Ovid: METAMORPHOSES

Iam nitidum retegente diem noctisque fugante
tempora Lucifero cadit Eurus, et umida surgunt
nubila: dant placidi cursum redeuntibus Austri
Aeacidis Cephaloque; quibus feliciter acti
ante exspectatum portus tenuere petitos.

Now, with Lucifer revealing the shining day and driving the times of night to flight,
Eurus subsides, and moist clouds rise;
the placid South Winds give a course to the returning Aeacids and to Cephalus;
by which, happily borne,
they reached the sought harbors before the expected time.

interea Minos Lelegeia litora vastat
praetemptatque sui vires Mavortis in urbe
Alcathoi, quam Nisus habet, cui splendidus ostro
inter honoratos medioque in vertice canos
crinis inhaerebat, magni fiducia regni.

meanwhile Minos lays waste the Lelegeian shores
and pre-tests the powers of his own Mavors in the city
of Alcathous, which Nisus holds, to whom, splendid with purple,
among the honored and in-the-middle-of-the-crown gray hairs
a lock was clinging—the confidence of his great kingdom.

Sexta resurgebant orientis cornua lunae,
et pendebat adhuc belli fortuna, diuque
inter utrumque volat dubiis Victoria pennis.
regia turris erat vocalibus addita muris,
in quibus auratam proles Letoia fertur

The sixth horns of the moon were rising again in the Orient,
and the fortune of war still hung in the balance, and for a long time
Victory flies between the two with doubtful wings.
There was a royal tower joined to the sonorous walls,
in which the Letoian offspring is reported to have set a gilded

deposuisse lyram: saxo sonus eius inhaesit.
saepe illuc solita est ascendere filia Nisi
et petere exiguo resonantia saxa lapillo,
tum cum pax esset; bello quoque saepe solebat
spectare ex illa rigidi certamina Martis,

to have set down the lyre: its sound adhered in the rock.
often thither the daughter of Nisus was wont to ascend
and with a small pebble to seek the resonant rocks,
then when there was peace; in war too she was often wont
to behold from there the contests of stern Mars,

iamque mora belli procerum quoque nomina norat
armaque equosque habitusque Cydoneasque pharetras;
noverat ante alios faciem ducis Europaei,
plus etiam, quam nosse sat est: hac iudice Minos,
seu caput abdiderat cristata casside pennis,

and by now, in the war’s delay, she had come to know the names of the princes as well,
and the arms and the horses and the attire and the Cydonian quivers;
she had known, before others, the face of the European leader,
even more than it is enough to know: with her as judge, Minos,
whether he had hidden his head beneath a crested casque with plumes,

in galea formosus erat; seu sumpserat aere
fulgentem clipeum, clipeum sumpsisse decebat;
torserat adductis hastilia lenta lacertis:
laudabat virgo iunctam cum viribus artem;
inposito calamo patulos sinuaverat arcus:

he was handsome in the helmet; or if he had taken up a gleaming shield of bronze, it befitted him to have taken up the shield; he had whirled the pliant spear-shafts with arms drawn back: the maiden praised the art joined with strength; with the reed set in place, he had made the wide bows curve:

sic Phoebum sumptis iurabat stare sagittis;
cum vero faciem dempto nudaverat aere
purpureusque albi stratis insignia pictis
terga premebat equi spumantiaque ora regebat,
vix sua, vix sanae virgo Niseia compos

thus she swore that Phoebus stood with arrows taken up;
but when indeed he had bared his face with the bronze removed
and, purple-clad, he pressed the back of a white horse strewn with painted insignia
and guided its foaming mouth, scarcely her own, scarcely sane,
was the Nisean maiden in control.

mentis erat: felix iaculum, quod tangeret ille,
quaeque manu premeret, felicia frena vocabat.
impetus est illi, liceat modo, ferre per agmen
virgineos hostile gradus, est impetus illi
turribus e summis in Cnosia mittere corpus

she was out of her mind: “happy the javelin that he might touch,” and the reins which he pressed with his hand she called happy. there is an impulse in her, if only it be permitted, to carry virginal steps through the hostile column; there is an impulse in her to send her body from the topmost towers into the Cnossian ranks

castra vel aeratas hosti recludere portas,
vel siquid Minos aliud velit. utque sedebat
candida Dictaei spectans tentoria regis,
'laeter,' ait 'doleamne geri lacrimabile bellum,
in dubio est; doleo, quod Minos hostis amanti est.

to unbar to the foe either the camp or the brazen gates,
or whatever else Minos may desire. And as she sat
gazing at the white tents of the Dictaean king,
'Shall I rejoice,' she says, 'or should I grieve that a lachrymable war is being waged,
it is in doubt; I grieve, because Minos is an enemy to me who love.'

sed nisi bella forent, numquam mihi cognitus esset!
me tamen accepta poterat deponere bellum
obside: me comitem, me pacis pignus haberet.
si quae te peperit, talis, pulcherrime regum,
qualis es ipse, fuit, merito deus arsit in illa.

but unless there were wars, he would never have become known to me!
yet, with me accepted as a hostage, he could have laid down the war;
let him have me as companion, me as a pledge of peace.
if she who bore you was such, most beautiful of kings,
as you yourself are, deservedly did a god burn for her.

o ego ter felix, si pennis lapsa per auras
Cnosiaci possem castris insistere regis
fassaque me flammasque meas, qua dote, rogarem,
vellet emi, tantum patrias ne posceret arces!
nam pereant potius sperata cubilia, quam sim

O I thrice happy, if, gliding on wings through the airs,
I could set foot upon the camp of the Cnossian king,
and, having confessed myself and my flames, I would ask with what dowry
he would wish me to be bought, only let him not demand my native citadels!
for let the hoped-for couch rather perish than that I be

proditione potens!—quamvis saepe utile vinci
victoris placidi fecit clementia multis.
iusta gerit certe pro nato bella perempto:
et causaque valet causamque tuentibus armis.
at, puto, vincemur; qui si manet exitus urbem,

potent in treason!—although often it has been useful to be conquered,
the clemency of a placid victor has made it so for many.
surely he wages just wars on behalf of a slain son:
and both the cause is valid and the arms that uphold the cause.
but, I think, we shall be conquered; which outcome, if it remains, the city,

cur suus haec illi reseret mea moenia Mavors
et non noster amor? melius sine caede moraque
inpensaque sui poterit superare cruoris.
non metuam certe, ne quis tua pectora, Minos,
vulneret inprudens: quis enim tam durus, ut in te

why should his Mars unbar these my walls for him,
and not our love? better, without slaughter and delay
and the expense of his own gore, will he be able to surmount them.
I will surely not fear, lest someone wound your breast, Minos,
unwitting: for who is so hard as to against you

derigere inmitem non inscius audeat hastam?
coepta placent, et stat sententia tradere mecum
dotalem patriam finemque inponere bello;
verum velle parum est! aditus custodia servat,
claustraque portarum genitor tenet: hunc ego solum

would anyone, not unknowing, dare to direct a pitiless spear?
the undertakings please me, and the resolve stands to hand over, along with myself, my fatherland as dowry and to impose an end upon the war;
but to will is too little! a guard keeps watch over the approaches,
and the bars of the gates my father holds: him alone I

infelix timeo, solus mea vota moratur.
di facerent, sine patre forem! sibi quisque profecto
est deus: ignavis precibus Fortuna repugnat.

unlucky, I fear; he alone delays my vows.
would that the gods would make it so—I would be without a father!
indeed, each man is a god to himself: Fortune is repugnant to idle prayers.

altera iamdudum succensa cupidine tanto
perdere gauderet, quodcumque obstaret amori.

the other, long since inflamed by so great a cupidity,
would rejoice to destroy whatever stood in the way of love.

et cur ulla foret me fortior? ire per ignes
et gladios ausim; nec in hoc tamen ignibus ullis
aut gladiis opus est, opus est mihi crine paterno.
illa mihi est auro pretiosior, illa beatam
purpura me votique mei factura potentem.'

and why should any be stronger than I? I would dare to go through fires
and swords; nor in this, however, is there any need of any fires
or swords; I need my father’s lock of hair.
that is to me more precious than gold; that purple
will make me blessed and successful in my vow.'

Talia dicenti curarum maxima nutrix
nox intervenit, tenebrisque audacia crevit.
prima quies aderat, qua curis fessa diurnis
pectora somnus habet: thalamos taciturna paternos
intrat et (heu facinus!) fatali nata parentem

While she was saying such things, Night, the greatest nurse of cares, intervened, and in the darkness audacity grew.
the first repose was at hand, when Sleep holds hearts wearied by diurnal cares: the taciturn one enters her paternal bedchambers
and (alas, a crime!) the fated daughter her parent

crine suum spoliat praedaque potita nefanda
per medios hostes (meriti fiducia tanta est)

she strips him of his hair, and, having obtained the nefarious prey,
through the midst of the enemies (so great is the confidence in her merit)

pervenit ad regem; quem sic adfata paventem est:
'suasit amor facinus: proles ego regia Nisi
Scylla tibi trado patriaeque meosque penates;
praemia nulla peto nisi te: cape pignus amoris
purpureum crinem nec me nunc tradere crinem,
sed patrium tibi crede caput!' scelerataque dextra
munera porrexit; Minos porrecta refugit

she came to the king; whom thus she addressed, trembling:
'love persuaded the crime: I, the royal progeny of Nisus,
Scylla, hand over to you the fatherland and my Penates;
I seek no rewards except you: take this pledge of love—
the purple lock—and believe that I am now delivering not a lock,
but my father's head to you!' and with her wicked right hand
she proffered the gifts; Minos shrank back from the proffered

turbatusque novi respondit imagine facti:
'di te summoveant, o nostri infamia saecli,
orbe suo, tellusque tibi pontusque negetur!
certe ego non patiar Iovis incunabula, Creten,
qui meus est orbis, tantum contingere monstrum.'

and, disturbed by the image of the new deed, he answered:
'may the gods remove you, O infamy of our age,
from their own orb, and may earth and sea be denied to you!
surely I will not allow the cradle of Jove, Crete,
which is my orb, to be touched by so great a monster.'

100

Dixit, et ut leges captis iustissimus auctor
hostibus inposuit, classis retinacula solvi
iussit et aeratas impelli remige puppes.
Scylla freto postquam deductas nare carinas
nec praestare ducem sceleris sibi praemia vidit,

He spoke, and, as a most just author, he imposed laws upon the captured enemies,
he ordered the moorings of the fleet to be loosed and the brazen ships to be driven by the oar.
Scylla, after she saw the keels launched to sail on the strait
and saw that, as the leader of the crime, she did not obtain rewards for herself,

105

consumptis precibus violentam transit in iram
intendensque manus passis furibunda capillis
'quo fugis' exclamat 'meritorum auctore relicta,
o patriae praelate meae, praelate parenti?
quo fugis, inmitis, cuius victoria nostrum

with prayers consumed she passes over into violent wrath
and, stretching out her hands, with hair spread, frenzied,
'Where do you flee,' she cries, 'with the author of your merits left behind,
O you preferred before my fatherland, preferred before my parent?
where do you flee, cruel one, by whose victory our

110

et scelus et meritum est? nec te data munera, nec te
noster amor movit, nec quod spes omnis in unum
te mea congesta est? nam quo deserta revertar?

and is it both crime and merit? neither have the given gifts moved you, nor our love moved you, nor that all my hope has been heaped into one—you?
for whither, deserted, shall I return?

in patriam? superata iacet! sed finge manere:
proditione mea clausa est mihi!

to my fatherland? it lies vanquished! but imagine it remains:
by my treason it is shut to me!

patris ad ora?

to my father's shores?

115

quem tibi donavi? cives odere merentem,
finitimi exemplum metuunt: exponimur orbae
terrarum, nobis ut Crete sola pateret.
hac quoque si prohibes et nos, ingrate, relinquis,
non genetrix Europa tibi est, sed inhospita Syrtis,

whom I gave to you? the citizens hate the well-deserving,
the neighboring peoples fear the example: we are exposed, bereft
of lands, so that Crete alone might lie open to us.
if you forbid this too and, ungrateful one, abandon us,
it is not Europa your begettrix, but the inhospitable Syrtis,

120

Armeniae tigres austroque agitata Charybdis.
Nec Iove tu natus, nec mater imagine tauri
ducta tua est: generis falsa est ea fabula! verus,
[et ferus et captus nullius amore iuvencae]
qui te progenuit, taurus fuit. exige poenas,

Armenian tigers and Charybdis agitated by the south wind.
Nor are you born from Jove, nor was your mother led by the image of a bull:
that fable of your lineage is false! true,—
[both fierce and captivated by the love of no heifer]—
he who begot you was a bull. exact punishments,

125

Nise pater! gaudete malis, modo prodita, nostris,
moenia! nam, fateor, merui et sum digna perire.

Father Nisus! Rejoice, walls, in our ills, you just now betrayed!
for, I confess, I have deserved it and am worthy to perish.

sed tamen ex illis aliquis, quos impia laesi,
me perimat! cur, qui vicisti crimine nostro,
insequeris crimen? scelus hoc patriaeque patrique est,

but yet let someone from among those whom impiously I have injured,
kill me! why, you who have conquered by our crime,
do you pursue the crime? this crime is against the fatherland and my father,

130

officium tibi sit! te vere coniuge digna est,
quae torvum ligno decepit adultera taurum
discordemque utero fetum tulit. ecquid ad aures
perveniunt mea dicta tuas, an inania venti
verba ferunt idemque tuas, ingrate, carinas?

let it be your duty! truly worthy of you as a spouse is she who, an adulteress, deceived the grim bull with wood and bore in her womb a discordant offspring. do my words at all reach your ears, or do the winds carry empty words and the same, ingrate, your keels?

135

iam iam Pasiphaen non est mirabile taurum
praeposuisse tibi: tu plus feritatis habebas.
me miseram! properare iubet!

now, now it is not a marvel that Pasiphae preferred the bull to you:
you had more ferity.
wretched me! he orders haste!

divulsaque remis
unda sonat, mecumque simul mea terra recedit.
nil agis, o frustra meritorum oblite meorum:

and the wave, torn apart by oars, resounds, and at the same time my land recedes along with me.
you accomplish nothing, O in vain oblivious of my merits:

140

insequar invitum puppimque amplexa recurvam
per freta longa trahar.' Vix dixerat, insilit undis
consequiturque rates faciente cupidine vires
Cnosiacaeque haeret comes invidiosa carinae.
quam pater ut vidit (nam iam pendebat in aura

“I will pursue the unwilling one, and, having embraced the curved stern,
I shall be dragged through the long straits.” Scarcely had she spoken, she leaps into the waves
and overtakes the ships, desire making strength,
and she clings, a jealous companion, to the Cnossian keel.
whom when her father saw (for now she was hanging in the air

145

et modo factus erat fulvis haliaeetus alis),
ibat, ut haerentem rostro laceraret adunco;
illa metu puppim dimisit, et aura cadentem
sustinuisse levis, ne tangeret aequora, visa est.
pluma subit palmis: in avem mutata vocatur

and he had just now been made a sea-eagle with tawny wings),
he was going, to tear with his hooked beak the one clinging;
she, in fear, let go the stern, and a light breeze
was seen to have sustained her as she fell, lest she touch the waters.
a feather comes beneath her palms: changed into a bird she is called

150

Ciris et a tonso est hoc nomen adepta capillo.
Vota Iovi Minos taurorum corpora centum
solvit, ut egressus ratibus Curetida terram
contigit, et spoliis decorata est regia fixis.
creverat obprobrium generis, foedumque patebat

Ciris too has obtained this name from the shorn hair-lock.
Minos paid to Jove his vows, the bodies of a hundred bulls,
when, having disembarked with his ships, he reached the Cretan land,
and the palace was adorned with spoils affixed.
the opprobrium of the lineage had increased, and the foulness lay open

155

matris adulterium monstri novitate biformis;
destinat hunc Minos thalamo removere pudorem
multiplicique domo caecisque includere tectis.
Daedalus ingenio fabrae celeberrimus artis
ponit opus turbatque notas et lumina flexum

the mother’s adultery stood revealed by the novelty of a two-formed monster;
Minos resolves to remove this shame from the marriage-chamber
and to enclose it in a manifold house and blind roofs.
Daedalus, most celebrated for the genius of the craftsman’s art,
sets the work and confounds the marks and the eyes by a flexure

160

ducit in errorem variarum ambage viarum.
non secus ac liquidus Phrygiis Maeandros in arvis
ludit et ambiguo lapsu refluitque fluitque
occurrensque sibi venturas aspicit undas
et nunc ad fontes, nunc ad mare versus apertum

it leads into error by the ambages of various ways.
no differently than the liquid Maeander in the Phrygian fields
plays, and with an ambiguous glide both flows back and flows,
and, meeting itself, looks upon the waves that are about to come,
and now turned toward its fountains, now toward the open sea

165

incertas exercet aquas: ita Daedalus implet
innumeras errore vias vixque ipse reverti
ad limen potuit: tanta est fallacia tecti.
Quo postquam geminam tauri iuvenisque figuram
clausit, et Actaeo bis pastum sanguine monstrum

he keeps the uncertain waters in play: so Daedalus fills
innumerable ways with error, and scarcely could he himself
return to the threshold: so great is the fallacy of the roof.
In which, after he shut the twin figure of the bull and the youth
enclosed, and the monster twice fed on Actaean blood

170

tertia sors annis domuit repetita novenis,
utque ope virginea nullis iterata priorum
ianua difficilis filo est inventa relecto,
protinus Aegides rapta Minoide Diam
vela dedit comitemque suam crudelis in illo

the third lot, renewed at nine-year intervals, had subdued [us];
and since by maidenly aid the difficult portal, not retraced by any of the former,
was found by the thread retraced,
straightway the son of Aegeus, with the Minos-born maiden seized, set his sails for Dia
and was cruel to his own companion on that island

175

litore destituit; desertae et multa querenti
amplexus et opem Liber tulit, utque perenni
sidere clara foret, sumptam de fronte coronam
inmisit caelo: tenues volat illa per auras
dumque volat, gemmae nitidos vertuntur in ignes

he left her on the shore; to the deserted one, complaining much,
Liber brought embraces and help, and, that she might be bright
with a perennial star, the crown taken from her forehead
he sent into the sky: it flies through the thin airs,
and while it flies, the gems are turned into shining fires

180

consistuntque loco specie remanente coronae,
qui medius Nixique genu est Anguemque tenentis.
Daedalus interea Creten longumque perosus
exilium tactusque loci natalis amore
clausus erat pelago. 'terras licet' inquit 'et undas

and they settle in a place with the appearance of a crown remaining,
which lies midway between the knee of the Kneeler and the Serpent-Holder.
Meanwhile Daedalus, hating Crete and his long exile,
and touched by love of his natal place,
was shut in by the sea. “Though lands,” he says, “and waves

185

obstruat: et caelum certe patet; ibimus illac:
omnia possideat, non possidet aera Minos.'
dixit et ignotas animum dimittit in artes
naturamque novat. nam ponit in ordine pennas
a minima coeptas, longam breviore sequenti,

let him block them up: and the sky surely lies open; we shall go that way:
let him possess everything; Minos does not possess the air.'
He spoke and sends his mind into unknown arts
and innovates nature. For he places the feathers in order,
begun from the smallest, the longer following the shorter,

190

ut clivo crevisse putes: sic rustica quondam
fistula disparibus paulatim surgit avenis;
tum lino medias et ceris alligat imas
atque ita conpositas parvo curvamine flectit,
ut veras imitetur aves. puer Icarus una

so that you would think they had grown on a slope: just so a rustic
pipe rises gradually with unequal reeds;
then with linen thread he binds the middle ones and with wax the lowest,
and thus arranged he bends them with a slight curvature,
so that it may imitate true birds. The boy Icarus together

195

stabat et, ignarus sua se tractare pericla,
ore renidenti modo, quas vaga moverat aura,
captabat plumas, flavam modo pollice ceram
mollibat lusuque suo mirabile patris
impediebat opus. postquam manus ultima coepto

he was standing and, unaware that he was handling his own dangers,
now with a beaming face, the feathers which the wandering aura had moved,
he would catch at; now with his thumb the golden wax
he would soften, and by his play he impeded the marvelous work of his father.
after the final hand to the begun work

200

inposita est, geminas opifex libravit in alas
ipse suum corpus motaque pependit in aura;
instruit et natum 'medio' que 'ut limite curras,
Icare,' ait 'moneo, ne, si demissior ibis,
unda gravet pennas, si celsior, ignis adurat:

was set in place, the artificer balanced the twin wings,
he himself poised his own body and hung in the stirred breeze;
and he instructs his son 'in the middle' and 'that you run by the middle limit,
Icarus,' he says, 'I warn you, lest, if you go lower,
the wave weigh down the feathers, if higher, the fire scorch them:

205

inter utrumque vola. nec te spectare Booten
aut Helicen iubeo strictumque Orionis ensem:
me duce carpe viam!' pariter praecepta volandi
tradit et ignotas umeris accommodat alas.
inter opus monitusque genae maduere seniles,

fly between the two. nor do I bid you to gaze at Boötes
or Helice and the drawn sword of Orion:
'with me as guide, seize the way!' at the same time he hands down the precepts of flying
and fits the unknown wings to his shoulders.
between the work and the warnings his aged cheeks grew wet,

210

et patriae tremuere manus; dedit oscula nato
non iterum repetenda suo pennisque levatus
ante volat comitique timet, velut ales, ab alto
quae teneram prolem produxit in aera nido,
hortaturque sequi damnosasque erudit artes

and the paternal hands trembled; he gave kisses to his son
not to be repeated, and, lifted by wings,
he flies before and fears for his companion, like a bird, from the high
nest which has brought forth its tender progeny into the air,
and he urges him to follow and trains him in the ruinous arts

215

et movet ipse suas et nati respicit alas.
hos aliquis tremula dum captat harundine pisces,
aut pastor baculo stivave innixus arator
vidit et obstipuit, quique aethera carpere possent,
credidit esse deos. et iam Iunonia laeva

and he himself moves his own and looks back at his son’s wings.
someone, while he snatches at fishes with a trembling reed,
or a shepherd leaning on his staff or a plowman on his plow‑stilt,
saw them and was stupefied, and believed that those who could cleave the aether
were gods. And now Juno’s was on the left

220

parte Samos (fuerant Delosque Parosque relictae)
dextra Lebinthos erat fecundaque melle Calymne,
cum puer audaci coepit gaudere volatu
deseruitque ducem caelique cupidine tractus
altius egit iter. rapidi vicinia solis

on that side was Samos (and Delos and Paros had been left behind),
on the right was Lebinthos and Calymne fertile in honey,
when the boy began to rejoice in audacious flight
and deserted his guide, drawn by desire of the sky,
he drove his course higher. the vicinity of the swift sun

225

mollit odoratas, pennarum vincula, ceras;
tabuerant cerae: nudos quatit ille lacertos,
remigioque carens non ullas percipit auras,
oraque caerulea patrium clamantia nomen
excipiuntur aqua, quae nomen traxit ab illo.

softens the fragrant wax, the bonds of the feathers;
the wax had melted: he shakes his bare upper arms,
and, lacking oarage, he perceives no breezes,
and his lips crying his father’s name
are taken up by the cerulean water, which drew its name from him.

230

at pater infelix, nec iam pater, 'Icare,' dixit,
'Icare,' dixit 'ubi es? qua te regione requiram?'
'Icare' dicebat: pennas aspexit in undis
devovitque suas artes corpusque sepulcro
condidit, et tellus a nomine dicta sepulti.

but the unhappy father, and now no longer a father, said, "Icarus," he said, "Icarus, where are you? In what region shall I seek you?" "Icarus," he kept saying: he beheld the feathers on the waves and he cursed his own arts, and he laid the body in a sepulcher, and the land was called from the name of the buried one.

235

Hunc miseri tumulo ponentem corpora nati
garrula limoso prospexit ab elice perdix
et plausit pennis testataque gaudia cantu est,
unica tunc volucris nec visa prioribus annis,
factaque nuper avis longum tibi, Daedale, crimen.

As this wretch was laying upon the tomb the body of his son,
the garrulous partridge peered out from a muddy ditch
and applauded with its wings and, by song, attested its joys,
then a lone bird, not seen in earlier years,
and only recently made a bird—a long-standing crime to you, Daedalus.

240

namque huic tradiderat, fatorum ignara, docendam
progeniem germana suam, natalibus actis
bis puerum senis, animi ad praecepta capacis;
ille etiam medio spinas in pisce notatas
traxit in exemplum ferroque incidit acuto

for indeed to him, his sister, ignorant of the fates, had handed over for teaching
her own progeny, his birthdays accomplished,
a boy twice six, of a mind capable for precepts;
he even, the spines marked in the middle of a fish,
took as an exemplar and incised them in iron with a sharp blade

245

perpetuos dentes et serrae repperit usum;
primus et ex uno duo ferrea bracchia nodo
vinxit, ut aequali spatio distantibus illis
altera pars staret, pars altera duceret orbem.
Daedalus invidit sacraque ex arce Minervae

he discovered continuous teeth and the use of the saw;
and he first fastened two iron arms from a single joint (node),
so that, with them at an equal interval apart,
one part might stand, the other might draw a circle.
Daedalus envied, and from Minerva’s sacred citadel

250

praecipitem misit, lapsum mentitus; at illum,
quae favet ingeniis, excepit Pallas avemque
reddidit et medio velavit in aere pennis,
sed vigor ingenii quondam velocis in alas
inque pedes abiit; nomen, quod et ante, remansit.

he sent him headlong, pretending a slip; but Pallas, who favors ingenuity, received him and made him a bird and veiled him with feathers in mid-air; but the vigor of his once swift ingenuity passed into wings and into feet; the name, which also before, remained.

255

non tamen haec alte volucris sua corpora tollit,
nec facit in ramis altoque cacumine nidos:
propter humum volitat ponitque in saepibus ova
antiquique memor metuit sublimia casus.
Iamque fatigatum tellus Aetnaea tenebat

yet this bird does not lift its body on high,
nor does it make nests in branches and on the lofty summit:
near the ground it flits and it sets its eggs in hedges,
mindful of the ancient fall it fears lofty plunges.
And now the Aetnaean land was holding the wearied one

260

Daedalon, et sumptis pro supplice Cocalus armis
mitis habebatur; iam lamentabile Athenae
pendere desierant Thesea laude tributum:
templa coronantur, bellatricemque Minervam
cum Iove disque vocant aliis, quos sanguine voto

Daedalus, and Cocalus with arms taken up for the suppliant,
was held gentle; already Athens
had ceased to pay the lamentable tribute by the praise of Theseus:
the temples are wreathed, and warlike Minerva,
together with Jove and the other gods, they invoke, whom with blood by vow

265

muneribusque datis et acerris turis honorant;
sparserat Argolicas nomen vaga fama per urbes
Theseos, et populi, quos dives Achaia cepit,
huius opem magnis inploravere periclis,
huius opem Calydon, quamvis Meleagron haberet,

and with gifts bestowed and with censers of frankincense they honor;
wandering fame had scattered the name of Theseus through the Argolic cities,
and the peoples whom rich Achaia held,
implored this man’s aid in great perils,
Calydon too sought this man’s help, although it had Meleager,

270

sollicita supplex petiit prece: causa petendi
sus erat, infestae famulus vindexque Dianae.
Oenea namque ferunt pleni successibus anni
primitias frugum Cereri, sua vina Lyaeo,
Palladios flavae latices libasse Minervae;

anxious, as a suppliant, she sought with prayer: the cause of seeking was a boar, the servant and avenger of offended Diana.
for they say that Oeneus, in a year full of successes,
had libated the first-fruits of the crops to Ceres, his wines to Lyaeus,
and the Palladian golden juices to Minerva;

275

coeptus ab agricolis superos pervenit ad omnes
ambitiosus honor: solas sine ture relictas
praeteritae cessasse ferunt Latoidos aras.
tangit et ira deos. 'at non inpune feremus,
quaeque inhonoratae, non et dicemur inultae'

the ambitious honor, begun by the farmers, reached all the gods above
they say that only the altars of Latona’s daughter, left without incense,
had stood idle, she having been passed over.
wrath touches the gods as well. ‘But we shall not bear it unpunished,
and we, dishonored, shall not be said to be unavenged’

280

inquit, et Olenios ultorem spreta per agros
misit aprum, quanto maiores herbida tauros
non habet Epiros, sed habent Sicula arva minores:
sanguine et igne micant oculi, riget horrida cervix,
et setae similes rigidis hastilibus horrent:

she said, and, as avenger of the slight, sent an Olenian boar through the fields
such that grassy Epirus does not have bulls greater,
but the Sicilian fields have smaller:
his eyes flash with blood and with fire, his bristling neck is rigid,
and the bristles, like rigid spear-shafts, stand on end:

285

fervida cum rauco latos stridore per armos

fervid foam, with a hoarse hissing, across his broad shoulders

287

spuma fluit, dentes aequantur dentibus Indis,
fulmen ab ore venit, frondes afflatibus ardent.
is modo crescentes segetes proculcat in herba,

foam flows; his teeth are matched to the Indian tusks,
a thunderbolt comes from his mouth; the leaves burn at his blasts.
he just now tramples the growing crops in the grass,

290

nunc matura metit fleturi vota coloni
et Cererem in spicis intercipit: area frustra
et frustra exspectant promissas horrea messes.
sternuntur gravidi longo cum palmite fetus
bacaque cum ramis semper frondentis olivae.

now he reaps the ripe vows of the farmer destined to weep,
and intercepts Ceres in the ears: the threshing-floor in vain
and in vain the granaries await the promised harvests.
the heavy-laden fruits are laid low along with the long vine-shoot,
and the berry along with the branches of the ever-leafy olive.

295

saevit et in pecudes: non has pastorve canisve,
non armenta truces possunt defendere tauri.
diffugiunt populi nec se nisi moenibus urbis
esse putant tutos, donec Meleagros et una
lecta manus iuvenum coiere cupidine laudis:

It rages also against the flocks: neither shepherd nor dog
can defend them, nor can fierce bulls defend the herds.
The people scatter, nor do they think themselves safe
except within the walls of the city, until Meleager and together
a chosen band of youths came together with desire of praise:

300

Tyndaridae gemini, praestantes caestibus alter,
alter equo, primaeque ratis molitor Iason,
et cum Pirithoo, felix concordia, Theseus,
et duo Thestiadae prolesque Aphareia, Lynceus
et velox Idas, et iam non femina Caeneus,

Tyndarid twins, one preeminent with the cestus,
the other with the horse, and Jason, builder of the first ship,
and, with Pirithous—happy concord—Theseus,
and the two sons of Thestius and the Aphareian offspring, Lynceus
and swift Idas, and now no longer a woman, Caeneus,

305

Leucippusque ferox iaculoque insignis Acastus
Hippothousque Dryasque et cretus Amyntore Phoenix
Actoridaeque pares et missus ab Elide Phyleus.
nec Telamon aberat magnique creator Achillis
cumque Pheretiade et Hyanteo Iolao 310
inpiger Eurytion et cursu invictus Echion
Naryciusque Lelex Panopeusque Hyleusque feroxque
Hippasus et primis etiamnum Nestor in annis,
et quos Hippocoon antiquis misit Amyclis,
Penelopaeque socer cum Parrhasio Ancaeo,

And Leucippus, fierce, and Acastus distinguished by the javelin,
and Hippothous and Dryas and Phoenix begotten of Amyntor,
and the matched Actoridae and Phyleus sent from Elis.
Nor was Telamon absent, and the begetter of great Achilles,
and with the son of Pheres and Hyantian Iolaus 310
untiring Eurytion and Echion unconquered in running,
and Narycian Lelex and Panopeus and Hyleus and fierce
Hippasus, and Nestor still in his earliest years,
and those whom Hippocoon sent from ancient Amyclae,
and Penelope’s father-in-law with Parrhasian Ancaeus,

315

Ampycidesque sagax et adhuc a coniuge tutus
Oeclides nemorisque decus Tegeaea Lycaei:
rasilis huic summam mordebat fibula vestem,
crinis erat simplex, nodum conlectus in unum,
ex umero pendens resonabat eburnea laevo

and the sagacious son of Ampycus, and as yet safe from his spouse,
the Oeclid, and the glory of the Lycaean grove, the Tegean:
for her a polished fibula was biting the top of her garment,
the hair was simple, gathered into a single knot,
hanging from her left shoulder the ivory quiver resounded

320

telorum custos, arcum quoque laeva tenebat;
talis erat cultu, facies, quam dicere vere
virgineam in puero, puerilem in virgine possis.
hanc pariter vidit, pariter Calydonius heros
optavit renuente deo flammasque latentes

the guardian of missiles; she also held a bow in her left hand;
such was her attire, her face, that you might truly call it virginal in a boy,
boyish in a virgin. Her alike the Calydonian hero
saw, alike desired—with the god refusing—and the latent flames

325

hausit et 'o felix, siquem dignabitur' inquit
'ista virum!' nec plura sinit tempusque pudorque
dicere: maius opus magni certaminis urguet.
Silva frequens trabibus, quam nulla ceciderat aetas,
incipit a plano devexaque prospicit arva:

he drank them in and said, 'O happy that man, if that one will deign to deem anyone worthy as a husband!' nor do time and modesty allow him to say more: a greater work of a great contest urges.
A forest thick with timbers, which no age had felled, begins from the plain and looks out over down-sloping fields:

330

quo postquam venere viri, pars retia tendunt,
vincula pars adimunt canibus, pars pressa sequuntur
signa pedum, cupiuntque suum reperire periclum.
concava vallis erat, quo se demittere rivi
adsuerant pluvialis aquae; tenet ima lacunae

when after this the men came there, some stretch the nets,
some remove the leashes from the dogs, some follow the pressed
signs of feet, and they long to find their own peril.
there was a hollow valley, into which the rills
of pluvial water were accustomed to let themselves down; a pool holds the lowest depths

335

lenta salix ulvaeque leves iuncique palustres
viminaque et longa parvae sub harundine cannae:
hinc aper excitus medios violentus in hostes
fertur, ut excussis elisi nubibus ignes.
sternitur incursu nemus, et propulsa fragorem

the pliant willow and light water-weed and marshy rushes,
withies, and long canes beneath the little reed:
from here the boar, roused, is borne violent into the midst of the foes,
like fires from clouds dashed asunder and shaken out.
the grove is laid low by the onrush, and what is driven back gives a crash

340

silva dat: exclamant iuvenes praetentaque forti
tela tenent dextra lato vibrantia ferro.
ille ruit spargitque canes, ut quisque furenti
obstat, et obliquo latrantes dissipat ictu.
cuspis Echionio primum contorta lacerto

the woodland yields: the youths exclaim and hold forth in their strong right hand
weapons, vibrating with broad iron.
he rushes and scatters the dogs, and whoever stands against the frenzied one
he disperses, the barkers, with an oblique blow.
a spear-point, first hurled by Echion’s arm

345

vana fuit truncoque dedit leve vulnus acerno;
proxima, si nimiis mittentis viribus usa
non foret, in tergo visa est haesura petito:
longius it; auctor teli Pagasaeus Iason.
'Phoebe,' ait Ampycides, 'si te coluique coloque,

it was vain and gave a light wound to a maple trunk;
the next, if it had not made use of the sender’s too-great strength,
seemed about to stick fast in the sought-for back:
it goes farther; the author of the spear was Pagasaean Jason.
‘Phoebus,’ says the Ampycides, ‘if I have worshiped you and I do worship you,

350

da mihi, quod petitur, certo contingere telo!'
qua potuit, precibus deus adnuit: ictus ab illo est,
sed sine vulnere aper: ferrum Diana volanti
abstulerat iaculo; lignum sine acumine venit.
ira feri mota est, nec fulmine lenius arsit:

grant me to hit, what is sought, with a sure weapon!'
so far as he could, the god assented to the prayers: by him the boar was struck,
but without a wound: Diana had taken the iron from the flying
javelin; the wood came without a point.
the anger of the beast was stirred, nor did it burn more mildly than a thunderbolt:

355

emicat ex oculis, spirat quoque pectore flamma,
utque volat moles adducto concita nervo,
cum petit aut muros aut plenas milite turres,
in iuvenes certo sic impete vulnificus sus
fertur et Hippalmon Pelagonaque, dextra tuentes

it flashes out from his eyes, and he also breathes flame from his breast;
and as a mass flies, set in motion by a drawn sinew,
when it seeks either walls or towers full of soldiery,
so against the youths with a sure impetus the wound‑making (vulnific) boar
is borne, and upon Hippalmus and Pelagon, protecting with the right hand

360

cornua, prosternit: socii rapuere iacentes;
at non letiferos effugit Enaesimus ictus
Hippocoonte satus: trepidantem et terga parantem
vertere succiso liquerunt poplite nervi.
forsitan et Pylius citra Troiana perisset

the horns, he lays them low: their comrades snatched up the fallen;
but Enaesimus, born of Hippocoön, did not escape the death-bringing blows;
trembling and preparing to turn his back,
the sinews of the knee, cut, left him.
perhaps even the Pylian would have perished before Troy

365

tempora, sed sumpto posita conamine ab hasta
arboris insiluit, quae stabat proxima, ramis
despexitque, loco tutus, quem fugerat, hostem.
dentibus ille ferox in querno stipite tritis
inminet exitio fidensque recentibus armis

times, but, an effort taken and his spear set aside,
he leaped onto a tree, which stood nearest, upon its branches,
and, safe in position, looked down on the enemy whom he had fled.
he, ferocious, with his teeth rubbed on the oaken trunk,
menaces with destruction and, trusting in his recent arms

370

Eurytidae magni rostro femur hausit adunco.
at gemini, nondum caelestia sidera, fratres,
ambo conspicui, nive candidioribus ambo
vectabantur equis, ambo vibrata per auras
hastarum tremulo quatiebant spicula motu.

He with his hooked rostrum gouged the thigh of the great Eurytides.
But the twin brothers, not yet the celestial stars,
both conspicuous, both were riding horses whiter than snow,
both were brandishing through the air the points of their spears
with a tremulous motion.

375

vulnera fecissent, nisi saetiger inter opacas
nec iaculis isset nec equo loca pervia silvas.
persequitur Telamon studioque incautus eundi
pronus ab arborea cecidit radice retentus.
dum levat hunc Peleus, celerem Tegeaea sagittam

they would have made wounds, had not the bristle-bearer among the shady
woods gone into places pervious neither to javelins nor to a horse.
Telamon pursues, and heedless in zeal for going
headlong he fell, held back by a tree-root.
while Peleus lifts him, the Tegean loosed a swift arrow

380

inposuit nervo sinuatoque expulit arcu:
fixa sub aure feri summum destrinxit harundo
corpus et exiguo rubefecit sanguine saetas;
nec tamen illa sui successu laetior ictus
quam Meleagros erat: primus vidisse putatur

she set it on the string and drove it from the curved bow:
the shaft, fixed beneath the wild boar’s ear, grazed the top of his body
and with a small amount of blood it reddened the bristles;
nor, however, was she more joyful at the success of her own stroke
than Meleager was: he is thought to have been the first to have seen it.

385

et primus sociis visum ostendisse cruorem
et 'meritum' dixisse 'feres virtutis honorem.'
erubuere viri seque exhortantur et addunt
cum clamore animos iaciuntque sine ordine tela:
turba nocet iactis et, quos petit, impedit ictus.

and first to have shown to his comrades the sight of gore,
and to have said, 'you will bear the deserved honor of valor.'
the men blushed, and they exhort themselves and add
with a clamor their spirits, and they hurl their weapons without order: the throng injures the cast missiles and impedes the blows at those whom it aims.

390

ecce furens contra sua fata bipennifer Arcas
'discite, femineis quid tela virilia praestent,
o iuvenes, operique meo concedite!' dixit.
'ipsa suis licet hunc Latonia protegat armis,
invita tamen hunc perimet mea dextra Diana.'

behold, raging against his own fates, the double-axe-bearing Arcadian
said, 'learn what virile weapons excel feminine ones,
o youths, and yield to my work!'
'though the Latonian herself may protect this man with her own arms,
nonetheless my right hand will slay this man, with Diana unwilling.'

395

talia magniloquo tumidus memoraverat ore
ancipitemque manu tollens utraque securim
institerat digitis pronos suspensus in ictus:
occupat audentem, quaque est via proxima leto,
summa ferus geminos derexit ad inguina dentes.

puffed-up, with a magniloquent mouth, he had thus recounted, and, lifting in both hands the two-edged axe, he had set his toes, poised, leaning forward into the blows: he forestalls the daring man, and, where the way is nearest to death, the savage one directed his twin teeth to the upper groin.

400

concidit Ancaeus glomerataque sanguine multo
viscera lapsa fluunt: madefacta est terra cruore.
ibat in adversum proles Ixionis hostem
Pirithous valida quatiens venabula dextra;
cui 'procul' Aegides 'o me mihi carior' inquit

Ancaeus collapsed, and his entrails, heaped together and with much blood, slipped out and flowed;
the earth was soaked with gore.
The progeny of Ixion, Pirithous, was going against the adversary,
brandishing hunting-spears with his strong right hand;
to whom the Aegid said, "Back! O you dearer to me than myself"

405

'pars animae consiste meae! licet eminus esse
fortibus: Ancaeo nocuit temeraria virtus.'
dixit et aerata torsit grave cuspide cornum;
quo bene librato votique potente futuro
obstitit aesculea frondosus ab arbore ramus.

'part of my soul, stand fast! it is permitted for the brave to be at a distance:
temerarious valor harmed Ancaeus.'
he said and hurled the cornel-spear, heavy with a brazen point;
which, well balanced and potent for a vow soon to be fulfilled,
a leafy branch from an oak-tree stood in the way.

410

misit et Aesonides iaculum: quod casus ab illo
vertit in inmeriti fatum latrantis et inter
ilia coniectum tellure per ilia fixum est.
at manus Oenidae variat, missisque duabus
hasta prior terra, medio stetit altera tergo.

the Aesonid also sent a javelin: which chance turned from him into the fate of an undeserving barker, and, hurled between the flanks, through the flanks it was fixed in the earth.
but the Oenid’s hand varies, and with two sent, the earlier spear to earth, the other stood in the middle of the back.

415

nec mora, dum saevit, dum corpora versat in orbem
stridentemque novo spumam cum sanguine fundit,
vulneris auctor adest hostemque inritat ad iram
splendidaque adversos venabula condit in armos.
gaudia testantur socii clamore secundo

no delay: while it rages, while it wheels the bodies in a circle,
and pours forth hissing foam with fresh blood,
the author of the wound is at hand and incites the foe to wrath,
and buries shining hunting-spears in its opposing shoulders.
the comrades attest their joys with a seconding shout

420

victricemque petunt dextrae coniungere dextram
inmanemque ferum multa tellure iacentem
mirantes spectant neque adhuc contingere tutum
esse putant, sed tela tamen sua quisque cruentat.
Ipse pede inposito caput exitiabile pressit

and they seek to join right hand to the victorious right hand
and, marveling, they behold the monstrous beast lying on the broad earth
and they think it not yet safe to touch,
yet nevertheless each man bloodies his own spear.
He himself, with his foot set upon it, pressed down the death-bringing head

425

atque ita 'sume mei spolium, Nonacria, iuris,'
dixit 'et in partem veniat mea gloria tecum.'
protinus exuvias rigidis horrentia saetis
terga dat et magnis insignia dentibus ora.
illi laetitiae est cum munere muneris auctor;

and thus he said: 'take, Nonacrian, the spoil of my right, and let my glory come into a share with you.'
straightway he gives the spoils: the hide bristling with rigid bristles,
and the face distinguished by great teeth.
to her, together with the gift, the giver of the gift is a joy.

430

invidere alii, totoque erat agmine murmur.
e quibus ingenti tendentes bracchia voce
'pone age nec titulos intercipe, femina, nostros,'
Thestiadae clamant, 'nec te fiducia formae
decipiat, ne sit longe tibi captus amore

others envied, and in the whole array there was a murmur.
from among whom, stretching their arms, with a mighty voice
'come, put it down, and do not intercept our titles, woman,'
the Thestiadae shout, 'nor let confidence in your form
deceive you, lest he be far captivated with love for you

435

auctor,' et huic adimunt munus, ius muneris illi.
non tulit et tumida frendens Mavortius ira
'discite, raptores alieni' dixit 'honoris,
facta minis quantum distent,' hausitque nefando
pectora Plexippi nil tale timentia ferro.

"the author," and they take away from this one the gift, from that one the right of the gift.
He did not endure it, and, gnashing with swelling Mavortian anger,
he said, "learn, you rapers of another’s honor,
how deeds differ from threats," and with unspeakable
iron he drained the breast of Plexippus, fearing nothing of the sort.

440

Toxea, quid faciat, dubium pariterque volentem
ulcisci fratrem fraternaque fata timentem
haud patitur dubitare diu calidumque priori
caede recalfecit consorti sanguine telum.
Dona deum templis nato victore ferebat,

Toxeus, uncertain what he should do, and at the same time willing to avenge his brother and fearing fraternal fates, he does not allow to hesitate long, and he reheated the weapon, still warm from the prior slaughter, with his comrade’s blood.
He was bearing to the temples the gods’ gifts for his victorious son,

445

cum videt exstinctos fratres Althaea referri.
quae plangore dato maestis clamoribus urbem
inplet et auratis mutavit vestibus atras;
at simul est auctor necis editus, excidit omnis
luctus et a lacrimis in poenae versus amorem est.

when Althaea sees her brothers carried back exstinct.
who, lamentation having been given, fills the city with mournful outcries
and changed her aurate garments for black;
but as soon as the author of the slaying was made known, all
grief fell away, and from tears it was turned into a love of punishment.

450

Stipes erat, quem, cum partus enixa iaceret
Thestias, in flammam triplices posuere sorores
staminaque inpresso fatalia pollice nentes
'tempora' dixerunt 'eadem lignoque tibique,
o modo nate, damus.' quo postquam carmine dicto

There was a log, which, when the daughter of Thestius lay after having borne her child, the triple sisters placed into the flame, and, spinning the fatal threads with an impressed thumb, said: 'we grant the same times to the wood and to you, O just-now born son.' after which incantation was spoken

455

excessere deae, flagrantem mater ab igne
eripuit ramum sparsitque liquentibus undis.
ille diu fuerat penetralibus abditus imis
servatusque tuos, iuvenis, servaverat annos.
protulit hunc genetrix taedasque et fragmina poni

the goddesses departed; the mother snatched the blazing branch from the fire and sprinkled it with liquid waters.
that one had long been hidden in the deepest inner sanctums, and, having been preserved, had preserved your years, young man.
the mother brought this forth, and ordered torches and fragments to be placed

460

imperat et positis inimicos admovet ignes.
tum conata quater flammis inponere ramum
coepta quater tenuit: pugnat materque sororque,
et diversa trahunt unum duo nomina pectus.
saepe metu sceleris pallebant ora futuri,

she commands and, the inimical fires having been set, brings them near.
then, having attempted four times to impose the branch upon the flames,
four times she held back what she had begun: both mother and sister contend,
and two names draw one breast in opposite directions.
often her features grew pale with fear of the future crime,

465

saepe suum fervens oculis dabat ira ruborem,
et modo nescio quid similis crudele minanti
vultus erat, modo quem misereri credere posses;
cumque ferus lacrimas animi siccaverat ardor,
inveniebantur lacrimae tamen, utque carina,

often her seething anger gave its own redness to her eyes,
and now her face was somehow—I know not what—like one threatening something cruel,
now like one whom you could believe would feel pity;
and when the fierce ardor of her spirit had dried the tears,
yet tears were found, and as a ship,

470

quam ventus ventoque rapit contrarius aestus,
vim geminam sentit paretque incerta duobus,
Thestias haud aliter dubiis affectibus errat
inque vices ponit positamque resuscitat iram.
incipit esse tamen melior germana parente

as a keel which the wind and a current contrary to the wind snatches away,
feels a twin force and, uncertain, obeys both,
Thestias, no otherwise, wanders with dubious affections,
and by turns lays down and resuscitates the anger once set down.
nevertheless the sister begins to be better than the parent

475

et consanguineas ut sanguine leniat umbras,
inpietate pia est. nam postquam pestifer ignis
convaluit, 'rogus iste cremet mea viscera' dixit,
utque manu dira lignum fatale tenebat,
ante sepulcrales infelix adstitit aras

and, that she may soothe the kindred-by-blood shades with blood,
she is pious by impiety. For after the pestiferous fire
grew strong, "let this pyre burn my viscera," she said,
and as with a dire hand she held the fateful wood,
before the sepulchral altars the ill-fated one stood

480

'poenarum' que 'deae triplices, furialibus,' inquit
'Eumenides, sacris vultus advertite vestros!
ulciscor facioque nefas; mors morte pianda est,
in scelus addendum scelus est, in funera funus:
per coacervatos pereat domus inpia luctus!

'you triple goddesses of punishments, with Fury-rites,' she said
'Eumenides, turn your faces to your sacred Fury-rites!
I avenge and I commit a nefarious deed; death must be expiated by death,
crime must be added to crime, funeral to funeral:
let the impious house perish through heaped-up griefs!

485

an felix Oeneus nato victore fruetur,
Thestius orbus erit? melius lugebitis ambo.
vos modo, fraterni manes animaeque recentes,
officium sentite meum magnoque paratas
accipite inferias, uteri mala pignora nostri!

Shall happy Oeneus enjoy his victorious son, and shall Thestius be bereft? You both will mourn the better. Only you, Manes of my brothers, and you souls but newly departed, feel my duty and receive the great funeral offerings prepared—the baleful pledges of my womb!

490

ei mihi! quo rapior? fratres, ignoscite matri!

Ah me! Whither am I being snatched? Brothers, forgive your mother!

deficiunt ad coepta manus: meruisse fatemur
illum, cur pereat; mortis mihi displicet auctor.
ergo inpune feret vivusque et victor et ipso
successu tumidus regnum Calydonis habebit,

my hands fail at the undertaking: we confess he has deserved that for which he perishes; the author of his death displeases me.
therefore will he carry it off with impunity, and, alive and victor, and tumid with his very success, will he hold the kingdom of Calydon,

495

vos cinis exiguus gelidaeque iacebitis umbrae?
haud equidem patiar: pereat sceleratus et ille
spemque patris regnumque trahat patriaeque ruinam!
mens ubi materna est?

will you lie as scant ashes and in the gelid shades?
not indeed will I suffer it: let that wicked man too perish,
and let him draw down his father’s hope and the kingdom and ruin upon his fatherland!
where is the maternal mind?

ubi sunt pia iura parentum
et quos sustinui bis mensum quinque labores?

where are the pious rights of parents
and the labors which I sustained for twice five months?

500

o utinam primis arsisses ignibus infans,
idque ego passa forem! vixisti munere nostro;
nunc merito moriere tuo! cape praemia facti
bisque datam, primum partu, mox stipite rapto,
redde animam vel me fraternis adde sepulcris!

o would that you had burned in the first fires, infant,
and that I would have suffered it! you have lived by our gift;
now by your own desert you will die! take the rewards of the deed
and the life given twice—first by birth, soon when the club was seized—
give back your spirit, or add me to your brothers’ tombs!

505

et cupio et nequeo. quid agam? modo vulnera fratrum
ante oculos mihi sunt et tantae caedis imago,
nunc animum pietas maternaque nomina frangunt.

I both desire and cannot. What am I to do? Just now the wounds of my brothers are before my eyes and the image of so great a slaughter,
now piety and the maternal titles break my spirit.

me miseram! male vincetis, sed vincite, fratres,
dummodo, quae dedero vobis, solacia vosque

woe is me! you will conquer ill, but conquer, brothers,
so long as the solaces which I shall have given to you, and you

510

ipsa sequar!' dixit dextraque aversa trementi
funereum torrem medios coniecit in ignes:
aut dedit aut visus gemitus est ipse dedisse
stipes, ut invitis conreptus ab ignibus arsit.
Inscius atque absens flamma Meleagros ab illa

‘I myself will follow!’ she said, and with her right hand turned away, trembling,
she hurled the funereal brand into the midst of the fires:
either it gave a groan, or the log itself seemed to have given a groan,
as, snatched up by the reluctant fires, it burned.
Unknowing and absent Meleager by that flame

515

uritur et caecis torreri viscera sentit
ignibus ac magnos superat virtute dolores.
quod tamen ignavo cadat et sine sanguine leto,
maeret et Ancaei felicia vulnera dicit
grandaevumque patrem fratresque piasque sorores

He burns and feels his viscera being roasted by blind fires,
and he overcomes great pains by virtue.
yet that he should fall by a cowardly and bloodless death,
he mourns and calls Ancaeus’s wounds felicitous,
and his aged father and his brothers and his pious sisters

520

cum gemitu sociamque tori vocat ore supremo,
forsitan et matrem. crescunt ignisque dolorque
languescuntque iterum; simul est exstinctus uterque,
inque leves abiit paulatim spiritus auras
paulatim cana prunam velante favilla.

with a groan he calls the consort of his couch with his last voice,
perhaps even his mother. The fire and the pain increase
and languish again; at once each was extinguished,
and his spirit little by little went away into light airs,
little by little as hoary ash veiled the live coal.

525

Alta iacet Calydon: lugent iuvenesque senesque,
vulgusque proceresque gemunt, scissaeque capillos
planguntur matres Calydonides Eueninae;
pulvere canitiem genitor vultusque seniles
foedat humi fusus spatiosumque increpat aevum.

High Calydon lies low: both youths and old men mourn,
and both the common crowd and the nobles groan, and the Euenian Calydonian mothers,
with hair torn, beat their breasts;
the father, stretched on the ground, befouls with dust his gray hair
and his senile features, and he upbraids the spacious span of age.

530

nam de matre manus diri sibi conscia facti
exegit poenas acto per viscera ferro.
non mihi si centum deus ora sonantia linguis
ingeniumque capax totumque Helicona dedisset,
tristia persequerer miserarum fata sororum.

for from the mother the hand, conscious to itself of the dire deed,
exacted penalties, the steel driven through her viscera.
not for me, even if a god had given a hundred mouths resounding with tongues
and a capacious genius and all Helicon, would I pursue the sad fates of the miserable sisters.

535

inmemores decoris liventia pectora tundunt,
dumque manet corpus, corpus refoventque foventque,
oscula dant ipsi, posito dant oscula lecto.
post cinerem cineres haustos ad pectora pressant
adfusaeque iacent tumulo signataque saxo

unmindful of decorum, they beat their livid breasts,
and while the body remains, the body they rewarm and warm,
they give kisses to him; with the bier set down, they give kisses.
after the pyre, they press the ashes, scooped up, to their breasts,
and, poured out, they lie by the tomb, marked with stone

540

nomina conplexae lacrimas in nomina fundunt.
quas Parthaoniae tandem Latonia clade
exsatiata domus praeter Gorgenque nurumque
nobilis Alcmenae natis in corpore pennis
adlevat et longas per bracchia porrigit alas

embracing the names, they pour tears upon the names.
whom the Latonian, at last with the Parthaonian house sated by the slaughter,
except for Gorge and the daughter-in-law of noble Alcmene,
lightens with feathers in their body for the daughters
and stretches long wings along their arms.

545

corneaque ora facit versasque per aera mittit.
Interea Theseus sociati parte laboris
functus Erectheas Tritonidos ibat ad arces.
clausit iter fecitque moras Achelous eunti
imbre tumens: 'succede meis,' ait 'inclite, tectis,

and she makes their mouths corneous beaks and sends them, transformed, through the air.
Meanwhile Theseus, having discharged a part of the associated labor,
was going to the Erechthean Tritonid’s citadels.
Achelous, swollen with rain, closed the path and made delays for him as he went:
“come beneath my roofs,” he said, “illustrious one,”

550

Cecropide, nec te committe rapacibus undis:
ferre trabes solidas obliquaque volvere magno
murmure saxa solent. vidi contermina ripae
cum gregibus stabula alta trahi; nec fortibus illic
profuit armentis nec equis velocibus esse.

Cecropid, do not entrust yourself to the rapacious waves:
they are wont to carry off solid beams and to roll stones askew with a great murmuring roar.
I have seen lofty stables adjoining the bank dragged along with the herds;
nor there did it profit the strong herds, nor the swift horses, to be so.

555

multa quoque hic torrens nivibus de monte solutis
corpora turbineo iuvenalia vertice mersit.
tutior est requies, solito dum flumina currant
limite, dum tenues capiat suus alveus undas.'
adnuit Aegides 'utar,' que 'Acheloe, domoque

many youthful bodies too here the torrent, with snows loosened from the mountain,
has submerged in a whirling vortex.
rest is safer, while the rivers run in their accustomed limit,
while its own channel takes in the slender waters.'
the Aegid nodded: 'I will comply,' and 'Achelous, and your house

560

consilioque tuo' respondit; et usus utroque est.
pumice multicavo nec levibus atria tophis
structa subit: molli tellus erat umida musco,
summa lacunabant alterno murice conchae.
iamque duas lucis partes Hyperione menso

‘and with your counsel,’ he replied; and he made use of both.
he enters atria constructed of pumice with many hollows and with no light tufa;
the earth was damp with soft moss,
the ceilings were coffered by shells with alternating murex-purple.
and now, with Hyperion having measured two parts of the light

565

discubuere toris Theseus comitesque laborum,
hac Ixionides, illa Troezenius heros
parte Lelex, raris iam sparsus tempora canis,
quosque alios parili fuerat dignatus honore
Amnis Acarnanum, laetissimus hospite tanto.

They reclined on the couches, Theseus and the comrades of his labors;
on this side the Ixionid, on that the Troezenian hero;
in one part Lelex, his temples now sprinkled with sparse grays,
and whatever others the Acarnanian River had deemed worthy of equal honor,
most joyful at so great a guest.

570

protinus adpositas nudae vestigia nymphae
instruxere epulis mensas dapibusque remotis
in gemma posuere merum. tum maximus heros,
aequora prospiciens oculis subiecta, 'quis' inquit
'ille locus?' (digitoque ostendit) 'et insula nomen

straightway the barefoot nymphs furnished the tables set beside with banquets, and, the courses removed, they placed unmixed wine in a gem. then the greatest hero, looking out upon the seas spread beneath his eyes, says, 'what place is that?' (and with his finger he points it out) 'and the island’s name

575

quod gerit illa, doce, quamquam non una videtur!'
Amnis ad haec 'non est' inquit 'quod cernitis unum:
quinque iacent terrae; spatium discrimina fallit.
quoque minus spretae factum mirere Dianae,
naides hae fuerant, quae cum bis quinque iuvencos

‘what name that one bears, teach me, although it does not seem single!’
the River to this says, ‘what you perceive is not one:
five lands lie; space deceives the discriminations.
and that you may the less marvel at the deed of Diana when spurned,
these were Naiads, who, when ten young bullocks

580

mactassent rurisque deos ad sacra vocassent,
inmemores nostri festas duxere choreas.
intumui, quantusque feror, cum plurimus umquam,
tantus eram, pariterque animis inmanis et undis
a silvis silvas et ab arvis arva revelli

had sacrificed and had called the rural gods to the sacred rites,
unmindful of me they led festal choruses.
I swelled, and as great as I am borne when ever at my fullest,
so great was I, and alike monstrous in spirit and in waves
I tore from the woods the woods, and from the fields the fields

585

cumque loco nymphas, memores tum denique nostri,
in freta provolvi. fluctus nosterque marisque
continuam diduxit humum partesque resolvit
in totidem, mediis quot cernis Echinadas undis.
ut tamen ipse vides, procul, en procul una recessit

and when from their place the nymphs—then at last mindful of me— I rolled into the straits.
the surge, both mine and the sea’s, drew apart the continuous ground and resolved it into as many parts
as the Echinades you discern amid the midmost waves.
yet, as you yourself see, afar—lo, afar—one withdrew

590

insula, grata mihi; Perimelen navita dicit:
huic ego virgineum dilectae nomen ademi;
quod pater Hippodamas aegre tulit inque profundum
propulit e scopulo periturae corpora natae.
excepi nantemque ferens "o proxima mundi

an island, pleasing to me; a sailor calls it Perimela:
from her I took away the maidenly name of my beloved;
which her father Hippodamas bore ill and into the deep
hurled from a crag the body of his daughter, about to perish.
I caught her and, bearing her as she swam, "O, nearest of the world

595

regna vagae" dixi "sortite, Tridentifer, undae,
adfer opem, mersaeque, precor, feritate paterna

"realms of the wandering wave," I said, "Trident-bearer, you who have been allotted, bring aid, and, I pray, to the one submerged by paternal ferocity

601

da, Neptune, locum, vel sit locus ipsa licebit!"
dum loquor, amplexa est artus nova terra natantes

“Grant, Neptune, a place, or even let it be permitted that she herself be the place!”
while I speak, the new earth embraced my swimming limbs

609

et gravis increvit mutatis insula membris.'
Amnis ab his tacuit. factum mirabile cunctos
moverat: inridet credentes, utque deorum
spretor erat mentisque ferox, Ixione natus
'ficta refers nimiumque putas, Acheloe, potentes
esse deos,' dixit 'si dant adimuntque figuras.'

and the island grew heavy upon his changed limbs.'
The River fell silent at these things. The marvelous deed had moved all: he mocks the believers, and, as he was a despiser of the gods and fierce in mind, the son of Ixion said, 'You report fictions and you suppose too much, Achelous, that the gods are potent, if they give and take away figures.'

615

obstipuere omnes nec talia dicta probarunt,
ante omnesque Lelex animo maturus et aevo,
sic ait: 'inmensa est finemque potentia caeli
non habet, et quicquid superi voluere, peractum est,
quoque minus dubites, tiliae contermina quercus

all were astounded and did not approve such words,
and before all Lelex, mature in mind and in age,
thus said: 'immense is the power of heaven and it has no end,
and whatever the gods above have willed has been accomplished,
and, that you may doubt the less, an oak conterminous with a linden

620

collibus est Phrygiis modico circumdata muro;
ipse locum vidi; nam me Pelopeia Pittheus
misit in arva suo quondam regnata parenti.
haud procul hinc stagnum est, tellus habitabilis olim,
nunc celebres mergis fulicisque palustribus undae;

there is, on the Phrygian hills, a place surrounded by a modest wall;
I myself saw the place; for Pittheus sent me into the Pelopian fields
once ruled by his own parent. Not far from here there is a pool,
land once habitable, now waves frequented by divers and marsh coots;

625

Iuppiter huc specie mortali cumque parente
venit Atlantiades positis caducifer alis.
mille domos adiere locum requiemque petentes,
mille domos clausere serae; tamen una recepit,
parva quidem, stipulis et canna tecta palustri,

Jupiter came here in mortal guise, and Atlantiades, caduceus-bearing, came with his parent, his wings set aside.
They approached a thousand homes, seeking a place and rest; a thousand homes the bolts shut; yet one received them,
small indeed, roofed with straw and marsh-reed.

630

sed pia Baucis anus parilique aetate Philemon
illa sunt annis iuncti iuvenalibus, illa
consenuere casa paupertatemque fatendo
effecere levem nec iniqua mente ferendo;
nec refert, dominos illic famulosne requiras:

but pious Baucis, an old woman, and Philemon of equal age
they were joined in youthful years, they
grew old in that hut, and by confessing poverty
made it light and by bearing it with no iniquitous mind;
nor does it matter whether you inquire there for masters or for servants:

635

tota domus duo sunt, idem parentque iubentque.
ergo ubi caelicolae parvos tetigere penates
summissoque humiles intrarunt vertice postes,
membra senex posito iussit relevare sedili;
cui superiniecit textum rude sedula Baucis

the whole household is two; the same ones both obey and command.
therefore, when the heaven-dwellers reached their small Penates
and, with lowered head, entered the humble doorposts,
the old man bade them ease their limbs on a set-out bench;
upon which busy Baucis threw a rough-woven textile.

640

inque foco tepidum cinerem dimovit et ignes
suscitat hesternos foliisque et cortice sicco
nutrit et ad flammas anima producit anili
multifidasque faces ramaliaque arida tecto
detulit et minuit parvoque admovit aeno,

and in the hearth she moved aside the tepid ash and rekindles yesterday’s fires
and with leaves and dry bark she nourishes them and brings them out to flames with an old-woman’s breath,
and she brought down from the roof the many-cleft torches and dry brushwood,
and she diminished them and set them to a little bronze pot,

645

quodque suus coniunx riguo conlegerat horto,
truncat holus foliis; furca levat ille bicorni
sordida terga suis nigro pendentia tigno
servatoque diu resecat de tergore partem
exiguam sectamque domat ferventibus undis.

and what his own spouse had gathered from the well-watered garden,
she truncates the vegetable of its leaves; with a two-horned fork he lifts
the sordid flitches of swine hanging from the blackened beam,
and from the side long preserved he resects a small portion
and, cut up, he subdues it with boiling waves.

650

interea medias fallunt sermonibus horas
concutiuntque torum de molli fluminis ulva

meanwhile they beguile the middle hours with discourse
and they shake the couch made from the soft river’s sedge

655

inpositum lecto sponda pedibusque salignis.
vestibus hunc velant, quas non nisi tempore festo
sternere consuerant, sed et haec vilisque vetusque
vestis erat, lecto non indignanda saligno.
adcubuere dei.

set upon a bed with a rail and feet of willow.
they cover this with garments, which they were not accustomed to spread except at a festal time
but even this garment was cheap and old
not to be disdained by a willow bed.
adcubuere dei.

mensam succincta tremensque 660
ponit anus, mensae sed erat pes tertius inpar:
testa parem fecit; quae postquam subdita clivum
sustulit, aequatam mentae tersere virentes.
ponitur hic bicolor sincerae baca Minervae
conditaque in liquida corna autumnalia faece

the old woman, girded up and trembling, 660
sets the table; but the third foot of the table was uneven:
a potsherd made it equal; which, after it was placed beneath, lifted the slope;
the green mint wiped the leveled surface.
here is set the two-colored berry of pure Minerva,
and autumnal cornels preserved in liquid lees

665

intibaque et radix et lactis massa coacti
ovaque non acri leviter versata favilla,
omnia fictilibus. post haec caelatus eodem
sistitur argento crater fabricataque fago
pocula, qua cava sunt, flaventibus inlita ceris;

and endives and a root and a mass of curdled milk
and eggs lightly turned on not-fierce embers,
all in earthenware. After these an engraved mixing-bowl of the same silver
is set, and cups fashioned of beech-wood,
whose hollows are smeared with yellowing wax;

670

parva mora est, epulasque foci misere calentes,
nec longae rursus referuntur vina senectae
dantque locum mensis paulum seducta secundis:
hic nux, hic mixta est rugosis carica palmis
prunaque et in patulis redolentia mala canistris

There is little delay, and the hearths sent hot banquets,
nor are long‑aged wines brought forth again,
and the tables, drawn a little aside, give place to the second courses:
here a nut, here a Carian fig mixed with wrinkled dates,
and plums, and apples redolent in broad baskets.

675

et de purpureis conlectae vitibus uvae,
candidus in medio favus est; super omnia vultus
accessere boni nec iners pauperque voluntas.
'Interea totiens haustum cratera repleri
sponte sua per seque vident succrescere vina:

and grapes gathered from purple vines,
a white honeycomb is in the middle; above all, kindly countenances
were added, and a will which, though poor, was not inert.
'Meanwhile, they see the crater, so often drained, to be refilled
of its own accord and the wines to grow anew by themselves:

680

attoniti novitate pavent manibusque supinis
concipiunt Baucisque preces timidusque Philemon
et veniam dapibus nullisque paratibus orant.
unicus anser erat, minimae custodia villae:
quem dis hospitibus domini mactare parabant;

astonished at the novelty they quake, and with upturned hands
Baucis and timid Philemon conceive prayers
and beg pardon for the feast and for no preparations.
there was a single goose, the custodian of their very small cottage:
whom the masters were preparing to sacrifice to the guest-gods;

685

ille celer penna tardos aetate fatigat
eluditque diu tandemque est visus ad ipsos
confugisse deos: superi vetuere necari
"di" que "sumus, meritasque luet vicinia poenas
inpia" dixerunt; "vobis inmunibus huius

he, swift with wing, wearies those slow by age
and long he eludes, and at last seemed to have fled for refuge to the gods themselves:
the supernal gods forbade that he be slain,
and said, "We are gods, and the impious neighborhood will pay the deserved penalties;
for you, immune from this

690

esse mali dabitur; modo vestra relinquite tecta
ac nostros comitate gradus et in ardua montis
ite simul!" parent ambo baculisque levati
nituntur longo vestigia ponere clivo.
tantum aberant summo, quantum semel ire sagitta

to be free of this evil shall be granted; only leave your roofs
and accompany our steps and go together into the arduous heights of the mountain!"
They obey both, and, lifted by staffs,
they strive to set their footsteps on the long slope.
they were only as far from the summit as an arrow can go in a single flight

695

missa potest: flexere oculos et mersa palude
cetera prospiciunt, tantum sua tecta manere,
dumque ea mirantur, dum deflent fata suorum,
illa vetus dominis etiam casa parva duobus
vertitur in templum: furcas subiere columnae,

once sent, an arrow can go: they turned their eyes and, with the rest plunged in the marsh,
they look out and see, only their own roof remaining,
and while they marvel at these things, while they bewail the fates of their own,
that old small cottage, still for its two masters, is turned into a temple:
columns took the place of the forked props,

700

stramina flavescunt aurataque tecta videntur
caelataeque fores adopertaque marmore tellus.
talia tum placido Saturnius edidit ore:
"dicite, iuste senex et femina coniuge iusto
digna, quid optetis." cum Baucide pauca locutus

the straw grows golden, and the roofs seem gilded,
and the doors are engraved, and the ground covered over with marble.
such words then the Saturnian uttered with a placid mouth:
“say, just old man, and woman worthy of a just spouse,
what you desire.” having spoken a few words with Baucis

705

iudicium superis aperit commune Philemon:
"esse sacerdotes delubraque vestra tueri
poscimus, et quoniam concordes egimus annos,
auferat hora duos eadem, nec coniugis umquam
busta meae videam, neu sim tumulandus ab illa."

Philemon opens to the gods above a common judgment:
"we ask to be priests and to guard your shrines,
and, since we have passed concordant years,
let the same hour carry off us two, and may I never
see the tomb of my spouse, nor be one to be entombed by her."

710

vota fides sequitur: templi tutela fuere,
donec vita data est; annis aevoque soluti
ante gradus sacros cum starent forte locique
narrarent casus, frondere Philemona Baucis,
Baucida conspexit senior frondere Philemon.

Fidelity follows the vows: they were the guardians of the temple,
so long as life was given; loosened by years and by age,
as they chanced to be standing before the sacred steps and were telling
the fortunes of the place, Baucis saw Philemon leafing,
and the elder Philemon beheld Baucis leafing.

715

iamque super geminos crescente cacumine vultus
mutua, dum licuit, reddebant dicta "vale" que
"o coniunx" dixere simul, simul abdita texit
ora frutex: ostendit adhuc Thyneius illic
incola de gemino vicinos corpore truncos.

And now, as the crown was growing up above their twin faces,
they returned mutual words, while it was permitted, and “farewell” too;
“O consort,” they said together; at the same time a shrub veiled
their hidden faces: even now the Thyneian inhabitant there points out
the neighboring trunks from the twin body.

720

haec mihi non vani (neque erat, cur fallere vellent)
narravere senes; equidem pendentia vidi
serta super ramos ponensque recentia dixi
"cura deum di sint, et, qui coluere, colantur."'
Desierat, cunctosque et res et moverat auctor,

these things not by idle men (nor was there cause why they would wish to deceive) the old men narrated to me; indeed I saw the pendent garlands over the branches, and, placing fresh ones, I said, "let it be the care of the gods, and let those who have honored be honored."
He had ceased, and both the matter and its author had moved all,

725

Thesea praecipue; quem facta audire volentem
mira deum innixus cubito Calydonius amnis
talibus adloquitur: 'sunt, o fortissime, quorum
forma semel mota est et in hoc renovamine mansit;
sunt, quibus in plures ius est transire figuras,

Theseus especially; him, willing to hear the wondrous deeds of the gods,
the Calydonian river, leaning on his elbow, thus addresses with such words: “There are, O bravest one, those whose form, once moved, has remained in this renovation;
there are those to whom there is a right to pass into more figures,

730

ut tibi, conplexi terram maris incola, Proteu.
nam modo te iuvenem, modo te videre leonem,
nunc violentus aper, nunc, quem tetigisse timerent,
anguis eras, modo te faciebant cornua taurum;
saepe lapis poteras, arbor quoque saepe videri,

as with you, Proteus, inhabitant of the sea that encompasses the earth.
for now they saw you a youth, now they saw you a lion,
now a violent boar, now—one whom they would fear to have touched,—
you were a serpent; now horns made you a bull;
often you could be seen as a stone, and often as a tree as well,

735

interdum, faciem liquidarum imitatus aquarum,
flumen eras, interdum undis contrarius ignis.
'Nec minus Autolyci coniunx, Erysicthone nata,
iuris habet: pater huius erat, qui numina divum
sperneret et nullos aris adoleret odores;

at times, having imitated the appearance of liquid waters,
you were a river; at times fire contrary to the waves.
'No less does the wife of Autolycus, born of Erysichthon,
have a right: her father was he who would spurn the numina of the gods
and would burn no odors on the altars;

740

ille etiam Cereale nemus violasse securi
dicitur et lucos ferro temerasse vetustos.
stabat in his ingens annoso robore quercus,
una nemus; vittae mediam memoresque tabellae
sertaque cingebant, voti argumenta potentum. 745
saepe sub hac dryades festas duxere choreas,
saepe etiam manibus nexis ex ordine trunci
circuiere modum, mensuraque roboris ulnas
quinque ter inplebat, nec non et cetera tantum
silva sub hac, silva quantum fuit herba sub omni.

he too is said to have violated the Cerealian grove with the axe
and to have profaned the ancient groves with iron.
among these stood a huge oak with age-worn oak-wood,
a grove in itself; fillets and commemorative tablets
and garlands were girding its middle, evidences of the vows of the powerful. 745
often beneath this the dryads led festal choreographies,
often too, with hands entwined in order, they went around the trunk
in measured course, and the measure of the oak’s girth filled
three times five ells; and likewise there was as much other
woodland beneath this as there was herbage beneath all the rest.

750

non tamen idcirco ferrum Triopeius illa
abstinuit famulosque iubet succidere sacrum
robur, et ut iussos cunctari vidit, ab uno
edidit haec rapta sceleratus verba securi:
"non dilecta deae solum, sed et ipsa licebit

not, however, for that reason did the Triopian stay his steel from that,
and he orders his servants to hew down the sacred oak, and when he saw those ordered lingering, from one
the wicked man, with the axe snatched, uttered these words:
"not the beloved of the goddess only, but the goddess herself it will be permitted

755

sit dea, iam tanget frondente cacumine terram."
dixit, et obliquos dum telum librat in ictus,
contremuit gemitumque dedit Deoia quercus,
et pariter frondes, pariter pallescere glandes
coepere ac longi pallorem ducere rami.

“let it be a goddess; now it will touch the earth with its leafy summit.”
he said, and while he poises the weapon for oblique blows,
the Deoian oak shuddered and gave a groan,
and equally the leaves, equally the acorns
began to grow pale, and the long branches to draw pallor.

760

cuius ut in trunco fecit manus inpia vulnus,
haud aliter fluxit discusso cortice sanguis,
quam solet, ante aras ingens ubi victima taurus
concidit, abrupta cruor e cervice profundi.
obstipuere omnes, aliquisque ex omnibus audet

as his impious hand made a wound in the trunk,
no otherwise did blood flow, the bark having been rent asunder,
than it is wont, when before the altars a huge victim, a bull,
falls, and from the broken neck gore pours forth in a flood.
all were stupefied, and someone out of all dares

765

deterrere nefas saevamque inhibere bipennem:
aspicit hunc "mentis" que "piae cape praemia!" dixit
Thessalus inque virum convertit ab arbore ferrum
detruncatque caput repetitaque robora caedit,
redditus e medio sonus est cum robore talis:

to deter the crime and to restrain the savage two‑edged axe:
he looks at this man and said, "Take the rewards of your pious mind!"
the Thessalian turned the iron from the tree onto the man
and lopped off his head, and again and again hewed the oaks,
and a sound, returned from the midst of the timber, was such:

770

"nympha sub hoc ego sum Cereri gratissima ligno,
quae tibi factorum poenas instare tuorum
vaticinor moriens, nostri solacia leti."
persequitur scelus ille suum, labefactaque tandem
ictibus innumeris adductaque funibus arbor

"I am a nymph beneath this wood, most pleasing to Ceres,
who, dying, prophesy that the penalties of your deeds are impending for you,
the solace of our death."
he pursues his crime, and at last the tree, shaken
by innumerable blows and drawn down by ropes

775

corruit et multam prostravit pondere silvam.
'Attonitae dryades damno nemorumque suoque,
omnes germanae, Cererem cum vestibus atris
maerentes adeunt poenamque Erysicthonis orant.
adnuit his capitisque sui pulcherrima motu

it fell and by its weight laid low much woodland.
'Astonished, the Dryads, at the loss of the groves and of their own,
all the sisters, with black garments, mourning, approach Ceres
and beg the punishment of Erysichthon.
she nodded to them, and by the motion of her most beautiful head

780

concussit gravidis oneratos messibus agros,
moliturque genus poenae miserabile, si non
ille suis esset nulli miserabilis actis,
pestifera lacerare Fame: quae quatenus ipsi
non adeunda deae est (neque enim Cereremque Famemque

she shook the fields burdened with gravid harvests,
and she contrives a kind of punishment pitiable, were he not,
by his own deeds, pitiable to no one: to have him lacerated by pestiferous Famine; which, inasmuch as to the goddess herself
she is not to be approached (for neither Ceres and Famine

785

fata coire sinunt), montani numinis unam
talibus agrestem conpellat oreada dictis:
"est locus extremis Scythiae glacialis in oris,
triste solum, sterilis, sine fruge, sine arbore tellus;
Frigus iners illic habitant Pallorque Tremorque

(the fates allow them to come together), of the mountain divinity one
rustic Oread he addresses with such words:
"there is a place on the farthest icy shores of Scythia,
a sad soil, sterile, a land without produce, without tree;
there dwell Torpid Cold, and Pallor and Tremor

790

et ieiuna Fames: ea se in praecordia condat
sacrilegi scelerata, iube, nec copia rerum
vincat eam superetque meas certamine vires,
neve viae spatium te terreat, accipe currus,
accipe, quos frenis alte moderere, dracones!"

and fasting Hunger: bid that accursed one settle herself into the vitals
of the sacrilegious man, and let not abundance of things
defeat her and surpass my powers in the contest,
nor let the span of the way terrify you; take the chariot,
take the dragons, which you will guide on high with the reins!"

795

et dedit; illa dato subvecta per aera curru
devenit in Scythiam: rigidique cacumine montis
(Caucason appellant) serpentum colla levavit
quaesitamque Famem lapidoso vidit in agro
unguibus et raras vellentem dentibus herbas.

and he gave; she, borne aloft through the air in the given chariot
came down into Scythia: and on the summit of a rigid mountain
(they call it Caucasus) she lifted the serpents’ necks
and saw the Hunger she had sought in a stony field
with her nails and with her teeth plucking the scant herbs.

800

hirtus erat crinis, cava lumina, pallor in ore,
labra incana situ, scabrae rubigine fauces,
dura cutis, per quam spectari viscera possent;
ossa sub incurvis exstabant arida lumbis,
ventris erat pro ventre locus; pendere putares

the hair was shaggy, the eyes hollow, pallor on the face,
the lips hoary with neglect, the throat scabrous with rust,
a hard skin, through which the viscera could be seen;
the bones, dry, stood out beneath the curved loins,
there was a place of a belly instead of a belly; you would think it hung

805

pectus et a spinae tantummodo crate teneri.
auxerat articulos macies, genuumque tumebat
orbis, et inmodico prodibant tubere tali.
'Hanc procul ut vidit, (neque enim est accedere iuxta
ausa) refert mandata deae paulumque morata,

and the breast to be held only by the lattice of the spine.
leanness had enlarged the joints, and the orb of the knees was swelling,
and the ankles projected with immoderate swelling.
'When she saw her from afar (for she did not dare to approach close)
she reports the goddess’s commands and, having delayed a little,

810

quamquam aberat longe, quamquam modo venerat illuc,
visa tamen sensisse famem est, retroque dracones
egit in Haemoniam versis sublimis habenis.
'Dicta Fames Cereris, quamvis contraria semper
illius est operi, peragit perque aera vento

although she was far away, although she had just now come thither,
yet she seemed to have sensed Famine, and back the dragons
she drove into Haemonia, aloft, with the reins turned.
'Famine, ordered by Ceres, although always contrary
to that one’s work, carries it out, and through the air on the wind

815

ad iussam delata domum est, et protinus intrat
sacrilegi thalamos altoque sopore solutum
(noctis enim tempus) geminis amplectitur ulnis,
seque viro inspirat, faucesque et pectus et ora
adflat et in vacuis spargit ieiunia venis;

borne to the house as ordered, and straightway she enters
the sacrilegist’s bedchambers, and him released by deep sleep
(for it was the time of night) she embraces with twin arms,
and breathes herself into the man, and his throat and breast and mouth
she breathes upon, and in his empty veins she scatters fastings;

820

functaque mandato fecundum deserit orbem
inque domos inopes adsueta revertitur antra.
'Lenis adhuc Somnus placidis Erysicthona pennis
mulcebat: petit ille dapes sub imagine somni,
oraque vana movet dentemque in dente fatigat,

and having fulfilled the mandate she deserts the fecund orb
and returns into her accustomed impoverished caves.
'Soft Sleep was still with placid wings soothing Erysichthon:
he seeks viands under the guise of a dream,
and moves his empty lips and wearies tooth on tooth,

825

exercetque cibo delusum guttur inani
proque epulis tenues nequiquam devorat auras;
ut vero est expulsa quies, furit ardor edendi
perque avidas fauces incensaque viscera regnat.
nec mora; quod pontus, quod terra, quod educat aer,

and he exercises his gullet, deluded by empty food,
and in place of feasts he vainly devours thin airs;
but as soon as rest is truly driven out, the ardor of eating rages
and reigns through greedy jaws and enkindled viscera.
no delay; whatever the sea, whatever the land, whatever the air brings forth,

830

poscit et adpositis queritur ieiunia mensis
inque epulis epulas quaerit; quodque urbibus esse,
quodque satis poterat populo, non sufficit uni,
plusque cupit, quo plura suam demittit in alvum.
utque fretum recipit de tota flumina terra 835
nec satiatur aquis peregrinosque ebibit amnes,
utque rapax ignis non umquam alimenta recusat
innumerasque trabes cremat et, quo copia maior
est data, plura petit turbaque voracior ipsa est:
sic epulas omnes Erysicthonis ora profani

he demands, and with tables set before him, complains of fasts,
and amid banquets he seeks banquets; and what could be for cities,
and what could suffice for a people, does not suffice for one,
and he desires more, the more things he sends down into his belly.
and as the sea receives the rivers from the whole earth 835
nor is it sated with waters and drinks up foreign streams,
and as rapacious fire never refuses aliment
and burns innumerable beams and, the greater the supply
is given, the more it seeks, and the throng itself is more voracious:
so the profane mouth of Erysichthon consumes all banquets

840

accipiunt poscuntque simul. cibus omnis in illo
causa cibi est, semperque locus fit inanis edendo.
'Iamque fame patrias altique voragine ventris
attenuarat opes, sed inattenuata manebat
tum quoque dira fames, inplacataeque vigebat

they receive and they demand at the same time. every food in him is a cause of more food, and ever space is made empty by eating.
'and now by hunger and by the deep whirlpool of his belly he had attenuated his paternal resources, but undiminished there remained even then the dire hunger, and the unappeased one was thriving

845

flamma gulae. tandem, demisso in viscera censu,
filia restabat, non illo digna parente.
hanc quoque vendit inops: dominum generosa recusat
et vicina suas tendens super aequora palmas
"eripe me domino, qui raptae praemia nobis

the flame of the gullet. at last, with his wealth sunk into his entrails,
a daughter remained, not worthy of that parent.
needy, he sells her too: the high-born girl refuses a master
and, stretching her palms over the neighboring waters,
"rescue me from a master, you who gave to me, ravished, the rewards

850

virginitatis habes!" ait: haec Neptunus habebat;
qui prece non spreta, quamvis modo visa sequenti
esset ero, formamque novat vultumque virilem
induit et cultus piscem capientibus aptos.
hanc dominus spectans "o qui pendentia parvo

"you have the prizes of virginity!" she said: Neptune took these words;
who, with the prayer not spurned, although she had just now been seen by the master
who was following, alters his shape and puts on a manly countenance,
and assumes attire suited to those who catch fish.
her the master, gazing at, said, "O you who, for a small price, the hanging

855

aera cibo celas, moderator harundinis," inquit
"sic mare conpositum, sic sit tibi piscis in unda
credulus et nullos, nisi fixus, sentiat hamos:
quae modo cum vili turbatis veste capillis
litore in hoc steterat (nam stantem in litore vidi),

"you hide the bronze with food, moderator of the rod," he says
"so may the sea be composed, so may the fish in the wave
be credulous to you, and sense no hooks unless fixed:
she who just now, with shabby garment and disordered hair,
had stood on this shore (for I saw her standing on the shore),

860

dic, ubi sit: neque enim vestigia longius exstant."
illa dei munus bene cedere sensit et a se
se quaeri gaudens his est resecuta rogantem:
"quisquis es, ignoscas; in nullam lumina partem
gurgite ab hoc flexi studioque operatus inhaesi,

"say where she is: for indeed the footprints do not extend farther."
she sensed that the god’s gift was turning out well and, rejoicing that she herself was being sought,
she followed the questioner with these words:
"whoever you are, forgive me; I have not turned my eyes in any direction
away from this surge, and, busy with zeal for my task, I have clung fast,"

865

quoque minus dubites, sic has deus aequoris artes
adiuvet, ut nemo iamdudum litore in isto,
me tamen excepto, nec femina constitit ulla."
credidit et verso dominus pede pressit harenam
elususque abiit: illi sua reddita forma est.

and that you may the less doubt, may the god of the sea thus aid these arts
so that no one for a long time now, on that shore,
with me excepted, not a single woman has stood."
he believed, and with his foot turned the master pressed the sand,
and, deluded, he went away: to her her own form was restored.

870

ast ubi habere suam transformia corpora sensit,
saepe pater dominis Triopeida tradit, at illa
nunc equa, nunc ales, modo bos, modo cervus abibat
praebebatque avido non iusta alimenta parenti.
vis tamen illa mali postquam consumpserat omnem

but when he realized that her body was transformable,
the father often handed the Triopeid over to masters; but she,
now a mare, now a bird, now a cow, now a stag, would depart
and furnished her greedy parent with not rightful sustenance.
yet that force of evil, after it had consumed all

875

materiam derantque gravi nova pabula morbo,
ipse suos artus lacerans divellere morsu
coepit et infelix minuendo corpus alebat.—
'Quid moror externis? etiam mihi nempe novandi est
corporis, o iuvenis, numero finita, potestas.

the material failed and new fodders for the grave disease,
he himself, tearing his own limbs, began to tear them apart with his bite,
and the unlucky man by diminishing his body was feeding it.—
'Why do I delay on externals? I too indeed have a power of renewing
the body, O young man, limited by number.'

880

nam modo, qui nunc sum, videor, modo flector in anguem,
armenti modo dux vires in cornua sumo,—
cornua, dum potui. nunc pars caret altera telo
frontis, ut ipse vides.' gemitus sunt verba secuti.

for now I seem to be what I am now, now I am bent into a serpent,
now as leader of the herd I take strength into my horns,—
horns, while I could. Now the other part of my forehead lacks its weapon,
as you yourself see.' Groans followed the words.