The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso Vols. I & II

Ovid

• Publisher: Youcanprint
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9788827825792
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

Metamorphosis is the title of an epic-mythological poem by the poet Publio Ovidio Nasone and includes fifteen books and over 250 myths. Through this work, Ovid has made famous and sent to the posters numerous mythological stories and tales of Greek and Roman classics.

VOL. 1. - THE First Book OF THE METAMORPHOSES OF OVID.

From bodies various form’d, mutative shapes My Muse would sing: Celestial powers give aid! From you those changes sprung, inspire my pen; Connect each period of my venturous song Unsever’d, from old Chaös’ rude misrule, Till now the world beneath Augustus smiles.

While yet nor earth nor sea their place possest, Nor that cerulean canopy which hangs O’ershadowing all, each undistinguish’d lay, And one dead form all Nature’s features bore; Unshapely, rude, and Chaos justly nam’d. Together struggling laid, each element Confusion strange begat: Sol had not yet Whirl’d through the blue expanse his burning car: Nor Luna yet had lighted forth her lamp, Nor fed her waning light with borrowed rays. No globous earth pois’d inly by its weight, Hung pendent in the circumambient sky: The sky was not: Nor Amphitrité had Clasp’d round the land her wide-encircling arms. Unfirm the earth, with water mix’d and air; Opaque the air; unfluid were the waves. Together clash’d the elements confus’d: Cold strove with heat, and moisture drought oppos’d; Light, heavy, hard, and soft, in combat join’d.

Uprose the world’s great Lord, the strife dissolv’d, The firm earth from the blue sky plac’d apart; Roll’d back the waves from off the land, and fixt Where pure ethereal joins with foggy air. Defin’d each element, and from the mass Chaötic, rang’d select, in concord firm He bound, and all agreed. On high upsprung The fiery ether to the utmost heaven: The atmospheric air, in lightness next, Upfloated: dense the solid earth dragg’d down The heavier mass; and girt on every side By waves circumfluent, seiz’d her place below.

This done, the mass this deity unknown Divides; each part dispos’d in order lays: First earth he rounds, in form a sphere immense, Equal on every side: then bids the seas, Pent in by banks, spread their rude waves abroad, By strong winds vext; and clasp within their arms The tortuous shores: and marshes wide he adds, Pure springs and lakes: he bounds with shelving banks The streams smooth gliding; slowly creeping, some The arid earth absorbs; furious some rush, And in the watery plain their waves disgorge; Their narrow bounds escap’d, to billows rise, And lash the sandy shores. He bade the plains Extend; the vallies sink; the groves to bloom; And rocky hills to lift their heads aloft. And as two zones the northern heaven restrain, The southern two, and one the hotter midst, With five the Godhead girt th’ inclosed earth, And climates five upon its face imprest. The midst from heat inhabitable: snows Eternal cover two: ‘twixt these extremes Two temperate regions lie, where heat and cold Meet in due mixture; ‘bove the whole light air Was hung: as water floats above the land, so fire ‘bove air ascends. Here he bade lodge, Thick clouds and vapors; thunders bellowing loud Terrific to mankind, and winds; which mixt Sharp cold beget. But these to range at large The air throughout, his care forbade. E’en now Their force is scarce withstood; but oft they threat Wild ruin to the universe, though each in separate regions rules his potent blasts. Such is fraternal strife! Far to the east Where Persian mountains greet the rising sun Eurus withdrew. Where sinking Phoebus’ rays Glow on the western shores mild Zephyr fled. Terrific Boreas frozen Scythia seiz’d, Beneath the icy bear. On southern climes from constant clouds the showery Auster rains. The liquid ether high above he spread, Light, calm, and undefil’d by dregs terrene. Scarce were those bounds immutable arrang’d, When upward sprung the stars so long press’d down Beneath the heap chaötic, and along The path of heaven their blazing courses ran.

Next that each separate element might hold Appropriate habitants, the vault of heaven, Bright constellations and the gods receiv’d. To glittering fish allotted were the waves: To earth fierce brutes: to agitated air, Light-plumag’d birds. A being more divine, Of soul exalted more, and form’d to rule The rest was wanting. Then he finish’d MAN! Or by the world’s creator, power supreme, Form’d from an heavenly seed; or new-shap’d earth Late from celestial ether torn, and still Congenial warmth retaining, moisten’d felt, Prometheus’ fire, and moulded took the form Of him all-potent. Others earth behold Pronely; to man a face erect was given. The heavens he bade him view, and raise his eyes High to the stars. Thus earth of late so rude, So shapeless, man, till now unknown, became.

First sprung the age of gold. Unforc’d by laws Strict rectitude and faith, spontaneous then Mankind inspir’d. No judge vindictive frown’d; Unknown alike were punishment and fear: No strict decrees on brazen plates were seen; Nor suppliant crowd, with trembling limbs low bent, Before their judges bow’d. Unknown was law, Yet safe were all. Unhewn from native hills, The pine-tree knew the seas not, nor had view’d Regions unknown, for man not yet had search’d Shores distant from his own. The towns ungirt By trenches deep, laid open to the plain; Nor brazen trump, nor bended horn were seen, Helmet, nor sword; but conscious and secure, Unaw’d by arms the nations tranquil slept. The teeming earth by barrows yet unras’d, By ploughs unwounded, plenteous pour’d her stores. Content with food unforc’d, man pluck’d with ease Young strawberries from the mountains; cornels red; The thorny bramble’s fruit; and acorns shook From Jove’s wide-spreading tree. Spring ever smil’d; And placid Zephyr foster’d with his breeze The flowers unsown, which everlasting bloom’d. Untill’d the land its welcome produce gave, And unmanur’d its hoary crop renew’d. Here streams of milk, there streams of nectar flow’d; And from the ilex, drop by drop distill’d, The yellow honey fell. But, Saturn down To dusky Tartarus banish’d, all the world By Jove was govern’d. Then a silver age Succeeded; by the golden far excell’d; Itself surpassing far the age of brass. The ancient durance of perpetual spring He shorten’d, and in seasons four the year Divided: Winter, summer, lessen’d spring, And various temper’d autumn first were known. Then first the air with parching fervor dry, Glow’d hot; then ice congeal’d by piercing winds Hung pendent; houses then first shelter’d man; Houses by caverns form’d, with thick shrubs fenc’d, And boughs entwin’d with osiers. Then the grain Of Ceres first in lengthen’d furrows lay; And oxen groan’d beneath the weighty yoke. Third after these a brazen race succeeds, More stern in soul, and more in furious war Delighting; still to wicked deeds averse. The last from stubborn iron took its name; And now rush’d in upon the wretched race All impious villainies: Truth, faith, and shame, Fled far; while enter’d fraud, and force, and craft, And plotting, with detested avarice. To winds scarce known the seaman boldly loos’d His sails, and ships which long on lofty hills Had rested, bounded o’er the unsearch’d waves. The cautious measurer now with spacious line Mark’d out the land, in common once to all; Free as the sun-beams, or the lucid air. Nor would the fruits and aliments suffice, The rich earth from her surface threw, but deep Within her womb they digg’d, and thence display’d, Riches, of crimes the prompter, hid far deep Close by the Stygian shades. Now murderous steel, And gold more murderous enter’d into day: Weapon’d with each, war sallied forth and shook With bloody grasp his loud-resounding arms. Now man by rapine lives; friend fears his host; And sire-in-law his son; e’en brethren’s love Is rarely seen: wives plot their husbands’ death; And husbands theirs design: step-mothers fierce The lurid poisons mix: th’ impatient son Enquires the limits of his father’s years: Piety lies neglected; and Astræa, Last of celestial deities on earth, Ascends, and leaves the sanguine-moisten’d land.

Nor high-rais’d heaven was more than earth secure. Giants, ‘tis said, with mad ambition strove To seize the heavenly throne, and mountains pile On mountains till the loftiest stars they touch’d. But with his darted bolt all-powerful Jove, Olympus shatter’d, and from Pelion’s top Dash’d Ossa. There with huge unwieldy bulk Oppress’d, their dreadful corses lay, and soak’d Their parent earth with blood; their parent earth The warm blood vivify’d, and caus’d assume An human form, a monumental type Of fierce progenitors. Heaven they despise, Violent, of slaughter greedy; and their race From blood deriv’d, betray.

Saturnian Jove This from his lofty seat beheld, and sigh’d; The recent bloody fact revolving deep, The Lycaönian feast, to few yet known. Incens’d with mighty rage, rage worthy Jove, He calls the council;--none who hear delay. A path sublime, in cloudless skies fair seen, They tread when tow’rd the mighty thunderer’s dome, His regal court, th’ immortals bend their way. On right and left by folding doors enclos’d, Are halls where gods of rank and power are set; Plebeians far and wide their place select: More potent deities, in heaven most bright, Full in the front possess their shining seats. This place, (might words so bold a form assume) I’d term Palatium of the lofty sky. Here in his marble niche each god was plac’d And on his eburn sceptre leaning, Jove O’er all high tower’d; the dread-inspiring locks Three times he shook; and ocean, earth, and sky, The motion felt and trembled. Then in rage The silence thus he broke: "Not more I fear’d "Our kingdom’s fate in those tempestuous times, "When monsters serpent-footed furious strove, "To clasp within their hundred arms the heavens, "Already captive deem’d. Though fierce our foe, "One race alone warr’d with us, sprung from one. "Now all must perish; all within the bounds "By Nereus circled with his roaring waves. "I swear by Styx, by those infernal streams, "Through shades slow creeping. All I could I’ve try’d. "But lest to parts unsound the taint should spread, "What baffles cure, the knife must lop away. "Our demi-gods we have, we have our nymphs, "Our rustic deities, our satyrs, fawns, "And mountain sylvans, whose deserts we grant "Celestial honors claim not, yet on earth, "By us assign’d, they safely sure should rest. "But, oh! ye sacred powers, but oh! how safe "Are these, when fierce Lycaön plots for me! "Me! whom the thunders and yourselves obey?"

Loud murmurs fill the skies, swift vengeance all With eager voice demand. When impious hands With Cæsar’s blood th’ immortal fame of Rome, Rag’d to extinguish, all the world aghast, With horror shook, and trembled through its frame. Nor was thy subjects’ loyalty to thee More sweet, Augustus, than was theirs to Jove. His hand and voice, to still their noise he rais’d: Their clamors loud were hush’d, all silence kept; When thus the thunderer ends his angry tale: "Dismiss your care, his punishment is o’er; "But hear his crimes, and hear his well-earn’d fate. "Of human vice the fame had reach’d mine ear, "With hop’d exaggeration; gliding down, "From proud Olympus’ brow, I veil’d the god, "And rov’d the world in human form around. "‘Twere long to tell what turpitude I saw "On every side, for rumor far fell short, "Of what I witness’d. Through the dusky woods "Of Mænalus I pass’d, where savage lurk "Fierce monsters; o’er the cold Lycean hill, "With pine-trees waving; and Cyllené’s height. "Thence to th’ Arcadian monarch’s roof I came, "As dusky twilight drew on sable night. "Gave signs a god approach’d. The people crowd "In adoration: but Lycaön turns "Their reverence and piety to scorn. "Then said, not hard the task to ascertain, "If god or mortal, by unerring test: "And plots to slay me when oppress’d with sleep. "Such proof his soul well suited. Impious more, "An hostage from Molossus sent he slew; "His palpitating members part he boil’d, "And o’er the glowing embers roasted part: "These on the board he serves. My vengeful flames "Consume his roof; for his deserts, o’erwhelm "His household gods. Lycaön trembling fled "And gain’d the silent country; loud he howl’d, "And strove in vain to speak; his ravenous mouth "Still thirsts for slaughter; on the harmless flocks "His fury rages, as it wont on man: "Blood glads him still; his vest is shaggy hair; "His arms sink down to legs; a wolf he stands. "Yet former traits his visage still retains; "Grey still his hair; and cruel still his look; "His eyes still glisten; savage all his form. "Thus one house perish’d, but not one alone "The fate deserves. Wherever earth extends, "The fierce Erinnys reigns; men seem conspir’d "In impious bond to sin; and all shall feel "The scourge they merit: fixt is my decree."

Part loud applaud his words, and feed his rage; The rest assent in silence; yet to all, Man’s loss seems grievous; anxious all enquire What form shall earth of him depriv’d assume? Who then shall incense to their altars bring? And if those rich and fertile lands he means A spoil for beasts ferocious? Their despair He bade them banish, and in him confide For what the future needed; held them forth The promise of a race unlike the first; Originating from a wonderous stock.

And now his lightenings were already shot, And earth in flames, but that a fire so vast, He fear’d might reach Olympus, and consume The heavenly axis. Also call’d to mind What fate had doom’d, that all in future times By fire should perish, earth, and sea, and heaven; And all th’ unwieldy fabric of the world Should waste to nought. The Cyclops’ labor’d bolts Aside he laid. A different vengeance now, To drench with rains from every part of heaven, And whelm mankind beneath the rising waves, Pleas’d more th’ immortal. Straightway close he pent The dry north-east, and every blast to showers Adverse, in caves Æolian, and unbarr’d The cell of Notus. Notus rushes forth On pinions dropping rain; his horrid face A pitchy cloud conceals; pregnant with showers His beard; and waters from his grey hairs flow: Mists on his forehead sit; in dews dissolv’d His arms and bosom, seem to melt away. With broad hands seizing on the pendent clouds He press’d them, with a mighty crash they burst, And thick and constant floods from heaven pour down. Iris meantime, in various robe array’d, Collects the waters and supplies the clouds. Prostrate the harvest lies, the tiller’s hopes Turn to despair. The labors of an year, A long, long year, without their fruit are spent. Nor Jove’s own heaven his anger could suffice, His brother brings him his auxiliar waves. He calls the rivers, at their monarch’s call His roof they enter, and in brief he speaks: "Few words we need, pour each his utmost strength, "The cause demands it; ope’ your fountains wide, "Sweep every mound before you, and let gush "Your furious waters with unshorten’d reins." He bids, the watery gods retire, break up Their narrow springs, and furious tow’rd the main Their waters roll: himself his trident rears And smites the earth; earth trembles at the stroke, Yawns wide her bosom, and upon the land A flood disgorges. Wide outspread the streams Rush o’er the open fields; uproot the trees; Sweep harvests, flocks, and men;--nor houses stood; Nor household gods, asylums hereto safe. Where strong-built edifice its walls oppos’d Unlevell’d in the ruin, high above Its roof the billows mounted, and its towers Totter’d, beneath the watery gulf oppress’d. Nor land nor sea their ancient bounds maintain’d, For all around was sea, sea without shore. This seeks a mountain’s top, that gains a skiff, And plies his oars where late he plough’d the plains. O’er fields of corn one sails, or ‘bove the roofs Of towns immerg’d; another in the elm Seizes th’ intangled fish. Perchance in meads The anchor oft is thrown, and oft the keel Tears the subjacent vine-tree. Where were wont The nimble goats to crop the tender grass Unwieldy sea-calves roll. The Nereid nymphs, With wonder, groves, and palaces, and towns, Beneath the waves behold. By dolphins now The woods are tenanted, who furious smite The boughs, and shake the strong oak by their blows. Swims with the flock the wolf; and swept along, Tigers and tawny lions strive in vain. Now not his thundering strength avails the boar; Nor, borne away, the fleet stag’s slender limbs: And land, long sought in vain, to rest her feet, The wandering bird draws in her weary wings, And drops into the waves, whose uncheck’d roll The hills have drown’d; and with un’custom’d surge Foam on the mountain tops. Of man the most They swallow’d; whom their fierce irruption spar’d, By hunger perish’d in their bleak retreat.

Between th’ Aönian and Actæian lands Lies Phocis; fruitful were the Phocian fields While fields they were, but now o’erwhelm’d, they form A region only of the wide-spread main. Here stands Parnassus with his forked top, Above the clouds high-towering to the stars. To this Deucalion with his consort driven O’er ridgy billows in his bark clung close; For all was sea beside. There bend they down; The nymphs, and mountain gods adore, and she Predicting Themis, then oraculous deem’d. No man more upright than himself had liv’d; Than Pyrrha none more pious heaven had seen.

Now Jove beheld a mighty lake expand Where late was earth, and from the swarming crowds But one man sav’d of woman only one: Both guiltless, pious both. He chas’d the clouds And bade the dry north-east to drive the showers Far distant, and display the earth to heaven, And unto earth the skies. The ocean’s rage Remains no more. Mild Neptune lays aside His three-fork’d weapon, and his surges smoothes; Then calls blue Triton from the dark profound. Above the waves the god his shoulders rears, With inbred purple ting’d: He bids him sound His shelly trump, and back the billows call; And rivers to their banks again remand. The trump he seizes, broad above it wreath’d From narrow base;--the trump whose piercing blast From east to west resounds through every shore. This to his mouth the watery-bearded god Applies, and breathes within the stern command. All hear the sound, or waves of earth or sea, And all who hear obey. Sea finds a shore; Floods flow within their channels; rivers sink; Hills lift their heads; and as the waves decrease, In numerous islets solid earth appears. A tedious time elaps’d, and now the woods Display’d their leafless summits, and their boughs Heavy with mud. At length the world restor’d Deucalion saw, but empty all and void; Deep silence reigning through th’ expansive waste: Tears gush’d while thus his Pyrrha he address’d: "O sister! wife! O woman sole preserv’d! "By nature, kindred, and the marriage-bed, "To me most closely join’d. Now nearer still "By mutual perils. We, of all the earth "Beheld by Sol in his diurnal course, "We two alone remain. The mighty deep "Entombs the rest. Nor sure our safety yet; "Still hang the clouds dark louring. Wretched wife, "What if preserv’d alone? What hadst thou done "Of me bereft? How singly borne the shock? "Where found condolement in thy load of grief? "For me, and trust, my dearest wife, my words,-- "Hadst thou amidst the billows been ingulph’d, "Me also had they swallow’d. Oh! for power "To form mankind, as once my father did, "And in the shapen earth true souls infuse! "In us rests human race, so will the gods, "A sample only of mankind we live." He spoke and Pyrrha’s tears join’d his. To heaven They raise their hands in prayer, and straight resolve To ask through oracles divine its aid. Nor long delay. Quick to Cephisus’ streams They hasten; muddy still Cephisus flows, Yet not beyond its wonted boundaries swol’n. Libations thence they lift, and o’er their heads And garments cast the sprinklings; then their steps To Themis’ temple bend. The roof they found With filthy moss o’ergrown; the altars cold. Prone on the steps they fell, and trembling kiss’d The gelid stones, and thus preferr’d their words: "If righteous prayers can move the heavenly mind, "And soften harsh resolves, and soothe the rage "Of great immortals, say, O Themis, say, "How to the world mankind shall be restor’d; "And grant, most merciful, in our distress "Thy potent aid." The goddess heard their words, And instant gave reply. "The temple leave, "Ungird your garments, veil your heads, and throw "Behind your backs your mighty mother’s bones." Astonish’d long they stood! and Pyrrha first The silence broke; the oracle’s behest Refusing to obey; and earnest pray’d, With trembling tongue for pardon for her sin: Her mother’s shade to violate she dreads, Her bones thus rudely flinging. But meantime Deep in their minds, in dark mysterious veil Obscurely hid, the sentence they revolve. At length Deucalion sooths his wife with words Of cheering import: "Right, if I divine, "No impious deed the deity desires: "Earth is our mighty mother, and her bones "The stony rocks within her; these behind "Our backs to cast, the oracle commands." With joy th’ auspicious augury she hears, But joy with doubt commingled, both so much The heavenly words distrust; yet still they hope The essay cannot harm. The temple left, Their heads they cover, and their vests unbind; And o’er their heads as order’d heave the stones. The stones (incredible! unless the fact Tradition sanction’d doubtless) straight began To lose their rugged firmness, and anon, To soften, and when soft a form assume. Next as they grew in size, they felt infus’d A nature mild, their form resembled man! But incorrectly: marble so appears, Rough hewn to form a statue, ere the hand Completes the shape. What liquid was, and moist, With earthy atoms mixt, soft flesh became; Parts solid and unbending chang’d to bone; In name unalter’d, veins the same remain’d. Thus by the gods’ beneficent decree, And brief the change, the stones Deucalion threw, A manly shape assum’d; but females sprung From those by Pyrrha cast behind; and hence A patient, hard, laborious race we prove, And shew the source, by actions, whence we sprung.

Beings all else the teeming earth produc’d Spontaneous. Heated by the solar rays, The stagnant water quicken’d; marshy fens Swell’d up their oozy loads to meet the beams: And nourish’d by earth’s vivifying soil, The fruitful elements of life increas’d, As in a mother’s womb; and in a while Assum’d a certain shape. So when the floods Of seven-mouth’d Nile desert the moisten’d fields, And to their ancient channels bring their streams, The soft mud fries beneath the scorching sun; And midst the fresh-turn’d earth unnumber’d forms The tiller finds: some scarcely half conceiv’d; Imperfect some, their bodies wanting limbs: And oft he beings sees with parts alive, The rest a clod of earth: for where with heat Due moisture kindly mixes, life will spring: From these in concord all things are produc’d. Though fire with water strives; yet vapour warm, Discordant mixture, gives a birth to all.

Thus when the earth, with filthy ooze bespread From the late deluge, felt the blazing sun; His burning heat productive caus’d spring forth A countless race of beings. Part appear’d In forms before well-known; the rest a group Of monsters strange. Then, but unwilling, she Produc’d terrific Python, serpent huge! A mighty mountain with his bulk he hid; A plague unknown, the new-born race to scare. The quiver-shoulder’d god, unus’d before His arms to launch, save on the flying deer, Or roebuck fleet, the horrid monster slew: A thousand arrows in his sides he fix’d, His quiver’s store exhausting; through the wounds Gush’d the black poison. To contending games, Hence instituted for the serpent slain, The glorious action to preserve through times Succeeding, he the name of Pythian gave. And here the youth who bore the palm away By wrestling, racing, or in chariot swift, With beechen bough was crown’d. Nor yet was known The laurel’s leaf: Apollo’s brows, with hair Deck’d graceful, no peculiar branches bound.

Penæian Daphne first his bosom charm’d; No casual flame but plann’d by Love’s revenge. Him, Phoebus flush’d with conquest late obtain’d, His bow saw bend, and thus exclaim’d in taunt: "Lascivious boy! How ill with thee assort "Those warlike arms? how much my shoulders more "Beseem the load, whose arm can deadly wounds "In furious beasts, and every foe infix! "I who but now huge Python have o’erthrown; "Swol’n with a thousand darts; his mighty bulk "Whole acres covering with pestiferous weight? "Content in vulgar hearts thy torch to flame, "To me the bow’s superior glory leave." Then Venus’ son: "O Phoebus, nought thy dart "Evades, nor thou canst ‘scape the force of mine: "To thee as others yield, so much my fame "Must ever thine transcend." Thus spoke the boy, And lightly mounting, cleaves the yielding air With beating wings, and on Parnassus’ top Umbrageous rests. There from his quiver drew Two darts of different power: this chases love; And that desire enkindles; form’d of gold It glistens, ending in a point acute: Blunt is the first, tipt with a leaden load; Which Love in Daphne’s tender breast infix’d. The sharper through Apollo’s heart he drove, And through his nerves and bones; instant he loves: She flies of love the name. In shady woods, And spoils of captive beasts alone she joys; To copy Dian’ emulous; her hair In careless tresses form’d, a fillet bound. By numbers sought, averse alike to all; Impatient of their suit, through forests wild, And groves, in maiden ignorance she roams; Nor cares for Cupid, nor hymeneal rites, Nor soft connubial joys. Oft cry’d her sire; "My Daphne, you should bring to me a son; "From you, my child, I hope for grandsons too." But she detesting wedlock as a crime, (Suffus’d her features with a bashful glow) Around his aged neck, her beauteous arms, Winds blandishing, and cries, "O sire, most dear! "One favor grant, perpetual to enjoy "My virgin purity; the mighty Jove "The same indulgence has to Dian’ given." Thy sire complies; but that too beauteous face, And lovely form, thy anxious wish oppose: Apoll...