Martianus Capella
The Marriage of Philology and Mercury

/3/

Book I
The Betrothal

→ lat [1] Sacred principle of unity amongst the gods, on you I call; you are said¹ to grace weddings with your song; it is said that a Muse was your mother. You bind the warring seeds of the world with secret bonds and encourage the union of opposites by your sacred embrace.² You cause the elements to interact reciprocally, you make the world fertile; through you, Mind is breathed into bodies by a union of concord which rules over Nature, as you bring harmony between the sexes and foster loyalty by love. Fair Hymen, you are the main object of the Cyprian’s care;³ Desire, inflamed by Venus, glows on your face. Perhaps⁴ because dancing has pleased you, Bacchus being your father; or perhaps because you sing at weddings, which are the province of your mother; or perhaps because the three Graces granted to you, their kinsman, the task of garlanding the thresholds blooming⁵ with spring flowers /4/ – for some such reason, Calliope is glad to have you bless the beginning of her poem concerning the wedding of a god.

→ lat [2] While I was repeatedly reciting these verses of Hymen and pondering some original composition unimagined hitherto, Martianus⁶ interrupted me. He could not abide that a gray-haired man living in retirement⁷ because of his advanced years should chatter silly trifles, and he said: “Father, why is it that you are in a hurry to recite before revealing your subject, and, like a sleepy priest, you chant a hymn before you open the entry and the portals? Tell us, rather, the burden and the meaning of your utterance.”

I said to him:⁸ “Surely you are joking; do you not recognize like the dawn the opening passage of the work you see me reciting? Since the poem is addressed to Hymen, is it not clear that my theme is a marriage? If, however, your question is serious, when you ask from what source my ideas have flowed, I shall unfold to you a story which Satire⁹ invented in the long winter nights and taught me by the dimming lamplight—that is, unless its length discourages you."

→ lat [3] There was a time when on all sides amongst the gods the /5/ sacred weddings of a numerous generation were being celebrated;¹⁰ the noble children of the gods and the celestial multitude of their beloved descendants were also for their part winning the embraces and pledges of the dwellers in heaven. The fruit of marriage especially delighted the great gods, and the human race in its chatter spread the news through the streets of the gift¹¹ that had been given to the world. The poets, who were disciples of the Thracian lyre player [Orpheus] and the blind Maeonian [Homer], old and eloquent, published epic poems and lyrics about the marriages; they sang that amongst the delights of heaven nothing pleased Jove more than his wife alone. Old priests are encouraged by ready credence to give their message when the omens suggest it; and ready credence was given to the message of the poets that when Jupiter, unappeased despite many sacrifices, denies anything to the hesitant prayers of men worried by doubts and fears, it comes to pass, when prayer is addressed to his wife, when he has with dispatch passed a sentence and the hand of the Parcae is waiting to carry out his order, he cancels it when his wife gently persuades him and mollifies him with her embraces.

→ lat [4] Not only the king of the gods was thought to be under feminine domination; this was also said of Dis and Portunus [Neptune], while it was regarded as beyond question that Gradivus [Mars] was aflame with love for his wife Nereia, the daughter of Nercus. Aesculapius felt a similar passion; and Saturn, the melancholy elder of the gods, was moved in the same way by his wife Ops, Cybele,¹² when he caressed her. Janus with both his faces admires the Argive goddess;¹³ and they say that the queen of Memphis [Isis], so loved her husband that she was beset by unending grief and preferred¹⁴ never to find him.

/6/ → lat [5] The Cyllenian [Mercury], then, was moved and excited by this story, by the reciprocity of love among the gods; at the same time he saw what was clear to many people—love and marriages being universally celebrated. He too decided to get married. His mother had encouraged him in this inclination when, on his yearly journey through the zodiac, he greeted her in the company of the Pleiades. She was concerned about him, especially because his body, through the exercise of wrestling and constant running, glowed with masculine strength and bore the muscles of a youth perfectly developed. Already with the first beard on his cheeks, he could not continue to go about half naked, clad in nothing but a short cape covering only the top of his shoulders—such a sight caused the Cyprian great amusement. With all this in mind he decided to marry.

→ lat [6] Because of the importance of the venture, he pondered a great deal on whom he ought to marry. He himself ardently desired Wisdom, because she was prudent and holy, and purer and fairer than the other maidens. However, she was his sister’s foster sister¹⁵ and seemed to be inseparably devoted to her, and seemed therefore to have espoused virginity herself; he accordingly decided not to marry her, as this would offend Pallas. In the same way, the splendid beauty of Prophecy inflamed his desires. She was nobly born, being the elder daughter of Forethought, and her farsighted and penetrating wisdom commended her to him. But at that very time, as it happened, she went of her own accord to young Apollo and, unable to endure her inordinate passion, she became his lover.

→ lat [7] He wanted then to ask for Psyche, the daughter of Entelechia and Sol,¹⁶ because she was extremely beautiful and the gods had /7/ taken great care over her education. On the day of her birth the gods, being invited to a celebration, had brought her many gifts. Jupiter, in fact, had placed on her head a diadem which he had taken from his favored daughter Eternity; Juno had added a band for her hair, made from a gleaming vein of pure gold. Even the Tritonian [Athena] loosed from her tunic the flame-red veil and breast-band and, herself a virgin holy and wise, draped the virgin in the very mantle from her own bosom. The Delian also, carrying his laurel branch, showed her with that wand of foresight and prophecy the birds, the bolts of lightning, the motions of heaven itself and the stars. Urania with gentle kindness gave her a gleaming mirror which Wisdom had hung in Urania’s rooms amongst her gifts – a mirror in which Psyche could recognize herself and learn her origins.¹⁷ The craftsman of Lemnos kindled for her ever-burning flamelets; she would not then be oppressed by gloomy shadows and blind night. Aphrodite had given to all her senses every kind of pleasure; she had spread ointment on Psyche, garlanded her with flowers, taught her to appreciate and enjoy perfume and to delight in the sweetness of honey; she had implanted in her also a desire for gold and jewelry, a taste for wearing rich ornament. When she rested, Aphrodite brought her rattles and bells with which one lulls a baby to sleep; and then, to make sure that she was never without amusement and delectation, Aphrodite assigned Pleasure to stimulate desire in her by intimate titillation. The Cyllenian himself gave her a vehicle with swift wheels in which she could travel at an astonishing speed, although Memory bound it and weighed it down with golden chains.¹⁸ So the Arcadian [Mercury], his earlier hopes frustrated, /8/ sought in marriage Psyche, wealthy as she was in the gifts of heaven and richly adorned by the gods. But Virtue, almost in tears and clinging fast to the Cyllenian, confessed that Psyche had been snatched from her company into the hand of Cupid the flying archer, and was being held captive by him in shackles of adamant.

→ lat [8] So the happiness of the destiny he had planned eluded Mercury, because of the marriages of these maidens; and there did not readily seem to be anyone else who might fittingly be chosen as the Thunderer’s daughter-in-law. Virtue therefore suggested that he give the matter further thought; he ought not decide anything without the advice of Apollo; he was not meant to wander far from his company, since, as Mercury traveled through the signs of the zodiac, Apollo never permitted him to be further than one month’s journey away from himself.¹⁹ And so it was decided that he go to his brother, wherever he might be.

→ lat [9] Then, as usual, he gave his caduceus to Virtue, so that she could penetrate the secret parts of the world with him, and with equal swiftness could break into the more remote quarters of heaven. He himself bound on his feet his golden sandals²⁰ and they made a thorough search for Apollo. They looked for him is temples where oracles poured forth in evasive ambiguity and where, by the slaughter of animals and the separation of their entrails, the viscera declared foreordained events; and in places where it was the custom for a lottery to be drawn and for prophecies to be told.²¹

→ lat [10] But in these leading shrines and these deserted caves they found nothing of Apollo except only a few leaves of withered laurel and half-torn fillets which, behind the sybil in the cave of Cumae, worms and rot were devouring. Even through the paths of air where Apollo usually guided the varied flights of birds and /9/ the cries they uttered, and formed omens in their fleeting wings,²² they looked for him without success. Indeed the Pythian, distressed by contact with those who sought his advice, had long ago given up his reputation as a prophet.²³ They pursued him to Helicon, Delos, Lycia. In one place they found old laurel and withered ivy, in another a rotting tripod, sandals stiff with mildew, and an account of prophecies lying between them.

→ lat [11] At length they learned by rumor that the rock of Parnassus rejoiced²⁴ in the presence of Phoebus, although from there too it was said that he had later moved to an Indian mountain’s secret crag, shrouded in perpetual clouds. Yet Mercury and Virtue visited the Cirrhaean retreat²⁵ and the sacred cave’s prophetic hollows. In it there stood about all the impending vicissitudes of the ages, in their order: the fortunes of cities and nations, of all their kings, and of the entire human race. Some were seen in flight because the measure of their course had been completed; some were standing in full view, and many were approaching, while in the intervening distance some faded away, so that an uncanny haze, like a dense fog, seemed to envelop them. Amidst these extraordinary scenes and these vicissitudes of Fortune, a sweet music arose from the trees, a melody arising from their contact as the breeze whispered through them; for the crests of the great trees were very tall and, because of this tension, reverberated with a sharp sound; but whatever was close to and near the ground, with drooping boughs, shook with a deep heaviness of sound; while the trees of middle size in their contacts with each other sang together in fixed harmonies of the duple [2:1], the sesquialtera [3:2], the sesquitertia [4:3] also, and even the sesquioctava [9:8] without discrimination, although semitones came between. So it happened /10/ that the grove poured forth, with melodious harmony, the whole music and song of the gods.

→ lat [12] As the Cyllenian explained this, Virtue learned that in heaven also, in the same way, the spheres either produce harmony or join in the accompaniments; so it is not strange that the grove of Apollo should be so full of harmony, when the same god, in the sun, modulates the spheres of the heavens also. So it happens that in one place he is called Phoebus, and in another Auricomus [the golden-haired]; → lat [13] (for the august head of the sun, streaming and surrounded with flaming rays, is like a gleaming head of golden hair). For this reason he is also called Sagittarius [the Archer]; and hence Vulnificus [the one who wounds] – because he can penetrate what he strikes with the darts of his rays.

→ lat [14] The Cyllenian also showed to Virtue some rivers flowing down from heaven which, he said, they had to cross to reach the god whom they were trying to find. The streams swept along in multicolored billows.²⁶ The first stream, a wide and far-spread body of leaden color, eddied with a cloudy swirl and its currents were extremely cold and sluggish.²⁷ Within it, another one, like milk or a white light, steady in movement and calm in every way, was rolling its silvery waves.²⁸ The third one was sulphurous, and with breathless swiftness was twisting currents headlong and crashing in their haste, flashing with their torrent of red flame.²⁹ The next one was golden and flashing, gleaming with sparkling flames.³⁰ It was joined on either side by some tributary streams, and mingled the different rivers to a moderate temperature. Within shone a river purer than amber,³¹ with a crowd of people standing beside it who wanted this more than the other rivers of the Destinies; some of these people were allured by its fragrant perfume; others were charmed by the sound of gentle melody from its waves. Many were /11/ thirsting to taste a drink of its delicious stream, while some people wanted the water to bathe and soothe themselves and to be immersed in it. There were besides two narrower streams hurrying along with a tighter curve inside the others; each of these added a little of its own character to a mixture from other sources as it was blended with the other streams close by.³² For one,³³ hastening along at an excessive speed, frequently halted and reversed its course; while the other,³⁴ which carried in itself the source of all waters,³⁵ wandered on a winding course and bubbled over with the elemental seeds of water.

→ lat [15] These streams of variegated hue encircled the aforementioned Destinies of events and of nations with windings at first immense. But then the different speeds and rushing force of the waves, lapping each Destiny with surprising violence, dragged them headlong downward with rapid eddies; one stream would often pour them into another, and that Destiny which the latter had long buffeted the former would either return to the bank or sink in the river. Yet those blue or crimson whirlpools did not carry off all the Destinies in their whirls. Frequently the gleaming water of the white stream bore up on a tall crest those that had been suddenly snatched away; at another time too it bore them suspended in a high wave and cast them into that surging crimson stream, or spewed them forth into the leaden river, to be swallowed up by its dark abyss. Thus the people in the hands of the Destinies were tossed about in the welter of the rivers, for none of the rivers flowed directly without any whirlpool or eddy and free from the immission of some other stream.

/12/ → lat [16] Virtue followed the Cyllenian and crossed all the rivers by herself without fear, for although the waves crashed about her and buffeted her they could not make her fall. Once on the other side of the rivers, which led on to some retreat³⁶ of Phoebus, Mercury halted with Virtue; and then they saw Latona’s syn [Apollo], sitting on a great and steep height with four closed jars³⁷ in front of him, of different appearance and different metals, which he was opening and inspecting one by one. As far as could be told, one seemed made of hard iron, another of gleaming silver, and the third of soft dark lead³⁸; but the one nearest the god was made of translucent glass, and glittered like the sea. Each contained a different one of the four seeds and elements of creation.

→ lat [17] The iron jar, which was called Mulcifer’s [Vulcan’s] Whirlwind, gave out a blazing flame drawn from the kindling of the torrid zone itself. The second one, made of silver, had a smooth luster, and shone with the mildness³⁹ of a spring sky; this they called Jove’s Smile. The one made of heavier metal was full of stormy winter and biting cold and frost; and this was called Saturn’s Ruin. But the one made of the glittering sea and placed at the right hand of the god himself was full of the seeds of all the air; they called this one Juno’s Bosom.

→ lat [18] Out of each of these jars in turn Apollo drew what was sufficient for his purposes. For when the world pleased him and he provided it with the healthy breezes of life-giving wind, he compounded elemental seeds of air, which he drew from the beneficent silver jar. But when he threatened dread pestilence on those mortals who deserved it, he compounded (as with the air) blasts of fire or destruction by freezing cold, and sent them forth to afflict the world.

→ lat [19] Virtue observed the god commingling the elements and, /13/ taking particular note when he was blending the beneficent breezes, she recited, with Mercury’s approval, the verse of the blind poet:⁴⁰

Mercury told her that by this line the plague could be averted if the recitation of the verse was first humbly addressed to him [Mercury]; but it had to be submitted to the Clarian [Apollo] as he played his lyre with his smooth hair plaited with bands of laurel.

→ lat [20] When the Pythian [Apollo] saw them approach from afar, conversing thus, and realized from the first glance the reason for their coming, he rose from the throne on which he was sitting and bade the Muses meet them. Although they seemed to hasten in service to Maia’s son [Mercury], they moved with measured pace.⁴¹. When his brother had been brought to sit with him and join him in his work, Phoebus first began:

→ lat [23] Virtue was delighted at these words of Apollo, recognizing that he proposed for marriage a paragon of a maiden; nevertheless, to be sure that there was no detraction from the dignity of the prospective brides mentioned earlier, she asked this one’s name. When she learned that it was Philology whose espousal Apollo was urging, she was seized with such joy and enthusiasm that she behaved with less severity of deportment than was her wont. She called to mind that Philology was her own kinswoman, a patroness of Prophecy, who had been so well commended, and most generous to Wisdom in giving her valuable ornaments. In addition, said Virtue, Psyche, who at first lived a primitive sort of existence,⁴⁴ has been so refined by Philology that whatever beauty and embellishment Psyche had she acquired from the polish Philology gave her; for the maiden had shown Psyche so much affection that she strove constantly to make her immortal. Therefore they must not delay – and indeed she knew that the Cyllenian was swift in action. Having heard the words of Apollo, Maia’s son replied:

→ lat [25] As Mercury said this, Virtue remarked, “Really, each of you ought rather to persuade Jove; for Apollo is aware of his plans, while you are his aide in his commands; Apollo knows his mind, you prepare his utterance. When Phoebus urges him he generally yields; to you he usually bares his heart. Furthermore, it is ordained that you should never be separated; and although Mercury in his course is often outstripped by the speed of Apollo’s chariot and is overtaken while delaying in his station, and finally hastens forward of Apollo, yet while he is catching up, his advance is so counterbalanced that he is happy to be constantly returning to Apollo.⁴⁵ As dutiful sons, then, go together to meet your Jove. Indeed, it is certain that he will yield, half closing his eyes at Phoebus’ brilliance, and in agreement with Stilbon [the planet Mercury] he will be delighted at the marriage bond.”⁴⁶

→ lat [26] When she had said this, Virtue, in attendance on Mercury as he went before her, was wafted up toward heaven by the draft from the movement of his caduceus. But the Delian’s augural birds halted for him in front of his chariot, in order that he might ascend and be carried up by them if he wished. Often while shaping future events he had foreshadowed them with these birds. Mercury began to go forward, with his winged hat and sandals propelling him; /16/ but as Phoebus mounted the chariot, the escort of Muses who closely attended him was carried by a gleaming white swan melodiously singing.⁴⁷

→ lat [27] Then the whole world could be seen joining in celebration; for Tellus⁴⁸ had seen Mercury the god of Spring flying upward and was bright with flowers, and the region of Air⁴⁹ shone without clouds in the sight of Apollo. The upper spheres and the seven planetary spheres produced a symphony of the harmonious notes of each, a sweeter song than usually heard; indeed they had sensed the approach of the Muses, each of whom, after traversing the spheres, took her position where she recognized the pitch that was familiar to her. For Urania was attuned to the outermost sphere of the starry universe, which was swept along with a high pitch.

→ lat [28] Polymnia took over the sphere of Saturn; Euterpe controlled that of Jove; and Erato, that of Mars, which she entered; while Melpomene held the middle region, where the sun enhanced the world with the light of flame. Terpsichore joined the golden Venus; Calliope embraced the Cyllenian’s sphere; Clio set up as her lodging the innermost circle – that is, the moon’s, whose deep pitch reverberated with deeper tones. Only Thalia⁵⁰ was left sitting on earth’s flowery bosom, because the swan which was to carry her was indisposed to carry its burden or even to fly upward and had gone to find the lakes which were its home.

→ lat [29] Meanwhile Phoebus had gone beyond the airy regions, when suddenly his headband was transformed into rays of light, the laurel which he was carrying in his right hand burst into a glow of cosmic splendor; and the birds which were drawing the Delian chariot turned into swift jets of flame. In the guise of the sun he shone forth brightly, his mantle gleaming red, the threshold of /17/ the starry heavens open. The Cyllenian, too, was transformed into a glimmering planet.

→ lat [30] Thus enhanced by this transformation into celestial bodies, they were carried through Gemini, a sign kindred to them, and they shone forth in the majestic sky and soon sought the palace of the Thunderer. “When they had gone in and been granted an audience,”⁵¹ the Clarian saw that his father was keeping close to Juno’s company, and he knew that she was a strong defender and supporter of marriage; this first omen gladdened him, and thus he addressed them gently, to win Juno’s favor, knowing that the decision of her husband depended on her judgment:

→ lat [34] When the Delian had stopped, Jupiter turned to his wife and asked her will. She was pleased with the idea for many reasons; first, because she was asked by Phoebus, who usually brought her calmness⁵⁶ and who had made her daughters the Muses (whom he had educated) ascend into their parents’ sight; furthermore, Juno did not normally oppose marriages,⁵⁷ and she was fond of the Cyllenian because he had been nourished at her breast and had drunk there the draught of immortality, so that she bore toward him a mother’s feelings; the Clarian inclined her feelings still more with his prayers, because he had laid her under obligation to him with many acts of friendship. So she urged that the marriage take place quickly, before the Cyllenian enticed and inflamed by the Cypriarn was impelled to father a brother for Hermaphroditus.⁵⁸

→ lat [35] It worried Jove a little that the charms of a wife might make the Cyllenian slothful and indolent, drowsy and languid; he might regard himself as being on a honeymoon and refuse to go as messenger at the orders of Jupiter. → lat [36] “I know,” he said, “that for a long time he has been afire with love for Philology, and in his passion for her has taken into his household several Disciplines⁵⁹ related to her, and that, simply to please the girl, he has acquired a most elegant diction and refinement of speech and can play the lute and golden lyre well. Furthermore, he has a wonderful magic /19/ in painting, and as a sculptor in bronze or marble he brings life⁶⁰ into the features; the whole effect is excellent – everything that contributes to the perfection of a young man.” Jupiter said that he had therefore delayed the lovers for a little while, though they had for a long time been joined by the bonds of mutual love; so that Mercury should not hasten into marriage on a youthful impulse and then, when he should have to go on his travels, lose something of his constancy, through the languor of these many nights⁶¹ of love.

→ lat [37] “Yet still,” said Juno, “it is fitting that he should be married to the very maiden who would not tolerate his dozing off even if he wanted to rest. Is there anyone who claims he does not know the wearisome vigils of Philology, the constant pallor that comes from her studies at night? For who is there who discusses the heavens, the seas, seething Tartarus, for whole nights at a time, and traverses in her careful research the homes of all the gods – who considers the constitution of the world, the girding circles, the parallels, the oblique circles and colures, the poles and climates⁶² and rotations, and the multitude of the stars themselves – unless it is this slender girl, Philology, who is devoted to these pursuits? How often have the gods complained of her importunate summonses, when in the dead of night, the silence of first sleep, she compels them from their rest to come to her, heedless of their protestations?⁶³

→ lat [38] So far from being impeded and delayed by this girl, the Cyllenian will be encouraged by her to move and stir his wings and seek the utmost limits of the world. Why then, Your Majesty, is their marriage deferred, when in return for the single wit of Atlas’s descendant I offer you two vigilant emissaries?”

→ lat [39] Juno was sitting close to Jove, but he was a good deal higher and bent his head to listen. While she was saying this to /20/ him, glittering Pallas glided gradually down from some place of pure and shimmering light and, flying overhead so that she seemed to stand on the very forehead of Jove, she finally settled on a higher level. When Jupiter saw her, close by and almost touching him, as he sat higher than his wife, he spoke to her; “O maiden, my noblest flesh and blood, how timely you come to be concerned in the hopes of Maia’s son! – whether you come down at the entreaty of the Delian, or whether it would not be possible for Jove to form a plan without your help, or whether you came to give our agreement the appearance of unanimity.⁶⁴ At any rate, you ought to know that the Cyllenian is asking for the hand of Philology in marriage. I have not yet made up my mind, and I am waiting for your advice. I know how the ceaseless efforts of this girl have always been agreeable to you, and how she has always striven to be counted as one of your attendants; it is only right then that you yourself should determine whatever decision you in your providence will make about her marriage.”

→ lat [40] Then Pallas blushed⁶⁵ with virginal modesty and covered her eyes with the mantle which she wore over her shining head and in a soft voice deprecated the suggestion that a virgin’s advice should be asked on marriage, particularly the marriage of one whom she would wish always to remain a virgin because of their commitments to each other. Besides, she refused to give approval in this way, because she was thought to be so much without experience of any kind of union that Arithmetic herself would show that Pallas neither was begotten from any intercourse nor herself begot anything.⁶⁶ Then, aloof in her virginity, she unveiled her seven-rayed crown⁶⁷ so as to have no part in mating and procreation. But since /21/ Jupiter had hoped for her advice and demanded it, she advised that the married gods and elder goddesses should be summoned to a meeting to decide the issue; indeed it was an advantage to the Cyllenian that the mightiest gods should approve his union as a reward for services performed. Furthermore, it added dignity to Jove’s decision when it was published in the presence of an assembly of the gods; and the bride herself could not marry a god unless, with the approval of the divine council, she ceased to be a mortal. The Tritonian used many such arguments, and both of the royal couple agreed.

→ lat [41] And soon the scribe of Jove was ordered to summon the deities, each in his own rank, according to the customary procedure, and especially those senators⁶⁸ amongst the gods who were called the companions⁶⁹ of Jove himself. Jupiter did not allow their names to be known, but kept them a sacred secret; because they were bound by mutual promises in every respect, he gave the group a name derived from their union [consentes]. → lat [42] Jupiter himself asked his son Vulcan to come, although Vulcan never came down from his glittering throne. Amongst the others to be invited were the most powerful associates of Jove himself, those who with the Thunderer make up the Twelve and whose names are included in the couplet of Ennius:

→ lat [43] also the other seven, who are not named among the Twelve. After these there had to be summoned a great many inhabitants of /22/ heaven, exalted in keeping with their rank, and the whole community of the gods except those outside the pale.⁷¹ → lat [44] Without delay Jove’s guardsmen hurried through all the quarters of heaven. Indeed, the individual gods generally inhabited separate areas, and although throughout the whole zodiac some of them had given names to one or two abodes, naming them after animals, they usually lived not in these but in other quarters.

→ lat [45] For the whole heaven is said to be divided into sixteen regions.⁷² In the first⁷³ of these regions, they say, are the homes not only of Jupiter but of the gods of the council, the god of welfare, the household gods, Janus, the secret gods of goodwill, and the god of night. → lat [46] In the second region – besides the home of Jupiter, which towers there, since he is wealthy in every way – there live Mars Quirinus and Lars the warrior; Juno also has her home there, as do Fons, the Lymphae [goddesses of waters], and the nine gods of lightning.⁷⁴

→ lat [47] Jupiter decided that from the third region only one should be invited. In that region were the homes of Jove of the second rank [Neptune] and Jove god of wealth and Minerva; but all of them were already in the presence of Jove. Who would invite Discord and Strife to the holy wedding, especially when these goddesses were perpetual enemies of Philology herself? And so from that region only Pluto was invited, because he was the uncle of the bridegroom. → lat [48] From the fourth region came the goddess of primary matter,⁷⁵ and /23/ Mulciber,⁷⁶ and Lar of the sky,⁷⁷ as well as the Warrior and Goodwill. → lat [49] From the next region, traversing the domains of the royal couple, were invited Ceres, Tellurus,⁷⁸ and Vulcan, the father of earth, and Genius. → lat [50] And you were invited from the sixth region, you sons of Jove, Pales and Goodwill; as well as Swiftness, the daughter of the sun; for Mars Quirinus and Genius were invited above. → lat [51] From the seventh region were invited Liber and Pales of the second rank. After long deliberation, Jupiter decided also to invite Deceit, from the same region, because she had often been in complicity with the Cyllenian himself.

→ lat [52] The eighth region was passed over, because everyone from that region had been invited already, and only the child of Spring⁷⁹ came from there. → lat [53] The Genius of Juno of Hospitality⁸⁰ was summoned from the ninth region. → lat [54] And you, Neptune and Universal Lar,⁸¹ and Neverita,⁸² and you, Census,⁸³ came from the tenth region. → lat [55] From the next region came Fortune and Health and Goodwill the Shepherd; but the Manes [gods of the underworld]⁸⁴ were not allowed to come, because they could not come into the sight of Jupiter. → lat [56] From the twelfth region only Sancus /24/ was invited. → lat [57] From the next region the Fates were invited; but the other gods⁸⁵ of the Manes stayed there. → lat [58] From the fourteenth region Saturn and his daughter Juno of the heavens were invited, of course. → lat [59] From the fifteenth came Vcjovis [Vediovis] and the lower-class gods.⁸⁶ → lat [60] From the last region Nocturnus [god of night] and the Janitors [gods of the portals of earth] were invited in the same way. → lat [61] When the gods had been summoned from all the quarters of heaven, the others whom they called the Unzoned,⁸⁷ were invited and urged to come by the Cyllenian himself.

→ lat [62] And then the patron deities of the elements and those who care for the public welfare and the things of the mind, and the whole host of heavenly powers who had all been forthwith invited by the command of Jove (and which of Numa’s many successors could name them all?)⁸⁸ thronged into the great hall of heaven with its shimmering stars. → lat [63] Then Janus stood on the threshold, and Jove’s guard stood before the royal portals; Fame, serving as a herald, called out the names of all those who were to enter. → lat [64] Inside the royal council chamber stood the woman called Adrastea,⁸⁹ who was whirling with a speed beyond recall a celestial urn and the divine destiny, while relentless Necessity⁹⁰ was catching the lots in her robe as they fell from the whirling globe. → lat [65] Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, who by their study of true and correct writing recorded the decisions of Jove – being the librarians of the gods and the keepers of their archives – when they saw that the senate and council was being summoned and that the Thunderer himself was donning his magisterial /25/ robes, sharpened their styluses and collected their tablets to record the decisions of the president and the deliberations of the gods.

→ lat [66] Then Jupiter, taking the official robes, which he wore when he was going to address the senate, first put on his head the royal crown wrought of fire, and covered the back of his head with a gleaming veil, which Pallas herself, entrusted with its creation, had woven for him. Then over a pure white tunic he put a glass-green cloak, which was interwoven with points of starlight and glittered with all the twinkling of their fires. In his right hand outstretched he took two shining globes, one made of gold, the other of amber;⁹¹ and with his left hand leaned on a nine-stringed lyre. Earth bound on his feet grass-green shoes, dyed with the green of emerald. He sat on a folded robe woven with the “eyes”⁹² of the tail feathers of peacocks, on which, like the bloom of spring, there was a picture made of many tiny specks of color; he rested his sandaled feet upon a trident. → lat [67] The throne of Juno, placed lower than Jupiter’s throne, was also suitably adorned. She herself was splendid, wearing on her head a milk-white mantilla, on which was placed a diadem set with precious stones; it had the green of a Scythian emerald, the sparkling fire of onyx, the sea-blue depth of sapphire.⁹³ They say that the goddess of the rainbow presented to the queen of heaven this crown intact from her own shining head. In the lasting radiance of her beauty, the goddess was like her brother, except that he was aglow with an immutable happiness, while frequent changes often troubled her appearance;⁹⁴ for her tunic was glass-green, while her robe was made of cloud and when a shaft of light fell upon it it glowed beautifully with a clear brightness through the veiling clouds. She held the lightning in her right hand, and in her left a timbrel which reverberated with a fearsome thundering; the dew which flowed generously from her seemed to soak whatever was beneath these. Her shoes were very dark-colored, their soles especially being like /26/ night. Round her knees was a band of shifting color, now shining with the splendor of the full moon, now with its beauty all but vanished through some subtle change, as if it had never been of other colors. → lat [68] Wearing this appropriate royal dress, they saw placed on a celestial platform before the throne a sphere⁹⁵ with a great variety of carved figures; it had been so made out of a compound of all the elements that nothing that is believed to be in nature was missing from it. On it were all the sky, air, the seas, all the different things on earth and the barriers of Tartarus: cities, crossroads, every kind of living thing, in species and in genus, could be counted there. This sphere seemed to be an image and model of the world. The daily actions of each and all the people of all nations appeared in this as in a mirror which the Pythian used as he shaped the affairs of men. There Jupiter traced with his own hand those whom he wished to raise up or lay low, to be born or to die. The creator arbitrarily determined what part of the earth he wanted to ruin or the make prosperous, to lay waste or to populate. → lat [69] As he surveyed and disposed this destiny of nations, he ordered the senate of the gods to be admitted. There came in those nameless gods whose divine power bears witness to their deity; Jupiter and Juno rose for these chief gods and especially for their own parents.

→ lat [70] Their father advanced with slow and halting steps, his head covered with a gray cloak.⁹⁶ In his right hand he held a fire-breathing dragon devouring its own tail – a dragon which was believed to teach the number of days in the year by the spelling of its own name.⁹⁷ His hair was white with hoarfrost,⁹⁸ although it was believed /27/ that he could become a young man. → lat [71] His wife, a full-bodied matron of great age, ever so prolific and surrounded by her offspring, wore over her colorful and flowery dress a mantle of green, on which was the whole range of precious stones and metals and all the crops and produce of the fields in generous profusion. → lat [72] With her came Vesta, who was the same age as she.⁹⁹ Vesta had been the nurse of Jove himself, and was said to have fondled him on her lap, and so she did not hesitate to kiss the head of the king. → lat [73] Behind them was summoned golden Sol, with his radiant¹⁰⁰ sister. As soon as he began to approach the entrance, an intense purple glow preceded him, and the glory of his rosy brilliance lit the whole court of the palace and dimmed its other splendors. When he was about to enter, the first rays from his revered head shone before him, so that Jupiter himself stepped back a pace and was blinded by the intense glory of the godhead;¹⁰¹ but the spheres and globes which he held in his right hand shone with the reflection of a light akin to their own. → lat [74] But Juno, spectacular in ornaments of many colors and resplendent in the light of her varied jewels, was dazzling in her serene radiance. → lat [75] Sol’s head was encircled with a gleaming crown which glowed with the fire of twelve burning stones. Over his forehead were three stones – ruby, cat’s-eye and onyx – which, by the flashing of their beams of light, hid his awesome face from the recognition of those looking on; they say that the first was taken to become the brain of Cancer, the second the eyes of Leo, the third the forehead of Gemini. Three other stones shone on either side of the crown, of which one was called beryl, the second /28/ emerald, the third jasper; amidst the greenness, like light impregnated by sea, a certain deeper charm shone forth upon his countenance. On either side of sapphire were set dendritis and striped jasper. These stones by their colors gave greenery to the earth at fixed seasons of the year, which Spring and Autumn were said to bring regularly in their service to the deity. The back of the crown was set with hydatis [a water-colored stone], diamond, and crystal; these originated in the floods of Winter. You would think that the hair of the god himself had been sprinkled with gold dust and gilded.¹⁰²

→ lat [76] As he entered, his face shone like a boy’s, in mid-course he looked like a young man out of breath, while at the end of his course he seemed a declining old man;¹⁰³ there are some who think he has a dozen different appearances. His body was all fiery, his feet bore wings; his cloak was scarlet, thickly flecked with gold. → lat [77] In his left hand he carried a glittering shield, in his right a flaming torch, while his shoes glowed like bronze. Beside him Luna reflected on her soft and gentle face the light of her brother’s brilliance. → lat [78] Behind them entered the brothers of Jove, one of whom was always greener than the ocean, the other sallow from shadowy darkness.¹⁰⁴ → lat [79] Each of them wore on his head a garland suited to the kingdom that he governed; → lat [80] for one garland was white as surf, the same hoary color as foam; the other was ebony with the blackness of subterranean night. The latter god was much richer than his brother, and was wealthy through the constant acquisition of whatever things come into being. The other, because of the extent and bulk of his body, was naked, and spat back the wealth that he engulfed. → lat [81] Their wives were very different; the naked one /29/ brought with him the nurse of all things, the hostess of the gods;¹⁰⁵ the other brother had a young girl,¹⁰⁶ overjoyed at the accessions that came to them; she so readily gave the fruits of the earth to those who asked her that mankind swore by a great deity to pay her back one per cent.¹⁰⁷

→ lat [82] Then the sons of the Thunderer himself entered, the first of whom was a young man of ruddy complexion who came forward to eat everything and to drink even blood; the next one was compliant and agreeable and held a sickle in his right hand, in his left the soporific bowl; he was being carried in, far-gone in wantonness. His steps were unsteady, his legs tripped each other, and he reeked of wine.¹⁰⁸ → lat [83] Behind these came twins¹⁰⁹ identical in features—but one shining with the light of the morning star; the other, of the evening star. → lat [84] Behind them came the god of incredible strength,¹¹⁰ always readv to overthrow opposition; with sidelong glance Juno observed his amazing muscles and the gaping maw of his Cleonaean lion skin. → lat [85] Together with them came two fair women:¹¹¹ one said to be the mother of all conception; the other a virgin. The latter had a bow and a quiver; the other, a garland of plaited roses in the form of an X.¹¹² You would love to see her in her splendor, to hear her murmuring sweet blandishments, draw her to you scented with the perfume of her eager breast, kiss her, fondle her body, sigh with desire of her. Yet, although she is reckoned to be mother of all /30/ love and pleasure, to this same goddess man used to attribute the patronage of modesty.¹¹³ → lat [86] Kindly Ceres was seen with them, a most venerable woman, nurse of earth and nurse of men. → lat [87] There also came a craftsman, a cripple¹¹⁴ who was thought to be the son of Juno, though he was called by Heraclitus the one who slows down the whole world.¹¹⁵

→ lat [88] And then the most talkative of girls came flaunting and jumping about with nimble lightness, constantly unstable,¹¹⁶ extravagant now one way, now the other; some call her Sors, some Nemesis, many Tycho, and others Nortia. She carried in her ample bosom the honors and decorations of the whole world, and conferred them on some people, distributing them unexpectedly; while like a girl she plucked the hair of others, beating¹¹⁷ others on the head with a rod; while the same people she had formerly flattered she wounded with frequent blows¹¹⁸ of her knuckles on their heads. → lat [89] She soon saw the Fates observing everything that was going on in the council chamber of Jove; she ran to their books and notes, and with reckless boldness helter-skelter snatched up what she saw: so that some things, suddenly starting from their place, upset, as it were, the due order of things; but others, which were common knowledge through a providential system of cause and effect, she could not render unforeseen, and therefore she claimed them as due to her own efforts. Others came along in a crowd behind her. → lat [90] Jupiter then sat down¹¹⁹ on his throne and ordered them all to be seated in order of /31/ merit. Seats of flame supported the starry host; a boy wearing a crown¹²⁰ gave the signal for silence with his finger held to his lips. “All fell silent, and were hushed with concentration.”¹²¹ → lat [91] Then Jupiter began:

→ lat [94] When Jupiter had finished, the whole assembly of gods was called together to vote, and they all shouted that the marriage should take place forthwith; and to Jove’s opinion they added their own, that those mortals whose elevated lives and high deserts had raised them to desire heaven and to acquire a taste for celestial affairs, should be coopted into the number of the gods; → lat [95] and soon, amongst others whom the Nile or Thebes proffered—Aeneas, Romulus, and others who afterward won a place among the stars through the fame of their learning—should be specifically named inhabitants of heaven, so that after their bodily life they should become members of the court of heaven.¹²⁸ → lat [96] When Jove had approved this, a certain dignified and striking woman called Philosophy was ordered to have this decree of the heavenly assembly cut on bronze tablets and published in heaven and on earth. → lat [97] Then Juno announced /33/ that because of the marriage of these celebrated young people and the ceremonies that had to be performed, all that assembly of gods was to reassemble at dawn on the next day in the palace which formed the principal home of Jove the arbiter in the Milky Way. At the end of these proceedings, the king himself arose from his throne, and all that number of gods dispersed to their own celestial homes and orbits.¹²⁹