Ingentes animos, dignas Jove concipit iras, 170 174 177 Ergo ubi marmoreo Superi sedere recessu; Celsior ipse loco, sceptroque innixus eburno, 15 Terrificam capitis concussit terque quaterque Cæsariem, cum qua terram, mare, sidera movit. 180 Talibus inde modis ora indignantia solvit : "Non ego pro mundi regno magis anxius illa Tempestate fui, qua centum quisque parabat 20 Injicere Anguipedum captivo brachia cœlo: Nam, quanquam ferus hostis erat, tamen illud ab uno 185 Corpore et ex una pendebat origine bellum. Cuncta prius tentata: sed immedicabile vulnus 190 30 Quos quoniam cœli nondum dignamur honore, 35 195 206 Contremuere omnes, studiisque ardentibus ausum Talia deposcunt. Superûm rex voce manuque Murmura compressit; tenuere silentia cuncti. Substitit ut clamor, pressus gravitate regentis; Jupiter hoc iterum sermone silentia rupit : 40 "Ille quidem pœnas-curam hanc dimittite-solvit ; Quod tamen admissum, quæ sit vindicta, docebo. 210 Contigerat nostras infamia temporis aures; Quam cupiens falsam summo delabor Olympo. Et deus humana lustro sub imagine terras. 215 45 Longa mora est, quantum noxæ sit ubique repertum, 220 225 50 Ingredior, traherent cum sera crepuscula noctem. In villos abeunt vestes, in crura lacerti; 70 Idem oculi lucent, eadem feritatis imago. 75 235 Occidit una domus ; sed non domus una perire 240 IV. DEUCALION. (I. 260-415.) 245 When Jupiter, in the council of the gods, had declared his wrath against Lycaon (s. III.) and the corrupted race of man, they all approved indeed of the punishment of the Arcadian king, but were unwilling to consent to the total destruction of mankind. The will of Jupiter, however, prevailed; he promised the gods a new and better race, but all existing men were to perish for their ungodliness. On the mode of punishment, however, Jupiter himself-so Ovid tells-had not as yet formed any fixed resolution. The thought of destroying mankind by fire he gave up again, because from the burning of the earth he feared danger for heaven itself. At last, he resolved on that noted punishment (poena illa, v. 1), which by an overwhelming flood destroyed the human race. When all the godless had thus perished, Jupiter saw two pious inhabitants of the earth still remaining after the flood, Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha, on whom he took pity, and whom he allowed to survive the deluge. They both sprung from the race of the Titans, who must not be confounded with the giants (s. III.). For the first gods that issued from Chaos were Heaven and Earth (Uranus and Gæa), who were the parents of several races of gods, among whom the Titans (Tirveç Otoi) were the most eminent; Saturnus (or Kronos) was the mightiest of the Titans, and deprived his father Uranus of the sovereignty. Afterwards, however, he himself was dethroned by his son Jupiter, and plunged into Tartarus. And as the rest of the Titans did not approve the dethronement of Saturn, a war began against them, after which they were all in the end banished into Tartarus. Now from two sons of the Titan Iapetus, Prometheus and Epimetheus, sprung Deucalion and Pyrrha. Deucalion was the son of the inventive Promētheus, who had formed the first men out of clay, and, by means of fire stolen from heaven, had breathed into them warmth and life. Pyrrha was the daughter of the improvident Epimetheus. As they, after the flood had passed off, were bewailing their loneliness, the oracle directed them to cast behind them, with their heads veiled, the bones of their mother, out of which a new race of men should arise. For a long while they did not know how to explain this, till at last Deucalion caught the idea, that their mother was the earth, the stones of which would thus be their mother's bones. They put this conjectural interpretation to the proof, and it succeeded. From the stones sprung forth men. [Hence, according to the Greek mythographers, the name Stone (Aãaç) is related to the name People (Xaós).] The legend of the general destruction of the inhabitants of the earth by overwhelming floods is common to all ancient races. Derived originally from the sacred account of the Jewish Scriptures, it also receives certain confirmation from geological phenomena. Pœna Jovi placet illa: genus mortale sub undis 260 Et quæcumque fugant inductas flamina nubes, 5 Emittitque Notum. Madidis Notus evolat alis, Terribilem picea tectus caligine vultum ; Barba gravis nimbis, canis fluit unda capillis, 10 Fit fragor: hinc densi funduntur ab æthere nimbi. 15 Vota jacent, longique perit labor irritus anni. Nec cœlo contenta suo est Jovis ira; sed illum Cæruleus frater juvat auxiliaribus undis. Convocat hic amnes: qui postquam tecta tyranni Intravere sui ; Non est hortamine longo Nunc," ait, "utendum: vires effundite vestras,20 Sic opus est-aperite domos, ac mole remota Fluminibus vestris totas immittite habenas." Jusserat: hi redeunt, ac fontibus ora relaxant, Et defrenato volvuntur in æquora cursu. Ipse tridente suo terram percussit; at illa 25 Intremuit motuque vias patefecit aquarum. 265 270 275 280 285 Exspatiata ruunt per apertos flumina campos, Cumque satis arbusta simul pecudesque virosque Tectaque, cumque suis rapiunt penetralia sacris. Si qua domus mansit potuitque resistere tanto 30 Indejecta malo; culmen tamen altior hujus Unda tegit, pressæque latent sub gurgite turres. 290 Jamque mare et tellus nullum discrimen habebant: Omnia pontus erat; deerant quoque litora ponto. Occupat hic collem; cymba sedet alter adunca, 35 Et ducit remos illic, ubi nuper ararat; Ille super segetes, aut mersæ culmina villæ 295 300 45 Nat lupus inter oves, fulvos vehit unda leones, Separat Aonios Etæis Phocis ab arvis, 305 310 55 Terra ferax, dum terra fuit, sed tempore in illo 65 Jupiter ut liquidis stagnare paludibus orbem, 325 335 Nec maris ira manet, positoque tricuspide telo 330 Mulcet aquas rector pelagi, supraque profundum Exstantem atque humeros innato murice tectum Cæruleum Tritona vocat, conchæque sonanti 75 Inspirare jubet fluctusque et flumina signo Jam revocare dato. Cava buccina sumitur illi Tortilis, in latum quæ turbine crescit ab imo, Buccina, quæ medio concepit ubi aera ponto, Litora voce replet sub utroque jacentia Phœbo. 80 Tunc quoque, ut ora dei madida rorantia barba Contigit, et cecinit jussos inflata receptus, Omnibus audita est telluris et æquoris undis, Et quibus est undis audita, coercuit omnes. Jam mare litus habet, plenos capit alveus amnes, 85 Flumina subsidunt collesque exire videntur; 340 |