6. Now, when it had been
often considered in the councils of the gods, by what means it might be
possible either to weaken or to curb his audacity, Liber, the rest
hanging back, takes upon himself this task. With the strongest
wine he drugs a spring much resorted to by Acdestis4308
where he had been wont to assuage the
heat and burning
thirst4309
| 4309
Lit., “of thirsting.” |
roused
in him by sport and
hunting. Hither runs Acdestis to drink when he felt the
need;
4310
| 4310
Lit., “in time of need.” |
he gulps down
the
draught too
greedily into his gaping veins. Overcome by what
he is quite unaccustomed to, he is in consequence sent fast
asleep. Liber is near the
snare which he had set; over his
foot he throws one end of a halter
4311
| 4311
So the reading of the ms. and
edd., unum laqueum, may be rendered; for which Canterus
conjectured imum—“the lowest part of the
noose.” |
formed of
hairs, woven together very
skilfully; with the other end he lays hold of his privy members.
When the fumes of the
wine passed off, Acdestis starts up furiously,
and his
foot dragging the noose, by his own
strength he
robs himself of
his
4312
| 4312 So
the edd., reading eo quo (ms. quod) fuerat privat sexu; for
which Hild. and Oehler read fu-tu-erat—“of the sex
with which he had been a fornicator.” |
sex; with the
tearing asunder of
these parts there is an immense flow of
blood; both
4313
| 4313
Lit., “these (i.e., the parts and the blood) are,” etc. |
are carried
off and
swallowed up by the
earth; from them there suddenly springs up,
covered with fruit, a pomegranate
tree, seeing the
beauty of which,
with admiration, Nana,
4314
| 4314
The ms. here reads Nata,
but in c. 13 the spelling is Nana, as in other writers. |
daughter of the king or
river
Sangarius, gathers and places in her
bosom some of the
fruit. By this she becomes pregnant; her
father shuts her up,
supposing that she had been
4315
debauched, and
seeks to have her
starved to
death; she is kept alive by the mother of the gods with
apples, and other
food,
4316
| 4316
The ms. reads t-abulis,
corrected as above p- by Jos. Scaliger, followed by Hild. and
Oehler. The other edd. read
bacculis—“berries.” |
and brings forth a
child, but
Sangarius
4317
| 4317
So all the edd., except Hild. and Oehler, who retain the
ms. reading
sanguinarius—“bloodthirsty.” |
orders it to
be exposed. One Phorbas having found the
child, takes it
home,
4318
| 4318
So Salmasius, Orelli, and Hild., reading repertum nescio quis sumit
Phorbas, lacte; but no mention of any Phorbas is made elsewhere in
connection with this story, and Oehler has therefore proposed forma
ac lacte—“some one takes the child found,
nourishes it with sweet pottage of millet (forma) and
milk,” etc. |
brings it
up on
goats’
milk; and as handsome fellows are so named in
Lydia, or because the Phrygians in their own way of speaking call their
goats attagi, it happened in consequence that
the boy
obtained the name Attis.
4319
| 4319
[See vol. ii. p. 175.] |
Him the mother of the gods
loved
exceedingly, because he was of most surpassing
beauty; and Acdestis,
who was his companion, as he grew up fondling him, and bound
to him by
wicked compliance with his
lust in the only way now
possible, leading him through the wooded glades, and presenting him
with the
spoils of many
wild beasts, which the
boy Attis at first said
boastfully were won by his own toil and labour. Afterwards, under
the influence of
wine, he admits that he is both
loved by Acdestis, and
honoured by him with the
gifts brought from the forest; whence it is
unlawful for those polluted by
drinking wine to enter into his
sanctuary, because it discovered his secret.
4320
| 4320
Lit., “his silence.” |
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