64. non aliter…quam…qui…quam qui (68): the tables are turned, and now it is Orpheus who is dumbstruck (stupuit, echoing the same vb. in 42); just as his song had momentarily halted the actions of the criminals in the Underworld, and even the turning of Ixion’s wheel, so here he is stunned at the sight of Eurydice plummeting backwards into Hades, and his temporary paralysis is compared, in this double simile, with that of two otherwise unknown mythic characters who were transformed into stone. The dactyls in 64–65 help suggest the suddeness of Orpheus’ response.
65. tria: with colla (collum, neck); though he had not descended into Hades to see Cerberus (21–22), he is stunned as if he had gazed upon the beast.
medio: sc. collo; his neck had been chained by Hercules.
66. quem…oborto (67): i.e., he was transformed from his human state into stone even before he had stopped trembling in fear at the sight of the dog.
pavor:trembling, terror.
ante…quam (67): conj., before.
67. oborto: oboriri, to rise up, spring up.
68. quam qui…Olenos (69): = quam Olenos qui. Apparently Lethaea had committed some offense (crimen), perhaps in boasting about her beauty (figurae), and when her spouse or lover Olenos tried to take the blame himself, both were turned to stone.
69. confisa: trusting in, + dat.
71. lapides: lapis, stone.
umida:wet, moist, rainy.
sustinet: i.e., the rocks or boulders were on Mt. Ida (Ide—there were mountains of this name in Troy and Crete); the myth was perhaps based on some anthropomorphic rock formations.
72. orantem: i.e., Orpheus, who had returned towards Hades as far as the Styx.
73. portitor: ferryman, i.e., Charon, who ferried the dead, and rarely the living, across the Styx.
arcuerat: arcere,to keep out, debar, prevent.
septem…diebus: ABL. OF DURATION OF TIME, instead of the usual acc.
74. ripa: bank (of a river).
Cereris sine munere:without the gift of Ceres(Ceres), i.e., without food.
75. alimenta: alimentum, food.
76. Erebi: Erebus = Hades.
77. Rhodopen: acc. of Rhodope (see on 11 above).
aquilonibus: aquilo,north wind.
Haemum: Haemus, another mountain range in Thrace.
Non aliter stupuit gemina nece coniugis Orpheus, 65 quam tria qui timidus, medio portante catenas, colla canis vidit, quem non pavor ante reliquit, quam natura prior, saxo per corpus oborto; quam qui in se crimen traxit voluitque videri Olenos esse nocens, tuque, o confisa figurae 70 infelix Lethaea tuae, iunctissima quondam pectora, nunc lapides, quos umida sustinet Ide.
“Orpheus and Eurydice” Frederico Cervelli 17th century Galleria querini Stampalia Venice, Italy
Scala/Art Resource, NY.
Orantem frustraque iterum transire volentem portitor arcuerat. Septem tamen ille diebus squalidus in ripa Cereris sine munere sedit; 75 cura dolorque animi lacrimaeque alimenta fuere. Esse deos Erebi crudeles questus, in altam se recipit Rhodopen pulsumque aquilonibus Haemum.
61. umbra: i.e., Orpheus’ ghost. Grieving over the final loss of his wife, he scorned all the women of Thrace and thus enraged a band of frenzied Maenads (female worshippers of Bacchus), who attacked him and tore him to pieces.
62. cuncta: = omnia.
arva: arvum,field; with piorum (good, virtuous, blessed) = the Elysian Fields, that region of the Underworld reserved for the virtuous.
63. amplectitur: in Vergil’s account Eurydice vanished into the darkness again as the two vainly attempted to embrace.
ulnis: ulna,arm.
64. spatiantur: spatiari, to walk.
65. sequitur: Orpheus is subj. and Eurydicen obj. of the sent.’s three vbs.
anteit: the ei is scanned as a single syllable (SYNIZESIS).
66. tuto: adv., safely.
85. hoc: the wine-god Bacchus, outraged by the slaying of his favorite bard, Orpheus, metamorphosed the Thracian women who had killed him into oak trees, but this was not punishment enough.
86. choro: chorus, band (of followers); i.e., better than the Maenads who had slain Orpheus.
vineta: vinetum,vineyard.
