Met. 8.81Tālia dīcentī cūrārum maxima nūtrīx
nox intervēnit, tenebrīsque audācia crēvit.As she spoke such words, night, the greatest nurse of cares, came on, and with the darkness her boldness grew. Met. 8.83Prīma quiēs aderat, quā cūrīs fessa diurnīs
pectora somnus habet: thalamōs taciturna paternōs
85intrat et (heu facinus!) fātālī nāta parentem
crīne suum spoliat praedāque potīta nefandā
per mediōs hostēs (meritī fīdūcia tanta est)
pervēnit ad rēgem.The first rest had come, when sleep holds hearts wearied by the cares of the day: silently she enters her father's chamber and (alas, the crime!) the daughter robs her parent of his fateful lock and, having gained her unspeakable prize, passes through the midst of the enemy (so great is her confidence in her deserving) and reaches the king. Met. 8.89Quem sīc adfāta paventem est:
90"Suāsit amor facinus.And she addressed him, in his alarm, like this: 'Love urged the deed. Met. 8.90Prōlēs ego rēgia Nīsī
Scylla tibi trādō patriaeque meōsque penātēs.I, Scylla, royal offspring of Nisus, hand over to you my country and my household gods. Met. 8.92Praemia nūlla petō nisi tē.I ask for no reward but you.
Met. 8.92Cape pignus amōris
purpureum crīnem, nec mē nunc trādere crīnem,
sed patrium tibi crēde caput."Take this purple lock as a pledge of love, and believe that I am handing you now not a lock but my father's head.' Met. 8.94Scelerātāque dextrā
95mūnera porrēxit.And with her guilty right hand she held out the gift. Met. 8.95Mīnōs porrēcta refūgit
turbātusque novī respondit imāgine factī:
"Dī tē summoveant, ō nostrī īnfāmia saeclī,
orbe suō, tellūsque tibi pontusque negētur.Minos shrank from what was held out and, troubled by the sight of so strange a deed, replied: 'May the gods banish you from their world, you disgrace of our age, and may land and sea be denied to you. Met. 8.99Certē ego nōn patiar Iovis incūnābula, Crētēn,
100quī meus est orbis, tantum contingere mōnstrum."Certainly I shall not allow Crete, the cradle of Jupiter, which is my world, to be touched by so great a monster.' Met. 8.101Dīxit, et ut lēgēs captīs iūstissimus auctor
hostibus imposuit, classis retinācula solvī
iussit et aerātās impellī rēmige puppēs.He spoke, and when, as a most just law-giver, he had imposed terms on the captured enemy, he ordered the fleet's moorings to be loosed and the bronze-beaked ships to be driven on by the oarsmen.
Met. 8.104Scylla fretō postquam dēductās nāre carīnās
105nec praestāre ducem sceleris sibi praemia vīdit,
cōnsūmptīs precibus violentam trānsit in īram,
intendēnsque manūs, passīs furibunda capillīs,
"quō fugis" exclāmat, "meritōrum auctōre relicta,
ō patriae praelāte meae, praelāte parentī?When Scylla saw the keels launched and floating on the sea, and that the leader did not grant her the reward of her crime, her prayers spent, she passes into violent rage, and stretching out her hands, frenzied, her hair streaming, she cries out: 'Where are you fleeing, leaving behind the author of your gains, O you preferred to my country, preferred to my father? Met. 8.110Quō fugis, inmītis?Where are you fleeing, cruel one? Met. 8.110cuius victōria nostrum
et scelus et meritum est.you whose victory is both my crime and my service. Met. 8.111Nec tē data mūnera, nec tē
noster amor mōvit, nec quod spēs omnis in ūnum
tē mea congesta est?Did neither the gifts I gave move you, nor my love, nor that all my hope was heaped on you alone? Met. 8.113Nam quō dēserta revertar?For where shall I return, deserted? Met. 8.114In patriam?To my country?
Met. 8.114Superāta iacet.It lies defeated. Met. 8.114Sed finge manēre:
115prōditiōne meā clausa est mihi.But suppose it still stands: it is closed to me by my treachery. Met. 8.115Patris ad ōra?To my father's face? Met. 8.116Quem tibi dōnāvī!Whom I gave to you! Met. 8.116Cīvēs ōdēre merentem,
fīnitimī exemplum metuunt: expōnimur orbae,
terrārum nōbīs ut Crētē sōla patēret.The citizens rightly hate me, the neighbours fear my example: I am cast out, bereft, so that Crete alone of all lands might be open to me. Met. 8.119Hāc quoque sī prohibēs et nōs, ingrāte, relinquis,
120nōn genetrīx Eurōpa tibi ea, sed inhospita Syrtis,
Armeniae tigrēs austrōque agitāta Charybdis.If you bar me from this too and abandon me, ungrateful man, Europa is not your mother, but the inhospitable Syrtis, Armenian tigresses, and Charybdis lashed by the south wind. Met. 8.122Nec Iove tū nātus, nec māter imāgine taurī
ducta tua est (generis falsa est ea fābula !): vērus
et ferus et captus nūllīus amōre iuvencae,
125quī tē prōgenuit, taurus fuit.You are not born of Jupiter, nor was your mother lured by the likeness of a bull (that tale of your descent is false!): it was a real bull, wild and loving no heifer, that fathered you.
Met. 8.125Exige poenās,
Nīse pater!Exact your punishment, father Nisus! Met. 8.126gaudēte malīs, modo prōdita, nostrīs
moenia!Rejoice in my misfortunes, walls I lately betrayed! Met. 8.127nam fateor, meruī et sum digna perīre.for I confess I deserved it and I am worthy to die. Met. 8.128Sed tamen ex illīs aliquis, quōs impia laesī,
mē perimat.But even so, let one of those whom I wickedly harmed destroy me. Met. 8.129Cūr, quī vīcistī crīmine nostrō,
130īnsequeris crīmen?Why do you, who conquered through my crime, pursue that crime? Met. 8.130Scelus hoc patriaeque patrīque,
officium tibi sit.Let this be a wickedness towards my country and my father, but a service to you. Met. 8.131Tē vērē coniuge digna est,
quae torvum lignō dēcēpit adultera taurum
discordemque uterō fētum tulit.Truly she is a wife worthy of you, the adulteress who deceived the grim bull with a wooden cow and bore in her womb an ill-matched offspring. Met. 8.133Ecquid ad aurēs
perveniunt mea dicta tuās?Do my words reach your ears at all? Met. 8.134An inānia ventī
135verba ferunt īdemque tuās, ingrāte, carīnās?Or do the winds carry off my empty words, and the same winds your ships, ungrateful man?
Met. 8.136Iam iam Pāsiphaēn nōn est mīrābile taurum
praeposuisse tibi: tū plūs feritātis habēbās.Now, now it is no wonder that Pasiphae preferred the bull to you: you had more savagery in you. Met. 8.138Mē miseram!Wretched me! Met. 8.138properāre iubet, dīvulsaque remīs
unda sonat;he orders them to hurry, and the wave torn apart by the oars resounds; Met. 8.139mēcumque simul mea terra recēdit.and together with me my land recedes. Met. 8.140Nīl agis, ō frūstrā meritōrum oblīte meōrum:
īnsequar invītum, puppimque amplexa recurvam
per freta longa trahar."You achieve nothing, O you who in vain have forgotten my services: I shall follow you against your will, and, clinging to your curved stern, I shall be dragged over the long seas.' Met. 8.142Vix dīxerat, īnsilit undīs
cōnsequiturque ratēs, faciente cupīdine vīrēs,
Gnōsiacaeque haeret comes invidiōsa carīnae.Scarcely had she spoken when she leaps into the waves and overtakes the ships, desire giving her strength, and clings, an unwelcome companion, to the Cnossian keel. Met. 8.145Quam pater ut vīdit (nam iam pendēbat in aurā
et modo factus erat fulvīs haliaeetus alīs),
ībat, ut haerentem rōstrō lacerāret aduncō.When her father saw her (for he was now hovering in the air and had just been made a sea-eagle with tawny wings), he was going to tear her with his hooked beak as she clung.
Met. 8.148Illa metū puppim dīmīsit, et aura cadentem
sustinuisse levis, nē tangeret aequora, vīsa est.In fear she let go of the stern, and a light breeze seemed to hold her up as she fell, so that she should not touch the sea. Met. 8.150Plūma fuit: plūmīs in avem mūtāta vocātur
cīris, et ā tōnsō est hoc nōmen adepta capillō.It was feathers: changed by feathers into a bird, she is called the ciris, and she got this name from the shorn lock.