Quaeritur interea qui tantae pondera molis
sustineat tantoque queat succedere regi:
destinat imperio clarum praenuntia veri
fama Numam; non ille satis cognosse Sabinae
gentis habet ritus, animo maiora capaci 5
concipit et, quae sit rerum natura, requirit.
huius amor curae patria Curibusque relictis
fecit ut Herculei penetraret ad hospitis urbem.
Graia quis Italicis auctor posuisset in oris
moenia, quaerenti sic e senioribus unus 10
rettulit indigenis, veteris non inscius aevi:
‘dives ab Oceano bobus Iove natus Hiberis
litora felici tenuisse Lacinia cursu
fertur, et armento teneras errante per herbas
ipse domum magni nec inhospita tecta Crotonis 15
intrasse et requie longum relevasse laborem
atque ita discedens, “aevo” dixisse “nepotum
hic locus urbis erit,” promissaque vera fuerunt.
nam fuit Argolico generatus Alemone quidam
Myscelus, illius dis acceptissimus aevi. 20
hunc super incumbens pressum gravitate soporis
claviger adloquitur: 22a
“patrias, age, desere sedes; 23b
i, pete diversi 23a
lapidosas Aesaris undas!” 22b
et, nisi paruerit, multa ac metuenda minatur; 24
post ea discedunt pariter somnusque deusque
surgit Alemonides tacitaque recentia mente
visa refert, pugnatque diu sententia secum:
numen abire iubet, prohibent discedere leges,
poenaque mors posita est patriam mutare volenti.
candidus Oceano nitidum caput abdiderat Sol, 30
et caput extulerat densissima sidereum Nox:
visus adesse idem deus est eademque monere
et, nisi paruerit, plura et graviora minari.
pertimuit patriumque simul transferre parabat
in sedes penetrale novas: fit murmur in urbe, 35
spretarumque agitur legum reus, utque peracta est
causa prior, crimenque patet sine teste probatum,
squalidus ad superos tollens reus ora manusque
“o cui ius caeli bis sex fecere labores,
fer, precor” inquit “opem! nam tu mihi criminis auctor.” 40
mos erat antiquus niveis atrisque lapillis,
his damnare reos, illis absolvere culpa;
tunc quoque sic lata est sententia tristis, et omnis
calculus inmitem demittitur ater in urnam:
quae simul effudit numerandos versa lapillos, 45
omnibus e nigro color est mutatus in album,
candidaque Herculeo sententia numine facta
solvit Alemoniden: grates agit ille parenti
Amphitryoniadae ventisque faventibus aequor
navigat Ionium Sallentinumque Neretum 50
praeterit et Sybarin Lacedaemoniumque Tarentum
Sirinosque sinus Crimisenque et Iapygis arva,
vixque pererratis, quae spectant aequora, terris,
invenit Aesarei fatalia fluminis ora
nec procul hinc tumulum, sub quo sacrata Crotonis 55
ossa tegebat humus, iussaque ibi moenia terra
condidit et nomen tumulati traxit in urbem.’
talia constabat certa primordia fama
esse loci positaeque Italis in finibus urbis.
Vir fuit hic ortu Samius, sed fugerat una 60
et Samon et dominos odioque tyrannidis exul
sponte erat isque licet caeli regione remotos
mente deos adiit et, quae natura negabat
visibus humanis, oculis ea pectoris hausit,
cumque animo et vigili perspexerat omnia cura, 65
in medium discenda dabat coetusque silentum
dictaque mirantum magni primordia mundi
et rerum causas et, quid natura, docebat,
quid deus, unde nives, quae fulminis esset origo,
Iuppiter an venti discussa nube tonarent, 70
quid quateret terras, qua sidera lege mearent,
et quodcumque latet, primusque animalia mensis
arguit inponi, primus quoque talibus ora
docta quidem solvit, sed non et credita, verbis:
‘Parcite, mortales, dapibus temerare nefandis 75
corpora! sunt fruges, sunt deducentia ramos
pondere poma suo tumidaeque in vitibus uvae,
sunt herbae dulces, sunt quae mitescere flamma
mollirique queant; nec vobis lacteus umor
eripitur, nec mella thymi redolentia florem: 80
prodiga divitias alimentaque mitia tellus
suggerit atque epulas sine caede et sanguine praebet.
carne ferae sedant ieiunia, nec tamen omnes:
quippe equus et pecudes armentaque gramine vivunt;
at quibus ingenium est inmansuetumque ferumque, 85
Armeniae tigres iracundique leones
cumque lupis ursi, dapibus cum sanguine gaudent.
heu quantum scelus est in viscera viscera condi
ingestoque avidum pinguescere corpore corpus
alteriusque animans animantis vivere leto! 90
scilicet in tantis opibus, quas, optima matrum,
terra parit, nil te nisi tristia mandere saevo
vulnera dente iuvat ritusque referre Cyclopum,
nec, nisi perdideris alium, placare voracis
et male morati poteris ieiunia ventris! 95
‘At vetus illa aetas, cui fecimus aurea nomen,
fetibus arboreis et, quas humus educat, herbis
fortunata fuit nec polluit ora cruore.
tunc et aves tutae movere per aera pennas,
et lepus inpavidus mediis erravit in arvis, 100
nec sua credulitas piscem suspenderat hamo:
cuncta sine insidiis nullamque timentia fraudem
plenaque pacis erant. postquam non utilis auctor
victibus invidit, quisquis fuit ille, leonum
corporeasque dapes avidum demersit in alvum, 105
fecit iter sceleri, primoque e caede ferarum
incaluisse potest maculatum sanguine ferrum
(idque satis fuerat) nostrumque petentia letum
corpora missa neci salva pietate fatemur:
sed quam danda neci, tam non epulanda fuerunt. 110
‘Longius inde nefas abiit, et prima putatur
hostia sus meruisse mori, quia semina pando
eruerit rostro spemque interceperit anni;
vite caper morsa Bacchi mactandus ad aras
ducitur ultoris: nocuit sua culpa duobus! 115
quid meruistis oves, placidum pecus inque tuendos
natum homines, pleno quae fertis in ubere nectar,
mollia quae nobis vestras velamina lanas
praebetis vitaque magis quam morte iuvatis?
quid meruere boves, animal sine fraude dolisque, 120
innocuum, simplex, natum tolerare labores?
inmemor est demum nec frugum munere dignus,
qui potuit curvi dempto modo pondere aratri
ruricolam mactare suum, qui trita labore
illa, quibus totiens durum renovaverat arvum, 125
quot dederat messes, percussit colla securi.
Meanwhile a ruler is sought able to sustain the burden of so great a task and to succeed so great a king. Then Fame as a faithful herald selects illustrious Numa for the throne. He, not content with knowing the usages of the Sabine race, conceives larger plans in his generous soul, and seeks to know what is Nature’s general law. His great fondness for this pursuit caused him to leave his native Cures and take his way to the city1 which once gave hospitality to Hercules. There, when he asked who was the founder of this Grecian city on Italian soil, one of the old inhabitants of the place, well versed in its ancient lore, thus answered him: “’Tis said that the son of Jove, returning from the Ocean enriched with the herds of Spain, came by good fortune to the borders of Lacinium, and there, while his cattle grazed upon the tender grass, he entered the home and beneath the friendly roof of the great Croton and refreshed himself by quiet rest from his long toil. And as he took his leave he said: ‘Here, ages hence, shall stand the city of your descendants.’ And the words proved true. For there was a certain Myscelus, son of Alemon of Argos, the man of all that generation most beloved of heaven. Standing over him as he lay buried in deep slumber, the club-bearer2 thus addressed him: ‘Up and away from your native land; go, seek out the rocky channel of the distant Aesar’; and he threatened him with many fearful things should he not obey. Then did his slumber and the presence of the god withdraw together. The son of Alemon arose and silently recalled the vision which was still vivid in his memory. Long was he in great stress of doubt: the god bade him depart, his country’s laws prohibited his departure. The punishment of death was appointed to the man who should desire to change his fatherland. The bright Sun had hidden his shining face beneath the sea, and thick Night had raised her starry face from the waters, when the same god seemed to stand before him, to give the same commands, and to threaten worse and heavier penalties if he should not obey. He was sore afraid. And as soon as he made ready to move his household belongings to a new abode, the rumour got abroad in the town, and he was tried as a breaker of the laws. When the case for the prosecution had been closed and the charge was clearly proved without need of witnesses, the wretched culprit, raising his face and hands to heaven, cried out: ‘O thou to whom thy twelve great labours gave thee a claim to heaven, help me, I pray! for thou art responsible for my sin.’ It was the custom in ancient times to use white and black pebbles, the black for condemning prisoners and the white for freeing them from the charge. At this time also the fatal vote was taken in this way; and every pebble that was dropped into the pitiless urn was black! But when the urn was turned and the pebbles poured out for counting, the colour of them all was changed from black to white; and so, by the will of Hercules, the vote was made favourable, and Alemon’s son was freed. He first gave thanks to his patron, Amphitryon’s son, and soon with favouring winds was sailing over the Ionian sea. He passed by Salentine Neretum, and Sybaris and Spartan Tarentum, the bay of Siris, Crimisa, and the lapygian coast; and scarcely had he pass the lands which look upon those seas when he found the destined mouth of Aesar’s stream, and near by this a mound of earth which guarded the consecrated bones of Croton. There in that land, as the god had bidden him, he laid his city’s walls and named it from him who had been buried there.” Such was the ancient tale, confirmed by established fame, both of the place and the founding of the city on Italian soil.
There was a man here, a Samian by birth, but he had fled forth from Samos and its rulers, and through hatred of tyranny was living in voluntary exile. He, though the gods were far away in the heavenly regions, still approached them with his thought, and what Nature denied to his mortal vision he feasted on with his mind’s eye. And when he had surveyed all things by reason and wakeful diligence, he would give out to the public ear the things worthy of their learning and would teach the crowds, which listened in wondering silence to his words, the beginnings of the great universe, the causes of things and what their nature is: what God is, whence come the snows, what is the origin of lightning, whether it is Jupiter or the winds that thunder from the riven clouds, what causes the earth to quake, by what law the stars perform their courses, and whatever else is hidden from men’s knowledge. He was the first to decry the placing of animal food upon our tables. His lips, learned indeed but not believed in this, he was the first to open in such words as these:
“O mortals, do not pollute your bodies with a food so impious! You have the fruits of the earth, you have apples, bending down the branches with their weight, and grapes swelling to ripeness on the vines; you have also delicious herbs and vegetables which can be mellowed and softened by the help of fire. Nor are you without milk or honey, fragrant with the bloom of thyme. The earth, prodigal of her wealth, supplies you her kindly sustenance and offers you food without bloodshed and slaughter. Flesh is the wild beasts’ wherewith they appease their hunger, and yet not all, since the horse, the sheep, and cattle live on grass; but those whose nature is savage and untamed, Armenian tigers, raging lions, bears and wolves, all these delight in bloody food. Oh, how criminal it is for flesh to be stored away in flesh, for one greedy body to grow fat by eating the body of another, for one live creature to go on living through the destruction of another living thing! And so in the midst of the wealth of food which Earth, the best of mothers, has produced, it is your pleasure to chew the piteous flesh of slaughtered animals with your savage teeth, and thus to repeat the Cyclops’ horrid manners! And you cannot, without destroying other life, appease the cravings of your greedy and insatiable maw!
“But that pristine age, which we have named the golden age, was blessed with the fruit of the trees and the herbs which the ground sends forth, nor did men defile their lips with blood. Then birds plied their wings in safety through the heaven, and the hare loitered all unafraid in the tilled fields, nor did its own guilelessness hang the fish upon the hook. All things were free from treacherous snares, fearing no guile and full of peace. But after someone, an ill exemplar, whoever he was, envied the food of lions, and thrust down flesh as food into his greedy stomach, he opened the way for crime. It may be that, in the first place, with the killing of wild beasts the steel was warmed and stained with blood. This would have been justified, and we admit that creatures which menace our own lives may be killed without impiety. But, while they might be killed, they should never have been eaten.
“Further impiety grew out of that, and it is thought that the sow was first condemned to death as a sacrificial victim because with her broad snout she had rooted up the planted seeds and cut off the season’s promised crop. The goat is held fit for sacrifice at the avenging altars because he had browsed the grape-vines. These two suffered because of their own offences! But, ye sheep, what did you ever do to merit death, a peaceful flock, born for man’s service, who bring us sweet milk to drink in your full udders, who give us your wool for soft clothing, and who help more by your life than by your death? What have the oxen done, those faithful, guileless beasts, harmless and simple, born to a life of toil? Truly inconsiderate he and not worthy of the gift of grain who could take off the curved plow’s heavy weight and in the next moment slay his husbandman; who with his axe could smite that neck which was worn with toil for him, by whose help he had as often renewed the stubborn soil as it had given him harvests.
Crotona,
Hercules.
I did not see vegetarianism coming. Endless surprises with Ovid! :-)