echo and narcissus

Adspicit hunc trepidos agitantem in retia cervos

vocalis nymphe, quae nec reticere loquenti,

nec prior ipsa loqui didicit, resonabilis Echo.

She sees this guy chasing frightened deer into a net, this talkative nymph, who neither learned to get quiet when someone was talking nor learned to talk first, echoing Echo. 

Corpus adhuc Echo, non vox erat; et tamen usum

garrula non alium, quam nunc habet, oris habebat,                        5

reddere de multis ut verba novissima posset.

To this point, Echo was a body, not a voice; she, being a chatterbox, had no other use of her mouth than what she has now, that she was able to return the most recent words from many.

Ergo ubi Narcissum per devia rura vagantem                                

vidit et incaluit, sequitur vestigia furtim,

quoque magis sequitur, flamma propiore calescit,

non aliter, quam cum summis circumlita taedis                        10

admotas rapiunt vivacia sulphura flammas.

Therefore, when Echo saw Narcissus walking through the lonely countryside, she fell in love and she followed his footsteps secretly, and the more she follows him, she burns with a closer flame, not unlike when lively sulphur, smeared on the tops of torches, seizes fire when brought close.

O quotiens voluit blandis accedere dictis        

et molles adhibere preces: natura repugnat

nec sinit incipiat.

O how much she wanted to approach with flattering words and to offer sweet prayers: nature denied and did not allow her to begin.

Sed, quod sinit, illa parata est

exspectare sonos, ad quos sua verba remittat.   

But, which it did allow, she was prepared to await sounds to which she sent back her words.

Forte puer comitum seductus ab agmine fido,                

dixerat “ecquis adest?” et “adest!” responderat Echo. 

By chance, the boy, having been separated from the faithful band of companions, said “is anyone here?” and Echo replied “here!”

Hic stupet, utque aciem partes dimittit in omnes,

voce “veni!” magna clamat: vocat illa vocantem.

He was astonished, and as he turns his eyesight in all directions, he calls “come here!” in a loud voice: she calls the one calling.

Respicit et rursus nullo veniente “quid” inquit                        20

“me fugis?”

He looked around and with nobody coming he asked again “why do you run away from me?” 

et totidem, quot dixit, verba recepit.

He received as many words as he said. 

Perstat et, alternae deceptus imagine vocis,

“huc coeamus!” ait:

He persists and having been deceived by the illusion of the answering voice, he says, “Let us meet here!”

nullique libentius umquam

responsura sono “coeamus” rettulit Echo,

et verbis favet ipsa suis

And never more gladly about to respond to any sound, Echo replied “meet here,” and she approves her own words.

egressaque silva                                25

ibat, ut iniceret sperato bracchia collo. 

And having come out of the forest, she was going so that she might throw her arms around the neck she hoped for. 

Ille fugit fugiensque “manus complexibus aufer:

ante” ait “emoriar, quam sit tibi copia nostri.”

He flees, and while fleeing says “Take your hands away from my embraces! I would die before you have enjoyment of me.”

Rettulit illa nihil nisi “sit tibi copia nostri.”

She replied nothing except “you have enjoyment of me.”

Spreta latet silvis pudibundaque frondibus ora                        30

protegit et solis ex illo vivit in antris.

Rejected, she hides in the woods, and ashamed, she protects her face with leaves and from that time lives in lonely caves. 

Sed tamen haeret amor crescitque dolore repulsae. 

But nevertheless, her love persists and grows with the pain of rejection. 

Extenuant vigiles corpus miserabile curae,

adducitque cutem macies, et in aera sucus

corporis omnis abit.

Cares which keep one awake weaken her wretched body, and thinness shrinks her skin, and all the moisture of her body goes off into the air.

Vox tantum atque ossa supersunt:                35

vox manet; ossa ferunt lapidis traxisse figuram.

Only her voice and bones survive: her voice remains; they say her bones took on the appearance of stone.

[inde latet silvis nulloque in monte videtur;        

omnibus auditur: sonus est, qui vivit in illa.]

From then on she hides in the woods and is seen on no mountain; she is heard by all: it is the sound that lives in her. 

Hic puer, et studio venandi lassus et aestu,                

procubuit faciemque loci fontemque secutus.                                40

This boy, having been tired from both the enthusiasm of the hunt and the heat, laid down and having followed the appearance of the place and the spring. 

dumque sitim sedare cupit, sitis altera crevit,

dumque bibit, visae correptus imagine formae

spem sine corpore amat: corpus putat esse, quod unda est. 

And while he wanted to quench his thirst, another thirst grew, and while he drank, he was captivated by the beautiful reflection he saw, and loved a hope without a body: he thinks that the water is a body. 

adstupet ipse sibi, vultuque inmotus eodem

haeret, ut e Pario formatum marmore signum.                        45

He was astonished at himself, and was stuck still with the same expression, just like a statue molded out of Parian marble.

Spectat humi positus geminum, sua lumina, sidus

et dignos Baccho, dignos et Apolline crines        

impubesque genas et eburnea colla decusque

oris et in niveo mixtum candore ruborem,

cunctaque miratur, quibus est mirabilis ipse.   

He, having been placed on the ground, looks at his twin stars, both eyes worthy of Bacchus and hair worthy of Apollo, and youthful cheeks, and ivory neck, and his beautiful face, and blush mixed with white radiance, he admires all the things, by which he admires himself.

Se cupit imprudens et qui probat, ipse probatur,

dumque petit, petitur, pariterque accendit et ardet.     

Unknowing, he wants himself, and he who admires is admired, and while he seeks he is sought, and at the same time he burns and is set on fire.

Inrita fallaci quotiens dedit oscula fonti!

How often does he give useless kisses to the false water! 

In mediis quotiens visum captantia collum

bracchia mersit aquis, nec se deprendit in illis!                        55

How often he dipped his arms into the middle of the water, trying to catch the neck he had seen, but did not catch himself in them!

Quid videat, nescit: sed quod videt, uritur illo,

atque oculos idem, qui decipit, incitat error.    

What he saw, he did not know: but what he sees, he burns for it, and the same illusion that deceives him urges on his eyes.

Quae simul adspexit liquefacta rursus in unda,

non tulit ulterius, sed ut intabescere flavae                

igne levi cerae matutinaeque pruinae                                        60

sole tepente solent, sic attenuatus amore

liquitur et tecto paulatim carpitur igni.

Which as soon as he caught sight again in the watery wave, he went no further, but just as yellow wax melts with a light fire, and morning frosts as the sun warms, thus weakened with love, he wastes away and gradually weakens with a secret fire.

Et neque iam color est mixto candore rubori,

nec vigor et vires et quae modo visa placebant,

nec corpus remanet, quondam quod amaverat Echo.                        65

And his rosy-white complexion now has no glow, neither strength nor energy, nor the things which he had recently seen and liked, nor his body remained, which Echo loved at one time.

Quae tamen ut vidit, quamvis irata memorque,

indoluit, quotiensque puer miserabilis “eheu”

dixerat, haec resonis iterabat vocibus “eheu”;

When she saw this, she felt sorry, although she was angry and remembering whenever the miserable boy said “oh no”, and she repeated “oh no” with echoing voices.

cumque suos manibus percusserat ille lacertos,

haec quoque reddebat sonitum plangoris eundem.                        70

When he struck his arms with his hands she returned the same sound of grief.

Ultima vox solitam fuit haec spectantis in undam,

“heu frustra dilecte puer!” totidemque remisit

verba locus, dictoque vale “vale!” inquit et Echo.

This was the last voice of the one watching in the accustomed water “alas, oh boy loved in vain!” and the place repeated the words in the same way, and after goodbye was said, Echo also said “goodbye!”

Ille caput viridi fessum submisit in herba;

lumina mors clausit domini mirantia formam.                        75

He lowered his tired head in the green grass; death closed the eyes of the master admiring his reflection.

Tunc quoque se, postquam est inferna sede receptus,

in Stygia spectabat aqua. 

Even then, after he had been received into the abode of the lower world, he was looking at himself in the water of the Styx.

Planxere sorores    

Naides et sectos fratri posuere capillos,

planxerunt Dryades: plangentibus adsonat Echo.

The Naiad sisters mourned and they put cut hair for their brother, the Dryads mourned: Echo echoed with mournings.

Iamque rogum quassasque faces feretrumque parabant:                80

nusquam corpus erat; croceum pro corpore florem

inveniunt, foliis medium cingentibus albis.

 And they prepared a pyre, and the shaking torches, and the bier: the body was nowhere; they found a yellow flower in place of the body, with white petals surrounding the middle.