Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 1: Daphne & Apollo

1.525 - 1.567 (End)

The Transformation

Plura¹ locuturum timido Peneia² cursu 525

fugit cumque³ ipso verba inperfecta reliquit,

tum quoque visa⁴ decens; nudabant corpora venti,

obviaque⁵ adversas vibrabant flamina vestes,

et levis inpulsos retro dabat aura capillos,

auctaque⁶ forma fuga est. sed enim non sustinet⁷ ultra⁸ 530

perdere blanditias iuvenis deus, utque⁹ monebat

ipse Amor, admisso¹⁰ sequitur vestigia passu.

ut¹¹ canis in vacuo leporem cum Gallicus arvo

vidit, et hic¹² praedam pedibus petit, ille¹² salutem;

alter¹³ inhaesuro¹⁴ similis iam iamque tenere 535

sperat et extento stringit vestigia¹⁵ rostro¹⁶,

alter¹³ in¹⁷ ambiguo est, an¹⁸ sit conprensus, et ipsis

morsibus eripitur¹⁹ tangentiaque ora relinquit:

sic¹¹ deus²⁰ et virgo est hic¹² spe celer, illa¹² timore.

qui tamen insequitur pennis adiutus Amoris²¹, 540

ocior est requiemque negat tergoque fugacis²²

inminet et crinem²³ sparsum cervicibus adflat.

viribus absumptis expalluit illa citaeque

victa labore fugae spectans Peneidas²⁴ undas

‘fer, pater,’ inquit ‘opem²⁵! si flumina²⁶ numen habetis, 545

qua²⁷ nimium placui, mutando perde figuram!’

[quae²⁸ facit ut laedar mutando perde figuram.]

vix prece finita torpor gravis occupat artus,

mollia cinguntur tenui praecordia²⁹ libro³⁰,

in frondem³¹ crines, in ramos bracchia crescunt, 550

pes modo³² tam velox pigris radicibus haeret,

ora cacumen³³ habet: remanet³⁴ nitor unus in illa.

Hanc quoque Phoebus amat positaque in stipite dextra³⁵

sentit adhuc trepidare novo sub cortice³⁶ pectus

conplexusque suis ramos ut³⁷ membra lacertis 555

oscula dat ligno; refugit tamen oscula lignum.

cui deus ‘at, quoniam coniunx mea non potes esse,

arbor eris certe’ dixit ‘mea! semper habebunt

te coma, te citharae³⁸, te nostrae, laure³⁹, pharetrae;

tu ducibus⁴⁰ Latiis aderis, cum laeta Triumphum 560

vox⁴¹ canet et visent⁴² longas Capitolia pompas;

postibus Augustis eadem fidissima custos

ante fores⁴³ stabis mediamque tuebere⁴⁴ quercum⁴⁵,

utque meum intonsis caput est iuvenale⁴⁶ capillis,

tu quoque perpetuos semper gere frondis honores!’ 565

finierat Paean⁴⁷: factis modo laurea⁴⁸ ramis

adnuit utque⁴⁹ caput visa est agitasse cacumen⁵⁰.

Commentary

Plura locuturum : note the kind of participle of locuturum, and take plura as its direct object ↩
Peneia : daughter of Peneus, meaning Daphne. a patronymic, as we’ve seen ↩
cumque ipso : just a regular cum preposition, not a cum clause, especially given the indicative verb ↩
visa : remember that video in the passive voice can often mean “seem” ↩
obviaque adversas : both of these opposing words paint a vivid picture of this chase scene ↩
auctaque forma fuga est : scan this line to figure out the lengths of the vowels here. Unfortunately, you cannot tell the length of a voewl swallowed up by elision, but you can still figure it out here. ↩
non sustinet…perdere blanditias : he no longer put up with [sustinet wasting time [(tempus) perdere] on flattery [blanditias] ↩
ultra : any more, or further ↩
utque : remember that ut with an indicative verb is as ↩
admisso…pasu : with a step having been urged on, or with a step having been made to gallop ↩
ut….sic : ut…sic is another way to start a simile, just like talis….qualis ↩ ↩²
hic….ille : when you get forms of hic, haec, hoc and ille, illa, illud used in the same sentence, they often mean “this one…..that one…” ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
alter….alter : “the one…..the other….. ↩ ↩²
inhaesuro similis : similar to one about to cling on, the adjective similis, -e takes a dative of reference ↩
vestigia : usually this means foosteps, but heels fits perfectly here ↩
_rostro__ : a rostrum can be the mouth of any animal, so go with snout here. And take a minor to marvel at this beautifully vivid epic simile ↩
in ambiguo : = in dubio ↩
an : whether, a good word to commit to memory ↩
eripitur : sometimes passive verbs can be translated in the “middle voice” sense from Ancient Greek, meaning something like “she snatches herself,” like a reflexive verb. This is mostly my reading/idea here; you can make it a regular passive if you like ↩
deus et virgo …. illa timore : take it like this - sic deus et virgo: hic est celer spe, illa est celer timore, with both spe and timore as ablatives of cause ↩
Amoris : = Cupidinis ↩
fugacis : a substantive adjective (adjective being used as a noun) referring to Daphne ↩
crinem sparsum cervicibus adflat : creepy ↩
Peneidas undas : Daphne sees the Peneus river, where her father is the river god. ↩
fer…opem : bring help! ↩
_si flumina numen habetis__ : note the -tis ending of habetis. So something like “if you, rivers, have power” ↩
qua….figuram : the qua refers to the figuram later on. Start with the second half of this line. It is not uncommon for Latin authors to put the relative clause before it’s antecedent (though this goes against the name “antecedent” ) ↩
[quae….figuram] : this line is [bracketed] to show that an editor (person who compiled this text of Ovid) believed that it was a supurious (illigitmate) line. The idea is that, somewhere in the manuscript tradition when the Metamorphoses was being copied and copied and copied, this extra line snuck in. More to follow on this in class ↩
praecordia : note that this word, “prae+cor means “in front of her heart,” ↩
libro : translate this as “with bark (of a tree)”, since books (the usual meaning of liber) were originally made out of tree bark ↩
in frondem crines : hmm, you seem to be missing a verb, I wonder where you can borrow one from? ↩
pes modo tam velox : “her foot just now (modo) so swift,” such a great Ovidian phrase. ↩
ora cacumen habet : a cacumen, -inis (n) is the word for a “tree top”. Note that ora is neuter plural, so make sure your subject matches your verb ↩
remanet nitor unus in illa : Ovid notes that Daphne’s beauty still remains after the transformation ↩
dextra : supply manu with this, especially since manus, -us is feminine ↩
cortice : cortex, -icis (f) is “bark” ↩
ut membra : as if limbs ↩
citharae : a cithara is a form of lyre, the musical instrument associated with Apollo, god of music ↩
laure : = here we see the pay off from the start of the story where Ovid told us that the laurel did not yet exist to crown the victors of the Pythinan Games, nondum laurus erat (Ov. Met. 1.450) ↩
ducibus Latiis aderis : recall that compund verbs (ad+sum) take a dative of reference ↩
vox canet : the verb cano, canere takes a direct object, as in arma virumque cano (Verg. An 1.1), “sing (of) the arms and the man…” Additionally, note canet as future tense, since it’s 3rd conjugation (-am, -es, -et….) ↩
visent longas Capitolia pompas : a Roman triumph culimanted at the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill ↩
fores : foris, -is (f) are gates ↩
tuebere : this is an alternate form of teuberis ↩
quercum : the corona civica was an honor given to a Roman who saved the lives of fellow citizens, and was represented as an oak crown. Augustus was given this honor for his role in ending the Roman Civil War ↩
iuvenale : recall that 3rd declension adjectives ending in -is end in -e in the neuter nominative and accusative. Recall also that caput, capitis is neuter ↩
Paean : another name for Apollo, specifically as a healing god ↩
laurea : = laurus, -i (f) ↩
utque caput : as if a head, see note 37 above ↩
cacumen : cacumen, -minis (n) is a “tree top” ↩