Jon Orsi, Ovid words of beauty

Despite the main themes running though The Metamorphoses are usually rape and death. There is an unmistakable beauty radiating from this text. As I come across those passages that are particularly rich, I will try and share them.

"Either the Architect of All, the author of the universe, in order to beget a better world created man from seed divine." -Book I page 5-6

"In those times, upon its natie mountain heights, the pine still stood unfelled; no wood had yet been yhauled down to the limpid waves, that it might sail to foreign countries; and the only coasts that mortals knew in that age were their own." -Book I page 6

"Four times the moon had linked it's cresent tips"- Book II page 50

"How often is she chased along the rocks by barking dogs, for she who was a hunter has become the hunted one-a frightened fugitive. When beasts draw near, she hides, forgetting how she now appears; although she is a she-bear, she still fears the sight of bears along the mountain slopes and shudders when the wolves approach."
Book II page 56

"Europa now is terrified; she claps one horn with her right hand; meanwhile the left rests on the bull's great croup. She turns to glance back at the shore, so distant now. Her robes are fluttering --they swell in the sea breeze."--Book II 73


-though it is discussing rape. The rape of Europa is probably one of the most elegant and stunning depictions of the act itself. The effect is chilling, the power of words, the imageistic nature of the scene is undeniably adept.