THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO
THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO
THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
208<br />
P. OVID1I <strong>NASO</strong>NIS<br />
Existunt, crescitque seges clypeata virorum. 10<br />
Sic, ubi tolluntur festis aulsea theatris,<br />
Surgere, signa solent; primumque ostendere vultum<br />
Csetera paulatim: placidoque educta tenore<br />
Tola patent; imoque pedes in margine ponunt.<br />
Territus hoste novo Cadmus capere arma parabat:<br />
Ne cape, de populo, quern terra creaverat, unus<br />
Exclamat; nee te civilibus insere bellis.<br />
Atque ita tcrrigenis rigido dc fratribus unum<br />
Cominus ense ferit: jaculo cadit eminus ipse.<br />
Hie quoque, qui leto dederat, non longius illo<br />
Vivit, et exspirat, mod6 quas acceperat, auras:<br />
E\emploque pari furit omnis turba; suoque<br />
Marte cadunt subiti per mutua vulncra fratres.<br />
Jamque brcvis spatium vitae sortita juventus<br />
Sanguineam trepido plangebant pectore matrem;<br />
Gluinque superstitibus: quorum fuit unus Echion:<br />
Is sua jecit humi, monitu Tritonidis, arma;<br />
Frateriiffique fidem pacis petiitque deditque.<br />
Hos operis comites habuit Sidorius hospes,<br />
Cum posuit jussam Phccbeis sortibus urbem. , 30<br />
NOTJE.<br />
10. Sfges clypeata: a shielded crop of<br />
men; a crop ot shielded men.<br />
Enrth. which from the seed produced a crop<br />
Waving with golden helms. EUBIPIDES.<br />
11. Tollunturaultea: the curtain is raised.<br />
On the Roman stage it was customary to<br />
let the curtain fall upon the floor (premere<br />
aulcfa) at the beginning of a play, and to<br />
raise it up (tollere aulcEu) at the close of the<br />
different acts. In lifting up the curtain<br />
from the floor, the figures pointed on it<br />
would appear as they are here described.<br />
11. Festis theatris: in the festal'theatres;<br />
the theatres on festal days.<br />
12. Signa: the figures. The represen<br />
tations of men woven in the curtain.<br />
Vet scena ut versis fromibus, utque<br />
Furpurea imexti tollant auleea Britanni.<br />
VIRGIL, Georgic iii.<br />
13. Florida tenore: by a gentle tenor.<br />
15. Hoste now. With the men just<br />
produced from the soil.<br />
17, Nee te insere: nor meddle yourself.<br />
17. Cimlibus bellis. Of all calamities,<br />
civil wars are the most distressing, in<br />
which the bonds of a common nationality,<br />
and even of friendship and brotherhood,<br />
are rent asunder.<br />
18. Terrigenia fratribus: earthborn<br />
brothers. The people just sprung from<br />
the earth.<br />
21. Auras: the breath of life.<br />
22. Suoque marte: by their own slaugh<br />
ter. Mars is here put for bellum by meto<br />
nymy.<br />
Hi<br />
II. Sic ubi auloea<br />
tollunlur festis thea-<br />
tris, signa solent sur-<br />
gere; primumque on-<br />
lendere vultum, pau-<br />
Inlim cetera: totaque<br />
eduna placido tenore<br />
patent.<br />
24. Jamque juventus<br />
sorlita spulium brevii<br />
1 vilpe. plaagebant san-<br />
guineam malrcm tre<br />
pido peclore.<br />
But Slaughter's iron arm again<br />
Consigns them to their native plain ;<br />
And their loved earth, that to the day<br />
Show'd them in heaven's ethereal ray,<br />
With streaming crimson dies<br />
25. Planifebant matrem : beat their<br />
mother. They lay palpitating on the<br />
earth.<br />
26. Quinq-ue superstitibus. In the Phoe<br />
nician language, the same word that means<br />
five also means a rmy. In this latter sense<br />
we must regard it.<br />
26. Echion. A pollodorus gives the names<br />
of the five persons. They must either be<br />
regarded as leaders of the Bceotian army,<br />
or as divisions of it. Their names were<br />
Echion, viper : Udaeus, watery ; Hypore-<br />
nor, mighty; and Pelorus, vast. Taking<br />
the latter view, we might consider Ecliiou<br />
as representing that part of the army which<br />
had belonged to the chieftain; Udaeus as<br />
that part bordering upon the sea, or Copaic<br />
lake: Hyperenor as a division noted for ils<br />
bravery ; and Pelorus one distinguished for<br />
stature, or for numbers.<br />
28. Fraternal pads: of fraternal peace.<br />
Oh sheathe your swords, my friends, contend<br />
no more,<br />
Nor slain your impious arms with kindred gore.<br />
STATIUS.<br />
29. Sidonius hospesi the Sidonian stran<br />
ger, viz. Cadmus.<br />
30. Pltaibeis sortibus. By the oracle ot<br />
Apollo, which was given by lots<br />
FiBULA II. METAMORPHOSEON.<br />
QU.ESTIONES.<br />
Why was Minerva said to advise Cad<br />
mus to sow the serpent's teeth ?<br />
What do we understand by the serpent?<br />
How are we to consider his teeth ?<br />
What ig the meaning of raising a crop of<br />
armed men from the earth ?<br />
How might the burial of the Bojotian<br />
soldiers by Cadmus be considered ?<br />
How might he be said to raise armed<br />
men from them ?<br />
What might give rise to the account of<br />
their gradual emergence from the earth ?<br />
How are we to interpret the battle of the<br />
earthborn brothers ?<br />
209<br />
Rn^nW TSt wu interPret the stone thrown<br />
among them by Cadmus, as related by<br />
some mythologists ? '<br />
interPretation is the Fa-<br />
How many men, of the soldiers sprung<br />
from the serpent's teeth, are said to sur<br />
vive the battle ?<br />
Are we to consider this literally?<br />
How are we to interpret it ?<br />
What assistance did they render Cad-<br />
mue?<br />
I