Works of Nonnus

by Nonnus

  καὶ Σάτυρος βαρύδουπον ἐπιρρήσσων χθόνα ταρσῷ

  λοξὰ κυβιστητῆρι ποδῶν βακχεύετο παλμῷ,

  πῆχυν ἐπικλίνων μανιώδεος αὐχένι Βάκχης:

  καὶ πρυλέες Βρομίοιο συνωρχήσαντο βοείαις,

  245 καὶ τροχαλῆς κλονέοντες ἐνόπλια κύκλα χορείης

  ῥυθμὸν ἐμιμήσαντο φερεσσακέων Κορυβάντων,

  καὶ στρατὸς ἱππήων κορυθαιόλον εἰς χορὸν ἔστη

  νίκην πανδαμάτειραν ἀνευάζων Διονύσου:

  οὐδέ τις ἄψοφος ἦεν: ὁμογλώσσῳ δ᾽ ἀλαλητῷ

  250 εἰς πόλον ἑπτάζωνον ἀνέδραμεν εὔιος ἠχώ.

  [234] Now resting from his labours, he cleansed his body with water, and assigned a governor for the Indians, choosing the godfearing Modaios; they now pacified touched one table with banqueting Bacchoi over a common bowl, and drank the yellow water from the winebreeding river. There was dancing without end. Many a Bassarid skipt about, tapping the floor with wild slipper; many a Satyr stormed the resounding ground with heavy foot, and revelled with side-trippings of his tumbling feet as he rested an arm on the neck of some maddened Bacchant. The foot-soldiers of Bromios danced round with their oxhides and mimicked the pattern of the shieldbearing Corybants, wildly circling in the quick dance under arms. The horsemen in their glancing helmets also stood up for the dance, acclaiming the all vanquishing victory of Dionysos. Not a soul was silent — the Euian tones went up to the sevenzone sky with shouts of triumph from every tongue.

  ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε λυσιπόνοιο παρήλυθε κῶμος ἑορτῆς,

  νίκης ληίδα πᾶσαν ἑλὼν μετὰ φύλοπιν Ἰνδῶν

  ἀρχαίης Διόνυσος ἑῆς ἐμνήσατο πάτρης,

  λύσας ἑπταέτηρα θεμείλια δηιοτῆτος.

  255 καὶ δηίων ὅλον ὄλβον ἐληίζοντο μαχηταί

  ὧν ὁ μὲν Ἰνδὸν ἴασπιν, ὁ δὲ γραπτῆς ὑακίνθου

  Φοιβάδος εἶχε μέταλλα καὶ ἔγχλοα νῶτα μαράγδου:

  ἄλλος ἐυκρήπιδος ὑπὸ σκοπιῇσιν Ἰμαίου

  ὄρθιον ἴχνος ἔπειγε δορικτήτων ἐλεφάντων,

  260 ὅς δὲ παρ᾽ Ἡμωδοῖο βαθυσπήλυγγι κολώνῃ

  ἤλασεν Ἰνδῴων μετανάστιον ἅρμα λεόντων

  κυδιόων, ἕτερος δὲ κατ᾽ αὐχένος ἅμμα πεδήσας

  Μυγδονίην ἔσπευδεν ἐς ᾐόνα πόρδαλιν ἕλκειν:

  καὶ Σάτυρος πεφόρητο, φιλακρήτῳ δὲ πετήλῳ

  265 στικτὸν ἔχων προκέλευθον ἐκώμασε τίγριν ἱμάσσων:

  ἄλλος ἄγων νόστησεν ἑῇ Κυβεληίδι νύμφῃ

  φυταλιὴν εὔοδμον ἁλιτρεφέων δονακήων,

  καὶ λίθον ἀστράπτουσαν Ἐρυθραίης γέρας ἅλμης:

  πολλὴ δ᾽ ἐκ θαλάμοιο σὺν ἀρτιγάμῳ παρακοίτῃ

  270 ληιδίη πλοκάμων μελανόχροος ἕλκετο νύμφη,

  δέσμιον αὐχένα δοῦλον ὑποζεύξασα λεπάδνῳ.

  χειρὶ δὲ κουφίζουσα ῥυηφενέος χύσιν ὄλβου

  εἰς σκοπιάς Τμώλοιο θεόσσυτος ἤιε Βάκχη,

  κῶμον ἀνευάζουσα παλιννόστῳ Διονύσῳ.

  [251] But when the revels of the carefree feast were over, and Dionysos had gathered all the spoil after his Indian War, he remembered the land of his ancient home, now he had swept away the foundations of that seven years’ conflict. The whole wealth of the enemy was given to the army as their plunder. One got an Indian jasper, one the jewel of Phoibos’s patterned sapphire and the smooth green emerald; another hurried under the lofty peaks of broad-based Imaios the straight-legged elephants which he had captured by his spear. Here was one by the deepcaverned mountain of Hemodos driving to exile a team of Indian lions, in triumph; there was another pulling a panther to the Mygdonian shore with a chain fast about its neck. A Satyr rushed along with a striped tiger before him, which he flogged in his wild way with a handful of tippling-leaves. Another returned with a gift for his Cybeleid bride, the fragrant plants of seagrown reeds and the shining stone which is the glory of the Erythraian brine. Many a blackskin bride was dragged out of her chamber by the hair, her neck bound fast under the yoke of slavery, spoil of war along with her newly wedded husband. The Bacchant woman god-possessed returned to the hills of Tmolos with hands full of streaming riches, chanting Euoi for the return of Dionysos.

  275 καὶ στρατιῇ Διόνυσος ἐδάσσατο ληίδα χάρμης

  λαὸν ὅλον συνάεθλον ὑπότροπον οἴκαδε πέμπων

  Ἰνδῴην μετὰ δῆριν: ἀπεσσεύοντο δὲ λαοὶ

  μάρμαρα κουφίζοντες Ἑώια δῶρα θαλάσσης,

  ὄρνεά τ᾽ αἰολόμορφα: παλιννόστῳ δὲ πορείῃ

  280 κῶμον ἀνευάζοντες ἀνικήτῳ Διονύσῳ

  πάντες ἐβακχεύοντο, πολυκμήτοιο λιπόντες

  μνῆστιν ὅλου πολέμοιο, Βορειάδι σύνδρομον αὔρῃ

  σκιδναμένην: καὶ ἕκαστος ἔχων ἀναθήματα νίκης

  ὄψιμον εἰς δόμον ἦλθε παλίνδρομος. ἀντί δὲ πάτρης

  285 Ἀστέριος τότε μοῦνος ἀνιπτοπόδων σχεδὸν Ἄρκτων

  Φάσιδος ἀμφὶ ῥέεθρον ἀθαλπέι νάσσατο γαίῃ

  Μασσαγέτην παρὰ κόλπον, ἑοῦ γενέταο τοκῆος

  ναίων ἀστερόεντος ὑπὸ σφυρὰ δύσνιφα Ταύρου,

  φεύγων Κνώσσιον ἄστυ καὶ ἀρσενόπαιδα γενέθλην,

  290 Πασιφάην στυγέων καὶ ἑὸν Μίνωα τοκῆα,

  καὶ Σκυθίην προβέβουλεν ἑῆς χθονός: αὐτὰρ ὁ μούνοις

  Βάκχος ἑοῖς Σατύροισι καὶ Ἰνδοφόνοις ἄμα Βάκχαις

  Καυκασίην μετὰ δῆριν Ἀμαζονίου ποταμοῖο

  Ἀρραβίης ἐπέβαινε τὸ δεύτερον, ἧχι θαμίζων

  295 λαὸν ἀβακχεύτων Ἀράβων ἐδίδαξεν ἀείρειν

  μυστιπόλους νάρθηκας: ἀεξιφύτοιο δὲ λόχμης

  Νύσια Βοτρυόεντι κατέστεφεν οὔρεα θαλλῷ.

  [275] So Dionysos distributed the spoils of battle among his followers, after the Indian War, and sent returning home the whole host who had shared his labours. The people made haste to go, laden with shining treasures of the Eastern sea and birds of many strange forms. Their return was a triumphal march with universal acclaim to Dionysos the invincible; all revelled, for they left behind them all memory of that toilsome war, to blow away with the north wind, and each came returning home at last with his thank-offerings for victory. Asterios alone did not now return to his own country; instead, he settled near the foot-unwashenBears, about the river Phasis in a cold land by the Massagetic Gulf, where he dwelt under the snowburdened feet of his father’s father, Tauros the Bull, translated to the stars. He avoided the Cn
ossian city and the sons of his family, hating Pasiphae and his own father Minos, and preferring Scythia to his own country. But Bacchos, followed only by his Satyrs and the Indianslaying Bacchant women, after a war in the Caucasos beside the Amazonian River, visited Arabia the second time, where he stayed and taught the Arabian people who knew not Bacchos to uplift the mystic fennel, and crowned the Nysian hills with the vineclusters of his fruitful plant.

  Ἀρραβίης δὲ τένοντα βαθύσκιον ἄλσος ἐάσας

  ἀτραπὸν Ἀσσυρίην διεμέτρεε πεζὸς ὁδίτης,

  300 καὶ Τυρίων μενέαινεν ἰδεῖν χθόνα πατρίδα Κάδμου:

  κεῖθι γὰρ ἴχνος ἔκαμψε, καὶ ἄσπετα πέπλα δοκεύων

  θάμβεεν Ἀσσυρίης ἑτερόχροα δαίδαλα τέχνης,

  ἄργυφον εἰσορόων Βαβυλωνίδος ἔργον Ἀράχνης:

  καὶ Τυρίῃ σκοπίαζε δεδευμένα φάρεα κόχλῳ,

  305 πορφυρέους σπινθῆρας ἀκοντίζοντα θαλάσσης,

  ἧχι κύων ἁλιεργὸς ἐπ᾽ αἰγιαλοῖσιν ἐρέπτων

  ἐνδόμυχον χαροπῇσι γενειάσι θέσκελον ἰχθὺν

  χιονέας πόρφυρε παρηίδας αἵματι κόχλου,

  χείλεα φοινίξας διερῷ πυρί, τῷ ποτε μούνῳ

  310 φαιδρὸν ἁλιχλαίνων ἐρυθαίνετο φᾶρος ἀνάκτων.

  [298] Leaving the long stretch of Arabia with its deep-shadowy forests he measured the Assyrian road on foot, and had a mind to see the Tyrian land, Cadmos’s country; for thither he turned his tracks, and with stuffs in thousands before his eyes he admired the manycoloured patterns of Assyrian art, as he stared at the woven work of the Babylonian Araehne; he examined cloth dyed with the Tyrian shell, shooting out sea-sparklings of purple: on that shore once a dog busy by the sea, gobbling the wonderful lurking fish with joyous jaws, stained his white jowl with the blood of the shell, and reddened his lips with running fire, which once alone made scarlet the sea-dyed robes of kings.

  καὶ πόλιν ἀθρήσας ἐπεγήθεεν, ἣν ἐνοσίχθων

  οὐ διερῷ μίτρωσεν ὅλῳ ζωστῆρι θαλάσσης,

  ἀλλὰ τύπον λάχε τοῖον Ὀλύμπιον, οἷον ὑφαίνει

  ἀγχιτελὴς λείπουσα μιῇ γλωχῖνι σελήνη.

  315 καί οἱ ὀπιπεύοντι μέσην χθόνα σύζυγον ἅλμῃ

  διπλόον ἔλλαχε θάμβος, ἐπεὶ Τύρος εἰν ἁλὶ κεῖται

  εἰς χθόνα μοιρηθεῖσα, συναπτομένη δὲ θαλάσσῃ

  τριχθαδίαις λαγόνεσσι μίαν ξυνώσατο μίτρην:

  νηχομένῃ δ᾽ ἀτίνακτος ὁμοίιος ἔπλετο κούρῃ,

  320 καὶ κεφαλὴν καὶ στέρνα καὶ αὐχένα δῶκε θαλάσσῃ,

  χεῖρας ἐφαπλώσασα μέση διδυμάονι πόντῳ,

  γείτονι λευκαίνουσα θαλασσαίῳ δέμας ἀφρῷ,

  καὶ πόδας ἀμφοτέρους ἐπερείσατο μητέρι γαίῃ.

  καὶ πόλιν ἐννοσίγαιος ἔχων ἀστεμφέι δεσμῷ

  325 νυμφίος ὑδατόεις περινήχεται, οἷα συνάπτων

  πήχεϊ παφλάζοντι περίπλοκον αὐχένα νύμφης.

  [311] He was delighted to see that city, which Earth-shaker surrounded with a liquid girdle of sea, not wholly, but it got the shape which the moon weaves in the sky when she is almost full, falling short of fullness by one point. And when he saw the mainland joined to the brine, he felt a double wonder, since Tyre lies in the brine, having her own share in the land but joined with the sea which has joined one girdle with the three sides together. Unshakable, it is like a swimming girl, who gives to the sea head and breast and neck, stretching her arms between under the two waters, and her body whitened with foam from the sea beside her, while she rests both feet on mother earth. And Earthshaker holding the city in a firm bond floats all about like a watery bridegroom, as if embracing the neck of his bride in a splashing arm.

  καὶ Τύρον εἰσέτι Βάκχος ἐθάμβεε, τῇ ἔνι μούνῃ

  βουκόλος ἀγχικέλευθος ὁμίλεε γείτονι ναύτῃ

  συρίζων παρὰ θῖνα, καὶ αἰπόλος ἰχθυβολῆι

  330 δίκτυον αἶ ἐρύοντι, καὶ ἀντιτύποισιν ἐρετμοῖς

  σχιζομένων ὑδάτων ἐχαράσσετο βῶλος ἀρότρῳ:

  εἰναλίης δ᾽ ὀάριζον ὁμήλυδες ἐγγύθι λόχμης

  ποιμένες... ὑλοτόμοισι, καὶ ἔβρεμεν εἰν ἑνὶ χώρῳ

  φλοῖσβος ἁλός, μύκημα βοῶν, ψιθύρισμα πετήλων,

  335 πεῖσμα, φυτόν, πλόος, ἄλσος, ὕδωρ, νέες, ὁλκάς, ἐχέτλη,

  μῆλα, δόναξ, δρεπάνη, σκαφίδες, λίνα, λαίφεα, θώρηξ.

  καὶ τάδε παπταίνων πολυθαμβέα ῥήξατο φωνήν:

  [327] Still more Bacchos admired the city of Tyre; where alone the herdsman’s way was near the fisherman, and he kept company with his piping along the shore, and goatherd with fisher again when he drew his net, and the glebe was cleft by the plow while opposite the oars were cutting the waters. Shepherds near the seaside woods gossiped in company [with boatmen, fisher with] woodmen, and in one place was the loud noise of the sea, the lowing of cattle, the whispering of leaves, rigging and trees, navigation and forest, water, ships, and lugger, plowtail, sheep, reeds, and sickle, boats, lines, sails, and corselet. As he surveyed all this, he thus expressed his wonder:

  ‘Νῆσον ἐν ἠπείρῳ πόθεν ἔδρακον; εἰ θέμις εἰπεῖν,

  τηλίκον οὕ ποτε κάλλος ἐσέδρακον: ὑψιτενῆ γὰρ

  340 δένδρεα συρίζει παρὰ κύματα, Νηρεΐδος δὲ

  φθεγγομένης κατὰ πόντον Ἀμαδρυὰς ἐγγὺς ἀκούει,

  καὶ Τυρίοις πελάγεσσι καὶ ἀγχιάλοισιν ἀρούραις

  πνείων ἐκ Λιβάνοιο μεσημβρινὸς ἁβρὸς ἀήτης

  ἄσθματι καρποτόκῳ προχέει νηοσσόον ἀήτην,

  345 ψύχων ἀγρονόμον καὶ ναυτίλον εἰς πλόον ἕλκων,

  καὶ χθονίην δρεπάνην βυθίῃ πελάσασα τριαίνῃ

  φθέγγεται ὑγρομέδοντι θαλυσιὰς ἐνθάδε Δηώ,

  κωφῆς ἄβροχον ἅρμα καθιππεύοντι γαλήνης,

  ἰθύνειν δρόμον ἶσον ὁμοζήλων ἐπὶ δίφρων,

  350 ὄμπνια μαστίζουσα μετάρσια νῶτα δρακόντων.

  ὦπι πασιμέλουσα, τύπος χθονός, αἰθέρος εἰκών,

  συμφυέος τρίπλευρον ἔχεις τελαμῶνα θαλάσσης.’

  [338] “How’s this — how do I see an island on the mainland? If I may say so, never have I beheld such beauty. Lofty trees rustle beside the waves, the Nereid speaks on the deep and the Hamadryad hears hard by. A delicate breeze of the south breathes from Lebanon upon Tyrian seas and seaside plowland, pouring a breath of wind which fosters the corn and speeds the ships at once, cools the husbandman and draws the seaman to his voyage. Here harvesthome Deo
brings the sickle of the land close to the trident of the deep, and speaks to the monarch of the wet, who drives his car unwetted upon the soundless calm, while she asks him to guide her rival car on the same course, and herself whips the bounteous backs of her aerial dragons. O world-famous city, image of the earth, picture of the sky! You have a belt of sea grown into one with your three sides!”

  ὣς εἰπὼν παράμειβε δι᾽ ἄστεος ὄμμα τιταίνων:

  καί οἱ ὀπιπεύοντι λιθογλώχινες ἀγυιαὶ

  355 μαρμαρυγὴν ἀνέφαινον ἀμοιβαίοιο μετάλλου:

  καὶ προγόνου δόμον εἶδεν Ἀγήνορος, ἔδρακεν αὐλὰς

  καὶ θάλαμον Κάδμοιο, καὶ ἁρπαμένης ποτὲ νύμφης

  Εὐρώπης ἀφύλακτον ἐδύσατο παρθενεῶνα,

  μνῆστιν ἔχων κερόεντος ἑοῦ Διός: ἀρχεγόνους δὲ

  360 πηγὰς θάμβεε μᾶλλον ὅπῃ χθονίου διὰ κόλπου

  νάματος ἐκχυμένου παλινάγρετον εἰς μίαν ὤρην

  χεύμασιν αὐτογόνοισι πολυτρεφὲς ἔλυεν ὕδωρ:

  εἶδεν Ἀβαρβαρέης γόνιμον ῥόον, ἔδρακε πηγὴν

  Καλλιρόην ἐρόεσσαν ἐπώνυμον, εἶδε καὶ αὐτῆς

  365 ἁβρὸν ἐρευγομένης Δροσερῆς νυμφήιον ὕδωρ.

  [353] So he spoke, and wandered through the city casting his eyes about. He gazed at the streets paved with mosaic of stones and shining metals; he saw the house of Agenor his ancestor, he saw the courtyards and the women’s apartments of Cadmos; he entered the ill-guarded maiden chamber of Europe, the bride stolen long ago, and thought of his own horned Zeus. Still more he wondered at those primeval fountains, where a stream comes pouring out through the bosom of the earth, and after one hour plenty of water bubbles up again with flood self-produced. He saw the creative stream of Abarbaree, he saw the lovely fountain named after Callirhoe, he saw the bridal water of Drosera herself spouting daintily out.