jussit et extendi campos, subsidere valles,
fronde tegi silvas, lapidosos surgere montes.
Utque duae dextra caelum totidemque sinistra
parte secant zonae, quinta est ardentior illis:
sic onus inclusum numero distinxit eodem
cura dei, totidemque plagae tellure premuntur.
quarum quae media est, non est habitabilis aestu,
nix tegit alta duas; totidem inter utramque locavit,
temperiemque dedit, mixta cum frigore flamma.
Imminet his aër: qui, quanto est pondere terrae
pondus aquae levius, tanto est onerosior igni.
illic et nebulas, illic consistere nubes
jussit, et humanas motura tonitrua mentes,
et cum fulminibus facientes frigora ventos.
his quoque non passim mundi fabricator habendum
aëra permisit: vix nunc obsistitur illis,

cum sua quisque regant diverso flamina tractu,
quin lanient mundum; tanta est discordia fratrum.
Eurus ad auroram Nabataeaque regna recessit,
Persidaque et radiis juga subdita matutinis;
Vesper et occiduo quae litora sole tepescunt,
proxima sunt Zephyro; Scythiam septemque trionem
horrifer invasit Boreas; contraria tellus

nubibus assiduis pluvioque madescit ab Austro.
haec super imposuit liquidum et gravitate carentem
aethera, nec quicquam terrenae faecis habentem.

45. ut, as.-dextra, sinistra, right and left in reference to the celestial equator. The division into five zones was first made by Eudoxus, a pupil of Aristotle.

46. quinta est, there is a fifth (in the middle).

47. onus inclusum, i.e. the earth.

numero, sc. zonarum.

48. premuntur, lie below. This word often loses its passive force, and means merely to lie, with the idea of lowness added. - tellure, on earth (loc. abl.).

50. totidem, sc. zonas.-locavit: the subject is cura dei.

52. his, i.e. the terrestrial zones. - quanto, etc. is as much heavier than flame as water is lighter than earth (§ 250; G. 403; H. 423).

54. illic, here, in this. - nebulas, vapors; nubes, clouds.

55. motura, destined to excite.

56. cum... ventos, winds which cause cold along with lightnings. The ancients thought that lightning was caused by the friction of wind upon the clouds.

57. his, i.e. the winds.-passim, at random (an adverbial form from pando, spread).-fabricator, framer. - quoque, these too, as well as the elements, were set each in his place.

58. vix obsistitur illus scarce can they be withstood (impersonal, § 230; G. 217; H. 384, II. 5).-nunc, as it is, when they are separated, giving the reason of separating them by implying the consequence of their being together.

59. cum... regant, while they direct each his own blast (subj. of characteristic).-tractu, region.

60. quin, following vix obsistitur, from rending, lit. so but that, &c. 61. Nabataea regna, in Arabia Petraea.

63. juga, mountain ranges. Notice how Ovid varies the description in the four

cases.

64. Scythiam: this term was applied to the vast steppes of Tartary and southeastern Russia. It was therefore north-east rather than north. septemtrionem, a compound (also used in the pl.) separated by tmesis by the enclitic -que. The word means the "seven-ox-team," i.e. the constellation of the Bear (north).

66. madescit, is moistened.

67. liquidum, purely transparent.

68. aethera: identical with the element of fire.having nought. - terrenae faecis, dregs of earth.

nec quicquam habentem, and

Vix ita limitibus dissaepserat omnia certis,
cum quae pressa diu massa latuere sub illa,
sidera coeperunt toto effervescere caelo:
neu regio foret ulla suis animantibus orba,
astra tenent caeleste solum formaeque deorum;
cesserunt nitidis habitandae piscibus undae;
terra feras cepit, volucres agitabilis aër.

Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altae
deerat adhuc, et quod dominari in cetera posset.
natus homo est: sive hunc divino semine fecit
ille opifex rerum, mundi melioris origo,
sive recens tellus, seductaque nuper ab alto
aethere, cognati retinebat semina caeli.
quam satus Iapeto, mixtam fluvialibus undis,
finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum.
pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terram,
os homini sublime dedit, caelumque tueri
jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.

sic, modo quae fuerat rudis et sine imagine, tellus
induit ignotas hominum conversa figuras.

70. quae: the antecedent is sidera. — pressa, hidden.

71. caelo: loc. abl., § 258, f, 2; G. 388; H. 425, II. 2.

72. neu (neve), and lest, the regular connective with ne. -foret: imperf. (§ 287, h; G. 519, R.).

73. astra: the stars are here regarded as living beings.

74. cesserunt, fell to the lot of.

75. agitabilis, beaten with wings (cf. v. 16), poetical for yielding.

76. animal, a living being.-mentis depends on capacius 218, b; G. 375; H. 399, II.).

77. deerat, two syllables. — quod posset, which might; clause of purpose, § 317; G. 630; H. 497, I.

78-80. sive, sive, i e. whether it was an act of creation or a manufacture from materials already endowed with life.

79. origo, source.

82. quam, which (i.e. earth).—satus Iapeto (§ 244, a; G. 395; H. 415, II.), son of Iapetus, Prometheus.

83. in effigiem, etc.: compare "Let us make man in our image," Genesis i. 26.— moderantum = quí moderantur, which would be used in prose. For the gen. in -um see § 87, d, 2; G. 83, N. 2; H. 64; 2, footnote 2.

84. cum, while, whereas (§ 326; G. 587: H. 515, III.).

85. sublime, erect.

87. modo quae, which but now. - sine imagine, formless.

NOTES.