184 TRISTIA. LIB. IV. ELEGIA X. Gratia, Musa, tibi. Nam tu solatia præbes; Cùmque ego præponam multos mihi; non minor illis Si quid habent igitur vatum præsagia veri; Protinus ut moriar, non ero, terra, tuus. 120 125 130 THE NOTES ΤΟ METAMORPHOSES. era. BOOK I. PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO, a celebrated Roman poet, was born at Sulmo, a town of the Peligni, about forty years before the Christian His parents were of equestrian rank, and educated their son for the bar; but he soon forsook this and every other pursuit for the cultivation of poetry, and at length became one of the most admired and eminent poets in the court of Augustus. His prosperity was, however, of short continuance. Having incurred, by some unknown offence, the displeasure of the emperor, he was banished to Tomos, a town near the Euxine sea; where, after many ineffectual attempts to obtain the pardon of Augustus, he ended his days, in the eighth year of his banishment, and the fifty-ninth year of his age. The poetry of Ovid has long been celebrated for its variety, sweetness, and elegance. But the frequent violations of modesty, which disgrace some parts of his writings, detract much from the merit of this gifted poet. His Metamorphoses, though not the most finished of his poems, may, perhaps, be considered the most curious and valuable. He has there preserved the various mythological traditions, which existed among the ancients, and happily connected them with each other. Many of these traditions appear to have been originally founded on historical facts; but it is, in most instances, impossible to trace the truths of history through the tales of superstition and the fictions of poetry. 1. In nova... corpora: for corpora mutata in novas formas; the poet, in allusion to his design of writing of transformations, begins by making a transformation of his words-Fert animus: 'I desig 2. Nam vos... illas: for you also have transformed them.' poet therefore with propriety invokes their aid in describing changes. 4. Perpetuum. ... carmen: 'a connected poem.' 5 Ante in the beginning. : 6. Unus... in orbe: exhibited one appearance of nature throughout the world.' 7. Rudis indigestaque: 'unformed and confused.' 8. Congestaque. ... rerum: the construction is, discordiaque semina rerum non bene junctarum congesta eòdem.-Discordia semina: the jarring principles.' 10. Nullus... Titan: no sun.' For an account of the Titans, see Lempriere's Classical Dictionary. 11. Phabe: the moon;' a name of Diana, the sister of Phoebus or the sun. 12. Circumfuso: 'ambient.' 13. Nec brachia... Amphitrite: nor had the sea extended its arms along the distant coasts.' Amphitrite, the daughter of Oceanus and Doris, and the wife of Neptune, is here put for the sea itself. 17. Nulli... manebat:nothing appeared in its proper form.' 18. Uno: the same.' 20. Sine pondere habentia pondus: 'things heavy, with things light.' 23. Liquidum... cœlum: 'the' clear air.' 24. Quæ postquam . . . ligavit : 'which elements, after he had disengaged them, and separated them from the chaotic mass, though dispersed in different places, he combined in harmonious order.' 26. Ignea. ... arce: the construction is, ignea vis convexi cœli et sine pondere cmicuit, legitque locum sibi in summâ arce. 27. Sibi legit: chose for itself.' 29. Tellus: cst is understood.-Grandia: the heavier.' 30. Circumfluus humor: i. e. the water. 31. Ultima possedit: 'spread over the utmost parts of the earth's surface.'-Solidumque coërcuit orbem: and begirt the solid globe.' 32. Sic... orbis: the construction is, ubi, quisquis deorum ille fuit, secuit congeriem sic dispositam, redegitque eam sic sectam in membra; principio glomeravit terram, ne non foret æqualis ab omni parte, in speciem magni orbis. 33. In membra: into distinct parts.' 34. Principio: 'in the first place.' 37. Ambita encompassed by water.'-Circumdare: 'to mark out.' 38. Immensaque stagna: and vast marshes.' 39. Fluminaque . . . ripis and he confined within winding banks the rivers flowing downward.' 40. Diversa locis: in their different courses.'—Ipsâ : sc. terrâ. 41. Campo... liberioris aquæ : i. e. the ocean. 46. Zona: the word torn, zona, signifies a belt, or girdle. The celestial sphere has been divided by astronomers into five of these broad belts, which divisions are supposed to be transferred to the earth or terrestrial sphere, which therefore has likewise five zones.— -Quinta: i. e. et ut quinta zona. 47. Onus inclusum: i. e. the earth. 48. Premuntur : ' are marked out.' 49. Media: i. e. the torrid zone. The part of the earth which is situated between the tropics, and which is called the torrid zone, was thought by the ancients to be uninhabitable, on account of its heat and barrenness; but later discoveries have proved it to be the most fertile, and not the least populous part of the earth. 50. Duas: i. e. the two frigid zones; situated between the arctic and antarctic circles and the poles. 50, Totidem: i. e. the two temperate zones.-Inter utrumque: not utramque: this word is frequently used thus by the best writers in a different gender from the preceding nouns, agreeing with latus, or some other word understood. 51. Flammâ: 'heat.' 52. Qui... igni: the construction is, qui est tantò onerosior igni, quantò pondus aquæ est levius pondere terræ. 55. Motura: that will terrify.' 57. His sc. ventis.-Passim... habendum: 'to be had by them at large.' 58. Vix nunc obsistitur illis: they are now scarcely prevented.' 59. Sua... flamina: their own blasts.' 60. Quin lanient mundum : from tearing the world to pieces.' 61. Eurus: the winds are here mentioned which blow from the four cardines, or principal points in the world, hence called cardinal points-Eurus, the east wind; Zephyrus, the west wind; Boreas, the north wind; and Auster, the south wind.-Nabathæaque regna: a country of Arabia, which derived its name from Naboth, the son of Ismael, who is said to have settled in it. 62. Persida the Greek accusative from Persis, -idis; 'Persia,' a country of Asia. 64. Zephyro: to the habitation of the Zephyr, or the west wind.' Zephyrus or Favonius, the son of Astræus and Aurora, was married to Chloris or Flora, the goddess of flowers. He was said to produce flowers and fruits by the sweetness of his breath.-Scythiam: Scythia,' an extensive country in the northern parts of Europe and Asia, the ancient boundaries of which cannot be exactly ascertained.— Septemque trionem: for Septemtrionemque, by tmesis. 66. Austro: the south wind.' Auster was the god of rain. His breath is said to have been as pernicious to the flowers as the breath of Favonius was beneficial. 6 68. Ethera æther; the firmament.' 70. Massâ. . . Illâ : i. e. chaos. 73. Cœleste solum the region of heaven.' 75. Agitabilis: 'yielding.' 76. Mentisque capacius alta: endowed with higher faculties.' 80. Seducta: separated.' 81. Cognati: kindred.'-Semina: the nature; the properties.' 82. Quam tellurem is here understood.-Satus Iapeto: Prometheus; the son of Iapetus, one of the Titans, and of Clymene, the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. Having formed a man with clay, he is said to have infused life into him by means of fire, which he had stolen from the chariot of the sun, and brought down to the earth at the end of a rod. To punish him for his many acts of impiety, Ford Jupiter ordered Mercury to chain him to a rock on mount Caucasus, where an eagle or vulture continually preyed on his liver, without destroying or diminishing it. When he had lived thirty years in this painful state of confinement, he was delivered from it by Hercules, who killed the vulture, and broke his chain. Prometheus was distinguished for his knowledge of future events, as well as for his cunning, fraud, and impiety. He is also said to have invented many useful arts, and to have instructed mankind in agriculture and physic. 89. Sata est: 'began.'-Vindice nullo: without any magistrate to punish crimes.' 91. Nec verba... legebantur: nor were threatening laws read from brazen plates fixed up in public view.' The laws of the Romans and of other ancient nations were engraven on brass, and fixed up in some place of public resort, that they might be read by the people. 94. Peregrinum... orbem: foreign lands.'-Viseret: from viso. 95. Pinus the pine tree,' of which ships were formerly made. 98. Directi: of straight brass.' 6 99. Sine militis usu: without the assistance of soldiers.' 103. Contentique: sc. homines.-Nullo cogente: 'without cultivation.' 106. Jovis arbore: the oak; a tree sacred to Jupiter, because, as it is said, he first taught mankind to live upon its acorns. Jupiter was the chief of the heathen deities, and was called the father of the gods. After he had defeated the Titans, and reinstated his father on his throne, Saturn began to be jealous of the power and courage which had rescued him from imprisonment, and ungratefully plotted against the life of his son. His treachery, however, ended in his own ruin; Jupiter obliged him to fly from his kingdom, and took possession of the empire of the world. The sovereignty of the heavens and the earth he reserved to himself, but he gave to his brother Neptune the empire of the sea, and made his second brother, Pluto, monarch of the infernal regions. Although the heathens imputed to Jupiter innumerable acts of the greatest injustice and wickedness, and represented him as a slave to the basest and most criminal passions, he was still universally worshipped by them during a succession of ages; and, even at the present period, he has not ceased in some countries to be an object of blind adoration. The Africans are generally supposed to have worshipped this deity under the name of Ammon, the Babylonians as Belus or Bel, and the Egyptians as Osiris. 108. Mulcebant: blew softly over.' 6 110. Nec renovatus ager: and the land without being renewed,' or turned up by the plough. 113. Tenebrosa... misso: 'being driven by his son Jupiter into gloomy Tartarus;' a place in the infernal regions, which was said by the ancients to be the abode of those among mankind who had deserved a heavy degree of punishment by their guilt and impiety on earth. 117. Inæquales: 'changeable.' 119. Ustus: scorched.'-Siccis fervoribus: 'with parching heat.' 123. Semina... Cerealia: 'the seeds of Ceres,' i. e. corn. Ceres |