---
title: "Metamorphoses"
author: "Ovid"
translator: "Brookes More"
title_ru: "Метаморфозы"
author_ru: "Овидий"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 16 of 30
url: https://scriptura.si/works/ovid-metamorphoses/16/
cite: "Ovid, tr. Brookes More, Metamorphoses, section 16. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/ovid-metamorphoses/16/"
---

# 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.

## 16. Book VIII · lines 451–884

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/ovid-metamorphoses/16/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/ovid-metamorphoses/16/#p-N

[¶0] She remembered well,
how, when she lay in childbirth round her stood
the three attendant sisters of his fate.
There was a billet in the room, and this
they took and cast upon the wasting flames,
and as they spun and drew the fatal threads
they softly chanted, “Unto you we give,
O child new-born! only the life of this;
the period of this billet is your life.”
And having spoken so, they vanished in the smoke.
Althaea snatched the billet from the fire,
and having quenched it with drawn water, hid
it long and secretly in her own room,
where, thus preserved, it acted as a charm
to save the life of Meleager. This
the mother now brought forth, and fetched a pile
of seasoned tinder ready for the torch.
She lit the torches and the ready pile,
and as the flames leaped up, four times prepared
to cast the fatal billet in the midst;
and four times hesitated to commit
the dreadful deed,—so long the contest veered
between the feelings of a mother's breast
and the fierce vengeance of a sister's rage.
Now is the mother's visage pale with fear,
and now the sister's sanguinary rage
glows in her eyes. Her countenance contorts
with cruel threats and in bewildered ways
dissolves compassionate: And even when
the heat of anger had dried up her eyes
the conflict of her passion brought new tears.
As when the wind has seized upon a ship
and blows against a tide of equal force,
the vexed vessel feels repellent powers,
and with unsteady motion sways to both;
so did Althaea hesitate between
the conflict of her passions: when her rage
had cooled, her fury was as fast renewed:
but always the unsatisfied desire
of blood, to ease the disembodied shades
of her slain brothers, seemed to overcome
the mother-instinct; and intensity
of conduct proved the utmost test of love.
She took the billet in her arms and stood
before the leaping flames, and said, “Alas,
be this the funeral pyre of my own flesh!”
And as she held in her relentless hand
the destiny of him she loved, and stood
before the flames, in all her wretchedness
she moaned, “You sad Eumenides attend!
Relentless Gods of punishment,—turn, turn
your dreadful vision on these baneful rites!
I am avenging and committing crime!
With death must death be justified and crime
be added unto crime! Let funerals
upon succeeding funerals attend!
“Let these accumulating woes destroy
a wicked race. Shall happy Oeneus bask
in the great fame of his victorious son,
and Thestius mourn without slaughtered ones?
'Tis better they should both lament the deed!
Witness the act of my affection, shades
of my departed brothers! and accept
my funeral offering, given at a cost
beyond my strength to bear. Ah wretched me!
Distracted is my reason! Pity me,
the yearnings of a stricken mother's heart
withholding me from duty! Aye, although
his punishment be just, my hands refuse
the office of such vengeance. What, shall he
alive, victorious, flushed with his success,
inherit the broad realms of Calydon,
and you, my slaughtered brothers, unavenged,
dissolved in ashes, float upon the air,
unpalpitating phantoms? How can I
endure the thought of it? Oh let the wretch
forever perish, and with him be lost
the hopes of his sad father, in the wreck
of his distracted kingdom. Where are now
the love and feelings of a mother; how
can I forget the bitter pangs endured
while twice times five the slow moon waxed and waned?
“O had you perished in your infancy
by those first fires, and I had suffered it!
Your life was in my power! and now your death
is the result of wrongs which you have done—
take now a just reward for what you did:
return to me the life I gave and saved.
When from the flames I snatched the fatal brand.
Return that gift or take my wretched life,
that I may hasten to my brothers' tomb.
“What dreadful deed can satisfy the law,
when I for love against my love am forced?
For even as my brothers' wounds appear
in visions dreadful to denounce my son,
the love so nurtured in a mother's breast
breaks down the resolution! Wretched me!
Such vengeance for my brothers overcomes
first at your birth I gave it, and again
the yearning of a mother for her son!
Let not my love denounce my vengeance!
My soul may follow with its love the shade
of him I sacrifice, and following him
my shade and his and yours unite below.”
She spoke and as she turned her face away,
she threw the fatal billet on the fire,
and as the flames devoured it, a strange groan
was heard to issue from the burning wood
but Meleager at a distance knows
of naught to wreck his hour of victory,
until he feels the flame of burning wood
scorching with secret fire his forfeit life.
Yet with a mighty will, disdaining pain
he grieves his bloodless and ignoble death.
He calls Ancaeus happy for the wounds
that caused his death. With sighs and groans he called
his aged father's name, and then the names
of brothers, sisters, and his wife—and last,
they say he called upon his mother's name.
His torment always with the fire increased,
until, as little of the wood remained,—
his pain diminished with the heat's decrease;
and as the flames extinguished, so his life
slowly ascended in the rising air.
And all the mighty realm of Calydon
was filled with lamentations —young and old
the common people and the nobles mourned;
and all the wailing women tore their hair
his father threw his body on the ground,
and as he covered his white hair and face
with ashy dust, bewailed his aged days.
Althaea, maddened in her mother's grief,
has punished herself with a ruthless hand;
she pierced her heart with iron. —Oh! if some God
had given a resounding harp, a voice
an hundred-fold more mighty, and a soul
enlarged with genius, I could never tell
the grief of his unhappy sisters.—They,
regardless of all shame, beat on their breasts;
before the body was consumed with fire,
embraced it, and again embracing it,
rained kisses on their loved one and the bier.
And when the flames had burnt his shrinking form
they strained his gathered ashes to their breasts,
and prostrate on the tomb kissed his dear name,
cut only in the stone,—and bathed it with their tears
Latona's daughter, glutted with the woes
inflicted on Parthaon's house, now gave
two of the weeping sisters wide-spread wings,
but Gorge and the spouse of Hercules
not so were changed. Latona stretched long wings
upon their arms, transformed their mouths to beaks,
and sent them winging through the lucent air.

> Latin: Stipes erat, quem, cum partus enixa iaceret
Thestias, in flammam triplices posuere sorores;
staminaque impresso fatalia pollice nentes
“tempora” dixerunt “eadem lignoque tibique,
o modo nate, damus.” Quo postquam carmine dicto
excessere deae, flagrantem mater ab igne
eripuit ramum sparsitque liquentibus undis.
Ille diu fuerat penetralibus abditus imis
servatusque tuos, iuvenis, servaverat annos.
Protulit hunc genetrix taedasque et fragmina poni
imperat et positis inimicos admovet ignes.
Tum conata quater flammis imponere ramum,
coepta quater tenuit. Pugnant materque sororque,
et diversa trahunt unum duo nomina pectus.
Saepe metu sceleris pallebant ora futuri,
saepe suum fervens oculis dabat ira ruborem.
Et modo nescio quid similis crudele minanti
vultus erat, modo quem misereri credere posses.
Cumque ferus lacrimas animi siccaverat ardor,
inveniebantur lacrimae tamen. Utque carina,
quam ventus ventoque rapit contrarius aestus,
vim geminam sentit paretque incerta duobus:
Thestias haud aliter dubiis adfectibus errat
inque vices ponit positamque resuscitat iram.
Incipit esse tamen melior germana parente,
et consanguineas ut sanguine leniat umbras,
impietate pia est. Nam postquam pestifer ignis
convaluit, “rogus iste cremet mea viscera” dixit.
Utque manu dira lignum fatale tenebat,
ante sepulcrales infelix adstitit aras
“poenarum” que “deae triplices, furialibus,” inquit,
“Eumenides, sacris vultus advertite vestros.
Ulciscor facioque nefas: mors morte pianda est,
in scelus addendum scelus est, in funera funus.
Per coacervatos pereat domus impia luctus.
An felix Oeneus nato victore fruetur,
Thestius orbus erit? Melius lugebitis ambo.
Vos modo, fraterni manes animaeque recentes,
officium sentite meum magnoque paratas
accipite inferias, uteri mala pignera nostri! —
Ei mihi! quo rapior? Fratres, ignoscite matri.
Deficiunt ad coepta manus. Meruisse fatemur
illum, cur pereat: mortis mihi displicet auctor. —
Ergo impune feret, vivusque et victor et ipso
successu tumidus regnum Calydonis habebit:
vos cinis exiguus gelidaeque iacebitis umbrae?
Haud equidem patiar. Pereat sceleratus et ille
spemque patris regnumque trahat patriaeque ruinam.
Mens ubi materna est? Ubi sunt pia iura parentum
et quos sustinui bis mensum quinque labores?
O utinam primis arsisses ignibus infans,
idque ego passa forem! Vixisti munere nostro:
nunc merito moriere tuo. Cape praemia facti
bisque datam, primum partu, mox stipite rapto,
redde animam — vel me fraternis adde sepulcris!
Et cupio et nequeo. Quid agam? modo vulnera fratrum
ante oculos mihi sunt et tantae caedis imago,
nunc animum pietas maternaque nomina frangunt. —
Me miseram! male vincetis, sed vincite, fratres:
dummodo quae dedero vobis solacia vosque
ipsa sequar.” Dixit, dextraque aversa trementi
funereum torrem medios coniecit in ignes.
Aut dedit aut visus gemitus est ipse dedisse
stipes, ut invitis correptus ab ignibus arsit.
Inscius atque absens flamma Meleagros ab illa
uritur et caecis torreri viscera sentit
ignibus ac magnos superat virtute dolores.
Quod tamen ignavo cadat et sine sanguine leto,
maeret et Ancaei felicia vulnera dicit
grandaevumque patrem fratresque piasque sorores
cum gemitu sociamque tori vocat ore supremo,
forsitan et matrem. Crescunt ignisque dolorque
languescuntque iterum: simul est exstinctus uterque,
inque leves abiit paulatim spiritus auras
paulatim cana prunam velante favilla.
Alta iacet Calydon: lugent iuvenesque senesque,
vulgusque proceresque gemunt, scissaeque capillos
planguntur matres Calydonides Eueninae.
Pulvere canitiem genitor vultusque seniles
foedat humi fusus spatiosumque increpat aevum.
Nam de matre manus diri sibi conscia facti
exegit poenas acto per viscera ferro.
Non mihi si centum deus ora sonantia linguis
ingeniumque capax totumque Helicona dedisset,
tristia persequerer miserarum dicta sororum.
Inmemores decoris liventia pectora tundunt,
dumque manet corpus, corpus refoventque foventque,
oscula dant ipsi, posito dant oscula lecto.
Post cinerem cineres haustos ad pectora pressant,
adfusaeque iacent tumulo signataque saxo
nomina complexae lacrimas in nomina fundunt.
Quas Parthaoniae tandem Latonia clade
exsatiata domus praeter Gorgenque nurumque
nobilis Alcmenae natis in corpore pennis
adlevat et longas per bracchia porrigit alas
corneaque ora facit versasque per aera mittit.

[¶1] And Theseus, meantime, having done great deeds,
was wending towards Tritonian Athen's towers,
but Achelous, swollen with great rains,
opposed his journey and delayed his steps.
“O famous son of Athens, come to me,
beneath my roof, and leave my rapid floods;
for they are wont to bear enormous beams,
and hurl up heavy stones to bar the way,—
mighty with roaring, down the steep ravines.
And I have seen the sheep-folds on my banks
swept down the flood, together with the sheep;
and in the current neither strength availed
the ox for safety, nor swift speed the horse.
When rushed the melting snows from mountain peaks
how many bodies of unwary men
this flood has overwhelmed in whirling waves!
Rest safely then, until my river runs
within its usual bounds—till it contains
its flowing waters in its proper banks.”
and gladly answered Theseus, “I will make
good use of both your dwelling and advice.”
And waiting not he entered a rude hut,
of porous pumice and of rough stone built.
The floor was damp and soft with springy moss,
and rows of shells and murex arched the roof.
And now Hyperion having measured quite
two thirds of daylight, Theseus and his friends
reclined upon the couches.—On his right
Ixion's son was placed, and on his left
the gray-haired hero Lelex; and others
deemed worthy by the Acarnanian-god
who was so joyful in his noble guests.
Without delay the barefoot nimble Nymphs
attending to the banquet, rich food brought;
and after all were satisfied with meat
and dainties delicate, the careful Nymphs
removed all traces of the feast, and served
delicious wine in bowls embossed with gems.
And after they had eaten, Theseus arose,
and as he pointed with his finger, said,
“Declare to me what name that island bears,
or is it one or more than one I see?”
To which the ready River-God replied:
“It is not one we see but five are there,
deceptive in the distance. And that you
may wonder less at what Diana did,
those islands were five Naiads.—Long ago,
ten bullocks for a sacrifice they slew;
and when the joyous festival was given,
ignoring me they bade all other Gods.
Indignant at the slight, I swelled with rage
as great as ever when my banks are full,—
and so redoubled both in rage and flood,
I ravished woods from woods, and fields from fields,
and hurled into the sea the very soil,
together with the Nymphs, who then at last
remembered their neglect. And soon my waves,
united with the ocean streams, cut through
the solid soil, and fashioned from the one,
five islands you may see amid the waves,
which men since then, have called Echinades.
“But yet beyond you can observe how one
most beautiful of all is far withdrawn;
and this which most delights me, mariners
have Perimela named. She was so fair
that I deprived her of a precious wealth.
And when Hippodamas, her father, knew,
enraged he pushed her, heavy then with child,
forth from a rock into the cruel sea,
where she must perish,—but I rescued her;
and as I bore her on my swimming tide,
I called on Neptune, ruler of the deep,
‘O Trident-wielder, you who are preferred
next to the god most mighty! who by lot
obtained the empire of the flowing deep,
to which all sacred rivers flow and end;
come here, O Neptune, and with gracious will
grant my desire;—I injured her I save;—
but if Hippodamas, her father, when
he knew my love, had been both kind and just,
if he had not been so unnatural,
he would have pitied and forgiven her.
Ah, Neptune, I beseech you, grant your power
may find a place of safety for this Nymph,
abandoned to the deep waves by her sire.
Or if that cannot be, let her whom I
embrace to show my love, let her become
a place of safety.’ Instantly to me
the King of Ocean moved his mighty head,
and all the deep waves quivered in response.
“The Nymph, afraid, still struggled in the deep,
and as she swam I touched her throbbing breast;
and as I felt her bosom, trembling still,
I thought her soft flesh was becoming hard;
for even then, new earth enclosed her form;
and as I prayed to Neptune, earth encased
her floating limbs;—and on her changing form
the heavy soil of that fair island grew.”
And at this point, the River said no more.
This wonderful event astonished all;
but one was there, Ixion's haughty son—
a known despiser of the living Gods—
who, laughing, scorned it as an idle tale.
He made a jest of those who heard, and said,
“A foolish fiction! Achelous, how
can such a tale be true? Do you believe
a god there is, in heaven so powerful,
a god to give and take away a form—
transform created shapes?
Such impious words
found no response in those who heard him speak.
Amazed he could so doubt known truth, before
them all, uprose to vindicate the Gods
the hero Lelex, wise in length of days.
“The glory of the living Gods,” he said,
“Is not diminished, nor their power confined,
and whatsoever they decree is done.
“And I have this to tell, for all must know
the evil of such words:—Upon the hills
of Phrygia I have seen two sacred trees,
a lime-tree and an oak, so closely grown
their branches interlace. A low stone wall
is built around to guard them from all harm.
And that you may not doubt it, I declare
again, I saw the spot, for Pittheus there
had sent me to attend his father's court.
“Near by those trees are stagnant pools and fens,
where coots and cormorants delight to haunt;
but it was not so always. Long ago
'Twas visited by mighty Jupiter,
together with his nimble-witted son,
who first had laid aside his rod and Wings.
“As weary travelers over all the land
they wandered, begging for their food and bed;
and of a thousand houses, all the doors
were bolted and no word of kindness given—
so wicked were the people of that land.
At last, by chance, they stopped at a small house,
whose humble roof was thatched with reeds and straw;—
and here a kind old couple greeted them.
“The good dame, Baucis, seemed about the age
of old Philemon, her devoted man;
they had been married in their early youth,
in that same cottage and had lived in it,
and grown together to a good old age;
contented with their lot because they knew
their poverty, and felt no shame of it;
they had no need of servants; the good pair
were masters of their home and served themselves;
their own commands they easily obeyed.
“Now when the two Gods, Jove and Mercury,
had reached this cottage, and with bending necks
had entered the low door, the old man bade
them rest their wearied limbs, and set a bench,
on which his good wife, Baucis, threw a cloth;
and then with kindly bustle she stirred up
the glowing embers on the hearth, and then
laid tinder, leaves and bark; and bending down
breathed on them with her ancient breath until
they kindled into flame. Then from the house
she brought a store of faggots and small twigs,
and broken branches, and above them swung
a kettle, not too large for simple folk.
And all this done, she stripped some cabbage leaves,
which her good husband gathered for the meal.
“Then with a two-pronged fork the man let down
a rusty side of bacon from aloft,
and cut a little portion from the chine;
which had been cherished long. He softened it
in boiling water. All the while they tried
with cheerful conversation to beguile,
so none might notice a brief loss of time.
“Swung on a peg they had a beechwood trough,
which quickly with warm water filled, was used
for comfortable washing. And they fixed,
upon a willow couch, a cushion soft
of springy sedge, on which they neatly spread
a well worn cloth preserved so many years;
'Twas only used on rare and festive days;
and even it was coarse and very old,
though not unfit to match a willow couch!
“Now as the Gods reclined, the good old dame,
whose skirts were tucked up, moving carefully,
for so she tottered with her many years,
fetched a clean table for the ready meal—
but one leg of the table was too short,
and so she wedged it with a potsherd—so
made firm, she cleanly scoured it with fresh mint.
“And here is set the double-tinted fruit
of chaste Minerva, and the tasty dish
of corner, autumn-picked and pickled; these
were served for relish; and the endive-green,
and radishes surrounding a large pot
of curdled milk; and eggs not overdone
but gently turned in glowing embers—all
served up in earthen dishes. Then sweet wine
served up in clay, so costly! all embossed,
and cups of beechwood smoothed with yellow wax.
“So now they had short respite, till the fire
might yield the heated course.
“Again they served
new wine, but mellow; and a second course:
sweet nuts, dried figs and wrinkled dates and plums,
and apples fragrant, in wide baskets heaped;
and, in a wreath of grapes from purple vines,
concealed almost, a glistening honey-comb;
and all these orchard dainties were enhanced
by willing service and congenial smiles.
“But while they served, the wine-bowl often drained,
as often was replenished, though unfilled,
and Baucis and Philemon, full of fear,
as they observed the wine spontaneous well,
increasing when it should diminish, raised
their hands in supplication, and implored
indulgence for their simple home and fare.
And now, persuaded by this strange event
such visitors were deities unknown,
this aged couple, anxious to bestow
their most esteemed possession, hastily
began to chase the only goose they had—
the faithful guardian of their little home —
which they would kill and offer to the Gods.
But swift of wing, at last it wearied them,
and fled for refuge to the smiling Gods.
At once the deities forbade their zeal,
and said, ‘A righteous punishment shall fall
severe upon this wicked neighborhood;
but by the might of our divinity,
no evil shall befall this humble home;
but you must come, and follow as we climb
the summit of this mountain!’
“Both obeyed,
and leaning on their staves toiled up the steep.
Not farther from the summit than the flight
of one swift arrow from a hunter's how,
they paused to view their little home once more;
and as they turned their eyes, they saw the fields
around their own engulfed in a morass,
although their own remained,—and while they wept
bewailing the sad fate of many friends,
and wondered at the change, they saw their home,
so old and little for their simple need—
put on new splendor, and as it increased
it changed into a temple of the gods.
Where first the frame was fashioned of rude stakes
columns of marble glistened, and the thatch
gleamed golden in the sun, and legends carved,
adorned the doors. And al] the ground shone white
with marble rich, and after this was done,
the Son of Saturn said with gentle voice,
‘Now tell us, good old man and you his wife,
worthy and faithful, what is your desire?’
“Philemon counselled with old Baucis first;
and then discovered to the listening Gods
their hearts' desire, ‘We pray you let us have
the care of your new temple; and since we
have passed so many years in harmony,
let us depart this life together— Let
the same hour take us both—I would not see
the tomb of my dear wife; and let me not
be destined to be buried by her hands!’
“At once their wishes were fulfilled. So long
as life was granted they were known to be
the temple's trusted keepers, and when age
had enervated them with many years,
as they were standing, by some chance, before
the sacred steps, and were relating all
these things as they had happened, Baucis saw
Philemon, her old husband, and he, too,
saw Baucis, as their bodies put forth leaves;
and while the tops of trees grew over them,
above their faces, — they spoke each to each;
as long as they could speak they said, ‘Farewell,
farewell, my own’—and while they said farewell;
new leaves and branches covered both at once.
“The people of Tyana still point out
two trees which grew there from a double trunk,
two forms made into one. Old truthful men,
who have no reason to deceive me, told
me truly all that I have told to you,
and I have seen the votive wreaths hung from
the branches of the hallowed double-tree.
And one time, as I hung fresh garlands there,
I said, ‘Those whom the Gods care for are Gods!
And those who worshiped are now worshiped here.’”

> Latin: Interea Theseus sociati parte laboris
functus Erechtheas Tritonidos ibat ad arces.
Clausit iter fecitque moras Achelous eunti
imbre tumens. “Succede meis,” ait “inclite, tectis,
Cecropida, nec te committe rapacibus undis:
ferre trabes solidas obliquaque volvere magno
murmure saxa solent. Vidi contermina ripae
cum gregibus stabula alta trahi: nec fortibus illic
profuit armentis, nec equis velocibus esse.
Multa quoque hic torrens nivibus de monte solutis
corpora turbineo iuvenalia flumine mersit.
Tutior est requies, solito dum flumina currant
limite, dum tenues capiat suus alveus undas.”
Adnuit Aegides, “utar” que “Acheloe, domoque
consilioque tuo” respondit; et usus utroque est.
Pumice multicavo nec levibus atria tophis
structa subit: molli tellus erat umida musco,
summa lacunabant alterno murice conchae.
Iamque duas lucis partes Hyperione menso
discubuere toris Theseus comitesque laborum:
hac Ixionides, illa Troezenius heros
parte Lelex, raris iam sparsus tempora canis,
quosque alios parili fuerat dignatus honore
amnis Acarnanum, laetissimus hospite tanto.
Protinus adpositas nudae vestigia nymphae
instruxere epulis mensas dapibusque remotis
in gemma posuere merum. Tum maximus heros,
aequora prospiciens oculis subiecta, “quis” inquit
“ille locus?” digitoque ostendit, “et insula nomen
quod gerit illa, doce: quamquam non una videtur.”
Amnis ad haec “non est” inquit “quod cernitis, unum:
quinque iacent terrae: spatium discrimina fallit.
Quoque minus spretae factum mirere Dianae,
naides hae fuerant. Quae cum bis quinque iuvencos
mactassent rurisque deos ad sacra vocassent,
inmemores nostri festas duxere choreas.
Intumui, quantusque feror, cum plurimus umquam,
tantus eram, pariterque animis inmanis et undis
a silvis silvas et ab arvis arva revelli
cumque loco nymphas, memores tum denique nostri,
in freta provolvi. Fluctus nosterque marisque
continuam diduxit humum partesque resolvit
in totidem, mediis quot cernis Echinadas undis.
Ut tamen ipse vides, procul en procul una recessit
insula, grata mihi; Perimelen navita dicit.
Huic ego virgineum dilectae nomen ademi.
Quod pater Hippodamas aegre tulit inque profundum
propulit e scopulo periturae corpora natae.
Excepi nantemque ferens “o proxima mundi
regna vagae” dixi “sortite, tridentifer, undae,
adfer opem mersaeque precor, feritate paterna
da, Neptune, locum; vel sit locus ipsa licebit.”
Dum loquor, amplexa est artus nova terra natantes,
et gravis increvit mutatis insula membris.
Amnis ab his tacuit. Factum mirabile cunctos
moverat: inridet credentes, utque deorum
spretor erat mentisque ferox, Ixione natus
“ficta refers nimiumque putas Acheloe potentes
esse deos” dixit, “si dant adimuntque figuras.”
Obstipuere omnes nec talia dicta probarunt,
ante omnesque Lelex, animo maturus et aevo,
sic ait: “Inmensa est finemque potentia caeli
non habet, et quidquid superi voluere, peractum est.
Quoque minus dubites, tiliae contermina quercus
collibus est Phrygiis modico circumdata muro.
Ipse locum vidi; nam me Pelopeia Pittheus
misit in arva, suo quondam regnata parenti.
Haud procul hinc stagnum est, tellus habitabilis olim,
nunc celebres mergis fulicisque palustribus undae.
Iuppiter huc specie mortali cumque parente
venit Atlantiades positis caducifer alis.
Mille domos adiere locum requiemque petentes,
mille domos clausere serae. Tamen una recepit,
parva quidem, stipulis et canna tecta palustri;
sed pia Baucis anus parilique aetate Philemon
illa sunt annis iuncti iuvenalibus, illa
consenuere casa paupertatemque fatendo
effecere levem nec iniqua mente ferendo.
Nec refert, dominos illic famulosne requiras:
tota domus duo sunt, idem parentque iubentque.
Ergo ubi caelicolae parvos tetigere penates
submissoque humiles intrarunt vertice postes,
membra senex posito iussit relevare sedili,
quo superiniecit textum rude sedula Baucis.
Inque foco tepidum cinerem dimovit et ignes
suscitat hesternos foliisque et cortice sicco
nutrit et ad flammas anima producit anili.
Multifidasque faces ramaliaque arida tecto
detulit et minuit parvoque admovit aeno.
Quodque suus coniunx riguo conlegerat horto,
truncat holus foliis; furca levat illa bicorni
sordida terga suis nigro pendentia tigno
servatoque diu resecat de tergore partem
exiguam sectamque domat ferventibus undis.
Interea medias fallunt sermonibus horas
concutiuntque torum de molli fluminis ulva
impositum lecto sponda pedibusque salignis.
Vestibus hunc velant, quas non nisi tempore festo
sternere consuerant: sed et haec vilisque vetusque
vestis erat, lecto non indignanda saligno.
Accubuere dei. Mensam succincta tremensque
ponit anus, mensae sed erat pes tertius impar.
Testa parem fecit. Quae postquam subdita clivum
sustulit, aequatam mentae tersere virentes.
Ponitur hic bicolor sincerae baca Minervae
conditaque in liquida corna autumnalia faece
intibaque et radix et lactis massa coacti
ovaque non acri leviter versata favilla,
omnia fictilibus. Post haec caelatus eodem
sistitur argento crater fabricataque fago
pocula, qua cava sunt, flaventibus inlita ceris.
Parva mora est, epulasque foci misere calentes,
nec longae rursus referuntur vina senectae
dantque locum mensis paulum seducta secundis.
Hic nux, hic mixta est rugosis carica palmis
prunaque et in patulis redolentia mala canistris
et de purpureis conlectae vitibus uvae.
Candidus in medio favus est. Super omnia vultus
accessere boni nec iners pauperque voluntas.
Interea totiens haustum cratera repleri
sponte sua per seque vident succrescere vina:
attoniti novitate pavent manibusque supinis
concipiunt Baucisque preces timidusque Philemon
et veniam dapibus nullisque paratibus orant.
Unicus anser erat, minimae custodia villae:
quem dis hospitibus domini mactare parabant.
Ille celer penna tardos aetate fatigat
eluditque diu tandemque est visus ad ipsos
confugisse deos. Superi vetuere necari
“di” que “sumus, meritasque luet vicinia poenas
impia” dixerunt; “vobis inmunibus huius
esse mali dabitur. Modo vestra relinquite tecta
ac nostros comitate gradus et in ardua montis
ite simul.” Parent ambo baculisque levati
nituntur longo vestigia ponere clivo.
Tantum aberant summo, quantum semel ire sagitta
missa potest: flexere oculos et mersa palude
cetera prospiciunt, tantum sua tecta manere.
Dumque ea mirantur, dum deflent fata suorum,
illa vetus, dominis etiam casa parva duobus
vertitur in templum: furcas subiere columnae,
stramina flavescunt, aurataque tecta videntur
caelataeque fores adopertaque marmore tellus.
Talia tum placido Saturnius edidit ore:
“Dicite, iuste senex et femina coniuge iusto
digna, quid optetis.” Cum Baucide pauca locutus
iudicium superis aperit commune Philemon:
“Esse sacerdotes delubraque vestra tueri
poscimus; et quoniam concordes egimus annos,
auferat hora duos eadem, ne coniugis umquam
busta meae videam neu sim tumulandus ab illa.”
Vota fides sequitur. Templi tutela fuere,
donec vita data est. Annis aevoque soluti
ante gradus sacros cum starent forte locique
narrarent casus, frondere Philemona Baucis,
Baucida conspexit senior frondere Philemon
Iamque super geminos crescente cacumine vultus
mutua, dum licuit reddebant dicta “vale” que
“o coniunx” dixere simul, simul abdita texit
ora frutex. Ostendit adhuc Thyneius illic
incola de gemino vicinos corpore truncos.
Haec mihi non vani (neque erat cur fallere vellent)
narravere senes: equidem pendentia vidi
serta super ramos, ponensque recentia dixi
“cura deum di sint, et qui coluere colantur.””
Desierat cunctosque et res et moverat auctor,
Thesea praecipue. Quem facta audire volentem
mira deum, innixus cubito Calydonius amnis

[¶2] He ceased, and this miraculous event,
and he who told it, had astonished them.
But Theseus above all. The hero asked
to hear of other wonders wrought by Gods.
The Calydonian River-God replied,
and leaning on one elbow, said to him:
“There are, O valiant hero, other things
whose forms once-changed as these, have so remained,
but there are some who take on many shapes,
as you have, Proteus, dweller of the deep—
the deep whose arms embrace the earth. For some
have seen you as a youth, then as a lion,
a furious boar one time, a serpent next,
so dreadful to the touch—and sometimes horns
have made you seem a bull—or now a stone,
or now a tree, or now a slipping stream,
or even—the foe of water—next a fire.”
Now Erysichthon's daughter, Mestra, had
that power of Proteus—she was called the wife
of deft Autolycus.—Her father spurned
the majesty of all the Gods, and gave
no honor to their altars. It is said
he violated with an impious axe
the sacred grove of Ceres, and he cut
her trees with iron. Long-standing in her grove
there grew an ancient oak tree, spread so wide,
alone it seemed a standing forest; and
its trunk and branches held memorials,
as, fillets, tablets, garlands, witnessing
how many prayers the goddess Ceres granted.
And underneath it laughing Dryads loved
to whirl in festal dances, hand in hand,
encircling its enormous trunk, that thrice
five ells might measure; and to such a height
it towered over all the trees around,
as they were higher than the grass beneath.
But Erysichthon, heedless of all things,
ordered his slaves to fell the sacred oak,
and as they hesitated, in a rage
the wretch snatched from the hand of one an axe,
and said, “If this should be the only oak
loved by the goddess of this very grove,
or even were the goddess in this tree,
I'll level to the ground its leafy head.”
So boasted he, and while he swung on high
his axe to strike a slanting blow, the oak
beloved of Ceres, uttered a deep groan
and shuddered. Instantly its dark green leaves
turned pale, and all its acorns lost their green,
and even its long branches drooped their arms.
But when his impious hand had struck the trunk,
and cut its bark, red blood poured from the wound,—
as when a weighty sacrificial bull
has fallen at the altar, streaming blood
spouts from his stricken neck. All were amazed.
And one of his attendants boldly tried
to stay his cruel axe, and hindered him;
but Erysichthon, fixing his stern eyes
upon him, said, “Let this, then, be the price
of all your pious worship!” So he turned
the poised axe from the tree, and clove his head
sheer from his body, and again began
to chop the hard oak. From the heart of it
these words were uttered; “Covered by the bark
of this oak tree I long have dwelt a Nymph,
beloved of Ceres, and before my death
it has been granted me to prophesy,
that I may die contented. Punishment
for this vile deed stands waiting at your side.”
No warning could avert his wicked arm.
Much weakened by his countless blows, the tree,
pulled down by straining ropes, gave way at last
and leveled with its weight uncounted trees
that grew around it. Terrified and shocked,
the sister-dryads, grieving for the grove
and what they lost, put on their sable robes
and hastened unto Ceres, whom they prayed,
might rightly punish Erysichthon's crime;—
the lovely goddess granted their request,
and by the gracious movement of her head
she shook the fruitful, cultivated fields,
then heavy with the harvest; and she planned
an unexampled punishment deserved,
and not beyond his miserable crimes—
the grisly bane of famine; but because
it is not in the scope of Destiny,
that two such deities should ever meet
as Ceres and gaunt Famine,—calling forth
from mountain-wilds a rustic Oread,
the goddess Ceres, said to her, “There is
an ice-bound wilderness of barren soil
in utmost Scythia, desolate and bare
of trees and corn, where Torpid-Frost, White-Death
and Palsy and Gaunt-Famine, hold their haunts;
go there now, and command that Famine flit
from there; and let her gnawing-essence pierce
the entrails of this sacrilegious wretch,
and there be hidden—Let her vanquish me
and overcome the utmost power of food.
Heed not misgivings of the journey's length,
for you will guide my dragon-bridled car
through lofty ether.”

> Latin: talibus adloquitur: “Sunt, o fortissime, quorum
forma semel mota est et in hoc renovamine mansit,
sunt, quibus in plures ius est transire figuras,
ut tibi, complexi terram maris incola, Proteu.
Nam modo te iuvenem, modo te videre leonem;
nunc violentus aper, nunc, quem tetigisse timerent,
anguis eras, modo te faciebant cornua taurum.
Saepe lapis poteras, arbor quoque saepe videri;
interdum, faciem liquidarum imitatus aquarum,
flumen eras, interdum undis contrarius ignis.
Nec minus Autolyci coniunx, Erysichthone nata,
iuris habet. Pater huius erat, qui numina divum
sperneret et nullos aris adoleret odores.
Ille etiam Cereale nemus violasse securi
dicitur et lucos ferro temerasse vetustos.
Stabat in his ingens annoso robore quercus,
una nemus; vittae mediam memoresque tabellae
sertaque cingebant, voti argumenta potentis.
Saepe sub hac dryades festas duxere choreas,
saepe etiam manibus nexis ex ordine trunci
circuiere modum, mensuraque roboris ulnas
quinque ter implebat. Nec non et cetera tantum
silva sub hac, silva quantum fuit herba sub omni.
Non tamen idcirco ferrum Triopeius illa
abstinuit famulosque iubet succidere sacrum
robur; et ut iussos cunctari vidit, ab uno
edidit haec rapta sceleratus verba securi:
“Non dilecta deae solum, sed et ipsa licebit
sit dea, iam tanget frondente cacumine terram.”
Dixit, et obliquos dum telum librat in ictus,
contremuit gemitumque dedit Deoia quercus:
et pariter frondes, pariter pallescere glandes
coepere ac longi pallorem ducere rami.
Cuius ut in trunco fecit manus impia vulnus,
haud aliter fluxit discusso cortice sanguis,
quam solet, ante aras ingens ubi victima taurus
concidit, abrupta cruor e cervice profundi.
Obstipuere omnes, aliquisque ex omnibus audet
deterrere nefas saevamque inhibere bipennem.
Adspicit hunc “mentis” que “piae cape praemia!” dixit
Thessalus, inque virum convertit ab arbore ferrum
detruncatque caput repetitaque robora caedit,
redditus et medio sonus est de robore talis:
“Nympha sub hoc ego sum Cereri gratissima ligno,
quae tibi factorum poenas instare tuorum
vaticinor moriens, nostri solacia leti.”
Persequitur scelus ille suum, labefactaque tandem
ictibus innumeris adductaque funibus arbor
corruit et multam prostravit pondere silvam.
Attonitae dryades damno nemorumque suoque,
omnes germanae, Cererem cum vestibus atris
maerentes adeunt poenamque Erysichthonis orant.
Adnuit his capitisque sui pulcherrima motu
concussit gravidis oneratos messibus agros.
Moliturque genus poenae miserabile, si non
ille suis esset nulli miserabilis actis,
pestifera lacerare Fame. Quae quatenus ipsi
non adeunda deae est (neque enim Cereremque Famemque
fata coire sinunt), montani numinis unam
talibus agrestem compellat oreada dictis:
“Est locus extremis Scythiae glacialis in oris,
triste solum, sterilis, sine fruge, sine arbore tellus;
Frigus iners illic habitant Pallorque Tremorque
et ieiuna Fames. Ea se in praecordia condat
sacrilegi scelerata iube; nec copia rerum
vincat eam, superetque meas certamine vires.
Neve viae spatium te terreat, accipe currus,
accipe quos frenis alte moderere dracones.”
Et dedit. Illa dato subvecta per aera curru
devenit in Scythiam rigidique cacumine montis
(Caucason appellant) serpentum colla levavit

[¶3] And she gave to her
the reins; and so the swiftly carried Nymph
arrived in Scythia. There, upon the told
of steepy Caucasus, when she had slipped
their tight yoke from the dragons' harnessed necks,
she searched for Famine in that granite land,
and there she found her clutching at scant herbs,
with nails and teeth. Beneath her shaggy hair
her hollow eyes glared in her ghastly face,
her lips were filthy and her throat was rough
and blotched, and all her entrails could be seen,
enclosed in nothing but her shriveled skin;
her crooked loins were dry uncovered bones,
and where her belly should be was a void;
her flabby breast was flat against her spine;
her lean, emaciated body made
her joints appear so large, her knobbled knees
seemed large knots, and her swollen ankle-bones
protruded.
When the Nymph, with keen sight, saw
the Famine-monster, fearing to draw near
she cried aloud the mandate she had brought
from fruitful Ceres, and although the time
had been but brief, and Famine far away,
such hunger seized the Nymph, she had to turn
her dragon-steeds, and flee through yielding air
and the high clouds;—at Thessaly she stopped.
Grim Famine hastened to obey the will
of Ceres, though their deeds are opposite,
and rapidly through ether heights was borne
to Erysichthon's home. When she arrived
at midnight, slumber was upon the wretch,
and as she folded him in her two wings,
she breathed her pestilential poison through
his mouth and throat and breast, and spread the curse
of utmost hunger in his aching veins.
When all was done as Ceres had decreed,
she left the fertile world for bleak abodes,
and her accustomed caves. While this was done
sweet Sleep with charming pinion soothed the mind
of Erysichthon. In a dreamful feast
he worked his jaws in vain, and ground his teeth,
and swallowed air as his imagined food;
till wearied with the effort he awoke
to hunger scorching as a fire, which burned
his entrails and compelled his raging jaws,
so he, demanding all the foods of sea
and earth and air, raged of his hunger, while
the tables groaned with heaps before him spread;
he, banqueting, sought banquets for more food,
and as he gorged he always wanted more.
The food of cities and a nation failed
to satisfy the cravings of one man.
The more his stomach gets, the more it needs —
even as the ocean takes the streams of earth,
although it swallows up great rivers drawn
from lands remote, it never can be filled
nor satisfied. And as devouring fire
its fuel refuses never, but consumes
unnumbered beams of wood, and burns for more
the more 'tis fed, and from abundance gains
increasing famine, so the raving jaws
of wretched Erysichthon, ever craved
all food in him, was on]y cause of food,
and what he ate made only room for more.
And after Famine through his gluttony
at last had wasted his ancestral wealth
his raging hunger suffered no decline,
and his insatiate gluttony increased.
When all his wealth at last was eaten up,
his daughter, worthy of a fate more kind,
alone was left to him and her he sold.
Descendant of a noble race, the girl
refusing to be purchased as a slave,
then hastened to the near shore of the sea,
and as she stretched her arms above the waves,
implored kind Neptune with her tears, “Oh, you
who have deprived me of virginity,
deliver me from such a master's power!”
Although the master, seeking her, had seen
her only at that moment, Neptune changed
her quickly from a woman to a man,
by giving her the features of a man
and garments proper to a fisher-man:
and there she stood. He even looked at her
and cried out, “Hey, there! Expert of the rod!
While you are casting forth the bit of brass,
concealed so deftly in its tiny bait,—
gods-willing! let the sea be smooth for you,
and let the foolish fishes swimming up,
never know danger till they snap the hook!
Now tell me where is she, who only now,
in tattered garment and wind-twisted hair,
was standing on this shore—for I am sure
I saw her standing on this shore, although
no footstep shows her flight.”
By this assured
the favor of the god protected her;
delighted to be questioned of herself,
she said, “No matter who you are, excuse me.
So busy have I been at catching fish,
I have not had the time to move my eyes
from this pool; and that you may be assured
I only tell the truth, may Neptune, God
of ocean witness it, I have not seen a man
where I am standing on this shore—myself
excepted—not a woman has stood here.”
Her master could not doubt it, and deceived
retraced his footsteps from the sandy shore.
As soon as he had disappeared, her form
unchanged, was given back to her. But when
her father knew his daughter could transform
her body and escape, he often sold
her first to one and then another—all
of whom she cheated— as a mare, bird,
a cow, or as a stag she got away; and so
brought food, dishonestly, to ease his greed.
And so he lived until the growing strength
of famine, gnawing at his vitals, had
consumed all he could get by selling her:
his anguish burned him with increasing heat.
He gnawed his own flesh, and he tore his limbs
and fed his body all he took from it.
ah, why should I dwell on the wondrous deeds
of others—Even I, O gathered youths,
have such a power I can often change
my body till my limit has been reached.
A while appearing in my real form,
another moment coiled up as a snake,
then as a monarch of the herd my strength
increases in my horns—my strength increased
in my two horns when I had two—but now
my forehead, as you see, has lost one horn.
And having ended with such words,—he groaned.

> Latin: quaesitamque Famem lapidoso vidit in agro
unguibus et raras vellentem dentibus herbas.
Hirtus erat crinis, cava lumina, pallor in ore,
labra incana situ, scabrae rubigine fauces,
dura cutis, per quam spectari viscera possent;
ossa sub incurvis exstabant arida lumbis,
ventris erat pro ventre locus, pendere putares
pectus et a spinae tantummodo crate teneri.
Auxerat articulos macies, genuumque tumebat
orbis, et inmodico prodibant tubere tali.
Hanc procul ut vidit (neque enim est accedere iuxta
ausa), refert mandata deae: paulumque morata,
quamquam aberat longe, quamquam modo venerat illuc,
visa tamen sensisse famem retroque dracones
egit in Haemoniam, versis sublimis habenis.
Dicta Fames Cereris, quamvis contraria semper
illius est operi, peragit. Perque aera vento
ad iussam delata domum est et protinus intrat
sacrilegi thalamos altoque sopore solutum
(noctis enim tempus) geminis amplectitur ulnis:
seque viro inspirat faucesque et pectus et ora
adflat et in vacuis spargit ieiunia venis.
Functaque mandato fecundum deserit orbem
inque domos inopes adsueta revertitur antra.
Lenis adhuc somnus placidis Erysichthona pennis
mulcebat: petit ille dapes sub imagine somni
oraque vana movet dentemque in dente fatigat
exercetque cibo delusum guttur inani
proque epulis tenues nequiquam devorat auras.
Ut vero est expulsa quies, furit ardor edendi
perque avidas fauces incensaque viscera regnat.
Nec mora, quod pontus, quod terra, quod educat aer,
poscit et adpositis queritur ieiunia mensis
inque epulis epulas quaerit; quodque urbibus esse
quodque satis poterat populo, non sufficit uni,
plusque cupit, quo plura suam demittit in alvum.
Utque fretum recipit de tota flumina terra
nec satiatur aquis peregrinosque ebibit amnes,
utque rapax ignis non umquam alimenta recusat
innumerasque faces cremat et, quo copia maior
est data, plura petit turbaque voracior ipsa est:
sic epulas omnes Erysichthonis ora profani
accipiunt poscuntque simul. Cibus omnis in illo
causa cibi est, semperque locus fit inanis edendo.
Iamque fame patrias altaque voragine ventris
attenuarat opes, sed inattenuata manebat
tum quoque dira fames, implacataeque vigebat
flamma gulae. Tandem, demisso in viscera censu,
filia restabat, non illo digna parente.
Hanc quoque vendit inops. Dominum generosa recusat
et vicina suas tendens super aequora palmas
“eripe me domino; qui raptae praemia nobis
virginitatis habes” ait. Haec Neptunus habebat.
Qui prece non spreta, quamvis modo visa sequenti
esset ero, formamque novat vultumque virilem
induit et cultus piscem capientibus aptos.
Hanc dominus spectans “o qui pendentia parvo
aera cibo celas, moderator harundinis,” inquit
“sic mare compositum, sic sit tibi piscis in unda
credulus et nullos, nisi fixus, sentiat hamos:
quae modo cum vili turbatis veste capillis
litore in hoc steterat (nam stantem in litore vidi),
dic ubi sit: neque enim vestigia longius exstant.”
Illa dei munus bene cedere sensit et a se
se quaeri gaudens, his est resecuta rogantem:
“Quisquis es, ignoscas; in nullam lumina partem
gurgite ab hoc flexi studioque operatus inhaesi.
Quoque minus dubites, sic has deus aequoris artes
adiuvet, ut nemo iamdudum litore in isto,
me tamen excepto, nec femina constitit ulla.”
Credidit et verso dominus pede pressit harenam
elususque abiit: illi sua reddita forma est.
Ast ubi habere suam transformia corpora sensit,
saepe pater dominis Triopeida tradit. At illa
nunc equa, nunc ales, modo bos, modo cervus abibat
praebebatque avido non iusta alimenta parenti.
Vis tamen illa mali postquam consumpserat omnem
materiam dederatque gravi nova pabula morbo,
ipse suos artus lacero divellere morsu
coepit et infelix minuendo corpus alebat.
Quid moror externis? Etiam mihi nempe novandi est
corporis, o iuvenis, numero finita potestas.
Nam modo qui nunc sum videor, modo flector in anguem,
armenti modo dux vires in cornua sumo, —
cornua, dum potui! nunc pars caret altera telo
frontis, ut ipse vides.” Gemitus sunt verba secuti.