Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 1: Daphne & Apollo

1.438 - 1.473 (Beginning)

Apollo & the Python

Illa¹ quidem nollet², sed te quoque, maxime Python³,

tum genuit, populisque novis, incognita serpens,

terror eras: tantum⁴ spatii de monte tenebas. 440

hunc deus⁵ arcitenens, numquam⁶ letalibus armis

ante nisi in dammis⁷ capreisque⁷ fugacibus usus,

mille gravem telis exhausta paene pharetra

perdidit effuso per vulnera nigra veneno.

neve⁸ operis famam posset delere vetustas⁹, 445

instituit sacros celebri¹⁰ certamine ludos,

Pythia¹¹ de domitae serpentis nomine dictos.

hic¹² iuvenum quicumque¹³ manu pedibusve¹⁴ rotave¹⁴

vicerat, aesculeae¹⁵ capiebat frondis honorem.

nondum¹⁶ laurus erat, longoque decentia crine 450

tempora¹⁷ cingebat de qualibet¹⁸ arbore Phoebus¹⁹.

Cupid & Apollo

Primus amor Phoebi Daphne²⁰ Peneia²¹, quem non

fors ignara dedit, sed saeva²² Cupidinis ira,

Delius²³ hunc²⁴ nuper, victa serpente superbus,

viderat adducto flectentem cornua²⁵ nervo²⁶ 455

‘quid²⁷’ que²⁸ ‘tibi, lascive puer, cum fortibus armis?’

dixerat: ‘ista decent umeros gestamina²⁹ nostros³⁰,

qui³¹ dare certa ferae, dare vulnera possumus hosti,

qui modo³² pestifero tot iugera³³ ventre prementem

stravimus innumeris tumidum Pythona³⁴ sagittis. 460

tu face³⁵ nescio³⁶ quos esto³⁷ contentus amores

inritare tua, nec laudes adsere nostras!’

filius huic Veneris ‘figat³⁸ tuus omnia, Phoebe,

te meus arcus’ ait; ‘quantoque³⁹ animalia cedunt

cuncta deo, tanto³⁹ minor⁴⁰ est tua gloria nostra.’ 465

dixit et eliso⁴¹ percussis aere pennis

inpiger umbrosa Parnasi⁴² constitit arce

eque sagittifera prompsit duo tela pharetra

diversorum⁴³ operum: fugat⁴⁴ hoc, facit illud amorem;

quod⁴⁵ facit, auratum est et cuspide fulget acuta, 470

quod⁴⁶ fugat, obtusum est et habet sub harundine plumbum.

hoc⁴⁷ deus in nympha Peneide fixit, at illo⁴⁷

laesit Apollineas⁴⁸ traiecta per ossa medullas;

Commentary

Illa : this refers to Tellus, the Roman mother earth goddess. Gaia is her Greek counterpart. In the section before, Tellus brings forth the creatures of the land after the world has been destroyed in a suspiciously biblical flood. ↩
nollet : potential subjunctive, she would not have wanted…. ↩
Python : the Python is a huge snake that plagued the area around Delphi. In some versions of this myth, it was also the monster sent to terrorize Latona (Leto), the mother of Diana and Apollo, sent by Juno to chase her all over the earth to prevent her from giving birth to the sacred twins from Latona’s affair with Jupiter. ↩
tantum spatii : literally “so much of space,” but so much space sounds a lot better ↩
deus arcitenens : this lofty epithet establishes Apollo as the main character here, and also gives this passage some epic flair ↩
numquam …ante… : because the world and its creatures are so new (newly created by Tellus), Apollo hasn’t needed to use his weapons much before ↩
dammis capreisque : red deer and roe deer. This emphasizes the fact that Apollo has only hunted ease prey up to this point ↩ ↩²
neve : and so that …..not, ne- + -ve ↩
vetustas : remember that there are a class of 3rd declension nouns in the -tas, -tatis pattern, making this your nominative subject ↩
celebri certamine : ablative of description, with a celebrated contest ↩
Pythia : the Pythian Games take their name from Apollo conquering the Python (in some versions of the myth). These games are held every four years at Delphi to honor Apollo, and the winners recieve a laurel crown (important to remember!) for their victory ↩
hic : remember that hic can either from hic, haec, hoc or hic the adverb meaning here. If you don’t need hic as a singular, masculine, subject, and there’s nothing singular, masculine, and nominative for it to describe, then it’s likely hic as in here ↩
quicumque : whoever ↩
-ve…..-ve : either…or ↩ ↩²
aesculeae…frondis : aesculeus, -a, -um refers to any of a variety of oak trees ↩
nondum laurus erat : As often in Ovid, he’s teasing the ending of the story he’s about to tell, giving us the origin story of the laurel tree ↩
tempora : tempus, -oris (n) can also mean temple as in the part of your forehead ↩
de qualibet arbore : from whatever tree you please, the qualibet refers to any unspecified tree, doesn’t matter which one. ↩
Phoebus : Phoebus is another name for or sometimes an epithet of Apollo ↩
Daphne : Daphne is a nymph, or sometimes a mortal woman. Her name is in the Greek Declension, so this is her nominative. She would decline as such : Nom. Daphne, Gen. Daphnes, Dat. Daphnae, Acc. Daphnen, Abl. Daphne ↩
Peneia : Daphne is the daughter of Peneus, a river god. Peneia is a patroynmic adjective, describing Daphne. Translate as daughter of Peneus or as Peneian, continuing the epic tone of this passage ↩
saeva Cupidinis ira : hopefully this phrase makes you think of another epic moment echoed in this line, including the transferred epithet ↩
Delius : Delian (Apollo), an epithet tying him to the island of Delos, where he was born. Another moment of epic flair ↩
hunc : this refers to Cupid ↩
cornua : conru, -us (n) is 4th declension neuter, so this is your direct object here ↩
nervo : nervus, -i (m) here is a bowstring, which were originally made out of the sinew of animal muscle ↩
quid tibi …..cum fortibus armis? : you want something like “what are strong arms to you? or “what are you doing with strong arms?”, a bit of a conversational expression ↩
que : this -que is OUTSIDE of the quotes, but connects the viderat and the dixerat ↩
gestamina : a gestamen, -minis (n) is an “implement or tool,” a lofty, warlike war ↩
nostros : Apollo is using the “royal we,” referring to himself in the plural in an arrogant way ↩
qui dare….hosti : take it like this : qui dare certa [vulnera] ferae [possumus], dare [certa] vulnera possumus hosti ↩
modo : just now, emphasizing the coninuity in the story. Apollo has just killed the Python right before this conversation ↩
tot iugera : take this as your direct object of prementem. A iuger, -eris (n) is a measure of land, let’s just call it an acre ↩
Pythona : Python is in a Greek declension, take this as accusative, masculine, singular ↩
face : fax, facis (f) is a torch, which are commonly associated with the Roman marriage rite. Take this as ablative of means with inritare ↩
nescio quos : “I know not which,” meaning “I don’t care which, whichever ones” ↩
esto : this is an imperative of sum. Translate it as “be….” ↩
figat : notice this as potential subjunctive, since your principal parts are figo, figere. “you might/may pierce” ↩
quanto….tanto : these are correlatives, “as much as….”. To the degree that cuncta animalia deo cedunt, to that same degree is minorest tua gloria nostra ↩ ↩²
minor est tua gloria nostra : Use context (or scansion!) to see which one which adjective is your subject, and which is your ablative of comparison ↩
eliso percussis aere pennis : a truly beautiful ablative absolute with an ablative of means embedded with breathtaking synchisis. What a delight. Take a moment to stand in awe of this line ↩
Parnasi : Mt. Parnasus is a major mountain in Greece on which Delphi sits. It is also the home of the muses, famed for inspiring poets ↩
diversorum operum: : genitive of description ↩
fugat : remember that while fugio, fugere means “to flee,” fugo, fugare means “to MAKE someone else flee” ↩
quod facit : “the one that makes [love]” ↩
quod fugat : “the one that repels [love]” ↩
hoc, illo : often when you get forms of hic, haec, hoc and ille, illa, illud together in one sentence, they mean “this one….and that one….” Hoc is the arrow that repels love, and illo is the arrow that causes love ↩ ↩²
Apollineas : translate as Apollonian, another epic sound adjective ↩