Metamorphoses

“And was it for this that I subdued Busiris, who polluted the temples of the Gods with the blood of strangers? And did I for this , withdraw from the savage Antæus the support given him by his mother? Did neither the triple shape of the Iberian shepherd, nor thy triple form, O Cerberus, alarm me? And did you, my hands, seize the horns of the mighty bull? Does Elis, too , possess the result of your labours, and the Stymphalian waters, and the Parthenian grove as well ? By your valour was it that the belt, inlaid with the gold of Thermodon, was gained, the apples too, guarded in vain by the wakeful dragon? And could neither the Centaurs resist me, nor yet the boar, the ravager of Arcadia? And was it not of no avail to the Hydra to grow through its own loss, and to recover double strength? And what besides? When I beheld the Thracian steeds fattened with human blood, and the mangers filled with mangled bodies, did I throw them down when thus beheld, and slay both the master and the horses themselves? And does the carcass of the Nemean lion lie crushed by these arms? With this neck did I support the heavens? The unrelenting wife of Jupiter was weary of commanding, but I was still unwearied with doing. But now a new calamity is come upon me, to which resistance can be made neither by valour, nor by weapons, nor by arms. A consuming flame is pervading the inmost recesses of my lungs, and is preying on all my limbs. But Eurystheus still survives. And are there,” says he, “any who can believe that the Deities exist?”

MetamorphosesOvidHenry T. RileyEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 9

Book 9, Line 12ProseID metamorphoses-riley-en-prose-9-12