Ovid: METAMORPHOSES

Inde per inmensum croceo velatus amictu
aethera digreditur Ciconumque Hymenaeus ad oras
tendit et Orphea nequiquam voce vocatur.
adfuit ille quidem, sed nec sollemnia verba
nec laetos vultus nec felix attulit omen.

Thence, veiled in a saffron mantle, he departs through the immense aether,
and Hymenaeus tends to the shores of the Cicones, and is called by voice to Orpheus in vain.
He indeed was present, but he brought neither the solemn words
nor glad faces nor a felicitous omen.

fax quoque, quam tenuit, lacrimoso stridula fumo
usque fuit nullosque invenit motibus ignes.
exitus auspicio gravior: nam nupta per herbas
dum nova Naiadum turba comitata vagatur,
occidit in talum serpentis dente recepto.

the torch too, which he held, shrilling with tearful smoke,
was so continuously, and found no fires at its shakings.
the outcome was, by this auspice, more grievous: for the bride, through the grasses,
while, accompanied by a new throng of Naiads, she wandered,
fell, a serpent’s tooth received into her ankle.

quam satis ad superas postquam Rhodopeius auras
deflevit vates, ne non temptaret et umbras,
ad Styga Taenaria est ausus descendere porta
perque leves populos simulacraque functa sepulcro
Persephonen adiit inamoenaque regna tenentem

after the Rhodopeian vates had wept enough to the upper airs,
so that he might not fail to attempt the shades as well,
he dared to descend to the Styx by the Taenarian gate,
and through the light peoples and the simulacra that had done with the sepulchre
he approached Persephone, holding the unlovely realms

umbrarum dominum pulsisque ad carmina nervis
sic ait: 'o positi sub terra numina mundi,
in quem reccidimus, quicquid mortale creamur,
si licet et falsi positis ambagibus oris
vera loqui sinitis, non huc, ut opaca viderem

to the lord of the shades, and with the strings struck for song,
thus he spoke: 'O divinities of the world laid beneath the earth,
into which we fall back, whatever are created mortal,
if it is permitted and, the circumlocutions of a false mouth set aside,
you allow true things to be spoken, not hither, that I might see the dark places

Tartara, descendi, nec uti villosa colubris
terna Medusaei vincirem guttura monstri:
causa viae est coniunx, in quam calcata venenum
vipera diffudit crescentesque abstulit annos.
posse pati volui nec me temptasse negabo:

to Tartarus I descended, nor in order that, bristling with serpents, I might bind the triple throats of the Medusan monster:
the cause of my way is my spouse, into whom a trampled viper poured its venom
and carried off her growing years.
I wished to be able to endure it, nor will I deny that I attempted it:

vicit Amor. supera deus hic bene notus in ora est;
an sit et hic, dubito: sed et hic tamen auguror esse,
famaque si veteris non est mentita rapinae,
vos quoque iunxit Amor. per ego haec loca plena timoris,
per Chaos hoc ingens vastique silentia regni,

Love has conquered. This god is well known in the upper regions;
whether he is here too, I doubt: yet I also augur that he is here,
and if the report of the ancient rapine has not lied,
Love joined you as well. By these places full of dread,
by this immense Chaos and the silences of the vast kingdom,

Eurydices, oro, properata retexite fata.
omnia debemur vobis, paulumque morati
serius aut citius sedem properamus ad unam.
tendimus huc omnes, haec est domus ultima, vosque
humani generis longissima regna tenetis.

Eurydice’s—I beg—reweave the hastened fates.
we all are owed to you, and, delayed a little
later or sooner we hasten to a single seat.
we all tend hither; this is the ultimate house, and you
hold the longest realms of the human race.

haec quoque, cum iustos matura peregerit annos,
iuris erit vestri: pro munere poscimus usum;
quodsi fata negant veniam pro coniuge, certum est
nolle redire mihi: leto gaudete duorum.'
Talia dicentem nervosque ad verba moventem

she too, when mature has completed her just years, will be under your jurisdiction: in place of a gift we ask the use; but if the fates deny pardon for my consort, it is fixed that I do not wish to return: rejoice in the death of two.'
Saying such things, and moving the strings to his words

exsangues flebant animae; nec Tantalus undam
captavit refugam, stupuitque Ixionis orbis,
nec carpsere iecur volucres, urnisque vacarunt
Belides, inque tuo sedisti, Sisyphe, saxo.
tunc primum lacrimis victarum carmine fama est

the bloodless souls were weeping; nor did Tantalus catch the fleeing wave,
and the wheel of Ixion was stupefied, nor did the birds pluck the liver,
and the Belides were free from their urns, and you sat, Sisyphus, upon your rock.
then for the first time, so the report goes, they were conquered to tears by the song

Eumenidum maduisse genas, nec regia coniunx
sustinet oranti nec, qui regit ima, negare,
Eurydicenque vocant: umbras erat illa recentes
inter et incessit passu de vulnere tardo.
hanc simul et legem Rhodopeius accipit heros, 50
ne flectat retro sua lumina, donec Avernas
exierit valles; aut inrita dona futura.
carpitur adclivis per muta silentia trames,
arduus, obscurus, caligine densus opaca,
nec procul afuerunt telluris margine summae:

It is said the cheeks of the Eumenides were wet, nor does the royal consort
endure to deny the one praying, nor he who rules the depths,
and they call Eurydice: she was among the recent shades
and advanced with a step slow from the wound.
the Rhodopeian hero receives her and at the same time a law, 50
not to bend his eyes backward, until he has exited the Avernian
valleys; otherwise the gifts would be null and void.
An ascending path is trodden through mute silences,
steep, obscure, dense with caliginous gloom,
and they were not far from the edge of the upper earth:

hic, ne deficeret, metuens avidusque videndi
flexit amans oculos, et protinus illa relapsa est,
bracchiaque intendens prendique et prendere certans
nil nisi cedentes infelix arripit auras.
iamque iterum moriens non est de coniuge quicquam

here, lest she should fail, fearing and avid to see,
the loving one bent his eyes, and straightway she slipped back,
and stretching out his arms, striving both to be grasped and to grasp,
the unlucky one snatches nothing except the receding breezes.
and now, dying again, she said nothing about her spouse

questa suo (quid enim nisi se quereretur amatam?)
supremumque 'vale,' quod iam vix auribus ille
acciperet, dixit revolutaque rursus eodem est.
Non aliter stupuit gemina nece coniugis Orpheus,
quam tria qui timidus, medio portante catenas,

she complained to her own (for what, indeed, could she complain of except that she had been loved?)
and she said the final 'farewell,' which he by now scarcely received with his ears,
and, rolled back, she returned again to the same place.
No otherwise did Orpheus stand astonished at the double death of his spouse,
than he who, timid, at the three, with the middle bearing chains,

colla canis vidit, quem non pavor ante reliquit,
quam natura prior saxo per corpus oborto,
quique in se crimen traxit voluitque videri
Olenos esse nocens, tuque, o confisa figurae,
infelix Lethaea, tuae, iunctissima quondam

he saw the dog’s necks, whom fear did not leave before
stone, rising through his body, outstripped his nature,
and he who drew the blame onto himself and wished to seem
to be Olenos guilty, and you too, O trusting in your figure,
unhappy Lethaea, in your own, once most closely joined

pectora, nunc lapides, quos umida sustinet Ide.
orantem frustraque iterum transire volentem
portitor arcuerat: septem tamen ille diebus
squalidus in ripa Cereris sine munere sedit;
cura dolorque animi lacrimaeque alimenta fuere.                75
esse deos Erebi crudeles questus, in altam
se recipit Rhodopen pulsumque aquilonibus Haemum.
     Tertius aequoreis inclusum Piscibus annum
finierat Titan, omnemque refugerat Orpheus
femineam Venerem, seu quod male cesserat illi,

breasts, now stones, which moist Ida sustains.
the ferryman had driven back the one praying and wishing in vain to cross again:
nevertheless for seven days he, squalid, sat on the bank without the gift of Ceres;
care and grief of mind and tears were his nourishment. 75
complaining that the gods of Erebus are cruel, he withdraws to lofty
Rhodopē and to Haimus beaten by the north winds.
The Titan had finished the third year, enclosed by the watery Fishes,
and Orpheus had fled all feminine Venus, whether because it had gone ill for him,

sive fidem dederat; multas tamen ardor habebat
iungere se vati, multae doluere repulsae.
ille etiam Thracum populis fuit auctor amorem
in teneros transferre mares citraque iuventam
aetatis breve ver et primos carpere flores.

or whether he had given his pledge; nevertheless ardor had many
seeking to join themselves to the bard, and many, repulsed, grieved.
He too among the peoples of Thrace was the author to transfer love
onto tender males, and, on this side of youth,
to pluck the brief spring of age and its first flowers.

Collis erat collemque super planissima campi
area, quam viridem faciebant graminis herbae:
umbra loco deerat; qua postquam parte resedit
dis genitus vates et fila sonantia movit,
umbra loco venit: non Chaonis afuit arbor,

There was a hill, and above the hill a very level area of the plain
an area which the grasses of the turf made green:
shade was lacking to the place; after he sat down in that part
the bard begotten of the gods and set the sounding strings in motion,
shade came to the place: the Chaonian tree was not absent,

non nemus Heliadum, non frondibus aesculus altis,
nec tiliae molles, nec fagus et innuba laurus,
et coryli fragiles et fraxinus utilis hastis
enodisque abies curvataque glandibus ilex
et platanus genialis acerque coloribus inpar

nor the grove of the Heliads, nor the oak with lofty leaves,
nor soft lindens, nor the beech and the unwedded laurel,
and fragile hazels and the ash useful for spears,
and the knotless fir and the holm-oak bent with acorns,
and the genial plane-tree and the maple unequal in colors

amnicolaeque simul salices et aquatica lotos
perpetuoque virens buxum tenuesque myricae
et bicolor myrtus et bacis caerula tinus.
vos quoque, flexipedes hederae, venistis et una
pampineae vites et amictae vitibus ulmi

and river-dwelling willows and the watery lotus
and the ever-green boxwood and the slender tamarisks
and the two-colored myrtle and the dark-blue viburnum with its berries.
you too, flexi-footed ivies, came, and together
the viny vines and the elms cloaked with vines

100

ornique et piceae pomoque onerata rubenti
arbutus et lentae, victoris praemia, palmae
et succincta comas hirsutaque vertice pinus,
grata deum matri, siquidem Cybeleius Attis
exuit hac hominem truncoque induruit illo.

and the manna-ashes and pitch-pines, and the arbutus laden with ruddy fruit,
and the supple palms, the prizes of the victor,
and the pine, with its tresses girded and shaggy at the crown,
pleasing to the Mother of the gods, since Cybeleian Attis
stripped off the man in this, and indurated into that trunk.

105

Adfuit huic turbae metas imitata cupressus,
nunc arbor, puer ante deo dilectus ab illo,
qui citharam nervis et nervis temperat arcum.
namque sacer nymphis Carthaea tenentibus arva
ingens cervus erat, lateque patentibus altas

Present to this throng was the cypress imitating the metae,
now a tree, once a boy beloved by that god,
who tempers the cithara with strings and with strings the bow.
for there was a huge stag, sacred to the nymphs who held the Carthaean fields,
and far and wide, with high antlers outspreading,

110

ipse suo capiti praebebat cornibus umbras.
cornua fulgebant auro, demissaque in armos
pendebant tereti gemmata monilia collo.
bulla super frontem parvis argentea loris
vincta movebatur; parilesque ex aere nitebant

he with his horns provided shade for his own head.
the horns gleamed with gold, and, let down onto the shoulders,
bejewelled necklaces hung from the rounded neck.
a silver bulla above the forehead, bound with small straps,
was moving; and paired ornaments were shining from bronze.

115

auribus e geminis circum cava tempora bacae;
isque metu vacuus naturalique pavore
deposito celebrare domos mulcendaque colla
quamlibet ignotis manibus praebere solebat.
sed tamen ante alios, Ceae pulcherrime gentis,

from his twin ears beads encircled his hollow temples;
and he, free from fear and his natural dread
laid aside, was accustomed to frequent homes and to offer his neck to be soothed
to whatever unknown hands he was wont to present it.
but yet before others, most beautiful of the Cean nation,

120

gratus erat, Cyparisse, tibi: tu pabula cervum
ad nova, tu liquidi ducebas fontis ad undam,
tu modo texebas varios per cornua flores,
nunc eques in tergo residens huc laetus et illuc
mollia purpureis frenabas ora capistris.

he was pleasing to you, Cyparissus: you would lead the stag to fresh fodder, you would lead him to the wave of a limpid spring, you at one time were weaving various flowers through his horns, now, a rider seated on his back, glad this way and that, you were reining his soft mouth with purple halters.

125

Aestus erat mediusque dies, solisque vapore
concava litorei fervebant bracchia Cancri:
fessus in herbosa posuit sua corpora terra
cervus et arborea frigus ducebat ab umbra.
hunc puer inprudens iaculo Cyparissus acuto

It was heat and it was midday, and by the sun’s vapor
the concave arms of the littoral Crab were seething:
the weary stag set his body down on the grassy earth
and was drawing coolness from the arboreal shade.
this one, unwitting, with a sharp javelin, the boy Cyparissus

130

fixit et, ut saevo morientem vulnere vidit,
velle mori statuit. quae non solacia Phoebus
dixit et, ut leviter pro materiaque doleret,
admonuit! gemit ille tamen munusque supremum
hoc petit a superis, ut tempore lugeat omni.

He transfixed it, and when he saw it dying from the savage wound,
he resolved to die. What solaces did Phoebus
not say, and he admonished that he should grieve lightly and as the matter warranted,
nevertheless he groans, and this supreme boon
he seeks from the gods above: that he may mourn for all time.

135

iamque per inmensos egesto sanguine fletus
in viridem verti coeperunt membra colorem,
et, modo qui nivea pendebant fronte capilli,
horrida caesaries fieri sumptoque rigore
sidereum gracili spectare cacumine caelum.

and now, with the blood drained out by immense weepings,
his limbs began to turn to a green color,
and the hairs which just now were hanging from his snow-white brow
to become a bristling mane, and, rigidity having been assumed,
to gaze at the sidereal heaven with a slender tip.

140

ingemuit tristisque deus 'lugebere nobis
lugebisque alios aderisque dolentibus' inquit.
Tale nemus vates attraxerat inque ferarum
concilio, medius turbae, volucrumque sedebat.
ut satis inpulsas temptavit pollice chordas

he groaned, and the sad god said, 'you will be mourned by us, you will mourn others, and you will be present to the grieving.'
Such a grove the vates had attracted, and in the council of wild beasts, in the midst of the throng, and of birds, he sat.
as he tested with his thumb the strings set in motion sufficiently.

145

et sensit varios, quamvis diversa sonarent,
concordare modos, hoc vocem carmine movit:
'ab Iove, Musa parens, (cedunt Iovis omnia regno)
carmina nostra move! Iovis est mihi saepe potestas
dicta prius: cecini plectro graviore Gigantas

and he sensed that the various modes, although they sounded different,
harmonize; with this song he stirred his voice:
'From Jove, mother Muse (all things yield to Jove’s rule),
set our songs in motion! Jove’s power has often been
told by me before: with a graver plectrum I sang the Giants

150

sparsaque Phlegraeis victricia fulmina campis.
nunc opus est leviore lyra, puerosque canamus
dilectos superis inconcessisque puellas
ignibus attonitas meruisse libidine poenam.
'Rex superum Phrygii quondam Ganymedis amore

and the victorious thunderbolts scattered over the Phlegraean fields.
now there is need of a lighter lyre, and let us sing of boys
beloved by the gods above, and of girls
struck by forbidden fires, who merited a penalty through lust.
'The king of the gods, once, through love for Phrygian Ganymede

155

arsit, et inventum est aliquid, quod Iuppiter esse,
quam quod erat, mallet. nulla tamen alite verti
dignatur, nisi quae posset sua fulmina ferre.
nec mora, percusso mendacibus aere pennis
abripit Iliaden; qui nunc quoque pocula miscet

he burned, and something was found which Jupiter would rather be,
than what he was. Yet he deigns to be turned into no bird
except that which could bear his own thunderbolts.
No delay: beating the mendacious air with his wings,
he snatches away the Ilian boy; who even now mixes the cups

160

invitaque Iovi nectar Iunone ministrat.
     'Te quoque, Amyclide, posuisset in aethere Phoebus,
tristia si spatium ponendi fata dedissent.
qua licet, aeternus tamen es, quotiensque repellit
ver hiemem, Piscique Aries succedit aquoso,                165
tu totiens oreris viridique in caespite flores.
te meus ante omnes genitor dilexit, et orbe
in medio positi caruerunt praeside Delphi,
dum deus Eurotan inmunitamque frequentat
Sparten, nec citharae nec sunt in honore sagittae:

and, with Juno unwilling, he serves nectar to Jove.
'You too, Amyclide, Phoebus would have placed in the aether,
if the sad Fates had granted a span for being put aside.
in what way it is permitted, however, you are eternal: as often as spring repels
winter, and Aries succeeds the watery Pisces, 165
so often you arise, and flowers on the green turf.
you my father loved before all, and Delphi, set in the middle
of the world, lacked a guardian, while the god frequented the Eurotas
and un-walled Sparta, and neither the cithara nor the arrows are in honor:

170

inmemor ipse sui non retia ferre recusat,
non tenuisse canes, non per iuga montis iniqui
ire comes, longaque alit adsuetudine flammas.
iamque fere medius Titan venientis et actae
noctis erat spatioque pari distabat utrimque,

he himself, forgetful of himself, does not refuse to carry the nets,
nor to hold the hounds, nor to go as a companion over the ridges of the harsh mountain,
and with long habituation he nourishes his flames.
and now the Titan was almost midway between the coming and the spent
night, and by an equal interval he was distant from either,

175

corpora veste levant et suco pinguis olivi
splendescunt latique ineunt certamina disci.
quem prius aerias libratum Phoebus in auras
misit et oppositas disiecit pondere nubes;
reccidit in solidam longo post tempore terram

they lighten their bodies of clothing, and with the juice of rich olive they gleam,
and they enter the contests of the broad discus.
which earlier Phoebus sent, poised, into the aerial breezes,
and with its weight scattered the opposing clouds;
it fell back onto solid earth after a long time

180

pondus et exhibuit iunctam cum viribus artem.
protinus inprudens actusque cupidine lusus
tollere Taenarides orbem properabat, at illum
dura repercusso subiecit verbere tellus
in vultus, Hyacinthe, tuos. expalluit aeque

and its mass exhibited an art joined with strength.
straightway, unwary and driven by desire for the game,
the Taenarian hastened to lift the orb; but it
the hard earth, by a rebounding lash, shot up beneath
into your face, Hyacinthus. He grew pale as well.

185

quam puer ipse deus conlapsosque excipit artus,
et modo te refovet, modo tristia vulnera siccat,
nunc animam admotis fugientem sustinet herbis.
nil prosunt artes: erat inmedicabile vulnus.
ut, siquis violas rigidumve papaver in horto

as much as the boy, the god himself grew pale, and he catches your collapsed limbs,
and now he re-warms you, now he dries the gloomy wounds,
now with herbs applied he sustains the fleeing breath.
his arts are no profit: the wound was immedicable.
as, if someone in a garden the violets or the rigid poppy

190

liliaque infringat fulvis horrentia linguis,
marcida demittant subito caput illa vietum
nec se sustineant spectentque cacumine terram:
sic vultus moriens iacet et defecta vigore
ipsa sibi est oneri cervix umeroque recumbit.

and break the lilies, bristling, with tawny tongues,
those, withered, would suddenly let their shriveled head droop
nor could they sustain themselves and would look with their tip toward the earth:
thus the dying visage lies, and drained of vigor
the neck is a burden to itself and reclines upon the shoulder.

195

"laberis, Oebalide, prima fraudate iuventa,"
Phoebus ait "videoque tuum, mea crimina, vulnus.
tu dolor es facinusque meum: mea dextera leto
inscribenda tuo est. ego sum tibi funeris auctor.
quae mea culpa tamen, nisi si lusisse vocari

"you are slipping, O Oebalid, defrauded of your prime youth,"
Phoebus says, "and I see your wound—my crimes.
you are my sorrow and my crime: my right hand must be inscribed upon your death.
I am for you the author of your funeral.
what, however, is my fault, unless if playing is to be called so?

200

culpa potest, nisi culpa potest et amasse vocari?
atque utinam tecumque mori vitamque liceret
reddere! quod quoniam fatali lege tenemur,
semper eris mecum memorique haerebis in ore.
te lyra pulsa manu, te carmina nostra sonabunt,

can it be called a fault—unless even to have loved can be called a fault?
and would that it were permitted to die with you and to render back my life!
but since by a fatal law we are held,
you will always be with me and will cling on my mindful lips.
of you the lyre, struck by my hand, of you our songs will resound,

205

flosque novus scripto gemitus imitabere nostros.
tempus et illud erit, quo se fortissimus heros
addat in hunc florem folioque legatur eodem."
talia dum vero memorantur Apollinis ore,
ecce cruor, qui fusus humo signaverat herbas,

and the new flower will imitate our groans with writing inscribed.
and that time too will be, when the bravest hero
shall add himself to this flower and be read on the same leaf."
while such things are truly being recounted by Apollo’s mouth,
behold, the blood, which having been poured upon the ground had marked the grasses,

210

desinit esse cruor, Tyrioque nitentior ostro
flos oritur formamque capit, quam lilia, si non
purpureus color his, argenteus esset in illis.
non satis hoc Phoebo est (is enim fuit auctor honoris):
ipse suos gemitus foliis inscribit, et AI AI

it ceases to be blood, and a flower arises, more shining than Tyrian purple,
and it takes the shape that lilies have, save that in this the color is purpureous,
whereas in those it is silvery.
not enough is this for Phoebus (for he was the author of the honor):
he himself inscribes his own groans on the leaves, and AI AI

215

flos habet inscriptum, funestaque littera ducta est.
nec genuisse pudet Sparten Hyacinthon: honorque
durat in hoc aevi, celebrandaque more priorum
annua praelata redeunt Hyacinthia pompa.
'At si forte roges fecundam Amathunta metallis,

the flower bears an inscription, and the funereal letter has been drawn.
nor is Sparta ashamed to have engendered Hyacinthus: and the honor
endures into this age, and, to be celebrated in the custom of the ancestors,
the annual Hyacinthia return with a preeminent procession.
'But if by chance you should ask Amathus, rich in metals,

220

an genuisse velit Propoetidas, abnuat aeque
atque illos, gemino quondam quibus aspera cornu
frons erat, unde etiam nomen traxere Cerastae.
ante fores horum stabat Iovis Hospitis ara;
ignarus sceleris quam siquis sanguine tinctam

or whether she would wish to have borne the Propoetides, she equally disowns them,
and those as well, whose brow once was rough with a twin horn,
whence they also drew the name Cerastae.
Before the doors of these stood the altar of Jove the Hospitable;
which, if anyone ignorant of the crime should see stained with blood,

225

advena vidisset, mactatos crederet illic
lactantes vitulos Amathusiacasque bidentes:
hospes erat caesus! sacris offensa nefandis
ipsa suas urbes Ophiusiaque arva parabat
deserere alma Venus. "sed quid loca grata, quid urbes

a newcomer, if he had seen it, would believe that there the suckling calves and the Amathusian two‑toothed ewes had been sacrificed:
the guest had been cut down! Offended by the unspeakable rites
the nurturing Venus herself was preparing to desert her own cities and the Ophiusian fields,
to forsake them. “But what are pleasing places, what are cities

230

peccavere meae? quod" dixit "crimen in illis?
exilio poenam potius gens inpia pendat
vel nece vel siquid medium est mortisque fugaeque.

“Have my cities sinned? What,” she said, “crime is in them?
let the impious race rather pay the penalty by exile,
or by death, or, if there is anything between, between death and flight.”

idque quid esse potest, nisi versae poena figurae?"
dum dubitat, quo mutet eos, ad cornua vultum

and what can that be, unless the penalty of a changed figure?"
while she hesitates, into what she might mutate them, toward horns her face

235

flexit et admonita est haec illis posse relinqui
grandiaque in torvos transformat membra iuvencos.
'Sunt tamen obscenae Venerem Propoetides ausae
esse negare deam; pro quo sua numinis ira
corpora cum fama primae vulgasse feruntur,

she turned and was reminded that these things could be left to them,
and she transforms the large limbs into grim young bulls.
'Yet the obscene Propoetides dared to deny Venus to be a goddess;
for which, by the anger of the divinity,
they are said to have been the first to have prostituted their bodies together with their repute,

240

utque pudor cessit, sanguisque induruit oris,
in rigidum parvo silicem discrimine versae.
'Quas quia Pygmalion aevum per crimen agentis
viderat, offensus vitiis, quae plurima menti
femineae natura dedit, sine coniuge caelebs

and as modesty yielded, and the blood of their faces hardened,
they were turned into rigid flint with but a slight distinction.
'Whom, because Pygmalion had seen passing their age through crime,
offended by the vices which nature gave in most number to the feminine mind,
celibate without a spouse

245

vivebat thalamique diu consorte carebat.
interea niveum mira feliciter arte
sculpsit ebur formamque dedit, qua femina nasci
nulla potest, operisque sui concepit amorem.
virginis est verae facies, quam vivere credas,

he lived and for a long time lacked a consort of the bridal chamber.
meanwhile he sculpted snowy ivory with wondrous art felicitously
and gave it a form, with which no woman can be born,
and he conceived a love for his work.
it has the face of a true virgin, which you would believe to live,

250

et, si non obstet reverentia, velle moveri:
ars adeo latet arte sua. miratur et haurit
pectore Pygmalion simulati corporis ignes.
saepe manus operi temptantes admovet, an sit
corpus an illud ebur, nec adhuc ebur esse fatetur.

and, if reverence did not obstruct, to wish to move:
so far does art hide in its own art.
Pygmalion marvels and drinks into his breast the fires of the simulated body.
often he brings his hands, testing, to the work—whether it is a body or that ivory—and he does not yet confess it to be ivory.

255

oscula dat reddique putat loquiturque tenetque
et credit tactis digitos insidere membris
et metuit, pressos veniat ne livor in artus,
et modo blanditias adhibet, modo grata puellis
munera fert illi conchas teretesque lapillos

he gives kisses and thinks them returned, and he speaks and holds it
and believes that his fingers sink into the touched limbs
and he fears, lest a bruise come upon the pressed limbs,
and now he applies blandishments, now things pleasing to girls
he brings gifts to her, shells and smooth little pebbles

260

et parvas volucres et flores mille colorum
liliaque pictasque pilas et ab arbore lapsas
Heliadum lacrimas; ornat quoque vestibus artus,
dat digitis gemmas, dat longa monilia collo,
aure leves bacae, redimicula pectore pendent:

and little birds and flowers of a thousand colors
and lilies and painted balls, and the tears of the Heliades
fallen from the tree; he also adorns the limbs with garments,
gives gems to the fingers, gives long necklaces to the neck,
light berry-beads at the ear, little bands hang upon the breast:

265

cuncta decent; nec nuda minus formosa videtur.
conlocat hanc stratis concha Sidonide tinctis
adpellatque tori sociam adclinataque colla
mollibus in plumis, tamquam sensura, reponit.
'Festa dies Veneris tota celeberrima Cypro

All things befit her; nor does she seem less beautiful nude.
He places her on coverings dyed with Sidonian shell‑purple
and calls her the bed’s companion, and, her neck inclined,
he lays her back on soft plumes, as though she would feel.
'A festal day of Venus, most celebrated through all Cyprus'

270

venerat, et pandis inductae cornibus aurum
conciderant ictae nivea cervice iuvencae,
turaque fumabant, cum munere functus ad aras
constitit et timide "si, di, dare cuncta potestis,
sit coniunx, opto," non ausus "eburnea virgo"

had come, and the heifers, overlaid with gold on their curved horns, had fallen, smitten on their snow-white necks, and the incense was smoking, when, having performed the office, he stood at the altars and timidly said, "if, gods, you can grant all things,
let there be a consort, I desire," not daring "an ivory maiden"

275

dicere, Pygmalion "similis mea" dixit "eburnae."
sensit, ut ipsa suis aderat Venus aurea festis,
vota quid illa velint et, amici numinis omen,
flamma ter accensa est apicemque per aera duxit.
ut rediit, simulacra suae petit ille puellae

"to say," Pygmalion said, "like my ivory one."
the golden Venus, as she herself was present at her own festivals, sensed
what those vows were wishing, and, as an omen of friendly divinity,
the flame was thrice kindled and led its tip through the air.
when he returned, he sought the images of his girl

280

incumbensque toro dedit oscula: visa tepere est;
admovet os iterum, manibus quoque pectora temptat:
temptatum mollescit ebur positoque rigore
subsidit digitis ceditque, ut Hymettia sole
cera remollescit tractataque pollice multas

and leaning upon the couch he gave kisses: it seemed to grow warm;
he brings his mouth again, and with his hands too he tests the breast:
the ivory, having been tested, grows soft, and with its rigor set aside
it sinks to his fingers and yields, as Hymettian wax in the sun
softens again and, handled by the thumb, into many

285

flectitur in facies ipsoque fit utilis usu.
dum stupet et dubie gaudet fallique veretur,
rursus amans rursusque manu sua vota retractat.
corpus erat!

it is bent into features and by the very use becomes useful.
while he is stupefied and rejoices dubiously and fears to be deceived,
again the lover, and again with his own hand he handles anew his vows.
it was a body!

saliunt temptatae pollice venae.
tum vero Paphius plenissima concipit heros

the veins, tested by his thumb, leap.
then indeed the Paphian hero conceives the fullest vows

290

verba, quibus Veneri grates agat, oraque tandem
ore suo non falsa premit, dataque oscula virgo
sensit et erubuit timidumque ad lumina lumen
attollens pariter cum caelo vidit amantem.
coniugio, quod fecit, adest dea, iamque coactis

words with which he might give thanks to Venus, and at last he presses lips not false with his own mouth, and the maiden felt the kisses given and blushed, and lifting her timid light to the light, together with the sky she saw her lover. the goddess is present at the marriage which she made, and now, with the things assembled

295

cornibus in plenum noviens lunaribus orbem
illa Paphon genuit, de qua tenet insula nomen.
'Editus hac ille est, qui si sine prole fuisset,
inter felices Cinyras potuisset haberi.
dira canam; procul hinc natae, procul este parente

with lunar horns nine times to the full orb
she bore Paphos, from whom the island holds its name.
'From this one was born that man—Cinyras—who, if he had been without progeny,
could have been counted among the fortunate.
I shall sing dire things; daughters, be far from here, be far from your parent

300

aut, mea si vestras mulcebunt carmina mentes,
desit in hac mihi parte fides, nec credite factum,
vel, si credetis, facti quoque credite poenam.
si tamen admissum sinit hoc natura videri,
[gentibus Ismariis et nostro gratulor orbi,]

or, if my songs will soothe your minds,
let credence be lacking to me in this part, nor credit the deed,
or, if you will credit it, credit also the punishment of the deed.
if, however, nature allows this admitted offense to be seen,
[for the Ismarian peoples and for our orb I offer congratulations,]

305

gratulor huic terrae, quod abest regionibus illis,
quae tantum genuere nefas: sit dives amomo
cinnamaque costumque suum sudataque ligno
tura ferat floresque alios Panchaia tellus,
dum ferat et murram: tanti nova non fuit arbor.

I congratulate this land, because it is far from those regions
which engendered such a nefas: let it be rich in amomum;
and cinnamon and its costus; and, sweated from the wood,
let the Panchaian earth bear frankincense and other flowers,
so long as it also bears myrrh: the new tree was not worth so much.

310

ipse negat nocuisse tibi sua tela Cupido,
Myrrha, facesque suas a crimine vindicat isto;
stipite te Stygio tumidisque adflavit echidnis
e tribus una soror: scelus est odisse parentem,
hic amor est odio maius scelus.—undique lecti

Cupid himself denies that his weapons harmed you, Myrrha, and clears his torches from this charge; one of the three sisters blew upon you with a Stygian brand and swollen vipers; to hate a parent is a crime—this love is a crime greater than hatred.—chosen from every side

315

te cupiunt proceres, totoque Oriente iuventus
ad thalami certamen adest: ex omnibus unum
elige, Myrrha, virum, dum ne sit in omnibus unus.
illa quidem sentit foedoque repugnat amori
et secum "quo mente feror? quid molior?" inquit

the nobles desire you, and the youth of the whole Orient
is present for the contest of the marriage-bed: from all
choose, Myrrha, one husband, provided that one is not among them all.
she indeed perceives it and resists the foul love
and with herself she says, "Whither is my mind borne? What am I attempting?"

320

"di, precor, et pietas sacrataque iura parentum,
hoc prohibete nefas scelerique resistite nostro,
si tamen hoc scelus est. sed enim damnare negatur
hanc Venerem pietas: coeunt animalia nullo
cetera dilectu, nec habetur turpe iuvencae

"gods, I pray, and piety and the consecrated laws of parents,
forbid this abomination and resist my crime,
if indeed this is a crime. But indeed piety is said not to condemn
this Venus: animals come together with no
other selection, nor is it held shameful for a heifer

325

ferre patrem tergo, fit equo sua filia coniunx,
quasque creavit init pecudes caper, ipsaque, cuius
semine concepta est, ex illo concipit ales.
felices, quibus ista licent! humana malignas
cura dedit leges, et quod natura remittit,

to carry the father on the back; his own daughter becomes consort to the horse,
and the he-goat covers the flocks which he sired, and the bird herself, by whose
seed she was conceived, conceives from that same one.
fortunate they to whom such things are permitted! human care gave malign laws, and what Nature remits,

330

invida iura negant. gentes tamen esse feruntur,
in quibus et nato genetrix et nata parenti
iungitur, et pietas geminato crescit amore.
me miseram, quod non nasci mihi contigit illic,
fortunaque loci laedor!—quid in ista revolvor?

invidious laws deny it. Yet peoples are said to exist,
in which both the mother is joined to the son and the daughter to the parent,
and piety grows with doubled love.
wretched me, that it did not befall me to be born there,
and I am injured by the fortune of my place!—why do I keep turning back to this?

335

spes interdictae, discedite! dignus amari
ille, sed ut pater, est.—ergo, si filia magni
non essem Cinyrae, Cinyrae concumbere possem:
nunc, quia iam meus est, non est meus, ipsaque damno
est mihi proximitas: aliena potentior essem.

Interdicted hopes, depart! Worthy to be loved
is he, but as a father.—Therefore, if I were not the daughter of great
Cinyras, I could lie with Cinyras:
now, because he is already mine, he is not mine, and proximity itself
is to my detriment: I would be more powerful were I alien.

340

ire libet procul hinc patriaeque relinquere fines,
dum scelus effugiam; retinet malus ardor euntem,
ut praesens spectem Cinyran tangamque loquarque
osculaque admoveam, si nil conceditur ultra.
ultra autem spectare aliquid potes, inpia virgo?

it pleases me to go far from here and to leave the borders of my fatherland,
while I may escape the crime; a wicked ardor holds me back as I go,
so that, present, I may behold Cinyras and may touch and may speak
and may bring kisses near, if nothing further is granted.
but can you look beyond to anything further, impious virgin?

345

et quot confundas et iura et nomina, sentis?
tune eris et matris paelex et adultera patris?
tune soror nati genetrixque vocabere fratris?
nec metues atro crinitas angue sorores,
quas facibus saevis oculos atque ora petentes

and how many laws and names you confound, do you perceive?
will you be both your mother’s rival‑wife and your father’s adulteress?
will you be called the sister of your son and the mother of your brother?
and will you not fear the sisters with hair of black serpents,
who, with savage torches, aim at eyes and faces

350

noxia corda vident? at tu, dum corpore non es
passa nefas, animo ne concipe neve potentis
concubitu vetito naturae pollue foedus!
velle puta: res ipsa vetat; pius ille memorque est
moris—et o vellem similis furor esset in illo!"

Do they see noxious hearts? But you, while in body you have not
suffered a nefarious crime, do not conceive it in your mind, nor with the powerful one’s
concubinage, vetoed by nature, pollute the covenant!
Suppose he should will it: the thing itself vetoes it; he is pious and mindful
of the mores—and O would that a like frenzy were in him!"

355

     'Dixerat, at Cinyras, quem copia digna procorum,
quid faciat, dubitare facit, scitatur ab ipsa,
nominibus dictis, cuius velit esse mariti;
illa silet primo patriisque in vultibus haerens
aestuat et tepido suffundit lumina rore.                360
virginei Cinyras haec credens esse timoris,
flere vetat siccatque genas atque oscula iungit;
Myrrha datis nimium gaudet consultaque, qualem
optet habere virum, "similem tibi" dixit; at ille
non intellectam vocem conlaudat et "esto

     'She had spoken, but Cinyras—whom a supply worthy of suitors makes hesitate what he should do—asks her herself, the names having been stated, whose wife she would wish to be;
he questions her, and she is silent at first, and, clinging to her father’s features,
she burns and suffuses her eyes with tepid dew.                360
Cinyras, believing these things to be of virginal fear,
forbids her to weep and dries her cheeks and joins kisses;
Myrrha rejoices excessively at the things given, and, when consulted what sort
of man she would wish to have as a husband, said, "one like you"; but he,
not understanding the utterance, commends it and "let it be

365

tam pia semper" ait. pietatis nomine dicto
demisit vultus sceleris sibi conscia virgo.
'Noctis erat medium, curasque et corpora somnus
solverat; at virgo Cinyreia pervigil igni
carpitur indomito furiosaque vota retractat

"so pious always," he says. With the name of piety spoken
the maiden, conscious to herself of the crime, lowered her face.
'It was the middle of the night, and sleep had loosened cares and bodies
had undone them; but the Cinyrean maiden, ever-wakeful, is consumed by an untamed fire,
and madly reconsiders her vows.

370

et modo desperat, modo vult temptare, pudetque
et cupit, et, quid agat, non invenit, utque securi
saucia trabs ingens, ubi plaga novissima restat,
quo cadat, in dubio est omnique a parte timetur,
sic animus vario labefactus vulnere nutat

and now she despairs, now she wants to attempt it, and she is ashamed
and she longs, and what she should do she cannot find; and as a huge
beam, wounded by the axe, when the last stroke remains,
is in doubt where it may fall and is feared from every side,
so her spirit, shaken by a manifold wound, wavers

375

huc levis atque illuc momentaque sumit utroque,
nec modus et requies, nisi mors, reperitur amoris.
mors placet. erigitur laqueoque innectere fauces
destinat et zona summo de poste revincta
"care, vale, Cinyra, causamque intellege mortis!"

light hither and thither, and she takes impulses on either side,
nor are limit and repose, save death, found for love.
death pleases. she rises and resolves to fasten her throat in a noose
and, with her girdle looped from the top of the post,
"dear, farewell, Cinyras, and understand the cause of my death!"

380

dixit et aptabat pallenti vincula collo.
'Murmura verborum fidas nutricis ad aures
pervenisse ferunt limen servantis alumnae.
surgit anus reseratque fores mortisque paratae
instrumenta videns spatio conclamat eodem

she said and was fitting the bonds to her pallid neck.
'The murmurs of her words are said to have reached the faithful nurse’s ears, as she was keeping her alumna’s threshold.
the old woman rises and unbars the doors, and, seeing the instruments of death made ready,
she cries out in that same space

385

seque ferit scinditque sinus ereptaque collo
vincula dilaniat; tum denique flere vacavit,
tum dare conplexus laqueique requirere causam.
muta silet virgo terramque inmota tuetur
et deprensa dolet tardae conamina mortis.

and she strikes herself and rends her bosom, and the bonds snatched from the neck she lacerates;
then at last she had leisure to weep,
then to give embraces and to inquire the cause of the noose.
mute, the virgin is silent and, motionless, gazes at the ground
and, taken in the act, grieves the endeavors of a tardy death.

390

instat anus canosque suos et inania nudans
ubera per cunas alimentaque prima precatur,
ut sibi committat, quicquid dolet. illa rogantem
aversata gemit; certa est exquirere nutrix
nec solam spondere fidem. "dic" inquit "opemque

the old woman presses, and, baring her own gray hairs and her empty breasts,
she implores, by the cradle and the earliest aliments,
that she commit to her whatever pains her. She, turning away from the one asking,
groans; the nurse is resolved to ferret it out
and not to pledge faith alone. "Say," she says, "and aid

395

me sine ferre tibi: non est mea pigra senectus.
seu furor est, habeo, quae carmine sanet et herbis;
sive aliquis nocuit, magico lustrabere ritu;
ira deum sive est, sacris placabilis ira.
quid rear ulterius? certe fortuna domusque

allow me to bear it for you: my old age is not sluggish.
whether it is fury, I have what may heal by charm and herbs;
or if someone has harmed you, you will be purified by a magic rite;
or if it is the wrath of the gods, a wrath placable by sacred rites.
what should I think further? surely fortune and the household

400

sospes et in cursu est: vivunt genetrixque paterque."
Myrrha patre audito suspiria duxit ab imo
pectore; nec nutrix etiamnum concipit ullum
mente nefas aliquemque tamen praesentit amorem;
propositique tenax, quodcumque est, orat, ut ipsi

is safe and on course: the mother and the father live."
Myrrha, at the word “father” heard, drew sighs from her deepest breast;
nor does the nurse as yet conceive any wickedness in her mind, and yet she has a presentiment of some love;
and, tenacious of her purpose, whatever it is, she prays that to herself

405

indicet, et gremio lacrimantem tollit anili
atque ita conplectens infirmis membra lacertis
"sensimus," inquit "amas! et in hoc mea (pone timorem)
sedulitas erit apta tibi, nec sentiet umquam
hoc pater." exiluit gremio furibunda torumque

“let her indicate it,” and she lifts the weeping girl into her old woman’s lap
and thus, clasping her limbs with feeble arms,
“We have sensed it,” she says, “you are in love! and in this (set fear aside)
my sedulity will be apt for you, nor will your father ever sense
this.” She leapt from her lap, frenzied, and the couch

410

ore premens "discede, precor, miseroque pudori
parce!" ait; instanti "discede, aut desine" dixit
"quaerere, quid doleam! scelus est, quod scire laboras."
horret anus tremulasque manus annisque metuque
tendit et ante pedes supplex procumbit alumnae

pressing her lips, "depart, I pray, and spare my wretched modesty!" she says; to her insisting, "depart, or cease," she said, "to inquire what I suffer! it is a crime, that which you labor to know." the old woman shudders and stretches forth her trembling hands, from years and from fear, and as a suppliant falls prostrate before the feet of her foster-child

415

et modo blanditur, modo, si non conscia fiat,
terret et indicium laquei coeptaeque minatur
mortis et officium commisso spondet amori.
extulit illa caput lacrimisque inplevit obortis
pectora nutricis conataque saepe fateri

and now she cajoles, now, if she be not made a confidante,
she frightens and threatens disclosure, the noose, and a death begun,
and she pledges the service owed to a love entrusted.
she raised her head and with tears welling filled the nurse’s bosom
and often attempted to confess

420

saepe tenet vocem pudibundaque vestibus ora
texit et "o" dixit "felicem coniuge matrem!"
hactenus, et gemuit. gelidus nutricis in artus
ossaque (sensit enim) penetrat tremor, albaque toto
vertice canities rigidis stetit hirta capillis,

Often she holds back her voice, and, shamefaced, with her garments she covered her face
and said, "O mother happy in her husband!"
thus far, and she groaned. A gelid tremor penetrates the nurse’s limbs
and bones (for she felt it), and white hoariness over her whole crown
stood bristling, with rigid hairs,

425

multaque, ut excuteret diros, si posset, amores,
addidit. at virgo scit se non falsa moneri;
certa mori tamen est, si non potiatur amore.
"vive," ait haec, "potiere tuo"—et, non ausa "parente"
dicere, conticuit promissaque numine firmat.

and she added many things, that she might shake off the dire loves, if she could;
but the maiden knows she is not being admonished falsely;
nevertheless she is resolved to die, if she may not possess the love.
“live,” says this one, “you shall possess your own”—and, not daring to say “parent,”
she fell silent and confirms the promises with a nod.

430

'Festa piae Cereris celebrabant annua matres
illa, quibus nivea velatae corpora veste
primitias frugum dant spicea serta suarum
perque novem noctes venerem tactusque viriles
in vetitis numerant: turba Cenchreis in illa

'The annual feasts of pious Ceres the mothers were celebrating,
those who, their bodies veiled in a snowy garment,
give the first-fruits of their own crops as grain-ear garlands,
and through nine nights reckon Venus and male touches
among the forbidden: in that throng was Cenchreis

435

regis adest coniunx arcanaque sacra frequentat.
ergo legitima vacuus dum coniuge lectus,
nacta gravem vino Cinyran male sedula nutrix,
nomine mentito veros exponit amores
et faciem laudat; quaesitis virginis annis

the king’s consort is present and attends the secret rites.
therefore, while the lawful bed is empty of the spouse,
the nurse, mischievously zealous, having found Cinyras heavy with wine,
under a feigned name sets forth the true loves
and praises her face; once the maiden’s years have been inquired

440

"par" ait "est Myrrhae." quam postquam adducere iussa est
utque domum rediit, "gaude, mea" dixit "alumna:
vicimus!" infelix non toto pectore sentit
laetitiam virgo, praesagaque pectora maerent,
sed tamen et gaudet: tanta est discordia mentis.

"Equal," she says, "to Myrrha." And when she was ordered to bring her in,
and when she returned home, she said, "Rejoice, my foster-child:
we have won!" The unhappy virgin does not feel joy with her whole heart,
and her presaging heart grieves,
yet nevertheless she rejoices too: so great is the discord of the mind.

445

'Tempus erat, quo cuncta silent, interque triones
flexerat obliquo plaustrum temone Bootes:
ad facinus venit illa suum; fugit aurea caelo
luna, tegunt nigrae latitantia sidera nubes;
nox caret igne suo; primus tegis, Icare, vultus,

'It was the time when all things are silent, and among the Triones
Boötes had bent the Wain with his oblique pole:
she came to her own crime; the golden moon fled from the sky,
black clouds cover the skulking stars;
the night lacks its own fire; you first, Icarius, you veil your face,

450

Erigoneque pio sacrata parentis amore.
ter pedis offensi signo est revocata, ter omen
funereus bubo letali carmine fecit:
it tamen, et tenebrae minuunt noxque atra pudorem;
nutricisque manum laeva tenet, altera motu

and Erigone, consecrated by the pious love of her parent.
three times she was called back by the sign of a stumbling foot, three times the funereal
owl made an omen with its lethal song:
yet she goes, and the shadows and black night diminish modesty;
and with her left she holds the nurse’s hand, the other in motion

455

caecum iter explorat. thalami iam limina tangit,
iamque fores aperit, iam ducitur intus: at illi
poplite succiduo genua intremuere, fugitque
et color et sanguis, animusque relinquit euntem.
quoque suo propior sceleri est, magis horret, et ausi

she explores the blind path. now she touches the thresholds of the bedchamber,
and now she opens the doors, now she is led within: but for her
with a yielding knee her knees trembled, and both
color and blood flee, and her spirit relinquishes her as she goes.
and the nearer she is to her own crime, the more she shudders, and at the daring

460

paenitet, et vellet non cognita posse reverti.
cunctantem longaeva manu deducit et alto
admotam lecto cum traderet "accipe," dixit,
"ista tua est, Cinyra" devotaque corpora iunxit.
accipit obsceno genitor sua viscera lecto

she repents, and would that what has been known could revert to being unknown.
the aged woman leads the hesitating one by the hand and, when she was delivering the one brought near to the high couch, she said, "receive; that is yours, Cinyras," and she joined the devoted bodies.
the father receives his own flesh upon the obscene bed

465

virgineosque metus levat hortaturque timentem.
forsitan aetatis quoque nomine "filia" dixit,
dixit et illa "pater," sceleri ne nomina desint.
'Plena patris thalamis excedit et inpia diro
semina fert utero conceptaque crimina portat.

and he lightens the virginal fears and exhorts the trembling one.
perhaps too, by the name of age, he said "daughter,"
and she said "father," lest names be lacking to the crime.
'Full from her father’s bed she departs, and the impious one bears
dire seeds in her womb and carries the conceived crimes.

470

postera nox facinus geminat, nec finis in illa est,
cum tandem Cinyras, avidus cognoscere amantem
post tot concubitus, inlato lumine vidit
et scelus et natam verbisque dolore retentis
pendenti nitidum vagina deripit ensem;

the following night doubles the crime, nor is there an end in it,
when at last Cinyras, avid to recognize the lover
after so many concubits, with a light brought in, saw
both the wickedness and his daughter, and with words restrained by grief
he tears the shining sword from its hanging sheath.

475

Myrrha fugit: tenebrisque et caecae munere noctis
intercepta neci est latosque vagata per agros
palmiferos Arabas Panchaeaque rura relinquit
perque novem erravit redeuntis cornua lunae,
cum tandem terra requievit fessa Sabaea;

Myrrha flees: and by the darkness and the gift of blind night
she was intercepted from death, and, having wandered over the broad fields,
she leaves the palm-bearing Arabs and the Panchaean fields
and through nine horns of the returning moon she wandered,
when at last, weary, she found rest in Sabaean land;

480

vixque uteri portabat onus. tum nescia voti
atque inter mortisque metus et taedia vitae
est tales conplexa preces: "o siqua patetis
numina confessis, merui nec triste recuso
supplicium, sed ne violem vivosque superstes

and scarcely did her uterus carry the burden. then, unaware of her vow,
and amid the fear of death and the tedium of life,
she embraced such prayers: "o, if you divinities are open
to those who confess, I have merited it and I do not refuse the grim
punishment, but let me not violate the living, and, surviving,

485

mortuaque exstinctos, ambobus pellite regnis
mutataeque mihi vitamque necemque negate!"
numen confessis aliquod patet: ultima certe
vota suos habuere deos. nam crura loquentis
terra supervenit, ruptosque obliqua per ungues

and, dead, the extinguished; from both realms drive me,
and, transformed, deny to me both life and death!"
Some numen is open to confessors: at least the final
vows had their own gods. For over the legs of the speaking one
the earth came, and, slantwise, through her split nails

490

porrigitur radix, longi firmamina trunci,
ossaque robur agunt, mediaque manente medulla
sanguis it in sucos, in magnos bracchia ramos,
in parvos digiti, duratur cortice pellis.
iamque gravem crescens uterum perstrinxerat arbor

the root is stretched forth, the stays of the long trunk;
and the bones take on oak-hardness, and with the medulla remaining in the middle
the blood goes into sap, the arms into great branches,
the fingers into small ones, the skin is hardened into bark.
and now the growing tree had constricted the heavy womb

495

pectoraque obruerat collumque operire parabat:
non tulit illa moram venientique obvia ligno
subsedit mersitque suos in cortice vultus.
quae quamquam amisit veteres cum corpore sensus,
flet tamen, et tepidae manant ex arbore guttae.

and it had overwhelmed her breasts and was preparing to cover her neck:
she did not endure delay, and, to meet the coming wood,
she sank down and submerged her own face in the bark.
she, although she lost her former senses along with her body,
yet weeps, and tepid drops flow from the tree.

500

est honor et lacrimis, stillataque cortice murra
nomen erile tenet nulloque tacebitur aevo.
'At male conceptus sub robore creverat infans
quaerebatque viam, qua se genetrice relicta
exsereret; media gravidus tumet arbore venter.

there is honor too for her tears, and the myrrh distilled from the bark
holds its mistress’s name, and in no age will it be hushed.
'But the ill-conceived infant had grown beneath the tree-trunk
and was seeking a way by which, his genetrix left behind,
he might thrust himself out; within the middle of the tree the gravid belly swells.

505

tendit onus matrem; neque habent sua verba dolores,
nec Lucina potest parientis voce vocari.
nitenti tamen est similis curvataque crebros
dat gemitus arbor lacrimisque cadentibus umet.
constitit ad ramos mitis Lucina dolentes

the burden strains the mother; nor have the pains their own words,
nor can Lucina be called by a parturient’s voice.
yet she is like one straining, and the tree, bent,
gives frequent groans and is moistened with falling tears.
gentle Lucina stood by the dolorous branches

510

admovitque manus et verba puerpera dixit:
arbor agit rimas et fissa cortice vivum
reddit onus, vagitque puer; quem mollibus herbis
naides inpositum lacrimis unxere parentis.
laudaret faciem Livor quoque; qualia namque

and she laid on her hands and spoke the words of the woman in labor:
the tree opens fissures and, with the bark split, gives back the living burden, and the boy wails; whom, placed upon soft grasses, the naiads anointed with his parent’s tears.
Even Envy would praise his face; for such

515

corpora nudorum tabula pinguntur Amorum,
talis erat, sed, ne faciat discrimina cultus,
aut huic adde leves, aut illis deme pharetras.
'Labitur occulte fallitque volatilis aetas,
et nihil est annis velocius: ille sorore

the bodies of naked Cupids are painted on a tablet,
such was he; but, lest attire make distinctions,
either add light quivers to this one, or take away quivers from those.
'Time slips secretly and the volatile age deceives,
and nothing is swifter than years: he with his sister

520

natus avoque suo, qui conditus arbore nuper,
nuper erat genitus, modo formosissimus infans,
iam iuvenis, iam vir, iam se formosior ipso est,
iam placet et Veneri matrisque ulciscitur ignes.
namque pharetratus dum dat puer oscula matri,

born of his own grandfather too, he who, enclosed in a tree recently,
had recently been begotten; just now the most beautiful infant,
now a youth, now a man, now he is more beautiful than himself,
now he pleases even Venus and avenges his mother’s fires.
for indeed, while the quivered boy gives kisses to his mother,

525

inscius exstanti destrinxit harundine pectus;
laesa manu natum dea reppulit: altius actum
vulnus erat specie primoque fefellerat ipsam.
capta viri forma non iam Cythereia curat
litora, non alto repetit Paphon aequore cinctam

Unknowing he grazed his breast with a protruding reed;
with her hand injured, the goddess pushed her son away: the wound had been driven deeper
than it appeared, and at first had deceived even herself.
Captured by the man’s form, the Cythereian no longer cares for
her shores, she does not revisit Paphos encircled by the deep sea.

530

piscosamque Cnidon gravidamve Amathunta metallis;
abstinet et caelo: caelo praefertur Adonis.
hunc tenet, huic comes est adsuetaque semper in umbra
indulgere sibi formamque augere colendo
per iuga, per silvas dumosaque saxa vagatur

and fish-filled Cnidus and Amathus pregnant with metals;
she even abstains from the sky: to the sky Adonis is preferred.
him she holds, to him she is a companion, and, accustomed always in the shade
to indulge herself and to augment her form by tending,
she wanders over ridges, through forests and bushy rocks

535

fine genus vestem ritu succincta Dianae
hortaturque canes tutaeque animalia praedae,
aut pronos lepores aut celsum in cornua cervum
aut agitat dammas; a fortibus abstinet apris
raptoresque lupos armatosque unguibus ursos

girded in a fine kind of garment in the fashion of Diana,
she urges on the hounds and animals safe for prey,
either prone hares or the lofty stag up into his antlers
or she chases fallow-deer; she keeps away from strong boars
and from rapacious wolves and bears armed with claws

540

vitat et armenti saturatos caede leones.
te quoque, ut hos timeas, siquid prodesse monendo
possit, Adoni, monet, "fortis" que "fugacibus esto"
inquit; "in audaces non est audacia tuta.
parce meo, iuvenis, temerarius esse periclo,

she even avoids lions sated with the slaughter of the herd.
you too, Adonis, she warns, so that you may fear these, if anything can profit by advising,
“be brave” and “with the fleeing be,” she says; “against the bold, boldness is not safe.
spare, young man, being reckless to my peril,

545

neve feras, quibus arma dedit natura, lacesse,
stet mihi ne magno tua gloria. non movet aetas
nec facies nec quae Venerem movere, leones
saetigerosque sues oculosque animosque ferarum.
fulmen habent acres in aduncis dentibus apri,

and do not provoke the beasts to whom nature has given arms,
lest your glory stand to me at a great cost. Neither age
nor face nor the things that move Venus move lions
and bristle-bearing swine, nor the eyes and spirits of wild beasts.
the fierce boars have a thunderbolt in their hooked tusks,

550

impetus est fulvis et vasta leonibus ira,
invisumque mihi genus est." quae causa, roganti
"dicam," ait "et veteris monstrum mirabere culpae.
sed labor insolitus iam me lassavit, et, ecce,
opportuna sua blanditur populus umbra,

there is an impetus in tawny lions and a vast wrath,
and the breed is hateful to me." To the one asking what cause
"I will tell," she said "and you will marvel at the monster of an ancient fault.
but an unaccustomed labor has now wearied me, and, look,
the poplar flatters with its opportune shade,

555

datque torum caespes: libet hac requiescere tecum"
(et requievit) "humo" pressitque et gramen et ipsum
inque sinu iuvenis posita cervice reclinis
sic ait ac mediis interserit oscula verbis:
'"Forsitan audieris aliquam certamine cursus

the turf gives a couch: it pleases me to rest here with you"
(and she rested) "on the ground" and she pressed both the grass and the young man himself
and, with her neck placed on the young man’s bosom, reclining,
thus she spoke and interweaves kisses amid the words:
'"Perhaps you have heard of some girl in a contest of running

560

veloces superasse viros: non fabula rumor
ille fuit; superabat enim. nec dicere posses,
laude pedum formaene bono praestantior esset.
scitanti deus huic de coniuge 'coniuge' dixit
'nil opus est, Atalanta, tibi: fuge coniugis usum.

to have surpassed swift men: that rumor was not a fable;
for she did surpass. nor could you say
whether she was more preeminent in the laud of her feet or in the good of her form.
to this one inquiring, the god about a consort, 'about a consort,' said:
'nothing is needful, Atalanta, for you in a consort: flee the use of a husband.'

565

nec tamen effugies teque ipsa viva carebis.'
territa sorte dei per opacas innuba silvas
vivit et instantem turbam violenta procorum
condicione fugat, 'nec sum potiunda, nisi' inquit
'victa prius cursu. pedibus contendite mecum:

“nor yet will you escape, and you yourself, alive, will be bereft of yourself.”
Frightened by the oracle of the god, through the shadowy woods the maiden lives,
and the pressing crowd of violent suitors
she drives off by a condition: “nor am I to be won,” she says,
“unless first conquered in a race. Contend with me on foot:”

570

praemia veloci coniunx thalamique dabuntur,
mors pretium tardis: ea lex certaminis esto.'
illa quidem inmitis, sed (tanta potentia formae est)
venit ad hanc legem temeraria turba procorum.
sederat Hippomenes cursus spectator iniqui

to the swift, as prizes, a consort and the nuptial chamber will be given,
death the price for the slow: let that be the law of the contest.'
she indeed was harsh, but (so great is the potency of beauty)
a rash throng of suitors came to this law.
Hippomenes had sat as a spectator of the unfair race

575

et 'petitur cuiquam per tanta pericula coniunx?'
dixerat ac nimios iuvenum damnarat amores;
ut faciem et posito corpus velamine vidit,
quale meum, vel quale tuum, si femina fias,
obstipuit tollensque manus 'ignoscite,' dixit

and 'is a spouse sought by anyone at such great perils?'
he had said and had condemned the excessive loves of the youths;
when he saw the face and the body, the veil having been set aside,
such as my own, or such as yours, if you should become a woman,
he was astonished, and lifting his hands said 'forgive me,'

580

'quos modo culpavi! nondum mihi praemia nota,
quae peteretis, erant.' laudando concipit ignes
et, ne quis iuvenum currat velocius, optat
invidiaque timet. 'sed cur certaminis huius
intemptata mihi fortuna relinquitur?' inquit

'whom I just now blamed! The prizes which you were seeking were not yet known to me.' By praising she conceives fires,
and, lest any of the youths run more swiftly, she wishes and with envy she fears.
'but why is the fortune of this contest left unattempted by me?' he said

585

'audentes deus ipse iuvat!' dum talia secum
exigit Hippomenes, passu volat alite virgo.
quae quamquam Scythica non setius ire sagitta
Aonio visa est iuveni, tamen ille decorem
miratur magis: et cursus facit ipse decorem.

'the god himself aids the daring!' while Hippomenes weighs such things with himself
the maiden flies with winged step.
and although she seemed to the Aonian youth to go no less than a Scythian arrow,
nevertheless he admires the beauty more; and the course itself makes the beauty.

590

aura refert ablata citis talaria plantis,
tergaque iactantur crines per eburnea, quaeque
poplitibus suberant picto genualia limbo;
inque puellari corpus candore ruborem
traxerat, haud aliter, quam cum super atria velum

the breeze bears back the talaria taken from her swift soles,
and her hair is tossed across her eburnean back, and the genualia with a painted hem
that were beneath her hams;
and upon the maidenly candor of her body she had drawn a blush,
not otherwise than when over the atria a veil

595

candida purpureum simulatas inficit umbras.
dum notat haec hospes, decursa novissima meta est,
et tegitur festa victrix Atalanta corona.
dant gemitum victi penduntque ex foedere poenas.
'"Non tamen eventu iuvenis deterritus horum

the white veil suffuses with purple the simulated shades.
while the guest notes these things, the last turning-post is completed,
and victorious Atalanta is covered with a festive crown.
the defeated give a groan and pay penalties under the compact.
'"Yet the young man was not deterred by the event of these

600

constitit in medio vultuque in virgine fixo
'quid facilem titulum superando quaeris inertes?
mecum confer' ait. 'seu me fortuna potentem
fecerit, a tanto non indignabere vinci:
namque mihi genitor Megareus Onchestius, illi

he stood in the midst, and with his gaze fixed on the virgin
'why do you seek an easy title by overcoming the inert?
match yourself with me,' he says. 'whether fortune shall have made me potent,
you will not deem it unworthy to be conquered by one so great:
for to me my begetter is Megareus of Onchestus; to him

605

est Neptunus avus, pronepos ego regis aquarum,
nec virtus citra genus est; seu vincar, habebis
Hippomene victo magnum et memorabile nomen.'
talia dicentem molli Schoeneia vultu
aspicit et dubitat, superari an vincere malit,

Neptune is my grandsire, I am the great-grandson of the king of waters,
nor is my valor short of my lineage; whether I be conquered, you will have,
with Hippomenes conquered, a great and memorable name.'
As he was saying such things, the Schoeneian maiden looks with a soft face
and hesitates whether she would prefer to be overcome or to conquer,

610

atque ita 'quis deus hunc formosis' inquit 'iniquus
perdere vult caraeque iubet discrimine vitae
coniugium petere hoc? non sum, me iudice, tanti.
nec forma tangor, (poteram tamen hac quoque tangi)
sed quod adhuc puer est; non me movet ipse, sed aetas. 615
quid, quod inest virtus et mens interrita leti?

and thus she said, 'what god, unjust to the beautiful, wishes to destroy this man and bids him, at the peril of his dear life, to seek this marriage? I am not, in my judgment, worth so much. nor am I touched by beauty (yet I could be touched by this also), but because he is still a boy; it is not he himself that moves me, but his age. 615
what of the fact that there is virtue and a mind undaunted by death?'

quid, quod ab aequorea numeratur origine quartus?
quid, quod amat tantique putat conubia nostra,
ut pereat, si me fors illi dura negarit?
dum licet, hospes, abi thalamosque relinque cruentos.

what of this: that he is numbered fourth from a sea-born origin?
what of this: that he loves and deems our connubial union of such great worth,
that he would perish, if harsh chance should deny me to him?
while it is permitted, guest, depart and leave the bloody bridal-chambers.

620

coniugium crudele meum est, tibi nubere nulla
nolet, et optari potes a sapiente puella.—
cur tamen est mihi cura tui tot iam ante peremptis?
viderit! intereat, quoniam tot caede procorum
admonitus non est agiturque in taedia vitae.—

my conjugal bond is cruel; no woman will be unwilling to wed you,
and you can be desired by a wise girl.—
why, however, do I have a care for you, with so many already slain before?
let him see to it! let him perish, since, admonished by the slaughter of so many suitors,
he has not been admonished and is driven into the tedium of life.—

625

occidet hic igitur, voluit quia vivere mecum,
indignamque necem pretium patietur amoris?
non erit invidiae victoria nostra ferendae.
sed non culpa mea est!

So he will die, then, because he wished to live with me,
and will he suffer an unworthy death as the price of love?
our victory will not be one that envy can endure.
but it is not my fault!

utinam desistere velles,
aut, quoniam es demens, utinam velocior esses!

if only you were willing to desist,
or, since you are demented, if only you were swifter!

630

at quam virgineus puerili vultus in ore est!
a! miser Hippomene, nollem tibi visa fuissem!
vivere dignus eras.

but what a virginal, boyish countenance is in his face!
ah! wretched Hippomenes, I wish I had not been seen by you!
you were worthy to live.

quodsi felicior essem,
nec mihi coniugium fata inportuna negarent,
unus eras, cum quo sociare cubilia vellem.'

But if I were more fortunate,
and the inopportune fates did not deny marriage to me,
you were the only one with whom I would wish to join the beds.'

635

dixerat, utque rudis primoque cupidine tacta,
quod facit, ignorans amat et non sentit amorem.
'"Iam solitos poscunt cursus populusque paterque,
cum me sollicita proles Neptunia voce
invocat Hippomenes 'Cytherea,' que 'conprecor, ausis

She had spoken; and, as one untutored and touched by first desire, what she does—unknowing, she loves and does not sense love.
'"Now the people and my father demand the accustomed courses,
when the Neptunian progeny, Hippomenes, with a solicitous voice
calls upon me: 'Cytherea,' and 'I implore, for my ventures

640

adsit' ait 'nostris et quos dedit, adiuvet ignes.'
detulit aura preces ad me non invida blandas:
motaque sum, fateor, nec opis mora longa dabatur.
est ager, indigenae Tamasenum nomine dicunt,
telluris Cypriae pars optima, quem mihi prisci

'may she be present,' he says, 'to our fires, and may she assist the fires which she gave.'
the breeze carried the coaxing prayers to me, not envious:
and I was moved, I confess, nor was a long delay of aid granted.
there is a field, the natives by name call Tamasenus,
the best part of Cyprian earth, which to me the ancients

645

sacravere senes templisque accedere dotem
hanc iussere meis; medio nitet arbor in arvo,
fulva comas, fulvo ramis crepitantibus auro:
hinc tria forte mea veniens decerpta ferebam
aurea poma manu nullique videnda nisi ipsi

the elders consecrated it and ordered this dowry to accede to my temples;
in the middle of the field a tree glitters,
fulvous in its tresses, with crepitating branches of fulvous gold:
from here, as I was coming, by chance I was carrying three
golden apples, plucked by my own hand, to be seen by none except by myself

650

Hippomenen adii docuique, quis usus in illis.
signa tubae dederant, cum carcere pronus uterque
emicat et summam celeri pede libat harenam:
posse putes illos sicco freta radere passu
et segetis canae stantes percurrere aristas.

I approached Hippomenes and taught him what use there was in those.
the signals of the trumpet had been given, when from the starting-gate each, leaning forward,
darts out and with swift foot skims the surface of the sand:
you would think them able to skim the seas with a dry step
and to run through the standing ears of hoary grain.

655

adiciunt animos iuveni clamorque favorque
verbaque dicentum 'nunc, nunc incumbere tempus!
Hippomene, propera! nunc viribus utere totis!

both clamor and favor add spirit to the youth,
and the words of those speaking: 'Now, now is the time to press on!'
Hippomene, make haste! now use all your strength!

pelle moram: vinces!' dubium, Megareius heros
gaudeat an virgo magis his Schoeneia dictis.

'Drive off delay: you will conquer!'—it is doubtful whether the Megarean hero or the Schoenean maiden rejoices more at these words.

660

o quotiens, cum iam posset transire, morata est
spectatosque diu vultus invita reliquit!
aridus e lasso veniebat anhelitus ore,
metaque erat longe: tum denique de tribus unum
fetibus arboreis proles Neptunia misit.

O how often, when she could already pass by, she delayed,
and unwilling left the features long looked at!
a parched panting came from his weary mouth,
and the goal-post was far away: then at last, of the three
arboreal fruits, the Neptunian offspring sent one.

665

obstipuit virgo nitidique cupidine pomi
declinat cursus aurumque volubile tollit;
praeterit Hippomenes: resonant spectacula plausu.
illa moram celeri cessataque tempora cursu
corrigit atque iterum iuvenem post terga relinquit:

the maiden was astonished, and by desire for the gleaming apple
she bends her course aside and lifts the rolling gold;
Hippomenes passes by: the spectacle resounds with applause.
she corrects the delay and the time idled by swift running,
and again leaves the youth behind her back:

670

et rursus pomi iactu remorata secundi
consequitur transitque virum. pars ultima cursus
restabat; 'nunc' inquit 'ades, dea muneris auctor!'
inque latus campi, quo tardius illa rediret,
iecit ab obliquo nitidum iuvenaliter aurum.

and again, delayed by the throw of the second apple
she overtakes and passes the man. The final part of the course
remained; “now,” he says, “be present, goddess, author of the gift!”
and to the side of the field, where she would return more slowly,
he hurled from an angle the shining gold in youthful fashion.

675

an peteret, virgo visa est dubitare: coegi
tollere et adieci sublato pondera malo
inpediique oneris pariter gravitate moraque,
neve meus sermo cursu sit tardior ipso,
praeterita est virgo: duxit sua praemia victor.

whether she should seek it, the maiden seemed to hesitate: I compelled
her to pick it up, and I added weights to the apple once lifted,
and I impeded her equally by the heaviness and the delay of the burden,
and, lest my speech be slower than the race itself,
the maiden was passed: the victor led away his own prizes.

680

'"Dignane, cui grates ageret, cui turis honorem
ferret, Adoni, fui? nec grates inmemor egit,
nec mihi tura dedit. subitam convertor in iram,
contemptuque dolens, ne sim spernenda futuris,
exemplo caveo meque ipsa exhortor in ambos:

'"Was I worthy, Adonis, that he should render thanks, that he should bear the honor of incense? He, unmindful, rendered no thanks, nor did he give me incense. I am turned to sudden anger, and grieving at the contempt, lest I be one to be spurned by those to come, I take warning from the example and I myself exhort myself against them both:

685

templa, deum Matri quae quondam clarus Echion
fecerat ex voto, nemorosis abdita silvis,
transibant, et iter longum requiescere suasit;
illic concubitus intempestiva cupido
occupat Hippomenen a numine concita nostro.

the temples, which renowned Echion had once made ex-voto for the Mother of the gods
hidden in wooded forests,
they were passing, and the long journey urged them to rest;
there an untimely desire for intercourse
seizes Hippomenes, incited by our numen.

690

luminis exigui fuerat prope templa recessus,
speluncae similis, nativo pumice tectus,
religione sacer prisca, quo multa sacerdos
lignea contulerat veterum simulacra deorum;
hunc init et vetito temerat sacraria probro.

there was, near the temples, a recess of scant light,
like a cave, roofed with native pumice,
sacred by ancient religion, to which the priestess had gathered
many wooden simulacra of the gods of old;
he enters this and with a forbidden disgrace defiles the shrines.

695

sacra retorserunt oculos, turritaque Mater
an Stygia sontes dubitavit mergeret unda:
poena levis visa est; ergo modo levia fulvae
colla iubae velant, digiti curvantur in ungues,
ex umeris armi fiunt, in pectora totum

the sacred ones turned away their eyes, and the turreted Mother doubted whether she should submerge the guilty in the Stygian wave: the penalty seemed light; therefore now tawny manes veil their slight necks, the digits are curved into claws, from shoulders arms become fore-quarters, into the breast the whole

700

pondus abit, summae cauda verruntur harenae;
iram vultus habet, pro verbis murmura reddunt,
pro thalamis celebrant silvas aliisque timendi
dente premunt domito Cybeleia frena leones.
hos tu, care mihi, cumque his genus omne ferarum,

the weight goes away; the sands on the surface are swept by the tail;
the face bears wrath; in place of words they render murmurs,
instead of bridal-chambers they frequent the woods, and, feared by others,
the Cybeleian lions press with tooth the tamed reins.
these do you, dear to me, and with these every kind of wild beast,

705

quod non terga fugae, sed pugnae pectora praebet,
effuge, ne virtus tua sit damnosa duobus!"
'Illa quidem monuit iunctisque per aera cycnis
carpit iter, sed stat monitis contraria virtus.
forte suem latebris vestigia certa secuti

which offers not the back for flight, but the breast for battle,
escape it, lest your valor be damaging to two!"
'She indeed warned, and with swans yoked through the air
she makes her way, but courage stands contrary to the warnings.
by chance, having followed sure tracks from the lairs, they a sow

710

excivere canes, silvisque exire parantem
fixerat obliquo iuvenis Cinyreius ictu:
protinus excussit pando venabula rostro
sanguine tincta suo trepidumque et tuta petentem
trux aper insequitur totosque sub inguine dentes

they roused the hounds, and as it was preparing to go out of the woods
the Cinyrean youth had fixed it with an oblique blow:
straightway with his curved snout he shook out the hunting-spears
dyed with his own blood, and the savage boar pursues the trembling one seeking safe places,
and all his teeth beneath the groin

715

abdidit et fulva moribundum stravit harena.
vecta levi curru medias Cytherea per auras
Cypron olorinis nondum pervenerat alis:
agnovit longe gemitum morientis et albas
flexit aves illuc, utque aethere vidit ab alto

and buried and laid the dying man low in the tawny sand.
Cytherea, borne in a light chariot through the mid airs,
had not yet reached Cyprus with her swan-wings:
she recognized from afar the groan of the dying and turned the white
birds thither, and, when she saw from the high ether

720

exanimem inque suo iactantem sanguine corpus,
desiluit pariterque sinum pariterque capillos
rupit et indignis percussit pectora palmis
questaque cum fatis "at non tamen omnia vestri
iuris erunt" dixit. "luctus monimenta manebunt

the lifeless body, flinging itself in its own blood,
she leapt down and at once tore both her bosom and her hair,
and with unworthy palms struck her breast,
and having made complaint to the Fates she said, “Yet not, however, will everything be under your jurisdiction;
memorials of mourning will remain.”

725

semper, Adoni, mei, repetitaque mortis imago
annua plangoris peraget simulamina nostri;
at cruor in florem mutabitur. an tibi quondam
femineos artus in olentes vertere mentas,
Persephone, licuit: nobis Cinyreius heros

always, Adonis, my own, and the image of your death repeated
yearly will perform the simulations of our lamentation;
but the blood will be changed into a flower. Or was it once
permitted to you, Persephone, to turn feminine limbs into fragrant mints,
and to us the Cinyrian hero

730

invidiae mutatus erit?" sic fata cruorem
nectare odorato sparsit, qui tinctus ab illo
intumuit sic, ut fulvo perlucida caeno
surgere bulla solet, nec plena longior hora
facta mora est, cum flos de sanguine concolor ortus,

"will he be changed by envy?" thus having spoken she sprinkled the gore
with fragrant nectar, which, dyed by it,
swelled thus, as a translucent bubble is wont to rise
from tawny mud; nor was a delay longer than a full hour
made, when a flower arose, of the same color as the blood,

735

qualem, quae lento celant sub cortice granum,
punica ferre solent; brevis est tamen usus in illo;
namque male haerentem et nimia levitate caducum
excutiunt idem, qui praestant nomina, venti.'

such as pomegranates, which hide the grain beneath a slow rind,
are accustomed to bear; yet brief is the use of it;
for the same winds, which supply the names,
shake it off, ill-clinging and, by excessive lightness, prone to fall.'