Nec mora, letiferam conatur scindere vestem: Qua trahitur, trahit illa cutem,-foedumque relatu, Aut laceros artus et grandia detegit ossa. Ipse cruor, gelido ceu quondam lamina candens Tincta lacu, stridit coquiturque ardente veneno. 170 175 Nec modus est: sorbent avidae praecordia flammae, 180 Forma triplex, nec forma triplex tua, Cerbere, movit. 185 to the general notion of mons which they contain. -168. Tentata revelli. A poetic use of the double passive; for tentata belongs in strictness not to vestis, but to the tearing off (revellere).-170. Quondam, nonnunquam, frequent in comparisons, like olim.—171. Lacu, aqua. So Metam. xii. 276: Ut dare ferrum Igne rubens plerumque solet, quod forcipe curva Cum faber eduxit, lacubus demittit. Stridit. Stridere is, with the poets, of the third as well as of the second conjugation.-173. Caeruleus sudor, the dark sweat of death.-174. Nervi, the sinews. Caecaque Tabe, obscura, non visa tabe. Metam. vi. 293 vulnere caeco. - 176. Saturnia, Juno, the daughter of Saturn, who was considered as the cause of all the sufferings of Hercules, because she sought to take vengeance on him for the amour of Jupiter with Alcmena, of which Hercules was the offspring. 182. Ergo, &c. In the feeling of the injustice of his sufferings, Hercules recounts the most important of his deeds, and thereby shows how unmerited was his fate. -183. Busiris, king of Egypt, son of Poseidon and Lysianassa, who, in obedience to an oracle, sacrificed foreigners to Jupiter. For this purpose he seized on Hercules, when he came to Egypt on his way from Lybia, but was himself slain by him, along with his son and herald. -184. Antaeus, son of Terra, a giant who ruled over Libya, and and challenged strangers to wrestle with him. Hercules perceived that whenever he was thrown on the ground, he received new strength (alimenta parentis); he therefore raised him aloft, and crushed him to death in the air. Nec me pastoris Iberi Forma triplex. The Iberian herdsman is Geryon, son of Chrysaor and Calliroë. He had three bodies, and lived in the island of Erythea (Cadiz, according to the later interpreters among the ancients). Hercules slew him, along with the giant Eurytion and the two-headed dog Orthrus, who guarded his herds.-185. Nec forma triplex tua, Čerbere, movit. It was part of the task imposed Vosne, manus, validi pressistis cornua tauri? Vestrum opus Elis habet, vestrum Stymphalides undae Thermodontiaco caelatus balteus auro, Pomaque ab insomni non custodita dracone. Arcadiae vastator aper; nec profuit Hydrae 190 Crescere per damnum geminasque resumere vires. 195 Visaque dejeci dominumque ipsosque peremi? Hac coelum cervice tuli. Defessa jubendo est At valet Eurystheus:-et sunt, qui credere possint 200 on Hercules by Eurystheus, to bring Cerberus to the upper world. -186. Tauri, the wild bull of Crete.-187. Vestrum opus Elis habet, the cleaning of the stables of Augeas, king of Elis. Vestrum Stymphalides undae. The Stymphalides were voracious birds which infested Lake Stymphalus in Arcadia. Hercules killed them with the assistance of Athena.-188. Partheniumque nemus. The moun tain Parthenius, between Arcadia and Argolis, was the abode of the stag, sacred to Diana, with golden horns, brazen feet, and of wonderful swiftness, which Hercules caught and brought alive to Eurystheus.-189. Thermodontiaco caelatus balteus auro. The girdle of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons. Thermodon, a river in Cappadocia, the country of the Amazons.-190. Pomaque-dracone, the golden apples of the Hesperides. 191. Nec mihi Centauri potuere resistere. Hercules was entertained by the Centaur Pholus. Against the will of his entertainer, he opened a cask of wine which belonged to the Centaurs, and the smell of it allured them to the cave of Pholus. They were conquered and put to flight by Hercules.-192. Arcadiae vastator aper. The boar of Erymanthus, a mountain on the boundaries of Arcadia and Elis. Nec profuit Hydrae―vires. The Hydra of Lake Lerna in the neighborhood of Argos. It had nine heads (according to others, a hundred, or even more), and when one was cut off, two grew in its place (crescere per damnum, &c.; so v. 70: Vulneribus fecunda suis erat illa nec ullum-caput est impune recisum, Quin gemino cervix herede valentior esset). Hercules burnt off its heads with red-hot trunks of trees.-194. Quid, quod, quid dicam de eo quod, rising to something new, unexpected. Thracis equos, the horses of Diomedes, king of Bistonia in Thrace. Pingues, pastos.-197. Moles Nemeaea, the lion which lived in Nemea, a valley in Argolis.-198. Hac coelum cervice tuli, when he sent Atlas to bring the golden apples of the Hesperides. 200. Pestis, calamitas. Nova, such as never yet has fallen upon a man.-201. Pulmonibus, in pulmonibus.-203. At valet Eu Esse deos?' Dixit, perque altam saucius Oeten 205 210 Ecce, Lichan trepidum et latitantem rupe cavata Adspicit; utque dolor rabiem collegerat omnem, 'Tune, Licha,' dixit 'feralia dona dedisti? Tune meae necis auctor eris? Tremit ille pavetque Pallidus, et timide verba excusantia dicit. 215 Dicentem genibusque manus adhibere parantem Corripit Alcides, et terque quaterque rotatum 220 Exsanguemque metu nec quicquam humoris habentem Nunc quoque in Euboico scopulus brevis eminet alto 225 230 rystheus, the enemy of Hercules, who had imposed all these labours on him. Et sunt. The whole force of the antithesis is expressed by this et all this is the case, and yet. Et sunt-Esse deos. In his despair, he is led for a moment to a denial of providence, but shortly afterwards the poet represents him as raising his hands to heaven.205. Haud aliter-refugerit auctor. The comparison is between the speed of Hercules and that of a huntsman fleeing from a bull which he had wounded. The first clause (si-gerat) serves only to illustrate the second, and forms no part of the comparison. We should therefore have expected it to be expressed by some subsidiary form, such as the ablative absolute.-210. Montibus, for in montibus; as above, pulmonibus, v. 201. So Metam. vii. 547: Silvisque agrisque viisque Corpora foeda jacent.-217. Alcides. Hercules is so called, as grandson of Alcaeus, the father of Amphitryon.-221. Mole, sc. sua, by their own weight.-222. Adstringi, a common expression for to freeze, to be drawn together into a solid body. See above, i. 120. Corpus, the body which has thus arisen.226. Nunc quoque. This passage was probably written after Ovid was in exile; he seems here to speak of what he had himself seen. In Euboico Gurgite. In the Euripus, where the Inque pyram structis, arcum pharetramque capacem Ferre jubes Poeante satum, quo flamma ministro 235 240 245 250 255 sea rushes with immense force through the narrow strait. -232. Regna-sagittas. The arrows had been at Troy for the first time with Hercules himself, when, in company with the Argonauts, he conquered the city, of which Laomedon was then king. Afterwards, in the Trojan war, the oracle declared that Troy could not be taken without the arrows of Hercules, and Ulysses was therefore sent to Lemnos to bring Philoctetes.-233. Poeante satum, Philocteten. 234. Agger and Congeries silvae refer to the same thing; there is no reason to seek a distinction between them.235. Summam, in summa ejus parte.- 241. Timuere dei pro vindice terrae. Timere pro, a peculiar expression for timere de or timere alicui. Similarly Metam. ix. 107: Intrepidum pro se; i. 182: pro regno anxius; xiv. 451: furit pro conjuge Turnus; xv. 816: Pro quo, Cytherea, laboras. Dei is always the more correct orthography when it is a dissyllable, Di when it is a monosyllable. -245. Memoris, sc. rerum ab Hercule gestarum. Populi; as king of the gods, he calls them his people.-247. Hoc, hoc quod datis; that is, timorem or favorem vestrum. 248. Sed enim. See above, vi. 152. -251. Vulcanum, ignem, as v. 263: Mulciber.-257. Nolet, et nolet. The asyndeton indicates the gradual rise of passion. -258. Meruisse dari, meruisse ut dentur. Trist. v. 11, 16: Quae merui Assensere dei; conjux quoque regia visa est Quem pater omnipotens, inter cava nubila raptum, 260 265 270 vitio perdere cuncta meo.-260. Duro vultu, tetrico, moroso vultu. Ultima Dicta; namely, si quis tamen, &c., the supposition that she would have objections to the deification of Hercules.-261. Notatam, alluded to, pointed at.-262. Populabile, a word coined by Ovid, like delebile. 264. Effigies, not the image, likeness, but the original form.-265. Jovis vestigia, Jovis similitudinem, id quod a Jove (quod Jovis) in eum transierat.-267. Luxuriare. The meaning must here be settled by comparing majorque videri coepit; it is to swell, to increase in size. Metam. vii. 290, of Aeson whom Medea restored to youth: Pulsa fugit macies, absunt pallorque situsque Adjectoque cavae supplentur corpore rugae, Membraque luxuriant.-268. Tyrinthius, from Tiryns, a town in Argolis, where Hercules was brought up. METAMORPH. LIB. X. ORPHEUS ET EURYDICE. INDE per immensum croceo velatus amictu 1. Inde, from the nuptials of Iphis and Ianthe, which had just taken place, Hymenaeus goes to those of Orpheus. Croceo amictu. The yellow or orange colour was considered most suitable for festive occasions. Velatus, vestitus, especially of a loose dress.-2. Ciconum. The Cicones lived in Thrace, near the Hebrus; they were the first nation to which Odysseus came on his return from Troy. Hom. Odyss. ix. at the beginning.-3. Nequicquam. in vain, with reference to a person who deceived in his expectation; frus |