by Nonnus
ἄπνοον ἦν, ἕτερον δὲ διέστιχεν, ἄλλο δὲ σείων
ἡμιτελὴς νέκυς ἦεν ἔχων αὐτόσσυτον οὐρήν:
535 καὶ ψυχραῖς γενύεσσι παλίμπνοον ἄσθμα τιταίνων
οἰγομένῳ κατὰ βαιὸν ἐθήμονι βόμβεε λαιμῷ,
συριγμὸν προχέων παλινάγρετον: ὀψὲ δὲ βαίνων
νόστιμος ἀρχαίην ὑπεδύσατο φωλάδα χειήν.
[514] But the terrible giant shook his great limbs like mountains, and threw off the weight of the serpent’s long spine. His hand whirled aloft his weapon, shooting straight like a missile the great tree with all its leaves, and brought down the plant roots and all upon the serpent’s head, where the backbone joins it at the narrow part of the rounded neck. Then the tree took root again, and the serpent lay on the ground immovable, a coiling corpse. Suddenly the female serpent his mate came coiling up, scraping the ground with her undulating train, and crept about seeking for her misshapen husband, like a woman who missed her husband dead. She wound her long trailing spine with all speed among the tall rocks, hurrying towards the herbdecked hillside; in the coppice she plucked the flow er of Zeus with her snaky jaws, and brought back the painkilling herb in her lips, dropt the antidote of death into the dry nostril of the horrible dead, and gave life with the flower to the stark poisonous corpse. The body moved of itself and shuddered; part of it still had no life, another part stirred, half-restored the body shook another part and the tail moved of itself; breath came again through the cold jaws, slowly the throat opened and the familiar sound came out, pouring the same long hiss again. At last the serpent moved, and disappeared into his furtive hole.
καὶ Μορίη Διὸς ἄνθος ἐκούφισεν, ἀμφὶ δὲ νεκροῦ
540 ζωοτόκῳ μυκτῆρι φερέσβιον ἥρμοσε ποίην.
καὶ βοτάνη ζείδωρος ἀκεσσιπόνοισι κορύμβοις
ἔμπνοον ἐψύχωσε δέμας παλιναυξέι νεκρῷ.
ψυχὴ δ᾽ εἰς δέμας ἦλθε τὸ δεύτερον: ἐνδομύχῳ δὲ
ψυχρὸν ἀοσσητῆρι δέμας θερμαίνετο πυρσῷ:
545 καὶ νέκυς ἀμφιέπων βιοτῆς παλινάγρετον ἀρχὴν
δεξιτεροῦ μὲν ἔπαλλε ποδὸς θέναρ, ἀμφὶ δὲ λαιὸν
ὀρθώσας στατὸν ἴχνος ὅλῳ στηρίζετο ταρσῷ,
ἀνδρὸς ἔχων τύπον ἶσον, ὅς ἐν λεχέεσσιν ἰαύων
ὄρθριον οἰγομένης ἀποσείεται ὕπνον ὀπωπῆς.
550 καὶ πάλιν ἔζεεν αἷμα: νεοπνεύστοιο δὲ νεκροῦ
χεῖρες ἐλαφρίζοντο: καὶ ἁρμονίη πέλε μορφῇ,
ποσσὶν ὁδοιπορίη, φάος ὄμμασι, χείλεσι φωνή.
[539] Moria also caught up the flower of Zeus, and laid the lifegiving herb in the lifebegetting nostril. The wholesome plant with its painhealing clusters brought back the breathing soul into the dead body and made it rise again. Soul came into body the second time; the cold frame grew warm with the help of the inward fire. The body, busy again with the beginning of life, moved the sole of the right foot, rose upon the left and stood firmly based on both feet, like a man lying in bed who shakes the sleep from his eyes in the morning. His blood boiled again; the hands of the newly breathing corpse were lifted, the body recovered its rhythm, the feet their movement, the eyes their sight, and the lips their voice.
καὶ Κυβέλη κεχάρακτο νεητόκος, οἷά τε κόλπῳ
μιμηλὴν ἀλόχευτον ἐλαφρίζουσα λοχείην
555 πήχεσι ποιητοῖσι, καὶ ἀστόργῳ παρακοίτῃ
λαϊνέην ὠδῖνα δολοπλόκος ὤρεγε Ῥείη,
ὀκρυόεν βαρὺ δεῖπνον: ὁ δὲ βροτοειδέα μορφὴν
ἔκρυφε μάρμαρον υἷα πατὴρ θοινήτορι λαιμῷ,
ἄλλου ψευδομένοιο Διὸς δέμας εἰλαπινάζων:
560 καὶ λίθον ἐν λαγόνεσσι μογοστόκον ἔνδον ἀείρων
θλιβομένην πολύτεκνον ἀνηκόντιζε γενέθλην,
φόρτον ἀποπτύων ἐγκύμονος ἀνθερεῶνος.
[553] Cybele also was depicted, newly delivered; she seemed to hold in her arms pressed to her bosom a mock-child she had not borne, all worked by the artist’s hands; aye, cunning Rheia offered to her callous consort a babe of stone, a spiky heavy dinner. There was the father swallowing the stony son, the thing shaped like humanity, in his voracious maw, and making his meal of another pretended Zeus. There he was again in heavy labour, with the stone inside him, bringing up all those children squeezed together and disgorging the burden from his pregnant throat.
τοῖα μὲν ἐργοπόνοιο πολύτροπα δαίδαλα τέχνης
εἶχεν ἐνυαλίη πολυπίδακος ἀσπὶς Ὀλύμπου
565 Βακχιάς, ἣν ὁρόωντες ἐθάμβεον ἄλλος ἐπ᾽ ἄλλῳ,
καὶ σάκεος τροχόεντος ἐκυκλώσαντο φορῆα,
ἔμπυρον αἰνήσαντες Ὀλύμπιον ἐσχαρεῶνα.
[563] Such were the varied scenes depicted by the artist’s clever hand upon the warshield, brought for Lyaios from Olympos with its becks and brooks. All thronged about to see the bearer of the round shield, admiring each in turn, and praising the fiery Olympian forge.
τοῖσι δὲ τερπομένοισι δύσιν διεμέτρεεν Ἠώς,
φέγγος ἀναστείλασα πυριγλήνοιο προσώπου:
570 καὶ σκιερὴν ἐμέλαινεν ὅλην χθόνα σιγαλέη Νύξ.
λαοὶ δ᾽ ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα χαμαιστρώτων ἐπὶ λέκτρων
ἑσπερίῃ μετὰ δόρπον ὀρειάδι κάππεσον εὐνῇ.
[568] While they still enjoyed the sight, the daylight crossed the west and veiled the light of her fire-eyed face; quiet Night covered all the earth in her dark shades, and after their evening meal all the people lay down in their mountain bed, scattered on pallets here and there over the ground.
BOOK 26
εἰκοστὸν λάχεν ἕκτον ἐπίκλοπον εἶδος Ἀθήνης
καὶ πολὺν ἐγρεκύδοιμον ἀγειρομένων στόλον Ἰνδῶν.
Δηριάδῃ δ᾽ εὕδοντι κατηφέος ὑψόθεν εὐνῆς
Βάκχῳ πιστὰ φέρουσα παρίστατο θοῦρις Ἀθήνη,
γνωτῷ δ᾽ ἐσσομένην ἑτέρην μνηστεύετο νίκην:
καὶ δέμας ἀλλάξασα μετάτροπον ἶσον Ὀρόντῃ
5 γαμβρὸν ἀερσιλόφου μιμήσατο Δηριαδῆος:
καί μιν ἀπορρίψαντα μιαιφόνον οἶστρον Ἐνυοῦς
μιμηλὴ δολίοιο παρήπαφεν ὄψις ὀνείρου,
τοῖον ἔπος βοόωσα, καὶ ὀλλυμένων ἐπὶ πότμῳ
ταρβαλέον θάρσυνεν ἐς ὑσμίνην Διονύσου:
BOOK XXVI
The twenty-sixth has the counterfeit shape of Athena, and the great assembly of the Indian host to stir up battle.
WHILE Deriades slept on his mournful bed, bold Athena approached, faithful to Bacchos, and wooing a second victory for her brother. She had changed her shape to one
like Orontes, and imitated the goodson of highcrested Deriades. So although he had thrown off the murderous ardour for war, scared by the fate of those who had perished, he was deceived by the counterfeit vision of a false dream, which encouraged him again to make war against Dionysos, in these words:
10 ‘εὕδεις, Δηριάδη: σὲ δὲ μέμφομαι: ἀστυόχων γὰρ
πάννυχον ὕπνον ἔχειν ἀλλότριόν ἐστιν ἀνάκτων:
ὕπνου μέτρον ἔχει βουληφόρος. ἀμφὶ δὲ πύργων
δυσμενέες κλονέουσι, καὶ οὐ δόρυ θοῦρον ἀείρεις,
οὐκ ἀίεις τυπάνων ῥόθιον κτύπον, οὐ μέλος αὐλῶν,
15 οὐ φονίης σάλπιγγος ἀγέστρατον ἦχον ἀκούεις.
ὑμετέρην δὲ θύγατρα νεήνιδα πενθάδα χήρην
Πρωτονόην ἐλέαιρε, κινυρομένην παρακοίτην,
μηδὲ λίπῃς, σκηπτοῦχε, τεὸν νήποινον Ὀρόντην.
κτεῖνον ἐμοὺς ὀλετῆρας ἀτευχέας: ὠκυμόρου γὰρ
20 γαμβροῦ σεῖο θανόντος ἔτι ζώουσι φονῆες,
στῆθος ἐμὸν σκοπίαζε τετυμμένον ὀξέι θύρσῳ:
ὤμοι, ὅτ᾽ οὐ Λυκόοργος Ἀρήιος ἐνθάδε ναίει,
ὤμοι, ὅτ᾽ οὐκ Ἀράβεσσιν ὑπερφιάλοισιν ἀνάσσεις:
οὐ θεὸς ἦν Διόνυσος, ὃς εἰς ἁλὸς οἶδμα διώκων
25 θνητὸς ἀνὴρ ποίησεν ὑποβρύχιον μετανάστην.
Δηριάδην ἐνόησα πεφυζότα θῆλυν Ἐνυώ.
ἄτρομος ἔσσο λέων, ὅτι χάλκεον ἀνέρα φεύγων
νεβροχίτων Διόνυσος ὁμοίιος ἔπλετο νεβρῷ.
οὐ κεῖνος κατέπεφνεν Ἀρειμανέων γένος Ἰνδῶν,
30 ἀλλά μιν αὐτὸς ἔπεφνε πατὴρ τεός: ὲν πολέμοις γὰρ
σοὺς προμάχους φεύγοντας ἰδὼν ἐδάμασσεν Ὑδάσπης.
οὐ σὺ πέλεις ἑτέροισιν ὁμοίιος: οὐράνιον γὰρ
θυγατέρος Φαέθοντος ἐριφλεγέος σέο πάππου
αἷμα φέρεις: οὐ θνητὸν ἔχεις δέμας: οὔ σε δαμάσσει
35 οὐ ξίφος ἠὲ βέλεμνον ἐπιβρίθοντα Λυαίῳ.’
[10] “You sleep, Deriades, but I blame you : for it is not proper that princes who rule a city should sleep all the night. The sleep of the Counsellor is measured. About your walls the enemy are thronging; and you raise not the soldier’s spear, you hear not the surging noise of drums or the sound of pipes, or the voice of the murderous trumpet summoning the host. Pity your daughter Protonoe, a young widow mourning a husband, and leave not, O King, your Orontes unavenged! Slay my unarmed slayers — the murderers of your goodson untimely dead — who yet live! See my breast pierced by a sharp thyrsus-wand. Alas that brave Lycurgos dwells not here! Alas that you rule not the proud Arabs! Dionysos was no god, when a mortal man chased him and made him migrate below the sea! I have beheld Deriades running away before battling women! Be a fearless lion, for a man in armour made Dionysos in his tunic of fawnskins run like a fawn! Not he destroyed that nation of warlike Indians — your own father destroyed them: for Hydaspes saw your champions in flight, and he brought them low! You are not like other men, for you have in you the heavenly blood of a daughter of Phaethon, your blazing grandfather. Your body is not mortal: neither sword nor spear shall bring you low when you throw yourself on Lyaios.”
ὣς φαμένη πρὸς Ὄλυμπον ἔβη πολύμητις Ἀθήνη,
εἶδος ὀνειρείοιο μεταλλάξασα προσώπου.
[36] So spoke artful Athena, and returned to Olympos, when she had put off the shape of the dream.
Δηριάδης δ᾽ ἠῷος ἀπὸ πτολίων, ἀπὸ νήσων
κέκλετο κηρύκεσσι πολυσπερὲς ἔθνος ἀγείρειν:
40 καὶ πολὺς ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα θυελλήεντι πεδίλῳ
λαὸν ἀολλίζων ἑτερόπτολιν ἤιε κῆρυξ
ἠῴην παρὰ πέζαν: Ἀρειμανέες δὲ μαχηταὶ
πάντοθεν ἠγερέθοντο καλεσσαμένου βασιλῆος.
[38] In the morning, Deriades sent heralds to summon his farscattered troops from cities and from islands. Many a herald went this way and that way on stormswift shoe to gather the people from the various cities of the eastern region; warriors mad for war gathered from every side at the summons of their king.
πρῶτα μὲν ὡπλίζοντο κυβερνητῆρες Ἐνυοῦς,
45 Ἀγραῖος Φλόγιός τε, συνήλυδες ἡγεμονῆες,
ἀρτιτελὲς μετὰ σῆμα νεοφθιμένοιο τοκῆος,
Εὐλαίου δύο τέκνα: συνεστρατόωντο δὲ λαοί,
ὅσσοι Κῦρα νέμοντο καὶ Ἰνδῴου ποταμοῖο
Βαίδιον Ὀμβηλοῖο παρὰ πλατὺ βάρβαρον ὕδωρ,
50 καὶ Ῥοδόην εὔπυργον, Ἀρειμανέων πέδον Ἰνδῶν,
καὶ κραναὸν Προπάνισον, ὅσοι τ᾽ ἔχον ἄντυγα νήσου
Γραιάων, ὅθι παῖδες ἐθήμονος ἀντὶ τεκούσης
ἄρσενα μαζὸν ἔχουσι γαλακτοφόρου γενετῆρος,
χείλεσιν ἀκροτάτοισιν ὑποκλέπτοντες ἐέρσην:
55 οἴ τε Σεσίνδιον αἰπύ, καὶ οἳ λινοερκέι κύκλῳ
Γάζον ἐπυργώσαντο μιτοπλέκτοισι δομαίοις,
ἀρραγές, εὐποίητον ἐυκλώστοισι θεμέθλοις,
Ἄρεος ἀκλινὲς ἕρμα, καὶ οὕ ποτε δήιος ἀνὴρ
χαλκὸν ἔχων ἔρρηξε λινοχλαίνων στίχα πύργων.
[44] First to arm themselves were those pilots of warfare, Agraios and Phlogios, the two sons of Eulaios, partners in leadership, after the burial lately made of their father newly dead. With them came all the people who dwelt in Cyra and Baidion beside the broad barbarian stream of Indian Ombelos; those from castellated Rhodoe, a place of warmad Indians, and rocky Propanisos, and those who held the round island of the Graiai, where children use the manly breast of a milch father, and steal thence their drink with pouting lips in place of the usual mother. Others came from steep Sesindion, and those who had fortified Gazos with a rampart of linen built with blocks of plaited threads, impregnable, wellmade with wellspun foundations, a steadfast fortress of Ares: no enemy hand has ever broken with bronze that line of linenclad towers.
60 τοῖς δ᾽ ἐπὶ θαρσήεντες ἐπεστρατόωντο μαχηταί,
Δάρδαι καὶ Πρασίων στρατιαί, καὶ φῦλα Σαλαγγῶν
χρυσοφόρων, οἷς πλοῦτος ὁμέστιος, οἷς θέμις αἰεὶ
χέδροπα καρπὸν ἔδειν βιοτήσιον: ἀντὶ δὲ σίτου
κεῖνον ἀλετρεύουσι μύλης τροχοειδέι κύκλῳ:
65 καὶ σκολιοπλοκάμων Ζαβίων στίχες, οἶσιν ἐχέφρων
Παλθάνωρ πρόμος ἦεν, ὃς ἔστυγε Δηριαδῆα
ἤθεσιν εὐσεβέεσσιν ὁμ
οφρονέων Διονύσῳ:
τὸν μὲν ἄναξ Διόνυσος ἄγων μετὰ φύλοπιν Ἰνδῶν
ἀλλοδαπὸν ναετῆρα λυροδμήτῳ πόρε Θήβῃ:
70 καὶ Δίκῃ παρέμιμνε λιπὼν πατρῷον Ὑδάσπην,
Ἀονίου ποταμοῖο πιὼν Ἰσμήνιον ὕδωρ.
[60] After them followed those warriors bold, the Dardian and Prasian armies, and the tribes of gold-wearing Salangoi, where Wealth is a family friend. Their way it is to eat pulse as their fruit of life; this they grind with round millstones instead of corn. Then a procession of curlyheaded Zabioi; their leader was wise Palthanor, a man of godfearing ways, who hated Deriades and was of one mind with Dionysos. After the war, Dionysos took this man with him and settled him as a foreign settler in lyrebuilt Thebes; there he remained beside Dirce, and drank the Ismenian water of the Aonian river, having left his native Hydaspes.
τοῖς δ᾽ ἐπὶ κυδιόων στρατὸν ἄσπετον ὥπλισε Μορρεὺς
Διδνασίδης, γενετῆρι συνέμπορος, ὃς τότε λυγρῷ
γήραϊ πένθος ἔχων κεκερασμένον ἥψατο χάρμης,
75 γηραλέῃ παλάμῃ πολυδαίδαλον ἀσπίδα πάλλων
καὶ πολιῷ λειμῶνι κατάσκιον ἀνθερεῶνα
αὐτόματον κήρυκα χρόνου δολιχοῖο τινάσσων,
υἱὸν ἔτι στενάχων μινυώριον, Ἰνδὸν Ὀρόντην,
Δίδνασος αἰολόδακρυς: ἅναξ δέ οἱ ἔσπετο Μορρεὺς
80 ὄρθιον ἔγχος ἔχων τιμήορον, ὄφρα δαμάσσῃ
λαὸν ὅλον Βρομίοιο, καὶ ἤθελε μοῦνος ἐρίζειν
Βάκχῳ γνωτοφόνῳ, καὶ ἀνούτατον υἷα Θυώνης
οὐτῆσαι μενέαινε κασιγνήτοιο φονῆα.
καί σφισιν ὡμάρτησε πολυγλώσσων γένος Ἰνδῶν,
