§4.325pulsus amor? quid me caelum sperare iubebas?
Is your love for me gone? Why did you bid me hope for heaven?
§4.326En etiam hunc ipsum vitae mortalis honorem, §4.327quem mihi vix frugum et pecudum custodia sollers §4.328omnia temptanti extuderat, te matre relinquo.
Behold, even this very honor of mortal life, which with difficulty my skillful care of crops and herds had forged for me as I tried all things, I now abandon, though you are my mother.
§4.329Quin age et ipsa manu felices erue silvas, §4.330fer stabulis inimicum ignem atque interfice messes, §4.331ure sata et validam in vites molire bipennem, §4.332tanta meae si te ceperunt taedia laudis. ” §4.333At mater sonitum thalamo sub fluminis alti
Come then, root out my fruitful forests with your own hand, bring hostile fire to my stalls, and destroy my harvests; burn my crops, and swing the heavy axe against my vines, if such great weariness of my praise has seized you." But his mother heard the sound beneath her chamber in the deep river.
§4.334sensit. Eam circum Milesia vellera Nymphae §4.335carpebant hyali saturo fucata colore, §4.336drymoque Xanthoque Ligeaque Phyllodoceque, §4.337caesariem effusae nitidam per candida colla, §4.338Nesaee Spioque Thaliaque Cymodoceque, §4.339Cydippeque et flava Lycorias, altera virgo, §4.340altera tum primos Lucinae experta labores, §4.341Clioque et Beroe soror, Oceanitides ambae, §4.342ambae auro, pictis incinctae pellibus ambae, §4.343atque Ephyre atque Opis et Asia Deiopea §4.344et tandem positis velox Arethusa sagittis.
Around her, the Nymphs were spinning Milesian wool dyed with a rich glassy-green hue: Drymo and Xantho, Ligea and Phyllodoce, their shining hair flowing down over their snowy necks; Nesaee and Spio, Thalia and Cymodoce, Cydippe and golden Lycorias—the one a virgin, the other having then just experienced her first labors of Lucina; Clio and her sister Beroe, both daughters of Oceanus, both girded with gold, both with painted skins; and Ephyre, and Opis, and Asian Deiopea, and Arethusa, swift at last after her arrows had been laid aside.
§4.345Inter quas curam Clymene narrabat inanem §4.346Vulcani Martisque dolos et dulcia furta, §4.347aque Chao densos divum numerabat amores
Among them Clymene was telling of Vulcan's fruitless care, and the wiles and sweet thefts of Mars, and from Chaos onward she was numbering the crowded loves of the gods.
§4.348carmine quo captae dum fusis mollia pensa §4.349devolvunt, iterum maternas impulit aures §4.350luctus Aristaei, vitreisque sedilibus omnes §4.351obstipuere; sed ante alias Arethusa sorores §4.352prospiciens summa flavum caput extulit unda §4.353et procul: “O gemitu non frustra exterrita tanto, §4.354Cyrene soror, ipse tibi, tua maxima cura, §4.355tristis Aristaeus Penei genitoris ad undam §4.356stat lacrimans et te crudelem nomine dicit. ” §4.357Huic percussa nova mentem formidine mater, §4.358“duc, age, duc ad nos; fas illi limina divum §4.359tangere,” ait. Simul alta iubet discedere late §4.360flumina, qua iuvenis gressus inferret.
While they, captivated by this song, were winding down the soft wool from their spindles, again the grief of Aristaeus struck his mother's ears, and all were startled on their glassy seats; but before the other sisters, Arethusa, looking forth, raised her golden head above the water's surface, and from afar cried: "O sister Cyrene, not in vain terrified by so great a groan, he himself, your greatest care, sad Aristaeus, stands weeping by the wave of father Peneus, and calls you cruel by name." At this, his mother, her mind struck with a sudden dread, cried: "Lead him, come, lead him to us; it is permitted for him to touch the threshold of the gods." At the same time, she bade the deep waters divide far and wide, where the youth might enter.
At illum §4.361curvata in montis faciem circumstetit unda §4.362accepitque sinu vasto misitque sub amnem.
And the wave, curving into the mountain's shape, stood around him, received him into its vast bosom, and sent him beneath the river.
§4.363Iamque domum mirans genetricis et umida regna §4.364speluncisque lacus clausos lucosque sonantes §4.365ibat et ingenti motu stupefactus aquarum §4.366omnia sub magna labentia flumina terra §4.367spectabat diversa locis, Phasimque Lycumque §4.368et caput, unde altus primum se erumpit Enipeus §4.369unde pater Tiberinus et unde Aniena fluenta §4.370saxosusque sonans Hypanis Mysusque Caicus, §4.371et gemina auratus taurino cornua vultu §4.372Eridanus, quo non alius per pinguia culta §4.373in mare purpureum violentior effluit amnis.
And now, marveling at his mother's home and the watery realms, and the lakes shut in caves, and the sounding groves, he went along, astounded by the mighty motion of the waters, and he gazed at all the rivers gliding beneath the great earth, diverse in their locations: Phasis and Lycus, and the source whence deep Enipeus first bursts forth, whence father Tiber, and whence the streams of Anio, and Hypanis sounding among the rocks, and Mysian Caicus, and Eridanus, with his bull's face gilded as to his twin horns, than whom no other river flows more violently through rich tilled lands into the dark-gleaming sea.
§4.374Postquam est in thalami pendentia pumice tecta §4.375perventum et nati fletus cognovit inanes §4.376Cyrene, manibus liquidos dant ordine fontes §4.377germanae tonsisque ferunt mantelia villis; §4.378pars epulis onerant mensas et plena reponunt §4.379pocula, Panchaeis adolescunt ignibus arae; §4.380et mater, “Cape Maeonii carchesia Bacchi: §4.381Oceano libemus,” ait. Simul ipsa precatur §4.382Oceanumque patrem rerum Nymphasque sorores §4.383centum quae silvas, centum quae flumina servant.
After they had arrived at the chamber's roof of hanging pumice, and Cyrene had learned of her son's fruitless tears, her sisters in order pour clear spring water on his hands and bring towels with shorn nap; some load the tables with banquets and set down full cups again and again, while the altars burn with Panchaean fires; and his mother cried: "Take the cups of Maeonian wine; let us pour a libation to Oceanus." At the same time, she herself prays to Oceanus, the father of all things, and to the sister Nymphs, who guard a hundred forests, a hundred rivers.
§4.384Ter liquido ardentem perfundit nectare Vestam, §4.385ter flamma ad summum tecti subiecta reluxit.
Thrice she poured clear nectar upon the glowing hearth-fire of Vesta, thrice the flame, shooting up, shone back to the very top of the roof.
§4.386Omine quo firmans animum sic incipit ipsa: §4.387“Est in Carphatio Neptuni gurgite vates §4.388caeruleus Proteus, magnum qui piscibus aequor §4.389et iuncto bipedum curru metitur equorum.
Assured in mind by this omen, she herself thus began: "There is in the Carpathian gulf of Neptune a seer, sea-green Proteus, who measures the vast ocean with his fishes and in a chariot drawn by two-legged horses.
§4.390Hic nunc Emathiae portus patriamque revisit §4.391Pallenen, hunc et Nymphae veneramur et ipse §4.392grandaevus Nereus; novit namque omnia vates, §4.393quae sint, quae fuerint, quae mox ventura trahantur; §4.394quippe ita Neptuno visum est, immania cuius §4.395armenta et turpes pascit sub gurgite phocas.
He now revisits the ports of Emathia and his homeland Pallene; him we Nymphs revere, and aged Nereus himself; for the seer knows all things— what is, what has been, and what is soon to be drawn onward in the future; for so it seemed good to Neptune, whose monstrous herds and ugly seals he pastures beneath the gulf.
§4.396Hic tibi, nate, prius vinclis capiendus, ut omnem §4.397expediat morbi causam eventusque secundet.
Him, my son, you must first capture with chains, so that he may disclose the whole cause of the sickness and make the outcome favorable.
§4.398Nam sine vi non ulla dabit praecepta, neque illum §4.399orando flectes; vim duram et vincula capto §4.400tende; doli circum haec demum frangentur inanes.
For without force he will give no precepts, nor will you bend him by praying; apply hard force and chains to him when captured; against these, at last, his useless wiles will be shattered.
§4.401Ipsa ego, te, medios cum sol accenderit aestus, §4.402cum sitiunt herbae et pecori iam gratior umbra est, §4.403in secreta senis ducam, quo fessus ab undis §4.404se recipit, facile ut somno adgrediare iacentem.
I myself, when the sun has kindled his midday heat, when the grass is parched and shade is now more welcome to the flock, will lead you to the old man's retreat, whither he withdraws weary from the waves, so that you may easily assail him as he lies asleep.
§4.405Verum ubi correptum manibus vinclisque tenebis,
But when you hold him seized with hands and chains,