Ippolito caduto e realzato

Speranza

Seneca

Nvn.

"Ut profugus urbem liquit infesto gradu 1000 celerem citatis passibus cursum explicans, celso sonipedes ocius subigit iugo et ora frenis domita substrictis ligat. tum multa secum effatus et patrium solum abominatus saepe genitorem ciet1005 acerque habenis lora permissis quatit: cum subito uastum tonuit ex alto mare creuitque in astra. nullus inspirat salo uentus, quieti nulla pars caeli strepit placidumque pelagus propria tempestas agit. 1010 non tantus Auster Sicula disturbat freta nec tam furens Ionius exsurgit sinus regnante Coro, saxa cum fluctu tremunt et cana summum spuma Leucaten ferit. consurgit ingens pontus in uastum aggerem,101 5 [tumidumque monstro pelagus in terras ruit] nec ista ratibus tanta construitur lues: terris minatur; fluctus haud cursu leui prouoluitur; nescioquid onerato sinu grauis unda portat. quae nouum tellus caput 1020 ostendet astris? Cyclas exoritur noua? latuere rupes numine Epidauri dei et scelere petrae nobiles Scironides et quae duobus terra comprimitur fretis. Haec dum stupentes sequimur, en totum mare 10 25 immugit, omnes undique scopuli adstrepunt; summum cacumen rorat expulso sale, spumat uomitque uicibus alternis aquas qualis per alta uehitur Oceani freta fluctum refundens ore physeter capax. 1030 inhorruit concussus undarum globus soluitque sese et litori inuexit malum maius timore, pontus in terras ruit suumque monstrum sequitur —os quassat tremor. Quis habitus ille corporis uasti fuit! 1035
caerulea taurus colla sublimis gerens erexit altam fronte uiridanti iubam; stant hispidae aures, orbibus uarius color, et quem feri dominator habuisset gregis et quem sub undis natus: hinc flammam uomunt 1 0 40 oculi, hinc relucent caerula insignes nota; opima ceruix arduos tollit toros naresque hiulcis haustibus patulae fremunt; musco tenaci pectus ac palear uiret, longum rubenti spargitur fuco latus; 1045 tum pone tergus ultima in monstrum coit facies et ingens belua immensam trahit squamosa partem. talis extremo mari pistrix citatas sorbet aut frangit rates. Tremuere terrae, fugit attonitum pecus 105 0 passim per agros, nec suos pastor sequi meminit iuuencos; omnis e saltu fera diffugit, omnis frigido exsanguis metu uenator horret. solus immunis metu Hippolytus artis continet frenis equos 1055 pauidosque notae uocis hortatu ciet. Est alta ad Argos collibus ruptis uia, uicina tangens spatia suppositi maris; hic se illa moles acuit atque iras parat. ut cepit animos seque praetemptans satis 1060 prolusit irae, praepeti cursu euolat, summam citato uix gradu tangens humum, et torua currus ante trepidantis stetit. contra feroci gnatus insurgens minax uultu nec ora mutat et magnum intonat: 1065'haud frangit animum uanus hic terror meum: nam mihi paternus uincere est tauros labor.' Inobsequentes protinus frenis equi rapuere cursum iamque derrantes uia, quacumque rabidos pauidus euexit furor, 1070 hac ire pergunt seque per scopulos agunt. at ille, qualis turbido rector mari ratem retentat, ne det obliquum latus, et arte fluctum fallit, haud aliter citos currus gubernat: ora nunc pressis trahit 1075 constricta frenis, terga nunc torto frequens uerbere coercet. sequitur adsiduus comes, nunc aequa carpens spatia, nunc contra obuius oberrat, omni parte terrorem mouens. non licuit ultra fugere: nam toto obuius 1080 incurrit ore corniger ponti horridus. tum uero pauida sonipedes mente exciti imperia soluunt seque luctantur iugo eripere rectique in pedes iactant onus. Praeceps in ora fusus implicuit cadens 1085 laqueo tenaci corpus et quanto magis pugnat, sequaces hoc magis nodos ligat. sensere pecudes facinus--et curru leui, dominante nullo, qua timor iussit ruunt. talis per auras non suum agnoscens onus 1090 Solique falso creditum indignans diem Phaethonta currus deuium excussit polo. Late cruentat arua et inlisum caput scopulis resultat; auferunt dumi comas, et ora durus pulcra populatur lapis 1095 peritque multo uulnere infelix decor. moribunda celeres membra peruoluunt rotae; tandemque raptum truncus ambusta sude medium per inguen stipite ingesto tenet; [paulumque domino currus affixo stetit] 1100 haesere biiuges uulnere--et pariter moram dominumque rumpunt. inde semianimem secant uirgulta, acutis asperi uepres rubis omnisque ruscus corporis partem tulit. Errant per agros funebris famuli manus,11 05 per illa qua distractus Hippolytus loca longum cruenta tramitem signat nota, maestaeque domini membra uestigant canes. necdum dolentum sedulus potuit labor explere corpus--hocine est formae decus? 1110 qui modo paterni clarus imperii comes et certus heres siderum fulsit modo, passim ad supremos ille colligitur rogos et funeri confertur."

MESSENGER: [1000] "When with troubled steps he left the city, a fugitive, unfolding his swift way with flying feet, he quickly brought his prancing steeds ‘neath the high yoke and curbed their mouths with tight-drawn reins. Then much did he utter, communing with himself, and, cursing his native land, called oft upon his sire, and with loose reins fiercely shook the lash; when suddenly from out the deep the vast sea thundered and starward heaved itself. No wind was blowing on the briny sea, from no quarter of the clam sky came the noise, but a self-born46 tempest stirred the peaceful deep. Not so violently does the south wind distress Sicilia’s straits, nor so madly does the Ionian sea swell beneath the north-west’s tyranny, when the cliffs tremble under the shock of waves and the white spray smites Leucate’s summit. The mighty deep heaves up into a huge mound, and the sea, swollen with a monstrous birth, rushes to land. [1017] Nor is that vast destruction piled up for ships; ‘tis the land it threatens. With no light sweep the flood rolls forward; some strange thing in its burdened womb the heavy wave is carrying. What new land shows its head to the stars? Is a new Cyclad rising? The rocks, the sacred seat of the Epidaurian god,47 were hid, and the cliffs famous for he crime of Sciron, and the land48 which is hemmed in by two seas. [1025] While we in dumb amaze are wondering what this means, behold, the whole sea bellows, and the cliffs on every hand echo back the sound; the highest peak is wet with dashed-up spray; it foams, and then in turn spews back the flood, as when a cavernous whale swims through the deep ways of ocean, spouting back streams of water form his mouth. Then the great globe of waters shivered, shook and broke, and brought to the shore a thing more terrible than our fear; the sea rushed landward, following its monster. My lips tremble in the telling. How the thing looked! how huge! A bull it was, towering high with a dark blue neck, and he reared a high mane upon his verdant crest; his shaggy ears stood up; his eyes flashed with changing colour, now such as the lord of the wild herd might have, now such as one born beneath the sea – now his eyes dart flame, now they flash wondrous with cerulean gleam. His brawny neck with great muscles bulges and his wide nostrils roar with his gaping draughts of air. His breast and dewlap are green with clinging moss, and his long flanks with red seaweed are spotted. His hinder parts are joined into monstrous shape, and, all scaly, the huge beast drags his measureless length along. Such is that sea-monster of the outer ocean which swallows or crushes swift-flying ships. The lands quaked with fear; herds fled in frenzy in all directions through the fields, and the herdsman forgot to follow his cattle. All beasts fled from their wooded haunts; all hunters stood trembling, pale with chilling fear. Hippolytus alone, quite unafraid, with tight reins holds fast his horses and, terror-stricken though they are, urges them on with the encouragement of his familiar voice. [1057] There is a deep passage towards the fields through the broken hills, hard by the neighbouring stretches of the sea below. Here that huge creature sharpens his anger and prepares his wrath. When he has gained his spirit, and with full trail rehearsed his wrath, he darts forth, running swiftly, scarce touching the surface of the ground with flying feet, and stands, in grim menace, before the trembling steeds. Thy son, rising up, confronts him with fierce, threatening look, nor does he change countenance, but loudly thunders: “This empty terror cannot break my spirit, for ‘twas my father’s task to conquer bulls.” But straightway his horses, disobedient to the reins, seized the chariot and, roaming from the road, wherever frenzied terror carried them in their mad flight, there they plunged along and dashed amid the rocks. [1072] But he, as a helmsman holds his ship steady on the boisterous sea, lest it give its side to the waves, and skilfully cheats the floods, in like manner guides his swift-moving steeds. Now he drags on their mouths checked by the tight-drawn reins, and now, oft plying the twisted lash, he forces them to his will. His companion49 holds doggedly in pursuit, now racing alongside the horses, now making detour to face them, form every side filling them with fear. [1080] But now they could flee no further; for he charged full front upon them, that bristling, horned monster of the deep. Then, truly, the plunging horses, driven by mad fear, broke form control, struggled to wrench their necks from the yoke, and, rearing up, hurled their burden to the ground. Headlong on his face he plunged and, as he fell, entangled his body in the clinging reins; and the more he struggled, the tighter he drew those firm-holding coils. The horses felt their deed, and now, with the light chariot, since none controlled, wherever fear bade on they dashed. Just so, not recognizing their wonted burden, and indignant that the day had been entrusted to a pretended Sun, the horses50 flung Phaëthon far from his heavenly track. Far and wide the fields are stained with blood, and his head, dashed on the rocks, bounds back from them. The brambles pluck away his hair; the hard stones ravage that lovely face, and his ill-fated beauty is ruined by many a wound. The swift wheels drag his dying limbs; and at last, as he is whirled along, a tree, its trunk charred into a stake, stays him with its stock driven right through the groin and holds him fast, and for a little while the car stands still, held by its impaled master. Awhile that wound stays the team – then equally delay and their master, too, they break.51 Thereafter the thickets slash his half-dead body, the rough brambles with their sharp thorns tear him and every tree-trunk has taken its toll of him. [1105] Now bands of his mourning servants are scouring the fields through the places where Hippolytus was dragged, marked in a long trail by bloody traces, and his whimpering dogs are tracking their master’s limbs. But not yet has the painstaking toil of his grieving friends availed to fill out his body. Has his glorious beauty come to this? He who but now as the illustrious partner of his father’s throne, who but now, his acknowledged heir, shone like the stars, he is being gathered from every hand for his last burning, and collected for his funeral pyre."