Works of Nonnus

by Nonnus

  κείμενον ἔστενε κοῦρον ἅτε ζώοντα δοκεύων.

  καί μιν ἀνεχλαίνωσε τὸν ἄπνοον, ὑψόθεν ὤμου

  νεβρίδα καὶ ψυχροῖσιν ἐπὶ στέρνοισι καθάψας,

  καί, νέκυός περ ἐόντος, ἐδήσατο ταρσὰ κοθόρνοις:

  235 καὶ ῥόδα καὶ κρίνα πάσσε κατὰ χροός, ἀμφὶ δὲ χαίταις,

  οἷα μινυνθαδίοιο δεδουπότος ὀξέι κέντρῳ,

  ἄνθος ἀνῃώρησε ταχυφθιμένης ἀνεμώνης:

  καὶ παλάμῃ πόρε θύρσον, ἑῷ δέ μιν ἔσκεπε πέπλῳ

  πορφυρέῳ: καὶ δῶρον ἀκερσικόμοιο καρήνου

  240 πλοχμὸν ἕνα τμήξας ἐπεθήκατο μάρτυρι νεκρῷ

  λοίσθιον: ἀμβροσίην δὲ λαβὼν παρὰ μητέρι Ῥείῃ

  ὠτειλαῖς ἐπέχευεν, ὅθεν νέος εἶδος ἀμείψας

  ἀμβροσίην εὔοδμον ἑῇ μετέθηκεν ὀπώρῃ.

  [224] One of the Satyrs caught sight of lovely Ampelos lying in the dust on the ground, and brought the bad news to Bacchos. The god on hearing it ran there swift as the wind. Heracles made no such running, when the Nymphs had hidden dainty Hylas in their envious waters, a bridegroom kept safely for the greedy watersprite, as Bacchos did then while he bounded over the mountain roads; he groaned when he saw the boy lying in the dust as if alive. He clothed the breathless body, laid a fawnskin over his shoulder and cold chest, put buskins on his feet though he was dead; he sprinkled roses and lilies upon his body, and hung a garland on his hair of the soonperishing anemone flowers, as for one fallen too early by a cruel blow. In his hand he placed a thyrsus, and covered him with his own purple robe; from his own uncut head he took one lock, and laid it on the body as a last gift and token. He brought ambrosia from Mother Rheia and poured it into the wounds, whence Ampelos when he took his new shape passed the fragrant ambrosia to his fruit.

  καὶ νέκυος χαρίεντος ὑπὲρ δαπέδοιο ταθέντος

  245 οὐ χλόος ἀμφεχύθη ῥοδόεν δέμας: ὠκυμόρου δὲ

  καὶ πλόκαμοι χαρίεντες ἐρωτοτόκοιο καρήνου

  αὔραις φειδομένῃσιν ἐπαιθύσσοντο προσώπῳ:

  ἦν δέ τις ἱμερόεις κεκονιμένος. ἀμφὶ δὲ νεκρῷ

  Σειληνοὶ στενάχιζον, ἐπωδύροντο δὲ Βάκχοι.

  250 οὐδέ ἑ κάλλος ἔλειπε, καὶ εἰ θάνεν: ὡς Σάτυρος δὲ

  κεῖτο νέκυς, γελόωντι πανείκελος, οἷά περ αἰεὶ

  χείλεσιν ἀφθόγγοισι χέων μελιηδέα φωνήν.

  [244] No pallor spread on the rosy skin of the charming body which lay there stretched on the ground. The charming curls of that head so lovely, of one who had died so young, strayed over his face as the gentle breezes blew. He was a ravishing sight even in the dust. Around the body Seilenoi lamented, the Bacchoi mourned. His beauty left him not although he was dead. But like a Satyr the body lay, with a lifelike smile on his face, as if for ever he were pouring his honeysweet voice from those silent lips.

  καὶ νέκυν εἰσορόων κινυρὴν ἀνενείκατο φωνὴν

  νηπενθὴς Διόνυσος, ἔχων ἀγέλαστον ὀπωπήν:

  255 ‘Μοιράων πεσέτω φθονερὸν λίνον: ἦ ῥα καὶ αὐτοὶ

  ταῦροι ἐπ᾽ ἠιθέοις ζηλήμονες ὥς περ ἀῆται;

  τίς Ζέφυρος μετὰ Φοῖβον ἐπέχραε καὶ Διονύσῳ;

  ὄλβιος ἔπλετο Φοῖβος Ἀτύμνιος: ἠιθέου γὰρ

  ἔλλαχεν οὔνομα τοῦτο: Θεραπναίου δὲ καὶ αὐτοῦ

  260 φάρμακον ἡβητῆρος ἐπώνυμον ἄνθος ἀείρει,

  αἴλινον ἐν πετάλοισιν ἐπιγράψας ὑακίνθου:

  ποῖον ἔχω πλοκάμοις καὶ ἐγὼ στέφος, ἢ τίνα πάλλω

  ἄνθεα φωνήεντα, παρήγορα παιδὸς ἀνίης;

  ἀλλὰ τεοῦ θανάτου τιμήορος εἰς φόνον ἕλκων

  265 ἄξομαι εἰς σέο τύμβον, ἀώριε, ταῦρον ἀλήτην.

  οὐ μὲν ἐγὼ βουπλῆγι τεὸν κτείνοιμι φονῆα,

  ὄφρα λάχῃ μόρον ἶσον ἀρασσομένοιο μετώπου

  ταύροις σφαζομένοισιν, ἀναρρήξαιμι δὲ πικρὴν

  ταύρου γαστέρα πᾶσαν ἐμῆς γλωχῖνι κεραίης,

  270 ὅττι τανυκραίρῳ σε κατεπρήνιξεν ἀκωκῇ.

  ὄλβιος Ἐννοσίγαιος, ἐπεί τινα γείτονα πάτρης

  παιδὸς ἐμοῦ Φρύγα κοῦρον ἐφίλατο, τὸν δὲ κομίζων

  χρύσεον εἰς Διὸς οἶκον ἀνήγαγεν ἀστὸν Ὀλύμπου,

  καί οἱ, ὅτε σπεύδεσκεν ἐς ἱπποσύνην Ἀφροδίτης,

  275 ὤπασεν ἄβροχον ἅρμα γαμοστόλον Ἱπποδαμείης.

  [253] Dionysos also uttered a voice of sorrow when he saw the body, nevermourning Dionysos with no smile now on his face: “Let the Fates drop their envious thread! Are even bulls jealous of boys as the breezes are? What Zephyros is this who has attacked Dionysos too after Apollo? Happy is Phoibos Atymnios!– for he took that name from the boy. He consoles himself by making to rise the flower named after his Therapnaian youth, and scoring upon the iris-leaves the word Alas! What garland have I on my hair? What speaking petals do I also wave to comfort me in my sorrow for the boy? But I will avenge your death, untimely dead, and drag to slaughter over your tomb that runaway bull. I will not fell your murderer with an axe, to let him share the lot of bulls killed with shattered skull; but I will tear open all the bull’s hateful belly with the point of my horn, because he mangled you with that long horny spike of his. Happy is Earthshaker! He loved a Phrygian boy, a neighbour to my own boy’s country, and he carried him to the golden house of Zeus and gave him a home in Olympos; and when the boy was eager for the loverace with chariots, he lent his own unsinking car to honour Hippodameia’s wedding.

  μοῦνος ἐγὼ νέον ἔσχον ἀώριον: ἱμερόεις γὰρ

  ἄμπελος οὐ γάμον εἶδε βιοσσόον, οὐδ᾽ ἐπὶ παστῷ

  νυμφιδίην νέος οὗτος ἐμὴν ἔζευξεν ἀπήνην,

  ἀλλὰ θανὼν λίπε πένθος ἀπενθήτῳ Διονύσῳ.

  280 οὔ πώ μοι, φίλε κοῦρε, τεὸν στόμα κάλλιπε Πειθώ,

  ἀλλὰ σέθεν φθιμένοιο καὶ ἄπνοα χείλεα ναίει:

  καὶ νέκυός περ ἐόντος ἔτι στίλβουσι παρειαί,

  ὀφθαλμοὶ γελόωσι καὶ εἰσέτι, διχθαδίης δὲ

  εἰσέτι σῆς παλάμης χιονώδεές εἰσιν ἀγοστοί,

  285 σοὺς δ᾽ ἐρατοὺς πλοκάμους λιγυροὶ δονέουσιν ἀῆται:

  οὐ ῥόδα σῶν μελέων θανατηφόρος ἔσβεσεν ὥρη,

  [276] “I only have had a boy who died untimely. For lovely Ampelos knew no life-refreshing marriage; this youth never yoked my car for his ride to the bridal chamber: no, he died, and left grief for Dionysos who cannot grieve.
Persuasion has not yet left your tongue, my well-loved boy, but although you are dead she abides on those breathless lips. Although you are dead, those cheeks are still bright with bloom, those eyes are laughing still, your arms and two hands are snowy-white, your lovely curls move in the whistling wind; the hour of death has not blanched the roses of your limbs – all these are preserved untouched.

  ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι σοι τάδε πάντα φυλάσσεται. ὤμοι Ἐρώτων,

  τί χρέος ἦν, ἵνα ταῦρον ἀμείλιχον ἡνιοχεύσῃς;

  εἴ σε διεπτοίησεν ἀελλοπόδων πόθος ἵππων,

  290 τίπτέ μοι οὐκ ἀγόρευες, ὅπως ἀπὸ γείτονος Ἴδης

  ἐνθάδε δίφρον ἄγοιμι, καὶ ἀρχαίης ἀπὸ φύτλης

  Τρώιον εἰς σὲ κόμιζον ἐπουρανίων γένος ἵππων

  πατρίδα συλήσας Γανυμήδεος, ὃν τρέφεν Ἴδη

  σοὶ δέμας ἶσον ἔχοντα, τὸν ἀνδροφόνων ἀπὸ ταύρων

  295 φειδομένοις ὀνύχεσσιν ἐκούφισεν ὑψιπέτης Ζεύς:

  εἰ ἐτεὸν μενέαινες ἐν οὔρεσι θῆρας ἐναίρειν,

  τίπτέ μοι οὐ κατέλεξας, ὅτι χρέος ἔπλετο δίφρου;

  καί κεν ἐμῆς ἤλαυνες ἀπήμονα κύκλον ἀπήνης,

  καί κεν ἐμῆς ἄψαυστα δεδεγμένος ἡνία Ῥείης

  300 μειλιχίων ἀδόνητος ἐμάστιες ἅρμα δρακόντων.

  [287] “Woe’s me for Love! What need was there for you to ride on a cruel bull? If some passion for stormfoot horses excited you, why did you not tell me? I could have brought you here a chariot from neighbouring Ida, and got your horses of the ancient heavenly breed of Tros: I could have robbed the country of Ganymedes, who was bred on Ida and had beauty like yours – but Zeus saved him from man-murdering bulls, and flew into the heights carrying him with gentle claws. If you really wanted to kill wild bests in the mountains, why did not you tell me that you had need of a car? You might have driven my rolling wagon without hurt; you might have held the untouchable reins of my Rheia, and flogged a team of tame dragons unstaggering!

  οὐκέτι σὺν Σατύροισιν ἐποίνιον ὕμνον ἀείδεις,

  οὐκέτι Βασσαρίδεσσι φιλοκροτάλοισι κελεύεις,

  οὐκέτι θηρεύοντι συναγρώσσεις Διονύσῳ.

  ὤμοι, ὅτ᾽ οὐκ Ἀίδης πέλεν ἤπιος, οὐδ᾽ ἐπὶ νεκρῷ

  305 δέχνυται ἀγλαὰ δῶρα βαθυπλούτοιο μετάλλου,

  ἄμπελον ὄφρα θανόντα πάλιν ζώοντα τελέσσω:

  ὤμοι, ὅτ᾽ οὐκ Ἀίδης ποτὲ πείθεται: ἢν δ᾽ ἐθελήσῃ,

  ὄλβον ὅλον στίλβοντα χαρίζομαι Ἠριδανοῖο

  δένδρεα συλήσας ποταμήια, μαρμαρέην δὲ

  310 ἄξομαι ἀστράπτουσαν Ἐρυθραίην λίθον Ἰνδῶν

  ἀφνειῆς τ᾽ Ἀλύβης ὅλον ἄργυρον, ἀντὶ δὲ νεκροῦ

  παιδὸς ἐμοῦ χρύσειον ὅλον Πακτωλὸν ὀπάσσω.’

  [301] “You sing no longer your song with Satyrs over the wine; no longer your marshal the love-rattle Bassarids; no longer you go a-hunting with Dionysos on the chase. Alas, that Hades is never kind! and does not for a corpse accept any glorious gifts of rich metals, that I may make dead Ampelos alive once more. Alas, that Hades is inexorable! If he will consent, I rob the trees by river Eridanos and present him with all their gleaming wealth; I will bring him the flashing Erythraian stone of the Indies, and all the silver of rich Alybe– I will give him all golden Pactolos for my dead boy.”

  ὣς εἰπὼν στενάχιζε νέκυν γλυκύν: ἐν δὲ κονίῃ

  κείμενον εἰσορόων πάλιν ἴαχε πενθάδι φωνῇ:

  315 ‘Ζεῦ πάτερ, εἰ φιλέεις με, καὶ εἰ πόνον οἶδας ἐρώτων,

  ἄμπελον αὐδήεντα τίθει πάλιν εἰς μίαν ὥρην,

  ὑστάτιον καὶ μοῦνον ὅπως ἕνα μῦθον ἐνίψῃ:

  ῾τί στενάχεις, Διόνυσε, τὸν οὐ στοναχῇσιν ἐγείρεις;

  οὔατά μοι παρέασι, καὶ οὐ βοόωντος ἀκούω,

  320 ὄμματά μοι παρέασι, καὶ οὐ στενάχοντα δοκεύω:

  νηπενθὴς Διόνυσος, ἐμοὶ μὴ δάκρυα λείβῃς,

  ἀλλὰ τεὸν λίπε πένθος, ἐπεὶ φονίῃ παρὰ πηγῇ

  νηιάδες στενάχουσι καὶ οὐ Νάρκισσος ἀκούει,

  Ἡλιάδων Φαέθων κινυρὴν οὐκ οἶδεν ἀνίην.᾿

  [313] So he lamented his beloved dead; and looking again upon him as he lay in the dust he cried again to Zeus with mournful voice: “Father Zeus! If you love me, and if you know the trouble of love, give speech again to Ampelos only for one hour, that he may only speak once more to me for the last time and say - `Why do you sigh for me, Dionysos, when no sighing will wake me? Ears I have, but I hear not the caller; eyes I have, but I see not him that sighs. Dionysos nevermourning, shed no tears over me. Nay, leave your mourning; the Naiads may sigh by that fountain of death, but Narcissus hears not; Phaëthon knows not the sorrowful pains of the Heliads.’

  325 ὤμοι, ὅτ᾽ οὔ με φύτευσε πατὴρ βροτόν, ὄφρά κεν εἴην

  σύννομος ἠιθέῳ καὶ ἐν Ἄιδι, μηδ᾽ ἐνὶ Λήθῃ

  ἄμπελον ἱμερόεντα δεδουπότα μοῦνον ἐάσω.

  εἰς πόθον ἠιθέοιο μακάρτερός ἐστιν Ἀπόλλων

  οὔνομα παιδὸς ἔχων πεφιλημένον: αἴθε καὶ αὐτὸς

  330 εἴην Ἀμπελόεις, Ὑακίνθιος ὥς περ Ἀπόλλων.

  ὑπνώεις τέο μέχρι, καὶ οὐκέτι, κοῦρε, χορεύεις;

  εἰς προχοὰς ποταμοῖο τί σήμερον οὐκέτι βαίνεις

  κάλπιν ἔχων εὔυδρον; ὀρεσσαύλῳ δ᾽ ἐνὶ λόχμῃ

  ἠθάδος ὀρχηθμοῖο τεὴ πάλιν ἤλυθεν ὥρη.

  335 εἰ κοτέεις, φίλε κοῦρε, ποθοβλήτῳ Διονύσῳ,

  φθέγγεο Σειληνοῖσιν, ὅπως σέο μῦθον ἀκούσω.

  [325] “Alas, that my father begat me not a mortal, that I might be playfellow with my boy even in Hades, that I might not leave Ampelos my darling to fall in Lethe alone! Apollo is more blest in the youth he loved that he bears the boy’s beloved name; O that also I might be Ampeloian, as Apollo is Hyacinthian! How long will you sleep, my dear? Not dancing any longer? Why do not you go to-day to the river stream with a fine pitcher to fill with water? The time has come round again for your familiar dance in the woodland glade. If you are angry with lovestricken Dionysos, darling boy, speak to the Seilenoi that I may just hear your voice.

  εἴ σε λέων ἐδάμασσεν, ἐγὼ ξύμπαντας ὀλέσσω,

  πάντας, ὅσους Τμώλοιο φέρει λέπας, οὐδὲ λεόντων

  Ῥείης ἡμετέρης ποτὲ φείσομαι, ἀλλὰ δαμάσσω,

  340 εἰ βλοσυραῖς γενύεσσι τεοὶ γεγάασι φονῆες:

  πόρδαλις εἰ πρήνιξε τεὸν δέμας, ἄνθος Ἐρώτων,

>   οὐκέτι πορδαλίων δέμας αἰόλον ἡνιοχεύσω:

  ἄλλοι θῆρες ἔασιν, ὅλης δ᾽ ἐπιήρανος ἄγρης

  Αρτεμις ἐξ ἐλάφων κεραελκέα δίφρον ἐλαύνει:

  345 νεβρίδα πέπλον ἔχων ἐποχήσομαι ἅρματι νεβρῶν:

  εἴ σε σύες κατέπεφνον ἀναιδέες, εἰν ἑνὶ μάρψας

  πάντας ἐγὼ κτείνοιμι, καὶ οὐχ ἕνα μοῦνον ἐάσω

  κάπρον ἔτι ζώοντα λελειμμένον ἰοχεαίρῃ:

  εἰ δέ σε ταῦρος ἔπεφνεν ἀτάσθαλος, ὀξέι θύρσῳ

  350 ταυρείην προθέλυμνον ἀιστώσαιμι γενέθλην.’

  [337] “If a lion killed you, I will destroy them all, yes all that the slopes of Tmolos hold; I will not spare the lions of my own Rheia, but I will kill them, if they were your murderers with their grim jaws. If a panther brought you down, you flower of love! I will no longer drive my speckled team of panthers; there are other wild beasts, and Artemis Sovran of all creatures drives an antlered car drawn by stags. I will wear a fawnskin and drive a team of fawns. If merciless boars have killed you, I will grasp all together and kill them, and no one boar will I leave alive for the Archeress. If a presumptuous bull killed you, with the point of my thyrsus I will annihilate the whole generation of bulls root and branch.”

  ὣς ὁ μὲν ἐστενάχιζεν. ἔρως δέ οἱ ἐγγύθεν ἔστη

  Σειληνοῦ λασίοιο φέρων κεραελκέα μορφήν,

  θύρσον ἔχων, καὶ στικτὸν ἐπὶ χροῒ δέρμα καθάψας

  γηροκόμῳ νάρθηκι δέμας στηρίζετο βάκτρῳ:

  355 καὶ Βρομίῳ γοόωντι παρήγορον ἴαχε φωνήν:

  ‘ Ἄλλῳ λῦσον ἔρωτι τεῶν σπινθῆρας ἐρώτων

  εἰς νέον ἡβητῆρα μετάτροπον οἶστρον ἀμείψας,