THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

IMU
106
P. OVIDII NASONIS
Hasc domus, hre sedes, hzec sunt penetralia magni
Amnis : in hoc residens facto de cautibus antro,
Undis jura dabat, Nymphisque colentibus undas.
Conveniunt illuc popularia flumma primum,
Nescia gratentur, consolenturne parentem,
Populifer Spercheos, et irrequietus Enipeus,
Apidanusque senex, lenisque Amphrysos, et Aous.
Moxque amnes alii: qui, qua tulit impetus illos,
In mare deducunt fessas erroribus undas.
Inachus unus abest, imoque reconditus antro
Fletibus auget aquas, natamque miserrimus lo
Luget, ut amissam. Nescit vitane fruatur,
An sit apud manes. Sed, quam non invenit usquam,
Esse putat nusquam ; atque animo pejora veretur. 20
Viderat a patrio redeuntem Jupiter lo
Flumine : et, O virgo Jove digna, tuoque beatum
Nescio quern factura toro, pete, dixerat, umbras
Altorum nemorum (et nemorum monstraverat umbras)
NOTJE.
7. Penetralia: the inmost recesses.
7. Domus: the habitation. The foun
tain of the river was thus called.
9. Numphis: to the nymphs; the Naiada
who inhabit the streams.
10. Conveniunt illuc: nssemble thither.
The poet here employs a beautiful circum
stance in the geography of Greece for a
highly poetic fiction. At the foot of Zygo,
an elevation of Mount Pindus, the largest
rivers of Greece take their rise, and di
verge thence to nil the shores by which
the country is bounded. Hence the rivers
are said to have met for the purpose of
consoling or congratulating Pene'us.
Ah me 1 vvhnl draws thee liither ? art thou come
Speclator of my toils? Mow liast tliou ventured
To leave the ocenn waves, from thee so called.
Thyrock-roofedgrottoesarchedhyNature'shand;
Comcst thou to visit and bewail my ills ?
JEsCHYLUS.
11. Nescia gratentur: not knowing whe
ther to congratulate or console her parent.
Though his daughter was lost to him, it
was an honor and a happiness for her to
be loved by n god.
12. Spercheos. A rapid river of Thessaly
which empties into the Maltac gulf. Its
banks were covered with poplars.
12. Enipeus. A river of Thessaly which
rises near Mount Othrys, and joins the
Apidanus before it empties into the Pcneus.
13. Apidanus. A river of Thessaly
which empties into the Pene'us; it has the
epithet of old, probably from the slowness
of its flowing.
13. Amphrysos. A river of Thessaly
which runs by Mount Othrys, through the
Crocian plain, and empties into the Pelas-
gic gult. Apollo, when banished Irom
heaven for lulling the Cyclops, fed the
flocks of Admetus upon its banks.
10
15
LIBER 1
7. HBBC domus, ha
sedcs, hffic sum pene
tralia magni amnis:
residens in hfic anlro
facto de caulibus, da-
bat jura undis, Nym
phisque colentibusuu-
d&s. Popularia ilum-
ina coveniunl illuc
primum,
14. Moxque alii am
nes : qui deducuntun
das fessas erroribus
in mare, qua impetus
lulit illos. Iiiachua
unus abest, que recon-
ditus imo antro auget
aquas fletibus, que
miserrimus luget
19. Sed tilam quara
non iuvenit usquam,
putat esse nusquam;
atque veretur fiejora
ammo. Jupiier vide-
rat 16 redcuutem a
patrio flumine: et dix
erat, O virgo digna
Jove,que factura nes-
cio qucm beatum tuo
13. Aous. A river of Epirus which
rises from the earth, and flows eastwardly
into the Ionian sea. It has its name most
probably from its course; Sous being the
Doric form of Zwj, the east.
15. Fessas erroribus: wearied by their
wanderings.
1G. Inachus. A river of Argolis in the
Peloponnesus, which falls into the Argolic
gulf.
17. Fletibus auget: augments the waters
by his tears.
In JL few months we find the heautifnl and
tender partner of his bosom, whom he lately
tk permitted not the winds of summer to visit too
roughly," we find lier shivering at midnight, on
the winter banks of the Ohio, und minuting her
lean with the torrents that froze as they fell.
WM. WIRT.
17. lo. This is a Greek noun of the
third declension in the accusative case.
By lo sonic understand the moon, and the
fable as relating to her motions,
lo, in the language of the Argives is the moon.
EUSTATHIUS.
The phonetic name Aah, or loh, signifying the
moon, is often found on the monuments of Kgypt.
WlLKlNSOS.
19. Amid manes: with -the ghosts; is
dead. The manes were nlso considered as
infernal deities, and were supposed to pre
side over burial places, and the monuments
of Ihe dead.
20. Fejora veretur: fears the worst in
his mind.
OED. Duhia pro veris sclent timere reges.
Cfi. Qui pavcl vanos metus \ eroB fatetur.
SENBCA.
21. Patrio flumine : from ?ier paternal
river; from the Inachus. Tne river al
ways bore the name of the god that pro
sided over it.
FAEULA XIII. METAMORPHOSE ON.
Dum calet, et medio Sol est altissimus orbe.
Quod si sola times latebras intrare ferarum,
Prseside tuta Dec, nemorum secreta subibis:
Nee de plebe Dec, sed qui coslestia magna
Sceptra manu teneo, sed qui vaga fulmina mitto.
Ne fuge me. Fugiebat enim. Jam pascua Lernze,
Consitaque arboribus Lyrczea reliquerat arva:
Cum Deus inducta latas caligine terras
Occuluit, tenuitque fugam, rapuitque pudorem.
Interea medics Juno despexit in agros:
Et noctis faciem nebulas fecisse volucres
Sub nitido mirata die, non fluminis illas
Esse, nee humenti sentit tellure remitti:
Atque suus conjux, ubi sit, circumspicit: ut quze
DeprGnsi toties jam nosset furta mariti.
Quern postquam coslo non rcpperit: Aut ego fallor
Aut ego Iffidor, ait. Delapsaque ab aHhere sunimo
Constitit in terris; nebulasque recedere jussit.
Conjugis adventum przesenserat, inque nitentem
Inachidos vultus mutaverat ille juvencam.
27. Prceside Deo: a god your protector.
Supply existente here.
28. Sed qui. The god expresses briefly,
but forcibly, the majesty of Jupiter's cha
racter.
Jove, in counsel wise;
Father of gods and men; whose thunder-peal
Kocks the wide earth in elemental war.
ELTON'S HESIOD.
29. Vaga fulmina: the wandering, ex
cursive thunderbolts. This is not to be
referred to inability in Jupiter to strike any
desired object, for with him the bolt is un
erring, and falls ^ herev r he listeth, but to
the zigzag coui wh h he lightning takes
in its passage th u^h the air.
30. Lernce. A grove and lake of Argo
lis in Greece where the Hydra lived that
was slain by Hercules.
31. Lyrccea arva : the Lyrcffin fields;
the fields around Lyrceus, which was a
nountain in Argolis in which the river
Inachus took its rise.
31. Jicliouerat. lo, fleeing from Jupiier,
had passed by.
33. Tenuitque fugam: repressed her
flight.
35. Noctis faciem: the appearance of
night; darkness.
35. Nebulas volucres: the floating clouds.
36. Sub nitido die: in the bright day;
during bright daylight.
36. Nee Jluminis. C louds are caused by
exhalations from rivers, or by vapors as-
cendinp from the earth.
39. Qua: ni'xset : w ho knew ; was ac
quaint ed with. Nosset is by syncope for
noitisstt.
39. Furtt.: the adulteries.
NOTjE.
107
25 toro, pete umbras al-
torum nemorum
26. Quod si times
sola intrare latebras
fcrarum, subibis se
creta nemorum tuta
DRO, preside: nee de
plebe Deo. sed qui
30 teneo coclestiasceptra
ningnfr manu, sed qui
miuo fulmina.
35
40
34. Interea Juno
despexit in medics
agroB; et mirata vo
lucres nebulas fecisse
faciem noctis sub ni
tido die, sentit illas
non esse nuniilns, neo
remitti humenti tel
lure: atque circum-
Bpicit, ubi suus conjux
sit. 41. Delapsaqne ab
mmo aethere ilia
con itit in terris;
ju tque nehulas re
cedere. Ille prffisen-
serat adventum con-
jugis mut&veratque
40. Ego fallor: I am deceived ; I err in
my conjectures.
41. hgo Icedor: I am injured. Her hus
band was guilty of violating his faith to
her.
41. Delapsaque: gliding down; descend
ing.
43. Nitentemjuvencam: a beautiful hei
fer. Several reasons arc assigned for the
worship of the goddess Isis (lo) in Egypt
under the form of a cow; some would un
derstand by it agriculture, of which the
cow was a type, and which in time came
to be worshipped; while others think the
animal was made sacred so that it could
not be eaten; and thus agriculture would
be promoted by the rearing of cattle for
the plough.
The utility of cattle, and the smallnes* of their
herds, led the Kgyptians to prohibit the slaughtei
of cows j theretore, though they killed oxen for
the ultar and table; they abstained from the fe-
m&les with a view to their preservation; and
the law deemed it a sacrilege to eat their meat.
1'ORPHYBT
The Egyptians offer clean bulls and calves,
but they are not allowed to immolate heifers,
bec&use they are sacred to Isis, -who is repre
sented in her statues under the form of a wo
man with horns, as the Greeks figure lo.
HERODOTUS
44. Inachidos. Of lo, the daughter of
Inachus.
Straight was my sense disordered, my fuir form
Changed, us you see. disfigured with these liorns;
And tortured with the bryze'B horrid sting,
Wiltl with my pain, with frantic speed 1 hurried
To Cenchrea's vale with silver-windingslrenms
Irriguous, and the fount whence Lerna spreads
Its wide exp&nse of-waters.
JEJCIIYLUS'8 I'KOHETEIL'S