For an introduction to the work as a whole, the reader is invited to turn to the introduction to the translation of "Metamorphoses" Book I, published on this blog on 1st February 2018.
While this, the final book of Ovid's monumental work, the "Metamorphoses", is not perhaps the most readily accessible of its fifteen books, it is undoubtedly among the most interesting of them. Especially remarkable to this book is the long discourse, put into the mouth of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras (see ll. 60-478), which offers a structural alternative to Ovid's account of the Creation in Book I. The serious nature of this discourse marks a return to the didactic mode of epic poetry characteristic of Lucretius' "On the Nature of Things" and Virgil's "Georgics". Pythagoras' discourse starts and ends with his strong advocacy for vegetarianism, based on his doctrine of Metempsychosis, or Reincarnation, which suggests that animal slaughter may involve the dispossession of the soul of a relative. Once these more scientific aspects of "transformation" have been explored, Ovid returns in the second half of Book XV to mythical themes related to early Roman history, which culminate in the apotheosis or deification of Julius Caesar, and extravagant praise of his adopted son, Augustus, whom he compares with Jupiter. No doubt, Ovid was anxious to demonstrate his loyalty to Augustus' regime, although one wonders just what the latter would have made of the exaggerated language in which Caesar's transformation to divine status and the anticipation of a similar process in relation to Augustus are couched, Their juxtaposition with the mythic tales of Cipus and Aesculapius, and the somewhat irreverent humour that continues to accompany his references to the gods indicate perhaps a tongue-in-cheek loyalty that Augustus may have found unconvincing. At all events, Ovid was banished to Tomis shortly after the publication of the Metamorphoses in 8 A.D.
By way of summary, Book XII covers the following themes and instances of metamorphosis: the inquisitive mind of Numa; Myscelus and the foundation of Crotone; the doctrines of Pythagoras; Egeria's grief at the death of Numa; the death of Hippolytus; Cipus' determination to avoid the kingship of Rome; Asclepius' decision to move from Epidauria to Rome in order to stop the plague; the deification of Julius Caesar and Ovid's celebration of Augustus.
By way of summary, Book XII covers the following themes and instances of metamorphosis: the inquisitive mind of Numa; Myscelus and the foundation of Crotone; the doctrines of Pythagoras; Egeria's grief at the death of Numa; the death of Hippolytus; Cipus' determination to avoid the kingship of Rome; Asclepius' decision to move from Epidauria to Rome in order to stop the plague; the deification of Julius Caesar and Ovid's celebration of Augustus.
At the end of Book XV Ovid writes a nine-line envoi, or epilogue, in which he claims that the effect of his poetry will be to immortalise his name and reputation. In Roman poetry such epilogues are very rare, but despite Ovid's grandiloquent language his claim to immortality cannot in truth be contested. The "Metamorphoses" provide a magnificent entry point into the rich tapestry of Greek myths, and they have inspired poets in many languages, not least Dante and Shakespeare, and during the Renaissance they were perhaps the primary source of motifs for artistic works. For the Romans, themselves, both Ovid's contemporaries, and those who lived during the following four centuries or so, they were a wonderful source of entertainment. Romans did not read books silently to themselves; they listened to them being read, or declaimed, in public performances. While the irreverent and somewhat amoral tone of much of the "Metamorphoses" might not have made them an ideal focus for schoolteachers looking to find suitable texts for the teaching of the Latin language to children, either then or in succeeding centuries, it is precisely those qualities which would have made them such a great source of entertainment for Romans. The remarkable fluency, smoothness and balance of Ovid's hexameter poetry would have made the "Metamorphoses" a delight to listen to, as the lines slipped so easily off the lips of the reader. The content too - mainly Greek mythology - would have been a delight to Roman audiences, and the better educated listeners would probably have enjoyed the challenge to their memories of the works of Homer and Virgil, which Ovid's constant references, often quite oblique ones, to mythological characters would have evoked. For instance, how many people would know that "the son of Amphitryon" was Hercules, or that "the grandson of Aeacus" was Achilles? More importantly, perhaps, the humanistic quality of Ovid's verses, his evident interest in human life, his curiosity, his feelings for women and the dilemmas confronting them, and his sense of pathos, would have made his poetry compulsive material for his listeners. For Romans the "Metamorphoses" are perhaps the closest parallel one can find to the 'soap operas' of today. Their sheer entertainment value can scarcely be overstressed.
With the publication of the translation of Book XV, Sabidius has now completed his translation of the whole of this magnificent work. Translations of all the other books of the "Metamorphoses" are to be found on this blog, with publication dates between 1st February 2018 and today. The one exception to this is Book VIII, which Sabidius published on this blog as early 25th March 2010. This book, containing, as it does, the haunting tale of Daedalus and Icarus, and the charming story of Philemon and Baucis, amongst a catalogue of famous myths, remains perhaps the most commonly read of the fifteen books.
Ll. 1-59. Myscelus: the founding of Crotona.With the publication of the translation of Book XV, Sabidius has now completed his translation of the whole of this magnificent work. Translations of all the other books of the "Metamorphoses" are to be found on this blog, with publication dates between 1st February 2018 and today. The one exception to this is Book VIII, which Sabidius published on this blog as early 25th March 2010. This book, containing, as it does, the haunting tale of Daedalus and Icarus, and the charming story of Philemon and Baucis, amongst a catalogue of famous myths, remains perhaps the most commonly read of the fifteen books.
Meanwhile, there was a search for (a man) who could bear the burden of such great responsibility, and (who) could succeed so great a king (i.e. Romulus): fame, the harbinger of truth, destines the illustrious Numa (i.e. Numa Pompilius, the second of Rome's legendary seven kings) for the throne; he is not satisfied with knowing the religious rites of the Sabine people; in his capacious mind, he conceives of greater (things), and inquires into what is the nature of things (i.e. here Ovid recalls Lucretius' great poem, 'De Rerum Natura', On the Nature of the Universe). His passion for such concerns, causes (him) to leave his birthplace of Cures, and betake himself to the city (where) Hercules (had been) a guest (i.e. Crotona, a city and port of the Bruttians in the extreme south of Italy). When he asked what founder had built this Greek city on Italian shores, one of its elderly inhabitants, not unaware of its past history, replied thus: "They say that the son of Jupiter (i.e. Hercules), rich in Iberian oxen (i.e. the oxen of Geryon) had kept on his favourable course from the Ocean (i.e. Gibraltar or the 'Pillars of Hercules') to the coast of Lacinium (i.e. a promontory on the toe of Italy near Crotona), and that, while his herd was roaming through the tender grass, he entered the house of the great Croton, a not inhospitable shelter, and relieved his long labour (i.e. the capture of the oxen of Geryon was the Tenth Labour of Hercules) with rest, and that, on his departure, he said as follows, "In time to come, there will be here the site of a city for your descendants;" and his promises had come true.
For there was a certain Myscelus, the son Alemon of Argos, (and he was) the most acceptable to the gods of (all) of his generation. Leaning over him, (while he is) overcome by a deep sleep, the Club Bearer (i.e. Hercules) addresses (him thus): "Come, forsake your native abode! Go, and make for the pebble-filled waters of the distant Aesar (i.e. a river in the south of Italy, adjacent to Crotona)!" And he threatens (him with) many fearful (things) if he does not obey; after this, both sleep and the god vanish together. The son of Alemon arises and silently recalls the dream (that is) fresh in his mind, and he struggles with himself over his decision for a long time: the god bids (him) go, (but) the laws forbid (him) to depart, and death is the penalty laid down for (any man) who wishes to change his nationality. The radiant Sun had hidden his shining head in the Ocean, and darkest Night had (then) raised up her starry face: the same god seemed to be present and to be admonishing (him) in the same way, and to be threatening (him) with more and graver (punishments) unless he obeyed. He was afraid, and at once made ready to transfer his ancestors' sanctuary to a new abode: there is talk in the city, and he is brought to trial for breaking the law; and, when the case is first made against (him), and the charge (was) proved without (the need for) any witness, the wretched defendant, lifting his face and hands to the skies, cries, "O (you,) whose twelve labours gave (you) the right to (a place in) heaven, bring (me) your help, I beg (you)! For you are the cause of my offence."
The ancient custom was (to make use) of white and black pebbles, the latter to condemn (those) accused, (and) the former to absolve them from blame. Then also, a guilty verdict was determined, and every pebble deposited in the pitiless urn (was) black. (Yet,) as soon as the (urn) is turned over and discharges its pebbles to be counted, in all (cases) the colour changes from black to white, and the verdict of acquittal, achieved through the divine power of Hercules, frees the son of Alemon. He gives thanks to his patron, the son of Amphitryon (i.e. Hercules), and, with favourable winds, sets sail on the Ionian Sea, and goes past Tarentum, (the colony) of the Lacedaemonians (i.e. the Spartans), and Sybaris, and Neretum, (the city) of the Sallentines (i.e. a people of Calabria), and the bay of Siris (i.e. a town and river in Lucania), and Crimese (i.e. a town in Lucania), and the fields of Iapyx (i.e. in Apulia); and scarcely has he skirted past the lands that overlook that coastline, than he comes, by destiny, to the mouth of the river Aesar, and not far from it (is) the mound, beneath which the earth was covering the sacred bones of Croton, and there, on the land required, he founded the city, and to that city he transferred the name of (the man who was) buried (there).
According to a reliable tradition, it is well-known that such were the beginnings of that place (i.e. Crotona) and (that such were the reasons) for that city being sited within the boundaries of Italy.
(Ll. 60-478. Pythagoras teachings:)
Ll. 60-142. Vegetarianism.
Here there lived a man, a Samian by birth, but he had fled both Samos (i.e. an island off the coast of Asia Minor, opposite Ephesus) and its rulers together, and he was an exile by choice through his hatred of tyranny, and, though they were far away in their region of the sky, he visited the gods in his mind, and the things that nature denied to human sight he took in with the eyes of his soul, and, when he had examined all things in his mind and with his watchful attention, he disclosed what he had learned to the public, and he taught the crowd, silent and wondering at his words, about the beginnings of the universe, and of the causes of things, and what nature (is), what a god (is), where the snow (comes from), what is the origin of lightning, whether (it is) Jupiter or the winds (that) are thundering in the colliding storm-clouds, what shakes the earth, by what laws the stars move, and whatever (else) is hidden, and he (was) the first (to) denounce animal (flesh) being served at table, (and he was) also the first to loosen his lips, learned indeed but not believed in this respect, with such words as these: "Human beings, stop desecrating your bodies with impious foodstuffs! There are crops, there are apples lowering the branches with their weight, and grapes swelling on the vines, there are sweet herbs, (and) there are (those) which can be rendered mild and softened by flame; no flowing milk is taken from you, nor honey redolent with thyme blossom: the lavish earth supplies richness and mellow sustenance, and offers (you) feasts without (the need for) slaughter and bloodshed. Wild beasts allay their hunger with flesh; yet not all (of them): in fact, horses, and sheep and cattle live on grass. But (those animals) whose nature is wild and savage - Armenian tigers, and angry lions, and bears together with wolves - they delight in meals (reeking) in blood.
"Oh, how great a crime it is that flesh should be made into flesh, and that a greedy body should grow fat by swallowing a body, and that any living (creature) should live through the death of another living (creature)! So, among such riches that earth, the best of mothers, yields, nothing can please you, unless you inflict pitiful wounds with your savage teeth, and (thus) repeat the practices of the Cyclopes, nor can you assuage the hunger of your voracious and evil-natured stomach, unless you destroy another (life)!
"But that former age, to which we have given the name 'golden', was blessed with the fruit of the trees and with the herbs that the earth produces, and it did not pollute its lips with blood. At that time, too, birds moved their wings through the air in safety and hares roamed in the middle of the fields unafraid, and their own credulity had not suspended fishes from the hook: everything was free from treachery, and unafraid of deceit, and full of peace. (But) when some unhelpful originator, whoever he was, begrudged the lions their prey, and sunk some fleshly food into his greedy belly, he paved the way for crime, and it could be that at first weapons were warm and stained with blood from the killing of wild beasts - and that would have been tolerable - , for I confess that creatures seeking our destruction can be put to death without violating the sacred law, but, while it is necessary that they be put to death, yet they must not be eaten.
"From there the wickedness went further, and the sow (was) the first (to) be considered as deserving to die as a sacrificial victim, because she uprooted seeds with her broad snout and destroyed any hope of the annual (harvest). The goat, having nibbled at a vine, is led to the altar of the avenging Bacchus to be slaughtered; their own fault caused harm to these two! But why do you sheep deserve (a similar fate), (you) placid flock and born to serve mankind, you who bring sweet milk in your full udders, you who bestow your soft wool (to make) our clothing, and (who) help (us) more by living than by dying? Why do oxen deserve (this fate), animals without deceit or trickery, harmless, straightforward (and) born to endure labour? He is thoughtless indeed, and unworthy of the gift of produce, who could just remove the weight of the curved plough and kill his own farm-worker, (and) who could transfix with an axe that toil-worn neck, which had revived the hard earth as often as it had yielded a harvest.
According to a reliable tradition, it is well-known that such were the beginnings of that place (i.e. Crotona) and (that such were the reasons) for that city being sited within the boundaries of Italy.
(Ll. 60-478. Pythagoras teachings:)
Ll. 60-142. Vegetarianism.
Here there lived a man, a Samian by birth, but he had fled both Samos (i.e. an island off the coast of Asia Minor, opposite Ephesus) and its rulers together, and he was an exile by choice through his hatred of tyranny, and, though they were far away in their region of the sky, he visited the gods in his mind, and the things that nature denied to human sight he took in with the eyes of his soul, and, when he had examined all things in his mind and with his watchful attention, he disclosed what he had learned to the public, and he taught the crowd, silent and wondering at his words, about the beginnings of the universe, and of the causes of things, and what nature (is), what a god (is), where the snow (comes from), what is the origin of lightning, whether (it is) Jupiter or the winds (that) are thundering in the colliding storm-clouds, what shakes the earth, by what laws the stars move, and whatever (else) is hidden, and he (was) the first (to) denounce animal (flesh) being served at table, (and he was) also the first to loosen his lips, learned indeed but not believed in this respect, with such words as these: "Human beings, stop desecrating your bodies with impious foodstuffs! There are crops, there are apples lowering the branches with their weight, and grapes swelling on the vines, there are sweet herbs, (and) there are (those) which can be rendered mild and softened by flame; no flowing milk is taken from you, nor honey redolent with thyme blossom: the lavish earth supplies richness and mellow sustenance, and offers (you) feasts without (the need for) slaughter and bloodshed. Wild beasts allay their hunger with flesh; yet not all (of them): in fact, horses, and sheep and cattle live on grass. But (those animals) whose nature is wild and savage - Armenian tigers, and angry lions, and bears together with wolves - they delight in meals (reeking) in blood.
"Oh, how great a crime it is that flesh should be made into flesh, and that a greedy body should grow fat by swallowing a body, and that any living (creature) should live through the death of another living (creature)! So, among such riches that earth, the best of mothers, yields, nothing can please you, unless you inflict pitiful wounds with your savage teeth, and (thus) repeat the practices of the Cyclopes, nor can you assuage the hunger of your voracious and evil-natured stomach, unless you destroy another (life)!
"But that former age, to which we have given the name 'golden', was blessed with the fruit of the trees and with the herbs that the earth produces, and it did not pollute its lips with blood. At that time, too, birds moved their wings through the air in safety and hares roamed in the middle of the fields unafraid, and their own credulity had not suspended fishes from the hook: everything was free from treachery, and unafraid of deceit, and full of peace. (But) when some unhelpful originator, whoever he was, begrudged the lions their prey, and sunk some fleshly food into his greedy belly, he paved the way for crime, and it could be that at first weapons were warm and stained with blood from the killing of wild beasts - and that would have been tolerable - , for I confess that creatures seeking our destruction can be put to death without violating the sacred law, but, while it is necessary that they be put to death, yet they must not be eaten.
"From there the wickedness went further, and the sow (was) the first (to) be considered as deserving to die as a sacrificial victim, because she uprooted seeds with her broad snout and destroyed any hope of the annual (harvest). The goat, having nibbled at a vine, is led to the altar of the avenging Bacchus to be slaughtered; their own fault caused harm to these two! But why do you sheep deserve (a similar fate), (you) placid flock and born to serve mankind, you who bring sweet milk in your full udders, you who bestow your soft wool (to make) our clothing, and (who) help (us) more by living than by dying? Why do oxen deserve (this fate), animals without deceit or trickery, harmless, straightforward (and) born to endure labour? He is thoughtless indeed, and unworthy of the gift of produce, who could just remove the weight of the curved plough and kill his own farm-worker, (and) who could transfix with an axe that toil-worn neck, which had revived the hard earth as often as it had yielded a harvest.
"Nor is it enough that such a crime is committed: they have involved the gods themselves in their crime, and believe that a celestial divinity delights in the slaughter of the hard-working bullock. A victim, lacking any blemish, and of outstanding beauty - for it is harmful to give pleasure - , (and) distinguished by gold ribbons, is set before the altar, and listens unwittingly to (a man) praying, and sees the corn, which he has cultivated, being sprinkled between the horns on his forehead, and, when he is struck down, he stains with his blood the knives which he has perhaps already seen (reflected) in the clear water. At once, they inspect the entrails (which they have) snatched from his throbbing breast, and discover within them the purposes of the gods: (and) then, O (you) human race - so great is the hunger of men for forbidden food - do you dare to feed! Do not do that, I beg (you), and pay attention to my admonitions! And, when you put the pieces of slaughtered oxen in your mouths, know and feel that you are devouring the tillers of your soil.
Ll. 143-175. Metempsychosis (i.e. reincarnation, or transmigration of souls).
"And (now), since a god moves my lips, I shall duly follow the god who is moving my lips, and I shall disclose my (beloved) Delphi and the heavens themselves, and I shall reveal the mind of that august god. I shall tell of great (mysteries), not investigated by the intellects of our ancestors, and which have long lain hidden; it pleases (me) to go among the lofty stars; it pleases (me) to leave the earth and its dull abode, and to be borne on a cloud, and to stand on the shoulders of the mighty Atlas, and to look down from afar on men wandering about in all directions and devoid of (all) reason, and (who are) anxious and afraid of death, so as to encourage (them) and unravel the sequence of fate.
"O (human) race paralysed by the terror of icy death, why do you fear the Styx (i.e. the principal river of the Underworld), why (do you fear) the shades and empty names, the stuff of poets, and the perils of a phantom world? Whether the funeral pyre consumes your bodies by flame or old age (consumes them) by decay, do not imagine that you can suffer any evil! Your souls are free from death, and always, when they have left their former abode, they live in new homes and, once they have been admitted, (there) they dwell. At the time of the Trojan War, I myself - for I do remember - was Euphorbus, the son of Panthoüs, in whose opposing breast the heavy spear(-point) of the younger son of Atreus (i.e. Menelaus) was once fixed: recently I recognised the shield, (once) the burden of my left(-arm), in the temple of Juno in Argos, (the city) of Abas.
"All (things) change, but nothing perishes; the spirit wanders, and comes to this spot from that one, and from that spot to this one, and occupies whatever body it wishes, and it passes into a human body from (the body of) a wild beast, and our (spirit passes) into (the body of) a wild beast, but at no time does it ever die; in the same way, pliable wax is stamped with fresh designs and does not stay as it was, nor does it keep the same shapes, but it is still the same (substance); so I say that the soul is always the same, but that it migrates into different forms. Therefore, lest piety should be overcome by the stomach's greed, stop, I warn (you) as a seer, the expulsion of spirits by such impious slaughter, and let not blood be nourished by blood!
Ll. 176-198. The Eternal Flux.
"Now, since I am launched on the boundless ocean, I have given my full sails to the wind: there is nothing in all the world which remains unchanged. Everything is in flux, and every shape is formed on a fleeting basis; time itself also glides by in continual motion, just like a river, for neither the river nor the fleeting hour can stop, but, as wave drives on wave, and each one is pursued by the coming (one) and chases the previous (one), so time flies in the same way and follows in the same way, and is always new; for what was before is left behind, and what was not (now) comes to be, and every moment is a fresh one.
"You see both (how) the passing night stretches towards the dawn, and (how) its shining light follows the darkness of night. The sky does not have the same colour, when all (things) lie wearily at rest at mid(-night), and when bright Lucifer (i.e. the Morning Star) comes forth on his white steed, and (it is) different again when the daughter of Pallas (i.e. Aurora, the Dawn), the precursor of daylight, tints the world, (which she has) delivered to Phoebus (i.e. the Sun). The very shield of the god is red at dawn, when it rises from beneath the earth, and is red when it is hidden beneath the earth, (but) it is white at his zenith (i.e. at midday) because the quality of the air is purer, and he has escaped far from the contagion of the earth. Nor can Diana's (i.e. the Moon's) shape ever be similar or the same at night, and today's disc is always smaller than tomorrow's, if it is waxing, (and) larger, if it is waning.
Ll. 199-236. The Four Ages of Man.
"What? Don't you see that the year proceeds in four stages, imitating the progression of our lives? For in early spring it is tender and full of sap, very like the time of our childhood: at that time the grass (is) shining, yet it swells without any strength, but it is soft and in its promise it fills the farmers with delight. Then everything blossoms and the fruitful countryside frolics in the colours of its flowers, but there is still no strength in its leaves. After the spring, the year, (now) more robust, turns into summer, and its youth becomes strong; for there is no season more sturdy or more fruitful, or that shines more brightly than this one. Autumn comes next, after the fervour of youth has been set aside, (and it is a time that is) ripe and mellow, between youth and old age, (and it is) moderate in temperature, and also streaked with grey (hair) on its temples. The comes aged winter, shivering with a faltering step, and despoiled of its hair, or what it does have (is turned) white.
"Our bodies are themselves also always changing, nor shall we be tomorrow what we were, or what we are (now); there was a time when we dwelt within the womb of our first mother, (as) just the seed and the hope of a human being. (Then) nature applied her skilful hands, and was unwilling for our bodies, hidden (as they were) within our mother's swollen (belly), to be choked by its entrails, and (so) it thrust us forth from our home into the empty air. Discharged into the light, the infant lay (there) helpless; (but) soon he conveyed his limbs on all fours in the manner of wild animals, and little by little, he stood up, tottering and weak-kneed, his sinews assisted by some (convenient) prop. From then on, he grew strong and swift, and traverses the span of youth, and, when the years of middle age have also been completed, he slides along the downward path of declining old age. This undermines and destroys the strength of former years, and the elderly Milon (i.e. a renowned wrestler) weeps when he sees his arms, which were (once) a mass of solid muscles like those of Hercules, (now) hanging down (by his sides) weak and flabby. The daughter of Tyndareus (i.e. Helen) weeps also, when she sees an old woman's wrinkles in the looking-glass, and asks herself why she has twice been ravished (i.e. she had been carried off by Theseus before she eloped with Paris). Time, the devourer of things, and you, jealous Old Age, you destroy everything, and gnawing at all things with your aged teeth, you gradually consume (them) in a lingering death.
Ll. 237-258. The Elements.
"Even those (things) which we call elements do not persist: pay attention! and I shall explain the changes which they go through. The eternal universe contains four generative bodies; of these, two, earth and water, are heavy and are borne downwards by their own weight; and the other two lack weight, and, if nothing holds (them) down, they seek height, (these being) air and fire, which is purer than air. Although they are distinct in space, yet they are all derived from one another, and subside into one another, and the earth, when it has broken up, is changed into air and moisture, and, when it has lost even further weight, the air, (now) at its thinnest, shines forth (as) fire in the heavenly regions. Then they go back again, and the same order is revealed; for fire, having thickened, turns into dense air, and this into water, and the water, having contracted, is condensed into earth.
"Nothing remains in its original shape, and nature, the renewer of things, keeps making one set of shapes from another: believe me, nothing in this whole world has (ever) totally died, but it changes and renews its appearance, and (what) is called birth (is) to begin to be something other than what was (there) before, and likewise death is to end that former (state). Though perhaps some (things) are transferred hither, and other (things are transferred) thither, the sum of all (things) is constant.
Ll. 259-306. Geological changes.
"For my part, I would have thought that nothing lasts for long with the same appearance: so you ages have come to iron from gold, (and) so often has the fortune of places changed. I have seen what was once solid ground become sea, (and) I have seen land formed from the sea, and sea-shells lying far from the ocean; and an ancient anchor has been found on the summit of a mountain. A flood of waters has made what was (once) a plain (into) a valley, and a mountain has been washed into the sea by a deluge, and (a piece of) land is (now) drained from a marshy (state) into parched sand, and (lands) that had endured drought are (now) wet and inundated with marshy pools. In one place nature has discharged fresh springs, and in another it has sealed (them) off, and rivers either burst forth, having been released by deep tremors in the earth, or they are blocked up and subside.
"So, when the Lycus (i.e. a river in Phrygia and a tributary of the Maeander) is drained by a chasm, it emerges far away from its course, and is reborn from a different source: so, at one moment, the mighty Erasinus (i.e. it allegedly begins in Arcadia) is engulfed, but, now, flowing through a hidden water-course, it re-emerges in the fields of Argos, and they say that the Mysus was so ashamed of its source and its former banks that it now flows elsewhere (as) the Caïcus (i.e. a river in Mysia near Pergamum); moreover, the Amenanus (i.e. a river in Sicily) is now flowing, while churning the Sicanian sands, (but) occasionally, if its fountains are blocked, it dries up. The Anigrus (i.e. a river in Elis) was once drinkable, (but) now it flows (with) water which you would not wish to touch, since - unless all credence should be taken away from the bards - the two-shaped (creatures) (i.e. the Centaurs) washed the wounds, which the club-bearing Hercules had caused, in it. Why, is the Hypanis (i.e. a river in Sarmatia and a tributary of the Dnieper), arisen in the Scythian mountains, which once was sweet, not (now) ruined ruined by bitter salt-water? Antissa (i.e. a town on the north coast of Lesbos), and Pharos (i.e. the site of the famous light-house near Alexandria), and Phoenician Tyre (i.e. it ceased to be an island when Alexander the Great constructed a causeway to it from the mainland during its siege in 332 B.C.), of which not one is now an island, were once surrounded by waves. The former settlers of Leucas (i.e. an island off the coast of Acarnania, north of Ithaca in the Ionian Sea) held a peninsula: now waves encircle (it). Zancle (i.e. Messana in north-east Sicily) is also said to have been joined to Italy, till the sea removed the common borderland and pushed back the land into the midst of the waves. If you look for the Achaean cities of Helice and Buris (i.e. both on the Corinthian Gulf), you will find (them) under water, and sailors are still accustomed to point out the sunken towns together with their submerged walls. There is a bulge (of ground) near the Troezen of Pittheus (i.e. king of Troezen and grandfather of Theseus), steep and without any trees, (that was) once the flattest area of the plain, but is now a mound; for - (and) this is a fearful thing to relate! - the wild force of the winds, shut up (as they were) in dark caves, longing for somewhere to breathe and struggling in vain to enjoy a freer (expanse of) sky, since there was no crack at all in their prison(-wall), nor was there any outlet for their breath, extended and swelled the ground, like the breath of the mouth is accustomed to inflate a ball or the hides torn from a two-horned goat; that bulge has remained in place and has the look of a high hill, and has become hardened in (the course of) a long (period of) time.
Ll. 307-360. Physical changes.
"Although very many (instances) that I have heard of and know about come to mind, I shall (only) mention a few of them. Why, does not water bring about and take new forms? Your waters, horned Ammon, (i.e. the African name for Jupiter, and his waters are the lake at the oasis of Siwwa) are cold at mid-day, and are warm at sunrise and sunset. It is said that the Athamanians (i.e. the inhabitants of a district in Epirus near Mount Pindus) set fire to wood by pouring water over (it), when the moon has waned to her smallest disc. The Cicones (i.e. a tribe living in Thrace) have a river, which, (when) drunk, turns one's entrails to stone, and turns anything that it touches into marble. The Crathis (i.e. a river in Arcadia) and the Sybaris (i.e. a river near the coastal town of Sybaris in southern Italy), adjoining our shores in these (parts), cause one's hair (to become) like amber or gold.
"And what is even more amazing, there are waters which have the power to change not only the body but the mind as well. Who has not heard of the disgusting waters of Salmacis (i.e. a pool in Caria which rendered soft and effeminate anyone who swam in it) and of the Ethiopian lakes (i.e. the waters of these lakes caused insanity)? Whoever drinks of these, either goes raving mad or falls into a wonderfully deep sleep. Whosoever slakes his thirst at the spring of Clitor avoids any wine and enjoys, in an abstemious fashion, (only) pure water: (this occurs) either (because) there is a power in the water that counteracts hot wine or, as the natives claim, (because) the son of Amythaon (i.e. Melampus), after he had saved the demented daughters of Proetus (i.e. king of Tiryns, whose daughters were punished for their pride by Juno and believed they were cows) from their madness by a spell and by herbs, threw what had purged their minds into those waters, and an antipathy to wine survived in their waves. The river of Lyncestis (i.e. a district in Macedonia) flows differently to this in its effect; whosoever drinks of its (waters), however moderately, staggers around just as if he had imbibed unmixed wine. There is a place in Arcadia - our ancestors called (it) Pheneus - , mistrusted for its dual-natured waters; beware of them at night! If drunk at night they are harmful; (but) in the day they can be drunk without harm.
"So, lakes and rivers can harbour some power or other; there was a time when Ortygia (i.e. Delos) floated on the waves, (but) now she is fixed. The Argo (once) dreaded the Symplegades (i.e. two rocky islands near the entrance to the Black Sea whose clashing rocks endangered any passing ships), moved around by the collisions of their crashing waves, but now they stand (there) motionless and withstand (the force of) the winds. Nor will Aetna (i.e. the volcano in Sicily), which burns with its sulphurous furnaces, always be on fire, for it was not always on fire. For, if the earth is a creature and is alive, and has vents that breathe out flames in many places, she can alter the passages used for her breathing, and, whenever she is moved, (she can) close some caverns (and) open up others; or, if the fleet winds are confined in deep caves and drive rocks and stones against a substance that contains the seeds of flame, this (substance) creates fire from the friction, (but) the caves will be left cold, when the winds drop; or, if bituminous properties ignite fires, or yellow sulphur burns with little smoke, (then) surely, when the earth no longer gives food and rich nourishment for the fire, as its strength has been exhausted by so long a (period of) time, and devouring nature will lack its own means of support, she will not withstand that famine, and, having been forsaken, the fire will fail. The story goes that there are men in Hyperborean Pallene (a mythical place in the extreme north), who are used to their bodies being covered with light feathers, when they have plunged nine times into Tritonia's (i.e. Minerva's) pool. For my part, I do not believe (it): the women of Scythia (i.e. a region to the north of the Black Sea) are also said to practise the same arts, (by) sprinkling their limbs with magic potions.
Ll. 361-390. Autogenesis.
"If, however, trust is only given to things (that are) proven, do you not see that, whenever carcasses have rotted, due to the passage of time or to melting heat, they are turned into tiny animals? Bury sacrificed bulls in the ditch (in which they have been) thrown - this experiment is well-known in practice; flower-sipping bees will (then) be born in various places from the putrid entrails, and they will inhabit the fields like their parents, and they will favour work, and labour in the hope (of a reward). A war-horse, sunk in the ground, is the source of hornets; if you should cut the bent claws off a crab found on the sea-shore, and put the rest (of it) under the soil, a scorpion will emerge from the buried parts, and will threaten (you) with its curved tail; and silk-worms, which are accustomed to embroider the leaves with their white cocoons - a practice observed by farmers - will exchange their form for (that) of a butterfly on a tombstone (i.e. the symbol of a soul). Mud contains the seeds that generate green frogs, and generates (frogs) lacking feet, (but) soon it gives (them) legs, and, at the same time, hind-legs that exceed their fore-legs in length, so that they are fit (to take) long leaps. A cub that a she-bear has just delivered in birth is not (a cub) but a scarcely living (lump of) flesh; the mother forms (it) into a body by licking (it), and makes (it) into a shape such as she herself possesses. Do you not see that the larvae of the honey-bearing bees, which the hexagonal wax (cells) protect, are born (as) bodies without limbs, and later assume feet, and wings later (still)? Who would suppose, if he did not know it was the case, that Juno's bird which carries stars on its tail (i.e. the peacock), and Jupiter's (bird) that bears the lightning-bolt (i.e. the eagle), and Cytherea's (i.e. Venus') doves, and every kind of bird, could be born from the middle parts (i.e. the yolk) of an egg. There are (those) who believe that when the spine has decomposed within the closed tomb, the human marrow is turned into a snake.
Ll. 391-417. The Phoenix.
"Yet, these (creatures) receive their beginnings from other species: there is one bird, which (by) itself renews and reproduces itself. The Assyrians call (it) the phoenix; it does not live on fruit or grass, but on drops of incense and the juice of the cardamom (plant). When it has completed the five centuries of its life, it, at once, builds a nest for itself in the branches at the top of a swaying palm-tree with its talons and its unsoiled beak. As soon as it has lined (it) with (strips of) casia bark and spikes of smooth nard, and with (the fragments of) grated cinnamon and yellow myrrh, it settles itself on the top (of the tree), and ends its life among these perfumes. Then, they say that a young phoenix is reborn from its father's body. When age has given it strength, and it is able to carry burdens, it lowers the branches of a tall tree by the weight of its nest, and it dutifully conveys (what is) both its own cradle and its father's tomb (before it), and, when it reaches the city of Hyperion (i.e. the Sun God) through the light breezes, it lays (it) down before the sacred doors within Hyperion's temple.
"But, if there is any wonderful novelty in any of those (things), we might marvel at (how) a hyena changes its functions, and (how) a female (hyena), which has just suffered (being serviced by) a male, is now a male (herself); that animal which is fed by the wind and the air (i.e. a chameleon) also adopts forthwith the colour of whatever it touches. Vanquished India gave lynxes to Bacchus of the clustered (vines): from these, as they say, whatever the bladder has released turns into stone and solidifies as soon as it is contact with the air. So also, coral hardens at the moment when it is first exposed to the air: it was a soft plant under the waves.
Ll. 418-452. Transfers of Power.
"The day will end and Phoebus will bathe his panting steeds in the deep (waters of the) sea, before I can do justice in my discourse to all (the things) that have changed into new forms: so times change, and we see some nations grow in strength, (and) others collapse. So Troy (that) was (once so) great in wealth and men (that) for ten years she could offer so much blood, (is) now humbled, and shows (us) only ancient ruins, and ancestral tombs instead of riches. Sparta was (once) famous, great Mycenae flourished, and so did the cities of Cecrops (i.e. Athens) and Amphion (i.e. Thebes) as well: (now) Sparta is worthless land, lofty Mycenae has fallen, and what is the Thebes of Oedipus but a name? What remains of Pandion's Athens except its name?
"Now there is also a report that Dardanian (i.e. Trojan) Rome is rising, and it is laying the foundations of (great) things beneath a huge mass (of rock) near to the waters of Thybris (i.e. the Tiber), the source of which is in the Appennines: so she changes as she grows, and one day she will be the capital of a boundless world. So they say the seers and the prophetic oracles predicted, and, as far as I can recollect (it), Helenus, the son of Priam, said (this) to a weeping Aeneas, (who was) in doubt about his safety, when the Trojan state was sinking: 'Son of the goddess (i.e. Venus), if you become sufficiently acquainted with my mind's predictions, Troy will not wholly fall, while you are alive and well! Fire and sword will give way to you: you will go and you will take up and carry off Pergama (i.e. the citadel of Troy) with you, until a foreign land, more friendly than your native (one), shall be the lot of Troy and yourself. I also see a city destined for Phrygian descendants, and no (greater city than this) exists or will exist, nor (has it been) seen in former years. Other leaders will make her powerful through during the long centuries, but (one) born of the blood of Iülus (i.e. Julius Caesar) (will make her) the mistress of the world; when the earth has made use of him, the celestial abodes will enjoy (his presence), and heaven will be his destination.'
"Recalling (them) in my mind, I repeat once more these (things) that Helenus prophesied to Aeneas, that bearer of his household gods, and I am glad that the walls of his kinsmen are rising, and that the victory of the Pelasgians (i.e. the Greeks) (has been) of benefit to the Phrygians (i.e. the Trojans).
Ll. 453-478. The Sanctity of Life.
"But, lest I stray (too) far from my course, with my steeds forgetting (how) to reach their goal, the sky and whatever is beneath it change their forms, and (so does) the earth and all that is within it. (Let) us, (who are) also a part of the universe, since we are not only flesh, but also winged souls, and are able to enter the abodes of wild animals and be imprisoned within the bodies of cattle, bodies which can contain the souls of our parents, or of our brothers, or of those connected to us by some (kind of) compact, or of men at least, let us allow (these bodies) to be secure and honoured, and let us not pile up their entrails (as if we were) at some Thyestean meal (n.b. Atreus served up the bodies of his brother Thyestes' sons to him at a feast, as an act of revenge). How evil is the habit that a man acquires, (and) how impiously does he prepare himself (to shed) human blood, who rips a calf's throat with a knife and proffers unmoved ears to its bleatings, or who can slaughter a kid that is giving forth cries like (those of) a child, or eat a bird to which he himself has given food! In relation to such acts as these, how far does he fall short of complete outrage (i.e. murder)? To where is his path laid down from there? Let the ox plough, or attribute his death to old age; let the sheep serve as our defence against the north wind; (and) let the well-fed nanny-goats give their udders to be squeezed by our hands! Do away with nets and their traps, and snares, and crafty devices, and do not deceive the birds with limed twigs, or shut in the deer by frightening feathered (ropes), or conceal barbed hooks in treacherous bait! If any (animals) harm (you), kill (them), but do only kill them: keep your mouth free of their flesh, and may it enjoy a milder (type of) food."
Ll. 479-551. The transformation of Hippolytus.
They say that Numa, with his mind well versed in these and other precepts, returned to his native land, and voluntarily took up the reins of Latium at the request of its people. Blessed with a nymph (i.e. Egeria) as his wife, and with the Camenae (i.e. the Muses) as his guides, he taught the rites of sacrifice, and introduced a race accustomed to savage warfare to the arts of peace.
When, (as) an old man, he ended his reign and his life, the women of Latium, and its people and its senators, wept for the dead Numa; for his wife leaves the city and lives in retirement, concealed by the dense woods of the valley of Aricia (i.e. a city in Latium near Nemi), and she hinders the worship of Orestean Diana by her groans and lamentation: ah! how often did the nymphs of that grove and lake advise her not to act (in such a manner), and they spoke consoling words (to her). How often did the heroic (son) of Theseus (i.e. Hippolytus) say to the weeping (nymph), "Cease this behaviour (of yours)! For your sad lot is not yours alone; consider the similar misfortunes of others: then you can bear those of your own more calmly, and how I wish that the circumstances of my own case could not relieve you! But even mine can, (I believe, do so).
"I know it has come to your ears in conversation that a certain Hippolytus met his death, through his father's incredulity and through the deceit of his wicked step-mother (i.e. Phaedra). You will be amazed (to hear it), and I shall prove (it, albeit) with difficulty, but nevertheless I am he. The daughter of Pasiphaë (i.e. Phaedra) once tried, in vain, to tempt me to dishonour my father's bed, (and then) claimed that I wanted (to do) what she wanted, and, the charge having been reversed, she procured my conviction, and although I did not deserve (it) in any way, my father banished me from the city (i.e. Athens) and called down hostile curses om my head (as I) was going off (into exile). In my flight, I headed in my chariot for Pittheus' Troezen, and I was traversing the shores of the gulf of Corinth, when the sea rose up, and a huge mass of water seemed to be arched and to swell into some kind of mountain, and to give out bellowing (noises), and to be split open at the highest point of its crest. Then a horned bull is ejected from the bursting waves, and, standing right up to his chest in the gentle breezes, he spews out a quantity of seawater from his nostrils and his gaping mouth. The hearts of my companions quaked with fear. (But) my mind, preoccupied with thoughts of our exile, remained unshaken, when my fierce horses turned their necks towards the sea, and trembled with their ears pricked up, and they were thrown into confusion by fear of the monster and dragged the chariot headlong over the steep crags; I struggle with unavailing hands to control the bridles, (now) smeared with white foam, and, leaning right back, I strain at the sluggish reins. Yet, my horses' madness would not have overcome my strength, if a wheel had not been broken and the axle-hub around which it revolves shattered by collision with a tree. I am thrown from the chariot, and, with the reins entangling my body, you would have seen my living entrails being dragged along, and my sinews stuck on a tree-stump, my limbs partly torn away, (and) partly held back and left behind, my snapped bones let out a loud crack and my weary spirit expire, and no parts of my body which you could recognise; all was (but) one wound. Can you (really) compare, or dare (to compare) your own to my disaster? I also saw the kingdom without light (i.e. Hades), and warmed my lacerated body in the waters of Phlegethon (i.e. the river of fire, one of the six rivers of the Underworld), nor would my life have been restored, but for the powerful remedies of Apollo's son (i.e. Aesculapius, the God of Healing); after I had regained it by (the power of) strong herbs), and with the help of Paean (i.e. Apollo), (and) despite the anger of Dis (i.e. Pluto, King of Hades), then, lest I might be seen in person and increase the (sense of) envy at this gift, Cynthia (i.e. Diana) cast a dense cloud around me, and, so that I might be safe and could be seen with impunity, she added (a look of) age, and left my face unrecognisable, and she wondered for a long time (whether) she should give (me) Crete or Delos as a place of habitation: Delos and Crete having been abandoned, she brought (me) here (i.e. to Diana's sanctuary at Nemi), and, at the same time, she bids (me) set aside my name, which could remind (me) of horses, and said, "You who were Hippolytus, may you now be Virbius too!" From then on, I inhabit this grove, and, (as) one of the lesser gods, I lie concealed under the divine will of my mistress and am assigned to her (train)."
But the grief of others could not alleviate Egeria's (sense of) loss, and, lying at the lowest feet of a mountain, she dissolves into tears, until Phoebus' sister (i.e. Diana), moved by the piety of her sorrowing, made a cool fountain from her body, and reduced her limbs to a continual (stream of) water.
Ll. 552-621. Cipus acquires horns.
Now, this strange occurrence astonished the nymphs, and the son of the Amazon (i.e. Hippolytus, son of Hippolyte, an Amazonian princess) was no less astounded than (was) the Tyrrhenian (i.e. Tuscan) ploughman, when he caught sight of a fateful clod of earth in the middle of his fields first move of its own accord and with no one stirring (it), then assume the form of a man and lose its earthy (nature), and open its new-found mouth to prophesy (things) to come - the natives called (him) Tages, and he (was) the first (man to) teach the Tuscan race (how) to reveal future events - ; so too (was) Romulus (astonished) when he saw his spear-shaft, which had once held fast to the Palatine hill, suddenly burst into leaf, and it stood (there) with fresh roots, not with its iron(-point) driven (into the ground), and, now not a weapon but a pliant osier tree, it gave unexpected shade to (those) wondering (at it); or (no less astounded was) Cipus (i.e. the praetor), when he saw his horns (reflected) in the river-water - for he did see (them there) - and, thinking it to be a false belief in relation to his likeness, he repeatedly lifted his fingers to his forehead and touched what he saw, and no longer able to deny (it by) finding fault with his eyesight, he raised his hands and eyes to the sky at the same time, as if he was returning victorious from the conquest of his foes, and declared, "(O you) gods above, whatever is presaged by such a portent as this, if it be joy, let that joy belong to the native-land and people of Quirinus (i.e. Rome and the Romans), or, if (it be something) threatening, let it (fall) upon me!" Then, making a grassy altar from the green turf, he appeases (the gods) with a fragrant fire (i.e. he burns incense) and offers (them) wine in bowls, and he consults the quivering internal organs of the slaughtered sheep (to see) what they might signify to him. As soon as a diviner from the Tuscan race examined them, he perceived in them events of great importance, but (they were) not (yet) manifest. But, when he raised his keen eyes from the entrails of the sheep to Cipus' horns, he cried, "Hail, O King! For this place and the citadels of Latium will obey you, Cipus, you and your horns. Only, do you put an end to delay, and hurry to enter these open gates! So fate enjoins; for, once you have been received in the city, you will take possession of the sceptre in safety forever."
He reversed his footsteps, and, turning his grim face away from the city walls, he said, "The gods should drive such omens far, oh! far away (from me). (It would be) much better, (if) I were to spend my life in exile, than for the Capitol to see me (as) a king!"
(So) he spoke, and forthwith he convokes both the people and the dignified Senate; but first he veils his horns with the laurel of peace; then, he stands on a platform constructed by the valiant troops, and praying to the ancient gods in accordance with custom, he says, "There is one (man) here, who will be your king unless you drive (him) from the city. I will tell (you) who he is, not by name, (but) by a sign: he wears horns on his forehead. The augur declares that, if he enters Rome, he will (only) grant you the rights of slaves. Indeed, he could have forced his way through your open gates, but I have hindered (him), although no one is nearer to him than I (am). Quirites (i.e. Roman citizens), you must prevent this (man) from (entering) the city, or, if he deserves (it), bind (him) with heavy chains, or end (all) fear by the death of the fated tyrant!"
Like the murmurs that are made by the bushy-topped pine-groves, when the harsh east wind whistles among (them), or like those that the waves of the sea make, if someone hears them from afar, such sounds the people make; but yet, among the confused cries of the noisy crowd, one voice rings out: "Who is he?" and they look at their foreheads and search for the aforementioned horns.
Cipus speaks to them again: "You have (here the man) whom you are looking for," and removing, the wreath from his head, with the people trying to stop (him), he showed (them) his temples conspicuous for their two horns. They all dropped their eyes and gave out groans, and looked reluctantly at that head, renowned (as it was) for its merits - (for) who could believe (it)? - ; nor did they allow (him) to be deprived of honour for long, and they placed a festive garland on (his head). And since you are forbidden to enter the walls, the elders have given you, Cipus, as a mark of honour, as much farmland as you could enclose with (a team of) oxen, harnessed to a sunken plough-share, from dawn to sunset, and they engrave your horns on the (city's) bronze gate-posts, recalling their wondrous shape, to remain (there) throughout the long centuries (to come).
Ll. 622-679. Ravaged by plague, Rome seeks the assistance of Aesculapius.
Reveal now, (O) Muses, (you) guardian deities of bards - for you know, and a lengthy old age does not deceive you - , for what reason an island surrounded by the deep (waters) of the Tiber, has added the son of Coronis (i.e. Aesculapius) to the sacred (figures) of Romulus' city.
At one time, a dreadful plague had infested the air of Latium, and (people's) pallid bodies were ravaged by a bloodless disease. When, wearied by funeral rites, they see that human efforts were achieving nothing, and nor (were) the skills of doctors, they seek help from the heavens, and they travel to Delphi, set in the centre of the world's earth, to the oracle of Phoebus, and they pray that he would help (them) in their wretched situation by a health-giving prophecy, and bring their great city's evil to an end; then, the ground, and the laurel-tree, and the quiver, which he himself holds, (all) shake together, and from the innermost sanctuary his tripod responded with these words: "What you are seeking here, you should have sought in a nearer place, (O) Roman, and (even) now you should seek (it) in that nearer place! It is not Apollo you need to lessen your grief, but Apollo's son (i.e. Aesculapius). Go with good omens, and fetch my son."
When the Senate, in its wisdom, had received the god's command, it makes enquiries as to which city the young son of Phoebus might inhabit, and sends (an embassy) to sail to the coast of Epidaurus (i.e. a city in Argolis where a sanctuary to Aesculapius had been constructed). As soon as the ambassadors had touched (shore) in their curved ship, they went to a council of Greek elders, and begged (them) to give up the god, who, by his presence, might prevent the death of the Ausonian (i.e. Italian) race: (for) so (they said) the unerring oracle had spoken. Their opinions differ and are various, and (while) some do not think that help can be denied, the majority urge that they should retain their wealth and not release (it), and that they should not give up their god: while they waver, dusk dispelled the lingering daylight and shadows had covered the circle of the earth in darkness, when, in your dreams, the god of healing seemed to stand before your bed, (O) Roman, but, just as he is accustomed to appear in his temple, and, holding a rustic staff in his left(-hand), (he seemed) to stroke the hair of his long beard with his right(-hand) and to utter these words from his gentle breast:
"Set aside your fear! I shall come, and I shall leave behind a statue of myself. Now, take a look at this serpent that winds in knots around my staff, and keep it continually in your sight, so that you can recognise (it)! I shall be changed into this, but I shall be greater (in size), and I shall seem (to be) as great as a celestial body should be whenever it is transformed."
At once, the god vanishes with the voice, (and) sleep with the voice and the god, and kindly light followed sleep's flight.
The next day's dawn had put the starry fires to flight: the leaders, uncertain what they should do, come to the elaborate temple of the god (who is) being sought, and they beg (him) to show (them) by some heavenly signs at which abode he wishes to reside. Well, scarcely had they finished (speaking), when the golden god in (the form of) a serpent with a tall crest, gave out hissing (sounds) that announced his presence, and, by his coming, he rocked the statue, and the altars, and the doors, and the marble floor and the gilded pediments, and he stood upright right up to his chest in the centre of the temple, and looked around (him) with flashing eyes. The crowd trembles with fear. (But) the priest, his holy locks, bound with a white fillet, recognised the divine being: "Behold, it is the god, it is the god! Keep your minds and tongues auspicious, all who are here!" he cried. "O (you) most beautiful (one), may you be seen (to be) useful (to us), and may you help the people who cherish your sacred rites."
Ll. 680-744. Aesculapius, intent on helping the Romans, makes the long journey to Rome to save them from the plague.
All who are present worship the god as they have been commanded, and they all recite the priest's words in repetition, and the descendants of Aeneas (i.e. the Romans) give their dutiful support in both mind and voice. The god nodded in apparent agreement by shaking that crest of his, and gave repeated hissing (noises) with his darting tongue. Then he slides down the shining steps and turns his head back and gazes at the altar he was about to leave, and salutes his accustomed home and the temple (in which he has) lived. From there, the huge (creature) slithers over ground covered with planted flowers and revolves his coils, and makes his way through the centre of the city to the harbour, fortified by its curved embankment. There he stops, and, appearing to dismiss his train and the following throng with a kindly expression, he settled his body in the Ausonian ship: it sensed its divine burden, and its keel sank under the weight of the god; the descendants of Aeneas are joyful, and, having sacrificed a bull on the shore, they loosen the twisted cables of their garlanded ship.
A gentle breeze drove the ship: the god stretches skywards, and, pressing down upon the curved stern with the neck (that he had) placed (there), he gazes down on the blue waves, and, (wafted) by moderate west winds across the Ionian Sea, he reached Italy after Pallantis (i.e. Aurora, the Goddess of Dawn) had risen six times (i.e. after six days), and he is borne past the shores of Lacinium, ennobled by the temple of the goddess (i.e. Juno), and of Scylaceum; he leaves Iapygia behind (him), and avoids the Amphrisian rocks on his port side and the Cocinthian crags to starboard, and he coasts past Romethium, and Caulon, and Narycia, and passes the straits and the narrows of Sicilian Pelorus, and the home of King Hippotades (i.e. Aeolus, guardian of the winds) and the (copper) mines of Temese, and makes for Leucosia and the rose-gardens of gentle Paestum. From there he skirts Capreae and the promontory of Minerva, and the hills well-stocked with Surrentine vines, and the city of Hercules (i.e. Herculaneum), and Stabiae, and Parthenope (i.e. Naples), born for idleness, and from there the temple of the Cumaean Sibyl. From here the hot springs (i.e. Baiae), and Liternum, where mastic trees grow, are reached, and (so are) the Volturnus, dragging thick sand beneath its flood waters, and Sinuessa, frequented by snow-white doves, and swamp-infested Minturnae, and (the place (i.e. Caieta) named after the woman) whom her foster-son (i.e. Aeneas) entombed, and the home of Antiphates (i.e. Formiae), and Trachas, surrounded by a marsh, and the land of Circe (i.e. Circeii), and Antium with its compact beach.
When the sailors steered the ship in full sail to this place (i.e. Antium) - for the sea was now rough - , the god unfolds his coils, and, gliding along by means of his numerous folds and his great rolls, he enters his father's temple adjoining the yellow strand. When the sea was calm, the Epidaurian (i.e. Aesculapius) leaves his father's altar, and, having enjoyed the hospitality of the divine being related to him, he furrows the sand of the shore with the course of his rustling scales, and, supporting himself on the ship's helm, he placed his head on its lofty stern, until he came to Castrum, and to the sacred abode of Lavinium. and to the mouth of the Tiber.
Here, all the people rush from all directions to meet (him), a throng of both men and women, and those who tend your fires, (O) Trojan Vesta, and they greet the god with a cry of joy. As the swift ship is conducted upstream, (burning) incense crackles on altars constructed on the banks of both sides (of the river) and it perfumes the air with its fumes, and (the blood of) the slaughtered victims warms (the blades of) the sacrificial knives.
And now he had entered the city of Rome: the serpent stands erect and moves his neck as it rests on the top of the mast, and he looks around for a suitable home for himself. The river is split into branches, flowing around (what) has the name of an island, and, in respect of its two sides, it stretches its arms out equally, with the land in the middle. Here, the serpent child of Phoebus removed himself from the Latin pine (ship), and, having resumed his divine shape, he came to the city (as) a health giver, and brought an end to its grief.
Ll. 745- 846. The deification of Julius Caesar.
He (i.e. Aesculapius), however, came to our temples (as) a stranger; (but) Caesar is a god in his own city; outstanding (both) in war and peace, his wars that ended in triumphs, and the deeds he performed at home, and the speedily(-won) glory of his achievements, did no more to turn him into a new (figure) among the stars, and a comet, than (did) his descendant (i.e. Augustus); for among Caesar's actions there is no greater deed than that he stood as father to that (emperor) of ours. Is it really a greater (thing) to have subdued the sea-going Britons (i.e. Caesar made two expeditions to Briton in 55 and 54 B.C.), to have led his victorious ships down the seven-mouthed stream of the papyrus-bearing Nile (i.e. he sailed down the Nile in a flotilla of boats with Queen Cleopatra, after he ad installed her on the throne of Egypt in 47 B.C.), to have subjected the rebellious Numidians and Juba of the (River) Cinyps (i.e. Juba I, King of Numidia, an ally of the Pompeian forces defeated by Caesar at the Battle of Thapsus in North Africa in 46 B.C.), and Pontus, puffed up (with pride) in the name of Mithridates (i.e. Caesar defeated Mithridates's son Pharnaces, King of Pontus, at the battle of Zela in 47 B.C.) to (the sway of) the people of Quirinus (i.e. the Romans), and to have earned (so) many triumphs but only to have celebrated some, than to have brought forth so great a man (i.e. Augustus)? With him (as) ruler of all, (O) gods, you have abundantly favoured the human race!
So, lest the latter (i.e. Augustus) should be created of mortal seed, the former (i.e. Julius Caesar) needed to made a god. When the golden mother of Aeneas (i.e. Venus) saw this, (and) also saw that a grim death was being prepared for her high priest and that an armed conspiracy was under way, she grew pale and said to every god that she encountered, "See with what a great effort is the treachery being prepared against me, and what great trickery is that life being sought which is the only (thing) that is left to me of Dardanian (i.e. Trojan) Iülus. Will I alone always be troubled by such well-founded anxieties, (I) whom now the son of Tydeus (i.e. Diomedes) has wounded with his Calydonian spear, (and whom) next the poorly-defended walls of Troy confound, and who shall see my son (i.e. Aeneas) driven by endless wanderings, and being tossed by the sea, and entering the abodes of the silent (shades) (i.e. Hades), and waging war with Turnus, or, if I should speak the truth, with Juno rather? This fear does not allow any memory of the past: look, can you see those accursed swords being sharpened? Stop them, I beg (you), and repel this attempt, and do not extinguish the flames of Vesta through the slaughter of her priest."
In her anxiety, Venus casts such words as these in vain throughout all of the heavens, and she troubles the gods, who, although they cannot break the iron decrees of the ancient sisters (i.e. the Fates), nevertheless give no uncertain portents of approaching woe. (Men) say that weapons clattering among the black clouds and the terrifying trumpets and horns (that were) heard in the sky foretold the crime; the sad face of the sun also bestowed a lurid light over the anxious earth. Firebrands (i.e. shooting stars) were frequently seen burning in the midst of the stars (and) drops of blood often fell between the rain-clouds. Lucifer's (i.e. the Morning Star's) visage was stained dark-blue with (spots of) black rust, and the Moon's chariot (was) spattered with blood. The Stygian owl was sounding its sad (omens) in a thousand places, ivory (statues) wept in a thousand places, and dirges and threatening words are said to have been heard in the sacred groves. No sacrifice obtains a favourable omen, and a liver warns that great civil conflicts are imminent, and a chopped lobe is found amongst the organs. In the forum, and around (men's) houses and the temples of the gods, dogs howled at night, and they say that the shades of the silent (dead) were wandering about, and that the city (was) shaken by earthquakes.
Yet, the gods' warnings could not prevent the conspiracy and approaching fate, and drawn swords are carried into a temple (i.e. the chapel in Pompey's Theatre where the Senate was meeting); for no (other) place in the city would satisfy (them, as the scene) for their crime and dreadful murder but the senate-house. Then, indeed, Cytherea (i.e. Venus) struck her breast with both hands, and tries to hide the descendant of Aeneas (i.e. Caesar) in a cloud, just as Paris was snatched away from the aggressive son of Atreus (i.e. Menelaus), and Aeneas had escaped the sword of Diomedes.
(Then) her father (i.e. Jupiter) (spoke to) her in these words: "Daughter, are you intending to fight invincible fate alone? You, yourself, may enter the house of the three sisters (i.e. the Fates): there you will see, (wrought) in bronze and solid iron by enormous labour, the Records of Fortune (i.e. Rome's public record office), which secure and enduring, (as they are), fear neither the clashing of the skies, nor the thunderbolt's wrath, nor any (other) destructive forces. There you will find the destiny of your descendants inscribed in permanent adamant: I have read (this) myself, and have made a note (of it) in my mind, and I shall (now) tell (you), so that you are no longer unaware of the future. That (man), on whose behalf you are labouring (i.e. Caesar), Cytherea, has come to the end of his time, and he has fulfilled the years which he has owed to the earth. You, and his son (i.e. Octavianus Augustus) will ensure that he ascends to heaven (as) a god, and that he is worshipped in the temples (here), (and he) who is heir to his name will bear alone the burden placed upon (him), and that most valiant avenger of his murdered father will have us in his battles (as) his (allies). Under his auspices, the conquered walls of Mutina (i.e. Decimus Brutus was besieged there in 43 B.C. by Mark Antony, but the siege was lifted after Antony's forces were defeated by Octavian) will sue for peace; the region of Pharsalus (i.e. the site of Caesar's great victory over Pompey in 48 B.C.) will feel his (might), and Erymathian (i.e. Macedonian) Philippi will be drenched in blood a second time (n.b. there were two battles, three weeks apart, at Philippi in 43 B.C. when Antony and Octavian defeated Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius), and a 'great' name will be defeated in Sicilian waters (i.e. Sextus Pompeius 'Magnus' was defeated in a naval battle off Naulochus in 36 B.C, by Octavian's admiral Agrippa), and the Egyptian consort (i.e. Cleopatra) of a Roman general (i.e. Mark Antony), (while) trusting too much in their marriage, will fall (n.b. Cleopatra committed suicide in 30 B.C. after Antony's forces were defeated at Actium in 31 B.C.), and she threatened in vain that our Capitol would bow the knee to her Canopus (i.e. a city in the Nile delta). Why should I enumerate for you the foreign countries and nations living on either (shore) of the ocean? Whatever habitable (land) the earth sustains, it will be his: even the sea will serve him!
"When he has given peace to the world, he will turn his mind to civil justice, and he will make laws (as) the most just of legislators, and by his own example he will direct the behaviour (of his people), and, with a view to the age of the time to come and of his future descendants, he will order the offspring born of his virtuous wife (i.e. Tiberius, son of Livia) to assume simultaneously both his name and his responsibilities, and he will not attain his heavenly abode and his kindred stars until the time when he has equalled the age of the (king of) Pylos (i.e. Nestor). Meanwhile, take his (father's) spirit from his mutilated body, and make (it) into a constellation, so that the deified Julius may always look down upon our Capitol and forum from his elevated shrine (i.e. the image of a comet was placed on the head of Caesar's statue in his temple in the Forum)."
He (i.e. Jupiter) had scarcely finished saying these (things), when kindly Venus stood in the centre of the senate-house, (though) seen by no one, and she rescued the newly (freed) spirit of her Caesar from his body, and, not allowing (it) to be dissolved into the air, she bore (it) to the heavenly stars.
Ll. 847-870. Ovid's celebration of Augustus.
While she carried (it), she felt (it) start to glow and catch fire, and she freed (it) from her bosom: he soars higher than the moon, and, drawing a fiery tail (behind him) on his extensive pathway (through the sky), he shines (as) a star, and, seeing his son's achievements, he acknowledges that they are greater than his own, and he delights to be surpassed by him.
Although he (i.e. Augustus) forbids that his own actions should be esteemed before (those) of his father, yet fame, free and obedient to no one's orders, prefers (him), reluctant (though he is), and in this one respect only resists (him): thus great Atreus yields to the fame of Agamemnon, thus Theseus excelled Aegeus, and Achilles Peleus: and, lastly, to quote an example that matches the two of them (i.e. Caesar and Augustus), so also is Saturn less than Jupiter: Jupiter rules the citadels of the heavens, and the realms of the three-part universe (i.e. the sky, the sea and the underworld), (while) the earth comes under Augustus; each is a father and a ruler. I beg, (O you) gods, the companions of Aeneas, to whom sword and fire gave way, and (you) native deities (of Italy), and Quirinus (i.e. Romulus), the founder of our city and Gradivus (i.e. Mars), the father of unconquered Quirinus, and Vesta, revered among Caesar's household gods, and you, Phoebus, a household (god) together with Caesar's Vesta, and (you), lofty Jupiter, who holds the Tarpeian citadel (i.e. the Capitol with its temple of Jupiter), and (all) you other (gods) whom it is right and fitting for a bard to invoke: (yes, I beg) that that day may be slow (to arrive), and that (it may come) later than my lifetime, when the person of Augustus leaves the world which he (now) rules, and that he rises to heaven, and (there,) in his absence (from this earth) may he lend a favouring ear to our prayers!
Ll. 871-879. Ovid's Envoi.
And now I have finished this work, which neither Jupiter's anger, nor fire, nor sword, nor devouring old age will (ever) be able to erase. Let that day, which has no power, except over my body, end, when it wishes, the uncertain span of my life: yet, the best part of me will be borne, immortal, high above the stars, and my name will be imperishable, and, wherever the influence of Rome extends over the lands it has subdued, I shall be read by the lips of men, and, (with) my fame (extending) throughout all ages, if the prophecies of bards have any truth (in them), I shall live.
Ll. 143-175. Metempsychosis (i.e. reincarnation, or transmigration of souls).
"And (now), since a god moves my lips, I shall duly follow the god who is moving my lips, and I shall disclose my (beloved) Delphi and the heavens themselves, and I shall reveal the mind of that august god. I shall tell of great (mysteries), not investigated by the intellects of our ancestors, and which have long lain hidden; it pleases (me) to go among the lofty stars; it pleases (me) to leave the earth and its dull abode, and to be borne on a cloud, and to stand on the shoulders of the mighty Atlas, and to look down from afar on men wandering about in all directions and devoid of (all) reason, and (who are) anxious and afraid of death, so as to encourage (them) and unravel the sequence of fate.
"O (human) race paralysed by the terror of icy death, why do you fear the Styx (i.e. the principal river of the Underworld), why (do you fear) the shades and empty names, the stuff of poets, and the perils of a phantom world? Whether the funeral pyre consumes your bodies by flame or old age (consumes them) by decay, do not imagine that you can suffer any evil! Your souls are free from death, and always, when they have left their former abode, they live in new homes and, once they have been admitted, (there) they dwell. At the time of the Trojan War, I myself - for I do remember - was Euphorbus, the son of Panthoüs, in whose opposing breast the heavy spear(-point) of the younger son of Atreus (i.e. Menelaus) was once fixed: recently I recognised the shield, (once) the burden of my left(-arm), in the temple of Juno in Argos, (the city) of Abas.
"All (things) change, but nothing perishes; the spirit wanders, and comes to this spot from that one, and from that spot to this one, and occupies whatever body it wishes, and it passes into a human body from (the body of) a wild beast, and our (spirit passes) into (the body of) a wild beast, but at no time does it ever die; in the same way, pliable wax is stamped with fresh designs and does not stay as it was, nor does it keep the same shapes, but it is still the same (substance); so I say that the soul is always the same, but that it migrates into different forms. Therefore, lest piety should be overcome by the stomach's greed, stop, I warn (you) as a seer, the expulsion of spirits by such impious slaughter, and let not blood be nourished by blood!
Ll. 176-198. The Eternal Flux.
"Now, since I am launched on the boundless ocean, I have given my full sails to the wind: there is nothing in all the world which remains unchanged. Everything is in flux, and every shape is formed on a fleeting basis; time itself also glides by in continual motion, just like a river, for neither the river nor the fleeting hour can stop, but, as wave drives on wave, and each one is pursued by the coming (one) and chases the previous (one), so time flies in the same way and follows in the same way, and is always new; for what was before is left behind, and what was not (now) comes to be, and every moment is a fresh one.
"You see both (how) the passing night stretches towards the dawn, and (how) its shining light follows the darkness of night. The sky does not have the same colour, when all (things) lie wearily at rest at mid(-night), and when bright Lucifer (i.e. the Morning Star) comes forth on his white steed, and (it is) different again when the daughter of Pallas (i.e. Aurora, the Dawn), the precursor of daylight, tints the world, (which she has) delivered to Phoebus (i.e. the Sun). The very shield of the god is red at dawn, when it rises from beneath the earth, and is red when it is hidden beneath the earth, (but) it is white at his zenith (i.e. at midday) because the quality of the air is purer, and he has escaped far from the contagion of the earth. Nor can Diana's (i.e. the Moon's) shape ever be similar or the same at night, and today's disc is always smaller than tomorrow's, if it is waxing, (and) larger, if it is waning.
Ll. 199-236. The Four Ages of Man.
"What? Don't you see that the year proceeds in four stages, imitating the progression of our lives? For in early spring it is tender and full of sap, very like the time of our childhood: at that time the grass (is) shining, yet it swells without any strength, but it is soft and in its promise it fills the farmers with delight. Then everything blossoms and the fruitful countryside frolics in the colours of its flowers, but there is still no strength in its leaves. After the spring, the year, (now) more robust, turns into summer, and its youth becomes strong; for there is no season more sturdy or more fruitful, or that shines more brightly than this one. Autumn comes next, after the fervour of youth has been set aside, (and it is a time that is) ripe and mellow, between youth and old age, (and it is) moderate in temperature, and also streaked with grey (hair) on its temples. The comes aged winter, shivering with a faltering step, and despoiled of its hair, or what it does have (is turned) white.
"Our bodies are themselves also always changing, nor shall we be tomorrow what we were, or what we are (now); there was a time when we dwelt within the womb of our first mother, (as) just the seed and the hope of a human being. (Then) nature applied her skilful hands, and was unwilling for our bodies, hidden (as they were) within our mother's swollen (belly), to be choked by its entrails, and (so) it thrust us forth from our home into the empty air. Discharged into the light, the infant lay (there) helpless; (but) soon he conveyed his limbs on all fours in the manner of wild animals, and little by little, he stood up, tottering and weak-kneed, his sinews assisted by some (convenient) prop. From then on, he grew strong and swift, and traverses the span of youth, and, when the years of middle age have also been completed, he slides along the downward path of declining old age. This undermines and destroys the strength of former years, and the elderly Milon (i.e. a renowned wrestler) weeps when he sees his arms, which were (once) a mass of solid muscles like those of Hercules, (now) hanging down (by his sides) weak and flabby. The daughter of Tyndareus (i.e. Helen) weeps also, when she sees an old woman's wrinkles in the looking-glass, and asks herself why she has twice been ravished (i.e. she had been carried off by Theseus before she eloped with Paris). Time, the devourer of things, and you, jealous Old Age, you destroy everything, and gnawing at all things with your aged teeth, you gradually consume (them) in a lingering death.
Ll. 237-258. The Elements.
"Even those (things) which we call elements do not persist: pay attention! and I shall explain the changes which they go through. The eternal universe contains four generative bodies; of these, two, earth and water, are heavy and are borne downwards by their own weight; and the other two lack weight, and, if nothing holds (them) down, they seek height, (these being) air and fire, which is purer than air. Although they are distinct in space, yet they are all derived from one another, and subside into one another, and the earth, when it has broken up, is changed into air and moisture, and, when it has lost even further weight, the air, (now) at its thinnest, shines forth (as) fire in the heavenly regions. Then they go back again, and the same order is revealed; for fire, having thickened, turns into dense air, and this into water, and the water, having contracted, is condensed into earth.
"Nothing remains in its original shape, and nature, the renewer of things, keeps making one set of shapes from another: believe me, nothing in this whole world has (ever) totally died, but it changes and renews its appearance, and (what) is called birth (is) to begin to be something other than what was (there) before, and likewise death is to end that former (state). Though perhaps some (things) are transferred hither, and other (things are transferred) thither, the sum of all (things) is constant.
Ll. 259-306. Geological changes.
"For my part, I would have thought that nothing lasts for long with the same appearance: so you ages have come to iron from gold, (and) so often has the fortune of places changed. I have seen what was once solid ground become sea, (and) I have seen land formed from the sea, and sea-shells lying far from the ocean; and an ancient anchor has been found on the summit of a mountain. A flood of waters has made what was (once) a plain (into) a valley, and a mountain has been washed into the sea by a deluge, and (a piece of) land is (now) drained from a marshy (state) into parched sand, and (lands) that had endured drought are (now) wet and inundated with marshy pools. In one place nature has discharged fresh springs, and in another it has sealed (them) off, and rivers either burst forth, having been released by deep tremors in the earth, or they are blocked up and subside.
"So, when the Lycus (i.e. a river in Phrygia and a tributary of the Maeander) is drained by a chasm, it emerges far away from its course, and is reborn from a different source: so, at one moment, the mighty Erasinus (i.e. it allegedly begins in Arcadia) is engulfed, but, now, flowing through a hidden water-course, it re-emerges in the fields of Argos, and they say that the Mysus was so ashamed of its source and its former banks that it now flows elsewhere (as) the Caïcus (i.e. a river in Mysia near Pergamum); moreover, the Amenanus (i.e. a river in Sicily) is now flowing, while churning the Sicanian sands, (but) occasionally, if its fountains are blocked, it dries up. The Anigrus (i.e. a river in Elis) was once drinkable, (but) now it flows (with) water which you would not wish to touch, since - unless all credence should be taken away from the bards - the two-shaped (creatures) (i.e. the Centaurs) washed the wounds, which the club-bearing Hercules had caused, in it. Why, is the Hypanis (i.e. a river in Sarmatia and a tributary of the Dnieper), arisen in the Scythian mountains, which once was sweet, not (now) ruined ruined by bitter salt-water? Antissa (i.e. a town on the north coast of Lesbos), and Pharos (i.e. the site of the famous light-house near Alexandria), and Phoenician Tyre (i.e. it ceased to be an island when Alexander the Great constructed a causeway to it from the mainland during its siege in 332 B.C.), of which not one is now an island, were once surrounded by waves. The former settlers of Leucas (i.e. an island off the coast of Acarnania, north of Ithaca in the Ionian Sea) held a peninsula: now waves encircle (it). Zancle (i.e. Messana in north-east Sicily) is also said to have been joined to Italy, till the sea removed the common borderland and pushed back the land into the midst of the waves. If you look for the Achaean cities of Helice and Buris (i.e. both on the Corinthian Gulf), you will find (them) under water, and sailors are still accustomed to point out the sunken towns together with their submerged walls. There is a bulge (of ground) near the Troezen of Pittheus (i.e. king of Troezen and grandfather of Theseus), steep and without any trees, (that was) once the flattest area of the plain, but is now a mound; for - (and) this is a fearful thing to relate! - the wild force of the winds, shut up (as they were) in dark caves, longing for somewhere to breathe and struggling in vain to enjoy a freer (expanse of) sky, since there was no crack at all in their prison(-wall), nor was there any outlet for their breath, extended and swelled the ground, like the breath of the mouth is accustomed to inflate a ball or the hides torn from a two-horned goat; that bulge has remained in place and has the look of a high hill, and has become hardened in (the course of) a long (period of) time.
Ll. 307-360. Physical changes.
"Although very many (instances) that I have heard of and know about come to mind, I shall (only) mention a few of them. Why, does not water bring about and take new forms? Your waters, horned Ammon, (i.e. the African name for Jupiter, and his waters are the lake at the oasis of Siwwa) are cold at mid-day, and are warm at sunrise and sunset. It is said that the Athamanians (i.e. the inhabitants of a district in Epirus near Mount Pindus) set fire to wood by pouring water over (it), when the moon has waned to her smallest disc. The Cicones (i.e. a tribe living in Thrace) have a river, which, (when) drunk, turns one's entrails to stone, and turns anything that it touches into marble. The Crathis (i.e. a river in Arcadia) and the Sybaris (i.e. a river near the coastal town of Sybaris in southern Italy), adjoining our shores in these (parts), cause one's hair (to become) like amber or gold.
"And what is even more amazing, there are waters which have the power to change not only the body but the mind as well. Who has not heard of the disgusting waters of Salmacis (i.e. a pool in Caria which rendered soft and effeminate anyone who swam in it) and of the Ethiopian lakes (i.e. the waters of these lakes caused insanity)? Whoever drinks of these, either goes raving mad or falls into a wonderfully deep sleep. Whosoever slakes his thirst at the spring of Clitor avoids any wine and enjoys, in an abstemious fashion, (only) pure water: (this occurs) either (because) there is a power in the water that counteracts hot wine or, as the natives claim, (because) the son of Amythaon (i.e. Melampus), after he had saved the demented daughters of Proetus (i.e. king of Tiryns, whose daughters were punished for their pride by Juno and believed they were cows) from their madness by a spell and by herbs, threw what had purged their minds into those waters, and an antipathy to wine survived in their waves. The river of Lyncestis (i.e. a district in Macedonia) flows differently to this in its effect; whosoever drinks of its (waters), however moderately, staggers around just as if he had imbibed unmixed wine. There is a place in Arcadia - our ancestors called (it) Pheneus - , mistrusted for its dual-natured waters; beware of them at night! If drunk at night they are harmful; (but) in the day they can be drunk without harm.
"So, lakes and rivers can harbour some power or other; there was a time when Ortygia (i.e. Delos) floated on the waves, (but) now she is fixed. The Argo (once) dreaded the Symplegades (i.e. two rocky islands near the entrance to the Black Sea whose clashing rocks endangered any passing ships), moved around by the collisions of their crashing waves, but now they stand (there) motionless and withstand (the force of) the winds. Nor will Aetna (i.e. the volcano in Sicily), which burns with its sulphurous furnaces, always be on fire, for it was not always on fire. For, if the earth is a creature and is alive, and has vents that breathe out flames in many places, she can alter the passages used for her breathing, and, whenever she is moved, (she can) close some caverns (and) open up others; or, if the fleet winds are confined in deep caves and drive rocks and stones against a substance that contains the seeds of flame, this (substance) creates fire from the friction, (but) the caves will be left cold, when the winds drop; or, if bituminous properties ignite fires, or yellow sulphur burns with little smoke, (then) surely, when the earth no longer gives food and rich nourishment for the fire, as its strength has been exhausted by so long a (period of) time, and devouring nature will lack its own means of support, she will not withstand that famine, and, having been forsaken, the fire will fail. The story goes that there are men in Hyperborean Pallene (a mythical place in the extreme north), who are used to their bodies being covered with light feathers, when they have plunged nine times into Tritonia's (i.e. Minerva's) pool. For my part, I do not believe (it): the women of Scythia (i.e. a region to the north of the Black Sea) are also said to practise the same arts, (by) sprinkling their limbs with magic potions.
Ll. 361-390. Autogenesis.
"If, however, trust is only given to things (that are) proven, do you not see that, whenever carcasses have rotted, due to the passage of time or to melting heat, they are turned into tiny animals? Bury sacrificed bulls in the ditch (in which they have been) thrown - this experiment is well-known in practice; flower-sipping bees will (then) be born in various places from the putrid entrails, and they will inhabit the fields like their parents, and they will favour work, and labour in the hope (of a reward). A war-horse, sunk in the ground, is the source of hornets; if you should cut the bent claws off a crab found on the sea-shore, and put the rest (of it) under the soil, a scorpion will emerge from the buried parts, and will threaten (you) with its curved tail; and silk-worms, which are accustomed to embroider the leaves with their white cocoons - a practice observed by farmers - will exchange their form for (that) of a butterfly on a tombstone (i.e. the symbol of a soul). Mud contains the seeds that generate green frogs, and generates (frogs) lacking feet, (but) soon it gives (them) legs, and, at the same time, hind-legs that exceed their fore-legs in length, so that they are fit (to take) long leaps. A cub that a she-bear has just delivered in birth is not (a cub) but a scarcely living (lump of) flesh; the mother forms (it) into a body by licking (it), and makes (it) into a shape such as she herself possesses. Do you not see that the larvae of the honey-bearing bees, which the hexagonal wax (cells) protect, are born (as) bodies without limbs, and later assume feet, and wings later (still)? Who would suppose, if he did not know it was the case, that Juno's bird which carries stars on its tail (i.e. the peacock), and Jupiter's (bird) that bears the lightning-bolt (i.e. the eagle), and Cytherea's (i.e. Venus') doves, and every kind of bird, could be born from the middle parts (i.e. the yolk) of an egg. There are (those) who believe that when the spine has decomposed within the closed tomb, the human marrow is turned into a snake.
Ll. 391-417. The Phoenix.
"Yet, these (creatures) receive their beginnings from other species: there is one bird, which (by) itself renews and reproduces itself. The Assyrians call (it) the phoenix; it does not live on fruit or grass, but on drops of incense and the juice of the cardamom (plant). When it has completed the five centuries of its life, it, at once, builds a nest for itself in the branches at the top of a swaying palm-tree with its talons and its unsoiled beak. As soon as it has lined (it) with (strips of) casia bark and spikes of smooth nard, and with (the fragments of) grated cinnamon and yellow myrrh, it settles itself on the top (of the tree), and ends its life among these perfumes. Then, they say that a young phoenix is reborn from its father's body. When age has given it strength, and it is able to carry burdens, it lowers the branches of a tall tree by the weight of its nest, and it dutifully conveys (what is) both its own cradle and its father's tomb (before it), and, when it reaches the city of Hyperion (i.e. the Sun God) through the light breezes, it lays (it) down before the sacred doors within Hyperion's temple.
"But, if there is any wonderful novelty in any of those (things), we might marvel at (how) a hyena changes its functions, and (how) a female (hyena), which has just suffered (being serviced by) a male, is now a male (herself); that animal which is fed by the wind and the air (i.e. a chameleon) also adopts forthwith the colour of whatever it touches. Vanquished India gave lynxes to Bacchus of the clustered (vines): from these, as they say, whatever the bladder has released turns into stone and solidifies as soon as it is contact with the air. So also, coral hardens at the moment when it is first exposed to the air: it was a soft plant under the waves.
Ll. 418-452. Transfers of Power.
"The day will end and Phoebus will bathe his panting steeds in the deep (waters of the) sea, before I can do justice in my discourse to all (the things) that have changed into new forms: so times change, and we see some nations grow in strength, (and) others collapse. So Troy (that) was (once so) great in wealth and men (that) for ten years she could offer so much blood, (is) now humbled, and shows (us) only ancient ruins, and ancestral tombs instead of riches. Sparta was (once) famous, great Mycenae flourished, and so did the cities of Cecrops (i.e. Athens) and Amphion (i.e. Thebes) as well: (now) Sparta is worthless land, lofty Mycenae has fallen, and what is the Thebes of Oedipus but a name? What remains of Pandion's Athens except its name?
"Now there is also a report that Dardanian (i.e. Trojan) Rome is rising, and it is laying the foundations of (great) things beneath a huge mass (of rock) near to the waters of Thybris (i.e. the Tiber), the source of which is in the Appennines: so she changes as she grows, and one day she will be the capital of a boundless world. So they say the seers and the prophetic oracles predicted, and, as far as I can recollect (it), Helenus, the son of Priam, said (this) to a weeping Aeneas, (who was) in doubt about his safety, when the Trojan state was sinking: 'Son of the goddess (i.e. Venus), if you become sufficiently acquainted with my mind's predictions, Troy will not wholly fall, while you are alive and well! Fire and sword will give way to you: you will go and you will take up and carry off Pergama (i.e. the citadel of Troy) with you, until a foreign land, more friendly than your native (one), shall be the lot of Troy and yourself. I also see a city destined for Phrygian descendants, and no (greater city than this) exists or will exist, nor (has it been) seen in former years. Other leaders will make her powerful through during the long centuries, but (one) born of the blood of Iülus (i.e. Julius Caesar) (will make her) the mistress of the world; when the earth has made use of him, the celestial abodes will enjoy (his presence), and heaven will be his destination.'
"Recalling (them) in my mind, I repeat once more these (things) that Helenus prophesied to Aeneas, that bearer of his household gods, and I am glad that the walls of his kinsmen are rising, and that the victory of the Pelasgians (i.e. the Greeks) (has been) of benefit to the Phrygians (i.e. the Trojans).
Ll. 453-478. The Sanctity of Life.
"But, lest I stray (too) far from my course, with my steeds forgetting (how) to reach their goal, the sky and whatever is beneath it change their forms, and (so does) the earth and all that is within it. (Let) us, (who are) also a part of the universe, since we are not only flesh, but also winged souls, and are able to enter the abodes of wild animals and be imprisoned within the bodies of cattle, bodies which can contain the souls of our parents, or of our brothers, or of those connected to us by some (kind of) compact, or of men at least, let us allow (these bodies) to be secure and honoured, and let us not pile up their entrails (as if we were) at some Thyestean meal (n.b. Atreus served up the bodies of his brother Thyestes' sons to him at a feast, as an act of revenge). How evil is the habit that a man acquires, (and) how impiously does he prepare himself (to shed) human blood, who rips a calf's throat with a knife and proffers unmoved ears to its bleatings, or who can slaughter a kid that is giving forth cries like (those of) a child, or eat a bird to which he himself has given food! In relation to such acts as these, how far does he fall short of complete outrage (i.e. murder)? To where is his path laid down from there? Let the ox plough, or attribute his death to old age; let the sheep serve as our defence against the north wind; (and) let the well-fed nanny-goats give their udders to be squeezed by our hands! Do away with nets and their traps, and snares, and crafty devices, and do not deceive the birds with limed twigs, or shut in the deer by frightening feathered (ropes), or conceal barbed hooks in treacherous bait! If any (animals) harm (you), kill (them), but do only kill them: keep your mouth free of their flesh, and may it enjoy a milder (type of) food."
Ll. 479-551. The transformation of Hippolytus.
They say that Numa, with his mind well versed in these and other precepts, returned to his native land, and voluntarily took up the reins of Latium at the request of its people. Blessed with a nymph (i.e. Egeria) as his wife, and with the Camenae (i.e. the Muses) as his guides, he taught the rites of sacrifice, and introduced a race accustomed to savage warfare to the arts of peace.
When, (as) an old man, he ended his reign and his life, the women of Latium, and its people and its senators, wept for the dead Numa; for his wife leaves the city and lives in retirement, concealed by the dense woods of the valley of Aricia (i.e. a city in Latium near Nemi), and she hinders the worship of Orestean Diana by her groans and lamentation: ah! how often did the nymphs of that grove and lake advise her not to act (in such a manner), and they spoke consoling words (to her). How often did the heroic (son) of Theseus (i.e. Hippolytus) say to the weeping (nymph), "Cease this behaviour (of yours)! For your sad lot is not yours alone; consider the similar misfortunes of others: then you can bear those of your own more calmly, and how I wish that the circumstances of my own case could not relieve you! But even mine can, (I believe, do so).
"I know it has come to your ears in conversation that a certain Hippolytus met his death, through his father's incredulity and through the deceit of his wicked step-mother (i.e. Phaedra). You will be amazed (to hear it), and I shall prove (it, albeit) with difficulty, but nevertheless I am he. The daughter of Pasiphaë (i.e. Phaedra) once tried, in vain, to tempt me to dishonour my father's bed, (and then) claimed that I wanted (to do) what she wanted, and, the charge having been reversed, she procured my conviction, and although I did not deserve (it) in any way, my father banished me from the city (i.e. Athens) and called down hostile curses om my head (as I) was going off (into exile). In my flight, I headed in my chariot for Pittheus' Troezen, and I was traversing the shores of the gulf of Corinth, when the sea rose up, and a huge mass of water seemed to be arched and to swell into some kind of mountain, and to give out bellowing (noises), and to be split open at the highest point of its crest. Then a horned bull is ejected from the bursting waves, and, standing right up to his chest in the gentle breezes, he spews out a quantity of seawater from his nostrils and his gaping mouth. The hearts of my companions quaked with fear. (But) my mind, preoccupied with thoughts of our exile, remained unshaken, when my fierce horses turned their necks towards the sea, and trembled with their ears pricked up, and they were thrown into confusion by fear of the monster and dragged the chariot headlong over the steep crags; I struggle with unavailing hands to control the bridles, (now) smeared with white foam, and, leaning right back, I strain at the sluggish reins. Yet, my horses' madness would not have overcome my strength, if a wheel had not been broken and the axle-hub around which it revolves shattered by collision with a tree. I am thrown from the chariot, and, with the reins entangling my body, you would have seen my living entrails being dragged along, and my sinews stuck on a tree-stump, my limbs partly torn away, (and) partly held back and left behind, my snapped bones let out a loud crack and my weary spirit expire, and no parts of my body which you could recognise; all was (but) one wound. Can you (really) compare, or dare (to compare) your own to my disaster? I also saw the kingdom without light (i.e. Hades), and warmed my lacerated body in the waters of Phlegethon (i.e. the river of fire, one of the six rivers of the Underworld), nor would my life have been restored, but for the powerful remedies of Apollo's son (i.e. Aesculapius, the God of Healing); after I had regained it by (the power of) strong herbs), and with the help of Paean (i.e. Apollo), (and) despite the anger of Dis (i.e. Pluto, King of Hades), then, lest I might be seen in person and increase the (sense of) envy at this gift, Cynthia (i.e. Diana) cast a dense cloud around me, and, so that I might be safe and could be seen with impunity, she added (a look of) age, and left my face unrecognisable, and she wondered for a long time (whether) she should give (me) Crete or Delos as a place of habitation: Delos and Crete having been abandoned, she brought (me) here (i.e. to Diana's sanctuary at Nemi), and, at the same time, she bids (me) set aside my name, which could remind (me) of horses, and said, "You who were Hippolytus, may you now be Virbius too!" From then on, I inhabit this grove, and, (as) one of the lesser gods, I lie concealed under the divine will of my mistress and am assigned to her (train)."
But the grief of others could not alleviate Egeria's (sense of) loss, and, lying at the lowest feet of a mountain, she dissolves into tears, until Phoebus' sister (i.e. Diana), moved by the piety of her sorrowing, made a cool fountain from her body, and reduced her limbs to a continual (stream of) water.
Ll. 552-621. Cipus acquires horns.
Now, this strange occurrence astonished the nymphs, and the son of the Amazon (i.e. Hippolytus, son of Hippolyte, an Amazonian princess) was no less astounded than (was) the Tyrrhenian (i.e. Tuscan) ploughman, when he caught sight of a fateful clod of earth in the middle of his fields first move of its own accord and with no one stirring (it), then assume the form of a man and lose its earthy (nature), and open its new-found mouth to prophesy (things) to come - the natives called (him) Tages, and he (was) the first (man to) teach the Tuscan race (how) to reveal future events - ; so too (was) Romulus (astonished) when he saw his spear-shaft, which had once held fast to the Palatine hill, suddenly burst into leaf, and it stood (there) with fresh roots, not with its iron(-point) driven (into the ground), and, now not a weapon but a pliant osier tree, it gave unexpected shade to (those) wondering (at it); or (no less astounded was) Cipus (i.e. the praetor), when he saw his horns (reflected) in the river-water - for he did see (them there) - and, thinking it to be a false belief in relation to his likeness, he repeatedly lifted his fingers to his forehead and touched what he saw, and no longer able to deny (it by) finding fault with his eyesight, he raised his hands and eyes to the sky at the same time, as if he was returning victorious from the conquest of his foes, and declared, "(O you) gods above, whatever is presaged by such a portent as this, if it be joy, let that joy belong to the native-land and people of Quirinus (i.e. Rome and the Romans), or, if (it be something) threatening, let it (fall) upon me!" Then, making a grassy altar from the green turf, he appeases (the gods) with a fragrant fire (i.e. he burns incense) and offers (them) wine in bowls, and he consults the quivering internal organs of the slaughtered sheep (to see) what they might signify to him. As soon as a diviner from the Tuscan race examined them, he perceived in them events of great importance, but (they were) not (yet) manifest. But, when he raised his keen eyes from the entrails of the sheep to Cipus' horns, he cried, "Hail, O King! For this place and the citadels of Latium will obey you, Cipus, you and your horns. Only, do you put an end to delay, and hurry to enter these open gates! So fate enjoins; for, once you have been received in the city, you will take possession of the sceptre in safety forever."
He reversed his footsteps, and, turning his grim face away from the city walls, he said, "The gods should drive such omens far, oh! far away (from me). (It would be) much better, (if) I were to spend my life in exile, than for the Capitol to see me (as) a king!"
(So) he spoke, and forthwith he convokes both the people and the dignified Senate; but first he veils his horns with the laurel of peace; then, he stands on a platform constructed by the valiant troops, and praying to the ancient gods in accordance with custom, he says, "There is one (man) here, who will be your king unless you drive (him) from the city. I will tell (you) who he is, not by name, (but) by a sign: he wears horns on his forehead. The augur declares that, if he enters Rome, he will (only) grant you the rights of slaves. Indeed, he could have forced his way through your open gates, but I have hindered (him), although no one is nearer to him than I (am). Quirites (i.e. Roman citizens), you must prevent this (man) from (entering) the city, or, if he deserves (it), bind (him) with heavy chains, or end (all) fear by the death of the fated tyrant!"
Like the murmurs that are made by the bushy-topped pine-groves, when the harsh east wind whistles among (them), or like those that the waves of the sea make, if someone hears them from afar, such sounds the people make; but yet, among the confused cries of the noisy crowd, one voice rings out: "Who is he?" and they look at their foreheads and search for the aforementioned horns.
Cipus speaks to them again: "You have (here the man) whom you are looking for," and removing, the wreath from his head, with the people trying to stop (him), he showed (them) his temples conspicuous for their two horns. They all dropped their eyes and gave out groans, and looked reluctantly at that head, renowned (as it was) for its merits - (for) who could believe (it)? - ; nor did they allow (him) to be deprived of honour for long, and they placed a festive garland on (his head). And since you are forbidden to enter the walls, the elders have given you, Cipus, as a mark of honour, as much farmland as you could enclose with (a team of) oxen, harnessed to a sunken plough-share, from dawn to sunset, and they engrave your horns on the (city's) bronze gate-posts, recalling their wondrous shape, to remain (there) throughout the long centuries (to come).
Ll. 622-679. Ravaged by plague, Rome seeks the assistance of Aesculapius.
Reveal now, (O) Muses, (you) guardian deities of bards - for you know, and a lengthy old age does not deceive you - , for what reason an island surrounded by the deep (waters) of the Tiber, has added the son of Coronis (i.e. Aesculapius) to the sacred (figures) of Romulus' city.
At one time, a dreadful plague had infested the air of Latium, and (people's) pallid bodies were ravaged by a bloodless disease. When, wearied by funeral rites, they see that human efforts were achieving nothing, and nor (were) the skills of doctors, they seek help from the heavens, and they travel to Delphi, set in the centre of the world's earth, to the oracle of Phoebus, and they pray that he would help (them) in their wretched situation by a health-giving prophecy, and bring their great city's evil to an end; then, the ground, and the laurel-tree, and the quiver, which he himself holds, (all) shake together, and from the innermost sanctuary his tripod responded with these words: "What you are seeking here, you should have sought in a nearer place, (O) Roman, and (even) now you should seek (it) in that nearer place! It is not Apollo you need to lessen your grief, but Apollo's son (i.e. Aesculapius). Go with good omens, and fetch my son."
When the Senate, in its wisdom, had received the god's command, it makes enquiries as to which city the young son of Phoebus might inhabit, and sends (an embassy) to sail to the coast of Epidaurus (i.e. a city in Argolis where a sanctuary to Aesculapius had been constructed). As soon as the ambassadors had touched (shore) in their curved ship, they went to a council of Greek elders, and begged (them) to give up the god, who, by his presence, might prevent the death of the Ausonian (i.e. Italian) race: (for) so (they said) the unerring oracle had spoken. Their opinions differ and are various, and (while) some do not think that help can be denied, the majority urge that they should retain their wealth and not release (it), and that they should not give up their god: while they waver, dusk dispelled the lingering daylight and shadows had covered the circle of the earth in darkness, when, in your dreams, the god of healing seemed to stand before your bed, (O) Roman, but, just as he is accustomed to appear in his temple, and, holding a rustic staff in his left(-hand), (he seemed) to stroke the hair of his long beard with his right(-hand) and to utter these words from his gentle breast:
"Set aside your fear! I shall come, and I shall leave behind a statue of myself. Now, take a look at this serpent that winds in knots around my staff, and keep it continually in your sight, so that you can recognise (it)! I shall be changed into this, but I shall be greater (in size), and I shall seem (to be) as great as a celestial body should be whenever it is transformed."
At once, the god vanishes with the voice, (and) sleep with the voice and the god, and kindly light followed sleep's flight.
The next day's dawn had put the starry fires to flight: the leaders, uncertain what they should do, come to the elaborate temple of the god (who is) being sought, and they beg (him) to show (them) by some heavenly signs at which abode he wishes to reside. Well, scarcely had they finished (speaking), when the golden god in (the form of) a serpent with a tall crest, gave out hissing (sounds) that announced his presence, and, by his coming, he rocked the statue, and the altars, and the doors, and the marble floor and the gilded pediments, and he stood upright right up to his chest in the centre of the temple, and looked around (him) with flashing eyes. The crowd trembles with fear. (But) the priest, his holy locks, bound with a white fillet, recognised the divine being: "Behold, it is the god, it is the god! Keep your minds and tongues auspicious, all who are here!" he cried. "O (you) most beautiful (one), may you be seen (to be) useful (to us), and may you help the people who cherish your sacred rites."
Ll. 680-744. Aesculapius, intent on helping the Romans, makes the long journey to Rome to save them from the plague.
All who are present worship the god as they have been commanded, and they all recite the priest's words in repetition, and the descendants of Aeneas (i.e. the Romans) give their dutiful support in both mind and voice. The god nodded in apparent agreement by shaking that crest of his, and gave repeated hissing (noises) with his darting tongue. Then he slides down the shining steps and turns his head back and gazes at the altar he was about to leave, and salutes his accustomed home and the temple (in which he has) lived. From there, the huge (creature) slithers over ground covered with planted flowers and revolves his coils, and makes his way through the centre of the city to the harbour, fortified by its curved embankment. There he stops, and, appearing to dismiss his train and the following throng with a kindly expression, he settled his body in the Ausonian ship: it sensed its divine burden, and its keel sank under the weight of the god; the descendants of Aeneas are joyful, and, having sacrificed a bull on the shore, they loosen the twisted cables of their garlanded ship.
A gentle breeze drove the ship: the god stretches skywards, and, pressing down upon the curved stern with the neck (that he had) placed (there), he gazes down on the blue waves, and, (wafted) by moderate west winds across the Ionian Sea, he reached Italy after Pallantis (i.e. Aurora, the Goddess of Dawn) had risen six times (i.e. after six days), and he is borne past the shores of Lacinium, ennobled by the temple of the goddess (i.e. Juno), and of Scylaceum; he leaves Iapygia behind (him), and avoids the Amphrisian rocks on his port side and the Cocinthian crags to starboard, and he coasts past Romethium, and Caulon, and Narycia, and passes the straits and the narrows of Sicilian Pelorus, and the home of King Hippotades (i.e. Aeolus, guardian of the winds) and the (copper) mines of Temese, and makes for Leucosia and the rose-gardens of gentle Paestum. From there he skirts Capreae and the promontory of Minerva, and the hills well-stocked with Surrentine vines, and the city of Hercules (i.e. Herculaneum), and Stabiae, and Parthenope (i.e. Naples), born for idleness, and from there the temple of the Cumaean Sibyl. From here the hot springs (i.e. Baiae), and Liternum, where mastic trees grow, are reached, and (so are) the Volturnus, dragging thick sand beneath its flood waters, and Sinuessa, frequented by snow-white doves, and swamp-infested Minturnae, and (the place (i.e. Caieta) named after the woman) whom her foster-son (i.e. Aeneas) entombed, and the home of Antiphates (i.e. Formiae), and Trachas, surrounded by a marsh, and the land of Circe (i.e. Circeii), and Antium with its compact beach.
When the sailors steered the ship in full sail to this place (i.e. Antium) - for the sea was now rough - , the god unfolds his coils, and, gliding along by means of his numerous folds and his great rolls, he enters his father's temple adjoining the yellow strand. When the sea was calm, the Epidaurian (i.e. Aesculapius) leaves his father's altar, and, having enjoyed the hospitality of the divine being related to him, he furrows the sand of the shore with the course of his rustling scales, and, supporting himself on the ship's helm, he placed his head on its lofty stern, until he came to Castrum, and to the sacred abode of Lavinium. and to the mouth of the Tiber.
Here, all the people rush from all directions to meet (him), a throng of both men and women, and those who tend your fires, (O) Trojan Vesta, and they greet the god with a cry of joy. As the swift ship is conducted upstream, (burning) incense crackles on altars constructed on the banks of both sides (of the river) and it perfumes the air with its fumes, and (the blood of) the slaughtered victims warms (the blades of) the sacrificial knives.
And now he had entered the city of Rome: the serpent stands erect and moves his neck as it rests on the top of the mast, and he looks around for a suitable home for himself. The river is split into branches, flowing around (what) has the name of an island, and, in respect of its two sides, it stretches its arms out equally, with the land in the middle. Here, the serpent child of Phoebus removed himself from the Latin pine (ship), and, having resumed his divine shape, he came to the city (as) a health giver, and brought an end to its grief.
Ll. 745- 846. The deification of Julius Caesar.
He (i.e. Aesculapius), however, came to our temples (as) a stranger; (but) Caesar is a god in his own city; outstanding (both) in war and peace, his wars that ended in triumphs, and the deeds he performed at home, and the speedily(-won) glory of his achievements, did no more to turn him into a new (figure) among the stars, and a comet, than (did) his descendant (i.e. Augustus); for among Caesar's actions there is no greater deed than that he stood as father to that (emperor) of ours. Is it really a greater (thing) to have subdued the sea-going Britons (i.e. Caesar made two expeditions to Briton in 55 and 54 B.C.), to have led his victorious ships down the seven-mouthed stream of the papyrus-bearing Nile (i.e. he sailed down the Nile in a flotilla of boats with Queen Cleopatra, after he ad installed her on the throne of Egypt in 47 B.C.), to have subjected the rebellious Numidians and Juba of the (River) Cinyps (i.e. Juba I, King of Numidia, an ally of the Pompeian forces defeated by Caesar at the Battle of Thapsus in North Africa in 46 B.C.), and Pontus, puffed up (with pride) in the name of Mithridates (i.e. Caesar defeated Mithridates's son Pharnaces, King of Pontus, at the battle of Zela in 47 B.C.) to (the sway of) the people of Quirinus (i.e. the Romans), and to have earned (so) many triumphs but only to have celebrated some, than to have brought forth so great a man (i.e. Augustus)? With him (as) ruler of all, (O) gods, you have abundantly favoured the human race!
So, lest the latter (i.e. Augustus) should be created of mortal seed, the former (i.e. Julius Caesar) needed to made a god. When the golden mother of Aeneas (i.e. Venus) saw this, (and) also saw that a grim death was being prepared for her high priest and that an armed conspiracy was under way, she grew pale and said to every god that she encountered, "See with what a great effort is the treachery being prepared against me, and what great trickery is that life being sought which is the only (thing) that is left to me of Dardanian (i.e. Trojan) Iülus. Will I alone always be troubled by such well-founded anxieties, (I) whom now the son of Tydeus (i.e. Diomedes) has wounded with his Calydonian spear, (and whom) next the poorly-defended walls of Troy confound, and who shall see my son (i.e. Aeneas) driven by endless wanderings, and being tossed by the sea, and entering the abodes of the silent (shades) (i.e. Hades), and waging war with Turnus, or, if I should speak the truth, with Juno rather? This fear does not allow any memory of the past: look, can you see those accursed swords being sharpened? Stop them, I beg (you), and repel this attempt, and do not extinguish the flames of Vesta through the slaughter of her priest."
In her anxiety, Venus casts such words as these in vain throughout all of the heavens, and she troubles the gods, who, although they cannot break the iron decrees of the ancient sisters (i.e. the Fates), nevertheless give no uncertain portents of approaching woe. (Men) say that weapons clattering among the black clouds and the terrifying trumpets and horns (that were) heard in the sky foretold the crime; the sad face of the sun also bestowed a lurid light over the anxious earth. Firebrands (i.e. shooting stars) were frequently seen burning in the midst of the stars (and) drops of blood often fell between the rain-clouds. Lucifer's (i.e. the Morning Star's) visage was stained dark-blue with (spots of) black rust, and the Moon's chariot (was) spattered with blood. The Stygian owl was sounding its sad (omens) in a thousand places, ivory (statues) wept in a thousand places, and dirges and threatening words are said to have been heard in the sacred groves. No sacrifice obtains a favourable omen, and a liver warns that great civil conflicts are imminent, and a chopped lobe is found amongst the organs. In the forum, and around (men's) houses and the temples of the gods, dogs howled at night, and they say that the shades of the silent (dead) were wandering about, and that the city (was) shaken by earthquakes.
Yet, the gods' warnings could not prevent the conspiracy and approaching fate, and drawn swords are carried into a temple (i.e. the chapel in Pompey's Theatre where the Senate was meeting); for no (other) place in the city would satisfy (them, as the scene) for their crime and dreadful murder but the senate-house. Then, indeed, Cytherea (i.e. Venus) struck her breast with both hands, and tries to hide the descendant of Aeneas (i.e. Caesar) in a cloud, just as Paris was snatched away from the aggressive son of Atreus (i.e. Menelaus), and Aeneas had escaped the sword of Diomedes.
(Then) her father (i.e. Jupiter) (spoke to) her in these words: "Daughter, are you intending to fight invincible fate alone? You, yourself, may enter the house of the three sisters (i.e. the Fates): there you will see, (wrought) in bronze and solid iron by enormous labour, the Records of Fortune (i.e. Rome's public record office), which secure and enduring, (as they are), fear neither the clashing of the skies, nor the thunderbolt's wrath, nor any (other) destructive forces. There you will find the destiny of your descendants inscribed in permanent adamant: I have read (this) myself, and have made a note (of it) in my mind, and I shall (now) tell (you), so that you are no longer unaware of the future. That (man), on whose behalf you are labouring (i.e. Caesar), Cytherea, has come to the end of his time, and he has fulfilled the years which he has owed to the earth. You, and his son (i.e. Octavianus Augustus) will ensure that he ascends to heaven (as) a god, and that he is worshipped in the temples (here), (and he) who is heir to his name will bear alone the burden placed upon (him), and that most valiant avenger of his murdered father will have us in his battles (as) his (allies). Under his auspices, the conquered walls of Mutina (i.e. Decimus Brutus was besieged there in 43 B.C. by Mark Antony, but the siege was lifted after Antony's forces were defeated by Octavian) will sue for peace; the region of Pharsalus (i.e. the site of Caesar's great victory over Pompey in 48 B.C.) will feel his (might), and Erymathian (i.e. Macedonian) Philippi will be drenched in blood a second time (n.b. there were two battles, three weeks apart, at Philippi in 43 B.C. when Antony and Octavian defeated Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius), and a 'great' name will be defeated in Sicilian waters (i.e. Sextus Pompeius 'Magnus' was defeated in a naval battle off Naulochus in 36 B.C, by Octavian's admiral Agrippa), and the Egyptian consort (i.e. Cleopatra) of a Roman general (i.e. Mark Antony), (while) trusting too much in their marriage, will fall (n.b. Cleopatra committed suicide in 30 B.C. after Antony's forces were defeated at Actium in 31 B.C.), and she threatened in vain that our Capitol would bow the knee to her Canopus (i.e. a city in the Nile delta). Why should I enumerate for you the foreign countries and nations living on either (shore) of the ocean? Whatever habitable (land) the earth sustains, it will be his: even the sea will serve him!
"When he has given peace to the world, he will turn his mind to civil justice, and he will make laws (as) the most just of legislators, and by his own example he will direct the behaviour (of his people), and, with a view to the age of the time to come and of his future descendants, he will order the offspring born of his virtuous wife (i.e. Tiberius, son of Livia) to assume simultaneously both his name and his responsibilities, and he will not attain his heavenly abode and his kindred stars until the time when he has equalled the age of the (king of) Pylos (i.e. Nestor). Meanwhile, take his (father's) spirit from his mutilated body, and make (it) into a constellation, so that the deified Julius may always look down upon our Capitol and forum from his elevated shrine (i.e. the image of a comet was placed on the head of Caesar's statue in his temple in the Forum)."
He (i.e. Jupiter) had scarcely finished saying these (things), when kindly Venus stood in the centre of the senate-house, (though) seen by no one, and she rescued the newly (freed) spirit of her Caesar from his body, and, not allowing (it) to be dissolved into the air, she bore (it) to the heavenly stars.
Ll. 847-870. Ovid's celebration of Augustus.
While she carried (it), she felt (it) start to glow and catch fire, and she freed (it) from her bosom: he soars higher than the moon, and, drawing a fiery tail (behind him) on his extensive pathway (through the sky), he shines (as) a star, and, seeing his son's achievements, he acknowledges that they are greater than his own, and he delights to be surpassed by him.
Although he (i.e. Augustus) forbids that his own actions should be esteemed before (those) of his father, yet fame, free and obedient to no one's orders, prefers (him), reluctant (though he is), and in this one respect only resists (him): thus great Atreus yields to the fame of Agamemnon, thus Theseus excelled Aegeus, and Achilles Peleus: and, lastly, to quote an example that matches the two of them (i.e. Caesar and Augustus), so also is Saturn less than Jupiter: Jupiter rules the citadels of the heavens, and the realms of the three-part universe (i.e. the sky, the sea and the underworld), (while) the earth comes under Augustus; each is a father and a ruler. I beg, (O you) gods, the companions of Aeneas, to whom sword and fire gave way, and (you) native deities (of Italy), and Quirinus (i.e. Romulus), the founder of our city and Gradivus (i.e. Mars), the father of unconquered Quirinus, and Vesta, revered among Caesar's household gods, and you, Phoebus, a household (god) together with Caesar's Vesta, and (you), lofty Jupiter, who holds the Tarpeian citadel (i.e. the Capitol with its temple of Jupiter), and (all) you other (gods) whom it is right and fitting for a bard to invoke: (yes, I beg) that that day may be slow (to arrive), and that (it may come) later than my lifetime, when the person of Augustus leaves the world which he (now) rules, and that he rises to heaven, and (there,) in his absence (from this earth) may he lend a favouring ear to our prayers!
Ll. 871-879. Ovid's Envoi.
And now I have finished this work, which neither Jupiter's anger, nor fire, nor sword, nor devouring old age will (ever) be able to erase. Let that day, which has no power, except over my body, end, when it wishes, the uncertain span of my life: yet, the best part of me will be borne, immortal, high above the stars, and my name will be imperishable, and, wherever the influence of Rome extends over the lands it has subdued, I shall be read by the lips of men, and, (with) my fame (extending) throughout all ages, if the prophecies of bards have any truth (in them), I shall live.
