Met. 9.630Dīxit, et (incertae tanta est discordia mentis)
cum pigeat temptāsse, libet temptāre: modumque
exit et īnfēlīx committit saepe repellī.She spoke, and (so great is the discord of her uncertain mind) though she regrets having tried, she is eager to try: and she exceeds all limit and, unhappy, lets herself be rejected again and again. Met. 9.633Mox ubi fīnis abest, patriam fugit ille nefāsque
inque peregrīnā pōnit nova moenia terrā.Soon, when there is no end, he flees his homeland and the outrage, and founds new walls in a foreign land. Met. 9.635Tum vērō maestam tōtā Mīlētida mente
dēfēcisse ferunt, tum vērō ā pectore vestem
dīripuit plānxitque suōs furibunda lacertōs.Then indeed, they say, the daughter of Miletus, grieving, lost her mind entirely; then indeed she tore the clothes from her breast and in frenzy beat her arms. Met. 9.638Iamque palam est dēmēns inconcessamque fatētur
spem veneris, sīquidem patriam invīsōsque penātēs
640dēserit et profugī sequitur vestīgia frātris.And now she is openly mad and confesses her unlawful hope of love, since she leaves her homeland and her hated home and follows the tracks of her fleeing brother.
Met. 9.641Utque tuō mōtae, prōlēs Semelēia, thyrsō
Ismariae celebrant repetīta triennia bacchae,
Byblida nōn aliter lātōs ululāsse per agrōs
Bubasidēs vīdēre nurūs.And as the Ismarian Bacchants, stirred by your thyrsus, son of Semele, celebrate the recurring triennial rites, just so the women of Bubassus saw Byblis howling through the broad fields. Met. 9.644Quibus illa relictīs
645Cāras et armiferōs Lelegas Lyciamque pererrat.Leaving them behind, she wanders through Caria and the armed Leleges and Lycia. Met. 9.646Iam Cragon et Limyrēn Xanthīque relīquerat undās,
quōque Chimaera iugō mediīs in partibus ignem,
pectus et ōra leae, caudam serpentis habēbat;Now she had left behind Cragus and Limyre and the waters of Xanthus, and the ridge where the Chimaera, in its middle parts, had fire, a lioness's chest and face, and a serpent's tail; Met. 9.649dēficiunt silvae, cum tū lassāta sequendō
650concīdis et dūrā positīs tellūre capillīs,
Bybli, iacēs frondēsque tuō premis ōre cadūcās.the woods give out, when you, exhausted by your pursuit, collapse, and with your hair laid on the hard earth, Byblis, you lie and press the fallen leaves with your face. Met. 9.652Saepe etiam nymphae tenerīs Lelegēidēs ulnīs
tollere cōnantur;Often too the Lelegeian nymphs try to lift her in their tender arms; Met. 9.653saepe, ut medeātur amōrī,
praecipiunt surdaeque adhibent sōlācia mentī:
655mūta iacet viridēsque suīs tenet unguibus herbās
Byblis, et ūmectat lacrimārum grāmina rīvus.often they advise her how to heal her love, and offer comfort to a deaf mind: silent she lies and holds the green grass with her nails, Byblis, and a stream of tears waters the turf.
Met. 9.657Nāidas hīs vēnam, quae numquam ārēscere posset,
subposuisse ferunt: quid enim dare maius habēbant?They say the Naiads placed beneath these tears a channel that could never dry up: for what greater thing did they have to give? Met. 9.659Prōtinus, ut sectō piceae dē cortice guttae,
660utvē tenāx gravidā mānat tellūre bitūmen,
utvē sub adventū spīrantis lēne favōnī
sōle remollēscit, quae frīgore cōnstitit, unda,
sīc lacrimīs cōnsūmpta suīs Phoebēia Byblis
vertitur in fontem, quī nunc quoque vallibus illīs
665nōmen habet dominae nigrāque sub īlice mānat.At once, as drops of pitch from the cut bark of a pine, or as sticky bitumen oozes from the heavy earth, or as water that froze with cold softens again in the sun at the coming of the gently breathing west wind, so Phoebus' descendant Byblis, consumed by her own tears, is turned into a spring, which even now in those valleys bears its mistress's name and flows beneath a dark holm-oak.