Met. 5.409Est medium Cyanēs et Pīsaeae Arethūsae,
410quod coit angustīs inclūsum cornibus aequor.There is, between Cyane and Pisaean Arethusa, a stretch of sea that meets, enclosed by narrow horns of land. Met. 5.411Hīc fuit, ā cuius stagnum quoque nōmine dictum est,
inter Sicelidas Cyanē celeberrima nymphās.Here lived Cyane, most famous among the Sicilian nymphs, from whose name the pool too is called. Met. 5.413Gurgite quae mediō summā tenus exstitit alvō
agnōvitque deam.She rose from the middle of the flood as far as her waist and recognised the goddess. Met. 5.414"Nec longius ībitis!"'You shall go no further!' Met. 5.414inquit,
415"nōn potes invītae Cereris gener esse: roganda,
nōn rapienda fuit.she says; 'you cannot be Ceres' son-in-law against her will: she should have been asked, not snatched. Met. 5.416Quodsī compōnere magnīs
parva mihi fās est, et mē dīlēxit Anapis:
exōrāta tamen, nec, ut haec, exterrita nūpsī."But if I may compare small things with great, Anapis too loved me: yet I married him won over by entreaty, not, like her, terrified.' Met. 5.419Dīxit et in partēs dīversās bracchia tendēns
420obstitit.She spoke, and, stretching her arms out in opposite directions, she blocked the way.
Met. 5.420Haud ultrā tenuit Sāturnius īram,
terribilēsque hortātus equōs in gurgitis īma
contortum validō scēptrum rēgāle lacertō
condidit.No longer did Saturn's son hold back his anger, and, urging on his fearsome horses, he whirled the royal sceptre with his strong arm and buried it in the depths of the pool. Met. 5.423Icta viam tellūs in Tartara fēcit
et prōnōs currūs mediō crātēre recēpit.The earth, struck, made a road to Tartarus and received the plunging chariot in the middle of the crater. Met. 5.425At Cyanē, raptamque deam contemptaque fontis
iūra suī maerēns, incōnsōlābile vulnus
mente gerit tacitā lacrimīsque absūmitur omnis,
et quārum fuerat magnum modo nūmen, in illās
ossa patī flexūs, unguēs posuisse rigōrem;But Cyane, grieving for the goddess carried off and for the scorned rights of her spring, bears an inconsolable wound in her silent mind and is wholly consumed by tears, and into those waters whose great divinity she had lately been, her bones yielding to bending, her nails losing their hardness; Met. 5.430extenuātur aquās.she wastes away. Met. 5.430Mollīrī membra vidērēs,
prīmaque dē tōtā tenuissima quaeque liquēscunt,
caeruleī crīnēs digitīque et crūra pedēsque:
nam brevis in gelidās membrīs exīlibus undās
trānsitus est: post haec umerī tergusque latusque
435pectoraque in tenuēs abeunt ēvānida rīvōs.You could have seen her limbs soften, and first of all the most slender parts of all melt away: her dark-blue hair and fingers and legs and feet; for from slender limbs the passage into cold waters is brief: after these, her shoulders and back and side and breast vanish away into thin streams.
Met. 5.436Dēnique prō vīvō vitiātās sanguine vēnās
lympha subit, restatque nihil, quod prēndere possīs.At last, in place of living blood, water enters her weakened veins, and nothing remains that you could grasp. Met. 5.438Intereā pavidae nēquīquam fīlia mātrī
omnibus est terrīs, omnī quaesīta profundō.Meanwhile the daughter is sought in vain by her terrified mother in all lands and in all the deep. Met. 5.440Illam nōn ūdīs veniēns Aurōra capillīs
cessantem vīdit, nōn Hesperus.Neither Dawn, coming with dewy hair, saw her resting, nor the Evening Star. Met. 5.441Illa duābus
flammiferās pīnūs manibus succendit ab Aetnā
perque pruīnōsās tulit inrequiēta tenebrās.With both hands she lit flame-bearing pine-torches from Etna and carried them, restless, through the frosty darkness. Met. 5.444Rūrsus ubi alma diēs hebetārat sīdera, nātam
445sōlis ab occāsū sōlis quaerēbat ad ortūs.Again, when kindly day had dimmed the stars, she sought her daughter from the setting of the sun to its rising. Met. 5.446Fessa labōre sitim conlēgerat ōraque nūllī
colluerant fontēs;Weary with toil, she had grown thirsty, and no springs had bathed her lips; Met. 5.447cum tēctam strāmine vīdit
forte casam parvāsque forēs pulsāvit: at inde
prōdit anus dīvamque videt, lymphamque rogantī
450dulce dedit, tostā quod tēxerat ante polentā.when by chance she saw a cottage thatched with straw and knocked at its little door: and out of it comes an old woman, and sees the goddess, and, when she asked for water, gave her a sweet drink, over which she had earlier sprinkled parched barley.
Met. 5.451Dum bibit illa datum, dūrī puer ōris et audāx
cōnstitit ante deam rīsitque avidamque vocāvit.While she drinks what was given, a boy with a hard face and bold stood before the goddess and laughed and called her greedy. Met. 5.453Offēnsa est neque adhūc ēpōtā parte loquentem
cum liquidō mīxtā perfūdit dīva polentā.The goddess was offended and, as he was speaking, drenched him with the part not yet drunk, barley mixed with liquid. Met. 5.455Combibit ōs maculās, et quae modo bracchia gessit,
crūra gerit;His face soaks up spots, and the limbs that just now were arms are legs; Met. 5.456cauda est mūtātīs addita membrīs;a tail is added to his changed limbs; Met. 5.457inque brevem fōrmam, nē sit vīs magna nocendī,
contrahitur, parvaque minor mēnsūra lacerta est.and he is shrunk into a small form, so that he may have no great power to harm, and is smaller in size than a little lizard. Met. 5.459Mīrantem flentemque et tangere mōnstra parantem
460fugit anum latebramque petit;From the old woman, who wonders and weeps and makes to touch the creature, he flees and seeks a hiding-place; Met. 5.460aptumque colōrī
nōmen habet, variīs stēllātus corpora guttīs.and he has a name suited to his colour, his body starred with varied spots.
Met. 5.462Quās dea per terrās et quās errāverit undās,
dīcere longa mora est: quaerentī dēfuit orbis.Through what lands and what waters the goddess wandered it would take long to tell: the world ran short for her searching. Met. 5.464Sīcaniam repetit;She returns to Sicania; Met. 5.464dumque omnia lūstrat eundō,
465vēnit et ad Cyanēn.and while she surveys everything as she goes, she comes to Cyane too. Met. 5.465Ea nī mūtāta fuisset,
omnia narrāsset: sed et ōs et lingua volentī
dīcere nōn aderant, nec quō loquerētur habēbat.Had she not been changed, she would have told everything: but mouth and tongue were not there for her though she wished to speak, nor had she anything with which to speak. Met. 5.468Signa tamen manifesta dedit notamque parentī,
illō forte locō dēlapsam in gurgite sacrō,
470Persephonēs zōnam summīs ostendit in undīs.Yet she gave a clear sign, and showed on the surface of the waters Persephone's girdle, well known to her mother, which had by chance fallen in that place into the sacred pool. Met. 5.471Quam simul agnōvit, tamquam tunc dēnique raptam
scīsset, inōrnātōs laniāvit dīva capillōs
et repetīta suīs percussit pectora palmīs.As soon as she recognised it, as if only then she knew her daughter had been carried off, the goddess tore her unkempt hair and beat her breast again and again with her palms.
Met. 5.474Nescit adhūc, ubi sit: terrās tamen increpat omnēs
475ingrātāsque vocat nec frūgum mūnere dignās,
Trīnacriam ante aliās, in quā vestīgia damnī
repperit.She does not yet know where she is: yet she reproaches all lands and calls them ungrateful and unworthy of the gift of corn, Trinacria above all others, where she found the traces of her loss. Met. 5.477Ergō illīc saevā vertentia glaebās
frēgit arātra manū, parilīque īrāta colōnōs
rūricolāsque bovēs lētō dedit arvaque iussit
480fallere dēpositum vitiātaque sēmina fēcit.So there with savage hand she broke the ploughs that turn the clods, and in equal anger gave farmers and plough-oxen alike to death, and ordered the fields to betray what was entrusted to them, and spoiled the seeds. Met. 5.481Fertilitās terrae lātum vulgāta per orbem
falsa iacet: prīmīs segetēs moriuntur in herbīs,
et modo sōl nimius, nimius modo corripit imber
sīderaque ventīque nocent, avidaeque volucrēs
485sēmina iacta legunt;The fertility of the land, famed throughout the wide world, lies proved false: the crops die in their first blades, and now too much sun, now too much rain ruins them, and stars and winds do harm, and greedy birds pick up the scattered seeds; Met. 5.485lolium tribulīque fatīgant
trīticeās messēs et inexpugnābile grāmen.darnel and thistles and unconquerable grass wear down the wheat harvests.