Works of Nonnus

by Nonnus

  ὑγροπόροι καὶ Πᾶνες ὁμήλυδες: ἔξοχα δ᾽ ἄλλων

  ὠκύτεροι Τελχῖνες ἁλιτρεφέων ὑπὲρ ἵππων,

  115 πατρῴης ἐλατῆρες ἁλικρήπιδος ἀπήνης,

  εἰς δρόμον ὡμάρτησαν ἐπειγομένῳ Διονύσῳ.

  ἄλλοι δ᾽ ἦσαν ὄπισθεν, ἐπεσσεύοντο δὲ πορθμῷ

  ἐξ ἑτέρης ἀνιόντες ἀθηήτοιο κελεύθου,

  ἧχι θεὸς πόμπευεν: ἐπεὶ πτερὸν ἠρέμα πάλλων

  120 αἰετὸς ἡγεμόνευε δι᾽ οὔρεος ἀντίτυπος Ζεύς,

  φειδομένοις ὀνύχεσσι μετάρσιον υἷα κομίζων,

  Αἰακὸν ἠερίῃ πεφορημένον ὕψι κελεύθῳ.

  [109] The whole host followed, but where all pressed forward, Euios was in front, cutting the stream in his highland car and never wetting the axle. The Satyrs attended his passage, and with them Bacchant women and Pans passed through the water; but far quicker than the rest came the Telchines behind their seabred horses, driving their father’s car, firmly based on the sea, and they kept close to Dionysos as he sped along. Others were behind, thronging over the ford, but they came up the bank by another road unseen where a god led: for there was an eagle full in view, gently flapping its wings, Zeus, who led them through the mountains, while he carried his son Aiacos aloft with gentle talons traversing the high path of the air.

  Ἰνδώῃ δ᾽ ἐχόρευον ἐπισκαίροντες ἐρίπνῃ,

  καὶ σκοπέλους ἐδίωκον, ἐναυλίζοντο δὲ λόχμαις,

  125 καὶ κλισίας πήξαντες ἐς ἠρέμα δάσκιον ὕλην ...

  οἱ δὲ τανυκραίρων ἐλάφων κεμαδοσσόον ἄγρην

  εἶχον ἅμα σκυλάκεσσιν: Ἁμαδρυάδεσσι δὲ Νύμφαις

  Ὑδριάδες μίσγοντο φιλοπτόρθου Διονύσου.

  Βασσαρίδων δὲ φάλαγγες Ἐρυθραίῃ παρὰ λόχμῃ

  130 σκύμνον ὀρεσσαύλοιο τιθηνήσαντο λεαίνης,

  αὐτοχύτου δὲ γάλακτος ἀνέβλυον ἰκμάδα μαζοί:

  ἄλλη ἐχιδναίοιο πόθον μεθέπουσα κορύμβου

  ἰοβόλων μάστευε δι᾽ οὔρεος ἄντρα δρακόντων,

  θηροσύνην δ᾽ ἀνέφαινεν: ἀκοντιστῆρι δὲ θύρσῳ

  135 ἡ μὲν νεβρὸν ἔβαλλεν ἀελλόπον: ἡ δέ λαθοῦσα

  ἅλματι λυσσήεντι κατέδραμε λυσσάδος ἄρκτου:

  ἡ δὲ μελαρρίνων ῥαχίης ἐδράξατο θηρῶν

  καὶ λοφίης ἐπέβαινεν ὀρεσσινόμων ἐλεφάντων.

  καί τις ὀιστοβόλων βέλος ἥρμοσε κυκλάδι νευρῇ

  140 καὶ πτελέην τόξευεν: ὁ δὲ σκοπὸν εἶχεν ἐλαίην:

  καὶ πίτυν ἄλλος ἔβαλλε: πολὺς δ᾽ ἐπὶ γείτονα πεύκην

  πεμπομένων σύριζεν ἐν ἠέρι ῥοῖζος ὀιστῶν.

  [123] They leapt about dancing on the Indian crags, along the rocky paths; then they built shelters undisturbed in the dark forest, and spent the night among the trees.... Some went deerhunting with dogs after the long-antlered stags: the Hydriad water-nymphs of plantloving Dionysos mingled with the Hamadryads of the trees. Groups of Bassarids in this Erythraian wilderness suckled cubs of a mountain lioness, and the juicy milk flowed of itself out of their breasts. One searched the hills for the holes of poisonous serpents to satisfy her longing for a wreath of vipers, and showed how well she could hunt.

  One cast her wand and hit a stormfoot fawn. One approached unseen, and ran down a mad she-bear with maddened leaps. One clutched at the back of some elephant of the mountains, and climbed on the nape of the blackskinned beast. Sometimes an archer fitted a shaft to the string of his rounded bow and shot at an elmtree, or aimed at an olivetree, another hit a pine; showers of arrows went whizzing and buzzing through the air at the firtrees hard by.

  τοῖσι μὲν ἔβρεμε κῶμος ὀρίκτυπος. ἀχνύμενος δὲ

  Δηριάδῃ βασιλῆι δυσάγγελος ἵκετο Θουρεύς,

  145 δάκρυσιν ἀφθόγγοισιν ἀπαγγέλλων φόνον Ἰνδῶν,

  καὶ μόγις ἐκ στομάτων ἀνενείκατο πενθάδα φωνήν:

  [143] While the noise of their revels resounded among the hills, Thureus returned unhappy to King Deriades with bad tidings. His tears told the carnage of the Indians without words, but at last he let his sorrowful voice be heard:

  ‘Δηριάδη σκηπτοῦχε, θεηγενὲς ἔρνος Ἐνυοῦς,

  ᾔομεν, ὡς ἐκέλευσας, ἐς ἀντιπέραιαν ἐρίπνην,

  εὕρομεν ἐν βήσσῃσιν ἐρημάδα γείτονα λόχμην:

  150 κεῖθι λόχον στήσαντες ἐμίμνομεν, εἰσόκεν ἔλθῃ

  θυρσομανὴς Διόνυσος: ἐπερχομένοιο δὲ Βάκχου

  αὐλὸς ἐπεσμαράγησεν, ἀδεψήτου δὲ βοείης

  τυπτομένης ἑκάτερθεν ἔην χαλκόκροτος ἠχὼ

  καὶ καναχὴ σύριγγος: ὅλη δ᾽ ἐλελίζετο λόχμη

  155 καὶ δρύες ἐφθέγξαντο καὶ ὠρχήσαντο κολῶναι:

  νηιάδες δ᾽ ὀλόλυξαν. ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἐκόρυσσα μαχητάς,

  ὀκναλέους, τρομέοντας, ἀπειθέας εἰς μόθον ἕλκων.

  καὶ θεός, ὃν καλέουσιν, ἀκαχμένα θύρσα τινάσσων,

  οὐτιδανοῖς πετάλοισιν ὀιστεύων γένος Ἰνδῶν,

  160 κτεῖνε μὲν ἐν πεδίῳ στρατὸν ἄσπετον ὀξέι θύρσῳ

  βλήμενον, ἐν ῥοθίοις δὲ τὸ λείψανον ὤλεσεν Ἰνδῶν.

  ἀλλὰ σοφοὺς Βραχμῆνας ἐρείομεν, ὄφρα δαείης,

  [147] “May it please your Majesty, Deriades our King, and divine offspring of Enyo! We went as commanded to the opposite hill, and in the forest glades we found the neighbouring thickets empty. There we laid our ambush and waited for thyrsusmad Dionysos to come. When Bacchos came near, the pipes were sounded, the raw drumskin was beaten, on either side was the noise of beaten brass and the wail of the syrinx. The whole forest trembled, the oaktrees uttered voices and the hills danced, the Naiads sang alleluia. I put the men under arms, led them to battle hesitating, trembling, unwilling. And the god, as they call him, shaking the sharpened wand, sent volleys of ignoble leaves upon the Indian nation, slew an infinite host on the plain pierced by the sharp wands, and destroyed what was left of us in the wild waters.

  εἰ θεὸς οὗτος ἵκανεν ἐς ἡμέας ἢ βροτὸς ἀνήρ.

  μή νυχίην ἀνόνητον ἀναστήσειας Ἐνυώ,

  165 μὴ στρατιὴν ὀλέσειας ἀφεγγέι δηιοτῆτι:

  ἤδη δ᾽ ἀχλυόεις τέταται ζόφος: ἀγχιφανὴς δὲ

  δῆριν ἀναστέλλων ἀμαρύσσεται Ἕσπερος ἀστήρ.

  εἰ δὲ πόθος μεθέπει σε δυσαντήτοιο κυδοιμοῦ,

  σήμερον Ἰνδὸν ἔρυκε, καὶ αὕριον εἰς μόθον ἕλκεις.’

  [162] “Come now, l
et us ask our learned Brahmans, that you may learn if this be a god come against us or a mortal man. Do not stir up a useless war by night, do not destroy your hosts fighting in the darkness. Already the misty gloom is stretched over us; there is the evening star clear before our eyes, shining to check the conflict. If your desire is set upon this formidable fray, hold back the Indians to-day and to-morrow you lead them to battle.”

  170 ὣς εἰπὼν παρέπεισεν ἀπειθέα Δηριαδῆα,

  οὐ χάριν ἀδρανίης πειθήμονα, δυομένῳ δὲ

  μεμφόμενον Φαέθοντι καὶ οὐκ εἴκοντα Λυαίῳ.

  Ἰνδῴην δὲ φάλαγγα μεταστήσας ποταμοῖο

  Δηριάδης ὑπέροπλος ἐχάζετο πενθάδι λύσσῃ,

  175 ἑζόμενος λοφίῃσι παλιννόστων ἐλεφάντων.

  Ἰνδοὶ δ᾽ ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα σὺν ἠλιβάτῳ βασιλῆι

  εἰς πόλιν ἐρρώοντο πεφυζότες, ἔνδοθι πύργων

  νίκην εἰσαΐοντες ἀρειμανέος Διονύσου.

  [170] His words convinced Deriades, though loath to be convinced. No weakness made him consent; he yielded not to Lyaios, he blamed the setting sun. Proud Deriades retreated mad with sorrow, seated on the neck of his retreating elephants, and withdrew the Indian host from the river. Along with their gigantic king, the Indians everywhere made haste to take refuge in the city, hearing behind their walls of the victory of warmad Dionysos.

  ἤδη δὲ στονόεσσα δι᾽ ἄστεος ἵπτατο φήμη,

  180 σύγγονον ἀγγέλλουσα νεοσφαγέων φόνον Ἰνδῶν.

  καὶ γόος ἄσπετος ἔσκε: φιλοθρήνων δὲ γυναικῶν

  πενθαλέοις ὀνύχεσσι χαράσσετο κύκλα προσώπου,

  καὶ μεσάτου στέρνοιο διεσχίζοντο χιτῶνες

  στήθεα γυμνώσαντες, ἀμοιβαίῃσι δὲ ῥιπαῖς

  185 τυπτομένων παλάμῃσιν ἴτυς φοινίσσετο μαζῶν

  αἱμοβαφής. πολιὸς δὲ γέρων ἐπὶ γήραος οὐδῷ

  χιονέην πλοκαμῖδα κατηφέι τάμνε σιδήρῳ,

  τέσσαρας ἡβώοντας ὀλωλότας νἷας ἀκούων,

  Αἰακὸς οὓς ἐδάμασσε μιῇ δασπλῆτι μαχαίρῃ,

  190 κτεινομένους ἐλεεινά: βαρυτλήτων δὲ γυναικῶν

  ἡ μὲν ἑὸν στενάχιζεν ἀδελφεόν, ἡ δὲ τοκῆα:

  ἄλλη ποικιλόδακρυς ἀνεστεναχίζετο νύμφη

  νυμφίον ἀρτιχόρευτον ἐοικότα Πρωτεσιλάῳ,

  ἄλλη Λαοδάμεια: νεοζεύκτοιο δὲ νύμφης

  195 ἄπλοκος ἀκρήδεμνος ἐτίλλετο βότρυς ἐθείρης.

  [179] For already a lamentable rumour was flying through the city, which told of the late massacre of their kinsmen Indians. There was infinite wailing then. Dirgefond women tore their cheeks with their nails in mourning; they rent off the garments from their bodies and bared their chests, beating their circled breasts with this hand and that until the blows made the blood flow. That gray old man on the threshold of old age cut off his snowy hair with the knife of sorrow, when he heard how four sons had perished in their prime, a pitiable death indeed, brought low by Aiacos and his terrible sword alone. Women in heavy affliction mourned one her brother, and one her father; there was a bride bathed in tears lamenting her bridegroom lately wedded with dancing, another Laodameia with her Protesilaos: the newmade bride unveiled, unkempt, tore the clusters of her hair.

  καί τις ἀμηχανέουσα δεδουπότος εὐνέτις Ἰνδοῦ,

  ἀγχιτόκους ὠδῖνας ἀναπλήσασα λοχείης

  καὶ δεκάτης ὁρόωσα λεχώια κύκλα Σελήνης,

  ὑδρηλῷ πολύδακρυς ἐπέστενεν ἀνδρὸς ὀλέθρῳ,

  200 καὶ ποταμῷ κοτέουσα γοήμονα ῥήξατο φωνήν:

  [196] One Indian wife, despairing at her husband’s fall, when the full time of her labour was near and she saw now the delivering circle of the tenth moon, sorrowed with many tears for her man’s death in the water, and cried out in lamentable tones against the hateful river:

  ‘οὐ πίομαι πατρῷον ἐμόν ποτε πικρὸν Ὑδάσπην:

  οὐκέτι κεῖνα ῥέεθρα παρέρχομαι, οὐκέτι δειλὴ

  σεῖο νέκυν κρύψαντος ἐπιψαύσω ποταμοῖο,

  οὐ μὰ σέ καί σέο φόρτον, ὃν ἔνδοθι γαστρὸς ἀείρω,

  205 οὐ μὰ καὶ τὸν ἔρωτα, τὸν οὐ χρόνος οἶδε μαραίνειν.

  τίς με λαβὼν κομίσειεν, ὅπου πέσε νεκρὸς ἀκοίτης,

  ὄφρα περιπτύξω διερὸν νέκυν, ὄφρα καὶ αὐτὴν

  κῦμα κατακρύψῃ με σὺν ὑγροπόρῳ παρακοίτῃ;

  αἴθε δὲ καὶ τέκον υἷα καὶ ἔτρεφον: ἄρτι δὲ δειλὴν

  210 γαστέρος ὄγκος ἔχει με πεπαινομένου τοκετοῖο.

  εἰ δὲ τέκω ποτὲ παῖδα καὶ αἰτίζῃ γενετῆρα,

  υἱέι παππάζοντι πόθεν δείξαιμι τοκῆα;’

  [201] “Never again will I drink the bitter Hydaspes of my country! Never will I walk beside his water, never — woe’s me — will I touch the river which drowned your body! I swear it by you, and your burden which I carry in my womb, I swear by you and the love which time cannot wither! Who will take me and bring me where my dead husband fell, that I may embrace the dripping body, that the wave may swallow me too and drown me beside my man! O that I had born a son and reared him! But woe is me, my womb still carries the ripening burden. And if I ever do bear a son, and he asks for his father, how can I point to his father when the boy cries for daddy?”

  εἶπε τὸν οὐκ ἀίοντα κινυρομένη παρακοίτην.

  ἄλλη δ᾽ ἐστενάχιζεν ἀνυμφεύτους ὑμεναίους

  215 ὀλλυμένου μνηστῆρος, ὃν οὐκ ἴδεν εὔγαμος ὥρη

  στέμματι νυμφιδίῳ πεπυκασμένον, οὐδ᾽ ἐνὶ παστῷ

  ἡδυμελὴς ἤεισε βιοσσόος αὐλὸς Ἐρώτων.

  [213] So she lamented the husband who could not hear. Another mourned for a bridal never hallowed, her wooer lost, who never saw the happy hour of wedding decked with the bridegroom’s garland, who never heard in the bridal chamber the sweet music of love’s quickening pipes.

  τοῖσι μὲν ἀχνυμένοισιν ἔην γόος. ἀμφὶ δὲ λόχμας

  Βάκχος ἑοῖς Σατύροισι καὶ Ἰνδοφόνοισι μαχηταῖς

  220 εἰλαπίνην ἔστησεν: ἐδαιτρεύοντο δὲ ταῦροι,

  καὶ δαμάλαι στοιχηδὸν ἐμιστύλλοντο μαχαίρῃ

  θεινόμεναι πελέκεσσιν, Ἐρυθραίης δ᾽ ἀπὸ ποίμνης

  πυκνὰ δορικτήτων ἱερεύετο πώεα μήλων.

  ἑζόμενοι δ᾽ ἀγεληδὸν ἐπ᾽ εὐκύκλοιο τραπέζης

  225 Σειληνοὶ Σάτυροί τε σὺν εὐθύρσῳ Διονύσῳ

  χερσὶ πολυσπερέεσσι μιῆς ἔψαυσαν ἐδωδῆς:

  πίνε�
�ο δ᾽ ἄσπετος οἶνος ἀμοιβαδίς: οἰνοχόοι δὲ

  εὐόδμους ἐκένωσαν ἀπείρονας ἀμφιφορῆας,

  νεκταρέης ἀρύοντες ἀμεμφέα βότρυν ὀπώρης.

  [218] So they sorrowed and wailed. But in the forest, Bacchos held a feast with his Satyrs and Indian-slaying warriors: bulls were slaughtered, rows of heifers were struck with axes and cut up with knives, whole flocks of sheep were killed from the captured Erythraian herds. Seilenoi and Satyrs settled in companies round the table with the god of the thyrsus, all with multitudinous hands partook of the same food. Infinite wine was drunk by all in order; the servers emptied endless fragrant jars as they drew the nectarean juice of the perfect grape.

  230 τοῖσι δὲ τερπομένοισι παρὰ κρητῆρα λιγαίνων

  Λέσβιος αὐτοδίδακτος ἀνέπλεκε Λεῦκος ἀοιδήν,

  πῶς πρότεροι Τιτῆνες ἐθωρήχθησαν Ὀλύμπῳ:

  καὶ Διὸς ὑψιμέδοντος ἀληθέα μέλπετο νίκην,

  πῶς Κρόνον εὐρυγένειον ὑποκλάζοντα κεραυνῷ

  235 Ταρταρίῳ ζοφόεντι κατεσφρηγίσσατο κόλπῳ,

  χείματος ὑδρηλοῖσι μάτην κεκορυθμένον ὅπλοις.

  [230] So they rejoiced, while Leucos the selftaught Lesbian singer wove his lay beside the mixing-bowl, how the older Titans armed themselves against Olympos. He sang the true victory of Zeus potent in the Heights, how broadbeard Cronos sank under the thunderbolt, and Zeus sealed him deep in the dark Tartarean pit, armed in vain with the watery weapons of the storm.

  Κυπριάδος δὲ Λάπηθος ἀτευχέος ἀστὸς ἀρούρης

  ἔμφρονι φορμικτῆρι παρέζετο, καί οἱ ἐδωδῆς

  πίονα μοῖραν ὄρεξε, καὶ ᾔτεε κεῖνον ἀείδειν

  240 τερπνὸν ἀσιγήτοισι μεμηλότα μῦθον Ἀθήναις,