Works of Nonnus

by Nonnus

  βουκόλος, οὐ Πρωτεὺς ἀρότης, οὐ Γλαῦκος ἁλωεύς,

  οὐχ ἕλος, οὐ λειμῶνες ἐν οἴδμασιν, ἀλλὰ θαλάσσῃ

  ἀτρυγέτῳ πλώοντες ἀνήροτα ναύλοχον ὕδωρ

  πηδαλίῳ τέμνουσι καὶ οὐ σχίζουσι σιδήρῳ:

  115 αὔλακας οὐ σπείρουσιν ὀπάονες ἐννοσιγαίου,

  ἀλλὰ φυτὸν πόντοιο πέλει βρύα καὶ σπόρος ὕδωρ,

  ναυτίλος ἀγρονόμος, πλόος αὔλακες, ὁλκὰς ἐχέτλη.

  [90] One saw this mimic ship of the sea, alive and nimble-kneed, – an Achaian seaman passing by, and he cried out in this fashion: “O my eyes, what’s this miracle? how comes it that he cuts the waves with his legs, and swims over the barren sea, this land-pasturing bull? Navigable earth – is that the new creation of Cronides? Shall the farmer’s wain trace a watery rut through the brine-sprent deep? That’s a bastard voyage I descry upon the waves! Surely Selene has gotten an unruly bull, and leaves the sky to traipse over the high seas! Or no – deepwater Thetis drives a coach on a floating racecourse! This sea-bull is a creature very different from the land-bull, has a fishlike shape; must be a Nereïd with other looks, not naked now, but in long flowing robes, driving this bull unbridled to march afoot on the waters, a new fashion that! If it is Demeter wheatenhaired, cleaving the gray back of the sea with waterfaring oxhoof, then thou, Poseidon, must have turned landlubber and migrated to the thirsty back of earth, afoot behind the plow, and cut Demeter’s furrow with thy sea-vessel, blown by land-winds, tramping a voyage on the soil! Bull, you are astray out of your country; Nereus is no bulldrover, Proteus no plowman, Glaucos no gardener; no marshground, no meadows in the billows; on the barren sea there’s no tillage, but sailors cut the ship-harbouring water with a steering-oar, and do not split with iron; Earthshaker’s hinds do not sow in the furrows, but the sea’s plant is seaweed, sea’s sowing is water, the sailor is the farmer, the only furrow is the ship’s grain and wake, the hooker is the plow.

  ἀλλὰ πόθεν μεθέπεις τινὰ παρθένον; ἦ ῥα καὶ αὐτοὶ

  ταῦροι ἐρωμανέοντες ἀφαρπάζουσι γυναῖκας;

  120 ἦ ῥα Ποσειδάων ἀπατήλιος ἥρπασε κούρην

  ταυρείην κερόεσσαν ἔχων ποταμηίδα μορφήν;

  μὴ δόλον ἄλλον ὕφηνε πάλιν μετὰ δέμνια Τυροῦς,

  ὡς καὶ χθιζὰ τέλεσσεν, ὅθ᾽ ὑδατόεις παρακοίτης

  χεύμασι μιμηλοῖσι νόθος κελάρυζεν Ἐνιπεύς;’

  [118] “But how came you to have dealings with a maid? Do bulls also go mad with love, and ravish women? Has Poseidon played a trick, and ravished a girl under the shape of a horned bull like a river-god? Has he woven another plot to follow the bedding of Tyro, just as he did the other day, when the watery paramour came trickling up with counterfeit ripples like a bastard Enipeus?”

  125 τοῖον ἔπος περόων Ἑλλήνιος ἔννεπε ναύτης

  θαμβαλέος. βοέους δὲ γάμους μαντεύσατο κούρη,

  καὶ πλοκάμους τίλλουσα γοήμονα ῥῆξεν ἰωήν:

  ‘Κωφὸν ὕδωρ, ῥηγμῖνες ἀναυδέες, εἴπατε ταύρῳ,

  εἰ βόες εἰσαΐουσιν: ῾ἀμείλιχε, φείδεο κούρης.᾿

  130 εἴπατέ μοι, ῥηγμῖνες, ἐμῷ φιλόπαιδι τοκῆι

  Εὐρώπην λιπόπατριν ἐφεζομένην τινὶ ταύρῳ

  ἅρπαγι καὶ πλωτῆρι καί, ὡς δοκέω, παρακοίτῃ.

  μητέρι βόστρυχα ταῦτα κομίσσατε, κυκλάδες αὖραι.

  ναί, λίτομαι, Βορέης, ὡς ἥρπασας Ἀτθίδα νύμφην,

  135 δέξό με σαῖς πτερύγεσσι μετάρσιον: ἴσχεο, φωνή,

  μὴ Βορέην μετὰ ταῦρον ἐρωμανέοντα νοήσω.’

  [125] So the Hellenic sailor spoke his amazement as he passed by. Then the girl presaged her union with the bull; and tearing her hair, she broke out in lamentable tones: “Deaf Water, voiceless Coasts! Say to the Bull, if cattle can hear and hearken, ‘Merciless, spare a girl!’ Ye Coasts, pray tell my loving father that Europa has left her native land, seated upon a bull, my ravisher, my sailor, and I think, my bed-fellow. Take these ringlets to my mother, ye circling Breezes. Aye Boreas, I conjure thee, receive me on thy pinions in the air, as thou didst ravish thine Athenian bride! But stay, my voice! or I may see Boreas in love, like the Bull!” So the girl spoke, as the bull ferried her on his back.

  ὣς φαμένη ῥαχίῃσι βοὸς πορθμεύετο κούρη:

  Κάδμος ὅθεν περίφοιτος ἀπὸ χθονὸς εἰς χθόνα βαίνων

  ἄστατα νυμφοκόμοιο μετήιεν ἴχνια ταύρου.

  140 ἦλθε καὶ εἰς Ἀρίμων φόνιον σπέος, εὖτε κολῶναι

  φοιτάδες ἀρρήκτοιο πύλας ἤρασσον Ὀλύμπου,

  εὖτε θεοὶ πτερόεντες ἀχείμονος ὑψόθι Νείλου

  ὀρνίθων ἀκίχητον ἐμιμήσαντο πορείην

  ἠερίῳ ξένον ἴχνος ἐρετμώσαντες ἀήτῃ,

  [137] Then Cadmos, passing in his travels from land to land, followed the never-staying tracks of the bull turned bridesman. He came to the bloodstained cave of Arima, when the mountains had moved from their seats and were beating at the gate of inexpugnable Olympos, when the gods took wing above the rainless Nile, like a flight of birds far out of reach, oaring their strange track in the winds of heaven, and the seven zones of the sky were sore assailed.

  145 καὶ πόλος ἑπτάζωνος ἱμάσσετο: καὶ γὰρ ἐς εὐνὴν

  Πλουτοῦς Ζεὺς Κρονίδης πεφορημένος, ὄφρα φυτεύσῃ

  Τάνταλον οὐρανίων ἀεσίφρονα φῶρα κυπέλλων,

  αἰθέρος ἔντεα θῆκε μυχῷ κεκαλυμμένα πέτρης

  καὶ στεροπὴν ἔκρυψεν: ὑπωροφίων δὲ κεραυνῶν

  150 καπνὸν ἐρευγομένων ἐμελαίνετο λευκὰς ἐρίπνη,

  καὶ κρυφίῳ σπινθῆρι πυριγλώχινος ὀιστοῦ

  πηγαὶ ἐθερμαίνοντο, χαραδραίων δὲ ῥεέθρων

  Μυγδονὶς ἀφριόωσα φάραγξ ἐπεβόμβεεν ἀτμῷ.

  [145] This was the reason. Zeus Cronides had hurried to Pluto’s bed, to beget Tantalos, that mad robber of the heavenly cups; and he laid his celestial weapons well hidden with his lightning in a deep cavern. From underground the thunderbolts belched out smoke, the white cliff was blackened; hidden sparks from a fire-barbed arrow heated the watersprings; torrents boiling with foam and steam poured down the Mygdonian gorge, until it boomed again.

  καὶ παλάμας τανύσας ὑπὸ νεύματι μητρὸς Ἀρούρης

  155 ὅπλα Διὸς νιφόεντα Κίλιξ ἔκλεψε Τυφωεύς,

  ὅπλα πυρός: πετάσας δὲ βαρυσμαράγων στίχα λαιμῶν

  παντοίην ἀλάλαζεν ὁμοφθόγγων ὄπα θηρῶν:

  συμφυέες δὲ δράκοντες ἐπερρώοντο προσώπῳ

  πορδαλίων, βλοσυρὰς δὲ κόμας λιχμῶντο λεόντων,

  160 καὶ βοέας σπειρηδὸν ἐμιτρ
ώσαντο κεραίας

  οὐραίαις ἑλίκεσσι, τανυγλώσσων δὲ γενείων

  ἰὸν ἀκοντιστῆρα συῶν ἐπεμίγνυον ἀφρῷ.

  [154] Then at a nod from his mother, the Earth, Cilician Typhoeus stretched out his hands, and stole the snowy tools of Zeus, the tools of fire; then spreading his row of rumble-rattling throats, he yelled as his warcry the cries of all wild beasts together: the snakes that grew from him waved over his leopards’ heads, licked the grim lions’ manes, girdled with their curly tails spiral-wise round the bulls’ horns, mingled the shooting poison of their long thin tongues with the foam-spittle of the boars.

  ἔντεα δὲ Κρονίδαο τιθεὶς ὑπὸ φωλάδα πέτρην

  ἠλιβάτων ἐτίταινεν ἐς αἰθέρα λήια χειρῶν:

  165 εὐπαλάμῳ δὲ φάλαγγι περὶ σφυρὸν ἄκρον Ὀλύμπου

  τῇ μὲν ἐπισφίγγων Κυνοσουρίδα, τῇ δὲ πιέζων

  ἄξονι κεκλιμένης λοφίην ἀνεσείρασεν Ἄρκτου

  Παρρασίης, ἑτέρῃ δὲ λαβὼν ἀνέκοψε Βοώτην,

  ἄλλῃ Φωσφόρον εἷλκε, μάτην δ᾽ ὑπὸ κυκλάδι νύσσῃ

  170 πρώιος αἰθερίης ἐπεσύρισεν ἦχος ἱμάσθλης:

  εἴρυσεν ἠριγένειαν, ἐρυκομένοιο δὲ Ταύρου

  ἄχρονος ἡμιτέλεστος ἐλώφεεν ἱππότις Ὥρη:

  καὶ σκιεροῖς πλοκάμοισιν ἐχιδνοκόμων κεφαλάων

  ἀχλύι φέγγος ἔην κεκερασμένον, ἠματίη δὲ

  175 ἠελίῳ σελάγιζε συναντέλλουσα Σελήνη.

  [163] Now he laid the gear of Cronides in a cubby-hole of the rock, and spread the harvest of his clambering hands into the upper air. And that battalion of hands! One throttled Cynosuris beside the ankle-tip of Olympos; one gripped the Parrhasian Bear’s mane as the rested on heaven’s axis, and dragged her off; another caught the Oxdrover and knocked him out; another dragged Phosphoros, and in vain under the circling turning-post sounded the whistling of the heavenly lash in the morning; he carried off the Dawn, and held in the Bull, so that timeless, half-complete, horsewoman Season rested her team. And in the shadowy curls of his serpenthair heads the light was mingled with gloom; the Moon shone rising in broad day with the Sun.

  οὐδὲ Γίγας ἀπέληγε: παλιννόστῳ δὲ πορείῃ

  εἰς Νότον ἐκ Βορέαο, λιπὼν πόλον εἰς πόλον ἔστη:

  καὶ δολιχῇ παλάμῃ δεδραγμένος Ἡνιοχῆος

  νῶτα χαλαζήεντος ἐμάστιεν Αἰγοκερῆος,

  180 καὶ διδύμους ἐπὶ πόντον ἀπ᾽ αἰθέρος Ἰχθύας ἕλκων

  κριὸν ἀνεστυφέλιξε, μεσόμφαλον ἄστρον Ὀλύμπου,

  γείτονος εἰαρινοῖο πυραυγέος ὑψόθι κύκλου

  ἀμφιταλαντεύοντος ἰσόζυγον ἦμαρ ὀμίχλῃ.

  ὁλκαίοις δὲ πόδεσσιν ἀνῃώρητο Τυφωεὺς

  185 ἀγχινεφής: πετάσας δὲ πολυσπερὲς ἔθνος ἀγοστῶν

  αἰθέρος ἀννεφέλοιο κατέσκεπεν ἄργυφον αἴγλην

  αἰθύσσων ὀφίων σκολιὸν στρατόν: ὧν ὁ μὲν αὐτῶν

  ὄρθιος ἀξονίοιο διέτρεχεν ἄντυγα κύκλου,

  οὐρανίου δὲ Δράκοντος ἐπεσκίρτησεν ἀκάνθῃ

  190 Ἄρεα συρίζων: ὁ δὲ Κηφέος ἐγγύθι κούρης

  ἀστραίαις παλάμῃσιν ἰσόζυγα κύκλον ἑλίξας

  δέσμιον Ἀνδρομέδην ἑτέρῳ σφηκώσατο δεσμῷ

  λοξὸς ὑπὸ σπείρῃσιν: ὁ δὲ γλωχῖνι κεραίης

  ἰσοτύπου ταύροιο δράκων κυκλοῦτο κεράστης,

  195 οἰστρήσας ἑλικηδὸν ὑπὲρ βοέοιο μετώπου

  ἀντιτύπους Ὑάδας, κεραῆς ἴνδαλμα Σελήνης,

  οἰγομέναις γενύεσσιν: ὁμοπλεκέων δὲ δρακόντων

  ἰοβόλοι τελαμῶνες ἐμιτρώσαντο Βοώτην:

  καὶ θρασὺς ἄλλος ὄρουσεν, ἰδὼν Ὄφιν ἄλλον Ὀλύμπου,

  200 πῆχυν ἐχιδνήεντα περισκαίρων Ὀφιούχου,

  καὶ στεφάνῳ στέφος ἄλλο περιπλέξας Ἀριάδνης,

  [176] Still there was no rest. The Giant turned back, and passed from north to south; he left one pole and stood by the other. With a long arm he grasped the Charioteer, and flogged the back of hailstorming Aigoceros; he dragged the two Fishes out of the sky and cast them into the sea; he buffeted the Ram, that midnipple star of Olympos, who balances with equal pin day and darkness over the fiery orb of his spring-time neighbour. With trailing feet Typhoeus mounted close to the clouds: spreading abroad the far-scattered host of his arms, he shadowed the bright radiance of the unclouded sky by darting forth his tangled army of snakes. One of them ran up right through the rim of the polar circuit and skipt upon the backbone of the heavenly Serpent, hissing his mortal challenge. One made for Cepheus’s daughter, and with starry fingers twisting a ring as close as the other, enchained Andromeda, bound already, with a second bond aslant under her bands. Another, a horned serpent, entwined about the forked horns of the Bull’s horned head of shape like his own, and dangled coiling over the Bull’s brow, tormenting with open jaws the Hyades opposite ranged like a crescent moon. Poison-spitting tangles of serpents in a bunch girdled the Ox-drover. Another made a bold leap, when he saw another Snake in Olympos, and jumped around the Ophiuchos’s arm that held the viper; then curving his neck and coiling his crawling belly, he braided a second chaplet about Ariadne’s crown.

  αὐχένα κυρτώσας, ἐλελίζετο γαστέρος ὁλκῷ.

  καὶ Ζεφύρου ζωστῆρα καὶ ἀντιπόρου πτερὸν Εὔρου

  αἰθύσσων πολύπηχυς ἐπεστρωφᾶτο Τυφωεὺς

  205 νύσσαν ἐς ἀμφοτέρην, μετὰ Φωσφόρον Ἕσπερον ἕλκων

  καὶ λόφον Ἀτλάντειον. ἐνὶ βρυόεντι δὲ κόλπῳ

  πολλάκι συμμάρψας Ποσιδήιον ἅρμα θαλάσσης

  εἰς χθόνα βυσσόθεν εἷλκεν: ἁλιβρέκτων δὲ κομάων

  αὖ ἐρύσας στατὸν ἵππον ὑποβρυχίης παρὰ φάτνης

  210 οὐρανίην ἔρριψεν ἐς ἄντυγα πῶλον ἀλήτην

  αἰχμάζων ἐς Ὄλυμπον: ἱμασσομένοιο δὲ δίφρου

  ἠελίου χρεμέτιζον ὑπὸ ζυγὰ κυκλάδες ἵπποι:

  πολλάκι δ᾽ ἀγραύλοιο πεπαυμένον ἱστοβοῆος

  ταῦρον ἀπειλητῆρι μεμυκότα πήχεϊ σείων

  215 ἰσοφυὲς μίμημα κατηκόντιζε Σελήνης,

  καὶ δρόμον ἐστήριξεν: ἀνακρούσας δὲ χαλινῷ

  ταύρων λευκὰ λέπαδνα κατερροίζησε θεαίνης,

  λοίγιον ἰοβόλοιο χέων συριγμὸν ἐχίδνης.

  [202] Then Typhoeus manyarmed turned to both ends, shaking with his host of arms the girdle of Zephryos and the wing of Euros opposite, dragging first
Phosphoros, then Hesperos and the crest of Atlas. Many a time in the weedy gulf he seized Poseidon’s chariot, and dragged it from the depths of the sea to land; again he pulled out a stallion by his brine-soaked mane from the undersea manger, and threw the vagabond nag to the vault of heaven, shooting his shot at Olympos – hit the Sun’s chariot, and the horses on their round whinnied under the yoke. Many a time he took a bull at rest from his rustic plowtree and shook him with a threatening hand, bellow as he would, then shot him against the Moon like another moon, and stayed her course, then rushed hissing against the goddess, checking with the bridle her bulls’ white yoke-straps, while he poured out the mortal whistle of a poison-spitting viper.

  οὐδὲ κορυσσομένῳ Τιτηνιὰς εἴκαθε Μήνη:

  220 μαρναμένη δὲ Γίγαντος ὁμοκραίροισι καρήνοις

  ταυρείης ἐχάραξε φαεσφόρα κύκλα κεραίης:

  καὶ βόες αἰγλήεντες ἐμυκήσαντο Σελήνης

  χάσμα Τυφαονίοιο τεθηπότες ἀνθερεῶνος.

  ἀστραίας δὲ φάλαγγας ἀταρβέες ὥπλισαν Ὧραι.

  225 καὶ στίχες οὐρανίων Ἑλίκων νωμήτορι κύκλῳ

  εἰς ἐνοπὴν σελάγιζον: ἐπερροίζησε δὲ πυρσῷ

  αἰθέρα βακχεύων στρατὸς αἰόλος, οἵ τε Βορῆα,

  καὶ Λιβὸς ἕσπερα νῶτα, καὶ οἳ λάχον ἄντυγας Εὔρου,

  καὶ Νοτίους ἀγκῶνας: ὁμοζήλῳ δὲ κυδοιμῷ

  230 ἀπλανέων ἀτίνακτος ἀπεπλάγχθη χορὸς ἄστρων,

  ἀντιπόρους δ᾽ ἐκίχησαν ἀλήμονας: ἔβρεμε δ᾽ ἠχῇ

  οὐρανίῳ κενεῶνι πεπαρμένος ὄρθιος ἄξων

  μεσσοπαγής: ὁρόων δὲ κυνοσσόος ἔθνεα θηρῶν

  Ὠρίων ξίφος εἷλκε, κορυσσομένου δὲ φορῆος