Met. 8.731ut tibi, complexī terram maris incola, Prōteu.as it did for you, Proteus, dweller in the sea that embraces the earth. Met. 8.732Nam modo tē iuvenem, modo tē vīdēre leōnem;For they have seen you now as a young man, now as a lion; Met. 8.733nunc violentus aper, nunc, quem tetigisse timērent,
anguis erās, modo tē faciēbant cornua taurum.now you were a violent boar, now a snake which they would fear to touch, now horns made you a bull. Met. 8.735Saepe lapis poterās, arbor quoque saepe vidērī;Often you could seem a stone, often a tree too; Met. 8.736interdum, faciem liquidārum imitātus aquārum,
flūmen erās, interdum undīs contrārius ignis.sometimes, imitating the look of flowing waters, you were a river, sometimes fire, the enemy of water. Met. 8.738Nec minus Autolycī coniūnx, Erysichthone nāta,
iūris habet.Nor has the wife of Autolycus, daughter of Erysichthon, less power. Met. 8.739Pater huius erat, quī nūmina Dīvum
740sperneret et nūllōs ārīs adolēret odōrēs.Her father was a man who scorned the divinity of the gods and burned no fragrant offerings on their altars. Met. 8.741Ille etiam Cereāle nemus violāsse secūrī
dīcitur et lūcōs ferrō temerāsse vetustōs.He is even said to have violated the grove of Ceres with the axe and to have profaned her ancient woods with iron.
Met. 8.743Stābat in hīs ingēns annōsō rōbore quercus,
ūna nemus;There stood among them a huge oak of age-old timber, a grove in itself; Met. 8.744vittae mediam memorēsque tabellae
745sertaque cingēbant, vōtī argūmenta potentis.ribbons and grateful tablets and garlands encircled its middle, proofs of prayers granted. Met. 8.746Saepe sub hāc dryadēs fēstās dūxēre chorēās,
saepe etiam manibus nexīs ex ōrdine truncī
circuiēre modum, mēnsūraque rōboris ulnās
quīnque ter implēbat.Often beneath it the dryads led their festal dances, often too, with hands joined in a row, they circled the measure of its trunk, and the girth of its timber filled fifteen ells. Met. 8.749Nec nōn et cētera tantum
750silva sub hāc, silva quantum fuit herba sub omnī.And the rest of the wood, too, was as far beneath it as the grass was beneath all the wood. Met. 8.751Nōn tamen idcircō ferrum Triopēius illā
abstinuit famulōsque iubet succīdere sacrum
rōbur;Yet not for that reason did the son of Triopas keep the iron from it, and he orders his servants to cut down the sacred oak; Met. 8.753et ut iussōs cūnctārī vīdit, ab ūnō
ēdidit haec raptā scelerātus verba secūrī:
755"Nōn dīlēcta deae sōlum, sed et ipsa licēbit
sit dea, iam tanget frondente cacūmine terram."and when he saw them hesitate at the order, the wicked man snatched an axe from one of them and uttered these words: 'Not only beloved of the goddess, but even if it is the goddess herself, it will now touch the ground with its leafy top.' Met. 8.757Dīxit, et oblīquōs dum tēlum lībrat in ictūs,
contremuit gemitumque dedit Dēōia quercus:
et pariter frondēs, pariter pallēscere glandēs
760coepēre ac longī pallōrem dūcere rāmī.He spoke, and while he poised the weapon for slanting blows, Deo's oak trembled and gave a groan: and at once its leaves, at once its acorns began to grow pale, and its long branches to take on pallor.
Met. 8.761Cuius ut in truncō fēcit manus impia vulnus,
haud aliter flūxit discussō cortice sanguis,
quam solet, ante ārās ingēns ubi victima taurus
concidit, abruptā cruor ē cervīce profundī.And when his impious hand had made a wound in its trunk, blood flowed from the split bark, no differently from the way gore pours from the severed neck when a huge bull, as a victim, falls before the altars. Met. 8.765Obstipuēre omnēs, aliquisque ex omnibus audet
dēterrēre nefās saevamque inhibēre bipennem.All were stunned, and one out of them all dares to deter the wickedness and to hold back the savage axe. Met. 8.767Adspicit hunc "mentis" que "piae cape praemia!"He looks at him and: 'Take the reward of your pious mind!' Met. 8.767dīxit
Thessalus, inque virum convertit ab arbore ferrum
dētruncatque caput repetītaque rōbora caedit,
770redditus et mediō sonus est dē rōbore tālis:
"Nympha sub hōc ego sum Cererī grātissima lignō,
quae tibi factōrum poenās īnstāre tuōrum
vāticinor moriēns, nostrī sōlācia lētī."said the Thessalian, and turned the iron from the tree against the man and cuts off his head, and strikes the oak again, and from the middle of the oak there came a voice like this: 'I am a nymph beneath this wood, most dear to Ceres, and dying I prophesy to you that punishment for your deeds is at hand, the consolation of my death.' Met. 8.774Persequitur scelus ille suum, labefactaque tandem
775ictibus innumerīs adductaque fūnibus arbor
corruit et multam prōstrāvit pondere silvam.He pursues his crime, and at last, weakened by countless blows and pulled by ropes, the tree crashed down and laid flat much of the wood with its weight.
Met. 8.777Attonitae dryadēs damnō nemorumque suōque,
omnēs germānae, Cererem cum vestibus ātrīs
maerentēs adeunt poenamque Erysichthonis ōrant.The dryads, all sisters, stunned by the loss of the groves and their own, approach Ceres in black clothes, mourning, and pray for punishment for Erysichthon. Met. 8.780Adnuit hīs capitisque suī pulcherrima mōtū
concussit gravidīs onerātōs messibus agrōs.She assented to them, and with a movement of her head, most beautiful one, she shook the fields laden with heavy harvests. Met. 8.782Mōlīturque genus poenae miserābile, sī nōn
ille suīs esset nūllī miserābilis āctīs,
pestiferā lacerāre Fame.And she devises a kind of punishment that would be pitiable, if he were not pitiable to no one for his deeds: to torture him with baleful Hunger. Met. 8.784Quae quātenus ipsī
785nōn adeunda deae est (neque enim Cereremque Famemque
fāta coīre sinunt), montānī nūminis ūnam
tālibus agrestem compellat orēada dictīs:
"Est locus extrēmīs Scythiae glaciālis in ōrīs,
trīste sōlum, sterilis, sine frūge, sine arbore tellūs;And since Hunger may not be approached by the goddess herself (for the fates do not allow Ceres and Hunger to meet), she addresses one of the mountain spirits, a rustic oread, with these words: 'There is an icy place on the furthest shores of Scythia, a gloomy soil, a barren land without crops, without trees; Met. 8.790Frīgus iners illīc habitant Pallorque Tremorque
et iēiūna Famēs.sluggish Cold lives there, and Pallor and Trembling and starving Hunger.
Met. 8.791Ea sē in praecordia condat
sacrilegī scelerāta iubē;Bid her bury herself, the wicked one, in the vitals of the sacrilegious man; Met. 8.792nec cōpia rērum
vincat eam, superetque meās certāmine vīrēs.and let no abundance of things overcome her, and let her overpower my strength in the contest. Met. 8.794Nēve viae spatium tē terreat, accipe currūs,
795accipe quōs frēnīs altē moderēre dracōnēs."And so that the length of the journey may not frighten you, take my chariot, take the dragons to guide with reins on high.'