Part 13

Victorious Ithacus his sails unfurls, To seek the land Hypsipylé once rul'd, And Thoäs fam'd. An isle of old disgrac'd By slaughter of its males, to bring the darts, The weapons of Tyrinthius. These obtain'd To Greece, and with their owner brought, at length The furious war was finish'd. Priam falls With Troy; and Priam's more unhappy spouse, To crown her losses, loses human shape; With new-heard barkings shaking foreign climes. Where the long Hellespont's contracted bounds Are seen, Troy blaz'd: nor yet the fires were quench'd. The scanty drops of blood Jove's altar soak'd, Which flow'd from aged Priam. By her locks Dragg'd on, Apollo's priestess vainly stretch'd To lofty heaven her arms. The victor Greeks Tear off the Trojan mothers as they clasp Their country's imag'd gods; and as they cling To flaming temples--an invidious prey. Astyänax is from those turrets flung, Whence erst he wont to view his sire, whose arm Him guarding, and his ancestorial realm In fight, his mother shew'd. And Boreas now Departure urg'd. Swol'n by a favoring breeze The rattling canvas warn'd the sailor crew. "O, Troy! farewel!"--The Trojan matrons cry-- "Hence are we borne."--They kiss their natal soil; And leave the smoking ruins of their domes. Last--mournful object! Hecuba, descry'd Amid her children's graves, the bark ascends. Ulysses' hand her dragg'd, as close she grasp'd Their tombs, and kiss'd their bones which still remain'd. Yet snatch'd she hastily, and bore away Of Hector's ashes some, and in her breast Hugg'd them; and on the top of Hector's tomb Left her grey hairs; her hairs, and flowing tears. Oblation fruitless to his last remains.

Oppos'd to Phrygia, where Troy once was seen, A country stands, where live Bistonia's race: Where Polymnestor, wealthy monarch, rul'd, To whom, O, Polydore! thy cautious sire Thee sent; from Iliüm's battles far remov'd, For safe protection. Wisdom sway'd the king; Save that he sent him store of treasure too, Reward of wickedness; and tempting much His greedy soul. Soon as Troy's fortune sank, Impious the Thracian monarch plung'd his sword In his young charge's throat: as if his crime And body from his sight at once 'twere given To move, he flung him in the dashing main.

Now on the Thracian coast, Atrides moor'd His fleet, till placid were the waves again, And favoring more, the winds. Achilles here, Out from the earth, by sudden rupture rent, Appear'd in 'semblance of his living form: Threatening his brow appear'd, as when so fierce He Agamemnon with rebellious sword Sought to assail.--"Depart ye then, O, Greeks!" He cry'd--"of me unmindful? Is the fame "Of all my yaliant acts with me interr'd? "Treat me not thus. That honors due my tomb "May want not, let Polyxena be given "In sacrifice to soothe Achilles' ghost." He said; his fellows with the ruthless shade Complying, from the mother's bosom tore Her whom she sole had left to cherish. Brave Than female more, the hapless maid was led To the dire tomb in sacrificial pomp. She, of her state still mindful, when before The cruel altar brought; when all prepar'd The savage-urg'd oblation of herself She saw; and Neoptolemus beheld There stand, the steel there grasping; on his face Her eyes firm-fixing, spoke.--"My noble blood "This instant spill. Delay not--plunge thy blade "Or in my throat, or bosom;"--and her throat And bosom, as she spoke she bar'd--"for ne'er "Polyxena, a slavish life had borne. "Yet grateful is this victim to no god! "My only wish, that from my mother dear "May be my death conceal'd: my mother clogs "My final passage; damps the joys of death. "Yet should she wail my death not, but my life. "But distant stand ye all, that to the shades "Inviolate I sink; if what I ask "Be just, let every hand of man avoid "A virgin's touch. Whoe'er your steel prepares "To move propitiatory with my blood, "A victim quite untainted best must please. "And should the final accents that I speak, "(King Priam's daughter, not a captive sues) "My corse unransom'd to my mother give. "Let her not buy the sad sepulchral rites "With gold, but tears. Yet time has been, with gold "I might have been redeem'd."--The princess ceas'd, And save her own no cheek unwet was seen. And ev'n the priest reluctant, and in tears, Op'd by a sudden plunge the offer'd breast. She, to earth sinking, 'neath her tottering limbs, Wore to the last a face unmov'd; ev'n then Her final care was in her fall to veil Limbs that a veil demanded, as she sank; And decent pride of modesty preserve.

The Trojan dames receive her, and recount The woes of Priam's house, the streams of blood That single stock has spent. Thee too, O, maid! They weep; and thee, a royal spouse so late, And royal parent stil'd; pride of the realm Of glorious Asia; now a mournful lot Amid the spoil; whom Ithacus would scorn To own, great Hector hadst thou not brought forth: The name of Hector scarce a master finds, To claim his mother. She, the lifeless trunk Embracing, which had held a soul so brave, Tears pour'd; tears often had she pour'd before, For country, husband, children--now for her Those tears gush'd in the wound; lips press'd to lips; And beat that breast which oft with grievous blows Was punish'd. Sweeping 'mid the clotted blood Her silver'd tresses; all these plaints, and more She utter'd, as she still her bosom rent.

"My child, thy mother's last afflicting grief "(For who is spar'd me?) low, my child, thou ly'st; "And in thy wound, I all my wounds behold. "Yes, lest a single remnant of my race "Unslaughter'd should expire, thou too must bleed. "A female, thee, safe from the sword I thought: "A female, thee the sword has stretch'd in death. "The same Achilles, ruiner of Troy, "Bereaver of my offspring, all destroy'd,-- "Yes, all thy brethren, he, now murders thee! "Yet when by Paris' and Apollo's darts "He fell,--now, surely,--said I,--now no more "Pelides need be dreaded! Yet ev'n now, "Dreadful to me he proves. Inurned, rage "His ashes 'gainst our hapless race; we feel "Ev'n in his grave the anger of this foe. "I fruitful only for Pelides prov'd. "Low lies proud Iliüm, and the public woe, "The heavy ruin ends: if ended yet: "For Troy to me still stands; my sufferings still "Roll endless on. I, late in power so high, "Great in my children, in my husband great, "Am now dragg'd forth in poverty; exil'd "From all my children's tombs; a gift to please "Penelopé; who, while my daily task "She gives to Ithaca's proud dames, will taunt, "And cry;--of Hector, the fam'd mother see! "Lo! Priam's spouse!--And thou who sole wast spar'd "To soothe maternal pangs, so many lost, "Now bleed'st, atonement to an hostile shade: "And funeral victims has my womb produc'd "T' appease a foe. Why holds this stubborn heart? "Why still delay I? What to me avails "This loath'd, this long-protracted life? Why spin, "O, cruel deities! the lengthen'd thread "Of an old wretch, save that she yet may see "More deaths? Who e'er could Priam happy deem, "Iliüm o'erthrown? Yet happy was his death, "Thy sacrifice, my daughter! not to see; "At once of life and realm bereft. Yet sure "O, royal maid! funereal rites await "Thy last remains; thy corse will be inhum'd "In ancestorial sepulchres. Ah, no! "Such fortune smiles not on our house; the tears "A mother can bestow, are all thy gifts; "Sprinkled with foreign dust. All have I lost. "Of the whole stock I could as parent boast, "To tempt me now still longer to sustain "This life, my Polydore alone is left; "Once least of all my manly sons, erst given "To Thracia's monarch's care, upon these shores. "But why delay to cleanse that ghastly wound "With water, and that face, with spouting blood "Besmear'd."--She ceas'd, and bent her tottering steps, With torn and scatter'd locks down to the shore. And as the hapless wretch--"O, Trojans!"--cry'd, "An urn supply to draw the liquid waves;"-- The corse of Polydore, flung on the beach She saw, pierc'd deep with wounds of Thracian steel. Loud shriek'd the Trojan matrons; she by grief Dumb-stricken stood. Affliction keen suppress'd Her rising moans, and ready-springing tears: Stupid, and like a rigid stone she stood. Now on the earth her eyes are fixt; and now To heaven her furious countenance she lifts: Now dwells she on his face, now on the wounds Her son receiv'd, and on the wounds the most: And now her bosom with collected rage Furiously burning, all on vengeance fierce Her soul is bent, as still in power a queen. As storms a lioness robb'd of her cub, The track pursuing of her flying foe, Whom yet she sees not: rage and grief were mixt Just so in Hecuba; of her old years Regardless, mindful of her ire alone. She Polymnestor seeks, of the dire deed The perpetrator, and his ear demands-- That more of gold, intended for her boy, Her wish was to disclose. The Thracian king Heard credulous; lur'd by his wonted love Of gain, with her withdrew, and wily thus; With coaxing words;--"quick, Hecuba!"--exclaim'd, "Give for thy son the treasure. By the gods! "I swear, all shall be his; what more thou giv'st, "And what thou gav'st before."--Him, speaking so, And falsely swearing, savagely she view'd, And her fierce bosom swell'd with double rage. Then instant on him, by the captive dames Fast held, she flies; in his perfidious face Digs deep; her fingers (rage all strength supply'd) Tear from their orbs his eyes; bury'd her hands, Streaming with blood, where once the eyes had been; Widening the wounds, for eyes no more remain'd.

Fir'd at their monarch's fate the Thracian crowd With stones and darts t'attack the queen began. The queen with harsher voice, as they pursue, Bites at th' assailing stones, and, trying words, Barkings her jaws produce. The place remains Nam'd from the change. She, of her ancient woes Long mindful, grieving still, Sithonia's fields With howlings fill'd. Her fate with pity mov'd Her fellow Trojans; and the hostile Greeks; Nay, all the gods above; and all deny, (Ev'n she, the sister-wife of mighty Jove) That Hecuba so harsh a lot deserv'd.

Nor leisure now Aurora had to mourn (Though strong their cause she favor'd) the sad fall, And mournful fate of Hecuba, and Troy. A nearer case, a more domestic woe, The loss of Memnon, wrung the goddess' breast: Whom on the Phrygian plains the mother saw Beneath the weapon of Achilles sink. She saw--that color which the blushing morn Displays, grew pale, and heaven with clouds was hid. Still could the parent not support the sight, Plac'd on the funeral pyre his limbs, but straight With locks dishevell'd, not disdain'd to sue Prostrate before the knees of mighty Jove. These words her tears assisting.--"Meanest I, "Of those the golden heaven supports; to me "The fewest temples through earth's space are rais'd: "Yet still a goddess sues. Not to demand "Temples, nor festal days, nor altars warm'd "With blazing fires; yet if you but behold "What I, a female, for you all atchieve, "Bounding night's confines with new-springing light, "Such boons you might consider but my due. "But these are not my care. Aurora's mind "Not now e'en honors merited demands. "I come, my Memnon lost, who bravely fought, "But vainly, in his uncle Priam's cause: "And in his prime of youth (so will'd your fates) "Fell by the stout Achilles. Lord supreme! "Of all the deities, grant, I beseech "To him some honor, solace of his death; "Allay the smarting of a mother's wounds."

Jove nodded, round the lofty funeral pile Of Memnon, rose th' aspiring flames; black clouds Of smoke the day obscur'd. So streams exhale The rising mists which Phoebus' rays conceal. Mount the black ashes, and conglob'd in one They thicken in a body, and a shape That body takes, and heat and light receives From the bright flames. Its lightness gave it wings: Much like a bird at first, and soon indeed A bird, its pinions sounded. And a crowd Of sister birds, their pinions sounded too; Their origin the same. Thrice they surround The pile, and thrice with noisy clang the air Resounds; the fourth time all the troop divide: Then two and two, they furious wage the war On either side; fierce with their crooked claws And beaks, they pounce their adversary's breast, And tire his wings. Each kindred body falls An offering to the ashes of the dead, And prove their offspring from a valiant man. These birds of sudden origin receive Their name, Memnonides, from him whose limbs Produc'd them. Oft as Sol through all his signs Has run, the battle they renew again, To perish at their parent-warrior's tomb. Thus, while all others Dymas' daughter weep In howling shape, Aurora still on griefs Her own sad brooding, her maternal tears Sprinkles in dew o'er all th' extent of earth.

Yet fate doom'd not with Iliüm's towers the fall Of Iliüm's hopes. The Cythereän prince Bore off his gods; and on his shoulders bore A no less sacred, venerable load, His sire. Of all his riches these preferr'd. The pious hero, with his youthful son Ascanius, from Antandros, o'er the main Borne in the flying fleet, leaves far the shore Of savage Thrace, still moisten'd with the blood Of Polydore, and enters Phoebus' port; Aided by currents, and by gentle gales, With all his social crew. Anius receives The exile, in his temple,--in his dome; Where o'er the land he monarch rul'd; and where, As Phoebus' priest, he tended due his rites: The city, and the votive temples shew'd, And shew'd two trees, once by Latona grasp'd In bearing throes. The incense in the flames Distributed, wine o'er the incense thrown, The entrails of the offer'd bulls consum'd As wont; the regal roof approach they all; And high on tapestry reclin'd, partake Of Ceres' gift, and Bacchus' flowing boon. Then good Anchises, thus--"O chosen priest "Of Phoebus! was I then deceiv'd? methought, "As far as memory aids me to recal, "When first mine eyes these lofty walls beheld, "That twice two daughters, and a son were thine." Old Anius shook his head, begirt around With snowy fillets, as in grief, he said:-- "No, mighty hero! not deceiv'd art thou, "Me hast thou seen of five the parent; now "Thou well-nigh childless see'st me: (such to man "The varying change of sublunary things) "For, ah! what can an absent son bestow "To aid me, who, in Andros' isle now dwells, "Where for his sire the realm and state he holds? "Delius on him prophetic art bestow'd; "And Bacchus, to my female offspring, gave "A boon beyond all credit, and their hopes. "For all whate'er, which felt my daughters' touch "To corn, and wine, and olives, was transformed: "A mighty treasure in themselves they held. "But Agamemnon, Troy's destroyer learn'd "This gift (think not but that your overthrow "In some respect we shar'd,) by ruthless force, "Tore them unwilling from their parent's arms; "And stern commanded that the heavenly gift "Should feed the Grecian fleet. Each as she can "Escapes. Euboeä two attain, and two "Fraternal Andros seek. The troops pursue "And threaten warfare, if withheld the maids. "Fraternal love was vanquish'd in his breast "By fear, (that thou this terror mayst excuse, "Reflect, Æneäs was not there, nor there "Was Hector, Andros to defend, whose arms "To the tenth year made Iliüm stand.) And now "Chains were prepar'd their captive arms to bind. "While yet unchain'd, those arms to heaven they rais'd, "O father Bacchus!--crying--grant thy aid.-- "And aid the author of the gift bestow'd: "If them to lose by an unheard-of mode "Be aid bestowing. Then could I not know, "Nor now relate the order of the change "Which lost their shapes; the summit of my grief "I know; with plumage were they cloth'd; transform'd "To snowy doves, thy spouse's favor'd bird."

With these, and tales like these, the feast was clos'd: The board remov'd, all sought repose. With day Arising, all Apollo's shrine attend; Who bids that they their ancient mother seek, And kindred shores. The king attends them, gives His presents as they go. Anchises holds A sceptre, while a quiver and a robe Ascanius boasts; Æneäs holds a cup, Erst from Boeötia's shores to Anius sent, By Theban Therses. Therses sent the gift; Sicilian Alcon form'd it, and engrav'd A copious tale around. A town was there, And seven wide gates appear'd: for name were these, What town it was displaying. All without Its walls were funeral trains, and tombs beheld; And fires; and piles; and matrons, whose bare breasts, And locks dishevell'd, shew'd their mournful woe. Weeping the nymphs appear'd, and seem'd to wail Their arid streams; the leafless trees were hard; The goats were browsing on the naked rocks: And, lo! amid the Theban town was seen Orion's daughters: this her naked throat Offering, with more than female courage; that On the sharp weapon's point forth leaning, dy'd, To save the people: round the town are borne Their pompous funerals, they in splendor burn. Then, lest the race should perish, spring two youths From out their virgin ashes; which by fame Are call'd Coronæ, and the pomp attend, When their maternal ashes are interr'd.

Thus far the images on ancient brass Were grav'n; the bordering summit of the cup In gold acanthus rough appear'd. Nor gave The Trojans gifts less worthy than they took. To hold his incense, they a vase present The royal priest; a goblet, and a crown, Shining with gold, and bright with sparkling gems.

Thence, mindful that the Trojan race first sprung From Teucer's blood, tow'rd Crete their course they bend: But long Jove's native clime they could not bear. The hundred-city'd isle now left behind, Ausonia's port they hope to gain. Rough swell The wintry storms, and toss them on the main; And in the port of faithless Strophades Receiv'd, the wing'd Aëllo scares them far. Now had they sail'd beyond Dulichium's bay; Samos; and Ithaca, Neritus' soil; The realms Ulysses, so perfidious, sway'd: And saw Ambracia, for the strife of gods Renown'd, and stone to which the judge was chang'd; Now as Apollo's Actium far more fam'd: And saw Dodona's land with vocal groves; And deep Chaonia's bay, where vain-urg'd flames Molossus' sons, on new-sprung pinions 'scap'd. Phæäcia's neighbouring country, planted thick With grateful apples, now they reach; from thence Epirus and Buthrotus, by the seer Of Iliüm govern'd, image true of Troy. Thence of the future certain, full of faith, In all that Helenus of fate them told, Sicilia's isle they enter, which extends Midst of the waves its promontories three. Pachymos, tow'rd the showery south is plac'd; And Zephyr soft on Lilybæum blows: But 'gainst the Arctic bear that shuns the sea, And Boreas' rugged storms, Pelorus looks. By this the Trojans steer; urg'd by their oars, And favoring tide, by night on Zanclé's beach The fleet is moor'd. Here Scylla on the right; Charybdis, restless, on the left alarms. This sucks the destin'd ships beneath the waves, And whirls them up again: fierce dogs surround The other's sable belly, while she bears A virgin's face; and, if what poets tell Be feign'd not all, she had a virgin been.

Her many wooers sought; these all repuls'd, She join'd the ocean nymphs; by ocean's nymphs Much favor'd was the maid; and told the loves Of all the baffled youths. Her, while she gave Her locks to comb, thus Galatea fair, Bespoke, but first suppress'd a rising sigh. "'Tis true, O maid! a gentle race thee seeks, "Whom safely, as thou dost, thou may'st deny: "But I, whose sire is Nereus; who was born "Of blue-hair'd Doris; who am potent too "In crowds of sisters, refuge only found "From the fierce Cyclops' love, in my own waves." Tears chok'd her utterance here; which when the maid Had wip'd with marble fingers, and had sooth'd The goddess.--"Dearest Galatea! speak; "Nor from thy friend this cause of grief conceal: "Faithful am I to thee." The goddess yields, And to Cratæis' daughter, thus replies.

"From Faunus and the nymph Symethis sprung "Acis, his sire's delight, his mother's pride; "But far to me more dear. For me the youth, "And me alone, lov'd warmly; twice eight years "Had o'er him pass'd; when on his tender cheek "A doubtful down appear'd. Him I desir'd, "As ceaseless as the Cyclops sought for me. "Nor should you ask, if in my bosom dwelt "For him most hate, or most for Acis love, "Could I inform you: equal both in force. "O, gentle Venus! with what mighty power "Thou sway'st; lo! he, the merciless, the dread "Of his own woods; whom hapless guest ne'er saw "With safety; spurner of the power of Jove, "And all the host of heaven, what love is, feels! "Seiz'd with desire of me he flames, forgets "His flocks, and caverns. All thy anxious care "Thy beauty, Polyphemus! to improve, "And all thy anxious care is now to please. "And now with rakes thou comb'st thy rugged hair; "Now with a scythe thou mow'st thy bushy beard: "Thy features to behold in the clear brook, "And calm their fire employs thee. All his love "Of slaughter; all his fierceness; all his thirst "Cruel of blood, him leaves; and on the coast, "Ships safely moor, and safe again depart. "Meantime at Etna Telemus arriv'd, "Of Eurymus the son, whom never bird "Deceiv'd; he to dread Polyphemus came, "And spoke:--Thee, of the single light thou bear'st "Mid front, Ulysses will deprive.--Loud laugh'd "The monster, saying;--Stupidest of seers, "How much thou err'st!--already is it gone.-- "So spurns the truth the prophet told in vain. "Then moving on along the shore, he sinks "The sand with heavy steps, or tir'd returns "To his dark caves. Far stretching in the main "A wedge-like promontory rears its ridge "Aloft; on either side the surging waves "Foam on it. To its loftiest height ascends "The Cyclops fierce; his station in the midst "Assumes; his woolly flocks his steps pursue "Unshepherded. He when the pine immense, "Which serv'd him for a staff, though fit to serve "For sailyard, low beneath his feet had thrown; "And grasp'd the pipe, an hundred 'pacted reeds "Compos'd; the pastoral whistling all around "The hills confess'd, and all the waters nigh. "I, hid beneath a rock, my head reclin'd "On my dear Acis' bosom, heard these words--, "And still the words are noted in my breast.--

"O, Galatea! brighter than the leaves "Of snow-white lilies; fresher than the meads; "More lofty far than towering alder trees; "Than chrystal clearer; than the wanton kid "More gay; than shells, by ocean's constant waves "Smooth polish'd, smoother; dearer than the shade "In summer's heat; than winter's sun more dear; "More than the apple bright; and fairer far "Than lofty planetrees; clearer than the frost; "More beauteous than the ripen'd grape; more soft "Than the swan's plumage; or the new-prest milk: "And, but thou fly'st, more than the garden fine "With water'd streamlets. Yet the same art thou, "Wild Galatea, than the untam'd steer "More fierce; more stubborn than the ancient oak; "Than water more deceitful; slippery more "Than bending willows, or the greenest vines; "More stubborn than these rocks; than seas more rough; "Than the prais'd peacock prouder; sharper far "Than fire; and piercing more than thistles keen. "More savage than a nursing bear; more deaf "Than raging billows; than the trodden snake "More pitiless; and, what I more than all "Would wish thou wast not, fleeter than the deer, "Chas'd by shrill hunters; fleeter than wing'd air, "Or winds. If well thou knew'st me, much thou'dst grieve "That e'er thou fled'st; thou'dst blame thy dull delay, "And sue and labor to retain my love. "Caverns I have, scoop'd in the living rock "Beneath the mountain's side, where never sun "In mid-day heat, nor winter's cold can come. "My apples bend the branches; grapes are mine "On the long vine-trees clustering; some like gold; "Some of a purple teint; and these and those "Will I preserve for thee. Thy own fair hands "Shall gather strawberries soft, beneath the shade; "Autumnal cornels; and the purple plumb, "Dark with its juice, and that still nobler kind "Like new-made wax in hue. Nor shalt thou lack "The chesnut; nor the red arbutus' fruit: "Be but my spouse. All trees shall thee supply. "Mine are these flocks, and thousands more besides "Which roam the vallies; thousands like the woods; "And thousands shelter in the shady caves: "Nor could I, should'st thou ask, their numbers tell. "Poor he who counts his store. Believe not me "When these I praise; before thine eyes behold "How scarce their legs the swelling udder bear. "Mine are the tender lambs, in the warm fold "Secure; and mine are kids of equal age "In folds apart. The whitest milk have I; "But still for drink shall serve, and thicken'd, part "Shall harden into cheese. Nor wilt thou find "But cheap delights, and common vulgar gifts: "For deer, and hares, and goats, thou shalt possess; "Pigeons in pairs, and nests from mountains gain'd. "Upon the hills, a shaggy bear's twin cubs "I found; so like, no difference could be seen, "With thee to play I found them: these, I said, "These will I force my mistress to obey. "O Galatea! raise thy lovely head "Above the azure deep; come! only come; "Nor scorn my gifts. Right well myself I know: "I view'd me lately in the liquid stream; "And much my image satisfy'd my view. "Behold, how vast my bulk! Jove, in his heaven, "(For of some Jove ye oft are wont to tell "Who rules there) towers not in a mightier size. "Thick bushy locks o'er my stern forehead hang, "And like a forest down my shoulders spread. "Nor deem my body, with hard bristles rough, "Unseemly; most unsightly is the tree, "Without a leaf; unsightly is the steed, "Save on his neck the flowing mane is spread: "Plumes clothe the feather'd race; and their own wool "Becomes the sheep; so beards become mankind, "And bushy bristles, o'er their limbs bespread. "True in my forehead but one light is plac'd; "But huge that light, and like a mighty shield "In size. Yet does not Sol from heaven's high round "All view? and Sol possesses lights no more. "Remember too, my father o'er your realm "Rules sovereign; I in him a sire-in-law "Would give thee. Only pity me, I pray, "And hear my suppliant vows. To thee alone "I bend: and while I scorn your mighty Jove, "His heaven, and piercing thunder, thee, O nymph! "I fear: than fiercest lightnings dreading more "Thy anger. Far more patient should I rest "With this contempt, all didst thou thus contemn. "But how, the Cyclops first repuls'd, dar'st thou "This Acis love? this Acis dare prefer "To my embraces? Yet may he himself "Delight; nay let him Galatea please, "If so it must be, though what most I'd spurn: "Let but the scope be given, soon should he prove "My strength is equal to my mighty bulk. "Living his entrails would I tear, and spread "His mangled members o'er the fields, and o'er "Thy waters: let him mingle with thee so. "For oh! I burn; more fierce my injur'd love "Now rages: in ray breast I seem to bear "All Etna and its fires. But all my pains "Can nought, O Galatea! thee affect.--

"Thus with vain 'plainings (for the whole I saw) "He rises, raging like a furious bull "Robb'd of his heifer; paces restless round, "And bounds along the forests and the coasts. "When me and Acis, heedless of such fate, "And unsuspecting, he beheld, and roar'd:-- "I see ye! but the period of your love "Will I accomplish.--Loud his threats were heard, "As all the Cyclops' power of voice could raise. "All Etna trembled at the sound. In fright "I plung'd for safety in the neighbouring waves; "While fair Symethis' son for flight prepar'd; "And--help me, Galatea!--he exclaim'd-- "Help me, O help! and ye, my parents, aid; "And, perishing, receive me in your realm.-- "Close at his heels the Cyclops comes, and hurls "A mighty fragment from a mountain rent; "A corner only of the mighty rock "Him reach'd: that corner Acis all o'erwhelm'd. "But I, what fate alone would grant, perform'd, "That Acis still his ancestorial race "Should join: his purple gore flow'd from the rock; "And soon the redness pal'd; it seem'd a stream "Disturb'd by drenching showers; and soon this stream "Was clear'd to limpid purity. The rock "Gap'd wide, and living reeds sprung up erect, "On either brink. Loud roars the pressing flood "In the rock's hollow womb, and (wond'rous sight!) "A youth, his new-form'd horns with reeds begirt, "Sudden appear'd, 'mid waist above the waves; "Who but in stature larger, and his skin "Of azure teint, might Acis well be deem'd. "Acis indeed it was, Acis transform'd "To a clear stream which still his name retains."

Here Galatea ceas'd, the listening choir Dividing, all depart. The Nereïd train Swim o'er the placid waves. Scylla returns; Fearful to venture 'mid the boundless main, And vestless roams along the soaking sand; Or weary'd; finding some sequester'd pool, Cools in the shelter'd waters her fair limbs. Lo! Glaucus, lately of the mighty deep An 'habitant receiv'd, his shape transform'd Upon Boeötia's shores, cleaves through the waves; And feels desire as he the nymph beholds. All he can urge to stay her flight he tries; Yet still she flies him, swifter from her fear. She gains a mountain's summit, which the shore O'erhung. High to the main the lofty ridge An undivided sbrubless top presents, Down shelving to the sea. In safety here She stood; and, dubious monster he, or god, Admir'd his color, and the locks which spread Adown his shoulders, and his back below: And that a wreathing fish's form should end His figure from his groin. He saw her gaze; And on a neighbouring rock his elbow lean'd, As thus he spoke.--"No monstrous thing am I, "Fair virgin! nor a savage of the sea; "A watery god I am; nor on the main "Has Proteus; Triton; or Palæmon, son "Of Athamas, more power. Yet time has been "When I was mortal, yet even then attach'd "To the deep water, on the ocean I, "Still joy'd to labor. Now the following shoal "Of fishes in my net I dragg'd; and now, "Plac'd on a rock, I with my flexile rod "Guided the line. Bordering a verdant mead "A bank there lies, the waves its circuit bound "In part; in part the virid grass surrounds; "A mead which ne'er the horned herd had cropp'd: "Where ne'er the placid flock, nor hairy goats "Had brows'd; nor bees industrious cull'd the flowers "For sweets: no genial chaplets there were pluck'd "To grace the head; nor had the mower's arm "E'er spoil'd the crop. The first of mortals, I "On the turf rested. As my nets I dry'd; "And as my captur'd scaly prey to count, "Upon the grass I spread,--whatever the net "Escape prevented, and the hook had snar'd "Through their own folly. (Like a fiction sounds "The fact, but what avails to me to feign?) "Soon as the grass they touch, my captiv'd prey "Begin to move, and on their sides to turn; "And ply their fins on earth as in the main. "Then, while with wonder struck I pause, all fly "The shore in heaps, and their new master quit, "Their native waves regaining. I, surpriz'd, "Long doubtful stand to guess the wond'rous cause. "Whether some god, or but the grasses' juice "Accomplish'd this. What herb--at last, I said-- "Can power like this possess?--and with my hand "Pluck'd up, and with my teeth the herbage chew'd. "Scarce had my throat th' untasted juice first try'd, "When all my entrails sudden tremblings shook, "And with a love of something yet unknown "My breast was mov'd; nor could I longer keep "My place.--O earth! where I shall ne'er return-- "Farewel! I cry'd,--and plung'd below the waves. "Worthy the ocean deities me deem'd "To join their social troop, and anxious pray'd "To Tethys, and old Ocean, Tethys' spouse, "To purge whate'er of mortal I retain'd. "By them lustrated, and the potent song "Nine times repeated, earthly taints to cleanse, "They bade me 'neath an hundred gushing streams "To place my bosom. No delay I seek; "The floods from numerous fountains pour'd, the main "O'erwhelm'd my head. Thus far what deeds were done "My memory helps me to relate; thus far "Alone can I remember; all the rest "Dark to my memory seems. My sense restor'd, "I found my body chang'd in every part; "Nor was my mind the same. Then first I saw "This beard of dingy green, and these long locks "Which through the seas I sweep; these shoulders huge; "Those azure arms and thighs in fish-like form "Furnish'd with fins. But what avails this shape? "What that by all the deities marine "I dear am held? a deity myself? "If all these honors cannot touch thy breast." These words he spoke, and more to speak prepar'd, When Scylla left the god. Repuls'd, he griev'd And sought Titanian Circé's monstrous court.

*The Fourteenth Book.*

Scylla transformed to a monster by Circé through jealousy; and ultimately to a rock. Continuation of Æneas' voyage. Dido. Cercopians changed to apes. Descent of Æneas to hell. The Cumæan Sybil. Adventures of Achæmenides with Polyphemus: and of Macareus amongst the Lestrigonians. Enchantments of Circé. Story of the transformation of Picus to a woodpecker; and of the nymph Canens to air. The Latian wars. Misfortunes of Diomede. Agmon and others changed to herons. Appulus to a wild olive. The Trojan ships changed to sea-nymphs. The city Ardea to a bird. Deification of Æneas. Latin kings. Vertumnus and Pomona. Story of Iphis and Anaxareté. Wars with the Sabines. Apotheösis of Romulus; and of his wife Hersilia.

THE *Fourteenth Book* OF THE METAMORPHOSES OF OVID.

Now had Euboean Glaucus, who could cleave The surging sea, left Etna, o'er the breasts Of giants thrown, and left the Cyclops' fields, Unconscious of the plough's or harrow's use; And unindebted to the oxen yok'd. Zanclé he left, and its opposing shore Where Rhegium's turrets tower; and the strait sea For shipwreck fam'd, which by incroaching shores Press'd narrow, forms the separating bound Betwixt Ausonia's and Sicilia's land. Thence glides he swift along the Tyrrhene coast, By powerful arms impell'd, and gains the dome, And herbag'd hills of Circé Phoebus sprung: (The dome with forms of wildest beasts full cramm'd) Whom, soon as greeting salutations pass'd, He thus address'd:--"O powerful goddess! grant "Thy pity to a god; and thou alone, "If worth that aid thou deem'st me, canst afford "Aid to my love. For, O Titanian maid! "To none the power of plants is better known "Than me, who by the power of plants was chang'd. "But lest the object of my lore, to thee "Unknown, be hid; I Scylla late beheld "Upon th' Italian shore: Messenia's walls "Opposing. Shame me hinders to relate "What promises, what prayers, what coaxing words "I us'd: my words all heard with proud contempt. "Do thou with magic lips thy charms repeat, "If power in charms abides: or if in herbs "More force is found, then use the well-try'd strength "Of herbs of power. I wish thee not to soothe "My heart; I wish thee not these wounds to cure; "Still may they last, let her such flames but feel."

Then Circé spoke, (and she a mind possess'd Most apt to flame with love, or in her frame The stimulus was plac'd; or Venus, irk'd At what her sire discover'd, caus'd the heat.) "O, better far the willing nymph pursue "Who would in wishes meet thee; wh'o is seiz'd "With equal love: well worthy of the maid "Thou wast; nay shouldst have been the first besought; "And if but hope thou wilt afford, believe "My words, thou shalt spontaneously be lov'd. "Fear not, but on thy beauteous form depend; "Lo! I, a goddess! of the splendid sun "A daughter, who with powerful spells so much "And herbs can do, to be thy consort sue. "Spurn her who spurns thee; her who thee desires "Desiring meet; and both at once avenge." But to her tempting speeches Glaucus thus Reply'd--"The trees shall sooner in the waves "Spring up, and sea-weed on the mountain's top, "Than I, while Scylla lives, my love transfer." The goddess swol'n with anger, since his form To harm 'twas given her not, and love deny'd, Turn'd on her happier rival all her rage. Irk'd at her slighted passion, straight she grinds Herbs infamous, to gain their horrid juice; And mixes all with Hecatéan spells. Then clothes her in a sable robe, and forth Through crouds of fawning savage beasts she goes, From her gay palace. Rhegium's coast she seeks O'erlooking Zanclé's rocks; and on the waves With fury boiling, steps; o'er them she walks As on a solid shore, and skims along The ridgy billows with unwetted feet.

A little pool, bent in a gentle curve, With peaceful surface oft did Scylla tempt; And often thither she herself betook To 'scape from ocean's, and from Phoebus' heat, When high in noon-tide fierceness short the shade Was from the head describ'd. Before she came The goddess poison'd all the pool; she pour'd Her potent juice, of monster-breeding power, Prest from pernicious roots, within the waves; And mutter'd thrice nine times with magic lips, In sounds scarce audible, her well-known spells. Here Scylla came, and waded to the waist; And straight, with barking monsters she espies Her womb deform'd: at first, of her own limbs Not dreaming they are part, she from them flies; And chides them thence, and fears their savage mouths. But what she flies she with her drags; she looks To find her thighs, and find her legs, and feet; But for those limbs Cerberean jaws are found. Furious the dogs still howl; on their fierce backs Her shorten'd groin, and swelling belly rest.

The amorous Glaucus griev'd, and spurn'd the love Of Circé, who so rancorously had us'd The power of plants. Her station Scylla kept; And soon as scope for vengeance she perceiv'd, In hate to Circé, of his comrade crew Depriv'd Ulysses. Next the Trojan fleet Had she o'erwhelm'd; but ere they pass'd, transform'd To stone, she tower'd aloft a flinty rock, And still do mariners that rock avoid.

The Phrygian ships that danger 'scap'd, and 'scap'd Charybdis fell, by oars propell'd; but now Ausonia's shore well nigh attain'd, were driv'n By adverse tempests to the Libyan coast. Æneäs then the queen Sidonian took Most welcome to her bosom, and her dome; Nor bore her Phrygian spouse's sudden flight, With calm indifference: on a lofty pile Rear'd for pretended sacred rites, she stood, And on the sword's point fell; herself deceiv'd, She all around outwitted. Flying far The new-rais'd city of the sandy plains To Eryx' country was he borne; where liv'd Acestes faithful: here he sacrific'd, And gave due honors to his father's tomb. Then loos'd his ships for sea, well nigh in flames By Juno's Iris: all th' Æoliän realm; The islands blazing with sulphuric fire; And rocks of Acheloüs' siren nymphs, He left. The vessel now, of him who rul'd The helm, bereft, along Ænaria's shore; And Prochytas; and Pithecusa, plac'd Upon a sterile hill, its name deriv'd From those who dwelt there, coasted. Erst the sire Of gods, detesting perjuries and fraud, Which that deceitful race so much employ'd, Chang'd to an animal deform'd their shapes; Where still a likeness and unlikeness seems To man. Their every limb contracted small; Their turn'd-up noses flatten'd from the brow; And ancient furrows plough'd adown their cheeks. Then sent them, all their bodies cover'd o'er With yellow hairs, this district to possess. Yet sent them not till of the power of speech Depriv'd; and tongue for direst falsehoods us'd: But left their chattering jaws the power to 'plain. These past, and left Parthenopé's high towers To right; and musical Misenus' tomb, And Cuma's shores to left; spots cover'd thick With marshy reeds, he enters in the cave Where dwelt the ancient Sybil; and in treats That through Avernus' darkness he may pass, His father's shade to seek. Then she, her eyes, Long firmly fixt on earth, uprais'd; and next, Fill'd with the god, in furious raving spoke.

"Much dost thou ask, O man of mighty deeds! "Whose valor by the sword is amply prov'd, "And piety through flames. Yet, Trojan chief, "Fear not; thou shalt what thou desir'st attain: "By me conducted, thou th' Elysian field, "The lowest portion of the tri-form realm, "And thy beloved parent's shade shalt see: "No path to genuine virtue e'er is clos'd." She spoke, and pointed to th' Avernian grove, Sacred to Proserpine; and shew'd a bough With gold refulgent; this she bade him tear From off its trunk. Æneäs her obeys, And sees the treasures of hell's awful king; His ancestors', and great Anchises' shades: Is taught the laws and customs of the dead; And what deep perils he in future wars Must face. As then the backward path he trode With weary'd step; the labor he beguil'd By grateful speech with his Cumæan guide. And, while through darkling twilight he pursu'd His fearful way, he thus:--"Or, goddess, thou, "Or of the gods high-favor'd, unto me "Still shalt thou as a deity appear. "My life I own thy gift, who hast me given "To view the realms of death: who hast me brought, "The realms of death beheld, to life again. "For these high favors, when to air restor'd "Statues to thee I'll raise, and incense burn." Backward the prophetess, to him her eyes Directs, and heaves a sigh; as thus she speaks: "No goddess I; deem not my mortal frame "The sacred incense' honors can deserve: "Err not through ignorance. Eternal youth "Had I possess'd, if on Apollo's love "My virgin purity had been bestow'd. "This while he hop'd, and while he strove to tempt "With gifts,--O, chuse--he said,--Cumæan maid! "Whate'er thou would'st--whate'er thou would'st is thine. "I, pointing to an heap of gather'd dust, "With thoughtless mind, besought so many years "I might exist, as grains of sand were there: "Mindless to ask for years of constant youth. "The years he granted, and had granted too "Eternal youth, had I his passion quench'd. "A virgin I remain; Apollo's gift "Despis'd: but now the age of joy is fled; "Decrepitude with trembling steps has come, "Which long I must endure. Seven ages now "I have existed; ere the number'd grains "Are equall'd, thrice an hundred harvests I, "And thrice an hundred vintages must see. "The time will come, my body, shrunk with age, "And wither'd limbs, shall to small substance waste; "Nor shall it seem that e'er an amorous god "With me was smitten. Phoebus then himself "Or me will know not, or deny that e'er "He sought my love. Till quite complete my change, "To all invisible, by words alone "I shall be known. Fate still my voice will leave."

On the steep journey thus the Sybil spoke: And from the Stygian shades Æneäs rose, At Cuma's town; there sacrific'd as wont, And to the shores proceeded, which as yet His nurse's name not bore. Here rested too, After long toil, Macareus, the constant friend Of wise Ulysses: Achæmenides, Erst left amid Etnæan rocks, he knows: Astonish'd there, his former friend to find, In life unhop'd, he cry'd; "What chance? What god "O Achæmenides! has thee preserv'd? "How does a Greek a foreign vessel bear? "And to what shores is now this vessel bound?"

Then Achæmenides, not ragged now, In robes with thorns united, but all free, Thus answer'd his enquiries. "May I view "Once more that Polyphemus, and those jaws "With human gore o'erflowing; if I deem "This ship to me than Ithaca less dear; "And less Æneäs than my sire esteem. "For how too grateful can I be to him, "Though all to him I give? Can I e'er be "Unthankful or forgetful? That I speak, "And breathe, and view the heavens and glorious sun "He gave: that in the Cyclops' jaws my life "Was clos'd not; that when now the vital spark "Me quits, I may be properly intomb'd, "Not in the monster's entrails. Heavens! what thoughts "Possess'd my mind, (unless by pallid dread "Of sense and thought bereft) when, left behind, "I saw you push to sea. Loud had I call'd, "But fear'd my cries would guide to me the foe. "Ulysses' clamor near your ship destroy'd. "I saw the monster, when a mighty rock, "Torn from a mountain's summit, in the waves "He flung: I saw him when with giant arm "Huge stones he hurl'd, with such impetuous force, "As though an engine sent them. Fear'd I long, "Lest or the stones or waves the bark would sink; "Forgetful then that not on board was I. "But when you 'scap'd from cruel death, by flight, "Then did he madly rave indeed; and roam'd "All Etna o'er; and grop'd amid the woods; "Depriv'd of sight he stumbles on the rocks; "And stretching to the sea his horrid arms, "Blacken'd with gore, he execrates the Greeks; "And thus exclaims;--O! would some lucky chance "Restore Ulysses to me, or restore "One of his comrades, who might glut my rage; "Whose entrails I might gorge; whose living limbs "My hand might rend; whose blood might sluice my throat; "And mangled members tremble in my teeth. "O! then how light, and next to none the curse "Of sight bereft.--Raging, he this and more "Fierce utter'd. I, with pallid dread o'ercome, "Beheld his face still flowing down with blood; "The orb of light depriv'd; his ruthless hands; "His giant members; and his shaggy beard, "Clotted with human gore. Death to my eyes "Was obvious, yet was death my smallest dread. "Now seiz'd I thought me; thought him now prepar'd "T'inclose my mangled bowels in his own: "And to my mind recurr'd the time I saw "Two of my comrades' bodies furious dash'd "Repeated on the earth: he, o'er them stretcht "Prone, like a shaggy lion, in his maw "Their flesh, their entrails, their yet-quivering limbs, "Their marrow, and cranch'd bones, greedy ingulf'd. "Horror me seiz'd. Bloodless and sad I stood, "To see him champ, and from his mouth disgorge "The bloody banquet; morsels mixt with wine "Forth vomiting: and such a fate appear'd "For wretched me prepar'd. Some tedious days "Skulk'd I, and shudder'd at the smallest sound: "Fearful of death, yet praying much to die; "Repelling hunger by green herbs, and leaves, "With acorns mixt; a solitary wretch, "Poor, and to sufferings and to death decreed. "Long was the time, ere I, not distant far, "A ship beheld; I by my gestures shew'd "My wish for flight, and hasten'd to the shore. "Their hearts were mov'd, and thus a Trojan bark "Receiv'd a Greek.--And now, my friend most dear, "Tell thy adventures, and the chief's, and crew's, "Who with thee launch'd upon th' extended main."