Works of Nonnus

by Nonnus

  ὑγροπόρους δὲ λέοντας ἀιστώσω Διονύσου.

  [165] “Lazy brother, how long is your stream to crawl in silence? Rear your waves, and overwhelm Dionysos, that we may swallow his host of footmen under the waters! It is a disgrace for you and me when the warriors of Bromios pass through my flood with unwetted shoes. You also, Aiolos — grant me this boon, arm your stormy winds to be champions against my foes, to fight with the Satyrs, because their host has marched through the waters and made a highroad of Hydaspes for landchariots, because they drive a watery course through my stream! Arm your winds against my ferryman Lyaios! Let the Satyrs’ host be caught in the flood, let my river receive the chariot, let the charioteers be rolled in my flood, let the riders be swallowed in the mad waves! I will not suffer this unnatural passage to be unavenged: for both you and me it is a disgrace, when the warriors of Bromios have made a path for footmen and drivers high and dry!... I will destroy the water-traversing lions of Dionysos!

  εἰπέ, πόθεν βατὸς ἔσκεν ἐμὸς ῥόος, ὑγροβαφὴς δὲ

  νηιὰς ἐν προχοῇσι πόθεν χρεμετισμὸν ἀκούει

  185 καὶ ῥάχιν ἰχθυόεσσαν ὄνυξ ἵππειος ἀράσσει;

  αἰδέομαι ποταμοῖσι μιγήμεναι, ὅττι γυναῖκες

  ἡμέας ἀκλύστοισι διαστείβουσι πεδίλοις.

  οὔ ποτε τολμήεντες ἐμὸν ῥόον ἔξεον Ἰνδοὶ

  ἅρμασιν ἠλιβάτοισι, καὶ οὐ πατρώιον ὕδωρ

  190 Δηριάδης ἐχάραξεν ἑῶ περιμήκεϊ δίφρῳ,

  ὑψιλόφων λοφίῃσιν ἐφεδρήσσων ἐλεφάντων.’

  [183] “Tell me, why was my river made a highway? Why does the Naiad in the watery depths of my flood hear whinnying, why does the horse’s hoof crush the fish’s back? I am ashamed to mingle with other rivers, when women cross me with unwetted shoes. Never have Indians been so bold as to scrape my streams with towering chariots, never has Deriades scored his father’s water with his huge equipage, seated on the nape of highcrested elephants!”

  ὣς εἰπὼν ἐκόρυσσεν ἑὸν ῥόον: ἆλτο δὲ Βάκχῳ

  αἰχμάζων ῥοθίοισιν: ἀελλήεσσα δὲ πολλὴ

  μαρναμένων ὑδάτων διερὴ μυκήσατο σάλπιγξ:

  195 καὶ ποταμὸς κελάρυζεν ἄγων ὑψούμενον ὕδωρ,

  μαρνάμενος Σατύροισι: πολυφλοίσβῳ δὲ κυδοιμῷ

  Βασσαρὶς ἁβροχίτων ἀπεσείσατο κύμβαλα χειρῶν

  καὶ πόδας ἀμφελέλιζεν, ἐρεσσομένοιο δὲ ταρσοῦ

  ξανθὰ πολυρραφέων ἀπεσείσατο δεσμὰ πεδίλων,

  200 καὶ ῥόος ἠνεμόεις πεφορημένος ἄχρι καρήνου

  Βάκχης νηχομένης ἑλικώδεας ἔκλυσε χαίτας:

  ἄλλη βριθομένη διεροὺς ἀπεθήκατο πέπλους,

  νεβρίδας οἰδαλέοισιν ἐπιτρέψασα ῥεέθροις,

  καί οἱ ἐπὶ στέρνοισι κορυσσομένου ποταμοῖο

  205 ὄγκος ἐρευθιόωντι μέλας ἐπεσύρετο μαζῷ:

  καὶ Σάτυρος παλάμῃσιν ἐρετμώσας χυτόν ὕδωρ

  ἰκμαλέην ἐλέλιζε δι᾽ ὕδατος ὄρθιον οὐρήν:

  γηραλέοις δὲ πόδεσσι μεθυσφαλὲς ἴχνος ἐρέσσων

  ἄστατος ὑδατόεντι Μάρων πεφορημένος ὁλκῷ

  210 κύμασιν ἀσκὸν ἔλειπε βεβυσμένον ἡδέος οἴνου:

  πυκνὰ δὲ σειομένη διδυμόζυγι σύνδρομος αὐλῷ

  Πανιὰς ἀκροτάτοιο δι᾽ ὕδατος ἔπλεε σύριγξ,

  κύμασιν αὐτοέλικτος: ἁμιλλητῆρι δὲ παλμῷ

  Σειληνοῦ λασίοιο κατ᾽ αὐχένος ἔρρεε χαίτη.

  [192] As he spoke, he curved his own stream, and leapt upon Bacchos with a volley of foaming surf. A storm of watery trumpets bellowed from the battling waves; the river moaned as it raised the water high, battling against the Satyrs. Amid the roaring tumult, the Bassarid in her rich garb shook the cymbals out of her hands, swung her feet round, shook off the yellow trusses of the stitched shoes from her paddling foot, while the windswept waves rose to the head of the swimming Bacchant and drenched her curling hair. Another overwhelmed threw off her soaking robes, and gave her fawnskins to the swelling water, as the mass of the curving stream rolled over her chest, black against the rosy nipple. A Satyr paddling the flood with his hands waggled his wet tail straight out through the water. Maron carried swiftly along by the rushing water, paddled the drunken feet of his old legs, and left in the waves his leather bottle full of delicious wine. The syrinx of Pan was floating on the surface and rolling of itself on the waves, tossed about beside the double pipes; the hair of shaggy Seilenos flowed over his neck and jumped about in rivalry.

  215 καὶ ποταμὸς κελάδησεν ἀφυσγετὸν οἴδματι σύρων,

  ξανθὸν ὑπὲρ πεδίοιο χέων μετανάστιον ὕδωρ,

  κικλήσκων Διόνυσον ἐς ὑδατόεσσαν Ἐνυώ:

  καὶ ῥόος ἐγρεκύδοιμος ἔχων ἀντίπνοον αὔρην

  ἀγχινεφὴς ὑψοῦτο, διάβροχον ἠέρα φαίνων,

  220 οἴδματι παφλάζοντι καταθρῴσκων Διονύσου.

  οὐχ οὕτω Σιμόεντος Ἀρειμανὲς ἔβρεμεν ὕδωρ,

  οὐχ οὕτω ῥόος ἔσκεν ἐγερσιμόθοιο Καμάνδρου

  χεύματι κυματόεντι κατακλύζων Ἀχιλῆα,

  ὡς τότε Βακχείην στρατιὴν ἐδίωξεν Ὑδάσπης.

  [215] The river moaned, dragging the mud in its rush and pouring its alien water yellow over the land, a challenge to watery war for Dionysos. The tumultuous flood, met by a counterblast of wind, piled up high as the clouds and soaked the air, as it leapt down upon Dionysos with foaming surf. Not so furiously roared the war-mad water of Simoeis, not so defiantly rushed Camandros to overwhelm Achilles with rolling flood, as then Hydaspes pursued the army of Bacchos.

  225 καὶ ποταμῷ Διόνυσος ἀνήρυγε θυιάδα φωνήν:

  ‘τί κλονέεις Διὸς υἷα, Διιπετές; ἢν ἐθελήσω,

  τερσαίνει σέο χεῦμα πατὴρ ἐμός, ὑέτιος Ζεύς.

  ἐκ νεφέων βλάστησας ἐμοῦ Κρονίδαο τοκῆος,

  καὶ νεφεληγερέταο Διὸς βλάστημα διώκεις;

  230 πατρὸς ἐμοῦ πεφύλαξο βέλος λοχίοιο κεραυνοῦ,

  μὴ στεροπὴν Βρομίοιο γενέθλιον εἰς σὲ κορύσσῃ:

  ἅζεο, μὴ βαρύγουνος, ὅπως Ἀσωπός, ἀκούσῃς:

  σὴν προχοὴν πρήυνον, ἕως ἔτι μῆνιν ἐρύκω.

  ὑδατόεις πυρόεντι κορύσσεαι: οὐ δύνασαι δὲ

  235 τλήμεναι αἰθαλόεντος ἔνα σπινθῆρα κεραυνοῦ.

  [225] Then Dionysos shouted to the river in rage: “why do you drive against the son of Zeus, you whose waters are fed by Zeus? If it be my pleasure, Rainy Zeus my father will dry up your flood. You, sprung from the clouds of Cronides my father, persecute the offspr
ing of Cloudgatherer Zeus! Beware the stroke of my father’s thunderbolt of delivery, beware lest he raise against you the lightning which gave Bromios birth! Take care that you be not dubbed Heavyknee, like Asopos! Quiet your flood while I yet control my wrath. Your waters rise against fires, and you cannot endure one spark of the blazing thunderbolt.

  εἰ δὲ μέγα φρονέεις χάριν Ἀστερίης σέο νύμφης,

  ἣ λάχεν αἰθερίης Ὑπερίονος αἷμα γενέθλης,

  ἠελίου θρασὺν υἷα, πυρώδεος ἡνιοχῆος,

  οὐρανὸν ἱππεύοντα πατὴρ ἐμὸς ἔφλεγε πυρσῷ,

  240 καὶ νέκυν ἔστενε παῖδα πυρὸς ταμίης Ὑπερίων,

  οὐδὲ χάριν Φαέθοντος ἐμῷ πολέμιζε τοκῆι,

  οὐ πυρὶ πῦρ ἀνάειρε, καὶ εἰ πυρὸς ἡγεμονεύει.

  εἰ χάριν ὑμετέρου μεγαλίζεαι Ὠκεανοῖο,

  Ἠριδανὸν σκοπίαζε Διὸς πληγέντα βελέμνῳ,

  245 ὑμέτερον πυρίκαυτον ἀδελφεόν: αἰνοπαθὴς δὲ

  σὸς διερὸς προπάτωρ, μιτρούμενος ἄντυγι κόσμου,

  χεύμασι τοσσατίοισι χέων γαιήοχον ὕδωρ,

  υἱὸν ἴδε φλεχθέντα, καὶ οὐ πολέμιζεν Ὀλύμπῳ,

  οὐ προχοαῖς ἐρίδαινε πυριγλώχινι κεραυνῷ.

  250 ἀλλὰ τεῶν ὑδάτων ἔτι φείδεο, μή σε νοήσω

  Ἠριδανῷ φλεχθέντι κεκαυμένον ἶσον Ὑδάσπην.’

  [236] “And if it is Asterie your wife that makes you so proud, because she has the blood of Hyperion’s heavenly kin, my father burnt with fire the bold son of Helios the fiery charioteer, when he drove the team through heaven; Hyperion dispenser of fire had to mourn his own son dead: he did not make war on my father for Phaethon’s sake, he did not lift fire against fire even if he is lord of fire. If your Oceanos makes you so haughty, consider Eridanos struck by the bolt of Zeus, your brother burnt with fire: a cruel sorrow it was for your watery ancestor, who is girdled by the world’s rim, who pours all those mighty streams of water to possess the earth, when he saw his own son burnt up and made no war on Olympos, nor contended with his flood against the firebarbed thunderbolt. Pray spare your waters awhile, or I may see you, Hydaspes, burnt up in fiery flames like Eridanos.”

  ὣς φαμένῳ βαρύδουπος ἐχώσατο μᾶλλον Ὑδάσπης

  κύμασι λαβροτέροισι χέων ὑψίδρομον ὕδωρ.

  καί νύ κεν ἔκρυφε πᾶσαν ἀβακχεύτων στίχα Βάκχων,

  255 εἰ μὴ Βάκχος ἄμυνεν, ἀπ᾽ ἀγχιπόροιο δὲ λόχμης

  πυρσοτόκον νάρθηκα λαβὼν ἀντώπιον Ἠοῦς

  ἠελίῳ θέρμηνεν: ἐριφλεγέος δὲ κορύμβου

  αὐτογόνῳ σπινθῆρι λοχεύετο δουράτεον πῦρ:

  καὶ προχοαῖς φλόγα ῥῖψεν: ἀπειλητῆρι δὲ δαλῷ

  260 καιομένου ποταμοῖο ῥοαῖς ἐπεπάφλασαν ὄχθαι:

  καὶ πολὺς ἠερόφοιτος ἑλίσσετο καπνὸς ἀλήτης

  λωτοῦ καιομένοιο μαραινομένου τε κυπείρου:

  καὶ θρύα πῦρ ἀμάθυνε: πολυστροφάλιγγι δὲ ῥιπῇ

  καπνοῦ λιγνυόεντος ἕλιξ ἐμέθυσσεν ἀυτμὴ

  265 ἠερίας ἁψῖδας, ὅλη δ᾽ ἐμελαίνετο λόχμη

  εὐόδμοις ἀνέμοισιν ἱμασσομένων δονακήων.

  [252] These words made deeproaring Hydaspes more angry than ever, and he poured out his highswollen water in yet stronger waves. And now he would have engulfed the whole company of sobered Bacchants, had not Bacchos defended them. From a neighbouring coppice he pulled a firebearing stalk of fennel, and holding it towards the Dawn he warmed it at the sun; the combustible stalk conceived a spark in itself and brought forth a woodborn fire. Then he threw it into the stream. The river caught fire of this menacing torch, and the water boiled up against the banks; clouds of smoke went up scattering into the air from burning lotus and shrivelling galingale. Fire consumed the rushes; the reek of the sooty smoke curling in whirling circles intoxicated the heavenly vaults, and all the wood was blackened by the fragrant breezes of the smitten reeds.

  καὶ σέλας εἰς βυθὸν εἷρπεν: ἐνεκρύπτοντο δὲ πηλῷ

  ἰχθύες αἰθαλόεντες: ὑποβρυχίοιο δὲ πυρσοῦ

  νηχομένῳ σπινθῆρι διάβροχος ἔζεεν ἰλὺς

  270 ὑγρὸν ἀναπτομένη: βυθίων δ᾽ ἀπὸ καπνὸς ἐναύλων

  ἔμπυρος ὑδατόεντι διέσσυτο σύνδρομος ἀτμῷ.

  Ὑδριάδων δὲ φάλαγγες ἀνάμπυκες ὠκέι ταρσῷ

  γυμναὶ κυματόεντος ἀπεπλάζοντο μελάθρου:

  καί τις ἀναινομένη φλογερὸν πατρώιον ὕδωρ

  275 νηιὰς ἀκρήδεμνος ἀήθεα δύσατο Γάγγην:

  ἄλλη δ᾽ Ἰνδὸν ἔναιεν ἐριβρεμέτην Ἀκεσίνην

  ἀζαλέοις μελέεσσιν: ἀλωομένην δὲ Χοάσπης

  ἄλλην οὐρεσίφοιτον ἀνάμπυκα Νηίδα Νύμφην

  παρθενικὴν ἐδέξατο, Περσίδι γείτων.

  [267] The blaze spread to the deeps. Burning fishes hid themselves in the mud; the soaking slime kindled the wet and boiled, as the swimming spark of fire ran under water, and from the deep channels poured abroad a fiery smoke mixt with watery steam. Companies of Hydriads were driven naked from their homes under the waves, swift-footed, bare, unveiled. One Naiad, renouncing her native water now on fire, dived unveiled into the unfamiliar Ganges; another with dry limbs sought a home in noisy Indian Acesines; another Naiad nymph wandering over the mountains, a maiden unveiled and unshod, was received by Choaspes near Persia.

  280 Ὠκεανὸς δ᾽ ἰάχησεν ἀπειλείων Διονύσῳ,

  ὑδατόεν μύκημα χέων πολυπίδακι λαιμῷ,

  καὶ ῥόον ἀενάων στομάτων κρουνηδὸν ἰάλλων

  ἠιόνας κόσμοιο κατέκλυσε χεύματι μύθων:

  [280] Oceanos also cried out against Dionysos in menacing words, pouring a watery roar from his manystream throat, and deluging the shores of the world with the flood of words which issued from his everlasting mouth like a fountain:

  ‘ἥλικος Ὠκεανοῖο παρευνέτι, σύγχρονε κόσμου

  285 παντρόφε συμμιγέων ὑδάτων, αὐτόσπορε Τηθύς,

  ἀρχαίη φιλότεκνε, τί ῥέξομεν; αἰθαλόεις γὰρ

  εἰς ἐμὲ καὶ σέο τέκνα κορύσσεται ὑέτιος Ζεύς:

  ἅρπαγα γὰρ νόθον ὄρνιν ἔχει Κρονίωνα φονῆα

  Ἀσωπὸς γενετῆρα, καὶ υἱέα Βάκχον Ὑδάσπης.

  290 ἀλλὰ Διὸς στεροπῇσιν ἄγων ἀντίξοον ὕδωρ

  ἠέλιον πυρόεντα ῥόῳ σβεστῆρι καλύψω,

  κρύψω δ᾽ αἰθέρος ἄστρα: καὶ ἀθρήσει με Κρονίων

  χεύματι μορμύροντι κατακλύζοντα Σελήνην:

  Ἀρκ�
�ῴην δ᾽ ὑπὸ πέζαν ἐμαῖς προχοῇσι λοέσσω

  295 ἄξονος ἄκρα κάρηνα καὶ ἄβροχον ὁλκὸν Ἁμάξης:

  καὶ βυθίης ἀρχαῖον ἐμῆς πλωτῆρα θαλάσσης

  αἰθέριον Δελφῖνα πάλιν πλωτῆρα τελέσσω,

  κρυπτόμενον πελάγεσσι: καὶ ἀστερόφοιτον ἐρύσσω

  νόστιμον οὐρανόθεν μετανάστιον εἰς χθόνα Κελτῶν

  300 Ἠριδανὸν πυρόεντα, καὶ ὑδατόεντα τελέσσω,

  αἰθέρα γυμνώσας διεροῦ πυρός: ὑψιπόρους δὲ

  ἰχθύας ἀστερόεντας ἐμοὺς πάλιν εἰς ἅλα σύρω,

  [284] “O Tethys! agemate and bedmate of Oceanos, ancient as the world, nurse of commingled waters, selfborn, loving mother of children, what shall we do? Now Rainy Zeus blazes in arms against me and your children. Even as Asopos found the Father Zeus Cronion his destroyer, in the bastard shape of a bird, so Hydaspes has found Bacchos the son. Nay, I will bring my water against the lightnings of Zeus, and drown the fiery sun in my quenching flood, I will put out the stars of heaven! Cronion shall see me overwhelm Selene with my roaring streams. Under the region of the Bear, I will wash with my waters the ends of the axle and the dry track of the Wain. The heavenly Dolphin, which long ago swam in my deep sea, I will make to swim once more, and cover him with new seas. I will drag down from heaven the fiery Eridanos whose course is among the stars, and bring him back to a new home in the Celtic land: he shall be water again, and the sky shall be bare of the river of fire. The starry Fishes that swim on high I will pull into the sea and make them mine again, to swim in water instead of Olympos.

  νηχομένους μετ᾽ Ὄλυμπον ἐν ὕδασιν. ἔγρεο, Τηθύς,

  ὕδασιν αἰθέρος ἄστρα καλύψομεν, ὄφρα νοήσω

  305 ταῦρον, ἀκυμάντοιο πάλαι πλωτῆρα θαλάσσης,