Ovid: METAMORPHOSES

At non Alcithoe Minyeias orgia censet
accipienda dei, sed adhuc temeraria Bacchum
progeniem negat esse Iovis sociasque sorores
inpietatis habet. festum celebrare sacerdos
inmunesque operum famulas dominasque suorum

But Alcithoe, a Minyeian, does not deem the orgies of the god to be received,
but still, in rashness, denies that Bacchus is the progeny of Jove, and she holds her sisters
as comrades in impiety. The priest bids the festival be celebrated,
and that the maidservants and the mistresses of their households be immune from labors

pectora pelle tegi, crinales solvere vittas,
serta coma, manibus frondentis sumere thyrsos
iusserat et saevam laesi fore numinis iram
vaticinatus erat: parent matresque nurusque
telasque calathosque infectaque pensa reponunt

he had ordered that breasts be covered with a pelt, that crinal fillets be loosened,
garlands for the hair, and in their hands to take leafy thyrsi,
and he had prophesied that the savage wrath of the offended numen
would be: mothers and daughters-in-law obey,
and they put away the looms and the baskets and the unspun wool.

turaque dant Bacchumque vocant Bromiumque Lyaeumque
ignigenamque satumque iterum solumque bimatrem;
additur his Nyseus indetonsusque Thyoneus
et cum Lenaeo genialis consitor uvae
Nycteliusque Eleleusque parens et Iacchus et Euhan,

and they give incense and call on Bacchus and Bromius and Lyaeus,
the fire-born and the twice-sown and the only two-mothered;
to these is added Nyseus and the unshorn Thyoneus
and, with Lenaeus, the genial planter of the grape,
and Nyctelius and the Eleleus-sire, and Iacchus and Euhan,

et quae praeterea per Graias plurima gentes
nomina, Liber, habes. tibi enim inconsumpta iuventa est,
tu puer aeternus, tu formosissimus alto
conspiceris caelo; tibi, cum sine cornibus adstas,
virgineum caput est; Oriens tibi victus, adusque

and what besides, through the very many Graian peoples,
names, Liber, you have. For to you youth is unconsumed,
you are the eternal boy, you, most beautiful, are beheld in the high
heaven; for you, when you stand without horns,
the head is maidenly; the Orient is vanquished for you, even up to

decolor extremo qua tinguitur India Gange.
Penthea tu, venerande, bipenniferumque Lycurgum
sacrilegos mactas, Tyrrhenaque mittis in aequor
corpora, tu biiugum pictis insignia frenis
colla premis lyncum. bacchae satyrique sequuntur,

the swarthy India where it is dyed at the farthest Ganges.
Pentheus you, venerable one, and double-axe-bearing Lycurgus
you slay, and you send bodies into the Tyrrhenian sea,
you press the twin-yoked necks of lynxes, adorned with painted reins.
Bacchae and satyrs follow,

quique senex ferula titubantis ebrius artus
sustinet et pando non fortiter haeret asello.
quacumque ingrederis, clamor iuvenalis et una
femineae voces inpulsaque tympana palmis
concavaque aera sonant longoque foramine buxus.

and the old man, drunken, supports his tottering limbs with a ferula,
and he does not cling stoutly to a bowed little ass.
wherever you go, a youthful clamor and together
women’s voices, and tympana smitten by palms,
and hollow bronzes resound, and boxwood with a long bore.

'Placatus mitisque' rogant Ismenides 'adsis,'
iussaque sacra colunt; solae Minyeides intus
intempestiva turbantes festa Minerva
aut ducunt lanas aut stamina pollice versant
aut haerent telae famulasque laboribus urguent.

'“Be appeased and mild,” the Ismenides beg, “be present,”'
and they observe the commanded sacred rites; the Minyeids alone, indoors,
disturbing the festival with unseasonable Minerva,
either draw out their wools or turn the threads with the thumb,
or cling to the loom and press their handmaids to labors.

e quibus una levi deducens pollice filum
'dum cessant aliae commentaque sacra frequentant,
nos quoque, quas Pallas, melior dea, detinet' inquit,
'utile opus manuum vario sermone levemus
perque vices aliquid, quod tempora longa videri

of whom one, drawing down the thread with a light thumb,
'while the others are idle and frequent the contrived sacred rites,
let us also, we whom Pallas, the better goddess, detains,' she says,
'lighten the useful work of our hands with varied discourse,
and by turns something, that may make the long hours seem

non sinat, in medium vacuas referamus ad aures!'
dicta probant primamque iubent narrare sorores.
illa, quid e multis referat (nam plurima norat),
cogitat et dubia est, de te, Babylonia, narret,
Derceti, quam versa squamis velantibus artus

let it not allow the long hours to seem long; let us bring into the midst for empty ears!'
they approve the words and bid the first sister to narrate.
she considers what out of many things she should relate (for she knew very many),
she ponders and is in doubt whether she should tell of you, Babylonian Derceto,
whom, her limbs turned, veiling scales cover

stagna Palaestini credunt motasse figura,
an magis, ut sumptis illius filia pennis
extremos albis in turribus egerit annos,
nais an ut cantu nimiumque potentibus herbis
verterit in tacitos iuvenalia corpora pisces,

they believe that the pools of Palestine her figure moved,
or rather, that her daughter, having taken up that one’s feathers,
spent her last years in white towers,
or that a naiad, by song and by herbs too powerful,
turned youthful bodies into silent fishes,

donec idem passa est, an, quae poma alba ferebat
ut nunc nigra ferat contactu sanguinis arbor:
hoc placet; hanc, quoniam vulgaris fabula non est,
talibus orsa modis lana sua fila sequente:
'Pyramus et Thisbe, iuvenum pulcherrimus alter,

until she too suffered the same, or that the tree which bore white fruits now bears black from the contact of blood:
this pleases; this tale, since it is not a vulgar fable,
she began in such modes, as her wool followed its threads:
'Pyramus and Thisbe, one the most beautiful of the youths,

altera, quas Oriens habuit, praelata puellis,
contiguas tenuere domos, ubi dicitur altam
coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem.
notitiam primosque gradus vicinia fecit,
tempore crevit amor; taedae quoque iure coissent,

the other, preferred above the maidens which the Orient had,
they held adjoining houses, where it is said that Semiramis encircled
the lofty city with baked-brick walls. Nearness made acquaintance
and the first steps; in time love grew; by the right of the torch too they would have come together,

sed vetuere patres: quod non potuere vetare,
ex aequo captis ardebant mentibus ambo.
conscius omnis abest; nutu signisque loquuntur,
quoque magis tegitur, tectus magis aestuat ignis.
fissus erat tenui rima, quam duxerat olim,

but their fathers forbade; what they could not forbid, both burned equally, their minds captured.
every confidant is absent; they speak by nod and by signs,
and the more it is hidden, the more the hidden fire seethes.
it had been fissured by a thin rift, which once it had traced,

cum fieret, paries domui communis utrique.
id vitium nulli per saecula longa notatum -
quid non sentit amor? - primi vidistis amantes
et vocis fecistis iter, tutaeque per illud
murmure blanditiae minimo transire solebant.

when it was being made, a wall common to both houses.
That defect, noted by no one through long ages -
what does Love not perceive? - you lovers first saw
and made a passage for voice, and through it safe
endearments were wont to pass with the slightest murmur.

saepe, ubi constiterant hinc Thisbe, Pyramus illinc,
inque vices fuerat captatus anhelitus oris,
"invide" dicebant "paries, quid amantibus obstas?
quantum erat, ut sineres toto nos corpore iungi
aut, hoc si nimium est, vel ad oscula danda pateres? 75
nec sumus ingrati: tibi nos debere fatemur,
quod datus est verbis ad amicas transitus auris."
talia diversa nequiquam sede locuti
sub noctem dixere "vale" partique dedere
oscula quisque suae non pervenientia contra.

often, when they had stood, here Thisbe, Pyramus there,
and in turns the panting breath of the mouth had been snatched,
“envious wall,” they used to say, “why do you obstruct lovers?
how great a thing was it, that you should allow us to be joined with the whole body,
or, if this is too much, at least you might open for kisses to be given?” 75
nor are we ungrateful: we confess that we owe to you
that a passage has been given for words to friendly ears.”
having spoken such things in vain from their different seat,
toward nightfall they said “farewell” and to their own side each gave
kisses not arriving across to the other.

postera nocturnos Aurora removerat ignes,
solque pruinosas radiis siccaverat herbas:
ad solitum coiere locum. tum murmure parvo
multa prius questi statuunt, ut nocte silenti
fallere custodes foribusque excedere temptent,

The next Aurora had removed the nocturnal fires,
and the sun had dried with his rays the frosty grasses:
they came together at the accustomed place. Then, in a low murmur,
having first lamented many things, they resolve that, in the silent night,
they should try to deceive the custodians and to go out from the doors,

cumque domo exierint, urbis quoque tecta relinquant,
neve sit errandum lato spatiantibus arvo,
conveniant ad busta Nini lateantque sub umbra
arboris: arbor ibi niveis uberrima pomis,
ardua morus, erat, gelido contermina fonti.

and when they have gone out from home, let them also leave the roofs of the city,
nor let there be erring, as they stroll the broad field,
let them meet at the tomb of Ninus and hide beneath the shadow
of a tree: there a tree, most abundant with snowy-white fruits,
a lofty mulberry, stood, conterminous with a gelid fount.

pacta placent; et lux, tarde discedere visa,
praecipitatur aquis, et aquis nox exit ab isdem.
'Callida per tenebras versato cardine Thisbe
egreditur fallitque suos adopertaque vultum
pervenit ad tumulum dictaque sub arbore sedit.

The pacts are pleasing; and light, seen to depart slowly,
is headlong precipitated into the waters, and from the same waters night goes forth.
'Clever Thisbe, through the shadows, with the door-hinge turned,
goes out and deceives her own, and, having veiled her face,
comes to the tomb and sits beneath the designated tree.

audacem faciebat amor. venit ecce recenti
caede leaena boum spumantis oblita rictus
depositura sitim vicini fontis in unda;
quam procul ad lunae radios Babylonia Thisbe
vidit et obscurum timido pede fugit in antrum,

Love made her audacious. Behold, a lioness, her jaws smeared with foam from the recent slaughter of cattle, came to slake her thirst in the water of the neighboring spring; which, from afar in the rays of the moon, Babylonian Thisbe saw and, with timid foot, fled into a dark cavern,

100

dumque fugit, tergo velamina lapsa reliquit.
ut lea saeva sitim multa conpescuit unda,
dum redit in silvas, inventos forte sine ipsa
ore cruentato tenues laniavit amictus.
serius egressus vestigia vidit in alto

and while she fled, she left behind her veils, slipped from her back.
when the savage lioness quenched her thirst with much water,
as she returned to the woods, the garments, found by chance without her,
with blood-stained mouth she lacerated the thin cloaks.
having gone out later, he saw the tracks in the deep

105

pulvere certa ferae totoque expalluit ore
Pyramus; ut vero vestem quoque sanguine tinctam
repperit, "una duos" inquit "nox perdet amantes,
e quibus illa fuit longa dignissima vita;
nostra nocens anima est. ego te, miseranda, peremi,

at the sure tracks of the beast in the dust Pyramus grew pale in his whole face;
but when indeed he also found the garment tinct with blood,
he said, "one night will destroy two lovers,
of whom she was most worthy of a long life;
our soul is guilty. I, pitiable one, have slain you,

110

in loca plena metus qui iussi nocte venires
nec prior huc veni. nostrum divellite corpus
et scelerata fero consumite viscera morsu,
o quicumque sub hac habitatis rupe leones!
sed timidi est optare necem." velamina Thisbes

into places full of fear, you whom I ordered to come by night,
nor did I come here first. tear our body apart
and consume our accursed viscera with a savage bite,
o you lions, whoever dwell beneath this crag!
but to wish for death is the mark of the timid." Thisbe’s veils

115

tollit et ad pactae secum fert arboris umbram,
utque dedit notae lacrimas, dedit oscula vesti,
"accipe nunc" inquit "nostri quoque sanguinis haustus!"
quoque erat accinctus, demisit in ilia ferrum,
nec mora, ferventi moriens e vulnere traxit.

he lifts it and carries it with him to the shade of the appointed tree,
and as he gave tears to the familiar garment, he gave kisses to the garment,
“receive now,” he says, “draughts of our blood as well!”
and the iron with which he was girded, he sent down into his vitals,
and, without delay, dying, he drew it from the fervent wound.

120

ut iacuit resupinus humo, cruor emicat alte,
non aliter quam cum vitiato fistula plumbo
scinditur et tenui stridente foramine longas
eiaculatur aquas atque ictibus aera rumpit.
arborei fetus adspergine caedis in atram

as he lay supine on the ground, the gore springs out high,
not otherwise than when a pipe, its lead vitiated,
is split and through a thin, hissing foramen long
ejaculates waters and with its strokes rends the air.
the arboreal offspring, by the sprinkling of the slaughter, into black

125

vertuntur faciem, madefactaque sanguine radix
purpureo tinguit pendentia mora colore.
'Ecce metu nondum posito, ne fallat amantem,
illa redit iuvenemque oculis animoque requirit,
quantaque vitarit narrare pericula gestit;

they are turned in aspect, and the root, soaked with blood, dyes the hanging mulberries with purple color.
'Behold, with fear not yet set aside, lest she should fail her lover,
she returns and seeks the youth with eyes and mind,
and she is eager to narrate how great perils she has avoided;

130

utque locum et visa cognoscit in arbore formam,
sic facit incertam pomi color: haeret, an haec sit.
dum dubitat, tremebunda videt pulsare cruentum
membra solum, retroque pedem tulit, oraque buxo
pallidiora gerens exhorruit aequoris instar,

and as she recognizes the place and the form in the tree she had seen,
so the color of the fruit makes her uncertain: she hesitates, whether this be it.
while she wavers, she sees the tremulous limbs beat the bloodied
ground, and she drew her foot back, and, bearing a face paler than boxwood,
she shuddered in the likeness of the level sea,

135

quod tremit, exigua cum summum stringitur aura.
sed postquam remorata suos cognovit amores,
percutit indignos claro plangore lacertos
et laniata comas amplexaque corpus amatum
vulnera supplevit lacrimis fletumque cruori

which trembles, when its surface is grazed by a slight breeze.
but after, having delayed, she recognized her own love,
she strikes her unworthy upper arms with loud lamentation
and, her hair torn, and having embraced the beloved body,
she filled the wounds with tears and mingled weeping with the blood

140

miscuit et gelidis in vultibus oscula figens
"Pyrame," clamavit, "quis te mihi casus ademit?
Pyrame, responde! tua te carissima Thisbe
nominat; exaudi vultusque attolle iacentes!"
ad nomen Thisbes oculos a morte gravatos

and she mingled them, and, fixing kisses upon his gelid features,
"Pyramus," she cried, "what chance has taken you from me?
Pyramus, respond! your most dear Thisbe
calls you by name; hear me, and lift up your drooping features!"
at the name of Thisbe he raised his eyes, weighed down by death

145

Pyramus erexit visaque recondidit illa.
'Quae postquam vestemque suam cognovit et ense
vidit ebur vacuum, "tua te manus" inquit "amorque
perdidit, infelix! est et mihi fortis in unum
hoc manus, est et amor: dabit hic in vulnera vires.

Pyramus raised them, and she, having seen, hid herself.
'She, after she recognized her own garment and saw the ivory scabbard empty of the sword,
said, "Your hand," she said, "and your love have destroyed you, unlucky one! I too have a hand strong for this one
thing, and I have love as well: this will give strength for wounds.

150

persequar extinctum letique miserrima dicar
causa comesque tui: quique a me morte revelli
heu sola poteras, poteris nec morte revelli.
hoc tamen amborum verbis estote rogati,
o multum miseri meus illiusque parentes,

I will pursue you, extinguished, and I shall be called the most wretched cause and companion of your death; and you who by me could, alas, be torn away only by death, you will not be torn away even by death.
yet by the words of us both be you thus entreated,
O much-wretched parents, mine and his,

155

ut, quos certus amor, quos hora novissima iunxit,
conponi tumulo non invideatis eodem;
at tu quae ramis arbor miserabile corpus
nunc tegis unius, mox es tectura duorum,
signa tene caedis pullosque et luctibus aptos

that you not begrudge those whom steadfast love, whom the final hour joined,
to be laid in the same tomb; but you, tree, who with your branches now cover the pitiable body
of one, soon are to cover that of two,
keep the marks of the slaughter and your berries dark and apt to mourning

160

semper habe fetus, gemini monimenta cruoris."
dixit et aptato pectus mucrone sub imum
incubuit ferro, quod adhuc a caede tepebat.
vota tamen tetigere deos, tetigere parentes;
nam color in pomo est, ubi permaturuit, ater,

"always have fruit, monuments of the twin blood."
she said, and with the point fitted beneath her lowest breast
she leaned upon the iron, which still was warm from the slaughter.
yet the vows reached the gods, reached the parents;
for the color in the fruit, when it has fully ripened, is black,

165

quodque rogis superest, una requiescit in urna.'
Desierat: mediumque fuit breve tempus, et orsa est
dicere Leuconoe: vocem tenuere sorores.
'hunc quoque, siderea qui temperat omnia luce,
cepit amor Solem: Solis referemus amores.

and what remains from the pyres rests together in a single urn.'
She had ceased: and between there was a brief interval, and Leuconoe began
to speak: the sisters held their voice.
'This one also, who tempers all things with sidereal light,
love seized—the Sun: we shall recount the loves of Sol.'

170

primus adulterium Veneris cum Marte putatur
hic vidisse deus; videt hic deus omnia primus.
indoluit facto Iunonigenaeque marito
furta tori furtique locum monstravit, at illi
et mens et quod opus fabrilis dextra tenebat

he is thought to have been the first to see the adultery of Venus with Mars;
this god sees all things first. He grieved at the deed and to the Juno-born husband
he showed the thefts of the bed and the place of the theft, but for him
both his mind and the work which his fabrile right hand was holding

175

excidit: extemplo graciles ex aere catenas
retiaque et laqueos, quae lumina fallere possent,
elimat. non illud opus tenuissima vincant
stamina, non summo quae pendet aranea tigno;
utque levis tactus momentaque parva sequantur,

it fell out: at once he files slender chains from bronze,
and nets and snares, which could deceive the eyes,
he polishes. Not even the thinnest threads would surpass that work,
nor the spider which hangs from the highest beam;
and so that light touches and small movements might be followed,

180

efficit et lecto circumdata collocat arte.
ut venere torum coniunx et adulter in unum,
arte viri vinclisque nova ratione paratis
in mediis ambo deprensi amplexibus haerent.
Lemnius extemplo valvas patefecit eburnas

he brings it about and sets it up, the bed encircled by craft.
when the wife and the adulterer came together to one couch,
with the man's art and with bonds prepared by a new contrivance
both, caught in the midst of their embraces, cling fast.
the Lemnian straightway threw open the ivory doors

185

inmisitque deos; illi iacuere ligati
turpiter, atque aliquis de dis non tristibus optat
sic fieri turpis; superi risere, diuque
haec fuit in toto notissima fabula caelo.
'Exigit indicii memorem Cythereia poenam 190
inque vices illum, tectos qui laesit amores,
laedit amore pari. quid nunc, Hyperione nate,
forma colorque tibi radiataque lumina prosunt?
nempe, tuis omnes qui terras ignibus uris,
ureris igne novo; quique omnia cernere debes,

and he let in the gods; they lay bound disgracefully,
and one of the gods, not downcast, even wishes thus to be made disgraceful;
the celestials laughed, and for a long time this was the most well-known fable in all heaven.
'The Cytherean exacts a punishment mindful of the informing, 190
and in turn with equal love she wounds him who harmed her hidden loves.
What now, son of Hyperion, do beauty and complexion and your radiate lights avail you?
Surely you, who with your fires burn all the lands,
are burned with a new fire; and you, who ought to discern all things,

195

Leucothoen spectas et virgine figis in una,
quos mundo debes, oculos. modo surgis Eoo
temperius caelo, modo serius incidis undis,
spectandique mora brumalis porrigis horas;
deficis interdum, vitiumque in lumina mentis

You gaze at Leucothoe and fix upon a single maiden
the eyes which you owe to the world. Now you rise earlier in the Eoan
sky, now you fall later into the waves,
and by a delay of being looked at you stretch out the wintry hours;
you sometimes fail, and a defect is upon the lights of your mind

200

transit et obscurus mortalia pectora terres.
nec tibi quod lunae terris propioris imago
obstiterit, palles: facit hunc amor iste colorem.
diligis hanc unam, nec te Clymeneque Rhodosque
nec tenet Aeaeae genetrix pulcherrima Circes

you pass across and, dark, you terrify mortal hearts.
nor do you grow pale because the image of the Moon, nearer to the earth,
has stood in the way; that love makes this color.
you love this one alone, and neither Clymene nor Rhodos
nor does the most beautiful mother of Aeaean Circe hold you

205

quaeque tuos Clytie quamvis despecta petebat
concubitus ipsoque illo grave vulnus habebat
tempore: Leucothoe multarum oblivia fecit,
gentis odoriferae quam formosissima partu
edidit Eurynome; sed postquam filia crevit,

and Clytie too, although despised, was seeking your embraces,
and at that very time she was bearing a grave wound:
Leucothoe made oblivion of many,
whom the most beautiful Eurynome of the odoriferous race brought forth in childbirth;
but after the daughter grew,

210

quam mater cunctas, tam matrem filia vicit.
rexit Achaemenias urbes pater Orchamus isque
septimus a prisco numeratur origine Belo.
'Axe sub Hesperio sunt pascua Solis equorum:
ambrosiam pro gramine habent; ea fessa diurnis

as much as the mother outdid all, so the daughter outdid the mother.
her father Orchamus ruled the Achaemenian cities, and he
is counted seventh from ancient Belus in origin.
'Beneath the Hesperian axis are the pastures of the Sun’s horses:
they have ambrosia in place of grass; by it, weary from the diurnal

215

membra ministeriis nutrit reparatque labori.
dumque ibi quadrupedes caelestia pabula carpunt
noxque vicem peragit, thalamos deus intrat amatos,
versus in Eurynomes faciem genetricis, et inter
bis sex Leucothoen famulas ad lumina cernit

it nourishes the limbs wearied by ministries and repairs them for labor.
and while there the quadrupeds crop celestial pabulum,
and Night performs her turn, the god enters the beloved chambers,
having been turned into the face of Eurynome, the mother, and among
twice six handmaids he discerns Leucothoe by the lights

220

levia versato ducentem stamina fuso.
ergo ubi ceu mater carae dedit oscula natae,
"res" ait "arcana est: famulae, discedite neve
eripite arbitrium matri secreta loquendi."
paruerant, thalamoque deus sine teste relicto

drawing light threads as the spindle was turned.
therefore when, as a mother, he gave kisses to his dear daughter,
“the matter is arcane,” he says; “handmaids, withdraw, and do not
snatch from a mother the discretion of speaking secrets.”
they obeyed, and with the bedchamber left to the god without a witness

225

"ille ego sum" dixit, "qui longum metior annum,
omnia qui video, per quem videt omnia tellus,
mundi oculus: mihi, crede, places." pavet illa, metuque
et colus et fusus digitis cecidere remissis.
ipse timor decuit. nec longius ille moratus

"I am that one," he said, "who measures the long year,
who sees all things, through whom the earth sees all things,
the eye of the world: believe me, you please me." She grows pale, and with fear
both distaff and spindle fell from her slackened fingers.
the fear itself was becoming. Nor did he linger longer

230

in veram rediit speciem solitumque nitorem;
at virgo quamvis inopino territa visu
victa nitore dei posita vim passa querella est.
'Invidit Clytie (neque enim moderatus in illa
Solis amor fuerat) stimulataque paelicis ira

he returned into his true appearance and his accustomed brilliance;
but the maiden, although terrified by the unforeseen vision,
conquered by the god’s brilliance, with complaint set aside, suffered the force.
‘Clytie envied (for indeed the Sun’s love had not been moderate in her), and, stimulated by the concubine’s ire

235

vulgat adulterium diffamatamque parenti
indicat. ille ferox inmansuetusque precantem
tendentemque manus ad lumina Solis et "ille
vim tulit invitae" dicentem defodit alta
crudus humo tumulumque super gravis addit harenae.

she makes public the adultery and indicates to the father the defamed one
he, fierce and untamed, as she prayed and stretched her hands toward the lights of the Sun and said "he forced me, unwilling,"
buries her deep in the cruel earth and above adds a heavy mound of sand.

240

dissipat hunc radiis Hyperione natus iterque
dat tibi, qua possis defossos promere vultus;
nec tu iam poteras enectum pondere terrae
tollere, nympha, caput corpusque exsangue iacebas:
nil illo fertur volucrum moderator equorum 245
post Phaethonteos vidisse dolentius ignes.
ille quidem gelidos radiorum viribus artus
si queat in vivum temptat revocare calorem;
sed quoniam tantis fatum conatibus obstat,
nectare odorato sparsit corpusque locumque

dissipates this with his rays does the son of Hyperion, and a path
he gives to you, by which you can bring forth the buried features;
nor now could you, nymph, lift your head, worn out by the weight of the earth,
and you were lying with your body bloodless:
it is reported that the moderator of the winged horses saw nothing more grievous 245
after the Phaethontean fires.
He indeed tries, by the strength of his rays, if he might, to recall
the icy limbs into living warmth; but since Fate opposes
such great attempts, with fragrant nectar he sprinkled both the body
and the place.

250

multaque praequestus "tanges tamen aethera" dixit.
protinus inbutum caelesti nectare corpus
delicuit terramque suo madefecit odore,
virgaque per glaebas sensim radicibus actis
turea surrexit tumulumque cacumine rupit.

and having much pre-prayed, he said, "you will nonetheless touch the aether."
forthwith the body imbued with celestial nectar liquefied and moistened the earth with its own odor,
and a shoot, with roots driven little by little through the clods, rose frankincense-bearing and broke the mound with its tip.

255

'At Clytien, quamvis amor excusare dolorem
indiciumque dolor poterat, non amplius auctor
lucis adit Venerisque modum sibi fecit in illa.
tabuit ex illo dementer amoribus usa;
nympharum inpatiens et sub Iove nocte dieque

'But Clytie, although love could excuse her grief
and grief could be an evidence, no longer approaches the author
of light, and she made for herself a limit of Venus in that matter.
from that time she wasted away, having madly indulged in loves;
impatient of the nymphs and under Jove by night and by day

260

sedit humo nuda nudis incompta capillis,
perque novem luces expers undaeque cibique
rore mero lacrimisque suis ieiunia pavit
nec se movit humo; tantum spectabat euntis
ora dei vultusque suos flectebat ad illum.

she sat on bare ground, bare, with hair unadorned,
and through nine lights, devoid of water and of food,
with pure dew and with her own tears she fed her fasts,
nor did she move herself from the ground; only she gazed at the
face of the god as he went, and turned her own visage toward him.

265

membra ferunt haesisse solo, partemque coloris
luridus exsangues pallor convertit in herbas;
est in parte rubor violaeque simillimus ora
flos tegit. illa suum, quamvis radice tenetur,
vertitur ad Solem mutataque servat amorem.'

they report that her limbs stuck to the soil, and a lurid bloodless pallor turned part of her color into herbs;
in part there is a rubor, and a flower very similar to the violet covers her face.
She, although held by a root,
turns toward the Sun and, changed, preserves her love.'

270

dixerat, et factum mirabile ceperat auris;
pars fieri potuisse negant, pars omnia veros
posse deos memorant: sed non est Bacchus in illis.
Poscitur Alcithoe, postquam siluere sorores.
quae radio stantis percurrens stamina telae

She had spoken, and the marvelous deed had caught their ears;
some deny that it could have happened, others declare that true
gods can do all things: but Bacchus is not among them.
Alcithoe is called upon, after her sisters fell silent.
who, running the shuttle through the threads of the standing loom

275

'vulgatos taceo' dixit 'pastoris amores
Daphnidis Idaei, quem nymphe paelicis ira
contulit in saxum: tantus dolor urit amantes;
nec loquor, ut quondam naturae iure novato
ambiguus fuerit modo vir, modo femina Sithon.

'I pass over,' she said, 'the publicized loves of the shepherd
Idaean Daphnis, whom a nymph, in a paramour’s anger,
transformed into rock: so great a grief burns lovers;
nor do I speak of how once, with the law of nature renewed,
Sithon was ambiguous, now a man, now a woman.

280

te quoque, nunc adamas, quondam fidissime parvo,
Celmi, Iovi largoque satos Curetas ab imbri
et Crocon in parvos versum cum Smilace flores
praetereo dulcique animos novitate tenebo.
'Unde sit infamis, quare male fortibus undis

you too, now adamant, once most faithful to the little one, Celmis; the Curetes, begotten for Jove and by the lavish rain; and Crocus turned into small flowers along with Smilax I pass by, and I will hold minds with sweet novelty.
'Whence it is infamous, why its waves are bad for the strong

285

Salmacis enervet tactosque remolliat artus,
discite. causa latet, vis est notissima fontis.
Mercurio puerum diva Cythereide natum
naides Idaeis enutrivere sub antris,
cuius erat facies, in qua materque paterque

Learn how Salmacis enervates and remollifies the limbs she has touched.
The cause lies hidden; the force of the fountain is most notorious.
The boy born from Mercury and the Cythereian goddess
the Naiads nurtured beneath the Idaean caverns,
whose face was such that in it both mother and father

290

cognosci possent; nomen quoque traxit ab illis.
is tria cum primum fecit quinquennia, montes
deseruit patrios Idaque altrice relicta
ignotis errare locis, ignota videre
flumina gaudebat, studio minuente laborem.

could be recognized; he also drew his name from them.
When first he completed three five-year periods, he
left his native mountains, and with Ida the nurse left behind,
he rejoiced to wander in unknown places, to see unknown
rivers, with zeal lessening the labor.

295

ille etiam Lycias urbes Lyciaeque propinquos
Caras adit: videt hic stagnum lucentis ad imum
usque solum lymphae; non illic canna palustris
nec steriles ulvae nec acuta cuspide iunci;
perspicuus liquor est; stagni tamen ultima vivo

he also approaches the Lycian cities and the neighboring Carians:
here he sees a pool of water, its water shining down to the very bottommost ground;
there is not there a marsh cane
nor barren sedges nor rushes with a sharp cusp;
the liquid is perspicuous; yet the farthest parts of the pool with living

300

caespite cinguntur semperque virentibus herbis.
nympha colit, sed nec venatibus apta nec arcus
flectere quae soleat nec quae contendere cursu,
solaque naiadum celeri non nota Dianae.
saepe suas illi fama est dixisse sorores

they are ringed with living sod and always with green grasses.
a nymph inhabits it, but neither apt for hunting nor bows
to bend is she wont, nor to contend in running,
and the only one of the Naiads not known to swift Diana.
it is the rumor that her sisters often said to her

305

"Salmaci, vel iaculum vel pictas sume pharetras
et tua cum duris venatibus otia misce!"
nec iaculum sumit nec pictas illa pharetras,
nec sua cum duris venatibus otia miscet,
sed modo fonte suo formosos perluit artus,

"Salmacis, either take up the javelin or the painted quivers,
and mingle your leisure with the hard hunts!"
she takes up neither the javelin nor the painted quivers,
nor does she mingle her leisure with the hard hunts,
but only in her own spring she bathes her beautiful limbs,

310

saepe Cytoriaco deducit pectine crines
et, quid se deceat, spectatas consulit undas;
nunc perlucenti circumdata corpus amictu
mollibus aut foliis aut mollibus incubat herbis,
saepe legit flores. et tum quoque forte legebat,

often she draws down her hair with a Cytorian comb
and, what befits her, she consults the well-beheld waters;
now, her body encompassed with a perlucent garment,
she reclines either on soft leaves or on soft grasses,
often she gathers flowers. and then too by chance she was gathering,

315

cum puerum vidit visumque optavit habere.
'Nec tamen ante adiit, etsi properabat adire,
quam se conposuit, quam circumspexit amictus
et finxit vultum et meruit formosa videri.
tunc sic orsa loqui: "puer o dignissime credi

when she saw the boy and desired to possess what she had seen.
'Nor yet did she approach, although she was hastening to approach,
before she composed herself, before she looked over her garments,
and fashioned her face and merited to seem beautiful.
then thus she began to speak: "boy, O most worthy to be believed

320

esse deus, seu tu deus es, potes esse Cupido,
sive es mortalis, qui te genuere, beati,
et frater felix, et fortunata profecto,
si qua tibi soror est, et quae dedit ubera nutrix;
sed longe cunctis longeque beatior illa,

to be a god—if you are a god, you can be Cupid—
or if you are mortal, blessed are they who begot you,
and a happy brother, and fortunate indeed,
if you have any sister, and the nurse who gave you her breasts;
but far beyond all, and far more blessed is she,

325

si qua tibi sponsa est, si quam dignabere taeda.
haec tibi sive aliqua est, mea sit furtiva voluptas,
seu nulla est, ego sim, thalamumque ineamus eundem."
nais ab his tacuit. pueri rubor ora notavit;
nescit, enim, quid amor; sed et erubuisse decebat:

if you have any bride, if there is any you will deign to honor with the torch.
whether this one is yours, or some other, let my pleasure be furtive,
or if there is none, let it be me, and let us enter the same bridal chamber."
the naiad was silent at these things. A boy’s blush marked her cheeks;
for she does not know what love is; yet even to have blushed was becoming:

330

hic color aprica pendentibus arbore pomis
aut ebori tincto est aut sub candore rubenti,
cum frustra resonant aera auxiliaria, lunae.
poscenti nymphae sine fine sororia saltem
oscula iamque manus ad eburnea colla ferenti

this color is that of sun-warmed apples hanging from the tree,
or of tinctured ivory, or beneath a reddening candor,
when in vain the auxiliary bronzes of the moon resound.
to the nymph demanding without end at least sororial
kisses, and now bringing her hands to the ivory neck

335

"desinis, an fugio tecumque" ait "ista relinquo?"
Salmacis extimuit "loca" que "haec tibi libera trado,
hospes" ait simulatque gradu discedere verso,
tum quoque respiciens, fruticumque recondita silva
delituit flexuque genu submisit; at ille,

"Do you stop, or shall I flee and leave these things with you?" he said.
Salmacis was alarmed and said, "these places I hand over to you free,
guest," and at once, with her step turned, she pretends to depart,
then too looking back, and hidden by a thicket of shrubs
she concealed herself and with a flex she lowered her knee; but he,

340

scilicet ut vacuis et inobservatus in herbis,
huc it et hinc illuc et in adludentibus undis
summa pedum taloque tenus vestigia tinguit;
nec mora, temperie blandarum captus aquarum
mollia de tenero velamina corpore ponit.

naturally, so that, unobserved in the vacant grasses,
he goes here and from here there, and in the playfully-sporting waves
he wets the tops of his feet and, to the ankle, his steps;
no delay: captured by the temperateness of the blandishing waters
he puts off the soft veils from his tender body.

345

tum vero placuit, nudaeque cupidine formae
Salmacis exarsit; flagrant quoque lumina nymphae,
non aliter quam cum puro nitidissimus orbe
opposita speculi referitur imagine Phoebus;
vixque moram patitur, vix iam sua gaudia differt,

then indeed he pleased, and with desire for the naked form
Salmacis blazed; the eyes of the nymph too are aflame,
not otherwise than when, in a pure orb, most shining Phoebus
is reflected by the opposed image of a mirror;
and she scarcely suffers delay, scarcely now defers her joys,

350

iam cupit amplecti, iam se male continet amens.
ille cavis velox adplauso corpore palmis
desilit in latices alternaque bracchia ducens
in liquidis translucet aquis, ut eburnea si quis
signa tegat claro vel candida lilia vitro.

now she longs to embrace, now, out of her mind, she can scarcely contain herself.
he, swift, with hollow palms slapping against his body,
leaps down into the waters and, drawing his arms in alternation,
is translucent in the liquid waters, as if someone were to cover ivory
statues or white lilies with clear glass.

355

"vicimus et meus est" exclamat nais, et omni
veste procul iacta mediis inmittitur undis,
pugnantemque tenet, luctantiaque oscula carpit,
subiectatque manus, invitaque pectora tangit,
et nunc hac iuveni, nunc circumfunditur illac;

"We have won, and he is mine," exclaims the naiad, and with all
her clothing thrown far away she hurls herself into the midst of the waters,
and she holds him as he fights, and snatches struggling kisses,
and she thrusts her hands beneath, and touches his unwilling chest,
and now on this side of the youth, now she pours herself around on that;

360

denique nitentem contra elabique volentem
inplicat ut serpens, quam regia sustinet ales
sublimemque rapit: pendens caput illa pedesque
adligat et cauda spatiantes inplicat alas;
utve solent hederae longos intexere truncos,

at last, as he strains against and wants to slip away,
she entwines him like a serpent, which the royal bird
holds and snatches aloft: hanging, it binds his head and feet
and with its tail entwines the outspread wings;
or as ivies are accustomed to weave long trunks,

365

utque sub aequoribus deprensum polypus hostem
continet ex omni dimissis parte flagellis.
perstat Atlantiades sperataque gaudia nymphae
denegat; illa premit commissaque corpore toto
sicut inhaerebat, "pugnes licet, inprobe," dixit,

and just as beneath the waters a polypus holds a seized foe,
having sent out its feelers from every part.
the Atlantid persists and denies the nymph her hoped-for joys;
she presses him and, having committed herself with her whole body,
just as she was clinging, said, "struggle as you will, shameless one,"

370

"non tamen effugies. ita, di, iubeatis, et istum
nulla dies a me nec me deducat ab isto."
vota suos habuere deos; nam mixta duorum
corpora iunguntur, faciesque inducitur illis
una. velut, si quis conducat cortice ramos,

"You will not escape, however. So, gods, may you command, and let no day
lead him away from me, nor me be led away from him."
Her vows had their own gods; for the mixed bodies of the two
are joined, and a single face is induced upon them, one.
Just as, if someone should draw together branches with bark,

375

crescendo iungi pariterque adolescere cernit,
sic ubi conplexu coierunt membra tenaci,
nec duo sunt et forma duplex, nec femina dici
nec puer ut possit, neutrumque et utrumque videntur.
'Ergo ubi se liquidas, quo vir descenderat, undas

he sees them to be joined by growth and to grow up together,
thus, when their limbs have come together in a tenacious embrace,
they are not two and the form is double; nor can it be called
woman nor boy, so as to be able; they seem both neither and both.
'Therefore, when into the liquid waves, where the man had descended,

380

semimarem fecisse videt mollitaque in illis
membra, manus tendens, sed iam non voce virili
Hermaphroditus ait: "nato date munera vestro,
et pater et genetrix, amborum nomen habenti:
quisquis in hos fontes vir venerit, exeat inde

he sees himself made half-male and his limbs softened in those parts,
stretching out his hands, but now not with a manly voice
Hermaphroditus says: "Give gifts to your son,
both father and Genetrix, to one having the name of both:
whoever as a man shall come into these fountains, let him go out from there

385

semivir et tactis subito mollescat in undis!"
motus uterque parens nati rata verba biformis
fecit et incesto fontem medicamine tinxit.'
Finis erat dictis, et adhuc Minyeia proles
urguet opus spernitque deum festumque profanat,

"a half-man, and let him suddenly grow soft in the waters he has touched!"
both parents, moved, ratified the words of their bi-formed son
and with an unchaste medicament tinged the spring.'
There was an end to the words, and still the Minyeian progeny
presses on the work and spurns the god and profanes the feast,

390

tympana cum subito non adparentia raucis
obstrepuere sonis, et adunco tibia cornu
tinnulaque aera sonant; redolent murraeque crocique,
resque fide maior, coepere virescere telae
inque hederae faciem pendens frondescere vestis;

when suddenly drums, not appearing, clamored with hoarse sounds,
and a reed-pipe with a hooked horn, and tinkling bronzes, resound;
they are redolent of myrrh and saffron, and a thing greater than belief—
the webs began to grow green, and into the likeness of ivy
the hanging garment began to leaf out;

395

pars abit in vites, et quae modo fila fuerunt,
palmite mutantur; de stamine pampinus exit;
purpura fulgorem pictis adcommodat uvis.
iamque dies exactus erat, tempusque subibat,
quod tu nec tenebras nec possis dicere lucem,

part passes into vines, and what just now were threads are changed into a vine-shoot; from the warp a vine-leaf comes forth; purple lends a gleam to the painted grapes. And now the day had been spent, and the time was drawing on, which you could neither call darkness nor light,

400

sed cum luce tamen dubiae confinia noctis:
tecta repente quati pinguesque ardere videntur
lampades et rutilis conlucere ignibus aedes
falsaque saevarum simulacra ululare ferarum,
fumida iamdudum latitant per tecta sorores

but yet, with light, the confines of doubtful night:
the roofs suddenly are shaken, and the rich lamps seem to burn,
and the halls to shine with ruddy fires, and false simulacra of savage beasts to ululate;
smoky, already for a long time, the sisters skulk through the house

405

diversaeque locis ignes ac lumina vitant,
dumque petunt tenebras, parvos membrana per artus
porrigitur tenuique includit bracchia pinna;
nec qua perdiderint veterem ratione figuram,
scire sinunt tenebrae: non illas pluma levavit,

and, scattered in different places, they shun fires and lights,
and while they seek the darkness, a membrane is stretched over their small limbs
and encloses their arms with a slender pinion;
nor by what method they lost their former figure
do the shadows allow one to know: not a feather has lifted them,

410

sustinuere tamen se perlucentibus alis
conataeque loqui minimam et pro corpore vocem
emittunt peraguntque levi stridore querellas.
tectaque, non silvas celebrant lucemque perosae
nocte volant seroque tenent a vespere nomen.

nevertheless they sustained themselves with translucent wings
and, attempting to speak, they emit a minimal voice proportioned to the body,
and they carry through their laments with a light screech.
and, hating the light, they frequent roofs, not forests,
by night they fly, and late they keep their name from evening.

415

Tum vero totis Bacchi memorabile Thebis
numen erat, magnasque novi matertera vires
narrat ubique dei de totque sororibus expers
una doloris erat, nisi quem fecere sorores:
adspicit hanc natis thalamoque Athamantis habentem

Then indeed throughout all Thebes of Bacchus the memorable numen was,
and the maternal aunt recounts everywhere the great powers of the new god,
and out of so many sisters she alone was without grief, except such as her sisters made:
she beholds this one as possessing the children and the marriage-bed of Athamas.

420

sublimes animos et alumno numine Iuno
nec tulit et secum: 'potuit de paelice natus
vertere Maeonios pelagoque inmergere nautas
et laceranda suae nati dare viscera matri
et triplices operire novis Minyeidas alis:

Juno did not endure the lofty spirits and the numen for the fosterling,
and to herself: 'Could the son born of a mistress
turn the Maeonian sailors and immerse the seamen in the sea,
and give the viscera of her own son to the mother to be torn,
and cover the three Minyads with new wings:

425

nil poterit Iuno nisi inultos flere dolores?
idque mihi satis est? haec una potentia nostra est?
ipse docet, quid agam (fas est et ab hoste doceri),
quidque furor valeat, Penthea caede satisque
ac super ostendit: cur non stimuletur eatque

Will Juno be able to do nothing except to weep unavenged dolors?
and is that enough for me? is this our only potency?
he himself teaches what I should do (it is right even to be taught by an enemy),
and what fury may avail, he has shown by the slaughter of Pentheus, enough and beyond:
why should she not be stimulated and go

430

per cognata suis exempla furoribus Ino?'
Est via declivis funesta nubila taxo:
ducit ad infernas per muta silentia sedes;
Styx nebulas exhalat iners, umbraeque recentes
descendunt illac simulacraque functa sepulcris:

‘through examples akin to her own frenzies, Ino?’
There is a declivous road, funereal, clouded with yew:
it leads to the infernal seats through mute silences;
the inert Styx exhales mists, and the fresh shades
descend that way, and phantoms done with their sepulchres:

435

pallor hiemsque tenent late loca senta, novique,
qua sit iter, manes, Stygiam quod ducat ad urbem,
ignorant, ubi sit nigri fera regia Ditis.
mille capax aditus et apertas undique portas
urbs habet, utque fretum de tota flumina terra,

pallor and winter hold far and wide the rough places, and the new
Manes do not know where there is a way that would lead to the Stygian city,
where the fierce royal palace of black Dis is.
The city has capacity for a thousand approaches and gates open on every side,
and, as a strait takes in rivers from the whole earth,

440

sic omnes animas locus accipit ille nec ulli
exiguus populo est turbamve accedere sentit.
errant exsangues sine corpore at ossibus umbrae,
parsque forum celebrant, pars imi tecta tyranni,
pars aliquas artes, antiquae imitamina vitae.

thus that place receives all souls, nor for any people
is it exiguous, nor does it sense a throng to approach.
the exsanguine shades wander, without body and bones,
and some celebrate the forum, some the roofs of the lowest tyrant,
some practice certain arts, imitations of the ancient life.

445

Sustinet ire illuc caelesti sede relicta

He dares to go thither, his celestial seat relinquished

447

(tantum odiis iraeque dabat) Saturnia Iuno;
quo simul intravit sacroque a corpore pressum
ingemuit limen, tria Cerberus extulit ora 450
et tres latratus semel edidit; illa sorores
Nocte vocat genitas, grave et inplacabile numen:
carceris ante fores clausas adamante sedebant
deque suis atros pectebant crinibus angues.
quam simul agnorunt inter caliginis umbras,

(so much to hatreds and to wrath did Saturnian Juno grant);
when she entered there, and the threshold, pressed by the sacred body, groaned,
Cerberus raised his three mouths and uttered three barkings at once 450
and she calls the sisters begotten of Night, a grave and implacable numen:
they were sitting before the prison’s doors, closed with adamant, and out of their own hair they were combing black serpents.
whom as soon as they recognized among the shadows of murk,

455

surrexere deae; sedes scelerata vocatur:
viscera praebebat Tityos lanianda novemque
iugeribus distentus erat; tibi, Tantale, nullae
deprenduntur aquae, quaeque inminet, effugit arbor;
aut petis aut urgues rediturum, Sisyphe, saxum;

the goddesses rose; the abode is called the accursed seat:
Tityos was offering his entrails to be torn, and he was stretched over nine acres;
for you, Tantalus, no waters are caught, and the tree that overhangs you flees;
either you seek or you press the stone destined to return, Sisyphus.

460

volvitur Ixion et se sequiturque fugitque,
molirique suis letum patruelibus ausae
adsiduae repetunt, quas perdant, Belides undas.
Quos omnes acie postquam Saturnia torva
vidit et ante omnes Ixiona, rursus ab illo

Ixion is whirled, and both follows himself and flees himself,
and the Belids, who dared to contrive doom for their paternal cousins,
assiduously seek again the waters which they lose.
After the grim Saturnian saw all these with her gaze,
and before all others Ixion, again from him

465

Sisyphon adspiciens 'cur hic e fratribus' inquit
'perpetuas patitur poenas, Athamanta superbum
regia dives habet, qui me cum coniuge semper
sprevit?' et exponit causas odiique viaeque,
quidque velit: quod vellet, erat, ne regia Cadmi

Looking upon Sisyphus she says, 'why does this one from among the brothers
suffer perpetual punishments, while a rich regal palace holds proud Athamas,
who has always spurned me with his consort?' And she sets forth the causes both of her hatred and of her way,
and what she would will: what she willed was, that the regal house of Cadmus

470

staret, et in facinus traherent Athamanta sorores.
imperium, promissa, preces confundit in unum
sollicitatque deas: sic haec Iunone locuta,
Tisiphone canos, ut erat, turbata capillos
movit et obstantes reiecit ab ore colubras

might stand, and that the sisters might drag Athamas into a crime.
she confounds command, promises, and prayers into one
and solicits the goddesses: thus, with Juno having spoken,
Tisiphone, her hoary hair, as it was, disordered,
moved and cast back from her face the obstructing serpents

475

atque ita 'non longis opus est ambagibus,' inquit;
'facta puta, quaecumque iubes; inamabile regnum
desere teque refer caeli melioris ad auras.'
laeta redit Iuno, quam caelum intrare parantem
roratis lustravit aquis Thaumantias Iris.

and thus she said: 'there is no need of long circumlocutions;'
'consider it done, whatever you command; forsake the un-amiable kingdom
and carry yourself back to the airs of a better heaven.'
joyous Juno returns, and as she was preparing to enter heaven
Thaumantian Iris lustrated her with dewy waters.

480

Nec mora, Tisiphone madefactam sanguine sumit
inportuna facem, fluidoque cruore rubentem
induitur pallam, tortoque incingitur angue
egrediturque domo. Luctus comitatur euntem
et Pavor et Terror trepidoque Insania vultu.

Nor delay: Tisiphone takes up the baleful torch, soaked with blood,
and she puts on a mantle reddened with flowing gore,
and she girds herself with a twisted serpent and goes forth from the house.
Grief accompanies her as she goes, and Fear and Terror, and Madness with a trembling face.

485

limine constiterat: postes tremuisse feruntur
Aeolii pallorque fores infecit acernas
solque locum fugit. monstris est territa coniunx,
territus est Athamas, tectoque exire parabant:
obstitit infelix aditumque obsedit Erinys,

she had stood at the threshold: the Aeolian doorposts are reported to have trembled,
and pallor stained the maple-wood doors, and the sun fled the place.
the wife was terrified by the portents, Athamas was terrified, and they were preparing to go out from the roofed house:
the ill-fated Erinys stood in the way and beset the entrance,

490

nexaque vipereis distendens bracchia nodis
caesariem excussit: motae sonuere colubrae,
parsque iacent umeris, pars circum pectora lapsae
sibila dant saniemque vomunt linguisque coruscant.
inde duos mediis abrumpit crinibus angues

and, stretching out her arms bound with viperine knots,
she shook out her hair: the serpents, set in motion, resounded;
and part lie on her shoulders, part, having slipped around her breast,
give hisses and vomit sanies, and with their tongues they coruscate.
then from the midst of her tresses she tears off two serpents

495

pestiferaque manu raptos inmisit, at illi
Inoosque sinus Athamanteosque pererrant
inspirantque graves animas; nec vulnera membris
ulla ferunt: mens est, quae diros sentiat ictus.
attulerat secum liquidi quoque monstra veneni,

and with a pestiferous hand she sent in those seized, but they
wander through the Inoan bosoms and the Athamantean
and inspire grave breaths; nor do they bear any wounds
to the limbs: it is the mind which feels the dire blows.
she had brought with her also monsters of liquid venom,

500

oris Cerberei spumas et virus Echidnae
erroresque vagos caecaeque oblivia mentis
et scelus et lacrimas rabiemque et caedis amorem,
omnia trita simul, quae sanguine mixta recenti
coxerat aere cavo viridi versata cicuta;

the foams of Cerberus’s mouth and the virus of Echidna,
and the wandering errors and the oblivions of a blind mind,
and crime and tears and rabies and the love of slaughter,
all ground together at once, which, mixed with fresh blood,
the hemlock, turned in a green hollow bronze, had cooked;

505

dumque pavent illi, vergit furiale venenum
pectus in amborum praecordiaque intima movit.
tum face iactata per eundem saepius orbem
consequitur motis velociter ignibus ignes.
sic victrix iussique potens ad inania magni

and while those men quake, the furial venom inclines and stirred the breast of both and their inmost precordia.
then, with the torch brandished more often through the same orbit,
she swiftly follows fires with the fires set in motion.
thus, a victress and powerful by the command, to the inanities of the great

510

regna redit Ditis sumptumque recingitur anguem.
Protinus Aeolides media furibundus in aula
clamat 'io, comites, his retia tendite silvis!
hic modo cum gemina visa est mihi prole leaena'
utque ferae sequitur vestigia coniugis amens

she returns to the realms of Dis and is re-girded with the serpent she had taken up.
Straightway the Aeolid, raging in the midst of the hall,
shouts 'io, comrades, stretch nets in these woods!
here just now a lioness with twin offspring seemed to me';
and like a wild beast, out of his mind, he follows the tracks of his wife

515

deque sinu matris ridentem et parva Learchum
bracchia tendentem rapit et bis terque per auras
more rotat fundae rigidoque infantia saxo
discutit ora ferox; tum denique concita mater,
seu dolor hoc fecit seu sparsi causa veneni,

and from his mother’s bosom he snatches Learchus, smiling and stretching his little arms, and twice and thrice through the airs he whirls him in the manner of a sling, and, ferocious, he shatters the infant face on a rigid stone; then at last the mother, driven frantic, whether grief did this or the cause was the sprinkled venom,

520

exululat passisque fugit male sana capillis
teque ferens parvum nudis, Melicerta, lacertis
'euhoe Bacche' sonat: Bacchi sub nomine Iuno
risit et 'hos usus praestet tibi' dixit 'alumnus!'
inminet aequoribus scopulus: pars ima cavatur

she howls and, with hair disheveled, flees not sound of mind,
and carrying you, little Melicerta, on bare arms,
she cries, 'Evoe, Bacchus!': under the name of Bacchus Juno
laughed and said, 'May the alumnus furnish these uses for you!'
a crag overhangs the seas: the lowest part is hollowed out

525

fluctibus et tectas defendit ab imbribus undas,
summa riget frontemque in apertum porrigit aequor;
occupat hunc (vires insania fecerat) Ino
seque super pontum nullo tardata timore
mittit onusque suum; percussa recanduit unda.

the lowest part is hollowed by the billows and protects the sheltered waters from the rains,
the top is rigid and stretches its brow into the open sea;
Ino seizes this (insanity had given her strength)
and, with no fear delaying her, casts herself over the sea
and her burden; the smitten wave whitened anew.

530

At Venus, inmeritae neptis miserata labores,
sic patruo blandita suo est 'o numen aquarum,
proxima cui caelo cessit, Neptune, potestas,
magna quidem posco, sed tu miserere meorum,
iactari quos cernis in Ionio inmenso,

But Venus, pitying the unmerited labors of her granddaughter,
thus flattering her own uncle said, 'O divinity of the waters,
Neptune, to whom the power next to the sky has yielded,
I indeed ask great things, but do you have mercy on my own,
whom you see being tossed in the immense Ionian.'

535

et dis adde tuis. aliqua et mihi gratia ponto est,
si tamen in medio quondam concreta profundo
spuma fui Graiumque manet mihi nomen ab illa.'
adnuit oranti Neptunus et abstulit illis,
quod mortale fuit, maiestatemque verendam

and add them to your own gods. Some favor too is mine with the sea,
if indeed once I was foam concreted in the midst of the deep,
and my name among the Greeks abides to me from that.'
Neptune nodded assent to her as she prayed and removed from them
what was mortal, and a majesty to be revered

540

inposuit nomenque simul faciemque novavit
Leucothoeque deum cum matre Palaemona dixit.
Sidoniae comites, quantum valuere secutae
signa pedum, primo videre novissima saxo;
nec dubium de morte ratae Cadmeida palmis

he imposed, and at the same time renewed, both the name and the face,
and he called the god Palaemon, and his mother Leucothoe.
her Sidonian companions, following the signs of the feet as far as they could,
saw, at the rock, the very last ones first;
and, deeming there was no doubt about death, they beat the Cadmean with their palms

545

deplanxere domum scissae cum veste capillos,
utque parum iustae nimiumque in paelice saevae
invidiam fecere deae. convicia Iuno
non tulit et 'faciam vos ipsas maxima' dixit
'saevitiae monimenta meae'; res dicta secuta est.

they deplored the house, with garment and hair torn,
and, as being too little just and too savage against the concubine,
they made ill-will against the goddess. The reproaches Juno
did not endure and said: 'I will make you yourselves the greatest
monuments of my savagery'; the thing said was followed by the deed.

550

nam quae praecipue fuerat pia, 'persequar' inquit
'in freta reginam' saltumque datura moveri
haud usquam potuit scopuloque adfixa cohaesit;
altera, dum solito temptat plangore ferire
pectora, temptatos sensit riguisse lacertos;

for she who had been especially pious said, 'I will follow the queen into the straits,' and, about to give a leap, she could be moved nowhere and, affixed to a crag, stuck fast; another, while she tries with the accustomed lament-beating to strike her breast, felt the arms she was trying to use grow rigid;

555

illa, manus ut forte tetenderat in maris undas;
saxea facta manus in easdem porrigit undas;
huius, ut arreptum laniabat vertice crinem,
duratos subito digitos in crine videres:
quo quaeque in gestu deprensa est, haesit in illo.

that one, as she had by chance stretched her hands toward the waves of the sea;
her hands, made stone, she stretches toward those same waves;
another, as she was rending the hair she had snatched at the crown,
you would see the fingers suddenly hardened in the hair:
each one stuck fast in that posture in which she was caught.

560

pars volucres factae, quae nunc quoque gurgite in illo
aequora destringunt summis Ismenides alis.
Nescit Agenorides natam parvumque nepotem
aequoris esse deos; luctu serieque malorum
victus et ostentis, quae plurima viderat, exit

part were made birds, who even now too on that same whirlpool
skim the seas with the tips of their wings, the Ismenides.
He does not know, the Agenorid, that his daughter and his little grandson are gods of the sea; overcome by grief and a sequence of evils and by portents, of which he had seen very many, he departs

565

conditor urbe sua, tamquam fortuna locorum,
non sua se premeret, longisque erroribus actus
contigit Illyricos profuga cum coniuge fines.
iamque malis annisque graves dum prima retractant
fata domus releguntque suos sermone labores,

the founder from his own city, as though the fortune of the places,
not his own, were pressing him, and driven by long wanderings
he reached the Illyrian borders, a fugitive with his spouse.
and now, heavy with misfortunes and with years, while they reconsider
the first fates of the house and re-read in speech their labors,

570

'num sacer ille mea traiectus cuspide serpens'
Cadmus ait 'fuerat, tum cum Sidone profectus
vipereos sparsi per humum, nova semina, dentes?
quem si cura deum tam certa vindicat ira,
ipse precor serpens in longam porrigar alvum.'

'Was that serpent sacred, pierced by my spear?'
Cadmus says, 'then, when, having set out from Sidon,
I scattered over the ground the viperous teeth, new seeds?
If the care of the gods avenges him with wrath so sure,
I pray that I myself be stretched out as a serpent into a long belly.'

575

dixit, et ut serpens in longam tenditur alvum
durataeque cuti squamas increscere sentit
nigraque caeruleis variari corpora guttis
in pectusque cadit pronus, commissaque in unum
paulatim tereti tenuantur acumine crura.

He said, and, as a serpent, he is stretched out into a long belly
and he feels scales grow into his hardened skin
and his black body is variegated with cerulean drops,
and he falls prone onto his breast, and his legs, joined into one,
are little by little thinned to a terete, tapering point.

580

bracchia iam restant: quae restant bracchia tendit
et lacrimis per adhuc humana fluentibus ora
'accede, o coniunx, accede, miserrima' dixit,
'dumque aliquid superest de me, me tange manumque
accipe, dum manus est, dum non totum occupat anguis.' 585
ille quidem vult plura loqui, sed lingua repente
in partes est fissa duas, nec verba volenti
sufficiunt, quotiensque aliquos parat edere questus,
sibilat: hanc illi vocem natura reliquit.
nuda manu feriens exclamat pectora coniunx:

Now the arms alone remain: the arms which remain he stretches out,
and with tears flowing down his as yet human face
“come near, O spouse, come near, most miserable one,” he said,
“and while something of me remains, touch me and take my hand
receive it, while it is a hand, while the serpent does not occupy me wholly.” 585
Indeed he wants to say more, but suddenly his tongue
is split into two parts, nor do words suffice for the willing one,
and as often as he prepares to utter some complaints,
he hisses: this voice nature has left to him.
with bare hand beating her breasts, his spouse cries out:

590

'Cadme, mane teque, infelix, his exue monstris!
Cadme, quid hoc? ubi pes, ubi sunt umerique manusque
et color et facies et, dum loquor, omnia?

'Cadmus, remain, and, unlucky one, strip yourself of these monsters!
Cadmus, what is this? where is your foot, where are your shoulders and hands
and your color and face and, while I speak, everything?

cur non
me quoque, caelestes, in eandem vertitis anguem?'
dixerat, ille suae lambebat coniugis ora

why do you not
turn me too, celestials, into the same serpent?'
he had spoken; he was licking his own consort’s lips

595

inque sinus caros, veluti cognosceret, ibat
et dabat amplexus adsuetaque colla petebat.
quisquis adest (aderant comites), terretur; at illa
lubrica permulcet cristati colla draconis,
et subito duo sunt iunctoque volumine serpunt,

and into her dear bosom, as if he recognized, he went
and he gave embraces and sought the accustomed necks.
whoever is present (companions were present) is terrified; but she
soothes the slippery necks of the crested dragon,
and suddenly there are two, and with a joined coil they slither,

600

donec in adpositi nemoris subiere latebras,
nunc quoque nec fugiunt hominem nec vulnere laedunt
quidque prius fuerint, placidi meminere dracones.
Sed tamen ambobus versae solacia formae
magna nepos dederat, quem debellata colebat

until they went down into the recesses of the adjacent grove,
now too they neither flee a human nor do they harm by wound,
and what they were before, the placid dragons remember.
But yet to both, for their changed form, consolations
great the grandson had given, whom the conquered worshiped

605

India, quem positis celebrabat Achaia templis;
solus Abantiades ab origine cretus eadem
Acrisius superest, qui moenibus arceat urbis
Argolicae contraque deum ferat arma genusque
non putet esse Iovis: neque enim Iovis esse putabat

India, whom Achaea celebrated with temples having been set up;
alone the Abantiad Acrisius, begotten from the same origin, survives,
who keeps him from the walls of the Argolic city and bears arms against the god,
and does not think the lineage to be of Jove: for he did not think it to be of Jove.

610

Persea, quem pluvio Danae conceperat auro.
mox tamen Acrisium (tanta est praesentia veri)
tam violasse deum quam non agnosse nepotem
paenitet: inpositus iam caelo est alter, at alter
viperei referens spolium memorabile monstri

Perseus, whom Danae conceived by the rain of gold.
soon, however, Acrisius (so great is the presence of truth)
repents as much of having violated a god as of not having acknowledged his grandson:
one has now been set in the sky, and the other,
bearing back the memorable spoil of the viperine monster

615

aera carpebat tenerum stridentibus alis,
cumque super Libycas victor penderet harenas,
Gorgonei capitis guttae cecidere cruentae;
quas humus exceptas varios animavit in angues,
unde frequens illa est infestaque terra colubris.

He was plucking the tender air with strident wings,
and when, as victor, he was hanging above the Libyan sands,
bloody drops of the Gorgonian head fell;
which the ground, having received, animated into various serpents,
whence that land is replete and infested with snakes.

620

Inde per inmensum ventis discordibus actus
nunc huc, nunc illuc exemplo nubis aquosae
fertur et ex alto seductas aethere longe
despectat terras totumque supervolat orbem.
ter gelidas Arctos, ter Cancri bracchia vidit,

Thence, driven through the immense by discordant winds,
now here, now there, in the manner of a watery cloud,
he is borne, and from on high he looks down on the lands
far withdrawn from the aether, and overflies the whole orb.
Thrice he saw the icy Bears, thrice the arms of Cancer,

625

saepe sub occasus, saepe est ablatus in ortus,
iamque cadente die, veritus se credere nocti,
constitit Hesperio, regnis Atlantis, in orbe
exiguamque petit requiem, dum Lucifer ignes
evocet Aurorae, currus Aurora diurnos.

often toward the Occident, often was he borne to the Orient,
and now, with the day declining, fearing to commit himself to night,
he halted in the Hesperian orb, in the realms of Atlas,
and sought a meager respite, until Lucifer might call forth the fires
of Aurora, and Aurora her diurnal chariots.

630

hic hominum cunctos ingenti corpore praestans
Iapetionides Atlas fuit: ultima tellus
rege sub hoc et pontus erat, qui Solis anhelis
aequora subdit equis et fessos excipit axes.
mille greges illi totidemque armenta per herbas

Here, surpassing all men with his immense body,
was Atlas, the Iapetionid: the utmost land
and, under this king, the sea—which to the Sun’s panting
horses submits its waters and receives the weary axles.
for him a thousand flocks and just as many herds through the grasses

635

errabant, et humum vicinia nulla premebat;
arboreae frondes auro radiante nitentes
ex auro ramos, ex auro poma tegebant.
'hospes' ait Perseus illi, 'seu gloria tangit
te generis magni, generis mihi Iuppiter auctor;

they were wandering, and no vicinity pressed the ground;
arboreal fronds, shining with radiant gold,
were covering with gold the branches, with gold the apples.
'host,' says Perseus to him, 'whether the glory of great lineage touches you,
for my lineage Jupiter is the author;

640

sive es mirator rerum, mirabere nostras;
hospitium requiemque peto.' memor ille vetustae
sortis erat; Themis hanc dederat Parnasia sortem:
'tempus, Atlas, veniet, tua quo spoliabitur auro
arbor, et hunc praedae titulum Iove natus habebit.'

whether you are an admirer of wonders, you will admire ours;
I seek hospitality and rest.' He was mindful of an ancient oracle;
Parnassian Themis had given this oracle:
'the time, Atlas, will come, when your tree will be despoiled of its gold,
and a son of Jove will have this title of the prey.'

645

id metuens solidis pomaria clauserat Atlas
moenibus et vasto dederat servanda draconi
arcebatque suis externos finibus omnes.
huic quoque 'vade procul, ne longe gloria rerum,
quam mentiris' ait, 'longe tibi Iuppiter absit!'

Fearing that, Atlas had enclosed the orchards with solid walls and had given them to a vast dragon to be guarded, and he was warding off all outsiders from his borders.
To him also he said: 'Go far away, lest the far fame of your exploits, which you fabricate, be far to seek; and may Jupiter be far from you!'

650

vimque minis addit manibusque expellere temptat
cunctantem et placidis miscentem fortia dictis.
viribus inferior (quis enim par esset Atlantis
viribus?) 'at, quoniam parvi tibi gratia nostra est,
accipe munus!' ait laevaque a parte Medusae

he adds force to his threats and with his hands tries to expel the one hesitating and mixing forceful things with placid words.
inferior in strength (for who would be equal to Atlas’s strength?)
“but, since our goodwill is of little value to you,” he says, “receive a gift!” and from the left-hand side of Medusa

655

ipse retro versus squalentia protulit ora.
quantus erat, mons factus Atlas: nam barba comaeque
in silvas abeunt, iuga sunt umerique manusque,
quod caput ante fuit, summo est in monte cacumen,
ossa lapis fiunt; tum partes altus in omnes

he himself, turned backward, put forth the squalid visage.
as great as he was, Atlas was made a mountain: for his beard and hair
go into forests, his shoulders and hands are ridges,
what before was head is a peak on the top of the mountain,
his bones become stone; then in all his parts he is lofty

660

crevit in inmensum (sic, di, statuistis) et omne
cum tot sideribus caelum requievit in illo.
Clauserat Hippotades Aetnaeo carcere ventos,
admonitorque operum caelo clarissimus alto
Lucifer ortus erat: pennis ligat ille resumptis

it grew into the immense (thus, gods, you have decreed), and all
the heaven, with so many stars, found repose upon him.
Hippotades had shut the winds in the Aetnean prison,
and the admonisher of labors, most bright in the high heaven,
Lucifer had risen: he binds on his wings, resumed

665

parte ab utraque pedes teloque accingitur unco
et liquidum motis talaribus aera findit.
gentibus innumeris circumque infraque relictis
Aethiopum populos Cepheaque conspicit arva.
illic inmeritam maternae pendere linguae

on both sides he girds his feet and the hooked weapon,
and cleaves the liquid air with his talaria set in motion.
with countless nations left around and below,
he beholds the peoples of the Ethiopians and the fields of Cepheus.
there, undeserving, to hang for her mother’s tongue

670

Andromedan poenas iniustus iusserat Ammon;
quam simul ad duras religatam bracchia cautes
vidit Abantiades, nisi quod levis aura capillos
moverat et tepido manabant lumina fletu,
marmoreum ratus esset opus; trahit inscius ignes

Unjust Ammon had ordered punishments for Andromeda;
whom, as soon as the Abantian saw with her arms bound to the hard crags,
except that a light breeze had moved her hair and her eyes were dripping with tepid weeping,
he would have thought it a marble work; unwittingly he draws fires.

675

et stupet et visae correptus imagine formae
paene suas quatere est oblitus in aere pennas.
ut stetit, 'o' dixit 'non istis digna catenis,
sed quibus inter se cupidi iunguntur amantes,
pande requirenti nomen terraeque tuumque,

and he is astonished, and, seized by the seen image of her form,
he almost forgets to shake his wings in the air.
as he stood, he said, 'O, you are not worthy of those chains,
but of those by which eager lovers are joined among themselves;
reveal to the one inquiring your name and your country’s,'

680

et cur vincla geras.' primo silet illa nec audet
adpellare virum virgo, manibusque modestos
celasset vultus, si non religata fuisset;
lumina, quod potuit, lacrimis inplevit obortis.
saepius instanti, sua ne delicta fateri

and why you wear chains.' at first she is silent nor does the maiden dare
to address the man, and with her hands she would have hidden her modest
face, if she had not been bound; she filled her eyes, so far as she could, with
welling tears. as he pressed her again and again, she would not confess her own delicts

685

nolle videretur, nomen terraeque suumque,
quantaque maternae fuerit fiducia formae,
indicat, et nondum memoratis omnibus unda
insonuit, veniensque inmenso belua ponto
inminet et latum sub pectore possidet aequor.

lest she might seem unwilling, she indicates her name and her country, and how great had been the confidence in her mother’s form; and with not yet all things recounted the wave resounded, and a monster coming over the immense deep looms and, beneath its breast, possesses a broad expanse of the level sea.

690

conclamat virgo: genitor lugubris et una
mater adest, ambo miseri, sed iustius illa,
nec secum auxilium, sed dignos tempore fletus
plangoremque ferunt vinctoque in corpore adhaerent,
cum sic hospes ait 'lacrimarum longa manere

the maiden cries out: the mournful father and the mother together are present,
both miserable, but more justly she,
nor do they bring help with them, but tears worthy of the time
and lamentation they bear, and they cling to the bound body,
when thus the stranger says: “a long time of tears is to remain

695

tempora vos poterunt, ad opem brevis hora ferendam est.
hanc ego si peterem Perseus Iove natus et illa,
quam clausam inplevit fecundo Iuppiter auro,
Gorgonis anguicomae Perseus superator et alis
aerias ausus iactatis ire per auras, 700
praeferrer cunctis certe gener; addere tantis
dotibus et meritum, faveant modo numina, tempto:
ut mea sit servata mea virtute, paciscor.'
accipiunt legem (quis enim dubitaret?) et orant
promittuntque super regnum dotale parentes.

Time will be yours; for bringing aid there is a brief hour.
if I, Perseus, born of Jove, were seeking this one, and that woman
whom Jupiter, while she was shut in, filled with fruitful gold,
Perseus, conqueror of the snake-haired Gorgon, and with wings
having dared to go through the airy breezes with wings beating, 700
I would surely be preferred before all as a son-in-law; to such great
dotal endowments I try to add my desert as well, if only the divinities favor:
I make terms: that she, saved by my valor, be mine.'
they accept the condition (for who would hesitate?) and they entreat
and her parents promise, over and above, the dotal kingdom.

705

Ecce, velut navis praefixo concita rostro
sulcat aquas iuvenum sudantibus acta lacertis,
sic fera dimotis inpulsu pectoris undis;
tantum aberat scopulis, quantum Balearica torto
funda potest plumbo medii transmittere caeli,

Behold, just as a ship, agitated with a fixed-on prow,
furrows the waters, driven by the sweating arms of youths,
so the beast, the waves displaced by the impulse of her breast;
so far was she from the rocks as a Balearic, with the twisted
sling can with whirled lead transmit through the middle of the sky,

710

cum subito iuvenis pedibus tellure repulsa
arduus in nubes abiit: ut in aequore summo
umbra viri visa est, visam fera saevit in umbram,
utque Iovis praepes, vacuo cum vidit in arvo
praebentem Phoebo liventia terga draconem,

when suddenly the youth, with his feet having pushed off from the earth,
towering, went away into the clouds: as on the surface of the sea
the shadow of a man was seen, the wild beast rages at the seen shadow,
and as the swift bird of Jove, when it has seen in an empty field
a dragon presenting to Phoebus its livid backs,

715

occupat aversum, neu saeva retorqueat ora,
squamigeris avidos figit cervicibus ungues,
sic celeri missus praeceps per inane volatu
terga ferae pressit dextroque frementis in armo
Inachides ferrum curvo tenus abdidit hamo.

he seizes it turned away, lest it twist back its savage jaws,
he fixes greedy talons in the scaly neck,
thus, sent headlong by swift flight through the void,
he pressed the beast’s back, and in the right shoulder of the roaring one
the son of Inachus buried the iron up to the curved hook.

720

vulnere laesa gravi modo se sublimis in auras
attollit, modo subdit aquis, modo more ferocis
versat apri, quem turba canum circumsona terret.
ille avidos morsus velocibus effugit alis
quaque patet, nunc terga cavis super obsita conchis,

wounded by a grave wound, now she loftily lifts herself into the airs
now she plunges beneath the waters, now in the manner of a ferocious
boar she wheels about, whom the throng of dogs resounding around terrifies.
he escapes the greedy bites with swift wings
and wherever it lies open, now the backs above covered with hollow shells,

725

nunc laterum costas, nunc qua tenuissima cauda
desinit in piscem, falcato verberat ense;
belua puniceo mixtos cum sanguine fluctus
ore vomit: maduere graves adspergine pennae.
nec bibulis ultra Perseus talaribus ausus

now the ribs of the flanks, now where the very slender tail
ends in fish, he lashes with a falcate sword;
the beast from its mouth vomits waves mixed with crimson blood;
the heavy feathers were wet with the spray.
nor further did Perseus dare on his absorbent winged sandals

730

credere conspexit scopulum, qui vertice summo
stantibus exstat aquis, operitur ab aequore moto.
nixus eo rupisque tenens iuga prima sinistra
ter quater exegit repetita per ilia ferrum.
litora cum plausu clamor superasque deorum

he espied a rock to trust in, which with its topmost summit stands out when the waters stand, and is covered by the sea when stirred.
leaning upon it and holding the first ridges of the crag with his left hand,
thrice, four times he drove the iron, repeated, through its flanks.
the shores with applause, a clamor, and the gods above

735

inplevere domos: gaudent generumque salutant
auxiliumque domus servatoremque fatentur
Cassiope Cepheusque pater; resoluta catenis
incedit virgo, pretiumque et causa laboris.
ipse manus hausta victrices abluit unda,

they filled the homes: they rejoice and salute their son-in-law,
and they confess both the aid of the house and its savior—
Cassiope and father Cepheus; released from her chains
the maiden advances, both the prize and the cause of the labor.
he himself washes his victorious hands with water drawn,

740

anguiferumque caput dura ne laedat harena,
mollit humum foliis natasque sub aequore virgas
sternit et inponit Phorcynidos ora Medusae.
virga recens bibulaque etiamnum viva medulla
vim rapuit monstri tactuque induruit huius

and lest the anguiferous head be injured by the hard sand,
he softens the ground with leaves and spreads rods born beneath the level sea,
and places the face of the Phorcynid, Medusa.
a fresh twig, and with still absorbent, still living marrow,
seized the force of the monster and by the touch of this hardened.

745

percepitque novum ramis et fronde rigorem.
at pelagi nymphae factum mirabile temptant
pluribus in virgis et idem contingere gaudent
seminaque ex illis iterant iactata per undas:
nunc quoque curaliis eadem natura remansit,

and it took on new rigor in its branches and foliage.
but the nymphs of the sea test the marvelous deed
on more rods and rejoice to attain the same,
and they repeat it, with seeds from them cast through the waves:
even now in corals the same nature has remained,

750

duritiam tacto capiant ut ab aere quodque
vimen in aequore erat, fiat super aequora saxum.
Dis tribus ille focos totidem de caespite ponit,
laevum Mercurio, dextrum tibi, bellica virgo,
ara Iovis media est; mactatur vacca Minervae,

so that, when touched, they take hardness from the air, and each withe that was in the sea becomes a stone above the waters.
he places just so many hearths of turf for the three gods, the left to Mercury, the right to you, warlike maiden,
the altar of Jove is in the middle; a cow is sacrificed to Minerva,

755

alipedi vitulus, taurus tibi, summe deorum.
protinus Andromedan et tanti praemia facti
indotata rapit; taedas Hymenaeus Amorque
praecutiunt; largis satiantur odoribus ignes,
sertaque dependent tectis et ubique lyraeque

a calf to the wing‑footed one, a bull to you, highest of the gods.
straightway he carries off Andromeda, the prize of such a great deed,
undowered; Hymenaeus and Love brandish the torches before;
the fires are sated with lavish odors,
and garlands hang from the roofs, and everywhere the lyres too

760

tibiaque et cantus, animi felicia laeti
argumenta, sonant; reseratis aurea valvis
atria tota patent, pulchroque instructa paratu
Cepheni proceres ineunt convivia regis.
Postquam epulis functi generosi munere Bacchi

and the reed-pipe and songs, felicitous tokens of a glad spirit, resound;
with the golden valves unbarred,
the whole atria stand open, and furnished with fair array;
the Cephenian nobles enter the king’s banquets.
After they had fulfilled the feasts and the generous gift of Bacchus,

765

diffudere animos, cultusque genusque locorum
quaerit Lyncides moresque animumque virorum;
qui simul edocuit, 'nunc, o fortissime,' dixit

they diffused their spirits, and Lyncides inquires the culture and the genus of the places, and the mores and the animus of the men; and when he had instructed him, he said, 'now, O most brave,'

769

'fare, precor, Perseu, quanta virtute quibusque
artibus abstuleris crinita draconibus ora!'
narrat Agenorides gelido sub Atlante iacentem
esse locum solidae tutum munimine molis;
cuius in introitu geminas habitasse sorores
Phorcidas unius partitas luminis usum;

'speak, I pray, Perseus, with how great valor and by what arts
you carried off the dragon-haired face!'
the Agenorid relates that beneath icy Atlas there lies
a place, safe by the muniment of a solid mass;
at whose entrance the twin sisters, the Phorcides, had dwelt,
sharing between them the use of a single eye;

775

id se sollerti furtim, dum traditur, astu
supposita cepisse manu perque abdita longe
deviaque et silvis horrentia saxa fragosis
Gorgoneas tetigisse domos passimque per agros
perque vias vidisse hominum simulacra ferarumque

that he had taken that stealthily, while it was being handed over, by astute craft,
with his hand placed beneath, and through far-hidden and out-of-the-way
rocks bristling with rugged woods, and through places far concealed,
he had touched the Gorgonean homes, and everywhere through the fields
and along the roads had seen simulacra of men and of wild beasts

780

in silicem ex ipsis visa conversa Medusa.
se tamen horrendae clipei, quem laeva gerebat,
aere repercusso formam adspexisse Medusae,
dumque gravis somnus colubrasque ipsamque tenebat,
eripuisse caput collo; pennisque fugacem

and Medusa was seen to have transformed those very figures into flint.
yet that he had looked upon the form of dreadful Medusa in the bronze of the shield, which he bore on his left, by reflection,
and while heavy sleep held both the serpents and herself, he snatched the head from the neck; and with his wings, a fugitive,

785

Pegason et fratrem matris de sanguine natos.
Addidit et longi non falsa pericula cursus,
quae freta, quas terras sub se vidisset ab alto
et quae iactatis tetigisset sidera pennis;
ante exspectatum tacuit tamen. excipit unus

Pegasus and his brother, born from their mother’s blood.
He added also the not-unreal perils of the long course,
what straits, what lands he had seen beneath him from on high,
and what stars he had touched with tossed wings;
sooner than expected, however, he fell silent. One takes it up

790

ex numero procerum quaerens, cur sola sororum
gesserit alternis inmixtos crinibus angues.
hospes ait: 'quoniam scitaris digna relatu,
accipe quaesiti causam. clarissima forma
multorumque fuit spes invidiosa procorum

one from the number of the nobles, asking why she alone of the sisters
had borne serpents intermixed in her alternating tresses.
the guest says: 'since you inquire things worthy of relation,
receive the cause of what is sought. Most illustrious in form,
and she was the envious hope of many suitors

795

illa, nec in tota conspectior ulla capillis
pars fuit: inveni, qui se vidisse referret.
hanc pelagi rector templo vitiasse Minervae
dicitur: aversa est et castos aegide vultus
nata Iovis texit, neve hoc inpune fuisset,

she—nor in all her person was any part more conspicuous than her hair—:
I found one who reported that he had seen her.
It is said that the ruler of the sea defiled her in the temple of Minerva:
she turned away, and the daughter of Jove covered her chaste features with the aegis,
and lest this should have been without punishment,

800

Gorgoneum crinem turpes mutavit in hydros.
nunc quoque, ut attonitos formidine terreat hostes,
pectore in adverso, quos fecit, sustinet angues.'

She changed the Gorgonian hair into foul hydras.
Now also, in order that she may terrify astonished enemies with dread,
upon her breast in front, she bears the snakes which she made.'