Ut clamata1 silet, montes ululatibus implent,
Et feriunt maesta pectora nuda manu.
Attonita est plangore Ceres (modo venerat Hennam)
Nec mora, me miseram! filia, dixit, ubi es?
Mentis inops rapitur: quales audire solemus
Threïcias passis Maenadas ire comis.
Ut vitulo mugit sua mater2 ab ubere rapto,
Et quaerit fetus
Sic Dea nec retinet gemitus, et concita cursu
Fertur, et e campis incipit, Henna, tuis.
Quacunque ingreditur, miseris loca cuncta querelis 45
Implet; ut amissum cum gemit ales Ityn.3
Perque vices, modo Persephone, modo Filia, clamat
Clamat, et alternis nomen utrumque ciet:
Sed neque Persephone Cererem, neque filia matrem
Audit; et alternis nomen utrumque perit.
Ecquid ab impressae cognoscis imagine cerae
Haec tibi Nasonem scribere verba, Macer?
Auctorisque sui si non est annulus index,
Cognitane est nostra littera facta manu?
An tibi notitiam mora temporis eripit horum? 5
Nec repetunt oculi signa vetusta tui?
Sis licet oblitus pariter gemmaeque manûsque,
Exciderit tantum ne tibi cura mei:
1 Ut clamata, etc. "When thus called, she is silent."
2 Sua mater. "Sua" is here not reciprocal, as generally; but there appears to be a confusion of expression, as though Ovid were thinking of the passive form, "Vitulus a sua matre quaesitus," and then had given
an active turn to the sentence.
3 Ityn. Itys was son of
Tereus, a Thracian king, and
Procne. He was killed by his
mother, and served up at a meal
to his father, in revenge for the
conduct of Tereus to Philomela
sister of Procne.
Quam tu vel longi debes convictibus aevi,
Vel mea quod conjunx non aliena tibi ;
Vel studiis, quibus es quam nos sapientius usus;
Utque decet, nulla factus es Arte nocens.
Tu canis1 aeterno quidquid restabat Homero,
Ne careant summa Troïca bella manu.
Naso parum prudens, Artem dum tradit amandi, 15
Doctrinae pretium triste magister habet.
Sunt tamen inter se communia sacra poetis ;
Diversum quamvis quisque sequamur iter.
Quorum te memorem (quanquam procul absumus) esse
Suspicor: et casus velle levare meos.
Te duce magnificas Asiae perspeximus urbes :
Trinacris est oculis, te duce, nota meis.
Vidimus Aetnaea caelum splendescere flamma,
Suppositus monti quam vomit ore gigas;
Hennaeosque lacus, et olentia stagna Palici,
Quaque suis Cyanen miscet Anapus aquis;
Nec procul hinc Nymphen, quae, dum fugit Elidis
Tecta sub aequorea nunc quoque currit aqua. Hic mihi labentis pars anni magna peracta est: Eheu! quam dispar est locus ille Getis! Et quota pars3 haec sunt rerum, quas vidimus ambo, Te mihi jucundas efficiente vias!
According to others, Typhoeus was the giant thus punished. Below, "Nymphen" is Arethusa, who was pursued by the river god Alpheus, of Elis; and being changed by Diana into a fountain, had a channel made for her under the sea to Ortygia, an island near Syracuse, in Sicily.
3 Quota pars. "How small a fraction!" Properly, "One part
Seu rate caeruleas picta sulcavimus undas;
Esseda nos agili sive tulere rota.
Saepe brevis nobis vicibus via visa loquendi ;
Pluraque, si numeres, verba fuere gradu.
Saepe dies1 sermone minor fuit; inque loquendum
Tarda per aestivos defuit hora dies.
Est aliquid, casus pariter timuisse marinos;
Junctaque ad aequoreos vota tulisse Deos;
Et modo res egisse simul: modo rursus ab illis,
Quorum non pudeat, posse referre jocos.
Haec tibi si subeant, (absim licet) omnibus horis
Ante tuos oculos, ut modo visus, ero.
Ipse quidem extremi cum sim sub cardine mundi, 45
Qui semper 2 liquidis altior extat aquis,
Te tamen intueor, quo solo pectore possum ;
Et tecum gelido saepe sub axe loquor.
Hic es et ignoras; et ades celeberrimus absens :
Inque Getas media visus ab urbe venis.
Redde vicem; et, quoniam regio felicior ista est,
Illic me memori pectore semper habe.
amongst how many?" Cf. Ovid,
Amor. ii. 12, 10: "Ex tot in
Atrida pars quota laudis erat?"
Juv. xiii. 157: "Haec quota pars
scelerum quae custos Gallicus
urbis... audit?"
1 Saepe dies, etc. The day was too short for what the fellowtravellers had to say to each other. Below, "subeant is "occur to your recollection."
2 Qui semper. "Qui" refers to cardine." Ovid regarded himself as located in a very high northern latitude, where the earth's axis is elevated far
above the unfrozen waters of the sea. Below, " quo solo pectore" is "in the only way my affection can devise;" in fancy, that is, not in reality.
3 Hic es. In Ovid's fancy. "Celeberrimus" here is "most frequently." Translate, "You pay me many a visit, although absent."
4 Redde vicem. "Make return." "As I recall you in my thoughts here, do you recall me in your thoughts at Rome (regio ista)."
Ovid commands his epistles to go as soon as possible to Perilla.
Vade salutatum1 subito perarata Perillam
Littera, sermonis fida ministra mei.
Aut illam invenies dulci cum matre sedentem,
Aut inter libros Pieridasque suas.
Quidquid aget, cum te scîrit venisse, relinquet:
Nec mora: quid venias, quidve, requiret, agam.
Vivere me dices; sed sic, ut vivere nolim;
Nec mala tam longa nostra levata mora:
Et tamen ad Musas, quamvis nocuere, reverti; 2
Aptaque in alternos cogere verba pedes.
Tu quoque dic; studiis communibus ecquid inhae-
res ? 3
Doctaque non patrio carmina more canis ?
Nam tibi cum facie mores Natura pudicos,
Et ratas dotes ingeniumque dedit.
Hoc ego Pegasidas deduxi primus ad undas,*
Ne male facundae vena periret aquae.
Primus id aspexi teneris in virginis annis:
Utque pater natae duxque comesque fui.
1 Salutatum. An active supine, used, as always, after a verb of motion. A letter was said to be "perarata," because it was written on waxen tablets by a sharp-pointed "stylus," and so the operation resembled ploughing.
2 Reverti, etc. The infinitive passive: "That I am returned." Below, "in alternos pedes means "elegiacs."
3 Ecquid inhaeres, etc. "Do you still cling at all to our common pursuits? Ovid and his daughter were both writers of
poetry. Ovid was born at Sulmo, a town of the Peligni, a district not famous for poetical talent. Below, "ratas" is "wellassured, lasting." Good qualities are more certain to last than mere external advantages.
Pegasidas.. ... undas. The fountain of Hippocrene on Mount Helicon, raised by the stroke of the hoof of Pegasus, the winged horse sprung from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa. Below, "Lesbia" is Sappho, the poetess of Lesbos (about B.C. 600).
Ergo, si remanent ignes tibi pectoris îdem,
Sola tuum vates Lesbia vincet opus.
Sed vereor, ne te mea nunc Fortuna retardet,
Postque meos casus sit tibi pectus iners.
Dum licuit, tua saepe mihi, tibi nostra legebam;
Saepe tui judex; saepe magister eram.
Aut ego praebebam factis modo versibus aures;
Aut ubi cessâras, causa ruboris eram.1
Forsitan exemplo, quia me laesere libelli,
Tu quoque sis poenae
Pone, Perilla, metum; tantummodo femina ne sit
Devia, nec scriptis discat amare tuis.
Ergo desidiae remove, doctissima, causas;
Inque bonas artes et tua sacra redi.
Ista decens facies longis vitiabitur annis;
Rugaque in antiqua fronte senilis erit;
Inicietque manum formae damnosa senectus,
Quae strepitum passu non faciente venit.
Cumque aliquis dicet, fuit haec formosa, dolebis,
Et speculum mendax esse querere tuum.
Sunt tibi opes modicae, cum sis dignissima magnis,
Finge sed3 immensis censibus esse pares.
Nempe dat id cuicunque libet Fortuna, rapitque:
Irus et est subito, qui modo Croesus erat.
Singula quid referam ? nil non mortale tenemus,
Pectoris exceptis ingeniique bonis.
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