one of them a hatchet, with
" wicked purpose, uttered these words Were it not only the favourite of
:
" a goddess, but a goddess itself, it shall now touch the ground with its
"
leafy top. He said and while he wields his weapon for a side stroke,
:
" the Deoian oak trembled, and fetched a groan, and, at once, its leaves
" and acorns began to look pale, and its long boughs to moisten Avith
"
sweat. But no sooner had he with impious hand wounded its trunk,
NOTES.
738. Nee miniisylutolyci conjux,] After tion but "ilie anxiety and care of that
the metamorphoses of dutiful child to support her father, who
Proteus, Ovid in-
troduces those of the daughter of Eresich- had ruined himself by his debauche-
thon ; a story which has no other founda- lies.
X2
308 P. OVIDII NASONIS
In cujuf tritnco ut
jria mantis fecit lul-
iin-
Cujus ut manus impia vulnus^
in trunco fecit
Hus, sanguis hand all- Haud discussa cortice sanguis,
aliter fluxit
terjiuxit disnissd cor-
tice, quam criior pro- Quam solet, ante aras ingens ubi victima taurus
J'usus cervice abrnpta
solet fliieie, uhi ingens Concidit, abrupta cruor e cervice profusus. 764
taunts viclimu coiici-
dit ante aras. Omiies Obstupuere onines aliquisque ex omnibus
: audet
oi>siupuere,a'uquisque Detervere nefas, saevamque inhibere bipennem.
ex omnibus audet de
terrere nefas, inhibe- Aspicit hunc, Mentisque pise cape praemia, dixit
reque savam bipen- Thessalus inque virum convertitab arbore ferrum:
:
nem. Tlifssalus aspi-
cit hunc,dixitque,cape
prtemia pia mentis,
Detruncatque caput; repetitaque robora csedit;
convertitquc ferrum Editus e medio sonus est cum robore talis 770 :
ab arbore in virum,de-
truncatque caput, ca- Nympha
sub hoc ego sum, Cereri gratissima, ligno :
cum talis sonus est edi- Quae tibi factorum poenas instare tuorum
ditque repetita robora,
TRANSLATION,
than the blood flowed from the severed bark, as when
spouting it gushes
from the mangled neck of a
huge victim slain at the altar. All stand
amazed, and one of Ihera ventures to check the daring impiety, and re-
eyes him sternly, and says, Take
strain the cruel axe. The Thessalian
the reward of thy pious care, and,
leaving the tree, turns the axe against
him, lops off his head, and then again attacks the oak with redoubled
strokes. When the of
following words were sent forth from the middle
the trunk I, a
nymph, grateful to Ceres, reside in this tree and now
:
;
dying, foretel, that the vengeance due to thy impiety, the solace of ray
death, is at hand. He pursues his wicked purpose, and the oak, weak-
ened at length by innumerable blows, and bent by the force of ropes,
tumbles down, and with its weight levelled a great part of the wood.
All the sister dryads grieve for their own loss, as well as that of the
wood disconsolate they repair in mournful habit to Ceres, and request
;
not to be
approached by the goddess (for the Fates permit not Ceres and
Famine to tome together), she thus addresses rustic Oreas, one of the
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. VIII. 309
Quaesitaraque Famen
lapidoso vidit in agro,
devenit in Scythlam,
levavitque colla ser-
Unguibus et raras vellentem dentibus herbas 800 peiitum cacumiiie ri-
gidi mimtis, appellant
Hirtus erat crinis, cava lumina, pallor in ore, Caucason: vtdi/que
Labra incana situ, scabrse rubigine fauces :
qinrsitam Famem in a-
gro lapldo.so, vcllcntem
Dura cutis, per quam spectari viscera possent, rurti.s licrbus wigiiihtis
et deiitibus. Crinis
Ossa sub incurvis exstabant arida lumbis 804 : erat hirtvs; lumina
lata; pallor in t>re ;
Ventris erat pro ventre locus. Pendere putares lubra eiant incana si-
tu: ftitices scdbra ru-
Pectus, et a spinse tantummodo crate teneri. bigine: cutis dura, per
Auxerat articulos macies, genuumque rigebat quam liscera possent
ossh arida
808 spectari
:
a dreary soil, desolate and waste without corn, without trees where
; ;
bid her lodge herself in the breast of this sacrilegious wretch; let no
plenty overcome her, but let her be superior to me in the contest. And
that the length of way may not alarm you, take my chariot, take my
dragons, whom you may guide aloft in air with reins. And she gave her
them. She, wafted through the air in the granted chariot, arrives in
Scythia, and on the top of a steep mountain (they call it Caucasus) un-
yoked the harnessed dragons. There she saw the fiend she wanted in
a stony field, tearing up the thinly-strewed herbs with her nails and
feet. Rough was her hair, her eyes hollow, paleness sat on her cheeks,
her were foul with scurf, and her
lips jaws furred with rust. Her skin
was hard and discovered her bowels within. Her bones, dry and parched,
stood out under her crooked loins and for a belly, there was the place
;
stiff, and her ancles bunched out to a monstrous size. How soon the
nymph saw her at a distance (for she durst not venture to come near)
she delivers the commands of the goddess, and though her stay
310 P. OVIDII NASONIS
XII. Fames peragic XII. Dicta Fames Cereris, (quamvis contraria
dicta Ccreris, (quam-
quam eft semper co?i-
traria operi iliiusj tie-
semper
lataque est reiito per Illius est operi) peragit perque aera vento
;
815
ad jussam do-
fltra,
mum et protinus in-
Ad jussam delata domum est et protinus intrat :
thalamos sdcri-
altoque sopore solutum
trat
iegi ; amplcct'turg tie
Sacrilegi Thalamos ;
geminis alii enin solii^ (Noctis erat tempus) geminis amplectitur alis :
Functaqtte manduto,
deserit Jacurtdiim or
Inque domos mopes, assucta revertitur arva.
Item, revertittlrqtie in
Lenis adhuc somnus placidis Erisichthona pennis
dojnos inopes, assucta
arva. JLe/iis somnus
Mulcebat Petite ille dapes sub imagine somni
: ;
acreducat,ct queritur
Plvisque cupit, QUO plura suam demittit in alvum.
r7T.r
^ejuma appositis onen- ^
>-
^ .
ooc
ooo
^
sis: inqxte epulis qua- Utquc iretum rccipit de totu
tlumma terra,
^poterat "urbibus esll Nec satiatur aquis, peregrinosque ebibit amnes,
Utque fretum recipit Est data, plura petit, turbaque voracior ipsa est ;
'••a.
frct'.!«'%'SJ"r«: Sic epulas omnes Erisichthonis ora profani
840
bitque peregrinos amnes : utque rapax ignis non unqnamrecusat alimenta, crematque innumeras
Eri-
faces, et quo major copia est data petit plura, estque voracior ipsa turba. Sic ora profani
sichthonis
TRANSLATION.
" was
short, though she kept a great Avay off, and was but just come, yet
" she seemed to feel famine
and, turnuig the reins, guided her dragons
;
Qui piece non spreta, quamvis modo visa sequenti tu qui habes prlrmia
-r-1,1 r i li. --I-^ virgmitatis rapta: m-
Esset hero, lormamque novat, vultumque virilem 6/.*, eripe me domino.
S-
Induit, et cultus piscem capientibus aptos.
Hanc dominus spectans,
_,
ic
Credulus,
A
mare compositum,
'
,
859
-j-s aruiidinis, qui celas
, . ,
•
11, ...1.
,
•
,
•
•
•
:
rUcm,ct cuitus aptos
l7Jufsp7cIanT'haf>c,
«»?«''' o moderator
••
Q--"- 11
turbatis: (nam vidi earn stantem in littore) neque vestigia exstant lon.p;ius.
rili veste, capillis
1
•
>„ qucr modo ste-
ilia*/?
temtiuhocuttorecum
Ilia sentit munus Dei cedere bene ; et gaiidens se quceri d se, resecuta est regentcm his dictis.
Quisquis es, ignoscas ; Jlexi lumina in nullam partem.
TRANSLATION.
" desires. And as
swallows, the more he the sea receives rivers from still
"
every shore, and insatiate drinks up the distant streams as devouring ;
" fire never refuses nourishment, burns innumerable beams, and the more
" that is thrown upon it, still craves the more, raging by its quantity of
"
prey thus impious Erisichthon devours all that comes in his way, and
:
"
vengeful flame of famine preyed upon him with unabating ardour. At
"
length, having eat up his whole estate, his daughter only remained, de-
"
serving of a more worthy father. Her, too, compelled by want, he sold.
"
She, with generous disdain, scorned a master, and stretching forth her
" hands
over the adjoining sea Snatch me, says she, from bondage, thou :
" who
enjoyest the treasure of my ravished divinity. Neptune had de-
" and now, regardful of her prayer, though but just
flowered the maid ;
"
then seen iii known figure by her master, who pursued her, yet she
her
"
instantly assumed a new form, put on a manly look, and took the habit
"
of a fisher. Her her master addresses thou who managest Avilh ;
O
"
steady hand the trembling rod, and concealest with treacherous bait the
"
" hanging wire so may the sea he smooth from storms, so may the fish
;
credulous throng around the steel, nor feel till hooked the latent snare;
" tell me where she is, who but
just now stood upon the shore with homely
312 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Quoque mmus
i i i.
de^versl* jn^s^rire- ElususquB abiit. Illi sua leddita forma est. 870
-^^^ ^^^ habere suam transformia corpora sentit,
sVa'/onnaVsl reddita
iui.
tit
Ast uhi pater sen-
suam tiliain habere
Saepe pater dominis Triopeida vendit. At ilia
tvt i i\ i i\ i -i x
corpora JNmicequa,nuncales,moao bos,moaocervusaDiDat:
transformia,
alimenta
vido parenti.
a-
nonjusta
Vis tamen ilia mali postquam consumpserat omnem
ales ; mode bos, modo -.-..
-r
ii
cervus, prabcbatque Materiam, dederatque gravi nova pabula morbo ;
gravi morbo, ipse capit CorpoHS, o juvenes, numero iimta potestas. ooU i^ i^
'^'Z^^t:;feSi Nam
mod6, nunc sum, videor ;
mod5 flector
quod
alebat corpus minuen- \n ano'Uem
O
'
'
do. Quid moror exter-
nis? est etiam mihi 6 Armenti modo dux
. .
vircs m
.
comua sumo.
^numerlfmLndtZpe Comua, dum potui. Nuuc pars caret altera telo
'v7dToVq\^d''s':Zm:nc: Frontis, ipse ut vides. Gemitus sunt verba secuti.
jnodb fleeter in anguem : modo dux armenti sumo vires in comua ; in comua inqnam ium potui ;
nunc ut ipse vides, altera pars frontis caret telo. Gemitus sunt secuti sua verba.
TRANSLATION,
" weeds and dishevelled hair
(for I saw her standing upon the beach) ;
"
you still more, so may the god of the ocean assist my art, as I have seen
" neither
man nor woman upon this shore, myself excepted. Her master
"
believing, turned from her, and, tracing his way back over the sand,
" withdrew
deluded she again resumed her ancient form. But when her
:
" times a
bird, now a steer, again a stag and thus provided a dishonest ;
"
support for her craving parent. But when the violence of hunger had
" consumed all she could
furnish, and was daily adding fresh fuel to the
" dire
disease, he began to tear his own limbs with mangling bites,
" and feed his
' instances ?
body by lessening it. But why do I dwell thus on foreign
Even I, illustrious youths, have a bounded power of vary-
"
ing my form. For often I appear as now in my natural shape some- ;
" times a
snake, wind up my rolling spires again the leader of a herd, ;
" call all
" my strength into my horns I say, while yet, I could boast of :
these, but now, as you see, one part of my forehead wants its goring
"
weapon." His words were followed with a groan.
NOTES.
S72. Triopeida:] Metra, who was the Us.'] This refers to the horn which Ache-
grand-daughter of Triopa for Metra was ;
Ions had lost in the contest with Hercules,
the daughter of Eresichthon, the son of as will appear ip the beginning of the
Triopa. next book.
883. Nunc pars caret altera telo, fron-
METAMORPHOSEO^, Lib. IX. 313
LIBER NONUS.
1.
/^UiE gemitiis trunceeque Deo Neptunius j jvi^t,I^,ui heros
^C^^
__^ herOS rogat (^utEfXt causa Dea
rogat<]iu(Esilcau:
D"
^ • .
TRANSLATION.
1. ri^HE Neptunian hero asks him the cause of these groans, and his
JL mutilated front, when the Calydonian river, having his careless
" You
tresses encircled with twining reeds, thus began impose a hard :
" task me
upon for who that
;
has been vanquished, can bear to rehearse
" the mournful war ? Yet will I trace the sad
story of my woes, nor was
" it so shameful to be
conquered, as glorious to dispute the prize so re- ;
nania and jEtolia, often ravaged by its course ; and then into a bull, which sets
inundations the neighbouring country, and forth the swelling and impetuosity of the
confounding the boundaries of the two river, and the desolation it made in the
people, engaged them in frequent wars. fields.
fluentem inter tuareg- JNec geiier extemis hospcs tiDi missus ab oris,
jVfctgo gewj'^^rolol-
^^d populaiis rerum pars una tuarum, 20
ero, et
fesmisstis tibi ah ex-
terms oris, sed popu-
Tantum
,.
ne noceat,' quod
^ .
me nee..
repia
o Juno . ,
^-^ ,
iaris,ct
rum rcrum.
unapars luti-
Tuntiiin
Odit, et omuis abest ]ussorum poena laborum.
ne noceat quod nee rc- Nam quod te jactas Alcmena matre creatum ;
Juno odit me, ct
Jupiter aut falsus pater est, aut crimine verus.
gia
omnis pana jiissornm
laborum abest. Nam Matris adulterio patrem petis. Elige, fictum 25
quod Jactas te creatum
matre Alcmena, Jupi- Esse Jovem malis, an te per dedecus ortum.
ter est aut falsus pa-
ter, aut verus crimine.
Talia dicentem jamdudum lumine torvo
Pctis p/itran adulte- et accensse non fortiter irse
rio jnatris. Elige an Spectat :
imperat :
superem pugnando,
vince tu loquenno ; fc-
In statione manus et pugnse membra paravi.
;
TRANSLATION.
pleaded the fame of labour, the commands of his step-mother success-
fully executed, and the merit of giving the lady Jupiter for her father-
in-law. I again
(for I thought it dishonourable that a god should yield
to a mortal he was not yet enrolled among the gods) represented that
;
I was a
king of the waters. You see too (added I) that through your
realms I take my mazy way. I, who court your alliance, am no
stranger
from foreign lands, hut a native of your own kingdom, and
part of your
state. If I am neither hated
by royal Juno, nor bear the punishment of
enjoined labours, that ought not to prejudice my suit for as you boast ;
piter is only thy pretended father, or that thou art descended from him
in a way of infamy and dishonour. All the time I spoke he eyed me
with stern regard, and, scarce able to check his rising rage, thus re-
plied My right hand is better than my tongue while I carry off the
:
;
Si qua fides, (neque enim ficta mihi gloria voce 55 amplexus, solvitque
brarliia adducta: pro-
Quseritur, imposito pressus mihi monte videbar. tinusque avertit me
impuisum manu f cer-
Vix tamen exserui sudore fluentia multo tum tsl mihi fateri ve-
vix solvi duros a nexus. ra) inha-sitque onero-
Brachia; corpore sus Si tirgo. qua fides,
Instat anhelanti ; prohibetque resumere vires, (neque enim gloria
qunrilur mihi ficta
Et cervice mea potitur. Turn denique tellus 60 voce) ideharmilii pres- I
together in fight and, with foot joined to foot, maintain each our
;
and with a push of his hand (I aim not to diguise the truth) turned me
if any credit is due
quite round, and clung a mighty load to my back,
to me to augment my praise), I
(nor do I study by feigned narration
seemed pressed down as with a mountain's weight. Yet, with much
struggle,I unlocked arms covered with a deluge of sweat, and freed
my
myself from his firm grasp. He again assails me as I am still
panting
for breath, nor suffers me to recover strength, and seizes
my neck. my
Then at length knee pressed the ground, and I bit the sand with
my
316 P. OVIDII NASONIS
TRANSLATION.
changed into a long snake, elude his hold. When bending my body into
winding rings, and brandishing, with dreadful hissings, my forky tongue,
the TjTinthian hero laughed, and despising my unavailing arts To ;
vanquish serpents, said he, was the labour of my cradle and grant, ;
Achelous, you are more terrible than other serpents, yet what art thou
compared with the hydra of Lernus ? She gathered strength and vigour
from her wounds, nor was any of her hundred heads cut off, but a dread-
ful pair sprung up from the same neck. Yet I subdued this monster
stronger by its own disasters, and branching with new snakes
from
every wound, and stretched her dead upon the plain. What canst thou
do, who, changed to a false snake, trustest to terrors not thy own whom ;
ing my horns, he stuck them fast in the ground, and felled my bulk
along the deep sand. Nor did he stop there but, as with an hostile right
;
Csetera sospes erat. Capitis quoque fronde saligna, Tamen jactura ahia-
Aut super imposita celatur arundine damnum. 100 ^atZlpesqu^^Aca-
II. At te, l^^esse ferox, ejusdem virginis ardor
Perdiderat volucri traiectum terga fronde saiigna, aut
T\^rce&
T-T
J .
^ sagitta.
^ arundme super tmpo-
^ .
Intrepidum pro se, curam de conjuge agentem putHos muros cum ?io.
vH conjuge, venerat ad rapidas undas Event. Amnis erat auctus uberius solito hyemalibus U7idis,
eratque frequens vorticibus, atque impervius. Aessus adit eum intrepidum prose, agentem
cu-
ram pro conjuge,
TRANSLATION.
" mutilated front. This,
heaped with fruits and odoriferous flowers, the
" Naiads have consecrated, and
auspicious plenty is enriched by my horn."
He said, and a menial nymph, girt like Diana's train, with her hair flow-
ing loose on either side, advanced,
and bore in the copious horn the whole
store of autumn, with mellow apples for the second board. Mean time
comes on and the sun striking with his rays the tops of
light apace, rising
the mountains, the youths depart nor stay they till the troubled stream
;
subsides, and glides smoothly along its channel with peaceful current.
Achelous plunged his rustic face and head, dismantled of its horn, into
the midst of the stream. Yet the loss of this honour was his only grief,
for he had received no other wound and even this loss was concealed by;
a garland of willow leaves, and verdant reeds that shaded his forehead.
11. But a passion for this same virgin proved fatal to thee, Nessus !
streams of Evenus. The river, unusually sw ollen with winter rains, was
full of eddies, and impassable regardless of himself, but full of concern
:
NOTES.
88. Divesque meo bona copia cornu est.'] had nursed Jupiter, which the nymphs,
Hercules, by reducing the two arms wf are told, gave Achelous, in exchange
of the river into one, introduced plenty foi that torn from him.
into the country, so that this horn became 104. Evcni.] A river of i^tolia, for-
a Cornucopia thongli by the Cornucopia
; merly the Lycormas.
is often understood that of
Amalthea, who
318 P. OVIDII NASONIS
a. l i.
"
presume to invade my right. If you are swayed by no regard for me,
"
yet your father's racking vrheel might restrain you from lawless lust.
" Think
not, perfidious wretch, to escape, though winged with horse's
"
speed I Avill pursue thee with a Avound, not with my feet." His threats
;
were soon confirmed deeds; and by an arrow, he pierced the letting fly
monster's back as he fled. The barbed weapon stood out from his breast,
which, when torn away in anguish, the blood, mixed with Lernsean ve-
nom, gushed forth from both wounds. This Nessus took nor shall my :
death, said he, to himself, go unrevenged and gives his garment dyed ;
JJeiamra, tuas, (quse veris adclere lalsa vota cena-o jon, cum
a •
1 anira, Amphitryonia-
Indulsit prmio lachrymis tlendoque dolorem ,•
den teneriardore loies.
Diffudit miseranda suum: mox deinde, Quid autem rl'taqueyinua notZ%'.
_^ -1
Flemus, ait? pellex lachrymis Isetabitur istis
Quae quomam adventat, properandum,
^
1-
aliquidque
1 .
'^
:
•
1
T A c
'f^'f'' y""".
lachrymis; mtserauda-
quediffudu suumdo-
lorcm flendo :
««f'«'«*
tiio.i de-
novandum est, 145 inde ait, Quid autem
Dum licet et nondum thalamos
;
tenet altera nos-
^ur"tkri^cnnmi^^^^
trOS. 5Kff quoniam adventat
y-« M 1 J /-I 1 1 o properandum est, ali-
Conquerar, an sileam frepetamCal^^dona, morerne :
quidque notandum,
Excedam tectis an, si nihil amplms, obstem ?
; i'Zh'mVnet "ostros
Quid me, Meleao;re, tuam memor esse sororem, thaiamos. conquerar
A.
si,
\ ...i>
•
•nrv"'* sileam? repitam
rorte paro facnius: quantumque mjuriapossit, 150 cuivdomi, moreme?
T-i 11- 1 jA 11- , . o f^' dain tectis? an si
TRANSLATION.
III. A
long interval of time succeeded, and the actions of the great
Hercules, and his step-dame's hate, had filled the earth. Returning
victorious from Qi]chalia, he was, in consequence of a vow, preparing a
sacrifice toCenean Jove when buzzing Fame, which delights in adding
;
JNec mora,
^ t
letiteram conatur scindere vestem
•
i
Postquam patientia :
i
169
liM.tu^aut^frustraten-
Tiucta lacu, stridit coquiturque ardente veneno ;
:
membriV'aut dlte^it
^^^ modus est sorbent avidae praecordia flammae
: :
coecaque meduUis :
gell^r/a'^fcT,LS
Tabe liquefactis, tendens ad sidera palmas, 175
queagente veneno. Nee Cladibus,' exclamat,' Satumia, pascere nostris :
est modus : avidaflam- y^
mte sorbent pracordia: rascere : et hanc
. '^
pestem specta, crudehs, ab alto :
itii
ccerulensque sudor
fluit de toto corpore : ambustique nervi sonant : meduUisque liquefactis ctecA tabe, tendens pal-
mas ad sidera, exclamat; Satumia, pascere nostris cladibus pascere; et crudelis specta hanc
pestem ab alto.
TRANSLATION.
her future woes, and begs him, in softest terms, safely to convey these
presents to her husband. The unwitting hero takes the gift, and throws
over his shoulders the poison of the Lernsean hydra. He was strewing
with incense the rising flames, and, after offering up his vows, was pour-
ing wine from a goblet upon the marble altars. Sraight the poison be-
gan to rage, and, dissolved by the flame, spread itself wide over all the
hero's limbs. While he could, he suppressed his groans with his wonted
fortitude but when his patience was unable longer to sustain the cruel
;
anguish, he pushed away the altars, and filled the forests of CEte with
his cries. Instantly he endeavours to tear from his body the pestilential
garment, but wherever he plucks, the skin too follows and, shocking to ;
relate, either sticks to his body, all attempts to tear it off being vain,
it
or bares his mangled limbs and huge bones. His blood hisses, like red-
hot iron plunged in cold water, and ferments with the raging venom.
His misery is Avithout bounds the preying flames devour his entrails,
;
and livid sweat flows down all his body his scorched nerves burst and ; ;
now his whole marrow wasted by the lurking poison lifting up his ;
"
"
my misery satiate thyself, and, cruel as thou art, look down from
;
NOTES.
l65. CEtsn.] A mouH'tain of Tljessaly.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IX. 321
Mors mihi munus erit. Decet hsec dare dona nover- ciatibus, invisamque,
natamque laboribus.
cam. Mors erit munus mihi :
Forma triplex,
~~ ^
nee forma triplex tua, Cerbere
-.-. ..
>-
movit? Auiao!' ^lec forma m
. .
plcx pastoris Iberi me-
Vosne manus validi pressistis cornua tauri ? rit me, nee tua triplex
> vosne
Vestrum opus Elis habet, vestrum Stymphalides forma, Cerbere
nianus nicx pressistis
cornua valldi tauri ?
undee, Elis habet vestrum o-
Partheniumque nemus ? vestra virtute relatus pics? Slymphalides un-
dte, Partheniumque
Thermodontiaco caelatus balteus auro, nemus habent vestrum
opus/ balteiisne cala-
Pomaq ab insomni male custodita dracone ? 190
; tus Thermodimtiaco
Nee mihi Centauri potuere resistere, nee mi auroest relatus vestrd
lirtute, pumaque 77ialc
Arcadiee vastator aper? nee profuit Hydras custodita ab i?isomni
dravone ? nee centauri
Crescere per damnum, geminasq ; resumere vires ?
poluere resistere mihif
Quid ? cum Thracas equos humano sanguine pingues, nee aper vastator Ar-
cadia' potuit resistere.
Plenaque corporibus laeeris prajsepia vidi, 195 mihi ! nee profait Hy-
drir crtseere per dam-
?
Visaque dejeci, dominumque ipsosque peremi num, resumereqiie ge-
minas viresf quid/ cum
His elisa jacet moles Nemesea lacertis ? vidi Thracus equos
Hac coelum d^fessa jubendo est
cervice tuli ? pingues hvmajio suti-
guiitcprascpiaque ple-
Sseva Jovis conjux ego sum indefessus agendo.
: na laeeris eorporibus,
dejecique visa, pererni-
Sed nova pestis adest cui nee virtute resisti,
: 200 que dominum,ipso.^qite/
moles Nemea-ajacet elisa his lacertis? tuli caelum hac cervice? saevu conjux Jovis est defessaju
beiido : ego sum indefessus agendo, tied nova pestis adest: cui nee potest resisti virtute,
TRANSLATION.
deserve pity even from an enemy (for a professed enemy I am to thee),
take away a life insupportable under this load of torments, hateiul to
thee, and destined to trouble. Death will be to me a welcome gift such ;
'!^i^cria'[rM^j^.
Nec telis, amiisve potest. Pulmonibus errat
Tn'm>n:cs KirutT'^\^t ^S^^^ ^dax imis, perque omnes pascitur artus.
h'liri/Mheui valet ? et At Valet Eurysthcus. Et sunt, qui credere possint
(tcrc esse (ieos ?'Dixit : Essc dcos, dixit ?
Perque altum sauciiis GEten
;'r «;rrWX"l';;,';
Haud allter graditur, quilm si venabula tigris 205
(diter qiium si Tigris
Cornore fixa ^ ^erat,' factique refucrerit
^ auctor.
gtrat venabula fua c< -n , \ „ .
.'
pavetq ;
Vmite7nr(M€m;%'xit, PalUdus ;
ct tiinide Verba excusantia dicit. 215
na^^lfaVuine'eit I^icentem, genibusque manus adhibere parantem,
auctor meanecis? Ille
cullidus trcvnt pavet-
Corripit Alcides : et teroue quaterque rotatum
-^n ,.)_ -p' c n J i
••
a. i. i.-
que settimid'c dicit ejc- Mittit in xLUDOicas, tomiento lortius, undas.
'clrripitlZy"dki'iae^^^^
We psr aerias pendens induruit auras.
'
219
^lT,','/f ""*•$" "''''/''",''
manus geriibus ; Utque ferunt imbres ogelidis concrescere ventis :
'
et nut- _ tl . . . . .
tit terqne quaterque Indc uives fieri: nivibus quoque molle rotatis
rotutum
memo
fortius tor- \ -i ,
•
. -at •
t
in Eubdicas un-
Aclstringi, et spissa gloiiierari grancline, corpus ;
liVruit'plr^'^^Mas au-
^ic illuHi validis actum per inane lacertis,
ras. vtquejtrunt im-
Ores co7icrescere geli- Exsauguemque metu, nee quicquam
T. T.
humoris ha- '
i
dis ventis, nives Jieri
benteui,
7utUis"moiie 'airpus In rigidos versum silices prior edidit setas. 225
: sic prior atas edidit ilium actum per inane validis
astringi, et glomerari spissa grandine la-
certis, exsanguemque metu, nee habentem quidquam humeris, vcrsu?ii in rigidos silices.
TRANSLATION.
"
strays through my entrails, and feeds upon my lungs and shrivelled
"
joints. Yet still Eurystheus lives. And are there any, said he, who after
" this can believe
there are gods ?" He said, and, stung with pain, ranges
the lofty hills of CEte as w hen a wounded tiger scours the grove, hearing
;
oft
striving to tear the clinging garments from his body, levelling huge
trees, or venting his fury against rocks, and stretching out his hands to
his paternal sky. When, lo he beheld Lichas and lurking in
!
trembling,
a liollow rock ;
and as the anguish he felt had summoned together all his
" Was
rage ; it
you (said he), Lichas, who brought that fatal gift ? Shall
" I then
owe my fate to thee V He
trembles, and, pale with shivering
fear, utterssome words of excuse with faltering tongvie. While he yet
speaks, and strove with his hands to clasp his knees, Alcides seizes him,
and, whirling him several times round, tosses him into the Euboean waves
more forcibly than from an engine. He, as he hung aloft in air hardened ;
and, as they tell us, that showers coagvdate by freezing winds, and that
thence snow is formed that snow by its rotation congeals in soft balls,
;
ancient tradition, that Lichas, hurled through air by the hero's nervous
arms, his veins bereft of blood with fear, and his whole body drained of
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IX. 323
Nunc quoque inEuboico scopulus brevis emicat altc Nunc quoi/ue brcris
scopuliis emicat alii: in
Gurgite, et huraantB servat vestigia formee. Eubdicn gitrgite ; cl .
Oj
Jupiter alloquitur: Nostra .1
1^
est timor iste voluntas,
.
'
in
,,,^^,„,^ ,.,^
rears its front, high over the Euboean sea, and retains the traces of human
form which mariners are afraid to tread upon, as still retaining sensi-
;
whom Saturnian Jove (for he perceived it) thus with joyful voice addresses :
"
The concern you now express, O immortal poAvers, gives me great plea-
"
sure, and I readily congratulate myself, tliat I am the governor and
"
father of a grateful people, and that my progeny can boast the protec-
" tion
too of your favour. For although this regard be justly paid to his
"
immortal deeds, yet you oblige me also in it. But now, to ease your
"
breasts of this vain fear, know that you ought to despise these CEtian
Y 2
324 P. OVIDII NASONIS
met u. spcniite aueens
Jiaiiiimiii.
iiiiuiiu,
i/iioi
WWqHt
vlnvtt
crrnUis nee .scn-
vicit.
igncs
.^
Omnia
.
•.•
Fida metu paveant, Oetaas spernite flammas.
qui vicit, vincet, quos cermtis, ignes : 250
Nee nisi materna Vulcanum parte potentem
i.-
•
OCA
tiit yolentcm f'tilcti-
iiiim nixi viatrriul
Sentiet. internum est, a me quod traxit, et expers
jmrte. Quod traxit a
tiir <\v<
jiir.s
irterniim, ct ex-
(que immune iie-
(I
Atque immune necis, nullaque domabile flamma.
ci.t, nuUtl
doinabi/e(jiie Idque ego defunctum terra coelestibus oris
Accipiam, cunctisq meum Isetabile factum
jiammli. /^fioijue acci- 255
;
piam rwlciiihiix oris id
deianctiim tcrrii, con- Dis fore confido. Si quis tamen Hercule, si quis
Jidoque meiim factum
fore Ifftabile cunctis Forte Deo doliturus erit, data prsemia nolet ;
dif. Tamen si quis erit
forte dolit urns Hercule
Sed meruisse dari sciet ; invitusque probabit.
nolet pra-
deo,
mia data
si qiiis
; sed sciet
Assensere Dei. Conjux quoque regia visa est
turn ?nerinssc ca dari ; Cietera non duro, duro tamen ultima vultu, 260
Jill itusque 'prnhahit.
JJei assensere. Voijiix Dicta tulisse Jovis; seque indoluisse notatam.
quoque regia est visa
ttdisse ctrtera non du- Interea, quodcunque fuit populabile flammee
ro, tumen ultima dicta Mulciber abstulerat ; nee cognoscenda remansit
,/oifls duro vultu, indo-
iOgnosceuda,nec habet
quidquam ductum ab Sic, ubi mortales Tirynthius exuit artus,
vrigine matris, servat- Parte sui meliore
gae vestigia tantum viget; majorque videri
Joiis. litque novus
Coepit, et augusta fieri gravitate verendus. 270
serpens, senecta posita
turn pel/e solet luxuri- Quem
pater omnipotens inter cava nubila raptum,
are, virereqae recenti
squammd J sic ubi Ti- Quadrijugo eurru radiantibus intulit astris.
rynthius txuit mortales artus ; viget meliore parte sui; capltqne videri major, et fieri verendus
augustd gravitate. Quem rujitum inter cavujiubila pater omnipotens intulit quadrijugo curru
radiantibus astris.
TRANSLATION.
" flames : the hero, who has vanquished
all things, shall vanquish even
" them too. That
part alone, which he derived from his mother, shall feel
" tlie
rage of Vuleau; Avhat he drew from me, is immortal, exempt from
" This when disengaged
death, and not to be conquered by any flames.
" from
earth, will I receive into these celestial mansions, nor doubt but
" all the
powers will approve the righteous act. Yet if any one, if any
"
one, I say, should peradventure grieve at seeing Hercules a god, and
"
repine at the honour conferred upon him still they must own he nie-
;
nor did aught he had derived from his mother remain,- he retains only
the traces of immortal Jove. As a serj)eut, renewed by casting off old
age with his Avriukled skin, gathers fresh strength, and glitters in recent
scales; thus theTyrinthian hero, when divested of mortal limbs, flourishes
in his better part, looks more majestic, and becomes venerable by an aAv-
ful
gravity. Him the almighty father, snatcliing up in hollow clouds,
bore aloft in a four-horsed chariot, and lodged among the shining stars.
NOTES.
263. Miilciher.'] Vulraii, so csMeA a mulccndo ferro. As he was the god of fire, he
is ofteu put for fire itself.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib, IX. 32:
Impleratq; uterum 2;eaeroso germine. Cui sic 280 jieru't uium timiamo-
mHiL
qiK/m^rutia
Jioioiiisltctt rtijjicdim
'Xamqnv nun.
-
rp . . , , I- , • Uotn tdhori/ei i
1IU talis
lantum erat, iit
posses aiictorem dicere tecti HcnuUsjam aarsset,
Ponderis esse Jovem. Nee Jam tolerare labores 'suierT^
^'^„,^7;;';;;.'"
-r-. P 111,
Ulterius poteram: quin nunc quoq; frigidus artus,
,* ••
Dmii loquor, horror habet; parsque est memimsse
gravitus tcmirhnt me-
rirm inilii : qiKii/quc /'(:'-
rebammi/. lantmiwit
Septem
_,i
T
UU11U1C3.
effo
r^
•
per
I
1
J
•
9Q1
~yj
(liiiii loqiiur,
artus ; estque pars rinloi is i/i^iiii/iissc. Eifo criiciatu per sejitem nodes, lotiiiem dii biis,j'tssa ma-
ils, tendemque brackia ad calum, locaham Lucmam, Nixosqae pares magno clamore:
TRANSLATION.
V. Atlas felt the additional load ;
nor had Eurystheus, the son of Sthe-
nelus, as yet forgot his resentment but, uurelentiug, vented the hatred ;
he had borne the father against his offspring. But Argolic Alcmena, op-
pressed with a continued load of cares, is still happy in lole to whom she ;
may unbosom the complaints of her old age, to whom relate the labours
of her son, attested now by all the world, and her own misfortunes.
Hyllus, at the desire of Hercules, had received her into his bed and heart,
and swelled her womb with a noble birth. To her Alcmena thus begins :
"
"
May the gods be propitious, and shorten the hours of suffering then
invoke
chiefly, when, having accomplished thy months, thou shalt
" whom the
Ilithya, who presides over women in those dreaded hours ;
" influence of Juno rendered cruel and inexorable to me. For when now
" the natal hour of
Hercules, destined to so many toils, was at hand, and
" the tenth
sign had received the sun, a mighty load extended my womb,
" and the burden itself of the latent
readily proclaimed Jove the father
" Nor could I longer support the miutterable pangs even now,
growth. ;
" while I
speak, cold horror seizes my limbs, and remembrance
in part
"
rencAvs my grief. Tormented for seven nights together, and as many
"
days fatigued with ills and extending my hands to heaven, I, with a ;
NOTES.
The next fiible is the hirtli of Her-
274. tlie birth. As for Galanthis, Ahnie-
ciiIps, which the poet (leseiibps very fir- iia's slave, -whom Ovid makes to have
ciimstautially. As Alcmena had a diffi- been transformed into a weasel, this is
cult labour, hence it was feigned, that an episode indented to set the resentment
Juno prevailed upon Lucina to obstruct of Juno in a <;tionger hght.
3-20 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Jl/a quidim venit, se.d
j-racorruiilfi, i/ku c/ne
Ilia qiiidem venit, sod prfrcorriipta, meumqiie
villit donurc ineum Qiuu donare caput Jimoni vellet iniqua; : 296
lupiil iniqita Jtinoni.
I audit meos ge-
f^ttc Utque meos audit gemitus, subsedit in ilia
mitus, subsidit ante
fores itt ilia ar!},pres-
Ante fores arti; dextroque a poplite Isevum
siiqiie quod ad icniim Pressa genu, digitis inter se pectine junctis,
genu a dcitro poplite,
digitis jiuict is inter se Sustinuit partus: tacita quoque carmina voce 300
]fctine, sustiiniit nix-
n\. Pi lit q Hoq ne car- Dixit; et inceptos tenuerunt carmina partus.
mina tacitd voce, et
carmina tenuerunt in- Nitor, et ingrato facio convicia demens
ceptos partus. Al/or,
el demen.t facia vana
Vana Jovi; cupioque mori, moturaque duras
ennricia ingrato Jovi, Verba queror silices. Matres Cadmeides adsunt,
riipioque mori, qtteror-
i/ite verba mot urn du- Votaque suscipiunt, exbortanturque dolentem. 305
ras silices.
'ad me ides
Matres Una ministrarum media de plebe Galanthis,
( adsunt, sus-
vipiuntqne rata ; cx- Flava comas, aderat, faciendis strenua jussis ;
liortanturque dolen-
tem. Caliinthis vtia Officiis dilecta suis. Ea sensit iniqua
ministrarum dc tnediA
Nescio quid Junone geri dumque exit, et intrat ;
plebe, JJiiva quod ad ro-
?nus aderat, strenua
Saepe fores, Divam residentem vidit in ar^; 310
faciemdis justis, et di-
lecta siiis qfliciis: Ea
Brachiaque in genibus digitis connexa tenentem :
Ipsa levor vinclis remi.ssix, VI. Ext fama Galaiithida risisse decepto numine. Sava dra to'axit
ridt nteni, prensamque ipsis capillis,' et arcuit volentem relevare corpses c terra. mtttavitqne bra-
•
TRANSLATION.
loud voice, invoked Lucina and the two Nixi. She came indeed, but
with a liostile mind, and determined to give my life a sacrifice to vengeful
Juno. When she hoard my groans, she took her seat on that altar be-
fore the gate, and pressing her left knee with her right hand, her fingers
joined in form of a comb, she stayed my delivery, and muttered charms
in a low voice. Her charms delayed the imfinished birth. I struggle
hard, and, distracted with pain, vainly reproach Jove's ingratitude, M'ish
for death, arid complain in words that might have moved the hardest
rocks. The Theban matrons are present, offer up vows, and encourage
me to support my pains. Among the rest was Galanthis, one of my maids
of the vidgar throng, but graced with golden locks, active in executing
my commands, and beloved for her ready service. She perceived that
these woes proceeded from the persisting liate of Juno, and, as she often
passed and repassed, observed the goddess sitting xipon the altar, and
holding her hands linked by her fingers upon her knees.
\Mioever you
are, says she, congratidate my mistress she is released from her pains,
;
and Alcmena, now a mother, enjoys her wish. The goddess, who presides
over the womb, sprung from her seat, and, struck with sudden surprise,
unlocked her hands. These bonds thus loosed, I was instantly relieved.
VI. " It is said, that Galanthis, after deceiving the goddess, laughed.
The goddess, seizing her by the hair as she laughed, dragged her along,
nor suiFered her to raise her struggling body from the ground, but
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IX. 327
Raptata
_
movet facies.
aliense sanguine vestro
Quid si tibi
.
mira sororis
.....
est lidfata sic: Tamen
tgenitrixjadesrapia
.
Fata mete referam? quanquam lachrymaique do- guine movet te. Quid
si rcferitm tibi fata
lorque mea sororis ? quan-
Fuit unica matri. qvam^laciirymceqne do-
Impediunt
-,_- prohibentque
-
-.^ -. loqui. „ ^ i->n/-v
-.. ^'"'9"fi impediunt pro-
—(Me pater
-i-. -
.
(Echalidum
ex_-
alia ~
genuit) notissima lorma
... 330 hibentque loqui. vry-
ope fnit mi ica fiiiA ma-
Dryope quam virginitate carentem : tri CP"fer genuit me
ex aliilj forma no-
Vimque Dei passam, Delphos Delonque tenentis, tissima (Ecliiilidum:
1-
Indignere magis,
nque sinu
- -
—
.
Nymphis
- .- ,
gine mijrteta coro-
puerum, qui noncium impleverat annum, nantn.escia
-
ope
summum. Dm-
fulorum vc-
.
_
.
_ _ _
:
Dulce ferebat onus ; tepidique ope lactis alebat. nerat hue ; quoquema-
Haud procul a stagno, Tyrios imitata colores, 340 gis indignere, lutitra
coronas nymplds. Fe-
In spem baccarum florebat aquatica lotos rchafqnc in sinu piie- :
TRANSLATION.
"
changed herarm.s into fore-feet. Her former activity remains, nor did
" her back lose its wonted colour, hut her form is wholly lost. Who, as
" she had aided her lady in child-bed by a lying; mouth, brings forth by
" the mouth, and still haunts the houses she loved before."
VII. She said and, moved by this remembrance of an old faithful
;
"
You, mother, are moved at the loss of form, in one who was a stranger
" to
your blood. What were I to relate to you the surprising fate of my
" sister ?
Although tears and grief check me, and tie up my speech.
"
Dryope, the most beauteous of the (Echalian nymphs, was her mother's
"
only hope (for I was my father's offspring by a second bride). Her,
" defloAvered and ravished
by the god, whose power is acknowledged at
"
Delphi and Delos, Andra^mon espoused, and he was accounted happy
" in a wife. There is a
lake, whose shelving border makes the appear-
" ance of a Hither
sloping shore groves of myrtle crown its summits.
:
h^^nl'nm^i^i^r'IIrrui!^
VIIL Nescierat sorof hoc ; quae cum perterrita
Vlil. Soror iiescic-
retl'O
rat lioc ; quit rum prr- .
n . t i ivt i •
<~trr\
icrrHavcUetireu'trb, Ire et adoratis vellet discedere JNymphis; ooO
%ii'raiif,%KdTfZcsc- Hseserunt radice pedes. Convellere pugnat:
^ec quicquam, nisi summa, movet. Succrescit ab
conLiklr^'iJ'luora
q tildquam nisi summa. imO
f.ent us cortex succrcs- __ 'ij-ij -i* l •
'li'^fatiTuS'^e^op-
Non poteram quantumque va-
tibi ferre, soror :
cum ramosque. Et
[lT°'Jodem''^coH'ice. Ecce vir Andraemon, genitorque miserrimus, ad-
Eece vir Andramou, SUUt !
TRANSLATION.
" also
present, had done the same but, lo I observed bloody drops to
;
!
Nil nisi jam faciem, quod non foret arbor, habebas, ( 'lira soror
nil visi
Jam hnbe-
iiiix facievt
Cara soror. Lachrymie verso de corpora factis quod 11011 J'oret arbor.
lAichrymiE irrorant,
ac, dum licet, oraque praestant
fo-
Irrorant foliis ; liis (le viisero
factis
370 ac dum
iter, tales efFundit in aera questus
Vocis : corpore : licet,
oraque prirstiiut iter
Si fides niiseris, hoc me, per numina juro, rods, cjfuiidit tales
qua questus in ai'ra. .Vi
Non meruisse Patior sine crimine poenam est qua fules miseris,
nefas. :
Hunc tamen infantem maternis demite ramis, 375 si mentior, arida per-
damfronihs quos ha-
Et date nutrici nostraque sub arbore saepe
:
beo ; et ctB^a securil/us,
Lac facitote bibat; nostraque sub arbore ludat; war Tiimeu, demite :
Et quoniam mihi fas ad vos incumbere non est ; putet omncs frutices
esse corpus dciirntn.
Erigite hue artus, et ad oscula nostra venite,
386 Care conjux valv,et tu
Dum tangi possunt, parvumque attoUite natum.
gerinaiiu,
qiitis si est qua pietas.
paterque
Plura loqui
„,, i nequeo.
i.
Nam jam per Candida mollis
'' *-
T
.
\i^fen<iHe
ml«Lrasjro,i.
oc? lib vulnere acutce
Colla liber serpit ; summoque cacumine condor. J\ilrh,d iiwnu pecoris.
Et qnnniam mm est
Ex oculis removete manus. Sine munere vestro fas mi incumbere ad III
TRANSLATION. '
And now, dear sister, yoixr face only retained its human form. Tears
u distil
upon the leaves that spring from your changed body and, while ;
yet she may, while her mouth allows a passage for the voice, she pours
forth her complaints in such accents as these If any credit is due to
:
the wretched, I swear by all the gods, I merited not this cruel ven-
If
geance. I suffer for no wilful crime, my life has ever been iunocent.
(I
I speak false, may these green leaves drop from my withered trunk, may
ii.
axes fell me to the ground, and crackling flames consume me. Take,
u
however, this infant from his mother's arms, and give it to some kind
((
nurse: yet let him oft be fed with milk under my tree, and sport in my
shade and, as soon as he can speak, teach him to hail his mother, and
;
this plant.
to say, with weeping eyes. My
parent lies concealed Avithin
But let him dread the lakes, nor crop the blossoms from trees, but sus-
(( dear spouse, and
pect a goddess shrined in every shrub. Farewell, my
and still retain any love for me, guard
ii.
soft rind creeps along my white neck, and closes over my head. Re-
move your hands the invading bark will soon, without your aid, seal
;
330 P. OVIDII NASONIS
TRANSLATION.
" those
dying eyes. Her mouth ceased at once to speak, and to be and ;
"
though the nymph v/as now wholly changed, yet long the boughs re-
" tained a human heat."
IX. And while lole thus relates the amazing fate of her sister, and
Alcmene with pitying haud dries up her tears, grief streaming the whila
from her own eyes a nev/ and unexpected event hushed all their sorrow.
;
For lolaus, changed to years of early youth, stood before the threshold ;
" Haunted
by the sentence of his crime, and persecuted by the fm-ies and
" his mother's
ghost, he shall wander, deprived of reason and home, till
" his wife demand the fatal
bracelet, and the Phegeian sword pierce his
" kindred side. Then shall
Callirrhoe, the daughter of Achelous, suppliant
NOTES.
399. lolaus.] Accoidin<r to Soliini.=, the Canirrhoe nfdis infmitihiis ««?«>-.]
414.
son of IpliiHus, the bvotlier of Hercules. The poet goes on to recount how Callir-
Anivinsr to a great age, he was at the en- rhoe obtained the same favour for her
treaty of Heicnles, restored to vouth by childroi.
Hebe.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IX. 331
TRANSLATION.
"
request of Jupiter those years of youth for her infant sons. Jupiter,
" moved
by her tears, shall order for them this advance of years, the [)e-
" culiar and bid their
gift of his step-daughter and daughter-in-law,
"
unripe bosoms glow with manly heat,"
XI. When prophetic Themis had thus spoke with prescient voice, the
gods broke out in various murmurs and comj)laints arose, that others had
;
not also a power of dispensing the same gifts. Aurora grieves for her
aged spouse, and gentle Ceres laments the freezing years of lason.
Vulcan requests a new life for Erichthonius Venus too is concerned for ;
her future race, and would fain restore the blooming age of Anchises.
Each god has a different care, and their various interests increase their
" Is
jars till
;
Jupiter rising, addressed them thus aught of the re- :
NOTES.
415. PringncB dona nurusque. Hebe '\
/i^d- Pallantias.'] Aurora, the dauj;Ii-
was the daughter of Jiuio without the ter of Hyperion, and cousin-german by
participation of her husband, and hence the father's side to Pallas the giant.
she was Jupiter's step-daugher Privigna : 422. lasonia.^ Jasiones was the son of
she was his daughter-iu-iaw too, as being Jupiter and Electra, and beloved by
married to his son Hercules. Ceres.
332 P. OVIDII NASONIS
quoprius. Dicta Joi is Dicta Jovis movere Decs. Nee sustinet uUus
morire Ocos: nee nllns
(cum vitteant Hliada- (Ciim videantfessosRhadamanthonet^acon annis,
tnanthon, el j^ucoit, et
Minna fessos annisj JEt Minoa) queri; qui, dum fuit integer sevi, 440
suslinet queri. Qui Terruerat magnas ipso quoque nomine gentes.
Minos dum fait integer
at'i, terruerat magnas Tunc erat invalidus Deionidemque juventae
:
but now enfeebled with age, he dreaded Miletus, the son of De'ioue ;
whom elated with youth, and vain of his father Phosbus, he durst not
drive from his native coast, though he suspected Iiim of aiming at his
kingdom. You, Miletus, left the island by choice, and ploughed the
jKgean waves in thy swift vessel, and built on the Asiatic coast a city
bearing the name of its founder. Here, as she traces the windings of
her father's bank, Cyanee, the daughter of Meander, whose channel
glides so often backward to its source, a nymph of surpassing beauty, yield-
ing to thy embraces, brought forth a double offspring, Cauiuis
and Byblis.
forbidden
Byblis serves as an example to ^imrdiinthinkiug maids against
love for Byblis, seized with a passion for her brother, the grand-son
;
of Apollo, loved him more than became a sister, and burnt in unlawful
flames. At first indeed she apprehended no guilty fire she saw no ;
Et placet, et possum, si non sit frater, amare 476 quum ?iolim sit rata, ;
cur ego vidi htFc som-
Et me dignus erat, verum nocet esse sororem. nia. Ille quidem est
fiirmosus oculis quam-
Dummodo tale nihil vigilans committere tentem, vis iniqiiis, et placet,
et possum amare, si
Ssepe licet simili redeat sub imagine somnus. non sitfrater et crat ;
Testis abest somno ; nee abest imitata voluptas. digitus me, verum no-
cet me esse sororem.
Proh Venus, et tenera volucer cum matre Cupido, Dummodo vigilans ten-
tcm committere nihil
Gaudia quanta tuli :
quam me manifesta libido somnus sape
tale, licet
ut jacui totis resoluta medullis redeat sub simili ima-
Contigit ! !
TRANSLATION.
brother's neck, and
long deceived by the fallacious image of piety.
is
But this pious love insensibly decliues she comes drest to visit her
;
the soft embraces of sleep, the pleasing vision oft accosts her mind. She
even seems linked with her brother in a close embrace, and blushed as
she lay asleep on the conscious bed. Sleep goes off; she continues long
silent, and ruminates upon the appearance of her dream then thus, with ;
habent pondus ? dii Sic Saturnus Opini junctam sibi sanguine duxit,
tnclius! dii nciiipe lui-
buere siias sorores. Oceanus Tethyn, Junonem rector Olympi.
Sic Saturnus duxit
Opim junctam sibi Sunt Superis sua jura. Quid ad ccelestia ritus
sanguitie, Oceanus Te- 500
thyn, rector Olympi Exigere humanos, diversaque fcedera tento?
Junonem. Sua jura
sunt superis.
Aut nostro vetitus de corde fuaabitur ardor -
:
Quin « . i •
, ,
tento exigere ad ritus Aut, hoc SI nequco, pcream prccor ante toroque ;
lesuTdivers'fque. Aut
Mortua compouar positeeque det oscula frater.
:
aut sinequeohoc,pre-
rmge placere mihi scelus esse videbitur lUi. 505
cor peream ante, mor-
tuaqiie cmiiponar toro.
AiTriTi ^ii j_* '^
fraterque det oscula posita. Et tamen ista res qutsrit arbitrium duorum. Finge placere mihi ;
videbitur illi esse scelus. At nori JEolidie timuere thalamos sororum.
TRANSLATION,
rapturous embrace how pleasing is the remembrance, though the en-
!
become thy spouse, what joy must I find, Caunus, in being a daughter-
in-law to thy father ? With what pleasure should 1 hear thee salute
my parent by the kindred name ? Would to heaven all things were
common to us, but our parents that you were of a race more illustri-
;
ous than mine thou art therefore destined, amiable man to bless
! !
poused Ops, joined to him by the strictest ties of blood thus the ocean, ;
Tethys and the ruler of Olympus, Juno. But the gods have their
;
may seem criminal to him. The son of Jiolus was not afraid of a
METAMORPHOSEON, Liu. IX. 335
Nc
Undc sed hos novi? cur haoc
... exempla paravi
Qiioieror? obsc'cGnseprocul nmc clisceaite nammai. '/«" /''"'
r i
ec, nisi qua tas est germause, trater ametur.
Si tamen ipse mei captus prior esset amore,
Forsitan illius possem
_,
i
indulgere
~ furori.
p
j_
510
obscaiue
flamma discedUc jtro-
cui idnc, ncc jrater
^^rm<^l sltaJi^i
tpsecsset prior captus
.
T T
i.
n
?
sedun<iemvihos?cur
paravi liac exempla?
ocnpta soror luerat visum est delere sororem, : et notat, etdeiet,- mu-
" brother claim. And yet, had he been first touched with a love for
"
may
me, I might perhaps have consented to ease his pain. May I uot then
"
myself address the man, whose addresses 1 should have listened to with
"
pleasure ? Canst thou not resolve to speak and avow thy flame 1 I can.
" Love will or if shame restrains my speech, a private
inspire boldness ;
"
myself What flame is this that rages in my breast 1" Then, with a
!
rects, likes and dislikes by turns lays down, by turns takes up the
;
scroll. She knows not what she would be at, nor can think of any thing
to please her shame and assurance appear in her countenance.
;
The
word sister was written, but soon she effaced sister, and marked these
words in the corrected scroll. " Thy lover wishes thee that health,
*'
which she cannot herself enjoy, but as thy gift. I blush ah I blush ! !
336 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Et
ptam;
si qufffis quid
vellem
can-sa posset ugi sine
cti-
mea
gf
7T..r
Posset
gj ovLid
cupiam,'T
mea causa meo
affi
quaeris ;
'
sine nomine vellem
nee coffnita rJyblis
:
--niT
mi'O nomine: nee Bi/0
lit J'orem eognitu, an- Ante torem, quam spes votorum certa luisset.
tcqiiiim spe.t votortim Esse quidem l-^esi poterant tibi pectoris index,
fiiisxet eertu. Multa
quidt'iH poterant c.sje
Et color, et macies, et vultus, et humida saepe 535
tibiindex icesi peciorii;
et eoior, ec mucies, et
lirmina seepe
Lumina, nee causfi, suspiria mota patenti ;
vultt(.i,et
liumida, svspiriaque
Et crebri amplexus et quae, si forte notasti, ;
Mota nee patenti eau- Oscula sentiri non esse sororia possent.
sil, et crebri amplexus;
ei'oseiiia, qua: si forte Ipse tanien, quamvis animo grave vulnus habebam,
notasti,
tiri
pusscnt
non esse sororia.
sen- ^
Quamvis
•
mtus
'
n •
. p ,
q^eojU^mtuamtM^s Sed
ciam tibi sit jmictissima, junctior esse
quffi,
votis. Tu solus potes ct vinclo tecum propiore ligari.
Expetit
r :
' ^
scrvare, tti perdere a-
mantcm. Eiige utrum Jura senes normt
/>-, -ii-^, r rrn.
et quid liceatque, neiasq; 550 :
,
facias : own
inimica
precatur hoc, sed quce Fasque sit, inquirant legumq examina servent. ; ;
cum sit junctissima
tibi expetit esse junc-
Conveniens Venus est annis temeraria nostris.
tecum
tior; et ligari
vinclo propiore. .Senes
Quid liceat, nescimus adhuc et cuncta licere :
my frequent caresses and kisses (if by chance you minded), too ardent
for a sister, were but too plain indications of my frailty. Yet, though
deeply wounded in my soul, though raging fires prey upon my inmost
vitals, the gods can witness how 1 have struggled to oppose this
frantic
and the cruel dart of I have firmly re-
passion, escape luierring Cupid ;
sisted, even beyond what you could have expected from a tender
maid.
But, vanquished at length, I am forced to own my flame, and, with
timorous prayers, beg your compassion. It is in your power to preserve
or destroy one that loves you choose which you will do. Only con-
:
sider, that it is not an who now addresses you, but one who,
enemy,
and
though already strictly united to you, aims at a yet closer union,
would be linked to you by the nearest ties. Leave it to age to study
the laws, to debate upon right and wrong, and establish the forms of
decency. Bolder flights of love are suited to our sprightly years.
We kiiow not as yet the proper bounds of vice we run on with- ;
out check, and follow the example of the great gods. have We
neither the terror of a severe father, nor the awe of fame, nor fear of any
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IX. 337
"
sister, who owns her passion for you, nor would thus own it, unless
" love. be inscribed upon my tomb
Merit not to
compelled by outrageous
" the cause of Thus she writes in vain
my death." and, having filled ;
the waxen page, inserts her last words in the margin. She next sealed
her criminal letter with a gem, which she wet with her tears, fur the
moisture had deserted her tongue. Then, blushing, she called a page ;
and soothing him with a faltering voice, " Bear this, (she said), thou
" faithful
boy, to my (and, after a long pause, added) brother." As she
gave it, the letter, slipping, fell from her hands the omen shocked her, yet
:
"
my sail,
hut now, trusting to the unfaithful seas, I am driven along with full ex-
" tended sails, and tossed on the rolling billows It is thus that I am :
"
urged on threatening rocks, and, overwhelmed by the mighty ocean,
" find no means of retreat. Nay, was not the rash discovery of my love
" checked by manifest omens when, giving charge to the servant, the
;
" letter dropt from my hand, and bore my hopes to the ground ? Should
" At
changed the day, or indeed my whole piu-pose
I not then have 1
" least I ought to have chosen another day. Heaven pointed out my com-se
'*
by undoubted signs, had not infatuation wholly blinded me.
And yet it
" had been better to bear the avow the
message myself, and personally
"
flame, so indiscreetly committed to writing. He had then seen my tears,
" he had seen a
my passionate looks and I might have said more than
;
^' letter
could contain. I might have thrown my arms round his reluctant
"
neck, and, had he repulsed me, fallen, as dying at his feet, and em-
" braced his and
knees, I might have begged for life with a flood of tears,
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IX. 339
"
disenffaged. This has doubtless undone me; for sure he was not born of
" a he has not a heart fenced with or solid or
tigress ; flinty rocks, iron,
((
adamant, nor has he drank the milk of a lioness he will comply at last. :
((
I must repeat the trial nor, while life remains, will I, discouraged,
;
" abandon the design. For (could I recall the past transactions of fate)
" it had been better never to make the
attempt but now, what is at- ;
"
tempted, I must urge to its accomplishment. For were I now to relin-
*'
quish my hopes, yet can he never forget my frailty and, because I de- ;
(C
sist, it will seem as if I had but slightly loved him, or, even meant to
ensnare and circumvent him or, I shall be thought not actuated by :
((
that god, w ho has so wholly possessed my soul, but a slave to infamous
" lust. Besides, I cannot now revoke the guilty deed I have wrote to him, ;
"
complete my happiness, and cannot render me more criminal." She
said and such is the unsteadiness of her wavering mind, that though she
;
Z2
340 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Turn lerb/irunt Mile- Turn vero mjestam Miletida mente
tota,
tida mnsf'iin defecisse
tot(imcnte. Tiim virti Defecisse feiunt. Turn vero a pectore vestem 635
diripuit vesffm t> pec
tore; furibundaquc Diripuit :
planxitqxie suos furibunda lacertos.
lacntos.
palani est demens ; inconcessamque fatetur
•pliiiiiit'siws
Jamque est ptilam de- Jamque
mens, fiiteturque in-
Spem Veneris. Sine qua patriam,invisosque penates
coniessam spem Vene-
ris ; si7ie qtiil deserit Deserit ; et profugi seqnitur vestigia fratris.
pat riain in visosqiie pe-
640
nates ; et sequitirr tes- Utque tuo mota?, proles Semeleia, thyrso
tigia profugi fratris. Ismarise celebrant repetita triennia Bacchse ;
Vtqiie Jiaccha: Isma-
ria moUe tuo ifiyrso,
proles Scmeleiiijcele-
Byblida non aliter latos ululasse per agros
brant repetita trien- Bubasides videre nurus quibus ilia relictis ;
then she tore the robe from her breast, and, in furious transport, beat her
arms. And now
she openly raves, and proclaims to all her unlawful hopes ;
which seeing frustrated, she abandons her country and hated gods, and
follows the steps of her flying brother. And, as the Ismarian Bacchantes,
roused by thy Thyrsus, O
son of Semele, celebrate thy orgies at their
triennial returns such did the Buhasian matrons behold Byblis howling
;
in the ample fields leaving which, she traverses Caria, the plains of the
;
warlike Lelegae, and Lycia. And now she had passed Cragos, and Ly-
mire, and the floods of Xanthus, and the mountain where the Chimera
appears, with his middle begirt witli flames, having the face and breast of
a lion, and the tail of a dragon. The woods at length fail her when, ;
wearied with following him, she falls down and, laying her head upon ;
the hard ground, is silent, and presses with her face the fallen leaves.
The Lelegian nymphs too often endeavour to raise her up with their ten-
der arms, often
request her to moderate her love, and apply consolations
NOTES.
634. Miletida-I Byblis, the daii2;hter 640. Proles Semeleia.] Baccliiis, so
^
of Miletus. called from his mother Semele.
METAMORPHOSEON, Li5, IX> 341
TRANSLATION.
to a mind, insensible to all they can say. Byblis is silent, and tears the
verdant sjrass with her nails, and waters the ground with a flood of tears.
They tell us, that the Naiads converted them into a stream, m hich never
dries for what greater gift had they to bestow ? Immediately, as drops
;
quality, but his life and reputation were without reproach. Observing his
wife big with cliild, and that the tim.e of her lying in was at hand, he thus
addressed her " There are two things I wish for that you may have an
: ;
"
easy delivery, and be the mother of a male child. The other lot is more
"
burdensome, and fortune denies ability for bringmg her up. If there-
" fore
you chance to be delivered of a daughter (it is indeed m hat I abo-
312 P. OVIDll NASONIS
«uw medio spatio noc- ^^ni iiiedio noctis spatio sub imao-ine somni 685
/J.V sub imagine somnt, , ,
.
*
^ •
quiderat. Sum aux- Laeta toro suigit, purasque act siclera supplex
recessitque thaiamo.
Expulit, et nata est ipuaro loemma patri,
Cressa surgit Ista to- t \-
•
.-.. £j „ r/AK .
and, by his finger laid upon his lip, advises to silence. There were the tim-
brels too and Osiris never enough
;
explored, and a foreign serpent, fraught
with soporiferous poison. When, as roused from sleep, and now seeing
" O Telethusa,
all
distinctly, she Avas thus addressed
by the goddess my :
NOTES.
691. Quique premit vocem.'] Harpocrates, the god of secrecy and silence. He was
r^preseutcd with Lis finger laid upon Lis moulL.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IX. 343
C^m pater, Iphi, tibi flavam despondet lanthen que fieret formosus.
Interea tertius annus :
fuit pur:
Vulnus utrique tulit: Sed erat fiducia dispar. 720 accepereque primas
urtes, elementa atutis
Conjugii pactaeque expectat tempora taadae, ah i isdem mugislris.
Hinc amor tetigit rude
Quamq virum putat esse, suum fore credit lanthe,
;
pectus ambarum: et
tulit aquum vulnus
Iphis amat, qua posse frui desperat, et auget
utrique. Sed fiducia
Hoc ipsum flammas ardetque in virgine virgo.
;
erat dispar. Icinthe
expectat tempora con-
Vixque tenens lachrymas, Quis me manet exitus jugii pactaque tced<r,
725 crcditque qvam putat
inquit, esse virum, fore suum.
Cognita quam nuUi, quam
prodigiosa, novseque Iphis amat puel'am qtia
desperat se posse frui,
Cura tenet Veneris ? si Di mihi parcere vellent, et hoc ipsum augct
Jlammas, virgoquc ar-
[Perdere debuerant; si non et perdere vellent;] det in virgine. Vix-
Naturale malum saltern, et de more dedissent, que tenens lachrymas,
Qziis, inquit, exitus
JSTec vaccam vaccse, nee equas amor urit equarum. manet me, quam cura
cognita iruUi, quam
Urit oves aries; sequitur sua fcEmina cervum, 731
cura prodigiosa, novcr-
que Veneris tenet? si
Dii vellent parcere mihi (dehuerant perdere : si non et vellent perdere) dedissent saltem malum
naturale, et de more. Nee amor vaccce urit vaccam, nee amor equarum equas. Aries urit oves.
sua/emina sequitur cervum.
TRANSLATION.
when her pains increased, and her burden forced itself into the light, and
a girl was born to the unsuspecting father, the mother ordered it to be
brought up, pretending it was a boy, and the thing gained belief, nor was
any one, but the nurse, conscious of the fact. The father paid vows, as
for a son, and gave him his grandfather's name his grandfather had been ;
called Iphis. The mother rejoiced in the name, as it was common to both
sexes, and would deceive none. Her feigned pretences lay concealed and
hid, under this pious fraud. The habit was that of a boy, and the face
such, that whether you gave it to a boy or a girl, must appear beautiful
in either. The third year had now succeeded the tenth, when thy father,
Iphis, contracted thee to the yellow-haired lanthe, a virgin the most ad-
mired of all the women of Phoestus for the excellency of her beauty, and
the daughter of Cretan Telestes. They were equal in age and beauty, and
had received their first instructions, elements suited to their age, from the
same masters. Hence love touched the rude hearts of both, and gave each
an equal wound but their hopes were different. lanthe waits with impa-
;
tience for the time of her marriage, and the stipulated torch and be- ;
lieved, that whom she thought a man would soon be her husband. Iphis
loves, but despairs of enjoying the beloved object, and this very circum-
stance increases his flame a virgin burns for a virgin. And scarce sup-
;
fiiemnrvcrum, Tnmcn :
«S h^wu!>lj non
cuuodia arcet te ah Nuiic
Esse potes
ut Dique, hominesque laborent.
felix ;
ii.
fellow-mares a ram inflames the ewes, and his proper female a stag.
;
li.
transform thee, lanthe 1 Why do you not then, Iphis, recollect your
(<
reason, and, armed with proper resolution, strive to shake off this flame,
a.
foolish as it is, and void of counsel ? consider of what sex thou art
it
(un-
less thou deceivest also
thyself), pursue pleasures suited to thy nature,
a and
love, as a maiden ought: it is hope that first begets, it is hope that
a fans
the fire of love here there is no room for hope. Andyet no guards,
:
u no watchful
husband's care hinders thee from the dear embrace: you
bave no father's scAcrity to combat, nor is she herself averse to thy
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. IX. 345
Quae mihi sola nocet. Venit ecce optabile temnus V.^'^' *"''' I'-l"^ • '"'''*'•
Z^ T .
T--
1 ^ ' -^'''^ optabile tempus f> 1
Luxque jugalis adest, ut jam mea riat lanthe. venu, luxque jngaUs
Nee mihi continget. Mediis sitiemus in undis. 760 fJuMa%iTcmiti!'^t
Pronuba quid Juno, quid ad hac, Hymensee, venitis
'di!suJdu''^!dd'Mi^
Sacra: quibus qui ducat abest, ubi nubimus ambge ? v^onuba> quia iiyme-
"D •ill-
rressit ab nis vocem.
TVT \
JNec lenius altera virgo
nae,vetuti<i ad hac sa-
1
•
1
•
languore moram j^ ^
tranit.
-i.
Umma ssepe, \
sa nmens quod ikfc
Visaque causatur. Sed jam cousumpserat omnem Sa;Z^;c'fS'L'^:
Materiam ficti dilataque tempora
A
taedffi
:
»«"' fi'^^" i"»gTore,
-f
. ,\ stepeqtif catisatiir visa
institerant; unusque dies restabat: at ilia otniiia. sed jam con-
Crinalein capiti vittam nateeque sibique 770 Tc'^vVZir'tempZ.
Detrahit: et passis aram complexa capillis,
'i^ani'^''Hmn"Ie"Tie's
QT
Isi, Parsetonium, Mareoticaque arva, Pharonque:
uae cons, et septem
digestum
-»T-i
.
cornua JNilum;
,
timori.
restabat ; at uiadetra-
hit crinnlim tittamsi-
bi, eapuique nata, et
^S^sl^n"!h!":^^
Te Dea,
^^
'^quondam,
te
.'>'
tuaq hsec ; insionia vidi: 775
^
coasParato)uum,M(c-
reoticaque arva, Pha-
mium
Ounctaque cognovi; comitesque, lacesque, sonum- ronque, et
ill septem cor-
du
gestum
que nua, precor ft r opem,
mcdereque nostra timori. TeDea, te quondam vidi, hcrcque tua insignia, cog?wvique cuncta ; comi-
tesque, facesque, sonumque.
TRANSLATION.
" wishes. But thou canst never enjoy the fair did all things conspire
still !
" time is at hand, the nuptial torch is ready, that lanthe may now be
" mine yet will she never fall to my lot. 1 thirst in the midst of waters.
;
"
"
Why, Juno, whopresidest over marriage why, Hymen, dost thou come ;
" two females are to be joined in wedlock ?" Here she ended her
complaints. Nor does the other virgin burn with less desire, and prays
that Hymen may quickly come. But Telethusa, dreading what she de-
sires, now puts off the time of wedding, now raises delays by a pretended
sickness, oft feigns dreams and omens but had now exhausted her whole ;
stock of fiction. The time, so often protracted, was now at hand, and only
one day remained; when Telethusa, taking off from her own head, and
that of her daughter, the fillet that bound their hair, and, with dishevelled
" O
locks, embracing the altar of Isis,
" goddess (says she), who inhabitest
Parsetonium, and the Mareotick plains, and Pharos, and the Nile, di-
" vided
into seven horns, aid me, I pray you, and ease me of my fears.
"
Thee, thee, goddess, I once beheld, with all thy awful marks of ma-
"
J6sty. I knew thee by thy peculiar symbols ;
the glorious train that at-
346 P. OVIDII NASONIS
lantne.
.
'
bebat breve carmen. Iphis puer solvit dona qua: J'amina voverat. Postera lux patefecerat la-
tum orbem radiis ; cum Venus, et Juno, Hymenausque conveniunt ad socios ignes ; Ip/iisque puer
jiotitur sud lanthe.
TRANSLATION.
" tended thee, the torches, and the sound of the sacred timbrels, and
*'
noted thy commands with mindful care. That Iphis now beholds the
" I myself am free from pmiishment and shame, is wholly
light, that
" to counsel and admonition pity both, nor withhold thy aid
owing your ;
resembling those of the moon, shone and the noisy timbrel resounded. ;
Telethusa leaves the temple, not indeed wholly secure, but pleased with
follows her steps, with a
the auspicious omen. Iphis, her companion,
larger stride than usual, nor does
her fairness of complexion remain her ;
lanthe.
NOTES.
772. Pareetonhim.'] A city where Isis was worshiiiped with peculiar regard. Pharos,
an island opposite to Alexandria.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. X. 347
LIBER DECIMUS.
Nee leetos vultus, nee felix attulit omen. attulit solemnla verba,
nee latos vidtus, nee
rax quoq~ qnam
;
--
tenuit, lacniymoso
. .- .
stndula lumo, /eiix omen. Fax quo
.
TRANSLATION.
I. r
I
iHENCE Hymenaeus, clad in a saifron-eoloured robe, cuts the un-
JL measured space of air, and directs his flight to the regions of the
Ciconians, where he is, in vain, invoked by the voice of Orpheus. He was
present indeed, but brought neither the auspicious form of words, nor
pleasing looks, nor a joyous omen. The torch too, which he held in his hand,
Avept in hissing smoke, nor can its flame be roused by any, the most rapid,
motion. The issue was still more disastrous than the omens for while the :
lyre : Hyperboles, that served to denote, of their own invention. Tzetzes tells us,
as well tlie sweetness of his eloquence, that Orpheus cured his wife of the bite
which he made use of to cultivate and of a serpent ; but that slie having died
soften the minds of a people as yet rude soon after, perhaps by her own fault,
as the beauty of his poetry, wliich, ac- hence it was said, that he had brought
cording to Diodorus and Horace, gave her up from tlie infernal regions, but that
rise to the fable. He married Eurydiee, she had fallen back thither again.
who dying soon after, he was inconsola-
348 P. OVIDII NASONIS
morVfieVcc1ctZZ'"7i
^^^^ ^^l^^
^^'^^^ ' ^^^'^ ^^^' ^^ opaca viderem 20
licet, et ambi/gibus Tarlara, descendi ; nee uti villosa colubris
falsi orispositis, Jini-
tis loqui vera ; non de- Terna Medussei vincirem guttura monstri :
difftidit
stulitque
venenum, ub-
crescentes
An sit et hie, dubito sed et hictamen auguror esse
;
:
TRANSLATION.
shades, and, by the Tanarian gate, to descend to dreary Styx here, :
through deserts peopled by phantoms, and the gliding spectres of the in-
terred, he passes on to Persephone, and the lord of the shades, who rules
these unpleasing realms and, tuning his strings to his voice, thus ad-
;
"
riosity, to see the dark retreats of Tartarus, or bind in chains the triple
" neck of the Medussean
monster, bristling with snakes but to recover ;
"
my wife, into whom a viper, she chanced to tread upon, shed its poison,
*'
and cut short her growing years. I was willing to bear vwith courage my
"
grief, and deny not that I strove with all ray might but love prevailed ; ;
" this
god is well known in the regions above. I do not know whether he
" is so here
too, but I am apt to imagine he is and, if what fame says ;
" of an ancient
rape be true, love joined also you together. I beg there-
" fore
*'
by these places full of horror, by this huge chaos, and the silence
that reigns
" of through your vast realms, re-weave the quick-spun thread
"
Eurydice's life. We
all belong to you, and, after some short
stay,
must, sooner or later, hasten to one habitation. Hither we all tend;
" this
is our last home to you belongs the most
:
lasting doniinion over the
METAMORPIIOSEON, Lib. X. 349
Usee quoque, ciim justos matura peregerit annos, Hac quoque, cicm ma-
tura peregerit justos
Juris erit vestii. Pro munere poscimus usum. annos, erit vestri ju-
ris. Poscimus tisum
Quod si fata negaiit veniam pro conjuge, certum est ejus pro munere. Quod
Nolle redire mihi. Leto gaudete duorum. si Jala negant veniam
pro conjuge, est cer-
Talia dicentem, nervosq; ad verba moventem, 40 tum milii nolle redire :
Sustinet oranti, nee qui regit ima, negare ; Sispphe, sedisti in tuo
saxo. Fama est, turn
Eurydicenque vocant Umbras : erat ilia recentes primum genas Eume-
nidum victarum car-
Inter; et incessit passu de vvdnere tardo. maduisse mine, lachry-
Hanc simul,et legem Rhodopeius accipit heros. 50 mis : nee regia conjux,
nee qui regit ima, sus-
Ne donee Avernas
flectat retro sua lumina, tinet negare illi oranti,
TRANSLATION.
" human race. She
too, when ripe for the grave, she shall have accom-
"
plished her full term of life, will again return under your sway. I beg
" the use of her as a
grant. But, if the cruel destinies reject my prayer,
" I am determined never more to return
triumph in the death of both."
;
Thus he complained, and touched the strings in concert with his voice.
The pale ghosts Avept, nor did Tantalus catch at the refluent stream, and
Ixion's orb stood, as in amaze. The vultures ceased to prey upon the liver
of Tityus, no more the daughters of Belus fill the fallacious urns, and
Sisyphus sat listening on his stone. It is said, that then first the cheeks
of the furies, softened by his song, were bedewed with tears nor is the ;
stantly she is hurried back. When, stretching out her arms, striving to
grasp or be grasped, she catches, in vain at the fleeting air. And now,
doomed to a second death, she yet complains, not of her husband, for why
350 P. OVIDII NASONIS
jiM tuff figure: quon- 1 ortitor arcuerat. feeptem tamen ille diebus
in ripa Cereris sine munere sedit.
tZf'mlnfZpi:^";, Squallidus
Ide sitsti- '
qtwjinnniin Cura, doloroi' auimi,' lachrymtsq
Port itorareuerut -f^ J
: alimenta fuere.
^'.
net. _^
'-r>.
S'^-?Sw«?TS«.'
^^atis breve ver, et primos carpere flores. 85
J enerem; seu quod cesserat male illi, sive dederat
famincum fidem. Tamen ardor habebat mul-
tas jungere se vati; multee repulses doluere. Ille etiam fuit auctor populi Thracum,
transferre
amorem in teneros tnares: carpereque breve ver, et primos fiores tetatis citra juventam.
TRANSLATION.
should she complain of being too much loved ? hut spoke a last farewell,
which scarce reached his ears, and is suddenly hurried back to whence
.shfiiiad come/ Orpheus stood amazed
at this second death of his wife, like
as when the shepherd, trembling, beheld the
triple neck of Cerberus,
whom Hercules dragged in chains, and whom fear forsook, not but with
his former nature, stone gathering over his body. Or, like as when Olenos,
deriving upon himself another's crime, was willing to appear guilty and ;
you, unhappy Leth8ea,too, too confident of thy beauty, once breasts strictly
united, now contiguous rocks on Ida's hill. Again he prays, and wants to
pass the infernal lake, but Charon, averse, denies his suit. Seven days he
wandered without sustenance, and in a sordid robe along the Stygian
banks care, grief of mind, and tears, were his food. When, in vain,
:
complaining that the gods of Erebus were cruel, he repairs to lofty Rho-
dope, and Hsemus buffeted by
the north winds. Thrice the sun had com-
pleled the year, bounded by
the watery fish and Orpheus had avoided
;
all female embraces, either because it had succeeded ill with him, or that
he had given his promise. Yet many were desirous to be joined to the
poet, and many lamented their repidse. He it was, that first taught the
Thracians to transfer their love to tender boys, and to crop the first
floAvers, and short spring of life, within the verge of youth.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. X. 351
TRANSLATION.
There was a hill, and upon the hill a plain covered with verdant
II.
grass hut no trees shaded the place. Here, when the heaven-born poet
;
reposed himself, and struck the sounding strings, a shade covered the
place. Here were Chaonian oaks, and groves of poplars, and the esculus
Avith its lofty boughs, and lime-trees, the beech, and virgin laurel, and
brittle hazels, and the ash commodious for spears, and firs with knotless
trunks, and the oak bending under its acorns, and the genial plane-tree,
and the party-coloured maple and sallows that grow by the streams, and
the watery lotos, and the ever-green box, and slender tamarisks, and the
two-coloured myrtle, and the tine with its azure berries. Hither too re-
paired the ivy with its creeping tendrils, and with them the leafy vines,
and elms clothed with \ines, and wild ashes, and pitch-trees, and the ar-
bute, loaden with its blushing fruit, and bending palms, the victor's
prize. And the pine with its tufted locks, and bristly top, grateful to the
mother of the gods, because for this Cybeleian Attis put off his human
form, and hardened in that trunk.
NOTES.
104. Cyhele'ius Attis,'] The story of fearing the consequenres, put nim to
Attis is ditferently recounted by the an- death. Theprincess, in despair, fled from
cients. I i^hall confine myself to the tra- her father's palace, accompanied by Mar-
dition of Diodorus Sicnlus. Cybele falling syas. Apollo, pitying her misfortunes,
in love with a young shepherd, named conducted her into the country of the
Attis, Meon, king of Phrygia, her father, Hyperboreans, where she died.
352 P. OVIDII NASONIS
III. Ciipressns, imi-
tata mcta.iarifiiitliuic
III. Adfuithuic turbee metas imitata cupressus,
turbtr,iinitc iirbor, an- Nuncarbor, puer ante, Deo dilectus ab illo,
te pater, riilectus ab
illo l)co,qiii tvir.jierat Qui citharam nervis, et nervis temperat arcus.
citharam nervis, rt
arcus nervis ; nam- Naraque sacer Nymphis Carthaea tenentibus arva
que trot ingois cer-
vus sacer iiymjiliis te- Ingens cervus erat lateque patentibus altas 110
:
now there, thou rulest his tender mouth Avith reins. It was the hottest
purple
season, and the middle of the day, and the bending arms of the crab
that loves the shores glowed Avith the heat of the sun. The stag, fatigued,
NOTES.
106. Cupressus.l Cypavissuswasayuuth viction to the misfortune, had appointed
who had excellent t;<lciits for poetry and that the cypress should be the symbol of
the fine arts, wliicli made him pass for a sadness, because it was used at funerals,
favourite of Apollo. His traTisforniation and planted round tombs; circumstances
into a cypress is founded upon the resem- founded on the nature of the tree itself,
blance of names, that tree bfino; called, whose bousihs, stripped of the leaves,
in Greek, Cyparissns. They have added look very sad and mournful.
to the fable, that
Apollo, by way of alle-
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. X. QP.Q
to
Ccrmis fpssws,
Fessus in herbosa posuit sua corpora terra sua corpora in
jtofuif
/it rim-
_r
Hoc petit a Superis,
r ut tempore
i lugeat omni. 135
'
n
Jamque, per emensos egesto sangmne iletus,
•
•
qnehocsvpremumwu-
'"" « svperis, ut iu-
geat omm temple.
In viridem verti cseperunt membra colorem; iop^^,^en^T^X^^
Et mod5, qui nivefi pendebant fronte capilli, l^vll^^rZlZ:::^
Horrida caDsaries
„., .,•
fieri
,
sumptoque rigore •! l/(A
capim, qui wod„
debavt
140 cpemnt
iiiveli
fieri
froute,
Lrrida
pe,i-
now, his blood being quite exhausted by incessant weeping, his limbs be-
the soft locks which lately hung from
gan to assume a green colour, and
his snow-white forehead, become a horrid bush, which, stiiFening hy de-
grees, points to the starry
heaven with a tapering top. The gofl, discon-
solate, sighed Thou shalt (says he) be ever
;
mourned by me thou shalt, ;
IV. Such a erove had the poet drawn roinid him, and sat encircled by
an assembly of listening savages and birds when, after sufficiently trying :
the strings, struck with his thumb, and finding, that though they sounded
differently, yet their
various modulations produced a real harmony, he tuned
his voice to the following song: Begin, parent muse, with Jove to Jove's ;
dominion all things are subject the power of Jove has oft beon sung l)y
;
me. Before have I sung in lofty strains, of the giants, and tlie victorious
thunder-bolts scattered in the Phlegrean ])lains. Now have I need of a
softer lyre let us sing of youths, the favourites of the gods, and of maids
:
who, seized with unlawful Uames, have drawn down iqion themselvefi de-
•2 A
354 P. OVlDll NASONIS
putllasque Hitoiiitas
iuconcessis ignilm.s,mc-
Ignibus attouitas meiuisse liVjidine pceiiam. 154
riii'^se jiatium libidhie.
Rex .superilm qitoiidam Rex Superum Phrygii quondam Ganymedis amore
arsit umore Plir;/gii
Arsit et inventum est aliquid, quod Jupiter esse,
:
Gaiiymedis, ct illiquid
est iiiventum qnoU Ju-
Quam quod erat, mallet. Nulla tamen alite verti
piter mullet esse, quum
quod erut lameii dig- Dignatur ; nisi qua3 possit
:
sua fulmina ferre.
natur verti milla alite,
nisi qv(E possit ferre
Nee mora percusso mendacibus
: a'ere pennis
suajubnina. Nee mu- Abripit Iliaden. Qui nunc quoque pocula miscet,
rardcre vercussomeii/- ,.v t-
t , i c-\ ••ii
dacitnts pennis, abripit
Invitaque Jovi nectar Junone mmistrat. lol
S:t;cr;=fr v. Te quoque, Amyclide, posuisset in ^there
nectar Jove
nistratque PllCebuS
Junone invita. ,^... .' >• o it
V. Pkabus posuisset spatium ponendi lata dedissent.
1 ristia SI
prtFSide, dum DeusJ're- Immemor ipse sui non retia ferre recusat ; 171
quentat Eurotan, im- Non tenuisse canes; non per juga montis iniqui
munitamque Sparten.
Neccitharee, ntc sa«it Isse comes longaque alit assuetudine flammas.
,. liouore. f
t(c sunt m ,
'^ '
:
Ipse
immemor sai, non recusat ferre retia, tioii tenuisse canes, non isse comes per juga itiiqui montis,
alitque flamma-s longd ad'suetudinc.
TRANSLATION,
served punishment. The
sovereign of the gods was once enamoured of
Phrygian Ganymede, nor disdained to assume a shape different from his
own. Yet he scorned to Avear that of any bird, but what might bear his
thunder. Instantly beating the air with fictitious wings, he carries off the
Ilian youth, who now mixes his
cup, and, in spite of Juno's opposition,
serves Jupiter with nectar.
Phffibus had given thee also, son of Amyclus, a place in heaven, had
the stern Fates given him time to
place thee there. Yet, as far as is pos-
sible, thou art immortal and as often as spring drives away the winter,
:
and Aries succeeds the watery fish, so often dost thou rise, and flourish on
the green turf. Thee my father loved beyond all others, and the Del-
phians, situate in the middle of the world, were without their guardian
deity, while that god frequents Eurotas, and the plains of unfortified
Sparta. The harp and bow are neglected, while, unmindful of his dig-
nity, he disdains not to carry the toils, or hold the dogs. He attends him
as his companion over the rugged cliffs, and
by long intimacy augments
NOTES.
\5S- Phrygii quondam Ganymedis.I'Vhe of the Trojan king's designs, considered
Story of Ganymede is thus explained by his messengers as spies, and made young
mythologists. Tros, king of Troy, having Ganymede be arrested and thrown into
obtained many victories over the neigh- prison. This gave rise to the fiction of the
bouring nations, sent his son Ganymede, rape of Ganymede by Jupiter in the form
with several great lords of his court, into of an eagle, because he was apprehended
Lydia, to otter sacrifice in a temple con- in the temple of Jupiter, by order of a
secrated to Jupiter. Tantalus, ignorant prince who bore an eagle on his ensigns.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. X. 355
shine with the juice of the fat olive, and begin a game at quoits. Phoe-
bus first tossed a well-poised disk into the air, and cleft the opposing
clouds with its weight. The
ponderous mass, after a long time, fell to the
ground, and spoke an equal share of skill and strength. Immediately the
Tenarian youth, thoughtless, and urged on by an eagerness for the sport,
hastened to take up the
rolling orb, which, rebounding
from the solid
earth with violent recoil, struck
against thy face, ill-fated Hyacinthus.
The god himself appears no less pale than the youth, and bears up his
sinking limbs. Sometimes he cherishes him in his bosom, sometimes wipes
the fatal wound, and strives to
stop the fleeting life by applying potent
herbs his arts avail nothing, the wound was incurable. As if, in a -well-
:
lmqm^}ach,li"'''mca
'^^ ^°^°^ ^^>
facinusquB mcum. Mea dextera leto
tii.itcia est
boula uo Icto. Ego " m ^
t
hiscri-
.«
Etio
-~
sum tibi funevis
Inscvibencla tuo est.
-
auctor
aiirtor funeris tibi. Quae mea tamen? nisi si lusisse, vocari 200
Tiimen qu<r fxt mea
culpa
culpa? nisi si Ivsisse Culpa potest:
nisi culpa potest, et amasse vocari.
potest vocuri culpa utinam pro te vitam, tecumve liceret
:
TRANSLATION.
unless to sport and play may be called a crime unless to have loved
you, ;
Ante tores horum stabat Jo vis hospitis ara, traxere vomen. Ara
T „ 1
•
1
•
L Joi'is hospitis stabat • • • '
I.-
Lugubris scelens quam si quis sanguine tinctam mue jorcs iwrmn lu-
:
m
illis r va. sed quid loca
Exilio pcEnam potius gens impia pendat, ^^I^Jref '^wdl'rl
Vel nece vel medium mortisque fugaque. ™t"« <<'"/, est inniis'
; si quid
'^
y, .'. . .
o r> iinpia gens jiotnis jifn-
Idque quid esse potest, msi versa? poena tigiuffi dat pknam e.i/iio, vei .'
Dum dubitat, quo mutet eos ad cornua vultum 235 medium mortiTqjic%. ;
stained with blood, he must have concluded that sucking calves, or Ama-
thusian sheep, two years old, were there sacrificed. But soon they were
undeceived for they slaughtered their guests. Gentle Venus, abhorring
:
these barbarous sacrifices, was preparing to abandon her once loved citiey,
and the Ophiusian lands. But how (says she) have these beloved places,
how have the cities offended? what crime can they be charged with ? let
rather this impious race suffer the punishment of exile or death, or if there
is
any middle punishment between banishment and death and what ;
can that be but a change of form ? While she is pondering with herself
what shape to give them, she cast an eye upon their horns, and thus ad-
monished, that "these might still be left them, she transforms their huge
limbs into those of stern bulls.
VII. And yet the blasphemous Propoetides presumed to deny that
NOTES.
The Cerastic, a people
223. Cerasta.'] nianiiers, in slaiiiiiis tlicir altars with the.
of the of Cyprus, were lablcd by the
isle blooil ofotrangers, whom
thej sacrificed
poets to have been ciianged info bulls, to to their gods,
mark the rusticity aud barbarity of their
358 P. OVIDII NASONIS
„ • • •
n'L^,concTpitqi^e'amo. Virginis
est versB facies quani vivere credas 250 : :
\ur"u 7''''''
^^ modo blanditias adhibet niodo grata puellis
/"*"'"
:
TRANSLATION.
Venus was a goddess for which, pursued by the resentment of that power
;
they had slighted, they are said to have been the first who prostituted their
persons and beauty. As shame was therefore fled, and the blood
in their
faces hardened, they were, by small transition, changed into rigid stones.
VIII. Whom
Pygmalion finding thus to pass their whole lives in a con-
tinued series of crimes, shocked at the vices which nature has so largely
implanted in female minds, he lived single, without a wife, and long
wanted a partner of his bed. Mean time he happily carves a statue of
snow-Avhite ivory, with Avonderful art, and giving it a beauty and comeli-
ness beyond what nature ever bestows on any woman at her birth, became
enamoured of his own workmanship. Her appearance was that of a real
virgin, which you would fancy alive, and restrained from moving only by
modesty so much does art lie concealed under art. Pygmalion admires,
;
and harbours in his breast a warm passion for this fictitious beauty. Oft
he applies his hands to the work, as if to know whether it was a real
body or ivory nor will he yet own it to be ivory. He heaps kisses upon
;
it and thinks
they are returned speaks to it, hugs it, and imagines his
;
NOTES.
^i^. PifgmaVon.'] This fable is thus ex- served nntaintetl with the corrupt man-
plained: That Pygmalion having taken ners of the island, afterward married her,
great pains to form the mind of a young and had a son by her named Paphus.
girl, whom a careful education had pre-
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. X. 359
aras; ct timuitdixU:
Flamma accensa est, apicemque per aera duxit
ter
cuncta,^opto'nt '^itla
Ut rediit simulachra sua? petit ille puellae 280 :
<j<i>m'^'c^>on
dwere
est ausus
eburnea virgo)
y , T -IT- 1 1
naked does she seem less beautiful. He lays on coverings of rich Sido-
nian purple, and calls her the partner of his bed, and rests her reclined
neck, as if sensible, upon soft feathers. festival of Venus, celebrated A
Avith great
pomp throughout all Cyprus, was now come and heifers with ;
snow-white necks, their spreading horns richly gilt, fell by the stroke of
an axe. Incense smoked. Pygmalion stood before the altars with his offer-
ing, and with a voice If, O ye gods, all things are in
faltering prayed:
your power, wife (not daring to say this ivory maid) resemble this
let my
ivory statue. Golden Venus, who was herself present at her own fes-
tival, understood the full meaning of his prayer ; and (an omen of a pro-
pitious deity) thrice the flame kindled, and shot with a tapering point
into the air. Soon as he returned, he to the image of his darling
repairs
fair, and throwing himself on the bed, loads her m ith kisses. Slie seemed
to be warm. He again applies his mouth to hers, and feels her breasts
with his hands. The ivory feels soft to the touch, and, divested of its
hardness, yields and gives way to the pressure of his fingers. As Hyme-
thian wax softens by tlie sun and, when wrought by the hand, may be ;
framed into various shapes, and becomes pliant by continued use. While
3G0 P. OVIDII NASONIS
lircsaliuiit. Turn I'cru Tilm vero Paphius plenissima concipit heros 290
Pujiliiiis Acjo? conci-
jiitplv/tissi)na vtrha ; Verba ; quibus Veneri grates agat ; oraque tandem
i/uibus agat, gratis Ve- Ore suo non falsa premit dataque oscula virgo ;
itcri ; tuiidcmqiicpre-
mil or a nmifalsii suo
ore ; virgoqnc sciisit
Sensit, et erubuit timidumque ad limina lumen
;
data osvitla,et eruhuit, AttoUens, pariter cum ccelo vidit amantem. 294
(ittotleiisque timidnm
lumen ad lumina ; li- Conjugio, quod fecit, adest Dea. Jamque coactis
<!>t amunlem pariter Cornibus in plenum novis lunaribus orbem,
ftim calo. JJea adest
cofijiigio quod fecit : Ilia Paphon genuit de quo tenet insula nomen.
;
jiimque lunaribus cor-
/libiis coaetls noiies in IX. Editus hoc ille est, qui, si sine prole fuisset,
plenvm orbem ; ilia
genuit Paphon, rte quo
Inter felices Cinyras potuisset haberi. 299
insula tenet notnen. Dira canam. Proculhincnatag, procul esteparentes :
IX. Jlle Clnyras est
editus illCi, qui sij'uis- Aut, mea, si vestras mulcebunt carmina mentes
set sine prole, poluis-
set haberi inter/dices.
Desit in hac mihi parte fides nee credite factum ;
:
TRANSLATION.
he wonders, and joys with a mixture of fear, and trembles lest he should
be deceived, the fond lover again and again touches the statue, to confirm
his hopes. It was a real body, and he feels the veins beat under his
thumb. Then, indeed, the Paphian hero conceives in his mind the warm-
est expressions of thanks and gratitude to Venus, and
presses, at length,
her now real mouth to his. The maid was conscious of the embrace, and
blushed, and lifting up her timorous eyes to the light, saw at once her
lover and the heavens. The
goddess graced with her presence the match
she had made. And now the horns of the moon nine times meeting in a
full orb, she
brought forth Paphos, of whom the island has its name.
IX. Of her too was born that Cinyras, who, had he been without
issue, might have been numbered among the happy princes. I sing
scenes of horror be far hence parents, be far hence
;
daughters, or if my
verse shall happen to charm your minds let me meet with no credit ;
here, believe them not or if you will believe them, with the sin believe
;
NOTES.
299. Cinyras.'\ The fable of Myrrha, Iiim of what happened, which so provoked
and her son Adonis, is tiuis explained by him, that he procured liim, that he poured
Le Clerc, after Stephanus, Lncian, Phur- out imprecations on his daughter-in-law,
nutus, and others of tlie ancients. Ciny- and his grandson. It is more than pro-
ras, the grandfather of Adonis, having bable, that this whole fable took its rise
drank one day to excess, fell asleep in an from what the Phoenicians had learnt
indecent posture. Myrrha, his daughter- from tradition of the history of Noah,
in-law, Amnion's wife, accompanied with whose descendants they were by that
her son Adonis, having seen him in this very son, who, by a like offence with that
posiuro, apprized her husband of it. He, in the falile, had drawn upon himself the
after Cinyras was become sober, informed malediction of his father.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. X. 361
Gratulor huic terra3, quod abest regionibus illis, 'gratuior "Zc "terra]
adflavit Echidnis
Stipite te Stygio tumidisque ^f^ces^t^^f^^^^t
E tribus una soror. Scelus est odisse parentem f
j"e. unasororetri- :
TT r .
1 Olf: bus, q/f/avit te .Stijgio
Hic amor est odiomaj us scelus. Undique lecti olo stivue twmdisque e-
4.-
Ferre patrem tergo : fit equo sua filia conjux ; TaZTiwc" esflceiut
Sed enim pietas ncgatur damnare hanc venerem, cetceraque animalia co'iunt nulla delectu ; nee
habetur turpe juvenca ferre patrem tergo ; sua filia Jit conjuf equo:
TRANSLATION,
and our division of the globe I congratulate in particular this land, that
:
nils amari, sed ut pa- JNunc quia tam meus est, non est nieus ipsaque ;
icr. Ergo si non essem A
filia magni Cinyra-, pos- uaninO-^
prtrsens spectem C'iny- Ultra autem sperare aliquid potes, impia virgo ? 345
ram, tangamque, lo-
quarque,adnioveamque Nee, quot confundas et jura et nomina, sentis?
uscvla, nil ultra con- Tune eris et matris pellex, et adultera patris ?
ceditar. A utcm impia
Virgo, potes sperare Tune soror gnati, genitrixque vocabere fratris :
TRANSLATION.
own breed, and birds conceive
by them of whose seed they were con-
ceived. they to whom this is permitted.
Happy But the over care of
man has given barbarous restraints and what nature allows, malignant!
better. Fain would I travel into distant climes, and abandon my native
home, might but escape the crime that threatens me. But a fatal
so I
delusion retains me, enslaved by love, that, present, I may gaze at Ciny-
ras, touch him, talk with him, and give him kisses, if nothing more is
allowed. Canst thou then, impious maid, hope for ought beyond this, nor
reflectest how many names and sacred laAvs thou wouldest confound ?
Think that thou wilt become thy mother's rival, and father's harlot that ,
thou wilt be a sister to thy son, and a mother to thy brother. Dreadest
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. X. 363
Noxia corda vident? at tu, dum corpore non es ocuios atqueora sains
Jactbusf At tu dam
„ . .
i
.
Passa, neras ammo concipe : neve potentis non es passu nefas cor-
Myrrha datis nimiiim gaudet consul taque qualem mimi tepido rurc. ci- :
consuUaque gualem
Noctis erat medium, curasque, etpectora somnus ^u'lTLberl^mxinms^^^
Solverat.
J-.
.
At virp-o
~ Cinyreia pervieril i<rni
. -.
r\nr\ . r, .
'' • oo miiemtibi. At luecoi-
'(^"""t locem non m-
Carpitur mdomito luriosaque vota retractat. 370 : teiiectam ; et ait esto
makes uncertain Avhere to fix his choice, inquires of herself, after repeat-
ing their names, whom she would prefer. She at first stood silent, and
steadily regarding her father, with an air that betrayed great disturb-
ance and confusion, the lukewarm tears ran trickling down her cheeks.
Cinyras, ascribing all this to be a virgin modesty, forbids her to weep,
and wipes her face, and joins pious kisses. Myrrha is but too much de-
lighted with his caresses, and when asked what sort of husband she would
choose? One, she replied, like you. He praised her answer; which he
did not comprehend, and said My daughter, be thus always pious. The :
virgin, upon this mention of piety, conscious of her gviilt, fixed her eyes
upon the ground. It was midnight, and sleep had dispelled the cares, and
eased the minds of mortals. Not so the Cinyieian maid she, still awake, :
is
preyed upon by an unconquerable flame. Again, and again, she rumi-
nates on her as ild desires. Now she
despairs, now resolves to try, she is
ashamed, yet would fain begin and cannot contrive what to resolve upon. ;
And as a huge tree, wounded by the axe when now the last stroke only re-
364 P. OVIDII NASONIS
utquc illuc,
momenta utroque. fi/cc
sumitque Nee modus autrequies, nisi mors, reperitur amoris.
modus (lilt requies Mors placet. Erigitur; laqueoque innectere fauces
amoris rcjieritur, nisi
mors. Mors plactt. Destinat ;
et zona summo de poste revincta,
Erigitur: destinat in-
nectere fauces laqueo, Care, vale, Cinyra, causaraque intellige mortis.
et zona revincta de
Dixit; et aptabat pallenti vincula collo. 381
summoposte, dixit, vale,
cure Cinyra, intelli- Murmura verborum fidas nutricis ad aures
gequc causam mortis ;
et (iptabat vincula pa- Pervenisse ferunt, limen servantis alumnee.
lenli collo. Fet%int
murmura. 'verborum Surgit anus, reseratque fores mortisque paratae
:
plexus, requirereque
causam laquei. Virgo libera, per cunas alimentaque prima precatur,
muta silet, immotuque Ut sibi committat, quicquid dolet. Ilia roganteni
tuetur terrain, et dolet
conamina tarda mor- Adversata gemit. Certa est exquirere nutrix ;
tis tme deprensa. Anus
instat : 7iudansque su-
Nee
solam spondere fidera. Die, inquit ; opemque
os ctmos, et inania Me
sine ferre tibi. est Non mea
pigra senectus,
ubera, precatur per
cunas, pritnaque ali- Seu
furor est habeo quse carmine sanet, et herbis :
menta, ut coinmitlat
sibi quicquid jlolet. Ilia adversata rogantem gemit. Nutrix est certa exquirere, ncc spondere
solam fidem. Die, inquit, sineque me ferre opem tibi. Mea senectus non est pigra, seu est furor,
habeo qua: sanet carmine et herbis.
TRANSLATION.
mains, seems as if uncertain where to fall, and threatens on every side ;
passions, inclines now
so Myrrha's mind, unstable, and shaken by various
this way, now that, and is
impelled on either side. No repose, no remedy
can be found for her passion, but death. The thoughts of dying please
her she rises up, resolved to wrap a cord round her neck, and fastening
:
her girdle to the top of a beam Farewell, dear Cinyras (she cries), and
;
know that my love for you is the cause of my death and then fitted the ;
rope to her pale neck. It is said, that the broken murmurs of her voice
reached the ears of her faithful nurse, who lay without. Starting from
her bed, she unlocks the door, and seeing the ready instruments of death,
screams out, and beats her breast, and snatching the girdle from her neck,
tears it in pieces. Then at last she found leisure for her tears then :
catching her in her arms, she inquired the cause of her despair. The \'ir-
gin, mute with grief, keeps her eyes immoveably fixed upon the ground,
and laments that the remedy she sought in death was by her slowness
thus prevented. The nurse still urges her, and, exposing her grey hairs
and withered breasts, begs her, by her cradle and first noiu-ishment, to
intrust her with the secret of her grief. She, turning from her, sighs.
The nurse is determined to search it out and not contented with barely
;
suspected, however, that love was the cause of her sorrow. Tenacious,
therefore, of her purpose, she begs her to make a discovery of the secret,
whatever it was, and lulls the mourning maid in her lap, and clasping
her in her feeble arms Daughter (says and in this
she), I know you love,
;
my assiduity may be of use to you fear not, your father shall never ;
know it. At this she sprung furious from her lap, and throwing herself
prostrate on the bed Depart, 1 beg (says she), and spare the shame of
;
an unhappy wretch. But, as she still urged. Depart (says she again),
or cease to inquire the cause of
my grief; it is impious even to name
what you desire to know. At this the aged nurse, struck with horror, holds
out her hands,
trembling with age and fear, and falls a suppliant at her
feet. Sometimes she sooths her, sometimes would
frighten her into a dis-
covery of the secret now threatens to expose her design of hanging her-
;
striving to own her flame, often checks her voice, and hid her blushing
36G P. OVIDIl NASONIS
TRANSLATION,
face Avith her veil, and said : O
mother, happy in a husband. She ceased,
and groaned. Horror shoots through the nurse's bones and stiffening joints
(for she now understood her flame), and the hair rose in bristles all over
her hoary head. Much she said to drive from her breast a passion so cri-
minal and base. Myrrha, sensible that her remonstrances were just, is
yet determined to possess or die. Live, rejoined the nurse, and enjoy thy,
but not daring to add sire, she checked her tongue, and confirms her pro-
mise by an oath. The pious matrons were celebrating the annual festival
of Ceres, Avhere, robed in white, they offer garlands made of the ears of
corn, as the first fruits of their harvest, and for nine nights avoid the joys
of love, and a husband's embrace. Cenchreis, the king's wife, was absent
on this occasion, and attended the mysterious rites. While, therefore,
Cin\Tas is deprived of the lawful partner of his bed, the wickedly officious
nurse, finding him overcome with wine, discloses to him a real passion, but
conceals the name, and praises the virgin's form. The prince inquiring her
age. It is the same (she replies) with Myrrha's. When desired
to conduct her
to him, she hastens home. Rejoice, my child (she said), we have prevailed.
The unhappy maid feels not a sincere joy, her boding breast is alarmed, yet
still she
rejoices ; such is the discord of
her mind. It was now the time when
universal silence reigns and Bootes, wheeling obliquely, had driven his
;
wane half round the heaven. She hastens to the horrid crime. The golden
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. X. 367
lila,
,
:
1
• •
^
•
1^
**^" c**
que
tua; JKiixit-
devota corpora.
Plena patris thalamis excedit ; et impia diro «;foTX'ffiS-'
Semina
mentem.
fert utero,' conceptaq : crimina portat. r IT 470 ^'atque virgiMos 'me.
tus ; hortaturque ti-
Forsitan dicat quoque filia, nomine (ctatis, et ilia dicat, pater, ne nominu desint sceleri.
/ixccdit plena thalamis patris, eifcrt Impia scmlna diro utero, portatque coucepta crimina.
TRANSLATION.
moon forsakes the sky, black clouds cover the lurking stars, and all the
lamps of night are extinguished. Icarus hides his face, and Erigone ad-
vanced to heaven for her pious regard of her father. Thrice was she re-
called by the threatening
presage of a stumbling foot thrice the funeral ;
owl disturbed her by a dismal scream. Yet she proceeds darkness and ;
sable night hide her shame. With her left she holds the nurse's hand ;
the other by
groping explores the secret path. Now she is come to her
father's chamber, now she
opens the door, now she is led in. Her knees
tremble under her sinking hams. Her blood and colour vanish, and her
courage fails her as she moves along. The nearer she is to the commis-
sion of the crime, the more it
appears in all its horrors she repents of :
the daring attempt, and could wish to retire unknown. The aged nurse
leads her, thus lingering, by the hand, and,
conveying her to the lofty
bed, said; Receive, Cinyras, thy own, and joined their devoted bodies.
The father receives his own bowels into the polluted bed, and strives to
allay her virgin fears, and remove her vain alarms. Perhaps too he might
call her
daughter, because the title suited with her years she again might ;
whisper him, father, that proper names might not be wanting to the sin.
She leaves the
guilty bed, full of her father, and bears in her incestuous
womb the impious seed, and carries about the crime she had conceived.
The following night repeats the horrid guilt nor does it end there until ;
:
Postera rtnx g«minat Posfera iiox facinus "p-emliiat: Nee finis in ill^ est.
Jtiri/iics,7ucest fiHism ^v , ^. .,
ip7M. Cum
tatidemCi- Cum ^
tandem Cniyras, avians cognoscere amantem
miras, avi us cognos-
cere (imantcm post tot p^^^. ^^^ concubitus, illato lumine vidit
concithitus, lumiiie il- Et scelus, et natam. Verbisque dolore retentis,
lato, viilet ct crimen,
et natam. Verbisquc Pendenti nitidum vagina deripit ensem :
ret cut is dolorc,dcripif.
iiitidiiin ensawpenden- Myrrha fugit, tenebris et csecae munere noctis
ti vai^inii. Myrrha fu-
gif,intvrcepta neci te- Intercepta neci ; latosque vagata per agros,
nehris,et munere ca-- Palmiferos Arabas, Pancheeaoue rurarelinquit :
complexa preces : U si
qua tavetis
Vt^qufinTer'^metuTque
Numina coufessis; merui, nee triste recuso 484
7st^^'''com lexa'^ui^s ^upplicium. Sed, ne violem vivosque superstes,
preces. o si qua nit-
Mortuaquc extiiictos, anibobus pellite regnis;
mina favetis cotifcssis;
merui, nee recuso tris- Mutateeque mihi vitamque, neeemque negate.
te snpplicium ; sed ne
siiperstes violem vivos-
Numen confessis aliquod favet. Ultima certe
que, morluaque ex- Vota suos habuere Deos nam erura loquentis
:
iinctos, pellite me am-
bobtts regnis, negate. Terra supervenit ; ruptosque obliqua per ungues
Mihi mutatcB vitam-
qtie, neeemque. Numen Porrigitur radix longi firmamina trunci 49 1 :
TRANSLATION.
brought in a light, and saw at once his daughter and his crime. Grief
and amazement checked his words he draws from the sheath, that hung;
by, the shining sword. Myrrha fled, snatched from death by the darkness
and protection of an obscure night and,
traversing the v.ide-spreading
;
fields, left the coasts of the Arabians, fertile in palms, and the Pancha^an
plains, and wandered, till nine times the moon had renewed her waning
horns when, at length fatigued, she rested in the Sabaan country, and
;
scarce was able to sustain the load of her womb. Then, not knowing what
to wish,
loathing life, and yet afraid of death, she thus, in prayer, ad-
dressed the gods O, if any deities attend to the vows of
: I have
penitents,
deserved nor refuse to submit to the severest
punishment but that living ;
I may not
pollute the living, ordead the dead, banish me from both realms ;
change my form, nor suffer me to join either the living or the dead. Tliere
is
always some god who regards the penitent at least her last prayers ;
were favourably heard for earth gathered round her legs as she spoke,
;
boughs, her fingers to little ones and her tender skin is hardened into rind.
;
And now the rising tree had invested her heavy womb, covered her breasts,
and began to invade her neck. She was
impatient of delay, smik down
to
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. X. 369
Jlln non
Kon tulit ilia moram: venientique obvia ligno
tiil'it tnoram,
sithsedilqiie nhriu ' c/ii-
Subsedit; mersitque suos in cortice vultus.
enti ligito: mcr.sitqiie
snos viiltu.s in coi tice.
ence, add to him, or take from them the polished quivers. Winged time
glides away insensibly and unperceived, nor is aught more fleeting than
years. The child, the offspring of his own sister and grandfather, so lately
enclosed in a tree, so lately born soon becomes a beauteous infant, soon
;
370 P. OVIDII NASONIS
nupcr sen) tux: moiib NuDf^r erat geiiitus modo formosissimus infans,
iiifans Jormonxsniiits,
est jam jurciiKi, Jam
i . .o. .'.
:
..
Jam juvenis, jam vir, jam se lormosior ipso est:
J
and even Venus herself was at first deceived. Captivated with the charms
of a mortal, she no longer regards the Cytherean shores nor revisits Pa- ;
heaven. Him she constantly attends, and follows as his companion and ;
though ever accustomed to indulge in the shade, and improve her beauty
with the most anxious care now wanders among precipices, woods, and
;
bushy rocks, her feet bare, and the robe tucked up in the manner of
Diana and cheers the hounds pursuing animals of the less dangerous
;
kind, as fleet hares, the stag exulting in his lofty horns, and timorous does :
but avoids fierce boars, and ravenous wolves, and bears armed with claws,
and lions glutted with the slaughter of the herds. She counsels thee too,
Adonis (would counsel avail), to beware of these. Follow (says she), and
shew your courage against such as fly it is not safe boldly to encounter
;
a great degree in tawny lions, and the whole race is beside odious to me.
As he asked, what might be the cause ? I will tell
you|(rejoined she), and you
will wonder at the prodigy which rose from crimes of old. But this toil,
I to which I am so little accustomed, has fatigued me, and lo! a grateful
poplar courts us by its shade, and the turf beneath offers a verdant couch.
I am desirous to repose a little on this spot, and she laid her down,
and pressed at once the grass and her Adonis, and leaning her neck on
the youth's bosom, smiling, thus began and sometimes interrupted her
;
by the fame of her swiftness, or the praise of her beauty. Consulting the
oracle about a husband, the god replied Think not, Atalanta, of a hus-
:
it, and Atalanta, living, shall be lost to herself. Terrified with this re-
NOTES.
560. Forsitan audicris.'\ Atalanta was a native of Arcadia, and the daughter of
Schnenens.
2 B 2
372 p. OVIDII NASONIS
hauc. Hippomenes se- Et, Petitur cuiquam per tanta pericula conjux?
derat .spectator iniqui
cursus ; et dixerat; Dixerat: ac nimios juvenum damnarat amores.
conjux petitur cui- Ut
quam per tanta peri- faciem, et posito corpus velamine vidit.
cula? uc damnarat ni-
mios umores jmeii um.
Quale meum, vel quale tuum, si fcemina fias,
Ut vero vidit faciem,
et corptis velamine po-
Obstupuit: tollensq; manus, Ignoscite, dixit, 580
sito, tale, quale est me- Quos modo culpavi : nondum mihi praemia nota,
v.m,vci quale tinim si QusB peteretis, erant. Laudando concipit iffnem ;
toii't„.<:quema>i,is,dii- Et, ne quis juvenum currat velocius, optat;
it: vos quos iiiodu cut- t •T'^ oj j.' j.
feed cur certammis nujus
j.
' '
i
'
timetqiie
inquit: cur fort una Quae quanquam Scythica
non secius ire sagitta
hiijus certaminis re- Aonio visa est tamen ille decoram
linquitnr intcntatcc juveni;
mihi / ipse Deus jurat Miratur
magis et cursus facit ipse decoram.
: 590
audentes. Dum Hip-
pomenes exigit talia Aura refert oblata citis talaria plantis :
not to be obtained (says she) unless first conquered in the race. Contend
with me in running a wife and Atalanta shall be the reward of the swift,
:
but death the punishment of the slow. Be that the law of the contest.
This proposal was indeed inhuman, but so great is the power of her beauty,
that a rash crowd of wooers submitted to this rigorous law. Hippomenes
sat a spectator of this extravagant combat: Is it possible (said he)
that any one, for a wife, will expose himself to such apparent danger?
and blamed, in his own mind, the indiscreet passion of the youths. But
when he beheld her face and naked limbs, exquisitely turned as mine, or
as thine, wert thou to become a woman, he stood amazed, and lifting up
his hands: Forgive me, ye youths (said he), whom I have so lately
wronged the value of the prize you contend for, was but little known to
;
me. By thus praising her, he kindles a flame in his own breast, and wishes
that none of the youths may equal her in swiftness, and through envy fears
it. But
why (says he) is my fate untied in this combat ? heaven assists the
daring. While Hippomenes ponders these things with himself, the virgin
flieswith winged pace, who, though she seemed to the Aonian youth to
glide swifter than a Scythian arrow, yet he more admires her beauty,
find even the race itself conspires to exalt her charms. The wind bears
back the pinions that adorn herninvble feet, her hair flows back upon her
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. X. 373
Dum
.
notat ligechospes; decursa novissima
r A A 1 • •
^"^ Dimhospesnotathffc,
" meta nonssiina meta est rie- •
TRANSLATION.
ivory neck, and the embroidered ribands that tie up her buskins wave be-
hind. Her virgin skin was dyed with a glowing red, as when crimson
hangings, in a white gallery, lend a blushing shade to the polished marble.
While the stranger stands thus admiring her charms, the last course is
run, and victorious Atalanta is adorned with a festival crown. The van-
qviished sigh, and suffer punishment according to the law of the contest.
Yet Hippomenes, no ways awed by the unfortunate end of these youths,
stood full in view and Why
fixing his eyes upon Atalanta
;
(says he) do :
beauty, means to destroy this youth ? and prompts him thus to seek mar-
riage by endangering his dear life } the prize, even in my own judgment,
is not so
great. Nor am I moved by his beauty, though even this 1 ac-
knowledge might Avell move. What when 1 consider that he is yet a !
mere youth, not his charm.s, but pity for his age touch my breast. What !
374 P. OVIDIl NASONIS
Al/i dtitn licet,
reli/ii/
liojies,
m
q tie crucntos
Diun hospes, abi ; thalamosque relinque cru-
licet,
thalainos. Meinn con-
entos 620
jugiiim Cil crudilc ;
nulla nolct nithrre ti-
I'i, el po!e.t optoi a
Conjugium crudele meum est. Tibi nubere nulla
sapicnte pucUd. Ta- Nolet : et optari potes a.
sapiente puella.
men. cur cura Ini est
Cur tamen est mihi cura tui, tot jam ant^ peremptis ?
mi/ii,fofpcremplisjam
anil/ y'tdcrit: intc- Viderit: intereat: quoiiiam totcsede procorum
rcal: qiiouiavmon est
udmonitus cade tut x'\draonitus non est agiturque intsedia vits
;
625
j>rccofitm ; n^ititrqne
in ttrdia vitcc. Igiticr
Occidet hie igitur, voluit quia vivere mecum ?
Itic quia vo-
Iridignamque necem, pretium patietur amoris
occldet, :
iiiit v'u'cre mccum ?
jiatieturque indigiitim Non erit invidiaj victoria nostra ferendse.
necem pretium amo-
ris f Nostra victoria Sed non culpa mea est. Utinam desistere velles !
ausis ; et adjuvet igiie-^ quosdedit. Auranon invida detulit blandas preces ad me. Sum mola,
fateor ; ncc longa mora opts dahatur. Est ager, indigene dicunt Tamasenum nomine ; pars op-
tima C'l/pria telluris; quetn prisci
TRANSLATION.
can I remain insensible to his heroic courage, and soul superior to the
fear of death ? What ! Is it nothing that he is numbered the fourth in
descent from the father of the floods that he loves me, and so highly ;
why am I, who havfe already destroyed so many, so tender of thee ? Let him
perish, it is his own fault since not awed by the fate of so many wooers,
;
he behaves like one weary of life. Shall he then die, because desirous to
live with me ? and suffer an unmerited death as the reward of his love ?
A victory so odious will only serve to blast my fame. But it is no fault of
mine. I wish you woidd forbear, or, since thus infatuated, I wish you
were swifter What a virgin bloom appears in his youthful countenance
! !
Ah wretched Hippomenes, would you had never seen me Thy life was
! !
worthy of a longer date. Had my fortune been more propitious did not ;
cruel fate deny me the comforts of a v.edded state thou alone art he with ;
whom I could have gladly shared my bed. She said and as one unexpe- :
rienced, and then pierced with Cupid's dart, not knowing Avhat she
first
does, she loves, and is not aware of the flame. Now the people, and her
father, demand the exnected race, ^\hen Hinj)omenes. the descendant of
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. X. 375
none but him, taught him what use to make of them. The trumpets had
now given the signal, when both start from the lists, and with nimble
feet glide
along the topmost sand. You would have thought they might
skim along the seas -with vmmoistened pace, and fly over the unbending
ears of ripened corn. The shouts and favour of the spectators add courage
to the
youth. Now, now (cried they), Hippomenes, is the time to shoot
boldly forward make haste strain every nerve banish delay, you shall
: : ;
reach the goal. It is hard to say whether the Megareian hero, or daughter
joyed most in these shouts. How oft, when she might have
of Schoeneus
])assed him, did she check her course, and with unwilling speed leave his
face, after gazing on it loiig. A dry panting issued from his faint moath,
and the goal was
yet a great way oii'. Then, at length, the hero of Nep-
tune's race threw one of the three apples pulled from the golden tree
376 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Et rursiis remorata
jactu sccmidi pom),
Et rursi^s pomi jactu remorata secundi,
coitseq iiitur
Consequitur, transitque virum. Pars ultima cursus
t rti nsit -
que virum. Lltinta
pars cursus restabat : Restabat. Nunc, inquit acles, Dea, muneris auctor :
Jiu/ic inquit
ades, O
W(«, aurtor mumris, Inque latus canipi, quo tardiiis ilia rediret,
jfcitque jHrntilitcr u':-
tiitum aurum ab obli-
Jecit ab obliquo nitidum juveniliter aurum. 675
<luo ill latus caiupi, An peteret, virgo visa est dubitave coegi :
turis; exhortorque
in amboy.
Illic concubitiis intempestiva cupido
ineipsam.
Transibant templa ab- a numine concita nostro.
dita nemorosis silris, Occupat
"
f - Hippomenen,
.- -.„ ^ .
,
quie clarus Ecuion Lumuus
~ - _ .-. luerat propc
cxigui . , templa rcccssus,,691
/
quondam fecerat ma-
tri Dei'im ex voto et .•
Speluncae similis, nativo pumice tectus ;
longum iter suasit eos
requiescere. Illlc in- Religione sacer prisca: quo multa sacerdos
tcmpcllva cupido con-
cubitus, concita d nos-
Lignea contulerat veterum simulacra Deorum:
tro niimine, ociuput Hunc init; et vetito temerat sacraria probro. 695
Hippomenim. Tteees-
stis exigui lumiiiisfue-
Sacra retorserunt oculos turritaque Mater, ;
rat prope templa, similis spelunc<E, et tectus nativo pumice, sacer priscA religione : qiio sacer-
dos contulerat multa lignea simulacra veterum Deorum; Init hunc; et temerat sacraria vetito-
probro. Sacra retorserunt oculos ; maferque trrrita
TRANSLATION.
The virgin stood amazed, and charmed Avith the beauty of the shining^
fruit, turns from her course, and takes up the rolling gold. Hippomenes
passes her the theatre rings with applauses.
;
She atones for the delay
and time by her redoubled speed, and again leaves the youth behind
lost,
her. Again stopped by the allurement of a second apple, again she over-
takes and passes him. The last part of the race only remained now ;
(says he), goddess, the bestower of this gift, aid me and then to retard ;
her the more, with youthful might, tossed the last apple across the
still
plain. The
virgin seemed to doubt whether she should fetch it I com- :
pelled her to take it up, and added weight to it, and hindered her both by
the weight of the load, and the delay of reaching it. And that my story
may not be more tedious than the race, he passed the virgin, and victo-
rious obtained the prize.
Did I not merit, think you, Adonis, to have a return of thanks, and
incense burnt on my altar ? But he, ungrateful, neither returned me
thanks, nor offered incense. I am
a sudden rage, and pro- thrown into
voked at contempt of future
this neglect, resolve to provide against the
lovers, by a memorable example and animate myself against both. They
;
,,,,., , ^ 1- -.-^ ,
m ungues
•
ergo 7nodi fulv(F jtibm
Collajubee velant: diQiti curvantur : reinntia-tiavoiia: di-
Pro thalamis clebrant silvas: alnsque timendi bet iram.- pro verbis
mother of the gods, whose head is crowned with turrets, revolved within
herself whether she should plunge the guilty wretches in the Stygian flood.
But this punishment seemed too mild. Therefore tawny manes were im-
claw s,
mediately seen to cover their smooth necks their nails are bent into ;
their arms become legs, and their whole strength rushes into their breast !
With their tails they sweep the surface of the sand, their looks are full
of rage, their voice is changed into a roaring noise, and, instead of palaces,
with
they frequent the woods hence now become real lions, they champ
;
and with
foaming jaws the reins of Cybele. These, my dear Adonis, avoid
:
them all such beasts of as turn not their backs to but offer their
prey flight,
to us both.
breasts to the fight thy rash courage should prove fatal
;
lest
XII. XIII. She indeed gave this advice, and with her harnessed swans
him not to
winged her through the air but his sprightly courage suffers
;
i'Hthcrea vecta prr me- Vecta levi curru medias Cytherea per auras
(Hiisauras let I lurru,
iKvidum pcrvencrat Cypron olorinis nondiim pervenerat alls.
(i/jiron ol'jrhii.s tills,
sprung up from the scented blood. Such is the blossom of the punic apple,
whose seeds lie concealed luider the filmy rind. Its duration, however,
is but short for the flower, which has but a slender hold of its stalk,
:
LIBER UNDECIMUS.
Ac velati supplex pro tam furialibus ausis. cit notam sine vninere.
Telum alterius est la-
Ante pedes jacuit. Sed enim temeraria crescunt pis ; qui missus, victus
est in ipso acre con-
itutu vocisque lyreeque, ac jacuit veluti supplex ante pedes, pro ausis tamfurialibus. Sed enim
temeraria
TRANSLATION.
1. TTTHILE with songs, like these, the Thracian poet assembled round
¥ V him the woods, and savage beasts, and listening rocks lo the ;
!
Ciconian matrons, whose raving breasts were clad with shaggy skins,
tiom the summit of a rising ground espy Orpheus, fitting his voice to the
strokes of his lyre. When one of them, tossing her streaming locks in
air, Here, lo, here (she cried), is that contemner of our sex and hurled ;
her spear at the melodious mouth of the Apollinean bard but its point, ;
twisted roimd with wreaths of ivy, made a slight mark, without any
woimd. Another snatches up a stone, which, darted at him, was subdued
i-'i its
airy course by the melody of his voice and lyre, and fell suppliant
at his feet, as if
imploring pardon for so daring an attempt. But soon
I'lis frantic tumult increases, all the boundaries of moderation are broken,
and dire fury reigns. Yet all their weapons had been subdued by the
NO TES.
Ovid, after luiving made Oipheus en- a vile insect, who sought to nourisii him-
tertain us so Irini; and well in the last self with the blood of tirat poet, and
book, here recounts tlie story of iiis death. whose stupidity they meant to represent,
The most remarkable circumstances in by saying that he was clianged into a
this relation are, tliat of a serpent changed stone. As to what regards the metamor-
into a stone, and the transformation of phosis of the Thracian matrons, who
the Bacchantes into trees. The first is were changed into trees for having so
probably no more than a poetical fiction cruelly put Orpheus to death ; it is an
added to embellish the history. Yet se- emblem expressive of their liaving been
veral mythologists pretend, that the an- punished for the bloody attempt, or to
cients, under this fable, have given us the inform us, tliat they perished in the ca-
history of an inhabitant of Lesbos, who verns, vviiithcr they retired to hide them-
was punished for attacking the reputation selves from the puuishment they so justly
of Orpheus. They regarded the critic as deserved.
380 P. OVIDII NASONIS
ir
•• -
ICritDiys regnal ; citnc-
- tela lorent cantu mollita sed ingens 15
Cunctaque :
cunintis, angiiesque,
agmenque fcrariini ti- ,
Et coeunt, ut aves si quando luce vagantem.
;
frtore',"'i"'rs '^'sMcel
Dura lacertosi fodiebant arva coloni :
,
•
yelUngs, deafened the sound of his moving lyre. Then at length the stones
were stained with the blood of the poet, who could no longer be heard.
And first this female crew drive away a numberless throng of birds listen-
ing to the poet's song, and snakes, and troops of wild beasts, which ga-
thered round the lyrist, formed a Then with bloody
glorious theatre.
right hands they attack Orpheus himself, and flock together like birds,
when they espy the boding fowl of night strolling about by day or, when ;
javelins entwined with leafy greens, and destined for a more sacred use.
Some hin-1 clods of earth, some flints, and branches torn from trees and ;
that arms may not be wanting to their rage, it chanced that some oxen
were breaking open a field with the piercing share, and hard by the
brawny peasants providing food with laborious toil, Avere digging up the
reluctant earth who seeing this frantic troop, take to flight, and leave
:
r-,T.
lendentemq manus, atq; tempore primura
;
lamque t iv , , .
obsctira pullo. capH.
Excipis : et (mirum) medio dum labitur amne, losquepassos. Membra
T->i 1 -1
•
•! •, 1 n •! T 1 juccnt diversa locis.
Jblebile nescio quid queritur lyra, ilebile lingua tu, Hebre exdpis ca.
Murmurat exanimis respondent flebile ripse. :
Vliriy^a^^MUuT
amne queritur
Jamq mare invecttc flumen populare relinquiint:
-t^
t.t
-xi
;
-y
MethymnEese potiuntur
i-Ti-
Lesbi.
•
littore
rr
65
'"f'^'."
nescio quid flebile, Im-
gua eximims nmrmu-
Hic ferus expositum peregrinis anguis arenis poideu/J'ebUe'.'^ JaZ-
Os petit, et sparsos stillanti rore capiilos. ?;:;;;Z7i"^X;<;if;
landem Phoebus adest: morsusque inferre paran-* •"•
men, et putiimtur lu-
tore MethymncecB Les-
tem bi. Hie ferus anguis
C, r\ •
,
:
tamed the fiercest of the savage breed, and forced attention even from in-
sensate rocks. Thee, Orpheus, the disconsolate birds, thee, the savage
crowd, the rigid flints, and groves oft charmed by thy sti'ains, bewailed.
Thee, the drooping trees, stript of their leafy glories, mourned. They tell
us, that even the rivers swelled with their own tears and that the Naiads ;
and Dryads appeared in sable scarfs, and with dishevelled hair. His
limbs lie scattered in different parts. His head and harp are plunged in
Hebrus' stream and (Avondrous to relate) while they roll down its middle
,
current, the lyre sounds, I know not what mournful strain the lifeless ;
tongue murmurs in deadly notes, and the banks re-echo the moving sound.
And now borne downward to the sea, they leave their native stream, and
reach the shore of the Lesbos. Here a venoined snake at- Methymnean
tempts the head, landed on a foreign soil, and locks imbrued with clotted
gore. But Phoebus comes to his aid, and checks the monster, ready for
the devouring grasp whose
expanded jaws, transformed to stone, stand
;
hardened in the ghastly grin. His ghost flies downward to the Stygian
shades, and knows again the places it had seen before, and searching in
the regions of the and clasps her in his eager
pious, finds his Eurydice,
arms. Here sometimes they walk unmolested, side by side now he fol* ;
382 P. QVIDII NASONIS
invciiif Eurydice»,<im- Invenit Euiydicen, cupidisque amplectitur ulnis.
p{i'ctituri/ue ciipidis
uliiix. Hie modo ant- Hie modo conjunctis spatiantur passibus ambo :
bo spatiantur (oiiju?ic-
tispassibus, nunc se- Nunc praecedentem sequitur, nunc pravius anteit :
quoque fiunt robora : III. Nee satis hoe Baccho est. Ipsos quoque de-
humeri su7it robora,
futesque porrecta bra- serit
agros : 85
chia esse veros ramos,
etnon fallare putando. choro meliore, sui vineta
Cumque Tymoh,
III. Nee est hoc satis Baccho; deserit
quoque ipsos agros, cumque meliore choro petit vineta
TRANSLATION.
lows her with unanxious pace, now securely walks before, and now without
danger looks back upon his Eurydice.
II. Yet Bacchus suifers not this crime to
go unpunished, and concerned
for the loss of a poet, who was the
guardian of his mysteries, instantly
bound down in the woods, by a twisted root, all the Edonian matrons, ac-
complices of the guilt. For just as they stood, he lengthened out the toes
of their feet, and thrust them into the solid earth by a sharp point. And
as a bird, when she has entangled her leg in a snare, artfully hid by the
subtle fowler, finding herself fast, beats her
wings, and, fluttering, draws
the noose still closer by her struggles so as any one of these found her-
;
self rooted to the ground, startled, she in vain endeavours to get loose ;
for the pliant twig toughly keeps its hold, and proves strong enough to
baffle all her efforts. And while she looks to find her toes, feet, and nails,
she sees the rind rising round her shapely leg and attempting to smite ;
her thigh with her mournful right hand, she smites solid oak: her breast
too and shoulders are transformed to oak. You would think her extended
arms real houghs, nor would you be deceived in so thinking.
III. Nor does this suffice Bacchus he even resolves to quit the hated
;
plains, and with a better choir repairs to his favourite vineyards of Ty-
molus, and Pactolus not yet enriched with golden ore, nor to be envied
:
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XL 38§
fulvum aurinn. Liber annuit optatis, solvitque twcitura munera, et indoluit quod tton petisset
meiiora. Berecynthius heros abit latus, gaudetque malo :
TRANSLATION.
for its precious sand. Him his
usual throng of satyrs and nymphs sur-
round but Silenus is absent the Phrygian swains had seized him stag-
;
:
gering with age and wine, and dragged him, bound with garlands, to their
king Midas whom Thracian Orpheus, and Eumolpus of Athens, had
;
plains, and restores Silenus to the young god, his foster-child. The god,
pleased at having recovered his nursing-father, gave the king a power to
name his wish an offer grateful indeed and flattering, but which in the
;
end proved useless for he indiscreetly using the grant ; Give me (said
;
he) that whatever I touch with my body, may be converted into yellow
gold. Bacchus consented to his wish, and bestowed the hurtful present,
but grieved that he had not made a wiser demand. The Berecynthian
hero departs joyfid, and rejoices in his misfortune, and makes trial of the
NOTES.
90. At Silenus abest.'] All the ancients death, and several other points of mo-
agree in telling u.s, that Silenus had the rality, make it evident that
he must iiave
care of Bacchus' education, and we al- been a very extraordinary man. See the
ways find him eitlier with that god or the Prose Translation of Virgil, vol. I.
Bacchantes. It is a great mistake to 92. flJidan.] Midas was the son of Gor-
fancy this god an old battered debaHchee, dius and Cybele, and reigned, according
since he is often described as a to Strabo, in the greater Phiygia. As he
philoso-
pher, and great captain. The discovirse was extremely rich, and a good econo-
which Virgil puts into his mouth, and mist, it was given out that he couvorted
those ascribed to him whatever he touched into gold.
by Phitarch upon
384 P. OVIDII NASONIS
la. Vixque creiicns Vixque sibi credens, non alta fronde virentem
.sj-
yellow. He touched a clod too, and by the potent touch it becomes a mass
of gold. He plucked some dry ears of corn, and they shone a golden har-
vest. He holds in his hand an
apple pulled from a tree you would have ;
fingers on lofty door-posts, they seem to blaze Avith burnished gold. When
he washes his hands in the liquid stream, the water dropping from his
hands might have deceived even Danae. Scarce can he now contain his
own hopes, imagining every thing gold. His slaves set before their happy
lord a table spread with rich dainties, nor ill provided of bread. But
then whether he reached out his hand to touch the gifts of Ceres, imme-
diately they hardened into gold or if he attempts with hungry jaws
;
to devour the tempting morsels, the morsels, when touched by his teeth,
shone out plates of yellow gold. He had mixed some of his patron's
juice with pure water; you might have seen the fluid gold trickle
from his jaws. Amazed at the novelty of his misfortune rich, and at ;
T» •
1-i suhde •
i.'„'i. caput tuwnspu-
Rex jussae succedit aquae: vis aurea tinxit miferojonti, qua exit
from the mountain's brow. Here, where it bursts forth a mighty stream,
plunge thy head into the bubbling spring,
and purge at once thy body
and thy crime. The king plunges into the water as instructed the golden ;
charm tinctured the stream, and passed from his body to the river. And
eveu now the neighbouring plains, enriched with veins of gold, nourish
the hard ore, and the yellow glebe imbibes the precious stream.
IV. He, now hating wealth, delighted only in the woods and rural re-
treats, and resorted with Pan to the mossy caves and mountains. But his
stupidity still remained
and the folly which had invested his soul was
;
doomed to be again fatal to its owner. For Tmolus, rising steep with lofty
ascent, surveys far and wide the sea below and stretching in his descent ;
on either side, is here bounded by Sardis, and there by the small confines
NOTES.
149. Stolida prcBCordia mentis.'] Midas denote his stupidity, had condemned him
was remarkable for his diilness and stu- to carry ass's ears. Tmolus, whom the
pidity; hence arose the fiction of his poet tells us was the judge pitched upon
passingjudgment in favour of Pan against on this occasion, was the son of Mars,
Apollo; and they add, that this last, to and had been king of Lydia.
386 P. OVIDII NASONIS
gTa^!d'e' penduZ' ci^r. Isque Deum pecOHS spectaus, in judicc, dixit, 160
cum cava tempora.
deum Nulla mora est, Calamis agrestibus insonat ille ;
Isque spectans
pecoris, dixit, Est nul- Midan (aderat nam forte canenti)
la mora in judice. Barbaricoque
Jlle insimat agrestibus Carmine delinit. Post hunc sacer ora retorsit
calamis :
delinitque
Midan, (nam Jorl't Tmolus
ad os Phsebi vultum sua silva secuta est. :
'ulL"'sfrnZ'ifl'^uus Induiturquc
aures lente gradientis aselli.
Midre, nee Delius patitur stolidas aures retinere humanam figuram. Sed trahit cas in spa-
tium, impletque albentibus villis,facitque instabiles imo, et dat posse moveri. Cteterasunt ho-
minii. Vam/iatur in unam partem ; induiturque aures aselli gradientis lente.
TRANSLATION.
of Hypgepee. There, while Pan vaunts his strains to the tender nymphs,
and warbles an airy song on reeds jointed with wax, presuming to rank
this music even above Apollo's lays, he challenged him to an unequal
trial, under the decision of Tmolus. The aged judge seats himself upon
his own mountain, and frees his ears from the encumbering trees. His head
is hound with an oaken wreath, and the acorns dangle round his hollow
the motion of his venerable brow. The god, having his golden tresses
bound with a wreath of Parnassian laurel, sweeps the ground with a long
mantle of rich Tyrian dye and with his left hand supports his lyre,
;
adorned with gems and Indian teeth his other hand held the quill, and
:
his easy posture spoke a consummate artist. He then touches the strings
with a masterly hand whose soft music enchanting Tmolus, he adjudges
;
Pan to submit the reed to the lyre. This judgment and decision of the
sacred mountain is approved by all IMidas alone murmurs, and calls it
;
unjust. Nor does the Delian god suffer his untuned ears to wear a human
form, but lengthens them out, and covers them with grey hairs, and makes
them unstable, and moveable in their lower parts. The rest of his body
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XL 387
placing the mould, buries this discovery of his voice, and, silent, leaves
the covered trench. Here a thick grove of trembling reeds began to rise,
which ripening with the revolving year, betrayed the tiller for, moved ;
by a gentle south wind, it repeats the words that had been there buried,
and reveals the secret of Midas's ears.
VL
The son of Latona, having thus satisfied his revenge, leaves
Tmolus and, wafted through the liquid skies, rests in the plains of Lao-
;
medon, near the narrow sea of Nepheleian Helle. To the right of Si-
gaeum, and left of the far-projecting Rhoetsean promontory, stands an
ancient altar, sacred to the thunderer. Thence he first spies
Panomphsean
NOTES.
200. Laomedonta videt. 1 Laomedon was took tbat {jreat work, and succeeded so
king of Troy. As the city was not as yet well, that he is said to have been assisted
sarrounded with walls, this prince under- in it by Apollo.
%C%
388 P. OVIDII NASONIS
f:::!^ SS<.</;«.
Mortalemindmtur formam; Phrygioque tyranno
mnrus Phri/gw tyran- iEdificaut muios, pacto pi'o mcEnibus aiiro.
no, aiiro pitcto pro ci
, > , n •
^• •
^ ^ arxr:
mwnibu.s.opusst.abut:
"
otabat opus pretium rcx mticiatur; et addit
: 2Uo
rex
um 'e'tl!ddit'^pe7%ria
,
PerfidiaB cmimlum falsis perjm'ia verbis.
ctimulum perjidia- fill-
sis verbis. Jlector iiui-
Non impune feres, rector maris inquit: et omnes
ris inquit, Non feres Inclinavit aquas ad avarse littora Trojze.
impune : et incliiiavit
omnes aquas ad litto- Inque freti formam terras convertit ; opesque
rtiavartc Troja:. Con-
vert itque terras in Abstulit agricolis; et fluctibus obruit arva. 210
formam freti, abstu- Pcena neque hsec satis est: regis quoque filia
litque opes agricolis ;
et obriiit arva Jlucti- monstro
bus. Neque heec poena
est satis :
Jilia regis
Poscitur sequoreo. Quam dura ad saxa revinctam
poscitur quoqiie teijuo-
reo monstro : quam re-
Vindicat Alcides ; promissaque munera dictos
vinctam ad dura saxa, Poscit equos tantique operis mercede negata,
:
va conjuge nee ille : VII. Namque senex Thetidi Proteus, Dea, dix-
superbit magis nomine
avi, quam soceri. Si- erat, undae,
quidem contigit hand
uni taiitum esse tiepoti Concipe; mater eris juveni, qui fortibus actis
Jovis: Dea conjux Acta patris vincet; majorque vocabitur illo.
contigit uni.
Vlf. Namque senex Proteus dixerat Thetidi, Dea unda concipe ; eris mater juveni, quifortibus
actis, vincet acta patris ; vocubiturque major illo.
TRANSLATION.
Laomedon raising the walls of new Troy and that the mighty design was
;
the walls for the Phrygian king. The work was finished the king re- ;
fuses the promised reward, and accumulates his crime, by adding perjury
to falsehood. You shall not escape
unpunished, says the ruler of the deep,
and drove waves to the walls of covetous Troy. The earth has now
all his
the appearance of a sea, the
copious harvests are swept from the plains,
and all the fields ravaged by the billows. Nor does this punishment atone
for his crime a huge sea-monster demands the king's daughter for his
;
prey whom, bound to a rock, Alcides delivers, and demands the breed of
;
a service denied him, storms the twice perjured walls of conquered Troy.
Nor did Telamon, one of his companions in this war, come off without
honour, but enjoys Hesione, as his share of the spoils for Peleus was ;
Ergo ne quicquam mundus Jove majus haberet, Ergo, tie mundu.i ha-
beret qtiicqunm majvs
Quamvis haud tepidos sub pectore senserat ignes ;
Jove, quamvii Jupiter
seiiserat lunid tejfido.i
Jupiter aequorese Thetidis connubia vitat 226 :
ignes iiih pec/ure,i'ilat
Columbia irquoreaTlie-
Inque sua ^aciden succedere vota nepotem tidix: jiissitqiie JEa-
viden nepotem iucce-
Jussit; et amplexus in virginis ire marinee. derr in sua vofa, et ire
Est sinus Harmonise curvos falcatus in arcus : in amplfxii.s marina;
rirgini\. Jisf aitius
Brachia procurrunt ubi si foret altior unda, 230
; Hamoni(F falcatus in
curios areas: brachia
Portus erat summis inductum est sequor arenis.
:
si
prociirrviit, vbi,
Littus habet soUdum, quod nee vestigia servet, unda Joint altior, erat
port us : aquor est in-
Nee remoretur iter nee opertum pendeat alga.
;
diictvm snminis are-
nis. Habet littus soli-
Myrtea silva subest bicoloribus obsita baccis. dum, qitod nee servet
Est specus in medio natura factus, an arte, 235 vestigia, nee remore-
; tur iter; nee pendeat
Ambiguum magis ;
arte tamen quo sa^pe venire : opertum alga. Silva
ntyrtea suliest, obsita
Frsenato delphine sedens, Theti, nuda solebas. bicoloribus baccis. Est
specns in medio, am-
Peleus, ut somno vineta jaeebas,
Illic te
bigiimn, unj'actus na-
tura, an arte ; tamen
Occupat: et quoniam precibus tentata repugnas ;
magis arte : quo Theti
Vim parat, innectens ambobus colla lacertis. 240 sape solebas vetiire
nuda, sedens frenato
Quod nisi venisses variatis ssepe figuris delpldne. Illic Peleus
Ad solitas artes ; auso foret illi potitus. occupat te, ut jaeebas
vineta sotnno: et qun-
Sed modo tu volucris (volucrem tamenille tenebat ;) niatn tentata preeVms
repugnas: parat vim,
Nunc gravis arbor eras: hgerebat in arbore Peleus. innectens colla ambo-
bus lacertis. Quod nisi
Tertia forma fuit maculosse tio'ridis: ilia 245 venisses ad sotitas ar-
Territus^acides a corpore brachia solvit. tes, Jiguris sa:pe, vari-
atis, ille foret potitus
Inde Deos pelagi, vino super aequora fuso, auso. Sed modb tu
eras volucris: (tamen
Et pecoris fibris et fumo thuris adorat. ille tenebat volucrem)
nunc eras gravis ar-
bor : PelcHS hffreliat i-1 arhore. Tertia forma fuit maculoste tigridis : JEaeides territus ilia,
solvit brachia a corpore. Inde adorat Dcos pelugi vinoj'uso super a:qtn}ra, et Jibris pecoris, et
f'umo thuris.
TRANSLATION.
Waves, conceive; thou shall be the mother of a youth, who, by his gal-
lant deeds, shall surpass even his father's fame, and gain a renown greater
than his. That the world,
therefore, might not behold any thing superior
though he felt in his breast a powerful flame, yet avoids
to Jove, that god,
the embraces of this goddess of the waters, yields all his pretensions
to his grandson Peleus, and permits him to go into the embraces
of this beloved sea-nymph. There is on the coast of Hsemonia a
bay, wrought into a bending arch, whose arras project, and which,
did the waves rise higher, would form a harbour but the sea scarce co-
;
vers the surface of the sand. The beach is firm, but neither retains the
impression of feet, nor refuses the traveller's steps, nor is covered with
sea- weed. Hard by is a myrtle grove, planted with party-coloured ber-
ries, and in the middle of the grove a grot, uncertain whether formed by
nature or art, but more likely by art. Hither Thetis was often wont to
resort, naked, borne on her harnessed dolphin. Here Peleus seized you,
Avhile you lay fast bound in
sleep and, because you was deaf to all his
;
solicitations, resolves upon violence, throwing both his arms round yoiu"
neck. And had you not had recourse to your wonted art, by assuming a
variety of shapes, the youth had succeeded in his attempt. But sometimes
you appeared a bird, yet still he detained the bird sometimes a mighty ;
tree, Peleus clung to the tree. The third form you assumed was that of a
spotted tiger: at this the sou of ^acns, affrighted, quitted his hold. He
390 P. OVIDll JNASONIS
modb innecte earn ie- lu moQO, cum gelido sopita Quiescet in antfo,
i
naram laoueis.vinclo- T i
•
i •
.
•
plectiturcotijessam.et T"!-
"trTTT i ^ ^i-
viii. relix ct nato, lelix et
t-*! -
•
thian sage said, from amid the waves Fear not, son of iEacus, you shall ;
enjoy the wished-for prize only, while she lies slumbering iu her cool
;
grot, bind the unwary nymph with cords and hampering bonds. Nor let
her deceive you, by assuming a hundred various forms, but hold fast,
whatever it is, until she returns to her first shape. Thus the prophet then ;
sunk beneath the flood, and the waves covered him as he uttered the last
words. Titan was now in his descending course, and, with his pole bent
downward, taking possession of the western main ; when the fair Nereid,
retiring from the sea, enters his wonted cave. Scarce had Peleus seized
her virgin limbs, when she throws herself into various shapes, till she
found herself held fast, and her arms extended different ways. Then she
sighed, and says,
You overcome not, Peleus, but with the aid of a god and ;
resumed her real form. The hero embraces the goddess thus revealed, en-
joys his much-desired bride, and fills her with the great Achilles.
VIII. Peleus was now happy in his son, and happy in his spouse, and
had enjoyed every desirable blessing without allay, but for the unhappy
accident of killing Phocus. Him, stained with the blood of his brother,
and banished his native country, the Trachinian land receives. Here
NOTES.
267. Jugulati crimina Phoci.'\ iEacus Tradition ascribes the blow to Telamon,
had three sons, Peleus, Telamon, and but Ovid has given it to Peleus, who,
Phocus. As the young princes were play- obliged ui)on this accident to leave his
^ one day, Phocus received so rude a
ntr with the nnoit. thiit he ilied of it.
father's court, withdrew to Ceyx.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XI. 391
Accipit. Hie regnum sine vi, sine caede tenebat, Ciyx, satus geiiilore
Luciferofereiisque ore
Lucifero genitore satus, patriumque nitorem 271 patrium nitorem, teiie-
bat regnumhic sine vi,
Ore ferens Ceyx; illo qui tempore moestus, .sine cade; quimoestus
illo tempore, dhsimi-
Dissimilisque sui, fratrem lugebat ademptum. lisque sui, liigehutfra-
Quo p'^stquam ^Eacides fessus curaque, viaque tremadeinpt.um. Quo
po^tquam yEaiides ve-
Venit; et intravit paucis comitantibus urbem; iiitjle'-sw. curdyiie vid-
que ; et in t nil it urbem
Quosque greges pecorum, quae secum avmenta jiaiicis comitantibiis ;
Qualiacunque vides.
'
Utinam raeliora videres: To\7mqueavutn.''"Nec
Et flebat. Moveat quae tantos causa dolores,
Z%'re7"omne'''qaod
Peleusque, comitesque rooant. Quibus ille pro- pfn'^, ndetoque hac
T.
i. o '
qualiacunque vides,
latur : tuH proparte. Utiuam
Forsitan banc voluerem, rapto quae vivit, et omnes Xau%^tutque^lmti
Terret aves,' semper pennas
r habuisse putetis.
r
tesquerogantqutEcau-
I su moveat tantos do-
lores :
quibus ille profatur : Forsitan putetis hanc voluerem qua vivit rapto,et terret otnnes aves,
semper habuisse penna'i.
TRANSLATION.
Ceyx, a son of Lucifer, in whose countenance Avas exhibited all the mild
brightness of his father, held the reins of government, without violence
or bloodshed but, at that time disconsolate, and unlike himself, he
;
mourned a brother's loss. Whither, after the son of iEacus was arrived,
fatigued with care and the length of the way, and had entered the city
with a few attendants, leaving his flocks of cattle and herds in a shady
vale near the walls when liberty was first granted him of approaching
:
the prince,
bearing before him in his suppliant hand the symbols of
peace : he informs him who he was, and of whom descended and only ;
for his
flight, he requests to be admitted into his city,
or kingdom. The
Trachinian prince, in return, thus addresses him, Avith mild aspect: Our
bounties are open to the meanest of the people, nor rule we here an uu-
hospitable kingdom you add to this, my natural bent, by the powerful
;
from Jove supreme waste not, therefore, the time in entreaties, you shall
:
obtain all you ask regard whatever you behold as, in part, your own ;
:
would (said he) they were better, and wept. Peleus and his companions
beg to know what can be the occasion of such mighty grief To whom the
king replies: Perhaps you may think that this bird, which lives by ra-
pine, and is the terror of other birds, was always covered thus with
plumes it was once a man, and still retains a vigour of mind equal to
;
392 P. OVIDII NASONIS
ad
genitore creatus
hello ; paratiisque illo ;
vim, creatus illu geiii-
tore qui vocut Auro- Qui vocat Auroram, coeloque novissimus exit.
ram, exit que novissi- Culta mihi pax est pacis mihi cura tenendae,
mus calo. Fax est ;
non tuiit moras, tan- Phoebus anum simulat; praeceptaque gaudia sumit.
gitque OS virginis vir- Ut sua maturus complevit tempora venter;
gil movente soporem: 311
illajacet tact a poten-
ti,putiturque vim Dei.
Alipedis de stirpe Dei versuta propago
Nox sparserat calutn T^ascitur Autolycus, furtum ingeniosus ad omne :
astris; Phaibiis simit-
lat anum; sumu'que Q"i facere assuerat, patriae non degener artis,
matu7us iZer''cJ^- Candida dc nigris, et de candentibus atra. 3 15
piemt sua tempora; Nascitur ^ Phoebo (naniQue est enixa pemellos)
Autolycus versuta ri i- -^i a t-h -i
propago,h,gemosus ad Uarmme vocau i
Q,
Conantemque Aloqui i\ sangunie
•
vita reliquit.
•
J„1^
,
5-^«rrS«fr1:
Quae pater haiadaliter,quamcautes murmura ponti, ijquit iiiam con„utem
loom. Qiicm
X ' '
11 OO loqui. dolorptn
OiiCJii doloretn
1 I
(said she) whether by actions we can please nor deferred she longer
her :
revenge but, bending her bow, and impelling an arrow with the string,
;
she, with the reed, transfixed her guilty tongue. Her tongue is silent, nor
do words or sounds follow her essay to speak, but at once the blood and
lifeforsook her in the vain attempt. Oh, hapless piety what anguish did !
I, her uncle, then feel what consolations did I offer to my pious bro-
!
ther but the father regards them no more than rocks the murmurs of the
!
sea and laments, without ceasing, the loss of his daughter but when he
;
:
saw her on the flaming pile, four times he essayed to rush into the middle
of the flames but four times thence repulsed, he, with rapid feet, betakes
;
himself to flight, and, like a bullock, who feels on his neck the galling
is no path to guide he
sting of wasps, bounds along, even where there
:
even then seemed to run with more than human swiftness, and you would
have fancied that he had got wings to his feet. He, therefore, easily
escaped our pursuit, and, made swift by his impatience for death, he gains
the top of Parnassus. But Apollo pitying Dgedalion, when he precipitated
himself from the summit of the rock, changed him into a bird, and sup-
394 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Veditque adunca ora, Qraque aduHca dedit, curves dedit unouibus hamos,
guibus, antiquam i4r- Vii'tutem antiquam, maiores corpore vires.
tutem, et virex ma-
jores corpore. EtJiunc
-i-t. \
tjt niinc
-f •
respiceret taut urn cnr- Pars gradibus tardis illiic errabat et illuc:
sns, quantum videret
.mperesse ; Parsque Nant alii, celsoque exstant super sequora coUo.
bourn inclinarat ge-
tiua fulris arenis, ja- Templa mari subsunt, nee marmore clara, nee auro ;
ccnsque syectahat
latarum
Sed trabibus densis, lucoque umbrosa vetusto. 360
campum a-
quarum. Pars crruhnt illuc et illiic tardis zrariibus. Alii nant, extantque super tequora
cclso collo. '/ewjila subsunt mari, clara nee miirmore, nee auro; sed densis trabibus umbrosa-
que luco vett!sto.
TRANSLATION.
ported
him hanging; in the air upon sudden wings. He gave him a crooked
beak and hooked talons, his wonted bravery, and strength beyond his
bulk. And now, become a hawk, regarding none, he rages equally against
all birds, and. grieving himself, is the cause of grief to others.
IX, Which wonders, while the son of Lucifer relates of his brother,
Phocean Antenor, keeper of the herd, flies in all haste to our hero and, ;
even the Trachinian hero is alarmed, and trembles through fear. Ante-
nor thus relates his tale I had driven the weary herd to the winding
:
shore, what time the sun, at the highest in the middle of his orb, looks
back on as much of his course, already passed, as yet remained for him
to run part of the oxen, resting their knees upon the yellow sand, viewed
:
as they lay, the extended watery plains part wandered up and down ;
with tardy steps others swim, and with their tall necks appear above the
;
waves. Not far from the sea stands a temple, adorned with neither marble
nor gold, but raised of solid beams, and shaded by an ancient grove, the
NOTES.
348. Armenti custos Phoceus Antenor.'^ country, earned off great droves of cattle,
The foundation of this new fiction is his- &c., and among the rest those of Peleus.
torical. iEacus had two wives, Egina and Solicitations and entreaties were em-
Psamathe. By the first he had Peleus ployed to pacify Lycomedes the general
;
and Telamon, and by the second Phocus. was recalled, and, to embellish the nar-
Lycomeds, king of Seyros, brother to ration, it was pretended, tiiat he had been
Psamantlie, determined to revenge the metamorphosed into a rock. A lively
death of his nephew, declared war against figure to express how the current of that
Ceyx, for receivin<r Peleus into his king- commander's victories, who, like a fierce
dom. The general who commanded in beast of prey, had ravaged all the coun-
that expedition, after laying waste the try, was stopped on the sudden.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XI. 395
Duni deiensamus, leto est data, i^sanguine littus, que famem cade boum,
,.
Dvim superest aliquid, cuncti coeamus, et arma, de/ensamus,sauciafii-
.
' '
ill- •
7iesto morsu, est data
.
not think of appeasing his hunger, and dire thirst of blood, by the slaugh-
ter of oxen, but wounds the whole herd, and assaults them with hostile
fury. Some of us too, while we endeavour to defend
the herd, fall a prey
to his rage and baleful bites. The shore and nearest waves, and echoing
lakes, are stained with blood. But delay may be fatal nor does
the thing ;
admit of hesitation before all is destroyed, let us take arms arms, and
: ;
march in a body, equipped with darts. Thus the swain but Peleus is not :
moved at the loss, and calling to mind his crime, concludes, that Psamathe,
as an offering to the
grieving for the death of her son, sent this calamity
shade of murdered Phocus. The CEtean king commands his men to put on
their armour, and provide themselves with hostile darts he, himself, too, :
was preparing to accompany them but his wife Halcyone, roused by the ;
tumult, runs out, and, throwing her half-plaited hair behind her, hangs
round her husband's neck, entreating now with words, now with pleading
396 P. OVlDll NASONIS
TRANSLATION.
tears, that he would only send his men, and, by staying behind himself,
save two lives in one. To her the son of jEacus O queen, lay aside your :
just and dutiful tears the offer you make is too much to my advantage
;
:
I choose to employ no arms against this new monster, but appease the
sea-nymph with humble prayer. There was a high tower, and upon the
top of it a fire a place grateful to weary ships. Thither they mount, and
;
behold with grief the slaughtered bulls strewed along the shore, the cruel
monster ravaging with bloody jaws, and having his long hairs stained
with gore. Upon this, Peleus, extending his hands toward the margin of
the watery plains, deprecates the anger of injured Psamathe, and begs
her aid nor is she moved by the entreaties of the suppliant son of iEacus,
:
until Thetis, interceding, obtained this favour for her spouse. Yet still
the wolf persists, unrecalled from the furious slaughter, keenly urged by
his native thirst of blood, until, fastening upon the neck of a mangled
heifer, he is changed by the nymph into marble. His body retains
all its
ibrmer marks but the colour the colour of the stone shews that he is now
:
Coiisulat ut sacras,
Ad
ft T /-^,
hominum
i--r\
Clarium parat ire Ueuni nam templa profanus eras sortes, oiuertami- :
oblectaniina, sortes,
i 1^ f"^"*-*'"* "'' ff^rwrn
0.1
Consilii tamen ante sui, fidissima, certam
le
-T
ssa receperunt ; buxoque similimus ora
415 t'^e^yis. /.wiebant
tacit, Halcyone, cui protmus intima tri^us
TeceperwT ^flfgZ^,
•
Qi
Ter conata loqui, ter fletibus ora rigavit:
CI
•
1
J' 'i
"
feingultuque pias interrumpente querelas,
use mea culpa tuam, dixit, carissime, mentem
i
paiiurqw simuitmus
420
.
• •
1 Anf\ "'"", oout i>ra,geiia-
?«f mudnere profusis
laclirvMis. Conuia ter
ir.qui,ter rigavit ora
•^Interrumpenu^^
querelas, dixit, Caris-
w ' y T ,., . .
sime, qua mea culpa
Jam via longa placet. Jam sum tibi
-,
carior absens.
^ 1
vertit tuam mentem?
At (puto) per terras iter est, tantumque dolebo 425 ; 5,*^ 'clraloullt Tsll
Non etiam metuam: curseque timore carebunt. ' T^
prius;jam potes abesse
securus, Halcyone re-
_-, . . . .
O.
_ . tore, et siepe legi no- .
11 1
JNil lUis vetitum est, mcommendataque tellus »««a ««& corpore in
n /-IT !•! i tumulis. Neve fallax
,
TRANSLATION.
his brother, and the prodigies that followed
it, resolves to visit the Clarian
god, and consult his sacred oracles, that consolation of men: for profane
Phorbas, with his Thessalian crew, had rendered the temple at Delphi
inaccessible. But first he imparts his design to his faithful Halcyone. A
sudden coldness shoots through all her bones, a paleness like box covers
her face, and her cheeks are wet with flowing tears. Thrice essaying to
speak, thrice she watered her face with her tears, and sobs interrupting
her pious complaints What fault of mine (said she) my dearest lord, has
:
thus changed your mind ? where is that concern for me, hitherto so re-
markable in you ? Can you then depart with an easy mind, and leave
your Halcyone behind you ? Now you seem fond to undertake a long
journey now am I more agreeable when at a distance but, perhaps your
;
:
journey is over land, and I shall have only cause of grief, but not of fear,
and my concern shall be without any apprehensions for your safety. But
the waves, and
image of the stormy sea, affright me for late I saw broken ;
planks upon the shore, and have often read names upon empty tombs. Nor
let a false confidence lull
you into security, because you have for your
father-in-law jEoIus, the son of Hippotas, v/ho confines the strong winds
in caves, and can, w hen he the tumult of the sea not :
pleases, appease
so for, when once let
;
loose, they have got possession of the deep, nothing
checks their course, but on they sweep, and insult land and sea without
distinction
they even drive before them the clouds of heaven, and, meet-
;
ing in fierce uproar, strike the sky with rapid lightning. The more I
398 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Quo mag is Q"^ magis hos novi (nam novi, et saepe paterna
(nam voii, ITiarZ
stFpe yaternii do-
villi Parva domo vidi) magis hoc reor esse tiniendos.
mo) hoc magii rear esse
timenrios. Quoclsi,care Qu6d tua si flecti precibus sententia nullis, 439
conjtix, tua sententia
jtotestjlecti nullis pre- Care, potest, conjux; nimiiimque es certus eundi ;
metuam nisi qua pa- Quicquid erit: pariter super sequora lata feremur.
tiar: fercmusque pa-
riter quicquid erit, et
Talibus ^olidos dictis, lachrymisque movetur
feremur pariter stiper Sidereus conjux neque enim minor ignis in ipso est.
:
partem res-
Longa quidem nobis omnis mora
pertcli: sed tibi
ponditq ue multa solun-
:
juro
tia timidum pectus, Per patrios ignes me mod5 fata remittant)
nee t amen idcirco pro-
batcausam. Addidit
.\ - (si
\t
Ante reversurum, quam Luna bis impleat orbem.
^
• •
i i
'
ilHs hoc quoque leni — • - - -
men, quo solo Jiexit His ubi promissis spes est admota recursiis ;
amantem. Mora omnis Protiniis eductam navalibus sequore tingi, 455
est quidem longa nobis:
sed juro tibi per pa-
trios ignes ('*i tnodn Aptarique suis pinum jubet armamentis.
fata remittant me J me Qua rursias visa, veluti preesaga futuri,
reversurum antequum
luna bis implent or- Horruit Halcyone lachrymasque emisit obortas
: :
will be alike exposed to every chance, and together encounter the terrors
of the main. These words and tears of the daughter of iEolus make a
great impression on her husband, the offspring of the morning star for ;
neither does the fire of love flame less violent in him. But neither will
he be dissuaded from his intended voyage, nor admit Halcyone to share
the danger with him and seeks, by many arguments to allay her boding
:
fears. But yet he cannot bring her to approve his cause at length, he :
added to this prevailing motive, which alone induced his loving spouse to
comply I swear by the holy flame of my father, that (if heaven allows
;
me life) I will return before the moon hath twice completed her orb. When
by these promises he had given her hopes of his speedy return, he forth-
with orders a ship to be hauled from the dock, and rigged for service with
vail expedition. When Halcyone
again beheld, as if her mind presaged
the
broaching woe, she trembled in every limb, and shed a torrent of tears,
|tely swooned away. But the youthful band, (while Ceyx is seeking
.<ces for delav") ranged in double rows, draw their oars to their
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XI. 39S)
-r> i•
1 1
TRANSLATION.
breasts, and with equal strokes cut the sea. She reared her humid eyes,
and first espied her husband on the crooked stern, making signs with his
hand. She returns the signs and when the land receding farther, still
;
ijicreases the distance, that she can now no longer distinguish the much-
loved face, she yet pursues the flying ship M'ith her eyes. When that
too, borne forward in its course, withdraws from view, she keeps her eyes
fixed on the sails, waving from the top of the mast. When these too dis-
appear, full of anxious grief, she retires to her solitary chamber, and
throws herself upon the bed. The bed and place renew Halcyone's tears,
and put her in mind of her absent lord. They were now got from the
the hanging oars
port, and a rising gale tossed the ropes the rowers urge ;
towards the sides of the fix the sail-yards on the top of the mast, and
ship,
spread the canvass full, to catch the coming breeze. The galley
had now
run part, at most the half of her course, and the land, on each side, was
at a great distance; when, toward night, the sea began to whiten with
with greater violence.
swelling waves, and the stormy east wind to blow
bind the main-sheet
Presently the master cries. Lower your top-sails, and
to the yard. He orders, but the adverse storms hinder the execution nor ;
does the noise of the sea suffer his voice to be heard. Yet of themselves
they hasten, some to draw in the oars, others to stop the leaky sides,
and part to bind up the sails from the winds, one pumps up the waves, and
400 P. OVIDII NASONIS
mighty is the calamity, so much it baffles all his skill for the air re- :
sounds with the mingled cries of the sailors, the rattling of cordage, the
waves dashing one against another, and the redoubled peals of thunder.
The sea ascends in waves, and seems equal to heaven, and sprinkles with
briny dew the surrounding clouds and sometimes tossing from below the
;
yellow sands, it appears of a colour with them again blacker than the ;
The Trachinian galley too feels these various changes and, one while ;
raised on high, seems, as from the top of a mountain, to look down on the
valleys below, and deep mansions of Acheron again, subsiding
with the ;
waves, enclosed by the surrounding sea, she, from the infernal waves,
surveys the height of heaven. Oft the waves, beating against the
sides, make a loud report, and rebound with noisy din as when the ;
driven by a hurricane of winds, advance against the sides of the ship, and
METAxMORPHOSEON, Lib. XI. 401
P~
Pars igitur tentabat adhuc invadere pinum,
ars mans mtus
nes
• •
.\ ,
Sic ubi acres Jiuctus
erat.
m •! i^^"J
irepidant naud segnms
-v
om-
coj_
piilsarunt
tera, impetus
unda insurgens vus
ardua
deam^
la-
ford a passage to the hostile wa^es. Lo the clouds dissolve, and fall in !
copious showers and, you v/ould imagine, the whole sky poured down in
;
sheets of rain the sea too, swelled, seems to mount into the regions of
;
the sky. The sails are wet with tlie rain, and the waters of the sea are
mixed with the waters of heaven the firmament is without its fires, and
:
the horrors of the night are doubled by its own darkness, and that of the
storm together. Yet even these are dispersed by frequent flashes of light-
ning that afford a sudden gleam the sea seems all on fire with these ;
blazes breaking from the sky. And now the waves jump about within the
hollow texture of the ship; and as a soldier, distinguished by his valour
from all the rest, after often assaulting the walls of a defended city, en-
joys his hopes at length and, influenced with adesiie of praise, tlicugh
;
but one among a thousand, possesses himself of the walls sj Avhile the ;
invading billows batter the sides of the ship, the fury of the tenth wave,
rising above the rest, advances witJi impetuous sway nor ceases ti; as- ;
sault the vessel's battered ribs, until it, as it were, descends within tha
walls of the yielding Part therefore of the waves still attempt tc
ship.
get into the ship part had already seized the prize. The whole crew arj
;
/ton lidct , poscit opem: Huic cum pignoribus domus, et quod cuique relic-
JriiCrcsque parejisque
sulh'unt illi, douiiis turn est.
cum 'jiignoribHs huic,
It quod relictum est Halcyone Ceyca movet Ceycis in ore : 544
cuique. Halcyone mo-
vet Ceyca: nulla niii
Nulla nisi Halcyone est: et cum desideret unam,
.Halcyone est in ore Gaudet abesse tamen. Patriae quoque vellet ad oras
Ceycis; et cum desi-
dei et unam, tmnen Respicere, inque domum supremos vertere vultus.
earn abesse.
gauilet
f'ellet quoque respi-
Verum ubi sit nescit. Tanta vertigine pontus
cere ad oras potrirr, Fervet: et inducta piceis e nubibus umbra 549
verlereque supremos
tiultus in dvmum. t'e- Omne latet coelum duplicataque noctis imago est.
:
many different shapes as are the waves that come pouring in on every
side. One cannot refrain from tears, another is quite stupified with grief,
a third counts those happy whom funeral honours await. This man ad-
dresses the gods in prayer, and, stretching forth his hands toward heaven,
which he cannot see, in vain begs relief. One calls to mind his brothers
and parents, another his family and children, and every dear pledge left
behind him. Ceyx thinks only of his Halcyone no name, but that of ;
Halcyone, is in his mouth and though he wishes for her alone, yet is he
;
glad that she is absent. He would have fain too looked back on his na-
tive coasts, and turned his last views toward his home, but he knows not
where they are so mighty a hurricane embroils the sea, and the whole
;
face of heaven lies hid under a dark shade of pitchy clouds, doubling the
gloomy of night. The mast is broke down by the violence of the
image
storm, the rudder too is borne away, and the insulting surge, standing
over the spoil, looks down with an air of triumph on the waves below ;
and, tumbling, rushes with no less violence, than if Athos and Pindus,
torn from their foundations, were precipitated into the sea; and, by the
\veight and stroke together, sinks
the ship to the bottom. With her a great
part of the crew plunged into the deep, nor rising again, paid the debt of
fate. Others
grasp the beams and broken fragments of the ship. Even
METAMORPHOSEON, Lin. XI. 403
nullam sibi.. At de tot votis hoc solum poterat contingere illi. At Dea non sustinet ultra ro-
gari pro functo moi te ; utque arceut funestas mantis avis dixit; Irifjidissiata nuncia mea vocis.
;
TRANSLATION.
Ceyx himself, with that hand which lately swayed a sceptre, now seizes a
broken plank, and in vain, alas invokes his father and father-in-law but
!
:
her name
chiefly, as he swims, he calls upon Halcyone her he remembers, ;
he repeats, and wishes that his dead body, wafted to shore by the waves,
may meet her searching eyes, and be buried by her friendly hands.
While he swims, as often as the raves permit him to open his mouth, he
calls upon Halcjone, and murmurs her dear name even under the deep.
When, lo! a bending arch of water breaks over the mid-waves, and
whelms his head beneath the foaming surge. Lucifer, obscure that night,
and such that you could not know him, because he was not permitted to
leave his station in heaven, hid his face under thick clouds. Mean time
the daughter of jEoIus, ignorant of this mighty disaster, computes the
for Iiim to wear,
nights, and hastens, against the promised time, a robe
hastens a garment for herself too, and flatters herself with the vain hope
of his retiu-n. She indeed offered to all the heavenly jwwers,
pious incense
but, above all, paid her adorations at the temple of Juno, and came to
the altars to intercede for her husband, who was now no more. She
offered up vows for his and return, and that no rival might possess
safety
his heart but this last
:
of all the requests she made, was granted
alone,
her. And now the goddess, tired of these vain devotions for the dead, that
404 P. OVIDII NASONIS
ut mittat ad
juheque Extiiictique iubc Cevcis imagine mittat
Hiilciionemimagineex- •
i tt i
ti'icilceycis, somnia boiiinia aci HalcyoneHi veros narrantia casus.
narrantia veros casus.
Dijcerat. Irisinduitiir Dixerat. Induitur velamina mille colorum
telamiiia mille colo-
ium,et sigiKins calitm Iris, et arquato ccelum curvamine signans, 590
arqnato ciirvamine, Tecta petit iussi sub rupe latentia regis.
petit tectajussi regis.
latenHasuhrupe. Est iLst prope Cimmerios longo spelunca recessu,
K«
mons
"^S'l-^X.
domus
Mons cavus, ignavi domus et penetralia Somni •
cavus, et
penetralia ignavi Som-
Quo nunquam radiis oriens, mediusve, eadensve
ni :
quo Plicebtis oritns, Phcebus adii e potest. Nebulae caligine mistae 595
mediiisve, eadensve,
nuiiquum potest ciriirc Exhalantur humo dubiseque crepuscula lucis.
;
Ne/mlte jiiixta
rai/iis.
culigine cihaldntur Non vigil
ales ibi cristati cantibus oris
hiimo, crcpuscnlaquc Evocat Auroram nee voce silentia rumpunt
:
dubite liicis. Jbi vigil
ales noil evocat euro- canibusve sagacior anser.
Sollicitive canes, 599
ram caiitihus cristati
oris : t/ec sollicitive Non fera, non pecudes, non moti flamine rami,
canes, anservc saga- Humaneeve sonum reddunt convicia linguae:
cinr ranibus, riimpunt
silenlia voce. Nonfera,
non non rami
Muta quies habitat. Saxo tamen exit ab imo
Rivus aquse Lethes per quem cum murmure labens
peciides,
inoti Jiiimine, cotivici- :
innumeraque
florent,
herba: .,
de quarum At uiedio torus cst cbeuo sublimis
.
atra, 610
>
m
ilpoTem, ''T%a%% Plumcus, atricolor, pullo velamine tectus :
per opacas
Nulla janua
terras.
est \\\to-
Qu^ cubat ipse
^ Dcus,' mcmbris languore
° solutis.
til domo, quiE reddat stridorem verso cardine ; nullus custos in limine. At medio est torus sub-
limis, in atra el>eno,plumeus, atricolor, tectus pullo velamine: quo ipse JJeus cubat, membris
so'.utis languore.
TRANSLATION.
she might repel her polluted hands from the altars Go (said she), Iris, ;
are
ting, can never penetrate with his rays. Fogs, mixed with darkness,
exhaled from the ground, and the twilight of a doubtful sky. Here no
watchful
crowing cock calls up the morning with his horny bill nor do ;
voice the
dogs, or geese still more wakeful than dogs, disturb with their
silence of the place. Nor wild beasts, nor cattle, nor boughs bending to
tlie Avind, nor the clamours of a human likeness of
tongue, produce any
sound, but mute Rest has here her abode and a branch of the river Lethe,
;
in-
issuing from the bottom of the rock, and creeping over the pebbles,
vites to sleep by its gentle murmurs. At the mouth of the cave poppies
grow in crowds, and innumerable herbs from whose juice humid night ;
gathers her sleepy power, and scatters it over the darkened earth. In
S,
Hunc
.-J
omnia vana jacent totidera,
METAMORPHOSEON,
circa passim varias imitantia formas
quot messis aristas,
Silva gerit frondes, ejectas littus arenas.
Quo simul intravit, manibusque obstantia viroo
Sj. ,• r •
,
omnia dimovit; vestis rulgore reiuxit •,
°
.
'^"'^^ '"""^ '""'« *'^'-
nia imitantia varias
Muras passimjaccnt,
615 i'eru'"ariJtus, "'ttili
f>oiutes, uttus ejectas
annas. Quo .simul vir-
^
gointravit,dimoiUgue
,
1
. .
Lib. Xf. 405
Sacra domus :
tard-Aque Deus gravitate jacentes "l^^f"J^u"t,Zs
Vix oculos tollens ; iterumque iterumque relabens,
'^eTsqi{'1ir%7ueZ
Summaque percutiens nutanti pectora mento,' 620 "''"'''* Jacetues tarda
E-i tandem
xcussit
, ^1 -1
sibi se
cubitoque levatus,
•
:
1 •', 1 , graiUale, iterumque
iterumque rciubcns.
Quid veniat (cognarat enim) scitatur. At ilia :
K'/i'^S/Ji^r,
quies rerum, placidissime Somne Deorum.>
"c«v.v?7 ^e
Somne,.1. vi.
-p) r
1 ax animi, quem cura lugit, qui corda diurnis
o/i
IT ff "^«"
01; leratiisqve cnbU.o
scitatur quia vodat
T? ••/••
l^essa mmistenis mulces,
^^^
625
1 11. (enim co"norat eani. J
reparasque labori ;
^^ i^^« respotuut : .sw
Somnia, qua veras sequent imitamine formas, 'ne%ac-Mme '^mo.
Herculea Trachine iube, sub imag-ine reois,
HI J .•^•11
alcyonen adeant simulachraq; nauiraganngant:
;
°r^^ *'""' vax a?iimi,
cura Jugit; qui mulces
cordafes.saciiurnismi-
quem
po^iquamperegit man-
TX/r I, AT -n -v 1 •
1 /-.«,- data, abit. Aeque enim
Morphea. iNon illo ussos solertius alter 635 poferut uitirius tou-
rare vim vuyoris. i:t-
?,,,,„ -i."
I^xprimitincessus, li J 1 T
vultumque,modumqueloquendi, que sensit Somnnm
Adjicit et vestes, et consuetissima cuique ifULVt^'j^'frcus
per quos modovenerat. At pater, k populo suorum mille natorum, excitat Morphea artijivem, si-
mulatoremque figura. ISun alter exprimit jussos ineessus solertius illo,
ViUtumque vtodumuue
loqueudi; adjicit et vestes, et verba consuetissima
TRANSLATION,
the whole palace was no door, that, in
turning on hinges, might occasion
a noise no porter was stationed to
;
guard the entrance. But in the middle
of the hall is a bed, raised
high on black ebony, stuffed with blacli fea-
thers, and covered with a black quilt, on which the god himself lies his ;
limbs dissolved in sloth. Around his head fantastic visions in various fly
torms, numerous as ears of corn in harvest, leaves in the woods, or sand
on the sea-shore. Whither, as soon as the
virgin entered, and witli her
liand repelled the
opposing dreams, the sacred dome shone with the splen-
dour of her robes and the
god, scarce able to raise his eyes, sunk in lan-
;
guid sloth; and again and again relapsing, and knocking the top of his
breast with his chin, at
length shook otF himself; and, leaning on his
elbow, asked her (for he knew her) the cause of her coming. But she :
Sleep, thou rest of all things Sleep, thou gentlest of the gods ; thou
;
peace of the mind, before whom care flies who refreshest the body, ;
spent with the toils of the day, and repairest its decays command a :
I
dream, equalling in the resemblance real forms, and bearing the image
of the
king, to hasten to Halcyone in Herculean Trachis, and let it as-
sume the appearance of one who has been shipwrecked so Juno com- ;
mands.
having thus delivered her message, retired for she could no
Iris, :
I
longer support the violence of the vapour; but, finding that sleep stole
upon her limbs, she fled, and swiftly ascended the bow by which she
came. But father Sleep^ from the crowd of his thousand sons, selects
406 P. OViDll NASONIS
caput, reconiiiditque
strata alto. Ille volat In faciem Ceycis abit formaque sub ilia :
Tctmbem^lftl\fleZ
Occidimus. FalssB tibi me permittere noli.
refuso super ora, ait Iktc: Miserrima conjux, agnoscis Ceyca? an mea facies est mutata nece T
Resjiice ; nosces; inrrniesque umhrum conjugis pro tuo conjnge. Tua iota, Halcyone, tulerunt
nil opis nobis. Occidijnus. Noli promittere me tibi falsa.
TRANSLATION.
Morpheus, a skilful artist, belie the human form.
and one who could best
Thau him could none of the brothers better express the gait, countenance,
and manner of speaking he could assume too the habit, and one's most
;
beast, a bird, or serpent with lengthened train him the gods above call :
Icelos, but the race of mortals Phobetor. There is a third too. Phantasy.,
an artist of a different kind. He happily passes into earth or stone, a
wave or beam, and every form destitute of life. These three are Avout to
display themselves in the night to kings and mighty chiefs the rest at- ;
sleep, and shrunk within the bed. He flies through the dark with wings
that make no noise, and, in a very little time, arrived in the Ha;monian
city ; when, divesting himself of his wings, he assumes the shape of Ceyx;
and, in that form, pale, bloodless, and naked, stood before the bed of his
wretched spouse. His beard seemed wet, and the drops to fall thick from
his humid locks. Then leaning on the bed, and with his face bathed in
tears ;
My
most wretched wife (says he), dost thou know thy Ceyx ? or,
are my looks changed by death ? Observe me well,
you will know me,
and find, instead of your husband, your husband's shade. Thv prayers,
METAMORPIIOSEON, Lib. XI. 407
1 1
'^"/.^"l'^- J^forpiicus
adjictt vucemhis,qiiam
Ingemit lialcyone lachrynians, motatque lacertos aia crederet es.se vo-
ii*i "^
cem sui con jvsis. Visus
^er somnum, corpusque petens amplectitur aiu'as: erat qvoq^c fniniere.
1->
,
P, p T\T •
que sui viri, exciitit
•
(..'Um Ceyce SUO. bolantia tolhte verba. OOO Postquam non invenit
AT c i "-i "17* T •
„ _ i\\nmnsqvum,vere7itit
JNautragus interut. Vidi, agnovique; manusque ora n-Jnu; laniutquc
Ad discedentem, cupiens retinere tetendi. lne%,L^'pfcZrafnlc
curat solvere crinem, scindit, et ait altrici roganti qutv sit causa luctus, Halcyone nulla est,
occidit una cum suo Ceyce : tollite solantia verba. Naufragus intcriit: vidi, agnoviiiue cupicns-
que retinere, tetendi manus ad discedentem.
TRANSLATION.
Halcyone, have nought availed, I have yielded to fate ;
flatter not thy-
self, therefore, with the vain hope of my return. The cloudy south-wind
overtook our galley in the ^gean sea, and, tossing Iier with its dreadful
hurricane, at length dashed her to pieces, and the billows stopped my
!>reath, callhig in vain upon your name. No uncertain author brings this
mournful news, nor hearest thou it from the flying breath of fame I :
myself in person am present before you, <and tell the story of my own
wreck. Rise, rise, shed tears, and put on mourning nor send me unla- ;
shed real tears, and the gesture of his hands spoke him to be Ceyx. Hal-
cyone, all in tears, groans within herself, and moves her arms about in her
!jleep and, catching at the body, grasps the air, and calls out. Stay; whi-
;
ther so fast ? I will go along Avith you. Disturbed thus by the voice and
appearance of her husband, she disengages herself from sleep, and first
looks round, if he, whom she so lately saw, be near for her servants, ;
waked by the noise, had brought in a light, ^^^hen she finds him no-
Avhere, she beats her face Avith her hand, and tears the robe from her
breast, and smites her breast itself. Nor does she Ihink of unbinding her
hair, but tears it and says to her nurse, avIio inquired the cause of her
;
delior mihi ipso pela- Et tibi nunc saltem veniam comes. Inqiie sepul-
go, si iritiir
.,
ducere vi-
chro,' 705
lam lo?ig!us ; ct^ pug-
,
nem superesse tanto Si nou uma, tamen iunget nos littera: si non
dolori.
nabo, 7iec miserande, Ossibus ossa meis, at nomen nomine tangam.
rclinqiiam te et mine
saltem ve?iiiim co?!ies Plura dolor prohibet verboque intervenit omni
;
husband. He had not indeed his wonted countenance, nor were his looks
enlivened with their usual lustre. Hapless I saw him pale, naked, and !
with hair still wet. Lo ill-fated man here he stood, in this very place
! ! :
and she looks if as yet the prints of his feet might still remain. This it
was it was this I feared in my foreboding mind and begged that you
; ;
might not forsake rae and follow the winds. But I, however, could have
wished, since thou didst go never to return again, thou hadst also carried
me along with thee with thee to have gone had for me happy been for
;
:
than I had not passed any of my time without thee, nor had my death
disjoined been
from thee. Now, absent from thee, I die; and, absent, by
the waves I am tossed the sea has thee without me.
;
My heart more
cruel were than sea itself, should I endeavour life to lengthen, and struggle
to survive so great a grief: but neither will I struggle, nor wretched thee
at least, I will come and in the grave,
relinquish. Thy companion, now, ;
if not the urn, yet the inscription shall us join and if I touch not bones ;
with bones, yet name with name I shall. More grief forbids, and wail-
ings come between each word,
and sighs are fetched from her astonished
heart. It was morning she goes out to the shore, and, mournful, sought
;
the spot, whence she had seen him go, and says While here he lingered, :
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XI. 409
F-
tacta manu moles: qua?
,
' primas eequoris iras 729
^
.
mas undas. Dumque volat, ora crepitantia tenui rostro dedere sonum similem mtcsto, plenum-
que querela. Ut vero tetigit corpus mutum et sine sanguine ;
TRANSLATION.
and while here he loosed his cables, at parting he me kisses gave upon
this shore and, while she, with her eyes the place does mark, she recol-
:
lects what passed, and throws a broad look on the sea. At distance, on
the liquid wave, she espies, I know not what, that seemed a corse. At
first, it was uncertain what it might be but, after that the water had ;
wretch (she says) whoever thou be, and if thou hast ever a wife
! The !
corse, still wafted by the waves, does nearer come which the more she !
views, the less she is herself. And now she sees it brought quite to the
land, and what she now could well distinguish, it was her husband It is !
he, she cries and, at the instant, tears her face, her hair, her vest, and
;
aloud she cries, thus wretched to me dost thou now return Upon the sea !
adjoins an artificial mole, which breaks the waves' first fury, and water's
shock does weaken on that she leaps, and it was surprising that she
;
creaking slender bill gives forth a sound, mournful and plaintful. But,
as she touched the dumb and bloodless corse,
embracing the dear limbs
410 P. OVIDII NASONIS
?:;"^««/f
(cqmre. Turn
&"S via ma-
^ol"s egressu: praestatque nepotibus aquor.
XI. Hos aliquis scnior circum freta lata volantcs
custodit ten/OS, et ar-Spectat et ad finem servatos laudat amores. 750
:
crura substricta,(os.
Laomeclonque senex, Fnamusque novissnna Irojae
*mcrgwn sutturaT'eTt Tempora sortitus. Frater fuit Hectoris iste :
them pitying, they both are changed to birds. Then, too, remained their
love, obnoxious to the self-same fate nor is dissolved, when birds, their
;
union conjugal: they couple, and they parents do become: and, in win-
ter time, for seven calm days,
Halcyone sits brooding on her nest, hang-
ing on the sea it is then sea-faring safe does prove.
; iEolus keeps and
restrains the winds from sallying out, and does secure a smooth sea from
his grand-children.
XI. These, some old man observes, flying about the wide-extended
seas, and does commend their loves, kept to the last. His neighbour, or
he the same, if chance so order, said This, too (shewing a cormorant ;
with wide throat), whom you espy cutting the sea, and having slender
legs, is royal progeny and, if you want, in one continued series, doAvn to
:
Qui, nisi sensisset prim^ nava fata juvent^, qui, nisi sensisset no-
vaftita primdjuventA,
Forsitan inferius non Hectore nomen haberet forsitan haberet no-
men non inferius Hec-
Quamvis est ilium proles enixa Dyniantis. 761 tore ; quamvis proles
iEsacon umbrosa furtira peperisse sub Ida Dymanti'i est enixa il-
ium. AUxirrhw, nata
Fertur Alexirrho'e Granico nata bicoini. hicorni Granico, fer-
tur piptrisse jEsacon
Oclerat hie urbes nitidaque remotus ab
: aul*^ fiirlim sub iimhrosti,
Idi't. Hie oderat urbes,
Secretos montes, et inarabitiosa colebat 765 remofiiM/i/e ab nitidd
Rura nee: Iliacos ecetus, nisi rarus, adibat. anld, colebat secretos
mottles, it iiiamhitlusa
Non agreste tamen, nee inexpugnabile Amori rura, nee adibtit Ilia-
cos ccetns, nisi rarus.
Pectus habens, silvas captatam saepe per omnes Habeiis tameti pectus
non aiiresle, mc inex-
Aspieit Hesperien patria Cebrenida rip^, piignahilc umuri aspi-
Injectos humeris siecantem sole capillos. 770 eit Hesper.en Cebre-
nida sape captatam
Visa fugit Nymphe veluti pertei'rita fulvura
: per omnes pu-
silvas,
trid siecantem
ripd,
Cerva lupum, longeque laeu deprensa relicto sole capiUns injectos
humeris. Nymphe visa
Accipitrem fluvialis anas. Quam Troius heros fugit, velati cerva per-
Insequitur eeleremque metu eeler urget amore.
: territa fugit fulvum
lupum, fiitvialisque
Ecce latens herba eoluber fugientis aduneo 775 anas deprensa lunge
liicu relicto, fugit ac-
Dente pedem stringit: virusque in eorpore linquit. cipitrem. Quam Troius
Cum vita suppressa fuga est. Amplectitur amens heros i7isequitur; ce-
amore
lirque urget
Exanimem clamatque, piget, piget esse seeutum
: : cdercm metu. Ecce
coluber latens herba,
Sed non hoe timui nee erat mihi vincere tanti.
:
stringit pedim fugien-
tis aduneo dente: lin-
Perdidimus miseram nos te duo. Vulnus ab angue,
qiiitque virus in eor-
A me causa data est. Ego sim seeleratior illo, 781 pore. Fuga est sup-
pressa cum vita. Amens
Ni tibi morte mea mortis solatia mittam. amplectitur exani-
mem ; clamatque, Pi-
Dixit et e scopulo, quem rauca subederat unda,
:
get, piget me esse se-
Se dedit in pontum. Tethys miserata cadentem cul.nm te\: sed non ti-
mui hoc, 7iec vincere
erat tanti mihi. Nos duo perdidimus te miseram, vulnus est datum ah aJigiu ciivsa est data A
,
7ne : ego sim seeleratior illo, ni med morte mittam solatia mortis tibi. Dixit et dedit se in pontum
e scopulo, quem rauca unda subederat. Tethys miserata,
TRANSLATION.
ancestors. He was Hector's brother and who, had he not a strange fate
;
duck, the hawk, siu-prised at distance from her wonted lake whom the ;
Trojan hero does pursue, and, swift with love, does iu*ge her, winged with
fear. When, lo a snake, lurking in the grass, wounds with its crooked
!
tooth her flying foot, and leaves its venom in her body. Her flight is with
her life repressed. Frantic, he grasps her, breathless and cries aloud, I ;
grieve! I grieve to have pursued thus But this I never feared nor did
! !
wound was given by the serpent, but by me the cause. More guilty should
I be than he, did I not send thee comforts of death in mine. He spoke ;
412 P. OVIDII NASONIS
TRANSLATION.
and from a rock, which the hoarse wave had undermined, jumped into
the sea. Tethys, in pity, softly received him, falling, clothed him with
feathers, as he swam the sea, denying him the power of wished-for death.
The lover raves to be obliged to live, and that his soul, willing to quit its
wretched seat, is baulked. And, as he had took new wings to his shoul-
ders, he upward flies then throws his body on the sea his feathers
;
:
break the fall. Jisacus storms, and, prone, he plunges deep, incessant
tries the way of death. Love caused his leanness. Long are his legs ;
his neck continues long his head is distant from his body
; he loves the :
LIBER DUODECIMUS.
..->.>
Postmodo qui lonafum
P cum conius;e
raptS. JO bellum 5 /"it tnsti officio, qui
postmodo attulit Ion-
Attulit in patriam: conjurataeque sequuntur gum bellum in patriam
cum rapt a: conjuge :
Mille rates, gentisque simul commune Pelasgse rates
milleque C07iju-
Nee dilata foret vindicta ; nisi aequora saevi ratce seqiiuulvr,.nmul-
qiie commtme Pelas-
Invia fecissent ventiBoeotaque tellus : gte gentis. Nee vin-
dicta foret dilata,nisi
Aulide piscosa puppes tenuisset ituras. 10 savi venti fecissent
Hie patrio de more Jovi cum sacra par^ssent; aquora iiivia ; Bteota-
qite tellus tenuhset
Ut vetus accensis incanduit ignibus ara ; tturas puppes in pis-
cosa Aiilide. Hie cum
Serpere cseruleura Dana'i videre draconem IJuna'i de more patrio
par&sseiit sacra Jovi
In platanum cceptis quae stabat proxima sacris
:
ut vetus ara incandu-
it accensis ignibus, videre caruleum draconem serpere in platanum, qua stubat proxima captis
sacvis
TRANSLATION.
I. TTIS father Priam, ignorant that jEsacus, assuming feathers, lived,
XjIL mourned for him. Hector also, with his brothers, made fruit-
less offerings at the tomb bearing his name. Paris' presence was want-
with a ra-
ing at this mournful office Avho soon after brought, together
;
vished wife, a tedious war home to his native country. A thousand ships
of the Pelasgian nation, pursue him
conspiring, with the whole body
:
nor had the vengeance been delayed, did not fierce winds make seas un-
their ships about
passable and the Boeotian laud detain in filthy Aulis
;
the Greeks observe a green snake creep into a plane-tree, which stood
next the sacrifice begun. Upon the top of this tree was a nest of twice
four birds which, together with the dam, fluttering round her care, the
:
NOTES.
When
the Greek captains, who had en- dame, changed This cir-
into a stone.
cumstance might, perhaps, no other
liave
gaged in the expedition against Troy,
were assembled in order to embark, the foundation than the superstition of the
his desire of dis-
two adventures here related by our poet high-priest, or rather
retarded their departure for some time. suading the Greeks from an enterprise
Calchas, who was high-priest in the Gre- that appeared to him exceeding danger-
cian army, foretold, as we also learn from ous. There is room too for conjecture,
Homer, that they would not be able to that this prediction was made in concert
make themselves masters of the city, un- with some of the Greek generals, who, not
til often years. To support
after a siege daring to refuse their troops to Agamem-
this prediction he gave out, that he had non, would yet have been glad of a pre-
seen a serpent mount a tree, and, after tence to disengage themselves from that
devouring eight young birds and the troublesome expedition.
414 P. OVIDII NASONIS
,-
•
m
• i
2o
gine serpentis.
Neptuuum credaut, quia mo3nia lecerat urbi,
vilie^ZlnAZilisZ!. At non Thestorides. Nee enim nescitve, tacetve
iram
1^J'-:^Z,uquf^^ Sanguine virgineo placandam virginis
dant Neptnnum par- j^sse Dete, Postouam causa,
cere Triijie, qiiiajece- i.
pietateui
^ publica
^
. -,
our toil shall hold out long ; and he the nine birds does allot to nine years
of the war. He, as he grasped the green boughs in the tree, becomes a
stone, and, under the figure of a snake, retains the stone.
II. Nereus continues boisterous in the Aonian seas, and the sails trans-
port not and some there are, who fancied Neptune favoured Troy, be-
;
peased with virgin blood. But, after that the public cause
had prevailed
over natural affection, and the king over the father and Iphigenia, ready ;
to offer up her chaste blood, stood before the altar, the ministers, attend-
ant, weeping the goddess was appeased, and cast a mist before their
;
eyes and, amid the service and hurry of the sacrifice, and voices of the
;
for a
supplicants, is said to have changed Iphigenia, the Mycenian maid,
NOTES.
Permanet Aoniis Nereus.l The sa-
24. tions of those who cordially espoused the
crifice of Iphigenia is the second thing cause of Menelai/s, he, at length, con-
mentioned by the poet, as a hinderaiice to sented. All tilings were disposed in order
the departure of the coiifederate fleet. for the sacrifice ; but Diana, appeased by
It was, perhaps, a stroke of tlie same po- this act of submission, substituted, in the
licy mentioned in the former note. For place of Iphigenia, a doe, which was sa-
Agamemnon, stiirtled at a project which crificed to her, and transported the piin-
affected liim so nearly, was ready to aban- cess to Tauris, there to serve her for a
don the enterprise. But afterward, find- priestess.
ing himself liard pressed by the solicita-
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XII. 415
i<i parte.
wdinquics
inlns,siiniitiaqi(( iivl-
Tamen
rllvtVlTiZVTq'iil'iia
nee.
Mistaque
_ _
cum veris passim commenta vagantur
r
Mulia rumorum; confusaque verba volutant.
V^iogi, SI qui.t atidiat
55 prmni; qiuUemve so-
11 soient es.se de nndis
E-i 1 •!
•
reddimt, cumjupiter
1 '^,
E quibus hi implent vacuas aures sermonibus hi ferunt narrata alio; mensuraque Jicti crescit,
:
et novus auctor odjicit aliquid auditis. lllic eredulitas est, illic temerarius error, vunaque lor-
sand ships receive the Avinds a-stern, and having suffered much, at length
do gain the Phrygian shore. A place there is, in the middle of the world,
between the land and sea and heavenly regions, the confines of the three-
fold world from whence is seen whatever is any where, though regions
;
distant and every voice does pierce the hollow ears. Fame holds it, and
;
chooses for herself a seat on the topmost tower has added avenues num- ;
berless, and a thousand openings to her house, and not shut up the entries
with any doors night and day they open stand. It is all of sounding
:
brass, all murmuring reflects the voices, and repeats all that it hears.
;
No rest within, in no part silence and yet it is not a shouting but the ; ;
murmurs of a soft voice ; such as are wont to come from the sea's winds,
if any one stands listening at a distance or, such a sound as dying tliun- ;
ders give, when Jupiter had chid the pitchy clouds. crowd does fill the A
hall the fickle ATjlgar come and go and a thousand rumours devised,
; ;
mixed with true, roam up ar\d down, and throw out words confused. Of
which some fill the empty ears with speeches, some what is told convey
elsewhere the measure of the fiction groAvs, and each new author adds
;
something still to what himself has heard. There stands Credulity, there
rash Mistake, and empty Joy ; astonished fears, creeping sedition, and
416 P. OVIDIl NASONIS
tus, el, Protesilai, ca- Stant Danais, fortesque animtB, neque cognitus
dis primus fataliter
Hectorea hastil: com- Hector. 69
missaque pro'/if/, ne-
que Hector cognitus
Nee Phryges exiguo, quid Achaia dextera posset,
fortasque anim<r, stunt
magno Danais. Kec Sanguine senserunt. Et jam Sigaea rubebant
Phri/ges senserunt ex- Littora: jam leto proles Neptunia Cygnus
iguo sanguine quid A-
chaia dextera posset Mille viros dederat. Jam curra instabat Achilles.
Jit jam
rubebant^jamCirnus TroaquG Peliacse sternebat cuspidis ictu
Niptunia proles, de
derat mille viros leto: Agmina: perque acies aut Cygnum aut Hectora
jam Achilles instabat
queerens, 75
currti, slernebutque
Troa a'imiua ictu Pe- Congreditur Cygno: decimum dilatus in annum
ladtB cuspides; qutr-
acies aut
Hector
erat. Turn collo jugo candentia presses
reifique per
Cyguiim aut Hectora, Exliortatus equos, currum dii'exit in hostem :
congreditur Cjigno :
Hector erat dilatus in Concutiensque suis vibrantia tela lacertis,
decimum annum. Turn
exliortatus equos, pres- Quisquis es, 6 juvenis, solatia mortis habeto, 80
tos f^^^oA M\ candentia Haemonio
ab H'demonio sis iu2;ulatus Achi
collujug«,dircxit cur- ^^
Dixit,
'
ti-i
quod
Vr jugulatus
-
i
Achilla.
•
rum in hostem, concu- Hactenus iEacides. Vocem gravis hasta secuta est.
.
TRANSLATION.
whispers of authors doubtful. Herself observes what is done in heaven,
and and earth, and pries into all the world.
seas,
III. She had made known the Grecian ships arrivino; with stout sol-
diers nor does the enemy in arms unlooked-for come. The Trojans set
;
themselves to oppose their landing, and defend the shore and thou, Pro- ;
tesilaus, fatally tallest first by Hector's spear and fights begun, brave :
Trojan souls, and Hector, then not known, stand the Greeks in much.
Neither did Phrygians feel, at small expense of blood, what Grecian arms
could do. And now Sigeian shores \vere dyed with blood now Cygnus, ;
Neptune's son, gave thousands death now was Achilles in his chariot :
reared, and levelling Avhole Trojan hosts with blows of his Peleian spear ;
and through the lines, or Cygnus, or Hector singling out, encounters Cyg-
nus Hector was reserved for the tenth year. Then, cheering his steeds,
:
their snowy necks pressed with the yoke, directs his chariot on the foe ;
and with his brawny arms, shaking his quivering spear, said Whoever ;
you be, O youth have in thy death this comfort that thou art slain by
!
;
Achilles, theHa»monian. Thus far Achilles. His heavy spear pursued his
voice but though no error was in directing
; it, yet, by the sharpness of
its
discharged steel, it
nothing did avail ; and, as it only bruised the breast
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XII. 417
Auxilio mihi sunt decor est qusesitus ab istis. 90 nii, iicqiie cava paniia,
:
Sincerumque fuit, nee tertia cuspis apertum, 100 cutit hoc moratum de- cimo orbe, rursusque
Et se prsebentem valuit
destringere Cygnum, torsit trementia tela
Hand seciis exarsit, quam Circo taurus forti manu : rursus
aperto, corpus fuit sine vul-
Ciim sua terribih petit irritamina cornu nere, sincerumque, nee
tertia cuspis valuit de-
Poeniceas vestes, elusaque vuhiera seiitit. 104 stringere Cygnum a-
Num tamen exciderit ferrum considerat hastffi. pertum,
se.
et pra:bentem
Exarsit huvd se-
Ilterebat ligno. Manus est mea debiUs ergo ; cusi quam tuuriis cir-
co aperto, cum pi /it
Paniceas sua
Quasque, ait, ante habuit vires efFuditin uno. vestes,
tcrribili
Nam certe valuit, vel cum Lyrnesia primus
irritamina,
cornu, seittitque vul-
Moenia disjeci vel cum Tenedonque, suoque nera elusa. Tamen
:
considerat num fer-
Eetioneas implevi
'
sanouine
~ Tliebas. 110 rum
„ hasta exciderit. ,.
Harebat ,
ligiio. Er>:o,
ante. Nam certe valuit, vel cum
(lit, mea mamis est debilis ,effvditqtte in uno vires quas habuit
primus disjeci Lyrnesia mania, vel cum implevi Tenedonque, Thebusque Eetioneas suo sanguine :
TRANSLATION.
with a blunt stroke, goddess-born, he cries (for fame has taught us who
you are). Why dost thou wonder, I remain untouched ? For he did won-
der. Not this helmet which
you see, tawny with horse's mane, nor hollow
shield the load of my left arm, do me assist these only are for orna-
;
ment for this cause, too, Mars uses to take arms. All their service of de-
:
fence shall be removed, and yet shall I come off unhurt. It is something
not to be descended of a Nereid, but of one, who
sways both over Ncreus
and his daughter, and thcAvhole sea's extent. He spoke: and at Achilles
hurled his spear, that soon was to stick in the shield's boss and which ;
broke both through the brass and the next nine folds of bull-hide yet, ;
sticking in the tenth orb of the hide, the hero shook it off, and hurled again
the
quivering spear with his strong arm. Again his body was untouched,
uidiurt nor could the third
;
spear pierce through Cygnus, though stand-
ing open and exposed. Achilles raged, not otherwise than does a bull
amid the open circus, when with his dreadful horn he huts the scarlet
Vi>sts, provocatives, and feels eluded wounds. Yet here Achilles tries, whe-
ther the steel had fallen from off ihe it fast. My hand is
spear he found:
vel cum Caycvs Jluxit Vol ciim purpureus populari crede Caycus
jjiirpiirciis popiitdri
cicdc :Tckjihusqiiehis
sciisil. opits meir liaslic.
Fluxit; opusquc meic bis sensit Telepnus hastae.
Hie qiioque mea dex- Hic quoque tot cassis, quorum per littus acervo3
tera vtiluit, valetque
tnt casts quorum et Et feci, et video, valuit mea dextra, valetque.
feci vt video actrvos Dixit: et, ante actis veiuti male crederet, hastam
pur littus. Dixit :ct,
veiuti wale crcderct Misit in adversum Lycia de plebe Menoeten 116 :
h(ic hast a, quS, modo Sic fatus, Cygnumque petit, nee fraxinus errat :
curru, et petcns secu- Ter quater ora viri, capulo cava tempora pulsat.
riim hostem cominus
nitido eii'^c, cernit par- Cedentiq; sequens instat; turbatque, ruitque, 13'^
'giadh!^et'ferrZ^^i2 Attouitoq negat requiem. Pavor occupat ilium ; j
;
que ladi'in duro cor- Ante oculosqiic uatant tenebrae; retroque ferenti
jiore. Haud tulit ul- * '
terius, pulsat que adversa ora viri ter quater reducto clypeo, et cava tempora capulo: seqtiensqui
instiit cedeiiti: turbatque, ruitque, negatqtte requiem attonito. Pavor occupat ilium, tenebr<Ei
que natant ante oculos, lapisque medio
TRANSLATION.
ter and Telephus twice
; felt the virtue of my spear. My arm has here toe
been of power, and still whose heaps I made, and see
is ; so many slain,
along the shore. He said; and, as ill trusting to his former feats, he
hurled his spear at adverse Menoetes, one of the Lyeian throng and in- ;
stant broke quite through his mail and breast subjacent. Who heatinj^
with his head in death the heavy earth, he draws that very spear oul
of the reeking wound, and says This is the hand, this is the spearj ;
with which I conquered but now the same I will use at this I only wis!; :
the event may be the same in him. Thus he said, and lets it fly at Cyg-
nus nor does the trusty ash mistake, and, not avoided, sounded on his"
:
left shoulder thence repelled, as from a wall, or solid rock. Yet, where
;
he leaps headlong down from off his lofty chariot and, in close fight, at- ;
tacking thus his fearless foe with shining sword, observes his shield and
helmet pierced, but the weapon blunted upon his callous body. No longer
could he bear; and, drawing back his shield, with it he pelts the hero's
adverse face thrice and four times, and with tlie hilt his hollow temples ;
and, pursiun D' urges the pursued stirs and drives him on, and him con- ;
METAMORPHOSEON, Lin. XII. 419
Q~
Aversos passus medio lapis
1
uem super impulsiim
•
~
obstitit arvo.
139
.
t'H^LuT'' :^:;Z
^v,
arvo, obslilit iWiferen-
ti aversos passus re-
t>/>. snper quem a-
eyes and, drawing back his steps averse, a stone, amid the plain, with-
;
rest is for the table. The chiels sat down on couches, and with roasted
ilesh sated their bodies, and baiiished cares and thirst Avith wine. Not
harps, nor melody of voices, nor the long pipe of perforated box, delight
them but in discourse they
;
pass the night, and virtue is the subject ;
2 E 2
420 P. OVIDII NASONIS
exhamta pcricula.
Quid culm Achillis lu-
Conimemorare juvat. Quid enim loqueretur A-
qiierclin? uiit quid chilles ?
j/o/iiis loqiicre/iliir u-
j)ndm(ie,niimAchitlcm.' Aut quid apud magnum potiils loquerentur Acliil-
ynuiiiia praciptii vic- lem?
toria (lomito Ciis,nnfuit
ill sennoiic. Visum est Proxima praecipue domito victoria Cygno
tnirainlc cunclis, quod
erat juvoii corpus pe- In sevmone fuit. Visum miraLile cunctis ; 165
nctrabile nullo tela,
ini'ictumque ad vul- Quod juveni corpus nullo penetrabile telo,
ncrra, quod^yw terebat ad vuluera erat, ferrumque terebat
Hoc ipsum Invictumque
:
fer
,K.rr%im, 1 . / \ i ^
•
bum ca lieu
niiiie
patientem
vulnera corpore
Corpore nou IsBso rerrlijebum Ca3nea vicli :
rpor
noil Urso: Pcrrhclium (..^^^^ Perrhffibum qui factis iuclytus Othryn
;
TRANSLATION.
and relate their own and
enemy's fights and often they take pleasure to :
Cygnus has, in your time, been of steel the alone despiser, and perfora-
ble by no blow but, formerly, myself saw Cseneus, the Perrhseban, bear
:
famous for his feats, dwelt in his Othrys and this in him might be more :
go on to tell (for we have all the same desire to hear) O eloquent old
man, the prudence of our age, who this Caineus was, why turned to the
opposite sex, in what warfare, in what fight's strife, was he known to you ;
age makes much against me, and much, observed by me in prime of years,
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XII. 421
marry into any bed but, tripping over the lonely shore, suffered the vio-
;
lence of the god of the sea. So fame related and as Neptune this new:
amour enjoyed Avith gust. Be thy vows, he said, of all repulse secure ;
choose what you wish. Fame has this too related. This injury,
says
Csenis, makes great my wish that no such thing I may hereafter suffer
; :
grant I be no longer woman, and you will grant me all. With a hoarser
tone these last words she
spoke and the voice might seem to be a man's,
;
as indeed it was. For now the god of the deep sea had nodded to her
wish and, over gave, that he might not be pierced by any wounds, or
;
selves were present and tlie festal palace with confused rout resounded
; :
lo ! they sing Hymenseus, and the halls smoke with fires of altars. The
virgin, famed for beauty, comes, surrounded with a train of matrons and
young maids. We
all pronounced Pirithous
happy in that spouse which ;
omen we well nigh had falsified for, Eurytus, fiercest of fierce cen-
: O
taurs, thy breast bums, as with the virgin seen, so with the fumes of
wine and drunkenness, doubled by lust, bears sway. On the sudden,
;
tables overturned, disturb the feast and the new-married wife is dragged
;
those they most approved, or could it was the image of a city taken. :
The house resounds with cries of women we quickly all start up ; and :
first, Theseus says ; What madness, Eurytus, thus drives thee on ; who,
Res epulis quondam, nunc bello et ca^dibus, apt* que cadi, curvique le-
betes ; res quondam
Primus Ophionides Amycus penetralia donis 245 apt (E epulis, nunc bello
et cadibus. Amycus
Haiad tiniuit spoliare suis ; et primus ab aede Opiiimiides primus,
liaud timiiit spoliare
Lampadibus densum rapuit funale coruscis ;
penetralia suis donis ;
et primus rapuit ab
Elatumque alte, veluti qui Candida tauri a:rie funale densu7n
Rumpere sacrifica molitur colla securi ;
corrnseis lampadibus,
illisitque elatum altc
Illisit fronti Lapithse Celadontis : et ossa 250 fronti Lapitlm Cela-
do)itis, veluti qui mo-
Non agnoscendo confusa reliquit in ore. litur rtimpere Candida
colla tauri sacrifica
Exsiluere oculi ; disjectisque ossibus oris. securi, et reliquit ossa
Acta retro naris, medioque infixa palato est. cotifusa in ore non ag-
7iosccndo. Ociili exsi-
Hunc pede convulso mensse PellfEus acernse 254 luere, ossibusque oris
disjectis,naris est acta
Stravit humi
Belates, dejecto in pectora mento: retro, infixaque medio
'
they all cry out. Wine gave them spirits and in the first encounter,
;
cups, hurled, and shattered casks, and hollow kettles things before
fly, ;
fit for a feast, but now for war and First Amycus, the son of
slaughter.
Ophion, scruples not to strip the shrine of all its ornaments and first
out of the Sacristy snatched up a branch, thick set with blazing lamps, and
dashed it, high raised, at Celadon, the Lapithse's forehead as who at- :
tempts with sacrificing ax to break a bullock's snowy neck and left the ;
bones confounded in his undistinguished face. His eyes start out the ;
bones of his face disjected his nose falls back, fixed in the middle of
;
use these? and Gryneus the huge altar snatching with all its fires, hurled
it
among the Lajjithte, and hiid twf), Broteas and Orios, flat Ori(js's :
mother was Mycale, who, by her charms, was often known to draw down
424 P. OVIDU NASONIS
hahttqiic hntnr
vvtivi
tcii Dlxerat Exadius. Telique habet instar, in alta
coriiitii cerri, /->. o ,
•
,
• •
at illiid stridet, et
submersum sibilat in Tollit, onus plaustri, quod ne permittat in hostem,
Ipsa facit gravitas. Socium quoque saxea moles
frepidil u7idd. Saucius
excutit avidum ignem
hirsutis crinibus, tol-
litque in humeros li-
Oppressit spatio stantem propiore Cometem :
men revulsum tellnre, Gaudia nee retinet Rhcetus Sic comprecor, inquit. :
%lsa gralifas'faeu'ne
Cetera sit fortis castrorum turba tuorum ; 286
permittat in' hostem. Semicremooue novat repetitum stipite vuhius:
Aaxea moles oppressit rnv •• jv i i*-*i
qiioquc Cometem, so- lerque, quaterque gravijuncturas verticis ictu
t'^iT'%Tc^R,ZZ Rupit et in liquido sederunt ossa cerebro.
:
stag, which on a tall pine hung. This double branch is fixed into his
eyes, his eyes scooped out part whereof sticks to the horns, part runs
;
down his beard, and with blood hangs clotted. Lo Rhostus snatches up !
through Charaxus' temples, covered with yellow hair his hair caught by :
lire, is most part wont to do which when the smith has drawn out with
;
wrenched from the earth a wagon-load which that he hurls not quite to ;
iinugere necem: quos omnes dextra jJryantis oil Abas pradator apro-
Perculit ad versos. Adversum tu quoque, quamvis l^ur' qtufrustta dts-
Terga fugee dederas, vulnus, Crenaee, tulisti. X.Ti*«?:"ivX
Nam grave respiciens inter duo lumina ferrum, metuenti munera. Ne
Qua naris fronti committitur, accipis, imaj. 315 «««' Herculeos. At
In tanto fremitu, ductis sine fine jacebat Z%ue7~reoffe^t
Sopitus vinis, et inexperrectus Aphidas ; can?iuofoZ7s 7d-
versos dextra Dryantis perculit. Tu quoque, Crenae, tulisti adversum vulnus, quamvis dcde-
ris terga fugec. Natn resjnciens, accipis grave ferrum inter duo lumina, quil naris committitur
im<B fronti. In tanto fremitu Aphidas jacebat sopitus vinis ductis sine fine, et inexperrectus i
TRANSLATION.
his temples clad with their first down, had fallen, Evagrus cries,
What glory hast thou gained ? A
boy laid prostrate Nor Rhoetus suf- !
fers to say more but fiercely plunges in the speaker's mouth, thence
;
down his throat, the ruddy flames. Thee too, fierce Dryas, he pursues,
whirling around his head the fiery brand but not the same event awaited
;
Abas hunter of boars, and Astylus the augur, who had, in vain, his friends
from fight dissuaded. He too to Nessus, fearing wounds, thus speaks ;
Fly not, for thou shalt be reserved for Hercules' bow but not Euryno- :
mus, and Lycidas, and Areos, and Imbreus death escaped whom all, ad- ;
looking back, thou tookest the fatal steel between thy eyes, where to the
lowest forehead joins the nose. Amid all this uoise, Aphidas lay dosed
426 P. OVIDII NASONIS
fHsmquc in viiiosis
Langucntique manu carchesia mista tenebat,
Unebat mista carehe- bMSXXS, IXi UsSaSffi VlUoSlS pelllDUS UrSSB.
sia lansiiienti manu. /-v ^li-j-^riV
Quem prociu lit viQit irustru niiUa arma moventem,
ii i
Quern ut Phorbas vi-
nLiTafrna^'jiZlll
Inscrit amento digitos, Miscendaque, dixit,
inserit digitos amento,
aixitque, Btbas vma
Cum bibas, Phorbas. Nee plura moratus
,• Stvge vina -j-i r i n .
collo, uf casu jacuit Inque toros, inque ipsa mger carchesia sanguis.
resupinus. Mors
ruitsensu,mnguisque
ca- it- i- t»j.
Vidi cgo Fetraeum conantem evellere terra
a n x'
^uttur^^nqut tiros,
Glandiferam quercum: quam dum complexibus
inque ipsa carchesia. ambit *
et missum a. dextrd
Ingentem iregit suaque induitina iractffi. :
trepidans fugit natiim Ixione instantem, delapsus ab ancipiti acumine mantis, decidit inprffceps,
et pondere corporis fregit ingentem ornum, induitque sua ilia fracta, Aphareus adcst ultur,
coTtaturque mittere saxum revulsum e monte,
TRANSLATION,
along, with wine incessant gulped, and unawaked, and in his languid
hand held the mixed bowl, laid at his length upon the shaggy skin of an
Ossaean bear ; whom, at a distance, Phorbas saw, moving but bootless
arms, applies his fingers to his lance's strap, and said Now drink thy :
wine soon to be mixed with Styx. Nor staying more, he hurled his jave-
lin at the youth ; and the steel-shod ash was forced through his neck, as
he by chance lay on his back death wanted sense and the black gore
:
;
flowed from his gorged throat, and on the couch, and in the bowl itself.
I saw Petraeus hard struggling to root up an acorn-bearing oak out of the
earth which, while he grasps in his embrace, and shakes this way and
;
that, and agitates the loosened oak, Pirithous' lance let fly into Petrseus'
ribs, and fixed his struggling breast to the hard oak. It was said, that
-Aii
1
Kobore JNedymnum, jaculatoremque Lycotan ooO aqueora,praduraque
a, •, ,
•
lA tempora,7iodoso robore. . 1
llSZentTquem^l
Pallados admonitu. Credi sic ipse volebat. 360 ^'' '«<'^''»"?e reveiiere
-«y T ,
. annosam pmum solido
•
,/~i •
1 •
i\ on tamen arbor mers cecidit nam Crantoris alti rf««'«o. Quod quia non :
ther to give his useless body death and leaps on tall Bianor's back, not ;
used to bear other than himself alone, and clapped his knees to his ribs ;
and pulling back his hair, caught in his left, battered his face, and threat-
ening mouth, and temples, hard with knotty oak. And with his oak he
also levels to the ground Nedymnus, and the darter, Lycotas and Hip- ;
pasos, whose breast was shaded with his length of beard and Ripheus, ;
who towered above the topmost woods and Tereus, wont to carry home ;
tugging, tries to pull from out the thick-set wood an aged pine which, as ;
he could not, broken short, he threw at his antagonist. But Theseus re-
tired to distance from the coming blow, by Pallas warned he had a mind :
it should be
thought so. Yet the tree bootless fell not, for from the throat of
the tall Crantor tore the breast and the left shoulder. He had been, Achilles,
thy father's armour-bearer ; whom the Dolopian ruler, Amyntor, van-
quished in war, had given to Peleus, son ol' ^acus, as pledge and faith of
peace. Him as Peleus at a distance saw, thus mangled with foul wound ;
but Crantor, Best beloved of youth, accept, he says, an offering and witlt ;
a sturdy arm, and great etfort of mind, sent at Demoleon his asheu spear,
4'28 P. OVIDII NASONIS
•pide: id
JUe trahit
manu licnum sine cus- tii
Mquoque vix sequitm*. Cuspispulmone
IpsB doloi viies animo daoat. /higer
quoque vixse-
\•
hostem
rctenta cst.
•
^ i tii'
m
•
i j.
j>ectora per armos uno Additur his Dorylas: qui tempora tecta gerebat
ictu. Ante tamen de-
derat Phlegrieou et Pelle iupi, ssevique vicem pra;stantia teli, 381
Hylen leto eminus: Cornua vasta boiim multo rubefacta cruore.
Hiphinoum Claninque
collato Marte. Dory- Huic ego, nam vires animus dabat, Aspice, dixi.
las additur his: qui
gerebat tempora tecta Quantum concedant nostro tua cornua ferro :
est affixa cum fronte Crura quoque impedit et inani concidit alvo. :
Clamor Jit : at''Peleus, cnim stabat propior, ferit eiisc sub mediam alvum illmn harentem., ct
•victum acerbo vulnere. Prosiluit, feroxque traxit sua viscera terrd, calcavitque tracta ; ru-
pitque calcata, et impedit quoque crura illis, et concidit inani alvo,
TRANSLATION.
which broke through his side's grate, and quivered sticking in the bones.
He pulls out with his hand the shaft without the point, which follows not
with ease the point stuck in the lungs. Even pain itself gave vigour to
:
his resolution. Wounded, he rears against the foe, and tramples on the
hero with his horse's feet he on his helmet and his shield receives the
:
Bounding blows, defends his shoulders, and holds out his long-protended
lance and, at a blow, pierces through the shoulder-blades two breasts. Yet
;
he had before, from far, consigned to death Phlegraos and Hyles; in closer
fight, Hiphhious
and Clanis to these is joined Dorylas, who bore his
:
said (for courage gave me strength) Behold how much thy horns yield ;
to my steel. I whirled the dart which when he could not ward, holds up
;
his right hand to his forehead, like to be the part to suffer by the wound :
his hand is pinned to his brow. A shout is made but Peleus (for he now :
stood nearer) him vanquished and confounded by the fatal wound, strikes
with his sword about the middle belly. He jumped forth, and fiercely
dragged his bowels on the ground and, dragged, trod and, trodden, biu-st
; ;
them and his legs entangled in them, and down he with an empty belly
;
drops. Nor, Cyllarus, did thee thy beauty fighting save, if we at least
njay beauty grant to that thy monstrous uatiue. His beard was just be-
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XII. 429
from his shoulders to his mid shoulder-blades. Grateful vigour now was
in his face his neck and shoulders, hands and breast, were not unlike
;
and he will be worthy Castor his back so fit is to be sat, so high stands
:
his brawny chest and all over blacker than black pitch self; yet his
;
in the lofty woods among the double race more decent lived. She alone
possesses Cyllarus, both by her blandishments, and by her loving and
confessing love. Her neatness too is much, as well can be in limbs like
these, so that her hair is smoothed with a comb now she decks herself :
with rosemary, again with violets or roses sometimes wears white lilies ; ;
and Avashes twice a day her face in springs trickling down from the top
of the Pagasffian wood, and twice she dips her body in the stream. Nor
over her shoulder or her side throws furs, but what become, and are of
chosen beasts. Equal is their love, they together roam the mountains,
together enter caves and there too they together had entered the Lapi-
;
430 P. OVIDII NASONIS
lomme morien-
excipit Impositaque manu vulnus fovet: oraque ad ora 424
tcsartus.fovctquevvl- » j ,^ .
•
o •
.• ^
Admovet atquB anmiffi tugienti obsistere tentat
.
nusimpositamanu.ad. I
qvic clamor arcuit ire IncuDuit morieiisque suuiii coHiplexa marit'ivn ps^t
I
the left a javelin came, and pierced thee, Cyllarus, lower than where the
breast does stand below the neck. The heart thus with a small wound
hurt, together did with the whole body, after out the dart, grow drawing
cold. Instant, Hylonome and cherishes the
receives his dying limbs,
wound, by laying on her hand, and claps her mouth to his, and strives to
stop the fleeting soul. As she saw him dead, having uttered what the
shouting hindered from coming to my ears, she fell upon the weapon
which had stuck in him in death embraced her husband. He also, who
;
had bound six lions' skins together with connected knots, Phseocomes,
does stand before my eyes, both horse and man covered all over who, a ;
tensive roundness of his head is shattered and through his mouth, and ;
through his hollow nostrils, and eyes, and ears, the tender brain escapes :
tempore, Hector
victorem aut nullus erat, aut
Quid tibi gemini Periphanta Pyreti ?
puer: nunc mea ectas
Ampyca quid referam? qui quadruped an tis O'ecli deficit me. Quid refe-
ram tibi Periphanta
Fixit in adverso cornum sine cuspide vultu. 451 victorem gemini Py-
reti; quid Ampyca T
Vecte Pelethronium Macareus in pectus adacto qui fixit cornum sine
StravitErigdupum. Memini et venabula condi cuspide in adverso vul-
tu quadrupedantis O'e-
Armaque T-
q^ie, _
concussit,' certumque
1 equitavitni
i
....
orbem:
leto. yiltas inter ju-
-venemque
sea VIS juvenilis erat
senemqu0,
huic. Cani variabant tempora. Qui conspicuus clypeo, galeAque, Macedoniaque sarissA, obver-
susquc faciem iti utrumque ; agmen, concussitque arma, equitavitque in cerium orbem;
TRANSLATION.
slain, Chthonius too, and Teleboas, fell by my SAvord the former bore :
You see the marks lo, here do still appear the former scars and I, at
;
:
that time, was to have been sent to the taking of Troy city. Then I could,
if not have overcome, yet stayed great Hector's arms by mine but at :
that time Hector was not, or but a boy and now my age does fail me.
;
vain attempts to speak, his tongue being pinned to his chin, and chin to
his throat. Cseneus gave five to death, Stiphelus, and Bromus, and Anti-
macus, and Helimus, and ax-bearing Pyracmos the wounds I remem- :
ber not, their number and their names I marked. Latreus, the hugest
both in limbs and body, sallies forth, armed with spoils of Emathean Ha-
lesus, whom he to death consigned. His age was between young and old,
his vigour juvenile ; grey hairs his temples variegated. Conspicuous by
spear, he, with face turned
his buckler, hehuet, and Macedonian to either
432 P. OVIDII NASONIS
jwfrmia, qu,% merceds Vel qmd nata Vide, vel qma sis passa: columquc,
I> cape cum calathis
'vidT'vei^quTshna. et stamina pollice torque
;
:
hciia liris. cceneus Qua vir cquo comiiiissus erat. h urit ille doiore,
7!n^J^^m'^u,^;, Nudaque Phyllei juvenis ferit ora sariss^.
iWiJactanti talia, qua Non secus lia;c
resilit^j quani tecti a culmine grando
:
vir erat commissus
eqno. Illc furit do- Aut si
quis parvo feriat cava tympana saxo. 481
lorCfferitquc nuda ora
Phijllci juvemx saris- Cominias aggreditur: laterique recondere duro
sd. Ilac rcsllit non
secus, qiicim grantlo d,
Luctatur gladium. Gladio loca pervia non sunt.
culmine tccti : aut si
Haud tamen efFugies: medio jugulaberis ense,
quis feriat cava tem-
pera parve stixn.
greditiir cominiis, luc-
Ag- Quandoquidem mucro est hebes, inquit; et in
artus mira7iti. Age, nunc, ait Ccrneus, tentemus tua corpora nostro ferro,
tis prccbuit illcrsos
tenus capulo, movitque versavitque ctccum nianwn in viscera, fecitque vulnus in vulnere.
TRANSLATION.
side, vaunting, shook his arms, and rode a certain round, and spirilfui
poured out the following words into the empty air And shall I bear :
thee, Cjenis ? for I shall always reckon thee a woman, always Ca;nis ;
and neither hath thy natal origin broke something of thy spirit and re- :
memherest not by what foul deed thou gottest thy rcAvard, or by what ser-
vice thou procuredst man's false appearance Or what thou wast consi- ;
der, or what thou since hast suffered and go take thy distaff with thy
;
baskets, and spin thee threads leave wars to men. To him, thus vaunt-
:
ing, Caucus, with his missive spear, opened his side, extended in the
course, where the man joined the horse. He raves with pain, and with
his lance strikes at the naked face of the Phyllean youth. No otherwise
does it rebound than hail from top of roof, or one should beat with a small
stone the hollow drum. He then encounters in close fight, and strives to
lodge in his hard side his sword but all the parts are to his sword im-
;
pervious: yet, he cries. Thou shalt not thus escape, thou shalt be slain
by the sword's middle edge, seeing the point is blunt and slants the ,
sword against his side, and with his long right arm he grasps his
belly. The blow produced a groan, as on a body of marble banged,
and the shivered blade flew different Avays from off his neck struck
at. As now he had enough exposed his limbs unhurt to him amazed ;
Now come (says Caiiieus), let us with our steel thy body try and ;
TRANSLATION.
and moved and writhed his hand unseen into his bowels, and in
a wound made wounds. When, lo the double-limbed, enraged, rush in !
the vast impetuous manner and all do send and throw at him alone their
;
darts the darts repulsed fall unstabled, unbloody by each blow, Cjeneus
:
;
the Elateian stands. This new thing them astonished. Ah huge dis- !
though now indeed he is a man, and we, by dastard actions, are what he
was: what do huge limbs avail? What boots our double strengih ?
What, that our two-fold nature hath in us united the stoutest animals in
being Nor can I think us born of goddess mother, nor of Ixion who
? ;
was so great a man, that he conceived hopes of lofty Juno's self but we ;
are baffled by a half male foe whelm rocks, and beams and mountains :
whole upon him and quash out all his spiteful soul by heaping woods
;
upon him let a whole wood press on his jaws, and weight shall be for
:
and in a little time, Othrys was bare of trees nor Pelion had its shade. ;
2 I'
434 P. OVIDll NASONIS
conatur se toiiere su- Tolleie conatur,' JiactasQue evolvere silvas :
per acra, eiolveregue p- .
rum
Cogis ; et obductos annis rescindere luctus
est, senior, obli- ?
via HerculeiB laudis
esse acta tibi : cirte pater ipse solebat sape reftrre mihi iiubigenas fuisse domitos a se. Pylius
tristis rcspondit ad /ucc : Quid cogis me tneminisse malorum ; et rescindere luctus obdui tcs annis t
TRANSLATION.
after that, the load increased above his face and head nor has he breath ;
the air to draw he sometimes faints anon he strives, but all in vain,
:
;
to lift himself into the air, and heave from off him the piled woods.
shook by earthquakes. The event is doubtful. Some gave out, his body
hurled to empty Tartarus by the huge mass of woods. Mopsus, the son
of Ampycus, denied it and saw escape into the liquid air, from amid the
;
pile, a bird with dusky wings Avhich then was seen by me, both for the ;
first and last time. Him when Mopsus saw with gentle flight survey his
with
camp, and with huge clanking sounding round, pursued him equally
eyes and soul All hail (he cried), Cseneus, thou glory of the Lapithean
:
race the greatest once of men, but now the only bird.
;
The thing was
from its author credited. Our grief resentment added with disgust wej ;
bore, that one was by so many foes overpowered nor did we cease toj :
use the sword to blood, before part was to death consigned, and rout andj
night had part discomfited.
VI. The Pylian sage these fights relating between the Lapithse andj
half men Centaurs, Tlepolemus did not in silence bear the grief con-
ceived at Hercules unmentioned and says It is wonder, sire, the praise ; ;
STi
Viribus. AtqT alios vinci potuisse
r :
'
bis sex
J'^fr"'/^'
. .
fuitnus Nelida,
Mira Penclymeni mors est cui posse tiguras : conspecta jurentns.
\ . . Bis sex iniiiusme niio
umere quas vellet, rursusque repon^re sumptas ceddemnt iicrcuieis
Hie, ubi nequicquam est formas variatus in omnes, «"«cf- Mors p^riciy-
Vertitur in faciem volucris: qu?e fulmina curvis Neptunils, auetorNe-
Ferre solet pedibus, divum gratissima Regi. 561 ^iL'rTl^^^ %l7al
Viribus usus avis, pennis, rostroque redunco, 7of/enswn7t7s"'^ nir
viri laniaverat unguibus ora. vbi est ncquu-quatn
Hamatisque
mlendit
T. m- variatus ill onuies fur-
m -v
• • •
ii
nunc mmuun certos liryntnius areas
1 /
covered over with years, and to confess my hatred and disgust toward
your father ? He indeed, ye gods performed things beyond all belief, !
these twice six did fall, but me alone, by Hercules' force. That others
might be might be bore but then the death of Periclymemis
conquered ;
down again. He, after having been in vain varied to all his other forms,
is turned to the bird's shape, which, most acceptable to the great king of
\ o -ii ri-^r
r-
•
by the wound, the sinews, cut, do fail, and do refuse their motion and
their strength in flying. Down to the earth he falls, his weakened pi-
nions not conceiving air and the light arrow, where to the wing it stuck,
;
is
by the weight of the affixed body pressed, and through the upmost side
sticks out at the left neck. And do I seem to owe encomiums to thy
Hercules' feats, O
leader fairest of the Rhodian fleet ? Yet, brothers, to
avenge no further than by omitting his brave deeds in arms, I with your-
self maintain a solid
friendship. After the Nelean sire had these things
uttered from his flowing tongue, the gift of Bacchus being resumed upon the
sire's discourse, they rose from table the
remaining night to sleep assign.
:
VII. But the god, who with his trident moderates tlie sea- waves, does
NOTES.
580. At Deus aqucrcas, &o.] Ovid here observino; that he was still very ranch in
passes by tlie otheradvtntures of Aciiilles, love with his daughter, agreed to give
and hastens to the account of his deatli. her ill inariia<re ; wlien ou the day ap-
As it is an event of great importance, I pointed for the solemnity, which was to
sliall mentioti some of the most material he celebrated hi the temple of Apollo,
circumstances left by the ancients upon Paris couceaUug himself behind the altar
it. Achilles having seen Polyxena, the of that, while Deiphobus pretended to
daughter of standing by Cassan-
I'riaiii, embrace him, wounded hiui in the heel,
dra, as she was a sacrifice to
offering the only place wherein he was vulnerable ;
Apollo, fell desperately in love with her, which I'nay be explained without receding
and demaniied her in marriage. Hector from tradition, by saying, that he actually
would consent to it on no other condition wounded him in that place and it was
;
but that of his betraying 'he Greeks. The guen out that Apollo had directed the
yoinig hero, provoked at a demand so in- blow as if a god had been actually ne-
;
jurious to his honour, enctiuntered tlie cessary to take away that hero's life, and
Trojan in tight, slew him, and dragged a mortal could not pretend to tiie power
his body til rice round the walls of Troy. of kiliint:; him, as we are told by So-
The same Dictys Creteusis further adds, phocles in his tragedy of Philoctetes. But
that when Priam went to demand the without haviug recourse to these suiier-
body of his son, lie carried Polyxena with natural ciicumstanccs, which were only
him to soften Achilles. The aged monarch, invented to make the death of that hero
METAMOIIPOOSEON, Lib. XII. 437
Sanguine plebis? ait. Siqua est tibi cura tuorum ; que .<M0, velatus nebu-
lil.pereenit in Iliacum
Vertere in jEaciden, cffisosque ulciscere fratres. ugmen, inque media
cade virorum, cernit
Dixit et ostendens sternentem Troia ferro
:
Parin spargentem ra-
ra tela per ignotos Achivos: fassusque Deum, ait. Quid perdis spicula sanguine plebis? Si est tibi
qua cura tuorum, verter.e in yEaciden, ulciscereque cecsos fratres. Dixit ; et ostendens Peliden
sternentem Troia
TRANSLATION,
with a father's heart lament the body of his son, changed to the Sthene-
leian bird and hating heartily the fell Achilles, retains more than be-
;
camelastingresentment. And now the war being spun through almost twice
five years, he thus the unshorn Smintheus addresses: O most acceptable
to me by far of all
my brother's sons, and who with me didst lay the boot-
less walls of Troy
aught grievest thou, as thou seest these towers just
;
the slaughter of the men, sees Paris, but at times dealing his arrows
among the ignoble Greeks and, confest a god, he cries,
; spendest Why
NOTES.
more signal the blow whicli Paris gave
;
time of Homer, since that poet plainly
him cut the tendon of the heel, the wound enough insinuates, that he died fighting
whereof is mortal, unless there be able for his country; that the Greeks fought
hands to vake particular care of it and to ;
a bloody battle about his body, which
confirm what is here advanced, that ten- lasted a whole day he adds, that though
;
don has since gone under the name of wounded, he avenged his death upon all
Achilles' tendon. This
tradition, however, who came ui his way, and, before he ex-
about the death of Achilles, and Al-
though now pired, slew Oritheus, Hipponus,
ccmimonly roceived, was not known in the cithous.
438 P. OVIDII NASONIS
corpoTnfcrro,obi,ertit
areas in ilium, direx- Corpoia
„ f Peliden, arcus obvertit in lUum 605 :
i.T T 1 J'^
^ -j.
•
i /^
jZ'dTtZi.^%figt
Hoc fuit. Ille
igitur tantorum victor Achille,
tur Ac/iii(e,iUe victor Vinceiis a timido Graise raptore maritae?
tantorum vmceris
timido raptore Graja
A.,.„ ^ .
..i-ixli
At SI loemmeo lucrat tiDi Marte cadendum
i ^ r^^ f\
blU
;
uum, reslat de magna Pars sibi Pelides nee inania Tartara sentit.
:
At gloria, quce
Acliille.
compleat totum orbem, ut cuius fuerit cognoscere possis, 620
vivit. Hac mensura Ipse etiam,
respondet illi tiro: et Jiella movet clypeus deque armis arma teruntur.
:
TRANSLATION.
thus thy shafts on vulgar blood ? If
any care of thine possess thee, turn
on Achilles, and avenge thy slaughtered brothers. He said and shewing ;
thing at which the aged Priam might, after Hector's loss, rejoice. Thou
then, Achilles, the conqueror of such heroes, art thou thyself conquered
by the dastard ravisher of a Grecian spouse ? But wert thou by a woman's
hand to fall, thou wouldest have rather fallen by Penthesilea's Thermo-
dontic axe. Now had Achilles, that terror of the
Phrygians, that grace
and bulwark of the Pelasgian name, a head impregnable in war, flamed
in the Pyre the same god that had armed, the same consumed him.
;
Now he is a few ashes and of Achilles, a man so great, I know not what
;
may all earth fill up, does live. This measure answers to the hero, and
in this alone Achilles is
equal to himself, nor feels an empty Tartarus.
His very shield, to shew who owned it, causes new wars, and arms are
bore for arms. Not Dionied, not Ajax son of Oileus, not the lesser son of
Atreus, not the greater both in war and age, not others, dare to claim
them the hope of so much glory moved Telamon and Laertes' sons
:
alone. Agamemnon the load and odivmi of decision from himself diverted,
and, ordering Grecian chiefs to sit amid the camp, on all transferred the
judgment of the case.
METAMORPHOSEON', Lib. XIII. 439
I. /^ONSEDERE duces :
et, vulgi stante co- Duces
OUDO.
conseilere
\y rona, et
I.
Ajax upstarts, :
impa-
tient in hiswrath, he with a stern look viewed the Sigean shores, and on
the shore the fleet and, stretching out his hands, he cries Do we, O
;
:
heavens plead here before these ships our cause and does Ulysses vie
!
;
NOTES.
The dispute between Ajax and Ulysses father exhorted him to depend upon the
about the armour of Achilles, with which gods for victory, replied, the most arrant
this book is introduced, is undoubtedly the cowards may be victorious with such as-
master-piece of our poet. In the speech sistance, but that, for his pait, he was
of Ajax, we see the blunt freedom of a sure of victory without it. After his dis-
plain soldier, forward, impetuous, and pute with Ulysses, the preference given
i'nll of fire in that of Ulysses, a sweet
;
to his competitor turned him delirious.
flowing eloquence, artificial and insinu- He fell upon some flocks, thinking to have
ating. But, what is yet more material, slain his enemies atid, finding his mis-
;
the poet here decides a question of the take, killed himself in the angsiish of his
greatest importance whether wisdom or
; soul, in the last year of the siege of Troy.
valour ought to carry the prize. Cicero But in this, as in every other article, we
has discussed this point with all tlie force find great diversity of opinions among the
and delicacy of a great orator but, in : ancients. For Suidas, after Dictys, says,
my opinion, Ovid is inimitable on this these two heroes disputed not for the arms
head, particularly for his ingenious man- of Achilles, but for the palladium. These
ner of deciding the dispute. The poet authors add, that Agamemnon having ad-
has perfectly described his two heroes, judged it to Ulysses, Ajax vowed revenge ;
and given us their real characters. But I and that Agamemnon, in concert with the
shall wave tliese refiections, to come to other captains, who were afraid of him,
the fable itself, which makes the subject assassinated him in his tent ;
that Ulysses,
of these two speeches after first ob-
;
who was suspected of being the author,
serving, that, to enter into all their beau- was obliged to set out incognito, and the
ties, we must be perfectly acquainted army retained a high resentment against
with what Homer says of these two Agamemnon. Ajax, says Ovid, was trans-
princes. formed into a flower after his death. The
It is generally known, that there were two first letters of his name, as also the
at the siege of Troy two who bore the complaints of Hyacintlius, ai were marked
name of Ajax ; the one, the son of Oileus, upon this flower. This fable has seemingly
king of the Locrians ; the other, the son no other fouudatiou but the flattery of a
of 'I'elamon, and grandson of /Eacus ; wit, who invented this circumstance in
which last is the Ajax here concerned. the funeral oration on that hero. For fur-
He was the most valiant of the Greeks ther satisfaction, the reader may consult
next to Achilles, and, like him, stern, the note upon Hyariuthus in a former
brutal, and outrageous. Sophocles repre- book.
sents him as an atheist, when his who,
440 P. OVIDII NASONIS
ml^ZTonfiHutXtl
Ante rates causam, et mecum confertur Ulysses !
ThZcf''^'!t'igHvr'fu.
Tutius est fictis igitur contendere verbis,
sustained, and Irom this fleet repelled. It is safer, then, to vie in artful
words than deeds of arms hut neither is my talent speaking, nor his to
:
act and how much I in the fierce war can do, and in the field, so much
;
which without witness he performed of which the night alone was con- ;
from the honour of it. It is no wise brave to have gained, though vast,
the prize whatever Ulysses might have hoped for he has already got
; :
all the reward he might expect from this contention, in which, when
overcome, he shall be said with me to have contended. And I, were in
the least my prowess to be questioned, woidd sure by birth prevail, beiug
son of Telamou, who under valiant Hercules took Troy walls, and in Pe-
gasa?an ship entered the Colchic shores his father, iEacus, who to the :
silent there gives laws,where a huge rock incessant urgeth Sisyphus, the
son of ^olus Jupiter supreme owns .fl^acus, and him confesses for his
:
Qu8e meruit: quae Di, Di dent non vana preceris. haberet te expositum
cum nostro crimine :
Et nunc ille eadem nobis juratus in arma, 50 qui nunCyUt memora^it,
abditus silvestribus
(Heu !) pars una ducum, quo suecessore sagittse, antris. moves saxa ge-
Herculis utuntur, fractus morboque fameque, mitu, precarisque La-
ilrtiada; qua ?ncruit :
quccprecerisnon rana,
Velaturque, aliturque avibus; volucresq; petendo dent Dii, Dii. Et tumc
Debita Trojanis exercet spicula fatis. ille juratus nobis in
eadcm arma, (heu
Ille tamen vivit,
quia non comitavit Ulyssen 55 una pars ducuni, quo .'J
:
shrewd than he, but more unhappy for himself, disclosed the deep devices
of his dastard soid, and dragged him forth to arras avoided ? No let him .
take the best, Mho would have taken none. Let us unhonoured be, and
stripped of our cousin's gifts who, unreserved, on the first dangers offered
:
ourselves for you. And I could wish his madness were, or true, or so be-
lieved nor had this counsellor of ills then ever us accompanied to the
:
Phrygian towers. Nor, sonof Poean, had Lemnos thee, through our great
guilt exposed, ever possessed who now, as said, in silvan caves con-
;
cealed, movest rocks with groans, and wishest Laertes' son what he de-
served which, grant the gods, the gods thou mayest not wish in vain
; ! !
Now he, alas! one of our chiefs, sworn arms with us,
to the self-same
whom successor Herculean arrows claim, broken and by disease and fa-
mine, is clothed and fed by birds and in shooting these employs the
;
shafts due to the Trojan fates yet still he lives, because not in Ulysses*
:
company. x\nd the unhappy Palamedes, too, might wish he had been left
442 P. OVIDII NASONIS
nullum crimen. Qui Proditus a socio est. Non hsec mihi crimina fingi
cum tardus vuliicre Scit bene nomine ssepe vocatum
equi, fessusque senili- Tydides
. qui
_
_
:
.
nimmZaudih.''siper.
^^ postquaui cripui ;
cui standi vulnera vires 80
stascerturc,redeamus on dederant, nullo tardatus vulnere fugit.
in ilium locum redde
hostem, tuumque vui-
:
]Sl
tt. i, t^
Hector adest secumque Deos in przelia ducit
: ;
•
ti-x
nus, solilumqiie timo-
rem; latcque post clypeum, ct contende mecum sub illo. At postquam eripui cum ille, cui vul-
nera noH dederant veres standi, fugit tardatus nullo vulnire. Hector adest : ducitque Deos
sccum in prielia;
TRANSLATION.
behind he then had been still living, or, at least, obtained a guiltless
;
the gold himself had hidden in his tent before therefore, or by bariish- :
ment or death, he has drained the Greeks of their best strength. Thus
fights Ulysses, thus to be dreaded is he who, though in eloquence ex- :
celling faithful Nestor too, yet never will he make me think that the
for-
saking Nestor was no crime who, slow through his steed's wound, and
;
spent with age, imploring Ulysses, his companion's aid, was by him
base
betrayed. The son of Tydeus knows well this charge to be no fiction ;
who chid him, often called by name, and did reproach flight to his trem-
of men.
bling friend. The gods above do with just eyes survey the affairs
Lo he, who did not bring, wants aid himself; and, as he left, so was he
!
doomed to be left such law he had made for himself. He calls out his
:
him as he lay, and saved (and here the least is of my praise) that dastard
soul. Persistest thou to vie ? Let us again to the same spot return : re-
store the foe, thy wound and wonted fear, and sculk behind my shield,
and there contend with me. But after him I snatched, whom then his
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIII. 443
ruit, non tu
Quaque ruit, non tu tantilm terreris, Ulysse
quAque
; tantum terreris, Ulys-
Sed fortes etiam tantum trahit ille timoris.
: se, sect ctiam Jnrle^ :
ille traliit tantum ti-
Hunc ego sanguinese successu caedis ovantem 85 moris. Ego cominus
fundi huiic i-esupiniim
Cominus ingenti resupinum pondere fudi. ingenti pondere, ovan-
Hunc ego poscentem, cum quo concurreret, unus tem succe.isu sangtii-
ne<E cadis. Ego mms
Sustinui sorteraque meam vovistis, Achivi:
: sustinui Uiinc posceiu
tern cum quo conctir-
Et vestrse valuere preces. Si quseritis hujus reret : votque, Acliivi
vovistin mcam sortem,
Fortunam pugnee ; non sum superatus ab illo. 90 et le.stra: preces vtt-
Ecce ferunt Troes ferrumque, ionemque, J ovemque, lucre, si quaruisfor
-r T-^ 1
In Danaas classes. Ubi nunc facundus Ulysses?
xTi-n ir-n
non sum .superatus alt
r% tunam livjus piigna,
claro auro, prodct Insidias, manifestabitque latentem. Sed neque Dulichius vertex sub casside
AchilUs,
TRANSLATION.
wounds gave no strength to stand retarded by no wound he flies. Hector
;
comes on, and brings the gods along to fight and Avhere he rushes on, ;
not thou, Ulysses, only art afraid, but even the brave such terror does :
him. But, lo the Trojans bring, and fire, and sword, and Jove, against
!
ships the arms at least. And, if 1 may speak the truth, the greater ho-
nour far is sought for them than me, and both our glory is conjoined ;
and Ajax sought for the arms, and not the arms for Ajax. With these
let Ithacus his Rhesus and his feeble Dolon, and Helenas, the
compare
son of Priam, made captive, with the ravished Pallas. Nothing was done
by day, nothing when Dioraed was wanting if once these arms you give :
to such mean services, divide them, and let Diomed's be the larger share.
Yet why for Ithacus these arms ? Who, underhand, who ever acts un-
armed, and does deceive the unwary foe by stealth ? The very splendour
of the helmet, radiant with flashing gold, will all his schemes betray, and
444 P. OVIDII NASONIS
ferat tanta pondera; Pondera tanta ferat: nee non onerosa gravisque
ncc felias hasta po-
test esse non onerosa Peiias esse potest imbellibus hasta lacertis.
graiisque imbellibus
lacertis: nee clypeus, Nee clypeus vasti coelatus imagine mundi 110
calatus imagine vasti
mundi, conveniet sinis-
Conveniet timidse, natceque ad furta sinistra^.
tra timidec, nataque Debilitaturuni quid te petis, improbe, niunus?
ad furtu. Improbe,
quid petis munus dc-
bilitutiirum te? quod
Quod tibi si populi donaverit error Achivi ;
si error popnli Achivi Cur spolieris, erit; non, cur metuaris ab hoste.
donaverit tibi, erit cur
Et fuga (qua sola cunctos, timidissime, vincis) 115
spolieris, non cur me-
tuaris ah hoste. Et Tarda futura tibi est gestamina tanta trahenti.
fiiga (qua iolCl, timi- aii vi-i^ v x t
dhsime, rincix cunc- Adde, quod iste tuus, tani raro prselia passus,
mi ?/i:«r 'Zal Integer est clypeus. Nostro, qui tela ferendo
gcstamma. Adde quod Mille patet plao;is, novus est successor habendus.
tstetuws cli/peiis, tarn -r\ i
•
i o •
Sat us Te lam one fi.- Ora sono: neque abest facundis gratia dictis.
nierat ; inurmurqve
vitlgi erat seciitum ul-
Si mea cum vestris valuissent vota, Pelasgi,
tima verba donee La-
:
spear but burdensome and heavy to be for arms so weak nor will the ;
shield, embossed with the extensive image of the world, beseem a dastard
hand, and born to stealth. Why, caitiff, then beggest thou a gift, that
would but weaken thee ? which should the error of the Greeks on thee
bestow, there will be cause m hy thou mayest spoiled be, not by the enemy
feared and flight (in which alone thou, chief of dastards, doest all men
:
excel), would to thee be slow, dragging so great a load. Add, that thy
shield, so rarely battles tried, is quite entire whereas to ours, which in :
hero's arms amid the foe be thrown thence order to be fetched, audAvith ;
them, won, adorn the winner. The son of Telamou had ended and a ;
murmur of the multitude his last words ensued. Till the Lacrtian hero
did up-stand, and then his eyes, some little time fixed on the ground, raise
to the chiefs,
opened his mouth in sounds expected nor grace is wanting ;
to his eloquence. Did, Greeks, my vows with ^onrs prevail, the heir to
such a prize would not be doubtful and thou tliy arms, Achilles, and we
;
thee, enjoyed. Whom since the imequal fates denied to you and me (he
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIII. 445
uag nunc pro domino, pro vobis saepe locuta est, ?««. ?"« «""c loguu
I„"T'^ ii. ,1 nr\ t'ur pro dnmitio, save
nvidia careat bona nee sua quisque recuset. 139 est locuta
:
•
pro vobis.
Nam genus, et proavos, et qua non fecimus ipsi, '^^Sce "recl^Jt Zl
\ ix ea nostro voco. Sed enim, quia rettulit Aiax '""*'*• ^'"" ^"^o
ET
*""^'
^ '
•
^
.et et . .
''
genus, proavos,
sse J
ovispronepos,nostriquoque sanguinis auctor ea qita ipsi non fed-
Jupiter est, totidemque gradus distamus ab illo. "^nialfaT^MMttsse
Nam mihi
,. .. Laertes pater est, Arcesius illi, I^'iT* "^"^'"
eXSUl.
i'- ^
et '-
Est genitor Peleus, est Pyrrhus fihus ilh. 155 ^l^t'/r' fil^u
Quis locus Ajaci Phthian Scyronve /erantur,
!
{S^r/ ZtVZ-
Nee minus Teucer patruehs Achilli.
est isto tutisquaraturinistis
Num petit ille tamen! num sperat, ut auferat arma? imitas, ppmusqwiiff-
Ergo operum quoniam nudum certamen habetur; 7st ^genZ^'^Pyrrhll
est Jilius illi. Quis loans est Ajaci? Jerantur Phthian Scyronve. Nee est Teucer minus isto
pa-
truelis Achilli. Num ille tamen petit num sperat tit auferat arma ? ergo quoniam nudum cer-
tamen operum habetur :
TRANSLATION.
instant with his hand who better can succeed
his eyes, as crying,
wiped),
the brave Achilles, than he by whom the brave Achilles
joined the
Greeks ? Him only let not avail, that, as he is, he stupid seems to be nor :
me prejudge, that, Greeks, my talents ever you availed and let this elo- ;
quence of mine, if any, which now pleads for its lord, and often has for
you, stand clear of envy and let none dare to disown his talents.
;
For
descent and ancestors, and what we have not done ourselves, I scarce call
these our own but since Ajax boasts that he the
:
great grandson is of
Jupiter Jove too is founder of our blood, and by so many steps we are
;
distant from him. For Laertes is my father Arcesius his Jupiter his ; ; ;
nor any of them ever was condemned or banished. By the mother too,
Cyllenian Mercury, another ornament is added to our race. god is in A
each parent. But neither that I am more noble by my mother's side, nor
that my sire is
guiltless of fraternal blood, do I the arms in question
claim. By merits
weigh the cause so it not Ajax's merit be, that Tela- :
mon and Peleus brothers were ; nor rank of blood, but virtue's honour be
regarded in these spoils. Or, if proximity and the next heir be sought,
his father Peleus is,
Pyrrhus is his son. What room for Ajax then ? Let
them to Phthia and Scyros be conveyed. Nor is Teucer less related to
Achilles yet, does he claim ? does he expect
:
to bear away the arms ?
446 P. OVIDU NASONIS
guidem feci piura
qitumquasitinpromp-
tu mm comprendere
t-
m
jSrJ;;'r:''J^-
'jecique
que fort em adfortia,
Ergo opera illius sunt Lesbon,
mci. Ego doviui Te- Me
Tenedon, Chrysenque, et Cyllan Apollinis urbes,
lethon yugnantem lias-
tii, et ref'eci victum,
Et Scyron cepisse. Me^ concussa putate 175
oraittenique. Est 7?ie-
um quod Theba ceci- Procubuisse solo Lyrnessia mcenia dextra.
dere: credite me ce- alias taceam qui stevum perdere posset
pisse Lesbon, me Teue Utque ;
don, chrysenque, et
Hectora, nempecleai per mejacetmclytus Hector.
:
led. Thetis, the Nere'ian mother, prescient of coming death, her son dis-
guises. The assumed dress fallacy had all deceived, Ajax among the rest.
I with women's toys mixed arms to move his manly soul nor had the :
hero yet thrown off his virgin dress, when, goddess-born, I said, as he
the shield and spear did hold, Troy reserves itself to fall by thee why, :
then, delayest thou to overcome the mighty Troy ? I hands laid on him,
and to brave deeds sent forth the brave his feats are, therefore, mine. I
:
I took Lesbos, Tenedos, and Scyros, and Chryse, and Cylla, towns of
Apollo, Think, too, that the Lyrnessian walls fell to the ground, shaken
by my right hand and, not to mention other things I gave, who should the
:
and, dead, demand them. After the grief of one had reached all our
NOTES.
162. Prescia venturi genitrix Nereia, sought for with care. And, as a report
&c.] Thetis being apprized by an oracle prevailed that he was at the court of Ly-
that the war of Troy should prove fatal to comedes, Ulysses had the good luck to
her son, sent him privately to Lycomedes, discover him, by means of the stratagem
her brother, who reigned in the isle of here mentioned. This story, however,
Scyros ; where, for his better conceal- seems to be of later invention, it not
ment, they disguised liim in women's ap- being known to Homer, who gives a dif-
parel. Mean time, as it had been fore- ferent account of the manner of Achilles
told that Troy could not be taken, unless being brought to the siege of Troy.
Achilles was present at the siege, he was
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIII. 447
vix tenuere nefandas manus ; (scis hoc, Menelae), illaquefuit prima lux nostri periculi tecum.
Mora est longa referre qua feci utiliter consilioque manuque
TRANSLATION.
Greeks, and now a thousand ships had filled the Euboic Aulis, winds, long
expected, are either none or contrary and
the fell oracles bid Agamem-
;
non sacrifice his guiltless daughter to the fierce Diana. This the sire de-
nies, and raves against the gods themselves and in the king the father
;
is. I, to the public good, the gentle disposition of the father swayed by
my fair words I now make this confession, and let Atrides forgive me,
:
as I do. Before a partial judge a hard cause I gained yet the advantage :
of the people, and his brother, and the chief command conferred on him,
move him to balance praise with blood. I am also to the mother sent,
not to be gained, but soothed whither had Ajax gone, until now our
;
sails had been without their winds. I am also sent a dauntless orator to
Trojan towers I both saw and entered the senate-house of lofty Troy
: ;
back, and Helen. Priam I move, and Antenor too joined to Priam but :
Paris and his brothers, and who under him had ravished, scarce held
their wicked hands (this, Menelaus, thou knovvest) and that the first day :
do simus alendi, ar- Eccc Jovis mouitu deceptus imagine somni 216
mandique : mittor, quo
usus postulat. Ecce Rex jubet incoepti curam dimittere belli.
rex, deceptus imagine
somni, motiitu Jovis,
lUe potest auctore suam defendere causam.
jubet nos dimittere cu-
ram incepti belli, llle Non sinat hoc Ajax: delendaque Pergama poscat :
6
Quid
qua: dementia
socii,
Talibus atouc
.^
fecerat,
T^
avcrsos
paiii-
aliis, in qu8B dolor ipse disertum
mum decimo anno, nisi dedecus? talibus atque aliis verbis, in qua ipse dolor fecerat disertum,
reduxi aversos de profugA classe. Atrides convocat socios paventes terrore.
TRANSLATION.
After the encounters, the enemy kept long within the walls, nor was
first
there any opportunity of open fight at length we, in the tenth year,
:
fought. What doest thou the while, who nothing knowest but battles ?
What was thy service then ? For shouldest thou into my deeds inquire ;
I lie in ambush for the
enemy, I fortify the trenches I our allies cheer ;
with calmness, the fatigues of a long war to bear I shew how we may :
Jove's advice, the king, deceived by dream, bids lay aside care of the
war begmi. His part he could defend by the author of it. Would Ajax
disallow and demand that Troy be razed and would he fight, the
it, ;
only thing he can. Why stops he not their flight ? why take not arms ?
and suggests not what the imsteady may pursue ? This had not
vulgar
been too much for one that never speaks, but big. What, that thou didst
fly? I saw, and ashamed I was to see, when thou didst give thy back,
and didst prepare dishonourable sails. Instant I said, Whai are you all
about ? What madness, friends, thus moves you to quit Troy, already
ours ? What do you carry home on the tenth year, but shame ? With
these and the like words, to w hich grief itself had made me eloquent, I
from the flying fleet reduced the Greeks averse. The son of Atreus calls
his friends
together, alarmed with terror nor still dares Ajax aught to
:
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIII. 449
, 11 :
or praiseth, or who sues to thee ? But Diomed with me shares all his deeds :
the night, and foe, Dolon, of the Phrygian race, I slay, daring the same
attempt we dared yet not before I forced him to discover all, and
;
learned
what treacherous Troy designed. All I had known; nor had I further
what to spy and now I might return with my promised praise. But, not
:
content with this, 1 sought the tents of Rhesus, and in his very camp slew
him and his companions. And thus being victor, and my vows obtained,
I enter in the
captive chariot, in manner of a joyful triumph
whose steeds ;
the foe demanded, as the price for one night's service. Deny me then
his arms ; and Ajax deemed be more generous in his services than I.
What need I relate the
troops of Lycian Sarpedon, mowed down by my
sword ? With much blood, I Coeranos, son of Iphitus, slew, and Alastor,
2 G
450 P. OVIDII NASONIS
/ert, si refert se tu- Detrectare meum est sed nee communia solus 27 1 ;
lisse arma pro classe ^^ ,. ,. jjaI
Peiasgd contra Troas- Uccupet; atque aliqucm vobis quoque redaat no-
que, Jovemque? tulit- •nr>ro-m
ave, confiteor ncque ;
norcm.
Achillis
^Z jieS: 6^^ Reppulit Actorides, sub imagine tutus
facta; sed nee solus Troas ab arsui'is, cuni defensore cannis. 274
occupet communia, at- . tt •
l\/r t" i
que rcddat quoque aii- Ausum ctiaui Hcctoreo solum concurrere Marti
, ,
under the city walls. Countrymen, I too have wounds, honourable by their
place: believe not empty words here see; and with his hand pulls down ;
his vest and these, he says, are breasts ever in your affairs employed.
;
But Ajax has not for his friends, in all these years, spent one single drop
of blood and has a body without ever a wound. Yet what availeth this,
;
if you he he took up ai-ms for the Pelasgian fleet against both Jove
tells
and Trojans. And, 1 confess; he did nor is it mine with malice to de- ;
tract from brave exploits of others but let him not alone lay claim to :
common feats, but too restore to you some share of honour. Patrodus,
Actor's descendant, safe under the appearance of Achilles, repelled the
Trojans from the ships, just ready to be burnt, with their defender.
He too, unmindful of the king, and chiefs, and me, imagines he alone in
single combat dare encounter Hector he was the ninth in duty, and pre- :
ferred by favour of the lot. But yet, O bravest chief, what issue had your
combat 1 Hector comes off unAvounded. Ah wretched me with how much ! !
ders, I bore off Achilles' body with his arms which now 1 strive to Avin. ;
wife detained, Achilles a fond mother to them were the first times, to :
you the rest assigned. I am under no concern, if now I cannot ward that
charge, common to me with him, a man so great yet he was by Ulysses' :
mina in illo, sed vi- Nee Pceantiaden quod habet Vuleania Leranos,
dis/.is ; objictuque pt-
tebant pretio. Nee Esse reus merui. Factum defendite vestrum:
meriti esse reus quod
Fulcanla Leninos ha- Consensistis enim. Nee me suasisse negabo; 315
bet Pecantiarien. De- Ut
se subtraheret bellique, viseque labori,
/endite vestrum /ac-
tum; enim consciisis- Tentaretque feros requie lenire dolores
tis. Nee negaho me
.luasi.ise, ut subtra- Paruit ; et vivit. Non haec sententia tantiim
hcret se labori bclli-
sed et felix ; cum sit satis, esse fidelem :
que, viteque tentarct- Fida,
que lenire/eros dolor es Quem quoniam vates delenda ad Pergama poseunt ;
requie. Pariiit, et vi-
vit. Htcc sentcntiaiion Ne mandate mihi. Melius Telamonius ibit ; 321
erut tant^un/idn, sed
et /elix, cum sit satis Eloquioque virum morbis iraque furentem
esse ftdelem. Qitem Molliet aut aliqua producet callidus arte.
:
tia stolidi Ajacis pro- Utque tui mihi, sic fiat tibi copia nostri :
dtrrpiiTioctete ^ishi-
Te tf^men aggrediar mecumque reducere nitar.
;
festus sociis, regique, mihique, licet exsecrere, devoveasque mcu7n caput sine fine, capiasque me
J'orte dari tibi dolenti, haurireque nostrum cruorem; (utque copia tui fiat mihi, sic copia tiostri
fiat tibij tamen aggrediar ie, nitarque reducere mecum.
TRANSLATION.
his pouring oi.t on me
the foul reproaches of his silly tongue, he too ob-
jects to you shame-worthy things. It is base for me with a false crime to
have charged Palamedes, honourable for you to have condemned him ?
the charge was manifest. Neither have I deserved to bear the guilt, that
the Vulcanian Lemnos holds
Philoctetes, Poean's son Greeks, your own :
act defend you consented: nor that I advised, shall I deny, him to
;
for
withdraw from the toil, and of the war, and voyage, and try to assuage by
rest his cruel pains. He obeyed, and liveth still. This advice not only
faithful was, but fortunate also though it sufficeth to be faithfid. Whom
;
him thence: sooner will Simois backward flow, and Ida stand without its
leaves, and Greece to Troy assistance promise, than my breast ceasing for
your interest, the wit of stupid Ajax can the Greeks avail. Though thou,
dire Philoctetes, be incensed against the aUies, and king, and me though ;
thou curse and devote my head incessant, and desire I might in thy an-
guish chance to meet thee, and to draw ray blood and as I might have :
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIII. 453
Tamque tuis potiar (faveat Fortuna) sagittis 334 ; Tamquc potior tiiis sa-
gitt:s (J'aveatJ'ortuiiu)
Quam sum Dardanio, quern cepi, vate potitus ; quam sum potitus vote
DurduJiio, qiicm cepi ;
Quam responsa Deum, Trojanaque fata retexi ;
qviim retell responsa
Quam rapui Phrygiae signum penetrale Minervae
Deum, Trojanaque fa-
ta, qitiim rapiiite e me-
Hostibus e mediis. Et se mihi comparat Ajax ? dils hostibus penetrate
signiim P/iri/gia Mi-
fata sine
Nempe capi Trojam prohibebant illo. nerva-. El Ajux com-
Fortis ubi est Ajax 1 ubi sunt ingentia magni 340 jiurat se mihif nempe
fata prohiljchant Tro-
Verba viri ? cur hie metuis ; cur audet Ulysses jam capi sine illis.
Uhi est fiirtis Ajax '!
endeavour to bring thee back with me. And so. Fortune favour, be master
of thy arrows, as of the Trojan prophet, whom I took and as the an- ;
swers of the gods discovered, and the fate of Troy, and as I carried off
the secret statue of the Phrygian Pallas from amid the foe. And does
Ajax then liimself compare with me ? The fates, it seems, forbid the
? Where are the mighty
taking Troy without where is the valiant Ajax
:
man's big words ? why art thou here afraid ? dares Ulysses ven-
Why
ture through the guards, and trust himself to-night ? and through fell
swords to enter Trojan walls not only, but even their highest citadel, and
snatch the goddess from her shrine, and, snatched, convey her off amid
the foe ? Which had not I performed, in vain, on his left arm, had Ajax
bore the hides of seven bulls. That night Troy's conquest was my pur-
chase 1 Pergamus then conquered, when I forced it to be conquerable.
:
Cease, by thy looks and muttering, to shew me Tydeus' son. He has his
share of glory. Nor wast thou alone, when for the allied fleet thou heldest
out the shield thou hadst a multitude, I but one alone who, did he not
;
;
well know a fighting man less valuable than a wise, nor such reward due
to bare force unfamed, would himself sue for them too the more mode- ;
^454 P. OVIDII NASONrS
cpstere nieis cohsUU.'.:
E^t tibl (iextcra utUis Consiliis cessere meis. Tibi dextera bello 361
ext higeninm, nostri.
l/i'tlo,
Utilis; ingeniumest, quod egetmoderamine
quod eget muihramhie
Hostri. Ta geris vires Tu vires sine mente mihi cura futuri est.
sine meute: cura fu-
gens,
turi est mihi. Tupotes Tu pugnare potes pugnandi tempora mecum
:
per socias spcs, cusu- Si Trojae fatis aliquid restare putatis 379
raque mania Tr'oum, ;
perqiie Dcos quos 7.u- Este mei memores: aut si mihi non datis arnia;
per udenii hosti; per
si quid superest quod Huic Et ostendit signum fatale Minervze.
date.
sit ugciidutii sapienter,
si quid audax
exque
Mota manus procerum est ; et, quid facundia
pracipiti sit adhuc pe-
tciiduin ; siputatis ati- posset.
quidrestarefatis Tro- Re patuit: fortisque viri tulit arma disertus.
jie, este memores mei ;
aut nou datis urma mihi, date huic; et ostendit fatale signum Minerva.
si
Manns procerum est mota;et quidfacundia posset putuit re; diserlusque tvlit armafortis viri.
TRANSLATION.
rate Ajax would, and fierce Eurypilus, and famed Andremon's son nor :
less, Idomeneus, and Merion, from the same country sprung the brother ;
"without brain thou hast mine the care is of futurity. Thou canst
;
fight, it
is true but with me the son of Atreus the times of fighting chooses. Thou
;
only dost avail in body I in mind and by how much the man who steers
;
:
the ship excels the rower's part, and by how much the general is greater
than the common soldier, so much I thee excel there also in my body :
lodges a soul, better far than hands in it is all my vigour. But now, you
;
chiefs, reward your trusty watchman and, for the care of years so many, ;
which I have anxious spent, grant now this honour, balanced by our de-
serts. Our toil is now in its close I have the withstanding fates removed,
:
and taken lofty Troy, by being made liable to conquest. Now, by our
common hopes and falling walls of Troy, and by the gods, 1 lately from
the enemy took by what, if any thing remains by wisdom to be done, if
;
any thing adventurous still and hazardous if you can think of any thing ;
still
wanting to the fates of Troy, I ask, remember me or if to me the ;
arms you give not, give them at least to this and shews Minerva's ;
fatal statue.
The chiefs were moved all to a man, and then in fact appeared, m hat
eloquence could do and thus the eloquent the arms of the brave did win.
;
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIII. 455
Hectora qui solus, qui ferrum, ignemque, Jovemq; Qui siiiHS siiatinuit
Hectora, qui toties sns-
Sustinuit toties unam non sustinet iram
: 385 tinuit:ferrwm, igncm-
que,Jovenique,von sus-
Invictumque virum vincit dolor. Arripit ensem tiiiet unam tram: do-
:
TRANSLATION.
And he, who Hector, sword, and fire, and Jove, had stood so often, and
alone, can now not his own wrath alone sustain and grief overcomes the
;
will Ulysses claim this also for himself? This I must on myself employ ;
and what has often moistened been with blood of Phrygians, shall now
be moistened with its owner's blood that none but Ajax's self may Ajax
;
conquer. He spoke and plunged the fatal sword into his breast, then for
;
the first time wounded, where it lay open to the sword nor could his :
hands pull back the sword infixed the blood itself did push it out. And
:
now the earth, made red with blood, produced from the green turf a
purple flower, which formerly had sprung from the Qibalian
wound ;
and letters, common to the boy and hero, are on the leaves inscribed ;
this, name that, of the grief.
of the ;
II. The conqueror set sail for Hypsipyle, and famous Thoas' country,
the land distained with blood of former husbands thence to bring the
;
arrows, the Tirynthian weapons which after he, their lord attending too,
;
had brought back to the Greeks, the last hand now is put at length to the
late war at once fall Troy and Priam. Priam's wife, unhappy she lost,
:
!
after all, her woman's form, and foreign air affrighted with unusual bark-
ings. Where the long Hellespont runs narrowing, Troy
was all on flames ;
nor had the flames yet ceased. And now Jove's altar had drank up the
456 P. OVIDII NASONIS
S "wituc coniaie-
5'ii-;./'"';!*"^ •"''"'"
l^io" ardcbat
Exi^uumque
neque adhuc consederat ignis
senis Priami
;
combiberat
cruorem sefiis
exigmim
rriami.
^-t^i-i^.m ••-r.ii-
ComDiDerat: li'actata comis antistita Phoebi
•
a
410
1 1*
TRANSLATION.
littleblood still left in aged Priam's veins. Apollo's
priestess dragged by
the hair, stretched her unavailing hands to heaven. The victor Greeks do
drag along Dardanian matrons, their invidious prey, embracing, while
they can, the statues of their country gods, and keeping in the temples,
though on fire. Down from those towers Astyanax is thrown, whence he
was often wont to see his father, by his mother shewn,
fighting for him-
self, and bravely defending his paternal kingdom. Now Boreas calls to
sea, and sails, waved with the prosperous resound the sailor bids gale, ;
yet one's, her Hector's, ashes she took out and, taken, carried in her bo- ;
som with her. On Hector's tomb she leaves the grey hairs from her
head poor ofFering this her hairs and tears. There is,
; ;
opposed to Phry-
gia, where Troy had stood, a land inhabited by Bistonian men. There
the rich palace was of Polymnestor, to whom
thy father, Polydorus, com-
mitted thee to be in privacy brought up, and far removed from
Phrygian
NOTES.
42g. Est ubi Troja fuit Phrijgia;, &c.] and touches here upon the misfortunes
Ovid in tliis fable, and those which fol- of Priam's family, in a manner that
low, recounts some of the adventures agrees pretty much with the truth of
which happened after the taking of Troy ; history.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIII. 457
Et, tanquam tolli cum corpore crimina possent, dejigitque jugulo sui
alumni; et tanquam
Exanimem e scopulo subjectas misit in undas. crimina possent tolli
cum corpore, misit ex-
Littore Threicio classem religarat Atrides, 439 animem h scopulo in
TRANSLATION.
arms a wise precaution
: this had he not too great riches added the
!
;
sternness of that time, iu,which he wildly Agamemnon did with his law-
less sword attack. And, Greeks, said he, do you depart unmindful thus
of me? and is the grateful memory of my virtue buried with my-
self? Do not so. And, that my sepulchre may not without its honour
be, let Polyxena slain, appease Achilles' ghost. He said and his con- ;
federate friends his savage ghost obeying, the gallant and unhappy maid,
and more than woman, snatched from her mother's bosom, whom she,
now almost forlorn, did cherish, is led to the tomb, and made a sacrifice
at his dire bust. Who, mindful of herself, after being brought to the fell
altars, and perceiving the cruel rites prepared, and viewing Neoptolemus
standing before her, holding the knife, and fixing his eyes upon her coun-
458 P. OVIDII NASONIS
vidit Nepotoie-
utque
mum stantem, teiien-
Utque
i Neoptolemum
^-^ c
stantem, ferrumqite tenentem,
'•
•
^. a-A i
•
,-
-T)! c Ann
460
simidque retexit jKgu-
lum pectusque. Sci-
Scilicet aut ulli scrvire Folyxena lerrem ;
licet aut Polyxetiafer- Aut per tale sacrum numen placabitur ullum
rem scrvire ulli, aut Mors tantum vellem matrem mea fallere posset.
ullum ?tumen placabi-
tur per tale sacrum.
Vellem tantutn mea
Materobest;minuitquenecismihi gaudia. Quamvis
Non mea mors illi, verum sua
mors posset fallere ma- vita gemenda est.
trem. Mater
minuitque gaudia ne-
obest;
Vos modo, ne Stygios adeam non libera Manes,
cis mihi, quamvis non
Esteprocul; sijustapeto: lactuque viriles 466
mea mors, verum sua
vita sit gemenda illi
Virgineo removete manus. Acceptior illi,
^r, estfprocui!''Jj'a. Quisquis is cst, quem ccede mea placare paratis,
deam non libera Sty-
Li^gr sanffuis.
eiit >jvv Si quos tameii ultima nostri
.^
gios manes ; removete- Zl g,
t\ at- Anf\
• • •
que matins viriles vir- Vota movent oris ; Priami vos nlia regis, 470
gineotactu. Liber San- -rx ,. ; • • • •
j.
TRANSLATION.
teiiance, said ; Use quick generous blood ; in me is no delay plunge
my ;
thy knife or in throat or breast, and at the instant she laid bare her
my
throat and breast. As if or I, Polyxena, could bear being slave to any,
or any deity shall be by such a sacrifice appeased, I could only wish my
death might escape the notice of my mother it is my mother does im- ;
pede, and it is she lessens the joys of my death though not my death, :
but her own life should be lamented by her. Only stand you aloof, that
I may to the Stygian ghosts go free if I demand what is just, restrain
:
the hands of man from virgin touch more acceptable to him, whoever he
;
is, whom you design to appease by killing me, will free blood be. Yet,
if any one the last vows of our lips do move (the daughter of king Priam,
not a captive, sues), return the corse unransomed to my mother nor let ;
her with gold, but tears, redeem the melancholy privilege of a grave :
then, when she could, she did with gold redeem. She spoke but the :
tears, from which herself refrained, the crowd did not: the priest him-
self too weeping, and unwilling, burst her offered breast by plunging in
his steel. She, sinking on the earth, her hams now failing her, bore to
the very last a countenance undaunted then too her care was, parts to be :
veiled, to veil, when she should fall and to keep up the grace of her
;
chaste modesty. The Trojan matrons the corse receive, and reckon up the
unhappy Priam's children, and what expense of blood one house had
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIII. 459
Kegia dicta parens, Asise norentis imago ; 484 e"« ° "f"*^" ''^'c^« re-
Nunc etiam preedee mala sors quam victor Ulysses rem^'imaio 'jforetftis :
esse suam;
^^ lyases
nisi quod
noiiet
^-. , \.
i^uae corpus complexa animse tam lortis inane, tjimen edinems Hecto-
Quas toties patriae dederat, natisque, viroque. r'^vverltLmumZ ma.
Huicquoque dat lachrymas ; lachrymas in vulnera ^-oTpuTiamjbrti's ',^f;.
ATi'-i
iNatatuae (quid enim superest :) dolor ultniie matri sueta pectora, verrens-
^ l^e suam canitiem in
iNata,jaces: videoque tuum, niea vulnera, vumus. concreto savguine.dix-
1 1
In O Achuies ex-
genus hoc saevit turaulo quoq
IT.' sensimus hostem. It^''""'i'^^
:
turn Troja', orbator-
:
que nostri, qui perdidit tot tuos fratres, perdidit etiam te : At postquam cecidit sugittis Paridis
Phoebique, dixi; nunc certe Achilles tion est metuendus. Nunc quoque erat metuendus mihi.
Ipse cinis sepulti seevit in hoc genus : sensimus hostetu quoque tumulo:
TRANSLATION.
made and ; O
virgin, they lament
thee, and thee, Hecitha, lately called ;
his, but that thou hadst brought Hector forth and scarce did Hector for ;
his mother find a master who, embracing the body, stript of a soul so
:
brave, gives this too tears, which she had before so often given to her
country, children, and husband aud pours her tears into her daughter's ;
wounds, and kisses her, and beats her now accustomed breast and, trail- ;
ing her grey hairs in clotted blood, more words she uttered but these also,
tearing her breast O daughter (for what else remains), thou last af-
;
slaughter lose, thou too doest bleed. But thee, because a woman, I
thought secure from steel thou too, a woman, fallest by the sword the
; ;
same Achilles, the ruin of Troy and my bereaver, has destroyed thy
many brothers, and thee too. But after that he had by Paris' and Apol-
lo's arrows fallen. Now sure, said I, Achilles is no
longer to be feared ;
3'et now too was to be feared by me the very ashes of him, buried, still :
rage against this our family, and we have found him even in the tomb of
ti foe. For Achilles it was I have a fruitful mother been. Great llion lies
460 P. OVIDII NASONIS
fui/acunda ASacida :
JEacidae foBCunda fui. Jacet Illon ingjens : 605
ingensllumjacet, cla- _, n -j ^ it it
desque jiubiica est fi- liiVentuque gravi iinita est pubiica clades ;
7am€nfinUa.^"'pergd- Si fiuita tamen. Soli mihi Pergama restant :
"^ei^sqlTdoior'^esfiii
^'^
cursuquc mcus dolor est. Modo maxima rerum,
cursu. Modo maxima Tot
rerum, pote?is tot ge-
generis, natisq; potens, nuribusque, vivoque,
neris, natisq lie, nuri- Nunc trahor exul, inops, tumulis avulsa meorum.
Penelopae munus. Quae me data pensa trahentem
busque, viroque, tiuiic
exul, inops, avulsa tu-
mulis meorum, trahor Matribus ostendens Ithacis, Hsec Hectoris ilia est
munus Peiielopa : qua
ostendens me trahen- Clara parens hsec est, dicet, Priameia conjux.
:
tem data pensa Itha-
cis matribus, dicet :
h(BC est ilia clara pa-
Postque tot amissos tu nunc, quae sola levabas
rens Hectoris ; hac Maternos luctus, hostilia busta piasti. 515
est Priameia conjux.
Postq; tot amissos, tu
Inferias hosti peperi. Quo ferrea resto ?
qttm sola levabas ma- Quidve moror ? quo me servas, damnosa senectus
ternos luctus, nunc
piasti hostilia busta. Quid, Di crudeles, nisi quo nova funera cernam,
Peperi inferias hosti :
quo restoferrea? qwd-
Vivacem difFertis anura 1 quis posse putaret
ve moror ? quo servas Felicem Priamum post diruta Pergama dici ? 520
7ne, damnosa setiectm?
quid Dt crudeles, dif- Felix raorte sua nee te, mea nata, peremptam
fertis vivacem anuin,
nisi quo cernam. nova Aspicit ; et vitam pariter regnumque reliquit.
funera? quis putaret
Priamum posse dici
At (puto) funeribus dotabere, regia virgo ;
felicem post diruta Condeturque tuum monumentis corpus avitis :
what do hardy I remain ? or why delay ? Pernicious age, for what re-
servest thou me ? Why, ye cruel gods, unless new funerals to see, do you
reprieve a long-lived aged wretch ? Who
could have thought that Priam
happy might be called after Troy's fall ? Happy in his death nor sees ;
thee now, daughter slain at once his kingdom and his life
my ;
he quit.
But (I imagine) thou, a royal maid, will with a funeral be graced, and
thy body buried in the monument of thy ancestors but this is not the :
fortune of our family tears of a mother, her last gifts, thou alone shalt
;
survives, why I should bear to live a little longer time, Polydorus, his
mother's dearest child, the youngest formerly of my male issue, sent to
these coasts to the Ismariau king. Why do I delay the while to wash h*
METAMORPHOSEON, Liii. XIII. 461
TRANSLATION,
cruel wounds with water, and her face besmeared with dismal blood ? She
said and to the shore with
;
aged steps proceeds her snowy locks torn and
;
dishevelled. Give me, the wretch had said, ye Trojan dames, an urn,
therein to draw the
liquid water she sees the body of Polydorus thrown
:
and very grief stops up at once her voice and inward rising tears and, ;
visage,now the wounds of her son as he lays, his wounds especially and ;
arms and furnishes herself with passion with which how soon she is in-
;
bereaved of her sucking whelp and, having found the tracks, pursues the
;
foe she does not see. Thus Hecuba, after mixing rage with grief, nor
foregoing her great spirit, but her years forgetting, to Polymnestor goes,
the author of this direful murder, and desires with him a conference for ;
— Hecubam
,
TRANSLATION.
Hecuba, away with all delays, and 2;ive the present to thy son all that :
thou givest, and what already thou hast given, I by the gods do swear,
shall be his alone. Stem, she views him, speaking, and swearing false,
and boils with heaving rage and thus flies at him, seized by a company
;
of captive matrons, and thrusts her fingers into his perfidious eyes, and
of their eyes the cheeks she spoils (passion makes her strong), and plunges
her hands into the sockets and, with his guilty blood distained, tears out,
;
not the eyes, for none there was, but the places of the eyes. The race of
Thracians, provoked at the calamity of their tyrant, began with throw-
ing darts and stones to attack tlie Trojan queen but she the stone sent :
at her does pursue with a hoarse grumbling and Avith bitings and, at- ;
long mindful of her former ills, then too she, mournful, howled through
the Sithonian plains. Her fortune had the Trojans moved, and her foes,
the Greeks, and all the gods also so much all, that even Jove's wife,
:
and sister self denied Hecuba, had those fates she had deserved.
III. Yet Aurora, though she had favoured the self-same arms, has now
not leisure to be moved at Troy, and Hecuba's calamities and fall. A
nearer care, the domestic grief of her lost Memnon, afHicts the goddess ;
whom the rosy mother saw perishing by Achilles' point upon the Phry-
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIII. 463
M-
Cura Deam propior, luctusque
T\i
emnonis amissi.
•
domesticus angit
rhrygus quem
1
iutea
Vidit Achillea pereuntem cuspide mater.
Vidit : et ille
•
campis
color,
580
cura proprior,inctm-
one domesticus, amissi
Memnom.i,quemiutea
7i^^''^Z^l.
cmiea
Veam.
cuspide, avgu
/ Vidit et
iatuitque m nubiuus sether.
r^K 11 1 i
•
1 •! 1
: ille
ut delubra, diesque
: non
Till- ^"c has voces lachry-
Ego inferior om.
»»»•*•
Jupiter annuerat ;
cum Memnonis arduus alto mei Memnonis, qui
/^ -, •
r nf\^ frustra tulit fortia
•
^
•
Corruit igne rogus nigrique volumma lumi oUl arma pro sua patruo-
:
occiditque ; s%ib primis annis (sic vos voluistis) dforti Achille. Summe rector Deum, precor da
huic aliquem honorem solatia mortis; leniquc inaterna vulnera. Jupiter annuerat; cum ar-
duus rogus Memnonis corruit alto igne; voluminaque nigrifumi,
TRANSLATION,
gian plains. She saw and that colour, with which the morning times
;
turn ruddy, had changed pale, and in clouds lay hid the ether. But the
mother could not bear to see his limbs laid on the pile's last flames but, ;
with loose hair, just as she was, disdained not to fall down at great Jove's
knees, and these words add to her tears Inferior to all, whom golden ether :
does sustain throughout all the world, my temples are the fewest),
(for,
yet I, a goddess, come not that thou wouldest give temples, and festi-
;
vals, and altars with fire to heat yet, shouldest thou reflect how much I, ;
a woman, may for you, then, when I keep the bounds of night Avith the
new-rising liglit, thou mayest think rewards ought to be given but that ;
is not
my care, nor that Aurora's state now to ask deserved honours, I
come, bereaved of my Memnon, Avho brave arms in vain bore for his uncle,
and in his prime of years (so you would have it) fell by the brave Achilles.
Give him, I crave, rector of the gods, some honour, solace in death
great ;
que corpora cadunt in- Memnonides dictse, ciam sol duodena peregit
sepulto cineri;
Signa, parentali periturae Marte rebellant.
feri(B
meminereque se crea-
tas J'orti viro. Auctor
Ergo aliis latrasse Dymantida, flebile visum : 620
facit nomen subitis
prapetibus;dictccMem- Luctibus est Aurora suis intenta piasque :
a .r
pias lachrymas et ro- J)q tantis opibus prsedam pius eligit illam, 626
Ascamumque suum proiugaque per sequora classe
:
o /y i
lightness gave them wings and first, like to a bird, then soon a real bird,
:
sound witii their wings at once innumerable sisters fomuled, of the same
:
natal origin. Thrice round the pile they move, and thrice their consort
their camp.
clang break out into the sky in their fourth flight they separate
:
Then two fierce people from diverse sides make war and with their beaks ;
and crooked claws exert their rage, and tire their wings and adverse
breasts and down fall a sacrifice their kindred bodies to the buried ashes,
:
and remember they were formed from that brave man. Their author
makes a name for these his sudden birds, from him being called Mem-
nonides. Whenever the sun has finished the twelve signs, they war
To others, therefore, it seemed
again, to perish in this parental fight.
lamentable, thatDymas' daughter barked Aurora was engaged in griefs :
her own and now too sheds her pious tears, and sprinkles them all over
;
pious, chose from so much wealth that prize, and his own Ascanius and ;
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIII. 465
Fallor ? an et natum, ciim primum hac racEnia vidi, tique altis tapetibus,
capiunt munera Ce-
Bisque duas natas, quantum reminiscor, habebas ? realia cum liquido
Huic Anius niveis circuradata terapora vittis Bacclio. Turn pius An-
chises ait O lecte sa-
:
friends Apollo's city. Him Anius, who king and priest (men and Apollo
have their due regard) received into his temple and his house and shews ;
the city, and the vowed temples, and the two shrubs once by Latona in
her labour held. Incense being given to the flames, and wine poured on
the incense, and burnt the entrails of oxen duly slain, they sought the
royal palace and, placed upon high beds, they take along with liquid
;
wine the gifts of Ceres. Then thus the pious Anchises chosen priest : O
of Phoebus, am I deceived hadst thou not both a son, when I first saw
;
children, whom now (so great inconstancy of things affects mankind) thou
seest almost bereft of all for what assistance is my absent son to me ?
:
whom Andros, a land called from his name, possesses for his father now ;
NOTES.
632. Hunc Ariius.] Anius, king of De- ofTioy, sent Palamedes to ask provisions
los,and also high-priest of Apollo, was of from Anius, and obliged hini even to give
the family of Cadmus. By his wife Do- his daughters hostages. These princesses,
ripe, he had three daughters extremely however, foimd a way to make their
frugal, and who laid up great store of escape ;
which gave occasion to say
offerings that were brought to the temple that Bacchus had transformed them to
of Apollo. The Greeks, during the siege pigeons.
2 H
466 P. OVIDU NASONIS
DeHus<MitangurUtm D^Uus augurium dedit huic dedit altera Liber :
fZmabJifur%r^^^
I^^
segetcm, laticemque meri, baccamque Minervas
tern, laticemque meri, Transformabantur :
divesque erat vasus in iliis.
baccamque Mmervir ;
ysmqiic dives erat in
^^
HoC ,.
ubl COgnOVlt 1 rOJSB populator AtrideS, 000 •'t«- li. ax-j c^
^Tui'ato'i-'^Tj^Pa'^cosnt (Ne non cx aliqua vestram sensisse procellam
vu hoc (tie putes uos armorum viribus
]NfQg quoQue parte putes)
quoque non senstsse
vestram procellam ex
T.^1. '^ _
usns,' . . .
tis in decimum atmum. Muneris auctor opem. bi mu'o perdere morc o/O
tmturctpral uZ'r-
^^rre vocatur opem. Nee qua ratione figuram
scire, aut nunc dicere possim.
tis: alia toiie?>tes cojIo
hrachia etiamnum li- c^
Perdideriut, potui
' ^
(. i., ^
bera, dixere; Bacche feumma mall nota est. Fennas sumpsere ; tuseque
torque ^mme?is turn Coujugis
in volucrem, niveas abiere columbas.
opem: siperdcre miro more vocatur fer re opem. Nee potui scire qui ratione perdiderint figuram,
aut nunc possim dicere. Summa mali est nota : sumpsere pennas ; abiereque in niveas columbas,
volucrem tuce conjugis.
TRANSLATION.
that place and kingdom holding. The Delian god gave him the skill of
augurj : Bacchus on the female lot other presents, greater than wish and
faith, conferred ;
for by my daughter's touch were all things changed to
corn, of wine the liquor, and to Minerva's berry and in these there rich ;
and them commands to feed with their celestial presents the Argolic fleet :
each, as they can, escape. Eubgea was by two, and by as many their
brother's island, Andros, sought. The soldier comes, and threatens war,
unless delivered up. Piety, overcome by fear, gave up to punishment these
kindred breasts and, that you may forgive a timorous brother, here no
;
^neas was, no Hector, Andros to defend by whom you to the tenth year ;
held it out. Now chains were for their captive arms provided lifting up ;
to heaven their arms, still free, they said Father Bacchus, aid and the ;
:
author of their gift did bring them aid, if the destroying them in a sur-
prising manner be called the bringing aid nor by what means they lost :
their figure could I learn, nor now can tell the w hole of their calamity :
is known.
Wings they assumed, and changed to thy consort's birds, the
snow v doves.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIII. 467
feasting, the table being removed, they went to sleep and rise with the ;
day, and go to Phoebus' oracle who bids them seek their ancient mother ;
and their kindred shores. The king attends, and gives them gifts at part-
ing a sceptre to Anchises, a vest and quiver to his grandson, a boAvl to
;
^neas, which formerly Therses, his Israenian guest, had sent him from
the Aonian coasts. This Therses to him had sent Alcon, the Mylean, ;
made, and carved thereon this ample argument. A town there was, and
you might its seven gates have shewn these were instead of name, and ;
taught what city it was before the city was a funeral, and tombs, and :
fires, and piles, and matrons with dishevelled hair and bared breasts do
shew their grief. The nymphs too seem to weep, and mourn their springs
dried up without leaves the naked tree is stiff the goats do gnaw the
: :
Thebes this to give her breast more than woman's, with her bared
;
throat that plunging a sword through gallant wounds, to fall for her
;
NOTES.
692. Ecce facit mediis
Orione natrts whicb Ovid has contrived arlfully to in-
Thebis.'\ The fable of the daughters of terweave with his narration.
Orion is one of Uiose detached pieces
2H2
468 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Hominat Ne genus intereat, juvenes, quos fama Coronas
Oor«7ia.f,e.iire
tirghieafavilld, et (lit-
cere pompam mutcrno
cineri.
Nominat, et cineri materno ducere pompam.
VI. VII. Hactemis VI.VII.Hactenus antique signis fulgentibus aere;
signis fulgentibus an-
tiquo cere, summus Summus inaurato crater erat asper acantho.
crater erat asper in-
aurat.o acantho. Nee
Nee leviora dona remittunt:
datis Trojani
Trojatii remittitnt do-
na leviora datis ; davt- Dantque sacerdoti custodem thuris acerram ;
qne sacerdoti acerram Dant pateram, claram que auro gemmisq; coronam.
custodem thuris ; dant
pateram, coronamqne
Inde recordati Teucros a sanguine Teucri 705
claram auro gemmis- Ducere principium, Creten tenuere locique ;
qiie. Inde rccordati
Teucros ducere prin- Ferre diu nequiere Jovem centumque relictis :
cipium a sanguineTeu-
cri, tetmere Creten, Urbibus, Ausonios optant contingere portus.
vequiereqve diu ferre viros
Jovem loci: ceiitum-
gggvit hvems,
J Jiactatquc
^ ' Strophadumque
r i
:
howl was rough with gilt acanthus. Nor did the Trojans gifts return
meaner than those given them and to the priest they give a censer to
:
hold frankincense they give a bowl, and crown, brilliant with gold and
;
jewels. Then, recollecting that the Trojans their origin derive from Teu-
cer's blood, they Crete did make, and long could not endure the air of
that place and, leaving then its hundred cities, wish to reach Ausonian
;
harbours. A
storm does rage, and toss the men about and winged Acllo ;
frights thera, received into the faithless harbours of the Strophades. And
now they passed were Dulichian havens, and Ithaca, and Same, and Ne-
ritian houses, the kingdom of the sly Ulysses Ambracia, contended for ;
in a dispute of gods. And now they see a stone under the image of a
changed judge, which now for Actian Phoebus is renowned and the Do- ;
donian land vocal b}^ its oaks and the Chaonian bays, where king
; ;
TRANSLATION,
which Helenus, the son of Priam, had in his faithful instructions to them
foretold) Sicania they enter. This with three points runs in the sea of ;
the soft zephyrs but Peloros looks to the North and Bear, free of the
;
tide does about nightmakethe Zanclean sand Scylla the right, the left-side
:
restless Charybdis does infest. This swallows and throAvs up again ships,
taken down that has her black womb with fierce dogs surrounded, having
;
a virgin's face, and (if the poets have not left all things a fiction) she too
some time a virgin was. Her many lovers courted whom repulsed, she, ;
most acceptable to the sea-nymphs, went to the nymphs of the sea, and
told the youth's eluded loves. To whom, while Galatea
gives her hair to
comb, fetching some sighs, speaks thus: Yet thee, O virgin, no ungentle
race ofmen does woo and, as you do, you may deny them safely but I,
;
:
whose sire, is Nereus, whom the green Doris bore, who guarded too am
by a crowd of sisters, could not, but by the waves, escape the Cyclops'
NOTES.
738. Dum pectendos,prepbet Galatea ca- upon his history. Our poet tells us, that
pillosl The historj- of the Cyclops is em- he was deeply enamoured of the nymph
bellished with innumerable fictions : Po- Galatea, and had Acis for his rival; that
lyphemus was the most celebrated among this hideous giant buried that young
them, and lived in the time of Ulysses. prince uuder a rock which he phicked up
Ovid here, and Theocritus before him, by tlie root and tliat the gods trans-
;
describe at length an adventure of his, formed him into a river, or rather into a
which is Bot so much as mentioned by river-god.
Homer, who otherwise enlarges much
470 P. OVIDII NASONIS
effngert amorem Cy- Non nisi per fluctus licuit Cyclopis amorem
clopis, nisi fer ftuc-
dixit: O caritsima, re- Neve tui causam tege (sum tibi fida) doloris.
fer, neve tcge caiisam
tui doloris fnam sum Nereis his contra resecuta Crataeida natam :
Acidis m
•
'i ^
•
J
noDis luerit prseseutior, edam.
j."
% plfebam tTcfc,"
clops petebat me cum
Par utriquo
Est,
fuit, Proh quanta potentia regni
Vcuus alma, tui ucmpe ille immitis, et ! ipsis
nnllofine. Necsiqua- tt i •^ •
,
•
i i -^ n ncr\
sieris odiunmc Cycio- Horrcndus silvis, ct visus ao liospite nuiio /OU
S prTsentior'utno- Impuuc, ct magui cum Dis contemptor Olympi
^^^^ ^it amor scutit nostrique cupidine captus,
;
ut'rique!' pfdtahm
:
pite impuni, .,„et con- Jam libethirsutam tibi falce recidere barbam. 766
.
temptor magniOlympt -^
cumDiis, scntit \uid Et spcctarc leros m aqua, et componere vuitus.
r a •
-i,
TRANSLATION.
love ;
and tears here choked her voice thus speaking : which when the
virgin with her marble finger wiped, and comforted the goddess,
dearest O
(said she), come tell me, nor from me conceal (for I am to thee faithful)
this cause of thy grief. Upon Cratseis' daughter thus the Nereid re-
{jlied Acis, born of Faunus and the nymph Symsethis, was indeed the
:
great delight and of his father and his mother yet still the greater mine
:
;
for the charming youth had joined me to himself alone and, having ;
past twice eight birth-days, had marked his tender cheeks with doubtful
down. I him pursued, incessant me the Cyclops. Nor can I, should you
ask, declare, whether the Cyclops' hatred, or the love of Acis, was the
stronger passion both equal were. Ah gentle Venus,
;
hoAv great is the !
power of thy reign. Now, that savage, and terror of the woods themselves,
and who with impimity is by no stranger seen, the despiser of the gods
and great Olympus, feels what love is and smit with desire for me, he ;
burns, forgetting and his cattle and his caves. Now, Polj'phemus, thou
regardest dress and the art of pleasing now combest thy rigid hair with :
rakes now with a sickle thou art pleased to cut thy shaggy beard, and
;
in the water view and compose thy grisly looks Thy love of slaughter :
and thy fierceness, and thirst immense of blood are ceased and ships ;
with safety come now and go. Telemus, mean while arriving at Sicilian
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIII. 471
niuiitquc abeuntque
Telernus interea Siculam delatus ad ^tnen, 770 tntir, Interea Sicv-
Tele-
mus delatus ad
Telemus Eurymides, quem nulla fefellerat ales, Inm jEtnen, Telemus
Earymides ,qiicm nulla
Terribileni Polyphemonadit; lumenquequodunum ales fefellerat ,udH ter-
Fronte geris media, rapiet tibi, dixit, Ulysses.
ribil'.ni Polyphetnon,
dixitque, Viysses ru^
Risit, et, O vatum
stolidissime, falleris inquit piet tibi unum lu-
men quod geris tnediii
:
Altera jam rapuit. Sic frustra vera monentem fronte. Risit, et in-
quit, O stolidissime va-
Spernit et aut gradiens ingenti littora passu 776 tum, falleris altera
:
:
Degravat ; aut fessus sub opaca revertitur antra. rapuit jam sic sper- :
TRANSLATION.
Etna, Telemus Eurymus' son, whom no bird had ever deceived, accosts
the dreadful Polyphemus, and thus said That single eye thou bearest in
:
thy middle forehead, Ulysses shall from thee snatch. He smiled, and
says, Vainest of prophets, thou art mistaken another hath already :
snatched it. Thus he slights him warning true in vain and or stalking ;
loads the shore with mighty strides, or weary does return into his dusky
cave. A
wedge-like hill runs out with a long point into the sea each ;
side the water of the main flows round. Thither the fierce Cyclops does
ascend, and sat in the middle down. His woolly flocks without a guide
did follow. And after placing before his feet the pine, which did the bu-
siness of a staif, and fit to bear sail-yards, and taking up his pipe framed
of a hundred reeds, the mountains all did feel the whistling of the shep-
herd the waters felt.
; I, lying hid within a rock, and i*esting on the
bosom of my Acis, did at a distance draw in at my ears such words as
these; and being heard I marked them in my mind. Galatea, fairer O
than the leaf of snowy privet gayer than the meads taller than the
; ;
long alder brighter than glass more wanton than the tender kid ;
; ;
smoother than the shells worn by continual floods more grateful than ;
raore than goodly plane than ice more shining ; sweeter than the rael'
,
472 P. OVlDll NASONIS
lucidior glacie; dul- Lucidior glacie matur^ dulcior uva ;
: 795
cior matura uvd; mol-
Mollior et cygni plumis, et lacte coacto ;
lior et jilumis cygni, ct
coacto lacte; et, ii
non fugias, formosior Et, si, non fugias, riguo formosior horto.
riguo horto. Sed eadem Seevior indomitis
Galatea est saiior in- eadem, Galatea, juvencis,
domitis juvencis, du- Durior annosa fallacior undis ;
rior annosil quercu ; quercu;
fallacior undis len- Lentior
;
et salicis virgis, et vitibus albis,
800
tior
et 'uifZJI^b!^;'l^!^ His immobilior scopulis,
violentior amne ;
bilior his scopulis, vio Laudato pavone superbior ; acrior igni ;
lentior am,ne, super-
bior laudato pavone,
acrior igni, asperior
Asperior tribulis; fcBta truculentior ursa ;
tributis, truculentior Surdior sequoribus; calcato immitior hydro :
saxo, pars montis ; qui- Sunt auro similes longis in vitibus uvse :
bus nee sol sentitur in
medio astu, ncc hyems Sunt et pui"purese tibi has servamus, et illas.
:
purpurea ; servamus
et has et illas tibi.
Prunaque, non solum nigro liventia sueeo,
Ipsa leges tuis jnani- Verum etiam generosa, novasque imitantia ceras.
bus, mollia fraga nata Nee tibi eastanese, me conjuge, nee tibi deerunt
sub silvestri umbrd:
ipia leges aut umnalia Arbutei foetus. Omnis tibi serviet arbos. 820 .
TRANSLATION.
low grape than the down of swan and curdled milk and, if thou
; softer ;
didst not fly me, fairer than watered garden. Yet, Galatea, thou, the
same, art wilder than untamed bullocks harder than the aged oak de- ; ;
ceitful more than waters be tougher than these sallow twigs, and than
;
white vines more immoveable thou than these very rocks more violent
; ;
than the torrent prouder than the praised peacock fiercer than the fire
; ; ;
rougher than thistles far and more outrageous than a mother bear than
; ;
seas more deaf, and than a trodden snake more fierce and, what I could ;
chiefly wish I could deprive you of, fleeter, not only than the deer, by
load barkings urged, but even than the winds and fleeting air. But,
didst thou know me well, thou wouldest repine to have fled, and thou
thyself wouldest blame thy own delays, and labour to retain me. My
caves, part of a mountain, are pendent, formed of living rock where nor ;
sun is felt in mid-summer heat, nor in winter cold my apples load the :
boughs my grapes resemble gold upon the lengthening vines, and some
;
are purple too for thee and these I keep and those.
; Thyself shall with
thy hands pick off the soft strawberries, growing underneath a silvan
shade thyself the autumnal camels, and the plums, not only livid with
;
black juice, but geuerous too, and new wax emulating. Nor, I thy hus-
band, shult thou chestnuts lack, nor arbute Iruits; every tree shall serve
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIII. 473
^ ,^
bunt quoque par eetas ahis
T -1
•
.,.,
ovilibus haedi.
-r> 1 1 •!
J T•
Suntm.
TRANSLATION.
thee. Mine is allmany too do roam the valleys many the
this cattle ; ;
wood conceals many more are penned in my caves nor, should you
;
:
ask me, could 1 tell how many to tell his cattle is the poor man's busi-
:
ness. For their praise trust not me at all present, thyself mayest see, ;
how scarcely on their legs they hold distended dugs. Lambs, a smaller
breed, I in warm folds do keep kids also, an equal age, in other folds.
;
I always stored am
with snowy milk part of it kept to drink part liquid : ;
rennet hardens. Nor shall easy dainties and vulgar presents only be thy
lot, as does, and hares, and goats, or a pair of pigeons, or nest, taken
from the tree's top I on the mountain tops have found the twin cubs of
;
a shaggy bear to play with you, so like each other, that you can scarce
distinguish them I found and said these we will for our mistress keep.
:
;
Do now but raise thy beauteous head from out the green sea: now, Ga-
latea, come nor scorn my presents.
;
I surely know myself, and lately
saw in the pure water's image and me my form pleased, seeing. See,;
how huge 1 am not Jove in heaven is greater than this body for, you
;
:
use to say, what Jupiter, I know not, reigns. Much hair hangs over my
grisly face, and like a grove, overshades my shoulders nor think un- :
comely, that my thick-set body bridles with stiff hairs. Uncomely seems
474 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Tvvr
(jitod
7r«<tf <Krpfl w/AJ,
corpora Imrrent ^^ t.
'',„..„,.,
j-^^jj^j quod liffidis hoiTent dciisissima setis
jN^g^
sine fronrlibiis equii.i Turpis eqvius, nisi colla jubae flaventia velent.
:
jPlitma ttgit volucres Barba viros, hirtseque decent in corpore setaj, 850
:
TRANSLATION.
without its leaves the tree ;
the horse uncomely, unless the mane do vail
his yelloAv neck ; feathers do birds adorn their wool does deck the sheep
; ;
their beard does man beseem, and the stiff bristles in their body. One
eye I have in my mid forehead, but like a shield of huge extent it is.
What Does not from great heaven the sun survey all things here below
? ?
Yet the sun has but one ball. Add too, that in your sea my does
sire
TRANSLATION.
his heifer is still, hut wanders through
taken from him, he cannot stand
the Avoods and well-known forests when the savage monster espies me
;
and Acis, not dreaming of his approach, nor apprehending any danger;
and thus exclaims I see you, and shall take care that this be the last
:
agreement for your mutual loves. He said, and with a voice loud as
that of an angry Cyclops, ^tna trembled at the noise. I, struck with
amazement, plunge into the adjoining sea. The Symethian hero had
turned his back and fled, and said Help me, O Galatea, help me, ye
;
her parents, and receive me, in danger of perishing, into your realms.
The Cyclops pursue, and tosses after him a fragment torn from a moun-
tain ;
and though the extreme angle of the rock only reached him, yet it
entirely crushed Acis. What the Fates allowed, 1 gave, that he should
?issume his grandsire's strength. A purple stream of blood issued from
the stone hut soon the purple began to vanish, and a colour succeeded,
;
Jiis temples graced with new horns, entwined with wreaths of native reed ;
who but for his largeness of stature, and aziu'e complexion, seemed to be
476 P. OVlDll NASONIS
TRANSLATION.
Acis himself; and, indeed, Acis it was,
yet changed into a river, which
still retains its ancient name.
IX. Here Galatea ceased and the company breaking up, they de-
:
part the sea-green Nereids skim along the surface of the still deep.
:
Scylla, not daring to trust herself to the wide-spread main, returns to the
shore, and either wanders naked along the thirsty sand, or when tired,
searching for some winding recess of the flood, bathes her limbs in the
enclosed waters. When, lo Glaucus, a new inhabitant of the deep, lately
!
nigh the shore. Fronting the sea is a huge ridge, bare of woods, and
which bending a long way over the waves, terminates at last in a steep
summit. Here, secured by the place, she stopt and uncertain whether he ;
was a god, or a monster, admires his colour, and flowiug hair that covered
his shoulders and back, and that below he ends in a fish's Avreathy tail.
He understood the cause of her surprise, and leaning on a rock that stood
hard by, says Fear not, beauteous maid, I am no fish, nor savage mon-
:
Anth tamen mortalis eram sed scilicet altis Tamen ante, eram mor-
:
920 talis; sed icilicet de-
Cespite consedi, dum lina madentia sicco. lectos Jtores : geniu lia
serta non sunt data
Utque recenserem captivos ordine pisces ; capiti, nee falcij'ere
manus nnqtiam secu-
Insuper exposui, quos aut in retia casus, ere. Ego primus con-
sedi i?i illo cespite,
Aut sua credulitas in ad uncos egeret haraos. dum sicco madentia
Res simijis fictae: (sed quid mihi fingere prodest?) rem
lina. Utque recense-
captivos pisces or-
Gramine contacto coepit mea preeda moveri, 936 dine, insuper exposui
aut quos casus egerat
Et mutare latus: terraque ut in aequore, niti. in retia, aut sua cre-
horned heifers crop the rising blade, nor harmless sheep, or shaggy goats
browse. Hence no industrious bees bear the collected flowers, no festi-
val garlands thence adorn the head, the mower's hand cuts down the ten-
der grass. On this grassy plot I, sure, the first of mortals sat, till I
should dry my dropping nets, and number in order my captive prey.
Here I exposed upon the bank such as either chance had driven into my
nets, or who through a too easy credulity had trusted to the crooked hook.
What 1 relate has the air of a fiction (but what does it avail me to lie),
my captives on touching the grass began to move, and shift from side to
side, and skip along the ground as in their native main. And while I
pause full of wonder and amazement, the whole tribe fly toward the sea,
and leave their new master and the shore. I stood astonished, and long
perplexed with doubt, considering what the cause, whether some god, or
the juice of some powerful herb, had wrought the miracle. Yet what
herb, said I within myself, can be thus potent. Then with mv hand
478 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Guttvra vix bene com- Vix bene combiberant ignotos guttura succos:
biberant ignoto^ suc-
cos, ct'im subitd .sfnxi Cum siibito trepidare intus preecordia sensi ; 945
pracordia trcpirtare
inttis, pectusq ; riipi Alteriusque rapi naturee pectus amore.
amore altei'nis tiatii-
Nee potui restare loco Repeteudaque nunquam :
r<E. N'ec potui restore
sub Dt mitris
Utq; mihi, qu^cunq; feram, mortalia demant, 950
(cqiiora.
dignaiitiir me excep-
tum socio honore, ro- lustror ab
gantqite Oceamim Te Oceanum, Tethonq rogant. Ego ;
illis :
thyriquc,
mm
ut demant
purgante nctas novies mini carmine clicto
±Lt
Arvaque Cyclopum, quid rastra, quid usus aratn, ncn injectam cigau-
»T p •
Pi J Tii •
bus. Liquerat et Za7i-
jNaviiragumque Iretum, gemiiio quod littore pres-
_.,.„
cien,m(iniaque adver-
sa R/iegi, fretumque
°
_ navifragumjqiiodpres-
AusonisB Siculseque tenet confinia terrse. ««"« gcmi»o uttore,
_ , 1 tenet conjima terra ,
^ _, ^
t^we^^u^lj^!^
Quam
_. •
simul adspexit: dicta acceptaque salute,
Tx • •
11
atria circes sutm sou
flena variarum fera-
Uiva, iJei miserere, precor: nam sola levare ntm. Quamsumtiad-
Tu potes hunc, dixit, (videar mod5 dignus) amorem. Z^^^^X^f^
preco>- miserere Dei:
Quanta
J^.
sit herbarum, Titani, potentia
.-. ..' ^ nulli,
'.^y
.
'
• r na7ntu sola potes (mo-
^ ^ 1
Quam mini cognitius; qui sum mutatus ab illis. lo db videar diguusj le-
TVT •
i i-1 "i c •
vare hunc amorem. •
JNeve mei non nota tlbl sit causa lUroriS quanta potentia her- :
TRANSLATION.
time the Euboic inhabitant of the swelling deep had passed
this
BY^tua thrown upon the enormous limbs of the giant, and the plains
of the Cyclopes, untouched by the harrow, or plough, nor owing aught of
fruitfulness to the joint labour of oxen. He had passed Zancle too,
and the opposite walls of Rhegium, and the sea remarkable for ship-
wrecks, which, hemmed in on either side by the shore, makes the bomi-
dary of the Ausonian and Sicilian land. Thence gliding swiftly through
the Tuscan sea, he reaches the baneful hills and palace of Circe, the
daughter of the sun, crowded with various monsters. Whom soon as he
beheld, after mutual salutations Goddess (says he), have compassion on
;
a god, for you alone can soften these pains of love, if I seem but worthy
to receive this favour at your hand the power of herbs, O Titaness is
: !
better known to none than me, who by their virtue have been changed
into a god. And that you may not remain ignorant of the cause of my
the walls
passion, I have seen Scylla upon the Italian coast, over-against
NOTES.
1. Jamipie Gigante"s.'\ We learn here in order to be revensed on Scylla, her
from our poet, that Glaucus, provoked rival,composed a subtle poison, which
at the insensibility of Scylla, who shewed she threw into a fountain where that
no regard to his passion, applied to Circe nymph was wont to bathe and by which ;
for relief; who, falling herself in love she was transformed iiUo a hideous mou-
witii the god, and meeting with no return, ster.
480 P. OVIDII NASONIS
viribus operosa-herbec.
I\ec mandoat medeare
FineQue nil opus
i
est. Partem ferat ilia caloris,
t^
n ^ l- ii nr •
^ ^
mihi,sanesq; hrpc vui- At Circe (ttcque enim nammis habetaptms ulla 25
IZViUatratpartem Talibus ingenium, seu causa est hujus in ips^;
".et;»f &.^L" Seu Venus indiciofacithoc ofFensa paterno)
ingenium aptivs tali- falia Verba refert Melius sequerere volentem, :
refert taiia verba se- gt si spem dederis, mihi crede, rogaberis ultro.
querere melius volen-
tern, optantemque ea-
:
K -, •
/> r
j\ eu dubites, absitve tuffi iiducia lormae
^
•
i
•
:
I
riii' cu^dine'!'"' Eta's Eu Bgo, ciim Dea sim, nitidi cCimfilia Solis,
feVLTuitrl'rolari/'ei
Carmine cum tantum, tantum ciam gramine possim ;
si dederisspem, crede
xjt tua sim, voveo. Spernentcm sperne sequent! 35 :
dubites, jidwcia-
que tu<B J'ormtF ubsit ;
— :
_ - .
en ego, ciim sim Dea, Talia tentanti, Priiis, inquit, in aequore frondes,
cum simjilia nitidi so-
ils, cum possim tan- Glaiicus, et in summis nascentur montibus algae ;
TRANSLATION.
of Messene. I am ashamed
to repeat the promises I made, my prayers,
soothing requests, and slighted vows. But do you (if in charms there is
aught of power) pronounce charms with your sacred mouth or if herbs ;
avail more, exert the known power of wonder-working herbs. I ask you J
not to cure me, or heal the painful wound I want not to have my passion ;
extinguished, let her only burn with an equal flame. But Circe (who of all
her sex had a temper the most susceptible of this passion, whether the
cause springs from herself, or that Venus, otfended at the discovery
made by her father, inflicted this punishment in revenge) thus replies :
Pursue rather a willing maid, whose wishes correspond with your own,
and who is smitten with a like passion. You was worthy of a better fate,
and might justly claim to have been first sued to by her; nay, give but
hopes of your compliance, and you shall be sued to in your
turn doubt ;
Non A.,
poterat, nee vellet amans:
.'
irascitur
„ illi.'
necamansveikt.iras.
citurille qu(p est pr(P-
^~. ', .
17- , A
Qua sibi prselata Venensque oftensa repulsa, est : '««« sm, offensuque
T),' I ^• c T_i
Protinus horrendis infamia pabula succis
• •
repulsa Veneris, pro-
tiHus content pabula
Conterit Hecateia carmina miscet,
et tritis iiifamia horrendis siic-
;
cis, et miscet Hecateia
induitur carmina tritis ; indui-
CcErulaque velamina; perque ferarum 45
turq; cariUa velami-
Agmen adulantum media procedit ab aula : na, proceditqite ab me-
did,aiitd, per agmen
Oppositumque petens contra Zancleia saxa adulantUm /errarum,
Rhegion,ingreditur ferventes sestibus undas :
petensqtie Rliegion op-
positam contra Zan-
In quibus, ut solida, ponit vestigia, ripa ; cleia saxa, iiigrcditur
undas ferventes asti-
Summaq decurrit pedibus super sequora siccis. 50
; l)%is, in quibus ponit
vestigia ut in solida
Parvus erat gurges curvos sinuatus in areas. ripd ; decurritq ; sti-
:it
Aspicit ac pnmo
primo non credens
:
corporis illas ?,« magico ore carmen
obscurum ambage 7io-
Esse sui partes,
refugitque, abigitque, timetque voru7n verborum. Seyl-
Ora proterva canum. Sed quos fusrit, attrahit una.
^^ ^««'*. (tescendeT-ai-
-p,
'^
1 que terius 7nedia alvo ;
x!itcorpusqvi8erensiemorum,crurumque,pedumque, cumaspidt sua i7igui.
TRANSLATION.
revenge on him she loved she resolves to wreak her vengeance on her
;
happier rival. Offended, therefore, at her late repulse, she pounds some
herbs, infamous for their fell juices, and repeats over them infernal
charms. Then, clad in an azure mantle, she advances from the middle of her
palace, surrounded by a troop of fawning monsters and directing her ;
course for Rhegium, which lies over against the rocks of Zancle, she
walks over the boiling waves as on a solid bank, and skims along the sur-
face of the sea with unwet feet. There was a bay, winding in form of a
bow, a favourite retreat of Scylla. Here she often sheltered herself from
the inclemency of the sea and sky, when the sun raged in the violence of
his mid course, and shortened the shadows of things. This the goddess
taints beforehand, and infects with her monster-breeding poison. Upon
this she sprinkles
juices extracted from noxious roots
and thrice nine ;
sters, and, at first not believing them to be parts of her own body, she
flies, and wards off, and dreads the hostile moviths of the dogs but bears ;
along with her those whom she endeavours to avoid, and searching for her
thighs, legs, and feet, finds these parts changed into Cerberean monsters.
„ 2 1
482 P. OVIDII NASONIS
still seen rising above the water in cliffs. The mariners shun with care
the rock likewise.
III. When the Trojan fleet had passed this, and craving Charybdis,
when they were now within sight of the Ausonian shore, a strong wind
drove them back to the coast of Lybia. There Sidonian Dido, whom the
Fates had doomed soon to mourn the departure of her Phrygian spouse,
receives .^neas into her palace, and shares with him her affection and
realm and raising a pile, under pretence of a sacrifice, fell upon the
:
sword, his fatal present ; and, having deceived herself, deceived all her
and
subjects. But jEneas, leaving the new walls of this sandy region,
at the seat of and his friend Acestes, offers
arriving again Fryx, trusty
sacrifice,and pays funeral honours at his father's tomb and setting sad :
with his fleet, which Iris, the minister of Juno, had almost consumed in
NOTES.
si. Incubuit ferro.] Ovid, continuing follows Virgil, by whom the story of the
the relation of the adventures of jEneas, loves of Dido and ^neas was first feigned,
passes liastily to his shipwreck on the to do honour to Rome at the expense of
coast of Africa, and mentions but slightly Carthage, in the persons of tlieir respec-
the death of Dido. It will be sufficient tive founders. See the translation ot
to observe here, that Ovid in this account Virgil into prose.
Vol. I. p. 8.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIV. 483
admissaquedoiosagen-
Parthenopeia dextra
prffiteriit,
' J
et
T-» 1
vuio; ?iec non
•• 1 A
wm
Moenia deseruit laeva de parte canori :
vlrlormn \t ilngum
^olidffi
tumulum, et loca foeta palustribus ulvis r^if.L^t^^Sote
T,,,.
Littora Cumarum, vivacisque antra Sibvllse
1 ^^
Intrat: et, ut manes adeat per Averna paternos,
gueri rauco stridere.
ly. Ubi pra-teriit has,
.
vivkcisSibyiia;,etorat,
ut adeat manes paternos per Averna. At ilia erexit vulttis diu moratos tellure, tandemque fu-
'•
ribunda Deo recepto, dixit: Vir maxitn'c factis, citjus dexteraiwtspectata j>er ferrum, pietas per
ignes, petis magna.
TRANSLATION,
flames, he coasts along the kingdom of ^olus, and the lands smoking
with sulphur, and the rocks of the Sirens, and the daughters of Achelous ;
and his ships, now destitute of a pilot, make Inarime, and Prochyte, and
Pithecusaj, so called from the name of its inhabitants situate on a barren
hill. For of old the father of the gods, detesting the fraud and perjuries
of the Cercopians, and the crimes of that fraudulent nation, changed the
inhabitants into a deformed animal, that differing widely from the hu-
man make, yet bears some resemblance of it. He contracted their limbs,
and flattened their noses with their foreheads, and furrowed their faces
with the wrinkles of old age, and covering their bodies thick with yellow
hair, settled them in these habitations but first deprived them of the ;
power of speech, and restrained their tongues, which they had abused by
hideous perjuries. He left them only a power of complaining with a
harsh disagreeable noise.
IV. Passing these, and leaving the walls of Parthenope on his right,
and on his left the tomb of Milenus, the son of Jilolus, skilled in the brazen
trumpet he makes the coasts of Cumse, thick set with marshy fens, and
;
enters the venerable cave of the sibyl and begs that he may be per- ;
mitted to pass through Avernus, and visit the ghost of his sire. The sibyl,
at length, raised her eyes, which she had kept long fixed upon the ground ;
and, filled with the inspiring god, said O hero, whose actions render you :
great, whose right hand has been tried by the sword, whose piety the
flames proclaim, the request you make is great yet, Trojan, lay aside ;
2 12
484 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Jjilysiasquc
J::lt/.iias domos, et vo-
vissima regna miindi, Me duce cognosces, simulachraque cara parentis. '
caraq ; simiilachra pa- Invia virtuti nulla est via. Dixit et auro :
rentis. Nulla via est
sermoiie cnm duee Cu- Numinis instar eris semper mihi meque fatebor :
niirA. Dumquecarpit
iter linrroidum per Muneris esse tui quae me loca mortis adire,
;
125
opuca crt jmsciila, dix-
it : Sen tu es Deapra- Quae loca me visae voluisti evadere mortis.
seu grtttissi?iifi
sens,
Diis ; eris semper mild
Pro quibus a'erias meritis evectus ad auras
instar iniminis, j'ate-
borq ; me e.tse tui m.u-
Templa tibi statuam tribuam tibi thuris honorem.
;
TRANSLATION,
fear, you shall accomplish your desire and, with me for your guide, shall ;
visit the Elysiau abodes, those remotest regions of the universe, and the
dear image of your father: Nothing is denied to nrtue, she said, and
shewed him the branch of shining gold, in the wood of Avernian Juno,
and commanded him to tear it from the trunk. jEneas obeyed and saw ;
the formidable realms of Oreus, his own ancestors, and the aged ghost of
magnanimous Anchises he learned too the laws and customs of the place,
:
and what dangers he was to vmdergo in a new train of wars. Thence re-
treating with weary steps, he diverts the fatigue of the journey by hold-
ing discourse with the Cumsean sibyl, his guide and, while he pursues ;
own my life to he your gift, Avho hast granted me to visit the realms of
death, and escape in safety from these dreary abodes. In return of which
services, when I reach the regions of light, I will build a temple to your
honour, and worship you with offerings of incense. The prophetess looked
back upon him, and, fetching a sigh, Neither am I (said she) a goddess,
nor is it becoming to honour a mortal with offerings of incense and, that ;
you not through ignorance err, light eternal, and Avithout end, was
may
offered me, would I but have yielded to Phoehus's
passion. Yet
while he
hopes for this, while he endeavours to corrupt my innocence with pre-
METAMORPHOSEON, Lie. XIV 48 a
lercentum messes, tercentum musta videre. 14o agm, qna; est diu pa.
that these years might be accompanied with all the vigour of youth. Yet
these he offered me, and eternal youth, would I but submit to his lawless
love. But I, rejecting the offer of Phoebus, continue mimarried. But now
the happier stage of life is fled, and crazy old age advances with
trembling
steps, which I must long endure. Already seven ages are past and, to ;
equal the number of grains in the heap, I must yet behold three hundred
harvests, and three hundred vintages. The time will come, in a long suc-
cession of years, that this body of mine, great as it is, shall be reduced
to a small size, and my members,
impaired by old age, shall shrink al-
most to nothing nor shall I seem to have been beloved by, or to have
;
pleased, a god. Perhaps, too, Phoebus himself will either forget me, or
disown that he ever loved me. So greatly shall I be changed yet, though :
visible to none, I shall still be known by my voice the Fates have de- ;
amours of the Sibyl and Apollo. That god, having forgot to ask that her youthful vi-
say.s our poet, falling in love with her, she gour niisht be continued through that
promised to receive his addresses, if he length of years, she lived till she became
would grant her to live as many years as a burden to her.'elf ; oppressed with old
there were grains of sand in a heap she age, and so emaciated, that she had no-
poiiiled to. But, after she had obtained tliing left but the voice.
her request, she repaid tiie god with no-
486 P. OVIDII NASONIS
V. Sibylla memor an- y. Talia convexum per iter memorante
.. Sibylla
tc talia per convexum _,,., _,,., _,*.. icc
ifer, Troius jEncas e- SediDus EuDoicain Stygiis emeiffit in urbem ioo
in. Euboicam urbem: Troius Ancas sacrisque
: c Hiore litatis,
TRANSLATION.
V. Thesibyl, thus relating her adventures as they mounted
the rising
wa}'^, .^neas, at length, rises from the Stygian realms,
and reaches the
Euboic city of Cumge. Here, sacrificing according to custom, he sails ;
and arrives on the coast, not as yet distinguished by his nurse's name.
Here too, after a tedious rovmd of wandering, Neritian Macareus, one of
the companions of sage Ulysses, had stopt who kncAv again the son of
;
in human gore,
to visit Polyphemus, and those
rapacious jaws drenched
if Ithaca, or even
my home, is to me more dear than this ship if I respect ;
NOTES.
l6l. Noscit Ach(Pmeniden.'] The various nour, as well as of his companions, they
of
adventures that arc here related of Ulys- plunged themselves into the pleasures
ses, by Macareus and his companion, can- a voluptuous court ; which gave rise to
not be fully explained in the short com- the fiction of their having been trans-
pass of these notes ; and, therefore, I shall formed into swine: and what is added of
only mark some of the chief circumstances. Mercury's giving that prince an herb,
Ulysses was ill-treated in Sicily by the named Moly, whereby he had evaded
Cyclopes, whom, as they were a brutal, sa- Circe s charms, is to teach us, that having,
vage race, the poets represent as real at length, recovered himself from his re-
his com-
maueaters ; and, instead of saying they missness, he had given counsel to
had slain some of Ulysses' companions panions to quit so dangerous an abode.
who were wandering in the island, assert This plant, so difficult to be found, is the
that they had eat them up. Circe also prudence which Ulysses exerted to extri-
lived much about the time of the Trojan cate his soldiers from the seat of volup-
war, and therefore there is no improba- tnousness ;
it may be supposed, that
and,
bihty in supposing, with the poets, that all the transformations which Homer,
Ulysses in liis wanderings arrived at her Ovid, and the other poets, say this priu-
palace. The charms of this princess hav- cess wrought, were more the effects of
ing made him neglectful of his own ho- her charms and beauty, than of her magic.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIV. 487
Si minils ^nean
veneror genitore nee unquam si veneror ^nean : tiii-
Prodere me timui vestrae quoque clamor Ulyssis lict us prospexi vos pe-
:
tere alta tequora? vo-
Penerati nocuit. Vidi, cum monte revulso 181 lui inclamare sed ti- :
mui prodere me hasti:
Immanem scopulum medias permisit in undas. clamor Ulyssis pene
Vidi iterum, veluti tormenti viribus acta, nocuit vcstrie quoque
rati. Vidi, cum monte
Vasta giganteo jaculantem saxa lacerto. revulso, permisit im-
manem scopulum'i in
Et, ne deprimeret fluctusve, lapisve carinam 185 medias undas. Vidi ite-
Pertimui ; jam me non esse oblitus in ilia. rumjaculantem gigan-
teo lacerto vasta saxa,
Ut ver5 fuga vos ab acerba morte removit; veluti acta viribus tor-
Tii ",
1 r , i IT? 1 menti. Et pertimui ne
1 1 1 1 J.
Ille
quidem totam iremebundus obambulat/Citnam, fuctusve, inpjsve, de-
- - -
primeret carinam; ob-
Prsetentatque manu silvas et luminis orbus litus me Jam non esse
;
quem mea
Aut aliquem e sociis, in sseviat ira, tatque silvas manu,et
or bus luminis incursat
rapibus ; protendensque brachia fadata tabo in mare, exsecratur Achivam gentem. At que ait:
O si quis casus referat Ulyssen mihi, aut aliquem h sociis, in quem. meaira saviut,
TRANSLATION.
^neas less than my own
nor, when I have done all in my power,
father ;
can I shew myself sufficiently grateful. That I speak and breathe, and
behold the heavens, and the splendour of the sun, (is it possible to be un-
grateful, or unmindful ?) I owe all to him: that this life of mine was not
the prey of the Cyclop, and that, when I resign my mortal breath, I shall be
buried in a tomb, or, at least, not in the enormous belly of that monster.
What were then, do you imagine, my thoughts (unless fear took away all
thought and reflection) when I, abandoned, beheld your fleet launched
into the main. I woulil have called to you, but dreaded betraying myself
to my enemy the shouts of Ulysses had well nigh proved fatal to your
;
ship, forgetting that I was now no longer concerned in her fate. But,
when a happy escape had secured you from a cruel death, he, foaming with
rage, traverses iEtna, and with his hand gropes out the woods and, being ;
deprived of sight, runs against the rocks and, stretching out his arms, ;
defiled with gore, over the sea, pours execrations upon the nation of the
Greeks and says
;
: O
would but some accident bring back this Ulysses,
or any of his companions, on whom to vent my rage whose bowels I !
488 P. OVIDII NASONIS
cujus viscera edam
cujus viventia iTiernbrd
Viscera cujus edam, cujus viventia dextra
ianiemmeadei'tra,cu. Membra mea laniem, cuius mihi sanguis inundet
.JUS sanguis inundet /->,,. -!•• -i ii -i "'
iri/»
suttnr mm, ef eiisi vjruttur, ct elisi trepiclent sub dentibus artus ; lyo
arttis trepident sub
ftentibus: qiiam nul- Quam nullum, aut leve sit damnum mihi lucis
lum aut leve damtivm
lucis adeptcB sit mihif ademptae !
rum mea viscera in Temporis illius, quo vidi bina meorum 205
sua. Jmagoq illius
;
temporis harebatmen-
Ter quater affligi sociorum corpora terrse.
ti, quo vidi bina cor-
pora meorum sociorum,
Quae super ipse jacens, hirsuti more leonis,
iiffigi ter quatcrterra:
super qutE ip-^e jacens,
Visceraque, et carnes, oblisisque ossa medullis,
more hirsuti leonis, Semanimesque artus avidam condebat in alvum.
condebat in
altum
avidam
visceraque, et
Me tremor invasit. Stabam sine sanguine moestus
ca7-nes, ossaq ; oblliis
medullis, semianimesq;
Mandentemq; videns, ejectantemq ; cruentas 211
artus. Tremor invasit Ore Gapes, mero glomerata vomentem
et irustra :
me : stabam mcestus
sine sanguine; vidensa; lalianngebam misero mihi rata parari.
mandentem, ejectan-
temq ; cruentas dopes Perq ; dies multos latitans ; omnemque tremiscens
ore, et vomcntemj'rus-
tra glomerata' mero>;
Ad strepitum, mortemque timens, cupidusque mo-
Jingebam taliafata pa- riri. 215
rari misero mihi: lali-
tansq; per multos dies,
Glande famem pellens, et mista frondibus herba :
tremiscensque ad om-
7i€in, stvcpituiii ti-
Haud
'I'l^'
Solus, iuops, exspes, leto pceneeoue
i i relictus,
navim
',
able, or nothing This, and more, he said, burning with rage. Pale hor-
I
appeared the least of evils. And now I expected that he would seize me,
now to be swallowed up and had before my eyes a remembrance of the
;
time, when I saw him snatch two of my companions, and dash them
against the ground and, standing over them like a shaggy lion, buried in
;
his voracious paunch their bowels, and flesh, and bones with Avhite mar-
row, and quivering limbs. A trembling seized me I stood pale and de- ;
ger with acorns, and herbs mixed with leaves solitary, destitute, hope- ;
less, abandoned to death and vengeance, after many days I espied a ship
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIV. 489
T) •
A ,
i s'isse inclusos fersn bo-
Jrroxima post nonam cum sese Aurora moveret, rismumis,mrmo,ubn,;
Invidia socios prsedeeque cupidine ductos,
l7c,m%/%7u ^'et^'^at
Esse ratos aurum, dempsisse ligamina ventis 230 J'W"*^ petuam ter-
C., ,\^
um quibus Aisse retro, ^iv ram Tcfert at cum au-
per quas modo venerat undas. rora proxima post m-
,
:
1
:
M^ Leestry^onis, inquit,
Venimus. Antiphates terra regnabat
^
" in ilia.
-I
'^'^:^t:4:^
iiga7ni?ia ventis, tum
quibus (refert) ratem
issus ad nunc ego sum, numero comitante duo- isse retro, per undas,
„„„,
1 Uill
,
.
, ^
0'^P\
4i,00
per quas modd venerat,
reperlsseque partus
Vixque fug;^ quaesita salus.. .^.'.mihique.
comitique, ^oiutyramii. inde,
f^ \ ^o^T- T- mquit, venimus in ur-
lertlUS e nobis LsestrygOniS impia tinXlt bemveterem Lami Lie.
board a Trojan ship. Do you too, most beloved of all my companions, re-
late, in your turn, your adventures, and those of your commander, and of
the crew that, with you, were exposed to the dangers of the main.
He relates that ^olus reigns over the islands of the Tuscan sea ^olus, ;
the son of Hippotas, who confines the winds in caves which, shut up in ;
Favoured thus, Ulysses for nine days steered his course with favourable
gales, and saw at lest the wished-for land but that, upon the appear- ;
seas they had lately crossed, again forced the ship into the port of the
^olian king. Thence we arrived at the ancient city of Lamus, the Lses-
trygonian Antiphates reigned at that time in those parts. I was imme-
much ado, escaped by flight with one of my companions the third tinged :
with his blood the mouth of the impious Lsestrygonian. Antiphates raises
a body of men, and pursues us as we fled. They flock together, and toss
after us stones and beams without ceasing, sinking both men and ships ;
490 P. OVIDII NASONIS
i-, . . .
nan
Excipiunt lamulee, perque atria marmora tecta ioU
•,
upon yonder coast Avhich you see hence afar off. Look far hence is to ;
be seen an island, these eyes of mine have seen it and do you, goddess- ;
horn, you, JEneas, the most upright of the Trojans (for now that the war
is at an end, you are no hjnger to he accounted an enemy), regard my
upon Circe's coast, mindful of Antiphates and the inhuman Cyclop, de-
clined a message to her court or hazarding ourselves under an unknown
;
roof. At last weThe lot fell upon me, and trusty Polytes
cast lots. :
steps, until
the maids receive us, and conduct us to their mistress, through
a hall roofed with marble. She sits exalted on a throne in a fine recess,
and clad in a shining robe, over which she had thrown a mantle embroi-
dered with gold. The nymphs and nereids attending, tease not with nimble
fingers the fleecy wool, nor
draw out the lengthening threads, but range
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIV. 491
Ipsa quod hse faciunt, opus exigit ipsa, quid usus : quod hafaciunt: ipsa
rtovit quis usus sit in
Quoque sit in folio, quae sit concordia mistis, quoque Julio, qnee Con-
mistis
cordia sit et
Novit; et advertens pensas examinat herbas. 270
;
adierleits, examinat
Haec ubi nos vidit, dicta acceptaque salute, pensas herbas. Vbi
hac vidit nos, salute
DifFudit vultus, et reddidit omnia votis. dicta, acceptaque, dif-
fiidit vultus, et reddi-
Nee mora; misceri tosti jubet hordea grani, dit omnia votis. Ncc
mora : jubct
Mellaque, vinique meri, cum lacte coagula passo,
horriea
tosti grarii, mellaque
Quique sub hac lateant furtim dulcedine, succos misceri, vimqiie meri,
et roagula cum passo
Adjicit. Accipimus sacra data pocula dextra. 276 lactc: adjicitqite sue-
cos, qiiij'urtim latea?it
Quse simul arenti sitientes hausimus ore, sub kdc dulcedine Ac- .
TRANSLATION.
in order the flowers, and dispose in baskets the scattered herbs of various
dye. She prescribes the task, and examines how it is done she knows the :
virtue of every plant, their combinations and powers when mixed toge-
ther. When she saw us, after mutual salutations, she cleared up her
countenance, and granted every thing to our wishes. Instantly she orders
dried barley, with honey, strong wine, curds, and pressed milk, to be
mixed together, and adds juices which she hopes may lie unperceived
in the sweetness of the mixture. We
take the cnp presented by
her sacred right hand which, parched with thirst, we had no
;
sooner drank up, and the goddess touched the tops of our heads with
her fatal rod (I am ashamed, yet will relate it), than I began to
grow rough with bristly hairs, to lose the power of speech, and, instead
of words, to utter a hoarse murmuring noise and with my face to bend
;
toward the earth. I felt my mouth harden in a round snout my neck swell ;
with rising muscles and my hands, that had lately served to receive the
;
cup, now mark footsteps upon the ground and (so powerful are her bane-
;
he alone refused the cup when offered him. And, had he not refused it,
he too had even until now continued one of the bristly herd nor Avould ;
ctvocatusadiiisidiosa
Pocula,' conantem viroa
co- " mulcere capillos
^ 295 ,
jwcula, reppnlit .^ . . , .
jiedes, humeri rcdhmt, Ulla priora sunius, quam nos testantia gratos.
'lucertL^'^Fienu^^^^^^ Annua nos illic tenuit mora: multa que prsesens
pkctimur iiiitmjien- Tempore tam longo vidi, multa auribus hausi.
tem,h(Eremusque collo
ducis, necsumus locuti
1
&,.' iiv -i-
Hoc quoquc cum multis, quod clam mihi rettulit
Vila verba, priora
quam testantia 7ios una olO
gratos. Annua mora
temiit nos ilUe ; prte- Quatuor e famuhs, ad talia sacra paratis.
sensque
turn longo
vidi mult a
tempore,
Cum duce namque meo Circe dum sola moratur.
haiisi multa auribus. Ilia mihi niveo factum de marmore signum
Hoc quoque cum miil-
tis, quod una e qua
Ostendit juvenile, gerens in vertice Picum,
^aTtili^^lacrr'ifam
-^dc sacra positum, multisquc iusiguc coronis. 315
retulit mihi. Namque dumCirce moratur sola ctitn meo duce, ilia ostendit mihi juvenile signum
factum de niveo m,arnwre, gerens Picum in vertice, positum <ede sacrd, insigneque multis coronis
TRANSLATION.
the heavenly inhabitants call Moly, and which is hound to the earth by a
black root. Secured by this, and the admonitions of the god, he enters the
palace of Circe and, being invited to drink of the insidious cup, pushed
;
her away as she endeavoured to touch his head with her rod, and checked
her with his drawn sword. A
mutual confidence succeeding, and mutual
salutations passing between them, he is entertained by the queen in pri-
vate and demands, as a dowry, his transfigured friends.
;
VI. We
are sprinkled with the kinder juice of a harmless plant, and
our heads are stroked with the rod inverted and, to defeat what had been ;
already done, repeats the incantation backward. The more she repeats,
the more we rise to uprightness of shape the bristles fall off, and our ;
parted feet unite our shoulders resume their proper form, and arms aud
;
hands stretch from them. With tears we embrace our Aveeping general ;
liang on his neck and, by the first words we uttered, testified a grateful
;
sense of our deliverance. Our stay at this court was protracted a whole
year and, by tarrying so long, I Avas myself a witness to many surprising
;
changes and from others learned still more. This too, among many
;
others, which one of the four maids, appointed for these services, privately
told me. For, while Circe is entertained in private by our leader, she
shews me a youthful state of snowy marble, bearing on its head a wood-
pecker, deposited in a sacred recess, and adorned with a multitude of gar-
lands. As I
inquired and seemed impatient to know who it was, why
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIV. 493
AH mihi quarenti, et
Quis foret, et quare sacra coleretur in sede, violenti scire quis Jo-
Cur hanc ferret avem, quarenti, et scire volenti, ret, et quare coleretur
in, sacra adc, cur fer-
Accipe,ait, Macareu: dominseq; potentia quae sit ret hanc avein, Acvipe,;
Macareu ;
Hinc quoq ; disce, mese. Tu dictis adjice mentem. h'mc disceque
quoqtie qua yit
VII. Picus in Ausoniis, proles Saturnia, terris jwteiititi mete donmitc :
Forma viro, quam cernis, erat. Licet ipse decorum satm'nia.'fuu rex tn
Aspicias, fictaque probes ab imagine veram. uTfqMr'^im'vmum
Par animus formse. Nee adhuc spectasse per annos mio. Forma quam cer
nis eriit. viro. Licet
Qumquennem poterat Graui quater l^ilide
pugnam ipse tis'picids decorum,
proliesquc veram ima-
Ille suos
Dryadas Latiis in montibus ortas 326 gi?ie?ii alt ficta ima-
Verterat in vultus ilium fontana petebant
:
gine. Animus erat
QA
Numina Naiades, quas Albula, quasque Numici,
•
;
A 1
par forma ; tiec ad/iiic
ptraniiospoterut qua-
ter spectasse
• •
spectdsse
uasque Amenis aquae, cursuq brevissmius Almo, quennempugnamGra-
1 quin-
was such as you see view it yourself, and, from the representation, judge
;
of his real comeliness. His soul was equal to his form, and his age did not
as yet permit him to have been four times a spectator of the Quinquen-
nial games of the Greeks his beauty had captivated all the dryads in-
:
habiting the Latian mountains. He was the darling too of the fountain
Naiads those of Albula, Numicus, and Anio, and of Almo, short in its
:
course, the rapid Nar, and Farfarus with its shady banks. Even the
nymphs, inhabiting the woody regions of Scythian Diana, and adjacent
lakes, courted him. Yet, disdaining all others, he affects the nymph alone,
NOTES.
320. Picun in Ausoniis, &c.] PicHS was was overgrown with feathers, and he dis-
ms, tradita est Pico Kara quidem lacie, sed rarior arte canendi ;
ta canens. Soiebut suo Ore suo, volucresque vagas retinere solebat. 340
TalaTtZMicere feral Q^a? dum fceminea modulatur carmina voce,
et morari longa Jiu
mina, retinereque vo-
Exierat tecto Laurentes Picus in agros,
lucres vagas. Qua
dum modulatur car- Indigenas fixurus apros tergumque premebat
:
fifcundis collibus. Qutt Quid cuperet, fassura fuit. Nee posset adire
abdita virgultis, simul
ac vidit juvenem, ob- Cursus equi fecit, circumfususque satelles.
stupuit : herbce quas
legerat cecidere sinu, Non tamen efFugies, vento rapiare licebit. 355
flammaque est visa er- Si mod5 me novi si non evanuit omnis
rare per totas medul- ;
TRANSLATION,
whom said to have of old borne to Ionian Janus, upon the Pa-
Venilia is
latine hill. She, when of years
ripe for marriage, was wedded to Lauren-
tian Picus, preferred to ail her other suitors. She was indeed of distin-
guished beauty, but still more distinguished by her voice whence she ;
was called Canens. Her music would move the woods and rocks, soften
the fury of the savage race, stop the current of rivers, and retard the flight
of winged birds. While she tunes her female voice to the softest airs,
Picus went a hunting into the Laurentine fields, to kill the native boars.
He was mounted on a generous steed, and bore in his left hand two po-
lished spears, having his scarlet cloak clasped with a buckle of gold. The
daughter of the sun chanced to be in the same woods and had left Cir- ;
csean lands, called after her oavu name, that she might gather new herbs
on these fruitful hills. Who, beholding the youth from among the bushes,
whither she had retired to conceal herself, stood amazed. The herbs she
had gathered dropped from her bosom, and a flame seemed to wander
through all her marrow. But, recovering her mind from the violent shock,
she was about to avow her flame, had not the speed of his horse, and the
guards that surrounded him, prevented her approach. You shall not,
however, said she within herself, escape, not if borne away on the Avings
of the Avind, if I rightly know myself; if all the poAver of herbs is not
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIV. 495
phantom of a hoar, and ordered him to cross the way in sight of the king,
and seem to run into a grove, thick set with trees, where there was a
large wood, and inaccessible to a horse. Instantly Picus, not suspecting
this visionary prey, makes for the covert, and nimbly dismounts from his
through the thickest of the wood. She now repeats her charms and noxious
spells, and invokes unknown gods in an unknown strain Avherewith she ;
Avas wont to veil the face of the snow-white moon, or shade Avith darken-
ing clouds the lustre of her sire. Then too she overspreads the face of
heaven with a thick fog, exhaling clouds from the ground by her incanta-
tions. His attendants wander, unknowing where they stray; and the king
is left without a guard. Having thus a proper time and place, By those
eyes of thine (says she), beauteous youth, which have captivated mine ;
by that irresistible form, which makes me, though a goddess, address you
in this suppliant strain, favour my passion and receive for your father-
;
in-law the sun, that bright luminary, to whose view all nature is open ;
session of heart nor Avill I violate the conjugal tie by another amour,
my ;
while the fates preserve my Canens, the daughter of Janus, Circe renew-
496 P. OVIDIl NASONIS
erat fibula, momorde- Nee quicquam antiqui Pico, nisi nomina, restat.
ratque vtstem,fitplu-
ma, et cervix pracin- VIII. Interea comites clamato sffipe per agios
giturj'ulvo auro. jVec
quicquam antiqui res- Nequicquam Pico, nuUaque in parte reperto,
tat Pico, nisi iiomina. Inveniunt Circen (nam jam tenuaverat auras,
VIII. Interea Pico
sccpe clamuto nequic- Passaque erat nebulas ventis ac sole resolvi) 400
quani per ogros, reper-
toque in nidlA parte, Criminibusque premunt veris, regemque reposcunt,
cojnites vnveniunt Cir- ferunt
cenfnamjam tenuave- Vimque ; ssevisque parant incessere telis.
rat auras, passaque Ilianocens spargit virus, succosque veneni :
erat nebulas resolvi
veiitis ac sole) pre- Et Noctem, Noctisque Deos, Ereboque, Chaoq;
muntque veris crimi-
jiibus, reposcuntque Convocat, et magicis Hecaten ululatibus orat. 405
regent, feruntqiie vim parantque incessere sttvis telis. Ilia spargit noccns virus, succosque re-
neni: et coniocat A'octcm, Deosque Noctis, Ercboquc, Chaoque, ct oral Hecaten magicis ulula-
tibus.
TRANSLATION.
ing often her entreaties in vain. It shall not (says she) go unpunished,
nor shall you be any more restored to your Caucus but learn by expe- ;
rience what a woman, when injured, and a lover, can do know too, that :
Circe is the woman, the lover you have injured. Then, turning twice to
the west, and twice to the east, thrice she waves her wand, and thrice
repeats a charm. He flies; and, wondering himself at his unusual speed,
perceives that he is borne upon w ings and, enraged at being added thus
;
a new bird to the Latiau woods, pierces the rugged oak with his hard
bill, and wounds in his passion the long boughs. His wings drink in the
scarlet dye of his cloak. The gold, which, lately a buckle, had clasped
his flowing robe, now glows round his neck in yellow plumes nor does ;
and demand their king, and threaten violence, and prepare to assault her
with cruel weapons. She scatters her tainted juices and noxious poison ;
and convokes, from CJhaos and Erebus, Night and the gods of Night,
and addresses Hecate in magic bowlings. When, wonderful to relate !
METAMOHPHOSEON, Lib. XIV. 497
TRANSLATION.
the forests are tossed from their places, earth groaned, and
every tree
looked pale the plants, from every pore, sweat drops of blood; the stones
;
IX. Setting Phoebus now bore down upon the Tartessian shore, and in
vain did Canens wish and long for her husband. Her servants and
people
rim through every wood, and carry out lights to meet him. Nor is it
enough for the nymph to weep, and tear her hair, and beat her breast in
lamentation, yet she does all nay, more she flings out of the palace,
; ;
and wanders like one distracted over the Latian fields. Six tedious nights,
and as many returning suns, beheld her wandering, where chance di-
rected, over mountains and valleys, without either food or sleep. The Ty-
ber was the last that saw her, fatigued with grief and the length of the
way, and reposing her limbs upon his shady bank. There, with tears, she .
as she
droops, her own elegy. At last, grief wasting her scanty marrow,
2 &
498 P. OVIDU NASONIS
/> .
•
t
Kursus mii'c irctum, lursus dare vela jubemur.
longum annum. He-
of the thing still distinguishes the place, which the ancient muses still
call Canens, from the name of the
nymph. Many such prodigies were re-
lated to me, or seen, in the course of a
long year at the end of which, ;
deposited in a marble urn, and a short epitaph inscribed upon her tomb.
Here my foster-son, of known piety, having rescued me from Grecian
flames, honowed my remains with a funeral pyre. The cable, which
fastened them to the grassy bank, is untied, and they steer at a distance
from the faithless coast and fatal palace of the ensnaring goddess, and
make for the groves where Tyber, confined by shady banks, breaks into
the sea with his yellow sand where iEneas obtains the kingdom and
;
daughter of Latinus, the son of Faunus yet not till after a bloody war. ;
A war is begun with a fierce nation and Turnus, in arras, demands his ;
TRANSLATION.
Rutilians ; nor was ^neas
unsuccessful in applying to Evander, though
Venulus, in vain, solicited aid of exiled Diomedes who had encompassed
;
with walls a large city, near lapygian Daunus', and reigned over a dotal
kingdom. But after Venulus had executed the commands of Turnus, and
in his name
requested aid, the ^tolian hero pleads his want of strength
as an excuse that he could not pretend to engage the subjects of his fa-
;
our misery, are shipwrecked on the coast of Euboea. But, not to tire you
with too minute a detail of our cruel woes, Greece might have then ex-
torted pity even from Priam himself: yet, by the indulgence of Minerva,
the
arms-bearing goddess, I was preserved and rescued from the waves,
but am again banished
my native home for Venus, mindfid of the wound
;
I
gave, pursues me >vith punishment and so many hardships did 1 suf-
;
2K2
500 P. OVIDII NASONIS
sill/ s<rpe vocati feli- Ut mihi lelices sint illi saepe vocati, 480
ces mihi, quos ronnnit-
iiis hyems Caphareus- Quos communis hyems, importunisq Caphareus ;
que import u>nf,mersit Mersit aquis vellemque horum pars una fuissem.
:
aquis : vellcmquefuis-
xem una pars fiorum. Ultima jam passi comites belloque, fretoque,
Comitcs passi ultima
belloque J'retoque, ja?n. Deficiunt ; finemque rogant erroris. At Agmon
rogantque
deficiunt,
finern erroris. At Ag Fervidus ingenio, tum vero et cladibus asper, 485
mon vestra recuset
/""'^"J^'^^*'^*^^' Quid superest, quod jam patientia
titbits, riixit: quid jam Ferrc, viri? dixit. Quid habet Cytherea, quod ultra
irr'^ahllui^aTf'cuset (Vclle puta) faciat ? nam dum pejora timentur ;
tZZa '^cpnI'a'"veuTj
Est in vota locus sors autem ubi pessima rerum, :
her worst, fear is banished, and misery, once become desperate has no
farther care. Let her overhear these defiances, let her persist in her hatred
to all that serveunder Diomed, we yet despise her hatred and, driven ;
as we are to the utmost verge of misery, have dearly bought this despe-
rate presumption. By these irritating speeches Agmon provoked, anew,
Venus, now better disposed, and roused her former resentment. But few
approve of his words the greater number of his friends check him. As
;
he is preparing to answer, his voice fails, his throat contracts, and his
hair converts to feathers. His neck, breast, and back, transformed, are
covered with a fleece of plumes, which enclose also his arms, and, length-
ening, bend into light wings. A great part of his feet stretches into toes;
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIV. 601
Hunc Lvcus, hunc Idas,' et• cum Rhetenoro Nycteus Lycus, rdas, Nyaem
•''.- cumRhetenore,etAbas
•'-
they stand wondering, take the same shape. The greater number of my
company fly off, and flutter round the oars with waving wings. If you
want to know the form of this sudden race of birds, as it was not that of
swans, so was it the next in resemblance so that hardly, with these then
;
themselves, and despising his vain pursuit, they move their feet in con-
cert, and change their flight to a dance. The shepherd reproaches, and
mimics them with rustic airs, adding obscene gestures to his abuseful lan-
guage. Nor was he silent, until an enclosing bark buried his throat, and
its sap are an emblem of his man-
tied up his
tongue. The tree itself and
ners. For a wild olive, with its bitter fruit, speaks the infamy of his.
tongue ; the coarseness of the clown passed into them.
502 P. OVIDII NASONIS
lifo, ligiioque verso in corpora, puppes adunctr mtitantur in faciem \capitnm. Kemi abcunt in
riigitos, et nutantia crura,
TRANSLATION.
XII. Upon the return of the deputies, and their report, that the iEto-
lians had refused to join the Rutilians, though disappointed of these al-
;
lies, yet prepare for war and much blood is shed on both sides. Lo
;
!
Turnus assaults the Trojan fleet, and besets with devouring torches their
frames of pine and those ships thatjiad escaped the waves, dread the
;
flames. And now Vulcan had invaded the pitch, rosin, and other aliments
of flame, and was mounting along the tall masts to the sails, while clouds
of smoke ascend from the bending keels. When the awful mother of the
gods, calling to mind, that these pines had been cut on Ida's sacred fOp,
notes of
filled the air with the tinkling of
sounding brass, and the softer
the flute and, riding through the sky in a chariot, drawn by harnessed
;
lions. In vain, Turnus (says she), do you toss with sacrilegious hand these
to prey
flaming brands, I will interpose nor suffer the wasteful torches ;
upon the parts of a grove sacred to me. While yet the goddess spoke, it
thundered loud and heavy showers of rain followed the thunder, accom-
;
panied with rattling hail and the Astreean brothers meet in fierce war,
;
and shake the air and swelling sea with their encounters. The bounteous
parent of the gods, aided by one of these, breaks the hempen bonds
that
secured the Trojan fleet and, bearing the ships downward, plunges ihem
;
to the bottom. The oak, softening, and assuming the nature of flesh,
the crooked sterns ai-e changed into human faces tlie oars shoot into fin- ;
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIV. 503
Irerstat; nabetque
*
J)eos pars
rum
^ utraque; quiq Deo- 111' ;
animata in marinas
vymphas, RutuLu^n
posse mctu monstri de-
Instar, habent animos. Nee jam dotalia regna, ;^%^L''«tS:f t:
Nee sceptrum • •
soceri, nee te, Lavinia virgo, 570 oet veos.^Mceiquequi
habent animos mstar
cf 1 1 !• 1
feed vicisse petunt deponendique pudore : ncomm. Necjampe-
Bellsi gerunt. Tandemque Venus victricia nati 'n"c sceitium "^ch,
Arma videt: Turnusq \.
: cadit:' cadit Ardea Turno, '
««? K' P^so Lavinia',
sed vicisse, geruntquc
bella pudore deponendi; tandemque Venus videt victricia arma nati- Turmis cadit; Ardea
cadit,
TRANSLATION.
gers and legs ;
side remains so still, and the keel, that
what was before a
a
supports the middle structure of the vessel, changes to spine,
the cordage
flows in hair ; the sail-yards become arms the colour as before is green ; ;
they yet frequent the restless sea, nor are affected with the remembrance
of their original. Yet, not forgetting the many hazards they had run on
the unrelenting waves, they often befriend ships struggling with a storm,
unless of Achaian make.
XIII. For, still mindful of the calamities brought upon the Phrygians,
they hate the Greeks and beheld with joyful looks the wreck
;
of Ulysses'
a rock, and the
ship pleased too, they saw that of Alcinous harden into
;
war, through shame of being the first to yield. At length Venus beholds
the arras of her son victorious. Turnus falls and Ardea too, a powerful ;
504 P. OVIDll NASONIS
dicta
sospite ^'^^QuatJpl'sl Sospite dicta potens. Quara postquam barbarus
qtuim harbarus ignis
Ignis
tuerunt'tepidafaviua; Abstulit, et tcpida latuei'uiit tccta favilla, 575
^uiui sMatfm'e. Congerie e media turn primum cognita praepes
did congerie; et ever-
Subvolat: ct cineres plausis everberat alis :
quamvis,parvum,dum- Aspexissc
' semel, Stvgios
•'°.
semcl issc per amnes.
modo des aliquod. Est a r t\-' ,/ .
of the place too is stamped upon it, and Ardea is bewailed by the
mournful clapping of own wings. its
XV. And now the bravery and merit of jEneas had extinguished in
all the gods, and even in Juno herself, their old resentment and the ;
power of rising lulus being well established, the Cytherean hero was be-
come ripe for his kindred mansion of the stars. Venus had solicited all
the gods above and, hanging on her father's neck,
;
Indulgent sire (said
she), who never yet sternly rejected my suit, now, more than ever, be
gracious and raise my .^neas, who by his descent from me boasts of
;
you as his grandfather, to the rank of a god, though of the lowest class.
It is enough that he has once beheld the
unlovely realms of Pluto, enough
that he has once crossed the Stygian lake. The
gods gave each a nod of
assent nor did even the empress of the skies listen to the request with a
;
forbidding air, but signified her compliance by a gracious smile. Then the
sire of gods You are both worthy of the heavenly grant you that prefer
:
;
NOTES.
576. Congerie e medid tiim primwn.'] fleetsbeing set on fire, were resolved to
We arc to form the same jiidgjiient ot tliis do the .same by Ardea, the capital of the
fable, as of the preceding. The soldiers Rutilians.
of ^Eiieas, to revenge the affront of their
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIV. 505
Epitos ex illo est. Post hunc Capetusque, Capys- que Latina, fuit
sub
ditione binominis As-
canii. Silvius succedit
illi. Quo Latinus sa-
Sed Capys ante fuit. Regnum Tiberinus ab lUis tus, tenuit repetita no-
615 mina, cum
Cepit; et in Tusci demersus fluminis undis
antiquo
sceptro: Alba subit
Nomina fecit aquae. De
quo Remulusque, feroxq ; clarum Latinum. Epi-
tos est ex illo, Cwpct us-
Acrota sunt geniti Remulus, maturior annis,
:
que Capysq;post hunc;
sed Capys fuit ante,
Fulmineo periit, imitator fulminis, ictu. Tiberinus cepit reg-
fium ab illis ; et detnersus in undis Tusci Jiuminis, fecit nomina aqiitr. De quo Remulusque fe-
roxque Acrota sunt geniti: Remulus maturior annis, imitator fulminis, periit fulmineo ictu.
TRANSLATION.
the suit, and he for whom it is
preferred ; receive, therefore, the favour
you request. He said she rejoices, and returns thanks to her sire and,
: ;
borne through the light air in a chariot drawn by harnessed doves, flies
to the shore of Laurentura, where Numicius, shaded with reeds, creeps
along his channel to the adjoining sea. She orders him to purge ^neas
of whatever about him is mortal, and bear it to the sea in his still waters.
The horned god obeys the mandate of Venus and, sprinkling ^neas ;
with his waters, purges away whatever is mortal in his frame, and suffers
only his better part to remain. His mother anoints the body, thus puri-
fied, with gums of fragrant scent, and breathes on his features ambrosial
dews and changes him to a god, whom the Romans style Indiges, and
;
crossing the Tuscan river, gave his name to the stream. From him sj^rung
Remulus, and the fierce Acrota. Remulus, who was the elder, aspiring
to imitate thunder, fell by the stroke of thunder. Acrota, less presump-
506 P. OVIDII NASONIS
waaXsilvas,nec amnes, Nee jaeulo gravis est, sed adunca dextera falce :
amat rus, et ramos
ferentes felicia poma. Qua modo luxuriem premit, et spatiantia passim
Nee dextera est gra- Brachia compeseit: fissa modb eortice virgam 630
vis jaculo sed aduncA
falce; quit modb pre- Inserit ; et suecos alieno prasstat alumno.
mit luxuriem, et com-
pescit brachia spati- Nee patitur sentire sitim bibul8eque recurvas :
TRANSLATION.
tuous than his brother, left the sceptre to gallant Aventinus, who lies
buried in the same mountain on which he reigned and gave his name to ;
the mountain. And now Procas held the government of the Palatine na-
tion. Under this prince flourished Pomona ;
than whom none, among
the Latian Hamadryads, applied more to the
cultivating of gardens, or
attended with equal care to the breed of fruit-trees ; whence she has her
name. She discovers no fondness for woods or streams, hut loves the
country, and boughs bending under a load of fruit. Nor is her right-hand
armed with a dart, but with a crooked pruning knife, wherewith she some-
times checks the luxuriance of the
boughs, and lops off on every side the
straggling shoots at other times she inserts scions in the cleft bark, and
;
Hos qiioque Vertumnus: neque erat felicior illis. perabat quoque hos
amando; neque erat
quoties habitu duri messoris aristas felicior illis. O quoties
hiibitu duri messirris
Corbe tulit ; verique fuit messoris
imago !
tulit ai'istas corbe ;
ferens fceno ^45 soris
J"'tl"eimugovrri mes-
Tempora saepe religata recenti, Sape gerens tem- .'
mire the fruit. This (says he, within himself) adds still greater influence
to your charms. Then, after commending her much, he kindly saluted
her, but with an ardour beyond what coiUd have been expected from a
real old woman and, affecting to stoop with age, seated himself on a
;
turf, looking up at the boughs bending under the weight of autumn. Over-
against him stood an elm, branching wide, and laden with clusters of
svvelling grapes Avhich after commending nuich with its associate vine,
;
But, did it stand single (says he), not embranched by the foldings ol" the
508 P. OVIDII NASONIS
cubitus meccurascotv-
Atque utinaiii velles! Helene non pluribus esset
nam velles. Helene Sollicitata procris: nec quas Lapitneia movit b/U
y1"n6«f yrocrt"«ec Prselia, ncc conjux timidis
audacis Ulyssei.
^rff«a""^^Lc'"^.w^i/a•
^unc quoque, cum fugias averserisque petentes,
uiysse'i audacis timi- Mille proci cupiunt ;
et semideique, Deique,
dis. Nunc quoque, cum -r,
'^ '. .aiu a
•
fugias, averserisque
cqurLJ'tl'piuTiuu
Me quoque pignus habe. Neque enim sibi notior
omnibus, phis quam \W.& CSt,
credis) rejice vuigares ^-.s •i-ivTij •
j.* u
t(Edas; seiigcq;
Vertum7ium socium to-
tibi Quam
mihi, - JVcc "toto passim vagus crrat in oFDe.
~^ -
ri. Pro quo habe me Haec loca sola colit. Nec uti pars magna proco-
quoque pignus 7ieque :
rum, 681
enim ille est notior si-
bi quam nec er-
mihi
rat vagus passim in
; Quam modo amat.vidit, Tu primus et ultimus illi
toto orbe. Colli htec Ardor eris; solique suos tibi devovet annos.
sola lo»a; Vjec amat
quam vidit modo, uti Adde, quod est juvenis; quod naturale decoris
magna pars procorum.
Tu eris primus et ul-
Munus habet
formasque apte fingetur in omnes;
;
timus ardor illi: de- Et, quod erit jussus (jubeas licet omnia) fiet. 686
vovet suos annos tibi
soli. Adde quod est Quid, quod amatis idem ? quod, quss tibi poma co-
juvenis: quod habet
naturale munus deco- luntur,
ris ; fingeturque aptt in omnesformas, etjiet quod erit jussus, licet jubeas omnia. Quid f quod
amatis idem? quod primus haliet poma, qua coluntur tibi,
TRANSLATION.
vine, would shoot forth only leaves, nor bear any thing to invite the
it
hand. The vine too, which rests upon the supporting elm, unless thus
united, would creep a neglected shrub upon the ground. Yet you seem not
to he moved by so instructive an example, but shun the conjugal em-
brace, nor care to be united in the bonds of wedlock and, indeed, 1 wish ;
mountains. But do you, if you are wise if you would be happy in wed- ;
lock, and will listen to the advice of an old -woman, who loves you more
than them all more than you easily believe reject vulgar followers, and
; ;
accept Vertumnus as the companion of your days, for whom I offer also
my assurance for scarce is the god better known to himself. Nor is he
;
one who wanders at large over all the earth, but frequents these places
alone and, far from resembling the common herd of wooers, who are
;
passionately fond of every new face, you are his first and only flame to ;
you alone he devotes all his years. Add, that he is young, that he has a
natural comeliness of person, that he can put on any shape with ease, and
will become whatever you command him: and you may command
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIV. 509
tandem nlla tffdia mei UUa ferenda mei. Laetos molire triumphos,
eruntferenda tibi. Mo-
lire icetos triumphos, Et Paeana voca, nitidaque incingere lauro 720 :
gaude.' cerie cogeris Quo tibi sim gratus ; meritumq ; fatebere nostrum.
'Z'Lmllra'qn^Vmp-
H^Bc tibi scrta pkccnt, crudelis et impia, dixit. 736
sistis vita. Dixit et tendens humentes oculos, et pallida brachia ad postes
; sape ornatos coro-
nis, cum religaret viticula summi laqueiforibus ; dixit: here serta placent tibi impia et crudelis?
TRANSLATION,
•when roused by the setting of the kids harder than iron, tempered in ;
the Noric forge or the rock which, fast bound by its root, retains all its
;
native stubbornness despises and insults him ; and adds moreover to her
;
barbarous behaviour haughty words, and deprives the unhappy lover even
of hope. Iphis, impatient, could not bear the torment of his endless grief,
and poured out these his last words before the gate You conquer Anaxa- :
rete nor shall j^ou be any more compelled to endure my irksome solicita-
;
tions. Prepare a joyful triumph, invoke the god Psean, and bind your
temples with a garland of trimmed laurel for you conquer, and I wil- ;
myself agreeable, and force you to own my merit. Yet remember, that
my regard for you ceased not, but with life both lights must be extin- ;
guished together. Nor shall Fame come to you the first messenger of ray
death I myself will come, doubt it not, and stand before you, that you
;
may feed your cruel eyes with the sight of my lifeless corse. If yet, O
heavenly powers, the fate of mortals is your care, have some respect to
mine my tongue can ask nothing farther let my name be known to dis-
;
:
tant ages and may I enjoy in fame that life, of which I am now so early
;
deprived. He said and raising his swinnning eyes, and extending his
:
guis fugu i.
corpore,
1 P'^^^"'"'^ '^^'^'"'^to ; cona-
pium taque ferre pedes re-
/ UU
'7f\C\
tro, hasit : conata avertere vultus\ non potuit quoque hoc: saxumque, quod fuit jampridem in
duro pectore, paulatim occupat artus. Neve putes ca ficta, Salamis adhuc servat signum sub
imagine domino:. Habet quoque templum
TRANSLATION,
fastened the end of the cord to the gate Do these garlands then, cruel, in- :
human fair (said he), please you ? And, still careful that he might be turned
toward her, thrust his head into the noose, and hung by his squeezed
thro&,t, a hapless load The gate, struck by the convulsive motions of his
!
feet, seems to complain in heavy groans and, upon being opened, disco- ;
vered what had been done. The servants raise an outcry ; and, taking
him down in vain, carry the body to the house of his mother (for his fa-
ther had been some time dead). She cherishes him in her bosom and ;
embracing the cold lifeless limbs of her son, after venting her grief in
complaints suited to her unhappy fate, and bemoaning her son in a man-
ner that testified her grief and despair, she led his mournful funeral
through the middle of the city, and bore his livid limbs on a bier to the
fatal pyre. Adjoining to the street, through which the mournful pomp
passed, was the house of the cruel fair ; and the echo of the lamentations
reached the ears of Anaxarete, whom now the avenging gods pursued.
Moved, however, by the laments she heard. Let us see (said she) this
mournful funeral and went into an upper room, where the windows were
;
large and open. Scarce had she beheld Iphis, who was carried on a bier,
when her eyes stiffened and, a paleness spreading all over her body,
;
the warm blood forsook her veins. Endeavouring to retire, she foimd that
she stuck fast; and Avhen she wanted to turn away her face, neither was
that in her power. And the stone, which had long lurked in her unrelent-
ing, breast, bv degrees crept over all her ioiuts. And, that vou may not
512 P. OVIDII NASONIS
fiomine
mor
Veneris pro-
spicientis. Quorum me-
6 mea nymphe,
pone Iciif OS fast us pre-
Prospicientis
1
liabet.
oj>7,s est vi; nymphe- Kexit opes JNumitorque senex amissa nepotum
:
plfaJrmhTongestis.
^^c strepitum vcrso Saturnia cardine fecit.
Inde sati Curibus, prefuunt voces ore, more tacitorum luporum ; et invadunt corpora victa so-
pore; petuntqueportas, quas Iliades clauserat firmCi ohice ; tamen ipsa Saturnia recludit unam,
nee fecit strepitum verso cardine.
TRANSLATION,
imagine this a fiction, the statue itself which represents the lady, is still
to be seen at Salamis, and stands in a temple, inscribed to Venus, look-
growing fruit, nor the rude winds of autumn shake them in the bud.
When the god, capable of every form, had in vain urged these powerful
motives, he put on again his wonted youthful bloom, and dismisses alt the
emblems of old age. Such, and so bright, did he appear in her eyes, as
when the sun's splendid image has dispersed the opposing clouds, and
shines out without interruption. He prepares to obtain his desires by
force ; but force was now become unnecessary, for the nymph was smit
with the captivating form of the god, and feels a mutual flame.
XVII. Amulius next, by violence and injustice, ruled the Ausonian
state ; and Numitor, in his old age, recovers, by the valour of his grand-
sons, the kingdom he had lost and the walls of Rome are built during;
the joyous festival of Pales. Tatius and the Sabine fathers engage in
war and Tarpeia, admitting the enemy into the citadel, expired under
;
the weight of their shields, thrown upon her ; a death which was the just
recompense of her treachery. Upon this the Sabines, natives of cures,
suppressing their voices, after the manner of silent wolves, attack the
Romans overpowered with sleep, and beset the gates, which Romulus
had secured by strong bolts. But Saturnia herself opened one, and turned
NOTES.
772. Proximus Ausonias.] In what fol- the manner of relating them, that may na-
lowsof this book, Ovid traces someof tlie turally be expected between an historian
most remarkable occurrences of the Ko- and a poet.
MLiTAMORPllOSEON, Lib. XIV. 513
Audebatis aquae, non ceditis ignibus ipsis. 795 His ulii.sque virihus,
vapor penetravit ad
Flammifera gemini fumant aspergine postes ima fontis ; et vos a- :
mitted any god to annul the acts of the other gods. The Ausonian Naiads
preside over the parts adjoining to the temple of Janus, which
were wa-
tered with a cold spring. She requests their aid nor could the nymphs ;
withstand the goddess in a suit so reasonable, but open every vein, and
unlock their springs yet the front of the open temple was still accessible,
;
nor had the water quue stopt up the way. They then mixed livid sulphur
with the fertile springs, and fire the hollow veins with smoking pitch.
By these and other violent means, the vapour penetrates to the bottom of
the spring and those waters, which so late might have vied for cold with
;
the Alps, yield not in heat to fire itself The posts, on each side the gate,
smoke from the hot exhalations of the stream and the gate, in vain, ;
thrown open to the warlike Sabines, was guarded by a new kind of spring ;
until the gallant Romans had put on their armour. After Romulus had
advanced with these, and that the Latian plains were covered with Sa-
bine and even Roman the merciless sword mingled the blood of
bodies,
the son-in-law with that of the father-in-law, it was at last agreed to
conclude the war by a peace, and not proceed with the sword to the last
extremity but admit Tatius to share the royal power.
:
XVIII. Tatius was slain, and Romulus dispensed equal laws to both
2 L
614 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Gemtor.tcmpusaiicst,
(quoiHum res Komami
valet magna funda-
Tempus
__X_ adcst oenitor
Res Romana
o. (quoniam
vi .,
fundamine mas;no
P
nee prseside pendet ab uno)
,,
valet,
mine, nee pendet ab
tino pi-aside) solvere Prsemia, quae promissa mihi, dignoq; nepoti, 810
sunt pro-
pramia, quce
Solvere, et ablatum terris imponere coelo.
mlssa milii digiwque
nepoti;
earn
to.
et
ablatum
Til
imponere
terris ca-
dixisti mihi
_
'.'...
Xu mihi concilio ciuondam preeseiite Deorum
(Nam memoro, memorique animo pia verba notavi)
quondamprtrscntc con- Unus tu tolles in coerula cceli
Deorum, (nam me-
silio erit, quem ;
moro, notavique pia Dixisti. Rata sit verborum summa tuorum. 815
verba memori animoj
er/t unus, quem tu et nubibus aera csecis
Annuit omnipotens,
tollcs in ccernla cceli.
Summa ttiorum Occuluit, tonitruque et fulgure terruit urbem.
verbo-
rum sit rata. Omni-
sibi promissse sensit data signa rapinse,
pot ens annuit, et occu- Quee
liiit a'ira ctecis nubi-
urbem Innixusque hastse, presses temone cruento
bus, terruitque
et ictu 820
tonitru et fulgure. Impavidus conscenditequos Gradivus,
^t aera lapsus
ZlaZitl'^sibi Verberis increpuit: pronumque per
promissa rapina, in- Coustitit in summo nemorosi colle Palati :
scendit impavidtis
Reddeutemque suo ]am regia jura t^uiriti
temlnfr'ef%ncr"p!dt Abstulit Iliaden. Corpus mortale per auras
tenues: ceu lata plumbea funda 825
"S^ ^prliviii^^, Dilapsum
constitit in summo Missa solet medio sflans intabescere coelo.
colle nemorosi Falati, t-« , r
, ^ ^. ^A.•
•
, i
•
Gods and Men. The time is come, father, (now that the Roman state
stands on a firm basis, nor depends upon a single governor,) to confer
him
upon your renowned grandson the promised honours and, removing ;
from earth, to admit him to the skies. Formerly you said, in an assembly
of the gods, (for well I remember it, and treasured up the gracious pro-
mise with mindful care,) he shall be one, whom, in time, you shall ad-
vance to the azure regions of heaven. Confirm now the kind decree. The
almighty sire gave a nod of assent and, darkening the air in thick clouds,
;
alarmed the city with thunder and lightning : which Mars knowing to be
the signals of his son's assumption, leaning on his lance, he undaunted
vaults into the chariot, lashes his horses on, and, gliding through the
downward air, alighted on the top of Mount Palatine, capped with woods,
and carried off Romulus as he was dispensing royal laws to his people.
His mortal body dispersed in thin air as when a leaden bullet, let fly ;
from the whirling sling, liquefies in the middle of the sky. comely A
aspect succeeds, suited to the lofty mansions of the gods,
and a form like
that of Quirinus in triumphal robes. His wife lamented him as lost ;
when imperial Juno orders Iris to descend to Hersilia along the arched
vault of heaven, and thus carry her commands to the disconsolate queen.
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XIV. 515
Ingreditur eoUes. Ibi sidus ab sethere lapsum 846 derint me posse videre
semel, fatebor acce-
Deeidit in terras a cujus lumine flagrans
:
pisse ccclum. IVec mo-
ra, ingreditur Romu-
Hersiliae crinis cum sidere cessit in auras. leos colles cum virgine
Hanc manibus notis Romance conditor urbis Tliaumanted.
dus lapsum ab
ll>i si-
eethere,
Exeipit: etpriseum pariter eum eorpore nomen deeidit in terras, a cu-
jus lumine crinis Her-
Mutat; Oramque vocat. Quae nunc Deajuneta iuia'^ag^raL, cessit,
851
OOL '^"'" sidere, in auras'.
Uirmo est.
Qiiirinn p«;f
Conr/Uor Romana ur-
bis exeipit ha}ic notis manibus ; el mutat priscum nomen pariter cum eorpore ; vocatque Oram ;
qua nunc estDeajuncta Quirino,
TRANSLATION.
XIX. O matron, the distinguished glory both of Latian and
illustrious
Sabine state, worthy before to have been the spouse of a king, and now
worthy your alliance with the god, dry up these tears and, if you are im- ;
me once more to see, I shall own myself exalted to the skies. Imme-
diately she repairs with the virgin daughter of Thaumas to the
hill Qui-
rinus. There a star glides from heaven to earth, and, with its trail of
flame setting fire to Hersilia's hair, they both together mount into the
skies. Her the founder of the Roman state receives with open arras ;
and changes, along with her body, her name also, calling her Ora a god- ;
3 La
516 P. OVIDII NASONIS
ORDO. U.ER1TUR
I.Interea successor
quaritur qui sustineat
qTei?qle''"'luci"dere
I.
Q
Sustincat, tantoq
molis
;
interea, qui
queat succedere
tantae
regi.
pondera
MEANTIMEand worthy to fill the throne after so great a king. Fame, the har-
binger of Truth, destines illustrious Numa to
the command. He thinks
it not enough to know the rites of the Sabine nation his capacious mind ;
aims higher, and searches into the nature of things. Urged by this care,
and leaving his native country of fures, he travelled to the city of the en-
tertainer of Hercules and as he was inquisitive to know what founder
;
had raised these Grecian walls upon the Italian coast, one of the older
natives, no stranger to the transactions of past ages, thus replies It is :
said, that the son of Jupiter, enriched with the Iberian spoils, reached,
a
by prosperous voyage, the Lacinian shore and, leaving his herd to ;
have been fulfilled for there was one Myscelos, the son of Alemon, born
:
at Argos, who was the most acceptable to the gods of all the men of that
age. Him the club-armed hero overshadowed in a dream, and thus ad-
dressed Go, abandon your native seats, and hasten to the stony-paved
:
he obeyed. Soon after sleep and the god at once forsook him. The son of
Alemon rises, and in his silent mind reflects upon the late vision and his ;
thoughts for a long time waver a god commands the laws forbid him to :
;
depart and death is the punishment inflicted upon such as offer to aban-
;
don their country. The bright sun had hid his shining head in the ocean,
and gloomy night upreared hers, adorned with stars when the same ;
god again appeared, and counselled him as before and threatened still ;
these menaces, and prepares to carry over his whole family at once to
these new mansions. A
rumour of his departure runs through the city,
and he is indicted for contempt of the laws. When his cause came to be
tried, and that the crime appeared, without witness, by his own confes-
sion, the unhappy sufferer, lifting his hands and eyes to heaven, Hercules O
(says he), whose twice six labours advanced you to the heavenly abodes,
518 P. OVIDII NASONIS
T'TCCor, jer opcm; nam nam tu mihi criminis
tu es auctor criminis Fer, precor, inquit, opem :
esse talia.
'.II. Vir fuit hie ortu, Samius ; sed fugerat und ft Samon et dnminos, eratque sponte exul, odio
tyrannidis. Isq ; adiit merite Deos, licet remotos regione cceli ; et
TRANSLATION.
aid me present distress ; for it was you that urged me to this crime.
in my
It was the custom of old to decide in criminal causes with black and
white stones. The first condemned the accused, the other declared him
innocent. According to this form was the heavy sentence now too passed,
and only black stones were thrown into the merciless urn ; which as soon
as it poured them out, that their number might be re-counted, the colour
of each was changed from black to white, and his sentence, by the favour
of Hercules, turned into an absolution, acquitted the son of Alemon. He
returns thanks to the parent god, and steers along the Ionian sea with a
favouring gale and passes Lacedemonian Tarentum, and Sybaris, and
;
Salentinum, and Nesethus, and the bay of Thurium, and Temese, and
the lapygian plains, and having with infinite toil wandered from coast to
coast, found, at length, the mouth of the ^sar, destined by fate for his
settlement. Hard, by was a tomb, under which were buried the sacred
bones of Croton. There he built his walls upon the destined spot, and
transferred to the city the name of him who lay buried there. It is cer-
tain, from unquestionable tradition, that such was the origin of the place,
and of the city built here on the Italian coast.
II. Here lived a man, by birth a Samian but he had fled from Samos ;
and the tyrants together and, from a hatred of slavery, was become a
;
/-( . . . .
qua' queant mitescere
<-^arne terse sedant
jejuma; nee tamen omnes :
mouriquejiamma. Nee
Quippe equus, et pecudes, armentaque gramine [Vis"necZeUafedo-
^^"t'^ Jlorem thymi.
84
...,.*. vivunt.
At quibus mgemum est
.
immansuetumq
- ,
; lerumq;
Prodiga tellus stigge-
ritdiviiias,aiimentaq;
Armeniantigres, iracundique leones, "epulis sim%Ide^ft
ers, the origin of this mighty world, the causes of things, and the course
of nature. He explained also the perfections of deity whence snow, and ;
the planets wandered round the sun and all the mysteries of nature, hid ;
from vulgar eyes. He first forbid animal food to be served up at the tables
of men he first opened his mouth, learned, indeed, but not duly re-
;
with food profane we have corn the boughs bend under a load of fruit,
:
;
and our vines abound in swelling grapes. Our fields are covered with
wholesome herbs and those of a cruder kind may be softened and mel-
;
lowed by fire. Nor is milk denied us, or honey smelling of fragrant thyme.
Earth is lavish of her riches and kindly store, and, without slaughter or
bloodshed, provides for luxury. The savage kind, indeed, allay their hun-
ger with flesh, and yet not all for the horse, and flocks, and herds, feed
;
upon grass they only of a fierce and ravenous nature, bears, wolves,
:
Armenian tigers, and the angry brood of lions, delight in food reeking
/
95
• • • •
.1
poteris placare jeju-
nia vorucis et male
potens jejunia ventris !
cis
non
...« vmi!'q^i"qTis''m-
I^caluisse putem maculatum sanguine ferrum :
cede ferarum. Jdq ; Hostia sus meruisse mori ; quia semina pando
juerai salts:
fuerat satis .-/atemiir-
jaiejniir- t? t
•
. •. •
,
bowels to fatten a craving body by cramming it with the fat of its fellow,
;
and maintain the life of one creature, by the death and murder of ano-
ther. Is it possible then, amid the abundance which earth, the best of
parents, so bounteously supplies, that nothing can delight, but with inhu-
man teeth to champ cruel wounds, and renew the barbarous Cyclopean
feasts ? Can you not allay the cravings of a ravenous and ungodly maw,
but by destroying the life of another. But the times of old, which we justly
term the goldeu age, was happy in the fruit of trees, and the herbs which
the earth produces nor stained their mouths with blood.
;
fish, by their easy credulity, swallowed the guileful hook. Snares and
deceit were as yet unknown no dread of fraud alarmed the mind, but all
;
tution (whoever he was first envied us this simple food) by gorging his
craving paunch with animal food, opened a door for cruelty. I am apt to
believe, that the blood-polluted sword was first stained by the slaughter
of the ravenous kind, and that had been enough for, to destroy what ;
they were not to be made our food, as well as destroyed. From these be-
ginnings impiety soon spread and the sow is believed, by a deserved
;
death, to have fallen the first sacrifice, because with her broad snout she
V
Vite caper mors^ Bacchi mactandus ad aras caper, vite morsd, du-
citur, mactandus ad
Ducitur ultoris. Nocuit sua culpa duobus 115 aras Bacchi ultoris.
:
Innocuum, simplex, natum tolerare labores? 121 tisque mages vitd quam
morte. Quid boves me-
Immemor est demum, nee frugum munere dignus, ruere ? animal sine
fraude dolisque, intio-
Qui potuit, curvi dempto modo pondere aratri, cuum, simplex, natum
Ruricolam mactare suum qui trita labore :
tolerare labores. De-
mum est immemor, nee
lUa, quibus toties durum renovaverat arvum, 125 d'gnus munerefrugum ,
qui potuit mactare S7t-
Tot dederat messes, percussit colla securi. um ruricolam, pondere
curvi aratri modh
Nee satis est, quod tale nefas committitur: ipsos dempto; qui percus\it
Inscripsere Deos sceleri numenque supernum
securi ilia colla, trita
;
labore, quibus toties
Caede laboriferi credunt gaudere juvenci. renovaverat durum ar-
vum, quibus dederat
Victima labe carens, et preestantissima formS,, 130 tot messes. Nee est sa-
tis quod talencfas com-
(Nam placuisse nocet) vittis praesignis et auro, mittitur ; inscripsere
Sistitur ante aras auditque ignara precantem
: ipsos Deos sceleri; cre-
:
duntque supemmnnti.
Imponique suae videt inter cornua fronti, men gaudere cade la-
Vic-
boriferi juvenci.
Quas coluit fruges ; percussaque sanguine cultros tima carens labe, et
Inficit in liquida praBvisos forsitan unda 135 pr{estafitissi)na formii
(nam nocet placuisse)
Protinus ereptas viventi pectore fibras prasignis vittis et au-
ro, sistitur ante aras ;
Inspiciunt; mentesque Deum scrutantur in illis. ignaraque audit pre-
ca7item ; videtque fru-
Unde fames homini vetitorum tanta ciborum ; ^^^ ^^^^^ coluit, imponi
inter cornua ; percussaque, inficit satiguine cultros forsitan pra visas in liquidtl n'ndu.
Slice fronti
Protinus inspiciunt Jibrus ereptas viventi pectore, scrutanturque mtntes dcorum in illis. Unda
tanta fames vetitorum ciborum homini?
TRANSLATION.
roots up the incrusted seed, and intercepts the hope of the year. The
goat too, who had cropt the shooting vines, is led to be butchered at the
altar of avenging Bacchus. These two suffered for the mischief they did ;
but what did the sheep deserve ? a harmless inoffensive race, born for
the support of men whose fleeces clothe them, whose milk supplies them
;
with food, and who avail us more by their life, than death. What has
the ox deserved ? a creature without fraud or guile, innocent, simple, and
made for toil. He is unmindful of past services indeed, and unworthy
of the gifts of Ceres, who could harden himself to butcher his labouring
hind, whom he had just eased of the load of the crooked plough and ;
smite with an axe that neck, worn with toil, which had so often renewed
his else ungrateful fields, and yielded so many fertile crops. Nor do we
rest satisfied in committing crimes we ascribe these impious acts to the
;
gods themselves, and pretend, that the heavenly powers must be ap-
peased with the blood of the laborious steer. A victim, without blemish,
and of surpassing beauty (for to excel proves its ruin) adorned with
fillets, and his horns tipt with gold, is placed before the altar he hears :
the prayer of the priest not knowing what it means and sees the corn, ;
he helped to produce, laid between his horns upon his forehead and, ;
struck with an axe, stains with his blood the knives, which he had before
perhaps beheld in the transparent waters. Straight they inspect the en-
trails, torn from his panting breasts and search to know the mind of the
;
522 P. OVIDII NASONIS ^5
lato, scite et sentite vos Mandere vos vestros scite et sentite colonos.
mandere vestros colo- Et quoniam Deus ora movet sequar ora moventem
nos. JSt qiioniam Deus ;
Deum
movet ora ; sequar rite
JJeum move7item ora:
reciudamque meos Del-
Rite
Tn.i
ifcithera ;
et
.
:
Delphoso.
:
i^
meos, ipsumq recludara
i*^ ,• i at
augustae rescrabo oracula mentis. 145
:
I V O geuus attonitum
ra»<e"f r'cfe«t7 ta- .
gelidze formidine mortis,
l%''\%ptlfj'nm!-fues-
Q"^'^ Styga, quid tenebras, quid nomina vana ti-
que obitumj evolvere- metlS,
^^iv^o^geims' attoni- Matericm vatum, falsique piacula mundi? 155
aZi^''"^ f^l^s Corpora sive rogus flamma, seutabe vetustas
atygu, quid tcmbras, mala .>posse pati non ulla putetis.
quid vana nomma, ma-
Abstulerit,
__
IVlorte careut
'
>
animse
.1
ta
ttrii:m vatum, piacula-
semperque, priore reiicta :
veil the dark oracles of the august mind. I will sing of mighty
truths, long concealed from human eyes which the wits of former ages ;
have not been able to explore. How am I pleased to travel along the
sphere of stars and, leaving earth, and this listless habitation of mor-
;
tals, to mount upon a cloud, and scale the height of towering Atlas :
Whence this dread of Styx, and darkness, and empty names, the fictions
of poets, and dreams of an imaginary world ? Whether the body is con-
sumed by the flame of the funeral pile, or crumbles into dust, the prey
of time, think not that in this you can suffer any real harm. Our souls
are not subject to death but, leaving their former seats, are received
;
into different habitations, and renew life in other forms. Even I (for
I remember it well) who declare these truths, was, in the time of the
Troian war, Euphorbus, the son of Panthous ; and bore in my opposed
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XV. 523
Nee
"'
hora potest: sed ut unda impellitur unda,
levis
- - - .
°tur^lfglm."fj!'I^uo-
^^g tcmpora labuntur
Urgeturque prior venienti, urgetque priorem, assiduo motu, non se-
eus acjiumen. Enim
Tempora sic fugiunt pariter, pariterque sequuntur :
per nova: nam quod fuit ante est relictum; quodque haud fuerat, fit ; cunctaque tnomenta
novantur. Cernis et noctes emersas tendere in lucem;
TRANSLATION.
breast the heavy spear of the younger son of Atreus. I lately recollected
the buckler, which I wore upon my left arm, as I saw it hanging in the
temple of Juno at Argos, where Abas formerly reigned. All things are
thus but altered nothing dies. The soul wanders from place to place,
;
and seizes any body in its way. The souls of beasts pass often into
human bodies, while ours actuate the limbs of beasts and, without ;
perishing, change only their forms and as the pliant wax receives new
:
figures, changes its form, nor retains the wonted impression, and yet is
itself still the same, in like manner know that the soul continues un-
ing, and decays. Time itself runs on in a continued flood like a river ;
rolling from its fountain. For neither can a river, or the flying hours
stop but, as wave is impelled by wave, and that before is urged by that
;
behind, and urges at the same time its predecessor wave, thus the minutes
fly and thus pursue in successive course, still changing, ever renewed.
;
624 P. OVIDII NASONIS
didus; quod natura Wec par, aut eadcm, nocturnse lorma JJianse
prZli^tvtfat^onta.
Esse potcst unquam semperq; hodierna sequente : :
ments are ever on the wing. see that darkness, by kind of natural We
impulse, emerges into light, and that the shining rays of Phoebus take
place of the sable shade of night nor is the face of heaven the same, :
when Avearied animals slumber in midnight ease and the morning star ;
rises bright on his shining steed and again, a different face succeeds, :
when Aurora, daughter of Pallas, ushering in the morn, spreads over the
firmament the splendour of day. Even the orb of Phoebus, when first he
rises from the ocean, or downward bends his chariot to the earth, is co-
vered with red but high in his meridian course, he shines serene, as
;
there the firmament is of etherial make, and far removed from the in-
fection of the world below. Nor is the appearance of nocturnal Diana
ever alike or the same for her face to-day, if she advances to her full,
:
helpless, infirm, and fed with milky juice, copies the tender age of in-
fancy. Then the stem is shining and green, but weak, and void of
strength swells, and glads the husbandman with hopes. Then all things
;
flourish, and the bounteous fields look gay in the attire of their flowers ,
but still the leaves are unsolid, nor have drank in substantial nourishment.
The year, advancing from the spring, gathers strength and, ripening ;
this, is not any season more robust, more prolific, or more replete with
heat and moisture. The fire of
youth overpast, autumn succeeds, mature,
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XV. 525
Mj
Editus in lucem iacuit sine viribus infans:
T
OX quadrupes, rituque tulit
"'
. .
Paulatimque tremens,
Constitit,
Y Jy
rp •,
-
' adjutis aliquo
,
.^.'^
L•>
conamine
poplite firmo
nervis.
...
et nondum
fJlmtZ!''angf?'l2i.
«f ^"f.L'*"TJ''
^^ auras. ln)ans
Inde valens veloxque fuit: spatiumq : iuventae 225 *"* ^» lucem, jacuit
,..'!
iransit: et ementis medn quoque temporis anms,
sine viribus
"'"'J''
edi-
; mox erat ,
• •
quadrupes, tuutque
Labitur occiduee per iter declivse senecf*.
S^L^^elT^rn";
et nondum firmo pop-
Submit haec aevi, demoliturque prioris
T)i n, n/TM \ "^^' constitit, nervis
•
A .
•
ixoDora: netque Miion senior, cum spectat manes adjutis aUquo cona-
lUos, qui fuerant solidorum mole tororum 230 TeZxque,^ '^trlnMqw
Herculeis similes, fluidos pendere lacertos.
"^rrS'^'^^l
Flet ut in speculo temporis emeritis, la-
m 1^quoque,
^ '
•
^ rug-as aspexit aniles,
•, 1 V,
bit ur per declive iter
•
,
•
tardy winter creeps along with tottering pace, quite stript, or but thinly
covered, with silver locks. Our bodies too are themselves in a perpetual
course of change, without interruption, nor to-morrow shall we be the
same that we have been, or are now. There was a time when, confined
to our mother's womb, we were but the seminal
principles, and growing
hopes of manhood. Nature lent her ripening hands, nor would suffer our
bodies, lodged in the bowels of our distended mother, to be longer con-
fined in that narrow prison, but pushed us from our scanty habitation into
the freer regions of air. The infant thus brought to light, lay motionless,
and without strength soon he creeps upon four, and moves his limbs in
;
having measured also the mid years of life, glides through the downward
path of sinking old age. This last weakens and undermines the strength
of the past term of life and Milo, when old, laments to see those arms,
;
Tu, tempus cdax re- Teiiipus edax lerum, tuque invidiosa vetustas,
rum, tuque tuvidiosa K 1
^-^ , . . '. .
i -i •
nn -
titustas. destriiitis Omnia destruitis
vitiataque : dentibus aev) 2oa
omnia; cojisumitisque
lenta
-^^^,•^.^
Faulatim lenta consumitis omnia morte.
•.• •
.
pauiatim morte,
7vi!'HaTquoqiK,t^a:
^aec quoque non perstant, quse nos elementavoca-
nos vocamus eiementa, IHUS.
Tion perstant ; docebo- ,-. .* , , •
ii-i,\i i
qtte (adhibete animosj Quasque vices peragant (animOs adhibete) docebo.
~ ,. *-
.
quas vices peragant.
Mundus (cternus con- Quatuor seternus genitalia corpora mundus
tinet quatuor
jenita-
Ita corpora. Ar tUis
Continct Ex illis duo sunt
Continet : suiit onerosa, suoque 240
duo, telius at que un- Pondere in inferius, telius atque unda, feruntur :
omnia jiunt
et cadunt in ipsa
."^^i^^^s
: Aeraq; humor abit: dempto quoq; pondere rursus
lusque resoiuta, ro- In emicat ignes.
rescit in liquidas o-yi" superos aer tenuissimus
^ i'Z i J •
qitas, humor que tenu- Indc retro redeuut; idemque retexitur ordo.
%Zqi^%onder7q7o'- IgHis eiiim densum spissatus in aera transit ;
250
que dempto, aer tenu- Hic aquas: tellus glomerata
in cositur unda:
tsstmus rursus emicat - - T- ' o
.
» .
in superos ignes. jnde ^SBc specics sua cuique maiict reruuiq novatrix :
;
redeunt retrd,idemgue th !•• t , tit j n
ordo retexitur. Ignis alus alias reparat JNatura nguras.
-ejX
Nee sua species manet Incipere csse aliud, quam quod luit ante ; morique,
nTvVtrix r^umjrepa- Desinere illud idem. Cum sint hue forsitan ilia,
"^"r- ^''^./^IZ^^J^ Hsec translata illiic summa tamen omnia constant. :
(credite mihi) perit in tanto mundo, sed variat novatque faciem ; incipereque esse aliud quam
quod fuit ante vocatur nasci ; illudque idem desinere, vocatur mori : cum forsitan ilia sint
translata hue, h<ec illuc. Tamen summA omnia constant.
TRANSLATION.
'Devouring Time and envious Age make all things their prey ; and, ex-
ercising their rage against them, with sharpened teeth, consume hy them
slow degrees. Even the elements themselves abide not in the same state :
attend, and I will teach you what vicissitudes they undergo. This unpe-
rishing world contains four bodies, elemental, and productive of the rest.
Of these, two, earth and water, are heavy and, by their proper weight, ;
tend downward to the centre. The other two, air and fire, still purer than
air, as they are void of weight, and pressed down by no incumbent force,
mount aloft into the skies which though separated, and distant
upper ;
of its weight, refines to the pure element of flame. Thence they return
in a contrary course, and untwist, with restless toil, the curious web. For
fire, condensed, changes to gross air air to water and water warps, ; ;
and rolls itself into a mass of earth. Thus nothing abides in its projjer
form but Nature, shifting continually, raises up one shape after ano-
;
ther. Nor does any thing, in this mighty world, perish or fall to nothing,
to be
but only alters and
changes its appearance. To be born, is to begin
what formerly we were not and to die, is to cease to appear what we
:
seemed heretofore when perhaps the same elements are but variously
;
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XV. 527
the fortune of places so often been changed. I have seen what once was
solid earth, transformed to sea, and the ocean, in its turn, become solid
land shells of fishes often lie far distant from the sea, and rusty anchors
:
are found on the tops of mountains. What was formerly a plain, has
been changed by a current of waters into a valley and mountains, by a ;
flood, have been levelled to a plain. Marshes are often changed to dry
sandy deserts parched heaths sometimes stagnate with standing waters.
;
Here nature has opened new fountains, there shuts them up and rivers, ;
sinus dives and, pouring along with his latent stream, digs a second
;
channel for himself in the plains of Argos. They tell us too, that Mysus,
flows in a different bed,
disdaining his former spring and winding bank,
and takes the name of Caicus. Amenanus too, rolling in his stream
NOTES.
261. Sic fortuna loco-
toties versa es, drink tliem ; of fountaius that kindle
rum.'] The second part of the Pythagoric wood, or change the hair to a golden co-
philosophy consists in unravelling and ex- lour, and such like. Of this nature too are
plaining the causes of the changes that those fictions, which a more reasonable
happen in the universe ; and indeed many philosophy, and repeated observations,
of the facts, which the poet here relates, have since discovered to be without foun-
are in themselves true, but others are dation. As that bees spring from the
founded on mistakes or false represeuta- battered bowels of a bull, that serpents
tions. Such is the fable of the river in arise from human marrow, and that the
is produced from her own ashes.
Thrace, whose waters petrify those that phoenix
528 P. OVIDII NASONIS
bibebantvr ; nunc
te
Fundit Anigros aquas postquam (nisi vatibus om-
:
confinia, et reppulit
tellurem mediil undc}.
Inclinata solent cum moenibus oppida mersis. 295
Si qucsras Helicen et Est prope Pittheam tumulus Troezena, sine uUis
Burin,urbes Achaidas,
invenies sub aquis et .- Arduus arboribus, quondam planissima campi
nauta: adhuc solent os-
tendere oppida incli- Area, nunc tumulus (res horrenda relatu)
:
appears no more. Anigros was once swallowed up but now (if any faith ;
wont to shew where these cities, swallowed up with their walls, lie
whelmed in the deep. There is, near Pitthean Troezen, a hill, tall, and
bare of trees, formerly a level plot of ground, but now a mount. Here
a violent effort of vapours, confined in the dark caverns below, and
struggling in vain for vent (that they might enjoy a freer air as in the ;
Teroa capro. Tumor ille loco permansit, et alti c»rni capro. iiu tu
Collis habet speciem,- longoq induruit eevo. oUo et iwbet specicm ait;
;
Datq capitq;
novas medio
; tua, cormger Ammon,
: /eram tantum pnuca
Unda die gelida est ortuq obituq calescit 310 f^mpL daique^'^'c^pH-
; ; ;
:
beu VIS est in aqua calido contrana vino oz'i saimaru obsea-vte un- :
TRANSLATION.
of one's mouth is Avont to distend a bladder, or skin, stript from a two-
horned goat. The swelling continued, and has the appearance of a tall
mountain^ and, in time, hardened into a solid mass of earth. Though
many things thus occur to my mind, both of my oavu knowledge and that
I have heard from others, yet I will mention only a few. What Are not !
qiias limcto node: po Sic alias aliasque lacus et fiumina vires 335
tre nocte noreiit: bi
himiiir luce sine noxL navit in
AVc lacus et Jlumina -»t
Concipiuut. TciTipusq rrr ; fuit,
•.
quo -i•
undis,
a
/~v i > i.
TRANSLATION.
his purifying simples into this sober spring; which thence derived its re-
pugnance to wine. The river Lyncestis has a contrary effect for whoever ;
dangerous, but may be drank by day without harm. Thus rivers and
lakes have some one quality, some another. There was a time when
Ortygia floated on the Avaves now it is fixed into a stable island. The
;
shi]) of the Argonauts dreaded the Symplegades, tossed ahoiit by the as-
saults of the invading waves now they stand immovable, and sustain
;
unshaken the attacks of the fiercest winds. Nor will ^tna, Avho boils in
his sulphurous caverns, always vomit up flame nor indeed has he always ;
done it. For whether earth be an animal that lives, and repairs her lungs
by fresh supplies of air, dischargingher tainted fiery vapours by many pores
and outlets, she may change her passages of respiration and, shaken by ;
conndsive assaxdts, shut up the old, and open new caverns or, if the :
fleeting winds, pent up in hollow caves, toss flints against flints, and other
bodies that hide the seeds of flame, they by a mutual collision take fire.
When the fuel is spent, and the fierce winds abate, the caves will be left
cold. Or, if we suppose, that nitrous particles take fire, and that livid
sulphur, kindled by the issuing vapour, feeds the flame yet, when earth ;
METAMORPHOSEON, Lir. XV. 531
Sn
j^
Nonne
qua
1
o
Jixercere artes Scythides
J
tides rebus
,
tamen
1 1
adnibenda probatis ;
vides, qu<ecunque mora, fluidove calore,
est
memorantur easdem. 360
,11-1 • 1
1
1
g"t>i«e, sparse: quoad
membra veiieno memo-
rantur cxercere eas-
"gZ 7d»csladdend'a
animalia verti ? probatis rebus, nonm
Corpora tabuerint,' in parva
I' J
i
-,
•
vidcs quacuiiquc cor-
pora tabuerint mora,
J/uidoic calore, verti
C^^„;4„
ognita res usu; de putri viscere passim 365 1« parva a,umai}a/ i
Florilegae nascuntur apes. Qute more parentiim
P,
Rura colunt; operiq
ressus
oncavo
C,~>,-.^..>,r^
numo 111
bellator equus
"J
^^i.l.
littoreo si
; favent, in
•
;
origo est.
ta27s'^!aetaiil^:}rfs
f* cogmta vsu)flori-
"i'^ apes nascunttir
passim de putn
cere, qua colunt
more parentum
vis-
rura.
fa-
Csetera supponas terra de parte sepulta ;
370 -!^^ ^^J,^_ ^';^
bcorpius exibit, caudaque minabitur unca. ^"^or equus prcssus
/-\ ,. r •
f^• \ , humo, est origo crabro-
vuaeque Solent cams irondes intexere nlis »«.?. si devias concava
of active bees spring from his putrid bowels, who, like their parents,
haunt the fields, delight in toil, and labour in hope of enjoying the
hoarded store. The warlike steed, buried in the ground, gives birth to
wasps and hornets. If from a crab i'oinid on the sea-shore, you take its
bending claws, and cover the rest under ground, from the part buried a
scorpion will glide, and threaten with its circling tail. And rural moths,
filmy threads on the leaves (an observation common
that stretch their
in the
country), change their shape to that of
a venomous butterfly, In
mud lies concealed the latent seed of frogs, which it produces at first short
2 M 2
532 P. OVIDII NASONIS
m a.
ducuntprimordia ;
angiie. Tamen hac dti- feed thuris lachrymis, et succo vivit amomi.
that they also for long leaps, they are formed with a remark-
may be 3fit
able length of feet behind. The bear's cub, at the time of its birth, is a
mere lump of but ill-animated flesh the mother licks into shape, and
:
gives it, form which she herself received. Are not the off-
at last, the
provided with feet and waving wings. Were it not a thing universally
known, who would believe, that Juno's bird, whose tail sparkles with
gems and stars, Jupiter's armour-bearer, and the snow-white pigeons of
the queen of love, nay the feathered race, have their origin from the
middle parts of an egg. There are some who think, that when the spine
rots in the hollow tomb, its included marrow is changed to a snake yet :
these all have their birth from other things. Bnt there is one bird self-
born, and self-begotten the Assyrians call it the Phoenix. He sustains
,
not life by grain or herbs, but the tears of frankincense, and the juice of
amomum. When he has completed the five centuries of his life, with his
claws and crooked bill he builds for himself a nest, upon the boughs of
an oak, or top of a trembling palm where having strewed cassia, and the
;
Cum dedit hiiic actes vires, onerique ferendo est ; T"-" '^'"i'
*''''''
/'^T
I'ouderiDus nidi ramos levat arboris altae : rendo onen, laat ra-
pi .
•
,
•
, , mos alia- arhoris pon-
rertquepiuscunasq; suas, patriumq sepulchrum: ; (jeribm mui, jmisqne
Ml
Alternare vices, et quae modo foeraina tergo rLieT InTst'dSid
Passa marem est, nunc esse raarem miremur hyre- Z'lZZr^X'^iwm^aii
nam 410 temare rices, et f/nee
.. ... .
, , ^ modojamiiia est piissa
quoque, quod ventis animal nutntur et aura, maremtergu,essenujw
Protinus assimulat tactu quoscunque colores. Z7m;
ZZtgnid
Victa racemifero Ivncas
J
dedit India Baccho :
*«"''* ft aura, protu
-J-,
., . .
-,
. . . nils assimulat quos-
quibus, ut memorant, quicquid•• vesica remisit,
sL, cunque adores tactu.
iir Victa India dedit lyn-
-\T
Vertitur
^
i.'-1 I. i L
m
•
± i
lapides, et congelat acre tacto. 415
\
ras.racer,iifero Baccho.
Sic et curalium, quo primum contigit auras
LUlfqii/^^aa'c'^ca
durescit: mollis fuit herba sub undis. remisu, vertitur in la-
Tempore
T\ T 11 -r»i 1 11 .
•
pules, et covgelat acre
JJeseret ante dies, et in aito rhcebus anhelos tacto. sic et curaH-
reaches the city of Hyperion, he lays down his load in the temple of the
sun, before the sacred porch. But, if there appears any thing wonderful
in all this, let us wonder still more, that the
hyiena alternately changes
its sex and one year a male begets, the next a female bears and that
; :
the camelion, nourished by the winds and air, changes to the colour of
whatever he touches. Conquered India furnished Bacchus, the god of the
vine, with lynxes whose urine, they tell us, as discharged from the
;
bladder, congeals in air, and hardens into gems. Thus too coral hardens
as soon as it feels the air,
though under water it was a soft j)lant. Day
would sooner fail, and Phoebus plunge his panting steeds in the sea, than
I be able to recite the
many objects in nature subject to new changes
Even nations and empires undergo their vicissitudes. Some we see to
flourish and gather strength others to sink and decay. Thus wfis Troy ;
once potent in wealth and numerous armies, and for ten long years able
to bear so
great an expense of blood now, humble, she can only boast :
mcn?Ztnic%wq7ieT^^
l^func quoque Dardaniam fama est consurgere Ro-
Jama, Dardaniam Jlo- 431
mam consurgtrc, qua: raam;
j»oxima undis Ajipen- Appenninigense quai proxima Tibridis undis
Qiinigenm Tyhridls, po-
ttit fuiida7nina rcrum Mole sub ingenti rerum fundamina ponit.
^^c, igitur fomiam cvescendo rautat et olira ;
fgUur^7nlVat^%rmum
crescendo ; et dim erit Immensi caput oibis ei'it. Sic dicere vates 435
caput immensi orbis, -r-i... c ^i. ^n i
sic fcrunt vates va- lei'mit soites
raticniasque ; quantumque recorder,
lifeTquLtumque re- Priamides Helenus fienti, dubioque salutis,
cordor, Helenus Pri- Dixerat Mweve, cuin res Troiana labaret:
amides, dixerat Mnc(E -«y v -p,. /.
.
.^rt
"^
.
j]e7iti,
dubioque^
suiu- JNate Ueu, si Hota satis prgesagia nostrse 439
laborer: Nate dea',"si Mentis habes non tota cadet, ;
te sospite, Troja.
tentem per ivnga sa- Haec Heleiium cecinisse Penatigero JEjXiex, 450
cula,sert natvs desun- c i
•
miiiam rerum. Quo ciim telius erit usa, sedcs (Bthcria: fruentur ; calumque erit exitus illi.
Metnor refer omente Helenum cecinisse hac penatigero jt^netc, latorque cog?tata mania
TRANSLATION.
wealth and grandeur too, and the towers of Amphion, sound high
: Athens
in the mouth of ancient fame. Sparta is now a despicable spot lofty :
Mycense are fallen Thebes and CEdipus live now only in fable and
:
;
nothing of ancient Athens remains but the name, Rome too, if the voice
of fame be true, is, at this very time, rising out of the ruins of Troy and ;
lays the foundation of a mighty empire on the banks of the Tiber, who
rolls his waters from the summit of the
Apennines. She therefore changes
by a continual increase of power, and will, in time, become the mistress
of the world for so the prophets of old, and the fate-predicting oracles,
;
declare. This too, if I remember right, Helenus, the son of Priam, fore-
told, to iEneas, perplexed, and doubtful of his future fate, when Ilium
was sinking in ruins. O goddess-born, if you truly comprehend the pre-
sages of my mind, Troy can never be entirely lost while you survive; a
way shall be opened for you through fire and sword. You shall escape,
and carry Troy and her gods along with you, till a foreign land receives
you, more favourable both to Troy and yourself, than your native soil.
Even now I see that the Phrygian race owe the world a city such as ;
neither is, nor ever shall be known, in any former age. Her a succession of
different heroes shall render powerful for many ages, till a prince, sprung
from the blood of lulus, raise her to be the mistress of the world. He,
after a long and happy reign, shall ascend late into heaven, and take his
place among the gods. I remember well, that these were the predictions
of Helenus to iEueas, when he bore away from the Greeks, the guardian
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XV. 535
crescrc ; et Pda.tgos
_;re; Phrygibus vicisse Pelasgos:
et utiliter
vicisse ntUitcr Pkry-
Ne ad metam tendere longe
taineii oblitis [est, gil)us. 'rumen ne ex-
Ubera dent saturae manibus pressanda capellae 472 tum est, quod desit in
istis ad plenum faci-
Retia cum pedicis, laqueosque, artesque dolosas nus! quo transit us pa-
ratur inde. Bos arct,
ToUite; nee volucrem viscata fallite virga: aut imputet mortem
annis senioribus. Oiis ministret arma contra IwrriJ'erum Borean. .faturte c((%Kllee eh nt ubera
pressanda manihits. ToUite rctia cum pedicis, laqueosque, artesque dolosas, nee fallite volu-
crem liscati, rirsil,
TRANSLATION.
gods of his country and I rejoice to see my kindred walls flourish, and
;
the Phrygians so much gainers by the conquest of the Greeks. But, that
I may not expatiate too far, forgetting to wheel my horses toward the
goal. Heaven, and all that its canopy enfolds, earth, and whatever is
contained therein all things, I say, are subject to changes. And let us
;
too, who are parts of this universe (as being not mere bodies alone, but
also fleeting soids, that may take up an abode in wild beasts, or be lodged
in the breasts of cattle), suffer bodies to remain seciu'e and imviolafed,
that are animated, perhaps, by a parent, a brother, or some near relation,
for certain by one of our own species and let us not load our boAvels with
;
who can slaughter a kid, in vain uttering moans like those of children ;
or eat the birds which, with his own hands, he has fed. How little is
here wanting to the perfection of wickedness what impiety does it not !
decay of nature. Let the sheep continue to shelter us from the rude as-
saults of Boreas, and the goats give their loaded udders to supply us with
food. Banish from among you springs, nets, snares, and every artifice to
delude con;^pire not against the leathered tribe with insidious bird-
:
lime nor scare the affrighted deer with dreaded plumes nor hide the
; ;
536 P. OVIDII NASONIS
ncc iiictudile ccrvos
J'ltrmidutis pinnis, jiec
Nec formidatis cervos eludite pinnis ; 475
cilate uncos /lai/ws Nee celate cibis uncos fallacibus hamos.
fallacihns cibls. Si
qua aniiiialia nocent, Peidite, si
qua nocent: Varum ha;c quoque perdite
pcrdite c;i vcrtim quo-
:
S
Quijeiix ni/mpha con-
cri/icns,
feacrificos docuit ntus ; geutemque leroci
Zm'rHus t'- Assuetam bello pacistraduxit ad artes.
traduxitque Quem, Dostquam scnior reo-numque aevumque pe-
^-'r.T. O 1 ^i
genlem
'
" assuetam fero-
'
ci bello, ad artes pa
I'egit,
465
cis. Quem, Numam
j>ostquam senior pere- Extinctum Latiseque nurus, populusque, patresq ;
git regmimque eevum-
que, Ziatiirque nurus,
Deflevere Numam. Nam conjux, urbe relicta,
j'opulutique, patrexque Vallis aricinee densis latet abdita silvis :
dejievere extinctum.
Nam coiijux urbe re- Sacraque Orestes gemitu questuque Dianse
lictcL, latet abdita den-
sis silvis vallis Ari- Impedit. Ah quoties Nymphae nemorisque lacus-
cina, getnituque, ques-
tuque, impedit sacra que, 490
orcsteee Diance. Ab Nc facerct, uionuere ;
et consolantia verba
quoties nymphce nemo- -r\- r ,
• .• n ,• mi i
siste modum; neque iVlitms ista lercs. U tmamq excmpla clolentem 495 ;
emm tua
solaquereiin
J^J'^^^^^^.^^*^
]\f qu mea te
possent relevare ; sed et mea possunt
similes casus aliorum, et feres ista mitiiis, Utinamque mea exivipla non possent relevare te do^
lentem ! sed et mea possunt,
TRANSLATION.
crooked hook under fallacious bait. Kill noxious creatures, and them
only. Let us abstain from the blood of animals, and nourish life with ve-
getable food. Numa, we are told, returned into his native country with a
mind furnished with these, and such-like, instructions nor accepted the ;
Latian sceptre but with much importunity. Who, happy in a goddess for
his spouse,and the muses for his guides, taught the rites of religion and
sacrifice and brought over to the soft arts of peace a nation fond of war,
;
groves of the valley of Aricia and, by her groans and lamentation, dis-
;
turbs the sacred rites of Orestean Cynthia. How oft did the nymphs of
the grove and lake check her grief, and address her in comforting strains.
How oft did the son of Theseus counsel her to set bounds to her sorrow ;
For not your fate alone (says he) is to be bewailed consider the like ca- :
lamities have befallen others, and you will bear your sufferings with great
moderation. Would that my woes were not so lively an example to as-
suage your grief; yet even mine may be sufficient. I make no doubt but
NOTES.
432. Conjuge qui fcUx Nymphfi, duci- tended to have -conference with in tlie
husqae Camcenis.'] The poet, after finish- forestof Aricia, touching the laws he gave
in<; tlie eulogium of Numa, speaks of the to the Romans,
nymph Egeiia, whom that piiuce pre-
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XV. 537
Tentatum frustra, patrium temerasse cubile, 50i dam (me tune magis in-
dicii, ojiensane rcpul-
Quod voluit, finxit voluisse et crimine:
verso, strj jfinxif. nie voluisse
quuil vi}iuit,et crimine
(Indiciine metu magis, offensane repulsze) tcii- verso, firguit mc,
tatum frustra, teme-
Arguit. Immeritumque pater projecit ab urbe; rasse patrium cubile :
waves, and, rearing his ample chest in air, expires from his nostrils and
wide mouth the briny waves. attendmts are seized with horror I
My :
"^"rf/^lC"ffl''*^o/cwv«
-^^ rota,perpetuum quri circum vertitur axem,
itipi/is, qua c ircinn-
Stipitisoccursu fi'acta ac disjecta fuisset.
vcrtitur peipc
a.tcm. KiciUiiir ciir- Excutior curru lorisque tenentibus artus,
:
ru icneiiti-
:
lorisqiie
biisartus, vidcres viva
Viscera viva trahi, nervos in stirpe teneri, 525
viscera trahi, ncrvos
tcjicrl in itirpe, mcm-
Membra rapi partim, partim reprehensa rehqui,
In-a, parlim rapi, par- Ossa gravem dare fracta sonum, fessamque videres
tlin relinqui reprclicii-
sa, ossa fracta dare Exhalari animam :
nullasque in corpore partes,
ani-
gravein solium,
fiiamqite fessam exha
Noscere quas posses unmnq ; erat omnia vuhms.
:
ope; turn ne prrrseiis Ora mihi. Cretenq diu dubitavit habendam 540
augerem invidiam hu- ;
my limbs partly dragged away, and partly sticking behind till, amid my ;
wound. Say then, disconsolate nymph, can you, or dare you, in justice,
compare your disaster with mitie ? I saw too the dark realms of Pluto,
and bathed my mangled body ill the waters of Phlegethon. Nor had life
been restored, but by the powefful medicines of the son of Apollo which, ;
after I had again recovered, elen in spite of Pluto, by potent herbs, and
the Pseonian art, Cynthia, that I might not by my presence increase the
envy of so uncommon a gift, threw a misty cloud around and, to prevent ;
the hazard and danger that threatened me from being seen or known, she
stamped upon me the wrinkles of age, and gave me a new set of features ;
and Avas long in doubt, whetlifir she should send me to dwell in Crete or
I
NOTES.
524. Excutior curru : lorisque ifjienti- sliippcd this young prince as a god, did
bus artus.] The story ot'Hippolytii, as it iiot allow that the death of Hippolytiis
is here related by Ovid, is extfemely was owing liis being dragged along by
to
moving. The true account of the (natter his horses on the contrary, they would
;
probably is, that this prince, in hii great have it believed, that the gods had carried
distress and agony of mind, not: giving him up into heaveu among the constella-
heed to the management of his hor^s, was tions, where he forms that which is nanieil
unhappily overturned in his cliari^. The the charioteer.
TrcKzeuiaiis, however, whoafltrwiid wor-
iUETAMORPHOSEON, Lin. XV. 539
admonuisse cquorum;
Admonuisse, iubet deponere: Quique fuisti
llippolytus, dixit, nunc idem Virbms esto. mppoiyius,tiunciriem
oc neraus inde colo de Uisque minoribus unus ; /,ncnemus,mms<iiie,ie
Numine sub dominse lateo, atque accenseor illi.
D,
Non tamen ~
Esferise
T •!
amna valent; montisque jacens radicibus
Liquitur in lachvymas ; donee pietate dolentis
luctus aliena levare
imis
. . • •
^^f nu^!e"lm!!^,
"^i'"^
lumen
acce?iseor
alietia
««« vaient icvarc inc-
Ina/^^^uJ^mM.
damna
uu.
:
cori>ore, temtavu ar.
Haud aliter stupuit, qu^un cum Tyrrhenus arator '// t"fr« 'm^
SI
Fatalem o-lebam mediis aspexit
,^
Siponte sua
umere mox
i
'^,
in arvis,'
.
primum,
••,
^
nuUoque
norainis, terrseq ; amittere lormam,
Oraque Venturis aperire recentia fatis.
Indisjenas dixere Tagen, qui primus Etruscam
554
.,
'^^^[^^ S?;"- a^
*'"'*^' inmedus arvis,
.
ao'itante,
•..
moveri
c
.
;
"".y^vhas,
stupuit,
et natus
Amrizone hand altter
quam
Tyrrhenu!! iirator as-
cum
ri -I
•
.
TRANSLATION.
Delos. At length, quitting the thoughts both of Delos and Crete, she
placed me here and commanded me, at the same time, to drop a name
;
that might remind me of my woes Let him (said she), who was once
Hip- :
polytus, be now Virbius. From that time I frequent this grove and, being ;
now one of the inferior race of gods, am screened by the power of my pa-
troness, and accounted one of her train. Yet no misfortunes of others can
avail to alleviate the grief of Egeria but, throwing herself down at the ;
Phoebus, moved at the piety of this inconsolable nymph, changed her body
into a cold spring, and thawed her limbs to streams that ever floAv. But
the nymphs, and Virbius, the son of the Amazon, are filled with wonder at
the new miracle, as when the Tyrrhenean swain beheld, in the middle
of the field, the turf pregnant with fate, untouched, to swell and move of
itself; and, losing the appearance of earth, to assume a human form, and
open its sudden mouth to disclose the future fates. The natives called
him Tages he first taught the Tuscan race the art of foretelling things
;
to come. As when of old, Romulus saw his lance, fixed in the Palatine
hill, suddenly to shoot out green leaves and which, standing now no ;
longer by its point, but anew root, no longer a dart, but a tree of limber
boughs, afforded to the admiring spectators an unlooked-for shade. Or as
when Cipus saw his horns in the watery mirror (for he saw them) and ;
NOTES.
553. 7nrf«5en«dJ.re/'eTa§-cn.] This fable tive of the country Autoclitlion ; for it
to import, either that Tages was
is thoiijrht was tiiose people, they commonly gave out
of au obsciue birth, or that he was a iia- to be sprung from the earth.
540 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Aut cum cipus rum cum 665
sua cor
^^.ut sua fluminea Cipus in unda vidit
miiunri,i(cniin vidit) Comua (videt enim) falsamq in imasjnie credens :
haruspex Tyrrhenre Rex, ait, 6 salve tibi enim, tibi, Cipe, tuisque
:
of his eyes, stood, as he returned victorious from the foe, he had subdued :
and, raising his hands and eyes to heaven, O ye gods (says he), what-
ever is portended by this miraculous appearance if prosperity, be it to ;
a grassy altar of green turf, burning upon it rich perfumes, and offering
libations of wine. He then consults the panting entrails of slaughtered
sheep, to learn from them the will of the gods. These soon as the Tuscan
augur had inspected, he beheld in them the mighty beginnings of great
attempts, yet not plain. But Avhen he raised the piercing eye, from the
boding fibres to the horny honours of Cipus, Hail, monarch (says he),
for to thee, Cipus to thee, and these thy horns, shall this realm and the
;
gates wide open to your approach so the fates command. ;For, as soon
as 3'ou are received into the city, you shall be made king and enjoy, the ;
NOTES.
565. Cil7}ivklil Cipus in undA cornua.'] Rome,lie would be declared king thereof;
The next adventure is tbat celebrated one and, as he knew the aversion the Romans
of Genucius Cipus, the Roman przetor, had to bear the name king, he chose ra-
on whose forehead liorns appeared, upon ther to go into voluntary exile. The Ro-
bis return from a conquest, or at bis going mans, charmed with so generous a beha-
out of Rome, according to Valerius Max- viour, set up a head in bronze, with horns,
innis upon which oc<;asion, the sooth-
; upon the gate tiiro\igh which he bad
sayers and augurs, whom he consulted, passed, and it was called Rauduscu-
uiianiu)ously predicted, that, if he entered lana.
METAMORPIIOSEON, Lie. XV. 541
rettiiUt
pedem torvamq; a moenibus Urbis
llettulit ille Ille pedcm,
;
avertennjue torvam
Avertens faciem, Procul, ah procul omnia, dixit, faciem a niaitibus ur-
bis, dix'U, L>U pcllunt
Talia Di pellant multoque ego justius £evum
:
talia omnia jjrocul,
Exul agam, quam me videant Capitolia regem. (ill proctil
multo justius ugam
.'
igoque
that I pass my life in exile hated, than that the capitol should behold me
its lord. He said and immediately convenes an assembly of the people,
:
and aged senators but first veils his horns "with the peaceful laurel, and
:
stands upon a mount raised by his brave soldiers. Then, having ad-
dressed the gods, according to ancient usage, Lo (says he) there is !
one among you, whom, unless you expel the city, he Avill rise to be
king ;
I name him not, but learn who he is by this sign that his temples ;
are crowned with horns, the prophet foretels, that if he once enter the
city as a sovereign, he will prescribe laws to liis enslaved subjects. He
this arm withheld
might, indeed, have rushed in at your open gates, but
him though none is more strictly united to him by ties of blood than I.
:
Do you, Romans, forbid him your city or, if he appears worthy of it,
;
load him with heavy chains or put an end to all your fears at once, by
:
the death of this tyrant, destined you by fate. Such as are the murmurs
of the blustering east wind, when he howls among the tufted pines or ;
those of the beating billows, when, from afar, they are heard to lash the
sounding shore alike was the uproar of the multitude. And yet, amid
;
the confused tumult of the enraged populace, one cry was distinctly heard ;
Who is he And they examine one another's foreheads, and look for the
^'t
iiorns they had been told of Again Cipus Here behold the wretch you ;
542 P. OVIDII NASONIS
gemi-
tos,
tum :
dcthreqiie
iitqve (quis pos- Atque illud meritis clarum (quis credere possit?)
sit credere? J inviti vi- Tnviti videre capvit nee honore carere
;
ftere Ulutt caput cla-
ritm merit is ; nee pas- Ulterius passi festam imposuere coronam. 615
si idterliis carcre ho-
iiore,imposi(crcfestam
At proceres, quoniam muros intrare vetaris,
coroiiam. At qttotiiam, Ruris honorati tantum
Cipe, vercris inlrarc
Cipe, dedere, tibi,
muros, procercs dedere
tibi tantiim hoiiorati
Quantum depresso subjectis bubus aratro
riiris. Quofitum ab Complecti posses, ad linem Solis ab ortu.
ortu soils ad finem
Cornuaque ceratis miram referentia formam 620
posses complecti ara-
tro depresso siibjectis Postibus insculpunt, longum mansura per sevum.
bvbiis ; insculpuntqiie
O'rntis postlbus cornva Pandite nunc, Musae, praesentia numina vatum,
referentia viiram for-
tnam, el mansitru per (Scitis enim, nee vos fallit spatiosa vetustas)
longum tevum. Nunc, Unde Coroniden circumflua Tibridis alveo
muste, prasentia nu-
tnina vatnm ( enlin sci- Insula Romuleee sacris adsciverit urbis.
tls, nee spatlosa re-
tustus fallit vosj paii- Dira lues quondam Latias vitiaverit auras,
4lite, ilnde Insula cir-
cumjlua alveo Tyhri- Pallidaque exsangui squall ebant corpora tabo.
dls udsciverit C'oroui- Funeribus fessi postquam mortalia cernunt
den sacris BomuleiE
vrbis. Dira hies quon- Tentamenta nihil artes posse medentum
dam vitiaverat Latias
auras, corporaqiicpal-
Auxilium cceleste petunt mediamque tenentes 630
:
head, discovered his temples adorned with two horns. The people all cast
their eyes upon the ground ; and sad in thought, (who can believe it ?)
beheld with reluctance that renowned head, so illustrious for its merits ;
nor did they long suffer it to remain without its honours, hut bind it again
with the festival garland. But the nobles, because you are forbid to enter
Cipus, by way of honour, as much land as, with a
the walls, gave thee,
plough drawn by two yoked steers, thou couldest enclose from the rising
to the setting of the sun and they grave upon the brazen posts horns,
;
representing thy wonderful form, to contiime from age to age. And now,
O Muses, ye guardian goddesses of the poets, relate (for ye know, nor
does the most remote antiquity hide aught from your view), whence an
island, surrounded by the chanuel of the Tiber, associated ^sculapius,
the son of Coronis, with the gods of the city. A dire contagion infected
formerly the Latian air, and the pale bodies of the natives were deformed
by a ghastly look. Discouraged by the number of fvmerals, when they find
all human remedies vain, and that the art of
physic nothing avails, they
apply to heaven for aid; and visit the oracle of Phoebus, at Delphos,
which stands in the centre of the world of him they beg, that he will
;
relieve them from their distress by his salutary power, and end the woes
of a great afflicted city. The place, the laurel of the god, and the quivers
NOTES.
€22. Pandite nunc, musa.l What Ovid ^sculapius at Rome, is taken from t!ie
Q.i.
Et pene nunc, propiore Apolhne vobis,
ui minuat lucius, opus est; sea Apolhne nato.
Ite bonis avibus, prolenique arcessite nostram. 640
loca, JNec
i. JAiT ,
muncr^nssvsjnopim-e
loco, a 110(1 pet is hinc :
et pete nunc propwre
Qi
ui^'ApluiZlqutm^^^^
Jussa Dei pvudens postquam accepere Senatus <>* inctus,' sea nato
\
nam colat, ,'-.' i^,- •
1
..
,
;
ApoUine. Ite bonis a-
explorant, juvenis rnoebeius urbem; vibux, arcessueque
p:
simul incurva missi tetio-ere carina,
Qua3 ...
r~i i-A •
qne telluris induxerat tenebras orbi ; cum Deus opifer jisus est in somni<: Consistere ante tuunt
torutn, Romaiie ; sed qnnlis .solet esse in ade : tenensque agrcste baculum sinistra, deducere
casaricm longce barba dextra, et emittere tales voces placido pectore.\_
TRANSLATION.
wherewith adorned, shook together, and the tripod, from the sacred
it is
recess of the temple, thus replied, while thrilling- horrors ran through
every breast What you ask here, Romans, you might have asked in a
:
place less remote from your own city and ask it still
in this place less ;
remote. Nor is it to Apollo that you must apply for relief from your mi-
sery, but to the son of Apollo go with happy auspices, and conduct my
:
son into your city. When the prudent senate unclerstood the commands
of the god, they explore in what city the Phoebeian youth resided, and
appoint deputies to sail for Epidaurus, with the first favourable wind :
who, soon as they reached the place in their crooked bark, waited on the
senate and Grecian elders, and begged they would let them have the heal-
ing god, who, by his presence, might put an end to the mortality, that
of fate had di-
reigned in the Ausonian state for so the unerring oracles ;
rected. They are divided, and vary in their opinions some plead, that :
the appointed aid ought not to be denied them many oppose this, and ;
are against delivering up the god, the guardian protector of their city.
While the time is thus spent in deliberation, night succeeds to the fading
light of day, and the shadow of the earth
had spread an universal dark-
ness over the face of nature when, in sleep, the healing god seemed to
;
stand before the bed of the Roman deputy but such as he is usually :
seen in his temple, holding in his left hand a rustic club, and with his
right smoothing the hair of his long beard.
When thus, with calm aspect
he addressed them Dismiss your fears I will come, and leave the shrine
; ;
and temple of this city. Observe only this serpent, who twines himself
544 P. OVIDII NASONIS
Pone met 111 ; veniam, Pone metus veniam, simulachraque nostra relin-
riiniqitamqiic nostra ;
la; suoque
mo tit signumque, a- Pectoribusque tenus media sublimis in sede
rasque, foresque, mtir-
moreunique soln7n,fas- Constitit, atque oculos circumtulit igne micantes.
tigiaque aurea, con- Territa turba pavet. Cognovit numina castos 675
stititque sjih/imis in
media ade, tenus pec- Evinctus vitta crines albente sacerdos :
know him agaiu. Into his figure will I change myself; but of size en-
larged, and great as ought the form of celestial bodies, when changed, to
be. With these words the god, and with the god and his words, sleep,
departed and cheering light succeeded the flight of sleep returning
;
:
Aurora had extinguished the lesser lights of heaven. The chiefs, per-
plexed, and full of doubtful care, repair to the sumptuous temple of the
god and implore him to express, by celestial
; in what land he signs,
chooses to reside. Scarce were their prayers ended when the bright god,
in form of a serpent, adorned with scales of
gold, and rearing high
his
shook the statue, the altars, the doors, the marble pavement, and gilded
roofs, and raised himself breast high in the middle of the temple and ;
rolled around his eyes, that darted flames of fire. The crowd was struck
with terror and amazement. The priest, having his sacred locks adorned
with a white fillet, knew the god. The god, lo the god (he cries) adore ! ;
him in silence all that are present. Be seen, O divine power, for our
good, and, propitious, hear the prayers of thy votaries. All that are pre-
sent adore the god, as commanded, all
repeat the words of the priest ;
and the descendants of Apneas too join in this holy worship, with silent
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XV. 545
Impulerat
"
levis aura ratem. Deus eminet altc : tauroquc ctrso in lit-
T -iA •
tore, solvunt torta re-
)Ositaque premens puppum cervice recurvam,
Impositaque tinacuiacoronattcpup-
pis. Levis aura impu-
Coeruleas despectat aquas modicisque per ajquor :
lerat ratem. Deus emi-
Ionium Zephyris sexto Pallantidos ortu 700 nct alte, /premensque
recurvam pupping im-
Italian! tenuit ;
prseterque Lacinia templo positO,
tat
cervice despec-
camleas aquas
Nobilitata Deae, Scylaceaque littora fertur. navigansque per Ioni-
um (iquor ?nodicis ze-
Linquit lapygiam, levisque Amphissia remis phyris, tunuit Italiam
Saxa dextra praevupta Ceraunia parte,
fugit :
sexto ortu Pallanti-
dos, fertur qxie prater
Romechiumque legit, Caulonaque, Nariciamque,
Deer Ju-
Lacinia
tata tempto
littora, nob/li-
Minted habitation, and the temple where he had so long resided. Thence
iic
sweeps his bulk along the ground, strewed with flowers bends in folds, ;
and marches through the middle of the city, to the port, fenced by a
winding mole. Here he stood and, seeming with a gracious aspect to
;
<lismiss his train, and the pious zeal of the crowd that followed him, he
;iscended the Latian ship. It felt the weight of the god and the Romans ;
?
joice to see the vessel bending under the precious load. They sacrifice
a bull on the strand, and loose the twisted cables of the ship, adorned
'>vith
garlands a gentle gale pushed her on.
: The god, raised high, and
leaning with his neck on the crooked stern, surveys from above the azure
d'cp and, wafted over the smooth Ionian sea by gentle zephyrs, reaches
;
narrow strahs of Sicilian Pelorus, and the isles where -<Eohis, the srion of
2 N
AG P. OVIDU NASONIS
Leucosiam, rosaria Psesti.
j,eHtque
rosaiiaqtic lepini J'<rs-
Leucosiamque petit,
*^ ' tcpidique
' ^
•.«•
-^ , , .
P: •
crepitantis
TRANSLATION.
Hippotas, reigned, and the mines of Temese
and makes for the Leuco- ;
sian shore, and the rose-beds of warm Pjestus. Thence he reaches Ca-
preffi, and
the promontory of Minerva, and the hill famed for the Surren-
tine grape, and the city of Hercules, ar.d Stabiffi, and Parthenope formed
for a life of ease and retirement, and the temple of the Cumsean sibyl.
Hence the tepid bath of Baice, and the green retreats of Linternum offer
to their sight and Vultnrims, rolling in his current great quantities of
;
sand, and Sinuessa, abounding in Avhite snakes, and the marshy fens of
Minturnse, and where -flilneas iDuried his nurse, and the habitation of An-
tiphates, and
Trachas beset with fens, and the plains of Circe, and rocky
coast of Antium. As here the mariners anchored the vessel (for the sea
was now rough and stormy), the god imfolds his spires and gliding along ;
in laro-e and numerous rings, enters the temple of his father, that stood
upon the yellow strand. Sea being now calm, the Epidaurian god
leaves
his father's altars and, quitting the hospitable temple of Apollo, furrows
;
the sands the coast with his rattling scales and, leaning on the
along ;
helm, placed his head on the lofty stern, until he reached Castrum, and
the sacred plains of Lavinium, by the mouth of the Tiber. Here the
in mingled crowds, run out to meet him
people from all parts,
fathers, ;
mothers, and the virgins appointed to guard Vesta's flame aud with joy- ;
ful cries salute the god. And, where the nimble vessel cuts the opposing
METAMORPIIOSEON, Lib. XV. 547
"vvith
streaming blood, the knives. And now Rome, the mistress of the
world, had received him when, rising up, and waving his neck, which
;
rested on the top of the mast, he looks round for some proper habitation.
The flowing stream is divided into two parts by a piece of land which, ;
seated in the middle between the arms of the river, that stretch them-
selves on each side, is called the island. Hither the serpent, son of Phoe-
bus, gliding from the Latian pine, repaired and, resuming his celestial
;
shape, put a period to their w oes, and came a restorer of health to the city.
Rut he was admitted a stranger into our temples CiBsar is adored as ;
a god in his own city whom, though alike renowned both in arms and
:
'pl^!v':^u:!^Xi^
Et multos meruisse,aliquos egisse triumphos;
Mi ridateis nnmini-
bits
til
popnlo
Quam tantum genuisse virum, quo praeside rerum
Qiiiriiii, et
mcritisse mnllos eixisse Humano, generi, Superi, cavistis abunde.
uliqnos, triumplios ;
quam genuisse tantum Ne 760
fovet hie io-itur mortali semine cretus ;
rirum, quo praside
rerum, vos, siiperi,
IlleDeus faciendus erat. Quod ut aurea vidit
abunde cavistis huma-
no generi.
^iea3 genitrix vidit quoque triste parari
; ^
Igitiir ne
hie J'oret cretvs inor- Pontifici letum; et conjurata arma mover! ;
triste letum parari pontifici^et arma conjurata moveri. Palluit : et dicebat cunctis divis, ut
erat obvia cuique ; Aspice quanta mole.
TRANSLATION,
than his own progeny. For of all Caisar's acts, none redounds more to
his honour than that he is the father of Aii2;ustus. Is it a greater glory
to have subdued the Britons, environed
by the sea, and urged your victo-
rious fleet along the soA^en channels of the Nile to have added the rebel- ;
brated some triumphs, than to have been the father of so great a man ;
by decreeing to whom the sovereign rule, heaven has lavished her bounty
on the human race. That this prince, therefore, might not be a descend-
ant of mere mortals, his father must reach the skies. Which when the
beauteous mother of JSneas foresaw, and foresaw too the bloody death
that was preparing for the high-priest, and the combined arms of the con-
spirators, she turned pale and said to every god she met, Behold
;
what a
NOTES.
him that station. It had been even re- him. Some called him the puppet-maker;
marked, that, for a whole year after Cae- others said, he took cave to fill up the va-
sar's death, the sun appeared pale ; and cancies in heaven, which had received no
they failed not to attribute to tlie grief of new colony for a loni; while. But Au-
not
Apollo, what was the mere effect of some gustus made a jest of those scoffs,
spots, that this year appeared upon the doubting but he himself should one day
suns disc. Many other prodigies were receive the same honours for the great
:
spoken of, as happening about the same affair is, once to establish a new fashion.
time, which it were tedious here to men- Indeed the deifying spirit soon after raged
tion. Augustus, however, took the ad- to such a degree, that they gave a place
most
vantage of this superstition, to have Cae- among the gods, not only to the
sar declared a god. He built a temple to wicked emperors, as Tiberius, but also to
it must
him, established priests to take care of his tlie most stupid, as Claudius. But
worship, and had a statue of him carved, be owned these new gods and their ora-
and set up witli a star over its head. But, cles did not rise to great vogue, whatever
to say the truth, tliis deification came pai-.is were taken
to advance their credit.
somewhat too late: the times were not Tlie eyes of the people came, at length,
now so fertile in divinities as of old. to be opened, as to an usage equally im-
Whatever veneration was paid to the pious and ridiculous and we find
; no new
grand nephew of Augustus, this deifica- divinities since that time.
tion did not fail to provoke some to rally
METAMORPHOSEON, Lin. XV. )49
\
•>
leratos ctises acui in
me; qiws precor pro-
Verba jacit: Superosque movet:
Qui rumpere hibete, repellitequefa-
780 cinus, neve extinguite
quanquam Jlammas Vestm cade
Ferrea non possunt veterum decreta sororum ;
sacerdotis.
Venus anxia, nequic-
Signa taraen luctus dant baud incerta futuri. quam jacit talia i-i r,ba
toto calo movetque
Arma ferunt inter nigras crepitantia nubes,
:
nian spear of Tydeus' son now mourning the hard fate of Troy's ili-
;
I)ast ills See you not the impious swords sharpened agamst me ? lorbid,
!
no obscure hmts ot
through the iron decrees of the fatal sisters, give yet
amid a dark
the approaching disaster. They tell us, that arms, rattlmg
host of dreadful sound, and the alarm of the trumpet,
clouds, the clarion's
heard in the sky, gave warning of the hideous crime. The troubled image
of Phoebus too gave but a faint light, and torches were seen to blaze amid
the stars. Drops of blood fell from heaven in showers, and the mornmg-
^tar was oversnread with a dusky hue : the chariot of the moon was also
650 P. OVIDII NASONIS
hiihudiiHl tr'm-
•Stt/giit\
tia ominu viUlc locis.
Tiistia mille locis Stygius dedit omina bubo ;
Jj^btir lachriimavit ir.U- Mille locis lachrymavit ebur : cantusque feruntui
le locis; caiitu.sfjtufc-
runtiir auiliti, et vir- Auditi, Sanctis et verba minacia lucis.
haminncia audita Sanc-
tis lacis. j\(illa lit-
Victima nulla litat :
magnosque instaie tuniultus
tiinii lUat ; fibraqac Fibra monet; caesumque caput reperitur in extis.
vionvl tnii'inot! tiimiil-
tus i/is/arc, cajntttjuc
ca.ium rcj)critur inct-
Inq foro, circumq ; domos,et teniplaDeoruui 796
;
silvHtiwt
Non tamen insidias venturaque vincere fata
iiinhrasqtic
erravissc, xirbemquc Pra^monitus potuere Deum strictiq feruntur 800
:
;
TRANSLATION,
dyed with blood. In every place the infernal cwl gave fatal omens in ;
every place the ivory statues wept and awful music and threatening
:
sounds were heard in the sacred groves. No victims can allay the anger
of the gods the fibres foretel that great commotions are at hand, and a
;
wounded head was found in the entrails. In the forum, and round the
domes of the gods, night-hoAvling dogs alarm the wandering ghosts for- ;
sake their seats, and the city is shaken with earthquakes. Yet these pre-
monitions of the gods cannot avert the treachery, or prevent Ciesar's ap-
proaching doom. The swords of the conspirators are drawn in the temple ;
sway of fate ? Enter yoiu'self the habitation of the three sisters. There
will see the records of
you things, graved deep in brass and lasting iron ;
which, eternal and secure, fear neither the concussion of heaven, nor the
rage of thunder nor any shock of ruin. There you will find the various
;
vnii mav ii.it anvlnno-pr nintinnA ion.^i-nii* .-if n-lmf it- ii\ /^^iMr> T-Io Pv-
METAMORPHOSEON, Lib. XV r ^
1
llic sua complevit (pro quo, Cytherea, laboras) Jlii: ('pn^iio /(thorns,
(.'i/thirt'(f'^ touijihi'it
Tempora, perfectis, quos terras debuit, annis. ilia tempora, uiiiiis,
qitoi (leOuit terra' per-
Ut Deus accedat coelo, templisque colatur, fect is tu, suusqiie iia- ;
Tu facies natusque suus, qui iiomuiis htcres, tus, qjii htrres nominh
;
feret onus urbis inipn-
linpositum feret Urbis onus cffisique parentis 820 «<"'» **ibi; uhorque
i.y '.,,, r ,• •
liiii-
for tissimus cast parol-
'tis,habeMt nossuos in
be/la, fades, nt acce-
Illius auspiciis obsessse moenia pacem dat Deus cnlo,eolatur-
Victa petent Mutina Pharsalia sentiet ilium,
:
que templis. Sub au-
spiciis illius moenia ub-
pacem. Phar-
Et magnum Siculis nomen superabitur undis 825 peletit
salia sentiet ilium,:
Philippii/ve, iterum
Romanique ducis conjux jEgyptia tsedae madefacti Ai^mut/iiii
Non bene fisa cadet frustraque erat ilia minata men
:
Cirdc ; ct jnugtium no-
superabitur -Siev-
Servitura suo Capitolia nostra Canopo. lis undis: jE^yptiuquc
conjux lioniuni ducis,
Quid tibi Barbariem, gentes ab utroque jacentes fisa lion bene Itidcr, ca-
det illaque erit J'rns-
Oceano numerem? quodcunque habitabile tellus ;
tra minata nostra Ca-
sun
Sustinet, hujus erit. Pontus quoque servietilli. 831 pitolia servilnra
Canupo. Quid nume-
Pace data terris, animum ad civilia vertet rem tibi Barbariem,
gentes jnceiites ab v-
Jura suum, legesque feret justissimus auctor :
troque oceano? quod-
cunque habitabile tel-
Exemploque suo mores reget inque futuri :
lus sustinet, erit hu-
iiepotumquc ven^
turorum,
jube/iit pro-
lem natam de sancta conjuge, ferre suumque nomen, curasque. Nee nisi cum senior irquaierit
Pylios aniiDS tanget letherias sedes, cognataque sidera. Interea fac hanc animum, raptam de
case corporc,
TRANSLATION.
iherea, for whom you are now completed his term of life,
so anxious, has
and passed through the years he owed To you it is sjranted,
to earth.
that he be received as a god in heaven, and have homapje paid to him in
temples ;
and that his son, who, as the heir of his name and greatness,
shall sustain the whole weight of the public administration, nudertaking
a noble revenge of his lather's murder, find us, the gods, propitious to
him in his wars. The walls of Mutina, invested under his conduct, shall,
vanquished, sue for peace Pharsalia shall know him, and Philippi again
;
capitol to her Canopus. Why name I Africa, or the nations lying on both
sides the ocean ? Whatever the habitable earth sustains shall be his :
even the sea shall submit to his sway. Having established peace, he shall
turn his mind to civil cares and enact just and equitable laws, and re-
;
gulate the manners of his subjects by his own example and, regarding :
ages to come, and the happiness of his future race, will appoint a son,
born of his chaste spouse, to succeed, as heir of his name and rule nor, :
TntriiH.scdc senatus,
Caesaris eripuit membris, nee in aera solvi 845
eripuitqne rece7item
animam membris sui Passa recentem animam, coelestibus intulit astris.
Cffsaris, nee ]>assa earn
sohiitia'cra, intulit ea--
lestibvs astris. Dum-
Dumque tulit lumen capere, atque ignescere sen-
;
sit :
que ttUit, sensit cam
capere lumen, atque
ignescere, emisitque si- Emisitque sinu. Luna volat altius ilia :
nu. Ilia volat altius Flammi ferumque trahens spatioso limite crinem
Jjttna, trahensque
Jiammi feruin crinen Stella micat; natique videns benefacta, fatetur 850
spatioso limite, micat Esse suis majora; et vinci gaudet ab illo.
Stella, videusque be?ic
facta nati, fatetur Hie sua prseferri quanquam vetat aeta paternis :
esse majora suis; et
gaudet vinci ab illis. Libera fama lamen, nullisque obnoxia jussis,
(Juanquatn hie vetat Invitum prsefert ; unS,que in parte repugnat.
sua acta praferri pa-
ternis, tamcnfa?na li- Sic magni cedit titulis Agamemnonis Atreus 855 :
TRANSLATION,
change it to a beaming train of light that the deified Julius may ever, ;
from his heavenly throne, smile upon the Roman capitol and forum.
Scarce had he done speaking, Avhen bounteous Venus stood invisible in
the middle of the senate-house and, snatching the fleeting soul of her
:
placed it among the stars of heaven. And, as she bore it, she perceived
it to
give light, and glow with new-born fires. Upward it sprung from
her bosom and, mounting above the lunar sphere, shot behind it a long
;
his son, owns them to surpass his own and joys to be thus out-done. ;
And, though the prince himself allows not of this preference given to his
acts, yet fame, uncontrolled, and subject to no restraint, compels him,
reluctant, to receive the homage due and, in this instance, only, thwarts
;
Theseus surpassed his father ^Egeus and x4.chilles eclipsed the renown
;
Et cum Caesarea tu, Phoebe domestice, Vesta, 865 et tu, Phtthe domes-
tice, cum Cecsarea,
Quique tenes altiis Tarpeias Jupiter arces, Vesta ;Jupiterquf,qui
altiis tene.i Tarpeias
Quosque alios vati fas appellare piumque, arces, quosque alios
Tarda sit ilia dies, et nostro serior eevo. Ueos fit Jas piintique
rati appellare : ilia
Qua caput augustum, quem temperat orbe relicto,
tarda ct scrior
(lies .lit
7iostroavo,qjia augus-
Accedat coelo :
faveatque precantibus absens. 870 turn caput, orbe quern
dat calo temperat relicto,acce-
; absensque faveat precantibus,
PERORATIO. PERORATIO.
Jamque exegi opus,
Jamque opus exegi quod nee Jovis ira, nee ignes,
:
quod nee ira Jovis,7iec
Nee poterit ferrum, nee edax abolere vetustas. igiies, nee ferrtnn, nee
edax vet list as poterit
Cum volet ilia dies,
quae nil nisi corporis hujus abolere. Ilia dies, qum
habet nil jus, nisi hu-
Jus habet, incerti
spatium mihi finiat aevi :
jus corporis, finiat mi-
Parte tamen mehore mei hi spatium incerti trvi
super alta perennis 875 cum rolct tamen per- ;
Astra ferar nomenque erit indelebile nostrum.
: ennis meliore parte
tnei, ferar super alta
Quaque patet domitis Romana potentia terris. ast ra ; nostrumque no-
Ore legar populi: perque omnia saecula fama, men erit indclebile :
legarque ore pupuli,
(Si quid habent veri vatum praesagia) vivam. qua Homana potentia
patet domitis terris ;
sique prasagia vatum habent quid veri, vivam famd per omnia sacula,
TRANSLATION.
common father of the city, and Quirinus and you, Vesta, held sacred
;
whom a like homage is paid and thou, mighty Jupiter, who, high en-
;
throned, presidest over the Tarpeian towers and whatever other gods it
;
may be lawful for a poet to invoke ; slowly may the day advance, and
later than the term of my life when this
august prince, abandoning the
;
world, which he ruled so well, shall be enrolled among the gods and, ;
PERORATION.
And now have finished a work, which neither the anger of Jove, nor
I
fire nor steel, nor the consuming teeth of time, shall be able to destroy.
Come when it will, the day which has no power but over my body and ;
let it finish the doubtful term of life. Yet, in my better part, immortal,
I shall soar above the lofty mansions of the stars nor shall my name ;
D
CADMUS sent in quest of Europa 93, kills a
monstrous serpent 90, founds Thebes 99, his DjEDALION transformed into a hawk 3»4.
grandson and daughter transformed into sea- Diedahis, his flight, 285.
gods 158, and he and his wife into serpents 160. Daiiae impregnated
by Jupiter in a shower of gold
Ca?neus, a woman, metamorphosed into a man 161, 208.
421, rendered invulnerable id. Daphne, why said to be the daughter of Peneus
Calchas foretels the ten years siege of 31, her aversion to marriage 32,~ flies the court-
Troy 414.
Calliope, one of the muses, whence named 184, ship ot Phujbus 33, transformed into a laurel 37.
how represented ib. Daphnis transformed into a stone 144.
Caliislo, ravished by Jupiter 71, discarded by Dart of Cephalus, its
extraordinary qualities, 268.
Diana 72, transformed into a bear 73, made a Decrcto, a goddess, her extraordinary image, 133.
constellation 74, Origin of the fable 76. Dejanira contended for by Hercules 313, becomes
Calydonian river's speech to Theseus 300, 306. jealous of him 319, sends him a poisoned shirt
Camelion, its extraordinary qualities, 533. 320.
Canens married to Picus 494, her Delphoi, a city of Phocis, famou* for its oracle
enchanting
voice ib., transformed into air 498. 34.
Caunus resents her sister's milawful passion 337, Deluge, account of it, 21.
tlies from her 339. Decis, enjoyed by Jupiter in form of a snake 208.
Celmius transformed into an adamant 144. Deucalion saved from the
delnge 24, speech to
Cephalus, his history 260. Pyrrha his wife 26, explains themis's dubious
Cerastae, a people of the isle of Cyprus 357, why answer 28, the earth how re-peopled by him 29.
said to have been transformed into bulls ib. Diana, where born, and whence called Cynthia
Cerberus, Pluto'sdog in hell 153. 60, surprised by Acteon while bathing 102,tran8-
Ccrcopians transformed into monkeys 483. forms him into a stag 103.
Cercyon, a famous robber, killed by Theseus 257. Dido bestows her aflj^ections and
kingdom on j^neas
Ceres, the goddess of corn and tillage 13, her di- 482, kills herself ib.
ligent search for her daughter Proserpine 191, Dircen, a celebrated fountain of Bototia 60.
complains to Jupiter 194, recovers her 190, Dragon, that guarded the golden fleece, lulled
teaches Triptolemus husbandry 200, saves his asleep by Jason's enchantment 243.
life 200. Dragons' teeth sown produce men 98, 242.
Cests described 176. Dryope transformed into the tree lotos 3-Z8.
Ceyx goes to sea in quest of his brother 398, is
shipwrecked 403, transformed into a bird 410.
Chaos described 2.
E
Chimaera described 218, explained ib.
EARTH, how formed 5, drowned by a
Chione enjoyed by Apollo and Mercury 392, bears
how rc-peopled and replenished 29, deluge 21,
complaint
Autolycus and Philammon ib., struck dumb
393. against Phai;ton 63.
CALATEA refuses llie solicitations of the lo, daughter of Inaehus, ravished by Jupiter 39,
Cyclops
475. transformed into a cow ib., committed by Juno
to the care of
Galanthis imposes on the goddess Lucina 326, is Argus 40, recovers her shape, and
transformed into a weasel 327. becomes an Egyptian goddess 46.
lolaus. Ilia youth restored by Hebe, 330.
Ganymede ravished by Jupiter in form of an
eagle 354, the fable explained ib. Iphigenia, when about to be sacrificed, has a doe
substituted in her place 414.
Gems, how formed, 533.
Gerane, queen of the Pygmies, transformed into a Iphis, a girl, her passion for lanthe 343, is trans-
crane 206, origin of the fable ib. formed into a boy, and enjoys her 346, hangs
Giants, their war against the gods, 14.
himself for love of Anaxarte 511.
Glauciis transformed into a Iris, her genealogy and history, 22.
sea-god 476, his vain Iron age described 13.
pursuit of Scylla ib., 478, has recourse to Circe
Ister, the Danube, the greatest river of Europe 61.
479, declines her solicitations 480.
Golden age described 10. Itys killed by his mother 232, transformed into a
(^.olden Fleece carried off by Jason 244. pheasant 233, fable explained ib.
Julius Caesar, his
Gorgon, two hundred persons transformed into apotheosis, 547.
stone at the sight of it, 180. Juno, her resentment against lo 40, against Cal-
listo 73,
Gravitation of bodies, known by Ovid, 3. complaint to the sea-gods 75, imposes
Greeks embark for the siege of Troy 413, their on Semele 107, her resentment
against the off-
landing opposed by th« Trojans 416, take and spring of Cadmus 152, 158.
burn Troy 462. Jupiter dethrones his father Saturn 12, silver age
in his time ib.,
speech to the gods 16, 18, ra-
vishes lo, and transforms her into a cow 39, ra-
H vishes Callisto 71, transformed into a bull 91,
207, carries off Europa 92, kills Semele 108,
transformed into a shower of gold 161, begets
HjEMUS, why transformed into a mountain 206.
Perseus upon Danae ib., origin of this fable ib.,
Halcyonc dissuades Ceyx from going to sea, or transformed into an eagle, a swan, and a satyr
pleads to accompany him 397, is informed of
208, into Amphitryon ib., a lambent flame, a
his death in a dream 407, her grief for him ib.
transformed into a bird 409. shepherd, and a snake ib., his speech concern-
ing renewing age 331.
Harpocrates, God of Secrecy and Silence 342,
how Ixion, his punishment in hell 154.
represented ib.
Heaven, court of, described, 16.
Hebe restores youth to lolaus 330, how the step-
daughter and daughter-in-law of Jupiter 331.
Hecate, the first who found out poisonous herbs LAMPETIE, transformed into a tree 67, Laome-
209, who she was 240. don is assisted by Apollo and Neptune in build-
Hector killed by Achilles at the siege of Troy 436, ing the walls of Troy 387, his ingratitude pu-
his body dragged thrice round its walls ib. nished 388.
Hecuba bewails her daughter Polyxena 457, made Latona despised by Niobe 211, her history 218.
captive at the siege of Troy 459, laments her Leda enjoyed by Jupiter in the form of a swan
son Polydorus 461, resentment of his murder 208.
402, transformed into a bitcli ib. Leucothoe ravished by Apollo 142, transformed
Helenus,his predictions to iEneas 534. into a shoot of frankincense 143.
Hercules fences the river Achelous 313, tortured Lichas carries the envenomed shirt to Herculea
with the envenomed shirt 320, his labours re- 320, is turned into stone 322.
cited 321, destroys Lichas 322, makes and sets Life, human, its various stages described 525.
fire to his funeral pile 323, made a god, and Lucina opposes the birth of Hercules by a charm
carried to heaven 324, account of his painful 326, is deceived by Galanthis i6., transforms her
birth 325, his feats before Troy 435. into a weasel 327.
Hermapbroditus, the story of him and Salmacis Lycabas killed by Perseus 174.
144, origin ib.
its Lycaon, his history 19.
Hcrse captivates Mercury 85. Lycians, how punished by Latona 220.
Hersilia made a goddess and joined to Romulus Lygdus and Telethusa, their history 341.
^
515. Lyncestis, river, its intoxicating quality 530.
Hippolitns, his history, 537. Lyncus attempts to kill Triptolemus 200, is trans-
Hippomenes conquers Atalanta by means of three formed into a lynx ib.
golden apples 376, turned into a lion 377.
Horn of Plenty, whence, 317.
Hornets, how produced according to Pythagoras
M
531.
Hyacinthus killed 355, transformed into a /lower MACAREUS transformed by Circe into a sow
356. 491, his shape restored 492.
Hyena changes its sex yearly 533. Man, how formed 9. /
Hymen, whence derived, 33. Mars caught in the embraces of Venus, becomes
Protenor 175, is killed by Lyncides the sport of the gods 139.
Hypseus kills
ib. Marsya, a river of Phrygia, its origin, 122.
Meandros, a river of Phrygia, remarkable for its
many windings 61.
I Medea, her passion for Jason 237, gives him some
enchanting herbs 241, her various enchantments
lANTHE, her history, 343. 246, renews jEson's age 248, causes Pelias to be
lapetidcs killed by Pctalus, 176. killed by his own daughters 251, her journey
Jason demands the golden fleece 237, swears through the air 253.
fidelity to Medea 241, his several exploits 242. Medusa, her story 161, 169, origin of the (nb\eib.
Ibis, an Egyptian bird, described, 186. Melas, a river of Migdonia, its peculiar quality
loams, attempting to fly, is drowned in the sea 61.
286. Meleager, his history 295.
luachus, a river of Achaia, wkeuce named, 38. Melicerta transfonned into the god Falemon 181. .
558 INDEX.
Melpomene, one of the muses, how represented Paphos, his birth 300.
183. Paris kills Achillea 436.
Mpmnon killed by Acliilks 403. Peacocks, their tails, on what occasion painted
Mciniioniflcs, birds formed of the ashes of Mem- 45, 70.
non 4fi4, their balltc ib. Peleus ravishes Thelis, and begets Achilles 390,
Mercury, why represented with wings at his"an- kills Phocusi/;., his
punishment .395.
cles 42, lulls Argns and kills him Pellas killed by his own daughters 251.
asleep 45,
whence called Cyllenc ib. Pclops killed by his father 221, restored to life ib.
Metamorphoses of Ovid, the design of itl. Penlhens derides Tiresias 118, chides the Baccha-
Meira had a power to assume what nals 119, torn in pieces, for
shape she prying into the ce-
pleased 312. remonies of the orgies 129.
Midas, his foolish wish granted 383, punished 384, Periinelc, transformed into an island 300.
revoked 3S5, why punished with ass's cars 38(J, Perseus, his origin 101, expedition against the
how discovered 387. Gorgons ib., kills Atlas and carries off the
Milky way described 15. golden apples 102, rescues Andromeda 164,
Minerva, her contest with Arachnc 202, gets the marries her 108, conquers Phineas and his com-
better of NeptuneaoS.her unjust envy to Arachne pany 181.
202, transforms her into a spider 210. Phaethusa transformed into a tree 67.
Minos, in besieging Alcathous, captivates Sylla Phaeton, son of Apollo and ("lymene, insulted by
277, rejects her treasonable oliVr 282. Epaphiis 40, complains to his mother ib., ac-
Minyas, his three daughters transformed in bats costs his father for a proof of his origin 50. asks
151. to guide the chariot of the sun for on<; A
-y 51,
Mnemosyne enjoyed by Jupiter in form of a shep- persisting in his request, receives his father's
herd 2U8. instructions 55, loses his way, anil sets the
Moly, an enchanting herb given to Ulysses 492. earth on fire 59, falls headlong into the Po 05,
Morpheus, a complete mimic 405, informs Haley- whether a real person ib., funeral and epitaph
one in a dream of her husband's shipwreck 400. 66.
Mulberries, their purple colour, wlience 130. Pheneus, the remarkable quality of its waters 530.
Murex, a fish whose blood produced the best pur- Philemon and Baucis, their happy poverty sm,
ple 202. entertain the gods 303, transformed into trees
Muses, an account of them 183. 300.
Mutat.us (licere formas, this phrase whether an Philomela, r.avishcd by Tereus 220, cruelly used
hypallage 2, by him 227, makes an artful discovery of it to
Myrrha, her incestuous passion 301, prevented by her sister 229, bloody revenge 232, transformed
her nurse from hanging herself 304, l)y her into a nightingale 233, fable explained ib.
means enjoys her own father 307, is transformed Phineus, his coiiliiet with Perseus 172, overcome,
into a tree 368. and transformed into a statue 181, rescued from
the harpies 237.
N Phlegon, one of the horses of the sun 56.
Phoebe, the moon, why so called 3.
Phcebus wounded by Cupid 32, his violent love
NABATH, son of Ismaei, his possessions 7.
to, and pursuit of, Daphne 34, his regard con-
Narcissus, son of Cepliisus and Leriope 110, shuns tinued to her in tlic laurel 37. See Apollo.
the embraces of Eclio 112, incurs tlie odium of
Phcenix, its remarkable history 532.
the nymphs by his coyness 113, becomes en-
Phorbas, killed by Perseus 174.
amoured of his own shadow 114, transformed Picus married to tjauens 494, captivates Circe ib.,
into a (lower 118, the moral of this fable 113.
rejects her suit 4<I5, transformed by her into a
Neptune transformed into a bull 208, enjoys the woodpecker 490, his companions into various
daughter of yEolus in that shape ib., begets the monsters 497.
Aloida; in the torm of Euipeus ib., (leccives
Pipe, music of, charms Argus 4.3, its origin 44.
Theophane in the shape of a ram ib. Plague described 201.
Nereus, a sea-god, son of Oceanus and Tethys 17. Plectrum, what, 170.
Nessus, attempting to carry otf Dejanira, is killed
Polydeclus transformed into a stone 132.
by Hercules 318, the terrible effect ot his blood
320. Polydorus murdered by Polyrancstor 457. Be-
wailed by his mother Hecuba 401, his death
Nile river described 30, 61.
revenged 402.
Ninus, his grand sepulchre described 335.
Polyhymnia, one of the muses, how represented
Niobe, her extravagant pride 211, severely pu- 1S3.
nislied 214, turned into a marble statue 217.
Nisus robbed by his daughter of a hick of his hair Polymedon killed by Perseus 175.
in which his strength Polynuiestor nuirders Polydorus 457, his eyes put
lay 27'J, transformed into out by Hecuba 402.
a sea-eagle 282.
Polyxena sacrificed to the ghost of Achilles 453.
Poinona courted by the rural gods 500, after v.v
o rious attempts is gained by 'VenunMuis 512.
Priam, his death 450, the misfortunes of his fa-
OCYRRHOE, dauahter of Chiron and Charicio mily ib.
81, transformed into a mare 83. Procnc, her unhappy marriage with Pandion 222,
Odytes killed by Clymcnus 175. sends for her sister Philomela 223, is informed
Olympus a mountain, giants buried under 15. of her abuse 229, bloody reven-e
232, trans-
Orion's daughters, fable of, 407. formed into a swallow 233, fable explained ib.
Orpheus, the origin of the fables concerning him Procris, her groundless jealousy 273, killed by
347, his descent into hell, in quest of Euijdice mistake, by her husband 274.
348, loses her a second time, by looking behind Prometheus, history and fable of him 9,(iO.
him 349, his grief for her 350, his I'rop-.etides, said to have been the first prostitutes
song 353, is
killed by the Thracian matrons 357, turned into stone 358.
381, fable ex-
plained 379. Proserpine raviihed by Pluto 187, 190, fable ex-
plained 187.
Proteus, a sea-god, assumed what shape he pleased
49, 306.
Pygmalion falls in love with a statue of his own
PANDTON, marries Procnc, his daughter 222,
carving 359, the stalue transformed into a wo-
threatened with ill omens ib.
man 300, fable explained 300.
INDEX. 559
Sleep, cave of, described 404. Urania, one of the muses, how represented 183.
Smilax, why transformed into a flower 144.
Snake transformed into a stone 381.
Spinning, by whom invented 202.
w
Storm described 399.
at sea
course
WASPS, how produced according to Pythagoras
Sun, palace of, described 48, chariot of, its
531.
delineated 51. Wolf transformed into a rock 396.
Styx, a river in hell 13. World, its various changes 527.
Sylla captivated by Minos 277, her treason against
her father 279, her offers to Minos rejected 280,
her rage on that account 281, transformed into
a bird 282.
Syrinx transformed into reeds 45. YEAR, by whom divided into four seasons 12.
TAGES, his extraordinary origin 539, ZEPHYR, the wind why so called 7.
Tantalus, his pvnishment in hell 154. Zonej, torrid and frigid, described 6.
FINIS.
LONDON:
I'RINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES^
Nortliuiiibeiiaii<l-co«rl.
AUb i
:: ^
204309013041
(r>l