Fabula 28. Otus et Ephialtes — “Otus and Ephialtes”: the Aloadae, their attempt on heaven, and their punishment. Latin from the standard text, with a new English translation below each paragraph. View:
1
Otos et Ephialtes Aloei et Iphimedes Neptuni . . . filiae filii mira magnitudine dicuntur fuisse; hi singuli singulis mensibus nouem digitis crescebant. itaque cum essent annorum nouem in caelum ascendere sunt conati.
Otus and Ephialtes, sons of Aloeus and of Iphimede, Neptune’s . . . daughter, are said to have been of wondrous size; each of them grew nine fingers’ breadth every month. And so, when they were nine years old, they tried to climb up to heaven.
2
qui aditum sibi ita faciebant; montem enim Ossam super Pelion posuerunt (unde etiam Pelion Ossa mons appellatur), aliosque montes construebant; qui ab Apolline nacti sunt interfecti.
This is how they made their approach: they put Mount Ossa on top of Pelion (from which Pelion is also called Mount Ossa), and were piling up other mountains; they were found by Apollo and killed.
3
alii autem auctores dicunt Neptuni et Iphimedes filios fuisse atrotos; hi cum Dianam comprimere uoluissent, quae cum non posset uiribus eorum obsistere, Apollo inter eos ceruam misit, quam illi furore incensi dum uolunt iaculis interficere, alius alium interfecerunt.
Other authors, however, say they were the sons of Neptune and Iphimede, and invulnerable; when they wished to ravish Diana, and she could not resist their strength, Apollo sent a hind between them, which they, inflamed with rage, while trying to kill with javelins, killed one another.
4
qui ad inferos dicuntur hanc poenam pati; ad columnam auersi alter ab altero serpentibus sunt deligati; est styx inter, columnam sedens ad quam sunt deligati.
In the underworld they are said to suffer this punishment: they are bound with snakes to a column, turned away from one another; Styx is between them, sitting at the column to which they are bound.
Notes
- Convention: the Latin gives the editor’s supplied letters in full, without brackets; the notes record them as < > for a supplement, [ ] for a deletion, and † for a corrupt word.
- Para 1: O<t>os, Alo<e>i, and <I>phimedes are supplied in the text. The passage is damaged: the text has Iphimedes [Neptuni] with a lacuna before filiae — Neptune as Iphimede’s father is the usual telling, and the dots are kept as supplied, in the Latin’s own order.
- Para 2: “from which Pelion is also called Mount Ossa” is what the Latin says, though it is odd beside the usual names; cf. Homer, Odyssey 11.315–16, where Ossa is set on Olympus and Pelion on Ossa. Ab Apolline nacti sunt interfecti is literally “found by Apollo, were killed” — the construction is anomalous, possibly corrupt, and the English keeps it literal.
- Para 3: <I>phimedes and atro<t>os are supplied. Atrotos is Greek ατρωτος, “unwounded, invulnerable”, not a Latin word for “cruel” — and invulnerability explains the story, since Apollo must use a trick, the hind, because weapons cannot kill them. The deer ruse is also in Apollodorus, Library 1.7.4, where Artemis changes herself into a deer and leaps between them. Comprimere here is attempted ravishment, not mere seizure.
- Para 4: p<oe>nam is supplied. Styx is probably a corruption of strix, a screech-owl — the Latin as supplied is kept, and the reading is flagged as probable, not certain. Columnam sedens is grammatically odd, as the Latin stands.
Next fabula: Alcimena (Fabula 29). Corrections are welcome via the contact form; please say which paragraph you mean.