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Metamorphoses Liber I : Deucalion et Pyrrha
393-437 magna parēns terra est: lapidēs in corpore terrae 393 ossa reor dīcī; iacere hōs post terga iubēmur.' Coniugis auguriō quamquam Tītānia mōta est, 395 spēs tamen in dubiō est: adeō caelestibus ambō diffīdunt monitīs; sed quid temptāre nocēbit? discēdunt: velantque caput tunicāsque recingunt et iussōs lapidēs sua post vestīgia mittunt. saxa (quis hoc crēdat, nisi sit prō teste vetustās?) 400 pōnere duritiem coepēre suumque rigōrem mollīrīque morā mollītāque dūcere fōrmam. mox ubi crēvērunt nātūraque mītior illīs contigit, ut quaedam, sīc nōn manifesta videri fōrma potest hominis, sed uti dē marmore coeptā 405 nōn exāctā satis rudibusque simillimā signīs, quae tamen ex illīs aliquō pars ūmida sūcō et terrēna fuit, versa est in corporis ūsum; quod solidum est flectīque nequit, mūtātur in ossa, quae modo vēna fuit, sub eōdem nōmine mansit, 410 inque brevī spatiō superōrum nūmine saxa missa virī manibus faciem trāxēre virōrum et dē fēmineō reparāta est femina iactū. inde genus dūrum sumus experiēnsque labōrum et documenta damus quā sīmus orīgine nātī. 415 Cētera dīversīs tellūs animālia fōrmīs sponte suā peperit, postquam vetus ūmor ab igne percaluit sōlis, caenumque ūdaeque palūdēs intumuēre aestū, fēcundaque sēmina rērum vīvācī nūtrīta solō ceu mātris in alvō 420 crēvērunt faciemque aliquam cēpēre morandō. sīc ubi dēseruit madidōs septemfluus agrōs Nīlus et antīquō sua flumina reddidit alveō aetheriōque recēns exarsit sīdere līmus, plūrima cultōrēs versīs animālia glaebīs 425 inveniunt et in hīs quaedam perfecta per ipsum nascendī spatium, quaedam modo coepta suīsque trunca vident numerīs, et eōdem in corpore saepe altera pars vīvit, rudis est pars altera tellūs. quippe ubi temperiem sūmpsēre ūmorque calorque, 430 concipiunt, et ab hīs oriuntur cuncta duōbus, cumque sit ignis aquae pugnāx, vapor ūmidus omnes rēs creat, et discors concordia fētibus apta est. ergō ubi dīluviō tellūs lutulenta recēntī sōlibus aetheriīs altōque recanduit aestū, 435 ēdidit innumerās speciēs; partimque figūrās rettulit antīquās, partim nova mōnstra creāvit. 437 |
393: parēns,-ntis, m., f.; parent, mother (In this case, Ovid is implying that the speaker is using ‘parēns’ to mean mother as in mother earth)
394: supply ‘nōs’ to match ‘terga’ 394: In the previous lines, the goddess of prophecy Themis ordered Deucalion and his wife to throw the stones of their mother behind their backs. 394: post is a preposition taking the accusative case 395: Tītānia in here means ‘Pyrrha’ 395: ‘auguriō’ is in reference to Deucalion’s prediction that the bones were stones of the earth 396: adeō; adv. : To such a degree, truly, even 397: Why is this line in the subjunctive? 398: Here two editions use different meanings. This author chose discedunt to mean they are leaving the temple. Descendunt also works as it implies descending from the temple. I chose discedunt as it encompasses more; leaving vs. just descending. 400: pōnō: use ‘to place away’ 402: Note the repeated ‘m’ s make a melting sound that reflects in the story the softening of the rocks. 404: contingō, contingere, contigī, contāctum: to befall, happen, turn out ( + dat.) 406: ex + agō, agere, ēgī, āctum: to make out, driven out 406: signum, signī: n. -- statue, figure 406: similis, is, e, . (+ dat) most similar to 407: succus, ī,. n. ; lit, juice (juice of the earth) i.e. moisture, dampness 408: vertō, vertere, vertī, versum; to change, turn, bend, transform (as in material) 408: implied hōc 409: solidum: solid earth 409: mūtō, mūtāre, mūtāvī, mūtātum; w/ in + acc. ; to change 411: superōrum; Gods are Jupiter, mainly 411: nūmen, nūminis n., ; divine will, divinity 412: trahō, trahere, trāxī, tractum; to take on, acquire, assume 415: implied ‘nōs’ 415: ‘sīmus...nātī’ is a two word verb 415: What type of subjunctive is this? 418: caenum, caenī n.,; mud 420: “Vīvācī rērum”: of vivacious things 422: Septemfluus: ‘The seven-river flowing Nile’ is in reference to its delta and streams 422: madidus, madida, madidum: drenched, wet 423: ‘exarsit’ lit. “ burned by the sun” ; i.e. ‘to dry out’ 423: ‘Nīlus et antīquō sua flumina reddidit alveō’ notice the hyperbaton in the ‘her river’ returning into the ‘ancient basin’ 423: Synizesis: the meter eats the e in ‘alveō’ 425: notice hyperbaton: “plūrima cultōrēs versīs animālia glaebīs” the animals in the having been turned over soil 425: Different texts have different meanings. Some have ‘imperfecta’ and not ‘perfecta’. I chose ‘perfecta’, as the examples given are all of not-perfected animals, in some sense. The ‘perfecta’ showed the diversity of the different creatures. 425: ‘nascendī spatium’ : just after the moment of birth 431: Use ‘to fertilize’ for concipiunt 432: Why is this line in the subjunctive? 433: Note ‘apta est’ is not a two word verb. “ Is fit/apt...” 434: Weak hyperbaton here. The muddy earth is inside the recent flood. 435: ‘recanduit’ takes the dative |