THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

220 P. OVIDII NASON1S LIBER III. FABTJLA IV. METAMORPHOSED N.
In generis socios odium. Subit ecce priori
Causa recens ; gravidarnque dolet de semine rnagni
Esse Jovis Semelen. Turn lingiiain ad jurgia solvit:
Profeci quid enim toties per jurgia? dixit. 10
Ipsa petenda mihi est : ipsam, si maxima Juno
Rite vocor, perdam; si me gemrnantia dextra
Sceptra tenere decet ; si sum regina, Jovisque
Et soror, et conjux; certe soror. At pnto furto
14. At puto Semelm
.. e esse contentam turto:
Contentam; et thalami brevis est injuria nostri. 15 et injuria nostri thalami
est brevis.
Concipit ; et mater, quod vix mihi contigit uni,
De Jove vult fieri : tanta est fiducia formse.
Fallat earn faxo: nee sim Saturnia, si non
Ab Jove mersa suo Stygias penetrarit in undas.
Surgit ab his solio, fulvaque recondita nube 20
9. Semelen. Semele, the daughter of Look up to the refulgent heaven above.
Cadmus and Hcrmione.
Which all men cull unanimously Jove.
9. Ad jureia: for quarrels. As Juno
ENNIUS
is the lower air, her querulousness may be So the Greek poet:
fabled of its turbulent agitation.
Opyj rdv iiil/ov, r6fS> aireipov ai$cpa,
11. Ipsa petenda est. Juno determines Kol y ijv iript% £%ov$' vypaTs tv dyitaXats
Tuvrov v6m^t Zqva, rivo1 flyov Qc6v.
to lay violent hands upon her.
EURIPIDES.
12. Gemmantia fceptra: the jewelled
The earth is surrounded on all sides by the
sceplre.
air which we breathe, (the word is originally
13. .Re-Tine. The Queen of Heaven Greek, but by frequent use is now Latinizrd.)
here proudly asserts her dignity. A part The air is encompassed hy the boundless ether
of the language which she employs is (aether), which consists of the fires above. This
identical with a speech which she makes word we borrow also; for we use cbther in La
tin as well as air; though Tacuvius thus ex
in Virgil:
presses it:
Ast ego qao3 incedo retina Jovisque Hoc quod memoro, nostri ccclum. Graii perhi-
Kt soror et conjux. ^LNEID i. 46.
hent setliera. Cic. DE NATURA DEOHUM.
O royal Juno, of majestic mien,
It will be seen here, that Jupiter is de
^Grinl-formed, ilivine, Jove's blessed queen.
Throned in the bosom of celestial air. signated by different ancient authors, as
UYMX OF ORPHEUS TO JUNO. the upper air, the ether, the sJcy, or heaven,
1-1. Soror el conjux. Juno was fabled
the celestial heal, the firet above. Sic., of
to be the sister and wife of Jupiter from
which we shall make especial use in inter
the following considerations as given by
preting this Fable.
different ancient authors:
14. Certe soror. On account of the
adulteries of Jupiter, she thinks that she
Natural philosophers intend Jupiter to be con
sidered as the ether (xtlier), that is, the celes
can hardly lay claim to the title of wife,
tial heat (ignis), but Juno, as the air (aer); and but is certainly his sister. So Seneca:
because these elements are similar in rarity, Soror Tonantis ? hoc enim solum
tliey have said that they are brother and sister ,' Mihi rclictum nomen est. HERCULES FURENS
and since Juno, that is tlie air, lies beneath the
ether (aether), the name of husband is properly 1C. Quod vix. Juno had but four chil
given to the superincumbent element. SEBVIUS. dren, Mars, Vulcan, Lucina, and Hebe.
In like manner Macrobius says:
18. Fallat faxo: I will cause that he
deceive her.
Juno is said to be both sister and wife of Jusr.
But Juno is the air (aor). and is called
18. Nee sim Saturnia: nor may I be
C sister, because the air is produced from the the daughter of Saturn. This form of ex
same first principle? as the sky (ccelum), and is pression is often used by the poets.
called his wife, because the nir is subjacent to Non Hercule is sim. qui sum, nisi hnnc injurinm,
the sky. SOMKIUM SCIPIOMS, Lib. i. cap. 7. Neqne ultus pulchre fucro. PLAUICS.
Cicero gives the same mythological ac Nee sum mulier, iiec oinnino spiro, nisi earn
count :
pessum de tnntis opibus ejecero APULEIUS'S
METAMORPIIOS.
The air, as the Stoics affirm, which lies be
tween the sea and heaven, is consecrated under 19. Si non penetrarit: if she shall not
the nome of Juno, which is called the sister and descend.
wife of Jupiter, because it resembles the ether 20. Peconditanvte: concealed by a cloud;
tether), and is in close conjunction ,with it.
JTiey have made it feminine, and attributed it to enwrapped by a cloud. The gods gene
Juno, because nothing could be softer. rally clothed themselves and others in a
DE NATUHA DKOBUM, Lib. ii. cloud, when they wished them to be invi
Limen adit Semeles; nee nubes ante removit,
Quam sirnulavit anum: posuitque ad tempora canos:
Sulcavitque cutem rugis: et curva trementi
Membra tulit passu; vocem quoque fecit anilem.
Ipsaque fit Beroe, Semeles Epidauria nutrix.
Ergo ubi, captato sermone, diuque loquendo,
Ad nomen venere Jovis; suspirat; et Opto,
Jupiter ut sit, ait; metuo tamen omnia. Multi
Nomine divorum thalamos initirc pudicos.
Nee tamen esse Jovem satis est: det pignus amoris;
Si modo verus is est: quantusque et qualis ab alta
Junom- excipitur; tantus, talisque rogato
Det tibi complexus; suaque ante insignia sumat.
Talibus ignaram Juno Cadmeida dictis
Formarat. Rogat ilia Jovem sine nomine munus:
NOTJE.
25
221
22. Posuitque canoi
caphlos nd tempora;
siilcavitque cutem ru
gis; et luljt curva
membra trementi pas
su.
30 30. Tamen nee est
satis etttn esse Jovem.
Is, si modo est verufl,
det pignus amoris.
sible. Thus Venus withdraws the cloud I Tuta freqnensque vin per amici fallere nomen:
which envelopes the warring gods at Troy, Tula frequensque, licet, sit vin, erimen haliet.
and shows them to tineas:
ART. AMAT.
Narnque omnem, qure nunc obducta tuenti Byron, with bitter sarcasm, used to ex
Mortalcs hebetat yisus tibi, et hnmida circam claim : " Save me from my friends ! and I
Caligat, ntitem eripiam. jENElD ii. 004. will take care of my enemies."
And, again, where she enwraps in a 27. Ad nomen venere. They came to the
cloud JEneas and Achates on their way to name of Jupiter. Lovers are wont to
Carthage:
mention those who are supreme in their
At Venus obscuro gradientes aSre sepsit, thoughts.
lit multo nebula? circum Dea fudit amiclu. 29. Nomine divorum: under the names
JENEID i. 411. of gods. Many were the impositions prac
21. Limen: the threshold, by synec tised anciently by the heathen priesthood,
doche for house.
under the assumed characters of their dei
22. Simulavit anum: assumed the dis ties. Paulina, a Roman lady of rank, was
guise of an old woman.
contaminated by a gentleman of Rome
23. Sulcavit cutem: furrowed her skin. through the contrivance of the priest of
This is a strong yet beautiful metaphor to Serapis, in the temple of that god, at which
express the wrinkling of the face. Byron the people were so incensed that they de
represents the same in a powerful man molished the temple, put the priest to
ner.
death, and banished the earthly lover who
And o'er his clear, broad brow \vere wrought had assumed the character of an immortal.
The intersected lines of thought
29. Thalamos pudicos: chaste bed
Those furrows which tlie burning share chambers. It was not considered un
Of sorrow ploughs untimely there
Scars of the lacerating mind,
chaste to admit the embraces of a god.
Which the soul's wnr has left behind. 30. Det pigmts amoris: let him give a
PARISINA. pledge of his love. Let him evince his
love by coming to you in godlike majesty.
25. Ipsa Beroe. The resemblance is so
31. Si modo: if lie be very Jupiter.
strong, that hyperbolically she is said to
be Beroe herself. Juno here assumes the
Ei SI Kal wf ivcvcts ffcw vvfiifudf Iffrl Kpovittjv
'EXBirw tf