L042-Ovid III Metamorphoses 1-8

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THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY

FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB, LL.D.
EDITED BY
tT. E. PAGE, C.H., LITT.D.
\z. CAPrS, PH.D., LL.D. tW. H. D. ROUSE, litt.d.

A. POST, M.A. E. H. WARMINGTON, m.a. f.r hist.soc.
OVID
METAMORPHOSES
\
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OYID
METAMORPHOSES
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY,
FRANK JUSTUS MILLER
Ph.D., LL.D.
raOFESSOR IN THE nNITEUSITY OF CHICAGO
IN TWO VOLUMES
I
BOOKS i-VIIi
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CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
IXJNDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD
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First printed
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Second edition igzz
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1946, 1951
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PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

TO
ARTHUR TAPPAN
WALKER
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION vii
BIBLIOGRAPHY XIU
METAMORPHOSES 1
BOOK 1 I
BOOK II 59
BOOK III 123
BOOK IV 177
BOOK V 237
BOOK VI 287
BOOK VII S4>1
BOOK VIU 405
VI
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 {Tristia, 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
enjoy-
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 himi, 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
;
undersbmd that it was an error of his judgment and

not of his heart.*
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
Augustus, indeed, gave as his reason the immorality of
'
Ovid's love poems, but this is generally supposed to be only

a cluak 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
banishment of nearly ten years.
A.D. 18, after a
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 judgnnent, however, the poem
was not finished, and, in his despair on learning of
his impending exile, he burned his manuscript. He
himself tells us of his motive for this rash act
" On
{Tristia, i. 7)
:
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 bj 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 the most important source of mythical
is
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

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 Shakespeai-e has been made,*
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 j 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 '

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
*
Classical Mythology in Shakespeare. By Eobert Kilburn
Root. New York :
Henry Holt and Co., 1903.
2 See
27ie Classical Mythology of Milton's English Poems.
By Charles Grosvenor Osgood. New York Henry Holt and
:
Co., 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-R>iphaelite movement in poetry.
Prominently in this class of poets should be named
Walter Savage Landot, 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.
x\\
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. Korii, H. J. Muller, and R. Ehwald.
Berlin, P1903, IP 18!)8. 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.
ziii
BIBLIOGRAPHY
IV. CRITICAL TREATISES ON DIFFERENT PHASES

OF THE METAMORPHOSES
ScliOnfeld, Ovids Metamorphosen m
ihrem Veihaltnis
zur antiken Kunsl. Leipzig, 1877.
Sobieski, Vergil und Ovid nach ihren Gleichnissen in der
Aeneid und den Metamorphosen. Leniberg, I86I.
Ebert, Der Anachronismus in Ovids Metamorphosen,
Ansbach, 1888.
Liidke, Ueber Lnul-malerei in Ovids Metamorphosen.
Stralsund, 1871.
William Breton^ Metamorphosen libros Ovidins quo
consilio susceperit, qua arte perfecerit. Paris,
1882.
George Lafaye, Les Metamorphoses d'Ovide et leurs

modeles grecs. Paris, 1904.
E. K. Rand, Ovid and the Spirit of Metamorphosis.

Harvard Essays on Classical Subjects (pp. 209-
238), 1912.
Rudolph Schevill, Ovid and the Renascence in Spain.
University of California Press, 1913.
V. APPRECIATIONS
Frederic Plessis, La Poesie laiine (pp. 410-470).
Paris, 1909.
Otto Ribbeck, Geschichte der Romische Dichtung

(Vol. II, pp. 225-340). Stuttgart, I9OO.
W. Y. Sellar, The Roman Poets of the Augustan Age :
Horace and the Elegiac Poets (pp. 324-362).
Oxford, 1892.
liv
BIBLIOGRAPHY
VI. INDICES
Burmann, in the second half of the fourth volume of
his commentary.
Siebelis-PoUe. Leipzig, 1893.
VII. TRANSLATIONS
Golding ("Shakespeare's Ovid"). London, 1567.
Reprinted by the De La More Press, London,
1904.
Sandys, Ovid's Metamorpkusis, Englished, Mythologized,
and Represented in Figures. Oxford, l632.
Dry den. Pope, Congreve, Addison, and others.
London, 1717.
Riley. London, 1851.
King, Metamorphoses Translated. Edinburgh, 1871.
IT
METAMORPHOSES
METAMORPHOSEON
LIBER 1
In nova fert animus mutatas dicere form as

corpora ; di, coeptis (nam vos mutastis 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
:
nee quicquam nisi pondus iners congestaque eodem

non bene iunctarum discordia semina rerum.
nullus adhuc mundo praebebat lumina Titan, 10
nee nova crescendo reparabat cornua Phoebe,
nee circumfuso pendebat in acre tellus
ponderibus librata suis, nee bracchia longo
margine terrarum porrexerat Ampliitrite;
utque erat et tellus illic et pontus et aer, 15
sic erat instal)ilis tellus, innabilis unda,
lucisegens aer nulli sua forma manebat,
;
obstabatque aliis aliud, quia corpore in uno

frigida pugnabant calidis, umentia siccis,
molliacum 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 tell of bodies changed into new

bent to
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, s6ft 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.
OVID
et liquidum spisso secrevit ab aere caelum.
quae postquam evolvit caecoque exemit acervo,
dissociata locis concordi pace ligavit : 25
jgnea convexi vis et sine pondere caeli

emicuit summaque locum sibi fecit in arce ;
proximus est aer illi levitate locooue ;
densior his tellus elementaque grandia traxit

et pressa est gravitate sua ; circumfluus uinor 30
ultima possedit solidumque coercuit orbem.
Sic ubi dispositam quisquis fuit ille deorum
congeriem secuit sectanique in membra coegit,
principio terram^ ne non aequalis ab omni
parte foret, magni speciem glomeravit in orbis. 35
tum freta diftundi 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, 40
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 45
parte secant zonae, quinta est ardentior illis,
sic onus inclusum numero distinxit eodem

cura dei, totidemque plagae tellure premuntur.
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 tiiem 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 fonn 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 eanth.
Springs, too, a nd 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
oif 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
nixtegit 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 diverse flamina tractu,
quin lanient mundum ; tanta est discordia fiatrum.
Eurus ad Auroram Nabataeaque regna recessit 6l
Persidaque et radiis iuga subdita matutinis ;

vesper et occiduo quae litora sole tepescunt,
proxima sunt Zephyro; Scythiam septemque triones
horrifer invasit Boreas contraria telhis
; 65
nubibus adsiduis pluviaque madescit ab Austro.
haec super inposuit liquidum et gravitate carentem
aethera nee 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
reason of the heat; deep snow covers two, two he

placed between and gave. th em tempe rate climate,
minc^lin g heat with cold.
~TIie~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,
eacli in his separate tract, from tearing the world to
pieces. So fiercely do these brothers strive together.

But Eurus drew oflF 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 airthebirds.
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 hunc divino semine fecit
est, sive
ille opifex rerum, mundi melioris origo,
sive recens tellus seductaque nuper ab alto 80

aethere cognati retinebat semina caeli.
quam satus lapeto, mixtam pluvialibus undis,

finxit in effigiem 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 quae vindice nullo,
sata est aetas,
sponte sua, sine lege fidem rectumque colebat. 90

poena metusque aberant, nee verba minantia fixo
aere legebantur, nee 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 n orant ^ ;
nondum praecij)ites 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 nee 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 lovis arbore glandes.
8
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
lapetus mixed with fresh, runnmg 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.
T" 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,
I
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 hanging thick upon the
prickly bramble, and acorns fallen from the spread-
ing tree of Jove. Then spring was everlasting, and
9
OVID
ver erat aetemum, placidique tepentibus auris
mulcebant zephyri natos sine semine flores ;
mox etiam fruges tellus inarata ferebat,

nee renovatus ager gravidis canebat aristis ; 110
flumina iam lactiSj iam fliimina nectaris ibant,
flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella.

Postquam Saturno tenebrosa in Tartara misso
sub love mundus erat, subiit argentea proles,
auro deterior, fulvo pretiosior aere. 115
luppiter antiqui contraxit tempora veris
perque hiemes aestusque et inaequalis autumnos
et breve ver spatiis exegit quattuor annum,
turn primum siccis aer fervoribus ustus
candiiit, et ventis glacies adstricta pependit; 120
turn primum subiere domos ; domus antra fuerunt
et densi frutices et vinctae cortice virgae.
semina tum primum longis Cerealia sulcis
obruta sunt, pressique iugo gemuere iuvenei.

Tertia post illam successit ae'nea proles, 125
saevior ingeniis et ad honida promptior arma,
non scelerata tamen ; de dure est ultima ferro.
protinus inrupit venae peioris in aevum
omne nefas fugitque pudor verumque fidesque ;
in quorumsubiere locum fraudesque dol usque 130

insidiaeque et vis et amor sceleratus habendi.
vela dabant ventis nee adhuc bene noverat illos
navita, quaeque prius steterant in montibus altis,

fluctibus ignotis exsultavere carinae,
communemque prius ceu lumina solis et auras 1S5

10
gentle zephyrs with warm breath played with the

flowers that sprang unplanted. Anon the earth,
until led, 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
and more ready to fly to
race, of sterner disposition,
arms savage, but not yet impious. The age of hard
iron came last. Straightway all evil burst for th 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 the winds, though the sailor
sails to
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
11
OVID
cautus humumlongo signavit limite mensor.
nee tantum segetes alimentaque debita dives
poscebatur humus, sed itum est in viscera tenae,
quasque recondiderat Stygiisque admoverat umbris,
effodiuntur opes, inritamenta malorum. 140
iamque nocens ferrum ferroque nocentius aurum

prodierat, prodit belliim, quod pugnat utroque,
sanguineaque manu crepitantia concutit arma.
vivitur ex rapto :non hospes ab hospile tutus,
non socer a genero, fratrum quoque gratia rara est ;
inminet exitio vir coniugis, ilia mariti, 146

lurida terribiles miscent aconita novercae,
filiusante diem patrios inquirit in annos :
victa iacet pietas, et virgo caede madentis
ultima caelestum terras Astraea reliquit. 150
Neve foret terris securior arduus aether,
adfectasse ferunt regnum caeleste gigantas
altaque cong^stos struxisse ad sidera montis.

turn pater omnipotens misso perfregit Oljmpum
f'ulmine 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 moiiimenta manerent,
in faciem vertisse honiinuin ;
sed et ilia
propago l60
contemptrix superum saevaeque avidissima caedis
et violenta fuit : scires e sanguine natos.
Quae pater ut summa vidit Saturnius area,
ingemit et facto nondum vulgata recenti
12
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 eartli 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 The husband longed

affection.
for death of his wife, she of her husband
the ;
murderous stepmothers brewed deadly poisons, and

sons inquired into their fathers' years before the
ll
time. Piety lay vanquished, a nd the maiden Astraea.
> la st of the immortals, abjmdonpd tlip blnnd-soMkerl
'•dearth.
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
IS
OVID
foeda Lycaoniae referens convivia mensae 165
ingentes animo et dignas love concipit iras
conciliumque vocat tenuit mora nulla vocatos.
:
Est via sublimis, caelo manifesta sereno ;

lactea nomen habet, candore notabills ipso,
hac iter est su peris ad magni tecta Tonaiitis 170
regalemque domum dextra laevaque deorum
:
atria nobilium valvis celebrantur apertis.
plebs habitat diversa locis hac parte potentes

:
caelicolae clarique suos posuere penates ;
hie locus est, quern, si verbis audacia detur, iT5

baud 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. 1 80
talibus indemodis ora indignantia solvit :
''non ego pro mundi regno magis anxius ilia

tempestate fui, qua centum quisque parabat
inicereanguipedum captivo bracchia caelo.
nam quamquam ferus hostis erat, tamen illud ab uno
1 86
corpore et ex una pendebat origine bellum ;
nunc mihi qua totum Nereus circumsonat orbem,

perdendum est mortale genus :
per flumina iuro
infera sub terras Stygio labentia luco !
cuncta prius temptata, sed inmedicabile corpus 1 90

ense reddendum, ne pars sincera trahatur.
sunt mihi semidei, sunt, rustica numina, nymphae
faunique satyrique et nionticolae silvani ;
quos quoniam caeli nondum dignamur honore,

14
Lycaoii'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 VVay, 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 infection.
I have demigods, rustic divinities,
nymphs, fauns and
satyrs, and sylvan deities upon the mountain-slopes.
Since we do not yet esteem them worthy the honour
1^
OVID
quas dedimus. certe terras habitare sinanms. lysi
an satis^ o superi, tutos fore creditis illos.
cum mWn, qui fulmen, qui vos habeoque regoque,
"
struxerit insidias notus feritate Lycaon ?
Contremuere omnes studiisque ardentibus ausain
talia deposcunt sic, cum manus inpia saevit
:
200
sanguine Caesareo Romanum exstinguere nomen,
attonitum taiito subitae terrore ruinae
humanum genus est totusque perhorruit orbis ;
nee tlbi grata minus Auguste, tuorum

pietas,
quam fuit ilia lovi. qui postquam voce manuque 205
murmura conpressit, tenuere silentia cuncti.
substitit utclamor pressus gravitate regentis,
luppiter hoc iterum sermone silentia rupit :
" ille
quidem poenas (curam banc 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 noctein.
signa dedi venisse deum, vulgusque precari 220
coeperat inridet primo pia vota Lycaon,
:
mox ait ' experiar deus hie discrimine aperto

an sit mortalis : nee erit dubitabile verum.'
16
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 ?
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 1 will relate. An inianiuus re2)ort 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 everj'^ 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 tliat 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 njorta?. Nor

B. 17
OVID
nocte gravem somno necopina perdere morte
me parat : haec placet experientia veri
illi ;
nee 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 flainma 25

in dominum dignosque everti tecta penates ;
territus ipse fugitnactusque silentia ruris

exuluat 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 : 28(
fit
lupus et veteris servat vestigia formae ;
canities eadem eadem violentia vultus,

est,
idem eadem feritatis imago est.

oculi lucent, I
occidit una domus, sed non domus una perire 24(
digna fuit qua terra patet, fera regnat Erinys.

:
in facinus iurasse putes dent ocius omnes,

!
quas meruere pati, (sic stat sententia) poenas."

Dicta lovis pars voce probant stimulosque frementi
adiciunt, alii partes adsensibus inplent. 24^
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) 25C
18
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 before

me on the table than I, with my avenging bolt, o'er-
threw 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 vvolf,
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 Avould 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
19
OVID
rex superum trepidare vctat subolemque priori
(lissimilem populo promittit origine niira.
lamque erat in totas sparsurus fulmiiia terras;

sed timuit, ne forte sacer tot ab ignibus aether
concipei'et flammas longusque ardesceret axis : 255

esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur, adfore tempus,
quo mare, quo tellus correptaque regia caeli
ardeat et mundi moles obsessa laborct.

telareponuntur manibus fabricata cyclopum ;
poena placet diversa, genus mortaie 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 vultuin ; 265

barba gravis nimbis, canis fluit unda capillis ;
fronte sedent nebulae, rorant pennaeque sinusque.
utque manu lata pendentia nul)ila pressit,
fit fragor : hinc densi funduntur ab aethere nimbi ;
nuntia lunonis varios induta colores 270

concipit Iris aquas alimentaque nubibus adfert.
sternuntur segetes et deplorata coloni
vota iacent, longique perit labor inritus anni.
Nee caelo contenta suo est lovis ira, sed ilium
caeruleus frater iuvat auxiliaribus undis. fTS
convocat hie amnes :
qui postquam tecta tyrani/I
intravere sui, "non est hortamine longo
20
he would give them another race of wondrous origin

far different from the first.
And now he was in act lo 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 struc-
ture 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 AeoluSj 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
" Now is no time to
king, he says :
employ a long
21
OVID
" " utendum
nunc ait ;
vires efFundite vestras :
sic opus est !

aperite domos ac mole remota
"
fluminibus vestris totas inmittite habenas ! 280
iusserat ;
hi redeunt ac fontibus ora relaxant
et defienato volvuntur in aequora cursu.
Ipse tridente suo terram peicussitj at ilia

intremuit motuque vias patefecit aquarum.
exspatiata ruunt per apertos flumina campos 285

cum que satis arbusta simul pecudesque virosque
tectaque cumque suis rapiunt penetralia sacris.
si
qua domus mansit potuitque resistere tanto
indeiecta malo, culmen tamen altior huius
unda tegitj pressaeque latent sub gurgite turres. 290
iainque mare et tellus nullum discrimen habebant :
omnia pontus erant, deerant quoque litora ponto.

Occupat hie collem, cumba sedet alter adunca
et ducit remos illic, ubi nuper arabat :
illesupra segetes aut mersae culmina villae 295

navigat, hie summa piscem deprendit in ulmo.
figitur in viridi,
si fors tulit, ancora prato,
aut subiecta terunt curvae vineta carinae ;
et, modo qua graciles gmmen carpsere capellae,

nunc ibi deformes ponunt sua corpora phocae. SOD
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 ; nee vires fulminis apro, 305
crura nee ablato prosunt velocia cervo,
22
I
larangue. Put forth all your strength, for there is

leed. Open wide your doors, away with all restiaiu-
ng dykes, and give full rein to all your river steeds."
>o he commands, and the rivers
return, uncurb their
buntains' mouths, and in unbridled course
go racing
the sea.
Neptune himself smites the earth with his trident,
ihe trembles, and at the stroke
flings open wide a way
or the waters. The rivers overleap all bounds and
iood the open plains. And not alone orchards, crops
md herds, men and dwellings, but shrines as well
md their sacred contents do they sweep
away. If
iny house has stood firm, and has been able to resist
hat huge misfortune undestroyed, still do the over-
opping waves cover its roof, and its towers lie hid
)eneath the flood. And now the sea and land have
10 distinction. All is sea, but a sea without a shore.
Here one man seeks a hill-top in his flight ;
.nother sits in his curved skiff", plying the oars where

ately he has plowed; one sails over his fields of
;rain or the roof of his buried farmhouse, and one
akes fish caught in the elm-tree's top. And some-
imes it chanced that an anchor was embedded in a
;rassy meadow, or the curving keels brushed over
he vineyard tops. And where but now the slender
;oats had browsed, the Hgly sea-calves rested. The
Jereids are amazed to see beneath the waters groves
rid cities and the haunts of men. The dolphins in-
ade the woods, brushing against the high branches,
nd shake the oak-trees as they knock against them
1 their course. The wolf swims among the sheep,
:\u\e tawny lions and tigers are borne along by the
leaves. Neither does the power of his lightning
broke avail the boar, nor his swift limbs the stag,
ince both are alike swept away by the flood ; and
S3
OVID
quaesitisque diu terris, ubi sistere possit,
in mare lassatis volucris vaga decidit alis.
obruerat tumulos inmensa licentia ponti,
pulsabantque novi montana cacumina fluctus. J
maxima pars unda rapitur ; quibus unda pe.percit,

illos longa domant inopi ieiunia victu.
Separat Aonios Oetaeis Phocis ab arvis,

terra ferax, dum terra fuit, sed tempore in ilio
pars maris et latus subitarum campus aquarum. i
mons ibi verticibus petit arduus astra duobus,

nomine Parnasus, superantque cacumina nubes.
hie ubi Deucalion (nam cetera texerat aequor)
cum consorte tori parva rate vectus adhaesit,
Corycidas nymphas et numina montis adorant i.
fatidicamque Themin, quae tunc oracla tenebat :
non illo melior quisquam nee amantior aequi

vir fuit aut ilia metuentior ulla deorum.
luppiter ut liquidis stagnare paludibus orbem

et superesse virum de tot modo milibus imum, i
et superesse vidit de tot modo milibus uiiam,
innocuos ambo, cultores numinis ambo,

nubila disiecit nimbisque aquilone remotis
et caelo terras ostendit et aethera terris,
nee maris ira manet, positoque tricuspide telo i
mulcet aquas rector pelagi supraque profundum

24-
the wandering bird, after long searching for a place

to aliglit, 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
liftsits 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 iVom 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 North-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 sonaiiti
inspirare iubet fluctusque et flumina signo
iam revocare dajo cava biicina suniitur illi,
: 335
tortilis, in latum quae turbine crescit ab imo,
bucina, quae medio concepit ubi aera ponto,

litora voce replet sub
utroque iacentia Phoebo ;
turn 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 amnts,
flumina subsidunt collesque exire videntur;
surgit humus, crescuntloca decrescentibus undis, 345
postque diem longam nudata cacumina silvae
ostendunt limumque tenent in fronde relictum
Redditus orbis erat quern 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 yident 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), si te quoque pontus haberet,

te sequerer, coniunx, et me
quoque pontus haberet.
26
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 tlie 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, after long 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 was an empty world, and that deep
it
silence filled the desolated lands, he burst into tears

and thus addressed his wife " O : O sister, my wife,
O woman left on earth, you whom the ties of
only
common race and family,^ whom the marriage couch
has joined to me, and whom nowour 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 sufficiently secure. Even yet the
clouds strike terror to my heart. What would be
now, poor soul, if the fates had willed
your feelings,
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
patruelis origo. See line 390. Deucalion and Pyrrha were
cousins, a relationship which on the part of the woman is
Bometimes 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 I" 380
Mota dea est sortemque dedit " discedite templo :
et velate caput cinctasque resolvite vestes

"
ossaque post tergum magnae lactate parentis !
obstupuere diu rumpitque silentia voce

:
Pyrrha prior iussisque deae parere recusal, 385

detque sibi veniam pavido rogat ore pavetque
Jaedere 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
Oil, 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 Ce[)hisus' 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 chili
stone and said : "If deities are appeased by the
prayers of the righteous, if the wrath of the gods is
thus turned aside, O Themis, tell us by what means
our race may be restored, and bring aid, O most
merciful, to a world o'erwhelmed."
The jjoddess was moved and irave 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. With 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 comibrts the daughter of
" Either
Epimetheus with reassuring words :
my wit
29
OVID
aut (pia sunt nullumque nefas oracula suadent !)
»nagna parens terra est lapides in corpora ter«-ae

:
ossa reor dici iacere hos post terga iubemur."

;
Coniugis augurio quamquam Titania mota est, 395
spes tamen in diibio est : adeo caelestibus ambo

diffidunt monitis ; sed quid temptare nocebit ?
descendunt velantque caput tunicasque recingunt

:
et iussos lapides sua post vestigia mittunt.

saxa (quis hoc credat, nisi sit pro teste vetustas ?)
400
ponere duritiem coepere suumque rigorem
mollirique mora mollitaque ducere formam.
mox ubi creverunt naturaque mitior illis
contigit, ut quaedam, sic non manifesta videri
forma potest hominis, sed uti de raarmore coeptis*

non exacta satis rudibusque simillima signis, 406
quae tamen ex illis aliquo pars umida

suco
et terrena fuit, versa est in corporis usum ;
quod solidum est flectique nequit, mutatur in ossa,

410
quae raodo vena fuit, sub eodem nomine mansit,
inque brevi spatio superorum numine saxa
missa viri manibus faciem traxere virorum
et de femineo reparata est femina iactu.
inde genus duru^m sumus experiensque laborum
et documenta damus qua simus origine nati. 4)5
Cetera diversis tellus animalia formis
vetus umor ab igne
sponte sua peperit, postquam
percaluit solis, caenumque udaeque paludes
intumuere aestu, fecundaque semina rerum
coeptis Merkd coepta MSS.
^ :
SO
is fyiult, or else (oracles are holy and never counsel

at
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 liope still Avavers so distrustful are they
;
both as to the heavenly command. But what harm

will it do to try.-*
They go down, veil their heads,
their robes, and throw stones behind them
ungird
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
SI
OVID
vivaci nutrita solo ceu matris in alvo 420
creverunt faciemque aliquam cepere morando.
sic ubi deseruit madidos septerafluus agros
Nilus et antique sua flumina reddidit alveo

aetherioque recens exarsit sidere limus,
plurima cultores versis animalia glaebis 425
inveniuut 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 sunipsere umorque calorque,

oriuntur cuncta duobus, 431
concipiunt, et ab his
cumque ignis aquae pugnax, vapor umidus omnes
sit
res creat, et discors concordia fetibus apta est.

ergo ubi diluvio tellus lutuJenta recenti
^
soHbus aetheriis almoque recanduit aestu, 435
edidit innumeras species ; partimque figuras
rettulit antiquas, partim nova monstra creavit.
Ilia quidem nollet, sed te quoque, maxime Python,
turn 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
vulnera nigra veneno.
perdidit effuso per
neve operis famam posset delere vetustas, 445
instituit sacros celebri certamine ludos,
Pvthia perdomitae serpentis nomine dictos.
hie iuvenum quicumque manu pedibusve rotave
1 almo Merlcd: alto MSS
S2
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, tliou huge Python, thou
snake unknown before, who wast a terror to new-
created men ; huge a space of mountain-side didst
so
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,
39
OVID
vicerat, aesculeae capiebat frondis honorem.
nondum laurus 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
" cum
"quid" que tibi, lascive puer, fortibus
"
armis ?
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

" tuus omnia, Phoebe,
figat
"
te meus arcus ait ;
'''
quantoque animalia cedunt
cuncta deo, tan to minor est tua gloria nostra." 465
dixit et eliso percussis aere pennis
inpiger umbrosa Parnasi constitit arce

eque sagittifera prompsit duo tela pharetra
diversorum operum fugat hoc, facit illud aniorem
:
;
quod facit, auratum 470

est et cuspide fulget acuta,
quod fugat, obtusum est et habet sub harundine

plumbum,
hoc deus in nympha Peneide fixit, at illo
laesit Apollineas traiecta per ossa medul|as ;
protinus alter amat, fugit altera nomen amantis
silvarum latebris capitivarumque ferarum 475
34
youth who had been victorious in boxinfj, running,

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 locks, 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. Uelian 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
.''
shoulders for
my ;
I have strength to give unerring wounds to the wild

beasts, my foes, and have but now laid low the
whole
Python swollen with countless darts, covering
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,
of Parnasus.
quickly alighted on the shady peak
Tliere 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
last the god fixed in the
tipped with lead. This
heart of Peneus' daughter, but with the other he
smote Apollo, pierchig 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
S5
OVID
exuviis gaudens inniiptaeque aemula Phoebes:
vitta coercebat positos sine lege capillos.
multi* illam petiere, ilia aversata petentes
viri nemora a via lustrat
inpatiens expersque
nee, quidHymen, quid Amor, quid sint coniibia curat.
" 481
saepe pater dixit: generum mihi, filia, debes,"
"
saepe pater dixit : "debes mihi, nata, nepotes ;
ilia velut crimen taedas exosa iugales
pulchra verecundo sufFunditur ora rubore

inque patris blandis haerens cervice lacertis 485
'*da mihi perpetua, genitor carissime," dixit
"virginitate frui dedit hoc pater ante Dianae."
!
ille quidem obsequitur, sed te decor iste quod optas
esse vetat, votoque tuo tua forma repugnat :
Phoebus amat visaeque cupit conubia Daphnes, 490

quodque cupit, sperat, suaque ilium oracula fallunt,
utque leves stipulae demptis adolentur aristis,
ut facibus saepes ardent, quas forte viator
vel nimis admovit vel lam sub luce reliquit,
sic deus in flammas abiit, sic pectore toto 495
uritur et sterilem sperando nutrit amorem.
spectat inornatos coUo pendere capillos
"
et " quid, si comantur ? ait. videt igne micantes
sideribus similes oculos, videt oscula, quae non
est vidisse satis ; laudat digitosque manusque 500
bracchiaque et nudos media plus parte lacertos ;
si
qua latent, meliora putat. fugit ocior aura
ilia levi
neque ad haec revocantis verba resistit :
"
nympha, precor, Penei, mane non insequor hostis;
I
nympha, mane sic agna lupum, sic cerva leonem, 505

!
S6
which she had snared, vying with the virgin Phoebe.

A single fillet bound her locks 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 what 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 wedding

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 fleeting

breeze, nor does she stop when he calls after her:
'*
O nymph, O Peneus' daui^hter, 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 everv
37
OVID
sicaquilam penna fugiunt tiepidante columbae,
hostes quaeque suos amor est niihi causa sequendi
:
j
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 tanien: non incola montis,
non ego sum pastor, non hie armenta gregresque
horridus observo. nescis, temeraria, nescis,
quem fugias, ideoquefugis : mihi Delphica tellus 515
et Claros et Tenedos Patareaque regia servit ;
luppiter est genitor per me, quod eritque fuitque

;
estque, patet per me concordant carmina nervis.

;
certa quidem nostra est, nostra tamen una sagitta
certior, invacuo quae vulnera pectore fecit 520 !
inventum medicina me urn est, opiferque per orbeni

dicor, et herbarum subiecta potentia nobis,
ei mihi, quod nullis amor est sanabilis herbis
"
nee prosunt domino, quae prosunt omnibus, artes !
Plura locuturum timido Peneia cursu 525

fugitcumque 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 hie praedam ^ledibus petit, ille salutem ;
38
creature flees its foes. But love is the cause of my

pursuit. A.h me I 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. 1, too, will follow with less
I am
speed. Nay, stop and ask who thy lover is.
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
fatlier. 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 hii
words unfinished, even in her desertion seeming fair.
The winds bared her limbs, the opposing breeze a' 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
alter inhaesuro similis iam iamque tenere 535
sperat et extento stringit vestigia rostro,
alter in ambiguo est, an sit eonprensus, et ipsis
morsibus eripitur tangentiaque ora relinquit :
sic deus et virgo est hie spe celer, ilia timore.
qui tanien insequitur pennis adiutus Amoris, 540

ocior estrequiemque negat tergoque fugacis
inminet et crinem sparsum cervicibus adflat.
viribus absumptis expalluit ilia citaeque
victa labore fugae speclans Peneidas undas * 544'
** " flumina numen habetis,
fer, pater," inquit opem ! si
"
qua nimium placui, mutando perde figuram 1 547
vix prece finita torpor gravis occupat artus,
mollia cinguntur tenui praecordia libro,
in frondem crines, in ramos bracchia crescunt, 550
pes modo
tarn velox pigris radicibus haeret,
ora cacumen habet remanet niter unus in ilia.
:
Haiic quoque Phoebus amat positaque in stipite

dextra
sentitadhue trepidare novo sub cortice pectus
conplexusque suis ramos ut membra lacertis 555
oscula dat ligno ;
tamen oscula lignum,
refugit
cui deus " at, quoniam coniunx mea non potes esse,
"
iirbor eris certe dixit " mea semper habebunt
I
te coma, te citharae, te nostrae, laure, pliaretrae ;

tu G \cibus Latiis aderis, cum laeta Triumphum 560
vox canet et visent longas Capitolia pompas ;
postibus Augustis eadem fidissima custos

ante fores stabis mediamque tuebere quercum,
*
Most MSS. have two verses for 547 :
qua niraium placui, 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 placui, and the line completed by an emendation.
40
grazes her very heels with his outstretched

muzzle ;
but she knows not whether or no she be 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,
the toil of her
pale with fear and utterly overcome by
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-
drairjrinjr 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, 6 laurel. With 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
civic crown of
guardian, and keep watch over the
41
OVID
utque meum intonsis caput est in\ enale capilHs,
"
tu quoque perpetuos semper gere frondis honores !
finierat Paean : factis modo laurea ramis 566

adnuit utque caput visa est agitasse cacunien.
Est nemus Haemoniae, praerupta quod undique
claudit
silva :
Tempe ; per quae Peneus ab imo
vocant
efFususPindo spumosis volvitur undis 570
deiectuque gravi tenues agitantia fumos
nubila conducit summisque adspergine silvis !'-\
y^-^
inpluit et sonitu plus quam vicina fatigat :
ô-?
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 Amplirj'^sos 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 lo
luget ut amissam nescit, vitane fruatur
: 585
an sit apud manes ; sed quam non invenit usquam,
esse putat nusquam atque animo peiora veretiir.
Viderat a patrio redeuntem luppiter illam
flumine et " o virgo love digna tuoque beatum
"
nescio quem factura toro, pete dixerat " umbras 590
"
altorum neinorum (et nemorum monstraverat
/ umbras) \^\^
METAMORPHOSES BOOK 1
oak which hangs between. And as my head fs 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 ot
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 bv 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, lioary 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, iuto^
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, lo, as lost. He knows not whether she
stilllives 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
" O
stream, and said :
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
4S
OVID
dum calet, et medio sol est altissimus orbe!
quodsi sola times latebras intrare ferarum,
praeside tuta deo nemorum secreta subibis,
nee de plebe deo, sed qui caelestia magna 595
sceptra manu teneo, sed qui vaga fulmina mitto.
"
ne fuge me! fugiebat enim. iam paseua Lernae
consitaque arboribus Lyrcea reliquerat arva,
cum deus inducta latas caligine terras
occuluit tenuitque fugam rapuitque pudorem. 600
Interea medics luuo dispexit in Argos ^
et noctis faciem nebulas fecisse volucres
sub nitido mirata die, hon fluminis illas
esse, nee umenti sensit tellure remitti ;
atque suus coniunx ubi sit circumspicit, ut quae 605

deprensl totiens iam nosset furta mariti.
quern postquam caelo non repperit, "aut ego f'allor
"
aut ego laedor ait delapsaque ab aethere summo
constitit in terris nebulasque recedere iussit.
coniugis adventum praesenserat inque nitentem 6lO

Inachidos vultus mutaverat ille iuvencam
(bos quoque formosa est) speciem Saturnia vaccae,

:
quamquam in vita, probat nee non, et cuius et

unde
quove sit armento, veri quasi nescia quaerit,
luppiter e terra genitam mentitur, ut auctor 6l5
desinat inquiri petit banc Saturnia munus.
:
quid faciat ? crudele suos addicere amores,

non dare suspectum ect : Pudor est, qui suadeat illinc,
*
Argos Merkel and MiiUer : agfos MSS.
4,4,
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 tiie 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 ht*r.
Meanwhile .[uno 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 tliat they were not river
mists nor fogs exlialed from the damp earth and ;
forthwithsshe 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 1 am
:
being
"
wronged and gliding down from the top ot heaven,
;
slie 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 "-rudffinff admiration
; then asked whose she was
and whence she came or fi-om 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 sociae generisque torique 620
vacca negaretur, poterat iion vacca videri !
Paelice donata non protinus exuit omnem

diva metum timuitque lovem et fuit anxia furti,
donee 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 mode, spectabat ad lo,
ante oculos quamvis aversus, habebat.
lo,
luce sinit pasci ; cum sol tellure sub alta est, 630
olaudit et indigno circumdat vincula colic,
frondibus arboreis et amara pascitur herba.
proque toro teirae non semper gramen habenti
incubat infelix limosaque flumina polat.
ilia etiam supplex Argo cum bracchia vellet 635
tendere, non habuit. quae bracchia tenderet Argo,
et conata queri mugitus edidit ore
voce est.
pertimuitque sonos propriaque exterrita
venit et ad ripas, ubi ludere saepe solebat,
Inachidas rictus^ novaque ut conspexit in unda 640
:
cornua, pertimuit seque exsternata refugit.

naides ignorant, ignorat et Inachus ipse,
sorores
quae sit at ilia patrem sequitur sequiturque
;
et tangi seque
patitur
admirantibus ofFert.
Inachus herbas 645

decerptas senior porrexerat
:
iliamanus lambit patriisque dat oscula palmis

nee retinet lacrimas et, si modo verba sequantur,
* Inachidas : rictus Merhd : Inachidas ripas MSS.
46
up, but love on the other urges not. Shame by love

would have been o'ercome ; but if so poor a giit 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 i'or 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 lo even
;
when his back was turned he had lo 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 r/pon 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 ;
anil 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!" exclamat pater Inachus inque
gementis
cornibus et niveae pendens cervice iuvencae
" me miseruin " " tune es
ingeminat
!
quaesita
;
per omnes
nata mihi terras ? tu non inventa
reperta
luctus eras levior retices nee mutiia nostris
!
655
dicta refers, alto tantum suspiria ducis
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, nunc de grege natus
habendus. 660
nee finire licet tantos mihi morte dolores ;
se d nocet e sse deum, praeclusaque ianua let!

aeternum nostros luctus extendit in aevum."
talia maerentes stellatus submovet Argus
ereptamque patri diversa in pascua natam 665

abstrahit. ipse procul montis sublime cacumen
occupat, unde sedens partes speculatur in omnes.
Nee superum rector mala tanta Phoronidos
ultra
ferre potest natumque vocat, quem lucida partu
Pleias enixa est letoque det imperat Argum, 670
parva mora est alas pedibus virgamqiie potenti
somniferamsumpsisse manu tegumenque capillis.
haec ubi disposuit, patria love natus ab arce
desilit in terras ;
illic
tegumenque removit
et posuit pennas, tantummodo virga retenta est : 675
hac agit ut pastor per devia rura capellas,
48
METAMORPHOSES ROOK T
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 ihee
a iiusband, and from the herd must I look for erand-
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 lo, 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
C 4^
OVID
dum venit, adductas et structis cantat avenis. (
voce nova et captus custos lunonius arte

"
"quisquis es, hoc poteras mecum considere saxo
Argus ait; "neque enim pecori fecundior ullo 680

herba loco aptamque vides pastoribus unibram."
est,
Sedit Atlantiades et euntem multa loquendo

detinuit sennone 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 Nonacrmas 69O
naias una fuit :
nymphae Syringa vocabant.
noiTsemel et satyros eluserat ilia
sequentes
et quoscumque deos umbrosaque silva feraxque
rus habet. Ortygiam studiis ipsaque colebat
virginitate deam ritu quoque cincta Dianae
; 695
ut posset credi Latonia, si non
falleret,
corneus huic arcus, si non foret aureus illi ;
sic quoque fallebat.
Redeuntem colle Lycaeo

Pan videt banc pinuque caput praecinctus acuta
talia verba refert
" — restabat verba referre 700
et precibus spretis fugisse per avia nympham,
50
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. Juno'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 grandson takes his seat, and fills the
Atlas'
passinghours witli 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 mountaia^
slopes, among the wood nymphs who dwelt on
Nonacris, 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 lân 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
51
OVID
donee harenosi placidum Ladonis ad amnem
venerit; hie illam cursum inpedientibus undia
ut se mutarent liquidas orasse sorores,
Panaque cum preiisam sibi iam Syringa putaret, 705
eorpore pro nymphae calamos tenuisse palustres,
dunique ibi suspirat, motes in bar undine ventos

efFeeisse sonum tenuem similemque querenti.
arte nova voeisque deum
duleedine eaptum
"hoc mihi eoncilium tecum" dixisse " manebit," 710
atque ita disparibus ealamis ônpagine cerae

inter se iunetis nomtn tenuisse puellae.
talia dicturus vidit Cyllenius omnes
subcubuisse oculos adopertaque lumina somno ;
supprimit extemplo vocem firmatque soporem 715

languida permuleens medieata lumina virga.
nee mora, faleato nutantem vulnerat ense,
qua collo est confine caput, saxoque cruentum
deieit et maculat praeruptam sanguine rupem. 719
Arge, iaees, quodque in tot lumina lumen habebas,
exstinetum est, centumque oculos nox occupat una.
Excipit hos volucrisque suae Saturnia pennis
collocat et gemmis caudam stellantibus inplet.
protinus exarsit nee tempora distulit

irae
horriferamque oculis animoque obiecit Erinyn 725

in pectore caecos
paelicis Argolieae stimulosque
condidit et profugam per totum terruit orbem.
ultimus inmenso restabas, Nile, labori ;
quem simulac tetigit, positisque in margine ripae

procubuit genibus resupinoque ardua collo, 7S0
52
METAMORPHOSES BOOK 1
through the pathless wastes until she came to LaJon'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 love visa queri finemque orare malorum.
coniugis ille suae conplexus colla lacertis, 734
" in " "
finiat ut poenas tandem, rogat que futurum
" "
pone metus inquit numquam tibi causa doloris
:
haec Stygias iubet hoc audire paludes.

erit," et
not lenita dea est, vultus capit ilia 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 ilia,

officioque pedum nymphe contenta duorum
erigitur metuitque loqui, ne more iuvencae 745
mugiat, et timide verba intermissa retemptat.
Nunc dea linigera colitur celeberrima turba.
^
huie Epaphus magni genitus de semine tandem
creditur esse lovis perque urbes iuncta parenti
templa tenetii'^fuit huic animis aequalis et annis 750

Sole satus Phaethon, quern quondam magna
loquentem
nee sibi cedentem Phoeboque parente superbum
"
non tulit Inachides "matri que ait "omnia demens
credis et es tumidus genitofis imagine falsi."
erubuit Phaethon iramque pudore repressit 755
et tulit ad Clymeijfen Epaphi convicia matrem
"quo" que "magisdoleas,genetrix"ait,"ille ego liber,
1 buic Meinsiui : nunc MSS.
54
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
"
;
fihe 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 lo gams back he, \
;
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 Phaethon,
child of the Sun. When this Phaethon 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 repi-essed his anger through
very shame and carried Epaphus' insulting taunt
straight to his mother, Clymene. "And that you
55
OVID
ille ferox tacui !
pudet haec opprobria nobis
et dici potuisse et non potuisse refelli.
at tu, si modo sum caelesti stirpe creatus, 760
"
ede notam tanti generis meque adsere caelo !
dixit et inplicuit materno bracchia collo
perqiie suum Meropisque caput taedasque

sororum
traderet oravit veri sibi signa parentis,
ambiguum Clymene precibus Phaethontis an ira 765

mota magis dicti sibi criminis utraque caelo
bracchia porrexit spectansque ad lumina solis
" "
"per iubar hoc inquit radiis insigne coruscis,
nate, tibi iuro, quod nos auditque videtque, 769
hoc te, quem spectas, hoc te, qui temperat orbem,
Sole satum ; loquor, neget ipse videndum
si ficta
se mihi, sitque oculis lux ista novissima nostris !
nee labor est patrios tibi nosse penates.

longus
unde oritur, domus est terrae contermina nostrae :
"
si modo fert animus, gradere et scitabere ab ipso !
emicat extemplo laetus post talia matris 776

dicta suae Phaethon et concipit aethera mente
Aetbiopasque suos positosque sub ignibus Indos
sidereis transit patriosque adit inpiger ortus.
56
may grieve the more, mother," he said, " I, the

higli-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
cbiims 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 Phaethon, or more 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 hov, that
you are sprung from the Sun, that being whom you
beliold, tliat 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 your father's house. The place where he
find
rises isnot far from our own land. If you are so
minded, go there and ask your question of the sun
himself." Phaethon 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 71
LIBER II
Reoia Solis erat sublimibus alta columnis,

claramicante auro flammasque imitaiite pyropo.
cuius ebur nitidum fastigia summa tegebat,
argenti bifores radiabant lumine valvae.
materiam superabat opus nam Mulciber : illic i'l
aequora caelarat medias cingentia terras

terrarumque orbem caelumque, quod imniinet orbi.
caeruleos habet unda deos, Tritona canonim
Proteaque ambiguum ballenarumque prementem

Aegaeona suis inmania terga lacertis 10
Doridaque et natas, quarum pars nare videtiir,

pars in mole sedens viridis siccare capillos,
pisce vehi quaedam facies non omnibus una,

:
non diversa tamen, qualem decet 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 adclivi Clymeneia limite proles
venit et intravit dubitati tecta parentis, 20
protinus ad palrios sua fert vestigia vultus
consistitque procul ; neque enim propiora ferebat
himina :
purpurea velatus veste sedebat
60
BOOK II
The palace of the Sun stood high on loftj 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 thi
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 florente corona,
stabat nuda Aestas et spicea serta gerebat,
stabat et Autumnus calcatis sordidus uvis
et glacialis Hiems canos hirsuta capillos. SO
Ipse loco medius rerum novitate paventem
Sol oculis iuvenem, quibus adspicit omnia, vidit
" " " " "
quae que viae tibi causa ? quid hac ait aroe
petisti
progenies, Phaethon, baud infitianda parenti?"
illerefert: "o lux inmensi publica mundi, 35
Phoebe pater, si das usum mihi nominis huius,
nee falsa Clymene cu/pam vih imagine celat,
pignora da, genitor, per quae tua vera propago

credar, et hunc animis errorem detrahe nostris !'*
dixerat, at genitor circum caput omne micantes 40

deposuit radios propiusque accedere iussit
"
amplexuque date nee 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, ociliiS incognita nostris !
vix bene desierat, currus rogat ille patcrnos
inque diem alipedum ius et moderamen equorum,

Paenituit iurasse patrem qui terque quaterque
:
"
concuLiens inlustre caput " temeraria dixit 50
" vox mea facta tua est utinam liceret
; promissa
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 flours
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, Phaethon a son no father need
"
The " O
common light of this
lad replied
deny .'' :
vast universe, Phoebus, my father, if thou grantest

me the right to use that name, if Clymene is not
hiding 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
6S
OVID
non dare !
confiteor, solum hoc tibi, nate, nejârem.
dissuadere licet : non est tua tuta voluntas !
magna petis, Phaethon, et quae nee viribus istis
munera conveniant nee tarn puerilibus annis : 55

sors tua mortalis, non est mortale, quod optas.
plus etiam, quam quod superis contingere possit,
nescius adfectas placeat sibi quisque licebit,
;
non tamen ignifero quisquam consistere in axe

me valet excepto ; vasti quoque rector Olympi, 60
qui fera terribili iaculatur fulmina dextra,
non aget hos currus et quid love maius habemus
: ?
ardua prima via est et qua vix mane recentes

enituntur equi medio est altissima caelo,
;
unde mare et terras ipsi mihi saepe videre 65

fittimor et pavida trepidat formidine pectus ;
ultima prona via est et eget moderamine certo :
tunc etiam quae me subiectis excipit undis,

ne ferar in praeceps, Tethys solet ipsa vereri.
adde, quod adsidua rapitur vertigine caelum 70
sideraque alta trahit celerique volumine torqueL
niter in adversum, nee me, qui cetera, vincit
inpetus, et rapido contrarius evehor orbi.
finge datos currus quid ages ? poterisne rotatis
:
obvius ire polis, ne te citus auferat axis ? 75

forsitan et lucos illic urbesque deorum
concipiasanimo delubraque ditia donis
esse per insidias iter est formasque ferarum
: 1
utque viam teneas nulloque errore traharis,

per tamen adversi gradieris cornua tauri 80
b-4
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, Phaethon,
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 loi'd of
great Olympus, who hurls dread thunderbolts with
his awful hand, could not drive this cliariot
;
and what
have we greater than Jove? 7'he 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 wliirling
poles that their swift axis sweep thee not away }
i'erliaps, 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
65
OVID
Haemoniosque arcus violentique ora Leonis
Saevaquecircuitu curvantcni bracchia longo
bracchia Cancrum.
Scorpion atque aliter curvantem
nee tibi quadripedes aniinosos ignibus illis,
et naribus efflaiit, 85
quos in pectore habent, quos ore
promptu regere est : vix me patiuntur,
in ubi acres
incaluere animi cervixque repugnat habenis.

—
at tu, funesti ne sim tibi niuneris auctor,
nate, cave, dum resque sinit tua corrige vota

'
scilicet ut nostro genitum te sanguine credas, 90
pignora eerta petis :do pignora certa timendo

et patrio pater esse probor. metu
adspice vultus
eoce meos utinamque oculos in pectora posses
inserere et patrias intus deprendere ciiras !
miindus 95
denique quidquid habet dives circumspice
eque tot ac tantis caeli terraeque marisque
posce bonis aliquid ;

nuUam patiere repiilsam.
vero nomine poena,
deprecor hoc unum, quod
non honor est poenam, Phaethon, pro munere
:
!
poscis
100
quid mea colla tenes
bl indis, ignare, lacertis ?
ne dubita ! dabitur (Stygias iuravimus undas),

"
sed tu sapientius opta 1
quodcumque optaris ;
Finittrat monitus ;
dictis tamen ille repugnat
currus.
propositumque premit flagratque cupidine
cunctatus ad altos 105
ergo, qua licuit, genitor
deducit iuvenem, Vulcania munera, currus.
aureus axis erat, temo aureus, aurea sumraae
curvatura rotae, raJiorum argenteus ordo ;
66
thou pass the horned Bull full in thy path, the Haemo-
nian Archer, the maw of the raging Lion, the Scorpion,
curving his savage arms in long sweeps, and the Crab,
reaching out in the opposite direction. Nor is it an
easv tiling 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 boundless goods of land and sea and sky ask any-
thing. 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 Phaethon,

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 lather,
as far as might be, led forth the youth to
delaying
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 chrysolites

67
OVID
per iuga chrysolithi positaeque ex ordine gemmae
elara i-epercusso reddebant lumina Phoebo. 1 10
Dumque ea magnanimus Phaethon miratur opusque

perspicit, ecce vigil rutilo patefecit ab ortu
purpureas Aurora fores et plena rosarum
atria :
diffugiunt stellae, quarum agmina cogit
Lucifer et caeli statione novissimus exit. 11/5
Quern petere ut terras mundumque rubescere vidit
cornuaque extremae velut evanescere lunae,

iungere equos Titan velocibus imperat Horis.
iussadeae celeres peragunt ignemque vomentes,
ambrosiae suco saturos, praesepibus altis 120
quadripedes ducunt adduntque sonantia frena.
turn pater era sui sacro medicamine nati
contigit et rapidae fecit patientia flammae

inposuitque comae radios praesagaque luctus
pectore sollicito repetens suspiria dixit : 125
" si
potes his saltern monitis parere parentis
parce, puer, stimulis et fortius utere loris !
sponte sua properant, labor est inhibere volentes.

nee tibi directos placeat via quinque per arcus !
sectus in obliquum est lato curvamine limes, 130

zonarumque trium contentus fine polumque
effugit australem iunctamque aquilonibus arcton
•
hac sit iter ! manifesta rotae vestigia cernes.

utque ferant aequos et caelum et terra calores,
nee preme nee summum molire per aethera cursum !
altius egressus caelestia tecta cremabis, 136

inferius terras ; medio tutissimus ibis.
68
.and jewels set in fair array gave back their bright

glow to the reflected rays of Phoebus.
Now while the ambitious Phaethon 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
heat, go not too low, nor yet direct thy course
equal
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
neu te dexterior tortum deciinet ad Anguem,
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 effulget tenebris Aurora fugatis.

:
corripe lora manu, vel, si motabile pectus

14.5
est tibi, consiliis, non curribus utere nostris!

dum etiamnum sedibus adstas,
potes et solidis
dumque male optatos nondum premis inscius axes,
"
spectes, sine me dare lumina
tutus terris!
quae
Occupat ille levem iuvenali corpore currum 50 1
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.
ifiO
sed leve pondus erat nee 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 l65
succutiturque alte similisque est currus inani.

70
nor on the left, where the Altar lies low in the

heavens, guide thy wheel. Hold on between the
two. 1 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 amemled,
take mycounsel, 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 burden.
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 simulac sensere, ruunt tritumque relinquunt
quadriiugi spatium nee quo prius ordine currunt.
ipse pavet nee qua conimissas flectat habenas
nee scit qua sit iter, nee, si sciat,
iinperet illis, 170
turn priraum radiis gelidi caluere Triones
at vetito frustra temptarunt
aequore tingui,
quaeque polo posita est glacial! proxima Serpens,
frigore pigra prius nee formidabilis uUi,
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 tantuni lumen orboitae^

et iara mallet equos numquam tetigisse paterSos^
iam cognosse genus piget et valuisse rogaiulo,
iam Meropis dici eupiens ita fertur, ut acta
praecipiti pinus borea, eui victa remisit 185
frena suus rector, quam dis
votisque reliquit.
quid facial? multum caeli post terga relictum,
ante oculos plus est animo metitur
:
utrumque
et modo, quos fatum eontingere non est,
illi
prospicit oecasus, interdum respicit ortus, 190

quidque agat ignarus stupet et nee frena reniittit
nee retinere valet nee nomina novit equorum.
sparsa quoque in vario passim miiacula eaelo
vastaruinque videt trepidus simulacra ferarum.
est locus, in geminos ubi braceliia concavat areus 195
72
When feel this, the

they team run wild and leave
tlie 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 Phaethon 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
headlong 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
73
OVID
Scorpius et cauda flexisque utrimque lacertis
porrigit in spatium signorum membra duorum :
hunc puer ut nigri madidum sudore veneni

vulnera curvata minitantem cuspid e 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 ciiierem vertunt ; silvae cum montibus ardent ;
ardet Athos Taurusque Cilix et Tmolus et Oete

et turn sicca, prius celeberrima fontibus Ide
virgineusque Helicon et nondum Oeagrius Haemus :
ardet in inmensum geminatisignibus Aetne 220

Parnasusque biceps et Eryx et Cynthus et Othrys
et tandem nivibus Rhodope caritura Mimasque
Dindymaque et Mycale natusque ad sacra Citbaeron.
74
I
into two bows; and with tail and arms stretching out
on both sides, he spreads over the space of tAvo 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 .naiorque ambobus Olympus 225

aeriaeque Alpes et n ibifer Appenninus.
Turn vero Phaethon cunctis e partibus orbem
adspicit accensum nee tantos sustinet aestus
ferventisque auras velut e fornace profunda
ore trahit currusque suos candescere sentit 230 ;
et neque iam cineres eiectatamque favillam

ferre potest calidoque involvitur undique fumo,
quoque eat aut ubi sit, picea caligine tectus
nescit et arbitrio volucrum raptatur equorum.
Sanguine turn credunt in corpora summa vocato
Aethiopum populos nigrum traxisse colorem ;
236
turn facta est Libye raptis umoribus aestu
arida, turn nymphae passis fontesque lacusque
deflevere comis ; quaerit Boeotia Dircen,
Argos Amymonen, Ephyre Pirenidas undas ; 240
nee sortita locodistantes 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 Eu rotas,
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 celebrarant carmine ripas,
flumineae volucres medio caluere Caystro ;
Nilus in extremum fugit perterritus orbem

occuluitque caput, quod adhuc latet ostia septem
:
pulverulenta vacant, septem sine flumine valles. 256

76
Scythia Caucasus burns, and Ossa with Piudus, and

;
Olympus, greater than both ;

and the heaven-
piercing Alps and cloud-capped Apennines.
Then indeed does Phaethon 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. Tiie chariot he feels growing white-hot
beneath his feet. He can no longer bear the aslies
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 Caicus, 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 Eurotas.
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
forseadem Ismarios Hebrum cum Strymone siccat
Hesperiosque amnes, Rhenum Rhodanumque
Padumque
cuique fuit rerum promissa potentia, Thybrin.
dissilit omne solum,
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 monies et sparsas Cycladas augent.
ima petunt pisces, nee se super aequora curvi 265
toUere 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 opaeae viscera matris,

sustulit oppresses 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 deum? liceat periturae viribus ignis 280
igne perire tuo clademque auctore levare !
"
vix equidera fauces haec ipsa in verba resolvo ;
" tostos en adspice crines
(presserat era vapor)
78
broad channels^ all without a stream. The same

aiischance dries up the Thracian rivers, Hebrus and
Strymon also the rivers of the west, the Rliine,
;
Rhone, Po, and the Tiber, to whom had been

promised 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
numbers of the scattered Cyclades. The fish dive to
the lowest depths, and the dolphins no longer dare
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 liis 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 amid the waters of the deep, amid her fast-
sea,
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
" If this is
spoke :
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 tliy
fire and lighten my suffering by thought of him who
I scarce can
sent it. open my lips to speak these
words
" — —
the hot smoke was choking her " See my
79
OVID
inque oculis tantum, tantum super ora favillae 1
hosne mihi fructus, hunc fertilitatis honorem 285

officiique refers, quod adunci vulnera aratri
rastrorumque fero totoque exerceor anno,

quod pecori frondes alimentaque mitia, fruges,
hiimano generi, vobis quoque tura ministro ?
sed tamen exitium fac 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 rerum consule summae
adliiic superest, et I
Dixerat haec Tellus neque enim toleiaie vaporem

:
ulterius potuit nee dicere plura suumque

rettulit OS in se propioraque manibus antra ;
at pater omnipotens, superos testatus et ipsiim,
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 iactat ;
sed neque quas posset terris inducere nubes

tunc habuit, nee quos caelo dimitteret imbres : 310
intonat et dextra libratum fulmen ab aure
misit in aurigam pariterque animaque rotisque
80
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 himself 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 whatever
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
broâd lands, whence he stirs his thundei's and flings his
hurtling bolts. But now he has no clouds wherewith

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
D 81
OVID
expulit et saevis conpescuit ignibus ignes.
consternantur equi et saltu in contraria facto
coUa iugo eripiunt abruptaque lora reliiiquunt : 315
illic frena iacent, illic temone revulsus
hac radii fractarum parte rotarum
axis, in
sparsaque sunt late laceri vestigia currus.

At Phaethon rutilos flamma populante capillos
volvitur in praeceps longoque per aera tractu S20
fertur, ut interdum de caelo stella sereno
etsi non cecidit, potuit cecidisse videri.
quern procul a patria diverse maximus orbe

excipit Eridanus fumantiaque abluit ora.
Naides Hesperiae trifida fumantia flamma 325
corpora dant tumulo, signant quoque carmine saxum:
HlC •
SITVS •
EST PHAETHON CVRRVS AVRIOA PATERNI
• ' ' •
QVEM
•
SI
•
NON TENVIT MAONIS TAMEN KXCIDIT 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 f'uerunt

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.
nee minus Heliades fletus et inania morti 340
82
life as well, and thus quenched fire with blasting

fire. The maddened horses leap apart, wrench tlieir
necks from the yoke, and breakaway 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 Phaethon^ 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 Naiads 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 PHAfiTHON LIES: IN PHOEBUs' CAR HE FARED,

AND THOUGH HE GREATLY FAILED, MORE GREATLY DARED.
The wretched father, sick with grief, hid his face ;
if we are to believe report, one whole

and, 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
tlie 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 qucrellas
nocte dieque vocant adsternunturque sepulcro.
luna quater iunctis inplerat cornibus orbem ;
more suo (nam morem fecerat usus)

illae S-tS
sororum
plangorem dederant e quis Phaethusa, :
maxima, cum vellet terra procumbere, questa est

deriguisse pedes ;
ad quam conata venire
Candida Lampetie subita radice retenta est;
tertia, cum crinem manibus laniare pararet, 350
avellit frondes ;
haec
stipite crura teneri,
ilia dolet fieri longos sua bracchia ramos,
dumque ea mirantur, conplectitur inguina cortex
perque gradus uterum pectusque umerosque manusque
ambit, et exstabant taiitum ora vocantia matrem. 355
quid faciat mater, nisi, quo trahat inpetus illam,
hue eat atque illuc et, dum licet, oscula iungat ?

non satis est truncis avellere corpora temptat
:
et teneros manibus ramos abrumpit, at inde

360
sanguineae manant tamquam de vulnere guttae.
" '
est saucia, clamat,
parce, precor, mater,' quaecumque
" in arbore corpus
'
parce, precor nostrum laceratur

:
iamque vale
"
cortex —
in verba novissima venit.
inde fluunt lacrimae, stillataque sole rigescunt

de ramis electra novis, quae lucidus amnis S65
Latinis.
excipit et nuribus mittit gestanda
Adfuit huic monstro proles Stheneleia Cygnus,
a sanguine iunctus,
qui tibi materno quamvis
mente tamen, Phaethon, propior fuit. ille relic to
84
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, Phaethusa, 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 wo(^d,
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 aiid bears tliem
onward, one day to be worn by tlie brides of Rome
Cycnus, the son of Sthenelus, was a witness of this
miracle. Though he was kin to you, O Phaethon,
by his mother's blood, he was more closely joined in
85
OVID
(nam Ligurum populos et magnas rexerat urbcs) 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,
fitnova Cygnus avis nee se caeloque lovique
tradit, ut iniuste missi memor ignis ab illo ;
stagna petit patulosque lacus ignetnque perosus

quae colat elegit contraria flumina 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

" satis " "
officiumquenegat mundo, inquit abaevi 385
sors mea principiis fuit inreqiiieta, 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 saltern, dum nostras temptat habenas, 390
orbatura patres aliquando fulmina ponat !
tuin sciet igiiipedum 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 luppiter
igncs
excusat prrcibusque minas regaliter addit.
86
affection. He, abandoning his kingdom — ibr 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
" from time's
says ; beginning has my lot been unrest-
I am weary of
ful; 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 lay
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,
an I 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
OVID
colligit amentes et adhuc terrore paventes
Phoebus equos stimuloque dolens et verbere saevit;
saevit, erum natumque obiectat et inputat illis. 400
^
At pater omnipotens ingentia moenia caeli
circuit et, ne quid labefactum viribus ignis

corruat, explorat. quae postquam firma suique
roboris esse videt, terras hominumque labores
perspicit. Arcadiae tarn en est inpensior illi 405

cura suae :
fontesque et nondum audentia labi
fluinina restituit, dat terrae gramina, froiides
arboribus, laesasque iubet revirescere silvas.

dum redit itque frequens, in virgine Nonacrina
haesit, et accepti caluere sub ossibus ignes. 410
non erat huius opus lanam mollire trahendo
nee positu variare comas ubi fibula vestem,
;
vitta coercuerat neglectos alba capillos ;
et modo leve manu iaculum, mode 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 ilia nemus, quod nulla ceciderat aetas ;
exuit hie umero pharetrara lentosque retendit

arcus inque solo, quod texerat herba, iacebat 420
et pictam posita pharetram cervice premebat.
luppiter ut vidit fessam et custode vacantem,

*'hoc certe furtum coniunx mea nesciet" inquit,
" aut "
si rescierit, sunt, o sunt iurgia tanti !
'
erum Merkel : enim MSS,
88
Then Phoebus yokes his team again, wild and

treinbhng 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 Iter loose-flowing hair. And in this garb, now
with a polished 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
425
protinus induitur faciem cultumque Dianae
"o una
atque ait comitumj virgo, pars
: mearum,
"
in quibus es venata iugis ? cle caespite virgo
" salve "
se levat et numen, me iudice dixit,
"audiat ipse licet, maius love." ridet et audit
gaudet et oscula iungit,
et sibi praeferri se 430
nee moderata satis nee sic a virgine danda.
qua venata foret silva, narrare parantem
inpedit amplexu nee se sine crimine prodit.
ilia quidem contra, quantum modo femina posset
(adspiceres utinam, Saturnia, mitior esses), 435
ilia quidem pugnat, sed
quern superare puella,
quisve lovem poterat ? superum petit aethera victor
luppiter 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 banc visamque vocat clamata refugit
:
et timuit primo, ne luppiter esset in ilia;

sed postquam pariter nymphas incedere vidit, 445
sensit abesse dolos numerumque accessit ad harum.
heu I
quam difficile est crimen non prodere vultu !
vix oculos attollit humo nee, ut ante solebat,

iuncta deae lateri nee toto est agmine prima,
sed silet et laesi dat signa rubore pudoris ; 450
et, nisiquod virgo est, poterat sentire Diana
mille notis culpam : nymphae sensisse feruntur.
orbe resurgebant lunaria cornua none,
90
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 over-
93
OVID
cum dea venatu fraternis languida flammis,
nacta nemus gelidum, de quo cum murmure labens
ibat et attiitas versabat rivus harenas. 456
ut loca laudavit, summas pede contigit undas ;
" "
hisquoque laudatis procul est ait "arbiter omnis:
nuda superfusis tinguamus corpora lymphis " !
Parrhasis erubuit ; cunctae velamina ponunt 460;
una moras quaerit dubitanti vestis adempta est,

:
qua posita nude patuit cum corpore crimen.

attonitae manibusque uterum celare volenti
"i " "
procul hinc dixit " nee sacros poUue fontis !
Cynthia deque suo iussit secedere coetu. 465

Senserat hoc olim magni matrona Tonantis
distuleratque graves in idonea tempora poenas.
causa morae nulla est, et iam puer Areas (id ipsum
indoluit luno) fuerat de paelice natus.
quo simul obvertit saevam cum lumine mentem, 470

" scilicet hoc etiam "
restabat, adultera dixit,
" ut fecunda
fores, fieretque iniurva partu
nota, lovisque mei testatum dedecas esset.
baud inpune feres adimam tibi nnmque figuram,
:
qua tibi, quaque places nostro, inportuna, marito."

dixit et adversam prensis a fronte capillis 476
stravit humi pronam. tendebat bracchia supplex :
bracchia coeperunt nigris horrescere villis

curvarique manus et aduncos crescere in unguis
officioque pedum fungi laudataque quondam 480
ora lovi lato fieri deformia rictu.
neve preces animos et verba precantia flectant,
posse loqui eripitur vox iracunda minaxque
:
92
come by the hot came to a cool grove

sun's rays,
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 sacred pool ; 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 Juno's hate, a boy. Areas, 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-formost to
the ground. And when the girl stretched out her arms
in prayer for mercy, her arms began to grow
rough
witli 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
98
OVID
plenaque de gutture fertur;
terroris rauco
mens antiqua manet, (facta quoque mansit in ursa)
adsiduoque suos gemitu testata dolores 4-S6
qualescumque rnanas ad caelum et sidera tollit

ingratumque lovem, nequeat cum dicere, sentit.
a quotiens, sola non ausa quiescere silva,
!
ante domum quondamque suis erravit in agris !

490
a ! canum
quotiens per saxa 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,
Areas 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 propi usque 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 luno, postquam inter sidera paelex
fulsit, et ad canam descendit in aequora Telhyn
Oceanumque senem, quorum reverentia movit 510

saepe deos, causamque viae scitantibus infit :
"
quaeritis, aetheriis quare regina deorum
94
she was now a bear with constant raoanings 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 affright 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 his upon
mother, who stopped still at of Areas, and
sight
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 stivrs.
Then indeed did Juno's wrath wax hotter still
when she saw her rival shining in the skv, 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
" Do
coming, she began :
you ask me why I, the
95
OVID
sedibus hue adsim? pro me tenet altera caelum !
mentior, obscurum nisi nox cum fecerit orbem,

nuper honoratas summo, mea vulnera, caelo 515
videritis Stellas illic, ubi circulus axem
ultimas extremum spatioque brevissimus ambit,
et vero quisquam lunonem laedere nolit
offensamque tremat, quae prosum sola nocendo ? 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, Argolica quod in ante Phoronide fecit
cur non et pulsa ducit lunone meoque 525
collocat in thalamo socerumque Lycaona sumit ?
at vos laesae tangit contemptus alumnae,

si
gurgite caeruleo septem prohibete triones

sideraque in caelo stupri mercede recepta
pellitCj ne puro tinguatur in aequore paelex !" 530
Di maris adnuerant habili Saturnia curru
:
ingreditur liquidum pavonibus aethera pictis,

tam nuper pictis caeso pavonibus Argo,
quam tu nuper eras, cum candidus ante fuisses,
corve loquax, subito nigrantis versus in alas. 535
nam haec quondam niveis argentea jiennis
fuit
ales, ut aequaret totas sine labe columbas,

nee servaturis vigili Capitolia voce
cederet anseribus nee amanti flumina cygno.
lingua fuit damno lingua faciente loquaci
:
540
qui color albus erat, nunc est contrarius albo,
96
queen of heaven, am here ? Another queen has

usurped my heaven. Count my word faise 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 Id'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 j)ure 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,

llirough 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,
:
duni vel casta fuit vel inobservata, sed ales

sensit adulteriura Phoebeius, utque latentem 545
detegeret culpam, non exorabilis index,
ad dominum tendebat iter, quern gariula 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
virginibusque tribus gemino de Cecrope natis 555

at legem dederat, sua ne secreta viderent.
abdita fronde levi densa speculabar ab ulmo,
quid facerent commissa duae sine fraude tuentiir,

:
Pandrosos atque Herse ; timidas vocat una scrores
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 })otest, ne voce pericula quaerant. 565
at, puto, non ultro nequiquam tale rogantem
!
—
me peliit ipsa licet hoc a Pallade quaeras :
quamvis irata est, non hoc irata negeAfjH"

98
In all Tliessaly there was no fairer maid than

Corouis of Laris sa. She surely found favour in thy
eyes, t) 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
" 'Tis
heard the real object of the trip he said :
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 I
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 Phocaica clarus tellure Coroneus
(nota loquor) genuit, fueramque ego regia virgo 570
divitibusque procis (ne me contemne) petebar :
forma mihi nocuit. nam cum per litora lentis

passibus, ut soleo, summa spatiarer harena,
vidit et incaluit pelagi deus,
utque precando
tempora cum blandis absumpsit inania verbis, 575
vim parat et sequitur. fugio densumque relinquo
litus et in molli nequiquam lassor harena.
inde deos hominesque voco ;
nee contigit ullum
vox mea morta'em : mota est pro virgine virgo
auxiliumque tulit. tendebam bracchia caelo : 580
bracchia coeperunt levibus nigrescere pennis ;
reicere ex umeris vestem molibar, at ilia
pluma erat inque cutem radices egerat imas ;
plangere nuda meis conabar 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 inculpata Minervae.

quid tamen hoc prodest, si diro facta volucris
crimine Nyctimene nostro successit honori ? 590
an quae per totam res est notissima Lesbon,
non audita tibi est, patrium temerasse cubile
Nyctimenen ? avis ilia quidem, sed conscia culpae
conspectum lucemque fugit tenebrisque pudorem
celat et a cunctis expellitur aethere toto." 595
" "
Talia dicenti " tibi ait " revocamina corvus
" male nos vanum spernimus omen."
sint, precor, ista :
100
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 sand'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
I ran from him, leaving the hard-packed
pursued.
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 ear. 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
I strove to cast my mantle from my
light feathers.
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 sinSj
has been put in my place ? Or have you not heard
the tale all Lesbos kiiows 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."
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
nee coeptum dimittit iter dominoque iacentem
cum iuvene Haemonio vidisse Coronida narrat.
laurea delapsa est audito crimine amantis, 600
et pariter vultusquedeo plectrumque colorque
excidit, utque animus tumida fervebat ab ira,
arma adsueta capit flexumque a cornibus arcum
tendit et ilia suo totiens cum pectore iuncta
indevitato traiecit pectora telo. 605
icta dedit gemitum tractoque a corpora 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 ; 6lO
corpus inane animae frigus letale secutum est.

Paenitet heu sero poenae crudelis amantem,
!
seque, quod quod sic exarserit, odit

audierit, ;
odit avem, per quam crimen causamque dolendi

scire coactus erat, nee non arcumque manumque 6 15
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, baud aliter quam cum spectante iuvenca

lactentis vituli dextra libratus ab aure
102
master, and then told him that he had seen Coronis

lying beside the youth of Tlicssaly. 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
ear 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
tempora discussit claro cava malleus ictu. 625
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 ;
ecce venit rutilis umeros protecta capillis 635

f:lia centauri, quam quondam nympha Chariclo
fluminis in rapidi ripis enisa vocavit
Ocyroen non haec artes contenta paternas

:
edidicisse fuit, fatorum arcana canebat.
ergo ubi vaticinos concepit mente furores 640

incaluitque dec, quem clausum pectore habebat,
"
adspicit infantem "toto que "salutifer orbi
" "
crescCj puer! dixit; mortalia saepe
tibi se
corpora debebunt, animas tibi reddere ademptas

fas erit, idque semel dis indignantibus ausu>5 64-5
posse dare hoc iterum flamma prohibebere avita,

eque deo corpus fies exsangue deusque,
qui modo corpus eras, et bis tua fata novabis.
tu quoque, care pater, nunc inmortalis et aevis
omnibus ut maneas nascendi lege creatus, 650
posse mori cupies, turn cum cruciabere dirae
sanguine serpentis per saucia membra recepto ;
tequp ex aeterno patientem numina nôrlis

lOi
the last embrace, and performs the fit offices unfitly

all
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 lo 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 tlieir 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
105
OVID
efficient, triplicesque deae tua fila resolvent."
restabat fatis aliquid suspirat ab imis
: 6.55
pectoribus, lacrimaeque genis labuntur obortae.

" "
praevertunt inquit me fata, vetorque
*
atque ita
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 nee verba quidem nee 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 67u
perpetuo cornu levis ungula, crescit et oris
et colli spatium, longae pars maxima pallae

Cauda fit, utque vagi crines per coUa 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 nee rescindere magni
iussa lovis poteras, nee, 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
of death, ami 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. power of speeclvfails me. Not worth the
My
cost were those arts which have~i)roiight 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 marc, 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 locks 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 occultat abactas.
senserat hoc furtum nemo nisi notus in illo
rure senex ;
Battum vicinia tota vocabat.
divitis hie saltus herbosaque pascua Neie;

nobiliumque greges custos servabat equarum 690
hunc timuit blandaque manu seduxit et illi
"quisquis es, hospes" ait, *'si forte armenta requiret

haec aliquis, vidisse nega neu gratia facto
"
nulla rependatur, nitidam cape praemia vaccam !
et dedit. Accepta voces hac reddidit hospes : 695

"tutus eas !
lapis iste prius tua furta loquetur,"
et lapidem ostendit. simulat love natus abire ;
mox redit et versa pariter cum voce figura

" "
rustice, vidisti si quas hoc limite dixit
" deme 700
ire boves, fer opem furtoque silentia !
iuncta suo pariter dabitur tibi femina tauro."

at senior,
postquam merces geminata, "sub illis
est
"
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 silicem, qui nunc quoque dicitur index,
inque nihil merito vetus est Lnfamia saxo.

108
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,
" Who-
drawing him aside with cajoling hand, said :
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 it

you'll tell." The old man, tem})ted 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,
Munycliiosque volans agros gratamque Mineivae

despectabat humum cultique arbusta Lycei. 7 10
ilia forte die castae de more puellae
vertice supposito festas in Palladis areas
pura coionatis portabant sacra canisti is.

inde revertentes deus adspicit ales iterque
non agit in rectum, sed in orbem curvat eundem : 715
ut voluci'is visis rapid issima miluus extis,
dum timet et densi circumstant sacra ministri,
flectitur in gyrum nee 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 love 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 caeloquc petit terrena relicto 7S0
nee se dissimulat : tanta est fiducia formae.
quae quamquam iusta est, cura tamen adiuvat illam

permulcetque comas chlamydemque, ut pendeatapte,
collocat, ut limbus totumque adpareat aurum,
ut teres in dextra, qua somnos ducit et arcet, 7-35
virga sit, ut tersis niteant talaria plantis.

110
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 all 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 love 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.
Ill
OVID
Pars secreta domus ebore et testudine cultos
tres habuit thalamos, quorum tu, Pandrose, dextruin,
Aglauros laevum, medium possederat Herse.
quae tenuit laevum, venientem prima notavit 74-0
Mercurium nomenque dei scitarier ausa est

et causam adventus ; cui sic respondit Atlantis
"
Pleionesque nepos ego sum, qui iussa per auras
verba patris porto ; pater est mihi luppiter ipse,
nee fingam causas, tu tantum fida sorori 745
esse velis prolisque meae matertera dici :
Herse causa viae; faveas oramus amaiiti."

adspicit hunc oculis isdem, quibus nuper abdita
viderat Aglauros flavae secreta Minervae,
proque ministerio magni sibi ponderis aurum 750

postulat interea tectis excedere cogit.
:
Vertit ad hanc torvi dea bellica luminis orbem

et tanto penitus traxit suspiria motu,
ut pariter pectus positamque in pectore forti
aegida concuteret :
subit, hanc arcana profana 755
detexissemanu, turn cum sine matre creatam
Lemnicolae stirpem contra data foedera vidit,
et gratamque deo fore iam gratamque sorori
et ditem sumpto, quod avara poposcerat, auro.
tabo 760
protinus Invidiae nigro squalentia
tecta petit : domus est imis in vallibus huius
abdita, sole carens, non ulli pervia vento,

tristis et ignavi plenissima frigoris et quae
io-ne vacet semper, caligine semper abundet.
hue ubi pervenit belli metuenda virago, 765
lis
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 tlie 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 con-
ceal why am here. Only do you consent to be true
I
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 profaning 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 log. When
the warlike maiden goddess came to the cave, she
B lis
OVID
constitit ante domum (neque enim succedere tectis
fashabet) et postes extreraa cuspide pulsat.
concussae patuere fores, videt intus edentem
vipereas carnes, vitiorum alimenta suorum,

Invidiam visaque oculos avertit at ilia
; 770
surgit huino pigre semesaruniqiie rt'iiiiqait
corpora serpentum passuque incedit inerti.
utque deam vidit formaque armisqiie decora m,
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 suffusa veneiio ;
risus abest, nisi quem visi movere dolores ;
nee friiitur 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 iinam :
sic opus est. Aglauros ea est." baud plura locuta 785
fugit et inpressa tellurem reppulit hasta.

Ilia deam obliquo fugientem lumine cemens
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 conspicil arcem
114
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 sitjht 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.
VVHien 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
creature's presence and, pushing her spear against
the ground, sprang lightly back to heaven.
The hag, eyeing her askance 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 vîther, blasts the high
waving trees, and taints Avith the foul pollution of
her breath whole peoples, cities, homes. At last she
spies Tritonia's city, splendid with art and wealth
U5
OVID
ingeniis opibusque et festa pace virenleni 795
vixque tenet lacrimas, quia nil lacrimabile cernit.
sed postquam thalamos intravit Cecrope natae,
iussa facit pectusque manu ferrugine tincta
tangit et hamatis praecordia sentihus inplet

inspiratque nocens virus pieeumque per ossa 800
dissipat et medio spargit pulmone venenunij
neve mali causae spatium per latius errent,
germanam ante oculos fortunatumque sororis
coniugium pulchraque deum sub imagine ponit
cunctaque magna facit ; quibus inritata dolorc 805
Cecropis occulto mordetur et anxia nocte
anxia luce gemit lentaque miserrima tabe
liquitur, ut glacies incerto saucia sole,
felicisque bonis iion lenius uritur Herses,
quam cum spinosis ignis supponitur herbis, 810
quae neque dant flammas lenique tepore crem;intur.
saepe mori voluit, ne quicquam tale videret,

saepe velut crimen rigido narrare parenti ;
denique in adveiso venientem limine sedit
exclusura deum. cui blandimenta precesque 815
iactanti mitissima
" desine "
verbaque dixit, !
"hinc ego me non sum nisi te motura repulso."

" stemus " " "
ait
"
pacto velox Cyllenius " isto !
caelestique fores virga patefecit : at illi
surgere conanti partes, quascumque sedendo 820

flectitur, ignava nequeunt gravitate moveri :
se attollere trunco,
ilia quidem pugnat recto
sed genuum iunctura riget, frigusque per ungues
labitur, et pallent amisso sanguine venae ;
116
and peaceful joy ;

and she can scarce restrain her
tears at the sight, because she sees no
cause for
others' tears. Kut. having entered the chamber ol
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. Envypictured to her imagination her sister,
her sister'sblest 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 M'hen a fire is set under a pile of weeds, which

give out no flames and waste away with slow consump-
tion. 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
" Have
prayed with his most honeyed words, 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
sittingmade motionless with dull heaviness; shestrove
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,
nee conata loqui est nee, si conata fuisset,
vocis habebat iter saxum iam colla tenebat,
: 830
oraque duruerant, signumque exsangue sedebat ;
nee lapis albus erat sua mens infecerat illam.

:
Has ubi verborura poenas mentisque profanae
cepit Atlantiades, dictas a Pallade terras

linquit et ingreditur iactatis aethera pennis. 835
sevocat hunc genitor nee causam fassus amoris
" fide minister " ait "
iussoruni, nate, meorum,
pelle moram
solitoque celer delabere cursu,
quaeque tuam matrem tellus a parte sinistra
suspicit (indigenae Sidonidanomine dicunt), 840
banc pete, quodque procul montano gramine pasci
"
armentum regale vides, ad litora verte !
dixit, et expulsi iamdudum moiite iuvenci

litora iussa petunt, ubi magni filia regis
ludere virginibus Tyriis comitata solebat. 845

non bene conveniunt nee in una sede morantur
maiestas et amor; sceptri gravitate relicta
illepater rectorque deum, cui dextra trisulcis
ignibus armata est, qui nutu concutit orbem,
induitur faciem tauri niixtusque iuvencis 850
mugit et in teneris formosus obambulat herbis.
quippe color nivis est, quam nee vestigia duri
calcavere pedis nee solvit aquaticus auster.
118
with infected parts, so did a deadly chill little
by little
creep to her breast, stopping all vital
functions and choking her breath.
off 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 tlie stone^'
white in colour her soul had stained it black.
;
VVben 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 out-
flung 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
-
tliemountain 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 whit>e as
the untrodden snow, which has not yet been melted
by the rainy south-wind. The muscles stood rounded
119
OVID
tons exstant, armis palearia pendent,
colla
comua parva quidem, sed quae contendere possis 855

facta manu, puraque magis perlucida gemma,
nullae in fronte minae, nee formidabile lumen :
pacem vultus habet. miratur Agenore nata,

quod tarn formosus, quod proelia nulla minetur;
sed quamvis mitem metuit contingere prime, 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 nunc adludit viridique exsultat in herba,

nunc latus in fulvis niveum deponit baremsjî 865
paullatimque metu dempto modo pectoTSpfaebet

virginea plaudenda manu, modo comua sertis
^
inpedienda novis ; ausa est quoque regia virgo

nescia, quern premeret, tergo considere tauri,
cum deus a terra siccoque a litore sensim 870
falsa pedum primo vestigia ponit in undis ;
inde alnt ulterius mediique per aequora ponti

fert praedam pavet haec litusque ablata relictum
:
respicit et dextra cornum tenet,

altera dorso
inposita est tremulae

;
sinuantur flamine vestes. 875
1 Some MSS. read pulpanda.
120
upon his neck, a long dewlap hung down in front;

his horns were small, but perfect in shape as if carved
by an liand, cleaner and more clear than

artist's
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 bv 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 upou
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
COOK 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 inverierit, addit
exilium, facto pius et sceleratus eodem.

orbe pererrato (quis enim deprendere possit
furta lovis profugus patriamque iramque parentis
!'')
vitat Agenorides Phoebique oracula supplex

consulit et, quae sit tellus habitanda, requirit.
"bos tibi" Phoebus ait "solis occurret in arvis, 10

nullum passa iugum curvique inmunis aratri.
hac duce carpe vias et, qua requieverit herba,
moenia fac condas Boeotiaque ilia vocato."
vix bene Castalio Cadmus descenderat antro,

incustoditam lente videt ire iuvencam
nullum servitii signura cervice gerentem.

subsequitur pressoque legit vestigia passu
auctoremque viae Phoebum taciturnus adorat.
iam vada Cephisi Panopesque evaserat arva :
bos stetit et tollens speciosam 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'scountry 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.
Phoelius 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." ^ 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 witli deliberate steps, silentlv
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 "
i.e. the land of the heifer."
123
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 ignotosmonies agrosque salutat. 25

Sacra lovi 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

efiiciens humilem lapidum conpagibus arcum SO
uberibus fecundus aquis ubi conditus antro
;
Martius anguis erat, cristis praesignis et auro;
igne micant oculi, corpus tumet omne venenis,

tres vibrant linguae, triplici stant ordine denies,
quem postquam Tyria lucum de gente profecti 35

infausto tetigere gradu, demissaque in undas
urna dedit sonitum, longo caput extulit antro
caeruleus serpens horrendaque sibila misit.
etfluxere urnae manibus sanguisque reliquit
corpus et attonitos subitus tremor occupat artus. 4-0
ille volubilibus squamosos nexibus orbes
torquet et inmensos saitu sinuatur in arcus

ac media plus parte leves erectus in auras
despicit omne nemus tantoque est corpore, quanto,
si totum spectes, geminas qui separat arctos. 45

nee mora, Phoenicas, sive illi tela parabant
sive fugam, sive ipse timor prohibebat utrumque,

126
METAMORPHOSES BOOK III
with spreading horns, she filled the air with her

its
lowings; and then, looking back upon tliose who

were following close behind, she kneeled and let her
Hank 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 rolluig knots and
witTi 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 luorsu, longis conplexibus
:
illos,
hos necat adflatu funesti tabe veneni
Fecerat exiguas iam sol altissimus umbras : 50
quae mora sit sociis, miratur Agenore natus
vestigatque viros. tegumen derepta leoni
pellis erat^ telum splendent! lancea ferro

et iaculum teloque animus praestantior omni.
ut nemus intravit letataque corpora vidit 55
victoremque supra spatiosi corporis hostem
tristia sanffuinea lambentem vulnera lingua,
"aut ultor vestrae, fidissima corpora, mortis,
"
aut comes inquit " ero." dixit dextraque molarem
sustulit et magnum magno conamine misit. 60
illius inpulsu cum turribus ardua celsis
moenia mota forent, serpens sine vuinere mansit
loricaeque modo squamis defensus et atrae
duritia pellis validos cute reppulit ictus ;
at non duritia iaculum quoque vicit eadem, 65

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 momoniit,

idque ubi vi multa partem labefecit in omneni, 70
vix tergo eripuit ferrum tamen ossibus haesit.
;
turn vero postquam solitas accessit ad iras
causa recens, plenis tumuerunt guttura venis,
spumaque pestiferos circumfluit albida rictus,

terraque rasa sonat squamis, quique halitus exit 75
ore niger Stygio, vitiatas inficit auras.
128
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
;
129
OVID
ipse modo inmensum spiris facientibus orbem
cingitur,interdum longa trabe rectior exstat,
inpete nunc vasto ceu concitus imbribus amiiis
fertur et obstantis proturbat pectore silvas. 80
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 85
coeperat et virides adspergine tinxerat herbas ;
sed leve vulnus erat, quia se retrahebat ab ictu
laesaque colla dabat retro plagamque sedere
cedendo arcebat nee longius ire sinebat,
donee Agenorides coniectum in gutture ferrum 90
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, 95
vox subito audita est neque erat cognoscere
;
promptum,
unde, sed audita est "
:
quid, Agenore nate,
peremptum
serpentem spectas ? et tu
sptctabere serpens."
illediu pavidus pariter cum mente colorem
perdiderat, gelidoque comae terrore rigebant: 100
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. 105
inde (fide maius) glaebae coepere moveri,
130
and tall as now he moves on with huge rush,

a tree ;
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
tlie planted point into his throat; until at last an
o.ik-tree stays his backward course and neck
and tree are pierced together. The oak bends
beneath the serpent's weight and the stout trunk
groans beneath the lashings of his tail.
1
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 tooshalt

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
131
OVID
priraaque de sulcis acies aciparuit hastae, //
tegmina mox capitum picto nutantia cono,

mox umeri pectusque onerataque bracchia telis
exsistunt, crescitque seges clipeata virorum : 110

sic, ubi tolluntur festis aulaea theatris,
surgere signa solent primumque ostendere vultus,

cetera paullatim, placidoque educta tenore
tota patent imoque pedes in margine ponunt.
Territus hoste novo Cadmus capere arma
parabat : 115
"
"ne cape de populo, quern terra creaverat, unus
!
"
exclamat " ne te civilibus insere bellis !
atque ita terrigenis rigido de fratribus unum

comminus ense ferit, iaculo cadit eminus ipse ;
hunc quoque qui leto dederat, non longius illo 120
vivit et exspirat modo quas acceperat auras,
exemploque pari furit omnis turba, suoque
Marte cadunt subiti per mutua vulnera fratres,
iamque brevis vitae spatium sortita iuventus
sanguineam tepido plangebat pectore matrem, 125
quinque superstitibus, quorum fuit unus Echion.
is sua iecit humo monitu Tritonidis arma
fraternaeque fidem pacis petiitque deditque :
hos operis comites liabuit Sidonius hospes,

cum posuit iussus Phoebeissortibus urbem. 130
lam stabant Thebae, poteras iam, Cadme, videri
exilio felix soceri tibi Marsque Venusque
:
conligerant ; hue adde genus de coniuge tanta,

tot natas natosque et, pignora cara, nepotes,
spring up from the furrows the points of speai-s, then

helmets with coloured plumes waving next shoulders
;
of men and breasts and arms laden with weapons

come up, and the ci*op 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,
drop})ed 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 Phoe!)us' 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
1S3
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. J 40
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
vagantes lusti-a
participes operum conpellat Hjantius ore :
" lina
madent, comites, ferrumque cruore ferarum,
fortunamque dies habuit satis ; altera lucem
cum croceis invecta rotis Aurora reducet, 1 .50
propositum repetemus opus : nunc Phoebus utraque

distat idem terra finditque vaporibus arva.
sistite "
opus praesens nodosaque toUite lina !
iussa viri faciunt

intermittuntque laborem.
Vallis erat piceis et acuta densa 155
cupressu,
lyomine Gargaphie succinctae sacra Dianae,
cuius in extremo est antrum nemorale recessu
arte laboratum nulla : simulaverat artem
ingenio natura suo ; nam pumice vivo
et levibus tofis nativum duxerat arcum ; l6o
fons sonat a dextra tenui perlucidus unda^
margine gramineo patulos incinctus liiatus.

134
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 grandh.'jn 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
" Both
they fared through the trackless wastes :
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 w ill 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 M'ith
[)ine and cypress with their sharp needles. 'Twas
called Gargaphie, the sacred haunt of
high-girt Diana.
its most secret nook there was a well-shaded
|Tn 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 tiifa^ 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
OVID
hie dea silvarum venatu fessa solebat
virgineos artus liquid o perfundere rore.

quo postquam subiit, nympharum tradidituni l65
armigerae iaculum pharetramque arcusque retentos,
altera depositae subiecit bracchia pallae,
vincla duae pedibus demunt ; nam doctior illis
Ismenis Crocale sparsos per coUa capillos

colligit in nodum, quamvis erat ipsa solutis. 1 70
excipiunt laticem Nepheleque Hyaleque Rhanisque
et Psecas et Phiale funduntque capacibus urnis.
dumque ibi perluitur solita Titania lympha,

ecce nepos Cadmi dilata parte laborum
per nemus ignotum non certis passibus errans 175
pervenit in lucum sic ilium fata ferebant.
:
qui simul intravit rorantia fontibus antra,

sicut erant nudae, viso sua pectora nymphae
omne
percussere viro subitisque ululatibus
inplevere nemus circumfusaeque Dianam 180
corporibus texere suis tamen altior illis
;
ipsa dea est coUoque tenus supereminet omnis.

qui color infectis 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 liaec cladis praenuntia verba futurae :
" nunc tibi me visam velamine
posito narres,
"
si poteris narrare, licet ! nee plura minata
\S6
the chase, was wont to bathe her maiden limbs in the

this day, having come to the grotto,
crystal water. On
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 iitaiiia is bathing there in her accustomed
pool, lo! Cadmus' grandson, his day's toil deferred,
comes wandering through the unfamiliar woods with
unsure footsteps, and enters Diana's gi'ove for so
;
fate would have it. As soon as he entered the grotto

bedewed with fountain spray, the naked nymphs
smote upon tl/eir 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. 'Jhen, 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 dro|)S upon his hair, she spoke these words
" Now
foreboding his coming doom 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

137
OVID
dat sparse capiti vivacis cornua cervi,
dat spatium collo summasque cacuminat aures 195
cum pedibusqiie manus, cum longis bracchia mutat
cruribus et velat maculoso vellere corpus ;
additus et pavor est fugit Autonoeius heros

:
et se tarn celerem cursu miratur in ipso.

ut vero VLiltus et cornua vidit in unda, 200
" me miserum " dicturus erat vox nulla secuta est
! : 1
ingemuit vox ilia 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 alii rapida velocius aura, 209
Pamphagos et Dorceus et Oribasus, Arcades onines,
Nebrophonusque v'âlens et trux cum Laelape Theron
et pedibus Pterelas et naribus utilis Agre
Hylaeusque fero nuper percussus ab apro
deque lupo concepta Nape pecudesque secuta
Poemenis et natis comitata Harpyia duobus 215
et substricta gereus Sicyonius ilia Ladon
et Dromas et Canace Sticteque et Tigris et Alee
et niveis I.eucon et villis Asbolus atris
praevalidusque Lacon et cursu fortis Aello
et Tlious et Cyprio velox cum fratre Lycisce 220
et medio nigram frontem distinctus ab albo
Harpalos et Melaneus hirsutaque corpora Lachiie
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-foUoioer, Voracious, Gazelle, Mountain-
:
ranger. Faun-killer, Hurricane, Hunter, Winged, Hunter,

Sylvan, Olen, Shepherd, Seizer, Catcher, Runner, Onasher, Spot,
138
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 Autonoe'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 coui'se down his changeling cheeks. Only
his mind remains unchanged. What 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.*
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 Nebrophonus, 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, Alee white-haired Leucon, black As-

;
bolus ; Lacon, renowned for strength, and fleet Aello;

Thoiis and swift Lycisce with her brother Cyprius ;
Harpalos, with a white spot in the middle of his black
forehead; Melaueus and shaggv Lachne two dogs ;
from a Cretan father and a Spartan mother, Labros

and Agriodus shrill-tongued Hylactor, and others
;
Tigress, Might, White, Soot, Spartan, Whirlmnd, Swift,

Cyprian, Wolf, Grasper, Black, Shag, Fury, White-tooth, Barker,
Black-hair, Beast-killer, Mountaineer.
139
OVID
fjuosque referre mora est : ea turba cupidine piacdae
per rupes scopulosque adituque carenti'a saxa, 2x26
quaque est difficilis quaque est via nulla, feruntur.
ille fugit per quae fuerat loca saepe secutus,

heu famulos fugit ipse suos. clamare libebat
! :
" Actaeon "

ego sum dominum cognoscite vestrum
: !
verba animo desunt; resonat latratibus aether. 231
prima Melanchaetes in tergo vulnera fecit,
proxima Theridamas, Oresitrophus haesit in armo :
tardius exierant, sed per conpendia mentis
anticipata via est ;

dominum retinentibus illis, 235
cetera turba coit 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 tacitos tamquam sua bracchia vultus.
at comites rapidum solitis hortatibus agmen

ignari instigant oculisque Actaeona quaerunt
et velut absentem certatim Actaeona clamant
(ad nomen caput ille refert) et abesse queruiitur 245

nee capere oblatae segnem spectacula praedae.
vellet abesse quidem, sed adest; velletque videre,
non etiam sentire caniim fera facta suorum.
undique circumstant, mersisque in corpore rostris
dilacerant falsi dominum sub imagine cervi, 250

140
MKT^MORPIIOSES 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

" I am Actaeon
to cry out : !
Recognise 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 Avell 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
nee per plurima vulnera vita
nisi finita
ira pharetratae fertur satiata Dianae.

Rumor in ambiguo est ;
aliis violentior aequo
visa dea est, alii laudant dignamque severa
virginitate vocant :
pars invenit utraque causas. 255
sola lovis coniunx non tarn, culpetne probetne,
eloquitur, quam elade domus ab Agenore ductae
gaudet et a 1 yria collectum paelice transfert
in generis soeios odium ;
subit ecce priori 259
causa recens, gravidamque dolet de semine magni
esse lovis Semelen ; dum linguam ad iurgia solvit,
"
"profeci quid enim totiens per iurgia ? dixit,
" maxima luno
ipsa petenda mihi est ; ipsam, si
rite vocor, perdam, si me geramantia dextra

sceptra tenere decet, si sum regina lovisque 265
et soror et coniunx, certe soi-or. at, puto, furto est
contenta, et thalami brevis est iniuria nostri.
concipit :
manifestaque crimina pleno
id deerat ;
fert utero et mater, quod vix mihi contigit, uno
de love vult fieri : tanta est fiducia formae. 270

fallat eam faxo ;
nee sum Saturnia, si non
ab love mersa suo Stygias penetrabit in undas."
Surgit ab his solio fulvaque recondita nube

limen adit Semeles nee nubes ante removit
quam simulavit anum

posuitque ad tempera canos
sulcavitque cutem rugis et curva trementi 276
142
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. Jcve's wife

alone spake no word either in blame or praise, but
rejoiced in the disaster which had come to Agenor's
iiouse; for she had now transferred her anêr from
her Tyrian rival ^ 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 miglity
Jove. Words of reproach were rising to lier lips,
but " What," she cried, "have I ever gained by re-
proaches ? 'Tis she must feel my wrath. Herself,
am duly called most mighty Juno, must I attack
if I
am fit to wield in my hand the jewelled sceptre, if

if I
I am
queen of heaven, the sister and the wife of
—
Jove 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
guili, in her full womb, and seeks
—
a fortune that lias
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. Euro pa, whose story has already been told.
143
OVID
membra tiilit
passu ;
vocem quoque fecit anilem,
ipsaque erat Beroe, Semeles Epidauria nutrix.

ergo ubi captato sernione diuque loquendo
ad nomen venere lovis, suspirat et "opto, 280
" " metuo tamen omnia
luppiter ut sit ait ; : multi
nomine divorum thalamos iniere pudicos.
nee tamen esse lovem satis est : det pignus amoris,
si modo varus is est; quantusque et qualis ab alta
lunone excipitur, tantus talisque, rogatOj 285
"
dettibi conplexus suaque ante insignia sumat '
Talibus ignaram luno Cadmeitia dictis

formarat: rogat ilia lovem sine nomine munus.
"
cui deus " elige ! ait " nullam
patiere repulsam,
quoque magis credas, Stygii quoque conscia sunto
iiumina torrentis timor et deus ille deorum est." 291
:
laeta male nimiumque potens perituraque amantis

"
obsequio Semele qualem Saturnia" dixit
" te solet Veneris cum foedus
amplecti. initis,
"
da mihi te taleni ! voluit deus ora luquentis 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 igue Typhoea,
walking with bowed form and tottering steps. She

spoke also in the voice of age and became even as
Beroe, the Epiduurian nurse of Semele. When, after
gossiping about many things, they came to mention of
Jove's name, the old woman sighed and said " 1
:
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 and thou shalt suffer no refusal. And

wilt,
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, soshow 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
^'
145
OVID
nunc armatur eo: nimiuni feritatis in illo est.
est aliud levius fulmeii, cui dextra 30.5
cyclopum
saevitiae flammaeque minus, minus addidit irae :
tela secunda vocant

superi capit ilia doniumque
;
intrat Agenoream. corpus moitale tunniltus

non tulit aetherios donisque iiigalibus arsit.
inperfectus adhuc infans genetricis ab alvo 310
eripitur patrioque tener (si credere dignum est)
insuitur femori maternaque tempora conplet.
furtim ilium 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,
fortelovem memorant diffusum nectare cui-as
seposuisse graves vacuaque agitasse remissos
cum lunone iocos et " maior vestra profecto
est, 320
" "
quani quae contingit maribus dixisse voluplas."
ilia
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 vesti-ae si tanta potentia plagae "
" ut auctoris sortem in coiltraria
dixit, mutet,
nunc quoque vos feriam." percussis atiguibus isdem
forma prior rediit, genetivaque venit imago. 331
arbiter hie igitur sumptus de lite iocosa
146
of the hundred hands, for that
weapon were too
deadly ;but there is a Hghter bolt, to which the
Cyclops' hands had given a less devouring flame, a
wrath less threatening. The gods call them his
" Second With these
Armoury." in hand he enters
the palace of Agenor's son, the homeof 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 fiill 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 cai-e
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
" Since in
serpents again and said :
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 bom. He there-
fore, being asked to arbitrate the playful dispute of
147
OVID
dicta lovis firmat :
gravius Saturnia iusto
nee pro materia fertur doluisse suiqiie
iudicis aeterna damnavit lumina iiocte ; S35
at pater omnipotens (neque enim licet inrita
cui(iuam
facta del fecisse deo) pro lumine adempto
scire futura dedit
poenainque levavit lioriore.
Illeper Aonias fama celeberrimus urbes
inreprehensa dabat populo responsa petenti ; 340
prima fide vocisque ratae temptamina sumpsit
caerula Liriope, quam quondam flumine curvo
inplicuit clausaeque suis Cephisos in undis

vim tulit enixa est utero pulchen-ima pleno
:
infantem nymphe, iam tunc qui posset amari, 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 auguris exitus illam
:
resque probat letique genus novitasque furoris. 350

namque ter ad quinos unum Cephisius annum
addiderat poteratque puer iuvenisque videri :
multi ilium iuvenes, multae cupiere puellae ;

sed fuit in tenera tam dura superbia forma,
nulli ilium iuvenes, nullae tetigere 355
puellae.
adspicit hunc trepidos agitantem in retia cervos
vocalis nymphe, quae nee reticere loquenti
nee prior ipsa loqui didieit, resonabilis Echo.
Corpus adhue Echo, non vox erat et tamen usum
garrula non alium, quam nunc habet, oris habebat,
reddere de multis ut verba novissima posset. 36l
fecerat hoc luno, quia, cum deprendere
posset
148
the gods, took sides with Jove. Saturnia, they say,

grieved more deej)ly than she should and than the
issue warranted, and condemned the arbitrator to
perpetual bHndness. But the Ahnighty 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 whetiier this child would live to reach
" If he ne'er know
well-ripened age, the seer replied :
himself." Long did the saying of the prophet seem

but empty words. But wiiat 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

oi many words to repeat the last she heard. Juno
had made her thus; for often when she might have
149
OVID
sub love saepc suo nymphas in monte iacentis,
ilia deam longo prudens sermone tenebat,
dum fugerent nymphae. postquam hoc Saturnia

sensit, 365
"
*'
huius ait " sum
linguae, qua delusa, potestas
parva tibi dabitur vocisque brevissimus 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 aiihibere preces natura repugnat
I
nee sinit, incipiat, sed, quod sinit, ilia parata est

exspectare sonos, ad quos sua verba reniittat.
forte puer comitum seductus ab agniine fido
" "
dixerat " ecquis adest ?
: et " adest responderat
Echo. 380
hie stupet, utque aciem partes dimittit in omnis,
voce "veni !" magna clamat vocat ilia vocantem.
:
respicit et rui'sus nullo veniente "quid" inqiiit

" "
mefugis ? et totidem, quot dixit, verba recepit.
perstat et alternae deceptus imagine vocis 385

" hue coeamus"
ait, nuUique libentius umquam
responsura sono "coeamus" rettulit Echo
et verbis favet ipsa suis egressaque silva
ibat, ut iniceret sperato bracchia collo ;
ille fugit fugiensque "manus conplexibus aufer! 390
" " "
ante ait emoriar, quam sit tibi copia nostri ;
150
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 confii-med her threat.
Nevertheless she does repeat the last phrases of a
speech and returns the words she hears. Now when
she saw Narcissus wandering througli 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 fi'ora
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,
I
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 Icried 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 "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 ilia nihil nisi copia nostri !"
'
sit tibi
spreta latet silvis

pudibundaque frondibus ora
protegit et soils ex illo 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
qui vivit in ilia.
est,
Sic hanc, sic alias undis aut montibus ortas
luserat hie nymphas, sic coetus ante viriles ;
inde manus aliquis despectus ad aethera toUens
"sic amet ipse licet, sic non potiatur amato
"
! 405
dixerat adsensit precibus Rhamnusia iustis.
:
fons erat inlimis, nitidis argenteus undis,
quern neque pastores neque pastae monte capcllae

cuiitigerant aliudve pecus, quem nulla volucris
nee fera turbarat nee lapsus ab arbore ramus ; 410
gramen erat circa, quod proximus umor alebat,
silvaque sole locum passura tepescere nullo.

hie puer et studio venandi lassus et aestu
procubuit faciemque loci f'ontemque secutus,

dumque sitim sedare cupit, sitis altera crevit, 415
liumque bibit, visae correptus imagine foimae
spem sine corpore amat, corpus putat esse, quod
umbra est.
adsLupet ipse sibi
vultuque inmotus eodem
152
"
me !" "I you power
;;ive 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 x'emains 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 'ind 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
" So
heaven, prayed 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 rutflKl.
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"cliase
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 geminiim, sua lumina, sidus 420
et dignos Baccho, dignos et Apolline crines
inpubesque genas et eburnea coUa 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 coUum
bracchia mersit aquas nee se depre\.dit in illis !
quid videat, nescit sed quod videt, uritur illo,

; 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
ilium Cereris, non ilium 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

"
inquit "amavit?
*'
ecquis, io silvae, crudelius
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 place tque,
non tamen invenio : tantus tenet error amantem.
154
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, liis 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, O 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
155
OVID
(juoque magis doleam, nee nos mare separat ingens
nee via nee montes nee clausis moenia portis ;
exigiia proliibeniuraqua cupit ipse teneri ! 450 :
nam quotiens liquidis porreximus oscula lymj)lii<;,

hie totiens ad me re.nupino nititur ore.
posse putes tangi : minimum est, quod amantibus

obstat.
quisquis es, hue exi !

quid me, puer unice, fallis
quove petitus abis ? certe nee forma nee aetas 455
est mea, quam fugias, et amaruut me quoque
nj'mphae !
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, nee me mea fallit imago;

:
uror amore mei flammas moveoque feroque.

:
quid faciam ?
roger anne rogem ?
quid deinde rogabo ?
quod ciipio niecum est :

inopem me copia fecit. 4^6
o uLiiiam a nostro secedere corpore posscm !
votum inamantenovum,vellem,quod amamus,abesset.

iamque dolor vires adimit, nee tempora vitae
longa nieae superant, prinioque exsliiiguor in aevo.
nee mihi mors gravis est posituro moite dolores, 471
hie, qui diligitur, velJem diuUirnior esset ;
nunc duo Concordes anima moriemur in una.'

Dixit et ad faciem rediit male sanus eandrm
et lacrimis turbavit aquas, obscuraque moto 475
156
long road, uo mountain ranges, no city vvalls 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 you elude me ? or whither

peerless youth, do
do you go wiien 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. W'hen 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
1
now my own image, t burn with love of my own

self; I both kintlle the flames and suffer them. What
shall I do.'' be wooed or woo.'' Why woo at
Shall I
all ? What 1 I have the very abundance of

desire, ;
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 cut oflp 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
157
OVID
reddita forma lacu est; quam cum vidisset abire,
"
quo refugis ? remane nee me, crudelis, amantem
desere!" clamavit; "liceat, quod tangere non est,
"
adspicere et misero praebere ab'menta furori I
dumque dolet, summa vestem deduxit ab ora 480

nudaque marmoreis percussit pectora palniis.
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 uiula,
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

et neque iam color est mixto candore rubori,
nee vigor et vires et quae modo visa placebant,
nee 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,
lumina mors clausit domini mirantia formam :
turn quoque se, postquam est infema sede

receptus,
in Stygia spectabat aqua, planxere sorores 505
naides et sectos fratri posuere capillos,
158
the image came back from the troubled pool. As he

it thus depart, he cried
"
saw Oh, whither do you
:
flee? Stay here, and desert not liim who loves thee,
cruel one ! Still may it be mine to gaze on what I
may not touch, and by that gaze feed ray 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
niddy 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
stillangry 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
159
OVID
planxerunt dryades ; plangeutibus adsonat Echo,
iamque rogum quassasque faces feretrumque
parabant :
nusquam corpus erat ;

croceum pro coipore florcm
iiiveniunt foliis medium cingentibus albis. 510
P
'Cognita res meritam vati per Achaidas urbes
,' famam. nomenque erat auguris ingens
attulerat ;
J^'
I tamen hunc ex omnibus uiius
spernit Echionides
"^^"^ contemptor superum Pentheus praesagaque ridet
' .
1^ verba senis tenebrasque etcladem lucis ademptae 515
'-
obicit. ille movens albentia tempox-a canis
"
quam felix esses, si tu quoque luminis huius
" "
orbus ait fieres, ne Bacchlca sacra videres !
namque dies aderit, quam non procul auguror

esse,
qua novus hue veniat, proles Semeleia, Liber, 520

quem nisi templorum fueris dignatus lionore,
mille lacer spargere locis et sanguine silvas

foedabis matremque tuam matrisque sorores.
eveniet I
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
I'' Quis furor,
anguigenae, proles Mavortia, vestras
"
attonuit mentes ? Pentheus ait "aerane tantum ;
acre repulsa valent et adunco tibia cornu

160
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
tlie 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 propliecy, and taunted him with his darkness and
loss of sight. But he, shaking his hoary head in
" How
fortunate wouldst thou be if
warning, said :
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
tliousand 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
" VVhat
to celebrate the new rites. 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
OVID
et magicae fraudes, ut, quos non bellicus ensis,
non tuba terrueiit, non strictis agniina 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 ? vosne, acrior aetas, 540
o iuvenes, propiorque meae, quos arma tenere,
non thyrsos, galeaque tegi, non fronde decebat ?
este, precor, memores, qua sitis stirpe cieati,
illiusque animos, qui multos 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 tormeuta virique

nioenia diruerent, ferrumque ignisque sonai'ent ! 550
essenius miseri sine crimine^ sorsque querenda,
non celanda foret, lacrimaeque pudore carerent ;
at nunc a puero Thebae capientur inermi,

quern neque bella iuvant nee tela nee usus equorum,
sed madidus murra crinis mollesque coronae 555
purpuraque et pictis intextum vestibus auruin,
quern quidem ego actutum (inodo vos absistite) cogara
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 ?
"
ite citi (famulis hoc imperat), "ite ducemquc
162
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
16'8
OVID
attrahite hue vinctuiu iussis mora segnis ahesto !"/
!
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 :
sicego torrentem, qua nil obstabat eunti,

lenius et modico strepitu decurrere vidi ;
atquacumque 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

famuluaique
sacrorum
"
cepimus et tradunt manibus post terga ligatis 575
sacra dei quendam Tyrrhena gente secutum.
Adspicit hunc Pentheus ocuhs^ quos ira tremendos
/'ecerat, et quamquam poenae vix tempera differt,
"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 uUa armenta rehquit; 585
pauper et ipse fuit linoque solebat et hamis
decipere et calamo saHentis ducere pisces.
ars ilh sua census erat
; cum traderet artem,
accipe, quas habeo, studii successor et heres,'
'
dixit 'opes' moriensque mihi nihil ille reliquit 590

164
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
" but
is, they say th;it they have not seen him ;
this companion of they say, "this priest of his

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 difficulty withholding his hand from punish-

" Thou
ment, he says :
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
Acoetes, and my
is
country is Maeonia; my parents were but humb'e

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 paternuirL
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 reoentis
:
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 form ».
ille mero somnoque gravis titubare videtur
vixque sequi specto cultum faciemque gradumque
;
:
nil ibi, quod credi posset mortale, videbam. 6lO

et sensi et dixi sociis :
'quod numen in isto
corpore sit, dubito ;

sed corpore numen in isto est !
quisquis es, o faveas nostrisque laboribus adsis ;

' '
his quoque des veniam

'
pro nobis mitte precari
! !
Dictys ait, quo non alius conscendere summas 6l5

ociorantemnas prensoque rudente relabi.
hoc Libys, hoc flavus, prorae tutela, Melanthus,
hoc probat Alcimedon et, qui requiemquemodumque
voce dabat remis, animorum hortator, Epopeus,
'66
I call my heritage. Soon, that I might iiot always

stay planted on the selfsame rocks, I learned to steer
ships with guiding hand
I studied the stars
;
the rainy;
constellation of the Oicnian 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 niy 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 hail

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 I know not

divinity is in that mortal body
'
;
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
us,' said Dictys, than whom none
not for was more
to climb the topmost yard and slide down on
quick
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
OVID
hoc omnes praedae tam caeca cupido est.
alii : G20
'noil tamen banc sacro violari
|)oii(Iere pinum r-^x^C^-uj-
'
pars hie mihi maxima iuris'

*
perpetiar dixi : c
inque aditu obsisto furit audacissimus onini :
de numero Lycabas, qui Tusca pulsu^ al) urbe

exilium dira poeiiam pro caede luebat ; 625
is mihi, dum resto, iuvenali guttura pugno
rupit et excussum misisset in aequora, si iion
haesissem, quamvis aniens, in fune retentus.
inpia turba probat factum turn denique Bacchus ;
(Bacchus enim fuerat), veluti clamore solutus 630

sit sopor aque mero redeant in
pectora sensus,
'
*
quis clamor
'
quid facitis ? ? ait qua, dicite, naulae,
hue ope perveni ? quo me deferre paratis ? '
*pone metum Proreus, et quos contingere portus

'
'
'
ede velis dixit !

*
terra sistere petita.'
; 635
'
*
Naxon ait Liber 'cursus advertite vestros !
ilia mihi domus est, vobis erit hospita tellus.'
per mare fallaces perque omnia numina iurant

meque iubent pictae dare vela carinae.
sic fore
dextera Naxos erat : dextra mihi lintea danti 6'tO

'
quid facis, o demens ?
quis te furor
— ?
'
inquit
Opheltes;
'
*
pro se quisque, tenet ? laevam pete
^
maxima nutu !
pars mihi significat, pars quid velit aure susurrat.

'
obstipui 'capiat' que 'aliquis moderamina I dixi
meque ministerio scelerisque artisque removi. 645

'
' '
pro 86 quisque, tenet ? ffeinsius: 'persequiturve tiraor
Burman : pro Be quisque timet MSS.
168
shall not permit this ship to be defiletl by such

sacrilege,' 1 said; 'here must my authority have
greater weight.' And I resisted their attempt to
come on board. Then did Lycabas break out into
wratli, the most reckless man of tlie 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 ? uproar ? And tell me, ye

Why this
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.'
'
course to Naxos,' said Liber ' that
Then turn your ;
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. Naxos
lay offupon 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
someone else take let
'
the helm ; hnd declared that I would have nor

part nor lot in the'- wicked scheme. They all cried
169
OVID
increpor a cunctis, totiimque inmiirmurat agmen ;
e quibus Aethalion * te scilicet onmis in uno

'
nostra salus posita est ait et subit ipse meumque
!
explet opus Naxoque petit diversa relicta.

turn deus inludens, tamquam modo denique
fraudem 650
senserit, e pnppi pontum prospectat adunca
et flenti similis non haec inihi litora^ nautae,
'
'
promisistis ait, non haec mihi terra rogata est

'
!
quo merui poenam facto ?

quae gloria vestra est,
'
sipuerum iuvenes, si multi fallitis unum ? 655

iamdudum flebam lacrimas manus inpia nostras
:
ridet et inpellit properantibus aequora remis.
per tibi nunc ipsum (nee enim praesentior illo
est deus) adiuro, tam me tibi vera referre
quam veri maiora fide stetit aequore puppis

: 660
baud quam si siccum navale teneret.
aliter,
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 sive hoc insania fecit
viri, 670
sive timor, primusque Medon nigrescere coepit
corpore et expresso spinae curvamine flecti.
'
incipit huic Lycabas *in quae niiracula dixit

:
'
'
verteris ? et lati rictus et panda loquenti
170
out upon me andkept 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
171
OVID
naris erat, squamamque cutis dmata trahebat. 675
at Libys obstantis dum vult obvertere remos,
in spatium resilire manus breve vidit et illas
lam non esse manus, iam piiinas posse vocari.
alter ad intortos cupiens dare bracehia funes
bracchia non habuit truncoque repandus in undas 680
corpore desiluit falcata novissima cauda est,

:
qualia dimidiae sinuantur cornua lunae.

undique dant saltus multaque adspergiiie rorant
emerguntque iterum redeuntque sub aequoia rursus
inque chori ludunt speciem lascivaque iactant 685
corpora et acceptum patulis mare naribus efflant.
de modo viginti (tot enim ratis ilia ferebat)
restabam solus :
pavidum gelidumque trementi
corpore vixque meum firmat deus 'excute' dicens
'
'
corde metum Diamque tene delatus in illam GQO
!
accessi sacris Baccheaque sacra frequento."

''Praebuimuslongis" Pentheus "ambagibusaures,"
" ut ira mora vires absumere
inquit posset,
praecipitem, famuli, rapite hunc cruciataque diris
"
corpora tormentis Stygiae demittite nocti 695 !
protinus abstractus solidis Tyrrlienus Acoetes

clauditur in tectis ; et dum crudelia iussae
instrumenta necis ferrumque ignesque parantur,
sponte sua patuisse fores la2)sasque lacertis
sponte sua fama est nuUo solvente catenas. 700
Perstat Echionides, nee iam iubet ire, sed ipse
vadit, ubi el actus facienda ad sacra Cithaeron
cantibus et clara bacchantum voce sonabat.
172
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."
iheu I'ciiLlieub said: "We have lent ear to this
long, rambling tale, that by such delay our anger
might lose its miglit. 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 sonând the shrill cries of wor-
173
OVID
ut fremit acer equus^ cum bellicus acre canoro
signa dedit tubicen pugnaeque adsumit amorem, 705

Penthea sic ictus longis ululatibus aether
movitj at audito clamore recanduit ira.
Monte fei*e medio

cingentibus ultima silvis,
est,
purus ab arboribus, spectabilis undique, campus :
hie oculis iliumcernentem 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
turbafurens cunctae coeunttrepidumque sequuntur,
;
iam trepidum, iam verba minus violenta loqiientem,

iam damnantem, iam se peccasse fatentem.
se
" fer "
sauciusille tamen opem, matertera dixit
" Autonoe moveant animos Actaeonis umbrae " 720
! !
ilia,quis Actaeon, nescit dextramque precantis

abstulit, Inoo lacerata est altera raptu.
non habet infelix quae matri bracchia tendat,
trunca sed ostendens deiectis vulnera membris
"ads[)ice, mater !" ait. visis ululavit Agaue 725
collaque iactavit movitque per aera crinem
avulsumque caput digitis conplexa cruentis
"
clamat " io : comites, opus haec victoria nostrum est !
non citius frondes autumni frigore tactas
iamque male haerentes 730

alta ra})it arbore ventus,
quam sunt membra

manibus direpta nefandis.
viri
talibus exemplis monitae nova sacra frequentant
turaque dant sanctasque colunt Ismenides aras,

174
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,
:
Autonoe ! 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.
175
»
BOOK IV
LIBER IV
At non Alcithoe Minyeias orgia censet
accipienda dei, sed adhuc temeraria Bacchum
progeniem negat esse lovis 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 Nyseus iiidetonsusque Thyoneus

et cum Lenaeo genialis consitor uvae
Nycteliusque Eleleusque parens et lacchus etEuhan,
et quae praeterea per Graias plurima gentes l6
nomina. Liber, babes, tibi enim inconsumptaiuventa
est,
^ "
The noisy one."
2 " The deliverer from care."
3 " Of Nysa," a connected traditionally with
city in India,
the infancy of Bacchus.
4 " Son of Thyone," the name given to his mother, Semele,
after her translation to the skies.
6 "God of the
wine-press."
« So named from the fact that his
orgies were celebrated in
the night.
178
BOOK IV
But not Minyas' daugliter Alcithoe; 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 tiiyrsus. And he liad 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,* Lyaeus,^ son of the

thunderbolt, twice born, child of two mothers they ;
hail him as Nyseus^ also, Thyoneus * of the unshorn

locks, Lenaeus,* planter of the joy-giving vine,
Nyctelius,^ father lacchus,^ and Euhan,
Eleleus,'
and all the many names besides by which thou art
known, O Liber,' throughout the towns of Greece.
' From the wild cries uttered by hia worshippers in the

orgies.
8 A name identified with Bacchus.
" the " he to
8 Either from liber, free," or
"
from libo, whom
libations of wine are poured.
179
OVID
tu puer aeternus, tu formosissimus alto
conspiceris caelo ; tibi, cum sine cornibus adstas,

virgineum caput est Oriens tibi victus, adusque
;
20
decolor extremo qua tinguitur India Gange.
Penthea tu, venerande, bipeniiiferumque Lycurgum
sacrilegos mactas, Tyrrhenaque mittis in aequor
corpora, tu biiugum pictis insignia frenis
coUa premis lyncum. bacchae satyrique sequuntur, 25
quique senex ferula titubantis ebrius artus
sustinet et pando non fortiter liaeret asello,
quacumqne ingrederis, clamor iuvenalis et una

femineae voces inpulsaque tympana palmis
concavaque aera sonant longoque foramina buxus. 30
" 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.
ilia, 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,
180
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 hcn-ns 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 burl 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 ot
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
" While other women are
thumb, says :
deserting
their tasks and thronging this so-called festival, let
us also, who keep to Pallas, 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
extremes albis in turribus egerit annos,
nais an ut cantu nimiumque potentibus herbis
verteritin tacitos iuvenalia corpora pisces, 50
donee 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 sequente :
" et Thisbe, iuvenum pulcherrimus

Pyramus alter,
altera, quas Oriens habuit, praelata puellis, 56

contiguas tenuere domos, ubi dicitur altam
coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem.
notitiam priniosque gradus vicinia fecit,
tempore crevit amor taedae quoque iui'e coissent, 60

;
sed vetuere patres quod non potuere vetare,

:
ex aequo captis ardebant mentibus ambo.

conscius omnis abest nutu signisque loquuntur,
;
quoque magis tegitur, tectus magis aestuat ignis,

fissus erat tenui rima, quam duxerat olim, 65
cum domui communis utrique.
fieret, paries
id vitium nulli per saecula longa notatum —
—
quid non sentit amor? primi vidistis amantes
et vocis fecistis iter, tutaeque per illud
mui-mure blanditiae minimo transire solebant. 70
saepe, ubi constiterant hinc Tliisbe, Pyramus illinc,
inque vices fuerat captatus anhelitus oris,

'
*invide' dicebant paries, quid amantibus obstas?
quantum erat, ut sineres toto nos corpore iungi
aut, hoc si nimium est, vel ad oscula danda pateres ?
183
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 uicantation 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 bi-ick. 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 tm-n had listened eagerly for the other's breath,
*0 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
OVID
nee sumus ingrati nos debere fatemur,
: tibi 76
quod datus est verbis ad arnicas transitus auris.'
talia diversa nequiquam sede locuti
'
sub noctem dixere '

partique dedere
vale
oscula quisque suae non pervenientia contra. 80
postera nocturnos Aurora removerat ignes,
solque pruinosas radiis siccaverat herbas :
ad solitum coiere locum, turn murniure parvo

multa prius questi statuunt, ut nocte silenti
fallere custodes foribusque excedere temptent, 85
cumque domo exierint, urbis
quoque tecta relinquant,
neve errandum lato spatiantibus arvo,
sit
conveniant ad busta Nini lateantque sub umbra

arboris : arbor ibi niveis uberrima pomis
(ardua morus erat) gelido contermina fonti. 90
pacta placent et lux, tarde discedere visa,
;
praecipitatur aquis, et aquis nox exit ab isdem.

" Callida tenebras versato cardine Tliisbe
per
egreditur fallitque suos adopertaque vultum
pervenit ad tumulum dictaque sub arbore sedit. 95
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, 100
dumque tergo velamina lapsa reliquit.

fugit,
ut lea saeva sitira multa conpescuit unda,
dum redit in silvas, inventos forte sine ipsa
ore cruentato tenues laniavit amictus.
184
i
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.
"
NowThisbe, 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. Var 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. When
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
OVID
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 ilia fuit longa dignissima vita ;

nostra nocens anima est. ego te, miseranda, peremi,
in loca plena metus qui iussi nocte venires 111
nee prior hue veni. nostrum divellite corpus
et scelerata fero consumite viscera morsu,
o quicumque sub hac habitatis rupe leones !
sed timidi est optare necem.' velamina Thisbes 1 15

tollit et ad pactae secum fert arboiis umbram,
utque dedit notae lacrimas, dedit oscula vesti,
'accipe nunc' inquit 'nostri quoque sanguinis

'
haustus !
quoque erat accinctus, demisit in ilia ferrum,

nee mora, ferventi moriens e vulnere traxit. 1 20
ut iacuit resupinus humo, cruor emicat alte,
non aliter quam cum vitiato fistula plumbo
scinditur et tenui stridente foramine longas
eiaculatur aquas atque ictibus aera rumpit.
arborei fetus adspergine caedis in atram 125
vertuntur faciem, madefactaque sanguine radix
purpureo tinguit pendentia mora colore.
" Ecce metu nondum
posito, ne fallat amantem,
ilia 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
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
sisht. 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 liitlier first. Come, rend
my body and devour my guilty flesh with your fierce j
fangs, O all ye lions who have/your lairs beneath\
tliis clift'! But
a coward's part merely to pray
'tis
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, i)lunged 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, sprinkleil 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
187
OVID
dum tremebunda videt pulsare cruentum
dubitat,
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 ademiti
Pyrame, responde tua te carissima Thisbe
!
nominal; exaiidi vultusque attoUe iacentes!*

ad nomen Thisbes oculos a morte gravatos 145
Pyramus erexit visaque recondidit ilia.
"
Quae postquam vestcmque 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 hie in vulnera vires,

:
persequar extinctum letique miserrima dicar 151

causa comesque tui quique a me morte revelli
:
heu sola poteras, poteris nee morte revelli.
hoc tamen amborum verbis estote rogati,

o multum miseri meus illiusque parentes, 155
ut, quos certusamor, quos hora novissima iuiixit,
conponi tumulo non invideatis eodem ;
at tu quae ramis arbor miserabile corpus

nunc tegis uniiis, mox estectura duoriim,
signa tene caedis pullosque et luctibus aptos l60
semper habe fetus, gemini monimenta cruoris.'
188
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 stai'ts 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
again.-/^
" 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 togethei
in the same tomb. And do you, O tree, who no\»
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
\iouming, 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 porno est, ubi permaturuit, ater, l65

quodque rogis superest, una requiescit in
urna.",^
Desierat mediumqne fuit breve tempus, etorsa
: est
dicere Leuconoe vocem tenuere sorores.
:
" hunc
quoque, siderea qui temperat omnia luce,
cepit amor SolemSolis referemus amores.
: 170
primus adulterium Veneris cum Marte putatur
hie vidisse deus videt hie deus omnia primus,
;
indoluit facto lunonigenaeque marito

furta tori furtique locum monstravit, at illi
et mens etquod opus fabrilis dextra tenebat 175

cxcidit :
extemplo graciles ex acre catenas
retiaque et laqueos, quae lumina fallere possent,
elimat. non illud opus tenuissima vincant
scamina, 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 memorera Cythereia poenam 190
190
She spoke, and fitting the point beneath her breast,
she fell forward on the sword which was still M'irni
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."^V^
The tale was aone. Then, after a brief interval,
Leuconoe began, while her sisters held their peace.
"Even the Sun, wlio 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, Juno'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 ilium, tectos qui laesit amores,
laedit amore pari, quid nunc, H3'perione nate,
forma colorque tibi
radiataque lumina prosunt?
nempe, tuis omnes qui terras ignibus uris,
ureris igne novo ;
quique omnia cernere debes, 19.5
Leucothoen spectas et virgine figis in una,
quos mundo debes, oculos. modo surgis Eoo
temperius caelo, modo serius incidis undis,
spectandique mora brumalis porrigis horas ;
deficis interdum, vitiumque in lumina mentis 200

transit et obscurus mortalia
pectora terres.
nee tibi quod lunae terris propioris imago
obstiterit, palles : facit hunc amor iste colorem.
banc unam, nee te Clymeneque
diligis Rhodosque
nee tenet Aeaeae genetrix pulcherrima Circes 205
quaeque tuos Clytie quamvis despecta petebat
concubitus ipsoque illo grave vulnus habebat
tempore Leucotboe multarum oblivia fecit,
:
gentis odoriferae quam formosissima partu

edidit Eurynome ; sed postquam filia crevit, 210
quam mater cunctas, tnm matrem filia vicit.
rexit Achaemenias urbes pater Orchamus
isque
Septimus a prisco numeratur origiiie 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
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 Leucothoe
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, tliough most beautiful,
nor Clytie, who, although scorned by thee, still seeks
thy love and even now bears its deep wounds in her
heart. Leucothoe 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
193
OVID
versus in Eurynomes faciem genetricis, et inter
bis 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
'
ego sum dixit, qui longum metier annum,

' '
ille
omnia qui video, per quern videt omnia tellus,

mundi oculus :
mihi, crede, places.' pavet ilia
metuque
et eolus et fusus digitis cecidere remissis.
ipse timor decuit. nee 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 ilia
Solis amor
fuerat) stimulataque paelicis ira 235
vulgat adulterium diffamatumque 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
(lissipat hunc Hyperione natus iterque
radiis
dat tibi, qua possis defossos promere vultus;

nee tu iam poteras enectum pondere terrae
toUere, nympha, caput corpusque exsangue iacebas;
nil illo fertur volucrum moderator equorum 245
194
god enters the apartments of his love, assuming the
form of Eurynome, her mother. Inhere he discovers
Leucothoe, 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 daugliter, 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 wliom 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
195
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 doJorem
indiciumque dolor poterat, non amplius auctor
lucis adit Venerisque modiim sibi fecit in ilia,
tabuit ex illodementer amoribus usa ;
nympharum inpatiens et sub love nocte dieque 260

sedit humo nuda nudis inuompta capillis,
perque novem luces expers undaeque cibique

rore mero lacrimisque suis ieiuiiia pavit
nee se movit humo tantum spectabat euntis
;
era del vultusque suos flectebat ad ilium. 265

membra ferunt haesisse solo, partemque coloris
luridus exsangues pallor convertit in herbas ;
est in parte rubor violaeque simillimus ora
flos tegit. ilia 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
see since Phaethon's burning death. He triedîndeed,
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 saidIn 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 giîef, and
grief her tattling, was sought
no more by the great
hght-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,beneaththe
the bare
open sky, by night and day, she sat upon
For nine
ground, naked, bareheaded, unkempt.
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 facf:
towards him. They say that her limbs grew fast to the
soil and her deathly pallor changed in part to a blood-
less 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 towards

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 tliat 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
197
OVID
quae radio st&ntis percurrens stamina telae 275
" "
vulgatos taceoi" dixit pastoris amores
Daphnidis Idaei, quem nymphe paelicis ira
contulit in saxum tantus dolor urit amantes;
:
nee loquor, ut quondam naturae iiu-e novato

ambiguus fuerit mode vir, modo femina Sithon. 280
te quoque, nunc adamas, quondam fidissime parvo,
Celmi, lovi 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,
cuius erat facies, in qua materque paterque 290
cognosci possent nomen quoque traxit ab illis.
;
is tria cum primum fecit quinquennia, monies

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 hie stagnum lucentis ad imum

:
usque solum lymphae non illic canna palustris

;
nee steriles ulvse nee acuta cuspide iunci ;
perspicuus liquor est ; stagni tamen ultima vivo 300

caespite cinguntur semperque virentibus herbis.
nympha colit, sed nee venatibus apta nee arcus
flectere quae soleat nee quae contendere cursu,
198
have become silent again. Running her shuttle
swiftly through the threads of her loom, she said :
" J will
pass by the well-known love of Daphnis, 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 Curates 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, delightinff 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
199
OVID
solaque naiadum celeri non nota Dianae.
saepe suas illi fama est dixisse sorores SOS
*
Salmaci, vel iaculum vel pictas sume pharetras
et tua cum duris venatibus otia misce
'
!
nee iaculum sumit nee pictas ilia pharetras,

nee sua cum duris venatibus otia miscet,
sed modo fonte suo formosos perluit artus, 310
saepe Cytoriaco deducit peetine crines
et, quid se deceat, spectatas consulit undas ;
nunc perlucenti circumdata corpus amictu
mollibus aut foliis aut mollibus incubat herbis,
flores.
saepe legit ettum 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 ilia, 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 :
hie 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 saltern
200
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. Now, 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 ebuniea colla ferenti 335
'
'desinis? aut fugio tecumque ait 'ista relinquo.'

'
Salmacis extimuit ' loca que ' haec tibi libera
trado,
'
hospes ait simiilatquegradu discedere verso,

turn quoque respiciens, fruticumque recondita
silva
delituit flexuque genu submisitat ille,
; 340
scilicet ut vacuis et inobservatus in herbis,
hue it et hinc illuc et in adludentibus undis
summa pedum taloque tenus vestigia tinguit ;
nee mora, temperie blandarum captus aquarum

mollia de tenero velamina corpore ponit. StS
turn vero stupuit nudaeque cupidine formae
Salmacis exarsit, flagrant quoque liimina nymphae,
non aliter quam cum puro nitidissinius 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.

'
S55
'
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 iliac ; 360
denique nitentem contra elabique volentem
inplicat ut serpens, quam regia sustinet ales
sublimemque rapit : pendens caput ilia pedesque
adligat et cauda spatiantes inplicat alas ;
utve Solent hederae longos intexere truncos, 365
utque sub aequoribus deprensum polypus hostem
202
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, 'air 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 unmatched 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 tlirough the transparent flood, as
if one should encase ivory figures or white lilies in
'
I win, and he is mine

'
translucent glass. !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 heatl
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, ilia premit commissaque corpore toto
sicut inhaerebat, 'pugnes licet, inprobe/ dixit, 370
*non tamen efFugies. ita di iubeatis, et istum
nulla dies a me nee me dediicat ab isto.'
vota suos habuere deos ;

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,
nee duo sunt et forma duplex, nee femina dici

nee puer ut possit, neutrumque et utrumque videntur.
" ubi se vir undas
Ergo liquidas, quo descenderat,
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 ad unco tibia cornu
tinnulaque aera sonant redolent murraeque crocique,
;
resque fide maior, coepere virescere telae

inque hederae faciem pendens frondescere vestis ; 395
S04
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
you not
'
may, wicked boy,' she cries, still shall
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. neither, and yet both.
They seemed
"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."
Alcithoe 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
pars abit in vites, et quae modo fila fiierunt,
palmite mutantur; de stamine pampinus exit;

purpura fulgorem pictis adcommodat uvis.
iamque dies exactus erat, tempusque subibat^

quod tu nee tenebras nee possia 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 ;
nee qua perdiderint veterem ratione figuram,

scire sinunt tenebrae non illas pluma levavit,
: 410
sustinuere tamen se perlucentibus alis
conataeque loqui minimam et pro corpore vocem

emittunt peraguntque levi stridore querellas.
tectaque, non silvas celebrant lucemque peiosae

nocte volant seroque tenent a vespere nomen. 415
Turn vero totis Bacclii memorabile Thebis
numen erat, magnasque novi matertera vires
narrat ubiquc dei de totque sororibus experg
una doloris erat, nisi quern fecere sorores :
I
adspicit hanc natis thalamoque Athamantishabentem
sublimes animos et alumno numine luno 421
nee tulit et secum :
''potuit de paelice natus
206
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.*
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
husband, 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-
" had
muning with herself, power to change the
* i.e.
vespertilionet, "creatures that flit about in the twi-
light," i.e. bats.
207
OVID
vertere Maeonios pelagoque inmergere nautas
et laceranda suae nati dare viscera matri
et triplices operire iiovis Minyeidas alis : 425
nil poterit luno 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
ae super ostendit : cur non stimuletur eatque 43(?
"
per cognata exempla fui-oribus Ino
suis ?
Est via declivis funesta nubila taxo :
ducit ad infernas per muta silentia sedes ;
Styx nebulas exbalat iners, umbraeque recentes

descendunt iliac simulacraque functa sepulcris 435 :
pallor hiemsque tenent late loca senta, novique,

qua sit iter, manes, Stygiam quoa ducat ad urbem,
ignorant, ubi sit nigri fera regia Ditis.
mille capax aditus et apertas undique portas
urbs habet, utque fretum de tola flumina terra, 440
sic omnes animas locus accipit ille nee ulli
exiguus populo est turbamve accedere sentit.

errant exsangues sine corpore et ossibus umbrae,
parsque forum celebrant, pars imi tecta tyranni,

pars aliquas artes, antiquae imitamina vitae.^ 445
Sustinet ire illuc caelesti sede relicta 447
(tantum odiis iraeque dabat) Saturnia luno ;
quo simul iiitravit sacroque a corpore prossum

ingemuit limen, tria Cerberus extulit ora 450
1 446
exercent, aliam partem sua poena coercet. This line,
included in tome manuscripts, it rejected by most editort.
208
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
H 209
OVID
et tres latratus simul edidit ;
ilia sorores
Nocte vocat genitas, grave et inplacabile nuraen :
carceris ante fores clausas adaraante sedebant
deque suis atros pectebaut 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, effugit

arbos ;
aut petis aut urgues rediturum, Sisyphe saxum ; 460

volvitur Ixion et se sequiturque fugitque,
molirique suis letum patruelibus ansae

adsiduae repetunt, quas perdant, Belides undas.
Quos omnes acie postquam Saturnia torva
vidit et ante omnes Ixiona, rursus ab illo 46'5
" cur hie e fratribus "
Sisyphon adspiciens 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 lunone locuta,
Tisi phone canos, ut erat, turbata capillos
movit et obstantes reiecit ab ore colubras 475
"
atque ita non longis opus est ambagibus," inquit ;
" facta iubes inamabile

puta, quaecumque ; regnum
desere teque refer caeli melioris ad auras."
210
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. Piere
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 i'rom
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 ;
211
OVID
laeta redit luno, quam caelum intrare parantem
roratis lustravit aquis Thaumantias Iris. 480
Nee mora, Tisiphone madefactam sanguine sumit
inportuna facem, fluidoque eruore rubentem
induitur pallam, tortoque incingitur angue
egrediturque domo. Luctus comitatur eiintein

et Pavor et Terror trepidoque Insania vultu. 485
limine constiterat postes tremuisse feruntur
:
Aeolii pallorque fores infecit acernas ^
solque locum fugit. monstris exterrita coniunx,

territus est Athamas, tectoque exire parabant :
aditumque obsedit Erinys,

obstitit infelix 490
nexaque vipereis distendens bracchia nodis
caesariem ^xcussit motae sonuere colubrae
:
parsque iacent umeris, pars circum pectora lapsae

sibila dant saniemque vomunt
linguisque coruscant.
inde duos mediis abrumpit crinibus angues 495 i
*
pestiferaque manu raptos inmisit, at illi
Inoosque sinus Athamanteosque pererrant
inspirantque graves animos ;
nee vulnera membris
ulla ferunt : mens est, quae diros sentiat ictus,
attuleratsecum liquid! quoque monstra veneni, 500
orisCerberei spumas et virus Echidnae J
erroresque vagos caecaeque oblivia mentis
et scelus et lacrimas rabiemque et caedis amorem,
omnia trita simul, quae sanguine mixta recenti
coxerat acre cavo viridi versata cicuta ; 505
1
aceruas MSS.- Avernus Merhel.
812
i
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 Aeolus
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 tlieir way
and blocked their exit. And stretching her arms,
wreathed with vipers, she shook out her locks :
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 feel the
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 love of
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.
*
The father of Athamaa.
213
OVID
dumque pavent illi, vergit furiale venenum
pectus in amborum praecordiaque intima movit.
turn face iactata per eundem saepius orbem
consequitur motis velocitei' ignibus ignes.

iussique potens ad inania magni
sic victrix 510
regna redit Ditis sumptumque recingitur anguem.
Protinus Aeolides media furibundus in aula
clamat " io, comites, his retia tendite silvis !
"
hie 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 era ferox ; turn denique concita mater,
seu dolor hoc fecit seu sparsi causa veneni, 520
exululat passisque fugit male sana capillis
teque ferens parvum nudis, Melicerta, lacertis

"
*'eulioe Bacche sonat Bacchi sub nomine luno
:
" "
risit et
" hos usus tibi
praestet dixit " alumnus !
inminet aequoribus scopulus pars ima cavatur

: 525
fluctibus 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,

" o numen
sicpatruo blandita suo est aquarum,
proxima cui caelo cessit, Neptune, potestas,
214
Then, catcliing 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 1 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 stretcliing
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 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 sne fell was churned white with
foam.
But Venus, pitying the undeserved sufferings of
her granddaughter, thus addressed her uncle with
" O
coaxing words :
Neptune, god of waters, whose
215
OVID
magna quidem posco, sed tu miserere meorum,
iactari quos cernis in lonio inmenso, 535
at dis adde tuis. aliqua et mihi gratia ponto est,
si tamen in dio
quondam concreta profundo
spuma fui Graiumque manet mihi nomen ab
ilia."
adnuit oranti Neptunus et abstulit illis,

quod mortale fuit, maiestatemque verendam 540
inposuit nomenque simul faciemque novavit
Leucotlioeque deum cum matre Palaemona dixit.
Sidoniae comites, quantum valuere secutae
signa pedum, primo videre novissima saxo ;
nee dubium de morte ratae Cadmeida palmis 545

deplanxere domum scissae cum veste capillos,
utque parum iustae nimiumque in paelice saevae

invidiam fecere deae. convicia luno
non tulit et " faciam vos ipsas maxima" dixit
'*
saevitiae raonimenta meae"; res dicta secuta
est. 550
nam quae praecipue fuerat pia, "persequar" inquit
" in freta "
reginam saltumque datura moveri
baud usquam potuit scopuloque adfixa cohaesit ;
altera, dum solito temptat plangore ferire
pectora, temptatos sensit riguisse lacertos ; 555

ilia, 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 :
quo quaeque in gestu deprensa est, haesit in illo. 560

216
I
power second to heaven alone, I ask great things,

is
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
for he
revered, changing both name and form ;
called the new god Palaemon, and his goddess-

mother, Leucothoe.
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 ot 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
" I will make
reproaches and said :
yourselves the
greatest monument
of my cruelty." No sooner said
than done. For she who had been most devoted to
" I shall follow
the queen cried
"
:
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
817
OVID
pars volucres factae, quae nunc quoque gurgite in
illo
aequora destringunt summis Ismenides alls.

Nescit Agenorides natam parvumque nepotem
aequoris esse deos luctu serieque malorum

;
victus et ostentis, quae plurima viderat, exit 565

conditor urbe sua, fortuna locorum,
tamquam
non sua se premeret, longisque erratibus actus
contigit Illyricos profuga cum coniuge fines,
iamque malis annisque graves dum prima retractant

fata domiis releguntque suos sermone labores, 570
" num sacer ille mea traiectus "
cuspide serpens
Cadmus ait " tum cum Sidone
fuerat, profectus
vipereos sparsi per humum, nova semina, dentes ?
quern si cura deum tarn certa vindicat ira,

ipse precor serpens in longam porrigar alvum." 575
dixit, et ut serpens in longam tenditur alvum
durataeque cuti squamas increscere sentit
nigraque caeruleis variari corpora guttis
in pectusque cadit pronus, commissaque in iinum
paullatim tereti tenuantur acumine crura. 580
bracchia iam restant quae restant bracchia tendit
:
et lacrimis per adhuc humana fluentibus 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
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 skimtlie 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
lllyria. 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

ion g 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
OVID
illequidem vult plura loqui, sed lingua repente
in partes est fissa duas, nee verba volenti
sufficiunt, quotiensque aliquos parat edere questusj

sibilat : hancilli vocem natura
reliquit.
nuda manu feriens exclamat pectora coniunx 590 :
"Cadme, 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 aniplexus adsuetaque colla petebat.
quisquis adest (aderant comites), terrentur ; at ilia
lubrica permulcet cristati colla draconis,

et subito duo sunt iunctoque volumine serpunt, 600
donee in adpositi nemoris subiere latebras,
nunc quoque nee fugiunt hominem nee 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 Achaia templis;
solus Abantiades ab origine cretus eadem
Acrisius superest, qui moenibus arceat urbis
Argolicae contraque deum ferat arma genusque

non putet esse deum :
neque enim lovis esse putabat
Persea, quem pluvio Danae conceperat auro. 6ll
mox tamen Acrisium (tanta est praesentia veri)
tarn violasse deum quam non agnosse nepotem
220
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 witli her hands, cried out:
"O Cadmus, stay, unhappy man, and put off this
monstrous form !
Cadmus, what does this mean ?
VVliere 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 crested 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,
the god, and diil not
Argos, who violently opposed
admit that he was the son of Jove. Nor did he
admit that Perseus was son of Jove, whom Daiiae had
conceived of a golden shower. And yet, such is the
power of truth, Acrisius in the end was sorry
that
he had repulsed the god and had not acknowledged
his grandson. The one had now been received to a
221
OVID
paenitet inpositus iam caelo est alter, at alter
:
Viperei referens spolium raemorabile monstri 6l5

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 ilia est infestaque terra colubris. 620
Inde per inmensum ventis discordibus actus
nunc hue, 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 Aurox'ae, currus Aurora diurnos. 630
hie hominum cunctos ingenti corpore praestans
lapetionides 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,
" "
hospes ait Perseus illi, ''seu gloria tangit
te generis magni, generis mihi luppiter auctor ; 640
sivees mirator rerum, mirabere nostras;
hospitium requiemque peto." memor ille vetustae
sortis erat Themis hanc dederat Parnasia sortem
; ;
222
place in heaven ; but the other, bearing the wonder-
ful spoilof 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 east 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
Atlafi Here he sought a little rest until the morn-
ing 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 lapetus. 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
" Good
golden fruits. sir," said Perseus, addressing
him, "if glory of high birth means anything to you,
Jove is my father; or if you adrnire great deeds, you
I crave your hospitality
surely will admire mine.
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 love 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 luppiter absit 650 !
vimque minis add it manibusque expel! ere teniptat

cunctantem et placidis miscentem fortia dictis.
viribus inferior (quis enim par esset Atlantis
viribus ?) " at, quoniam parvi tibi gratia nostra est,
"
accipe munus ait laevaque a parte Medusae
! 655
ipse retro versus squalentia protulit ora.
quantus erat, mens nam barba comaeque
factus Atlas ;
in silvas abeunt, iuga suntumerique manusque,

quod caput ante fuit, summo est in monte cacumen,
ossa lapis fiunt turn partes altus in omnes
; 660
crevit in inmensum (sic di statuistis), et omne
cum caelum requievit in illo.
tot sideribus
Clauserat Hippotades aeterno carcere ventos,
admonitorque operum caelo clarissimus alto

Lucifer ortus erat pennis :
ligat ille
resumptis 6G5
parte ab 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 ;
quam simul ad duras religatam bracchia cautes

224
" come when your tree will be
Atlas, the time will
spoiled of its gold, and he who gets the glory of this
spoil will be Jove'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 oft' all
strangers from his boundaries. And now to Perseus,
" Hence
too, he said : 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 l)oth
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
aroimd him and below, he spied at last the
Ethiopians and Cepheus' realm. There unrighteous
Ammon had bidden Andromeda, though innocent, to
125
OVID
quod levis aura capillos
vidit Abantiades, nisi
moverat et tepido manabant lumina fletu,
marmoreum ratus esset opus ; traliit insciusignes 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." prinio silet ilia necaudet
adpellare virum virgo, manibusque modestos

celasset viiltus, si non religata fuisset ;
lumina^ quod potuit, lacrimis inplevit obortis.

saepius instanti, sua ne delicta fateri 68a
nolle videretur, nomen
terraeque suumque,
quantaque maternae fuerit fiducia tormae,
indicat, et nondiim 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 ilia,

nee secum auxilium, sed dignos tempore flatus
plangoremque ferunt vinctoque in corpore adhaerentj
cum " lacrimarum
sic iiospes ait longamanere 695
tempora vos poterunt, ad opem brevis hora ferendam
est.
banc ego si peterem Perseus love natus et ilia,

quam clausam inplevit fecundo luppiter auro,
Gorgon is angiiicomae Perseus superator et alis
aerias ausus iactatis ire per auras, 700
226
pay the penalty of her mother's words. As soon as
Perseus saw her there bound by the arms to a rough
—
chff 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 helj) 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

22T
OVID
praefener cunctis certe gener ; addere tantis
dotibus et meritum, faveant modo numinaj tempto:
ut mea sit servata mea virtute, paciscor."
accipiunt legem (quis enim dubitaret ?) 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 lovis praepes, vacuo cum vidit in arvo
] praebentem
Phoebo liventia terga draconem, 715
] occupat aversum,
neu saeva retorqueat ora,
squamigeris avidos figit cervicibus ungues,
sic celeri missus praeceps per inane volatu
terga ferae pressit dextroque frenientis in armo

Inachides ferrum curvo tenus abdidit hamo. 720
vulnere laesa gravi modo se 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 ;
belua puniceo mixtos cum sanguine fluctus

ore vomit : maduere graves adspergine pennae.
228
winds of heaven on fluttering wings, surely I should
be preferred to all suitors as your son-in-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
ploAvs 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 cliff as is the space
through which a Baleaiic 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 aj j
the bird of Jove, wlien it has seen in an open field a i
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 1
in the creature's scaly neck so did Perseus, plunging J

;
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 bounds give tongue.
Perseus eludes the greedyjang^ 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
nee bibulis ultra Perseus talaribus ausus 730
credere conspexit scopulum, qui vertice summo
stantibus exstat aquis, operitur ab aequore moto.
nixus eo rupisque ten ens 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,
moUit humum foliis natasque sub aequore virgas
sternit et inponit Phorcynidos era Medusae,
virga recens bibulaque etiamnum viva medulla
vim monstri tactuque induruit huius
i-apuit 745
percepitque novum ramis et fronde rigorem.
at pelagi nymphae factum mirabile temptant
pluribus in virgis et idem contingere gaudent 1

seminaque ex ill is iterant iactata per undas :
nunc quoque curaliis eadem natura remansit, 750

duritiam tacto capiant ut ab acre quodque
•
vimen in aequore erat, fiat super aequora saxum.
Dis tribus ille focos totidem de caespite ponit,

laevum Mercurio, dextrum tibi, bellica virgo,
ara lovis media est mactatur vacca Minervae,
; 755
ali})edi vitulus, taurus tibi, sumnie deorum,
830
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 bruiêd 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 harden 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
OVID
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, pulcliroque instructa paratu
Cephenum proceres ineunt convivia regis.

Postquam epulis functi generosi munere Bacchi 765
diffudere 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 iacenteni

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 demos passimque per agros
perque vias vidisse hominum simulacra ferarumque
in silicem ex ipsis visa conversa Medusa. 781
se tamen horrendae clipei, quern 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.
«3g
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 dwell-
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 what woundrous

Perseus, by
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.
f.SS
OVID
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 taaien. excipit unus 7^0

exnumero procerum quaerens, cur sola sororum
gesserit alternis inmixtos crinibus anffues.
ait
" scitaris
hospes :
quoniam digna relatu,
accipe quaesiti causam. clarissima forma
multorumque fuit spes invidiosa procorum 795

ilia, nee in tota conspectior ulla capillis
pars fuit :
inveni, qui se vidisse referret.
banc pelagi rector templo vitiasse Minervae
dicitur : aversa est et castos aegide vultus
nata lovis 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.*'
2S4
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, lier 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
[lue, she changed the Gorgon's locks to ugly snakes.
And now to frighten her fear-numbed foes, she still
wears upon lier 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, nee coniugialia festa
qui canat est clamor, sed qui fera nuntiet arma ;
inque repentinos convivia versa tumultus t
adsimilare freto possis, quod saeva quietum

ventorum rabies motis exasperat undis.
primus in his Phineus, belli temerarius auctor ;
fraxineam quatiens aeratae cuspidis hastam
" en" " en adsum ultor K
ait, praereptae coniugis ;
nee mihi te pennae nee falsum versus in aurum

"
luppiter 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 ? li
quam non Perseus, verum si quaeris, ademit,

tibi
sed grave Nereidum 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 2(
exigis, ut pereat, luctuque levabere nostro.

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
driving you to crime ?
folly is 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
fiom you, but the dread deity of the Nereids, but
horned Amnion, 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 ease
its own. It seems it is not enough that you saw her
chained, and that you brought no aid, uncle though

239
OVID
scilicet baud satis est, quod te spectante revinctaest
et nullamquod 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 quern 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 ilium :
cunctatusque brevi contortam viribus hastam,

quantas ira dabat, nequiquam in Persea misit.
ut stetit ilia toro, stratis turn denique Perseus
exsiluit teloque ferox inimica remisso S5
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
hospitiique deos, ea se prohibente moveri. 45

bellica Pallas adest et protegit aegide fratrem
datque animos.
Erat Indus Athis, quem flumine Gange
edita Limnaee vitreis peperisse sub undis
240
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 tliis 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 1 have been saved from 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.
I 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-
tectiiig 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
i-
2-Vl
OVID
creditur, egregius forma, quam divite cultu
augebat, bis adliuc octonis integer annis, 50
indutus chlamydem Tyriam, quam limbusobibat
aureus *,
ornabant aurata monih'a collum
^t madidos murra curvum
crinale capillos;
ille quidemiaculo quamvis distantia misso
figere doctus erat, sed tendere doctior arcus. 55

turn quoque lenta manu flectentem cornua Perseus
stipite, quimedia positus fumabat in ara,

perculit et fractis confudit in ossibus ora.
Hunc ubi laudatos iactantem in sanguine vultus
Assyrius vidit Lycabas, iunctissimus illi 60
et conies et veri non dissimulator amoris,
postquam exhalantem sub acerbo vulnere vitam

deploravit Athin, quos ille tetenderat arcus
" "
arripit et mecum tibi sint certamina! dixit;
"nee longum pueri fato laetabere, quo plus 65
invidiae quam laudis habes." haec omnia nondum
dixerat emicuit nervo penetrabile tehim
:
vitatumque tamen sinuosa veste pependit.

vertit in hunc harpen spectatam caede Medusae
Acrisioniades adigitque in pectus at ille ; 70
iam moriens oculis sub nocte natantibus atia
circumspexit Athin seque adclinavit ad ilium
et tulit ad manes iunctae solacia mortis.
Ecce Syenites, genitus Metione, Phorbas
et Libys Amphimedon, avidi committere pugman,75
sanguine, quo late tellus madefacta tepebat,
conciderant lapsi ; surgentibus obstitit ensis,
alterius costis, iugulo Phorbantis adactus.
242
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 -Ly cabas, 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
" Now
Athis had bent, and cried :
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 Atliis, 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.
S43
OVID
At non Actoriden Erytum, cui lata bipennis
telum erat, hamato Perseus petit ense, sed altis 80
exstantem signis multaeque in pondere niassae
ingrentem manibus tollit cratera duabus
infligitque viro ; rutilum vomit ille cruorem
at 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.
Nee I hineus ausus concurrere comminus hosti
intorquet iaculum, quod detulit error in Idan, 90
expertem frustra belli et neutra arma secutum.
ille tuens oculis inmitem Pliinea torvis
"quandoquidem in partes" ait " abstrahor, accipe,
Phineu,
"
quem hostem pensaque hoc vulnere vulnus
fecisti, !
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, 1 00
quem quoniam prohibent anni bellare, loquendo
piignat et incessit scelerataque devovet arma ;
huic Chromis amplexo tremulis altaria palmis

decutit ense caput, quod protinus incidit arae
atque ibi semianimi verba exsecrantia lingua 105

edidit et medics animam exspiravit in ignes.
244
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 botli 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 heajis 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, by the sword of Ciymenus Hypseus smote
fell ;
Prothoenor Lyncides, Hypseus. Amid the throng

;
was one old m;in, 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 ton <rue
kept up its execrations and the life was breathed out
in the midst of the altar-fires.
24 5
OVID
Hinc gemini fratres Broteasque et caestibus
Anunon
invicti, 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, pads opus, citharam cum voce moveres ;
iussus eras celebrare dapes festumque canendo.

cui procul adstaiiti 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,
nee sinit hunc inpune ferox cecidisse Lycormas
raptaque de dextro robusta repagula posti 120
ossibus inlisit mediae cervicis, at ille
procubuit terrae raactati more iuvenci.
demere temptabat laevi quoque robora postis
Ciiiypliius Pelates temptanti dextera fixa est
;
cuspide Mai-maridae Corythi lignoque cohaesit; 125

haerenti latus hausit Abas, nee 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.
hiiius in obliquo missum stetit inguine ferrum :
letifer ille locus, quern postquam vulneris auctor

singultantem animam et versantem lumina vidit
Bactrius Halcyoneus, " lioc, quod premis," inquit
" habeto 135
"
de tot agris terrae corpusque exsangue reliiiquit.
!
torquet in hunc hastam calido de vulnere raptam
246
Next fell two brothers by Phineus' hand, Broteas
and Amnion, invincible with gauntlets, if gauntlets
could but contend with swords and ;
AmpycuSj Ceres'
priest, histemples 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
" Go
peaceful quill, Pettalus mocking cried :
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, madtlened 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 lie fall, but, dying, hung down from the post
to which his hand was nailed. Melaneus, too, was
one of Perseus' side and Dorylas, the richest
slain, ;
—
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 eininet ambas ;
dumque manuni Fortuna iuvat, Clytiumque

Claninque, 140
matre satos una, diverso viilnere fudit :
nam Clytii per utrumque gravi librata lacerto

fraxinus acta femur, iaculum Clanis ore momor-
dit.
occidit etCeladon Mendesius, occidit Astreus
matre Palaestina dubio genitore creatus, 145
Aethionque sagax quondam ventura videre,
tunc ave deceptus taisa, regisque Thoactes
armiger et caeso genitore infamis Agyrtes.
Plus tamen exhausto superest; namque omnibus
unum
opprimere est animus, coniurata undique pugnant 1 50
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 hibema grandine plura
:
praeter utrumque latus praeterque et lumen et

aures.
adplicat hie umeros ad magnae saxa columnae l60
tutaque terga gerens adversaque in agmina versus
sustinet instantes instabat parte sinistra
:
Chaonius Molpeus, dextra Nabataeus Ethemon.

duorum I
tigris ut auditis diversa valle
exstimulata fame mugitibus armentorum 1 65
nescit, utro potius ruat, et mere ardet utroque,
sic dubius Perseus, dextra laevane feratur,
Molpea traiecti submovit vulnere cruris

218
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
;
ciunched 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 ;
Tiioactes, 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 plighted 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
flythe 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

2i9
OVID
contentusque fuga est ; neque enim dat tempus
Ethemon,
sed furit et cupiens alto dare vulnera coUo 170
non circumspectis exactum ensem viribus
fregit, in extrema percussae parte columnae:

laminadissiluit dominique in gutture fixa est.
non tamen ad letum causas satis ilia valentes
plaga dedit trepidum Perseus et inermia frustra
; 1 75
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 era.
! 180
"quaere alium, tua quern moveant miracula" dixit
Thescelus ; utque manu iaculum t'atale parabat
mittere, in hoc liaesit signum de marmore gestu.
proximus Iniic Ampyx animi plenissima magni
pectora Lyncidae gladio j)etit inque petenilo : 185
dextera diriguit nee citra mota nee ultra est.
at Nileus, qui se genitum septcmplice Nile
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, nee sunt ea pervia verbis,

" vitio " " **
increpat hos que animi, non viribus
inquit 195
" " **
Gorgoneis torpetis Eryx. incurrite mecura
250
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 ofi" 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
Bword.
Ijut when Perseus saw his own strength was no
match for the superior numbers of his foes, he ex-
" Since
claimed :
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-sou led I'erseus but in that thrust
;
his right hand stiffened and moved neither this way

nor that. But Nileus, who lalsely 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 i;reat 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
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 turn denique Phinea belli; 210
sed quid agat simulacra videt diversa figiiris
.''
adgnoscitque suos et noinine quemque vocatum

poscitopem credensque parum sibi proxima tangit
corpora marmor erant avertitur atque ita supplex
: ;
confessasque manus obliqiiaque bracchia tendens 2 5 1
" vincis " " Perseu

remove tua monstra tuaeque
ait, !
saxificos vultus, quaecumque ea, tolle Medusae,
telle, precor non nos odium regnique cupido

!
coupulit ad bellum, pro coniuge movimus arma !
causa fuit meritis melior tua, tempore nostra : 220

non cessisse piget; nihil, o fortissime, praeter
banc animam concede niilii, tua cetera sunto !"
talia dicenti neque eum, quem voce rogabat,
" timidissime
respicere audenti "quod" ait, Phineu,
252
"
tlieearth 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 sti'ange power got

hold on him, and he stood there still with a look o£
wonder on his marble face. It would take too Ions
to tell the names of thr 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 sidewa3's suppliant
hands that confess defeat, he says " Perseus, you
:
are my conqueror. Remove that dreadful thing ;

that petrifying Medusa-head of yours —
whosoever slie
may be, oh, take it awây, 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 praved,
Perseus replied " Most craven
:
Phineus, dismiss your
ass
OVID
et possum tribuisse et magnum est munus inerti,
—
pone metum !
— tribuam
nullo violabere ferro.
: 226
quin etiam mansura dabo monimenta per aevum,

inque dome soceri semper spectabere nostri,
ut niea se sponsi soletur imagine coniunx."
dixit et in
partem Pliorcynida transtulit illam, 230
ad quam se trepido Phiiieus obverterat ore.
tum quoque conanti sua vertere lumina cervix
dirigiiit, 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 nee ope armorum nee, quam male ceperat, arce
torva colubriferi superavit lumina monstri. 241
Te tamen, o parvae rector, Polydeeta, Seriphi,
nee iuvenis virtus per tot spectata labores
nee mala moUierant, sed inexorabile durus
exerces odium, nee iniqua finis in ira est ; 245
detrectas etiam laudem fictamque Medusae
" da!)imus
arguis esse necem. tibi pignora verL .
parcite luminihus !" Perseus ait oraque regis I

ore Medusaeo silicem sine sanguine fecit.
Hactenus aurigenae comitem Tritonia fratri 250
254
1
fears ; what
can îve (and 'tis a great boon for your
I
coward will grant

soul), I
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 of that," then Perseus said
give you proof
"
;
" And
protect your eyes (this to his friends).
!
with the Medusa-face he changed the features of

the king to bloodless stone.
During all this time Tritonia
^
had been the
comrade of her brother born of the golden shower.
1 Athena.
255
OVID
se dedit inde cava circumdata nube Seriphon
;
deserit, a dextra Cythiio 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 auras,
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 gratissinia 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 luces circumspicit antiquarum 265
antraque et innumeris distiiictas floribus herbas
felicesque vocat pariter studioque locoque
Mnemonidas; quam sic adfata est una sororum :
" te virtus opera ad maiora tulisset,

o, nisi
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
2.56
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 aliehted.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 boni from his mother's blood." Urania
" Whatever cause has
replied :
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 S{)ring." 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
flowers. She declared
grass, spangled with countless
the daughters of Mnemosyne to be happy alike in
their favourite pursuitsand in their home. And thus
"O
one of the sisters answered her :
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
S57
OVID
'
nee dubitate, precor, tecto grave siclus et imbrem*
(imber erat)
'
vitare meo ;
subiere minores
saepe casas superi.' dictis et tempore motae

adnuimusque primasque intravimus aedes.
viro
desierant iinbres, victoque aquilonibus austro 285
fusca repurgato fugiebant nubila caelo :
inpetus ire fuit ; claudit sua tecta Pyreneus
vimqne parat, quam nos sumptis efFugimus alis.
'ipse secuturo similis stetit arduus arce

'
'qua' que 'via est vobis, erit et mihi' dixit *

eadem
seque iacit vecors e 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 tarn certa loquentes
unde sonent hominemque putat love nata locutum ;
ales erat. numeroque noveni sua fata querentes

institerant ramis imitantes omnia picae.
miranti sic orsa deae dea " nuper et istae 800
auxerunt volucrum victae certamine turbain.
Pieros has genuit Pellaeis dives in arvis,
Paeonis Euippe mater fuit ilia potentem ;
Lucinam noviens, noviens paritura, vocavit. I

intumuit numero stolidarum turba sororum S05
perque tot Haemonias et per tot Achaidas urbes
hue venit et tali committit proelia voce :
'desinite indoctum vana dulccdine vulgus

fallere ; nobiscum^ si qua est fiducia vobis,
«58
to take shelter beneath roof against the lowering
my
— —
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
hisportal. 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
tlie 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 liigh branches of the trees. Jove'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 siglit, 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 I'aeonia 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 tlie towns of Achaia to us, and
thus defied us to a contest in song ' Cease to de-
:
ceive the unsophisticated rabble with your pretence

S59
OVID
Thespiades, certate, deae. nee voce, nee arte SIO
vinceniur totidemque sumiis : 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
; 3l6
factaque de vivo pressere sedilia saxo.
tunc sine sorte prior quae se ceitare professa est,
bella canit superum falsoque in honore gigantas
ponit et extenuat deorum;
magnorum facta 320
emissumque ima de sede Typhoea terrae
caelitibus fecisse metum cunctosque dedisse
terga fugae, donee f'essos Aegyptia tellus
ceperit et septem discretus in ostia Nilus.
hue quoque terrigenam venisse 'J'yphoea narrat 325
et se mentitis superos celasse figuris ;
'
'
duxque gregis dixit ^fit luppiter : unde recurvis
nunc quoque format us Libys est cum cornibus Ammon;
Delius in corvo, proles Semeleia capro,
fele soror Phoebi, nivea Saturnia vacca, S30
pisce Venus latuit, Cyllenius ibidis alis.'
" Hactenus ad citharam vocalia nioverat ora:
—
poscimur Aonides, sed forsitan otia non sint,
nee nostris praebere vacet tibi cantibus aures."
" ne dubita
vestrumque mihi refer ordine carmen !"
Pallas ait nemorisque levi consedit in umbi'a ; 336
Musa refert : "dedimus summam certaminis uni;
surgit et inmissos hedera eollecta capillos
Calliope querulas praetemptat pollice chordas
260
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 :
Tyj)hoeus, 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, Baccluis 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,
" l)ut And she
sing now your song in due order."
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 : 346
'
Prima Ceres unco glaebam dimovit aratro,
prima dedit fruges alimentaque mitia terris,
prima dedit leges; Cereris sunt omnia munus;

ilia canenda mihi est. utinam modo dicere
possim
carmina dignadea ! certe dea carmine digna est. 345
" ' Vasta membris
giganteis ingesta est insula
Trinacris et magnis subiectum molibus urguet
aetheriasausum sperare Typlioea sedes.
nititur ille
quidem pugnatque resurgere saepe,
dextra sed Ausonio manus est subiecta Peloro, 350
laeva, Pachyne, tibi, Lilybaeo crura premuntur,
degravat Aetna caput, sub qua resupinus harenas
eiectat flammamque fero vomit ore Typhoeus.
saepe remoliri luctatur pondera terrae

ojjpidaque et magnos devolvere corpore montes : 355
inde tremit tellus, et rex pavet ipse silent uni,
ne pateat latoque solum retegatur hiatu
ii)missusque dies trepidantes terreat umbras,
banc inetuens cladem tenebrosa sede tyrannus
exierat curruque atrorum vectus equorum S(JO
ambibat Siculae cautus fundamina terrae.

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,
" '6^6
ilia, quibus superas omnes, cape tela, Ciipido,
S62
bound in an ivy wreath, tried the plaintive chords
thumb, and then, with sweeping chords, she
witli lier
sang this song

'
Ceres was the first to turn the glebe
;
with the hooked j^lowshare 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 wdth its vast weight was
resting on Ty})hoeus, 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 Pclorus and his left by you, Pachynus.

Lilybaeum rests on his legs, and Aetna's weight is on
his head. Flung on liis 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 tlie 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 examinhig its
foundations. After he had examined all to his
satisfaction, and found that no points were giving
way, he put aside Then Venus Erycina saw
his fears.
him wandering and fro, as she was seated on her
to
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
26J
OVID
inque dei pectus celeres moliie sagittas,
cui triplicis cessit fortuna novissima regni.
tu superos ipsumque lovem, tu numina ponti
victa domas ipsumque, regit qui numina pouti : 370
Tartara quid cessant ? cur non matrisque tuumque
imperium prefers ? 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 .
de mille sagittis
solvit et arbitrio matris 380
unam seposuit, sed qua nee acutior ulla
nee minus incerta est nee quae magis audiat arcus,
oppositoque genu curvavit flexile cornura
inque cor hamata percussit harundine Ditem.
" ' Haud
procul Hennaeis lacus est a moenibus altae,J
nomine Fergus, aquae non illo plura Caystros 386|
:
carmina c) cnorum labentibus audit in undis.

silvacoronat aquas cingens latus omne suisque
frondibusut velo Phoebeos submovet ictus ;
frigora dant rami, tyrios humus umida flores : 39C
perpetuum ver est. quo dum Proserpina luco
ludit et aut violas aut Candida lilia carpit,
dumque puellari studio calatliosque sinumque

inplet et aequales certat superare legendo,
paene simul visa est dilectaque raptaque Diti : SQ5
usque adeo est properatus amor, dea territa maesto
264
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 t'.ie
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 iiis
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, Fergus 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 off
the sun's hot rays. The branches afford a pleasing
coolness, and the well-watered ground bears bright-
coloured Howers. There spring is everlasting. Within
this grove Proserpina was playing, and gathering
violets or white liUes. And while with girlish eager-
ness she was her basket and her bosom, and
fillins;
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

S65
OVID
et matrem et comites, sed matrem saepius, ore
clamat, et ut summa vestem laniarat ab ora,
collecti flores tunicis cecidere remissis,
tantaque simplicitas puerilibus adfuit annis, 400

haec quoque virgineum movit iactura dolorem.
raptor agit currus et nomine quemque vocaiido
exhortatur equos, quorum per colla iubasque
excutit obscura tinctas ferrugine habenas,
perque lacus altos et olentia sulphure ferLur 405

stagna Palicorum rupta ferventia terra
et qua Bacchiadae, bimari gens orta Corintho,
inter inaequales posuerunt moenia porLus.
" ' Est medium
Cyanes et Pisaeae Arethusae,
quod coit angustis inclusum comibus aequor 410
:
hie fuit, a cuius stagnum quoque nomine dictum

est,
inter SicelidasCyane celeberrima nymphas.
gurgite quae medio summa tenus exstitit alvo
"
adgnovitque deam "nee 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, nee, ut haec, exterrita nupsi."

dixit et in partes diversas bracchia tendens
obstitit. baud 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
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 gatliered fell out of her loosened
tunic ;
and such was the innocence of her girlish
fears, 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. Slie 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!
:
riiou 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 She spoke
maiden."
and, stretching her arms on either blocked his
side,
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 maerenSj 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 haee umeri tergusque latusque
pectoraque in tenues abeunt evanida rivos ; 435

denique pro vivo vitiatas sanguine venas
[jj-mpha subit, restatque nihil, quod prendere posses.
"' Interea filia matri
pavidae nequiquam
omnibus est terris, omni quaesita profundo.
illam non udis veniens Aurora capillis 440
cessantem vidit, non Hesperus ilia 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 sitira conlegerat, oraque nul!i
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 ilia datum, duri puer oris et audax
constitit ante deam risitque avidamque vocavit.
offensa est neque adluic epota parte loquentem
cum liquido mixta perfudit diva polenta :
268
" * But
Cyane, grieving for the rape of the goddess
nd for her fountain's rights thus set at naught, nursed
,n incurable wound in her silent heartland dissolved
away in tears and into those very waters was she
,11 ;
nelted whose great divinity she had been but now.

fou might see her limbs softening, her bones becom-
ng flexible, her nails losing their hardness. And first
if all melt the slenderest parts her dark hair, her
:
ingers, legs and feet for it is no great change from

;
lender limbs to cool water. Next after these, her

boulders, back and sides and breasts vanibh into thin
vatery streams. And finally, in place of living blood,
dear water flows through her weakened veins and
lotliing is left that you can touch.
" ' Meanwhile all in vain the
affrighted mother
leeks her daughter in every land, on every deep. Not
\urora. rising with dewy tresses, not Hesperus sees
ler pausing in the search She kindles two pine
;orches in the fires of Aetna, and wanders without
est through the frosty shades of night ; again, when
;he genial day had dimmed the stars, she was still
;eeking her daughter from the setting to the rising

>f the sun. Faint with toil and athirst, she had
noistened her lips in no fountain, when she chanced
;o see a hut thatched with straw, and knocked at
ts lowly door. Then out came an old woman and

jeheld the goddess, and when she asked for water
jave her a sweet drink with parched barley floating
ipon it. While she drank, a coarse, saucy boy stood
vatching her, and mocked her and called her greedy,
she was offended, and threw what she had not yet
Irunk, with the barley grains, full in his face. Straight-
way his face was spotted, his arms were changed to
egs, and a tail was added to his transformed limbs ;
16 shrank to tiny size, that he might have no great

OVID
conbibit os maculas et, quae modo bracchia gessit,
crura gcrit; cauda est mutatis addita membris, 4-56
inque brevem formam, ne sit vis magna nocendi,

contrahitur, parvaque minor mensura lacerta est.
mirantem flentemque et tangere monstra parantem
anum latebramque petit aptumque pudori 460
fugit
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 Cyan en. ea ni mutata fuisset, 465
omnia narrasset sed et os et lingua volenti
;
dicere non aderant, nee, quo loqueretur, habebat ;
signa tamen manifesta dedit notamque parenti,

forte loco delapsam in gurgite sacro
illo
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 adliuc, ubi sit; terras tamen increpat omnes ^
ingratasque vocat nee frugum munere dignas, 475
Trinacriam ante alias, in qua vestigia damni
repperit. ergo illic saeva vertentia glaebas
fregit aratra manu parilique irata colonos
ruricolasque boves leto dedit arvaque iusi.it
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

870
I
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 ^ 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 nynij)h 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 reproaclied 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 i;ave
lo destruction farmers and cattle alike, and bade tlie
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 iiuich

rain destro3'ing them. Stars and winds were baleful,
and greedy birds ate up the seed as soon as it was
1 Le. itfllio, a iin&rd or nevrt.
S71
OVID
semina iacta legiint lolium tribulique fatigant
; 485
triticeas messes et inexpugiiabile gramen.
***Tum caput Eleis Alpheias extulit undis
rorantesqiie comas a fronte removit ad aures
atque ait " o toto orbe
quaesitae virginis
etfrugum genetrix, inmensos siste labores 490
neve tibi fidae violenta irascere teiTae.
terra nihil meruit patuitque invita rapinae^
nee sum pro patria supplex : hue hospita veni,
Pisa mihi patria est et ab Elide ducimus ortus,
Sicaniam peregrina coloj sed gratior omni 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 500
et vultus melioris eris. mihi pervia tellus
praebet iter, subterque imas ablata carernas
hie caput attollo desuetaque sidera cerno.
ergo dum Stygio sub terris gurgite labor,

visa tua est oculis illic Proserpina nostris : 505
ilia quidem tristis neque adhuc interrita vultu^,
sed regina tanien, sed opaci maxima mundi,
"
sed tamen inferni pollens matrona tyranni !
Mater ad auditas stupuit ceu saxea voces

attonitaeque diu similis fuit, utque dolore 510
pulsa gravi gravis est amentia, curribus oras
exit in aetherias ibi toto nubila vultu
:
ante lovem passis stetit invidiosa capillis

272
sown ;
and thorns and stubborn grasses choked
lares
the Avheat.
" * Then did
Arethusa, Alpheus' daughter, lift her
head from her Elean pool and, brushing her dripping
locks backfrom 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;
igainst its will it opened to the robbery. It is not
for my own country that I pray, for I came a stranger
liither. 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, 1 pray thee, save
O most merciful. Why I moved from my place
it,
md why I came to Sicily, through such wastes of sea,

1 fitting time will come to tell thee, when thou shalt
l>e and of a more cheerful countenance,
free from care
riie solid earth opened a way before me, and passing
Lhroui;h the lowest depths, I here lifted my head
igain and beheld the stars that had grown unfamiliar,
riierefore, while I was gliding beneath the earth in my
Stygian stream, I saw Proserpina there with these
/ery 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,
md was for a long tmie like one bereft of reason. But
when her overwhelming frenzy had given way to over-
whelming pain, she set forth inherchariot to the realms
jf heaven. There, with clouded countenance, with
jishevelled hair, and full of indignation, she appeared
Defore Jove and said
" I have O
:
come, Jupiter, as
K' S78
OVID
" meo
veni supplex tibi, luppitur,"
pro que inquit
sanguine proque tuo si nulla est gratia matris, 515
:
nata patrem moveat, neu sit tibi cura,

precamur,
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."
luppiter excepit "commune est pignus onusque

nata mihi tecum ;sed si modo nomina rebus
addere vera placet, non hoc iniuria factum, 525
verum amor est; neque erit nobis gener ille pudori,
tu modo, diva, velis. ut desint cetera, quantum est
esse lovis fratrem quid,
quod nee cetera desunt
!
nee cedit nisi sorte mihi ? —sed tanta cupido

si tibi discidii est, 530
repetet Proserpina caelum,
lege tamen certa, si nullos contigit illic
ore cibos; nam sic Parcarum foedere cautum est."
"*
Dixerat, at Cereri certum est educere natam;
non ita fata sinunt, quoniam ieiunia virgo
solverat at, cultis dum
simplex errat in hortis, 535
poeniceum curva decerpserat arbore pomura
sumptaque pallenti septem de coiticegrana
presserat ore suo, solusque ex omnibus illud
Ascalaphus vidit, quern quondam dicitur Orphne,
inter Avernales baud ignotissima nymplias, 540
ex Acheronte suo silvis peperisse sub atris;
vidit et indicio reditum crudelis ademit.
274
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
crreat a thing it is to be Jove'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 Avhile, simple child that
she was, she wandered in the trim gardens, she had
from a
plucked a purple pomegranate hanging
bending bough, and peeling oft' the yellowish rind, she
had eaten seven of the seeds. The only one who
saw tiie 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 gtandia lumina vertit. 545
ille sibi ablatus fulvis amicitur in alis
inqne caput crescit longosque reflectitur ungues

vixque movet natas per inertia bracchia pennas
foedaque fit volucris, venturi nuntia luctus,
ignavus bubo, dirum mortalibus omen. 550
" ' Hie 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,
{)iotinus, ut 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
luppiter ex aequo volventem dividit annum 565 :
nunc dea, regnorum numen commune duorum,

cum matre est totidem, totidem cum coniuge
menses,
vertiturextemplo facies et mentis et oris ;
nam modo quae poterat Diti quoque maesta videri.

laeta deae frons est, ut sol, qui tectus aquosis 57P
nubibus ante fuit, victis e nubibus exit.
276
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

gave 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 wâves :
you found the gods ready, and suddenly vou 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
mouths 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 quariim dea sustulit alto

fonte caput viridesque manu siccata capillos 575
fluminis Elei veteres narravit amoves.
"
pars ego nympharum, quae sunt in Achaide," dixit
"una fui,nec me studiosius altera saltus
legitnee posuit studiosius altera casses.

sed qiiamvis formae numquam mihi fama pctita est,
quamvis fortis eram, formosae nomen habebam, 581

nee mea me facies nimium laudata iuvabat,
quaque aliae
gaudere solent, ego rustica dote
corporis erubui criraenque placere putavi.

lassa revertebar (meinini) Styraphalide silva ; 585
aestus erat, labor geminaverat aestum
magnumque :
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 5^Q
sponte sua natas ripis declivibus umbras,
accessi primumque pedis vestigia tinxi,
poplite deinde tenus neque eo contenta, recingor
;
mollifique 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 pioperas, Arethusa?' suis Alpheus ab undis,
'quo properas?' iterum rauco mihi dixerat ore. 6"00
278
" Now kindly Ceres, happy in the recovery of her
'
daughter, asks of you, Arethusa, why you fled, why

yon are now a sacred s[)ring. The waters fall silent
while their goddess lifts her head from her deep
^pring, and dries iier 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
iiave their dwelling in Achaia, and no other was
iiore eager in scouring the glades, or in setting the
lunting-nets. But although 1 never sought the fame
jf beauty, althou^^h 1 was brave, I had the name of
aeautirul. Nor did my beauty, all too often praised,
Tive me any joy and my dower of charming form,
;
n 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
;
md my toil had made it double. I came upon a

stream flowing witliout eddy, and without sound,
irystal-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
boft-sloping banks. I came edge and
to the water's
fii'st
dipped my feet, then in went up to the knees
I :
not satisfied with this, 1 removed my robes, and

banging the soft garments on a drooping willow,
aaked I plunged into the wattrs. And while I beat
them, drawing them and gliding in a thousand turns
ind tossing my arms, I thought I heard a kind ot
murmur deep in the ))ool. In terror I leaped on the
[learer bank. Then Alpheus called from his waters :
Whither in haste, Arethusa ? Whither in such

baste?' Twice in his hoarse voice he called to me.
As I was, without my robes, I fled; for my robes were
279
OVID
sicut eram fugio sine vestibus
(altera vestes
ripa nieas habuit) : tanto magis instat et ardet,
et quia nuda fui, sum visa paratior illi.
sicego currebam, sic me ferus ille premebat,
ut fugere accijiitrem penna trepidante columbae, 605
ut solet accipiter trepidas urguere colunibas.
usque sub Orchouienon Psophidaque Cyllenenque
Maenaliosque sinus gelidumque Erymanthon et
Elim
currere sustinui, nee me velocior ille ; I
sed tolerare diu cursus ego viribus inpar 6lO
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 praecetiere longam
:
ante pedes umbram, nisi si timor ilia videbat; 6l5

sed certe sonitusque pedum terrebat et ingens
crinales vittas adHabat anhelitus oris,
fessa labore fugae ' fer opem, deprendimur,' inquam
'armigerae, Dictynna/ 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 '
Arelhusa vocavit, io Arethusa
io 625
'
!
quid mihi tunc animi miserae fuit ? anne quod agnae

est,
si
qua lupos audit circum stabulaalti frementes,
aut lepori, qui vepre latens liostilia cernit
ora canum nullosque audet dare corpore motus ?
non tamen abscedit neque enim vestigia cernit 630
;
longius ulla pedum servat nubemque locumque.

:
occupat obsessos sudor mihi frigidus artus,

*
Dictj una. Heinsiin : VinDa MS3,
280
on the other bank. So much the more he pressed on
and Imrned 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 havi'k,
as the hawk pursues
the fi'ightened 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 ray back.
1 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
of the nets,
caught, help thy armour-bearer, goddess
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,
!
'
wretch Was I not as the lamb, when it hears

poor !
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 di-ops rained down from my whole body.
^281
OVID
caeruleaeque cadunt toto de corpore guttae,
quaque pedem movi, manat lacus, eque capillis
ros cadit, et citius, qiiara nunc tibi facta renarro, 635
in latices mutor. sed enim cognoscit amatas

amnis aquas positoque viri, quod sumpserat, ore
vertitur in proprias, ut se mihi misceat, undas.
Delia rupit humum, caecisque ego niersa 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 era
et medium caeli terraeque per aera vecta est
atque levem currum Tritonida misit in urbem 645
Triptolemo partimque rudi data seminaiussit

spargere humo, partim post tempora longa recultae.
iam super Europen sublimis et Asida terram
vectus erat iuvenis :
Scythieas advertitur eras,
rex ibi Lyncus erat ; regis subit ille penates. 650
qua veniat, causamque viae nomenque rogatus
" "
et patriam, "patria est clarae mihi Athenae; dixit
Triptolemusnomen; veni nee puppe per undas,

nee 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
Wherever I
put my foot a pool trickled out,
and from
hair the and sooner than I can now
my fell drops,
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
to her car,
goddess of fertility yoked her two dragons
curbing their mouths with the bit, and
rode away
and earth,
through the air midway between heaven
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 unfilled earth and
part in fields that had long
lain fallow. And now
higii over Europe and the
land of Asia theyoutn 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. 1 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,
you sprinkle them over your wide fields,

if 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 lieavy with sleep, he attacked him with the
sword. Him, in the very act oi piercing the stranger's
breast, Ceres transformed into a lynx ;
and back
28S
OVID
lynca Ceres fecit rursusque per aera iussit 660
Mopsopium iuvenem sacros agitare iugales.*
" Finierat dictos e nobis maxima cantus
;
at nymphae vicisse deas Heliconacolentes

'
concordi dixere sono : convicia victae

'
cum iacerent,
'
quoniam dixi '
certamine vobis 665
supplieium 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

acre pendebant, nemorum convicia, picae.
Nunc quoque in alitibus facundia prisca remansit
raucaque garrulitas studiumque inmane loquendi,"
S84
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
;
tliat the goddesses of Helicon had wôn. 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

hisults 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 stiffening 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 noi.sy 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."
485
BOOK VI
LIBER VI
Praebverat dictis Tritonia talibus aures
caiminaque Aonidum iustamque probaverat iram ;
turn secum " laudare parum est, lau demur et

:
ipsae
numina nee sperni sine poena nostra sinamus."
Maeoniaeque animum fatis intendit Arachnes, 5
quam sibi lanificae non cedere laudibus artis
audierat. non ilia loco nee origine gentis
clara, sed arte fuitpater huic Colophonius Idmon

:
Phocaieo bibulas tinguebat murice lanas ;

occiderat mater, sed et haec de plebe 10
suoque
aequa viro fuerat; Lydas tamen ilia per urbes
quaesierat studio nomen memorabile, quamvis
orta domo parva parvis habitabat Hypaepis.
huius ut adspicerent opus admirabile, saepe
deseruere sui nymphae vineta Timoli, 1 5
deseruere suas nymphae Pactolides undas.
nee factas solum vestes, spectare iuvabat
turn quoque, cum fierent tantus decor adfuit arti,
:
sive rudem primos lanam glomerabat in orbes,

seu digitis subigebat opus repetitaque longo 20
vellera moUibat 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
" To is not enough
tJien to herself she said:
praise ;
let me be praised myself and not allow my divinity

to be scouted without punishment." So saying, she
turned her mind to the iate 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,
butonly for her skill. Her father, Idmon

of Coloi^hon,
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 i.ydian 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 newball, 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 offensa magistra
"certet" ait
" mecum nihil est, quod victa re-:
"
cusem ! "25
Pallas anum simulat

falsosque in tempora canos :
addit et infirmos baculo quoque sustinet artus.

turn sic orsa loqui "
non omnia grandior aetas,
quae fugiamus, habet seris venit usus ab annis. :
consilium ne sperne meum tibi fama petatur : 30

inter mortales faciendae maxima lanae ;
cede deae veniamque tuis, temeraria, dictis

supplice voce roga veniam dabit ilia roganti."
:
adspicit banc torvis inceptaque fila relinquit

vixque manus retinens confessaque vultibus iram 35 i
talibusobscuram resecuta est Pallada dictis :
" mentis
inops longaque venis confecta senecta,
et nimium vixisse diu nocet. audiat istas,
si
qua tibi nurus est, voces; si
qua est tibi filia,
consilii satis est in mihi, neve monendo me 40*
profecisse putes, eadem est sententia nobis,

"
cur non ipsa venit ? cur haec certamina vitat ?
"
tum dea " venitformamque removit anilem
! ait
Palladaque exhibuit venerantur numina nymphae:
Mygdonidesque nurus sola est non territa virgo, 45 ;
sed tamen exsiluit/ subitusque invita notavit

ora rubor rursusque evanuit, ut solet aer
purpureus fieri, cum primum Aurora movelur,

et breve post tempus candescere solis ab ortu.
'
'Extiiluit Merkel : eruhnit MSS.
290
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI
embroidering with her needle you could know that
:
Pallas had taught her. Yet she denied it, and,

offended 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
" Old aare has some things at least that are
besran :
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 jjardon 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,
:
and it is
you come to me, and spent with old age ;
too long life that is your bane. Go, talk to your

if such you
daiigiiter-in-law, or to your daughter,
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
291
OVID
perstat in incepto stolidaeque cupidine palmae 50
in sua fata ruit; neque enim love nata recusal
nee monet ulterius nee iam certamina diflert.
.baud mora, constitviunt diversis partibus anibae
at gracili geminas intendunt staniine telas :
tela iugo vincta est, stamen secernit harundo, 55

inseritur medium radiis subtemen acutis,
quod digiti expediunt, atque inter stamina ductum

percusso feriunt insecti pectine dentes.
utraqne 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 peroussis solibus arcus

inficere ingenti longum curvamine caelum ;
in quo diversi niteant cum mille colores, 65

tamen spectantia lumina fallit:
transitus ipse
usque adeo, quod tangit, idem est tamen ultima ;
distant,
illic et lentum filis inmittitur aurum
et vetus in tela deduciturargumentum.
Cecropia Pallas scopulum Mavortis in area 70
pingit et antiquam de terrae nomine litem.
bis sex caelestes medio love sedibus altis
augusta gravitate sedent ;

sua quemque deorum
inscribit facies : lovis est regalis imago ;
stare deumpelagi 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
challenge, and stupidly confident and eager for

victory, 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 Avork 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'a 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 hill of Mars on the citadel of
Cecrops 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

-
Ovid here confuses the Acropolis with the Areopagus. Sea
Herod., viri. 56; Apollodnrus, iii. 14, 1.
293
OVID
dat galeam capiti, defenditur aegide pectus,
percussamque sua simulat de cuspide terrain 80
edere cum bacis fetum canentis olivae ;
inirarique deos :
operis Victoria finis.
uttamen exemplis intellegat aemula laudis,

quod pretium speret pro tam furialilnis ausis
quattuor in partes certamina quattuor additj 85
clara colore suo, brevibus distincta sigillis :
Threiciam Rhodopen liabet angulus unus et Haemom,

nunc gelidos montes, mortalia corpora quomlam,
nomina summorum sibi qui tribuere deorum ;
altera Pygmaeae fatum miserabile matris 90

pars habet lianc luno victam certamine iussit
:
esse gruem populisque suis indicere belluin ;
pinxit et Antigonen, ausam contendere quondam

cuui magni consorte lovis, quam regia luno
in volucrem nee profuit Ilion illi
vertit, 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,

amplectcns saxoque iacens lacrimare videtur. 100
circuit extremas oleis pacalibus 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
the goddess gives a shield and a sharp-pointed spear^
and a hehnet 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

tlilck 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 darings siie 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 Rhodi j)e 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
Laomcdon, 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-
on the stone, and seems
steps, once their limbs, he lies
to weep. The goddess then wove around her work a
border of j)edceful 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 satjri celatus imagine pulchram 110

Iiippiter inplerit gemino Nycteida fetu,
Amphitryon fuerit, cum te, TirjTithia, cepit,
aureus ut Danaen, Asopida luserit ignis,
Mnemosynen pastor, varius Deoida serpens.
tequoque mutatum torvo, Neptune, iuvenco 115
virgine in Aeolia posuit ; tu visus Enipeus
gignis Aloidas, aries Bisaltida fallis,
comas frugum mitissima mater
et te flava
sensitequum, 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 Evigonen falsa deceperit uva, 12^
ut Saturn us equo geminum Chirona crearit.
ultima pars telae, tenui circumdata limbo,
nexilibus flores hederis habet intertextos.
Non illud Pallas, non illud carpere Livor
possit opus doluit successu flava virago

: 180
et rupit pictas, caelestia crimina, vestes,
utque Cytoriaco radium de monte tenebat,

ter quater Idmoniae frontem percussit Arachnes.
non tulit infelix laqueoque animosa ligavit
guttura pendentem Pallas miserata levavit "
: 135
" vive
atque ita quidem, pende tamen, inproba dixit,
'
lexque eadem poenae, ne sis secura futuri,
"
dicta tuo generi serisque nepotibus esto !
i
beneath the swan's whisks. She added how, in a satyr's
image hidden, Jove filled lovely Antiope with twin
otl'spiing 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, Nej)tune, she jiictured, 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

Araclme 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 nor Envy himself, could find a flaw in
Pallas,
that work. The golden-haired goddess was in-
dignant at her success, and rent tlie 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
post ea discedens sueis Hecateidos herbae
sparsit et extemplo tristi medicamiue tactae
: 140
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 ilia remittit
stamen et antiqu.is exercet aranea telas. 145
Lj'dia tota fremit, Phrygiaeque per oppida facti
rumor it et magnum sei'monibus occupat orbem.
ante suos Niobe thalamos cognoverat illam,
tum cum Maeoniam virgo Sipylumque colebat ;
nee tamen admonita est poena popularis Arachnes, 1 50
cedere caelitibus veibisque minoribus uti.
multa dabaut animos sed enim nee coniugis artes
;
nee genus amborum magnique potentia regni

sic placuere illi, quamvis ea cuncta placerent,
ut sua progenies ; et felicisbima matrum 155

dicta foi'et Niobe, si non sibi visa fuisset.
nam sata Tiresia venturi praescia Manto

per medias fuerat divino concita motu
vaticinata vias " ite
:
Ismenides, 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.
Ecce venit comitum Niobe celeberrima turba l65
vestibus intexto Phrygiis spectabilis auro
et, quantum ira sinit, formosa movensque decoro

cum capite inmissos umerum per utrumque capillos.
298
i
the juices of tiecate'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 tiiem reverently. Many
things gave her pride but in truth neither her hus-
;
band's art nor the high birth of botli and their royal
power and state so pleased her, although all those
did please, as her children did. And Niobe would
have been called most blessed of mothers, had she
not seemed so to herself. For Manto, daughter of
Tiresias, whose eyes could see what was to come,
had fared through the streets of Thebes inspired by
divine impulse, and proclaiming to all she met :
"Women of Thebes, go throng Latona's temple, and

ffive to her and to her children twain incense and
pious prayer, wreathing your hair with laurel. By my

mouth l.atona speaks." They obe}' ; all the Theban
women deck their temples with laurel wreaths and
burn incense in the altar flames, with words of prayer.
But lo comes Niobe, tln-onged 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 eitlier
shoulder. She halts and, drawn up to her full
-2y9
OVID
constitit, utque oculos circumtulit alta superbos,
"
quis furor auditos" inquit "praeponere visis 170
caelestes? aut cur colitur Latona per aras,
numen adhuc sine ture meum est? mihi Tantalus
auctor,
cui licuit soli
superorum tangere mensas;
Pleiadum soror est genetrix mea maximus Atlas
;
est avus, aetherium qui fert cervicibus axem 175 ;
luppiter alter avus ; 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 advert! lumina partem, 180
inmensae spectantur opes accedit eodem
;
digna dea fades hue natas adice septem

;
et totidem iuvenes et mox generosque nurusque !
quaerite nunc, habeat quam nostra superbia causam, I

nescio quoque audete satam Titanida Coeo 185
Latonam praeferre mihi, cui maxima quondam
exiguam sedem pariturae terra negavit !
nee caelo nee hurao nee aquis dea vestra reeepta est:
exsul erat nmndi, donee miserata vagantem
'
Miospita tu terris erras, ego' dixit *in undis 190

instabilemque locum Delos dedit. ilia duorum
facta parens : uteri pars haec est septima nostri.
sum enim neget hoe ?) felixque manebo

felix (quis
(hoc quoque quis dubitet ?) tutam me copia fecit,

:
maior sum quam cui possit Fortuna nocere, 195

multaque ut eripiat, multo mihi plura relinquet.
300
lei.^ht, casts her haughty eyes around and cries :
'
What madness this, to prefer gods whom you have
mly heard of to those whom you have seen ? Or
vhy is Latona worshipped at these altars, while my
I have Tantalus
livinity still waits for incense?
;o my father, the only mortal ever allowed to touch
;he table of the gods my mother is a sister of the

;
Pleiades most mighty Atlas is one grandfather,

;
A'ho supports the vault of heaven on his shoulders;
ny other grandsire is Jove himself, and I boast him

IS my father-in-law as well. The Phrygian nations
liold 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, togetiier with its people,
acknowledffe 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 cai:se I have for pride ; 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 spot for
bringing forth her children. Neither heaven nor
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
:
I, on the sea,' and gave her

the land ;
a place that
stood never still. And there she bore two children,
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 P'ortune to harm ;
tnough she should take many from me, still many

more will she leave to me. My blessings have
301
OVID
excessere metum mea iain bona, fingite demi
huic aliquid populo natoium posse nieorum :
non tamen ad mimeruni redigar spoliata duorum,

Latonae turbam, qua quantum distat ab orba ? 200
ite — sat est — propere sacris laurumque capillis
ponite !
" —deponunt et sacra infecta relinqiiunt,
quodque licet, tacito venerantur murmure iiumen.
Indignata dea est siimmoqiie in vertice C3'ntlii
talibus est dictis gemina cum prole loouta : 205
" en
ego vestra parens, vobis animosa creatis,
et nisi lunoni nulli cessura dearum,
an dea sim, dubitor perqiie omnia saecula ciiltis
arceor, o nati, nisi vos succurritis, aris.

nee dolor hie solus ; diro convicia facto 210
Tantalis adiecit vosque est postponere natis
ansa suis et me, quod in ipsam reccidat, orbam
dixit et exhibuit linguam scelerata paternam."
adiectura preces erat his Latona relatis :
" desine " Phoebus " mora

!
ait, poenae longa querella
est!" 215
dixitidem 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
S02
i
banished fear. Even suppose that some part of this
tribe of children could be taken from me, not even
so despoiled would 1 be reduced to the number
of two, Latona's throng, with which how far is she
from childlessness ? Away with you, hasteii, you
have sacrificed enouijh, and take off those laurels
from your hair." They take off the wreaths and
leave the sacrifice unfinishedbut, as they may, they
;
stillworship the goddess with unspoken words.

'Ihe goddess was angry, and on the top of Cynthus
she thus addressed Apollo and Diana " Lo, I, your :
mother, proud of your birth and willing to yield

place to no goddess save Juno oidy, have had my I
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 ijisult 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 ot her wrongs Latona would
have added prayers but here Phoebus cried " Have
; :
"
done a long complaint is but delay of punishment
! !
Phoebe said the same. 1 hen, 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, Ismenus, who was his mother's first-born son,
SOS
OVID
prima suae fuerat, dum certum flectit in orbem 225
quadripedis cursus spumantiaque ora coeicet,
" ei mihi " conclamat
!
medioque in pectoie fixa
tela gerit frenisque manu moriente remissis
in latus a dextro paullatim defluit armo.
proximus audito sonitu per inane pharetrae 230

frena dabat Sipylus, veluti cum praescius imbris
nube fugit visa pendentiaque undique rector
carbasa deducit, ne qua levis effluat aura :
frena taraen dantem non evitabile telum
consequitur, summaque tremens cervice sagitta 235

haesitj et exstabat nudum de gutture ferrum ;
ille, ut erat, pronus, per crura admissa iubasque

volvitur et calido tellurern sanguine foedat.
Phaedimus infelix et aviti nominis heres
Tantalus, ut solito finem inposuere lal)orij 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

membra solo posuere, simul suprema iacentes
lumina versarunt, animam simul exhalaruut.
adspicit Alphenor laniataque pectora plangens
advolat, ut gelidos conplexibus adlevet artus,
inque pio cadit officio; nam Delius illi 250
intima fatifero rupit praecordia fei*ro.
quod simul eductum est, pars et pulmonis in hamis
eruta cumque anima cruor est efFusus in auras.
at non intoiisum simplex Damasichthona vulnus
304
was guiding his charger's course round the curving
" Ah
track and pulling hard on the foaming bit,
me!" he cried, and, with an arrow fixed in his
breast, he dropped the reins from his dying hands
and slowly sank sidewise down to the earth over his
horse's right shoulder. Next, hearing through the
void air the sound of the rattling quiver, Sipylus
gave full rein as when a shipmaster, conscious of
;
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 quivering in his neck ; while the iron
point showed from his throat in front. He, leaning
forward, as he was, pitched over the galloping
horse's mane and legs, and stained the ground with
hiswarm blood. Unhappy Phaedimus and Tantalus,
who bore his grandsire's name, when they had
wonted task had passed to the youth-
finished their
ful exerciseof 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
;
they fell writhing in pain to the ground together as

;
they lay they moved their dying eyes together they

;
breathed their Alphenor saw them die, and

last.
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 one wound was not all that pierced
youthful Damasichthon. He was struck where the
SOB
L
OVID
adficit : ictus erat, qua crus esse incipit et qua 255
mollia nervosus facit internodia poples.
dumque manu temptat trahei'e exitiabile telum,
altera periugulum pennis tenus acta sagitta est.
expulit banc sanguis seque eiaculatus in altum
emicat et longe terebrata jjrosilit 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
;
vulnere, non alte percusso corde sagitta,

Fama mali 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 Ampliion ferro per pectus adacto

finierat moriens pariter cum luce dolorem,
heu quantum haec Niobe Niobe distabat ab ilia,
!
quae mode Latois populum submoverat aris

et mediam tulerat giessus resupina per m-bem 275
invidiosa suis at nunc miseranda vel hosti
;
!
corporibus gelidis incumbit et ordine nullo

oscula dispensat natos suprema per omnes ;
a quibus ad caelimi liventia bracchia tollens

" 280
pascere, crudelis, nostro, Latona, dolore,
pascere" ait "satiaque meo tua pectora luctu !
" "
corque ferum satia per funera septem
'
dixit, !
efferor exsulta victrixque inimica triumpha

: !
cur autem victrix ? miserae mihi plura supersunt,

"
quam tibi felici ; post tot quoque funera vinco ! 285
* Line 282 bracketed by Ehsald.
806
lower leg just begins, and where the sinews of tiie
hough give a soft spot and while he was trying to
;
tlraw out the fatal shaft with his hand, a second

arrow was driven clear to the feathers through his
throat. The blood drove it forth and gushing out
spurted high in air in a long, slender stream.
Ilioneus 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 shaft. 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 ah-eady driven a dagger through his heart,

and so in dying had ended his grief and life together.
Alas,how different now 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 conteiruit omnes :
ilia malo est audax. — stabant cum vestibus atris

ante toros fratrum demisso crine sorores ;
e quibus una trahrns haerentia viscere tela 2.Q0

iiiposito fratri moribunda relanguit ore ;
altera solari miseram conata parentem

conticuit subito diiplicataque vulnere caeco est.
oraque compressit, nisi "postquam spiritus ibat.^

haec frustra fugiens coUabitur, ilia sorori 295
inmoritur latet haec, illam trepidare videres.
;
sexque datis leto diversaque vulnera passis

ultima restabat, 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 imagine vivum. 305
ipsa quoque interius cum duro lingua palato
congelat, et venae desistunt posse moveri ;
nee fleet] cervix nee bracchia reddere motus

nee 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 lacrimas etiam nunc marmora manant.

Tum vero cuncti manifestam numinis iram
femina virque timent eultuque inpensius omnea
'
Line £94 bracketed by Ehwald.
808
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. A second, 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 one ;
hid, and one stood trembling in full view. And

now six had suffered various wounds and died the ;
last remained. The mother, covering her with her

croucliing body and her sheltering 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 prayed, she for whom she
prayed felldead. Now does the childless mother
sit down amid the lifeless bodies of her sons, her
daughters, and her husband, in stony grief. Her

hair stirs not in the breeze ; her face is pale and
bloodless, and her eyes are fixed and staring in her
sad face. There is nothing alive in the picture.
Her very tongue is silent, frozen to her mouth's roof,
and her veins can move no longer her neck cannot
;
bend nor her arms move nor her feet go. Within
also her vitals are stone. But still she weeps 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 weeps ; and even to this day tears trickle
from the marble.
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

309
OVID
magna gemelliparae venerantur numina divae ;
SI 5
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 loctimque

prodi.gio notum. nam me iam
grandior aevo 321
inpatiensque viae genitor deducere lectos

iusserat inde boves gentisque illius emiti
ipse ducem dederat, cum quo dum pascua lustre,

ecce lacu medio sacrorum nigra favilla 325
ara vetus stabat tremulis circumdata cannis.
'
'
restitit et pavido faveas mihi 1 raurmure dixit
'
ego murmure
'
dux raeus, et simili faveas ! dixi.
Naiadum Faunine foret tamen ara rogabam

indigenaene dei, cum talia rettulit hospes 330 :
'non hac, o iuvenis, niontanum numen in ara est;

ilia suam vocat banc, cui quondam regia couiunx
orbem quam vix enatica Delos

interdixit,
orautem accepit turn, cum levis insula nabat ;
illic incumbens cum Palladis arbore palmae 835

edidit invita geminos Latona noverca.
hinc quoque lunonem fugisse puerpera fertur
inque suo portasse sinu, duo numina, natos.

iamque Chimaeriferae, cum sol gravis ureret arva,
Snibus in Lyciae longo dea fessa labore 340
310
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 tlie humble estate of the men concerned,
but it is remarkable. 1
myself saw the pool and the
place made famous by the wonder. For mv father,
who at tliat time was getting on in years anil 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 1 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 1 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 acce})t at her prayer, when it was an
island, lightly floating on the sea. There, reclining
on the palm and Pallas' tree,^ 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, can*yiiig 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
^
i.e. the olive.
811
OVID
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
pressitj ut hauriret gelidos potura liquores.

rustica turba vetat dea sic adfata vetantis
; :
"quid prohibetis aquis ? usus communis aqu.irum est

nee solem proprium natura nee aera fecit 3501
nee tenues undas ad publica munera veni ;
:
quae tamen ut detis, supplex peto. non ego nostros

abluere hie artus lassataque membra parabani,
sed relevare sitim. caret os umore loquentis,
et fauces arent, vixque est via vocis in illis. 355|
haustus aquae mihi nectar erit, vitamque fatebor
accepisse simul vitain dederitis in unda.
:
hi quoque vos moveant, qui nostro bracchia tendunt

parva sinu," et casu tendebant bracchia nati.
quem non blanda deae potuissent verba movere ?
hi tamen orantem perstant prohibere minasque, 36ll

ni procul abscedat, conviciaque insuper addunt.
nee satis est, ipsos etiam pedibusque manuque
turbavere lacus imoque e gurgite moUem
hue illuc limum saltu movere maligno. 36'
distulit ira sitim ; neque enim iam filia Coei
supplicat indignis nee dicere sustinet ultra
rerba minora dea tollensque ad sidera palmas
" aeternum " " "
stagno dixit vivatis in isto !
312
sun's and parched with thirst
heat and the ;
children had drained her breasts dry of

hungry
milk. She chanced to see a lake of no great
size down in a deep vale ; some rustics were there
and
gathering bushy osiers, with fine swamp-grass
rushes of the marsh. Latona came to the water's
her
edge and kneeled on the ground to quench
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 toany, nor the air, nor soft water. This
right I seek ; and yet I beg you
common 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
of moisture, my throat is parched, and my voice
dry
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 you me if
let me drink. These children too, let them touch

your hearts, who from my bosom stretch out their
little arms." And chanced that the children did
it
stretch out their arms. Who would not have been

touched by the goddess' gentle words Yet 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
;
" Live then for ever
her hands to heaven, she cried :
318
OVID
eveniunt optata deae iiivat esse sub undis
: 370
et modo tota cava siibmergere membra palude,
nunc proferre caput, summo modo gurgite nare,
saepe super ripam stagni consistere, saepe
in gelidos resilire lacus, sed nunc quoque turpes
exercent linguas pulsoque pudore,
litibus 375
quamvis sint sub aqua, sub aqua maledicere temptant.
vox quoque iam rauca est, inflataque colla tumescuut,
i{)saque dilatant patulos convicia rictus ;
A
turpe caput tendunt, colla intercepta videntur,
spina viret, venter, pars maxima corporis, albet, 380
" '
liiuosoque novae saliunt in gurgite ranae

Sic ubi nescio quis Lycia de gente virorum
rettulit exitium, satyri reminiscitur alter,
quern Tritoniaca Latous harundine victum

"
adfecit poena. quid me mihi detrahis ?" inqiiit;
"a piget, a non est " clamabat " tibia tanti." 386
I !
clamanti cutis est summos direpta per artus,

nee quicquam nisi vulnus erat; cruor uudique manat,
detectique patent nervi, trepidaeque sine ulla
pelle micant venae ; salientia viscera possis 390
et perlucentes numerare in pectore fibras.
ilium ruricolae, silvarum numina, fauni
et satyri fratres et tunc quoque earns Olympus
et nymphae flerunt, et quisquis montibus illis
lanigerosque greges armentaque bucera pavit. 395

fertilis inmaduit madefactaque terra caducas
concepit lacrimas ac venis perbibit imis ;
quas ubi fecit aqiiam, vacuas emisit in auras.

314
in that pool." the goddess prayed.
It fell out as 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
pool.'" /
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 vou
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 Avith 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
stillloved, 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 : banc tunc quoque dieitur unus
flesse Pelops
umeroque, suas a pectore postquam
deduxit vestes, ebur ostendisse sinistro. 405
concolor hie 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

etnondum torvae Calydon invisa Dianae 415
Orchomenosque ferax et nobilis acre Corinthus
Messeneque ferox Patraeque humilesque Cleonae

et Nelea Pylos neque adhuc Pittheia Troezen,
quaeqiie urbes aliae bimari clauduntur ab Isthmo

exteriusque sitae bimari spectantur ab Isthmo ; 420
credere quis posset? solae cessastis Athenae.
obstitit officio bellum, subvectaque ponto
barbara Mopsopios terrebant agmina muros.
Threicius Tereus haec auxiliaribus armis
fiiderat et clarum vincendo nomen habebat ; 425
316
I
within sloping banks ran down quickly to the sea,
its
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, tliey say that the gods
joined the parts together again they found all the
;
others, but one part was lacking where the neck and
upper aiTu 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 Orchonienos 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-
—
tweenits two seas.^ Butofall cities whocould believe
it ? —
you, Athens, alone did nothing. War hindered
this friendly service, and barbaric hordes from over-
sea held the walls of Mopsopia^ in alarm. Now Tereus
of Thrace had put these to flight with his relieving
troops, and by the victory had a great name. And
*
That is, the Peloponnese and Northern Greece.
9 Athens, from King: Mnpsopiuit.
SI"?
OVID
quern sibi Pandion opibusque virisque potentem
et genus a magno ducentem forte Gradivo
conubio Procnes iunxit non pronuba luno,
;
non Hymenaeus adest, non illi Gratia lecto :
Eumenides tenuere faces de funere raptas, 430

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, ;

435
quaque data est claro Pandione nata tyranno
quaque erat ortus Itys, festum iussere vocari :
usque adeo latet utilitas.

Jam tempora Titan
qiiinque per autumnos
repetiti duxerat antii,
"
cum blaiidita viro Procne ** si gratia dixit 440
" ulla mea me visendam mitte sorori,
est, vel
vel soior hue veniat redituram tempore parvo
:
promittes socero ; magni mihi muneris instar

germanam vidisse dabis." iubet ille carinas
in freta deduci veloque et remige portus 445
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 : 450
ecce venit magno dives Philomela paratu,
divitiorforma quales audire solemus
;
naidas et dryadas mediis incedere silvis,

S18
since he was strong in wealth and in men, and traced
his descent, as it happened, fi-om 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, tliey made a festival even so
:
is our true advantage hidden.
Now Titan through five autumnal seasons had

brought round the revolving years, when Procne
" If I have found
coaxingly to her husband said :
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
lo1 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 cultus similesque paratus.
illis
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 comitum corrumpere curam
illi
nutricisque fidem nee non ingentibus ipsam

sollicitare datis totumque inpendere regnum
aut rapere et saevo raptam defendere bello;
quod non effreno captus amore

et nihil est, 465
nee capiunt inclusas pectora flammas.
ausit,
iamque moras male fert cupidoque revertitur ore

ad mandata Procnes et agit sua vota sub ilia,
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 lacerti&

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
ilia
accipit, et quotiens amplectitur parentem,
esse parens vellet neque enim minus inpius esset.
:
320
in the deep woods, only one should give to them
if
refinement and apparel like hers. The moment he
saw the maiden Tereus was inHamed with love, quick
as if one should set fire to ripe grain, or dry leaves, or
hay stored away in the mow. Her 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 siiould, 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 nigiit 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 coaxes him
to let her her sister by her own welfare (yes,
visit ;
and against too) she urges her prayer.

it, 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'.q

•ylfê
— indeed, if he were, his intent would be no
321
OVID
vincitur ambarum
genitor prece gaudet agitque
:
ilia patri
grates et successisse duabiis
id putat infelix, quod erit lugubre duabus. 485
lam labor exiguus Phoebo restabat, eqiiique
pulsabant pedibus spatium declivis Olsinpi :
regales epulae mensis et Bacchus in auro

ponitur; hinc placido dantur sua corpora somno.
at rex Odrysius, quamvis secessit, in ilia 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 : 49.*^
" hajic
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 soUicitae 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 !
raandabat pariterque suae dabat oscula natae,

et lacrimae mites inter mandata cadebant; 505
utque fide pignus dextras utriusque poj)oscit
inter seque datas iunxit natamque nepotemque
absentes pro se memori rogat ore salutent;
supremumque vale pleno singultibus ore
vix dixit timuitque suae praesagia mentis. 610
822
less impious. The father yields to the prayers of
both. The girl is filled with joy ; she tlianks her
father and, poor unhappy wretch, she deems that
success for both sisters which is to prove a woeful
happenin<:f 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
" Dear
said :
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, 1 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 tliis
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 woi'ds 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 lepulsa est,
" vicimus " "
exclamat, mecum mea vota feniiitur
! !"
exsultatque et vix animo sua gaudia differt

barbarus et nusquam lumen detorquet ab ilia, 515
non aiiter quam cum pedibus praedator obuiicis
deposuit nido leporem lovis ales in alto;

nulla fuga est capto, spectat sua praemia raptor.
lamque iter effectum, iamque in sua litora fessis

puppibus exierant, cum rex Pandione natam 520
in stabula alta trahit, silvis obscura vetustis,
atque ibi pallentem trepidanique et cuncta timentem

et iam cum lacrimis, ubi sit germana, rogantem
includit fassusque nefas et virginem etunam
vi superat frustra clamato saepe parente, 525
saepe sorore sua, magnis super omnia divis.
ilia tremit velut agna pavens, quae saucia cani
ore excussa lupi nondum sibi tuta videtur,
utque columba suo madefactis 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, "nee te mandata parentis
cum lacrimis movere piis nee cura sororis 535
nee mea virginitas nee coniugialia iura?
omnia turbasti paelex ego facta sororis,
;
tu geminus coniunx, hostis mihi debita Procne '
324
As soon as Philomela was safely embarked upon
the painted ship and the sea was churned beneath
the oars and tlie land was left behind, Tereus ex-
claimed :
" won in my ship I carry the ful-
I have !
filment of prayers!" The barbarous fellow

my
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 oflPandion'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 itsplumage, still palpitates with fright, still
fears those greedy claws 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, sister's my

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 must be my enemv. Why do you not
325
OVID
quin animam banc, ne quod facinus tibi, perfide,restetj
eripis atque utinam fecisses ante nefandos

? 54>0
concubitus vacuas babuissem criminis umbras,

:
sitamen haec superi cernunt, si numina divum

sunt aliquid^ si non perierunt omnia mecum^
quandocumque mibi poenas dabis !

ipsa pudore
proiecto tua facta loquar : si copia detur, 545

in populos veniam ;
si silvis clausa tenebor,
in])lebo silvas et conscia saxa movebo ;
audiet haec aether et si deus ullus in illo est!"

Talibus ira feri postqnam commota tyranni
nee minor hac metus est, causa stimulatus utraque,
quo fuit accinctus, vagina bberat 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 gernianam quaerit, at ille
326
take my life, may be left undone, you
that no crime
traitor? Aye, would that you had killed me beioi-e
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. 1 will myself

east 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 wliich was hanging
and
by his side in its sheath, caught her by the hair,
twisting her arms behind her back,
he bound them
fast. At sight of the sword Philomela gladly ofiered
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 againand 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, 565
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. 570
Signa deus bis sex acto lustraverat anno ;
quid faciat Philomela ? fugam custodia claudit,
structa rigent solido stabulorum moenia saxo,
OS mutum facti caret indice. grande doloris
ingenium est, miserisque venit sollertia rebus : 575
stamina barbarica suspendit callida tela
purpureasque notas filis intexuit albis,

indicium sceleris perfectaque tradidit uni,
;
utque ferat dominae, gestu rogat ; ilia rogata

pertulit ad Procnen nee seit, quid tradat in illis. 580
evolvit vestes saevi matrona tyranni
fortunaeque suae carmen miserabile legit
et (mirum potuisse) silet dolor ora repressit,
:
verbaque quaerenti satis

indignantia linguae
defuerunt, nee flere vacat, sed fasque nefasque 585
confusura ruit poenaeque in imagine tota est.
Tempus erat, quo sacra sclent trieterica Bacchi
Sithoniae celebrare nurus :

(nox conscia sacris,
nocte sonat Rhodope tinnitibus aeris acuti)
nocte sua est egressa domo regina deique 590
ritibus instruitur furialiaque accipit arnia;
S28
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. Tlien 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 late, 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
isno room for tears, but she hurries on to confound
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

cymbals so by night the queen goes forth from her
;
house, equips herself for the rites of the god and

329
OVID
vite caput tegitur, lateri cervina sinistro
vellera dependent, umero levis incubat hasta.
concita per silvas turba comitante siuiiuni
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 sacroruni pignora demit
oiaque develat miserae pudibunda sororis
amplexumque petit; sed n^n attoUere contra 605
sustJHet haec oculos paelex sibi visa sororia
deiectoque in humum vultu iurare volenti

testarique decs, per vim sibi dedecus illiid
inlatum, pro voce manus fuit. ardet et iram

non capit ipsa suam Procne fletumque sororis 6l0
"
corripiens "non est lacrimis hoc inquit "agendum,
sed ferro, sed si
quid habes, quod vincere ferrum
possit. inomne nefas ego me, germana, paravi :
aut ego, cum facibus regalia tecta creinabo,

artificem mediis inmittam Terea flammis 6l5
aut linguam atque oculos et quae tibi membra
pudorem
abstulerunt ferro rapiam aut per vulnera mille
sontem animam expellam !
magnum, quodcumque
paravi ;
quid sit, adtuic dubito."

330
rions the array of frenzy her head was wreatlied 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 1" 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
wronired her. And, with her fîce 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 contam her own wrath, and chiding
" This is no time for
her sister's weeping, she said :
tears, but for the sword, for something stronger than

the sword, if you have such a thing. 1 am prepared
for any crime, my sister ;

either to fire this palace
with a torch, and to cast Tereus, the author of our
wronjrs, into the fiaminsr 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. I 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 nee plura locuta
!
triste parat facinus tacitaque exaestuat ira.

ut tamen accessit natus 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 ' pietate labare

sensit, ab hoc iterum est ad vultus versa sororis (i30
"
inque vicem spectans ambos "cur admovet inquit
" alter
blanditias, rapta silet altera lingua ?
quam vocat hie matrenij cur non vocat ilia sororein ?
cui sis nupta, vide, Pandione nata marito !
degeneras ? scelus est pietas in coniuge Tereo." 635

nee 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

nee 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, 6i5
pars veribus stridunt ; manant penetralia tabo.
His adhibet coniunx ignarum Terea mensis
sacrum mentita, quod uni
et patrii moris
'
mentem cod. Oiofani: matrem iV^. lliinsius.
332
Wliile Prociie was thus speaking Itys came into
tiis mother's
presence. His coming suggested what
5he could do, and regarding him with pitiless eyes,
" "
she said :
Ah, how hke your father you are !
Saying no more, she began to plan a terrible deed and

boiled with inward rage. Butwhen the boy came up to
iier and greeted his mother, put his little arms around
fier neck and kissed her in his winsome, boyish way,
ber mother-heart was touched, her wrath fell away,
ind 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 why does she
mother,
not call me sister ? Remember whose wife you
are, daughter of Pandion Will you be faithless to
I
yôur 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 sufficed to
Slay the laa ; tjut rhilomela 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
comites famulosque removit.
fas sit adire viro, M
ipse sedens solio Tereus sublimis avito 650
vescitur inque suam sua viscera congerit alvum,
J
" "
tantaque nox animi est, Ityn hue accersite dixit, I
dissimulare nequit crudelia gaudia Procne
iamque suae cupiens exsistere nuntia cladis 654

"
"intus habes, quern poscis ait :
circumspicit ille
atque, ubi sit, quaeritquaerenti iterumque vocanti,

;
sicut erat sparsis furiali caede capillis,
prosiluit Ityosque caput Philomela cruentum

misit in ora patris nee tempore maluit uUo
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 gestit,
flet modo seque vocat bustum miserabile nati, 66^
nunc sequitur nudo genitas Pandione ferro.
corpora Cecropidum pennis pendere putares :
pendebant pennis. quarum petit altera silvas,

altera teeta subit, neque adhuc de pectore caedis I
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
sacred feast after their ancestral fashion, of which
Dnly a husband may partake, and removes all
attendants and slaves. So Tereus, sitting alone in
his higli 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
" You
bloody news, she says: 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 fatlier'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,
hoopoe, with the look of one armed for war.
3^5
OVID
Hie dolor ante diem longaeque extrema senectae
tempora Tartareas Pandiona misit ad umbras. 676
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 Tliracesque 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 nimiumque domestiea vento,
illi
" et merito " dixit "

!
; quid enim mea tela reliqui,
saevitiam et vires iramque animosque minaces,
admovique preces, quarum me dedecet usus ?

apta mihi vis est : nubila pello,
vi tristia 690
vi freta concutio nodosaque robora verto
induroque iiives 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 nubibus ignes
elisi ;
idem ego, cum subii convexa foramina terrae
supj)osuique ferox imis mea terga cavernis,

manes totumque tremoribus orbem.
sollicito
hac ope debueram thalamos petiisse, socerque 700

non orandus erat mihi sed faciendus Erechtheus."
336
This woe shortened the days of old Pandion and
senthim down to the shades of Tartarus before old
age came to its full term. His sceptre and the
Erechtheus, equally famed for
state's control fell to
justice and prowess in arms. Four sons were

for
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 i 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 norlh-wiiul'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 brothers in the open sky for that is my battle-
—
ground I struggle with them so fiercely that the
mid-heavens thunder with our meeting 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
iny father-in-law, but made him to be so." With

*
Since the home of Boreas was in the north, he was
included in the hatced felt at Athens for Tereus and the
Thracians.
««7
OVID
haec Boreas aut his non Tnteriora locutus
excussit pennas, quarum iactatibus omnis
adflata est tell us
latumque perhorruit aequor,
pulvereamque trahens per summa cacumina pallam
verrit humum pavidamque metu caligiiie tectus 706
Orithyian amans fulvis amplectitur alis.
dum volat, arserunt agitati fortius igues,
nee prius aerii cursus suppressithabenas,
quam Ciconum tenuit populos et moenia raptor. 710
illicet gelidi coniunx Actaea tyranni
et genetrix facta est, partus enixa gemejlos,
cetera qui matris, pennas genitoris haberent.
non tamen has una memorant cum corpore natas,
barbaque dum rutilis aberat subnixa capillis, 715
inplumes Calaisqiie 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 7:^0
per mare non notum prima petiere carina.

these words or others no less boisterous, Boreas shook
his wings, whose mighty flutterings sent a blast over
all \he 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 twin 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. y^'
5S9
BOOK VII
LIBER VII
lAsTQVE fretumMinyae Pagasaea puppe secabant,

perpetuaque trahens inopem sub nocte senectam
Phiiieus visus erat, iuvenesque Aquilone creati
ore fugarant,
virgineas voliicres raiseri senis
multaque perpessi claro sub lasone tandem 5
contigerant rapidas limosi Phasidos undas.

dumque adeunt regem Phrixeaque vellera poscunt
horrenda laborum,
lexque datur Minyis magnorum
concipit iiiterea validos Aeetias ignes
et luctata diu, postquam ratione furorem 1
vincere non poterat,

" Medea, repugnas
frustra, :
"
nescio quis deus obstat," ait, mirumque, nisi hoc est,
aut aliquid ceite simile huic, quod amare vocatur.
nam cur iussa iiimium mihi dura videntur ?
patris
sunt quoque dura nimis cur, quem mode denique
! vidi,
ne pereat, timeo ? quae tanti causa timoris ? 1 6
excute virgineo conceptas peetore flammas,

si potes, infelix si possem, sanior essem
! !
sed gravat invitam nova vis, aliudque cupido,

mens aliud suadet video meliora proboque,
: 20
deteriora sequor. quid in hospite, regia virgo,
S*2
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 expe-
rienced many adventures under their illustriouo
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. Why 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 yon, a
343
OVID
ureris et thalamos alieni concipis orbis?
haec quoque terra potest,quod ames,dare. vivat an ille
occidat, in dis est. vivat tamen idque precari

!
vel sine amore licet :

quid enim commisit lason ? 25
quern, nisi crudelem, non tangat lasonis aetas
et genus et virtus? quern non, ut cetera desint,

ore inovere potest ? certe mea pectora movit.
at nisi opem tulero, taurorum adflabitur ore
concurretque suae segeti, tellure creatis 30
hostibus, aut avido dabitur fera praeda draconi.

hoc ego si patiar, turn me de tigride natam,
turn ferrum et scopulos gestare in corde fatebor '
cur non et specto pereuntem oculosque videndo

conscelero ? cur non tauros exhortor in ilium >
35
terrigenasque feros insopitumque draconem ?

di meliora velint quamquam non ista precanda,
!
sed facienda mihi. —

prodamne ego regna parentis,
atque ope nescio quis servabitur advena nostra,
ut per me sospes sine me det lintea ventis 40
virque sit alterius, poenae Medea relinquar?
sifaeere hoc aliamve potest praeponere nobis,

occidat iiigratus sed non is vultus in illo,
!
non ea nobilitas animo est, ea gratia formae, 4

ut timeam fraudem meritique oblivia nostri. 45
et dabit ante fidem, cogamque in foedera testes
esse deos. quid tuta times? accingere et omnem

pelle moram tibi
: se semper debebit lason,
te face sollemni iunget sibi perque Pelasgas
344
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VII
royal maiden, burn for a stranger, and think upon

marriajje 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 r Who that is not heartless would
not be moved by Jason'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 tiie greedy dragon. If I permit this,
then shall I confess that 1 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 fortfend !
and yet that is not matter for my prayers, but for my

deeds. Shalll then betray my fatlier'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
witnesses of our troth. 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
1
OVID
servatrix urbes matrum celebrabere turba. 50
ergo ego germanam fratremque patremque deosque
et natal e solum ventis ablata relinquam?
iiempe pater saevus, nempe est mea barbara tellus,
frateradhuc infans stant mecum vota sororis,
;
niaximus intra me deus est non magna relinquam,

!
magna sequar titulum servatae pubis Achivae

: 5(
notitiamque soli melioris et oppida, quorum

hiequoque fama viget, cultusque artesque locorum,
quemque ego cum rebus, quas totus possidet orbis,
Aesoniden mutasse velim, quo coniuge felix 60
et dis cara ferar et vertice sidera tangam.
quid,quod neseio qui mediis concurrere in undis
dicuntur montes ratibiisque inimica Charybdis
nunc sorbere fretum, nunc reddere, cinctaque saevis
Scylla rapax canibus Siculo latrare profundo ! 65
nempe tenens, quod amo, gremioque in lasonis

haerens
per freta longa ferar nil ilium amplexa verebor
;
aut, siquid metuam, metuam de coniuge solo. —

coniugiumne vocas speciosaque nomina culpae
inponis, Medea, tuae ? — quin adspice, quantum 70
"
adgrediare nefas, et, dum licet, effuge crimen !
dixit, et ante oculos rectum pietasque pudorque

iam terga Cupido.
constiterant, et victa dabat
Ibat ad antiquas Hecates Perseidos aras,
quas nemus umbrosum secretaque silva tegebat, 75

et iam fortis erat, pulsusque recesserat ardor,
cum videt Aesoniden exstinctaque flamma reluxit.
S46
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 wliat 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
nothing or if I fear at all, I
shall fear ;
shall fear for my husband only. But do you call it

marriage, Medea, and do you give fair-seeming names
to your fault r 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, fill il 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 oi Aeson and the dying flame
347
OVID
erubuere genae, totoque recanduit ore,
utque solet ventis alimenta adsumere, quaeque
parva sub inducta latuit scintilla favilla 80
crescere et in veteres agitata
resurgere vires,
sic iam amor, iam quem languere putares,
lenis
ut vidit iuvenem, sp-^cê praesentis inarsit.
et casu solito formobior Aesone natus
ilia luce fuit :
posses ignoscere amanti. 85
spectat et in vultu veluti turn denique viso
lumina fixa tenet nee se mortalia demens
ora videre putat nee se declinat ab illo ;
ut vero coepitque loqui

dextramque prehendit
hospes et auxilium submissa voce rogavit oo
promisitque torum, lacrimis ait ilia profusis :
"
quid faciam, video non ignorantia veri
:
decipiet, sed amor, servabere munere nostro,

"
servatus promissa date !
per sacra triformis
deae lucoque foret quod numen in illo
ille 95
perque patrem soceri cernentem cuncta futuri
eventusque suos et tanta pericula iurat:
creditus accepit cantatas protinus herbas
edidicitque usum laetusque in tecta recessit.

Postera depulerat Stellas Aurora micantes : 100
conveniunt populi sacrum Mavortis in arvum
consistuntque iugis ; medio rex ipse resedit
agmine purpureus sceptroque insignis eburno.
ecce adamanteis Vulcanum naribus efflant
aeripedes tauri, tactaeque vaporibus herbae 105
ardent, utque solent pleni resonare camini^
318
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 tears and 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

upatthetouchof theirhot breath. And as full furnaces
S49
OVID
aut ub. terrena silices fornace soluti
concipiunt ignem liquidarum adspergine aquarum,
pectora sic intus clausas volventia flammas
gutturaque usta sonant; tamen illis Aesone natus
obvius it. vert ere truces venientis ad ora Ill|
terribiles vultus praefixaque cornua ferro
pulvereumque solum pede pulsavere bisulco
fumificisque locum mugitibus inpleverunt.
deriguere metu Minyae ; subit ille nee ignes 115i
sensit anhelatos tantum medicamina possunt,
;
pendulaque audaci mulcet palearia dextra

suppositosque iugo pondus grave cogit aratri
ducere et insuetum ferro proscindere campum :
mirantur Colchi, Minyae clamoribus augent 120

adiciuntque animos. galea turn sumit aena
vipereos dentes et aratos spargit in agros.
semina mollit humus valido praetincta veneno,
et crescunt fiuntque sati nova corpora dentes,
utque hominis speciem materna sumit in alvo 125

perque suos intus numeros conponitur infans
nee nisi maturus communes exit in auras,
sic, ubi visceribus gravidae telluris imago
eff'ecta est hominis, feto consurgit in arvo,
quodque magis mirum est, simul edita concutit arma.
quos ubi viderunt praeacutae cuspidis hastas 131

in caput Haemonii iuvenis torquere parantis,
demisere metu vultumque animumque Pelasgi ;
ipsaquoque extimuit, quae tutum fecerat ilium,

utque peti vidit iuvenem tot ab hostibus unum, 135
S50
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 facesand sharp horns tipped with iron, pawed
the dusty earth with their cloven feet, and filled the
place with their fiery bellowings.
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 that had never felt steel before.
field
The Colchians amazed but the Minyans shouted
are ;
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 sown 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 eartli, 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

S5I
OVID
palluit et subito sinesanguine frigida sedit,
neve parum valeant a se data gramina, carmen
auxiliare canit secretasque advocat
artes^
ille gravem medios silicem iaculatus in hostes
a se depulsum IVrartem conveitit in 140
ipsos :
terrigenae pereunt per mutua vulnera fratres
civilique cadunt acie. gratantur Achivi

victoreniqiie tenent avidisque amplexibus haerent.
tu quoque vietorem conplecti, barbara, velles :
obstitit incepto pudor, at fuisses *

146
conplexa
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.
hunc postquam sparsit Lethaei gramine suci
verbaque ter dixit placidos facientia somnos,
quae mare turbatum, quae concita flumina sistunt,
somnus in ignotos oculos sibi venit, et auro 155
heros Aesonius potitur spolioqne
superbus
muneris auctorem secum, spolia altera, portans
victor lolciacos tetigit cum coniuge portus.
Haemoniae matres pro dona receptis
gnatis
grandaevique ferunt patres congestaque flamma l60
tura liquefaciunt, inductaque cornibus aurum
victima vota litat, sed abest gratantibus Aeson
^
ZAne 145 bracketed by Ehvxtld.
S52
suddenly cold and bloodless. And, lest the

sat there
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 taskof 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 ot
lolchos.
The Thessalian mothers and aged fathers bring
gifts inhonour 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
35S
OVID
iam propior leto fessusque senilibus annis,
cum sic Aesonides "o cui debere salutem
:
confiteor, coniunx, quamquam mihi ciincta dedisti

excessitque fidem meritorum summa tuoium, l66
si tamen hoc possunt (quid enim noii carmina
possunt ?)
deme meis annis et demptos adde parenti " !
nee teiiuit lacrimas mota est pietate rogantis,

:
dissimilemque animum subiit Ateta relictus 170 ;

"
nee tamen adfectus talis eonfessa "quod inquit
"excidit ore tuo, coniunx, scelus ? ergo ego cuiquam
posse tuae videor spatium transcribere vitae ?
nee sinat hoc Hecate, nee tu ])t'tis aequa ; sed isto,
quod petis, experiar mains dare munus, lason. 175
artemea soceri longum temptabimus aevum,
non annis revoeare tuis, modo diva triformis
adiuvet et praesens ingentibus adnuat ausis."
Tres aberant noctes, ut cornua tota coirent
efficerentque orbem ; postquam plenissinia fulsit 180
ae solida terras spectavit imagine luna,
egreditur tectis vestes induta reeinctas,
nuda pedem, nudos umeris infusa capillos,
fertque vagos mediae per muta silentia noctis
ineomitata gradus homines volucresque ferasque 185
:
solverat alta quies, nullo cum murmure saepes,^

inmotaeque silent frondes, silet umidus aer,
sidera sola mieant ad quae sua bracchia tendens
:
ter se convertit, ter sumptis flumine crinem

inroravit aquis ternisque ululatibus ora 190
^
<Sb Merkcl. Ehicald with some MSS. gives two lines for 186 j
solverat alta quies, nullo cum murmure serpunt:
sopitis similes, nullo cum murmure saepes.
354
now near death and heavy with the weight of years.
Then says the son of Aeson: "O wife, to whom I freely
own my dehverance is due, although you have already
given me all, and the suno 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 iny 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
from Jason's Still, not confessing such feelings, she
!
" What
replied :
impious words have Mien 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
and thrice
up from a flowing stream upon her head
355
OVID
solvit et in dura submisso poplite terra
"Nox" ait "arcanis fidissima, quaeque diurnis
aurea cum luna succeditis ignibus astra,
tuque, triceps Hecate, quae coeptis conscia nostris

adiutrixque venis cantusque 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,
vivaque saxa sua convulsaque robora terra
et silvas moveo iubeoque tremescere montis 20£
et mugire solum manesque exire sepulcris!
te quoque, Luna, traho, quamvis Temesaea Jabores
aera tuos minuant currus quoque carmine nostro
;
pallet avi, pallet nostris Aurora venenis !
vos mihi taurorum flammas hebetastis et unco 210
inpatiens oneris collum pressistis aratro,

vos serpentigenis in se fera bell a dedistis
custodemque rudem somni sopistis et aurum

vindice decepto Graias misistis in urbes :
nunc opus est sucis, per quos renovata senectus 215

in florem redeat primosque recolligat annos,
356'
gave tongue in wailing cries. Then she kneeled

down upon the hard earth and prayed " O Night,
:
faitliful preserver of mysteries, and ye bright stars,

whose ffolden 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
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

;
serpents with my incantations living rocks and oaks

;
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
^
;
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.
357
OVID
et dabitis. neque enim micuerunt sidera frustra,
nee frustra volucrum tractus eervice draconum
currus adest." aderat demissus ab aethere currus.
quo simul adscendit frenataque eolla draconum 220
pennulsit manibusque leves agitavit habenas,
sublimis rapitur subiectaque Thessala Tempe
dispicit et certis regionibus adplicat angues :
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, Eaipeu ;
nee non Peneos nee non Spercheides undae 230

contribuere aliquid iuncosaque litora Boebes;
carpsit et Euboica vivax Anthedone gramen,
nondum mutato vulgatum corpore Glauci.
Et iam nona dies curru pennisque draconum
nonaque nox omnes lustrantem viderat agros, 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, 240
dexteriore Hecates, ast laeva parte luventae.
has ubi verbenis silvaque incinxit agresti,
baud procul egesta scrobibus tellure duabus
sacra facit cultrpsque in guttura velleris atx'i
conicit et patulas perfundit sanguine fossas ; 245
358
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,
sent down from the sky. When she had mounted
therein and stroked the bridled necks of the dragon
team, shaking the light reins witii her hands she
was whirled aloft. She looked down on Thessalian
Tempe lying below, and turned her dragons towards
regions that she knew. All the herbs that Ossa bore,
and high Pelion, Othrys and Pindiis and Olympus,
greater than Pindus, she surveyed and those that
:
pleased her, some she plucked up by the roots and

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
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.
As she came Medea stopped this side of the threshold
and the door; covered by the sky alone, she avoided
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
turn super invergens liquid! carchesia vini
alteraque invergens tepidi carchesia lactis,

verba siniul fudit terrenaque numina civit
umbrarumque rogat rapta cum coniuge regem,

ne properent artus anima fraudare senili. 250
Quos ubi placavit precibusque et murmure longo,
Aesonis efFetum 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
diffugiunt iussi ; passis Medea capillis
bacchantum ritu flagrantis circuit aras
multifidasque faces in fossa sanguinis atra

tinguit et infectas geminis accendit in aris 260
terque senem flamnia, ter aqua, ter sulphure lustrat
Interea validum posito medicamen aeno
fervet et exsultat spumisque tumentibus albet.
illic Haeuionia radices valle resectas
seminaque floresque et sucos incoquit acres ; 265

adicitextremo lapides Oriente petitos
et quas Oceani refluum mare lavit harenas ;
addit et exceptas luna pernocte pruinas
et strigis infamis ipsis cum carnibus alas
inque virum soliti vultus mutare ferinos 270

ambigui prosecta !upi ; nee defuit illis
squamea Cinyphii tenuis membrana chelydri

vivacisque iecur cervi ; quibus insuper addit
ova caputque novem cornicis saecula passae.
bis et mille aliis postquam sine nomine rebus 275
360
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 eartli, and

prayed the king of the sliades with his stolen bride
not to be in haste to rob the old man's body of the
breath of life.
When she had appeased all these divinities by

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 witli profane eyes upon her secret rites. They
retired as she had bidden. Medea, with streaming
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
altar tlaines. 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
the farthest Orient and sands which the ebbinjr 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
features 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
36l
OVID
propositiim instruxit mortali barbara maius,
arenti ramo iampridem mitis olivae
omnia confudit summisque inniiscuit ima.
ecce vetus calido versatus
stipes aeno
fit viridis
primo nee longo tempore frondes 280
induit et subito gravidis oneratur olivis :
at qiiaciimque eavo
spumas eieeit aeno
ignis et in terram guttae cecidere calentes,
vernat humus,
floresque et mollia pabula surgunt.
quae simul ac viilit, stricto Medea recludit 285
ense senis iugulum veteremque exire cruorem
j)assa 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
:
ante quater denos hunc se reminiscitur annos.

Viderat ex alto tanti miracula monstri
Liber et admonitus, iuvenes nutricibus annos 295
posse suis reddi, capit hoc a Colchide niunus.
Neve doli cessent, odium cum coniuge falsum
Fhasias adsiniulat Peliaeque ad limina
supplex
confugit ; atque illam, quoniam gravis ipse senecta est
excipiunt natae quas tempore callida parvo
; 300
Colchis amicitiae mendacis imagine cepit,
dumque refert inter meritorum maxima demjitos
Aesonis esse situs atque hac in parte moratur,
sj)es est virginibus Pelia subiecta creatis,
362
woman had {)repared 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 io, the old dr^
stick, when moved about in the hot broth, grew
green at first, time put forth leaves,
in a short
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 gi-cw green and (lowers 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 lier brew. When Aeson had drunk this
in part through his lips and part through the wound,
his beard and hair lost their hoar}' 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 wonder,
and remembered that this was he forty years ago. /
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 migiit 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
arte suum
parili revirescere posse parentem, 305
idque petunt pretiumque iubent sine fine pacisci.
ilia brevi spatio silet et tlubitare videtur
suspenditque animos ficta gravitate rogaiites.

I
mox ubi pollicita est, " sit fiducia maior
quo
muneris huius" ait, "qui vestri maxim us aevo est 310
dux gregis inter oves, agnus medicamine fiet."
protinus innumeris effetus laniger annis

attrahitur flexo circum cava
tempora cornu ;
cuius ut Haemonio marcentia cultro
guttura
fodit et exiguo maculavit 315
sanguine ferrum,
membra simul pecudis validosque venefica sucos
mergit in acre cavo minuunt ea corporis artus

:
cornuaque exurunt nee non cum cornibus annos,

et tener auditur medio balatus aeno :
nee mora, balatum mirantibus exsilit 320

agnus
lascivitque fuga lactantiaque ubera quaerit.
Obstipuere satae Pelia, promissaque postquam
exhibuere fidem, tum vero inpensius instant,
ter iuga Phoebus equis in Hibero flumine mersis
dempserat et quarta radiantia nocte micabant 325
sidera, cum
rapido fallax Aeetias igni
iniponit purum laticem et sine viribus herbas.
iamque neci similis resoluto corpore regem
et cumrege suo custodes somnus habebat,

quem dederant cantus magicaeque potentia linguae ;
intrarant iussae cum Colchide limina natae 331
364
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 wlule ant! seemed to hesitate, keeping the
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
bis 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
udder to give him milk.
Pelias' daughters looked on in amazement and now
;
that these promises had been performed, they urged

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
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 bid,
entered his chamber with the Colchian and stood
S65
OVID
I
ambierantque torum :
"quid nunc dubitatis inertes?
stringite" ait "gladios veteremque haurite crurorem,
ut repleam vacuas iuvenali
sanguine venas !
in manibus vestris vita est

aetasque parentis : 335
si
pietas ulla est nee spes agitatis inanis,
officium praestate patri
telisque senectam
saniem coniecto emittite ferro "
exigite, et !
his, ut quaeque pia est, hortatibus

inpia prima est
et, ne sit scelerata, facit scelus : baud 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 SiS
"
quid facitis, gnatae ? quid vos in fata parentis
armat?" ait: cecidere illis animique manusque;
plura loeuturo cum verbis guttura Colchis
abstulit et calidis laniatum mersit in undis.
Quod nisi pennatis serpentibus isset in auras, 350

non exempta foret poenae fugit alta :
suj)erque
Pelion umbrosum, Philyreia tecta,
superque
Othryn et eventu veteris loca nota Cerambi :
hie ope nympliarum sublatus in aera

pennis,
cum gravis infuso tellus foret obruta ponto, 355
Deucalioneas effugit 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, 860
366
around " do you hesitate now, you
his
"
bed. Why "
laggards ? Medea said. Come, draw your swords,
and let out his old blood that I may refill his empty
veins with young blood again. In your own hands
life and youth. If you have any
rests your father's
filial love, andthe hopes are not vain that you are
if
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

tliese 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
see her own blows they turned their eyes away and
; ;
so with averted faces they blindly struclc with cruel

hands. The old man, streaming with blood, still
raised himself on his elboAv 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:

"What are you doing, my daughters.'' Wliat ai-ms
"
you to your father's death ? Their courage left
them, their hands fell. When he would have spoken
fu'-ther,the Colchian cut his throat and plunged his
mangled body into the boiling water.
But had sne not gone away through the air drawn
by her winged dragons, she would not have escaped
punishment. High up she sped over shady Felion,
the home of Chiron, over Othrys and the regions
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 ser{)ent image made of stone ;
and Ida's grove, where Bacchus, to conceal his son's

theft, changed the bullock into the seeming form of
367
OVID
quaque pater Corythi parva tumulatus harena est,
et quos Maera novo latratu terruit agros,
Eurypylique urbem, qua Coae cornua matres

gesserunt turn, cum discederel Herculis agmen,
Phoebeamque Rhodon et lalysios Telchinas, 365

quoi-um oculos ipso vitiantes omnia visu
luppiter exosus fraternis subdidit undis ;
moenia Ceae,
transit et antiquae Cartheia
qua pater Alcidamas placidam de corpore natae

miraturus erat nasci potuisse colunibam. 370
inde lacus Hyries videt et Cycneia Tempe,
quae subitus celebravit olor : nam Phyllius illie
imperio pueri volucrisque ferumque leonem

tradiderat domitos taiirum 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 Pleui'on, in qua trepidantibus alis
Ophias effugit natorum vulnera Combe ;

inde Calaureae Letoidos adspicit arva
involucrem versi cum coniuge conscia regis. 3SS
dextera Cyllene est, in qua cum matre Menephron
concubiturus erat saevarum more ferarum ;
Cephison procul hinc deflentem fata nepotis

S68
a stag ;
where tlie 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 wliere the women of Cos

wore horns wdiat time the band of Hercules with-
drew over Rhodes, beloved of Phoebus and the
; ;
Telchines of lalysus 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
;
" You will wish

in anger said, 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 0})hius, escaped death at the
hands of her sons on fluttering wings. After that,
she sees the fertile island of Calaurea, 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
N 369
OVID
respicit in tumidam phocen ab Apolline versi
Eumelique domum lugentis in aei*e natum. 390

Tandem vipereis Ephyren Pirenida pennis
contigit : hie aevo veteres mortalia primo
corpora vulgarunt pluvialibus edita fungis.

sed postquam Colcliis arsit nova nupta venenis
flagrantemque domum regis mare vidit utrumque, 395

sanguine natorum perfunditur inpius ensis,
ultaque se male mater lasonis effugit arma.
hinc Titaniacis ablata draconibus iiitrat
Palladias arces, quae te, iustissima Phene,
teque, senex Peripha, pariter videre volantes 400

innixamque novis neptem Polypemonis alis.
excipit banc Aegeus facto damnandus in uno,
nee hospitium est, thalami quoque foedere iungit.

satis
lamque aderat Theseus, proles ignara parenti,

qui virtute suabimarem pacaverat Isthmon : 405
huius in exitium miscet Medea, quod olim
attulerat secum Scythicis aconiton ab oris,
illud Echidneae memorant e dentibus ortum

esse canis :
specus est tenebroso caecus hiatu,
est via declivis, per quam Tirynthius heros 410
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 ; 415
170
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VI2
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 G^lchian 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

Jason's sword. Borne hence by her dragons s{)rung
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-
daughter^ 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 wTought 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 the air with his threefold howls,
all
and sprinkled the green fields with white foam.
Men think that these flecks of foam grew and, ;
^
Alcyone.
S71
OVID
has concresse putant nactasque alimenta feracis
fecundique soli vires cepisse nocendi ;
quae quia nascuntur dura vivacia caute,

agrestes aconita vocant. ea coniugis astu
ipse })ai-ens Aegeus nato porrexit ut hosti. 420
sumpserat ignara Theseus data pocula dextra,
cum pater in capulo gladii cognovit eburno
signa sui generis facinusque excussit ab ore.
efiugit ilia 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 deos inplet, feriuntque secures

colla torosa bourn vinctorum tempora vittis.
nullus Erechthidis fertur celebratior illo 430

inluxisse dies :
agitant convivia patres
et medium vulgus nee non et carmina vino
"
ingenium faciente canunt te, maxime Theseu,
:
mirata est Marathon Cretaei sanguine tauri,
quodque suis securus arat Cromyona colonus, 435

muniis opusque tuum est tellus Epidauria per te
;
clavigeram vidit Vulcani occumbere prolem,

vidit et inmitem Cephisias ora Procrusten,
Cercyonis letuin 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 nioenia, limes
conposito Scirone patet, sparsisque latronis

372
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.^ 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 tlie Cretan

bull;
and that the fanner 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 ^ 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 Lelegeian walls, now that Sciron is
no more. To this robber's scattered bones both land
*
1 i.e. "growing without soil." Periphetes.
373
OVID
terra negat sedem, sedem negat ossibus unda ;
445
quae iactata diu fertur durasse vetustas
in scopulos scopulis nomen Scironis inhaeret.
:
si titulos
annosque tuos numerare velimus,
facta prement annos. pro te, fortissime, vota
publica suscipimus, Bacchitibi sumimus haustws." 450
consonat adsensu populi precibusque laventum
regia, nee tota tristis locus ullus in urbe est.
Nee tamen (usque adeo nulla est sincera voluptas,
solHcitumque aliquid laetis intervenit) Aegeus
gaudia percepit nato secura recepto 455
:
bella parat Minos ; qui quamquam milite, quamquani

classe valet, patria tamen est firmissimus ira
Androgeique necem iustis ulciscitur armis.
ante tamen bello vires adquirit arnicas,

quaque potens habitus volucri freta classe pererrat :
hinc Anaphen sibi iungit et Astypaleia regna, 46 1

(promissis Anaphen, regna Astypaleia bello) ;
hinc humilem Myconon cretosaque rura Cimoli

florentemque thymo Syron planamque Seriphon
marmoreamque Paron, quamque inpia prodidit Arne
Sithonis :
quod avara poposcerat, auro 466
accepto,
mutata est avem, quae nunc quoque diligit aurum,
in
nigra pedes, nigris velata monedula pennis.

At non Oliaros 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, sed ipse

Aeacus Aeginam genetricis nomine dixit.
S74
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
the first by promises, the second by
Astypalaea,
threats of war the low-lying Myconus and the
;
chalky fields of Cimolus Syros covered with wild

;
thyme, level Seriphos, 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 Peparetlios, 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 ;
ipsequoque egi'editur tardus gravitate senili

Aeacus et, quae sit veniendi causa requirit.
admouitus patrii luctus suspirat et illi 480
dicta refert rector populorum talia centum :
" arma iuves ore

pro gnato sumpta piaeque
pars sis militiae tumulo solacia posco."
;
huic Asopiades " petis iiirita" 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
magiio"
dixit et utilius bellum putat esse minari
quam gerere atque suas

ibi praeconsumere vires.
classis ab Oenopiis 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
Lngreditur ramumque tenens popularis olivae

a dextra laevaque duos aetate minores
niaior habet, Clyton et Buten, Pallante creatos. 500
Postquam congressus primi sua verba tuleruat,
Cecropidum Cephalus peragit mandata rogatque
auxilium foedusque refert et iura parentum,
imperiumque peti totius Achaidos addit.
376
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 ai*ms 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 Your"
other, disappointed, turned away saying :
"
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, bearinijc 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 gi-eetings, 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-
S77
OVID
sic ubi mandatam iuvit facundia causam, 505
Aeacus, in capulo sceptri nitente sinistra,
" ne " "
petite auxilium, sed sumite dixit, Athenae,
nee dubie vires^quas haec habet insula, vestras
ducite et omnia, quae rerum status iste niearum.
robora non desunt ; superat mihi miles et hosti; 510
gratia dis, felix etinexcusabiie tempus."
" imnio ita sit " " crescat tua civibus
Cephalus, opto
" " adveniens
urbs ait ; equidem niodo gaudia oepi,
cum tam pulchra mihi, tarn par aetate inventus
obvia processit ;
multos tamen inde require, 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 mearum !
dira lues ira populis lunonis 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 fluvios temerasse venenis. 535
378
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.
Tlianks 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, 1 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 1 could tell
you the last without the first Now 1 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 Juno'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 baffled.
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 oviiimque boumque
inque feris subiti deprensa potentia morbi.
concidere infelix validos miratur arator
inter opus tauros niedioque 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 54!5
cerva nee armentis incurrere fortibus ursi.
omnia languor habet silvisque agrisque viisque

:
coriiora foeda iacent, vitiantur odoribus aurae.

mira loquar : non ilia canes avidaeque volueres,
non cani tetigere lupi ; dilapsa liquescunt 550
adflatuque nocent et agunt contagia late.
" Pervenit ad miseros damno
graviore colonos
pestis et in magnae dominatur nioenibus 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 possunt,
sed dura terra ponunt praecordia, nee fit

corpus humo gelidum, sed humus de corpore fervet.
nee moderator adest, inque ipsos saeva medentes 56l
erumpit clades, obsuntque auctoribus artes ;
quo propior quisque est servitque fidelius aegro,

in partem leti citius venit, utque salutis
380
our risers 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 liorse, once of high courage and of great renown
on the race-course, lias 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 now
last, grown stronger, the pestilence attacks
the wretched countrymen, and loi-ds it within the great
city's walls. As the first symptoms,
the vitalsare 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 pliysicians, and tlieir 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 he him-
self stricken unto death. And as the hope of life
381
OVID
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,
nee sitis est exstincta prius quam vita bibendo.
inde graves multi nequeunt consurgere et ipsis 570
inmoriuntur aquis, aliquis tamen haurit et illas ;
tantaque sunt miseris invisi taedia lecti,
prosiliunt aut, prohibent consistere vires,

si
corpora devolvunt in humum fugiuntque penates

quisque sues, sua cuique domus funesta videtur, 575
et quia causa latet, locus est in crimine parvus,
semianimes errare viis, dum stare valebant,
adspiceres, flentes alios terraque iacentes

lassaque versantes supremo lumina motu ;
membraque pendentis tendunt ad sidera caeli, 580
hie ubi mors deprenderat, exhalantes.
illic,
"
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 :
luppiter ilia 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,
S82
xMETAMORPHOSES 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 tor 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 hames for each man's home
:
seems a place of death to him. Since the cause of the

disease is hidden, that small spotheld to blame.
is
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 stretch-
ing 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 should hate life and long to be with my friends
I .''
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 prajêr, 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 "md pouring pure wine between their
38S
OVID
baud exspectato ceciderunt vulnere tauri ! 595
ipse ego sacra lovi pro me patriaque tribusque
cum fVicerem natis, mugitus vietima diros
edidit et subito conlapsa sine ietibus uUis
exiguo tinxit subiectos sanguine cultros.

exta quoque aegra notas veri monitusque deorum 600
perdidei-ant 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. 6lO

qui laci-iment, desunt, indefletaeque vagantur
matrumque nuruumque animae iuvenurnque senum-
que,
nee locus in tumulos, nee sufficit arbor in ignes.
Attoiiitus tanto miserarum turbine rerum,
'
si te non falsa loquuntur

*
'
luppiter o dixi,! 6l5
dicta sub amplexus Aeginae Asopidos isse,
nee te, magne pater, nostri pudet esse parentem,
'
aut mihi redde meos aut me quoque conde sepulcro I
ille notam fulgore dedit tonitruque secundo.

*
accipio sintque ista precor felicia mentis 620
'
'
signa tuae dixi, quod das mihi, pigneror omen.'
!
forte fuit iuxta patulis rarissima ramis

sacra lovi quercus de semine Dodonaeo ;
384
horns, have fallen without waiting for the stroke !
I
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 tlie corpses cast away,
nay, before the very altars, that their deatli 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 tl)ou,
great father, art not ashamed to be our father, eitlier
give me back my people or consign 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
hie nos frugilegas adspeximusagmine longo
grande onus exiguo formicas ore gerentes
rugosoque suum servantes cortice callem ;
dum numerum '

totidem, pater optime,' dixi,
niiror,
'
'
tu mihi da cives et inania moenia supple !
intremuit ramisque sonum sine flamine metis

alta deditquercus pavido mihi membra timore 630
:
horruerant, stabantque comae tamen oseula terrae ;
roboribusque dedi, nee me sperare fatebar ;
sperabam tamen atque animo mea vota fovebam.

nox subit, et curis exercila 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
etmaciem numerumque pedum nigrumque colorem
ponere et humanam membris inducere formam.
somnus abit damno vigil ans mea visa querorque
:
in superis opis esse nihil ;

at in aedibus ingens 644
murmur vocesque hominum exaudire videbar
erat,
iam mihi desuetas dum suspicor has quoque somnl
;
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 noscoque adeunt regemque salutant.
:
vota lovi solvo populisque recentibus urbem

partior et vacuos priscis cultoribus agros,
386
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 branches, rustling in the
its
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 diti 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 black colour, and to take on human limbs
and a human form. Then sleep departed. Once
awake thought lightly of my vision, bewailing
I
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
alsowas a trick of sleep, Telamon came running and,
throwing open th-^ door, exclaimed
'
O father, more
:
than you believed or hoped for shall you see. Come

I went without, and there just such men as
'
out !
I had seen in
my dream I now saw and recognized
with my waking
eyes. They approached and greeted
aae as king. gave thanks to Jove, and to my new
I
subjects I portioned out my city and my fields, for-

saken by their former occupants; and I called them
387
OVID
Myrmidonasque voco nee origine nomina fraudo.
corpora vldisti mores, quos ante gerebant,
;
6o5
nunc quoque habent parcum genus est patiensque
:
laborum
quaesitique tenax, et qui quaesita reservent.
hi te ad bella pares annis animisque sequentur,
cum primmn qui te feliciter attulit eurus"
(eurusenimattulerat)"fueritmutatusinaustrum." 660
Talibus atque aliis longuni 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 vires 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 ferirjae ;
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
excipitActaeis e fratribus alter et " usum
388
Myrmidons/ 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. Ihese 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 lingei-lng
day. The last hours of the tiay were given to feasting,
the night to sleep. When the golden sun had shown
wind was still blowing and kept
his light, the east
the from the homeward voyage. The sons of
sails
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
tliat 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 fniipfir)^, an ant.
389
OVID
"
maiorem specie mirabere dixit " in isto.
consequitur, quodcumque petit, fortunaque missum
non regit, et revolat nullo referente cruentum."
turn vero iuveuis Nereius omnia quaerit, 685
cur sit et unde datum, quis tanti muneris auctor.
quae petit, ille refert, sed enim narrare pudori est,

qua tulerit mercede silet tactusque dolore
;
coniujiis amissae lacrimis ita fatur obortis :
" hoc telum 69O

me, nate dea, (quis possit credere ?)
flere facit facie tque diu, si vivere nobis
fata diu dederint ; hoc me cum coniuge cara

perdidit : hoc utinam caruissem munere semper
'
" Procris
erat, si forte magis pervenit ad aures
Orithyia tuas, raptae sorer Orithyiae, 695

sifaciem moresque velis conferre duarum,
dignior ipsa rapi pater banc mihi iunxit Erechtheus,
!
hanc mihi iunxit amor feHx dicebar eramque

:
;
non ita dis visum est, aut nunc quoque forsitan essem,
alter agebatur post sacra iugaha mensis, 700
cum me cornigeris tendentem retia cervis
vertice de summo semper florentis Hymetti
lutea mane videt pulsis Aurora tenebris
invitumque rapit. hceat mihi vera referre

pace deae quod
: sit roseo spectabilis ore, 705
quod teneat lucis, teneat confinia noctis,
nectareis quod alatur aqiiis, ego Procrin amabarn ;
pectore Procris erat, Procris mihi semper in ore.

sacra tori coitusque novos tlialamosque recentes
primaque deserti referebam foedera lecti : 710

S90
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 lor his lost wife, he burst into tears
and said:
" It is this makes me thou son of a

weapon weep,
— —
goddess who could believe it ? and long will it
make me weep the fates shall give me long life.
if
This destroyed me and my dear wife together. And
oh, that I had never had it !
My wife was Procris,
or, if bv 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,
wlien from the top of ever-blooming Hymettus the

golden goddess of the dawn, havmg 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

;
1)1 usH 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
391
OVID
'
raota (lea est et siste tuas, ingrate, querellas ;
mea provida mens

'
'
Procrin habe !
dixit, quod si est,
non habuisse voles.' meque illi irata remisit.
cum redeo mecumque deae memorata retracto,

esse metus eoepit, ne iura iugalia coniunx 715
non bene servasset facies aetasque iubebat :
credere adulteriumj 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 huie Aurora timori
;
inmutatque meam (videor sensisse) figuram.

Palladias ineo non cognoscendus Atheaas
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, ut oportuit, oscula ferrem.

tristis erat (sed nulla tamen formosior ilia 730
esse potest tristi) desidei'ioque dolebat
coniugis abrepti tu collige, qualis in ilia,

:
Phoce, decor fuerit, quam sic dolor ipse decebat !
quid referam, quotiens temptamina nostra pudici

'
'
reppulerint mores, quotiens 'ego dixerit

uni 735
server ; ubicumque est, uni mea gaudia servo.'
cui non ista fide satis experientia sano

magna foret ? non sum contentus et in mea pugno
392
'
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 herself had not kept her marriage
my wife
vows. Her beauty and her youth made me fear
unfaithfulness ; but her character forbade that
fear. I had been absent long, and she from
Still,
whom Iwas returning was herself an example of
unfaithfulness and besides, we lovers fear every-
;
I decided to make a cause for

thing. grievance and
to tempt her chaste faith by gifts. Aurora helped me
in this jealous undertaking and clianged my form (1 ;
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 eill 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 :
keep myself for one alone. Wherever he is I keep

'
I
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 i
OVID
vulnera I cum me
pro nocte loquendo
census dare
muneraque augendo tandem dubitare coegi, 740

exclamo male victor: 'adestj mala, fictus adulter!
verus eram coniunx !
me, perfida, teste teneris.'
ilia nihil ;
tacito tantummodo victa pudore
insidiosamale cum coniuge limina fugit ;
ofFensaque 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 siraili 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 quern 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 ingeiiiis, et praecipitata iacebat 760
inmemor ambagum vates obscura suarum :
protinus Aoniis inmittitur altera Thebis 763

(scilicet alma Themis nee talia linquit inulta !)
762
pestis, et exitio multi pecorumque suoque
rurigenae pavere feram ; vicina iuventus 765
394
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 your husband

really By my own witness,
'
!
traitress, you are detected She, not a word. Only

!
in silence, overwhelmed with shame, she fled her

treacherous husband and his house. In 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 1 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 sufficiently
avenged her outraged feelings, she came back to me
and we spent sweet years together in harmony. She
gave me besides, 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 otlier 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 Laius, 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
OVID
venimus et latos indagine cinximus agros.
ilia levi velox superabat retia saltu
sumniaque transibat positarum lina plagarum :
copula detrahitur canibus, quos ilia sequentes

efFugit et centum non segnior alite ludit. 770
poscor et ipse meum consensu Laelapa magno
(muneris hoc nomen) ianuludum vincula pugnat

:
exuere ipse sibi colloque morantia tendit.

vix bene missus erat, nee iara poteramus, ubi esset,
scire ; pedum calidus vestigia pulvis habebat, 775
ipse oculis ereptus erat non ocior illo :
hasta nee excussae contorto verbere glandes

nee Gortyniaco calamus levis exit ab arcu.
collis apex medii subiectis inminet arvis :
tolloreo capioque novi spectacula cursus, 780

quo modo deprendi, modo se subducere ab ipso
vulnere visa iera est nee limite callida recto
;
in spatiumque fugit, sed decipit ora sequentis

et redit in gyrum, ne sit suus inpetus hosti :
inminet hie sequiturque parem similisque teiienti

non tenet et vanos exercet in aera morsus. 786
ad iaculi vertebar opem ; quod dextera librat
dum mea, dum digitos amentis addere tenipto,

luuiina deflexi. revocalaque rursus eodem
rettuleram : et medio (mirum) duo marmora campo
adspicio fugcre hoc, illud captare putares.
; 791
scilicet invictos ambo certamine cursus -
esse deus voluit, si

quis deus adfuit illis."
396
came and encircled the broad with our hunting:-
fields
nets. 3ut that swift beast leaped over the nets, over
the veiy 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.
Tlie 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 jny eyes
aside for a single moment ; and when I turned them
—
back again to the same spot oh, wonderful saw
! 1
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,ettacuit; "iaculoquod crimen in ipso est?"
Phocus ait iaculi sic crimina reddidit ille
; 795 :
" Gaudia
principium nostri sunt, Phoce, doloris :
ilia prius referam. iuvat o meminisse beati
temporis, Aeacida, quo primos rite per annos

coniuge eram felix, felix erat ilia marito.
mutua cura duos et amor socialis habebat, 800
nee lovis ilia meo thalamos praeferret amori,
nee me quae caperet, non si Venus ipsa veniret,
ulla erat aequales urebant pectora flammae,
;
sole fere radiis feriente cacumina primis

venatum in silvas iuveiialiter ire solebam 805
nee mecumfamuli nee equi nee naribus acres
ire canes nee lina sequi nodosa solebant :
tutus eram iaculo ; sed cum satiata ferinae
dextera caedis erat, repetebam frigus et uml)ras

et quae de gelidis exibat vallibus aura 810 :
aura petebatur medio mihi lenis in aestu,

auram exspectabam, requies erat ilia labori.
' '
'
'
aura venias cantare solebam,
(recordor enim),
'
mequeiuves intresque sinus, gratissima, nostros,
'
utque facis, relevare velis, quibus urimur, aestus !
forsitan addiderim (sic me mea fata trahebant), 8l6

'
'
blanditias plures et tu mihi magna voluptas
dicere sim solitus, tu me reficisque fovesque,
'
tu facis, ut silvas, ut amem loca sola meoque :
semper captatur ab ore.'

spiritus iste tuus
820
vocibus ambiguis deceptam praebuit aurem
nescio quis nomenque aurae tam saepe vocatum
S98
" But what
charge have you to bring against the
javelin itself?" asked I'hocus. The other thus told
what charge he liad 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 Jove'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 1 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 m}'
:
greatest joy; thou dost refresh and comfort me;

thou makest me to love the woods and so itary
places. It is joy to feel thy breath upon
ever my
my face.' Some one overhearing
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
ii99
OVID
esse putat nymphae :
nympham niihi credit amari.
criminis extemplo ficti temerarius index

Procrin adit linguaque refert audita susurra. 825
creduJa 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 fidera negat et, nisi viderit ipsa,
damnatura sui non est delicta mariti.
postera depulerant Aurorae lumina noctem : 835

egredior silvamque peto vietorque 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 faeiente 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, advocem 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
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
fell down in a
pain (as I heard the story), she
swoon. Reviving at last, she called herself wretched,
victim of cruel fate; complained of my unfaithful-
ness, 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 slie would
often doubt and hope 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,' 1 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 nished headlong towards the sound, beside myself
with horror. There I found her dying, her disor-

dered 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 stainedC with her
death. She, though strength failed her, with a
n 401
OVID
viribus ilia carens et iam moribunda coegit
haec se pauca loqui ' per iiostri foedera lecti
:
perque deos supplex oro superosque meosque,

per si quid merui de te bene perque manentem
nunc quoque, cum pereo, causam mihi mortis aniorem,
'
ne thalamis Auram patiare innubere nostris 856 !
dixit, et errorem turn denique nominis esse

et scnsi et docui. sed quid docuisse iuvabat ?
labitur, et parvae fugiunt cum sanguine vires,
dumque aliquid spectare potest, me spectat et in me

infelicem aniniam nostroque exhalat in ore ; 86 1
sed vultu meliore mori secura videtur."
Flentibus haec lacrimans heros memorabat, et ecce
Aeacus ingreditur duplici cum prole novoque
mihte quern Cephalus cum fortibus accipit armis. 865
;
0»
dying effort forced herself to say these few words :
By the union of our love, by the gods above and

'
my own gods, by all that I have done for you, and by

the love that still I bear you in my dying hour, the
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 tears. And
now Aeacus came in with his two sons and his new
levied band of soldiers, which Cephalus received with
their valiant arms.
40S
BOOK Via
LIBER VIII
Iam nitidum retegente diem iiocL|sq'.ie 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

Aieathoi, quam Nisus habet, cm splendidus ostro
inter honoratos medioque in vertice canos
crfiiis inhaerebat, magni fiducia regni. 10
Sexta resurgebant orientis cornua lunae,
et pendebat adhiic 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,
turn cum pax esset ; bello quoque saepe solebat
spectare ex ilia
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 tlie shining day^ the ea,st 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/ 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 dausrhter of Kinar
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. Megara.
407
OVID
noverat ante alios faciem ducis Europaei,
nosse sat est/ hac iudice Minos,
plus etiam, quam
seu caput abdiderat cristata casside pennis, 25
in galea formosus erat seu sumpserat aere
;
fulgentem clipeura, clipeum sumpsisse decebat;

torserat adductis hastilia lenta lacertis :
laud.ibat iunctam cum viribus artem

virgo ;
sinuaverat arcus : SO
inposito calamo patulos
sic Phoebum sumptis iurabat stare sagittis ;
cum vero faciem dempto nudaverat aere

stratis insignia pictis
pifrpureusque albi
terga premebat equi spumantiaque ora regebat,
vix sua, vix sanae virgo Niseia compos 35
mentis erat : felixiaculum, qîod tapgeret ille,
vocabat.
quaeque manu premeret, i'elicia frena
liceat modo, ferre per agmen
impetus est i]l_li,
virgineos h ostil e graûs, est impetus illi
turribus e summis i n Gnos ia mittere corpus 40

castra vel aeratas hosti recludere portas,
vel siquid Minos aliud velit. utque sedebat
Candida Dictaei spectans tentoria regis,
" doleamne
"laeter," ait geri lacrimabile bellum,
in dubio est; doleo, quod Minos liostis 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,

merito deus arsit in ilia, 50
qualis es, ipsa fuit,
o ego ter felix, si pennis lapsa per auras
Gnosiaci possem castris insistere regis
fassaque me flammasque raeas, 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'
liaughter hardly her owti, 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 ting, 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-
;
I fshe who bore

pany, should be a pledge of peace.
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, lfoiily_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
ne posceret arces
vellet emi, tan turn patrias !
nam pereant potius sperata cubilia, quam sim 56

proditione potens !
—
quamvis saepe utile vinci
victoris placidi fecit dementia multis.
iusta gerit certe pro nato bella perempto :
et causaque valet caiisamque tenentibus armiSj
et, piito, vincemur ; qui si manet exitus urbem, 60
cur suus haec illi reseret mea moenia Mavors
et non noster amor melius sine caede moraque
?
inpensaque superare cruoris.

sui poterit
non metuam certe, ne quis tua pectora, Minos,
vulneret inprudens quis enim tam durus, ut in te 65
:
dirigere inraitem non inscius audeat hastam?"!

coepta placent, et stat sententia tradere secum
dotalem patriam finemque inponere bello;
verum velle parum est "aditus custodia servat,
I
claustraque portarum genitor tenet hunc ego solum :
infelix timeo, solus mea vota moratur. 71

di facerent, sine patre foremJJ sibi quisque profecto
est deus :
ignavis precibus Fortuna repugnat.
alteraiamdudum succensa cupidine tanto
perdere gauderet, quodcumque obstaret amori. 75
et cur ulla foret me fortior ? ire per ignes
et gladios ausim nee in hoc tamen ignibus ullis
;
aut gladiis opus est, opus est mihi crine paterno.

ilia mihi est auro pretiosior, ilia beatam
purpura me votique mei factura potentem." 80

Talia dicenti curarum maxima nutrix
nox intervenit, tenebrisque audacia crevit.
prima quies aderat, qua curis fessa diurnig
410
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
ajipeased 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. Weshall be conquered, I ara sure. And if
that doom awaits our city, why shall his warrior
hand unbar these walls of and not my love?
ours,
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, ifnot 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 do Only he delays

I fear, unhappy !
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 I.'' 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. J he first rest had come, when

sleep
411
OVID
pectora somnus habet : thalamos taciturna paternos
intrat et (heu facinus !) fatali nata parentem 85
crine suum spoliat praedaque potita nefanda
per medios hostes (meriti fiducia tanta est) 88
pervenit ad regem quern ;

sic adfata paventem est :
" suasit amor facinus :

proles ego regia Nisi 90
Scylla tibi trado patriaeque meo^que penates ;
praemia nulla peto nisi te cape pignus amoris
:
purpureura crinem nee me nunc tradere crinem,

"
sed patrium tibi crede caput scelerataque dextra
!
munera porrexit/^Minos porrecta refiigit 95

turbatusque novi respondit imagine facti :
" di te
suramoveant, o nostri infamia saecli,
orbe suo, tellusque tibi pontusque negetur !
certe ego non patiar lovis incunabula, Creten,

1 00
qui meus est orbis, tantum contingere monstrum."
Dixit, et ut leges captis iustissimus auctor
hostibus inposuit, classis retinacula solvi
iussit et aeratas impleri remige puppes.
Scylla freto postquam deductas nare carinas
•
nee praestare ducem sceleris sibi praemia vidit, 105
consumptis precibus violentam transit in iram

intendensque manus passis furibunda capillis
"
"quo fugis ex<;lamat " meritorum auctore relicta,
1^
o patriae praelate meae, praelate parenti ?J
quo fugis, inmitis, cuius victoria
nostrum 1 10
et scelus et merituni est ? nee te data munera, nee te

noster amor movit, nee quod spes omnis in unum
ilS
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
I
tress where hislay. With this cursed prize,

life
the midst of her foes, so sure is she of a
through
welcome for her deed, she goes straight to the
king and thus she addresses him, startled at her
;
" Love has led me to this deed.

presence : 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 lock, 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

1
denied to you Be sure that I shall not permit so

!
vile a monster to set foot on Crete, my world,

the cradle of Jove'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
" Whither
hair and mad with passion, she exclaimed :
do you flee,abandoning the giver of your success, Oyou

whom I put before my fatherland, before my father }
Whither do you you cruel man, whose victory
flee,
is my sin, 'tis is my merit also
true, but 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 niihi !

patris ad ora ? il5
quem tibi donavi ! cives odere merentem,

-'""'^
exemplum metuunt: exponimur orbe
'
finitimi
'^' terrarum, nobis ut Crete sola pateret.

hac quoque si prohibes et nos, ingrate, relinquis,
A non genetrix Europa tibi est, sed inhospita Syrtis, 120
Armeniae tigres austroque agitata Charybdis.
Nee love tu natus, nee mater imagine tauri
ducta tua est :

generis falsa est ea fabula ! verus
et ferus et captus nullius amore iuvencae, ^t- ^'^

'"
125
qui te progenuit, taurus fuit.^ exige poenas,
Nise pater gaudete malis modo prodita nostris
!
moenia nam, fateor, merui et sum digna perire.

!
sed tamen ex illis aliquis, quos impia laesi,

me perimat cur, qui vicisti crimine nostro,
!
insequeris crimen ? scelus

hoc patriaeque patrique,
officium tibi sit te vere coniuge digna est,
! 131
quae torvum ligno decepit adultera taurum

discordemque utero fetum tulit. ecquid ad an res
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

414
all
hopes built on you alone? Desertetl, whither
my
go ? Back to my fatherland ? It lies over-
sliall I
thrown. But suppose it still remained it is closed

:
tome 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 l)egot you, a fierce, wild thing that

loved no heifer. Inflict my punishment, O Nisuu,
my fatlier Rejoice in my woes, O ye walls that 1

!
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. Why
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 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 Pasiphae preferred the bull to vou,

for you were a more savage beast than he. Alas for
me He orders his men to haste away and the
! I
waves resound as the oars dash into them, and I

and my land are both fading from his sight. But it
I
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 1 45
et modo factus erat fulvis haliaeetus
alis),
ibat, ut haerentem rostro laceraret adunco ;
ilia 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. i
Vota lovi 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 opuj turbatque notas et lumina flexu l6o
ducit in errorem variarum ambage viarum.
noil secus ac liquidus Phrygiis Maeandrus in arvis
ludit et ambiguo lapsu refiuitque fluitque
occiirrensque sibi venturas aspicit undas
et nunc ad fontes, nunc ad mare versus apertum l65
incertas exercet aquas, ita Daedalus
implet
416
is in vainyou have forgotten niy deserts in vain I
; ;
shall follow you aiâinst 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, having 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 sliorn lock of hair.^
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 chis shame from his house and to hide it
away in a labyrinthine enclosure with blind passages.
Daedalus, a man famous for his hkill 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

from " I cut."
1 Clris, as if ice/pw,
417
OVID
innumeras errore vias vixque ipse reverti
ad limen potuit tanta est fallacia tecti.^
:
Quo postquam geminam tauri iuvenisque figuram
clausit, et Actaeo bis pastum sanguine monstrum 70 1
tertia sors annis domuit repetita novcnis,

nullis iterata priorum
utque ope virginea
ianua difficilis filo est inventa relecto,
protinus Aegides rapta Minoide

Diam
vela dedit comitemque suam crudelis in illo 175
litore destituit ; desertae et multa querent!
amplexus et opem Liber tulit utque perenni

sidere clara foret, sumptam de fronte coronam
inmisit eaelo : tenues volat ilia per auras
dumque volat, gemmae nitidos vertuntur in ignes 180
consistuntque loco specie remanente coronae,

qui medius Nixique genu est Anguemque tenentis.
Daedalus interea Creten longumque perosus
exilium tactusque loci natal is amore
erat
" terras licet " " et undas
clausus pelago. inquit
obstruat et caelum certe patet; ibimus iliac:
: 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 sequent!, 190
ut clivo crevisse putes sic rustica quondam
:
fistula disparibuspaulatim surgit avenis ;
turn lino medias et ceris alligat imas
atque ita conpositas parvo curvamine flectit,
iI8
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 he 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 tlie 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 ^ and the Serpent-holder.^
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

^ Tiio constellation of Hercules. 3
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 poUice ceram
mollibat lusuque sue mirabile patris
imped iebat opus, postquara manus ultima coepto 200

inposita est, geminas opifex libravit in alas
ipse suum corpus motaque pependit in aura ;
instruit et natum "medio" que "ut limite curras,

Icare,' nit "moneo, ne, si demissior ibis,
unda gravet pennas, si celsior, ignis adurat : 205
interutrumque vola. nee te spectare Booten
aut Helicen iubeo strictumque Orionis ensem :
"
me duce carpe viam pariter praecepta volandi
I
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 comilique 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,
crediditesse deos. et iam lunonia laeva 220
parte Samos(fuerant Delosque Parosque relictae)
dextra Lebinthus erat fecundaque melle Calymne,
cum puer audaci coepit gaudere volatu
420
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
" 1 warn
taught his son also and said :
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 ike a bird w hich
1
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 ashepherd, 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
Juno'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 nee iam "
pater infelix, pater, Icare," dixit,
"leare," dixit "ubi es ? qua te regione requirara ?"
" Icare " dicebat
pennas aspexit in undis
:
devovitque suas artes corpusque sepulcro

condidit, et tell us 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 nee visa prioribus annis,
factaque nuper avis longum tibi, Daedale, crimen, 240
namque huic tradiderat, fatorum ignai'a, docendain
progeniem germana suam, natalibus actis
bis puerum senis, animi ad praecepta capacis ;
illeetiam 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 node

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 ilium,
quae favet ingeniis, excepit Pallas avemque

reddidit et medio velavit in aere pennis,
\%%
led bv 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 heUl 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 tlie
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. - A /^
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 kd 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, w'hile 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
nee facit in ramis altoque cacumine nidos :
propter humum volitat ponitque in saepibus ova

antiquique memor metuit sublimia casus.
lamque 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 vote 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 Caljdon, quamvis Meleagron haberet,
sollicitasupplex 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 onmes
anibitiosus honor : solas sine ture relictas
praeteritae cessasse ferunt Latoidos aras.

" at non
tangit et ira deos. inpune feremus,
"
quacque inhonoratae, non et dicemurinultae 280
inquit, et Oeneos ultorem spreta per agros
424
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 Daedalus,
where King Cocalus took up arms in the sup-
pliant's defence and
was esteemed most kind.^ 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, Avith 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.
Tlie 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 lieaven ; (only
Diana's altar was passed by (tliey say) and left with-
" But
out its incense.N Anger also can move the gods.
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 igue micant oculi, riget ardua cervix,

et setae similef Tigidis hastilibus horrent * :285
- fervida cum raucb latos stridore per armos 287
spuma fluit, dentes aequantur dentibus Indis,
fulmen ab ore venit, frondes afflatibus ardent.
is modo crescentes segetes proculcat in herba, 2.90
nunc matura xnetit fleturi vota colonT
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.

difFugiuiit populi nee se nisi moenibus urbis
esse putant tutos, donee
Meleagros et una
leeta manus iuvenum coiere cupidine laudis : 300
Tyndaridae gemini, spectatus caestibus alter,
alter equo, primaeque ratis molitor lason,
et cum Pirithoo, felix concordia, Theseus,
et duo Thestiadae prolesque Aphareia,
Ljnceus
et velox Idas, et iam non femina Caeneus, 305
Leucippusque ferox iaculoque insignis Acastus
Hippothousque Dryasque etcretusAmyntore Phoenix
Actoridaeque pares et missus ab Elide Phyleus.
nee Telamon aberat magnique creator Achillis
cumque Pheretiade et Hyanteo lolao 310
1 Ehwald omits, as well as line 2S6 :
stantque velut vaUum, velut alta hastilia setae.
426
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 arunts the hot foam flecked his broad

shoulders his tusks were long as the Indian ele-
;
phant's, lightning flashed from his mouth, the her-

bage 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
ear. 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,

firedwith the love of glory the twin sons of Leda,
:
wife of Tyndarus, one famousj for boxing, the other

for horsemanship Jason, the first ship's builder ;
;
Theseus and Pirithoiis, inseparable friends the two ;
sons of Thestius^; Lynceus and swift-footed Idas,

sons of Aphareus Caeneus,^ no longer a woman
; ;
warlike Leucippus and Acastus, famed for his javelin ;
Hippothoiis and Dryas; Phoenix, the son of Amyntor;

Actor's two sons^ and Elean Phyleus. Telamon was
also there, and the father of great Achilles and, ;
*
along with the son of Pheres and Bototian lolaus,
1
Plexippus and Toxeus, brothers of Althaea, the mother of.
Meleager.
* See XII. 189 ff. « 4 Admetiis.
Eurytus and Cleatus.
427
OVID
inpiger Eurytion et cursu invictus Echion
Naryciusque Lelex Panopeusque Hyleusque feroxque
Hippasus et primis etiamnum Nestor in annis,
et quosHippocoon antiquis misit Amyelis,
Penelopaeque socer cum Parrhasio Ancaeo, 315
Ampycidesque sagax et adhuc a coniuge tutus
Oeclides nemorisque decus Tegeaea Lycaei :
rasilis huic summam mordebat iibula 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, i>uen!em in virgine possis.

banc pariter vidit, pariter Calydonius heros
optavit renuente deo flammasque latentes 325
hausit et "o felix,siquem dignabitur" inquit
" "
ista virum ! nee plura sinit tempusque pudorque
dicere : maius opus magni certaminis urguet.
Silva frequens trabibus, quam nulla ceciderat aetas,
tj^Âjrd^
incipit a piano 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 cannac :
428
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 or

;
Penelope,^ and Arcadian Ancaeus Ampycus' pro-

;
phetic sonj^ and the son of Oecleus, who had not

^
yet been ruined by his wife and Atalanta of Tegea,

;
the pride of the Arcadian woods. A poHshed 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
;
" O
through his heart and ;
happy man," he said,
" if ever that maiden shall deem man to
any worthy
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
touclied 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-
*
Laertes. * 3
Mopsus. Amphiaraiis.
429
OVID
hinc aper excitus medios violentus in hostes
fertur, ut excussis elisi nubibus ignes.

sternitur incursu nemus, et propulsa fragorem S40
- silva dat exclamaut iuvenes praetentaque forti
*^_ :
-' r tela tenent dextra lajto vibrantia ferro.
ille ruit spargitque canes, ut quisque furenti

obstat, et obliquo latrantes dissipat ictu.
cuspis Echionio primum eontorta lacerto 345

vana fuit truneoque dedit lave vulnus acerno ;
proxima, si nimiis mittentis viribus usa
non foret, in tergo visa est haesura petlto:
longius it ;
auctor Pagasaeus Jason.
teli
" "
Phoebe/' ait Ampycides, si te coluique coloque,
"
da niihi, 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, nee fulmine lenius arsit : 355
emicat ex oculis, spirat quoque pectore flamma,
utque volat moles adducto concita nervo,

cum petit aut muros aut plenas milite tuiTes,
in iuvenes certo sic impete vulnificus sus
fertur et Eupalamon Pelagonaqne, dextra tuentes 360
cornua, prosternit : socii rapuere iacentes ;
at non letiferos effugit Enaesimus ictus
Hippocoonte satus :
trepidantera et terga parantem
vertere succisso liquerunt poplite nervl.
4LS0
METAMORPHOSES BOOK VPl
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
"O
Mopsus cried :
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, Hiesthrough the air against walls or turrets
filledwith soldiei-y 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-
coon, 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
«5I
OVID
forsitaii et Pylius citra Troiana perisset 365
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 370
Eurvtidae magni rostro femur hausit adunco.
at gemini, noiulum caelestia sidera, fratres,
ambo conspicui, nive c.'.ndidioribus ambo
vectabantur equis, ambo vibrata per auras
hastarum tremulo quatiebant spicula motu. 375
vuhiera fecissent, nisi saetiger inter opacas
nee iaculis isset nee equo loca pervia silv.is.
persequitur Telamon studioque incautus eundi

pronus ab arborea cecidit radice retentus.
dum hunc Peleus, celerem Tegeaea sagittam
levat
inposuit nervo siiiuatoque expubt arcu 381

:
fixa sub aure feri summum destrinxit harundo
corpus et exiguo rubefecit sanguine saetas ;
nee tamen ilia sui successu laetior ictus
quam Meleagros erat: primus vidisse putatur 385

et primus sociis visum ostendisse cruorem
"
et "meritum dixisse "feres viituLis honorem."
erubuere viri seque exhortantur et addunt

-
cum clamore animos iaciuntque sine ordine tela :
turba nocet iactis et,

quos petit, impedit ictus. 390
~ecce furens contra sua fata bipennifer Areas
433
Nestor came 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,^ 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 Ihrough 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 :
*
Castor and Pollux,
f 4S3
OVID
''
discite, femineis
quid tela virilia praestent,
"
o iuvenes, opeiique meo concedite dixit. I
" hunc Latonia

ipsa suis licet pi-otegat armis,
invita tamen hunc perimet mea dextra Diana." 395
taliamagniloquo tumidus metaoraverat ore
ancipitemque nianu tollens utraque securim
institerat digitis pronus suspensus in ictus :
occn})at audentem, quaque est via proxima leto,

summa geminos direxit ad inguina denies.
ferus 4.00
concidit Ancaeus glomerataque sanguine multo

viscera lapsa flaunt : madefacta est terra cruore.
ibat in adversum proles Ixionis hostem
Pirithous valida quatiens venabula dextra ;
" " "
cui " procul Aegides o me mihi carior inquit 405
"
pars animae consiste meae licet^^HTtius esse
!
fortibus : Ancaeo nocuit temeraria virtus."

dixit et aerata torsit grave cuspide cornum ;
quo bene librato votique potente future

obstitit aesculea frondosus ab arbore ramus. 410
misit et Aesonides iaculura :
quod casus ab illo
vertit in inmeriti fatum latrantis et inter

iliaconiectum tellure per ilia fixum est.
at manus Oenidae variat^ missisque duabus
hasta prior terra, medio stetit altera tergo. 415
nee mora, dum saevit, dum corpora versat in orbcra
stridentemque novo spumam cum sanguine fundit,
vulneris auctor adest hostemque inritat ad iram
splendidaque adversos venabula condit in armos.

434
"Learn now, O
3'ouths, how
a man's weapons
far
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 li[)s, he spoke :
and, heaving up in both
hands his two-edgêd 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 fix'st
:
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
485
OVID
gaudia testantur socii clamore secundo 420
victricemque dextrae coniungere dextram
iêtiint
inmanemqiie ferum multa tellure iacentem

mirantes spectant neque adhuc
contingere tutum
esse putant, sed tela tamen sua
quisque cruentat.
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 ; 4S0
invidere alii, to toque erat agmine murmur.
e quibus ingenti tendentes bracchia voce
"
pone age nee titulos intercipe, femina, nostros/'
Thestiadae clamant, " nee 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 " honoris,
facta minis quantum distent," hausitque nefando
pectora Plexippi nil tale timentia ferro. 440
Toxea, quid faciat, dubium pariterque volentem
ulcis'ci fratrem
fraternaque fata timentem
baud patitur dubitare diu calidumque priori
caede recalfecit consorti sanguine
telumj
Dona deum templis nato victore ferebat, 445
9um videt exstinctos fratres Althaea referri.
ûae plangore dato maestis clamoribus urbem

shouts of applause and crowd around to press the
victor's hantl. 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
" 'J'ake
death-dealing head, spoke thus to Atalanta:
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,
" Let
cried with a loud voice :
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 teelh
with rage, he cried " Learn then, you that plunder
:
another's rights, the difference between deeds and

threats," ar.d plunged his im})ious steel deep in
I'lexippus' heart, who was taken o(F 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 offering
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
luctus et a lacrimis in poenae versus amorem est. 450
Stipes erat, quem, cum partus enixa iaceret
flammam triplices posuere sorores
Thest;."is, in
staminaque inpresso fatalia pollice nentes

"
"tempora" dixerunt eadem lignoque tibique,
o modo nate, damus." quo postquam carmine dicto
excessere deae, flagraiitem mater ab igne 456
eripuit ramum sparsitque liquentibus undis.
ille diu fuerat penetralibus abditus imis
servatusque tuos, iuvenis, servaverat annos.

protulithunc genetrix taedasque et fragmina poni
imperat et positis inimicos admovet ignes. 46 1 .
tum conata quater fl.immis inponere ramum

eoepta quater tenuit :
pugnat materque soro- |ue,
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 misei*eri credere posses ;
cumque ferus lacrimas animi siccaverat ardor,

inveniebantur lacrimae tamen, utque carina, 470
quam ventus ventoque rapit contrarius aestus,
vim geminam sentit paretque incerta duobus,
Thestias baud aUter 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
and changed her gohl-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.
riiere was a billet of wood which, wlien the
daughter of Thestius lay in childbirth, the three
sisters threw into the fire and, spinning the threads
of with firm-pressed thumb, they sang: "An
life
equal span of life we give to thee and to this wood,

O babe new-born." When the three goddesses iiad
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 hard. 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 iier 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 v'
a.-'-ain.
At last the sister in her overcomes the mother,
itnd, that she may appease
with blood the shades of
her blood-kin, she is pious in impiety. For when
" Be that
the devouring flames grow hot, she cries :
439
OVID
convaluit, "rogiis iste cremet niea viscera" dixit,
utque manu clira lignum fatale teiiebat,
ante sepulcrales infelix adstitit aras 480
" deae
"poenarum" que triplices, furialibus," inquit
''Eunienides, sacris vultus advertite vestros !
ulciscor facioque nefas mors morte pianda est,

;
in scelus addendum scelus est, in funera fuiius :
per coacervatos pereat domus inpialuctus ! 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 meruisse fateniur :
ilium, 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 pati'iaeque 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 foreni vixisti munere nostro ;

!
nunc merito moriere tuo cape praemia facti

!
bisque datam, primum partu, mox stipite rapto,

redde animam vel me fraternis adde sepulcris ! 505
et cupio et nequeo. quid agam ? modo vulnera fratrum
ante oculos mihi sunt et tantae caedis imago,
440
the funeral pyre of my own
flesh." And, as she held
the foteful billet m
her relentless hand and stood,
unhappy wretch, before the sepulchral fires, she
" O
said ;
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. Tlu-ough woes on woes heaped up let this
accuised 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 ? Sliall he live, victorious
and puffed up with his own success, and lord it in
Calydon, while you are naught but a handful of
ashes, shivering ghosts.'' I will not sutler it. Let
the wretch die and drag to ruin with him his
father's hopes, his kingdom and his fatherland !
VV'here is my mother-luve .'^Where are parents'

pious cares.'' VV'here 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 I twice
life gave you, once at your birth, once
when I saved 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 :
OVID
nunc animum pietas maternaque nomina frangunt.
me miseram male vincetis, sed vincitCj 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 flainma Meleagros ab ilia 515
oritur 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
grandaevunique 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 spii'itus auras

paulatim cana prunam velante favilla. 525
Alta iacet Cah'don lugent iuvenesque senesque,
:
vulgusque proceresque gemunt, scissaeque capillos

jjlanguntur 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 era sonantia Unguis
ingeniumque capax totumque Helicorra'dedisset,
tristia persequerer miserarum dicta sororum. 535
inmemores decoris liventia pectora tundunt,
dumque raanet corpus, corpus refoventque foventque,
442
love and the name of mother break me down. Woe
is me, 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 iollow you I She spoke, and
turning away her face, witli 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 ami
bloodless deatli, 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, chieftainsand 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 tlie 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 theirbrother's
corpse remains, they caress that corpse over and
443
OVID
oscula dantipsi, posito dant oscula lecto.
post cinerem cineres haustos ad pectora pressant

adf'usaeque 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 mittitj

Interea Theseus sociati parte laboris
functus Erechtheas Tritonidos ibat ad arces.
clausit iter fecitque moras Achelous eunti
imbre tumens " succede "
:
meis/' ait indite, tectis,
Cecropida, nee te committe rapacibus undis : 551

ferre trabes solidas obliqu^que volvere magno
murmure saxa solent. vidi contermina ripae
cum gregibus stabula alta trahi nee fortibus
;
illic
profuit armentis nee equis velocibus esse. 555

multa quoque hie torrens nivibus de nionte solutis
corpora turbineo iuvenalia flumine mersit.

tutior est requies, solito duni flumina currant
limite, dum
tenues capiat suus alveus undas."rf
adnuit Aegides " utar," que " Acheloe, dornoque 560
"
consilioque tuo respondit et usus utroque
; est.
pumice multicavo nee levibus atria topliis

structa subit : molli tellus erat umida muscc,
444
over, kisshim 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-law
*
— stretclied out long wings over their arms, gave

them a horny beak, and sent them transfigured into
-^
the air.^
Meanwhile Theseus, liaving done his part in the
confederate task, was on his way back to Tritonia's
city where Krechtheus ruled. But Acheloiis, swollen
with rain, blocked his way and delayed his jour-
" Enter
ney, house, illustrious hero of Athens,"
my
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 overwhehned 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.
8 These birds were called Mdeagrides, gninea-hene.
445
OVID
summa lacunabant alterno murice conchae.
iamqiie cluas lucis partes Hyperione menso 565
discubuere toris Theseus comitesque laborum,
hac Ixionides, ilia Troezenius lieros
parte Lelex, raris iam sparsus tempora canis,
quosque alios pnrili fuerat dignatiis honore
Aninis Acarnanum, laetissimus hospite tanto. 570
protinus adpositas nudae vestigia nymphae
instruxere epulis mensas dapibusque remotis
in gemmaposiiere merura. tum maximus heros,
" "
aequora prospiciens oculis subiecta, quis inquit
"ille locus?" (digitoque ostendit) " et insula
nomen 575
"
quod gerit quamquam non una videtur
ilia, doce, !
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 feror, cum plurimus umquam,

tantus eram, pariterque animis inmanis at undis
a silvis silvas et ab arvis arva revulsi 585
cumque loco nymphas, memoi'es tum denique nostri,
in ireta provolvi. fluctus nosterque marisque
continuam diduxit humum partesque resolvit
in totidem, mediis quot cernis Echinadas undisy'
I ut tamen ipse vides, procul, en procul una recessit
I
insula, grata mihi ;
Perimelen navita dicit : 591
4-4.6
moss, conchs and purple-shells panelled the ceiling.

Now had the blazing sun traversed two-thirds of his
daily course, when Theseus and iiis comrades of the
chase disposed themselves upon the couches. Ixion's
son ^ lay here, and there Lelex, the hero of Troezen,
took his place, his temples already sprinkled with
grey ;
and otliers 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
" What
eyes, pointed with his finger and said :
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,
i'here 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 islantls 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
hiiic ego virgineum dilectae nomen ademl ;
quod pater Hippodamas aegre tulit inque profun-

dum
propulit e seopulo periturae corpora natae.
excepi nantemque ferens 'o proxima mundi
'
'
regna vagae dixi sortite, Tridentifer, undae, 5P6
adfer opem mersaeque, precor, feritate paterna; 601
'
da, Neptune, locum ;

vel sit locus ipsa licebit !
dum loquor, aniplexa est artus nova terra natantes 609

1 et gravis increvit mutatis insula membris." 6^0
Amnis ab his tacuit. factum mirabile cunctos
moverat inridet eredentes, utque deorum
:
spretor erat mentisque ferox, Ixione natus

" ficta refers nimiumque putas, Aclieloe, potentes
esse deos," dixit " si dant adimuntque figuras." 6l5
obstipiiere omiies nee 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 olim,
I
nunc celebres mergis fulicisque palustribus undae ;
luppiter hue specie mortali cumque parente 626

venit Atlantiades positis caducifer alis.
mille domos adiere locum requiemque petentes,
mille domes elausere serae ; tamen una recepit,
44»y
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 shajie."
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 sj)irit, 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
" The
replied :
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,
bixt 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 tbe.K> Still one kouse
Ii49
OVID
parva quidem, stipulis et canna tecta palustri, 630
sed pia Baucis anus parilique aetate Philemon
ilia sunt annis iuncti iuvenalibus, ilia
consenuere casa paupertatemque fatendo

effecere levem nee iniqua mente ferendo ;
nee refert, dominos illic famulosne requiras: 635
tota donius duo sunt, idem parentque inbentque^'^
ergo ubi caelicolae parvos tetigere penates
summissotjue humiles intrarunt vertice postes,
membra senex posito iussit relevare sedili ;
quo superiniecit textum rude sedula Baucis 640

inque foco tepiclum 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 bolus foliis ;

furca levat ille bicoini •
sordida terga suis nigro pendentia tiguo

servatotjue diu resecat de tergore partem
L exiguam sectamque doniat ferventibus undis.
interea medias fallunt sermonibus boras ^
650
* * * * torus de molli fluniinis ulva 655

inpositus lecto sponda pedibusque salignis,
vestibus hunc velant, (juas non nisi tempore festo
sternere consuerant, sed et haec vilisque vetusque
vestis erat, lecto non indignanda saligno.
adcubuere dei. mensam succincta tremensque 660
*
2'he following lines are omitted by Ehwald :
sentirique moram prohibent. erat alveus illlo
fagineus, dura clavo suspeiisus ab ansa :
is tepidis impletur aquis artusque fovendoa
accipit, in medio torus est de mollibus ulvis.
450
received them, humble indeed, thatched witli 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 contented 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 wlien 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, whicli 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-sj)lit 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-
grass 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 tliis 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,
461
OVID
ponit anus, mensae sed erat pes tertius inpar :
testa parem fecit ; quae postquam subdita elivum

aequatam mentae tersere virentes.
sustulit,
ponitur hie bicolor sincerae baca Minervae
conditaque in liquida corna autuinnalia faece 665

intibaque et radix et lactis massa coacti
ovaque non acri leviter versata favilla,
omnia fictilibus. post haec caelatus eodera
sistitur argento crater fabricataque fago
pocula, qua cava sunt, flaventibus inlita ceris ; 670
parva mora est, epulasque foci misere calentes,
nee longae rursus referuntur vina senectae
dantque locum mensis paulum seducta secundis:
hie nux, hie mixta est rugosis carica palmis
prunaque et in patulis redolentia mala canistris 675
et de purpureis conlectae vitibus uvae,
Candidas in medio favus est ; super omnia vultus
accessere boni nee iners pauperque voluntas./
r " Interea totiens haustum cratera

repleri
sponle 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, niinimae custodia villae :
quem dis hospitibus domini mactare parabant ; 685

ille penna tardos aetate fatigat
celer
eluditque diu tandemque est visus ad ipsos

confugisse deos :
superi vetuere necari.
452
But one of its three legs was too short so she

;
propped up with a potsherd. When this had

it
levelled the slope, she wiped it, thus levelled, with

green mint. Next she i)laced on the board some
olives, green and ripe, truLhIul 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 Avarm ashes, all served

in earthen dishes. After these viands, an embossed
mixin<r-bowl of the same costlv ware was set on
together with cups of beechwood coated on the
inside with yellow wax. A moment and the hearth
sent steaming viands on, and wine of no great
its
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
in the centre of the
just picked from the vines;
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, ajid quite wore the slow old people out in their
efforts 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 clixeiunt ; vohis inmunibus liuius 690
esse mali dabitur modo
vestra relinquite tecta
;
ac nostros comitate gradus et in ardua montis

'
ite simulparent ambo baculisque levati
!
nituntur lonjô vestigia ponere clivo.

tanturn aberant snmmo, quantum semel ire sagitta 6.95
missa potest: flexere oculos et mersa palude
cetera prospiciunt, tantum sua tecta manere,
dumque ea mirantur, dum deflent fata suorum,
ilia vetus dominis etiam casa parva duobus
vertitur in temj)lum furcas subiere columnae,
: 700
stramina flavescunt aurataque tecta videntur
caelataeque fores adopertaque niarmore tellus,
talia tum placido Saturnius edidit ore :
'
dicite, iuste senex et femina coniuge iusto
digna, quid optetis.' cum Baucide pauca locutus 705
indicium snperis aperit commune IMiileinon :
'esse sucerdotes delubraque vestra tueri
poscimus, et quoniam Concordes egimus annos,

auferat hora duos eadem, nee coniugis umquam
busta meae videam, neu sim tumnlandus ab ilia.' 710
vota fides sequitur: templi tutela fuere,
donee vita data est; annis aevoque soluti
ante gradus s.icros 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

45 V
to kill the goose. 'Vê are gods/ they said, *and
this wicked neighbourhood shall be punished as it
deserves but to joa 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 slop>e. "Vhen they were a bowibot
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 ?f>oke :
'
Now ask of us, thou good old man, and tliou 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 :
'
We ask
that we may be your priests, and guard your temple :
and, since we have spent our lives in constant com-

death
pany, we pray that the same hour may bring
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, PhUemon 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
435
n .
OVID
ora frutex : ostendit adhuc Thyneius illic
incola de geniino vicinos corpore triincos. 720

haec mihi non vani (neque erat, cur fallere vellent)
narravere senes ; equidem pendentia vidi
serta super ramos ponensque vecentia dixi

'cura deum di sunt, et, qui coluei*e, colantur.'.j^"''^
Desierat, cunctosque'jet res et moyerai auctor, 725

Thesea praecipue"; quem factl^kudire volentem
mira deîm)innixus cubito Lalydonms amnis
talibus adloquitur"sunt, o fortissime, quormn
:
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 limcrent,
anguis eras, modo te faclebant cornua taurum ;
saepe lapis poteras, arbor quoque saepe videi'i, 735

interdum, faciem liquidarum imitatus aquarum,
flumen eras, interdum undis contrarius ignis.
Nee minus Autolyci coniunx, Erysichthone nata,
*'
iuris habet pater huius erat, qui numina divum

:
sperneret et nuUos aris adoleret odoi-es ; ,

,
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

436
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
were toltl me by staid old men who could have
things
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 worshi])ped.' /
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

his
gods, the Calydonian river god, propped upon
" Some there
elbow, tims addressed him : 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
power had the wife of Autolycus, Ery-
less
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. Tiiere 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, nee non et cetera tantum
silva sub hac, silva quantum fuit herba sub omni. 750
non tamen idcirco ferrum Triopeius ilia
abstinuit famulosque iiibet succidere sacrum
robur, et ut iussos cunctari vidit, ab uno
edidit haec rapta sceleratus verba securi :
*
non dilectadeae solum, sed et ipsa licebit 755
sit dea, iam tanget frondente cacumine terram.'
dixit, et obliquos duna telum librat in ictus,

contremuit gemitumque dedit Deoia quercus,
et pariter frondes, pariter pallescere glandes
coepere ac longi pallorem ducere rami. 76()

cuius ut in trunco fecit manusinpia vulnus^
baud aliter fluxit discusso eortice 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 bi])ennem 766 :
' '
aspicit huncmentis 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

adductaque funibus arbor
ictibus innuuieris 775
corruit et multam prostravit pondere silv^.m.
"^
458
this tree dryads held their festival dances often ;
with hand linked to hand inline they would encircle

the great tree whose mighty girth was iull 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 ^ 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 Deo ^ 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 oif 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 j)roj>hesy with my dying

breath, and find my death's solace in it, that punish-
ment is at hand for what you do.' But he accomplished
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.
* ^
ErysichthoD. i.e. Ceres.
459
OVID
" Attonitae
diyades damno nemorumque suoque, {
omnes germanae, Cererem cum vestibus atris

maerentes adeunt poenamque Erysichthonis orant.
adnuit his capitisque sui pulcherrima motii 7 HO
concussit gravidis oncratos messibus agros,
moliturque genus pocnae miserabile, si non
ille suisesset nulli miserabilis actis,
pestifera lacerare Fame, quae quatenus ipsi

non adeunda deae est (neque enim Cereremque Fa-
memque 785
fata coire sinunt), montani niiminis 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
nee copia reium
sacrilegi scelerata, iube,
vincat earn superetque meas certamine vires,
neve viae spatium te teneat, accipe cunus,
'
accipe, quos frenis alte moderere, dracones! 795

et dedit ; ilia dato subvecta per aera cuiru
devenit in Scythiam :
rigidique cacumine mor)l,is
(Caucason appellant) sorpeiitum col la levavit
quaesitamque Famem lapidoso vidit in agro
unguibus et raras vellentem dentibus herbas. 800
hirtus erat crinis, cava lumina, pallor in ore.
Libra incana situ, scabrae rubigine fauces,
dura cutis, per quam spectari viscera possent ;
ossa sub incurvis exstabant arida lumbis, '
ventris erat pro venti-e locus ; pendere putares 805
pectus et a spinae tantummodo crate teneri.
460
" All the
dryad sisters were stupefied at their own
and their forest's loss and, mourning, clad in
black robes, tliey 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 punishmejit tliat 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 Avith 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 enira est accedere
iuxta
ausa) refert mandata deae paulumque morata, 810
quamquam aberat longe, qiiamquam modo venerat
illuc,
visa tamen sensisse faniem retroque dracones
egit in Haemoniam versis sublimis habenis.

" Dicta Fames
Cereris, quamvis contraria semper
peragit perque aera vento
illius est operi, 815
ad iussam delata domiim est, et protinus intrat
sacrilegi thalamos altoque soj)ore solutum
(noctis enim tempus) geminis amplectitur ulnis,
seqiie \iro inspirat, faucesque et pectus et ora
adflat et in vacuis spargit ieiunia venis ; 820
functaque mandate fecundum deserit orbem
inque domos inopes adsueta revertitur antra.
" Lenis adhuc Somnus
placidis Erysichthona pennis
mulcebat petit ille dapes sub imagine somni,
:
oraque vana movet dentemque in dente fatigat, 825

exercetque eibo delusum guttur inani
proque epulis tenues nequiquam devorat auras;
ut vero est expulsa quies, furit ardor edendi
perque avidas fauces incensaque viscera regnat.
nee mora quod pontus, quod terra, quod educat aer,
;
poscit et adpositis queritur ieiunia mensis 831

inque epulis epulas quaerit quodcjue urbibus esse,
;
quodque poterat populo, non sufficit uni,

satis
plusque cupit, quo j)lLira snam demittit in alvuni.

utque fretum recipit de tota Humina terra 835
462
her thinness made her joints seem large, her knees
were swollen, and her ankles were great bulging
lumps.
" V/lien 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 dut}' 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
tooth, cheats his with fancied food for
upon gullet ;
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 enouoh for whole cities, enoui^^h 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
4,6s
OVID
nee satiatur aquis perej^rinosque ebibit amnes,
utque rapax ignis non umquam alimenta recusal
innumerasque faces creinat 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.
"
lamque fame patrias altaque voragine ventris
attenuarat opes, sed inattenuata manebat
turn quoque dira fames, inplacataeque vigebat 845
flamma gulae. tandem, demisso in viscera censu,
filia restabat, non illo digua parente.
banc quoque vendit inops dominum generosa recusat

:
et vicina suas tendens super aequora palmas

'
eripe me
domino, qui raptae praemia nobis 850
'
virginitatis habes ait baec

!
Neptunus: habebat ;
qui prece non spreta, quamvis modo visa sequenti

esset ero, formamque novat vultumque virilem
induit et cultus pisces capientibus aptos.
banc dominus spectans * o qui pendentia parvo 855
aera cibocelas, moderator harundiiiis,' inquit
*
sic mare conpositum, sic sit tibi piscis in unda
credulus et nullos, nisi fixus, sentiat hamos :
quae modo cum turbatis veste capillis

vili 859
litore in hoc steterat (nam stantem in litore vidi),
die, ubi sit : neque enim vestigia longius exstant.'

ilia dei munus bene cedere sensit et a se
se quaeri gaudens his est resecuta rogantem :
*
quisquis es, ignoscas ;
in nuUam lamina partem
4()4
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 :
all those banquets,

lips of impious Erysichthon receive
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 fatlier.
Penniless, he sold even her. The high-spirited girl
refused a master, anil stretching out her hands ovei
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 youi

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 IShe 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
OVID
gurgite ab hoc flexi studioque operatus inhaesi, 865
quoque minus dubites, sic has deus aequoris antes
adiuvet, ut nemo iamdudum litore in isto,

me tamen excepto, nee femina constitit uUa.'
credidit et verso dominus pede pressit harenam
elususque abiit : illi sua reddita forma est. 870

ast ubihabere suam transformia corpora sensit^
saepe pater dominis Triopeida tradit, at ilia
nunc equa, nunc ales, modo bos, modo cervus abibat

praebebatque avido non iusta alimenta parenti.
vis tamen ilia mali postquam consumpserat omnera
materiam dederatque gravi nova pabula morbo, 876
i])se suos artus lacero divellere morsu
coepit et infelix minuendo corpus alebat.

—
"
Quid moror externis? etiam mihi nempe novaiidi
est
corporis, o iuvenis, numero finita, potestas. 880

nam modo, qui nunc sum, videor, modo flector in
anguem,
armenti modo dux vires in cornua sumo, —
cornua, dum potui. nunc pars caret altera telo
froutis, ut ipse vides." gemitus sunt verba secutL
46e
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^Jiis^
own body, fed himself.
" But
why do I dwell on tales of others .'' I
myself,
young sirs, have often changed form but my
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.
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Tn

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY

tT. E. PAGE, C.H., LITT.D.

\z. CAPrS, PH.D., LL.D. tW. H. D. ROUSE, litt.d.

"u <- ^a.^

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

BOOK VIU 405

poems written from his exile. The Metamorphoses

undersbmd that it was an error of his judgment and

Ovid's love poems, but this is generally supposed to be only

and in this letter he begs his friends now to publish

Every important myth is at least touched upon, and

lore for all writers since Ovid's time. This is the

ology largely to Ovid. The poet would have been

thoroughly familiar with the myths, and makes very

Throughout, the influence of Ovid is at least four

and yet such earlier classicists as Spenser and Milton '

Chicago, March 1915.

Bologna. Edited by Franciscus Puteolanus. Printed

II. EARLY FAMOUS EDITIONS

III. LATEST CRITICAL EDITIONS OF THE TEXT

IV. CRITICAL TREATISES ON DIFFERENT PHASES

George Lafaye, Les Metamorphoses d'Ovide et leurs

E. K. Rand, Ovid and the Spirit of Metamorphosis.

Rudolph Schevill, Ovid and the Renascence in Spain.

University of California Press, 1913.

Otto Ribbeck, Geschichte der Romische Dichtung

In nova fert animus mutatas dicere form as

adspirate meis primaque ab origine mundi

Ante mare et terras et quod tegit omnia caelum 5

nee quicquam nisi pondus iners congestaque eodem

obstabatque aliis aliud, quia corpore in uno

My mind is tell of bodies changed into new

quae postquam evolvit caecoque exemit acervo,

dissociata locis concordi pace ligavit : 25

jgnea convexi vis et sine pondere caeli

proximus est aer illi levitate locooue ;

densior his tellus elementaque grandia traxit

addidit et fontes et stagna inmensa lacusque

fluminaque obliquis cinxit declivia ripis,

sic onus inclusum numero distinxit eodem

quarum quae media est, non est habitabilis aestu :

and separated the ethereal heavens from the dense

Springs, too, a nd huge, stagnant pools and lakes he

into the expanse of a freer flood, beat now on shores

Persidaque et radiis iuga subdita matutinis ;

cum, quae pressa diu fuerant caligine caeca, 70

astra tenent caeleste solum formaeque deorum,

reason of the heat; deep snow covers two, two he

pieces. So fiercely do these brothers strive together.

sive recens tellus seductaque nuper ab alto 80

quam satus lapeto, mixtam pluvialibus undis,

sic, modo quae fuerat rudis et sine imagine, tellus

sponte sua, sine lege fidem rectumque colebat. 90

nondum praecij)ites cingebant oppida fossae ;

non tuba directi, non aeris cornua flexi.

saucia vomeribus per se dabat omnia tellus,

contentique cibis nullo cogente creatis

whether the god who made all else, designing a more