THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

70 P. OV1DII NASONIS
Est tamen humani generis jactura dolori
Omnibus: et, quae sit terra; mortalibus orbse
Forma futura, rogant: quis sit laturus in aras
Thura ? ferisne paret populandas tradere terras ?
Talia quffireutes, sibi enim fore castera curas,
Rex Superflm trepidare vetat; sobolemque priori
Dissimilem populo promittit origine mira.
Jamque erat in tolas sparsurus fulmina terras;
Sed timuit, no forte sacer tot ab ignibus ffither
Conciperet flammas, longusque ardesceret axis.
Esse quoque in fatis rcminiscitur, aflbre tempus,
Quo mare, quo tellus, correptaque regia cceli
Ardeat; et mundi moles operosa laboret.
voted, signified their assent by leaving
their seats, and joining the party whose
views they espoused.
7. Dolori omnibus: a grief to all. The
love of God to man is boundless; he de
lights not in his dcstmction.
As I live, saith the I ord, I have no pleasure
1 in the death of him Hint dies.
IToW shall I give thee up, O TCphraim! how
shall I deliver thec up, O Israel \ l lovv shall I
resign thee as Ailrnah! How shall I make thee
as Zeboim ! HOSEA.
Oh that my hend wrre \var,T«, and mine eyes
a fountain of tears, that I might weep, day and
night, for the slain of the daughters of my peo
ple. LAMENTATIONS.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem' thou that killest
the prophets, and sionest them that arc sent unto
thee, hovvoft would I bnve gathered thy v-hiltlren
as a hen g.ithereth her chickens u'ncler her
wings, und they would not! ST. MATTHEW.
8. Omnibus: to all. See Grammar, Rule
XXIII. of Syntax.
8. Orbas : deprived of men; without in
habitants.
9. Quiii sit faturns: who will hring
frankincense to the nllara ? The sods nre
here solicitous about the rites of public
worship. The adoration of his intelligent
creatures is pleasing to the Creator him
self. If savage bcists should become the
only inhabitants, the declarative glory of
the gods would be unknown ; for.
Animal niillnm cat pr;eter hominem, qnod ha-
beat notitiam alicjuam Dei. CICERO.
10. Ferisne populaHrfns. Pnjmfo and de-
popttJo, in tile same manner as print and
drpono, are often rendered alike. In both
cases however, etymology would seem to
require a positive meaning of the former of
the words, and a uecnlive meaning of the
latter. Popn.1unrJ.ns here appeal's to be u*»cd
in the sense of peopling or iiilKibitim*. The
following, from Horace, is similar:
Velut profugit exeerata civitas,
Apros atijiie litres propnos.habitandaque fana,
Apris reliquit el rnpaeibus lupis. Ei'ouo\ xvi.
NOT^E.
LIBER I.
7. Tamen jactura
hnmani generis est
dolor) omnibus: que
rogant qua; sit fctnra
forma terrji orhoe
]Q luortalibnS: qnis Bit
latuTListliLiTain aras?
parelne tradere ter
ms populandas fcris?
Rex Superuin -vetal
qnaircmes talia tre
pidare, enim crrtera
fore curse sibi, que
15 promittit soholem dis-
similem priori populo
mira engine Que
jam erat sparsurus
17. Quoque rernln-
iscitur esse in fatis,
lempus allbre, quo
10. Paret •• does he prepare ? is he about ?
12. Hex Superum: the king of the gods;
Jupiter.
12. Trepidare vctal; forbids them to be
solicitous.
13. Dissimilem pnpitlo: unlike the former
people; pure and holy.
13. Onaine mira: by a miraculous ori
gin. Stones were to he changed into men
and women, as related in the succeeding
fable.
14. Sparsurus falminn: about to hurl the
thunder over all the earth. When he was
about to scatter the thunder, and thus de
stroy the world, he recollects that it is fated
that the earth shall be destroyed by fire
hereafter, and chooses a different mode of
destruction.
16. Longus axis: the long axis on which
the heavens were believed to revolve.
17. Esse in falls: is in the decrees of the
Fates. The Fates, or Destinies, were the
dispensers of the will of Jupiter. In the
heathen mythology, they "ore put for Pro
vidence.
17. -Affore tempus: that there would be a
time; that a time would come.
18. Correptas: enveloped in flames. Sup
ply flammis.
Dies ira\ dies ilia
Polvet s.rclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla. CCELAKO.
19. Ardml: shall be burned up. The
final destruction of the world by fire, ap
pears to have been known to most of the
pagans. They got the idea from the Sibyl
line verses, or from some ancient tradition
committed probably to Adam or Noah.
Knl TTOTE T'IV Aftytjv 3eoy, oi>n ?n Trpavvoiraj
AAV c(cii$lt($ovTa, Kai etyyvuvra re yivvav
AvSpuniov awauav i'V i^itftrjaiJHiv TrtpSwTa.
Sunn,. AI'UD LACTAMTFM
Cum tenipns advencrit, quo se mundus rcno-
vatnrus extinguat . . . . et omni flagrante ma-
teria nno igni quidquid nunc ex disposito luccl,
ardebit. SESECA.
L
V ABUTA IX.
METAMORPHOSED N.
Tt-la reponuntur manibus fabricata Cyclopum.
Po;ua placet diversa; genus mortale sub undis
Perdcre, et ex omni niinbos dimittere ccelo.
Protinus -iEoliis Aquilonem claudit in antris,
Aq Ja et ignis terrenis dominantur: ex his or-
lus, et ex his interims est. SENECA NAT. QU^ES.
The Egyptians supposed the worhl had a great
year, when the tun. moon, and planets all re
turned to the snme sign whence they started,
tin' winter of which year was the Delude, and
the summer the conflagration of the world.
PiATO.
Hence we Stoics conclude, that the whole
world, at last, wonld be in a general conflagra
tion j vt lien, all moisture being exhausted, neither
the eurtii could have any nourishment, nor the
air return again, since water, of which it is
formed, would then 'he all consumed; so t hat
only fire would subsist, and from this fire, which
U an animating power*and a deity, a new world
would arise, and be re-cslabhshcd in the same
beauty. CICERO o¥ THE Gous.
Cerlain dispositions of the air, ami powers of
wnter and fire, infused and mixed within, which
arise nnd spring up with, together wilh the
world, and to be burnt in time, and end with it.—
1'LLTAKCIl'S M OUALS.
For the ind'gnation of the Lord is upon all the
nations; Jiul all the host of heaven shall be dia>-
ohed, and the he.ivens shall be rolled together
as a scroll. ISAIAH.
But tlie heavens and the earth, which are
now, by the same w;ord are kept in store, re
served unto fire, against the day of judgment
and perdition of ungodly men. ST. I'ETEK.
19. Operofa moles: the well-wrought,
Stupendous mass of the universe.
19. /Mlorrt: shall labor; shall be ex
posed to destruction.
20. Tela: t he "weapons, viz.: the thun
derbolts. Modern science furnishes n beau
tiful illustration of this fabled forging of
Jupiter's thunderbolts. Metals rendered
fluid and volatilised by the excessive heat
of volcanoes, are dissipated and carried into
the air, and after being united by some
combination of chemical and electric at
traction, form the metallic masses and
aerolites which often fall to the earth with
a great noise. The Cyclops of the volcano
are thu« said to forge them.
20. Ci/clopiim: of the Cyclops. They
were the workmen of Vulcan, and had
their shop in Mount JEtna, where they
made the thunderbolts of Jupiter.' The
etymology of the word is *JJ^Aos, a riVf/e,
and oV/, u n tiff, because they had but one
eye, of a circular form, in the middle of
the forehead. Their mimes were Brontes,
Steropen. and Argcs ; the latter, however,
was called Hurpcs, Arges, and Pjraemon.
Homer and '1 hcocritus consider them the
primitive inhabitants of Sicily, giants and
cannibals.
NOT-flE.
71
20 mare, qivo tclh»,qtte
regia cceh corrt-pta
ardeat; et operosa
moles inuiuli laboret.
Tela fabricata
S3. ProtiuuB claudil
Then brought she forth
The Cyclops, brethren of lu'gh daring heart,
Prontes, and Steropes nnd Arges fierce,
AVho forged the lightning shaft, and pave to Jove
His thunder. They were like nnlo Ihe gods,
Save thai a single hall of s'ght was fixed
Tn the mid forehead. Cyclops was their name,
For that one circulur e> e w IIP broad infixed
III the mid forehead. IIESIOD'S TIIEOGONY.
21. Ptfna iJiversa: a different kind of
punishment, viz. by water.
21. Plarel: pleases him; is resolved
upon.
21. Genus mortale: the mortal race ; the
human race.
The present race of men is nol the same as at
the beginning, hut those of the first race all
perished. Mankind, as they now are, arc a new
and second race, that w ere spread abroad again
by Deucalion in these vast numbers. Of those
first men it is reported, that they were haughty,
fierce people, who com milted heinous iniquities;
for they neither kept their oath, nor exercised
hospitality, nor spared ihe vanquished, though
imploring inercy. For all this, however, a hor
rible calamity came upon them. LUCIAN IHE
S\KIA DEA.
21. Sub undis: under water; by immer
sion.
22. Perdere. The phrase genus mortale
s«n uudis perdere, is put in apposition with
prena.
22. Nmibo*: rain ; storms of rain.
22. Ex omni carlo: from the whole hea
ven.
Anil the windows of liceven were opened;
and the ruin was upon the earth forty days and
forty nights. GENESIS vii. 11,12.
After whom reigned many others, and then
Sisithrus, to whom £utnrn signified there should
be an abundance of rain on the fifteenth day jof
the month Pesins, and commanded him to lay
up all his writings in Heliopolis; which, when
Sisilhrus had done, he sailed immediately into
Armenia, and found it true as the god had de
clared to him. ABYDENUS.
5:3. Protinus: forthwith. As soon as he
determines to destroy the world, he sets
about its destruction.
23. JEoliis in antris: in the ^Eolian
caves, -ffiolus, the son of Hippotas, was
king of the islands which lie between Italy
and Sicily. From his knowledge of astro
nomy, and his predictions of the changes
in the winds, he was thought to control
the w inds ill a cave, where the}' murmured
against their rocky barriers. The islands
were volcanic, and gave rise to the subter
ranean noise, and the fable connected there
with.
2:t. A (/iii?vnemcJiinilil- He shuts up the
north wind, because i* v»as accustomed to
I