Part 4 (1/2)
[Footnote 55: _By name Parna.s.sus._--Ver. 317. Mount Parna.s.sus has two peaks, of which the one was called 'Tich.o.r.eum,' and was sacred to Bacchus; and the other 'Hypampeum,' and was devoted to Apollo and the Muses.]
[Footnote 56: _The Corycian Nymphs._--Ver. 320. The Corycian Nymphs were so called from inhabiting the Corycian cavern in Mount Parna.s.sus; they were fabled to be the daughters of Plistus, a river near Delphi. There was another Corycian cave in Cilicia, in Asia Minor.]
[Footnote 57: _The prophetic Themis._--Ver. 321. Themis is said to have preceded Apollo in giving oracular responses at Delphi. She was the daughter of Clus and Terra, and was the first to instruct men to ask of the G.o.ds that which was lawful and right, whence she took the name of Themis, which signifies in Greek, 'that which is just and right.']
[Footnote 58: _The native purple sh.e.l.ls._--Ver. 332. 'Murex' was the name of the sh.e.l.l-fish from which the Tyrian purple, so much valued by the ancients, was procured. Some suppose that the meaning here is, that Triton had his shoulders tinted with the purple color of the murex. It is, however, more probable that the Poet means to say that he had his neck and shoulders studded with the sh.e.l.ls of the murex, perhaps as a subst.i.tute for scales.]
[Footnote 59: _He bids him blow._--Ver. 333. There were several Tritons, or minor sea G.o.ds. The one mentioned here, the chief Triton, was fabled to be the son of Neptune and Amphitrite, who always preceded Neptune in his course, and whose arrival he was wont to proclaim by the sound of his sh.e.l.l. He was usually represented as swimming, with the upper part of his body resembling that of a human being, while his lower parts terminated with the tail of a fish.]
[Footnote 60: _The hollow-wreathed trumpet._--Ver. 335. The 'Buccina,' or, as we call it, 'the conch sh.e.l.l,' was a kind of horn, or trumpet, made out of a sh.e.l.l, called 'buccinum.' It was sometimes artificially curved, and sometimes straight, retaining the original form of the sh.e.l.l. The twisted form of the sh.e.l.l was one of the characteristic features of the trumpet, which, in later times, was made of horn, wood, or metal, so as to imitate the sh.e.l.l. It was chiefly used among the Romans, to proclaim the watches of the day and of the night, which watches were thence called 'buccina prima,' 'secunda,' etc. It was also blown at funerals, and at festive entertainments, both before sitting down to table and after. Macrobius tells us, that Tritons holding 'buccinae' were fixed on the roof of the temple of Saturn.]
[Footnote 61: _The bidden retreat._--Ver. 340. 'Canere receptus'
was 'to sound the retreat,' as the signal for the soldiers to cease fighting, and to resume their march.]
[Footnote 62: _Now the sea._--Ver. 343. This and the two following lines are considered as ent.i.tled to much praise for their terseness and brevity, as depicting by their short detached sentences the instantaneous effect produced by the commands of Neptune in reducing his dominions to a state of order.]
[Footnote 63: _A common origin._--Ver. 352. Because Prometheus was the father of Deucalion and Epimetheus of Pyrrha; Prometheus and Epimetheus being the sons of Iapetus. It is in an extended sense that he styles her 'sister,' she being really his cousin.]
[Footnote 64: _The arts of my father._--Ver. 363. He alludes to the story of his father, Prometheus, having formed men of clay, and animated them with fire stolen from heaven.]
EXPLANATION.
Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, were, perhaps, originally three brothers, kings of three separate kingdoms. Having been deified each retaining his sovereignty, they were depicted as having the world divided between them; the empire of the sea falling to the share of Neptune.
Among his occupations, were those of raising and calming the seas; and Ovid here represents him as being so employed.
FABLE X. [I.367-415]
Deucalion and Pyrrha re-people the earth by casting stones behind them, in the manner prescribed by the G.o.ddess Themis, whose oracle they had consulted.
He {thus} spoke, and they wept. They resolved to pray to the Deities of Heaven, and to seek relief through the sacred oracles. There is no delay; together they repair to the waters of Cephisus,[65] though not yet clear, yet now cutting their wonted channel. Then, when they have sprinkled the waters poured on their clothes[66] and their heads, they turn their steps to the temple of the sacred G.o.ddess, the roof of which was defiled with foul moss, and whose altars were standing without fires. Soon as they reached the steps of the temple, each of them fell prostrate on the ground, and, trembling, gave kisses to the cold pavement. And thus they said:
”If the Deities, prevailed upon by just prayers, are to be mollified, if the wrath of the G.o.ds is to be averted; tell us, O Themis, by what art the loss of our race is to be repaired, and give thy a.s.sistance, O most gentle {G.o.ddess} to our ruined fortunes.” The G.o.ddess was moved, and gave this response: ”Depart from my temple, and cover your heads,[67]
and loosen the garments girt {around you}, and throw behind your backs the bones of your great mother.” For a long time they are amazed; and Pyrrha is the first by her words to break the silence, and {then} refuses to obey the commands of the G.o.ddess; and begs her, with trembling lips, to grant her pardon, and dreads to offend the shades of her mother by casting her bones. In the meantime they reconsider the words of the response given, {but} involved in dark obscurity, and they ponder them among themselves. Upon that, the son of Prometheus soothes the daughter of Epimetheus with {these} gentle words, and says, ”Either is my discernment fallacious, or the oracles are just, and advise no sacrilege. The earth is the great mother; I suspect that the stones in the body of the earth are the bones meant; these we are ordered to throw behind our backs.” Although she, descended from t.i.tan,[68] is moved by this interpretation of her husband, still her hope is involved in doubt; so much do they both distrust the advice of heaven; but what harm will it do to try?
They go down, and they veil their heads, and ungird their garments, and cast stones, as ordered, behind their footsteps. The stones (who could have believed it, but that antiquity is a witness {of the thing?}) began to lay aside their hardness and their stiffness, and by degrees to become soft; and when softened, to a.s.sume a {new} form. Presently after, when they were grown larger, a milder nature, too, was conferred on them, so that some shape of man might be seen {in them}, yet though but imperfect; and as if from the marble commenced {to be wrought}, not sufficiently distinct, and very like to rough statues. Yet that part of them which was humid with any moisture, and earthy, was turned into {portions adapted for} the use of the body. That which is solid, and cannot be bent, is changed into bones; that which was just now a vein, still remains under the same name.[69] And in a little time, by the interposition of the G.o.ds above, the stones thrown by the hands of the man, took the shape of a man, and the female {race} was renewed by the throwing of the woman. Thence are we a hardy generation, and able to endure fatigue, and we give proofs from what original we are sprung.
[Footnote 65: _The waters of Cephisus._--Ver. 369. The river Cephisus rises on Mount Parna.s.sus, and flows near Delphi.]
[Footnote 66: _Poured on their clothes._--Ver. 371. It was the custom of the ancients, before entering a temple, either to sprinkle themselves with water, or to wash the body all over.]
[Footnote 67: _Cover your heads._--Ver. 382. It was a custom among the ancients to cover their heads in sacrifice and other acts of wors.h.i.+p, either as a mark of humility, or, according to Plutarch, that nothing of ill omen might meet their sight, and thereby interrupt the performance of the rites.]
[Footnote 68: _Descended from t.i.tan._--Ver. 395. Pyrrha was of the race of the t.i.tans; for Iapetus, her grandfather, was the son of t.i.tan and Terra.]
[Footnote 69: _Under the same name._--Ver. 410. With his usual propensity for punning, he alludes to the use of the word 'vena,'
as signifying either 'a vein' of the body, or a 'streak' or 'vein'
in stone, according to the context.]