OVID TRANSLATION Flashcards
cognita res meritam vati per Achaidas urbes
attulerat famam nomenque erat auguris ingens.
This story having become known had brought deserved fame to the seer (= Tiresias)
and his name was huge through the cities of Achaia (=part of Greece)
-meritam deserved
-vati seer
-attulerat brought
-auguris seer
spernit Echionides tamen hunc ex omnibus unus,
contemptor superum Pentheus, praesagaque ridet
verba senis tenebrasque et cladem lucis ademptae
obicit.
The son of Echion, he alone among all, rejected him,
Pentheus, despiser of gods, and laughed at the old man’ warning words
and taunted [him] with the loss of sight and with the disaster of his blindness.
-spernit despised
-contemptor despiser
-superum gods
-praesaga warning (words)
-tenebras darkness
-cladem disaster
-ademptae loss of
-obicit taunted
illemovensalbentiatemporacanis
This [=Tiresias] shaking his head white with white hair (white head), said:
- albentia/canis white
- tempora head
“quamfelixesses,situquoqueluminishuius
orbus”ait“fieres,neBacchicasacravideres.
“How lucky you would be if you also became deprived of sight,
so that you could not witness Bacchus’ sacred rites!
-orbus deprived
-
namquediesaderit,quamnonproculauguroresse,
quanovushucveniat,prolesSemeleia,Liber;
for a day will come, which i vouch is not far off,
when the new god, Liber, son of Semele, will come here.
-aderit come here
-non procul not far off
-auguror foretell (vouch)
-proles son of
quemnisitemplorumfuerisdignatushonore,
millelacerspargerelocisetsanguinesilvas
foedabismatremquetuammatrisquesorores.
if you do not think him worthy of the honour of temples, torn apart, you will be scattered in a 1000 places and with your blood
you will bespatter the woods and your mother and your mother’s sisters.
-nisi if not
-dignatus worthy
-lacer torn apart
-spargere scattered
-foedabis bespatter
eveniet;nequeenimdignaberenumenhonore,
mequesubhistenebrisnimiumvidissequereris.”
This will come to pass! for you will not treat the god with honour,
and you will lament that in my blindness i saw too much”
-numen god
-nimium too much
taliadicentemproturbatEchionenatus.
the son of Echion thrust him aside as he was [still] saying these words.
- talia such
- proturbat pushed aside
dicta fides sequitur responsaque vatis aguntur:
Fulfillment follows the words, the prophecy of the seer is fulfilled.
Liber adest festisque fremunt ululatibus agri;
Bacchus is present, the fields are ringing with celebatory shrieks
turbaruitmixtaequevirismatresquenurusque
vulgusqueproceresqueignotaadsacraferuntur. 530
A crowd rushes, mothers and unmarried women mixed together with men
Ordinary people and princes are led to the unknown rites
“quisfuror,anguigenae,prolesMavortia,vestras
attonuitmentes?”Pentheusait:
“what madness, o dragon-born, children of Mars, confuses your mind?” Pentherus said:
“aeranetantum
aererepulsavalentetaduncotibiacornu
etmagicaefraudes,
“do brazen cymbals clashing with bronze, pipes with curved horns and magic trickery
ut,quosnonbellicusensis,
nontubaterruerit,nonstrictisagminatelis,
men who, the sword of battle,
the trumpet of war, the battle-lines with drawn weapons did not scare,
femineae voces et mota insania vino
obscenique greges et inania tympana vincant?
feminine voices and movements [made] insane by wine and empty drums and licentious packs of people will conquer them?
vosne, senes, mirer, qui longa per aequora vecti
hac Tyron, hac profugos posuistis sede penates,
You old men, I wonder at you, who, having been transported through the wide expanses of the sea
Placed here in Tyro your ancestors forced to flee their homeland to this place
nunc sinitis sine Marte capi? vosne, acrior aetas, 540
o iuvenes,
now will you allow to be conquered without a fight? [ I am puzzled by] you, young people of keener age,
propiorquemeae,quosarmatenere,
nonthyrsos,galeaquetegi,nonfronde,decebat?
closer to me, for whom it was right to brandish weapons,
not the tyrsus, for whom it was right to be protected by a helmet, not leafy branches
este, precor, memores, qua sitis stirpe creati,
illiusque animos, qui multos perdidit unus,
sumite serpentis.
Be mindful, I pray, of the lineage from which you were created, take up the courage of that serpent that alone destroyed many.
pro fontibus ille lacuque 545
interiit: at vos pro fama vincite vestra.
He died for springs and lakes, but you conquer for your glory.
ille dedit leto fortes: vos pellite molles
et patrium retinete decus.
He gave death to the strong, you drive off the soft and maintain the honour of your family.
si fata vetabant
stare diu Thebas, utinam tormenta virique
moenia diruerent, ferrumque ignisque sonarent.
f Fate did not allow Thebes to stand for a long time, how I wish that machines of war and men would destroy the walls and iron and fire would roar.
essemus miseri sine crimine, sorsque querenda,
non celanda foret, lacrimaeque pudore carerent;
We would be wretched without blame, our destiny would be lamentable [but] it would not have to be concealed and [our] tears would be free from shame.
at nunc a puero Thebae capientur inermi,
But now Thebes will be captured by an unarmed boy,
quem neque bella iuvant nec tela nec usus equorum,
whom neither wars nor weapons nor the use of horses please,
sed madidus murra crinis mollesque coronae 555
purpuraque et pictis intextum vestibus aurum,
but hair dripping with myrrh and soft garlands and garments embroidered with purple die and gold.
quem quidem ego actutum (modo vos absistite) cogam
adsumptumque patrem commentaque sacra fateri.
I shall compel him at once- you just stand aside- to confess to have adopted a father and made up sacred rites.
an satis Acrisio est animi, contemnere vanum
numen et Argolicas venienti claudere portas:
Acrisius had courage enough to despise this false god and shut the gates of Argos to [him] coming.”
Penthea terrebit cum totis advena Thebis?
Will this newly arrived foreigner scare Pentheus and the whole of Thebes?
