THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

204 P. OVIDII NASONIS LIBER III.
Parte ftagellari gemuit sua robora caudae.
Dum spatium victor victi considerat hostis; 95
Vox subito audita est: (neque erat cognoscere promptum promplum 96. Neque cognOMeie erat
Unde; sed audita est) Quid, Agenore nate, peremptum unde, sed audita
Serpentem spectas ? et tu spectabere serpens.
Ille diu pavidus, pariter cum mente colorem
Perdiderat; gelidoque comas terrore rigebant. 100
NOT^E.
94. Flagellari. The tree was lashed
by the tail of the serpent. In Spenser's
Faerie Queene, the Dragon beats the air,
and overturns the forest and rocks that are
around:
Then gun he tosse aloft his stretched traine,
And therewith scourge the buxom aire sa sore,
That to liia force to yielden it was fuine;
Ne ought his sturdy strokes might stand afore,
That high trees overthrew, and rocks in pieces
tore. BOOK I. Canto xi.
94. Sua robora: its wood; its trunk.
94. Gemuit. The oak groaned beneath
the weight of his huge body. "
So downe he fell, and forth his life did breathe
That vanieht into smoke and cloudes swift;
So downe he fell, that th1 earth him underneath
Did grone, as feeble BO great load to Int. SPENSER.
95. Spatinm victi hostis: the magnitude
of his vanquished enemy.
98. Tu ipeclaberis. 1'hou shall be seen
in the form of a serpent. This prediction
was fulfilled, as related in Lib. IV., Fab. V.
Cadmus and his wife, Hermione, by some
called Harmonia, were both changed into
serpents. According to Euripides, they
were metamorphosed into serpents because
of Iheir impiety.
BACCHUS. O father, for my state now changed
thou seest.
Thou and lliy loved Harmonia, who from Murs
Descended, graced thy bed, though mortal, thou
Shall wear a dragon's savage form. With her,
For BO the orucle of Jo_ve declares,
Toils after toils revolving shall thou bear.
Leading barbarians; uiid wiih forces vast
Level great lowas and many to the ground:
But when the shrine of Pho3buB their rude hands
Was Cadmus able to find his sister Eu-
ropa?
What punishment had his father de
nounced against him in consequence ?
What oracle did Cadmus consult rela
tive to a future residence ?
What was to direct him to the place
where he was to found a city ?
What was he to call the place ?
Quid, nate Agenore.
epectas serpentem pe-
remptum? Etlu spec
tabere serpens.
Shall plunder, intercepting their return.
Misfortune shall await them: thee shall Mars
Deliver and Harmonin from the ruin.
And place you in the regions of the blessed.
This, from no mortal father, but from Jove
Descended, Bacchus tells thee; had you known
What prudence is, but you would none of her,
You might have nourished in a prosperous state,
Blessed with the alliance of the son of Jove.
CAD. \Ve have offended; we entreat for
giveness.
BAC. Too late you leurn: you would not
when you ought.
CAD. We own it; yet thy vengeance is se
vere.
BAC. Though born a god, I was insulted by
you.
CAD. Ill suits the gods frail man's relentless
wrath.
BAC. Long since my father Jove thus graced
his son.
AGAV. Ah me! it is decreed, unhappy exile.
CAD. Alas, my daughter, in what dreadful ills
Are we all plunged, thy sisters, and thyself.
Unhappy! I shall bear my wretched age
To sojourn with barbarians^ fated yet
To lead a mixed barlmrian host to Greece.
Hurmonia too. my wife, the child of Mars,
Changed to a dragon's savage form, myself
A dragon, to the altars, to the tombs
Of Greece, a chief with many a ported spear
Shall I lead back; and never shall my toils
Know respite; never shall I pass the stream
Of Acheron below, and there find rest. BACCHJ&
100. Comes rigebant : his hair became
stiff with terror.
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair 10 stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine.
SlIAKSPHABE.
Obstupui -steteruntque conus el vox faucilms
hxsit. VIHGIL.
QUjESTIONES.
What is the meaning of this ?
What is the word Tliebaj derived from,
and what is its meaning ?
Did the heifer direct Cadmus, as foretold
by the oracle ?
How did Cadmus show his gratitude to
the gods ?
Whither did he ecnd his men, and for
what purpose ?
FABULA I.
What serpent guarded the fountain ?
Did the men succeed in getting water ?
What was their fate ?
Did Cadmus avenge their death 1
Give the account of his conflict with the
lerpent.
What voice was heard after the serpent
was slain ?
Was the prophecy ever fulfilled ?
What is the character of the dragon ?
Why is it fabled to guard the most pre
cious things, and important places?
When we are told that a dragon guards
place, how are we to interpret it ?
METAMORPHOSEON.
205
How are we to regard the serpent, or
draB n, of the present fable?
What are we to understand by his beina
eacred to Mars ?
How must we regard the serpent's
elation in the wood and beside the foun
tain ?
How his devouring the Phoenicians sent
by Cadmus?
How are we to regard the contest of
Cadmus himself with the dragon?
What modern poet has borrowed from
the incidents of this Fable ?
Who was Spenser?