§653condidit serpens Libycis harenis; §654omnibus verax, sibi falsus uni §655concidit Mopsus caruitque Thebis.
a serpent buried in the Libyan sands; Truthful to all, false to himself alone, Mopsus fell and was deprived of Thebes.
§656ille si vere cecinit futura, §657exul errabit Thetidis maritus §661fulmine et ponto moriens Oileus §660* patrioque pendet crimine poenas: §658igne fallaci nociturus Argis §659Nauplius praeceps cadet in profundum,
If he sang the future truly, the husband of Thetis will wander as an exile, Oileus dying by lightning and the sea, and will pay the penalty for his father's crime; about to harm the Argives with a deceitful fire, Nauplius will fall headlong into the deep.
§662coniugis fatum redimens Pheraei §663uxor impendes animam marito, §664ipse qui praedam spoliumque iussit §665aureum prima revehi carina, §666arsit accenso Pelias aeno.
Redeeming the fate of her Pheraean husband, you, O wife, will spend your life for your husband; he himself who ordered the golden prey and spoil to be carried back in the first ship, Pelias burned in the heated cauldron.
Now enough, O gods, you have avenged the sea: spare him who was ordered.
§670Pavet animus, horret, magna pernicies adest.
Nurse: My mind dreads, it shudders; a great destruction is at hand.
It is monstrous how much her grief grows, and it ignites itself and renews its past strength.
I have often seen her raging and attacking the gods, drawing down the sky: a greater monster than these, greater, Medea is preparing.
§675Medea monstrum, namque ut attonito gradu §676evasit et penetrale funestam attigit, §677totas opes effundit et quicquid diu §678etiam ipsa timuit promit atque omnem explicat §679turbam malorum, arcana secreta abdita, §680et triste laeva congregans sacrum manu §681pestes vocat quascumque ferventes creat §682harena Libyae quasque perpetua nive §683Taurus cohercet frigore Arctoo rigens, §684et omne monstrum, tracta magicis cantibus §685squamifera latebris turba desertis adest.
For as with dazed step she escaped and reached her fatal inner chamber, she pours out all her resources, and whatever for a long time even she herself feared, she brings forth and unfolds the whole throng of evils, the deep hidden secrets; and gathering the grim sacred objects with her left hand, she summons whatever plagues the burning sands of Libya create, and those which, stiffening with Arctic cold, Taurus confines within perpetual snow; and every monster: drawn by magic chants, the scaly throng present themselves, having abandoned their lairs.
§686hic saeva serpens corpus immensum trahit §687trifidamque linguam exertat et quaerit quibus §688mortifera veniat: carmine audito stupet §689tumidumque nodis corpus aggestis plicat §690cogitque in orbεs.
Here a fierce serpent drags its immense body, thrusts out its three-forked tongue and seeks for whom it may bring death; but hearing the chant, it is dazed and folds its body swollen with heaped knots, forcing it into coils.
'parva sunt' inquit 'mala §691et vile telum est. ima quod tellus creat:
"These are small evils," she says, "and a worthless weapon is what the lowest earth creates.
§692caelo petam venena, iam iam tempus est
Medea: I will seek poisons from heaven.
§693aliquid movere fraude vulgari altius.
Now, now is the time to set something in motion higher than common deceit.
§694huc ille vasti more torrentis iacens §695descendat anguis, cuius immensos duae. §696maior minorque, sentiunt nodos ferae §697(maior Pelasgis apta. Sidoniis minor) §698pressasque tandem solvat Ophiuchus manus §699virusque fundat; adsit ad cantus meos §700lacessere ausus gemina Python numina.
Hither let that serpent descend, lying like a vast torrent, whose immense coils the two beasts, greater and lesser, feel; (the greater suited to the Pelasgians, the lesser to the Sidonians); let Ophiuchus at last release his tight grip and pour out the venom; let Python be present at my songs, who dared to challenge the twin deities.
Let both Hydra and every serpent cut down by Hercules' hand return, restoring itself by its own slaughter.
§703tu quoque relictis pervigil Colchis ades, §704sopite primum cantibus, serpens, meis. ' §705Postquam evocavit omne serpentum genus, §706congerit in unum frugis infaustae mala: §707quaecumque generat invius saxis Eryx, §708quae fert opertis hieme perpetua iugis §709sparsus cruore Caucasus Promethei, §711et quis sagittas divites Arabes linunt §710pharetraque pugnax Mediis aut Parthi leves, §712aut quos sub axe frigido sucos legunt §713lucis Suebae nobiles Hyrcaniis; §714quodcumque tellus vere nidifico creat §715aut rigida cum iam bruma discnssit decus §716nemorum et nivali cuncta constrinxit gelu, §717quodcumque gramen flore mortifero viret §718cuiusve fortis sucus in radicibus §719causas nocendi gignit, attrectat manu.
You too, O ever-watchful serpent, leave Colchis and attend, you who were first lulled to sleep by my chants." Nurse: After she had summoned the whole race of serpents, she gathers into one place the evils of the ill-boding vegetation: whatever the pathless Eryx generates on its rocks, what Caucasus, sprinkled with the blood of Prometheus, bears on its ridges covered with perpetual winter, and those with which the rich Arabs smear their arrows, and the Medes combatant with quivers, or the light Parthians, or those juices which the noble Suebian women gather in Hyrcanian groves under the frozen axis; whatever the earth creates in the nest-building spring, or when stiff winter has already shaken off the beauty of the groves and bound all things with snowy frost, whatever grass is green with death-bringing flower, or whose strong juice within its roots begets causes of harm, she handles with her hand.
§720Haemonius illas contulit pestes Athos, §721has Pindus ingens, illa Pangaei iugis §722teneram cruenta falce deposuit comam; §723has aluit altum gurgitem Tigris premens, §724Danuvius illas, has per arentes plagas §725tepidis Hydaspes gemmifer currens aquis, §726nomenque terris qui dedit Baetis suis §727Hesperia pulsans maria languenti vado.
Haemonian Athos brought those plagues together, huge Pindus these, and those on the ridges of Pangaeus she laid down their tender foliage with a bloody sickle; Tigris, pressing its deep gulf, nourished these, Danube those, and Hydaspes rich in gems running with warm waters through parched regions these, and the Baetis, which gave its name to its own lands, striking the Hesperian seas with its sluggish channel.
§728haec passa ferrum est, dum parat Phoebus diem, §729illius alta nocte succisus frutex; §730at huius ungue secta cantato seges.
This grass suffered the iron while Phoebus prepares the day; that shrub was cut down in the deep of night; but this crop was severed by a chanted fingernail.
§731Mortifera carpit gramina ac serpentium §732saniem exprimit miscetque et obscenas aves §733maestique cor bubonis et raucae strigis §734exsecta vivae viscera, haec scelerum artifex §735discreta ponit; his rapax vis ignium, §736his gelida pigri frigoris glacies inest.
She plucks the deadly herbs, and squeezes out the venom of serpents, and mixes them, and obscene birds, and the heart of a gloomy owl, and the disemboweled entrails of a screech-owl snatched alive; these the artificer of crimes places separately; in these is the greedy force of fires, in those the icy frost of sluggish cold.
She adds to the poisons words no less to be feared than they; lo, she resounds with frantic step and sings.
§739canitque. mundus vocibus primis tremit.
The world trembles at her first words.
§740Compreeor vulgus silentum vosque ferales deos §741et Chaos caecum atque opacam Ditis umbrosi domum.
Medea: I pray to the throng of the silent, and to you, deities of death, and blind Chaos, and the dark home of shadowy Dis.
§742Tartari ripis ligatae squalido Mortis specu §743supplicis. animae, remissis currite ad thalamos novos: §744rota resistat membra torquens, tangat Ixion humum,
O suppliant souls, bound on the banks of Tartarus in the filthy cave of Death, run with relaxed punishments to the new bridal chambers: let the wheel stop that tortures the limbs, let Ixion touch the ground,