Met. 3.253Rūmor in ambiguō est: aliīs violentior aequō
vīsa dea est, aliī laudant dignamque sevērā
255virginitāte vocant;Opinion is divided: to some the goddess seemed more violent than was fair, others praise her and call her worthy of her stern virginity; Met. 3.255pars invēnit utraque causās.each side finds reasons. Met. 3.256Sōla Iovis coniūnx nōn tam culpetne probetne
ēloquitur, quam clāde domus ab Agēnore ductae
gaudet et ā Tyriā conlēctum paelice trānsfert
in generis sociōs odium.Jupiter's wife alone does not so much declare whether she blames or approves, as rejoice in the disaster of the house descended from Agenor, and she transfers the hatred gathered from the Tyrian concubine onto the partners of her race. Met. 3.259Subit ecce priōrī
260causa recēns, gravidamque dolet dē sēmine magnī
esse Iovis Semelēn.Look, a fresh cause comes on top of the earlier one, and she grieves that Semele is pregnant by the seed of great Jupiter. Met. 3.261Dum linguam ad iūrgia solvit,
"prōfēcī quid enim totiēns per iūrgia?"As she loosed her tongue for railing, 'For what have I ever gained by railing so often?' Met. 3.262dīxit:
"ipsa petenda mihi est, ipsam, sī maxima Iūnō
rīte vocor, perdam, sī mē gemmantia dextrā
265scēptra tenēre decet, sī sum rēgīna Iovisque
et soror et coniūnx, certē soror.she said: 'I must go for her herself, I shall destroy her herself, if I am rightly called greatest Juno, if it befits me to hold the jewelled sceptre in my right hand, if I am queen and both sister and wife of Jupiter, sister at least.
Met. 3.266At, putō, fūrtō est
contenta, et thalamī brevis est iniūria nostrī:
concipit, id dēerat!But, I suppose, she is content with a theft, and the wrong to my marriage-bed is brief: she conceives, that was all that was lacking! Met. 3.268manifestaque crīmina plēnō
fert uterō, et māter, quod vix mihi contigit ūnō
270dē Iove vult fierī: tanta est fīdūcia fōrmae.and she carries her crime plain to see in her full womb, and wishes to become a mother by Jupiter alone, which scarcely fell to my lot: so great is her confidence in her beauty. Met. 3.271Fallat eam faxō;I shall make sure it deceives her; Met. 3.271nec sum Sāturnia, sī nōn
ab Iove mersa suō Stygiās penetrābit in undās."and I am not Saturn's daughter if she does not go down to the Stygian waters, sunk there by her own Jupiter.' Met. 3.273Surgit ab hīs soliō fulvāque recondita nūbe
līmen adit Semelēs.At this she rises from her throne and, hidden in a tawny cloud, comes to Semele's threshold. Met. 3.274Nec nūbēs ante remōvit,
275quam simulāvit anum posuitque ad tempora cānōs
sulcāvitque cutem rūgīs et curva trementī
membra tulit passū;Nor did she remove the cloud before she had feigned an old woman, put white hair at her temples, furrowed her skin with wrinkles, and carried bent limbs with trembling step; Met. 3.277vōcem quoque fēcit anīlem,
ipsaque erat Beroē, Semelēs Epidauria nūtrīx.she made her voice an old woman's too, and was Beroe herself, Semele's Epidaurian nurse.
Met. 3.279Ergō ubi captātō sermōne diūque loquendō
280ad nōmen vēnēre Iovis, suspīrat et "optō,
Iuppiter ut sit" ait: "metuō tamen omnia: multī
nōmine dīvōrum thalamōs iniēre pudīcōs.So when, having engaged her in conversation and talking long, they came to the name of Jupiter, she sighs and says, 'I hope it is Jupiter: yet I fear everything: many have entered chaste bedrooms under the name of gods. Met. 3.283Nec tamen esse Iovem satis est: det pignus amōris,
sī modo vērus is est, quantusque et quālis ab altā
285Iūnōne excipitur, tantus tālisque, rogātō,
det tibi complexūs suaque ante īnsignia sūmat."Yet it is not enough for him to be Jupiter: let him give a pledge of his love, if he is indeed the true one, and as great and as glorious as he is when received by lofty Juno, so great and so glorious, ask him, let him give you his embraces, and let him first take up his insignia.' Met. 3.287Tālibus ignāram Iūnō Cadmēida dictīs
fōrmārat.With such words Juno had moulded Cadmus' unknowing daughter. Met. 3.288Rogat illa Iovem sine nōmine mūnus.She asks Jupiter for a gift without naming it.
Met. 3.289Cui deus "ēlige" ait: "nūllam patiēre repulsam.To her the god says, 'Choose: you will suffer no refusal. Met. 3.290Quōque magis crēdās, Stygiī quoque cōnscia suntō
nūmina torrentis: timor et deus ille deōrum est".And so that you may believe it the more, let the power of the Stygian torrent also be my witness: it is the dread and the god of the gods.' Met. 3.292Laeta malō nimiumque potēns peritūraque amantis
obsequiō Semelē "quālem Sāturnia" dīxit
"tē solet amplectī, Veneris cum foedus inītis,
295dā mihi tē tālem."Glad in her misfortune, too powerful, and doomed to perish by her lover's compliance, Semele said, 'As Saturn's daughter is accustomed to embrace you when you enter into the bond of Venus, give yourself to me like that.' Met. 3.295Voluit deus ōra loquentis
opprimere: exierat iam vōx properāta sub aurās.The god wished to stop the speaker's mouth: the hasty words had already gone out into the air. Met. 3.297Ingemuit;He groaned; Met. 3.297neque enim nōn haec optāsse, neque ille
nōn iūrāsse potest.for neither can she not have wished this, nor can he not have sworn.
Met. 3.298Ergō maestissimus altum
aethera cōnscendit vultūque sequentia trāxit
300nūbila, quīs nimbōs inmixtaque fulgura ventīs
addidit et tonitrūs et inēvītābile fulmen.So, most sorrowful, he climbed the high heaven and with his look drew after him the following clouds, to which he added storms and lightning mixed with winds, and thunder and the inescapable thunderbolt. Met. 3.302Quā tamen ūsque potest, vīrēs sibi dēmere temptat;Yet so far as he can, he tries to take away some of his strength; Met. 3.303nec, quō centimanum dēiēcerat igne Typhōea,
nunc armātur eō: nimium feritātis in illō est.nor does he arm himself now with the fire with which he had cast down hundred-handed Typhoeus: there is too much ferocity in that. Met. 3.305Est aliud levius fulmen, cui dextra Cyclōpum
saevitiae flammaeque minus, minus addidit īrae;There is another, lighter thunderbolt, to which the Cyclopes' right hand added less savagery and flame, less anger; Met. 3.307tēla secunda vocant superī.the gods above call it the second weapon. Met. 3.307Capit illa, domumque
intrat Agēnoream.He takes it and enters the house of Agenor's line. Met. 3.308Corpus mortāle tumultūs
nōn tulit aetheriōs dōnīsque iugālibus ārsit.Her mortal body did not bear the heavenly tumult, and burned with her bridal gifts.
Met. 3.310Imperfectus adhūc īnfāns genetrīcis ab alvō
ēripitur, patriōque tener (sī crēdere dignum est)
īnsuitur femorī māternaque tempora complet.The infant, still unformed, is snatched from his mother's womb and, tender as he is (if it is worth believing), sewn into his father's thigh, and completes his mother's term. Met. 3.313Fūrtim illum prīmīs Īnō mātertera cūnīs
ēducat: inde datum nymphae Nȳsēidēs antrīs
315occuluēre suīs lactisque alimenta dedēre.His aunt Ino secretly rears him in his first cradle: then the nymphs of Nysa hid him, handed over to them, in their own caves and gave him the nourishment of milk.