“Metamorphoses” (The Giants’ War, X) – Ovid

by richibi

deucalion-and-pyrrha-praying-before-the-statue-of-the-goddess-themis.jpg!Large

  “Deucalion and Pyrrha Praying before the Statue of the Goddess Themis“ (c.1542) 

 

          Tintoretto


             _____


 

              A mountain of stupendous height there stands
              Betwixt th’ Athenian and Boeotian lands, 

 

Boetia was, and still is, a region of 

Central Greece, its largest city is,

and was, Thebes, a major rival in

ancient times of Athens


              The bound of fruitful fields, while fields they were, 

 

bound, boundary, the fruitful fields

within a certain limited area, between 

Athens, here, and Boetia


              But then a field of waters did appear: 


              Parnassus is its name; whose forky rise
              Mounts thro’ the clouds, and mates the lofty skies. 

 

Parnassus is a mountain in Central 

Greece, however forky, however 

forked, craggy, uneven, sacred 

especially to Apollo, god of too 

many things to list here, and the 

site, at Delphi, on its south-western 

slope, of his Oracle, famous for 

being consulted on a variety of 

matters, from personal to affairs 

of state, its high priestess was 

believed to incarnate the very 

voice of Apollo

 

Parnassus was also the home, 

incidentally, of the Muses, goddesses 

in their own right, of the several arts, 

who ministered to Apollo


              High on the summit of this dubious cliff,
              Deucalion wafting, moor’d his little skiff. 

 

Deucalion is the Abrahamic Noah‘s

counterpart, sole survivor, with his 

wife Pyrrha, of the flood 

 

the cliff is dubious because the

mountain is still deep in water,

its summit precarious yet 

 

              He with his wife were only left behind
              Of perish’d Man; they two were human kind. 

 

they two alone were left of humankind,

of perish’d Man

 

              The mountain nymphs, and Themis they adore, 

 

Themis, goddess of Divine Justice

 

              And from her oracles relief implore. 

 

Deucalion and Pyrrha pray to Themis

at Delphi, its first high priestess, hungry

for, and heedful of, her oracles, counsel

 

see above

 

              The most upright of mortal men was he;
              The most sincere, and holy woman, she. 

 

a chance at a new world

 


R ! chard