Works of Nonnus

by Nonnus

  ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε οἱ στείχοντι λεωφόρα κύκλα κελεύθου

  125 τηλεφανὴς βασιλῆος ἐφαίνετο πανδόκος αὐλὴ

  κίοσιν ὑψωθεῖσα, τανυσσαμένη τότε Κάδμῳ

  δάκτυλον ἀντιτύποιο νοήμονα μάρτυρα φωνῆς

  σιγαλέῳ κήρυκι δόμον σημήνατο Πειθὼ

  ποικίλον ἀστράπτοντα: καὶ αἰθέρα δύσατο δαίμων

  130 ἀλλοφανὴς πτερόεντι διαιθύσσουσα πεδίλῳ.

  [123] With these words, she sealed up her talkative beak, a silent witness now. Cadmos walked along the winding highroad; and when the king’s allhospitable court came into view, far-seen upon its lofty pillars, Peitho pointed a finger to indicate the corresponding words in her mind, and by this voiceless herald showed the house of shining artistry: then the divinity in antoher shape rose into the sky, shooting through it with winged shoe.

  καὶ δόμον ἐσκοπίαζεν ἀλήμονι Κάδμος ὀπωπῇ

  Ἡφαίστου σοφὸν ἔργον, ὃν Ἠλέκτρῃ ποτὲ νύμφῃ

  ἐργοπόνος Λήμνοιο Μυριναίῃ κάμε τέχνῃ,

  δαίδαλα πολλὰ φέροντα. νεοσταθέος δὲ μελάθρου

  135 χάλκεος οὐδὸς ἔην εὐήλατος: ἀμφίθυροι δὲ

  σταθμοὶ ἐμηκύνοντο πολυγλυφέων πυλεώνων,

  καὶ λόφος ὀμφαλόεντι διεσφαίρωτο καρήνῳ

  μεσσοφανὴς ὀρόφοιο: λιθοστρώτοιο δὲ τοίχου

  νῶτα κατεστήρικτο πεπηγότα λευκάδι γύψῳ

  140 εἰς μυχὸν ἐξ οὐδοῖο. πέλας δέ τις ὄρχατος αὐλῆς

  ἀμφιλαφὴς δροσόεντι φυτῶν ἐβαρύνετο καρπῷ

  τετράγυος πρὸ δόμοιο: καὶ ἄρσενα φύλλα πετάσσας

  θηλυτέρῳ φοίνικι πόθον πιστώσατο φοῖνιξ:

  ὄγχνη τ᾽ ἀγλαόκαρπος ὁμήλικι σύμφυτος ὄγχνῃ

  145 ὄρθριον ἐψιθύριζεν, ἑλισσομένη δὲ κορύμβοις

  γείτονα πιαλέης ἐπεμάστιε θάμνον ἐλαίης:

  εἰαρινοῖς ἀνέμοισιν ἀναινομένῃ παρὰ δάφνῃ

  σείετο μύρσινα φύλλα, καὶ εὐπετάλου κυπαρίσσου

  ὄρθριον ἐρρίπιζε κόμην εὔοδμος ἀήτης:

  150 συκῆς θ᾽ ἡδυτόκοιο καὶ ἰκμαλέης ἀπὸ ῥοιῆς

  καρπὸς ἐρευθιόων ἐπεθήλεεν οἴνοπι καρπῷ

  ἀγχιφύτῳ, καὶ μῆλον ἐπήνθεε γείτονι μήλῳ:

  πολλὰ δὲ Φοιβείοισι σοφοῖς ποικίλλετο φύλλοις

  γράμματα δενδρήεντα φιλοκλαύτων ὑακίνθων:

  155 καὶ Ζεφύρου πνείοντος ἀεξιφύτου διὰ κήπου

  ἄστατον ὄμμα τίταινε πόθων ἀκόρητος Ἀπόλλων,

  καί, φυτὸν ἡβητῆρος ἰδὼν δεδονημένον αὔραις,

  δίσκου μνῆστιν ἔχων ἐλελίζετο, μή ποτε κούρῳ

  ζηλήμων φθονέσειε καὶ ἐν πετάλοισιν ἀήτης,

  160 εἰ ἐτεόν ποτε κεῖνον ἐπισπαίροντα κονίῃ

  ὄμμασιν ἀκλαύτοισιν ἰδὼν δάκρυσεν Ἀπόλλων,

  καὶ τύπος ἀνθεμόεις μορφώσατο δάκρυα Φοίβου

  αἴλινον αὐτοκέλευστον ἐπιγράψας ὑακίνθῳ.

  [131] Then Cadmos surveyed the house with roving gaze: the masterly work of Hephaistos, which the industrious god once built for Electra as a bride, and embellished it with many ornaments in the fine Myrinaian art of Lemnos. The whole palace was new. A brazen threshold well-wrought was before it. Double doors with lofty pillars opened into a vestibule richly carven, and a dome spanned the roof with a rounded head seen in the middle. The walls were faced with tessellated stones set in white cement from threshold to inner end. Before the house near the courtyard was an enclosure, widespread, four acres of trees heavy with fresh fruit. Male palm stretched his leaves over female palm, pledging his love. Pear growing by pear, all of one age with glorious fruit, whispered in the morning breeze – and with its dangling clusters beat on the pollard growth of a luscious olive hard by. In the breezes of spring, the myrtle waves his leaves by the reluctant laurel, while the fragrant wind of morning fanned the foliage of the leafy cypress. On the fig-tree, mother of sweets, and the juicy pomegranate, red fruit grew rich over purple fruit beside it, and apple flourished near apple. On the learned leaves of Apollo’s mournful iris was embroidered with many a plant-grown word; and when Zephyros breathed through the flowery garden, Apollo turned a quick eye upon his young darling, his yearning never satisfied; if he saw the plant beaten by the breezes, he remembered the quoit, and trembled for fear the wind, so jealous once about the boy, might hate him even in a leaf: if it is true that Apollo once wept with those eyes that never wept, to see that boy writhing in the dust, and the pattern there on the flower traced its own “alas!” on the iris, and so figures the tears of Phoibos.

  ὄρχατος ἔπλετο τοῖος ἐύσκιος: ἄγχι δὲ πηγὴ

  165 δίστομος, ἔνθεν ἔην ναέταις ποτόν, ἔνθεν ἀλωεὺς

  ἐξ ἀμάρης ὀχέτευε πολυσχιδὲς ἀγκύλον ὕδωρ

  εἰς φυτὸν ἄλλο μετ᾽ ἄλλο: ῥόος δέ τις ὡς ἀπὸ Φοίβου

  ἁβρὰ μελιζομένης ἐπεβόμβεε πυθμένι δάφνης.

  [164] Such was the shady garden. Hard by, a brook divided in two runnels; from this the people drew their drinking, from that the gardener cut up the water into many curving channels and carried it from plant to plant: one stream chuckled at the root of a laurel, as if Phoibos were singing a delicate tune to his Daphne.

  καὶ πολὺς εὐποίητος ἐρεισάμενος πόδα πέτρῳ

  170 χρύσεος ἵστατο κοῦρος, ἐναντία δαιτυμονήων

  λαμπάδος ἑσπερίης τανύων ἐπιδόρπιον αἴγλην:

  πολλαὶ δ᾽ ἰσοτύπων μελέων τεχνήμονι σιγῇ

  χάσμασι ποιητοῖσι σεσηρότος ἀνθερεῶνος

  ψευδαλέων σκυλάκων στίχες ἔμφρονες ἄγχι θυράων

  175 ἕστασαν ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα, καὶ ἀργυρέῳ κυνὶ γείτων

  χρύσεος οἰδαίνοντι κύων συνυλάκτεε λαιμῷ

  σαίνων ἠθάδα φῶτα: παραστείχοντι δὲ Κάδμῳ

  μιμηλῆς ἀπέπεμπε βοῆς ξεινοσσόον Ἠχώ,

  ποιητῆς δ᾽ ἐλέλιζε φιλοστόργου τύπον οὐρῆς.

  [169] Within, well-wrought boys of gold stood on many pillars of stone, holding out torches before the banqueters to give them light for their dessert in the evening. Before the gates rows of dogs stood on this side and that, not real yet intelligent, all modelled alike, silent works of art, snarling with gaping throats; then if a man came by whom they knew, golden dog by silver dog would bark with swelling throat and fawn upon him. So as Cadmos passed, Echo sent forth a sound like a welcome for a guest, and wagged the friendly shape of an artificial tail.
r />   180 ὄφρα μὲν εἰσέτι Κάδμος ἐυστρέπτοιο προσώπου

  ὄμματα δινεύων διεμέτρεε κῆπον ἀνάκτων

  καὶ γλυφίδας καὶ κάλλος ὅλον γραπτοῖο μελάθρου,

  λαϊνέων ὁρόων ἀμαρύγματα φαιδρὰ μετάλλων,

  τόφρα δὲ καλλείψας ἀγορὴν καὶ νείκεα λαῶν,

  185 φαιδρὸς ἀερσιλόφοιο περὶ ῥάχιν ἥμενος ἵππου,

  Ἠμαθίων Θρήισσαν ἔχων Σάμον, Ἄρεος ἕδρην,

  μητέρος Ἠλέκτρης Βασιλήιον εἰς δόμον ἔστη,

  ὃς τότε μοῦνος ἄνασσε κασιγνήτοιο νομεύων

  ἡνία κοιρανίης, ὅτι πάτριον οὖδας ἐάσας

  190 Δάρδανος ἀντικέλευθον ἐνάσσατο πέζαν ἀρούρης,

  Δαρδανίην εὔπυργον ἐπώνυμον ἄστυ χαράξας,

  Ἰδαίην ἀροτῆρι διαγράψας κόνιν ὁλκῷ:

  καὶ ῥόον Ἑπταπόροιο πιὼν καὶ χεύματα Ῥήσου

  γνωτῷ κλῆρον ἔλειπεν ἔχειν καὶ σκῆπτρα Καβείρων.

  [180] While Cadmos has been moving his face about and turning his eyes to survey the royal garden, and saw the sculptures, and all the beauty of the hall with its paintings and bright sparkling precious stones, Emation had left the market-place and the disputes of his people, and sat splendid upon the back of a courser with arching neck. He was lord of Samothrace, the seat of Ares, having inherited the royal house of Electra his mother. At that time he was sole king, holding the reins of sovereignty which belonged to his brother Dardanos, who had left his native soil, and migrated to the soil of the continent opposite. There he had scored the dust of Ida with a plow-furrow, and marked the limits of Dardania, the fortified city which bore his name. So he drank the water of Sevenstreams and the flood of Rhesos, leaving the inheritance and the sceptre of the Cabeiroi to his brother.

  195 Δάρδανος, Ἠμαθίωνος ἀδελφεός, ὃν Διὸς εὐναὶ

  ἤροσαν, ὃν κομέεσκε Δίκη τροφός, εὖτε λαβοῦσαι

  σκῆπτρα Διὸς καὶ πέπλα Χρόνου καὶ ῥάβδον Ὀλύμπου

  εἰς δόμον Ἠλέκτρης βασιληίδος ἔδραμον Ὧραι

  κοιρανίης ἀλύτοιο προμάντιες Αὐσονιήων:

  200 καὶ βρέφος ἐθρέψαντο, καὶ ἀτρέπτῳ Διὸς ὀμφῇ

  κοῦρος ἀνασταχύων παλιναυξέος ἄνθεμον ἥβης

  Ἠλέκτρης λίπεν οἶκον, ὅτε τριτάτου χύσις ὄμβρου

  κύμασι πυργωθεῖσα κατέκλυσεν ἕδρανα κόσμου.

  πρώτου γὰρ κελάδοντος ἐπειρήθη νιφετοῖο

  [195] This Dardanos, Emathion’s brother, was one whom the bed of Zeus had begotten, whom Justice nursed and cared for at the time when the Seasons ran to the mansion of Queen Electra, bearing the sceptre of Zeus, and the robe of Time, and the staff of Olympos, to prophesy the indissoluble dominion of the Ausonian race. The Seasons brought up the baby; and by an irrevocable oracle of Zeus, the lad just sprouting the flower of recrescent youth left Electra’s house, when for the third time a deluge of rain had flooded the world’s foundations with towering billows.

  205 Ὤγυγος ἠλιβάτοιο δι᾽ ὕδατος αἰθέρα τέμνων,

  χθὼν ὅτε κεύθετο πᾶσα κατάρρυτος, ἄκρα δὲ πέτρης

  Θεσσαλίδος κεκάλυπτο, καὶ ὑψόθι Πυθιὰς ἄκρη

  ἀγχινεφὴς νιφόεντι ῥόῳ κυμαίνετο πέτρη.

  δεύτερος ὄμβρος ἔην, ὅτε κυκλάδος ἄντυγα γαίης

  210 χεύματι λυσσήεντι κατέκρυφε δύσνιφον ὕδωρ,

  Δευκαλίων ὅτε μοῦνος ὁμόστολος ἥλικι Πύρρῃ

  ὀλλυμένων μερόπων ἐνὶ λάρνακι κοιλάδι τέμνων

  χεῦμα παλινδίνητον ἀτεκμάρτου νιφετοῖο

  ἠέρος ὑδατόεντος ἕλιξ πορθμεύετο ναύτης.

  [205] Ogygos made proof of the first roaring deluge, as he cut the air through the highclimbing waters, when all the earth was hidden under the flood, when the tops of the Thessalian rocks were covered, when the summit of the Pythian rock near the clouds on high was bathed in the snow-cooled flood. There was a second deluge, when tempestuous waters covered the circuit of the round earth in a furious flood, when all mortal men perished, and Deucalion alone with his mate Pyrrha in a hollow ark cutting the swirling flood of infinite deluge went on his eddying voyage through the air turned water.

  215 καὶ τρίτατος Διὸς ὄμβρος ὅτε χθονὸς ἔκλυσεν ἕδρην

  καὶ σκοπέλους ἔκρυψεν, Ἀθωιάδος δὲ καὶ αὐτῆς

  ἄβροχα Σιθονίης ἐκαλύπτετο νῶτα κολώνης,

  ὑψιπόρου τότε χεῦμα διασχίζων νιφετοῖο

  Δάρδανος ἀρχαίης ἐπεβήσατο γείτονος Ἴδης.

  [215] When the third time rain from Zeus flooded the solid earth and covered the hills, and even the unwetted slopes of Sithonia with Mount Athos itself, then Dardanos, cutting through the stream of the uplifted flood, landed on the ancient mountain of Ida his neighbour.

  220 τοῦ τότε Σιθονίης χιονώδεος ἀρχὸς ἀρούρης

  σύγγονος Ἠμαθίων ἀγορὴν βαρύδουπον ἐάσας

  θάμβεεν ἀνέρος εἶδος, ἐπεί νύ οἱ ἔμφυτος ἥβη

  ἠνορέην καὶ κάλλος ἐμίγνυε σύζυγι μορφῇ,

  θάμβεε τηλίκον εἶδος: ἀριφραδέων γὰρ ἀνάκτων

  225 αὐτόματοι κήρυκες ἀναυδέες εἰσὶν ὀπωπαί.

  καί μιν ἑλὼν ξείνισσε, σὺν Ἠλέκτρῃ δὲ καμούσῃ

  αἰόλα πιαλέης ἐπεκόσμεε δεῖπνα τραπέζης,

  ξεῖνον ὑποσσαίνων φιλίῳ καὶ ἀμεμφέι μύθῳ,

  πολλὰ τιθείς. ὁ δὲ κυφὸν ἐπ᾽ οὔδεος αὐχένα κάμψας

  230 ἀμφιπόλων ἀπάνευθεν ἀθελγέας εἷλκεν ὀπωπάς,

  καὶ μόλις εἰλαπίναζε: φιλοξείνοιο δὲ νύμφης

  ἑζομένης ἀντωπὸς ὑποκλέπτοντι προσώπῳ

  αἰδομένην ἐτίταινε σαόφρονα χεῖρα τραπέζῃ.

  [220] It was his brother Emathion, ruler of the snowy Sithonian land, who left the noisy market-place, and stood amazed at the hero’s looks; for the youthful grace inborn in him mingled manliness and beauty with a form to match. The prince was amazed at such noble looks; for the eyes of prudent kings are instinctive heralds, although the ear cannot hear them. He received the guest with a welcome; then while Electra toiled to help him, he provided a rich table of fine fare, flattering his guest with friendly address that left nothing to be desired: for it was a bounteous feast. But Cadmos bent his neck towards the ground, and hid looks of disquiet from the attendants, and hardly touched the banquet. He sat opposite the hospitable lady, but scarce stealing a glance at her served himself with a modest and timid hand.

  τοῖσι δὲ δαινυμένοισιν ἐπήτριμος ἄλλος ἐπ᾽ ἄλλῳ
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br />   235 ἔμπνοος ἐσμαράγησε δόναξ Κορυβαντίδος Ἴδης:

  ἐκ δὲ πολυτρήτοιο πόρου σκιρτήματι χειρῶν

  σύνθροον ἐκρούσαντο μέλος μυκήτορος αὐλοῦ

  δάκτυλοι ὀρχηστῆρες ἐπιθλίβοντες ἀοιδήν:

  καὶ τροχαλοῖς κροτέοντα τινάγμασι σύνθροον ἠχὼ

  240 κύμβαλα βομβήεντα συνέκτυπε δίζυγι χαλκῷ

  συμφερτοῖς δονάκεσσιν: ὑπὸ πλήκτρῳ δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ

  ὄρθιος ἑπτατόνοιο λύρης ἐλελίζετο χορδή.

  [234] As they feasted, the breathing reeds of Corybantic Ida resounded one after another in succession; the players’ hands skipt along the riddling run of the tootling pipe, and the fingers beat out their tune in cadence, dancing and pressing the sound; the clanging cymbals in brazen pairs struck ringing blows running in cadence with the sets of reeds; the harp itself with its seven strings twanged aloud under the quill.

  ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δὴ μετά δαῖτα κορέσσατο Βίστονος αὐλοῦ,

  εἰρομένῃ πελάσας φιλοπευθέι θῶκον ἀνάσσῃ

  245 Κάδμος ἁλιπλάγκτοιο μεληδόνος οἶστρον ἐάσας,

  φαιδρὸν ἑὸν γένος εἶπε, καὶ ἀενάων στίχα μύθων

  οἰγομένου κρουνηδὸν ἀνήρυγεν ἀνθερεῶνος:

  [243] But after the banquet, when Cadmos had had enough of the Bistonian pipe, he drew his seat nearer to the queen, who questioned him with great curiosity. He left aside the fever of his sorrowful sea-wanderings, and spoke of his illustrious lineage: the words poured in ceaseless flow like a fountain from his open lips.

  ‘Νύμφα φίλη, τί με τόσσον ἀνείρεαι αἷμα γενέθλης;

  ὠκυμόρων μερόπων γενεὴν φύλλοισιν ἐίσκω: