Met. 2.193Sparsa quoque in variō passim mīrācula caelō
vāstārumque videt trepidus simulācra ferārum.Trembling, he sees too marvels scattered everywhere across the varied sky, and the shapes of vast beasts. Met. 2.195Est locus, in geminōs ubi bracchia concavat arcus
scorpius et caudā flexīsque utrimque lacertīs
porrigit in spatium signōrum membra duōrum.There is a place where the Scorpion bends his arms into twin arcs, and, with his tail and his claws curving on either side, stretches his limbs over the space of two signs. Met. 2.198Hunc puer ut nigrī madidum sūdōre venēnī
vulnera curvātā minitantem cuspide vīdit,
200mentis inops gelidā formīdine lōra remīsit.When the boy saw this creature, wet with the sweat of black venom, threatening wounds with its curved sting, out of his wits with chilling fear he let the reins go. Met. 2.201Quae postquam summum tetigēre iacentia tergum,
exspatiantur equī, nūllōque inhibente per aurās
ignōtae regiōnis eunt, quāque impetus ēgit,
hāc sine lēge ruunt altōque sub aethere fīxīs
205incursant stellīs rapiuntque per āvia currum.When the reins, lying slack, touched the tops of their backs, the horses run off course, and with no one checking them they go through the air of an unknown region, and wherever their impulse has driven, there they rush without rule, and beneath the high ether they charge against the fixed stars and whirl the chariot along pathless ways.
Met. 2.206Et modo summa petunt, modo per dēclīve viāsque
praecipitēs spatiō terrae propiōre feruntur.And now they make for the heights, now they are carried down slopes and steep paths into a space nearer the earth. Met. 2.208Īnferiusque suīs frāternōs currere Lūna
admīrātur equōs, ambūstaque nūbila fūmant;And the Moon marvels that her brother's horses run lower than her own, and the scorched clouds smoke; Met. 2.210corripitur flammīs ut quaeque altissima, tellūs
fissaque agit rīmās et sūcīs āret ademptīs.the earth is caught by flames, each highest part first, and splits into cracks and dries up as its moisture is taken away. Met. 2.212Pābula cānēscunt, cum frondibus ūritur arbor,
māteriamque suō praebet seges ārida damnō.The pastures turn grey, the tree burns with its foliage, and the dry crop provides fuel for its own destruction. Met. 2.214Parva queror: magnae pereunt cum moenibus urbēs,
215cumque suīs tōtās populīs incendia gentēs
in cinerem vertunt.I lament small things: great cities perish with their walls, and the fires turn whole nations with their peoples to ash. Met. 2.216Silvae cum montibus ārdent,
ārdet Athōs Taurusque Cilix et Tmōlus et Oetē
et tum sicca, prius crēberrima fontibus, Īdē,
virgineusque Helicōn et nōndum Oeagrius Haemus;The woods burn with the mountains; Athos burns, and Cilician Taurus and Tmolus and Oete, and Ida, dry now, once teeming with springs, and virgin Helicon, and Haemus, not yet Oeagrian; Met. 2.220ārdet in inmēnsum geminātīs ignibus Aetna
Parnāsusque biceps et Eryx et Cynthus et Othrys,
et tandem nivibus Rhodopē caritūra, Mimāsque
Dindymaque et Mycalē nātusque ad sacra Cithaerōn.Etna burns immensely with redoubled fires, and twin-peaked Parnassus and Eryx and Cynthus and Othrys, and Rhodope, destined at last to lose its snows, and Mimas and Dindyma and Mycale, and Cithaeron, born for sacred rites.
Met. 2.224Nec prōsunt Scythiae sua frīgora: Caucasus ārdet
225Ossaque cum Pindō maiorque ambōbus Olympus
āeriaeque Alpēs et nūbifer Appennīnus.Nor is its own cold any help to Scythia: Caucasus burns, and Ossa with Pindus, and Olympus greater than both, and the airy Alps and the cloud-bearing Apennines. Met. 2.227Tum vērō Phaethōn cūnctīs ē partibus orbem
adspicit accēnsum nec tantōs sustinet aestūs,
ferventēsque aurās velut ē fornāce profundā
230ōre trahit currūsque suōs candēscere sentit;Then indeed Phaethon sees the world set on fire on every side, and cannot bear such great heat, and he draws scorching air into his mouth as if from a deep furnace, and feels his chariot grow white-hot; Met. 2.231et neque iam cinerēs ēiectātamque favillam
ferre potest calidōque involvitur undique fūmō,
quōque eat, aut ubi sit, piceā cālīgine tēctus
nescit et arbitriō volucrum raptātur equōrum.and now he can no longer bear the ashes and the flying embers, and he is wrapped all round in hot smoke, and, covered in pitchy darkness, he does not know where he is going or where he is, and is snatched along at the will of the winged horses.
Met. 2.235Sanguine tum crēdunt in corpora summa vocātō
Aethiopum populōs nigrum trāxisse colōrem.It was then, they believe, that the peoples of Ethiopia took on their dark colour, as their blood was drawn to the surface of their bodies. Met. 2.237Tum facta est Libyē raptīs ūmōribus aestū
ārida, tum nymphae passīs fontēsque lacūsque
dēflēvēre comīs: quaerit Boeōtia Dircēn,
240Argos Amȳmōnēn, Ephyrē Pīrēnidas undās.Then Libya became dry, its moisture seized by the heat; then the nymphs with dishevelled hair wept for their springs and lakes: Boeotia seeks Dirce, Argos Amymone, Ephyre the waters of Pirene. Met. 2.241Nec sortīta locō distantēs flūmina rīpās
tūta manent: mediīs Tanais fūmāvit in undīs
Pēnēusque senex Teuthrantēusque Cāīcus
et celer Ismēnos cum Phegiacō Erymanthō
245ārsūrusque iterum Xanthus flāvusque Lycormās,
quīque recurvātīs lūdit Maeandrus in undīs.Nor do rivers that have been allotted banks far apart remain safe: Tanais smoked in mid-stream, and old Peneus and Teuthrantean Caicus and swift Ismenus with Phegiacan Erymanthus, and Xanthus, destined to burn a second time, and yellow Lycormas, and Maeander, who plays in his winding waters. Met. 2.247Mygdoniusque Melas et Taenarius Eurōtās.And Mygdonian Melas, and Taenarian Eurotas.
Met. 2.248Ārsit et Euphrātēs Babylōnius, ārsit Orontēs
Thermōdōnque citus Gangēsque et Phāsis et Hister.Babylonian Euphrates burned too, Orontes burned, and swift Thermodon, and Ganges and Phasis and Hister. Met. 2.250Aestuat Alphēus, rīpae Sperchēidēs ārdent,
quodque suō Tagus amne vehit, fluit ignibus aurum,
et quae Maeoniās celebrābant carmine rīpās
flūmineae volucrēs, mediō caluēre Caystrō.Alpheus seethes, the banks of Spercheus burn, the gold that the Tagus carries in its stream flows with fire, and the river birds that used to throng the Maeonian banks with song grew hot in the midst of Cayster. Met. 2.254Nīlus in extrēmum fūgit perterritus orbem
255occuluitque caput, quod adhūc latet: ōstia septem
pulverulenta vacant, septem sine flūmine vallēs.The Nile fled in terror to the ends of the earth and hid his head, which is hidden still: his seven mouths lie empty and full of dust, seven valleys without a stream. Met. 2.257Fors eadem Ismariōs Hebrum cum Strȳmone siccat
Hesperiōsque amnēs Rhēnum Rhodanumque Padumque,
cuique fuit rērum prōmissa potentia, Thybrin.The same fate dries up Ismarian Hebrus with Strymon, and the western rivers, Rhine and Rhone and Po, and Tiber, to whom power over the world had been promised.
Met. 2.260Dissilit omne sōlum, penetratque in Tartara rīmīs
lūmen et īnfernum terret cum coniuge rēgem.All the ground splits open, and through the cracks light penetrates to Tartarus and terrifies the king of the underworld and his wife. Met. 2.262Et mare contrahitur, siccaeque est campus harēnae
quod modo pontus erat: quōsque altum tēxerat aequor,
exsistunt montēs et sparsās Cycladas augent.The sea too shrinks, and what was lately ocean is a plain of dry sand; and mountains that the deep sea had covered rise up and add to the scattered Cyclades. Met. 2.265Īma petunt piscēs, nec sē super aequora curvī
tollere cōnsuētās audent delphīnēs in aurās;The fish seek the depths, and the curved dolphins do not dare to lift themselves above the waters into the air as they used to; Met. 2.267corpora phōcārum summō resupīna profundō
exanimāta natant.the bodies of seals float lifeless, on their backs, on the surface of the deep. Met. 2.268Ipsum quoque Nērea fāma est
Dōridaque et nātās tepidīs latuisse sub antrīs.The story goes that Nereus himself too, and Doris and her daughters, hid in caves grown warm.
Met. 2.270Ter Neptūnus aquīs cum torvō bracchia vultū
exserere ausus erat, ter nōn tulit āeris ignēs.Three times Neptune with grim face had dared to thrust his arms out of the waters, three times he could not bear the fires of the air. Met. 2.272Alma tamen Tellūs, ut erat circumdata pontō,
inter aquās pelagī contrāctōsque undique fontēs,
quī sē condiderant in opācae viscera mātris,
275sustulit oppressōs collō tenus ārida vultūs
opposuitque manum frontī magnōque tremōre
omnia concutiēns paulum subsēdit et īnfrā
quam solet esse fuit, siccāque ita vōce locūta est:
"Sī placet hoc, meruīque, quid ō tua fulmina cessant,
280summe deum?Yet kindly Earth, surrounded as she was by the sea, between the waters of the ocean and the springs shrunk from every side, which had hidden themselves in the bowels of their dark mother, lifted her stifled face, parched, as far as the neck, and put her hand to her brow, and, shaking everything with a great tremor, sank down a little and was lower than she usually is, and spoke thus in a dry voice: 'If this pleases you, and I have deserved it, why are your thunderbolts idle, O highest of the gods?
Met. 2.280liceat peritūrae vīribus ignis
igne perīre tuō clādemque auctōre levāre.If I am to perish by the force of fire, let me perish by your fire and lighten the disaster by knowing its author. Met. 2.282Vix equidem faucēs haec ipsa in verba resolvō"
(presserat ōra vapor): "tostōs ēn adspice crīnēs
inque oculīs tantum, tantum super ōra favillae.I can scarcely open my throat to say these very words' (the hot vapour had stifled her mouth): 'look, see my scorched hair, and all the ashes in my eyes, all the ashes over my face. Met. 2.285Hōsne mihi frūctūs, hunc fertilitātis honōrem
officiīque refers, quod aduncī vulnera arātrī
rāstrōrumque ferō tōtōque exerceor annō,
quod pecorī frondēs, alimentaque mītia, frūgēs,
hūmānō generī, vōbīs quoque tūra ministrō?Is this the reward, is this the honour you pay me for my fertility and my service, that I bear the wounds of the hooked plough and the harrow and am worked all year round, that I provide leaves for the flocks, and gentle nourishment, the crops, for the human race, and incense for you gods too?
Met. 2.290Sed tamen exitium fac mē meruisse: quid undae,
quid meruit frāter?But suppose I have deserved destruction: what have the waters, what has your brother deserved? Met. 2.291cūr illī trādita sorte
aequora dēcrēscunt et ab aethere longius absunt?Why do the seas, handed over to him by lot, shrink and stand further from the sky? Met. 2.293Quodsī nec frātris nec tē mea grātia tangit,
at caelī miserēre tuī.But if regard neither for your brother nor for me moves you, at least take pity on your own heaven. Met. 2.294Circumspice utrumque,
295fūmat uterque polus.Look around at both: each pole is smoking. Met. 2.295Quōs sī vitiāverit ignis,
ātria vestra ruent.If the fire damages them, your halls will collapse. Met. 2.296Atlās ēn ipse labōrat
vixque suīs umerīs candentem sustinet axem.Look, Atlas himself is struggling and can scarcely hold up the white-hot axis of the sky on his shoulders. Met. 2.298Sī freta, sī terrae pereunt, sī rēgia caelī,
in chaos antīquum cōnfundimur.If the seas, if the lands, if the palace of heaven perish, we are thrown together into the ancient chaos. Met. 2.299Ēripe flammīs,
300sīquid adhūc superest, et rērum cōnsule summae."Snatch from the flames whatever is still left, and take thought for the universe.'