Works of Nonnus

by Nonnus

  οὔ πω μῦθος ἔληγεν: ἀλεξικάκῳ δὲ θεαίνῃ

  415 τοῖον ἔπος φθαμένη σκυλακοτρόφος ἴαχε κούρη:

  [414] She had not finished, when the puppybreeding maiden broke in and said to the goddess who saves from evil:

  ‘Παρθένε πανδαμάτειρα, κυβερνήτειρα γενέθλης,

  οὐ Ζεύς, οὐ Νιόβη με, καὶ οὐ θρασὺς Ὦτος ὀρίνει:

  οὐ Τιτυὸς βαθύπεπλον ἐμὴν ἀνεσείρασε Λητώ:

  οὐ νέος Ὠρίων με βιάζεται, νἱὸς Ἀρούρης:

  420 ἀλλά με κερτομέουσα βαρύστομος ὀξέι μύθῳ

  ἤκαχε Ληλάντοιο πάις, δυσπάρθενος Λὔρη:

  ἀλλὰ τί σοι τάδε πάντα διίξομαι; αἰδέομαι γὰρ

  αἶσχος ἐμῶν μελέων ἐνέπειν καὶ ὀνείδεα μαζῶν:

  μητρὶ δ᾽ ἐμῇ πάθον ἄλγος ὁμοίιον: ἀμφότερον γὰρ

  425 ἐν Φρυγίῃ Νιόβη διδυμητόκον ἤκαχε Λητώ,

  καὶ πἁλιν ἐν Φρυγίῃ με θεημάχος ἤκαχεν Λὔρη:

  ἀλλ᾽ ἡ μὲν νόθον εἶδος ἀμειψαμένη πόρε ποινήν,

  Τανταλὶς αἰνοτόκεια, καὶ εἰσέτι δάκρυα λείβει

  ὄμμασι πετραίοισιν: ἀνιηθεῖσα δὲ μούνη

  430 αἶσχος ἔχω νήποινον, ἐπεὶ φιλοπάρθενος Αὔρη

  δάκρυσιν οὐ λίθον εἶχε λελουμένον, οὐκ ἴδε πηγὴν

  μῶμον ἀπαγγέλλουσαν ἀφειδέος ἀνθερεῶνος.

  ἀλλὰ σὺ κυδαίνουσα τεὴν Τιτηνίδα φύτλην

  δός μετὰ μητρῴην ἑτέρην χάριν, ὄφρα νοήσω

  435 λαϊνέης ἀτίνακτν ἀμειβομένης δέμας Αὔρης:

  μηδὲ τεὴν ἔμφυλον ὀδυρομένην λίπε κούρην,

  μή μοι ἐπεγγελόωσαν ἴδω πάλιν ἄτροπον Αὔρην,

  ἠέ μιν οἰστρήσειε τεὴ χαλκήλατος ἅρπη.’

  [416] “Virgin all vanquishing, guide of creation, Zeus pesters me not, nor Niobe, nor bold Otos; no Tityos has dragged at the long robes of my Leto; no new son of Earth like Orion forces me: no, it is that sour virgin Aura, the daughter of Lelantos, who mocks me and offends me with rude sharp words. But how can I tell you all she said? I am ashamed to describe her calumny of my body and her abuse of my breasts. I have suffered just as my mother did: we are both alike — in Phrygia Niobe offended Leto the mother of twins, in Phrygia again impious Aura offended me. But Niobe paid for it by passing into a changeling form, that daughter of Tantalos whose children were her sorrow, and she still weeps with stony eyes; I alone am insulted and bear my disgrace without vengeance, but Aura the champion of chastity has washed no stone with tears, she has seen no fountain declaring the faults of her uncontrolled tongue. I pray you, uphold the dignity of your Titan birth. Grant me a boon like my mother, that I may see Aura’s body transformed into stone immovable; leave not a maiden of your own race in sorrow, that I may not see Aura mocking me again and not to be turned — or let your sickle of beaten bronze drive her to madness!”

  ὣς φαμένην θάρσυνε θεὰ καὶ ἀμείβετο μύθῳ:

  [439] She spoke, and the goddess replied with encouraging words:

  440 ‘Λητῴη φυγόδεμνε, κυνοσσόε, σύγγονε Φοίβου,

  οὐ μὲν ἐμῷ δρεπάνῳ Τιτηνίδα παῖδα δαμάσσω,

  οὐδέ μιν ἐν Φρυγίῃ τελέσω πετρώδεα νύμφην,

  Τιτήνων γεγαυῖα παλαίτατον αἷμα καὶ αὐτή,

  μή ποτέ μοι μέμψαιτο πατὴρ Λήλαντος ἀκούων:

  445 ἓν δέ σοι, ἰοχέαιρα, χαρίζομαι: ἀγρότις Αὔρη

  παρθενικὴν ἤλεγξε, καὶ οὐκέτι παρθένος ἔσται:

  καί μιν ἐσαθρήσειας ὀρεσσιχύτου διὰ κόλπου

  δάκρυσι πηγαίοισιν ὀδυρομένην ἔτι μίτρην.’

  [440] “Chaste daughter of Leto, huntress, sister of Phoibos, I will not use my sickle to chastise a Titan girl, I will not make the maiden a stone in Phrygia, for I am myself born of the ancient race of Titans, and her father Lelantos might blame me when he heard: but one boon I will grant you, Archeress. Aura the maid of the hunt has reproached your virginity, and she shall be a virgin no longer. You shall see her in the bed of a mountain stream weeping fountains of tears for her maiden girdle.”

  εἶπε παρηγορέουσα: καὶ οὔρεα κάλλιπε κούρη

  450 Ἄρτεμις ἑζομένη κεμάδων τετράζυγι δίφρῳ,

  καὶ Φρυγίης ἐπέβαινεν. ὁμοζήλῳ πορείῃ

  παρθένος Ἀδρήστεια μετήιε δύσμαχον Αὔρην,

  γρῦπας ἁμιλλητῆρας ὑποζεύξασα χαλινῷ:

  καὶ ταχινὴ πεφόρητο δι᾽ ἠέρος ὀξέι δίφρῳ,

  455 καὶ δρόμον ἐστήριξεν ὑπὲρ Σιπύλοιο καρήνων

  Τανταλίδος προπάροιθε λιθογλήνοιο προσώπου,

  πτηνῶν τετραπόδων σκολιοὺς σφίγγουσα χαλινούς.

  αὔρης δ᾽ ἐγγὺς ἵκανεν ἀγήνορος: ὑψίνοον δὲ

  αὐχένα δειλαίης ὀφιώδεϊ τύψεν ἱμάσθλῃ,

  460 καί μιν ἀνεστυφέλιξε δίκης τροχοειδέι κύκλῳ,

  καὶ νόον ἄφρονα κάμψεν ἀκαμπέος: ἀμφὶ δὲ μίτρην

  παρθενικῆς ἐλέλιζεν ἐχιδνήεσσαν ἱμάσθλην

  Ἀργολὶς Ἀδρήστεια: χαριζομένη δὲ θεαίνῃ,

  καὶ μάλα περ κοτέοντι κασιγνήτῳ Διονύσῳ,

  465 ὥπλισεν ἄλλον ἔρωτα, καὶ εἰ πέλε νῆις Ἐρώτων,

  Παλλήνης μετὰ λέκτρα, μετὰ φθιμένην Ἀριάδνην,

  τὴν μὲν λειπομένην ἐνὶ πατρίδι, τὴν δ᾽ ἐνὶ γαίῃ

  ἀλλοτρίῃ πετραῖον, Ἀχαιίδος ὡς βρέτας Ἥρης,

  καὶ Βρόης πολὺ μᾶλλον ἀνηνύστων περὶ λέκτρων.

  [449] So she consoled her; and Artemis the maiden entered her car with its team of four prickets, left the mountain and drove back to Phrygia. With equal speed the maiden Adrasteia pursued her obstinate enemy Aura. She had harnessed racing griffins under her bridle; quick through the air she coursed in the swift car, until she tightened the curving bits of her fourfooted birds, and drew up on the peak of Sipylos in front of the face of Tantalos’s daughter with eyeballs of stone. Then she approached the haughty Aura. She flicked the proud neck of the hapless girl with her snaky whip, and struck her with the round wheel of justice, and bent the foolish unbending will. Argive Adrasteia let the whip with its vipers curl round the maiden’s girdle, doing pleasure to Artemis and to Dionysos while he was still indignant; and although she was herself unacquainted with love, she prepared another love, after the bed of Pallene, after the loss of Ariadne — one was left in her own country, one was a stone in a foreign land like the statue of Achaian Hera — and more than all for the ill success with Beroe’s bed.

  470 καὶ Νέμεσις πεπότ
ητο νιφοβλήτῳ παρὰ Ταύρῳ,

  εἰσόκε Κύδνον ἵκανε τὸ δεύτερον ἀμφὶ δὲ κούρῃ

  ἡδυβόλῳ Διόνυσον Ἔρως οἴστρησεν ὀιστῷ,

  καὶ πρερὰ κυκλώσας ἐπεήσατο κοῦφος Ὀλύμπου.

  [470] Nemesis now flew back to snowbeaten Tauros until she reached Cydnos again. And Eros drove Dionysos mad for the girl with the delicious wound of his arrow, then curving his wings flew lightly to Olympos.

  καὶ θεὸς οὐρεσίφοιτος ἱμάσσετο μείζονι πυρσῷ:

  475 οὐ γὰρ ἔην ἐλάχεια παραίφασις: οὐ τότε κούρης

  ἐλπίδα Κυπρδίην, οὐ φάρμακον εἶχεν Ἐρώτων:

  ἀλλά μιν ἔφλεγε μᾶλλον Ἔρως θελξίφρονι πυρσῷ

  θυιάδος ὀψιτέλεστον ἀπειθέος εἰς γάμον Αὔρης.

  καὶ μογέων ἔκρυπτεν ἑὸν πόθον, οὐδ᾽ ἐνὶ λόχμαις

  480 Κυπριδίοις ὀάροισιν ὁμίλεεν ἐγγύθεν Αὔρης,

  μή μιν ἀλυσκάζειε. τί κύντερον, ἢ ὅτε μοῦνοι

  ἀνέρες ἱμείρουσι, καὶ οὐ ποθέουσι γυναῖκες;

  καὶ μέθεπε πραπίδεσσι πεπηγμένον ἰὸν Ἐρώτων,

  παρθένος εἰ δρόμον εἶχε κυνοσσόον ἔνδοθι λόχμης:

  485 Κυπριδίοις δ᾽ ἀνέμοισιν ἀειρομένοιο χιτῶνος

  μηρὸν ὀπιπεύων θηλύνετο Βάκχος ἀλήτης.

  ὀψὲ δὲ παφλάζοντι πόθῳ δεδονημένος Αὔρης

  Βάκχος ἀμηχαναέων ἔπος ἴαχε λυσσάδι φωνῇ:

  [474] And the god roamed over the hills scourged with a greater fire. For there was not the smallest comfort for him. He had then no hope of the girl’s love, no physic for his passion; but Eros burnt him more and more with the mind bewitching fire to win mad obstinate Aura at last. With hard struggles he kept his desire hidden; he used no lover’s prattle beside Aura in the woods, for fear she might avoid him. What is more shameless, than when only men crave, and women do not desire? Wandering Bacchos felt the arrow of love fixt in his heart if the maiden was hunting with her pack of dogs in the woods; if he caught a glimpse of a thigh when the loving winds lifted her tunic, he became soft as a woman. At last buffeted by his tumultuous desire for Aura, desperate he cried out in mad tones —

  ‘Πανὸς ἐγὼ δυαέρωτος ἔχω τύπον, ὅττί με φεύγει

  490 παρθένος ἠνεμόφοιτος, ἐρημονόμῳ δὲ πεδίλῳ

  πλάζεται ἀστήρικτος ἀθηήτου πλέον Ἠχοῦς.

  ὄλβιε, Πάν, Βρομίοιο πολὺ πλέον, ὅττι ματεύων

  φάρμακον εὗρες ἔρωτος ἐνὶ φρενοθελυέι φωνῷ:

  σὸν κτύπον ὑστερόφωνος ἀμείβεται ἄστατος Ἠχὼ

  495 φθεγγομένη λάλον ἦχον ὁμοίιον: αἴθε καὶ αὐτὴ

  ἐκ στομάτων ἕνα μῦθον ἀνήρυγε παρθένος Αὔρη.

  οὗτος ἔρως οὐ πᾶσιν ὁμοίιος: οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτὴ

  παρθενικαῖς ἑτέρῃσιν ὁμότροπον ἦθος ἀέξει.

  ποῖον ἐμῆς ὀδύνης πέλε φάρμακον; ἦ ῥά ἑ θέλξω

  500 νεύματι Κυπριδίῳ; πότε που, πότε θέλγεται Αὔρη

  κινυμένοις βλεφάροισιν; ἐρωμανὲς ὄμμα τιταίνων

  τίς γαμίοις ὀάροισι παραπλάζει φρένας ἄρκτου

  εἰς Παφίην, ἐς Ἔρωτα; τίς ὡμίλησε λεαίνῃ;

  τίς δρυῒ μῦθον ἔλεξε; τίς ἄπνοον ἤπαφε πεύκην;

  505 τίς κρανέην παρέπεισε, καὶ εἰς γάμον ἤγαγε πέτρην;

  ποῖος ἀνὴρ θέλξειεν ἀκηλήτου νόον Αὔρης;

  ποῖος ἀνὴρ θέλξειεν; ἀμιτροχίτωνι δὲ κούρῃ

  τίς γάμον ἢ φιλότητος ἀρηγόνα κεστὸν ἐνίψῃ;

  τίς γλυκὺ κέωτρον Ἔρωτος ἢ οὔνομα Κυπρογενείης;

  510 μᾶλλον Ἀθηναίη τάχα πείσεται: οὐδέ με φεύγει

  Ἄρτεμις ἀπτοίητος, ὅσον φιλοπάρθενος Αὔρη.

  αἴθε φίλοις στομάτεσσιν ἔπος τόδε μοῦνον ἐνίψῃ:

  ‘Βάκχε, μάτην ποθέεις, μὴ δίζεο παρθένον Αὔρην.’’

  [489] “I am like lovelorn Pan, when the girl flees me swift as the wind, and wanders, treading the wilderness with boot more agile than Echo never seen! You are happy, Pan, much more than Bromios, for during your search you have found a physic for love in a mind bewitching voice. Echo follows your tones and returns them, moving from place to place, and utters a sound of speaking like your voice. If only maid Aura had done the same, and let one word sound from her lips! This love is different from all others, for the girl herself has a nature not like the ways of other maidens. What physic is there for my pain? Shall I charm her with lovers’ nod and beck? Ah when, ah when is Aura charmed with moving eyelids? Who by lovemad looks or wooing whispers could seduce the heart of a shebear to the Paphian, to Eros? Who discourses to a lioness? Who talks to an oak? Who has beguiled a lifeless firtree? Who ever persuaded a cornel-tree, and took a rock in marriage? And what man could charm the mind of Aura proof against all charms? What man could charm her — who will mention marriage, or the cestus which helps love, to this girl with no girdle to her tunic? Who will mention the sweet sting of love or the name of Cyprogeneia? I think Athena will listen sooner; and not intrepid Artemis avoids me so much as prudish Aura. If she would only say as much as this with her dear lips—’ Bacchos, your desire is vain; seek not for maiden Aura.’”

  ἔννεπεν ἀνθεμόεντος ἔσω λειμῶνος ὁδεύων

  515 εἰαρινοῖς ἀνέμοισι, καὶ εὐόδμῳ παρὰ μύρτῳ

  ἡδὺ μεσημβρίζων πόδας εὔνασεν, ἀμφὶ δὲ δένδρῳ

  κέκλιτο συρίζουσαν ἔχων Ζεφυρήιον αὔπην

  καὶ καμάτῳ καὶ ἔρωτι κατάσχετος: ἑζομένῳ δὲ

  ἥλικος αὐτομέλαθρος ὑπερκύψασα κορύμβου

  520 παρθένος ἀκρήδεμνος Ἁμαδρυὰς ἔννεπε Νύμφη,

  Κύπριδι πιστὰ φέρουσα καὶ ἱμερόεντι Λυαίῳ:

  [514] So he spoke to the breezes of spring, while walking in a flowery meadow. Beside a fragrant myrtle he stayed his feet for a soothing rest at midday. He leaned against a tree and listened to the west breeze whispering, overcome by fatigue and love; and as he sat there, a Hamadryad Nymph at home in the clusters of her native tree, a maiden unveiled, peeped out and said, true both to Cypris and to loving Lyaios:

  ‘Οὐ δύναταί ποτε Βάκχος ἄγειν ἐπὶ δέμνιον Αὔρην,

  εἰ μή μιν βαρύδεσμον ἀλυκτοπέδῃσι πεδήσῃ,

  δεσμοῖς Κυπριδίοισι πόδας καὶ χεῖρας ἑλίξας,

  525 ἠέ μιν ὑπνώουσαν ὑποζεύξας ὑμεναίοις

  παρθενικῆς ἀνάεδνον ὑποκλέψειε κορείην.’

  [522] “Bacchos can never lead Aura to his bed, un
less he binds her first in heavy galling fetters, and winds the bonds of Cypris round hands and feet; or else puts her under the yoke of marriage in sleep, and steals the girl’s maidenhood without brideprice.”

  ὣς φαμένη παλίνορσος ὁμήλικι κεύθετο θάμνῳ

  δυσαμένη δρυόεντα πάλιν δόμον: αὐτὰρ ὁ κάμνων

  Βάκχος ἐρωτοτόκοισι νόον πόμπευεν ὀνείροις.

  530 ψυχὴ δ᾽ ἠνεμόφοιτος ἀποφθιμένης Ἀριάδνης,

  νήδυμον ὑπνώοντι παρισταμένη Διονύσῳ,

  ζηλήμων μετὰ πότμον ὀνειρείῳ φάτο μύθῳ:

  ‘Ἀμνήμων Διόνυσε τεῶν προτέρων ὑμεναίων,

  [527] Having spoken she hid again in the tree her agemate, and entered again her woody home; but Bacchos distressed with lovebreeding dreams made his mind a parade: the soul of dead Ariadne borne on the wind came, and beside Dionysos sleeping sound, stood jealous after death, and spoke in the words of a dream:

  αὔρης ζῆλος ἔχει σε, καὶ οὐκ ἀλέγεις Ἀριάδνης:

  535 ὤμοι ἐμοῦ Θησῆος, ὃν ἥρπασε πικρὸς ἀήτης,

  ὤμοι ἐμοῦ Θησῆος, ὃν ἔλλαχεν ἀνέρα Φαίδρη.

  οὐ τάχα μοι πέπρωτο φυγεῖν ψεύδορκον ἀκοίτην,

  εἰ γλυκὺς ὑπναλέην με λίπεν νέος, ἀντὶ δὲ κείνου

  νυμφεύθην δυσέρωτι καὶ ἠπεροπῆι Λυαίῳ.

  540 ὤμοι, ὅτ᾽ οὐ βροτὸν ἔσχον ἐγὼ ταχύποτμον ἀκοίτην,