THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

74
P. OVIDII NASONIS
Cumque satis arbusta simul, pecudesque, virosque,
Tectaque, cumque suis rapiunt penetralia sacris.
Si qua domus mansit, potuitque resistere tanto
Indejecta male; culmen tamen altior hujus
Unda tegit, pressceque Jabant sub gurgite turres.
Jamque mare et tellus nullum discrimen habebant.
Omnia pontus erant; deerant quoque littora ponto.
There could not be one cause for so ^freal a
calamity, but ell reason consents that at the
same tune the rams should fall, tlie rivers sw«ll,
the seas, stirred Irom their foundations, rush
along, and all in united phalanx move on to the
destruction of the human race. SENECA. Lib.
iii. cap. 27.
The pillars of heaven were broken; the earth
Bliook to its very foundations: the heavens sunk
lower to the north; the earth ft-II to pieces, and
the waters euclosed within its bosom hurst forth
\vilh violence, and overflowed it. CHINESE SA
CKED IJOOKS.
47. Cum salis: wilh the crops. After
the corn has put forth the ear, it is then
called a crop.
Red from the hills, innumerable streams
Tumultuous roar; and high above its banks
The rivers litt, bctore whose rushing tide,
1 Icrds. (locks, ami harvests.cotlages and swains,
Roll mingled down. THOMSON.
47. Piciidrsque. The different animals
were all borne away and destroyed by the
flood, according to our poet. Other hea
then writers speak of their preservation,
as in the Bible.
Of clean heists, and of beasts lluit are un
clean, and qt' lowls, and of every thin? that
crcepeili upon the earth, there went in two and
two unto Noah in the ark, the male and the te-
rnale, as Cod commanded Noah. GENESIS vii.
8, 0
It is reported that Xisnthrus was preserved hy
Saturn's loretellmg him what was to rome, and
thnt it was convenient for him to build nil ark,
lhathirds, and creeping things, and beasts might
pail with linn in it. ALEXANDER POLYHISTOR.
He, (Deucalion,) and his wives and his chil
dren, entered into a large ark, which lie had
prepared; and alter them went in bfnrs, and
horses, nml lions, and serpents, and all othe-
kinds of living creatures' that feed upon tho
earth, two and two ; he received them all ill,
neither did lhc> hurl him, hut were veryfsimilinr
wilh him, by a divine influence. LUCIAH BE
S\niA DBA.
In seven da\s, all creatures who have offended
me shall be destroyed by adduce, butlhou shall
he secured in a capacious vessel, miraculously
formed: lake, tin refore, all kinds of medicinal
herb , and evident grain for food, and, toother
with hese\enhol> men, jour respective wives,
and pair* of all animals, enter the ark without
fear. IIIVDOSTANEE BlIAGAVAT.
48. Ptnclral'ui. Thc-gods had abandoned
to destruction the altars, upon which the
impious had long ceased to offer sacrifice.
Moreover, at thnl feast, which use call Peme-
cocl, as the priests were goirg by night into the
NOT./E.
LlBKE 1.
patefecit siir-V aqua-
rum motu. Fluminm
exspatiala ruunt per
40. Si qua domus
niansit, poluilque ma-
50 1 iudejecla; lamer
unda allior legit uujui
culmen, pressreque
turres labaut sub gur
gite.
inner temple, ta their custom was, to perform
their sacred ministrations, they said, that in the
first place, they felt a quak ing, and heard a great
noise, and after that the sound as of a multitude
saying,'- Let us depart hence !" JOSEPIIUS.
. The passive gods behold the Greeks defile
Their temples, and abandon to the spoil
Their own abodes. DRYDEN'S VIRGIL.
Over prostrate pillar and crumbling dome
The stormy billows arise and foam;
"V\ here thy swelling temples were wont to stand,
The sea-bird screams by the lonely strand.
\V. G. CLARK
49. Tanto malo: so great a calamity,
viz.: the deluge.
50. Culmeji: the top of the roof of a
house. It is so called from cubnns, a stalk,
because, anciently, houses were covered
with straw. All dwellings else
Flood overwhelmed, and them, wilh all their
pomp,
Deep under water rolled. MILTON.
51. Pressa? x turres: and the towers
borne down.
Struck of the castled cliff,
The venerable tower, and piry fnne
Resign their aged pride. THOMSON.
51. Gurpitc: in the vortex. It is not to
be supposed that there was a gentle rising
of tho waters, at the deluge, Imt the most
fearful commotion, when the internal wa
ters of the earth were forced out in cata
racts, the solid crust of the earth broken
through, and the water rcsorbcd again in
the chasm. Some convulsion of trie kind
was necessary to destroy the vessels and
other means of safety employed by the in
habitants.
51. Nullum discrimen: sea and earth hid
no distinction.
Hence, in old dusky lime, n deluge came:
When the deep-cleft disparting orb thnl arched
The central waters round impetuous rushed
Wilh universal burst into lire gulf,
And o'er the high-piled hills of fractured earlh
Wide dashed the waves in uudulalions vast;
Till from Ihe ccnlre to Ihc straining clouds,
A shoreless ocean tumbled round Ihe globe.
THOMSON.
53. Omnia pontus eranl: all things were
sea. There is a majestic brevity in the first
part of this line, but in the latter clause a
redundancy called polyp/clan, which di
minishes its force. In the description of
the Indian Hades, a modern poet introduces
the same form of expression.
KiSur.A IX.
METAMORPHOSEON.
Occupat hie collem: cymba sedet alter adunca,
Et ducit remos illic, ubi nuper arSrat.
Ille supra segctes, aut mersrc culmina villa,
Navigat: hie summa piscem deprGndit in ulmo.
Figitur in viridi (si Fors tulit) anchora prato:
Aut subjecta terunt curvas vineta carinas.
Et, mod6 qua graciles gramen carpsere capellas,
Nunc ibi deformes ponunt sua corpora phocce.
Mirantur sub aqua lucos, urbesque, domosque,
Nerei'des: silvasque tenent delphincs, et altis
Incursant ramis, agitataque robora pulsant.
Nat lupus inter oves: fulvos vehit unda leones:
Unda vehit tigres. Nee vires fulminis apro,
Crura nee ablato prosunt velocia cervo.
QusBsitisque diu terris, ubi sidere detur,
[n mare lassatis volucris vaga dccidit alis.
And lo, Ihe regions dread
The world of wo before llicia opening wide.
There rolls Ihe fiery flood.
Girding the rcjlms of TntUclon around,
A sea of flame it seemed lo he
Sea vjiihcttl bound,—SouTitEY.
Sea covered sea
Sea without shore. MILTOX.
54. Occupat hie collem. There is a bcau-
liful variety in the description of the efforts
of Ihe different inhabitants to save them
selves.
55. Ubimipprararal: where he had lately
ploughed. What a melancholy change is
here presented! A rarat for aravent, by
syncope.
57. Summa in ulmo: in the highest part
of the elm ; the sprcice being put for the
cciius, by synecdoche. See Grammar,
Rule I., n. 8.
fisciumcl summ(t genus hacsil ulmo HOHACE
58. Si Fors lulit: if chalice has borne it;
has directed it.
61. Dtformes pliocix : t he unsightly sea-
calves. The seal is called the sca-oalf,
from the noise it makes like a calf. He is
an animal with a head like an otter's, with
teeth like a clog's, and moustaches like a
eat; his body is long and haily; his fore
fret has fingers, clawed, but not divided ;
his hinder feet are more like fins. He is
thus fitted forciawling and swimming, and
is amphibious.
Huge monsters from the plains, whose skeletons
The mildew ot succeeding centuries
lias failed 10 crumble, with unwieldv strength
Crushed through the sol.d crouds. BABUEB.
Where luxury late reigned, sea-monsters
whelped,
And slahled. MILTOX.
63. AYnii/FX. These nymphs of the sea
wete daughters of Kerens and Doris. They
weic fifty in number. Their dutv was to
attend on the more powerful gods of the
NOTJE.
75
54. Hie occupat col-
-_ Jepu alter scdel adun-
OO ca cymba ci ducit
50. Ille navigut su
pra segetes, aut cul
mina mersce villae:
hie deprchendit pis
cem in summa ulmo.
Anchora, si fors lulit,
/>r> figitur in viridi pralo:
nut curva? carinn: te
runt vineta subjecta.
02. Nereides miron-
tur lucos, urbesque
domosque sub aqua:
dclphinesque lenent
sih as, et incursant
(J5 altis ramis, pulsnin-
que agilula robora.
CO. Ncc vires ful
minis prosunl apro,
nee veloeia crura ab
lato cervo. Terrisque
diu qiucsilisuhidelur
illi sidere, vaga volu-
sea. When on the sea-shore, they resided
in grottoes and eaves adorned wiih shells.
64. livbora: the trees ; oaks. 1'he species
is here put for the genus.
64. Pulsanl: strike wilh their bodies the
agitated oaks.
Oceans were blent, and the leviathan
Wrcs borne aloft on the ascending sea
To v, here the eagle nested. BARBER.
65. Ifat IIITIUS: the wolf swims among
the sheep. The general calamity has re
pressed the predaccous disposition of the
wild beasts, and the timidity of the tame.
Virgil, in speaking of the plague, refers to
the same.
Non lupus insidias exploral ovilin circum,
INon gregibus noctnrnas obambulal; acrior ilium
Cnra doinal: tmiidi danur cervique fugnccs
INimc ililerque canes et circum leciavuganlur.
VIRGIL.
6G. Vires fulminis: the strength of his
tusk. Fulnieu is used in this sense, either
because the tusks are cns-pidated, or be
cause of their oblique stroke, or irresistible
power.
C7. A ltlato: borne away by Ihc voters.
67. ProsuTit: avail; defend. The iorce
of the waler is too great ior him.
Nor can the bull his awful front defend,
Or shake the murdering savages away.
THOMSON.
68. Ulii sidcre detur: where it may be
permitted her to rest; to settle. The same
form of expression is used in reference to
the Trojan exiles wandering over all the
;as.
Inccrii quo fata ferant, ubi sislerc delur VIRGIL.
But tlie clove found no rtst for the sole of hei
foot, and she returned unto him hno the ark.
GENESIS vii. fl.
69. Volucris vaga: the wandering bird.