Ovid: METAMORPHOSES

Iamque fretum Minyae Pagasaea puppe secabant,
perpetuaque trahens inopem sub nocte senectam
Phineus visus erat, iuvenesque Aquilone creati
virgineas volucres miseri senis ore fugarant,
multaque perpessi claro sub Iasone tandem

And now the Minyae were cleaving the strait with the Pagasaean ship,
and Phineus had been seen, dragging his indigent old age under perpetual night,
and the youths begotten by the North Wind
had put to flight from the mouth the maidenly birds of the wretched old man,
and, having endured many things under illustrious Jason, at last

contigerant rapidas limosi Phasidos undas.
dumque adeunt regem Phrixeaque vellera poscunt
lexque datur Minyis magnorum horrenda laborum,
concipit interea validos Aeetias ignes
et luctata diu, postquam ratione furorem

they had reached the swift waves of the muddy Phasis.
and while they approach the king and demand the Phrixean fleeces
and a law is given to the Minyans, dreadful with great labors,
meanwhile the Aeetian girl conceives mighty fires
and, having struggled for a long time, after by reason the frenzy

vincere non poterat, 'frustra, Medea, repugnas:
nescio quis deus obstat,' ait, 'mirumque, nisi hoc est,
aut aliquid certe simile huic, quod amare vocatur.
nam cur iussa patris nimium mihi dura videntur?
sunt quoque dura nimis! cur, quem modo denique vidi,

she could not overcome it, 'in vain, Medea, you resist:
I do not know what god obstructs,' she says, 'and it is a marvel—unless this is it,
or at any rate something surely similar to this, which is called to love.
for why do the orders of my father seem too harsh to me?
they are too harsh as well! why is it that the man whom I only just at last saw,

ne pereat, timeo? quae tanti causa timoris?
excute virgineo conceptas pectore flammas,
si potes, infelix!

Do I fear that he may perish? What is the cause of such great fear?
Shake off, from your virginal breast, the flames conceived,
if you can, ill-fated one!

si possem, sanior essem!
sed trahit invitam nova vis, aliudque cupido,
mens aliud suadet: video meliora proboque,

if I could, I would be saner!
but a new force drags me, unwilling, and Cupid desires one thing,
the mind urges another: I see the better things and I approve them,

deteriora sequor. quid in hospite, regia virgo,
ureris et thalamos alieni concipis orbis?
haec quoque terra potest, quod ames, dare.

i follow the worse. why, for a guest, royal maiden,
do you burn and conceive the nuptial chambers of an alien world?
this land too can give what you may love.

vivat an ille
occidat, in dis est. vivat tamen! idque precari
vel sine amore licet: quid enim commisit Iason?

whether he lives
or dies is with the gods. yet let him live! and to pray for that
even without love is permitted: for what has Jason committed?

quem, nisi crudelem, non tangat Iasonis aetas
et genus et virtus? quem non, ut cetera desint,
ore movere potest? certe mea pectora movit.
at nisi opem tulero, taurorum adflabitur ore
concurretque suae segeti, tellure creatis

whom, unless cruel, would not Jason’s age
and race and virtue touch? whom would he not, even if the rest be lacking,
be able to move with his face? surely he has moved my breast.
but unless I bring help, he will be breathed upon by the mouths of the bulls
and will clash with his own harvest, created from the earth

hostibus, aut avido dabitur fera praeda draconi.
hoc ego si patiar, tum me de tigride natam,
tum ferrum et scopulos gestare in corde fatebor!
cur non et specto pereuntem oculosque videndo
conscelero? cur non tauros exhortor in illum

to the enemies, or he will be given as fierce prey to the avid dragon.
if I allow this, then I will confess myself born of a tigress,
then I will own that I bear iron and crags in my heart!
why do I not even spectate him perishing, and by seeing pollute my eyes?
why do I not exhort the bulls against him

terrigenasque feros insopitumque draconem?
di meliora velint! quamquam non ista precanda,
sed facienda mihi.—prodamne ego regna parentis,
atque ope nescio quis servabitur advena nostra,
ut per me sospes sine me det lintea ventis

and the earth-born savages and the unsleeping dragon?
may the gods will better things! although those things are not to be prayed for, but to be done by me.—
shall I betray my parent’s kingdom,
and by our aid some I-know-not-who foreigner be saved,
so that, safe through me, he may give his sails to the winds without me?

virque sit alterius, poenae Medea relinquar?
si facere hoc aliamve potest praeponere nobis,
occidat ingratus! sed non is vultus in illo,
non ea nobilitas animo est, ea gratia formae,
ut timeam fraudem meritique oblivia nostri.

and shall he be another’s man, and shall Medea be left for punishment?
if he can do this, or can prefer another to me,
let the ingrate perish! but not such a countenance is in him,
nor such nobility in his mind, nor such grace of form,
that I should fear fraud and forgetfulness of my merit.

et dabit ante fidem, cogamque in foedera testes
esse deos. quid tuta times? accingere et omnem
pelle moram: tibi se semper debebit Iason,
te face sollemni iunget sibi perque Pelasgas
servatrix urbes matrum celebrabere turba.

and he will give his faith beforehand, and I will compel the gods to be witnesses to the covenants
what do you fear that is safe? gird yourself and drive off all delay: Jason will always owe himself to you,
he will join himself to you with the solemn torch, and through the Pelasgian
cities, a savioress, you will be celebrated by a throng of matrons.

ergo ego germanam fratremque patremque deosque
et natale solum ventis ablata relinquam?
nempe pater saevus, nempe est mea barbara tellus,
frater adhuc infans; stant mecum vota sororis,
maximus intra me deus est! non magna relinquam,

Therefore shall I, carried off by the winds, leave behind my sister and brother and father and the gods
and my native soil?
To be sure, my father is savage, to be sure my land is barbarous,
my brother still an infant; my sister’s vows stand with me,
the greatest god is within me! I shall not be leaving great things,

magna sequar: titulum servatae pubis Achivae
notitiamque soli melioris et oppida, quorum
hic quoque fama viget, cultusque artesque locorum,
quemque ego cum rebus, quas totus possidet orbis,
Aesoniden mutasse velim, quo coniuge felix

I shall pursue great things: the title of the rescued Achaean youth
and acquaintance with a better soil and the towns, whose
fame thrives even here, and the culture and arts of those places,
and Aeson’s son, for whom I would wish to have bartered the things which the whole world possesses,
with whom as husband I would be happy

et dis cara ferar et vertice sidera tangam.
quid, quod nescio qui mediis concurrere in undis
dicuntur montes ratibusque inimica Charybdis
nunc sorbere fretum, nunc reddere, cinctaque saevis
Scylla rapax canibus Siculo latrare profundo?

and I shall be borne dear to the gods and with my head touch the stars.
what of the fact that I know not which mountains are said to clash together in the midst of the waves,
and that Charybdis, inimical to ships, now swallows the strait, now gives it back, and that the rapacious
Scylla, girt with savage dogs, barks from the Sicilian deep?

nempe tenens, quod amo, gremioque in Iasonis haerens
per freta longa ferar; nihil illum amplexa verebor
aut, siquid metuam, metuam de coniuge solo.—
coniugiumne putas speciosaque nomina culpae
inponis, Medea, tuae?—quin adspice, quantum

surely, holding what I love, and clinging in Jason’s bosom,
I shall be borne through long straits; embracing him I shall fear nothing,
or, if I should fear anything, I shall fear only for my spouse.—
Do you think it is conjugal union, and do you impose specious names upon your fault,
Medea?—nay rather, look how much

adgrediare nefas, et, dum licet, effuge crimen!'
dixit, et ante oculos rectum pietasque pudorque
constiterant, et victa dabat iam terga Cupido.
Ibat ad antiquas Hecates Perseidos aras,
quas nemus umbrosum secretaque silva tegebat,

“do not attempt the nefariousness, and, while it is permitted, flee the crime!” she said, and before her eyes the Right and Piety and Modesty had taken their stand, and conquered Cupid was already giving his back.
She was going to the ancient altars of Hecate, the Perseid, which a shadowy grove and a secret wood were covering,

et iam fortis erat, pulsusque recesserat ardor,
cum videt Aesoniden exstinctaque flamma reluxit.
erubuere genae, totoque recanduit ore,
utque solet ventis alimenta adsumere, quaeque
parva sub inducta latuit scintilla favilla

and now she was brave, and the ardor, driven out, had receded,
when she sees the Aesonid, and the extinguished flame relit.
her cheeks blushed, and her whole face grew incandescent again,
and just as a small spark is wont to take on aliment from the winds,
which has lain hidden, a little scintilla, beneath a drawn-over ash,

crescere et in veteres agitata resurgere vires,
sic iam lenis amor, iam quem languere putares,
ut vidit iuvenem, specie praesentis inarsit.
et casu solito formosior Aesone natus
illa luce fuit: posses ignoscere amanti.

to grow and, agitated, to resurge into its former powers,
so now the gentle love, which by now you would think to languish,
when she saw the young man, at the sight of his presence was inflamed.
and by chance the son of Aeson was more beautiful than usual
on that day: you could forgive the lover.

spectat et in vultu veluti tum denique viso
lumina fixa tenet nec se mortalia demens
ora videre putat nec se declinat ab illo;
ut vero coepitque loqui dextramque prehendit
hospes et auxilium submissa voce rogavit

she gazes, and upon his visage, as if then at last seen,
she holds her eyes fixed, and, out of her mind, she does not think
that she beholds mortal features, nor does she turn herself aside from him;
but when in truth the stranger began to speak and grasped her right hand
and asked for aid in a subdued voice

promisitque torum, lacrimis ait illa profusis:
'quid faciam, video: nec me ignorantia veri
decipiet, sed amor. servabere munere nostro,
servatus promissa dato!' per sacra triformis
ille deae lucoque foret quod numen in illo

and she promised the marriage-bed, with tears poured forth she said:
'What shall I do, I see: nor will ignorance of the true
deceive me, but love. You shall be saved by our gift,
saved, give what you promised!' By the sacred rites of the three-formed
goddess he swore, and by the grove—by whatever numen was in that place—

perque patrem soceri cernentem cuncta futuri
eventusque suos et tanta pericula iurat:
creditus accepit cantatas protinus herbas
edidicitque usum laetusque in tecta recessit.
Postera depulerat stellas Aurora micantes:

and he swears by the father of his father-in-law, beholding all things of what is to come, as to his own outcomes and such great perils:
trusted, he at once received the chanted-over herbs
and learned their use thoroughly, and happy withdrew into the house.
The next Dawn had driven down the twinkling stars:

100

conveniunt populi sacrum Mavortis in arvum
consistuntque iugis; medio rex ipse resedit
agmine purpureus sceptroque insignis eburno.
ecce adamanteis Vulcanum naribus efflant
aeripedes tauri, tactaeque vaporibus herbae

the peoples assemble to the sacred field of Mavors
and take their stand on the ridges; in the middle of the throng the king himself sat down,
clad in purple and distinguished by an ivory scepter.
behold, the bronze-footed bulls breathe out Vulcan from adamantine nostrils,
and the grasses, touched by the vapors

105

ardent, utque solent pleni resonare camini,
aut ubi terrena silices fornace soluti
concipiunt ignem liquidarum adspergine aquarum,
pectora sic intus clausas volventia flammas
gutturaque usta sonant; tamen illis Aesone natus

they blaze, and as full hearths are accustomed to resound,
or when flints, loosened in an earthen furnace,
conceive fire by the aspersion of liquid waters,
so their chests, rolling enclosed flames within,
and their burnt throats, sound; nevertheless to them the son of Aeson

110

obvius it. vertere truces venientis ad ora
terribiles vultus praefixaque cornua ferro
pulvereumque solum pede pulsavere bisulco
fumificisque locum mugitibus inpleverunt.
deriguere metu Minyae; subit ille nec ignes

he goes to meet them. The fierce ones turned toward the face of the one coming
their terrible faces and horns tipped with iron;
and with cloven hoof they beat the dusty ground,
and with smoke-reeking lowings they filled the place.
The Minyae grew rigid with fear; he advances, and not even the fires

115

sentit anhelatos (tantum medicamina possunt!)
pendulaque audaci mulcet palearia dextra
suppositosque iugo pondus grave cogit aratri
ducere et insuetum ferro proscindere campum:
mirantur Colchi, Minyae clamoribus augent

he feels them panting (so much can medicaments!),
and with bold right hand he soothes the pendulous dewlaps,
and compels those set beneath the yoke to draw the heavy weight of the plough
and to cut up with iron the field unaccustomed:
the Colchians marvel, the Minyae augment it with shouts

120

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

and they add spirit. Then with a brazen helmet he takes the viperous teeth and scatters them in the ploughed fields.
the earth, pre-dyed with potent venom, softens the seeds,
and, once sown, the teeth grow and become new bodies,
and just as in the maternal womb it takes on the human form

125

perque suos intus numeros conponitur infans
nec nisi maturus communes exit in auras,
sic, ubi visceribus gravidae telluris imago
effecta est hominis, feto consurgit in arvo,
quodque magis mirum est, simul edita concutit arma.

and through its own numbers within the infant is composed
nor does it go forth into the common airs unless mature,
thus, when in the bowels of the pregnant earth the image
of a man has been effected, it rises up in the field as offspring,
and what is more wondrous, as soon as delivered it brandishes arms.

130

quos ubi viderunt praeacutae cuspidis hastas
in caput Haemonii iuvenis torquere parantis,
demisere metu vultumque animumque Pelasgi;
ipsa quoque extimuit, quae tutum fecerat illum.
utque peti vidit iuvenem tot ab hostibus unum, 135
palluit et subito sine sanguine frigida sedit,
neve parum valeant a se data gramina, carmen
auxiliare canit secretasque advocat artes.
ille gravem medios silicem iaculatus in hostes
a se depulsum Martem convertit in ipsos:

when they saw them about to hurl spears with a sharp-pointed tip
at the head of the Haemonian youth,
the Pelasgians lowered in fear both face and spirit;
she herself too shuddered, who had made him safe.
and when she saw the youth, one man, being assailed by so many enemies, 135
she grew pale and suddenly, bloodless, sat cold,
and lest the grasses given by herself should avail too little, a charm
of aid she sings and calls upon secret arts.
he, having hurled a heavy flint-stone into the midst of the enemies,
turned Mars, driven off from himself, against them:

140

terrigenae pereunt per mutua vulnera fratres
civilique cadunt acie. gratantur Achivi
victoremque tenent avidisque amplexibus haerent.
tu quoque victorem conplecti, barbara, velles:
obstitit incepto pudor, at conplexa fuisses,

earth-born brothers perish by mutual wounds,
and fall in a civil battle-line. The Achaeans rejoice
and hold the victor and cling with avid embraces.
you too, barbarian woman, would wish to embrace the victor:
modesty stood in the way of the undertaking, yet you would have embraced,

145

sed te, ne faceres, tenuit reverentia famae.
quod licet, adfectu tacito laetaris agisque
carminibus grates et dis auctoribus horum.
Pervigilem superest herbis sopire draconem,
qui crista linguisque tribus praesignis et uncis

but reverence for fame held you back, lest you do it.
what is permitted, with tacit affection you rejoice and you render
thanks in songs and to the gods, the authors of these things.
It remains to lull the ever-wakeful dragon to sleep with herbs,
who, distinguished by his crest and by three tongues and by hooked

150

dentibus horrendus custos erat arboris aureae.
hunc postquam sparsit Lethaei gramine suci
verbaque ter dixit placidos facientia somnos,
quae mare turbatum, quae concita flumina sistunt,
somnus in ignotos oculos sibi venit, et auro

horrendous with his teeth was the guardian of the golden tree.
after she had sprinkled him with the herb of Lethean juice
and thrice had spoken words that make placid sleeps,
words which still the troubled sea, which halt the roused rivers,
sleep came upon eyes unacquainted with it, and upon the gold

155

heros Aesonius potitur spolioque superbus
muneris auctorem secum, spolia altera, portans
victor Iolciacos tetigit cum coniuge portus.
Haemoniae matres pro gnatis dona receptis
grandaevique ferunt patres congestaque flamma

the Aesonian hero gains it and, proud with the spoil,
carrying with him the author of the boon, another spoil,
the victor touched the Iolcian harbors with his spouse.
Haemonian mothers, for their sons received back,
and aged fathers bring gifts, and with a piled-up flame

160

tura liquefaciunt, inductaque cornibus aurum
victima vota cadit, sed abest gratantibus Aeson
iam propior leto fessusque senilibus annis,
cum sic Aesonides: 'o cui debere salutem
confiteor, coniunx, quamquam mihi cuncta dedisti

they liquefy the incense, and the gold overlaid on the horns,
the vowed victim falls; but Aeson is absent from those giving congratulations,
now closer to death and weary with senile years,
when Aesonides thus: 'O consort, to whom I confess I owe salvation,
although you have given me everything '

165

excessitque fidem meritorum summa tuorum,
si tamen hoc possunt (quid enim non carmina possunt?)
deme meis annis et demptos adde parenti!'
nec tenuit lacrimas: mota est pietate rogantis,
dissimilemque animum subiit Aeeta relictus;

and the sum of your merits has exceeded belief,
if nevertheless they can do this (for what indeed can incantations not do?),
take away from my years and add the subtracted to my parent!'
nor did he hold back tears: she was moved by the piety of the petitioner,
and, her Aeetes left behind, a different mind came over her;

170

nec tamen adfectus talis confessa 'quod' inquit
'excidit ore tuo, coniunx, scelus? ergo ego cuiquam
posse tuae videor spatium transcribere vitae?
nec sinat hoc Hecate, nec tu petis aequa; sed isto,
quod petis, experiar maius dare munus, Iason.

Nor yet, though she confessed such an emotion, “What,” she says,
“crime has fallen from your mouth, husband? So then do I seem
able to transfer to anyone the span of your life?
May Hecate not allow this, nor do you ask for what is fair; but instead of that
which you ask, I will try to give a greater gift, Jason.”

175

arte mea soceri longum temptabimus aevum,
non annis revocare tuis, modo diva triformis
adiuvet et praesens ingentibus adnuat ausis.'
Tres aberant noctes, ut cornua tota coirent
efficerentque orbem; postquam plenissima fulsit

by my art we shall attempt a long age for my father-in-law,
not to recall it by your years, provided the triple-formed goddess
help and, being present, nod assent to vast ventures.'
Three nights were lacking, for the horns to come together whole
and make a full orb; after it shone most full

180

ac solida terras spectavit imagine luna,
egreditur tectis vestes induta recinctas,
nuda pedem, nudos umeris infusa capillos,
fertque vagos mediae per muta silentia noctis
incomitata gradus: homines volucresque ferasque

and with a solid image the moon looked upon the lands,
she goes forth from the roofs, clad in ungirded garments,
bare of foot, her hair poured over bare shoulders,
and she carries wandering steps through the mute silences of midnight,
unaccompanied steps: men and birds and wild beasts

185

solverat alta quies, nullo cum murmure saepes,
inmotaeque silent frondes, silet umidus aer,
sidera sola micant: ad quae sua bracchia tendens
ter se convertit, ter sumptis flumine crinem
inroravit aquis ternisque ululatibus ora 190
solvit et in dura submisso poplite terra
'Nox' ait 'arcanis fidissima, quaeque diurnis
aurea cum luna succeditis ignibus astra,
tuque, triceps Hecate, quae coeptis conscia nostris
adiutrixque venis cantusque artisque magorum,

deep repose had loosed all, when with no murmur the hedges,
and the unmoving leaves are silent, the moist air is silent,
the stars alone scintillate: toward which, stretching her own arms,
thrice she turned herself, thrice, with waters taken from the river, she
bedewed her hair, and with triple ululations her lips she loosed 190
and, with knee bent, upon the hard earth, she said: ‘Night, most faithful to secrets, and you stars
who, together with the golden moon, succeed the diurnal fires,
and you, three-formed Hecate, who are privy to our undertakings
and come as helper to the chants and the art of the magi,’

195

quaeque magos, Tellus, pollentibus instruis herbis,
auraeque et venti montesque amnesque lacusque,
dique omnes nemorum, dique omnes noctis adeste,
quorum ope, cum volui, ripis mirantibus amnes
in fontes rediere suos, concussaque sisto,

and you, Earth, who equip the magi with potent herbs,
and you breezes and winds and mountains and rivers and lakes,
and all gods of the groves, and all gods of the night, be present,
by whose help, whenever I have willed, the rivers, with their banks marveling,
have returned into their own fountains, and I halt what has been shaken,

200

stantia concutio cantu freta, nubila pello
nubilaque induco, ventos abigoque vocoque,
vipereas rumpo verbis et carmine fauces,
vivaque saxa sua convulsaque robora terra
et silvas moveo iubeoque tremescere montis

I shake the standing seas by chant, I drive away clouds
and also bring in clouds, I banish and I summon winds,
I rend viperine jaws with words and with song,
and I move living rocks and oaks wrenched from their own earth,
and I move the forests and I bid the mountains to tremble

205

et mugire solum manesque exire sepulcris!
te quoque, Luna, traho, quamvis Temesaea labores
aera tuos minuant; currus quoque carmine nostro
pallet avi, pallet nostris Aurora venenis!
vos mihi taurorum flammas hebetastis et unco

and to make the soil bellow and the shades go forth from their sepulchres!
you too, Luna, I draw down, although Temesaean bronzes lessen your labors;
the chariot too of my grandsire grows pale at my song, Aurora grows pale at my poisons!
you have blunted for me the flames of the bulls and with the hook

210

inpatiens oneris collum pressistis aratro,
vos serpentigenis in se fera bella dedistis
custodemque rudem somni sopistis et aurum
vindice decepto Graias misistis in urbes:
nunc opus est sucis, per quos renovata senectus

you pressed the neck, impatient of the burden, beneath the plow,
you set the serpent-born to savage wars against themselves,
and you lulled the guardian untrained in sleep, and the gold,
with its avenger deceived, you sent into the Greek cities:
now there is need of juices, by which renewed old age

215

in florem redeat primosque recolligat annos,
et dabitis. neque enim micuerunt sidera frustra,
nec frustra volucrum tractus cervice draconum
currus adest.' aderat demissus ab aethere currus.
quo simul adscendit frenataque colla draconum

let it return into flower and recollect its first years,
and you will grant it. For the stars have not glittered in vain,
nor in vain is the chariot of winged dragons, drawn by the neck, at hand.'
A chariot let down from ether was at hand.
as soon as she mounted it and the necks of the dragons were reined

220

permulsit manibusque leves agitavit habenas,
sublimis rapitur subiectaque Thessala Tempe
despicit et certis regionibus adplicat angues:
et quas Ossa tulit, quas altum Pelion herbas,
Othrysque Pindusque et Pindo maior Olympus,

she stroked and with her hands she shook the light reins,
lofty she is carried off and looks down upon Thessalian Tempe lying beneath,
and she directs the snakes to fixed regions:
and the herbs which Ossa bore, which high Pelion,
and Othrys and Pindus and Olympus greater than Pindus,

225

perspicit et placitas partim radice revellit,
partim succidit curvamine falcis aenae.
multa quoque Apidani placuerunt gramina ripis,
multa quoque Amphrysi, neque eras inmunis, Enipeu;
nec non Peneos nec non Spercheides undae

he surveys and, the approved ones, partly he pulls up by the root,
partly he cuts down with the curve of a brazen sickle.
many grasses also pleased the banks of the Apidanus,
many too those of the Amphrysus, nor were you immune, Enipeus;
nor yet the Peneus nor yet the Spercheian waves

230

contribuere aliquid iuncosaque litora Boebes;
carpsit et Euboica vivax Anthedone gramen,
nondum mutato vulgatum corpore Glauci.
Et iam nona dies curru pennisque draconum
nonaque nox omnes lustrantem viderat agros,

and the rushy shores of Boebeis contributed something;
and in Euboean, ever-lively Anthedon, she plucked the grass,
not yet made renowned by Glaucus with his body changed.
And now the ninth day, in the chariot and on the wings of the dragons,
and the ninth night, had seen her surveying all the fields,

235

cum rediit; neque erant tacti nisi odore dracones,
et tamen annosae pellem posuere senectae.
constitit adveniens citra limenque foresque
et tantum caelo tegitur refugitque viriles
contactus, statuitque aras de caespite binas,

when she returned; nor had the dragons been touched save by the odor,
and yet they laid aside the skin of their hoary senescence.
she halted on arriving short of the threshold and the doors,
and is covered only by the sky and shrinks from virile contacts,
and she set up two altars of turf,

240

dexteriore Hecates, ast laeva parte Iuventae.
has ubi verbenis silvaque incinxit agresti,
haud procul egesta scrobibus tellure duabus
sacra facit cultrosque in guttura velleris atri
conicit et patulas perfundit sanguine fossas; 245
tum super invergens liquidi carchesia mellis
alteraque invergens tepidi carchesia lactis,
verba simul fudit terrenaque numina civit
umbrarumque rogat rapta cum coniuge regem,
ne properent artus anima fraudare senili.

Hecate on the right-hand, but on the left side Youth.
when she had encircled these with vervains and rustic woodland,
not far off, with earth dug out in two trenches,
she performs the rites and hurls knives into the throats of the black-fleeced victim
and drenches the gaping ditches with blood; 245
then, pouring over goblets of liquid honey
and pouring over goblets of tepid milk,
at once she pours forth words and summons the earthly numina
and begs the king of shades, with his ravished consort,
not to hurry to defraud his limbs of his senile breath.

250

Quos ubi placavit precibusque et murmure longo,
Aesonis effetum proferri corpus ad auras
iussit et in plenos resolutum carmine somnos
exanimi similem stratis porrexit in herbis.
hinc procul Aesoniden, procul hinc iubet ire ministros

Whom, when she had appeased with prayers and with a long murmur,
she ordered the worn-out body of Aeson to be brought out into the open air
and, loosened into full slumbers by her chant,
she stretched him, like one lifeless, on the spread grasses.
from here she bids the Aesonid far away, and from here far away the attendants to go.

255

et monet arcanis oculos removere profanos.
diffugiunt iussi; passis Medea capillis
bacchantum ritu flagrantis circuit aras
multifidasque faces in fossa sanguinis atra
tinguit et infectas geminis accendit in aris

and she bids that profane eyes be removed from the arcana.
they scatter when ordered; Medea, with hair loosened,
in the rite of Bacchants circles the blazing altars
and dips multifid torches in a fosse black with blood
and, thus stained, kindles them on the twin altars.

260

terque senem flamma, ter aqua, ter sulphure lustrat.
Interea validum posito medicamen aeno
fervet et exsultat spumisque tumentibus albet.
illic Haemonia radices valle resectas
seminaque floresque et sucos incoquit atros;

and thrice she lustrates the old man with flame, thrice with water, thrice with sulfur.
Meanwhile the potent medicament boils in the brazen cauldron set down and exults, and grows white with swelling foams.
there she cooks into it Haemonian roots resected from the valley,
and seeds and flowers and black juices;

265

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

she adds stones sought from the farthest East
and the sands which the ebbing sea of Ocean has washed;
she adds too hoarfrost caught by the moon overnight
and the wings of the infamous strix, with the very flesh,
and what is wont to transform ferine faces into human form

270

ambigui prosecta lupi; nec defuit illis
squamea Cinyphii tenuis membrana chelydri
vivacisque iecur cervi; quibus insuper addit
ova caputque novem cornicis saecula passae.
his et mille aliis postquam sine nomine rebus 275
propositum instruxit mortali barbara maius,
arenti ramo iampridem mitis olivae
omnia confudit summisque inmiscuit ima.
ecce vetus calido versatus stipes aeno
fit viridis primo nec longo tempore frondes

slices of the ambiguous wolf; nor was there lacking to them
the scaly thin membrane of the Cinyphian chelydrus,
and the liver of the long‑lived stag; to which, moreover, she adds
the eggs and the head of a crow that has endured nine ages.
after to these and a thousand other things without a name 275
the barbarian woman furnished a design greater than mortal,
with a parched branch of the long‑mild olive
she blended all things and mixed the lowest with the highest.
lo, an old stake, turned in the hot bronze cauldron,
becomes green at first, and in no long time leaves

280

induit et subito gravidis oneratur olivis:
at quacumque cavo spumas eiecit aeno
ignis et in terram guttae cecidere calentes,
vernat humus, floresque et mollia pabula surgunt.
quae simul ac vidit, stricto Medea recludit

it clothes itself and is suddenly burdened with gravid olives:
but wherever the fire from the hollow cauldron cast out foams
and hot drops fell onto the earth,
the soil grows vernal, and flowers and tender fodder spring up.
which as soon as she saw, Medea, with sword drawn, lays open

285

ense senis iugulum veteremque exire cruorem
passa replet sucis; quos postquam conbibit Aeson
aut ore acceptos aut vulnere, barba comaeque
canitie posita nigrum rapuere colorem,
pulsa fugit macies, abeunt pallorque situsque,

with the sword she, having allowed the ancient gore to go out from the old man’s jugular, fills him with juices; which, after Aeson had imbibed, either received by the mouth or by the wound, the beard and the hair, hoariness set aside, seized a black color; leanness, driven out, flees, and pallor and decay depart,

290

adiectoque cavae supplentur corpore rugae,
membraque luxuriant: Aeson miratur et olim
ante quater denos hunc se reminiscitur annos.
Viderat ex alto tanti miracula monstri
Liber et admonitus, iuvenes nutricibus annos

and with body added the hollow wrinkles are filled up,
and the limbs luxuriate: Aeson marvels and once
remembers himself as this forty years before.
Liber had seen from on high the miracles of so great a prodigy
and, being admonished, youthful years for his nurses

295

posse suis reddi, capit hoc a Colchide munus.
Neve doli cessent, odium cum coniuge falsum
Phasias adsimulat Peliaeque ad limina supplex
confugit; atque illam, quoniam gravis ipse senecta est,
excipiunt natae; quas tempore callida parvo

that youthful years can be given back to his own nurses, he takes this boon from the Colchian.
And lest her deceits cease, the Phasian woman simulates a false hatred with her husband
and, a suppliant, flees to the thresholds of Pelias; and her, since he himself is burdened by old age,
his daughters receive; whom, crafty, in a short time

300

Colchis amicitiae mendacis imagine cepit,
dumque refert inter meritorum maxima demptos
Aesonis esse situs atque hac in parte moratur,
spes est virginibus Pelia subiecta creatis,
arte suum parili revirescere posse parentem,

The Colchian captured them by the image of mendacious friendship,
and while she recounts that among the greatest of her services
the decay of Aeson has been removed and lingers on this point,
hope is set before the maidens born of Pelias,
that by a like art their own parent could grow green again,

305

idque petunt pretiumque iubent sine fine pacisci.
illa brevi spatio silet et dubitare videtur
suspenditque animos ficta gravitate rogantum.
mox ubi pollicita est, 'quo sit fiducia maior
muneris huius' ait, 'qui vestri maximus aevo est

and this they seek, and bid to settle a price without limit.
she is silent for a brief span and seems to hesitate
and with feigned gravity she holds in suspense the spirits of the petitioners.
soon, when she has promised, 'that confidence may be greater
in this gift,' she says, 'let him who is the greatest in age among you

310

dux gregis inter oves, agnus medicamine fiet.'
protinus innumeris effetus laniger annis
attrahitur flexo circum cava tempora cornu;
cuius ut Haemonio marcentia guttura cultro
fodit et exiguo maculavit sanguine ferrum,

“the leader of the flock among the sheep will, by a medicament, become a lamb.”
straightway the wool-bearer, effete with innumerable years,
is dragged, by a bent horn curved around his hollow temples;
whose, when with a Haemonian blade she pierced the drooping throat,
she stabbed and maculated the iron with a scant blood,

315

membra simul pecudis validosque venefica sucos
mergit in aere cavo: minuunt ea corporis artus
cornuaque exurunt nec non cum cornibus annos,
et tener auditur medio balatus aeno:
nec mora, balatum mirantibus exsilit agnus

at once the sorceress plunges the limbs of the sheep and the potent juices
into the hollow bronze: these diminish the body’s members,
and burn out the horns and likewise, along with the horns, the years,
and a tender bleating is heard in the middle of the bronze:
no delay; as they marvel at the bleating, a lamb leaps out

320

lascivitque fuga lactantiaque ubera quaerit.
Obstipuere satae Pelia, promissaque postquam
exhibuere fidem, tum vero inpensius instant.
ter iuga Phoebus equis in Hibero flumine mersis
dempserat et quarta radiantia nocte micabant

and he frolics in flight and seeks the lactating udders.
Astonished were the daughters of Pelias, and after the promises had proved faithful,
then indeed they press on more earnestly.
three times had Phoebus unyoked his horses, plunged in the Hiberus river,
and on the fourth night the radiant constellations were twinkling

325

sidera, cum rapido fallax Aeetias igni
imponit purum laticem et sine viribus herbas.
iamque neci similis resoluto corpore regem
et cum rege suo custodes somnus habebat,
quem dederant cantus magicaeque potentia linguae;

the stars, when the deceitful Aeetian maid places upon the rapid fire pure liquid and herbs without powers.
and now sleep, like to death, held the king with body loosened, and along with the king his guards as well,
a sleep which the chants and the magical potency of her tongue had bestowed.

330

intrarant iussae cum Colchide limina natae
ambierantque torum: 'quid nunc dubitatis inertes?
stringite' ait 'gladios veteremque haurite crurorem,
ut repleam vacuas iuvenali sanguine venas!
in manibus vestris vita est aetasque parentis:

the daughters, having been ordered, had entered the thresholds with the Colchian
and had encircled the bed: “why now do you hesitate, you inert ones?
draw,” she says, “your swords and drain the old gore,
so that I may refill the empty veins with youthful blood!
in your hands are your father’s life and lifespan.”

335

si pietas ulla est nec spes agitatis inanis,
officium praestate patri telisque senectam
exigite, et saniem coniecto emittite ferro!'
his, ut quaeque pia est, hortatibus inpia prima est
et, ne sit scelerata, facit scelus: haud tamen ictus

‘if any piety exists and the hope for you harried ones is not empty,
render duty to your father and with weapons drive out his old age,
and with the iron thrust in, let out the gore!’
At these exhortations, in proportion as each is pious, the impious is first,
and, lest she be criminal, she commits a crime: not, however, the blows

340

ulla suos spectare potest, oculosque reflectunt,
caecaque dant saevis aversae vulnera dextris.
ille cruore fluens, cubito tamen adlevat artus,
semilacerque toro temptat consurgere, et inter
tot medius gladios pallentia bracchia tendens

not one can look upon her own, and they turn their eyes back,
and, turned away, they give blind wounds with savage right hands.
he, streaming with gore, nevertheless with his elbow props up his limbs,
and half-torn from the couch tries to rise, and amid
so many swords, in the middle, stretching forth his pallid arms

345

'quid facitis, gnatae? quid vos in fata parentis
armat?' ait: cecidere illis animique manusque;
plura locuturo cum verbis guttura Colchis
abstulit et calidis laniatum mersit in undis.
Quod nisi pennatis serpentibus isset in auras,

'What are you doing, daughters? What arms you against your parent’s fate?' he said: both their spirits and their hands fell; as he was about to speak more words, the Colchian took away his throat and plunged the mangled one into the hot waves.
Had she not gone into the breezes on winged serpents,

350

non exempta foret poenae: fugit alta superque
Pelion umbrosum, Philyreia tecta, superque
Othryn et eventu veteris loca nota Cerambi:
hic ope nympharum sublatus in aera pennis,
cum gravis infuso tellus foret obruta ponto,

she would not have been exempt from punishment: she flees on high and over
shadowy Pelion, the Philyrean roofs, and over
Othrys and the places known by the event of old Cerambus:
he, by the aid of the nymphs, lifted into the air on wings,
when the earth, heavy, had been overwhelmed by the poured-in sea,

355

Deucalioneas effugit inobrutus undas.
Aeoliam Pitanen a laeva parte relinquit
factaque de saxo longi simulacra draconis
Idaeumque nemus, quo nati furta, iuvencum,
occuluit Liber falsi sub imagine cervi, 360
quaque pater Corythi parva tumulatus harena est,
et quos Maera novo latratu terruit agros,
Eurypylique urbem, qua Coae cornua matres
gesserunt tum, cum discederet Herculis agmen,
Phoebeamque Rhodon et Ialysios Telchinas,

he escaped the Deucalionian waves un-submerged.
he leaves Aeolian Pitane on the left-hand side
and the rock-made images of a long dragon,
and the Idaean grove, where Liber hid his son’s thefts of bullocks
under the guise of a false stag, 360
and the place where the father of Corythus is buried in a little sand,
and the fields which Maera terrified with a novel barking,
and the city of Eurypylus, where the Coan mothers
bore horns then, when the column of Hercules was departing,
and Phoebean Rhodes and the Ialysian Telchines,

365

quorum oculos ipso vitiantes omnia visu
Iuppiter exosus fraternis subdidit undis;
transit et antiquae Cartheia moenia Ceae,
qua pater Alcidamas placidam de corpore natae
miraturus erat nasci potuisse columbam.

whose eyes, vitiating all things by the very sight,
Jupiter, loathing them, put beneath his brother’s waves;
and he passes the Carthaean walls of ancient Ceos,
where the father Alcidamas was about to marvel that from the body of his daughter
a placid dove could have been born.

370

inde lacus Hyries videt et Cycneia Tempe,
quae subitus celebravit olor: nam Phylius illic
imperio pueri volucrisque ferumque leonem
tradiderat domitos; taurum quoque vincere iussus
vicerat et spreto totiens iratus amore

thence he sees Hyrie’s lake and the Cycneian Tempe,
which a sudden swan celebrated: for Phylius there,
by the command of the boy, had handed over both a bird and a savage lion
tamed; ordered also to conquer a bull,
he had conquered it, and, angered at love so often spurned,

375

praemia poscenti taurum suprema negabat;
ille indignatus 'cupies dare' dixit et alto
desiluit saxo; cuncti cecidisse putabant:
factus olor niveis pendebat in aere pennis;
at genetrix Hyrie, servati nescia, flendo

to him demanding the prizes he denied the bull, the final one;
he, indignant, said 'you will desire to give it,' and from a high
rock leapt down; all were thinking he had fallen:
made a swan, he was hanging in the air on snowy-white wings;
but the mother Hyrie, not knowing he had been saved, by weeping

380

delicuit stagnumque suo de nomine fecit.
adiacet his Pleuron, in qua trepidantibus alis
Ophias effugit natorum vulnera Combe;
inde Calaureae Letoidos adspicit arva
in volucrem versi cum coniuge conscia regis.

she melted away and made a pool after her own name.
adjacent to these lies Pleuron, in which Combe the Ophian, with trembling wings,
escaped the wounds of her sons;
from there it looks toward the fields of Calaurea of the Letoid,
where the king, turned into a bird, with his consort privy to it.

385

dextera Cyllene est, in qua cum matre Menephron
concubiturus erat saevarum more ferarum;
Cephison procul hinc deflentem fata nepotis
respicit in tumidam phocen ab Apolline versi
Eumelique domum lugentis in aere natum.

on the right is Cyllene, in which Menephron was about to lie with his mother,
after the manner of savage beasts; far from here the Cephisus looks back,
weeping the fates of his grandson, turned by Apollo into a swollen seal,
and the house of Eumelus, mourning a son born into the air.

390

Tandem vipereis Ephyren Pirenida pennis
contigit: hic aevo veteres mortalia primo
corpora vulgarunt pluvialibus edita fungis.
sed postquam Colchis arsit nova nupta venenis
flagrantemque domum regis mare vidit utrumque,

At last with viperine wings he reached Ephyre, Pirenian:
here, in the first age, the ancients spread abroad that mortal bodies
were brought forth from pluvial mushrooms born of the rains.
But after the new bride burned by the Colchian’s poisons,
and both seas saw the king’s house blazing,

395

sanguine natorum perfunditur inpius ensis,
ultaque se male mater Iasonis effugit arma.
hinc Titaniacis ablata draconibus intrat
Palladias arces, quae te, iustissima Phene,
teque, senex Peripha, pariter videre volantes

with the blood of her offspring the impious sword is drenched,
and, avenged, the mother of Jason’s children scarcely escaped the weapons.
from here, borne away by Titanian dragons she enters
the Palladian citadels, which saw you, most righteous Phene,
and you too, old Periphas, flying side by side

400

innixamque novis neptem Polypemonis alis.
excipit hanc Aegeus facto damnandus in uno,
nec satis hospitium est, thalami quoque foedere iungit.
Iamque aderat Theseus, proles ignara parenti,
qui virtute sua bimarem pacaverat Isthmon:

and the granddaughter of Polypemon, resting upon new wings.
Aegeus receives her, to be condemned for one deed,
nor is hospitality enough; he also joins her by the bond of the bridal-chamber.
And now Theseus was at hand, offspring unknown to his father,
who by his valor had pacified the two-sea Isthmus:

405

huius in exitium miscet Medea, quod olim
attulerat secum Scythicis aconiton ab oris.
illud Echidnaeae memorant e dentibus ortum
esse canis: specus est tenebroso caecus hiatu,
est via declivis, per quam Tirynthius heros

for his destruction Medea mixes aconite, which once
she had brought with her from Scythian shores.
they relate that that sprang from the teeth of the Echidnaean hound:
there is a cave, blind with a shadowy yawning mouth,
there is a sloping path, by which the Tirynthian hero

410

restantem contraque diem radiosque micantes
obliquantem oculos nexis adamante catenis
Cerberon abstraxit, rabida qui concitus ira
inplevit pariter ternis latratibus auras
et sparsit virides spumis albentibus agros; 415
has concresse putant nactasque alimenta feracis
fecundique soli vires cepisse nocendi;
quae quia nascuntur dura vivacia caute,
agrestes aconita vocant. ea coniugis astu
ipse parens Aegeus nato porrexit ut hosti.

the one resisting and against the day and the flashing rays
turning aside his eyes, with chains bound of adamant,
he dragged Cerberus away, who, stirred by rabid rage,
filled the air equally with triple barkings
and scattered the green fields with whitening foams; 415
these they think congealed and, having found nourishment, took on the powers
of harming from the fertile and fecund soil;
which, because they are born hard, long-lived, to be handled cautiously,
the countryfolk call aconite. This, by his wife’s craft,
the father Aegeus himself proffered to his son as to an enemy.

420

sumpserat ignara Theseus data pocula dextra,
cum pater in capulo gladii cognovit eburno
signa sui generis facinusque excussit ab ore.
effugit illa necem nebulis per carmina motis;
At genitor, quamquam laetatur sospite nato,

Unwitting, Theseus had taken the proffered cup in his right hand,
when his father recognized on the ivory hilt of the sword
the tokens of his lineage and dashed the crime from his mouth.
That woman escaped death in clouds set in motion by incantations;
But the father, although he rejoices with his son safe,

425

attonitus tamen est, ingens discrimine parvo
committi potuisse nefas: fovet ignibus aras
muneribusque deos inplet, feriuntque secures
colla torosa boum vinctorum cornua vittis.
nullus Erecthidis fertur celebratior illo

astonished nevertheless he is, that an immense nefarious deed could have been committed by so small a margin:
he warms the altars with fires, and he fills the gods with gifts, and axes strike
the muscular necks of bulls, their horns bound with fillets.
none among the Erechthids is said to be more celebrated than that man.

430

inluxisse dies: agitant convivia patres
et medium vulgus nec non et carmina vino
ingenium faciente canunt: 'te, maxime Theseu,
mirata est Marathon Cretaei sanguine tauri,
quodque suis securus arat Cromyona colonus,

the day had dawned: the fathers keep up banquets
and the common crowd as well, and they also sing songs,
with wine making wit: “you, greatest Theseus,
Marathon was amazed at you for the Cretan bull’s blood, and that the Cromyona colonist, secure, plows his own [fields],”

435

munus opusque tuum est; tellus Epidauria per te
clavigeram vidit Vulcani occumbere prolem,
vidit et inmitem Cephisias ora Procrusten,
Cercyonis letum vidit Cerealis Eleusin.
occidit ille Sinis magnis male viribus usus,

it is your gift and work; the Epidaurian earth through you
saw the club-bearing offspring of Vulcan meet death,
and the Cephisian banks saw ruthless Procrustes,
Cereal Eleusis saw the death of Cercyon.
that Sinis fell, ill using great strength,

440

qui poterat curvare trabes et agebat ab alto
ad terram late sparsuras corpora pinus.
tutus ad Alcathoen, Lelegeia moenia, limes
conposito Scirone patet, sparsisque latronis
terra negat sedem, sedem negat ossibus unda;

who could bend beams, and the pine from on high was driving
to the earth the bodies, about to be widely strewn.
safe to Alcathoe, the Lelegeian walls, the boundary-path
lies open with Sciron dealt with, and with the brigand scattered
the earth denies a seat, the wave denies a seat to his bones;

445

quae iactata diu fertur durasse vetustas
in scopulos: scopulis nomen Scironis inhaeret.
si titulos annosque tuos numerare velimus,
facta prement annos. pro te, fortissime, vota
publica suscipimus, Bacchi tibi sumimus haustus.'

which, long tossed, antiquity is said to have hardened into rocks: to the rocks the name of Sciron adheres.
if we should wish to number your titles and your years, deeds will press upon the years.
for you, most brave, we undertake public vows; for you we take draughts of Bacchus.'

450

consonat adsensu populi precibusque faventum
regia, nec tota tristis locus ullus in urbe est.
Nec tamen (usque adeo nulla est sincera voluptas,
sollicitumque aliquid laetis intervenit) Aegeus
gaudia percepit nato secura recepto:

the palace resounds with the assent of the people and the prayers of the favoring,
nor is there any place at all sad in the whole city.
Nor yet (to such a degree no delight is sincere,
and something solicitous intervenes amid joys) Aegeus
did take in joys secure, with his son safely received:

455

bella parat Minos; qui quamquam milite, quamquam
classe valet, patria tamen est firmissimus ira
Androgeique necem iustis ulciscitur armis.
ante tamen bello vires adquirit amicas,
quaque potens habitus volucri freta classe pererrat:

Minos prepares wars; who, although he is strong in soldiery, although
in fleet, yet he is strongest by his fatherland’s ire,
and he avenges Androgeos’s death with just arms.
Yet before war he acquires friendly forces,
and wherever he was held potent he roves through the straits with his winged fleet:

460

hinc Anaphen sibi iungit et Astypaleia regna,
(promissis Anaphen, regna Astypaleia bello);
hinc humilem Myconon cretosaque rura Cimoli
florentemque thymo Syron planamque Seriphon
marmoreamque Paron, quamque inpia prodidit Arne

hence he joins Anaphe to himself and the realms of Astypalaea,
(by promises Anaphe, the realms of Astypalaea by war);
hence lowly Myconos and the chalky fields of Cimolus,
and Syros blooming with thyme and level Seriphos,
and marble Paros, and the one which impious Arne betrayed

465

Siphnon et accepto, quod avara poposcerat, auro
mutata est in avem, quae nunc quoque diligit aurum,
nigra pedes, nigris velata monedula pennis.
At non Oliaros Didymeque et Tenos et Andros
et Gyaros nitidaeque ferax Peparethos olivae

Siphnos too; and, the gold received which the avaricious one had demanded, she was changed into a bird, which even now loves gold,
the jackdaw, black of feet, veiled with black feathers.
But not Oliaros and Didyme and Tenos and Andros
and Gyaros and Peparethos, fertile in the gleaming olive

470

Cnosiacas iuvere rates; latere inde sinistro
Oenopiam Minos petit, Aeacideia regna:
Oenopiam veteres adpellavere, sed ipse
Aeacus Aeginam genetricis nomine dixit.
turba ruit tantaeque virum cognoscere famae

Cnossian ships helped; thence on the left side
Minos seeks Oenopia, the Aeacid realms:
Oenopia the ancients appellated it, but he himself
Aeacus called it Aegina by his mother’s name.
the crowd rushes, and to know the man of so great a fame

475

expetit; occurrunt illi Telamonque minorque
quam Telamon Peleus et proles tertia Phocus;
ipse quoque egreditur tardus gravitate senili
Aeacus et, quae sit veniendi causa, requirit.
admonitus patrii luctus suspirat et illi

he seeks; to meet him come Telamon and Peleus, lesser than Telamon, and the third offspring, Phocus;
Aeacus himself also goes forth, slow with senile weight, and asks what the cause of the coming is.
reminded of his fatherland’s grief, he too sighs

480

dicta refert rector populorum talia centum:
'arma iuves oro pro gnato sumpta piaeque
pars sis militiae; tumulo solacia posco.'
huic Asopiades 'petis inrita' dixit 'et urbi
non facienda meae; neque enim coniunctior ulla

he, the ruler of a hundred peoples, relates such words:
'I beg you to aid with arms taken up on behalf of my son, and to be a part
of a pious campaign; I seek solaces for the tomb.'
To him the Asopiades said, 'You seek things in vain and things not to be done
for my city; for indeed none is more closely

485

Cecropidis est hac tellus: ea foedera nobis.'
tristis abit 'stabunt' que 'tibi tua foedera magno'
dixit et utilius bellum putat esse minari
quam gerere atque suas ibi praeconsumere vires.
classis ab Oenopiis etiamnum Lyctia muris

This land is the Cecropid’s: such are the treaties for us.'
sad he departs and said 'they will stand' and 'for you your treaties at great—'
he said, and he thinks it more useful to threaten war
than to wage it and there to pre-consume his forces.
the Lyctian fleet is even now off the Oenopian walls

490

spectari poterat, cum pleno concita velo
Attica puppis adest in portusque intrat amicos,
quae Cephalum patriaeque simul mandata ferebat.
Aeacidae longo iuvenes post tempore visum
agnovere tamen Cephalum dextrasque dedere

it could be seen, when with full sail driven
the Attic ship arrives and enters friendly harbors,
which was bearing Cephalus and at the same time the mandates of his fatherland.
the youths of Aeacus, after a long time seeing him,
recognized Cephalus nonetheless and gave their right hands

495

inque patris duxere domum: spectabilis heros
et veteris retinens etiamnum pignora formae
ingreditur ramumque tenens popularis olivae
a dextra laevaque duos aetate minores
maior habet, Clyton et Buten, Pallante creatos.

and they led him into their father’s house: the notable hero
and still retaining even now the pledges of his former form
enters, and holding a branch of civic olive;
on the right and on the left the elder has two younger in age—
Clyton and Butes, born of Pallas.

500

Postquam congressus primi sua verba tulerunt,
Cecropidae Cephalus peragit mandata rogatque
auxilium foedusque refert et iura parentum,
imperiumque peti totius Achaidos addit.
sic ubi mandatam iuvit facundia causam,

After the first meetings brought forth their words,
Cephalus the Cecropid accomplishes the mandates and asks
for aid and recalls the treaty and the rights of the ancestors,
and adds that the dominion of all Achaia is being sought.
thus, when eloquence aided the entrusted cause,

505

Aeacus, in capulo sceptri nitente sinistra,
'ne petite auxilium, sed sumite' dixit, 'Athenae,
nec dubie vires, quas haec habet insula, vestras
ducite, et (o maneat rerum status iste mearum!)
robora non desunt; superat mihi miles et hoc est,

Aeacus, with his left hand on the shining handle of the scepter,
'seek not aid, but take it,' he said, 'Athenians,
and, without doubt, count the forces which this island has as yours,
and (O may that state of my affairs remain!)
strengths are not lacking; I have soldiery to spare, and this is,

510

gratia dis, felix et inexcusabile tempus.'
'immo ita sit' Cephalus, 'crescat tua civibus opto
urbs' ait; 'adveniens equidem modo gaudia cepi,
cum tam pulchra mihi, tam par aetate iuventus
obvia processit; multos tamen inde requiro,

thanks to the gods, a happy and irreproachable time.'
'nay, so may it be,' Cephalus said, 'I wish your city to grow with citizens;
on arriving just now indeed I took joys,
when so fair to me, so equal in age a youth
came forth to meet me; yet many from that company I seek,

515

quos quondam vidi vestra prius urbe receptus.'
Aeacus ingemuit tristique ita voce locutus:
'flebile principium melior fortuna secuta est;
hanc utinam possem vobis memorare sine illo!
ordine nunc repetam, neu longa ambage morer vos,

whom once I saw, when earlier received into your city.'
Aeacus groaned and in a sad voice thus spoke:
'a lamentable beginning was followed by a better fortune;
would that I could recount the latter to you without the former!
now I will repeat in order, lest I delay you with a long circumlocution,

520

ossa cinisque iacent, memori quos mente requiris,
et quota pars illi rerum periere mearum!
dira lues ira populis Iunonis iniquae
incidit exosae dictas a paelice terras.
dum visum mortale malum tantaeque latebat

bones and ashes lie, those whom you seek with a remembering mind,
and what a part of my realm perished with them!
a dire pestilence, by the wrath against the peoples of iniquitous Juno,
fell upon the lands she hated, named after the mistress.
while the evil seemed mortal and its magnitude lay hidden

525

causa nocens cladis, pugnatum est arte medendi:
exitium superabat opem, quae victa iacebat.
principio caelum spissa caligine terras
pressit et ignavos inclusit nubibus aestus;
dumque quater iunctis explevit cornibus orbem

the guilty cause of the disaster—there was battle waged by the art of healing:
destruction overmatched aid, which lay vanquished.
at the beginning the sky pressed the lands with dense murk
and shut in the sluggish heats with clouds;
and while four times the Moon, with its joined horns, filled its orb

530

Luna, quater plenum tenuata retexuit orbem,
letiferis calidi spirarunt aestibus austri.
constat et in fontis vitium venisse lacusque,
miliaque incultos serpentum multa per agros
errasse atque suis fluvios temerasse venenis. 535
strage canum primo volucrumque oviumque boumque
inque feris subiti deprensa potentia morbi.
concidere infelix validos miratur arator
inter opus tauros medioque recumbere sulco;
lanigeris gregibus balatus dantibus aegros

The Moon, thinned, unwove the full orb four times,
the hot south winds breathed with lethal heats.
it is agreed, too, that a taint came into springs and lakes,
and that many thousands of serpents wandered through the uncultivated fields
and defiled the rivers with their own venoms. 535
first, a slaughter of dogs and of birds and of sheep and of oxen,
and among the wild beasts the potency of the sudden disease was detected.
the unhappy ploughman marvels that the sturdy bulls collapse during the work and recline in the middle furrow;
in the wool-bearing flocks, they give sick bleatings

540

sponte sua lanaeque cadunt et corpora tabent;
acer equus quondam magnaeque in pulvere famae
degenerat palmas veterumque oblitus honorum
ad praesepe gemit leto moriturus inerti.
non aper irasci meminit, non fidere cursu

of their own accord the fleeces fall and the bodies waste away;
the once keen horse, and in the dust of great renown,
degenerates from the victory palms and, forgetful of former honors,
groans at the manger, about to die an inglorious death.
the boar remembers not to rage, nor to trust in his speed

545

cerva nec armentis incurrere fortibus ursi.
omnia languor habet: silvisque agrisque viisque
corpora foeda iacent, vitiantur odoribus aurae.
mira loquar: non illa canes avidaeque volucres,
non cani tetigere lupi; dilapsa liquescunt

nor does the hind, nor the bears, charge upon the sturdy herds.
Languor holds all things: and in forests and fields and on roads
foul bodies lie, the breezes are vitiated by the odors.
I will speak marvels: neither did dogs nor greedy birds,
nor gray wolves, touch those; fallen apart, they liquefy

550

adflatuque nocent et agunt contagia late.
'Pervenit ad miseros damno graviore colonos
pestis et in magnae dominatur moenibus urbis.
viscera torrentur primo, flammaeque latentis
indicium rubor est et ductus anhelitus; igni

and even by their breath they do harm, and the contagions spread far and wide.
'It reaches the wretched farmers with heavier loss, the plague, and lords it within the walls of the great city.
the vitals are parched at first, and the token of a hidden flame is a flush and a drawn, panting breath; by the fire

555

aspera lingua tumet, tepidisque arentia ventis
ora patent, auraeque graves captantur hiatu.
non stratum, non ulla pati velamina possunt,
nuda sed in terra ponunt praecordia, nec fit
corpus humo gelidum, sed humus de corpore fervet.

the rough tongue swells, and their mouths, parched, lie open to tepid winds,
and the heavy airs are snatched at with a gape.
not a bed, not any coverings can they endure,
but they lay their bare chests on the earth, nor does
the body become gelid from the soil, but the soil grows fervent from the body.

560

nec moderator adest, inque ipsos saeva medentes
erumpit clades, obsuntque auctoribus artes;
quo propior quisque est servitque fidelius aegro,
in partem leti citius venit, utque salutis
spes abiit finemque vident in funere morbi,

nor is a moderator at hand, and upon the medics themselves the savage disaster bursts forth,
and the arts are harmful to their authors;
the nearer each one is and the more faithfully he serves the sick,
he comes more quickly into a share of death, and as the hope
of health has departed they see the end of the disease in a funeral,

565

indulgent animis et nulla, quid utile, cura est:
utile enim nihil est. passim positoque pudore
fontibus et fluviis puteisque capacibus haerent,
nec sitis est exstincta prius quam vita bibendo.
inde graves multi nequeunt consurgere et ipsis

they indulge their spirits, and there is no care what is useful:
for indeed nothing is useful. Everywhere, and with modesty set aside,
they cling to springs and rivers and capacious wells,
nor is thirst extinguished by drinking before life is.
thence many, heavy, are unable to rise, and upon the very

570

inmoriuntur aquis, aliquis tamen haurit et illas;
tantaque sunt miseris invisi taedia lecti,
prosiliunt aut, si prohibent consistere vires,
corpora devolvunt in humum fugiuntque penates
quisque suos, sua cuique domus funesta videtur,

they die in the waters; yet someone nevertheless draws and even drinks those;
and so great to the wretched are the hateful tediums of the bed,
they spring forth, or, if their strength forbids them to stand,
they roll their bodies down onto the ground and flee their Penates,
each his own; to each his own house seems funereal,

575

et quia causa latet, locus est in crimine; partim
semianimes errare viis, dum stare valebant,
adspiceres, flentes alios terraque iacentes
lassaque versantes supremo lumina motu;
membraque pendentis tendunt ad sidera caeli,

and because the cause lies hidden, the place is held in blame; some
you might behold, half-alive, wandering the roads, while they were able to stand;
others weeping and lying on the earth, and turning their weary eyes
with the last motion; and the limbs of one hanging stretch toward the stars of heaven,

580

hic illic, ubi mors deprenderat, exhalantes.
'Quid mihi tunc animi fuit? an, quod debuit esse,
ut vitam odissem et cuperem pars esse meorum?
quo se cumque acies oculorum flexerat, illic
vulgus erat stratum, veluti cum putria motis

here and there, where death had caught them, breathing out.
'What spirit had I then? or was it what it ought to have been,
that I should hate life and desire to be a part of my own?
wherever the gaze of my eyes had turned itself, there
the multitude was strewn, as when, once stirred, rotten things

585

poma cadunt ramis agitataque ilice glandes.
templa vides contra gradibus sublimia longis:
Iuppiter illa tenet. quis non altaribus illis
inrita tura dedit? quotiens pro coniuge coniunx,
pro gnato genitor dum verba precantia dicit,

fruits fall from the branches, and, the ilex shaken, acorns.
you see the temples over against, lofty with long steps:
Jupiter holds those. who has not at those altars
offered vain incense? how often, for his wife a husband,
for his son a father, while he speaks beseeching words,

590

non exoratis animam finivit in aris,
inque manu turis pars inconsumpta reperta est!
admoti quotiens templis, dum vota sacerdos
concipit et fundit durum inter cornua vinum,
haud exspectato ceciderunt vulnere tauri!

with the altars not won over, he finished his life upon the altars,
and in his hand a portion of incense, unconsumed, was found!
as often as bulls were brought near to the temples, while the priest
conceives and pours forth vows and pours the harsh wine between the horns,
the bulls fell by an unlooked-for wound!

595

ipse ego sacra Iovi pro me patriaque tribusque
cum facerem natis, mugitus victima diros
edidit et subito conlapsa sine ictibus ullis
exiguo tinxit subiectos sanguine cultros.
exta quoque aegra notas veri monitusque deorum

I myself, when I was performing sacred rites to Jove for myself, my fatherland, and my three sons,
the victim uttered dire bellowings
and suddenly collapsed without any blows,
stained the knives placed beneath with scant blood.
The entrails too, sick, bore the marks of truth and the admonitions of the gods

600

perdiderant: tristes penetrant ad viscera morbi.
ante sacros vidi proiecta cadavera postes,
ante ipsas, quo mors foret invidiosior, aras.
pars animam laqueo claudunt mortisque timorem
morte fugant ultroque vocant venientia fata.

had lost: grim diseases penetrate to the viscera.
before the sacred doorposts I saw cadavers cast down,
before the altars themselves, that death might be more invidious.
some close off their life with a noose, and the fear of death
they drive away by death, and of their own accord call the coming fates.

605

corpora missa neci nullis de more feruntur
funeribus (neque enim capiebant funera portae):
aut inhumata premunt terras aut dantur in altos
indotata rogos; et iam reverentia nulla est,
deque rogis pugnant alienisque ignibus ardent.

bodies sent to death are borne with no funerals according to custom (for the gates could not admit the funerals):
or, unburied, they press the earth, or they are given to tall undowered pyres;
and now there is no reverence, and they fight over the pyres and burn on others’ fires.

610

qui lacriment, desunt, indefletaeque vagantur
natorumque patrumque animae iuvenumque senumque,
nec locus in tumulos, nec sufficit arbor in ignes.
Attonitus tanto miserarum turbine rerum,
"Iuppiter o!" dixi, "si te non falsa loquuntur

those to weep are lacking, and unwept wander
the souls of sons and fathers and of youths and of old men,
nor is there place for tombs, nor does timber suffice for pyres.
Thunderstruck at so great a whirlwind of wretched things,
"O Jupiter!" I said, "if they do not speak false things of you

615

dicta sub amplexus Aeginae Asopidos isse,
nec te, magne pater, nostri pudet esse parentem,
aut mihi redde meos aut me quoque conde sepulcro!"
ille notam fulgore dedit tonitruque secundo.
"accipio sintque ista precor felicia mentis

it is said you went beneath to the embraces of Aegina, daughter of Asopus,
nor are you, great father, ashamed to be the parent of us,
either give back to me my own, or also lay me in a sepulcher!"
he gave a sign by a flash and by a second thunderclap.
"I accept, and may these be, I pray, auspicious to my purpose

620

signa tuae!" dixi, "quod das mihi, pigneror omen."
forte fuit iuxta patulis rarissima ramis
sacra Iovi quercus de semine Dodonaeo;
hic nos frugilegas adspeximus agmine longo
grande onus exiguo formicas ore gerentes

"the signs of your will!" I said, "what you give me, I take as a pledged omen."
by chance there was nearby, with spreading branches most rare-leaved,
an oak sacred to Jove, from Dodonaean seed;
here we beheld the fruit-gatherers in a long column—
the ants bearing a great burden with a tiny mouth

625

rugosoque suum servantes cortice callem;
dum numerum miror, "totidem, pater optime," dixi,
"tu mihi da cives et inania moenia supple!"
intremuit ramisque sonum sine flamine motis
alta dedit quercus: pavido mihi membra timore

and keeping their own path on the wrinkled bark;
while I marvel at the number, "just so many, most excellent Father," I said,
"grant me citizens, and fill the empty walls!"
the lofty oak shuddered and gave a sound, its branches moved with no breath of wind;
my limbs, with fearful dread,

630

horruerant, stabantque comae; tamen oscula terrae
roboribusque dedi, nec me sperare fatebar;
sperabam tamen atque animo mea vota fovebam.
nox subit, et curis exercita corpora somnus
occupat: ante oculos eadem mihi quercus adesse

had shuddered, and my locks stood on end; yet I gave kisses to the earth
and to the oaks, nor did I confess that I hoped;
yet I was hoping nonetheless and with my spirit I cherished my vows.
night comes on, and sleep occupies bodies exercised by cares;
before my eyes the same oak was present

635

et ramis totidem totidemque animalia ramis
ferre suis visa est pariterque tremescere motu
graniferumque agmen subiectis spargere in arvis;
crescere desubito et maius maiusque videri
ac se tollere humo rectoque adsistere trunco

and with just as many branches and just as many living creatures upon the branches
she seemed to carry them on its own boughs, and equally to tremble with motion,
and to scatter a grain-bearing host upon the fields lying beneath;
and suddenly to grow and to seem greater and greater,
and to lift itself from the ground and to stand with a straight trunk

640

et maciem numerumque pedum nigrumque colorem
ponere et humanam membris inducere formam.
somnus abit: damno vigilans mea visa querorque
in superis opis esse nihil; at in aedibus ingens
murmur erat, vocesque hominum exaudire videbar

and to put off the gauntness and the number of feet and the black color
and to induce upon the limbs a human form.
sleep departs: awake I lament my visions as a loss and complain
that among the supernals there is no aid; but in the house there was a vast
murmur, and I seemed to hear distinctly the voices of men

645

iam mihi desuetas; dum suspicor has quoque somni
esse, venit Telamon properus foribusque reclusis
"speque fideque, pater", dixit "maiora videbis:
egredere!" egredior, qualesque in imagine somni
visus eram vidisse viros, ex ordine tales

now to me long-unaccustomed; while I suspect that these too are of a dream,
there comes Telamon, in haste, and with the doors thrown open,
"by hope and by faith, father," he said, "you will see greater things:
come forth!" I go forth, and such as in the image of a dream
I had seemed to have seen the men—such, in order, were they.

650

adspicio noscoque: adeunt regemque salutant.
vota Iovi solvo populisque recentibus urbem
partior et vacuos priscis cultoribus agros,
Myrmidonasque voco nec origine nomina fraudo.
corpora vidisti; mores, quos ante gerebant,

I behold and I recognize them: they approach and salute the king.
I pay my vows to Jove and I apportion the city to the fresh peoples
and the fields, empty of their former cultivators;
and I call them Myrmidons, nor do I defraud the names of their origin.
you have seen the bodies; the mores which before they bore,

655

nunc quoque habent: parcum genus est patiensque laborum
quaesitique tenax et quod quaesita reservet.
hi te ad bella pares annis animisque sequentur,
cum primum qui te feliciter attulit eurus'
(eurus enim attulerat) 'fuerit mutatus in austrum.'

now too they have them: a sparing race it is and patient of labors,
tenacious of what has been acquired and one that reserves what has been acquired.
these will follow you to wars, matched in years and in spirits,
as soon as 'the east wind who happily brought you'
(for the east wind had brought you) 'shall have been changed into the south wind.'

660

Talibus atque aliis longum sermonibus illi
inplevere diem; lucis pars ultima mensae
est data, nox somnis. iubar aureus extulerat Sol,
flabat adhuc eurus redituraque vela tenebat:
ad Cephalum Pallante sati, cui grandior aetas,

With such and with other discourses those men
filled the long day; the last portion of light
was given to the table, the night to slumbers. The Sun had lifted its golden radiance,
the east-wind Eurus was still blowing and held the sails for the return:
to Cephalus, sprung from Pallas, who was of greater age,

665

ad regem Cephalus simul et Pallante creati
conveniunt, sed adhuc regem sopor altus habebat.
excipit Aeacides illos in limine Phocus;
nam Telamon fraterque viros ad bella legebant.
Phocus in interius spatium pulchrosque recessus

Cephalus, together with the Pallas-born, come to the king,
but as yet a deep sopor was holding the king.
the Aeacid Phocus receives them on the threshold;
for Telamon and his brother were levying men for wars.
Phocus to the inner space and the beautiful recesses

670

Cecropidas ducit, cum quis simul ipse resedit.
adspicit Aeoliden ignota ex arbore factum
ferre manu iaculum, cuius fuit aurea cuspis.
pauca prius mediis sermonibus ille locutus
'sum nemorum studiosus' ait 'caedisque ferinae;

He leads the Cecropids, and at the same time he himself sat down with them.
he beholds the Aeolid bearing in his hand a javelin fashioned from an unknown tree,
whose point was golden.
first, having spoken a few words in mid-conversation, he said,
'I am a devotee of the groves and of ferine slaughter;'

675

qua tamen e silva teneas hastile recisum,
iamdudum dubito: certe si fraxinus esset,
fulva colore foret; si cornus, nodus inesset.
unde sit, ignoro, sed non formosius isto
viderunt oculi telum iaculabile nostri.'

from what wood, however, you hold a spear-shaft cut, I have long been in doubt: certainly, if it were ash, it would be tawny in color; if cornel, there would be a knot. whence it is, I do not know, but our eyes have seen no javelin for casting more beautiful than this.'

680

excipit Actaeis e fratribus alter et 'usum
maiorem specie mirabere' dixit 'in isto.
consequitur, quodcumque petit, fortunaque missum
non regit, et revolat nullo referente cruentum.'
tum vero iuvenis Nereius omnia quaerit,

one of the Actaean brothers takes it up and said, 'you will marvel at a use greater than its appearance in this.
it attains whatever it seeks, and Fortune does not govern what is hurled, and it flies back bloodied with no one bringing it back.'
then indeed the Nereian youth asks about everything,

685

cur sit et unde datum, quis tanti muneris auctor.
quae petit, ille refert, sed enim narrare pudori est,
qua tulerit mercede; silet tactusque dolore
coniugis amissae lacrimis ita fatur obortis:
'hoc me, nate dea, (quis possit credere?) telum

why it is and whence it was given, who is the author of so great a gift.
what he asks, that one recounts; but indeed it is to his modesty to narrate
for what merced he obtained it; he is silent, and touched with the dolor
of his lost spouse, with tears having arisen, thus he speaks: “this weapon, me, son of a goddess (who could believe it?)”

690

flere facit facietque diu, si vivere nobis
fata diu dederint; hoc me cum coniuge cara
perdidit: hoc utinam caruissem munere semper!
'Procris erat, si forte magis pervenit ad aures
Orithyia tuas, raptae soror Orithyiae,

it makes me weep and will make me weep for a long time, if the Fates grant us to live long; this destroyed me together with my dear consort: would that I had always lacked this gift!
'It was Procris—if perchance it has more reached your ears, Orithyia—sister of ravished Orithyia,

695

si faciem moresque velis conferre duarum,
dignior ipsa rapi! pater hanc mihi iunxit Erectheus,
hanc mihi iunxit amor: felix dicebar eramque;
non ita dis visum est, aut nunc quoque forsitan essem.
alter agebatur post sacra iugalia mensis,

if you should wish to confer the face and the character of the two,
she herself was more worthy to be carried off! Her father Erectheus joined her to me,
love joined her to me: I was called fortunate and I was;
it did not so seem to the gods, or perhaps I should be even now.
the second month was passing after the sacred nuptials,

700

cum me cornigeris tendentem retia cervis
vertice de summo semper florentis Hymetti
lutea mane videt pulsis Aurora tenebris
invitumque rapit. liceat mihi vera referre
pace deae: quod sit roseo spectabilis ore,

when me, stretching nets for horn-bearing stags,
from the topmost summit of ever-flourishing Hymettus,
saffron-hued Aurora in the morning, the darkness driven away, sees
and snatches me unwilling. Let it be permitted me to tell true things,
with the goddess’s peace: that she is conspicuous for her rosy face,

705

quod teneat lucis, teneat confinia noctis,
nectareis quod alatur aquis, ego Procrin amabam;
pectore Procris erat, Procris mihi semper in ore.
sacra tori coitusque novos thalamosque recentes
primaque deserti referebam foedera lecti: 710
mota dea est et "siste tuas, ingrate, querellas;
Procrin habe!" dixit, "quod si mea provida mens est,
non habuisse voles." meque illi irata remisit.
cum redeo mecumque deae memorata retracto,
esse metus coepit, ne iura iugalia coniunx

though she hold what is of the light, hold the confines of night,
though she be nourished by nectarean waters, I loved Procris;
Procris was in my breast, Procris for me always on my lips.
the sacred rites of the couch and coitus, the new bridal chambers,
and I was recounting the first covenants of the forsaken bed: 710
the goddess was moved and said, "Cease your complaints, ungrateful one;
have Procris!" she said, "but if my provident mind is [right],
you will not wish to have had her." And, angered, she sent me back to her.
when I return and reconsider with myself the things mentioned by the goddess,
fear began to be that my spouse might violate the conjugal rights

715

non bene servasset: facies aetasque iubebat
credere adulterium, prohibebant credere mores;
sed tamen afueram, sed et haec erat, unde redibam,
criminis exemplum, sed cuncta timemus amantes.
quaerere, quod doleam, statuo donisque pudicam

she would not have kept it well: her appearance and age bade one believe adultery, her morals forbade believing it;
but yet I had been away, and there was also, from where I was returning, a precedent of the charge, but we lovers fear everything.
I resolve to seek something to grieve at, and to test with gifts the pudic woman

720

sollicitare fidem; favet huic Aurora timori
inmutatque meam (videor sensisse) figuram.
Palladias ineo non cognoscendus Athenas
ingrediorque domum; culpa domus ipsa carebat
castaque signa dabat dominoque erat anxia rapto:

to put her faith on trial; Aurora favors this fear
and alters my form (I seem to have felt it).
I enter Palladian Athens not to be recognized
and I go into the house; the house itself was free from fault
and was giving chaste signs, and was anxious for its master snatched away:

725

vix aditus per mille dolos ad Erecthida factus.
ut vidi, obstipui meditataque paene reliqui
temptamenta fide; male me, quin vera faterer,
continui, male, quin, et oportuit, oscula ferrem.
tristis erat (sed nulla tamen formosior illa

scarcely was access made through a thousand wiles to the Erechtheid.
as I saw her, I was astonished and I almost left aside the things I had meditated,
the tests of faith; ill did I restrain myself, from confessing the truth,
ill, from bringing— and it was proper— kisses.
she was sad (but none nevertheless more beautiful than she

730

esse potest tristi) desiderioque dolebat
coniugis abrepti: tu collige, qualis in illa,
Phoce, decor fuerit, quam sic dolor ipse decebat!
quid referam, quotiens temptamina nostra pudici
reppulerint mores, quotiens "ego" dixerit "uni

can be in sadness) and she was grieving with longing for her snatched-away consort: you infer, Phocus, what sort of comeliness there was in her, how even grief itself thus befitted her! what should I recount, how often her chaste manners repelled my attempts, how often she said "I" "for one"

735

servor; ubicumque est, uni mea gaudia servo."
cui non ista fide satis experientia sano
magna foret? non sum contentus et in mea pugno
vulnera, dum census dare me pro nocte loquendo
muneraque augendo tandem dubitare coegi.

"I am kept; wherever he is, I reserve my joys for one."
For what sane man would not this proof, with such fidelity, be sufficiently great?
I am not content, and I fight against my own wounds,
while by speaking I proffer my fortune in exchange for a night,
and by augmenting the gifts I at last compelled her to hesitate.

740

exclamo male victor: "adest, mala, fictus adulter!
verus eram coniunx! me, perfida, teste teneris."
illa nihil; tacito tantummodo victa pudore
insidiosa malo cum coniuge limina fugit;
offensaque mei genus omne perosa virorum

I exclaim, a badly-victorious man: "He is here, wicked woman, the feigned adulterer!
I was the true consort! you are held, perfidious one, with me as witness."
She says nothing; only conquered by tacit shame
the insidious one fled the thresholds with her evil husband;
and, offended at me, detesting the whole genus of men

745

montibus errabat, studiis operata Dianae.
tum mihi deserto violentior ignis ad ossa
pervenit: orabam veniam et peccasse fatebar
et potuisse datis simili succumbere culpae
me quoque muneribus, si munera tanta darentur.

she was wandering the mountains, engaged in Diana’s pursuits.
then, to me deserted, a more violent fire reached to the bones:
I begged for pardon and confessed I had sinned,
and that I too could have succumbed to a similar fault
by gifts given, if such great gifts were granted.

750

haec mihi confesso, laesum prius ulta pudorem,
redditur et dulces concorditer exigit annos;
dat mihi praeterea, tamquam se parva dedisset
dona, canem munus; quem cum sua traderet illi
Cynthia, "currendo superabit" dixerat "omnes."

she, after I confessed, having first avenged the modesty earlier injured,
is restored to me and in concord exacts sweet years;
besides, as though she had given small gifts,
she gives me a dog as a gift; when Cynthia handed him over to me,
she had said, "by running he will surpass all."

755

dat simul et iaculum, manibus quod, cernis, habemus.
muneris alterius quae sit fortuna, requiris?
accipe mirandum: novitate movebere facti!
'Carmina Laiades non intellecta priorum
solverat ingeniis, et praecipitata iacebat

she gives at once also a javelin, which, you see, we have in our hands.
do you ask what the fortune of the other gift is?
receive a wonder: you will be moved by the novelty of the deed!
'The son of Laius had solved, by his wits, the songs not understood by those before,
and she lay dashed headlong

760

inmemor ambagum vates obscura suarum:
protinus Aoniis inmittitur altera Thebis

forgetful of the windings, the prophetess of her own obscurities:
straightway another is sent against Aonian Thebes

763

[scilicet alma Themis nec talia linquit inulta!]

[of course kindly Themis does not leave such things unavenged!]

762

pestis, et exitio multi pecorumque suoque

a pestilence, and to destruction many, both their herds and themselves

764

rurigenae pavere feram; vicina iuventus
venimus et latos indagine cinximus agros.
illa levi velox superabat retia saltu
summaque transibat postarum lina plagarum:
copula detrahitur canibus, quas illa sequentes
effugit et coetum non segnior alite ludit.

the country-born feared the wild beast; the neighboring youth
we came and encircled the broad fields with a ring of toils.
she, swift, was clearing the nets with a light leap
and was crossing the top cords of the posts of the toils:
the coupling is drawn off the dogs, whom, as they follow,
she escapes, and she plays with the pack no slower than a winged creature.

770

poscor et ipse meum consensu Laelapa magno
(muneris hoc nomen): iamdudum vincula pugnat
exuere ipse sibi colloque morantia tendit.
vix bene missus erat, nec iam poteramus, ubi esset,
scire; pedum calidus vestigia pulvis habebat,

I am called for, and my own Laelaps by great consensus
(this is the name of the gift): for some time now he fights to slip the bonds himself for himself,
and he strains at the hindrances on his neck.
Scarcely had he been well let go, and we could no longer know where he was;
the warm dust was holding the footprints of his feet,

775

ipse oculis ereptus erat: non ocior illo
hasta nec excussae contorto verbere glandes
nec Gortyniaco calamus levis exit ab arcu.
collis apex medii subiectis inminet arvis:
tollor eo capioque novi spectacula cursus,

he himself had been snatched from my eyes: not swifter than him
is a spear, nor sling-bullets shaken out by a lash whirled,
nor does a light shaft go forth from a Gortynian bow.
the apex of a hill in the middle overhangs the fields lying beneath:
I am lifted there and I take in the spectacle of a new chase,

780

quo modo deprendi, modo se subducere ab ipso
vulnere visa fera est; nec limite callida recto
in spatiumque fugit, sed decipit ora sequentis
et redit in gyrum, ne sit suus inpetus hosti:
inminet hic sequiturque parem similisque tenenti

now the beast seemed to be caught, now to draw itself away from the very wound;
nor does the crafty one flee by a straight track and into the open,
but it tricks the eyes of the pursuer
and returns into a circle, lest its own momentum be for the enemy;
he looms and follows his match, and seems like one already holding her.

785

non tenet et vanos exercet in aera morsus.
ad iaculi vertebar opem; quod dextera librat
dum mea, dum digitos amentis addere tempto,
lumina deflexi. revocataque rursus eodem
rettuleram: medio (mirum) duo marmora campo

he does not seize and exercises vain bites at the air.
I was turning to the aid of the javelin; which my right hand poises,
while I, while I try to add my digits to the thong,
I bent my eyes aside. And, recalled back again to the same place,
I had brought them back: in the middle (a marvel) two marbles in the plain

790

adspicio; fugere hoc, illud captare putares.
scilicet invictos ambo certamine cursus
esse deus voluit, si quis deus adfuit illis.'
hactenus, et tacuit; 'iaculo quod crimen in ipso est?'
Phocus ait; iaculi sic crimina reddidit ille:

I behold; you would think this one to flee, that one to try to capture.
surely the god wished both courses to be unconquered in the contest,
if any god was present to them.'
thus far, and he fell silent; 'what charge is there in the javelin itself?'
Phocus says; thus he rendered the crimes of the javelin:

795

'Gaudia principium nostri sunt, Phoce, doloris:
illa prius referam. iuvat o meminisse beati
temporis, Aeacide, quo primos rite per annos
coniuge eram felix, felix erat illa marito.
mutua cura duos et amor socialis habebat,

'Joys are the beginning of my grief, Phocus: I shall tell those first. It delights—oh—to remember the blessed time, Aeacid, when through the first years, duly, I was happy with a wife, she was happy with a husband. Mutual care and social love held the two,

800

nec Iovis illa meo thalamos praeferret amori,
nec me quae caperet, non si Venus ipsa veniret,
ulla erat; aequales urebant pectora flammae.
sole fere radiis feriente cacumina primis
venatum in silvas iuvenaliter ire solebam

nor would she prefer the bridal-chambers of Jove to my love,
nor was there any who could captivate me, not if Venus herself were to come;
equal flames were burning our breasts.
when the sun with its first rays was striking the treetops
I used to go into the woods to hunt, in youthful fashion

805

nec mecum famuli nec equi nec naribus acres
ire canes nec lina sequi nodosa solebant:
tutus eram iaculo; sed cum satiata ferinae
dextera caedis erat, repetebam frigus et umbras
et quae de gelidis exibat vallibus aura:

nor with me servants nor horses nor hounds keen in the nostrils
were accustomed to go, nor to follow knotted lines:
I was secure with the javelin; but when my right hand was sated
with the slaughter of wild game, I would seek again the chill and the shades
and the aura which issued from the gelid valleys:

810

aura petebatur medio mihi lenis in aestu,
auram exspectabam, requies erat illa labori.
"aura" (recordor enim), "venias" cantare solebam,
"meque iuves intresque sinus, gratissima, nostros,
utque facis, relevare velis, quibus urimur, aestus!"

I was seeking a gentle breeze in the midst of the heat,
I was expecting the breeze; that was a rest for my labor.
“breeze” (for I recall), “may you come,” I used to sing,
“and may you help me and enter our bosoms, most welcome one,
and, as you do, be willing to relieve the heats by which we are burned!”

815

forsitan addiderim (sic me mea fata trahebant),
blanditias plures et "tu mihi magna voluptas"
dicere sim solitus, "tu me reficisque fovesque,
tu facis, ut silvas, ut amem loca sola: meoque
spiritus iste tuus semper captatur ab ore."

perhaps I even added (thus my fates were drawing me),
more blandishments and "you are to me a great pleasure"
I was wont to say, "you both refresh me and cherish me,
you make me love the woods, love solitary places: and by my
mouth that breath of yours is ever caught."

820

vocibus ambiguis deceptam praebuit aurem
nescio quis nomenque aurae tam saepe vocatum
esse putat nymphae: nympham mihi credit amari.
criminis extemplo ficti temerarius index
Procrin adit linguaque refert audita susurra.

he lent a deceived ear to ambiguous voices
somebody-or-other thinks that the name of Aura, so often called,
is that of a nymph: he believes a nymph is loved by me.
straightway a rash index of a fictitious crime
approaches Procris and, with a whispering tongue, reports the things heard.

825

credula res amor est: subito conlapsa dolore,
ut mihi narratur, cecidit; longoque refecta
tempore se miseram, se fati dixit iniqui
deque fide questa est et crimine concita vano,
quod nihil est, metuit, metuit sine corpore nomen

Love is a credulous thing: suddenly, collapsed with grief, as it is told to me, she fell; and, restored after a long time, she called herself wretched, herself of unjust fate, and about good faith she made complaint and, stirred by an empty charge; what is nothing, she fears—she fears a name without a body

830

et dolet infelix veluti de paelice vera.
saepe tamen dubitat speratque miserrima falli
indiciique fidem negat et, nisi viderit ipsa,
damnatura sui non est delicta mariti.
postera depulerant Aurorae lumina noctem:

and the unlucky woman grieves as if over a real concubine.
yet often she wavers, and, most wretched, hopes to be deceived,
and she denies credence to the indicia, and, unless she herself sees,
she is not about to condemn the delicts of her own husband.
the lights of the next Dawn had driven off the night:

835

egredior silvamque peto victorque per herbas
"aura, veni" dixi "nostroque medere labori!"
et subito gemitus inter mea verba videbar
nescio quos audisse; "veni" tamen "optima!" dicens
fronde levem rursus strepitum faciente caduca

I go out and I seek the forest, and as a victor through the grasses
"breeze, come," I said, "and remedy my labor as well!"
and suddenly I seemed to have heard, among my words,
I know not whose groans; yet saying, "come, best one!"
as the falling foliage made a light rustle again

840

sum ratus esse feram telumque volatile misi:
Procris erat medioque tenens in pectore vulnus
"ei mihi" conclamat! vox est ubi cognita fidae
coniugis, ad vocem praeceps amensque cucurri.
semianimem et sparsas foedantem sanguine vestes

I reckoned it to be a wild beast and I sent a flying missile:
It was Procris, and holding the wound in the middle of her breast
"alas for me" she cries out! When the voice of my faithful
consort was recognized, headlong and out of my mind I ran to the voice.
half-alive and befouling with blood her scattered garments

845

et sua (me miserum!) de vulnere dona trahentem
invenio corpusque meo mihi carius ulnis
mollibus attollo scissaque a pectore veste
vulnera saeva ligo conorque inhibere cruorem
neu me morte sua sceleratum deserat, oro. 850
viribus illa carens et iam moribunda coegit
haec se pauca loqui: "per nostri foedera lecti
perque deos supplex oro superosque meosque,
per si quid merui de te bene perque manentem
nunc quoque, cum pereo, causam mihi mortis amorem,

and I find her (wretched me!) drawing her own gifts from the wound,
and I lift the body, dearer to me than my own, in my soft arms;
and with the garment torn from my chest I bind the savage wounds,
and I strive to stay the blood, and I beg that she not, by her death,
forsake me as crimined; I implore. 850
she, lacking strength and now moribund, compelled
herself to speak these few things: "by the covenants of our bed,
and by the gods I, a suppliant, beseech—the gods above and my own—,
by whatever I have merited well from you, and by the abiding
cause of my death, even now, when I perish—love,"

855

ne thalamis Auram patiare innubere nostris!"
dixit, et errorem tum denique nominis esse
et sensi et docui. sed quid docuisse iuvabat?
labitur, et parvae fugiunt cum sanguine vires,
dumque aliquid spectare potest, me spectat et in me

lest you suffer Aura to marry into our bridal chambers!"
she said, and then at last I both perceived and taught that it was an error of the name;
but what did it avail to have taught?
she slips away, and her little strength flees with the blood,
and while she can look at anything, she looks at me and on me

860

infelicem animam nostroque exhalat in ore;
sed vultu meliore mori secura videtur.'
Flentibus haec lacrimans heros memorabat, et ecce
Aeacus ingreditur duplici cum prole novoque
milite; quem Cephalus cum fortibus accipit armis.

she exhales her unlucky soul in my mouth; but she seems to die, assured, with a better countenance.'
Weeping, the hero recounted these things to the weeping, and behold Aeacus enters with double progeny and with new soldiery; whom Cephalus receives with stout arms.