“So did the goddess warn Adonis; then
she yoked her swans, rode off across the air.
But daring is not keen to heed such warnings.
By chance, Adonis’ hounds had caught a scent
that led them to a wild boar’s hidden den;
the trail was sure. The boar was roused
out of the woods: Adonis’ spearhead caught
the boar—a slanting thrust. With his curved snout,
the savage beast worked free—he had torn out
the spearhead stained with his own blood. The chase
is on: he charges at Adonis now.
Latin [693–714]
The youth, in fear of his own life, runs hard,
but he is caught: the boar sinks his long tusks
into Adonis’ groin; he fells him—and
the boy lies prone along the yellow sands.
“On her light chariot, Venus, who was drawn
across the middle air by her winged swans,
had not reached Cyprus yet; she heard, far off,
the dying boy—his moans. She turned around
her white swans and rode back. When, from the heights,
she saw him lifeless there, a bleeding corpse,
she leaped down to the ground. And Venus tore
her hair, and—much unlike a goddess—beat
her hands against her breast. She challenged fate:
‘But destiny does not rule all. Adonis,
your memory will live eternally:
each year they will repeat this final scene—
your day of death, my day of grief, will be
enacted in a feast that bears your name.
“‘I shall transform your blood into a flower.
If you, Proserpina, were once allowed
the metamorphosis of Mentha, when
you changed that nymph into a fragrant plant—
the mint—can anyone begrudge me if
I change the form of Cinyras’ dear son?’
That said, she sprinkled scented nectar on
his blood, which then fermented, even as
bright bubbles form when raindrops fall on mud.
One hour had yet to pass when, from that gore,
a bloodred flower sprang, the very color
of pomegranates when that fruit is ripe
and hides sweet seeds beneath its pliant rind.
And yet Adonis’ blossoms have brief life:
his flower is light and delicate; it clings
too loosely to the stem and thus is called
Anemone—‘born of the wind’—because
winds shake its fragile petals, and they fall.”
Latin [714–39]