THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

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P. OVIDII NASONIS
Non bene junctarurn discordia semina rerum.
Nullus adhuc mundo prsebebat lumina Titan ;
Nee nova crescendo reparabat cornua Phcebe ;
Nt-c circumfuso pendebat in aere tellus,
Ponderibus librata suis ; nee brachia longo
Margine terrarutn porrexerat Amphitrite.
Quaque fuit tellus, illic et pontus, et aer:
Sic erat instabilis tellus, innabilis unda,
Lucis egens aer; null! sua forma manebat.
Obstabatque aliis aliud: quia corpore in uno
Frigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis,
Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus.
•NOTJE.
The foundation was a confused chaos, from
whence the lour elements were separated, and
living creatures made. LAKRTIUS.
In lhat egg Hie great power sat inactive a
whole year of the cr-aron, at the close of which
he caused the egg to d vide itself. And from its
two divisions he framed the heaven above aud
Ihe eurlh beneath. INSTITUTES OF MENU.
Where eldest Night
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold
Eternal anarchy. MILTON.
From Chaos both Erebus and black Night
were born. HESIOD.
It is remarkable, that Moses, speaking
of the division of time before the creation
of the sun, "The evening and the morn
ing were the first day, uses the word
Ereli for evening, from which evidently is
derived the Erebus'ol Hcsiod.
5. Semina: the seeds; the first prin
ciples of things. This is an elegant and
forcible metaphor.
6. Titan: the sun. Titan was the son
of Ccelus and Terra, and the eldest of the
Titans. As light was first created, it is
possible the ancients intended, by making
him the eldest son of Heaven and Earth,
to signify this.
Formerly, the sun knew not his place, the
moon was ignorant of its powers, and the stars
knew not the stations they were to occupy.
VOUISPA iv TUB EDDA.
7. Cornua. The extremities of the wax
ing and waning moon are called horns.
The moon is said to fill her horns in pass
ing from conjunction with the sun to op
position, from the new moon to the full;
and to blunt her horns when passing from
opposition to her Hard quarter.
The moon lhat rose last nighl,round as my shield,
Had not y et filled her horns.—DOCGLASS.
The moon
Wears a won circle round her blunted horns.
THOMSON.
7. Phtebe. A name given to Diana, or
the moon, on account of her brightness.
It is the feminine of .Phcebus, as Diana is
the sister of Phoebus, the sun.
8. Circumfuso aere. The atmosphere is
a thin elastic fluid which encompasses the
earth, on all Bides, to the extent of about
forty-five miles.
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LIBES I
6. NullunTimn ad-
huc prrebebat lumina
mundo; nee rhffibe
reparabat nova cor
nua crescendo ; nee
tellus pendebat in
afire circumfuso, li-
bralasuisponderibuB.
11. Quaque fuit tel
lus, illic fuit ct pontus
et afir : sic tellus erat
instabilis1, unda inna
bilis, afir egens lucis;
eua ibrma manebat
IS. Fripida pugna
bant calldis, humen
tia siccis, mollia cum
Earth with her nether ocean cimanfused
Their pleasant dwelling-home. MILTON.
9. Ponderibus librata: balanced by its
own gravity. Pythagoras had long before
demonstrated the true nature of the solar
system, and of the gravitation of the hea
venly bodies.
The rest to several place
Disparted, and between, spun out the air,
And earth self-balanced on her centre hung.
MILTON.
Terra piko similis nullo fulcimine nixa.
OVID'S FASTI.
He utretcheth the north over the empty space,
and hangeth the earth upon nothing. JOB
xxvi. 7.
9. Srnchia. The waters of the ocean,
with which it embraces the earth, are
called arms.
Let others stretch their arms like sens,
And clasp ia all the shore. WATTS.
10. Margiiie terrarum: along the borders
of the earth.
10. Amphitrile. The daughter of Ocean-
us and Tethys, and the wife of Neptune.
She is here put for the sea, by metonymy.
The etymology of the word is dpfrrfiliuv
to wear away, because the motion of the
sea wears away the earth.
When not a wave appears at eventide,
Save from the pawing of lliy coursers' feet,
AVith queenly Amphitrite by thy side.
O'er the still waters glides thy chariot fleet.
PANTHEON
11. Ponlvs. Put for waier, by metony
my. gee Brooks' s Grammar, p. 208.
13. lads egens: destitute of light.
The earth was at first without form and void;
and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
UENESIS i. 2.
14. Obstatiat. The strife arose from the
commotion of the different elements com
mingled in the same body.
15. Puqnatirmt. Thus, Milton, in de
scribing the Chaos that borders upon Hell.
For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champion*
fierce,
Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring
Their cmbry o atoms. PARADISE LOST.
16. Sine pondere: things without
weight. The imponderable agents ara
light, heat, and electricity.
FABBLA I.
METAMORPHOSE ON.
Hanc Deus et melior litem Natura diremit:
Nam ca'lo terras, et tern's abscidit undas;
Et liquidum spisso secrevitab aere ccelum.
Qua postquam evolvit, csecoque exemit acervo,
Dissociata locis concordi pace ligavit.
17. Deus: God. Deus is ilie same as
the Greek 6t6s, which conies from Sew, to
dispose, to arrange. The ancients regard
ing matter as eternal, did not consider God
as the Creator of the Universe, but the
Archiiect. They believed in two eternal
principles, the one active, the other passive;
mind and matter. This doclrine, first
taught by Hermes Trismegistus, " The
beginning of all things which exist is God,
or mind, and nalure, or matter," was
adopted by the Stoics and some other sects
of philosophers. How much more sublime
is the idea of God presented in the Bible,
who by the word of his power spoke into
existence the material out of which he
formed the universe. Some of the Orphic
hymns describe Jupiter as omnipotent, om
nipresent, and the architect of the uni
verse. In the fragment from Proclus, on
the Alcibiades of Plato, he is designated
" Jupiter, the foundation of the earth and
starry heavens; Jupiter, the fountain of
the sea; Jupiter, the first progenitor of
all."
17. Ileus et Natura. This refers to the
two principles, mind and matter. We may
consider the force ot the particle et as ex
positive ; God and Nature even Nature;
or by the figure hcndiadys ihe God of
Nature. The intelligent hcalhens con
sidered God and Nature synonymous.
Thus Strabo:
Nihil autem aliud est natuia quam Deus et
divina qu.tdam ratio toti inundo et partibus cjus
inserta. STRABO.
The power which fashioned the universe
Aristotle denominates "Nature;" Anax-
agorns cells it "Mind;" so also Plato in
his Phasdon. Thnlcs says, " God was that
Mind which formed all things out of wa
ter." Amelius, the Platonic, in perfect
accordance with what St. John says of the
Myos, remarks, "And this is that Reason
or Word, by which all things that ever
were, were made." Chalcidius declares,
"The Reason of God is God himself,"
just as St. John says, "The Word was
God." Plato says, " Jupiter is a spirit
which pervades all things."
All Nature is but nrt unknown to thee. POPS.
17. Melior. This epithet reminds us of
the complacency of Deity in Genesis, on
reviewing his work, he " saw that it wan
good." Seneca, in his Ixvlh Epistle, hn?
the same idea, "lionus est: bona fecit. 1 '
Plato also says, itaXoj 6 xfeuoj, the world is
good.
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duris, habemia pon
dus cum iis nine pon
dere. Deus et melior
Nntura diremit hanc
litcm : nam abscidit
terras ccelo, ct undas
lerris ; et secrevit li
quidum cffilum ab
Nam numen divinum est fous lummis, sicut
et bonitatis. JAMBLICIIIS.
18. Nam ccelo terras: he divided the
earth from heaven. Ccelo here evidently
includes the aer and ather. The descrip
tion^ corresponds wilh the first act of Deity
in Genesis; for, doubtless, when he formed
tho light, it was by separating the atmo
sphere from the heavier bodies, and causing
the gaseous vapors to ignite, for as yet the
sun was not formed.
Earth first produced the Heavens. HESIOD
18. Atscidlt undas: he divided the wa
ters from the earth. We are again re
minded of the order of the Scriptural
account:
And Cod said, let the waters under the hea
ven be gathered together into one place, and let
tlie dryland appear. GENESIS.
Hesiod says, after the formation of Hea
ven : "
Then with Heaven
Consorting, Ocean from her bosom burst,
AVith its deep eddying waters. THEOGONY.
19. Liquidum coilum: tho clear heaven.
Ccelum is here restricted to the aether, as
stated in the 10th line of the next fable.
20. Qurs postquam evolvit : which after
he extricated.
20. Caxo acervo: a confused mass. Lite
rally, a blind mass. Ccscum is used pn -
sively by the poet, because the chaos » 3
dark, and could not be seen distinctly.
The Chaos was dark as night, in which dark
ness all things under the sky were involved.
ORPHKUS.
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21. Dissociata locis. The elements were
now disunited in place, but concordant in
spirit. The antithesis of the words dis-
sociata and concordi, arising from the in
separable particles dis and con, :s very
beautiful.
21. Concordi pace. This state of con
cord is an agreeable change from the strife
- f the pristine chaos. In some of the an
cient cosmogonies, the birth of Love, or
Harmony, is represented as one of the first
occurrences.
Kind Concord, heavenly born! whose blissful
reign
Holds this vast globe in one surrounding chain.
TICKBL.
AVhere order in variety we see.
And where, though all things diner,tney agree.
Port
c