March 5th | Fastorum Liber Tertius: Martius
H C | III Non. | III.403-414, Ovid relates the myth of Ampelos.
Cum croceis rorare genis Tithonia coniunx
coeperit et quintae tempora lucis aget,
sive est Arctophylax, sive est piger ille Bootes, 405
mergetur visus effugietque tuos.
at non effugiet Vindemitor: hoc quoque causam
unde trahat sidus, parva docere mora est.
Ampelon intonsum satyro nymphaque creatum
fertur in Ismariis Bacchus amasse iugis: 410
tradidit huic vitem pendentem e frondibus ulmi,
quae nunc de pueri nomine nomen habet.
dum legit in ramo pictas temerarius uvas,
decidit: amissum Liber in astra tulit.
403 When from her saffron cheeks Tithonus’ spouse1 shall have begun to shed the dew at the time of the fifth morn, the constellation, whether it be the Bearward or the sluggard Boötes, will have sunk and will escape thy sight. But not so will the Grape-gatherer escape thee. The origin of that constellation also can be briefly told. ’Tis said that the unshorn Ampelus,2 son of a nymph and satyr, was loved by Bacchus on the Ismarian hills. Upon him the god bestowed a vine that trailed from an elm’s leafy boughs, and still the vine takes from the boy its name. While he rashly culled the gaudy grapes upon a branch, he tumbled down; Liber bore the lost youth to the stars.
Aurora.
The Greek ἄμπελος, “vine.”