Ovid: METAMORPHOSES

Carmine dum tali silvas animosque ferarum
Threicius vates et saxa sequentia ducit,
ecce nurus Ciconum tectae lymphata ferinis
pectora velleribus tumuli de vertice cernunt
Orphea percussis sociantem carmina nervis.

While with such a song the Thracian vates leads the woods and the spirits of wild beasts
and draws the rocks that follow,
lo, the daughters-in-law of the Cicones, their breasts covered with feral
fleeces, maddened, from the summit of a mound espy
Orpheus matching songs to struck strings.

e quibus una leves iactato crine per auras,
'en,' ait 'en, hic est nostri contemptor!' et hastam
vatis Apollinei vocalia misit in ora,
quae foliis praesuta notam sine vulnere fecit;
alterius telum lapis est, qui missus in ipso

of whom one, her light hair tossed through the breezes,
'look,' she says, 'look, here is our contemner!' and a spear
she sent into the vocal lips of the Apollinean vates,
which, stitched over with leaves, made a mark without a wound;
the weapon of another is a stone, which, when hurled, on the very

aere concentu victus vocisque lyraeque est
ac veluti supplex pro tam furialibus ausis
ante pedes iacuit. sed enim temeraria crescunt
bella modusque abiit insanaque regnat Erinys;
cunctaque tela forent cantu mollita, sed ingens

he was overcome by the harmony of the bronze and by both voice and lyre
and, as though a suppliant for such fury-driven daring,
he lay before their feet. But indeed rash wars grow,
and measure has departed, and the mad Erinys reigns;
and all the weapons would have been softened by song, but a mighty

clamor et infracto Berecyntia tibia cornu
tympanaque et plausus et Bacchei ululatus
obstrepuere sono citharae, tum denique saxa
non exauditi rubuerunt sanguine vatis.
ac primum attonitas etiamnum voce canentis

clamor and the Berecynthian pipe with its shattered horn
and timbrels and clapping and Bacchic ululations
drowned out the sound of the cithara; then at last the rocks
reddened with the blood of the unheard seer.
and at first, still thunderstruck by the voice of the singer

innumeras volucres anguesque agmenque ferarum
maenades Orphei titulum rapuere triumphi;
inde cruentatis vertuntur in Orphea dextris
et coeunt ut aves, si quando luce vagantem
noctis avem cernunt, structoque utrimque theatro

countless birds and serpents and a host of wild beasts
the Maenads seized the title of triumph over Orpheus;
then, with right hands bloodied, they turn upon Orpheus
and they flock together like birds, whenever, the bird of night wandering by daylight,
they spy it, and, with the theater set up on both sides

ceu matutina cervus periturus harena
praeda canum est, vatemque petunt et fronde virentes
coniciunt thyrsos non haec in munera factos.
hae glaebas, illae direptos arbore ramos,
pars torquent silices; neu desint tela furori,

as a stag doomed to perish on the morning sand
is the prey of hounds, so they seek the seer and, green with frondage,
they hurl their thyrsi, not fashioned for such offices.
these [hurl] clods, those branches torn from a tree,
some whirl flints; and, lest missiles be lacking for their fury,

forte boves presso subigebant vomere terram,
nec procul hinc multo fructum sudore parantes
dura lacertosi fodiebant arva coloni,
agmine qui viso fugiunt operisque relinquunt
arma sui, vacuosque iacent dispersa per agros

by chance the oxen were subduing the earth with the pressed ploughshare,
and not far from here, preparing the fruit with much sweat,
burly farmers were digging the hard fields,
who, when the column was seen, flee and leave the arms of their work,
and the implements lie scattered through the empty fields

sarculaque rastrique graves longique ligones;
quae postquam rapuere ferae cornuque minaces
divulsere boves, ad vatis fata recurrunt
tendentemque manus et in illo tempore primum
inrita dicentem nec quicquam voce moventem

the little hoes and the heavy rakes and the long mattocks;
which, after the wild beasts seized, and the bulls with menacing horns
tore them apart, they revert to the seer’s fate—
and him stretching forth his hands, and at that time for the first time
speaking ineffectual things and moving nothing with his voice

sacrilegae perimunt, perque os, pro Iuppiter! illud
auditum saxis intellectumque ferarum
sensibus in ventos anima exhalata recessit.
Te maestae volucres, Orpheu, te turba ferarum,
te rigidi silices, te carmina saepe secutae

the sacrilegious slay him; and through his mouth—by Jupiter!—that voice,
heard by stones and understood by the senses of wild beasts,
his spirit, exhaled, withdrew into the winds.
You the mournful birds, Orpheus, you the throng of wild beasts,
you the rigid flints, you—who had often followed his songs—

fleverunt silvae, positis te frondibus arbor
tonsa comas luxit; lacrimis quoque flumina dicunt
increvisse suis, obstrusaque carbasa pullo
naides et dryades passosque habuere capillos.
membra iacent diversa locis, caput, Hebre, lyramque

the woods wept for you, with its fronds laid aside the tree
shorn, mourned its tresses; they say the rivers too
swelled with their own tears, and linen veils, shrouded in black,
the Naiads and Dryads had, and they wore their hair unbound.
the limbs lie in different places; the head, O Hebrus, and the lyre

excipis: et (mirum!) medio dum labitur amne,
flebile nescio quid queritur lyra, flebile lingua
murmurat exanimis, respondent flebile ripae.
iamque mare invectae flumen populare relinquunt
et Methymnaeae potiuntur litore Lesbi:

you receive them: and (wonder!) while it glides in mid-river,
the lyre utters I-know-not-what in a tearful complaint, the lifeless tongue
murmurs tearfully, the banks answer tearfully.
and now, borne into the sea, they leave the river to be ravaged
and gain the Methymnaean shore of Lesbos:

hic ferus expositum peregrinis anguis harenis
os petit et sparsos stillanti rore capillos.
tandem Phoebus adest morsusque inferre parantem
arcet et in lapidem rictus serpentis apertos
congelat et patulos, ut erant, indurat hiatus.

here a fierce serpent seeks the face of the one exposed on foreign sands,
and the hair scattered with trickling dew.
at last Phoebus is present and, as it was preparing to deliver a bite,
he wards it off and freezes into stone the serpent’s open jaws,
and hardens, just as they were, the gaping apertures.

Umbra subit terras, et quae loca viderat ante,
cuncta recognoscit quaerensque per arva piorum
invenit Eurydicen cupidisque amplectitur ulnis;
hic modo coniunctis spatiantur passibus ambo,
nunc praecedentem sequitur, nunc praevius anteit

His shade goes beneath the lands, and the places he had seen before,
he recognizes all; and seeking through the fields of the pious
he finds Eurydice and embraces her with desirous arms;
here just now both walk with joined steps,
now he follows the one going before, now, as guide, he goes before

Eurydicenque suam iam tuto respicit Orpheus.
Non inpune tamen scelus hoc sinit esse Lyaeus
amissoque dolens sacrorum vate suorum
protinus in silvis matres Edonidas omnes,
quae videre nefas, torta radice ligavit;

And Orpheus now safely looks back at his own Eurydice.
Yet Lyaeus does not allow this crime to go unpunished, and, grieving at the loss of the bard of his sacred rites, immediately in the woods he bound with twisted root all the Edonian mothers, who had seen what was unspeakable;

quippe pedum digitos via, quam tum est quaeque secuta,
traxit et in solidam detrusit acumina terram,
utque suum laqueis, quos callidus abdidit auceps,
crus ubi commisit volucris sensitque teneri,
plangitur ac trepidans adstringit vincula motu:

for indeed the path, which each then had followed,
dragged the toes of the feet and drove the points into the solid earth,
and just as a bird, when it has committed its own leg to the snares
which the clever fowler has hidden, and has felt itself held,
it beats itself and, trembling, tightens the bonds by its motion:

sic, ut quaeque solo defixa cohaeserat harum,
exsternata fugam frustra temptabat, at illam
lenta tenet radix exsultantemque coercet,
dumque ubi sint digiti, dum pes ubi, quaerit, et ungues,
aspicit in teretes lignum succedere suras 80
et conata femur maerenti plangere dextra
robora percussit, pectus quoque robora fiunt,
robora sunt umeri; nodosaque bracchia veros
esse putes ramos, et non fallare putando.
Nec satis hoc Baccho est, ipsos quoque deserit agros

thus, as each of these, fixed fast to the soil, had stuck in place,
panic-struck she tried flight in vain, but her
a pliant root holds and coerces, and restrains her exulting;
and while she seeks where the toes are, where the foot is, and the nails,
she sees wood take the place of her terete calves 80
and, having tried to beat her thigh with her grieving right hand,
she struck oaken wood; her breast also becomes oaken wood,
oaken wood are her shoulders; and her nodose arms you would
think to be true boughs, nor would you be mistaken in thinking so.
Nor is this enough for Bacchus, he even abandons the fields themselves

cumque choro meliore sui vineta Timoli
Pactolonque petit, quamvis non aureus illo
tempore nec caris erat invidiosus harenis.
hunc adsueta cohors, satyri bacchaeque, frequentant,
at Silenus abest: titubantem annisque meroque

and with the better chorus of his own he seeks the vineyards of Tmolus and the Pactolus, although not golden at that time nor envied for its dear sands.
him the accustomed cohort, satyrs and Bacchae, frequent,
but Silenus is absent: reeling with years and wine

ruricolae cepere Phryges vinctumque coronis
ad regem duxere Midan, cui Thracius Orpheus
orgia tradiderat cum Cecropio Eumolpo.
qui simul agnovit socium comitemque sacrorum,
hospitis adventu festum genialiter egit

the country-dwelling Phrygians seized him and, bound with garlands,
led him to king Midas, to whom Thracian Orpheus
had handed down the orgies together with Cecropian Eumolpus.
who, as soon as he recognized a partner and companion of the sacred rites,
at the guest’s arrival held a genial feast

per bis quinque dies et iunctas ordine noctes,
et iam stellarum sublime coegerat agmen
Lucifer undecimus, Lydos cum laetus in agros
rex venit et iuveni Silenum reddit alumno.
Huic deus optandi gratum, sed inutile, fecit

for twice five days and the nights joined in order,
and now Lucifer, the eleventh, had gathered the lofty host of stars,
when the king came rejoicing into the Lydian fields
and gave Silenus back to the youthful fosterling.
To him the god made a boon of choosing, pleasing but useless,

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muneris arbitrium gaudens altore recepto.
ille male usurus donis ait 'effice, quicquid
corpore contigero, fulvum vertatur in aurum.'
adnuit optatis nocituraque munera solvit
Liber et indoluit, quod non meliora petisset.

rejoicing in the choice of the gift, with his fosterer recovered.
he, destined to use the gifts badly, says: 'Bring it about that whatever
I touch with my body be turned into fulvous gold.'
Liber nodded assent to his wishes and released gifts that would harm,
and he grieved that he had not asked for better things.

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laetus abit gaudetque malo Berecyntius heros
pollicitique fidem tangendo singula temptat
vixque sibi credens, non alta fronde virentem
ilice detraxit virgam: virga aurea facta est;
tollit humo saxum: saxum quoque palluit auro;

Happy he goes off and rejoices in his baneful gift, the Berecyntian hero,
and he tests the promise’s faith by touching things one by one,
and, hardly believing himself, from a green ilex of not lofty foliage
he pulled down a twig: the twig was made golden;
he lifts a stone from the ground: the stone too turned pale with gold;

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contigit et glaebam: contactu glaeba potenti
massa fit; arentis Cereris decerpsit aristas:
aurea messis erat; demptum tenet arbore pomum:
Hesperidas donasse putes; si postibus altis
admovit digitos, postes radiare videntur;

he touched even a clod: by the potent contact the clod becomes a mass;
he plucked the ears of parched Ceres: it was a golden harvest;
he holds an apple taken from the tree: you would think the Hesperides had bestowed it;
if he brought his fingers to lofty doorposts, the doorposts seem to radiate;

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ille etiam liquidis palmas ubi laverat undis,
unda fluens palmis Danaen eludere posset;
vix spes ipse suas animo capit aurea fingens
omnia. gaudenti mensas posuere ministri
exstructas dapibus nec tostae frugis egentes:

he too, when he had washed his palms in limpid waves,
the flowing wave upon his palms could have made a mock of Danaë;
scarcely does he himself grasp his hopes in his mind, imagining all things golden.
for the rejoicing man the servants set tables piled high with viands,
and not lacking in toasted grain:

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tum vero, sive ille sua Cerealia dextra
munera contigerat, Cerealia dona rigebant,
sive dapes avido convellere dente parabat,
lammina fulva dapes admoto dente premebat;
miscuerat puris auctorem muneris undis:

then indeed, whether he had touched with his own right hand his Cereal gifts, the Cereal gifts stiffened; whether he was preparing to tear the viands with an avid tooth, a golden leaf pressed the viands at the approach of the tooth; he had mixed the author of the boon into pure waters:

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fusile per rictus aurum fluitare videres.
Attonitus novitate mali divesque miserque
effugere optat opes et quae modo voverat, odit.
copia nulla famem relevat; sitis arida guttur
urit, et inviso meritus torquetur ab auro

You would see molten gold flowing through his gaping jaws.
Astonished at the novelty of the ill, both rich and wretched,
he longs to escape his wealth, and hates what he had just vowed.
No abundance relieves his hunger; an arid thirst burns his throat,
and, deservedly, he is tormented by the odious gold.

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ad caelumque manus et splendida bracchia tollens
'da veniam, Lenaee pater! peccavimus' inquit,
'sed miserere, precor, speciosoque eripe damno!'
mite deum numen: Bacchus peccasse fatentem
restituit pactique fide data munera solvit

and lifting his hands and splendid arms to the sky
'grant pardon, Father Lenaeus! we have sinned,' he says,
'but have mercy, I pray, and snatch me from the specious harm!'
the divine numen is gentle: Bacchus restored the one who confessed he had sinned
and, on the pledged faith of the pact, released the bestowed gifts

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'ne' ve 'male optato maneas circumlitus auro,
vade' ait 'ad magnis vicinum Sardibus amnem
perque iugum nitens labentibus obvius undis
carpe viam, donec venias ad fluminis ortus,
spumigeroque tuum fonti, qua plurimus exit,

'lest you remain smeared all around with the ill‑desired gold,
go,' he said, 'to the river neighboring great Sardis,
and, striving over the ridge to meet the gliding waves,
make your way, until you come to the river’s sources,
and commit your body to the foam‑bearing spring, where it issues forth in greatest volume,

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subde caput corpusque simul, simul elue crimen.'
rex iussae succedit aquae: vis aurea tinxit
flumen et humano de corpore cessit in amnem;
nunc quoque iam veteris percepto semine venae
arva rigent auro madidis pallentia glaebis.

‘thrust under your head and body together, together wash away the crime.’
the king enters the bidden water: the golden force tinged the river
and from the human body withdrew into the stream;
even now, after the seed of the old vein has been taken up,
the fields stiffen with gold, pale with wet clods.

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Ille perosus opes silvas et rura colebat
Panaque montanis habitantem semper in antris,
pingue sed ingenium mansit, nocituraque, ut ante,
rursus erant domino stultae praecordia mentis.
nam freta prospiciens late riget arduus alto

He, loathing wealth, was cultivating the woods and fields,
and Pan, dwelling always in mountain caverns;
but the thick-witted nature remained, and, harmful as before,
again were the inmost parts of a foolish mind to their master.
for, looking out over the seas far and wide, there stands, towering, rigid in lofty height

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Tmolus in ascensu clivoque extensus utroque
Sardibus hinc, illinc parvis finitur Hypaepis.
Pan ibi dum teneris iactat sua sibila nymphis
et leve cerata modulatur harundine carmen
ausus Apollineos prae se contemnere cantus,

Tmolus, stretched out in ascent and on either slope,
is bounded on this side by Sardis, on that side by little Hypaepa.
There Pan, while he vaunts his own sibilant notes to tender nymphs
and modulates a light song on the waxed reed,
daring to contemn the Apollinean chants in comparison with himself,

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iudice sub Tmolo certamen venit ad inpar.
Monte suo senior iudex consedit et aures
liberat arboribus: quercu coma caerula tantum
cingitur, et pendent circum cava tempora glandes.
isque deum pecoris spectans 'in iudice' dixit

under Tmolus as judge the contest came to an unequal match.
Upon his own mountain the elder judge sat down, and his ears
he liberates from trees: with oak only his cerulean hair
is girded, and acorns hang around his hollow temples.
and he, looking upon the god of the herd, said, 'In the judge'

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'nulla mora est.' calamis agrestibus insonat ille
barbaricoque Midan (aderat nam forte canenti)
carmine delenit; post hunc sacer ora retorsit
Tmolus ad os Phoebi: vultum sua silva secuta est.
ille caput flavum lauro Parnaside vinctus

'no delay.' He resounds on rustic reeds,
and with a barbaric song he beguiles Midas (for he had happened to be present at the singing);
after him the sacred Tmolus turned his face toward Phoebus’s mouth:
his own forest followed his countenance.
he, his blond head bound with Parnassian laurel

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verrit humum Tyrio saturata murice palla
instructamque fidem gemmis et dentibus Indis
sustinet a laeva, tenuit manus altera plectrum;
artificis status ipse fuit. tum stamina docto
pollice sollicitat, quorum dulcedine captus

his mantle, saturated with Tyrian murex, sweeps the ground;
and a lyre, furnished with gems and Indian ivories,
he supports at his left, the other hand held the plectrum;
his very posture was that of an artificer. then he stirs
the strings with a learned thumb, captured by whose sweetness

170

Pana iubet Tmolus citharae submittere cannas.
Iudicium sanctique placet sententia montis
omnibus, arguitur tamen atque iniusta vocatur
unius sermone Midae; nec Delius aures
humanam stolidas patitur retinere figuram,

Tmolus bids Pan to submit his reeds to the cithara.
The judgment and the sentence of the sacred mountain pleases all,
yet it is accused and is called unjust
by the speech of Midas alone; nor does the Delian allow the ears
to retain the foolish human form,

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sed trahit in spatium villisque albentibus inplet
instabilesque imas facit et dat posse moveri:
cetera sunt hominis, partem damnatur in unam
induiturque aures lente gradientis aselli.
ille quidem celare cupit turpique pudore

but he draws them into length and fills them with whitish bristles
and makes the lowest parts unstable and grants them the power to move:
the rest are of a man; in a single part he is condemned,
and he is clothed with the ears of a slowly stepping little ass.
he indeed desires to hide it, and with foul shame

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tempora purpureis temptat relevare tiaris;
sed solitus longos ferro resecare capillos
viderat hoc famulus, qui cum nec prodere visum
dedecus auderet, cupiens efferre sub auras,
nec posset reticere tamen, secedit humumque

he tries to relieve his temples with purple tiaras;
but the servant, accustomed to cut the long hair with iron,
had seen this, who, since he did not dare to betray the disgrace he had seen,
desiring to bring it out into the open air,
and yet not able to keep silent, he withdraws and the ground

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effodit et, domini quales adspexerit aures,
voce refert parva terraeque inmurmurat haustae
indiciumque suae vocis tellure regesta
obruit et scrobibus tacitus discedit opertis.
creber harundinibus tremulis ibi surgere lucus

he digs and, what sort of ears of his master he had beheld,
he reports with a small voice and murmurs into the scooped-up earth,
and, with the ground heaped back again, he buries the indication of his own voice
and departs silent, the pits closed.
there a grove, thick with tremulous reeds, began to rise

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coepit et, ut primum pleno maturuit anno,
prodidit agricolam: leni nam motus ab austro
obruta verba refert dominique coarguit aures.
     Ultus abit Tmolo liquidumque per aera vectus
angustum citra pontum Nepheleidos Helles                195
Laomedonteis Latoius adstitit arvis.
dextera Sigei, Rhoetei laeva profundi
ara Panomphaeo vetus est sacrata Tonanti:
inde novae primum moliri moenia Troiae
Laomedonta videt susceptaque magna labore

it began, and, as soon as the full year had matured,
it betrayed the farmer: for, moved by a gentle south wind,
it brings back the buried words and convicts the master’s ears.
Avenged, he departs from Tmolus, and, borne through the liquid air,
on this side of the narrow sea of Nepheleid Helle 195
the son of Leto stood by Laomedon’s fields.
To the right of the Sigean deep, to the left of the Rhoetean
there is an altar, old, consecrated to the Panomphaean Thunderer:
from there he sees Laomedon first set about building the new walls of Troy
and great undertakings taken up with toil.

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crescere difficili nec opes exposcere parvas
cumque tridentigero tumidi genitore profundi
mortalem induitur formam Phrygiaeque tyranno
aedificat muros pactus pro moenibus aurum.
stabat opus: pretium rex infitiatur et addit,

that it was growing with difficulty and demanded no small resources
and, together with the trident-bearing sire of the swelling deep,
he puts on mortal form, and for the Phrygian tyrant
builds the walls, having agreed upon gold in return for the ramparts.
the work stood: the king denies the price and adds,

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perfidiae cumulum, falsis periuria verbis.
'non inpune feres' rector maris inquit, et omnes
inclinavit aquas ad avarae litora Troiae
inque freti formam terras conplevit opesque
abstulit agricolis et fluctibus obruit agros.

a heap of perfidy, perjuries with false words.
'You will not bear it unpunished,' says the ruler of the sea, and he inclined
all the waters toward the greedy shores of Troy,
and into the likeness of a strait he filled the lands and took away the resources
from the farmers, and he overwhelmed the fields with waves.

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poena neque haec satis est: regis quoque filia monstro
poscitur aequoreo, quam dura ad saxa revinctam
vindicat Alcides promissaque munera dictos
poscit equos tantique operis mercede negata
bis periura capit superatae moenia Troiae.

Nor is this penalty enough: the king’s daughter too is demanded by a sea‑monster
whom, bound fast to the hard rocks, Alcides rescues,
and he demands the promised gifts, the stipulated
horses; and with the wage for so great a work denied
he twice takes the perjured walls of conquered Troy.

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nec, pars militiae, Telamon sine honore recessit
Hesioneque data potitur. nam coniuge Peleus
clarus erat diva nec avi magis ille superbus
nomine quam soceri, siquidem Iovis esse nepoti
contigit haut uni, coniunx dea contigit uni.                220
     Namque senex Thetidi Proteus 'dea' dixerat 'undae,
concipe: mater eris iuvenis, qui fortibus annis
acta patris vincet maiorque vocabitur illo.'
ergo, ne quicquam mundus Iove maius haberet,
quamvis haut tepidos sub pectore senserat ignes,

nor, in his share of the campaign, did Telamon withdraw without honor,
and he gains possession of Hesione, granted to him. For with a divine spouse Peleus
was renowned, nor was he more proud of his grandfather’s name
than of his father-in-law’s, since to be a grandson of Jove
has befallen not to one alone, a goddess as consort has befallen to one alone.                220
     For the old man Proteus had said to Thetis of the wave, “goddess,
conceive: you will be the mother of a youth who, in vigorous years,
will surpass the deeds of his father and be called greater than he.”
therefore, so that the world might have nothing greater than Jove,
although he had felt by no tepid fires beneath his breast,

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Iuppiter aequoreae Thetidis conubia fugit,
in suaque Aeaciden succedere vota nepotem
iussit et amplexus in virginis ire marinae.
Est sinus Haemoniae curvos falcatus in arcus,
bracchia procurrunt: ubi, si foret altior unda,

Jupiter fled the connubia of sea-dwelling Thetis,
and ordered that his grandson, the Aeacid, should succeed to his own vows
and to go to the embraces of the marine virgin.
There is a bay of Haemonia, sickle-shaped into curved arcs,
its arms run forward: where, if the wave were higher,

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portus erat; summis inductum est aequor harenis;
litus habet solidum, quod nec vestigia servet
nec remoretur iter nec opertum pendeat alga;
myrtea silva subest bicoloribus obsita bacis.
est specus in medio, natura factus an arte,

there was a harbor; the level water is overlaid with topmost sands;
the shore has something solid, which neither preserves vestiges nor delays the journey nor, being covered, hangs with algae;
a myrtle-wood lies below, clothed with bi-colored berries.
there is a cavern in the midst, whether made by nature or by art,

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ambiguum, magis arte tamen: quo saepe venire
frenato delphine sedens, Theti, nuda solebas.
illic te Peleus, ut somno vincta iacebas,
occupat, et quoniam precibus temptata repugnas,
vim parat, innectens ambobus colla lacertis;

ambiguous, yet more by art: to which, Thetis, you often were accustomed to come
sitting on a bridled dolphin, nude.
There Peleus seizes you, as you lay bound by sleep,
and since, tested by prayers, you resist,
he prepares force, entwining your neck with both his arms;

240

quod nisi venisses variatis saepe figuris
ad solitas artes, auso foret ille potitus;
sed modo tu volucris: volucrem tamen ille tenebat;
nunc gravis arbor eras: haerebat in arbore Peleus;
tertia forma fuit maculosae tigridis: illa

and had you not come, in oft-varied figures,
to your accustomed arts, he would have prevailed in his venture;
but just now you were a bird: yet he was holding the bird;
now you were a heavy tree: Peleus was clinging to the tree;
the third form was that of a spotted tigress: that one

245

territus Aeacides a corpore bracchia solvit.
inde deos pelagi vino super aequora fuso
et pecoris fibris et fumo turis adorat,
donec Carpathius medio de gurgite vates
'Aeacide,' dixit 'thalamis potiere petitis,

the Aeacid, terrified, loosened his arms from the body.
then he adores the gods of the sea with wine poured over the waters
and with the fibres of the herd and the fume of incense,
until the Carpathian seer from the midst of the whirlpool
'Aeacid,' he said, 'you will gain the sought marriage-bed,'

250

tu modo, cum rigido sopita quiescet in antro,
ignaram laqueis vincloque innecte tenaci.
nec te decipiat centum mentita figuras,
sed preme, quicquid erit, dum, quod fuit ante, reformet.'
dixerat haec Proteus et condidit aequore vultum

only do you, when, lulled, she will rest in the rigid cavern,
entangle the unknowing one with snares and a tenacious fetter.
nor let her, having feigned a hundred figures, deceive you,
but press her, whatever she will be, until she reforms to what she was before.'
Proteus had said these things and hid his countenance in the sea

255

admisitque suos in verba novissima fluctus.
Pronus erat Titan inclinatoque tenebat
Hesperium temone fretum, cum pulchra relicto
Nereis ingreditur consueta cubilia ponto;
vix bene virgineos Peleus invaserat artus:

and his own waves admitted his very last words.
The Titan was leaning forward, and with an inclined tiller he held
the Hesperian strait, when the fair Nereid, the sea left behind,
enters her accustomed couch; Peleus had scarcely well invaded the virginal limbs:

260

illa novat formas, donec sua membra teneri
sentit et in partes diversas bracchia tendi.
tum denum ingemuit, 'ne' que ait 'sine numine vincis'
exhibita estque Thetis: confessam amplectitur heros
et potitur votis ingentique inplet Achille.

she changes shapes, until she feels her limbs being held
and her arms stretched into different parts.
then at last she groaned, and says, 'you do not conquer without divine numen,'
and Thetis was revealed: the hero embraces her, now confessed,
and he gains his wishes and fulfills them with mighty Achilles.

265

Felix et nato, felix et coniuge Peleus,
et cui, si demas iugulati crimina Phoci,
omnia contigerant: fraterno sanguine sontem
expulsumque domo patria Trachinia tellus
accipit. hic regnum sine vi, sine caede gerebat

Happy in his son, happy too in his spouse, was Peleus,
and for whom, if you take away the crimes of slaughtered Phocus,
all things had come to pass: guilty of fraternal blood
and driven from his fatherland home, the Trachinian land
receives him. Here he held the kingship without force, without slaughter

270

Lucifero genitore satus patriumque nitorem
ore ferens Ceyx, illo qui tempore maestus
dissimilisque sui fratrem lugebat ademptum.
quo postquam Aeacides fessus curaque viaque
venit et intravit paucis comitantibus urbem,

Ceyx, begotten of father Lucifer and bearing his paternal brightness
in his face, who at that time, sorrowful
and unlike himself, was mourning his brother taken away.
When thereafter the Aeacid, weary both with care and with the road,
came and entered the city with a few accompanying,

275

quosque greges pecorum, quae secum armenta trahebat,
haut procul a muris sub opaca valle reliquit;
copia cum facta est adeundi prima tyranni,
velamenta manu praetendens supplice, qui sit
quoque satus, memorat, tantum sua crimina celat

and what flocks of livestock, what herds he was bringing with him,
not far from the walls he left in a shadowy valley;
when the first opportunity was made of approaching the tyrant,
holding forth the veils with a suppliant hand, he tells who he is
and from whom begotten, only his own crimes he conceals

280

mentiturque fugae causam; petit, urbe vel agro
se iuvet. hunc contra placido Trachinius ore
talibus adloquitur: 'mediae quoque commoda plebi
nostra patent, Peleu, nec inhospita regna tenemus;
adicis huic animo momenta potentia, clarum

and he lies about the cause of his flight; he asks that he be helped, whether in the city or in the countryside.
in reply to him the Trachinian, with a placid face, addresses him with such words: ‘Even for the middle plebs our benefits are open as well, Peleus, nor do we hold inhospitable realms; by your power you add weight to this disposition, illustrious

285

nomen avumque Iovem; ne tempora perde precando!
quod petis, omne feres tuaque haec pro parte vocato,
qualiacumque vides! utinam meliora videres!'
et flebat: moveat tantos quae causa dolores,
Peleusque comitesque rogant; quibus ille profatur:

the name and grandsire Jupiter; do not waste time by praying!
what you seek, you shall obtain it all, and these things too, for your part when you are called upon,
whatever sort you see them! would that you saw better!'
and he was weeping: what cause might move such great sorrows,
Peleus and his companions ask; to whom he speaks forth:

290

'forsitan hanc volucrem, rapto quae vivit et omnes
terret aves, semper pennas habuisse putetis:
vir fuit (et—tanta est animi constantia—iam tum
acer erat belloque ferox ad vimque paratus)
nomine Daedalion. illo genitore creatis,

'perhaps you may think that this bird, which lives by rapine and terrifies all the birds, has always had feathers:
there was a man (and—so great is the constancy of spirit—even then
he was keen in war and fierce and prepared for violence)
named Daedalion. with that sire as begetter,

295

qui vocat Auroram caeloque novissimus exit,
culta mihi pax est, pacis mihi cura tenendae
coniugiique fuit, fratri fera bella placebant:
illius virtus reges gentesque subegit,
quae nunc Thisbaeas agitat mutata columbas.

who calls Aurora and is last to go forth from the sky,
for me peace was cultivated, the care of maintaining peace
and of wedlock was mine; savage wars pleased my brother:
his valor subdued kings and peoples,
which now, changed, harasses the Thisbean doves.

300

nata erat huic Chione, quae dotatissima forma
mille procos habuit, bis septem nubilis annis.
forte revertentes Phoebus Maiaque creatus,
ille suis Delphis, hic vertice Cyllenaeo,
videre hanc pariter, pariter traxere colorem.

to this man a daughter had been born, Chione, who, most endowed in form,
had a thousand suitors, at twice seven marriageable years.
by chance, as Phoebus and the one begotten of Maia were returning—
that one from his own Delphi, this one from the Cyllenian peak—
they saw her equally; equally they drew color.

305

spem veneris differt in tempora noctis Apollo;
non fert ille moras virgaque movente soporem
virginis os tangit: tactu iacet illa potenti
vimque dei patitur; nox caelum sparserat astris:
Phoebus anum simulat praereptaque gaudia sumit.

Apollo defers the hope of Venus to the hours of night;
that one does not endure delays, and with his wand setting sleep in motion
he touches the maiden’s mouth: at the potent touch she lies low
and suffers the violence of the god; night had sprinkled the sky with stars:
Phoebus feigns an old woman and takes the joys snatched beforehand.

310

ut sua maturus conplevit tempora venter,
alipedis de stirpe dei versuta propago
nascitur Autolycus furtum ingeniosus ad omne,
candida de nigris et de candentibus atra
qui facere adsuerat, patriae non degener artis;

as her womb, ripe, completed its term,
from the stock of the wing-footed god a shrewd offspring
is born—Autolycus, ingenious at every theft—
who had been accustomed to make white from black, and from gleaming white, black,
not degenerate from his paternal craft;

315

nascitur e Phoebo (namque est enixa gemellos)
carmine vocali clarus citharaque Philammon.
quid peperisse duos et dis placuisse duobus
et forti genitore et progenitore nitenti
esse satam prodest? an obest quoque gloria multis?

Philammon is born from Phoebus (for she had borne twins), renowned for vocal song and the cithara.
What does it profit to have borne two and to have pleased two gods,
and to be sprung from a strong genitor and a shining progenitor?
Or does glory also harm many?

320

obfuit huic certe! quae se praeferre Dianae
sustinuit faciemque deae culpavit, at illi
ira ferox mota est "factis" que "placebimus" inquit.
nec mora, curvavit cornu nervoque sagittam
inpulit et meritam traiecit harundine linguam.

It harmed her for certain! she who dared to set herself before Diana and faulted the goddess’s face; but in her a ferocious wrath was stirred, and she said, "By deeds," "we shall please."
Without delay, she bent her bow and drove an arrow on the string, and transfixed the tongue that deserved it with the shaft.

325

lingua tacet, nec vox temptataque verba sequuntur,
conantemque loqui cum sanguine vita reliquit;
quam miser amplexans ego tum patriumque dolorem
corde tuli fratrique pio solacia dixi,
quae pater haut aliter quam cautes murmura ponti 330
accipit et natam delamentatur ademptam;
ut vero ardentem vidit, quater impetus illi
in medios fuit ire rogos, quater inde repulsus
concita membra fugae mandat similisque iuvenco
spicula crabronum pressa cervice gerenti,

the tongue is silent, nor do voice and attempted words follow,
and, as she tried to speak, life with her blood left her;
her I, wretched, embracing then, and a father’s grief
I bore in my heart, and I spoke consolations to my dutiful brother,
which the father receives no otherwise than crags the murmurs of the sea 330
receive, and he bewails his daughter taken away;
but when he saw her burning, four times the impulse was his
to go into the midst of the pyres, four times from there repulsed
he commits his agitated limbs to flight, and, like a young bullock
bearing the darts of hornets upon his pressed neck,

335

qua via nulla, ruit. iam tum mihi currere visus
plus homine est, alasque pedes sumpsisse putares.
effugit ergo omnes veloxque cupidine leti
vertice Parnasi potitur; miseratus Apollo,
cum se Daedalion saxo misisset ab alto,

where the way is none, he rushes. Even then he seemed to me to run
more than a man, and you would think his feet had taken wings.
accordingly he escapes them all, and swift with desire for death
he gains the summit of Parnassus; Apollo, pitying him,
when Daedalion had hurled himself from the high rock,

340

fecit avem et subitis pendentem sustulit alis
oraque adunca dedit, curvos dedit unguibus hamos,
virtutem antiquam, maiores corpore vires,
et nunc accipiter, nulli satis aequus, in omnes
saevit aves aliisque dolens fit causa dolendi.'

he made him a bird and, as he hung, bore him up on sudden wings;
and he gave a hooked beak, he gave curved hooks to his talons,
his ancient valor, greater bodily might;
and now, a hawk, hardly fair to any, against all
he rages at the birds, and, grieving himself, becomes a cause of grieving for others.'

345

Quae dum Lucifero genitus miracula narrat
de consorte suo, cursu festinus anhelo
advolat armenti custos Phoceus Onetor
et 'Peleu, Peleu! magnae tibi nuntius adsum
cladis' ait. quodcumque ferat, iubet edere Peleus,

While the one begotten of Lucifer recounts the miracles about his consort,
with panting course, in haste there flies up the Phocian Onetor, guardian of the herd,
and says: "Peleus, Peleus! I am present to you as a messenger of great disaster."
whatever he may bring, Peleus bids him to set it forth,

350

pendet et ipse metu trepidi Trachinius oris;
ille refert 'fessos ad litora curva iuvencos
adpuleram, medio cum Sol altissimus orbe
tantum respiceret, quantum superesse videret,
parsque boum fulvis genua inclinarat harenis

and the Trachinian himself hangs in suspense with fear, his trembling face;
he relates: 'I had driven the weary steers to the curving shores,
when the Sun, highest in the middle of his orb,
was looking back only so much as he saw to remain,
and part of the cattle had inclined their knees on the tawny sands

355

latarumque iacens campos spectabat aquarum,
pars gradibus tardis illuc errabat et illuc;
nant alii celsoque exstant super aequora collo.
templa mari subsunt nec marmore clara neque auro,
sed trabibus densis lucoque umbrosa vetusto:

and lying he gazed at the plains of the broad waters,
part with tardy steps was wandering thither and hither;
others swim and, with a lofty neck, stand out above the waters.
temples lie beneath the sea, neither bright with marble nor with gold,
but shaded by dense beams and by an ancient grove:

360

Nereides Nereusque tenent (hos navita ponti
edidit esse deos, dum retia litore siccat);
iuncta palus huic est densis obsessa salictis,
quam restagnantis fecit maris unda paludem:
inde fragore gravi strepitans loca proxima terret,

The Nereids and Nereus hold it (a mariner of the sea declared these to be gods, while he dries his nets on the shore);
a marsh adjoining to this is beset by dense willow-thickets,
which the wave of the re-stagnant sea made into a marsh:
thence, rattling with a heavy crash, it terrifies the places nearest,

365

belua vasta, lupus iuncisque palustribus exit,
oblitus et spumis et sparsus sanguine rictus
fulmineos, rubra suffusus lumina flamma.
qui quamquam saevit pariter rabieque fameque,
acrior est rabie: neque enim ieiunia curat

a vast beast, a wolf, emerges from the marshy rushes,
his jaws both smeared with foam and spattered with blood,
his eyes lightning-like, suffused with red flame.
who, although he rages equally with rabid frenzy and with famine,
is the fiercer in frenzy: for he does not care about fasts

370

caede boum diramque famem finire, sed omne
vulnerat armentum sternitque hostiliter omne.
pars quoque de nobis funesto saucia morsu,
dum defensamus, leto est data; sanguine litus
undaque prima rubet demugitaeque paludes.

to end his dire hunger by the slaughter of oxen, but he wounds the whole
herd and lays all of it low hostilely.
a portion too of us, wounded by the deadly bite,
while we were defending, was given over to death; with blood the shore
and the foremost wave are reddened, and the marshes low back.

375

sed mora damnosa est, nec res dubitare remittit:
dum superest aliquid, cuncti coeamus et arma,
arma capessamus coniunctaque tela feramus!'
dixerat agrestis: nec Pelea damna movebant,
sed memor admissi Nereida conligit orbam

but delay is baneful, nor does the matter allow hesitation:
while anything remains, let us all come together and to arms,
let us take up arms and bear our conjoined weapons!'
the rustic had spoken: nor did the losses move Peleus,
but, mindful of the admitted offense, he clasps the bereft Nereid.

380

damna sua inferias exstincto mittere Phoco.
induere arma viros violentaque sumere tela
rex iubet Oetaeus; cum quis simul ipse parabat
ire, sed Alcyone coniunx excita tumultu
prosilit et nondum totos ornata capillos

to send his losses as funeral offerings to Phocus, extinguished.
the Oetaean king orders the men to don arms and to take up violent weapons;
and at the same time he himself was preparing to go,
but Alcyone, his consort, roused by the tumult,
bursts forth, her hair not yet wholly adorned

385

disicit hos ipsos colloque infusa mariti,
mittat ut auxilium sine se, verbisque precatur
et lacrimis, animasque duas ut servet in una.
Aeacides illi: 'pulchros, regina, piosque
pone metus! plena est promissi gratia vestri.

she tears those very locks and, poured upon her husband’s neck,
begs that he send assistance without himself, with words
and with tears, and that he preserve two souls in one.
The Aeacid to her: “Put away, queen, your fair and pious fears! full is the grace of your promise.”

390

non placet arma mihi contra nova monstra moveri;
numen adorandum pelagi est!' erat ardua turris,
arce focus summa, fessis nota grata carinis:
ascendunt illuc stratosque in litore tauros
cum gemitu adspiciunt vastatoremque cruento

it does not please me to move arms against new monsters; the sea’s numen is to be adored!' there was a lofty tower, a hearth on the summit of the citadel, known and welcome to weary keels: they ascend thither and behold with a groan bulls strewn on the shore and the devastator with bloody

395

ore ferum, longos infectum sanguine villos.
inde manus tendens in aperti litora ponti
caeruleam Peleus Psamathen, ut finiat iram,
orat, opemque ferat; nec vocibus illa rogantis
flectitur Aeacidae, Thetis hanc pro coniuge supplex

with savage mouth, its long locks stained with blood.
thence, stretching his hands toward the shores of the open sea,
Peleus beseeches cerulean Psamathe, that she may end her wrath,
and bring aid; nor is she bent by the voices of the beseeching
Aeacid; Thetis, as a suppliant for her consort,

400

accepit veniam. sed enim revocatus ab acri
caede lupus perstat, dulcedine sanguinis asper,
donec inhaerentem lacerae cervice iuvencae
marmore mutavit: corpus praeterque colorem
omnia servavit, lapidis color indicat illum

she accepted pardon. But indeed, recalled from the fierce slaughter,
the wolf persists, roughened by the sweetness of blood,
until she changed into marble the one clinging to the torn neck of the heifer:
it preserved the body and, except for the color,
it kept all things; the color of the stone indicates him

405

iam non esse lupum, iam non debere timeri.
nec tamen hac profugum consistere Pelea terra
fata sinunt, Magnetas adit vagus exul et illic
sumit ab Haemonio purgamina caedis Acasto.
Interea fratrisque sui fratremque secutis

now he is no longer a wolf, now he ought no longer to be feared.
nor yet do the fates allow exiled Peleus to settle on this land; he, a wandering exile, approaches the Magnetes, and there
he receives from Haemonian Acastus the purgations of the slaughter.
Meanwhile, with those who had followed both his brother and his brother

410

anxia prodigiis turbatus pectora Ceyx,
consulat ut sacras, hominum oblectamina, sortes,
ad Clarium parat ire deum; nam templa profanus
invia cum Phlegyis faciebat Delphica Phorbas.
consilii tamen ante sui, fidissima, certam

anxious at prodigies, Ceyx, his heart disturbed,
that he might consult the sacred lots, the delights of men,
prepares to go to the Clarian god; for the profane Phorbas,
together with the Phlegyans, was making the Delphic temples impassable.
yet beforehand, of his plan, he makes his most faithful one certain

415

te facit, Alcyone; cui protinus intima frigus
ossa receperunt, buxoque simillimus ora
pallor obit, lacrimisque genae maduere profusis.
ter conata loqui, ter fletibus ora rigavit
singultuque pias interrumpente querellas

He makes you certain, Alcyone; at once a chill
seized her inmost bones, and a pallor most like boxwood went over her face,
and her cheeks were moistened with profuse tears.
three times she tried to speak, three times she bathed her face with weeping,
and with a sob interrupting her pious laments

420

'quae mea culpa tuam,' dixit 'carissime, mentem
vertit? ubi est quae cura mei prior esse solebat?
iam potes Alcyone securus abesse relicta?

'what fault of mine,' she said, 'dearest, your mind
has turned? where is the care for me that used to be prior?
now can you, secure, be away, with Alcyone left behind?

iam via longa placet? iam sum tibi carior absens?
at, puto, per terras iter est, tantumque dolebo,

now does the long road please? am I now dearer to you absent?
but, I suppose, the journey is through lands, and I shall grieve only so much,

425

non etiam metuam, curaeque timore carebunt.
aequora me terrent et ponti tristis imago:
et laceras nuper tabulas in litore vidi
et saepe in tumulis sine corpore nomina legi.
neve tuum fallax animum fiducia tangat,

I will not even fear, and my cares will be free from fear.
the seas terrify me and the sad image of the deep:
and I recently saw torn planks on the shore
and often on tombs I have read names without a body.
and let not treacherous confidence touch your spirit,

430

quod socer Hippotades tibi sit, qui carcere fortes
contineat ventos, et, cum velit, aequora placet.
cum semel emissi tenuerunt aequora venti,
nil illis vetitum est: incommendataque tellus
omnis et omne fretum est, caeli quoque nubila vexant

that Hippotades is your father-in-law, who confines the stout winds in a prison, and, when he wills, placates the seas.
when once released the winds have taken hold of the seas, nothing is forbidden to them: and every land and every strait is unprotected, they also vex the clouds of the sky.

435

excutiuntque feris rutilos concursibus ignes.
quo magis hos novi (nam novi et saepe paterna
parva domo vidi), magis hoc reor esse timendos.
quod tua si flecti precibus sententia nullis,
care, potest, coniunx, nimiumque es certus eundi,

and they shake out ruddy fires with wild clashes.
Wherefore the more I know these (for I know them and have often seen them in my father’s small house), the more I think this is to be feared.
since, if your purpose can be bent by no prayers,
dear husband, and you are too certain of going,

440

me quoque tolle simul! certe iactabimur una,
nec nisi quae patiar, metuam, pariterque feremus,
quicquid erit, pariter super aequora lata feremur.'
Talibus Aeolidis dictis lacrimisque movetur
sidereus coniunx: neque enim minor ignis in ipso est;

‘Take me too along!’ surely we shall be tossed as one,
nor shall I fear save what I myself suffer, and together we shall bear,
whatever it will be, together we shall be carried over the broad waters.’
By such words and tears of the Aeolid he is moved, the sidereal spouse:
for no lesser fire is in himself;

445

sed neque propositos pelagi dimittere cursus,
nec vult Alcyonen in partem adhibere pericli
multaque respondit timidum solantia pectus.
non tamen idcirco causam probat; addidit illis
hoc quoque lenimen, quo solo flexit amantem:

but neither does he let go the courses of the sea he had proposed,
nor does he wish to admit Alcyone into a share of the peril,
and he replied many things consoling to her timid breast.
yet not on that account does he approve the cause; to those he added
this leniment also, by which alone he bent his beloved:

450

'longa quidem est nobis omnis mora, sed tibi iuro
per patrios ignes, si me modo fata remittant,
ante reversurum, quam luna bis inpleat orbem.'
his ubi promissis spes est admota recursus,
protinus eductam navalibus aequore tingui

'Every delay is indeed long to me, but I swear to you
by the paternal fires, if only the Fates remit me,
that I will return before the moon twice fills her orb.'
When by these promises hope of a return was brought near,
at once he orders the ship drawn from the naval dockyards to be dipped in the sea

455

aptarique suis pinum iubet armamentis;
qua rursus visa veluti praesaga futuri
horruit Alcyone lacrimasque emisit obortas
amplexusque dedit tristique miserrima tandem
ore 'vale' dixit conlapsaque corpore toto est;

and he orders the pine-ship to be fitted with its own gear;
and she, seeing him again, as though prescient of what was to come,
Alcyone shuddered and let forth the tears that had welled up,
and she gave embraces and, most wretched, at last
said “farewell” with a sad mouth, and collapsed with her whole body.

460

ast iuvenes quaerente moras Ceyce reducunt
ordinibus geminis ad fortia pectora remos
aequalique ictu scindunt freta: sustulit illa
umentes oculos stantemque in puppe recurva
concussaque manu dantem sibi signa maritum

But the youths, while Ceyx was seeking delays, draw back
the oars in twin ranks to their stout chests,
and with equal stroke they cleave the straits:
she lifted her wet eyes and saw him standing on the curved stern
and, with a shaken hand, giving signs to her, her husband

465

prona videt redditque notas; ubi terra recessit
longius, atque oculi nequeunt cognoscere vultus,
dum licet, insequitur fugientem lumine pinum;
haec quoque ut haut poterat spatio submota videri,
vela tamen spectat summo fluitantia malo;

leaning forward she sees and gives back familiar signals; when the land has receded
farther, and her eyes are not able to recognize the visages,
while it is permitted, she pursues with her light the fleeing pine;
when this too, removed by distance, could hardly be seen,
nevertheless she watches the sails flowing at the topmost mast;

470

ut nec vela videt, vacuum petit anxia lectum
seque toro ponit: renovat lectusque torusque
Alcyonae lacrimas et quae pars admonet absit.
Portibus exierant, et moverat aura rudentes:
obvertit lateri pendentes navita remos

As soon as she does not see the sails, anxious she seeks the empty bed
and places herself on the couch: both bed and couch renew
Alcyone’s tears, and whatever part reminds her that he is away.
They had gone out from the harbors, and the breeze had set the ropes in motion:
the sailor turns the hanging oars toward the side

475

cornuaque in summa locat arbore totaque malo
carbasa deducit venientesque accipit auras.
aut minus, aut certe medium non amplius aequor
puppe secabatur, longeque erat utraque tellus,
cum mare sub noctem tumidis albescere coepit

and he sets the yardarms on the top of the mast and along the whole mast
he lets down the canvases and takes in the coming breezes.
either less, or certainly no more than the middle of the sea
was being cleft by the stern, and each land was far away,
when toward night the sea began to whiten with swelling waves

480

fluctibus et praeceps spirare valentius eurus.
'ardua iamdudum demittite cornua' rector
clamat 'et antemnis totum subnectite velum.'
hic iubet; inpediunt adversae iussa procellae,
nec sinit audiri vocem fragor aequoris ullam:

and the headlong Eurus began to blow more strongly with the waves.
'at once lower the lofty horns,' the helmsman
shouts, 'and fasten the whole sail to the yards.'
here he gives the order; the opposing squalls impede the commands,
and the crash of the sea does not allow any voice to be heard:

485

sponte tamen properant alii subducere remos,
pars munire latus, pars ventis vela negare;
egerit hic fluctus aequorque refundit in aequor,
hic rapit antemnas; quae dum sine lege geruntur,
aspera crescit hiems, omnique e parte feroces

of their own accord, however, some hasten to draw up the oars,
part to fortify the side, part to deny the sails to the winds;
here one bales the billows, and the sea pours back into the sea,
here another snatches the yards; while these things are done without rule,
the rough storm grows, and on every side fierce

490

bella gerunt venti fretaque indignantia miscent.
ipse pavet nec se, qui sit status, ipse fatetur
scire ratis rector, nec quid iubeatve vetetve:
tanta mali moles tantoque potentior arte est.
quippe sonant clamore viri, stridore rudentes,

the winds wage wars and mix the indignant straits.
he himself trembles, and the ship’s helmsman confesses that he himself does not know what the status is, nor what to bid or to forbid:
so great a mass of ill, and so much more potent than art, is it.
for indeed the men resound with clamor, the ropes with a shriek,

495

undarum incursu gravis unda, tonitribus aether.
fluctibus erigitur caelumque aequare videtur
pontus et inductas aspergine tangere nubes;
et modo, cum fulvas ex imo vertit harenas,
concolor est illis, Stygia modo nigrior unda,

with the incursion of the waves, the wave is heavy; with thunders, the aether.
it is raised by billows and seems to equal the sky
the sea and to touch the clouds drawn over with spray;
and now, when it turns up tawny sands from the bottom,
it is of the same color as them, now the wave blacker than the Stygian wave,

500

sternitur interdum spumisque sonantibus albet.
ipsa quoque his agitur vicibus Trachinia puppis
et nunc sublimis veluti de vertice montis
despicere in valles imumque Acheronta videtur,
nunc, ubi demissam curvum circumstetit aequor,

at times it is laid flat and whitens with resounding foams.
the Trachinian stern itself also is driven by these alternations,
and now, lofty as if from the summit of a mountain,
it seems to look down into valleys and the deepest Acheron,
now, when the level sea has encircled the sunken, curved hull,

505

suspicere inferno summum de gurgite caelum.
saepe dat ingentem fluctu latus icta fragorem
nec levius pulsata sonat, quam ferreus olim
cum laceras aries balistave concutit arces,
utque solent sumptis incursu viribus ire

to look up at the highest heaven from the infernal gulf.
often the side, struck by the wave, gives an immense crash,
nor, when battered, does it sound less loudly than when once an iron
battering-ram or a ballista shakes rent citadels;
and as they are wont, their forces taken up, to go at a charge

510

pectore in arma feri protentaque tela leones,
sic, ubi se ventis admiserat unda coortis,
ibat in alta ratis multoque erat altior illis;
iamque labant cunei, spoliataque tegmine cerae
rima patet praebetque viam letalibus undis.

the fierce lions with breast against arms and outstretched spears,
thus, when the wave had admitted itself to the arisen winds,
the raft went into the deeps and was much higher than they;
and now the wedges totter, and the crack, stripped of the covering of wax,
gapes and offers a way to the lethal waves.

515

ecce cadunt largi resolutis nubibus imbres,
inque fretum credas totum descendere caelum,
inque plagas caeli tumefactum ascendere pontum.
vela madent nimbis, et cum caelestibus undis
aequoreae miscentur aquae; caret ignibus aether,

Behold, copious showers fall, the clouds unloosed,
and you would think the whole heaven descending into the sea,
and the swollen deep mounting into the tracts of the sky.
the sails are soaked by the storm-clouds, and with the celestial waves
the sea-waters are mingled; the aether is bereft of fires,

520

caecaque nox premitur tenebris hiemisque suisque.
discutiunt tamen has praebentque micantia lumen
fulmina: fulmineis ardescunt ignibus imbres.
dat quoque iam saltus intra cava texta carinae
fluctus; et ut miles, numero praestantior omni,

and blind night is pressed down by darkness, by winter’s and by its own.
yet these the lightnings scatter and they offer a flashing light;
the showers blaze with lightning fires.
a surge too now makes leaps within the hollow woven timbers of the hull,
and, like a soldier, preeminent above every muster,

525

cum saepe adsiluit defensae moenibus urbis,
spe potitur tandem laudisque accensus amore
inter mille viros murum tamen occupat unus,
sic ubi pulsarunt noviens latera ardua fluctus,
vastius insurgens decimae ruit impetus undae

when he has often leapt to the walls of a defended city,
he at last wins his hope and, inflamed by love of praise,
yet among a thousand men one man seizes the wall,
so when the waves have beaten nine times the steep flanks,
the onset of the tenth wave, rising more vast, rushes down

530

nec prius absistit fessam oppugnare carinam,
quam velut in captae descendat moenia navis.
pars igitur temptabat adhuc invadere pinum,
pars maris intus erat: trepidant haud setius omnes,
quam solet urbs aliis murum fodientibus extra

nor does it cease from assaulting the weary hull,
until, as if upon the walls of a captured ship, it descends.
therefore some were still attempting to invade the pine-built ship,
part of the sea was inside: all tremble none the less,
than a city is wont when others dig the wall from outside

535

atque aliis murum trepidare tenentibus intus.
deficit ars, animique cadunt, totidemque videntur,
quot veniunt fluctus, ruere atque inrumpere mortes.
non tenet hic lacrimas, stupet hic, vocat ille beatos,
funera quos maneant, hic votis numen adorat

and with others holding the wall within, it trembles.
art fails, and spirits fall, and there seem to be just as many
deaths rushing and breaking in as waves that come.
one here does not hold back tears, another is stupified, another calls blessed
those whom funerals await, another here with vows adores the numen

540

bracchiaque ad caelum, quod non videt, inrita tollens
poscit opem; subeunt illi fraterque parensque,
huic cum pignoribus domus et quodcunque relictum est;
Alcyone Ceyca movet, Ceycis in ore
nulla nisi Alcyone est et, cum desideret unam,

and lifting his arms to the sky, which he does not see, in vain,
he asks for aid; to that man there come both brother and parent,
to this one his house with pledges (children) and whatever is left;
Alcyone moves Ceyx; on Ceyx’s lips
there is nothing but Alcyone, and, when he longs for the one,

545

gaudet abesse tamen; patriae quoque vellet ad oras
respicere inque domum supremos vertere vultus,
verum, ubi sit, nescit: tanta vertigine pontus
fervet, et inducta piceis e nubibus umbra
omne latet caelum, duplicataque noctis imago est.

he rejoices, nevertheless, to be absent; he would also wish to look back to the shores of his fatherland
and to turn his final looks into his home, but he does not know where he is: the sea
seethes with such a vertigo, and, with a shadow drawn over from pitchy clouds,
all the sky lies hidden, and the image of night is doubled.

550

frangitur incursu nimbosi turbinis arbor,
frangitur et regimen, spoliisque animosa superstes
unda, velut victrix, sinuataque despicit undas;
nec levius, quam siquis Athon Pindumve revulsos
sede sua totos in apertum everterit aequor, 555
praecipitata cadit pariterque et pondere et ictu
mergit in ima ratem; cum qua pars magna virorum
gurgite pressa gravi neque in aera reddita fato
functa suo est, alii partes et membra carinae
trunca tenent: tenet ipse manu, qua sceptra solebat,

the mast is broken by the onrush of a stormy whirlwind,
and the rudder is broken too, and the wave, surviving and emboldened by the spoils,
like a victress, arched, looks down upon the waves;
no less than if someone should hurl Athos or Pindus, torn from their seat,
entire, into the open level sea, 555
it falls headlong and, both by weight and by blow,
sinks the ship into the depths; with which a great part of the men,
pressed by the heavy whirlpool and not returned to the air,
has fulfilled its fate; others clutch parts and members of the hull,
mutilated: he himself holds with the hand with which he was wont to hold scepters,

560

fragmina navigii Ceyx socerumque patremque
invocat heu! frustra, sed plurima nantis in ore
Alcyone coniunx: illam meminitque refertque,
illius ante oculos ut agant sua corpora fluctus
optat et exanimis manibus tumuletur amicis.

the fragments of the ship Ceyx invokes, and both his father-in-law and his father
alas! in vain, but most of all on the swimmer’s lips, Alcyone, his consort:
her he remembers and repeats,
he wishes that the waves may drive his body before her eyes
and that, exanimate, he may be buried by friendly hands.

565

dum natat, absentem, quotiens sinit hiscere fluctus,
nominat Alcyonen ipsisque inmurmurat undis.
ecce super medios fluctus niger arcus aquarum
frangitur et rupta mersum caput obruit unda.
Lucifer obscurus nec quem cognoscere posses

while he swims, the absent Alcyone—whenever the waves allow to gape—he names, and he murmurs into the waves themselves.
look! above the midst of the billows a black arch of waters is broken, and the wave, burst apart, overwhelms his submerged head.
Lucifer, obscure, and not one whom you could recognize

570

illa luce fuit, quoniamque excedere caelo
non licuit, densis texit sua nubibus ora.
Aeolis interea, tantorum ignara malorum,
dinumerat noctes et iam, quas induat ille,
festinat vestes, iam quas, ubi venerit ille,

he was on that day, and since it was not permitted to depart from heaven, he veiled his own face with dense clouds.
Aeolis meanwhile, ignorant of such great evils,
counts the nights and now hastens the garments which he would put on,
now those which, when he shall have come,

575

ipsa gerat, reditusque sibi promittit inanes.
omnibus illa quidem superis pia tura ferebat,
ante tamen cunctos Iunonis templa colebat
proque viro, qui nullus erat, veniebat ad aras
utque foret sospes coniunx suus utque rediret,

she herself might wear, and she promises herself returns in vain.
she indeed was bearing pious incense to all the gods,
yet before all others she cultivated the temples of Juno,
and for a husband, who was no more, she came to the altars,
and that her consort might be safe and that he might return,

580

optabat, nullamque sibi praeferret; at illi
hoc de tot votis poterat contingere solum.
At dea non ultra pro functo morte rogari
sustinet utque manus funestas arceat aris,
'Iri, meae' dixit 'fidissima nuntia vocis,

she kept wishing, and that he prefer none to herself; but to her
of so many vows only this could befall.
But the goddess no longer endures to be asked on behalf of one done with death,
and that she ward off funest hands from the altars,
'Iris,' she said, 'most faithful messenger of my voice,'

585

vise soporiferam Somni velociter aulam
exstinctique iube Ceycis imagine mittat
somnia ad Alcyonen veros narrantia casus.'
dixerat: induitur velamina mille colorum
Iris et arquato caelum curvamine signans

go visit swiftly the soporific hall of Somnus
and bid that he send, in the image of the extinguished Ceyx,
dreams to Alcyone, narrating the true events.'
She had spoken: Iris dons veils of a thousand colors
Iris and, marking the sky with an arched curvature,

590

tecta petit iussi sub nube latentia regis.
Est prope Cimmerios longo spelunca recessu,
mons cavus, ignavi domus et penetralia Somni,
quo numquam radiis oriens mediusve cadensve
Phoebus adire potest: nebulae caligine mixtae

she seeks, as ordered, the dwellings of the king, lying hidden under a cloud.
There is near the Cimmerians a cave with a long recess,
a hollow mountain, the house and penetralia of slothful Sleep,
to which Phoebus, whether rising, at the mid, or setting, can never approach with his rays;
clouds mingled with murkiness.

595

exhalantur humo dubiaeque crepuscula lucis.
non vigil ales ibi cristati cantibus oris
evocat Auroram, nec voce silentia rumpunt
sollicitive canes canibusve sagacior anser;
non fera, non pecudes, non moti flamine rami

from the ground are exhaled the crepuscles of doubtful light.
there the watchful bird does not, with the songs of his crested mouth,
summon Aurora, nor do anxious dogs with their voice break the silences,
nor the goose, more sagacious than dogs; not wild beast, not flocks,
not branches moved by a breeze

600

humanaeve sonum reddunt convicia linguae.
muta quies habitat; saxo tamen exit ab imo
rivus aquae Lethes, per quem cum murmure labens
invitat somnos crepitantibus unda lapillis.
ante fores antri fecunda papavera florent

nor do the revilings of the human tongue give back a sound.
mute repose dwells; yet from the bottom of the rock there issues
a stream of Lethean water, through which, gliding with a murmur,
the wave, with crepitating little pebbles, invites sleep.
before the doors of the cavern fecund poppies bloom

605

innumeraeque herbae, quarum de lacte soporem
Nox legit et spargit per opacas umida terras.
ianua, ne verso stridores cardine reddat,
nulla domo tota est, custos in limine nullus;
at medio torus est ebeno sublimis in antro,

and innumerable herbs, from whose milk Night gathers sleep
and scatters it through the shadowy, humid lands.
the door, lest it give back creakings with the hinge turned,
is nowhere in the whole house; no guard on the threshold;
but in the middle of the cavern there is a couch, lofty, of ebony,

610

plumeus, atricolor, pullo velamine tectus,
quo cubat ipse deus membris languore solutis.
hunc circa passim varias imitantia formas
Somnia vana iacent totidem, quot messis aristas,
silva gerit frondes, eiectas litus harenas.                615
     Quo simul intravit manibusque obstantia virgo
Somnia dimovit, vestis fulgore reluxit
sacra domus, tardaque deus gravitate iacentes
vix oculos tollens iterumque iterumque relabens
summaque percutiens nutanti pectora mento

plumose, black-hued, covered with a dusky veil,
where the god himself lies, his limbs loosened by languor.
Around this, far and wide, Vain Dreams lie imitating various forms,
as many as harvest has ears, as the woodland bears leaves, as the shore holds cast-up sands. 615
As soon as the maiden entered there and with her hands moved aside the Dreams that stood in the way,
the sacred house re-shone with the radiance of her garment, and the god,
with tardy gravity, barely lifting his eyes as he lay and slipping back again and again,
and striking with his chin the top of his nodding breast

620

excussit tandem sibi se cubitoque levatus,
quid veniat, (cognovit enim) scitatur, at illa:
'Somne, quies rerum, placidissime, Somne, deorum,
pax animi, quem cura fugit, qui corpora duris
fessa ministeriis mulces reparasque labori,

at length he shook himself free and, raised on his elbow,
asks what she comes for (for he recognized), but she:
'Sleep, repose of things, most placid Sleep of the gods,
peace of mind, from whom care flees, who soothe bodies tired
by harsh services and restore them for toil,

625

Somnia, quae veras aequent imitamine formas,
Herculea Trachine iube sub imagine regis
Alcyonen adeant simulacraque naufraga fingant.
imperat hoc Iuno.' postquam mandata peregit,
Iris abit: neque enim ulterius tolerare soporis

Dreams, which may equal true forms by imitation,
order to Heraclean Trachis under the image of the king
to approach Alcyone and to fashion shipwrecked simulacra.
'Juno orders this.' after she carried out the mandates,
Iris departs: for indeed she could not endure any further the drowsiness of sleep

630

vim poterat, labique ut somnum sensit in artus,
effugit et remeat per quos modo venerat arcus.
At pater e populo natorum mille suorum
excitat artificem simulatoremque figurae
Morphea: non illo quisquam sollertius alter

she could not endure the force of sleep, and when she sensed sleep gliding into her limbs,
she escapes and returns through the arches by which she had just come.
But the father, from the people of his thousand sons,
rouses Morpheus, the artificer and simulator of figure:
no one more skillful than he

635

exprimit incessus vultumque sonumque loquendi;
adicit et vestes et consuetissima cuique
verba; sed hic solos homines imitatur, at alter
fit fera, fit volucris, fit longo corpore serpens:
hunc Icelon superi, mortale Phobetora vulgus

he reproduces the gait, and the face, and the sound of speaking;
he adds both garments and the words most customary to each;
but this one imitates only human beings, while another
becomes a wild beast, becomes a bird, becomes a serpent with a long body:
this one the gods above call Icelos, the mortal crowd Phobetor

640

nominat; est etiam diversae tertius artis
Phantasos: ille in humum saxumque undamque trabemque,
quaeque vacant anima, fallaciter omnia transit;
regibus hi ducibusque suos ostendere vultus
nocte solent, populos alii plebemque pererrant.

they name; there is also, of a different art, a third, Phantasos: that one into ground and rock and wave and beam,
and whatever lack breath, deceitfully passes into them all;
these are wont at night to show their faces to kings and dukes,
others wander through peoples and the plebs.

645

praeterit hos senior cunctisque e fratribus unum
Morphea, qui peragat Thaumantidos edita, Somnus
eligit et rursus molli languore solutus
deposuitque caput stratoque recondidit alto.
Ille volat nullos strepitus facientibus alis

the elder passes these by, and out of all his brothers Sleep chooses Morpheus alone, to carry out the things set forth by the daughter of Thaumas, and again, relaxed in soft languor, he laid down his head and hid it in the high couch.
He flies, his wings making no noises

650

per tenebras intraque morae breve tempus in urbem
pervenit Haemoniam, positisque e corpore pennis
in faciem Ceycis abit sumptaque figura
luridus, exanimi similis, sine vestibus ullis,
coniugis ante torum miserae stetit: uda videtur

through the darkness and within the brief time of delay into the city
he arrives at Haemonia, and, the wings laid off from his body,
into the face of Ceyx he goes, and, the figure taken up,
lurid, like exanimate, without any garments,
he stood before the couch of his wretched spouse: he seems wet

655

barba viri, madidisque gravis fluere unda capillis.
tum lecto incumbens fletu super ora profuso
haec ait: 'agnoscis Ceyca, miserrima coniunx,
an mea mutata est facies nece? respice: nosces
inveniesque tuo pro coniuge coniugis umbram!

the man's beard, and from his dripping hair a heavy wave was flowing.
then, leaning upon the bed, with weeping poured over his face
he said these words: 'Do you recognize Ceyx, most wretched wife,
or has my face been altered by death? Look: you will recognize,
and you will find, in place of your spouse, your spouse's shade!'

660

nil opis, Alcyone, nobis tua vota tulerunt!
occidimus! falso tibi me promittere noli!
nubilus Aegaeo deprendit in aequore navem
auster et ingenti iactatam flamine solvit,
oraque nostra tuum frustra clamantia nomen

no help, Alcyone, have your vows brought to us!
we have perished! do not let me falsely promise myself to you!
cloud-laden, the Auster caught the ship on the Aegean sea,
and, tossed by a huge blast, broke it up,
and our lips, crying your name in vain

665

inplerunt fluctus.—non haec tibi nuntiat auctor
ambiguus, non ista vagis rumoribus audis:
ipse ego fata tibi praesens mea naufragus edo.
surge, age, da lacrimas lugubriaque indue nec me
indeploratum sub inania Tartara mitte!'

have filled the billows.—It is not an ambiguous messenger who announces these things to you, nor do you hear them from roving rumors:
I myself, present, a shipwrecked man, declare my fate to you.
Rise, come, give tears and don mourning-attire, and do not send me
unlamented down beneath the void Tartarus!'

670

adicit his vocem Morpheus, quam coniugis illa
crederet esse sui (fletus quoque fundere veros
visus erat), gestumque manus Ceycis habebat.
ingemit Alcyone lacrimans, motatque lacertos
per somnum corpusque petens amplectitur auras

Morpheus adds to these a voice, which she would believe to be that of her own husband (he too seemed to pour forth true tears), and he had the gesture of Ceyx’s hand.
Alcyone groans, weeping, and she moves her arms
and, through sleep and seeking his body, she embraces the air

675

exclamatque: 'mane! quo te rapis? ibimus una.'
voce sua specieque viri turbata soporem
excutit et primo, si sit, circumspicit, illic,
qui modo visus erat; nam moti voce ministri
intulerant lumen.

and she exclaims: 'Stay! Whither do you rush? We will go together.'
disturbed by his voice and the semblance of the man, she shakes off sleep
and at first she looks around, to see whether he is there—there, the one who had just been seen;
for the attendants, moved by the voice, had brought in a light.

postquam non invenit usquam,

after she did not find him anywhere,

680

percutit ora manu laniatque a pectore vestes
pectoraque ipsa ferit nec crines solvere curat:
scindit et altrici, quae luctus causa, roganti
'nulla est Alcyone, nulla est' ait. 'occidit una
cum Ceyce suo. solantia tollite verba!

she strikes her face with her hand and tears the garments from her breast,
and smites her very breasts, nor does she care to loosen her hair:
she rends also, and to her nurse, who asks the cause of mourning,
'she is no Alcyone, no Alcyone,' she says. 'She has perished together
with her own Ceyx. Remove consoling words!'

685

naufragus interiit: vidi agnovique manusque
ad discedentem cupiens retinere tetendi.
umbra fuit, sed et umbra tamen manifesta virique
vera mei. non ille quidem, si quaeris, habebat
adsuetos vultus nec quo prius, ore nitebat:

shipwrecked he perished: I saw and recognized him, and my hands,
desiring to hold back the departing one, I stretched out.
it was a shade, yet even a shade nevertheless manifest, and truly
my husband. Not he indeed, if you ask, had the accustomed
countenance, nor did he shine in his face as before:

690

pallentem nudumque et adhuc umente capillo
infelix vidi. stetit hoc miserabilis ipso
ecce loco'; et quaerit, vestigia siqua supersint.
'hoc erat, hoc, animo quod divinante timebam,
et ne me fugiens ventos sequerere rogabam.

pale and naked and with hair still wet, unhappy, I saw him. he stood, pitiable, in this very place, look';
and he asks whether any footprints remain.
'this was it, this, which with a divining mind I feared,
and I was begging that, as you fled me, you would not follow the winds.

695

at certe vellem, quoniam periturus abibas,
me quoque duxisses: multum fuit utile tecum
ire mihi; neque enim de vitae tempore quicquam
non simul egissem, nec mors discreta fuisset.
nunc absens perii, iactor quoque fluctibus absens,

but surely I would that, since you were going away about to perish,
you had led me too: it would have been very useful for me
to go with you; for I would have done nothing about the term of life
not together, nor would death have been separate.
now absent I have perished, I too am tossed by the waves absent,

700

et sine me me pontus habet. crudelior ipso
sit mihi mens pelago, si vitam ducere nitar
longius et tanto pugnem superesse dolori!
sed neque pugnabo nec te, miserande, relinquam
et tibi nunc saltem veniam comes, inque sepulcro 705
si non urna, tamen iunget nos littera: si non
ossibus ossa meis, at nomen nomine tangam.'
plura dolor prohibet, verboque intervenit omni
plangor, et attonito gemitus a corde trahuntur.

and without me the sea holds me. let my mind be more cruel than the sea itself to me, if I strive to draw out life longer and struggle to outlive so great a grief! but neither will I struggle nor will I leave you, most pitiable one, and to you now at least I will come as a companion, and in the sepulcher 705
if not an urn, yet a letter will join us: if not bones with my bones, yet I will touch name with name.'
grief forbids more, and lamentation comes between every word, and groans are drawn from the stunned heart.

Mane erat: egreditur tectis ad litus et illum

It was morning: she goes forth from the house to the shore and him

710

maesta locum repetit, de quo spectarat euntem,
dumque moratur ibi dumque 'hic retinacula solvit,
hoc mihi discedens dedit oscula litore' dicit
dumque notata locis reminiscitur acta fretumque
prospicit, in liquida, spatio distante, tuetur

mournful, she returns to the place from which she had watched him going,
and while she lingers there and says, 'here he loosed the mooring-ropes,
here, departing, he gave me kisses on this shore,' she says,
and while she reminisces the acts noted by the places and looks out over the strait,
upon the liquid expanse, with space intervening, she watches

715

nescio quid quasi corpus aqua, primoque, quid illud
esset, erat dubium; postquam paulum adpulit unda,
et, quamvis aberat, corpus tamen esse liquebat,
qui foret, ignorans, quia naufragus, omine mota est
et, tamquam ignoto lacrimam daret, 'heu! miser,' inquit

she sees I know not what, as if a body, on the water, and at first what that was was doubtful; after the wave drove it a little nearer, and, although it was far off, nevertheless it was evident that it was a body, not knowing who he might be, because (he was) a shipwrecked man, she is moved by the omen, and, as if she were giving a tear to an unknown, 'alas! wretch,' she says

720

'quisquis es, et siqua est coniunx tibi!' fluctibus actum
fit propius corpus: quod quo magis illa tuetur,
hoc minus et minus est mentis, vae! iamque propinquae
admotum terrae, iam quod cognoscere posset,
cernit: erat coniunx! 'ille est!' exclamat et una

'Whoever you are, and if you have any spouse!' driven by the waves
the body comes nearer: the more she gazes at it,
the less and less she is in her mind, alas! and now, brought
close to the near shore, now such as she could recognize,
she perceives: it was her husband! 'It is he!' she cries, and at once

725

ora, comas, vestem lacerat tendensque trementes
ad Ceyca manus 'sic, o carissime coniunx,
sic ad me, miserande, redis?' ait. adiacet undis
facta manu moles, quae primas aequoris iras
frangit et incursus quae praedelassat aquarum. 730
insilit huc, mirumque fuit potuisse: volabat
percutiensque levem modo natis aera pennis
stringebat summas ales miserabilis undas,
dumque volat, maesto similem plenumque querellae
ora dedere sonum tenui crepitantia rostro.

she lacerates face, hair, garment, and stretching trembling
hands toward Ceyx, 'Thus, O dearest spouse,
thus to me, pitiable one, do you return?' she says. There lies near the waves
a mole made by hand, which breaks the first wraths of the sea
and which pre-wearies the onrushes of the waters. 730
She leaps onto this, and it was a marvel that she could: she was flying,
and striking the light air with her newly-born feathers
the piteous bird was skimming the topmost waves,
and while she flies, like one sorrowful and full of complaint,
her mouth gave a sound, crepitant with a slender beak.

735

ut vero tetigit mutum et sine sanguine corpus,
dilectos artus amplexa recentibus alis
frigida nequiquam duro dedit oscula rostro.
senserit hoc Ceyx, an vultum motibus undae
tollere sit visus, populus dubitabat, at ille

but when indeed she touched the mute and bloodless body,
embracing the beloved limbs with recent wings,
cold, she gave kisses in vain with her hard beak.
whether Ceyx perceived this, or seemed to raise his visage
by the motions of the wave, the people were doubting, but he

740

senserat: et tandem, superis miserantibus, ambo
alite mutantur; fatis obnoxius isdem
tunc quoque mansit amor nec coniugiale solutum
foedus in alitibus: coeunt fiuntque parentes,
perque dies placidos hiberno tempore septem

he had sensed it: and at last, with the gods pitying, both
are changed into birds; their love, subject to the same fates,
then also remained, nor was the conjugal compact
loosened among the birds: they mate and become parents,
and through placid days in the winter season for seven

745

incubat Alcyone pendentibus aequore nidis.
tunc iacet unda maris: ventos custodit et arcet
Aeolus egressu praestatque nepotibus aequor.
Hos aliquis senior iunctim freta lata volantes
spectat et ad finem servatos laudat amores:

Alcyone incubates on nests hanging over the sea.
then the wave of the sea lies; Aeolus guards the winds and keeps them from egress, and he provides the sea for his grandchildren.
Someone elder beholds these, flying joined over the broad straits,
and praises loves preserved to the end:

750

proximus, aut idem, si fors tulit, 'hic quoque,' dixit
'quem mare carpentem substrictaque crura gerentem
aspicis,' (ostendens spatiosum in guttura mergum)
'regia progenies, et si descendere ad ipsum
ordine perpetuo quaeris, sunt huius origo

Next, or the same one, if chance so brought it, said, 'This one too, whom you see plucking at the sea and bearing his legs drawn tight,' (pointing to a diver spacious in the throat) 'is of royal progeny; and if you seek to descend in perpetual order to him himself, the origin of this one are

755

Ilus et Assaracus raptusque Iovi Ganymedes
Laomedonque senex Priamusque novissima Troiae
tempora sortitus; frater fuit Hectoris iste:
qui nisi sensisset prima nova fata iuventa,
forsitan inferius non Hectore nomen haberet, 760
quamvis est illum proles enixa Dymantis,
Aesacon umbrosa furtim peperisse sub Ida
fertur Alexiroe, Granico nata bicorni.
oderat hic urbes nitidaque remotus ab aula
secretos montes et inambitiosa colebat

Ilus and Assaracus, and Ganymedes rapt to Jove,
and old Laomedon, and Priam, allotted the latest times of Troy;
this man was the brother of Hector:
who, unless he had sensed new fates in earliest youth,
perhaps would not have a name lower than Hector, 760
although the progeny of Dymas bore that one,
Aesacus to have been secretly borne beneath shadowy Ida
is reported by Alexiroe, born of the two-horned Granicus.
he hated cities and, remote from the shining court,
he dwelt in secluded mountains and unambitious haunts

765

rura nec Iliacos coetus nisi rarus adibat.
non agreste tamen nec inexpugnabile amori
pectus habens silvas captatam saepe per omnes
aspicit Hesperien patria Cebrenida ripa
iniectos umeris siccantem sole capillos.

nor did he approach the fields or the Iliac assemblies except rarely.
yet, not having a rustic heart nor one impregnable to Love,
he sees Hesperia—often pursued through all the woods—
a Cebrenian girl, on her native bank,
drying in the sun the hair cast upon her shoulders.

770

visa fugit nymphe, veluti perterrita fulvum
cerva lupum longeque lacu deprensa relicto
accipitrem fluvialis anas; quam Troius heros
insequitur celeremque metu celer urget amore.
ecce latens herba coluber fugientis adunco

Seen, the nymph flees, just as a doe terrified at a tawny wolf,
and like a riverine duck, caught far off with the lake left behind, before a hawk; whom the Trojan hero
pursues, and, swift, he presses the swift one—swift with fear—with love.
behold, lurking in the grass a serpent, for the fleeing one, with hooked

775

dente pedem strinxit virusque in corpore liquit;
cum vita suppressa fuga est: amplectitur amens
exanimem clamatque "piget, piget esse secutum!
sed non hoc timui, neque erat mihi vincere tanti.
perdidimus miseram nos te duo: vulnus ab angue,

with its tooth it grazed her foot and left its venom in her body;
and, life suppressed, her flight ceased: he embraces, out of his mind,
the lifeless one and cries, "I regret it, I regret having followed!
but this I did not fear, nor was it worth so much to me to conquer.
we two have ruined you, poor wretch: a wound from the serpent,

780

a me causa data est! ego sim sceleratior illo,
ni tibi morte mea mortis solacia mittam."
dixit et e scopulo, quem rauca subederat unda,
se dedit in pontum. Tethys miserata cadentem
molliter excepit nantemque per aequora pennis

"by me the cause was given! let me be more wicked than he,
unless by my death I send you solace for death."
he spoke and from a crag, which the hoarse wave had undercut,
he gave himself to the deep. Tethys, pitying the falling one,
softly received him and, swimming through the waters with wings

785

texit, et optatae non est data copia mortis.
indignatur amans, invitum vivere cogi
obstarique animae misera de sede volenti
exire, utque novas umeris adsumpserat alas,
subvolat atque iterum corpus super aequora mittit.

she covered him, and the opportunity of the desired death was not granted.
the lover is indignant, that he is compelled, unwilling, to live,
and that a barrier is set to the soul, wishing to go out from its wretched seat,
and as he had assumed new wings upon his shoulders,
he flies up a little and again sends his body over the level waters.

790

pluma levat casus: furit Aesacos inque profundum
pronus abit letique viam sine fine retemptat.
fecit amor maciem: longa internodia crurum,
longa manet cervix, caput est a corpore longe;
aequora amat nomenque tenet, quia mergitur illo.'

plumage lightens his falls: Aesacus rages and, headlong, goes into the deep and re-attempts without end the way of death.
Love wrought emaciation: long are the leg-segments,
long remains the neck, the head is far from the body;
he loves the seas and keeps the name, because he is merged in it.'