XIII. 398.] Ajax slays himself in Wrath.

129

380

este mei memores! aut si mihi non datis arma, huic date!' et ostendit signum fatale Minervae. Mota manus procerum est, et quid facundia posset, re patuit; fortisque viri tulit arma disertus. Hectora qui solus, qui ferrum, ignesque, Jovemque sustinuit totiens, unam non sustinet iram : invictumque virum vincit dolor. Arripit ensem,

385

et Meus hic certe est. An et hunc sibi poscit Ulixes? hoc' ait utendum est in me mihi,; quique cruore

6

390

saepe Phrygum maduit, domini nunc caede madebit, ne quisquam Ajacem possit superare, nisi Ajax.' dixit, et in pectus tum demum vulnera passum qua patuit ferrum, letalem condidit ensem. nec valuere manus infixum educere telum: expulit ipse cruor; rubefactaque sanguine tellus purpureum viridi genuit de cespite florem, qui prius Oebalio fuerat de vulnere natus. littera communis mediis pueroque viroque inscripta est foliis: haec nominis, illa querellae.

395

9

XX. THE TALE OF GALATEA.

[BOOK XIII. - 750-897.]

[DURING the return of the chiefs from Troy, Hecuba, having plucked out the eyes of Polymestor, king of Thrace, who had murdered her son Polydorus, is changed to a dog (XIII. 399–575). Aurora, mourning for her son Memnon, slain by Achilles, obtains that his ashes shall become birds, while her tears are changed to dew (576-622). Eneas at Delphi is told by Anius, priest of Apollo, of his daughters' transformation into doves while fleeing from the power of Agamemnon (623-674); and at his departing receives from him a bowl engraved with the self-devotion of Orion's daughters, sacrificed for Thebes, out of whose ashes sprang the youths Corona (675-699). Thence sailing to Crete and Italy, he passes at Actium the stone image of the judge Ambracus, and Dodona where the sons of Molossus took the form of birds (700-718). On the coast of Sicily he nears the rock of the monster Scylla, once the beautiful daughter of Phorcus, who hears from her attendant nymph Galatea (daughter of Nereus and Doris) the following tale (719-749).]

Acis, son of Faunus and the nymph Symæthis, the most beautiful youth of Sicily, loved and was loved by Galatea. But the giant Polyphemus had likewise conceived a wild passion for her, which he utters in song (750-869); and seeing them as they are seated together in a wood, he is filled with jealousy, and casts a rock from Ætna upon them, by which Acis is crushed, and his blood, oozing beneath the rock, becomes a river (870–897).

[Thereafter, as Scylla paces the shore, she is seen and pursued by Glaucus, who relates to her the story of his own transformation from a mortal to a sea-divinity (898-968). Going then to Circe, a mistress of enchantments, he entreats her to aid his suit of Scylla; but she in jealousy, because she herself loved Glaucus, so enchanted the waters Scylla used to bathe, that she was converted to a foul monster, girt about the loins with wild dogs, and afterwards (lest she might harm Æneas' fleet) to a rock (XIV. 1–74).]

ACI

CIS erat Fauno nymphaque Symaethide cretus, magna quidem patrisque sui matrisque voluptas, nostra tamen major, nam me sibi junxerat uni.

XIII. 785.]

The Cyclops Polyphemus.

pulcher et octonis iterum natalibus actis,
signarat dubia teneras lanugine malas.
hunc ego, me Cyclops nulla cum fine petebat;
nec, si quaesieris, odium Cyclopis, amorne
Acidis in nobis fuerit praesentior, edam:
par utrumque fuit. Pro! quanta potentia regni
est, Venus alma, tui! nempe ille immitis et ipsis
horrendus silvis, et visus ab hospite nullo
impune, et magni cum dis contemptor Olympi,
quid sit amor sentit, nostrique cupidine captus
uritur, oblitus pecorum antrorumque suorum.

131

755

760

765

Jamque tibi formae, jamque est tibi cura placendi, jam rigidos pectis rastris, Polypheme, capillos; jam libet hirsutam tibi falce recidere barbam, et spectare feros in aqua, et componere vultus. caedis amor feritasque sitisque immensa cruoris cessant, et tutae veniuntque abeuntque carinae. Telemus interea Siculam delatus ad Aetnen, Telemus Eurymides, quem nulla fefellerat ales, terribilem Polyphemon adit; Lumen' que, 'quod

unum

fronte geris media, rapiet tibi' dixit' Ulixes.' risit, et ' O vatum stolidissime, falleris' inquit: 'altera jam rapuit.' Sic frustra vera monentem spernit, et aut gradiens ingenti litora passu degravat, aut fessus sub opaca revertitur antra. Prominet in pontum cuneatus acumine longo collis utrumque latus circumfluit aequoris unda : huc ferus ascendit Cyclops, mediusque resedit; lanigerae pecudes, nullo ducente, secutae. cui postquam pinus, baculi quae praebuit usum, ante pedes posita est, antemnis apta ferendis, sumptaque arundinibus compacta est fistula centum, senserunt toti pastoria sibila montes,

770

775

780

785

senserunt undae. Latitans ego rupe, meique Acidis in gremio residens, procul auribus hausi talia dicta meis, auditaque mente notavi:

• Candidior folio nivei, Galatea, ligustri, floridior pratis, longa procerior alno, splendidior vitro, tenero lascivior haedo, levior adsiduo detritis aequore conchis, solibus hibernis, aestiva gratior umbra, nobilior pomis, platano conspectior alta, lucidior glacie, matura dulcior uva, mollior et cygni plumis et lacte coacto, et, si non fugias, riguo formosior horto :saevior indomitis eadem Galatea juvencis, durior annosa quercu, fallacior undis, lentior et salicis virgis et vitibus albis, his immobilior scopulis, violentior amne, laudato pavone superbior, acrior igni, asperior tribulis, foeta truculentior ursa,

surdior aequoribus, calcato immitior hydro,

et (quod praecipue vellem tibi demere possem)
non tantum cervo claris latratibus acto,
verum etiam ventis volucrique fugacior aura!

At, bene si noris, pigeat fugisse; morasque

790

795

800

805

ipsa tuas damnes, et me retinere labores.
sunt mihi, pars montis, vivo pendentia saxo
antra, quibus nec sol medio sentitur in aestu,
nec sentitur hiemps; sunt poma gravantia ramos;
sunt auro similes longis in vitibus uvae;

sunt et purpureae: tibi et has servamus, et illas.
ipsa tuis manibus silvestri nata sub umbra
mollia fraga leges, ipsa autumnalia corna,
prunaque, non solum nigro liventia suco,
verum etiam generosa novasque imitantia ceras.
nec tibi castaneae me conjuge, nec tibi deerunt

815

XIII. 853.]

Song of Polyphemus.

133

arbutei fetus: omnis tibi serviet arbos.

820

'Hoc pecus omne meum est: multae quoque valli

bus errant,

multas silva tegit, multae stabulantur in antris;

nec, si forte roges, possim tibi dicere quot sint:
pauperis est numerare pecus. De laudibus harum
nil mihi credideris: praesens potes ipsa videre,
ut vix circumeant distentum cruribus uber.
sunt, fetura minor, tepidis in ovilibus agni ;
sunt quoque, par aetas, aliis in ovilibus haedi.

825

lac mihi semper adest niveum: pars inde bibenda servatur, partem liquefacta coagula durant.

830

835

'Nec tibi deliciae faciles, vulgataque tantum munera contingent, dammae, leporesque, caperque, parve columbarum, demptusve cacumine nidus. inveni geminos, qui tecum ludere possint, inter se similes, vix ut dignoscere possis, villosae catulos in summis montibus ursae; inveni, et dixi Dominae servabimus istos. jam modo caeruleo nitidum caput exsere ponto, jam, Galatea, veni, nec munera despice nostra. 'Certe ego me novi, liquidaeque in imagine vidi 840 nuper aquae: placuitque mihi mea forma videnti. aspice, sim quantus: non est hoc corpore major Juppiter in caelo nam vos narrare soletis nescio quem regnare Jovem. Coma plurima torvos prominet in vultus, humerosque, ut lucus, obumbrat. nec mihi quod rigidis horrent densissima saetis corpora, turpe puta. Turpis sine frondibus arbor; turpis equus, nisi colla jubae flaventia velent; barba viros hirtaeque decent in corpore saetae. unum est in media lumen mihi fronte, sed instar ingentis clipei. Quid? non haec omnia magno sol videt e caelo? soli tamen unicus orbis.

850