May 2 | Fastorum Liber Quintus: Maius
B F LVDI | VI Non. | V.159-378, Ovid converses with the goddess Flora.
Postera cum roseam pulsis Hyperionis astris
in matutinis lampada tollet equis, 160
frigidus Argestes summas mulcebit aristas,
candidaque a Calabris vela dabuntur aquis.
at simul inducent obscura crepuscula noctem,
pars Hyadum toto de grege nulla latet.
ora micant Tauri septem radiantia flammis, 165
navita quas Hyadas Graius ab imbre vocat;
pars Bacchum nutrisse putat, pars credidit esse
Tethyos has neptes Oceanique senis.
nondum stabat Atlas umeros oneratus Olympo,
cum satus est forma conspiciendus Hyas; 170
hunc stirps Oceani maturis nixibus Aethra
edidit et nymphas, sed prior ortus Hyas.
dum nova lanugo est, pavidos formidine cervos
terret, et est illi praeda benigna lepus.
at postquam virtus annis adolevit, in apros 175
audet et hirsutas comminus ire leas,
dumque petit latebras fetae catulosque leaenae,
ipse fuit Libycae praeda cruenta ferae.
mater Hyan et Hyan maestae flevere sorores
cervicemque polo suppositurus Atlas, 180
victus uterque parens tamen est pietate sororum:
illa dedit caelum, nomina fecit Hyas.
“Mater, ades, florum, ludis celebranda iocosis!
distuleram partes mense priore tuas.
incipis Aprili, transis in tempora Maii: 185
alter te fugiens, cum venit, alter habet.
cum tua sint cedantque tibi confinia mensum,
convenit in laudes ille vel ille tuas.
Circus in hunc exit clamataque palma theatris:
hoc quoque cum Circi munere carmen eat. 190
ipsa doce, quae sis. hominum sententia fallax:
optima tu proprii nominis auctor eris.”
sic ego. sic nostris respondit diva rogatis
(dum loquitur, vernas efflat ab ore rosas):
“Chloris eram, quae Flora vocor: corrupta Latino 195
nominis est nostri littera Graeca sono.
Chloris eram, nymphe campi felicis, ubi audis
rem fortunatis ante fuisse viris.
quae fuerit mihi forma, grave est narrare modestae
sed generum matri repperit illa deum. 200
ver erat, errabam: Zephyrus conspexit, abibam.
insequitur, fugio: fortior ille fuit,
et dederat fratri Boreas ius omne rapinae
ausus Erecthea praemia ferre domo.
vim tamen emendat dando mihi nomina nuptae, 205
inque meo non est ulla querella toro.
vere fruor semper: semper nitidissimus annus,
arbor habet frondes, pabula semper humus.
est mihi fecundus dotalibus hortus in agris:
aura fovet, liquidae fonte rigatur aquae. 210
hunc meus implevit generoso flore maritus
atque ait ‘arbitrium tu, dea, floris habe.’
saepe ego digestos volui numerare colores
nec potui: numero copia maior erat.
roscida cum primum foliis excussa pruina est, 215
et variae radiis intepuere comae,
conveniunt pictis incinctae vestibus Horae
inque leves calathos munera nostra legunt.
protinus accedunt Charites nectuntque coronas
sertaque caelestes implicitura comas. 220
prima per immensas sparsi nova semina gentes:
unius tellus ante coloris erat.
prima Therapnaeo feci de sanguine florem,
et manet in folio scripta querella suo.
tu quoque nomen habes cultos, Narcisse, per hortos, 225
infelix, quod non alter et alter eras.
quid Crocon aut Attin referam Cinyraque creatum,
de quorum per me volnere surgit honor?
Mars quoque, si nescis, per nostras editus artes:
Iuppiter hoc, ut adhuc, nesciat usque, precor. 230
sancta Iovem Iuno, nata sine matre Minerva,
officio doluit non eguisse suo.
ibat, ut Oceano quereretur facta mariti;
restitit ad nostras fessa labore fores.
quam simul aspexi, ‘quid te, Saturnia,’ dixi 235
‘attulit?’ exponit, quem petat illa locum,
addidit et causam. verbis solabar amicis:
‘non’ inquit ‘verbis cura levanda mea est.
si pater est factus neglecto coniugis usu
Iuppiter et solus nomen utrumque tenet, 240
cur ego desperem fieri sine coniuge mater
et parere intacto, dummodo casta, viro?
omnia temptabo latis medicamina terris,
et freta Tartareos excutiamque sinus.’
vox erat in cursu: voltum dubitantis habebam. 245
‘nescio quid, nymphe, posse videris’ ait.
ter volui promittere opem, ter lingua retenta est:
ira Iovis magni causa timoris erat.
‘fer, precor, auxilium!’ dixit ‘celabitur auctor
et Stygiae numen testificabor aquae.’ 250
‘quod petis, Oleniis’ inquam ‘mihi missus ab arvis
flos dabit: est hortis unicus ille meis.
qui dabat, “hoc” dixit “sterilem quoque tange iuvencam,
mater erit.” tetigi, nec mora, mater erat.’
protinus haerentem decerpsi pollice florem: 255
tangitur et tacto concipit illa sinu.
iamque gravis Thracen et laeva Propontidos intrat
fitque potens voti, Marsque creatus erat.
qui memor accepti per me natalis ‘habeto
tu quoque Romulea’ dixit ‘in urbe locum.’ 260
forsitan in teneris tantum mea regna coronis
esse putes. tangit numen et arva meum.
si bene floruerint segetes, erit area dives;
si bene floruerit vinea, Bacchus erit;
si bene floruerint oleae, nitidissimus annus, 265
pomaque proventum temporis huius habent.
flore semel laeso pereunt viciaeque fabaeque,
et pereunt lentes, advena Nile, tuae.
vina quoque in magnis operose condita cellis
florent, et nebulae dolia summa tegunt. 270
mella meum munus: volucres ego mella daturas
ad violam et cytisos et thyma cana voco.
[nos quoque idem facimus tum, cum iuvenalibus annis
luxuriant animi, corporaque ipsa vigent.]”
talia dicentem tacitus mirabar. at illa 275
“ius tibi discendi, si qua requiris” ait.
“dic, dea,” respondi “ludorum quae sit origo.”
vix bene desieram, rettulit illa mihi:
“cetera luxuriae nondum instrumenta vigebant,
aut pecus aut latam dives habebat humum; 280
hinc etiam locuples, hinc ipsa pecunia dicta est.
sed iam de vetito quisque parabat opes:
venerat in morem populi depascere saltus,
idque diu licuit, poenaque nulla fuit.
vindice servabat nullo sua publica volgus; 285
iamque in privato pascere inertis erat.
plebis ad aediles perducta licentia talis
Publicios: animus defuit ante viris.
rem populus recipit, multam subiere nocentes:
vindicibus laudi publica cura fuit. 290
multa data est ex parte mihi, magnoque favore
victores ludos instituere novos.
parte locant clivum, qui tunc erat ardua rupes:
utile nunc iter est, Publiciumque vocant.”
annua credideram spectacula facta. negavit, 295
addidit et dictis altera verba suis:
“nos quoque tangit honor: festis gaudemus et aris,
turbaque caelestes ambitiosa sumus.
saepe deos aliquis peccando fecit iniquos,
et pro delictis hostia blanda fuit; 300
saepe Iovem vidi, cum iam sua mittere vellet
fulmina, ture dato sustinuisse manum.
at si neglegimur, magnis iniuria poenis
solvitur, et iustum praeterit ira modum.
respice Thestiaden: flammis absentibus arsit; 305
causa est, quod Phoebes ara sine igne fuit.
respice Tantaliden: eadem dea vela tenebat;
virgo est, et spretos bis tamen ulta focos.
Hippolyte infelix, velles coluisse Dionen,
cum consternatis diripereris equis. 310
longa referre mora est correcta oblivia damnis.
me quoque Romani praeteriere patres.
quid facerem, per quod fierem manifesta doloris?
exigerem nostrae qualia damna notae?
excidit officium tristi mihi. nulla tuebar. 315
rura, nec in pretio fertilis hortus erat:
lilia deciderant, violas arere videres,
filaque punicei languida facta croci.
saepe mihi Zephyrus ‘dotes corrumpere noli
ipsa tuas’ dixit: dos mihi vilis erat. 320
florebant oleae; venti nocuere protervi:
florebant segetes; grandine laesa seges:
in spe vitis erat; caelum nigrescit ab Austris,
et subita frondes decutiuntur aqua.
nec volui fieri nec sum crudelis in ira, 325
cura repellendi sed mihi nulla fuit.
convenere patres et, si bene floreat annus,
numinibus nostris annua festa vovent.
adnuimus voto. consul cum consule ludos
Postumio Laenas persoluere mihi.” 330
quaerere conabar, quare lascivia maior
his foret in ludis liberiorque iocus,
sed mihi succurrit numen non esse severum.
aptaque deliciis munera ferre deam.
tempora sutilibus cinguntur pota coronis, 335
et latet iniecta splendida mensa rosa;
ebrius incinctis philyra conviva capillis
saltat, et imprudens utitur arte meri;
ebrius ad durum formosae limen amicae
cantat, habent unctae mollia serta comae. 340
nulla coronata peraguntur seria fronte,
nec liquidae vinctis flore bibuntur aquae;
donec eras mixtus nullis, Acheloe, racemis,
gratia sumendae non erat ulla rosae.
Bacchus amat flores: Baccho placuisse coronam 345
ex Ariadnaeo sidere nosse potes.
scaena levis decet hanc: non est, mihi credite, non est
illa cothurnates inter habenda deas.
turba quidem cur hos celebret meretricia ludos,
non ex difficili causa petita subest. 350
non est de tetricis, non est de magna professis,
volt sua plebeio sacra patere choro,
et monet aetatis specie, dum floreat, uti;
contemni spinam, cum cecidere rosae.
cur tamen, ut dantur vestes Cerialibus albae, 355
sic haec est cultu versicolore decens?
an quia maturis albescit messis aristis,
et color et species floribus omnis inest?
adnuit, et motis flores cecidere capillis,
accidere in mensas ut rosa missa solet. 360
lumina restabant, quorum me causa latebat,
cum sic errores abstulit illa meos:
“vel quia purpureis collucent floribus agri,
lumina sunt nostros visa decere dies;
vel quia nec flos est hebeti nec flamma colore, 365
atque oculos in se splendor uterque trahit;
vel quia deliciis nocturna licentia nostris
convenit. a vero tertia causa venit.”
“est breve praeterea, de quo mihi quaerere restat,
si liceat” dixi: dixit et illa “licet.” 370
“cur tibi pro Libycis clauduntur rete leaenis
imbelles capreae sollicitusque lepus?”
non sibi, respondit, silvas cessisse, sed hortos
arvaque pugnaci non adeunda ferae.
omnia finierat: tenues secessit in auras, 375
mansit odor: posses scire fuisse deam.
floreat ut toto carmen Nasonis in aevo,
sparge, precor, donis pectora nostra tuis.
159 When next Hyperion’s daughter on the steeds of morn shall lift her rosy lamp, and the stars are put to flight, the cold north-west wind will sleek the topmost corn-ears, and white sails will put out from Calabrian waters. But no sooner shall the dusk of twilight lead on the night, than no single part of the whole flock1 of the Hyades will be invisible.2 The head of the Bull sparkles radiant with seven flames, which the Grecian sailor calls the Hyades after the word for rain (hyein). Some think that they nursed Bacchus; some believe that they are the granddaughters of Tethys and old Ocean. Not yet did Atlas stand bearing the burden of Olympus upon his shoulders when Hyas was born, of loveliness far-seen; to him and to the nymphs did Aethra, of the stock of Ocean, give birth in due time, but Hyas was the elder. While the down was fresh upon his cheeks, he was the terror of the bucks that shied at his snares, and he was glad to bag a hare. But when with his years his manly spirit grew, he dared to close with boars and shaggy lionesses, and while he sought out the lair and the whelps of a lioness with young, he himself fell a blood-stained prey to the Libyan brute. For Hyas his mother wept, and for Hyas his sad sisters, and Atlas, soon to bow his neck to the burden of the pole, yet the love of the sisters exceeded that of both parents: it won for them a place in the sky, but Hyas gave them their name (of Hyades).
183 “Come, Mother of Flowers, that we may honour thee with merry games; last month I put off giving thee thy due. Thou dost begin in April and passest into the time of May3; the one month claims thee as it flies, the other as it comes. Since the borders of the months are thine and appertain to thee, either of the two is a fitting time to sing thy praises. The games of the circus and the victor’s palm, acclaimed by the spectators, fall in this month; let my song run side by side with the shows in the circus. Tell me thyself who thou art; the opinion of men is fallacious; thou wilt be the best voucher of thine own name.”
193 So I spoke, and the goddess answered my question thus, and while she spoke, her lips breathed vernal roses: “I who now am called Flora was formerly Chloris: a Greek letter of my name is corrupted in the Latin speech.4 Chloris I was, a nymph of the happy fields where, as you have heard, dwelt fortunate men of old. Modesty shrinks from describing my figure; but it procured the hand of a god for my mother’s daughter. ’Twas spring, and I was roaming; Zephyr caught sight of me; I retired; he pursued and I fled; but he was the stronger, and Boreas had given his brother full right of rape by daring to carry off the prize from the house of Erechtheus.5 However, he made amends for his violence by giving me the name of bride, and in my marriage-bed I have naught to complain of. I enjoy perpetual spring; most buxom is the year ever; ever the tree is clothed with leaves, the ground with pasture. In the fields that are my dower, I have a fruitful garden, fanned by the breeze and watered by a spring of running water. This garden my husband filled with noble flowers and said, ‘Goddess, be queen of flowers.’ Oft did I wish to count the colours in the beds, but could not; the number was past counting. Soon as the dewy rime is shaken from the leaves, and the varied foliage is warmed by the sunbeams, the Hours assemble, clad in dappled weeds, and cull my gifts in light baskets. Straightway the Graces draw near, and twine garlands and wreaths to bind their heavenly hair. I was the first to scatter new seeds among the countless peoples; till then the earth had been of but one colour. I was the first to make a flower out of Therapnaean blood, and on its petals the lament remains inscribed.6 Thou, too, Narcissus, hast a name in the trim gardens, unhappy thou in that thou hadst not a double of thyself.7 What need to tell of Crocus,8 and Attis,9 and the son of Cinyras,10 from whose wounds by my art doth beauty spring? Mars, too, was brought to the birth by my contrivance; perhaps you do not know it, and I pray that Jupiter, who thus far knows it not, may never know it. Holy Juno11 grieved that Jupiter had not needed her services when Minerva was born without a mother. She went to complain of her husband’s doings to Ocean; tired by the journey, she halted at my door. As soon as I set eyes on her, ‘What brings thee here,’ I said, ‘daughter of Saturn?’ She set forth her journey’s goal, adding its reason. I consoled her with friendly words. ‘My grief,’ quoth she, ‘is not to be assuaged with words. If Jupiter has become a father without the use of a wife, and unites both titles in his single person, why should I despair of becoming a mother without a husband, and of bringing forth without contact with a man, always supposing that I am chaste? I will try all the drugs in the wide world, and I will explore the seas and the depths of Tartarus.’ Her speech would have flowed on, but on my face there was a look of doubt. ‘Thou seemest, nymph,’ said she, ‘to have some power to help me.’ Thrice did I wish to promise help, but thrice my tongue was tied: the anger of great Jupiter filled me with fear. ‘Help me, I pray,’ she said, ‘the helper’s name will be kept secret, and I will call on the divinity of the Stygian water to be my witness.’12 ‘Thy wish,’ quoth I, ‘will be accomplished by a flower that was sent me from the fields of Olenus. It is the only flower of the kind in my garden.’ He who gave it me said, ‘Touch also with this a barren heifer; she will be a mother.’ I touched, and without delay she was a mother. Straightway I plucked with my thumb the clinging flower and touched Juno, and she conceived when it touched her bosom. And now being with child, she passed to Thrace and the left shores of the Propontis; her wish was granted, and Mars was born. In memory of the birth he owed to me, he said, ‘Do thou also have a place in the city of Romulus.’ Perhaps you may think that I am queen only of dainty garlands; but my divinity has to do also with the tilled fields. If the crops have blossomed well, the threshing-floor will be piled high; if the vines have blossomed well, there will be wine; if the olive-trees have blossomed well, most buxom will be the year; and the fruitage will be according to the time of blossoming. If once the blossom is nipped, the vetches and beans wither, and thy lentils, O Nile that comest from afar, do likewise wither. Wines also bloom, laboriously stored in great cellars, and a scum covers their surface in the jars. Honey is my gift. ’Tis I who call the winged creatures, which yield honey, to the violet, and the clover, and the grey thyme. [’Tis I, too, who discharge the same function when in youthful years spirits run riot and bodies are robust.]”
275 I silently admired her as she spoke thus. But she said, “Thou art free to learn the answers to any questions thou mayest put.” “Say, goddess,” I replied, “what is the origin of the games.” Scarce had I ended when she answered me. “The other instruments of luxury were not yet in vogue: the rich man owned either cattle or broad lands; hence came the name for rich, and hence the name for money itself.13 But already some amassed wealth from unlawful sources: it had become a custom to graze the public pastures, the thing was suffered long, and no penalty was exacted. Common folk had no champion to protect their share in public property; and at last it was deemed the sign of a poor spirit in a man to graze his cattle on his own land. Such licence was brought to the notice of the plebeian aediles, the Publicii14; till then men’s hearts had failed them. The case was tried before the people: the guilty were fined: the champions were praised for their public spirit. Part of the fine was given to me; and the winners of the suit instituted new games with great applause. With part of the fine they contracted for making a way up the slope, which then was a steep rock: now it is a serviceable road, and they call it the Publician road.”15 I had thought that the shows were annual; the goddess denied it and added to her former discourse a second speech. “We, too, are touched by honour; we delight in festivals and altars; we heavenly beings are a greedy gang. Often by sinning has a man disposed the gods against him, and a sacrificial victim has been a sop for crimes. Often have I seen Jupiter, when he was just about to launch his thunderbolts, hold his hand on the receipt of incense. But if we are neglected, we avenge the wrong by heavy penalties, and our wrath exceeds just bounds. Remember Thestiades16: he was burnt by flames afar; the reason was that no fire blazed on Phoebe’s altar. Remember Tantalides17: the same goddess detained the fleet; she is a virgin, yet she twice avenged her slighted hearths.18 Unhappy Hip-polytus,19 fain wouldst thou have worshipped Dione20 when thy scared steeds were rending thee asunder! ’Twere long to tell of cases of forgetfulness redressed by forfeitures. I myself was once neglected by the Roman senate. What was I to do? By what could I show my resentment? What punishment exact for the slight put on me? In my gloom I relinquished my office. I guarded not the countryside, and the fruitful garden was naught to me. The lilies had dropped; you might see the violets withering, and the tendrils of the crimson saffron languishing. Often Zephyr said to me, ‘Spoil not thine own dowry.’ But my dowry was worthless in my sight. The olive-trees were in blossom; the wanton winds blighted them: the crops were in blossom; the crop was blasted by the hail: the vines were promising; the sky grew black under the south wind, and the leaves were shaken down by a sudden shower. I did not will it so, nor am I cruel in my anger; but I did not care to ward off these ills. The senate assembled and voted an annual festival to my divinity if the year should prove fruitful. I accepted the vow. The consuls21 Laenas and Postumius celebrated the games which had been vowed to me.”
331 I was about to ask why these games are marked by greater wantonness and broader jests; but it occurred to me that the divinity is not strait-laced, and that the gifts she brings lend themselves to delights. The brows of wassailers are wreathed with stitched garlands, and the polished table is buried under a shower of roses. Maudlin the guest dances, his hair bound with linden bark, and all unwitting plies the tipsy art. Maudlin the lover sings at the hard threshold of his lady fair: soft garlands crown his perfumed locks. No serious business does he do whose brow is garlanded; no water of the running brook is quaffed by such as twine their hair with flowers: so long as thy stream, Achelous, was dashed with no juice of grapes, none cared to pluck the rose.22 Bacchus loves flowers; that he delights in a floral crown, you may know from Ariadne’s clustered stars.23 A rakish stage fits Flora well; she is not, believe me she is not, to be counted among your buskined goddesses. The reason why a crowd of drabs frequents these games is not hard to discover. She is none of your glum, none of your high-flown ones: she wishes her rites to be open to the common herd; and she warns us to use life’s flower, while it still blooms; for the thorn, she reminds us, is flouted when the roses have fallen away.
355 But why is it that whereas white robes are given out at the festival of Ceres, Flora is neatly clad in attire of many colours? Is it because the harvest whitens when the ears are ripe, but flowers are of every hue and every shape? She nodded assent and at the motion of her tresses the flowers dropped down, as falls the rose cast by a hand upon a table.
361 There yet remained the lights, the reason whereof escaped me; when the goddess thus removed my doubts: “Lights are thought to befit my days either because the fields do glow with purple flowers; or because neither flowers nor flames are of a dull colour, and the splendour of both attracts the eye; or because nocturnal licence befits my revels. The third reason conies nearest the truth.”
369 “There is yet a small matter about which it remains, with thy leave, to put a question.” “Thou hast my leave.” said she. “Why, instead of Libyan lionesses, are unwarlike roes and shy hares pent in thy nets24?” She replied that her province was not woods, but gardens and fields, where no fierce beast may come.
375 Her tale was ended, and she vanished into thin air. A fragrance lingered; you could know a goddess had been there. That Naso’s lay may bloom for aye, O strew, I pray thee, goddess, thy boons upon my breast!
He alludes to the derivation from ὗς, whence they were called suculae.
True morning rising was on May 16, apparent June 9; true evening setting, May 3.
The Floralia extended over six days, April 28 to May 3.
Flora is obviously from flos and has nothing to do with Chloris.
Boreas carried off Oreithyia, daughter of Erechtheus.
Purple iris, with marks of AI (αἰαῖ): said to have sprung from the blood of Hyacinthus, slain by Apollo. Therapnaean = Spartan, as Therapne was a town in Laconia and Hyacinthus was the son of the Spartan King Amyclas. See Met. x. 162–219.
Narcissus, a beautiful youth, died for love of his own image reflected in a pool. See Met. iii. 402–510.
Crocus, another fair youth, who was turned into the flower so named. See Met. iv. 283.
Adonis: the red anemone is said to have sprung from his blood; see Met. x. 710–739.
The great oath of the gods was taken by this water “eldest daughter of Oceanus” (Hesiod, Theog. 776).
locuples, i.e. loco-ples, from locus and the root of plenus, first in the sense of owning landed property; pecunia, from pecus. These derivations are correct, for a wonder.
L. and Marcus Publicius Malleolus, aediles, 240 B.C.
A road up the Aventine, made by L. and M. Publicii, as aediles. 240 B.C.
Meleager, son of Oeneus, king of Calydon, by Althaea, daughter of Thestius. Oeneus had neglected Diana (Artemis), and in revenge she sent a boar to ravage Calydon. In a dispute. Meleager killed his mother’s brothers; and she in revenge burnt a fatal brand upon which his life depended. See Met. viii. 270–525.
Agamemnon, as descended from Tantalus.
In the cases of Oeneus and of Agamemnon.
Used for Venus (Aphrodite).
Consuls 173 B.C.
Achelous is used for water simply. The meaning is, that there is a natural connexion between wine-drinking and chaplets of flowers.
See iii. 459–515.
That is, hunted in the arena at the Floralia.