is apparently the first attempt of human thought to deal systematically with the phenomena of nature—so as, in a manner, to account for things before men were sufficiently free from superstition to reject the early fables. The titles of several Greek works of the same kind are known; and Virgil, in the Sixth Eclogue, puts a similar song into the mouth of Silenus. Any thing like a real belief in these fables had passed away long before the time of Ovid. He was the popular poet of a sensual and artificial age, who found in these creations of ancient fancy a group of subjects suited to his graceful, ornate, and marvellously facile style of narrative, and who did not hesitate to alter or dress them up to suit his purpose. "" The "Metamorphoses - Libri xv.. Metamorphoseon (a Greek genitive) is the most abundant and rich collection of these fables that exists. They are told in a diffuse, sentimental, often debased way, which contrasts strongly with the serious meaning that originally belonged to these myths; but are wonderfully fluent, easy, and melodious in their language, and show a skill of versification which seems never to halt or weary. The poem begins with the first origin of things from chaos, the four ages of gold, silver, brass, and iron, the deluge, followed by the graceful and picturesque version of the tales of gods and heroes, through a long narrative, about 12,000 verses in all, - ending with the apotheosis of Cæsar, as the sequel of the tale of Troy. The series purports to be chronological; but the order is often arbitrary and the connection forced or affected, as would naturally be the case with an author res diversissimas in speciem unius corporis colligentem (Quint. iv. 1, 77). The mythology of Ovid and the other Roman poets was Greek mythology dressed up in Roman names. It is not necessary to remind the reader that the stories here told related to Zeus, Athene, Artemis, and the other members of the Greek Olympus, and could never have been attributed to the sober abstractions of the Roman Pantheon. Nevertheless, in commenting upon Ovid, it is impossible to avoid making use of the names in the same sense that he did, - the names long familiar in modern literature, which took them from the Romans and not the Greeks. - METAMORPHOSES. I. THE CREATION AND THE FLOOD. [BOOK I.-1-415.] PROEM (1-4). Description of Chaos (5-20). The Creator assigns the elements to their places, and divides the land from the waters: the zones and climates (26-58). The heavens are clear, and living things come forth upon the earth: lastly man, fashioned by Prometheus in the image of the immortals (69-88). The Four Ages: description of the Golden Age (89-112). The Age of Silver, Brass, and Iron: Astræa quits the earth; the Giants, and men of violence that sprang from their blood (113-162). Jupiter recounts the crimes of Lycaon, and his transformation to a Wolf (163-243). He resolves to drown the world with a Flood rather than destroy it by Fire description of the Deluge (244-312) The righteous Deucalion with his wife Pyrrha: when the waters are abated, they behold the earth desolate, and beseech aid at the shrine of Themis (313-380). Instructed by the oracle, they cast stones above their heads, which are miraculously converted into human beings, and thus repeople the earth (381-415). IN novă fert animus mutatas dicere formas corpora. Di, coeptis (nam vos mutastis et illas) adspirate meis, primäque ab origine mundi ad mea perpetuum deducite tempora carmen. ANTE mare et terras et (quod tegit omnia) caelum, unus erat toto naturae vultus in orbe, quem dixere Chaos: rudis indigestaque moles, nec quicquam nisi pondus iners, congestaque eodem non bene junctarum discordia semina rerum. nullus adhuc mundo praebebat lumina Titan, nec nova crescendo reparabat cornua Phoebe, ΙΟ nec circumfuso pendebat in aëre Tellus ponderibus librata suis, nec brachia longomargine terrarum porrexerat Amphitrite; quaque fuit tellus, illic et pontus et aër. Sic erat instabilis tellus, innabilis unda, lucis egens aër: nulli sua forma manebat, obstabatque aliis aliud, quia corpore in uno frigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis, mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus. Hanc deus et melior litem natura diremit. nam caelo terras et terris abscidit undas, et liquidum spisso secrevit ab aëre caelum. quae postquam evolvît caecoque exemit acervo, dissociata locis concordi pace ligavit. Ignea convexi vis et sine pondere caeli emicuit, summaque locum sibi fecit in arce. proximus est aër illi levitate locoque ; densior his tellus, elementaque grandia traxit et pressa est gravitate sua; circumfluus humor ultima possedit, solidumque coërcuit orbem. Sic ubi dispositam, quisquis fuit ille deorum, congeriem secuit, sectamque in membra redegit, principio terram, ne non aequalis ab omni parte foret, magni speciem glomeravit in orbis. tum freta diffudit, rapidisque tumescere ventis jussit, et ambitae circumdare litora terrae. addidit et fontes et stagna immensa lacusque, fluminaque obliquis cinxit declivia ripis, quae, diversa locis, partim sorbentur ab ipsa, in mare perveniunt partim, campoque recepta liberioris aquae pro ripis litora pulsant. 15 20 25 30 35 40 jussit et extendi campos, subsidere valles, fronde tegi silvas, lapidosos surgere montes. Utque duae dextra caelum totidemque sinistra 45 I. 79.] The Heavens: Creation of Man. 7 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, 50 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, 55 65 cum sua quisque regant diverso flamina tractu, quin lanient mundum; tanta est discordia fratrum. 60 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. 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, 70 75 sive recens tellus, seductaque nuper ab alto quam satus Iapeto, mixtam fluvialibus undis, sic, modo quae fuerat rudis et sine imagine, tellus induit ignotas hominum conversa figuras. AUREA prima sata est aetas, quae vindice nullo, sponte sua, sine lege fidem rectumque colebat. poena metusque aberant, nec verba minacia fixo aere legebantur, nec supplex turba timebat judicis ora sui, sed erant sine judice tuti. nondum caesa suis, peregrinum ut viseret orbem, montibus in liquidas pinus descenderat undas, nullaque mortales praeter sua litora norant. nondum praecipites cingebant oppida fossae: non tuba directi, non aeris cornua flexi, non galeae, non ensis erant; sine militis usu mollia securae peragebant otia gentes. ipsa quoque immunis rastroque intacta, nec ullis saucią vomeribus, per se dabat omnia tellus : contentique cibis nullo cogente creatis, arbuteos fetus montanaque fraga legebant, cornaque et in duris haerentia mora rubetis, et quae deciderant patula Jovis arbore glandes. ver erat aeternum, placidique tepentibus auris mulcebant zephyri natos sine semine flores. mox etiam fruges tellus inarata ferebat, nec renovatus àger gravidis canebat aristis: flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant, flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella. 7 Postquam Saturno tenebrosa in Tartara misso |