"These charges, at first held in constant mind, from Theseus slipped away as clouds are impelled by the breath of the winds from the ethereal peak of a snow-clad mount."
— Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84 - c. 54 B.C.)
Work Title
Date
54 B.C.
Metaphor
"These charges, at first held in constant mind, from Theseus slipped away as clouds are impelled by the breath of the winds from the ethereal peak of a snow-clad mount."
Metaphor in Context
haec mandata prius constanti mente tenentem
Thesea ceu pulsae ventorum flamine nubes
aerium nivei montis liquere cacumen.
at pater, ut summa prospectum ex arce petebat
anxia in adsiduos absumens lumina fletus,
cum primum inflati conspexit lintea veli,
praecipitem sese scopulorum e vertice iecit
amissum credens immiti Thesea fato.
sic funesta domus ingressus tecta paterna
morte ferox Theseus, qualem Minoidi luctu
obtulerat mente immemori, talem ipse recepit.
[These charges, at first held in constant mind, from Theseus slipped away as clouds are impelled by the breath of the winds from the ethereal peak of a snow-clad mount. But as his father sought the castle's turrets as watchplace, dimming his anxious eyes with continual weeping, when first he spied the discoloured canvas, flung himself headlong from the top of the crags, believing Theseus lost by harsh fate. Thus as he entered the grief-stricken house, his paternal roof, Theseus savage with slaughter met with like grief as that which with unmemoried mind he had dealt to Minos' daughter: while she gazed with grieving at his disappearing keel, turned over a tumult of cares in her wounded spirit.]
Thesea ceu pulsae ventorum flamine nubes
aerium nivei montis liquere cacumen.
at pater, ut summa prospectum ex arce petebat
anxia in adsiduos absumens lumina fletus,
cum primum inflati conspexit lintea veli,
praecipitem sese scopulorum e vertice iecit
amissum credens immiti Thesea fato.
sic funesta domus ingressus tecta paterna
morte ferox Theseus, qualem Minoidi luctu
obtulerat mente immemori, talem ipse recepit.
[These charges, at first held in constant mind, from Theseus slipped away as clouds are impelled by the breath of the winds from the ethereal peak of a snow-clad mount. But as his father sought the castle's turrets as watchplace, dimming his anxious eyes with continual weeping, when first he spied the discoloured canvas, flung himself headlong from the top of the crags, believing Theseus lost by harsh fate. Thus as he entered the grief-stricken house, his paternal roof, Theseus savage with slaughter met with like grief as that which with unmemoried mind he had dealt to Minos' daughter: while she gazed with grieving at his disappearing keel, turned over a tumult of cares in her wounded spirit.]
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" at Perseus Digital Library
Citation
Text from Perseus Digital Library, which draws from E.T Merrill's 1893 edition of Catullus <Link>. Catullus. The Carmina of Gaius Valerius Catullus trans. Leonard C. Smithers (London: Smithers, 1894).
Date of Entry
05/18/2011
