Ovid – Pentheus & Bacchus

Metamorphoses 3. 648-689

tum deus illudēns, tamquam modo dēnique fraudem

sēnserit, ē puppī pontum prōspectat aduncā

et flentī similis “nōn haec mihi lītora, nautae, 650

prōmīsistis” ait, “nōn haec mihi terra rogāta est.

quō meruī poenam factō? quae glōria vestra est,

sī puerum iuvenēs, sī multī fallitis ūnum?”

iamdūdum flēbam: lacrimās manus impia nostrās

rīdet et impellit properantibus aequora rēmīs. 655

per tibi nunc ipsum (nec enim praesentior illō

est deus) adiūrō, tam mē tibi vēra referre,

quam vērī māiōra fidē: stetit aequore puppis

haud aliter quam sī siccum nāvāle tenēret.

illī admīrantēs rēmōrum in verbere perstant 660

vēlaque dēdūcunt gemināque ope currere temptant.

impediunt hederae rēmōs nexūque recurvō

serpunt et gravidīs distinguunt vēla corymbīs.

ipse racēmiferīs frontem circumdatus uvīs

pampineīs agitat vēlātam frondibus hastam. 665

quem circā tigrēs simulacraque inānia lyncum

pictārumque iacent fera corpora panthērārum.

exsiluēre virī, sīve hōc īnsānia fēcit,

sīve timor, prīmusque Medon nigrescere coepit

corpore et expressō spīnae curvāmine flectī. 670

incipit huic Lycabās: “in quae mīrācula” dixit

“verteris?” et lātī rictūs et panda loquentī

nāris erat, squamamque cutis dūrāta trahēbat.

at Libys obstantēs dum vult obvertere rēmōs,

in spatium resilīre manūs breve vīdit et illās 675

iam non esse manūs, iam pinnās posse vocārī.

alter, ad intortōs cupiēns dare bracchia fūnēs,

bracchia non habuit, truncōque repandus in undās

corpore dēsiluit: falcāta novissima cauda est,

quālia dīmidiae sinuantur cornua lūnae. 680

undique dant saltūs multāque adspergine rōrant

ēmerguntque iterum redeuntque sub aequora rursus

inque chorī lūdunt speciem lascīvaque iactant

corpora et acceptum patulīs mare nāribus efflant.

dē modo vigintī (tot enim ratis illa ferēbat) 685

restābam sōlus. pavidum gelidumque trementī

corpore vixque meum firmat deus “excūte” dicēns

“corde metum Diamque tenē.” dēlātus in illam

accessī sacrīs Bacchēaque sacra frequentō.”

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Notes
Bacchus in the guise of his own priest tells the story of the god’s epiphany at sea as a cautionary tale. Meter: dactylic hexameters
648 tamquam modo sēnserit (subjunctive): “as if he had just now sensed …”650 flentī similis = “like one crying”652 quō factō expresses cause: “for what deed …?”655 properō, properāre, properāvī, properātum: to move quickly, hurry, speed along656 ipsum refers to Bacchus – the god himeslf; the second person here is Pentheus stetit = “stopped”; illō expresses the term of comprison – “than him”657 mē tibi referre expresses what he is averring: “that I am telling you”658 tam vēra … quam māiōra fidē vērī: “things as true as they are beyond belief”659 puppis, -is, f.: the stern, poop (of a ship); by metonymy = nāvis aequore expresses location: “in the …”660 haud aliter quam sī = “just as if” nāvāle here is a noun, = “dockyard”661 dēdūcunt = “unfurl”, i.e., they let them down geminā ope refers to both rowing and wind power663 distinguunt = “punctuate”664 racēmifer: clusterbearing frontem circumdatus effectively = “his brow crowned”666 quem circā = “And around him”; quem = et … eum, object of circā667 pictārum, from pingō; they are pictae as being spotted668 exsiluēre = exiluērunt, from exsiliō669 nigrescō, nigrescere: to become darkened, blackened, become black670 flectī (passive infinitive of flecto): “to be bent” curvāmen, -minis, n.: curve, curvature; expressō here means ‘pronounced’ spīnae is a defining genitive: “of the spine”671 mīrāculum, -ī, n.: marvel, wondrous thing, wonder672 rictus, -ūs, m.: maw, mouth; the plural is used here for the singular pandus, -a, -um: bent, curved loquentī – dative of the present participle: “for him as he was speaking”673 durātus, -a, -um: hardened squamam: dolphins, of course, do not have scales674 obstantēs: resistant, intractable, with rēmōs675 resīlīre: to leap back, leap away, i.e., to vanish676 pinnās here = “fins” 678 repandus, -a, -um: bent back truncus, -a, -um: dismembered, without limbs679 dēsiliō, dēsilīre, dēsiluī: to jump down falcātus, -a, -um: scythe-shaped, i.e., curved; the novissima cauda is the farthest part of it, the tip680 sinuantur: “curve” (passive as intransitive); quālia effectively = “just as” The lūna dīmidia is the crescent moon681 saltus, -ūs m.: a leaping, a jump; dant saltūs is a periphrasis, = saliunt aspergō, asperginis, f.: splashing rorō, rōrāre: to mist, produce spray (literally ‘dew’), splash 682 redeunt, from redeō, “return”683 chorus, -ī, m.: “dance troupe”684 efflant: “blow out”; the ablative patulīs nāribus is separative: “from their … ”685 ratis, ratis, f.: bark, raft, vessel687 excūtō, excūtere, excussī, excussum: to shake out, drive out, get rid of688 tenē, i.e. head for dēlātus (from dēferō) = “having disembarked”689 accessī, from accēdō (+ dative) Bacchēus, -a, -um: Bacchan, of Bacchus

Dionysian Procession, stone sarcophagus

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