丢卡利翁与皮拉

英文据 Garth–Dryden 等 1717 年公版韵文译本《变形记》第一卷（本卷译者署 John Dryden），逐行照录，…… 标示删节；行末原有的排版括线符号一律略去。拉丁文据拉丁文维基文库本《变形记》第一卷（https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Metamorphoses_(Ovidius)/Liber_I ，长音符为该校本所加），只录与重殖直接相关的几句。

Now Hills, and Vales no more distinction know;

And levell'd Nature lies oppress'd below.

The most of Mortals perish in the Flood:

The small remainder dies for want of Food.

……

A Mountain of stupendous height there stands

Betwixt th' Athenian and Bœotian Lands,

The Bound of fruitful Fields, while Fields they were,

But then a Field of Waters did appear:

Parnassus is its name; whose forky rise

Mounts through the Clouds, and mates the lofty Skies.

High on the Summit of this dubious Cliff,

Deucalion wafting, moor'd his little Skiff.

He with his Wife were only left behind

Of perish'd Man; they two were human Kind.

The Mountain Nymphs, and Themis they adore,

And from her Oracles relief implore.

The most upright of mortal Men was he;

The most sincere, and holy Woman, she.

When Jupiter, surveying Earth from high,

Beheld it in a Lake of Water lie,

That where so many Millions lately liv'd,

But two, the best of either Sex, surviv'd;

……

They ask, when those were lost of humane Birth,

What he would do with all this waste of Earth:

If his dispeopl'd World he would resign

To Beasts, a mute, and more ignoble Line;

Neglected Altars must no longer smoke,

If none were left to worship, and invoke.

To whom the Father of the Gods reply'd,

Lay that unnecessary Fear aside:

Mine be the care, new People to provide.

I will from wondrous Principles ordain

A Race unlike the first, and try my skill again.

……

Which when Deucalion, with a piteous Look

Beheld, he wept, and thus to Pyrrha spoke:

Oh Wife, oh Sister, oh of all thy kind

The best, and only Creature left behind,

By Kindred, Love, and now by Dangers joyn'd;

Of Multitudes, who breath'd the common Air,

We two remain; a Species in a Pair:

The rest the Seas have swallow'd; nor have we

Ev'n of this wretched Life a certainty.

……

Thus, in Devotion having eas'd their Grief,

From sacred Oracles they seek Relief;

And to Cephysus Brook their way pursue:

The Stream was troubled, but the Ford they knew;

With living Waters, in the Fountain bred,

They sprinkle first their Garments, and their Head,

Then took the way, which to the Temple led.

The Roofs were all defil'd with Moss, and Mire,

The desart Altars void of Solemn Fire.

Before the Gradual, prostrate they ador'd;

The Pavement kiss'd, and thus the Saint implor'd.

O Righteous Themis, if the Pow'rs above

By Pray'rs are bent to pity, and to love;

If humane Miseries can move their Mind;

If yet they can forgive, and yet be kind;

Tell how we may restore, by second birth,

Mankind, and people desolated Earth.

Then thus the gracious Goddess, nodding, said;

Depart, and with your Vestments veil your Head:

And stooping lowly down, with loosen'd Zones,

Throw each behind your Backs, your mighty Mother's Bones.

Amaz'd the Pair, and mute with wonder stand,

Till Pyrrha first refus'd the dire Command.

Forbid it Heav'n, said she, that I shou'd tear

Those Holy Reliques from the Sepulcher.

……

They ponder'd the mysterious Words again,

For some new Sense; and long they fought in vain:

At length Deucalion clear'd his cloudy Brow,

And said, the dark Ænigma will allow

A Meaning, which if well I understand,

From Sacrilege will free the God's Command:

This Earth our mighty Mother is, the Stones

In her capacious Body, are her Bones:

These we must cast behind. With hope, and fear

The Woman did the new Solution hear:

The Man diffides in his own Augury,

And doubts the Gods; yet both resolve to try.

Descending from the Mount, they first unbind

Their Vests, and veil'd, they cast the Stones behind;

The Stones (a Miracle to Mortal View,

But long Tradition makes it pass for true)

Did first the Rigour of their Kind expel,

And suppled into Softness, as they fell;

Then swell'd, and swelling, by degrees grew warm;

And took the Rudiments of Humane Form.

Imperfect Shapes: in Marble such are seen,

When the rude Chizzel does the Man begin;

While yet the roughness of the Stone remains,

Without the rising Muscles, and the Veins.

The sappy Parts, and next resembling juice,

Were turn'd to Moisture, for the Bodies use:

Supplying Humours, Blood, and Nourishment;

The Rest, too solid to receive the Bent,

Converts to Bones; and what was once a Vein,

Its former Name and Nature did retain.

By help of Pow'r Divine, in little Space,

What the Man threw, assum'd a Manly Face;

And what the Wife, renew'd the Female Race.

Hence we derive our Nature; born to bear

Laborious Life; and harden'd into Care.

Mōta dea est sortemque dedit: 'Discēdite templō

et vēlāte caput cinctāsque resolvite vestēs

ossaque post tergum magnae iactāte parentis!'

……

Magna parēns terra est: lapidās in corpore terrae

ossa reor dīcī; iacere hōs post terga iubēmur.'

……

inque brevō spatiō superōrum nūmine saxa

missa virī manibus faciem traxēre virōrum

et dē fēmineō reparāta est fēmina iactū.

Inde genus dūrum sumus experiēnsque labōrum

et documenta damus quā sīmus orīgine nātī.