Works of Nonnus

by Nonnus

  [302] So speaking, away like misty smoke went the soul of the lovesmitten herdsman weeping, and passed beyond pursuit into the courtyard of Tartaros, allcomers’ hostel, full of envy for Bacchos and his drinkdeceiving espousals.

  καὶ λιγυροῖς δονάκεσσι γαμήλιον ἦχον ἀράσσων,

  ζῆλον ὑποκλέπτων ὑποκάρδιον, ὑμνοπόλος Πὰν

  μεμφόμενον μέλος εἶπεν ἐς ἀλλοτρίους ὑμεναίους.

  καί τις ἐρωμανέων Σατύρων παρὰ γείτονι λόχμῃ

  310 θηητὴρ ἀκόρητος ἀθηήτων ὑμεναίων

  Βακχείην ἀγόρευεν, ἰδὼν εὐπάρθενον εὐνήν:

  [306] Pan also piped a bridal tune on the shrill reeds, hiding secret envy deep in his heart, Pan the master of music; and made a defaming lay for the unnatural union. And one of the lovemad Satyrs in a thicket hard by, staring insatiate upon the wedding, a forbidden sight, declaimed thus, when he saw the bed of Bacchos with his fair maiden:

  ‘Πὰν κερόεις, ἔτι μοῦνος ἔχεις δρόμον εἰς Ἀφροδίτην;

  καὶ σὺ διωκομένης πότε νυμφίος ἔσσεαι Ἠχοῦς;

  καὶ σὺ δόλον πότε τοῖον ἀοσσητῆρα τελέσσεις

  315 ὑμετέρων ἐπίκουρον ἀνυμφεύτων ὑμεναίων;

  Πὰν φίλε, καὶ σὺ γένοιο φυτοσκάφος ἀντὶ νομῆος,

  ποιμενίην δ᾽ ἀπόειπε καλαύροπα καὶ παρὰ πέτρῃ

  λεῖπε βόας καὶ μῆλα: τί σοι ῥέξουσι νομῆες;

  ἔγρεο, καὶ σὺ φύτευε γαμοστόλον οἶνον Ἐρώτων.’

  [312] “Horned Pan, still running alone after Aphrodite? When will you too be a bridegroom, for Echo whom you chase? Will you ever bring off a trick like this, to aid and abet you in your nuptials never consummated? Become a gardener too instead of herdsman, my dear Pan; forswear your shepherd’s cudgel, leave oxen and sheep among the rocks — what will herdsmen do for you? Wake up! and plant another vine, which provides love’s wedding.”

  320 οὔ πω μῦθος ἔληγε, καὶ ἴαχεν αἰγίβοτος Πάν:

  [320] Not yet had his words ended, when goatherd Pan cried out:

  ‘αἴθε πατήρ με δίδαξε τελεσσιγάμου δόλον οἴνου:

  αἴθε νοοσφαλέος σταφυλῆς, ἅτε Βάκχος, ἀνάσσω:

  καί κεν ἐμῶν ἐτέλεσσα πολύπλανον οἶστρον Ἐρώτων

  ὑπναλέην μεθύουσαν ἰδὼν δυσπάρθενον Ἠχώ.

  325 ἱλήκοι νομὸς οὗτος, ἐπεὶ παρὰ γείτονι πηγῇ

  ἀρδεύω τάδε μῆλα, φιλακρήτῳ δὲ ῥεέθρῳ

  παρθενικὰς Διόνυσος ἀθελγέας εἰς γάμον ἕλκει.

  φάρμακον εὗρεν Ἔρωτος ἑὸν φυτόν: ἐρρέτω αἰγῶν,

  ἐρρέτω ἡμετέρων ὀίων γλάγος: οὐ δύναται γὰρ

  330 εἰς πόθον ὕπνον ἄγειν ἢ παρθένον εἰς γάμον ἕλκειν.

  μοῦνος ἐγώ, Κυθέρεια, βιάζομαι: ὤμοι Ἐρώτων:

  σύριγξ Πανὸς ἔφευγεν ἀνυμφεύτους ὑμεναίους

  καὶ γάμον ἀρτιτέλεστον ἀνευάζει Διονύσου

  αὐτομάτοις μελέεσσι: τὸ δὲ πλέον ἠθάδι μολπῇ

  335 φθεγγομένης Σύριγγος ἀμείβετο σύνθροος Ἠχώ.

  νυμφιδίης Διόνυσε μέθης θελξίμβροτε ποιμήν,

  ὄλβιος ἔπλεο μοῦνος, ἀναινομένης ὅτι νύμφης

  εὗρες ἀοσσητῆρα γαμοστόλον οἶνον Ἐρώτων.’

  [321] “I wish my father had taught me the trick of that matchmaking wine! I wish I could be lord of the mindtripping grape, like Bacchos! Then I should have seen that cruel maiden Echo, asleep and well drunken! then I should have achieved my love, which like a gadfly sends me gadding afar! Farewell to this pasturage! for while I water my sheep here by a neighbouring spring, Dionysos draws intractable nymphs to marriage by means of his tipplers’ river! He has invented a medicine for Eros — his plant: away with the goat’s milk, away with the milk of my ewes! for that cannot bring sleep to desire, nor a maiden to marriage. I alone, Cythereia, must suffer. Alas for love! Syrinx escaped from Pan’s marriage and left him without a bride, and now she cries Euoi to the newly-made marriage of Dionysos with melodies unasked: while Syrinx gives voice, and to crown all, Echo chimes in with her familiar note. O Dionysos, charmer of mortals, shepherd of the bridal intoxication! you alone are happy, because when the nymph denied, you found out wine, love’s helper to deck out the marriage!”

  τοῖον ἔπος κατέλεξε δυσίμερος ἀχνύμενος Πάν,

  340 ζῆλον ἔχων καὶ ἔρωτα τελεσσιγάμοιο Λυαίου.

  [339] Such were the words of Pan, in sorrow for his thwarted desire, and in envy and love of Lyaios, the achiever of marriage.

  καὶ τελέσας φιλότητα καὶ εἰνοδίης πόθον εὐνῆς

  ἀφράστῳ Διόνυσος ἀνῃώρητο πεδίλῳ.

  νύμφη δ᾽ ἐγρομένη ποταμηίδι μέμφετο πηγῇ,

  ὕπνῳ χωομένη καὶ Κύπριδι καὶ Διονύσῳ,

  345 ὄμβρῳ δακρυόεντι κατάρρυτος: ἀχνυμένη δὲ

  ἔκλυε Νηιάδων γαμίης ἔτι λείψανα μολπῆς,

  καὶ λεχέων κήρυκα ποθοβλήτοιο Λυαίου

  ἡμερίδων πετάλοισι κατάσκιον εἶδε χαμεύνην

  νεβρίσι νυμφιδίῃσι πυκαζομένην Διονύσου,

  350 κρυπταδίων λεχέων αὐτάγγελον: εἶδε καὶ αὐτὴν

  μίτρην παρθενίην γαμίης πλήθουσαν ἐέρσης.

  καὶ ῥοδέας ἐχάραξε παρηίδας, ἀμφοτέρους δὲ

  μηροὺς πληξαμένη κινυρῇ βρυχήσατο φωνῇ:

  [341] And Dionysos, having achieved his love, and the desires of that wayside bed, rose up with unnoted boot. But the nymph awaking reproached the river spring, indignant against Hypnos and Cypris and Dionysos, bathed in a flood of tears; in her pain, she heard still the remnants of the Naiads’ nuptial song; and she saw that bed, herald of the couch of lovesick Lyaios, shadowed over with garden vine-leaves, and piled thick with the bridal fawnskins of Dionysos, which gives its own message of Lyaios’s lovestricken passion, which told the tale of the furtive bed; she saw her own maiden zone wet with the wedding dew. Then she tore her rosy cheeks, and slapt both thighs, and moaned with piercing voice:

  ὤμοι παρθενίης, τήν ἥρπασεν Εὔιον ὕδωρ:

  355 ‘ὤμοι παρθενίης, τὴν ἥρπασεν ὕπνος Ἐρώτων:

  ὤμοι παρθενίης, τήν ἥρπασε Βάκχος ἀλήτης.

  ἐρρέτω Ὑδριάδων δολόεν ποτόν, ἐρρέτω εὐνή.

  νύμφαι Ἁμαδρυάδες, τίνα μέμψομαι; ἡμετέρην γὰρ

  ὕπνος, Ἔρως, δόλος, οἶνος ἐληίσσαντο κορείην.

  360 παρθενικὰς ἀπέειπε καὶ Ἄρτεμις: ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴ

  τίπτέ μοι οὐ φυγόδεμνος ὅλον δέμας ἔννεπεν Ἠχώ;


  τίπτέ μοι εἰς ἐμὸν οὖας, ὅσον μὴ Βάκχον ἀκοῦσαι,

  οὐ Πίτυς ἐψιθύριζε καὶ οὐκ ἐφθέγξατο Δάφνη:

  ‘παρθενική, πεφύλαξο πιεῖν ἀπατήλιον ὕδωρ’;’

  [354] “Alas for maidenhead, stolen by the Euian water! alas for maidenhead, stolen by the sleep of love! Alas for maidenhead, stolen by that vagabond Bacchos! A curse on that deceitful water of the Hydriads, a curse on that bed! Hamadryad nymphs, whom shall I blame? for Sleep, Eros, trickery and wine, are the robbers of my maiden state! Artemis has deserted her own maidens. But Echo herself the enemy of the bed — why did not Echo tell me the whole scheme? Why did not Pine whisper in my ear, too low for Bacchos to hear? why did not Daphne the Laurel speak out— ‘Maiden, beware, drink not the deceiving water!’?”

  365 ἔννεπε, καὶ πολύδακρυν ἀνέβλυσεν ὄμβρον ὀπωπῆς.

  καί ποτε μὲν μενέαινε κατ᾽ αὐχένος ἆορ ἐρεῖσαι,

  ἄλλοτε δ᾽ αὐτοκύλιστος ἀπ᾽ οὔρεος ἤθελε πίπτειν

  ὑστατίῃ προκάρηνος ὀλισθήσασα κονίῃ:

  καὶ γαμίης μενέαινεν ἀιστῶσαι πόμα πηγῆς,

  370 εἰ μὴ ἀμειψαμένη προτέρη χύσις ἰκμάδα Βάκχου

  λευκὸν ὕδωρ κελάρυζε καὶ οὐκέτι χεῦμα Λυαίου.

  καὶ Κρονίδην ἱκέτευε καὶ Ἄρτεμιν, ὄφρα τελέσσῃ

  αὔλια Νηιάδων κεκονιμένα διψάδι χέρσῳ.

  πολλάκι δ᾽ ὄμμα τίταινε δι᾽ οὔρεος, εἴ που ἐφεύροι

  375 ἴχνιον ἀστήρικτον ἀθηήτου Διονύσον,

  ὄφρα βάλῃ τόξοισι γυνὴ θεόν, ὄφρα δαμάσσῃ

  δαίμονα βοτρυόεντα: καὶ ἤθελε μᾶλλον ἐκείνην

  ἄμπελον εὐναίην φλογερῷ πυρὶ πᾶσαν ὀλέσσαι.

  πολλάκι δ᾽ ἀθρήσασα δι᾽ οὔρεος ἴχνια Βάκχου

  380 ἠερίας τόξευεν ὀιστεύουσα θυέλλας:

  πολλάκι δ᾽ ἔγχος ἄειρε, καὶ εἰς σκοπὸν ἀντίον ἔστη.

  ὄφρα δέμας πλήξειεν ἀνουτήτου Διονύσου:

  ἀλλὰ μάτην προέηκε καὶ οὐκ ἐτύχησε Λυαίου.

  καὶ ποταμῷ κεχόλωτο καὶ ὤμοσε, μή ποτε πηγῆς

  385 χείλεσι διψαλέοισι πιεῖν ἀπατήλιον ὕδωρ:

  ὤμοσε καὶ κατὰ νύκτας ἔχειν ἄγρυπνον ὀπωπήν,

  ὤμοσε μὴ γλυκὺν ὕπνον ἐν οὔρεσιν ἄλλον ἰαύειν.

  καὶ σκύλακας νεμέσησε φυλάκτορας, ὅττι καὶ αὐτοὶ

  οὐ τότε θωρήσσοντο γυναιμανέοντι Λυαίῳ.

  390 δίζετο δ᾽ ἀγχονίοιο μετάρσιον ἄλκαρ ὀλέθρου

  θλιβομένη σφιγκτῆρι περίπλοκον αὐχένα δεσμῷ,

  μῶμον ἀλευομένη φιλοκέρτομον ἥλικος ἥβης.

  ἀρχαίην δ᾽ ἀέκουσα λίπεν θηροτρόφον ὕλην,

  αἰδομένη μετὰ λέκτρα φανήμεναι ἰοχεαίρῃ.

  [365] She spoke, and flooded her face with a shower of tears. And now she thought to set a sword in her throat, again she would have cast herself rolling off a cliff, to fall headlong in the dust at last; she thought to destroy the nuptial fountain of which she had drunk, but already the stream had got rid of its Bacchic juice, and bubbled out clear water, no longer the liquid of Lyaios. Then she besought Cronides and Artemis to fill the Naiads’ grottoes with dust and thirsty soil. Often she strained her eye over the mountains, if anywhere she might find an unsteady footstep of unseen Dionysos, that she might shoot him with her arrows, a woman shoot a god! that she might vanquish the deity of the grapes; yet more she desired to destroy with blazing fire all that marriage-vine. Often, when she saw tracks of Bacchos over the mountains, she let off storms of arrows into the air; often she lifted her lance, and cast at a mark, hoping to strike the body of unwounded Dionysos: but in vain she cast, and hit no Lyaios. And she was angry with the river, and swore never to drink the deceitful water of the fountain with thirsty lips; swore to keep her eyes awake through the night, swore not to enjoy sweet sleep again on the mountains. She blamed also the watchdogs, because not even they then attacked the womanmad Lyaios. She sought a remedy in death by the hanging noose, and encircled her neck with a choking throttling loop, to avert the malice of her mocking yearsmates. Unwilling she left the ancient beastbreeding forest, being ashamed after that bed to show herself to the Archeress.

  395 καὶ ζαθέης ῥαθάμιγγι γονῆς πλησθεῖσα Λυαίου

  γαστέρι φόρτον ἄειρε: τελειομένης δὲ λοχείης

  θῆλυν ἐμαιώσαντο τόκον ζωθαλπέες Ὧραι,

  καὶ δρόμον ἐννεάκυκλον ἐπτστώσαντο Σελήνης:

  ἐκ δὲ γάμου Βρομίοιο θεόσσυτος ἤνθεε κούρη,

  400 ἣν Τελετὴν ὀνόμηνεν ἀεὶ χαίρουσαν ἑορταῖς.

  κούρην νυκτιχόρευτον, ἐφεσπομένην Διονύσῳ,

  τερπομένην κροτάλοισι καὶ ἀμφιπλῆγι βοείῃ.

  καὶ πόλιν εὐλάιγγα φιλακρήτῳ παρὰ λίμνῃ

  τεῦξε θεὸς Νίκαιαν, ἐπώνυμον ἣν ἀπὸ νύμφης

  405 Ἀστακίης ἐκάλεσσε καὶ Ἰνδοφόνον μετὰ νίκην.

  [395] Now lined with the divine dew, the seed of Lyaios, she carried a burden in her womb; and when the time came for her delivery, the lifewarming Seasons played the midwives to a female child, and confirmed the nine-circled course of Selene. From the marriage of Bromios a god-sent girl grew to flower, whom she named Telete, one ever rejoicing in festivals, a night-dancing girl, who followed Dionysos, taking pleasure in clappers and the bang of the double oxhide.

  And the god built a city of fine stone beside the tipplers’ lake, Nicaia, City of Victory, which he named after the nymph Astacia and for the victory which brought the Indians low.

  BOOK 17

  ἑβδομάτῳ δεκάτῳ πρωτάγριον Ἄρεα μέλπω

  καὶ ῥόον οἰνωθέντα μελισταγέος ποταμοῖο.

  οὐδὲ φιλακρήτοιο μέθης πεπεδημένον ὕπνῳ

  ζωγρήσας ἀτίνακτον ἀνουτήτων γένος Ἰνδῶν

  ληθαίοις Διόνυσος ἐπέτρεπε δῆριν ἀήταις:

  ἀλλὰ πάλιν Φρύγα θύρσον ἐκούφισεν: ὑψιλόφου γὰρ

  5 εἰς ἐνοπὴν καλέοντος ἐπείγετο Δηριαδῆος,

  παιδὸς Ἀμαζονίης δολίην ἄμνηστον ἐάσας

  οἰνοβαρῆ φιλότητα καὶ ὑπναλέους ὑμεϝαίους.

  BOOK XVII

  In the seventeenth, I celebrate war’s firstfruits, and the waters of a honey-trickling river turned to wine.

  AFTER he had made captive the Indian nation, shackled in sleep by their potations, immovable, without a wound, Dionysos did not commit his quarrel to the forgetful winds, but once more lifted his Phrygian thyrsus; for he went in haste at the challenge of highcrested Deriades, and left forgotten behind him the trick he had played on
the Amazonian girl, the drunken passion and the drowsy nuptials.

  καὶ θεὸς ἡγεμόνευε, Διὸς κήρυκα γενέθλης

  οὐρανίην ἀκτῖνα φέρων στίλβοντι προσώπῳ:

  10 ἀμφὶ δὲ Λύδιον ἅρμα Γιγαντοφόνου Διονύσου

  θυρσοφόροι στίχες ἦσαν, ἐμιτρώθη δὲ μαχηταῖς

  μεσσοφανὴς ἑκάτερθε, καὶ ἀντήστραπτεν Ὀλύμπῳ:

  κάλλεϊ δ᾽ ἔκρυφε πάντας: ἰδὼν δέ μιν ἦ τάχα φαίης

  ἠέλιον πυρόεντα πολυσπερέων μέσον ἄστρων.

  15 καὶ στρατιῆς ἀσίδηρον ἄναξ ὥπλισσεν Ἐνυώ,

  οὐ ξίφος, οὐ μελίην θανατηφόρον, ἀντὶ δὲ χαλκοῦ

  κισσὸν ἔχων ἄρρηκτον ἑὸν δόρυ: καί μιν ἑλίσσων

  Ἀσίδος ἐν πολίεσσι, καὶ Ἀσίδος ἐν χθονὶ πήξας

  ἄγριον ἡνιόχευε Κυβηλίδος ἅρμα θεαίνης

  ἡμερίδων τελαμῶνι, κατάσκιον ἥλικι κισσῷ

  20 ἀνθοκόμῳ μάστιγι μετήλυδα δίφρον ἱμάσσων:

  ἠῴην δ᾽ ἐμέθυσσε Μαρωνίδι γαῖαν ὀπώρῃ.

  καὶ Βρομίῳ συνάεθλος ὅλος στρατὸς ἔρρεε Βάκχων,

  θάρσος ἔχων προτέροιο μόθου χάριν, ὁππότε δισσῷ

  25 ἡδυμανὴς ἀσίδηρος ὁμόζυγι πήχεϊ μάρψας

  ἔμφρονα νεκρὸν ἄναυδον, ἐνόπλιον Ἰνδὸν ἀείρων,

  Σειληνὸς βαρύγουνος ἐχάζετο νωθρὸς ὁδίτης:

  ὁππότε κωμάζουσα ποδῶν διδυμάονι ῥυθμῷ

  Βακχιὰς ἀκρήδεμνος ἐπεκροτάλιζε Μιμαλλὼν