When Attis, over deep seas by a swift raft taken,
reached, desirous, the Phrygian forest on hasty foot
and went to the dark places of the Godess, surrounded by forests,
incited there, roving, by a furious madness in his soul
he sliced the weights of his groin with a keen flintstone.
So, as she sensed her members left without virility
and the earth stained with fresh blood, too,
she hurriedly seized the light tambourine with snow-white hands,
the tambourine, the tuba of Cybele, your initiation rites, mother,
and shaking the hollow skin of the bull with tender fingers,
trembling, started to sing this to her companions:
'Hurry! Go, Gallae, to the high woods of Cybele at once.
Go at once, wandering herd of the Lady of Dindymen,
which, like exiles, seeking new places
following my path, with me as leader, comrades to me,
have withstood the rapid sea and harsh main
and emasculated the body out of extreme hatred for Venus.
Gladden the soul of the Mistress with excited wanderings.
The sluggish delay leave from mind. Go at once, follow,
to the Phrygian home of Cybele, to the Phrygian forests of the Godess
where the voice of the cymbals sounds, where the tambourines resound,
where the Phrygian pipe-player with a curved reed deeply plays,
where the ivy-wearing Menads throw their heads with force,
where they fulfil the sacred rites with shrill screams,
where the wandering crowd has gotten used to flying for the Goddess,
where it is proper for us to hurry in religious dance.'
As soon as Attis, fake woman, sang this to her companions,
the thiasus suddenly screams with tremulous tongues,
the light tambourine bellows, the hollow cymbals ring,
the swift choir goes to the green Ida on hurried foot.
At the same time goes ravingly, raging, panting, struggling for breath
Attis accompanied by the drum, leader through the shaded forests.
Just like an untamed young cow trying to escape the burden of the yoke
the fast Gallae follow the swift of foot leader.
So as they, tired, the home of Cybele reached,
from the excessive exertion they catch sleep without Ceres.
Lazy slumber covers them the eyes with wavering drowsiness;
the rabid fury of the soul disappears in soft rest.
But when the golden-faced sun with radiant eyes
surveyed the white heavens, the hard earth, the wild sea
and drove the shadows of the night away with lively steeds,
then running Sleep quickly left the wakened Attis;
the goddess Pasithea received him in her trembling bosom.
So, from soft rest without rapid madness

There seeing the vast seas with tearful eyes
thus she spoke to the fatherland sadly:
'Fatherland, oh my creator, fatherland my begetter,
sad me who, deserting you as the masters the fleeing
slaves do, to the woods of Ida I have taken my foot
so as to be near the snow and the frozen dwellings of the wild beasts
and go to all their raging dens,

Super alta vectus Attis celerī rate maria
Phrygium ut nemus citātō cupidē pede tetigit
adiitque opāca silvīs redimīta loca deae,
stimulātus ibi furentī rabiē vagus animīs
dēvellit īlī acūtō sibi pondera silice.
Itaque ut relicta sēnsit sibi membra sine virō
etiam recente terrae sola sanguine maculāns,
niveīs citāta cēpit manibus leve typanum,
typanum, tubam Cybellēs, tua, māter, initia,
quatiēnsque terga taurī tenerīs cava digitīs
canere haec suīs adorta est tremebunda comitibus:
'Agite! Īte ad alta, Gallae, Cybelēs nemora simul.
Simul īte, Dindymēnae dominae vaga pecora,
aliēna quae petentēs velut exsulēs loca
sectam meam exsecūtae, duce mē, mihi comitēs,
rapidum salum tulistis truculentaque pelagī
et corpus ēvirāstis Veneris nimiō odiō.
Hilarāte erae citātīs errōribus animum.
Mora tarda mente cēdat. Simul īte, sequiminī,
Phrygiam ad domum Cybellēs, Phrygia ad nemora deae,
ubi cymbalum sonat vōx, ubi tympana reboant,
tībīcen ubi canit Phryx curvō grave calamō,
ubi capita Maenadēs vī iaciunt hederigerae,
ubi sacra sāncta acūtīs ululātibus agitant,
ubi suēvit illa dīvae volitāre vaga cohors,
quō nōs decet citātīs celerāre tripudiīs.’
Simul haec comitibus Attis cecinit, notha mulier,
thiasus repente linguīs trepidantibus ululat,
leve tympanum remūgit, cava cymbala recrepant,
viridem citus adit Īdam properante pede chorus.
Furibunda simul anhēlāns vaga vadit animam agēns
comitāta tympanō Attis per opāca nemora dux.
Velutī iuvenca vītāns onus indomita iugī,
rapidae ducem secuntur Gallae properipedem.
Itaque, ut domum Cybellēs tetigēre lassulae,
nimiō ē labōre somnum capiunt sine Cerere.
Piger hīs labante languōre oculōs sopor operit;
abit in quiēte mollī rabidus furor animī.
Sed ubi ōris aureī Sōl radiantibus oculīs
lūstrāvit aethera album, sola dūra, mare ferum,
pepulitque noctis umbrās vegetīs sonipedibus,
ibi Somnus excitam Attin fugiēns citus abiit;
trepidante eum recēpit dea Pāsithea sinū.
Ita dē quiēte mollī rapidā sine rabiē
simul ipsa pectore Attis sua facta recoluit,
liquidāque mente vīdit sine quīs ubique foret,
animō aestuante rūsum reditum ad vada tetulit.
Ibi maria vasta vīsēns lacrimantibus oculīs,
patriam allocūta maesta est ita vōce miseriter:
'Patria, ō meī creātrīx, patria, ō mea genetrīx,
ego quam miser relinquēns, dominōs ut erifugae
famulī solent, ad Īdae tetulī nemora pedem,
ut apud nivem et ferārum gelida stabula forem,
et eārum omnia adīrem furibunda latibula,
ubinam aut quibus locīs tē positam, patria, reor?
Cupit ipsa pūpula ad tē sibi dērigere aciem,
rabiē ferā carēns dum breve tempus animus est.
Egone ā meā remōta haec ferar in nemora domō?
Patriā, bonīs, amīcīs, genitōribus aberō?
Aberō forō, palaestrā, stadiō et gyminasiīs?
Miser, ā, miser, querendum est etiam atque etiam, anime.
Quod enim genus figūrae est, ego nōn quod obierim?
Ego mulier, ego adulēscēns, ego ephēbus, ego puer,
ego gymnasī fuī flōs, ego eram decus oleī:
mihi iānuae frequentēs, mihi līmina tepida,
mihi flōridis corōllīs redīmita domus erat,
linquendum ubi esset ortō mihi Sōle cubiculum.
Ego nunc deum ministra et Cybelēs famula ferar?
Ego Maenas, ego meī pars, ego vir sterilis erō?
Ego viridis algida Īdae nive amicta loca colam?
Ego vītam agam sub altīs Phrygiae columinibus,
ubi cerva silvicultrīx, ubi aper nemorivagus?
Iam, iam dolet quod ēgī, iam, iamque paenitet.'
Roseīs ut huic labellīs sonitus citus abiit
geminās deōrum ad aurēs nova nūntia referēns,
ibi iūncta iuga resolvēns Cybelē leōnibus
laevumque pecoris hostem stimulāns ita loquitur:
'Agedum,' inquit, 'age, ferōx ī, fac ut hunc furor agitet,
fac utī furōris ictū reditum in nemora ferat,
mea līberē nimis quī fugere imperia cupit.
Age, caede terga caudā, tua verbera patere,
fac cūncta mūgientī fremitū loca retonent,
rutilam ferōx torōsā cervīce quate iubam.'
Ait haec mināx Cybellē religatque iuga manū.
Ferus ipse sēsē adhortāns rapidum incitat animō,
vādit, fremit, refringit virgulta pede vagō.
At ubi ūmida albicantis loca lītoris adiit,
teneramque vīdit Attin prope marmora pelagī,
facit impetum. Illa dēmēns fugit in nemora fera;
ibi semper omne vītae spatium famula fuit.

Dea magna, dea Cybēbē, dea, domina Dindymī,
procul ā meā tuus sit furor omnis, era, domō;
aliōs age incitātōs, aliōs age rabidōs.

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