Ovid: METAMORPHOSES

Dumque ea Cephenum medio Danaeius heros
agmine commemorat, fremida regalia turba
atria conplentur, nec coniugialia festa
qui canat est clamor, sed qui fera nuntiet arma;
inque repentinos convivia versa tumultus

And while the Danaean hero recounts these things in the midst of the Cephenian column,
the regal halls are filled by a roaring crowd, nor is the clamor one to sing of conjugal feasts,
but one to announce savage arms; and the banquets are turned into sudden tumults

adsimilare freto possis, quod saeva quietum
ventorum rabies motis exasperat undis.
primus in his Phineus, belli temerarius auctor,
fraxineam quatiens aeratae cuspidis hastam
'en' ait, 'en adsum praereptae coniugis ultor;

You could liken it to the strait, which the savage rabid rage of the winds roughens, the calm, with the waves set in motion.
First among these Phineus, the rash author of war,
brandishing an ashen spear of bronze-pointed tip,
“Lo,” he says, “lo, I am here, the avenger of a snatched-away bride.”

nec mihi te pennae nec falsum versus in aurum
Iuppiter eripiet!' conanti mittere Cepheus
'quid facis?' exclamat, 'quae te, germane, furentem
mens agit in facinus? meritisne haec gratia tantis
redditur? hac vitam servatae dote rependis?

nor will wings nor the false gold he was turned into
Jupiter snatch you from me!' As he was attempting to hurl, Cepheus
'what are you doing?' exclaims, 'what mind, brother, in your frenzy,
drives you into a crime? Is this gratitude returned for such great merits
do you repay the life that was saved with this dowry?'

quam tibi non Perseus, verum si quaeris, ademit,
sed grave Nereidum numen, sed corniger Ammon,
sed quae visceribus veniebat belua ponti
exsaturanda meis; illo tibi tempore rapta est,
quo peritura fuit, nisi si, crudelis, id ipsum

whom Perseus did not, in truth if you inquire, take from you,
but the weighty numen of the Nereids, but horn-bearing Ammon,
but the beast which was coming from the bowels of the sea,
to be sated with my own vitals; at that time she was snatched from you,
when she was about to perish, unless, cruel one, that very thing

exigis, ut pereat, luctuque levabere nostro.
scilicet haud satis est, quod te spectante revincta est
et nullam quod opem patruus sponsusve tulisti;
insuper, a quoquam quod sit servata, dolebis
praemiaque eripies? quae si tibi magna videntur,

you demand that she perish, and you will be lightened by our grief.
surely it is not enough that, with you looking on, she was bound,
and that as uncle and bridegroom you brought no help;
in addition, that she has been saved by someone, you will grieve
and will snatch away the rewards? which, if to you they seem great,

ex illis scopulis, ubi erant adfixa, petisses.
nunc sine, qui petiit, per quem haec non orba senectus,
ferre, quod et meritis et voce est pactus, eumque
non tibi, sed certae praelatum intellege morti.'
Ille nihil contra, sed et hunc et Persea vultu

from those crags, where she had been affixed, you ought to have sought her.
now allow him who sought her, through whom this old age is not bereft,
to carry off what he has covenanted both by merits and by his word, and understand him
preferred not to you, but to certain death.'
He nothing in reply, but both this man and Perseus with his countenance

alterno spectans petat hunc ignorat an illum:
cunctatusque brevi contortam viribus hastam,
quantas ira dabat, nequiquam in Persea misit.
ut stetit illa toro, stratis tum denique Perseus
exsiluit teloque ferox inimica remisso

looking alternately, he is unsure whether to assail this one or that:
and, having hesitated briefly, he sent in vain against Perseus the spear,
brandished with such strength as anger gave. When it stood fast in the couch,
then at last Perseus leapt up from the bedclothes, and, fierce, with the hostile
weapon sent back

pectora rupisset, nisi post altaria Phineus
isset: et (indignum) scelerato profuit ara.
fronte tamen Rhoeti non inrita cuspis adhaesit,
qui postquam cecidit ferrumque ex osse revulsum est
calcitrat et positas adspergit sanguine mensas.

he would have burst his breast, had not Phineus gone behind the altars; and (unworthy!) the altar was of profit to the criminal. nevertheless the point stuck, not ineffectual, in the brow of Rhoetus, who, after he fell and the iron was wrenched from the bone, kicks and sprinkles the set-out tables with blood.

tum vero indomitas ardescit vulgus in iras,
telaque coniciunt, et sunt, qui Cephea dicunt
cum genero debere mori; sed limine tecti
exierat Cepheus testatus iusque fidemque
hospitiique deos, ea se prohibente moveri.

then indeed the crowd blazes into unbridled wraths,
and they hurl weapons, and there are those who say that Cepheus
ought to die with his son-in-law; but from the threshold of the roofed house
Cepheus had gone forth, calling to witness both right and good faith and the gods
of hospitality, that, with this forbidding, he was being kept from moving.

bellica Pallas adest et protegit aegide fratrem
datque animos.
Erat Indus Athis, quem flumine Gange
edita Limnaee vitreis peperisse sub undis
creditur, egregius forma, quam divite cultu
augebat, bis adhuc octonis integer annis,

warlike Pallas is present and protects her brother with her aegis
and gives him courage.
There was an Indian Athis, whom the Limnaean, born from the river Ganges,
is believed to have borne beneath the glassy waves,
distinguished in form, which he augmented by rich apparel,
still intact at 16 years,

indutus chlamydem Tyriam, quam limbus obibat
aureus; ornabant aurata monilia collum
et madidos murra curvum crinale capillos;
ille quidem iaculo quamvis distantia misso
figere doctus erat, sed tendere doctior arcus.

clad in a Tyrian chlamys, which a golden hem encircled
golden necklaces adorned his neck
and myrrh moistened his locks, a curved hair-fillet;
he indeed, although with a javelin when hurled he was skilled to transfix even things far away,
was more skillful to draw the bows.

tum quoque lenta manu flectentem cornua Perseus
stipite, qui media positus fumabat in ara,
perculit et fractis confudit in ossibus ora.
Hunc ubi laudatos iactantem in sanguine vultus
Assyrius vidit Lycabas, iunctissimus illi

then too, as Perseus with a pliant hand was bending the horns of the bow,
he struck him with a billet, which, set in the middle of the altar, was smoking,
and he confounded his face, the bones being broken.
When the Assyrian Lycabas, most closely joined to him, saw this man flaunting his lauded features in blood,
Lycabas

et comes et veri non dissimulator amoris,
postquam exhalantem sub acerbo vulnere vitam
deploravit Athin, quos ille tetenderat arcus
arripit et 'mecum tibi sint certamina!' dixit;
'nec longum pueri fato laetabere, quo plus

both a companion and no dissembler of true love,
after he lamented Athis, exhaling life beneath a bitter wound,
he snatches up the bows which that one had bent
and said, 'let the contests be with me for you!';
'nor for long will you rejoice in the boy’s fate, the more

invidiae quam laudis habes.' haec omnia nondum
dixerat: emicuit nervo penetrabile telum
vitatumque tamen sinuosa veste pependit.
vertit in hunc harpen spectatam caede Medusae
Acrisioniades adigitque in pectus; at ille

'you have more of envy than of praise.' He had not yet said all these things: from the string there flashed a piercing missile
and yet, though it was avoided, it hung in his sinuous garment.
He turns upon him the harpe, proven by the slaughter of Medusa,
the Acrisionid, and drives it into his chest; but he

iam moriens oculis sub nocte natantibus atra
circumspexit Athin seque adclinavit ad illum
et tulit ad manes iunctae solacia mortis.
Ecce Syenites, genitus Metione, Phorbas
et Libys Amphimedon, avidi committere pugman,

now, dying, with his eyes swimming beneath black night
he looked around for Athis and leaned himself upon him
and bore to the shades the solace of a joint death.
Behold Syenites, begotten by Metion, Phorbas
and the Libyan Amphimedon, avid to commit battle,

sanguine, quo late tellus madefacta tepebat,
conciderant lapsi; surgentibus obstitit ensis,
alterius costis, iugulo Phorbantis adactus.
At non Actoriden Erytum, cui lata bipennis
telum erat, hamato Perseus petit ense, sed altis

with blood, by which the earth, steeped far and wide, was warm,
they had fallen, slipping; to those rising the sword stood opposed,
driven into the ribs of one, into the throat of Phorbas.
But not the Actorid, Erytus, for whom a broad double-axe
was a weapon, does Perseus assail with his hooked sword, but from on high

exstantem signis multaeque in pondere massae
ingentem manibus tollit cratera duabus
infligitque viro; rutilum vomit ille cruorem
et resupinus humum moribundo vertice pulsat.
inde Semiramio Polydegmona sanguine cretum

protruding with figures and of much mass in weight,
he lifts with both hands a huge crater,
and dashes it against the man; he vomits ruddy gore,
and, thrown on his back, he strikes the ground with his dying crown.
then Polydegmon, begotten of Semiramis’ blood

Caucasiumque Abarin Sperchionidenque Lycetum
intonsumque comas Helicen Phlegyanque Clytumque
sternit et exstructos morientum calcat acervos.
Nec Phineus ausus concurrere comminus hosti
intorquet iaculum, quod detulit error in Idan,

and Caucasian Abaris and Lycetus, the Sperchionid,
and Helice with unshorn locks, and Phlegyan Clytus as well,
he lays low, and he treads upon the piled-up heaps of the dying.
Nor did Phineus dare to clash hand-to-hand with the enemy
he hurls a javelin, which error bore to Ida,

expertem frustra belli et neutra arma secutum.
ille tuens oculis inmitem Phinea torvis
'quandoquidem in partes' ait 'abstrahor, accipe, Phineu,
quem fecisti, hostem pensaque hoc vulnere vulnus!'
iamque remissurus tractum de corpore telum

in vain a stranger to the war and having followed the arms of neither side.
he, gazing with grim eyes at ruthless Phineus,
'since I am dragged into the factions,' he says, 'receive, Phineus,
the enemy whom you have made, and weigh wound against wound with this wound!'
and now about to let loose the weapon drawn from his body

sanguine defectos cecidit conlapsus in artus.
Tum quoque Cephenum post regem primus Hodites
ense iacet Clymeni, Prothoenora percutit Hypseus,
Hypsea Lyncides. fuit et grandaevus in illis
Emathion, aequi cultor timidusque deorum,

he fell, collapsed upon limbs deprived of blood.
Then too, after the Cephenian king, first Hodites lies by Clymenus’s sword,
Hypseus strikes Prothoenor, the Lyncid [strikes] Hypseus.
There was also among them the very aged Emathion, a cultor of equity and timid of the gods,

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qui, quoniam prohibent anni bellare, loquendo
pugnat et incessit scelerataque devovet arma;
huic Chromis amplexo tremulis altaria palmis
decutit ense caput, quod protinus incidit arae
atque ibi semianimi verba exsecrantia lingua

who, since his years forbid him to wage war, by speaking
he fights and assails and devotes the wicked arms to doom;
to him Chromis, the altars embraced with trembling palms,
strikes off the head with a sword, which straightway falls upon the altar
and there, with a half-alive tongue, words execrating

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edidit et medios animam exspiravit in ignes.
Hinc gemini fratres Broteasque et caestibus Ammon
invicti, vinci si possent caestibus enses,
Phinea cecidere manu Cererisque sacerdos
Ampycus albenti velatus tempora vitta,

it uttered and breathed out its life into the midst of the fires.
From here the twin brothers, Broteas and Ammon, unconquered with the cestuses,
if swords could be conquered by cestuses, fell by Phineus’s hand; and the priest of Ceres,
Ampycus, his temples veiled with a gleaming-white fillet,

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tu quoque, Lampetide, non hos adhibendus ad usus,
sed qui, pacis opus, citharam cum voce moveres;
iussus eras celebrare dapes festumque canendo.
quem procul adstantem plectrumque inbelle tenentem
Pedasus inridens 'Stygiis cane cetera' dixit

you too, Lampetides, not to be employed for these uses,
but you, whose work is of peace, would move the cithara with your voice;
you had been ordered to celebrate the banquets and the feast by singing.
whom, standing at a distance and holding an unwarlike plectrum,
Pedasus, mocking, said, 'sing the rest to the Stygian shades'

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'manibus!' et laevo mucronem tempore fixit;
concidit et digitis morientibus ille retemptat
fila lyrae, casuque ferit miserabile carmen.
nec sinit hunc inpune ferox cecidisse Lycormas
raptaque de dextro robusta repagula posti

'with your hands!' and he fixed the point in the left temple;
he fell, and with dying digits he tries again
the strings of the lyre, and by his fall he strikes a miserable song.
nor does ferocious Lycormas allow this man to have fallen with impunity,
and, having snatched from the right-hand doorpost the sturdy bar

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ossibus inlisit mediae cervicis, at ille
procubuit terrae mactati more iuvenci.
demere temptabat laevi quoque robora postis
Cinyphius Pelates; temptanti dextera fixa est
cuspide Marmaridae Corythi lignoque cohaesit;

he smashed it into the bones of the middle of the neck, but he
fell forward to the earth in the manner of a sacrificed young bullock.
Pelates the Cinyphian was trying to remove the stout timbers of the left post as well;
as he tried, his right hand was fixed by the spear-point of Corythus the Marmaridan and stuck fast in the wood;

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haerenti latus hausit Abas, nec corruit ille,
sed retinente manum moriens e poste pependit.
sternitur et Melaneus, Perseia castra secutus,
et Nasamoniaci Dorylas ditissimus agri,
dives agri Dorylas, quo non possederat alter

Abas pierced the flank of him who was clinging,
and he did not collapse, but, his hand retaining its hold, dying he hung from the post.
and Melaneus too is laid low, having followed the Persean camp,
and Dorylas, richest in the Nasamonian land,
Dorylas, rich in land, than whom no other had possessed

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latius aut totidem tollebat turis acervos.
huius in obliquo missum stetit inguine ferrum:
letifer ille locus. quem postquam vulneris auctor
singultantem animam et versantem lumina vidit
Bactrius Halcyoneus, 'hoc, quod premis,' inquit 'habeto

he used to raise heaps of incense, either more widely or in an equal number.
into his groin at a slant the hurled steel stood:
lethal was that spot. When the author of the wound thereafter
saw him sobbing out his breath and rolling his eyes,
the Bactrian Halcyoneus said, “have this, which you press.”

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de tot agris terrae!' corpusque exsangue reliquit.
torquet in hunc hastam calido de vulnere raptam
ultor Abantiades; media quae nare recepta
cervice exacta est in partesque eminet ambas;
dumque manum Fortuna iuvat, Clytiumque Claninque,

"of so many acres of earth!" and he left the bloodless body.
The avenger, the Abantian-descendant, hurls at him a spear snatched from the hot wound,
which, received in the middle of the nose,
was driven through the neck and projects on both sides;
and while Fortune helps his hand, both Clytius and Clanis,

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matre satos una, diverso vulnere fudit:
nam Clytii per utrumque gravi librata lacerto
fraxinus acta femur, iaculum Clanis ore momordit.
occidit et Celadon Mendesius, occidit Astreus
matre Palaestina dubio genitore creatus,

born of one mother, he laid low with a different wound:
for through both thighs of Clytius the ash-spear, balanced by a heavy upper arm,
was driven, and the javelin bit Clanis in the mouth.
and the Mendesian Celadon falls, and Astreus falls,
born of a Palestinian mother, with sire in doubt,

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Aethionque sagax quondam ventura videre,
tunc ave deceptus falsa, regisque Thoactes
armiger et caeso genitore infamis Agyrtes.
Plus tamen exhausto superest; namque omnibus unum
opprimere est animus, coniurata undique pugnant

and Aethion, once sagacious to see the things to come,
then deceived by a false bird-augury, and Thoactes, the king’s
armor-bearer, and Agyrtes ill-famed for his father slain.
Yet more, however, remains for the exhausted man; for the intent of all is
to oppress one; conspired from every side they fight

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agmina pro causa meritum inpugnante fidemque;
hac pro parte socer frustra pius et nova coniunx
cum genetrice favent ululatuque atria conplent,
sed sonus armorum superat gemitusque cadentum,
pollutosque simul multo Bellona penates

the ranks, for a cause impugning merit and faith;
on this side the father-in-law, dutiful in vain, and the new bride
with her mother show favor and fill the atria with ululation,
but the sound of arms overcomes and the groans of the falling,
and at once Bellona pollutes the Penates with much blood

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sanguine perfundit renovataque proelia miscet.
Circueunt unum Phineus et mille secuti
Phinea: tela volant hiberna grandine plura
praeter utrumque latus praeterque et lumen et aures.
adplicat hic umeros ad magnae saxa columnae

she drenches with blood and commingles the renewed battles.
Phineus and a thousand who followed Phineus surround one man:
weapons fly more than winter hail
past either side and past both eye and ears.
here he presses his shoulders to the stones of a great column

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tutaque terga gerens adversaque in agmina versus
sustinet instantes: instabat parte sinistra
Chaonius Molpeus, dextra Nabataeus Ethemon.
tigris ut auditis diversa valle duorum
exstimulata fame mugitibus armentorum

and, carrying a safe back and turned toward the adverse battalions,
he withstands the pressing-on; on the left was pressing
the Chaonian Molpeus, on the right the Nabataean Ethemon.
as a tigress, when, the lowings of herds heard in a different valley of two,
goaded by hunger, moos of the herds

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nescit, utro potius ruat, et ruere ardet utroque,
sic dubius Perseus, dextra laevane feratur,
Molpea traiecti submovit vulnere cruris
contentusque fuga est; neque enim dat tempus Ethemon,
sed furit et cupiens alto dare vulnera collo

he knows not into which he should rather rush, and he burns to rush upon either,
thus dubious Perseus, whether he be borne to the right or to the left,
he drove Molpeus back with a wound to his transfixed leg,
and is content with his flight; nor indeed does Ethemon give time,
but he rages and, desiring to give wounds to the lofty neck

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non circumspectis exactum viribus ensem
fregit, in extrema percussae parte columnae:
lamina dissiluit dominique in gutture fixa est.
non tamen ad letum causas satis illa valentes
plaga dedit; trepidum Perseus et inermia frustra

without having weighed his strength, he broke the sword he had thrust
at the furthest edge of the struck column:
the blade sprang apart and was fixed in its master’s throat.
yet that blow did not give causes strong enough for death;
and Perseus, trembling, and unarmed, in vain

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bracchia tendentem Cyllenide confodit harpe.
Verum ubi virtutem turbae succumbere vidit,
'auxilium' Perseus, 'quoniam sic cogitis ipsi,'
dixit 'ab hoste petam: vultus avertite vestros,
si quis amicus adest!' et Gorgonis extulit ora.

he pierced the one stretching out his arms with the Cyllenian harpe.
But when he saw valor succumbing to the crowd,
'Help,' Perseus said, 'since thus you yourselves compel me,
I will seek aid from an enemy: turn away your faces,
if any friend is present!' and he lifted up the Gorgon's face.

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'quaere alium, tua quem moveant miracula' dixit
Thescelus; utque manu iaculum fatale parabat
mittere, in hoc haesit signum de marmore gestu.
proximus huic Ampyx animi plenissima magni
pectora Lyncidae gladio petit: inque petendo

'seek another, whom your miracles may move,' said Thescelus;
and as with his hand he was preparing the fateful javelin
to hurl, in this gesture he stuck fast, a statue of marble.
Nearest to him Ampyx with his sword seeks the breast,
most full of great spirit, of the Lyncid: and in assailing

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dextera diriguit nec citra mota nec ultra est.
at Nileus, qui se genitum septemplice Nilo
ementitus erat, clipeo quoque flumina septem
argento partim, partim caelaverat auro,
'adspice' ait 'Perseu, nostrae primordia gentis:

his right hand stiffened and was moved neither nearer nor farther.
but Nileus, who had feigned himself begotten by the sevenfold Nile,
on his shield too had engraved the seven rivers,
partly in silver, partly in gold,
'behold,' he said, 'Perseus, the primordial origins of our race:

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magna feres tacitas solacia mortis ad umbras,
a tanto cecidisse viro'; pars ultima vocis
in medio suppressa sono est, adapertaque velle
ora loqui credas, nec sunt ea pervia verbis.
increpat hos 'vitio' que 'animi, non viribus' inquit

‘you will bear great silent consolations to the shades of death, that you have fallen to so great a man’; the last part of his voice was suppressed in mid-sound, and you would think the opened lips wished to speak, nor are they pervious to words. he rebukes these men and says, ‘by a fault of spirit, not of strength’

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'Gorgoneis torpetis' Eryx. 'incurrite mecum
et prosternite humi iuvenem magica arma moventem!'
incursurus erat: tenuit vestigia tellus,
inmotusque silex armataque mansit imago.
Hi tamen ex merito poenas subiere, sed unus

'Are you numbed by Gorgonean powers?' said Eryx. 'Charge in with me
and cast to the ground the youth wielding magical arms!'
He was about to charge: the earth held his steps,
and he remained an unmoving flint and an armed image.
These, however, suffered penalties deservedly, but one

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miles erat Persei: pro quo dum pugnat, Aconteus
Gorgone conspecta saxo concrevit oborto;
quem ratus Astyages etiamnum vivere, longo
ense ferit: sonuit tinnitibus ensis acutis.
dum stupet Astyages, naturam traxit eandem,

there was a soldier of Perseus: for whom while he fights, Aconteus,
the Gorgon having been seen, hardened into an up-sprung stone;
whom Astyages, thinking him still to live, with a long
sword strikes: the sword sounded with sharp ringings.
while Astyages is aghast, he drew the same nature,

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marmoreoque manet vultus mirantis in ore.
nomina longa mora est media de plebe virorum
dicere: bis centum restabant corpora pugnae,
Gorgone bis centum riguerunt corpora visa.
Paenitet iniusti tum denique Phinea belli;

and the visage of amazement remains, marble, upon his face.
it would be a long delay to tell the names of the men from the middle of the plebeian crowd;
two hundred bodies remained for the fight,
at the sight of the Gorgon, two hundred bodies grew rigid.
Then at last Phineus repents of the unjust war;

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sed quid agat? simulacra videt diversa figuris
adgnoscitque suos et nomine quemque vocatum
poscit opem credensque parum sibi proxima tangit
corpora: marmor erant; avertitur atque ita supplex
confessasque manus obliquaque bracchia tendens

but what is he to do? he sees simulacra, diverse in their figures,
and recognizes his own, and, each being called by name,
asks for aid; and, trusting too little, he touches the bodies nearest to him:
they were marble; he turns away, and thus as a suppliant,
stretching out hands that confess and his oblique arms

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'vincis' ait, 'Perseu! remove tua monstra tuaeque
saxificos vultus, quaecumque est, tolle Medusae,
tolle, precor! non nos odium regnique cupido
conpulit ad bellum, pro coniuge movimus arma!
causa fuit meritis melior tua, tempore nostra:

'You prevail,' he says, 'Perseus! remove your monsters and, whatever it is, take away Medusa’s petrifying visages, take them away, I pray! It was not hatred and desire of kingship that compelled us to war; we moved arms for a wife! Your cause was better by merits, ours by timing:'

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non cessisse piget; nihil, o fortissime, praeter
hanc animam concede mihi, tua cetera sunto!'
talia dicenti neque eum, quem voce rogabat,
respicere audenti 'quod' ait, 'timidissime Phineu,
et possum tribuisse et magnum est munus inerti,++

I do not regret not having yielded; nothing, O most brave one, except
grant me this soul; let the rest be yours!'
To him saying such things, and not daring to look back at him whom he was asking by voice,
he said, 'as to that, most timid Phineus,
both I can have granted it, and it is a great gift to the inert,++

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pone metum!++tribuam: nullo violabere ferro.
quin etiam mansura dabo monimenta per aevum,
inque domo soceri semper spectabere nostri,
ut mea se sponsi soletur imagine coniunx.'
dixit et in partem Phorcynida transtulit illam,

put aside fear!++I will grant it: you shall be violated by no iron.
nay even I will give monuments that will endure through the age,
and in the house of my father-in-law you shall always be beheld,
so that my wife may console herself with the image of her bridegroom.'
he said, and turned that daughter of Phorcys toward that side,

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ad quam se trepido Phineus obverterat ore.
tum quoque conanti sua vertere lumina cervix
deriguit, saxoque oculorum induruit umor,
sed tamen os timidum vultusque in marmore supplex
submissaeque manus faciesque obnoxia mansit.

toward whom Phineus had turned himself with a trembling face.
then too, as he was trying to turn his own eyes, his neck grew rigid,
and the humor of his eyes hardened into stone,
but yet the timid mouth and the suppliant look in marble
and the lowered hands and the submissive countenance remained.

235

Victor Abantiades patrios cum coniuge muros
intrat et inmeriti vindex ultorque parentis
adgreditur Proetum; nam fratre per arma fugato
Acrisioneas Proetus possederat arces.
sed nec ope armorum nec, quam male ceperat, arce

Victorious the Abantian enters the ancestral walls with his spouse
and, as vindicator and avenger of his undeserving parent,
assails Proetus; for, his brother driven to flight by arms,
Proetus had possessed the Acrisian citadels.
but neither by the aid of arms nor by the citadel which he had ill taken

240

torva colubriferi superavit lumina monstri.
Te tamen, o parvae rector, Polydecta, Seriphi,
nec iuvenis virtus per tot spectata labores
nec mala mollierant, sed inexorabile durus
exerces odium, nec iniqua finis in ira est;

he overcame the grim eyes of the serpent-bearing monster.
You, however, O ruler of little Seriphos, Polydectes,
neither the young man’s valor, proved through so many labors,
nor hardships had mollified, but hard, inexorable,
you prosecute your odium, nor is there an end to your iniquitous ire;

245

detrectas etiam laudem fictamque Medusae
arguis esse necem. 'dabimus tibi pignora veri.
parcite luminibus!' Perseus ait oraque regis
ore Medusaeo silicem sine sanguine fecit.

you even refuse the praise and argue that the slaying of Medusa is fictitious. 'We will give you pledges of the truth. Spare your eyes!' says Perseus, and with the Medusan face he made the king’s face flint, without blood.

Hactenus aurigenae comitem Tritonia fratri 250
se dedit; inde cava circumdata nube Seriphon
deserit, a dextra Cythno Gyaroque relictis,
quaque super pontum via visa brevissima, Thebas
virgineumque Helicona petit. quo monte potita
constitit et doctas sic est adfata sorores:

Thus far Tritonia gave herself as a companion to her charioteer-born brother 250
she gave herself; thence, surrounded with a hollow cloud, Seriphos
she deserts, with Cythnos and Gyaros left on the right,
and where over the sea the way seemed the most brief, Thebes
and virginal Helicon she seeks. Having gained which mountain
she stood and thus addressed the learned sisters:

255

'fama novi fontis nostras pervenit ad aures,
dura Medusaei quem praepetis ungula rupit.
is mihi causa viae; volui mirabile factum
cernere; vidi ipsum materno sanguine nasci.'
excipit Uranie: 'quaecumque est causa videndi

'the fame of a new spring has reached our ears,
which the hard hoof of Medusa’s wing-swift one broke open.
this was the cause of my journey; I wished to behold the marvelous deed;
I saw the very one be born from maternal blood.'
Urania takes it up: 'whatever the cause of seeing

260

has tibi, diva, domos, animo gratissima nostro es.
vera tamen fama est: est Pegasus huius origo
fontis' et ad latices deduxit Pallada sacros.
quae mirata diu factas pedis ictibus undas
silvarum lucos circumspicit antiquarum

these homes for you, goddess; you are most pleasing to our spirit.
yet the report is true: Pegasus is the origin of this fountain,
and he conducted Pallas to the sacred waters.
who, long marveling at the waves made by the foot’s blows,
she looks around at the groves of ancient forests

265

antraque et innumeris distinctas floribus herbas
felicesque vocat pariter studioque locoque
Mnemonidas; quam sic adfata est una sororum:
'o, nisi te virtus opera ad maiora tulisset,
in partem ventura chori Tritonia nostri,

and the caves and the grasses marked with numberless flowers,
and she calls the Mnemonides happy alike in zeal and in place;
whom one of the sisters thus addressed:
'O, if your virtue had not borne you to greater works,
Tritonia would have come into a share of our chorus,

270

vera refers meritoque probas artesque locumque,
et gratam sortem, tutae modo simus, habemus.
sed (vetitum est adeo sceleri nihil) omnia terrent
virgineas mentes, dirusque ante ora Pyreneus
vertitur, et nondum tota me mente recepi.

You relate true things and rightly approve both the arts and the place,
and we have a pleasing lot, provided only we be safe.
But (so far is nothing forbidden to crime) everything terrifies
virginal minds, and dire Pyreneus turns before our eyes,
and I have not yet wholly recovered myself in mind.

275

Daulida Threicio Phoceaque milite rura
ceperat ille ferox iniustaque regna tenebat;
templa petebamus Parnasia: vidit euntes
nostraque fallaci veneratus numina vultu
"Mnemonides" (cognorat enim), "consistite" dixit 280
"nec dubitate, precor, tecto grave sidus et imbrem"
(imber erat) "vitare meo; subiere minores
saepe casas superi." dictis et tempore motae
adnuimusque viro primasque intravimus aedes.
desierant imbres, victoque aquilonibus austro

He, fierce, had taken the Daulian and Phocian lands with Thracian soldiery and held unjust dominions;
we were seeking the Parnasian temples: he saw us going and, with a fallacious countenance, paid reverence to our divinities,
“Mnemonides” (for he had recognized us), “halt,” he said 280
“and do not hesitate, I pray, beneath my roof to avoid the oppressive season and the rain” (there was a downpour) “of mine; the gods above have often gone under humbler cottages.”
Moved by his words and by the occasion, we assented to the man and entered the first halls.
The rains had ceased, and with the South Wind victorious over the North Winds

285

fusca repurgato fugiebant nubila caelo:
inpetus ire fuit; claudit sua tecta Pyreneus
vimque parat, quam nos sumptis effugimus alis.
ipse secuturo similis stetit arduus arce
"qua" que "via est vobis, erit et mihi" dixit "eadem"

the dusky clouds were fleeing with the sky cleansed:
the impetus to go was upon us; Pyreneus shuts his own house
and prepares violence, which we, with wings assumed, escape.
he himself, like one about to follow, stood high on the citadel
and said, "the way that is for you will be the same for me"

290

seque iacit vecors e summae culmine turris
et cadit in vultus discussisque ossibus oris
tundit humum moriens scelerato sanguine tinctam.'
Musa loquebatur: pennae sonuere per auras,
voxque salutantum ramis veniebat ab altis.

and, senseless, he casts himself from the summit of the highest tower
and falls upon his face, and with the bones of his face shattered
he beats the ground, dying, the ground tinctured with criminal blood.'
The Muse was speaking: the wings resounded through the airs,
and the voice of those saluting was coming from the high branches.

295

suspicit et linguae quaerit tam certa loquentes
unde sonent hominemque putat Iove nata locutum;
ales erat. numeroque novem sua fata querentes
institerant ramis imitantes omnia picae.
miranti sic orsa deae dea 'nuper et istae

she looks up and seeks whence a tongue, speaking things so certain, sounds,
and the daughter of Jove thinks a human has spoken; it was a bird.
And in the number nine, lamenting their own fates,
magpies had settled on the branches, imitating everything.
to the goddess marveling the goddess thus began: 'lately even these

300

auxerunt volucrum victae certamine turbam.
Pieros has genuit Pellaeis dives in arvis,
Paeonis Euippe mater fuit; illa potentem
Lucinam noviens, noviens paritura, vocavit.
intumuit numero stolidarum turba sororum

they increased the throng of birds, defeated in the contest.
Pierus, rich in the Pellaean fields, begot these;
Euippe, of Paeon, was their mother; she called upon powerful
Lucina nine times, nine times about to give birth.
the crowd of stolid sisters swelled in number

305

perque tot Haemonias et per tot Achaidas urbes
huc venit et tali committit proelia voce:
"desinite indoctum vana dulcedine vulgus
fallere; nobiscum, si qua est fiducia vobis,
Thespiades, certate, deae. nec voce, nec arte

through so many Haemonian and through so many Achaean cities
she comes hither and with such a voice joins battle:
“cease to deceive the unlearned crowd with vain sweetness;
with us, if there is any confidence in you,
Thespiads, goddesses, contend. neither in voice nor in art

310

vincemur totidemque sumus: vel cedite victae
fonte Medusaeo et Hyantea Aganippe,
vel nos Emathiis ad Paeonas usque nivosos
cedemus campis! dirimant certamina nymphae."
'Turpe quidem contendere erat, sed cedere visum

we will be conquered, and we are just as many: either, as vanquished, yield
at the Medusaean spring and Hyantean Aganippe,
or we will yield the Emathian fields all the way to the snowy Paeonians!
Let the nymphs decide the contests."
'Shameful indeed it was to contend, but to yield seemed

315

turpius; electae iurant per flumina nymphae
factaque de vivo pressere sedilia saxo.
tunc sine sorte prior quae se certare professa est,
bella canit superum falsoque in honore gigantas
ponit et extenuat magnorum facta deorum;

more shameful; the chosen nymphs swear by the rivers
and pressed seats fashioned from living stone.
then, without lot, she who professed herself to contend first
sings of the wars of the gods above and sets the Giants in false honor
and extenuates the deeds of the great gods;

320

emissumque ima de sede Typhoea terrae
caelitibus fecisse metum cunctosque dedisse
terga fugae, donec fessos Aegyptia tellus
ceperit et septem discretus in ostia Nilus.
huc quoque terrigenam venisse Typhoea narrat

and that Typhoeus, sent forth from the lowest seat of the earth,
caused fear for the celestials and that all gave
their backs to flight, until the Egyptian land
received the weary, and the Nile, divided into seven mouths.
she also relates that hither came the earth-born Typhoeus

325

et se mentitis superos celasse figuris;
"duxque gregis" dixit "fit Iuppiter: unde recurvis
nunc quoque formatus Libys est cum cornibus Ammon;
Delius in corvo, proles Semeleia capro,
fele soror Phoebi, nivea Saturnia vacca,

and that the High Ones had hidden themselves in feigned figures;
“and ‘the leader of the flock,’” he said, “Jupiter becomes: whence the Libyan Ammon even now is formed with recurved horns;
the Delian in a raven, the Semelean progeny in a he-goat,
the sister of Phoebus in a cat, the Saturnian as a snow-white cow,

330

pisce Venus latuit, Cyllenius ibidis alis."
'Hactenus ad citharam vocalia moverat ora:
poscimur Aonides,++sed forsitan otia non sint,
nec nostris praebere vacet tibi cantibus aures.'
'ne dubita vestrumque mihi refer ordine carmen!'

"Venus hid in a fish, the Cyllenian with the ibis's wings."
'Thus far he had moved vocal mouths to the cithara:
we, the Aonides, are called for,++ but perhaps there is no leisure,
nor may it be free for you to offer your ears to our songs.'
'do not hesitate and recount to me your song in order!'

335

Pallas ait nemorisque levi consedit in umbra;
Musa refert: 'dedimus summam certaminis uni;
surgit et inmissos hedera collecta capillos
Calliope querulas praetemptat pollice chordas
atque haec percussis subiungit carmina nervis:

Pallas said, and sat down in the light shade of the grove;
The Muse replies: 'we have consigned the decision of the contest to one;
Calliope rises and, her unbound hair gathered with ivy,
preludes with her thumb upon the plaintive strings,
and to the smitten strings she subjoins these songs:'

340

"Prima Ceres unco glaebam dimovit aratro,
prima dedit fruges alimentaque mitia terris,
prima dedit leges; Cereris sunt omnia munus;
illa canenda mihi est. utinam modo dicere possim
carmina digna dea! certe dea carmine digna est.

"First Ceres with a hooked plow broke up the glebe,
first she gave fruits and gentle nourishments to the lands,
first she gave laws; all things are the gift of Ceres;
she is the one who must be sung by me. Would that I only could speak
songs worthy of the goddess! surely the goddess is worthy of song.

345

'"Vasta giganteis ingesta est insula membris
Trinacris et magnis subiectum molibus urguet
aetherias ausum sperare Typhoea sedes.
nititur ille quidem pugnatque resurgere saepe,
dextra sed Ausonio manus est subiecta Peloro,

'"A vast island has been heaped upon the gigantic limbs—Trinacria—and with great masses it presses Typhoeus, who dared to hope for aetherial seats.
he indeed strains and often fights to rise again,
but his right hand is placed beneath Ausonian Pelorus,

350

laeva, Pachyne, tibi, Lilybaeo crura premuntur,
degravat Aetna caput, sub qua resupinus harenas
eiectat flammamque ferox vomit ore Typhoeus.
saepe remoliri luctatur pondera terrae
oppidaque et magnos devolvere corpore montes:

the left hand, Pachynus, is beneath you; at Lilybaeum his shanks are pressed,
Aetna weighs down the head, beneath which, supine, Typhoeus ejects sands
and, ferocious, vomits flame from his mouth. Often he struggles to remove
the weights of the earth and to roll down from his body towns and great mountains:

355

inde tremit tellus, et rex pavet ipse silentum,
ne pateat latoque solum retegatur hiatu
inmissusque dies trepidantes terreat umbras.
hanc metuens cladem tenebrosa sede tyrannus
exierat curruque atrorum vectus equorum

then the earth trembles, and the king of the silent ones himself grows afraid,
lest it lie open and the ground be uncovered by a wide hiatus,
and admitted daylight terrify the trembling shades.
fearing this disaster, the tyrant from his tenebrous seat
had gone forth and, borne in a chariot of black horses

360

ambibat Siculae cautus fundamina terrae.
postquam exploratum satis est loca nulla labare
depositoque metu, videt hunc Erycina vagantem
monte suo residens natumque amplexa volucrem
'arma manusque meae, mea, nate, potentia' dixit,

he was circling cautiously the foundations of the Sicilian earth.
after it was sufficiently ascertained that no places were slipping
and, fear laid aside, Erycina, sitting on her mountain, sees him wandering
and, embracing her winged son, said,
'arms and hands of mine, my, son, power' she said,

365

'illa, quibus superas omnes, cape tela, Cupido,
inque dei pectus celeres molire sagittas,
cui triplicis cessit fortuna novissima regni.
tu superos ipsumque Iovem, tu numina ponti
victa domas ipsumque, regit qui numina ponti:

'those missiles with which you surpass all, take up, Cupid,
and into the god’s breast ply your swift arrows,
to whom the newest fortune of the threefold realm has fallen.
you the gods above and Jove himself, you the numina of the deep
subdue as vanquished, and him himself who rules the numina of the deep:

370

Tartara quid cessant? cur non matrisque tuumque
imperium profers? agitur pars tertia mundi,
et tamen in caelo, quae iam patientia nostra est,
spernimur, ac mecum vires minuuntur Amoris.
Pallada nonne vides iaculatricemque Dianam

Why does Tartarus delay? Why do you not advance both your mother’s dominion and your own? The third part of the world is at stake, and yet in heaven—such now is our patience—we are scorned, and along with me the powers of Love are diminished. Do you not see Pallas and Diana the dart-hurling?

375

abscessisse mihi? Cereris quoque filia virgo,
si patiemur, erit; nam spes adfectat easdem.
at tu pro socio, si qua est ea gratia, regno
iunge deam patruo.' dixit Venus; ille pharetram
solvit et arbitrio matris de mille sagittis

to have withdrawn from me? Ceres’s daughter too will be a virgin, if we allow it; for Hope aims at the same things.
but you, on behalf of an ally—if there is any such favor—, to the kingdom
yoke the goddess to her paternal uncle.' said Venus; he loosened his quiver
and, at his mother’s arbitration, from a thousand arrows

380

unam seposuit, sed qua nec acutior ulla
nec minus incerta est nec quae magis audiat arcus,
oppositoque genu curvavit flexile cornum
inque cor hamata percussit harundine Ditem.
'"Haud procul Hennaeis lacus est a moenibus altae,

he set one aside, but than which none is sharper,
nor less inerrant, nor one that more heeds the bow;
and with his knee set opposite he bent the pliant horn,
and into the heart he struck Dis with a barbed reed.
'"Not far from the Hennaean walls of lofty Henna is a lake,"

385

nomine Pergus, aquae: non illo plura Caystros
carmina cycnorum labentibus audit in undis.
silva coronat aquas cingens latus omne suisque
frondibus ut velo Phoebeos submovet ictus;
frigora dant rami, Tyrios humus umida flores:

named Pergus, waters: not upon that does the Cayster
hear more songs of swans on its gliding waves.
a forest crowns the waters, girding every side, and with its
leaves, as with a veil, it wards off Phoebean blows;
the branches give coolness, the moist soil gives Tyrian flowers:

390

perpetuum ver est. quo dum Proserpina luco
ludit et aut violas aut candida lilia carpit,
dumque puellari studio calathosque sinumque
inplet et aequales certat superare legendo,
paene simul visa est dilectaque raptaque Diti:

there is perpetual spring. where, while Proserpina plays in the grove
and either violets or shining-white lilies plucks,
and while with maidenly zeal she fills both her baskets and her lap,
and strives to surpass her equals in gathering,
almost at once she was seen and loved and snatched by Dis:

395

usque adeo est properatus amor. dea territa maesto
et matrem et comites, sed matrem saepius, ore
clamat, et ut summa vestem laniarat ab ora,
collecti flores tunicis cecidere remissis,
tantaque simplicitas puerilibus adfuit annis,

to such a degree was love hastened. the goddess, terrified, with mournful
mouth, calls both her mother and her companions, but her mother more often,
and as she had lacerated her garment from the upper hem,
the gathered flowers fell, with the tunics relaxed,
and such simplicity attended her puerile years,

400

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

This loss too stirred her virginal sorrow.
The ravisher drives the chariot and, calling each by name,
exhorts the horses, and along their necks and manes
he shakes out the dark reins dyed with ferruginous stain,
and is borne through deep lakes and places reeking of sulfur

405

stagna Palicorum rupta ferventia terra
et qua Bacchiadae, bimari gens orta Corintho,
inter inaequales posuerunt moenia portus.
'"Est medium Cyanes et Pisaeae Arethusae,
quod coit angustis inclusum cornibus aequor:

the pools of the Palici, boiling from ruptured earth,
and where the Bacchiadae, a people sprung from two-sea Corinth,
placed their walls between unequal harbors.
'"There is between the Cyane and Pisaean Arethusa,
a sea which, enclosed within narrow horns, comes together:

410

hic fuit, a cuius stagnum quoque nomine dictum est,
inter Sicelidas Cyane celeberrima nymphas.
gurgite quae medio summa tenus exstitit alvo
adgnovitque deam 'ne' c 'longius ibitis!' inquit;
'non potes invitae Cereris gener esse: roganda,

here was she, by whose name the pool also has been named,
among the Sicelid nymphs, Cyane, most celebrated.
who, from the middle of the whirlpool, rose up as far as the top of her belly,
recognized the goddess and said, 'do not go farther!'
'you cannot be the son-in-law of Ceres against her will: she must be asked,

415

non rapienda fuit. quodsi conponere magnis
parva mihi fas est, et me dilexit Anapis;
exorata tamen, nec, ut haec, exterrita nupsi.'
dixit et in partes diversas bracchia tendens
obstitit. haud ultra tenuit Saturnius iram

she was not to be snatched. But if it is lawful for me to match small things with great, Anapis too loved me; yet, being won over by entreaty, I married, not, like this girl, terrified.'
she spoke, and stretching her arms in different directions, she stood in the way. The Saturnian held his anger no longer

420

terribilesque hortatus equos in gurgitis ima
contortum valido sceptrum regale lacerto
condidit; icta viam tellus in Tartara fecit
et pronos currus medio cratere recepit.
'"At Cyane, raptamque deam contemptaque fontis

and having urged on the terrible horses into the depths of the whirlpool
he plunged the royal scepter, having whirled it with his mighty upper arm;
the smitten earth made a way into Tartarus
and received the headlong chariot in the mid crater.
'"But Cyane, and the ravished goddess and the contempt of the spring

425

iura sui maerens, inconsolabile vulnus
mente gerit tacita lacrimisque absumitur omnis
et, quarum fuerat magnum modo numen, in illas
extenuatur aquas: molliri membra videres,
ossa pati flexus, ungues posuisse rigorem;

mourning her own rights, she bears an inconsolable wound
in her silent mind, and she, in her entirety, is consumed by tears;
and she, whose numen had but now been great, into those
waters is attenuated: you might see her limbs softened,
her bones undergo bendings, her nails set aside their rigor;

430

primaque de tota tenuissima quaeque liquescunt,
caerulei crines digitique et crura pedesque
(nam brevis in gelidas membris exilibus undas
transitus est); post haec umeri tergusque latusque
pectoraque in tenues abeunt evanida rivos;

and first, of the whole, whatever is most tenuous liquefies,
the cerulean hair and the digits and the shanks and the feet
(for the transit into the gelid waves is brief for slender limbs);
after these the shoulders and the hide and the flank
and the breasts pass into thin, evanescent rivulets;

435

denique pro vivo vitiatas sanguine venas
lympha subit, restatque nihil, quod prendere possis.
'"Interea pavidae nequiquam filia matri
omnibus est terris, omni quaesita profundo.
illam non udis veniens Aurora capillis

finally, instead of living blood, lymph enters the veins vitiated by blood, and nothing remains that you can grasp.
'"Meanwhile the daughter is sought in vain by her fearful mother
through all the lands, through every deep.
her, Dawn coming with wet hair does not see

440

cessantem vidit, non Hesperus; illa duabus
flammiferas pinus manibus succendit ab Aetna
perque pruinosas tulit inrequieta tenebras;
rursus ubi alma dies hebetarat sidera, natam
solis ab occasu solis quaerebat ad ortus.

did not see her resting, nor did Hesperus; she with both hands kindled torch-bearing pines from Aetna
and, unresting, bore them through the frosty darkness;
again, when kindly day had dulled the stars, she sought
her daughter from the sun’s setting to the sun’s rising.

445

fessa labore sitim conceperat, oraque nulli
conluerant fontes, cum tectam stramine vidit
forte casam parvasque fores pulsavit; at inde
prodit anus divamque videt lymphamque roganti
dulce dedit, tosta quod texerat ante polenta.

weary with toil she had conceived thirst, and no fountains
had washed her lips, when she by chance saw a hut covered with straw
and knocked at the small doors; but from there
an old woman came forth, and seeing the goddess, to her asking for limpid water
gave a sweet draft, which she had earlier mixed with toasted polenta.

450

dum bibit illa datum, duri puer oris et audax
constitit ante deam risitque avidamque vocavit.
offensa est neque adhuc epota parte loquentem
cum liquido mixta perfudit diva polenta:
conbibit os maculas et, quae modo bracchia gessit,

while she was drinking what had been given, a boy hard-faced and audacious
stood before the goddess and laughed and called her avid.
she was offended, and while he was still speaking, with the portion not yet drunk down,
the goddess drenched him with polenta mixed with liquid:
his face drank in spots, and the things which just now she bore as arms,

455

crura gerit; cauda est mutatis addita membris,
inque brevem formam, ne sit vis magna nocendi,
contrahitur, parvaque minor mensura lacerta est.
mirantem flentemque et tangere monstra parantem
fugit anum latebramque petit aptumque pudori

he bears legs; a tail has been added to the changed limbs,
and into a brief form, lest there be great force of harming,
he is contracted, and, a small thing, the lizard is of lesser measure.
fleeing the old woman—marveling and weeping and preparing to touch the monsters—
he seeks a hiding place, one suited to modesty.

460

nomen habet variis stellatus corpora guttis.
'"Quas dea per terras et quas erraverit undas,
dicere longa mora est; quaerenti defuit orbis;
Sicaniam repetit, dumque omnia lustrat eundo,
venit et ad Cyanen. ea ni mutata fuisset,

it has a name, its body starred with various little drops.
'"What lands the goddess and what waves she has wandered,
to tell would be a long delay; the world failed her as she sought;
she returns to Sicily, and while she surveys everything by going,
she also comes to Cyane. she—had she not been changed—

465

omnia narrasset; sed et os et lingua volenti
dicere non aderant, nec, quo loqueretur, habebat;
signa tamen manifesta dedit notamque parenti,
illo forte loco delapsam in gurgite sacro
Persephones zonam summis ostendit in undis.

she would have told all; but both mouth and tongue to her willing to speak were not present, nor had she that with which she might speak; nevertheless she gave manifest signs and a recognizable token to the parent, and in the highest waves she showed Persephone’s girdle, which in that place by chance had slipped down into the sacred whirlpool.

470

quam simul agnovit, tamquam tum denique raptam
scisset, inornatos laniavit diva capillos
et repetita suis percussit pectora palmis.
nescit adhuc, ubi sit; terras tamen increpat omnes
ingratasque vocat nec frugum munere dignas,

as soon as she recognized it, as if then at last she had known her rapt,
the goddess tore her unadorned hair
and with her own palms struck her breast again and again.
she does not yet know where she is; nevertheless she reproaches all the lands
and calls them ungrateful and not worthy of the gift of fruits,

475

Trinacriam ante alias, in qua vestigia damni
repperit. ergo illic saeva vertentia glaebas
fregit aratra manu, parilique irata colonos
ruricolasque boves leto dedit arvaque iussit
fallere depositum vitiataque semina fecit.

Trinacria before the others, in which she found the traces of the loss,
therefore there, savage, she broke with her hand the ploughs turning the clods,
and, equally enraged, she gave the farmers
and the rural oxen to death, and ordered the fields
to betray their deposit, and made the seeds vitiated.

480

fertilitas terrae latum vulgata per orbem
falsa iacet: primis segetes moriuntur in herbis,
et modo sol nimius, nimius modo corripit imber;
sideraque ventique nocent, avidaeque volucres
semina iacta legunt; lolium tribulique fatigant

the fertility of the earth, widely proclaimed throughout the wide world, lies false:
the crops die in their first blades,
and now too-great sun, now too-great rain snatches them away;
and stars and winds do harm, and avid birds
pick the sown seeds; darnel and caltrop wear them down

485

triticeas messes et inexpugnabile gramen.
'"Tum caput Eleis Alpheias extulit undis
rorantesque comas a fronte removit ad aures
atque ait 'o toto quaesitae virginis orbe
et frugum genetrix, inmensos siste labores

wheaten harvests and the inexpugnable grass.
'"Then Alpheius lifted his head from the Elean waves
and removed his dewy locks from his brow to his ears
and said 'O mother of the maiden sought through the whole world, and mother of fruits, halt your immense labors

490

neve tibi fidae violenta irascere terrae.
terra nihil meruit patuitque invita rapinae,
nec sum pro patria supplex: huc hospita veni.
Pisa mihi patria est et ab Elide ducimus ortus,
Sicaniam peregrina colo, sed gratior omni

nor be wrathful with violent anger against the earth faithful to you.
the earth deserved nothing and, unwilling, lay open to the rapine,
nor am I a suppliant for my fatherland: hither as a guest I came.
Pisa is my native land, and from Elis we draw our origin,
as a foreigner I inhabit Sicily, but more welcome than any

495

haec mihi terra solo est: hos nunc Arethusa penates,
hanc habeo sedem. quam tu, mitissima, serva.
mota loco cur sim tantique per aequoris undas
advehar Ortygiam, veniet narratibus hora
tempestiva meis, cum tu curaque levata

this land is my ground: these now are Arethusa’s Penates,
this seat I have. which you, most gentle one, preserve.
why I was moved from my place and over so great a stretch of the sea’s waves
I was borne to Ortygia, a seasonable hour will come
for my narrations, when you too, with your care lightened

500

et vultus melioris eris. mihi pervia tellus
praebet iter, subterque imas ablata cavernas
hic caput attollo desuetaque sidera cerno.
ergo dum Stygio sub terris gurgite labor,
visa tua est oculis illic Proserpina nostris:

and you will be of a better visage. to me the pervious earth offers a path,
and, carried beneath through the deepest caverns,
here I lift my head and behold the unaccustomed stars.
therefore, while I toil beneath the earth in the Stygian whirlpool,
there your Proserpina was seen by our eyes:

505

illa quidem tristis neque adhuc interrita vultu,
sed regina tamen, sed opaci maxima mundi,
sed tamen inferni pollens matrona tyranni!'
Mater ad auditas stupuit ceu saxea voces
attonitaeque diu similis fuit, utque dolore

she indeed was sad and with a countenance not yet unfrightened,
but queen nonetheless, but greatest of the shadowy world,
but yet the powerful matron of the infernal tyrant!'
The Mother, at the voices heard, was stupefied as if of stone,
and for a long time was like one thunderstruck, and as by grief

510

pulsa gravi gravis est amentia, curribus oras
exit in aetherias: ibi toto nubila vultu
ante Iovem passis stetit invidiosa capillis
'pro' que 'meo veni supplex tibi, Iuppiter,' inquit
'sanguine proque tuo: si nulla est gratia matris,

Driven by heavy grief, a grievous madness is upon her; in her chariot she goes forth to the aetherial shores
there, with her whole countenance clouded,
before Jove she stood, envious, with hair let loose;
‘For my — and for yours — I have come to you as a suppliant, Jupiter,’ she says,
‘blood, and for yours: if there is no favor for a mother,

515

nata patrem moveat, neu sit tibi cura, precamur,
vilior illius, quod nostro est edita partu.
en quaesita diu tandem mihi nata reperta est,
si reperire vocas amittere certius, aut si
scire, ubi sit, reperire vocas. quod rapta, feremus,

may the daughter move her father, and let it not be, we pray, that your care for her be the cheaper, because she was brought forth by my childbirth.
lo, the daughter long sought is at last found for me, if you call “to find” to lose more surely, or if you call “to find” to know where she is.
as for her having been abducted, we shall bear it,

520

dummodo reddat eam! neque enim praedone marito
filia digna tua est, si iam mea filia non est.'
Iuppiter excepit 'commune est pignus onusque
nata mihi tecum; sed si modo nomina rebus
addere vera placet, non hoc iniuria factum,

'provided that he returns her! for indeed a daughter of yours is not worthy of a robber as a husband, if now she is not my daughter.'
Jupiter took up: 'the daughter is a common pledge and burden to me together with you; but if it pleases to add true names to things, this was not done by injustice,'

525

verum amor est; neque erit nobis gener ille pudori,
tu modo, diva, velis. ut desint cetera, quantum est
esse Iovis fratrem! quid, quod nec cetera desunt
nec cedit nisi sorte mihi?++sed tanta cupido
si tibi discidii est, repetet Proserpina caelum,

but it is love; nor will that son-in-law be a shame to us,
only do you, goddess, be willing. Even if the rest were lacking, how great a thing it is
to be the brother of Jove! What of the fact that the rest are not lacking,
and that he yields to me in nothing except by lot?++but if so great a desire
of separation is yours, Proserpina will seek heaven again,

530

lege tamen certa, si nullos contigit illic
ore cibos; nam sic Parcarum foedere cautum est.'
'"Dixerat, at Cereri certum est educere natam;
non ita fata sinunt, quoniam ieiunia virgo
solverat et, cultis dum simplex errat in hortis,

yet by a fixed law, if she touched no foods there with her mouth; for thus it is provided by the covenant of the Parcae.'
'"She had spoken, but it is certain for Ceres to lead out her daughter;
not so do the fates allow, since the maiden had loosed her fast, and, while guileless she wanders in the cultivated gardens,

535

puniceum curva decerpserat arbore pomum
sumptaque pallenti septem de cortice grana
presserat ore suo, solusque ex omnibus illud
Ascalaphus vidit, quem quondam dicitur Orphne,
inter Avernales haud ignotissima nymphas,

she had plucked a pomegranate from the curved tree
and, having taken seven seeds from the pallid rind,
had pressed them with her own mouth; and Ascalaphus alone of all saw that,
whom once Orphne, by no means unknown among the Avernian nymphs, is said to have borne,

540

ex Acheronte suo silvis peperisse sub atris;
vidit et indicio reditum crudelis ademit.
ingemuit regina Erebi testemque profanam
fecit avem sparsumque caput Phlegethontide lympha
in rostrum et plumas et grandia lumina vertit.

to have borne him from her own Acheron beneath the dark woods;
he saw it, and by his disclosure the cruel one took away the return.
the queen of Erebus groaned and made the profane witness a bird
and, his head sprinkled with Phlegethontic water, she turned it into a beak and feathers and large eyes.

545

ille sibi ablatus fulvis amicitur in alis
inque caput crescit longosque reflectitur ungues
vixque movet natas per inertia bracchia pennas
foedaque fit volucris, venturi nuntia luctus,
ignavus bubo, dirum mortalibus omen.

he, taken from himself, is clothed in tawny wings,
and upon his head it grows, and his long talons are bent back,
and scarcely does he move the plumes born upon his inert arms,
and he becomes a foul bird, a messenger of coming grief,
the sluggish horned-owl, a dire omen for mortals.

550

'"Hic tamen indicio poenam linguaque videri
commeruisse potest; vobis, Acheloides, unde
pluma pedesque avium, cum virginis ora geratis?
an quia, cum legeret vernos Proserpina flores,
in comitum numero, doctae Sirenes, eratis?

'"Here, however, he can be seen by evidence and by his tongue to have merited the penalty;
but you, Acheloides, whence
the plumage and the feet of birds, while you bear a maiden's face?
Or is it because, when Proserpina was gathering vernal flowers,
in the number of companions, learned Sirens, you were?

555

quam postquam toto frustra quaesistis in orbe,
protinus, et vestram sentirent aequora curam,
posse super fluctus alarum insistere remis
optastis facilesque deos habuistis et artus
vidistis vestros subitis flavescere pennis.

whom, after you sought in vain through the whole orb,
straightway, and that the seas might feel your care,
you wished to be able to stand upon the waves with the oars of your wings,
and you found the gods favorable, and you saw
your own limbs turn golden with sudden feathers.

560

ne tamen ille canor mulcendas natus ad aures
tantaque dos oris linguae deperderet usum,
virginei vultus et vox humana remansit.
'"At medius fratrisque sui maestaeque sororis
Iuppiter ex aequo volventem dividit annum:

lest, however, that song, born for soothing ears,
and so great a dowry of the mouth should lose the use of the tongue,
a maidenly countenance and a human voice remained.
'"But as mediator Jupiter divides the rolling year equally
between his brother and his sorrowful sister:"

565

nunc dea, regnorum numen commune duorum,
cum matre est totidem, totidem cum coniuge menses.
vertitur extemplo facies et mentis et oris;
nam modo quae poterat Diti quoque maesta videri,
laeta deae frons est, ut sol, qui tectus aquosis

now the goddess, the numen common to two kingdoms,
is with her mother for as many months, for as many with her consort.
at once the aspect of both mind and face is changed;
for she who just now could seem sorrowful even to Dis,
the goddess’s brow is glad, like the sun, who, veiled by watery

570

nubibus ante fuit, victis e nubibus exit.
'"Exigit alma Ceres nata secura recepta,
quae tibi causa fugae, cur sis, Arethusa, sacer fons.
conticuere undae, quarum dea sustulit alto
fonte caput viridesque manu siccata capillos

he had been beneath clouds before; with the clouds conquered, he comes forth from the clouds.
'"Nurturing Ceres presses, her daughter safe once recovered,
what was the cause of your flight, why you are, Arethusa, a sacred fountain.
the waves fell silent, whose goddess raised from the deep
fountain her head, and, having dried with her hand her green tresses

575

fluminis Elei veteres narravit amores.
'pars ego nympharum, quae sunt in Achaide,' dixit
'una fui, nec me studiosius altera saltus
legit nec posuit studiosius altera casses.
sed quamvis formae numquam mihi fama petita est,

she recounted the ancient loves of the Elean river.
'I was one of the nymphs who are in Achaia,' she said,
'and no other more studiously selected the glades
nor more studiously set the snares.
But although a reputation for beauty was never sought by me,

580

quamvis fortis eram, formosae nomen habebam,
nec mea me facies nimium laudata iuvabat,
quaque aliae gaudere solent, ego rustica dote
corporis erubui crimenque placere putavi.
lassa revertebar (memini) Stymphalide silva;

although I was brave, I had the name of beautiful,
nor did my face, too much praised, delight me,
and in what others are accustomed to rejoice, I, rustic in the dowry of the body,
blushed, and thought it a crime to please.
weary I was returning (I remember) from the Stymphalian forest;

585

aestus erat, magnumque labor geminaverat aestum:
invenio sine vertice aquas, sine murmure euntes,
perspicuas ad humum, per quas numerabilis alte
calculus omnis erat, quas tu vix ire putares.
cana salicta dabant nutritaque populus unda

It was heat, and toil had doubled the great heat:
I find waters without vortex, going without murmur,
perspicuous to the ground, through which every pebble deep could be counted,
which you would scarcely think were going.
hoary willow-groves were giving, and a poplar nourished by the wave

590

sponte sua natas ripis declivibus umbras.
accessi primumque pedis vestigia tinxi,
poplite deinde tenus; neque eo contenta, recingor
molliaque inpono salici velamina curvae
nudaque mergor aquis. quas dum ferioque trahoque

of their own accord the shades born on the sloping banks.
I approached and first I wetted the footprints of my foot,
then up to the knee; and not content with that, I ungird myself,
and I lay my soft garments upon a curved willow,
and naked I plunge into the waters, which while I beat and draw

595

mille modis labens excussaque bracchia iacto,
nescio quod medio sensi sub gurgite murmur
territaque insisto propioris margine ripae.
"quo properas, Arethusa?" suis Alpheos ab undis,
"quo properas?" iterum rauco mihi dixerat ore. 600
sicut eram, fugio sine vestibus (altera vestes
ripa meas habuit): tanto magis instat et ardet,
et quia nuda fui, sum visa paratior illi.
sic ego currebam, sic me ferus ille premebat,
ut fugere accipitrem penna trepidante columbae,

slipping in a thousand ways, I fling my shaken arms,
I sensed I know not what murmur beneath the mid-whirlpool,
and, terrified, I set foot on the edge of the nearer bank.
"Whither do you hasten, Arethusa?" from his own waves Alpheus,
"whither do you hasten?" again had said to me with a raucous voice. 600
just as I was, I flee without garments (the other bank had my clothes):
so much the more he presses and burns, and because I was nude, I seemed more prepared to him.
thus I was running, thus that wild one was pressing me,
as doves, with trembling wing, to flee a hawk,

605

ut solet accipiter trepidas urguere columbas.
usque sub Orchomenon Psophidaque Cyllenenque
Maenaliosque sinus gelidumque Erymanthon et Elin
currere sustinui, nec me velocior ille;
sed tolerare diu cursus ego viribus inpar

as a hawk is wont to press trembling doves.
all the way beneath Orchomenus and Psophis and Cyllene
and the Maenalian vales and the gelid Erymanthus and Elis
I kept running, nor was he swifter than I;
but I, unequal in strength, to endure the running for long

610

non poteram, longi patiens erat ille laboris.
per tamen et campos, per opertos arbore montes,
saxa quoque et rupes et, qua via nulla, cucurri.
sol erat a tergo: vidi praecedere longam
ante pedes umbram, nisi si timor illa videbat;

I was not able; he was enduring of long toil.
yet through fields, through mountains covered with tree,
rocks too and crags and, where there was no road, I ran.
the sun was at my back: I saw a long shadow go before
before my feet, unless if fear was seeing it;

615

sed certe sonitusque pedum terrebat et ingens
crinales vittas adflabat anhelitus oris.
fessa labore fugae "fer opem, deprendimur," inquam
"armigerae, Diana, tuae, cui saepe dedisti
ferre tuos arcus inclusaque tela pharetra!"

but certainly both the sound of feet was terrifying, and an enormous panting from his mouth blew upon my hair-fillets.
weary with the labor of flight, "bring help; we are caught," I say,
"to your armor-bearer, Diana, to whom you have often granted
to carry your bows and the missiles enclosed in the quiver!"

620

mota dea est spissisque ferens e nubibus unam
me super iniecit: lustrat caligine tectam
amnis et ignarus circum cava nubila quaerit
bisque locum, quo me dea texerat, inscius ambit
et bis "io Arethusa" vocavit, "io Arethusa!"

the goddess was moved, and bearing from the thick clouds a single cloud
she cast it over me: the river surveys me, covered in caliginous murk,
and unknowing he seeks around the hollow clouds,
and twice, not knowing, he circles the place where the goddess had covered me,
and twice he called, "O Arethusa," "O Arethusa!"

625

quid mihi tunc animi miserae fuit? anne quod agnae est,
si qua lupos audit circum stabula alta frementes,
aut lepori, qui vepre latens hostilia cernit
ora canum nullosque audet dare corpore motus?
non tamen abscedit; neque enim vestigia cernit

What spirit had I then, wretched? Or the sort that a lamb has,
if any hears wolves growling around the high folds,
or for a hare, who, hiding in the briar, discerns the hostile
mouths of the dogs and dares to give no movements with his body?
Yet he does not withdraw; for he does not discern vestiges

630

longius ulla pedum: servat nubemque locumque.
occupat obsessos sudor mihi frigidus artus,
caeruleaeque cadunt toto de corpore guttae,
quaque pedem movi, manat lacus, eque capillis
ros cadit, et citius, quam nunc tibi facta renarro,

no farther any footprints: he keeps watch on both the cloud and the place.
a cold sweat seizes my besieged limbs,
and cerulean drops fall from my whole body,
and wherever I moved my foot, a pool wells, and from my hair
dew falls, and more quickly than I now recount the deeds to you,

635

in latices mutor. sed enim cognoscit amatas
amnis aquas positoque viri, quod sumpserat, ore
vertitur in proprias, et se mihi misceat, undas.
Delia rupit humum, caecisque ego mersa cavernis
advehor Ortygiam, quae me cognomine divae

into waters I am changed. but indeed the river recognizes his beloved waters,
and, with the face of a man which he had assumed set aside,
he turns into his own, and would mingle his waves with mine.
Delia broke the ground, and I, submerged in blind caverns,
am borne to Ortygia, which, by the goddess’s cognomen,

640

grata meae superas eduxit prima sub auras.'
'"Hac Arethusa tenus; geminos dea fertilis angues
curribus admovit frenisque coercuit ora
et medium caeli terraeque per aera vecta est
atque levem currum Tritonida misit in urbem

which, dear to my goddess, led me forth first up into the upper airs.'
'"Thus far Arethusa; the fertile goddess applied twin serpents
to her chariot and with the reins coerced their mouths
and, conveyed through the air in the middle of heaven and earth,
she sent the light chariot into the Tritonid city

645

Triptolemo partimque rudi data semina iussit
spargere humo, partim post tempora longa recultae.
iam super Europen sublimis et Asida terram
vectus erat iuvenis: Scythicas advertitur oras.
rex ibi Lyncus erat; regis subit ille penates.

She ordered Triptolemus to scatter the seeds given, partly on rough soil, partly on land re-cultivated after long times.
Already above Europe and the Asiatic land the youth had been borne aloft: he turns toward the Scythian shores.
There the king was Lyncus; he enters the king’s household.

650

qua veniat, causamque viae nomenque rogatus
et patriam, 'patria est clarae mihi' dixit 'Athenae;
Triptolemus nomen; veni nec puppe per undas,
nec pede per terras: patuit mihi pervius aether.
dona fero Cereris, latos quae sparsa per agros

asked whence he comes, and the cause of the journey and his name and fatherland, he said, 'my fatherland is famous Athens;
Triptolemus is the name; I came neither by ship over the waves,
nor by foot over the lands: the pervious aether lay open to me.
I bear the gifts of Ceres, which, scattered over broad fields

655

frugiferas messes alimentaque mitia reddant.'
barbarus invidit tantique ut muneris auctor
ipse sit, hospitio recipit somnoque gravatum
adgreditur ferro: conantem figere pectus
lynca Ceres fecit rursusque per aera iussit

may render frugiferous harvests and mild aliments.'
the barbarian envied, and, that he himself might be the author of so great a gift,
he receives him into hospitality and, when he was heavy with sleep,
he attacks with iron: as he was attempting to transfix his breast,
Ceres made him a lynx and bade him again through the air

660

Mopsopium iuvenem sacros agitare iugales."
'Finierat doctos e nobis maxima cantus;
at nymphae vicisse deas Helicona colentes
concordi dixere sono: convicia victae
cum iacerent, "quoniam" dixi "certamine vobis

"that a Mopsopian youth drives the sacred yoke-team."
'The greatest among us had finished the learned songs;
but the nymphs, with one voice, said that the goddesses who dwell on Helicon had won:
when the conquered were hurling revilings, "since," I said, "in the contest for you

665

supplicium meruisse parum est maledictaque culpae
additis et non est patientia libera nobis,
ibimus in poenas et, qua vocat ira, sequemur."
rident Emathides spernuntque minacia verba,
conantesque loqui et magno clamore protervas

to have merited punishment is too little, and with curses added to the fault,
and patience is not free to us,
we will go into penalties and, where ire calls, we will follow."
the Emathides laugh and spurn the minatory words,
and, trying to speak, and with great clamor insolent

670

intentare manus pennas exire per ungues
adspexere suos, operiri bracchia plumis,
alteraque alterius rigido concrescere rostro
ora videt volucresque novas accedere silvis;
dumque volunt plangi, per bracchia mota levatae

they try to employ their hands; they behold feathers go forth through their own nails,
their arms to be covered with plumes,
and each sees the other’s mouth harden into a rigid beak,
and new birds draw near to the woods;
and while they wish to be mourned, lifted by their moved arms

675

aere pendebant, nemorum convicia, picae.
Nunc quoque in alitibus facundia prisca remansit
raucaque garrulitas studiumque inmane loquendi.'

in the air they were hanging, the magpies, the revilings of the groves.
Even now in the birds their ancient facundity has remained
and raucous garrulity and an immense zeal for speaking.'