Met. 1.5Ante mare et terrās et quod tegit omnia caelum
ūnus erat tōtō nātūrae vultus in orbe,
quem dīxēre chaos: rudis indīgestaque mōlēs
nec quicquam nisi pondus iners congestaque eōdem
nōn bene iūnctārum discordia sēmina rērum.Before the sea and the lands and the sky that covers all, nature had one face throughout the whole world, which men called chaos: a rough and unordered mass, nothing but inert weight, and, heaped together in the same place, the warring seeds of things ill joined. Met. 1.10nūllus adhūc mundō praebēbat lūmina Tītān,
nec nova crēscendō reparābat cornua Phoebē,
nec circumfūsō pendēbat in āere tellūs
ponderibus lībrāta suīs, nec bracchia longō
margine terrārum porrēxerat Amphitrītē;No Titan yet supplied the world with light, nor did Phoebe renew her new horns by waxing, nor did the earth hang in the air poured around it, balanced by its own weight, nor had Amphitrite stretched out her arms along the long margin of the lands; Met. 1.15utque āēr, tellūs illīc et pontus et aethēr.And though there was air there, and land and sea and aether too, Met. 1.16Sīc erat īnstabilis tellūs, innābilis unda,
lūcis egēns āēr: nūllī sua fōrma manēbat,
obstābatque aliīs aliud, quia corpore in ūnō
frīgida pugnābant calidīs, ūmentia siccīs,
20mollia cum dūrīs, sine pondere habentia pondus.Even so, the land was unstable, the water unswimmable, the air lacking light: nothing kept its own form, and one thing stood in the way of another, because in a single body cold things fought with hot, moist with dry, soft with hard, things without weight with things that had weight.
Met. 1.21Hanc deus et melior lītem nātūra dirēmit.This strife a god and kindlier nature settled. Met. 1.22Nam caelō terrās et terrīs abscidit undās,
et liquidum spissō sēcrēvit ab āere caelum.For he cut off the lands from the sky and the waters from the lands, and separated the clear sky from the thick air. Met. 1.24Quae postquam ēvolvit caecōque exēmit acervō,
25dissociāta locīs concordī pāce ligāvit.After he had unrolled these and taken them out of the blind heap, he bound them, set apart in their places, in harmonious peace. Met. 1.26Ignea convexī vīs et sine pondere caelī
ēmicuit summāque locum sibi fēcit in arce:
proximus est āēr illī levitāte locōque:
dēnsior hīs tellūs, elementaque grandia trāxit
30et pressa est gravitāte suā: circumfluus ūmor
ultima possēdit solidumque coercuit orbem.The fiery, weightless force of the vaulted sky flashed out and made itself a place on the highest summit: next to it in lightness and in place is the air: denser than these, the earth drew the heavy elements with it and was pressed down by its own weight: the encircling water took possession of the last place and confined the solid world.
Met. 1.32Sīc ubi dispositam quisquis fuit ille deōrum
congeriem secuit sectamque in membra redēgit,
prīncipiō terram, nē nōn aequālis ab omnī
35parte foret, magnī speciem glomerāvit in orbis.When he, whichever of the gods he was, had thus arranged that mass and divided it, and reduced what he had divided into members, first, so that it should not be unequal on any side, he wound the earth into the shape of a great ball. Met. 1.36Tum freta diffūdit rapidīsque tumēscere ventīs
iussit et ambitae circumdare lītora terrae.Then he spread out the seas and ordered them to swell with the rushing winds and to surround the shores of the encircled earth. Met. 1.38Addidit et fontēs et stagna inmēnsa lacūsque
flūminaque oblīquīs cinxit dēclīvia rīpīs,
40quae, dīversa locīs, partim sorbentur ab ipsā,
in mare perveniunt partim campōque recepta
līberiōris aquae prō rīpīs lītora pulsant.He added also springs and vast pools and lakes, and bound the descending rivers with slanting banks; these, differing in their places, are partly swallowed by the earth itself, partly reach the sea and, received into the plain of freer water, beat against shores instead of banks.
Met. 1.43Iussit et extendī campōs, subsīdere vallēs,
fronde tegī silvās, lapidōsōs surgere montēs.He ordered the plains too to stretch out, the valleys to sink, the woods to be covered with leaves, the stony mountains to rise. Met. 1.45Utque duae dextrā caelum totidemque sinistrā
parte secant zōnae, quīnta est ārdentior illīs,
sīc onus inclūsum numerō distīnxit eōdem
cūra deī, totidemque plagae tellūre premuntur.And as two zones cut the sky on the right and as many on the left, and a fifth is hotter than these, so the care of the god marked off the enclosed mass with the same number, and as many regions are stamped upon the earth. Met. 1.49Quārum quae media est, nōn est habitābilis aestū:
50nix tegit alta duās: totidem inter utrumque locāvit
temperiemque dedit mīxta cum frīgore flamma.Of these, the one in the middle is not habitable for the heat: deep snow covers two: between the two he placed as many more and gave them a temperate climate, flame mixed with cold. Met. 1.52Inminet hīs āēr.Over these hangs the air.
Met. 1.52Quī quantō est pondere terrae,
pondere aquae levior tantō est onerōsior ignī.And by as much as the weight of water is lighter than the weight of earth, by so much is the air heavier than fire. Met. 1.54Illīc et nebulās, illīc cōnsistere nūbēs
55iussit et hūmānās mōtūra tonitrua mentēs
et cum fulminibus facientēs fulgura ventōs.There he ordered the mists, there the clouds to settle, and the thunder that would trouble human minds, and the winds that make lightning flashes along with thunderbolts. Met. 1.57Hīs quoque nōn passim mundī fabricātor habendum
āera permīsit: vix nunc obsistitur illīs,
cum sua quisque regant dīversō flāmina tractū,
60quīn lanient mundum: tanta est discordia frātrum.To these too the maker of the world did not grant possession of the air at random: even now they are scarcely prevented, though each governs his blasts in a different tract, from tearing the world apart: so great is the discord of the brothers. Met. 1.61Eurus ad Aurōram Nabataeaque regna recessit
Persidaque et radiīs iuga subdita mātūtīnīs;Eurus withdrew to the Dawn and the Nabataean kingdoms, and to Persia and the ridges that lie beneath the morning rays; Met. 1.63vesper et occiduō quae lītora sōle tepēscunt,
proxima sunt Zephyrō: Scythiam septemque triōnēsthe evening and the shores that grow warm under the setting sun are nearest to Zephyrus: Scythia and the Seven Plough-oxen