Works of Nonnus

by Nonnus

  310 Κασταλίης πάφλαζε νοήμονος ἔνθεον ὕδωρ.

  [307] So speaking he lulled the tripods’ wild voice: the ridges of Parnassos quaked, when they heard the noise of their neighbour Phoibos; Castalia marked it, and her inspired water bubbled in oracular rills.

  εἶπε θεός: καὶ Κάδμος ἐχάζετο καὶ παρὰ νηῷ

  βοῦν ἴδε, νισσομένῃ δὲ συνέστιχεν: ἑσπόμενοι δὲ

  ἀνέρες ἀπλάγκτοιο βοὸς βραδυπειθέι χηλῇ

  φειδομένην ἰσόμετρον ἐποιήσαντο πορείην

  315 ὀτρηροὶ θεράποντες: ὅθεν τότε Κάδμος ὁδεύων

  ἱερὸν ἔδρακε χῶρον ἐπόψιον, ἧχι νοήσας

  Πύθιος ἐννεάκυκλον ὀρειάδος ὁλκὸν ἀκάνθης

  εὔνασε Κιρραίης θανατηφόρον ἰὸν ἐχίδνης.

  Παρνησσοῦ δὲ κάρηνα λιπὼν μετανάστιος ἀνὴρ

  320 Δαυλίδος ἔστιχεν οὖδας ὁμούριον, ἔνθεν ἀκούω

  σιγαλέης λάλον εἷμα δυσηλακάτου Φιλομήλης,

  Τηρεὺς ἣν ἐμίαινεν, ὅτε ζυγίη φύγεν Ἥρη

  συζυγίην ἀχόρευτον ὀρεσσαύλων ὑμεναίων,

  κούρη δ᾽ ἀστορέεσσιν ἐπεστενάχιζε χαμεύναις

  325 εἰνοδίου θαλάμοιο, λιπογλώσσοιο δὲ κούρης

  μυρομένης Θρήισσαν ἀναγκαίην Ἀφροδίτην

  δάκρυσι μιμηλοῖσι λιπόθροος ἔστενεν Ἠχώ,

  παρθενικὴν φυγόδεμνον ὀδυρομένη Φιλομήλην,

  ὁππότε φοινήεντι μεμιγμένον αἵματος ὁλκῷ

  330 γλώσσης ἀρτιτόμοιο συνέβλυεν αἷμα κορείης:

  [311] The god spoke: and Cadmos gave place. Near the temple he saw a cow, and went beside her as she walked. His men followed, and made sparing pace, equal to the slow-obeying hoof of the unerring cow, sedulous servants. On the way, Cadmos espied from the road a sacred place conspicuous; the place where the Pythian hand noticed on a hill the ninecircling coil of the dragon’s back, and put to sleep the deadly poison of the Cirrhaian serpent. Then the wanderer left the heads of Parnassos and trod the neighbouring soil of Daulis, whence comes the tale I hear of the dumb woespinner Philomela and her talking dress, whom Tereus defiled, when Hera, queen of wedlock, turned her back on the wedding among the mountains with no wedding dances; how the girl mourned over the undecked pallet of the bridebed on the common road; how the girl tongue-shorn bewailed this Thracian rape; and how voiceless Echo copied her tears and groaned too, bewailing the bedshy maiden Philomela, as the blood of her maidenhood ran mingling with the red stream from her new-severed tongue.

  καὶ Τιτυοῦ πόλιν εἶδεν, ὅπῃ θρασὺς υἱὸς Ἀρούρης

  ἄλσεα καλλιπέτηλα διαστείχων Πανοπῆος

  ἁγνὰ βιαζομένης ἀνεσείρασε φάρεα Λητοῦς:

  καὶ ποδὸς ἴχνος ἔθηκε Ταναγραίῳ κενεῶνι,

  335 ἐκ δὲ Κορωνείης Ἁλιάρτιον οὖδας ἀμείβων

  Θεσπιέων τε πόληα βαθυκνήμους τε Πλαταιὰς

  Ἀονίης σχεδὸν ἦλθε πέδον Βοιωτὸν ὁδεύων,

  ἧχί ποτ᾽ Ὠρίωνα, δυσίμερον υἱέα γαίης,

  σκορπίος, ἀστόργοιο βοηθόος ἰοχεαίρης,

  340 τηλίκον ἐπρήνιξεν, ἀνυμφεύτοιο θεαίνης

  ἀκροτάτην ἔτι πέζαν ἀναστείλαντα χιτῶνος,

  ὁ βραδὺς ἑρπύζων, χθόνιον τέρας, ἀντιβίου δὲ

  ταρσὰ χαλαζήεντι τυχὼν ἐχαράξατο κέντρῳ.

  [331] He saw too the city of Tityos, where that bold son of Earth marching through the fair-leafy woods of Panopeus lifted the sacred robe of Leto and attempted violence. He set a footstep on Tanagra bottom; and passing from Coroneia to the soil of Haliartos, he came near to the city of Thespiai, and Plataiai in its deep ravines, and Aonia on the Boitoian ground. This is the place where Orion the lovesick son of Earth was brought low, great as he was, by the Scorpion, who came to help the hard-hearted Archeress: he was in the act of lifting the lowest edge of the tunic of the unmated goddess, when crawling slow came that earthly horror, hit his adversary’s heal and pierced it with freezing sting.

  καὶ γαίης ἐπέβη Χαιρωνίδος, ἔνθα κονίην

  345 ἀργυφέην τέμνουσα βοὸς λευκαίνετο χηλή,

  καὶ κραναῆς μεθέπων πολυκαμπέα κύκλα πορείης

  λευκὰ κονιομένων ἀπεσείσατο λύματα ταρσῶν.

  καὶ βοὸς ὀμφήεσσα χαμευνάδος ὤκλασε χηλὴ

  ἄστεος ἐσσομένοιο προάγγελος. ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε Κάδμῳ

  350 Πύθιον οὐδαίης ἐτελείετο θέσφατον ἠχοῦς,

  βοῦν ἱερὴν θυόεντι διαστήσας παρὰ βωμῷ

  δίζετο πηγαίων ὑδάτων χύσιν, ὄφρα καθήρῃ

  μαντιπόλους ἕο χεῖρας, ἐπισπείσῃ δὲ θυηλαῖς

  ἁγνὸν ὕδωρ: οὔ πω γὰρ ἐν οἰνοφύτοισιν ἀλωαῖς

  355 ἁβρὸς ἀεξομένης ἀνεφαίνετο καρπὸς ὀπώρης.

  [344] He traversed the land of Chaironeia, where the cow’s hoof was whitened in cutting the silvery dust, and following the many winding circuits of the rocky path it shook off the white dirt from its dusty feet. Then the oracular hoof of the cow gave way, and she sank to the ground foretelling the city to be. Now that the divine utterance out of the Pythian cave was fulfilled, Cadmos brought the sacred cow beside an altar smoking with incense, and sought for a rill of spring water, that he might cleanse his ministering hands and pour the pure water over the sacrifice; for as yet there were no wineplanted gardens to show the delicate fruit of their ripening crop.

  καὶ πόδας ἐστήριξε δρακοντοβότῳ παρὰ Δίρκῃ:

  στῆ δὲ ταφών, ὅθι λοξὰ φανεὶς ὀφιώδεϊ δεσμῷ

  Ἄρεος αἰολόνωτος ὄφις μιτρώσατο πηγήν,

  καὶ στρατὸν ἐπτοίησεν, ὅσος πολὺς ἕσπετο Κάδμῳ:

  360 τὸν μὲν ὑπὸ στέρνοισι δακὼν χαροποῖσι γενείοις,

  τὸν δὲ δαφοινήεντι τυχὼν ἐχάραξεν ὀδόντι,

  ἄλλου μαρναμένοιο βιοσσόον ἧπαρ ἀμύξας

  θῆκε νέκυν: ψαφαρὴ δὲ κατ᾽ αὐχένος ἔρρεε χαίτη

  365 αὐτομάτη, πλαδαροῖο διειλυαθεῖσα καρήνου:

  [356] He stayed his feet beside dragonbreeding Dirce: and stood amazed when he saw the speckleback serpent, Ares’ child, appear from one side and girdle the spring with snaky coil. The serpent scared away the great company who followed Cadmos, biting tone under the chest with his flashing jaws, rending another with a stroke of bloody tooth, tearing another’s lifesaving liver when he showed fight and laying him dead: a rough mane slipping out of the dank head ran down disorderly over his neck. Another he scared leaping above the man’s temples, ran up another’s chin irresistible to strike his eye with poison-shooting dew, and dark
ened the sparkling gleam of the closing orb. One he caught by the foot and held it in his jaws, tearing it with his bite – spat out green foam from his teeth upon the lad’s body, and the greenish poison froze the body livid like steel. Another panted under the strokes of the jaws, and the membranes of the brain billowed throbbing out of the head at the poisonous bite, while a stream of matter ran down through the drenched nostrils out of the melting brain.

  ἄλλον ἀνεπτοίησε θορὼν ὑπὲρ ἄντυγα κόρσης

  ἀνδρομέης, ἑτέρου δὲ διέτρεχεν ἀνθερεῶνος

  ἄσχετος, ἰοβόλῳ δὲ βαλὼν ὀφθαλμὸν ἐέρσῃ

  370 μαρμαρέην ἤχλυσε μεμυκότος ὄμματος αἴγλην:

  ἄλλου ταρσὸν ἔμαρψε, χαρασσόμενον δὲ γενείῳ

  εἶχε δακών, καὶ χλωρὸν ἀνήρυγεν ἀφρὸν ὀδόντων

  εἰς δέμας ἠιθέοιο, πελιδναίῳ δὲ σιδήρῳ

  ἰσοφυὴς χλοάοντι διεψύχθη δέμας ἰῷ:

  375 ἄλλου φυσιόωντος ὑπὸ πληγῇσι γενείων

  ἀσταθέες μήνιγγες ἐκυμαίνοντο καρήνου

  δήγματι φαρμακόεντι, δι᾽ ἐγκεφάλου δὲ χυθέντος

  μυδαλέῳ μυκτῆρι κατάσσυτος ἔρρεεν ἰχώρ.

  370 καὶ ταχὺς ἀμφιέλικτος ἐπὶ κνήμῃσιν ἀνέρπων

  Κάδμον ἀπειλητῆρι δράκων ἐζώσατο δεσμῷ,

  καὶ δέμας ὀρθώσας μελέων ἐπιβήτορι παλμῷ

  ταυρείης περίκυκλον ἐς ὀμφαλὸν ἆλτο βοείης:

  καὶ σκολιαῖς ἑλίκεσσι πόδας μιτρούμενος ἀνὴρ

  380 ὁλκαίῃ βαρύδεσμος ἐχιδναίῃ κάμε σειρῇ,

  φόρτον ἔχων δασπλῆτα, βαρυνόμενον δὲ φορῆα

  ὄρθιον ἑστηῶτα κατέσπασεν εἰς πέδον ἕλκων,

  καὶ στόμα πικρὸν ἔλυσε, δυσηλεγέος δὲ χανόντος

  φοίνιος ὠμοβόρου πυλεὼν εὐρύνετο λαιμοῦ,

  385 καὶ κεφαλὴν δόχθωσε, τινασσομένου δὲ καρήνου

  ὑψιτενὴς ἐλέλικτο μέσος κυρτούμενος αὐχήν.

  [365] Then quickly the dragon curled round Cadmos, creeping up his legs, and bound him in dangerous bonds; then raising his body high above him with a mounting lurch of his limbs, darted at the round midnipple of his oxhide shield. The man with his legs enclosed by those slanting rings was exhausted by the heavy weight of the long trailing snake – a horrible burden! but the wearied bearer still stood upright, until the serpent dragged him to the ground and opened his cruel mouth – the monster gaped, and the bloody portal of his raw-ravening throat yawned wide: he turned his head sideways, and with shaking hood curved his neck backwards stretched high over the middle of his coils.

  ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε Κάδμος ἔκαμνε, τότε σχεδὸν ἦλθεν Ἀθήνη

  390 ἐσσομένης δονέουσα προάγγελον αἰγίδα νίκης

  Γοργείῳ κομόωσαν ἐχιδνήεντι καρήνῳ,

  καί οἱ ἀτυζομένῳ λαοσσόος ἴαχε δαίμων:

  [389] But when Cadmos was nearly exhausted, Athena came near, shaking the aegis-cape with the Gorgon’s head and snaky hair, the forecast of coming victory; and the nation-mustering deity cried aloud to the dumbfounded man –

  ‘Κάδμε, Γιγαντοφόνοιο Διὸς συνάεθλε κυδοιμοῦ,

  δειμαίνεις ἕνα μοῦνον ἰδὼν ὄφιν; ἐν δὲ κυδοιμοῖς

  395 σοὶ πίσυνος Τυφῶνα κατεπρήνιξε Κρονίων

  τοσσατίοις κομόωντα δρακοντείοισι καρήνοις.

  παύεο θηρείων τρομέων συριγμὸν ὀδόντων:

  Παλλὰς ἐποτρύνει σε, καὶ οὐ φονίῃ παρὰ Δίρκῃ

  ῥύσεται ἑρπηστῆρα φυλάκτορα χάλκεος Ἄρης.

  400 ἀλλά, καταφθιμένοιο λαβὼν δασπλῆτας ὀδόντας

  θηρός, ἐχιδνήεντι περισπείρας χθόνα καρπῷ

  κεῖρε Γιγαντείης ὀφιώδεα λήια χάρμης,

  γηγενέων δὲ φάλαγγας ἑνὶ ξύνωσον ὀλέθρῳ

  πέντε λιπὼν ζώοντας: ἐπεσσομένῃσι δὲ Θήβαις

  405 σπαρτῶν ἀγλαόκαρπος ἀνασταχύοιτο γενέθλη.’

  [393] “Cadmos, helpmate and ally of Zeus Giantslayer in the battle! Are you afraid when you see only one snake? In those battles Cronion trusted in you, and brought low Typhon with all that shock of heads, and every one a snake! Tremble no more at the hiss from the creature’s teeth. Pallas bids you on! Brazen Ares shall not save his reptile guardian beside murderous Dirce. But when he is killed, take the creature’s horrible teeth, sow the ground all about with the snaky corn, reap the viperous harvest of warrior giants, join the battalions of the Earthborn in one common destruction, and leave only five living: let the crop of the Sown sprout up to glorious fruitage for Thebes that shall be.”

  ὣς φαμένη θάρσυνε τεθηπότα Κάδμον Ἀθήνη,

  καὶ βαθὺν ἠνεμόεντι κατέγραφεν ἠέρα ταρσῷ,

  δυσαμένη Διὸς οἶκον. ὁ δὲ τραφερῇ παρὰ βώλῳ

  μάρμαρον εὐρυάλωος ἐύτροχον οὖρον ἀρούρης

  410 ἵστατο κουφίζων κραναὸν βέλος, ἰθυπόρῳ δὲ

  ἄκρα δρακοντείοιο καρήατος ἔθλασε πέτρῳ:

  θηγαλέην δὲ μάχαιραν ἐρυσσάμενος παρὰ μηροῦ

  αὐχένα θηρὸς ἔτεμνεν: ἀπαμηθεῖσα δὲ κόρση

  σώματος ἐκτὸς ἔμιμνε, κυλινδομένη δὲ κονίῃ

  415 ἠθάδα κύκλον ἕλισσε παλίλλυτον ἄστατος οὐρή,

  καὶ δαπέδῳ τετάνυστο δράκων νέκυς. ἀμφὶ δὲ νεκρῷ

  θοῦρος Ἄρης βαρύμηνις ἀνέκραγε: χωομένου δὲ

  Κάδμος ἀμειβομένων μελέων ἑλικώδεϊ μορφῇ

  ἀλλοφυὴς ἤμελλε παρ᾽ Ἰλλυρίδος σφυρὰ γαίης

  420 ξεῖνον ἔχειν ἴνδαλμα δρακοντείοιο προσώπου.

  [406] With these words Athena encouraged the discomfited Cadmos, and then she cleft the aery deeps with windswift foot, until she entered the house of Zeus. But Cadmos where he stood on the dry earth lifted a well-rounded boundary-stone of the broad farm-land, a rocky missile! and with a straight cast of the stone smashed the top of the dragon’s head; then drawing a whetted knife from his thigh he cut through the monster’s neck. The hood severed from the body lay apart, but the tail still moved, rolling in the dust until it had uncoiled again its familiar rings. There lay the dragon stretched on the ground, dead, and over the corpse furious Ares shouted in heavy anger. By his wrath Cadmos was destined to change his limbs for a curling shape, and to have a strange aspect of dragon’s countenance at the ends of the Illyrian country.

  ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν πέπρωτο μετὰ χρόνον. αὐτὰρ ὁ μέσσῃ

  χαλκείῃ κυνέῃ συνελέξατο καρπὸν ὀλέθρου,

  θηρ
είων γενύων βλοσυρὸν θέρος: ἐνδαπίης δὲ

  Παλλάδος ὑβὸν ἄροτρον ἀπ᾽ ὀργάδος εἰς χθόνα σύρων

  425 καὶ χαροπῆς ἀρόσας πολεμητόκον αὔλακα γαίης

  ἰοβόλων ἔσπειρε πολύστιχον ὄγμου ὀδόντων.

  καὶ στάχυς αὐτολόχευτος ἀνηέξητο Γιγάντων,

  ὧν ὁ μὲν ὑψικάρηνος ἀνέδραμεν ἄκρα τιταίνων

  στήθεος εὐθώρηκος, ὁ δὲ προθορόντι καρήνῳ

  430 φρικτὸν ἀνοιγομένης ὑπερέσχεθεν ὦμον ἀρούρης:

  ἄλλος ἄνω προύκυψεν ἐς ὀμφαλόν, ὃς δ᾽ ἐπὶ γαίῃ

  ἡμιτελὴς ἀνέτελλε πεδοτρεφὲς ὅπλον ἀείρων:

  ἄλλος ὑπερκύπτοντα λόφον προβλῆτα τιταίνων

  οὔ πω στέρνον ἔφαινε, καὶ εἰσέτι μητρὸς ἀνέρπων

  435 ἐκ λαγόνων κατὰ βαιὸν ἀταρβέι μάρνατο Κάδμῳ

  τεύχεσιν αὐτοφύτοις κεκορυθμένος: ἆ μέγα θαῦμα,

  ὥπλισεν Εἰλείθυια, τὸν οὐ μαιώσατο μήτηρ:

  καί τις ἀνηκόντιζεν ὁμόγνιον ἔγχος ἀφάσσων

  ἡμιφανής, ὁ δὲ κοῦφος ὅλον δέμας εἰς φάος ἕλκων

  440 ἄκρα ποδῶν ἀτέλεστα πεπηγότα λεῖπεν ἀρούρῃ.

  [421] But that was ordained for long after. Now he gathered the fruit of death inside a helmet of bronze, the grim harvest of the creature’s jaws. Then he drew upon the land the humped plow of Pallas from her holy place in those parts, and plowed a battle-breeding furrow in the bright earth, and sowed long lines of the poison-casting teeth. There grew out the self-delivered crop of giants: one shot up with head high, shaking the top of a mailcoated breast; one with jutting head stretched a horrid shoulder over the opening earth; another bent forward above ground as far as the midnipple, one again rose on the ground half-finished and lifted a soil-grown shield; another shook a nodding plume before him and showed not yet his chest; while still creeping up slowly from his mother’s flanks he showed fight against fearless Cadmos, clad in armour he was born in. O what a great miracle! Eileithyia armed him whom the mother had not yet spawned! And there was one who cast his brother-spear, fumbling and half-visible; one who lightly drew the whole body into the light, but left his toes unfinished sticking in the ground.