top of page

Translation
+ Notes

 

823 - While Erysicthon sleeps, Fames enters his body, as Erysicthon slowly grows hungrier. 

824 - mulceo, mulcere, to sooth, stroke, fondle

          somni, genative of description -  imagine somni, tooth

825 - dens, dentis, m. tooth

826 - guttur - guttur, gutturis, n. throat

828 - Ut vero - “But as soon as," do not translate as a purpose clause

         Ardor edendÄ« - The flame alludes to the undying hunger within Erysicthon, which like a fire, what keeps him alive also kindles his hunger more and more. 

829 - avidus, -a -um, greedy, insatiable 

          faux, faucis, n. neck, gullet, throat

          Ovid uses various body parts associated with digestion to emphasize the gluttonous nature of Erysicthon's curse

831 - ieiunium, -i, n. Hunger, leanness

833 - The narrator compares the hunger of Erysicthon to that of an entire nation, leaving the reader decide for a literal or hyperbolic interpretation.

834 - alvus, -i, m. belly, stomach

836 - peregrinus, -a, -um, foreign, strange

838 - fax, facis, f. torch , fire, flame

839 - voracior = vorax, comparative

843 - vorago, voraginis, f. chasm, deep hole

          Another way Ovid describes Erysicthon's endless hunger is as an endless void, which can never be satisfied 

          venter, ventris, n. stomach, belly

845 - vigeo, vigere, to be strong, thrive

847 - generosus, -a, -um, noble, of noble birth 

848 - recuso, recusare, to refuse

849 - palma, palmae, f. palms (hand gestures) Ovid describes Mestra's pleas to a higher power

850 - aequor, aequoris, n. seas, surface of the ocean

851 - Ovid explores the mostly unknown relationship between Erysicthon’s daughter Mestra and Neptune

852 - prex, precis, f. prayers

          sperno, spernere, to despise, reject

853 - vultumque virilem, “manly appearance” describing the disguise Neptune provided Mestra with

858 - hamus, hami, m. hook, spike

860 - litus, litoris, n. shore, coast

         Note the freeing aspects associated with the sea, seperating herself from her dangerous father

866 - quoque minus dubites,  “so that you may doubt less”

866-868 - Mestra promises to utilize the God’s intervention with good intentions. However, Erysicthon’s greedy nature prevails, as he finds a different use for Neptune’s power. 

870 - eludo, eludere, to escape from, decieve

871 - “transformia corpora” references Neptune’s intervention by changing Mestra’s figure into that of a fisherman

         Till now gentle sleep was stroking Erysicthon with gentle feathers: He attacks the feast under the image of sleep, and his empty mouth moves and wears down tooth on tooth, and he exercises his having been deceived throat with hollow food and instead of feast he devours thin breeze in vain. But as soon as sleep is driven out, the devouring flame rages and it reigns through his greedy throat and having been kindled innards. With no delay, he demands what the sea, what the earth, what the air draws up and hunger protests by the adjacent table and in food he seeks food; and as long as it was enough for cities and as long as it was enough for the people it was not suffice for one, and he desires more, which he sends down too much into his own stomach. And just as the sea receives the rivers from the whole land he is not satisfied by water and he drinks a foreign river, And just as the grasping fire never rejects food and he burns countless torches and, which greater abundance has been given, he seeks more and the commotion iself is more ravenous. Thus everyone takes the food the sacrilegious mouth of Erysicthon simultaniously demands; all the food in him is the cause of food, and always the position results from the devouring void. And now power has weakened native lands by means of the hunger and the chasm of his deep stomach but he was remaining having been weakened then the awful flame and hunger and even the not pacified throat was being strong. Finally, after he casts off the wealth into his entrails, The daughter remains, and likewise the poor man sells her. The noble woman rejects the master and the nearby stretching sea above her own palms, “Snatch me for the master, who you hold the prize of the having been snatched virginity by us” she said. Neptune was considering these things, which prayer having not been despised, although he had been seen merely by the having been followed master, he renews and covers the mature figure and face and suitable fish of the having been inhabited place by the having been seized. The master observing this says, “O which you may hide having been weighed out air for a small ration, master of the fishing rod, thus there is a having been placed together sea, thus there is a trusting fish for you in the wave and lest the fixed fish realizes not any hooks: Only now she stood on this shore with cheap clothing and having been disturbed hair (for I saw her standing on the shore) say where he is; and the longer tracks do not stand out.” She sensed that the gift of the god was working well, and, rejoicing that she was being sought from herself, she responded to the one asking with these: “Whoever you are, you forgive; in no direction eyes I bent from this pool and with eagerness I worked, I clung. And so that you may doubt less, thus may the god of the sea help these skills as no one for a long time on that shore me excepted nor woman has stood any.” She trusted and departed and the having been eluded master presses the sand by means of having been turned feet; her own figure is returned to her. But when he sensed the transformed bodies have their own, many times the Mestra (descendent of Triopas) drags her to the master, but she now as a mare, now a bird, now as a cow, now a deer was going away And she was providing to her greedy father not-sewn-together food. Yet that force of evil, after it had consumed all material and new food were lacking for the heavy sickness, he himself begins to tear away his own limb by means of a maiming bite and the man was feeding with the lessening body.

© 2035 by Site Name. Powered and secured by Wix

bottom of page