THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

222 P. OVIDII N ASONIS LIBER III.
Cui deus, Elige, ait: nullam patiere repulsam.
Cluoque magis credas; Stygii quoque conscia sunto
Numina torrentis; timor, et deus ille deorum.
Lseta male, nimiumque potens, perituraque amantis
Obsequio Semele, Glualem Saturnia, dixit,
Te solet amplocti, Veneris cum foedus initis,
Da mihi te talem. Voluit deus ora loquentis
Opprimere: exierat jam vox properata sub auras.
Ingemuit: neque enim non haec optasse, ne(jue ille
Non jurasse potest. Ergo moestissimus altum
jEthera conscendit; nutuque sequentia traxit
Nubila; quis nimbos, immistaque fulgura ventis
Addidit, et tonitrus, et inevitabile fulmen.
Q,ua tamen usque potest, vires sibi demere tentat.
Nee, quo centimanum dejecerat igne Typhoea,
asks a favor of Jupiter without designat
ing it.
38. Timor ft deus: thnt drend, and god
of gods. Men generally swore by the
gods; the gods themselves swore by the
Btyx; hence it is called the god of gods.
IJ9. Lceta inalo: rejoicing in her own
calamity, viz. in the promise of what wns
about to be her ruin.
41. Cum fcedus iuitis. The union of
Jupiter and Juno was n physical allegory
of singular beauty. The ancients regarded
Jupiter as the ethereal fire, or upper air;
and Juno as the lower air. They believed
thnt the union of these caused thunder and
lightning, and hence fabled that Jupiter,
when he embraced Juno, was attended by
the lightning and ihunder. Modern phi
losophy has proved that the higher the re
gion of the air is, the colder it is, and that
thunder nnd lightning are electric pheno
mena, produced by the passage of electri
city between two different clouds, or be
tween a cloud and the earth.
42. Te talem. She asks that he would
come to her attended with nil the glories
with which he approached Juno. Moore,
in the Loves of the Angels, appears to have
copied after the story of Semele:
Then come, O Spirit, from behind
The curtains ot'lhy radiant home,
Whether thou \vouldst as god be shriued,
Or loved and clusped as mortal, eome \
Bring all thy da7.7]in? wonders here,
That I may waking know and sec
Or waft me hence to thy own sphere.
Thy heaven, or ay, even that with thfe.'
Demon or god, who boldest the book
Of knowledge spread beneath thine eye,
Give me, with thee. but one bright look
Into its leaves, and let me die!
SECOND ANGHL'& STORY.
42. Ora loquentis: her mouth as she
spoke.
43. Vox properata : the rash word; the
word hastily pronounced.
Nescit vox raissa rev«rti HORACE.
NOT^E.
40
44. Ingeinmt: nequo
. _ enim ilia potest non
4o optasse hcec, neque
ille non jurasse.
50. Nee nunc arma-
tur eo igne quo deje-
45. Neque potest. Semele cannot now
recal her request, nor Jupiter his oath.
49. Qua usque potest. Wherever he
can, he tries to diminish the force of hig
power. Moore, in like manner, describes
the endeavors of hig celestial lover:
Sudden her brow a