The Metamorphoses of Ovid | Page 8

which is
animated by Minerva.
When thus he, whoever of the Gods he was,[11] had divided the mass
{so} separated, and reduced it, so divided, into {distinct} members; in
the first place, that it might not be unequal on any side, he gathered it
up into the form of a vast globe; then he commanded the sea to be
poured around it, and to grow boisterous with the raging winds, and to
surround the shores of the Earth, encompassed {by it}; he added also
springs, and numerous pools and lakes, and he bounded the rivers as
they flowed downwards, with slanting banks. These, different in
{different} places, are some of them swallowed up[12] by {the Earth}
itself; some of them reach the ocean, and, received in the expanse of
waters that take a freer range, beat against shores instead of banks.
He commanded the plains,[13] too, to be extended, the valleys to sink
down, the woods to be clothed with green leaves, the craggy mountains
to arise; and, as on the right-hand side,[14] two Zones intersect the
heavens, and as many on the left; {and as} there is a fifth hotter than

these, so did the care of the Deity distinguish this enclosed mass {of the
Earth} by the same number, and as many climates are marked out upon
the Earth. Of these, that which is the middle one[15] is not habitable on
account of the heat; deep snow covers two[16] {of them}. Between
either these he placed as many more,[17] and gave them a temperate
climate, heat being mingled with cold.
Over these hangs the air, which is heavier than fire, in the same degree
that the weight of water is lighter than the weight of the earth. Here he
ordered vapors, here too, the clouds to take their station; the thunder,
too, to terrify the minds of mortals, and with the lightnings, the winds
that bring on cold. The Contriver of the World did not allow these
indiscriminately to take possession of the sky. Even now, (although
they each of them govern their own blasts in a distinct tract) they are
with great difficulty prevented from rending the world asunder, so great
is the discord of the brothers.[18] Eurus took his way[19] towards {the
rising of} Aurora and the realms of Nabath[20] and Persia, and the
mountain ridges exposed to the rays of the morning. The Evening star,
and the shores which are warm with the setting sun, are bordering upon
Zephyrus.[21] The terrible Boreas invaded Scythia,[22] and the regions
of the North. The opposite quarter is wet with continual clouds, and the
drizzling South Wind.[23] Over these he placed the firmament, clear
and devoid of gravity, and not containing anything of the dregs of
earth.
Scarcely had he separated all these by fixed limits, when the stars,
which had long lain hid, concealed beneath that mass {of Chaos},
began to glow through the range of the heavens. And that no region
might be destitute of its own {peculiar} animated beings, the stars and
the forms of the Gods[24] possess the tract of heaven; the waters fell to
be inhabited by the smooth fishes;[25] the Earth received the wild
beasts, {and} the yielding air the birds.
{But} an animated being, more holy than these, more fitted to receive
higher faculties, and which could rule over the rest,[26] was still
wanting. {Then} Man was formed. Whether it was that the Artificer of
all things, the original of the world in its improved state, framed him

from divine elements;[27] or whether, the Earth, being newly made,
and but lately divided from the lofty æther, still retained some atoms of
its kindred heaven, which, tempered with the waters of the stream, the
son of Iapetus fashioned after the image of the Gods, who rule over all
things. And, whereas other animals bend their looks downwards upon
the Earth, to Man he gave a countenance to look on high and to behold
the heavens, and to raise his face erect to the stars. Thus, that which had
been lately rude earth, and without any regular shape, being changed,
assumed the form of Man, {till then} unknown.
[Footnote 11: Whoever of the Gods he was.--Ver. 32. By this
expression the Poet perhaps may intend to intimate that the God who
created the world was some more mighty Divinity than those who were
commonly accounted Deities.]
[Footnote 12: Are some of them swallowed up.--Ver. 40. He here refers
to those rivers which, at some distance from their sources, disappear
and continue their course under ground. Such was the stream of
Arethusa, the Lycus in Asia, the Erasinus in Argolis, the Alpheus in
Peloponnesus, the Arcas in Spain, and the Rhone in France. Most of
these, however, after descending into the earth, appear again and
discharge their