THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

282 P. OVIDII NASONIS LIBER IV
Nexaque vipereis distendens brachia nod is,
Caesariem excussit. Motas sonuere colubras;
Parsque jacens humeris; pars circum tempora lapsse
Sibila dant, saniemque vomunt, linguasque coruscant.
Inde duos mediis abrumpit crinibus angues; 15
Pestiferaque manu raptos immisit. At illi
Inoosque sinus, Athamanteosque pererrant;
Inspirantque graves animas; nee vulnera membris
Ulla ferunt: inens est, quas diros sentiat ictus.
Attulerat secum liquidi quoque monstra veneni, 20
Oris Cerberei spumas, et virus Echidna?;
Erroresque vagos, cascccque oblivia mentis,
Et scelus, ct lacrymas, rabiemque, et casdis amorem;
Omnia trita simul: quas sanguine mista recenti
Coxerat asre cavo, viridi versata cicuta. 25
J 1 . Vipercis nodis : with knots of vi
pers ; wilh knotted vipers.
Cooruleps irnplexm crinibus angues
Eumenides VIRGIL. Georgic. iv. 482.
14. Linguas coruscant : make their
tongues quiver ; brandish their tongues.
15. Ahrumpit crinibus : tears from her
hair. Virgil describes the Fury Alecto in
like manner taking a serpent from her hair
to wound Amata:
From her blnck bloody locks the Fury shakes
Her darling phigue, the favorite of tier snakes:
Wilh her full lorce she threw the poisonous
dnrt,
And fixed it deep within Amata's heart,
That, thus envenomed, she might kindle rage,
And sacrifice to strife her house and husband's
age. ^ENEID vii.
18. Inspimnt graves animas : inspire
their banclul breath. So Virgil:
Unseen, unfell. Ihe fi-ry serpent skims
Between her linen and her naked limbs,
His baneful breath inspiring us he glides.
Now like a chain around her neck he rides;
Now like n fillet to her head repairs,
And with his circling volumes folds her hairs.
At first the silent venom slid with ease,
And seized her cooler senses by degrees ;
Then, ere Hi' infected mass was fired too far,
In plaintive accents sue began the war.
19. Rleiis. Just in proportion as mind
is superior to matter, so is the spirit capa
ble of more intense suffering than the body.
The spirit of a man will bear his infirmity,
but a wounded spirit who can bear? ^KO-
VERIIS xviii. 14.
20. Attulerat. Tisiphone had brought.
20. jllonstra veneni : a monster of poi-
eon ; a monstrous poison.
21. Ec/iidnce Echidna was a monster
fabled to be sprung from Clirysaor and
Calltrhoe, and represented as a beautiful
woman above the waist, and a serpent be
low it. The word is also used to signify
the Hydra, or other huge venomous ser
pent. Ilesiod thus describes her :
NOTJE.
Zt. Quas mista re
centi sanguine coxe-
rat eavo cere versata
viridi cicula.
Another monster dread she hare anon
In the deep-hollowed cavern of a rock ;
Stupendous, nor in shape resembling aught
Ot human, or of heavenly : monstrous, fierce,
Echidna: half a nymph, with eyes of jet
And beanty-blooiuing cheeks: and half, again,
A speckled serpent, lernble and vast,
Gorged with blood-banquets, trailing her huga
folds
Deep in the hollows of the blessed earth.
THEOGONY.
22. Errorrs. As restlessness nnd wan
dering about are often characteristics of
madness, they are here said to be a part
of the compound.
24. Omnia trita simul: all bruised to
gether.
25. JErecavo: in a brazen cauldron. The
cauldron is said to be brazen, because brass
is poisonous. Shakspeare gives a vivid
account of rites practised by witches while
mixing their terrible compounds in a pot.
1 Wrrcn. Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed.
2 WITCH. Thrice; and once the hedge-pig
whined.
SWITCH. Harper cries,'tis time! 'tis time!
1 WITCH. Hoand about the cauldron go;
In the poisoned entrails throw.—
Toad, that under coldest stone,
Days and nights hath thirty one
Sweltered venom sleeping got,
Boil them first in the charmed pot!
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; anil, cauldron, bubble!
2 WITCH. Fillet of a feuny snake
In the cauldron boil and bake:
Kye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's siing,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing.
For a charm of powerful trouble
Like a hell-broth I»il anil bubble!
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble!
3 WITCH. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy, maw, and gulf,
Of the ravined salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock, digged j' the dark J
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew,
Slivered in the moon's eclipse;
IV.
METAMORPHOSED N.
Uumque pavent illi, vertit furiale venenum
Pectus in amborum; prascordiaque intirna movit.
Turn face jactnta per eundem SEepius orbem,
Consequitur motos velociter ignibus ignes.
Sic victrix, jussique potens, ad inania magni 30
Regna redit Ditis : sumptumque recingitur anguem.
Protinus yEolides media furibundus in aula
Clamat, 16 comites, his retia pandite sylvis:
Hie mcdb cum gemina visa est mihi prole leasna.
Utque fercc, scquitur vestigia conjugis, amens: 35
Deque sinu matris ridentem et parva Learchum
Brachia tendentem rapit, et bis terque per auras
More rotat fundcc: rigidoque infantia saxo
Discutit ossa ferox. Turn denique concita mater,
(Seu dolor fecit, seu sparsi causa veneni); 40
Exululat; passisque fugit male Sana capillis.
Teque ferens parvum nudis, Melicerta, lacertis,
Evohe, Bacche, sonat. Bacchi sub nomine Juno
Risit: et, Hos usus prsestet tibi, dixit, alumnus.
Imminct asquoribus scopulus; pars ima cavatur 45
FJuctibus, ct tectas defendit ab imbribus undas:
Summariget.frontemque in apertum porrigit sequor.
Occupat hunc (vires insania fecerat), Ino:
Seque super pontum, nullo tardata timore,
Mittit, onusque suum: percussa recanduit unda.
At Venus immeritaB neptis miserata labores,
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of a birth-strangled babe,
Ditch-delivered by a drab.
Make the gruel thick and slab.
Add thereto a tiger's chandron
For Ihc ingredients of our cauldron.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire, burn ; and, cauldron, bubble !
MACBETH, Actiir. Sc. 1.
25. Versata cicuta : stirred with hem
lock. The hemlock was a deadly poison,
nnd, hence, employed in this place. It is
said to be viridis, because the poison is in
the juice, and, consequently, more abun
dant when it is green.
2G. Furiale venenum: the poison that ex
cites to madness.
29. Consequitttr ignibus. The Fury
whirls her torch so as to form a circle of
flame, and thus confuse the eyes of the be
holder.
30. Inania repna : the empty realms;
the shadowy realms.
32. JEolirtei. Athamas, the son of JEo-
lus.
34. Gemina prole: with her twin off
spring.
34. LetBTia. It was a common error
for persons under the Bacchic influence
to mistake others for wild-beasts. Thus
Agave nnd Autonoe took Pentheus to be
NOT^E.
283
2G. Dumqne illi pa-
vent ; vertit furiale
venenum in pectus
amborum.
48. Ino occupat
hunc, (tnim insauia
fecerat vires,) lardft-
taque nullo timore
mittitse.
a wild-boar. In modern times, on the con
trary, we are accustomed to regard as the
beast the person who is under the Bacchic
impulse.
36. Kidentem Learchum. Learchus, the
son of Athamas and Ino. slain by his fa
ther. It increases the horror of the cir
cumstances, that the innocent child, all
unconscious of its fate, smiles upon its
inhuman murderer.
42. Melicerta. Another son of Alba-
mas and Ino.
43. Juno nsit. Juno laughed to hear
Ino call on the name of Bacchus, her fos
ter-child, who had been the cause of her
calamities.
44. Hosnsiis: these advantages; these
fruits. This is spoken in irony.
45. Jmminet cequonbui: o'erhangs the
sea. The dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o'er his base into the sea.
SlLAKSPEABE.
50. Onus suum: her burden, viz. Meli
certa, whom she was carrying.
50. Eecanduit : became white again ;
was white with foam.
51. Neptis: her grand-daughter. Ino
was the daughter of Harmonta, who was
born of Venus by Mars.