Recently my attention was drawn to the story of the
singer Arion in Herodotus (1.24), as my daughter had to prepare this text for
school. If I remember well, a Latin
adaption serves as easy reading in the Oxford or Cambridge Latin course. By
chance I found a version of the same story in Ovid’s Fasti in a reader with selections of Latin poetry. Taking this as a
divine command, I started working on this text.
Little is known about the historical Arion, except that
he lived in the 7th century BC and came from Lesbos. He was a musician at the
court of Periander, ruler of Corinth, and was said –wrongly – to have invented
the dithyramb, a song and dance in honour of Dionysus. According to the story,
he tried his luck away from the court of Periander and amassed a lot of wealth
at Sicily. On his way back on a ship to Corinth, Corinthian sailors - eager for
his gold – wanted to kill him, but Arion asked to perform a song first. The
sailors agreed and Arion sings a song and attracts a dolphin by his singing. He
jumps overboard and the dolphin takes him back o Corinth. Of course the sailors
were punished afterwards!
Like that other famous singer Orpheus, Arion was believed
to perform miracles with his lyre and voice: nature was enchanted by his playing and singing
and so water stopped running and animals gave up their natural behaviour and
lived in peace with each other.
The dolphin saving Arion is also credited with another
good deed, namely serving as a postilion
d’amour (felix index) between the
god Poseidon and the Nereid Amphitrite.
Poseidon wanted to marry this beautiful sea nymph, but she was not so
happy about this prospect and fled away.
Sent out as a searcher, the dolphin found her and persuaded here to
accept Poseidon’s love. In return for his good behaviour the dolphin was made
into a constellation.
It is this constellation Delphinus of which the
mythological background is told by Ovid.
His Fasti is a kind of
festival calendar, describing the various festivals for each month. In order to
have more material, Ovid also tells about myths which have no relation with
some religious custom and this is an example of that. It is assigned to the third of February for
the sole reason that this constellation is then about to disappear (fugiet visus nocte sequente tuos) for a
few months from the sky.
Ovid, Fasti II, 78-118
Quem modo caelatum stellis Delphina videbas,
is fugiet visus nocte sequente tuos,
seu fuit
occultis felix in amoribus index,
Lesbida cum domino seu tulit ille lyram.
quod mare non
novit, quae nescit Ariona tellus?
carmine currentes ille tenebat aquas.
saepe sequens
agnam lupus est a voce retentus,
85
saepe avidum fugiens restitit agna lupum;
saepe canes
leporesque umbra iacuere sub una,
et stetit in saxo proxima cerva leae,
et sine lite
loquax cum Palladis alite cornix
sedit, et accipitri iuncta columba
fuit. 90
Cynthia saepe
tuis fertur, vocalis Arion,
tamquam fraternis obstipuisse modis.
nomen Arionium
Siculas impleverat urbes
captaque erat lyricis Ausonis ora sonis;
inde domum
repetens puppem conscendit Arion,
95
atque ita quaesitas arte ferebat opes.
forsitan,
infelix, ventos undasque timebas:
at tibi nave tua tutius aequor erat.
namque
gubernator destricto constitit ense
ceteraque armata conscia turba manu. 100
quid tibi cum gladio? dubiam rege, navita, puppem:
non haec sunt digitis arma tenenda tuis.
ille, metu
pavidus, 'mortem non deprecor' inquit,
'sed liceat sumpta pauca referre
lyra.'
dant veniam
ridentque moram: capit ille coronam, 105
quae possit crines, Phoebe, decere tuos;
induerat Tyrio
bis tinctam murice pallam:
reddidit icta suos pollice chorda sonos,
flebilibus
numeris veluti canentia dura
traiectus penna tempora cantat olor. 110
protinus in
medias ornatus desilit undas;
spargitur impulsa caerula puppis aqua.
inde (fide
maius) tergo delphina recurvo
se memorant oneri subposuisse novo.
ille, sedens
citharamque tenens, pretiumque vehendi 115
cantat et aequoreas carmine mulcet aquas.
di pia facta vident: astris delphina recepit
Iuppiter et stellas iussit habere novem.
caelo: to engrave, embroid
nocte sequente: i.e. the constellation is about to disappear
seu…seu: according
to one tradition the dolphin was made a constellation by Poseidon and according
to another by Jupiter.
index, indicis
(f.): informer
teneo tenui:
hold back, restrain
tellus, telluris
(f.): earth, country
saepe: not the
pathetic repetition of this word
avidus: greedy
lepus, leporis
(m.): hare
iacuere = iacuerunt
cerva: female
deer
proximus (+
dat.): near to
lea: lioness
lis, litis (f.): quarrel
loquax, loquacis: talkative
Palladis alite:
the Palladis ales is of course the
owl
cornix, cornicis
(f.): crow (the owl took the place of the crow as bird of Athena and hence they
are always quarrelling , cf. Ovid, Met.
II, 562 )
accipiter, accipitris (m.): hawk (probably from *acupeter,
from Greek ὠκυπÎτης `the fast flying”, but with folk etymology association with accipere.)
columba: dove
Cynthia:
Artemis, sister of Apollo, the divine lyre player
fertur…obstipuisse:
is said to have been stupefied
modus: melody
Siculus:
Sicilian
Ausonis ora:
the coast of Italy (Ausonis is the Greek form of Aurunci, an Oscan tribe living in mid-Italy, and by extension a
name for Italy as a whole.)
Inde domum repetens
puppem conscendit: from where striving to go home he boards a ship (puppis f. the stern of a ship)
quaesitas arte opes: his wealth won by his art
forsitan: may
be
nave tua tutius
aequor erat: the sea was more save than your ship
districto ense:
with drawn sword
armata with manu
conscia turba:
the crew participating
quid ( + dat.)
x cum y?: what has x to do with y?
dubiam: as
without steering the ship would not hold its course
rege: steer
navita = nauta
ille = Arion
deprecor
deprecatus: seek to avoid
sumpta lyra:
the lyre being taken up
refero: to
tell, sing
dant veniam:
they give permission (litt. forgiveness)
mora: delay
corona: singers
had a wreath
crinis crinis
(m.): hair
deceo: to be
fitting, suitable (mostly used as an impersonal verb)
Phoebus = Apollo
induerat Tyrio bis
tinctam murice pallam: he put on his mantle, twice dyed with Tyrian purple (murex) (and hence very expensive!)
reddidit icta
pollice chorda: the string, plucked by the thumb (pollex) returned
numeri:
harmony
canentia dura
/ traiectus penna tempora = canentia tempora traiectus pinna dura:
the whitening temples transfixed by a hard arrow (lit. transfixed with regard
to his whitening temples (canentia
tempora acc. Graecus)
pinna = sagitta (as an arrow had a feather at
the end of the shaft
olor, oloris
(m.): swan (referring to the belief the
swans sing at their most beautiful when dying.)
protinus:
forward
ornatus: as he
had his wreath and purple mantle on
desilio desilui
desultus: to jump down
spargo sparsi sparsum:
to sprinkle, splash
caerulus: bleu,
dark (with puppis)
fide maius:
greater than belief = beyond belief
delphina: Greek accusative ending (not uncommon with
Greek loanwords)
tergo delphina recurvo
/ se memorant oneri subposuisse novo: litt. people remember a dolphin with a curved back
to have put himself (se) under a new
load
pretium vehendi:
as prize for transporting
aequoreus: of
the sea
mulceo mulsi mulsum:
to touch lightly
astris: amidst
the stars
novem: the
constellation has 9 stars
Marble bas-relief by Artus Quellin I (1648), Amsterdam,
Royal palace.
Translation by A.S. Klyne (2004)
Book II: February 3
The Dolphin that you saw lately, studded with stars,
Will escape your gaze on the following night:
He was a happy go-between in love’s intrigues,
Or he carried the Lesbian lyre and its master.
What land or sea does not know of Arion?
He could hold back the running waters with his singing.
Often the wolf seeking a lamb was halted by his voice,
Often the lamb stopped, in fleeing the ravening wolf.
Often hare and hounds rested in the same covert,
And the deer on the rock stood still near the lioness,
And the chattering crow perched with Pallas’ owl,
Without a quarrel, and the dove united with the hawk.
They say that Diana has often stood entranced at your
music,
Tuneful Arion, as if it were played by her brother’s
hand.
Arion’s fame had filled the cities of Sicily,
And charmed the Italian shores with the sound of his
lyre:
Travelling back from there, he boarded a ship
Carrying with him the wealth won by his art.
Unhappy one, perhaps you feared the wind and waves,
But the sea, in truth, was safer for you than your ship.
Since the steersman stood there with naked blade,
And the rest of that crew of conspirators were armed.
Why draw that blade? Seaman, steer the wandering vessel:
That weapon is not appropriate in your hands.
Trembling with fear, Arion said: ‘I don’t plead for life,
But let me take up my lyre and play a little.’
They granted it, laughing at the delay. He took the
wreath
That might have graced your tresses, Phoebus:
Put on his robe, twice-stained with Tyrian purple:
And, plucked by his thumb, the strings gave out their
music,
Such a melody as the swan’s mournful measures,
When the cruel shaft has transfixed its brow.
At once, he plunged, fully clothed into the waves:
The water, leaping, splashed the sky-blue stern.
Then (beyond belief) they say a dolphin
Yielded its back to the unaccustomed weight.
Sitting there, Arion gripped the lyre, and paid his fare
In song, soothing the ocean waves with his singing.
The gods see good deeds: Jupiter took the dolphin
And ordered its constellation to contain nine stars.
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