Works of Nonnus

by Nonnus

  85 οἵ τ᾽ ἔχον Ἠελίοιο πόλιν, καλλίκτιτον Αἴθρην,

  ἀννεφέλου δαπέδοιο θεμείλιον, οἵ τ᾽ ἔχον ἄμφω,

  Ἀνθηνῆς λασιῶνα καὶ Ὠρυκίης δονακῆα,

  καὶ φλογερὴν Νήσαιαν ἀχειμάντους τε Μελαίνας,

  καὶ πέδον εὐδίνητον ἁλιστεφάνου Παταλήνης:

  90 τοῖς ἔπι Δυσσαίων πυκιναὶ στίχες, οἷσι καὶ αὐτῶν

  φρικτὰ δασυστέρνων ἐκορύσσετο φῦλα Σαβείρων,

  τοῖσιν ἐνὶ κραδίῃ λάσιαι τρίχες, ὧν χάριν αἰεὶ

  ψυχῆς θάρσος ἔχουσι καὶ οὐ πτώσσουσιν Ἐνυώ.

  [72] Next came Morrheus Didnasides, proud of his vast armed host. His father Didnasos came with him to the war, his old age embittered with sorrow. He bore a buckler of wonderful work upon his aged arm; a heath of hoary white spread shadows over his chin, proclaiming of itself how many and how long were his years. He still mourned his son untimely dead, Indian Orontes. There was Didnasos dropping tears; King Morrheus followed, holding upright his avenging spear, ready to slay the whole host of Bromios — indeed he was resolved to fight alone with Bacchos who slew his brother, he meant to wound the unwounded son of Thyone, his brother’s murderer! With them came a polyglot host of Indians: those who dwelt in fairbuilded Aithra, the city of the Sun, founded upon a cloudless plain; those who dwelt both in the jungles of Anthene and the reedbeds of Orycie, in blazing Nesaia, and winterless Melainai, and the round seagirt district of Patalene. Next came thick companies of Dyssaioi, and with them terrible armed hordes of shaggybreast Sabeiroi — thick hair is upon their hearts, wherefore they always have boldness of soul and shrink not from battle.

  τοῖσι συνεστρατόωντο καὶ ἀνέρες Οὐατοκοῖται,

  95 οἷσι θέμις δολιχοῖσιν ἐπ᾽ οὔασιν ὕπνον ἰαύειν:

  τοὺς μὲν Φρίγγος ἵκανε καὶ Ἄσπετος εἰς μόθον ἕλκων

  αὐχήεις τε Δάνυκλος ὁμόστολος, οἶς ἅμα βαίνων

  Ἱππουρῷ συνάεθλος ἑκηβόλος ἔστιχε Μορρεύς:

  καὶ νόον ἶσον ἔχοντες ὅλον στρατὸν Οὐατοκοίτην

  100 πέντε δαφοινήεντες ἐκόσμεον ἡγεμονῆες.

  [94] With them marched the Uatocoitai, the Earsleepers, men whose way it is to sleep lying upon their long ears. These were led to the war by Phringos and Aspetos and haughty Danyclos, who came together, and with them Hippuros Horsetail and his farshooting comrade Morrheus: thus the whole host of Earsleepers moved by one purpose were commanded by five bloodthirsty chieftains.

  Τέκταφος εἰς μόθον ἦλθεν ἑκηβόλος, ὅς ποτε κούρης

  χείλεσι πειναλέοισιν ἀλεξητήρια πότμου

  πατροκόμου δολόεντος ἀμέλγετο χεύματα μαζοῦ,

  Τέκταφος, αὐαλέος ψαφαρῷ χροΐ, νεκρὸς ἐχέφρων,

  105 ὁππότε μιν σκηπτοῦχος ἔχων ἄστοργον ἀπειλὴν

  Δηριάδης, σειρῇσι πολυπλέκτοισι πιέζων,

  δέσμιον εὐρώεντι κατεκλήισσε βερέθρῳ,

  ἄτροφον, αὐχμώοντα, δέμας κεκαφηότα λιμῷ,

  ἄμμορον ἠελίοιο καὶ εὐκύκλοιο σελήνης.

  110 καὶ χθονίῳ κεκάλυπτο βυθῷ πεπεδημένος ἀνήρ,

  οὐ ποτόν, οὔ τινα δαῖτα φέρων, οὐ φῶτα δοκεύων,

  ἀλλὰ πεδοσκαφέων λαγόνων ὑπὸ κοιλάδι πέτρῃ

  κεῖτο δυηπαθέων: χρονίῳ δ᾽ ἐστρεύγετο λιμῷ

  πειναλέων στομάτων ὀλιγοδρανὲς ἄσθμα τιταίνων,

  115 ἔμπνοος ἀπνεύστοισιν ὁμοίιος: οἶα δὲ νεκροῦ

  ἐκ χροὸς ἀζαλέοιο δυσώδεες ἔπνεον αὖραι.

  καὶ φθλάκων στρατὸς ἦεν ἐελμένον ἄνδρα φυλάσσων,

  ὃν τότε κερδαλέη θυγάτηρ ἀπατήνορι μύθῳ

  ἤπαφεν: ἱκεσίην δὲ βαρύστονον ἴαχε φωνὴν

  120 σεισαμένη δολόεντα νεητόκος εἵματα νύμφη:

  [101] Farshooter Tectaphos came to the war. Once he had been saved from fate by sucking the milk from a daughter’s breast with starving lips — she devised this trick to nourish her father — Tectaphos, parched, with crumbling skin, a living corpse. Deriades the monarch had carried out a heartless threat, and bound him fast with twisted ropes, and held him a prisoner behind lock and key in a mouldy pit, unfed, unwashed, worn out with famine, without his part in the sun or the rounded moon. There lay the man fettered in the depths of the earth, with no drink, no food, seeing no man, there in a cavern dug deep under the soil he lay in agony. Long he was wasted by famine, breathing yet like those who breathe not, as the air passed weak and fluttering through his hungry lips; ugly whiffs came from his dry flesh as if he were a corpse. There was a band of jailers watching the imprisoned man, but his clever daughter outwitted them with delusive words, a young nursing mother, when she uttered a mournful appeal and shook her deceiving garments:

  ‘μή με κατακτείνητε, φυλάκτορες: οὐδὲν ἀείρω,

  οὐ ποτὸν ἦλθον ἄγουσα καὶ οὔ τινα δαῖτα τοκῆι:

  δάκρυα, δάκρυα μοῦνον ἐμῷ γενετῆρι κομίζω:

  χεῖρες ἀπαγγέλλουσιν ἐλεύθεροι: εἰ νόος ὑμῖν,

  125 εἰ νόος ἐστὶν ἄπιστος, ἀμεμφέα λύσατε μίτρην,

  ῥίψατέ μοι κρήδεμνα, τινάξατε χερσὶ χιτῶνα:

  οὐ ποτὸν ἦλθον ἄγουσα φερέσβιον. ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴν

  κρύψατε σὺν γενετῆρι καταχθονίῳ με βερέθρῳ

  οὐ φόβος, οὐ φόβος εἰμί, καὶ ἢν σκηπτοῦχος ἀκούσῃ:

  130 τίς νέκυν οἰκτείροντι χολώεται; αἰνομόρῳ δὲ

  τίς κοτέει θνήσκοντι; τίς ἄπνοον οὐκ ἐλεαίρει;

  ὄμματα δ᾽ ἠμύοντα κατακλείσω μενετῆρος:

  κρύψατε: τίς θανάτοιο πέλει φθόνος; ὀλλυμένους δὲ

  εἶς τάφος ἀμφοτέρους, γενέτην καὶ παῖδα, δεχέσθω.’

  [121] “Do not let me die, watchmen! I have nothing here, I have brought no drink and no food for my father! Tears, only tears I bring for him that begat me! My empty hands tell you that! If you do not believe me, if you do not believe, undo my innocent girdle, tear off my veil, shake my dress — I have brought no drink to save his life! Do but shut me up too with my father in the deep pit. I am nothing for you to fear, nothing, even if the king hears of it. Who is angry with one who pities a corpse? Who is angry with one dying a cruel death? Who does not pity the dead? I will close my father’s sinking eyes. Shut me up there: who grudges death? Let us die together, and let one tomb receive daughter and father!”

  135 ὣς φαμένη παρέπεισε. καὶ εἰς μυχὸν ἔδραμε κούρη,

  ὀρφναίῳ μενετῆρι φαεσφόρος: ὲν δὲ βερέθρῳ

  εἰς στόμα πατρὸς ἔχευεν ἀλεξ�
�κάκων γάλα μαζῶν

  [135] Her pleading won them. The girl ran into the den, bringing light for her father’s darkness. In that pit, she let the milk of her breast flow into her father’s mouth, to avert his destruction, and felt no fear.

  ἄτρομος, Ἠερίης δὲ θεουδέος ἔργον ἀκούων

  Δηριάδης θάμβησε: περισσονόοιο δὲ κούρης

  140 εἴκελον εἰδώλῳ γενέτην ἀνελύσατο δεσμῶν:

  φήμη δ᾽ ἀμφιβόητος ἀκούετο, καὶ στρατός Ἰνδῶν

  μαζὸν ἀλεξικάκοιο δολοπλόκον ᾔνεσε νύμφης.

  [138] Deriades marvelled to hear the pious deed of Eerie. He set free the clever girl’s father from his prison, like a ghost; the fame of it was noised abroad, and the Indian people praised the girl’s breast which had saved a life by its cunning.

  ὃς τότε Βωλίγγεσσι μετέπρεπεν, ὡς μέσος ἄστρων

  αἰθέρα φαιδρύνων ἀμαρύσσεται Ἕσπερος ἀστήρ,

  145 ἕσπερος, ἑσπομένης λιποφεγγέος ἄγγελος ὄρφνης.

  [143] So now this man was conspicuous among the Bolinges, as Hesperos shines amid the stars and brightens the sky, Hesperos, harbinger of the murky gloom which follows when light fails.

  Γίγγλων δ᾽ ὑψικάρηνος ἀερσιπόδης τε Θυραιεὺς

  ὑψινεφής θ᾽ Ἵππαλμος ὑπὲρ πυμάτης κλίμα μαίης

  ὥπλισαν αἰόλα φῦλα δοριθρασέων Ἀραχωτῶν

  Δερσαίων τε φάλαγγας ὁμήλυδας, οἴ τε σιδήρῳ

  150 κτεινομένους κατ᾽ Ἄρηα χυτῇ κρύπτουσι κονίῃ

  ῾κτεινομένους κατὰ δῆριν ἐτυμβεύοντο κονίᾐ.

  [146] Ginglon highheaded, and Thyraieus striding big, and Hippalmos tall as the clouds, beyond the farthest region of earth had armed the different tribes of spearproud Arachotes, and battalions of Dersaioi their neighbours, who when men are slain with steel in battle cover their bodies under mounds of earth.

  καὶ στρατὸν ἀγκυλότοξον ἀολλίσσας ἐπικούρων

  Ἁβράθοος βραδύς ἦλθε: νεοτμήτων δὲ κομάων

  αἰδόμενος κεκόρυστο, χόλον καὶ πένθος ἀέξων

  155 βουκεράου βασιλῆος, ἐπεί νύ οἱ ἄφρονι λύσσῃ

  Δηριάδης ὑπέροπλος ὅλην ἀπεκείρατο χαίτην,

  Ἰνδοῖς πικρὸν ὄνειδος. ἀναγκαῖος δὲ μαχητὴς

  εἰς ἐνοπὴν μόγις ἦλθε, καὶ αἰπυλόφῳ τρυφαλείῃ

  λωβητὴν ἐκάλυπτε λιπότριχον ἄντυγα κόρσης,

  160 κρυπτὸν ἐνὶ κραδίῃ μεθέπων κότον: ὲν δὲ κυδοιμοῖς

  ἤματι μὲν πολέμιζεν, ἀεὶ δ᾽ ὑπὸ πάννυχον ὥρην

  ἄγγελον ἀγγέλλοντα νοήματα Δηριαδῆος

  Βάκχῳ πιστὸν ἔπεμπεν ὀπάονα: λαθριδίως δὲ

  Δηριάδῃ κεκόρυστο καὶ ἀμφαδίην Διονύσῳ.

  165 Ξούθων δ᾽ ἄγρια φῦλα καὶ ἐγρεμόθων Ἀριηνῶν

  καὶ Ζοάρων ἐκόρυσσε γονὴν καὶ φῦλον Ἐάρων

  Κασπείρων τε γένεθλα καὶ Ἀρβίας, οἵ τ᾽ ἔχον αὐτὸν

  Ὕσπορον αἰγλήεντι διαστίλβοντα ῥεέθρῳ,

  ἠλέκτρου κομόωντα βαθυπλούτοισι μετάλλοις,

  170 οἶ τ᾽ ἔχον Ἀρσανίην εὐδείελον, ἧχι γυναῖκες

  εἰς μίαν ἠριγένειαν ἐθήμονι Παλλάδος ἱστῷ

  ὀξείαις παλάμῃσιν ὅλον τελέουσι χιτῶνα.

  [152] Habrathoos came with a host of bowmen whom he had gathered in support, but he had been slow in arming for shame of his hair newly shorn. He nursed resentment and grievance against Deriades the horned king; because the overbearing monarch in a fit of mad folly had cut off all his hair, a bitter insult to an Indian. Compelled to join in the war, he came unwillingly, and hid the shame of his hairless temples under a highplumed helmet, cherishing secret rancour in his heart. When battle came, he joined the fight in the daytime; but always in the hours of the night he would send a trusty servant to Bacchos, and tell him the plans of Deriades. Thus he fought secretly for Deriades, but openly for Dionysos. He brought the savage tribes of Xuthoi and of battlestirring Arienoi and the breed of Zoares and the clan of Eares, the Caspeirian peoples and Arbians: those who held Hysporos that bright shining stream, so proud of its deep wealthy mines of amber; and those who held conspicuous Arsanie, where the women in one day at the loom of Pallas, which they know so well, finish a whole robe with their quick hands.

  τοῖς δ᾽ ἐπὶ χωρήσσοντο κυβιστητῆρι κυδοιμῷ

  Κυραῖοι, δεδαῶτες ἁλίκτυπον ἄντυγα νήσων,

  175 Ἄρεος εἰναλίοιο δαήμονες: ὑγροπόρους δὲ

  ὁλκάδας οὐ δεδάασιν, ἀδεψήτῳ δὲ βοείῃ

  δουρατέων πλώουσι τύπῳ τεχνήμονι νηῶν:

  δέρμασι δ᾽ ἰθύνουσι νόθον πλόον, οἷς ἔνι ναύτης

  ἕζεται ἀκλύστοισιν ἐν οἴδμασι ποντοπορεύων,

  180 ὁλκάσι μιμηλοῖσι θαλάσσια νῶτα χαράσσων.

  τούς Θύαμις κόσμησε καὶ Ὅλκασος, ὄρχαμος ἀνδρῶν,

  Ταρβήλου δύο παῖδες ἀκοντοφόροιο τοκῆος.

  [173] Besides these came the Cyraioi, ready for diving-work in the war. They know the seabeaten coasts of islands, and they are skilful in battle by sea; but seafaring barges they know not. They go floating in coracles of untanned hide, which they manage as well as a shipwright’s vessel of wood; they guide their makeshift course in the skins, where the mariner sits in shelter, navigating over the waves and cutting the back of the sea in his mimic barge. These were commanded by Thyamis and princely Holcasos, two sons of one father, Tarbelos the javelineer.

  καὶ πολὺς ἑσμὸς ἵκανεν Ἀρεκζάντειαν ἐάσας,

  ξείνου δουρατέου μέλιτος τροφόν, ἧχι πιόντα

  185 ἠερίης ζείδωρον Ἑώιον ἀρδμὸν ἐέρσης

  δένδρεα χαιτήεντα μελίρρυτον, ὡς ἀπὸ σίμβλων,

  δαιδαλέην ὠδῖνα σοφῆς τίκτουσι μελίσσης,

  αὐτοτόκων πετάλων χλοερὸν ποτόν: εἰς πεδίον γὰρ

  ἀρτιφανὴς Φαέθων, ὅτε λούεται Ὠκεανοῖο,

  190 ὄμπνιον Ἠῴης ἀποσείεται ἰκμάδα χαίτης,

  ῥαίνων ζωοτόκοιο φυτηκόμον αὔλακα γαίης.

  τοῖον Ἀρειζάντεια φέρει μέλι, τῷ ἔπι χαίρων

  νηχόμενος πτερύγεσσιν ὑπὲρ πετάλοιο χορεύων

  ἵπταται ἄσπετος ὄρνις: ὄφις δέ τις ἀγκύλος ἕρπων,

  195 μιτρώσας ἑλικηδόν, ὁμόπλοκος ἡδέι δένδρῳ,

  ἰκμάδα λειριόεσσαν ἀμέλγεται ἅρπαγι λαιμῷ,

  χείλεσι λιχμώων γλυκερὴν ὠδῖ
να κορύμβων:

  δενδραίην δὲ δράκοντες ἀναβλύζοντες ἐέρσην

  ἡδὺ μέλι προχέουσι, καὶ οὐ τόσον ἰὸν ἀλήτην

  200 πικρὸν ἀποπτύουσιν, ὅσον γλυκύ χεῦμα μελίσσης:

  ἧχι μελισταγέεσσιν ἐπ᾽ ἀκρεμόνεσσιν ἀείδει

  ὡρίων, γλυκὺς ὄρνις, ὁμοίιος ἔμφρονι κύκνῳ:

  οὐ μέν ἀνακρούει Ζεφυρηίδι σύνθροος αὔρῃ

  ὑμνοτόκων πτερύγων ἀνεμώδεα ῥοῖζον ἰάλλων,

  205 ἀλλὰ σοφοῖς στομάτεσσι μελίζεται, οἷά τις ἀνὴρ

  πηκτίδι νυμφοκόμῳ θαλαμηπόλον ὕμνον ἀράσσων.

  κατρεύς δ᾽ ἐσσομένοιο προθεσπίζει χύσιν ὄμβρου,

  ξανθοφυής, λιγύφωνος: ἀπὸ βλεφάρων δέ οἱ αἴγλη

  πέμπεται ὀρθρινῇσι βολαῖς ἀντίρροπος Ἠοῦς:

  πολλάκι δ᾽ ἠνεμόεντος ὑπὲρ δένδροιο λιγαίνων

  σύνθροος ὡρίωνος ἀνέπλεκε γείτονα μολπήν,

  φοινικέαις πτερύγεσσι κεκασμένος: ἧ τάχα φαίης,

  210 μελπομένου κατρῆος ἑώιον ὕμνον ἀκούων,

  ὄρθριον αἰολόδειρον ἀηδόνα κῶμον ὑφαίνειν.

  215 κεῖθι καὶ ἐγρεμόθων μερόπων στρατός, οὓς ἐπὶ χάρμην

  ἄτρομος Ἱππάλμοιο πάις θώρηξε Πυλοίτης,

  γνωτὸν ἔχων Βιλλαῖον, ὁμόστολον ἡγεμονῆα.

  [183] A great swarm had come from Areizanteia, nurse of the strange tree-honey; where the trees drink the fruitful moisture of morning dew, and their leaves run honey, and so they produce the neat travail of the clever bee as if from a hive, the yellow juice born of the leaves alone. For Hyperion, just appearing after his bath in the Ocean, scatters upon the plain the wholesome juice of his hair in the morning, and waters the plant-growing furrows of earth the giver of life. Such honey Areizanteia brings: rejoicing in this, great flocks of birds swim on their wings and dance above the leaves; or a coiling serpent creeps along, and girdles the sweet tree with enfolding loops, while he sucks the delicate juice with greedy mouth and licks with his lips the sweet travail of the clusters. So snakes dribble out the treejuice and drop delicious honey, they spit out abroad more of the sweet sap of the bee than their own bitter scattering poison. There on the honeydropping branches is that sweet bird the horion, singing like the inspired swan. He does not strike up in tune with the west wind whirring in the air with musical wings; but he sings a lay with understanding beak, like a man twangling the strings for a wedding hymn to wait upon a bride. There the catreus foretells a shower of rain to come, goldenyellow, clearintoning; sparkles flash from his eyes like the morning gleams of Dawn. Often trilling upon a treetop in the air he weaves a song in tune with the horion beside him, splendid “with purple wings; if you hear the catreus singing his early hymn, you might almost say it was the nightingale pouring her morning music from her changeful throat. There also dwelt the battlestirring host which Pyloites the fearless son of Hippalmos had armed for the war, and with him was Billaios his brother and fellow-leader.