Baucis et Philemon — Section 2

Latin

English

1ergō 2ubi 3caelicolae 5parvōs 4tetigēre 6penātēs

11summissō 7-que 9humilēs 8intrārunt 12vertice 10postēs,

5membra 1senex 6positō 2iussit 4relevāre 7sedīlī,

8cui 11superiniēcit 12textum 13rude 9sēdula 10Baucis.

1inde 5focō 3tepidum 4cinerem 2dīmōvit 6et 9ignēs

7suscitat 10hesternōs 12foliīs 11-que 14et 15cortice 16siccō

13nūtrit 17et 18ad 19flammās 22animā 20prōdūcit 23anīlī,

25multifidās 24-que 26facēs 28rāmālia 27-que 29ārida 32tēctō

30dētulit 33et 34minuit 37parvō 35-que 36admōvit 38aēnō,

5quod 1-que 6suus 7coniūnx 9riguō 8collēgerat 10hortō

2truncat 3holus 4foliīs; 14furcā 12levat 11ille 15bicornī

16sordida 17terga 18suis 20nigrō 19pendentia 21tignō

27servātō 22-que 26diū 23resecat 28dē 29tergore 25partem

24exiguam 31sectam 30-que 32domat 33ferventibus 34undīs.

Therefore, when the heaven-dwellers arrived at the small household

and entered the lowly doorposts with bowed heads,

the old man ordered them to relax their limbs on a couch set out for them,

over which the busy Baucis placed a rough, woven cloth.

Then she separated the warm ash in the hearth

and rouses the fires yesterday's and with leaves feeds them

and dry bark and to flames brings forth

with the breath of an old woman and split torches and dry sticks

she brought down from the roof and made them smaller and applied them to a small bronze pot,

and she strips the cabbage of its leaves, which her husband

had gathered from the well-watered garden; he lifts with a two-pronged fork

the sooty back of a pig hanging on a black beam

and cuts off a thin slice long- preserved from

the back and, having cut it up, softens it in the boiling waters.

Content — what is happening

Reaching the little cottage, the gods bow their heads to pass beneath its low doorway, and old Philemon invites them to rest on a couch spread with a rough homespun cloth.
Busy Baucis rakes the warm ash, revives yesterday’s embers with leaves and dry bark, and coaxes a flame with her old woman’s breath.
She brings split kindling and dry sticks down from the roof, breaks them up, and sets a small bronze pot over the fire.
Philemon fetches cabbage from the well-watered garden and cuts a thin slice from a long-kept side of bacon to soften in the boiling water — the couple give the best of their little store.