by Peter Jones
18 recidō 3 sink, fall back
quicquid: ‘whatever [of us] are . . . ’, ‘whatever we are who are . . . ’
creō 1 create
19 ambāg-ēs um 3f. pl. deceptions
ōris: from ōs, ‘mouth’ i.e. speech
20 sinō 3 allow
opāc-us a um*
21 Tartar-a ōrum 2n. pl. Tartarus, the underworld
utī: = ut
uillōs-us a um rough, shaggy (with + abl.)
coluber colubr-ī 2m. snake
22 tern-us a um triple
Medūsae-us a um Medusa-like. The mōnstrum is the three-headed dog Cerberus, which had snakes for hair, like Medusa
uinciō 4 bind. Hercules had bound Cerberus and brought him to the upper world as the last of his twelve labours
guttur -is 3n. throat
23 calcō 1 tread on
uenēn-um ī 2n. poison
24 uīper-a ae 1f. viper
diffundō 3 diffūdī pour, spread
27 auguror 1 dep. guess
28 mentīt-us a um untrue, false
rapīn-a ae 1f. abduction, seizure. The reference is to Pluto abducting Persephone down to the underworld
30 Chaos n.: Greek acc. s. of Chaos, ‘Gaping Void’
*silenti-um ī 2n. silence
31 Eurydicēs: Greek gen. s.
retexō 3 unweave, reverse
32 omnia: either acc. ‘in all respects’ or nom., ‘everything’, qualifying the ‘we’ of dēbēmur
paulum for a little
moror 1 dep. delay
33 sērius later
citius sooner
34 sēd-ēs is 3f. seat, resting-place. ūnam here means ‘one and the same’
35 hūmān-us a um*
36 haec: ‘this [woman]’, i.e. Eurydice
mātūr-us a um*
perago 3*
37 iūris . . . uestrī: ‘of/under your control’
poscō 3 ask for, beg
38 ueni-a ae 1f. pardon, mercy
39 lēt-um ī 2n. death
41 exsangu-is e bloodless. Bloodless souls – weeping? A paradox, but such is the power of Orpheus’ song
Tantal-us ī 2m. Tantalus. He was doomed ever to stand in water but never to scoop it up to refresh himself
42 refug-us a um flowing away
stupeō 2 be amazed
Ixīōn Ixīon-is 3m. Ixion. He was doomed to rotate for ever on a wheel
43 iecur -is 3n. liver (of Tityos, on which birds eternally fed)
*uolucr-is is 3f. bird
urn-a ae 1f. urn
uacō 1 rest from (+ abl.)
44 Bēlides: nom. pl. f., descendants of Belus, i.e. the Danaids, doomed for ever to try to fill buckets with holes in them
Sīsyph-us ī 2m. Sisyphus, eternally doomed to fail to push a rock up and over a hill
45 tunc prīmum . . . genās: take in order tunc prīmum fāma est genās Eumenidum, uictārum carmine, maduisse lacrimīs
46 Eumenidum: Greek gen. pl. of Eumenides, the Furies
madeō 2 grow wet
gen-a ae 1f. cheek
rēgi-us a um*
coniunx : i.e. Persephone/Proserpina
47 sustinet: controls ōrantī . . . negāre ‘bear to deny [to] him begging’
quī: i.e. Pluto
īm-us a um deep (here n. pl., used as a noun)
48 Eurydicēn: Greek acc. s.
49 inter: refers back to umbrās . . . recentēs
incēdō 3 incessī approach
*pass-us ūs 4m. pace, steps
50 hanc simul et lēgem: an amusing syllepsis
hērōs: Greek. nom. s.*
51 retrō*
Auern-us a um of Avernus, the underworld
52 uall-is is 3f. valley
*irrit-us a um (in) vain
53 adclīu-is e sloping
mūt-us a um*
trāmes trāmit-is 3m. path
54 cālīgō cālīgin-is 3f. fog, mist
dēns-us a um*
opāc-us a um*
55 tellūris . . . summae: i.e. the real world above margō margin-is 3m. edge
56 dēficiō 3/4 weaken, falter (Eurydice is the subject)
auid-us a um*
relābor 3 dep.*
58 intendō 3 stretch out. But who is the subject of these two lines – Orpheus or Eurydice? Without a change of subject indicated, and the next sentence certainly having Eurydice as subject, it must still be Eurydice, desperate to save herself from a second death (60)
prendō 3 seize, take
certō 1 struggle
arripiō 3/4*
60 moriēns: Eurydice is the subject
62 suprēmum for the last time
quod . . . acciperet: subj. of characteristic, ‘[a cry] of the sort which he could hardly . . .’; almost ‘such that he could hardly . . .’. Characteristic and result clauses are very similar, RLQ2(a), W38
63 reuoluō 3*
eōdem to the same place
Book 11
2 Thrēici-us a um Thracian
3 ecce look! See!
nur-us ūs 4f. young woman
Ciconum: gen. pl. of Cicones (a Thracian tribe). These women are engaged in a Bacchic (Dionysiac) ritual frenzy. Ironically, the rites of Dionysus were said to have been invented by Orpheus
lymphō 1 make mad
ferīn-us a um of wild beasts
4 uellus ueller-is 3n. skin
uertex uertic-is 3m. top, summit
5 Orphea: Greek acc. s. of Orpheus
sociō 1 join, unite
6 iactō 1 toss
7 en look!
contemptor -is 3m.*
hast-a ae 1f. spear. This is the thyrsus carried by Bacchic women in honour of their god Bacchus, a wand tipped with a pine-cone (originally concealing a spear-point) and entwined with ivy or vine leaves; hence its inability to hurt Orpheus (9, cf. 27–8)
8 Apolline-us a um*
uōcāl-is e*
9 foli-um ī 2n. leaf, foliage
praesūt-us a um sewn over with
not-a ae 1f. mark
10 lapis lapid-is 3m. stone
in ipsō/āere: i.e. as it was travelling through the very air
11 concent-us ūs 4m. harmony
*lyr-a ae 1f. lyre
12 supplex supplic-is 3m. suppliant (who traditionally fell at another person’s knees as (s)he asked forgiveness or sought help)
prō: almost ‘to beg forgiveness for’
furiāl-is e frenzied
aus-um ī 2n.*
13 sed enim none the less
temerāri-us a um reckless, impetuous
14 abiīt: for the heavy -īt, see above on 10.15
īnsān-us a um*
rēgnō*
Erīns: Greek nom. s., Fury, goddess of revenge; here = ‘battle frenzy’, ‘desire for revenge’
15 forent . . . mollīta: ‘would have been mollīta . . .’, RLE1
cant-us ūs 4m. song
16 clāmor -is 3m.*
īnfrāct-us a um bent, curved
Berecynti-us a um from Berecyntia (a region of Caria [South-Western Turkey]), i.e. of Cybele (a goddess associated with Bacchic worship)
tībi-a ae 1f. pipe
corn-u ūs 4n. horn
17 tympan-um ī 2n. drum
plaus-us ūs 4m. clapping of hands
Bacchē-us a um Bacchic. Note that Bacchēī is in hiatus with ululātūs (Ovid seems to allow hiatus where Greek words are involved: it generates a strange rhythmic effect)
ululāt-us ūs 4m. howling
18 obstrepō 3 obstrepuī drown out (+ dat.)
cithar-a ae 1f. lyre
19 exaudiō 4*
rubēscō 2 turn red
20 attonit-us a um astonished (uōce ‘by the voice canentis’)
etiamnum even now
21 innumer-us a um*: this line contains the three objects of rapuēre (22)
*angu-is is 3m. snake
*agmen agmin-is 3n. body, group, column
22 Maenades: Greek nom. pl., Maen
ads (lit. ‘mad women’, i.e. women driven by Bacchic frenzy)
Orphē-us a um of Orpheus, Orpheus’
titul-us ī 2m. renown (in apposition to the three objects of 22)
*theātr-um ī 2n. audience. With Orphēī titulum = (lit.) ‘the renown of Orpheus’ audience’, i.e. ‘Orpheus’ renowned audience’, meaning the audience of animals Orpheus had attracted to listen to him
23 cruentāt-us a um bloodied
Orphea: Greek acc. s. of Orpheus
24 ut like
au-is is 3f. bird (auis noctis is probably an owl)
25 struō 3 strūxī strūctus draw up (begin this clause with ceu 26)
utrimque on both sides, i.e. the amphitheatre (cf. Greek amphi ‘on both sides’)
26 ceu or [like]
mātūtīn-us a um in the morning
ceru-us ī 2m. stag
*harēn-a ae 1f. sand (of the amphitheatre/(h)arena; animals were slaughtered in the morning, humans in the afternoon)
27 praed-a ae 1f. prey
*frōns frond-is 3f. leaves, foliage
uireō 2 be green
28 thyrs-us ī 2m. thyrsus, Bacchic wand
29 hae . . . illae . . . pars: the various groups of Bacchants
glaeb-a ae 1f. clod of earth
dīripiō 3/4*
30 torqueō 2 throw
*silex silic-is 3m./f. pebble, stone
31 *bōs bou-is 3m. ox
subigō 3 subdue, plough
uōmer -is 3m. plough
32 frūct-us ūs 4m. crop
sudor -is 3m. sweat
33 lacertōs-us a um muscular
fodiō 3/4 dig
colōn-us ī 2m. farmer
34 agmine: i.e. the column of charging Bacchants
35 dispers-us a um*
36 sarcul-um ī 2n. hoe. Note -quē (long), a rare scansion
rāstr-um ī 2n. rake
ligō ligōn-is 3m. mattock (for trenching, removing weeds, etc.)
37 ferae: sc. ‘women’
cornū: if taken with minācēs, abl. of cause; if taken with dīuulsēre, abl. of separation, i.e. they tore apart the oxen from their horns (to use as weapons)
mināx mināc-is threatening
38 dīuellō 3 dīuulsī tear apart
recurrō 3*
39 tendentem . . . dīcentem . . . mouentem: acc., referring to Orpheus, object of sacrilegae perimunt (41)
41 sacrileg-us a um*
perimō 3 kill
43 sēns-us ūs 4m.*
exhālō 1*
recēdō 3*
44 tē . . . : a long ‘funeral’ apostrophe, with anaphora (tē), asyndeton and five rising cola.
45 rigid-us a um*
47 tondeō 2 totondī tōnsum cut
lūgeō 2 lūxī grieve
quoque: take with flūmina
48 incrēscō 3*
obstrūs-us a um edged
carbas-a ōrum 2n. pl. (linen) garment
pull-um ī 2n. black (material)
49 Dryades: nom. pl., Dryades, nymphs of the woods
pass-us a um loose (pandō)
50 dīuers-us a um apart, scattered
Hebr-us ī 2m. the river Hebrus in Thrace
51 excipiō 3/4*
amn-is is 3m. river
52 *flēbil-is e lamentable, piteous. Note the (funereal? See on passage 13, 8.231) tricolon with anaphora and asyndeton as lyre and head harmonise, and the river-banks respond
53 murmurō 1*
exanim-is e lifeless
54 inuehō 3 inuexī inuectum carry into. The understood subjects are Orpheus’ head and lyre
populār-is e of his (Orpheus’) people
55 Methymnae-us a um where Methymna is (a famous city on Lesbos). The city is eighty miles from the mouth of the Hebrus, over the Aegean sea
Lesbī: gen. s. f. of Lesbos, a Greek island
56 expōnō 3*
peregrīn-us a um foreign
57 stillō 1 drip
rōs rōr-is 3m. dew
58 mors-us ūs 4m. bite
īnferō 3*
parantem: acc., referring to the snake, object of congelat, 60
60 congelō 1 freeze
patul-us a um gaping
indūrō 1 harden
hiāt-us ūs 4m. mouth
61 subeō*
62 recognōscō 3*
pi-ī ōrum 2 m. pl. the pious (dead), living in the Elysian (blessed) fields
63 cupid-us a um desirous
uln-a ae 1f. embrace
64 coniungō 3*
spatior 1 dep. stroll
65 praecēdō 3 walk ahead (the subject of the sentence is Orpheus, 66)
praeui-us a um in front
anteō*
66 tūtō: adverbial
respiciō 3/4 *
Notes
8–17: The story of Orpheus and Eurydice was very well known. Ovid rapidly gets out of the way the details that do not interest him – Eurydice’s death (8–10), Orpheus’ despair (11–12: he sings to the upper air above and then to the shades below) and his descent to the underworld (14–17). There is none of the usual stuff about Cerberus the dog, the ferryman, the souls of the dead and so on. One might have thought this last item would rather appeal to Ovid, but Homer had done it in Odyssey 11 and Virgil in Aeneid 6 and Georgics 4. Ovid here has a different target in his sights, which no one had previously attempted: the song that Orpheus sang to appeal for his wife’s return.
17–24: Orpheus, appealing in a grandly sonorous opening to the lords of the world below (17–18), explains to the underworld gods why he has come. He says that, if he is allowed to tell the truth (19–20: he must impress his absolute sincerity on the gods below, as if poets were renowned for their falsehoods), he has descended to the depths not to view the monsters (21–2, which Ovid has indeed not done, though he gets in a quick description of Cerberus at this point) but to save his wife (23–4).
25–39: At once he lays the groundwork of his case – he is driven by amor, just like the gods. He says he has tried to live without Eurydice, but failed (25), and points out that Amor is a god equally well known to the divinities of the upper world and the lower world too (26–9). There is an amusing pause at 27, where one can imagine Orpheus looking around him at the inamoena rēgna (15) and wondering whether amor, traditionally found in the locus amoenus (see Introduction, p. 8), could flourish down here. But he remembers that it can, and quotes the abduction of Persephone, if that was not a false story (28, cf. his question about whether the truth could be told in the underworld, 19–20). The grounds of his case now established, Orpheus goes into the full appeal routine. In the name of the underworld and its terrifying, vast, silences, turn back fate, he begs (29–31). He follows this with sublimely majestic lines arguing that, since death will get us all anyway, sooner or later, Hades is everyone’s final destination (32–5). So since Eurydice will eventually come under Hades’ control, Hades will not be losing Eurydice, merely lending her (37: note that at 36–7 he argues that she will properly come under Hades’ iūs only when she has completed her iūstōs years on earth). He ends by reaffirming the sincerity of his feelings: I die too if she does not return with me (38–9).
40–52: At this the bloodless spirits of the dead burst into tears(!) (40–1) and individuals, objects and birds all stop what they are doing to listen to the great singer. Tantalus forgets his thirst, Ixion’s wheel stops in amazement, the vultures stop pecking Tityos’ liver (song is even tastier), the daughters of Belus abandon their buckets and Sisyphus uses his rock for a seat to enjoy the show (41–4). Even the normally implacable Furies weep (45–6). What chance do Persephone and Pluto stand (46–7)? They summon Eurydice, whose ‘physical’ condition in Hades is still affected by the way she was killed (48–9, cf. 10), and lay down the terms for her safe return to the upper air (50–2). Note that the gods decree Eurydice’s return not as a right but as a gift (dōna, 52) – a gift that can be revoked.
53–63: The road to the upper world is steep, silent (Orpheus ca
nnot hear Eurydice, 53), hard-going, dark and shrouded in mist (54). As love drove Orpheus to descend to the underworld to retrieve his Eurydice, so love now (amāns, 57), driven by fear and desire (56), compels him to look behind him. At once she slips away from him, back into the underworld. Desperately she tries to seize hold of him, as he her (prendīque et prendere), but clutches only the breezes (58–9). Nor does she make any complaint – as Ovid touchingly points out, her only complaint could be that she was loved (60–1) – and with a final ualē, which Orpheus could hardly hear, she disappears (62–3).
1–19: While Orpheus sings his bewitching songs (1–2: observe that the beasts have animī but not the woods or rocks, though they still all follow), women from the Cicones tribe (in Thrace) appear, clothed in animal skins, hair tossing in the wind (6) and celebrating their wild Bacchic rites (3–4). Fired with the supernatural power of the god Bacchus/Dionysus inside them, they spot Orpheus and one of them, remembering how he had spurned them, throws an unavailing thyrsus at his mouth (4–9). Why the mouth? Because Orpheus’ voice is the source of his appeal and power over all nature (not to mention women); shut his mouth, and he is helpless (one is reminded of Samson and his hair). The problem the Bacchants will have in doing this becomes clear when one of them throws a stone at him which, charmed by his song (unlike the Bacchants themselves), falls at Orpheus’ feet, begging (as it were) for mercy for trying to hurt him (10–13). This in turn creates a problem for Ovid: if nothing the Ciconian women throw at Orpheus is going to get through, how are they going to kill him? But Ovid is up to it. The women redouble their efforts, all hell breaks loose (13–14), and the noise generated by the battlecries, Bacchic pipes, drums, shouts and howls (15–17) is such that it drowns out the bard. Result? The rocks are now deaf to Orpheus’ song, so start to hit home (18–19)!
20–43: The Bacchants turn on Orpheus’ followers – birds, snakes and beasts – tearing them apart and, hands bloody from that assault, finally take the attack to Orpheus himself (20–3). Two similes decorate this climactic moment: birds mobbing an owl, and a stag being killed by hounds in the arena (where wild-animal hunts in the morning preceded the gladiatorial contests in the afternoon, 24–7). At first the women throw their thyrsi, but (as Ovid points out) these are useless for this task (27–8, cf. 9). So they look elsewhere for weapons. Some come naturally to hand: clods of earth, branches, stones (29–30). But as it so happens (forte), men are working in the fields nearby (31–3). lacertōsī they may be (33), but they know Bacchic women take no prisoners, and they run when they see them. The women seize their working tools, tear the horns from their oxen (a particularly gruesome moment) and return to the attack (34–8) on the now defenceless poet. All he can do is stretch out his arms in supplication (cf. Actaeon, 3.237–41), because his voice will move nothing now (39–40). The women kill him, and he breathes his last through that mouth that once beasts and rocks had understood (41–3). The women’s sacrilege (41) lies in the fact that Orpheus was a priest of Apollo and Bacchus, having (ironically) himself founded the rites of the latter divinity whom the women themselves worship.
