Daedalus, meanwhile, hating Crete and his long exile,
and having been touched by the love of his birthplace[1],
had been closed off by the sea. He says, "Although Minos obstructs[2]
the land and waves, the sky at least lies open; we will go that way.
Minos may possess everything, but he does not possess the air."
He spoke and sends down his mind into unknown arts[3]
and changes his nature[4]. For he puts feathers in a row
beginning with the small ones, and the shorter ones following the long ones,
so that you should think it had grown on an incline; in the same way that
an old countryman's pipe gradually builds up with reeds of different lengths.
Then he binds the middle feathers with thread and the bottom feathers with wax
and then bends his creation with a slight curve in such a way that it
truly mimics a real bird. The boy Icarus was standing together with his father,
unaware that he was touching his own peril,
now with a beaming smile was catching feathers
which the wandering air had moved, then with his thumb he was softening the yellow wax,
and with his play was impeding on the miraculous work of his father.
After the finishing touch had been placed
on the work, the craftsman balanced himself
with twin wings and suspended his body in the moving air;
"I warn you to fly in the middle course, Icarus,
if you go too low, a wave will weigh down the feathers,
if you go too high, the fire from the sun will burn them:
fly between each. I order you not to look at Boötes,
or Helice, or the strict sword of Orion:
With me leading, seize the way!" At the same time he delivers the warnings of flying
and fits the unfamiliar wings on Icarus's shoulders.
Between the work and warnings Daedalus's old cheeks grew wet,
and his fatherly hands trembled; He gave to his son kisses
never to be repeated, and having lifted himself up on his wings
he flies ahead and he fears for his companion, just as a bird
who has led forth a tender offspring from a high nest into the air,
and encourages him to follow and instructs him in destructive skill,
and he moves himself and looks back at the wings of his son.
Someone while catching fish with a trembling rod,
either a shepherd leaning on his staff or a plowman on a plow
saw these men and was stunned, and they who were able to snatch the sky,
he believed were gods. And now Juno's Samos was on the left
side (for Delos and Paros had been left behind)
and on the right was Lebynthos and Kalymnos rich in honey,
when the boy began to rejoice in his bold flight
and deserted his leader, and attracted by a desire for the sky
he took his path [went] higher. The vicinity of the sun
softens the fragrant wax, the chains of the feathers;
the wax melted: he shook his bare arms
and lacking oarage he takes up no air,
and his mouth shouting his father's name
is swept up in the blue sea, which takes its name from him.
But the unlucky father, and no longer a father, said, "Icarus,
Icarus, where are you? In what region shall I seek you?
Icarus!" he kept saying: he caught sight of feathers in the waves
and cursed his own arts and buried the body in a tomb,
and the land is called Icaria the name of the one buried there.
- ↑ Athens
- ↑ 'obstructs' almost means 'controls'
- ↑ the art of flying
- ↑ i.e., from a creature of the land to one of the air
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Daedalus intereā Crēten longumque perōsus
exilium tactusque locī nātālis amōre
clausus erat pelagō. "terrās licet" inquit "et undās
obstruat: et cælum certē patet; ībimus illac:
omnia possideat, nōn possidet āera Mīnos."
dīxit et ignōtās animum dīmittit in artēs
nātūramque novat. nam pōnit in ordine pennās
ā minimā cœptās, longam breviōre sequentī,
ut clīvō crēvisse putēs: sīc rūstica quondam
fistula disparibus paulātim surgit avēnīs;
tum līnō mediās et cērīs alligat īmās
atque ita conpositās parvō curvāmine flectit,
ut vērās imitētur avēs. puer Īcarus ūna
stābat et, ignārus sua sē tractāre perīcla,
ōre renīdentī modo, quās vaga mōverat aura,
captābat plūmās, flāvam modo pollice cēram
mollībat lūsūque suō mīrābile patris
impediēbat opus. postquam manus ultima cœptō
inposita est, geminās opifex librāvit in ālās
ipse suum corpus mōtāque pependit in aurā;
instruit et nātum "mediō" que "ut līmite currās,
Īcare," ait "moneō, nē, sī dēmissior ībīs,
unda gravet pennās, sī celsior, ignis adūrat:
inter utrumque volā. nec tē spectāre Boōten
aut Helicen iubeō strictumque Orīonis ensem:
mē duce carpe viam!" pariter praecepta volandī
trādit et ignōtās umerīs accommodat ālās.
inter opus monitūsque genae maduēre senīlēs,
et patriae tremuēre manūs; dedit oscula nātō
nōn iterum repetenda suō pennīsque levātus
ante volat comitīque timet, velut āles, ab altō
quae teneram prolem prōduxit in āera nīdō,
hortāturque sequī damnōsāsque ērudit artēs
et movet ipse suās et nātī respicit ālās.
hōs aliquis tremulā dum captat harundine piscēs,
aut pastor baculō stivāve innixus arātor
vīdit et obstipuit, quique æthera carpere possent,
crēdidit esse deōs. et iam Iūnōnia lævā
parte Samōs (fuerant Dēlosque Parōsque relictae)
dextra Lebinthos erat fēcundaque melle Calymnē,
cum puer audācī cœpit gaudēre volātū
dēseruitque ducem cælīque cupīdine tractus
altius ēgit iter. rapidī vīcīnia sōlis
mollit odōrātās, pennārum vincula, cērās;
tābuerant cēræ: nūdōs quatit ille lacertōs,
rēmigiōque carēns non ullās percipit aurās,
ōraque cæruleā patrium clāmantia nōmen
excipiuntur aquā, quae nōmen traxit ab illō.
at pater infēlix, nec iam pater, "Īcare," dīxit,
"Īcare," dīxit "ubi es? quā tē regiōne requīram?"
"Īcare" dīcēbat: pennās aspexit in undīs
dēvōvitque suās artēs corpusque sepulcrō
condidit, et tellūs ā nōmine dicta sepultī.
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