THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

110
P. OVIDII N ASON1S
Nata, mihi terras ? Tu, non inventa, reperta
Luctus eras levior. Retices; nee mutua nostris
I)icta refers. Alto tantum suspiria prodis
Pectore: quodque unum potes, ad mea verba remugis. 90
At tibi ego ignarus thalamos tasdasque parabam :
Spesque fuit generi mihi prima, secunda nepotum.
De grege nunc tibi vir, nunc de grege natus habendus.
Nee finire licet tantos mihi morte dolores:
Sed nocet esse Deum: praclusaque janua lethi 95
Sternum nostros luctus extendit in ZEvum.
Talia moerenti stellatus submovet Argus,
Ereptamque patri diversa in pascua natam
Abstrahit. Ipse procul mentis sublime cacumen
Occupat, unde sedens partes speculetur in omnes. 100
Nee superum rector mala tanta Phoronidos ultra
Ferre potest: natumque vocat; quern lucida partu
Ple'ias enixa est: lethoque det, imperat, Argum.
LIBER 1.
nes terras' Tu eras
levior luctus non in
venta reperta. Re
tices ; nee refers dicta
mutua nostris. Tan-
tum prodis suspiria
alto pectore :
91. At ego ignarus
parabam tibi thala
mos teedasque: spes-
que generi fuit prima
mihi, nepotum secun-
dn. Nunc vir est ha.
bendus tibi de grege,
nunc natus de grege.
Nee licet mihi fimre
tantos dolores morte:
07. Stellatus Argus
eubinovet natam palri
riuErenti talis, abstra-
hitque illam in diver-
sa pascua
lUt. Nee rector su
perum potest ferre ul
tra tnntu mala Phoro
nidos; vocatque na-
tuin, quern lucidn Ple-
NOT-ffi.
88. Lucttu eras levior: you were a lighter So live that when thy summons come: lojoin
sorrow. It was a less unhappiness for Ina- The innumerable caravan that moves
To tliat mysterious realm, where each shall take
chus to consider her lost or dead than to His station in the silent halls of Death.
find her changed into a beast.
W. C. URTAXT.
90. Remugis. Unable to address him, Fly fearless through death's iron gate.
the only reply which she can make to his Nor dread the dangers as she passed.
words, is to low after the manner of a
WATTS.
heifer.
9G. JEternum in tcvum: to an eternal
91. Ego ignarui. There is something age.
very pathetic in the relation, which the Ill wouldfit thou bear my miseries, by the Fates
afflicted father gives, of the blasted pros Kxempt from death, the refuge of the nlllicted;
pects and ruined hopes which he had been Hut my afflictions know no liounds, till Jove
cherishing for his child.
Falls from the imperial sovereignty of heaven.
91. Thularrua: marriage-chambers; by
JKscllYLUS.
metonymy for marriage.
97. Stellatus Argut: the starry Argus
91. Tcedas. The bridal torches with having eyes like stars.
which the husband led home his bride. 97. Sulmwet: removes him; repels Ina-
94. Tantoi dolores: so great sorrows. chus from his daughter.
Bring me a father thnt so loved his rhild, 99. Abstrahit: forces away.
Where joy of her is overwhelmed like mine, 101. Superum rector : the ruler of the
And bid him epenk of patience;
gods, viz., Jupiter.
Measure his wo the length and breadth of mine, 101. Phoronidoi. Of lo, who was the
And let it answer every strain for strain.
SIIAKBPEARE. grand-daughter of Phoroneus.
Ah never, never
102. Q uern. Mercury, the son of Jupi
Conceived 1 that a tale so strauge should reach ter, by Maia, one of the Pleiades.
My ears; that miseries, woes, distresses, terrors, Hermes, draw near, and to my prayer incline,
Dreadful to sight, intolerable to sense,
Angel of Jove, and Maia's son divine.
Should shock me thus: wo, wo. unhappy ftite!
ORPHEUS.
How my soul shudders at the fate oflo!
-^SCIIYLUS. Mercury is the source of invention; and hence
he is said to be the son of Maia; because search,
94. Morte. The unhappy father laments which is implied by JUaia, leads invention iato
that he cannot escape from his sufferings liarht. He bestows too mathesis on souls, by un
by dying.
folding the will of his father Jupiter: and this
he accomplishes as the angel or messenger of
Oh ! that this too solid flesh would melt, Jupiter. PKOCLUS.
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew !
Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
103. Pleias. The Pleiades were seven
His canon 'guinst self-slaughter of the daughters of Atlas by Pleione, one
SHAKSPEARE. of the Oceanides. They were changed
95. Nocet esge Deum: it is a curse to be into the constellation commonly called ihe
a god. In full, the sentence is, nocet Seven Stars, in the neck of Taurus.
mi/ti 7ne esse.
103. Lethoque det: to put to death. This
95. Praxluta janua Ictlri: the gate of is to be understood astronomically. To
death shut against me. Poets often speak extinguish the light of Argus's eyes and
of the court and halls of death.
put him to death, as related in the subse
FABULA XIII. METAMORPHOSED N.
Parva mora est, alas pedibus, virgamque potenti
Somniferam sumsisse manu, tegimenque capillis.
HZEC ubi disposuit, patria Jove natus ab arce
Dcsilit in terras. Illic tegimenque removit,
Et posuit pennas : tantummodo virga retenta est.
Hac agit, ut pastor per devia rura capellas,
Dum venit, abductas : et structis cantat avenis,
Voce novae captus custos Junonius artis,
Quisquis es, hoc poteras mecum considere saxo,
qucnt fable, means the extinguishment of
the light during an eclipse of the sun.
Mercury or Anubis being the horizon ac
cording to the Egyptian myth; for these
two are the same. Isis or lo is the upper
or visible part of the earth.
The Eg>ptians esteem the sun to be the De-
miurgus, and hold the legends uhout Osiris and
Isis (lo) and all their mythological fables to have
reference to the stars, their appearance and oc-
cultaliona, and the periods of their risings, or to
the increase and decrease of the moon, to die
cycles of the sun, to the diurnal and nocturtial
hemispheres, or to the river (Nile.) EusEatus.
Anubis is the interpreter of the gods of 1 lea
ven and of Hades ... holding in his left hand u
cadueeus, and in his right shaking a poplar
branch. AruLEtus METAMORPH.
Annliis (Mercury) was supposed in one of his
diameters to represent the horizontal circle
which divides the invisible part of the world,
called by Ihc Egyptians Neptliys from the visi
ble which they term Isis. PLUTARCH DE ISIDE ET
OslRI.
101. Parva mora est: the delay is slight;
immediately. Obedience to the commands
of God, should be prompt and cheerful.
He spake. The God who mounts the winged
winds
Fast to his feet the golden pinions binds,
That hiirh through fields of air his flight sustain
O'er the wide earth, and o'er the boundless main:
He grasps the wand that causes sleep to fly,
Or in soft slumbers seals the wakeful eye;
Then shoots from heaven to high Pieria's steep,
And stoops incumbent on the rolling deep.
HOMRR'S ODTSSET.
101. A las. The talnria or winged shoes
which lie was accustomed lo bind to his
feet. The wings of Mercury may reier
physically to the swiftness of the planet,
v, liich is the most rapid of the seven in its
course; or, allegorically, to his volubility
oi speech, as the god of eloquence.
104. Virgam. The rod which Mercury
was accustomed 10 carry in his hand, called
also Caduccus. It was wreathed wiih two
serpcms, and had irresistible power. Wiih
it he could rail the spirits of the dcadirom
Orcus, seal tlie eyes of ihe living in sleep,
and perform many other prodigies. By
the virtue ot this rod, we are to understand
the power of eloquence in persuading or
dissuading, which attracts and impels ihe
minds of men.
105. Tegimenque capillis. His winged
NOT-ffi.
111
iai enixa est partu.
t ~_ anperatque det Ar-
lUu gum leto. Mora e«t
Bumsisse alas pedi
bus, virgamque
109. line, ut pastor,
agit, dum venit, ea-
pellas abductas per
devia rura; et cantat
.. structis avenis. Ar-
1JU gus Junor.ius eustos,
captus voce novae ar
tis, ait, Quisquis es,
poteras considere hoc
eaxo mecum; enim
cap, called also Petasus. By this we are
to understand the disguised art of the ora
tor, by which he conceals the fallacy of his
arguments.
106. Disposuit: arranged these, viz. his
talaria, rod, and cap. We have here a de
scription of the messenger of Jupiter; we
give one of a messenger of Jehovah by a
Christian poet.
At once on the eastern cliff of Paradise
He lights, and to his_proper shape returns.
A seraph winged: six wings he bore to shade
His lineaments divine; the pair that clad
Each shoulder broad, came mantling o'er his
breast
With regal ornament; the middle pair
Ciirt like a starry zone his waist, and round
Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold,
And rolors dipt in heaven; the third his feet
Shadowed from either heel with fenther'd moil
Sky-tinctured grain. Like Mnia's son he stood,
And shook his plumes, that heavenly fragrance
filled
The circuit wide. MILTON.
106. Patria ab arce. From heaven,
where Jupiter his father reigns.
107. Ittie: there; when ne reached the
earth.
108. Potuit pcnnas: laid aside his wings.
109. Hac: wiih this; his cadueeus, used
now as a shepherd's crook.
110. Abductas: taken away; driven
away, as he came along. He seizes upon
pome one's goats, as lie passed through
the country, and having put on the ap
pearance of a shepherd, drove them near
the place where Argus was watching lo.
110. Slructit avenis: on the oat-straws;
reeds joined together. The pastoral pipe
was formed of reeds, oaten-straws, or, like
hollow cylinders of unequal length, joined
together by wax.
Fistula ciii semper decrcscit nrundinis ordo,
Nam calamus cera jungitur usque minor.
TIBLLLLS.
Fist mihi dippanhus septcm compacta cicutis
Fistula. VIEGIL.
111. Voce: with the voice; the sounil.
111. Novtzartis: ihencwart; the new
invention viz. the pipe the abstract he
ing put for the concrete.
111. Custos Juiwnitis. The keeper
whom Juno had employed.
112. Hoc taxo: upon this rock. Upon
the rock on which Argus was sitting.