Metamorphoses

Ovid

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

  1. and since that time, the linen wearing throng
  2. of Egypt have adored her as a God;
  3. for they believe the seed of Jove prevailed;
  4. and when her time was due she bore to him
  5. a son called Epaphus; who also dwells
  6. in temples with his mother in that land.
  7. Now Phaethon, whose father was the Sun,
  8. was equal to his rival, Epaphus,
  9. in mind and years; and he was glad to boast
  10. of wonders, nor would yield to Epaphus
  11. for pride of Phoebus, his reputed sire.
  12. Unable to endure it, Io's son
  13. thus mocked him; “Poor, demented fellow, what
  14. will you not credit if your mother speaks,
  15. you are so puffed up with the fond conceit
  16. of your imagined sire, the Lord of Day.”
  17. shame crimsoned in his cheeks, but Phaethon
  18. withholding rage, reported all the taunts
  19. of Epaphus to Clymene his mother:
  20. “'Twill grieve you, mother, I, the bold and free,
  21. was silent; and it shames me to report
  22. this dark reproach remains unchallenged. Oh,
  23. if I am born of race divine, give proof
  24. of that illustrious descent and claim
  25. my right to Heaven.” Around his mother's neck
  26. he drew his arms, and by the head of Merops,
  27. and by his own, and by the nuptial torch
  28. of his beloved sisters, he implored
  29. for some true token of his origin.
  30. Or moved by Phaethon's importuned words,
  31. or by the grievous charge, who might declare?
  32. She raised her arms to Heaven, and gazing full
  33. upon the broad sun said; “I swear to you
  34. by yonder orb, so radiant and bright,
  35. which both beholds and hears us while we speak,
  36. that you are his begotten son.—You are
  37. the child of that great light which sways the world:
  38. and if I have not spoken what is true,
  39. let not mine eyes behold his countenance,
  40. and let this fatal moment be the last
  41. that I shall look upon the light of day!
  42. Nor will it weary you, my son, to reach
  43. your father's dwelling; for the very place
  44. where he appears at dawn is near our land.
  45. Go, if it please you, and the very truth
  46. learn from your father.” Instantly sprang forth
  47. exultant Phaethon. Overjoyed with words
  48. so welcome, he imagined he could leap
  49. and touch the skies. And so he passed his land
  50. of Ethiopia, and the Indies, hot
  51. beneath the tawny sun, and there he turned
  52. his footsteps to his father's Land of Dawn.
  1. Glowing with gold, flaming with carbuncles
  2. on stately columns raised, refulgent shone
  3. the palace of the Sun, with polished dome
  4. of ivory gleaming, and with portals twain
  5. of burnished silver. And the workmanship
  6. exceeded all the wealth of gems and gold;
  7. for there had Mulciber engraved the seas
  8. encircling middle earth; the round of earth,
  9. and heaven impending over the land.
  10. And there
  11. amid the waves were azure deities:
  12. melodious Triton and elusive Proteus; there
  13. Aegeaan pressing with his arms the backs.
  14. Of monstrous whales; and Doris in the sea
  15. and all her daughters; some amid the waves
  16. and others sitting on the bank to dry
  17. their sea-green hair, and others borne about
  18. by fishes. Each was made to show a fair
  19. resemblance to her sisters—yet not one
  20. appearance was assigned to all—they seemed
  21. as near alike as sisters should in truth.
  22. And men and cities, woods and savage beasts,
  23. and streams and nymphs, and sylvan deities
  24. were carved upon the land; and over these
  25. an image of the glittering sky was fixed;—
  26. six signs were on the right, six on the left.
  27. Here when audacious Phaethon arrived
  28. by steep ascending paths, without delay
  29. he entered in the shining palace-gates
  30. of his reputed parent, making haste
  31. to stand in his paternal presence. There,
  32. unable to endure the dazzling light,
  33. he waited at a distance.
  34. Phoebus sat,
  35. arrayed in royal purple, on a throne
  36. that glittered with the purest emeralds.—
  37. there to the left and right, Day, Month and Year,
  38. time and the Hours, at equal distance stood;
  39. and vernal Spring stood crowned with wreathed flowers;
  40. and naked Summer stood with sheaves of wheat;
  41. and Autumn stood besmeared with trodden grapes;
  42. and icy Winter rough with hoary hair.
  43. And from the midst, with orbs that view the world,
  44. Phoebus beheld the trembling youth, fear-struck,
  45. in mute amazement, and he said; “Declare
  46. the reason of thy journey. What wilt thou
  47. in this my palace, Phaethon my child
  48. beloved?”
  49. And to him replied the youth;
  50. “O universal light of all the world,
  51. my father Phoebus, if thy name be mine,
  52. if Clymene has not concealed her sin
  53. beneath some pretext, give to me, my sire,
  54. a token to declare thy fatherhood
  55. which may establish my assured descent,
  56. and leave no dark suspicions in our minds.”—
  57. then Phoebus from his shining brows cast down
  58. his circling rays; called Phaethon to him,
  59. and as he held him to his breast replied;
  60. “O child most worthy of thy sire, the truth
  61. was told thee by thy mother; wherefore doubts
  62. to dissipate, consider thy desire,
  63. and ask of me that I may freely give:
  64. yea, let the Nether Lake, beyond our view,
  65. (which is the oath of Gods inviolate)
  66. be witness to my word.”
  67. When this was said
  68. the happy youth at once began to plead
  69. command and guidance of his father's steeds,
  70. wing-footed, and his chariot for a day.
  71. But Phoebus much repented that he sware,
  72. and thrice and four times shook his radiant head;
  73. “Ah, would I might refuse my plighted word;
  74. and oh, that it were lawful to deny
  75. the promised boon.—For I confess, O son,
  76. this only I should keep from thee—and yet
  77. 'Tis lawful to dissuade. It is unsafe
  78. to satisfy thy will. It is a great
  79. request, O Phaethon, which neither suits
  80. thy utmost strength nor tender years; for thou
  81. art mortal, and thou hast aspired to things
  82. immortal. Ignorance has made thy thought
  83. transcend the province of the Gods. I vaunt
  84. no vain exploits; but only I can stand
  85. securely on the flame-fraught axle-tree:
  86. even the Ruler of Olympian Gods,
  87. who hurls fierce lightnings with his great right hand,
  88. may never dare to drive this chariot,
  89. and what art thou to equal mighty Jove?
  90. “The opening path is steep and difficult,
  91. for scarcely can the steeds, refreshed at dawn,
  92. climb up the steeps: and when is reached the height,
  93. extreme of midmost Heaven, and sea and earth
  94. are viewed below, my trembling breast is filled
  95. with fearful apprehensions: and requires
  96. the last precipitous descent a sure
  97. command. Then, also, Tethys, who receives
  98. me in her subject waves, is wont to fear
  99. lest I should fall disastrous. And around
  100. the hastening sky revolves in constant whirl,
  101. drawing the lofty stars with rapid twist.
  102. “I struggle on. The force that overcomes
  103. the heavenly bodies overwhelms me not,
  104. and I am borne against that rapid globe.
  105. Suppose the chariot thine: what canst thou do?
  106. Canst thou drive straight against the twisted pole
  107. and not be carried from the lofty path
  108. by the swift car? Art thou deceived to think
  109. there may be groves and cities of the Gods,
  110. and costly temples wondrously endowed?
  111. “The journey is beset with dreadful snares
  112. and shapes of savage animals. If thou
  113. shouldst hold upon thy way without mistake
  114. yet must thy journey be through Taurus' horns,
  115. and through the Bow Haemonian, and the jaws
  116. of the fierce Lion, and the cruel arms
  117. of Scorpion, bent throughout a vast expanse,—
  118. and Cancer's curving arms reversely bent.
  119. “It is no easy task for thee to rule
  120. the mettled four-foot steeds, enflamed in fires
  121. that kindle in their breasts, forth issuing
  122. in breathings from their mouths and nostrils hot;—
  123. I scarce restrain them, as their struggling necks
  124. pull on the harness, when their heated fires
  125. are thus aroused.
  126. “And, O my son, lest I
  127. may be the author of a baneful gift,
  128. beware, and as the time permits recall
  129. thy rash request. Forsooth thou hast besought
  130. undoubted signs of thy descent from me?
  131. My fears for thee are certain signs that thou
  132. art of my race—by my paternal fears
  133. 'Tis manifest I am thy father. Lo!
  134. Behold my countenance! and oh, that thou
  135. couldst even pierce my bosom with thine eyes,
  136. and so discover my paternal cares!
  137. “Look round thee on the treasured world's delights
  138. and ask the greatest blessing of the sky,
  139. or sea or land, and thou shalt suffer no
  140. repulse: but only this I must deplore,
  141. which rightly named would be a penalty
  142. and not an honour.—Thou hast made request
  143. of punishment and not a gift indeed.
  144. O witless boy! why dost thou hold my neck
  145. with thy caressing arms? For, doubt it not,
  146. as I have sworn it by the Stygian Waves,
  147. whatever thou shalt wish, it shall be given—
  148. but thou shouldst wish more wisely.”
  1. So were all
  2. his admonitions said, availing naught;
  3. for Phaethon resisted his advice,
  4. and urged again his claim, and eagerly burned
  5. to use the chariot. Wherefore, Phoebus long
  6. delaying and reluctant, took the youth
  7. to view the spacious chariot, gift of Vulcan.—
  8. gold was the axle and the beam was gold,
  9. the great Wheel had a golden tire and spokes
  10. of silver; chrysolites and diamonds
  11. reflected from the spangled yoke the light
  12. of Phoebus.
  13. While aspiring Phaethon admired
  14. the glittering chariot and its workmanship,
  15. the vigilant Aurora opened forth
  16. her purple portals from the ruddy east,
  17. disclosing halls replete with roses. All
  18. the stars took flight, while Lucifer, the last
  19. to quit his vigil, gathered that great host
  20. and disappeared from his celestial watch.
  21. And when his father, Phoebus, saw the earth
  22. and the wide universe in glowing tints
  23. arrayed, as waned the Moon's diminished horns,
  24. far-distant, then he bade the nimble Hours
  25. to yoke the steeds.—At once the Deities
  26. accomplished his commands, and led the steeds,
  27. ambrosia-fed and snorting flames, from out
  28. their spacious stalls; and fixed their sounding bits.
  29. Then with a hallowed drug the father touched
  30. the stripling's face, to make him proof against
  31. the rapid flame, and wrought around his hair
  32. the sun-rays. But, foreboding grief, he said,
  33. while many a sigh heaved from his anxious breast;
  34. “If thou canst only heed thy father's voice—
  35. be sparing of the whip and use with nerve
  36. the reins; for of their own accord the steeds
  37. will hasten. Difficult are they to check
  38. in full career. Thou must not drive the car
  39. directly through five circles, for the track
  40. takes a wide curve, obliquely, and is bound
  41. by the extreme edge of three zones.—It avoids
  42. the Southern Pole, and it avoids the Bear
  43. that roams around the north. The way is plain;
  44. the traces of the Wheel are manifest.
  45. “Observe with care that both the earth and sky
  46. have their appropriate heat—Drive not too low,
  47. nor urge the chariot through the highest plane;
  48. for if thy course attain too great a height
  49. thou wilt consume the mansions of the sky,
  50. and if too low the land will scorch with heat.
  51. “Take thou the middle plane, where all is safe;
  52. nor let the Wheel turn over to the right
  53. and bear thee to the twisted Snake! nor let
  54. it take thee to the Altar on the left—
  55. so close to earth—but steer the middle course.—
  56. to Fortune I commit thy fate, whose care
  57. for thee so reckless of thyself I pray.
  58. “While I am speaking humid night has touched
  59. the margin of Hesperian shores. 'Tis not
  60. for us to idle; we are called away;—
  61. when bright Aurora shines the darkness flies.
  62. Take up the reins! But if thy stubborn breast
  63. be capable of change use not our car,
  64. but heed my counsel while the time permits,
  65. and while thy feet are on a solid base,
  66. but not, according to thy foolish wish,
  67. pressing the axle. Rather let me light
  68. the world beneath thy safe and wondering gaze.”
  69. But Phaethon with youthful vigor leaped,
  70. and in the light-made chariot lightly stood:
  71. and he rejoiced, and with the reins in hand
  72. thanked his reluctant parent.
  73. Instantly
  74. Eous, Aethon, Pyrois and Phlegon,
  75. the winged horses of the Sun, gave vent
  76. to flame-like neighs that filled the shaking air;
  77. they pawed the barriers with their shining hoofs.
  78. Then Tethys, witless of her grandson's fate
  79. let back the barriers,—and the universe
  80. was theirs to traverse. Taking the well-known road,
  81. and moving through the air with winged feet,
  82. they pierced resisting clouds, and spreading wide
  83. their pinions soared upon the eastern wind,
  84. far-wafted from that realm. But Phaethon,
  85. so easy of their yoke, lost all control,
  86. and the great car was tossed,—as tapered ships
  87. when lightened of their ballast toss and heave
  88. unsteady in the surging seas: the car
  89. leaped lightly in the air, and in the heights
  90. was tossed unsteady as an empty shell.
  91. Soon as the steeds perceived it, with a rush
  92. impetuous, they left the beaten track;
  93. regardless of all order and control;
  94. and Phaethon filled with fear, knew not to guide
  95. with trusted reins, nor where the way might be—
  96. nor, if he knew, could he control their flight.
  97. Warmed in the sunshine, never felt before,
  98. the gelid Triones attempted vain
  99. to bathe in seas forbid: the Serpent cold
  100. and torpid by the frozen Pole, too cold
  101. for contest, warmed, and rage assumed from heat
  102. bootes, troubled by the heat, took flight,
  103. impeded by his wain.
  104. And as from skies
  105. of utmost height unhappy Phaethon
  106. beheld the earth receding from his view,
  107. a pallor spread his cheeks with sudden fear;
  108. his knees began to quake; and through the flare
  109. of vast effulgence darkness closed his eyes.
  110. Now vainy he regrets he ever touched
  111. his father's steeds, and he is stunned with grief
  112. that so entreating he prevailed to know
  113. his true descent. He rather would be called
  114. the son of Merops. As a ship is tossed
  115. by raging Boreas, when the conquered helm
  116. has been abandoned, and the pilot leaves
  117. the vessel to his vows and to the Gods;
  118. so, helpless, he is borne along the sky.
  119. What can he? Much of heaven remains behind;
  120. a longer distance is in front of him—
  121. each way is measured in his anxious mind.—
  122. at first his gaze is fixed upon the west,
  123. which fate has destined he shall never reach,
  124. and then his eyes turn backward to the east.—
  125. so, stupefied and dazed he neither dares
  126. to loose the bits, nor tighten on the reins,
  127. and he is ignorant of the horses' names.
  1. He sees horrific wonders scattered round,
  2. and images of hideous animals.—
  3. and there's a spot where Scorpion bends his claws
  4. in double circles, and with tail and arms
  5. on either side, stretches his limbs throughout
  6. the space of two Celestial Signs; and when
  7. the lad beheld him, steeped in oozing slime
  8. of venom, swart, and threatening to strike
  9. grim wounds with jagged spear-points, he was lost;
  10. and, fixed in chills of horror, dropped the reins.
  11. When these they felt upon their rising backs,
  12. the startled steeds sprang forthwith; and, unchecked,
  13. through atmospheres of regions unexplored,
  14. thence goaded by their unchecked violence,
  15. broke through the lawful bounds, and rushed upon
  16. the high fixed stars. They dragged the chariot
  17. through devious ways, and soared amid the heights;
  18. dashed down deep pathways, far, precipitous,
  19. and gained a level near the scorching earth.
  20. Phoebe is wondering that her brother's steeds
  21. run lower than her own, and sees the smoke
  22. of scorching clouds. The highest altitudes
  23. are caught in flames, and as their moistures dry
  24. they crack in chasms. The grass is blighted; trees
  25. are burnt up with their leaves; the ripe brown crops
  26. give fuel for self destruction—Oh what small
  27. complaints! Great cities perish with their walls,
  28. and peopled nations are consumed to dust—
  29. the forests and the mountains are destroyed.
  30. Cilician Taurus, Athos and Tmolus,
  31. and Oeta are burning; and the far-famed Ida
  32. and all her cooling rills are dry and burning,
  33. and virgin Helicon, and Hoemos—later
  34. Oeagrius called—and Aetna with tremendous,
  35. redoubled flames, and double-peaked Parnassus,
  36. Sicilian Eryx, Cynthus—Othrys, pine-clad,
  37. and Rhodope, deprived his snowy mantle,
  38. and Dindyma and Mycale and Mimas,
  39. and Mount Cithaeron, famed for sacred rites:
  40. and Scythia, though a land of frost, is burning,
  41. and Caucasus,—and Ossa burns with Pindus,—
  42. and greater than those two Olympus burns—
  43. the lofty Alps, the cloud-topped Apennines.
  44. And Phaethon, as he inhaled the air,
  45. burning and scorching as a furnace blast,
  46. and saw destruction on the flaming world,
  47. and his great chariot wreathed in quenchless fires,
  48. was suddenly unable to endure the heat,
  49. the smoke and cinders, and he swooned away.—
  50. if he had known the way, those winged steeds
  51. would rush as wild unguided.—
  52. then the skin
  53. of Ethiopians took a swarthy hue,
  54. the hot blood tingling to the surface: then
  55. the heat dried up the land of Libya;
  56. dishevelled, the lorn Nymphs, lamenting, sought
  57. for all their emptied springs and lakes in vain;
  58. Boeotia wailed for Dirce's cooling wave,
  59. and Argos wailed for Amymone's stream—
  60. and even Corinth for the clear Pyrene.
  61. Not safer from the flames were distant streams;—
  62. the Tanais in middle stream was steaming
  63. and old Peneus and Teuthrantian Caicus,
  64. Ismenus, rapid and Arcadian Erymanthus;
  65. and even Xanthus destined for a second burning,
  66. and tawny-waved Lycormas, and Meander,
  67. turning and twisting, and Thracian Melas burns,
  68. and the Laconian Eurotas burns,
  69. the mighty Babylonian Euphrates,
  70. Orontes and the Ganges, swift Thermodon,
  71. Ister and Phasis and Alpheus boil.
  72. The banks of Spercheus burn, the gold of Tagus
  73. is melting in the flames. The swans whose songs
  74. enhanced the beauties of Maeonian banks
  75. are scalded in the Cayster's middle wave.
  76. The Nile affrighted fled to parts remote,
  77. and hid his head forever from the world:
  78. now empty are his seven mouths, and dry
  79. without or wave or stream; and also dry
  80. Ismenian Hebrus, Strymon and the streams
  81. of Hesper-Land, the rivers Rhine and Rhone,
  82. and Po, and Tiber, ruler of the world.
  83. And even as the ground asunder burst,
  84. the light amazed in gloomy Tartarus
  85. the King Infernal and his Spouse. The sea
  86. contracted and his level waste became
  87. a sandy desert. The huge mountain tops,
  88. once covered by the ocean's waves, reared up,
  89. by which the scattered Cyclades increased.
  90. Even the fishes sought for deeper pools;—
  91. the crooked dolphins dared not skip the waves;
  92. the lifeless sea-calves floated on the top;
  93. and it is even famed that Nereus hid
  94. with Doris and her daughters, deep below
  95. in seething caverns. With a dauntless mien
  96. thrice Neptune tried to thrust his arms above
  97. the waters;—thrice the heated air overcame
  98. his courage.
  99. Then the genial Earth, although
  100. surrounded by the waters of the sea,
  101. was parched and dry; for all her streams had hid
  102. deep in the darkness of her winding caves.—
  103. she lifted her productive countenance,
  104. up to her rounded neck, and held her palms
  105. on her sad brows; and as the mountains huge
  106. trembled and tottered, beneath her wonted plane
  107. declined she for a space—and thus began,
  108. with parched voice;
  109. “If this is thy decree,
  110. O, Highest of the Gods,—if I have sinned
  111. why do thy lightnings linger? For if doomed
  112. by fires consuming I to perish must,
  113. let me now die in thy celestial flames—
  114. hurled by thine arm—and thus alleviate,
  115. by thine omnipotence, this agony.
  116. “How difficult to open my parched mouth,
  117. and speak these words! (the vapours choking her),
  118. behold my scorching hair, and see the clouds
  119. of ashes falling on my blinded eyes,
  120. and on my features! What a recompense
  121. for my fertility! How often I
  122. have suffered from the wounds of crooked plows
  123. and rending harrows—tortured year by year!
  124. For this I give to cattle juicy leaves
  125. and fruits to man and frankincense to thee!
  126. “Suppose destruction is my just award
  127. what have the waters and thy brother done?
  128. Why should thy brother's cooling waves decrease
  129. and thus recede so distant from the skies?
  130. If not thy brother's good nor mine may touch
  131. thy mercy, let the pity of thy Heaven,
  132. for lo, the smoking poles on either side
  133. attest, if flames consume them or destroy,
  134. the ruin of thy palace. Atlas, huge,
  135. with restive shoulders hardly can support
  136. the burning heavens. If the seas and lands
  137. together perish and thy palace fall,
  138. the universe confused will plunge once more
  139. to ancient Chaos. Save it from this wreck—
  140. if anything survive the fury of the flames.”