usque fuit, nullosque invenit motibus ignes. exitus auspicio gravior; nam nupta, per herbas dum nova naïadum turba comitata vagatur, occidit, in talum serpentis dente recepto. ΙΟ 15 Quam satis ad superas postquam Rhodopeïus auras deflevit vates, ne non temptaret et umbras, ad Styga Taenaria est ausus descendere porta; perque leves populos simulacraque functa sepulcro Persephonen adiit, inamoenaque regna tenentem umbrarum dominum. Pulsisque ad carmina nervis sic ait: O positi sub terra numina mundi, in quem recidimus, quicquid mortale creamur; si licet, et falsi positis ambagibus oris vera loqui sinitis, non huc, ut opaca viderem Tartara, descendi, nec uti villosa colubris terna Medusaei vincirem guttura monstri. causa viae conjunx, in quam calcata venenum vipera diffudit, crescentesque abstulit annos. posse pati volui, nec me temptasse negabo: vicit Amor. Supera deus hic bene notus in ora est : an sit et hic, dubito, sed et hic tamen auguror esse. famaque si veteris non est mentita rapinae, 20 25 vos quoque junxit Amor. Per ego haec loca plena timoris, per Chaos hoc ingens, vastique silentia regni, Eurydices, oro, properata retexite fata. omnia debemur vobis, paulumque morati serius aut citius sedem properamus ad unam. tendimus huc omnes, haec est domus ultima; vosque haec quoque, cum justos matura peregerit annos, nolle redire mihi : letó gaudete duorum.' Carpitur acclivis per muta silentia trames, arduus, obscurus, caligine densus opaca. nec procul afuerunt telluris margine summae : hic, ne deficeret metuens, avidusque videndi, flexit amans oculos; et protinus illa relapsa est, bracchiaque intendens prendique et prendere captans nil nisi cedentes infelix arripit auras. 40 45 50 55 jamque iterum moriens non est de conjuge quicquam 60 questa suo quid enim nisi se quereretur amatam ? supremumque Vale! quod jam vix auribus ille acciperet, dixit, revolutaque rursus eodem est. Non aliter stupuit gemina nece conjugis Orpheus, quam tria qui timidus, medio portante catenas, colla canis vidit; quem non pavor ante reliquit, quam natura prior, saxo per corpus oborto: quique in se crimen traxit voluitque videri Olenos esse nocens, tuque O confisa figurae, infelix Lethaea, tuae, junctissima quondam pectora, nunc lapides, quos umida sustinet Ide. 65 70 Orantem frustraque iterum transire volentem portitor arcuerat. Septem tamen ille diebus squalidus in ripa Cereris sine munere sedit; cura dolorque animi lacrimaeque alimenta fuere. esse deos Erebi crudeles questus, in altam se recipit Rhodopen pulsumque aquilonibus Haemum. 75 XXII. THE SONG OF ORPHEUS. [Book X.-86-219.] WITHDRAWN apart from the love of women, and having gathered by his song a grove of forest trees [among them the pine which was once the youth Attis, and Cyparissus changed by Apollo into a Cypress], Orpheus sings of the loves of the gods for mortal men. And first of Ganymede of Troy, borne to heaven by Jupiter in the form of an eagle (143–161); and of Hyacinthus, a beautiful youth of Sparta, beloved by Apollo, but accidentally killed by him with a discus (or quoit) that he had hurled into the air; from whose blood sprang the flower that bears his name (162-219). [He further sings of certain people of Cyprus, cruel to strangers, who by Venus were changed to oxen (220-237); of the statue wrought by Pygmalion, which became a living maiden, and his bride (243-297); of Myrrha, who because of her incestuous love of her father became a tree weeping fragrant gum (298-502); of her child Adonis, loved by Venus (503-559); of Atalanta, fleet of foot, who was won in the race by craft of Hippomenes with three golden apples (see next selection), but both were afterwards changed into lions (560-707); and of the death of Adonis, slain by a wild boar, and by Venus converted into the flower Anemone, as Menthe had aforetime been by Proserpine into the herb Mint (708–739).] COLLIS erat, collemque super planissima campi non nemus Heliadum, non frondibus aesculus altis, 90 95 perpetuoque virens buxum, tenuesque myricae, Tale nemus vates attraxerat ; inque ferarum 'Ab Jove, Musa parens (cedunt Jovis omnia regno) carmina nostra move: Jovis est mihi saepe potestas dicta prius. Cecini plectro graviore Gigantas, sparsaque Phlegraeis victricia fulmina campis ; nunc opus est leviore lyra, puerosque canamus dilectos superis, inconcessisque puellas ignibus attonitas meruisse libidine poenam. 100 105 145 150 'Rex superum Phrygii quondam Ganymedis amore 155 arsit, et inventum est aliquid, quod Juppiter esse, quam quod erat, mallet. Nulla tamen alite verti dignatur, nisi quae posset sua fulmina ferre. nec mora: percusso mendacibus aëre pennis abripit Iliaden, qui nunc quoque pocula miscet, invitaque Jovi nectar Junone ministrat. 160 " Te quoque, Amỹclide, posuisset in aethere Phoebus, tristia si spatium ponendi fata dedissent. qua licet, aeternus tamen es; quotiensque repellit ver hiemem, Piscique Aries succedit aquoso, tu totiens oreris, viridique in cespite flores. 165 |