INTRODUCTION.
BOOK THE FIRST.
BOOK THE SECOND.
BOOK THE THIRD.
BOOK THE FOURTH.
BOOK THE FIFTH.
BOOK THE SIXTH.
BOOK THE SEVENTH.
INTRODUCTION.
The
Metamorphoses of Ovid are a compendium of the Mythological narratives
of ancient Greece and Rome, so ingeniously framed, as to embrace a
large amount of information upon almost every subject connected with
the learning, traditions, manners, and customs of antiquity, and have
afforded a fertile field of investigation to the learned of the
civilized world. To present to the public a faithful translation of a
work, universally esteemed, not only for its varied information, but
as being the masterpiece of one of the greatest Poets of ancient
Rome, is the object of the present volume.To
render the work, which, from its nature and design, must, of
necessity, be replete with matter of obscure meaning, more inviting
to the scholar, and more intelligible to those who are unversed in
Classical literature, the translation is accompanied with Notes and
Explanations, which, it is believed, will be found to throw
considerable light upon the origin and meaning of some of the
traditions of heathen Mythology.In
the translation, the text of the Delphin edition has been generally
adopted; and no deviation has been made from it, except in a few
instances, where the reason for such a step is stated in the notes;
at the same time, the texts of Burmann and Gierig have throughout
been carefully consulted. The several editions vary materially in
respect to punctuation; the Translator has consequently used his own
discretion in adopting that which seemed to him the most fully to
convey in each passage the intended meaning of the writer.The
Metamorphoses of Ovid have been frequently translated into the
English language. On referring to Mr. Bohn’s excellent Catalogue of
the Greek and Latin Classics and their Translations, we find that the
whole of the work has been twice translated into English Prose, while
five translations in Verse are there enumerated. A prose version of
the Metamorphoses was published by Joseph Davidson, about the middle
of the last century, which professes to be “as near the original as
the different idioms of the Latin and English will allow;” and to
be “printed for the use of schools, as well as of private
gentlemen.” A few moments’ perusal of this work will satisfy the
reader that it has not the slightest pretension to be considered a
literal translation, while, by its departure from the strict letter
of the author, it has gained nothing in elegance of diction. It is
accompanied by “critical, historical, geographical, and classical
notes in English, from the best Commentators, both ancient and
modern, beside a great number of notes, entirely new;” but
notwithstanding this announcement, these annotations will be found to
be but few in number, and, with some exceptions in the early part of
the volume, to throw very little light on the obscurities of the
text. A fifth edition of this translation was published so recently
as 1822, but without any improvement, beyond the furbishing up of the
old-fashioned language of the original preface. A far more literal
translation of the Metamorphoses is that by John Clarke, which was
first published about the year 1735, and had attained to a seventh
edition in 1779. Although this version may be pronounced very nearly
to fulfil the promise set forth in its title page, of being “as
literal as possible,” still, from the singular inelegance of its
style, and the fact of its being couched in the conversational
language of the early part of the last century, and being
unaccompanied by any attempt at explanation, it may safely be
pronounced to be ill adapted to the requirements of the present age.
Indeed, it would not, perhaps, be too much to assert, that, although
the translator may, in his own words, “have done an acceptable
service to such gentlemen as are desirous of regaining or improving
the skill they acquired at school,” he has, in many instances,
burlesqued rather than translated his author. Some of the curiosities
of his version will be found set forth in the notes; but, for the
purpose of the more readily justifying this assertion, a few of them
are adduced: the word “nitidus” is always rendered “neat,”
whether applied to a fish, a cow, a chariot, a laurel, the steps of a
temple, or the art of wrestling. He renders “horridus,” “in a
rude pickle;” “virgo” is generally translated “the young
lady;” “vir” is “a gentleman;” “senex” and “senior”
are indifferently “the old blade,” “the old fellow,” or “the
old gentleman;” while “summa arx” is “the very tip-top.”
“Misera” is “poor soul;” “exsilio” means “to bounce
forth;” “pellex” is “a miss;” “lumina” are “the
peepers;” “turbatum fugere” is “to scower off in a mighty
bustle;” “confundor” is “to be jumbled;” and “squalidus”
is “in a sorry pickle.” “Importuna” is “a plaguy baggage;”
“adulterium” is rendered “her pranks;” “ambages” becomes
either “a long rabble of words,” “a long-winded detail,” or
“a tale of a tub;” “miserabile carmen” is “a dismal ditty;”
“increpare hos” is “to rattle these blades;” “penetralia”
means “the parlour;” while “accingere,” more literally than
elegantly, is translated “buckle to.” “Situs” is “nasty
stuff;” “oscula jungere” is “to tip him a kiss;” “pingue
ingenium” is a circumlocution for “a blockhead;” “anilia
instrumenta” are “his old woman’s accoutrements;” and
“repetito munere Bacchi” is conveyed to the sense of the reader
as, “they return again to their bottle, and take the other glass.”
These are but a specimen of the blemishes which disfigure the most
literal of the English translations of the Metamorphoses.In
the year 1656, a little volume was published, by J[ohn] B[ulloker,]
entitled “Ovid’s Metamorphosis, translated grammatically, and,
according to the propriety of our English tongue, so far as grammar
and the verse will bear, written chiefly for the use of schools, to
be used according to the directions in the preface to the painfull
schoolmaster, and more fully in the book called, ‘Ludus Literarius,
or the Grammar school, chap. 8.’” Notwithstanding a title so
pretentious, it contains a translation of no more than the first 567
lines of the first Book, executed in a fanciful and pedantic manner;
and its rarity is now the only merit of the volume. A literal
interlinear translation of the first Book “on the plan recommended
by Mr. Locke,” was published in 1839, which had been already
preceded by “a selection from the Metamorphoses of Ovid, adapted to
the Hamiltonian system, by a literal and interlineal translation,”
published by James Hamilton, the author of the Hamiltonian system.
This work contains selections only from the first six books, and
consequently embraces but a very small portion of the entire work.For
the better elucidation of the different fabulous narratives and
allusions, explanations have been added, which are principally
derived from the writings of Herodotus, Apollodorus, Pausanias, Dio
Cassius, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Strabo, Hyginus, Nonnus, and
others of the historians, philosophers, and mythologists of
antiquity. A great number of these illustrations are collected in the
elaborate edition of Ovid, published by the Abbé Banier, one of the
most learned scholars of the last century; who has, therein, and in
his “Explanations of the Fables of Antiquity,” with indefatigable
labour and research, culled from the works of ancient authors, all
such information as he considered likely to throw any light upon the
Mythology and history of Greece and Rome.This
course has been adopted, because it was considered that a statement
of the opinions of contemporary authors would be the most likely to
enable the reader to form his own ideas upon the various subjects
presented to his notice. Indeed, except in two or three instances,
space has been found too limited to allow of more than an occasional
reference to the opinions of modern scholars. Such being the object
of the explanations, the reader will not be surprised at the absence
of critical and lengthened discussions on many of those moot points
of Mythology and early history which have occupied, with no very
positive result, the attention of Niebuhr, Lobeck, Müller, Buttmann,
and many other scholars of profound learning.A
SYNOPTICAL VIEW of the Principal Transformations Mentioned in THE
METAMORPHOSES.BOOK
I.Chaos
is divided by the Deity into four Elements: to these their respective
inhabitants are assigned, and man is created from earth and water.
The four Ages follow, and in the last of these the Giants aspire to
the sovereignty of the heavens; being slain by Jupiter, a new race of
men springs up from their blood. These becoming noted for their
impiety, Jupiter not only transforms Lycaon into a wolf, but destroys
the whole race of men and animals by a Deluge, with the exception of
Deucalion and Pyrrha, who, when the waters have abated, renew the
human race, by throwing stones behind them. Other animated beings are
produced by heat and moisture: and, among them, the serpent Python.
Phœbus slays him, and institutes the Pythian games as a memorial of
the event, in which the conquerors are crowned with beech; for as yet
the laurel does not exist, into which Daphne is changed soon after,
while flying from Phœbus. On this taking place, the other rivers
repair to her father Peneus, either to congratulate or to console
him; but Inachus is not there, as he is grieving for his daughter Io,
whom Jupiter, having first ravished her, has changed into a cow. She
is entrusted by Juno to the care of Argus; Mercury having first
related to him the transformation of the Nymph Syrinx into reeds,
slays him, on which his eyes are placed by Juno in the tail of the
peacock. Io, having recovered human shape, becomes the mother of
Epaphus.BOOK
II.Epaphus,
having accused Phaëton of falsely asserting that Phœbus is his
father, Phaëton requests Phœbus, as a proof of his affection
towards his child, to allow him the guidance of the chariot of the
Sun for one day. This being granted, the whole earth is set on fire
by him, and the Æthiopians are turned black by the heat. Jupiter
strikes Phaëton with a thunderbolt, and while his sisters and his
kinsman Cyenus are lamenting him, the former are changed into trees,
and Cyenus into a swan. On visiting the earth, that he may repair the
damage caused by the conflagration, Jupiter sees Calisto, and,
assuming the form of Diana, he debauches her. Juno, being enraged,
changes Calisto into a bear; and her own son Arcas being about to
pierce her with an arrow, Jupiter places them both among the
Constellations. Juno having complained of this to Oceanus, is borne
back to the heavens by her peacocks, who have so lately changed their
colour; a thing which has also happened to the raven, which has been
lately changed from white to black, he having refused to listen to
the warnings of the crow (who relates the story of its own
transformation, and of that of Nyctimene into an owl), and having
persisted in informing Phœbus of the intrigues of Coronis. Her son
Æsculapius being cut out of the womb of Coronis and carried to the
cave of Chiron the Centaur, Ocyrrhoë, the daughter of Chiron, is
changed into a mare, while she is prophesying. Her father in vain
invokes the assistance of Apollo, for he, in the guise of a shepherd,
is tending his oxen in the country of Elis. He neglecting his herd,
Mercury takes the opportunity of stealing it; after which he changes
Battus into a touchstone, for betraying him. Flying thence, Mercury
beholds Herse, the daughter of Cecrops, and debauches her. Her sister
Aglauros, being envious of her, is changed into a rock. Mercury
returns to heaven, on which Jupiter orders him to drive the herds of
Agenor towards the shore; and then, assuming the form of a bull, he
carries Europa over the sea to the isle of Crete.BOOK
III.Agenor
commands his son Cadmus to seek his sister Europa. While he is doing
this, he slays a dragon in Bœotia; and having sowed its teeth in the
earth, men are produced, with whose assistance he builds the walls of
Thebes. His first cause of grief is the fate of his grandson Actæon,
who, being changed into a stag, is torn to pieces by his own hounds.
This, however, gives pleasure to Juno, who hates not only Semele, the
daughter of Cadmus, and the favourite of Jupiter, but all the house
of Agenor as well. Assuming the form of Beroë, she contrives the
destruction of Semele by the lightnings of Jupiter; while Bacchus,
being saved alive from his mother’s womb, is brought up on the
earth. Jupiter has a discussion with Juno on the relative pleasures
of the sexes, and they agree to refer the question to Tiresias, who
has been of both sexes. He gives his decision in favour of Jupiter,
on which Juno deprives him of sight; and, by way of recompense,
Jupiter bestows on him the gift of prophesy. His first prediction is
fulfilled in the case of Narcissus, who, despising the advances of
all females (in whose number is Echo, who has been transformed into a
sound), at last pines away with love for himself, and is changed into
a flower which bears his name. Pentheus, however, derides the
prophet; who predicts his fate, and his predictions are soon
verified; for, on the celebration of the orgies, Bacchus having
assumed a disguise, is brought before him; and having related to
Pentheus the story of the transformation of the Etrurian sailors into
dolphins, he is thrown into prison. On this, Pentheus is torn in
pieces by the Bacchanals, and great respect is afterwards paid to the
rites of Bacchus.BOOK
IV.Still
Alcithoë and her sisters, neglecting the rites, attend to their
spinning, during the festivities, and pass the time in telling
stories; and, among others, that of Pyramus and Thisbe, by whose
blood the mulberry is turned from white to black, and that of the
discovery of the intrigues of Mars and Venus, on the information of
the Sun. They also tell how the Sun assumed the form of Eurynome,
that he might enjoy her daughter Leucothoë; how Clytie, becoming
jealous of her sister, was transformed into a sun-flower; and how
Salmacis and Hermaphroditus had become united into one body. After
this, through the agency of Bacchus, the sisters are transformed into
bats, and their webs are changed into vines. Ino rejoicing at this,
Juno, in her hatred and indignation, sends one of the Furies to her,
who causes her to be struck with insanity, on which she leaps into
the sea, with her son Melicerta in her arms; but by the intercession
of Venus, they become sea Deities, and their Sidonian attendants, who
are bewailing them as dead, are changed into rocks. Cadmus, afflicted
at this fresh calamity, retires from Thebes, and flies to Illyria,
together with his wife, where they are both transformed into
serpents. Of those who despise Bacchus, Acrisius alone remains, the
grandfather of Perseus, who, having cut off the head of the Gorgon
Medusa, serpents are produced by her blood. Perseus turns Atlas into
a mountain, and having liberated Andromeda, he changes sea-weed into
coral, and afterwards marries her.BOOK
V.A
tumult arising during the celebration of the nuptials, Phineus claims
Andromeda, who has been betrothed to him; and together with Prœtus,
he and Polydectes are turned into stone. Pallas, who has aided
Perseus, now leaves him, and goes to Helicon, to see the fountain of
Hippocrene. The Muses tell her the story of Pyreneus and the
Pierides, who were transformed into magpies after they had repeated
various songs on the subjects of the transformation of the Deities
into various forms of animals; the rape of Proserpine, the wanderings
of Ceres, the change of Cyane into a fountain, of a boy into a
lizard, of Ascalaphus into an owl, of the Sirens into birds in part,
of Arethusa into a spring, of Lyncus into a lynx, and of the
invention of agriculture by Triptolemus.BOOK
VI.Influenced
by the example of the Muses, Pallas determines on the destruction of
Arachne. She enters with her into a contest for the superiority in
the art of weaving. Each represents various transformations on her
web, and then Arachne is changed into a spider. Niobe, however, is
not deterred thereby from preferring her own lot to that of Latona;
on account of which, all her children are slain by Apollo and Diana,
and she is changed into a rock. On learning this, while one person
relates the transformation by Latona of the Lycian rustics into
frogs, another calls to mind how Marsyas was flayed by Apollo. Niobe
is lamented by Pelops, whose shoulder is of ivory. To console the
Thebans in their afflictions, ambassadors come from the adjacent
cities. The Athenians alone are absent, as they are attacked by
hordes of barbarians, who are routed by Tereus, who marries Progne,
the daughter of Pandion. Tereus coming a second time to Athens, takes
back with him to his kingdom Philomela, his wife’s sister; and
having committed violence on her, with other enormities, he is
transformed into a hoopoe, while Philomela is changed into a
nightingale, and Progne becomes a swallow. Pandion, hearing of these
wondrous events dies of grief. Erectheus succeeds him, whose
daughter, Orithyia, is ravished by Boreas, and by him is the mother
of Calais and Zethes, who are of the number of the Argonauts on the
following occasion.BOOK
VII.Jason,
by the aid of Medea, having conquered the bulls that breathe forth
flames, having sowed the teeth of a serpent, from which armed men are
produced, and having lulled the dragon to sleep, recovers the Golden
Fleece. Medea, accompanying Jason to Greece, restores Æson to youth
by the aid of drugs; and promising the same to Pelias, having first,
as a specimen, changed a ram into a lamb, by stratagem she kills him.
Passing through many places made remarkable by various
transformations, and having slain her children, she marries Ægeus,
when Theseus returns home, and narrowly escapes being poisoned by her
magic potions. Minos interrupts the joy of Ægeus on the return of
his son, and wages war against him; having collected troops from all
parts, even from Paros, where Arne has been changed into a jackdaw.
Minos endeavours to gain the alliance of Æacus, who, however,
refuses it, and sends the Myrmidons, (who have been changed into ants
from men after a severe pestilence), under the command of Cephalus to
assist Ægeus. Cephalus relates to Phocus, the son of Æacus, how,
being carried off by Aurora and assuming another shape, he had
induced his wife Procris to prove faithless; and how he had received
from her a dog and a javelin, the former of which, together with a
fox, was changed into stone; while the latter, by inadvertence,
caused the death of his wife.
