THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

268 P. OVIDll NASONIS
Ex aequo captis ardebant mentibus ambo.
Conscius omnis abest: nutu signisque loquuntur.
Qu&que magis tegitur, tantb magis Ecstuat ignis.
Fissus erat tenui rima, quam duxcrat olim,
Cum fieret, paries domui communis utrique.
Id vitium, nulli per secula longa notatum,
Quid non scntit.amor ? primi sensistis amantes,
Et voci fecistis iter; tutasque per illud
Murmure blunditiae minimo transire solebant.
Saspe ut constiterant, hinc Thisbe, Pyramus illinc;
Inque vicem fuerat captatus anhelitus oris ;
Invide, dicebant, paries, quid amantibus obstas ?
Quantum erat, ut sineres nos toto corpore jungi!
Aut, hoc si nimium, vel ad oscula danda pateres !
Nee simus ingrati: tibi nos debere fatemur,
Qu&d datus est verbis ad arnicas transitus aures.
Talia di versa nequicquam sede locuti,
Sub noctem dixere Vale : partique dedere
Oscula quisque sure, non pervenientia contra.
Postera nocturnes Aurora removerat ignes,
Solque pruinosas radiis siccaverat herbas:
Ad solitum coiere locum. Turn murmure parvo
Multa prius questi, statuunt, ut nocte silenti
Fallerc custodes, foribusque excedere tentent:
Cumque dome exierint, urbis quoque claustra relinquant:
Neve sit errandum lato spatiantibus arvo ;
Conveniant ad busta Nini; lateantque sub umbra
Arboris. Arbor ibi, niveis uberrima pomis, 35
Ardua morus, erat, gelido contermina fonti.
racta placent: et lux, tarde discedere visa,
8. Captis mentibus: with captivated
minds.
20. Quantum. This is spoken ironically
in the sense of minimum.
21. Ad oscula pateres : you might open
so that we could kiss one another!
24. Diversa sede. Pyramus sitting on one
side of the wall, and fhisbc on the other.
27. Noctunws ignes. The stars wliich
grew dim, and disappeared before the light
of the sun. The following description of
morning by a modern poet far transcends
the ancient:
The dawn was stealing up into the skj*
On its gray teet. the stars grew dim apnce,
And fmlfd, lit] the Morning Star alone,
Soft as a inoltea diamond's liquid fire,
Burned in Hie heavens. The morn grew freshlier;
The upper clouds were faintly touched with gold;
The fan-palms rustled in the early air;
Daylight spread cool and liroadly to the hills j
And still the star was visible, and still
The joung Hi-ilouin witli a straining eye
Drank its departing light into his soul.
It faded mellud and the fiery rim
Of the clear stin came up. N. P. WILLIS.
30. MuUa questi. Having complained
tiOTJE.
10
15
20
30
LIBEK IV.
7. Quod non polu£rfl
Yelare, ambo arde-
bant mentibas ex
sequo caplis.
21. Aut a\ hoc «wf
nimium. pateres vel
ad danda oscula! neo
simus ingrati.
33. Neve sic errnn-
dum tills spntianlibul
Into arvo, ut conve
niunt ad busta Nini.
of many things, viz. their unkind parents,
their unhappy fate, &c.
34. Cnnvcmant. Unable to meet else
where, they make an appointment at the
tomb of Ninus.
Being neld a foe, lie may not have access
To breathe such vows as lovers use to sweai ,
And she BO much in love, her means much len
To meet her new-beloved any where:
But passion lends them power, lime means to
meet,
Tempering extremities with extreme sweet.
ROMEO AND JULIET.
34. Busta Nini. Ninus was the son of
Belus. He was the builder of Nineveh,
and the founder of the Assyrian monarchy.
After his death, he had a magnificent tomb
erected to his memory.
36. Moms. The trysting-plnce was un
der a mulberry, near the tomb of Ninus.
37. Tarde discedere. Time always ap
pears slow to t he expectant lover. So Juliet:
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds.
Towards Phrelms* mansion: such a wagoner
As 1'hagihon would whip you to the west,
And bring in cloudy night immediately.
ROAIEO AND JuLin
FABDLA II.
METAMORPHOSED N.
PrEBcipitatur aquis; et aquis nox surgit ab isdem.
Callida per tenebras, versato cardine, Thisbe
Egreditur, fallitque suos: adopertaque vultum
Pervenit ad tumulum ; dictaque sub arbore sedit.
Audacem faciebat amor. Venit ecce recenti
Casde leaena bourn spumantes oblita rictus,
Depositura sitim vicini fontis in unda.
Guam procul ad Lunas radios Babylonia Thisbe
Vidit; et obscurum timido pede fugit in antrum :
Dumque fugit, tergo velamina lapsa relinquit.
Ut lea sasva sitim multa compescuit unda, ^
Dum redit in sylvas, inventcs forte sine ipsa
Ore crucntato tenues laniavit amictus.
Serius egressus vestigia vidit in alio
Pulvere certa ferre, totoque expalluit ore
Pyramus* ut verb vestem quoque sanguine tinctam
r~ Repperit; Una duos nox, inquit, perdct amantes,
E quibus ilia fuit longa dignissima vita:
Nostra nocens anima est. Ego te, miseranda, peremi,
In loca plena metus qui jussi nocte venires:
Nee prior hue veni. Nostrum divellite corpus,
Et scelerata fero consumite viscera morsu,
O quicunque sub hac habitatis rupe, leones!
Sed timidi est optare necem. Velamina Thisbes
Tollit, et ad pactre secum fert arboris umbram.
Utque dedit notce lacrymas, dedit oscula, vesti:
Accipe nunc, inquit, nostri quoque sanguinis haustus,
38. Pritcipilaturaquis. The poets feigned
that the Sun descended at night into the
sea.
38. Nox exit. The poet describes the
Day as precipitated into the Ocean, as the
Night rises from the same. Hesiod bean-
tifully describes them as alternately gliding
across the threshold of darkness:
There Night
And Day, near passing, mutual greeting still
Exchange, alternate as they glide athwart
The brazen threshold vast. This enters, '.lint
Forlh issues; nor the two can one abode
At once contain. This passes forth, and roams
The round of earth; that in the mansion wails
Till the due season of her travel come.
THEOOOSY.
39. Verwlo cardine: the hinge being
turned; the door being opened.
45. Ad lunm radios: by the light of the
moon.
50. Amlctus. The thin veil which Thisbe
had dropped.
53. Vestem sanguine tinclam : her gar
ment stained with blood, viz. her veil.
54. Una nox: one night; one death.
Sed omnes vna manet nox.—HOB.
55. Longa dignissima .- most worthy of
a long life. So Pliny to Marcellinus, on
the death of an amiable lady:
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45
50
55
60
50. Laniavit cruen-
lato ore tenues amic-
tus, inventos forte siue
ipsft Thisbe.
56. Fgo peremi to
miseranda, qui juisi
ul venires nocte in
loca plena metus, nee
veni hue prius.
Never was there a young person more woi
thy of a long I had almost said an immortal
life. PLINY'S EHSTLES.
60. Leones. He calls upon the lions
which he supposes to have destroyed
Thisbe, to tear him also to pieces.
61. Ext timidi. He exclaims, it is the
part of a coward to wish for death, since
there is little difficulty in finding it by one's
own hand. Stoicism taught the ancients
to seek relief from the sorrows ef life by
self-destruction. Christianity, on the con
trary, teaches that it is ignoble to abandon
the post which Heaven has assigned us,
and directs us to fortify our breasts by the
consolations of religion, and the hopes of
another and a better world. Thus a Chris
tian poet:
Hope, with uplifted foot set free from earth,
Pants for the place of her ethereal birtli,
On steady wings sails through lh' immense
abyss,
Plucks amaranthine joys from bowers of bliss,
Anil crowns the soul, while yet a mourner here,
With wreaths like those triumphant spirits>vear.
Hope, as an anchor firm and sure, holds fast
The Christian vessel, and defies the blast.
COWPER.
64. Accipe linuftttf: receive the draughts
of my blood. Virgil, in like manner, de
scribes Dido as calling on the clothes cl
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