Metamorphoses 1; Part I

Despite the joy I take in our traditional poetic and prosaic analyses, I felt something was missing in Aeterna Poesis; something that the blog has touched upon but never fully explored. That is, the art of translation. Although the minute grammatical details and the complexities of the Latin language cannot be adequately conveyed in short blog posts, another aspect of translation can be: personal style. As a function of how old the Latin language is and, by extension, how old Ancient Latin texts are, there are a plethora of translations spanning the millennia since the age of Ancient Rome. Each has its own distinct style and way of transforming the literal Latin into English, which continued to change even during these translators' lifetimes. Exposure to these translations, alongside the original Latin, is, in my opinion, one of the best ways to gain a greater appreciation for and understanding of the Latin language we all know and love. Eventually, these styles may very well influence your own! Without further ado, let's start with the beginning sections of Ovid's Metamorphoses. I'll let the Latin take it from here.

Original Latin

In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas

corpora; di, coeptis (nam vos mutastis et illas)

adspirate meis primaque ab origine mundi

ad mea perpetuum deducite tempora carmen.

Ante mare et terras et quod tegit omnia caelum

unus erat toto naturae vultus in orbe,

quem dixere chaos: rudis indigestaque moles

nec quicquam nisi pondus iners congestaque eodem

non bene iunctarum discordia semina rerum.

nullus adhuc mundo praebebat lumina Titan,

nec nova crescendo reparabat cornua Phoebe,

nec circumfuso pendebat in aere tellus

ponderibus librata suis, nec bracchia longo

margine terrarum porrexerat Amphitrite;

utque aer, tellus illic et pontus et aether.

Sic erat instabilis tellus, innabilis unda,

lucis egens aer: nulli sua forma manebat,

obstabatque aliis aliud, quia corpore in uno

frigida pugnabant calidis, umentia siccis,

mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus.

Hanc deus et melior litem natura diremit.

Nam caelo terras et terris abscidit undas,

et liquidum spisso secrevit ab aere caelum.

Quae postquam evolvit caecoque exemit acervo,

dissociata locis concordi pace ligavit.

Ignea convexi vis et sine pondere caeli

emicuit summaque locum sibi fecit in arce:

proximus est aer illi levitate locoque:

densior his tellus, elementaque grandia traxit

et pressa est gravitate sua: circumfluus umor

ultima possedit solidumque coercuit orbem.

Sic ubi dispositam quisquis fuit ille deorum

congeriem secuit sectamque in membra redegit,

principio terram, ne non aequalis ab omni

parte foret, magni speciem glomeravit in orbis.

Tum freta diffudit rapidisque tumescere ventis

iussit et ambitae circumdare litora terrae.

Addidit et fontes et stagna inmensa lacusque

fluminaque obliquis cinxit declivia ripis,

quae, diversa locis, partim sorbentur ab ipsa,

in mare perveniunt partim campoque recepta

liberioris aquae pro ripis litora pulsant.

Iussit et extendi campos, subsidere valles,

fronde tegi silvas, lapidosos surgere montes.

Utque duae dextra caelum totidemque sinistra

parte secant zonae, quinta est ardentior illis,

sic onus inclusum numero distinxit eodem

cura dei, totidemque plagae tellure premuntur.

Quarum quae media est, non est habitabilis aestu:

nix tegit alta duas: totidem inter utrumque locavit

temperiemque dedit mixta cum frigore flamma.

Inminet his aer. Qui quanto est pondere terrae,

pondere aquae levior tanto est onerosior igni.

Illic et nebulas, illic consistere nubes

iussit et humanas motura tonitrua mentes

et cum fulminibus facientes fulgura ventos.

His quoque non passim mundi fabricator habendum

aera permisit: vix nunc obsistitur illis,

cum sua quisque regant diverso flamina tractu,

quin lanient mundum: tanta est discordia fratrum.

Eurus ad Auroram Nabataeaque regna recessit

Persidaque et radiis iuga subdita matutinis;

vesper et occiduo quae litora sole tepescunt,

proxima sunt Zephyro: Scythiam septemque triones

horrifer invasit Boreas: contraria tellus

nubibus adsiduis pluviaque madescit ab Austro.

Haec super inposuit liquidum et gravitate carentem

aethera nec quicquam terrenae faecis habentem.

Vix ita limitibus dissaepserat omnia certis,

cum, quae pressa diu massa latuere sub illa,

sidera coeperunt toto effervescere caelo.

Neu regio foret ulla suis animalibus orba,

astra tenent caeleste solum formaeque deorum,

cesserunt nitidis habitandae piscibus undae,

terra feras cepit, volucres agitabilis aer.

Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altae

deerat adhuc et quod dominari in cetera posset.

Natus homo est, sive hunc divino semine fecit

ille opifex rerum, mundi melioris origo,

sive recens tellus seductaque nuper ab alto

aethere cognati retinebat semina caeli;

quam satus Iapeto mixtam pluvialibus undis

finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum.

Pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terram,

os homini sublime dedit, caelumque videre

iussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.

Sic, modo quae fuerat rudis et sine imagine, tellus

induit ignotas hominum conversa figuras.

Translation I: Arthur Golding, 1567

*Arthur Golding was an English translator of more than 30 works from Latin into English; his translation of the Metamorphoses is notorious for having influenced William Shakespeare's writings

My soul is wrought to sing of forms transformed

to bodies new and strange! Immortal Gods

inspire my heart, for ye have changed yourselves

and all things you have changed! Oh, lead my song

in smooth and measured strains, from olden days

when earth began to this completed time!

Before the ocean and the earth appeared—

before the skies had overspread them all—

the face of Nature in a vast expanse

was naught but Chaos uniformly waste.

It was a rude and undeveloped mass,

that nothing made except a ponderous weight;

and all discordant elements confused,

were there congested in a shapeless heap.

As yet the sun afforded earth no light,

nor did the moon renew her crescent horns;

the earth was not suspended in the air

exactly balanced by her heavy weight.

Not far along the margin of the shores

had Amphitrite stretched her lengthened arms,—

for all the land was mixed with sea and air.

The land was soft, the sea unfit to sail,

the atmosphere opaque, to naught was given

a proper form, in everything was strife,

and all was mingled in a seething mass—

with hot the cold parts strove, and wet with dry

and soft with hard, and weight with empty void.

But God, or kindly Nature, ended strife—

he cut the land from skies, the sea from land,

the heavens ethereal from material air;

and when were all evolved from that dark mass

he bound the fractious parts in tranquil peace.

The fiery element of convex heaven

leaped from the mass devoid of dragging weight,

and chose the summit arch to which the air

as next in quality was next in place.

The earth more dense attracted grosser parts

and moved by gravity sank underneath;

and last of all the wide surrounding waves

in deeper channels rolled around the globe.

And when this God —which one is yet unknown—

had carved asunder that discordant mass,

had thus reduced it to its elements,

that every part should equally combine,

when time began He rounded out the earth

and moulded it to form a mighty globe.

Then poured He forth the deeps and gave command

that they should billow in the rapid winds,

that they should compass every shore of earth.

he also added fountains, pools and lakes,

and bound with shelving banks the slanting streams,

which partly are absorbed and partly join

the boundless ocean. Thus received amid

the wide expanse of uncontrolled waves,

they beat the shores instead of crooked banks.

At His command the boundless plains extend,

the valleys are depressed, the woods are clothed

in green, the stony mountains rise. And as

the heavens are intersected on the right

by two broad zones, by two that cut the left,

and by a fifth consumed with ardent heat,

with such a number did the careful God

mark off the compassed weight, and thus the earth

received as many climes.—Such heat consumes

the middle zone that none may dwell therein;

and two extremes are covered with deep snow;

and two are placed betwixt the hot and cold,

which mixed together give a temperate clime;

and over all the atmosphere suspends

with weight proportioned to the fiery sky,

exactly as the weight of earth compares

with weight of water.

And He ordered mist

to gather in the air and spread the clouds.

He fixed the thunders that disturb our souls,

and brought the lightning on destructive winds

that also waft the cold. Nor did the great

Artificer permit these mighty winds

to blow unbounded in the pathless skies,

but each discordant brother fixed in space,

although His power can scarce restrain their rage

to rend the universe. At His command

to far Aurora, Eurus took his way,

to Nabath, Persia, and that mountain range

first gilded by the dawn; and Zephyr's flight

was towards the evening star and peaceful shores,

warm with the setting sun; and Boreas

invaded Scythia and the northern snows;

and Auster wafted to the distant south

where clouds and rain encompass his abode.—

and over these He fixed the liquid sky,

devoid of weight and free from earthly dross.

And scarcely had He separated these

and fixed their certain bounds, when all the stars,

which long were pressed and hidden in the mass,

began to gleam out from the plains of heaven,

and traversed, with the Gods, bright ether fields:

and lest some part might be bereft of life

the gleaming waves were filled with twinkling fish;

the earth was covered with wild animals;

the agitated air was filled with birds.

But one more perfect and more sanctified,

a being capable of lofty thought,

intelligent to rule, was wanting still

man was created! Did the Unknown God

designing then a better world make man

of seed divine? or did Prometheus

take the new soil of earth (that still contained

some godly element of Heaven's Life)

and use it to create the race of man;

first mingling it with water of new streams;

so that his new creation, upright man,

was made in image of commanding Gods?

On earth the brute creation bends its gaze,

but man was given a lofty countenance

and was commanded to behold the skies;

and with an upright face may view the stars:—

and so it was that shapeless clay put on

the form of man till then unknown to earth.

Translation II: Sin R. Guanci, 2012

*Sin R. Guanci is an esteemed teacher and translator working in the Classics department of the University of Georgia

My mind tends to speak of forms changed into new bodies;

Gods, (for you yourselves changed them)

Inspire my beginnings and spin a continuous song,

From the first source of the world to my times.

Before the sea and the lands and the sky, which covers everything,

There was one face of nature in the whole world,

Which they called Chaos; It was a wild and disordered mass,

Nothing but a sluggish weight and it was just heaped together

Discordant seeds of poorly joined things.

At this time, no Titan was supplying daylight to the world.

Neither was the Moon renewing her horns by rising;

Nor was the Earth hanging in the surrounding air,

Balancing on its own weight; nor had

The Sea stretched out her arms as an endless border of the lands.

And while, in that place, there was land, and sea, and air,

At the same time, the earth was unstable, the water was unswimmable,

The air was in need of light; no shape remained as its own

And each thing was a hindrance to the others, because in one body

Cold things fight with hot things, wet things with dry things,

Soft things with hard things, things having weight with weightless things.

A god and a better nature broke up the dispute.

For he separated the lands from the sky, and the waters from the lands

And he separated the pure heaven from the thick air;

Afterwards, he disentangled the things which he extracted from the dark heap,

And with harmonious peace, he placed the dissociated things in their places.

The fiery and weightless force of the convex sky

Shone through and made a home for itself in the highest arch of the sky;

Next to that one in terms of weightlessness and location is the air;

And the earth, more dense than these, dragged along large elements

And was weighed down by its own heaviness; the flowing water

Occupied the last places and enclosed the solid orb.

When he, whoever of the gods he was,

Separated the now arranged mass and rendered the separate things into sections, So that each part would not be unequal to the others,

First, he molded the earth into the appearance of a great ball.

Then, he ordered the waters to be spread out and to swell with the swift winds.

And he ordered the shores to surround the encircled earth.

And he added springs and immense lakes and ponds.

And he surrounded flowing rivers with slanting banks,

Which, in varying locations, are partly absorbed by the earth herself

And partly arrive in the sea, and, after being received by a sea

Of freer water, they beat shores, instead of banks.

And he ordered the fields to be stretched out, the valleys to subside,

The woods to be covered with leaves, the stony mountains to rise up.

And as two zones divide the sky on the south side, just as many zones

Divide the sky on the north side (there is a fifth hotter than these),

In this way, the god's task separated the earth with the same number of zones,

And these regions are pressed into the earth.

Of these, there is a middle zone, which is not habitable because of the heat.

Deep snow covers two zones; he placed the same number of zones in between

Those two, and he gave these a temperateness, of heat mixed with cold.

The air hangs over these, air, which is heavier than fire by the same amount

That the weight of earth is lighter than the weight of water.

Also, he ordered that the mists and clouds dwell there and there,

And that the thunder be ready to disturb human minds,

And that the winds make lightning flashes with thunderbolts.

Also, the creator of the world did not entrust to the winds

The air that must be held by them everywhere. (It is hardly resisted by them,

Since the winds rule their own things, each in a separate region,

So that they do not mutilate the world; there is so much discord among brothers.)

The East Wind moved his kingdoms to the Orient and to Nabataea

And to the Persian mountains, which are submissive to the early morning lights;

And the western shores which grow warm by means of the setting sun

Are nearest to the West Wind; and the shiver-causing North Wind took possession of Scythia and the seven stars; the opposite land 65

Is wet with incessant mists and rain from the South Wind.

Above these, he placed the ether, pure and free from weight

Not holding any earthly dregs.

He had just about finished separating everything with fixed boundaries,

When the stars, which had been pressed by blind darkness,

Began to erupt in the whole sky.

And so that there would not be any region deprived of living creatures,

He made the stars and the forms of the gods possess the heavenly ground.

The water yielded itself as a home to the shimmering fish,

The earth is occupied by wild animals, the mobile air captures the birds.

An animal more sacred than these, and more capable of a high mind,

And who could be able to be dominant among the rest of the creatures was nowhere as of yet.

Man was born; Either he, that one, the craftsman of things, the source of a better world,

Made this man by means of divine seed,

Or the earth - fresh and recently led away from the high ether -

Retained the seeds of the kindred sky,

Which mixed with rain water, and then the son of Iapetus, Prometheus,

Molded it into the likeness of the all-governing gods.

And although the rest of the animals look at the ground, leaning forward,

He gave to man an exalted face and the ability to look at the sky

And he ordered that they lift their raised faces to the stars.

Thus, the earth, which had recently been rough and without appearance,

Having been transformed, now adorned itself with the unknown figures of men.

In conclusion (for now)....

I will leave you with these two excellent translations, which showcase the wide range of interpretations one Latin text allows. As we move forward throughout the Metamorphoses, expect to see new translators and new sections!

We hope you enjoyed our very first Tale of Two Translations featuring the first few sections of Metamorphoses Book 1. Please leave any comments, questions, or concerns below, and be sure to recommend future translations, texts, prose, or poems for us to dive into!