Met. 6.504Mandābat pariterque suae dabat ōscula nātae,
505et lacrimae mītēs inter mandāta cadēbant.He was giving these charges and at the same time kissing his daughter, and gentle tears fell amid his instructions. Met. 6.506Utque fidē pignus dextrās utrīusque poposcit
inter sēque datās iūnxit nātamque nepōtemque
absentēs prō sē memorī rogat ōre salūtent;And he asked for the right hands of both as a pledge of faith, and joined them together as they were given, and asks them with remembering lips to greet his absent daughter and grandson for him; Met. 6.509suprēmumque valē plēnō singultibus ōre
510vix dīxit timuitque suae praesāgia mentis.and he scarcely said his last farewell, his mouth full of sobs, and feared the forebodings of his mind. Met. 6.511Ut semel imposita est pictae Philomēla carīnae,
admōtumque fretum remīs tellūsque repulsa est,
"vīcimus" exclāmat, "mēcum mea vōta feruntur"
exsultatque et vix animō sua gaudia differt
515barbarus et nūsquam lūmen dētorquet ab illā,
nōn aliter, quam cum pedibus praedātor obuncīs
dēposuit nīdō leporem Iovis āles in altō:
nūlla fuga est captō, spectat sua praemia raptor.As soon as Philomela was placed on the painted ship, and the sea was stirred by the oars and the land pushed away, 'We have won,' cries the barbarian, 'my prayers are carried with me,' and he exults and can scarcely put off his joys in his mind, and nowhere turns his gaze from her, no differently than when the bird of Jupiter, the plunderer, has set down a hare in its lofty nest with hooked feet: the captive has no escape, the robber gazes at his prize.
Met. 6.519Iamque iter effectum, iamque in sua lītora fessīs
520puppibus exierant, cum rēx Pandione nātam
in stabula alta trahit, silvīs obscūra vetustīs,
atque ibi pallentem trepidamque et cūncta timentem
et iam cum lacrimīs, ubi sit germāna, rogantem
inclūdit: fassusque nefās et virginem et ūnam
525vī superat frūstrā clāmātō saepe parente,
saepe sorōre suā, magnīs super omnia dīvīs.And now the journey was done, and now they had disembarked from the weary ships on their own shores, when the king drags Pandion's daughter into a lofty steading, hidden in ancient woods, and there shuts her in, pale and trembling and fearing everything and now asking with tears where her sister is: and, confessing his crime, he overpowers her by force, a maiden and alone, as she calls in vain, often on her father, often on her sister, on the great gods above all. Met. 6.527Illa tremit velut agna pavēns, quae saucia cānī
ōre excussa lupī nōndum sibi tūta vidētur,
utque columba suō madefactīs sanguine plūmīs
530horret adhūc avidōsque timet, quibus haeserat, unguēs.She trembles like a frightened lamb that, wounded and shaken from the mouth of a grey wolf, does not yet think itself safe, and like a dove, its feathers wet with its own blood, still shudders and fears the greedy talons in which it had been held.
Met. 6.531Mox ubi mēns rediit, passōs laniāta capillōs,
lūgentī similis, caesīs plangōre lacertīs,
intendēns palmās "ō dīrīs barbare factīs,
ō crūdēlis" ait "nec tē mandāta parentis
535cum lacrimīs mōvēre piīs nec cūra sorōris
nec mea virginitās nec coniugiālia iūra!Soon, when her mind returned, tearing her loosened hair, like one in mourning, her arms bruised with beating, stretching out her palms, she says, 'O barbarian of dreadful deeds, O cruel one, neither my father's charges given with dutiful tears moved you, nor care for my sister, nor my maidenhood, nor the laws of marriage! Met. 6.537Omnia turbāstī: paelex ego facta sorōris,
tū geminus coniūnx, hostis mihi dēbita Procnē.You have confounded everything: I have been made my sister's rival, you a husband twice over; Procne must be my enemy. Met. 6.539Quīn animam hanc, nē quod facinus tibi, perfide, restet,
540ēripis?Why do you not snatch away this life too, traitor, so that no crime remains for you? Met. 6.540atque utinam fēcissēs ante nefandōs
concubitūs vacuās habuissem crīminis umbrās.and would that you had done so before that unspeakable union: I would have had a ghost free of guilt.
Met. 6.542Sī tamen haec superī cernunt, sī nūmina Dīvum
sunt aliquid, sī nōn periērunt omnia mēcum,
quandōcumque mihi poenās dabis.Yet if the gods above see these things, if the powers of the gods are anything, if all things have not perished with me, sometime you will pay me the penalty. Met. 6.544Ipsa pudōre
545prōiectō tua facta loquar.I myself, casting shame aside, will tell of your deeds. Met. 6.545Sī cōpia dētur,
in populōs veniam;If the chance is given, I shall go among the people; Met. 6.546sī silvīs clausa tenēbor,
implēbō silvās et cōnscia saxa movēbō:
audiet haec aethēr, et sī deus ūllus in illō est."if I am kept shut up in the woods, I shall fill the woods and move the rocks to share my knowledge: the sky will hear this, and any god, if there is one in it.' Met. 6.549Tālibus īra ferī postquam commōta tyrannī
550nec minor hāc metus est, causā stimulātus utrāque
quō fuit accīnctus, vāgīnā līberat ēnsem
arreptamque comā flexīs post terga lacertīs
vincla patī cōgit.After the savage tyrant's anger was stirred by such words, and his fear no less than his anger, goaded by both causes he frees from its sheath the sword with which he was girded, and seizing her by the hair, her arms bent behind her back, forces her to suffer chains.
Met. 6.553Iugulum Philomēla parābat
spemque suae mortis vīsō concēperat ēnse:
555ille indignantem et nōmen patris ūsque vocantem
luctantemque loquī comprēnsam forcipe linguam
abstulit ēnse ferō.Philomela was offering her throat and had conceived the hope of death at the sight of the sword: he, as she protested and kept calling her father's name and struggled to speak, seized her tongue with pincers and cut it off with the savage sword. Met. 6.557Rādīx micat ultima linguae,
ipsa iacet terraeque tremēns inmurmurat ātrae;The root of the tongue quivers at the back; the tongue itself lies murmuring, trembling, into the black earth; Met. 6.559utque salīre solet mutilātae cauda colubrae,
560palpitat et moriēns dominae vestīgia quaerit.and as the tail of a mutilated snake is wont to leap, it twitches and, dying, seeks its mistress's footprints. Met. 6.561Hoc quoque post facinus (vix ausim crēdere) fertur
saepe suā lacerum repetīsse libīdine corpus.Even after this crime (I would scarcely dare believe it) he is said often to have sought her mangled body again in his lust. Met. 6.563Sustinet ad Procnēn post tālia facta revertī.He has the face to return to Procne after such deeds.
Met. 6.564Coniuge quae vīsō germānam quaerit: at ille
565dat gemitūs fictōs commentaque fūnera narrat,
et lacrimae fēcēre fidem.On seeing her husband she asks for her sister: but he gives feigned groans and tells of an invented death, and his tears won belief. Met. 6.566Vēlāmina Procnē
dēripit ex umerīs aurō fulgentia lātō
induiturque ātrās vestēs et ināne sepulcrum
cōnstituit falsīsque piācula mānibus īnfert
570et lūget nōn sīc lūgendae fāta sorōris.Procne tears from her shoulders her robe gleaming with broad gold, and puts on black garments, and builds an empty tomb, and brings offerings to false shades, and mourns the fate of a sister not to be mourned so. Met. 6.571Signa deus bis sex āctō lūstrāverat annō.The god had passed through the twice six signs, a year completed. Met. 6.572Quid faciat Philomēla?What is Philomela to do? Met. 6.572fugam custōdia claudit,
strūcta rigent solidō stabulōrum moenia saxō,
ōs mūtum factī caret indice.a guard bars escape, the walls of the steading stand rigid, built of solid stone, her mute mouth lacks a means of telling the deed. Met. 6.574Grande dolōris
575ingenium est, miserīsque venit sollertia rēbus.Great is the ingenuity of grief, and resourcefulness comes in misfortune.
Met. 6.576Stāmina barbaricā suspendit callida tēlā
purpureāsque notās fīlīs intexuit albīs,
indicium sceleris;Cleverly she hangs the warp on a barbarian loom and weaves purple marks into white threads, a record of the crime; Met. 6.578perfectaque trādidit ūnī,
utque ferat dominae gestū rogat: illa rogāta
580pertulit ad Procnēn, nec scit, quid trādat in illīs.and when it was finished she handed it to one woman and asks by gesture that she take it to her mistress: she, as asked, carried it to Procne, nor does she know what she hands over in it. Met. 6.581Ēvolvit vestēs saevī mātrona tyrannī
fortūnaeque suae carmen miserābile legit
et (mīrum potuisse) silet.The wife of the savage tyrant unrolls the cloth and reads the pitiful poem of her own fortune, and (wonderful that she could) is silent. Met. 6.583Dolor ōra repressit,
verbaque quaerentī satis indignantia linguae
585dēfuērunt;Grief checked her lips, and words indignant enough failed her searching tongue; Met. 6.585nec flēre vacat, sed fāsque nefāsque
cōnfūsūra ruit, poenaeque in imāgine tōta est.nor is there time to weep, but she rushes on, ready to confound right and wrong, and is wholly absorbed in the image of revenge.