THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

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p. ovimi N ASONIS
Et dici potuisse, et non potuisse refelli.
At tu, si mod& sum ccelesli stirpe creatus;
Ede notam tanti generis: meque assere ccelo.
Dixit; et implicuit materno brachia collo:
Perque suum, Meropisque caput, tsedasque sororum, 40
Traderet, oravit, veri sibi signa parentis.
Ambiguum, Clymene precibus Phaethontis, an ira
Mota magis dicti sibi criminis; utraque ccelo
Brachia porrexit: spectansque ad lumina solis,
Per jubar hoc, inquit, radiis insigne coruscis, 45
Nate, tibi juro, quod nos auditque, videtque;
Hoc te, quem spectas, hoc te, qui temperat orbem,
Sole satum. Si ficta loquor, neget ipse videndum
Se mihi; sitque oculis lux ista novissima nostris.
Nee longus patrios labor est tibi nosse penates: 50
Unde oritur, terra domus est contermina nostrse.
Si mod6 fert animus; gradere ; et scitabere ab ipso.
38. Assere ccelo: assert me to heaven;
prove rny divine origin.
39. Implicuit brachia; entwined his
arms.
40. Meropisque caput: and the head of
Merops, viz. his life. An oath or adjura
tion by the head, was anciently considered
of the most solemn character.
Neither shall thou swear by thy head, he-
cause thou canst not make one hair while or
black.—MATT. v. 36.
Sed Jove nondum
Harbalo, nondum Grrccis jurare paratis
Per caput alterius.—JUVENAL. SAT. vi.
40. Tcedasque sororum: the marriage-
torches of his sisters; by metani/my for
marriage. As the slander of Epaphus
would affect the character and prospects
ol his sisters, this appeal to their mother,
Clymene, was of the strongest character.
Sophocles depicts the feelings of a father
in view of this:
Whither now
Must my poor children fly? From every feast,
Joyless, with grief and shame, shall you re
turn ;
And when the time shall come, when riper
years
Should give you to the nuptial bed, who then,
Careless of lame, will let his child partake
The infurny of my abhorred race?
Yon, my daughters! Such reprpnch
Must still be >ours, to virgin solitude
Devoted ever and a barren bed.
CEDirus TYKANNUS.
41. Oravit: besought; adjured.
41. Signa: tokens; proois.
43. Dicti sibi: imputed to her.
43. Criminis. The crime of concealing
the illegitimacy of her child by giving out
ne was ihe son of Apollo. A modern poet
gives in his poems an animated description
NOTJE.
LlBEtt I,
cis iloleni, ego ille li-
ber : jlle ferox, tacui.
rudel tec opprobria
et potuisse dici nobis,
et iion potuisse re-
felli.
42. Ambiguum ea.
an Clymene mota j«
magls precibus Thafi-
tqntis, an ira criminis
dicti sibi: porrexit
utraque brachia ccelo;
spectansque ad lumi
na eolis, inquit juro
tibi nale, per hoc ju
bar, insigne coruscis
radiis.
50. Nee est labor
longus tibi n6sse pa-
trios penates: domus,
unde oritur est con-
of the credulity of a votaress imposed upon
by a priest of Apollo.
How often ere the destined time
Which was to seal my bliss sublime j
How often did I trembling run
To meet, at morn, the mounting sun,
And, white his fervid beam he threw
Upon my lips' luxuriant dew,
I thought—alas, the simple dream—
There burned a kiss in every beam;
With parted lips inhaled their heat,
And sighed, " O god ! thy kiss is sweet!"
Oft, too, at day's meridian hour.
When to the Naiad's cleainy bower
Our virgins steal, and7 blushing, hide
Tbeir beauties in the folding tide,
If through the grove, whose modest arms
Were spread around my robeless charms
A wandering sunbeam wanton fell
Where lover's looks alone should dwell,
Not all a lover's looks of flame
Could kindle such an timorous shame.
It was the sun's admiring glance,
And, as I felt its glow advance
O'er my young beauties, widely flushed,
I burned, and panted, thrilled, and blushed'.
No deity at midnight came,
The lamps, that witnessed all my shame
Revealed to these bewildered eyes
No other sbnpe than earth supplies;
No solar light, no nectared air—
All, all, alas! was human there:
Woman's faint conflict, virtue's fall,
And passion's victory—human all.—MOOBB.
45. Jubar. As the streaming rays of
the sun resemble flowing hair, it is possi
ble the term jubar is derived from juba, the
mane of a horse.
49. Lux novissima: may this light be the
last; may I die this day.
50. Patrios penates : your paternal house
hold gods; your father's residence.
50. Nosse: by syncope for novisse.
51. Nostra terra: our land, viz. ./Ethiopia.
52. Si fert animus: if your mind incline*
you; if you have an inclination.
FABCLAXV. MET AMORPHOSEON
Emicat extemplo ketus post talia matris
Dicta sure Phaethon, et concipit rethera mente :
jEthiopasque sues, positosque sub ignibus Indos
Sidereis, transit; patriosque adit impiger ortus.
53. Emicat: leaped up; rejoiced.
54. Concipit athera: conceives the air
in mind; enters in imagination upon his
airy journey.
55. JEihianas. The ./Ethiopians, ac
cording to the Roman authors generally,
inhabited the southern portions of Africa,
Of what is this fable a continuation?
What effect had the death of Argus on
Juno?
What did she do to lo ?
What was the end of lo's wanderings?
Of what country is the Nile a river?
Where did lo resume the human
form?
How was she honored afterwards ?
What was the name of her eon?
How was he honored f
Who was Phaethon I
What reproach was cast upon him by
Epaphus f
NOT^E.
QU^ESTIONES.
123
termina noslne'terne.
Si modo animus fert f«.
54. Phaeton, telu«
post talia dicta auee
mains, emicat extem
plo ; et concipit icthe-
ru meute
and the southern part of Asia, west of tho
Ganges. The name is derived from ai&u,
to burn, and