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THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY
‘FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB, LL.D.
EDITED BY
TT. E. PAGE, 0.11., LI'I'LD.
TE. CAPPS, PH.D., LL.D. TW. H. D. ROUSE, LITT.D.
L. A. POST, L.H.D. E. H. WARMINGTON. M.A., mmmsnsoc.
OVID
METAMORPHOSES
I
42


O V I D
METAMORPHOSES
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
FRANK JUSTUS MILLER, PH.D., LL.D.
PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
IN TWO VOLUMES
I
BOOKS I—VIII


CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD
MOMLXVI
First Published 1916
Second Edition 1921
Reprinted 1925, 1928, 1929, 1936,
1939, 1944, 1946, 1951, 1956, 1960, 1966
Printed in Great Britain
wwws‘wlg’
TO
ARTHUR TAPPAN
WALKER
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
METAMORPHOSES 2
BOOK
BOOK
BOOK
BOOK
BOOK
BOOK
BOOK
BOOK
I
II
III
IV
VI
VII
VIII
PAGE
‘vii
:{iii
INTRODUCTION
PROBABLY no Roman writer has revealed himself
more frankly in his works than has Publius Ovidius
Naso. Indeed, the greater part of our knowledge
of him is gained from his own writings. References
to his parentage, his early education, his friends,
his work, his manner of life, his reverses—all lie
scattered freely through his pages. Especially is
this true of the Amores, and of the two groups of
poems written from his exile. The Metamorphoses
are naturally free from biographical material. Not
content with occasional references, the poet has
taken care to leave to posterity a somewhat extended
and formal account of his life.
From this (T ristz'a, IV. 10) we learn that he was
born at Sulmo in the Pelignian country, 43 B.C., of
well-to—do parents of equestrian rank, and that he
had one brother, exactly one year older than himself.
His own bent, from early childhood, was towards
poetry; but in this he was opposed by his practical
father, who desired that both his sons should prepare
for the profession of the law, a desire with which
both the brothers complied, but the younger with
only half—hearted and temporary devotion.
Having reached the age of manhood, young Ovid
found public life utterly distasteful to him, and now
that he was his own master, he gave loose rein to
his poetic fancy and abandoned himself to the enj oy-
vii
INTRODUCTION
ment of the gay social life of Rome. He soon gained
admission to the choice circle of the poets of his day,
paying unlimited devotion to the masters of his art,
and quickly becoming himself the object of no small
admiration on the part of younger poets. His
youthful poems soon gained fame among the people
also, and his love poems became the popular lyrics
of the town.
Though extremely susceptible to the inﬂuences of
love, he proudly boasts that his private life was
above reproach. He contracted two unhappy mar—
riages in his youth, but his third marriage was a
lasting joy to him.
And now his father and his mother died. The
poet, while deeply mourning their loss with true
ﬁlial devotion, still cannot but rejoice that they died
before that disgrace came upon him which was to
darken his own life and the lives of all whom he
loved. For now, as the early frosts of age were
beginning to whiten his locks, in the year 8 of our
era, a sudden calamity fell upon him, no less than an
imperial decree against him of perpetual banishment
to the far-off shores of the Euxine Sea. The cause
of this decree he only hints at; but he gives us to
understand that it was an error of his judgment and
not of his heart.1
Exiled to savage Tomi, far from home and friends
and the delights of his beloved Rome, he was forced
to live in a rigorous climate, an unlovely land, midst
a society of uncultured semi-savages. His chief
solace was the cultivation of his art, and in this he
spent the tiresome days. He ends his autobiography
1 Au ustus, indeed, gave as his reason the immorality of
Ovid’s ove poems, but this is generally supposed to be only
a cloak for a more personal and private reason.
viii
INTRODUCTION
with a strain of thanksgiving to his muse, and a
prophecy of his World-wide fame‘ and literary im-
mortality.
Though Ovid says that he strove to bear his
misfortunes with a manly fortitude, the poems of
his exile abound in plaintive lamentations at his
hard lot, petitions to his friends in Rome, and
unmanly subserviency to Augustus, and later to
Tiberius, in the hope of gaining his recall. These,
however, were all in vain, and he died at Tomi in
A.D. 18, after a banishment of nearly ten years.
Ovid’s greatest work, the fruit of the best years
of the prime of his life, when his imagination had
ripened and his poetic vigour was at its height, was
the Metamorphoses, ﬁnished in A.D. 7, just before his
banishment.
In the poet’s own judgment, however, the poem
was not ﬁnished, and, in his despair on learning of
his impending exile, his burned his manuscript. He
himself tells us of his motive for this rash act
(Tristz'a, I. 7) : “ On departing from Rome, I burned
this poem as well as many others of my works, either
because I was disgusted with poetry which had
proved my bane, or because this poem was still
rough and unﬁnished.” But fortunately copies of
this great work still survived in the hands of friends ;
and in this letter he begs his friends now to publish
it, and at the same time he begs his readers to
remember that the poem has never received its
author's ﬁnishing touches and so to be lenient in
their judgment of it.
In the Metamorphoses Ovid attempts no less a task
than the linking together into one artistically har-
monious whole all the stories of classical mythology.
And this he does, until the whole range of wonders
ix
INTRODUCTION
(miraculous changes, hence the name, Metamorphoses)
is passed in review, from the dawn of creation, when
chaos was changed by divine ﬁat into the orderly
universe, down to the very age of the poet himself,
when the soul of Julius Caesar was changed to a
star and set in the heavens among the immortals.
Every important myth is at least touched upon, and
though the stories differ widely in place and time,
there is no break in the sequence of narration. The
poet has seized upon every possible thread of con—
nexion as he passes on from cycle to cycle of story;
and where this connexion is lacking, by various
ingenious and artistic devices a connecting-link is
found.
The poem thus forms a manual of classical myth—
ology, and is the most important source of mythical
lore for all writers since Ovid’s time. This is the
real, tangible service which he has done the literary
world. Many of these stories could now be obtained
from the sources whence Ovid himself drew them—
from Homer, Hesiod, the Greek tragedians, the
Alexandrine poets, and many others. And yet many
stories, but for him, would have been lost to us;
and all of them he has so viviﬁed by his strong poetic
imagination that they have come down to us with
added freshness and life.
The classic myths have always had a strong fasci—
nation for later writers, and so numerous are both
passing and extended references to these in English
literature, and especially in the poets, that he who
reads without a classical background reads with
many lapses of his understanding and appreciation.
While the English poets have, of course, drawn from
all classic sources, they are indebted for their myth-
ology largely to Ovid. The poet would have been
X
INTRODUCTION
accessible after 1567 even to writers not versed in
Latin, for in that year Golding’s translation of Ovid
appeared.
An admirable study of the inﬂuence of classic
myth on the writings of Shakespeare has been made,1
in which the author ﬁnds that Shakespeare was
thoroughly familiar with the myths, and makes very
free use of them. We read: “ Though the number
of deﬁnite allusions in Shakespeare is smaller than
that of the vague ones, they are yet sufficiently
numerous to admit of satisfactory conclusions. Of
these allusions, for which a deﬁnite source can be
assigned, it will be found that an overwhelming
majority are directly due to Ovid, while the re—
mainder, with few exceptions, are from Vergil. . . .
Throughout, the inﬂuence of Ovid is at least four
times as great as that of Vergil ; the whole character
of Shakespeare’s mythology is essentially Ovidian.”
What is true of Shakespeare is still more true of
numerous other English poets in respect to their use
of classical mythology. They do not always, indeed,
use the myths in Ovid’s manner, which is that of one
whose sole attention is on the story, which he tells
with eager interest, simply for the sake of telling;
and yet such earlier classicists as Spenser and Milton 2
have so thoroughly imbibed the spirit of the classics
that they deal with the classic stories quite as sub-
jectively as Ovid himself. But among later English
poets we ﬁnd a tendency to objectify the myths, to
rationalize them, to philosophize upon them, draw
1 Classical Mythology in Shakespeare. By Robert Kilburn
Root. New York: Henry Holt and (30., 1903.
2 See The Classical Mythology 0f Millon’s English Poems.
(13y Charles Grosvenor Osgood. New York: Henry Holt and
o., 1900.
xi
INTRODUCTION
lessons from them, and even to burlesque them.
Perhaps the most interesting development of all is
found in our own time, a decided tendency to revamp
the classical stories, though not always in the classical
spirit-—a kind of Pre—Raphaelite movement in poetry.
Prominently in this class of poets should be named
Walter Savage Landor, Edmund Gosse, Lewis and
William Morris, and Frederick Tennyson; while
many others have caught the same spirit and written
in the same form.
The Latin text of this edition is based on that of
Ehwald, published by Messrs. Weidmann, of Berlin,
who have generously given permission to use it.
All deviations of any importance from Ehwald’s text
have been noted, and Ehwald’s readings given with
their sources.
CHICAGO, March 1915.
xii
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. EDITIO PRINCEPS
Bologna. Edited by Franciscus Puteolanus. Printed
by Azzoguidi, 1471.
There was also an edition printed at Rome in
the same year.
II. EARLY FAMOUS EDITIONS
The Aldus edition. Venice, 1502.
The commentary edition of Burmann, containing,
besides Burmann’s exhaustive notes, those of
Micylius, Ciofanus, and Heinsius. Amsterdam,
1727.
III. LATEST CRITICAL EDITIONS OF THE TEXT
OF THE METAMORPHOSES
Hugo Magnus. Gotha, 18922.
A. Zingerle. Prag, 1884..
M. Haupt, O. Korn, H. J. Miiller, and R. Ehwald.
Berlin, IS 1903, H3 1898. The present edition
follows this text, except as noted.
R. Merkel. Leipzig, 1888.
Rudolfus Ehwald. Metamorphoses ex iterata R.
Merkelii recognitione. Editio maior. Commen-
tarius criticus ex Hugonis Magni apparatu maxi—
mam partem transumptus est. Leipzig, 1915.
xiii
BIBLIOGRAPHY
IV. CRITICAL TREATISES ON DIFFERENT PHASES
OF THE METAMORPHOSES
Schonfeld, Ovids Metamorphosen in z'hrem V erhc'tltnz's
2w‘ antihen Kunst. Leipzig, 1877.
Sobieski, V ergz'l and 01nd nach z'hren Glez'chnissen in der
Aeneid und den Metamorphosen. Lemberg, 1861.
Ebert, Der Anachronismus in Ovids Metamorphosen.
Ansbach, 1888.
Liidke, Ueber Laut-malerei in Ovids Metamorphosen.
Stralsund, 1871.
William Bréton, Metamorphosen lz'bros Ooz'dz'us quo
consilio susceperz't, qua arte pevfecerit. Paris,
1882.
George Lafaye, Les Métamorphoses d’Ovz'de et leurs
'modéles grecs. Paris, 1904.
E. K. Rand, Ovid and the Spirit of llletamorphosz's.
Harvard Essays on Classical Subjects (pp. 209—
238), 1912.
Rudolph Schevill, Ovid and the Renascence in Spain.
University of California Press, 1913.
V. APPRECIATIONS
Frédéric Plessis, La Poe'sie latz'ne (pp. ‘HO—470).
Paris, 1909.
Otto Ribbeck, Geschichte der Rb'mz'sche Dichtung
(Vol. II, pp. 225—340). Stuttgart, 1900.
‘W. Y. Sellar, The Roman Poets of the Augustan Age:
Horace and the Elegz'ac Poets (pp. 324-362).
Oxford, 1892.
xiv
BIBLIOGRAPHY
VI. INDICES
Burmann, in the second half of the fourth volume of
his commentary.
Siebelis-Polle. Leipzig, 1893.
VII. TRANSLATIONS
Golding (“ Shakespeare’s Ovid”). London, 1567.
Reprinted by the De La 'More Press, London,
1904.
Sandys, Ovid's Metamorphosis, Englished, Mythologized,
and Represented in Figures. Oxford, 1632.
Dryden, Pope, Congreve, Addison, and others.
London, 1717.
Riley. London, 1851.
King, Metamorphoses Translated. Edinburgh, 1871.
XV
METAMORPHOSES
METAMORPHOSEON
LIBER I
Q-
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1
IN nova fert animus mutatas dicerearformas
corpora; di, coeptis (nam vos mutaistis et illas)
adspirate meis primaque ab origine'mundi
ad mea perpetuum deducite tempora carmen!
Ante mare et terras et quod tegit omnia caelum 5
unus erat toto naturae vultus in orbe,
quem dixere chaos: rudis indigestaque moles
nec quicquam nisi pondus iners congestaque eodem
non_bene iunctarum discordia semina Vreruml'.
n-IIlluS\'_-dh1-10;In‘UI1dO-, riaebgzbatlh‘iminal'ITtaln, 10
rise 56g; cﬁe'slcend‘o repsarabatli 631-11113 Ehaabe’lz
nec circ‘umfuso pendebat in aere tellus
ponderibus librata suis, nee bracchia longo
margine terrarum porrexerat Amphitrite;
utque erat et tellus illic et pontus et aer, , 15
sic erat instabilis tellus, innabilis unda,
lucis egens aer; nulli sua forma manebat,
obstabatque aliis aliud, quia corpore in uno
frigida pugnabant calidis, umentia siccis,
mollia cum duris, sine pondere, habentia pondus. 20
Hanc deus et melior litem natura diremit.
nam caelo terras et terris abscidit undas
2
METAMORPHOSES
BOOK I
MY mind is bent to tell of bodies changed into new
forms. Ye gods, for you yourselves have wrought
the changes, breathe on these my undertakings, and
bring down my song in unbroken strains from the
world’s very beginning even unto the present time.
Before the sea was, and the lands, and the sky.
that hangs over all, the face of Nature showed alike
in her whole round, which state have men called
chaos : a rough, unordered mass of things, nothing at
all save lifeless bulk and warring seeds of ill-matched
elements heaped in one. No sun as yet shone forth
upon the world, nor did the waxing moon renew her
slender horns ; not yet did the earth hang poised by
her own weight in the circumambient air, nor had
the ocean stretched her arms along the far reaches
of the lands. And, though there was both land and
sea and air, no one could tread that land, or swim ,
that sea; and the air was dark. No form of things
remained the same; all objects were at odds, for
within one body cold things strove with hot, and
moist with dry, soft things with hard, things having
weight with weightless things.
God—or kindlier Nature—composed this strife;
for he rent asunder land from sky, and sea from land,
3
OVID
et liquidum spisso secrevit ab aere caelum.
quae postquam evolvit caecoque exemit acervo,
dissociata locis concordi pace ligavit:
ignea convexi vis et sine pondere caeli
emicuit summaque locum sibi fecit in arce;
proximus est aer illi levitate locoque;
densior his tellus elementaque grandia traxit
et pressa est gravitate sua; circumﬂuus umor
ultima possedit solidumque coercuit orbem.
Sic ubi dispositam quisquis fuit ille deorum
congeriem secuit sectamque in membra coegit,
principio terram, ne non aequalis ab omni
parte foret, magni speciem glomeravit in orbis.
tum freta diffundi rapidisque tumescere ventis
iussit et ambitae circumdare litora terrae;
addidit et fontes et stagna inmensa lacusque
ﬂuminaque obliquis cinxit declivia ripis,
quae, diversa locis, partim sorbentur ab ipsa,
in mare perveniunt partim campoque recepta
liberioris aquae pro ripis litora pulsant.
iussit et extendi campos, subsidere valles,
fronde tegi silvas, lapidosos surgere montes,
utque duae dextra caelum totidemque sinistra
parte secant zonae, quinta est ardentior illis,
sic onus inclusum numero distinxit eodem
cura dei, totidemque plagae tellure premuntur.
25
3O
4O
45
quarum quae media est, non est habitabilis aestu; ‘
4
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
and separated the ethereal heavens from the dense
atmosphere. When thus he had released these ele-
ments and freed them from the blind heap of things,
he set them each in its own place and bound them
fast in harmony. The ﬁery weightless element that
forms heaven's vault leaped up and made place for
itself upon the topmost height. Next came the air
in lightness and in place. The earth was heavier
than these, and, drawing with it the grosser ele—
ments, sank to the bottom by its own weight. The
streaming water took the last place of all, and held
the solid land conﬁned in its embrace.
When he, whoever of the gods it was, had thus
arranged in order and resolved that chaotic mass,
and reduced it, thus resolved, to cosmic parts, he
ﬁrst moulded the earth into the form of a mighty
ball so that it might be of like form on every side.
Then he bade the waters to spread abroad, to rise in
waves beneath the rushing winds, and fling them-
selves around the shores of the encircled earth.
Springs, too, and huge, stagnant pools and lakes he
made, and hemmed down-ﬂowing rivers within their
shelving banks, whose waters, each far remote from
each, are partly swallowed by the earth itself, and
partly ﬂow down to the sea ; and being thus received
into the expanse of a freer ﬂood, beat now on shores
instead of banks. Then did he bid plains to stretch
out, valleys to sink down, woods to be clothed in
leafage, and the rock-ribbed mountains to arise. And
as the celestial vault is cut by two zones on the right
and two on the left, and there is a ﬁfth zone between,
hotter than these, so did the providence of God mark
off the enclosed mass with the same number of zones,
and the same tracts were stamped upon the earth.
The central zone of these may not be dwelt in by
5
OVID
(‘t
nix tegit alta duas; totidem inter utramque locavit 50
temperiemque dedit mixta cum frigore ﬂamma.
Inminet his aer, qui quanto est pondere terrae,
pondere aquae levior, tanto est onerosior igni.
illic et nebulas, illic consistere nubes
iussit et humanas motura tonitrua mentes 55
et cum fulminibus facientes frigora ventos.
His quoque non passim mundi fabricator habendum
aera permisit; vix nunc obsistitur illis,
cum sua quisque regat diverso ﬂamina tractu,
quin lanient mundum; tanta est discordia fratrum.
Eurus ad Auroram Nabataeaque regna recessit 61
Persidaque et radiis iuga subdita matutinis ;
vesper et occiduo quae litora sole tepescunt,
proxima sunt Zephyro; Scythiam septemque triones
horrifer invasit Boreas; contraria tellus 65
nubibus adsiduis pluviaque madescit ab Austro.
haec super inposuit liquidum et gravitate carentem
aethera nec quicquam terrenae faecis habentem.
Vix ita limitibus dissaepserat omnia certis,
cum, quae pressa diu fuerant caligine caeca, 70
sidera coeperunt toto effervescere caelo;
neu regio foret ulla suis animalibus orba,
astra tenent caeleste solum formaeque deorum,
cesserunt nitidis habitandae piscibus undae,
terra feras cepit, volucres agitabilis aer. 75
Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altae
deerat adhuc et quod dominari in cetera posset:
6
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
reason of the heat; deep snow covers two, two he
placed between and gave them temperate climate,
mingling heat with cold.
The air hung over all, which is as much heavier
than ﬁre as the weight of water is lighter than the
weight of earth. There did the creator bid the
mists and clouds to take their place, and thunder,
that should shake the hearts of men, and winds which
with the thunderbolts make chilling cold. To these
also the world’s creator did not allot the air that they
might hold it everywhere. Even as it is, they can
scarce be prevented, though they control their blasts,
each in his separate tract, from tearing the world to
pieces. So ﬁercely do these brothers strive together.
But Eurus drew off to the land of the dawn and the
realms of Araby, and where the Persian hills ﬂush
beneath the morning light. The western shores
which glow with the setting sun are the place of
Zephyrus : while bristling Boreas betook himself
to Scythia and the farthest north. The land far
opposite is wet with constant fog and rain, the home
of Auster, the South-wind. Above these all he
placed the liquid, weightless ether, which has naught
of earthy dregs.
Scarce had he thus parted off all things within
their determined bounds, when the stars, which had
long been lying hid crushed down beneath the dark-
ness, began to gleam throughout the sky. And, that
no region might be without its own forms of animate
life, the stars and divine forms occupied the ﬂoor of
heaven,the sea fell to the shining ﬁshes for their home,
earth received the beasts, and the mobile air the birds.
A living creature of ﬁner stuff than these, more
capable of lofty thought, one who could have dominion
over all the rest,was lacking yet. Then man was born:
7
OVID
natus homo est, sive hunc divino semine fecit
ille opifex rerum, mundi melioris origo,
sive recens tellus seductaque nuper ab alto 80
aether cognati retinebat semina caeli.
quam satus Iapeto, mixtam pluvialibus undis,
ﬁnxit in eﬂigiem moderantum cuncta deorum,
pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terram,
os homini sublime dedit caelumque videre 85
iussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus:
sic, modo quae fuerat rudis et sine imagine, tellus
induit ignotas hominum conversa ﬁguras.
Aurea prima sata est aetas, quae vindice nullo,
sponte sua, sine lege ﬁdem rectumque colebat. 90
poena metusque aberant, nec verba minantia ﬁxo
aere legebantur, nec supplex turba timebat
iudicis ora sui, sed erant sine iudice tuti.
nondum caesa suis, peregrinum ut viseret orbem,
montibus in liquidas pinus descenderat undas, 95
nullaque mortales praeter sua litora norant;
nondum praecipites cingebant oppida fossae;
non tuba directi, non aeris cornua ﬂexi,
non galeae, non ensis erant: sine militis usu
mollia securae peragebant otia gentes. 100
ipsa quoque inmunis rastroque intacta nec ullis
saucia vomeribus per se dabat omnia tellus,
contentique cibis nullo cogente creatis
arbuteos fetus montanaque fraga legebant
cornaque et in duris haerentia mora rubetis 105
et quae deciderant patula Iovis arbore glandes.
8
META MORPHOSES BOOK I
whether the god who made all else, designing a more
perfect world, made man of his own divine substance,
or whether the new earth, but lately drawn away
from heavenly ether, retained still some elements
of its kindred sky—that earth which the son of
Iapetus mixed with fresh, running water, and
moulded into the form of the all-controlling gods.
And, though all other animals are prone, and ﬁx
their gaze upon the earth, he gave to man an up-
lifted face and bade him stand erect and turn his
eyes to heaven. So, then, the earth, which had
but lately been a rough and formless thing, was
changed and clothed itself with forms of men before
unknown. \
Golden was that ﬁrst age, which, with no one to
compel, without a law, of its own will, kept faith
and did the right. There was no fear of punishment,
no threatening words were to be read on brazen
tablets; no suppliant throng gazed fearfully upon
its judge’s face; but without judges lived secure.
Not yet had the pine-tree, felled on its native moun-
tains, descended thence into the watery plain to visit
other lands ; men knew no shores except their own.
Not yet were cities begirt with steep moats ; there were
no trumpets of straight, no horns of curving brass, no
swords or helmets. There was no need at all of armed
men, for nations, secure from war’s alarms, passed the
years in gentle ease. The earth herself, without com-
pulsion, untouched by hoe or plowshare, of herself
gave all things needful. And men, content with
food which came with no one’s seeking, gathered the
arbute fruit, strawberries from the mountain-sides,
cornel-cherries, berries hano‘ing thick upon the
prickly bramble, and acorns fallen from the spread—
ing tree of Jove. Then spring was everlasting, and
9
OVID
ver erat aeternum, placidique tepentibus auris
mulcebant zephyri natos sine semine ﬂores;
mox etiam fruges tellus inarata ferebat,
nec renovatus ager gravidis canebat aristis; 110
ﬂumina iam lactis, iam ﬂumina nectaris ibant,
ﬂavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella.
Postquam Saturno tenebrosa in Tartara misso
sub Iove mundus erat, subiit argentea proles,
auro deterior, fulvo pretiosior aere. 115
Iuppiter antiqui contraxit tempora veris
perque hiemes aestusque et inaequalis autumnos
et breve ver spatiis exegit quattuor annum.
tum primum siccis aer fervoribus ustus
canduit, et ventis glacies adstricta pependit; 120
tum primum subiere domos; domus antra fuerunt
et densi frutices et vinctae cortice virgac.
semina tum primum longis Cerealia sulcis
obruta sunt, pressique iugo gemuere iuvenci.
Tertia post illam successit aenea proles, 125
saevior ingeniis et ad horrida promptior arma,
non scelerata tamen; de duro est ultima ferro.
protinus inrupit venae peioris in aevum
omne nefas fugitque pudor verumque ﬁdesque;
in quorum subiere locum fraudesque dolusque 130
insidiaeque et vis et amor sceleratus habendi.
vela dabant ventis nec adhuc bene noverat illos
navita, quaeque prius steterant in montibus altis,
ﬂuctibus ignotis exsultavere carinae,
communemque prius ceu lumina solis et auras 135
IO
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
gentle zephyrs with warm breath played with the
flowers that sprang unplanted. Anon the earth,
untilled, brought forth her stores of grain, and the
ﬁelds, though unfallowed, grew white with the heavy,
bearded wheat. Streams of milk and streams of
sweet nectar ﬂowed, and yellow honey was distilled
from the verdant oak.
After Saturn had been banished to the dark land
of death, and the world was under the sway of Jove,
the silver race came in, lower in the scale than gold.
but of greater worth than yellow brass. Jove now
shortened the bounds of the old—time spring, and
through winter, summer, variable autumn, and brief
spring completed the year in four seasons. Then ﬁrst
the parched air glared white with burning heat, and
icicles hung down congealed by freezing winds. In
that age men ﬁrst sought the shelter of houses.
Their homes had heretofore been caves, dense
thickets, and branches bound together with bark.
Then ﬁrst the seeds of grain were planted in long
furrows, and bullocks groaned beneath the heavy
yoke.
Next after this and third in order came the brazen
race, of sterner disposition, and more ready to ﬂy to
arms savage, but not yet impious. The age of hard
iron came last. Straightway all evil burst forth into
this age of baser vein: modesty and truth and faith
ﬂed the earth, and in their place came tricks and
plots and snares, violence and cursed love of gain.
Men now spread sails to the winds, though the sailor
as yet scarce knew them; and keels of pine which
long had stood upon high mountain-sides, now leaped
insolently over unknown waves. And the ground,
which had hitherto been a common possession like
the sunlight and the air, the careful surveyor now
II
OVID
cautus humum longo signavit limite mensor.
nec tantum segetes alimentaque debita dives
poscebatur humus, sed itum est in viscera terrae,
quasque recondiderat Stygiisque admoverat umbris,
effodiuntur opes, inritamenta malorum. 140
iamque nocens ferrum ferroque nocentius aurum
prodierat, prodit bellum, quod pugnat utroque,
sanguineaque manu crepitantia concuiit arma.
vivitur ex rapto: non hospes ab hospite tutus,
non socer a genero, fratrum quoque gratia rara est;
inminet exitio vir coniugis, illa mariti, I46
lurida terribiles miscent aconita novercae,
ﬁlius ante diem patrios inquirit in a'nnos :
victa iacet pietas, et virgo caede madentis
ultima caelestum terras Astraea reliquit. 150
Neve foret terris securior arduus ae ther,
adfectasse ferunt regnum caeleste gigantas
altaque congestos struxisse ad sidera montis.
tum pater omnipotens misso perfregit Olympum
fulmine et excussit subiectae Pelion Ossae. 155
obruta mole sua cum corpora dira iacerent,
perfusam multo natorum sanguine Terram
immaduisse ferunt calidumque animasse cruorem
et, ne nulla suae stirpis monimenta manerent,
in faciem vertisse hominum; sed et illa propago 160
contemptrix superum saevaeque avidissima caedis
et violenta fuit: scires e sanguine natos.
Quae pater ut summa vidit Saturnius arce,
ingemit et facto nondum vulgata recenti
12
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
marked out with long-drawn boundary-line. Not
only did men demand of the bounteous ﬁelds the
crops and sustenance they owed, but they delved as
well into the very bowels of the earth; and the
wealth which the creator had hidden away and buried
deep amidst the very Stygian shades, was brought to
light, wealth that pricks men on to crime. And now
baneful iron had come, and gold more baneful than
iron; war came, which ﬁghts with both, and bran-
dished in its bloody hands the clashing arms. Men
lived on plunder. Guest was not safe from host, nor
father-in-law from son-in—law; even among brothers
’twas rare to ﬁnd affection. The husband longed
for the death of his wife, she of her husband;
murderous stepmothers brewed deadly poisons, and
sons inquired into their fathers’ years before the
time. Piety lay vanquished, and the maiden Astraea,
last of the immortals, abandoned the blood-soaked
earth.
And, that high heaven might be no safer than the
earth, they say that the Giants essayed the very
throne of heaven, piling huge mountains, one on
another, clear up to the stars. Then the Almighty
Father hurled his thunderbolts, shattered Olympus,
and dashed Pelion down from underlying Ossa. When
those dread bodies lay o’erwhelmed by their own
bulk, they say that Mother Earth, drenched with
their streaming blood, informed that warm gore anew
with life, and, that some trace of her former offspring
might remain, she gave it human form. But this
new stock, too, proved contemptuous of the gods,
very greedy for slaughter, and passionate. You
might know that they were sons of blood.
When Saturn’s son from his high throne saw this
he groaned, and, recalling the infamous revels of
I3
OVI D
foeda Lycaoniae referens convivia mensae
ingentes animo et dignas Iove concipit iras
conciliumque vocat: tenuit mora nulla vocatos.
Est via sublimis, caelo manifesta sereno ;
lactea nomen habet, candore notabilis ipso.
hac iter est superis ad magni tecta Tonantis
regalemque domum: dextra laevaque deorum
atria nobilium valvis celebrantur apertis.
plebs habitat diversa locis : hac parte potentes
caelicolae clarique suos posuere penates;
hic locus est, quem, si verbis audacia detur,
haud timeam magni dixisse Palatia caeli.
Ergo ubi marmoreo superi sedere recessu,
celsior ipse loco sceptroque innixus eburno
terriﬁcam capitis concussit terque quaterque
caesariem, cum qua terram, mare, sidera movit.
talibus inde modis ora indignantia solvit:
“ non ego pro mundi regno magis anxius illa
tempestate fui, qua centum quisque parabat
inicere anguipedum captivo bracchia caelo.
170
175
180
nam quamquam ferus hostis erat, tamen illud ab uno
corpore et ex una pendebat origine bellum;
nunc mihi qua totum Nereus circumsonat orbem,
perdendum est mortale genus : per {lumina iuro
infera sub-terras Stygio labentia luco!
cuncta prius temptata, sed inmedicabile corpus
,ense recidendum, ne pars sincera trahatur.
186
190
sunt mihi semidei, sunt, rustica numina, nymphae
faunique satyrique et monticolae silvani;
quos quoniam caeli nondum dignamur honore,
14
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
Lycaon’s table—a story still unknown because the
deed was new—he conceived a mighty wrath worthy
of the soul of Jove, and summoned a council of the
gods. Naught delayed their answer to the summons.
There is a high way, easily seen when the sky is
clear. ’Tis called the Milky Way, famed for its
shining whiteness. By this way the gods fare to the
halls and royal dwelling of the mighty Thunderer.
On either side the palaces of the gods of higher rank
are thronged with guests through folding—doors ﬂung
wide. The lesser gods dwell apart from these.
Fronting on this way, the illustrious and strong
heavenly gods have placed their homes. This is the
place which, if I may make bold to say it, I would
not fear to call the Palatia of high heaven.
So, when the gods had taken their seats within
the marble council chamber, the king himself, seated
high above the rest and leaning on his ivory sceptre,
shook thrice and again his awful locks, wherewith he
moved the land and sea and sky. Then he opened
his indignant lips, and thus spoke he: “ I was not
more troubled than now for the sovereignty of the
world when each one of the serpent-footed giants was
in act to lay his hundred hands upon the captive
sky. For, although that was a savage enemy, their
whole attack sprung from one body and one source.
But now, wherever old Ocean roars around the earth,
I must destroy the race of men. By the infernal
streams that glide beneath the earth through Stygian
groves, I swear that I have already tried all other
means. But that which is incurable must be cut away
with the knife, lest the untainted part also draw in-
fection. I have demigods, rustic divinities, nymphs,
fauns and satyrs, and sylvan deities upon the moun—
tain—slopes. Since we do not yet esteem them
I5
OV ID
quas dedimus, certe terras habitare sinamus. 195
an satis, o superi, tutos fore creditis illos,
cum mihi, qui fulmen, qui vos habeoque regoque,
struxerit insidias notus feritate Lycaon? ”
Contremuere omnes studiisque ardentibus ausum
talia deposcunt: sic, cum manus inpia szieyg 200
sanguine Caesareo Romanum exstinguereﬁ‘iomen,
attonitum tanto subitae terrore ruinae
humanum genus est totusque perhorruit orbis;
nec tibi grata minus pietas, Auguste, tuorum
quam fuit illa Iovi. qui postquam voce manuque 205
murmura conpressit, tenuere silentia cuncti.
substitit ut clamor pressus gravitate regentis,
Iuppiter hoc iterum sermone silentia rupit:
“ ille quidem poenas (curam hanc dimittite!) solvit;
quod tamen admissum, quae sit vindicta, docebo. 210
contigerat nostras infamia temporis aures ;
quam cupiens falsam summo delabor Olympo
et deus humana lustro sub imagine terras.
longa mora est, quantum noxae sit ubique repertum,
enumerare: minor fuit ipsa infamia vero. 215
Maenala transieram latebris horrenda ferarum
et cum Cyllene gelidi pineta Lycaei:
Arcadis hinc sedes et inhospita tecta tyranni
ingredior, traherent cum sera crepuscula noctem.
signa dedi venisse deum, vulgusque precari 220
coeperat: inridet primo pia vota Lycaon,
mox ait ‘ experiar deus hic discrimine aperto
an sit mortalis: nec erit dubitabile verum.’
16
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
worthy the honour of a place in heaven, let us at least
allow them to dwell in safety in the lands allotted
them. Or do you think that they will be safe, when
against me, who wield the thunderbolt, who have and
rule you as my subjects, Lycaon, well known for
savagery, has laid his snares P ”
All trembled, and with eager zeal demanded him
who had been guilty of such bold infamy. So, when
an impious band was mad to blot out the name of
Rome with Caesar’s blood, the human race was
dazed with a mighty fear of sudden ruin, and the
whole world shuddered in horror. Nor is the loyalty
of thy subjects, Augustus, less pleasing to thee than
that was to Jove. After he, by word and gesture,
had checked their outcry, all held their peace.
When now the clamour had subsided, checked by
his royal authority, Jove once more broke the silence
with these words: “ He has indeed been punished;
have no care for that. But what he did and what his
punishment I will relate. An infamous report of the
age had reached my ears. Eager to prove this false,
I descended from high Olympus, and as a god dis-
guised in human form travelled up and down the
land. It would take too long to recount how great
impiety was found on every hand. The infamous
report was far less than the truth. I had crossed
Maenala, bristling with the lairs of beasts, Cyllene,
and the pine-groves of chill Lycaeus. Thence I
approached the seat and inhospitable abode of the
Arcadian king, just as the late evening shades were
ushering in the night. I gave a sign that a god had
come, and the common folk began to worship me.
Lycaon at ﬁrst mocked at their pious prayers; and
then he said: ‘ I will soon ﬁnd out, and that by a
plain test, whether this fellow be god or mortal. Nor
voL. 1. B
I7
OVID
nocte gravem somno necopina perdere morte
me parat: haec illi placet experientia veri; 225
nec contentus eo, missi de gente Molossa
obsidis unius iugulum mucrone resolvit
atque ita semineces partim ferventibus artus
mollit aquis, partim subiecto torruit igni.
quod simul inposuit mensis, ego vindice ﬁamma 230
in dominum dignosque everti tecta penates;
territus ipse fugit nactusque silentia ruris
exulutat frustraque loqui conatur: ab ipso
colligit os rabiem solitaeque cupidine caedis
utitur in pecudes et nunc quoque sanguine gaudet.
in villos abeunt vestes, in crura lacerti: 236
ﬁt lupus et veteris servat vestigia formae;
canities eadem est, eadem violentia vultus,
idem oculi lucent, eadem feritatis imago est.
occidit una domus, sed non domus una perire 240
digna fuit: qua terra patet, fera regnat Erinys.
in facinus iurasse putes! dent ocius omnes,
quas meruere pati, (sic stat sententia) poenas.”
Dicta Iovis pars voce probant stimulosque frementi
adiciunt, alii partes adsensibus inplent. 245
est tamen humani generis iactura dolori
omnibus, et quae sit terrae mortalibus orbae
forma futura rogant, quis sit laturus in aras
tura, ferisne paret populandas tradere terras.
talia quaerentes (sibi enim fore cetera curae) 250
18
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
shall the truth be at all in doubt.’ He planned that
night While I was heavy with sleep to kill me by an
unexpected murderous attack. Such was the experi-
ment he adopted to test the truth. And not content
with that, he took a hostage who had been sent by the
Molossian race, cut his throat, and some parts of him
still warm with life, he boiled, and others he roasted
over the ﬁre. But no sooner had he placed these be—
fore me on the table than I, with my avenging bolt,
o’erthrew the house upon its master and on his guilty
household. The king himself ﬂies in terror and, gain—
ing the silent ﬁelds, howls aloud, attempting in vain to
speak. His mouth of itself gathers foam, and with his
accustomed greed for blood he turns against the sheep,
delighting still in slaughter. His garments change to
shaggy hair, his arms to legs. He turns into a wolf,
and yet retains some traces of his former shape.
There is the same grey hair, the same ﬁerce face, the
same gleaming eyes, the same picture of beastly
savagery. One house has fallen; but not one house
alone has deserved to perish. Wherever the plains
of earth extend, wild fury reigns supreme. You
would deem it a conspiracy of crime. Let them all
pay, and quickly too, the penalties which they have
deserved. So stands my purpose.”
When he had done, some proclaimed their approval
of his words, and added fuel to his wrath, while
others played their parts by giving silent consent.
And yet they all grieved over the threatened loss of
the human race, and asked what would be the state
of the world bereft of mortals. Who would bring
incense to their altars? Was he planning to give
over the world to the wild beasts to despoil? As
they thus questioned, their king bade them be
of good cheer (for the rest should be his care), for
I9
OVID
rex superum trepidare vetat subolemque priori
dissimilem populo promittit origine mira.
Iamqule erat in totas sparsurus fulmina terras;
sed timuit, ne forte sacer tot ab ignibus aether
conciperet ﬂammas longusque ardesceret axis: 255
esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur, adfore tempus,
quo mare, quo tellus correptaque regia caeli
ardeat et mundi moles obsessa laboret.
tela reponuntur manibus fabricata cyclopum;
poena placet diversa, genus mortale sub undis 260
perdere et ex omni nimbos demittere caelo.
Protinus Aeoliis Aquilonem claudit in antris
et quaecumque fugant inductas ﬂamina nubes
emittitque Notum. madidis Notus evolat alis,
terribilem picea tectus caligine vultum; 265
barba gravis nimbis, canis ﬂuit unda capillis;
fronte sedent nebulae, rorant pennaeque sinusque.
utque manu lata pendentia nubila pressit,
ﬁt fragor: hinc den-si funduntur ab aethere nimbi;
nuntia Iunonis varios induta colores 270
concipit Iris aquas alimentaque nubibus adfert.
sternuntur segetes et deplorata coloni
vota iacent, longique perit labor inritus anni.
N ec caelo contenta suo est Iovis ira, sed illum
oaeruleus frater iuvat auxiliaribus undis. 275
convocat hie amnes: qui postquam tecta tyranni
0 ' i‘ '
Intravere sui, non est hortamlne longo
20
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
he would give them another race of wondrous origin
far different from the ﬁrst.
And now he was in act to hurl his thunderbolts
’gainst the whole world; but he stayed his hand in
fear lest perchance the sacred heavens should take
ﬁre from so huge a conflagration, and burn from pole
to pole. He remembered also that ’twas in the fates
that a time would come when sea and land, the
unkindled palace of the sky and the beleaguered
structure of the universe should be destroyed by ﬁre.
And so he laid aside the bolts which Cyclopean hands
had forged. He preferred a different punishment,
to destroy the human race beneath the waves and to
send down rain from every quarter of the sky.
Straightway he shuts the North-wind up in the
cave of Aeolus, and all blasts soever that put the
clouds to flight; but he lets the South-wind loose.
Forth ﬂies the South-wind with dripping wings, his
awful face shrouded in pitchy darkness. His beard
is heavy with rain; water ﬂows in streams down his
hoary locks; dark clouds rest upon his brow; while
his wings and garments drip with dew. And, when
he presses the low-hanging clouds with his broad
hands, a crashing sound goes forth; and next the
dense clouds pour forth their rain. Iris, the mes-
senger of Juno, clad in robes of many hues, draws
up water and feeds it to the clouds. The standing
grain is overthrown; the crops which have been the
object of the farmers’ prayers lie ruined; and the
hard labour of the tedious year has come to naught.
The wrath of Jove is not content with the waters
from his own sky; his sea—god brother aids him with
auxiliary waves. He summons his rivers to council.
When these have assembled at the palace of their
king, he says: “ Now is no time to employ a long
21
OVID
(C
utendum; vires eﬁ'undite vestras:
sic opus est! aperite domos ac mole remota
ﬂuminibus vestris totas inmittite habenas! ” 280
iusserat; hi redeunt ac fontibus ora relaxant
et defrenato volvuntur in aequora cursu.
Ipse tridente suo terram percussit, at illa
intremuit motuque vias patefecit aquarum.
exspatiata ruunt per apertos ﬂumina campos 285
cumque satis arbusta simul pecudesque virosque
tectaque cumque suis rapiunt penetralia sacris.
si qua domus mansit potuitque resistere tanto
indeiecta malo, culmen tamen altior huius
undategit, pressaeque latent sub gurgite turres. 290
iamque mare et tellus nullum discrimen habebant:
omnia pontus erant, deerant quoque litora ponto.
Occupat hic collem, cumba sedet alter adunca
et ducit remos illic, ubi nuper arabat:
ille supra segetes aut mersae culmina villae 295
navigat, hic summa piscem deprendit in ulmo.
ﬁgitur in viridi, si fors tulit, ancora prato,
aut subiecta terunt curvae vineta carinae ;
2 7 I
nunc alt
et, modo qua graciles gramen carpsere capellae,
nunc ibi deformes ponunt sua corpora phocae. 300
mirantur sub aqua lucos urbesque domosque
Nereides, silvasque tenent delphines et altis
incursant ramis agitataque robora pulsant.
nat lupus inter oves, fulvos vehit unda leones,
unda vehit tigres; nec vires fulminis apro, 305
crura nec ablato prosunt velocia cervo,
22
MET AMORPHOSES BOOK I
harangue. Put forth- all your strength, for there is
need. Open wide your doors, away with all restrain-
ing dykes, and give full rein to all your river steeds.”
So he commands, and the rivers return, uncurb their
fountains’ mouths, and in unbridled course go racing
to the sea.
Neptune himself smites the earth with his trident.
She trembles, and at the stroke ﬂings open wide a way
for the waters. The rivers overleap all bounds and
ﬂood the open plains. And not alone orchards, crops
and herds, men and dwellings, but shrines as well and
their sacred contents do they sweep away. If any
house has stood ﬁrm, and has been able to resist that
huge misfortune undestroyed, still do the overtop—
ping waves cover its roof, and its towers lie hid
beneath the ﬂood. And now the sea and land have
no distinction. All is sea, but a sea without a shore.
Here one man seeks a hill-top in his ﬂight; an- a
other sits in his curved skiff, plying the oars where
lately he has plowed; one sails over his ﬁelds of
grain or the roof of his buried farmhouse, and one
takes ﬁsh caught in the elm—tree’s top. And some-
times it chanced that an anchor was embedded in a
grassy meadow, or the curving keels brushed over
the vineyard tops. And where but now the slender
goats had browsed, the ugly sea—calves rested. The
Nereids are amazed to see beneath the waters groves
and cities and the haunts of men. The dolphins in-
vade the woods, brushing against the high branches,
and shake the oak-trees as they knock against them
in their course. The wolf swims among the sheep,
while tawny lions and tigers are borne along by the
waves. Neither does the power of his lightning
stroke avail the boar, nor his swift limbs the stag,
since both are alike swept away by the ﬂood; and
23
OVID
quaesitisque diu terris, ubi sistere possit,
in mare lassatis volucris vaga decidit alis.
obruerat tumulos inmensa licentia ponti,
pulsabantque novi montana cacumina ﬂuctus. 310
maxima pars unda rapitur; quibus unda pepercit,
illos longa domant inopi ieiunia victu.
Separat Aonios Oetaeis Phocis ab arvis,
terra ferax, dum terra fuit, sed tempore in illo
pars maris et latus subitarum campus aquarum. 315
mons ibi verticibus petit arduus astra duobus,
nomine Parnasus, superantque cacumina nubes.
hic ubi Deucalion (nam cetera texerat aequor)
cum consorte tori parva rate vectus adhaesit,
Corycidas nymphas et numina montis adorant 320
fatidicamque Themin, quae tune oracla tenebat:
non illo melior quisquam nec amantior aequi
vir fuit aut illa metuentior ulla deorum.
Iuppiter ut liquidis stagnare paludibus orbem
et superesse virum de tot modo milibus unum, 325
et superesse vidit de tot modo milibus unam,
innocuos ambo, cultores numinis ambo,
nubila disiecit nimbisque aquilone remotis
et caelo terras ostendit et aethera terris.
nec maris ira manet, positoque tricuspide telo 330
mulcet aquas rector pelagi supraque profundum
24
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
the wandering bird, after long searching for a place
to alight, falls with weary wings into the sea. The
sea in unchecked liberty has now buried all the hills,
and strange waves now beat upon the mountain-
peaks. Most living things are drowned outright.
Those who have escaped the water slow starvation at
last o’ercomes through lack of food.
The land of Phocis separates the Boeotian from the
Oetean ﬁelds, a fertile land, while still it was a land.
But at that time it was but a part of the sea, a broad
expanse of sudden waters. There Mount Parnasus
lifts its two peaks skyward, high and steep, piercing
the clouds. When here Deucalion and his wife,
borne in a little skiff, had come to land—for the sea
had covered all things else—they ﬁrst worshipped
the Corycian nymphs and the mountain deities, and
the goddess, fate-revealing Themis, who in those
days kept the oracles. There was no better man
than he, none more scrupulous of right, nor than she
was any woman more reverent of the gods. When
now Jove saw that the world was all one stagnant
pool, and that only one man was left from those who
were but now so many thousands, and that but one
woman too was left, both innocent and both wor-
shippers of God, he rent the clouds asunder, and
when these had been swept away by the N orth-wind
he showed the land once more to the sky, and the
heavens to the land. Then too the anger of the
sea subsides, when the sea’s great ruler lays‘by his
three—pronged spear and calms the waves; and, call-
ing sea-hued Triton, showing forth above the deep,
his shoulders thick o’ergrown with shell-ﬁsh, he bids
him blow into his loud-resounding conch, and by that
signal to recall the ﬂoods and streams. He lifts his
hollow, twisted shell, which grows from the least
25
OVID
exstantem atque umeros innato murice tectum
caeruleum Tritona vocat conchaeque sonanti
inspirare iubet ﬂuctusque et ﬁumina signo
iam revocare dato : cava bucina sumitur illi, 335
tortilis, in latum quae turbine crescit ab imo,
bucina, quae medio concepit ubi aera ponto,
litora voce replet sub utroque iacentia Phoebo;
tum quoque, ut ora dei madida rorantia barba
contigit et cecinit iussos inﬂata receptus, 340
omnibus audita est telluris et aequoris undis,
et quibus est undis audita, coercuit omnes.
iam mare litus habet, plenos capit alveus amnes,
ﬂumina subsidunt collesque exire videntur;
surgit humus, crescunt loca decrescentibus undis, 345
postque diem longam nudata cacumina silvae
ostendunt limumque tenent in fronde relictum
Redditus orbis erat; quem postquam vidit inanem
et desolatas agere alta silentia terras,
Deucalion lacrimis ita Pyrrham adfatur obortis: 350
“ o soror, o coniunx, o femina sola superstes,
quam commune mihi genus et patruelis origo,
deinde torus iunxit, nunc ipsa pericula iungunt,
terrarum, quascumque vident occasus et ortus,
nos duo turba sumus; possedit cetera pontus. 355
haec quoque adhuc vitae non est ﬁducia nostrae
certa satis; terrent etiamnum nubila mentem.
quis tibi, si sine me fatis erepta fuisses,
nunc animus, miseranda, foret? quo sola timorem
ferre modo posses? quo consolante doleres! 360
namque ego (crede mihi), site quoque pontus haberet,
te sequerer, coniunx, et me quoque pontus haberet.
26
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
and lowest to a broad-swelling whorl—the shell
which, when in mid—sea it has received the Triton’s
_ breath, ﬁlls with its notes the shores that lie beneath
the rising and the setting sun. So then, when it
had touched the sea-god’s lips wet with his dripping
beard, and sounded forth the retreat which had been
ordered, ’twas heard by all the waters both of land
and sea; and all the waters by which ’twas heard it
held in check. Now the sea has shores, the rivers,
bank full, keep within their channels ; the ﬂoods sub-
side, and hill-tops spring into view; land rises up, the
ground increasing as the waves decrease; and now at
length, afterlong burial, the trees show their un-
covered tops, whose leaves still hold the slime which
the ﬂood has left. ,
The world was indeed restored. But when Deu-
calion saw that it was an empty world, and that deep
silence ﬁlled the desolated lands, he burst into tears
and thus addressed his wife: “ O sister, O my wife,
O only woman left on earth, you whom the ties of
common race and family,1 whom the marriage couch
has joined to me, and whom now our very perils join :
of all the lands which the rising and the setting sun
behold, we two are the throng. The sea holds all
the rest. And even this hold which we have upon
our life is not as yet suﬂiciently secure. Even yet the
clouds strike terror to my heart. What would be
your feelings, now, poor soul, if the fates had willed
that you be rescued all alone? How would you bear
your fear, alone? who would console your grief?
For be assured that if the sea held you also, I would
follow you, my wife, and the sea should hold me also.
1 patruelz's om'go. See line 390. Deucalion and Pyrrha were
cousins, a relationship which on the part of the woman is
sometimes expressed by soror.
27
OVID
o utinam possim populos reparare paternis
artibus atque animas formatae infundere terrae!
nunc genus in nobis restat mortale duobus. 365
sic visum superis : hominumque exempla manemus.”
dixerat, et ﬂebant: placuit caeleste precari
numen et auxilium per sacras quaerere sortes.
nulla mora est: adeunt pariter Cephesidas undas,
ut nondum liquidas, sic iam vada nota secantes. 370
inde ubi libatos inroravere liquores
vestibus et capiti, ﬂectunt vestigia sanctae
ad delubra deae, quorum fastigia turpi
pallebant musco stabantque sine ignibus arae.
ut templi tetigere gradus, procumbit uterque 375
pronus humi gelidoque pavens dedit oscula saxo
atque ita “ si precibus ” dixerunt “ numina iustis
victa remollescunt, si ﬂectitur ira deorum,
die, Themi, qua generis damnum reparabile nostri
arte sit, et mersis fer opem, mitissima, rebus! ” 380
Mota dea est sortemque dedit: “ discedite templo
et velate caput cinctasque resolvite vestes
ossaque post tergum magnae iactate parentis! ”
obstupuere diu: rumpitque silentia voce
Pyrrha prior iussisque deae parere recusat, 385
detque sibi veniam pavido rogat ore pavetque
laedere iactatis maternas ossibus umbras.
interea repetunt caecis obscura latebris
verba datae sortis secum inter seque volutant.
inde Promethides placidis Epimethida dictis 390
mulcet et “ aut fallax ” ait “ est sollertia nobis,
28
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
Oh, would that by my father’s arts I might restore
the nations, and breathe, as did he, the breath of life
into the moulded clay. But as it is, on us two only
depends the human race. Such is the will of Heaven:
and we remain sole samples of mankind.” He
spoke ; and when they had wept awhile they resolved
to appeal to the heavenly power and seek his aid
through sacred oracles. Without delay side by side
they went to the waters of Cephisus’ stream, which,
while not yet clear, still ﬂowed within their familiar
banks. From this they took some drops and sprinkled
them on head and clothing. So having done, they
bent their steps to the goddess’s sacred shrine, whose
gables were still discoloured with foul moss, and upon
whose altars the ﬁres were dead. When they had
reached the temple steps they both fell prone upon
the ground, and with trembling lips kissed the chill
stone and said: “ If deities are appeased by the
prayers of the righteous, if the wrath of the gods is
thus turned aside, 0 Themis, tell us by what means
our race may be restored, and bring aid, O most
merciful, to a world o’erwhelmed.”
The goddess was moved and gave this oracle:
“ Depart hence, and with veiled heads and loosened
robes throw behind you as you go the bones-of your
great mother.” Long they stand in dumb amaze;
and ﬁrst Pyrrha breaks the silence and refuses to
obey ‘the bidding of the goddess. WVith trembling
lips she prays for pardon, but dares not outrage her
mother’s ghost by treating her bones as she is bid.
Meanwhile they go over again the words of the
oracle, which had been given so full of dark per—
plexities, and turn them over and over in their minds.
At last Prometheus’ son comforts the daughter of
Epimetheus with’ reassuring words : “ Either my wit
29
ovi D
aut (pia sunt nullumque nefas oracula suadent l)
magna parens terra est: lapides in corpore terrae
ossa reor dici; iacere hos post terga iubemur.”
Coniugis augurio quamquam Titania mota est, 395
spes tamen in dubio est: adeo caelestibus ambo
diflidunt monitisg sed quid temptare nocebitP
descenduntz velantque caput tunicasque recingunt
et iussos lapides sua post vestigia mittunt.
saxa (quis hoc credata nisi sit pro teste vetustas P) 400
ponere duritiem coepere suumque rigorem
mollirique mora mollitaque ducere formam.
mox ubi creverunt naturaque mitior illis
contigits ut quaedam, sic non manifesta videri
forma potest hominisa sed uti de marmore coeptis 1
non exacta satis rudibusque simillima signis, liilo
quae tamen ex illis aliquo pars umida suco
et terrena fuita versa est in corporis usum;
quod solidum est flectique nequita mutatur in ossaa
quae modo vena fuita sub eodem nomine mansita 410
inque brevi spatio superorum numine saxa
missa viri manibus faciem traxere virorum
et de femineo reparata est femina iactu.
inde genus durum sumus experiensque laborum
et documenta damus qua simus origine nati. 415
cetera diversis tellus animalia formis
sponte sua peperita postquam vetus umor ab igne
percaluit solis, caenumque udaeque paludes
intumuere aestus fecundaque semina rerum
1 coeptis M erkel .' ccepta M88.
go
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
is at fault, or else (oracles are holy and never counsel
guilt!) our great mother is the earth, and I think
that the bones which the goddess speaks of are the
stones in the earth’s body. ’Tis these that we are
bidden to throw behind us.”
Although Pyrrha is moved by her husband’s sur-
mise, yet hope still wavers; so distrustful are they
both as to the heavenly command. But what harm
will it do to try? They go down, veil their heads,
ungird their robes, and throw stones behind them
just as the goddess had bidden. And the stones—
who would believe it unless ancient tradition vouched
for it ?—began at once to lose their hardness and
stiffness, to grow soft slowly, and softened to take on
form. Then, when they had grown in size and be-
come milder in their nature, a certain likeness to the
human form, indeed, could be seen, still not very
clear, but such as statues just begun out of marble
have, not sharply deﬁned, and very like roughly
blocked—out images. That part of them, however,
which was earthy and damp with slight moisture, was
changed to ﬂesh; but what was solid and incapable
of bending became bone; that which was but now
veins remained under the same name. And in a
short time, through the operation of the divine will,
the stones thrown by the man’s hand took on the
form of men, and women were made from the stones
the woman threw. Hence come the hardness of our
race and our endurance of toil; and we give proof
from what origin we are sprung.
As to the other forms of animal life, the earth
spontaneously produced these of divers kinds; after
that old moisture remaining from the ﬂood had
grown warm from the rays of the sun, the slime
of the wet marshes swelled with heat, and the fertile
3I
OVID
vivaci nutrita solo ceu matris in alvo 420
ereverunt faeiemque aliquam cepere morando.
sic ubi deseruit madidos septemﬂuus agros
Nilus et antiquo sua ﬂumina reddidit alveo
aetherioque recens exarsit sidere limus,
plurima cultores versis animalia glaebis 425
inveniunt et in his quaedam modo coepta per ipsum
nascendi spatium, quaedam inperfecta suisque
trunca vident numeris, et eodem in corpore saepe
altera pars vivit, rudis est pars altera tellus.
quippe ubi temperiem sumpsere umorque calorque,
coneipiunt, et ab his oriuntur cuncta duobus, 431
cumque sit ignis aquae pugnax, vapor umidus omnes
res creat, et diseors eoneordia fetibus apta est.
ergo ubi diluvio tellus lutulenta recenti
solibus aetheriis almoque 1 recanduit aestu, 435
edidit innumeras species; partimque ﬁguras
rettulit antiquas, partim nova monstra ereavit.
Illa quidem nollet, sed te quoque, maxime Python,
tum genuit, populisque novis, incognita serpens,
terror eras : tantum spatii de monte tenebas. 440
hunc deus arquitenens et numquam talibus armis
ante nisi in dammis capreisque fugacibus usus
mille gravem telis exhausta paene pharetra
perdidit effuso per vulnera nigra veneno.
neve operis famam posset delere vetustas, 445
instituit sacros celebri certamine ludos,
Pythia perdomitae serpentis nomine dictos.
hie iuvenum quieumque manu pedibusve rotave
1 almo Merkel: alto M88.
32
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
seeds of life, nourished in that life—giving soil, as in
a mother’s womb, grew and in time took on some
special form. So when the seven-mouthed Nile has
receded from the drenched ﬁelds and has returned
again to its former bed, and the fresh slime has been
heated by the sun’s rays, farmers as they turn over
the lumps of earth ﬁnd many animate things; and
among these some, but now begun, are upon the
very verge of life, some are unﬁnished and lacking in
their proper parts, and oft-times in the same body
one part is alive and the other still nothing but raw
earth. For when moisture and heat unite, life is
conceived, and from these two sources all living
things spring. And, though ﬁre and water are
naturally at enmity, still heat and moisture produce
all things, and this inharmonious harmony is ﬁtted
to the growth of life. When, therefore, the earth,
covered with mud from the recent ﬂood, became
heated up by the hot and genial rays of the sun, she
brought forth innumerable forms of life; in part she
restored the ancient shapes, and in part she created
creatures new and strange.
She, indeed, would have wished not so to do, but
thee also she then bore, thou huge Python, thou
snake unknown before, who ‘wast a terror to new—
created men; so huge a space of mountain—side didst
thou ﬁll. This monster the god of the glittering bow
destroyed with arms never before used except against
does and wild she-goats, crushing him with countless
darts,well-nigh emptying his quiver, till the creature’s
poisonous blood ﬂowed from the black wounds. And,
that the fame of his deed might not perish through
lapse of time, he instituted sacred games whose con-
tests throngs beheld, called Pythian from the name
of the serpent he had overthrown. At these games,
33
OVID
vicerat, aesculeae capiebat frondis honorem.
nondum 1aurus erat, longoque decentia crine 450
tempora cingebat de qualibet arbore Phoebus.
Primus amor Phoebi Daphne Peneia, quem non
fors ignara dedit, sed saeva Cupidinis ira,
Delius hunc nuper, victa serpente superbus,
viderat adducto ﬂectentem cornua nervo 455
“ quid ” que “ tibi, lascive puer, cum fortibus
armis P ”
dixerat: “ ista decent umeros gestamina. nostros,
qui dare certa ferae, dare vulnera possumus hosti,
qui modo pestifero tot iugera ventre prementem
stravimus innumeris tumidum Pythona sagittis. 460
tu face nescio quos esto contentus amores
inritare tua, nee laudes adsere nostras! ”
ﬁlius huic Veneris “ ﬁgat tuus omnia, Phoebe,
te meus arcus ” ait; “ quantoque animalia cedunt
cuncta deo, tanto minor est tua gloria nostra.” 465
dixit et eliso percussis aere pennis
inpiger umbrosa Parnasi constitit arce
eque sagittifera promp'sit duo tela pharetra
diversorum operum: fugat hoe, facit illud amorem;
quod facit, auratum est et cuspide fulget acuta, 470
quod fugat, obtusum est et habet sub harundine
plumbum.
hoc deus in nympha Peneide ﬁxit, at i110
laesit Apollineas traiecta per ossa medullas;
protinus alter amat, fugit altera nomen amantis
silvarum latebris capitivarumque ferarum 475
34
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
every youth who had been victorious in boxing, run-
ning, or the chariot race received the honour of an
oaken garland. For as yet the laurel-tree was not,
and Phoebus was wont to wreathe his temples, comely
with ﬂowing looks, with a garland from any tree.
Now the ﬁrst love of Phoebus was Daphne,
daughter of Peneus, the river-god. It was no blind
chance that gave this love, but the malicious wrath
of Cupid. Delian Apollo, while still exulting over
his conquest of the serpent, had seen him bending '
his bow with tight-drawn string, and had said:
“ What hast thou to do with the arms of men, thou
wanton boy? That weapon beﬁts my shoulders ; for
I have strength to give unerring wounds to the wild
beasts, my foes, and have but now laid low the
Python swollen with countless darts, covering whole
acres with plague-engendering form. Do thou be
content with thy_torch to light the hidden ﬁres of
love, and lay not claim to my honours.” And to him
Venus’ son replied: “ Thy dart may pierce all things
else, Apollo, but mine shall pierce thee; and by as
much as all living things are less than deity, by so
much less is thy glory than mine.” So saying he
shook his wings and, dashing upward through the air,
quickly alighted on the shady peak of Parnasus.
There he took from his quiver two darts of opposite
effect: one puts to ﬂight, the other kindles the ﬂame
of love. The one which kindles love is of gold and
has a sharp, gleaming point; the other is blunt and
tipped with lead. This last the god ﬁxed in the
heart of Peneus’ daughter, but with the other he
smote Apollo, piercing even unto the bones and
marrow. Straightway he burned with love ; but she
ﬂed the very name of love, rejoicing in the deep
fastnesses of the woods, and in the spoils of beasts
35
OVI D
exuviis gaudens innuptaeque aemula Phoebes:
vitta coereebat positos sine lege capillos.
multi illam petiere, illa aversata petentes
inpatiens expersque viri nemora avia lustrat
nee, quid Hymen, quid Amor, quid sint eonubia eurat.
saepe pater dixit: “ generum mihi, ﬁlia, debes,” 481
saepe pater dixit: “ debes mihi, nata, nepotes ”;
illa velut erimen taedas exosa iugales
pulchra vereeundo suffunditur ora rubore
inque patris blandis haerens cervice lacertis 485
“ da mihi perpetua, genitor earissime,” dixit
“ virginitate frui! dedit hoe pater ante Dianae.”
ille quidem obsequitur, sed te decor iste quod optas
esse vetat, votoque tuo tua forma repugnat:
Phoebus amat visaeque cupit eonubia Daphnes, 490
quodque cupit, sperat, suaque illum oracula fallunt,
utque leves stipulae demptis adolentur aristis,
ut faeibus saepes ardent, quas forte viator
vel nimis admovit vel iam sub luee reliquit,
sic deus in ﬂammas abiit, sic pectore toto 495
uritur et sterilem sperando nutrit amorem.
spectat inornatos collo pendere capillos
et “ quid, si eomantur? ” ait. videt igne micantes
sideribus similes oculos idet oseula, quae non
est vidisse satis; laudat digitosque manusque 500
braechiaque et nudos media plus parte lacertos;
si qua latent, meliora putat. fugit oeior aura
illa levi neque ad haee revocantis verba resistit:
“ nympha, preeor, Penei, mane ! non insequor hostis ;
nympha, mane ! sic agna lupum, sie eerva leonem, 505
36
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
which she had snared, vying with the virgin Phoebe.
A single ﬁllet bound her looks all unarranged. Many
sought her; but she, averse to all suitors, impatient
of control and without thought for man, roamed the
pathless woods, nor cared at all that Hymen, love, or
wedlock might be. Often her father said: “ Daughter,
you owe me a son-in—law ”; and often: “ Daughter,
you owe me grandsons.” But she, hating the wed—
ding torch as if it were a thing of evil, would blush
rosy red over her fair face, and, clinging around her
father's neck with coaxing arms, would say: “ O
father, dearest, grant me to enjoy perpetual virginity.
Her father has already granted this to Diana.” He,
indeed, yielded to her request. But that beauty of
thine, Daphne, forbade the fulﬁlment of thy desire,
and thy form ﬁtted not with thy prayer. Phoebus
loves Daphne at sight, and longs to wed her; and
what he longs for, that he hopes; and his own gifts
of prophecy deceive him. And as the stubble of
the harvested grain is kindled, as hedges burn with
the torches which some traveller has chanced to
put too near, or has gone off and left at break of
day, so was the god consumed with ﬂames, so did he
burn in all his heart, and feed his fruitless love on
hope. He looks at her hair hanging down her neck
in disarray, and says: “ What if it were arrayed? ”
He gazes at her eyes gleaming like stars, he gazes
upon her lips, which but to gaze on does not satisfy.
He marvels at her ﬁngers, hands, and wrists, and her
arms, bare to the shoulder; and what is hid he deems
still lovelier. But she ﬂees him swifter than the ﬂeet—
ing breeze, nor does she stop when he calls after her:
“ O nymph, O Peneus’ daughter, stay ! I who pursue
thee am no enemy. Oh stay! So does the lamb ﬂee
from the wolf; the deer from the lion; so do doves
on ﬂuttering wing ﬂee from the eagle; so every
37
OVID
sic aquilam penna fugiunt trepidante columbae,
hostes quaeque suos : amor est mihi causa sequendi!
me miserum! ne prona cadas indignave laedi
crura notent sentes et sim tibi causa doloris!
aspera, qua properas, loca sunt : moderatius, oro, 510
curre fugamque inhibe, moderatius insequar ipse.
cui placeas, inquire tamen : non incola montis,
non ego sum pastor, non hic armenta gregresque
horridus observo. nescis, temeraria, nescis,
quem fugias, ideoque fugis: mihi Delphica tellus 515
et Claros et Tenedos Patareaque regia servit;
Iuppiter est genitor; per me, quod eritque fuitque
estque, patet; per me concordant carmina nervis.
certa quidem nostra est, nostra tamen una sagitta
certior, in vacuo quae vulnera pectore fecit! 520
inventum medicina meum est, opiferque per orbem
dicor, et herbarum subiecta potentia nobis. ,
/ei mihi, quod nullis amor est sanabilis herbis
nec prosunt domino, quae prosunt omnibus, artes !/
Plura locuturum timido Peneia cursu 525
fugit cumque ipso verba inperfecta reliquit,
tum quoque visa decens; nudabant corpora venti,
obviaque adversas vibrabant ﬂamina vestes,
et levis inpulsos retro dabat aura capillos,
auctaque forma fuga est. sed enim non sustinet ultra
perdere blanditias iuvenis deus, utque movebat 531
ipse amor, admisso sequitur vestigia passu.
ut canis in vacuo leporem cum Gallicus arvo
vidit, et hic praedam pedibus petit, ille salutem;
alter inhaesuro similis iam iamque tenere 535
38
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
creature ﬂees its foes. But love is the cause of my
pursuit. Ah me! I fear that thou wilt fall, or
brambles mar thy innocent limbs, and I be cause of
pain to thee. The region here is rough through
which thou hastenest. Run with less speed, I pray,
and hold thy ﬂight. I, too, will follow with less
speed. Nay, stop and ask who thy lover is. I am
no mountain-dweller, no shepherd I, no unkempt
guardian here of ﬂocks and herds. Thou knowest
not, rash one, thou knowest not whom thou ﬂeest,
and for that reason dost thou ﬂee. Mine is the
Delphian land, and Claros, Tenedos, and the realm
of Patara acknowledge me as lord. Jove is my
father. By me what shall be, has been, and what is
are all revealed ; by me the lyre responds in harmony
to song. My arrow is sure of aim, but oh, one arrow,
surer than my own, has wounded my heart but now
so fancy free. The art of medicine is my discovery.
I am called Help-Bringer throughout the world, and
all the potency of herbs is given unto me. Alas,
that love is curable by no herbs, and the arts which
heal all others cannot heal their lord! ”
He would have said more, but the maiden pur—
sued her frightened way and left him with his
words unﬁnished, even in her desertion seeming fair.
The winds bared her limbs, the opposing breezes set
her garments a-ﬂutter as she ran, and a light air ﬂung
her locks streaming behind her. Her beauty was
enhanced by ﬂight. But the chase drew to an end,
for the youthful god would not longer waste his time
in coaxing words, and urged on by love, he pursued
at utmost speed. Just as when a Gallic hound has
seen a hare in an open plain, and seeks his prey on
ﬂying feet, but the hare, safety; he, just about to
fasten on her, now, even now thinks he has her, and
39
OVID
sperat et extento stringit vestigia rostro,
alter in ambiguo est, an sit conprensus, et ipsis
morsibus eripitur tangentiaque ora relinquit:
sic deus et virgo est hie spe celer, illa timore.
qui tamen insequitur pennis adiutus Amoris, 540
oeior est requiemque negat tergoque fugaeis
inminet et crinem sparsum cervieibus adﬂat. 1
viribus absumptis expalluit illa eitaeque
victa labore fugae spectans Peneidas undas 1 544
“fer, pater,” inquit “ opem! si ﬂumina numen habetis,
qua nimium plaeui, mutando perde ﬁguram! ” 547
vix prece ﬁnita torpor gravis occupat artus,
mollia cinguntur tenui praecordia libro,
in frondem crimes, in ramos bracehia creseunt, 550
pes modo tam velox pigris radicibus haeret,
ora cacumen habet: remanet nitor unus in illa.
Hane quoque Phoebus amat positaque in stipite
dextra
sentit adhue trepidare novo sub cortice peetus
conplexusque suis ramos ut membra lacertis 555
oscula dat ligno ; refugit tamen oscula lignum.
cui deus “ at, quoniam coniunx mea non potes esse,
arbor eris certe ” dixit “ mea! semper habebunt
te coma, te eitharae, te nostrae, laure, pharetrae;
tu dueibus Latiis aderis, cum laeta Triumphum 560
vox canet et visent longas Capitolia pompas;
postibus Augustis eadem ﬁdissima custos
ante fores stabis mediamque tuebere quereum,
1 Most MSS. have two verses for 547 :
qua nimium plaeui, tellus, ait, hisce, vel istam
quae facit ut laedar mutando perde ﬁguram.
Probably quae facit ut laedar was ﬁrst written as a gloss to qua
nimium plaeui, and the line completed by an emendation.
4o
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
grazes her very heels with his outstretched muzzle;
but she knows not whether she be not already
caught, and barely escapes from those sharp fangs
and leaves behind the jaws just closing on her: so ran
the god and maid, he sped by hope and she by fear.
But he ran the more swiftly, borne on the wings of
love, gave her no time to rest, hung over her ﬂeeing
shoulders and breathed on the hair that streamed
over her neck. Now was her strength all gone, and,
pale with fear and utterly overcome by the toil of her
swift ﬂight, seeing her father’s waters near, she cried:
“ O father, help! if your waters hold divinity;
change and destroy this beauty by which I pleased
o’er well.” Scarce had she thus prayed when a down—
dragging numbness seized her limbs, and her soft
sides were begirt with thin bark. Her hair was
changed to leaves, her arms to branches. Her feet,
but now so swift, grew fast in sluggish roots, and her
head was now but a tree’s top. Her gleaming beauty
alone remained.
But even now in this new form Apollo loved her;
and placing his hand upon the trunk, he felt the
heart still ﬂuttering beneath the bark. .He embraced
the branches as if human limbs, and pressed his lips
upon the wood. But even the wood shrank from his
kisses. And the god cried out to this: “ Since thou
canst not be my bride, thou shalt at least be my tree.
My hair, my lyre, my quiver shall always be entwined
with thee, O laurel. \IVith thee shall Roman generals
wreathe their heads, when shouts of joy shall acclaim
their triumph, and long processions climb the Capitol.
Thou at Augustus’ portals shalt stand a trusty
guardian, and keep watch over the civic crown of
41
OVID
utque meum intonsis caput est iuvenale capillis,
tu quoque perpetuos semper gere frondis honores! ”
ﬁnierat Paean: factis modo laurea ramis 566
adnuit utque caput visa est agitasse cacumen.
Est nemus Haemoniae, praerupta quod undique
claudit
silva: vocant Tempe; per quae Peneus ab imo
eﬁ'usus Pindo spumosis volvitur undis 570
deiectuque gravi tenues agitantia fumos
nubila conducit summisque adspergine silvis
inpluit et sonitu plus quam vicina fatigat:
haec domus, haec sedes, haec sunt penetralia magni
amnis, in his residens facto de cautibus antro, 575
undis iura dabat nymphisque colentibus undas.
conveniunt illuc popularia ﬂumina primum,
nescia, gratentur consolenturne parentem,
populifer Sperchios et inrequietus Enipeus
Apidanusque senex lenisque Amphrysos et Aeas, 580
moxque amnes alii, qui, qua tulit inpetus illos,
in mare deducunt fessas erroribus undas.
Inachus unus abest imoque reconditus antro
ﬂetibus auget aquas natamque miserrimus Io
luget ut amissam: nescit, vitane fruatur ' 585
an sit apud manes; sed quam non invenit usquam,
esse putat nusquam atque animo peiora veretur.
Viderat a patrio redeuntem Iuppiter illam
ﬂumine et “ o Virgo Iove digna tuoque beatum
nescio quem factura toro, pete ” dixerat “ umbras 590
altorum nemorum ” (et nemorum monstraverat
umbras)
42
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
oak which hangs between. And as my head is ever
young and my locks unshorn, so do thou keep the
beauty of thy leaves perpetual.” Paean was done.
The laurel waved her new-made branches, and
seemed to move her head-like top in full consent.
There is a vale in Thessaly which steep—wooded
slopes surround on every side. Men call it Tempe.
Through this the River Peneus ﬂows from the foot of
Pindus with foam-ﬂecked waters, and by its heavy
fall forms clouds which drive along ﬁne, smoke—like
mist, sprinkles the tops of the trees with spray, and
deafens even remoter regions by its roar. Here is
the home, the seat, the inmost haunt of the mighty
stream. Here, seated in a cave of overhanging rock,
he was giving laws to his waters, and to his water-
nymphs. Hither came, ﬁrst, the rivers of his own
country, not knowing whether to congratulate or
console the father of Daphne: the poplar—fringed
Sperchios, the restless Enipeus, hoary Apidanus,
gentle Amphrysos and Aeas; and later all the rivers
which, by whatsoever way their current carries them,
lead down their waters, weary with wandering, into
the sea. Inachus only does not come; but, hidden
away in his deepest cave, he augments his waters
with his tears, and in utmost wretchedness laments
his daughter, Io, as lost. He knows not whether she
still lives or is among the shades. But, since he
cannot ﬁnd her anywhere, he thinks she must be
nowhere, and his anxious soul forbodes things worse
than death.
Now Jove had seen her returning from her father's
stream, and said: “ O maiden, worthy of the love of
Jove, and destined to make some husband happy,
seek now the shade of these deep woods ”—and he
pointed to the shady woods——“ while the sun at his
43
OVID
dum ealet, et medio sol est altissimus orbe!
quodsi sola times latebras intrare ferarum,
praeside tuta deo nemorum seereta subibis,
nee de plebe deo, sed qui eaelestia magna 595
sceptra manu teneo, sed qui vaga fulmina mitto.
ne fuge me! ” fugiebat enim. iam pascua Lernae
eonsitaque arboribus Lyrcea reliquerat arva,
cum deus indueta latas caligine terras
oceuluit tenuitque fugam rapuitque pudorem. 600
Interea medios Iuno dispexit in Argos 1
et noctis faciem nebulas fecisse volueres
sub nitido mirata die, non ﬁuminis illas
esse, nee umenti sensit tellure remitti;
atque suus coniunx ubi sit circumspicit, ut quae 605
deprensi totiens iam nosset furta mariti.
v' quem postquam caelo non repperit, “ aut ego fallor
7
aut ego laedor ’ ait delapsaque ab aethere summo
constitit in terris nebulasque recedere iussit.
coniugis adventum prae'senserat inque nitentem 610
Inachidos vultus mutaverat ille iuvencam
(bos quoque formosa est) : speciem Saturnia vaccae,
quamquam invita, probat nee non, et cuius et
unde
quove sit armento, veri quasi nescia quaerit.
Iuppiter e terra genitam mentitur, ut auctor 615
desinat inquiri : petit hanc Saturnia munus.
quid faciat? erudele suos addicere amores,
non dare suspectum est : Pudor est, qui suadeat illinc,
1 Argos M erkel and Muller: agros M88.
44
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
zenith’s height is overwarm. But if thou fearest to
go alone amongst the haunts of wild beasts, under a
god’s protection shalt thou tread in safety even the
inmost woods. Nor am I of the common gods, but
I am he who holds high heaven’s sceptre in his
mighty hand, and hurls the roaming thunderbolts.
Oh, do not ﬂee from me! ”—for she was already in
ﬂight. Now had she left behind the pasture-ﬁelds
of Lerna, and the Lyrcean plains thick-set with
trees, when the god hid the wide land in a thick, dark
cloud, caught the ﬂeeing maid and ravished her.
Meanwhile Juno chanced to look down upon the
midst of Argos, and marvelled that quick—rising
clouds had wrought the aspect of night in the clear
light of day. She knew that they were not river
mists nor fogs exhaled from the damp earth; and
forthwith she glanced around to see where her lord
might be, as one who knew well his oft-discovered
wiles. When she could not ﬁnd him in the sky
she said: “Either I am mistaken or I am being
wronged ” ; and gliding down from the top of heaven,
she stood upon the earth and bade the clouds dis—
perse. But Jove had felt beforehand his spouse’s
coming and had changed the daughter of Inachus
into a white heifer. Even in this form she still was
beautiful. Saturnia looked awhile upon the heifer
in grudging admiration; then asked whose she was
and_whence she came or from what herd, as if she
did not know full well. Jove lyingly declared that
she had sprung from the earth, that so he might
forestall’ all further question as to her origin.
Thereupon Saturnia asked for the heifer as a gift.
What should he do? ’Twere a cruel task to sur—
render his love, but not to do so would arouse
suspicion. Shame on one side prompts to give her
45
OVID
hinc dissuadet Amor. victus Pudor esset Amore,
sed leve si munus socia'e generisque torique 620
vacca negaretur, poterat non vacca videri !
Paelice donata non protinus exuit omnem
diva metum timuitque Iovem et fuit anxia furti,
donec Arestoridae servandam tradidit Argo.
centum luminibus cinctum caput Argus habebat 625
inde suis vicibus capiebant bina quietem,
cetera servabant atque in statione manebant.
constiterat quocumque modo, spectabat ad Io,
ante oculos Io, quamvis aversus, habebat.
luce sinit pasci; cum sol tellure sub alta est, 630
claudit et indigno circumdat vincula collo.
frondibus arboreis et amara pascitur herba.
proque toro terrae non semper gramen habenti
incubat infelix limosaque ﬂumina potat.
illa etiam supplex Argo cum bracchia vellet 635
tend-ere, non habuit, quae bracchia tenderet Argo,
et conata queri mugitus edidit ore
pertimuitque sonos propriaque exterrita voce est.
venit et ad‘ ripas, ubi ludere saepe solebat,
Inachidas: rictus1 novaque ut conspexit in unda 640
cornua, pertimuit seque exsternata refugit.
naides ignorant, ignorat et Inachus ipse,
quae sit; at illa patrem sequitur sequiturque sorores
et patitur tangi seque admirantibus oﬁ'ert.
decerptas senior porrexerat Inachus herbas : 645
illa manus lambit patriisque dat oscula palmis
nec retinet lacrimas et, si modo verba sequantur,
1 Inachidas: riotus M erkel : Inachidas ripas M88.
46
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
up, but love on the other urges not. Shame by love
would have been o’ercome; but if so poor a gift as a
heifer were refused to her who was both his sister
and his wife, perchance she had seemed to be no
heifer.
Though her rival was at last given up, the goddess
did not at once put off all suspicion, for she feared
Jove and further treachery, until she had given her
over to Argus, the son of Arestor, to keep for her.
Now Argus’ head was set about with a hundred eyes,
which took their rest in sleep two at a time in turn,
while the others watched and remained on guard.
In whatsoever way he stood he looked at 10; even
when his back was turned he had 10 before his eyes.
In the daytime he allowed her to graze; but when
the sun had set beneath the earth he shut her up
and tied an ignominious halter round her neck. She
fed on leaves of trees and bitter herbs, and instead
of a couch the poor thing lay upon the ground,
which was not always grassy, and drank water from
the muddy streams. ‘When she strove to stretch out
suppliant arms to Argus, she had no arms to stretch;
and when she attempted to voice her complaints, she
only mooed. She would start with fear at the sound,
and was ﬁlled with terror at her own voice. She
came also to the bank of her father's stream, where
she used to play ; but when she saw, reﬂected in the
water, her gaping jaws and sprouting horns, she ﬂed
in very terror of herself. Her Naiad sisters knew
not who she was, nor yet her father, Inachus himself.
But she followed him and her sisters, and offered
herself to be petted and admired. Old Inachus had
plucked some grass and held it out to her; she
licked her father’s hand and tried to kiss it. She
could not restrain her tears, and, if only she could
47
OVID
oret opem nomenque suum casusque loquatur;
littera pro verbis, quam pes in pulvere duxit,
corporis indicium mutati triste peregit. 650
“ me miserum! ” exelamat pater Inachus inque
gementis
cornibus et niveae pendens cervice iuveneae
“ me miserum! ” ingeminat; “ tune es quaesita
per omnes
nata mihi terras? tu non inventa reperta
luctus eras levior! retiees nee mutua nostris 655
dicta refers, alto tantum suspiria dueis
pectore, quodque unum potes, ad mea verba
remugis!
at tibi ego ignarus thalamos taedasque parabam,
spesque fuit generi mihi prima, secunda nepotum.
de grege nunc tibi vir, nune de grege natus
habendus. 660
nee ﬁnire licet tantos mihi morte dolores;
sed nocet esse deum, praeclusaque ianua leti
aeternum nostros luctus extendit in aevum."
talia maerentes stellatus submovet Argus
ereptamque patri diversa in pascua natam 665
abstrahit. ipse proeul montis sublime cacumen
occupat, unde sedens partes speculatur in omnes.
Nee superum rector mala tanta Phoronidos
ultra
ferre potest natumque vocat, quem lueida partu
Pleias enixa est letoque det imperat Argum. 670
parva mora est alas pedibus virgamque potenti
somniferam sumpsisse manu tegumenque capillis.
haee ubi disposuit, patria Iove natus ab arce
desilit in terras ; illic tegumenque removit
et posuit pennas, tantummodo virga retenta est: 675
hae agit ut pastor per devia rura eapellas,
48
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
speak, she would tell her name and sad misfortune,
and beg for aid. But instead of words, she did tell
the sad story of her changed form with letters which
she traced in the dust with her hoof. “ Ah, woe is
me! ” exclaimed her father, Inachus; and, clinging
to the weeping heifer’s horns and snow-white neck:
“ Ah, woe is me! art thou indeed my daughter
whom I have sought o’er all the earth? Unfound,
a lighter grief wast thou than found. Thou art
silent, and givest me back no answer to my words;
thou only heavest deep sighs, and, what alone thou
canst, thou dost moo in reply. I, in blissful ignor-
ance, was preparing marriage rites for thee, and had
hopes, ﬁrst of a son—in—law, and then of grand-
children. But now from the herd must I ﬁnd thee
a husband, and from the herd must I look for grand—
children. And even by death I may not end my
crushing woes. It is a dreadful thing to be a god,
for the door of death is shut to me, and my grief
must go on without end.” As they thus wept
together star—eyed Argus separated them and drove
the daughter, torn from her father’s arms, to more
distant pastures. There he perched himself apart
upon a high mountain-top, where at his ease he
could keep watch on every side.
But now the ruler of the heavenly ones can no
longer bear these great sufferings of Io, and he calls
his son whom the shining Pleiad bore, and bids him
do Argus to death. Without delay Mercury puts on
his winged sandals, takes in his potent hand his
sleep-producing wand, and dons his magic cap. Thus
arrayed, the son of Jove leaps down from sky to
earth, where he removes his cap and lays aside his
wings. Only his wand he keeps. With this, in the
character of a shepherd, through the sequestered
VOL. I. C
49
OVID
dum venit, adductas et structis cantat avenis.
voce nova et captus custos Iunonius arte
“ quisquis es, hoc poteras mecum considere saxo ”
Argus ait; “ neque enim pecori fecundior ullo 680
herba loco est, aptamque vides pastoribus umbram.”
Sedit Atlantiades et euntem multa loquendo
detinuit sermone diem iunctisque canendo
vincere harundinibus servantia lumina temptat.
ille tamen pugnat molles evincere somnos 685
et, quamvis sopor est oculorum parte receptus,
parte tamen vigilat. quaerit quoque (namque
reperta
ﬁstula nuper erat), qua sit ratione reperta.
Tum deus “ Arcadiae gelidis sub montibus ” inquit
“ inter hamadryadas celeberrima Nonacrinas 690
naias una fuit: nymphae Syringa vocabant.
non semel et satyros eluserat illa sequentes
et quoscumque deos umbrosaque silva feraxque
rus habet. Ortygiam studiis ipsaque colebat
virginitate deam; ritu quoque cincta Dianae 695
falleret, ut posset credi Latonia, si non
corneus huic arcus, si non foret aureus illi;
sic quoque fallebat.
Redeuntem colle Lycaeo
Pan videt hanc pinuque caput praecinctus acuta
talia verba refert ”——restabat verba referre 700
et precibus spretis fugisse per avia nympham,
50
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
country paths he drives a ﬂock of goats which he has
collected as he came along, and plays upon his reed
pipe as he goes. J uno’s guardsman is greatly taken
with the strange sound. “You, there,” he calls,
“ whoever you are, you might as well sit beside me
on this rock; for nowhere is there richer grass for
the ﬂock, and you see that there is shade convenient
for shepherds.”
So Atlas’ grandson takes his seat, and ﬁlls the
passing hours with talk of many things; and by
making music on his pipe of reeds he tries to over—
come those watchful eyes. But Argus strives
valiantly against his slumberous languor, and though
he allows some of his eyes to sleep, still he continues
to watch with the others. He asks also how the
reed pipe came to‘ be invented; for at that time it
had but recently been invented.
Then said the god: “ On Arcadia’s cool mountain-
slopes, among the wood nymphs who dwelt on
N onacris, there was one much sought by suitors. Her
sister nymphs called her Syrinx. More than once
she had eluded the pursuit of satyrs and all the gods
who dwell either in the bosky woods or fertile ﬁelds.
But she patterned after the Delian goddess in her
pursuits and above all in her life of maidenhood.~
When girt after the manner of Diana, she would
deceive the beholder, and could be mistaken for
Latona’s daughter, were not her bow of horn, were
not Diana’s of gold. But even so she was mistaken
for the goddess.
“ One day Pan saw her as she was coming back
from Mount Lycaeus, his head wreathed with a
crown of sharp pine-needles, and thus addressed
her. . . .” It remained still to tell what he said and
to relate how the nymph, spurning his prayers, ﬂed
SI
OVID
donee harenosi plaeidum Ladonis ad amnem
venerit; hie illam eursum inpedientibus undis
ut se mutarent liquidas orasse sorores,
Panaque cum prensam sibi iam Syringa putaret, 705
corpore pro nymphae ealamos tenuisse palustres,
dumque ibi suspirat, motos in harundine ventos
eifecisse sonum tenuem similemque querenti.
arte nova vocisque deum duleedine captum
“ hoe mihi concilium teeum ” dixisse “ manebit," 710
atque ita disparibus calamis conpagine cerae
inter se iunetis nomen tenuisse puellae.
talia dicturus vidit Cyllenius omnes
subcubuisse oculos adopertaque lumina somno;
supprimit extemplo voeem ﬁrmatque soporem 715
languida permulcens medieata lumina virga.
nee mora, faleato nutantem vulnerat ense,
qua collo est conﬁne caput, saxoque eruentum
deieit et maculat praeruptam sanguine rupem. 719
Arge, iaces, quodque in tot lumina lumen habebas,
exstinctum est, eentumque oculos nox occupat una.
Exeipit hos voluerisque suae Saturnia pennis
eolloeat 'et gemmis eaudam stellantibus inplet.
protinus exarsit nee tempora distulit irae
horriferamque oculis animoque obieeit Erinyn 725
paelieis Argolicae stimulosque in pectore caecos
eondidit et profugam per totum terruit orbem.
ultimus inmenso restabas, Nile, labori;
quem simulac tetigit, positisque in margine ripae
procubuit genibus resupinoque ardua collo, 730
52
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
through the pathless wastes until she came to Ladon’s
stream ﬂowing peacefully along his sandy banks;
how here, when the water checked her further
ﬂight, she besought her sisters of the stream to change
her form; and how Pan, when now he thought he
had caught Syrinx, instead of her held naught but
marsh reeds in his arms; and while he sighed in
disappointment, the soft air stirring in the reeds
gave forth a low and complaining sound. Touched
by this wonder and charmed by the sweet tones, the
god exclaimed: “ This union, at least, shall I have
with thee.” And so the pipes, made of unequal
reeds ﬁtted together by a joining of wax, took and
kept the name of the maiden. When Mercury was
going on to tell this story, he saw that all those eyes
had yielded and were closed in sleep. Straightway
he checks his words, and deepens Argus’ slumber
by passing his magic wand over those sleep-faint
eyes. And forthwith he smites with his hooked
sword the nodding head just where it joins the neck,
and sends it bleeding down the rocks, deﬁling the
rugged cliff with blood. Argus, thou liest low; the
light which thou hadst within thy many ﬁres is all
put out; and one darkness ﬁlls thy hundred eyes.
Saturnia took these eyes and set them on the
feathers of her bird, ﬁlling his tail with star—like
jewels. Straightway she ﬂamed with anger, nor did
she delay the fulﬁlment of her wrath. She set a
terror-bearing fury to work before the eyes and
heart of her Grecian rival, planted deep within her
breast a goading fear, and sent her ﬂeeing in terror
through all the world. Thou, O Nile, alone didst close
her boundless toil. When she reached the stream,
she ﬂung herself down on her knees upon the river
bank; with head thrown back she raised her face,
53
OVID
quos potuit solos, tollens ad sidera vultus
et gemitu et lacrimis et luctisono mugitu
cum Iove visa queri ﬁnemque orare malorum.
coniugis ille suae conplexus colla lacertis, 734
ﬁniat ut poenas tandem, rogat “ in ” que “ futurum
pone metus ” inquit: “ numquam tibi causa doloris
haec erit,” et Stygias iubet hoc audire paludes.
Ut lenita dea est, vultus capit illa priores
ﬁtque, quod ante fuit: fugiunt e corpore saetae,
cornua decrescunt, ﬁt luminis artior orbis, 740
contrahitur rictus, redeunt umerique manusque,
ungulaque in quinos dilapsa absumitur ungues :
de bove nil superest formae nisi candor in illa.
ofﬁcioque pedum nymphe contenta duorum
erigitur metuitque loqui, ne more iuvencae V745
mugiat, et timide verba intermissa retemptat.
Nunc dea linigera colitur celeberrima turba.
huic 1 Epaphus magni genitus de semine tandem
creditur esse Iovis perque urbes iuncta parenti
templa tenet. fuit huic animis aequalis et annis 750
Sole satus Phaethon, quem quondam magna
loquentem
nec sibi cedentem Phoeboque parente superbum
non tulit Inachides “ matri ” que ait “ omnia demens
credis et es tumidus genitoris imagine falsi.”
erubuit Phaethon iramque pudore repressit 755
et tulit ad Clymenen Epaphi convicia matrem
“quo” que “magis doleas, genetrix” ait,“ille ego liber,
1 huic Heinsius: nunc MSS.
54
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
which alone she could raise, to the high stars, and with
groans and tears and agonized mooings she seemed to
voice her griefs to Jove and to beg him to end her
woes. Thereupon Jove threw his arms about his
spouse’s neck, and begged her at last to end her
vengeance, saying: “ Lay aside all fear for the future;
she shall never be source of grief to you again ” ; and
he called upon the Stygian pools to witness his oath.
The goddess’s wrath is soothed; Io gains back her
former looks, and becomes what she was before. The
rough hair falls away from her body, her horns dis—
appear, her great round eyes grow smaller, her gaping
mouth is narrowed, her shoulders and her hands come
back, and the hoofs are gone, being changed each
into ﬁve nails. No trace of the heifer is left in her
save only the fair whiteness of her body. And now
the nymph, able at last to stand upon two feet,
stands erect; yet fears to speak, lest she moo in the
heifer’s way, and with fear and trembling she resumes
her long—abandoned speech.
Now, with fullest service, she is worshipped as a
goddess by the linen—robed throng. A son, Epaphus,
was born to her, thought to have sprung at length
from the seed of mighty Jove, and throughout the
cities dwelt in temples with his mother. He had a
companion of like mind and age named Phaéthon,
child of the Sun. When this Phaéthon was once
speaking proudly, and refused to give way to him,
boasting that Phoebus was his father, the grand-
son of Inachus rebelled and said : “ You are a fool to
believe all your mother tells you, and are swelled
up with false notions about your father.” Phaethon
grew red with rage, but repressed his anger through
very shame and carried Epaphus’ insulting taunt
straight to his mother, Clymene. “ And that you
55
OVID
ille ferox taeui! pudet haec opprobria nobis
et dici potuisse et non potuisse refelli.
at tu, si modo sum eaelesti stirpe ereatus, 760
ede notam tanti generis meque adsere caelo! ”
dixit et inplicuit materno bracehia collo
perque suum Meropisque caput taedasque sororum
traderet oravit veri sibi signa parentis.
ambiguum Clymene precibus Phaethontis an ira 765
mota magis dieti sibi criminis utraque caelo
braeehia porrexit speetansque ad lumina solis
“ per iubar hoe ” inquit “ radiis insigne eoruseis,
nate, tibi iuro, quod nos auditque videtque, 769
hoe te, quem spectas, hoe te, qui temperat orbem,
Sole satum; si ﬁcta loquor, neget ipse videndum
se mihi, sitque oculis lux ista novissima nostris!
nee longus labor est patrios tibi nosse penates.
unde oritur, domus est terrae eontermina nostrae:
si modo fert animus, gradere et seitabere ab ipso! ”
emieat extemplo laetus post talia matris 776
dicta suae Phaethon et concipit aethera mente
Aethiopasque suos positosque sub ignibus Indos
sidereis transit patriosque adit inpiger ortus.
56
METAMORPHOSES BOOK I
may grieve the more, mother,” he said, “ I, the
high—spirited, the bold of tongue, had no word to
say. Ashamed am I that such an insult could have
been uttered and yet could not be answered. But
do you, if I am indeed sprung from heavenly seed,
give me a proof of my high birth, and justify my
claims to divine origin.” So spoke the lad, and
threw his arms around his mother’s neck, begging
her, by his own and Merops’ life, by his sisters’
nuptial torches, to give him some sure token of his
birth. Clymene, moved (it is uncertain whether by
the prayers of Phaéthon, ormore by anger at the
insult to herself), stretched out both arms to heaven,
and, turning her eyes on the bright sun, exclaimed:
“ By the splendour of that radiant orb which both
hears and sees me now, I swear to you, my boy, that
you are sprung from the Sun, that being whom you
behold, that being who sways the world. If I speak
not the truth, may I never see him more, and may
this be the last time my eyes shall look upon the
light of day. But it is not difﬁcult for you yourself
to ﬁnd your father’s house. The place where he
rises is not far ﬁ~om our own land. If you are so
minded, go there and ask your question of the sun
himself.” Phaéthon leaps up in joy at his mother’s
words, already grasping the heavens in imagination;
and after crossing his own Ethiopia and the land of
Ind lying close beneath the sun, he quickly comes
to his father’s rising-place.
57
BOOK II
LIBER II
REGIA Solis erat sublimibus alta eolumnis,
elara mieante auro ﬂammasque imitante pyropo,
cuius ebur nitidum fastigia summa tegebat,
argenti bifores radiabant lumine valvae.
materiam superabat opus: nam Mulciber illie 5
aequora caelarat medias eingentia terras
terrarumque orbem eaelumque, quod imminet orbi.
eaeruleos habet unda deos, Tritona canorum
Proteaque ambiguum ballenarumque prementem
Aegaeona suis inmania terga lacertis 10
Doridaque et natas, quarum pars nare videtur,
pars in mole sedens viridis siccare capillos,
pisce vehi quaedam: faeies non omnibus una,
non diversa tamen, qualem deeet esse sororum.
terra viros urbesque gerit silvasque ferasque 15
ﬂuminaque et nymphas et cetera numina ruris.
haee super inposita est caeli fulgentis imago,
signaque sex foribus dextris totidemque sinistris.
Quo simul adelivi Clymeneia limite proles
venit et intravit dubitati tecta parentis, 20
protinus ad patrios sua fert vestigia vultus
consistitque procul; neque enim propiora ferebat
lumina: purpurea velatus veste sedebat
6o
BOOK II
THE palace of the Sun stood high on lofty columns,
bright with glittering gold and bronze that shone
like ﬁre. Gleaming ivory crowned the gables above ;
the double folding-doors were radiant with burnished
silver. And the workmanship was more beautiful
than the material. For upon the doors Mulciber had
carved in relief the waters that enfold the central
earth, the circle of the lands and the sky that over-
hangs the lands. The sea holds the dark-hued gods :
tuneful Triton, changeful Proteus, and Aegaeon, his
strong arms thrown over a pair of huge whales;
Doris and her daughters, some of whom are shown
swimming through the water, some sitting on a rock
drying their green hair, and some riding on ﬁshes.
They have not all the same appearance, and yet not
altogether different; as it should be with sisters.
The land has men and cities, woods and beasts,
rivers, nymphs and other rural deities. Above these
scenes was placed a representation of the shining
sky, six signs of the zodiac on the right-hand doors,
and six signs on the left.
Now when Clymene’s son had climbed the steep
path which leads thither, and had come beneath the
roof of his sire whose fatherhood had been ques-
tioned, Straightway he turned him to his father’s
face, but halted some little space away; for he could
not bear the radiance at a nearer view. Clad in a
61
OVID
in solio Phoebus claris lucente smaragdis.
a dextra laevaque Dies et Mensis et Annus 25
Saeculaque et positae spatiis aequalibus Horae
Verque novum stabat cinctum ﬁorente corona,
stabat nuda Aestas et spicea serta gerebat,
stabat et Autumnus calcatis sordidus uvis
et glacialis Hiems canos hirsuta capillos. 3O
Ipse loco medius rerum novitate paventem
Sol oculis iuvenem, quibus adspicit omnia, vidit
“ quae ” que “ viae tibi causa? quid hac ” ait “ arce
petisti
progenies, Phaethon, haud inﬁtianda parenti? ”
ille refert: “ o lux inmensi publica mundi, 35
Phoebe pater, si das usum mihi nominis huius,
nec falsa Clymene culpam sub imagine celat,
pignora da, genitor, per quae tua vera propago
credar, et hunc animis errorem detrahe nostris! ”
dixerat, at genitor circum caput omne micantes 4O
deposuit radios propiusque accedere iussit
amplexuque dato “ nec tu meus esse negari
dignus es, et Clymene veros ” ait “ edidit ortus,
quoque minus dubites, quodvis pete munus, ut illud
me tribuente feras! promissi testis adesto 45
dis iuranda palus, oculis incognita nostris! ”
vix bene desierat, currus rogat ille paternos
inque diem alipedum ius et moderamen equorum.
Paenituit iurasse patrem: qui terque quaterque
concutiens inlustre caput “ temeraria ” dixit 5O
“ vox mea facta tua est; utinam promissa liceret
62
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
purple robe, Phoebus sat on his throne gleaming
with brilliant emeralds. To right and left stood Day
and Month and Year and Century, and the Hours
set at equal distances. Young Spring was there,
wreathed with a ﬂoral crown; Summer, all unclad
with garland of ripe grain; Autumn was there,
stained with the trodden grape, and icy Winter with
white and bristly locks.
Seated in the midst of these, the Sun, with the
eyes which behold all things, looked on the youth
ﬁlled with terror at the strange new sights, and said:
“ Why hast thou come? What seekest thou in this
high dwelling, Phaéthon—a son no father need
deny? ” The lad replied: “ O common light of this
vast universe, Phoebus, my father, if thou grantest
me the right to use that name, if Clymene is not
giding her shame beneath an unreal pretence, grant
me a proof, my father, by which all may know me
for thy true son, and take away this uncertainty
from my mind.” He spoke‘; and his father put off
his glittering crown of light, and bade the boy draw
nearer. Embracing him, he said: “ Thou art both
worthy to be called my son, and Clymene has told
thee thy true origin. And, that thou mayst not
doubt my word, ask what boon thou wilt, that thou
mayst receive it from my hand. And may that
Stygian pool whereby gods swear, but which mine
eyes have never seen, be witness of my promise.”
Scarce had he ceased when the boy asked for his
father’s chariot, and the right to drive his winged
horses for a day.
The father repented him of his oath. Thrice and
again he shook his bright head and said : “ Thy words
have proved mine to have been rashly said. Would
that I might retract my promise! For I confess, my
63
OVID
non dare! conﬁteor, solum hoe tibi, nate, negarem.
dissuadere licet: non est tua tuta voluntas!
magna petis, Phaethon, et quae nee viribus istis
munera eonveniant nec tam puerilibus annis : 55
sors tua mortalis, non est mortale, quod optas.
plus etiam, quam quod superis contingere possit,
neseius adfectas; plaeeat sibi quisque lieebit,
non tamen igm'fero quisquam consistere in axe
me valet excepto; vasti quoque rector Olympi, 60
qui fera terribili iaeulatur fulmina dextra,
non aget hos currus : et quid Iove maius habemus?
ardua prima via est et qua vix mane reeentes
enituntur equi; medio est altissima caelo,
unde mare et terras ipsi mihi saepe videre 65
ﬁt timor et pavida trepidat formidine peetus;
ultima prona via est et eget moderamine certo:
tune etiam quae me subiectis exeipit undis,
ne ferar in praeeeps, Tethys solet ipsa vereri.
adde, quod adsidua rapitur vertigine caelum 70
sideraque alta trahit eelerique volumine torquet.
nitor in adversum, nee me, qui cetera, vincit
inpetus, et rapido eontrarius evehor orbi.
ﬁnge datos currus: quid ages? poterisne rotatis
obvius ire polis, ne te citus auferat axis? 75
forsitan et lueos illie urbesque deorum
eoneipias animo delubraque ditia donis
esse: per insidias iter est formasque ferarum!
utque viam teneas nulloque errore traharis,
per tamen adversi gradieris cornua tauri 80
64
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
son, that this alone would I refuse thee. But I may
at least strive to dissuade thee. What thou desirest
is not safe. Thou askest too great a boon, Phaéthon,
and one which does not beﬁt thy strength and those
so boyish years. Thy lot is mortal: not for mortals
is that thou askest. In thy simple ignorance thou
dost claim more than can be granted to the gods
themselves. Though each of them may do as he
will, yet none, save myself, has power to take his
place in my chariot of ﬁre. Nay, even the lord of
great Olympus, who hurls dread thunderbolts with
his awful hand, could not drive this chariot ; and what
have we greater than Jove? The ﬁrst part of the
road is steep, up which my steeds in all their morning
freshness can scarce make their way. In mid-heaven
it is exceeding high, whence to look down on sea and
land oft—times causes even me to tremble, and my
heart to quake with throbbing fear. The last part
of the journey is precipitous, and needs an assured
control. Then even Tethys, who receives me in her
underlying waters, is wont to fear lest I fall head-
long. Furthermore, the vault of heaven spins round
in constant motion, drawing along the lofty stars
which it whirls at dizzy speed. I make my way
against this, nor does the swift motion which over—
comes all else overcome me; but I drive clear con-
trary to the swift circuit of the universe. Suppose
thou hast my chariot. What wilt thou do? Wilt
thou be able to make thy way against the whirling
poles that their swift axis sweep thee not away?
Perhaps, too, thou deemest there are groves there,
and cities of the gods, and temples full of rich gifts?
Nay, the course lies amid lurking dangers and ﬁerce
beasts of prey. And though thou shouldst hold the
way, and not go straying from the course, still shalt
6s
OVID
Haemoniosque arcus violentique ora Leonis
saevaque circuitu curvantem bracchia longo
Scorpion atque aliter curvantem bracchia Cancrum.
nec tibi quadripedes animosos ignibus illis,
quos in pectore habent, quos ore et naribus efHant, 85
in promptu regere est: ﬁx me patiuntur, ubi acres
incaluere animi cervixque repugnat habenis.—-
at tu, funesti ne sim tibi muneris auctor,
nate, cave, dum resque sinit tua corrige vota!
scilicet ut nostro genitum te sanguine credas, 9O
pignora certa petis : do pignora certa timendo
et patrio pater esse metu probor. adspice vultus
ecce meos utinamque oculos in pectora posses
inserere et patrias intus deprendere curas!
denique quidquid habet dives circumspices mundus 95
eque tot ac tantis caeli terraeque marisque
posce bonis aliquid; nullam patiere repulsam.
deprecor hoc unum, quod vero nomine poena,
non honor est: poenam, Phaethon, pro munere
poscis!
quid mea colla tenes blandis, ignare, lacertis? 100
ne dubita! dabitur (Stygias iuravimus undas),
quodcumque optaris; sed tu sapientius opta! ”
Finierat monitus ; dictis tamen ille repugnat
propositumque premit ﬂagratque cupidine currus.
ergo, qua licuit, genitor cunctatus ad altos 105
deducit iuvenem, Vulcania munera, currus.
aureus axis erat, temo aureus, aurea summae
curvatura rotae, radiorum argenteus ordo ;
66
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
thou pass the horned Bull full in thy path, the Haemo-
nian Archer, the maw of the raging Lion, the Scor-
pion, curving his savage arms in long sweeps, and the
Crab, reaching out in the opposite direction. Nor is it
an easy thing for thee to control the steeds, hot with
those strong ﬁres which they have within their
breasts, which they breathe out from mouth and
nostrils. Scarce do they suffer my control, when
their ﬁerce spirits have become heated, and their
necks rebel against the reins. But do thou, O son,
beware lest I be the giver of a fatal gift to thee, and
while still there is time amend thy prayer. Dost
thou in sooth seek sure pledges that thou art son of
mine? Behold, I give sure pledges by my very fear;
I show myself thy father by my fatherly anxiety.
See! look upon my face. And oh, that thou couldst
look into my heart as well, and understand a father's
cares therein! Then look around, see all that the
rich world holds, and from those great and bound—
less goods of land and sea and sky ask anything.
Nothing will I deny thee. But this one thing I beg
thee not to ask, which, if rightly understood, is a
bane instead of blessing. A bane, my Phaéthon,
dost thou seek as boon. Why dost thou throw thy
coaxing arms about my neck, thou foolish boy? Nay,
doubt it not, it shall be given—we have sworn it by
the Styx—whatever thou dost choose. But, oh,
make wiser choice! ”
The father’s warning ended; yet he fought against
the words, and urged his ﬁrst request, burning with
desire to drive the chariot. So then the father,
delaying as far as might be, led forth the youth to
that high chariot, the work of Vulcan. Its axle was
of gold, the pole of gold; its wheels had golden
tyres and a ring of silver spokes. Along the yoke
67
OVID
per iuga ehrysolithi positaeque ex ordine gemmae
elara repereusso reddebant lumina Phoebo. 110
Dumque ea magnanimus Phaethon miratur opusque
perspicit, ecee vigil rutilo patefeeit ab ortu
purpureas Aurora fores et plena rosarum
atria: diffugiunt stellae, quarum agmina eogit
Lucifer et caeli statione novissimus exit. 115
Quem petere ut terras mundumque rubeseere vidit
eornuaque extremae velut evanescere lunae,
iungere equos Titan veloeibus imperat Horis.
iussa deae celeres peragunt ignemque vomentes,
ambrosiae sueo saturos, praesepibus altis 120
quadripedes dueunt adduntque sonantia frena.
tum pater ora sui saero medieamine nati
contigit et rapidae fecit patientia ﬁammae
inposuitque eomae radios praesagaque luctus
pectore sollieito repetens suspiria dixit: 125
“ si potes his saltem monitis parere parentis
paree, puer, stimulis et fortius utere loris!
sponte sua properant, labor est inhibere volentes.
nee tibi directos plaeeat via quinque per arcus!
seetus in obliquum est lato curvamine limes, 130
zonarumque trium contentus ﬁne polumque
effugit australem iunctamque aquilonibus arcton:
hae sit iter! manifesta rotae vestigia cernes.
utque ferant aequos et caelum et terra ealores,
nee preme nee summum molire per aethera eursum!
altius egressus eaelestia tecta eremabis, 136
inferius terras; medio tutissimus ibis.
neu te dexterior tortum deelinet ad Anguem,
68
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
chrysolites and jewels set in fair array gave back their
bright glow to the reﬂected rays of Phoebus.
Now while the ambitious Phaéthon is gazing in
wonder at the workmanship, behold, Aurora, who
keeps watch in the reddening dawn, has opened wide
her purple gates, and her courts glowing with rosy
light. The stars all ﬂee away, and the morning star
closes their ranks as, last of all, he departs from his
watch-tower in the sky.
When Titan saw him setting and the world grow
red, and the slender horns of the waning moon
fading from sight, he bade the swift Hours to yoke
his steeds. The goddesses quickly did his bidding,
and led the horses from the lofty stalls, breathing’
forth ﬁre and ﬁlled with ambrosial food, and they put
upon them the clanking bridles. Then the father
anointed his son's face with a sacred ointment, and
made it proof against the devouring ﬂames; and he
placed upon his head the radiant crown, heaving
deep sighs the while, presaging woe, and said: “ If
thou canst at least obey these thy father’s warnings,
spare the lash, my boy, and more strongly use the
reins. The horses hasten of their own accord; the
hard task is to check their eager feet. And take not
thy way straight through the ﬁve zones of heaven:
the true path runs slantwise, with a wide curve, and,
conﬁned within the limits of three zones, avoids the
southern heavens and the far north as well. This be
thy route. The tracks of my wheels thou wilt
clearly see. And, that the sky and earth may have
equal heat, go not too low, nor yet direct thy course
along the top of heaven; for if thou goest too high
thou wilt burn up the skies, if too low the earth.
In the middle is the safest path. And turn not off
too far to the right towards the writhing Serpent;
69
OVID
neve sinisterior pressam rota ducat ad Aram,
inter utrumque tene! Fortunae cetera mando, 140
quae iuvet et melius quam tu tibi consulat opto.
dum loquor, Hesperio positas in litore metas
umida nox tetigit; non est mora libera nobis!
poscimur: eﬁ‘ulget tenebris Aurora fugatis.
corripe lora manu, vel, si motabile pectus 145
est tibi, consiliis, non curribus utere nostris!
dum potes et solidis etiamnum sedibus adstas,
dumque male optatos nondum premis inscius axes,
quae tutus spectes, sine me dare lumina terris! ”
Occupat ille levem iuvenali corpore currum 150
statque super manibusque datas contingere habenas
gaudet et invito grates agit inde parenti.
Interea volucres Pyrois et Eous et Aethon,
Solis equi, quartusque Phlegon hinnitibus auras
ﬂammiferis inplent pedibusque repagula pulsant. 155
quae postquam Tethys, fatorum ignara nepotis,
reppulit et facta est inmensi copia caeli,
corripuere viam pedibusque per aera motis
obstantes scindunt nebulas pennisque levati
praetereunt ortos isdem de partibus Euros. 160
sed leve pondus erat nec quod cognoscere possent
Solis equi, solitaque iugum gravitate carebat;
utque labant curvae iusto sine pondere naves
perque mare instabiles nimia levitate feruntur,
sic onere adsueto vacuus dat in aera saltus 165
succutiturque alte similisque est currus inani.
7o
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
nor on the left, where the Altar lies low in the
heavens, guide thy wheel. Hold on between the
two. I commit all else to Fortune, and may she aid
thee, and guide thee better than thou dost thyself.
While I am speaking dewy night has reached her
goal on the far western shore. We may no longer
delay. We are summoned. Behold, the dawn is
glowing, and the shadows all have ﬂed. Here, grasp
the reins, or, if thy purpose still may be amended,
take my counsel, not my chariot, while still thou
canst, while still thou dost stand on solid ground,
before thou hast mounted to the car which thou
hast in ignorance foolishly desired. Let me give
light to the world, which thou mayst see in
safety.”
But the lad has already mounted the swift chariot,
and, standing proudly, he takes the reins with joy
into his hands, and thanks his unwilling father for
the gift.
Meanwhile the sun’s swift horses, Pyrois, Eoiis,
Aethon, and the fourth, Phlegon, ﬁll all the air with
their ﬁery whinnying, and paw impatiently against
their bars. When Tethys, ignorant of her grandson’s
fate, dropped these and gave free course through the
boundless skies, the horses dashed forth, and with
swift-ﬂying feet rent the clouds in their path, and,
borne aloft upon their wings, they passed the east
winds that have their rising in the same quarter. But
the weight was light, not such as the horses of the sun
could feel, and the yoke lacked its accustomed bur-
den. And, as curved ships, without their proper
ballast, roll in the waves, and, unstable because too
light, are borne out of their course, so the chariot,
without its accustomed burden, gives leaps into the
air, is tossed aloft and is like a riderless car.
71
OVID
Quod simulae sensere, ruunt tritumque relinquunt
quadriiugi spatium nee quo prius ordine eurrunt.
ipse pavet nee qua commissas ﬂeetat habenas
nee seit qua sit iter, nee, si sciat, imperet illis. 170
tum primum radiis gelidi caluere Triones
et vetito frustra temptarunt aequore tingui,
quaeque polo posita est glaeiali proxima Serpens,
frigore pigra prius nee formidabilis ulli,
incaluit sumpsitque novas fervoribus iras; 175
te quoque turbatum memorant fugisse, Boote,
quamvis tardus eras et te tua plaustra tenebant.
Ut vero summo dispexit ab aethere terras
infelix Phaethon penitus penitusque patentis,
palluit et subito genua intremuere timore 180
suntque oculis tenebrae per tantum lumen orbortae,
et iam mallet equos numquam tetigisse paternos,
iam eognosse genus piget et valuisse rogando,
iam Meropis dici cupiens ita fertur, ut aeta
praeeipiti pinus borea, eui victa remisit 185
frena suus rector, quam dis votisque reliquit.
quid faciat? multum caeli post terga relictum,
ante oculos plus est: animo metitur utrumque
et modo, quos illi fatum contingere non est,
prospicit oeeasus, interdum respieit ortus, 190
quidque agat ignarus stupet et nee frena remittit
nee retinere valet nee nomina novit equorum.
sparsa quoque in vario passim miracula caelo
vastarumque videt trepidus simulacra ferarum.
est locus, in geminos ubi bracchia coneavat arcus 195
72
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
When they feel this, the team run wild and leave
the well-beaten track, and fare no longer in the same
course as before. The driver is panic-stricken. He
knows not how to handle the reins entrusted to him,
nor where the road is ; nor, if he did know, would he
be able to control the steeds. Then for the ﬁrst time
the cold Bears grew hot with the rays of the sun, and
tried, though all in vain, to plunge into the forbidden
sea. And the Serpent, which lies nearest the icy
pole, ever before harmless because sluggish with the
cold, now grew hot, and conceived great frenzy from
that ﬁre. They say that you also, Bootes, ﬂed in
terror, slow though you were, and held back by your
clumsy ox-cart.
But when the unhappy Phaéthon looked down
from the top of heaven, and saw the lands lying far,
far below, he grew pale, his knees trembled with
sudden fear, and over his eyes came darkness through
excess of light. And now he would prefer never to
have touched his father’s horses, and repents that he
has discovered his true origin and prevailed in his
prayer. Now, eager to be called the son of Merops,
he is borne along just as a ship driven before the head-
long blast, whose pilot has let the useless rudder
go and abandoned the ship to the gods and prayers.
What shall he do? Much of the sky is now behind
him, but more is still in front ! His thought measures
both. And now he looks forward to the west, which
he is destined never to reach, and at times back to
the east. Dazed, he knows not what to do; he
neither lets go the reins nor can he hold them, and he
does not even know the horses’ names. To add to his
panic fear, he sees scattered everywhere in the sky
strange ﬁgures of huge and savage beasts. There is
one place where the Scorpion bends out his arms into
73
OVID
Scorpius et cauda ﬂexisque utrimque lacertis
porrigit in spatium signorum membra duorum:
hunc puer ut nigri madidum sudore veneni
vulnera curvata minitantem cuspide vidit,
mentis inops gelida formidine lora remisit. 200
Quae postquam summum tetigere iacentia tergum,
exspatiantur equi nulloque inhibente per auras
ignotae regionis eunt, quaque inpetus egit,
hac sine lege ruunt altoque sub aethere ﬁxis
incursant stellis rapiuntque per avia currum 205
et modo summa petunt, modo per declive viasque
praecipites spatio terrae propiore feruntur,
inferiusque suis fraternos currere Luna
admiratur equos, ambustaque nubila fumant.
corripitur ﬂammis, ut quaeque altissima, tellus 210
ﬁssaque agit rimas et sucis aret ademptis;
pabula canescunt, cum frondibus uritur arbor,
materiamque suo praebet seges arida damno.
parva queror: magnae pereunt cum moenibus
urbes,
cumque suis totas populis incendia gentis 215
in cinerem vertunt; silvae cum montibus ardent;
ardet Athos Taurusque Cilix et Tmolus et Oete
et tum sicca, prius celeberrima fontibus Ide
virgineusque Helicon et nondum Oeagrius Haemus:
ardet in inmensum geminatis ignibus Aetne 220
Parnasusque biceps et Eryx et Cynthus et Othrys
et tandem nivibus Rhodope caritura Mimasque
Dindymaque et Mycale natusque ad sacra Cithaeron.
74
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
two bows; and with tail and arms stretching out on
both sides, he spreads over the space of two signs.
When the boy sees this creature reeking with black
poisonous sweat, and threatening to sting him with
his curving tail, bereft of wits from chilling fear,
down he dropped the reins.
When the horses feel these lying on their backs,
they break loose from their course, and, with none to
check them, they roam through unknown regions of
the air. Wherever their impulse leads them, there
they rush aimlessly, knocking against the stars set
deep in the sky and snatching the chariot along
through uncharted ways. Now they climb up to the
top of heaven, and now, plunging headlong down,
they course along nearer the earth. The Moon in
amazement sees her brother’s horses running below
her own, and the scorched clouds smoke. The
earth bursts into ﬂame, the highest parts ﬁrst, and
splits into deep cracks, and its moisture is all dried
up. The meadows are burned to white ashes; the
trees are consumed, green leaves and all, and the ripe
grain furnishes fuel for its own destruction. But
these are small losses which I am lamenting. Great
cities perish with their walls, and the vast conﬂagra-
tion reduces whole nations to ashes. The woods are
ablaze with the mountains; Athos is ablaze, Cilician
Taurus, and Tmolus, and Oete, and Ida, dry at last,
but hitherto covered with springs, and Helicon,
haunt of the Muses, and Haemus, not yet linked
with the name of Oeagrus. Aetna is blazing bound-
lessly with ﬂames now doubled, and twin—peaked
Parnasus and Eryx, Cynthus and Othrys, and
Rhodope, at last destined to lose its snows, Mimas
and Dindyma, Mycale and Cithaeron, famed for
sacred rites. Nor does its chilling clime save
75
OVID
nee prosunt Scythiae sua frigora: Caucasus ardet
Ossaque cum Pindo maiorque ambobus Olympus 225
aeriaeque Alpes et nubifer Appenninus.
Tum vero Phaethon cunctis e partibus orbem
adspicit aecensum nee tantos sustinet aestus
ferventisque auras velut e fornace profunda
ore trahit eurrusque suos eandeseere sentit; 230
et neque iam cineres eiectatamque favillam
ferre potest calidoque involvitur undique fumo,
quoque eat aut ubi sit, picea caligine teetus
nescit et arbitrio volucrum raptatur equorum.
Sanguine tum eredunt in corpora summa voeato
Aethiopum populos nigrum traxisse eolorem; 236
tum facta est Libye raptis umoribus aestu
arida, tum nymphae passis fontesque lacusque
deﬂevere comis; quaerit Boeotia Dircen,
Argos Amymonen, Ephyre Pirenidas undas; 240
nee sortita loco distantes ﬂumina ripas
tuta manent: mediis Tanais fumavit in undis
Peneusque senex Teuthranteusque Caicus
et celer Ismenos cum Phegiaco Erymantho
arsurusque iterum Xanthos ﬂavusque Lycormas, 245
quique recurvatis ludit Maeandros in undis,
Mygdoniusque Melas et Taenarius Eurotas.
arsit et Euphrates Babylonius, arsit Orontes
Thermodonque citus Gangesque et Phasis et
Hister;
aestuat Alpheos, ripae Spercheides ardent, 250
quodque suo Tagus amne vehit, ﬂuit ignibus
aurum,
et, quae Maeonias eelebrarant carmine ripas,
ﬂumineae volucres medio caluere Caystro;
Nilus in extremum fugit perterritus orbem
occuluitque caput, quod adhue latet: ostia septem
pulverulenta vacant, septem sine flumine valles. 256
76
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
Scythia; Caucasus burns, and Ossa with Pindus, and
Olympus, greater than both; and the heaven-
piercing Alps and cloud-capped Apennines.
Then indeed does Phaéthon see the earth aﬂame on
every hand; he cannot endure the mighty heat, and
the air he breathes is like the hot breath of a deep
furnace. The chariot he feels growing white-hot
beneath his feet. He can no longer bear the ashes
and whirling sparks, and is completely shrouded in
the dense, hot smoke. In this pitchy darkness he
cannot tell where he is or whither he is going, and
is swept along at the will of his ﬂying steeds.
It was then, as men think, that the peoples of
Aethiopia became black-skinned, since the blood was
drawn to the surface of their bodies by the heat.
Then also Libya became a desert, for the heat dried
up her moisture. Then the nymphs with dishevelled
hair bewailed their fountains and their pools.
Boeotia mourns the loss of Dirce; Argos, Amymone;
Corinth, her Pirenian spring. Nor do rivers, whose
lot had given them more spacious channels, remain
unscathed. The Don’s waters steam; old Peneus,
too, Mysian Cai'cus, and swift Ismenus ; and Arcadian
Erymanthus, Xanthus, destined once again to burn;
tawny Lycormas, and Maeander, playing along upon
its winding way ; Thracian Melas and Laconian Euro—
tas. Babylonian Euphrates burns; Orontes burns,
and swift Thermodon; the Ganges, Phasis, Danube;
Alpheus boils; Spercheos’ banks are aﬂame. The
golden sands of Tagus melt in the intense heat, and
the swans, which had been wont to throng the
Maeonian streams in tuneful company, are scorched
in mid Cayster. The Nile ﬂed in terror to the ends
of the earth, and hid its head, and it is hidden yet.
The seven mouths lie empty, ﬁlled with dust; .seven
77
OVID
fors eadem Ismarios Hebrum cum Strymone siccat
Hesperiosque amnes, Rhenum Rhodanumque
Padumque '
cuique fuit rerum promissa potentia, Thybrin.
dissilit omne solumn, penetratque in Tartara rimis 260
lumen et~infernum terret cum coniuge regem;
et mare contrahitur siccaeque est campus harenae,
quod modo pontus erat, quosque altum texerat
aequor,
exsistunt montes et sparsas Cycladas augent.
ima petunt pisces, nec se super aequora curvi 265
tollere consuetas audent delphines in auras;
corpora phocarum summo resupina profundo
exanimata natant: ipsum quoque Nerea fama est
Doridaque et natas tepidis latuisse sub antris.
ter Neptunus aquis cum torvo bracchia vultu 270
exserere‘ ausus erat, ter non tulit aeris ignes.
Alma tamen Tellus, ut erat circumdata ponto,
inter aquas pelagi contractosque undique fontes,
qui se condiderant in opacae viscera matris,
sustulit oppressos collo tenus arida vultus 275
opposuitque manum fronti magnoque tremore
omnia concutiens paullum subsedit et infra,
quam solet esse, fuit sacraque ita voce locuta est:
“ si placet hoc meruique, quid o tua fulmina cessant,
summe deu'm? liceat periturae viribus ignis 280
igne perire tuo clademque auctore 'levare!
vix equidem fauces haec ipsa in verba resolvo ”;
(presserat ora vapor) “ tostos en adspice crines
78
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
broad channels, all without a stream. The same
mischance dries up the Thracian rivers, Hebrus and
Strymon; also the rivers of the west, the Rhine,
Rhone, Po, and the Tiber, to whom had been pro-
mised the mastery of the world. Great cracks
yawn everywhere, and the light, penetrating to the
lower world, strikes terror into the infernal king and
his consort. Even the sea shrinks up, and what was
but now a great, watery expanse is a dry plain of
sand. The mountains, which the deep sea had
covered before, spring forth, and increase the num-
bers of the scattered Cyclades. The ﬁsh dive to the
lowest depths, and the dolphins no longerdare to
leap curving above the surface of the sea into their
wonted air. The dead bodies of sea—calves ﬂoat, with
upturned belly, on the water’s top. They say that
Nereus himself and Doris and her daughters were
hot as they lay hid in their caves. Thrice Neptune
essayed to lift his arms and august face from out the
water; thrice did he desist, unable to bear the ﬁery
atmosphere.
Not so all-fostering Earth, who, encircled as she
was by sea,amid the waters of the deep, amid her fast—
contracting streams which had crowded into her dark
bowels and hidden there, though parched by heat,
heaved up her smothered face. Raising her shielding
hand to her brow and causing all things to shake with
her mighty trembling, she sank back a little lower
than her wonted place, and then in awful tones she
spoke: “ If this is thy will, and I have deserved all
this, why, O king of all the gods, are thy lightnings
idle? If I must die by ﬁre, oh, let me perish by thy
ﬁre and lighten my suffering by thought of him who
sent it. I scarce can open my lips to speak these
words "-the hot smoke was choking her——“ See my
79
OVID
inque oculis tantum, tantum super ora favillae!
hosne mihi fruetus, hunc fertilitatis honorem 285
ofﬁciique refers, quod adunci vulnera aratri
rastrorumque fero totoque exereeor anno,
quod pecori frondes alimentaque mitia, fruges,
humano generi, vobis quoque tura ministro?
sed tamen exitium fae me meruisse: quid undae,
quid meruit frater? cur illi tradita sorte 291
aequora decrescunt et ab aethere longius absunt?
quodsi nee fratris nee te mea gratia tangit,
at caeli miserere tui! circumspice utrumque:
fumat uterque polus! quos si vitiaverit ignis, 295
atria vestra ruent! Atlans en ipse laborat
vixque suis umeris candentem sustinet axem!
si freta, si terrae pereunt, si regia caeli,
in chaos antiquum confundimur! eripe flammis, 299
si quid adhuc superest, et rerum consule summae! ”
Dixerat haec Tellus: neque enim tolerare vaporem
ulterius potuit nee dieere plura suumque
rettulit os in se propioraque manibus antra;
at pater omnipotens, superos testatus et ipsum,
qui dederat currus, nisi opem ferat, omnia fato 305
interitura gravi, summam petit arduus arcem,
unde solet nubes latis inducere terris,
unde movet tonitrus vibrataque fulmina iaetat;
sed neque quas posset terris inducere nubes
tunc habuit, nec quos caelo dimitteret imbres : 310
intonat et dextra libratum fulmen ab aure
misit in aurigam pariterque animaque rotisque
8o
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
singed hair and all ashes in my eyes, all ashes 'over
my face. Is this the return, this the reward thou
payest of my fertility and dutifulness ? that I bear the
wounds of the crooked plow and mattock, tormented
year in, year out? that I provide kindly pasturage for
the ﬂocks, grain for mankind, incense for the altars of
the gods? But, grant that I have deserved destruc—
tion, what has the sea, what has thy brother done?
Why are the waters which fell to him by the third lot
so shrunken, and so much further from thy sky? But
if no consideration for thy brother nor yet for me has
weight with thee, at least have pity on thy own
heavens. Look around: the heavens are smoking
from pole to pole. If the ﬁre shall weaken these, the
homes of the gods will fall in ruins. See, Atlas him-
self is troubled and can scarce bear up the white—hot’
vault upon his shoulders. If the sea perish and the
land and the realms of the sky, then are we hurled
back to primeval chaos. Save from the ﬂames what-
ever yet remains and take thought for the‘ safety of
the universe.”
So spoke the Earth and ceased, for she could no
longer endure the heat; and she retreated into her—
self and into the depths nearer the land of shades.
But the Almighty Father, calling on the gods to
witness and him above all who had given the chariot,
that unless he bring aid all things will perish by a
grievous doom, mounts on high to the top of heaven,.
whence it is his wont to spread the clouds over the
broad lands, whence he stirs his thunders and ﬂings
his hurtling bolts. But now he has no clouds where—
with to overspread the earth, nor any rains to send
down from the sky. He thundered, and, balancing in
his right hand a bolt, ﬂung it from beside the ear at
the charioteer and hurled him from the car and from
VOL. I. D
81
OVI D
expulit et saevis conpescuit ignibus ignes.
consternantur equi et saltu in contraria facto
colla iugo eripiunt abruptaque lora relinquunt: 315
illic frena iacent, illic temone revulsus
axis, in hac radii fractarum parte rotarum
sparsaque sunt late laceri vestigia currus.
At Phaethon rutilos ﬂamma populante capillos
volvitur in praeceps longoque per aera tractu 320
fertur, ut interdum de caelo stella sereno
etsi non cecidit, potuit cecidisse videri.
quem procul a patria diverso maximus orbe
excipit Eridanus fumantiaque abluit ora.
Naides Hesperiae triﬁda fumantia flamma 325
corpora dant tumulo, signant quoque carmine saxum:
HIC ' SITVS ' EST ' PHAETHON ' CVRRVS ' AVHIGA ' PATERNI
QVEM ' SI ' NON ' TENVIT ' MAGNIS ' TAMEN ' EXCIDIT ‘ AVSIS
Nam pater obductos luctu miserabilis aegro
condiderat vultus, et, si modo credimus, unum 330
isse diem sine sole ferunt: incendia lumen
praebebant aliquisque malo fuit usus in illo.
at Clymene postquam dixit, quaecumque fuerunt
in tantis dicenda malis, lugubris et amens
et laniata sinus totum percensuit orbem 335
exanimesque artus primo, mox ossa requirens
repperit ossa tamen peregrina condita ripa
incubuitque loco nomenque in marmore lectum
perfudit lacrimis et aperto pectore fovit.
nec minus Heliades ﬂetus et inania morti 340
82
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
life as well, and thus quenched ﬁre with blasting
ﬁre. The maddened horses leap apart, wrench their
necks from the yoke, and break away from the parted
reins. Here lie the reins, there the axle torn from
the pole; in another place the spokes of the broken
wheels, and fragments of the wrecked chariot are
scattered far and wide.
But Phaéthon, ﬁre ravaging his ruddy hair, is hurled
headlong and falls with a long trail through the air;
as sometimes a star from the clear heavens, although
it does not fall, still seems to fall. Him far from his
native land, in another quarter of the globe, Eridanus
receives and bathes his steaming face. The N aiads in
that western land consign his body, still smoking with
the ﬂames of that forked bolt, to the tomb and carve
this epitaph upon his stone:
HERE PHAETHoN LIEs: 1N PHoEBUs’ CAR HE FARED,
AND THOUGH HE GREATLY FAILED, MORE GREATLY DARED.
The wretched father, sick with grief, hid his face;
and, if we are to believe report, one whole day went
without the sun. But the burning world gave light,
and so even in that disaster was there some service.
But Clymene, after she had spoken whatever could
be spoken in such woe, melancholy and distraught and
tearing her breast, wandered over the whole earth,
seeking ﬁrst his lifeless limbs, then his bones; his
bones at last she found, but buried on a river-bank
in a foreign land. Here she prostrates herself upon
the tomb, drenches the dear name carved in the
marble with her tears, and fondles it against her
breast. The Heliades, her daughters, join in her
lamentation, and pour out their tears in useless
tribute to the dead. With bruising hands beating
83
OVID
munera dant, lacrimas, et caesae pectora palmis
non auditurum miseras Phaethonta querellas
noete dieque vocant adsternunturque sepulero.
luna quater iunetis inplerat cornibus orbem;
illae more suo (nam morem fecerat usus) 345
plangorem dederant: e quis Phaethusa, sororum
maxima, cum vellet terra procumbere, questa est
deriguisse pedes; ad quam eonata venire
candida Lampetie subita radice retenta est;
tertia, cum crinem manibus laniare pararet, 350
avellit frondes; haec stipite crura teneri,
illa dolet ﬁeri longos sua braechia ramos,
dumque ea mirantur, conpleetitur inguina cortex
perque gradus uterum pectusque umerosque manusque
ambit, et exstabant tantum ora vocantia matrem. 355
quid faciat mater, nisi, quo trahat inpetus illam,
hue eat atque illuc et, dum licet, oscula iungat?
non satis est: truneis avellere corpora temptat
et teneros manibus ramos abrumpit, at inde
sanguineae manant tamquam de vulnere guttae. 360
“ parce, preeor, mater, ’ ’ quaecumque est saucia, elamat,
“ parce, precor: nostrum laeeratur in arbore corpus
iamque vale ”—cortex in verba novissima venit.
inde fluunt lacrimae, stillataque sole rigescunt
de ramis electra novis, quae lucidus amnis 365
exeipit et nuribus mittit gestanda Latinis.
Adfuit huie monstro proles Stheneleia Cygnus,
qui tibi materno quamvis a sanguine iunctus,
mente tamen, Phaethon, propior fuit. ille relieto
84
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
their naked breasts, they call night and day upon
their brother, who nevermore will hear their sad
laments, and prostrate themselves upon his sepulchre.
Four times had the moon with waxing crescents
reached her full orb ; but they, as was their habit (for
use had established habit), were mourning still. Then
one day the eldest, Phaéthusa, when she would
throw herself upon the grave, complained that her
feet had grown cold and stark; and when the fair
Lampetia tried to come to her, she was held fast as
by sudden roots. A third, making to tear her hair,
found her hands plucking at foliage. One com-
plained that her ankles were encased in wood,
another that her arms were changing to long
branches. And while they look on those things in
amazement bark closes round their loins, and, by
degrees, their waists, breasts, shoulders, hands; and
all that was free were their lips calling upon their
mother. What can the frantic mother do but run,
as impulse carries her, now here, now there, and
print kisses on their lips? That is not enough:
she tries to tear away the bark from their bodies and
breaks off slender twigs with her hands. But as she
does this bloody drops trickle forth as from a wound.
And each one, as she is wounded, cries out: “ Oh,
spare me, mother; spare, I beg you. ’Tis my body
that you are tearing in the tree. And now fare-
well ”—the bark closed over her latest words. Still
their tears ﬂow on, and these tears, hardened into
amber by the sun, drop down from the new—made
trees. The clear river receives them and bears them
onward, one day to be worn by the brides of Rome.
Cycnus, the son of Sthenelus, was a witness of this
miracle. Though he was kin to you, O Phaéthon,
by his mother’s blood, he was more closely joined in
85
OVID
(nam Ligurum populos et magnas rexerat urbes) 370
imperio ripas virides amnemque querellis
Eridanum inplerat silvamque sororibus auctam,
cum vox est tenuata viro canaeque capillos
dissimulant plumae collumque a pectore longe
porrigitur digitosque ligat iunctura rubentis, 375
penna latus velat, tenet os sine acumine rostrum.
ﬁt nova Cygnus avis nec se caeloque Iovique
tradit, ut iniuste missi memor ignis ab illo;
stagna petit patulosque lacus ignemque perosus
quae colat elegit contraria ﬁumina ﬂammis. 380
Squalidus interea genitor Phaethontis et expers
ipse sui decoris, qualis, cum deﬁcit orbem,
esse solet, lucemque odit seque ipse diemque
datque animum in luctus et luctibus adicit iram
oﬂiciumque negat mundo. “ satis ”inquit“ ab aevi 385
sors mea principiis fuit inrequieta, pigetque
actorum sine ﬁne mihi, sine honore laborum!
quilibet alter agat portantes lumina currus !
si nemo est omnesque dei non posse fatentur,
ipse agat ut saltem, dum nostras temptat habenas, 390
orbatura patres aliquando fulmina ponat!
tum sciet ignipedum vires expertus equorum
non meruisse necem, qui non bene rexerit illos.”
Talia dicentem circumstant omnia Solem
numina, neve velit tenebras inducere rebus, 395
supplice voce rogant; missos quoque Iuppiter
ignes
excusat precibusque minas regaliter addit.
86
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
affection. He, abandoning his kingdom—for he ruled
over the peoples and great cities of Liguria—went
weeping and lamenting along the green banks of the
Eridanus, and through the woods which the sisters
had increased. And as he went his voice became
thin and shrill; white plumage hid his hair and his
neck stretched far out from his breast. A web-like
membrane joined his reddened ﬁngers, wings clothed
his sides, and a blunt beak his mouth. So Cycnus
became a strange new bird—the swan. But he did
not trust himself to the upper air and Jove, since he
remembered the ﬁery bolt which the god had un-
justly hurled. His favourite haunts were the still
pools and spreading lakes; and, hating ﬁre, he
chose the water for his home, as the opposite of
ﬂame.
Meanwhile Phoebus sits in gloomy mourning garb,
shorn of his brightness, just as when he is darkened
by eclipse. He hates himself and the light of day,
gives over his soul to grief, to grief adds rage, and
refuses to do service to the world. “ Enough,” he
says; “ from time’s beginning has my lot been unrest-
ful; I am weary of my endless and unrequited toils.
Let any else who chooses drive the chariot of light.
If no one will, and all the gods confess that it is beyond
their power, let Jove himself do it, that, sometime at
least, while he essays to grasp my reins, he may la
aside the bolts that are destined to rob fathers of
their boys. Then will he know, when he has himself
tried the strength of those ﬁery-footed steeds, that he
who failed to guide them well did not deserve death.”
As he thus speaks all the gods stand around him,
and beg him humbly not to plunge the world in dark—
ness. Jove himself seeks to excuse the bolt he
hurled, and to his prayers adds threats in royal style.
87
OVI D
eolligit amentes et adhue terrore paventes
Phoebus equos stimuloque dolens et verbere saevit;
saevit, erum1 natumque obieetat et inputat illis. 400
At pater omnipotens ingentia moenia caeli
circuit et, ne quid labefactum viribus ignis
eorruat, explorat. quae postquam ﬁrma suique
roboris esse videt, terras hominumque labores
perspieit. Areadiae tamen est inpensior illi 405
eura suae: fontesque et nondum audentia labi
ﬂumina restituit, dat terrae gramina, frondes
arboribus, laesasque iubet revireseere silvas.
dum redit itque frequens, in virgine Nonacrina
haesit, et aecepti caluere sub ossibus ignes. 410
non erat huius opus lanam mollire trahendo
nee positu variare comas; ubi ﬁbula vestem,
vitta coercuerat negleetos alba capillos;
et modo leve manu iaculum, modo sumpserat
arcum,
miles erat Phoebes: nee Maenalon attigit ulla 415
gratior hac Triviae; sed nulla potentia longa est.
Ulterius medio spatium sol altus habebat,
cum subit illa nemus, quod nulla eeeiderat aetas;
‘exuit hie umero pharetram lentosque retendit
arcus inque solo, quod texerat herba, iaeebat 420
et pictam posita pharetram cervice premebat.
Iuppiter ut vidit fessam et eustode vacantem,
“ hoe certe furtum eoniunx mea neseiet ” inquit,
“ aut si rescierit, sunt, o sunt iurgia tanti! ”
1 erum M erlcel : enim MSS.
8.8
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
Then Phoebus yokes his team again, wild and
trembling still with fear; and, in his grief, ﬁercely
plies them with lash and goad, ﬁercely he plies them,
reproaching and taxing them with the death of their
master, his son.
But now the Almighty Father makes a round of
the great battlements of heaven and examines to see
if anything has been loosened by the might of ﬁre.
When he sees that these are ﬁrm with their immortal
strength, he inspects the earth and the affairs of men.
Yet Arcadia, above all, is his more earnest care. He
restores her springs and rivers, which hardly dare as
yet to ﬂow; he gives grass again to the ground,
leaves to the trees, and bids the damaged forests
grow green again. And as he came and went upon
his tasks he chanced to see a certain Arcadian
nymph, and Straightway the ﬁre he caught grew hot
to his very marrow. She had no need to spin soft
wools nor to arrange her hair in studied elegance. A
simple brooch fastened her gown and a white ﬁllet
held her loose-ﬂowing hair. And in this garb, now
with a spear, and now a bow in her hand, was she
arrayed as one of Phoebe’s warriors. Nor was any
nymph who roamed over the slopes of Maenalus in
higher favour with her goddess than was she. But no
favour is of long duration.
The sun was high o’erhead, just beyond his zenith,
when the nymph entered the forest that all years had
left unfelled. Here she took her quiver from her
shoulder, unstrung her tough bow, and lay down upon
the grassy ground, with her head pillowed on her
painted quiver. When Jove saw her there, tired out
and unprotected: “Here, surely,” he said, “ my
consort will know nothing of my guile; or if she
learn it, well bought are taunts at such a price.”
89
OVID
protinus induitur faciem cultumque Dianae 425
atque ait: “ o comitum, virgo, pars una mearum,
in quibus es venata iugis? ” de caespite virgo
se levat et “ salve numen, me iudice ” dixit,
“ audiat ipse licet, maius Iove.” ridet et audit
et sibi praeferri se gaudet et oscula iungit, 430
nec moderata satis nec sic a virgine danda.
qua venata foret silva, narrare parantem
inpedit amplexu nec se sine crimine prodit.
illa quidem contra, quantum modo femina posset
(adspiceres utinam, Saturnia, mitior esses), 435
illa quidem pugnat, sed quem superare puella,
quisve Iovem poterat? superum petit aethera victor
Iuppiter: huic odio nemus est et conscia silva;
unde pedem referens paene est oblita pharetram
tollere cum telis et quem suspenderat arcum. 440
Ecce, suo comitata choro Dictynna per altum
Maenalon ingrediens et caede superba ferarum
adspicit hanc visamque vocat: clamata refugit
et timuit primo, ne Iuppiter esset in illa;
sed postquam pariter nymphas incedere vidit, 445
sensit abesse dolos numerumque accessit ad harum.
heu! quam difﬁcile est crimen non prodere vultu!
vix oculos attollit humo nec, ut ante solebat,
iuncta deae lateri nec toto est agmine prima,
sed silet et laesi dat signa rubore pudoris; 450
et, nisi quod virgo est, poterat sentire Diana
mille notis culpam: nymphae sensisse feruntur.
orbe resurgebant lunaria cornua nono,
90
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
Straightway he put on the features and dress of
Diana and said: “ Dear maid, best loved of all my
followers, where hast thou been hunting to-day? ”
The maiden arose from her grassy couch and said:
“ Hail thou, my goddess, greater far than Jove, I say,
though he himself should hear.” Jove laughed to
hear her, rejoicing to be prized more highly than
himself; and he kissed her lips, not modestly, nor as
a maiden kisses. When she began to tell him in
what woods her hunt had been, he broke in upon her
story with an embrace, and by this outrage betrayed
himself. She, in truth, struggled against him with
all her girlish might—hadst thou been there to see,
Saturnia, thy judgment were more kind !-——but whom
could a girl o’ercome, or who could prevail against
Jove? Jupiter won the day, and went back to the
sky; she loathed the forest and the woods that knew
her secret. As she retraced her path she almost for—
got to take up the quiver with its arrows, and the
bow she had hung up.
But see, Diana, with her train of nymphs, ap—
proaches along the slopes of Maenalus, proud of her
trophies of the chase. She sees our maiden and calls
to her. At ﬁrst she ﬂees in fear, lest this should be
Jove in disguise again. But when she sees the other
nymphs coming too, she is reassured and joins the
band. Alas, how hard it is not to betray a guilty
conscience in the face! She walks with downcast
eyes, not, as was her wont, close to her goddess, and
leading all the rest. Her silence and her blushes
give clear tokens of her plight; and, were not Diana
herself a maid, she could know her guilt by a thou?
sand signs ; it is said that the nymphs knew it. Nine
times since then the crescent moon had grown full
orbed, when the goddess, worn with the chase and
91
OVID
cum dea venatu fraternis languida flammis,
nacta nemus gelidum, de quo cum murmure labens
ibat et attritas versabat rivus harenas. 456
ut loca laudavit, summas pede contigit undas;
his quoque laudatis “ procul est” ait “arbiter omnis:
nuda superfusis tinguamus corporalymphis I ”
Parrhasis erubuit; cunetae velamina ponunt; 460
una moras quaerit: dubitanti vestis adempta est,
qua posita nudo patuit cum corpore erimen.
attonitae manibusque uterum eelare volenti
“ i procul hine " dixit “ nee sacros pollue fontis! ”
Cynthia deque suo iussit secedere eoetu. 465
Senserat hoe olim magni matrona Tonantis
distuleratque graves in idonea tempora poenas.
eausa morae nulla est, et iam puer Areas (id ipsum
indoluit Iuno) fuerat de paeliee natus.
quo simul obvertit saevam cum lumine mentem, 470
“ seilicet hoe etiam restabat, adultera ” dixit,
‘ ut feeunda fores, ﬁeretque iniuria partu
nota, Iovisque mei testatum dedecus esset.
haud inpune feres: adimam tibi namque ﬁguram,
qua tibi, quaque places nostro, inportuna, marito.”
dixit et adversam prensis a fronte eapillis 476
stravit humi pronam. tendebat braeehia supplex :
braeehia eoeperunt nigris horreseere villis
curvarique manus et aduneos erescere in unguis
ofﬁeioque pedum fungi laudataque quondam 480
ora Iovi lato ﬁeri deformia rietu.
neve preces animos et verba precantia ﬂeetant,
posse loqui eripitur: vox iraeunda minaxque
plenaque terroris raueo de gutture fertur;
92
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
overcome by the hot sun ’s rays, came to a cool grove
through which a gently murmuring stream ﬂowed
over its smooth sands. The place delighted her and
she dipped her feet into the water. Delighted too
with this, she said to her companions: “ Come, no
one is near to see; let us disrobe and bathe us in
the brook.” The Arcadian blushed, and, while all
the rest obeyed, she only sought excuses for delay.
But her companions forced her to comply, and there
her shame was openly confessed. As she stood terror-
stricken,vainly striving to hide her state, Diana cried:
“ Begone ! and pollute not our sacredpool ” ; and so
expelled her from her company.
The great Thunderer’s wife had known all this
long since; but she had put off her vengeance until
a ﬁtting time. And now that time was come; for,
to add a sting to J uno’s hate, a boy, Arcas, had
been born of her rival. Whereto when she turned
her angry mind and her angry eyes, “ See there! ”
she cried, “ nothing was left, adulteress, than to
breed a son, and publish my wrong by his birth, a
living witness to my lord’s shame. But thou shalt
suffer for it. Yea, for I will take away thy beauty
wherewith thou dost delight thyself, forward girl, and
him who is my husband.” So saying, she caught her
by the hair full in front and ﬂung her face-foremost to
the ground. And when the girl stretched out her arms
in prayer for mercy, her arms began to grow rough
with black shaggy hair; her hands changed into feet
tipped. with sharp claws ; and her lips, which but now
Jove had praised, were changed to broad, ugly jaws;
and, that she might not move him with entreating
prayers, her power of speech was taken from her, and
only a harsh, terrifying growl came hoarsely from her
throat. Still her human feelings remained, though
93
OVID
mens antiqua manet, (facta quoque mansit in ursa)
adsiduoque suos gemitu testata dolores 486
qualescumque manus ad caelum et sidera tollit
ingratumque Iovem, nequeat cum dicere, sentit.
a! quotiens, sola non ausa quiescere silva,
ante domum quondamque suis erravit in agris! 490
a! quotiens per saxa canum latratibus acta est
venatrixque metu venantum territa fugit!
saepe feris latuit visis, oblita quid esset,
ursaque conspectos in montibus horruit ursos
pertimuitque lupos, quamvis pater esset in illis. 495
Ecce Lycaoniae proles ignara parentis,
Arcas adest ter quinque fere natalibus actis;
dumque feras sequitur, dum saltus eligit aptos
nexilibusque plagis silvas Erymanthidas ambit,
incidit in matrem, quae restitit Arcade viso 500
et cognoscenti similis fuit: ille refugit
inmotosque oculos in se sine ﬁne tenentem
nescius extimuit propiusque accedere aventi
vulniﬁco fuerat ﬁxurus pectora telo:
arcuit omnipotens pariterque ipsosque nefasque 505
sustulit et pariter raptos per inania vento
inposuit caelo vicinaque sidera fecit.
Intumuit Iuno, postquam inter sidera paelex
fulsit, et ad canam descendit in aequora Tethyn
()ceanumque senem, quorum reverentia movit 510
saepe deos, causamque viae scitantibus inﬁt:
“ quaeritis, aetheriis quare regina deorum
94
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
she was now a bear; with constant moanings she
shows her grief, stretches up such hands as are left
her to the heavens, and, though she cannot speak,
still feels the ingratitude of Jove. Ah, how often,
not daring to lie down in the lonely woods, she
wandered before her home and in the ﬁelds that had
once been hers ! How often was she driven over the
rocky ways by the baying of hounds and, huntress
though she was, ﬂed in aﬂ‘right before the hunters!
Often she hid at sight of the wild beasts, forgetting
what she was ; and, though herself a bear, shuddered
at sight of other bears which she saw on the mountain—
slopes. She even feared the wolves, although her
own father, Lycaon, ran with the pack.
And now Areas, Lycaon’s grandson, had reached
his ﬁfteenth year, ignorant of his mother’s plight.
While he was hunting the wild beasts, seeking out
their favourite haunts, hemming the Arcadian woods
with his close—wrought nets, he chanced upon his
mother, who stopped still at sight of Areas, and
seemed like one that recognized him. He shrank
back at those unmoving eyes that were ﬁxed for ever
upon him, and feared he knew not what; and when
she tried to come nearer,he was just in the act of pierc-
ing her breast with his wound-dealing spear. But the
Omnipotent stayed his hand, and together he removed
both themselves and the crime, and together caught
up through the void in a whirlwind, he set them in
the heavens and made them neighbouring stars.
Then indeed did Juno’s wrath wax hotter still
when she saw her rival shining in the sky, and
straight went down to Tethys, venerable goddess of
the sea, and to old Ocean, whom oft the gods hold in
reverence. When they asked her the cause of her
coming, she began: “ Do you ask me why I, the
95
OVID
s'ed‘ib'us hue adsim? pro me tenet altera caelum! "
mentior, obscurum nisi nox'cum fecerit orbem,
nuper honoratas summo, mea vulnera, caelo 515
videritis stellas illie, ubi eirculus axem
ultimus extremum spatioque brevissimus ambit.
et vero quisquam Iunonem laedere nolit
offensamque tremat, quae prosum sola noeendo? 519
o ego quantum egi! quam vasta potentia nostra est!
esse hominem vetui: facta est dea! sic ego poenas
sontibus inpono, sic est mea magna potestas!
vindicet antiquam faciem vultusque ferinos
detrahat, Argoliea quod in ante Phoronide fecit
cur non et pulsa dueit Iunone meoque 525
eolloeat in thalamo soeerumque Lycaona sumit?
at vos si laesae tangit eontemptus alumnae,
gurgite caeruleo septem prohibete triones
sideraque in caelo stupri mercede reeepta
pellite, ne puro tinguatur in aequore paelex! ” 530
Di maris adnuerant: habili Saturnia curru
ingreditur liquidum pavonibus aethera pietis,
tam nuper pictis eaeso pavonibus Argo,
quam tu nuper eras, cum eandidus ante fuisses,
eorv_eploquax,.subito nigrantis versus in alas. 535
nam fuit haee quondam niveis argentea pennis
ales, ut'aequaret totas sine 1abe eolumbas,
nec'servaturis vigil Capitolia voce
eederet anseribus nee amanti ﬂumina eygno.
lingua fuit damno: lingua faciente loquaei 540
qui color albus erat, nune est eontrarius albo.
96
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
queen of heaven, am here? Anotherf queen has
usurped my heaven. Count my word false if to—
night, when darkness has obscured the sky, you see
not new constellations fresh set, to outrage me, in
the place of honour in highest heaven, where the
last and shortest circle encompasses the utmost pole.
And is there any reason now why anyone should
hesitate to insult Juno and should fear my wrath,
who do but help where I would harm? Oh, what
great things have I accomplished! What unbounded
power is mine! She whom I drove out of human
form has now become a goddess. So do I punish
those who wrong me! Such is my vaunted might!
It only remains for him to release her from her
bestial form and restore her former features, as he
did once before in Argive Io’s case. Why, now that
I am deposed, should he not wed and set her in my
chamber, and become Lycaon’s son-in—law? But do
you, if the- insult to your foster-child moves you,
debar these bears from your green pools, disown stars
which have gained heaven at the price of shame, and
let not that harlot bathe in your pure stream.”
The gods of the sea granted her prayer, and
Saturnia, mounting her swift chariot, was borne back
through the yielding air by her gaily decked pea-
cocks, peacocks but lately decked with the slain
Argus’ eyes, at the same time ‘that thy plumage,
talking raven, though white before,had been suddenly
changed to black. For he had once been a bird of
silvery-white plumage, so that he rivalled the spotless
doves, nor yielded to the geese which one day were
to save the Capitol with their watchful cries, nor to the
river-loving swan. But his tongue was his undoing.
Through his tongue’s fault the talking bird, which
once was white, was now the opposite of white.
97
OVID
Pulchrior in tota quam Larisaea Coronis
non fuit Haemonia: placuit tibi, Delphice, certe,
dum vel casta fuit vel inobservata, sed ales
sensit adulterium Phoebeius, utque latentem 545
detegeret culpam, non exorabilis index,
ad dominum tendebat iter. quem garrula motis
consequitur pennis, scitetur ut omnia, cornix
auditaque viae causa “ non utile carpis ”
inquit “iter: ne sperne meae praesagia linguae! 550
quid fuerim quid simque vide meritumque require:
invenies nocuisse ﬁdem. nam tempore quodam
Pallas Erichthonium, prolem sine matre creatam,
clauserat Actaeo texta de vimine cista
virginibusique tribus gemin-o de Cecrope natis 555
et legem dederat, sua ne secreta viderent.
abdita fronde levi densa speculabar ab ulmo,
quid facerent: commissa duae sine fraude tuentur,
Pandrosos atque Herse; timidas vocat una sorores
Aglauros nodosque manu diducit, et intus 560
infantemque vident adporrectumque draconem.
acta deae refero. pro quo mihi gratia talis
redditur, ut dicar tutela pulsa Minervae
et ponar post noctis avem! mea poena volucres
admonuisse potest, ne voce pericula quaerant. 565
at, puto, non ultro nequiquam tale rogantem
me petiit !——ipsa licet hoc a Pallade quaeras :
quamvis irata est, non hoc irata negabit.
98
MET AMORPHOSES BOOK II
In all Thessaly there was no fairer maid than
Coronis of Larissa. She surely found favour in thy
eyes, O Delphic god, so long as she was chaste—or
undetected. But the bird of Phoebus discovered her
unchastity, and was posting with all speed, hard-
hearted tell—tale, to his master to disclose the sin he
had spied out. The gossiping crow followed him on
ﬂapping wings and asked the news. But when he
heard the real object of the trip he said: “ ’Tis
no proﬁtable journey you are taking, my friend.
Scorn not the forewarning of my tongue. See
what I used to be and what I am now, and then
ask the reason for it. You will ﬁnd that good faith
was my undoing. Once upon a time a child was
born, named Erichthonius, a child without a mother.
Him Pallas hid in a box woven of Actaean osiers,
and gave this to the three daughters of double-shaped
Cecrops, with the strict command not to look upon her
secret. Hidden in the light leaves that grew thick
over an elm, I set myself to watch what they would
do. Two of the girls, Pandrosos and Herse, watched
the box in good faith, but the third, Aglauros, called
her sisters cowards, and with her hand undid the
fastenings. And within they saw a baby—boy and
a snake stretched out beside him. I went and be-
trayed them to the goddess, and for my pains I was
turned out of my place as Minerva’s attendant and
put after the bird of night! My punishment ought
to be a warning to all birds not to invite trouble by
talking too much. But perhaps (do you say?) she
did not seek me out of her own accord, when I asked
no such thing? Well, you may ask Pallas herself.
Though she be angry with me now, she will not deny
that, for all her anger. It is a well—known story.
I once was a king’s daughter, child of the famous
99
OVID
nam me Phoeaiea clarus tellure Coroneus
(nota loquor) genuit, fueramque ego regia virgo 570
divitibusque proeis (me me contemne) petebar:
forma mihi nocuit. nam cum per litora lentis
passibus, ut soleo. summa spatiarer harena,
vidit et incaluit pelagi deus, utque preeando
tempora cum blandis absumpsit inania verbis, 575
vim parat et sequitur. fugio densumque relinquo
litus et in molli nequiquam lassor harena.
inde deos hominesque voeo; nee contigit ullum
vox mea mortalem: mota est pro virgine virgo
auxiliumque tulit. tendebam braechia caelo: 580
braechia eoeperunt levibus nigreseere pennis;
reieere ex umeris vestem molibar, at illa
pluma erat inque eutem radiees egerat imas;
plangere nuda meis eonabar pectora palmis,
sed neque iam palmas nee pectora nuda gerebam;
currebam, nee, ut ante, pedes retinebat harena, 586
sed summa tollebar humo; mox alta per auras
evehor et data sum comes ineulpata Minervae.
quid tamen hoe prodest, si diro facta volucris
erimine Nyetimene nostro suecessit honori? 590
an quae per totam res est notissima Lesbon,
non audita tibi est, patrium temerasse eubile
Nyetimenen? avis illa quidem, sed eonscia eulpae
eonspeetum lucemque fugit tenebrisque pudorem
eelat et a cunctis expellitur aethere toto.” 595
Talia dieenti “ tibi ” ait “ revocamina ” eorvus
“ sint, preeor, ista malo : nos vanum spernimus omen.”
IOO
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
Coroneus in the land of Phocis, and—nay, scorn me
not—rich suitors sought me in marriage. But my
beauty proved my bane. For once, while I paced,
as is my wont, along the shore with slow steps over
the sa-nd’s top, the god of the ocean saw me and
grew hot. And when his prayers and coaxing words
proved but waste of time, he offered force and
pursued. I ran from him, leaving the hard-packed
beach, and was quickly worn out, but all to no
purpose, in the soft sand beyond. Then I cried out
for help to gods and men, but my cries reached no
mortal car. But the virgin goddess heard a virgin’s
prayer and came to my aid. I was stretching my
arms to heaven, when my arms began to darken with
light feathers. I strove to cast my mantle from my
shoulders, but it was feathers, too, which had already
struck their roots deep into my skin. I tried to beat
my bare breasts with my hands, but I found I had
now neither breasts nor hands. I would run; and
now the sand did not retard my feet as before, but I
skimmed lightly along the top of the ground, and
soon I ﬂoated on the air, soaring high; and so I was
given to Minerva to be her blameless comrade. But
of what use was that to me, if, after all, Nyctimene,
who was changed into a bird because of her vile sins,
has been put in my place? Or have you not heard
the tale all Lesbos knows too well, how Nyctimene
outraged the sanctity of her father’s bed? And, bird
though she now is, still, conscious of her guilt, 'she
ﬂees the sight of men and light of day, and tries to
hide her shame in darkness, outcast by all from the
whole radiant sky.” 7 ‘
In reply to all this the raven said: “ On your own
head, I pray, be the evil that warning portends; I
scorn the idle presage,” continued on his way to his
101
OVID ‘
nec coeptum dimittit iter dominoque iacentem
cum iuvene Haemonio vidisse Coronida narrat.
laurea delapsa est audito crimine amantis, 600
et pariter vultusque deo plectrumque colorque
excidit, utque animus tumida fervebat ab ira,
arma adsueta capit ﬂexumque a cornibus arcum
tendit et illa suo totiens cum pectore iuncta
indevitato traiecit pectora telo. 605
icta dedit gemitum tractoque a corpore ferro
candida puniceo perfudit membra cruore
et dixit: “ potui poenas tibi, Phoebe, dedisse,
sed peperisse prius; duo nunc moriemur in una.”
hactenus, et pariter vitam cum sanguine fudit; 610
corpus inane animae frigus letale secutum est.
Paenitet heu! sero pocnae crudelis amantem,
seque, quod audierit, quod sic exarserit, odit;
odit avem, per quam crimen causamque dolendi
scire coactus erat, nec non arcumque manumque 615
odit cumque manu temeraria tela sagittas
conlapsamque fovet seraque ope vincere fata
nititur et medicas exercet inaniter artes.
quae postquam frustra temptata rogumque parari
vidit et arsuros supremis ignibus artus, 620
tum vero gemitus (neque enim caelestia tingui
ora licet lacrimis) alto de corde petitos
edidit, haud aliter quam cum spectante iuvenca
lactentis vituli dextra libratus ab aure
tempora discussit claro cava malleus ictu. 625
102
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
master, and then told him that he had seen Coronis
lying beside the youth of Thessaly. When that
charge was heard the laurel glided from the lover’s
head; together countenance and colour changed, and
the quill dropped from the hand of the god. And as
his heart became hot with swelling anger he seized
his accustomed arms, strung his bent bow from the
horns, and transﬁxed with unerring shaft the bosom
which had been so often pressed to his own. The
smitten maid groaned in agony, and, as the arrow
was drawn out, her white limbs were drenched with
her red blood. “ ’Twas right, O Phoebus,” she said,
“ that I should suffer thus from you, but ﬁrst I should
have borne my child. But now two of us shall die
in one.” And while she spoke her life ebbed out
with her streaming blood, and soon her body, its life
all spent, lay cold in death.
The lover, alas! too late repents his cruel act; he
hates himself because he listened to the tale and was
so quick to break out in wrath. He hates the bird
by which he has been compelled to know the offence
that brought his grief; bow and hand he hates, and
with that hand the hasty arrows too. He fondles
the fallen girl, and too late tries to bring help and
to conquer fate ; but his healing arts are exercised in
vain. When his efforts were of no avail, and he saw
the pyre made ready with the funeral ﬁres which
were to consume her limbs, then indeed—for the
cheeks of the heavenly gods may not be wet'with
tears—from his deep heart he uttered piteous groans;
such groans as the young cow utters when before her
eyes the hammer high poised from beside the right
car crashes with its resounding blow through the
hollow temples of her suckling calf. The god pours
fragrant incense on her unconscious breast, gives her
103
OVID
ut tamen ingratos in pectora fudit odores
et dedit amplexus iniustaque iusta peregit,
non tulit in cineres labi sua Phoebus eosdem
semina, sed natum ﬂammis uteroque parentis
eripuit geminique tulit Chironis in antrum, 630
sperantemque sibi non falsae praemia linguae
inter aves albas vetuit consistere corvum.
Semifer interea divinae stirpis alumno
laetus erat mixtoque oneri gaudebat honore;
ecee venit rutilis umeros proteeta capillis 635
ﬁlia eentauri, quam quandam nympha Charielo
ﬂuminis in rapidi ripis enisa voeavit
Oeyroen: non haee artes contenta paternas
edidicisse fuit, fatorum areana canebat.
ergo ubi vaticinos eoneepit mente furores 640
incaluitque deo, quem elausum pectore habebat,
adspicit infantem “ toto ” que “ salutifer orbi
cresee, puer! ” dixit; “ tibi se mortalia saepe
corpora debebunt, animas tibi reddere ademptas
fas erit, idque semel dis indignantibus ausus 645
vposse dare hoe iterum flamma prohibebere avita,
'eque deo corpus ﬁes exsangue deusque,
'qu'i modo corpus eras, et bis tua fata novabis.
tu quoque, care pater, nune inmortalis et aevis.
omnibus ut maneas nascendi lege ereatus, - 650
posse mori eupies, tum cum eruciabere dirae
sanguine serpentis per saucia membra reeepto;
teque ex aeterno patientem numina mortis
104 ..
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
the last embrace, and performs all the ﬁt offices unﬁtly
for-the dead. But that his own son should perish in
the same funeral ﬁres he cannot brook. He snatched
the unborn child from his mother’s womb and from
the devouring ﬂames, and bore him for safe keeping
to the cave of two—formed Chiron. But the raven,
which had hoped only for reward from his truth-
telling, he forbad to take their place among white
birds.
Meantime the Centaur was rejoicing in his foster—
child of heavenly stock, glad at the honour which the
task brought with it, when 10! there comes his
daughter, her shoulders overmantled with red-gold
locks, whom once the nymph, Chariclo, bearing her
to him upon the banks of the swift stream, had called
thereafter Ocyrhoe. She was not satisﬁed to have
learnt her father’s art, but she sang ‘prophecy.
So when she felt in her soul the prophetic madness,
and was warmed by the divine ﬁre prisoned in her
breast, she looked upon the child and cried: “O child,
health—bringer to the whole world, speed thy growth.
Often shall mortal bodies owe their lives to thee,
and to thee shall it be counted right to restore
the spirits of the departed. But having dared
this once in scorn of the gods, from power to give
life a second time thou shalt be stayed by thy
grandsire’s lightning. So, from a god shalt thou
become but a lifeless corpse; but from this corpse
shalt thou again become a god and twice‘renew thy
fates. Thou also, dear father, who art now im.-
mortal and destined by the law of thy birth to last
through all the ages, shalt some day long for power
to die, when thou shalt be in agony with all thy
limbs burning with the fatal Hydra’s blood. But at
last, from immortal the gods shall make thee capable
{075
OVI D
efficient, triplicesque deae tua ﬁla resolvent.”
restabat fatis aliquid: suspirat ab imis 655
pectoribus, lacrimaeque genis labuntur obortae,
atque ita “ praevertunt ” inquit “ me fata, vetorque
plura loqui, vocisque meae praecluditur usus.
non fuerant artes tanti, quae numinis iram
contraxere mihi : mallem nescisse futura! 660
iam mihi subduci facies humana videtur,
iam cibus herba placet, iam latis currere campis
impetus est: in equam cognataque corpora vertor.
tota tamen quare? pater est mihi nempe biformis.”
talia dicenti pars est extrema querellae 665
intellecta parum confusaque verba fuerunt;
mox nec verba quidem nec equae sonus ille videtur
sed simulantis equam, parvoque in tempore certos
edidit hinnitus et bracchia movit in herbas.
tum digiti coeunt et quinos alligat ungues 670
perpetuo cornu levis ungula, crescit et oris
et colli spatium, longae pars maxima pallae
cauda ﬁt, utque vagi crines per colla iacebant,
in dextras abiere iubas, pariterque novata est
et vox et facies; nomen quoque monstra dedere. 675
Flebat opemque tuam frustra Philyreius heros,
Delphice, poscebat. nam nec rescindere magni
iussa Iovis poteras, nec, si rescindere posses,
tunc aderas: Elim Messeniaque arva colebas.
illud erat tempus, quo te pastoria pellis 680
texit, onusque fuit baculum silvestre sinistrae,
alterius dispar septenis ﬁstula cannis.
106
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
of death, and the three goddesses shall loose thy
thread.” Still other fates remained to tell; but
suddenly she sighed deeply, and with ﬂowing tears
said: “ The fates forestall me and forbid me to speak
more. My power of speech fails me. Not worth the
cost were those arts which have brought down the
wrath of heaven upon me. I would that I had never
known the future. Now my human shape seems to
be passing. Now grass pleases as food; now I am
eager to race around the broad pastures. I am
turning into a mare, my kindred shape. But why
completely ? Surely my father is half human.” Even
while she spoke, the last part of her complaint became
scarce understood and her words were all confused.
Soon they seemed neither words nor yet the sound
of a horse, but as of one trying to imitate a horse.
At last she clearly whinnied and her arms became
legs and moved along the ground. Her ﬁngers drew
together and one continuous light hoof of horn bound
together the ﬁve nails of her hand. Her mouth
enlarged, her neck was extended, the train of her
gown became a tail; and her looks as they lay roam-
ing over her neck were become a mane on the right
side. Now was she changed alike in voice and
feature; and this new wonder gave her a new name
as well.
The half-divine son of Philyra wept and vainly
called on thee for aid, O lord of Delphi. For thou
couldst not revoke the edict of mighty Jove, nor, if
thou couldst, wast thou then at hand. In those days
thou wast dwelling in Elis and the Messenian ﬁelds.
Thy garment was a shepherd’s cloak, thy staff a stout
stick from the wood, and a pipe made of seven
unequal reeds was in thy hand. And while thy
thoughts were all of love, and while thou didst
107
OVID
dumque amor est curae, dum te tua ﬁstula mulcet,
incustoditae Pylios memorantur in agros
processisse boves: videt has Atlantide Maia 685
natus et arte sua silvis oeeultat abaetas.
Senserat hoe furtum nemo nisi notus in illo
rure senex; Battum vicinia tota voeabat.
divitis hie saltus herbosaque pascua N elei
nobiliumque greges custos servabat equarum. 690
hune timuit blandaque manu seduxit et illi
“ quisquis es, hospes ” ait, “ si forte armenta requiret
haee aliquis, vidisse nega neu gratia facto
nulla rependatur, nitidam cape praemia vaeeam! ”
et dedit. aeeepta voees hae reddidit hospes : 695
“ tutus eas! lapis iste prius tua furta loquetur,”
et lapidem ostendit. simulat Iove natus abire;
mox redit et versa pariter cum voce ﬁgura
I
‘ rustice, vidisti si quas hoe limite ” dixit
“ ire boves, fer opem furtoque silentia deme! 700
iuneta suo pariter dabitur tibi femina tauro.”
at senior, postquam est merees geminata, “ sub illis
montibus ” inquit “ erunt,” et erant sub montibus illis.
risit Atlantiades et “ me mihi, perﬁde, prodis?
me mihi prodis? ” ait periuraque pectora vertit 705
in durum silieem, qui nune quoque dieitur index,
inque nihil merito vetus est infamia saxo.
108
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
discourse sweetly on the pipe, the cattle thou wast
keeping strayed, ’tis said, all unguarded into the
Pylian ﬁelds. There Maia’s son spied them, and by
his native craft drove them into the woods and
hid them there. Nobody saw the theft except one
old man well known in that neighbourhood, called
Battus by all the countryside. He, as a hired
servant of the wealthy Neleus, was watching a herd
of blooded mares in the glades and rich pasture-
ﬁelds thereabouts. Mercury feared his tattling and,
drawing him aside with cajoling hand, said: “ Who—
ever you are, my man, if anyone should chance to
ask you if you have seen any cattle going by here,
say that you have not; and, that your kindness may
not go unrewarded, you may choose out a sleek heifer
for your pay ” ; and he gave him the heifer forth-
with. The old man took it and replied: “ Go on,
stranger, and feel safe. That stone will tell of your
thefts sooner than I ”; and he pointed out a stone.
The son of Jove pretended to go away, but soon
came back with changed voice and form, and said:
“ My good fellow, if you have seen any cattle
going along this way, help me out, and don’t
refuse to tell about it, for they were stolen. I’ll
give you a cow and a bull into the bargain if
you’ll tell.” The old man, tempted by the
double reward, said: “ You’ll ﬁnd them over there
at the foot of that mountain.” And there, true
enough, they were. Mercury laughed him to scorn
and said: “Would you betray me to myself, you
rogue? me to my very face?” So saying, he
turned the faithless fellow into a ﬂinty stone,
which even to this day is called touch—stone; and
the old reproach still rests upon the undeserving
ﬂint.
109
OVID
Hinc se sustulerat paribus caducifer alis,
Munychiosque volans agros gratamque Minervae
despectabat humum cultique arbusta Lycei. 710
illa forte die castae de more puellae
vertice supposito festas in Palladis arces
pura coronatis portabant sacra canistris.
inde revertentes deus adspicit ales iterque
non agit in rectum, sed in orbem curvat eundem : 715
.ut volucris visis rapidissima miluus extis,
dum timet et densi circumstant sacra ministri,
ﬂectitur in gyrum nec longius audet abire
spemque suam motis avidus circumvolat alis,
sic super Actaeas agilis Cyllenius arces 720
inclinat cursus et easdem circinat auras.
quanto splendidior quam cetera sidera fulget
Lucifer, et quanto quam Lucifer aurea Phoebe,
tanto virginibus praestantior omnibus Herse
ibat eratque decus pompae comitumque suarum. 725
obstipuit forma Iove natus et aethere pendens
non secus exarsit, quam cum Balearica .plumbum
funda iacit: volat illud et incandescit eundo
et, quos non habuit, sub nubibus invenit ignes. '
vertit iter caeloque petit terrena relicto 730
nec se dissimulat: tanta est ﬁducia formae. _
quae quamquam iusta est, cura tamen adiuvat illam
permulcetque comaschlamydemque, ut pendeat apte,
collocat, ut limbus totumque adpareat aurum,
ut teres in dextra, qua somnos ducit et arcet, 735
virga sit, ut tersis niteant talaria plantis.
110
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
The god of the caduceus had taken himself hence
on level wings and now as he ﬂew he was looking
down upon the Munychian ﬁelds, the land that
Minerva loves, and the groves of the learned Lyceum.
That day chanced to be a festival of Pallas when
young maidens bore to their goddess’ temple mystic
gifts in ﬂower-wreathed baskets on their heads.
The winged god saw them as they were returning
home and directed his way towards them, not
straight down but sweeping in such a curve as when
the swift kite has spied the fresh-slain sacriﬁce,
afraid to come down while the priests are crowded
around the victim, and yet not venturing to go quite
away, he circles around in air and on ﬂapping wings
greedily hovers over his hoped—for prey; so did the
nimble Mercury ﬂy round the Athenian hill, sweep-
ing in circles through the same spaces of air. As
Lucifer shines more brightly than allv the other stars
and as the golden moon outshines Lucifer, so much
was Herse more lovely than all the maidens round
her, the choice ornament in the solemn procession
of her comrades. The son of Jove was astounded at
her beauty, and hanging in mid-air he caught the
ﬂames of vlove; as when a leaden bullet is thrown by
a Balearic sling, it ﬂies along, is heated by its motion,
and ﬁnds heat in the clouds which it had not before.
Mercury now turns his ‘course, leaves the air and ﬂies
to earth, nor seeks to disguise himself; such is the
conﬁdence of beauty. Yet- though that trust be
lawful, he assists it none the less with pains; he
smooths his hair, arranges his robe so that it may hang
neatly and so that all the golden border will show. He
takes care to have in his right hand his smooth wand
with which he brings on sleep or drives it away, and
to have his winged sandals glittering on his trim feet.
III
OVID
Pars-seereta domus ebore et testudine eultos'
tres habuit thalamos, quorum tu, Pandrose, dextrum,
Aglauros laevum, medium possederat Herse.
quae tenuit laevum, venientem prima notavit 740
Mereurium nomenque dei seitarier ausa est
et eausam adventus; eui sic respondit Atlantis
Plei'onesque nepos “ ego sum, qui iussa per auras
verba patris porto; pater est mihi Iuppiter ipse.
nee ﬁngam eausas, tu tantum ﬁda sorori 745
esse velis prolisque meae matertera dici:
Herse eausa viae; faveas oramus amanti.”
adspicit hunc oculis isdem, quibus abdita nuper
viderat Aglauros ﬂavae seereta Minervae,
proque ministerio magni sibi ponderis aurum 750
postulat: interea teetis excedere eogit.
Vertit ad hane torvi dea belliea luminis orbem
et tanto penitus traxit suspiria motu,
ut pariter pectus positamque in pectore forti
aegida eoneuteret: subit, hane areana profana 755
detexisse manu, tum cum sine matre creatam
Lemnicolae stirpem contra data foedera vidit,
et gratamque deo fore iam gratamque sorori
et‘ditem sumpto, quod avara poposcerat, auro.
protinus Invidiae nigro squalentia tabo 760
tecta petit: domus est imis in vallibus huius
abdita, sole earens, non ulli pervia vento,
tristis et ignavi plenissima frigoris et quae
igne vaeet semper, caligine semper abundet.
hue ubi pervenit belli metuenda Virago, 765
1-12
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
In a retired part of the house were three chambers,
richly adorned with ivory and tortoise-shell. The
right-hand room of these Pandrosos occupied,
Aglauros the left, and Herse the room between.
Aglauros ﬁrst saw the approaching god and made so
bold as to ask his name and the cause of his visit.
He, grandson of Atlas and Pleione, replied: “ I am
he who carry my father’s messages through the air.
My father is Jove himself. Nor will I conceal
why I am here. Only do you consent to be true
to your sister, and to be called the aunt of my off—
spring. I have come here for Herse’s sake. I pray
you favour a lover’s suit.” Aglauros looked at him
with the same covetous eyes with which she had
lately peeped at the secret of the golden-haired
Minerva, and demanded a mighty weight of gold as
the price of her service; meantime, she compelled
him to leave the palace.
The warrior goddess now turned her angry eyes
upon her, and‘breathed sighs so deep and perturbed
that her breast and the aegis that lay upon her breast
shook with her emotion. She remembered that this
was the girl who had with profa'ning hands uncovered
the secret at the time when, contrary to her com—
mand, she looked upon the son of the Lemnian,
without mother born. And now she would be in
favour with the god and with her sister, and rich,
besides, with the gold which in her greed she had
demanded. Straightway Minerva sought out the
cave of Envy, ﬁlthy with black gore. Her home
was hidden away in a deep valley, where no sun
shines and no breeze blows; a gruesome place and
full of a numbing chill. No cheerful ﬁre burns there,
and the place is wrapped in thick, black fog. When
the warlike‘ maiden goddess came to the cave, she
VOL. I. E
113
OVID
constitit ante domum (neque enim succedere tectis
fas habet) et postes extrema cuspide pulsat.
concussae patuere fores. videt intus edentem
vipereas carnes, vitiorum alimenta suorum,
Invidiam visaque oculos avertit; at illa 770
surgit humo pigre semesarumque relinquit
corpora serpentum passuque incedit inerti.
utque deam vidit formaque armisque decoram,
ingemuit vultumque deae ad suspiria duxit.
pallor in ore sedet, macies in corpore toto. 775
nusquam recta acies, livent robigine dentes,
pectora felle virent, lingua est suﬁ'usa veneno;
risus abest, nisi quem visi movere dolores;
nec fruitur somno, vigilantibus excita curis,
sed videt ingratos intabescitque videndo 780
successus hominum carpitque et carpitur una
suppliciumque suum est. quamvis tamen oderat illam,
talibus adfata est breviter Tritonia dictis:
“ inﬁce tabe tua natarum Cecropis unam:
sic opus est. Aglauros ea est.” haud plura locuta 785
fugit et inpressa tellurem reppulit hasta.
Illa deam obliquo fugientem lumine cernens
murmura parva dedit successurumque Minervae
indoluit baculumque capit, quod spinea totum
vincula cingebant, adopertaque nubibus atris, 790
quacumque ingreditur, ﬂorentia proterit arva
exuritque herbas et summa cacumina carpit
adﬂatuque suo populos urbesque domosque
polluit et tandem’ Tritonida conspicit arcem
114
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
stood without, for she might not enter that foul
abode, and beat upon the door with end of spear.
The battered doors ﬂew open; and there, sitting
within, was Envy, eating snakes’ ﬂesh, the proper
food of her venom. At the horrid sight the goddess
turned away her eyes. But that other rose heavily
from the ground, leaving the snakes’ carcasses half
consumed, and came forward with sluggish step.
When she saw the goddess, glorious in form and
armour, she groaned aloud and shaped her counte-
nance to match the goddess’ sigh. Pallor o’erspreads
her face and her whole body seems to shrivel up.
Her eyes are all awry, her teeth are foul with mould;
green, poisonous gall o’erﬂows her breast, and venom
drips down from her tongue. She never smiles,
save at the sight of another’s troubles; she never
sleeps, disturbed with wakeful cares; unwelcome
to her is the sight of men’s success, and with the
sight she pines away; she gnaws and is gnawed,
herself her own punishment. Although she de—
tested the loathsome thing, yet in curt speech
Tritonia spoke to her : “ Infect with your venom one
of Cecrops’ daughters. Such the task I set. I mean
Aglauros.” Without more words she ﬂed the crea—
ture’s presence and, pushing her spear against the
ground, sprang lightly back to heaven.
The hag, eyeing her askanee as she ﬂees, mutters
awhile, grieving to think on the goddess’ joy of
triumph. Then she takes her staff, thick-set with
thorns, and, wrapped in a mantle of dark cloud, sets
forth. Wherever she goes, she tramples down the
ﬂowers, causes the grass to wither, blasts the high
waving trees, and taints with the foul pollution of
her breath whole peoples, cities, homes. At last she
spies Tritonia’s city, splendid with art and wealth
115
OVID
ingeniis opibusque et festa pace virentem 795
vixque tenet lacrimas, quia nil lacrimabile cernit.
sed postquam thalamos intravit Ceerope natae,
iussa faeit pectusque manu ferrugine tincta
tangit et hamatis praecordia sentibus inplet
inspiratque nocens virus piceumque per ossa 800
dissipat et medio spargit pulmone venenum,
neve mali causae spatium per latius errent,
germanam ante oculos fortunatumque sororis
eoniugium pulehraque deum sub imagine ponit
cunetaque magna faeit; quibus inritata dolore 805
Cecropis oeeulto mordetur et anxia nocte
anxia luee gemit lentaque miserrima tabe
liquitur, et glacies ineerto saucia sole,
felieisque bonis non lenius uritur Herses,
quam cum spinosis ignis supponitur herbis, 810
quae neque dant ﬂammas lenique tepore cremantur.
saepe mori voluit, ne quiequam tale videret,
saepe velut erimen rigido narrare parenti;
denique in adverso venientem limine sedit
exelusura deum. cui blandimenta preeesque 815
verbaque iactanti mitissima “ desine! ” dixit,
“ hine ego me non sum nisi te motura repulso.”
“ stemus ” ait “ paeto ” velox Cyllenius “ isto! ”
eaelestique fores virga patefeeit: at illi
surgere eonanti partes, quaseumque sedendo 820
ﬁectitur, ignava nequeunt gravitate moveri 2
illa quidem pugnat recto se attollere truneo,
sed genuum iunetura riget, frigusque per ungues
labitur, et pallent amisso sanguine venae;
116
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
and peaceful joy; and she can scarce restrain her
tears at the sight, because she sees no cause for
others’ tears. But, having entered the chamber of
Cecrops’ daughter, she performed the goddess’ bid-
ding, touched the girl’s breast with her festering
hand and ﬁlled her heart with pricking thorns.
Then she breathed pestilential, poisonous breath into
her nostrils and spread black venom through her
very heart and bones. And, to ﬁx a cause for her
grief, Envy pictured to her imagination her sister,
her sister’s blest marriage and the god in all his
beauty, magnifying the excellence of everything.
Maddened by this, Aglauros eats her heart out in
secret misery; careworn by day, careworn by night,
she groans and wastes away most wretchedly with
slow decay, like ice touched by the ﬁtful sunshine.
She is consumed by envy of Herse’s happiness; just
as when a ﬁre is set under a pile of weeds, which
give out no ﬂames and waste away with slow con-
sumption. She often longed to die that she might
not behold such happiness; often to tell it, as ’twere
a crime, to her stern father. At last she sat down at
her sister’s threshold, to prevent the god’s entrance
when he should come. And when he coaxed and
prayed with his most honeyed words, “ Have done,”
she said, “ for I shall never stir from here till I have
foiled your purpose.” “ We’ll stand by that bargain,”
Mercury quickly replied, and with a touch of his
heavenly wand he opened the door. At this the girl
struggled to get up, but found the limbs she bends in
sitting made motionless with dull heaviness; she strove
to stand erect, but her knees had stiffened; a numbing
chill stole through her limbs, and her ﬂesh was pale
and bloodless. And, as an incurable cancer spreads
its evil roots ever more widely and involves sound
117
OVID
utque malum late solet inmedicabile cancer 825
serpere et inlaesas vitiatis addere partes,
sic letalis hiems paullatim in pectora venit
vitalesque vias et respiramina clausit,
nec conata loqui est nec, si conata fuisset,
vocis habebat iter: saxum iam colla tenebat, 830
oraque duruerant, signumque exsangue sedebat;
nec lapis albus erat: sua mens infecerat illam.
Has ubi verborum poenas mentisque profanae
cepit Atlantiades, dictas a Pallade terras
linquit et ingreditur iactatis aethera pennis. 835
sevocat hunc genitor nec causam fassus amoris
‘_‘ ﬁde minister ” ait “ iussorum, nate, meorum,
pelle moram solitoque celer delabere cursu,
quaeque tuam matrem tellus a parte sinistra
suspicit (indigenae Sidonida nomine dicunt), 840
hanc pete, quodque procul montano gramine pasci
armentum regale vides, ad litora verte ! ”
dixit, et expulsi iamdudum monte iuvenci
litora iussa petunt, ubi magni ﬁlia regis
ludere virginibus Tyriis comitata solebat. 84.5
non bene conveniunt nec in una sede morantur
maiestas et amor; sceptri gravitate relicta
ille pater rectorque deum, cui dextra trisulcis
ignibus armata est, qui nutu concutit orbem,
induitur fa'ciem tauri mixtusque iuvencis 850
mugit et in teneris formosus obambulat herbis.
quippe color nivis est, quam nec vestigia duri
calcavere pedis nec solvit aquaticus auster.
118
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
with infected parts, so did a deadly chill little
by little creep to her breast, stopping all vital
functions and choking off her breath. She no
longer tried to speak, and, if she had tried, her voice
would have found no way of utterance. Her neck
was changed to stone, her features had hardened——
there she sat, a lifeless statue. Nor was the stone
white in colour; her soul had stained it black.
When Mercury had inﬂicted this punishment on the
girl for her impious words and spirit, he left the land
of Pallas behind him, and ﬂew to heaven on outﬂung
pinions. Here his father calls him aside; and not
revealing his love affair as the real reason, he says:
“ My son, always faithful to perform my bidding,
delay not, but swiftly in accustomed ﬂight glide down
to earth and seek out the land that looks up at your
mother’s star from the left. The natives call it the
land of Sidon. There you are to drive down to the
sea—shore the herd of the king’s cattle which you will
see grazing at some distance on the mountain-side.”
He spoke, and quickly the cattle were driven from
the mountain and headed for the shore, as Jove had
directed, to a spot where the great king’s daughter
was accustomed to play in company with her Tyrian
maidens. Majesty and love do not go well together,
nor tarry long in the same dwelling-place. And so
the father and ruler of the gods, who wields in his
right hand the three-forked lightning, whose nod
shakes the world, laid aside his royal majesty along
with his sceptre, and took upon him the form of a
bull. In this form he mingled with the cattle, lowed
like the rest, and wandered around, beautiful to be-
hold, on the young grass. His colour was white as
the untrodden snow, which has not yet been melted
by the rainy south—wind. The muscles stood rounded
r19
OVID
colla toris exstant, armis palearia pendent,
cornua parva quidem, sed quae eontendere possis 855
facta manu, puraque magis perlucida gemma.
nullae in fronte minae, nee formidabile lumen:
paeem vultus habet. miratur Agenore nata,
quod tam formosus, quod proelia nulla minetur;
sed quamvis mitem metuit contingere primo, 860
mox adit et ﬂores ad candida porrigit ora.
gaudet amans et, dum veniat sperata voluptas,
oscula dat manibus; vix iam, vix cetera differt;
et nune adludit viridique exsultat in herba,
nune lates in fulvis niveum deponit harenis; 865
paullatimque metu dempto modo pectora praebet
virginea plaudenda 1 manu, modo cornua sertis
inpedienda novis; ausa est quoque regia virgo
nescia, quem premeret, tergo eonsidere tauri,
cum deus a terra siccoque a litore sensim 870
fa'lsa pedum primo vestigia ponit in undis;
inde abit ulterius mediique per aequora ponti _
fert praedam :v pavet haec litusque ablata relictum
respieit et dextra cornum tenet, altera dorso V
inposita est; tremulae sinuantur ﬂamine vestes. 875
1 Some M SS. read palpanda.
120
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II
upon his neck, a long dewlap hung down in front;
his horns were small, but perfect in shape as if carved
by an artist’s hand, cleaner and more clear than
pearls. His brow and eyes would inspire no fear,
and his whole expression was peaceful. Agenor’s
daughter looked at him in wondering admiration,
because he was so beautiful and friendly. But,
although he seemed so gentle, she was afraid at ﬁrst
to touch him. Presently she drew near, and held
out ﬂowers to his snow-white lips. The disguised
lover rejoiced‘ and, as a foretaste of future joy, kissed
her hands. Even so he could scarce restrain his
passion. And now he jumps sportively about on the
grass, now lays his snowy body down on the yellow
sands; and, when her fear has little by little been
allayed, he yields his breast for her maiden hands
to pat and his horns to entwine with garlands of
fresh ﬂowers. The princess even dares to sit upon
his back, little knowing upon whom she rests. The
god little by little edges away from the dry land,
and sets his‘ borrowed hoofs in the shallow water;
then he goes further out and soon is in full ﬂight
with his prize on the open ocean. She trembles with
fear and looks back at the receding shore, holding
fast a horn with one hand and resting the other on the
creature’s back. And her ﬂuttering garments stream
behind her in the wind.
121
BOOK’ III
LIBER III
IAMQVE deus posita fallacis imagine tauri
se confessus erat Dictaeaque rura tenebat,
cum pater ignarus Cadmo perquirere raptam
imperat et poenam, si non invenerit, addit
exilium, factor pius et sceleratus eodem. 5
orbe pererrato (quis enim deprendere possit
furta Iovis P) profugus patriamque iramque parentis
vitat Agenorides Phoebique oracula supplex
eonsulit et, quae sit tellus habitanda, requirit.
“ bos tibi ” Phoebus ait “ solis oeeurret in arvis, 10
nullum passa iugum curvique inmunis aratri.
hac duce earpe vias et, qua requieverit herba,
moenia fae condas Boeotiaque illa vocato.”
vix bene Castalio Cadmus descenderat antro,
ineustoditam lente videt ire iuvencam 15
nullum servitii signum cervice gerentem.
subsequitur pressoque legit vestigia passu
auctoremque viae Phoebum taciturnus adorat.
iam vada Cephisi Panopesque evaserat arva:
bos stetit et tollens speeiosam cornibus altis 20
124
BOOK III
AND now the god, having put off disguise of the
bull, owned himself for what he was, and reached
the ﬁelds of Crete. But the maiden’s father, ignorant
of what had happened, bids his son, Cadmus, go and
search for the lost girl, and threatens exile as a
punishment if he does not ﬁnd her—pious and guilty
by the same act. After roaming over all the world
in vain (for who could search out the secret loves of
Jove?) Agenor’s son becomes an exile, shunning
his father’s country and his father’s wrath. Then
in suppliant wise he consults the oracle of Phoebus,
seeking thus _to learn in what land he is to settle.
Phoebus replies: “ A heifer will meet you in the
wilderness, one who has never worn the yoke
or drawn the crooked plough. Follow where she
leads, and where she lies down to rest upon the
grass there see that you build your city’s walls
and call the land Boeotia.” 1 Hardly had Cadmus
left the Castalian grotto when he saw a heifer
moving slowly along, all unguarded and wearing
on her neck no mark of service. He follows
in her track with deliberate steps, silently giving
thanks the while to Phoebus for showing him the
way. And now the heifer had passed the fords of
Cephisus and the ﬁelds of Panope, when she halted
and, lifting towards the heavens her beautiful head
1 Le. “ the land of the heifer.”
12 5
OVID
ad caelum frontem mugitibus inpulit auras
atque ita respiciens comites sua terga sequentis
procubuit teneraque latus submisit in herba.
Cadmus agit grates peregrinaeque oscula terrae
ﬁgit et ignotos montes agrosque salutat.
Sacra Iovi facturus erat: iubet ire ministros
et petere e vivis libandas fontibus undas.
silva vetus stabat nulla violata securi,
et specus in media virgis ac vimine densus
efﬁciens humilem lapidum conpagibus arcum
uberibus fecundas aquis; ubi conditus antro
Martius anguis erat, cristis praesignis et auro;
igne micant oculi, corpus tumet omne venenis,
tres vibrant linguae, triplici stant ordine dentes.
quem postquam Tyria lucum de gente profecti
infausto tetigere gradu, demissaque in undas
urna dedit sonitum, longo caput extulit antro
caeruleus serpens horrendaque sibila misit.
eﬂluxere urnae manibus sanguisque reliquit
corpus et attonitos subitus tremor occupat artus.
ille volubilibus squamosos nexibus orbes
torquet et inmensos saltu sinuatur in arcus
ac media plus parte leves erectus in auras
25
30
35
40
despicit omne nemus tantoque est corpore, quanto,
si totum spectes, geminas qui separat arctos.
nec mora, Phoenicas, sive illi tela parabant
sive fugam, sive ipse timor prohibebat utrumque,
45
126
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
with its spreading horns, she ﬁlled the air with her
lowings; and then, looking back upon those who
were following close behind, she kneeled and let her
ﬂank sink down upon the fresh young grass. Cadmus
gave thanks, reverently pressed his lips upon this
stranger land, and greeted the unknown mountains
and the plains.
With intent to make sacriﬁce to Jove, he bade his
attendants hunt out a spring of living water for
libation. There was a primeval forest there, scarred
by no axe; and in its midst a cave thick set about
with shrubs and pliant twigs. With well-ﬁtted stones
it fashioned a low arch, whence poured a full-Welling
spring, and deep within dwelt a serpent sacred to
Mars. The creature had a wondrous golden crest;
ﬁre ﬂashed from his eyes; his body was all swollen
with venom; his triple tongue ﬂickered out and in
and his teeth were ranged in triple row. When with
luckless steps the wayfarers of the Tyrian race had
reached this grove, they let down their vessels into
the spring, breaking the silence of the place. At
this the dark serpent thrust forth his head out of the
deep cave, hissing horribly. The urns fell from the
men’s hands, their blood ran cold, and, horror—struck,
they were seized with a sudden trembling. The
serpent twines his scaly coils in rolling knots and
with a spring curves himself into a huge bow; and,
lifted high by more than half his length into the
unsubstantial air, he looks down upon the whole
wood, as huge, could you see him all, as is that
serpent in the sky that lies outstretched between
the twin bears. He makes no tarrying, but seizes
on the Phoenicians, whether they are preparing for
ﬁghting or for ﬂight or whether very fear holds both
in check. Some he slays with his fangs, some
127
OVID
occupat: hos morsu, longis eonplexibus illos,
hos necat adflatu funesti tabe veneni
Fecerat exiguas iam sol altissimus umbras:
quae mora sit sociis, miratur Agenore natus
vestigatque viros. tegumen derepta leoni
pellis erat, telum splendenti laneea ferro
et iaculum teloque animus praestantior omni.
ut nemus intravit letataque corpora vidit
victoremque supra spatiosi corporis hostem
tristia sanguinea lambentem vulnera lingua,
“ aut ultor vestrae, ﬁdissima corpora, mortis,
aut comes ” inquit “ ero.”
sustulit et magnum magno conamine misit.
illius inpulsu cum turribus ardua celsis
moenia'mota forent, serpens sine vulnere mansit
lorieaeque modo squamis defensus et atrae
duritia pellis validos cute reppulit ietus;
at non duritia iaculum quoque vicit eadem,
quod medio lentae spinae curvamine ﬁxum
constitit et totum descendit in ilia ferrum.
ille dolore ferox caput in sua terga retorsit
vulneraque adspexit ﬁxumque hastile momordit,
idque ubi vi multa partem labefeeit in omnem,
vix tergo eripuit; ferrum tamen ossibus haesit.
tum vero postquam solitas aeeessit ad iras
eausa recens, plenis tumuerunt guttura venis,
spumaque pestiferos circumﬂuit albida rictus,
terraque rasa sonat squamis, quique halitus exit
ore niger Stygio, vitiatas inﬁcit auras.
ipse modo inmensum spiris faeientibus orbem
50
55
dixit dextraque molarem
60
65
70
75
128
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
he crushes in his constricting folds, and some he
stiﬂes with the deadly corruption of his poisoned
breath.
The sun had reached the middle heavens and
drawn close the shadows. And now Cadmus,
wondering what has delayed his companions, starts
out to trace them. For shield, he has a lion's skin;
for weapon, a spear with glittering iron point and a
javelin; and, better than all weapons, a courageous
soul. When he enters the wood and sees the corpses
of his friends all slain, and victorious above them
their huge-bodied foe licking their piteous wounds
with bloody tongue, he cries: “ O ye poor forms,
most faithful friends, either I shall avenge your
death or be your comrade in it.” So saying, he heaved
up a massive stone with his right hand and with
mighty effort hurled its mighty bulk. Under such a
blow, high ramparts would have fallen, towers and
all; but the serpent went unscathed, protected
against that strong stroke by his scales as by an iron
doublet and by his hard, dark skin. But that hard
skin cannot withstand the javelin too, which now is
ﬁxed in the middle fold of his tough back and
penetrates with its iron head deep into his ﬂank.
The creature, mad with pain, twists back his head,
views well his wound, and bites at the spear-shaft
ﬁxed therein. Then, when by violent efforts he had
loosened this all round, with difficulty he tore it out;
but the iron head remained ﬁxed in the backbone.
Then indeed fresh fuel was added to his native
wrath; his throat swells with full veins, and white
foam ﬂecks his horrid jaws. The earth resounds with
his scraping scales, and such rank breath as exhales
from the Stygian cave befouls the tainted air. ’ Now
he coils in huge spiral folds; now shoots up, straight
‘r29
OVID
cingitur, interdum longa trabe rectior exstat,
inpete nunc vasto ceu concitus imbribus amnis
fertur et obstantis proturbat pectore silvas.
cedit Agenorides paullum spolioque leonis
sustinet incursus instantiaque ora retardat
cuspide praetenta: furit ille et inania duro
vulnera dat ferro ﬁgitque in acumine dentes.
iamque venenifero sanguis manare palato
coeperat et virides adspergine tinxerat herbas;
sed leve vulnus erat, quia se retrahebat ab ictu
laesaque colla dabat retro plagamque sedere
cedendo arcebat nec longius ire sinebat,
donec Agenorides coniectum in gutture ferrum
usque sequens pressit, dum retro quercus eunti
obstitit et ﬁxa est pariter cum robore cervix.
pondere serpentis curvata est arbor et ima
parte ﬂagellari gemuit sua robora cauda.
Dum spatium victor victi considerat hostis,
vox subito audita est; neque erat cognoscere
promptum,
unde, sed audita est: “ quid, Agenore nate,
peremptum
serpentem spectas? et tu spectabere serpens.”
ille diu pavidus pariter cum mente colorem
perdiderat, gelidoque comae terrore rigebant:
ecce viri fautrix superas delapsa per auras
Pallas adest motaeque iubet supponere terrae
vipereos dentes, populi incrementa futuri.
paret et, ut presso sulcum patefecit aratro,
spargit humi iussos, mortalia semina, dentes.
inde (ﬁde maius) glaebae coepere moveri,
80
85
90
95
100
105
I30
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
and tall as a tree; now he moves on with huge rush,
like a stream in ﬂood, sweeping down with his breast
the trees in his path. Cadmus gives way a little, re-
ceiving his foe’s rushes on the lion’s skin, and holds in
check the ravening jaws with his spear~point thrust
well forward. The serpent is furious, bites vainly at
the hard iron and catches the sharp spear-head be-
tween his teeth. And now from his venomous throat
the blood begins to trickle and stains the green grass
with spattered gore. But the wound is slight, because
the serpent keeps backing from the thrust, drawing
away his wounded neck, and by yielding keeps the
stroke from being driven home nor allows it to go
deeper. But Cadmus follows him up and presses the
planted point into his throat; until at last an oak-
tree stays his backward course and neck and tree are
pierced together. The oak bends beneath the ser-
pent’s weight and the stout trunk groans beneath
the lashings of his tail.
While the conqueror stands gazing on the huge
bulk of his conquered foe, suddenly a voice sounds in
his ears. He cannot tell whence it comes, but he
hears it saying: “ Why, O son of Agenor, dost thou
gaze on the serpent thou hast slain? Thou too shalt
be a serpent for men to gaze on.” Long he stands
there, with quaking heart and pallid cheeks, and his
hair rises up on end with chilling fear. But behold,
the hero’s helper, Pallas, gliding down through the
high air, stands beside him, and she bids him plow
the earth and plant therein the dragon’s teeth,
destined to grow into a nation. He obeys and,
having opened up the furrows with his deep-sunk
plow, he sows in the ground the teeth as he is bid, a
man—producing seed. Then, a thing beyond belief,
the plowed ground begins to stir; and ﬁrst there
I31
OVID
primaque de suleis acies adparuit hastae,
tegmina mox eapitum pieto nutantia eono,
mox umeri pectusque onerataque braeehia telis
exsistunt, crescitque seges elipeata virorum: 110
sic, ubi tolluntur festis aulaea theatris,
surgere signa solent primumque ostendere vultus,
cetera paullatim, placidoque edueta tenore
tota patent imoque pedes in margine ponunt.
Territus hoste novo Cadmus capere arma
parabat: 115
“ ne cape! ” de populo, quem terra creaverat, unus
exclamat “ ne te civilibus insere bellis! ”
atque ita terrigenis rigido de fratribus unum
eomminus ense ferit, iaculo cadit eminus ipse;
hune quoque qui leto dederat, non longius illo 120
vivit et exspirat modo quas acceperat auras,
exemploque pari furit omnis turba, suoque
Marte eadunt subiti per mutua vulnera fratres,
iamque brevis vitae spatium sortita iuventus
sanguineam tepido plangebat pectore matrem, 125
quinque superstitibus, quorum fuit unus Eehion.
is sua iecit humo monitu Tritonidis arma
fraternaeque ﬁdem pacis petiitque deditque:
hos operis eomites habuit Sidonius hospes,
cum posuit iussus Phoebeis sortibus urbem. 130
Iam stabant Thebae, poteras iam, Cadme, videri
exilio felix: soeeri tibi Marsque Venusque
eontigerant; hue adde genus de eoniuge tanta,
tot natas natosque et, pignora cara, nepotes,
132
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
spring up from the furrows the points of spears, then
helmets with coloured plumes waving ; next shoulders
of men and breasts and arms laden with weapons
come up, and the crop grows with the shields of
warriors. So when on festal days the curtain in the
theatre is raised, ﬁgures of men rise up, showing ﬁrst
their faces, then little by little all the rest; until at
last, drawn up with steady motion, the entire forms
stand revealed, and plant their feet upon the curtain’s
edge.
Frightened by this new foe, Cadmus was preparing
to take his arms. “ Take not your arms,” one of the
earth-sprung brood cried out, “ and take no part in
our fratricidal strife.” So saying, with his hard sword
he clave one of his earth—born brothers, ﬁghting hand
to hand; and instantly he himself was felled by a
javelin thrown from far. But he also who had slain
this last had no longer to live than his victim, and
breathed forth the spirit which he had but now
received. The same dire madness raged in them all,
and in mutual strife by mutual wounds these brothers
of‘ an hour perished. And now the youth, who had
enjoyed so brief a span of life, lay writhing on their
mother earth warm with their blood—all save ﬁve.
One of these ﬁve was Echion, who, at Pallas’ bidding,
dropped his weapons to the ground and sought and
made peace with his surviving brothers. These the
Sidonian wanderer had as comrades in his task when
he founded'the city granted him by Phoebus’ oracle.
And now Thebes stood complete ; now thou couldst
seem, O Cadmus, even in exile, a happy man. Thou
hast obtained Mars and Venus, too, as parents of thy
bride; add to this blessing children worthy of so
noble a wife, so many sons and daughters, the pledges
of thy love, and grandsons, too,now grown to budding
133
OVID
hos quoque iam iuvenes; sed scilicet ultima semper
exspectanda dies hominis, dicique beatus 136
ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet.
Prima nepos inter tot res tibi, Cadme, secundas
causa fuit luctus, alienaque cornua fronti
addita, vosque canes satiatae sanguine erili. 140
at bene si quaeras, Fortunae crimen in illo,
non scelus invenies; quod enim scelus error
habebat?
'Mons erat infectus variarum caede ferarum,
iamque dies medius rerum contraxerat umbras
et sol ex aequo meta distabat utraque, 145
cum iuvenis placido per devia lustra vagantes
participes operum conpellat Hyantius ore:
“ lina madent, comites, ferrumque cruore ferarum,
fortunamque dies habuit satis; altera lucem
cum croceis invecta rotis Aurora reducet, 150
propositum repetemus opus: nunc Phoebus utraque
distat idem terra ﬁnditque vaporibus arva.
sistite opus praesens nodosaque tollitc lina! ”
iussa viri faciunt intermittuntque laborem.
Vallis erat piceis et acuta densa cupressu, 155
nomine Gargaphie succinctae sacra Diana-e,
cuius in extremo est antrum nemorale recessu
arte laboratum nulla: simulaverat artem
ingenio natura suo; nam pumice vivo
et levibus toﬁs nativum duxerat arcum; 160
fons sonat a dextra tenui perlucidus unda,
margine grarnineo patulos incinctus hiatus.
134
META MORPHO’SES BOOK III
manhood. But of a surety man’s last day must ever
be awaited, and none be counted happy till his death,
till his last funeral rites are paid.
One grandson of thine, Actaeon, midst all thy
happiness ﬁrst brought thee cause of grief, upon whose
brow strange horns appeared, and whose dogs greedily
lapped their master’s blood. But if you seek the
truth, you will ﬁnd the cause of this in fortune’s
fault and not in any crime of his. For what crime
had mere mischance?
’Twas on a mountain stained with the blood of many
slaughtered beasts; midday had shortened every
object’s shade, and the sun was at equal distance
from either goal. Then young Actaeon with friendly
speech thus addressed his comrades of the chase as
they fared through the trackless wastes: “Both
nets and spears, my friends, are dripping with our
quarry’s blood, and the day has given us good luck
enough. When once more Aurora, borne on her
saffron car, shall bring back the day, we will resume
our proposed task. Now Phoebus is midway in his
course and cleaves the very ﬁelds with his burning
rays. Cease then your present task and bear home
the well—wrought nets.” The men performed his
bidding and ceased their toil.
There was a vale in that region, thick grown with
pine and cypress with their sharp needles. ’Twas
called Gargaphie, the sacred haunt of high—girt Diana.
In its most secret nook there was a well-shaded grotto,
wrought by no artist’s hand. But Nature by her own
cunning had imitated art; for she had shaped a native
arch of the living rock and soft tufa. A sparkling
spring with its slender stream babbled on one side
and widened into a pool girt with grassy banks.
Here the goddess of the wild woods, when weary with
135
OVI D
hie dea silvarum venatu fessa solebat
virgineos artus liquido perfundere rore.
quo postquam subiit, nympharum tradidit uni 165
armigerae iaeulum pharetramque arcusque retentos,
altera depositae subieeit braeehia pallae,
vincla duae pedibus demunt; nam doetior illis
Ismenis Croeale sparsos per colla capillos
eolligit in nodum, quamvis erat ipsa‘solutis. 170
excipiunt laticem Nepheleque Hyaleque Rhanisque
et Psecas et Phiale funduntque capacibus urnis.
dumque ibi perluitur solita Titania lympha,
ecee nepos Cadmi dilata parte laborum
per nemus ignotum non eertis passibus errans 175
pervenit in lueum : sie illum fata ferebant.
qui simul intravit rorantia fontibus antra,
sicut erant nudae, viso sua pectora nymphae
percussere viro subitisque ululatibus omne
inplevere nemus circumfusaeque Dianam 180
eorporibus texere suis; tamen altior illis
ipsa dea est colloque tenus supereminet omnis.
qui color infeetis adversi solis ab ictu
nubibus esse solet aut purpureae Aurorae,
is fuit in vultu visae sine veste Dianae. 185
quae, quamquam comitum turba stipata suarum, '
in latus obliquum tamen adstitit oraque retro
ﬂexit et, ut vellet promptas habuisse sagittas,
quas habuit sic hausit aquas vultumque virilem
perfudit spargensque comas ultricibus undis 190
addidit haec eladis praenuntia verba futurae :
“ nune tibi me posito visam velamine narres,
sit poteris narrare, licet! ” nee plura minata
I316.
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
the chase, was wont to bathe her maiden limbs in the
crystal water. On this day, having come to the grotto,
she gives to the keeping of her armour-bearer among
her nymphs her hunting spear, her quiver, and her
unstrung bow; another takes on her arm the robe she
has laid by; two unbind her sandals from her feet.
But Theban Crocale, defter than the rest, binds into a
knot the locks which have fallen down her mistress’
neck, her own locks streaming free the while. Others
bring water, Nephele, Hyale and Rhanis, Psecas and
Phiale, and pour it out from their capacious urns.
And while Titania is bathing there in her accustomed
pool, 10! Cadmus’ grandson, his day’s toil deferred,
comes wandering through the unfamiliar woods with
unsure footsteps, and enters Diana’s grove; for so
fate would have it. As soon as he entered the grotto
bedewed with fountain spray, the naked nymphs
smote upon their breasts at sight of the man, and
ﬁlled all the grove with their shrill, sudden cries.
Then they thronged around Diana, seeking to hide
her body with their own; but the goddess stood head
and shoulders over all the rest. And red as the clouds
which ﬂush beneath the sun’s slant rays, red as the
rosy dawn, were the cheeks of Diana as she stood
there in view without her robes. Then, though the
band of nymphs pressed close about her, she stood
turning aside a little and cast back her gaze; and
though she would fain have had her arrows ready,
what she had she took up, the water, and ﬂung it
into the young man’s face. And as she poured the
avenging drops upon his hair, she spoke these words
foreboding his coming doom: “ Now you are free to
tell that you have seen me all unrobed—if you can
tell.” No more than this she spoke ; but on the head
which she had sprinkled she caused to grow the
I37
OVID
dat sparso capiti vivacis cornua cervi,
dat spatium collo summasque cacuminat aures 195
cum pedibusque manus, cum longis bracchia mutat
cruribus et velat maculoso vellere corpus;
additus et pavor est: fugit Autonoeius heros
et se tam celerem cursu miratur in ipso.
ut vero vultus et cornua vidit in unda, 200
“ me miserum ! ” dicturus erat: vox nulla secuta est!
ingemuit: vox illa fuit, lacrimaeque per ora
non sua ﬂuxerunt; mens tantum pristina mansit.
quid faciat? repetatne domum et regalia tecta
an lateat silvis? pudor hoc, timor inpedit illud. 205
Dum dubitat, videre canes, primique Melampus
Ichnobatesque sagax latratu signa dedere,
Gnosius Ichnobates, Spartana gente Melampus.
inde ruunt alli rapida velocius aura, 209
Pamphagos et Dorceus et Oribasus, Arcades omnes,
Nebrophonusque valens et trux cum Laelape Theron
et pedibus Pterelas et naribus utilis Agre
Hylaeusque fero nuper percussus ab apro
deque lupo concepta N ape pecudesque secuta
Poemenis et natis comitata Harpyia duobus 215
et substricta gerens Sicyonius ilia Ladon
et Dromas et Canace Sticteque et Tigris et Alce
et niveis Leucon et villis Asbolus atris
praevalidusque Lacon ‘et cursu fortis Aello
et-Thous et Cyprio velox cum fratre Lycisce - 220
et medio nigram frontem distinctus ab albo
Harpalos et Melaneus hirsutaque corpore Lachne
et patre Dictaeo, sed matre Laconide nati
Labros et Agriodus et acutae vocis Hylactor

1 The English names of these hounds in their order would
be: Black~foot, Trail-follower, Voracious, Gazelle, M ountain-
ranger, Faun-killer, Hurricane, Hunter, Winged, Hunter,
Sylvan, Glen, ‘Shepherd, Seizer, Catcher, Runner, Gnasher, Spot,
138
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
horns of the long-lived stag, stretched out his neck,
sharpened his ear-tips, gave feet in place of hands,
changed his arms into long legs, and clothed his body
with a spotted hide. And last of all she planted fear
within his heart. Away in ﬂight goes Autonoé’s
heroic son, marvelling to ﬁnd himself so swift of foot.
But when he sees his features and his horns in a clear
pool, “ Oh, woe is me! ” he tries to say; but no
words come. He groans—the only speech he has——
and tears course down his changeling cheeks. Only
his mind remains unchanged. \Vhat is he to do?
Shall he go home to the royal palace, or shall he stay
skulking in the woods? Shame blocks one course
and fear the other.
But while he stands perplexed he sees his hounds.1
And ﬁrst come Melampus and keen-scented Ichno—
bates, baying loud on the trail—Ichnobates a Cretan
dog, Melampus a Spartan; then others come rushing
on swifter than the wind: Pamphagus, Dorceus, and
Oribasus, Arcadians all ; staunch N ebrophonus, ﬁerce
Theron and Laelaps; Pterelas, the swift of foot, and
keen-scented Agre; savage Hylaeus,but lately ripped
up by a wild boar; the wolf-dog Nape and the trusty
shepherd Poemenis; Harpyia with her two pups;
Sicyonian Ladon, thin in the ﬂanks ; Dromas, Canace,
Sticte, Tigris, Alce; white-haired Leucon, black As-
bolus ; Lacon, renowned for strength, and ﬂeet Aéllo ;
Thoiis and swift Lycisce with her brother Cyprius;
Harpalos, with a white spot in the middle of his black
forehead; Melaneus and shaggy Lachne; two dogs
from a Cretan father and a Spartan mother, Labros
and Agriodus; shrill-tongued Hylactor, and others
Tigress, Might, White, Soot, Spartan, Whirlwind, Swift,
Cyprian, Wolf, Grasper, Black, Shag, Fury, White-tooth, Barker,
Black-hair, Beast-killer, Mountaineer.
I39
OVID
quosque referre mora est: ea turba cupidine praedae
per rupes scopulosque adituque earenti'a saxa, 226
quaque est diffleilis quaque est via nulla, feruntur.
ille fugit per quae fuerat loca saepe secutus,
heu! famulos fugit ipse suos. clamare libebat:
“ Actaeon ego sum: dominum eognoscite vestrum! ”
verba animo desunt; resonat latratibus aether. 231
prima Melanehaetes in tergo vulnera fecit,
proxima Theridamas, Oresitrophus haesit in armo:
tardius exierant, sed per conpendia montis
anticipata via est; dominum retinentibus illis, 235
cetera turba eoit confertque in corpore dentes.
iam loca vulneribus desunt; gemit ille sonumque,
etsi non hominis, quem non tamen edere possit
cervus, habet maestisque replet iuga nota querellis
et genibus pronis supplex similisque roganti 240
circumfert taeitos tamquam sua bracchia vultus.
at eomites rapidum solitis hortatibus agmen
ignari instigant oeulisque Actaeona quaerunt
et velut absentem eertatim Actaeona elamant _
(ad nomen caput ille refert) et abesse queruntur 245
nee capere oblatae segnem speetacula praedae.
vellet abesse quidem, sed adest; velletque videre,
non etiam sentire canum fera facta suorum.
undique circumstant, mersisque in corpore rostris
dilaeerant falsi dominum sub imagine eervi, 250
I40
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
whom it were too long to name. The whole pack,
keen with the lust of blood, over crags, over cliffs,
over trackless rocks, where the way is hard, where
there is no way at all, follow on. He ﬂees over the
very ground where he has oft-times pursued; he ﬂees
(the pity of it!) his own faithful hounds. He longs
to cry out: “ I am Actaeon! Recognize your own
master!” But words fail his desire. All the air
resounds with their baying. And ﬁrst Melanchaetes
ﬁxes his fangs in his back, Theridamas next;
Oresitrophus has fastened on his shoulder. They had
set out later than the rest, but by a short-cut across
the mountain had outstripped their course. While
they hold back their master’s ﬂight, the whole pack
collects, and all together bury their fangs in his
body till there is no place left for further wounds.
He groans and makes a sound which, though not
human, is still one no deer could utter, and ﬁlls the
heights he knows so well with mournful cries. And
now, down on his knees in suppliant attitude, just
like one in prayer, he turns his face in silence towards
them, as if stretching out beseeching arms. But his
companions, ignorant of his plight, urge on the ﬁerce
pack with their accustomed shouts, looking all around
for Actaeon, and call, each louder than the rest, for
Actaeon, as if he were far away—he turns his head
at the sound of his name—and complain that he is
absent and is missing through sloth the sight of the
quarry brought to bay. Well, indeed, might he wish
to be absent, but he is here; and well might he wish
to see, not to feel, the ﬁerce doings of his own
hounds. They throng him on every side and, plung-
ing their muzzles in his ﬂesh, mangle their master
under the deceiving form of the deer. Nor, as
they say, till he had been done to death by many
141
OVID
nec nisi finita per plurima vulnera vita
ira pharetratae fertur satiata Dianae.
Rumor in ambiguo est; aliis violentior aequo
visa dea est, alii laudant dignamque severa
virginitate vocantz pars invenit utraque causas. 255
sola Iovis coniunx non tam, culpetne probetne,
eloquitur, quam clade domus ab Agenore ductae
gaudet et a Tyria collectum paelice transfert
in generis socios odiumg subit ecce priori 259
causa recens, gravidamque dolet de semine magni
esse lovis Semelen; dum linguam ad iurgia solvit,
u profeci quid enim totiens per iurgiaP ” dixit,
u ipsa petenda mihi est; ipsam, si maxima luno
rite vocor, perdama si me gemmantia dextra
sceptra tenere decet, si sum regina Iovisque eos
et soror et coniunx, certe soror. at, puto, furto est
contenta, et thalami brevis est iniuria nostri.
concipitz id deeratg manifestaque crimina pleno
fert utero et mater, quod vix mihi contigit. uno
de Iove vult ﬁeri: tanta est fiducia formae. 27 o
fallat eam faxog nec sum Saturnia, si non
ab Iove mersa suo Stygias penetrabit in undas.”
Surgit ab his solio fulvaque recondita nube
limen adit Semeles nec nubes ante removit
quam simulavit anum posuitque ad tempora canos
sulcavitque cutem rugis et curva trementi 276
142
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
wounds, was the wrath of the quiver-bearing goddess
appeased.
Common talk wavered this way and that: to some
the goddess seemed more cruel than was just; others
called her act worthy of her austere virginity; both
sides found good reasons for their judgment. J ove’s
wife alone spake no word either in blame or praise, but
rejoiced in the disaster which had come to Agenor’s
house; for she had now transferred her anger from
her Tyrian rival1 to those who shared her blood.
And lo! a fresh pang was added to her former
grievance and she was smarting with the knowledge
that Semele was pregnant with the seed of mighty
Jove. Words of reproach were rising to her lips,
but “ What,” she cried, “ have I ever gained by re—
proaches? ’Tis she must feel my wrath. Herself,
if I am duly called most mighty Juno, must I attack
if I am ﬁt to wield in my hand the jewelled sceptre, if
I am queen of heaven, the sister and the wife of
J ove—at least his sister. And yet, methinks, she is
content with this stolen love, and the insult to my
bed is but for a moment. But she has conceived——
that still was lacking—and bears plain proof of her
guilt in her full womb, and seeks—a fortune that has
scarce been mine—to be made a mother from Jove.
So great is her trust in beauty! But I will cause
that trust to mock her: I am no daughter of Saturn
if she go not down to the Stygian pool plunged
thither by her Jupiter himself.”
On this she rose from her seat, and, wrapped in
a saffron cloud, she came to the home of Semele.
But before she put aside her concealing cloud she
feigned herself an old woman, whitening her hair at
the temples, furrowing her skin with wrinkles, and
1 i.e. Europa, whose story has already been told.
I43
OVID
-_cui deus “ elige! ” ait
membra tulit passu; vocem quoque fecit anilem,
ipsaque erat Beroe, Semeles Epidauria nutrix.
ergo ubi captato sermone diuque loquendo
ad nomen venere Iovis, suspirat et “ opto, 280
Iuppiter ut sit ” ait; “ metuo tamen omnia: multi
nomine divorum thalamos iniere pudicos.
nee tamen esse Iovem satis est: det pignus amoris,
si modo verus is est; quantusque et qualis ab alta
Iunone excipitur, tantus talisque, rogato, 285
det tibi eonplexus suaque ante insignia sumat! ”
Talibus ignaram Iuno Cadmeida dictis
formarat: rogat illa Iovem sine nomine munus.
“ nullam patiere repulsam,
quoque magis credas, Stygii quoque eonscia sunto
numina torrentis : timor et deus ille deorum est.” 291
laeta ma-lo nimiumque potens perituraque amantis
obsequio Semele “ qualem Saturnia ” dixit
“ te solet ampleeti, Veneris cum foedus initis,
da mihi te talem! ” voluit deus ora loquentis 295
opprimere : exierat iam vox properata sub auras.
ingemuit; neque enim non haec optasse, neque ille
non iurasse potest. ergo maestissimus altum
aethera conscendit vultuque sequentia traxit
nubila, quis nimbos inmixtaque fulgura ventis 300
addidit et tonitrus et inevitabile fulmen;
qua tamen usque potest, vires sibi demere temptat
nee, quo centimanum deiecerat igne Typhoea,
.144
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
walking with bowed form and tottering steps. She
spoke also in the voice of age and became even as
Beroe, the Epidaurian nurse of Semele. When, after
gossiping about many things, they came to mention
of Jove’s name, the old woman sighed and said: “ I
pray that it be Jupiter; but I am afraid of all such
doings. Many, pretending to be gods, have found
entrance into modest chambers. But to be Jove is
not enough; make him prove his love if he is true
Jove; as great and glorious as he is when welcomed
by heavenly Juno, so great and glorious, pray him
grant thee his embrace, and ﬁrst don all his
splendours.”
In such wise did Juno instruct the guileless
daughter of Cadmus. She in her turn asked Jove
for a boon, unnamed. The god replied: “ Choose
what thou wilt, and thou shalt suffer no refusal. And
that thou mayst be more assured, I swear it by the
divinity of the seething Styx, whose godhead is the
fear of all the gods.” Rejoicing in her evil fortune,
too much prevailing and doomed to perish through
her lover’s compliance, Semele said: “ In such guise
as Saturnia beholds thee when thou seekest her arms
in love, so show thyself to me.” The god would have
checked her even as she spoke; but already her
words had sped forth into uttered speech. He
groans; for neither can she recall her wish, nor he
his oath. And so in deepest distress he ascends the
steeps of heaven, and with his beck drew on the
mists that followed, then mingling clouds and
lightnings and blasts of wind, he took last the
thunder and that ﬁre that none can escape. And
yet whatever way he can he essays to lessen his own
might, nor arms himself now with that bolt with
which he had hurled down from heaven Typhoeus
VOL. I. F
I45
OVI D
nunc armatur eo: nimium feritatis in illo est.
est aliud levius fulmen, cui dextra cyclopum 305
saevitiae ﬂammaeque minus, minus addidit irae:
tela secunda vocant superi ; capit illa domumque
intrat Agenoream. corpus moi-tale tumultus
non tulit aetherios donisque iugalibus arsit.
inperfectus adhuc infans genetricis ab alvo 310
eripitur patrioque tener (si credere dignum est)
insuitur femori maternaque tempora conplet.
furtim illum primis Ino matertera cunis
educat, inde datum nymphae Nyseides antris
occuluere suis lactisque alimenta dedere. 315
Dumque ea per terras fatali lege geruntur
tutaque bis geniti sunt incunabula Bacchi,
forte Iovem memorant diﬂ‘usum nectare curas
seposuisse graves vacuaque agitasse remissos
cum Iunone iocos et “ maior vestra profector est, 320
quam quae contingit maribus ” dixisse “ voluptas.”
illa negat. placuit quae sit sententia docti
quaerere Tiresiae: Venus huic erat utraque nota.
nam duo magnorum viridi coeuntia silva
corpora serpentum baculi violaverat ictu 325
deque viro factus (mirabile) femina septem ‘
egerat autumnos; octavo rursus eosdem
vidit, et “ est vestrae si tanta potentia plagae ’
di'xit, “ ut auctoris sortem in contraria mutet,
nunc quoque vos feriam.” percussis anguibus isdem
forma prior rediit, genetivaque venit imago. 331
arbiter hic igitur sumptus de lite iocosa
7
I46 \
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
of the hundred hands, for that weapon were too
deadly; but there is a lighter bolt, to which the
Cyclops’ hands had given a less devouring ﬂame, a
wrath less threatening. The gods call them his
“ Second Armoury.” With these in hand he enters
the palace of Agenor’s son, the home of Semele. Her
mortal body bore not the onrush of heavenly power,
and by that gift of wedlock she was consumed. The
babe still not wholly fashioned is snatched from the
mother’s womb and (if report may be believed) sewed
up in his father’s thigh, there to await its full time of
birth. In secret his mother’s sister, Ino, watched
over his infancy; thence he was conﬁded to the
nymphs of Nysa, who hid him in their cave and
nurtured him with milk.
Now while these things were happening on the
earth by the decrees of fate, when the cradle of
Bacchus, twice born, was safe, it chanced that Jove
(as the story goes), while warmed with wine, put care
aside and bandied good-humoured jests with Juno in
an idle hour. “ I maintain,” said he, “ that your
pleasure in love is greater than that which we enjoy.”
She held the opposite view. And so they decided
to ask the judgment of wise Tiresias. He knew
both sides of love. For once, with a blow of his staff
he had outraged two huge serpents mating in the
green forest; and, wonderful to relate, from man he
was changed into a woman, and in that form spent
seven years. In the eighth year he saw the same
serpents again and said: “ Since in striking you there
is such magic power as to change the nature of the
giver of the blow,now will I strike you once again.” So
saying, he struck the serpents and his former state was
restored and he became as he had been born. He there—
fore, being asked to arbitrate the playful dispute of
I47
OVID
dicta Iovis ﬁrmat: gravius saturnia iusto
nec pro materia fertur doluisse suique
iudicis aeterna damnavit lumina noctes 335
at pater omnipotens cneque enim licet inrita cuiquam
facta dei fecisse deo) pro lumine adempto
scire futura dedit poenamque levavit honore.
llle per Aonias fama celeberrimus urbes
inreprehensa dabat populo responsa petentig 340
prima ﬁde vocisque ratae temptamina sumpsit
caerula Liriopea quam quondam flumine curvo
inplicuit clausaeque suis Cephisos in undis
vim tulit: enixa est utero pulcherrima pleno
infantem nymphep iam tunc qui posset amaria 345
Narcissumque vocat de quo consultus, an esset
tempora maturae visurus longa senectae.
fatidicus vates “ si se non noverit ” inquit.
vana diu visa est vox augurisz exitus illam
resque probat letique genus novitasque furoris. sse
namque ter ad quinos unum Cephisius annum
addiderat poteratque puer iuvenisque videriz
multi illum iuvenes, multae cupiere puellaeg
sed fuit in tenera tam dura superbia forma,
nulli illum iuvenes, nullae tetigere puellae 355
adspicit hunc trepidos agitantem in retia cervos
vocalis nymphea quae nec reticere loquenti
nec prior ipsa loqui didicita resonabilis Echo.
Corpus adhuc Echo, non vox erat et tamen usum
garrula non alium, quam nunc habeta oris habebats
reddere de multis ut verba novissima posset. 361
fecerat hoc Iuno, quia, cum deprendere posset
I48
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
the gods, took sides with Jove. Saturnia, they say,
grieved more deeply than she should and than the
issue warranted, and condemned the arbitrator to
perpetual blindness. But the Almighty Father (for
no god may undo what another god has done) in return
for his loss of sight gave Tiresias the power to know
the future, lightening the penalty by the honour.
He, famed far and near through all the Boeotian
towns, gave answers that none could censure to those
who sought his aid. The ﬁrst to make trial of his
truth and assured utterances was the nymph, Liriope,
whom once the river-god, Cephisus, embraced in his
winding stream and ravished, while imprisoned in
his waters. When her time came the beauteous
nymph brought forth a child, whom a nymph might
love even as a child, and named him Narcissus.
When asked whether this child would live to reach
well-ripened age, the seer replied: “ If he ne’er know
himself.” Long did the saying of the prophet seem
but empty words. But what befell proved its truth—-
the event, the manner of his death, the strangeness
of his infatuation. For Narcissus had reached his
sixteenth year and might seem either boy or man.
Many youths and many maidens sought his love ; but
in that slender form was pride so cold that no youth,
no maiden touched his heart. Once as he was driving
the frightened deer into his nets, a certain nymph of
strange speech beheld him, resounding Echo, who
could neither hold her peace when others spoke, nor
yet begin to speak till others had addressed her.
Up to this time Echo had form and was not a
voice alone; and yet, though talkative, she had no
other use of speech than now—only the power out
of many words to repeat the last she heard. Juno
had made her thus; for often when she might have
149
OVID
sub Iove saepe suo nymphas in monte iacentis,
illa deam longo prudens sermone tenebat,
dum fugerent nymphae. postquam hoc Saturnia
sensit, 365
" huius ” ait “ linguae, qua sum delusa, potestas
parva tibi dabitur vocisque brevissimu's usus,”
reque minas ﬁrmat. tamen haec in ﬁne loquendi
ingeminat voces auditaque verba reportat.
ergo ubi Narcissum per devia rura vagantem 370
vidit et incaluit, sequitur vestigia furtim,
quoque magis sequitur, ﬂamma propiore calescit,
non aliter quam cum summis circumlita taedis
admotas rapiunt vivacia sulphura ﬂammas.
a quotiens voluit blandis accedere dictis 375
et mollis adhibere preces! natura repugnat
nec sinit, incipiat, sed, quod sinit, illa parata est
exspectare sonos, ad quos sua verba remittat.
forte puer comitum seductus ab agmine ﬁdo
dixerat: “ ecquis adest? ” et “ adest ” responderat
Echo. 380
hic stupet, utque aciem partes dimittit in omnis,
voce “ veni! ” magna clamat: vocat illa vocantem.
respicit et rursus nullo veniente “ quid ” inquit
“ me fugis? ” et totidem', quot dixit, verba recepit.
perstat et alternae deceptus imagine vocis 385
“ huc coeamus ” ait, nullique libentius umquam
responsura sono “ coeamus ” rettulit Echo
et verbis favet ipsa suis egressaque silva
ibat, ut iniceret sperato bracchia c0110;
ille fugit fugiensque “ manus conplexibus aufer! .390
,,
ante ait “ emoriar, quam sit tibi copia nostri ”;
150
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
surprised the nymphs in company with her lord
upon the mountain-sides, Echo would cunningly
hold the goddess in long talk until the nymphs were
ﬂed. When Saturnia realized this, she said to her:
“ That tongue of thine, by which I have been tricked,
shall have its power curtailed and enjoy the briefest
use of speech.” The event conﬁrmed her threat.
Nevertheless she does repeat the last phrases of a
speech and returns the words she hears. Now when
she saw Narcissus wandering through the ﬁelds, she
was inﬂamed with love and followed him by stealth;
and the more she followed, the more she burned by
a nearer ﬂame; as when quick-burning sulphur,
smeared round the tops of torches, catches ﬁre from
another ﬁre brought near. Oh, how often does she
long to approach him with alluring words and make
soft prayers to him! But her nature forbids this,
nor does it permit her to begin; but as it allows,
she is ready to await the sounds to which she may
give back her own words. By chance the boy,
separated from his faithful companions, had cried:
“ Is anyone here? ” and “ Here! ” cried Echo back.
Amazed, he looks around in all directions and with
loud voice cries “ Come! ”; and “ Come! ” she calls
him calling. He looks behind him and, seeing no
one coming, calls again: “Why do you run from
me?” and hears in answer his own words again.
He stands still, deceived by the answering voice,
and ‘5 Here let us meet,” he cries. Echo, never to
answer other sound more gladly, cries: “Let us
meet ”; and to help her own words she comes forth
from the woods that she may throw her arms around
the neck she longs to clasp. But he ﬂees at her
approach and, ﬂeeing, says: “ Hands off! embrace
me not! May I die before I give you power o’er
151
OVID
rettulit illa nihil nisi “ sit tibi copia nostril ”
spreta latet silvis pudibundaque frondibus ora
protegit et solis ex i110 vivit in antris;
sed tamen haeret amor crescitque dolore repulsae;
et tenuant vigiles corpus miserabile curae 396
adducitque cutem macies et in aera sucus
corporis omnis abit; vox tantum atque ossa super-
sunt:
vox manet, ossa ferunt lapidis traxisse ﬁguram.
inde latet silvis nulloque in monte videtur, 400
omnibus auditur: sonus est, qui vivit in illa.
Sic hanc, sic alias undis aut montibus ortas
luserat hic nymphas, sic coetus ante viriles;
inde manus aliquis despectus ad aethera tollens
“ sic amet ipse licet, sic non potiatur amato! ” 405
dixerat: adsensit precibus Rhamnusia iustis.
fons erat inlimis, nitidis argenteus undis,
quem neque pastores neque pastae monte capellae
contigerant aliudve pecus, quem nulla volucris
nec fera turbarat nec lapsus ab arbore ramus; 410
gramen erat circa, quod proximus umor alebat,
silvaque sole locum passura tepescere nullo.
hic puer et studio venandi lassus et aestu
procubuit faciemque loci fontemque secutus,
dumque sitim sedare cupit, sitis altera crevit, 415
dumque bibit, visae correptus imagine formae
spem sine corpore amat, corpus putat esse, quod
umbra est.
adstupet ipse sibi vultuque inmotus eodem
I52
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
me! ” “ I give you power o’er me! ” she says, and
nothing more. Thus spurned, she lurks in the woods,
hides her shamed face among the foliage, and lives
from that time on in lonely caves. But still, though
spurned, her love remains and grows on grief; her
sleepless cares waste away her wretched form; she
becomes gaunt and wrinkled and all moisture fades
from her body into the air. Only her voice and her
bones remain: then, only voice; for they say that
her bones were turned to stone. She hides in woods
and is seen no more upon the mountain-sides; but all
may hear her, for voice, and voice alone, still lives in
her.
Thus had Narcissus mocked her, thus 'had he
mocked other nymphs of the waves or mountains;
thus had he mocked the companies of men. At last
one of these scorned youth, lifting up his hands to
heaven, prayed: “ So may he himself love, and not
gain the thing he loves! ” The goddess, Nemesis,
heard his righteous prayer. There was a clear pool
with silvery bright water, to which no shepherds
ever came, or she-goats feeding on the mountain-
side, or __any other cattle; whose smooth surface
neither bird nor beast nor falling bough ever ruﬂled.
Grass grew all around its edge, fed by the water near,
and a coppice that would never suffer the sun to
warm the spot. Here the youth, worn by the chase
and the heat, lies down, attracted thither by the
appearance of the place and by the spring. While
he seeks to slake his thirst another thirst springs
up, and while he drinks he is smitten by the sight
of the beautiful form he sees. He loves an unsub—
stantial hope and thinks that substance which is only
shadow. He looks in speechless wonder at himself
and hangs there motionless in the same expression,
153
OVID
haeret, ut e Pario formatum marmore signum;
spectat humi positus geminum, sua lumina, sidus 420
et dignos Baccho, dignos et Apolline crines
inpubesque genas et eburnea colla decusque
oris et in niveo mixtum candore ruborem,
cunctaque miratur, quibus est mirabilis ipse:
se cupit inprudens et, qui. probat, ipse probatur, 425
dumque petit, petitur, pariterque accendit et ardet.
inrita fallaci quotiens dedit oscula fonti,
in medias quotiens visum captantia collum
bracchia mersit aquas nec se deprendit in illis!
quid videat, nescit; sed quod videt, uritur i110, 430
atque oculos idem, qui decipit, incitat error.
credule, quid frustra simulacra fugacia captas?
quod petis,est nusquam; quod amas,avertere,perdes!
ista repercussae, quam cernis, imaginis umbra est:
nil habet ista sui; tecum venitque manetque; 435
tecum discedet, si tu discedere possis!
Non illum Cereris, non illum cura quietis
abstrahere inde potest, sed opaca fusus in herba
spectat inexpleto mendacem lumine formam
perque oculos perit ipse suos; paullumque levatus
ad circumstantes tendens sua bracchia silvas 441
“ ecquis, io silvae, crudelius ” inquit “ amavit?
scitis enim et multis latebra opportuna fuistis.
ecquem, cum vestrae tot agantur saecula vitae,
qui sic tabuerit, longo meministis in aevo? 445
et placet et video; sed quod videoque placetque,
non tamen invenio: tantus tenet error amantem.
quoque magis doleam, nec nos mare separat ingens
154
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
like a statue carved from Parian marble. Prone on
the ground, he gazes at his eyes, twin stars, and his
locks, worthy 'of Bacchus, worthy of Apollo; on his
smooth cheeks, his ivory neck, the glorious beauty
of his face, the blush mingled with snowy white:
all things, in short, he admires for which he is
himself admired. Unwittingly he desires himself;
he praises, and is himself what he praises ; and while
he seeks, is sought; equally he kindles love and
burns with love. How often did he offer vain kisses
on the elusive pool? How often did he plunge his
arms into the water seeking to clasp the neck he
sees there, but did not clasp himself in them!
What he sees he knows not; but that which he sees
he burns for, and the same delusion mocks and
allures his eyes. O fondly foolish boy, why vainly
seek to clasp a ﬂeeting image? What you seek is
nowhere; but turn yourself away, and the object of
your love will be no more. That which you behold
is but the shadow of a reﬂected form and has no
substance of its own. With you it comes, with you
it stays, and it will go with you—if you can go.
No thought of food or rest can draw him from the
spot; but, stretched on the shaded grass, he gazes on
that false image with eyes that cannot look their ﬁll
and through his own eyes perishes. Raising himself
a‘little, and stretching his arms to the trees, he cries:
“ Did anyone, 0 ye woods, ever love more cruelly
than I ? You know, for you have been the convenient
haunts of many lovers. Do you in the ages past, for
your life is one of centuries, remember anyone who
has pined away like this? I am charmed, and I see;
but what I see and what charms me I cannot ﬁnd—
so great a delusion holds my love. And, to make me
grieve the more, no mighty ocean separates us, no
I55
OVID
nec via nec montes nec clausis moenia portis;
exigua prohibemur aqua! cupit ipse teneri: 450
nam quotiens liquidis porreximus oscula lymphis,
hic totiens ad me resupino nititur ore.
posse putes tangi: minimum est, quod amantibus
obstat.
quisquis est, huc exi! quid me, puer unice, fallis
quove petitus abis? certe nec forma nec aetas 455
est mea, quam fugias, et amarunt me quoque
nymphae!
spem mihi nescio quam vultu promittis amico,
cumque ego porrexi tibi bracchia, porrigis ultro,
cum risi, adrides; lacrimas quoque saepe notavi
me lacrimante tuas; nutu quoque signa remittis 460
et, quantum motu formosi suspicor oris,
verba refers aures non pervenientia nostras!
iste ego sum: sensi, nec me mea fallit imago;
uror amore mei: ﬁammas moveoque feroque.
quid faciam? roger anne rogem? quid deinde rogabo?
quod cupio mecum est: inopem me copia fecit. 466
o utinam a nostro secedere corpore possem!
votum in amante novum,vellem, quod amamus, abesset.
iamque dolor vires adimit, nec tempora vitae
longa meae superant, primoque exstinguor in aevo.
nec mihi mors gravis est posituro morte dolores, 471
hic, qui diligitur, vellem diuturnior esset;
nunc duo concordes anima moriemur in una."
_ Dixit et ad faciem rediit male sanus eandem
et lacrimis turbavit aquas, obscuraque moto 475
156
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
long road, no mountain ranges, no city walls with
close-shut gates; by a thin barrier of water we are
kept apart. He himself is eager to be embraced.
For, often as I stretch my lips towards the lucent
wave, so often with upturned face he strives to lift
his lips to mine. You would think he could be
touched—so small a thing it is that separates our
loving hearts. Whoever you are, come forth hither!
Why, O peerless youth, do you elude me? or whither
do you go when I strive to reach you? Surely my
form and age are not such that you should shun them,
and me too the nymphs have loved. Some ground
for hope you offer with your friendly looks, and when
I have stretched out my arms to you, you stretch
yours too. When I have smiled, you smile back; and
I have often seen tears, when I weep, on your cheeks.
My becks you answer with your nod; and, as I sus—
pect from the movement of your sweet lips, you
answer my words as well, but words which do not
reach my ears—Oh, I am he! I have felt it, I know
now my own image. I burn with love of my own
self; I both kindle the ﬂames and suffer them. What
shall I do? Shall I be wooed or woo? Why woo at
all? What I desire, I have; the very abundance of
my riches beggars me. Oh, that I might be parted
from my own body! and, strange prayer for a lover,
I would that what I love were absent from me ! And
now grief is sapping my strength; but a brief space
of life remains to me and I am out off in my life’s
prime. Death is nothing to me, for in death I shall
leave my troubles ; I would he that is loved might live
longer; but as it is, we two shall die together in one
breath.”
He spoke and, half distraught, turned again to the
same image. His tears ruffled the water, and dimly
IS7
OVID
reddita forma 1acu est; quam cum vidisset abire,
“ quo refugis? remane nec me, crudelis, amantem
desere! ” clamavit; “ liceat, quod tangere non est,
adspicere et misero praebere alimenta furori! ”
dumque dolet, summa vestem deduxit ab ora 480
nudaque marmoreis percussit pectora palmis.
pectora traxerunt roseum percussa ruborem,
non aliter quam poma solent, quae candida parte,
parte rubent, aut ut variis solet uva racemis
ducere purpureum nondum matura colorem. 485
quae simul adspexit liquefacta rursus in unda,
non tulit ulterius, sed ut intabescere ﬂavae
igne levi cerae matutinaeque pruinae
sole tepente solent, sic attenuatus amore
liquitur et tecto paullatim carpitur igni; 490
ct neque iam color est mixto candore rubori,
nec vigor et vires et quae modo visa placebant,
nec corpus remanet, quondam quod amaverat Echo.
quae tamen ut vidit quamvis irata memorque
indoluit, quotiensque puer miserabilis “ eheu ” 495
dixerat, haec resonis iterabat vocibus “ eheu ”;
cumque suos manibus percusserat ille lacertos,
haec quoque reddebat sonitum plangoris eundem. _
ultima vox solitam fuit haec spectantis in undam:
“ heu frustra dilecte puer! ” totidemque remisit 500
verba locus, dictoque vale “ vale ” inquit et Echo.
ille caput viridi fessum submisit in herba,
luminamors clausit domini mirantia formam: _
tum quoque se, postquam est inferna sede receptus,
in Stygia spectabat aqua. planxere sorores 505‘
naides et sectos fratri posuere capillos,
1:58
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
the image came back from the troubled pool. As he
saw it thus depart, he cried: “ Oh, whither do you
ﬂee? Stay here, and desert not him who loves thee,
cruel one! Still may it be mine to gaze on what I
may not touch, and by that gaze feed my unhappy
passion.” While he thus grieves, he plucks away his
tunic at its upper fold and beats his bare breast with
pallid hands. His breast when it is struck takes on
a delicate glow; just as apples sometimes, though
white in part, ﬂush red in other part, or as grapes
hanging in clusters take on a purple hue when not
yet ripe. As soon as he sees this, when the water
has become clear again, he can bear no more; but,
as the yellow wax melts before a gentle heat, as hoar
frost melts before the warm morning sun, so does
he, wasted with love, pine away, and is slowly con-
sumed by its hidden ﬁre. No longer has he that
ruddy colour mingling with the white, no longer that
strength and vigour, and all that lately was‘so pleasing
to behold; scarce does his form remain which once
Echo had loved so well. But when she saw it, though
still angry and unforgetful, she felt pity; and as often
as the poor boy says “ Alas! ” again with answering
utterance she cries “ Alas! ” and as his hands beat
his shoulders she gives back the same sounds of woe.
His last words as he gazed into the familiar spring
were these: “ Alas, dear boy, vainly beloved! ” and
the place gave back his words. And when he said
“Farewell!” “Farewell!”said Echo too. He drooped
his weary head on the green grass and death sealed
the eyes that marvelled at their master’s beauty.
And even when he had been received into the
infernal abodes, he kept on gazing on his image in
the Stygian pool. His naiad-sisters beat their breasts
and shore their locks in sign of grief for their dear
I59
OVID
planxerunt dryades; plangentibus adsonat Echo.
iamque rogum quassasque faces feretrumque
parabant:
nusquam corpus erat; croceum pro corpore ﬂorem
inveniunt foliis medium cingentibus albis. 510
Cognita res meritam vati per Achaidas urbes
attulerat famam, nomenque erat auguris ingens;
spernit Echio‘nides tamen hunc ex omnibus unus
contemptor superum Pentheus praesagaque'ridet
verba senis tenebrasque et cladem lucis ademptae 515
obicit. ille movens albentia tempora canis
“ quam felix esses, si tu quoque luminis huius
orbus ” ait “ ﬁeres, ne Bacchica sacra videres!
namque dies aderit, quam non procul auguror
esse,
qua novus huc veniat, proles Semeleia, Liber, 520
quem nisi templorum fueris dignatus honore,
mille lacer spargere locis et sanguine silvas
foedabis matremque tuam matrisque sorores.
eveniet! neque enim dignabere numen honore,
meque sub his tenebris nimium vidisse quereris.” 525
talia dicentem proturbat Echione natus;
dicta ﬁdes sequitur, responsaque vatis aguntur.
Liber adest, festisque fremunt ululatibus agri:
turba ruit, mixtaeque viris matresque nurusque
vulgusque proceresque ignota ad sacra feruntur. 530
“ Quis furor, anguigenae, proles Mavortia, vestras
attonuit mentes? ” Pentheus ait; “ aerane tantum
aere repulsa valent et adunco tibia cornu
16o
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
brother; the dryads, too, lamented, and Echo gave
back their sounds of woe. And now they were pre-
paring the funeral pile, the brandished torches and
the bier; but his body was nowhere to be found.
In place of his body they ﬁnd a ﬂower, its yellow
centre girt with white petals.
When this story was noised abroad it spread the
well-deserved fame of the seer throughout the cities
of Greece, and great was the name of Tiresias. Yet
Echion’s son, Pentheus, the scoffer at gods, alone of all
men ﬂouted the seer, laughed at the old man’s words
of prophecy, and taunted him with his darkness and
loss of sight. But he, shaking his hoary head in
warning, said: “ How fortunate wouldst thou be if
this light were dark to thee also, so that thou mightst
not behold the rites of Bacchus! For the day will
come—nay, I foresee ’tis near—when the new god
shall come hither, Liber, son of Semele. Unless thou
worship him as is his due, thou shalt be torn into a
thousand pieces and scattered everywhere, and shalt
with thy blood deﬁle the woods and thy mother and
thy mother’s sisters. So shall it come to pass; for
thou shalt refuse to honour the god, and shalt com-
plain that in my blindness I have seen all too well.”
Even while he speaks the son of Echion flings him
forth; but his words did indeed come true and his
prophecies were accomplished.
The god is now come and the ﬁelds resound with
the wild cries of revellers. The people rush out of
the city in throngs, men and women, old and young,
nobles and commons, all mixed together, and hasten
to celebrate the new rites. “ What madness, ye
sons of the serpent’s teeth, ye seed of Mars, has
dulled your reason? ” Pentheus cries. “ Can clash-
ing cymbals, can the pipe of crooked horn, can
161
OVI D
et magicac fraudes, ut, quos non bellicus ensis,
non tuba terruerit, non strictis agmina telis, 535
femineae voces et mota insania vino
obscenique greges et inania tympana vincant?
vosne, senes, mirer, qui longa per aequora vecti
hac Tyron, hac profugos posuistis sede penates,
nunc sinitis sine Marte capi P vosne, acrior aetas, 540
o iuvenes, propiorque meae, quos arma tenere,
non thyrsos, galeaque tegi, non fronde decebat?
este, precor, memores, qua sitis stirpe creati,
illiusque animos, qui moltos perdidit unus,
sumite serpentis! pro fontibus ille lacuque 545
interiit: at vos pro fama vincite vestra!
ille dedit leto fortes: vos pellite molles
et patrium retinete decus! si fata vetabant
stare diu Thebas, utinam tormenta virique
moenia diruerent, ferrumque ignisque sonarent! 550
essemus miseri sine crimine, sorsque querenda,
non celanda foret, lacrimaeque pudore carerent;
at nunc a puero Thebae capientur inermi,
quem neque bella iuvant nec tela nec usus equorum,
sed madidus murra crinis mollesque coronae 555
purpuraque et pictis intextum vestibus aurum,
quem quidem ego actutum (modo vos absistite) cogam
adsumptumque patrem commentaque sacra fateri.
an satis Acrisio est animi, contemnere vanum
numen et Argolicas venienti claudere portas: 560
Penthea terrebit cum totis advena Thebis P
ite citi ” (famulis hoc imperat), “ ite ducemque
I62
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
shallow tricks of magic, women’s shrill cries, wine-
heated madness, vulgar throngs and empty drums
—can all these vanquish men, for whom real war,
with its drawn swords, the blare of trumpets, and
lines of glittering spears, had no terrors? You, ye
elders, should I give you praise, who sailed the long
reaches of the sea and planted here your Tyre, here
your wandering Penates, and who now permit them
to be taken without a struggle? Or you, ye young
men of fresher age and nearer to my own, for whom
once ’twas seemly to bear arms and not the thyrsus,
to be sheltered by helmets and not garlands? Be
mindful, I pray, from what seed you are sprung, and
show the spirit of the serpent, who in his single
strength killed many foes. For his fountain and his
pool he perished; but do you conquer for your glory’s
sake! He did to death brave men: do you but put
to ﬂight unmanly men and save your ancestral honour.
If it be the fate of Thebes not to endure for long, I
would the enginery of war and heroes might batter
down her walls and that sword and ﬁre might roar
around her: then should we be unfortunate, but our
honour without stain; we should bewail, not seek to
conceal, our wretched state ; then our tears would be
without shame. But now our Thebes shall fall before
an untried boy, whom neither arts of war assist nor
spears nor horsemen, but whose weapons are scented
locks, soft garlands, purple and gold inwoven in em—
broidered robes. But forthwith—only do you stand
aside—I will force him to confess that his father’s
name is borrowed’ and his sacred rites a lie. Did
Acrisius have spirit enough to despise his empty god-
head, and to shut the gates of Argos in his face, and
shall Pentheus and all Thebes tremble at this
wanderer’s approach? Go quickly ”—-this to his
163
()VI D
attrahite huc vinctum! iussis mora segnis abesto! ”
hunc avus, hunc Athamas, hunc cetera turba suorum
corripiunt dictis frustraque inhibere laborant. 565
acrior admonitu est inritaturque retenta
et crescit rabies moderaminaque ipsa nocebant:
sic ego torrentem, qua nil obstabat eunti,
lenius et modico strepitu decurrere vidi;
at quacumque trabes obstructaque saxa tenebant, 570
spumeus et fervens et ab obice saevior ibat.
Ecce cruentati redeunt et, Bacchus ubi esset,
quaerenti domino Bacchum vidisse negarunt;
“ hunc ” dixere “ tamen comitem famulumque
sacrorum
cepimus ” et tradunt manibus post terga ligatis 575
sacra dei quendam Tyrrhena gente secutum.
Adspicit hunc Pentheus oculis, quos ira tremendos
fecerat, et quamquam poenae vix tempora diﬁ‘ert,
“ o periture tuaque aliis documenta dature
morte,” ait, “ ede tuum nomen nomenque parentum
et patriam, morisque novi cur sacra frequentes! ” 581
ille metu vacuus “ nomen mihi ” dixit “ Acoetes,
patria Maeonia est, humili de plebe parentes.
non mihi quae duri colerent pater arva iuvenci,
lanigerosve greges, non ulla armenta reliquit; 585
pauper et ipse fuit linoque solebat et hamis
decipere et calamo salientis ducere pisces.
ars illi sua census erat; cum traderet artem,
‘ accipe, quas habeo, studii successor et heres,’
dixit ‘ opes ’ moriensque mihi nihil ille reliquit 590
I64
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III_
slaves--“ go, bring this plotter hither, and in chains!
Let there be no dull delay to my bidding.” His
grandsire addresses him in words of reprimand, and
Athamas,and all his counsellors, and they vainly strive
to curb his will. He is all the more eager for their
warning; his mad rage is fretted by restraint and
grows apace, and their very efforts at control but
make him worse. So have I seen a river, where
nothing obstructed its course, ﬂow smoothly on with
but a gentle murmur; but, where it was held in check
by dams of timber and stone set in its way, foaming
and boiling it went, ﬁercer for the obstruction.
But now the slaves come back, all covered with
blood, and, when their master asks where Bacchus
is, they say that they have not seen him; “but
this companion of his,” they say, “ this priest of his
sacred rites, we have taken,” and they deliver up,
his hands bound behind his back, one of Etruscan
stock, a votary of Bacchus. Him Pentheus eyes
awhile with gaze made terrible by his wrath; and,
with diﬂiculty withholding his hand from punish—
ment, he says: “ Thou fellow, doomed to perish and
by thy death to serve as a warning to others, tell me
thy name, thy parents, and thy country; and why
thou dost devote thyself to this new cult.” He
fearlessly replies: “ My name is Acoetes, and my
country is Maeonia; my parents were but humble
folk. My father left me no ﬁelds or sturdy bullocks
to till them; no woolly sheep, no cattle. He himself
was poor and used to catch ﬁsh with hook and line
and rod and draw them leaping from the stream.
His craft was all his wealth; and when he passed it
on to me he said: ‘ Take this craft; ’tis all my fortune.
Be you my heir and successor in it.’ And in dying
he left me nothing but the waters. This alone can
165
OVID
praeter aquas: unum hoc possum adpellare paternum.
mox ego, ne scopulis, haererem semper in isdem,
addidici regimen dextra moderante carinae
ﬂectere et Oleniae sidus pluviale capellae
Taygetenque Hyadasque oculis Arctonque notavi 595
ventorumque domos et portus puppibus aptos.
forte petens Delum Chiae telluris ad oras
adplicor et dextris adducor litora remis
doque levis saltus udaeque inmittor harenae:
nox ibi consumpta est; aurora rubescere prima 600
coeperat: exsurgo laticesque inferre recentis
admoneo monstroque viam, quae ducat ad undas;
ipse quid aura mihi tumulo promittat ab alto
prospicio comitesque voco repetoque carinam.
‘ adsumus en ’ inquit sociorum primus Opheltes, 605
utque putat, praedam deserto nactus in agro,
virginea puerum ducit per litora forma.
ille mero somnoque gravis titubare videtur
vixque sequi ; specto cultum faciemque gradumque :
nil ibi, quod credi posset mortale, videbam. 610
et sensi et dixi sociis: ‘ quod numen in isto
corpore sit, dubito; sed corpore numen in isto est!
quisquis es, 0 faveas nostrisque laboribus adsis;
his quoque des veniam! ’ ‘ pro nobis mitte precari! ’
Dictys ait, quo non alius conscendere summas ' 615
ocior antemnas prensoque rudente relabi.
hoc Libys, hoc ﬂavus, prorae tutela, Melanthus,
hoc probat Alcimedon et, qui requiemque modumque
voce dabat remis, animorum hortator, Epopeus,
hoc omnes alii: praedae tam caeca cupido est. 620
I66
METAMORPHOSES BOOK II I
I call my heritage. Soon, that I might not always
stay planted on the selfsame rocks, I learned to steer
ships with guiding hand; I studied the stars; the rainy
constellation of the Olenian Goat, Taygete, the
Hyades, the Bears; I learned the winds and whence
they blow; I learned what harbours are best for ships.
It chanced that while making for Delos I was driven
out of my course to the shore of Chios and made the
land with well-skilled oars. Light leaping, we landed
on the wet shore and spent the night. As soon as
the eastern sky began to redden I rose and bade my
men go for fresh water, showing them the way that
led to the spring. For my own task, from a high
hill I observed the direction of the wind; then called
my comrades and started back on board. ‘ Lo, here
we are ! ’ cried Opheltes, ﬁrst of all the men, bringing
with him a prize (so he considered it) which he had
found in a deserted ﬁeld, a little boy with form
beautiful as a girl’s. He seemed to stagger, as if
o’ercome with wine and sleep, and could scarce
follow him who led. I gazed on his garb, his face, his
walk; and all I saw seemed more to me than mortal.
This I perceived, and said to my companions:
‘What divinity is in that mortal body I know not;
but assuredly a divinity is therein. Whoever thou
art, be gracious unto us and prosper our under-
takings. Grant pardon also to these men.’ ‘ Pray
not for us,’ said Dictys, than whom none was more
quick to climb the topmost yard and slide down on
ﬁrm—grasped rope. Libys seconded this speech; so
did yellow-haired Melanthus, the look—out, and
Alcimedon and Epopeus, who by his voice marked
the time for the rowers and urged on their ﬂagging
spirits. And all the rest approved, so blind and
heedless was their greed for booty. ‘And yet I
167
"()VID
‘ non tamen hanc sacro violari pondere pinum
perpetiar ’ dixi: ‘ pars hic mihi maxima iuris ’
inque aditu obsisto: furit audacissimus omni
de numero Lycabas, qui Tusca pulsus ab urbe
exilium dira poenam pro caede luebat; 625
is mihi, dum resto, iuvenali guttura pugno
rupit et excussum misisset in aequora, si non
haesissem, quamvis amens, in fune retentus.
inpia turba probat factum; tum denique Bacchus
(Bacchus enim fuerat), veluti clamore solutus 630
sit sopor aque mero redeant in pectora sensus,
‘ quid facitis? quis clamor? ’ ait ‘ qua, dicite, nautae,
huc ope perveni? quo me deferre paratis? ’
‘ pone metum ’ Proreus, ‘ et quos contingere portus
ede velis! ’ dixit; ‘ terra sistere petita.’ 635
‘ N axon ’ ait Liber ‘ cursus advertite vestros!
illa mihi domus est, vobis erit hospita tellus.’
per mare fallaces perque omnia numina iurant
sic fore meque iubent pictae dare vela carinae.
dextera Naxos erat: dextra mihi lintea danti 640
‘ quid facis, o demens? quis te furor—P ’ inquit
Opheltes;
pro se quisque, ‘ tenet? 1 laevam pete! ’ maxima nutu
pars mihi signiﬁcat, pars quid velit aure susurrat.
obstipui ‘ capiat ’ que ‘ aliquis moderamina! ’ dixi
meque ministerio scelerisque artisque removi. 645
1 pro se quisque, ‘ tenet? H einsius : ‘ persequiturve timor ’
Burman: pro se quisque timet M88’.
168
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
shall not permit this ship to be deﬁled by such
sacrilege,’ I said; ‘here must my authority have
greater weight.’ And I resisted their attempt to
come on board. Then did Lycabas break out into
wrath, the most reckless man of the crew, who,
driven from Tuscany, was suffering exile as a punish—
ment for the foul crime of murder. He, while I
withstood him, tore at my throat with his strong
hands and would have hurled me overboard, if, scarce
knowing what I did, I had not clung to a rope that
held me back. The godless crew applauded Lycabas.
Then at last Bacchus—for it was he—as if aroused
from slumber by the outcry, and as if his wine-
dimmed senses were coming back, said: ‘ What are
you doing? Why this uproar? And tell me, ye
sailor-men, how did I get here and whither are you
planning to take me?’ ‘ Be not afraid,’ said
Proreus, ‘ tell me what port you wish to make,
and you shall be set off at any place you choose.’
‘ Then turn your course to Naxos,’ said Liber; ‘ that
is my home, and there shall you ﬁnd, yourselves, a
friendly land.’ By the sea and all its gods the
treacherous fellows swore that they would do this,
and bade me get the painted vessel under sail. N axos
lay off upon the right; and as I was setting my sails
towards the right Opheltes ‘said: ‘What are you
doing, you fool? what madness-——’ and each one
for himself supplied the words—‘ holds you? Take
the left tack.’ The most of them by nods and
winks let me know what they wanted, and some
whispered in my ear. I could not believe my senses
and I said to them: ‘Then let someone else take
the helm ’; and declared that I would have nor
part nor lot in their wicked scheme. They all cried
I69
OVI D
increpor a cunctis, totumque inmurmurat agmen;
e quibus Aethalion ‘ te scilicet omnis in uno
nostra salus posita est! ’ ait et subit ipse meumque
explet opus Naxoque petit diversa relicta.
tum deus inludens, tamquam modo denique
fraudem 650
senserit, e puppi pontum prospectat adunca
et ﬂenti similis ‘ non haec mihi litora, nautae,
promisistis ’ ait, ‘ non haec mihi terra rogata est!
quo merui poenam facto!> quae gloria vestra est,
si puerum iuvenes, si multi fallitis unum? ’ 655
iamdudum ﬂebam: lacrimas manus inpia nostras
ridet et inpellit properantibus aequora remis.
per tibi nunc ipsum (nec enim praesentior illo
est deus) adiuro, tam me tibid vera referre
quam veri maiora ﬁde: stetit aequore puppis 660
haud aliter, quam si siccum navale teneret.
illi admirantes remorum in verbere perstant
velaque deducunt geminaque ope currere temptant:
inpediunt hederae remos nexuque recurvo
serpunt et gravidis distinguunt vela corymbis. 665
ipse racemiferis frontem circumdatus uvis
pampineis agitat velatam frondibus hastam;
quem circa tigres simulacraque inania lyncum
pictarumque iacent fera corpora pantherarum.
exsiluere viri, sive hoc insania fecit 670
sive timor, primusque Medon nigrescere coepit
corpore et expresso spinae curvamine ﬂecti.
incipit huic Lycabas: ‘ in quae miracula ’ dixit
‘ verteris? ’ et lati rictus et panda loquenti
r70
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
out upon me and kept up their Wrathful mutterings.
And one of them, Aethalion, broke out: ‘ I’d have
you know, the safety of us all does not depend on
you alone! ’ So saying, he came and took my place
at the helm and, leaving the course for Naxos,
steered off in another direction. Then the god, in
mockery of them, as if he had just discovered their
faithlessness, looked out upon the sea from the curved
stern, and in seeming tears cried out: ‘ These are not
the shores you promised me, you sailor-men; and
this is not the land I sought. What have I done to
be so treated? And what glory will you gain if you,
grown men, deceive a little boy? if you, so many,
overcome just one?’ I was long since in tears;
but the godless crew mocked my tears and swept the
seas with speeding oars. Now by the god himself I
swear (for there is no god more surely near than he)
that what I speak is truth, though far beyond
belief. The ship stands still upon the waves, as if a
dry-dock held her. The sailors in amaze redouble
their striving at the oars and make all sail, hoping
thus to speed their way by twofold power. But ivy
twines and clings about the oars, creeps upward
with many a back-ﬂung, catching fold, and decks
the sails with heavy, hanging clusters. The god
himself, with his brow garlanded with clustering
berries, waves a wand wreathed with ivy-leaves.
Around him lie tigers, the forms (though empty all)
of lynxes and of ﬁerce spotted panthers. The men
leap overboard, driven on by- madness or by fear.
And ﬁrst Medon’s body begins to grow dark and his
back to be bent in a well—marked curve. Lycabas
starts to say to him: ‘ Into what strange creature
are you turning?’ But as he speaks his own jaws
spread wide, his nose becomes hooked, and his skin
I71
OVID
naris erat, squamamque cutis durata trahebat. 675
at Libys obstantis dum vult obvertere remos,
in spatium resilire manus breve vidit et illas
iam non esse manus, iam pinnas posse vocari.
alter ad intortos cupiens dare bracchia funes
bracchia non habuit truncoque repandus in undas 680
corpore desiluit: falcata novissima cauda est,
qualia dimidiae sinuantur cornua lunae.
undique dant saltus multaque adspergine rorant
emerguntque iterum redeuntque sub aequora rursus
inque chori ludunt speciem lascivaque iactant 685
corpora et acceptum patulis mare naribus eﬂlant.
de modo viginti (tot enim ratis illa ferebat)
restabam solus: pavidum gelidumque trementi
corpore vixque meum ﬁrmat deus ‘ excute ’ dicens
‘ corde metum Diamque tene! ’ delatus in illam 690
accessi sacris Baccheaque sacra frequento.”
“ Praebuimus longis ” Pentheus “ ambagibus aures,”
inquit “ ut ira mora vires absumere posset.
praecipitem, famuli, rapite hunc cruciataque diris
corpora tormentis Stygiae demittite nocti! ” 695
protinus abstractus solidis Tyrrhenus Acoetes
clauditur in tectis; et dum crudelia iussae
instrumenta necis ferrumque ignesque parantur,
sponte sua patuisse fores lapsasque lacertis
sponte sua fama est nullo solvente catenas. 700
Perstat Echionides, nec iam iubet ire, sed ipse
vadit, ubi electus facienda ad sacra Cithaeron
cantibus et clara bacchantum voce sonabat.
I72
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
becomes hard and covered with scales. But Libys,
while he seeks to ply the sluggish oars,sees his hands
suddenly shrunk in size to things that can no longer
be called hands at all, but ﬁns. Another, catching
at a twisted rope with his arms, ﬁnds he has no arms
and goes plunging backwards with limbless body into
the sea: the end of his tail is curved like the horns
of a half—moon. They leap about on every side,
sending up showers of spray; they emerge from the
water, only to return to the depths again; they
sport like a troupe of dancers, tossing their bodies in
wanton sport and drawing in and blowing out the
water from their broad nostrils. Of but now twenty
men—for the ship bore so many—I alone remained.
And, as I stood quaking and trembling with cold
fear, and hardly knowing what I did, the god spoke
words of cheer to me and said: ‘ Be of good
courage, and hold on your course to Naxos.’ Arrived
there, I have joined the rites and am one of the
Bacchanalian throng.”
Then Pentheus said: “ We have lent ear to this
long, rambling tale, that by such delay our anger
might lose its might. ‘ Ye slaves, now hurry him
away, rack his body with fearsome tortures, and
so send him down to Stygian night.” Straightway
Acoetes, the Tyrrhenian, was dragged out and shut
up in a strong dungeon. And while the slaves were
getting the cruel instruments of torture ready, the
iron, the ﬁre—of their own accord the doors ﬂew
open wide; of their own accord, with no one loosing
them, the chains fell from the prisoner’s arms.
But Pentheus stood ﬁxed in his purpose. He no
longer sent messengers, but went himself to where
Cithaeron, the chosen seat for the god’s sacred rites,
was resounding with songs and the shrill cries of wor-
I73
OVID
ut' fremit acer equus, cum bellicus aere canoro
signa dedit tubicen pugnaeque adsumit amorem, 7 05'
Penthea sic ictus longis ululatibus aether
movit, et audito clamore recanduit ira.
Monte fere medio est, cingentibus ultima silvis,
purus ab arboribus, spectabilis undique, campus:
his oculis illum cernentem sacra profanis 710
prima videt, prima est insano concita cursu,
prima suum misso violavit Penthea thyrso
mater et “ o geminae ” clamavit “ adeste sorores!
ille aper, in nostris errat qui maximus agris,
ille mihi feriendus aper.” ruit omnis in unum 715
turba furens ; cunctae coeunt trepidumque sequuntur,
iam trepidum, iam verba minus violenta loquentem,
iam se damnantem, iam se peccasse fatentem.
saucius ille tamen “ fer opem, matertera ” dixit
“ Autonoe! moveant animos Actaeonis umbrae! ” 720
illa, quis Actaeon, nescit dextramque precantis
abstulit, Inoo lacerata est altera raptu. I
non habet infelix quae matri bracchia tendat,
trunca sed ostendens deiectis vulnera membris
“ adspice, mater! ” ait. visis ululavit Agaue 725
collaque iactavit movitque per aera crinem ‘
avulsumque caput digitis conplexa cruentis
clamat: “
nonfcitius frondes autumni frigore tactas
io comites, opus haec Victoria nostrum est! "f
iamque male haerentes alta rapit arbore ventus, 730'
quam sunt membra viri manibus direpta nefandis.
talibus exemplis monitae nova sacra frequentant
turaque dant sanctasque colunt Ismenides aras.
1174
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
shippers. As a spirited horse snorts when the brazen
trumpet with tuneful voice sounds out the battle and
his eagerness for the fray waxes hot, so did the air,
pulsing with the long-drawn cries, stir Pentheus, and
the wild uproar in his ears heated his wrath white-hot.
About midway of the mountain, bordered with
thick woods, was an open plain, free from trees, in
full view from every side. Here, as Pentheus was
spying with profane eyes upon the sacred rites, his
mother was the ﬁrst to see him, ﬁrst to rush madly
on him, ﬁrst with hurled thyrsus to smite her son.
“ Ho, there, my sisters, come! ” she cried, “ see that
huge boar prowling in our ﬁelds. Now must I rend
him.” The whole mad throng rush on him; from all
sides they come and pursue the frightened wretch--
yes, frightened now, and speaking milder words,
cursing his folly and confessing that he has sinned.
Sore wounded, he cries out: “ Oh help, my aunt,
Autonoé! Let the ghost of Actaeon move your
heart.” She knows not who Actaeon is, and tears the
suppliant’s right arm away ; Ino in frenzy rends away
his left. And now the wretched man has no arms to
stretch out in prayer to his mother; but, showing
his mangled stumps where his arms have been torn
away, he cries: “ Oh, mother, see! ” Agave howls
madly at the sight and tosses'her head with wildly
streaming hair. Off she tears his head, and holding
it in bloody hands, she yells: “ See, comrades, see
my toil and its reward of victory! ” Not more quickly
are leaves, when touched by the ﬁrst cold of autumn
and now lightly clinging, whirled from the lofty tree
by the wind than is Pentheus torn limb from limb
by those impious hands. Taught by such a warning,
the Thebans throng the new god’s sacred rites, burn
incense, and bow down before his shrines.
I75
BOOK \ IV
VOL. I.
LIBER IV
AT non Alcithoe Minyeias orgia censet
accipienda dei, sed adhuc temeraria Bacchum
progeniem negat esse Iovis sociasque sorores
inpietatis habet. festum celebrare sacerdos
inmunesque operum famulas dominasque suorum 5
pectora pelle tegi, crinales solvere vittas,
serta coma, manibus frondentis sumere thyrsos
iusserat et saevam laesi fore numinis iram
vaticinatus erat: parent matresque nurusque
telasque calathosque infectaque pensa reponunt 10
turaque dant Bacchumque vocant Bromiumque
Lyaeumque
ignigenamque satumque iterum solumque bimatrem;
additur his N yseus indetonsusque Thyoneus
et cum Lenaeo genialis consitor uvae
Nycteliusque Eleleusque parens et Iacchus et Euhan,

et quae praeterea per Graias plurima gentes 16
nomina, Liber, habes. tibi enim inconsumpta iuventa
est,
1 “ The noisy one.”
2 “ The dcliverer from care.”
3 “ Of Nysa,” a city in India, connected traditionally with
the infancy of Bacchus.
4 “ Son of Thyone,” the name given to his mother, Semele,
after her translation to the skies.
5 “ God of the wine-press.”
6 S0 named from the fact that his orgies were celebrated in
the night.
178
BOOK IV
BUT not Minyas’ daughter Alcithoé; she will not
have the god’s holy revels admitted; nay, so bold
is she that she denies Bacchus to be Jove’s son!
And her sisters are with her in the impious deed.
The priest had bidden the people to celebrate a
Bacchic festival: all serving-women must be excused
from toil; with their mistresses they must cover
their breasts with the skins of beasts, they must
loosen the ribands of their hair, and with garlands
upon their heads they must hold in their hands the
vine—wreathed thyrsus. And he had prophesied that
the wrath of the god would be merciless if he were
disregarded. The matrons and young wives all obey,
put by weaving and work—baskets, leave their tasks
unﬁnished; they burn incense, calling on Bacchus,
naming him also Bromius,1 Lyaeus,2 son of the
thunderbolt, twice born, child of two mothers; they
hail him as Nyseus3 also, Thyoneus4 of the unshorn
locks, Lenaeus,5 planter of the joy-giving vine,
Nyctelius,6 father Eleleus,7, Iacchus,8 and Euhan,
and all the many names besides by which thou art
known, O Liber,9 throughout the towns of Greece.
7 From the wild cries uttered by his worshippers in the
orgies.
‘3 A name identiﬁed with Bacchus.
9 Either from liber, “ the free,” or from libo, “ he to whom
libations of wine are poured.”
I79
OVID
tu puer aeternus, tu formosissimus alto
conspiceris caelo; tibi, cum sine cornibus adstas,
virgineum caput est; Oriens tibi victus, adusque 2O
decolor extremo qua tinguitur India Grange.
Penthea tu, venerande, bipenniferumque Lycurgum
sacrilegos mactas, Tyrrhenaque mittis in aequor
corpora, tu biiugum pictis insignia frenis
colla premis lyncum. bacchae satyrique sequuntur, 25
quique senex ferula titubantis ebrius artus
sustinet et pando non fortiter haeret asello.
quacumque ingrederis, clamor iuvenalis et una
femineae voces inpulsaque tympana palmis
concavaque aera sonant longoque foramine buxus. 3O
“ Placatus mitisque ” rogant Ismenides “ adsis,”
iussaque sacra colunt; solae Minyeides intus
intempestiva turbantes festa Minerva
aut ducunt lanas aut stamina pollice versant
aut haerent telae famulasque laboribus urguent. 35
e quibus una levi deducens pollice ﬁlum
“ dum cessant aliae commentaque sacra frequentant,
nos quoque, quas Pallas, melior dea, detinet ” inquit,
“ utile opus manuum vario sermone levemus
perque vices aliquid, quod tempora longa videri 40
non sinat, in medium vacuas referamus ad aures! ”
dicta probant primamque iubent narrare sorores.
illa, quid e multis referat (nam plurima norat),
cogitat et dubia est, de te, Babylonia, narret,
Derceti, quam versa squamis velantibus artus 45
stagna Palaestini credunt motasse ﬁgura,
18o
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
For thine is unending youth, eternal boyhood; thou
art the most lovely in the lofty sky; thy face is
virgin—seeming, if without horns thou stand before
us. The Orient owns thy sway, even to the bounds
where remotest Ganges laves swart India. Pentheus
thou didst destroy, thou awful god, and Lycurgus,
armed with the two-edged battle-axe (impious were
they both), and didst hurl the Tuscan sailors into the
sea. Lynxes, with bright reins harnessed, draw thy
car; bacchant women and satyrs follow thee, and
that old man who, drunk with wine, supports his
staggering limbs on his staff, and clings weakly to his
misshapen ass. Where’er thou goest, glad shouts
of youths and cries of women echo round, with drum
of tambourine, the cymbals’ clash, and the shrill
piping of the ﬂute.
“ Oh, be thou with us, merciful and mild! ” the
Theban women cry; and perform the sacred rites as
the priest bids them. The daughters of Minyas
alone stay within, marring the festival, and out of
due time ply their household tasks, spinning wool,
thumbing the turning threads, or keep close to the
loom, and press their maidens with work. Then one
of them, drawing the thread the while with deft
thumb, says: “ While other women are deserting
their tasks and thronging this so—called festival, let
us also, who keep toPallas, a truer goddess, lighten
with various talk the serviceable work of our hands,
and to beguile the tedious hours, let us take turns
in telling stories, while all the others listen.” The
sisters agree and bid her be ﬁrst to speak. She
mused'awhile which she should tell of many tales,
for very many she knew. She was in doubt whether
to tell of thee, Dercetis of Babylon, who, as the
Syrians believe, changed to a ﬁsh, all covered with
181
OVID
an magis, ut sumptis illius ﬁlia pennis
extremos albis in turribus egerit annos,
nais an ut cantu nimiumque potentibus herbis
verterit in tacitos iuvenalia corpora pisces, 5O
donec idem passa est, an, quae poma alba ferebat
ut nunc nigra ferat contactu sanguinis arbor:
hoc placet, haec quoniam vulgaris fabula non est;
talibus orsa modis lana sua ﬁla sequentei
“ Pyramus et Thisbe, iuvenum pulcherrimus alter,
altera, quas Oriens habuit, praelata puellis, 56
contiguas tenuere domos, ubi dicitur altam
coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem.
notitiam primosque gradus vicinia fecit,
tempore crevit amor; taedae quoque iure coissent, 6O
sed vetuere patres: quod non potuere vetare,
ex aequo captis ardebant mentibus ambo.
conscius omnis abest; nutu signisque loquuntur,
quoque magis tegitur, tectus magis ae'stuat ignis.
ﬁssus erat tenui rima, quam duxerat olim, 65
cum ﬁeret, paries domui communis utrique.
id vitium nulli per saecula longa notatum—
quid non sentit amor P—primi vidistis amantes
et vocis fecistis iter, tutaeque per illud'
murmure blanditiae minimo transire solebant. 7O
saepe, ubi constiterant hinc Thisbe, Pyramus illinc,
inque vices fuerat captatus anhelitus oris,
‘ invide ’ dicebant ‘ paries, quid amantibus obstas?
quantum erat, ut sineres toto nos corpore iungi
aut, hoc _s_i nimium est, vel ad oscula danda pateres?
1.82.
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
scales, and swims in a pool; or how her daughter,
changed to a pure white dove, spent her last years
perched on high battlements; or how a certain
nymph, by incantation and herbs too potent, changed
the bodies of some boys into mute ﬁshes, and at last
herself became a ﬁsh; or how the mulberry-tree,
which once had borne white fruit, now has fruit dark
red, from the bloody stain. The last seems best.
This tale, not commonly known as .yet, she tells,
spinning her wool the while.
“ Pyramus and Thisbe—he, the most beautiful
youth, and she, loveliest maid of all the East—dwelt
in houses side by side, in the city which Semiramis
is said to have surrounded with walls of brick. Their
nearness made the ﬁrst steps of their acquaintance.
In time love grew, and they would have been joined
in marriage, too, but their parents forbade. Still,
what no parents could forbid, sore smitten in heart
they burned with mutual love. They had no go-
between, but communicated by nods and signs; and
the more they covered up the ﬁre, the more it burned.
There was a slender chink in ‘the party-wall of the
two houses, which it had at some former time'received
when it was building. This chink, which no one had’
ever discovered through all these years-—'but .what
does love not see ?—you lovers ﬁrst discovered and
made it the channel of speech. Safe through this
your loving words used 'to pass’ in‘ tiny whispers.
Often, when they had taken their positions, on this
side Thisbe, and Pyramus on that, and when each
in turn had listened eagerly for the other’s breath,
’ O envious wall,’ they would say, ‘ why do you
stand between lovers? How small a thing ’twould
be for you to permit us to embrace each other, or, if
this be too much, to open for our kisses! ‘But we are
183
OV ID
nec sumus ingrati: tibi nos debere fatemur,
quod datus est verbis ad amicas transitus auris.’
talia diversa nequiquam sede locuti
sub noctem dixere ‘ vale ’ partique dedere
oscula quisque suae non pervenientia contra.
postera nocturnos Aurora removerat ignes,
solque pruinosas radiis siccaverat herbas:
ad solitum coiere locum. tum murmure parvo
multa prius questi statuunt, ut nocte silenti
fallere custodes foribusque excedere temptent,
76
80
85
cumque domo exierint, urbis quoque tecta relinquant,
neve sit errandum lato spatiantibus arvo,
conveniant ad busta Nini lateantque sub umbra
arboris: arbor ibi niveis uberrima pomis
(ardua morus erat) gelido contermina fonti.
pacta placent; et lux, tarde discedere visa,
praecipitatur aquis, et aquis nox exit ab isdem. ‘
90
“ Callida per‘ tenebras versatojcarldine Thisbe ' '
egreditur, fallitque suos adopertaque vultum
pervenit ad tumulum dictaque sub arbore sedit.
audacem faciebat amor. venit ecce recenti
caede leaena-boum spumantis oblita rictus
depositura Sitim'vicini 'fontis in unda,
quam procul ad lunae radios Babylonia Thisbe
vidit et obscurum timido pede fugit in antrum,
dumque fugit, tergo velamina lapsa reliquit.
ut lea saeva sitim multa conpescuit unda,
dum redit in silvas, inventos forte sine ipsa
ore cruentato tenues laniavit amictus.
95
100
$84
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
not ungrateful. We owe it to you, we admit, that a
passage is allowed by which our words may go through
to loving ears.’ So, separated all to no purpose, they
would talk, and as night came on they said good-bye
and printed, each on his own side of the wall, kisses
that did not go through. The next morning had put
out the starry beacons of the night, and the sun’s
rays had dried the frosty grass; they came together
at the accustomed place. Then ﬁrst in low whispers
they lamented bitterly, then decided when all had
become still that night to try to elude their guar—
dians’ watchful eyes and steal out of doors; and,
when they had gotten out, they would leave the city
as well; and that they might not run the risk of
missing one another, as they wandered in the open
country, they were to meet at Ninus’ tomb and hide
in the shade of a tree. Now there was a tree there
hanging full of snow—white berries, a tall mulberry,
and not far away was a cool spring. They liked the
plan, and slow the day seemed to go. But at last
the sun went plunging down beneath the waves, and
from the same waves the night came up.
“ Now Thisbe, carefully opening the door, steals out
through the darkness, seen of none, and arrives duly
at the tomb with her face well veiled and sits down
under the trysting-tree. Love made her bold. But
see‘! here comes a lioness, her jaws all dripping with
the blood of fresh-slain cattle, to slake her thirst-at
the neighbouring spring. Far off under the rays of
the moon Babylonian Thisbe sees her, and ﬂees with
trembling feet into the deep cavern, and as she ﬂees
she leaves her cloak on the ground behind her. \Vhen
the savage lioness has quenched her thirst by copious
draughts of water, returning to the woods she comes
by chance upon the light garment (but without the
185
OV ID
serius egressus vestigia vidit in alto 105
pulvere certa ferae totoque expalluit ore
Pyramus; ut vero vestem quoque sanguine tinctam
repperit, ‘ una duos ’ inquit ‘ nox perdet amantes,
e quibus illa fuit longa dignissima vita;
nostra nocens anima est. ego te, miseranda, peremi,
in loca plena metus qui iussi nocte venires 111
nec prior huc veni. nostrum divellite corpus
et scelerata fero consumite viscera morsu,
o quicumque sub hac habitatis rupe leones!
sed timidi est optare necem.’ velamina Thisbes 115
tollit et ad pactae secum fert arboris umbram,
utque dedit notae lacrimas, dedit oscula vesti,
‘ accipe nunc ’ inquit ‘ nostri quoque sanguinis
haustus! ’
quoque verat accinctus, demisit in ilia ferrum,
nec mora, ferventi moriens e vulnere traxit. 120
ut iacuit resupinus humo, cruor emicat alte,
non aliter quam cum ,vitiato fistula plumbo
sci-nditur et tenui stridente forami-ne longas
eia'culatur aquas atque ictibus aera rumpit.
arborei fetus adspergine caedis in atram 125
vertuntur faciem, madefactaque sanguine radix. ‘
purpu-reo tinguit pendentia mora colore.
“ Ecce metu nondum posito, ne fallat amantem,
illa redit iuvenemque oculis animoque requirit,
quantaque vitarit narrare pericula gestit; 130
utque locum et visa cognoscit in arbore formam,
sic .facit incertam pomi color: haeret,.an haec sit.
186
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
girl herself!) and tears it with bloody jaws. Pyramus,
coming out a little later, sees the tracks of the beast
plain in the deep dust and grows deadly pale at the
sight. But when he saw the cloak too, smeared with
blood, he cried: ‘ One night shall bring two lovers
to death. But she of the two was more worthy of
long life; on my head lies all the guilt. Oh, I have
been the cause of your death, poor girl, in that I bade
you come forth by night into this dangerous place,
and did not myself come hither ﬁrst. Come, rend
my body and devour my guilty ﬂesh with your ﬁerce
fangs, O all ye lions who have your lairs beneath
this cliff! But ’tis a coward’s part merely to pray
for death.’ He picks up Thisbe’s cloak and carries
it to the shade of the trysting-tree. And while
he kisses the familiar garment and bedews it with
his tears he cries: ‘ Drink now my blood too.’ So
saying, he drew the sword which he wore girt about
him, plunged the blade into his side, and Straightway,
with his dying effort, drew the sword from his warm
wound. As he lay stretched upon the earth the
spouting blood leaped high; just as when a pipe has
broken at a weak spot in the lead and through the
small hissing aperture sends spurting forth long
streams of water, cleaving the air with its jets. The
fruit of the tree, sprinkled with the blood, was
changed to a dark red colour; and the roots, soaked
with his gore, also tinged the hanging berries with
the same purple hue. '
" And now comes Thisbe from her hiding—place,
still trembling, but fearful also that her lover will
miss her; she seeks for him both with eyes and
soul, eager to tell him how great perils she has
escaped. And while she recognizes the place and
the shape of the well—known tree, still the colour
I87
OVID '
dum dubitat, tremebunda videt pulsare cruentum
membra solum, retroque pedem tulit, oraque buxo
pallidiora gerens exhorruit aequoris instar, 135
quod tremit, exigua cum summum stringitur aura.
sed postquam remorata suos cognovit amores,
percutit indignos claro plangore lacertos
et laniata comas amplexaque corpus amatum
vulnera supplevit lacrimis ﬂetumque cruori 140
miscuit et gelidis in vultibus oscula ﬁgens
‘ Pyrame,’ clamavit, ‘ quis te mihi casus ademit?
Pyrame, responde! tua te carissima Thisbe
nominat; exaudi vultusque attolle iacentes! ’
ad nomen Thisbes oculos a morte gravatos 145
Pyramus erexit visaque recondidit illa.
“ Quae postquam vestemque suam cognovit et ense
vidit ebur vacuum, ‘ tua te manus ’ inquit ‘ amorque
perdidit, infelix! est et mihi fortis in unum
hoc manus, est et amor: dabit hic in vulnera vires.
persequar extinctum letique miserrima dicar 151
causa comesque tui: quique a me morte revelli
heu sola poteras, poteris nec morte revelli.
hoc tamen amborum verbis estote rogati,
o multum miseri meus illiusque parentes, 155
ut, quos certus amor, quos hora novissima iunxit,
conponi tumulo non invideatis eodem;
at tu quae ramis arbor miserabile corpus
nunc tegis unius, mox es tectura duorum,
signa tene caedis pullosque et luctibus aptos 160
semper habe fetus, gemini monimenta cruoris.’
I88
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
of its fruit mystiﬁes her. She doubts if it be this.
While she hesitates, she sees somebody’s limbs
writhing on the bloody ground, and starts back,
paler than boxwood, and shivering like the sea
when a slight breeze ruffles its surface. But when
after a little while she recognizes her lover, she
smites her innocent arms with loud blows of grief,
and tears her hair; and embracing the well—beloved
form, she ﬁlls his wounds with tears, mingling these
with his blood. And as she kissed his lips, now cold
in death, she wailed: ‘ O my Pyramus, what mis—
chance has reft you from me? Pyramus! answer
me. ’Tis your dearest Thisbe calling you. Oh,
listen, and lift your drooping head! ’ At the name
of Thisbe, Pyramus lifted his eyes, now heavy with
death, and having looked upon her face, closed them
a am.
g“ Now when she saw her own cloak and the ivory
scabbard empty of the sword, she said: ‘ ’Twas your
own hand and your love, poor boy, that took your life.
I, too, have a hand brave for this one deed; I, too,
have love. This shall give me strength for the fatal
blow. I will follow you in death, and men shall say
that I was the most wretched cause and comrade of
your fate. Whom death alone had power to part from
me, not even death shall have power to part from
me. O wretched parents, mine and his, be ye en-
treated of this by the prayers of us both, that you
begrudge us not that we, whom faithful love, whom
the hour of death has joined, should be laid together
in the same tomb. And do you, O tree, who now
shade with your branches the poor body of one, and
soon will shade two, keep the marks of our death and
always bear your fruit of a dark colour, meet for
mourning, as a memorial of our double death.’
189
OVID
dixit et aptato pectus mucrone sub imum
incubuit ferro, quod adhuc a caede tepebat.
vota tamen tetigere deos, tetigere parentes;
nam color in pomo est, ubi permaturuit, ater, 165
quodque rogis superest, una requiescit in urna.”
Desierat: mediumque fuit breve tempus, et orsa est
dicere Leuconoe: vocem tenuere sorores.
“ hunc quoque, siderea qui temperat omnia luce,
cepit amor Solem : Solis referemus amores. 170
primus adulterium Veneris cum Marte putatur
hic vidisse deus; videt hic deus omnia primus.
indoluit facto Iunonigenaeque marito
furta tori furtique locum monstravit, at illi
et mens et quod opus fabrilis dextra tenebat 175
excidit: extemplo graciles et aere catenas
retiaque et laqueos, quae lumina fallere possent,
elimat. non illud opus tenuissima vincant
stamina, non summo quae pendet aranea tigno;
utque levis tactus momentaque parva sequantur, 180
efﬁcit et lecto circumdata collocat arte.
ut venere torum coniunx et adulter in unum,
arte viri vinclisque nova ratione paratis
in mediis ambo deprensi amplexibus haerent.
Lemnius extemplo valvas patefecit eburnas 185
inmisitque deos ; illi iacuere ligati
turpiter, atque aliquis de dis non tristibus optat
sic ﬁeri turpis; superi risere, diuque
haec fuit in toto notissima fabula caelo.
“ Exigit indicii memorem Cythereia poenam 190
190
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
She spoke, and ﬁtting the point beneath her breast,
she fell forward on the sword which was still warm
with her lover’s blood. Her prayers touched the
gods and touched the parents; for the colour of the
mulberry fruit is dark red when it is ripe, and all
that remained from both funeral pyres rests in a
common urn.
The tale was done. Then, after a brief interval,
Leuconoé began, while her sisters held their peace.
“ Even the Sun, who with his central light guides all
the stars, has felt the power of love. The Sun’s
loves we will relate. This god was ﬁrst, ’tis said, to
see the shame of Mars and Venus; this god sees all
things ﬁrst. Shocked at the sight, he revealed her
sin to the goddess’ husband, Vulcan, J uno’s son, and
where it was committed. Then Vulcan’s mind reeled
and the work upon which he was engaged fell from
his hands. Straightway he fashioned a net of ﬁne
links of bronze, so thin that they would escape detec-
tion of the eye. Not the ﬁnest threads of wool would
surpass that work; no, not the web which the spider
lets down from the ceiling beam. He made the web
in such a way that it would yield to the slightest
touch, the least movement, and then he spread it
deftly over the couch. Now when the goddess and
her paramour had come thither, by the husband’s art
and by the net so cunningly prepared they were both
caught and held fast in each other’s arms. Straight-
way Vulcan, the Lemnian, opened wide the ivory
doors and invited in the other gods. There lay the
two in chains, disgracefully, and some one of the
merry gods prayed that he might be so disgraced.
The gods laughed, and for a long time this story was
the talk of heaven.
“ But the goddess of Cythera did not forget the one
191
OVID
inque vices illum, tectos qui laesit amores,
laedit amore pari. quid nunc, Hyperione nate,
forma colorque tibi radiataque lumina prosunt?
nempe, tuis omnes qui terras ignibus uris,
ureris igne novo; quique omnia cernere debes, 195
Leucothoen spectas et virgine ﬁgis in una,
quos mundo debes, oculos. modo surgis E00
temperius caelo, modo serius incidis undis,
spectandique mora brumalis porrigis horas;
deﬁcis interdum, vitiumque in lumina mentis 200
transit et obscurus mortalia pectora terres.
nec tibi quod lunae terris propioris imago
obstiterit, palles: facit hunc amor iste colorem.
diligis hanc unam, nec te Clymeneque Rhodosque
nec tenet Aeaeae genetrix pulcherrima Circes 205
quaeque tuos Clytie quamvis despecta petebat
concubitus ipsoque illo grave vulnus habebat
tempore: Leucothoe multarum oblivia fecit,
gentis odoriferae quam formosissima partu _
edidit Eurynome ; sed postquam ﬁlia crevit, 210
quam mater cunctas, tam matrem ﬁlia‘ vicit.
rexit Achaemenias urbes pater Orchamus isque
septimus a prisco numeratur origine Belo.
“ Axe sub Hesperio sunt pascua Solis equorum:
ambrosiam pro gramine habent; ea fessa diurnis 215
membra ministeriis nutrit reparatque labori.
dumque ibi quadrupedes caelestia pabula carpunt
noxque vicem peragit, thalamos deus intrat
amatos,
192
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
who had spied on her, and took ﬁtting vengeance
on him; and he that betrayed her stolen love was
equally betrayed in love. What now avail, O son of
Hyperion, thy beauty and brightness and radiant
beams? For thou, who dost inﬂame all lands with thy
ﬁres, art thyself inﬂamed by a strange ﬁre. Thou who
shouldst behold all things, dost gaze on Leucothoé
alone, and on one maiden dost thou ﬁx those eyes
which belong to the whole world. Anon too early
dost thou rise in the eastern sky, and anon too late
dost thou sink beneath the waves, and through thy
long lingering over her dost prolong the short wintry
hours. Sometimes thy beams fail utterly, thy heart’s
darkness passing to thy rays, and darkened thou dost
terrify the hearts of men. Nor is it that the moon
has come ’twixt thee and earth that thou art dark;
’tis that love of thine alone that makes thy face so
wan. Thou delightest in her alone. Now neither
Clymene seems fair to thee, nor the maid of Rhodes,
nor Aeaean Circes’ mother, though most beautiful,
nor Clytie, who, although scorned by thee, still seeks
thy love and even now bears its deep wounds in her
heart. Leucothoé makes thee forgetful of them all,
she whom most fair Eurynome bore in the land of
spices. But, after the daughter came to womanhood,
as the mother surpassed all in loveliness, so did the
daughter surpass her. Her father, Orchamus, ruled
over the cities of Persia, himself the seventh in line
from ancient Belus.
“ Beneath the western skies lie the pastures of the
Sun’s horses. Here not common grass, but ambrosia
is their food. On this their bodies, weary with their
service of the day, are refreshed and gain new strength
for toil. While here his horses crop their celestial
pasturage and Night takes her turn of toil, the
I93
OVID
versus in Eurynomes faciem genetricis, et inter
his sex Leucothoen famulas ad lumina cernit 220
levia versato ducentem stamina fuso.
ergo ubi ceu mater carae dedit oscula natae,
‘ res ’ ait ‘ arcana est: famulae, discedite neve
eripite arbitrium matri secreta loquendi.’
paruerant, thalamoque deus sine teste relicto 225
‘ ille ego sum ’ dixit, ‘ qui longum metior annum,
omnia qui video, per quem videt omnia tellus,
mundi oculus: mihi, crede, places.’ pavet illa
metuque
et'colus et fusus digitis cecidere remissis.
ipse timor decuit. nec longius ille moratus 230
in veram rediit speciem solitumque nitorem;
at virgo quamvis inopino territa visu
victa nitore dei posita vim passa querella est.
“ Invidit Clytie (neque enim moderatus in illa
Solis amor fuerat) stimulataque paelicis ira ~ 235
vulgat adulterium diﬁ‘amatumque parenti
indicat. ille ferox inmansuetusque precantem
tendentemque manus ad lumina Solis et ‘ ille
vim tulit invitae ’ dicentem defodit alta
crudus humo tumulumque super gravis addit
harenae. 240
dissipat hunc radiis Hyperione natus iterque
dat tibi, qua possis defossos promere vultus;
nec tu iam poteras enectum pondere terrae
tollere, nympha, caput corpusque exsangue iacebas:
nil illo fertur volucrum moderator equorum 245
I94
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
god enters the apartments of his love, assuming the
form of Eurynome, her mother. There he discovers
Leucothoé, surrounded by her twelve maidens, spin-
ning ﬁne wool with whirling spindle. Then having
kissed her, just as her mother would have kissed her
dear daughter, he says: ‘ Mine is a private matter.
Retire, ye slaves, and let not a mother want the right
to a private speech.’ The slaves obey; and now the
god, when the last witness has left the room, declares:
‘ Lo, I am he who measure out the year, who behold
all things, by whom the earth beholds all things—
the world's eye. I tell thee thou hast found favour
in my sight.’ The nymph is ﬁlled with fear; distaff
and spindle fall unheeded from her limp ﬁngers.
Her very fear becomes her. Then he, no longer
tarrying, resumes his own form and his wonted
splendour. But the maiden, though in terror at this
sudden apparition, yet, overwhelmed by his radiance,
at last without protest suffers the ardent wooing of
the god.
“ Clytie was jealous, for love of the Sun still burned
uncontrolled in her. Burning now with wrath at the
sight of her rival, she spread abroad the story, and
especially to the father did she tell his daughter’s
shame. He, ﬁerce and merciless, unheeding her
prayers, unheeding her arms stretched out to the
Sun, and unheeding her cry, ‘ He overbore my will,’
with brutal cruelty buried her deep in the earth, and
heaped on the spot a heavy mound of sand. The
son of Hyperion rent this with his rays, and made a
Way by which you might put forth your buried head;
but too late, for now, poor nymph, you could not lift
your head, crushed beneath the heavy earth, and you
lay there, a lifeless corpse. Naught more pitiful than
that sight, they say, did the driver of the swift steeds
I95
OVID
post Phaethonteos vidisse dolentius ignes.
ille quidem gelidos radiorum viribus artus
si queat in vivum temptat revocare calorem;
sed quoniam tantis fatum conatibus obstat,
nectare odorato sparsit corpusque locumque 250
multaque praequestus ‘ tanges tamen aethera ’ dixit.
protinus inbutum caelesti nectare corpus
dilicuit terramque suo madefecit odore,
virgaque per glaebas sensim radicibus actis
turea surrexit tumulumque cacumine rupit. 255
“ At Clytien, quamvis amor excusare dolorem '
indiciumque dolor poterat, non amplius auctor
lucis adit Venerisque modum sibi fecit in illa.
tabuit ex illo dementer amoribus usa;
nympharum inpatiens et sub Iove nocte dieque 260
sedit humo nuda nudis incompta capillis,
perque novem luces expers undaeque cibique
rore mero lacrimisque suis ieiunia pavit
nec se movit humo; tantum spectabat euntis
ora dei vultusque suos ﬁectebat ad illum. 265
membra ferunt haesisse solo, partemque coloris
luridus exsangues pallor convertit in herbas;
est in parte rubor violaeque simillimus ora
ﬂos tegit. illa suum, quamvis radice tenetur,
vertitur ad Solem mutataque servat amorem.” 270
Dixerat, et factum mirabile ceperat auris;
pars ﬁeri potuisse negant, pars omnia veros
posse deos memorant: sed non est Bacchus in illis.
poscitur Alcithoe, postquam siluere sorores.
196 A
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
see since Phaéthon’s burning death. He tried, indeed,
by his warm rays to recall those death-cold limbs to
the warmth of life. But since grim fate opposed all
his efforts, he sprinkled the body and the ground
with fragrant nectar, and preluding with many
words of grief, he said: ‘ In spite of fate shalt thou
reach the upper air.’ Straightway the body, soaked
with the celestial nectar, melted away and ﬁlled the
earth around with its sweet fragrance. Then did a
shrub of frankincense, with deep-driven roots, rise
slowly through the soil and its top cleaved the
mound.
“But Clytie, though love could excuse her grief, and
grief her tattling, was sought no more by the great
light-giver, nor did he ﬁnd aught to love in her.
For this cause she pined away, her love turned to mad—
ness. Unable to endure her sister nymphs, beneath
the open sky, by night and day, she sat upon the
bare ground, naked, bareheaded, unkempt. For nine
whole days she sat, tasting neither drink nor food, her
hunger fed by naught save pure dew and tears, and
moved not from the ground. Only she gazed on the
face of her god as he went his way, and turned her face
towards him. They say that her limbs grew fast to
the soil and her. deathly pallor changed in part to a
bloodless plant; but in part ’twas red, and a ﬂower,
much like a violet, came where her face had been.
Still, though roots hold her fast, she turns ever to-
wards the sun and, though changed herself, preserves
her love unchanged.”
The story-teller ceased; the wonderful tale had
held their ears. Some of the sisters say that such
things could not happen; others declare that true
gods can do anything. But Bacchus is not one of
these. Alcithoe is next called for when the sisters
19']
OVID
quae radio stantis percurrens stamina telae 275
“ vulgatos taceo ” dixit “ pastoris amores
Daphnidis Idaei, quem nymphe paelicis ira
contulit in saxum: tantus dolor urit amantes;
nec loquor, ut quondam naturae iure novato
ambiguus fuerit modo vir, modo femina Sithon. 280
te quoque, nunc adamas, quondam ﬁdissime parvo,
Celmi, Iovi largoque satos Curetas ab imbri
et Crocon in parvos versum cum Smilace ﬂores
praetereo dulcique animos novitate tenebo.
“ Unde sit infamis, quare male fortibus undis 285
Salmacis enervet tactosque remolliat artus,
discite. causa latet, vis est notissima fontis.
Mercurio puerum diva Cythereide natum
naides Idaeis enutrivere sub antris, . _
c'uius erat facies, in qua materque paterque '290
cognosci possent; nomen quoque traxit ab illis.
is tria cum primum fecit quinquennia, montes
deseruit patrios Idaque altrice relicta
ignotis errare locis, ignota videre ‘
ﬂumina gaudebat, studio minuente laborem. 295
ille etiam Lycias urbes Lyciaeque propinquos
Caras adit: videt hic stagnum lucentis ad imum
usque solum lymphae; non illic can'na palustris
nec steriles ulvae nec acuta cuspide iunci;
perspicuus liquor est; stagni tamen ultima vivo 300
caespite cinguntur semperque virentibus herbis.
nympha colit, sed nec venatibus apta nec arcus
ﬂectere quae solea-t nec quae contendere cursu,
r98
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
have become silent again. Running her shuttle
swiftly through the threads of her loom, she said:
“ I will pass by the well-known love of Daplmis, the
shepherd-boy of Ida, whom a nymph, in anger at her
rival, changed to stone : so great is the burning smart
which jealous lovers feel. Nor will I tell how once
Sithon, the natural laws reversed, lived of changing
sex, now woman and now man. How you also,
Celmis, now adamant, were once most faithful friend
of little Jove; how the Curetes sprang from copious
showers; how Crocus and his beloved Smilax were
changed into tiny ﬂowers. All these stories I will
pass by and will charm your minds with a tale that is
pleasing because new.
“ How the fountain of Salmacis is of ill—repute, how
it enervates with its enfeebling waters and renders
soft and weak all men who bathe therein, you shall
now hear. The cause is hidden; but the enfeebling
power of the fountain is well known. A little son of
Hermes and of the goddess of Cythera the naiads
nursed within Ida’s caves. In his fair face mother
and father could be clearly seen; his name also he
took from them. When ﬁfteen years had passed, he
left his native mountains and abandoned his foster—
mother, Ida, delighting to wander in unknown lands
and to see strange rivers, his eagerness making light
of toil. He came even to the Lycian cities and to
the Carians, who dwell hard by the land of Lycia.
Here he saw a pool of water crystal clear to the very
bottom. No marshy reeds grew there, no unfruitful
swamp-grass, nor spiky rushes; it is clear water.
But the edges of the pool are bordered with fresh
grass, and herbage ever green. A nymph dwells in
the pool, one that loves not hunting, nor is wont
to bend the bow or strive with speed of foot. She
I99
OVID
solaque naiadum celeri non nota Dianae.
saepe suas illi fama est dixisse sorores 305
‘ Salmaci, vel iaculum vel pictas sume pharetras
et tua cum duris venatibus otia misce! ’
nec iaculum sumit nec pictas illa pharetras,
nec sua cum duris venatibus otia miscet,
sed modo fonte suo formosos perluit artus, 310
saepe Cytoriaco deducit pectine crines
et, quid se deceat, spectatas consulit undas;
nunc perlucenti circumdata corpus amictu
mollibus aut foliis aut mollibus incubat herbis,
saepe legit ﬂores. et tum quoque forte legebat, 315
cum puerum vidit visumque optavit habere.
“ Nee tamen ante adiit, etsi properabat adire,
quam se conposuit, quam circumspexit amictus
et ﬁnxit vultum et meruit formosa videri.
tunc sic orsa loqui: ‘ puer o dignissime credi 320
esse deus, seu tu deus es, potes esse Cupido,
sive es mortalis, qui te genuere, beati,
et frater felix, et fortunata profecto,
si qua tibi soror est, et quae dedit ubera nutrix;
sed longe cunctis longeque beatior illa, 325
si qua tibi sponsa est, si quam dignabere taeda.
haec tibi sive aliqua est, mea sit furtiva voluptas,
seu nulla est, ego sim, thalamumque ineamus
eundem.’
nais ab his tacuit. pueri rubor ora notavit;
nescit, enim, quid amor; sed et erubuisse decebat:
hic color aprica pendentibus arbore pomis 331
aut ebori tincto est aut sub candore rubenti,
cum frustra resonant aera auxiliaria, lunae.
poscenti nymphae sine ﬁne sororia saltem
zoo
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
only of the naiads follows not in swift Diana’s train.
Often, ’tis said, her sisters would chide her: ‘ Sal-
macis, take now either hunting-spear or painted
quiver, and vary your ease with the hardships of the
hunt.’ But she takes no hunting-spear, no painted
quiver, nor does she vary her ease with the hardships
of the hunt; but at times she bathes her shapely
limbs in her own pool; often combs her hair with a
boxwood comb, often looks in the mirror—like waters to
see what best becomes her. N ow,wrapped in a trans-
parent robe, she lies down to rest on the soft grass
or the soft herbage. Often she gathers ﬂowers; and
on this occasion, too, she chanced to be gathering
ﬂowers when she saw the boy and longed to possess
what she saw.
“ Not yet, however, did she approach him, though
she was eager to do so, until she had calmed herself,
until she had arranged her robes and composed her
countenance, and taken all pains to appear beautiful.
Then did she speak: ‘ O youth, most worthy to be
believed a god, if thou art indeed a god, thou must be
Cupid; or if thou art mortal, happy are they who
gave thee birth, blest is thy brother, fortunate indeed
any sister of thine and thy nurse who gave thee suck.
But far, oh, far happier than they all is she, if any be
thy promised bride, if thou shalt deem any worthy to
be thy wife. If there be any such, let mine be stolen
joy; if not, may I be thine, thy bride, and may we be
joined in wedlock.’ The maiden said no more. But the
boy blushed rosy red; for he knew not what love is.
But still the blush became him well. Such colour have
apples hanging in sunny orchards, or painted ivory;
such has the moon, eclipsed, red under white, when
brazen vessels clash vainly for her relief. When the
nymph begged and prayed for at least a sister’s kiss,
201
OVID
oscula iamque manus ad eburnea colla ferenti 335
‘ desinis? aut fugio tecumque ’ ait ‘ ista relinquo.’
Salmacis extimuit ‘ loca ’ que ‘ haec tibi libera
trado,
hospes ’ ait simulatque gradu discedere verso.
tum quoque respiciens, fruticumque recondita
silva
delituit ﬂexuque genu submisit; at ille, 340
scilicet ut vacuis et inobservatus in herbis,
huc it et hinc illuc et in adludentibus undis
summa pedum taloque tenus vestigia tinguit;
nec mora, temperie blandarum captus aquarum
mollia de tenero velamina corpore ponit. 345
tum vero stupuit nudaeque cupidine formae
Salmacis exarsit, ﬂagrant quoque lumina nymphae,
non aliter quam cum puro nitidissimus orbe
opposita speculi referitur imagine Phoebus ;
vixque moram patitur, vix iam sua gaudia differt, 350
iam cupit amplecti, iam se male continet amens.
ille cavis velox adplauso corpore palmis
desilit in latices alternaque bracchia ducens
in liquidis translucet aquis, ut eburnea si quis
signa tegat claro vel candida lilia vitro. 355
‘ vicimus et meus est ’ exclamat nais, et omni
veste procul iacta mediis inmittitur undis,
pugnantemque tenet, luctantiaque oscula carpit,
subiectatque manus, invitaque pectora tangit,
et nunc hac iuveni, nunc circumfunditur illac; 360
denique nitentem contra elabique volentem
inplicat ut serpens, quam regia sustinet ales
sublimemque rapit: pendens caput illa pedesque
adligat et cauda spatiantes inplicat alas;
utve solent hederae longos intexere truncos, 365
utque sub aequoribus deprensum polypus hostem
202
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
and was in act to throw her arms round his snowy
neck, he cried: ‘ Have done, or I must ﬂee and leave
this spot—and you.’ Salmacis trembled at this threat
and said: ‘ I yield the place to you, fair stranger,’
and turning away, pretended to depart. But even so
she often looked back, and deep in a neighbouring
thicket she hid herself, crouching on bended knees.
But the boy, freely as if unwatched and alone, walks
up and down on the grass, dips his toes in the lapping
waters, and his feet. Then quickly, charmed with the
coolness of the soothing stream, he threw aside the
thin garments from his slender form. Then was the
nymph as one spellbound, and her love kindled as she
gazed at the naked form. Her eyes shone bright as
when the sun’s dazzling face is reﬂected from the
surface of a glass held opposite his rays. Scarce can
she endure delay, scarce bear her joy postponed, so
eager to hold him in her arms, so madly incontinent.
He, clapping his body with hollow palms, dives into
the pool,and swimming with alternate strokes ﬂashes
with gleaming body through the transparent ﬂood, as
if one should encase ivory ﬁgures or white lilies in
translucent glass. ‘ I win, and he is mine! ’ cries the
naiad, and casting off all her garments dives also into
the waters: she holds him fast though he strives
against her, steals reluctant kisses, fondles him,
touches his unwilling breast, clings to him on this
side and on that. At length, as he tries his best to
break away from her, she wraps him round with her
embrace, as a serpent, when the king of birds has
caught her and is bearing her on high : which, hang—
ing from his claws, wraps her folds around his head
and feet and entangles his ﬂapping wings with her
tail; or as the ivy oft—times embraces great trunks of
trees, or as the sea-polyp holds its enemy caught
203
OVID
continet ex omni dimissis parte ﬂagellis.
perstat Atlantiades sperataque gaudia nymphae
denegat, illa premit commissaque corpore toto
sicut inhaerebat, ‘ pugnes licet, inprobe,’ dixit, 370
‘ non tamen effugies. ita di iubeatis, et istum
nulla dies a me nec me deducat ab isto.’
vota suos habuere does; nam mixta duorum
corpora iunguntur, faciesque inducitur illis
una. velut, si quis conducat cortice ramos, 375
crescendo iungi pariterque adolescere cernit,
sic ubi conplexu coierunt membra tenaci,
nec duo sunt et forma duplex, nec femina dici
nec puer ut possit, neutrumque et utrumque videntur.
“ Ergo ubi se liquidas, quo vir descenderat, undas
semimarem fecisse videt mollitaque in illis 381
membra, manus tendens, sed iam non voce virili
Hermaphroditus ait: ‘ nato date munera vestro,
et pater et genetrix, amborum nomen habenti:
quisquis in hos fontes vir venerit, exeat inde 385
semivir et tactis subito mollescat in undis! ’
motus uterque parens nati rata verba biformis
fecit et incesto fontem medicamine tinxit.”
Finis erat dictis, sed adhuc Minyeia proles
urguet opus spernitque deum festumque profanat,
tympana cum subito non adparentia raucis 391
obstrepuere sonis, et adunco tibia cornu
tinnulaque aera sonant; redolent murraeque crocique,
resque ﬁde maior, coepere virescere telae
inque hederae faciem pendens frondescere vestis; 395
pars abit in vites, et quae modo ﬁla fuerunt,
204
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
beneath the sea, its tentacles embracing him on every
side. The son of Atlas resists as best he may and
denies the nymph the joy she craves; but she holds
on, and clings as if grown fast to him. ‘ Strive as you
may, wicked boy,’ she cries, ‘ still shall you not
escape me. Grant me this, ye gods, and may no day
ever come that shall separate him from me or me from
him.’ The gods heard her prayer. For their two
bodies, joined together as they were, were merged in
one, with one face and form for both. As when one
grafts a twig on some tree, he sees the branches grow
one, and with common life come to maturity, so were
these two bodies knit in close embrace: they were
no longer two, nor such as to be called, one, woman,
and one, man. They seemed neither, and yet both.
“ When now he saw that the waters into which he
had plunged had made him but half-man, and that
his limbs had become enfeebled there, stretching
out his hands and speaking, though not with manly
tones, Hermaphroditus cried: ‘ Oh, grant this boon,
my father and my mother, to your son who bears the
names of both : whoever comes into this pool as man
may he go forth half—man, and may he weaken at
touch of the water.’ His parents heard the prayer of
their two-formed son and charged the waters with
that uncanny power.”
Alcithoé was done; but still did the daughters of
Minyas ply their tasks, despising the god and pro-
faning his holy day : when suddenly unseen timbrels
sounded harshly in their ears, and ﬂutes, with curving
horns, and tinkling cymbals; the air was full of the
sweet scent of saffron and of myrrh; and, past all
belief, their weft turned green, the hanging cloth
changed into vines of ivy ; part became grape-vines,
and what were but now threads became clinging
205
OVID
palmite mutantur; de stamine pampinus exit;
purpura fulgorem pictis adcommodat uvis.
iamque dies exactus erat, tempusque subibat,
quod tu nec tenebras nec possis dicere lucem, 400
sed cum luce tamen dubiae conﬁnia noctis :
tecta repente quati pinguesque ardere videntur
lampades et rutilis conlucere ignibus aedes
falsaque saevarum simulacra ululare ferarum,
fumida iamdudum latitant per tecta sorores 405
diversaeque locis ignes ac lumina vitant,
dumque petunt tenebras, parvos membrana per artus
porrigitur tenuique includit bracchia pinna ;
nec qua perdiderint veterem ratione ﬁguram,
scire sinunt tenebrae: non illas pluma levavit, 410
sustinuere tamen se perlucentibus alis
conataeque loquid minimam et pro corpore vocem
emittunt peraguntque levi stridore querellas.
tectaque, non silvas celebrant lucemque perosae
nocte volant seroque tenent a vespere nomen. 415
Tum vero totis Bacchi memorabile Thebis
numen erat, magnasque novi matertera vires
narrat ubique dei de totque sororibus expers
una doloris erat, nisi quem fecere sorores:
adspicit hanc natis thalamoque Athamantis habentem
sublimes animos et alumno numine Iuno 421
nec tulit et secum: “ potuit de paelice natus
206
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
tendrils; vine-leaves sprang out along the warp, and
bright-hued clusters matched the purple tapestry.
And now the day was ended, and the time was come
when you could not say ’twas dark or light; it was
the borderland of night, yet with a gleam of day.
Suddenly the whole house seemed to tremble, the
oil-fed lamps to ﬂare up, and all the rooms to be
ablaze with ruddy ﬁres, while ghostly beasts howled
round. Meanwhile the sisters are seeking hiding-
places through the smoke-ﬁlled rooms, in various
corners trying to avoid the ﬂames and glare of light.
And while they seek to hide, a skinny covering
overspreads their slender limbs, and thin wings
enclose their arms. And in what fashion they have
lost their former shape they know not for the
darkness. No feathered pinions uplift them, yet
they sustain themselves on transparent wings.
They try to speak, but utter only the tiniest sound
as beﬁts their shrivelled forms, and give voice to
their grief in thin squeaks. Houses, not forests, are
their favourite haunts; and, hating the light of day,
they ﬂit by night and from late eventide derive their
name.1
Then, truly, was the divinity of Bacchus acknow-
ledged throughout all Thebes, and his mother’s
sister, Ino, would be telling of the wonderful powers
of the new god everywhere. She alone of all her
sisters knew naught of grief, except what she felt
for them. She, proud of her children, of her hus—
band, Athamas, and proud above all of her divine
foster-son, is seen by Juno, who could not bear the
sight. “That child of my rival,” she said, com—
muning with herself, “ had power to change the
1 i.e. uespertiliones, “ creatures that ﬂit about in the twi-
light,” i.e. bats.
207
OVI D
vertere Maeonios pelagoque inmergere nautas
et laceranda suae nati dare viscera matri
et triplices operire novis Minyeidas alis: 425
nil poterit Iuno nisi inultos ﬂere dolores?
idque mihi satis est? haec una potentia nostra est?
ipse docet, quid agam (fas est et ab hoste doceri),
quidque furor valeat, Penthea caede satisque
ac super ostendit: cur non stimuletur eatque 430
per cognata suis exempla furoribus Ino? ”
Est via declivis funesta nubila taxo:
ducit ad infernas per muta silentia sedes;
Styx nebulas exhalat iners, umbraeque recentes
descendunt illac simulacraque functa sepulcris: 435
pallor hiemsque tenent late loca senta, novique,
qua sit iter, manes, Stygiam quod ducat ad urbem,
ignorant, ubi sit nigri fera regia Ditis.
mille capax aditus et apertas undique portas
urbs habet, utque fretum de tota ﬂumina terra, 440
sic omnes animas locus accipit ille nec ulli
exiguus populo est turbamve accedere sentit.
errant exsangues sine corpore at ossibus umbrae,
parsque forum celebrant, pars imi tecta tyranni,
pars aliquas artes, antiquae imitamina vitae.1 445
Sustinet ire illuc caelesti sede relicta 447
(tantum odiis iraeque dabat) Saturnia Iuno;
quo simul intravit sacroque a corpore pressum
ingemuit limen, tria Cerberus extulit ora 450
1 446 exercent, aliam partem sua poena coercet. This line,
included in some manuscripts, is rejected by most editors.
208
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
Maeonian sailors and plunge them in the sea, to
cause the ﬂesh of a son to be torn in pieces by his
own mother, and to enwrap the three daughters of
Minyas with strange wings; and shall naught be
given to Juno, save to bemoan her wrongs still
unavenged? Does that sufﬁce me? Is this my
only power? But he himself teaches me what to
do. ’Tis proper to learn even from an enemy. To
what length madness can go he has proved enough and
to spare by the slaughter of Pentheus. Why should
not Ino be stung to madness too, and, urged by her
fury, go where her kinswomen have led the way? ”
There is a down—sloping path, by deadly yew—trees
shaded, which leads through dumb silence to the
infernal realms. The sluggish Styx there exhales its
vaporous breath; and by that way come down the
spirits of the new-dead, shades of those who have
received due funeral rites. This is a wide-extending
waste, wan and cold; and the shades newly arrived
know not where the road is which leads to the Stygian
city where lies the dread palace of black Dis. This
city has a thousand wide approaches and gates open
on all sides ; and as the ocean receives the rivers that
ﬂow down from all the earth, so does this place
receive all souls; it is not too small for any people,
nor does it feel the accession of a throng. There
wander the shades bloodless, without body and bone.
Some throng the forum, some the palace of the under-
world king ; others ply some craft in imitation of their
former life.
Thither, leaving her abode in heaven, Saturnian
Juno endured to go; so much did she grant to her
hate and wrath. When she made entrance there,
and the threshold groaned beneath the weight of her
sacred form, Cerberus reared up his threefold head
VOL. 1. H
209
OVID
et tres latratus simul edidit; illa sorores
N octe vocat genitas, grave et inplacabile numen:
carceris ante fores clausas adamante sedebant
deque suis atros pectebant crinibus angues.
quam simul agnorunt inter caliginis umbras, 455
surrexere deae; sedes scelerata vocatur:
viscera praebebat Tityos lanianda novemque
iugeribus distentus erat; tibi, Tantale, nullae
deprenduntur aquae, quaeque inminet, eﬂ‘ugit
arbos;
aut petis aut urgues rediturum, Sisyphe saxum; 460
volvitur Ixion et se sequiturque fugitque,
molirique suis letum patruelibus ausae
adsiduae repetunt, quas perdant, Belides undas.
Quos omnes acie postquam Saturnia torva
vidit et ante omnes Ixiona, rursus ab illo 465
Sisyphon adspiciens “ cur hic e fratribus ” inquit
“ perpetuas patitur poenas, Athamanta superbum
regia dives habet, qui me cum coniuge semper
sprevit? ” et exponit causas odiique viaeque,
quidque velit: quod vellet, erat, ne regia Cadmi 470
staret, et in facinus traherent Athamanta sorores.
imperium, promissa, preces confundit in unum
sollicitatque deas: sic haec Iunone locuta,
Tisiphone canos, ut erat, turbata capillos
movit et obstantes reiecit ab ore colubras 475
atque ita “ non longis opus est ambagibus,” inquit;
“ facta puta, quaecumque iubes; inamabile regnum
desere teque refer caeli melioris ad auras.”
210
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
and uttered his threefold baying. The goddess sum-
moned the Furies, sisters born of Night, divinities
deadly and implacable. Before hell's closed gates
of adamant they sat, combing the while black snakes
from their hair. When they recognized Juno ap-
proaching through the thick gloom, the goddesses
arose. This place is called the Accursed Place. Here
Tityos offered his Vitals to be torn, lying stretched
out over nine broad acres. Thy lips can catch no
water, Tantalus, and the tree that overhangs ever
eludes thee. Thou, Sisyphus, dost either push or
chase the rock that must always be rolling down the
hill again. There whirls Ixion on his wheel, both
following himself and ﬂeeing, all in one; and the
Belides, for daring to work destruction on their
cousin—husbands, with unremitting toil seek again
and again the waters, only to lose them.
On all these Saturnia looks with frowning eyes,
but especially on Ixion; then, turning her gaze from
him to Sisyphus, she says: “ Why does this of all the
brothers suffer unending pains, while Athamas dwells
proudly in a rich palace—Athamas, who with his wife
has always scorned my godhead? ” And she explains
the causes of her hatred and of her journey hither,
and what she wants. What she wanted was that the
house of Cadmus should fall, and that the Fury-sisters
should drive Athamas to madness. Commands,
promises, prayers she poured out all in one, and
begged the goddesses to aid her. When Juno had
done, Tisiphone, just as she was, shook her tangled
grey locks, tossed back the straggling snakes from
her face, and said: “There is no need of long ex—
planations; consider done all that you ask. Leave
this unlovely realm and go back to the sweeter airs
of your native skies.” Juno went back rejoicing;
ZII
OVID
laeta redit Iuno, quam caelum intrare parantem
roratis lustravit aquis Thaumantias Iris. 480
Nec mora, Tisiphone madefactam sanguine sumit
inportuna facem, ﬂuidoque cruore rubentem
induitur pallam, tortoque incingitur angue
egrediturque domo. Luctus comitatur euntem
et Pavor et Terror trepidoque Insania vultu. 485
limine constiterat: postes tremuisse feruntur
Aeolii pallorque fores infecit acernas 1
solque locum fugit. monstris exterrita coniunx,
territus est Athamas, tectoque exire parabant:
obstitit infelix aditumque obsedit Erinys, 490
nexaque vipereis distendens bracchia nodis
caesariem excussit: motae sonuere colubrae
parsque iacent umeris, pars circum pectora lapsae
sibila dant saniemque vomunt linguisque coruscant.
inde duos mediis abrumpit crinibus angues 495
pestiferaque manu raptos inmisit, at illi
Inoosque sinus Athamanteosque pererrant
inspirantque graves animos; nec vulnera membris
ulla ferunt: mens est, quae diros sentiat ictus.
attulerat secum liquidi quoque monstra veneni, 500
oris Cerberei spumas et virus Echidnae
erroresque vagos caecaeque oblivia mentis
et scelus et lacrimas rabiemque et caedis amorem,
omnia trita simul, quae sanguine mixta recenti
coxerat aere cavo viridi versata cicuta; 505
dumque pavent illi, vergit furiale venenum
pectus in amborum praecordiaque intima movit.
1 acernas M 88.: Avernus M erlcel.
2 1 2
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
and as she was entering heaven, Iris, the daughter of
Thaumus, sprinkled her o’er with purifying water.
Straightway the fell Tisiphone seized a torch
which had been steeped in gore, put on a robe red
with dripping blood, girt round her waist a writhing
snake, and started forth. Grief went along with her,
Terror and Dread and Madness, too, with quivering
face. She stood upon the doomed threshold. They
say the very door—posts of the house of Aeolus1
shrank away from her; the polished oaken doors
grew dim and the sun hid his face. Ino'was mad
with terror at the monstrous sight, and her husband,
Athamas, was ﬁlled-with fear. They made to leave
their palace, but the baleful Fury stood in their way
and blocked their exit. And stretching her arms,
wreathed with vipers, she shook out her looks:
disturbed, the serpents hissed horribly. A part lay
on her shoulders, part twined round her breast,
hissing, vomiting venomous gore, and darting out
their tongues. Then she tears away two serpents
from the midst of her tresses, and with deadly aim
hurls them at her victims. The snakes go gliding
over the breasts of Ino and of Athamas and breathe
upon them their pestilential breath. No wounds
their bodies suffer; ’tis their minds-that feelthe
deadly stroke. .The Fury, not content with this,
had brought horrid poisons too—froth of Cerberus’
jaws, the venom of the Hydra, strange hallucinations
and utter forgetfulness, crime and tears, mad loveof
slaughter, all mixed together with fresh blood and
green hemlock juice, and brewed in a brazen
cauldron. And while they stood quaking there,
over the breasts of both she poured this maddening
poison brew, and made it sink to their being’s core.
1 The father of Athamas.
2 I 3
OVID
tum face iactata per eundem saepius orbem
consequitur motis velociter ignibus ignes.
sic victrix iussique potens ad- inania magni 510
regna redit Ditis sumptumque recingitur anguem.
Protinus Aeolides media furibundus in aula
clamat “ io, comites, his retia tendite silvis!
hic modo cum gemina visa est mihi prole leaena "
utque ferae sequitur vestigia coniugis amens 515
deque sinu matris ridentem et parva Learchum
bracchia tendentem rapit et bis terque per auras
more rotat fundae rigidoque infantia saxo
discutit ora ferox; tum denique concita mater,
seu dolor hoc fecit seu sparsi causa veneni, 520
exululat passisque fugit male sana capillis
teque ferens parvum nudis, Melicerta, lacertis
“ euhoe Bacche ” sonat: Bacchi sub nomine Iuno
risit et “ hos usus praestet tibi ” dixit “ alumnus! ”
inminet aequoribus scopulus: pars ima cavatur 525
ﬁuctibus et tectas defendit ab imbribus undas,
summa riget frontemque in apertum porrigit
aequor;
occupat hunc (vires insania fecerat) Ino
seque super pontum nullo tardata timore
mittit onusque suum; percussa recanduit unda. 530
At Venus, inmeritae neptis miserata labores,
sic, patruo blandita suo est “ o numen aquarum,
proxima cui caelo cessit, Neptune, potestas,
214
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
Then, catching up her torch, she whirled it rapidly
round and round and kindled ﬁre by the swiftly
moving ﬁre. So, her task accomplished and her
victory won, she retraced her way to the unsub-
stantial realm of mighty Dis, and there laid off the
serpents she had worn.
Straightway cried Athamas, the son of Aeolus,
madly raving in his palace halls: “ Ho! my comrades,
spread the nets here in these woods! I saw here
but now a lioness with her two cubs "; and madly
pursued his wife’s tracks as if she were a beast of
prey. His son, Learchus, laughing and stretching
out his little hands in glee, he snatched from the
mother’s arms, and whirling him round and round
through the air like a sling, he madly dashed the
baby's head against a rough rock. Then the mother,
stung to madness too, either by grief or by the
sprinkled poison’s force, howled wildly, and, quite
bereft of sense, with hair streaming, she ﬂed away,
bearing thee, little Melicerta, in her naked arms,
and shouting “ Ho! Bacchus! ” as she ﬂed. At the
name of Bacchus, Juno laughed in scorn and said:
“ So may your foster-son ever bless you! ” A cliff
o’erhung the sea, the lower part of which had been
hollowed out by the beating waves, and sheltered
the waters underneath from the rain. Its top stood
high and sharp and stretched far out in front over
the deep. To this spot—j—for madness had made her
strong—Ino climbed, and held by no natural fears,
she leaped with her child far out above the sea.
The water where she fell was churned white with
foam.
But Venus, pitying the undeserved sufferings of
her granddaughter, thus addressed her uncle with
coaxing words: “ O Neptune, god of waters, whose
215
OVID
magna quidem posco, sed tu miserere meorum,
iactari quos cernis in Ionio inmenso, 535
et dis adde tuis. aliqua et mihi gratia ponto est,
si tamen in dio quondam concreta profundo
spuma fui Graiumque manet mihi nomen ab
illa.”
adnuit oran-ti N eptunus et abstulit illis,
quod mortale fuit, maiestatemque verendam ' 540
inposuit nomenque simul faciemque novavit
Leucothoeque deum cum matre Palaemona dixit.
Sidoniae comites, quantum valuere secutae
signa pedum, primo videre novissima saxo;
nec dubium de morte ratae Cadmeida palmis 545
deplanxere domum scissae cum veste capillos,
utque parum iustae nimiumque in paelice saevae
invidiam fecere deae. convicia Iuno
non tulit et “ faciam vos ipsas maxima ” dixit
“ saevitiae monimenta meae ”; res dicta secuta
' est. 550
nam quae praecipue fuerat pia, “ persequar ” inquit
“ in freta reginam ” saltumque datura moveri
haud usquam potuit scopuloque adﬁxa cohaesit;
altera, dum solito temptat plangore ferire _
pectora, temptatos sensit riguisse lacertos‘; _ 555
illa, manus ut forte tetenderat in maris undas;
saxea facta manus in easdem porrigit undas;
huius, ut arreptum laniabat vertice crinem,
duratos subito digitos in crine videres:
216
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
power is second to heaven alone, I ask great things,
I know; but do thou pity these my friends, whom
thou seest plunged in the broad Ionian sea, and
receive them among thy sea-deities. Some favour is
due to me from the sea, if in its sacred depths my
being sprang once from foam, and in the Greek
tongue I have a name from this.” Neptune con-
sented to her prayer and, taking from Ino and her
son all that was mortal, gave them a being to be
revered, changing both name and form; for he
called the new god Palaemon, and his goddess-
mother, Leucothoé.
The Theban women who had been Ino’s com-
panions followed on her track as best they could,
and saw her last act from the edge of the rock.
Nothing doubting that she had been killed, in
mourning for the house of Cadmus they beat their
breasts with their hands, tore their hair, and rent
their garments; and they upbraided Juno, saying
that she was unjust and too cruel to the woman
who had wronged her. Juno could not brook their
reproaches and said: “ I will make yourselves the
greatest monument of my cruelty.” No sooner said
than done. For she who had been most devoted to
the queen cried: “ I shall follow my queen into the
sea ”; and was just about to take the leap when she
was unable to move at all, and stood ﬁxed fast to the
rock.’ A second, while she was preparing again to
smite her breasts as she had been doing, felt her
lifted arms grow stiff. Another had by chance
stretched out her hands towards the waters of the
sea, but now ’twas a ﬁgure of stone that stretched
out hands to those same waters. Still another,
plucking at her hair to tear it out, you might
see with sudden stiffened ﬁngers still in act to
217
’ OVID
quo quaeque in gestu deprensa est, haesit in illo. 560
pars volucres factae, quae nunc quoque gurgite in
illo .
aequora destringunt summis Ismenides alis.
Nescit Agenorides natam parvumque nepotem
aequoris esse deos; luctu serieque malorum
victus et ostentis, quae plurima viderat, exit 565
conditor urbe sua, tamquam fortuna locorum,
non sua se premeret, longisque erratibus actus
contigit Illyricos profuga cum coniuge ﬁnes.
iamque malis annisque graves dum prima retractant
fata domus releguntque suos sermone labores, 570
“num sacer ille mea traiectus cuspide serpens ”
Cadmus ait “ fuerat, tum cum Sidone profectus
vipereos sparsi per humum, nova semina, dentes?
quem si cura deum tam certa vindicat ira, I
ipse precor serpens in longam porrigar alvum.” 575
dixit, et ut serpens in longam tenditur a-lvum
durataeque cuti squamas increscere sentit
nigraque caeruleis variari corpora guttis
inpectusque cadit pronus, commissaque in unum
paull'atim tereti tenuantur acumine crura. 580
bracchia iam restant: quae restant bracchia tendit _
et lacrimis per adhuc humana ﬁuentibus ora
“accede, o coniunx, accede, miserrima ” dixit,
“ dumque aliquid superest de me, me tange
_ manumque
accipe, dum manus est, dum non totum occupat
' anguis.” 585
218
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
tear. Each turned to stone and kept the pose in
which she was overtaken. Still others were changed
to birds, and they also, once Theban women, now on
light wings skim the water over that pool.
Cadmus was all unaware that his daughter and
little grandson had been changed to deities of the
sea.- Overcome with grief at the misfortunes which
had-been heaped upon him, and awed by the
many portents he had seen, he ﬂed from the city
which he had founded, as if the fortune of the
place and not his own evil fate were overwhelming
him. Driven on through long wanderings, at last
his ﬂight brought him with his wife to the borders of
Illyria. Here, overborne by the weight of woe and
age, they reviewed the early misfortunes of their
house and their own troubles. Cadmus said: “ Was
that a sacred serpent which my spear transﬁxed
long ago when, fresh come from Sidon, I scat-
tered his teeth on the earth, seed of a strange
crop of men? If it be this the gods have been
avenging with such unerring wrath, I pray that
I, too, may be a serpent, and stretch myself in
long snaky form ” Even as he spoke he was
stretched out in long snaky form; he felt his skin
hardening and scales growing on it, while iridescent
spots besprinkled his darkening body. He fell
prone‘upon his belly, and his legs were gradually
moulded together into one and drawn out into a
slender, pointed tail. His arms yet remained; while
they remained, he stretched them out, and with
tears ﬂowing down his still human cheeks he cried:
" Come near, oh, come, my most wretched wife, and
while still there is something left of me, touch me,
take my hand, while I have a hand, while still the
serpent does not usurp me quite.” He wanted to

219
OVI D
ille quidem vult plura loqui, sed lingua repente
in partes est ﬁssa duas, nec verba volenti
sufﬁciunt, quotiensque aliquos parat edere questus,
sibilat: hanc illi vocem natura reliquit.
nuda manu feriens exclamat pectora coniunx : 590
“ Cad-me, mane teque, infelix, his exue monstris!
Cadme, quid hoc? ubi pes, ubi sunt umerique
manusque
et color et facies et, dum loquor, omnia? cur non
me quoque, caelestes, in eandem vertitis anguem? ”
dixerat, ille suae lambebat coniugis ora 595
inque sinus caros, veluti cognosceret, ibat ‘ -
et dabat amplexus adsuetaque colla petebat.
quisquis adest (aderant comites), terrentur; at illa
lubrica permulcet cristati colla draconis,
et subito duo sunt iunctoque volumine serpunt, 600
donec in adpositi nemoris subiere latebras,
nunc quoque nec fugiunt hominem nec vulnere _
laedunt _
quidque prius fuerint, placidi meminere dracones.
Sed tamen ambobus versae solacia formae
magna nepos dederat, quem debellata colebat ‘605
India, quem positis celebrabat Acha'i'a templ'is;
solus Abantiades ab origine cretus eadem
Acrisius superest, qui moenibus arceat urbis
Argolicae contraque deum ferat arma genusque
non putct esse deum: neque enim Iovis esse putabat
Persea, quem pluvio Danae conceperat auro. - 611
mox tamen Acrisium (tanta est praesentia veri) I
tam violasse deum quam non agnosse nepotem
220
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
say much more, but his'tongue was of a sudden cleft
in two; words failed him, and whenever he tried to
utter some sad complaint, it was a hiss; this was the
only voice which Nature left him. Then his wife,
smiting her naked breasts with her hands, cried out:
“ O Cadmus, stay, unhappy man, and put off this
monstrous form! Cadmus, what does this mean?
Where are your feet? Where are your shoulders and
your hands, your colour, face, and, while I speak,
your—everything? Why, O ye gods of heaven, do
you not change me also into the same serpent form? ”
She spoke; he licked his wife’s face and glided into
her dear breasts as if familiar there, embraced her,
and sought his wonted place about her neck. All who
were there—for they’ had comrades with them—were
ﬁlled with horror. But she only stroked the sleek
neck of the crest'ed dragon, and suddenly there were
two serpents there with intertwining folds, which
after a little while crawled off and hid in the neigh-
bouring woods. Now also, as of yore, they neither
fear mankind nor wound them, mild creatures,
remembering what once they were.
But both in their altered form found great comfort
in their grandson, whom conquered India now wor—
shipped, whose temples Greece had ﬁlled with
adoring throngs. There was one only, Acrisius, the
son of Abas, sprung from the same stock, who forbade
the entrance'of ‘Bacchus within the walls of his city,
Argos, who violently opposed the god, and 'did not
admit that he was the son. of Jove. Nor did he
admit that Perseus was son of Jove, whom Danae had
conceived of agolden shower. And yet, such is the
power of truth, Acrisius in the end was sorry that
he hadlrepulsed the god and had not acknowledged
his grandson. The one had now been received to a
221
OVID
'“ hospes ” ait Perseus illi,
paenitet: inpositus iam caelo est alter, at alter
viperei referens spolium memorabile monstri 615
aera carpebat tenerum stridentibus alis,
cumque super 'Libycas victor penderet harenas,
Gorgonei capitis guttae cecidere cruentae; '
quas humus exceptas varios animavit in angues,
unde frequens illa est infestaque terra colubris. 620
Inde per inmensum ventis discordibus actus
nunc huc, nunc illuc exemplo nubis aquosae
fertur et ex alto seductas aethere longe
despectat terras totumque supervolat orbem.
ter gelidas arctos, ter cancri bracchia vidit, 625
saepe sub occasus, saepe est ablatus in ortus,
iamque cadente die, veritus se credere nocti,
constitit Hesperio, regnis Atlantis, in orbe
‘exiguamque petit requiem, dum Lucifer ignes
evocet Aurorae, currus Aurora diurnos. 630
hic hominum cunctos ingenti corpore praestans
Iapetionides Atlas fuit: ultima tellus
rege sub hoc et pontus erat, qui Solis anhelis
aequora subdit equis et fessos excipit axes.
mille greges illi totidemque armenta per herbas 635
.errabant, et humum vicinia nulla premebat;
arboreae frondes auro radiante nitentes
ex auro ramos, ex auro poma tegebant.
“ seu gloria tangit
-te generis magni, generis mihi Iuppiter aucto’r; 640
sive es mirator rerum, mirabere nostras;
hospitium requiemque peto.” memor ille vetustae
sortis erat; Themis hanc dederat Parnasia sortem:
222
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
place in heaven; but the other, bearing the wonder;
ful spoil of the snake-haired monster, was taking his
way through the thin air on whirring wings. As he
was ﬂying over the sandy wastes of Libya, bloody
drops from the Gorgon’s head fell down; and the
earth received them as they fell and changed them
into snakes of various kinds. And for this cause the
land of Libya is full of deadly serpents.
From there he was driven - through the vast
stretches of air by warring winds and borne, now
hither, now thither, like a cloud of mist. He looked
down from his great height upon the lands lying
below and ﬂew over the whole world. Thrice did he
see the cold Bears, and thrice the Crab’s spreading
claws; time and again to the west, and as often back
to the cast was he carried. And now, as daylight was
fading, fearing to trust himself to ﬂight by night, he
alighted on the borders of the West, in the realm of
Atlas. Here he sought a little rest until the’ morning
star should wake the ﬁres of dawn and the dawn
lead out the ﬁery car of day. Here, far surpassing
all men in huge bulk of body, was Atlas, of the stock
of Iapetus. He ruled this edge of the world and
the sea which spread its waters to receive the Sun’s
panting horses and his weary car. A thousand
ﬂocks he had, and as many herds, wandering at will
over the grassy plains ; and no other realm was near
to hem in his land. A tree he had whose leaves were
of gleaming gold, concealing golden branches and
golden fruits. “ Good sir,” said Perseus, addressing
him, “ if glory of high birth means anything to you,
Jove is my father; or if you admire great deeds, you
surely will admire mine. I crave your hospitality
and a chance to rest.” But Atlas bethought him of
an old oracle, which Themis of Parnasus had, given:
223
OVID
“ tempus, Atla, veniet, tua quo spoliabitur auro
arbor, et hunc praedae titulum Iove natus habebit.”
id metuens solidis pomaria clauserat Atlas 646
moenibus et vasto dederat servanda draconi
arcebatque suis externos ﬁnibus omnes.
huic quoque “ vade procul, ne longe gloria rerum,
quam mentiris ” ait, “ longe tibi Iuppiter absit! ” 650
vimque minis addit manibusque expellere temptat
cunctantem et placidis miscentem fortia dictis.
viribus inferior (quis enim par esset Atlantis
viribus P) “ at, quoniam parvi tibi gratia nostra est,
accipe munus! ” ait laevaque a parte Medusae 655
ipse retro versus squalentia protulit ora.
.quantus erat,mons factus Atlas: nam barba comaeque
in silvas abeunt, iuga sunt umerique manusque,
quod caput ante fuit, summo est in monte cacumen,
ossa lapis ﬁunt; tum partes altus in omnes 660
crevit in inmensum (sic di statuistis), et omne
cum tot sideribus caelum requievit in illo.
Clauserat Hippotades aeterno carcere ventos,
admonitorque operum caelo clarissimus alto
Lucifer ortus erat: pennis ligat ille resumptis 665
parteab utraque pedes teloque accingitur unco
‘.et liquidum' motis talaribus- aera ﬁndit.
gentibus innumeris circumque infraque relictis
Aethiopum populos Cepheaque conspicit arva.
illic inmeritam maternae pendere linguae 670
Andromedan poenas iniustus iusserat Ammon;
224
METAMORPHOSES BOO K IV
“ Atlas, the time will come when your tree will be
spoiled of its gold, and he who gets the glory of this
spoil will be J ove’s son.” Fearing this, Atlas had
enclosed his orchard with massive walls and had put
a huge dragon there to watch it; and he kept off all
strangers from his boundaries. And now to Perseus,
too, he said: “ Hence afar, lest the glory of your
deeds, which you falsely brag of, and lest this Jupiter
of yours be far from aiding you.” He added force to
threats, and was trying to thrust out the other, who
held back and manfully resisted while he urged his
case with soothing speech. At length, ﬁnding him-
self unequal in strength—for who would be a match
in strength for Atlas ?—-he said: “ Well, since so
small a favour you will not grant to me, let me give
you a boon ” ; and, himself turning his back, he held
out from his left hand the ghastly Medusa-head.
Straightway Atlas became a mountain huge as the
giant had been; his beard and hair were changed to
trees, his shoulders and arms to spreading ridges;
what had been his head was now the mountain’s top,
and his ‘bones were changed to stones. Then he
grew to monstrous size in all his parts—for so, O
gods, ye had willed it—and the whole heaven with
all its stars rested upon his head.
Now Aeolus, the son of' Hippotas, had shut the
winds in their everlasting prison, and the bright
morning star that wakes men to their toil had
risen in the heavens. Then Perseus bound on both
his feet the wings he had laid by, girt on his hooked
sword, and soon in swift ﬂight was cleaving the
thin air. Having left behind countless peoples all
around him and below, he spied at last the
Ethiopians and Cepheus’ realm. There unrighteous
Ammon had bidden Andromeda, though innocent, to
225
OVID
quam simul ad duras religatam bracchia cautes
vidit Abantiades, nisi quod levis aura capillos
moverat et tepido manabant lumina ﬂetu,
marmoreum ratus esset opus; trahit inscius ignes 675
et stupet eximiae correptus imagine formae
paene suas quatere est oblitus in aere pennas.
ut stetit, “ o ” dixit “ non istis digna catenis,
sed quibus inter se cupidi iunguntur amantes,
pande requirenti nomen terraeque tuumque, 680
et cur vincla geras.” primo silet illa nec audet
adpellare virum virgo, manibusque modestos
celasset vultus, si non religata fuisset;
lumina, quod potuit, lacrimis inplevit obortis.
saepius instanti, sua ne delicta fateri 685
nolle videretur, nomen terraeque suumque,
quantaque maternae fuerit ﬁducia formae,
indicat, et nondum memoratis omnibus unda
insonuit, veniensque inmenso belua ponto
inminet et latum sub pectore possidet aequor. 690
conclamat virgo: genitor lugubris et una
mater adest, ambo miseri, sed iustius illa,
nec secum auxilium, sed dignos tempore fletus
plangoremque ferunt vinctoque in corpore adhaerent,
cum sic hospes ait “ lacrimarum longa manere 695
tempora vos poterunt, ad opem brevis hora ferendam
est.
hanc ego si peterem Perseus Iove natus et illa,
quam clausam inplevit fecundo Iuppiter auro,
Gorgonis anguicomae Perseus superator et alis
aerias ausus iactatis ire per auras, 700
226
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
pay the penalty of her mother’s words. As soon as
Perseus saw her there bound by the arms to a rough
cliff—save that her hair gently stirred in the breeze,
and the warm tears were trickling down her cheeks,
he would have thought her a marble statue—he
took ﬁre unwitting, and stood dumb. Smitten by the
sight of her exquisite beauty, he almost forgot. to
move his wings in the air. Then, when he alighted
near the maiden, he said: “ Oh! those are not the
chains you deserve to wear, but rather those that link
fond lovers together! Tell me, for I would know,
your country’s name and yours, and why you are
chained here.” She was silent at ﬁrst, for, being'a
maid, she did not dare address a man; she would have
hidden her face modestly with her hands but that
her hands were bound. Her eyes were free, and
these ﬁlled with rising tears. As he continued to
urge her, she, lest she should seem to be trying to
conceal some fault of her own, told him her name
and her country, and what sinful boasting her mother
had made of her own beauty. While she was yet
speaking, there came a loud sound from the sea, and
there, advancing over the broad expanse, a monstrous
creature loomed up, breasting the wide waves. The
maiden shrieked. The grieving father and the mother
are at hand, both wretched, but she more justly so.
They have no help to give, but only wailings and loud
beatings of the breast, beﬁtting the occasion, and
they hang to the girl’s chained form. Then speaks
the stranger: “ There will be long time for weeping
by and by; but time for helping is very short. If I
sought this maid as Perseus, son of Jove and that
imprisoned one whom Jove ﬁlled with his life-giving
shower; if as Perseus, victor over Gorgon of the
snaky locks,‘ and as he who has dared to ride the
227
'OVID'
praeferrer cunctis certe gener; addere tantis
dotibus et meritum, faveant modo numina, tempto:
ut mea sit servata mea virtute, paciscor.”
accipiunt legem (quis enim dubitaret P) et orant
promittuntque super regnum dotale parentes. 705
Ecce, velut navis praeﬁxo concita rostro
sulcat aquas iuvenum sudantibus acta lacertis,
sic fera dimotis inpulsu pectoris undis; '
tantum aberat scopulis, quantum Balearica torto
funda potest plumbo medii transmittere caeli, 710
cum subito iuvenis pedibus tellure repulsa
arduus in nubes abiit: ut in aequore summo
umbra viri visa est, visa fera saevit in umbra,
utque Iovis praepes, vacuo cum vidit in arvo
praebentem Phoebo liventia terga draoonem, 715
occupat aversum, neu saeva retorqueat ora,
squamigeris avidos ﬁgit cervicibus ungues,
'sic celeri missus praeceps per inane volatu
terga ferae pressit dextroque frementis in armo
Inachides ferrum curvo tenus abdidit hamo. 720
vulnere laesa gravi modo sea sublimis in auras
attollit, modo subdit aquis, modo more ferocis
versat apri, quem turba canum circumsona terret.
ille avidos morsus velocibus effugit alis
quaque patet, nunc terga cavis super obsita conchis,
nunc laterum costas, nunc qua tenuissima cauda 726
desinit in piscem, falcato verberat ense;
228
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
winds of heaven on ﬂuttering wings, surely I should
be preferred to all suitors as your son-inI-law. But
now I shall try to add to these great gifts the gift of
service, too, if only the gods will favour me. That
she be ‘mine if saved by my valour is my bargain.” The
parents accept the condition—for who would refuse?
—-and beg him to save her, promising him a kingdom
as dowry in addition. ’
But see! as a swift ship with its sharp beak
plows the waves, driven by stout rowers’ sweating
arms, so does the monster come, rolling back the
water from either side as his breast surges through.
And now he was as far from the cliﬂ' as is the space
through which a Balearic sling can send its whizzing
bullet; when suddenly the youth, springing up from
the earth, mounted high into the clouds. When the
monster saw the hero’s shadow on the surface of
the sea, he savagely attacked the shadow. And as
the bird of Jove, when it has seen in an open ﬁeld a
serpent sunning its mottled body, swoops down upon
him from behind; and, lest the serpent twist back
his deadly fangs, the bird buries deep his sharp claws
in the creature’s scaly neck; so did Perseus, plunging
headlong in a swift swoop through the empty air,
attack the roaring monster from above, and in his right
shoulder buried his sword clear down to the curved
hook. Smarting under the deep wound, the creature
now reared himself high in air, now plunged beneath
the waves, now turned like a ﬁerce wild-boar when
around him a noisy pack of hounds give tongue.
Perseus eludes the greedy fangs by help of his swift
wings; and where the vulnerable points lie open to
attack, he smites with his hooked sword, now at the
back, thick-set with barnacles, now on the sides, now
where the tail is most slender and changes into
229
OVID
belua puniceo mixtos cum sanguine ﬂuctus
ore vomit: maduere graves adspergine pennae.
nec bibulis ultra Perseus talaribus ausus 730
credere conspexit scopulum, qui vertice summo
stantibus exstat aquis, operitur ab aequore moto.
nixus eo rupisque tenens iuga prima sinistra
ter quater exegit repetita per ilia ferrum.
litora cum plausu clamor superasque deorum 735
inplevere domos: gaudent generumque salutant
auxiliumque domus servatoremque fatentur
Cassiope Cepheusque pater; resoluta catenis
incedit virgo, pretiumque et causa laboris.
ipse manus hausta victrices abluit unda., 740
anguiferumque caput dura ne laedat harena,
mollit humum foliis natasque sub aequore virgas
sternit et inponit Phorcynidos ora Medusae.
virga recens bibulaque etiamnum viva medulla
vim rapuit monstri tactuque induruit huius 745
percepitque novum ramis et fronde rigorem.
at pelagi nymphae factum mirabile temptant
pluribus in virgis et idem contingere gaudent
seminaque ex illis iterant iactata per undas :
nunc quoque curaliis eadem natura remansit, _ 750
duritiam tacto capiant ut ab aere quodque
vimen in aequore erat, ﬁat super aequora saxum.
Dis tribus ille focos totidem de caespite ponit,
laevum Mercurio, dextrum tibi, bellica virgo, _
ara Iovis media est; mactatur vacca Minervae, 755
alipedi vitulus, taurus tibi, summe deorum.
2 3o
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
the form of ﬁsh. The beast belches forth waters
mixed with purple blood. Meanwhile Perseus’ wings
are growing heavy, soaked with spray, and he dares
not depend further on his drenched pinions. He
spies a rock whose top projects above the surface
when the waves are still, but which is hidden by the
roughened sea. Resting on this and holding an edge
of the rock with his left hand, thrice and again he
plunges his sword into the vitals of the monster. At
this the shores and the high seats of the gods re-echo
with wild shouts of applause. Cassiope and Cepheus
rejoice and salute the hero as son-in-law, calling him
prop and saviour of their house. The maiden also
now comes forward, freed from chains, she, the prize
as well as cause of his feat. He washes his victorious
hands in water drawn for him; and, that the Gorgon’s
snaky head may not be bruised on the hard sand, he
softens the ground with leaves, strews seaweed over
these, and lays on this the head of Medusa, daughter
of Phorcys. The fresh weed twigs, but now alive and
porous to the core, absorb the power of the monster
and hardens at its touch and take a strange stiffness
in their stems and leaves. And the sea-nymphs test
the wonder on more twigs and are delighted to ﬁnd
the same thing happening to them all; and, by
scattering these twigs as seeds, propagate the
wondrous thing throughout their waters. And even
till this day the same nature has remained in coral so
that they harden when exposed to air, and what was
a pliant twig beneath the sea is turned to stone
above.
Now Perseus builds to three gods three altars of
turf, the left to Mercury, the right to thee, O warlike
maid, and the central one to Jove. To Minerva he
slays a cow, a young bullock to the winged god, and
231
OVI D
protinus Andromedan et tanti praemia facti
indotata rapit; taedas. Hymenaeus Amorque
praecutiunt; largis satiantur odoribus ignes,
sertaque dependent tectis et ubique lyraeque 760
tibiaque et cantus, animi felicia laeti ' '
argumenta, sonant; reseratis aurea valvis
atria tota patent, pulchroque instructa paratu
Cephenum proceres ineunt convivia regis.
Postquam epulis functi generosi munere Bacchi 765
diﬁ‘udere animos, cultusque genusque locorum
quaerit Lyncides moresque animumque virorum; 767
qui simul edocuit, “ nunc, o fortissime,” dixit 769
“ fare, precor, Perseu, quanta virtute quibusque 770
artibus abstuleris crinita draconibus ora! ”
narrat Agenorides gelido sub Atlante iacentem
esse locum solidae tutum munimine molis;
cuius in introitu geminas habitasse sorores
Phorcidas unius partitas luminis usum; 775
id se sollerti furtim, dum traditur, astu '
supposita cepisse manu perque abdita longe
deviaque et silvis horrentia saxa fragosis
Gorgoneas tetigisse domos passimque per agros
perque vias vidisse hominum simulacra ferarumque
in silic'em ex ipsis visa conversa Medusa. ' 781
se tamen horrendae' clipei, quem laeva gerebat,
aere repercusso formam adspexisse Medusae,
dumque gravis somnus colubrasque ipsamque tenebat,
eripuisse caput collo; pennisque fugacem 785
Pegason et fratrem matris de sanguine natos.
2 32
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
a bull to thee, thou greatest of the gods. Forthwith
the hero claims Andromeda as the prize of his great
deed, seeking no further dowry. Hymen and Love
shake the marriage torch; the ﬁres are fed full with
incense rich and fragrant, garlands deck the dwelle
ings, and everywhere lyre and ﬂute and songs
resound, blessed proofs of inward joy. The huge
folding-doors swing back and reveal the great
golden palace—hall with a rich banquet spread,
where Cepheus’ princely courtiers grace the feast. _
~When they have had their ﬁll of food, and their
hearts have expanded with Bacchus’ generous gift,
then Perseus seeks to know the manner of the region
thereabouts,_its peoples, customs, and the spirit of its
men. The prince who answered him then said:
“ Now tell us, pray, O Perseus, by what wondrous
valour, by what arts you won the Gorgon’s snaky
head.” The hero, answering, told how beneath cold
Atlas there was a place safe under the protection of
the rocky mass. ' At the entrance to this place two
sisters dwelt, both daughters of old Phorcys, who
shared one eye between them. This eye by craft
and stealth, while it was being passed from one
sister to the other, Perseus stole away, and travelling
far through trackless and secret ways, rough woods,
and bristling rocks, he came at last to where the
Gorgons lived. On all sides through the ﬁelds and
along the ways he saw the forms of men and beasts
changed into stone by one look at Medusa’s face.
But he himself had looked upon the image of that
dread face reﬂected from the bright bronze shield his
left hand bore; and while deep sleep held fast both
the snakes and her who wore them, he smote her head
clean from her neck, and from the blood of his mother
swift-winged Pegasus and his brother sprang.
233
OVI D
Addidit et longi non falsa pericula cursus,
quae freta, quas terras sub se vidisset ab alto
et quae iactatis tetigisset sidera pennis;
ante exspectatum tacuit tamen. excipit unus 790
ex numero procerum quaerens, cur sola sororum
gesserit alternis inmixtos crinibus angues.
hospes ait: “ quoniam scitaris digna relatu,
accipe quaesiti causam. clarissima forma
multorumque fuit spes invidiosa procorum 795
illa, nec in tota conspectior ulla capillis‘
pars fuit: inveni, qui se vidisse referret.
hanc pelagi rector templo vitiasse Minervae
dicitur: aversa est et castos aegide vultus
nata Iovis texit, neve hoc inpune fuisset, 800
Gorgoneum crinem turpes mutavit in hydros.
nunc quoque, ut attonitos formidine terreat hostes,
pectore in adverso, quos fecit, sustinet angues.”
METAMORPHOSES BOOK IV
The hero further told of his long journeys and
perils passed, all true, what seas, what lands he had
beheld from his high ﬂight, what stars he had
touched on beating wings. He ceased, while they
waited still to hear more. But one of the princes
asked him why Medusa only of the sisters wore
serpents mingled with her hair. The guest replied:
“ Since what you ask is a tale well worth the telling,
hear then the cause. She was once most beautiful
in form, and the jealous hope of many suitors. Of
all her beauties, her hair was the most beautiful—-
for so I learned from one who said he had seen
her. ’Tis said that in Minerva’s temple Neptune,
lord of the Ocean, ravished her. Jove’s daughter
turned away and hid her chaste eyes behind her
aegis. And, that the deed might be punished as was
due, she changed the Gorgon’s locks to ugly snakes.
And now to frighten her fear—numbed foes, she still
wears upon her breast the snakes which she has
made.”
235
BOOK V
LIBER V
DVMQVE ea Cephenum medio Danaeius heros
agmine commemorat, fremida regalia turba
atria conplentur, nec coniugialia festa
qui canat est clamor, sed qui fera nuntiet arma;
inque repentinos convivia versa tumultus
adsimilare freto possis, quod saeva quietum
ventorum rabies motis exasperat undis.
primus in his Phineus, belli temerarius auctor;
fraxineam quatiens aeratae cuspidis hastam
“ en” ait, en adsum praereptae coniugis ultor;
nec mihi te pennae nec falsum versus in aurum
Iuppiter eripiet! ” conanti mittere Cepheus
“ quid facis? ” exclamat, “ quae te, germane,
(‘
furentem
mens agit in facinus? meritisne haec gratia tantis
redditur? hac vitam servatae dote rependis?
quam tibi non Perseus, verum si quaeris, ademit,
sed grave N ereidum numen, sed corniger Ammon,
sed quae visceribus veniebat belua ponti
exsaturanda meis; illo tibi tempore rapta est,
quo peritura fuit, nisi si, crudelis, id ipsum
exigis, ut pereat, luctuque levabere nostro.
10
15
20
238
BOOK V
WHILE the heroic son of Danae is relating these
adventures amongst the Ethiopian chiefs, the royal
halls are ﬁlled with confused uproar: not the loud
sound that sings a song of marriage, but one that
presages the ﬁerce strife of arms. And the feast,
turned suddenly to tumult, you could liken to the
sea, whose peaceful waters the raging winds lash to
boisterous waves. First among them is Phineus,
brother of the king, rash instigator of strife, who
brandishes an ashen spear with bronze point.
“ Behold,” says he, “ here am I, come to avenge
the theft of my bride. Your wings shall not save
you this time, nor Jove, changed to seeming gold.”
As he was in the act of hurling his spear, Cepheus
cried out: "What are you doing, brother? What mad
folly is driving you to crime? Is this the way you
thank our. guest for his brave deeds? Is this the
dower you give for the maiden saved? If ’tis the
truth you want, it was not Perseus who took her
from you, but the dread deity of the Nereids, but
horned Ammon, but that sea-monster who came to
glut his maw upon my own ﬂesh and blood. ’Twas
then you lost her when she was exposed to die;
unless, perchance, your cruel heart demands this
very thing—her death, and seeks by my grief to case
its own. It seems it is not enough that you saw her
chained, and that you brought no aid, uncle though
2.39
OVID
scilicet haud satis est, quod te spectante revincta est
et nullam quod opem patruus sponsusve tulisti;
insuper, a quoquam quod sit servata, dolebis
praemiaque eripies? quae si tibi magna videntur, 25
ex illis scopulis, ubi erant adﬁxa, petisses.
nunc sine, qui petiit, per quem haec non orba
senectus,
ferre, quod et meritis et voce est pactus, eumque
non tibi, sed certae praelatum intellege morti.”
Ille nihil contra, sed et hunc et Persea vultu 30
alterno spectans petat hunc ignorat an illum :
cunctatusque brevi contortam viribus hastam,
quantas ira dabat, nequiquam in Persea misit.
ut stetit illa toro, stratis tum denique Perseus
exsiluit teloque ferox inimica remisso 35
pectora rupisset, nisi post altaria Phineus
isset: et (indignum) scelerato profuit ara.
fronte tamen Rhoeti non inrita cuspis adhaesit,
qui postquam cecidit ferrumque ex osse revulsum est
calcitrat et positas adspergit sanguine mensas. 40
tum vero indomitas ardescit vulgus in iras,
telaque coniciunt, et sunt, qui Cephea dicunt
cum genero debere mori; sed limine tecti
exierat Cepheus testatus iusque ﬁdemque
liospitiique deos, ea se prohibente moveri. 45
bellica Pallas adest et protegit aegide fratrem A
datque animos.
Erat Indus Athis, quem ﬂumine Gauge
edita Limnaee vitreis peperisse sub undis
24o
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
you were, and promised husband: will you grieve,
besides, that someone did save her, and will you rob
him of his prize? If this prize seems so precious in
your sight, you should have taken it from those rocks
where it was chained. Now let the man who did
take it, by whom I have been saved ﬁ'om childless~
ness in my old age, keep what he has gained by his
deserving deeds and by my promise. And be
assured of this: that he has not been preferred to
you, but to certain death.”
Phineus made no reply; but, looking now on him
and now on Perseus, he was in doubt at which
to aim his spear. Delaying a little space, he
hurled it with all the strength that wrath gave at
Perseus; but in vain. When the weapon struck
and stood fast in the bench, then at last Perseus
leapt gallantly up and hurled back the spear, which
would have pierced his foeman’s heart; but Phineus
had already taken refuge behind the altar, and,
shame! the wretch found safety there. Still was
the weapon not without effect, for it struck full in
Rhoetus’ face. Down he fell, and when the spear
had been wrenched forth from the bone he writhed
about and sprinkled the well-spread table with his
blood. And now the mob was ﬁred to wrath un-
quenchable. They hurled their spears, and there
were some who said that Cepheus ought to perish
with his son—in-law. But Cepheus had already with-
drawn from the palace, calling to witness Justice,
Faith, and the gods of hospitality that this was done
against his protest. Then came warlike Pallas, pro-
tecting her brother with her shield, and making
him stout of heart.
There was an Indian youth, Athis by name, whom
Limnaee, a nymph of Ganges’ stream, is said to have
voL. I. I
241
OVID
creditur, egregius forma, quam divite cultu
augebat, bis adhuc octonis integer annis, 50
indutus chlamydem Tyriam, quam limbus obibat
aureus; ornabant aurata monilia collum
et madidos murra curvum crinale capillos;
ille quidem iaculo quamvis distantia misso
ﬁgere doctus erat, sed tendere doctior arcus. 55
tum quoque lenta manu ﬁectentem cornua Perseus
stipite, qui media positus fumabat in ara,
perculit et fractis confudit in ossibus ora.
Hunc ubi laudatos iactantem in sanguine vultus
Assyrius vidit Lycabus, iunctissimus illi 60
et comes et veri non dissimulator amoris,
postquam exhalantem sub acerbo vulnere vitam
deploravit Athin, quos ille tetenderat arcus
arripit et “ mecum tibi sint certamina! ” dixit;
“ nec longum pueri fato laetabere, quo plus 65
invidiae quam laudis habes.” haec omnia nondum
dixerat: emicuit nervo penetrabile telum
vitatumque tamen sinuosa veste pependit.
vertit in hunc harpen spectatam caede Medusa'e
Acrisioniades adigitque in pectus; at ille 70
iam moriens oculis sub nocte natantibus atra
circumspexit Athin seque adclinavit ad illum
et tulit ad manes iunctae solacia mortis.
Ecce Syenites, genitus Metione, Phorbas
et Libys Amphimedon, avidi committerc pugman, 7 5
sanguine, quo late tellus madefacta tepebat,
conciderant lapsi; surgentibus obstitit ensis,
alterius costis, iugulo Phorbantis adactus.
242
METAMORPHOSES BOO K V
brought forth beneath her crystal waters. He was
of surpassing beauty, which his rich robes enhanced,
a sturdy boy of sixteen years, clad in a purple mantle
fringed with gold; a golden chain adorned his neck,
and a golden circlet held his locks in place, perfumed
with myrrh. He was well skilled to hurl the javelin
at the most distant mark, but with more skill could
bend the bow. When now he was in the very act of
bending his stout bow, Perseus snatched up a brand
which lay smouldering on the altar and smote the
youth, crushing his face to splintered bones.
When Assyrian Lycabas beheld him, his lovely
features deﬁled with blood—Lycabas, his closest
comrade and his declared true lover—he wept aloud
for Athis, who lay gasping out his life beneath that
bitter wound; then he caught up the bow which
Athis had bent, and cried: “ Now you have me to
ﬁght, and not long shall you plume yourself on a
boy’s death, which brings you more contempt than
glory.” Before he had ﬁnished speaking the keen
arrow ﬂeshed from the bowstring; but it missed its
mark and stuck harmless in a fold of Perseus’ robe.
Acrisius’ grandson quickly turned on him that hook
which had been ﬂeshed in Medusa’s death, and drove
it into his breast. But he, even in death, with his
eyes swimming in the black darkness, looked round
for Athis, fell down by his side, and bore to the
shadows this comfort, that in death they were not
divided.
Then Phorbas of Syene, Metion’s son, and Libyan
Amphimedon, eager to join in the fray, slipped and
fell in the blood with which all the ﬂoor was wet. As
they strove to rise the sword met them, driven
through the ribs of one and through the other’s
throat.
243
OVID
At non Actoriden Erytum, cui lata bipennis
telum erat, hamato Perseus petit ense, sed altis 8O
exstantem signis multaeque in pondere massae
ingentem manibus tollit cratera duabus
inﬂigitque viro; rutilum vomit ille cruorem
et resupinus humum moribundo vertice pulsat.
inde Semiramio Polydaemona sanguine cretum 85
Caucasiumque Abarin Sperchionidenque Lycetum
intonsumque comas Helicem Phlegyanque Clytumque
sternit et exstructos morientum calcat acervos.
N ec Phineus ausus concurrere comminus hosti
intorquet iaculum, quod detulit error in Idan, 90
expertem frustra belli et neutra arma secutum.
ille tuens oculis inmitem Phinea torvis
“ quandoquidem in partes ’
Phineu,
quem fecisti, hostem pensaque hoc vulnere vulnus! ”
iamque remissurus tractum de corpore telum 95
sanguine defectos cecidit conlapsus in artus.
Tum quoque Cephenum post regem primus Hodites,
ense iacet Clymeni, Prothoenora percutit Hypseus,
Hypsea Lyncides. fuit et grandaevus in illis
Emathion, aequi cultor timidusque deorum, 100
quem quoniam prohibent anni bellare, loquendo
pugnat et incessit scelerataque devovet arma;
huic Chromis amplexo tremulis altaria palmis
decutit ense caput, quod protinus incidit arae
J
ait “ abstrahor, accipe,
atque ibi semianimi verba exsecrantia lingua 105
edidit et medios animam exspiravit in ignes.
244
META MORPHOSES BOOK V
But Eurytus, the son of Actor, who wielded a
broad, two-edged battle-axe, Perseus did not attack
with his hooked sword, but lifting high in both hands
a huge mixing-bowl heavily embossed and ponderous,
he hurled it crashing at the man. The red blood
spouted forth as he lay dying on his back, beating
the ﬂoor with his head. Then in rapid succession
Perseus laid low Polydaemon, descended from
Queen Semiramis, Caucasian Abaris, Lycetus who
dwelt by Spercheos, Helices of unshorn locks,
Phlegyas and Clytus, treading the while on heaps
of dying men.
Phineus did not dare to come to close combat with
his enemy, but hurled his javelin. This was ill-
aimed and struck Idas, who all to no purpose had
kept out of the ﬁght, taking sides with neither party.
He, gazing with angry eyes upon cruel Phineus,
said: “ Since I am forced into the strife, O Phineus,
accept the foeman you have made, and score me
wound for wound.” And he was just about to hurl
back the javelin which he had drawn out of his own
body, when he fell fainting, his limbs all drained of
blood.
Then also Hodites, ﬁrst of the Ethiopians after the
king, fell by the sword of Clymenus ; Hypseus smote
Prothoenor; Lyncides, Hypseus. Amid the throng
was one old man, Emathion, who loved justice and
revered the gods. He, since his years forbade war-
fare, fought with the tongue, and strode forward
and cursed their impious arms. As he clung to the
altar-horns with age-enfeebled hands Chromis struck
off his head with his sword: the head fell straight
on the altar, and there the still half-conscious tongue
kept up its execrations and the life was breathed out
in the midst of the altar-ﬁres.
24s
OVID
Hinc gemini fratres Broteasque et caestibus
Ammon
invicta, vinci si possent caestibus enses,
Phinea cecidere manu Cererisque sacerdos
Ampycus albenti velatus tempora vitta, 110
tu quoque, Lampetide, non hos adhibendus ad
usus,
sed qui, pacis opus, citharam cum voce moveres;
iussus eras celebrare dapes festumque canendo.
cui procul adstanti plectrumque inbelle tenenti
Pettalus inridens “ Stygiis cane cetera ” dixit 115
“ manibus! ” et laevo mucronem tempore ﬁxit;
concidit et digitis morientibus ille retemptat
ﬁla lyrae, casuque fuit miserabile carmen.
nec sinit hunc inpune ferox cecidisse Lycormas
raptaque de dextro robusta repagula posti 120
ossibus inlisit mediae cervicis, at ille
procubuit terrae mactati more iuvenci.
demere temptabat laevi quoque robora postis
Cinyphius Pelates; temptanti dextera ﬁxa est
cuspide Marmaridae Corythi lignoque cohaesit; 125
haerenti latus hausit Abas, nec corruit ille,
sed retinente manum moriens e poste pependit.
sternitur et Melaneus, Perseia castra secutus,
et Nasamoniaci Dorylas ditissimus agri,
dives agri Dorylas, quo non possederat alter 130
latius aut totidem tollebat turis acervos.
huius in obliquo missum stetit inguine ferrum :
letifer ille locus. quem postquam vulneris auctor
singultantem animam et versantem lumina vidit
Bactrius Halcyoneus, “ hoc, quod premis,” inquit
“ habeto 135
de tot agris terrae! ” corpusque exsangue relinquit.
torquet in hunc hastam calido de vulnere raptam
246
META MORPHOSES BOOK V
Next fell two brothers by Phineus’ hand, Broteas
and Ammon, invincible with gauntlets, if gauntlets
could but contend with swords; and Ampycus, Ceres’
priest, his temples wreathed with white ﬁllets. You,
too, Lampetides, not intended for such a scene as this,
but for a peaceful task, to ply lute and voice: you had
been bidden to grace the feast and sing the festal
song. To him standing apart and holding his
peaceful quill, Pettalus mocking cried: “ Go sing
the rest of your song to the Stygian shades,” and
pierced the left temple with his steel. He fell, and
with dying ﬁngers again essays the strings, and as
he fell there was a lamentable sound. Nor did
Lycormas, maddened at the sight, suffer him to
perish unavenged; but, tearing out a stout bar from
the door-post on the right, he broke the murderer’s
neck with a crashing blow. And Pettalus fell to the
earth like a slaughtered bull. Cinyphian Pelates
essayed to tear away another bar from the left post,
but in the act his right hand was pierced by the spear
of Corythus of Marmarida, and pinned to the wood.
There fastened, Abas thrust him through the side;
nor did he'fall, but, dying, hung down from the post
to which his hand was nailed. Melaneus, too, was
slain, one of Perseus’ side; and Dorylas, the richest
man in the land of Nasamonia—Dorylas, rich in
land, than whom none held a wider domain, none
heaped so many piles of spices. Into his groin a
spear hurled from the side struck; that place is fatal.
When Bactrian Halcyoneus, who hurled the spear,
beheld him gasping out his life and rolling his eyes
in death, he said: “ This land alone on which you lie
of all your lands shall you possess,” and left the lifeless
body. Against him Perseus, swift to avenge, hurled
the spear snatched from the warm wound, which,
247
OVID
ultor Abantiades; media quae nare recepta
cervice exacta est in partesque eminet ambas;
dumque manum Fortuna iuvat, Clytiumque
Claninque, 140
matre satos una, diverso vulnere fudit:
nam Clytii per utrumque gravi librata lacerto
fraxinus acta femur, iaculum Clanis ore momor-
dit.
occidit et Celadon Mendesius, occidit Astreus
matre Palaestina dubio genitore creatus, 145
Aethionque sagax quondam ventura videre,
tunc ave deceptus falsa, regisque Thoactes
armiger et caeso genitore infamis Agyrtes.
Plus tamen exhausto superest; namque omnibus
unum
opprimere est animus, coniurata undique pugnant 150
agmina pro causa meritum inpugnante ﬁdemque;
hac pro parte socer frustra pius et nova coniunx
cum genetrice favent ululatuque atria conplent,
sed sonus armorum superat gemitusque cadentum,
pollutosque simul multo Bellona penates 155
sanguine perfundit renovataque proelia miscet.
Circueunt unum Phineus et mille secuti
Phinea: tela volant hiberna grandine plura
praeter utrumque latus praeterque et lumen et
aures.
adplicat his umeros ad magnae saxa columnae 160
tutaque terga gerens adversaque in agmina versus
sustinet instantes: instabat parte sinistra
Chaonius Molpeus, dextra Nabataeus Ethemon.
tigris ut audit-is diversa valle duorum
exstimulata fame mugitibus armentorum 165
nescit, utro potius ruat, et ruere ardet utroque,
sic dubius Perseus, dextra laevane feratur,
Molpea traiecti submovit vulnere cruris
248
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
striking the nose, was driven through the neck, and
stuck out on both sides. And, while fortune favoured
him, he slew also Clytius and Clanis, both born of
one mother, but each with a different wound. For
through both thighs of Clytius went the ashen spear,
hurled by his mighty arm; the other dart Clanis
crunched with his jaw. There fell also Mendesian
Celadon; Astreus, too, whose mother was a Syrian,
and his father unknown; Aethion, once wise to see
what is to come, but now tricked by a false omen;
Thoactes, armour-bearer of the king; Agyrtes,
infamous for that he had slain his sire.
Yet more remains, faint with toil though he is;
for all are bent on crushing him alone. On all sides
the banded lines assail him, in a cause that repudiated
merit and plig'hted word. On his side his father—in-
law with useless loyalty and his bride and her mother
range themselves, and ﬁll all the hall with their
shrieks. But their cries are drowned in the clash
of arms and the groans of dying men; while Bellona
drenches and pollutes with blood the sacred home,
and ever renews the strife.
Now he stands alone where Phineus and a thousand
followers close round him. Thicker than winter hail
ﬂy the spears, past right side and left, past eyes and
ears. He stands with his back against a great stone
column and, so protected in the rear, faces the
opposing crowds and their impetuous attack. The
attack is made on the left by Chaonian Molpeus, and
by Arabian Ethemon on the right. Just as a tigress,
pricked by hunger, that hears the bellowing of two
herds in two several valleys, knows not which to rush
upon, but burns to rush on both; so Perseus hesi-
tates whether to smite on right or left; he stops
Molpeus with a wound through the leg and was
249
OVID
contentusque fuga esta; neque enim dat tempus
Ethemon,
sed furit et cupiens alto dare vulnera collo 170
non circumspectis exactum viribus ensem
fregit, in extrema percussae parte columnae:
lamina dissiluit dominique in gutture ﬁxa est.
non tamen ad letum causas satis illa valentes
plaga dedit; trepidum Perseus et inermia frustra 175
bracchia tendentem Cyllenide confodit harpe.
Verum ubi virtutem turbae succumbere vidit,
“ auxilium ” Perseus, “ quoniam sic cogitis ipsi,”
dixit “ ab hoste petam: vultus avertite vestros,
si quis amicus adest! ” et Gorgonis extulit ora. 180
“ quaere alium, tua quem moveant miracula ” dixit
Thescelus; utque manu iaculum fatale parabat
mittere, in hoc haesit signum de marmore gestu.
proximus huic Ampyx animi plenissima magni
pectora Lyncidae gladio petit: inque petendo 185
dextera diriguit nec citra mota nec ultra est.
at Nileus, qui se genitum septemplice Nilo
ementitus erat, clipeo quoque ﬂumina septem
argento partim, partim caelaverat auro,
“ adspice ” ait “ Perseu, nostrae primordia gentis: 190
magna feres tacitas solacia mortis ad umbras,
a tanto cecidisse viro ”; pars ultima vocis
in medio suppressa sono est, adapertaque velle
ora loqui credas, nec sunt ea pervia verbis.
increpat hos “ vitio ” que “ animi, non viribus ’
inquit 195
“ Gorgoneis torpetis ” Eryx. “ incurrite mecum
7
250
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
content to let him go; but Ethemon gives him no time,
and comes rushing on, eager to wound him in the
neck, and drives his sword with mighty power but
careless aim, and breaks it on the edge of the great
stone column: the blade ﬂies off and sticks in its
owner's throat. The stroke indeed is not deep
enough for death; but as he stands there trembling
and stretching out his empty hands (but all in vain),
Perseus thrusts him through with Mercury’s hooked
sword.
But when Perseus saw his own strength was no
match for the superior numbers of his foes, he ex-
claimed: “ Since you yourselves force me to it, I
shall seek aid from my own enemy. Turn away your
faces, if any friend be here.” So saying, he raised
on high the Gorgon’s head. “ Seek someone else
to frighten with your magic arts,” cried Thescelus,
and raised his deadly javelin in act to throw; but in
that very act he stood immovable, a marble statue.
Next after him Ampyx thrust his sword full at the
heart of the great-souled Perseus; but in that thrust
his right hand stiffened and moved neither this way
nor that.‘ But Nileus, who falsely claimed that he
was sprung from the sevenfold Nile, and who had
on his shield engraved the image of the stream’s
seven mouths, part silver and part gold, cried: “ See,
O Perseus, the source whence I have sprung. Surely
a great consolation for your death will you carry to
the silent shades, that you have fallen by so great a
man ”—his last words were cut off in mid—speech;
you would suppose that his open lips still strove to
speak, but they no longer gave passage to his words.
These two Eryx rebuked, saying: “ ’Tis from defect
of courage, not from any power of the Gorgon’s head,
that you stand rigid. Rush in with me and hurl to
251
OVID
.6
et prosternite humi invenem magica arma moven-
tem! ”
incursurus erat: tenuit vestigia tellus,
inmotusque silex armataque mansit imago.
Hi tamen ex merito poenas subiere, sed unus 200
miles erat Persei: pro quo dum pugnat, Aconteus
Gorgone conspecta saxo concrevit oborto;
quem ratus Astyages etiamnum vivere, longo
ense ferit: sonuit tinnitibus ensis acutis.
dum stupet Astyages, naturam traxit eandem, 205
marmoreoque manet vultus mirantis in ore.
nomina longa mora est media de plebe virorum
dicere: bis centum restabant corpora pugnae,
Gorgone bis centum riguerunt corpora visa.
Paenitet iniusti tum denique Phinea belli; 210
sed quid agat? simulacra videt diversa ﬁguris
adgnoscitque suos et nomine quemque vocatum
poscit opem credensque parum sibi proxima tangit
corpora: marmor erant; avertitur atque ita supplex
confessasque manus obliquaque bracchia tendens 215
‘ vincis ait, “ Perseu! remove tua monstra tuaeque
saxiﬁcos vultus, quaecumque ea, tolle Medusae,
tolle, precor! non nos odium regnique cupido
conpulit ad bellum, pro coniuge movimus arma!
causa fuit meritis melior tua, tempore nostra: 220
non cessisse piget; nihil, o fortissime, praeter
hanc animam concede mihi, tua cetera sunto! ”
talia dicenti neque eum, quem voce rogabat,
respicere audenti “ quod ” ait, “ timidissime Phineu,
,’
252
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
the earth this fellow and his magic arms! ” He had
begun the rush, but the ﬂoor held his feet fast and
there he stayed, a motionless rock, an image in full
armour.
These, indeed, deserved the punishment they
received. But there was one, Aconteus, a soldier
on Perseus’ side, who, while ﬁghting for his friend,
chanced to look upon the Gorgon’s face and hardened
into stone. Astyages, thinking him still a living
man, smote upon him with his long sword. The
sword gave out a sharp clanging sound; and while
Astyages stood amazed, the same strange power got
hold on him, and he stood there still with a look of
wonder on his marble face. It would take too long
to tell the names of the rank and ﬁle who perished.
Two hundred men survived the ﬁght; two hundred
saw the Gorgon and turned to stone.
But now at last Phineus repents him of this un—
righteous strife. But what is he to do? He sees
images in various attitudes and knows the men for
his own; he calls each one by name, prays for his
aid, and hardly believing his eyes, he touches those
who are nearest him: marble, all! He turns his
face away, and so stretching out sideways suppliant
hands that confess defeat, he says: “ Perseus, you
are my conqueror. Remove that dreadful thing;
that petrifying Medusa—head of yours—whosoever she
may be, oh, take it away, I beg. It was not hate of
you and lust for the kingly power that drove me to
this war. It was my wife I fought for. Your claim
was better in merit, mine in time. I am content to
yield. Grant me now nothing, O bravest of men,
save this my life. All the rest be yours.” As he thus
spoke, not daring to look at him to whom he prayed,
Perseus replied: “ Most craven Phineus, dismiss your
253
OVID
et possum tribuisse et magnum est munus inerti,—-
pone metum !——tribuam: nullo violabere ferro. 226
quin etiam mansura dabo monimenta per aevum,
inque domo soceri semper spectabere nostri,
ut mea se sponsi solctur imagine coniunx.”
dixit et in partem Phorcynida transtulit illam, 230
ad quam se trepido Phineus obverterat ore.
tum quoque conanti sua vertere lumina cervix
diriguit, saxoque oculorum induruit umor,
sed tamen os timidum vultusque in marmore supplex
submissaeque manus faciesque obnoxia mansit. 235
Victor Abantiades patrios cum coniuge muros
intrat et inmeriti vindex ultorque parentis
adgreditur Proetum; nam fratre per arma fugato
Acrisioneas Proetus possederat arces.
sed nec ope armorum nec, quam male ceperat, arce
torva colubriferi superavit lumina monstri. 241
Te tamen, o parvae rector, Polydecta, Seriphi,
nec iuvenis virtus per tot spectata labores
nec mala mollierant, sed inexorabile durus
exerces odium, nec iniqua ﬁnis in ira est; 245
detrectas etiam laudem ﬁctamque Medusae
arguis esse necem. “ dabimus tibi pignora veri.
parcite luminibus! ” Perseus ait oraque regis
ore Medusaeo silicem sine sanguine fecit.
Hactenus aurigenae comitem Tritonia fratri 250
254
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
fears; what I can give (and ’tis a great boon for your
coward soul), I will grant: you shall not suffer by the
sword. Nay, but I will make of you a monument
that shall endure for ages; and in the house of my
father—in—law you shall always stand on view, that so
my wife may ﬁnd solace in the statue of her promised
lord.” So saying, he bore the Gorgon—head where
Phineus had turned his fear-struck face. Then, even
as he strove to avert his eyes, his neck grew hard
and the very tears upon his cheeks were changed to
stone. And now in marble was ﬁxed the cowardly
face, the suppliant look, the pleading hands, the
whole cringing attitude.
Victorious Perseus, together with his bride, now
returns to his ancestral city; and there, to avenge
his grandsire, who little deserved this championship,
he wars on Proetus. For Proetus had driven his
brother out by force of arms, and seized the strong-
hold of Acrisius. But neither by the force of arms,
nor by the stronghold he had basely seized, could he
resist the baleful gaze of that dread snake—wreathed
monster.
But you, O Polydectes, ruler of Little Seriphus,
were not softened by the young man’s valour, tried
in so many feats, nor by his troubles; but you were
hard and unrelenting in hate, and your unjust anger
knew no end. You even refused him his honour,
and declared that the death of Medusa was all a lie.
“ We will give you proof of that,” then Perseus said;
“ protect your eyes! ” (this to his friends). And
with the Medusa—face he changed the features of
the king to bloodless stone.
During all this time Tritonia 1 had been the
comrade of her brother born of the golden shower.
1 Athena.
2 5 5
OVID
se dedit; inde cava circumdata nube Seriphon
deserit, a dextra Cythno Gyaroque relictis,
quaque super pontum via visa brevissima, Thebas
virgineumque Helicona petit. quo monte potita
constitit et doctas sic est adfata sorores: 255
“ fama novi fontis nostras pervenit ad aures,
dura Medusaei quem praepetis ungula rupit.
is mihi causa viae; volui mirabile factum
cernere; vidi ipsum materno sanguine nasci.”
excipit Uranie: “ quaecumque est causa videndi 260
has tibi, diva, domos, animo gratissima nostro es.
vera tamen fama est: est Pegasus huius origo
fontis ” et ad latices deduxit Pallada sacros.
quae mirata diu factas pedis ictibus undas
silvarum lucos circumspicit antiquarum 265
antraque et innumeris distinctas floribus herbas
felicesque vocat pariter studioque locoque
Mnemonidas; quam sic adfata est una sororum:
“ o, nisi te virtus opera ad maiora tulisset,
in partem ventura chori Tritonia nostri, 270
vera refers meritoque probas artesque locumque,
et gratam sortem, tutae modo simus, habemus.
sed (vetitum est adeo sceleri nihil) omnia terrent
virgineas mentes, dirusque ante ora Pyreneus
vertitur, et nondum tota me mente recepi. 275
Daulida Threicio Phoceaque milite rura
ceperat ille ferox iniustaque regna tenebat;
templa petebamus Parnasia: vidit euntes
nostraque fallaci veneratus numina vultu 279
‘ Mnemonides ’ (cognorat enim), ‘ consistite ’ dixit
256
META MORPHOSES BOOK V
But now, wrapped in a hollow cloud, she left Seriphus,
and, passing Cythnus and Gyarus on the right, by
the shortest course over the sea she made for Thebes
and Helicon, home of the Muses. On this mountain
she alighted, and thus addressed the sisters versed in
song : “ The fame of a new spring has reached my ears,
which broke out under the hard hoof of the winged
horse of Medusa. This is the cause of my journey:
I wished to see the marvellous thing. The horse
himself I saw born from his mother’s blood.” Urania
replied: “ Whatever cause has brought thee to see
our home, O goddess, thou art most welcome to our
hearts. But the tale is true, and Pegasus did indeed
produce our spring.” And she led Pallas aside to
the sacred waters. She long admired the spring
made by the stroke of the horse’s hoof; then looked
round on the ancient woods, the grottoes, and the
grass, spangled with countless ﬂowers. She declared
the daughters of Mnemosyne to be happy alike in
their favourite pursuits and in their home. And thus
one of the sisters answered her: “ O thou, Tritonia,
who wouldst so ﬁtly join our band, had not thy merits
raised thee to far greater tasks, thou sayest truth and
dost justly praise our arts and our home. We have
indeed a happy lot—were we but safe in it. But
(such is the licence of the time) all things affright
our virgin souls, and the vision of ﬁerce Pyreneus is
ever before our eyes, and I have not yet recovered
from my fear. This bold king with his Thracian
soldiery had captured Daulis and the Phocian ﬁelds,
and ruled that realm which he had unjustly gained.
It chanced that we were journeying to the temple on
Parnasus. He saw us going, and feigning a reverence
for our divinity, he said: ‘ O daughters of Mnemosyne ’
——for he knew us—‘ stay your steps and do not hesitate
257
OVID
‘ nec dubitate, precor, tecto grave sidus et imbrem ’
(imber erat) ‘ vitare meo; subiere minores
saepe casas superi.’ dictis et tempore motae
adnuimusque viro primasque intravimus aedes.
desierant imbres, victoque aquilonibus austro 285
fusca repurgato fugiebant nubila caelo:
inpetus ire fuit; claudit sua tecta Pyreneus
vimque parat, quam nos sumptis eifugimus alis.
ipse secuturo similis stetit arduus arce
‘ qua ’ que ‘ via est vobis, erit et mihi ’ dixit ‘ eadem ’
seque iacit vecors c summae culmine turris 291
et cadit in vultus discussisque ossibus oris
tundit humum moriens scelerato sanguine tinctam.”
Musa loquebatur: pennae sonuere per auras,
voxque salutantum ramis veniebat ab altis. 295
suspicit et linguae quaerit tam certa loquentes
unde sonent hominemque putat Iove nata locutum;
ales erat. numeroque novem sua fata querentes
institerant ramis imitantes omnia picae.
miranti sic orsa deae dea “ nuper et istae 300
auxerunt volucrum victae certamine turbam.
Pieros has genuit Pellaeis dives in arvis,
Paeonis Euippe mater fuit; illa potentem
Lucinam noviens, noviens paritura, vocavit.
intumuit numero stolidarum turba sororum 305
perque tot Haemonias et per tot Achaidas urbes
huc venit et tali committit proelia voce:
‘ desinite indoctum vana dulcedine vulgus
fallere; nobiscum, si qua est ﬁducia vobis,
258
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
to take shelter beneath my roof against the lowering
sky and the rain ’——for rain was falling——-‘ gods have
often entered a humbler home.’ Moved by his words
and by the storm, we yielded to the man and entered
his portal. And now the rain had ceased, the south
wind had been routed by the north, and the dusky
clouds were in full ﬂight from the brightening sky.
We were fain to go on our way; but Pyreneus shut
his doors, and offered us violence. This we escaped
by donning our wings. He, as if he would follow us,
took his stand on a lofty battlement and cried to us:
‘ What way you take, the same will I take also ’; and,
quite bereft of sense, he leaped from the pinnacle of
the tower. Headlong he fell, crushing his bones and
dyeing the ground in death with his accursed blood.”
While the muse was still speaking, the sound of
whirring wings was heard and words of greeting
came from the high branches of the trees. J ove’s
daughter looked up and tried to see whence came
the sound which was so clearly speech. She thought
some human being spoke; but it was a bird. Nine
birds, lamenting their fate, had alighted in the
branches, magpies, which can imitate any sound they
please. When Minerva wondered at the sight, the
other addressed her, goddess to goddess: “ ’Tis but
lately those creatures also, conquered in a strife, have
been added to the throng of birds. Pierus, lord of
the rich domain of Pella, was their father, and Euippe
of Paeonia was their mother. Nine times brought to
the birth, nine times she called for help on mighty
Lucina. Swollen with pride of numbers, this throng
of senseless sisters journeyed through all the towns
of Haemonia and all the towns of Achaia to us, and
thus deﬁed us to a contest in song: ‘ Cease to de—
ceive the unsophisticated rabble with your pretence
259
OVID
T hespiades, certate, deae. nec voce, nec arte 310
vincemur totidemque sumus: vel cedite victae
fonte Medusaeo et Hyantea Aganippe,
vel nos Emathiis ad Paeonas usque nivosos
cedemus campis! dirimant certamina nymphae.’
“ Turpe quidem contendere erat, sed cedere visum
turpius; electae iurant per ﬂumina nymphae 316
factaque de vivo pressere sedilia saxo.
tunc sine sorte prior quae se certare professa est,
bella canit superum falsoque in honore gigantas
ponit et extenuat magnorum facta deorum; 320
emissumque ima de sede Typhoea terrae
caelitibus fecisse metum cunctosque dedisse
terga fugae, donec fessos Aegyptia tellus
ceperit et septem discretus in ostia Nilus.
hue quoque terrigenam venisse Typhoea narrat 325
et se mentitis superos celasse ﬁguris;
‘ duxque gregis ’ dixit ‘ ﬁt Iuppiter: unde recurvis
nunc quoque formatus Libys est cum cornibus Ammon ;
Delius in corvo, proles Semeleia capro,
fele soror Phoebi, nivea Saturnia vacca, 330
pisce Venus latuit, Cyllenius ibidis alis.’
“ Hactenus ad citharam vocalia moverat ora:
poscimur Aonides,—sed forsitan otia non sint,
nec nostris praebere vacet tibi cantibus aures.”
“ ne dubita vestrumque mihi refer ordine carmen! ”
Pallas ait nemorisque levi consedit in umbra; 336
Musa refert: “ dedimus summam certaminis uni;
surgit et inmissos hedera collecta capillos
Calliope querulas praetemptat pollice chordas
26o
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
of song. Come, strive with us, ye Thespian god-
desses, if you dare. Neither in voice nor in skill
can we be conquered, and our numbers are the same.
If you are conquered, yield us Medusa’s spring and
Boeotian Aganippe; or we will yield to you the
Emathian plains even to snow-clad Paeonia; and let
the nymphs be judges of our strife.’
“ It was a shame to strive with them, but it seemed
greater shame to yield. So the nymphs were chosen
judges and took oath by their streams, and they set
them down upon benches of living rock. Then with—
out drawing lots she who had proposed the contest
ﬁrst began. She sang of the battle of the gods and
giants, ascribing undeserved honour to the giants,
and belittling the deeds of the mighty gods: how
Typhoeus, sprung from the lowest depths of earth,
inspired the heavenly gods with fear, and how they
all turned their backs and ﬂed, until, weary, they
found refuge in the land of Egypt and the seven—
mouthed Nile. How even there Typhoeus, son of
earth, pursued them, and the gods hid themselves in
lying shapes: ‘ Jove thus became a ram,’ said she,
’ the lord of ﬂocks, whence Libyan Ammon even to
this day is represented with curving horns; Apollo
hid in a crow’s shape, Bacchus in a goat; the sister
of Phoebus, in a cat, Juno in a snow-white cow,
Venus in a ﬁsh, Mercury in an ibis bird.’
“ So far had she sung, tuning voice to harp; we,
the Aonian sisters, were challenged to reply—but
perhaps you have not leisure, and care not to listen to
our song?” “ Nay, have no doubt,” Pallas exclaimed,
“ but sing now your song in due order.” And she
took her seat in the pleasant shade of the forest. The
muse replied : “ We gave the conduct of our strife to
one, Calliope; who rose and, with her ﬂowing tresses
)
261
OVID
atque haec percussis subiungit carmina nervis: 340
‘ Prima Ceres unco glaebam dimovit aratro,
prima dedit fruges alimentaque mitia terris,
prima dedit leges; Cereris sunt omnia munus;
illa canenda mihi est. utinam modo dicere possim
carmina digna dea! certe dea carmine digna est. 345
“ ‘ V asta giganteis ingesta est insula membris
Trinacris et magnis subiectum molibus urguet
aetherias ausum sperare Typhoea sedes.
nititur ille quidem pugnatque resurgere saepe,
dextra sed Ausonio manus est subiecta Peloro, 350
laeva, Pach'yne, tibi, Lilybaeo crura premuntur,
degravat Aetna caput, sub qua resupinus harenas
eiectat ﬂammamque fero vomit ore Typhoeus.
saepe remoliri luctatur pondera terrae
oppidaque et magnos devolvere corpore montes : 355
inde tremit tellus, et rex pavet ipse silentum,
ne pateat latoque solum retegatur hiatu
inmissusque dies trepidantes terreat umbras.
hanc metuens cladem tenebrosa sede tyrannus
exierat curruque atrorum vectus equorum 360
ambibat Siculae cautus fundaminaterrae.
postquam exploratum satis est loca nulla labare
depositique metus, videt hunc Erycina vagantem
monte suo residens natumque amplexa volucrem
“ arma manusque meae, mea, nate, potentia ” dixit,
“ illa, quibus superas omnes, cape tela, Cupido, 366
262
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
bound in an ivy wreath, tried the plaintive chords
with her thumb, and then, with sweeping chords, she
sang this song: ‘ Ceres was the ﬁrst to turn the glebe
with the hooked plowshare; she ﬁrst gave corn and
kindly sustenance to the world; she ﬁrst gave laws.
All things are the gift of Ceres; she must be the
subject of my song. Would that I could worthily sing
of her; surely the goddess is worthy of my song,
“ ‘ The huge island of Sicily had been heaped upon
the body of the giant, and with its vast weight was
resting on Typhoeus, who had dared to aspire to the
_ heights of heaven. He struggles indeed, and strives
often to rise again; but his right hand is held down
by Ausonian Pelorus and his left by you, Pachynus.
Lilybaeum rests on his legs, and Aetna’s weight is on
his head. Flung on his back beneath this mountain,
the ﬁerce Typhoeus spouts forth ashes and vomits
ﬂames from his mouth. Often he puts forth all his
strength to push off the weight of earth and to roll the
cities and great mountains from his body: then the
earth quakes, and even the king of the silent land is
afraid lest the crust of the earth split open in wide
seams and lest the light of day be let in and affright
the trembling shades. Fearing this disaster, the king
of the lower world had left his gloomy realm and,
drawn in his chariot with its sable steeds, was tra-
versing the land of Sicily, carefully examining its
foundations. After he had examined all to his
satisfaction, and found that no points were giving
way, he put aside his fears. Then Venus Erycina saw
him wandering to and fro, as she was seated on her
sacred mountain, and embracing her winged son,
she exclaimed: “ O son, both arms and hands to
me, and source of all my power, take now those
shafts, Cupid, with which you conquer all, and shoot
26;;
()V ID
inque dei pectus celeres molire sagittas,
cui triplicis cessis fortuna novissima regni.
tu superos ipsumque Iovem, tu numina ponti
victa domas ipsumque, regit qui numina ponti: 370
Tartara quid cessant? cur non matrisque tuumque
imperium profers? agitur pars tertia mundi,
et tamen in caelo, quae iam patientia nostra est,
spernimur, ac mecum vires minuuntur Amoris.
Pallada nonne vides iaculatricemque Dianam 375
abscessisse mihi? Cereris quoque ﬁlia Virgo,
si patiemur, erit; nam spes adfectat easdem.
at tu pro socio, si qua est ea gratia, regno
iunge deam patruo.” dixit Venus; ille pharetram
solvit et arbitrio matris de mille sagittis 380
unam seposuit, sed qua nec acutior ulla
nec minus incerta est nec quae magis audiat arcus,
oppositoque genu curvavit ﬂexile cornum
inque cor hamata percussit harundine Ditem.
“ ‘ Haud procul Hennaeis lacus est a moenibus latae,
nomine Pergus, aquae: non illo plura Caystros 386
carmina cycnorum labentibus audit in undis.
silva coronat aquas cingens latus omne suisque
frondibus ut velo Phoebeos submovet ictus;
frigora dant rami, tyrios humus umida ﬂores: 390
perpetuum ver est. quo dum Proserpina luco
ludit et aut Violas aut candida lilia carpit,
dumque puellari studio calathosque sinumque
inplet et aequales certat superare legendo,
paene simul visa est dilectaque raptaque Diti: 395
usque adeo est properatus amor. dea territa maesto
264
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
your swift arrows into the heart of that god to whom
the ﬁnal lot of the triple kingdom fell. You rule the
gods, and Jove himself; you conquer and control the
deities of the sea, and the very king that rules
the deities of the sea. Why does Tartarus hold back?
Why do you not extend your mother’s empire and
your own? The third part of the world is at stake.
And yet in heaven, such is our long—suffering, we are
despised, and with my own, the power of love is
weakening. Do you not see that Pallas and huntress
Diana have revolted against me? And Ceres’
daughter, too, will remain a virgin if we suffer it;
for she aspires to be like them. But do you, in
behalf of our joint sovereignty, if you take any pride
in that, join the goddess to her uncle in the bonds of
love.” So Venus spoke. The god of love loosed his
quiver at his mother’s bidding and selected from his
thousand arrows one, the sharpest and the surest and
the most obedient to the bow. Then he bent the
pliant bow across his knee and with his barbed arrow
smote Dis through the heart.
“ ‘ Not far from Henna’s walls there is a deep pool
of water, Pergus by name. Not Cayster on its gliding
waters hears more songs of swans than does this pool.
A wood crowns the heights around its waters on every
side, and with its foliage as with an awning keeps oﬂ
the sun’s hot rays. The branches afford a pleasing
coolness, and the well—watered ground bears bright—
coloured ﬂowers. There spring is everlasting. Within
this grove Proserpina was playing, and gathering
violets or white lilies. And while with girlish eager-
ness she was ﬁlling her basket and her bosom, and
striving to surpass her mates in gathering, almost in
one act did Pluto see and love and carry her away:
so precipitate was his love. The terriﬁed girl called
265
OVID
et matrem et comites, sed matrem saepius, ore
clamat, et ut summa vestem laniarat ab ora,
collecti ﬁores tunicis cecidere remissis,
tantaque simplicitas puerilibus adfuit annis, 400
haec quoque virgineum movit iactura dolorem.
raptor agit currus et nomine quemque vocando
exhortatur equos, quorum per colla iubasque
excutit obscura tinctas ferrugine habenas,
perque lacus altos et olentia sulphure fertur 405
stagna Palicorum rupta ferventia terra
et qua Bacchiadae, bimari gens orta Corintho,
inter inaequales posuerunt moenia portus.
“ ‘ Est medium Cyanes et Pisaeac Arethusae,
quod coit angustis inclusum cornibus aequor: 410
hic fuit, a cuius stagnum quoque nomine dictum
est,
inter Sicelidas Cyane celeberrima nymphas.
gurgite quae medio summa tenus exstitit alvo
adgnovitque deam “ nec longius ibitis! ” inquit;
“ non potes invitae Cereris gener esse: roganda, 415
non rapienda fuit. quodsi conponere magnis
parva mihi fas est, et me dilexit Anapis;
exorata tamen, nec, ut haec, exterrita nupsi.”
dixit et in partes diversas bracchia tendens
obstitit. haud ultra tenuit Saturnius iram 420
terribilesque hortatus equos in gurgitis ima
contortum valido sceptrum regale lacerto
condidit; icta viam tellus in Tartara fecit
et pronos currus medio cratere recepit.
266
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
plaintively on her mother and her companions, but
more often upon her mother. And since she had
torn her garment at its upper edge, the ﬂowers
which she had gathered fell out of her loosened
tunic; and such was the innocence of her girlish
years, the loss of her ﬂowers even at such a time
aroused new grief. Her captor sped his chariot and
urged on his horses, calling each by name, and
shaking the dark—dyed reins on their necks and
manes. Through deep lakes he galloped, through
the pools of the Palici, reeking with sulphur and
boiling up from a crevice of the earth, and where
the Bacchiadae, a race sprung from Corinth between
two seas, had built a city between two harbours of
unequal size.
“ ‘ There is between Cyane and Pisaean Arethusa a
bay of the sea, its waters conﬁned by narrowing
points of land. Here was Cyane, the most famous
of the Sicilian nymphs, from whose name the pool
itself was called. She stood forth from the midst of
her pool as far as her waist, and recognizing the
goddess cried to Dis: “ No further shall you go!
Thou canst not be the son-in—law of Ceres against
her will. The maiden should have been wooed, not
ravished. But, if it is proper for me to compare small
things with great, I also have been wooed, by
Anapis, and I wedded him, too, yielding to prayer,
however, not to fear, like this maiden.” She spoke
and, stretching her arms on either side, blocked his
way. No longer could the son of Saturn hold his
wrath, and urging on his terrible steeds, he whirled
his royal Sceptre with strong right arm and smote
the pool to its bottom. The smitten earth opened
up a road to Tartarus and received the down-plunging
chariot in her cavernous depths.
267
OVID
“ ‘ At Cyane, raptamque deam contemptaque fontis
iura sui maerens, inconsolabile vulnus 426
mente gerit tacita lacrimisque absumitur omnis
et, quarum fuerat magnum modo numen, in illas
extenuatur aquas: molliri membra videres,
ossa pati ﬂexus, ungues posuisse rigorem; 430
primaque de tota tenuissima quaeque liquescunt,
caerulei crines digitique et crura pedesque;
nam brevis in gelidas membris exilibus undas
transitus est; post haec umeri tergusque latusque
pectoraque in tenues abeunt evanida rivos ; 435
denique pro vivo vitiatas sanguine venas
lympha subit, restatque nihil, quod prendere posses.
“ ‘Interea pavidae nequiquam ﬁlia matri
omnibus est terris, omni quaesita profundo.
illam non udis veniens Aurora capillis 440
cessantem vidit, non Hesperus; illa duabus
ﬂammiferas pinus manibus succendit ab Aetna
perque pruinosas tulit inrequieta tenebras;
rursus ubi alma dies hebetarat sidera, natam
solis ab occasu solis quaerebat ad ortus. 445
fessa labore sitim conlegerat, oraque nulli
conluerant fontes, cum tectam stramine vidit
forte casam parvasque fores pulsavit; at inde
prodit anus divamque videt lymphamque roganti
dulce dedit, tosta quod texerat ante polenta. 450
dum bibit illa datum, duri puer oris et audax
constitit ante deam risitque avidamque vocavit.
offensa est neque adhuc epota parte loquentem
cum liquido mixta perfudit diva polenta:
conbibit os maculas et, quae modo bracchia gessit,
crura gerit; cauda est mutatis addita membris, 456
inque brevem formam, ne sit vis magna nocendi,
268
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
“ ‘ But Cyane, grieving for the rape of the goddess
and for her fountain’s rights thus set at naught, nursed
an incurable wound in her silent heart, and dissolved
all away in tears; and into those very waters was she
melted whose great divinity she had been but now.
You might see her limbs softening, her bones becom—
ing ﬂexible, her nails losing their hardness. And ﬁrst
of all melt the slenderest parts: her dark hair, her
ﬁngers, legs and feet; for it is no great change from
slender limbs to cool water. Next after these, her
shoulders, back and sides and breasts vanish into thin
watery streams. And ﬁnally, in place of living blood,
clear water ﬂows through her weakened veins and
nothing is left that you can touch.
“ ‘ Meanwhile all in vain the affrighted mother
seeks her daughter in every land, on every deep. Not
Aurora, rising with dewy tresses, not Hesperus sees
her pausing in the search. She kindles two pine
torches in the ﬁres of Aetna, and wanders without
rest through the frosty shades of night; again, when
the genial day had dimmed the stars, she was still
seeking her daughter from the setting to the rising
of the sun. Faint with toil and athirst, she had
moistened her lips in no fountain, when she chanced
to see a hut thatched with straw, and knocked at
its lowly door. Then out came an old woman and
beheld the goddess, and when she asked for water
gave her a sweet drink with parched barley ﬂoating
upon it. While she drank, a coarse, saucy boy stood
watching her, and mocked her and called her greedy.
She was offended, and threw what she had not yet
drunk, with the barley grains, full in his face Straight-
way his face was spotted, his arms were changed to
legs, and a tail was added to his transformed limbs;
he shrank to tiny size, that he might have no great
269
OVID
contrahitur, parvaque minor mensura lacerta est.
mirantem ﬂentemque et tangere monstra parantem
fugit anum latebramque petit aptumque pudori 460
nomen habet variis stellatus corpora guttis.
“ ‘ Quas dea per terras et quas erraverit undas,
dicere longa mora est; quaerenti defuit orbis;
Sicaniam repetit, dumque omnia lustrat eundo,
venit et ad Cyanen. ea ni mutata fuisset, 465
omnia narrasset; sed et os et lingua volenti
dicere non aderant, nec, quo loqueretur, habebat;
signa tamen manifesta dedit notamque parenti,
illo forte loco delapsam in gurgite sacro
Persephones zonam summis ostendit in undis. 470
quam simul agnovit, tamquam tum denique raptam
scisset, inornatos laniavit diva capillos
et repetita suis percussit pectora palmis.
nescit adhuc, ubi sit; terras tamen increpat omnes
ingratasque vocat nec frugum munere dignas, 47 5
Trinacriam ante alias, in qua vestigia damni
repperit. ergo illic saeva vertentia glaebas
fregit aratra manu parilique irata colonos
ruricolasque boves leto dedit arvaque iussit
fallere depositum vitiataque semina fecit. 480
fertilitas terrae latum vulgata per orbem
falsa iacet: primis segetes moriuntur in herbis,
et modo sol nimius, nimius modo corripit imber;
sideraque ventique nocent, avidaeque volucres
27o
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
power to harm, and became in form a lizard, though
yet smaller in size. The old woman wondered and
wept, and reached out to touch the marvellous thing,
but he ﬂed from her and sought a hiding-place. He
has a name 1 suited to his offence, since his body is
starred with bright-coloured spots.
“ ‘ Over what lands and what seas the goddess
wandered it would take long to tell. When there
was no more a place to search in, she came back to
Sicily, and in the course of her wanderings here she
came to Cyane. If the nymph had not been changed
to water, she would have told her all. But, though
she wished to tell, she had neither lips nor tongue,
nor aught wherewith to speak. But still she gave
clear evidence, and showed on. the surface of her pool
what the mother knew well, Persephone’s girdle,
which had chanced to fall upon the sacred waters.
As soon as she knew this, just as if she had then for
the ﬁrst time learned that her daughter had been
stolen, the goddess tore her unkempt locks and
smote her breast again and again with her hands.
She did not know as yet where her child was; still
she reproached all lands, calling them ungrateful and
unworthy of the gift of corn; but Sicily above all
other lands, where she had found traces of her loss.
So there with angry hand she broke in pieces the
plows that turn the glebe, and in her rage she gave
to destruction farmers and cattle alike, and bade the
plowed ﬁelds to betray their trust, and blighted the
seed. The fertility of this land, famous throughout
the world, lay false to its good name : the crops died
in early blade, now too much heat, now too much
rain destroying them. Stars and winds were baleful,
and greedy birds ate up the seed as soon as it was
1 i.e. slellio, a lizard or newt.
271
OVID
semina iacta legunt; lolium tribulique fatigant
triticeas messes et inexpugnabile gramen.
“ ‘ Tum caput Eleis Alpheias extulit undis
rorantesque comas a fronte removit ad aures
atque ait “ o toto quaesitae virginis orbe
et frugum genetrix, inmensos siste labores
neve tibi ﬁdae violenta irascere terrae.
terra nihil meruit patuitque invita rapinae,
nec sum pro patria supplex : huc hospita veni.
Pisa mihi patria est et ab Elide ducimus ortus,
Sicaniam peregrina colo, sed gratior omni
485
490
495
haec mihi terra solo est: hos nunc Arethusa penates,
hanc habeo sedem. quam tu, mitissima, serva.
mota loco cur sim tantique per aequoris undas
advehar Ortygiam, veniet narratibus hora
tempestiva meis, cum tu curaque levata
et vultus melioris eris. mihi pervia tellus
praebet iter, subterque imas ablata cavernas
hic caput attollo desuetaque sidera cerno.
ergo dum Stygio sub terris gurgite labor,
visa tua est oculis illic Proserpina nostris:
illa quidem tristis neque adhuc interrita vultu,
sed regina tamen, sed opaci maxima mundi,
sed tamen inferni pollens matrona tyranni! ”
Mater ad auditas stupuit ceu saxea voces
attonitaeque diu similis fuit, utque dolore
pulsa gravi gravis est amentia, curribus oras
exit in aetherias : ibi toto nubila vultu
ante Iovem passis stetit invidiosa capillis
500
505
510
272
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
sown; tares and thorns and stubborn grasses choked
the wheat.
“ ‘ Then did Arethusa, Alpheus’ daughter, lift her
head from her Elean pool and, brushing her dripping
looks back from her brows, thus addressed the goddess :
“ O thou mother of the maiden sought through all the
earth, thou mother of fruits, cease now thy boundless
toils and do not be so grievously Wroth with the land
which has been true to thee. The land is innocent;
against its will it opened to the robbery. It is not
for my own country that I pray, for I came a stranger
hither. Pisa is my native land, and from Elis have I
sprung; I dwell in Sicily a foreigner. But I love this
country more than all; this is now my home, here
is my dwelling-place. And now, I pray thee, save
it, O most merciful. Why I moved from my place
and why I came to Sicily, through such wastes of sea,
a ﬁtting time will come to tell thee, when thou shalt
be free from care and of a more cheerful countenance.
The solid earth opened a way before me, and passing
through the lowest depths, I here lifted my head
again and beheld the stars that had grown unfamiliar.
Therefore, while I was gliding beneath the earth in my
Stygian stream, I saw Proserpina there with'these
very eyes. She seemed sad indeed, and her face was
still perturbed with fear; but yet she was a queen,
the great queen of that world of darkness, the mighty
consort of the tyrant of the underworld.” The mother
upon hearing these words stood as if turned to stone,
and was for a long time like one bereft of reason. But
when her overwhelming frenzy had given way to over-
whelming pain, she set forth in her chariot to the realms
of heaven. There, with clouded countenance, with
dishevelled hair, and full of indignation, she appeared
before Jove and said: “ I have come, O Jupiter, as
VOL. I. K
273
‘OVID
id pro ” que u meo veni supplex tibia Iuppiter,” inquit
u sanguine proque tuoz si nulla est gratia matrisa 515
nata patrem moveata neu sit tibi curaa precamura
vilior illius, quod nostro est edita partu.
en quaesita diu tandem mihi nata reperta est,
si reperire vocas amittere certius, aut si
scire, ubi sit,reperire vocas. quod rapta,feremus, 520
dummodo reddat earn! neque enim praedone marito
ﬁlia. digna tua est, si iam mea filia non est.”
Iuppiter excepit “ commune est pignus onusque
nata mihi tecum; sed si modo nomina rebus
addere vera placeta non hoc iniuria factuma 525
verum amor est; neque erit nobis gener ille pudori,
tu modo, diva, velis. ut desint ceteraa quantum est
esse Iovis fratrem! quid, quod nec cetera desunt
nec cedit nisi sorte mihi P-sed tanta cupido
si tibi discidii est, repetet Proserpina caeluma 530
lege tamen certaa si nullos contigit illic
ore cibos; nam sic Parcarum foedere cautum est.”
u ‘ Dixerat, at Cereri certum est educere natamg
non ita fata sinunt, quoniam ieiunia virgo
solverat et, cultis dum simplex errat in hortiss 535
poeniceum curva decerpserat arbore pomum
sumptaque pallenti septem de cortice grana
presserat ore suo, solusque ex omnibus illud
Ascalaphus vidita quem quondam dicitur Orphne,
inter Avernales haud ignotissima nymphas, sero
ex Acheronte suo silvis peperisse sub atrisg
vidit et indicio reditum crudelis ademit.
m
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
suppliant in behalf of my child and your own. If you
have no regard for the mother, at least let the daughter
touch her father’s heart. And let not your care
for her be less because I am her mother. See, my
daughter, sought so long, has at last been found, if
you call it ﬁnding more certainly to lose her, or if you
call it ﬁnding merely to know where she is. That
she has been stolen, I will bear, if only he will bring
her back; for your daughter does not deserve to have
a robber for a husband—if now she is not mine.”
And Jove replied: “ She is, indeed, our daughter,
yours and mine, our common pledge and care. But
if only we are willing to give right names to things,
this is no harm that has been done, but only love.
Nor will he shame us for a son—in-law—do you but
consent, goddess. Though all else be lacking, how
great a thing it is to be J ove’s brother! But what
that other things are not lacking, and that he does not
yield place to me—save only by the lot? But if you
so greatly desire to separate them, Proserpina shall
return to heaven, but on one condition only: if in
the lower-world no food has as yet touched her lips.
For so have the fates decreed.”
“ ‘ He spoke; but Ceres was resolved to have her
daughter back. Not so the fates; for the girl had
already broken her fast, and while, simple child that
she was, she wandered in the trim gardens, she had
plucked a purple pomegranate hanging from a bend?
ing bough, and peeling off the yellowish rind, she
had eaten seven of the seeds. The only one who
saw the act was Ascalaphus, whom Orphne, not the
least famous of the Avernal nymphs, is said to have
borne to her own Acheron within the dark groves of
the lower-world. The boy saw, and by his cruel
tattling thwarted the girl’s return to earth. Then
275
OVID
ingemuit regina Erebi testemque profanam
fecit avem sparsumque caput Phlegethontide lympha
in rostrum et plumas et grandia lumina vertit. 545
ille sibi ablatus fulvis amicitur in alis
inque caput crescit longosque reﬂectitur ungues
vixque movet natas per inertia bracchia pennas
foedaque ﬁt volucris, venturi nuntia luctus,
ignavus bubo, dirum mortalibus omen. 550
“ ‘ Hic tamen indicio poenam linguaque videri
commeruisse potest; vobis, Acheloides, unde
pluma pedesque avium, cum virginis ora geratis?
an quia, cum legeret vernos Proserpina ﬂores,
in comitum numero, doctae Sirenes, eratis? 555
quam postquam toto frustra quaesistis in orbe,
protinus, et vestram sentirent aequora curam,
posse super ﬂuctus alarum insistere remis
optastis facilesque deos habuistis et artus
vidistis vestros subitis ﬂavescere pennis. 560
ne tamen ille canor mulcendas natus ad aures
tantaque dos oris linguae deperderet usum,
virginei vultus et vox humana remansit.
“ ‘ At medius fratrisque sui maestaeque sororis
Iuppiter ex aequo volventem dividit annum: 565
nunc dea, regnorum numen commune duorum,
cum matre est totidem, totidem cum coniuge
menses.
vertitur extemplo facies et mentis et oris;
nam modo quae poterat Diti quoque maesta videri,
laeta deae frons est, ut sol, qui tectus aquosis 570
nubibus ante fuit, victis e nubibus exit.
276
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
was the queen of Erebus enraged, and changed the
informer into an ill-omened bird; throwing in his
face a handful of water from the Phlegethon, she
‘ave him a beak and feathers and big eyes. Robbed
of himself, he is now clothed in yellow wings; he
grows into a head and long, hooked claws; but he
scarce moves the feathers that sprout all over his
sluggish arms. He has become a loathsome bird,
prophet of woe, the slothful screech-owl, a bird of
evil omen to men.
“ ‘ He indeed can seem to have merited his punish-
ment because of his tattling tongue. But, daughters
of Acheloiis, why have you the feathers and feet of
birds, though you still have maidens’ features? Is
it because, when Proserpina was gathering the spring
ﬂowers, you were among the number of her com—
panions, ye Sirens, skilled in song? After you had
sought in vain for her through all the lands, that the
sea also might know your search, you prayed that
you might ﬂoat on beating wings above the waves:
you found the gods ready, and suddenly you saw
your limbs covered with golden plumage. But, that
you might not lose your tuneful voices, so soothing
to the ear, and that rich dower of song, maiden
features and human voice remained.
“ ‘ But now Jove, holding the balance between his
brother and his grieving sister, divides the revolving
year into two equal parts. Now the goddess, the
common divinity of two realms, spends half the
months with her mother and with her husband, half.
Straightway the bearing of her heart and face is
changed. For she who but lately even to Dis seemed
sad, now wears a joyful countenance; like the sun
which, long concealed behind dark and misty clouds,
disperses the clouds and reveals his face.
277
OVID
“ ‘ Exigit alma Ceres nata secura recepta,
quae tibi causa fugae, cur sis, Arethusa, sacer fons.
conticuere undae quarum dea sustulit alto
fonte caput viridesque manu siccata capillos 575
ﬂuminis Elei veteres narravit amores.
“ pars ego nympharum, quae sunt in Achaide,” dixit
“ una fui, nec me studiosius altera saltus
legit nee posuit studiosius altera casses.
sed quamvis formae numquam mihi fama petite. est,
quamvis fortis eram, formosae nomen habebam, 581
nec mea me facies nimium laudata iuvabat,
quaque aliae gaudere solent, ego rustica dote
corporis erubui crimenque placere putavi.
lassa revertebar (memini) Stymphalide silva; 585
aestus erat, magnumque labor geminaverat aestum:
invenio sine vertice aquas, sine murmure euntes,
perspicuas ad humum, per quas numerabilis alte
calculus omnis erat, quas tu vix ire putares.
cana salicta dabant nutritaque populus unda 590
sponte sua natas ripis declivibus umbras.
accessi primumque pedis vestigia tinxi,
poplite deinde tenus; neque e0 contenta, recingor
molliaque inpono salici velamina curvae
nudaque mergor aquis. quas dum ferioque trahoque
mille modis labens excussaque bracchia iacto, 596
nescio quod medio sensi sub gurgite murmur
territaque insisto propioris margine ripae.
‘ quo properas, Arethusa? ’ suis Alpheus ab undis,
‘ quo properas? ’ iterum rauco mihi dixerat ore. 600
278
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
“ ‘ Now kindly Ceres, happy in the recovery of her
daughter, asks of you, Arethusa, why you ﬂed, why
you are now a sacred spring. The waters fall silent
while their goddess lifts her head from her deep
spring, and dries her green locks with her hands,
and tells the old story of the Elean river's love. “ I
used to be one of the nymphs,” she says, “ who
have their dwelling in Achaia, and no other was
more eager in scouring the glades, or in setting the
hunting-nets. But although I never sought the fame
of beauty, although I was brave, I had the name of
beautiful. Nor did my beauty, all too often praised,
give me any joy; and my dower of charming form,
in which other maids rejoice», made me blush like a
country girl, and I deemed it wrong to please.
Wearied with the chase, I was returning, I remem—
ber, from the Stymphalian wood ; the heat was great
and my toil had made it double. I came upon a
stream ﬂowing without eddy, and without sound,
crystal-clear to the bottom, in whose depths you
might count every pebble, waters which you would
scarcely think to be moving. Silvery willows and
poplars fed by the water gave natural shade to the
soft-sloping banks. I came to the water’s edge and
ﬁrst dipped my feet, then in I went up to the knees :
not satisﬁed with this, I removed my robes, and
hanging the soft garments on a drooping willow,
naked I plunged into the waters. And while I beat
them, drawing them and gliding in a thousand turns
and tossing my arms, I though I heard a kind of
murmur deep in the pool. In terror I leaped on the
nearer bank. Then Alpheus called from his waters:
‘ Whither in haste, Arethusa? Whither in such
haste? ’ Twice in his hoarse voice he called to me.
As I was, without my robes, I ﬂed; for my robes were
279
OVI D
sicut eram fugio sine vestibus (altera vestes
ripa meas habuit): tanto magis instat et ardet,
et quia nuda fui, sum visa paratior illi.
sic ego currebam, sic me ferus ille premebat,
ut fugere accipitrem penna trepidante columbae, 605
ut solet accipiter trepidas urguere columbas.
usque sub Orchomenon Psophidaque Cyllenenque
Maenaliosque sinus gelidumque Erymanthon et Elim
currere sustinui, nec me velocior ille;
sed tolerare diu cursus ego viribus inpar 610
non poteram, longi patiens erat ille laboris.
per tamen et campos, per opertos arbore montes,
saxa quoque et rupes et, qua via nulla, cucurri.
sol erat a tergo: vidi praecedere longam
ante pedes umbram, nisi si timor illa videbat; 615
sed certe sonitusque pedum terrebat et ingens
crinales vittas adﬁabat anhelitus oris.
fessa labore fugae ‘ fer opem, deprendimur,’ inquam
‘ armigerae, Dictynna,1 tuae, cui saepe dedisti
ferre tuos arcus inclusaque tela pharetra! ’ 620
mota dea est spissisque ferens e nubibus unam
me super iniecit: lustrat caligine tectam
amnis et ignarus circum cava nubila quaerit
bisque locum, quo me dea texerat, inscius ambit
et bis ‘ io Arethusa ’ vocavit, ‘ io Arethusa! ’ 625
quid mihi tunc animi miserae fuit.P anne quod agnae
est,
si qua lupos audit circum stabula alta frementes,
aut lepori, qui vepre latens hostilia cernit
ora canum nullosque audet dare corpore motus?
non tamen abscedit; neque enim vestigia cernit 630
longius ulla pedum: servat nubernque locumque.
occupat obsessos sudor mihi frigidus artus,
caeruleaeque cadunt toto de corpore guttae,
1 Dictynna Heinsius: Diana M85‘.
280
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
on the other bank. So much the more he pressed on
and burned with love; naked I seemed readier for
his taking. So did I ﬂee and so did he hotly press
after me, as doves on ﬂuttering pinions ﬂee the hawk,
as the hawk pursues the frightened doves. Even past
Orchomenus,past Psophis and Cyllene, past the combs
of Maenalus, chill Erymanthus and Elis, I kept my
ﬂight; nor was he swifter of foot than I. But I,
being ill—matched in strength, could not long keep
up my speed, while he could sustain a long pursuit.
Yet through level plains, over mountains covered
with trees, over rocks also and cliffs, and where there
was no way at all, I ran. The sun was at my back.
I saw my pursuer’s long shadow stretching out ahead
of me—unless it was fear that saw it—but surely I
heard the terrifying sound of feet, and his deep—pant-
ing breath fanned my hair. Then, forspent with the
toil of ﬂight, I cried aloud: ‘O help me or I am
caught, help thy armour-bearer, goddess of the nets,
to whom so often thou hast given thy bow to bear
and thy quiver, with all its'arrows! ’ The goddess
heard, and threw an impenetrable cloud of mist about
me. The river-god circled around me,wrapped in the
darkness, and at fault quested about the hollow mist.
And twice he went round the place where the god-
dess had hidden me, unknowing, and twice he called,
‘ Arethusa! O Arethusa! ’ How did I feel then,
poor wretch! Was I not as the lamb, when it hears
the wolves howling around the fold? or the hare
which, hiding in the brambles, sees the dogs’ deadly
muzzles and dares not make the slightest motion?
But he went not far away, for he saw no traces of
my feet further on; he watched the cloud and the
place. Cold sweat poured down my beleaguered limbs
and the dark drops rained down from my whole body.
281
OVID
quaque pedem movi, manat lacus, e‘que capillis
ros cadit, et citius, quam nunc tibi facta renarro, 635
in latices mutor. sed enim cognoscit amatas
amnis aquas positoque viri, quod sumpserat, ore
vertitur in proprias, et se mihi misceat, undas.
Delia rupit humum, caecisque ego mersa cavernis
advehor Ortygiam, quae me cognomine divae 640
grata meae superas eduxit prima sub auras.”
“ ‘ Hac Arethusa tenus; geminos dea fertilis angues
curribus admovit frenisque coercuit ora '
et medium caeli terraeque per aera vecta est
atque levem currum Tritonida misit in urbem 645
Triptolemo partimque rudi data semina iussit
spargere humo, partim post tempora longa recultae.
iam super Europen sublimis et Asicla terram
vectus erat iuvenis: Scythicas advertitur oras.
rex ibi Lyncus erat; regis subit ille penates. 650
qua veniat, causamque viae nomcnque rogatus
et patriam, “ patria est clarae mihi ” dixit “ Athenae;
Triptolemus nomen; veni nec puppe per undas,
nec pede per terras: patuit mihi pervius aether.
dona fero Cereris, latos quae sparsa per agros 655
frugiferas messes alimentaque mitia reddant.”
barbarus invidit tantique ut muneris auctor
ipse sit, hospitio recipit somnoque gravatum
adgreditur ferro: conantem ﬁgere pectus
282 .
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
Wherever I ‘put my foot a pool trickled out, and'from
my hair fell the drops; and sooner than I can now
tell the tale I was changed to a stream of water.
But sure enough he recognized in the waters the
maid he loved; and laying aside the form of a man
which he had assumed, he changed back to his own
watery shape to mingle with me. My Delian goddess
cleft the earth, and I, plunging down into the
dark depths, was borne hither to Ortygia, which I
love because it bears my goddess’ name, and this ﬁrst
received me to the upper air.” '
“ ‘ With this, Arethusa’s tale was done. Then the
goddess of fertility yoked her two dragons to her car,
curbing their mouths with the bit, and rode away
through the air midway between heaven and earth,
until she came at last to Pallas’ city. Here she gave
her ﬂeet car to Triptolemus, and bade him scatter the
seeds of grain she gave, part in the untilled earth and
part in ﬁelds that had long lain fallow. And now
high over Europe and the land of Asia the youth held
his course and came to Scythia, where Lyncus ruled
as king. He entered the royal palace. The king
asked him how he came and why, what was his name
and country: he said: “ My country is far—famed
Athens; Triptolemus, my name. I came neither by
ship over the sea, nor on foot by land; the air opened
a path for me. I bring the gifts of Ceres, which,
if you sprinkle them over your wide ﬁelds, will
give a fruitful harvest and food not wild.” The
barbaric king heard with envy. And, that he’
himself might be the giver of so great a boon, he
received his guest with hospitality, and when he
was heavy with sleep, he attacked him with the
sword. Him, in the very act of piercing the stranger’s
breast, Ceres transformed into a lynx; and back
283
OVID
lynca Ceres fecit rursusque per aera iussit 660
Mopsopium iuvenem sacros agitare iugales.’
“ Finierat dictos e nobis maxima cantus;
at nymphae vicisse deas Helicona colentes
concordi dixere sono: convicia victae
cum iacerent, ‘ quoniam ’ dixi ‘ certamine vobis 665
supplicium meruisse parum est maledictaque culpae
additis et non est patientia libera nobis,
ibimus in poenas et, qua vocat ira, sequemur.’
rident Emathides spernuntque minacia verba,
conantesque loqui et magno clamore protervas 670
intentare manus pennas exire per ungues
adspexere suos, operiri bracchia plumis,
alteraque alterius rigido concrescere rostro
ora videt volucresque novas accedere silvis;
dumque volunt plangi, per bracchia mota levatae 675
aere pendebant, nemorum convicia, picae.
Nunc quoque in alitibus facundia prisca remansit
raucaque garrulitas studiumque inmane loquendi.”
284
METAMORPHOSES BOOK V
through the air she bade the Athenian drive her
sacred team.’
“ Our eldest sister here ended the song I have just
rehearsed; then the nymphs with one voice agreed
that the goddesses of Helicon had won. When the
conquered sisters retorted with reviling, I made
answer: ‘ Since it was not enough that you have
earned punishment by your challenge and you add
insults to your offence, and since our patience is not
without end, we shall proceed to punishment and
indulge our resentment.’ The Pierides mocked, and
scorned her threatening words. But as they tried to
speak, and with loud outcries brandished their hands
in saucy gestures, they saw feathers sprouting on their
ﬁngers, and plumage covering their arms; each saw
another’s face stiﬂ’ening into a hard beak, and new
forms of birds added to the woods. And while they
strove to beat their breasts, uplifted by their ﬂapping
arms, they hung in the air, magpies, the noisy scandal
of the woods. Even now in their feathered form
their old-time gift of speech remains, their hoarse
garrulity, their boundless passion for talk.”
285
BOOK VI
LIBER VI
PRAEBVERAT dictis Tritonia talibus aures
carminaque Aonidum iustamque probaverat iram;
tum secum: “ laudare parum est, laudemur et ipsae
numina nec sperni sine poena nostra sinamus.”
Maeoniaeque animum fatis intendit Arachnes, 5
quam sibi laniﬁcae non cedere laudibus artis
audierat. non illa loco nec origine gentis
clara, sed arte fuit: pater huic Colophonius Idmon
Phocaico bibulas tinguebat murice lanas ;
occiderat mater, sed et haec de plebe suoque 10
aequa viro fuerat; Lydas tamen illa per urbes
quaesierat studio nomen memorabile, quamvis
orta domo parva parvis habitabat Hypaepis.
huius ut adspicerent opus admirabile, saepe
deseruere sui nymphae vineta Timoli, 15
deseruere suas nymphae Pactolides undas.
nec factas solum vestes, spectare iuvabat
tum quoque, cum ﬁerent: tantus decor adfuit arti,
sive rudem primos lanam glomerabat in orbes,
seu digitis subigebat opus repetitaque longo 20
vellera mollibat nebulas aequantia tractu,
sive levi teretem versabat pollice fusum,
288
BOOK VI
TRITONIA had listened to this tale, and had approved
of the muses’ song and their just resentment. And
then to herself she said: “ To praise is not enough;
let me be praised myself and not allow my divinity
to be scouted without punishment.” So saying, she
turned her mind to the fate of Maeonian Arachne,
who she had heard would not yield to her the palm
in the art of spinning and weaving wool. Neither
for place of birth nor birth itself had the girl fame,
but only for her skill. Her father, Idmon of Colophon,
used to dye the absorbent wool for her with Phocaean
purple. Her mother was now dead; but she was
low-born herself, and had a husband of the same
degree. Nevertheless, the girl, Arachne, had gained
fame for her skill throughout the Lydian towns,
although she herself had sprung from a humble home
and dwelt in the hamlet of Hypaepa. Often,to watch
her wondrous skill, the nymphs would leave their
own vineyards on Timolus’ slopes, and the water-
nymphs of Pactolus would leave their waters. And
’twas a pleasure not alone to see her ﬁnished work,
but to watch her as she worked; so graceful and deft
was she. Whether she was winding the rough yarn
into a new ball, or shaping the stuff with her ﬁngers,
reaching back to the distaff for more wool, ﬂeecy as a
cloud, to draw into long soft threads, or giving a twist
with practised thumb to the graceful spindle, or
289
OVID
seu pingebat acu; scires a Pallade doctam.
quod tamen ipsa negat tantaque oil‘ensa magistra
I’,
cusem
certet ” ait “ mecum: nihil est, quod victa re-
25
Pallas anum simulat: falsosque in tempora canos
addit et inﬁrmos baculo quoque sustinet artus.
tum sic orsa loqui “ non omnia grandior aetas,
quae fugiamus, habet: seris venit usus ab annis.
consilium ne sperne meum: tibi fama petatur
inter mortales faciendae maxima lanae;
cede deae veniamque tuis, temeraria, dictis
supplice voce roga: veniam dabit illa roganti.”
adspicit hanc torbis inceptaque ﬁla relinquit
Yixque manus retinens confessaque vultibus iram
talibus obscuram resecuta est Pallada dictis:
“ mentis inops longaque venis confecta senecta,
et nimium vixisse diu nocet. audiat istas,
si qua tibi nurus est, si qua est tibi ﬁlia, voces;
consilii satis est in me mihi, neve monendo
profecisse putes, eadem est sententia nobis.
cur non ipsa venit? cur haec certamina vitat? ”
tum dea “ venit! ” ait formamque removit anilem
3O
35
4O
Palladaque exhibuit: venerantur numina nymphae
Myg'donidesque nurus; sola est non territa Virgo,
sed tamen exsiluit,1 subitusque invita notavit
ora rubor rursusque evanuit, ut solet aer
purpureus ﬁeri, cum primum Aurora movetur,
et breve post tempus candescere solis ab ortu.
1 Exsiluit Merkel: erubuit M88.
45
290
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
embroidering with her needle: you could know that
Pallas had taught her. Yet she denied it, and,
oﬂ’ended at the suggestion of a teacher ever so great,
she said: “ Let her but strive with me; and if I lose
there is nothing which I would not forfeit.”
Then Pallas assumed the form of an old woman,
put false locks of grey upon her head, took a staff in
her hand to sustain her tottering limbs, and thus she
began: “ Old age has some things at least that are
not to be despised; experience comes with riper
years. Do not scorn my advice: seek all the fame
you will among mortal men for handling wool; but
yield place to the goddess, and with humble prayer
beg her pardon for your words, reckless girl. She
will grant you pardon if you ask it.” But she re-
garded the old woman with sullen eyes, dropped the
threads she was working, and, scarce holding her
hand from violence, with open anger in her face she
answered the disguised Pallas: “ Doting in mind,
you come to me, and spent with old age; and it is
too long life that is your'bane. Go, talk to your
daughter-in-law, or to your daughter, if such you
have. I am quite able to advise myself. To show
you that you have done no good by your advice, we
are both of: the same opinion. Why does not your
goddess come herself? Why does she avoid a contest
with me? ” Then the goddess exclaimed: " She has
come ! ” and throwing aside her old woman’s disguise,
she revealed Pallas. The nymphs worshipped her
godhead, and the Mygdonian women; Arachne alone
remained unafraid, though she did start up and a
sudden ﬂush marked her unwilling cheeks and again
faded: as when the sky grows crimson when the
dawn ﬁrst appears, and after a little while when the
sun is up it pales again. Still she persists in her
29I
OVID
perstat in incepto stolidaeque cupidine palmae 50
in sua fata ruit; neque enim Iove nata recusat
nec monet ulterius nec iam certamina difl'ert.
haud mora, constituunt diversis partibus ambae
et gracili geminas intendunt stamine telas:
tela iugo vineta est, stamen secernit harundo, 55
inseritur medium radiis subtemen acutis,
quod digiti expediunt, atque inter stamina ductum
percusso feriunt insecti pectine dentes.
utraque festinant cinctaeque ad pectora vestes
bracchia docta movent, studio fallente laborem. 60
illic et Tyrium quae purpura sensit aenum
texitur et tenues parvi discriminis umbrae;
qualis ab imbre solent percussis solibus arcus
inﬁcere ingenti longum curvamine caelum;
in quo diversi niteant cum mille colores, 65
transitus ipse tamen spectantia lumina fallit:
usque adeo, quod tangit, idem est; tamen ultima
distant.
illic et lentum ﬁlis inmittitur aurum
et vetus in tela deducitur argumentum.
Cecropia Pallas scopulum Mavortis in arce 70
pingit et antiquam de terrae nomine litem.
bis sex caelestes medio Iove sedibus altis
augusta gravitate sedent; sua quemque deorum
inscribit facies: Iovis est regalis imago;
stare deum pelagi longoque ferire tridente 75
aspera saxa facit, medioque e vulnere saxi
exsiluisse fretum, quo pignore vindicet urbem;
at sibi dat clipeum, dat acutae cuspidis hastam,
292
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
challenge, and stupidly conﬁdent and eager for vic-
tory, she rushes on her fate. For Jove’s daughter
refuses not, nor again warns her or puts off the
contest any longer. They both set up the looms in
different places without delay and they stretch the
ﬁne warp upon them. The web is bound upon the
beam, the reed separates the threads of the warp,
the woof is threaded through them by the sharp
shuttles which their busy ﬁngers ply, and when shot
through the threads of the warp, the notched teeth
of the hammering slay beat it into place. They speed
on the work with their mantles close girt about their
breasts and move back and forth their well-trained
hands, their eager zeal beguiling their toil. There
are inwoven the purple threads dyed in Tyrian kettles,
and lighter colours insensibly shading off from these.
As when after a storm of rain the sun’s rays strike
through, and a rainbow, with its huge curve, stains
the wide sky, though a thousand different colours
shine in it, the eye cannot detect the change from
each one to the next; so like appear the adjacent
colours, but the extremes are plainly different.
There, too, they weave in pliant threads of gold, and
trace in the weft some ancient tale.
Pallas pictures the hills of Mars on the citadel of
Cecrops 1 and that old dispute over the naming of the
land. There sit twelve heavenly gods on lofty
thrones in awful majesty, Jove in their midst; each
god she pictures with his own familiar features;
Jove’s is a royal ﬁgure. There stands the god of
ocean, and with his long trident smites the rugged
cliff, and from the cleft rock sea—water leaps forth;
a token to claim the city for his own. To herself
1 Ovid here confuses the Acropolis with the Areopagus. See
Herod., VIII. 55; Apollodorus, III. 14, 1.
293
OVI D
dat galeam capiti, defenditur aegide pectus,
percussamque sua simulat de cuspide terram 8O
edere cum bacis fetum canentis olivae;
mirarique deos: operis Victoria ﬁnis.
ut tamen exemplis intellegat aemula laudis,
quod pretium speret pro tam furialibus ausis
quattuor in partes certamina quattuor addit, 85
clara colore suo, brevibus distincta sigillis:
Threiciam Rhodopen habet angulus unus ct Haemom,
nunc gelidos montes, mortalia corpora quondam,
nomina summorum sibi qui tribuere deorum;
altera Pygmaeae fatum miserabile matris 90
pars habet: hanc Iuno victam certamine iussit
esse gruem populisque suis indicere bellum;
pinxit et Antigonen, ausam contendere quondam
cum magni consorte Iovis, quam regia Iuno
in volucrem vertit, nec profuit Ilion illi 95
Laomedonve pater, sumptis quin candida pennis
ipsa sibi plaudat crepitante ciconia rostro;
qui superest solus, Cinyran habet angulus orbum;
isque gradus templi, natarum membra suarum,
amplectens saxoque iacens lacrimare videtur. 100
circuit extremas oleis pac'alibus oras, '
is modus est operisque sua facit arbore ﬁnem.
Maeonis elusam designat imagine tauri
Europam: verum taurum, freta vera putares; ,
ipsa videbatur terras spectare relictas 105
et comites clamare suas tactumque vereri
adsilientis aquae timidasque reducere plantas.
fecit et Asterien aquila luctante teneri,
294
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
the goddess gives a shield and a sharp—pointed spear,
and a helmet for her head; the aegis guards her
breast; and from the earth smitten by her spear’s
point upsprings a pale-green olive-tree hanging
thick with fruit; and the gods look on in wonder.
Victory crowns her work. Then, that her rival
may know by pictured warnings what reward she may
expect for her mad daring, she weaves in the four
corners of the web four scenes of contest, each clear
with its own colours, and in miniature design. One
corner shows Thracian Rhodope and Haemus, now
huge, bleak mountains, but once audacious mortals
who dared assume the names of the most high gods.
A second corner shows the wretched fate of the
Pygmaean queen, whom Juno conquered in a strife,
then changed into a crane, and bade her war upon
those whom once she ruled. Again she pictures
how Antigone once dared to set herself against the
consort of mighty Jove, and how Queen Juno changed
her into a bird; Ilium availed her nothing, nor
Laomedon, her father; nay, she is clothed in white
feathers, and claps her rattling bill, a stork. The
remaining corner shows Cinyras bereft of his
daughters; there, embracing the marble temple-
steps, once their limbs, he lies on the stone, and seems
to weep. The goddess then wove around her work a
border of peaceful olive—wreath. This was the end;
and so, with her own tree, her task was done.
Arachne pictures Europa cheated by the disguise
of the bull: a real bull and real waves you would
think them. The maid seems to be looking back
upon the land she has left, calling on her companions,
and, fearful of the touch of the leaping waves, to be
drawing back her timid feet. She wrought Asterie,
held by the struggling eagle; she wrought Leda,
295
OVID
fecit olorinis Ledam recubare sub alis;
addidit, ut satyri celatus imagine pulchram 110
Iuppiter inplerit gemino Nycteida fetu,
Amphitryon fuerit, cum te, Tirynthia, cepit,
aureus ut Danaen, Asopida luserit ignis,
Mnemosynen pastor, varius Deoida serpens.
te quoque mutatum torvo, Neptune, iuvenco 115
virgine in Aeolia posuit; tu visus Enipeus
gignis Aloidas, aries Bisaltida fallis,
et te ﬁava comas frugum mitissima mater
sensit equum, sensit volucrem crinita colubris
mater equi volucris, sensit delphina Melantho: 120
omnibus his faciemque suam faciemque locorum
reddidit. est illic agrestis imagine Phoebus,
utque modo accipitris pennas, modo terga leonis
gesserit, ut pastor Macareida luserit Issen,
Liber ut Erigonen falsa deceperit uva, 125
ut Saturnus equo geminum Chirona crearit.
ultima pars telae, tenui circumdata limbo,
nex‘ilibus ﬁores hederis habet intertextos.
Non illud Pallas, non illud carpere Livor
possit opus : doluit successu ﬂava Virago 130
et rupit pictas, caelestia crimina, vestes,
utque Cytoriaco radium de monte tenebat,
ter quater Idmoniae frontem percussit Arachnes.
non tul-it infelix laqueoque animosa ligavit
guttura: pendentem Pallas miserata levavit 135
atque ita “ vive quidem, pende tamen, inproba ” dixit,
“ lexque eadem poenae, ne sis secura futuri,
dicta tuo generi serisque nepotibus esto! ”
post ea discedens sucis Hecateidos herbae
296
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
beneath the swan’s wings. She added how,in a satyr’s
image hidden, Jove ﬁlled lovely Antiope with twin
offspring; how he was Amphitryon when he cheated
thee, Alcmena; how in a golden shower he tricked
Danae; Aegina, as a ﬂame; Mnemosyne, as a
shepherd; Deo’s daughter, as a spotted snake;
Thee also, Neptune, she pictured, changed to a grim
bull with the Aeolian maiden; now as Enipeus thou
dost beget the Aloidae, as a ram deceivedst Bisaltis.
The golden-haired mother of corn, most gentle,
knew thee as a horse; the snake-haired mother of
the winged horse knew thee as a winged bird;
Melantho knew thee as a dolphin. To all these
Arachne gave their own shapes and appropriate
surroundings. Here is Phoebus like a countryman;
and she shows how he wore now a hawk’s feathers,
now a lion’s skin; how as a shepherd he tricked
Macareus’ daughter, Isse; how Bacchus deceived
Erigone with the false bunch of grapes; how Saturn
in a horse’s shape begot the centaur, Chiron. The
edge of the web with its narrow border is ﬁlled with
ﬂowers and clinging ivy intertwined.
Not Pallas, nor Envy himself, could ﬁnd a ﬂaw in
that work. The golden-haired goddess was ‘ in-
dignant at her success, and rent the embroidered
web with its heavenly crimes; and, as she held a
shuttle of Cytorian boxwood, thrice and again she
struck Idmonian Arachne’s head. The wretched
girl could not endure it, and put a noose about her
bold neck. As she hung, Pallas lifted her in pity,
and said: “ Live on, indeed, wicked girl, but hang
thou still; and let this same doom of punishment
(that thou mayst fear for future times as well) be
declared upon thy race, even to remote posterity.”
So saying, as she turned to go she sprinkled her with
297
OVID
sparsit: et extemplo tristi medicamine tactae 14:0
deﬂuxere comae, cum quis et naris et aures,
ﬁtque caput minimum; toto quoque corpore parva est:
in latere exiles digiti pro cruribus haerent,
cetera venter habet, de quo tamen illa remittit
stamen et antiquas exercet aranea telas. 145
Lydia tota fremit, Phrygiaeque per oppida facti
rumor it et magnum sermonibus occupat orbem.
ante suos Niobe thalamos cognoverat illam,
tum cum Maeoniam Virgo Sipylumque colebat;
nec tamen admonita est poena popularis Arachnes, 150
cedere caelitibus lverbisaue miII/il‘oribns uti.
multa dabantwannirnzos; "se ileuiiimbnelgconiugis artes
nec genus amborumwmagnique potentia regni
sic placuere illi, quamvis ea cuncta placerent,
ut sua progenies; et felicissima matrum ‘ 155
dicta; foretfgliobe, si non sibi visa fuisset.
namlsfata Tiresia venturi praescia Manto
per medias fuerat divino concita motu
vaticinata vias: “ Ismenides, ite frequentes
et date Latonae Latonigenisque duobus 160
cum prece tura pia lauroque innectite crinem : '
ore meo Latona iubet.” paretur, et omnes
Thebaides iussis sua tempora frondibus ornant
turaque dant sanctis et verba precantia ﬂammis.
Ecc'e venit comitum Niobe celeberrima turba 165
vestibus intexto Phrygiis spectabilis auro
et, quantum ira sinit, formosa movensque decoro
cum capite inmissos umerum per utrumque capillos:
298
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
the juices of Hecate’s herb; and forthwith her hair,
touched by the poison, fell off, and with it both nose
and ears; and the head shrank up; her whole body
also was small; the slender ﬁngers clung to her side
as legs; the rest was belly. Still from this she ever
spins a thread; and now, as a spider, she exercises
her old-time weaver-art.
All Lydia is in a tumult; the story spreads
throughout the towns of Phrygia and ﬁlls the whole
world with talk. Now Niobe, before her marriage,
had known Arachne, when, as a girl, she dwelt in
Maeonia, near Mount Sipylus. And yet she did not
take warning by her countrywoman’s fate to give
place to the gods and speak them reverently. Many ,
things gave her but in truth neither her hus-
band's art nor. the high birth of both and their royal '
power and state so pleased her, although all those
did please, as her childrenwpdid,‘ And Niobe would ‘ ~ "
‘Na’...
have been callgd‘iiiost blessed of mothers, had she
not seemed so to herself. For Manto, daughter of
Tiresias, whose eywescould; see what was to come,
had fared thr’odh’gh the streets’vofThebes inspired by
divine impulse, and proclaiming to all she met:
“ Women of Thebes, go throng Latona’s temple, and 1
give to her and to her children twain incense and
pious prayer, wreathing your hair with laurel. By m
mouth Latona speaks.” They obey; all the Theban
women deck their temples with laurel wreaths and
- burn incense in the altar ﬂames, with words of prayer.
But 10! comes Niobe, thronged about with a _
numerous following, a notable ﬁgure in Phrygian
robes wrought with threads of gold, and beautiful
as far as anger suffered her to be; and she tosses
her shapely head with the hair falling on either
shoulder. She halts and, drawn up to her full
299
OVIDv
inmensae spectantur opesgiiacceditneodeum a
1 f1 g7‘ 5. If} t in‘ I '2”;
constitita utque oculos circumtulit alta superbos.
“ quis furor auditos ” inquit “ praeponere visis 170
eaelestes? aut cur colitur Latona per arasp
numen adhuc sine ture meum est? mihi Tantalus
auctora
cui licuit soli superorum tangere mensasg
Pleiadum soror est genetrix meas maximus Atlas
est avusp aetherium qui fert cervicibus axemg 175
Iuppiter alter avusg socero quoque glorior illo.
me gentes metuunt Phrygiae, me regia cadmi
sub domina est, ﬁdibusque mei commissa mariti
moenia cum populis a meque viroque reguntur.
in quamcumque domus adverti lumina partema 180
l
e .-. _ ‘ ig/wL/lx
"i"! ' "1="~“"“" u-II‘ lll/1 "LC! liuflltz .
digna dea faeles; hue natas akellee septem
et totidem iuvenes et mox generosque nurusquel
v ' l ’ by: t’ - i v
. in ‘,7:- T cr w aut xii-fub W’; ‘I a; Mai...’
quaerite nunca habeat quam nostra superbia eausam,
rit-tg ‘ i p
nescio quoque audete satam I‘ 1tan1da cgeo ,. 180
-\ rx L J "A I twk-rit
. . . fsihlxfdld a'." v ~ .
Patonam praeferre mihia cui maxima quondam
~ m v/ v ‘we’
exiguamsedem pariturae terra negavitl
nec caelo nec humo nec aquis dea vestra recepta est :
exsul erat mundip donec miserata vagantem
‘ hospita tu terris errasa ego ’ dixit ‘ in undis i 190
instabilemque locum Delos dedit. illa duorum
facta parens z uteri pars haec est septima nostri.
sum felix (quis enim neget hoe?) felixque manebo
(hoe quoque quis dubitet P) z tutam me copia feeit.
maior sum quam cui possit Portuna noeere, 195
multaque ut eripiat, multo mihi plura relinquet
300
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
hlsiiggyﬂlwrt,v casts her haughty eyes around and cries:
. “ ’What madness this, to prefer gods whom you have
only heard of to those whom you have seen? Or
why is Latona worshipped at these altars, while my
divinity still waits for incense?
I have Tantalus .
to my father, the only mortal ever allowed to touch ’1
the table of the gods; my mother is a sister of the ‘1
Pleiades; most mighty Atlas is one grandfather, .
who supports the vault of heaven on his shoulders;
my other grandsire is Jove himself, and I boast him
as my father-in-law as well. The Phrygian nations
hold me in reverent fear. I am queen of Cadmus’
royal house, and the walls of Thebes, erected by the ’
magic of my husband’s lyre, together with its people,
acknowledge me and him as their rulers. Wherever
I turn my eyes in the palace I see great stores of
wealth. (Besides, I have beauty worthy of a goddess add to all this that I have seven- daughters and as”
many sons, and soon shall have sons— and daughters-
in—law. Ask now what cause I have for and
then presume to prefer to me the Titaness, Latona,
daughter of Coeus, whoever he may be—Latona, to
whom the broad earth once refused a tiny spotwfor. - .
Neither heaven nor '
bringing forth her children.
earth nor sea was open for this goddess of yours; she
was outlawed from the universe, until Delos, pitying
the wanderer, said to her: ‘ You are a vagrant on
the land; I, on the sea,’ and gave her a place that
Stood never Still. Andstlierashehqre twqchildnen,
the seventh part only of my offspring. Surely I am
happy. Who can deny it? And happy I shall remain.
This also who can doubt? My very abundance has
made me safe. I am too great for Fortune to harm;
though she should take many from me, still many
more will she leave to me. My blessings have
~__/
301
OVID
excessere metum mea iam bona. ﬁngite demi
huic aliquid populo natorum posse meorum:
non tamen ad numerum redigar spoliata duorum,
Latonae turbam, qua quantum distat ab orba? 200
ite—sat est—propere sacris laurumque capillis
ponite! ”——deponunt et sacra infecta relinquunt,
quodque licet, tacito venerantur murmure numen.
Indignata dea est summoque in vertice Cynthi
talibus est dictis gemina cum prole locuta: 205
“ en ego vestra parens, vobis animosa creatis,
et nisi Iunoni nulli cessura dearum,
an dea sim, dubitor perque omnia saecula cultis
arceor, o nati, nisi vos succurritis, aris. _
nec dolor hic solus; diro convicia facto 210
Tantalis adiecit vosque est postponere natis
ausa suis et me, quod in ipsam reccidat, orbam
dixit et exhibuit linguam scelerata paternam.”
adiectura preces erat his Latona relatis :
“ desine! ” Phoebus ait, “ poenae mora longa
querella est! " ' 215
dixit idem Phoebe, celerique per aera lapsu
contigerant tecti Cadmeida nubibus arcem.
Planus erat lateque patens 'prope moenia campus,
adsiduis pulsatus equis, ubi turba rotarum
duraque mollierat subiectas ungula glaebas. 220
pars ibi de septem genitis Amphione fortes
conscendunt in equos Tyrioque rubentia suco
terga premunt auroque graves moderantur habenas.
e quibus Ismenus, qui matri sarcina quondam
3°?
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
banished fear. Even suppose that some part of this
tribe of children could be taken from me, not even
so despoiled would I be reduced to thewnurnber
of two, Latona’s throng, with which how far is she
from childlessness? Away with you, hasten, you
have sacriﬁced enough, and take off those laurels
from your hair.” They take off the wreaths and
leave the sacriﬁce unﬁnished ; but, as they may,:they
still worship the goddess with unspoken words. ~
The goddess was angry, and on the top of Cynthu’g; '» , . ,1 she thus addressed Apollo and Diana; “ LO’ I’ your‘
mother, proud of your birth and willing to yield
place to no goddess save Juno only, I have had my
divinity called in question; and through all coming
ages I shall be denied worship at the altar, unless
you, my children, come to my aid. Nor is this my
only cause for resentment. This daughter of Tan-
talus has added insult to her injuries : she has dared
to prefer her own children to you, and has called me
childless—may that fall on her head !—and by her
impious speech has displayed her father’s unbridled
tongue.” To this story of her wrongs Latona would
have added prayers; but here Phoebus cried: “ Have
done! a long complaint is but delay of punishment! ”
. Rhoehe said the same. Then, swiftly gliding through
the air, they alighted on Cadmus’ citadel, covered in
clouds. ,
There was a broad and level plain near the walls,
beaten by the constant tread of horses, where a host
of wheels and the hard hoof had levelled the clods
beneath them. There some of Amphion’s seven
sons mounted their strong horses, sitting ﬁrm on
their backs bright with Tyrian purple, and guided
them with rich gold—mounted bridles. While one of
these, f'nenusQ who was his mother’s ﬁrst-born son,
303
OVID
.._11iibe fugit visa pendentiaque undique Feat-,6
p'rima suae fuerat, dum certum ﬂectit in orbem ‘ 225
quadripedis cursus spumantiaque ora coercet,
“ ei mihi! ” conclamat medioque in pectore ﬁxa
tela gerit frenisque manu moriente remissis
in latus a dextro paullatim deﬂuit armo.
proximus audito sonitu per image pharetrae a '1 230
frena dabat Sipylus, veélllfti
' ~~ i't'uk,
carbasa deducit, ne qua 1evis efHuat aura:
frena tamen dantem non evitabile telum
con'sequitur, summaque tremens cervice sagitta 235
haesit, et exstabat nudum de gutture ferrum;
Aille, ut erat, pronus, per crura admissa iubasque
volvitur et calido tellurem sanguine foedat.
Phaedimus infelix et aviti nominis heres
Tantalus, ut solito ﬁnem inposuere labori, 240
transierant ad opus nitidae iuvenale palaestrae;
et iam contulerant arto luctantia nexu
pectora pectoribus; cum tento concita nervo,
sicut erant iuncti, traiecit utrumque sagitta.
ingemuere simul, simul incurvata dolore 245
rhembra solo posuere, simul suprema iacentes
lumina versarunt, animam simul exhalarunt.
adspicit Alphenor laniataque pectoraplangens
advolat, ut-gelidos conplexibus adlevetartus, '-
inque pio cadit ofﬁcio; nam Delius illi 250
intima fatifero rupit praecordia ferro.
quod simul eductum est, pars et 'pulmonis in hamis
eruta cumque anirna cruor est efFusus in auras.
at non intonsum simplex Damasichthona vulnus
304
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
was guiding his charger’s course round the curving
track and pulling hard on the foaming bit, “ Ah
me!” he cried, and, with an arrow ﬁxed in his .'
breast, he dropped the reins froFiIhisédyjingghands
and slowly‘sanksidewise downtothe earth over his ,
horse’s rightmshoulder. Next, hearing through the "
void air the sound of the rattling quiver,
gave full rein;[.Ts when a shipmaster, consciousjof :1"
an approaching storm, ﬂees at the sight of a cloud
and crowds on all sail that he may catch each pass—
ing breeze.‘ He gave full rein, and as he gave it
the arrow that none may escape overtook him, and
the shaft stuck guivering in his neck; while the iron
point showed from his throat in front. e, leaning ,
forward, as he was, pitched over the galloping
horse’s mane and legs, and stained, the___ground___wi_th
his warm blood.) Unhappy and Tantalus}; who bore his grandsire’s name, when they ffad .I
ﬁnished their wonted task had passed to the youth- '
ful exercise of the shining wrestling—match. 'And
now they were straining together, breast to breast,
in close embrace, when an arrow, sped from the
drawn bow, pierced them both just as they stood
clasped together. They groaned together; together
theygfellwmithing in painiothe ground ; . toget Her as
they lay they’moved their dying eyes ; together they‘ '
breathed their last. _@saw them die, and
beating his breast in agony,"he ran to lift up their
cold bodies in his arms; and in this pious duty he
fell; for Apollo pierced him through the 'midriff
with death—dealing steel. When this was removed,
a piece of his lungs was drawn out sticking to the ’
barbs, and his life—blood came rushing forth into
. ~_-\...~-.»_._
the air. But gonewwound was not all that pierced
youthful (Damasichth'on; He was struck where the
VOL. I. L
305’
OVID
I.
.f' '
adﬁcit: ictus erat, qua crus esse incipit et qua 255
mollia nervosus facit internodia poples.
dumque manu temptat trahere exitiabile telum,
altera per iugulum pennis tenus acta sagitta est.
expulit hanc sanguis seque eiaculatus in altum
emicat et longe terebrata prosilit aura. 260
ultimus Ilioneus non profectura precando
bracchia sustulerat “ di ” que “ o communiter omnes,”
dixerat ignarus, non omnes esse rogandos
“ parcite! ” motus erat, cum iam revocabile telum
non fuit, arcitenens; minimo tamen occidit ille 265
,; syulnere, non alte percusso corde sagitta.
‘ '‘ Fama populique dolor lacrimaeque suorum
tam subitae matrem certam fecere ruinae,
mirantem potuisse irascentemque, quod ausi
hoc essent superi, quod tantum iuris haberent; 270
nam pater Amphion ferro per pectus adacto
ﬁnierat moriens pariter- cum luce dolorem.
heu! quantum haec Niobe Niobe distabat- ab illa,
quae modo Latois populum submoverat aris
et mediam tulerat gressus resupina per urbem 275
invidiosa suis; at nunc miseranda vel hosti!
corporibus gelidis incumbit et ordine nullo
oscula dispensat natos suprema per omnes;
a quibus ad caelum liventia bracchia tollens _
“ pascere, crudelis, nostro, Latona, dolore, 280
pascere " ait “ satiaque meo tua pectora luctu!
corque ferum satia! ” dixit. “ per funera septem 1‘
He ~eror :J/ex‘sultmvictrixque inimica triumpha!
"du’i'wli'i‘tem Vic‘t 5miserae mihi plura supersunt, \
quatn tibi felici; post 'i'atﬁtt‘qile funera vinﬁco’l" 285

1 Line 282 bracketed by Ehwald. i I, H3," :1. ‘
306
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
lower leg just begins, and where the sinews of the
hough give a soft spot; and while he was trying to
draw out the fatal shaft with his hand, a second
arrow was driven clear to the feathers through his
throat. \T he blood drove it forth and gushing out
spurted high in air in a long, slender stream.
<I___lioneus-’was the last; stretching out his arms in
prayer doomed to be vain, he cried: “ Oh, spare me,
all ye gods,” not knowing that he need not pray to
them all. The archer-god was moved to pity, but
too late to recall his ,s‘llafg“ Still the youth fell
smitten by a slight wound only, since the arrow did
not deeply pierce his heart.
Rumour of the trouble, the people’s grief, and the
tears of her own friends informed the mother of this
sudden disaster, amazed that it could have happened,
and angry because the gods had dared so far, that
they should have such power; for the father, Am-
phion, had already driven a dagger through his heart,
and so in dying had ended his grief and life together.
Alas, how d_i_f_f_e_:,re_nt_:gnaww was this Niobe from that
Niobe who had but now driven the people from
Latona’s altar, and had walked proudly through the
city streets, enviable then to her friends, but now
one for even her enemies to pity. She threw her-
self upon the cold bodies of her sons, wildly giving
the last kisses to them all. From them she lifted
her bruised arms to high heaven and cried: “ Feed
now upon my grief, cruel Latona, feed and glut your
heart on my sorrow. Yes, glut your bloodthirsty
heart! In my seven sons have I suffered sevenfold
death. Exult, and triumph in your hateful victory.
But why victory? In my misery I still have more
than you in your felicity. After so many deaths,‘
I triumph still! ”
307
OVID
Dixerat, et sonuit contento nervus ab arcu,
qui praeter Nioben unam conterruit omnes :
illa malo est audax.—stabant cum vestibus atris
ante toros fratrurn demisso crine sorores;
e quibus una trahens haerentia viscere tela 290
inposito, fratri moribunda relanguit ore;
L
altera solarl miseram conata parentem
conticuit subito duplicataque vulnere caeco est.
oraque compressit, nisi postquam spiritus ibat.1
haec frustra fugiens collabitur, illa sorori 295
inmoritur; latet haec, illam trepidare videres.
sexque datis leto diversaque vulnera passis
ultima res tabat, quam toto corpore mater,
tota veste tegens “ unam minimamque relinque!
de multis minimam posco ” clamavit “ et unam.” 300
dumque rogat, pro qua rogat, occidit: orba resedit
exanimes inter natos natasque virumque
deriguitque malis; nullos movet aura capillos,
in vultu color est sine sanguine, lumina maestis
stant inmota genis, nihil est in imagi e vivum. 305
ipsa quoque interius cum duro lingua'pallato
congelat, et venae desistunt posse moveri;
nec ﬂecti cervix nec bracchia reddere motus
nec pes ire potest; intra quoque viscera saxum est.
ﬂet tamen et validi circumdata turbine venti 310
in patriam rapta est: ibi ﬁxa cacumine montis
liquitur, et lacrirnas etiam nunc marmora manant.
Turn vero cuncti manifestam numinis iram
femina virque timent cultuque inpensius omnes
1 Line 294 bracketed by Ehwald.
308
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
She spoke, and the taut bowstring twanged, which
terriﬁed all save Niobe alone; misery made her bold.
The sisters were standing about their brothers’ biers,
with loosened hair and robed in black. One of these,
while drawing out the shaft ﬁxed in a brother’s
vitals, sank down with’her face upon him, fainting
and dying. world, attempting to console her
grieving mother, ceased suddenly, and was bent in
agony by an unseen wound. She closed her lips till
her dying breath had passed. One fell while trying

in vain to ﬂee. Another died upon her sister; okneu
bid, and one stobdf'trembling in full view. And
now had suffered various wounds and died; the
/ J
last remained. The mother, covering her with her ‘.5, .
crouehingfbodyand he\r‘sh-elt’efing robes, cried out: ’
“ Oh, leave me one, the littlest!’ Of all my many
children, the littlest I beg ‘you spare—just one!”
And even while she ,sprayed, she for whom she
prayed fell/dread; Now does the childless mother
sit down amid the lifeless bodies of her sons, her
daughters, and her husband, in stonyrgrief. Her
hair stirs not in the breeze; her face is pale and
bloodless, and her eyes are ﬁxed and staring in her
sad face. _
Her very tongue is silent, frozen to her mouth’s roof,
and her veins can move no longer; her neck cannot
bend nor her varms 'move nor her feet go.~ Within
also her vitals are stone. But.,-s_till she. /and,_
caught up in a strong, whirling wind, she is rapt away
to her own native land. There, set on a mountain’s
peak, she/@fe‘psg;,and even to this day tears trickle
from the marble.’ ~17"
Then truly do/all men and women fear the wrath
of the goddess so openly displayed; and all more-
zealously than ever worship the dread divinity of
There is nothing alive in the picture.
309
OVID
magna gemelliparae venerantur numina divae; 315
utque ﬁt, a facto propiore priora renarrant.
e quibus unus ait: " Lyciae quoque fertilis agris
non inpune deam veteres sprevere coloni.
res obscura quidem est ignobilitate virorum,
mira tamen: vidi praesens stagnumque locumque
prodigio notum. nam me iam grandior aevo 321
inpatiensque viae genitor deducere lectos
iusserat inde boves gentisque illius eunti
ipse ducem dederat, cum quo dum pascua lustro,
ecce lacu medio sacrorum nigra favilla 325
ara vetus stabat tremulis circumdata cannis.
restitit et pavido ‘ faveas mihi! ’ murmure dixit
dux meus, et simili ‘ faveas! ’ ego murmure dixi.
Naiadum Faunine foret tamen ara rogabam
indigenaene, dei, cum talia rettulit hospes : 330
‘ non hac, o iuvenis, montanum numen in ara est;
illa suam vocat hanc, cui quondam regia coniunx
orbem interdixit, quam vix erratica Delos
orantem accepit tum, cum levis insula nabat;
illic incumbens cum Palladis 'arbore palmae 335
edidit invita geminos Latona noverca.
hinc quoque Iunonem fugisse puerpera fertur
inque suo portasse sinu, duo numina, natos.
iamque Chimaeriferae, cum sol gravis urerct arva,
ﬁnibus in Lyciae longo dea fessa labore 340
310
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
the twin gods’ mother. And, as usual, stirred by
the later, they tell over former tales. Then one
of them begins: " So also in the fertile ﬁelds of
Lycia, peasants of olden time scorned the goddess
and suffered for it. The story is little known
because of the humble estate of the men concerned,
but it is remarkable. I myself saw the pool and the
place made famous by the wonder. For my father,
who at that time was getting on in years and too
weak to travel far, had bidden me go and drive
down from that country some choice steers which
were grazing there, and had given me a man of that
nation to serve as guide. While I fared through the
grassy glades with him, there, in the midst of a lake,
an ancient altar was standing, black with the ﬁres of
many sacriﬁces,surrounded with shivering reeds. My
guide halted and said with awe-struck whisper: ‘ Be
merciful to me!’ and in like whisper I said: ‘ Be
merciful!’ Then I asked my guide whether this
was an altar to the Naiads, or Faunus, or some
deity of the place, and he replied: ‘ No, young man;
no mountain deity dwells in this altar. She claims
its’ worship, whom the queen of heaven once shut
out from all the world, whom wandering Delos
would scarce accept at her prayer, when it was an
island, lightly ﬂoating on the sea. There, reclining
on the palm and Pallas’ tree,1 in spite of their step-
mother, she brought forth her twin babes. Even
thence the new—made mother is said to have ﬂed
from Juno, carrying in her bosom her infant children,
both divine. And now, having reached the borders
of Lycia, home of the Chimaera, when the hot sun
beat ﬁercely upon the ﬁelds, the goddess, weary
of her long struggle, was faint by reason of the
1 i.e. the olive.
311
OVI D
sidereo siccata sitim collegit ab aestu,
uberaque ebiberant avidi lactantia nati.
forte lacum mediocris aquae prospexit in imis
vallibus ; agrestes illic fruticosa legebant
vimina cum iuncis gratamque paludibus ulvam; 345
accessit positoque genu Titania terram
pressit, ut hauriret gelidos potura liquores.
rustic'a turba vetat; dea sic adfata vetantis :
“quid prohibetis aquis? usus communis aquarum est.
nec solem proprium natura nec aera fecit 350
nec tenues undas : ad publica munera veni;
quae tamen ut detis, supplex peto. non ego nostros
abluere hic artus lassataque membra parabam,
sed relevare sitim. caret 0s umore loquentis,
et fauces arent, vixque est via vocis in illis. 355
haustus aquae mihi nectar erit, vitamque fatebor
accepisse simul: vitam dederitis in unda.
hi quoque vos moveant, qui nostro bracchia tendunt
parva sinu,” etzcasu tendebant bracchia nati.
quem' non blanda deae potuissent verba movere?
hi tamen oran-tem perstant prohibere minasque, 361
nil procul absc'edat, conviciaque insuper addunt;
nec satisnest, ipsos etiam pedibusque manuque
turbavere lacus imoque e gurgite mollem ‘
huc illuc limum saltu movere maligno. 365
distulit ira sitim; neque enim iam ﬁlia Coei
supplicat indignis nec dicere sustinet ultra
verba minora dea tollensque ad sidera palmas
“ aeternum stagno ” dixit “ vivatis in isto! ”
4
3L2
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
sun’s heat and parched with thirst; and the
hungry children had drained her breasts dry of
milk. She chanced to see a lake of no great
size down in a deep vale; some rustics were there
gathering bushy osiers, with ﬁne swamp—grass and
rushes of the marsh. Latona came to the water’s
edge and kneeled on the ground to quench her
thirst with a cooling draught. But the rustic rabble
would not let her drink. Then she besought them:
“ Why do you deny me water? The enjoyment of
water is a common right. Nature has not made the
sun private to any, nor the air, nor soft water. This
common right I seek; and yet I beg you to give it to
me as a favour. I was not preparing to bathe my
limbs or my weary body here in your pool, but only
to quench my thirst. Even as I speak, my mouth is
dry of moisture, my throat is parched, and my voice
can scarce ;'ﬁnd utterance. A drink of water will be
nectar to me, and I shall confess that I have received
life with it; yes, life you will be giving me if you
let me drink. These children too, let them touch
your hearts, who from my bosom stretch out their
little arms.” And it chanced that the children did»
stretch 'out'their arms. Who would not have been
touched by the goddess’ gentle words? _ et_for_' all
her prayers they persisted in denying with threats
if she did not go away; they even added insulting
words. Not content with that, they soiled the ‘pool
itself with their feet and hands, and stirred up the
soft mud from the bottom, leaping about, all for pure
meanness. Then wrath postponed thirst; for Coeus’
daughter could neither humble herself longer to
those unruly fellows, nor could she‘endure to speak
with less power than a goddess; but stretching up
her hands to heaven, she cried: “- Live then for ever
313
OVID
eveniunt optata deae: iuvat esse sub undis 370
et modo tota cava submergere membra palude,
nunc proferre caput, summo modo gurgite nare,
saepe super ripam stagni consistere, saepe
in gelidos resilire lacus, sed nunc quoque turpes
litibus exercent linguas pulsoque pudore, 375
quamvis sint sub aqua, sub aqua maledicere temptant.
vox quoque iam rauca est, inﬂataque colla tumescunt,
ipsaque dilatant patulos convicia rictus;
turpe caput tendunt, colla intercepta videntur,
spina viret, venter, pars maxima corporis, albet, 380
limosoque novae saliunt in gurgite ranae.’ ”
Sic ubi nescio quis Lycia de gente virorum
rettulit exitium, satyri reminiscitur alter,
quem Tritoniaca Latous harundine victum
adfecit poena. “ quid me mihi detrahis? ” inquit;
“ a! piget, a! non est ” clamabat “ tibia tanti.” 386
clamanti cutis est summos direpta per artus,
nec quicquamnisi vulnus erat; cruor undique manat,
detectique patent nervi, trepidaeque sine ulla
pelle micant venae; salientia viscera possis 390
et perlucentes numerare in pectore ﬁbras.
illum ruricolae, silvarum numina, fauni
et satyri fratres et tunc quoque carus Olympus
et nymphae ﬂerunt, et quisquis montibus illis
lanigerosque gregcs armentaque bucera pavit. 395
fertilis inmaduit madefactaqueterra caducas
concepit lacrimas ac venis perbibit imis;
quas ubi fecit aquam, vacuas emisit, in auras.
314
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
in that pool.” It fell out as the goddess prayed. It
is their delight to live in water; now to plunge their
bodies quite beneath the enveloping pool, now to
thrust forth their heads, now to swim upon the surface.
Often they sit upon the sedgy bank and often leap
back into the cool lake. But even now, as of old,
they exercise their foul tongues in quarrel, and
all shameless, though they may be under water, even
under the water they try to utter maledictions. Now
also their voices are hoarse, their inﬂated throats
swell up,and their constant quarrelling distends their
wide jaws; they stretch their ugly heads, the necks
seem to have disappeared. Their backs are green;
their bellies, the largest part of the body, are white;
and as new-made frogs they leap in the muddy
001.’
p Then, when this unknown story-teller had told the
destruction of the Lycian peasants, another recalled
the satyr whom the son of Latona had conquered in
a contest on Pallas’ reed, and punished. “ Why do you
tear me from myself?” he cried. " Oh, I repent! Oh,‘
a’ ﬂute is not worth such price ! ” As he screams, his
skin is stripped off the surface of his body, and he ‘is
all one wound: blood ﬂows down on every side, the
sinews lie bare, his veins throb and quiver with no skin
to cover them: you could count the entrails as they
palpitate, and the vitals showing clearly in his breast.
The country people, the sylvan deities, fauns and his
brother satyrs, and Olympus, whom even then he
still loved, the nymphs, all wept for him, and every
shepherd who fed his woolly sheep or horned kine on
those mountains. The fruitful earth was soaked, and
soaking caught those tears and drank them deep into
her veins. Changing these then to water, she sent
them forth into the free air. Thence the stream
315
OVID
inde petens rapidus ripis declivibus aequor
Marsya nomen habet, Phrygiae liquidissimus amnis.
Talibus extemplo redit ad praesentia dictis 401
vulgus et exstinctum cum stirpe Amphiona luget;
mater in invidia est: hanc tunc quoque dicitur unus
ﬂesse Pelops umeroque, suas a pectore postquam
deduxit vestes, ebur ostendisse sinistro. 405
concolor hic umerus nascendi tempore dextro
corporeusque fuit; manibus mox caesa paternis
membra ferunt iunxisse deos, aliisque repertis,
qui locus est iuguli medius summique lacerti,
defuit: inpositum est non conparentis in usum 410
partis ebur, factoque Pelops fuit integer illo.
Finitimi proceres coeunt, urbesque propinquae
oravere suos ire ad solacia reges,
Argosque et Sparte Pelopeiadesque Mycenae
et nondum torvae Calydon invisa Dianae 415
Orchomenosque ferax et nobilis aere Corinthus
Messeneque ferox Patraeque humilesque Cleonae
et N elea Pylos neque adhuc Pittheia Troezen,
quaeque urbes aliae bimari clauduntur ab Isthmo
exteriusque sitae bimari spectantur ab Isthmo; 420
credere quis posset? solae cessastis Athenae.
obstitit oﬂicio bellum, subvectaque ponto
barbara Mopsopios terrebant agmina muros.
Threicius Tereus haec auxiliaribus armis
fuderat et clarum vincendo nomen habebat; 425
316
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
within its sloping banks ran down quickly to the sea,
and had the name of Marsyas, the clearest river in
all Phrygia.
Straightway the company turns from such old tales
to the present, and mourns Amphion dead with his
children. They all blame the mother; but even then
one man, her brother Pelops, is said to have wept for
her, and, drawing aside his garment from his breast,
to have revealed the ivory patch on the left shoulder.
This at the time of his birth had been of the same
colour as his right, and of ﬂesh. But later, when his
father had cut him in pieces, they say that the gods
joined the parts together again; they found all the
others, but one part was lacking where the neck and
upper arm unite. A piece of ivory was made to take
the place of the part which could not be found; and
so Pelops was made whole again.
Now all the neighbouring princes assembled, and
the near—by cities urged their kings to go and offer
sympathy : Argos and Sparta and Peloponnesian
Mycenae; Calydon, which had not yet incurred
Diana’s wrath; fertile Orchomenos and Corinth,
famed for works of bronze ; warlike Messene, Patrae,
and low-lying Cleonae; Nelean Pylos and Troezen, not
yet ruled by Pittheus; and all the other cities which
are shut off by the Isthmus between its two seas, and
those which are outside visible from the Isthmus be-
tween its two seas.1 But of all cities—who could believe
it ?—you, Athens, alone did nothing. War hindered
this friendly service, and barbaric hordes from over-
sea held the walls of Mopsopia2 in alarm. Now Tereus
of Thrace had put these to ﬂight with his relieving
troops, and by the victory had a great name. And
1 That is, the Peloponnese and Northern Greece.
2 Athens, from King Mopsopius.
317
OVID
quem sibi Pandion opibusque virisque potentem
et genus a magno ducentem forte Gradivo
conubio Procnes iunxit; non pronuba Iuno,
non Hymenaeus adest, non illi Gratia lecto:
Eumenides tenuere faces de funere raptas,
Eumenides stravere torum, tectoque profanus
incubuit bubo thalamique in culmine sedit.
hac ave coniuncti Procne Tereusque, parentes
hac ave sunt facti; gratata est scilicet illis
Thracia, disque ipsi grates egere; diemque,
quaque data est claro Pandione nata tyranno
quaque erat ortus Itys, festum iussere vocari:
usque adeo latet utilitas.
Jam tempora Titan
quinque per autumnos repetiti duxerat anni,
cum blandita viro Procne “ si gratia ” dixit
“ ulla mea est, vel me visendam mitte sorori,
vel soror huc veniat: redituram tempore parvo
promittes socero; magni mihi muneris instar
germanam vidisse dabis.” iubet ille carinas
in freta deduci veloque et remige portus
Cecropios intrat Piraeaque litora tangit.
ut primum soceri data copia, dextera dextrae
iungitur, et fausto committitur omine sermo.
coeperat, adventus causam, mandata referre
coniugis et celeres missae spondere recursus:
ecce venit magno dives Philomela paratu,
divitior forma; quales audire solemus
naidas et dryadas mediis incedere silvis,
430
435
440
445
450
318
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
since he was strong in wealth and in men, and traced
his descent, as it happened, from Gradivus, Pandion,
king of Athens, allied him to himself by wedding
him to Procne. But neither Juno, bridal goddess,
nor Hymen, nor the Graces were present at that
wedding. The Furies lighted them with torches
stolen from a funeral; the Furies spread the couch,
and the uncanny Screech-owl brooded and sat on the
roof of their chamber. Under this omen were
Procne and Tereus wedded; under this omen was
their child conceived. Thrace, indeed, rejoiced with
them, and they themselves gave thanks to the gods ;
both the day on which Pandion’s daughter was
married to their illustrious king, and that day on
which Itys was born, they made a festival: even so
is our true advantage hidden.
Now Titan through ﬁve autumnal seasons had
brought round the revolving years, when Procne
coaxingly to her husband said : “ If I have found any
favour in your sight, either send me to visit my sister
or let my sister come to me. You. will promise my
father that after a brief stay she shall return. If you
give me a chance to see my sister you will confer on
me a precious boon.” Tereus accordingly bade them
launch his ship, and plying oar and sail, he entered
the Cecropian harbour and came to land on the shore
of Piraeus. As soon as he came into the presence of
his father-in-law they joined right hands, and the
talk began with good wishes for their health. He
had begun to tell of his wife’s request, which was
the cause of his coming, and to promise a speedy
return should the sister be sent home with him, when
10! Philomela entered, attired in rich apparel, but
richer still in beauty ; such as we are wont to hear the
naiads described, and dryads when they move about
319
OVID
si modo des illis cultus similesque paratus.
non secus exarsit conspecta virgine Tereus, 455
quam si quis canis ignem supponat aristis
aut frondem positasque cremet faenilibus herbas.
digna quidem facies; sed et hunc innata libido
exstimulat, pronumque genus regionibus illis
in Venerem est: ﬂagrat vitio gentisque suoque. 460
impetus est illi comitum corrumpere curam
nutricisque ﬁdem nec non ingentibus ipsam
sollicitare datis totumque inpendere regnum
aut rapere et saevo raptam defendere bello;
et nihil est, quod non eﬁ’reno captus amore 465
ausit, nec capiunt inclusas pectora ﬁammas.
iamque moras male fert cupidoque revertitur ore
ad mandata Procnes et agit sua vota sub illa.
facundum faciebat amor, quotiensque rogabat
ulterius iusto, Procnen ita velle ferebat. 470
addidit et lacrimas, tamquam mandasset et illas.
pro superi, quantum mortalia pectora caecae
noctis habent! ipso sceleris molimine Tereus
creditur esse pius laudemque a crimine sumit.
quid, quod idem Philomela cupit, patriosque lacertis
blanda tenens umeros, ut eat visura sororem, 476
perque suam contraque suam petit ipsa salutem.
spectat eam Tereus praecontrectatque videndo
osculaque et collo circumdata bracchia cernens
omnia pro stimulis facibusque ciboque furoris 480
accipit, et quotiens amplectitur illa parentem,
esse parens vellet: neque enim minus inpius esset.
- 3.20.‘
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
in the deep woods, if only one should give to them
reﬁnement and apparel like hers. The moment he
saw the maiden Tereus was inﬂamed with love, quick
as if one should set ﬁre to ripe grain, or dry leaves, or
hay stored away in the mow. I-Ier beauty, indeed,
was worth it; but in his case his own passionate nature
pricked him on, and, besides, the men of his clime are
quick to love: his own ﬁre and his nation’s burnt in
him. His impulse was to corrupt her attendants’
care and her nurse’s faithfulness, and even by rich
gifts to tempt the girl herself, even at the cost of all
his kingdom; or else to ravish her and to defend his
act by bloody war. There was nothing which he
would not do or dare, smitten by this mad passion.
His heart could scarce contain the ﬁres that burnt
in it. Now, impatient of delay, he eagerly repeated
Procne’s request, pleading his own cause under her
name. Love made him eloquent, and as often as he
asked more urgently than he should, he would say
that Procne wished it so. He even added tears to
his entreaties, as though she had bidden him to do
this too. Ye gods, what blind night rules in the
hearts of men! In the very act of pushing on his
shameful plan Tereus gets credit for a kind heart
and wins praise from wickedness. Ay, more—
Philomela herself has the same wish; winding
her arms about her father’s neck, she coa-xes him
to let her visit her sister; by her own welfare (yes,
and against it, too) she urges her prayer. Tereus
gazes at her, and as he looks feels her already in his
arms; as he sees her kisses and her arms about her
father’s neck, all this goads him on, food and fuel
for his passion; and whenever she embraces her
father he wishes that he were in the father’s
place—indeed, if he were, his intent would be no
321
OVID
vincitur ambarum genitor prece: gaudet agitque
illa patri grates et successisse duabus
id putat infelix, quod erit lugubre duabus. 485
Iam labor exiguus Phoebo restabat, equique
pulsabant pedibus spatium declivis Olympi:
regales epulae mensis et Bacchus in auro
ponitur; hinc placido dantur sua corpora somno.
at rex Odrysius, quamvis secessit, in illa ) 490
aestuat et repetens faciem motusque manusque
qualia vult ﬁngit quae nondum vidit et ignes
ipse suos nutrit cura removente soporem.
lux erat, et generi dextram conplexus euntis
Pandion comitem lacrimis commendat obortis: 495
“ hanc ego, care gener, quoniam pia causa coegit,
et voluere ambae (voluisti tu quoque, Tereu)
do tibi perque ﬁdem cognataque pectora supplex
per superos oro patrio ut tuearis amore
et mihi sollicitae lenimen dulce senectae 500
quam primum (omnis erit nobis mora longa) remittas ;
tu quoque quam primum (satis est procul esse
sororem),
si pietas ulla est, ad me, Philomela, redito! ”
mandabat pariterque suae dabat oscula natae,
et lacrimae mites inter mandata cadebant; 505'
utque ﬁde pignus dextras utriusque poposcit
inter seque datas iunxit natamque nepotemque
absentes pro se memori rogat ore salutent;
supremumque vale pleno singultibus ore
vix dixit timuitque suae praesagia mentis. 510
322
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
less impious. The father yields to the prayers of
both. The girl is ﬁlled with joy; she thanks her
father and, poor unhappy wretch, she deems that
success for both sisters which is to prove a woeful
happening for them both.
Now Phoebus’ toils were almost done and his
horses were pacing down the western sky. A royal
feast was spread, wine in cups of gold. Then they
lay them down to peaceful slumber. But although
the Thracian king retired, his heart seethes with
thoughts of her. Recalling her look, her move-
ment, her hands, he pictures at will what he has
not yet seen, and feeds his own ﬁres, his thoughts
preventing sleep. Morning came; and Pandion,
wringing his son—in—law’s hand as he was departing,
consigned his daughter to him with many tears and
said: “ Dear son, since a natural plea has won
me, and both my daughters have wished it, and
you also have wished it, my Tereus, I give her to
your keeping; and by your honour and the ties that
bind us, by the gods, I pray you guard her with a
father’s love, and as soon as possible—it will seem a
long time in any case to me—send back to me this
sweet solace of my tedious years. And do you,
my Philomela, if you love me, come back to me as
soon as possible; it is enough that your sister is so
far away.” Thus he made his last requests and
kissed his child good—bye, and gentle tears fell as he
spoke the words; and he asked both their right
hands as pledge of their promise, and joined them
together and begged that they would remember to
greet for him his daughter and her son. His voice
broke with sobs, he could hardly say farewell, as he
feared the forebodings of his mind.
323
OVID
.Ut semel inposita est pictae Philomela carinae,
admotumque- fretum remis tellusque repulsa est,-
“ vicimus! "’ exclamat, “ mecum mea vota feruntur! ”
exsultatque et vix animo sua gaudia differt
barbarus et nusquam lumen detorquet ab illa, 515
non aliter quam cum pedibus praedator obuncis
deposuit nido leporem Iovis ales in alto;
nulla fuga est capto, spectat sua praemia raptor.
Iamque iter eﬁ'ectum, iamque in sua litora fessis
puppibus exierant, cum rex Pandione natam 520
in stabula alta trahit, silvis obscura vetustis,
atque ibi pallentem trepidamque et cuncta timentem
et iam cum lacrimis, ubi sit germana, rogantem
includit fassusque nefas et virginem et unam
vi superat frustra clamato saepe parente, 525
saepe sorore sua, magnis super omnia divis.
illa tremit velut agna pavens, quae saucia cani
ore excussa lupi nondum sibi tuta videtur,
utque columba suo madef'actis sanguine plumis
horret adhuc avidosque timet, quibus haeserat, ungues.
mox ubi mens rediit, passos laniata capillos, 531
lugenti similis caesis plangore lacertis
intendens palmas “ o diris barbare factis,
o crudelis ” ait, “ nec te mandata parentis
cum lacrimis movere piis nec cura sororis 535
nec mea virginitas nec coniugialia iura?
omnia turbasti; paelex ego facta sororis,
tu geminus coniunx, hostis mihi debita Procne!
324,
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
As soon as Philomela was safely embarked upon
the painted ship and the sea was churned beneath
the oars and the land was left behind, Tereus ex-
claimed: “ I have won! in my ship I carry the ful-
ﬁlment of my prayers! ” The barbarous fellow
triumphs, he can scarce postpone his joys, and never
turns his eyes from her, as when the ravenous bird
of Jove has dropped in his high eyrie some hare
caught in his hooked talons; the captive has no chance
to escape, the captor gloats over his prize.
And now they were at the end of their journey,
now, leaving the travel-worn ship, they had landed on
their own shores; when the king dragged off Pandion’s
daughter to a hut deep hidden in the ancient woods;
and there, pale and trembling and all fear, begging
with tears to know where her sister was, he shut her
up. Then, openly confessing his horrid purpose, he
violated her, just a weak girl and all alone, vainly
calling, often on her father, often on her sister, but
most of all upon the great gods. She trembled like
a frightened lamb, which, torn and cast aside by a
grey wolf, cannot yet believe that it is safe; and
like'a dove which, with its own blood all smeared
over its plumage, still palpitates with fright, still
fears those greedyclaws that have pierced it. Soon,
when ‘her senses ‘came ‘back, she dragged at her
loosened hair, and like one in mourning, beating and
tearing her arms, with outstretched hands she cried:
“ Oh, what a horrible thing you have done, bar-
barous, cruel wretch! Do you care nothing for my
father’s injunctions, his affectionate tears, my sister’s
love, my own virginity, the bonds of wedlock? You
have confused all natural relations : I have become a
concubine, my sister’s rival ; you, a husband to both.
Now Procne mustbe, my enemy. Why do you not
325
OVID
quin animam hanc,ne quod facinus tibi,perﬁde,restet,
eripis? atque utinam fecisses ante nefandos 540
concubitus: vacuas habuissem criminis umbras.
si tamen haec superi cernunt, si numina divum
sunt aliquid, si non perierunt omnia mecum,
quandocumque mihi poenas dabis! ipsa pudore
proiecto tua facta loquar: si copia detur, 545
in populos veniam; si silvis clausa tenebor,
inplebo silvas et conscia saxa movebo;
audiet haec aether et si deus ullus in illo est! ”
Talibus ira feri postquam commota tyranni
nec minor hac metus est, causa stimulatus utraque,
quo fuit accinctus, vagina liberat ensem 551
arreptamque coma ﬁxis post terga lacertis
vincla pati cogit; iugulum Philomela parabat
spemque suae mortis viso conceperat ense:
ille indignantem et nomen patris usque vocantem
luctantemque loqui conprensam forcipe linguam 556
abstulit ense fero. radix micat ultima linguae,
ipsa iacet terraeque tremens inmurmurat atrae,
utque salire solet mutilatae cauda colubrae,
palpitat et moriens dominae vestigia quaerit. 560
hoc quoque post facinus (vix ausim credere) fertur
saepe sua lacerum repetisse libidine corpus.
Sustinet ad Procnen post talia facta reverti;
coniuge quae viso germanam quaerit, at ille
326
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
take my life, that no crime may be left undone, you
traitor? Aye, would that you had killed me before
you wronged me so. Then would my shade have
been innocent and clean. If those who dwell on
high see these things, nay, if there are any gods at all,
if all things have not perished with me, sooner or later
you shall pay dearly for this deed. I will myself
cast shame aside and proclaim what you have done.
If I should have the chance, I would go where people
throng and tell it; if I am kept shut up in these
woods, I will ﬁll the woods with my story and move
the very rocks to pity. The air of heaven shall hear
it, and, if there is any god in heaven, he shall hear
it too.”
The savage tyrant’s wrath was aroused by these
words, and his fear no less. Pricked on by both
these spurs, he drew his sword which was hanging
by his side in its sheath, caught her by the hair, and
twisting her arms behind her back, he bound them
fast. At sight of the sword Philomela gladly offered
her throat to the stroke, ﬁlled with the eager hope
of death. But he seized her tongue with pincers,
as it protested against the outrage, calling ever on
the name of her father and struggling to speak, and
cut it off with his merciless blade. The mangled
root quivers, while the severed tongue lies pal-
pitating on the dark earth, faintly murmuring; and,
as the severed tail of a mangled snake is wont to
writhe, it twitches convulsively, and with its last
dying movement it seeks its mistress’s feet. Even
after this horrid deed—one would scarce believe it—
the monarch is said to have worked his lustful will
again and again upon the poor mangled form.
With such crimes upon his soul he had the face
to return to Procne’s presence. She on seeing him
327
OVID
dat gemitus ﬁctos commentaque funera narrat,
et lacrimae fecere ﬁdem. velamina Procne
deripit ex umeris auro fulgentia lato
induiturque atras vestes et inane sepulcrum
constituit falsisque piacula manibus infert
et luget non sic lugendae fata sororis.
Signa deus bis sex acto lustraverat anno;
quid faciat Philomela? fugam custodia claudit,
structa rigent solido stabulorum moenia saxo,
0s mutum facti caret indice. grande doloris
ingenium est, miserisque venit sollertia rebus:
stamina barbarica suspendit callida tela
purpureasque notas ﬁlis intexuit albis,
indicium sceleris; perfectaque tradidit uni,
utque ferat dominae, gestu rogat; illa rogata
pertulit ad Procnen nec scit, quid tradat in illis.
evolvit vestes saevi matrona tyranni
fortunaeque suae carmen miserabile legit
et (mirum potuisse) silet: dolor ora repressit,
verbaque quaerenti satis indignantia linguae
defuerunt, nec ﬂere vacat, sed fasque nefasque
confusura ruit poenaeque in imagine tota est.
565
570
575
580
585
Tempus erat, quo sacra solent trieterica Bacchi
Sithoniae celebrare nurus: (nox conscia sacris,
nocte sonat Rhodope tinnitibus aeris acuti)
nocte sua est egressa domo regina deique
ritibus instruitur furialiaque accipit arma;
590
328
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
at once asked where her sister was. He groaned in
pretended grief and told a made-up story of death;
his tears gave credence to the tale. Then Procne
tore from her shoulders the robe gleaming with
a broad golden border and put on black weeds; she
built also a cenotaph in honour of her sister, brought
pious offerings to her imagined spirit, and mourned
her sister’s fate, not meet so to be mourned.
Now through the twelve signs, a whole year’s
journey, has the sun-god passed. And what shall
Philomela do? A guard prevents her ﬂight; stout
walls of solid stone fence in the hut; speechless lips
can give no token of her wrongs. But grief has
sharp wits, and in trouble cunning comes. She
hangs a Thracian web on her loom, and skilfully
weaving purple signs on a white background, she
thus tells the story of her wrongs. This web, when
completed, she gives to her one attendant and begs
her with gestures to carry it to the queen. The
old woman, as she was bid, takes the web to Procne,
not knowing what she bears in it. The savage
tyrant’s wife unrolls the cloth, reads the pitiable tale
of her misfortune, and (a miracle that she could!) says
not a- word. Grief chokes the words that rise to her
lips, and her questing tongue can ﬁnd no words
strong enough to express her outraged feelings.
Here is no room for tears, but she hurries on to con-
found right and wrong, her whole soul bent on the
thought of vengeance.
It was the time when the Thracian matrons were
wont to celebrate the biennial festival of Bacchus.
Night was in their secret; by night Mount Rhodope
would resound with the shrill clash of brazen cym—
bals; so by night the queen goes forth from her
house, equips herself for the rites of the god and
529
OVID
vite caput tegitur, lateri cervina sinistro
vellera dependent, umero levis incubat hasta.
concita per silvas turba comitante suarum
terribilis Procne furiisque agitata doloris, 595
Bacche, tuas simulat: venit ad stabula avia tandem
exululatque euhoeque sonat portasque refringit
germanamque rapit raptaeque insignia Bacchi
induit et vultus hederarum frondibus abdit
attonitamque trahens intra sua moenia ducit. 600
Ut sensit tetigisse domum Philomela nefandam,
horruit infelix totoque expalluit ore;
nacta locum Procne sacrorum pignora demit
oraque develat miserae pudibunda sororis
amplexumque petit; sed non attollere contra 605
sustinet haec oculos paelex sibi visa sororis
deiectoque in humum vultu iurare volenti
testarique deos, per vim sibi dedecus illud
inlatum, pro voce manus fuit. ardet et iram
non capit ipsa suam Procne ﬂetumque sororis 610
corripiens “ non est lacrimis hoc” inquit “ agcndum,
sed ferro, sed si quid habes, quod vi'ncere-ferrum
possit. in omne nefas ego me, germana, paravi: '
autv ego, cum facibus‘regalia tecta cremabo,
artiﬁcem mediis inmittam Terea ﬂammis ' 615
aut linguam atque oculos et quae tibi membra
pudorem
abstulerunt ferro rapiam aut per vulnera mille
sontem animam expellam! magnum, quodcumque
paravi;
quid sit, adhuc dubito.”
33°
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
dons the array of frenzy ; her head was wreathed with
trailing vines, a deer-skin hung from her left side, a
light spear rested on her shoulder. Swift she goes
through the woods with an attendant throng of her
companions, and driven on by the madness of grief,
Procne, terriﬁc in her rage, mimics thy madness,
O Bacchus ! She comes to the secluded lodge at last,
shrieks aloud and cries “ Euhoe! ” breaks down the
doors, seizes her sister, arrays her in the trappings of
a Bacchante, hides her face with ivy-leaves, and,
dragging her along in amazement, leads her within
her own walls.
When Philomela perceived that she had entered
that accursed house the poor girl shook with horror
and grew pale as death. Procne found a place, and
took off the trappings of the Bacchic rites and,
uncovering the shame-blanched face of her wretched
sister, folded her in her arms. But Philomela could
not lift her eyes to her sister, feeling herself to have
wronged her. And, with her face turned to the
ground, longing to swear and call all the gods to
witness that that shame had been forced upon her,
she made her hand serve for voice. But Procne was
all on ﬁre, could not contain her own wrath, and chid—
ing her sister’s weeping, she said: “ This is no time for
tears, but for the sword, for something stronger than
the sword, if you have such a thing. I am prepared
for any crime, my sister; either to ﬁre’this palace
with a torch, and to cast Tereus, the author of our
wrongs, into the ﬂaming ruins, or to cut out his
tongue and his eyes, to cut off the parts which
brought shame to you, and drive his guilty soul out
through a thousand wounds. 1 am prepared for some
great deed; but what it shall be I am still in doubt.”
331
OVID
Peragit dum talia Procne,
ad matrem veniebat Itys; quid possit, ab illo 620
admonita est oculisque tuens inmitibus “ a! quam
es similis patri! ” dixit nec plura locuta
triste parat facinus tacitaque exaestuat ira.
ut tamen accessit n'atus matrique salutem
attulit et parvis adduxit colla lacertis 625
mixtaque blanditiis puerilibus oscula iunxit,
mota quidem est genetrix, infractaque constitit ira
invitique oculi lacrimis maduere coactis;
sed simul ex nimia mentem 1 pietate labare
sensit, ab hoc iterum est ad vultus vers-a sororis 630
inque vicem spectans ambos “ cur admovet ” inquit
“ alter blanditias, rapta silet altera lingua?
quam vocat hic matrem, cur non vocat illa sororem?
cui sis nupta, vide, Pandione natal marito
degeneras? scelus est pietas in coniuge Tcreo." 635
nec mora, traxit Ityn, veluti Gangetica cervae
lactentem fetum per silvas tigris opacas,
utque domus altae partem tenuere remotam,
tendentemque manus et iam sua fata videntem
et “ mater! mater! ” clamantem et colla petentem
' ense ferit Procne, lateri qua pectus adhaeret, 641
nec vultum vertit. satis illi ad fata vel unum
vulnus erat: iugulum ferro Philomela resolvit,
vivaque adhuc animaeque aliquid retinentia- membra
dilaniant. pars inde cavis exsultat aenis, 645
pars veribus stridunt; manant penetralia tabo.
His adhibet coniunx ignarum Terea mensis
et patrii moris sacrum mentita, quod uni
1 mentem cod. Oz'ofam': matrem N ; H einsius.
332
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
While Procne was thus speaking Itys came into
his mother’s presence. His coming suggested what
she could do, and regarding him with pitiless eyes,
she said: “ Ah, how like your father you are! ”
Saying no more, she began to plan a terrible deed and
boiled with inward rage. But when the boy came up
to her and greeted his mother, put his little arms
around her neck and kissed her in his Winsome, boy-
ish way, her mother-heart was touched, her wrath fell
away, and her eyes, though all unwilling, were wet
with tears that ﬂowed in spite of her. But when she
perceived that her purpose was wavering through
excess of mother-love, she turned again from her son
to her sister; and gazing at both in turn, she said:
“ Why is one able to make soft, pretty speeches,
while her ravished tongue dooms the other to
silence? Since he calls me mother, why does she
not call me sister? Remember whose wife you
are, daughter of Pandion! Will you be faithless to
your husband? But faithfulness to such a husband
as Tereus is a crime.” Without more words she
dragged Itys away, as a tigress drags a suckling
fawn through the dark woods on Ganges’ banks.
And when they reached a remote part of the great
house, while the boy stretched out pleading hands as
he saw his fate, and screamed, “ Mother! mother! ”
and sought to throw his arms around her neck, Procne
smote him with a knife between breast and side—and
with no change of face. This one stroke suﬂiced to
slay the lad; but Philomela cut the throat also, and
they cut up the body still warm and quivering with
life. Part bubbles in brazen kettles, part sputters on
spits; while the whole room drips with gore.
This is the feast to which the wife invites Tereus,
little knowing what it is. She pretends that it is a
333
OVID
fas sit adire viro, comites famulosque removit.
ipse sedens solio Tereus sublimis avito 650
vescitur inque suam suaviscera congerit alvum,
tantaque nox animi est, “ Ityn huc accersite! ” dixit.
dissimulare nequit crudelia gaudia Procne
iamque suae cupiens exsistere nuntia cladis 654
“ intus habes, quem poscis ” ait: circumspicit ille
atque, ubi sit, quaerit; quaerenti iterumque vocanti,
sicut erat sparsis furiali caede capillis,
prosiluit Ityosque caput Philomela cruentum
misit in ora patris nec tempore maluit ullo
posse loqui et meritis testari gaudia dictis. 660
Thracius ingenti mensas clamore repellit
vipereasque ciet Stygia de valle sorores
et modo, si posset, reserato pectore diras
egerere inde dapes emersaque viscera lgestit,
ﬂet modo seque vocat bustum miserabile nati, 665
nunc sequitur nudo genitas Pandione ferro.
corpora Cecropidum pennis pendere putares :
pendebant pennis. quarum petit altera silvas,
altera tecta subit, neque adhuc de pectore caedis
excessere notae, signataque sanguine pluma est. 670
ille dolore suo poenaeque cupidine velox
vertitur in volucrem, cui stant in vertice cristae.
prominet inmodicum pro longa cuspide rostrum;
nomen epops volucri, facies armata videtur.
334}
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
sacred feast after their ancestral fashion, of which
only a husband may partake, and removes all
attendants and slaves. So Tereus, sitting alone in
his high ancestral banquet-chair, begins the feast
and gorges himself with ﬂesh of his own ﬂesh. And
in the utter blindness of his understanding he cries:
“ Go, call me Itys hither! ” Procne cannot hide her
cruel joy, and eager to be the messenger of her
bloody news, she says: “ You have, within, him whom
you want.” He looks about and asks where the
boy is. And then, as he asks and calls again for his
son, just as she was, with streaming hair, and all
stained with her mad deed of blood, Philomela
springs forward and hurls the gory head of Itys
straight into his father’s face; nor was there ever
any time when she longed more to be able to speak,
and to express her joy in ﬁtting words. Then the
Thracian king overturns the table with a great cry
and invokes the snaky sisters from the Stygian pit.
Now, if he could, he would gladly lay open his
breast and take thence the horrid feast and vomit
forth the ﬂesh of his son; now he weeps bitterly and
calls himself his son's most wretched tomb; then
with drawn sword he pursues the two daughters of
Pandion. As they ﬂy from him you would think
that the bodies of the two Athenians were poised on
wings: they were poised on wings! One ﬂies to the
woods, the other rises to the roof. And even now
their breasts have not lost the marks of their mur-
derous deed, their feathers are stained with blood.
Tereus, swift in pursuit because of his grief and eager
desire for vengeance, is himself changed into a bird.
Upon his head a stiff crest appears, and a huge beak
stands forth instead of his long sword. He is the
hoopoé, with the look of one armed for war.
335
OVID
Hic dolor ante diem longaeque extrema senectae
tempora Tartareas Pandiona misit ad umbras. %
sceptra loci rerumque capit moderamen Erechtheus,
iustitia dubium validisne potentior armis.
quattuor ille quidem iuvenes totidemque crearat
femineae sortis, sed erat par forma duarum. 680
e quibus Aeolides Cephalus te coniuge felix,
Procri, fuit; Boreae Tereus Thracesque nocebant,
dilectaque diu caruit deus Orithyia,
dum rogat et precibus mavult quam viribus uti;
ast ubi blanditiis agitur nil, horridus ira, 685
quae solita est illi nimiumque domestica vento,
“ et merito! ” dixit; “ quid enim mea tela reliqui,
saevitiam et vires iramque animosque minaces,
admovique preces, quarum me dedecet usus?
apta mihi vis est: vi tristia nubila pello, 690
vi freta concutio nodosaque robora verto
induroque nives et terras grandine pulso;
idem ego, cum fratres caelo sum nactus aperto
(nam mihi campus is est), tanto molimine luctor,
ut medius nostris concursibus insonet aether 695
exsiliantque cavis elisi nubibus ignes;
idem ego, cum subii convexa foramina terrae
supposuique ferox imis mea terga cavernis,
sollicito manes totumque tremoribus orbem.
hac ope debueram thalamos petiisse, socerque 700
non orandus erat mihi sed faciendus Erechtheus.”
336
MET AMORPHOSES BOOK VI
This woe shortened the days of old Pandion and
sent him down to the shades of Tartarus before old
age came to its full term. His sceptre and the
state’s control fell to Erechtheus, equally famed for
justice and for prowess in arms. Four sons were
born to him and four daughters also. Of these
daughters two were of equal beauty, of whom thou,
Procris, didst make happy in wedlock Cephalus, the
grandson of Aeolus. Boreas was not favoured because
of Tereus and the Thracians 1; and so the god was
long kept from his beloved Orithyia, while he wooed
and preferred to use prayers rather than force. But
when he could accomplish nothing by soothing words,
rough with anger, which was the north—wind’s
usual and more natural mood, he said: "I have
deserved it! For why have I given up my own
weapons, ﬁerceness and force, rage and threatening
moods, and had recourse to prayers, which do not at
all become me? Force is my ﬁt instrument. By
force I drive on the gloomy clouds, by force I shake
the sea, I overturn gnarled oaks, pack hard the snow,
and pelt the earth with hail. So also when I meet
my brother in the open sky—for that is my battle-
ground—I struggle with them so ﬁercely that the
mid-heavens thunder with our meetin and ﬁres leap
bursting out of the hollow clouds. So also when I
have entered the vaulted hollows of the earth, and
have set my strong back beneath her lowest caverns,
I fright the ghosts and the whole world, too, by my
heavings. By this means I should have sought my
wife. I should not have begged Erechtheus to be
my father-in-law, but made him to be so.” With
1 Since the home of Boreas was in the north, he was
included in the hatred felt at Athens for Tereus and the
Thracians.
VOL. I. M
337
OVI D
haec Boreas aut his non inferiora locutus
excussit pennas, quarum iactatibus omnis
adﬂata est tellus latumque perhorruit aequor,
pulvereamque trahens per summa cacumina pallam
verrit humum pavidamque metu caligine tectus 706
Orithyian amans fulvis amplectitur alis.
dum volat, arserunt agitati fortius ignes,
nec prius aerii cursus suppressit habenas,
quam Ciconum tenuit populos et moenia raptor. 710
illic et gelidi coniunx Actaea tyranni
et genetrix facta est, partus enixa gemellos,
cetera qui matris, pennas genitoris haberent.
non tamen has una memorant cum corpore natas,
barbaque dum rutilis aberat subnixa capillis, 715
inplumes Calaisque puer Zetesque fuerunt;
mox pariter pennae ritu coepere volucrum
cingere utrumque latus, pariter ﬂavescere malae.
ergo ubi concessit tempus puerile iuventae,
vellera cum Minyis nitido radiantia villo 720
per mare non notum prima petiere carina.
338
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
these words or others no less boisterous, Boreas shook
his wings, whose mighty ﬂutterings sent a blast over
all the earth, and ruffled the broad ocean. And
trailing along his dusty mantle over the mountain-
tops, he swept the land; and wrapped in darkness,
the lover embraced with his tawny wings his Orithyia,
who was trembling sore with fear. As he ﬂew his
own ﬂames were fanned and burned stronger. Nor
did the robber check his airy ﬂight until he came to
the people and the city of the Cicones. There did the
Athenian girl become the bride of the cold monarch,
and mother, when she brought forth twins sons, who
had all else of their mother, but their father’s wings.
Yet these wings, they say, were not born with their
bodies; while the beard was not yet to be seen
beneath their yellow locks, both Calais and Zetes
were Wingless, but soon and at the same time wings
began to spring out on either side after the fashion
of birds, and the cheeks began to grow tawny. So
these two youths, when boyhood was passed and
they had grown to man’s estate, went with the
Minyans over an unknown sea in that ﬁrst ship to
seek the bright gleaming ﬂeece of gold.
339
BOOK VII
LIBER VII
IAMQVE fretum Minyae Pagasaea puppe secabant,
perpetuaque trahens inopem sub nocte sencctam
Phineus visus erat, iuvenesque Aquilone creati
virgineas volucres miseri senis ore fugarant,
multaque perpessi claro sub Iasone tandem 5
contigerant rapidas limosi Phasidos undas. ~
\ dumque adeunt regem Phrixeaque vellera poscunt
lexque datur Minyis magnorum horrenda laborum,
concipit interea validos Aeetias ignes
et luctata diu, postquam ratione furorem 10
vincere non poterat, “ frustra, Medea, repugnas:
nescio quis deus obstat,” ait, “ mirumque, nisi hoc est,
aut aliquid certe simile huic, quod amare vocatur.
nam cur iussa patris nimium mihi dura videntur?
sunt quoque dura nimis! cur, quem modo denique vidi,
ne pereat, timeo? quae tanti causa timoris? 16
excute virgineo conceptas pectore ﬂammas,
si potes, infelix! si possem, sanior essem!
sed gravat invitam nova vis, aliudque cupido,
mens aliud suadet: video mcliora proboque, 20
deteriora sequor. quid in hospite, regia virgo,
342
BOOK VII
AND now the Minyans were plowing the deep
in their Thessalian ship. They had seen Phineus,
spending his last days helpless in perpetual night;
and the sons of Boreas had driven the harpies from
the presence of the unhappy king. Having ex-
perienced many adventures under their illustrious
leader Jason, they reached at last the swift waters
of muddy Phasis. There, while they were approach-
ing the king and demanding the ﬂeece that Phrixus
had given to him, while the dreadful condition with
its great tasks was being proposed to the Minyans,
meanwhile the daughter of King Aeetes conceived an
overpowering passion. Long she fought against it,
and when by reason she could not rid her of her
madness she cried: " In vain, Medea, do you ﬁght.
Some god or other is opposing you; I wonder if
this is not what is called love, or at least something
like this. For why do the mandates of my father seem
too harsh? They certainly are too harsh. \Vhy do
I fear lest he perish whom I have but now seen for
the ﬁrst time? What is the cause of all’this fear?
Come, thrust from your maiden breast these ﬂames
that you feel, if you can, unhappy girl. Ah, if I could,
I should be more myself. But some strange power
holds me down against my will. Desire persuades
me one way, reason another. I see the better and
approve it, but I follow the worse. Why do you, a
343
OVI D
ureris et thalamos alieni concipis orbisP
}. haec quoque terra potesta quod ames, dare. vivat anille
Aoccidata in dis est. vivat tamenl idque precari
b vel sine amore licetz quid enim commisit lasonP 25
quem, nisi crudelem, non tangat lasonis aetas
,‘et genus et virtus? quem non, ut cetera desint,
ore movere potestP certe mea pectora movit.
at nisi opem tulero, taurorum adflabitur ore
concurretque suae segeja tellure creatis f so
hostibusglaut avi/dolda/bi fera raedaiddrualconi
hoc ego si patiarf tum me de tigride natam,
tum ferrum et scopulos gestare in corde fateborl
cur non et specto pereuntem oculosque videndo
consceleroP cur non tauros exhortor in illum 35
lirterrigenasque feros insopitumque draconemP
rx- di meliora velint! quamquam non ista precandaa
> sed facienda mihi.--prodamne ego regna parentisa
atque ope nescio quis servabitur advena nostraa
ut per me sospes sine me det lintea ventis 4O
virque sit alteriusj poenae Medea relinquarP
xiisi facere hoc aliamve potest praeponere nobis,
xloccidat ingratus! sed non is vultus in i110,
non ea nobilitas animo est, ea gratia formaep
ut timeam fraudem meritique oblivia nostri. 45
et dabit ante ﬁdem, cogamque in foedera testes
esse deos. lquid tuta times? accingere et omnem
æpelle moramz tibi se semper debebit Iason,
te face sollemni iunget sibi perque Pelasgas
sata
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
royal maiden, burn for a stranger, and think upon
marriage with a foreign world? This land also can
give you something to love. Whether he live or die
is in the lap of the gods. Yet may he live! This I
may pray for even without loving him. For what
has Jason done? Who that is not heartless would
not be moved by J ason’s youth, his noble birth, his
manhood? Who, though the rest were lacking, would
not be touched by his beauty? Certainly he has
touched my heart. But unless I help him he will be
breathed on by the bulls’ ﬁery breath, and he will
have to meet an enemy of his own sowing sprung
from the earth, or he will be given as prey like any
wild beast to the greedy dragon. If I permit this,
then shall I confess that I am the child of a tigress
and that I have iron and stone in my heart.
But why can I not look on as he dies, and why is such
a sight deﬁlement for my eyes? Why do I not urge
on the bulls against him, and the ﬁerce earth—born
warriors, and the sleepless dragon? Heaven forefend!
and yet that is not matter for my prayers, but for my
deeds. Shall I then betray my father’s throne? and
shall an unknown stranger be preserved by my aid,
that, when saved by me, he may sail off without me,
and become another’s husband, while I, Medea, am
left for punishment? If he can do that,if he can prefer
another woman to me, let him perish, ungrateful man.
But no: his look, his loftiness of soul, his grace of form
are not such that I need fear deceit or forgetfulness
of my service. And he shall give me his pledge
beforehand, and I will compel the gods to be wit—
nesses of our troth.b Why do you fear when all is
safe? Now for action, and away with all delay!
Jason shall always owe himself to you, he shall join
you to himself in solemn wedlock. Then you shall
345
OVID
servatrix urbes matrum celebrabere turba.
50
ergo ego germanam fratremque patremque deosque
et natale solum ventis ablata relinquam?
nempe pater saevus, nempe est mea barbara tellus,
frater adhuc infans; stant mecum vota sororis,

‘maximus intra me deus est! non magna relinquam,
m
agna sequar: titulum servatae pubis Achivae
W‘
notltlamque soli melioris et oppida, quorum
56
hic quoque fama viget, cultusque artesque locorum,
quemque ego cum rebus, quas totus possidet orbis,
Aesoniden mutasse velim, quo coniuge felix
._.. ; q ,1 n) L}. -J I g m, tvtauj'li‘ ,4. ',_. £1‘ ___ ‘J,
et disdcara- fei'ar et\vert1ce ‘sideraltangam.
quid,'quod nescio qui mediis concurrere in undis
dicuntur montes ratibusque inimica Charybdis
60
nunc sorbere fretum, nunc reddere, cinctaque saevis
Scylla rapax canibus Siculo latrare profundo!
65
nempe tenens, quod amo, gremioque in Iasonis
haerens
7' per freta longa ferar; nil illum amplexa vercbor
aut, siquid metuam, metuam de coniuge solo.—
coniugiumne vocas speciosaque nomina culpae
inponis, Medea, tuae P—quin adspice, quantum
adgrediare nefas, et, dum licet, eﬁ‘uge crimen ! ”
dixit, et antehoculos rectum pietasque pudorqde
constiterant, ‘et, victa dabat iam ‘tierga Cupidd
-\ Ibat ad antiquas Hecates Perseidos aras,‘ '
quas nemus umbrosum secretaque silva tegebat, ~
et iam fortis erat, pulsusque recesserat ardor,__ _
70
‘.75
cum videt Aesoniden exstinctaque ﬂamma reluxit. . '
346
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
be hailed as his deliverer through the cities of
Greece by throngs of women. And shall I then
sail away and leave my sister here, my brother,
father, gods, and native land? Indeed my father is a
stern man, indeed my native land is barbarous, my
brother is still a child, my sister’s goodwill is on my
side; and the greatest god is within me! I shall
not be leaving great things, but going to great
things: the title of saviour of the Achaean youth,
acquaintance with a better land, cities, whose fame
is mighty even here, the culture and arts of civilized
countries, and the man I would not give in exchange
for all that the wide world holds—the son of Aeson;
with him as my husband I shall be called the beloved
of heaven, and with my head shall touch the stars.
But what of certain mountains, which, they say, come
clashing together in mid-sea; and Charybdis, the
sailor’s dread, who now sucks in and again spews
forth the waves; and greedy Scylla, girt about with
savage dogs,baying in the Sicilian seas! Nay, holding
that which I love, and resting in Jason’s arms, I
shall fare over the long reaches of the sea; in his safe
embrace I shall fear nothing; or if I fear at all, I
shall fear for my husband only. But do you call it
marriage, Medea, and do you give fair-seeming names
to your fault? Nay, rather, look ahead and see how
great a wickedness you are approaching and ﬂee it
while you may.” She spoke, and before her eyes
stood righteousness, ﬁlial affection, and modesty; and
love, defeated, was now on the point of ﬂight. ,
She took her way to an ancient altar of Hecate’,
the daughter of Perse, hidden in the deep shades of
a forest. And now she was strong of purpose and
the ﬂames of her vanquished passion had died down;
when she saw the son of Aeson and the dying ﬂame
cull‘
' -.
347
OVID
{/L / ‘AI .
I
K J ,u/ " . , Hf,’
- , ', / ~
» f1. // a, 7/.’-
erubuere genae, totoque recanduit ore,
> utque solet ventis alimenta adsumere, quaeque
parva sub inducta latuit 802121118, fglilla
crescere et in veteres agitata resurgere vires,
sic iam lenis amor, iam quem languere putares,
ut vidit iuvenem, specie praesentis inarsit.
et casu solito formosior Aesone natus
> illa. luce fuit: posses ignoscere amanti.
spectat et in vultu veluti tum denique viso
lumina ﬁxa tenet nec se mortalia demens
ora videre putat nec se declinat ab i110;
ut vero coepitque loqui dextramque prehendit
hospes et auxilium submissa voce rogavit
promisitque torum, lacrimis ait illa profusis :
“ quid faciam, video: non ignorantia veri
servabere munere nostro,
decipiet, sed amor.
80
85
90
servatus promissa dato! ” per Sacra triformis
ille deae lucoque foret quod numen in i110
perque patrem soceri cernentem cuncta futuri
eventusque suos et tanta pericula iurat:
creditus accepit cantatas protinus herbas
edidicitgue p_sg_rr_1ml_gatusque in tecta recessL.’
_ 'Pfostera depulerat stellhis'ﬂ'umﬁféﬂmdi'cantes :
95
conveniunt populi sacrum Mavortis in arvum
consistuntque iugis; medio rex ipse resedit
agmine purpureus sceptroque insignis eburno.
ecce adamanteis Vulcanum naribus efHant
aeripedes tauri, tactaeque vaporibus herbae
ardent, utque solent pleni resonare camini,
348
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
leaped up again. Her cheeks grew red, then all her
face became pale again; and as a tiny spark, which
has lain hidden beneath the ashes, is fed by a breath
of wind, then grows and regains its former strength
as it is fanned to life; so now her smouldering love,
which you would have thought all but dying, at sight
of the young hero standing before her blazed up again.
It chanced that the son of Aeson was more beautiful
than usual that day : you could pardon her for loving
him. She gazed upon him and held her eyes ﬁxed
on his face as if she had never seen him before; and
in her infatuation she thought the face she gazed on
more than mortal, nor could she turn herself away
from him. But when the stranger began to speak,
grasped her right hand, and in low tones asked for
her aid and promised marriage in return, she burst
into tearsand said: “ I see what I am about to do,
nor shall ignorance of the truth be my undoing, but
love itself. You shall be preserved by my assistance ;
but when preserved, fulﬁl your promise.” He swore
he would be true by the sacred rites of the threefold
goddess, by whatever divinity might be in that
grove, by the all-beholding father of his father—in—
law who was to be, by his own successes and his
mighty perils. She believed; and straight he re—
ceived the magic herbs and learnt their use, then
withdrew full of joy into his lodging.
The next dawn had put to ﬂight the twinkling
stars. Then the throngs gathered into the sacred
ﬁeld of Mars and took their stand on the heights.
In the midst of the company sat the king himself,
clad in purple, and conspicuous with his ivory sceptre.
--—See ! here come the brazen-footed bulls, breathing
ﬁre from nostrils of adamant. The very grass shrivels
up at the touch of their hot breath. And as full furnaces
349
OVID
’ aut ubi terrena silices fornace soluti
)oncipiunt ignem liquidarum adspergine aquarum,
.! \L \-»\ n
'1 ‘a
L
pectora sic intus clausas volventia ﬂammas
guttur'aque usta soqant; tamen illis Aesone natus
obvius it. vertere trkfibé’si'venientis ad ora
terribiles vultus praeﬁxaque cornua ferro
pulvereumque solum pede pulsavere bisulco
fumiﬁcisque locum mugitibus inpleverunt.
deriguere metu Minyae; subit ille nec ignes
sensit anhelatos; tantum medicamina possunt,
pendulaq e audaci mulcet palearia dextra
sup$§isii§6 que iugo pondus grave cogit aratri
ducere et insuetum ferro proscindere campum :‘
mirantur Colchi, Minyae clamoribus augent
adiciuntque animos. galea tum sumit aena
vipereos dentes et aratos spargit in agros.
semina mollit humus valiqlo praetincta veneno,
et crescunt ﬁuntque 53a 1 not; corpora dentes,
utque hominis speciem materna sumit in alvo
perque suos intus numeros conponitur infans
nec nisi maturps communes exit in auras,
sic, ubi s56€ribi1s gravidae telluris imago
efl‘ecta est hominis, feto consurgit in arvo,
111
115
120
125
quodque magis mirum est, simul edita concutit arma.
>quos ubi iderunt praeacutae cuspidis hastas
in caputa aemonii iuvenis torquere parantis,
demisere metu vultumque animumque P'elasgi;
ipsa quoque extimuit, quae tutum fecerat illum.
utque peti vidit iuvenem tot ab hostibus unum,
131
135
35°
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
are wont to roar, or as limestones burned in the lime-
kiln hiss and grow hot when water is poured upon
them; so did the bulls’ chests and parched throats
rumble with the ﬁres pent up within. Nevertheless
the son of Aeson went forward to meet them. As he
came towards them the ﬁerce beasts turned upon him
terrible faces and sharp horns tipped with iron, pawed
the dusty earth with their cloven feet, and ﬁlled the
place with their ﬁery bellowu'ngs. The Minyans
were stark with fear; he went up to the bulls, not
feeling their hot breath at all, so great is the power
of charmed drugs; and stroking their hanging dew-
laps with fearless hand, he placed the yoke on their
necks and made them draw the heavy plow and cut
through the ﬁeld that had never felt steel before.
The Colchians are amazed; but the Minyans shouted
aloud and increased their hero’s courage. Next he
took from a brazen helmet the serpent’s teeth and
sowed them broadcast in the plowed ﬁeld. The
earth softened these seeds steeped in virulent
poison and the teeth swelled up and took on new
forms. And just as in its mother’s body an infant
gradually assumes human form, and is perfected
within through all its parts, and does not come forth
to the common air until it is fully formed; so,
when the forms of men had been completed in the
womb of the pregnant earth, they rose up on the
teeming soil and, what is yet more wonderful, each
clashed weapons that had been brought forth with
him. When the Greeks saw them preparing to
hurl sharp—pointed spears at the head of the
Thessalian hero, their faces fell with fear and their
hearts failed them. She also, who had safeguarded
him, was sore afraid; and when she saw him, one
man, attacked by so many foes, she grew pale, and
35I
OVID
palluit et subito sine sanguine frigida sedit,
neve parum valeant a se data gramina, carmen
auxiliare canit secretasque advocat artes.
ille gravem medics silicem iaculatus in hostes
a se depulsum Martem convertit in ipsos: 140
terrigenae pereunt per mutua vulnera fratres
civilique cadunt acie. gratantur Achivi
' victoremque tenent avidisque amplexibus haerent.
/_ tu quoque victorem conplecti, barbara, velles:
obstitit incepto pudor, at conplexa fuisses 1 145
sed te, ne faceres, tenuit reverentia famae.
quod licet, adfectu tacito laetaris agisque
carminibus grates et dis auctoribus horum.
Pervigilem superest herbis sopire draconem,
qui crista linguisque tribus praesignis et uncis 150
dentibus horrendus custos erat arboris aureae.
"->;;_,_\.ghunc postquam sparsit Lethaei gramine suci
‘- verbaque ter dixit placidos facientia somnos,
.gquae mare turbatum, quae concita ﬂumina sistunt,
somnus in ignotos oculos sibi venit, et auro 155
heros Aesonius potitur spolioque superbus
‘if; muneris auctorem secum, spolia altera, pm
‘ jictor Iolciacos tetigit cum coniuge portus.
Haemoniae matres pro gnatis dona receptis
grandaevique ferunt patres congestaque ﬂamma 160
tura liquefaciunt, ind§é§$r§€fé7 cornibus aurum
victima vota litat, sed abest gratantibus Aeson
_ 1 Line 145 bracketed. by Ehwald.
‘34 i
\\ ‘1k: ,
k r»
352 -..
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
sat there suddenly cold and bloodless. And, lest the
charmed herbs which she had given him should not
be strong enough, she chanted a spell to help them
and called in her secret arts. But he hurled a heavy
rock into the midst of his enemies and so turned
their fury away from him upon themselves. The
earth-born brethren perished by each other’s
wounds and fell ﬁghting in internecine strife. Then
did the Greeks congratulate the victorious youth,
catching him in their arms and clinging to him in
eager embraces. You also, barbarian maiden, would
gladly have embraced the victor; your modesty stood
in the way. Still, you would have embraced him;
but respect for common talk held you back. What
was allowed you did, gazing on him with silent joy
and thanking your spells and the gods who gave them.
There remained the task of putting to sleep the ever-
watchful dragon with magic herbs. This creature,
distinguished by a crest, a three—forked tongue and
hooked fangs, was the awful guardian of the golden
tree. After Jason had sprinkled upon him the
Lethaean juice of a certain herb and thrice had
recited the words that bring peaceful slumber, which
stay the swollen sea and swift-ﬂowing rivers, then
sleep came to those eyes which had never known
sleep before, and the heroic son of Aeson gained the
golden ﬂeece. Proud of this spoil and bearing with
him the giver of his prize, another spoil, the victor
and his wife in due time reached the harbour of
Iolchos.
The Thessalian mothers and aged fathers bring
gifts in honour of their sons’ safe return, and burn
incense heaped on the altar ﬂames, and the victim
with gilded horns which they have vowed is slain.
But Aeson is absent from the rejoicing throng, being
353
QVID
iam propior leto fessusque senilibus annis,
g! 1 sic Aesonides: “ o cui debere salutem
l ‘,2’ 7 - . . 0 o
conﬁteor, coniunx, quamquam m1h1 cuncta dedistl
/‘excessitque ﬁdem meritorum summa tuorum, 166
si tamen hoc possunt (quid enim non carmina
possunt P)
deme meis annis et demptos adde parenti! ”
x nec tenuit lacrimas: mota est pietate rogantis,
I dissimilemque animum, subiit Aeeta relictus__;., _ 170
v‘ \ “*“n’e'c tamen 'adfectus talis conféws‘sa“ quod '’ inquit
. " - b I, “ excidit ore tuo, coniunx, scelus? ergo ego cuiquam
_ ' posse tuae videor spatium transcribere vitae?
- - nec sinat hoc Hecate, nec tu petis aequa; sed o,
quod petis, experiar maius dare munus, Iason. 175
arte mea soceri longum temptabimus aevum,
non annis revocare tuis, modo diva triformis
{Ki-Fm"; adiuvet et praesens ingentibus adnuat ausis.”
I “ 1"7klf‘q1‘res aberant noctes, ut cornua total coirent
§efﬁcerentque orbem; postquam plenissima fulsit 180
A ac solida terras spectavit imagine luna,
I I rfegreditur tectis vestes induta recinctas,
nuda pedem, nudos‘ umeris infusa; capillos,
fertqué vag' 1s" mediae per inu‘ta'silentia noct‘is
v.9" inwﬁiittata" 'adus: ihomines volucresque'ferasque 185
solverat alta quies, nullo cum murmure saepes,1
inmotaeque silent frondes, silet umidus aer, ‘
sidera sola micant: ad quae sua bracchia tendens
.\ ‘l ter se convertit, ter sumptis ﬂumine crinem
inroravit aquis ternisque ululatibus ora 190
1 80 M erlcel. Ehwald with some M SS. gives two linesfor 186 ,'
solverat alta quies, nullo cum murmure serpunt:
sopitis similes, nullo cum murmure saepes.
354
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
now near death and heavy with the weight of years.
Then says the son of Aeson: “ O wife, to whom I freely~
own my deliverance is due, although you have already
given me all, and the sum of your beneﬁts has ex—
ceeded all my hopes; still, if your spells can do this
——and what can they not do ?—-take some portion
from my own years of life and give this to my father.” :
And he could not restrain his tears. Medea was moved
by the petitioner's ﬁlial love, and the thought of
Aeetes deserted came into her mind, how different ,3’
from J ason’s ! Still, not confessing such feelings, she
replied : “ What impious words have fallen from your
lips, my husband? Can I then transfer to any man,
think you, a portion of your life? Neither would
Hecate permit this, nor is your request right. But a
greater boon than what you ask, my Jason, will I try
to give. By my art and not your years I will try
to renew your father’s long span of life, if only
the three-formed goddess will help me and grant
her present aid in this great deed which I dare
attempt.”
There were yet three nights before the horns of
the moon would meet and make the round orb.
When the moon shone at her fullest and looked
down upon the earth with unbroken shape, Medea
went forth from her house clad in ﬂowing robes,
barefoot, her hair unadorned and streaming down
her shoulders; and all alone she wandered out into
the deep stillness of midnight. Men, birds, and
beasts were sunk in profound repose; there was no
sound in the hedgerow; the leaves hung mute and
motionless; the dewy air was still. Only the stars
twinkled. Stretching up her arms to these, she
turned thrice about, thrice sprinkled water caught
up from a ﬂowing stream upon her head and thrice
‘l
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j\.__(_:;’ ' . .__ .
g
"\
355
OV ID
solvit et in dura submisso poplite terra
“ Nox ” ait “ arcanis ﬁdissima, quaeque diurnis
\‘kaurea‘cum luna succeditis ignibusastra,
o ' J (V .i é _ ~-.'....._l .
tuque, trlceps Hecate, quae coeptis conscla nostris
‘v1 My, - Y-
r
--\.,adiutrixque' venis icantusque artisque magorum, 195
quaeque magos, Tellus, pollentibus instruis herbis,
auraeque et venti montesque amnesque lacusque,
dique omnes nemorum, dique omnes noctis adeste,
quorum ope, cum volui, ripis mirantibus amnes
in fontes rediere suos, concussaque sisto, 200
stantia concutio cantu freta, nubila pello
nubilaque induco, ventos abigoque vocoque,
vipereas rumpo verbis et carmine fauces,
vﬁivaqu‘e fsa'xa $115 convulsaque robora terra
et silvas moveo iubeoque tremescere montis 205
et mugire solum manesque exire sepulcris!
te quoque, Luna, traho, quamvis Temesaea labores
aera tuos minuant; currus quoque carmine nostro
m> pallet avi, pallet nostris Auroraveﬂnenis !
vos mihi taurorum ﬂammasrlieﬁeﬁtastis et unco 210
inpatiens oneris collum pressistis aratro,
vos serpentigenis in se fera bella dedistis
custodemque rudem somni sopistis et aurum
vindice decepto Graias misistis in urbes:
" nunc est sl‘u'éis, per quos renovata senectus 215
in ﬂorem redeat primosque recolligat annos,
356
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
gave tongue in wailing cries.
down upon the hard earth and prayed: “ O Night,
faithful preserver of mysteries, and ye bright stars,
whose golden beams with the moon succeed the ﬁres
of day ; thou three-formed Hecate, who knowest our
undertakings and comest to the aid of the spells
and arts of magicians; and thou, O Earth, who
dost provide the magicians with thy potent herbs;
ye breezes and winds, ye mountains and streams and
pools; all ye gods of the groves, all ye gods of the
night: be with me now. With your help when I
‘i
I
have willed it, the streams have run back to their;
fountain—heads, while the banks wondered; I lay
the swollen, and stir up the calm seas by my spell;
I drive the clouds and bring on the clouds; the
winds I dispel and summon; I break the jaws of
1
l
!
l’"\
g-..
l
!
serpents with my incantations ; living rocks and oaks a’.
I root up from their own soil; I move the forests, I
bid the mountains shake, the earth to rumble and
the ghosts to come forth from their tombs. Thee
also, Luna, do I draw from the sky, though the
clanging bronze of Temesa strive to aid thy throes 1 ;
even the chariot of the Sun, my grandsire, pales at
my song; Aurora pales at my poisons. You dulled
the bulls’ ﬂames at my command; you pressed under
the curved plow those necks which had endured no
weight. You turned the savage onslaught of the
serpent—born band against themselves; you lulled
the watcher who knew no sleep, and beguiling the
defender sent the golden prize back to the cities of
Greece. Now I have need of juices by whose aid
old age may be renewed and may turn back to the
bloom of youth and regain its early years. And you
1 At an eclipse it was usual to make a noise in order to
frighten away the malignant inﬂuence.
I
Then she kneeled f.’
~i
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'9'
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357
' OVID
et dabitis. neque enim micuerunt sidera frustra,
nec frustra volucrum tractus cervice draconum
aderat demissus ab aethere currus.
quo simul adscendit frenataque colla draconum 220
permulsit manibusque leves agitavit habenas,
sublimis rapitur subiectaque Thessala Tempe
dispicit et certis regionibus adplicat angiles:
et quas Ossa tulit, quas altum Pelion herbas
Othrysque et Pindus, quas Pindo maior Olympus, 225
perspicit et placitas partim radice revellit,
partim succidit curvamine falcis aenae.
multa quoque Apidani placuerunt gramina ripis,
multa quoque Amphrysi, neque eras inmunis, Enipeu;
230
currus adest. ”
nec non Peneos nec non Spercheides undae
\
_/>- contribuere aliquid iuncosaque litora Boebes;
carpsit et Euboica vivax Anthedonc gramen,
nondum mutato vulgatum corpore Glauci.
/Et iam nona dies curru pennisque draconum _
235
cum rediit; neque erant tacti nisi odore dracones,
et tamen annosae pellem posuere senectae.
constitit adveniens citra limenque foresque
et tantum caelo tegitur refugitque viriles
contactus, statuitque aras de caespite binas,
dext<i[1)'iore;Hecates,_ast lae fa parte ‘Iuventae.
nonaque nox omnes lustrantem viderat agros,
240
\ r "F: - I >41 /. . ~-.~ .
i» has u, ilverbenis g lvaque mcmxit agresti,
hauds'pr‘ocul egesta scrobibus tellune duabus
‘.m. , f I': . i): '_ I a
_/ sacra facit cultrosque 1n guttura Vell'elas’ atri
> conicit et patulas perfundit sanguine fossas ;
245
358
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
will give them; for not in vain have the stars gleamed in reply, not in vain is my car at hand,
drawn by winged dragons.” There was the car,lj.l'
sent down from the sky. When she had mounted?‘ "
therein and stroked the bridled necks of the dragon ,a
team, Shaking the light reins with her hands she ﬂ‘”
was whirled aloft. She looked down on Thessalian
Tempe lying below, and turned her dragons towards f1"?
regions that she knew. All the herbs that Ossa bore,
and high Pelion, Othrys and Pindus and Olympus,
greater than Pindus, she surveyed: and those that
pleased her, some she plucked up by the roots and / V.
some she cut off with the curved blade of a bronze
pruning—hook. Many grasses also she chose from’
the banks of the Apidanus, many from Amphrysus.
Nor were you, Enipeus, left without toll; Peneus
also, and Spercheus gave something, and the reedy
banks of Boebe. From Euboean Anthedon she
culled a grass that gives long life, a herb not yet a’,
made famous by the change which it produced in!’
Glaucus’ body. -
And now nine days and nine nights had seen her
traversing all lands, drawn in her car by her winged
dragons, when she returned. The dragons had not
been touched save by the odour of the herbs, and yet ,
they sloughed off their skins of many long years. ail
As she came Medea stopped this side of the threshold ll; ‘i’
and the door; covered by the sky alone, she avoided "1 1"
her husband’s embrace, and built two turf altars,
one on the right to Hecate and one on the left to
Youth. She wreathed these with boughs from the
wild wood, then hard by she dug two ditches in the
earth and performed her rites; plunging her knife
into the throat of a black sheep, she drenched the
open ditches with his blood. Next she poured upon
359
OVID
/'tum super invergens liquidi carchesia vini
$5“ ,5» ne properent artus anima fraudare senili.
f1
‘8%..
“ya
r)l'\
“if \k
r;
__‘1>‘squamea Cinyphii tenuis membrana chelydri'
alteraque invergens tepidi carchesia lactis,
verba simul fudit terrenaque numina civit
umbrarumque rogat rapta cum coniuge regem,
V 250
Qumos ubi‘ placavit precibusque et murmure longo,
Aesonis efl‘etum proferri corpus ad auras
iussit et in plenos resolutum carmine somnos
exanimi similem stratis porrexit in herbis.
hinc procul Aesoniden,procul hinc iubet ire ministros
et monet arcanis oculos removere profanos. 256
diﬁqugiunt iussi; passis Medea capilllis
bacchantum ritu ﬂagrantis circuit aras
\V, multiﬁdasque faces in foslsafff'sanguinis atra
tinguit et infectas geminis accendit in aris 260
terque senem ﬂamma, ter aqua, ter sulphure lustrat.
Interea validum posito medicamen aeno
fervet et exsultat spumisque tumentibus albet.
illic Haemonia radices Valle resectas 11/ ail/(4!
seminaque ﬂoresque et sucos incoquit acr’e‘s'; 26
adicit extremo lapides Oriente petitos
5
‘ et quas Oceani reﬂuum mare lavit harenas;
‘addit et exceptas luna pernocte pruinas
~jet strigis infamis ipsis cum carnibus alas
guo’t
inque virum soliti vultus mutare ferinos 270
ambigui prosecta lupi; nec defuit illis
vivacisque iecur cervi; quibus insuper addit
ova caputque novem cornicis saecula passae.
his et mille aliis postquarn sine nomine rebus
275
369
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
it bowls of liquid wine, and again bowls of milk
still warm, while at the same time she uttered her
incantations, called up the deities of the earth, and
prayed the king of the shades with his stolen bride
not to be in haste to rob the old man’s body of the
breath of life. ‘g es»
‘3. it: ‘
!
When she had appeased all these divinities byq'
long, low—muttered prayers, she bade her people
bring out under the open sky old Aeson’s worn—out
body; and having buried him in a deep slumber by
her spells, like one dead she stretched him out on a
bed of herbs. Far hence she bade Jason go, far /;
hence all the attendants, and warned them not to !
look with profane eyes upon her secret rites. They
retired as she had bidden. Medea, with streaming 1;‘; ’
hair after the fashion of the Bacchantes, moved round’,
the blazing altars, and dipping many-cleft sticks in the dark pools of blood, she lit the gory sticks at the “”I‘
altar ﬂames. Thrice she puriﬁed the old man with
ﬁre, thrice with water, thrice with sulphur. “
Meanwhile the strong potion in the bronze pot is
boiling, leaping and frothing white with the swelling
foam. In this pot she boils roots cut in a Thessalian vale, together with seeds, ﬂowers, and strong juices.
She adds to these ingredients pebbles sought for in 1
the farthest Orient and sands which the ebbing tide of Ocean laves. She adds hoar frost gathered under ‘-
the full moon, the wings of the uncanny Screech—owl
with the ﬂesh as well, and the entrails of a werewolf
which has the power of changing its wild-beast fea—
tures into a man’s. There also in the pot is the scaly !
skin of a slender Cinyphian water-snake, the liver of
a long-lived stag, to which she adds also eggs and the
head of a crow nine generations old. When with these
and a thousand other nameless things the barbarian
361
OVID
2%’
A propositum instruxit mortali barbara maius,
,I/l/ >arenti ramo iampridem mitis olivae
omnia confudit summisque inmiscuit ima.
ecce vetus calido versatus stipes aeno
ﬁt viridis primo nec longo tempore frondes 280
ii???’ gravidis oneratur olivis:
at q'u'acumque cavo spumas eiecit aeno
U ‘f Eignis et in terram guttae cecidere calentes,
‘ Hﬁqvernat humus, ﬂoresque et mollia pabula surgunt.
1" quae simul ac vidit, stricto Medea recludit 285
ense senis iugulum veteremque exire cruorem
passa replet sucis; quos postquam conbibit Aeson
aut ore acceptos aut vulnere, barba comaeque
canitie posita nigrum rapuere colorem,
pulsa fugit macies, abeunt pallorque situsque, 290
adiectoque cavae supplentur corpore rugae,
: membraque luxuriant: Aeson miratur et olim
,gﬂaqnte quater denos hunc se reminiscitur annos.
"I Viderat ex alto tanti miracula monstri
x) v)“ Liber et admonitus, iuvenes nutricibus annos 295
<\/‘ on f posse suis reddi, capit hoc a Colchide munus.
$4 Neve doli cessent, odium cum coniuge falsum
‘VA Phasias adsimulat Peliaeque ad limina supplex
> confugit; atque illam, quoniam gravis ipse senecta est,
f/w , } excipiunt natae; quas tempore callida parvo 300
\ I‘. "‘ Colchis amicitiae mendacis imagine ccpit,
¥$> dumque refert inter meritorum maxima demptos
~ "I " Aesonis essesitus atque hac in parte moratur,

- > k.
a \i‘ C Q .:-~-- I O I
4, ff,‘ >. /> spes est virgimbus Pelia subiecta creatis,
a, ‘
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a
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METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
woman had prepared her more than mortal
plan, she stirred it all up with a branch of the
fruitful olive long since dry and well mixed the
top and bottom together. And lo, the old dry
stick, when moved about in the hot broth, grew
green at ﬁrst, in a short time put forth leaves,
and then suddenly was loaded with teeming
olives. And wherever the froth bubbled over
from the hollow pot, and the hot drops fell upon
the ground, the earth grew green and ﬂowers and
soft grass sprang up. When she saw this, Medea
unsheathed her knife and cut the old man’s throat;
then, letting the old blood all run out, she ﬁlled his
veins with her brew. When Aeson had drunk this
in part through his lips and part through the wound,
his beard and hair lost their hoary grey and quickly
became black again; his leanness vanished, away
went the pallor and the look of neglect, the deep
wrinkles were ﬁlled out with new ﬂesh, his limbs had
the strength of youth. Aeson was ﬁlled with wonderf',’
‘1
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adj‘
and remembered that this was he forty years agotfrw- __
Now Bacchus had witnessed this marvel from his
!
station in the sky, and learning from this that his ;
own nurses might be restored to their youthful years,/’-_
he obtained this boon from the Colchian woman.
That malice might have its turn, the Phasian
woman feigned a quarrel with her husband, and ﬂed
as a suppliant to the house of Pelias. There,'since
the king himself was heavy with years, his daughters
gave her hospitable reception. These girls the crafty
Colchian in a short time won over by a false show of
friendliness; and while she was relating among the
most remarkable of her achievements the rejuvena-
tion of Aeson, dwelling particularly on that, the
daughters of Pelias were induced to hope that by
363
OVID
\2arte suum pardili revirescere posse parentem, 305
3 idque petunt pretiumque iubent sine ﬁne pacisci.
illa brevi spatio silet et dubitare videtur W
suspenditque animos ﬁcta gravitate rogantes.
\>*mox ubi p_o_l_l_i_cita est, “ quo sit ﬁducia maior
\‘ ;\. muneris huius” ait, “ qui vestri maximus aevo est 310
dux gregis inter oves, agnus medicamine ﬁet.”
protinus innumeris eﬁ‘etus laniger annis
attrahitur ﬁexo circum cava tempora cornu;
cuius ut Haemonio marcentia guttura cultro
> fodit et exiguo maculavit sanguine ferrum, 315
>membra simul pecudis validosque veneﬁca sucos
5‘ x) mergit in aere cavo: minuunt ea corporis artus
cornuaque exurunt nec non curn cornibus annos,
et tener auditur medio balatus aeno:
nec mora, balatum mirantibus exsilit agnus 320
,_ lascivitque fuga lactantiaque ubera quaerit.
M Obstipuere satae Pelia, promissaque postquam
K,>exhil_)uer_e ﬁdem, tum vero inpensius instant.


‘er iuga Phoebus equis in Hibero ﬂumine mersis
demsperat et quarta radiantia nocte micabant 325
sidera, cum rapido fallax Aeetias igni
imponit purum laticem et sine viribus herbas.
iamque neci similis resoluto corpore regem
et cum rege suo custodes somnus habebat,
“Y \ quem dederant cantus magicaeque potentia linguae;
3. _. intrarant iussae cum Colchide limina natae 331
471,1‘ _ (i z k, ‘y\
llf~k_,\ \h'g‘i’rfin
a $531-?‘
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METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
. udder to give him milk.
skill like this their own father might be made young
again. And they beg this boon, bidding her name the price, no matter how great. She made no reply ; \'“ for a little while and seemed to hesitate, keeping the i.
minds of her suppliants in suspense by feigned deep
meditation. When she had at length given her
promise, she said to them: “ That you may have the
greater conﬁdence in this boon, the oldest leader of
the ﬂock among your sheep shall become a lamb
again by my drugs.” Straightway a woolly ram,
worn out with untold years, was brought forward,
his great horns curving round his hollow temples.
When the witch cut his scrawny throat with her
Thessalian knife, barely staining the weapon with his
scanty blood, she plunged his carcass into a kettle of
bronze, throwing in at the same time juices of great
potency. These made his body shrink, burnt away
his horns, and with his horns, his years. And now a
thin bleating was heard from within the pot; and,
even while they were wondering at the sound, out
jumped a lamb and ran frisking away to ﬁnd some ‘_
.-
_,-_. \
Pelias’ daughters looked on in amazement; and now” $1: . j
that these promises had been performed, they urged 1
A
their request still more eagerly than before. Three
times had Phoebus unyoked his steeds after their
plunge in Ebro’s stream, and on the fourth night the
stars were shining bright in the sky, when the trea-
cherous daughter of Aeetes set some clear water over,
a hot ﬁre and put therein herbs of no potency. And j
now a death-like sleep held the king, his body all
relaxed, and with the king his guards, sleep which
incantations and the potency of magic words had
given. The king’s daughters, as they were bidra
entered his chamber with the Colchian and stood
365
OVI D
ambierantque torum: “quid nunc dubitatis inertes?
stringite ” ait “ gladios veteremque haurite crurorem,
ut repleam vacuas iuvenali sanguine vena’s!
in manibus vestris vita est aetasque parentis: 335
si pietas ulla est nec spes agitatis inanis,
oﬁicium praestate patri telisque senectam
- exigite, et saniem coniecto emittite ferro! ”
his, ut quaeque pia est, hortatibus inpia prima est
~et, ne sit scelerata, facit scelus: haud tamen ictus 340
ulla suos spectare potest, oculosque reflectunt,
caecaque dant saevis aversae vulnera dextris.
ille cruore ﬂuens, cubito tamen adlevat artus,
semilacerque toro temptat consurgere, et inter
tot medius gladios pallentia bracchia tendens 345
" quid facitis, gnatae? quid vos in fata parentis
armat? ” ait: cecidere illis animique manusque;
' plura locuturo cum verbis guttura Colchis
_ ’ abstulit et calidis laniatum mersit in undis.
\ ‘j Quod nisi pennatis serpentibus isset in auras, 350
/ non exempta foret poenae: fugit alta superque
.41 ( 237:3!“ Pelion umbrosum, Philyreia tecta, superque
“ ' Othryn et eventu veteris loca nota Cerambi:

§
0
1
f‘ ' hic ope nympharum sublatus in aera pennis,
; cum gravis infuso tellus foret obruta ponto, 355
l" '5 ' Deucalioneas eﬁ‘ugit inobrutus undas.
Aeoliam Pitanen a laeva parte relinquit
factaque de saxo longi simulacra draconis
Idaeumque nemus, quo nati furta, iuvencum,
occuluit Liber falsi sub imagine cervi, 360
366
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
around his bed. “ Why do you hesitate now, you
laggards ? ” Medea said. “ Come, draw your swords, . A”
and let out his old blood that I may reﬁll his empty "
veins with young blood again. In your own hands“ \c”
rests your father’s life and youth. If you have any?
t,“
ﬁlial love, and if the hopes are not vain that you are
cherishing, come, do your duty by your father; drive
out age at your weapon’s point; let out his enfeebled
blood with the stroke of the steel.” Spurred on by 7.
these words, as each was ﬁlial she became ﬁrst in
the unﬁlial act, and that she might not be wicked did _ the wicked deed. Nevertheless, none could bear to I’
see her own blows ; they turned their eyes away; and j \
so with averted faces they blindly struck with cruel a
hands. The old man, streaming with blood, still '
raised himself on his elbow and half mangled tried
to get up from his bed; and with all those swords
round him, he stretched out his pale arms and cried: r
“ What are you doing, my daughters? What arms"
you to your father’s death?” Their courage left .
them, their hands fell. When he would have spoken
further, the Colchian cut his throat and plunged his )
mangled body into the boiling water. A ' '
But had she not gone away through the air drawn by her winged dragons, she would not have escaped
punishment. High up she sped over shady Pelion, Cd,“
the home of Chiron, over Othrys and the regions miée
made famous by the adventure of old Cerambus. (He, by the aid of the nymphs borne up into the air
on wings, at the time when the heavy earth had sunk
beneath the overwhelming sea, escaped Deucalion’s
ﬂood undrowned.) Aeolian Pitane she passed by on ‘
the left, with its huge serpent image made of stone; {I}
and Ida’s grove, where Bacchus, to conceal his son’s _\\
theft, changed the bullock into the seeming form of Q’
.\
367 D” - a;
s it "’
6 “a: ’’
‘'.,i\l\ his)”
OVID
\r quaque pater Corythi parva tumulatus harena est,
et quos Maera novo latratu terruit agros,
Eurypylique urbem, qua Coae cornua matres
' gesserunt tum, cum discederet Herculis agmen,
Phoebeamque Rhodon et Ialysios Telchinas, 365
.- quorum oculos ipso vitiantes omnia visu
Iuppiter exosus fraternis subdidit undis;
' transit et antiquae Cartheia moenia Ceae,
qua pater Alcidamas placidam de corpore natae
miraturus erat nasci potuisse columbam. 370
inde lacus Hyries videt et Cycneia Tempe,
'quae subitus celebravit olor: nam Phyllius illic
imperio pueri volucrisque ferumque leonem
tradiderat domitos; taurum quoque vincere iussus
vicerat et spreto totiens iratus amore 375
praemia poscenti taurum suprema negabat;
ille indignatus “ cupies dare ” dixit et alto
'desiluit saxo; cuncti cecidisse putabant:
factus olor niveis pendebat in aere pennis;
at genetrix Hyrie, servatum nescia, ﬂendo _ 380
dilicuit stagnumque suo de nomine fecit.
adiacet his Pleuron, in qua trepidantibus alis
' Ophias eﬁ‘ugit natorum vulnera Combe;
- inde Calaureae Letoidos adspicit arva
in volucrem versi cum coniuge conscia regis. 385
‘ dextera Cyllene est, in qua cum matre Menephron
~ concubiturus erat saevarum more ferarum;
J Cephison procul hinc deﬂentem fata nepotis
3.68
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
a stag; where the father of Corythus lay buried~
beneath a small mound of sand; where Maera spread
terror through the ﬁelds by her strange barking;
over the city of Eurypylus where the women of Cos
wore horns what time the band of Hercules with-
drew; over Rhodes, beloved of Phoebus; and the
Telchines of Ialysus whose eyes, blighting all things
by their very glance, Jupiter in scorn and hatred
plunged beneath his brother’s waves. She passed
also the walls of ancient Carthaea on the island of
Cea, where father Alcidamas was sometime to marvel
that a peaceful dove could have sprung from his
daughter’s body. Next Hyrie’s lake she saw, and
Tempe, which Cycnus’ sudden change into a swan
made famous. For there Phyllius, at the command
of a boy, had tamed and brought him wild birds and a
savage lion; being commanded to tame a wild bull
also, he had tamed him, but angry that so often his
love was spurned, he withheld the last gift of the
bull from the boy who asked it; whereupon the boy
in anger said, “ You will wish you had given it,”
and leaped forthwith from a cliff. They all thought
that he had fallen; but changed to a swan he re-
mained ﬂoating in the air on snowy wings. But
Hyrie, his mother, not knowing that her son was
saved, melted away in tears and became a pool of the
same name. Near these regions lies Pleuron, where
Combe, the daughter of Ophius, escaped death at the
hands of her sons on ﬂuttering wings. After that,
she sees the fertile island of Calau'rea, sacred to
Latona, the island that saw the king and his wife.
both changed into birds. On her right lies Cyllene,
which Menephron was doomed to deﬁle with incest
after the wild beasts’ fashion. Far off from here she
looks down on the Cephisus, bewailing the fate of his
VOL. I. N
369
OVID
""‘u/lj"\_~ l}
\. .
, .
._ '. i1! \
'ln; 3'. .T
L.
a respicit in tumidam phocen ab Apolline versi
Eumelique domum lugentis in aere natum.
Tandem vipereis Ephyren Pirenida pennis
contigit: hic aevo veteres mortalia primo
corpora vulgarunt pluvialibus edita fungis.
-- sed postquam Colchis arsit nova nupta venenis
390
lﬂagrantemque domum regis mare vidit utrumque, 395
sanguine natorum perfunditur inpius ensis,
,ultaque se male mater Iasonis eﬁ‘ugit arma.
‘hinc Titaniacis ablata draconibus intrat
Palladias arces, quae te, iustissima Phene,
_ -\~ teque, senex Peripha, pariter videre volantes
E?“ inn-ixamque novis neptem Polypemonis alis.
.“K
.s.
excipit hanc Aegeus facto damnandus in uno,
00
nec satis hospitium est,thalami quoque foedere iungit.
Iamque aderat Theseus, proles ignara parenti,
qui virtute sua bimarem pacaverat Isthmon:
huius in-exitium miscet Medea, quod olim
attulerat secum Scythi'cis aconiton ab oris.
illud Echidneae memorant e dentibus ortum
esse canis: specus est tenebroso caecus hiatu,
est via declivis, per quam Tirynthius heros
restantem contraque diem radiosque micantes
' obliquantem oculos nexis adamante catenis
" Cerberon abstraxit, rabida qui concitus ira
inplevit pariter ternis latratibus auras
et sparsit virides spumis albentibus agros;
405
410
415
37°
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
grandson changed by Apollo into a plump sea—calf;
and upon the home of Eumelus, who lamented that
his son now dwelt in air.
At length, upborne by the snaky wings, she reached
Corinth of the sacred spring. Here, according to
ancient tradition, in the earliest times men’s bodies
sprang from mushrooms. But after the new wife had
been burnt by the Colchian witchcraft, and the two
seas had seen the king’s palace aﬂame, she stained
her impious sword in the blood of her sons; and
then, after this horrid vengeance, the mother ﬂed
J ason’s sword. Borne hence by her dragons sprung
from Titans’ blood, she entered the citadel of Pallas,
which beheld you, most righteous Phene, and you,
old Periphas, ﬂying side by side, and the grand-
daughter1 of Polypemon upborne by new—sprung
wings. Aegeus received her, that one deed enough
to doom him; but he was not content with hos-
pitality : he made her his wife as well.
And now came Theseus, a son that his father knew
not; who by his manly prowess had established
peace on the Isthmus between its two seas. Bent
on his destruction, Medea mixed in a cup a poison
which she had brought long ago from the’Scythian
shores. This poison, they say, came from the mouth
of the Echidnean dog. There is a cavern with a
dark, yawning throat and a way down-sloping, along
which Hercules, the hero of Tiryns, dragged Cer-
berus with chains wrought of adamant, while the
great dog fought and turned away his eyes from
the bright light of day. He, goaded on to mad
frenzy, ﬁlled all the air with his threefold howls,
and sprinkled the green ﬁelds with white foam.
Men think that these ﬂecks of foam grew; and,.
1 Alcyone.
371
OVID
, has concresse putant nactasque alimenta feracis
fecundique soliﬁvires ceﬂpi's/se noggndi;
quae quialncasculptur duip vivaciazcautef
agrestes aconita vocant. ea coniugis astu
ipse pa?‘t3ns‘rAegeus natbqyporrebnit‘ ut lgostil V 420
sumpseraq‘ lgnajra Th‘ése s da’ta-‘pocula dextra,
cum pater in capulo gladii cognovit eburno
signa sui generis facinusque excussit ab ore.
eﬂ‘ugit illa necem nebulis per carmina motis;
At genitor, quamquam laetatur sospite nato, 425
attonitus tamen est, ingens discrimine parvo
committi potuisse nefas: fovet ignibus aras
' muneribusque d'eos inplet, feriuntque secures
colla torosa boum vinctorum tempora vittis.
nullus Erechthidis fertur celebratior illo 430
inluxisse dies: agitant convivia patres-
et medium vulgus nec non et carmina ‘vino
ingenium faciente canunt: “ te, maxime Theseu,
mirata est Marathon Cretaei sanguine tauri, '
quodque suis securus arat Cromyona colonus, 435'
munus opusque tuum est; tellus Epidauria per te
' clavigeram vidit Vulcani occumbere prolem,
vidit et inmitem Cephisias ora Procrusten,
“ Cercyonis letum vidit Cerealis Eleusin.
occidit ille Sinis magnis male viribus usus, 440
qui poterat curvare trabes et agebat ab alto
ad terram late sparsuras corpora pinus.
‘tutus ad Alcathoen, Lelegeia moenia, limes
\ conposito Scirone patet, sparsisque latronis
372,
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
drawing nourishment from the rich, rank soil, they
gained power to hurt; and because they spring up
and ﬂourish on hard rocks, the country folk call
them aconite.1 This poison, through the treachery
of his wife, father Aegeus himself presented to his
son as though to a stranger. Theseus had taken and
raised the cup in his unwitting hand, when the father
recognized the tokens of his own family on the ivory
hilt of the sword which Theseus wore, and he dashed
the vile thing from his lips. But Medea escaped
death in a dark whirlwind her witch songs raised.
But the father, though he rejoiced at his son’s
deliverance, was still horror-struck that so monstrous
an iniquity could have been so nearly done. He
kindled ﬁres upon the altars, made generous gifts
to the gods; his axes struck at the brawny necks of
bulls with ribbons about their horns. It is said that
no day ever dawned for the Athenians more glad
than that. The elders and the common folk made
merry together. Together they sang their songs,
with wit inspired by wine: “ You, O most mighty
Theseus, Marathon extols for the blood of the Cretan
bull; and that the farmer of Cromyon may till his
ﬁelds without fear of the sow is your gift and your
deed. Through you the land of Epidaurus saw Vul-
can’s club-wielding son 2 laid low; the banks of Cephi-
sus 'saw the merciless Procrustes slain; Eleusis, the
town of Ceres, beheld Cercyon’s death. By your hand
fell that Sinis of great strength turned to evil uses,
who could bend the trunks of trees, and force down
to earth the pine-tops to shoot men’s bodies far out
through the air. A way lies safe and open now to
Alcathoe and the Lelege‘ian walls, now that Sciron is
no more. To this robber’s scattered bones both land
1 Le. “ growing without soil.” 3 Periphetes.
373
OVID
terra nevatﬁsed m, s demmegat ossibus unda; 445
qu'a'e iaciata di F fe‘rt r dﬁl'asse vetu'sta‘s
in scopulos: scopulis nomen Scironis inhaeret.
si titulos annosque tuos numerare velimus,
facta prement annos. pro te, fortissime, vota
publica suscipimusZ/Bacchi tibi sumimus haustus." 450
consonat adsensu populi precibusque faventum
regia, nec tota tristis locus ullus in urbe est.
Nec tamen (usque adeo nulla est sincera voluptas,
sollicitumque aliquid laetis intervenit) Aegeus
gaudia percepit nato secura recepto: 455
bella parat Minos; qui quamquam milite, quamquam
classe valet, patria tamen est ﬁrmissimus ira
Androgeique necem iustis ulciscitur armis.
ante tamen bello vires adquirit amicas,
quaque potens habitus volucri freta classe pererrat:
hinc Anaphen sibi iungit et Astypaleia regna, 461
(promissis Anaphen, regna Astypaleia bello);
hinc humilem Myconon cretosaque rura Cimoli
ﬂorentemque thymo Syron planamque Seriphon
marmoreamque Paron, quamque inpia prodidit Arne
Sithonis: accepto, quod avara poposcerat, auro 466
mutata est in avem, quae nunc quoque diligit aurum,
nigra pedes, nigris velata monedula pennis.
At non ()liaros Didymaeque et Tenos et Andros
et Gyaros nitidaeque ferax Peparethos olivae 470
Gnosiacas iuvere rates; latere inde sinistro
Oenopiam Minos petit, Aeacideia regna:
Oenopiam veteres adpellavere, scd ipse
Aeacus Aeginam genetricis nomine dixit.
374
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
and sea denied a resting-place; but, long tossed
about, it is said that in time they hardened into
cliffs; and the cliffs still bear the name of Sciron.
If we should wish to count your praises and your
years, your deeds would exceed your years. For
you, brave hero, we give public thanks and prayers,
to you we drain our cups of wine.” The palace
resounds with the applause of the people and the
prayers of the happy revellers ; nowhere in the whole
city is there any place for gloom.
And yet—so true it is that there is no pleasure
unalloyed, and some care always comes to mar our
joys—Aegeus’ rejoicing over his son’s return was not
unmixed with care. Minos was threatening war.
Strong in men and ships, he was yet most strong in
fatherly resentment and with just arms was seeking
to avenge the death of his son Androgeos. But ﬁrst
he sought for friendly aid for his warfare; and he
scoured the sea in the swift ﬂeet in which his chief
strength lay. He joined to his cause Anaphe and
Astypalaea, the ﬁrst by promises, the second by
threats of war; the low-lying Myconus and the
chalky ﬁelds of Cimolus; Syros covered with wild
thyme, level Se-riphos, Paros of the marble cliffs, and
that place which impious Sithonian Arne betrayed,
and having received the gold which she in her
greed had demanded, was changed into a bird
which even now delights in gold, a black-footed,
black-winged daw.
But Oliaros and Didymae, Tenos, Andros, Gyaros
and Peparethos, rich in glossy olives, gave no aid to
the Cretan ﬂeet. Sailing thence to the left, Minos
sought Oenopia, the realm of the Aeacidae. Men of
old time had called the place Oenopia; but Aeacus
himself styled it Aegina by his mother’s name. At
375
OVID
turba ruit tantaeque virum cognoscere famae 475
expetit; occurrunt illi Telamonque minorque
quam Telamon Peleus et proles tertia Phocus;
ipse quoque egreditur tardus gravitate senili
Aeacus et, quae sit veniendi causa requirit.
admonitus patrii luctus suspirat et illi 480
dicta refert rector populorum talia centum:
“ arma iuves oro pro gnato sumpta piaeque
pars sis militiae; tumulo solacia posco.”
huic Asopiades “ petis inrita ” dixit “ et urbi
non facienda meae; neque enim coniunctior ulla 485
Cecropidis est hac tellus : ea foedera nobis."
tristis abit “stabunt” que “tibi tua foedera magno’
dixit et utilius bellum putat esse minari
quam gerere atque suas ibi praeconsumere vires.
classis ab ()enopiis etiamnum Lyctia muris 490
spectari poterat, cum pleno concita velo
Attica puppis adest in portusque intrat amicos,
quae Cephalum patriaeque simul mandata ferebat.
Aeacidae longo iuvenes post tempore visum
agnovere tamen Cephalum dextrasque dedere 495
inque patris duxere domum: spectabilis heros
et veteris retinens etiamnum pignora formae
ingreditur ramumque tenens popularis olivae
a dextra laevaque duos aetate minores
maior habet, Clyton et Buten, Pallante creatos. 500
Postquam congressus primi sua verba tulerunt,
Cecropidum Cephalus peragit mandata rogatque
auxilium foedusque refert et iura parentum,
imperiumque peti totius Achaidos addit.
)
376
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
his approach a rabble rushed forth, eager to see and
know so famous a man. Him Telamon met, and
Peleus, younger than Telamon, and Phocus, third in
age. Aeacus himself came also, slow with the weight
of years, and asked him what was the cause of his
coming. Reminded of his fatherly grief, the ruler
of a hundred cities sighed and thus made answer:
" I beg you aid the arms which for my son’s sake I
have taken up; and be a part of my pious warfare.
Repose for the dead I ask.” To him Aeacus replied:
“ You ask in vain that which my city cannot give;
for no land is more closely linked to the Athenians
than this: so strong are the treaties between us.”
The other, disappointed, turned away saying: “ Your
treaty shall cost you dear ”; for he thought it were
better to threaten war than to wage it and to waste
his strength there untimely. Still the Cretan ﬂeet
could be seen from the Oenopian walls, when,
driven on under full sail, an Attic ship arrived and
entered the friendly port, bringing Cephalus and
his country’s greetings. The men of the house of
Aeacus, though it was long since they had seen
Cephalus, yet knew him, grasped his hand, and
brought him into their father’s house. The hero
advanced, the centre of all eyes, retaining even yet
the traces of his old beauty and charm, bearing a
branch of his country’s olive, and, himself the elder‘,
ﬂanked on right and left by two of lesser age, Clytos
and Butes, sons of Pallas.
After they had exchanged greetings, Cephalus
delivered the message of the Athenians, asking for
aid and quoting the ancestral league and treaty
between their two nations. He added that not
alone Athens but the sovereignty over all Greece
was Minos’ aim. When thus his eloquence had com—
377
OVID
sic ubi mandatam iuvit facundia causam, 505
Aeacus, in capulo sceptri nitente sinistra,
“ ne petite auxilium, sed sumite ” dixit, “ Athenae,
nec dubie vires, quas haec habet insula, vestras
ducite et omnia, quae rerum status iste mearum.
robora non desunt; superat mihi miles et hosti; 510
gratia dis, felix et inexcusabile tempus.”
“ immo ita sit ” Cephalus, “ crescat tua civibus opto
urbs ” ait; “ adveniens equidem modo gaudia cepi,
cum tam pulchra mihi, tam par aetate iuventus
obvia processit; multos tamen inde requiro, 515
quos quondam vidi vestra prius urbe receptus.”
Aeacus ingemuit tristique ita voce locutus:
“ ﬂebile principium melior fortuna secuta est;
hanc utinam possem vobis memorare sine illo!
ordine nunc repetam, neu longa ambage morer vos,
ossa cinisque iacent, memori quos mente requiris, 521
et quota pars illi rerum periere mea-rum!
dira lues ira populis Iunonis iniquae
incidit exosae dictas a paelice terras.
dum visum mortale malum tantaeque latebat 525
causa nocens cladis, pugnatum est arte medendi :
exitium superabat opem, quae victa iacebat.
principio caelum spissa caligine terras
pressit et ignavos inclusit nubibus aestus;
dumque quater iunctis explevit cornibus orbem 530
Luna, quater plenum tenuata retexuit orbem,
letiferis calidi spirarunt aestibus austri.
constat et in fontis vitium venisse lacusque,
miliaque incultos serpentum multa per agros
errasse atque suis ﬁuvios temerasse venenis. 535
378
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
mended his cause, Aeacus,his left hand resting on the
sceptre’s hilt, exclaimed: “ Ask not our aid, but take
it, Athens; and boldly count your own the forces
which this island holds,and all things which the state
of my affairs supplies. Warlike strength is not lacking;
I have soldiers enough for myself and for my enemy.
Thanks to the gods, the times are happy, and without
excuse for my refusal.” “ May it prove even so,”
said Cephalus, " and may your city multiply in men.
In truth, as I came hither, I was rejoiced to meet
youth so fair, so matched in age. And yet I miss
_many among them whom I saw before when last I
visited your city.” Aeacus groaned and with sad
voice thus replied: “ It was an unhappy beginning,
but better fortune followed. Would that I could tell
you the last without the ﬁrst! Now I will take
each in turn; and, not to delay you with long circum-
locution, they are but bones and dust whom with
kindly interest you ask for. And oh, how large a part
of all my kingdom perished with them! A dire
pestilence came on my people through angry J uno’s
wrath, who hated us for that our land was called by
her rival’s name. So long as the scourge seemed of
mortal origin and the cause of the terrible plague
was still unknown, we fought against it with the
physician’s art. But the power of destruction ex—
ceeded our resources, which were completely baﬂled.
At ﬁrst heaven rested down upon the earth in thick
blackness, and held the sluggish heat conﬁned in the
clouds. And while the moon four times waxed to a
full orb with horns complete, and four times waned
from that full orb, hot south winds blew on us with
pestilential breath. Consistently with this, the bale-
ful infection reached our springs and pools; thousands
of serpents crawled over our deserted ﬁelds and deﬁled
379
OVID
strage canum primo volucrumque oviumque boumque
inque feris subiti deprensa potentia morbi.
concidere infelix validos miratur arator
inter opus tauros medioque recumbere sulco;
lanigeris gregibus balatus dantibus aegros 540
sponte sua lanaeque cadunt et corpora tabent;
acer equus quondam magnaeque in pulvere famae
degenerat palmas veterumque oblitus honorum
ad praesepe gemit leto moriturus inerti.
non aper irasci meminit, non ﬁdere cursu 545
cerva'nec armentis incurrere fortibus ursi.
omnia languor habet: silvisque agrisque viisque
corpora foeda iacent, vitiantur odoribus aurae.
mira loquar: non illa canes avidaeque volucres,
non cani tetigere lupi; dilapsa liquescunt 550
adﬂatuque nocent et agunt contagia late.
“ Pervenit ad miseros damno graviore colonos
pestis et in magnae dominatur moenibus urbis.
viscera torrentur primo, ﬂammaeque latentis
indicium rubor est et ductus anhelitus; igni 555
aspera lingua tumet, tepidisque arentia ventis
ora patent, auraeque graves captantur hiatu.
non stratum, non \ulla pati velamina pos/sunt,
sled dﬁra teiira piiii'unt pra’iici’irdiaine'c ﬁt
corpus humo gelidum, sed iumus de corpore fervet.
nec moderator adest, inque ipsos saeva medentes 561
erumpit clades, obsuntque auctoribus artes;
quo propior quisque est servitque ﬁdelius aegro,
in partem leti citius venit, utque salutis
3.80,
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
our rivers with their poison. At ﬁrst the swift power
of the disease was conﬁned to the destruction of dogs
and birds, sheep and cattle, or among the wild beasts.
The luckless plowman marvels to see his strong bulls
fall in the midst of their task and sink down in the
furrow. The woolly ﬂocks bleat feebly while their
wool falls off of itself and their bodies pine away.
The horse, once of high courage and of great renown
on the race-course, has now lost his victorious spirit
and, forgetting his former glory, groans in his
stall, doomed to an inglorious death. The boar
forgets his rage, the hind to trust his ﬂeetness, the
bears to attack the stronger herds. Lethargy holds
all. In woods and ﬁelds and roads foul carcasses
lie; and the air is deﬁled by the stench. And,
strange to say, neither dogs nor ravenous birds nor
grey wolves did touch them. The bodies lie rotting
on the ground, blast with their stench, and spread the
contagion far and near.
“ At last, now grown stronger, the pestilence attacks
the wretched countrymen, and lords it within the great
city’s walls. As the ﬁrst symptoms, the vitals are burnt
up, and a sign of the lurking ﬁre is a red ﬂush and
panting, feverish breath. The tongue is rough and
swollen with fever; the lips stand apart, parched with
hot respiration, and catch gasping at the heavy air.
The stricken can endure no bed, no covering of any kind,
but throw themselves face down on the hard ground;
but their bodies gain no coolness from the ground;
rather is the ground heated by their bodies. No one
can control the pest,but it ﬁercely breaks out upon the
very physicians, and their arts do but injure those who
use them. The nearer one is to the sick and the more
faithfully he serves them, the more quickly is be him—
self stricken unto death. And as the hope of life
381
OV ID
spes abiit ﬁnemque vident in funere morbi, 565
indulgent animis et nulla, quid utile, cura est:
utile enim nil est. passim positoque pudore
fontibus et ﬂuviis puteisque capacibus haerent,
nec sitis est exstincta prius quam vita bibendo.
inde graves multi nequeunt consurgere et ipsis 57 0
inmoriuntur aquis, aliquis tamen haurit et illas;
tantaque sunt miseris invisi taedia lecti,
prosiliunt aut, si prohibent consistere vires,
corpora devolvunt in humum fugiuntque penates
quisque suos, sua cuique domus funesta videtur, 575
et quia causa latet, locus est in crimine parvus.
semianimes errare viis, dum stare valebant,
adspiceres, ﬁentes alios terraque iacentes
lassaque versantes supremo lumina motu;
membraque pendentis tendunt ad sidera caeli, 580
hic illic, ubi mors deprenderat, exhalantes.
“ Quid mihi tunc animi fuit? an, quod debuit esse,
ut vitam odissem et cuperem pars esse meorum?
quo se cumque acies oculorum ﬂexerat, illic
vulgus erat stratum, veluti cum putria motis 585
poma cadunt ramis agitataque ilice glandes.
templa vides contra gradibus sublimia longis:
Iuppiter illa tenet. quis non altaribus illis
inrita tura dedit? quotiens pro coniuge coniunx,
pro gnato genitor dum verba precantia dicit, 590
non exoratis animam ﬁnivit in aris,
inque manu turis pars inconsumpta reperta est!
admoti quotiens templis, dum vota sacerdos
concipit et fundit durum inter cornua vinum,
\
382
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
deserts them and they see the end of their malady
only in death, they indulge their desires, and they
have no care for what is best—for nothing is best.
Everywhere, shameless they lie, in fountain—basins, in
streams and roomy wells; nor by drinking is their
thirst quenched so long as life remains. Many of
these are too weak to rise, and die in the very water;
and yet others drink even that water. To many poor
wretches so great is the irksomeness of their hateful
beds that they jump out, or, if they have not strength
enough to stand, they roll out on the ground. They
ﬂee from their own homes: for each man’s home
seems a place of death to him. Since the cause of the
disease is hidden, that small spot is held to blame.
You might have seen them wandering half dead along
the ways while they could keep on their feet, others
lying on the ground and weeping bitterly, turning
their dull eyes upward with a last weak effort, and
stretching out their arms to the sky that hung over
them like a pall—here, there, wherever death has
caught them, breathing out their lives.
“ What were my feelings then? Was it not natural
that I should hate life and long to be with my friends ?
Wherever I turned my eyes there was a confused heap
of dead, as mellow apples fall when the boughs are
shaken, and acorns from the wind-tossed oak. You
see a temple yonder, raised on high, approached by a
long ﬂight of steps. It is sacred to Jupiter. Who
did not bear his fruitless offerings to those altars?
How often a husband for his wife’s sake, a father for
his son, while still uttering his prayer, has died before
the implacable altars, and in his hand a portion of
the incense was unused! How often the sacriﬁcial
bulls brought to the temples, while yet the priest
was praying and pouring pure wine between their
383
OVI D
haud exspectato ceciderunt vulnere tauri! 595
ipse ego sacra Iovi pro me patriaque tribusque
cum facerem natis, mugitus victima diros
edidit et subito conlapsa sine ictibus ullis
exiguo tinxit subiectos sanguine cultros.
exta quoque aegra notas veri monitusque deorum 600
perdiderant: tristes penetrant ad viscera morbi.
ante sacros vidi proiecta cadavera postes,
ante ipsas, quo mors foret invidiosior, aras.
pars animam laqueo claudunt mortisque timorem
morte fugant ultroque vocant venientia fata. 605
corpora missa neci nullis de more feruntur
funeribus (neque enim capiebant funera portae):
aut inhumata premunt terras aut dantur in altos
indotata rogos; et iam reverentia nulla est,
deque rogis pugnant alienisque ignibus ardent. 610
qui lacriment, desunt, indeﬂetaeque vagantur
matrumque nuruumque animae invenumque senum-
que,
nec locus in tumulos, nec sufﬁcit arbor in ignes.
Attonitus tanto miserarum turbine rerum,
‘ Iuppiter o! ’ dixi, ‘ si te non falsa loquuntur 615
dicta sub amplexus Aeginae Asopidos isse,
nec te, magne pater, nostri pudet esse parentem,
aut mihi redde meos aut me quoque conde sepulcro! ’
ille notam fulgore dedit tonitruque secundo.
‘ accipio s’intque ista precor felicia mentis 620
signa tuae! ' dixi, quod das mihi, pigneror omen.’
forte fuit iuxta patulis rarissima ramis
sacra Iovi quercus de semine Dodonaeo;
384
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
horns, have fallen without waiting for the stroke!
While I myself was sacriﬁcing to Jove on my own
behalf and for my country and my three sons, the
victim uttered dreadful bellowings and, suddenly
falling without any stroke of mine, it barely stained
the knife with its scanty blood; the diseased entrails
also had lost the marks of truth and the warnings of
the gods : for to the very vitals does the grim pest go.
Before the temple doors I saw the corpses cast away,
nay, before the very altars, that their death might be
even more odious. Some hung themselves, driving
away the fear of death by death and going out to
meet their approaching fate. The dead bodies were
not borne out to burial in the accustomed way; for
the gates would not accommodate so many funerals.
They either lie on the ground unburied, or else they
are piled high on funeral pyres without honours. And
by this time there is no reverence for the dead; men
ﬁght for pyres, and with stolen ﬂames they burn.
There are none left to mourn the dead. Unwept
they go wandering out, the souls of matrons and of
brides, of men both young and old. There was no
more space for graves, nor wood for ﬁres.
“ Dazed by such an overwhelming ﬂood of woe, I
cried to Jove: ‘ O Jove, if it is not falsely said that
thou didst love Aegina, daughter of Asopus, and if thou,
great father, art not ashamed to be our father, either
give me back my people orconsign me also to the tomb.’
He gave a sign with lightning and a peal of thunder
in assent. ‘ I accept the sign,’ I said, ‘and may those
tokens of thy mind towards us be happy signs. The
omen which thou givest me I take as pledge.’ It
chanced there was an oak near by with branches un-
usually widespread, sacred to Jove and of Dodona’s
stock. Here we spied a swarm of grain-gathering
385
OVID
hic nos frugilegas adspeximus agmine longo
grande onus exiguo formicas ore gerentes 625
rugosoque suum servantes cortice callem;
dum numerum miror, ‘ totidem, pater optime,’ dixi,
‘ tu mihi da cives et inania moenia supple! ’
intremuit ramisque sonum sine ﬂamine motis
alta dedit quercus: pavido mihi membra timore 630
horruerant, stabantque comae; tamen oscula terrae
roboribusque dedi, nec me sperare fatebar;
sperabam tamen atque animo mea vota fovebam.
nox subit, et curis exercita corpora somnus
occupat: ante oculos eadem mihi quercus adesse 635
et ramis totidem totidemque animalia ramis
ferre suis visa est pariterque tremescere motu
graniferumque agmen subiectis spargere in arvis;
crescere quod subito et maius maiusque videri
ac se tollere humo rectoque adsistere trunco ' 640
et maciem numerumque pedum nigrumque colorem
ponere et humanam membris inducere formam.
somnus abit: damno vigilans mea visa querorque
in superis opis esse nihil; at in aedibus ingens 644
murmur erat, vocesque hominum exaudire videbar
iam mihi desuetas; dum suspicor has quoque somni
esse, venit Telamon properus foribusque reclusis
‘ speque ﬁdeque, pater ’, dixit ‘ maiora videbis:
egredere! ’ egredior, qualesque in imagine somni
visus eram vidisse viros, ex ordine tales 650
adspicio noscoquc: adeunt regemque salutant.
vota Iovi solvo populisque recentibus urbem
partior et vacuos priscis cultoribus agros,
386
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
ants in a long column, bearing heavy loads with their
tiny mouths, and keeping their own path along the
wrinkled bark. Wondering at their numbers, I said:
‘ O most excellent father, grant thou me just as many
subjects, and ﬁll my empty walls.’ The lofty oak
trembled and moved its branches, rustling in the
windless air. My limbs were horror-smit with quak-
ing fear and my hair stood on end. Yet I kissed the
earth and the oak-tree; nor did I own my hopes to
myself, and yet I did hope and I cherished my desires
within my mind. Night came and sleep claimed our
care-worn bodies. Before my eyes the same oak-tree
seemed to stand, with just as many branches and with
just as many creatures on its branches, to shake with
the same motion, and to scatter the grain-bearing
column on the ground below. These seemed sud—
denly to grow larger and ever larger, to raise
themselves from the ground and stand with form
erect, to throw off their leanness, their many feet,
their back colour, and to take on human limbs
and a human form. Then sleep departed. Once
awake I thought lightly of my vision, bewailing
that there was no help in the gods. But there
was a great confused noise in the palace, and I
seemed to hear the voices of men to which I was
long unused. And while I half believed that this
also was a trick of sleep, Telamon came running and,
throwing open the door, exclaimed: ‘ O father, more
than you believed or hoped for shall you see. Come
out! ” I went without, and there just such men as
I had seen in my dream I now saw and recognized
with my waking eyes. They approached and greeted
me as king. I gave thanks to Jove, and to my new
subjects I portioned out my city and my ﬁelds, for—
saken by their former occupants; and I called them
387
OVID
Myrmidonasque voco nec origine nomina fraudo.
corpora vidisti; mores, quos ante gerebant, 655
nunc quoque habent: parcum genus est patiensque
laborum
quaesitique tenax, et qui quaesita reservent.
hi te ad bella pares annis animisque sequentur,
cum primum qui te feliciter attulit eurus ”
(eurus enim attulerat) “ fuerit mutatus in austrum. ” 660
Talibus atque aliis longum sermonibus illi
inplevere diem; lucis pars ultima mensae
est data, nox somnis. iubar aureus extulerat Sol,
ﬂabat adhuc eurus redituraque vela tenebat:
ad Cephalum Pallante sati, cui grandior aetas, 665
ad regem Cephalus simul et Pallante creati
conveniunt, sed adhuc regem sopor altus habebat.
excipit Aeacides illos in limine Phocus;
nam Telamon fraterque viros ad bella legebant.
Phocus in interius spatium pulchrosque recessus 670
Cecropidas ducit, cum quis simul ipse resedit.
adspicit Aeoliden ignota ex arbore factum
ferre manu iaculum, cuius fuit aurea cuspis.
pauca prius mediis sermonibus ille locutus
“ sum nemorum studiosus ” ait “ caedisque ferinae;
qua tamen e silva teneas hastile recisum, 676
iamdudum dubito: certe si fraxinus esset,
fulva colore foret; si cornus, nodus inesset.
unde sit, ignoro, sed non formosius isto
viderunt oculi telum iaculabile nostri.” 680
excipit Actaeis e fratribus alter et “ usum
s88,
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
Myrmidons,1 nor did I cheat the name of its origin.
You have seen their bodies; the habits which they
had before they still keep, a thrifty race, inured to
toil, keen in pursuit of gain and keeping what they
get. These men will follow you to the wars well
matched in years and courage, as soon as the east
wind which brought you so fortunately hither ”——for
the east wind it was that brought him—“ shall have
changed to the south.”
With such and other talk they ﬁlled the lingering
day. The last hours of the day were given to feasting,
the night to sleep. When the golden sun had shown
his light, the east wind was still blowing and kept
the sails from the homeward voyage. The sons of
Pallas came to Cephalus, who was the older, and
Cephalus with the sons of Pallas went together to
the king. But deep sleep still held the king. Phocus,
son of Aeacus, received them at the threshold; for
Telamon and his brother were marshalling the men
for war. Into the inner court and beautiful apart—
ments Phocus conducted the Athenians, and there
they sat them down together. There Phocus noticed
that Cephalus carried in his hand a javelin with a
golden head, and a shaft made of some strange wood.
After some talk, he said abruptly: “I am devoted to
the woods and the hunting of wild beasts. Still, I
have for some time been wondering from what wood
that weapon you hold is made. Surely if it were
of ash it would be of deep yellow hue; if it were of
cornel—wood there would be knots upon it. What
wood it is made of I cannot tell; but my eyes have
never seen a javelin for throwing more beautiful
than that.” And one of the Athenian brothers
replied: “ You will admire the weapon’s use more
1 Fancifully derived from uv’puvﬁ, an ant.
389
OVI D
maiorem specie mirabere ” dixit “ in isto.
consequitur, quodcumque petit, fortunaque missum
non regit, et revolat nullo referente cruentum.”
tum vero iuvenis Nereius omnia quaerit, 685
out sit et unde datum, quis tanti muneris auctor.
quae petit, ille refert, sed enim narrare pudori est,
qua tulerit mercede; silet tactusque dolore
coniugis amissae lacrimis ita fatur obortis :
“ hoc me, nate dea, (quis possit credere F‘) telum 690
Here facit facietque diu, si vivere nobis
fata diu dederint; hoc me cum coniuge cara
perdidit: hoc utinam caruissem munere semper!
“ Procris erat, sit forte magis pervenit ad aures
()rithyia tuas, raptae soror Orithyiae, 695
si faciem moresque velis conferre duarum,
dignior ipsa rapi! pater hanc mihi iunxit Erechtheus,
hanc mihi iunxit amor: felix dicebar eramque;
non ita dis visum est, aut nunc quoque forsitan essem.
alter agebatur post sacra iugalia mensis, 700
cum me cornigeris tendentem retia cervis ‘ '
vertice de summo semper ﬂorentis Hymetti
lutea mane videt pulsis Aurora tenebris
invitumque rapit. liceat mihi vera referre
pace deae: quod sit roseo spectabilis ore, 705
quod teneat lucis, teneat conﬁnia noctis,
nectareis quod alatur aquis, ego Procrin amabam;
pectore Procris erat, Procris mihi semper in ore.
sacra tori coitusque novos thalamosque recentes
primaque deserti referebam foedera lecti: 710
39°
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
than its beauty; it goes straight to any mark,
and chance does not guide its ﬂight; and it ﬂies
back, all bloody, with no hand to bring it.” Then
indeed young Phocus was eager to know why it was
so, and whence it came, who was the giver of so
wonderful a gift. Cephalus told what the youth
asked, but he was ashamed to tell at what price
he gained it. He was silent; then, touched with
grief for his lost wife, he burst into tears and said:
“ It is this weapon makes me weep, thou son of a
goddess—who could believe it ?—and long will it
make me weep if the fates shall give me long life.
This destroyed me and my dear wife together. And
oh, that I had never had it! My wife was Procris,
or, if by more likely chance the name of Orithyia has
come to your ears, the sister of the ravished Orithyia.
If you should compare the form and bearing of the
two, Procris herself is the more worthy to be ravished
away. It is she that her father, Erechtheus, joined
to me ; it is she that love joined to me. I was called
happy, and happy I was. But the gods decreed it
otherwise, or, perchance, I should be happy still. It
was in the second month after our marriage rites.
I was spreading my nets to catch the antlered deer,
when from the top of ever-blooming Hymettus the
golden goddess of the dawn, having put the shades
to ﬂight, beheld me and carried me away, against
my will: may the goddess pardon me for telling the
simple truth; but as truly as she shines with the
blush of roses on her face, as truly as she holds
the portals of the day and night, and drinks the
juices of nectar, it was Procris I loved; Procris was
in my heart, Procris was ever on my lips. I kept
talking of my wedding and its fresh joys of love
and the ﬁrst union of my now deserted couch. The
39I
OVID
mota dea est et ‘ siste tuas, ingrate, querellas;
Procrin babe I ’ dixit, ‘ quod si mea provida mens est,
non habuisse voles.’ meque illi irata remisit.
cum redeo mecumque deae memorata retracto,
esse metus coepit, ne iura iugalia coniunx 715
non bene servasset: facies aetasque iubebat
credere adulterium, prohibebant credere mores;
sed tamen afueram, sed et haec erat, unde redibam,
criminis exemplum, sed cuncta timemus amantes.
quaerere, quod doleam, statuo donisque pudicam 720
sollicitare ﬁdem; favet huic Aurora timori
inmutatque meam (videor sensisse) ﬁguram.
Palladias ineo non cognoscendus Athenas
ingrediorque domum; culpa domus ipsa carebat
castaque signa dabat dominoque erat anxia rapto:
vix aditus per mille dolos ad Erechthida factus. 726
ut vidi, obstipui meditataque paene reliqui
temptamenta ﬁde; male me, quin vera faterer,
continui, male, quin, et oportuit, oscula ferrem.
tristis erat (sed nulla tamen formosior illa 730
esse potest tristi) desiderioque dolebat
coniugis abrepti: tu collige, qualis in illa,
Phoce, decor fuerit, quam sic dolor ipse decebat!
quid referam, quotiens temptamina nostra pudici
reppulerin-t mores, quotiens ‘ ego ’ dixerit ‘ uni 735
servor; ubicumque est, uni mea gaudia servo.’
cui non ista ﬁde satis experientia sano
magna foret? non sum contentus et in mea pugno
392
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
goddess was provoked and exclaimed: ‘ Cease your
complaints, ungrateful boy; keep your Procris! but,
if my mind can foresee at all, you will come to wish
that you had never had her ’; and in a rage she sent
me back to her. As I was going home, and turned
over in my mind the goddess’ warning, I began to
fear that my wife herself had not kept her marriage
vows. Her beauty and her youth made me fear
unfaithfulness; but her character forbade that
fear. Still, I had been absent long, and she from
whom I was returning was herself an example of
unfaithfulness; and besides, we lovers fear every-
thing. I decided to ‘make a cause for grievance and
to tempt her chaste faith by gifts. Aurora helped me
in this jealous undertaking and changed my form; (I
seemed to feel the change). And so, unrecognizable
I entered Athens, Pallas’ sacred city, and went into my
house. The household itself was blameless, showed no
sign of aught amiss, was only anxious for its lost lord.
With much difﬁculty and by a thousand wiles I gained
the presence of Erechtheus’ daughter; and when I
looked upon her my heart failed me and I almost
abandoned the test of her ﬁdelity which I had
planned. I scarce kept from confessing the truth,
from kissing her as was her due. She was sad; but
no woman could be more beautiful than was she in
her sadness. She was all grief with longing for the
husband who had been torn away from her. Imagine,
Phocus, how beautiful she was, how that grief itself
became her. Why should I tell how often her chastity
repelled my temptations? To every plea she said:
‘ I keep myself for one alone. Wherever he is I keep
my love for one.’ What husband in his senses would
not have found that test of her ﬁdelity enough? But
I was not content and strove on to my own undoing!
393
OVI D
vulnera! cum census dare me pro nocte loquendo
muneraque augendo tandem dubitare coegi, 740
exclamo male victor: ‘ adest, mala, ﬁctus adulter!
verus eram coniunx! me, perﬁda, teste teneris.’
illa nihil; tacito tantummodo victa pudore
insidiosa malo cum coniuge limina fugit;
oﬂ‘ensaque mei genus omne perosa virorum 745
montibus errabat, studiis operata Dianae.
tum mihi deserto violentior ignis ad ossa
pervenit: orabam veniam et peccasse fatebar
et potuisse datis simili succumbere culpae
me quoque muneribus, si munera tanta darentur. 750
hoc mihi confesso, laesum prius ulta pudorem,
redditur et dulces concorditer exigit annos;
dat mihi praeterea, tamquam se parva dedisset
dona, canem munus; quem cum sua traderet illi
Cynthia, ‘ currendo superabit ' dixerat ‘ omnes.’ 755
dat simul et iaculum, manibus quod, cernis, habemus.
muneris alterius quae sit fortuna, requiris?
accipe mirandum: novitate movebere facti!
“ Carmina Laiades non intellecta priorum
solverat ingeniis, et praecipitata iacebat 760
inmemor ambagum vates obscura suarum:
protinus Aoniis inmittitur altera Thebis 763
(scilicet alma Themis nec talia linquit inulta!) 762
pestis, et exitio multi pecorumque suoque
rurigenae pavere feram; vicina iuventus 765
394
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
By promising to give fortunes for her favour, and at
last, by adding to my promised gifts, I forced her to
hesitate. Then, victor to my sorrow, I exclaimed:
‘ False one, he that is here is a feigned adulterer!
I was really your husband! By my own witness,
traitress, you are detected! ’ She, not a word. Onl
in silence, overwhelmed with shame, she ﬂed her
treacherous husband and his house. 111 hate for me,
loathing the whole race of men, she wandered over
the mountains, devoted to Diana’s pursuits. Then
in my loneliness the ﬁre of love burned more ﬁercely,
penetrating to the marrow. I craved pardon, owned
that I had sinned, confessed that I too might have
yielded in the same way under the temptation of
gifts, if so great gifts were offered to me. When I
had made this confession and she had suﬂiciently
avenged her outraged feelings, she came back to me
and we spent sweet years together in harmony. She
gave me beside, as though she had given but small
gifts in herself, a wonderful hound which her own
Cynthia had given, and said as she gave: ‘ He will
surpass all other hounds in speed.’ She gave me a
javelin also, this one which, as you see, I hold in my
hands. Would you know the story of both gifts?
Hear the wonderful story: you will be moved by the
strangeness of the deed.
“ Oedipus, the son of La'ius, had solved the riddle
which had been inscrutable to the understanding
of all before; fallen headlong she lay, the dark
prophet, forgetful of her own riddle. Straightway a
second monster was sent against Aonian Thebes (and
surely kind Themis does not let such things go un-
punished!) and many country dwellers were in terror
of the ﬁerce creature, fearing both for their own and
their ﬂocks ’ destruction. We, the neighbouring youths,
395
()VID
venimus-et latos indagine ci'nximus agros.
illa levi velox superabat retia saltu
summaque transibat postal-um lina plagarum‘:
copula detrahitur canibus, quos illa sequentes '
eﬁ‘ugit et centum non segnior alite ludit. 770-
poscor et ipse meum consensu Laelapa magno
(muneris hoc nomen): iamdudum vincula pugnat
exuere ipse sibi colloque morantia tendit.
vix bene missus erat, nec iam poteramus, ubi esset,
scire; pedum calidus vestigia pulvis habebat, 775
ipse oculis ereptus erat: non ocior illo
hasta nec excussae contorto verbere glandes
nec Gortyniaco calamus levis exit ab arcu.
collis apex medii subiectis inminet arvis:
tollor eo capioque novi spectacula cursus, 780,
quo modo deprendi, modo se subducere ab ipso
vulnere visa fera est; nec limite 'callida recto
in spatiumque fugit, sed decipit ora sequentis
et redit in gyrum, ne sit suus inpetus hosti:
inminet hic sequiturque parem similisque tenenti
non tenet et vanos exercet in aera morsus. 786
ad iaculi vertebar opem; quod dextera librat
dum mea, dum digitos amentis addere tempto,
lumina deﬁexi. revocataque rursus eodem
rettuleram : et medio (mirum) duo marmora campo .
adspicio; fugere hoc, illud captare putares. 791
scilicet invictos ambo certamine cursus
esse deus voluit, si quis deus adfuit illis.”
3956
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
came and encircled the broad ﬁelds with our hunting-
nets. But that swift beast leaped over the nets, over
the very tops of the toils which we had spread. Then
we let slip our hounds from the leash; but she
escaped their pursuit and mocked the hundred dogs
with speed like any bird. Then all the hunters called
upon me for my Laelaps (that is the name of the hound
my wife had given me). Long since he had been
struggling to get loose from the leash and straining
his neck against the strap that held him. Scarce
was he well released when we could not tell where
he was. The warm dust kept the imprint of his feet,
he himself had quite disappeared from sight. No
spear is swifter than he, nor leaden bullets thrown
by a whirled sling, or the light reed shot from a
Gortynian bow. There was a high hill near by,whose
top overlooked the surrounding plain. Thither I
climbed and gained a view of that strange chase,
in which the beast seemed now to be caught and
now to slip from the dog’s very teeth. Nor does the
cunning creature ﬂee in a straight course off into the
distance, but it eludes the pursuer’s jaws and wheels
sharply round, so that its enemy may lose his spring.
The dog presses him hard, follows him step for step,
and, while he seems to hold him, does not hold, and
snaps at the empty air. I turned to my javelin’s aid.
As my right hand was balancing it, while I was
ﬁtting my ﬁngers into the loop, I turned my eyes
aside for a single moment; and when I turned them
back again to the same spot—oh, wonderful! I saw
two marble images in the plain; the one you would
think was ﬂeeing, the other catching at the prey.
Doubtless some god must have willed, if there was
any god with them, that both should be unconquered
in their race.” Thus far he spoke and fell silent.
397
OVID
‘‘
hactenus,et tacuit; iaculo quod crimen in ipso est P ”
Phocus ait; iaculi sic crimina reddidit ille: 795
“ Gaudia principium nostri sunt, Phoce, doloris:
illa prius referam. iuvat o meminisse beati
temporis, Aeacida, quo primos rite per annos
coniuge eram felix, felix erat illa marito.
mutua cura duos et amor socialis habebat, 800
nec Iovis illa meo thalamos praeferret amori,
nec me quae caperet, non si Venus ipsa veniret,
ulla erat; aequales urebant pectora ﬂammae.
sole fere radiis feriente cacumina primis
venatum in silvas iuvenaliter ire solebam 805
nec mecum famuli nec equi nec naribus acres
ire canes nec lina sequi nodosa solebant:
tutus eram iaculo; sed cum satiata ferinae
dextera caedis erat, repetebam frigus et umbras
et quae de gelidis exibat vallibus aura: 810
aura petebatur medio mihi lenis in aestu,
auram exspectabam, requies erat illa labori.
‘ aura ’ (recordor enim), ‘ venias ’ cantare solebam,
‘ meque iuves intresque sinus, gratissima, nostros,
utque facis, relevare velis, quibus urimur, aestus! ’
forsitan addiderim (sic me mea fata trahebant), 816
blanditias plures et ‘ tu mihi magna voluptas '
dicere sim solitus, ‘ tu me reﬁcisque fovesque,
tu facis, ut silvas, ut amem loca sola: meoque
spiritus iste tuus semper captatur ab ore.’ 820
vocibus ambiguis deceptam praebuit aurem
nescio quis nomenque aurae tam saepe vocatum
398
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
“ But what charge have you to bring against the
javelin itself? ” asked Phocus. The other thus told
what charge he had against the javelin:
“ My joys, Phocus, were the beginning of my woe.
These I will describe ﬁrst. Oh, what a joy it is, son
of Aeacus, to remember the blessed time when during
those ﬁrst years I was happy in my wife, as I should
be, and she was happy in her husband. Mutual
cares and mutual love bound us together. Not J ove’s
love would she have preferred to mine; nor was
there any woman who could lure me away from her,
no, not if Venus herself should come. An equal
passion burned in both our two hearts. In the early
morning, when the sun’s ﬁrst rays touched the tops
of the hills, with a young man’s eagerness I used to
go hunting in the woods. Nor did I take attendants
with me, or horses or keen-scented dogs or knotted
nets. I was safe with my javelin. But when my
hand had had its ﬁll of slaughter of wild creatures, I
would come back to the cool shade and the breeze
that came forth from the cool valleys. I wooed the
breeze, blowing gently on me in my heat; the breeze
I waited for. She was my labour’s rest. ‘ Come,
Aura,’ I remember I used to cry, ‘ come soothe
me; come into my breast, most welcome one, and,
as indeed you do, relieve the heat with which I burn.’
Perhaps I would add, for so my fates drew me
on, more endearments, and say: ‘ Thou art my
greatest joy; thou dost refresh and comfort me;
thou makest me to love the woods and solitary
places. It is ever my joy to feel thy breath upon
my face.’ Some one overbearing these words was
deceived by their double meaning; and, thinking
that the word ’ Aura ’ so often on my lips was a
nymph’s name, was convinced that I was in love with
399
OVI D
esse putat nymphae: nympham mihi credit amari.
criminis extemplo ﬁcti temerarius index
Procrin adit linguaque refert audita susurra. 825
credula res amor est: subito conlapsa dolore,
ut mihi narratur, cecidit; longoque refecta
tempore se miseram, se fati dixit iniqui
deque ﬁde questa est et crimine concita vano,
quod nil est, metuit, metuit sine corpore nomen 830
et dolet infelix veluti de paelice vera.
saepe tamen dubitat speratque miserrima falli
indicioque ﬁdem negat et, nisi viderit ipsa,
damnatura sui non est delicta mariti.
postera depulerant Aurorae lumina noctem: 835
egredior silvamque peto victorque per herbas
‘ aura, veni ’ dixi ‘ nostroque medere labori! ’
et subito gemitus inter mea verba videbar
nescio quos audisse; ‘ veni ' tamen, ‘ optima! ’ dixi.
fronde levem rursus strepitum faciente caduca 840
sum ratus esse feram telumque volatile misi:
Procris erat medioque tenens in pectore vulnus
‘ ei mihi ’ conclamat! vox est ubi cognita ﬁdae
coniugis, ad vocem praeceps amensque cucurri. 844
semianimem et sparsas foedantem sanguine vestes
et sua (me miserum !) de vulnere dona trahentem
invenio corpusque meo mihi carius ulnis
mollibus attollo scissaque a pectore veste
vulnera saeva ligo conorque inhibere cruorem
neu me morte sua sceleratum deserat, oro. 850
400
MET AMORPHOSES BOOK VII
some nymph. Straightway the rash tell-tale went
to Procris with the story of my supposed unfaithful-
ness and reported in whispers what he had heard.
A credulous thing is love. Smitten with sudden
pain (as I heard the story), she fell down in a swoon.
Reviving at last, she called herself wretched, victim
of cruel fate; complained of my unfaithfulness,
and, excited by an empty charge, she feared a
mere nothing, feared an empty name and grieved,
poor girl, as over a real rival. And yet she would
often doubt andhope in her depth of misery that
she was mistaken; she refused to believe the story
she had heard, and, unless she saw it with her own
eyes, would not think her husband guilty of such
sin. The next morning, when the early dawn had
banished night, I left the house and sought the
woods; there, successful, as I lay on the grass, I
cried: ‘ Come, Aura, come and soothe my toil ’—
and suddenly, while I was speaking, I thought I
heard a groan. ‘ Come, dearest one,’ I cried again.
And as the fallen leaves made a slight rustling sound,
I thought it was some beast and hurled my javelin
at the place. It was Procris, and, clutching at the
wound in her breast, she cried, ‘Oh, woe is me.’
When I recognized the voice of my faithful wife,
I rushed headlong towards the sound, beside myself
with horror. There I found her dying, her dis—
ordered garments stained with blood, and oh, the pity!
trying to draw the very weapon she had given me
from her wounded breast. With loving arms I raised
her body, dearer to me than my own, tore open the
garment from her breast and bound up the cruel
wound, and tried to staunch the blood, praying
that she would not leave me stained with her
death. She, though strength failed her, with a
voL. 1. o
40 I
()VID
viribus illa carens et iam moribunda coegit
haec se pauca loqui : ‘ per nostri foedera lecti
perque deos supplex oro superosque meosque,
per si quid merui de te bene perque manentem
nunc quoque, cum pereo, causam mihi mortis amorem,
ne thalamis Auram patiare innubere nostris ! ’ 856
dixit, et errorem tum denique nominis esse
et sensi et docui. sed quid docuisse iuvabat?
labitur, et parvae fugiunt cum sanguine vires,
dumque aliquid spectare potest, me spectat et in me
infelicem animam nostroque exhalat in ore; 861
sed vultu meliore mori secura videtur.”
Flentibus haec lacrimans heros memorabat, et ecce
Aeacus ingreditur duplici cum prole novoque
milite; quem Cephalus cum fortibus accipit armis. 865
402
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
dying eﬂ’ort forced herself to say these few wor s:
‘ By the union of our love, by the gods above nd
my own gods, by all that I have done for you, an b
the love that still I bear you in my dying hour, e
cause of my own death, I beg you, do not let this
Aura take my place.’ And then I knew at last that
it was a mistake in the name, and I told her the
truth. But what availed then the telling? She fell
back in my arms and her last faint strength ﬂed with
her blood. So long as she could look at anything
she looked at me and breathed out her unhappy
spirit on my lips. But she seemed to die content
and with a happy look upon her face.”
This story the hero told with many years. And
now Aeacus came in with his two sons and his new
levied band of soldiers, which Cephalus received with
their valiant arms.


403
BOOK VIII
LIBER VIII
IAM nitidum retegente diem noctisque fugante
tempora Lucifero cadit Eurus, et umida surgunt
nubila: dant placidi cursum redeuntibus Austri
Aeacidis Cephaloque; quibus feliciter acti
ante exspectatum portus tenuere petitos. 5
interea Minos Lelegeia litora vastat
praetemptatque sui vires Mavortis in urbe
Alcathoi, quam Nisus habet, cui splendidus ostro
inter honoratos medioque in vertice canos
crinis inhaerebat, magni ﬁducia regni. 10
Sexta resurgebant orientis cornua lunae,
et pendebat adhuc belli fortuna, diuque
inter utrumque volat dubiis Victoria pennis.
regia turris erat vocalibus addita muris,
in quibus auratam proles Letoia fertur 15
deposuisse lyram: saxo sonus eius inhaesit.
saepe illuc solita est ascendere ﬁlia Nisi
et petere exiguo resonantia saxa lapillo,
tum cum pax esset; bello quoque saepe solebat
spectare ex illa rigidi certamina Martis, 20
iamque mora belli procerum quoque nomina norat
armaque equosque habitusque Cydonaeasque
pharetras;
406
BOOK VIII
Now when Lucifer had banished night and ushered
in the shining day, the east wind fell and moist
clouds arose. The peaceful south wind offered a
safe return to Cephalus and the mustered troops of
Aeacus, and, speeding their voyage, brought them,
sooner than they had hoped, to their desired haven.
Meanwhile King Minos was laying waste the coast
of Megara, and was trying his martial strength
against the city of Alcathoiis,1 where Nisus reigned.
This Nisus had growing on his head, amidst his locks
of honoured grey, a brilliant purple lock on whose
preservation rested the safety of his throne.
Six times had the new moon shown her horns,
and still the fate of war hung in the balance; so long
did Victory hover on doubtful wings between the
two. There was a royal tower reared on the tuneful
walls where Latona’s son was said to have laid down
his golden lyre, whose music still lingered in the
stones. Often to this tower the daughter of King
Nisus used to climb and set the rocks resounding
with a pebble, in the day when peace was. Also
after the war began she would often look out from
this place upon the rough martial combats. And
now, as the war dragged on, she had come to know
even the names of the warring chieftains, their arms,
their horses, their dress, their Cretan quivers. And
1 i.e. Mcgara.
407
OVID
noverat ante alios faciem ducis Europaei,
plus etiam, quam nosse sat est: hac iudice Minos,
seu caput abdiderat cristata casside pennis,
in galea formosus erat; seu sumpserat aere
fulgentem clipeum, clipeum sumpsisse decebat;
torserat adductis hastilia lenta lacertis:
laudabat virgo iunctam cum viribus artem ;
inposito calamo patulos sinuaverat arcus :
sic Phoebum sumptis iurabat stare sagittis;
cum vero faciem dempto nudaverat aere
purpureusque albi stratis insignia pictis
terga premebat equi spumantiaque ora regebat,
vix sua, vix sanae virgo Niseia compos
mentis erat: felix iaculum, quod tangeret ille,
quaeque manu premeret, felicia frena vocabat.
impetus est illi, liceat modo, ferre per agmen
virgineos hostile gradus, est impetus illi
turribus e summis in Gnosia mittere corpus
castra vel aeratas hosti recludere portas,
vel siquid Minos aliud velit. utque sedebat
candida Dictaei spectans tentoria regis,
“ laeter,” ait “ doleamne geri lacrimabile bellum,
25
30
35
40
in dubio est; doleo, quod Minos hostis amanti est. 45
sed nisi bella forent, numquam mihi cognitus esset!
me tamen accepta poterat deponere bellum
obside: me comitem, me pacis pignus haberet.
si quae te peperit, talis, pulcherrime rerum,
qualis es, ipsa fuit, merito deus arsit in illa.
o ego ter felix, si pennis lapsa per auras
Gnosiaci possem castris insistere regis
50
fassaque me ﬂammasque meas, qua dote, rogarem,
408
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
above all others did she know the face of their
leader, Europa’s son, yes, better than she should.
If he had hidden his head in a crested casque, Minos
in a helmet was lovely to her eyes: or if he carried his
shining golden shield, the shield became him well.
Did he hurl his tough spear with tense muscles, the
girl admired the strength and the skill he showed.
Did he bend the wide-curving bow with arrow ﬁtted
to the string, thus she would swear that Phoebus
stood with arrows in his hand. But when unhelmed
he showed his face, when clad in purple he bestrode
his milk—white steed gorgeous with broidered trap-
pings, and managed the foaming bit, then was Nisus’
daughter hardly her own, hardly mistress of a sane
mind. Happy the javelin which he touched and
happy the reins which he held in his hand, she
thought. She longed, were it but allowed, to speed
her maiden steps through the foemen’s line; she
longed to leap down from her lofty tower into the
Cretan camp, to open the city’s bronze-bound gates to
the enemy, to do any other thing which Minos might
desire. And, as she sat gazing at the white tents of
the Cretan king, she said: “Whether I should rejoice
or grieve at this woeful war, I cannot tell. I grieve
because Minos is the foe of her who loves him; but
if there were no war, he would never have been
known to me. Suppose he had me as a hostage, then
he could give up the war; I should be in his com-
pany, should be a pledge of peace. If she who bore
you, O loveliest of all the world, was such as you are,
good reason was it that the god burned for her. Oh,
thrice happy should I be, if only I might ﬂy through
the air and stand within the camp of the Cretan king,
and confess my love, and ask what dower he would
wish to be paid for me. Only let him not ask my
409
OVID
vellet emi, tantum patrias ne posceret arces!
nam pereant potius sperata cubilia, quam sim 55
proditione potens !—quamvis saepe utile vinci
victoris placidi fecit clementia multis.
iusta gerit certe pro nato bella perempto:
et causaque valet causamque tenentibus armis,
et, puto, vincemur; qui si manet exitus urbem, 60
our suus haec illi reseret mea moenia Mavors
et non noster amor? melius sine caede moraque
inpensaque sui poterit superare cruoris.
non metuam certe, ne quis tua pectora, Minos,
vulneret inprudens: quis enim tam durus, ut in te 65
dirigere inmitem non inscius audeat hastam? ”
coepta placent, et stat sententia tradere secum
dotalem patriam ﬁnemque inponere bello;
verum velle parum est! “ aditus custodia servat,
claustraque portarum genitor tenet: hunc ego solum
infelix timeo, solus mea vota moratur. 71
di facerent, sine patre forem! sibi quisque profecto
est deus : ignavis precibus Fortuna repugnat.
altera iamdudum succensa cupidine tanto
perdere gauderet, quodcumque obstaret amori. 75
et cur ulla foret me fortior? ire per ignes
et gladios ausim; nec in hoc tamen ignibus ullis
aut gladiis opus est, opus est mihi crine paterno.
illa mihi est auro pretiosior, illa beatam
purpura me votique mei factura potentem.” 80
Talia dicenti curarum maxima nutrix
nox intervenit, tenebrisquc audacia crevit.
prima quies aderat, qua curis fessa diurnis
410
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
country's citadel. For may all my hopes of wedlock
perish ere I gain it by treachery. And yet oft-times
many have found it good to be overcome, when an
- appeased victor has been merciful. Surely he wages
a just war for his murdered son; and he is strong
both in his cause and in the arms that defend his
cause. We shall be conquered, I am sure. And if
that doom awaits our city, why shall his warrior
hand unbar these walls of ours, and not my love?
Far better will it be without massacre and suspense
and the cost of his own blood for him to conquer.
In that case truly I should not fear lest someone
should pierce your breast unwittingly, dear Minos;
for, if not unwitting, who so cruel that he could bring
himself to throw his pitiless spear at you?” She
likes the plan, and decides to give up herself with
her country as her dowry, and so to end the war.
But merely to will is not enough. “ A watch guards
the entry; my father holds the keys of the city
gates. Him only doIfear, unhappy! Only he delays
the wish of my heart. Would to God I had no father!
But surely everyone is his own god; Fortune resists
half—hearted prayers. Another girl in my place,
ﬁred with so great a love, would long since have
destroyed, and that with joy, whatever stood in the
way of her love. And why should another be braver
than 1? Through ﬁre and sword would I dare go.
And yet here there is no need of ﬁre or sword.
I need but my father’s lock of hair. That is to
me more precious than gold; that purple lock
will make me blest, will give me my heart’s
desire.”
While she thus spoke night came on, most potent
healer of our cares; and with the darkness her
boldness grew. The ﬁrst rest had come, when sleep
4II
OVID
pectora somnus habet: thalamos taciturna paternos
intrat et (heu facinus !) fatali nata parentem 85
crime suum spoliat praedaque potita nefanda
per medios hostes (meriti ﬁducia tanta est) 88
pervenit ad regem; quem sic adfata paventem est:
“ suasit amor facinus: proles ego regia Nisi 90
Scylla tibi trado patriaeque meosque penates ;
praemia nulla peto nisi te: cape pignus amoris
purpureum crinem nec me nunc tradere crinem,
sed patrium tibi crede caput! ” scelerataque dextra
munera porrexit; Minos porrecta refugit 95
turbatusque novi respondit imagine facti:
“ di te summoveant, o nostri infamia saecli,
orbe suo, tellusque tibi pontusque negetur!
certe ego non patiar Iovis incunabula, Creten,
qui meus est orbis, tantum contingere monstrum.” 100
Dixit, et ut leges captis iustissimus auctor
hostibus inposuit, classis retinacula solvi
iussit et aeratas impleri remige puppes.
Scylla freto postquam deductas nare carinas
nec praestare ducem sceleris sibi praemia vidit, 105
consumptis precibus violentam transit in iram ‘
intendensque manus passis furibunda capillis
“ quo fugis ” exclamat “ meritorum auctore relicta,
o patriae praelate meae, praelate parenti?
quo fugis, inmitis, cuius victoria nostrum 110
et scelus et meritum est? nec te data munera, nec te
noster amor movit, nec quod spes omnis in unum
412
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
holds the heart weary with the cares of day: the
daughter steals silently into her father’s chamber,
and—oh, the horrid crime !——she despoils him of the
tress where his life lay. With this cursed prize,
throughthe midst of her foes, so sure is she of a
welcome for her deed, she goes straight to the
king; and thus she addresses him, startled at her
presence: “ Love has led me to this deed. I,
Scylla, daughter of King Nisus, do here deliver
to your hands my country and my house. I ask
no reward save only you. Take as the pledge of
my love this purple lock, and know that I am giving
to you not a look, but my father’s life.” And in her
sin-stained hand she held out the prize to him.
Minos recoiled from the proffered gift, and, in horror
at the sight of so unnatural an act, he replied:
“ May the gods banish you from their world, O foul
disgrace of our age! May both land and sea be
denied to you! Be sure that I shall not permit so
vile a monster to set foot on Crete, my world, the
cradle of J ove’s infancy.”
He spoke; and when this most upright lawgiver
had imposed laws upon his conquered foes, he bade
loose the hawsers of the ﬂeet, and the rowers to man
the bronze-bound ships. When Scylla saw that the
ships were launched and aﬂoat, and that the king
refused her the reward of her sin, having prayed
until she could pray no more, she became violently
enraged, and stretching out her hands, with streaming
hair and mad with passion, she exclaimed: “ Whither
do you ﬂee, abandoning the giver of your success, O you
whom I put before my fatherland, before my father?
Whither do you ﬂee, you cruel man, whose victory
is my sin, ’tis true, but is my merit also? Does
not the gift I gave move you, do not my love and
413
OVID
te mea congesta est? nam quo deserta revertar?
in patriam? superata iacet! sed ﬁnge manere :
proditione mea clausa est mihi! patris ad ora? 115
quem tibi donavi! cives odere merentem,
ﬁnitimi exemplum metuunt: exponimur orbe
terra-rum, nobis ut Crete sola pateret.
hac quoque si prohibes et nos, ingrate, relinquis,
non genetrix Europa tibi est, sed inhospita Syrtis, 120
Armeniae tigres austroque agitata Charybdis.
Nec Iove tu natus, nec mater imagine tauri
ducta tua est: generis falsa est ea fabula! verus
et ferus et captus nullius amore iuvencae,
qui te progenuit, taurus fuit. exige poenas, 125
Nise pater! gaudete malis modo prodita nostris
moenia! nam, fateor, merui et sum digna perire.
sed tamen ex illis aliquis, quos impia laesi,
me per-imat! cur, qui vicisti crimine nostro,
insequeris crimen? scelus hoc patriaeque patrique,
oﬂicium tibi sit! te vere coniuge digna est, a 131
quae torvum ligno decepit adultera taurum
discordemque utero fetum tulit. ecquid ad aures
perveniunt mea dicta tuas, an inania venti
verba ferunt idemque tuas, ingrate, carinas? 135
iam iam Pasiphaen non est mirabile taurum
praeposuisse tibi :_ tu plus feritatis habebas.
me miseram! properare iubet! divulsaque remis
unda sonat, mecumque simul mea terra recedit.
4I4
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
all my hopes built on you alone? Deserted, whither
shall I go? Back to my fatherland? It lies over-
thrown. But suppose it still remained: it is closed
to me by my treachery. To my father’s presence?
him whom I betrayed to you? My countrymen
hate me, and with just cause; the neighbouring
peoples fear my example. I am banished from all
the world, that Crete alone might be open to me.
And if you forbid me Crete as well, and, O un—
grateful, leave me here, Europa is not your mother,
but the inhospitable Syrtis, the Armenian tigress
and storm-tossed Charybdis. You are no son of Jove,
nor was your mother tricked by the false semblance
of a bull. That story of your birth is a lie: it was a
real bull that begot you, a ﬁerce, wild thing that
loved no heifer. Inﬂict my punishment, O Nisus,
my father! Rejoice in my woes, O ye walls that I
have but now betrayed ! For I confess I have merited
your hate and I deserve to die. But let some one
of those whom I have foully injured slay me. \Vhy
should you, who have triumphed through my sin,
punish my sin? Let this act which was a crime
against my country and my father be but a service in
your eyes. She is a true mate 1 for you who with
unnatural passion deceived the savage bull by that
shape of wood and bore a hybrid offspring in her
womb. Does my voice reach your ears? Or do
the’ same winds blow away my words to emptiness
that ﬁll your sails, you ingrate? Now, now I do
not wonder that Pasiphaé preferred the bull to you,
for you were a more savage beast than he. Alas for
me! He orders his men to haste away! and the
waves resound as the oars dash into them, and I
and my land are both fading from his sight. But it
1 Pasiphae, the wife of Minos and mother of the Minotaur.
415
OVID
nil agis, o frustra meritorum oblite meorum: 140
insequar invitum puppimque amplexa recurvam
per freta longa trahar.” Vix dixerat, insilit undis
consequiturque rates faciente cupidine vires
Gnosiacaeque haeret comes invidiosa carinae.
quam pater ut vidit (nam iam pendebat in aura 145
et modo factus erat fulvis haliaeetus alis),
ibat, ut haerentem rostro laceraret adunco;
illa metu puppim dimisit, et aura cadentem
sustinuisse levis, ne tangeret aequora, visa est.
pluma fuit: plumis in avem mutata vocatur 150
Ciris et a tonso est hoc nomen adepta capillo.
Vota Iovi Minos taurorum corpora centum
solvit, ut egressus ratibus Curetida terram
contigit, et spoliis decorata est regia ﬁxis.
creverat obprobrium generis, foedumque patebat 155
matris adulterium monstri novitate biformis;
destinat hunc Minos thalamo removere pudorem
multiplicique domo caecisque includere tectis.
Daedalus ingenio fabrae celeberrimus artis
ponit opus turbatque notas et lumina ﬂexu 160
ducit in errorem variarum ambage viarum.
non secus ac liquidus Phrygiis Maeandrus in arvis
ludit et ambiguo lapsu reﬂuitque ﬁuitque
occurrensque sibi venturas aspicit undas
et nunc ad fontes, nunc ad mare versus apertum 165
incertas exercet aquas, ita Daedalus implet
416
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
is in vain; you have forgotten my deserts in vain; I
shall follow you against your will, and clinging to the
curving stern, I shall be drawn over the long reaches
of the sea.” Scarce had she spoken when she
leaped into the water, swam after the ship, her
passion giving strength, and clung, hateful and un-
welcome, to the Cretan boat. When her father saw
her——for he was hovering in the air, shaving but now
been changed into an osprey with tawny wings—he
came on that he might tear her, as she clung there,
with his hooked beak. In terror she let go her
hold upon the boat, and as she fell the light air
seemed to hold her up and keep her from touching
the water. She was like a feather! Changed to a
feathered bird, she is called Ciris, and takes this
name from the shorn lock of hair.1
Minos duly paid his vows to Jove, a hundred
bulls, when he disembarked upon the Cretan strand;
and he hung up his spoils of war to adorn his palace.
But now his family’s disgrace had grown big, and
the queen’s foul adultery was revealed to all by her
strange hybrid monster-child. Minos planned to
remove this shame from his house and to hide it
away in a labyrinthine enclosure with blind passages.
Daedalus, a man famous for his skill in the builder’s
art, planned and performed the work. He confused
the usual passages and deceived the eye by a con-
ﬂicting maze of divers winding paths. Just as the
watery Maeander plays in the Phrygian ﬁelds, ﬂows
back and forth in doubtful course and, turning back
on itself, beholds its own waves coming on their way,
and sends its uncertain waters now towards their
source and now towards the open sea: so Daedalus
made those innumerable winding passages, and was
1 Ciris, as if from Ka'pw, “ I cut.”
417
OVI D
innumeras errore vias vixque ipse reverti
ad limen potuit: tanta est fallacia tecti.
Quo postquam geminam tauri iuvenisquc ﬁguram
clausit, et Actaeo bis pastum sanguine monstrum 170
tertia sors annis domuit repetita novenis,
utque ope virginea nullis iterata priorum
ianua difﬁcilis ﬁlo est inventa relecto,
protinus Aegides rapta Minoide Diam
vela dedit comitemque suam crudelis in illo 175
litore destituit; desertae et multa querenti
amplexus et opem Liber tulit utque perenni
sidere clara foret, sumptam de fronte coronam
inmisit caelo : tenues volat illa per auras
dumque volat, gemmae nitidos vertuntur in ignes 180
consistuntque loco specie remanente coronae,
qui medius Nixique genu est Anguemque tenentis.
Daedalus interea Cretan longumque perosus
exilium tactusque loci natalis amore
clausus erat pelago. “ terras licet ” inquit “ et undas
obstruat: et caelum certe patet; ibimus illac :' 186
omnia possideat, non possidet aera Minos.”
dixit et ignotas animum dimittit in artes
naturamque novat. nam ponit in ordine pennas
a minima coeptas, longam breviore sequenti, 190
ut clivo crevisse putes: sic rustica quondam
fistula disparibus paulatim surgit avenis;
tum lino medias et ceris alligat imas
atque ita conpositas parvo curvamine ﬂectit,
418
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
himself scarce able to ﬁnd his way back to the place
of entry, so deceptive was the enclosure he had built.
In this labyrinth Minos shut up the monster of the
bull-man form and twice be fed him on Athenian
blood; but the third tribute, demanded after each
nine years, brought the creature’s overthrow. And
when, by the virgin Ariadne’s help, the difficult
entrance, which no former adventurer had ever
reached again, was found by winding up the thread,
Straightway the son of Aegeus, taking Minos’
daughter, spread his sails for Dia; and on that shore
he cruelly abandoned his companion. To her,
deserted and bewailing bitterly, Bacchus brought
love and help. And, that she might shine among
the deathless stars, he sent the crown she wore up
to the skies. Through the thin air it ﬂew; and as it
ﬂew its gems were changed to gleaming ﬁres and, still
keeping the appearance of a crown, it took its place
between the Kneeler 1 and the Serpent—holder.2
Meanwhile Daedalus, hating Crete and his long
exile, and longing to see his native land, was shut in
by the sea. “ Though he may block escape by land
and water,” he said, “ yet the sky is open, and by
that way will I go. Though Minos rules over all, he
does not rule the air.” So saying, he sets his mind
at work upon unknown arts, and changes the laws of
nature. For he lays feathers in order, beginning at
the smallest, short next to long, so that you would
think they had grown upon a slope. Just so the
old-fashioned rustic pan—pipes with their unequal
reeds rise one above another. Then he fastened
the feathers together with twine and wax at the
middle and bottom; and, thus arranged, he bent
them with a gentle curve, so that they looked like
1 The constellation of Hercules. 2 Ophiuchus.
419
OVID
ut veras imitetur aves. puer Icarus una 195
stabat et ignarus, sua se tractare pericla,
( ore renidenti modo, quas vaga moverat aura)
captabat plumas, ﬂavam modo pollice ceram
mollibat lusuque suo mirabile patris
impediebat opus. postquam manus ultima coeptﬂv200
inposita est, geminas opifex libravit in alas
ipse suum corpus motaque pependit in aura;
instruit et natum “ medio ” que “ ut limite curras,
Icare,” ait “ moneo, ne, si demissior ibis,
unda gravet pennas, si celsior, ignis adurat: 205
inter utrumque vola. nec te spectare Booten
aut Helicen iubeo strictumque Orionis ensem:
me duce carpe viam! ” pariter praecepta volandi
tradit et ignotas umeris accommodat alas.
inter opus monitusque genae maduere seniles, 210
et patriae tremuere manus; dedit oscula nato
non iterum repetenda suo pennisque levatus
ante volat comitique timet, velut ales, ab alto
quae teneram prolem produxit in aera nido,
hortaturque sequi damnosasque erudit artes 215
et movet ipse suas et nati respicit alas.
hos aliquis tremula dum captat harundine pisces,
aut pastor baculo stivave innixus arator
vidit et obstipuit, quique aethera carpere possent,
credidit esse deos. et iam Iunonia laeva 220
parte Samos (fuerant Delosque Parosque relictae)
dextra Lebinthus erat fecundaque melle Calymne,
cum puer audaci coepit gaudere volatu
420
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
real birds’ wings. His son, Icarus, was standing by
and, little knowing that he was handling his own
peril, with gleeful face would now catch at the
feathers which some passing breeze had blown about,
now mould the yellow wax with his thumb, and by his
sport would hinder his father’s wondrous task. When
now the ﬁnishing touches had been put upon the
work, the master workman himself balanced his body
on two wings and hung poised on the beaten air. He
taught his son also and said: “ I warn you, Icarus,
to ﬂy in a middle course, lest, if you go too low, the
water may weight your wings; if you go too high,
the ﬁre may burn them. Fly between the two. .
And I bid you not to shape your course by Bootes or
Helice or the drawn sword of Orion, but ﬂy where
I shall lead.” At the same time he tells him the
rules of ﬂight and ﬁts the strange wings on his boy’s
shoulders. While he works and talks the old man’s
cheeks are wet with tears, and his fatherly hands
tremble. He kissed his son, which he was destined
never again to do, and rising on his wings, he ﬂew on
ahead, fearing for his companion, just like a bird which
has led forth her ﬂedglings from the high nest into the
unsubstantial air. He encourages the boy to follow,
instructs him in the fatal art of ﬂight, himself ﬂap-
ping his wings and looking back on his son. Now
some ﬁsherman spies them, angling for ﬁsh with his
ﬂexible rod, or a shepherd, leaning upon his crook,
or a plowman, on his plow-handles—spies them
and stands stupeﬁed, and believes them to be
gods that they could ﬂy through the air. And now
J uno’s sacred Samos had been passed on the left, and
Delos and Paros; Lebinthus was on the right and
Calymne, rich in honey, when the boy began to
rejoice in his bold ﬂight and, deserting his leader,
421
OVID
deseruitque ducem caelique cupidine tractus
altius egit iter. rapidi vicinia solis 225
mollit odoratas, pennarum vincula, ceras;
tabuerant cerae : nudos quatit ille lacertos,
remigioque carens non ullas percipit auras,
oraque caerulea patrium clamantia nomen
excipiuntur aqua, quae nomen traxit ab illo. 230
at pater infelix, nec iam pater, “ Icare,” dixit,
“ Icare,” dixit “ ubi es? qua te regione requiram? ”
“ Icare ” dicebat: pennas aspexit in undis
devovitque suas artes corpusque sepulcro
condiditJet tellus a nomine dicta sepulti. 235
Hunc miseri tumulo ponentem corpora nati
garrula limoso prospexit ab elice perdix
et plausit pennis testataque gaudia cantu est,
unica tunc volucris nec visa prioribus annis,
factaque nuper avis longum tibi, Daedale, crimen. 240
namque huic tradiderat, fatorum ignara, docendam
progeniem germana suam, natalibus actis
bis puerum senis, animi ad praecepta capacis;
ille etiam medio spinas in pisce notatas
traxit in exemplum ferroque incidit acuto 245
perpetuos dentes et serrae repperit usum;
primus et ex uno duo ferrea bracchia nodo
vinxit, ut aequali spatio distantibus illis
altera pars staret, pars altera duceret orbem.
Daedalus invidit sacraque ex arce Minervae 250
praecipitem misit, lapsum mentitus; at illum,
quae favet ingeniis, excepit Pallas avemque
reddidit et medio velavit in aere pennis,
422
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
led by a desire for the open sky, directed his course
to a greater height. The scorching rays of the nearer
sun softened the fragrant wax which held his wings.
The wax melted; his arms were bare as he beat them
up and down, but, lacking wings, they took no hold
on the air. His lips, calling to the last upon his
father’s name, were drowned in the dark blue sea,
which took its name from him. But the unhappy
father, now no longer father, called: “Icarus, Icarus,
where are you? In what place shall I seek you?
Icarus,” he called again; and then he spied the
wings ﬂoating on the deep, and cursed his skill.
He buried the body in a tomb, and the land was
called from the name of the buried boy.
As he was consigning the body of his ill-fated son
to the tomb, a chattering partridge looked out from
a muddy ditch and clapped her wings uttering a
joyful note. She was at that time a strange bird,
of a kind never seen before, and but lately made a
bird; a lasting reproach to you, Daedalus. For the
man’s sister, ignorant of the fates, had sent him
her son to be trained, a lad of teachable mind, who
had now passed his twelfth birthday. This boy,
moreover, observed the backbone of a ﬁsh and,
taking it as a model, cut a row of teeth in a thin
strip of iron and thus invented the saw. He also
was the ﬁrst to bind two arms of iron together
at a joint, so that, while the arms kept the same
distance apart, one might stand still while the other
should trace a circle. Daedalus envied the lad and
thrust him down headlong from the sacred citadel of
Minerva, with a lying tale that the boy had fallen.
But Pallas, who favours the quick of wit, caught him
up and made him a bird, and clothed him with
feathers in mid—air. His old quickness of wit passed
423
OVID
sed vigor ingenii quondam velocis in alas
inque pedes abiit; nomen, quod et ante, remansit.
non tamen haec alte volucris sua corpora tollit, 256
nec facit in ramis altoque cacumine nidos :
propter humum volitat ponitque in saepibus ova
antiquique memor metuit sublimia casus.
Iamque fatigatum tellus Aetnaea tenebat 260
Daedalon, et sumptis pro supplice Cocalus armis
mitis habebatur; iam lamentabile Athenae
pendere desierant Thesea laude tributum:
templa coronantur, bellatricemque Minervam
cum love disque vocant aliis, quos sanguine voto 265
muneribusque datis et acerris turis honorant;
sparserat Argolicas nomen vaga fama per urbes
Theseos, et populi, quos dives Achaia cepit,
huius opem magnis inploravere periclis,
huius opem Calydon, quamvis Meleagron haberet,
sollicita supplex petiit prece: causa petendi 271
sus erat, infestae famulus vindexque Dianae.
Oenea namque ferunt pleni successibus anni
primitias frugum Cereri, sua vina Lyaeo,
Palladios ﬂavae latices libasse Minervae ; 275
coeptus ab agricolis superos pervenit ad omnes
ambitiosus honor: solas sine ture relictas
praeteritae cessasse ferunt Latoidos aras.
6
tangit et ira deos. ‘ at non inpune feremus,
quaeque inhonoratae, non et dicemur inultae ” 280
inquit, et Oeneos ultorem spreta per agros
424
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
into his wings and legs, but he kept the name which
he had before. Still the bird does not lift her body
high in ﬂight nor build her nest on trees or on high
points of rock; but she ﬂutters along near the ground
and lays her eggs in hedgerows; and, remembering
that old fall, she is ever fearful of lofty places.
Now the land of Aetna received the weary Dae-
dalus, where King Cocalus took up arms in the sup—
pliant’s defence and was esteemed most kind.1 Now
also Athens, thanks to Theseus, had ceased to pay
her doleful tribute. The temple is wreathed with
ﬂowers, the people call on Minerva, goddess of
battles, with Jove and the other gods, whom they
worship with sacriﬁcial blood, with gifts and burning
incense. Quick—ﬂying fame had spread the name of
Theseus through all the towns of Greece, and all
the peoples of rich Achaia prayed his help in their
own great perils. Suppliant Calydon sought his help
with anxious prayers, although she had her Meleager.
The cause of seeking was a monster boar, the
servant and avenger of outraged Diana. For they
say that Oeneus, king of Calydon, in thanksgiving
for a bounteous harvest-time, paid the ﬁrst-fruits
of the grain to Ceres, paid his wine to Bacchus,
and her own ﬂowing oil to golden—haired Minerva.
Beginning with the rural deities, the honour they
craved was paid to all the gods of heaven; only
Diana’s altar was passed by (they say) and left with-
out its incense. Anger also can move the gods. “ But
we shall not bear this without vengeance,” she said;
“ and though unhonoured, it shall not be said that
we are unavenged.” And the scorned goddess sent
over Oeneus’ ﬁelds an avenging boar, as great as
1 This phrase has no point, and there seems to be something
wrong with the text.
425
OVID
misit aprum, quanto maiores herbida tauros
non habet Epiros, sed habent Sicula arva minores:
sanguine et igne micant oculi, riget ardua cervix,
et setae similes rigidis hastilibus horrent : 1 285
fervida cum rauco latos stridore per armos 287
spuma fluit, dentes aequantur dentibus Indis,
fulmen ab ore venit, frondes ai-Hatibus ardent.
is modo crescentes segetes proculcat in herba, 290
nunc matura metit ﬂeturi vota coloni
et Cererem in spicis intercipit: area frustra
et frustra exspectant promissas horrea messes.
sternuntur gravidi longo cum palmite fetus
bacaque cum ramis semper frondentis olivae. 295
saevit et in pecudes: non has pastorve canisve,
non armenta truces possunt defendere tauri.
diffugiunt populi nec se nisi moenibus urbis.
esse putant tutos, donec Meleagros et una
lecta manus iuvenum coiere cupidine laudis: 300
Tyndaridae gemini, spectatus caestibus alter,
alter equo, primaeque ratis molitor Iason,
et cum Pirithoo, felix concordia, Theseus,
et duo Thestiadae prolesque Aphareia, Lynceus
et velox Idas, et iam non femina Caeneus, 305
Leucippusque ferox iaculoque insignis Acastus
Hippothousque Dryasque et cretus Amyntore Phoenix
Actoridaeque pares et missus ab Elide Phyleus.
nec Telamon aberat magnique creator Achillis
cumque Pheretiade et Hyanteo Iolao 310
1 Ehwald omits, as well as line 286:
stantque velut vallum, velut alta hastilia setae.
426
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
the bulls which feed on grassy Epirus, and greater
than those of Sicily. His eyes glowed with blood
and ﬁre; his neck was stiff and high; his bristles
stood up like lines of stiff spear-shafts; amidst deep,
hoarse grunts the hot foam ﬂecked his broad
shoulders; his tusks were long as the Indian ele-
phant’s, lightning ﬂashed from his mouth, the herb-
age shrivelled beneath his breath. Now he trampled
down the young corn in the blade, and now he laid
waste the full-grown crops of some farmer who was
doomed to mourn, and cut off the ripe grain in the
car. In vain the threshing—ﬂoor, in vain the granary
awaited the promised harvests. The heavy bunches
of grapes with their trailing vines were cast down, and
berry and branch of the olive whose leaf never withers.
He vents his rage on the cattle, too. Neither
herdsmen nor dogs can protect them, nor can the
ﬁerce bulls defend their herds. The people ﬂee in
all directions, nor do they count themselves safe
until protected by a city’s walls. Then at last
Meleager and a picked band of youths assembled,
ﬁred with the love of glory: the twin sons of Leda,
wife of Tyndarus, one famous for boxing, the other
for horsemanship; Jason, the ﬁrst ship’s builder;
Theseus and Pirithoiis, inseparable friends; the two
sons of Thestius; 1 Lynceus and swift-footed Idas,
sons of Aphareus; Caeneus,2 no longer a woman;
warlike Leucippus and Acastus, famed for his javelin;
Hippothoiis and Dryas; Phoenix, the son of Amyntor;
Actor’s two sons 3 and Elean Phyleus. Telamon was
also there, and the father of great Achilles; and,
along with the son of Pheres 4 and Boeotian Iolaiis,
1 Plexippus and Toxeus, brothers of Althaea, the mother of
Meleager.
2 See XII. 189 ff. 3 Eurytus and Oleatus. ‘1 Admetus.
427
OVID
inpiger Eurytion et cursu invictus Echion
Naryciusque Lelex Panopeusque Hyleusque feroxque
Hippasus et primis etiamnum Nestor in annis,
et quos Hippocoon antiquis misit Amyclis,
Penelopaeque socer cum Parrhasio Ancaeo, 315
Ampycidesque sagax et adhuc a coniuge tutus
Oeclides nemorisque decus Tegeaea Lycaei :
rasilis huic summam mordebat ﬁbula vestem,
crinis erat simplex, nodum conlectus in unum,
ex umero pendens resonabat eburnea laevo 320
telorum custos, arcum quoque laeva tenebat;
talis erat cultu, facies, quam dicere vere
virgineam in puero, puerilem in virgine possis.
hanc pariter vidit, pariter Calydonius heros
optavit renuente deo ﬁammasque latentes 325
hausit et “ o felix, siquem dignabitur ” inquit
“ ista virum! ” nec plura sinit tempusque pudorque
dicere: maius opus magni certaminis urguet.
Silva frequens trabibus, quam nulla ceciderat aetas,
incipit a plano devexaque prospicit arva: 330
quo postquam venere viri, pars retia tendunt,
vincula pars adimunt canibus, pars pressa sequuntur
signa pedum, cupiuntque suum reperire periclum.
concava vallis erat, quo se demittere rivi
adsuerunt pluvialis aquae ; tenet ima lacunae 335
lenta salix ulvaeque leves iuncique palustres
viminaque et longa parvae sub harundine cannae :
428
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
were Eurytion, quick in action, and Echion, of un—
conquered speed; Locrian Lelex, Panopeus, Hyleus
and Hippasus, keen for the fray; Nestor, then in
the prime of his years; and those whom Hippocoon
sent from ancient Amyclae; the father-in-law of
Penelope,1 and Arcadian Ancaeus; Ampycus’ pro-
phetic son,2 and the son3 of Oecleus, who had not
yet been ruined by his wife ; and Atalanta of Tegea,
the pride of the Arcadian woods. A polished buckle
clasped her robe at the neck; her hair, plainly dressed,
was caught up in one knot. From her left shoulder
hung an ivory quiver, resounding as she moved, with
its shafts, and her left hand held a bow. Such was
she in dress. As for her face, it was one which you
could truly say was maidenly for a boy or boyish
for a maiden. As soon as his eyes fell on her, the
Calydonian hero Straightway longed for her (but
God forbade); he felt the ﬂames of love steal
through his heart; and “ O happy man,” he said,
“ if ever that maiden shall deem any man worthy to
be hers.” Neither the occasion nor his own modesty
permitted him more words; the greater task of the
mighty conﬂict urged him to action.
There was a dense forest, that past ages had never
touched with the axe, rising from the plain and look-
ing out on the downward-sloping ﬁelds. When the
heroes came to this, some stretched the hunting-nets,
some slipped the leashes from the dogs, some fol—
lowed the well-marked trail as they longed to come
at their dangerous enemy. There was a deep dell,
where the rain-water from above drained down; the
lowest part of this marshy spot was covered with a
growth of pliant willows, sedge-grass and swamp-
rushes, osiers and tall bulrushes, with an under—
1 Lai-Srtes. 2 Mopsus. 3 Amphiaraiis.
429
OVID
hinc aper excitus medios violentes in hostes
fertur, ut excussis elisi nubibus ignes.
sternitur incursu nemus, et propulsa fragorem 340
silva dat: exclamant iuvenes praetentaque forti
tela tenent dextra lato vibrantia ferro.
ille ruit spargitque canes, ut quisque furenti
obstat, et obliquo latrantes dissipat ictu.
cuspis Echionio primum contorta lacerto 345
vana fuit truncoque dedit leve vulnus acerno;
proxima, si nimiis mittentis viribus usa
non foret, in tergo visa est haesura petito:
longius it; auctor teli Pagasaeus Iason.
“ Phoebe,” ait Ampycides, “ si te coluique coloque,
da mihi, quod petitur, certo contingere telo! ” 351
qua potuit, precibus deus adnuit: ictus ab illo est,
sed sine vulnere aper: ferrum Diana volanti
abstulerat iaculo; lignum sine acumine venit.
ira feri mota est, nec fulmine lenius arsit: 355
emicat ex oculis, spirat quoque pectore ﬂamma,
utque volat moles adducto concita nervo,
cum petit aut muros aut plenas milite turres,
in iuvenes certo sic impete vulniﬁcus sus
fertur et Eupalamon Pelagonaque, dextra tuentes 360.
cornua, prosternit: socii rapuere iacentes;
at non letiferos effugit Enaesimus ictus
Hippocoonte satus: trepidantem et terga parantem
vertere succisso liquerunt poplite nervi.
43°
MET AMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
growth of small reeds. From this covert the boar
was roused and launched himself with a mad rush
against his foes, like lightning struck out from the
clashing clouds. The grove is laid low by his on—
rush, and the trees crash as he knocks against them.
The heroes raise a halloo and with unﬂinching hands
hold their spears poised with the broad iron heads
well forward. The boar comes rushing on, scatters
the dogs one after another as they strive to stop his
mad rush, and thrusts off the baying pack with his
deadly sidelong stroke. The ﬁrst spear, thrown by
Echion’s arm, missed its aim and struck glancing on
the trunk of a maple-tree. The next, if it had not
been thrown with too much force, seemed sure of
transﬁxing the back where it was aimed. It went
too far. Jason of Pagasae was the marksman. Then
Mopsus cried: “ O Phoebus, if I have ever worshipped
and do still worship thee, grant me with unerring spear
to reach my mark.” So far as possible the god heard
his prayer. His spear did strike the boar, but with-
out injury; for Diana had wrenched the iron point
from the javelin as it sped, and pointless the wooden
shaft struck home. But the beast’s savage anger
was roused, and it burned hotter than the lightning.
Fire gleamed from his eyes, seemed to breathe from
his throat. And, as a huge rock, shot from a catapult
sling, ﬂies through the air against walls or turrets’
ﬁlled with soldiery ; so with irresistible and death-
dealing force the beast rushed on the youths, and
overbore Eupalamus and Pelagon, who were stationed
on the extreme right. Their comrades caught them
up as they lay. But Enaesimus, the son of Hippo—
coiin, did not escape the boar’s fatal stroke. As he
in fear was just turning to run he was hamstrung
and his muscles gave way beneath him. Pylian
431
OVID
forsitan et Pylius citra Troiana perisset
tempora, sed sumpto posita conamine ab hasta
arboris insiluit, quae stabat proxima, ramis
despexitque, loco tutus, quem fugerat, hostem.
dentibus ille ferox in querno stipite tritis
inminet exitio ﬁdensque recentibus armis
Eurytidae magni rostro femur hausit adunco.
at gemini, nondum caelestia sidera, fratres,
ambo conspicui, nive candidioribus ambo
vectabantur equis, ambo vibrata per auras
hastarum tremulo quatiebant spicula motu.
vulnera fecissent, nisi saetiger inter opacas
nec iaculis isset nec equo loca pervia silvas.
persequitur Telamon studioque incautus eundi
pronus ab arborea cecidit radice retentus.
365
370
375
dum levat hunc Peleus, celerem Tegeaea sagittam
inposuit nervo sinuatoque expulit arcu:
ﬁxa sub aure feri summum destrinxit harundo
corpus et exiguo rubefecit sanguine saetas;
nec tamen illa sui successu laetior ictus
quam Meleagros erat: primus vidisse putatur
et primus sociis visum ostendisse cruorem
et “ meritum ” dixisse “ feres virtutis honorem.’
erubuere viri seque exhortantur et addunt
cum clamore animos iaciuntque sine ordine tela:
turba nocet iactis et, quos petit, impedit ictus.
ecce furens contra sua fata bipennifer Arcas
381
385
390
432
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
Nestor ca‘me near perishing before ’he'ever went to
the Trojan War; ‘but, putting forth all his strength,
he leaped by his spear-pole into the branches of, a
tree which stood near by, and from this place of
safety he looked down upon the foe he had escaped.
The raging beast whetted his tusks on an oak-tree’s
trunk; and, threatening destruction and emboldened
by his freshly sharpened tusks, ripped up the thigh
of the mighty Hippasus with one sweeping blow.
But now the twin brothers,1 not yet set in the starry
heavens, came riding up, both conspicuous among the
rest, both on horses whiter than snow, both poising
their spears, which they threw quivering through the
air. ' And they would have struck the boar had not
the bristly monster taken refuge in the dense woods,
whither neither spear nor horse could follow him.
Telamon did attempt to follow, and in his eagerness,
careless where he went, he fell prone on the ground,
caught by a projecting root. While Peleus was
helping him to rise, Atalanta notched a swift arrow
on the cord and sent it speeding from her bent bow.
The arrow just grazed the top of the boar’s back and
remained stuck beneath his ear, staining the bristles
with a trickle of blood. Nor did she show more joy
over the success of her own stroke than Meleager.
He was the ﬁrst to see the blood, the ﬁrst to point it
out to his companions, and to say: “ Due honour
shall your brave deed receive.” The men, ﬂushed
with shame, spurred each other on, gaining courage
as they cried out, hurling their spears in disorder.
The mass of missiles made them of no effect, and
kept them from striking as they were meant to do.
Then Ancaeus, the Arcadian, armed with a two-
headed axe raging to meet his fate, cried out:
1 Castor and Pollux.
mu 1. P
433
OVID
“ discite, femineis quid tela virilia praestent,
o iuvenes, operique meo concedite! ” dixit.
“ ipsa suis licet hunc Latonia protegat armis,
invita tamen hunc perimet mea dextra Diana."
talia magniloquo tumidus memoraverat ore
ancipitemque manu tollens utraque securim
institerat digitis pronus suspensus in ictus:
occupat audentem, quaque est via proxima leto,
395
summa ferus geminos direxit ad inguina dentes. 400
concidit Ancaeus glomerataque sanguine multo
viscera lapsa ﬂuunt': madefacta est terra cruore.
ibat in adversum proles Ixionis hostem
Pirithous valida quatiens venabula dextra;
cui “ procul ” Aegides “ 0 me mihi carior ” inquit
“ pars animae consiste meae! licet eminus esse
fortibus : Ancaeo nocuit temeraria virtus.”
dixit et aerata torsit grave cuspide cornum;
quo bene librato votique potente futuro
obstitit aesculea frondosus ab arbore ramus.
misit et Aesonidcs iaculum: quod casus ab illo
vertit in inmeriti fatum latrantis et inter
ilia coniectum tellure per ilia ﬁxum est.
at manus Oenidae variat, missisque duabus
hasta prior terra, medio stetit altera tergo.
405
410
415
nec mora, dum saevit, dum corpora versat in orbem
stridentemque novo spumam cum sanguine fundit,
vulneris auctor adest hostemque inritat ad iram
splendidaque adversos venabula condit in armos.
434
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
“ Learn now, O youths, how far a man’s weapons
surpass a girl’s; and leave this task to me. Though
Latona’s daughter herself shield this boar with her
own arrows, in spite of Diana shall my good right
arm destroy him.” So, swollen with pride and with
boastful lips, he spoke: and, heaving up in both
hands his two-edged axe, he stood on tiptoe, poised
to strike. The boar made in upon his bold enemy,
and, as the nearest point for death, he ﬁercely struck
at the upper part of the groins with his two tusks.
Ancaeus fell; his entrails poured out amid streams
of blood and the ground was soaked with gore.
Then Ixion’s son, Pirithoiis, advanced against the
foe, brandishing a hunting-spear in his strong right
hand. To him Theseus cried out in alarm: “ Keep
away, O dearer to me than my own self, my soul’s
other half; it is no shame for brave men to fight
at long range. Ancaeus’ rash valour has proved
his bane.” He spoke and hurled his own heavy
shaft with its sharp bronze point. Though this was
well aimed and seemed sure to reach the mark, a leafy
branch of an oak-tree turned it aside. Then the son
of Aeson hurled his javelin, which chance caused to
swerve from its aim and fatally wound an innocent
dog, passing clear through his ﬂanks and pinning
him to the ground. But the hand of Meleager had
a different fortune: he threw two spears, the ﬁrst
of which stood in the earth, but the second stuck
squarely in the middle of the creature’s back.
Straightway, while the boar rages and whirls round
and round, spouting forth foam and fresh blood in a
hissing stream, the giver of the wound presses his
advantage, pricks his enemy on to madness, and at
last plunges his gleaming hunting—spear right through
the shoulder. The others vent their joy by wild
P2 435
OVID
gaudia testantur socii clamore secundo 420
victricemque petunt dextrae coniungere dextram
inmanemque ferum multa tellure iacentem
mirantes spectant neque adhuc contingere tutum
esse putant, sed tela tamen sua quisque cruentat.
I Ipse pede inposito caput exitiabile pressit 425
‘atque ita “ sume mei spolium, Nonacria,'iuris,”
dixit “ et in partem veniat mea gloria tecum.”
protinus exuvias rigidis horrentia saetis
terga dat et magnis insignia dentibus ora.
illi laetitiae est cum munere muneris auctor; 430
invidere alii, totoque erat agmine murmur.
e quibus ingenti tendentes bracchia voce
“ pone age nec titulos intercipe, femina, nostros,”
Thestiadae clamant, “ nec te ﬁducia formae
decipiat, ne sit longe tibi captus amore 435
auctor,” et huic adimunt munus, ius muneris illi.
non tulit et tumida frendens Mavortius ira
“ discite, raptores alieni ” dixit “ lionoris,
facta minis quantum distent,” hausitque nefando
pectora Plexippi nil ta-le timentia ferro. 440
Toxea, quid faciat, dubium pariterque volentem
ulcisci fratrem fraternaque fata timentem
haud patitur dubitare diu calidumque priori
ca'ede recalfecit consorti sanguine telum.
Dona deum templis nato victore ferebat, 445
cum videt exstinctos fratres Althaea referri.
quae plangore dato maestis .clamoribus vurbem
43.6-
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
shouts of applause and crowd around to press the
victor’s hand. They gaze in wonder at the huge
beast lying stretched out over so much ground, and
still think it hardly safe to touch him. But each
dips his spear in the blood.
Then Meleager, standing with his foot upon that
death—dealing head, spoke thus to Atalanta: “ Take
thou the prize that is of my right, O fair Arcadian, and
let my glory be shared with thee.” And therewith
he presented her with the spoils: the skin with its
bristling spikes, and the head remarkable for its
huge tusks. She rejoiced in the gift and no less in
the giver; but the others begrudged it, and an angry
murmur rose through the whole company. Then
two, the sons of Thestius, stretching out their arms,
cried with a loud voice: “ Let be, girl, and do not
usurp our honours. And be not deceived by trusting
in your beauty, lest this lovesick giver be far from
helping you.” And they took from her the gift, and
from him the right of giving. This was more than
that son of Mars could bear, and, gnashing his teeth
with rage, he cried: “ Learn then, you that plunder
another’s rights, the difference between deeds and
threats,” and plunged his impious steel deep in
Plexippus’ heart, who was taken oﬂ’ his guard. Then,
as Toxeus stood hesitating what to do, wishing to
avenge his brother, but at the same time fearing to
share his brother’s fate, Meleager gave him scant
time to hesitate, but, while his spear was still warm
with its ﬁrst victim’s slaughter, he warmed it again
in his comrade’s blood.
Althaea in the temple of the gods was oﬂ’ering
thanksgiving for her son’s victory, when she saw the
corpses of her brothers carried in. She beat her
breast and ﬁlled the city with woeful lamentation,
437
OVID
inplet et auratis mutavit vestibus atras;
at simul est auctor necis editus, excidit omnis V
luctus et a lacrimis in poenae versus amorem est. 450
Stipes erat, quem, cum partus enixa iaceret
Thestias, in flammam triplices posuere sorores
staminaque inpresso fatalia pollice nentes
“ tempora ” dixerunt “ eadem lignoque tibique,
o modo nate, damus.” quo postquam carmine dicto
excessere deae, ﬁagrantem mater ab igne 456
eripuit ramum sparsi-tque liquentibus undis.
ille diu fuerat penetralibus abditus imis
servatusque tuos, iuvenis, servaverat annos.
protulit hunc genetrix taedasque et fragmina poni
imperat et positis inimicos admovet ignes. 461
tum conata quater flammis inponere ramum
coepta quater tenuit: pugnat materque sororque,
et diversa trahunt unum duo nomina pectus.
saepe metu sceleris pallebant ora futuri, 465
saepe suum fervens oculis dabat ira ruborem,
et modo nescio quid similis crudele minanti
vultus erat, modo quem misereri credere posses;
cumque ferus lacrimas animi siccaverat ardor,
inveniebantur lacrimae tamen, utque carina, 470
quam ventus ventoque rapit contrarius aestus,
vim geminam sent-it paretque incerta duobus,
Thestias haud aliter dubiis affectibus errat
inque vices ponit positamque resuscitat iram.
incipit esse tamen melior germana parente 475
et consanguineas ut sanguine leniat umbras,
inpietate pia est. nam postquam pestifer ignis
438
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
and changed her gold—Spangled robes for black.
But when she learned who was their murderer, her
grief all fell away and was changed from tears to the
passion for vengeance.
There was a billet of wood which, when the
daughter of Thestius lay in childbirth, the three
sisters threw into the ﬁre and, spinning the threads
of life with ﬁrm-pressed thumb, they sang: “An
equal span of life we give to thee and to this wood,
O babe new-born.” When the three goddesses had
sung this prophecy and vanished, the mother snatched
the blazing brand from the ﬁre, and quenched it in
water. Long had it lain hidden away in a secret
place and, guarded safe, had safeguarded your life, O
youth. And now the mother brought out this billet
and bade her servants make a heap of pine-knots
and ﬁne kindling, and lit the pile with cruel ﬂame.
Then four times she made to throw the billet in the
ﬂames and four times she held her hand. Mother
and sister strove in her, and the two names tore one
heart this way and that. Often her cheeks grew
pale with fear of the impious thing she planned; as
often blazing wrath gave its own colour to her eyes.
Now she looked like one threatening some cruel deed,
and now you would think her pitiful. And when the
ﬁerce anger of her heart had dried up her tears, still
tears would come again. And as a ship, driven by
the wind, and against the wind by the tide, feels the
double force and yields uncertainly to both, so
Thestius’ daughter wavered betwixt opposing pas-
sions; now quenched her wrath and now fanned it
again. At last the sister in her overcomes the mother,
and, that she may appease with blood the shades of
her blood—kin, she is pious in impiety. For when
the devouring ﬂames grow hot, she cries: “ Be that
439
OVID ..
convaluit, “ rogus iste cremet mea viscera ” dixit,
utque manu dira lignum fatale tenebat,
ante sepulcrales infelix adstitit aras 480
" poenarum ” que “ deae triplices, furialibus," inquit
“ Eumenides, sacris vultus advertite vestros!
ulciscor facioque nefas; mors morte pianda est,
in scelus addendum scelus est, in funera funus:
per coacervatos pereat domus inpia luctus! 485
an felix Oeneus nato victore fruetur,
Thestius orbus erit? melius lugebitis ambo.
vos modo, fraterni manes animaeque recentes,
ofﬁcium sentite meum magnoque paratas
accipite inferias, uteri mala pignora nostri! 490
ei mihi! quo rapior? fratres, ignoscite matri!
deﬁciunt ad coepta manus: m'eruisse fatemur
illum, cur pereat; mortis mihi displicet auctor.
ergo inpune feret vivusque et victor et ipso
successu tumidus regnum Calydonis habebit, 495
vos cinis exiguus gelidaeque iacebitis umbrae?
haud equidem patiar: pereat sceleratus et ille
spemque patris regnumque trahat patriaeque ruinam!
mens ubi materna est? ubi sunt pia iura parentum
et quos sustinui bis mensum quinque labores? 500
o utinam primis arsisses ignibus infans,
idque ego passa forem! vixisti munere nostro;
nunc merito moriere tuo! cape praemia facti
bisque datam, primum partu, mox stipite rapto,
redde animam vel me fratern-is adde'sepulcris! 505
et cupio et nequeo. quid agam P modo vulnerafratrum
ante oculos mihi sunt et tantae caedis imago,
440
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
the funeral pyre of my own ﬂesh.” And, as she held
the fateful billet in her relentless hand and stood,
unhappy wretch, before the sepulchral ﬁres, she
said: “ O ye triple goddesses of vengeance, Eu-
menides, behold these fearful rites. I avenge and
I do a wicked deed: death must be atoned by
death; to crime must crime be added, death to
death. Through woes on woes heaped up let this
accursed house go on to ruin! Shall happy Oeneus
rejoice in his victorious son and Thestius be child-
less? ’Twill be better for you both to grieve. Only
do you, my brothers’ manes, fresh—made ghosts, appre—
ciate my service, and accept the sacriﬁce I offer at so
heavy cost, the baleful tribute of my womb. Ah me,
whither am I hurrying? Brothers, forgive a mother’s
heart! My hands refuse to ﬁnish what they began.
I confess that he deserves to die; but that I should
be the agent of his death, I cannot bear. And shall
he go scathless then? Shall he live, victorious
and puffed up with his vown success, and lord it in
Calydon, while you are naught but a handful of
ashes, shivering ghosts? I will not suffer it. Let
the wretch die and drag to ruin with him his
father’s hopes, his kingdom and his fatherland!
Where is my mother-love? Where are parents’
pious cares? Where are those pangs which ten long
months I bore? O that you had perished in your
infancy by those ﬁrst ﬁres, and I had suffered it!
You lived by my gift; now you shall die by your
own desert; pay the price of your deed. Give back
the life I twice gave you, once at your birth, once
when Ijsaved the brand; or else add me to my
brothers’ pyre. I both desire to act, and cannot. Oh,
what shall I do? Now I can see only my brothers’
wounds, the sight of that deed of blood: and now
441
OVID
nunc animum pietas maternaque nomina frangunt.
me miseram! male vincetis, sed vincite, fratres,
dummodo, quae dedero vobis, solacia vosque 510
ipsa sequar! ” dixit dextraque aversa trementi
funereum torrem medios coniecit in ignes :
aut dedit aut visus gemitus est ipse dedisse
stipes, ut invitis conreptus ab ignibus arsit.
Inscius atque absens ﬂamma Meleagros ab illa 515
uritur et caecis torreri viscera sentit
ignibus ac magnos superat virtute dolores.
quod tamen ignavo cadat et sine sanguine leto,
maeret et Ancaei felicia vulnera dicit
grandaevumque patrem fratresque piasque sorores
cum gemitu‘ sociamque tori vocat ore supremo, 521
forsitan et matrem. crescunt ignisque dolorque
languescuntque iterum; simul est exstinctus uterque,
inque leves abiit paulatim spiritus auras
paulatim cana prunam velante favilla- 525
Alta iacet Calydon: lugent iuvenesque senesque,
vulgusque proceresque gemunt, scissaeque capillos
planguntur matres Calydonides Eueninae;
pulvere canitiem genitor vultusque seniles
foedat humi fusus spatiosumque increpat aevum. 530
nam de matre manus diri sibi conscia facti
exegit poenas acto per viscera ferro.
non mihi si centum deus ora sonantia linguis
ingeniumque capax totumque Helicona dedisset,
tristia persequerer miserarum dicta sororum. 535
inmemores decoris liventia pectora tundunt,
dumque manet corpus, corpus refoventque foventque,
442
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
love and the name of mother break me down. Woe
is my, my brothers! It is ill that you should win, but
win you shall; only let me have the solace that I grant
to you, and let me follow you! ” She spoke, and
turning away her face, with trembling hand she threw
the fatal billet into the ﬂames. The brand either
gave or seemed to give a groan as it was caught and
consumed by the unwilling ﬁre. ’
Unconscious, far away, Meleager burns with those
ﬂames ; he feels his vitals scorching with hidden ﬁre,
and o’ercomes the great pain with fortitude. But
yet he- grieves that he must die a cowardly and
bloodless death, and he calls Ancaeus happy for the
wounds he suffered. With groans of pain he calls
with his' dying breath on his aged father, his
brothers and loving sisters and his wife, perchance
also upon his mother. The ﬁre and his pains increase,
and then die down. Both ﬁre and pain go out
together; his spirit gradually slips away into the
thin air as white ashes gradually overspread the
glowing coals.
Lofty Calydon is brought low. Young men and
old, chieftains and commons, lament and groan; and
the Calydonian women, dwellers by Euenus’ stream,
tear their hair and beat their breasts. The father,
prone on the ground, deﬁles his white hair and his
aged head with dust, and laments that he has lived
too long. For the mother, now knowing her awful
deed, has punished herself, driving a dagger through
her heart. Not if some god had given me a hundred
mouths each with its tongue, a master’s genius, and
all Helicon’s inspiration, could I describe the piteous
prayers of those poor sisters. Careless of decency,they
beat and bruise their breasts ; and, while their brother ’s
corpse remains, they caress that corpse over and
443
' OVID
oscula dant ipsi, posito dant oscula lecto.-
post cinerem cineres haustos ad pectora pressant
adfusaeque iacent tumulo signataque saxo 540
nomina conplexae lacrimas in nomina fundunt.
quas Parthaoniae tandem Latonia clade
exsatiata domus'praeter Gorgenque nurumque
nobilis Alcmenae natis in corpore pennis
adlevat et longas per bracchia porrigit alas 545
corneaque ora facit versasque per aera mittit.
Interea Theseus sociati parte laboris
functus Erechtheas Tritonidos ibat ad arces.
clausit iter fecitque moras Achelous eunti
‘
imbre tumens: ‘ succede meis,” ait “ inclite, tectis,
Cecropida, nec te committe rapacibus undis: 551
ferre trabes solidas obliquaque volvere magno
murmure saxa solent. vidi contermina ripae
cum gregibus stabula alta trahi; nec fortibus illic
profuit armentis nec equis velocibus esse. 555
multa quoque hic torrens nivibus de monte solutis
corpora turbineo iuvenalia ﬂumine mersit.
tutior est requies, solito dum ﬂumina currant
limite, dum tenues capiat suus alveus undas.”
adnuit Aegides “ utar,” que “Acheloe, domoque 560
consilioque tuo ” respondit; et usus utroque est.
pumice multicavo nec levibus atria tophis
structa subit: molli tellus erat umida musco,
444
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
over, kiss him and kiss the bier as it stands before
them. And, when he is ashes, they gather the
ashes and press them to their hearts, throw them-
selves on his tomb in abandonment of grief and,
clasping the stone on which his name has been
carved, they drench the name with their tears. At
length Diana, satisﬁed with the destruction of Par-
thaon’s house, made feathers spring on their bodies—
all save Gorge and great Alcmena’s daughter—in-law1
——stretched out long wings over their arms, gave
them a horny beak, and sent them transﬁgured into
the air.2
Meanwhile Theseus, having done his part in the
confederate task, was on his way back to Tritonia’s
city where Erechtheus ruled. But 'Acheloiis, swollen
with rain, blocked his way and delayed his jour-
ney. “ Enter my house, illustrious hero of Athens,”
said the river-god, “ and do not entrust yourself to
my greedy waters. The current is wont to sweep
down solid trunks of trees and huge boulders in zig-
zag course with crash and roar. I have seen great
stables that stood near by the bank swept away, cattle
and all, and in that current neither strength availed
the ox nor speed the horse. Many a strong man
also has been overwhelmed in its whirling pools
when swollen by melting snows from the mountain—
sides. It is safer for you to rest until the waters
shall run within their accustomed bounds, until its
own bed shall hold the slender stream.” The son of
Aegeus replied: “ I will use both your house, Acheloiis,
and your advice.” And he did use them both. He
entered the river-god’s dark dwelling, built of porous
pumice and rough tufa; the ﬂoor was damp with soft
1 Deianira, the wife of Hercules.
2’ These birds were called M eleagm'des, guinea-hens.
VOL. I. Q 445
OVI D
summa lacunabant alterno murice conchae.
iamque duas lucis partes Hyperione menso 565
discubuere toris Theseus comitesque laborum,
hac Ixionides, illa Troezenius heros
parte Lelex, raris iam sparsus tempora canis,
quosque alios parili fuerat dignatus honore
Amnis Acarnanum, laetissimus hospite tanto. 570
protinus adpositas nudae vestigia nymphae
instruxere epulis mensas dapibusque remotis
in gemma posuere merum. tum maximus heros,
aequora prospiciens oculis subiecta, “ quis ” inquit
“ ille locus? " (digitoque ostendit) “ et insula
nomen 575
quod gerit illa, doce, quamquam non una videtur! ”
Amnis ad haec “ non est ” inquit “ quod cernitis
unum:
quinque iacent terrae; spatium discrimina fallit.
quoque minus spretae factum mirere Dianae,
naides hae fuerant, quae cum bis quinque iuvencos
mactassent rurisque deos ad sacra vocassent, 581
inmemores nostri festas duxere choreas.
intumui, quantusque ferror, cuni plurimus umquam,
tantus eram, pariterque animis inmanis et undis
a silvis silvas et ab arvis arva revulsi 585
cumque loco nymphas, memores tum denique nostri,
in freta provolvi. ﬂuctus nosterque marisque
continuam diduxit humum partesque resolvit
in totidem, mediis quot cernis Echinadas undis.
ut tamen ipse vides, procul, en procul una recessit
insula, grata mihi; Perimelen navita dicit: 591
446
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
moss, conchs and purple-shells panelled the ceiling.
Now had the blazing sun traversed two-thirds of his
daily course, when Theseus and his comrades of the
chase disposed themselves upon the couches. Ixion’s
son 1 lay here, and there Lelex, the hero of Troezen,
took his place, his temples already sprinkled with
grey; and others who had been deemed worthy of
equal honour by the Acarnanian river—god, who was
ﬁlled with joy in his noble guest. Without delay
barefoot nymphs set the feast upon the tables, and
then when the food had been removed, they set out
the wine in jewelled cups. Then the noble hero,
looking forth upon the wide water spread before his
eyes, pointed with his ﬁnger and said: “ What place
is that? Tell me the name which that island bears.
And yet it seems not to be one island.” The river-
god replied: “ No, what you see is not one island.
There are ﬁve islands lying there together; but the
distance hides their divisions. And, that you may
wonder the less at what Diana did when she
was slighted, those islands once were nymphs,
who, when they had slaughtered ten bullocks
and had invited all the other rural gods to their
sacred feast, forgot me as they led the festal dance.
I swelled with rage, as full as when my ﬂood ﬂows
at the fullest; and so, terrible in wrath, terrible in
ﬂood, I tore forests from forests, ﬁelds from ﬁelds;
and with the place they stood on, I swept the nymphs
away, who at last remembered me then, into the sea.
There my ﬂood and the sea,united, cleft the undivided
ground into as many parts as now you see the
Echinades yonder amid the waves. But, as you
yourself see, away, look, far away beyond the others
is one island that I love: the sailors call it Perimele.
1 Pirithoiis.
447
OVID
huic ego virgineum dilectae nomen ademi;
quod pater Hippodamas aegre tulit inque profun—
dum
propulit e scopulo periturae corpora natae.
excepi nantemque ferens ‘o proxima mundi
regna vagae ’ dixi ‘ sortite, Tridentifer, undae, 596
adfer opem mersaeque, precor, feritate paterna; 601
da, Neptune, locum; vel sit locus ipsa licebit! ’
dum loquor, amplexa est artus nova terra natantes 609
et gravis increvit mutatis insula membris.” 610
Amnis ab his tacuit. factum mirabile cunctos
moverat: inridet credentes, utque deorum
spretor erat mentisque ferox, Ixione natus
“ ﬁcta refers nimiumque putas, Acheloe, potentes
esse deos,” dixit “ si dant adimuntque ﬁguras.” 615
obstipuere omnes nec talia dicta probarunt,
ante omnesque Lelex animo maturus et aevo,
sic ait: “ inmensa est ﬁnemque potentia caeli
non habet, et quicquid superi voluere, peractum est,
quoque minus dubites, tiliae contermina quercus 620
collibus est Phrygiis modico circumdata muro;
ipse locum vidi; nam me Pelopeia Pittheus
misit in arva suo quondam regnata parenti.
baud procul hinc stagnum est, tellus habitabilis olimx,
nunc celebres mergis fulicisque palustribus undae;
Iuppiter huc specie mortali cumque parente 626
venit Atlantiades positis caducifer alis.
mille domos adiere locum requiemque petentes,
mille domos clausere serae; tamen una recepit,
448
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
She was beloved by me, and from her I took the name
of maiden. Her father, Hippodamas, was enraged
with this, and he hurled his daughter to her death
down from a high cliff into the deep. I caught her,
and supporting her as she swam, I cried: ‘ O thou
god of the trident, to whom the lot gave the kingdom
next to the world, even the wandering waves, bring
aid, I pray, to one drowned by a father’s cruelty;
give her a place, O Neptune, or else let her become
a place herself.’ While I prayed a new land em-
braced her ﬂoating form and a solid island grew
from her transformed shape.”
With these words the river was silent. The story
of the miracle had moved the hearts of all. But one
mocked at their credulity, a scoffer at the gods, one
reckless in spirit, Ixion’s son, Pirithoiis. “ These are
but fairy-tales you tell, Acheloiis,” he said, “ and
you concede too much power to the gods, if they
give and take away the forms of things.” All the
rest were shocked and disapproved such words, and
especially Lelex, ripe both in mind and years, who
replied: “ The power of heaven is indeed immeasur-
able and has no bounds; and whatever the gods
decree is done. And, that you may believe it, there
stand in the Phrygian hill-country an oak and a
linden—tree side by side, surrounded by a low wall.
I have myself seen the spot; for Pittheus sent me to
Phrygia, where his father once ruled. Not far from
the place I speak of is a marsh, once a habitable land,
but now water, the haunt of divers and coots. Hither
came Jupiter in the guise of a mortal, and with his
father came Atlas’ grandson, he that bears the
caduceus, his wings laid aside. To a thousand
homes they came, seeking a place for rest; a thousand
homes were barred against them. Still one house
449
OVID
parva quidem, stipulis et canna tecta palustri, 630
sed pia Baucis anus parilique aetate Philemon
illa sunt annis iuncti iuvenalibus, illa
consenuere casa paupertatemque fatendo
efl‘ecere levem nec iniqua mente ferendo;
nec refert, dominos illic famulosne requiras: 635
tota domus duo sunt, idem parentque iubentque.
ergo ubi caelicolae parvos tetigere penates
summissoque humiles intrarunt vertice postes,
membra senex posito iussit relevare sedili;
quo superiniecit textum rude sedula Baucis 640
inque foco tepidum cinerem dimovit et ignes
suscitat hesternos foliisque et cortice sicco
nutrit et ad ﬂammas anima producit anili
multiﬁdasque faces ramaliaque arida tecto
detulit et minuit parvoque admovit aeno, 645
quodque suus coniunx riguo conlegerat horto,
truncat holus foliis; furca levat ille bicorni
sordida terga suis nigro pendentia tigno
servatoque diu resecat de tergore partem
exiguam sectamque domat ferventibus undis. 650
interea medias fallunt sermonibus horas 1
* * * * torus de molli ﬂuminis ulva 655
inpositus lecto sponda pedibusque salignis.
vestibus hunc velant, quas non nisi tempore festo
sternere consuerant, sed et haec vilisque vetusque
vestis erat, lecto non indignanda saligno.
adcubuere dei. mensam succincta tremensque 660
1 The following lines are omitted by Ehwald:
sentirique moram prohibent. erat alveus illic
fagineus, dura clavo suspensus ab ansa:
is tepidis impletur aquis artusque fovendos
accipit, in medio torus est de mollibus ulvis.
45°
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
received them, humble indeed, thatched with straw
and reeds from the marsh; but pious old Baucis and
Philemon, of equal age, were in that cottage wedded
in their youth, and in that cottage had grown old
together; there they made their poverty light by
owning it, and by bearing it in a contended spirit.
It was of no use to ask for masters or for servants in
that house; they two were the whole household,
together they served and ruled. And so when the
heavenly ones came to this humble home and,
stooping, entered in at the lowly door, the old man
set out a bench and bade them rest their limbs, while
over this bench busy Baucis threw a rough covering.
Then she raked aside the warm ashes on the hearth
and fanned yesterday’s coals to life, which she fed
with leaves and dry bark, blowing them into ﬂame
with the breath of her old body. Then she took down
from the roof some ﬁne-split wood and dry twigs,
broke them up and placed them under the little
copper kettle. And she took the cabbage which her
husband had brought in from the well-watered garden
and lopped off the outside leaves. Meanwhile the old
man with a forked stick reached down a chine'of
smoked bacon, which was hanging from a blackened
beam and, cutting off a little piece of the long;
cherished pork, he put it to cook in the boiling
water. Meanwhile they beguiled the intervening
time with their talk * _* * * a mattress of soft sedge-
gras.c was placed on a couch with frame and feet of
willow. They threw drapery over this, which they
were not accustomed to bring out except on festal
days; but even this was a cheap thing and well—
worn, a very good match for the willow couch. The
gods reclined. The old woman, with her skirts
tucked up, with trembling hands set out the table.
451
OVID
ponit anus, mensae sed erat pes tertius inpar:
testa parem fecit; quae postquam subdita clivum
sustulit, aequatam mentae tersere virentes.
ponitur hic bicolor sincerae baca Minervae
conditaque in liquida corna autumnalia faece 665
intibaque et radix et lactis massa coacti
ovaque non acri leviter versata favilla,
omnia ﬁctilibus. post haec caelatus eodem
sistitur argento crater fabricataque fago
pocula, qua cava sunt, flaventibus inlita ceris; 67 0
parva mora est, epulasque foci misere calentes,
nec longae rursus referuntur vina senectae
dantque locum mensis paulum seducta secundis:
hic nux, hic mixta est rugosis carica palmis
prunaque et in patulis redolentia mala canistris 675
et de purpureis conlectae vitibus uvae,
candidus in medio favus est; super omnia vultus
accessere boni nec iners pauperque voluntas.
“ Interea totiens haustum cratera repleri
sponte sua per seque vident succrescere vina: 680
attoniti novitate pavent manibusque supinis
concipiunt Baucisque preces timidusque Philemon
et veniam dapibus nullisque paratibus orant.
unicus anser erat, minimae custodia villae:
quem dis hospitibus domini mactare parabant; 685
ille celer penna tardos aetate fatigat
eluditque diu tandemque est visus ad ipsos
confugisse deos: superi vetuere necari.
452
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
But one of its three legs was too short; so she
propped it up with a potsherd. When this had
levelled the slope, she wiped it, thus levelled, with
green mint. Next she placed on the board some
olives, green and ripe, truthful Minerva’s berries, and
some autumnal cornel-cherries pickled in the lees
of wine; endives and radishes, cream cheese and
eggs, lightly roasted in the warm ashes, all served
in earthen dishes. After these viands, an embossed
mixing-bowl of the same costly ware was set on
together with cups of beechwood coated on the
inside with yellow wax. A moment and the hearth
sent its steaming viands on, and wine of no great
age was brought out, which was then pushed aside
to give a small space for the second course. Here
were nuts and ﬁgs, with dried dates, plums and
fragrant apples in broad baskets, and purple grapes
just picked from the vines; in the centre of the
table was a comb of clear white honey. Besides all
this, pleasant faces were at the board and lively and
abounding goodwill.
“ Meanwhile they saw that the mixing-bowl, as often
as it was drained, kept ﬁlling of its own accord,
and that the wine welled up of itself. The two old
people saw this strange sight with amaze and fear,
and with upturned hands they both uttered a prayer,
Baucis and the trembling old Philemon, and they
craved indulgence for their fare and meagre entertain—
ment. They had one goose, the guardian of their tiny
estate; and him the hosts were preparing to kill
for their divine guests. But the goose was swift of
wing, and quite wore the slow old people out in their
eﬂ’orts to catch him. He eluded their grasp for a
long time, and ﬁnally seemed to ﬂee for refuge to
the gods themselves. Then the gods told them not
453
OVID
‘ dique sumus, meritasque luet vicinia poenas
inpia ’ dixerunt; ‘ vobis inmunibus huius 690
esse mali dabitur; modo vestra relinquite tecta
ac nostros comitate gradus et in ardua montis
ite simul! ’ parent ambo baculisque levati
nituntur longo vestigia ponere clivo.
tantum aberant summo, quantum semel ire sagitta 695
missa potest: ﬂexere oculos et mersa palude
cetera prospiciunt, tantum sua tecta manere,
dumque ea mirantur, dum deﬂent fata suorum,
illa vetus dominis etiam casa parva duobus
vertitur in templum: furcas subiere columnae, 700
stramina ﬂavescunt aurataque tecta videntur
caelataeque fores adopertaque marmore tellus.
talia tum placido Saturnius edidit ore:
‘ dicite, iuste senex et femina coniuge iusto
digna, quid optetis.’ cum Baucide pauca locutus 705
iudicium superis aperit commune Philemon:
‘ esse sacerdotes delubraque vestra tueri _
poscimus, et quoniam concordes egimus annos, ;_ _~
auferat hora duos eadem, nec coniugis umquam 3.5
busta meae videam, neu sim tumulandus ab illa.’ 7,10
vota ﬁdes sequitur: templi tutela fuere, ' _ ' 1
donec vita data est; annis aevoque soluti
ante gradus sacros cum starent forte locique
narrarent casus, frondere Philemona Baucis,
Baucida conspexit senior frondere Philemon. 715
iamque super geminos crescente cacumine vultus
mutua, dum licuit, reddebant dicta ‘ vale ’ que
‘ o coniunx ’ dixere simul, simul abdita texit
\
454
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
to kill the goose. ‘ We are gods,’ they said, ‘and
this wicked neighbourhood shall be punished as it
deserves; but to you shall be given exemption from
this punishment. Leave now your dwelling and come
with us to that tall mountain yonder.’ They both
obeyed and, propped on their staves, they struggled
up the long slope. When they were a bowshot
distant from the top, they looked back and saw
the whole country-side covered with water, only
their own house remaining. And, while they
wondered at this, while they wept for the fate
of their neighbours, that old house of theirs, which
had been small even for its two occupants, was
changed into a temple. Marble columns took
the place of the forked wooden supports; the straw
grew yellow and became a golden roof; there were
gates richly carved, a marble pavement covered the
ground. Then calmly the son of Saturn spoke:
‘ Now ask of us, thou good old man, and thou wife,
worthy of thy good husband, any boon you will.’
When he had spoken a word with Baucis, Philemon
announced their joint decision to the gods: ‘ \Ve ask
that we may be your priests, and guard your temple;
and, since we have spent our lives in constant com-
pany, we pray that the same hour may bring death
to both of us—that I may never see my wife’s tomb.
nor be buried by her.’ Their request was granted.
They had the care of the temple as long as they
lived. And at last, when, spent with extreme old
age, they chanced to stand before the sacred ediﬁce
talking of old times, Baucis saw Philemon putting
forth leaves, Philemon saw Baucis; and as the tree-
top formed over their two faces, while still they
could they cried with the same words: ‘ Farewell,
dear mate,’ just as the bark closed over and hid
455
OVID
ora frutex : ostendit adhuc Thyneius illic
incola de gemino vicinos corpore truncos. 720
haec mihi non vani (neque erat, cur fallere vellent)
narravere senes; equidem pendentia vidi
serta super ramos ponensque recentia dixi
‘ cura deum di sunt, et, qui coluere, colantur.’ ”
Desierat, cunctosque et res et moverat auctor, 725
Thesea praecipue; quem facta audire volentem
mira deum innixus cubito Calydonius amnis
talibus adloquitur: “ sunt, o fortissime, quorum
forma semel mota est et in hoc renovamine mansit;
sunt, quibus in plures ius est transire ﬁguras, 730
ut tibi, conplexi terram maris incola, Proteu.
nam modo te iuvenem, modo te videre leonem,
nunc violentus aper, nunc, quem tetigisse timerent,
anguis eras, modo te faciebant cornua taurum;
saepe lapis poteras, arbor quoque saepe videri, 735
interdum, faciem liquidarum imitatus aquarum,
ﬂumen, eras, interdum undis contrarius ignis.
“ Nec minus Autolyci coniunx, Erysichthone nata,
iuris habet: pater huius erat, qui numina divum
sperneret et nullos aris adoleret odores; 740
ille etiam Cereale nemus violasse securi
dicitur et lucos ferro temerasse vetustos.
stabat in his ingens annoso robore quercus,
una nemus; vittae mediam memoresque tabellae
sertaque cingebant, voti argumenta potentis. 745
456
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
their lips. Even to this day the Bithynian peasant
in that region points out two trees standing close to-
gether, and growing from one double trunk. These
things were told me by staid old men who could have
had no reason to deceive. With my own eyes I saw
votive wreaths hanging from the boughs, and placing
fresh wreaths there myself, I said: ‘ Those whom
the gods care for are gods; let those who have
worshipped be worshipped.’ ”
Lelex made an end: both the tale and the teller
had moved them all; Theseus especially. When
he would hear more of the wonderful doings of the
gods, the Calydonian river-god, propped upon his
elbow, thus addressed him: “ Some there are,
bravest of heroes, whose form has been once changed
and remained in its new state. To others the power
is given to assume many forms, as to thee, Proteus,
dweller in the earth-embracing sea. For now men
saw thee as a youth, now as a lion; now thou wast a
raging boar, now a serpent whom men would fear
to touch; now horns made thee a bull; often thou
couldst appear as a stone, often, again, a tree; some—
times, assuming the form of ﬂowing water, thou
wast a stream, and sometimes a ﬂame, the water’s
enemy.
“ No less power had the wife of Autolycus, Ery-
sichthon’s daughter. This Erysichthon was a man
who scorned the gods and burnt no sacriﬁce on their
altars. He, so the story goes, once violated the
sacred grove of Ceres with the axe and profaned
those ancient trees with steel. There stood among
these a mighty oak with strength matured by cen-
turies of growth, itself a grove. Round about it
hung woollen ﬁllets, votive tablets, and wreaths of
ﬂowers, witnesses of granted prayers. Often beneath
457
OVID
saepe sub hac dryades festas duxere choreas,
saepe etiam manibus nexis ex ordine trunci
circuiere modum, mensuraque roboris ulnas
quinque ter inplebat, nec non et cetera tantum
silva sub hac, silva quantum fuit herba sub omni. 750
non tamen idcirco ferrum Triopeius illa
abstinuit famulosque iubet succidere sacrum
robur, et ut iussos cunctari vidit, ab uno
edidit haec rapta sceleratus verba securi :
‘ non dilecta deae solum, sed et ipsa licebit 755
sit dea, iam tanget frondente cacumine terram.’
dixit, et obliquos dum telum librat in ictus,
contremuit gemitumque dedit Deoia quercus,
et pariter frondcs, pariter pallescere glandes
coepere ac longi pallorem ducere rami. 760
cuius ut in trunco fecit manus inpia vulnus,
haud aliter ﬂuxit discusso cortice sanguis,
quam solet, ante aras ingens ubi victima taurus
concidit, abrupta cruor e cervice profundi.
obstipuere omnes, aliquisque ex omnibus audet
deterrere nefas saevamque inhibere bipennem: 766
aspicit hunc ‘ mentis ’ que ‘ piae cape praemia! ’ dixit
Thessalus inque virum convertit ab arbore ferrum
detruncatque caput repetitaque robora caedit,
redditus et medio sonus est de robore talis: 770
‘ nympha sub hoc ego sum Cereri gratissima ligno,
quae tibi factorum poenas instare tuorum
vaticinor moriens, nostri solacia leti.’
persequitur scelus ille suum, labefactaque tandem
ictibus innumeris adductaque funibus arbor 775
corruit et multam prostravit pondere silvam.
458
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII I
this tree dryads held their festival dances; often
with hand linked to hand in line they would encircle
the great tree whose mighty girth was full ﬁfteen
ells. It towered as high above other trees as they
were higher than the grass that grew beneath. Yet
not for this did Triopas’ son 1 withhold his axe, as
he bade his slaves cut down the sacred oak. But
when he saw that they shrank back, the wretch
snatched an axe from one of them and said: ‘ Though
this be not only the tree that the goddess loves, but
even the goddess herself, now shall its leafy top touch
the ground.’ He spoke; and while he poised his
axe for the slanting stroke, the oak of Deo2 trembled
and gave forth a groan; at the same time its leaves
and its acorns grew pale, its long branches took on a
pallid hue. But when that impious stroke cut into
the trunk, blood came streaming forth from the
severed bark, even as when a huge sacriﬁcial bull has
fallen at the altar, and from his smitten neck the
blood pours forth. All were astonied, and one,
bolder than the rest, tried to stop his wicked deed
and stay his cruel axe. But the Thessalian looked at
him and said: ‘ Take that to pay you for your pious
thought! ’ and, turning the axe from the tree against
the man, lopped off his head. Then, as he struck
the oak blow after blow, from within the tree a voice
was heard: ‘ I, a nymph most dear to Ceres, dwell
within this wood, and I prophesy with my dying
breath, and ﬁnd my death’s solace in it, that punish—
ment is at hand for what you do.’ But he accom-
plished his crime; and at length the tree, weakened
by countless blows and drawn down by ropes, fell and
with its weight laid low a wide stretch of woods
around.
1 Erysichthon. 2 i.e. Ceres.
459
OVID
“ Attonitae dryades damno nemorumque suoque,
omnes germanae, Cererem cum vestibus atris
maerentes adeunt poenamque Erysichthonis orant.
adnuit his capitisque sui pulcherrima motu 780
concussit gravidis oneratos messibus agros,
moliturque genus poenae miserabile, si non
ille suis esset nulli miserabilis actis,
pestifera lacerare Fame, quae quatenus ipsi
non adeunda deae est (neque enim Cereremque
Famemque 785
fata coire sinunt), montani numinis unam
talibus agrestem conpellat oreada dictis :
‘ est locus extremis Scythiae glacialis in oris,
triste solum, sterilis, sine fruge, sine arbore tellus;
Frigus iners illic habitant Pallorque Tremorque 790
et ieiuna Fames : ea se in praecordia condat
sacrilegi scelerata, iube, nec copia rerum
vincat eam superetque meas certamine vires,
neve viae spatium te terreat, accipe currus,
accipe, quos frenis alte moderere, dracones! ’ 795
et dedit; illa dato subvecta per aera curru
devenit in Scythiam: rigidique cacumine montis
(Caucason appellant) serpentum colla levavit
quaesitamque Famem lapidoso vidit in agro
unguibus et raras vellentem dentibus herbas. 800
hirtus erat crinis, cava lumina, pallor in ore,
labra incana situ, scabrae rubigine fauces,
dura cutis, per quam spectari viscera possent;
ossa sub incurvis exstabant arida lumbis,
ventris erat pro ventre locus; pendere putares 805
pectus et a spinae tantummodo crate teneri.
46o
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
“ All the dryad sisters were stupeﬁed at their own
and their forest’s loss and, mourning, clad in
black robes, they went to Ceres and prayed her to
punish Erysichthon. The beautiful goddess con—
sented, and with a nod of her head shook the ﬁelds
heavy with ripening grain. She planned in her
mind a punishment that might make men pity (but
that no man could pity him for such deeds), to rack
him with dreadful Famine. But, since the goddess
herself could not go to her (for the fates do not
permit Ceres and Famine to come together), she
summoned one of the mountain deities, a rustic
oread, and thus addressed her: ‘ There is a place
on the farthest border of icy Scythia, a gloomy
and barren soil, a land without corn, without trees.
Sluggish Cold dwells there and Pallor, Fear, and
gaunt Famine. So, bid Famine hide herself in the
sinful stomach of that impious wretch. Let no
abundance satisfy her, and let her overcome my
utmost power to feed. And, that the vast journey
may not daunt you, take my chariot and my winged
dragons and guide them aloft.’ And she gave the
reins into her hands. The nymph, borne through
the air in her borrowed chariot, came to Scythia, and
on a bleak mountain-top which men call Caucasus,
unyoked her dragon steeds. Seeking out Famine, she
saw her in a stony ﬁeld, plucking with nails and
teeth at the scanty herbage. Her hair hung in matted
locks, her eyes were sunken, her face ghastly pale; her
lips were wan and foul, her throat rough with scurf ;
her skin was hard and dry so that the entrails could
be seen through it; her skinny hip—bones bulged
out beneath her hollow loins, and her belly was but
a belly’s place; her breast seemed to be hanging free
and just to be held by the framework of the spine;
461
OVID
auxerat articulos macies, genuumque tumebat
orbis, et inmodico prodibant tubere tali.
“ Hanc procul ut vidit, (neque enim est accedere
iuxta
ausa) refert mandata deae paulumque morata, 810
quamquam aberat longe, quamquam modo venerat
illuc,
visa tamen sensisse famem retroque dracones
egit in Haemoniam versus sublimis habenis.
“ Dicta Fames Cereris, quamvis contraria semper
illius est operi, peragit perque aera vento 815
ad iussam delata domum est, et protinus intrat
sacrilegi thalamos altoque sopore solutum
(noctis enim tempus) geminis amplectitur ulnis,
seque viro inspirat, faucesque et pectus et ora
adflat et in vacuis spargit ieiunia venis; 820
functaque mandato fecundum deserit orbem
inque domos inopes adsueta revertitur antra.
' “ Lenis adhuc Somnus placidis Erysichthona pennis
mulcebat: petit ille dapes sub imagine somni, . . 1
oraque vana movet dentemque in dente fatigat, 825
exércetque cibo delusum guttur inani _
proque epulis tenues nequiquam devorat auras; ’
ut vero est expulsa quies, furit ardor edendi
perque avidas fauces incensaque viscera regnat.
nec mora; quod pontus. quod terra, quod educat aer,
poscit et adpositis queritur ieiunia mensis 831
inque epulis epulas quaerit; quodque urbibus esse,
quodque satis poterat populo, non sutiicit uni,
plusque cupit, quo plura suam demittit in alvum.
utque fretum recipit de tota ﬂumina terra 835
\-
462
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
her thinness made her joints seem large, her knees
were swollen, and her ankles were great bulging
lumps.
“ When the nymph saw her in the distance (for she
did not dare approach her), she delivered to her the
goddess’ commands. And, though she tarried but
a little while, though she kept far from her and had
but now arrived, still she seemed to feel the famine.
Then, mounting high in air, she turned her course
and drove the dragons back to Thessaly.
“ Famine did the bidding of Ceres, although their
tasks are ever opposite, and ﬂew through the air on
the wings of the wind to the appointed mansion.
Straight she entered the chamber of the impious
king, who was sunk in deep slumber (for it was night);
there she wrapped her skinny arms about him and
ﬁlled him with herself, breathing upon his throat
and breast and lips; and in his hollow veins she
planted hunger. When her duty was done, she left
the fertile world, and returned to the homes of want
and her familiar caverns.
“ Still gentle Sleep, hovering on peaceful wings,
soothes Erysichthon. And in his sleep he dreams of
feasting, champs his jaws on nothing, wearies tooth
upon tooth, cheats his gullet with fancied food; for
his banquet is nothing but empty air. But when he
awakes, a wild craving for food lords it in his ravenous
jaws and in his burning stomach. Straightway he
calls for all that sea and land and air can furnish;
with loaded tables before him, he complains still of
hunger; in the midst of feasts seeks other feasts.
What would be enough for whole cities, enough for
a whole nation, is not enough for one. The more he
sends down into his maw the more he wants. And
as the ocean receives the streams from a whole land
463
OVID
nec satiatur aquis peregrinosque ebibit amnes,
utque rapax ignis non umquam alimenta recusat
innumerasque faces cremat et, quo copia maior
est data, plura petit turbaque voracior ipsa est:
sic epulas omnes Erysichthonis ora profani 840
accipiunt poscuntque simul. cibus omnis in illo
causa cibi est, semperque locus ﬁt inanis edendo.
“ Iamque fame patrias altaque voragine ventris
attenuarat opes, sed inattenuata manebat
tum quoque dira fames, inplacataeque vigebat 845
ﬂamma gulae. tandem, demisso in viscera censu,
ﬁlia restabat, non illo digna parente.
hanc quoque vendit inops: dominum generosa recusat
et vicina suas tendens super aequora palmas
' eripe me domino, qui raptae praemia nobis 850
virginitatis babes! ’ ait: haec Neptunus habebat;
qui prece non spreta, quamvis modo visa sequenti
esset ero, formamque novat vultumque virilem
induit et cultus pisces capientibus aptos.
hanc dominus spectans ‘ o qui pendentia parvo 855
aera cibo celas, moderator harundinis,’ inquit
‘ sic mare conpositum, sic sit tibi piscis in unda
credulus et nullos, nisi ﬁxus, sentiat hamos:
quae modo cum vili turbatis veste capillis 859
litore in hoc steterat (nam stantem in litore vidi),
dic, ubi sit: neque enim vestigia longius exstant.’
illa dei munus bene cedere sensit et a se
se quaeri gaudens his est resecuta rogantem:
‘ quisquis es, ignoscas; in nullam lumina partem
464
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
and is not ﬁlled with his waters, but swallows up the
streams that come to it from afar; and as the all-
devouring ﬁre never refuses fuel, but burns countless
logs, seeks ever more as more is given it, and is
more greedy by reason of the quantity: so do the
lips of impious Erysichthon receive all those banquets,
and ask for more. All food in him is but the cause
of food, and ever does he become empty by eating.
“ And now famine and his belly’s deep abyss
had exhausted his ancestral stores; but even then
ravenous Famine remained unexhausted and his
raging greed was still unappeased. At last, when
all his fortunes had been swallowed up, there re-
mained only his daughter, worthy of a better father.
Penniless, he sold even her. The high-spirited girl
refused a master, and stretching out her hands over
the neighbouring waves, she cried: ‘ Save me from
slavery, O thou who hast already stolen my virginity.’
This Neptune had taken; he did not refuse her
prayer; and though her master following her had
seen her but now, the god changed her form, gave
her the features of a man and garments proper to a
ﬁsherman. Her master, looking at this person, said:
‘ Ho, you who conceal the dangling hook in a little
bait, you that handle the rod; so may the sea be
calm, so be the ﬁsh trustful in the wave for your
catching, and feel no hook until you strike: where
is she, tell me, who but now stood on this shore with
mean garments and disordered hair, for I saw her
standing upon the shore, and her tracks go no
farther! ’ She perceived by this that the god's
gift was working well, and, delighted that one asked
her of herself, answered his question in these words:
’ Whoever you are, excuse me, sir; I have not taken
my eyes from this pool to look in any direction. I
465
OVI D
gurgite ab hoc ﬂexi studioque operatus inhaesi, 865
quoque minus dubites, sic has deus aequoris artes
adiuvet, ut nemo iamdudum litore in istoa
me tamen excepto. nec femina constitit ullaf
credidit et verso dominus pede pressit harenam
elususque abiitz illi sua reddita forma est. 870
ast ubi habere suam transformia corpora sensit,
saepe pater dominis Triopeida tradita at illa
nunc equaa nunc ales, modo bos, modo cervus abibat
praebebatque avido non iusta alimenta parenti.
vis tamen illa mali postquam consumpserat omnem
materiam dederatque gravi nova pabula morbo, 876
ipse suos artus lacero divellere morsu
coepit et infelix minuendo corpus alebat-
“ Quid moror externisP etiam mihi nempe novandi
est
corporisa o iuvenisa numero ﬁnita, potestas 880
nam modo, qui nunc sum, videora modo flector in
anguema
armenti modo dux vires in cornua sumo,—
cornua, dum potui. nunc pars caret altera telo
frontis, ut ipse vides.” gemitus sunt verba secuti.
466
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII
have been altogether bent on my ﬁshing. And that
you may believe me, so may the god of the sea assist
this art of mine, as it is true that for a long time back
no man has stood upon this shore except myself, and
no woman, either.’ Her master believed, and turning
upon the sands, he left the spot, completely deceived.
Then her former shape was given back to her. But
when her father perceived that his daughter had the
power to change her form, he sold her often and to
many masters. But now in the form of a mare, now
bird, now cow, now deer, away she went, and so found
food, though not fairly, for her greedy father. At
last, when the strength of the plague had consumed
all these provisions, and but added to his fatal
malady, the wretched man began to tear his own
ﬂesh with his greedy teeth and, by consuming his
own body, fed himself.
“ But why do I dwell on tales of others? I myself,
young sirs, have often changed my form; but my
power is limited in its range. For sometimes I
appear as you see me now; sometimes I change to
a serpent; again I am leader of a herd and put my
strength into my horns—horns, I say, so long as I
could. But now one of the weapons of my forehead
is gone, as you yourself can see.” He ended with a
groan.
467
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Kilburn. Vol. VII. M. D. Macleod.
LYCOPHRON. Cf. CALLIMACHUS.
LYRA GRAEcA. J. M. Edmonds. 3 Vols.
LYSIAS. W. R. M. Lamb.
MANETHO. W. G. Waddell: PTOLEMY: TETRABIBLos. F. E.
Robbins.
MARcUs AU‘RELIUS. C. R. Haines.
MENANDER. F. G. Allinson.
MINoR ATTIc ORAToRs (ANTIPHON, ANDOCIDES, LYCURGUs,
DEMADEs, DINARCHUS, HYPERIDES). K. J. Maidment and
J. O. Burrt. 2 Vols.
NoNNOs: DIONYSIACA. W. H. D. Rouse. 3 Vols.
OrPIAN, CoLLUTEUs, TRYPHIODORUS. A. W. Mair.
PAPYRI. NON-LITERARY SELEoTIoNs. A. S. Hunt and C. 0.
Edgar. 2Vols. LITERARY SELEcTIoNs(Poetry). D L. Page.
PARTHENIUs. Cf. DAPHNIS and CHLoE.
PAUsANIAs: DESCRIPTION OF GREECE. W. H. S. Jones. 4
Vols. and Companion Vol. arranged by R. E. Wycherley.
PHILO. IO Vols. Vols. I.-V.; F. H. Colson and Rev. G. H.
Whitaker. Vols. VI.-IX.; F. H. Colson. Vol. X. F. H.
Colson and the Rev. J. W. Earp.
PHILO: two supplementary Vols. (Translation only.) Ralph
Marcus.
PHILOSTRATUS: THE LIFE OF APOLLONIUS OF TYANA. F. C.
Conybeare. 2 Vols.
6
PEILOsTR-ATUs: IMACINEs; CALLIsTRATUS: DESCRIPTIONS. A.
Fairbanks.
PHILOSTRATUS and EUNAPIUS: LIvEs OF THE SOPHISTS. Wilmer
Cave Wright.
PINDAR. Sir J. E. Sandys.
PLATO: OIIARMIDEs, ALCIBIADEs, HIPPARCHUS, THE LOvERs,
THEACEs, MINos and EPINOMIS. W. R. M. Lamb.
PLATO: CRATYLUs, PARMENIDEs, GREATER HIPPIAS, LEssER
HIPPIAS. H. N. Fowler.
PLATO: EUTHYPHRO, APOLOGY, GRITO, PHAEDO, PHAEDRUS.
H. N. Fowler. -
PLATO: LACHES, PROTACORAs, MENO, EUTHYDEMUS. W. R. M.
Lamb.
PLATO: LAws. Rev. R. G. Bury. 2 Vols.
PLATO: LYsIs, SYMPOSIUM, GORCIAs. W. R. M. Lamb.
PLATO: REPUBLIC. Paul Shorey. 2 Vols.
PLATO: STATEsMAN, PHILEBUS. H. N. Fowler; ION. W. R. M.
Lamb.
PLATO: THEAETETUS and SorHIsT. H. N. Fowler.
PLATO: TIMAEUs, CRITIAs, CLITOPHO, MENExENUs, EPIsTULAE.
Rev. R. G. Bury.
PLoTINUs: A. H. Armstrong. Vols. I.-III.
PLUTARCH: MORALIA. l5 Vols. Vols. I.-V. F. C. Babbitt.
Vol. VI. W. O. Helmbold. Vol. VII. P. H. De Lacy and B.
Einarson. Vol. IX. E. L. Minar, Jr., F. H. Sandbach, W. O.
Helmbold. Vol. X. H. N. Fowler. Vol. XI. L. Pearson and
F. H. Sandbach. Vol. XII. H. Cherniss and W. C. Helmbold.
PLUTARCH: THE PARALLEL LIvEs. B. Perrin. ll Vols.
POLYBIUS. W. R. Paton. 6 Vols.
PROOOPIUS: HISTORY OF THE W ARs. H. B. Dewing. 7 Vols.
PTOLEMY: TETRABIBLOS. Of. MANETHO.
QUINTUs SMYRNAEUs. A. S. Way. Verse trans.
SExTUs EMPIRICUS. Rev. R. G. Bury. 4 Vols.
SOPHOCLES. F. Storr. 2 Vols. Verse trans.
STRABO: GEOGRAPHY. Horace L. Jones. 8 Vols.
THEOPHRASTUS: CHARACTERS. J. M. Edmonds. HERODEs,
etc. A. D. Knox.
THEOPHRASTUS: ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS. Sir Arthur Hort,
Bart. 2 Vols.
THUCYDIDES. O. F. Smith. 4 Vols.
TRYPHIODORUS. Cf. OPPIAN.
XENOPHON: CYROPAEDIA. Walter Miller. 2Vols.
XENOPHON: HELLENICA, ANABASIS, APOLOGY, and SYMrOsIUM.
C. L. Brownson and O. J. Todd. 3 Vols.
XENOPHON: MEMORABILIA and OECoNOMICUs. E. C. Marchant.
XENOPHON: SCRIPTA MINORA. E. C. Marohant.
7
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