Metamorphoses IX.348-460
Iole tells how her sister Dryope was transformed into a lotus tree; Themis predicts the collapse of the royal house of Thebes.
‘Nescierat soror hoc. quae cum perterrita retro
ire et adoratis vellet discedere nymphis, 350
haeserunt radice pedes. convellere pugnat,
nec quicquam, nisi summa movet. subcrescit ab imo,
totaque paulatim lentus premit inguina cortex.
ut vidit, conata manu laniare capillos,
fronde manum implevit: frondes caput omne tenebant. 355
at puer Amphissos (namque hoc avus Eurytus illi
addiderat nomen) materna rigescere sentit
ubera; nec sequitur ducentem lacteus umor.
spectatrix aderam fati crudelis, opemque
non poteram tibi ferre, soror, quantumque valebam, 360
crescentem truncum ramosque amplexa morabar,
et, fateor, volui sub eodem cortice condi.
‘Ecce vir Andraemon genitorque miserrimus adsunt,
et quaerunt Dryopen: Dryopen quaerentibus illis
ostendi loton. tepido dant oscula ligno, 365
adfusique suae radicibus arboris haerent.
nil nisi iam faciem, quod non foret arbor, habebat
cara soror: lacrimae misero de corpore factis
inrorant foliis, ac, dum licet, oraque praestant
vocis iter, tales effundit in aera questus: 370
“siqua fides miseris, hoc me per numina iuro
non meruisse nefas. patior sine crimine poenam.
viximus innocuae. si mentior, arida perdam
quas habeo frondes, et caesa securibus urar.
hunc tamen infantem maternis demite ramis, 375
et date nutrici, nostraque sub arbore saepe
lac facitote bibat, nostraque sub arbore ludat.
cumque loqui poterit, matrem facitote salutet,
et tristis dicat ‘latet hoc in stipite mater.’
stagna tamen timeat, nec carpat ab arbore flores, 380
et frutices omnes corpus putet esse dearum.
care vale coniunx, et tu, germana, paterque!
qui, siqua est pietas, ab acutae vulnere falcis,
a pecoris morsu frondes defendite nostras.
et quoniam mihi fas ad vos incumbere non est, 385
erigite huc artus, et ad oscula nostra venite,
dum tangi possum, parvumque attollite natum!
plura loqui nequeo. nam iam per candida mollis
colla liber serpit, summoque cacumine condor.
ex oculis removete manus. sine munere vestro 390
contegat inductus morientia lumina cortex!”
desierant simul ora loqui, simul esse. diuque
corpore mutato rami caluere recentes.’
Dumque refert Iole factum mirabile, dumque
Eurytidos lacrimas admoto pollice siccat 395
Alcmene (flet et ipsa tamen) compescuit omnem
res nova tristitiam. nam limine constitit alto
paene puer dubiaque tegens lanugine malas,
ora reformatus primos Iolaus in annos.
hoc illi dederat Iunonia muneris Hebe, 400
victa viri precibus. quae cum iurare pararet,
dona tributuram post hunc se talia nulli,
non est passa Themis: ‘nam iam discordia Thebae
bella movent,’ dixit ‘Capaneusque nisi ab Iove vinci
haud poterit, fientque pares in vulnere fratres, 405
subductaque suos manes tellure videbit
vivus adhuc vates; ultusque parente parentem
natus erit facto pius et sceleratus eodem
attonitusque malis, exul mentisque domusque,
vultibus Eumenidum matrisque agitabitur umbris, 410
donec eum coniunx fatale poposcerit aurum,
cognatumque latus Phegeius hauserit ensis.
tum demum magno petet hos Acheloia supplex
ab Iove Calliroe natis infantibus annos
addat, neve necem sinat esse ultoris inultam. 415
Iuppiter his motus privignae dona nurusque
praecipiet, facietque viros inpubibus annis.’
Haec ubi faticano venturi praescia dixit
ore Themis, vario superi sermone fremebant,
et, cur non aliis eadem dare dona liceret, 420
murmur erat. queritur veteres Pallantias annos
coniugis esse sui, queritur canescere mitis
Iasiona Ceres, repetitum Mulciber aevum
poscit Ericthonio, Venerem quoque cura futuri
tangit, et Anchisae renovare paciscitur annos. 425
cui studeat, deus omnis habet; crescitque favore
turbida seditio, donec sua Iuppiter ora
solvit, et ‘o! nostri siqua est reverentia,’ dixit
‘quo ruitis? tantumne aliquis sibi posse videtur,
fata quoque ut superet? fatis Iolaus in annos, 430
quos egit, rediit. fatiiuvenescere debent
Calliroe geniti, non ambitione nec armis.
vos etiam, quoque hoc animo meliore feratis,
me quoque fata regunt. quae si mutare valerem,
nec nostrum seri curvarent Aeacon anni, 435
perpetuumque aevi florem Rhadamanthus haberet
cum Minoe meo, qui propter amara senectae
pondera despicitur, nec quo prius ordine regnat.’
Dicta Iovis movere deos; nec sustinet ullus,
cum videat fessos Rhadamanthon et Aeacon annis 440
et Minoa, queri. qui, dum fuit integer aevi,
terruerat magnas ipso quoque nomine gentes;
tunc erat invalidus, Deionidenque iuventae
robore Miletum Phoeboque parente superbum
pertimuit, credensque suis insurgere regnis, 445
haut tamen est patriis arcere penatibus ausus.
sponte fugis, Milete, tua, celerique carina
Aegaeas metiris aquas, et in Aside terra
moenia constituis positoris habentia nomen.
hic tibi, dum sequitur patriae curvamina ripae, 450
filia Maeandri totiens redeuntis eodem
cognita Cyanee, praestanti corpora forma,
Byblida cum Cauno, prolem est enixa gemellam.
Byblis in exemplo est, ut ament concessa puellae,
Byblis Apollinei correpta cupidine fratris; 455
non soror ut fratrem, nec qua debebat, amabat.
illa quidem primo nullos intellegit ignes,
nec peccare putat, quod saepius oscula iungat,
quod sua fraterno circumdet bracchia collo;
mendacique diu pietatis fallitur umbra. 460
“But my sister knew naught of this. And when she started back in terror and, with prayers to the nymphs, strove to leave the place, her feet clung, root-like, to the ground; she struggled to tear herself away, but nothing moved except the upper part of her body; the slow-creeping bark climbed upward from her feet and covered all her loins. When she saw this, she strove to tear her hair with her hands, but only filled her hands with leaves; for leaves now covered all her head. But the boy, Amphissos (for so his grandsire, Eurytus, had named him), felt his mother’s breast grow hard, nor could he any longer draw his milky feast. I stood and saw your cruel fate, my sister, nor could I bring you any aid at all. And yet, so far as I could, I delayed the change by holding your growing trunk and branches fast in my embrace; and (shall I confess it?) I longed to hide me beneath that selfsame bark.
“But lo, her husband, Andraemon, and her most unhappy father came seeking for Dryope; and in response to their search for Dryope I pointed out to them the lotus-tree. They printed kisses on the warm wood and, prostrate on the ground, they clung about the roots of their darling tree. And now my dear sister had only her face remaining, while all the rest was tree. Your tears rained down upon the leaves made from your poor body; and while they could, and your lips afforded utterance for your voice, it poured forth these complaints into the air: ‘If oaths of wretched sufferers have any force, I swear by the gods that I have not merited this dreadful thing. In utter innocence I am suffering, and in innocence I have always lived. If I say not the truth, parched with the drought may I lose my foliage and may I be cut down by the axe and burned. But take this infant from his mother’s limbs and give him to a nurse. Beneath my tree let him often come and take his milk; beneath my tree let him play. And when he learns to talk, have him greet his mother and sadly say: “Here in this tree-trunk is my mother hid.” Still let him fear the pool, pluck no blossoms from the trees, and think all flowers are goddesses in disguise! Farewell, dear husband, and you, sister, and my father! Do you, if you love me still, protect my branches from the sharp knife, my foliage from the browsing sheep. And, since it is not permitted me to bend down to you, reach up to me and let me kiss you while I may; and reach me once more my little son! Now I can say no more; for over my white neck the soft bark comes creeping, and I am buried in its overtopping folds. You need not close my eyes with your hands; without your service let the bark creep up and close my dying eyes!’ In the same moment did she cease to speak and cease to be; and long did the new-made branches keep the warmth of the transformed body.”
While Iole was telling this wonderful tale, and while Alcmena, herself also in tears, was drying with her sympathetic hand the tears of the daughter of Eurytus, a startling circumstance banished the grief of both. For there, in the deep doorway, stood a youth, almost a boy, with delicate down covering his cheeks, Iolaüs,1 restored in features to his youthful prime. Hebe, Juno’s daughter, won by her husband’s2 prayers, had given him this boon; and when she was on the point of swearing that to no one after him would she bestow such gifts, Themis checked her vow. “For,” said she, “Thebes is even now embroiled in civil strife, Capaneus shall be invincible save by the hand of Jove himself; the two brothers3 shall die by mutual wounds; the prophetking4 shall in the flesh behold his own spirits, engulfed by the yawning earth; and his son5 shall avenge parent on parent,6 filial and accursed in the selfsame act; stunned by these evil doings, banished from reason and from home, he shall be hounded by the Furies and by his mother’s ghost until his wife7 shall ask of him the fatal golden necklace and the sword of Phegeus shall have drained his kinsman’s blood. And then at last shall Callirhoë, daughter of Acheloüs, by prayer obtain from mighty Jove that her infant sons may attain at once to manly years, and that he not allow their avenging father’s death to go unavenged. Jove, thus prevailed upon, shall claim in advance for these the gifts of his stepdaughter8 and daughter-in-law,9 and shall in an act change beardless boys to men.”
When Themis, who knew what was to come, thus spoke with prophetic lips, a confused murmur of varying demands arose among the gods, and they inquired why they were not allowed to grant the same boon to others. Pallantis10 lamented her husband’s11 hoary age; mild Ceres bewailed Iasion’s whitening locks; Mulciber demanded renewed life for Erichthonius, and Venus, too, with care for the future, stipulated that old Anchises’ years should be restored. Each god had his own favourite; and the noisy, partisan strife kept on, until Jupiter opened his lips and spoke: “Oh, if you have any reverence for me, what are you coming to? Does anyone suppose that he can so far prevail as to alter Fate’s decrees? ’Twas by the will of Fate that Iolaüs was restored to the years which he had passed, by Fate also Callirhoë’s sons are destined to leap to manhood from infancy, and not by any ambition or strife of theirs. You, too (I say this that you may be of better mind), and me also the Fates control. If I could change them, old age would not bend low my Aeacus; Rhadamanthus, too, would enjoy perpetual youth, together with my Minos, who, because of the galling weight of age, is now despised and no longer reigns in his former state.”
Jove’s words appeased the gods; nor could anyone complain when he saw Rhadamanthus, Aeacus, and Minos spent with years. Now Minos, while in his prime, had held great nations in fear of him by his very name; but at that time he was infirm with age and in fear of Miletus, son of Deione and Phoebus, proud of his youthful strength and parentage; and, though he believed that the youth was planning a rebellion against his kingdom, still he did not dare to banish him from his ancestral home. But of your own accord you fled, Miletus, and in your swift vessel crossed the Aegean sea and on the shores of Asia built a city which still bears its founder’s name. There, while wandering along the banks of her father’s winding stream, Cyanee, daughter of Maeander, who oft returns upon his former course, was known by you; and of this union Byblis and Caunus, twin progeny, were born, children of unrivalled beauty.
Byblis is a warning that girls should not love unlawfully, Byblis, smitten with a passion for her brother, the grandson of Apollo. She loved him not as a brother, nor as a sister should. At first, indeed, she did not recognize the fires of love, nor think it wrong often to kiss him, often to throw her arms about her brother’s neck, and she was long deceived by the semblance of sisterly affection.
The son of Iphicles, half-brother to Hercules.
i.e. Hercules, to whom, after his translation to heaven, Hebe had been given in marriage.
Eteocles and Polynices.
Amphiaraüs.
Alcmaeon.
Eriphyle.
Callirhoë.
Hebe.
Ibid.
Aurora.
Tithonus.