Metamorphoses

Ovid

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

  1. “For this the Nymph, Alpheian, raised her head
  2. above Elean waves; and having first
  3. pushed back her dripping tresses from her brows,
  4. back to her ears, she thus began to speak;
  5. ‘O mother of the virgin, sought throughout
  6. the globe! O mother of nutritious fruits!
  7. Let these tremendous labours have an end;
  8. do not increase the violence of thy wrath
  9. against the Earth, devoted to thy sway,
  10. and not deserving blame; for only force
  11. compelled the Earth to open for that wrong.
  12. Think not my supplication is to aid
  13. my native country; hither I am come
  14. an alien: Pisa is my native land,
  15. and Elis gave me birth. Though I sojourn
  16. a stranger in this isle of Sicily
  17. it yet delights me more than all the world.
  18. ‘I, Arethusa, claim this isle my home,
  19. and do implore thee keep my throne secure,
  20. O greatest of the Gods! A better hour,
  21. when thou art lightened of thy cares, will come,
  22. and when thy countenance again is kind;
  23. and then may I declare what cause removed
  24. me from my native place—and through the waves
  25. of such a mighty ocean guided me
  26. to find Ortygia.
  27. ‘Through the porous earth
  28. by deepest caverns, I uplift my head
  29. and see unwonted stars. Now it befell,
  30. as I was gliding far beneath the world,
  31. where flow dark Stygian streams, I saw
  32. thy Proserpine. Although her countenance
  33. betrayed anxiety and grief, a queen She reigned
  34. supremely great in that opacous world
  35. queen consort mighty to the King of Hell.’
  36. “Astonished and amazed, as thunderstruck,
  37. when Proserpina's mother heard these words,
  38. long while she stood till great bewilderment
  39. gave way to heavy grief. Then to the skies,
  40. ethereal, she mounted in her car
  41. and with beclouded face and streaming hair
  42. stood fronting Jove, opprobrious. ‘I have come
  43. O Jupiter, a suppliant to thee,
  44. both for my own offspring as well as thine.
  45. If thy hard heart deny a mother grace,
  46. yet haply as a father thou canst feel
  47. some pity for thy daughter; and I pray
  48. thy care for her may not be valued less
  49. because my groaning travail brought her forth.—
  50. My long-sought daughter has at last been found,
  51. if one can call it, found, when certain loss
  52. more certain has been proved; or so may deem
  53. the knowledge of her state.—But I may bear
  54. his rude ways, if again he bring her back.
  55. ‘Thy worthy child should not be forced to wed
  56. a bandit-chief, nor should my daughter's charms
  57. reward his crime.’ She spoke;—and Jupiter
  58. took up the word; ‘This daughter is a care,
  59. a sacred pledge to me as well as thee;
  60. but if it please us to acknowledge truth,
  61. this is a deed of love and injures not.
  62. And if, O goddess, thou wilt not oppose,
  63. such law-son cannot compass our disgrace:
  64. for though all else were wanting, naught can need
  65. Jove's brother, who in fortune yields to none
  66. save me. But if thy fixed desire compel
  67. dissent, let Proserpine return to Heaven;
  68. however, subject to the binding law,
  69. if there her tongue have never tasted food—
  70. a sure condition, by the Fates decreed.’
  71. he spoke; but Ceres was no less resolved
  72. to lead her daughter thence.
  73. “Not so the Fates
  74. permit.—The virgin, thoughtless while she strayed
  75. among the cultivated Stygian fields,
  76. had broken fast. While there she plucked the fruit
  77. by bending a pomegranate tree, and plucked,
  78. and chewed seven grains, picked from the pallid rind;
  79. and none had seen except Ascalaphus—
  80. him Orphne, famed of all Avernian Nymphs,
  81. had brought to birth in some infernal cave,
  82. days long ago, from Acheron's embrace—
  83. he saw it, and with cruel lips debarred
  84. young Proserpine's return. Heaving a sigh,
  85. the Queen of Erebus, indignant changed
  86. that witness to an evil bird: she turned
  87. his head, with sprinkled Phlegethonian lymph,
  88. into a beak, and feathers, and great eyes;
  89. his head grew larger and his shape, deformed,
  90. was cased in tawny wings; his lengthened nails
  91. bent inward;—and his sluggish arms
  92. as wings can hardly move. So he became
  93. the vilest bird; a messenger of grief;
  94. the lazy owl; sad omen to mankind.
  95. “The telltale's punishment was only just;
  96. O Siren Maids, but wherefore thus have ye
  97. the feet and plumes of birds, although remain
  98. your virgin features? Is it from the day
  99. when Proserpina gathered vernal flowers;
  100. because ye mingled with her chosen friends?
  101. And after she was lost, in vain ye sought
  102. through all the world; and wished for wings to waft
  103. you over the great deep, that soon the sea
  104. might feel your great concern.—The Gods were kind:
  105. ye saw your limbs grow yellow, with a growth
  106. of sudden-sprouting feathers; but because
  107. your melodies that gently charm the ear,
  108. besides the glory of your speech, might lose
  109. the blessing, of a tongue, your virgin face
  110. and human voice remained.
  111. “But Jupiter,
  112. the mediator of these rival claims,
  113. urged by his brother and his grieving sister,
  114. divided the long year in equal parts.
  115. Now Proserpina, as a Deity,
  116. of equal merit, in two kingdoms reigns:—
  117. for six months with her mother she abides,
  118. and six months with her husband.—Both her mind
  119. and her appearance quickly were transformed;
  120. for she who seemed so sad in Pluto's eyes,
  121. now as a goddess beams in joyful smiles;
  122. so, when the sun obscured by watery mist
  123. conquers the clouds, it shines in splendour forth.