Met. 14.320Pīcus in Ausoniīs, prōlēs Sāturnia terrīs
rēx fuit, ūtilium bellō studiōsus equōrum;Picus, offspring of Saturn, was king in the Ausonian lands, devoted to horses useful in war; Met. 14.322fōrma virō, quam cernis, erat: licet ipse decōrem
adspiciās fictaque probēs ab imāgine vēram.the man had the beauty you see: you may yourself behold his grace, and approve the true form from the fashioned likeness. Met. 14.324Pār animus fōrmae;His spirit matched his beauty; Met. 14.324nec adhūc spectāsse per annōs
325quīnquennem poterat Grāiā quater Ēlide pugnam.nor had he yet been able to see four times the contest held every fifth year at Greek Elis. Met. 14.326Ille suōs dryadas Latiīs in montibus ortās
verterat in vultūs, illum fontāna petēbant
nūmina, nāiadēs, quās Albula, quāsque Numīcī,
quās Aniēnis aquae cursūque brevissimus Almō
330Nārve tulit praeceps et opācae Farfarus umbrae,
quaeque colunt Scythicae stagnum nemorāle Diānae
fīnitimōsque lacūs;He had turned the eyes of the dryads born on the Latin hills towards himself; the fountain deities sought him, the naiads whom the Albula bore, and those of the Numicius, those of the Anio's waters, and the Almo, shortest in its course, and headlong Nar, and the Farfarus of dark shade, and those who haunt the woodland lake of Scythian Diana and the neighbouring lakes; Met. 14.332sprētīs tamen omnibus ūnam
ille colit nymphēn, quam quondam in colle Palātī
dīcitur Īoniō peperisse Venīlia Iānō.yet, scorning them all, he courts one nymph, whom Venilia is said once to have borne to Ionian Janus on the Palatine hill.
Met. 14.335Haec ubi nūbilibus prīmum mātūruit annīs,
praepositō cūnctīs Laurentī trādita Pīcō est,
rāra quidem faciē, sed rārior arte canendī,
unde Canēns dicta est: silvās et saxa movēre
et mulcēre ferās et flūmina longa morārī
340ōre suō volucrēsque vagās retinēre solēbat.When she first came to ripeness in marriageable years, she was given to Laurentine Picus, preferred to all; rare indeed in beauty, but rarer in the art of singing, whence she was called Canens: she used to move woods and rocks, and soothe wild beasts, and stay long rivers with her voice, and hold back wandering birds. Met. 14.341Quae dum fēmineā modulātur carmina vōce,
exierat tēctō Laurentēs Pīcus in agrōs,
indigenās fīxūrus aprōs, tergumque premēbat
ācris equī, laevāque hastīlia bīna ferēbat,
345poeniceam fulvō chlamydem contrāctus ab aurō.While she was singing songs in her womanly voice, Picus had gone out from his house into the Laurentine fields to spear the native boars, and was riding the back of a spirited horse, and carried two spears in his left hand, wearing a purple cloak fastened with tawny gold. Met. 14.346Vēnerat in silvās et fīlia Sōlis eāsdem,
utque novās legeret fēcundīs collibus herbās,
nōmine dicta suō Circaea relīquerat arva.The daughter of the Sun too had come into the same woods, and to gather new herbs on the fertile hills she had left the fields called Circaean after her name.
Met. 14.349Quae simul ac iuvenem, virgultīs abdita, vīdit,
350obstipuit: cecidēre manū, quās lēgerat, herbae,
flammaque per tōtās vīsa est errāre medullās.As soon as, hidden in the thickets, she saw the young man, she was stunned: the herbs she had gathered fell from her hand, and a flame seemed to run through all her marrow. Met. 14.352Ut prīmum validō mentem conlēgit ab aestū,
quid cuperet, fassūra fuit: nē posset adīre,
cursus equī fēcit circumfūsusque satelles.As soon as she gathered her wits from the strong heat, she was about to confess what she desired: the speed of his horse and the attendants crowding round prevented her from being able to approach. Met. 14.355"Nōn" ait "effugiēs, ventō rapiāre licēbit,
sī modo mē nōvī, sī nōn ēvānuit omnis
herbārum virtūs et nōn mea carmina fallunt."'You will not escape me,' she said, 'though the wind snatch you away, if only I know myself, if all the power of herbs has not vanished and my spells do not deceive me.' Met. 14.358Dīxit et effigiem, nūllō cum corpore, falsī
finxit aprī praeterque oculōs trānscurrere rēgis
360iussit et in dēnsum trabibus nemus īre vidērī,
plūrima quā silva est et equō loca pervia nōn sunt.She spoke, and fashioned the phantom of an unreal boar, with no body, and ordered it to run past the king's eyes and to seem to go into a grove thick with trees, where the wood is densest and the places are not passable for a horse.
Met. 14.362Haud mora: continuō praedae petit īnscius umbram
Pīcus equīque celer spūmantia terga relinquit
spemque sequēns vānam silvā pedes errat in altā.No delay: at once Picus, unaware, makes for the shadow of the prey, and swiftly leaves the foaming back of his horse, and, following an empty hope, wanders on foot in the deep wood. Met. 14.365Concipit illa precēs et verba precantia dīcit
ignōtōsque deōs ignōtō carmine adōrat,
quō solet et niveae vultum cōnfundere Lūnae
et patriō capitī bibulās subtexere nūbēs.She frames prayers and speaks words of prayer, and worships unknown gods with an unknown spell, by which she is wont both to darken the face of the snow-white Moon and to draw thirsty clouds beneath her father's head. Met. 14.369Tum quoque cantātō dēnsētur carmine caelum,
370et nebulās exhālat humus, caecīsque vagantur
līmitibus comitēs, et abest custōdia rēgis.Then too, at the chanting of the spell, the sky thickens, and the ground breathes out mists, and his companions wander on blind paths, and the king's guard is gone. Met. 14.372Nacta locum tempusque "per, ō, tua lūmina" dīxit,
"quae mea cēpērunt, perque hanc, pulcherrime, fōrmam,
quae facit, ut supplex tibi sim dea, cōnsule nostrīs
375ignibus et socerum, quī pervidet omnia, Sōlem
accipe, nec dūrus Tītānida dēspice Circēn!"Having found place and time, she said, 'By your eyes, which captured mine, and by this beauty, most handsome one, which makes me, a goddess, a suppliant to you, have regard for my fires and accept the all-seeing Sun as your father-in-law, and do not be hard and spurn Circe, the Titan's daughter!' Met. 14.377Dīxerat.She had spoken.
Met. 14.377Ille ferōx ipsamque precēsque relinquit
et "quaecumque es" ait, "nōn sum tuus: altera captum
mē tenet et teneat per longum, comprecor, aevum!Fiercely he rejects both her and her prayers, and says, 'Whoever you are, I am not yours: another holds me captive, and may she hold me through long ages, I pray! Met. 14.380Nec venere externā sociālia foedera laedam,
dum mihi Iānigenam servābunt fāta Canentem!"Nor will I wrong the bonds of marriage with a stranger's love, so long as the fates preserve for me Canens, daughter of Janus!' Met. 14.382Saepe retemptātīs precibus Tītānia frūstrā
"nōn impūne ferēs, neque" ait "reddere Canentī,
laesaque quid faciat, quid amāns, quid fēmina discēs."Having often renewed her prayers in vain, the Titan's daughter said, 'You will not go unpunished, nor will you be returned to Canens, and you will learn what one who is wronged, what a lover, what a woman can do.' Met. 14.386Tum bis ad occāsum, bis sē convertit ad ortūs,
ter iuvenem baculō tetigit, tria carmina dīxit.Then twice she turned herself to the west, twice to the east, three times she touched the young man with her staff, three spells she chanted.
Met. 14.388Ille fugit, sed sē solitō vēlōcius ipse
currere mīrātur: pennās in corpore vīdit,
390sēque novam subitō Latiīs accēdere silvīs
indignātus avem dūrō fera rōbora rōstrō
fīgit et īrātus longīs dat vulnera rāmīs.He flees, but marvels that he runs faster than usual: he saw feathers on his body, and, indignant that he was suddenly joining the Latin woods as a new bird, he strikes the wild oaks with his hard beak and in anger deals wounds to the long branches. Met. 14.393Purpureum chlamydis pennae trāxēre colōrem,
fībula quod fuerat vestemque momorderat aurum,
395plūma fit, et fulvō cervīx praecingitur aurō,
nec quicquam antīquum Pīcō nisi nōmina restat.His feathers took on the purple colour of his cloak; the gold that had been a brooch and had pinned his garment becomes plumage, and his neck is ringed with tawny gold, and nothing of the old remains to Picus except his name. Met. 14.397Intereā comitēs, clāmātō saepe per agrōs
nēquīquam Pīcō nūllāque in parte repertō,
inveniunt Circēn (nam iam tenuāverat aurās
400passaque erat nebulās ventīs ac sōle reclūdī)
crīminibusque premunt vērīs rēgemque reposcunt
vimque ferunt saevīsque parant incessere tēlīs.Meanwhile his companions, having called Picus often through the fields in vain and found him nowhere, find Circe (for she had now thinned the air and allowed the mists to be opened up by the winds and the sun), and they press her with true accusations and demand back their king and offer violence and prepare to attack her with savage weapons.
Met. 14.403Illa nocēns spargit vīrus sūcōsque venēnī
et Noctem noctisque deōs Erebōque chaōque
405convocat et longīs Hecatēn ululātibus ōrat:
exsiluēre locō (dictū mīrābile) silvae,
ingemuitque sōlum, vīcīnaque palluit arbor,
sparsaque sanguineīs maduērunt pābula guttīs,
et lapidēs vīsī mūgītūs ēdere raucōs,
410et lātrāre canēs et humus serpentibus ātrīs
squālēre et tenuēs animae volitāre videntur.She sprinkles harmful poison and venomous juices, and summons Night and the gods of night from Erebus and Chaos, and prays to Hecate with long howls: the woods leapt from their place (wondrous to tell), and the ground groaned, and the nearby tree grew pale, and the grass, sprinkled, grew wet with drops of blood, and stones seemed to utter hoarse bellows, and dogs seem to bark, and the ground to crawl with black serpents, and thin spirits to flit about. Met. 14.412Attonitum mōnstrīs vulgus pavet: illa paventis
ōra venēnātā tetigit mīrantia virgā,
cuius ab attāctū variārum mōnstra ferārum
415in iuvenēs veniunt: nūllī sua mānsit imāgō.The crowd, stunned, trembles at the portents: as they tremble she touched their marvelling faces with her poisoned wand, and at its touch monstrous shapes of various beasts come upon the young men: no one kept his own appearance.
Met. 14.416Sparserat occiduus Tartessia lītora Phoebus,
et frūstrā coniūnx oculīs animōque Canentis
exspectātus erat: famulī populusque per omnēs
discurrunt silvās atque obvia lūmina portant;The setting sun had sprinkled the Tartessian shores, and her husband had been awaited in vain by the eyes and heart of Canens: servants and people run about through all the woods and carry torches to meet him; Met. 14.420nec satis est nymphae flēre et lacerāre capillōs
et dare plangōrem (facit et tamen omnia) sēque
prōripit ac Latiōs errat vēsāna per agrōs.nor is it enough for the nymph to weep and tear her hair and beat her breast (though she does all these), but she rushes out and wanders frantic through the Latin fields. Met. 14.423Sex illam noctēs, totidem redeuntia sōlis
lūmina vīdērunt inopem somnīque cibīque
425per iuga, per vallēs, quā fors dūcēbat, euntem.Six nights and as many returning lights of the sun saw her going, without sleep or food, over ridges, through valleys, wherever chance led. Met. 14.426Ultimus adspexit Thybris lūctūque viāque
fessam et iam longā pōnentem corpora rīpā.The Tiber saw her last, weary with grief and with the road, and now laying her body down on his long bank.
Met. 14.428Illīc cum lacrimīs ipsō modulāta dolōre
verba sonō tenuī maerēns fundēbat, ut ōlim
430carmina iam moriēns canit exequiālia cygnus.There, with tears, grieving, she was pouring out words set to the tune of her very pain in a faint voice, as at times the dying swan sings its funeral songs. Met. 14.431Lūctibus extrēmīs tenerās liquefacta medullās
tābuit inque levēs paulātim ēvānuit aurās;At last, her tender marrow melted by grief, she wasted away and gradually vanished into thin air; Met. 14.433fāma tamen signāta locō est, quem rīte Canentem
nōmine dē nymphae veterēs dīxēre Camēnae."yet her story is marked in the place, which the ancient Camenae rightly called Canens from the nymph's name." Met. 14.435Tālia multa mihi longum narrāta per annum
vīsaque sunt.Many such things were told to me and seen by me through the long year. Met. 14.436Residēs et dēsuētūdine tardī
rūrsus inīre fretum, rūrsus dare vēla iubēmur.Sluggish and slow from lack of practice, we are ordered to go to sea again, to set sail again. Met. 14.438Ancipitēsque viās et iter Tītānia vāstum
dīxerat et saevī restāre perīcula pontī.And the Titan's daughter had told us of the uncertain ways and the vast journey, and that the perils of the savage sea still remained.
Met. 14.440Pertimuī, fateor, nactusque hoc lītus adhaesī."I was terrified, I confess, and having reached this shore, I clung to it.'