Echo and Narcissus - Ovid

Question 1

aspicit hunc trepidos agitantem in retia cervos
vocalis nymphe, quae nec reticere loquenti,
nec prius ipsa loqui didicit, resonabilis Echo.

Answer 1

She notices this man chasing frightened deer into his nets, the talkative nymph, who has learnt neither to keep quiet when someone is talking, nor speak first herself, Echo the answerer.

Question 2

corpus adhuc Echo, non vox erat; et tamen usum
garrula non alium, quam nunc habet, oris habebat,
reddere de multis ut verba novissima posset.

Answer 2

Echo was still a body, not a voice; and although a chatterbox, she had no other power of speech than she now has, namely that she could repeat only the last words of many.

Question 3

ergo ubi Narcissum per devia rura vagantem
vidit et incaluit, sequitur vestigia furtim,
quoque magis sequitur, flamma propiore calescit,

Answer 3

Therefore when she saw Narcissus wandering through the remote countryside and fell in love, she follows his footsteps secretly, and the more she follows, the more deeply she burns with the flame of passion,

Question 4

non aliter quam cum summis circumlita taedis
admotas rapiunt vivacia sulphura flammas

Answer 4

just as when, smeared around the tips of torches, flammable sulphur catches the flames which are brought close.

Question 5

o quotiens voluit blandis accedere dictis
et molles adhibere preces.

Answer 5

O how often she wished to approach (him) with charming words and use soft entreaties.

Question 6

natura repugnant
nec sinit incipiat;

Answer 6

Her nature fights against her nor allows her to initiate;

Question 7

sed, quod sinit, illa parata est
exspectare sonos, ad quos sua verba remittat.

Answer 7

but, what it does allow, she is ready to wait for sounds, so she can reply her own words to them.

Question 8

forte puer comitum seductus ab agmine fido
dixerat ‘ecquis adest?’ et ‘adest!’ responderat Echo.

Answer 8

The boy, by chance separated from his trusty line of companions, had said ‘is anyone there?’ and ‘one there!’ Echo had replied.

Question 9

hic stupet, utque aciem partes dimittit in omnes,
voce ‘veni’ magna clamat; vocat illa vocantem.

Answer 9

He is astonished, and when he turns his gaze in all directions, he shouts ‘Come here!’ in a loud voice; she calls to the caller.

Question 10

respicit et rursus nullo veniente ‘quid’ inquit
‘me fugis?’ et totidem, quot dixit, verba recepit.

Answer 10

He looks round and again, with no-one coming, says ‘Why do you flee from me?’ and as many words as he has said, the same number he receives back.

Question 11

perstat et, alternae deceptus imagine vocis,
‘huc coeamus’ ait nullique libentius umquam
responsura sono ‘coeamus’ rettulit Echo

Answer 11

He persists and, deceived by the illusion of another voice, says ‘let us come together here’ and, never more gladly to any sound about to reply, ‘let us come together’ replied Echo

Question 12

et verbis favet ipsa suis egressaque silva
ibat, ut iniceret sperato bracchia collo.

Answer 12

and she (herself) is true to her words and, coming out of the woods, she approached, in order to throw her arms around the hoped-for neck.

Question 13

ille fugit fugiensque ‘manus complexibus aufer;
ante’ ait ‘emoria, quam sit tibi copia nostri.’

Answer 13

He flees, and as he flees says “Take your hands away from the embrace, may I die before you take enjoyment in me”.

Question 14

rettulit illa nihil nisi ‘sit tibi copia nostri.’

Answer 14

She replied nothing except “May you take enjoyment in me”.

Question 15

spreta latet silvis pudibundaque frondibus ora
protegit et solis ex illo vivit in antris;

Answer 15

Rejected, she hides in the woods and ashamed, covers her face with foliage and lives from that time on in lonely caves;

Question 16

sed tamen haeret amor crescitque dolore repulsae:

Answer 16

But her love clings on however and grows with the pain of being rejected:

Question 17

attenuant vigiles corpus miserabile curae,
adducitque cutem macies, et in aera sucus corporis omnis abit;

Answer 17

Sleepless cares weaken her wretched body, and thinness shrivels her skin and into the air all the sap of her body goes away:

Question 18

vox tantum atque ossa supersunt:

Answer 18

only her voice and bones are left:

Question 19

vox manet: ossa ferunt lapidis traxise figuram.

Answer 19

But her voice remained; they say that her bones took the appearance of stone.

Question 20

inde latet silvis nulloque in monte videtur,
omnibus auditur:

Answer 20

From then on, she hides in the woods and she is seen on no mountain: she is heard by all.

Question 21

sonus est, qui vivit in illa.

Answer 21

It is sound which lives in her.

Question 22

hic puer, et sudio venandi lassus et aestu,
procubuit faciemque loci fontemque secutus;

Answer 22

Here the boy, tired from both his enthusiasm for hunting and the heat, lay down, attracted by both the appearance of the place and the spring;

Question 23

dumque sitim sedare cupit, sitis altera crevit,
dumque bibit, visae correptus imagine formae,
spem sine corpore amat, corpus putat esse, quod umbra est.

Answer 23

And while he wished to quench his thirst, another thirst grew, and while he drank, captivated by the image of beauty he saw, he falls in love with a insubstantial hope, he thinks what is a reflection is a body.

Question 24

astupet ipse sibi, vultuque inmotus eodem
haeret, ut e Pario formatum marmore signum.

Answer 24

He is astonished at himself, and unmoving with the same expression, he is glued to the spot, like a statue moulded from Parian marble.

Question 25

spectat humi positus geminum, sua lumina, sidus
et dignos Bacco, dignos et Apolline crines,

Answer 25

Lying on the ground, he watches twin stars, his own eyes, and hair worthy of Bacchus, worthy of Apollo too,

Question 26

impubesque genas et eburnea colla decusque
oris et in niveo mixtum candore ruborem,
cunctaque miratur, quibus est mirabilis ipse.

Answer 26

beardless cheeks and an ivory neck and his beautiful face and its red blush mixed with snow-white radiance, and he admires everything for which he himself is admired.

Question 27

se cupit imprudens et, qui probat, ipsep probatur,
dumque petit, petitur, pariterque accendit et ardet.

Answer 27

He unknowingly desires himself, and he who he fancies is himself fancied, and while he seeks, he is being sought, and equally he inflames and burns.

Question 28

irrita fallaci quotiens dedit oscula fonti!

Answer 28

How often he gave futile kisses to the deceitful waters!

Question 29

in mediis quotiens visum captantia collum
bracchia mersit aquis nec se deprendit in illis!

Answer 29

How often, while grasping at the neck he saw, he dipped his arms in the midst if the waters, but does not take hold of himself in them!

Question 30

quid videat nescit, sed quod videt, uritur illo
atque oculos idem qui decipit incitat error.

Answer 30

He does not know what he sees, but he burns for that which he sees, and the same illusion which deceives his eyes, excites them.

Question 31

quae simul aspexit liquefacta rursus in unda,

Answer 31

As soon as he saw this in the water which had become clear again,

Question 32

non tulit ulterius, sed ut intabescere flavae
igne levi cerae mututinaeque pruinae
sole tepente solent,

Answer 32

he could not bear it any longer, but as yellow wax is accustomed to melt in gentle heat, and the morning frost is accustomed to melt as the sun warms,

Question 33

sic attenuatus amore,
liquitur et tecto paulatim carpitur igni;

Answer 33

weakened thus by love, he wastes away and is gradually consumed by the fire within;

Question 34

et neque iam color est mixto candore rubori,
nec vigor et vires et quae modo visa placebant,
nec corpus remanet, quondam quod amaverat Echo.

Answer 34

and neither now there is colour mixed with whiteness in his blush, nor vigour and strength and the things which recently were pleasing when seen, nor did the body remain, which Echo had once loved.

Question 35

quae tamen ut vidit, quamvis irata memorque,
indoluit, quotiensque puer miserabikis ‘eheu’
dixerat, haec resonis iterabat vocibus ‘eheu’.

Answer 35

However when she saw these things, although angry and remembering, she pitied him, and whenever the wretched boy said ‘alas’, she, the girl, repeated ‘alas’ with an echoing voice.

Question 36

cumque suos manibus percusserat ille lacertos,
haec quoque reddebat sonitum plangoris eundem.

Answer 36

And whenever he struck his arms with his hands, she also gave back the same sound of grief.

Question 37

ultima vox solitam fuit haec spectantis in undam:

Answer 37

His final words as he looked into the familiar water were these:

Question 38

‘heu frustra dilecte puer!’ totidemque remisit
verba locus, dictoque vale, ‘vale!’ inquit et Echo.

Answer 38

‘Alas, boy loved in vain!’ and the place echoed all the same words, and after saying farewell, Echo also said ‘farewell’.

Question 39

ille caput viridi fessum summisit in herba,
lumina mors clausit domini mirantia formam.

Answer 39

He lowered his tired head onto the green grass, and death closed his eyes as they marveled at their owner’s beauty.

Question 40

tum quoque se, postquam est inferna sede receptus,
in Stygia spectabat aqua.

Answer 40

then too, after he was received in the abode of the lower world, he used to gaze at himself in Stygian water.

Question 41

planxere sorores
Naides et sectos fratri posuere capillos,
lanxerunt Dryades; plangentibus assonat Echo.

Answer 41

His sisters, the water nymphs, wailed and offered their cut hair to their brother, the Dryads wailed: Echo responds to their cries of grief.

Question 42

iamque rogam quassasque faces feretrumque parabant:

Answer 42

And now they started preparing a pyre and torches for shaking and a bier:

Question 43

nusquam corpus erat; croceum pro corpore florem
inveniunt foliis medium cingentibus albis.

Answer 43

nowhere was there a body; in place of a body, they find a yellow flower with white petals enclosing its centre.