Met. 9.172Nec modus est: sorbent avidae praecordia flammae,
caeruleusque fluit tōtō dē corpore sūdor,
ambūstīque sonant nervī: caecāque medullīs
175tābe liquefactīs tollēns ad sīdera palmās
"clādibus," exclāmat "Sāturnia, pāscere nostrīs,
pāscere et hanc pestem spectā, crūdēlis, ab altō
corque ferum satiā.There is no limit: greedy flames suck at his vitals, dark sweat flows from his whole body, the scorched sinews crackle; and, his marrow melted by the hidden corruption, raising his palms to the stars he cries, 'Feed, Saturn's daughter, on my disasters, feed, and look on this plague from on high, cruel one, and glut your savage heart. Met. 9.178Vel sī miserandus et hostī,
hoc est, sī tibi sum, dīrīs cruciātibus aegram
180invīsamque animam nātamque labōribus aufer:
hoc mihi mūnus erit;Or, if I am pitiable even to an enemy — that is, to you — take away this life, sick with dire tortures, hateful, and born for labours: this will be a gift to me; Met. 9.181decet haec dare dōna novercam.such gifts befit a stepmother. Met. 9.182Ergō ego foedantem peregrīnō templa cruōre
Būsīrin domuī saevōque alimenta parentis
Antaeō ēripuī?Was it for this that I subdued Busiris, who defiled temples with strangers' blood, and snatched from savage Antaeus his mother's nourishment?
Met. 9.184Nec mē pāstōris Hibērī
185fōrma triplex, nec fōrma triplex tua, Cerbere, mōvit?Did the triple form of the Iberian herdsman not move me, nor your triple form, Cerberus? Met. 9.186Vōsne, manūs, validī pressistis cornua taurī?Was it you, my hands, that pressed down the horns of the mighty bull? Met. 9.187Vestrum opus Ēlis habet, vestrum Stymphālidēs undae
Partheniumque nemus?Is it your work that Elis holds, yours the Stymphalian waters and the Parthenian grove? Met. 9.188Vestrā virtūte relātus
Thermōdontiacō caelātus balteus aurō
190pōmaque ab īnsomnī concustōdīta dracōne?Was it by your prowess that the belt chased with Thermodontian gold was brought back, and the apples guarded by the sleepless dragon? Met. 9.191Nec mihi Centaurī potuēre resistere, nec mī
Arcadiae vāstātor aper?Could the Centaurs not resist me, nor the boar that ravaged Arcadia? Met. 9.192Nec prōfuit hydrae
crēscere per damnum gemināsque resūmere vīrēs?Did it not avail the hydra to grow by loss and regain double strength? Met. 9.194Quid tum?What then? Met. 9.194Thrācis equōs hūmānō sanguine pinguēs
195plēnaque corporibus lacerīs praesēpia vīdī
vīsaque dēiēcī dominumque ipsōsque perēmī.I saw the Thracian's horses fat with human blood and their mangers full of torn bodies, and having seen them I overthrew them and killed both their master and the horses themselves.
Met. 9.197Hīs ēlīsa iacet mōlēs Nemeaea lacertīs,
hāc caelum cervīce tulī.By these arms the Nemean mass lies crushed; on this neck I bore the sky. Met. 9.198Dēfessa iubendō est
saeva Iovis coniūnx: ego sum indēfessus agendō.Jove's cruel wife is wearied of commanding: I am unwearied in doing. Met. 9.200Sed nova pestis adest, cui nec virtūte resistī
nec tēlīs armīsque potest.But a new plague is here, which cannot be resisted by valour, nor by weapons and arms. Met. 9.201Pulmōnibus errat
ignis edāx īmīs perque omnēs pāscitur artūs.A devouring fire wanders deep in my lungs and feeds through all my limbs. Met. 9.203At valet Eurystheus!—et sunt quī crēdere possint
esse deōs!"But Eurystheus is well! — and there are those who can believe that there are gods!' Met. 9.204Dīxit, perque altam saucius Oetēn
205haud aliter graditur, quam sī vēnābula taurus
corpore fīxa gerat, factīque refūgerit auctor.He spoke, and, wounded, he strides over high Oeta just as a bull would if it carried hunting spears fixed in its body and the one who did the deed had fled. Met. 9.207Saepe illum gemitūs ēdentem, saepe frementem,
saepe retemptantem tōtās īnfringere vestēs
sternentemque trabēs īrāscentemque vidērēs
210montibus aut patriō tendentem bracchia caelō.Often you would have seen him uttering groans, often roaring, often trying again to tear off all the clothing, felling trees and raging at the mountains, or stretching out his arms to his father's sky.
Met. 9.211Ecce Lichān trepidum latitantem rūpe cavātā
adspicit, utque dolor rabiem conlēgerat omnem,
"Tūne, Licha," dīxit "fērālia dōna dedistī?Look — he catches sight of Lichas cowering in fear in a hollowed rock, and, as pain had gathered all its madness, he said, 'Was it you, Lichas, who gave me the deadly gift? Met. 9.214Tūne meae necis auctor eris?"Will you be the author of my death?' Met. 9.214Tremit ille pavetque
215pallidus et timidē verba excūsantia dīcit.He trembles and quakes, pale, and timidly speaks words of excuse. Met. 9.216Dīcentem genibusque manūs adhibēre parantem
corripit Alcīdēs et terque quaterque rotātum
mittit in Euboicās tormentō fortius undās.As he speaks and prepares to clasp his knees, Alcides seizes him, whirls him round three and four times, and hurls him, more forcefully than a catapult, into the Euboean waves. Met. 9.219Ille per āeriās pendēns indūruit aurās,
220utque ferunt imbrēs gelidīs concrēscere ventīs,
inde nivēs fierī, nivibus quoque molle rotātīs
adstringī et spissā glomerārī grandine corpus:
sīc illum validīs iactum per ināne lacertīs
exsanguemque metū nec quicquam ūmōris habentem
225in rigidōs versum silicēs prior ēdidit aetās.He, hanging in the airy breezes, hardened, and just as they say that rain congeals in icy winds and from that becomes snow, and the soft whirling snow is bound tight and gathers into a mass of thick hail: so, an earlier age declared, he, hurled through the void by mighty arms, bloodless with fear and having no moisture left, was turned into hard rock.
Met. 9.226Nunc quoque in Euboicō scopulus brevis ēminet altō
gurgite et hūmānae servat vestīgia fōrmae;Even now a low crag rises from the deep Euboean gulf and keeps the traces of a human form; Met. 9.228quem, quasi sēnsūrum, nautae calcāre verentur
appellantque Lichān.—At tū, Iovis inclita prōlēs,
230arboribus caesīs, quās ardua gesserat Oetē,
inque pyram strūctīs, arcum pharetramque capācem
regnaque vīsūrās iterum Trōiāna sagittās
ferre iubēs Poeante satum.sailors fear to tread on it, as though it would feel, and they call it Lichas. — But you, glorious offspring of Jove, having cut down the trees that steep Oeta had borne and built them into a pyre, bid the son of Poeas take your bow and capacious quiver, and the arrows destined to see the kingdom of Troy again. Met. 9.233Quō flamma ministrō est
subdita;By his service the flame was set beneath; Met. 9.234dumque avidīs comprēnditur ignibus agger,
235congeriem silvae Nemeaeō vellere summam
sternis et inpositā clāvae cervīce recumbis,
haud aliō vultū, quam sī convīva iacērēs
inter plēna merī redimītus pōcula sertīs.and while the pile is seized by greedy fires, you spread the Nemean fleece on top of the heaped wood, and lie down with your neck resting on your club, with no other look than if you were reclining as a guest among cups full of wine, wreathed with garlands.
Met. 9.239Iamque valēns et in omne latus diffūsa sonābat
240sēcūrōsque artūs contemptōremque petēbat
flamma suum;And now, strong and spreading on every side, the flame was roaring and seeking the limbs that cared nothing for it, and the man who scorned it; Met. 9.241timuēre deī prō vindice terrae.the gods feared for the earth's champion. Met. 9.242Quōs ita (sēnsit enim) laetō Sāturnius ōre
Iuppiter adloquitur: "Nostra est timor iste voluptās,
ō superī, tōtōque libēns mihi pectore grātor,
245quod memoris populī dīcor rēctorque paterque,
et mea prōgeniēs vestrō quoque tūta favōre est.Saturnian Jupiter (for he sensed it) addresses them thus with a happy face: 'This fear of yours is my pleasure, gods above, and gladly with all my heart I congratulate myself that I am called ruler and father of a mindful people, and that my offspring too is safe in your favour. Met. 9.247Nam quamquam ipsīus datis hoc inmānibus āctīs,
obligor ipse tamen.For although you grant this to his own mighty deeds, yet I myself am obliged. Met. 9.248Sed enim nē pectora vānō
fīda metū paveant: Oetaeās spernite flammās!But come, let not your faithful hearts tremble with vain fear: scorn the flames of Oeta!
Met. 9.250Omnia quī vīcit, vincet, quōs cernitis, ignēs
nec nisi māternā Vulcānum parte potentem
sentiet: aeternum est ā mē quod trāxit et expers
atque inmūne necis nūllāque domābile flammā.He who has conquered all will conquer the fires you see, and will feel Vulcan's power only in his mother's part: what he drew from me is eternal, free and immune from death, and to be tamed by no flame. Met. 9.254Idque ego dēfūnctum terrā caelestibus ōrīs
255accipiam, cūnctīsque meum laetābile factum
dīs fore cōnfīdō.That part, when it is done with earth, I shall receive into the heavenly regions, and I trust that my deed will be welcome to all the gods. Met. 9.256Sīquis tamen Hercule, sīquis
forte deō dolitūrus erit, data praemia nōlet,
sed meruisse darī sciet invītusque probābit."Yet if anyone, if anyone perhaps will be grieved at Hercules being a god, he will begrudge the reward given, but he will know it was deserved and will approve it unwillingly.' Met. 9.259Adsēnsēre deī: coniūnx quoque rēgia vīsa est
260cētera nōn dūrō, dūrō tamen ultima vultū
dicta tulisse Iovis sēque indoluisse notātam.The gods assented: his queenly wife too seemed to have borne the rest of Jove's words with no hard face, but the last with a hard one, and to have resented being singled out.
Met. 9.262Intereā quodcumque fuit populābile flammae
Mulciber abstulerat, nec cognōscenda remānsit
Herculis effigiēs;Meanwhile Mulciber had carried off whatever could be ravaged by flame, and no shape of Hercules remained to be recognised; Met. 9.264nec quicquam ab imāgine ductum
265mātris habet, tantumque Iovis vestīgia servat.nor has he anything drawn from his mother's likeness, and he keeps only the traces of Jove. Met. 9.266Utque novus serpēns positā cum pelle senectā
luxuriāre solet squāmāque nitēre recentī,
sīc, ubi mortālēs Tīrynthius exuit artūs,
parte suī meliōre viget maiorque vidērī
270coepit et augustā fierī gravitāte verendus.And as a snake, new after shedding its old skin, likes to revel and shine with fresh scales, so, when the Tirynthian put off his mortal limbs, he thrives in the better part of himself, and began to seem greater and to become awesome in his august majesty. Met. 9.271Quem pater omnipotēns inter cava nūbila raptum
quadriiugō currū radiantibus intulit astrīs.Him the almighty father caught up amid the hollow clouds and carried in a four-horse chariot to the shining stars.