Works of Nonnus

by Nonnus

  [314] “Cronion also shall lift the spinning heavens of Atlas, and bear the load on weary shoulders – there shall he stand, and hear the song at my wedding, and hide his jealousy when I shall be Hera’s bridegroom. Torches shall not lack at my wedding. Bright lightning shall come of itself to be selfmade torch of the bride-chamber; Phaëthon himself instead of pine-brands, kindled at the light of his own flames, shall put his radiance at the service of Typhoeus the Bridegroom; the stars shall sprinkle their bridal sparks over Olympos as lamps to my loves, the stars, lights of evening! My servant Selene, Endymion’s bed-fellow, along with Aphrodite the friend of marriage, shall lay my bed; and if I want a bath, I will bathe in the waters of starry Eridanos. Come now, ye circling Seasons! You prepared the bed of Zeus, build now the bower of love for Typhoeus; you also, Leto, Athenaia, Paphian, Charis, Artemis, Hebe, bring up form Oceanos his kindred water for Typhon the Bridegroom! And at the banquet of my table, with bridal quill Apollo my menial shall celebrate Typhoeus instead of Zeus.

  οὐ ξείνου δαπέδοιο φέρω πόθον: ἡμέτερον γὰρ

  335 οὐρανὸν ἀστερόνωτον ἀδελφεὸν ἡνιοχεύσω,

  αὐρανὸν οἶκον ἔχων μητρώιον, υἱέα γαίης.

  καὶ Κρόνον ὠμηστῆρα τὸ δεύτερον εἰς φάος ἕλκων

  γνωτὸν ἐμὸν συνάεθλον ἀπὸ χθονίοιο βερέθρου

  λύσω δεσμὰ βίαια, παλιννόστους δὲ τελέσσω

  340 αἰθερίους Τιτῆνας, ὁμωροφίους δὲ κομίσσω

  γηγενέας Κύκλωπας ἐς οὐρανόν, ἄλλα δὲ τεύξω

  ὅπλα πυρός: πολέων γὰρ ἐμοὶ χρέος ἐστὶ κεραυνῶν,

  ὅττι διηκοσίῃσι, καὶ οὐ διδύμαις πολεμίζω

  χερσὶν ἐγὼ Κρονίδῃ πανομοίιος: ἀντιτύπους δὲ

  345 κρείσσονας ὀψιγόνους πολυφεγγέι μείζονι πυρσῷ

  ἀστεροπὰς ἑτέρας χαλκεύσομαι, εὐρύτερον δὲ

  ὄγδοον οὐρανὸν ἄλλον ὑπέρτερον ὑψόθι τεύξω

  ἄστρασι φαιδροτέροισι κεκασμένον: οὐ δύναται γὰρ

  ἀγχιφανὴς πόλος οὗτος ὅλον Τυφῶνα καλύψαι.

  350 καὶ μετὰ θήλεα τέκνα καὶ ἀρσενόπαιδα γενέθλην

  πουλυτόκου Κρονίδαο πολυσπερὲς ἄλλο φυτεύσω

  αἷμα νέων μακάρων πολυαύχενον: οὐ χορὸν ἄστρων

  λείψω νόσφι γάμων ἀχρήιον, ἀλλὰ συνάψω

  ἄρσενι θηλυτέρην, ἵνα δούλια τέκνα λοχεύσῃ

  355 παρθενικὴ πτερόεσσα παρευνηθεῖσα Βοώτῃ.’

  [334] “I long for no stranger’s demesne; for Uranos is my brother, a son of Earth like myself; the star-dappled heaven which I shall rule, the ehaven which I shall live in, comes to me through my mother. And cannibal Cronos I will drag up once more to the light, another brother, to help me in my task, out of the underground abyss; I will break those constraining chains, and bring back the Titans to heaven, and settle under the same roof in the sky the Cyclopes, sons of Earth. I will make more weapons of fire; for I need many thunderbolts, because I have two hundred hands to fight with, not only a pair like Cronides. I will forge a newer and better brand of lightning, with more fire and flashes. I will build another heaven up aloft, he eighth, broader and higher than the rest, and furnish it with brighter stars; for the vault which we see close beside us is not enough to cover the whole of Typhon. And after those girl children and the male progeny of prolific Zeus, I will beget another multiparous generation of new Blessed Ones with multitudinous necks. I will not leave the company of the stars useless and unwedded, but I will join male to female, that the winged Virgin may sleep with the Oxherd and breed me slave-children.”

  εἶπεν ὁμοκλήσας: Κρονίδης δ᾽ ἐγέλασσεν ἀκούων.

  καὶ μόθος ἀμφοτέροισιν ἐπέβρεμεν: ἦν δὲ κυδοιμοῦ

  πομπὸς Ἔρις Τυφῶνι, Διὸς δ᾽ ἡγήσατο Νίκη

  εἰς μόθον. οὐ βοέης ἀγέλης χάριν, οὐ περὶ ποίμνης

  360 ἦεν ἀγών, οὐ νεῖκος ἔην ἐπὶ κάλλεϊ νύμφης,

  οὐ κλόνος ἀμφὶ πόληος ὀλίζονος: ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ

  αἰθέρος ἵστατο δῆρις, ἔην δ᾽ ἐνὶ γούνασι Νίκης

  σκῆπτρα Διὸς καὶ θῶκος ἀέθλια δηιοτῆτος.

  [356] So he shouted; Cronides heard, and laughed aloud. Then the din of battle resounded on both sides. Strife was Typhon’s escort in the mellay, Victory led Zeus into battle. No herds of cattle were the cause of that struggle, no flocks of sheep, this was no quarrel for a beautiful woman, no fray for a petty town: heaven itself was the stake in the fight, the sceptre and throne of Zeus lay on the knees of Victory as the prize of combat.

  Ζεὺς μὲν ἱμασσομένων νεφέων βρονταῖον ἀράσσων

  365 αἰθέριον μύκημα μέλος σάλπιζεν Ἐνυοῦς,

  καὶ νεφέλας ἑλικηδὸν ἐπὶ στέρνοιο καθάψας

  εἶχε Γιγαντείων βελέων σκέπας: οὐδὲ Τυφωεὺς

  ἄψοφος ἦν: κεφαλαὶ δὲ βοῶν μυκηθμὸν ἱεῖσαι

  αὐτόματοι σάλπιγγες ἐπεσμαράγησαν Ὀλύμπῳ,

  370 συμμιγέες δὲ δράκοντες ἐσύρισαν, Ἄρεος αὐλοί.

  καὶ στίχας ἠλιβάτων μελέων θώρηξε Τυφωεὺς

  φραξάμενος σκοπέλῳ σκόπελον μέγαν, εἰσόκε πυκναὶ

  ἀρραγέες στοιχηδὸν ἐπυργώθησαν ἐρίπναι,

  καὶ πέτρην προθέλυμνον ἐπασσυτέρῃ θέτο πέτρῃ:

  375 ἦν δὲ κορυσσομένης στρατιῆς τύπος: ἀγχιφανὴς γὰρ

  ῥωγάδα ῥωγὰς ἔρειδε, λόφος λόφον, αὐχένα δ᾽ αὐχήν,

  ὑψινεφὴς δ᾽ ἀγκῶνα πολύπτυχον ὤθεεν ἀγκών:

  καἰ κρανααὶ πήληκες ἔσαν Τυφῶνι κολῶναι

  αἰπυλόφῳ πρηῶνι καλυπτομένων κεφαλάων.

  380 μαρναμένου δὲ Γίγαντος ἔην πολυδειράδι μορφῇ

  ἓν δέμας, ἀλλὰ φάλαγγες ἀπείρονες, αἱ μὲν ἀγοστῶν,

  αἱ δὲ λεοντείων γενύων εὐθηγέες αἰχμαί,

  ἄλλαι ἐχιδναίων πλοκάμων ἐπιβήτορες ἄστρων.

  δένδρεα δ᾽ ἐπτύσσοντο Τυφαονίων ἀπὸ χειρῶν

  385 σειόμενα Κρονίδαο καταντίον, ἄλλα δὲ γαίης

  ἔρνεα καλλιπέτηλα, τά περ βεβριθότι παλμῷ

  Ζεὺς ἀέκων ἀμάθυνεν ἑνὶ σπινθῆρι κεραυνοῦ:

  πολλὴ μὲν πτελέη σὺν ὁμήλικι ῥίπτετο πεύκῃ

  καὶ πλάτανος περίμετρος, ἀκοντίζοντο δὲ λεῦκαι

  390 ἄντα Διός: πολλὴ δὲ λαγὼν ἐρρήγνυτο γαίης.

  [364] Zeus flogging the clouds beat a thundering roar in the sky and trumpeted Enyo’s call, then
fitted clouds upon his chest in a bunch as protection against the Giant’s missiles. Nor was Typhoeus silent: his bull-heads were self-sounding trumpets for him, sending forth a bellow which made Olympos rattle again; his serpents intermingled whistling for Ares’ pipes. He fortified the ranks of his high-clambering limbs, shielding mighty rock with rock until the cliffs made an unbroken wall of battlements, as he set crag by crag uprooted in a long line. It looked like an army preparing for battle; for side by side bluff pressed hard on bluff, tor upon tor, ledge upon ledge, and high in the clouds one tortuous ridge pushed another; rugged hills were Typhon’s helmets, and his heads were hidden in their beetling steeps. In that battle, the Giant had indeed one body, but many necks, but legions of arms innumerable, lions’ jaws with well-sharpened fangs, hairbrush of vipers mounting over the stars. Trees were doubled up by Typhaon’s hands and thrown against Cronides, and other fine leafy growths of earth, but all these Zeus unwilling burnt to dust with one spark of thunderbolt cast in heavy throw. Many an elm was hurled against Zeus with first coeval, and enormous plane-trees and volleys of white poplar; many a pit was broken in earth’s flank.

  πᾶσα δὲ τετράπλευρος ἴτυς στυφελίζετο κόσμου,

  καὶ πίσυρες Κρονίωνι συναιχμάζοντες ἀῆται

  ἠερίην σκοτόεσσαν ἐπυργώσαντο κονίην

  κύματα κυρτώσαντες: ἱμασσομένης δὲ θαλάσσης

  395 Σικελίη δεδόνητο, Πελωρίδες ἔβρεμον ὄχθαι

  Αἰτναῖοί τε τένοντες, ἐμυκήσαντο δὲ πέτραι

  μάντιες ἐσσομένων Λιλυβηίδες, ἔκτυπε δ᾽ ἀκτὴ

  ἑσπέριον παρὰ χεῦμα Παχυνιάς: ἐγγύθι δ᾽ ἄρκτου

  ἀμφὶ νάπην Θρήισσαν Ἀθωιὰς ἔκλαγε Νύμφη,

  400 Πιερικῷ δὲ τένοντι Μακηδονὶς ἴαχεν ὕλη:

  ἀντολίης δὲ θέμεθλα τινάσσετο, δενδροκόμοι δὲ

  Ἀσσυρίου Λιβάνοιο θυώδεες ἔκτυπον αὐλαί.

  [391] The whole circuit of the universe with its four sides was buffeted. The four winds, allied with Cronion, raised in the air columns of sombre dust; they swelled the arching waves, they flogged the sea until Sicily quaked; the Pelorid shores resounded and the ridges of Aitna, the Lilybaian rocks bellowed prophetic of things to come, the Pachynian promontory crashed under the western wave. Near the Bear, the nymph of Athos wailed about her Thracian glen, the forest of Macedon roared on the Pierian ridge; the foundations of the east were shaken, there was crashing in the fragrant valleys of Assyrian Libanos.

  καὶ Διὸς ἀκαμάτοιο καταιχμάζοντα κεραυνοῦ

  ῥίπτετο πολλὰ βέλεμνα Τυφαονίων ἀπὸ χειρῶν:

  405 καὶ τὰ μὲν ἀίσσοντα Σεληναίῳ παρὰ δίφρῳ

  ἀσταθέων ἀχάρακτα κατέγραφον ἴχνια ταύρων,

  ἄλλα δὲ δινηθέντα δι᾽ ἠέρος ὀξέι ῥοίζῳ

  ἄσθμασιν ἀντιπόροισι μετερρίπιζον ἀῆται:

  καὶ Διὸς ἀψαύστοιο παραπλαγχθέντα κεραυνοῦ

  410 πολλὰ Ποσειδάωνος ἐδέξατο τερπομένη χείρ,

  γειοτόμου γλωχῖνος ἀφειδήσασα τριαίνης:

  ὑγροβαφῆ δὲ βέλεμνα παρὰ Κρονίης πόρον ἅλμης

  Ζηνὶ φέρων ἀνάθημα γέρων ἱδρύσατο Νηρεύς.

  [403] Aye, and from Typhaon’s hands were showered volleys against the unwearied thunderbolts of Zeus. Some shots went past Selene’s car, and scored through the invisible footprints of her moving bulls; others whirling through the air with sharp whiz, the winds blew away by counterblasts. Many a stray shot from the invulnerable thunderbolts of Zeus fell into the welcoming hand of Poseidon, unsparing of his earthpiercing trident’s point; old Nereus brought the brine-soaked bolts to the ford of the Cronian Sea, and dedicated them as an offering to Zeus.

  καὶ βλοσυροὺς δύο παῖδας Ἐνυαλίοιο κορύσσας

  415 εἶχε Φόβον καὶ Δεῖμον ὀπάονα πατροπάτωρ Ζεὺς

  αἰθέρος ἀσπιστῆρας ὁμήλυδας, ἀστεροπῇ δὲ

  στῆσε Φόβον, καὶ Δεῖμον ἐπεστήριξε κεραυνῷ

  δεῖμα φέρων Τυφῶνι: καὶ ἀσπίδα κούφισε Νίκη

  πρόσθε Διὸς τανύουσα, καὶ ἀντιάχησεν Ἐνυώ,

  420 Ἄρης δ᾽ ἐσμαράγησεν. ἐπαιγίζων δὲ θυέλλαις

  ἠερόθεν πεφόρητο μετάρσιος αἰγίοχος Ζεύς,

  ἑζόμενος πτερόεντι Χρόνου τετράζυγι δίφρῳ:

  ἵπποι δὲ Κρονίωνος ὁμόζυγες ἦσαν ἀῆται.

  καὶ πῇ μὲν στεροῇσι κορύσσετο, πῇ δὲ κεραυνῷ,

  425 ἄλλοτε δὲ βροντῇσιν ἐπέχραεν, ἄλλοτε δ᾽ ὄμβρων

  πηγνυμένης προχέων πετρούμενα νῶτα χαλάζης

  ὀμβρηροῖς βελέεσσι: Γιγαντείοισι δὲ πυκνοὶ

  κίονες ὑδατόεντες ἐπερρήγνυντο καρήνοις

  ὀξυβελεῖς, παλάμαι δὲ Τυφωέος, οἷα μαχαίρῃ,

  430 ἠερίῳ τέμνοντο χαλαζήεντι βελέμνῳ:

  καὶ παλάμη κεκόνιστο, καὶ οὐ μεθέηκε κολώνης,

  ἀλλὰ νιφοβλήτοιο τομῇ πληγεῖσα χαλάζης

  μάρνατο καὶ πίπτουσα, διαΐσσουσα δὲ γαίης

  ἅλμασιν αὐτοκύλιστος ἐπάλλετο μαινομένη χείρ,

  435 οἷα βαλεῖν ἐθέλουσα καὶ εἰσέτι κύκλον Ὀλύμπου.

  [414] Now Zeus armed the two grim sons of Enyalios, his own grandsons, Rout and Terror his servant, the inseparable guardsmen of the sky: Rout he set up with lightning, Terror he made strong with the thunderbolt, terrifying Typhon. Victory lifted her shield and held it before Zeus: Enyo countered with a shout, and Ares made a din. Zeus breasting the tempests with his aegis-breastplate swooped down from the air on high, seated in Time’s chariot with four winged steeds, for the horses that drew Cronion were the team of the winds. Now he battled with lightnings, now with Levin; now he attacked with thunders, now poured out petrified masses of frozen hail in volleying showers. Waterspouts burst thick upon the Giant’s heads with sharp blows, and hands were cut off from the monster by the frozen volleys of the air as by a knife. One hand rolled in the dust, struck off by the icy cut of the hail; it did not drop the crag which it held, but fought on even while it fell, and shot rolling over the ground in self-propelled leaps, a hand gone mad! as if it still wished to strike the vault of Olympos.

  καὶ πρόμος οὐρανίων πυρόεν βέλος ὑψόθι σείων

  δεξιὸν ἐκ λαιοῖο κέρας πολέμοιο νομεύων

  ὑψιφανὴς πολέμιζεν: ἐς ὑδροπόρους δὲ χαράδρας

  ὦρτο Γίγας πολύπηχυς, ἐπασσυτέρῳ δὲ συνάψας

  440 αὐτομάτῳ σφήκωσεν ὁμόπλοκα δάκτυλα δεσμῷ

  κοιλαίνων παλάμας πολυχανδέας, ᾗσιν ἀείρων

  μεσσόθι χειμερίων ποταμῶν ὀρεσίδρομον ὕδωρ,

  χερσὶ βαθυ
νομέναις μεμερισμένα χεύματα πέμπων,

  ἀστεροπῇ προέηκε: χαραδραίῳ δὲ ῥεέθρῳ

  445 βαλλομένη σελάγιζε δι᾽ ὕδατος αἰθερίη φλὸξ

  λαβροτέρῳ σπινθῆρι, καὶ ἔζεσε δίψιον ὕδωρ

  αἰθαλόεν, διερὴ δὲ δύσις τερσαίνετο μύδρῳ:

  σβέσσαι γὰρ μενέαινε Γίγας θρασὺς αἰθέριον πῦρ,

  νήπιος: οὐδ᾽ ἐνόησε, πυραυγέες ὅττι κεραυνοὶ

  450 καὶ στεροπαὶ γεγάασιν ἀπ᾽ ὀμβροτόκων νεφελάων.

  [436] Then the sovereign of the heavens brandished aloft his fiery bolt, and passing from the left wing of the battle to the right, fought manifest on high. The many-armed monster hastened to the watery torrents; he intertwined his row of fingers into a living mat, and hollowing his capacious palms, he lifted from the midst of the wintry rivers their water as it came pouring down from the mountains, and threw these detached parcels of he streams against the lightning. But the ethereal flame blazed with livelier sparks through the water of the torrents which struck it; the thirsty water boiled and steamed, and its liquid essence dried up in the red hot mass. Yes – to quench the ethereal fire was the bold Giant’s plan, poor fool! he knew not that the fire-flaming thunderbolts and lightnings are the offspring of the clouds from whence the rain-showers come!

  καὶ πάλιν ἰθυτμῆτας ἑλὼν σπήλυγγας ἐναύλων

  στέρνα Διὸς μενέαινε βαλεῖν ἄτρωτα σιδήρῳ,

  καὶ σκοπιὴ Διὸς ἄντα τιταίνετο: χείλεϊ δ᾽ ἄκρῳ

  Ζεὺς ὀλίγου φύσησε, καὶ ὑψίκρημνον ἐοῦσαν

  455 λεπταλέον φύσημα παρέτραπε κυκλάδα πέτρην.

  χειρὶ δὲ δινήεντα λόφον νησαῖον ἀράξας

  εἰς ἐνοπὴν πολύδινος ἀνῃώρητο Τυφωεύς,