by Nonnus
καί μιν ὅλην πυκάσασα γυναικείῳ τινὶ κόσμῳ
Κύπρις ἐπ᾽ ἀκροπόληος ἑῆς ἱδρύσατο πάτρης
παρθένον ἀμφήριστον ἀέθλιον ἁβρὸν Ἐρώτων:
505 ἀμφοτέροις δὲ θεοῖσι μίαν ξυνώσατο φωνήν:
[497] Now Paphia was anxious, for she feared both wooers of her much wooed girl. When she saw equal desire and ardour of love in both, she announced that the rivals must fight for the bride, a war for a wedding, a battle for love. Cypris arrayed her daughter in all a woman’s finery, and placed her upon the fortress of her country, a maiden to be fought for as the dainty prize of contest. Then she addressed both gods in the same words:
‘Ἤθελον, εἰ δύο παῖδας ἐγὼ λάχον, ὄφρα συνάψω
τὴν μὲν ὀφειλομένην ἐνοσίχθονι, τὴν δὲ Λυαίῳ:
ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεὶ οὐ γενόμην διδυγητόκος, οὐδὲ κελεύει
θεσμὰ γάμων ἄχραντα μίαν ξυνήονα κούρην
510 ζεῦξαι διχθαδίοισιν ἀμοιβαίοις παρακοίταις,
ἀμφὶ μιῆς ἀλόχοιο μόθος νυμφοστόλος ἔστω:
οὐ γὰρ ἄτερ καμάτου Βερόης λέχος: ἀμφὶ δὲ νύμφης
ἄμφω ἀεθλεύσοιτε γάμου προκέλευθον ἀγῶνα:
ὅς δέ κε νικήσει, Βερόην ἀνάεδνον ἀγέσθω...
515 ἀμφοτέροις φίλος ὅρκος: ἐπεὶ περιδείδια κούρης
γείτονος ἀμφί πόληος, ὅπῃ πολιοῦχος ἀκούω,
πατρίδα μὴ Βερόης Βερόης διὰ κάλλος ὀλέσσω:
συνθεσίας πρὸ γάμοιο τελέσσατε, μὴ μετὰ χάρμην
πόντιος ἐννοσίγαιος ἀτεμβόμενος περὶ νίκης
520 γαῖαν ἀιστώσειεν ἑῆς γλωχῖνι τριαίνης,
μὴ κοτέων Διόνυσος Ἀμυμώνης περὶ λέκτρων
ἄστεος ἀμπελόεσσαν ἀμαλδύνειεν ἀλωήν.
εὐμενέες δὲ γένεσθε μετὰ κλόνον: ἀμφότεροι δὲ
φίλτρου ζῆλον ἔχοντες ὁμοφροσύνης ἐνὶ θεσμῷ
525 κάλλεϊ φαιδροτέρῳ κοσμήσατε πατρίδα νύμφης.’
[506] “I could wish had I two daughters, to wed one as is justly due to Earthshaker, and one to Lyaios; but since my child was not twins, and the undefiled laws of marriage do not allow us to join one girl to a pair of husbands together change and change about, let battle be chamberlain for one single bride, for without hard labour there is no marriage with Beroe. Then if you would wed the maid, first fight it out together; let the winner lead away Beroe without brideprice. Both must agree to an oath, since I fear for the girl’s neighbouring city where I am known as Cityholder, that because of Beroe’s beauty I may lose Beroe’s home. Make treaty before the marriage, that seagod Earthshaker if he lose the victory shall not in his grief lay waste the land with his trident’s tooth; and that Dionysos shall not be angry about Amymone’s wedding and destroy the vineyards of the city. And you must be friends after the battle: both be rivals in singlehearted affection, and in one contract of goodwill adorn the city of the bride with still more brilliant beauty.”
ὣς φαμένης μνηστῆρες ἐπῄνεον: ἀμφοτέροις δὲ
ἔμπεδος ὅρκος ἔην Κρονίδης καὶ Γαῖα καὶ Αἰθὴρ
καὶ Στύγιαι ῥαθάμιγγες: ἐπιστώσαντο δὲ Μοῖραι
συνθεσίας: καὶ Δῆρις ἀέξετο πομπὸς Ἐρώτων
530 καὶ Κλόνος: ἀμφοτέρους δὲ γαμοστόλος ὥπλισε Πειθώ.
οὐρανόθεν δὲ μολόντες ὀπιπευτῆρες ἀγῶνος
σὺν Διὶ πάντες ἔμιμνον, ὅσοι ναετῆρες Ὀλύμπου,
μάρτυρες ὑσμίνης Λιβανηίδος ὑψόθι πέτρης.
[526] The wooers agreed to this proposal. Both took a binding oath, by Cronides and Earth, by Sky and the floods of Styx; and the Fates formally witnessed the bargain. Then Strife grew greater to escort the Loves, and Turmoil also; Persuasion the handmaid of marriage, armed them both. From heaven came all the dwellers on Olympos, with Zeus, and stayed to watch the combat upon the rocks of Lebanon.
ἔνθα φάνη μέγα σῆμα ποθοβλήτῳ Διονύσῳ:
535 κίρκος ἀελλήεις χαλάσας πτερὸν ἔγκυον αὔρης
βοσκομένην ἐδίωκε πελειάδα: τὴν δέ τις ἄφνω
ἐκ χθονὸς ἁρπάξας ἁλιαίετος εἰς βυθὸν ἔπτη,
φειδομένοις ὀνύχεσσι μετάρσιον ὄρνιν ἀείρων.
καί μιν ἰδὼν Διόνυσος ἀπέπτυεν ἐλπίδα νίκης:
540 ἔμπης δ᾽ εἰς μόθον ἦλθεν. ἐπ᾽ ἀμφοτέρων δὲ κυδοιμῷ
ὄμματι μειδιόωντι πατὴρ κεχάρητο Κρονίων,
δῆριν ἀδελφειοῖο καὶ υἱέος ὕψι δοκεύων.
[534] Then appeared a great portent for lovestricken Dionysos. A stormswift falcon was in chase of a feeding pigeon; he drooped his breeze-impregnated wings, when suddenly an osprey caught up the pigeon from the ground and flew to the deep, holding the bird high in gentle talons. When Dionysos beheld this, he cast away hope of victory; nevertheless he entered the fray. Father Cronion was pleased with the contest of these two, as he watched from on high the match between his brother and his son with smiling eye.
BOOK 43
Δίζεο τεσσαρακοστὸν ἔτι τρίτον, ὁππόθι μέλπω
Ἄρεα κυματόεντα καἰ ἀμπελόεσσαν Ἐνυώ.
ὣς ὁ μὲν ἐγρεκύδοιμος Ἄρης, ὀχετηγὸς Ἐρώτων,
νυμφιδίης ἀλάλαζε μάχης θαλαμηπόλον ἠχώ,
καὶ γαμίου πολέμοιο θεμείλια πῆξεν Ἐνυώ:
καὶ κλόνον αἰθύσσων ἐνοσίχθονι καὶ Διονύσῳ
5 θοῦρος ἔην Ὑμέναιος, ἐς ὑσμίνην δὲ χορεύων
χάλκεον ἔγχος ἄειρεν Ἀμυκλαίης Ἀφροδίτης,
Ἄρεος ἁρμονίην Φρυγίῳ μυκώμενος αὐλῷ.
καὶ Σατύρων βασιλῆι καὶ ἡνιοχῆι θαλάσσης
παρθένος ἦεν ἄεθλον: ἀναινομένη δὲ σιωπῇ
10 εἰναλίου μνηστῆρος ἔχειν μετανάστιον εὐνὴν
ὑγρὸν ὑποβρυχίων ἐπεδείδιε παστὸν Ἐρώτων,
καὶ πλέον ἤθελε Βάκχον: ἔικτο δὲ Δηιανείρῃ,
ἥ ποτε νυμφιδίοιο περιβρομέοντος ἀγῶνος
ἤθελεν Ἡρακλῆα, καὶ ἀσταθέος ποταμοῖο
15 ἵστατο δειμαίνουσα βοοκραίρους ὑμεναίους.
BOOK XLIII
Look again at the forty-third, in which I sing a war of the waters and a battle of the vine.
So battlestirring Ares, who leads the channel for Love, shouted the warcry to prepare for the bridal combat. Enyo laid the foundations of the war for a wedding: and lusty Hymenaios was he that kindled the quarrel for Earthshaker and Dionysos — he danced into the battle, holdin
g the bronze pike of Amyclaian Aphrodite, while he drooned a tune of war on a Phrygian hoboy. For King of Satyrs and Ruler of the Sea, a maiden was the prize. She stood silent, but reluctant to have a foreign wedding with a wooer from the sea; she feared the watery bower of love in the deep waves, and preferred Bacchos: she was like Deianeira, who once in that noisy strife for a bride preferred Heracles, and stood there fearing the wedding with a fickle bullhorn River.
καὶ δρόμον αὐτοκέλευστον ἔχων ἑλικώδεϊ ῥόμβῳ
ἀννέφελος σάλπιζε μέλος πολεμήιον αἰθήρ:
καὶ βλοσυρὸν μύκημα χέων λυσσώδεϊ λαιμῷ
Ἀσσυρίῳ τριόδοντι κορύσσετο κυανοχαίτης,
20 σείων πόντιον ἔγχος. ἀπειλήσας δὲ θαλάσσῃ
εἰς ἐνοπὴν Διόνυσος ἐκώμασεν οἴνοπι θύρσῳ,
μητρὸς ὀρεσσινόμοιο καθήμενος ἅρματι Ῥείης:
καί τις ἀεξομένη παρὰ Μυγδόνος ἄντυγα δίφρου
ἄμπελος αὐτοτέλεστος ὅλον δέμας ἔσκεπε Βάκχου,
25 βόστρυχα μιτρώσασα κατάσκια σύζυγι κισσῷ:
καί τις ὑπὸ ζυγόδεσμα περίπλοκον αὐχένα σείων
θηγαλέῳ χθονὸς ἄκρα λέων ἐχαράξατο ταρσῷ,
τρηχαλέον μύκημα σεσηρότι χείλεϊ πέμπων:
καὶ βραδὺς ἑρπύζων ἐλέφας παρὰ γείτονι πηγῇ
30 ὄρθιον ἀγνάμπτοιο ποδὸς στήριγμα κολάψας,
ὄμβριον ἀζαλέοισιν ἀνήφυσε χείλεσιν ὕδωρ,
καὶ προχοὰς ξήραινε: κονιομένων δὲ ῥοάων
πηγαίην ἀχίτωνα μετήγαγε διψάδα Νύμφην.
[16] Heaven unclouded by its own spinning whirl trumpeted a call to war; and Seabluehair armed himself with his Assyrian trident, shaking his maritime pike and pouring a hideous din from a mad throat. Dionysos threatening the sea danced into the fray with vineleaves and thyrsus, seated in the chariot of his mother mountainranging Rheia; and round the rim of the Mygdonian car was a vine self-grown, which covered the whole body of Bacchos, and girdled its overshadowing clusters under entwined ivy. A lion shaking his neck entwined under the yokestrap scratched the earth’s surface with sharp claw, as he let out a harsh roar from snarling lips. An elephant slowly advanced to a spring hard by, striking straight into the ground his firm unbending leg, lapped the rainwater with parched lips and dried up the stream; and as the waters became bare earth, he drove elsewhere the Nymph of the spring thirsty and uncovered.
καὶ θεὸς ὑγρομέδων ἐκορύσσετο: Νηρεΐδων δὲ
35 ἦν κλόνος: ἰκμαλέοι δὲ θαλασσαίων ἀπὸ νώτων
δαίμονες ἐστρατόωντο: τανυπτόρθοις δὲ κορύμβοις
δῶμα Ποσειδάωνος ἱμάσσετο, πόντιον ὕδωρ:
καὶ χθονίου λοφόεντος ἀρασσομένου κενεῶνος
ἡμερίδες. Λιβάνοιο μετοχλίζοντο τριαίνῃ.
40 καί τινα βοσκομένην μελανόχροον ἐγγύθι πόντου
εἰς βοέην ἀγέλην Ποσιδήιον ἅλματι λάβρῳ
θυιάδες ἐρρώοντο: τανυγλήνοιο δὲ ταύρου
ἡ μὲν ἐφαπτομένη ῥάχιν ἔσχισεν, ἡ δὲ μετώπου
διχθαδίης ἀτίνακτα διέθλασεν ἄκρα κεραίης:
45 καί τις ἀλοιητῆρι διέτμαγε γαστέρα θύρσῳ:
ἄλλη πλευρὸν ἔτεμνεν ὅλον βοός: ἡμιθανὴς δὲ
ὕπτιος αὐτοκύλιστος ὑπώκλασε ταῦρος ἀρούρῃ:
καὶ βοὸς ἀρτιτόμοιο κυλινδομένοιο κονίῃ
ἡ μὲν ὀπισθιδίους πόδας ἔσπασεν, ἡ δὲ λαβοῦσα
50 προσθιδίους ἐρύεσκε, πολυστροφάλιγγι δὲ ῥιπῇ
ὄρθιον ἐσφαίρωσεν ἐς ἠέρα δίζυγα χηλήν.
[34] Meanwhile, the lord of the waters prepared for conflict. There was confusion among the Nereids; the deities of the waters came from the stretches of the sea to form array. Poseidon’s house, the water of the sea, was flogged with long bunches of leaves; the caverns of the mountains were shaken by the trident, and the vines of Lebanon were rooted up. With wild leaps the Thyiades threw themselves upon a herd of black cattle of Poseidon’s, feeding near the sea. One with a touch cut through the back of a glaring bull, another sheared off from its forehead the two stiff projecting horns, one pierced the belly with destroying thyrsus, another slit the whole side of the creature: halfdead the bull sank down and rolled helpless on his back on the ground — as he rolled in the dust with these fresh wounds, one pulled off his hind legs, one tugged at the forefeet, and threw up the two hooves tumbling over and over straight up in the air.
καὶ στρατιῆς Διόνυσος ἐκόσμεεν ἡγεμονῆας,
στήσας πέντε φάλαγγας ἐς ὑδατόεσσαν Ἐνυώ.
τῆς πρώτης στιχὸς ἦρχε Κίλιξ εὐάμπελος Οἰνεὺς
55 υἱὸς Ἐρευθαλίωνος, ὃν ἤροσεν ἐγγύθι Ταύρου
Φυλλίδος ἀγραύλοισιν ὁμιλήσας ὑμεναίοις:
τῆς δ᾽ ἑτέρης ἡγεῖτο μελαγχαίτης Ἐλικάων
ξανθοφυὴς ῥοδέῃσι παρηίσιν, ἀμφὶ δὲ δειρῇ
πλοχμὸς ἐυστροφάλιγγος ἕλιξ ὑπεσίρετο χαίτης:
60 Οἰνοπίων τριτάτης, Στάφυλος προμάχιζε τετάρτης,
Οἰνομάου δύο τέκνα, φιλακρήτοιο τοκῆος:
πέμπτης δ᾽ ἡγεμόνευε Μελάνθιος, ὄρχαμος Ἰνδῶν,
ὅν τέκεν Οἰνώνη Κισσηιάς, ἀμφὶ δὲ κούρῳ
φυταλιῆς πλέξασα θυώδεος ἄκρα πετήλων
65 σπάργανα βοτρυόεντα πέριξ εἱλίξατο μήτηρ,
υἱέα χυτλώσασα μέθης ἐγκύμονι ληνῷ.
τοίη κισσοφόροισιν ὀιστεύουσα βελέμνοις
σύνδρομος ἀμπελόεντι φάλαγξ ἐκορύσσετο βάκχῳ.
καὶ στρατιὴν θώρηξε χέων λαοσσόον ἠχώ:
[52] Then Dionysos mustered his captains, and made five divisions for the watery conflict. The first line was led by him of the vine, Cilician Oineus, son of Ereuthalion, whom he begat near the Tauros of Phyllis, in the open air. The second was led by blackhair Helicaon, a blond man with rosy cheeks, and long curls of hair hanging down over his neck. Oinopion led the third, Staphylos stood before the fourth, two sons of a tippling sire, Oinomaos; Melantheus was captain of the fifth, an Indian chief and the son of Oinone the Ivy-nymph: his mother had wrapt her boy in leafy tips of the sweet-smelling vine for swaddlings, and bathed her son in the winepress teeming with strong drink. Such was the host armed with missiles of ivy which followed Bacchos the vinegod; and when he had armed them, Bacchos called to the host in stirring tones:
70 ‘Βασσαρίδες, μάρνασθε: κορυσσομένου δὲ Λυαίου
αὐλὸς ἐμὸς κερόεις πολεμήιον ἦχον ἀράσσων
ἀντί
τυπον φθέγξαιτο μέλος μυκήτορι κόχλῳ,
καὶ διδύμοις πατάγοισι μόθου χαλκόθροον ἠχὼ
τύμπανα δουπήσειεν: Ἐνυαλίῳ δὲ χορεύων
75 Γλαῦκον ὀιστεύσειε Μάρων ῥηξήνορι θύρσῳ:
καὶ πλοκάμους Πρωτῆος ἀήθεϊ δήσατε κισσῷ,
καὶ Φαρίου πόντοιο λιπὼν Αἰγύπτιον ὕδωρ,
νεβρίδα ποικιλόνωτον ἔχων μετὰ δέρματα φώκης,
αὐχένα κυρτώσειεν ἐμοὶ θρασύν: εἰ δύναται δέ,
80 Σειληνῷ μεθύοντι κορυσσέσθω Μελικέρτης:
καὶ ναέτην Τμώλοιο μετὰ βρυόεντας ἐναύλους
γηραλέον Φόρκυνα διδάξατε θύρσον ἀείρειν,
85 ἀμπελόεις δὲ γένοιτο γέρων χερσαῖος ἀλωεύς:
καὶ Σάτυρος μενέχαρμος ἑὸν νάρθηκα τινάσσων
διψαλέον Νηρῆα μεταστήσειε θαλάσσης
ἀγραύλοις παλάμῃσι: καὶ ἀρτιφύτων ἀπὸ κήπων
βόστρυχα μιτρώσασθε Παλαίμονος οἴνοπι δεσμῷ,
καί μιν ὑποδρήσσοντα μετ᾽ Ἰσθμιάδος βυθὸν ἅλμης
πόντιον ἡνιοχῆα κομίσσατε μητέρι Ῥείῃ,
90 εἰναλίῃ μάστιγι κυβερνητῆρα λεόντων:
οὐ γὰρ ἐμὸν κατὰ πόντον ἀνεψιὸν εἰσέτ᾽ ἐάσσω.
ἀθρήσω δὲ φάλαγγα δορικτήτοιο θαλάσσης
νεβρίδι κοσμηθεῖσαν: ἀπειρήτῃσι δὲ Νύμφαις
κύμβαλα Νηρεΐδεσσιν ὀπάσσατε: μίξατε Βάκχαις
95 Ὑδριάδας: Θέτιδος δέ, καὶ εἰ γένος ἐστὶ θαλάσσης,