Ovid – Medea & Pelias
Metamorphoses 7.304-349
spēs est virginibus Peliā subiecta creātīs
arte suum parilī revirescere posse parentem. 305
idque petunt pretiumque iubent sine fīne paciscī.
illa brevī spatiō silet et dubitāre vidētur
suspenditque animōs fictā gravitāte rogantēs.
mox ubi pollicita est, “quō sit fidūcia māior
mūneris hūius” ait, “quī vestrī maximus aevō est 310
dux gregis inter ovēs, agnus medicāmine fiet.”
prōtinus innumerīs effētus lāniger annīs
attrahitur flexō circum cava tempora cornū.
cūius ut Haemoniō marcentia guttura cultrō
fōdit et exiguō maculāvit sanguine ferrum, 315
membra simul pecudis validōsque venēfica sūcōs
mergit in aere cavō: minuunt medicāmina corpus
cornuaque exūrunt nec nōn cum cornibus annōs,
et tener audītur mediō bālātus aēno.
nec mora, bālātum mīrantibus exsilit agnus 320
lascīvitque fugā lactantiaque ubera quaerit.
obstipuēre satae Peliā: promissaque postquam
exhibuēre fidem, tum vērō impēnsius īnstant.
ter iuga Phoebus equīs in Hibērō flūmine mersīs
dēmpserat et quartā radiantia nocte micābant 325
sīdera, cum rapidō fallāx Aeētias ignī
impōnit pūrum laticem et sine vīribus herbās.
iamque necī similis resolūtō corpore rēgem
et cum rēge suō custōdēs somnus habēbat,
quem dederant cantūs magicaeque potentia linguae: 330
intrārant iussae cum Colchide līmina nātae
ambierantque torum. “quid nunc dubitātis inertēs?
stringite” ait “gladiōs veteremque haurīte cruōrem,
ut repleam vacuās iuvenālī sanguine vēnās.
in manibus vestrīs vīta est aetāsque parentis: 335
sī pietās ūlla est nec spēs agitātis inānēs,
officium praestāte patrī telīsque senectam
exigite et saniem coniectō ēmittite ferrō.”
his, ut quaeque pia est, hortātibus impia prīma est,
et ne sit scelerāta, facit scelus. haud tamen ictūs 340
ūlla suōs spectāre potest, oculōsque reflectunt
caecaque dant saevīs aversae vulnera dextrīs.
ille, cruōre fluēns, cubitō tamen adlevat artūs
sēmilacerque torō temptat consurgere et inter
tot medius gladiōs pallentia bracchia tendens 345
“quid facitis, gnātae? quis vōs in fāta parentis
armat?” ait. cecidēre illīs animīque manūsque.
plūra locūtūrō cum verbīs guttura Colchis
abstulit et calidīs laniātum mersit in undīs.
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Notes
Meter: dactylic hexameters
304 subiecta est, from subiciō, “cast under”, here was the sense of ‘was suggested’virginibus Peliā creātīs, a periphrasis for fīliābus (dat.) Peliae, which will not fit in hexameter verse305 ilis, -e: like, equalrevirescō, revirescere: to rejuvenate (literally, ‘make green again’)306 paciscī = “to stipulate” sine fīne means that Medea can state her own price, without restriction307 sileō, silēre: to be silent308 suspendit animōs, i.e., keeps them in suspensegravitās, -tātis, f.: heaviness, seriousness, gravity309 polliceor, pollicērī, pollicitus sum: to promisequō = ut eō, with subjunctive,literally, ‘that your belief might be the stronger’; the ablative modifies the comparative māiōr, in the sense of ‘thereby’. Compare the adverbial use of ‘the’ in English expressions such as ‘the more the merrier’.310 dūx is the antecedent of quī, = is dūx gregis quī … aevum, -ī, n.: age; maximus aevō simply = “oldest”311 fiet: “will become”312 effētus, -a, -um: worn out, exhaustedlāniger, -a, -um: wool-bearing, here used as a noun313 flexus, -a, -um: curving, bent314 Haemonius, -a, -um: Thessalian; culter, cultrī, m.: a knife, a butcher’s knifeguttur, gutturis, n.: the throat, gullet`marceō, marcēre: to droop, sag, be shriveled; ut with the indicative = “as”315 fodiō, fodere, fōdī, fossum: to dig, gouge; stab, piercemaculō, maculāre, maculāvī, maculātum: to stain316 venēfica is nominative (first declension noun): poisoner, sorceress, witch317 minuō, minuere, minuī, minūtum: to become smaller, shrink318 exūrō, exūrere: to burn offnec nōn = “as well as”319 mediō aenō is ablative expressing the sourcebālātus, -ūs, m.: bleeting320 bālātum mīrantibus, dative: “for them as they are marveling at the …”321 fugā: “in flight”ūber, ūberis, n.: udder, teatlactō, lactāre, lactāvī, lactātum: to produce milk, give milk322 obstipuēre = obstipuērunt; obstipescō, obstipescere, obstipuī: to become numb, senseless; be stupified sātae Peliā is another periphrases for ‘daughters of Pelias’, literally, ‘women sown of Pelias’323 exhibeō, exhibēre, exhibuī, exhibitum: to hold forth, deliver, produce (the perfect ending -ēre = -ērunt)fidem exhibere = produce beliefimpensius (comparative adverb): more expansively, more extravagantly324 iugum in the plural refers to the yokes on the team of horses drawing the chariot of the SunThe Hiberum flūmen is the Ebro in Spain, where the sun appears to set:Hibērus, -a, -um: Iberian325 dēmō, dēmere, dēmpsī, dēmptum: to take off;dēmere iuga equīs, literally ‘remove the yokes from the horses’326 Aeētias is a patronymic, ‘daughter of Aetes’, i.e. Medearapidō ignī — dative with impōnit327 latex, laticis, m.: liquid, fluid; pūrus latex = plain watersine vīribus – without potency; see vīs328 similis with somnus in 328; necī from nexresolūtus, -a, -um: relaxed329 suō refers to the guards: ‘the guards, together with their king’330 quem – the antecedent is somnus; dederant = “had produced”331 intrārant is a contraction of intrāverantlīmina = Pelias’ bedroom, by metonymy332 ambierant, pluperfect of ambiō, ambīre: to go around, surroundiners, inertis (adjective): incompetent, usless334 repleō, replēre, replēvī, replētum: to fill up again, refill, replenish336 piētās, -tātis, f.: piety, sense of duty, devotion, affectionspēs agitāre means to entertain them, to experience them 337 senecta, -ae, f. – variant form of senectūs, -tūtis, f.: old age338 saniēs, -eī, f.: gore, bad blood, bloody fluidconiectō ferrō, i.e., with a thrust of the iron339 quaeque: see quisquepius, -a, -um: pious, dutiful, loyal, affectionate, the opposite of which is impius, -a, -umhortātus, -ūs, m.: exhortation, encouragement340 scelerātus, -a, -um: polluted, criminalized, defiled343 fluēns, literally ‘flowing’cubitus, -ī, m.: the elbowadlevō, adlevāre: to raise up, lift344 sēmilacer, -era, -erum: half-mangledconsurgō, consurgere, consurrexī, consurrectum: to raise up, raise oneself up345 pallēns: pale346 gnātae, alternative spelling of nātae347 cecidēre = cecidērunt348 plūra locutūrō: plūra is accusative, object of locutūrō, which is dative with abstulit: “as he was about to say more”349 calidus, -a, -um: hotlaniātus, -a, -um: mutilate, mangledundae as often = aqua in Ovid
