by Nonnus
ὣς φαμένης ἀπένεψε γοήμονος ὄμβρον ὀπωπῆς
65 μήτηρ ἀσχαλόωσα: διχοστασίῃ δὲ μενοινῆς
Ἁρμονίην ᾤκτερπε, Διὸς δ᾽ ἀλέεινεν ἀπειλήν.
[64] As she spoke, her mother in distress wiped the raindrops from that mourning face: torn between two, she pitied Harmonia and shrank from the threats of Zeus.
ἀλλὰ περισφίγξασα δέμας φρενοθελγέι κεστῷ
κερδαλέῳ ζωοτῆρι δολοφράδμων Ἀφροδίτη,
καὶ χροῒ δυσαμένη φιλοτήσια φάρεα Πειθοῦς
70 Ἁρμονίης εὔοδμον ἐδύσατο παρθενεῶνα:
καὶ τύπον οὐρανίοιο μεταλλάξασα προσώπου
Πεισινόῃ δέμας ἶσον ἐίσκετο γεῖτονι κούρῃ,
Κάδμον ἅ περ ποθέουσα, καὶ ὡς κρυθίῃ τινὶ νούσῳ
λεπταλέον πέμπουσα σέλας χλοάοντι προσώπῳ
75 ἀμφιπόλους ἔσσευε: παρεδριόωσα δὲ μούνῃ,
οἷά περ αἰδομένη, δολίην ἀνενείκατο φωνήν:
[67] But now tricky-minded Aphrodite girt her body in the heart-bewitching cestus-belt, and clothing herself in the loverobe of Persuasion she entered Harmonia’s fragrant chamber. She had doffed her heavenly countenance, and put on a form like Peisinoë, a girl of the neighbourhood. As though in love with Cadmos and suffering from some hidden sickness, with but little brightness in her pale face, she chased away the maids; and when Harmonia was alone she sat by her side and said as in shame with deceitful tongue:
‘Ὀλβίη, οἷον ἔχεις ἐνὶ δώμασι καλόν ἀλήτην,
οἷον ἔχεις μνηστῆρα, μακαρτάτη: οἷον ἀκοίτην
ὄψεαι ἱμερόεντα, τὸν οὐ λάχε παρθένος ἄλλη:
80 ἀτρεκὲς Ἀσσυρίης ἀπὸ πατρίδος αἷμα κομίζει,
ἧχι ῥόος χαρίεντος Ἀδώνιδος: ἱμερόεις γὰρ
ἐκ Λιβάνου νέος οὗτος, ὅπῃ Κυθέρεια χορεύει.
ἤλιτον: οὐ τάχα Κάδμον ἐπιχθονίη τέκε γαστήρ,
ἀλλὰ Διὸς γένος ἔσχεν, ἑὴν δ᾽ ἐψεύσατο φύτλην.
85 οἶδα, πόθεν νέος οὗτος Ὀλύμπιος: εἴ ποτε Μαίῃ
σύγγονον Ἠλέκτρην Τιτήνιος ἤροσεν Ἄτλας,
Ἁρμονίῃ πόσις ἦλθεν ἀνεψιὸς ἄπτερος Ἑρμῆς,
οὐδὲ μάτην Καδμῖλος ἀείδεται: οὐρανίην γὰρ
μορφὴν μοῦνον ἄμειψε καὶ εἰσέτι Κάδμος ἀκούει.
90 εἰ δὲ πέλει θεὸς ἄλλος ἔχων βροτοειδέα μορφήν,
Ἠμαθίων τάχα Φοῖβον ἑῷ ξείνισσε μελάθρῳ.
[77] “Happy girl! What a handsome stranger you have in the house! What a man to court you, most blessed of women! What a lovely bedfellow you will see, that no other maiden has won! Surely his blood comes from Assyria! That must be his home, beside the river of that enchanting Adonis, for that lovely young man came from Libanos where Cythereia dances. No, I was wrong! I don’t suppose any mortal womb bred Cadmos; no, he is sprung from Zeus and he has concealed his stock! I know where this young Olympian comes from. If Titan Atlas ever begat Electra as Maia’s sister, here’s cousin Herems without wings come as husband for Harmonia. Then that’s why we sing hymns to Cadmilos! He has only changed his heavenly shape and still he is called Cadmos. Or if he is some other god in human shape, perhaps Apollo is Emathion’s guest in this house.
παρθένε πασιμέλουσα, μακαρτέρη ἐσσὶ τεκούσης
εἰς πόθον, εἰς ὑμέναιον Ὀλύμπιον: ἆ μέγα θαῦμα,
λάθριος Ἠλέκτρην νυμφεύσατο μητίετα Ζεύς,
95 ἀμφαδὸν Ἁρμονίην μνηστεύεται αὐτὸς Ἀπόλλων:
ὀλβίη, ἣν ἐπόθησεν ἑκηβόλος: αἴθε καὶ αὐτῆς
Πεισινόης σπεύσειεν ἔχειν ὑμέναιον Ἀπόλλων:
οὐ μὲν ἐγώ ποτε Φοῖβον ἀναίνομαι, οἷά τε Δάφνη,
οὐ νόον Ἁρμονίης μιμήσομαι: ἀλλὰ λιποῦσα
100 κλῆρον ἐμὸν καὶ δῶμα καὶ οὓς ποθέω γενετῆρας,
ἵξομαι Ἀπόλλωνι συνέμπορος εἰς ὑμεναίους.
μέμνημαί ποτε τοῖον ἐγὼ τύπον: ἡμετέρῳ γὰρ
εἰς δόμον ὀμφήεντα συνεσπομένη γενετῆρι
Πύθιον εἶδον ἄγαλμα, καὶ ὡς τεὸν εἶδον ἀλήτην,
105 ὠισάμην Φοίβοιο πάλιν βρέτας ἐνθάδε λεύσσειν.
[92] “World-famed maiden, you are more blessed than your mother for Olympian desire and Olympian marriage! Here is a great marvel! Zeus Allwise wedded Electra in secret – Apollo himself woos Harmonia in the light! Happy girl, whom Far-shooter desired! I only wish Apollo would be as eager for marriage with Peisinoë too! I don’t say no to Apollo, like Daphne, I can tell you! I will not feel like Harmonia! No, I will leave my inheritance and house and the parents whom I love – I will go on my travels to marriage with Apollo! I remember once a carving like him. For I once went with our father into the house of oracle, and there I saw the Pythian image; and when I saw your vagrant, I thought I saw the statue of Phoibos again in this place.
ἀλλ᾽ ἐρέεις, ὅτι Φοῖβος ἔχει χρυσαυγέα μίτρην:
χρύσεος ἔπλετο Κάδμος ὅλον δέμας: ἢν δ᾽ ἐθελήσῃς,
δμῶας ἐμοὺς ἔχε πάντας ἀπείρονας, ἀντὶ δὲ κείνου
χρυσὸν ἐμὸν ξύμπαντα καὶ ἄργυρον ἐγγυαλίξω,
110 καὶ Τυρίης ὀπάσω βασιλήια πέπλα θαλάσσης
καὶ δόμον, ἢν ἐθέλῃς, πατρώιον: εἰ θέμις εἰπεῖν,
δέχνυσο καὶ γενέτην καὶ μητέρα, δέχνυσο πάσας
ἀμφιπόλους, καὶ μοῦνον ἐμοὶ πόρε τοῦτον ἀκοίτην.
[106] “But you will say, Phoibos has a goldgleaming diadem. Cadmos is gold in all his body! If you like, take all my serfs innumerable – for him, I will put in your hands all my gold and silver, I will give royal robes of the Tyrian Sea, and the house of my fathers, if you like; accept, if I dare to say it, my father and mother too, accept all my waiting-women, and give me only this man for my bedfellow!
παρθένε, τί τρομέεις; σὺ μὲν εἴαρι ποντοπορήσεις
115 στεινὸν ὕδωρ πλώουσα, σὺν ἱμερόεντι δὲ Κάδμῳ
ὠκεανὸν περίμετρον ἐγὼ κατὰ χεῖμα περήσω.
μὴ τρομέοις ἁλὸς οἶδμα βαρύβρομον, ὅττι σαώσει
εἰν ἁλὶ φόρτον Ἔρωτος ἁλὸς θυγάτηρ Ἀφροδίτη.
παρθένε, Κάδμον ἔχεις, μὴ δίζεο θῶκον Ὀλύμπου.
120 οὐ ποθέω στίλβουσαν Ἐρυθραίην λίθον Ἰνδῶν,
οὐ φυτὸν Ἑσπερίδων παγχρύσεον, οὐδέ με τέρπει
Ἡλιάδων ἤλεκτρον, ὅσον μία νυκτὸς ὀ
μίχλη,
τῇ ἔνι Πεισινόην προσπτύξεται οὗτος ἀλήτης.
εἰ δὲ γένος μεθέπεις ἐξ Ἄρεος, ἐξ Ἀφροδίτης,
125 σοὶ γάμον ἄξιον εὗρε γάμων ταμίη σέο μήτηρ.
οὔ ποτε τηλίκον ἄνθος ἐσέδρακον: αὐτόματον γὰρ
εἰαρινὸν δώρημα φύσις δωρήσατο Κάδμῳ:
εἶδον ἐγὼ παλάμην ῥοδοδάκτυλον, εἶδον ὀπωπὴν
ἡδὺ μέλι στάζουσαν: ἐρωτοτόκου δὲ προσώπου
130 ὡς ῥόδα φοινίσσουσι παρηίδες, ἀκροφαῆ δὲ
δίχροα χιονέων ἀμαρύσσεται ἴχνια ταρσῶν
μεσσόθι πορφύροντα, καὶ ὡς κρίνον εἰσὶν ἀγοστοί.
καλλείψω πλοκαμῖδας, ὅπως μὴ Φοῖβον ὀρίνω
χροιῇ ὀνειδίζουσα Θεραπναίης ὑακίνθου.
135 εἴ ποτε δινεύων φρενοτερπέα κύκλον ὀπωπῆς
ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐλέλιζεν, ὅλη σελάγιζε Σελήνη
φέγγεϊ μαρμαίροντι, καὶ εἴ ποτε βόστρυχα σείσας
αὐχένα γυμνὸν ἔθηκεν, ἐφαίνετο Φωσφόρος ἀστήρ.
χείλεα σιγήσαιμι: τὸ δὲ στόμα, πορθμὸν Ἐρώτων,
140 πειθὼ ναιετάουσα χέει μελιηδέα φωνήν,
καὶ Χάριτες μεθέπουσιν ὅλον δέμας: ἄκρα δὲ χειρῶν
αἰδέομαι κρίνειν, ἵνα μὴ γάλα λευκὸν ἐλέγξω:
[114] “Maiden, why do you tremble? You will sail the seas in the spring-time across the narrow water – but with lovely Cadmos I will traverse the infinite Ocean stream in winter! Tremble not at the heavyrumbling briny swell, because love’s cargo will be kept safe on the brine by Aphrodite daughter of the brine. Maiden, you have Cadmos, seek not the throne of Olympos! I desire not the shining Eyrthraean stone of the Indies, nor the all-golden tree of the Hesperides, I delight not in the amber of the Heliades, so much as one shadowy night in which this vagrant shall hold Peisinoë in his arms. If you fetch your lineage from Ares, from Aphrodite, your provident mother has found you a marriage well worthy of theirs. I have never beheld such a flower; spring itself blooms in Cadmos by nature’s gift. I have seen his rosefinger hand, I have seen his glance distilling sweet honey; the cheeks of his lovebegetting face are red as roses; his feet go twinkling, ruddybrown in the middle, and changing colour at the ends into shining snow; his arms are lilywhite. I will pass the hair, or I may provoke Phoibos by blaming the hue of his Therapnaian iris. Whenever he moved his full eyes with their heart-gladdening glance, there was the full moon shining with sparkling light; when he shook his hair and bared his neck, there appeared the morning star! I would not speak of his lips; but Persuasion dwells in his mouth, the ferry of the Loves, and pours out honey-sweet speech. Aye, the Graces manage his whole body: hands and fingers I shrink to judge, or I may find fault with the whiteness of milk.
δέχνυσο δειλαίην με συνέστιον: ἠιθέου δὲ
δεξιτερῆς ψαύουσα καὶ ἀμφαφόωσα χιτῶνα
145 κρυπταδίης εὕροιμι παρήγορα φάρμακα νούσου:
αὐχένα γυμνὸν ἴδοιμι καὶ ἑζομένοιο πιέσσω
δάκτυλον ὡς ἀέκουσα, καὶ ἡμετέρου διὰ κόλπου
τεθναίην ὅτε μοῦνον ἀφειδέα χεῖρα χαλάσσας
ἀμφοτέρων θλίψειεν ἐλεύθερον ἄντυγα μαζῶν,
150 χείλεσιν ἡμετέρουσι μεμυκότα χείλεα πήξας,
τέρπων ἀκροτάτοισι φιλήμασιν: ἠίθεον δὲ
εἰσέτι πηχύνουσα καὶ εἰς Ἀχέροντα περήσω
αὐτομάτη, γλυκερὸν δὲ πολυκλαύτῳ παρὰ Λήθῃ
λέξω καὶ φθιμένοισιν ἐμὸν μόρον, ὥς κεν ἐγείρω
155 οἶκτον ὁμοῦ καὶ ζῆλον ἀθελγέι Περσεφονείῃ:
καὶ Χαρίτων πνείοντα φιλήματα κεῖνα διδάξω
θηλυτέρας δυσέρωτας, ὅσας κτάνεν ἱμερόεν πῦρ,
καὶ νέκυας τελέσω ζηλήμονας, εἰ παρὰ Λήθῃ
εἰς Παφίην μετὰ πότμον ἔτι φθονέουσι γυναῖκες.
[143] “Accept me for your companion, unhappy me! but if I touch the boy’s right hand and stroke his tunic I may find comfortable physic for my secret sickness. I may see his neck bare, or press a finger as if unconsciously while he sits; I could gladly die, if he would only slip a willing hand into the orb of my bosom and press my two breasts, and hold his closed lips upon my lips to delight me with brushing kisses. But if I could still hold the boy in my arms, I will pass even to Acheron the River of Pain of my own free will, and with rapture even amid the many lamentations of all-forgetting Lethe. I will tell the dead of my fate, to awaken pity and envy alike in merciless Persephoneia; I will teach those grace-breathing kisses to women unhappy in love who died of that lovely fire, I will make the dead jealous, if women still grudge at the Paphian in Lethe after their doom.
160 ἕσπομαι, ἢν ἐθέλῃς, καὶ ὁμόστολος, οὐ τρομέω δὲ
πλαγκτοσύνην ἀδίδακτον. ἀμείλιχε, γίνεο Κάδμου
κουριδίη παράκοιτις: ἐγὼ θαλαμηπόλος εἴην
ἀμφοτέροις θεράπαινα, καὶ Ἁρμονίῃ καὶ ἀκοίτῃ.
ἀλλὰ πάλιν τρομέω σε, καὶ εἰ κρύπτειν μενεαίνεις,
165 μή ποτέ σοι διὰ λέκτρα χόλον καὶ ζῆλον ἐγείρω,
ὅττι, θεά περ ἐοῦσα καὶ αἰθέρος ὄρχαμος, Ἥρη
Ζηνὸς ἐπιχθονίῃσι νόθαις ἀλόχοισι μεγαίρει:
Εὐρώπῃ κεχόλωτο καὶ ἤκαχεν ἄστατον Ἰώ:
οὐδὲ θεὰς μεθέηκε: χολωομένης δὲ τεκούσης
170 ἤλασεν ὠδίνουσαν Ἄρης ἐγκύμονα Λητώ.
εἰ μὴ ζῆλος ἔχει σε, πόθων ἵνα φάρμακον εὕρω,
εἰς μίαν ἠριγένειαν ἐμοὶ πόρε τοῦτον ἀκοίτην,
ναί, λίτομαι, καὶ νυκτὸς ἕνα δρόμον: εἰ δὲ μεγαίρεις,
χειρὶ τεῇ με δάιξον, ὅπως ἄμπαυμα νοήσω
175 τηλίκον ἀπρήυντον ἀεὶ κατὰ νύκτα καὶ ἠῶ
ἐνδόμυχον μεθέπουσα περὶ φρένα βοσκόμενον πῦρ.’
[160] “I will go with you if you wish, even as your companion, I tremble not before unfamiliar wanderings. Hard-hearted girl, become the lawful wife to Cadmos; I would be chambermaid to you both, Harmonia and husband. – But again I tremble before you, lest some time I awaken anger and jealousy for your bed tho’ you fain would hide it, since even Hera, goddess thou she is and queen of the heavens, grudges Zeus his bastard wives on earth. She was angry with Europa and tormented the wandering Io; she spared not even goddesses; because his mother was angry, Ares persecuted Leto with child in her birthpangs. If you are not jealous to find me a physic for my desire, give me this bedfellow for one dawn, yes I beseech you, for the course of one night too; if you grudge it, kill me with your
own hand, that I may know rest from carrying this always night and day, fed on the secret places of my heart, this mighty implacable fire!”
εἶπε, καὶ Ἁρμονίην φυγοδέμνιον ἤλασε κεστῷ
εἰς πλόον οἰστρήσασα πόθῳ πειθήμονα κούρην.
ἡ δὲ μεταστρέψασα νόον διδυμάονι βουλῇ
180 ξεῖνον ἔχειν μενέαινε καὶ ἤθελε πατρίδα ναίειν,
καί τινα μῦθον ἔειπεν ἱμασσομένη νόον οἴστρῳ:
[177] She said her say, and with her girdle drove bedshy Harmonia to her voyage, stung as with a gadfly, and now obedient to desire. She changed her mind, and with divided purpose wished both to have the stranger and to live in her own land. So smitted to the heart with the sting, she spoke:
‘Ὤμοι, τίς μετάμειψεν ἐμὴν φρένα; σώζεο, πάτρη,
χαίροις, Ἠμαθίων καὶ πᾶς δόμος: ἄντρα Καβείρων,
χαίρετε, καὶ σκοπιαὶ Κορυβαντίδες: οὐκέτι λεύσσω
185 μητρῴης Ἑκάτης νυχίην θιασώδεα πεύκην.
