---
title: "Metamorphoses"
author: "Ovid"
translator: "Brookes More"
title_ru: "Метаморфозы"
author_ru: "Овидий"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 10 of 30
url: https://scriptura.si/works/ovid-metamorphoses/10/
cite: "Ovid, tr. Brookes More, Metamorphoses, section 10. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/ovid-metamorphoses/10/"
---

# Metamorphoses

*Ovid, tr. Brookes More*

Russian: Метаморфозы, Овидий

Bodies changed into new forms, from the creation of the world to the deification of Julius Caesar: Daphne, Narcissus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Icarus, Orpheus.

> Latin: ed. Hugo Magnus, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0959.phi006, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Brookes More, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng3). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (line numbers), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 10. Book V · lines 341–678

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/ovid-metamorphoses/10/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/ovid-metamorphoses/10/#p-N

[¶0] “First Ceres broke with crooked plow the glebe;
first gave to earth its fruit and wholesome food;
first gave the laws;—all things of Ceres came;
of her I sing; and oh, that I could tell
her worth in verse; in verse her worth is due.
“Because he dared to covet heavenly thrones
Typhoeus, giant limbs are weighted down
beneath Sicilia's Isle—vast in extent—
how often thence he strains and strives to rise?
But his right hand Pachynus holds; his legs are pressed
by Lilybaeus, Aetna weights his head.
Beneath that ponderous mass Typhoeus lies,
flat on his back; and spues the sands on high;
and vomits flames from his ferocious mouth.
He often strives to push the earth away,
the cities and the mountains from his limbs—
by which the lands are shaken. Even the king,
that rules the silent shades is made to quake,
for fear the earth may open and the ground,
cleft in wide chasms, letting in the day,
may terrify the trembling ghosts. Afraid
of this disaster, that dark despot left
his gloomy habitation; carried forth
by soot-black horses, in his gloomy car.
“He circumspectly viewed Sicilia's vast
foundations.—Having well explored and proved
no part was shattered; having laid aside
his careful fears, he wandered in those parts.
“Him, Venus, Erycina, in her mount
thus witnessed, and embraced her winged son,
and said, ‘O Cupid! thou who art my son—
my arms, my hand, my strength; take up those arms,
by which thou art victorious over all,
and aim thy keenest arrow at the heart
of that divinity whom fortune gave
the last award, what time the triple realm,
by lot was portioned out.
‘The Gods of Heaven
are overcome by thee; and Jupiter,
and all the Deities that swim the deep,
and the great ruler of the Water-Gods:
why, then, should Tartarus escape our sway—
the third part of the universe at stake—
by which thy mother's empire and thy own
may be enlarged according to great need.
‘How shameful is our present lot in Heaven,
the powers of love and I alike despised;
for, mark how Pallas has renounced my sway,
besides Diana, javelin-hurler—so
will Ceres' daughter choose virginity,
if we permit,—that way her hopes incline.
Do thou this goddess Proserpine, unite
in marriage to her uncle. Venus spoke;—
“Cupid then loosed his quiver, and of all
its many arrows, by his mother's aid,
selected one; the keenest of them all;
the least uncertain, surest from the string:
and having fixed his knee against the bow,
bent back the flexile horn.—The flying shaft
struck Pluto in the breast.
“There is a lake
of greatest depth, not far from Henna's walls,
long since called Pergus; and the songs of swans,
that wake Cayster, rival not the notes
of swans melodious on its gliding waves:
a fringe of trees, encircling as a wreath
its compassed waters, with a leafy veil
denies the heat of noon; cool breezes blow
beneath the boughs; the humid ground is sprent
with purpling flowers, and spring eternal reigns.
“While Proserpine once dallied in that grove,
plucking white lilies and sweet violets,
and while she heaped her basket, while she filled
her bosom, in a pretty zeal to strive
beyond all others; she was seen, beloved,
and carried off by Pluto—such the haste
of sudden love.
“The goddess, in great fear,
called on her mother and on all her friends;
and, in her frenzy, as her robe was rent,
down from the upper edge, her gathered flowers
fell from her loosened tunic.—This mishap,
so perfect was her childish innocence,
increased her virgin grief.—
“The ravisher
urged on his chariot, and inspired his steeds;
called each by name, and on their necks and manes
shook the black-rusted reins. They hastened through
deep lakes, and through the pools of Palici,
which boiling upward from the ruptured earth
smell of strong sulphur. And they bore him thence
to where the sons of Bacchus, who had sailed
from twin-sea Corinth, long ago had built
a city's walls between unequal ports.

> Latin: “Prima Ceres unco glaebam dimovit aratro,
prima dedit fruges alimentaque mitia terris,
prima dedit leges: Cereris sunt omnia munus.
Illa canenda mihi est. Utinam modo dicere possem
carmina digna dea: certe dea carmine digna est.
Vasta giganteis ingesta est insula membris
Trinacris et magnis subiectum molibus urget
aetherias ausum sperare Typhoea sedes.
Nititur ille quidem pugnatque resurgere saepe,
dextra sed Ausonio manus est subiecta Peloro,
laeva, Pachyne, tibi, Lilybaeo crura premuntur,
degravat Aetna caput: sub qua resupinus harenas
eiectat flammamque ferox vomit ore Typhoeus.
Saepe remoliri luctatur pondera terrae
oppidaque et magnos devolvere corpore montes.
Inde tremit tellus, et rex pavet ipse silentum,
ne pateat latoque solum retegatur hiatu
inmissusque dies trepidantes terreat umbras.
Hanc metuens cladem tenebrosa sede tyrannus
exierat, curruque atrorum vectus equorum
ambibat Siculae cautus fundamina terrae.
Postquam exploratum satis est loca nulla labare,
depositoque metu, videt hunc Erycina vagantem
monte suo residens, natumque amplexa volucrem
“arma manusque meae, mea, nate, potentia”, dixit,
“illa, quibus superas omnes, cape tela, Cupido,
inque dei pectus celeres molire sagittas,
cui triplicis cessit fortuna novissima regni.
Tu superos ipsumque Iovem tu numina ponti
victa domas ipsumque, regit qui numina ponti.
Tartara quid cessant? cur non matrisque tuumque
imperium profers? agitur pars tertia mundi.
Et tamen in caelo, quae iam patientia nostra est,
spernimur, ac mecum vires minuuntur Amoris.
Pallada nonne vides iaculatricemque Dianam
abscessisse mihi? Cereris quoque filia virgo,
si patiemur, erit: nam spes adfectat easdem.
At tu, pro socio, siqua est ea gratia, regno
iunge deam patruo.” Dixit Venus. Ille pharetram
solvit et arbitrio matris de mille sagittis
unam seposuit, sed qua nec acutior ulla
nec minus incerta est nec quae magis audiat arcus,
oppositoque genu curvavit flexile cornum
inque cor hamata percussit harundine Ditem.
Haud procul Hennaeis lacus est a moenibus altae,
nomine Pergus, aquae. Non illo plura Caystros
carmina cycnorum labentibus audit in undis.
Silva coronat aquas cingens latus omne, suisque
frondibus ut velo Phoebeos submovet ictus.
Frigora dant rami, tyrios humus umida flores:
perpetuum ver est. Quo dum Proserpina luco
ludit et aut violas aut candida lilia carpit,
dumque puellari studio calathosque sinumque
implet et aequales certat superare legendo,
paene simul visa est dilectaque raptaque Diti:
usque adeo est properatus amor. Dea territa maesto
et matrem et comites, sed matrem saepius, ore
clamat; et, ut summa vestem laniarat ab ora,
conlecti flores tunicis cecidere remissis.
Tantaque simplicitas puerilibus adfuit annis,
haec quoque virgineum movit iactura dolorem.
Raptor agit currus et nomine quemque vocando
exhortatur equos, quorum per colla iubasque
excutit obscura tinctas ferrugine habenas,
perque lacus altos et olentia sulphure fertur
stagna Palicorum, rupta fervenu terra,
et qua Bacchiadae, bimari gens orta Corintho,
inter inaequales posuerunt moenia portus.

[¶1] “Midway between the streams of Cyane
and Arethusa lies a moon-like pool,
of silvered narrow horns. There stood the Nymph,
revered above all others in that land,
whose name was Cyane. From her that pond
was always called. And as she stood, concealed
in middle waves that circled her white thighs,
she recognized the God, and said; ‘O thou
shalt go no further, Pluto, thou shalt not
by force alone become the son-in-law
of Ceres. It is better to beseech
a mother's aid than drag her child away!
And this sustains my word, if I may thus
compare great things with small, Anapis loved
me also; but he wooed and married me
by kind endearments; not by fear, as thou
hast terrified this girl.’ So did she speak;
and stretching out her arms on either side
opposed his way.
“The son of Saturn blazed
with uncontrolled rage; and urged his steeds,
and hurled his royal scepter in the pool.
Cast with a mighty arm it pierced the deeps.
The smitten earth made way to Tartarus;—
it opened a wide basin and received
the plunging chariot in the midst.—But now
the mournful Cyane began to grieve,
because from her against her fountain-rights
the goddess had been torn. The deepening wound
still rankled in her breast, and she dissolved
in many tears, and wasted in those waves
which lately were submissive to her rule.
“So you could see her members waste away:
her hones begin to bend; her nails get soft;
her azure hair, her fingers, legs and feet,
and every slender part melt in the pool:
so brief the time in which her tender limbs
were changed to flowing waves; and after them
her back and shoulders, and her sides and breasts
dissolved and vanished into rivulets:
and while she changed, the water slowly filled
her faulty veins instead of living blood—
and nothing that a hand could hold remained.
“Now it befell when Proserpine was lost,
her anxious mother sought through every land
and every sea in vain. She rested not.
Aurora, when she came with ruddy locks,
might never know, nor even Hesperus,
if she might deign to rest.—She lit two pines
from Aetna's flames and held one in each hand,
and restless bore them through the frosty glooms:
and when serene the day had dimmed the stars
she sought her daughter by the rising sun;
and when the sun declined she rested not.
“Wearied with labour she began to thirst,
for all this while no streams had cooled her lips;
when, as by chance, a cottage thatched with straw
gladdened her sight. Thither the goddess went,
and, after knocking at the humble door,
waited until an ancient woman came;
who, when she saw the goddess and had heard
her plea for water, gave her a sweet drink,
but lately brewed of parched barley-meal;
and while the goddess quaffed this drink a boy,
of bold and hard appearance, stood before
and laughed and called her greedy. While he spoke
the angry goddess sprinkled him with meal,
mixed with the liquid which had not been drunk.
“His face grew spotted where the mixture struck,
and legs appeared where he had arms before,
a tail was added to his changing trunk;
and lest his former strength might cause great harm,
all parts contracted till he measured less
than common lizards. While the ancient dame
wondered and wept and strove for one caress,
the reptile fled and sought a lurking place.—
His very name describes him to the eye,
a body starred with many coloured spots.
“What lands, what oceans Ceres wandered then,
would weary to relate. The bounded world
was narrow for the search. Again she passed
through Sicily; again observed all signs;
and as she wandered came to Cyane,
who strove to tell where Proserpine had gone,
but since her change, had neither mouth nor tongue,
and so was mute. And yet the Nymph made plain
by certain signs what she desired to say:
for on the surface of the waves she showed
a well-known girdle Proserpine had lost,
by chance had dropped it in that sacred pool;
which when the goddess recognized, at last,
convinced her daughter had been forced from her,
she tore her streaming locks, and frenzied struck
her bosom with her palms. And in her rage,
although she wist not where her daughter was,
she blamed all countries and cried out against
their base ingratitude; and she declared
the world unworthy of the gift of corn:
but Sicily before all other lands,
for there was found the token of her loss.
“For that she broke with savage hand the plows,
which there had turned the soil, and full of wrath
leveled in equal death the peasant and his ox—
both tillers of the soil—and made decree
that land should prove deceptive to the seed,
and rot all planted germs.—That fertile isle,
so noted through the world, becomes a waste;
the corn is blighted in the early blade;
excessive heat, excessive rain destroys;
the winds destroy, the constellations harm;
the greedy birds devour the scattered seeds;
thistles and tares and tough weeds choke the wheat.

> Latin: Est medium Cyanes et Pisaeae Arethusae,
quod coit angustis inclusum cornibus aequor.
Hic fuit, a cuius stagnum quoque nomine dictum est,
inter Sicelidas Cyane celeberrima nymphas.
Gurgite quae medio summa tenus exstitit alvo
agnovitque deam. “Nec longius ibitis!” inquit,
“non potes invitae Cereris gener esse: roganda,
non rapienda fuit. Quodsi componere magnis
parva mihi fas est, et me dilexit Anapis:
exorata tamen, nec, ut haec, exterrita nupsi.”
Dixit et in partes diversas bracchia tendens
obstitit. Haud ultra tenuit Saturnius iram,
terribilesque hortatus equos in gurgitis ima
contortum valido sceptrum regale lacerto
condidit. Icta viam tellus in Tartara fecit
et pronos currus medio cratere recepit.
At Cyane, raptamque deam contemptaque fontis
iura sui maerens, inconsolabile vulnus
mente gerit tacita lacrimisque absumitur omnis,
et quarum fuerat magnum modo numen, in illas
ossa pati flexus, ungues posuisse rigorem;
extenuatur aquas. Molliri membra videres,
primaque de tota tenuissima quaeque liquescunt,
caerulei crines digitique et crura pedesque:
nam brevis in gelidas membris exilibus undas
transitus est: post haec umeri tergusque latusque
pectoraque in tenues abeunt evanida rivos.
Denique pro vivo vitiatas sanguine venas
lympha subit, restatque nihil, quod prendere possis.
Interea pavidae nequiquam filia matri
omnibus est terris, omni quaesita profundo.
Illam non udis veniens Aurora capillis
cessantem vidit, non Hesperus. Illa duabus
flammiferas pinus manibus succendit ab Aetna
perque pruinosas tulit inrequieta tenebras.
Rursus ubi alma dies hebetarat sidera, natam
solis ab occasu solis quaerebat ad ortus.
Fessa labore sitim conlegerat oraque nulli
colluerant fontes; cum tectam stramine vidit
forte casam parvasque fores pulsavit: at inde
prodit anus divamque videt, lymphamque roganti
dulce dedit, tosta quod texerat ante polenta.
Dum bibit illa datum, duri puer oris et audax
constitit ante deam risitque avidamque vocavit.
Offensa est neque adhuc epota parte loquentem
cum liquido mixta perfudit diva polenta.
Combibit os maculas, et quae modo bracchia gessit,
crura gerit; cauda est mutatis addita membris;
inque brevem formam, ne sit vis magna nocendi,
contrahitur, parvaque minor mensura lacerta est.
Mirantem flentemque et tangere monstra parantem
fugit anum latebramque petit; aptumque colori
nomen habet, variis stellatus corpora guttis.
Quas dea per terras et quas erraverit undas,
dicere longa mora est: quaerenti defuit orbis.
Sicaniam repetit; dumque omnia lustrat eundo,
venit et ad Cyanen. Ea ni mutata fuisset,
omnia narrasset: sed et os et lingua volenti
dicere non aderant, nec quo loqueretur habebat.
Signa tamen manifesta dedit notamque parenti,
illo forte loco delapsam in gurgite sacro,
Persephones zonam summis ostendit in undis.
Quam simul agnovit, tamquam tunc denique raptam
scisset, inornatos laniavit diva capillos
et repetita suis percussit pectora palmis.
Nescit adhuc, ubi sit: terras tamen increpat omnes
ingratasque vocat nec frugum munere dignas,
Trinacriam ante alias, in qua vestigia damni
repperit. Ergo illic saeva vertentia glaebas
fregit aratra manu, parilique irata colonos
ruricolasque boves leto dedit arvaque iussit
fallere depositum vitiataque semina fecit.
Fertilitas terrae latum vulgata per orbem
falsa iacet: primis segetes moriuntur in herbis,
et modo sol nimius, nimius modo corripit imber
sideraque ventique nocent, avidaeque volucres
semina iacta legunt; lolium tribulique fatigant
triticeas messes et inexpugnabile gramen.

[¶2] “For this the Nymph, Alpheian, raised her head
above Elean waves; and having first
pushed back her dripping tresses from her brows,
back to her ears, she thus began to speak;
‘O mother of the virgin, sought throughout
the globe! O mother of nutritious fruits!
Let these tremendous labours have an end;
do not increase the violence of thy wrath
against the Earth, devoted to thy sway,
and not deserving blame; for only force
compelled the Earth to open for that wrong.
Think not my supplication is to aid
my native country; hither I am come
an alien: Pisa is my native land,
and Elis gave me birth. Though I sojourn
a stranger in this isle of Sicily
it yet delights me more than all the world.
‘I, Arethusa, claim this isle my home,
and do implore thee keep my throne secure,
O greatest of the Gods! A better hour,
when thou art lightened of thy cares, will come,
and when thy countenance again is kind;
and then may I declare what cause removed
me from my native place—and through the waves
of such a mighty ocean guided me
to find Ortygia.
‘Through the porous earth
by deepest caverns, I uplift my head
and see unwonted stars. Now it befell,
as I was gliding far beneath the world,
where flow dark Stygian streams, I saw
thy Proserpine. Although her countenance
betrayed anxiety and grief, a queen She reigned
supremely great in that opacous world
queen consort mighty to the King of Hell.’
“Astonished and amazed, as thunderstruck,
when Proserpina's mother heard these words,
long while she stood till great bewilderment
gave way to heavy grief. Then to the skies,
ethereal, she mounted in her car
and with beclouded face and streaming hair
stood fronting Jove, opprobrious. ‘I have come
O Jupiter, a suppliant to thee,
both for my own offspring as well as thine.
If thy hard heart deny a mother grace,
yet haply as a father thou canst feel
some pity for thy daughter; and I pray
thy care for her may not be valued less
because my groaning travail brought her forth.—
My long-sought daughter has at last been found,
if one can call it, found, when certain loss
more certain has been proved; or so may deem
the knowledge of her state.—But I may bear
his rude ways, if again he bring her back.
‘Thy worthy child should not be forced to wed
a bandit-chief, nor should my daughter's charms
reward his crime.’ She spoke;—and Jupiter
took up the word; ‘This daughter is a care,
a sacred pledge to me as well as thee;
but if it please us to acknowledge truth,
this is a deed of love and injures not.
And if, O goddess, thou wilt not oppose,
such law-son cannot compass our disgrace:
for though all else were wanting, naught can need
Jove's brother, who in fortune yields to none
save me. But if thy fixed desire compel
dissent, let Proserpine return to Heaven;
however, subject to the binding law,
if there her tongue have never tasted food—
a sure condition, by the Fates decreed.’
he spoke; but Ceres was no less resolved
to lead her daughter thence.
“Not so the Fates
permit.—The virgin, thoughtless while she strayed
among the cultivated Stygian fields,
had broken fast. While there she plucked the fruit
by bending a pomegranate tree, and plucked,
and chewed seven grains, picked from the pallid rind;
and none had seen except Ascalaphus—
him Orphne, famed of all Avernian Nymphs,
had brought to birth in some infernal cave,
days long ago, from Acheron's embrace—
he saw it, and with cruel lips debarred
young Proserpine's return. Heaving a sigh,
the Queen of Erebus, indignant changed
that witness to an evil bird: she turned
his head, with sprinkled Phlegethonian lymph,
into a beak, and feathers, and great eyes;
his head grew larger and his shape, deformed,
was cased in tawny wings; his lengthened nails
bent inward;—and his sluggish arms
as wings can hardly move. So he became
the vilest bird; a messenger of grief;
the lazy owl; sad omen to mankind.
“The telltale's punishment was only just;
O Siren Maids, but wherefore thus have ye
the feet and plumes of birds, although remain
your virgin features? Is it from the day
when Proserpina gathered vernal flowers;
because ye mingled with her chosen friends?
And after she was lost, in vain ye sought
through all the world; and wished for wings to waft
you over the great deep, that soon the sea
might feel your great concern.—The Gods were kind:
ye saw your limbs grow yellow, with a growth
of sudden-sprouting feathers; but because
your melodies that gently charm the ear,
besides the glory of your speech, might lose
the blessing, of a tongue, your virgin face
and human voice remained.
“But Jupiter,
the mediator of these rival claims,
urged by his brother and his grieving sister,
divided the long year in equal parts.
Now Proserpina, as a Deity,
of equal merit, in two kingdoms reigns:—
for six months with her mother she abides,
and six months with her husband.—Both her mind
and her appearance quickly were transformed;
for she who seemed so sad in Pluto's eyes,
now as a goddess beams in joyful smiles;
so, when the sun obscured by watery mist
conquers the clouds, it shines in splendour forth.

> Latin: Tum caput Eleis Alpheias extulit undis
rorantesque comas a fronte removit ad aures
atque ait: “O toto quaesitae virginis orbe
et frugum genetrix, inmensos siste labores
neve tibi fidae violenta irascere terrae.
Terra nihil meruit patuitque invita rapinae.
Nec sum pro patria supplex: huc hospita veni;
Pisa mihi patria est et ab Elide ducimus ortus;
Sicaniam peregrina colo, sed gratior omni
haec mihi terra solo est: hos nunc Arethusa penates,
hanc habeo sedem: quam tu, mitissima, serva.
Mota loco cur sim tantique per aequoris undas
advehar Ortygiam, veniet narratibus hora
tempestiva meis, cum tu curaque levata
et vultus melioris eris. Mihi pervia tellus
praebet iter, subterque imas ablata cavernas
hic caput attollo desuetaque sidera cerno.
Ergo dum Stygio sub terris gurgite labor,
visa tua est oculis illic Proserpina nostris:
illa quidem tristis neque adhuc interrita vultu,
sed regina tamen, sed opaci maxima mundi,
sed tamen inferni pollens matrona tyranni.”
Mater ad auditas stupuit ceu saxea voces
attonitaeque diu similis fuit. Utque dolore
pulsa gravi gravis est amentia, curribus oras
exit in aetherias. Ibi toto nubila vultu
ante Iovem passis stetit invidiosa capillis
“pro” que “meo veni supplex tibi, Iuppiter” inquit,
“sanguine proque tuo. Si nulla est gratia matris,
nata patrem moveat, neu sit tibi cura, precamur,
vilior illius, quod nostro est edita partu.
En quaesita diu tandem mihi nata reperta est,
si reperire vocas amittere certius, aut si
scire, ubi sit, reperire vocas. Quod rapta, feremus,
dummodo reddat eam: neque enim praedone marito
filia digna tua est, si iam mea filia non est.”
Iuppiter excepit: “Commune est pignus onusque
nata mihi tecum. Sed si modo nomina rebus
addere vera placet, non hoc iniuria factum,
verum amor est; neque erit nobis gener ille pudori,
tu modo, diva, velis. Ut desint cetera, quantum est
esse Iovis fratrem! — Quid quod non cetera desunt
nec cedit nisi sorte mihi? sed tanta cupido
si tibi discidii est, repetet Proserpina caelum,
lege tamen certa, si nullos contigit illic
ore cibos; nam sic Parcarum foedere cautum est.”
Dixerat. At Cereri certum est educere natam.
Non ita fata sinunt, quoniam ieiunia virgo
solverat et, cultis dum simplex errat in hortis,
Poeniceum curva decerpserat arbore pomum
sumptaque pallenti septem de cortice grana
presserat ore suo. Solusque ex omnibus illud
Ascalaphus vidit, quem quondam dicitur Orphne,
inter Avernales haud ignotissima nymphas,
ex Acheronte suo silvis peperisse sub atris:
vidit et indicio reditum crudelis ademit.
Ingemuit regina Erebi testemque profanam
fecit avem, sparsumque caput Phlegethontide lympha
in rostrum et plumas et grandia lumina vertit.
Ille sibi ablatus fulvis amicitur in alis,
inque caput crescit, longosque reflectitur ungues
vixque movet natas per inertia bracchia pennas:
foedaque fit volucris, venturi nuntia luctus,
ignavus bubo, dirum mortalibus omen.
Hic tamen indicio poenam linguaque videri
commeruisse potest: vobis, Acheloides, unde
pluma pedesque avium, cum virginis ora geratis?
an quia, cum legeret vernos Proserpina flores,
in comitum numero, doctae Sirenes, eratis?
Quam postquam toto frustra quaesistis in orbe,
protinus, ut vestram sentirent aequora curam,
posse super fluctus alarum insistere remis
optastis, facilesque deos habuistis et artus
vidistis vestros subitis flavescere pennis.
Ne tamen ille canor mulcendas natus ad aures
tantaque dos oris linguae deperderet usum,
virginei vultus et vox humana remansit.
At medius fratrisque sui maestaeque sororis
Iuppiter ex aequo volventem dividit annum.
Nunc dea, regnorum numen commune duorum,
cum matre est totidem, totidem cum coniuge menses.
Vertitur extemplo facies et mentis et oris:
nam modo quae poterat Diti quoque maesta videri,
laeta deae frons est, ut sol, qui tectus aquosis
nubibus ante fuit, victis e nubibus exit.

[¶3] “And genial Ceres, full of joy, that now
her daughter was regained, began to speak;
‘Declare the reason of thy wanderings,
O Arethusa! tell me wherefore thou
wert made a sacred stream.’ The waters gave
no sound; but soon that goddess raised her head
from the deep springs; and after sue had dried
her green hair with her hand, with fair address
she told the ancient amours of that stream
which flows through Elis.—‘I was one among
the Nymphs of old Achaia,’—so she said—
‘And none of them more eager sped than I,
along the tangled pathways; and I fixed
the hunting-nets with zealous care.—Although
I strove not for the praise that beauty gives,
and though my form was something stout for grace,
it had the name of being beautiful.
‘So worthless seemed the praise, I took no joy
in my appearance—as a country lass
I blushed at those endowments which would give
delight to others—even the power to please
seemed criminal.—And I remember when
returning weary from Stymphal fan woods,
and hot with toil, that made the glowing sun
seem twice as hot, I chanced upon a stream,
that flowed without a ripple or a sound
so smoothly on, I hardly thought it moved.
‘The water was so clear that one could see
and count the pebbles in the deepest parts,
and silver willows and tall poplar trees,
nourished by flowing waters, spread their shade
over the shelving banks. So I approached,
and shrinkingly touched the cool stream with my feet;
and then I ventured deeper to my knees;
and not contented doffed my fleecy robes,
and laid them on a bending willow tree.
Then, naked, I plunged deeply in the stream,
and while I smote the water with my hands,
and drew it towards me, striking boldly forth,
moving my body in a thousand ways,
I thought I heard a most unusual sound,
a murmuring noise beneath the middle stream.
‘Alarmed, I hastened to the nearest bank,
and as I stood upon its edge, these words
hoarsely Alpheus uttered from his waves;
‘Oh, whither dost thou hasten?’ and again,
‘Oh, whither dost thou hasten?’ said the voice.
‘Just as I was, I fled without my clothes,
for I had left them on the other bank;
which, when he saw, so much the more inflamed,
more swiftly he pursued: my nakedness
was tempting to his gaze. And thus I ran;
and thus relentlessly he pressed my steps:
so from the hawk the dove with trembling wings;
and so, the hawk pursues the frightened dove.
‘Swiftly and long I fled, with winding course,
to Orchamenus, Psophis and Cyllene,
and Maenalus and Erymanthus cold,
and Elis. Neither could he gain by speed,
although his greater strength must soon prevail,
for I not longer could endure the strain.
‘Still I sped onward through the fields and woods,
by tangled wilds and over rocks and crags;
and as I hastened from the setting sun,
I thought I saw a growing shadow move
beyond my feet; it may have been my fear
imagined it, but surely now I heard
the sound of footsteps: I could even feel
his breathing on the loose ends of my hair;
and I was terrified. At last, worn out
by all my efforts to escape, I cried;
‘Oh, help me—thou whose bow and quivered darts
I oft have borne—thy armour-bearer calls—
O chaste Diana help,—or I am lost.’
‘It moved the goddess, and she gathered up
a dense cloud, and encompassed me about.—
The baffled River circled round and round,
seeking to find me, hidden in that cloud—
twice went the River round, and twice cried out,
‘Ho, Arethusa! Arethusa, Ho!’
‘What were my wretched feelings then? Could I
be braver than the Iamb that hears the wolves,
howling around the high-protecting fold?
Or than the hare, which lurking in the bush
knows of the snarling hounds and dares not move?
And yet, Alpheus thence would not depart,
for he could find no footprints of my flight.
‘He watched the cloud and spot, and thus besieged,
a cold sweat gathered on my trembling limbs.
The clear-blue drops, distilled from every pore,
made pools of water where I moved my feet,
and dripping moisture trickled from my hair.—
Much quicker than my story could be told,
my body was dissolved to flowing streams.—
But still the River recognized the waves,
and for the love of me transformed his shape
from human features to his proper streams,
that so his waters might encompass mine.
‘Diana, therefore, opened up the ground,
in which I plunged, and thence through gloomy caves
was carried to Ortygia—blessed isle!
To which my chosen goddess gave her name!
Where first I rose amid the upper air!’
“Thus Arethusa made an end of speech:
and presently the fertile goddess yoked
two dragons to her chariot: she curbed
their mouths with bits: they bore her through the air,
in her light car betwixt the earth and skies,
to the Tritonian citadel, and to
Triptolemus, to whom she furnished seed,
that he might scatter it in wasted lands,
and in the fallow fields; which, after long
neglect, again were given to the plow.
“After he had traveled through uncharted skies,
over wide Europe and vast Asian lands,
he lit upon the coast of Scythia, where
a king called Lyncus reigned. And there, at once
he sought the palace of that king, who said;
‘Whence come you, stranger, wherefore in this land?
Come, tell to me your nation and your name.’
“And after he was questioned thus, he said,
‘I came from far-famed Athens and they call
my name Triptolemus. I neither came
by ship through waves, nor over the dry land;
for me the yielding atmosphere makes way.—
I bear the gifts of Ceres to your land,
which scattered over your wide realm may yield
an ample harvest of nutritious food.’
“The envious Lyncus, wishing to appear
the gracious author of all benefits,
received the unsuspecting youth with smiles;
but when he fell into a heavy sleep
that savage king attacked him with a sword—
but while attempting to transfix his guest,
the goddess Ceres changed him to a lynx:—
and once again she sent her favoured youth
to drive her sacred dragons through the clouds.
“The greatest of our number ended thus
her learned songs; and with concordant voice
the chosen Nymphs adjudged the Deities,
on Helicon who dwell, should be proclaimed
the victors.
“But the vanquished nine began
to scatter their abuse; to whom rejoined
the goddess; ‘Since it seems a trifling thing
that you should suffer a deserved defeat,
and you must add unmerited abuse
to heighten your offence, and since by this
appears the end of our endurance, we
shall certainly proceed to punish you
according to the limit of our wrath.’
“But these Emathian sisters laughed to scorn
our threatening words; and as they tried to speak,
and made great clamour, and with shameless hands
made threatening gestures, suddenly stiff quills
sprouted from out their finger-nails, and plumes
spread over their stretched arms; and they could see
the mouth of each companion growing out
into a rigid beak.—And thus new birds
were added to the forest.—While they made
complaint, these Magpies that defile our groves,
moving their stretched-out arms, began to float,
suspended in the air. And since that time
their ancient eloquence, their screaming notes,
their tiresome zeal of speech have all remained.”

> Latin: Exigit alma Ceres, nata secura recepta,
quae tibi causa fugae, cur sis, Arethusa, sacer fons.
Conticuere undae: quarum dea sustulit alto
fonte caput viridesque manu siccata capillos
fluminis Elei veteres narravit amores.
“Pars ego nympharum quae sunt in Achaide” dixit,
“una fui, nec me studiosius altera saltus
legit nec posuit studiosius altera casses.
Sed quamvis formae numquam mihi fama petita est,
quamvis fortis eram, formosae nomen habebam.
Nec mea me facies nimium laudata iuvabat,
quaque aliae gaudere solent, ego rustica dote
corporis erubui, crimenque placere putavi.
Lassa revertebar (memini) Stymphalide silva:
aestus erat, magnumque labor geminaverat aestum.
Invenio sine vertice aquas, sine murmure euntes,
perspicuas ad humum, per quas numerabilis alte
calculus omnis erat, quas tu vix ire putares.
Cana salicta dabant nutritaque populus unda
sponte sua natas ripis declivibus umbras.
Accessi primumque pedis vestigia tinxi,
poplite deinde tenus: neque eo contenta, recingor
molliaque impono salici velamina curvae
nudaque mergor aquis. Quas dum ferioque trahoque
mille modis labens excussaque bracchia iacto,
nescio quod medio sensi sub gurgite murmur
territaque insisto propioris margine ripae.
“Quo properas, Arethusa?” suis Alpheus ab undis,
“quo properas?” iterum rauco mihi dixerat ore.
Sicut eram, fugio sine vestibus: altera vestes
ripa meas habuit. Tanto magis instat et ardet,
et quia nuda fui, sum visa paratior illi.
Sic ego currebam, sic me ferus ille premebat,
ut fugere accipitrem penna trepidante columbae,
ut solet accipiter trepidas urgere columbas.
Usque sub Orchomenon Psophidaque Cyllenenque
Maenaliosque sinus gelidumque Erymanthon et Elin
currere sustinui; nec me velocior ille.
Sed tolerare diu cursus ego, viribus impar,
non poteram: longi patiens erat ille laboris.
Per tamen et campos, per opertos arbore montes,
saxa quoque et rupes et qua via nulla, cucurri.
Sol erat a tergo: vidi praecedere longam
ante pedes umbram, nisi si timor illa videbat;
sed certe sonitusque pedum terrebat et ingens
crinales vittas adflabat anhelitus oris.
Fessa labore fugae “fer opem, deprendimur” inquam,
“armigerae, Diana, tuae, cui saepe dedisti
ferre tuos arcus inclusaque tela pharetra.”
Mota dea est spissisque ferens e nubibus unam
me super iniecit. Lustrat caligine tectam
amnis et ignarus circum cava nubila quaerit.
Bisque locum, quo me dea texerat inscius ambit
et bis “io Arethusa io Arethusa!” vocavit.
Quid mihi tunc animi miserae fuit? anne quod agnae est,
siqua lupos audit circum stabula alta frementes,
aut lepori, qui vepre latens hostilia cernit
ora canum nullosque audet dare corpore motus?
Non tamen abscedit: neque enim vestigia cernit
longius ulla pedum: servat nubemque locumque.
Occupat obsessos sudor mihi frigidus artus,
caeruleaeque cadunt toto de corpore guttae,
quaque pedem movi, manat lacus, eque capillis
ros cadit, et citius, quam nunc tibi facta renarro,
in latices mutor. Sed enim cognoscit amatas
amnis aquas, positoque viri, quod sumpserat, ore
vertitur in proprias, ut se mihi misceat, undas.
Delia rupit humum; caecisque ego mersa cavernis
advehor Ortygiam, quae me cognomine divae
grata meae superas eduxit prima sub auras.”
Hac Arethusa tenus. Geminos dea fertilis angues
curribus admovit frenisque coercuit ora
et medium caeli terraeque per aera vecta est
atque levem currum Tritonida misit in urbem
Triptolemo; partimque rudi data semina iussit
spargere humo, partim post tempora longa recultae.
Iam super Europen sublimis et Asida terram
vectus erat iuvenis; Scythicas advertitur oras.
Rex ibi Lyncus erat: regis subit ille penates.
Qua veniat, causamque viae nomenque rogatus
et patriam, “patria est clarae mihi” dixit “Athenae,
Triptolemus nomen. Veni nec puppe per undas,
nec pede per terras: patuit mihi pervius aether.
Dona fero Cereris latos quae sparsa per agros
frugiferas messes alimentaque mitia reddant.”
Barbarus invidit; tantique ut muneris auctor
ipse sit, hospitio recipit somnoque gravatum
adgreditur ferro. Conantem figere pectus
lynca Ceres fecit rursusque per aera iussit
Mopsopium iuvenem sacros agitare iugales.”
Finierat doctos e nobis maxima cantus.
At nymphae vicisse deas Helicona colentes
concordi dixere sono. Convicia victae
cum iacerent, “quoniam” dixit “certamine vobis
supplicium meruisse parum est maledictaque culpae
additis et non est patientia libera nobis,
ibimus in poenas et, qua vocat ira, sequemur.”
Rident Emathides spernuntque minantia verba:
conataeque loqui et magno clamore protervas
intentare manus, pennas exire per ungues
adspexere suos, operiri bracchia plumis;
alteraque alterius rigido concrescere rostro
ora videt volucresque novas accedere silvis.
Dumque volunt plangi, per bracchia mota levatae
aere pendebant, nemorum convicia, picae.
Nunc quoque in alitibus facundia prisca remansit
raucaque garrulitas studiumque inmane loquendi.”