Phaethon translation

(Solis equi,)...quartusque Phlegon hinnitibus auras flammiferis implent,

...fill up the winds with their flame-bearing winnying,

ter Neptunus aquis cum torvo bracchia ualtu exserere ausas erat, ter non tulit aeris ignes.

3 times Neptune had heard from the waters with a stern face to stretch out his arms, 3 times he could not endure the fire of the air.

at Phaethon, rutiulos flamma populante capillos, uoluitur in praeceps,

But phaethon, with the flames ravaging his ruddy hairs rolled headlong

ipse pauet, nec qua commissas flectat habenas nec scit qua sit iter, nec, si sciat, imperet illis. (L.170)

He himself is a friend, and at the same time he doesn't know where the way is, and he doesn't know how to handle the reigns, even if he knew he couldn't control the horse.(L.170)

HIC SITUS EST PHAETHON CURRUS AUGIRA PATERNI QUEM SI NON TENUIT MAGNIS TAMEN EXCIDIT AUSIS

Here phaethon is placed: charioteer of his father's chariot which if he did not keep, nevertheless he perished from great deeds.

parua queror: magnae pereunt cura moeribus urbes, cumque suis totas populis incerdia gentes in cinerem uerunt ;

I complain about small things: the big cities perish with walls and with its own people, the fires turn all the tribes into ashes;

dixerat haec Tellus; neque enim tolerare unporem ulterius ptuit nec dicere plura, summque rettulit os in se prpioraque maribus antra.

Tellus had said this; and for he is not able to further endure the heat nor to say more, and his face returns nearer to the caves in the underworld.

occupat ille leuem iuuenali corpore currum,

That guy gets in the light chariot with his youthful body,

corripitur flammis, ut quaeque altissima, tellus fissaque agit rimas et sucis aret ademptis.

The earth as each part is highest was seized by the flames and split, it cracks and it grows dry with the moisture taken away.

pabula canescunt, cum frondibus unitur arbor, materiamque suo praebet seges arida damno.

The fields turn white, the tree is burned along with its leaves, and the dry crops provide fuel for their own destruction.

consternantur equi et, saltu in contraria facto,

The horses thrown into confusion and a leap having been made in opposite directions,

Naides Hesperiae trifida fumantia flamma corpora dant tumulo, signant quoque carmine saxum:

The western water Nymohs give the body to the tomb, smoking from the three pronged flame and they mark an epitaph on the rock:

tum primum radiis gelidi caluere Triones, et uetito frustra temptarunt aequore tingi.

Then at first the icy oxen grew warm from the rays and they try to be bathed in the forbidden sea in vain.

Sparsa quoque in uario passim miraculo caelo uastarumque uidet trepidus simulacra ferorum est locus,

Trembling, he sees the marvelous things and the images of huge wild animals scattered in the varying sky far and wide there is a place,

hunc puer ut nigri madidum sudore ueneni uulnera curuata minitantem caspide uidit,

When the boy saw scorpio wet with sweat of dark venom threatening wounds with its curved sting,

quae postquam Tethys, fatorum ignara nepotis, reppulit,

and after Tethys thrusts these back, ignorant of the fate of his grandson,

quem procul a patria diuerso maximus orbe excipit Eridamus fumantiaque abluit ora.

and at a distance from his fatherland in a different world the great Eridamus collects him and washes his smoking face.

et iam mallet equos numquam tetigisse paternos,

and by now he was wishing he never touched his father's horses,

(gaudet)...et inuito grates agit inde parenti

and from there, thanks the reluctant parents,

fereuntesque auras uelut e fornace profunda ore trahit, currusque suos candescere sentit.

and he draws boiling winds like as if it is from the mouth of a deep furnace.

iam Meropis dici cupiens, ita fertur ut acta..

and he prevailed in asking, now he is wishing to be called the son of Meropis,

succutiturque alte, similisque est currus inani.

and is driven from below high air, and it is like the chariot is similar to empty.

utque labant curuae iusto sine pondere naues,

and just as carried ships roll without ballast,

quidque agat ignarus, stupet et nec frena remittit nec retinere ualet, nec nomina nouit equorum.

and not knowing what he's doing, he is bewildered and neither sends back the reigns, nor is he strong enough to hold them back, and he does not know the name of the horses.

et modo, quos illi fatum contingere non est prospicit occasus, interdum respicit ortus; (L.190)

and now from time to time he looks back towards the east, also he looks forward to the west which it is not fate for that one to touch.

et neque iam ciineres eiectatamque favillam ferre potest, calidaque inuoluitur undique fumo.

and now he is unable to bear the spark and the thrown out ashes, and is wrapped on all sides with hot smoke.

statque super, manibusque leues contingere habenas gaudet,

and stands tall, and with his hands, he rejoices to seize the reigns,

palluit, et subito genua intremuere timore, (L.180)

and suddenly his knees trembled in fear, (L.180)

...altoque sub aethere fixis incursunt stellis, rapiuntque per avia currum et modo summa petunt, modo per feclive uiasque pracipites spatio terrae propriore feruntur,

and the horses run under the fixed stars high in the air, and they seize the chariot through reckless places and one time they seek the top, and another time steep roads in a space too near to land,

inferiusque suis fraternus curnere Luna admiratur equos, ambustaque nubila fumant.

and the moon wonders that the brother's horses are running lower than her own, they smoke and scorch the clouds.

...quosque altum texerat aequor, existunt montes et sparsas cycladas augent.

and the mountains which the high sea had covered and they stick out and multiply the sparse Cyclades.

et mare contrahitur, siccaeque est campus harenae quod modo pontus erat;

and the sea was shrunk and what recently used to be the sea is an expanse of dry sand;

(reppulit,)...et facta est immensi copia caeli,

and the use of the sky was made,

Solis equi, solitaque iugum grauitate carebat.

and the yoke was free of the usual weight.

suntque oculis tenebrae per tantum lumen obortae.

and there is darkness rising in his eyes through so much light.

(flammiferis implent,)...pedibusque repagula pulsant. (L.155)

and they beat on the door-bars with their feet. (L.155)

perque mare instabiles nimia leuitate feruntur,

and through the sea, with excessive lightness,

quaeque polo posita est glaciali proxima Serpens-

and what serpent has been places close by the freezing pole

frena suus rector, quam dis uotisque reliquit.

and which the captain left behind his own reign with prayers to the gods.

frigore pigra prius nec formidabilis ulli

before, it was sluggish from the cold and not frightening to anyone.

quoque eat aut ubi sit, picea caligine tectus, nescit, et unbitrio uolucrum ruptatur equorum.

besides, he is covered in pitch black, unaware of where he is going, carried by the will of the swift horses.

te quoque turbatum memorant fugisse, Boote, quamuis tardus eras et te tua plaustra tenebant.

besides, they say that you also fled, freaked out, although you were slow and the wagon was holding you up.

ut pater omnipotens, superos testatus et ipsum qui dederat currus, nisi opem ferat, omnia fata interitura gravi,

but all-powerful father, called on the gods and which he had given himself a chariot, unless he brings power, all things about to perish by a serious fate,

sed leue pondus erat, nec quod cognoscere possent

but the weight was light, and the seahorses could not recognize it,

iam cognosse genus piget et ualisse rogando;

by now it is a matter of regret that he recognized his birth:

...longoque per aera tractu fertur, ut interdum de caelo stella sereno etsi non cecidit, potuit cecidisse uideri.

carried a long trail through the air, as from time to time although a star has not fallen from the clear sky, it can seem that it is able to have fallen.

ima petunt pisces, nec se super aequora curvi tollere consuetas audent delphines in auras;

fish go for the lowest parts, nor dare the curved dolphins to lift themselves above the sea into the air, as usual;

unde monet tenitrus uibataque fulmina iactat sed neque quas posset terris inducere nubes tunc habuit, nec quos caelo demitteret imbres,

from where he moves the thunder and throws the shaken thunderbolts, but then he did not have the clouds which he draws over the lands nor did he have the rainshowers that he could let fall from the sky,

dissilit omne solum, penetratque in Tortora rimis lumen, et infernum terret cum corage regem;

he burst apart all the earth, and the light reaches through the cracks of Tartarus, and frightens the king with the spouse belonging to the lower regions;

mentis inops gelida formidine lora remisit quae postquam summum tetigere iacentia tergum.

he lets go of the reins in icy fear and after the reigns touched the tops of the horses backs lying down.

...summam petit arduus arcem, unde solet nubes latis inducere terris,

he seeks on high the top of the arch from where accustomed draws clouds over the broad lands,

illic frena iacent, illic temore reualsus axis, in hac radii fractarum parte rotarum, sparsaque sunt late laceri uestigia currus.

here lies the reins, there the axle rippled from the pole, in this part are the spokes of broken wheels, and the traces of the torn chariot are scattered broadly.

incaluit, sumpsitque nouas feruoribus iras.

it grew warm, and took on new anger from its high temperatures,

intorat, et dextra libratum fulmen ab aure misit in augirum pariterque animaque rotisque expulit, et saevis compescit ignibus ignes.

it thunders, and he sent a thunderbolt towards the charioteer from the right ear and at the same time he expelled him both from his life and the chariot, and puts out the fires with stronger fires.

interea uolucres Pyrois et Eous et Aethon, Solis equi,

meanwhile the swift horses of the sun, Fiery, Dawn, and Blazing...

praecipiti pinus Borea, cui uicta remisit

so he is being carried like a ship driven by the headlong north wind, to which it has been conquered

corpora phocarum, summo resupina profundo, exanimata natant; ipsum quoque Nerea fama est Doridaque et natas tepidis latuisse sub antris.

the bodies of the seals on their backs, float lifelessly on top of the deep, the rumor is that Nereus himself, and Doris, and the daughters lie hidden under the warm caves.

exspantiantur equi, nulloque inhibente per aura ignotae reginis eunt, quaque impetus egit, hac sine lege ruunt,

the horses veer off, and they go through the winds of the unknown regions with nothing stopping them, whenever he drove this way they rushed without law,

tum facta est Libye, raptis umoribus aestu, arida...

then dry Libya has been made, seized heat with moisture...

ante oculos, plus est: animo metitur utrumque,

there is more before his eyes: he measures each of the two in his mind,

sanguine tum credunt in corpora summa uocato Aethiopum populos nigrum traxisse colorem;

they believe that then the people of Ethiopia took the dark color with the blood summoned to the top of their bodies;

...siluae cum montibus ardent; tum uero Phaethon cunctis e partibus orbem adspicit accesum, hec tartus sustinet aestus,

they burn with advice of the forest; then out of all the parts, Phaethon sees the world on fire, he can't withstand so much heat,

obstantes scindunt nebulas, pennisque leuati praetereuntt ortos isdem de partibus Euros. (L.160)

they cut apart the clouds standing in the way, and lightened by their feathers, pass by the east winds that have arisen from the same places.

corripuere uiam, pedibusque per aera motis,

they seized the road, and with their feet moved through the air,

sic, onere adsueto uacuus, dat in aera saltus,

thus, lacking the usual load, gives a jump in the air,

quid faciat? multum caeli post terga relictum,

what could he do?: Before much of the sky was left behind their backs,

ut uero summo despexit ab aethere terras infelix Phaethon penitus penitusque iacentes,

when unhappy Phaethon looked down from the summit of the upper air at the lands far below and lying far below he grew pale,

...in geminos ubi bracchia concauat arcus scorpius est, cauda flexisque utrimque lacertis porrigit in spatium signorum membra duorum.

where scorpio curves his claws into twin arcs, and stretches his limbs into the space of two constellations with the tail and arm bent from both sides.

quod simulac sensere, ruunt tritumque relinquunt quadriiugi spatium, nec prius ordine currunt.

which as soon as they have sensed this, the horses run wild and leave behind the worn-out way, and they do not run in the order they ran before.

colla iugo eripiunt abruptaque lora reliquunt.

wrench their necks away from the yoke and tear off the reigns left behind.