THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

288
P. OVIDII N ASONIS
Nigraque casruleis variari corpora guttis:
13. Precor tit inse
porrigar serpens in
In pectusque cadit pronus: commissaque in unum longam alvum.
Paulatim tereti sinuantur acumine crura.
Brachia jam restant: quas restant brachia tendit
Et lacrymis per adhuc humana fluentibus ora, 20
Accede, 6 conjux, accede, miserrima, dixit;
Dumque aliquid superest de me, me tange; manumque
Accipe, dum manus est; dum non totum occupat anguis.
Ille quidem vult plura loqui: sed lingua repentfi
In partes est fissa duas. Nee verba volenti 25
Sufficiunt: quotiesque aliquos parat edere questus,
Sibilat: hanc illi vocem natura relinquit.
Nuda manu feriens exclamat pectora conjux,
Cadme, mane: teque his, infelix, exue monstris.
Oadme, quid hoc ? ubi pes ? ubi sunt humerique, manusque ? 30
Et color, et facies, et, dum loquor omnia ? Cur non
Me quoque, coslestes, in eundem vertitis anguem?
Dixerat: ille sues lambebat conjugis ora;
Inque sinus caros, veluti cognosceret, ibat:
Et dabat amplexus ; assuetaque colla petebat. 35
Quisquis adest (aderant comites), terretur: at ilia
Lubrica permulcet cristati coDa draconis,
Et subitfi duo sunt; junctoque volumine serpunt;
Donee in oppositi nemoris subiere latebras.
16. Variari: to be marked; to be
streaked.
And those fearful snakes were streaked
O'er their cerulean backs with streaks of jet,
And their jaws blackened with a jetty dye.
HESIOD'S SHIELD or HERCULES.
IB. Ctzruleis guttis: with green spots.
17. In peclus cadit pronus: falls prone
upon his breast.
On thy belly shall thou crawl, and dust shall
thou eat all the days of thy life- GENESIS, iii. 14.
23. Non totum occupat: does not possess
me entire.
25. In partes duas. On account of its
great volubility, the tongue of the serpent
appears to be divided.
27. Sibilat. When he attempts to speak,
he hisses. Thus Milton, in spenking of
the fallen angels:
He would have spoke,
But hiss for hiss returned with forked tongue
To forked tongue. PABADISK LOST.
29. Teque exue: free yourself.
36. Ilia permulceti she strokes; she ca
resses.
38. Duo sunt. Hermione is now also
changed into a serpent.
38. Juncto volumine: with joined spires.
In the phrase juncto volumine, we have the
identical original ophite hierografn pre
sented to us, under the mistaken figure,
however, of two serpents. As Sabseiam,
or worship of the heavenly host, was con
NOTJE.
LIBER IV.
31. Cur Cffilestes,
non vertitis me quo-
que in eundem angu*
em?
nected with serpent-worship, the globe,
with the serpent passing through it, waa
intended to represent the sun's disk, and
the serpent's way, the sun's path among
the stars. As the Cadmonites and Hermo-
nians built serpent-temples of this kind in
Illyria, Cadmus and Hermione were fabled
to be changed into serpents in that coun
try; Hence Scylax Caryandensis, speak
ing of Enchelia in Illyria, says:
The stones and the temple sacred to Cadmus
and Hermione are there. GEOG. VKT.
The correctness of this will appear from
the plate (Fig. 8) and description of an
ancient serpent-temple in England.
From a circle of upright stones (without im
posts), erected at equal distances, proceeded
two avenues, in a wavy course, in opposite di
rections. These were the fore and hinder parta
of the serpent's body, passing from west to east.
Within this great circle were four others, con
siderably smaller, two and two, described about
two centres, but neither of them coincident with
the centre of the great circle. They lay in the
line drawn from the north-west to the south
east points, passing tnrough the centre of the
great circle. The htad of the serpent wai
formed of two concentric ovals, and rested on
an eminence which is the southern promontory
of the link-pen (Serpent's head) hills. WOBSHIP
OT THE SBKPENT, p. 330.
The etymology of Hakpen is Hak, a ser
pent, and Pen, the head. The remains of
a similar temple are evidently alluded to
by Fausanias:
FABDLA V. METAMORPHOSE ON.
Nunc quoque nee fugiunt hominem, nee vulnere kedunt:
Uuidque prius fuerint, placidi meminere dracones.
On proceeding in a straight line from Thebes
to Glisas, you will see a place surrounded with
rough stones, which the Thebaiis call the Ser
pent's head. -DESCBIPTIOM op GREECE, Lib. ix.
Cap. xix.
The following refers to a serpent-temple
of Cadmus; for, as shown in the interpre-
totio, Cadmus and Hermes are the same:
In Pharffi, likewise, there is a fountain sacred
to Hermes. Tlie name of the fountain is llama
(Ham), worshipped as the sun. Very near this,
NOT^E.
QU^ESTIONES.
How was Cadmus affected by the mis
fortunes that pursued his family ?
Whither did he go ? Where is Illyria ?
What does he imagine was the cause of
tne misfortunes that befell his house ?
What request does he make ?
Was he immediately changed into a ser
pent?
Is the tongue of the serpent forked ?
Has he the vicious nature of the serpent ?
Who accompanied him in his exile from
Thebes ?
Fig. 8.
41
289
there are thirty quadrangular stones. These
me rnarenses venerate, calling each by the
name of some particular go.1. Indeed, it was
ttuiucrly the custom wLih all the Greeks to re
verence rude stones m the place of statues of
xiii ESCRIFTICN F GREISCI!' Lib - vii- Can.
As the Ba£ruXio severally represented a
god, Irom this may have arisen the myth
that all the gods attended the marriage of
Cadmus ana Hermione.
Does she witness hia transformation ?
What change takes place in her ?
Was Cadmus a real character, or the
personification of a tribe ?
To what worship were the Cadmonites
addicted ?
How, then, are we to interpret the
transformation of Cadmus and his wife ?
In what form were the serpent-temples
built ?
In what country has one been found in
good preservation ?
2B