Metamorphoses

Ovid

Ovid. Metamorphoses. More, Brookes, translator. Boston: Cornhill Publishing Co., 1922.

  1. And now his thunder bolts
  2. would Jove wide scatter, but he feared the flames,
  3. unnumbered, sacred ether might ignite
  4. and burn the axle of the universe:
  5. and he remembered in the scroll of fate,
  6. there is a time appointed when the sea
  7. and earth and Heavens shall melt, and fire destroy
  8. the universe of mighty labour wrought.
  9. Such weapons by the skill of Cyclops forged,
  10. for different punishment he laid aside—
  11. for straightway he preferred to overwhelm
  12. the mortal race beneath deep waves and storms
  13. from every raining sky. And instantly
  14. he shut the Northwind in Aeolian caves,
  15. and every other wind that might dispel
  16. the gathering clouds. He bade the Southwind blow:—
  17. the Southwind flies abroad with dripping wings,
  18. concealing in the gloom his awful face:
  19. the drenching rain descends from his wet beard
  20. and hoary locks; dark clouds are on his brows
  21. and from his wings and garments drip the dews:
  22. his great hands press the overhanging clouds;
  23. loudly the thunders roll; the torrents pour;
  24. Iris, the messenger of Juno, clad
  25. in many coloured raiment, upward draws
  26. the steaming moisture to renew the clouds.
  27. The standing grain is beaten to the ground,
  28. the rustic's crops are scattered in the mire,
  29. and he bewails the long year's fruitless toil.
  30. The wrath of Jove was not content with powers
  31. that emanate from Heaven; he brought to aid
  32. his azure brother, lord of flowing waves,
  33. who called upon the Rivers and the Streams:
  34. and when they entered his impearled abode,
  35. Neptune, their ancient ruler, thus began;
  36. “A long appeal is needless; pour ye forth
  37. in rage of power; open up your fountains;
  38. rush over obstacles; let every stream
  39. pour forth in boundless floods.” Thus he commands,
  40. and none dissenting all the River Gods
  41. return, and opening up their fountains roll
  42. tumultuous to the deep unfruitful sea.
  43. And Neptune with his trident smote the Earth,
  44. which trembling with unwonted throes heaved up
  45. the sources of her waters bare; and through
  46. her open plains the rapid rivers rushed
  47. resistless, onward bearing the waving grain,
  48. the budding groves, the houses, sheep and men,—
  49. and holy temples, and their sacred urns.
  50. The mansions that remained, resisting vast
  51. and total ruin, deepening waves concealed
  52. and whelmed their tottering turrets in the flood
  53. and whirling gulf. And now one vast expanse,
  54. the land and sea were mingled in the waste
  55. of endless waves—a sea without a shore.
  56. One desperate man seized on the nearest hill;
  57. another sitting in his curved boat,
  58. plied the long oar where he was wont to plow;
  59. another sailed above his grain, above
  60. his hidden dwelling; and another hooked
  61. a fish that sported in a leafy elm.
  62. Perchance an anchor dropped in verdant fields,
  63. or curving keels were pushed through tangled vines;
  64. and where the gracile goat enjoyed the green,
  65. unsightly seals reposed. Beneath the waves
  66. were wondering Nereids, viewing cities, groves
  67. and houses. Dolphins darting mid the trees,
  68. meshed in the twisted branches, beat against
  69. the shaken oak trees. There the sheep, affrayed,
  70. swim with the frightened wolf, the surging waves
  71. float tigers and lions: availeth naught
  72. his lightning shock the wild boar, nor avails
  73. the stag's fleet footed speed. The wandering bird,
  74. seeking umbrageous groves and hidden vales,
  75. with wearied pinion droops into the sea.
  76. The waves increasing surge above the hills,
  77. and rising waters dash on mountain tops.
  78. Myriads by the waves are swept away,
  79. and those the waters spare, for lack of food,
  80. starvation slowly overcomes at last.
  81. A fruitful land and fair but now submerged
  82. beneath a wilderness of rising waves,
  83. 'Twixt Oeta and Aonia, Phocis lies,
  84. where through the clouds Parnassus' summits twain
  85. point upward to the stars, unmeasured height,
  86. save which the rolling billows covered all:
  87. there in a small and fragile boat, arrived,
  88. Deucalion and the consort of his couch,
  89. prepared to worship the Corycian Nymphs,
  90. the mountain deities, and Themis kind,
  91. who in that age revealed in oracles
  92. the voice of fate. As he no other lived
  93. so good and just, as she no other feared
  94. the Gods.
  95. When Jupiter beheld the globe
  96. in ruin covered, swept with wasting waves,
  97. and when he saw one man of myriads left,
  98. one helpless woman left of myriads lone,
  99. both innocent and worshiping the Gods,
  100. he scattered all the clouds; he blew away
  101. the great storms by the cold northwind.