Fall 2003, Week Two
| Iamque valens et in omne latus diffusa sonabat, securosque artus contemptoremque petebat flamma suum. timuere dei pro vindice terrae. quos ita, sensit enim, laeto Saturnius ore Iuppiter adloquitur: 'nostra est timor iste voluptas, o superi, totoque libens mihi pectore grator, quod memoris populi dicor rectorque paterque et mea progenies vestro quoque tuta favore est. nam quamquam ipsius datur hoc inmanibus actis, obligor ipse tamen. sed enim nec pectora vano fida metu paveant. Oetaeas spernite flammas! omnia qui vicit, vincet, quos cernitis, ignes; nec nisi materna Vulcanum parte potentem sentiet. aeternum est a me quod traxit, et expers atque inmune necis, nullaque domabile flamma. idque ego defunctum terra caelestibus oris accipiam, cunctisque meum laetabile factum dis fore confido. siquis tamen Hercule, siquis forte deo doliturus erit, data praemia nolet, sed meruisse dari sciet, invitusque probabit.' adsensere dei. coniunx quoque regia visa est cetera non duro, duro tamen ultima vultu dicta tulisse Iovis, seque indoluisse notatam. interea quodcumque fuit populabile flammae, Mulciber abstulerat, nec cognoscenda remansit Herculis effigies, nec quicquam ab imagine ductum matris habet, tantumque Iovis vestigia servat. utque novus serpens posita cum pelle senecta luxuriare solet, squamaque nitere recenti, sic ubi mortales Tirynthius exuit artus, parte sui meliore viget, maiorque videri coepit et augusta fieri gravitate verendus. quem pater omnipotens inter cava nubila raptum quadriiugo curru radiantibus intulit astris. |
Now the fierce flames, spreading on every side, were crackling loudly, and licking at his body, he unconcerned and scornful of them. The gods were fearful for earth's champion. Saturnian Jupiter spoke to them, gladly, since he understood their feelings. 'O divine beings, your fear for him delights me, and I willingly congratulate myself, with all my heart, that I am called father and ruler of a thoughtful race, and that my offspring is protected by your favour also. Though this tribute is paid to his great deeds, I am obliged to you, also. But do not allow your loyal hearts to feel groundless fears. Forget Oeta's flames! He, who has defeated all things, will defeat the fires you see, nor will he feel Vulcan's power, except in the mortal part that he owes to his mother, Alcmene. What he has from me is immortal, deathless and eternal: and that, no flame can destroy. When it is done with the earth, I will accept it into the celestial regions, and I trust my action will please all the gods. But if there is anyone, anyone at all, who is unhappy at Hercules's deification, and would not wish to grant this gift, he or she should know that it was given for merit, and should approve it, though unwillingly.' The gods agreed. Juno, also, appeared to accept the rest of his words with compliance, but not the last ones, upset that she was being censored. Meanwhile, Mulciber had consumed whatever the flames could destroy, and no recognisable form of Hercules remained, no semblance of what came to him from his mother: he only retained his inheritance from Jove. As a snake enjoys its newness, sloughing old age with its skin, gleaming with fresh scales; so, when the Tirynthian hero had shed his mortal body, he became his better part, beginning to appear greater, and more to be revered, in his high majesty. The all-powerful father of the gods carrying him upwards, in his four-horse chariot, through the substanceless clouds, set him among the shining stars. |