THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

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FABULA I.
CADMUS DRACONEM INTERFICIT.
Guided to the spot where he is to found a city, Cadmus is actuated by gra
titude to offer sacrifice to the gods, and sends his companions to bring
water for that purpose. These are devoured by the Dragon that guards
the fountain. Cadmus goes to look after them, and finding their deact
bodies, encounters the Dragon, and slays him after a desperate conflict.
EXPLICATIO.
THE Dragon is an animal remarkable for its keenness of sight, and its
deadly nature. Hence it has been the fabled guardian of all important
places, and precious treasures, such as the Gardens of the Hesperides,
the Golden Fleece, and the Fountain of Mars. It is therefore to be con
sidered a careful and powerful leader, who has vigilance to watch over,
and prowess to defend whatever is committed to his guardianship. In
this Fable, we must regard the Dragon as a powerful chieftain, perhaps
the prince who held Bceotia at the time that Cadmus came to the country.
As he was sacred to Mars, it is evident that he was devoted to military
pursuits. Some have imagined that his name was Dercyllus; and,
hence, the fiction of his being a dragon.
When Cadmus left Phoenicia to look after his sister, as is fabled, which
probably means some emigration from Asia, there is no doubt that he led
a considerable colony with him, for the purpose of settling in some
foreign country. After overrunning Greece, and coming to Bosotia, it is
likely that he met with considerable opposition from the prince of that
country, and lost many of his followers in different engagements. If the
forces of the chieftain lay concealed in an extensive forest, and near a
fountain of water, and a part of the followers of Cadmus fell into the
ambuscade, and were cut off; or, if they were attacked and discomfited
while going for water, ample historical grounds would exist for the foun
dation of the fable. By the arrival of Cadmus, his contest with the dra
gon, and his triumph over him, we are to understand that the Phrenician
leader brought up a second party, to support the first, and avenge the
death of those who had fallen in battle ; and, that he succeeded in de
stroying the forces of the Bosotians, and probably killed their leader.
The imagination of the poet has thus increased the interest of the sub
ject, by describing the conflict of the two chieftains and their adherents,
not as an ordinary contest; but, by representing one as a dragon, has
invested the deeds of heroism with a higher and miraculous interest.
Spenser, in his Faerie Queene, has drawn largely upon this Fable for
the description of the contest of his Red-cross Knight with the Dragon,
as will appear in the different extracts which we have made from that
poem. 198
JJAMQ.UE Deus posita fallacis imagine taiin,
St> confcssus erat : Dictrcaque rura tenebat.
Cum pater ignarus, Cadmo perquirere raptam
Iinpcrat : et prenam, si non invenerit, addit,
Exilium, facto pius, et sceleratus eodem.
Orbe pererrato (quis enim deprendere prssit
Furta Jovis ?) profugus patriamque iramque parentis
Vital Agenoridcs ; Phcebique oracula supplcx
2. Confessui crat: had made himself known. So Virgil :
Alma Venus confessa Deam. qualisqne videri
Ccclicolis, et quanta solct. — ./EXEID ii.
To her the horned hull with accents cleur: —
'•Take courage virgin ! nor the billow fear;
The seeming bull is Zeus; for I, with ease,
Can take, at will, whatever form I please :
My fond desire for thy sweet beauty gave
To me Uiis shape — my footstrp to the wave " — MOSCHUS'S TCt-Ror*
2. DlcltBuque rvra: I he Cretan fields, by metonymy; for Dicte is
a mountain of Crete.
i insljintly they were in Crete: his own
I'nrni £«.-UR put on—ami off her virgin /one.
S:r«-vK*d the glad bed tlie Hours, of joy profuse;
The wliilom virgin was the bride of 7e»s».
Moscirus.
3. Cntlmo. The son of Apenor, nnd bro
ther of Ettropa. lie was not the only one
sent out, for, according to Hyginus, fable
178, Phoenix, another brother, was sent
out, who settled Phoenicia; and Ciiix, who
settled Cilicia.
5. Facto fodrm: by the same deed. He
was pious towards his daughter, but unna
tural to his son.
C, O rbr pcnrratu: h aving wandcicd o\ei
the world. Thus Virgil:
Mngna percrroto smtues cjna? delliquu rr.nln.
_ J'MiiD i.-
8. Apenoridef. C admus, the «on oi
Age nor.
8. P/utbi oracula. T he orach? of Apollo.
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