READ Ovid Metamorphoses - Orpheus

8/19/2019 READ Ovid Metamorphoses - Orpheus

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MET MORPHOSES

translated

by

ROLFE

HUMPHRI S

INDI N UNIVERSITY PRESS • Bloomington


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Copyright

Ig55

Indiana University Press

LIBR RY

OF

CONGRESS C T LOG C RD

NUMBER

5 6269

Manufactured in the United States of America

CL. ISBN

0 253 33755 0

PA. ISBN

o 253 2000 I 6

7 28 9 89 88 87

note: This pdf is a scan of a used book I bought somewhere orother. The highlighter marks came with the book, and you cansafely ignore them.

-Mr. Bigley


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OOK

he Story

of

Orpheus and urydice

So

Hymen

left there, clad in saffron robe,

Through

the

great reach

of

air, and

took his way

To

the

Ciconian country where

the

voice

Of

Orpheus

called him, all

in

vain.

He

came there,

True but brought with him no auspicious words,

No joyful faces,

lucky

omens. The

torch

Sputtered and filled the eyes

with

smoke; when swung

t

would

not blaze: bad s

the

omens were,

The

end

was worse,

for

as the bride

went

walking

Across

the

lawn, attended

by

her naiads,

A serpent

bit

her

ankle, and she was gone.

Orpheus

mourned her to

the

upper

world

And then, lest he should leave

the

shades untried,

Dared

to descend to Styx, passing the portal

Men

call T aenarian. Through the

phantom

dwellers,

The buried ghosts, he passed, came to the

king

Of

that sad realm, and to Persephone,

His consort,

and he swept

the

strings,

and

chanted:

Gods of the world below

the

world to whom

All of us mortals come, if I may speak -

Without deceit,

the

simple truth is this:

I came here,

not

to see dark

Tartarus

234

note: We're jumping in at the beginningof Book 10 in a 15-book epic. The lastbook ended with a wedding, so Hymen,the god of marriage showed up. He's thetransition device to a new story here inBook 10, as he attends the wedding ofOrpheus, the world's best singer. Itdoesn't end well. -Mr. Bigley


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lines z 1 5z

0 R

PH EU

S

AND

E U R Y D I E 2

~

Nor

yet

to

bind the triple-throated monster

Medusa's offspring, rough

with

snakes. I came

For

mywife's sake, whose_growing years were taken

)'.:a

snake's venom. I wanted to be able

To

bear this; I have tried

to

. Love has conquered.

T his god

is

famous in the world above,

B

ut

here, I do

not

know. I think he may be

Or

is it

all a lie,

that

ancient story

Of

an old ravishment, and how he brought

The

two

of

you together? By these places

All full

of

fear,

by

this immense confusion,

By this vast kingdom's silences, I beg you,

Weave over Eurydice's life, run through too soon.

T o you

we

all, people and things, belong,

Sooner

or

later,

to

this single dwelling

All of us come,

to our

last home; you hold

Longest dominion over humankind.

She will come back again,

to

be

your

subject,

After

the ripeness

of

her years; I am asking

A loan and

not

a

gift

.

f

fate denies us

This privilege for

my

wife, one thing is certain:

I do

notwant

to

go

back either; triumph

n

the death

of

two.

And with

his words, the music

Made the pale phantoms weep: Ixion's wheel

Was

still,

Tityos

vultures left the liver,

Tan

alus tried no more

to

reach

for

the water,

And

Belus' daughters rested from their urns,

And

Sisyphus climbed

on

his rock

to

listen.

That

was the first time ever in all the world

The

Furies wept.

Neither

the king

nor

consort

Had

harshness to refuse him, and

they

called her,

Eurydice. She was there, limping a little

From her late wound,

with

the

new

shades

of

Hell.

And

Orpheus received her, bjlt one

r m

Was

set: he must not, till he

11assed

A vemus,


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36 BOOK TEN

lines

52 Br

They climbed the upward path, through absolute silence,

Up the steep murk, clouded in pitchy darkness,

They were near the margin, near the upper land,

When

he, afraid that she might falter, eager to see her,

Looked back in love, and she was gone,

in

a moment.

Was it he, or she, reaching

out

arms and trying

To hold

or to

be held, and clasping nothing

But empty air? Dying the second time,

She had no reproach

to

bring against

her

husband,

What was there

to

complain of? One thing, only:

He loved her. He could hardly hear her calling

Farewell when

she was gone.

The

double death

Stunned Orpheus, like the man who turned to stone

At sight of Cerberus, or the couple of rock,

Olenos and Lethaea, hearts so joined

One shared the other s guilt, and Ida s mountain,

Where

rivers run, still holds them, both together.

n vain the prayers of Orpheus and his longing

To cross the river once more; the boatman Charon

Drove him away.

Fm

seven days he sat there

Beside the bank, in filthy garments, and tasting

No food whatever. Trouble, grief, and tears

Were

all his sustenance.

At

last, complaining

The

gods of

Hell

were cruel, he wandered

on

, To Rhodope and Haemus, swept by the

north

winds,

( Where, for three years, he lived

without

a woman

Either because marriage had meant misfortune

Or

he had made a promise. But many women

Wanted

this

poet for

their own, and many

Grieved over their rejection. His love was given

To

young boys only, and he told the Thracians

That

was the better way:

enjoy that springtime,

ake

those first flowers/


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lines

86 121

ORPHEUS ND

EURYDICE

37

There

was a hill, and on

it

A wide-extending plain, all green, but lacking

The

darker green of shade, and when the singer

Came

there

and

ran

his fingers

over the

strings,

The

shade came

there to

listen. The oak-tree came,

And many poplars, and the gentle lindens,

The beech, the virgin laurel, and the hazel

Easily broken, the ash men use for spears,

The

shining silver-fir, the ilex bending

Under its acorns, the friendly sycamore,

The

changing-colored maple, and

the

willows

That

Jove the river-waters, and the lotus

Favoring pools, and

the

green

boxwood

came,

Slim tamarisks, and myrtle, and viburnum

With dark-blue berries, and the pliant ivy,

The

tendrilled grape, the elms, all dressed with vines,

The

rowan-trees,

the

pitch-pines,

and the arbute

With the red fruit, the palm, the victor s

triumph

The bare-trunked

pine with spreading leafy crest,

Dear to the mother of the gods since Attis

Put off his human form, took on that likeness,

And the cone-shaped cypress joined them, now a tree,

But

once a hoy, loved by the god Apollo

Master of

lyre

and bow-string,

both

together.

The Story of

yparissus

There was a deer, whom the Carthean nymphs

Held

sacred, a

great

stag, whose spreading antlers

Were his own shade-tree.

Golden

shone those horns,

And

round

his glossy

neck

a string of jewels

Fell to his shoulders, and a silver bubble,

Fastened with little straps, gleamed on his forehead,

With

earrings, made

of

bronze,

at

either temple.

He

had no fear at all,

would

enter houses,

Let even unfamiliar people pet him,

But most of all he was

fond

of Cyparissus,

note: At this point, Orpheus has begun singing, and therest of Book 10 is stories that he tells in his song. We'llskip those and move to Book 11, where his own story

picks up again.


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BOOK

XI

The

eath

of rpheus

So with his singing

Orpheus

drew the trees,

The beasts, the stones, to follow,

when,

behold

The mad Ciconian women, fleeces flung

Across their maddened breasts, caught sight of

him

From

a

near

hill-top, as he joined his song

To the lyre's music. One

of

them, her tresses

Streaming in the light air, cried out:

Look

there

There is

our

despiser and she flung a spear

Straight at the singing mouth, but the leafywand

Made only a

mark

and did no harm. A

nother

L

et

fly a stone, which, even as it flew,

Was

conquered

by

the

sweet

harmonious music,

Fell

at

his feet, as if

to

ask for pardon.

But

still

the warfare

raged, there was no limit,

Mad fury reigned, and even so, all

we

apons

Would have been softened by the singer's music,

But there was

other

orchestration: flutes

Shrilling, and trumpets braying loud, and drums,

Beating of breasts, and howling, so the lyre

Was overcome, and then at last the stones

Reddened with blood, the blood of the singe

r,

heard

No

more

through all that

outcry. All

the birds

259


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6o

B K L E

V N

lin s 21 50

Innumerable, fled, and

the

charmed snakes,

The train

of

beasts, Orpheus glory, followed.

The

Maenads stole

the

show.

Their

bloody

hands

Were turned against

the

poet;

they

came

thronging

Like birds who see an owl, wandering in daylight;

They bayed him down as in the early morning,

Hounds circle the doomed stag beside the game-pits.

They rushed him, threw the wands,

wreathed

with green

leaves,

Not

meant

for

such a purpose; some

threw

clods,

Some branches

torn from

the

tree,

and

some

threw

stones,

And

they

found fitter weapons

for

their madness.

Not

far

away there

was a team of oxen

Plowing the field, and near them farmers, digging

Reluctant earth, and sweating over their labor,

Who fled before the onrush of this army

Leaving behind them hoe and rake and mattock

And

these

the

women

grabbed,

and

slew

the

oxen

Who lowered horns at them in brief defiance

And

were torn limb from limb, and then

the

women

Rushed

back

to

murder

Orpheus, who

stretched out

His hands in supplication,

and

whose voice,

For the first time, moved

no

one.

They

struck him down

And through those lips to

which the

rocks had listened,

To

which

the

hearts

of

savage beasts responded,

His spirit

found

its

way

to winds and air.

The birds wept for him, and the

throng

of beasts,

The flinty rocks,

the

trees

which

came so often

To hear

his song, all

mourned

. The trees, it seemed,

Shook

down

their leaves, as

if

they might be women

Tearing

their hair,

and

rivers, with

their

tears,

Were

swollen,

and their

naiads and

their

dryads

Mourned

in

black robes. The poet s limbs lay scattered

Where they

were

flung in cruelty or madness,

But Hebrus

River

took the head

and

lyre


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lines 86

DE TH O F O R P H U S 26

And

as they

floated down the gentle

current

The

lyre maae mournful sounds, and

th

e tongue murmured

In

mournful harmony, and the banks echoed

The

strains

of

mourning. On the sea, beyond

Their

native stream,

they

came

at

last

to

Lesbos

nd

grounded near the city of Methymna.

nd

here a serpent struck

at

the head, still dripping

With

sea-spray,

but

Apollo came and stopped it,

Freezing the open jaws

to

stone, still gaping.

And Orpheus ghost fled under the earth, and knew

The

places he had

known

before, and, haunting

T he fields of the blessed, found Eurydice

nd took her

in

his arms, and

now

together

nd

side

by

side

they

wander, or Orpheus follows

Or

goes ahead, and may,

with

perfect safety,

Look

back for his Eurydice.

But Bacchus

Demanded punishment for so much evil.

Mourning

his

singer s loss he bound those women,

All those

who

saw the murder, in a forest,

Twisted their feet to roots, and thrust them deep

Into unyielding earth. As a bird struggles

Caught

in

a fowler s snare, and flaps and fl.utters

nd

draws its bonds the tighter

by

its struggling,

Even so the Thracian women, gripped

by

the soil,

Fastened

n

desperate terror, writhed and struggled,

But the roots held.

They

looked to see their fingers,

Their

toes, their nails, and saw the bark come creeping

Up the smooth legs;

they

tried

to

smite their thighs

With grieving hands, and struck on oak; their breasts

Were

oak, and oak their shoulders, and their arms

You well might call long branches and be truthful.

The

tory

of

Midas

And even this was

not

enough

for

Bacchus.

He

left those fields, and

with

a worthier band

note: That's the end of Orpheus, but the linked stories keep on going. If you want to know what Bacchus has to do with Midas, I'll lend you the book. -Mr. Bigley

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