Met. 15.60Vir fuit hīc, ortū Samius, sed fūgerat ūnā
et Samon et dominōs odiōque tyrannidis exsul
sponte erat, isque, licet caelī regiōne remōtōs,
mente deōs adiit et quae nātūra negābat
vīsibus hūmānīs, oculīs ea pectoris hausit,
65cumque animō et vigilī perspexerat omnia cūrā,
in medium discenda dabat coetūsque silentum
dictaque mīrantum magnī prīmordia mundī
et rērum causās et, quid nātūra, docēbat,
quid deus, unde nivēs, quae fulminis esset orīgō,
70Iuppiter an ventī discussā nūbe tonārent,
quid quateret terrās, quā sīdera lēge meārent —
et quodcumque latet;There was a man here, Samian by birth, but he had fled at once both Samos and its masters, and through hatred of tyranny was an exile by choice; and though the gods were remote in the region of the sky, he approached them with his mind, and what nature denied to human sight he drank in with the eyes of his heart; and when he had examined everything with his mind and watchful care, he set it out publicly to be learned, and taught gatherings of silent listeners, marvelling at his words, the beginnings of the great universe and the causes of things, and what nature is, what god is, whence come the snows, what the origin of lightning is, whether Jupiter or the winds thunder when the cloud is burst apart, what shakes the earth, by what law the stars move — and whatever lies hidden; Met. 15.72prīmusque animālia mēnsīs
arguit impōnī, prīmus quoque tālibus ōra
docta quidem solvit, sed nōn et crēdita, verbīs:
75"Parcite, mortālēs, dapibus temerāre nefandīs
corpora!and he was the first to condemn the placing of animals on our tables, the first too to open his lips, learned indeed but not believed, in words like these: 'Forbear, mortals, to defile your bodies with unholy feasts!
Met. 15.76Sunt frūgēs, sunt dēdūcentia rāmōs
pondere pōma suō tumidaeque in vītibus ūvae,
sunt herbae dulcēs, sunt quae mītēscere flammā
mollīrīque queant;There are crops, there are apples bending the branches with their weight, and grapes swelling on the vines; there are sweet herbs, there are those that can be made mild and soft with fire; Met. 15.79nec vōbīs lacteus ūmor
80ēripitur, nec mella thymī redolentia flōre:
prōdiga dīvitiās alimentaque mītia tellūs
suggerit atque epulās sine caede et sanguine praebet.nor are you robbed of the milky liquid, nor of honey fragrant with the flower of thyme: the lavish earth supplies its riches and gentle nourishment and offers feasts without slaughter and blood. Met. 15.83Carne ferae sēdant iēiūnia, nec tamen omnēs:
quippe equus et pecudēs armentaque grāmine vīvunt.Wild beasts appease their hunger with flesh, and yet not all: for the horse, the sheep and the cattle live on grass. Met. 15.85At quibus ingenium est inmānsuētumque ferumque,
Armeniae tigrēs īrācundīque leōnēs
cumque lupīs ursī, dapibus cum sanguine gaudent.But those whose nature is savage and fierce, Armenian tigers and wrathful lions, and bears together with wolves, delight in feasts with blood.
Met. 15.88Heu quantum scelus est in viscera viscera condī
congestōque avidum pinguēscere corpore corpus
90alterīusque animantem animantis vīvere lētō!Alas, what a crime it is for flesh to be buried in flesh, for a greedy body to grow fat on another body heaped into it, and for one living creature to live by the death of another! Met. 15.91Scīlicet in tantīs opibus, quās optima mātrum
terra parit, nīl tē nisi trīstia mandere saevō
vulnera dente iuvat rītūsque referre Cyclōpum,
nec, nisi perdideris alium, plācāre vorācis
95et male mōrātī poteris iēiūnia ventris?Can it be that amid such wealth as earth, the best of mothers, brings forth, nothing pleases you but to chew piteous wounds with savage tooth and bring back the ways of the Cyclopes, and that you cannot appease the hunger of your greedy and ill-mannered belly unless you have destroyed another? Met. 15.96At vetus illa aetās, cui fēcimus aurea nōmen,
fētibus arboreīs et, quās humus ēducat, herbīs
fortūnāta fuit nec polluit ōra cruōre.But that ancient age, to which we have given the name golden, was blessed with the fruit of trees and the herbs that the soil brings up, and did not pollute its mouth with gore.
Met. 15.99Tunc et avēs tūtae mōvēre per āera pennās,
100et lepus impavidus mediīs errāvit in arvīs,
nec sua crēdulitās piscem suspenderat hāmō:
cūncta sine īnsidiīs nūllamque timentia fraudem
plēnaque pācis erant.Then birds moved their wings safely through the air, and the hare wandered unafraid in the midst of the fields, nor had its own credulity hung the fish on the hook: all things were without snares, fearing no deceit, and full of peace. Met. 15.103Postquam nōn ūtilis auctor
vīctibus invīdit, quisquis fuit ille, deōrum
105corporeāsque dapēs avidam dēmersit in alvum,
fēcit iter scelerī, prīmōque ē caede ferārum
incaluisse potest maculātum sanguine ferrum
(idque satis fuerat), nostrumque petentia lētum
corpora missa necī salvā pietāte fatēmur:
110sed quam danda necī, tam nōn epulanda fuērunt.After some author of no benefit, whoever he was, envied the diet of the gods and plunged fleshly feasts into his greedy belly, he opened a path for crime; it may be that the steel first grew warm, stained with blood, from the slaughter of wild beasts (and that would have been enough), and we admit that creatures seeking our death were put to death without offence to piety: but as they were to be given to death, so they were not to be feasted on.
Met. 15.111Longius inde nefās abiit, et prīma putātur
hostia sūs meruisse morī, quia sēmina pandō
ēruerit rōstrō spemque intercēperit annī.From there the wickedness went further, and the pig is thought to have been the first victim to deserve death, because it had rooted up the seeds with its curved snout and cut off the hope of the year. Met. 15.114Vīte caper morsā Bacchī mactātus ad ārās
115dīcitur ultōris;The goat, for gnawing the vine, is said to have been slaughtered at the altars of avenging Bacchus; Met. 15.115nocuit sua culpa duōbus!their own fault harmed the pair! Met. 15.116Quid meruistis ovēs, placidum pecus, inque tuendōs
nātum hominēs, plēnō quae fertis in ūbere nectar,
mollia quae nōbīs vestrās vēlāmina lānās
praebētis vītāque magis quam morte iuvātis?What did you deserve, sheep, peaceful flock, born to protect men, you who carry nectar in your full udders, who offer us your wool as soft coverings and help us more by your life than by your death? Met. 15.120Quid meruēre bovēs, animal sine fraude dolīsque,
innocuum, simplex, nātum tolerāre labōrēs?What did oxen deserve, a creature without deceit or tricks, harmless, simple, born to endure toil?
Met. 15.122Inmemor est dēmum nec frūgum mūnere dignus,
quī potuit curvī dēmptō modo pondere arātrī
rūricolam mactāre suum, quī trīta labōre
125illa, quibus totiēns dūrum renovāverat arvum,
tot dederat messēs, percussit colla secūrī.Ungrateful indeed is he, and unworthy of the gift of crops, who could slaughter his farm-hand just after removing the weight of the curved plough, who struck with an axe that neck worn by toil, with which he had so often renewed the hard field and produced so many harvests. Met. 15.127Nec satis est, quod tāle nefās committitur: ipsōs
īnscrīpsēre deōs scelerī, nūmenque supernum
caede labōriferī crēdunt gaudēre iuvencī.Nor is it enough that such wickedness is committed: they have made the gods themselves party to the crime, and believe that the power above delights in the slaughter of the toiling bullock. Met. 15.130Victima lābe carēns et praestantissimā fōrmā
(nam placuisse nocet) vittīs īnsignis et aurō
sistitur ante ārās auditque ignāra precantem
impōnīque suae videt inter cornua frontī,
quās coluit, frūgēs percussaque sanguine cultrōs
135īnficit in liquidā praevīsōs forsitan undā.The victim, free of blemish and of the finest form (for to have pleased does harm), marked out with ribbons and gold, is set before the altars and, unknowing, hears the one who prays, and sees placed on its brow between its horns the grain it has tended, and, struck down, stains with its blood the knives it had perhaps glimpsed beforehand in the clear water.
Met. 15.136Prōtinus ēreptās vīventī pectore fībrās
īnspiciunt mentēsque deum scrūtantur in illīs:
unde (famēs hominī vetitōrum tanta cibōrum!)
audētis vēscī, genus ō mortāle?At once they inspect the entrails torn from the living breast and search out the minds of the gods in them: and on this (so great is man's hunger for forbidden foods!) do you dare to feed, O mortal race? Met. 15.139Quod, ōrō,
140nē facite, et monitīs animōs advertite nostrīs!Do not do so, I beg, and turn your minds to my warnings! Met. 15.141Cumque boum dabitis caesōrum membra palātō,
mandere vōs vestrōs scītē et sentīte colōnōs.And when you give the limbs of slaughtered oxen to your palate, know and feel that you are chewing your own farm-hands. Met. 15.143Et quoniam deus ōra movet, sequar ōra moventem
rīte deum Delphōsque meōs ipsumque reclūdam
145aethera et augustae reserābō ōrācula mentis.And since a god moves my lips, I shall duly follow the god who moves my lips, and I shall open my Delphi and the very heavens, and unlock the oracles of the august mind.
Met. 15.146Magna nec ingeniīs investīgāta priōrum
quaeque diū latuēre, canam;Great things, never searched out by the minds of earlier men, things that have long lain hidden, I shall sing; Met. 15.147iuvat īre per alta
astra, iuvat terrīs et inertī sēde relictā
nūbe vehī validīque umerīs īnsistere Atlantis
150pālantēsque hominēs passim ac ratiōnis egentēs
dēspectāre procul trepidōsque obitumque timentēs
sīc exhortārī seriemque ēvolvere fātī:it delights me to travel through the lofty stars, it delights me to leave the earth and its sluggish abode and ride upon a cloud and stand on the shoulders of mighty Atlas, and to look down from afar on men wandering everywhere and lacking reason, anxious and fearing death, and so to exhort them and unroll the sequence of fate: