The Metamorphoses

BY HORACE GREGORY Selected Poems EDITED BY HORACE GREGORY The TrIumph of bfe Poems of the Spmt The Portable Sherwood Anderson OVID THE METAMORPHOSES A COMPLETE NEW VERSION BY HORACE GREGORY WITH DECORATIONS BY ZHENYA GAY New York . 'The Viking Press COPYRIGHT © 1958 BY THE VIKING PRESS, INC. FIRST PUBLISHED IN BY THE VIKING PRESS, 1958 INC. 625 l\1.adlson Avenue, New York 22, NY. PUBLISHED IN CANADA BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED Library of Congress catalogue card number 58-5551 PRINTED IN U.S.A. BY TIlE VAIL-BALLOU PRESS, INC. For Bryher "COgltClVl dles al1tlquos rt anl10S acternos in mente habUl " CONTENTS Introduction BOOK I Invocation Chaos Bronze, and Iron . The New \Vorld The Pipes of Pan xi and Crcatlon Ages of Gold, Silver, The Flood Deueahon and Pyrrha . Apollo and Daphne· 10 and Jove· 10 as ISIs BOOK II Phacthon's Ride· Jove and the Arcadian Nymph· The Ra\cn . Oeuhoe . Mcreury and Battus . Mercury and Herse . Jmc and Europa BOOK III Cadmus . Actacon Scmele· Tucslas . Echo and NarCl5SUS PCl1theus and Bacchus 62 BOOK IV P)umus and Thlsbc . l\1drs and Venus· The Sun and Letlcothoc . S.llinaels and Hermaphrodltus· Ino and Ath.l1J111S l\1ctamorphosis of Cadmus . Per5eus BOOK V Perscus' Battles . Pallas Athena and the l\'luses . Death and Pro5crpma . Arcthusa . Tnptolemus . Met.lmorphoSIS of the Plcndes 120 BOOK VI Arachnc . NIObe and Latona Marsyas· Pclops eU5, Procne, and Pl1110mdd . Borcas and Onth) Id 146 Tcr- BOOK VII 172 J.l~on and Medea . Mmm \Vars agam~t Aegeus . TIle Myrmidons· Ccphalus and Proens IX CONTENTS [X] BOOK VIII Mmos, NIsus, and Scylla Daedalus and Icarus . Mcleager and the Boar . Althaea and Meleager . Achelous Baucls and PhIlemon . Eryslchthon BOOK IX Achclous and Hercules . Hercules, Nessus, and De13mra Hcreules' Birth· Dryope . ThenllS' Prophecy. B) bhs and Caunus . Iphls and Ianthe 238 BOOK X Orpheus and Eurydice . CypansslIs . Ganymede Apollo and Hyacmthus· Pygmahon . Cmyras and Mvrrha· Venus and Adams . Atalanta . MetamorphosIs of Adams 268 BOOK XI 296 The Death of Orpheus· Midas The Bll1ldmg of Troy· Thetis and Peleus Daedahon· Pdeus' Cattle· The Journeys of Cevx . Sleep. MetamorphosIs of Alcyone . Aesacus and IIespcna BOOK XII The Trojan War Bcgms . Cacms Centaurs· The Death of Achilles 324 Nestor's Tale of thc 348 BOOK XIII The Dispute over Achilles' Armour . The Fall of Truy . The Sacnfiee of PoIvxcna . Hecuba's Gnd Memnon· Aeneas . Galatea and Pol) phemus Glaueus BOOK XIV 388 Cuce, Glaueus, and Scvlla· Acneas VISitS Cumac· Achaemldcs and Polyphemus· Circe· Pleus and Canens . The Conquests of Aeneas Later Kmgs of Alba . Pomona and Verlumnus . Iphls and Anaxarcte . Othcr Kmg~ of Itaha BOOK XV Numa Hears the Story of Mv~cclos . The Phllosophcr . The Death of Numa . lhppolytus . ClpUS . AesculapIUs· Caesar . Epilogue A Selected Glossary and Index of Names 455 INTRODUCTION The Metamorphoses or Transformations of 0, Id was completed at Rome m thc ycar 8 A D wInch also was the year that the Empcror Augustus sent Its author 111to retirement far away from Rome. LucretIUs's