Met. 1.253Iamque erat in tōtās sparsūrus fulmina terrās:
sed timuit, nē forte sacer tot ab ignibus aethēr
255conciperet flammās longusque ārdēsceret axis:
esse quoque in fātīs reminīscitur, adfore tempus,
quō mare, quō tellūs correptaque rēgia caelī
ārdeat et mundī mōlēs obsessa labōret.And now he was about to scatter his thunderbolts over all the lands: but he feared that the sacred aether might by chance catch fire from so many flames and the long axis blaze up: he remembers too that it is in the fates that a time will come when sea, when land, and the palace of heaven, seized by fire, will burn, and the mass of the world, besieged, will be in distress. Met. 1.259Tēla repōnuntur manibus fabricāta Cyclōpum:
260poena placet dīversa, genus mortāle sub undīs
perdere et ex omnī nimbōs dēmittere caelō.The weapons forged by the hands of the Cyclopes are laid aside: a different punishment pleases him, to destroy the mortal race beneath the waves and send down rainstorms from all the sky. Met. 1.262Prōtinus Aeoliīs Aquilōnem claudit in antrīs
et quaecumque fugant inductās flāmina nūbēs
ēmittitque Notum.At once he shuts up the North Wind in the caves of Aeolus, and whatever blasts put to flight the gathered clouds, and lets loose the South Wind.
Met. 1.264Madidīs Notus ēvolat alīs,
265terribilem piceā tēctus cālīgine vultum:
barba gravis nimbīs, cānīs fluit unda capillīs;The South Wind flies out on dripping wings, his terrible face covered in pitch-black gloom: his beard is heavy with rain clouds, water flows from his white hair; Met. 1.267fronte sedent nebulae, rōrant pennaeque sinūsque.mists sit on his brow, his feathers and the folds of his robe drip. Met. 1.268Utque manū lātē pendentia nūbila pressit,
fit fragor: hinc dēnsī funduntur ab aethere nimbī.And when he pressed the widely hanging clouds with his hand, there is a crash: then dense rain pours down from the sky. Met. 1.270Nūntia Iūnōnis variōs indūta colōrēs
concipit Īris aquās alimentaque nūbibus adfert.Juno's messenger Iris, clothed in varied colours, draws up waters and brings nourishment to the clouds. Met. 1.272Sternuntur segetēs et dēplōrāta colōnī
vōta iacent, longīque perit labor inritus annī.The crops are laid flat, and the farmers' prayers lie lamented, and the labour of the long year perishes, wasted. Met. 1.274Nec caelō contenta suō est Iovis īra, sed illum
275caeruleus frāter iuvat auxiliāribus undīs.Nor is Jupiter's anger content with his own sky, but his sea-blue brother helps him with auxiliary waves.
Met. 1.276Convocat hic amnēs.He summons the rivers. Met. 1.276Quī postquam tēcta tyrannī
intrāvēre suī, "nōn est hortāmine longō
nunc" ait "ūtendum.When they had entered their ruler's house, he says, 'Now is no time to use long exhortation. Met. 1.278Vīrēs effundite vestrās:
sīc opus est!Pour out your strength: so the work demands! Met. 1.279aperīte domōs ac mōle remōtā
280flūminibus vestrīs tōtās inmittite habēnās!"Open your homes and, removing the barriers, give full rein to your streams!' Met. 1.281Iusserat;So he commanded; Met. 1.281hī redeunt ac fontibus ōra relaxant
et dēfrēnātō volvuntur in aequora cursū.they return, loosen the mouths of their springs, and roll to the sea in unbridled course. Met. 1.283Ipse tridente suō terram percussit: at illa
intremuit mōtūque viās patefēcit aquārum.He himself struck the earth with his trident: and it trembled, and by the shock opened paths for the waters. Met. 1.285Exspatiāta ruunt per apertōs flūmina campōs
cumque satīs arbusta simul pecudēsque virōsque
tēctaque cumque suīs rapiunt penetrālia sacrīs.The rivers, spreading out, rush over the open plains, and sweep away orchards together with crops, flocks and men and houses, and shrines together with their sacred things. Met. 1.288Sīqua domus mānsit potuitque resistere tantō
indēiecta malō, culmen tamen altior huius
290unda tegit, pressaeque latent sub gurgite turrēs.If any house remained and could withstand so great an evil without being thrown down, still a higher wave covers its roof, and towers, overwhelmed, lie hidden beneath the flood.
Met. 1.291Iamque mare et tellūs nūllum discrīmen habēbant:
omnia pontus erant;And now sea and land had no distinction: all was sea; Met. 1.292dēerant quoque lītora pontō.the sea lacked shores too. Met. 1.293Occupat hic collem, cumbā sedet alter aduncā
et dūcit remōs illīc, ubi nūper arārat,
295ille suprā segetēs aut mersae culmina vīllae
nāvigat, hic summā piscem dēprendit in ulmō.One man takes a hill, another sits in a curved boat and pulls the oars where lately he had ploughed; one sails over crops or the roof of a sunken farmhouse, another catches a fish at the top of an elm. Met. 1.297Fīgitur in viridī, sī fors tulit, ancora prātō,
aut subiecta terunt curvae vīnēta carīnae;The anchor, as chance would have it, is fixed in a green meadow, or curved keels graze the vineyards beneath; Met. 1.299et, modo quā gracilēs grāmen carpsēre capellae,
300nunc ibi dēfōrmēs pōnunt sua corpora phōcae.and where slender goats lately cropped the grass, now ungainly seals lay down their bodies. Met. 1.301Mīrantur sub aquā lūcōs urbēsque domōsque
Nērēidēs, silvāsque tenent delphīnēs et altīs
incursant rāmīs agitātaque rōbora pulsant.The Nereids marvel at groves and cities and houses under water, and dolphins occupy the woods and run against high branches and strike the shaken oaks.
Met. 1.304Nat lupus inter ovēs, fulvōs vehit unda leōnēs,
305unda vehit tigrēs, nec vīrēs fulminis aprō,
crūra nec ablātō prōsunt vēlōcia cervō.The wolf swims among the sheep, the wave carries tawny lions, the wave carries tigers; neither does his thunderbolt strength help the boar, nor swift legs the stag, swept away. Met. 1.307Quaesītīsque diū terrīs, ubi sistere possit,
in mare lassātīs volucris vaga dēcidit alīs.And having searched long for land where it might settle, the wandering bird falls into the sea on weary wings. Met. 1.309Obruerat tumulōs inmēnsa licentia pontī,
310pulsābantque novī montāna cacūmina flūctūs.The boundless licence of the sea had buried the hills, and strange waves beat upon the mountain peaks. Met. 1.311Maxima pars undā rapitur;The greatest part is swept away by the wave; Met. 1.311quibus unda pepercit,
illōs longa domant inopī iēiūnia vīctū.those whom the wave spared, long fasting for lack of food subdues. Met. 1.313Sēparat Āoniōs Oetaeīs Phōcis ab arvīs,
terra ferāx, dum terra fuit, sed tempore in illō
315pars maris et lātus subitārum campus aquārum.Phocis separates the Aonian from the Oetaean fields, a fruitful land while it was land, but at that time a part of the sea and a broad plain of sudden waters.
Met. 1.316Mōns ibi verticibus petit arduus astra duōbus,
nōmine Parnāsus, superantque cacūmina nūbēs.There a steep mountain seeks the stars with twin peaks, Parnassus by name, and its summits rise above the clouds. Met. 1.318Hīc ubi Deucaliōn (nam cētera tēxerat aequor)
cum cōnsorte torī parvā rate vectus adhaesit,
320Cōrycidas nymphās et nūmina montis adōrant
fātidicamque Themin, quae tunc ōrācla tenēbat.When Deucalion (for the sea had covered the rest), carried in a small boat with the partner of his bed, ran aground here, they worship the Corycian nymphs and the deities of the mountain and prophetic Themis, who then held the oracle. Met. 1.322Nōn illō melior quisquam nec amantior aequī
vir fuit aut illa metuentior ūlla deōrum.No man was better than he or more devoted to justice, nor any woman more reverent towards the gods than she. Met. 1.324Iuppiter ut liquidīs stagnāre palūdibus orbem
325et superesse virum dē tot modo mīlibus ūnum,
et superesse videt dē tot modo mīlibus ūnam,
innocuōs ambō, cultōrēs nūminis ambō,
nūbila disiēcit nimbīsque aquilōne remōtīs
et caelō terrās ostendit et aethera terrīs.When Jupiter sees the world standing in liquid marshes, and sees that one man survives out of so many thousands just now, and one woman survives out of so many thousands just now, both innocent, both worshippers of the godhead, he scattered the clouds and, with the rain clouds driven off by the North Wind, showed the lands to the sky and the aether to the lands.
Met. 1.330Nec maris īra manet, positōque tricuspide tēlō
mulcet aquās rēctor pelagī suprāque profundum
exstantem atque umerōs innātō mūrice tēctum
caeruleum Trītōna vocat conchaeque sonantī
īnspīrāre iubet flūctūsque et flūmina signō
335iam revocāre datō.Nor does the anger of the sea remain, and, laying aside his three-pronged weapon, the ruler of the deep soothes the waters, and calls sea-blue Triton, rising above the depths, his shoulders covered with native shell, and bids him blow into his echoing conch and now recall the waves and rivers with the signal given. Met. 1.335Cava būcina sūmitur illī,
tortilis, in lātum quae turbine crēscit ab īmō,
būcina, quae mediō concēpit ubi āera pontō,
lītora vōce replet sub utrōque iacentia Phoebō.He takes up his hollow trumpet, coiled, which grows wide from its lowest spiral, the trumpet which, when it has taken in air in mid-ocean, fills with its voice the shores lying under either Phoebus. Met. 1.339Tunc quoque, ut ōra deī madidā rōrantia barbā
340contigit et cecinit iussōs īnflāta receptūs,
omnibus audīta est tellūris et aequoris undīs,
et quibus est undīs audīta, coercuit omnēs.Then too, as it touched the god's lips, wet with his dripping beard, and, blown, sounded the retreat ordered, it was heard by all the waters of land and sea, and all the waters by which it was heard it held in check.
Met. 1.343Iam mare lītus habet, plēnōs capit alveus amnēs,
flūmina subsīdunt collēsque exīre videntur,
345surgit humus, crēscunt loca dēcrēscentibus undīs,
postque diem longam nūdāta cacūmina silvae
ostendunt līmumque tenent in fronde relictum.Now the sea has a shore, the channels hold the full rivers, the floods subside and the hills seem to emerge; the ground rises, places grow as the waters shrink, and after a long time the woods show their bared tops and keep the mud left on their foliage.