Met. 4.563Nescit Agēnoridēs nātam parvumque nepōtem
aequoris esse deōs: lūctū seriēque malōrum
565victus et ostentīs, quae plūrima vīderat, exit
conditor urbe suā, tamquam fortūna locōrum,
nōn sua sē premeret;The son of Agenor does not know that his daughter and little grandson are gods of the sea: overcome by grief and the series of misfortunes and by the portents, of which he had seen a great many, the founder leaves his city, as if the fortune of the place, and not his own, were pressing on him; Met. 4.567longīsque errōribus āctus
contigit Illyricōs profugā cum coniuge fīnēs.and driven by long wanderings he reached, with his wife sharing his exile, the borders of Illyria. Met. 4.569Iamque malīs annīsque gravēs, dum prīma retractant
570fāta domus releguntque suōs sermōne labōrēs,
"num sacer ille meā trāiectus cuspide serpēns"
Cadmus ait "fuerat, tum, cum Sīdōne profectus
vīpereōs sparsī per humum, nova sēmina, dentēs?And now, weighed down with misfortunes and years, while they go back over the first fates of their house and review their sufferings in talk, Cadmus said: 'Was that serpent sacred, the one pierced by my spear, at the time when, having set out from Sidon, I scattered the viper's teeth over the ground, a new kind of seed?
Met. 4.574Quem sī cūra deum tam certā vindicat īrā,
575ipse precor serpēns in longam porrigar alvum."If the care of the gods avenges it with such unerring anger, may I myself, I pray, be stretched out as a serpent into a long belly.' Met. 4.576Dīxit, et ut serpēns in longam tenditur alvum
dūrātaeque cutī squāmās incrēscere sentit
nigraque caeruleīs variārī corpora guttīs.He spoke, and like a serpent he is stretched into a long belly, and feels scales grow over his hardened skin, and his blackened body become speckled with blue spots. Met. 4.579In pectusque cadit prōnus.And he falls forward onto his breast. Met. 4.579Commissaque in ūnum
580paulātim teretī tenuantur acūmine crūra.And, joined into one, his legs are gradually thinned to a smooth point. Met. 4.581Bracchia iam restant: quae restant bracchia tendit
et lacrimīs per adhūc hūmāna fluentibus ōra
"accēde, ō coniūnx, accēde, miserrima," dīxit
"dumque aliquid superest dē mē, mē tange manumque
585accipe, dum manus est, dum nōn tōtum occupat anguis!"His arms still remain: the arms that remain he stretches out, and with tears flowing down his face, still human, he said: 'Come near, O wife, come near, most wretched one, and while something of me is left, touch me, and take my hand, while it is a hand, while the snake does not possess all of me!' Met. 4.586Ille quidem vult plūra loquī, sed lingua repente
in partēs est fissa duās: nec verba volentī
sufficiunt, quotiēnsque aliquōs parat ēdere questūs,
sībilat: hanc illī vōcem nātūra relīquit.He wants indeed to say more, but his tongue is suddenly split into two parts: words do not come to him as he wishes, and whenever he prepares to utter some lament, he hisses: this is the voice nature left him.
Met. 4.590Nūdā manū feriēns exclāmat pectora coniūnx
"Cadme, manē, tēque, īnfēlīx, hīs exue mōnstrīs!Striking her bare breast with her hand, his wife cries out: 'Cadmus, stay, and put off these monstrous shapes, unhappy man! Met. 4.592Cadme, quid hoc?Cadmus, what is this? Met. 4.592ubi pēs, ubi sunt umerīque manūsque
et color et faciēs et, dum loquor, omnia?Where are your feet, where are your shoulders and hands and colour and face and, while I speak, everything? Met. 4.593cūr nōn
mē quoque, caelestēs, in eandem vertitis anguem?"Why do you not, heavenly ones, turn me too into the same serpent?' Met. 4.595Dīxerat: ille suae lambēbat coniugis ōra
inque sinūs cārōs, velutī cognōsceret, ībat
et dabat amplexūs adsuētaque colla petēbat.She had spoken: he was licking his wife's face, and went into her dear bosom as if he recognised it, and gave embraces and sought her familiar neck. Met. 4.598Quisquis adest (aderant comitēs), terrētur: at illa
lūbrica permulcet cristātī colla dracōnis.Whoever is there (his companions were there) is terrified: but she strokes the slippery neck of the crested serpent. Met. 4.600Et subitō duo sunt iūnctōque volūmine serpunt,
dōnec in adpositī nemoris subiēre latebrās.And suddenly there are two, and they creep along with coils entwined, until they went into the hiding places of a nearby grove.
Met. 4.602Nunc quoque nec fugiunt hominem nec vulnere laedunt
quidque prius fuerint, placidī meminēre dracōnēs.Even now they neither flee from people nor harm them with a wound, and, gentle serpents, they remember what they were before.