Ovid –Acis & Galatea

Metamorphoses 13.873-892

cum ferus ignarōs nec quicquam tāle timentēs

mē videt atque Ācin “videō” que exclāmat “et ista

ultima sit, faciam, veneris concordia vestrae!” 875

tantaque vox, quantam Cyclops īrātus habēre

dēbuit, illa fuit: clāmore perhorruit Aetnē.

ast ego vīcīnō pavefacta sub aequore mergor,

terga fugae dederat conversa Symaethius hērōs

et “fer opem, Galatēa, precor, mihi! ferte, parentēs” 880

dīxerat “et vestrīs peritūrum admittite regnīs!”

insequitur Cyclops partemque ē monte revulsam

mittit, et extrēmus quamvis pervēnit ad illum

angulus, is mōlis tōtum tamen obruit Ācin.

at nōs, quod fierī sōlum per fāta licēbat, 885

fēcimus, ut vīrēs adsumeret Ācis avītās.

pūniceus dē mōle cruor mānābat, et intrā

temporis exiguum rubor ēvanescere coepit

fitque color prīmō turbātī flūminis imbre

purgāturque morā; tum mōles tacta dehiscit, 890

vīvaque per rīmās prōcēraque surgit harundō,

ōsque cavum saxī sonat exsultantibus undīs.

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Notes
Galatea continues her tale of Polyphemus.
Meter: dactylic hexameters
873 cum … videt: cum the conjunction, not the preposition: “when …”; the tense is historical present nec quicquam tāle timentēs = “and not (nec) fearing (timentēs) anything (quicquam) of the sort (tāle)”874 mē … atque Acin: Acin is a Greek accusative “videō ”que exclāmat = et exclāmat “videō …”875 et faciam (ut) ista concordia sit ultima: (literally) “and I shall make it that this concord of love of yours is the last”876 Word order: illa vox fuit tanta quantam Cyclops debuit habēre – “… was as great as a Cyclops ought to have … ”877 perhorruit = “shuddered” Aetnē (Greek nominative) is Etna, the mountain878 pavefactus, -a, -um: “terrified” mergor = “I plunge”879 Symaethius = “son of Symaethis”, i.e. Acis conversa = “turned”, with terga; note that fugae is dative880 fer and ferte are imperatives: “Bring …!” opem from ops: “help”881 admittite (imperative) , understand mē peritūrum: “as I am about to die”; vestrīs … regnīs is dative882 insequitur = “follows; gives pursuit” revulsus, -a, -um : “torn off”883 extrēmus: i.e., only the merest tip884 angulus, -ī, m.: “corner” molis, -is, f.: “mass” obruō, obruere, obruī, obrutum: = “ovewhelm, cover over, bury”885 Word order: nōs fēcimis (id) sōlum quod licēbat fierī: “we did the only thing that was permitted …” per fāta = “by the fates” fierī = “to happen”886 ut Acis adsumeret = “that Acis should take on” avītus, -a, -um (from avus, “grandfather”): “ancestral”887 pūniceus, –a, -um: “crimson”888 coepit = “began”889 prīmō … imbre: “at the first rainstorm”; fit = “becomes” The genitive turbātī flūminis modifies color890 purgātur (passive) = “is cleansed” dehiscit = “opens up, yawns open” tactus, -a, -um = “touched, having been touched”, with moles, referring to the part of the mass that had touched him891 per rīmās = “through the cracks”892 exultantibus undīs (ablative) literally = “from the waters leaping out”

Odelin Redon, Cyclops

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