Metamorphoses: Book 11

by Ovid
Ovid's Metamorphoses features myths and stories of change, mutation, and transformation. Learn these words from the translation by John Dryden here.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4, Book 5, Book 6, Book 7, Book 8, Book 9, Book 10, Book 11, Book 12, Book 13, Book 14
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. devout
    deeply religious
    Here, while the Thracian bard's enchanting strain
    Soothes beasts, and woods, and all the list'ning plain,
    The female Bacchanals, devoutly mad,
    In shaggy skins, like savage creatures, clad,
    Warbling in air perceiv'd his lovely lay,
    And from a rising ground beheld him play.
    Although these females are clad in shaggy skins to help them devoutly worship Bacchus, the phrase "devoutly mad" could also mean "sincerely crazy and angry"--not only do they tear apart Orpheus because they think he hates women, but they also tear apart oxen just because they're there (in some versions of the myth, they use the horns to stab Orpheus).
  2. missive
    a written message addressed to a person or organization
    Soon as her frantic eye the lyrist spied,
    See, see! the hater of our sex, she cried.
    Then at his face her missive javelin sent,
    Which whizzed along, and brusht him as it went;
  3. fallow
    left unplowed and unseeded during a growing season
    And, lest their passion shou'd be unsupplied,
    The rabble crew, by chance, at distance spied
    Where oxen, straining at the heavy yoke,
    The fallow'd field with slow advances broke;
  4. throng
    a large gathering of people
    Bacchus, resolving to revenge the wrong,
    Of Orpheus murder'd, on the madding throng,
    Decreed that each accomplice dame should stand
    Fix'd by the roots along the conscious land.
  5. jovial
    full of or showing high-spirited merriment
    The satyrs with the nymphs, his usual throng,
    Come to salute their God, and jovial danc'd along.
  6. sumptuous
    rich and superior in quality
    The ready slaves prepare a sumptuous board,
    Spread with rich dainties for their happy lord;
    Whose pow'rful hands the bread no sooner hold,
    But its whole substance is transform'd to gold:
    Up to his mouth he lifts the sav'ry meat,
    Which turns to gold as he attempts to eat:
  7. earnestly
    in a sincere and serious manner
    The rich poor fool, confounded with surprise,
    Starving in all his various plenty lies:
    Sick of his wish, he now detests the pow'r,
    For which he ask'd so earnestly before;
  8. arbiter
    someone chosen to judge and decide a disputed issue
    Tmolus was arbiter; the boaster still
    Accepts the trial with unequal skill.
  9. deportment
    the way a person behaves toward other people
    The mountain sire with grave deportment now
    To Phoebus turns his venerable brow:
    And, as he turns, with him the list'ning wood
    In the same posture of attention stood.
  10. judicious
    marked by the exercise of common sense in practical matters
    The strings he touch'd with more than human art,
    Which pleas'd the judge's ear, and sooth'd his heart;
    Who soon judiciously the palm decreed,
    And to the lute postpon'd the squeaking reed.
  11. esteem
    regard highly; think much of
    All, with applause, the rightful sentence heard,
    Midas alone dissatisfied appear'd;
    To him unjustly giv'n the judgment seems,
    For Pan's barbaric notes he most esteems.
  12. copious
    large in number or quantity
    'Twas all a sea; the waters of the deep
    From ev'ry vale the copious harvest sweep;
    The briny billows overflow the soil,
    Ravage the fields, and mock the plowman's toil.
  13. appease
    overcome or allay
    Nor this appeased the God's revengeful mind,
    For still a greater plague remains behind;
    A huge sea-monster lodges on the sands,
    And the king's daughter for his prey demands.
  14. libation
    a serving of wine poured out in honor of a deity
    The sea-Gods he with sacred rites adores,
    Then a libation on the ocean pours;
  15. felicity
    state of well-being characterized by contentment
    Peleus unmix'd felicity enjoy'd
    (Blest in a valiant son, and virtuous bride),
    The Latin root indicates happiness and fertility--both of which Peleus has, because he married the goddess Thetis and fathered the son Achilles, all with the blessing of Jove, who had originally desired Thetis but was warned that a union with her would produce a son greater than him. "Felicity" also means "pleasing manner"--which Thetis did not see in Peleus at first and changed into many different forms to escape him, until he tied her up while she was sleeping, and she had to give in.
  16. luminary
    a celebrity who is an inspiration to others
    Know 'twas a hero once, Daedalion nam'd,
    For warlike deeds, and haughty valour fam'd;
    Like me to that bright luminary born,
    Who wakes Aurora, and brings on the morn.
    Daedelion used to be a luminary whose heroic deeds were famous, but when his daughter died, he was so grieved that he ran off a mountain, and out of pity, Phoebus transformed him into a hawk. What makes his current bird state sadder is that he is the son of another luminary: the luminous ("softly bright or radiant") Morning Star.
  17. revel
    take delight in
    But Mercury's hot love brook'd no delay;
    With his entrancing rod the maid he charms,
    And unresisted revels in her arms.
  18. citadel
    a stronghold for shelter during a battle
    The citadel's high turrets pierce the sky,
    Which home-bound vessels, glad, from far descry;
    This they ascend, and thence with sorrow ken
    The mangled heifers lie, and bleeding men;
  19. falter
    be or become weak, unsteady, or uncertain
    She thrice essay'd to speak; her accents hung,
    And faltering died unfinish'd on her tongue,
    And vanish'd into sighs: with long delay
    Her voice return'd, and found the wonted way.
  20. forsake
    leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch
    Can Ceyx then sustain to leave his wife,
    And unconcern'd forsake the sweets of life?
    What can thy mind to this long journey move?
    Or need'st thou absence to renew thy love?
  21. obstinate
    stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing
    If Fate has fix'd thee obstinate to sail,
    Go not without thy wife, but let me bear
    My part of danger with an equal share,
  22. breach
    an opening, especially a gap in a dike or fortification
    The planks (their pitchy cov'ring wash'd away)
    Now yield; and now a yawning breach display:
    The roaring waters with a hostile tide
    Rush through the ruins of her gaping side.
  23. covetous
    immoderately desirous of acquiring something
    This wretch with pray'rs and vows the Gods implores,
    And ev'n the skies he cannot see, adores.
    That other on his friends his thoughts bestows,
    His careful father, and his faithful spouse.
    The covetous worldling in his anxious mind,
    Thinks only on the wealth he left behind.
  24. abyss
    a bottomless gulf or pit
    Down sinks the ship within th' abyss below:
    Down with the vessel sink into the main
    The many, never more to rise again.
  25. despoil
    destroy and strip of its possession
    Forsakes his proper form, assumes the king's;
    And pale, as death, despoil'd of his array,
    Into the queen's apartment takes his way,
    And stands before the bed at dawn of day:
  26. billow
    a large sea wave
    Bear witness, Heav'n, I call'd on thee in death,
    And while I call'd, a billow stopped my breath.
    Think not, that flying fame reports my fate;
    I present, I appear, and my own wreck relate.
  27. manifest
    reveal its presence or make an appearance
    I saw, I saw him manifest in view,
    His voice, his figure, and his gestures knew:
    His lustre lost, and ev'ry living grace,
    Yet I retain'd the features of his face;
    Tho' with pale cheeks, wet beard, and dropping hair,
    None but my Ceyx could appear so fair:
  28. surmise
    imagine to be the case or true or probable
    And somewhat floating from afar descries:
    It seems a corpse a-drift to distant sight,
    But at a distance who could judge aright?
    It wafted nearer yet, and then she knew,
    That what before she but surmised, was true:
  29. lamentable
    bad; unfortunate
    Her bill tho' slender, sends a creaking noise,
    And imitates a lamentable voice.
    Now lighting where the bloodless body lies,
    She with a fun'ral note renews her cries:
    Alcyone's voice is lamentable because: 1) she has transformed into a halcyon or kingfisher, which is a bird with a shrill whistle or loud rattle; in the example sentence, her voice is described as a "creaking noise" but that might be because she is new to it; 2) she is lamenting ("express grief verbally") with a "funeral note" the death of her husband.
  30. pallid
    pale, as of a person's complexion
    At all her stretch, her little wings she spread,
    And with her feather'd arms embrac'd the dead:
    Then flick'ring to his pallid lips, she strove
    To print a kiss, the last essay of love.
Created on Tue Jun 18 14:09:29 EDT 2013 (updated Mon Apr 08 17:16:09 EDT 2019)

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