Ovid — Galatea

Metamorphoses 13.759-767

nempe ille inmitis et ipsīs

horrendus silvīs et visus ab hospite nullo 760

impūnē et magnī cum dīs contemptor Olympī,

quid sit amor, sēnsit validāque cupīdine captus

ūritur, oblītus pecorum antrōrumque suōrum.

iamque tibī formae, iamque est tibi cūra placendī,

iam rigidōs pectis rastrīs, Polyphēme, capillōs, 765

iam libet hirsūtam tibi falce recīdere barbam

et spectāre ferōs in aquā et componere vultūs.

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Notes
In Ovid’s conception of the story, Galatea tells another sea-nymph, Scylla, her experience of being wooed by Polyphemus.
Meter: dactylic hexameters
759 nempe = “certainly, without doubt” inmitis, -e (adj.) = “ungentle, brutish” ipsīs … silvīs: dative with horrendus760 vīsus = “seen” 761 impūnē (adv.) = “with impunity, without penalty” The genitive magnī … Olympī modifies contemptor; cum dīs = “together with …” contemptor = “scorner, despiser”762 quid sit amor, indirect question, object of sēnsit: “what love is” validus, -a. -um = “stout, strong, robust” captus = “captured”763 ūritur = “he burns” i.e., with love oblitus = “forgetful, unmindful” antrōrum: from antrum; the plural is used for the singular764 iam … tibi est = “now you have” (dative of the possessor) placendī: the genitive depends on cūra, literally ‘a care of pleasing’, i.e., “a concern for being …” tibi … Polyphēme: note that Galatea addresses Polyphemus, even though he is not present765 pectō, pectere, pexī, pectum = “to comb” rastrum = “rake”766 tibi libet recīdere = “it pleases you to …” recīdere = “cut back, trim” falx, falcis. f.: “scythe; sickle”767 vultūs (plural for singular) = “appearance”; ferōs with vultūs

Giulio Romano, Polyphemus

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