Lines 315-332 Flashcards
Quis deus hanc, Musae, quis nobis extudit artem?
Unde nova ingressus hominum experientia cepit?
What deity is this, Muses, who fashioned for us this craft?
From where did this new human practice take its beginnings?
Pastor Aristaeus fugiens Peneia Tempe,
amissis, ut fama, apibus morboque fameque,
tristis ad extremi sacrum caput adstitit amnis
multa querens atque hac adfatus voce parentem:
The shepherd Aristaeus abandoning the Peneia Tempe,
after the loss of his bees, as the rumour goes, through famine and disease,
stood sadly at the edge of the sacred river’s head,
complaining many things and addressed his mother in this voice:
‘Mater, Cyrene mater, quae gurgitis huius
ima tenes, quid me praeclara stirpe deorum,
si modo, quem perhibes, pater est Thymbraeus Apollo,
invisum fatis genuisti? aut quo tibi nostri
pulsus amor? quid me caelum sperare iubebas?
‘Mother, Cyrene my mother, you who live here deep down in this pool,
why did you give birth to me for Fate to spurn, sprung from seed of the gods,
if as you say, my father is indeed Apollo Lord of Thymbra?
Or to where has your love for me been banished?
Why did you order me to hope of the heavens?
En etiam hunc ipsum vitae mortalis honorem,
quem mihi vix frugum et pecudum custodia sollers
omnia temptanti extuderat, te matre relinquo.
See even this honour of my earthly life,
which my skilful husbandry of crops and herds and every task has hardly achieved for me, I leave behind although you are my mother.
Quin age et ipsa manu felices erue silvas,
fer stabulis inimicum ignem atque interfice messes,
ure sata et validam in vites molire bipennem,
tanta meae si te ceperunt taedia laudis.’
And why not come yourself with your own hands root up my fruitful orchards,
bring hostile fire to my stalls and murder my crops,
burn up my seedlings and wield a powerful battle-axe against my vines,
if so much loathing for my honour has seized you.’
