Works of Nonnus

by Nonnus

  ὣς εἰπὼν ἀκίχητος ἐς οὐρανὸν ἔδραμεν Ἑρμῆς

  ἠέρι δινεύων ἀνεμώδεα ταρσὰ πεδίλων.

  Ἰνὼ δ᾽ οὐκ ἀπίθησε, φιλοστόργῳ δὲ μενοινῇ

  95 παιδοκόμῳ πήχυνεν ἀμήτορα Βάκχον ἀγοςτῷ,

  πήχεϊ δ᾽ ἁπλώσασα συνωρίδα δίζυγα παίδων

  δίζυγα μαζὸν ὄρεξε Παλαίμονι καὶ Διονύσῳ:

  καὶ βρέφος ἀμφιπόλῳ παρεθήκατο Μύστιδι νύμφῃ,

  Μύστιδι καλλικόμῳ Σιδωνίδι, τὴν ἔτι κούρην

  100 Κάδμος ἀνηέξησε πατὴρ θαλαμηπόλον Ἰνοῦς:

  ἣ τότε Βάκχον ἑλοῦσα θεοτρεφέων ἀπὸ μαζῶν

  ἀρροϊδῆ ζοφόεντι κατεκήισσε βερέθρῳ:

  καὶ Διὸς αὐτοβόητος ἀπαγγέλλουσα λοχείην

  μαρμαρυγὴ σελάγιζε, καταυγάζουσα προσώπου:

  105 τοῖχοι δ᾽ ἀχλυόεντε ἐλευκαίνοντο μελάθρου

  καὶ ζόφον ἔκρυφε φέγγος ἀθηήτου Διονύσου.

  καὶ Βρομίῳ παίζοντι παρέζετο πάννυχος Ἰνώ:

  πολλάκι δ᾽ ἀστήρικτος ἀναθρῴσκων Μελικέρτης

  χείηεσιν ἀντιτύποισιν ἀνέσπασε γείτονα θηλὴν

  110 εὔια παππάζοντι παρερπύζων Διονύσῳ.

  [92] With these words Hermes was off into the sky unapproachable, twirling in the air the windswift soles of his shoes. And Ino was not disobedient. With loving care she held the motherless Bacchos in her nursing arm, and laying out the pair, the two children, upon it offered her two breasts to Palaimon and Dionysos. She gave the baby in charge to Mystis her attendant maid, Mystis the finehaired Sidonian, whom Cadmos had brought up from a girl to attend in Ino’s chamber. She then took Bacchos away from those godfeeding breasts, and hid him from all eyes in a dark pit. But a brilliant light shone from his face, which declared of itself the offspring of Zeus: the gloomy walls of the house grew bright, and the light of unseen Dionysos hid the darkness. All night long Ino sat beside Bromios as he played. Often Melicertes jumped up with wavering steps and pressed his lips to pull at the other breast as he crawled close to Bacchos babbling “Euoi!”

  καὶ θεὸν ἔτρεφε Μύστις ἑῆς μετὰ μαζὸν ἀνάσσης

  ὄμμασιν ἀγρύπνοισι παρεδρήσσουσα Λυαίῳ:

  καὶ πινυτὴ θεράπαινα φερώνυμα Μύστιδι τέχνῃ

  ὄρηια νυκτελίοιο διδασκομένη Διονύσου

  115 καὶ τελετὴν ἄγρυπνον ἐπεντύνουσα Λυαίῳ

  πρώτη ῥόπτρον ἔσεισεν, ἐπεπλατάγησε δὲ Βάκχῳ

  κύμβαλα δινεύουσα περίκροτα δίζυγι χαλκῷ,

  πρώτη νυκτιχόρευτον ἀναψαμένη φλόγα πεύκης

  εὔιον ἐσμαράγησεν ἀκοιμήτῳ Διονύσῳ,

  120 πρώτη καμπύλον ἄνθος ἀναδέψασα κορύμβω

  ἄπλοκον ἀμπελόεντι κόμην μιτρώσατο δεσμῷ,

  αὐτὴ δ᾽ ἔπλεκε θύρσον ἑμόζυγον οἴνοπι κισσῷ,

  ἀκροτάτῳ δὲ σίδηρον ἐπεσφήκωσε κορύμβῳ

  κευθόμενον πετάλοισιν, ὅπως μὴ Βάκχον ἀμύξῃ:

  125 καὶ φιάλας γυμνοῖσιν ἐπὶ στέρνοισι καθάψαι

  χαλκείας ἐνόνσε καὶ ἰξύι δέρματα νεβρῶν:

  καὶ τελετῆς ζαθέης ἐγκύμονα μύστιδα κίστην

  παίγνια κουρίζοντι διδασκομένη Διονύσῳ

  πρώτη ἐχιδνήεντα κατὰ χροὸς ἧψεν ἱμάντα

  130 σύμπλοκον, εἱλικόεις δὲ δράκων περὶ δίπλακα μίτρην

  ἅμματα κυκλώσας ὀφιώδεϊ κάμπτετο δεσμῷ.

  [111] Mystis also nursed the god after her mistress’s breast, watching by the side of Lyaios with sleepless eyes. The clever handmaid taught him the art that bears her name, the mystic rites of Dionysos in the night. She prepared the unsleeping worship for Lyaios, she first shook the rattle, and clanged the swinging cymbals with the resounding double bronze; she first kindled the nightdancing torch to a flame, and cried Euion to sleepless Dionysos; she first plucked the curving growth of ivy-clusters, and tied her flowing hair with a wreath of vine; she alone entwined the thyrsus with purple ivy, and wedged on the top of the clusters an iron spike, covered with leaves that it might not scratch Bacchos. She thought of fitting plates of bronze over the naked breast, and fawnskins over the hips. She taught Dionysos to play with the mystical casket teeming with sacred things of worship, and to use them as his childish toys. She first fastened about her body a belt of braided vipers, where a serpent coiling round the belt on both sides with encircling bonds was twisted into a snaky not.

  τὸν δὲ πολυκλήιστον ὑπὸ σφρηγῖδα μελάθρου

  ὄμμασιν ἀπλανέεσσιν ἴδεν πανεπόψιος Ἥρη

  μύστιδος ἀφράστοιο μυχῷ πεφυλαγμένον οἴκου:

  135 καὶ Στυγὸς ὑστερόποινον ἐπώμνυε νέρτερον ὕδωρ

  παντοίῃ κακότητι κατακλύζειν δόμον Ἰνοῦς.

  καί νύ κεν ἠμάλδυνε Διὸς γόνον: ἀλλά μιν Ἑρμῆς

  ἁρπάξας ἐκόμισσε Κυβηλίδος εἰς ῥάχιν ὕλης:

  Ἥρη δ᾽ ὠκυπέδιλος ἑπέδραμεν εὔποδι ταρσῷ

  140 ὑψόθεν ἀστήρικτος: ὁ δὲ δρόμον ἔφθασεν Ἥρης,

  πρωτογόνου δὲ Φάνητος ἀτέρμονα δύσατο μορφήν

  καὶ θεὸν ἁζομένη πρωτόσπορον εἴκαθεν Ἥρη

  ψευδομένας ἀκτῖνας ὑποπτήσσουσα προσώπου,

  οὐδὲ νόθης ἐνόησε δολοπλόκον εἰκόνα μορφῆς:

  145 κουφοτέροις δὲ πόδεσσιν ὀρειάδα πέζαν ἀμείβων,

  χερσὶ περιπλεκέεσσι κερασφόρον υἷα κομίζων,

  μητρὶ Διὸς γενέταο λεοντοβότῳ πόρε Ῥείῃ,

  καί τινα μῦθον ἔειπεν ἀριστώδινι θεαίνῃ:

  [132] Here behind the many keys and seals of the palace allseeing Hera spied him with her infallible eyes, guarded by Mystis in that hidden corner of the house. Then she swore by the infernal water of afteravenging Styx, that she would drown the house of Ino in a flood of innumerable woes. Indeed she would have destroyed the son of Zeus; but Hermes caught him up and carried him to the wooded ridge where Cybele dwelt. Moving fast, Hera ran swiftshoe on quick feet from high heaven; but he was before her, and assumed the eternal shape of firstborn Phanes. Hera in respect for the most ancient of the gods, gave him place and bowed before the radiance of the deceiving face, not knowing the borrowed shape for a fraud. So Hermes passed over the mountain tract with quicker step then hers, carrying the horned child folded in his arms, and gave it to Rheia, nurse of lions, mother of Father Zeus, and said these few words toe the goddess mother of the greatest:

  ‘Δέξο, θεά, νέον υἷα τεοῦ Διός, ὃς μόθον Ἰνδῶν
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  150 ἀθλεύσας μετὰ γαῖαν ἐλεύσεται εἰς πόλον ἄστρων,

  Ἥρῃ χωομένῃ μεγάλη χάρις: οὐ γὰρ ἐῴκει,

  ὃν Κρονίδης ὤδινεν, ἔχειν κουροτρόφον Ἰνώ:

  μαῖα Διωνύσοιο Διὸς γενέτειρα γενέσθω,

  μήτηρ Ζηνὸς ἐοῦσα καὶ υἱωνοῖο τιθήνη.’

  [149] “Receive, goddess, a new son of your Zeus! He is to fight with the Indians, and when he has done with earth he will come into the starry sky, to the great joy of resentful Hera! Indeed it is not proper that Ino should be nurse to one whom Zeus brought forth. Let the mother of Zeus be nanny to Dionysos – mother of Zeus and nurse of her grandson!”

  155 ὣς εἰπών ταχύγουνος ἐς οὐρανὸν ἤλυθεν Ἑρμῆς

  κυκλώσας βαλίῃσιν ὑπηνέμιον πτερὸν αὔραις:

  αὐτογόνου δὲ Φάνητος ὑπέρτερον εἶδος ἀμείψας

  ἀρχαίην παλίνορσος ἑὴν ἀνεδύσατο μορφὴν

  μητέρι παιδοκόμῳ παλιναυξέα Βάκχον ἐάσας.

  [155] This said, Hermes rose quicknee to the sky, rounding his wings under the rushing breezes. There he put off the higher shape of selfborn Phanes and put on his own form again, leaving Bacchos to grow a second time in the Mother’s nurture.

  160 τὸν δὲ θεὰ κομέεσκε καὶ εἰσέτι κοῦρον ἐόντα

  ἅρματος ὠμοβόμων ἐπιβήτορα θῆκε λεόντων:

  καὶ τροχαλοὶ Κορύβαντες ἔσω θεοδέγμονος αὐλῆς

  παιδοκόμῳ Διόνυσον ἐμιτρώσαντο χορείῃ,

  καὶ ξίφεα κτυπέεσκον, ἀμοιβαίῃσι δὲ ῥιπαῖς

  165 ἀσπίδας ἐκρούσαντο κυβιστητῆρι σιδήρῳ

  κουροσύνην κλέπτοντες ἀεξομένου Διονύσου:

  καὶ πάις εἰσαΐων σακέων μαιήιον ἠχὼ

  πατρῴαις κομιδῇσιν ἀεξήθη Κορυβάντων.

  [160] The goddess took care of him; and while he was yet a boy, she set him to drive a car drawn by ravening lions. Within that godwelcoming courtyard, the tripping Corybants would surround Dionysos with their childcherishing dance, and clash their swords, and strike their shields with revounding steel in alternate movements, to conceal the growing boyhood of Dionysos; and as the boy listened to the fostering noise of the shields he grew up under the care of the Corybants like his father.

  καὶ νέος ἐνναέτηρος ἔχων θηροκτόνον ἄγρην

  170 ποσσὶ μὲν ὠκυτέροισι παρέστιχεν ἴθμα λαγωοῦ,

  χειρὶ δὲ νηπιάχῳ μεθέπων κεμαδοσσόον ἀλκήν

  ποικίλον ᾐώρησεν ἐπ᾽ αὐχένι ωεβρὸν ἀείρων,

  καὶ θρασὺν αἰολόνωτον ἔχων τετανυσμένον ὤμῳ

  τίγριν ἄνω κούφιζε μετάρσιον ἔκτοθι δεσμοῦ ...

  175 σκύμνους χερσὶν ἔχων ἐπεδείκνυε μητέρι Ῥείῃ,

  ἁρπάξας νέα τέκνα πολυλλαγέων ἀπὸ μαζῶν,

  σμερδαλέους δὲ λέοντας ἔτι ζώοντας ἐρύσσας

  μητέρι δῶρα τίταινεν, ἵνα ζεύξειεν ἀπήνῃ

  δίζυγας ἀμφοτέρῃσι πόδας παλάμῃσι πιέζων.

  180 θαμβαλέη δὲ γέλωτι γεγηθότι δέρκετο Ῥείη

  ἠνορέην καὶ ἄεθλα νεηγενέος Διονύσου:

  καὶ βλοσυρῶν Ἰόβακχον ἰδὼν ἐλατῆρα λεόντων

  ὄμμασι τερπομένοισι πατὴρ ἐγέλασσε Κρονίων.

  [169] At nine years old the youngster went a-hunting his game to the kill. He passed the coursing hare with feet quicker still; following after the strong pricket’s speed, he would lift with childish hand the dappled fawn and carry it over his neck; he would hold lightly aloft stretched on his shoulders a bold fellstriped tiger unshackled, and brought in hand to show Rheia the cubs he had torn newborn from the dam’s milky teats. He dragged horrible lions all alive, and clutching a couple of feet in each hand presented them to the Mother that she might yoke them to her car. Rheia looked on laughing with joy, and admired the manliness and doughty feats of young Dionysos; his father Cronion laughed when he saw with delighted eyes Iobacchos driving the grim lions.

  καὶ χροΐ λαχνήεντας ἀνεχλαίνωσε χιτῶνας

  185 Εὔιος ἀρτιτέλεστον ἔκων παιδήιον ἥβην,

  δαιδαλέην ἐλάφοιο φέρων ὤμοισι καλύπτρην,

  αἰθερίων μιμηλὸν ἔχων τύπον αἰόλον ἄστρων:

  καὶ Φρυγίης ὑπὸ πέζαν ἐς αὔλια λύλκας ἐλάσσας

  στικτοῖς πορδαλίεσσιν ἑὴν ἔζευξεν ἀπήνην,

  190 οἷά τε πατρῴων δαπέδων ἴνδαλμα γεραίρων:

  πολλάκι δ᾽ ἀθανάτης ἐποχημένος ἅρματι Ῥείης,

  βαιῇ χειρὶ φέρων ἁπαλόχροϊ κύκλα χαλινοῦ,

  κραιπνὸν ἐπειγομένων ἀνεσείρασεν ἅρμα λεόντων:

  καὶ Διὸς ὑψιμέδοντος ἐνὶ φρεσὶ θάρσος ἀέξων

  195 δεξιτερὴν ἐτίταινεν ἐπὶ στόμα λυσσάδος ἄρκτου,

  σμερδαλέαις γενύεσσιν ἀταρβέα δάκτυλα βάλλων,

  δάκτυλα κουρίζοντα: καὶ ἵστατο μειλιχίη θὴρ

  νηπιάχῳ στόμα δοῦλον ἐπιτρέψασα Λυαίῳ,

  καὶ κύσε καρχαλέοισι φιλήμασι δίκτυλα Βάκχου.

  [184] The time of boyhood just come, Euios draped furry tunics upon his body, and carried to cover his shoulders the dappled skin of a stag, imitating the sky spotted with stars. He drove lynxes to his stables in the Phrygian plain, and yoked speckled panthers to his cart as if to make it look the place where his father dwelt. Often he stood in the chariot of immortal Rheia, and held the flowing reins in his tenderskin hand, and checked the nimble team of galloping lions. The boldness of Zeus high and mighty grew in his heart, until he stretched his right hand to the snout of a mad she-bear and laid fearless fingers on the terrible jaws, playful fingers: gentle stood the beast, and left her mouth a slave of youthful Lyaios, and kissed Bacchos’s fingers with rough kisses.

  200 ὣς ὁ μὲν ἠέξητο φιλοσκοπέλῳ παρὰ Ῥείῃ

  ἀρτιθαλὴς ἔτι κοῦρος ὀρίτροφος. ἀμφὶ δὲ πέτραις

  Πᾶνες ἐκυκλώσαντο χοροίτυπον υἷα Θυώνης,

  ποσσὶ δασυκνήμοισι περισκαίροντες ἐρίπναις,

  Βάκχον ἀνευάζοντες: ἑλισσομένων δὲ χορείῃ

  205 αἰγείη κροτάλιζε ποδῶν σκιρτήματι χηλή.

  [200] Thus he grew up beside cliffloving Rheia, yet a boy in healthy youth, mountainbred. Circles of Pans among the rocks came about the dancebeating son of Thyone, skipping around the crags on shaggyknee legs and crying “Euoi!” to Bacchos; and the goatfoot hooves rattled in their capers, as they went round and round in the dance.

  καὶ Σεμέλη κατ᾽ Ὄλυμπον ἔτι πνείουσα κεραυνοῦ

  αὐχένα γαῦρ
ον ἄειρε καὶ ὑψινόῳ φάτο φωνῇ:

  ‘Ἥρη, ἐσυλήθης: Σεμέλης τόκος ἐστὶν ἀρείων:

  Ζεὺς ἐμὸν υἷα λόχευσε καὶ ἀντ᾽ ἐμέθεν πέλε μήτηρ,

  210 σπεῖρε πατὴρ καὶ ἔτικτε, τὸν ἤροσεν, αὐτοτόκῳ δὲ

  γαστρὶ νόθῃ τέκε παῖδα, φύσιν δ᾽ ἤλλαξεν ἀνάγκῃ.

  Βάκχος Ἐνυαλίου πέλε φέρτερος: ὑμέτερον γὰρ

  ἤροσε μοῦνον Ἄρηα καὶ οὐ τεκνώσατο μηρῷ.

  Θήβη δ᾽ Ὀρτυγίης κλέος ἔκρυφεν: οὐρανίη γὰρ

  215 λάθριον Ἀπόλλωνα διωκομένη τέκε Λητώ:

  Λητὼ Φοῖβον ἔτικτε, καὶ οὐκ ὤδινε Κρονίων: