Met. 3.95Dum spatium victor victī cōnsīderat hostis,
vōx subitō audīta est;While the victor contemplates the size of his conquered foe, a voice was suddenly heard; Met. 3.96neque erat cognōscere promptum
unde, sed audīta est: "Quid, Agēnore nāte, peremptum
serpentem spectās?nor was it easy to tell where from, but it was heard: 'Why, son of Agenor, do you gaze at the slain serpent? Met. 3.98et tū spectābere serpēns."You too will be gazed at as a serpent.' Met. 3.99Ille diū pavidus pariter cum mente colōrem
100perdiderat, gelidōque comae terrōre rigēbant.He, long terrified, had lost his colour along with his wits, and his hair stood stiff with chill terror. Met. 3.101Ecce virī fautrīx, superās dēlapsa per aurās,
Pallas adest mōtaeque iubet suppōnere terrae
vīpereōs dentēs, populī incrēmenta futūrī.Look, the hero's patroness, gliding down through the upper air, Pallas is at hand, and orders him to place the viper's teeth beneath the stirred-up earth, the seeds of a people to come. Met. 3.104Pāret et, ut pressō sulcum patefēcit arātrō,
105spargit humī iussōs, mortālia sēmina, dentēs.He obeys, and when he has opened a furrow with the pressed-down plough, he scatters the teeth on the ground as ordered, seeds of mortals.
Met. 3.106Inde (fidē maius) glaebae coepēre movērī,
prīmaque dē sulcīs aciēs appāruit hastae,
tegmina mox capitum pictō nūtantia cōnō,
mox umerī pectusque onerātaque bracchia tēlīs
110exsistunt, crēscitque seges clipeāta virōrum.Then (beyond belief) the clods began to move, and first from the furrows the point of a spear appeared, next coverings for heads nodding with painted crests, next shoulders and breast and arms loaded with weapons emerge, and a crop of shielded men grows. Met. 3.111Sīc ubi tolluntur fēstīs aulaea theātrīs,
surgere signa solent prīmumque ostendere vultūs,
cētera paulātim, placidōque ēducta tenōre
tōta patent īmōque pedēs in margine pōnunt.So, when the curtains are raised at festive theatres, the figures usually rise and first show their faces, then the rest little by little, and, drawn up with a smooth steady motion, are revealed whole and set their feet on the lowest edge. Met. 3.115Territus hoste novō Cadmus capere arma parābat:
"nē cape", dē populō, quem terra creāverat, ūnus
exclāmat "nec tē cīvīlibus īnsere bellīs."Terrified by this new enemy, Cadmus was preparing to take up arms: 'Do not take them,' cries one of the people the earth had created, 'and do not involve yourself in civil wars.' Met. 3.118Atque ita terrigenīs rigidō dē frātribus ūnum
comminus ēnse ferit;And with that he strikes one of his earthborn brothers at close quarters with his rigid sword; Met. 3.119iaculō cadit ēminus ipse.he himself falls to a javelin thrown from afar.
Met. 3.120Hunc quoque quī lētō dederat, nōn longius illō
vīvit et exspīrat modo quās accēperat aurās;The one who had given him to death lives no longer than he did, and breathes out the air he had only just received; Met. 3.122exemplōque parī furit omnis turba, suōque
Mārte cadunt subitī per mūtua vulnera frātrēs.and on the same pattern the whole throng rages, and the sudden brothers fall in their own war by mutual wounds. Met. 3.124Iamque brevis vītae spatium sortīta iuventūs
125sanguineam tepidō plangēbat pectore mātrem,
quīnque superstitibus, quōrum fuit ūnus Echīōn.And now the young men allotted so brief a span of life were beating their bloodied mother with their warm breasts, five surviving, of whom one was Echion. Met. 3.127Is sua iēcit humō monitū Trītōnidis arma
frāternaeque fidem pācis petiitque deditque.He threw his arms to the ground at the warning of the Tritonian goddess, and both sought and gave a pledge of brotherly peace. Met. 3.129Hōs operis comitēs habuit Sīdōnius hospes,
130cum posuit iussam Phoebēīs sortibus urbem.These the Sidonian stranger had as companions in his work when he founded the city ordered by Phoebus' oracle.
Met. 3.131Iam stābant Thēbae: poterās iam, Cadme, vidērī
exsiliō fēlīx.Now Thebes stood: now, Cadmus, you could seem happy in your exile. Met. 3.132Socerī tibi Mārsque Venusque
contigerant: hūc adde genus dē coniuge tantā,
tot nātōs nātāsque et pignera cāra nepōtēs,
135hōs quoque iam iuvenēs.Mars and Venus had fallen to you as parents-in-law: add to this offspring from so great a wife, so many sons and daughters, and grandsons, dear pledges, these too now young men. Met. 3.135Sed scīlicet ultima semper
exspectanda diēs hominī est, dīcīque beātus
ante obitum nēmō suprēmaque fūnera dēbet.But clearly a man must always wait for his last day, and no one should be called blessed before his death and last funeral rites.