February 14th | Fastorum Liber Secundus: Februarius
E N | XVI Kal. Mart. | II.243-266, Ovid relates the myth of Apollo's raven.
Continuata loco tria sidera, Corvus et Anguis
et medius Crater inter utrumque, iacent.
Idibus illa latent, oriuntur nocte sequenti. 245
quae tibi cur tria sint tam sociata, canam.
forte Iovi Phoebus festum sollemne parabat
(non faciet longas fabula nostra moras):
“i, mea” dixit “avis, ne quid pia sacra moretur,
et tenuem vivis fontibus adfer aquam.” 250
corvus inauratum pedibus cratera recurvis
tollit et aerium pervolat altus iter.
stabat adhuc duris ficus densissima pomis:
temptat eam rostro; non erat apta legi.
inmemor imperii sedisse sub arbore fertur, 255
dum fierent tarda dulcia poma mora.
iamque satur nigris longum rapit unguibus hydrum
ad dominumque redit fictaque verba refert:
“hic mihi causa morae, vivarum obsessor aquarum:
hic tenuit fontes officiumque meum.” 260
“addis” ait “culpae mendacia,” Phoebus “et audes
fatidicum verbis fallere velle deum?
at tibi, dum lactens haerebit in arbore ficus,
de nullo gelidae fonte bibentur aquae.”
dixit, et, antiqui monumenta perennia facti, 265
Anguis, Avis, Crater sidera iuncta micant.
243 Three constallations lie grouped together—the Raven, the Snake, and the Bowl, which stands midway between the other two. On the Ides they are invisible: they rise the following night.1 Why the three are so closely linked together, I will tell to thee in verse. It chanced that Phoebus was preparing a solemn feast for Jupiter: my tale shall not waste time. “Go, my bird,” said Phoebus, “that naught may delay the pious rites, and bring a little water from running springs.” The raven caught up a gilded bowl in his hooked claws and flew aloft on his airy journey. A fig-tree stood loaded with fruit still unripe: the raven tried it with his beak, but it was not fit to gather. Unmindful of his orders he perched, ’tis said, under the tree to wait till the fruit should sweeten lingeringly. And when at last he ate his fill, he snatched a long water snake in his black talons, and returning to his master brought back a lying tale: “This snake was the cause of my delay: he blocked the living water: he kept the spring from flowing and me from doing my duty.” “You aggravate your fault,” quoth Phoebus, “by your lies, and dare attempt to cheat the god of prophecy by fibs? But as for you, you shall drink cool water from no spring until the figs upon the tree grow juicy.” He spake, and for a perpetual memorial of this ancient incident the constellations of the Snake, the Bird, and the Bowl now sparkle side by side.
The astronomical lore is incorrect.