Timoli: T(i)molus, a mountain in Lydia sacred to Bacchus.
87. Pactolon: Greek acc. sg. of Pactolus, a river of Lydia in western Asia Minor which rose on Mount Timolus and was famous in antiquity for the gold found in its sand.
88. caris: here, dear in the economic sense, valuable.
invidiosus: lit., full of envy = envied.
harenis: harena,sand; ABL. OF CAUSE.
89. adsueta: customary.
cohors:throng, troop.
Satyri:Satyrs, lascivious woodland creatures who accompanied Bacchus in his revels; usually depicted as men with pointed ears, tails, and the legs and hooves of goats or horses, they represent the forces of male fertility.
Bacchae: another name for the Maenads, female attendants of Bacchus, either semidivine spirits of vegetation and fertility as here or mortal women who took part in the orgiastic worship of Bacchus.
frequentant: frequentare,to attend in large numbers.
90. Silenus: an elderly satyr, son of Pan or Hermes, noted for both his wisdom and his love of strong drink; he raised Bacchus and was his tutor and faithful attendant.
titubantem: titubare,to stagger, reel; sc. Silenum.
meroque: merum (sc. vinum), unmixed wine; usually the ancients mixed water with their wine—but old Silenus took his neat.
91. ruricolae…Phryges: the Phrygian rustics; Phrygia was a district of Asia Minor.
coronis: corona,garland, often worn by the ancients at their festivities.
Orpheus and Eurydice are reunited in Hades.
Umbra subit terras et, quae loca viderat ante, cuncta recognoscit quaerensque per arva piorum invenit Eurydicen cupidisque amplectitur ulnis. Hic modo coniunctis spatiantur passibus ambo: 65 nunc praecedentem sequitur, nunc praevius anteit Eurydicenque suam iam tuto respicit Orpheus.
MIDAS AND THE GOLDEN TOUCH
Metamorphoses 11.85–145
Bacchus’ tutor Silenus is generously entertained by King Midas of Phrygia, and the wine god grants Midas his wish for the golden touch.
Death of Orpheus Red-figure stamnos Hermonax 5th century B.C. Louvre Paris, France
Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY.
85 Nec satis hoc Baccho est: ipsos quoque deserit agros cumque choro meliore sui vineta Timoli Pactolonque petit, quamvis non aureus illo tempore nec caris erat invidiosus harenis. Hunc adsueta cohors, Satyri Bacchaeque, frequentant, 90 at Silenus abest. Titubantem annisque meroque ruricolae cepere Phryges vinctumque coronis ad regem duxere Midan, cui Thracius Orpheus orgia tradiderat cum Cecropio Eumolpo. Qui simul agnovit socium comitemque sacrorum, 95 hospitis adventu festum genialiter egit per bis quinque dies et iunctas ordine noctes. Et iam stellarum sublime coegerat agmen Lucifer undecimus, Lydos cum laetus in agros rex venit et iuveni Silenum reddit alumno. 100 Huic deus optandi gratum sed inutile fecit muneris arbitrium, gaudens altore recepto. Ille male usurus donis ait: “Effice quidquid corpore contigero fulvum vertatur in aurum.” Adnuit optatis nocituraque munera solvit 105 Liber et indoluit quod non meliora petisset.
92. Midan: acc. sg. of Midas. The legendary Phrygian king is best known from this story in Ovid; later in this same book of the Metamorphoses, however, Ovid recounts another tale in which Midas was given the ears of an ass by Apollo for judging that god’s music inferior to Pan’s.
93. orgia: n. pl., ceremonies, rites, here, the ecstatic rites of Bacchus.
Cecropio:Cecropian (from Cecrops, the legendary second king of Athens), Athenian. The meter of the verse is unusual, with both HIATUS (the lack of elision between Cecropio and Eumolpo) and a spondee in the fifth foot, which nearly always is dactylic, thus producing a so-called SPONDAIC LINE.
Eumolpo:Eumolpus, a Thracian bard and a pupil of Orpheus, was reputed to have brought the Eleusinian mysteries (the cult of Demeter and Persephone) to Eleusis, near Athens.
94. qui: i.e., Midas.
simul: adv., at the same time; here = simul atque, as soon as.
comitem: comes,comrade, companion; possibly a HENDIADYS WITH socium, his allied comrade.
sacrorum: sacra, here, sacred rites, mysteries.
95. hospitis: hospes, guest.
festum:festival.
97. sublime: lofty, celestial.
coegerat: here, had driven away.
agmen:band, throng, array.
98. Lucifer: lit., Light-bringer, = the morning star, which ushers in the dawn and thus compels the stars of the night to pale and disappear.
Lydos:Lydian.
