Works of Nonnus

by Nonnus

  καὶ μεδέων κόσμοιο καὶ οὐρανὸν ἡνιοχεύων

  εἰς πόθον αὐχένα κάμψεν ὁ τηλίκος: οὐδὲ κεραυνοί,

  οὐ στεροπὴ χραίσμησε κορυσσομένης Ἀφροδίτης:

  Ἥρης δ᾽ οἶκον ἔλειπε, λέχος δ᾽ ἀπέειπε Διώνης,

  620 Δηοῦς ῥῖψεν ἔρωτα, Θέμιν φύγε, κάλλιπε Λητώ,

  μούνης δ᾽ εἰς ὑμέναιον ἐθέλγετο Περσεφονείης.

  [609] But she could not escape the allseeing eye of Zeus. He gazed at the whole body of Persephoneia, uncovered in her bath. Not so wild his desire had been for the Cyprian, when craving but not attaining he scattered his seed on the ground, and shot out the hot foam of love self-sown, where in the fruitful land of horned Cyprus flourished the two-coloured generation of wild creatures with horns. He – so mighty! the ruler of the universe, the charioteer of heaven, bowed his neck to desire – for all his greatness no thunderbolts, no lightnings helped him against Aphrodite in arms: he left the house of Hera, he refused the bed of Dione, he threw away the love of Deo, he fled from Themis, he deserted Leto – no charm was left for him but only in union with Persephoneia.

  BOOK 6

  Δίζεο θέσκελον ἕκτον, ὅπῃ Ζαγρῆα γεραίρων

  γαίης ἕδρανα πάντα κατέκλυσεν ὑέτιος Ζεύς.

  οὐδὲ πατὴρ τότε μοῦνος ἔχεν πόθον: ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ

  ἓν βέλος ἶσον ἔχοντες, ὅσοι ναετῆρες Ὀλύμπου,

  Δηῴης ὑμέναιον ἑεδνώσαντο θεαίνης.

  ἔνθα σέλας ῥοδέοιο διαλλάξασα προσώπου

  5 ἄλγεσι κυμαίνοντα νόον μαστίζετο Δηώ:

  καὶ κεφαλῆς γονόεσσαν ἀπεσφήκωσε καλύπτρην,

  αὐχενίης λύσασα καθειμένα βόστρυχα χαίτης,

  παιδὶ περιφρίσσουσα: βαρυνομένης δὲ θεαίνης

  δάκρυσιν αὐτοχύτοισι καθικμαίνοντο παρειαί,

  10 ὅττι τόσους μνηστῆρας ἑνὶ φλογόεντι βελέμνῳ

  εἰς ἔριν οἰστρηθέντας ὁμοζήλων ὑμεναίων

  ξυνὸς Ἔρως βάκχευεν, ἁμιλλητῆρας Ἐρώτων:

  πάντας μὲν τρομέεσκε, τὸ δὲ πλέον ὄμπνια μήτηρ

  παιδὸς ἔχειν Ἥφαιστον ἐδείδιε χωλὸν ἀκοίτην.

  BOOK VI

  Look for marvels in the sixth, where in honouring Zagreus, all the settlements on the earth were drowned by Rainy Zeus.

  Not the Father alone felt desire; but all that dwelt in Olympos had the same, struck by one bolt, and wooed for a union with Deo’s divine daughter. Then Deo lost the brightness of her rosy face, her swelling heart was lashed by sorrows. She untied the fruitful frontlet from her head, and shook loose the long locks of hair over her neck, trembling for her girl; the cheeks of the goddess were moistened with self-running tears, in her sorrow that so many wooers had been stung with one fiery shot for a struggle of rival wooing, by maddening Eros, all contending together for their loves. From all the bounteous mother shrank, but specially she feared Hephaistos to be her daughter’s lame bedfellow.

  15 καὶ δόμον Ἀστραίοιο μετέστιχεν εὔποδι ταρσῷ,

  δαίμονος ὀμφήεντος: ὀπισθοπόρων δὲ κομάων

  ἄπλοκον ἀσταθέεσσιν ἐσείετο βόστρυχον αὔραις.

  τὴν μὲν ἰδὼν ἤγγειλεν Ἑωσφόρος: εἰσαΐων δὲ

  ὦρτο γέρων Ἀστραῖος: ὁ μὲν γραμμῇσι χαράσσων

  20 κυανέην ἐνέπασσε κόνιν περὶ νῶτα τραπέζης,

  καὶ τυπόων ἑλικηδὸν ὑπ᾽ ἀγκυλόδοντι σιδήρῳ

  πυθμένα τετράπλευρον ἐπέγραφεν αἴθοπι τέφρῃ,

  καὶ τύπον ἄλλον ἔτευξεν ἰσογλώχινι τριγώνῳ.

  ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν μεθέηκε καὶ ἤλυθεν ἄγχι θυράων

  25 ἀντιόων Δήμητρι: διεσσυμένων δὲ μελάθρου

  ἕσπερος ἡγεμόνευε, καὶ εἰς θρόνον ἵδρυε Δηὼ

  πατρὸς ἑοῦ παρὰ θῶκον: ὁμοστόργῳ δὲ μενοινῇ

  νεκταρέου κεράσαντες ἀπὸ κρητῆρος Ἀῆται

  δαίμονα λυσιπόνοισιν ἐδεικανόωντο κυπέλλοις

  30 υἱέες Ἀστραίοιο: πιεῖν δ᾽ ἠρνήσατο Δηὼ

  Περσεφόνης μεθύουσα μεληδόνι: μουνοτόκοι γὰρ

  τηλυγέτους διὰ παῖδας ἀεὶ τρομέουσι τοκῆες:

  [15] She hastened with quick foot to the house of Astraios the god of prophecy; her hair flowed behind her unbraided and the clusters were shaking in the fitful winds. Eosphoros saw her and brought the news. Old Astraios heard it and arose; he had covered the surface of a table with dark dust, where he was describing in traced lines a circle with the tooth of his rounding tool, within which he inscribed a square in the dark ashes, and another figure with three equal sides and angles. He left all this, and rose and came towards the door to meet Demeter. As they hastened through the hall, Hesperos led Deo to a chair beside his father’s seat; with equal affection the Winds, the sons of Astraios, welcomed the goddess with refreshing cups of nectar which was ready mixt in the bowl. But Deo refused to drink, being tipsy with Persephone’s trouble: parents of an only child ever tremble for their beloved children.

  ἀλλὰ μόγις παρέπεισεν ἀναινομένην ἔτι Δηὼ

  ἡδυεπὴς Ἀστραῖος ἔχων θελξίφρονα Πειθώ.

  35 ἔνθα γέρων μέγα δεῖπνον ἐπήρτυεν, ὄφρα μερίμνας

  θυμοδακεῖς Δήμητρος ἀποσκεδάσειε τραπέζῃ.

  καὶ πίσυρες λαγόνεσσι καθαψάμενοι τελαμῶνας

  πατρὸς ὑποδρηστῆρες ἐμιτρώθησαν Ἀῆται:

  νεκταρέῳ δὲ κύπελλα παρὰ κρητῆρι τιταίνων

  40 εὖρος ἐῳνοχόει, προχόῳ δ᾽ ἐπιδόρπιον ὕδωρ

  εἶχε Νότος, Βορέης δὲ φέρων ἐπέθηκε τραπέζῃ

  ἀμβροσίην, Ζέφυρος δὲ περιθλίβων θρόον αὐλοῦ

  εἰαρινοῖς δονάκεσσι μελίζετο θῆλυς Ἀήτης:

  καὶ στεφάνους ἔπλεξεν Ἑωσφόρος ἄνθεα δήσας

  45 ὀρθρινοῖς κομόωντα δροσιζομένοισι κορύμβοις:

  καὶ νυχίου λαμπτῆρος ἐθήμονα πυρσὸν ἀείρας

  ἕσπερος ὀρχηστῆρι ποδῶν ἐλελίζετο ταρσῷ

  πάλλων καμπύλον ἴχνος, ἐπεὶ πέλε πομπὸς Ἐρώτων,

  καὶ σκαρθμῷ μεμέλητο χοροπλεκέων ὑμεναίων.

  [33] But Astraios was one of sweet words, who possessed mind-bewitching Persuasion, and with great pains he persuaded Deo to consent while still denying. Then the ancient prepared a great spread, that he might dispel Demeter’s heart-piercing cares by his tables. The four Winds fitted aprons round their waists as their father’s waiters. Euros held out the cups by the mixing-bowl and poured in th
e nectar, Notos had the water ready in his jug for the meal, Boreas brought the ambrosia and set it on the table, Zephyros fingering the notes of the hoboy made a tune on his reeds of spring-time – a womanish Wind this! Eosphoros plaited garlands of flowers in posies yet proud with the morning dew; Hesperos held aloft the torch which is wont to give light in the night, and spun about with dancing leg while he tossed high his curving foot – for he is the escort of the Loves, well practised in the skipping tracery of the bridal dance.

  50 ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δὴ μετὰ δαῖτα θεὰ κεκόρητο χορείης

  σεισαμένη βαρὺ κέντρον ἀμερσινόοιο μερίμνης,

  μαντοσύνην ἐρέεινε, φιλοστόργου δὲ γεραιοῦ

  λαιῇ μὲν παλάμῃ γονάτων θίγε, λισσομένη δὲ

  δεξιτερῇ ψαύεσκε βαθυσμήριγγος ὑπήνης:

  55 καὶ πολέας μνηστῆρας ἑῆς μυθήσατο κούρης

  θέσφατα μαστεύουσα παρήγορα: μαντοσύναι γὰρ

  ἐλπίσιν ἐσσομένῃσιν ὑποκλέπτουσιν ἀνίας.

  [50] After the banquet, as soon as the goddess had had enough of the dance, she threw off the heavy goad of mindmaddening care and inquired of the seer’s art. She laid her left hand on the knees of the kindly ancient, and with her right touched his deepflowing beard in supplication. She recounted all her daughter’s wooers and craved a comfortable oracle; for divinations can steal away anxieties by means of hopes to come.

  οὐδὲ γέρων Ἀστραῖος ἀναίνετο: μουνοτόκου δὲ

  κούρης ἀρτιλόχευτα γενέθλια μέτρα νοήσας

  60 καὶ χρόνον οὐ πταίοντα καὶ ἀπλανέος δρόμον Ὥρης

  ἀρχεγόνου, κάμψας δὲ μετάτροπα δάκτυλα χειρῶν

  ἀμφὶ παλιννόστοιο μετήλυδα κύκλον ἀριθμοῦ

  ἐκ παλάμης παλάμῃ διεμέτρεε δίζυγι παλμῷ:

  καί οἱ κεκλομένῳ θεράπων εὔκυκλον ἀείρας

  65 σφαῖραν ἑλισσομένην, τύπον αἰθέρος, εἰκόνα κόσμου,

  Ἀστερίων παρέθηκε λαβὼν ἐπὶ πώματι χηλοῦ.

  ἔνθα γέρων πεπόνητο, καὶ ἄξονος ἄκρον ἑλίσσων

  ζῳδιακὸν περὶ κύκλον ἑὴν ἐτίταινεν ὀπωπὴν

  λεύσσων ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα καὶ ἀπλανέας καὶ ἀλήτας:

  70 καὶ πόλον ἀμφελέλιζε: πολυστροφάλιγγι δὲ ῥιπῇ

  εἰς δρόμον ἀστήρικτον ἀτέρμονι κάμπτετο νύσσῃ

  ἄστρασι ποιητοῖσι νόθος κυκλούμενος αἰθήρ,

  ἄξονι μεσσατίῳ τετορημένος: εὗρε δὲ δαίμων

  σφαῖραν ἰδὼν στεφανηδόν, ὅτι πλήθοντι προσώπῳ

  75 ἀγκύλα συνδέσμοιο διέτρεχε νῶτα Σελήνη,

  καὶ Φαέθων ἰσόμοιρος ἔην ἀντώπιδι Μήνῃ

  κέντρῳ ὑποχθονίῳ πεφορημένος, ἀχλυόεις δὲ

  κῶνος ἀερσιπότητος ἀπὸ χθονὸς ὀξὺς ἀνέρπων

  ἀντίτυπον Φαέθοντος ὅλην ἐκάλυψε Σελήνην:

  80 καὶ γαμίης φιλότητος ἁμιλλητῆρας ἀκούων

  Ἄρεα δίζετο μᾶλλον, ὑπὲρ δυτικοῦ δὲ μελάθρου

  φῶρα γάμων ἐνόησε σὺν ἀστέρι Κυπρογενείης

  ἑσπερίῳ: καὶ κλῆρον ἐπώνυμον εὗρε τοκήων

  παρθενικῆς ἀστραῖον ὑπὸ στάχυν: ἀμφὶ δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ αὐτῷ

  85 ὀμβροτόκου Κρονίδαο Φαεσφόρος ἔτρεχεν ἀστήρ.

  [58] Nor did old Astraios refuse. He learnt the details of the day when her only child was new born, and the exact time and veritable course of the season which gave her birth; then he bent the turning fingers of his hands and measured the moving circle of the ever-recurring number counting from hand to hand in double exchange. He called a servant, and Asterion lifted a round revolving sphere, the shape of the sky, the image of the universe, and laid it upon the lid of a chest. Here the ancient got to work. He turned it upon its pivot, and directed his gaze round the circle of the Zodiac, scanning in this place and that planets and fixed stars. He rolled the pole about with push, and the counterfeit sky went rapidly round and round in mobile course with a perpetual movement, carrying the artificial stars about the axle set through the middle. Observing the sphere with a glance all round, the deity found that the Moon at the full was crossing the curved line of her conjunction, and the Sun was half through his course opposite the Moon moving at his central point under the earth; a pointed cone of darkness creeping from the earth into the air opposite to the Sun hid the whole Moon. Then when he heard the rivals for wedded love, he looked especially for Ares, and espied the wife-robber over the sunset house along with the evening star of the Cyprian. He found the portion called the Portion of the Parents under the Virgin’s starry corn-ear; and round the Ear ran the light-bearing star of Cronides, father of rain.

  ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε πάντα νόησεν ἀριθμήσας ἴτυν ἄστρων,

  σφαῖραν ἀειδίνητον ἀνέκρυφε κοιλάδι κίστῃ,

  σφαῖραν ποικιλόνωτον: ἀνειρομένῃ δὲ θεαίνῃ

  τριπλόον ὀμφαίης ἀνερεύγετο θέσφατον ἠχοῦς:

  90 ‘Δημῆτερ φιλότεκνος, ὑπὸ σκιοειδέι κώνῳ

  κλεπτομένης ἀκτῖνος ἀφωτίστοιο Σελήνης

  νυμφίον ἁρπακτῆρα φυλάσσεο Περσεφονείης

  κρυπτὸν ἀσυλήτοιο τεῆς ληίστορα κούρης,

  εἰ λίνα Μοιράων ἐπιπείθεται: ἀπροϊδῆ δὲ

  95 ἀθρήσεις πρὸ γάμοιο νόθον λαθραῖον ἀκοίτην

  θηρομιγῆ δολόμητιν, ἐπεὶ δυτικῷ παρὰ κέντρῳ

  σὺν Παφίῃ στείχοντα γαμοκλόπον Ἄρεα λεύσσω,

  ἀμφοτέροις δὲ Δράκοντα παραντέλλοντα δοκεύω.

  ὀλβίστην ἐνέπω σε: σὺ γὰρ τετράζυγι κόσμῳ

  100 ἔσσεαι ἀγλαόκαρπος, ὅτι χθονὶ καρπὸν ὀπάσσεις

  ἀτρυγέτῳ: κούρης γὰρ ὑπὲρ κλήροιο τοκήων

  παρθένος Ἀστραίη σταχυώδεα χεῖρα τιταίνει.’

  [86] When he had noticed everything and reckoned the circuit of the stars, he put away the ever-revolving sphere in its roomy box, the sphere with its curious surface; and in answer to the goddess he mouthed out a triple oracle of prophetic sound: “Fond mother Demeter, when the rays of the Moon are stolen under a shady cone and her light is gone, guard against a robber-bridegroom for Persephoneia, a secret ravisher of your unsmirched girl, if the threads of the Fates can be persuaded. You will see before marriage a false and secret bedfellow come unforeseen, a half-monster cunning-minded: since I perceive by the western point Ares the wife-stealer walking with the Paphian, and I notice the Dragon rising beside them both. But I proclaim you most happy: for you will be known for glorious fruits in the four quarters of the universe, because you shall bestow fruit on the barren soil; since the Virgin Astraia holds out h
er hand full of corn for the destined lot of your girl’s parents.”

  ὣς φάμενος μαντῷον ὑπὸ στόμα κοίμισεν ὀμφήν.

  ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε Δημήτηρ δρεπανηφόρος ἐλπίδα καρπῶν

  105 ἐσσομένων ἤκουσε καὶ αὐτοκέλευστον ἀκοίτην

  τηλυγέτης ἀδμῆτος ἀνέγγυον ἅρπαγα κούρης,

  ἔστενε μειδιόωσα: δι᾽ ὑψιπόρου δὲ κελεύθου

  οἶκον εὸν σπεύδουσα κατηφέι δύσατο ταρσῷ

  καὶ ζυγὸν εὐδίνητον ἐχιδναίῃ παρὰ φάτνῃ

  110 ἀμφιταλαντεύσασα λόφῳ διδυμάονι θηρῶν

  ἄζυγας ἑρπηστῆρας ἐπεσφήκωσε λεπάδνῳ:

  καὶ γένυν ἀγκυλόδοντι περισφίγγουσα χαλινῷ

  ξανθοφυὴς βλοσυροῖο δι᾽ ἅρματος ἤγαγε Δηὼ

  παῖδα καλυπτομένην νεφέλης κυανάμπυκι μίτρῃ,

  115 καὶ κτύπον ἀντικέλευθον ἐπιβρομέοντος ἀπήνῃ

  θηρονόμῳ μάστιγι κατερροίζησε Βορῆος,

  ἠερίης ἱππηδὸν ἐπεσσυμένων δρόμον αὔρης

  ἀσταθέων πτερὰ κοῦφα περιστέλλουσα δρακόντων

  ἀμφὶ κέρας Λιβυκοῖο παλίσσυτον Ὠκεανοῖο.

  120 Δικταίης δ᾽ ἀίουσα μέλος κορυθαιόλον ἠχοῦς

  Κρῆτα χορὸν παράμειβε βαρυσμαράγοιο βοείης

  νῶτα περισκαίροντα κυβιστητῆρι σιδήρῳ.

  καί τινα λάινον οἶκον ἐποπτεύουσα θεαίνη

  Σικελίης τριλόφοιο Πελωρίδα δύσατο πέτρην

  125 Ἀδριάδας παρὰ θῖνας, ὅπῃ χύσις ἄστατος ἅλμης