What are /lit/'s favourite tales from the Metamorphoses and why? I really like Pyramus and Thisbe because its just a good love story and it's interesting to see the parallels with Romeo and Juliet
Phaethon is my second favorite:
"And Phaethon sees the earth on fire; he cannot
Endure this heat, the blast of some great furnace.
Under his feet he feels the chariot glowing
White-hot; he cannot bear the sparks, the ashes,
The soot, the smoke, the blindness. He is going
Somewhere, that much he knows, but where he is
He does not know. They have their way, the horses."
Orpheus and Eurydice is my favorite:
"They climbed the upward path, through absolute silence,
Up the steep murk, clouded in pitchy darkness,
They were near the margin, near the upper land,
When he, afraid that she might falter, eager to see her,
Looked back in love, and she was gone, in a moment.
Was it he, or she, reaching out arms and trying
To hold or to be held, and clasping nothing
But empty air? Dying the second time,
She had no reproach to bring against her husband,
What was there to complain of? One thing, only:
He loved her. He could hardly hear her calling
Farewell! when she was gone."
>>8280976
That translation is by Rolfe Humphries. It's the only one I've read so far, but I enjoyed it quite a lot.
Probably the Centauromachy. Fucking hilarious parody of the battle epic.
Philomela is psychologically brilliant. Io is so touching.
>>8280995
It sounds good, hence my asking. I like that kind of translation of classical works: no rhyme, no strict meter (or is there?) yet not quite prose either, in contemporary language but not too dumbed-down, terse and direct yet poetic. Of course, being unable to read the original I can't really tell how good any translation is; I'm just saying I like the style.
>>8280976
Get the Mandelbaum
>>8281195
This. His translation made me cry desu
