Metamorphoses

Ovid

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

  1. Hapless Actaeon's end in various ways
  2. was now regarded; some deplored his doom,
  3. but others praised Diana's chastity;
  4. and all gave many reasons. But the spouse
  5. of Jove, alone remaining silent, gave
  6. nor praise nor blame. Whenever calamity
  7. befell the race of Cadmus she rejoiced,
  8. in secret, for she visited her rage
  9. on all Europa's kindred.
  10. Now a fresh
  11. occasion has been added to her grief,
  12. and wild with jealousy of Semele,
  13. her tongue as ever ready to her rage,
  14. lets loose a torrent of abuse;
  15. “Away!
  16. Away with words! Why should I speak of it?
  17. Let me attack her! Let me spoil that jade!
  18. Am I not Juno the supreme of Heaven?
  19. Queen of the flashing scepter? Am I not
  20. sister and wife of Jove omnipotent?
  21. She even wishes to be known by him
  22. a mother of a Deity, a joy
  23. almost denied to me! Great confidence
  24. has she in her great beauty—nevertheless,
  25. I shall so weave the web the bolt of Jove
  26. would fail to save her.—Let the Gods deny
  27. that I am Saturn's daughter, if her shade
  28. descend not stricken to the Stygian wave.”
  29. She rose up quickly from her shining throne,
  30. and hidden in a cloud of fiery hue
  31. descended to the home of Semele;
  32. and while encompassed by the cloud, transformed
  33. her whole appearance as to counterfeit
  34. old Beroe, an Epidaurian nurse,
  35. who tended Semele.
  36. Her tresses changed
  37. to grey, her smooth skin wrinkled and her step
  38. grown feeble as she moved with trembling limbs;—
  39. her voice was quavering as an ancient dame's,
  40. as Juno, thus disguised, began to talk
  41. to Semele. When presently the name
  42. of Jove was mentioned—artful Juno thus;
  43. (doubtful that Jupiter could be her love)—
  44. “When Jove appears to pledge his love to you,
  45. implore him to assume his majesty
  46. and all his glory, even as he does
  47. in presence of his stately Juno—Yea,
  48. implore him to caress you as a God.”
  49. With artful words as these the goddess worked
  50. upon the trusting mind of Semele,
  51. daughter of Cadmus, till she begged of Jove
  52. a boon, that only hastened her sad death;
  53. for Jove not knowing her design replied,
  54. “Whatever thy wish, it shall not be denied,
  55. and that thy heart shall suffer no distrust,
  56. I pledge me by that Deity, the Waves
  57. of the deep Stygian Lake,—oath of the Gods.”
  58. All overjoyed at her misfortune, proud
  59. that she prevailed, and pleased that she secured
  60. of him a promise, that could only cause
  61. her own disaster, Semele addressed
  62. almighty Jove; “Come unto me in all
  63. the splendour of thy glory, as thy might
  64. is shown to Juno, goddess of the skies.”
  65. Fain would he stifle her disastrous tongue;
  66. before he knew her quest the words were said;
  67. and, knowing that his greatest oath was pledged,
  68. he sadly mounted to the lofty skies,
  69. and by his potent nod assembled there
  70. the deep clouds: and the rain began to pour,
  71. and thunder-bolts resounded.
  72. But he strove
  73. to mitigate his power, and armed him not
  74. with flames overwhelming as had put to flight
  75. his hundred-handed foe Typhoeus—flames
  76. too dreadful. Other thunder-bolts he took,
  77. forged by the Cyclops of a milder heat,
  78. with which insignia of his majesty,
  79. sad and reluctant, he appeared to her.—
  80. her mortal form could not endure the shock
  81. and she was burned to ashes in his sight.
  82. An unformed babe was rescued from her side,
  83. and, nurtured in the thigh of Jupiter,
  84. completed Nature's time until his birth.
  85. Ino, his aunt, in secret nursed the boy
  86. and cradled him. And him Nyseian nymphs
  87. concealed in caves and fed with needful milk.