Metamorphosis 1; Part IV

We are back yet again with the fourth entry in our first Tale of Two Translations. Today, we will continue exploring the various ways in which Ovid's magnum opus, Metamorphoses, has been translated. Old faces (translators) will be making reappearances, and you can expect to see diversity in terms of interpretation of the text. As always, the goal of this series is threefold: expose readers to different possible translation styles and ideologies, encourage readers to craft their own translations, using the provided translation as a basis from which their own translations should take inspiration and depart from, and finally, to give readers access to a remarkable piece of Latin literature. I can take care of the first and third objectives, but the second is up to you. I implore you to, as you read the original Latin, attempt a wholly original translation (for vocab help, see the Essential Vocabulary post under Latin resources). Then compare your translations with the ones provided below, editing as you see fit (while maintaining a unique style, try to remedy grammatical errors). Finally, leave any comments, questions, or remarks you have about the translations below. Without further ado, let's dive in!

Original Latin

Confremuere omnes studiisque ardentibus ausum

talia deposcunt: sic, cum manus inpia saevit

sanguine Caesareo Romanum exstinguere nomen,

attonitum tantae subito terrore ruinae

humanum genus est totusque perhorruit orbis;

nec tibi grata minus pietas, Auguste, tuorum

quam fuit illa Iovi. qui postquam voce manuque

murmura conpressit, tenuere silentia cuncti.

substitit ut clamor pressus gravitate regentis,

Iuppiter hoc iterum sermone silentia rupit:

'ille quidem poenas (curam hanc dimittite!) solvit;

quod tamen admissum, quae sit vindicta, docebo.

contigerat nostras infamia temporis aures;

quam cupiens falsam summo delabor Olympo

et deus humana lustro sub imagine terras.

longa mora est, quantum noxae sit ubique repertum,

enumerare: minor fuit ipsa infamia vero.

Maenala transieram latebris horrenda ferarum

et cum Cyllene gelidi pineta Lycaei:

Arcadis hinc sedes et inhospita tecta tyranni

ingredior, traherent cum sera crepuscula noctem.

signa dedi venisse deum, vulgusque precari

coeperat: inridet primo pia vota Lycaon,

mox ait "experiar deus hic discrimine aperto

an sit mortalis: nec erit dubitabile verum."

nocte gravem somno necopina perdere morte

comparat: haec illi placet experientia veri;

nec contentus eo, missi de gente Molossa

obsidis unius iugulum mucrone resolvit

atque ita semineces partim ferventibus artus

mollit aquis, partim subiecto torruit igni.

quod simul inposuit mensis, ego vindice flamma

in domino dignos everti tecta penates;

territus ipse fugit nactusque silentia ruris

exululat frustraque loqui conatur: ab ipso

colligit os rabiem solitaeque cupidine caedis

vertitur in pecudes et nunc quoque sanguine gaudet.

in villos abeunt vestes, in crura lacerti:

fit lupus et veteris servat vestigia formae;

canities eadem est, eadem violentia vultus,

idem oculi lucent, eadem feritatis imago est.

occidit una domus, sed non domus una perire

digna fuit: qua terra patet, fera regnat Erinys.

in facinus iurasse putes! dent ocius omnes,

quas meruere pati, (sic stat sententia) poenas.

'Dicta Iovis pars voce probant stimulosque frementi

adiciunt, alii partes adsensibus inplent.

est tamen humani generis iactura dolori

omnibus, et quae sit terrae mortalibus orbae

forma futura rogant, quis sit laturus in aras

tura, ferisne paret populandas tradere terras.

talia quaerentes (sibi enim fore cetera curae)

rex superum trepidare vetat subolemque priori

dissimilem populo promittit origine mira.

Iamque erat in totas sparsurus fulmina terras;

sed timuit, ne forte sacer tot ab ignibus aether

conciperet flammas longusque ardesceret axis:

esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur, adfore tempus,

quo mare, quo tellus correptaque regia caeli

ardeat et mundi moles obsessa laboret.

tela reponuntur manibus fabricata cyclopum;

poena placet diversa, genus mortale sub undis

perdere et ex omni nimbos demittere caelo.

Translation 1: 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

The house was moved at his words and earnestly required,

The man who had so traitorously against their Lord conspired.

Even so when Rebels did arise to destroy the Roman name,

By shedding of our Cesars bloud, the horror of the same

Did pierce the hearts of all mankind, and made the world to quake.

Whose fervent zeal in thy behalfe (O August) thou did take,

As thankfully as Jove doth heare the loving care of his,

Who beckning to them with his hand, forbiddeth them to hisse.

And therewithall through all the house attentive silence is.

As soon as that his majestie all muttering had alayde,

He brake the silence once again, and thus unto them sayde,

Let pass this careful thought of yours: for he that did offend,

Hath dearly bought the wicked Act, the which he did entende.

Yet shall you hear what was his fault and vengeance for the same.

A foul report and infamy unto our hearing came,

Of mischiefs used in those times, which wishing all untrue

I did descend in the shape of man, then Earth came to view.

It was a process too long to tell you of the sin,

That did abound in every place where I entered.

The brute was less than the truth, and partial in report.

The dreadful dens of Menalus, where savage beasts resort

And Cyllen had I overpast, with all the Pynetrees hie,

Of cold Lyceus, and from thence I entered by and by

The herbroughlesse and cruell house of late th'Arcadian King,

Such time as twilight on the Earth dim darknesse gan to bring.

I gave a sign that God had come, and straight the common sort

Devoutly prayde, whereat Lycaon first did make a sport

And after said: By open proufe, ere long I minde to see,

If this wight a mighty God or mortal creature be.

The truth shall trie it selfe: he ment (the sequele did declare)

To steal upon me in the night, and kill me unbeware.

And yet he was not so content: but went and cut the throte,

Of one that laye in hostage there, which was an Epyrote:

And part of him he did to roast, and part he did to stew.

Which when it came upon the board, forthwith I overthrew

The house with just revenging fire upon the owners hed,

Who seeing that, slipped out of doores amazde for fear, and fled

Into the wild and desert woods, where being all alone,

As he endeavored (but in vain) to speak and make his money,

He fell a howling: wherewithal for verie rage and moode

He ran me quite out of his wits and waxed furious woode.

Still practising his wonted lust of slaughter on the poor

And sielie cattle, thirsting still for bloud as heretofore,

His garments turned to shaggy hair, his arms to rugged paws:

So is he made a ravening Wolfe, whose shape expressely drawes

To that which he was before: his skin is horribly gray,

His look still grim with glaring eyes, and every kind of way

His cruel heart in outward shape doth well itself bewraye.

Thus was one house destroyed quite, but that one house alone

Deserveth not to be destroyed: in all the Earth is noneEarth that such vice doth reign therein, as that ye would believe,

That all had sworn and sold themselves to mischief us to grieve.

These words of Jove some of the Gods did openly approve,

And with their sayings, more to wrath his angry courage moves.

And some did give assent by signs. Yet did it grieve them all

That such destruction utterly on all mankind should fall,

Demaunding what he purposed with all the Earth to do,

When that he had all mortal men so cleane destroyed, and whoe

On holie Altars afterward should offer frankincense,

And whether that he were in mind to leave the Earth fro thence

To savage beasts to waste and spoil, because of man's offence.

The king of Gods bade cease their thoughts and questions in that case,

And cast the care thereof on him. Within a little space

He promist for to frame a new, an other kinde of men

By wondrous means, unlike the first to fill the world again.

And now his lightning had he thought on all the earth to throw,

But that he feared lest the flames perhaps so high should grow

As for setting the Heaven on fire, and burning up all the sky.

He did remember furthermore how that by destiny

A certain time should one day come, wherein both Sea and Land

And Heaven itself should feel the force of Vulcan's scorching brand,

So that the huge and goodly work of all the world so wide

Should go to wreck, for doubt whereof forthwith he laide aside

His weapons that the Cyclops made, intending to correct

Man's trespass is punished contrary to the effect.

And namely with incessant showers from heaven poured downe,

He determined with himself the mortal kind to drown.

Translation 2: Ian C. Johnston, 2011

*Ian C. Johnston is a professional author and Latin translator who was named professor emeritus of the Classics Department at Vancouver Island University. His translation of the Metamorphosis was lauded by the international Latin community and turned into an audiobook the year after it was published.

All the gods respond. With great passion they demand punishment for the person who has dared such things. It was like the time an impious gang were burning to snuff out the Roman name with the blood of Caesar. The sudden terror of so great a fall stunned the human race, and the entire globe shook with horror. 1 The people’s loyalty was no less pleasing to you, Augustus, than those gods’ feelings were to Jupiter. When he has spoken out and raised his hand to check the noise, all the gods stop talking. Once stifled by that royal authority, the murmuring dies down, and Jupiter breaks the silence once again by saying: “You need not worry. That man Lycaon has been punished. But I will inform youwhat he did and tell you his penalty.

Reports of that bad time had reached our ears. I hoped that they were false, so I slipped down from the top of Mount Olympus and moved across the earth, a god in human form. It would take too long to describe in full how much evil I discovered everywhere. The report itself was less disturbing than the truth. I had passed by Maenalus, a dreadful place where wild beasts have their lairs, Lycaeus with its ice-cold groves of pine, and Mount Cyllene. From there, just as late twilight is dragging in the night, I reach the realm of the Arcadian king and his inhospitable home. I signal that a god has just arrived, and common folk have started praying. At first, Lycaon ridicules their pious vows. Then he says: ‘Using an obvious test, I will confirm whether this man is mortal or a god, and there will be no doubt about the truth.’ He is prepared to kill me in the night without warning, when I am fast asleep. He finds that way of testing for the truth amusing. And not satisfied with that, he takes a sword and slices open the throat of a hostage sent from the Molossians, makes some of the half-dead limbs more tender in boiling water, and roasts the rest of him above an open fire. When he sets this flesh on dining tables, with avenging fire I bring the roof down on his household gods, who are worthy of their master. He runs off quite terrified, and then, once he reaches the quiet countryside, begins to howl, trying without success to speak.

His mouth gathers up the fury he holds inside, and his bloodlust for habitual slaughter turns him against herd beasts, so even now he delights in blood. His clothes have disappeared, changed to hair, his arms to legs. He is now a wolf and still retains some vestiges of his old form—the same grey colouring, the same violence in his expression, the same glare in his eyes, the same savagery in his appearance. Thus, one house collapsed, but more than one deserves to be destroyed. Wherever Earth lies open, the Furies exercise their sway. You might well believe, if they are everywhere one earth, then people must be very wicked, that men had sworn to act as criminals. Let them all quickly pay the penalty they richly merit! So stands my judgment.”

Some of the gods speak up, endorsing what Jupiter has said, spurring him on and encouraging his rage, while others play their parts with silent affirmation. But still, for all of them the destruction of the human race is something grievous. They ask about the future of the world. How will Earth look if she lacks human life? Who will now place incense on the altars? Is Jupiter prepared to let all things be preyed upon by savage animals? The king of the gods commands them not to ask such questions and, to relieve their worries, tells them he will take care of everything. He promises a race of beings unlike the previous ones and says their origin will be a wonder. And now Jupiter is about to scatter his lightning bolts on every country, but he is afraid the sacred aether, by some accident, may be set on fire from so many flames and distant polar regions may burn up. Then, too, he remembers that Fate decrees there will come a time when the sea and land, as well as all the palaces of heaven, will be attacked by flames and set alight, and Earth’s mass, produced with so much effort, will be in danger. So he sets aside those weapons forged by hands of Cyclopes and approves a different punishment— he will send rains down from the entire sky and wipe out mortal men beneath the waves.

We hope you enjoyed the fourth entry in Tale of Two Translations, featuring the some more 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!