THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

164
P. OVIDII NASONIS
Imposuit coelo, vicinaque sidera fecit.
Intumuit Juno, postquam inter sidera pellex
Fulsit; et ad canam descendit in aequora Tetbyn,
Oceanumque senem: quorum reverentia movit
Saepe Deos; causamque vise scitantibus, infit:
Quseritis sethereis quare regina Deorum
Sedibus rifle adsim ? Pro me tenet altera ccclum.
Mentiar, obscurum nisi nov cum fecerit orbem,
Nuper honoratas summo mea vulnera coelo
Videritis Stellas illic, ubi circulus axem
Ultimus extremum, spatioque brevissimus ambit.
Est verb, cur quis Junonem Isedere nolit,
Offensamquc tremat, quce prosim sola nocendo ?
En ego quantum egi! quam vasta potentia nostra est!
Esse hominem vetiu; facta est Dea: sic ego pcenas
Sontibus itnpono; sic est mea rnapna potestas.
Vindicet antiquam faciem, vultusque ferinos
Detrahat; Argolica quod in ante Phoronide fecit.
Cur non et pulsa ducat Junone, meoque
NOTVE.
Yel where the captives stood, in holy awe,
Rapt on the -wings of cherubim, they saw
Their (aimed sire a_cendmjir through the night;
He turned his face to bless them in his flight;
Then vanished. MONTGOMERY.
11. Per inania: through the void.
12. Vicina sidera: neighboring con
stellations. Arctos and Arctophylux arc
situated near each other, not far irom the
north pole.
13. Intumv.il: swelled with rage.
15. Oceanian. The god of Ocean, ear
lier than Neptune. He was the eldest of
the Titans, the offspring of Ccelus and
Terra. He married his sister Tethys, and
their children were the rivers of the earth,
and the three thousand Occanides.
To Oceao Telhys brought the rivers forth
In whirlpool waters rolled: Eridanns
Deep-eddied, and Alplieus, and the Nile:
And the divine Scamander. Bare she then
A sacred race of daughters, who on earth
With King Apollo and the rivers claim
The first-shorn locks of youth: their dower from
Jove
Three thousand slender-ankled ocean nymphs,
Long-stepping, tread the enrlh; and, scattered
Haunt everywhere alike the depth of lakes;
A glorious sisterhood of goddesses.
As many rivers, also, yet untold,
Rushing with hollow-dashing sound, were sons
Of Ocean, to majestic Telhys born. UESIOD.
17. Regina Deorum: the queen of the
gods, viz. Juno.
18. Hue adsim. The whole address of
Juno is excellent. It is short, sententious,
and violent. The frequent use of the in
terrogation, of antithesis, and of irony,
shows a wrathful and tumultuous spirit.
Do you ask why I, who nm the queen of
the gods, have left heaven, and am here a
LIBER II.
10. Omnipotens ar-
cuil: sustulilque pari-
ter ipsosque nefasque:
el imposuil eos ccelo
raptos per iimnia ce-
15 leri venlo, fecilque vi-
cina sidera.
17. An queeritis qua
re ego reguia deoruin
adsim hue tethereis
sedibus? Alirra le-
nel cerium pro me.
20
23. Esf vero cui
quU nolit loidere Ju
nonem, irem.itiiue of-
fensnm; qua; sola pro-
simnocendo?
J8. Vindieet anliquam
faciem, detra
hatque vultus ferinos,
nr\ quod ant fecit in AroU
golica Phoronide.
poor suppliant ? I am supplanted, Pro me
•net all era ccelum!
20. Honoratas Stellas: as honored stars.
20. Mea vulnera: my torments; my
wounds, ever rankling in my breast. Thus
Virgil:
Cum Jano eeternum servanssubpectoTe vnlnus
JEvxm i .
23. Est verd cur: is there wherefore 1 is
there any reason why ?
25. Quantum egi! What a great thing
I have done! an expression full of bitter
irony.
25. Quam vasta. Another exclamation
of irony.
26. Esse hominem: to be a human
being.
27. SonlSnui on the guilty.
28. Vindicet: let him vindicate ; let him
restore.
29. InPhoToniie: in the case of Phoro-
nis lo the daughter of Phoroneus. Jupi
ter, after changing her to a heifer, restored
her to the human form.
31. Socerum Lycaona. Lycaon as a
father-in-law, who had once attempted to
kill him, as related in a former Fable.
32. Tangil: touches you ; affects you.
32. Alumnce: of your foster-child. This
may be explained physically. As Juno is
the lower air, she is said to be the foster-
child of Tcthys, or water, because the
lower air is water in a rarefied form.
33. Gurgile cceruleo: from the azure
gulf, here put for the sea by synecdoche.
The other tribes forsake their midnight track,
And rest their weary orbs beneath the wave;
Hut thou dost never close, thy burning eye,
Nor stay thy steadfast Hep. Itul on, still on,
FABUIAVI. MET AMO RPHOSEON.
Collocet in thalamo, socerumque Lycaona sumat ?
At vos si Jsesae contemptus tangit alumnae,
Gurgite cosruleo scptem prohibete Triones;
Sideraque in coslo stupri mercede recepta
Pellitc: n6 pure tingatur in aequore pellex.
While systems change, and suns i-elire, and
worlds
Slumber and wake, thy ceaseless march pro
ceeds.
The near horizon temptR to rest in vain:
Thou, failhtul sentinel, dost never quit
Thy long appointed wnich; but, sleepless still,
Dost guard the fixed light oflhe universe,
And bid the north forever know ils place.
HEKBY WARE.
33. Septem Triones. The Great Bear
and Arctophylax. See note on pRge 30.
Seven stars
Dwell in that brilliant cluster, and the sight
How do you explain the translation of
Ihe Bears into heaven by Jupiter ?
How do you account otherwise for Cal
listo being made a constellation ?
How do you explain the circumstance
of her son being made a constellation ?
What moral lesson does the story teach ?
Do you recollect any anachronism in this
fabie?
NOT^E.
QU^ESTIONES.
35
165
Embraces all at once; yet each from each
Recedes as far as each of them from earth.
HENRY WARK.
35. Pellite: expel; drive away.
35. Ne tingatur: let not the harlot be
washed in the pure sea. Diana had driven
Callisto from the pure fountains, and Juno
now prays that she may not be purified in
the ocean. The Bear and the constella
tions adJRcent, on account of the elevation
of the pole, never go below the horizon,
hence they are said not to descend into tho
sea.
When the Bears were received into hea
ven, what visit did Juno make ?
Who was Oceanus ? Who was Tethys f
What request did she make of these two
deities ?
What astronomical circumstance gave
rise 10 this fiction?
What were the Septem Triones ?
In what part of the heavens are they?