Metamorphoses
Ovid
Ovid. The XV bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, entytuled Metamorphosis. Golding, Arthur, translator. London: W. Seres (printer), 1567.
- This likes her best. Uppon this poynt now restes her doubtful mynd.
- So raysing up herself uppon her leftsyde shee enclynd,
- And leaning on her elbow sayd: Let him advyse him what
- To doo, for I my franticke love will utter playne and flat.
- Alas to what ungraciousnesse intend I for to fall?
- What furie raging in my hart my senses dooth appall?
- In thinking so, with trembling hand shee framed her to wryght
- The matter that her troubled mynd in musing did indyght.
- Her ryght hand holdes the pen, her left dooth hold the empty wax.
- She ginnes. Shee doutes, shee wryghtes: shee in the tables findeth lacks.
- She notes, she blurres, dislikes, and likes: and chaungeth this for that.
- Shee layes away the booke, and takes it up. Shee wotes not what
- She would herself. What ever thing shee myndeth for to doo
- Misliketh her. A shamefastnesse with boldenesse mixt thereto
- Was in her countnance. Shee had once writ Suster: Out agen
- The name of Suster for to raze shee thought it best. And then
- She snatcht the tables up, and did theis following woords ingrave:
- The health which if thou give her not shee is not like to have
- Thy lover wisheth unto thee. I dare not ah for shame
- I dare not tell thee who I am, nor let thee heare my name.
- And if thou doo demaund of mee what thing I doo desyre,
- Would God that namelesse I myght pleade the matter I requyre,
- And that I were unknowen to thee by name of Byblis, till
- Assurance of my sute were wrought according to my will.
- As tokens of my wounded hart myght theis to thee appeere:
- My colour pale, my body leane, my heavy mirthlesse cheere,
- My watry eyes, my sighes without apparent causes why,
- My oft embracing of thee: and such kisses (if perdye
- Thou marked them) as very well thou might have felt and found
- Not for to have beene Susterlike. But though with greevous wound
- I then were striken to the hart, although the raging flame
- Did burne within: yit take I God to witnesse of the same,
- I did as much as lay in mee this outrage for to tame.
- And long I stryved (wretched wench) to scape the violent Dart
- Of Cupid. More I have endurde of hardnesse and of smart,
- Than any wench (a man would think) were able to abyde.
- Force forceth mee to shew my case which faine I still would hyde,
- And mercy at thy gentle hand in fearfull wyse to crave.
- Thou only mayst the lyfe of mee thy lover spill or save.
- Choose which thou wilt. No enmy craves this thing: but such a one
- As though shee bee alyde so sure as surer can bee none,
- Yit covets shee more surely yit alyed for to bee,
- And with a neerer kynd of band to link her selfe to thee.
- Let aged folkes have skill in law: to age it dooth belong
- To keepe the rigor of the lawes and search out ryght from wrong.
- Such youthfull yeeres as ours are yit rash folly dooth beseeme.
- Wee know not what is lawfull yit. And therefore wee may deeme
- That all is lawfull that wee list: ensewing in the same
- The dooings of the myghtye Goddes. Not dread of worldly shame
- Nor yit our fathers roughnesse, no nor fearfulnesse should let
- Our purpose. Only let all feare asyde be wholy set.
- ~Wee underneath the name of kin our pleasant scapes may hyde.
- Thou knowest I have libertie to talke with thee asyde,
- And openly wee kysse and cull. And what is all the rest
- That wants? Have mercy on mee now, who playnly have exprest
- My case: which thing I had not done, but that the utter rage
- Of love constreynes mee thereunto the which I cannot swage.
- Deserve not on my tumb thy name subscribed for to have,
- That thou art he whose cruelnesse did bring mee to my grave.
- Thus much shee wrate in vayne, and wax did want her to indyght,
- And in the margent she was fayne the latter verse to wryght.
- Immediatly to seale her shame shee takes a precious stone,
- The which shee moystes with teares: from tung the moysture quight was gone.
- She calld a servant shamefastly, and after certaine fayre
- And gentle woords: My trusty man, I pray thee beare this payre
- Of tables (quoth shee) to my (and a great whyle afterward
- Shee added) brother. Now through chaunce or want of good regard
- The table slipped downe to ground in reaching to him ward.
- The handsell troubled sore her mynd. But yit shee sent them. And
- Her servant spying tyme did put them into Caunyes hand.
- Maeanders nephew sodeinly in anger floong away
- The tables ere he half had red, (scarce able for to stay
- His fistocke from the servants face who quaakt) and thus did say:
- Avaunt, thou baudye ribawd, whyle thou mayst. For were it not
- For shame I should have killed thee. Away afrayd he got,
- And told his mistresse of the feerce and cruell answer made
- By Caunye. By and by the hew of Byblis gan to fade,
- And all her body was benumd with Icie colde for feare
- To heere of this repulse. Assoone as that her senses were
- Returnd ageine, her furious flames returned with her witts.
- And thus shee sayd so soft that scarce hir toong the ayer hitts:
- And woorthely. For why was I so rash as to discover
- By hasty wryghting this my wound which most I ought to cover?
- I should with dowtfull glauncing woords have felt his humor furst,
- And made a trayne to trye him if pursue or no he durst.
- I should have vewed first the coast, to see the weather cleere,
- And then I myght have launched sauf and boldly from the peere.
- But now I hoyst up all my sayles before I tryde the wynd:
- And therfore am I driven uppon the rockes against my mynd,
- And all the sea dooth overwhelme mee. Neyther may I fynd
- The meanes to get to harbrough, or from daunger to retyre.
- Why did not open tokens warne to bridle my desyre,
- Then when the tables falling in delivering them declaard
- My hope was vaine? And ought not I then eyther to have spaard
- From sending them as that day? or have chaunged whole my mynd?
- Nay rather shifted of the day? For had I not beene blynd
- Even God himself by soothfast signes the sequele seemd to hit.
- Yea rather than to wryghting thus my secrets to commit,
- I should have gone and spoke myself, and presently have showde
- My fervent love. He should have seene how teares had from mee flowde.
- Hee should have seene my piteous looke ryght loverlike. I could
- Have spoken more than into those my tables enter would.
- About his necke against his will, myne armes I myght have wound
- And had he shaakt me off, I myght have seemed for to swound.
- I humbly myght have kist his feete, and kneeling on the ground
- Besought him for to save my lyfe. All theis I myght have proved,
- Wherof although no one alone his stomacke could have moved,
- Yit all togither myght have made his hardened hart relent.
- Perchaunce there was some fault in him that was of message sent.
- He stept unto him bluntly (I beleeve) and did not watch
- Convenient tyme, in merrie kew at leysure him to catch.
- Theis are the things that hindred mee. For certeinly I knowe
- No sturdy stone nor massy steele dooth in his stomacke grow.
- He is not made of Adamant. He is no Tygers whelp.
- He never sucked Lyonesse. He myght with little help
- Bee vanquisht. Let us give fresh charge uppon him. Whyle I live
- Without obteyning victorie I will not over give.
- For firstly (if it lay in mee my dooings to revoke)
- I should not have begonne at all. But seeing that the stroke
- Is given, the second poynt is now to give the push to win.
- For neyther he (although that I myne enterpryse should blin)
- Can ever whyle he lives forget my deede. And sith I shrink,
- My love was lyght, or else I meant to trap him, he shall think.
- Or at the least he may suppose that this my rage of love
- Which broyleth so within my brest, proceedes not from above
- By Cupids stroke, but of some foule and filthy lust. In fyne
- I cannot but to wickednesse now more and more inclyne.
- By wryghting is my sute commenst: my meening dooth appeere:
- And though I cease: yit can I not accounted bee for cleere.
- Now that that dooth remayne behynd is much as in respect
- My fond desyre to satisfy: and little in effect
- To aggravate my fault withall.
- Thus much shee sayd. And so
- Unconstant was her wavering mynd still floting to and fro,
- That though it irkt her for to have attempted, yit proceedes
- Shee in the selfsame purpose of attempting, and exceedes
- All measure, and, unhappy wench, shee takes from day to day
- Repulse upon repulse, and yit shee hath not grace to stay.
- Soone after when her brother saw there was with her no end,
- He fled his countrie forbycause he would not so offend,
- And in a forreine land did buyld a Citie. Then men say
- That Byblis through despayre and thought all wholy did dismay.
- Shee tare her garments from her brest, and furiously shee wroong
- Her hands, and beete her armes, and like a bedlem with her toong
- Confessed her unlawfull love. But beeing of the same
- Dispoynted, shee forsooke her land and hatefull house for shame,
- And followed after flying Caune. And as the Froes of Thrace
- In dooing of the three yeere rites of Bacchus: in lyke cace
- The maryed wyves of Bubasie saw Byblis howling out
- Through all theyr champion feeldes, the which shee leaving, ran about
- In Caria to the Lelegs who are men in battell stout,
- And so to Lycia. Shee had past Crag, Limyre, and the brooke
- Of Xanthus, and the countrie where Chymaera that same pooke
- Hath Goatish body, Lions head and brist, and Dragons tayle,
- When woods did want: and Byblis now beginning for to quayle
- Through weerynesse in following Caune, sank down and layd her hed
- Ageinst the ground, and kist the leaves that wynd from trees had shed.
- The Nymphes of Caria went about in tender armes to take
- Her often up. They oftentymes perswaded her to slake
- Her love. And woords of comfort to her deafe eard mynd they spake.
- Shee still lay dumbe: and with her nayles the greenish herbes shee hild,
- And moysted with a streame of teares the grasse upon the feeld.
- The waternymphes (so folk report) put under her a spring,
- Whych never myght be dryde: and could they give a greater thing?
- Immediatly even like as when yee wound a pitchtree rynd,
- The gum dooth issue out in droppes: or as the westerne wynd
- With gentle blast toogither with the warmth of Sunne, unbynd
- The yee: or as the clammy kynd of cement which they call
- Bitumen issueth from the ground full fraughted therewithall:
- So Phoebus neece, Dame Byblis, then consuming with her teares,
- Was turned to a fountaine, which in those same vallyes beares
- The tytle of the founder still, and gusheth freshly out
- From underneath a Sugarchest as if it were a spowt.
- The fame of this same wondrous thing perhappes had filled all
- The hundred Townes of Candye had a greater not befall
- More neerer home by Iphys meanes transformed late before.
- For in the shyre of Phestos hard by Gnossus dwelt of yore
- A yeoman of the meaner sort that Lyctus had to name.
- His stocke was simple, and his welth according to the same.
- Howbee't his lyfe so upryght was, as no man could it blame.
- He came unto his wyfe then big and ready downe to lye,
- And sayd: Two things I wish thee. T'one, that when thou out shalt crye,
- Thou mayst dispatch with little payne: the other that thou have
- A Boay. For Gyrles to bring them up a greater cost doo crave.
- And I have no abilitie. And therefore if thou bring
- A wench (it goes ageinst my heart to thinke uppon the thing)
- Although ageinst my will, I charge it streyght destroyed bee.
- The bond of nature needes must beare in this behalf with mee
- This sed, both wept exceedingly, as well the husband who
- Did give commaundement, as the wyfe that was commaunded too.
- Yit Telethusa earnestly at Lyct her husband lay,
- (Although in vayne) to have good hope, and of himselfe more stay.
- But he was full determined. Within a whyle, the day
- Approched that the frute was rype, and shee did looke to lay
- Her belly every mynute: when at midnyght in her rest
- Stood by her (or did seeme to stand) the Goddesse Isis, drest
- And trayned with the solemne pomp of all her rytes. Two homes
- Uppon her forehead lyke the moone, with eares of rypened comes
- Stood glistring as the burnisht gold. Moreover shee did weare
- A rich and stately diademe. Attendant on her were
- The barking bug Anubis, and the saint of Bubast, and
- The pydecote Apis, and the God that gives to understand
- By fingar holden to his lippes that men should silence keepe,
- And Lybian wormes whose strnging dooth enforce continuall sleepe,
- And thou, Osyris, whom the folk of Aegypt ever seeke,
- And never can have sought inough, and Rittlerattles eke.
- Then even as though that Telethuse had fully beene awake,
- And seene theis things with open eyes, thus Isis to her spake:
- My servant Telethusa, cease this care, and breake the charge
- Of Lyct. And when Lucina shall have let thy frute at large,
- Bring up the same what ere it bee. I am a Goddesse who
- Delyghts in helping folke at neede. I hither come to doo
- Thee good. Thou shalt not have a cause hereafter to complayne
- Of serving of a Goddesse that is thanklesse for thy payne.
- When Isis had this comfort given, shee went her way agayne.
- A joyfull wyght rose Telethuse, and lifting to the sky
- Her hardened hands, did pray hir dreame myght woorke effectually.
- Her throwes increast, and forth alone anon the burthen came,
- A wench was borne to Lyctus who knew nothing of the same.
- The mother making him beleeve it was a boay, did bring
- It up, and none but shee and nurce were privie to the thing.
- The father thanking God did give the chyld the Graundsyres name,
- The which was Iphys. Joyfull was the moother of the same,
- Bycause the name did serve alike to man and woman bothe,
- And so the lye through godly guile forth unperceyved gothe.
- The garments of it were a boayes. The face of it was such
- As eyther in a boay or gyrle of beawtie uttered much.
- When Iphys was of thirteene yeeres, her father did insure
- The browne Ianthee unto her, a wench of looke demure,
- Commended for her favor and her person more than all
- The Maydes of Phestos: Telest, men her fathers name did call.
- He dwelt in Dyctis. They were bothe of age and favor leeke,
- And under both one schoolemayster they did for nurture seeke.
- And hereupon the hartes of both, the dart of Love did streeke,
- And wounded both of them aleeke. But unlike was theyr hope.
- Both longed for the wedding day togither for to cope.
- For whom Ianthee thinkes to bee a man, shee hopes to see
- Her husband. Iphys loves whereof shee thinkes shee may not bee
- Partaker, and the selfesame thing augmenteth still her flame.
- Herself a Mayden with a Mayd (ryght straunge) in love became.
- Shee scarce could stay her teares. What end remaynes for mee (quoth shee)
- How straunge a love? how uncoth? how prodigious reygnes in mee?
- If that the Gods did favor mee, they should destroy mee quyght.
- Of if they would not mee destroy, at least wyse yit they myght
- Have given mee such a maladie as myght with nature stond,
- Or nature were acquainted with. A Cow is never fond
- Uppon a Cow, nor Mare on Mare. The Ram delyghts the Eawe,
- The Stag the Hynde, the Cocke the Hen. But never men could shew,
- That female yit was tane in love with female kynd. O would
- To God I never had beene borne. Yit least that Candy should
- Not bring foorth all that monstruous were, the daughter of the Sonne
- Did love a Bull. Howbee't there was a Male to dote uppon.
- My love is furiouser than hers, if truthe confessed bee.
- For shee was fond of such a lust as myght bee compast. Shee
- Was served by a Bull beguyld by Art in Cow of tree.
- And one there was for her with whom advowtrie to commit.
- If all the conning in the worlde and slyghts of suttle wit
- Were heere, or if that Daedalus himselfe with uncowth wing
- Of Wax should hither fly againe, what comfort should he bring?
- Could he with all his conning crafts now make a boay of mee?
- Or could he, O Ianthee, chaunge the native shape of thee?
- Nay rather, Iphys, settle thou thy mynd and call thy witts
- Abowt thee: shake thou off theis flames that foolishly by fitts
- Without all reason reigne. Thou seest what Nature hathe thee made
- (Onlesse thow wilt deceyve thy selfe.) So farre foorth wysely wade,
- As ryght and reason may support, and love as women ought.
- Hope is the thing that breedes desyre, hope feedes the amorous thought.
- This hope thy sex denieth thee. Not watching doth restreyne
- Thee from embracing of the thing wherof thou art so fayne.
- Nor yit the Husbands jealowsie, nor rowghnesse of her Syre,
- Nor yit the coynesse of the Wench dooth hinder thy desyre.
- And yit thou canst not her enjoy. No, though that God and man
- Should labor to their uttermost and doo the best they can
- In thy behalfe, they could not make a happy wyght of thee.
- I cannot wish the thing but that I have it. Frank and free
- The Goddes have given mee what they could. As I will, so will bee
- That must become my fathrinlaw. So willes my father, too.
- But nature stronger than them all consenteth not thereto.
- This hindreth mee, and nothing else. Behold the blisfull tyme,
- The day of Mariage is at hand. Ianthee shalbee myne,
- And yit I shall not her enjoy. Amid the water wee
- Shall thirst. O Juno, president of mariage, why with thee
- Comes Hymen to this wedding where no brydegroome you shall see,
- But bothe are Brydes that must that day togither coupled bee?
- This spoken, shee did hold hir peace. And now the tother mayd
- Did burne as hote in love as shee. And earnestly shee prayd
- The brydale day myght come with speede. The thing for which shee longd
- Dame Telethusa fearing sore, from day to day prolongd
- The tyme, oft feyning siknesse, oft pretending shee had seene
- Ill tokens of successe. At length all shifts consumed beene.
- The wedding day so oft delayd was now at hand. The day
- Before it, taking from her head the kercheef quyght away,
- And from her daughters head likewyse, with scattred heare she layd
- Her handes upon the Altar, and with humble voyce thus prayd:
- O Isis, who doost haunt the towne of Paretonie, and
- The feeldes by Maraeotis lake, and Pharos which dooth stand
- By Alexandria, and the Nyle divided into seven
- Great channels, comfort thou my feare, and send mee help from heaven,
- Thyself, O Goddesse, even thyself, and theis thy relikes I
- Did once behold and knew them all: as well thy company
- As eke thy sounding rattles, and thy cressets burning by,
- And myndfully I marked what commaundement thou didst give.
- That I escape unpunished, that this same wench dooth live,
- Thy counsell and thy hest it is. Have mercy now on twayne,
- And help us. With that word the teares ran downe her cheekes amayne.
- The Goddesse seemed for to move her Altar: and in deede
- She moved it. The temple doores did tremble like a reede.
- And homes in likenesse to the Moone about the Church did shyne.
- And Rattles made a raughtish noyse. At this same luckie signe,
- Although not wholy carelesse, yit ryght glad shee went away.
- And Iphys followed after her with larger pace than ay
- Shee was accustomd. And her face continued not so whyght.
- Her strength encreased, and her looke more sharper was to syght.
- Her heare grew shorter, and shee had a much more lively spryght,
- Than when shee was a wench. For thou, O Iphys, who ryght now
- A modther wert, art now a boay. With offrings both of yow
- To Church retyre, and there rejoyce with fayth unfearfull. They
- With offrings went to Church ageine, and there theyr vowes did pay.
- They also set a table up, which this breef meeter had:
- The vowes that Iphys vowd a wench he hath performd a Lad.
- Next morrow over all the world did shine with lightsome flame,
- When Juno, and Dame Venus, and Sir Hymen joyntly came
- To Iphys mariage, who as then transformed to a boay
- Did take Ianthee to his wyfe, and so her love enjoy.
- From thence in saffron colourd robe flew Hymen through the ayre,
- And into Thracia beeing called by Orphy did repayre.
- He came in deede at Orphyes call: but neyther did he sing
- The woordes of that solemnitie, nor merry countnance bring,
- Nor any handsell of good lucke. His torch with drizling smoke
- Was dim: the same to burne out cleere, no stirring could provoke.
- The end was woorser than the signe. For as the Bryde did rome
- Abrode accompanyde with a trayne of Nymphes to bring her home,
- A serpent lurking in the grasse did sting her in the ancle:
- Whereof shee dyde incontinent, so swift the bane did rancle.
- Whom when the Thracian Poet had bewayld sufficiently
- On earth, the Ghostes departed hence he minding for to trie,
- Downe at the gate of Taenarus did go to Limbo lake.
- And thence by gastly folk and soules late buried he did take
- His journey to Persephonee and to the king of Ghosts
- That like a Lordly tyran reignes in those unpleasant coasts.
- And playing on his tuned harp he thus began to sound:
- O you, the Sovereines of the world set underneath the ground,
- To whome wee all (what ever thing is made of mortall kynd)
- Repayre, if by your leave I now may freely speake my mynd,
- I come not hither as a spye the shady Hell to see:
- Nor yet the foule three headed Curre whose heares all Adders bee
- To tye in cheynes. The cause of this my vyage is my wyfe
- Whose foote a Viper stinging did abridge her youthfull lyfe.
- I would have borne it paciently: and so to doo I strave,
- But Love surmounted powre. This God is knowen great force to have
- Above on earth. And whether he reigne heere or no I dowt.
- But I beleeve hee reignes heere too. If fame that flies abowt
- Of former rape report not wrong, Love coupled also yow.
- By theis same places full of feare: by this huge Chaos now,
- And by the stilnesse of this waste and emptye Kingdome, I
- Beseech yee of Eurydicee unreele the destinye
- That was so swiftly reeled up. All things to you belong.
- And though wee lingring for a whyle our pageants do prolong,
- Yit soone or late wee all to one abyding place doo rome:
- Wee haste us hither all: this place becomes our latest home:
- And you doo over humaine kynd reigne longest tyme. Now when
- This woman shall have lived full her tyme, shee shall agen
- Become your owne. The use of her but for a whyle I crave.
- And if the Destnyes for my wyfe denye mee for to have
- Releace, I fully am resolvd for ever heere to dwell.
- Rejoyce you in the death of both. As he this tale did tell,
- And played on his instrument, the bloodlesse ghostes shed teares:
- To tyre on Titius growing hart the greedy Grype forbeares:
- The shunning water Tantalus endevereth not to drink:
- And Danaus daughters ceast to fill theyr tubbes that have no brink.
- Ixions wheele stood still: and downe sate Sisyphus uppon
- His rolling stone. Then first of all (so fame for truth hath gone)
- The Furies beeing striken there with pitie at his song
- Did weepe. And neyther Pluto nor his Ladie were so strong
- And hard of stomacke to withhold his just petition long.
- They called foorth Eurydicee who was as yit among
- The newcome Ghosts, and limped of her wound. Her husband tooke
- Her with condicion that he should not backe uppon her looke,
- Untill the tyme that hee were past the bounds of Limbo quyght:
- Or else to lose his gyft. They tooke a path that steepe upryght
- Rose darke and full of foggye mist. And now they were within
- A kenning of the upper earth, when Orphye did begin
- To dowt him lest shee followed not, and through an eager love
- Desyrous for to see her he his eyes did backward move.
- Immediatly shee slipped backe. He retching out his hands,
- Desyrous to bee caught and for to ketch her grasping stands.
- But nothing save the slippry aire (unhappy man) he caught.
- Shee dying now the second tyme complaynd of Orphye naught.
- For why what had shee to complayne, onlesse it were of love
- Which made her husband backe agen his eyes uppon her move?
- Her last farewell shee spake so soft, that scarce he heard the sound,
- And then revolted to the place in which he had her found.
- This double dying of his wife set Orphye in a stound,
- No lesse than him who at the syght of Plutos dreadfull Hound
- That on the middle necke of three dooth beare an iron cheyne,
- Was striken in a sodein feare and could it not restreyne,
- Untill the tyme his former shape and nature beeing gone,
- His body quyght was overgrowne, and turned into stone.
- Or than the foolish Olenus, who on himself did take
- Anothers fault, and giltlesse needes himself would giltie make,
- Togither with his wretched wyfe Lethaea, for whose pryde
- They both becomming stones, doo stand even yit on watry Ide.
- He would have gone to Hell ageine, and earnest sute did make:
- But Charon would not suffer him to passe the Stygian lake.
- Seven dayes he sate forlorne uppon the bank and never eate
- A bit of bread. Care, teares, and thought, and sorrow were his meate
- And crying out uppon the Gods of Hell as cruell, hee
- Withdrew to lofty Rhodopee and Heme which beaten bee
- With Northern wynds. Three tymes the Sunne had passed through the sheere
- And watry signe of Pisces and had finisht full the yeere,
- And Orphye (were it that his ill successe hee still did rew,
- Or that he vowed so to doo) did utterly eschew
- The womankynd. Yit many a one desyrous were to match
- With him, but he them with repulse did all alike dispatch.
- He also taught the Thracian folke a stewes of Males to make
- And of the flowring pryme of boayes the pleasure for to take.
- There was a hyll, and on the hyll a verie levell plot,
- Fayre greene with grasse. But as for shade or covert was there not.
- As soone as that this Poet borne of Goddes, in that same place
- Sate downe and toucht his tuned strings, a shadow came apace.
- There wanted neyther Chaons tree, nor yit the trees to which
- Fresh Phaetons susters turned were, nor Beeche, nor Holme, nor Wich,
- Nor gentle Asp, nor wyvelesse Bay, nor lofty Chestnuttree.
- Nor Hazle spalt, nor Ash wherof the shafts of speares made bee.
- Nor knotlesse Firre, nor cheerfull Plane, nor Maple flecked grayne.
- Nor Lote, nor Sallow which delights by waters to remayne.
- Nor slender twigged Tamarisk, nor Box ay greene of hew.
- Nor Figtrees loden with theyr frute of colours browne and blew.
- Nor double colourd Myrtletrees. Moreover thither came
- The wrything Ivye, and the Vyne that runnes uppon a frame,
- Elmes clad with Vynes, and Ashes wyld and Pitchtrees blacke as cole,
- And full of trees with goodly frute red stryped, Ortyards whole.
- And Palmetrees lythe which in reward of conquest men doo beare,
- And Pynapple with tufted top and harsh and prickling heare,
- The tree to Cybele, mother of the Goddes, most deere. For why?
- Her minion Atys putting off the shape of man, did dye,
- And hardened into this same tree. Among this companee
- Was present with a pyked top the Cypresse, now a tree,
- Sumtime a boay beloved of the God that with a string
- Dooth arme his bow, and with a string in tune his Violl bring.
- For hallowed to the Nymphes that in the feeldes of Carthye were
- There was a goodly myghty Stag whose homes such bredth did beare,
- As that they shadowed all his head. His homes of gold did shyne,
- And downe his brest hung from his necke, a cheyne with jewels fyne.
- Amid his frunt with prettie strings a tablet beeing tyde,
- Did waver as he went: and from his eares on eyther syde
- Hung perles of all one growth about his hollow temples bryght.
- This goodly Spitter beeing voyd of dread, as having quyght
- Forgot his native fearefulnesse, did haunt mens houses, and
- Would suffer folk (yea though unknowen) to coy him with theyr hand.
- But more than unto all folke else he deerer was to thee
- O Cyparisse, the fayrest Wyght that ever man did see
- In Coea. Thou to pastures, thou to water springs him led,
- Thou wreathedst sundry flowres betweene his homes uppon his hed.
- Sumtyme a horsman thou his backe for pleasure didst bestryde,
- And haltring him with silken bit from place to place didst ryde.
- In summer tyme about hygh noone when Titan with his heate
- Did make the hollow crabbed cleas of Cancer for to sweate,
- Unweeting Cyparissus with a Dart did strike this Hart
- Quyght through. And when that of the wound he saw he must depart,
- He purposd for to die himself. What woords of comfort spake
- Not Phoebus to him? willing him the matter lyght to take
- And not more sorrow for it than was requisite to make.
- But still the Lad did sygh and sob, and as his last request
- Desyred God he myght thenceforth from moorning never rest.
- Anon through weeping overmuch his blood was drayned quyght:
- His limbes wext greene: his heare which hung upon his forehead whyght
- Began to bee a bristled bush: and taking by and by
- A stiffnesse, with a sharpened top did face the starrie skye.
- The God did sigh, and sadly sayd: Myselfe shall moorne for thee,
- And thou for others: and ay one in moorning thou shalt bee.
- Such wood as this had Orphye drawen about him as among
- The herdes of beasts, and flocks of Birds he sate amyds the throng.
- And when his thumbe sufficiently had tryed every string,
- And found that though they severally in sundry sounds did ring,
- Yit made they all one Harmonie, he thus began to sing:
- O Muse my mother, frame my song of Jove, for every thing
- Is subject unto royall Jove. Of Jove the heavenly King
- I oft have shewed the glorious power. I erst in graver verse
- The Gyants slayne in Phlaegra feeldes with thunder, did reherse.
- But now I neede a meelder style to tell of prettie boyes
- That were the derlings of the Gods: and of unlawfull joyes
- That burned in the brests of Girles, who for theyr wicked lust
- According as they did deserve, receyved penance just.
- The King of Goddes did burne erewhyle in love of Ganymed
- The Phrygian and the thing was found which Jupiter that sted
- Had rather bee than that he was. Yit could he not beteeme
- The shape of any other Bird than Aegle for to seeme
- And so he soring in the ayre with borrowed wings trust up
- The Trojane boay who still in heaven even yit dooth beare his cup,
- And brings him Nectar though against Dame Junos will it bee.
- And thou Amyclys sonne (had not thy heavy destinee
- Abridged thee before thy tyme) hadst also placed beene
- By Phoebus in the firmament. How bee it (as is seene)
- Thou art eternall so farre forth as may bee. For as oft
- As watrie Piscis giveth place to Aries that the soft
- And gentle springtyde dooth succeede the winter sharp and stowre:
- So often thou renewest thyself, and on the fayre greene clowre
- Doost shoote out flowres. My father bare a speciall love to thee
- Above all others. So that whyle the God went oft to see
- Eurotas and unwalled Spart, he left his noble towne
- Of Delphos (which amid the world is situate in renowne)
- Without a sovereigne. Neyther Harp nor Bow regarded were.
- Unmyndfull of his Godhead he refused not to beare
- The nets, nor for to hold the hounds, nor as a peynfull mate
- To travell over cragged hilles, through which continuall gate
- His flames augmented more and more. And now the sunne did stand
- Well neere midway beetweene the nyghts last past and next at hand.
- They stript themselves and noynted them with oyle of Olyfe fat.
- And fell to throwing of a Sledge that was ryght huge and flat.
- Fyrst Phoebus peysing it did throw it from him with such strength,
- As that the weyght drave downe the clouds in flying. And at length
- It fell upon substantiall ground, where plainly it did show
- As well the cunning as the force of him that did it throw.
- Immediatly upon desyre himself the sport to trie,
- The Spartane lad made haste to take up unadvisedly
- The Sledge before it still did lye. But as he was in hand
- To catch it, it rebounding up ageinst the hardened land,
- Did hit him full upon the face. The God himselfe did looke
- As pale as did the lad, and up his swounding body tooke.
- Now culles he him, now wypes he from the wound the blood away,
- Anotherwhyle his fading lyfe he stryves with herbes to stay.
- Nought booted Leechcraft. Helplesse was the wound. And like as one
- Broosd violet stalkes or Poppie stalkes or Lillies growing on
- Browne spindles, streight they withering droope with heavy heads and are
- Not able for to hold them up, but with their tops doo stare
- Uppon the ground, so Hyacinth in yeelding of his breath
- Chopt downe his head. His necke bereft of strength by meanes of death
- Was even a burthen to itself, and downe did loosely wrythe
- On both his shoulders, now a t'one and now a toother lythe.
- Thou faadst away, my Hyacinth, defrauded of the pryme
- Of youth (quoth Phoebus) and I see thy wound my heynous cryme.
- Thou art my sorrow and my fault: this hand of myne hath wrought
- Thy death: I like a murtherer have to thy grave thee brought.
- But what have I offended thow? onlesse that to have playd,
- Or if that to have loved, an offence it may be sayd.
- Would God I render myght my lyfe with and instead of thee.
- To which syth fatall destinee denyeth to agree,
- Both in my mynd and in my mouth thou evermore shalt bee.
- My Violl striken with my hand, my songs shall sound of thee,
- And in a newmade flowre thou shalt with letters represent
- Our syghings. And the tyme shall come ere many yeeres bee spent,
- That in thy flowre a valeant Prince shall joyne himself with thee,
- And leave his name uppon the leaves for men to reede and see.
- Whyle Phoebus thus did prophesie, behold the blood of him
- Which dyde the grasse, ceast blood to bee, and up there sprang a trim
- And goodly flowre, more orient than the Purple cloth ingrayne,
- In shape a Lillye, were it not that Lillyes doo remayne
- Of sylver colour, whereas theis of purple hew are seene.
- Although that Phoebus had the cause of this greate honor beene,
- Yit thought he not the same ynough. And therfore did he wryght
- His syghes uppon the leaves thereof: and so in colour bryght
- The flowre hath a writ theron, which letters are of greef.
- So small the Spartanes thought the birth of Hyacinth repreef
- Unto them, that they woorship him from that day unto this.
- And as their fathers did before, so they doe never misse
- With solemne pomp to celebrate his feast from yeere to yeere.
- But if perchaunce that Amathus the rich in mettals, weere
- Demaunded if it would have bred the Propets it would sweare,
- Yea even as gladly as the folke whose brewes sumtyme did beare
- A payre of welked homes: whereof they Cerastes named are.
- Before theyr doore an Altar stood of Jove that takes the care
- Of alyents and of travellers, which lothsome was to see,
- For lewdnesse wrought theron. If one that had a straunger bee
- Had lookt thereon, he would have thought there had on it beene killd
- Sum sucking calves or lambes. The blood of straungers there was spilld.
- Dame Venus sore offended at this wicked sacrifyse,
- To leave her Cities and the land of Cyprus did devyse.
- But then bethinking her, shee sayd: What hath my pleasant ground,
- What have my Cities trespassed? what fault in them is found?
- Nay rather let this wicked race by exyle punnisht beene,
- Or death, or by sum other thing that is a meane betweene
- Both death and exyle. What is that? save only for to chaunge
- Theyr shape. In musing with herself what figure were most straunge,
- Shee cast her eye uppon a home. And therewithall shee thought
- The same to bee a shape ryght meete uppon them to bee brought:
- And so shee from theyr myghty limbes theyr native figure tooke,
- And turnd them into boystous Bulles with grim and cruell looke.
- Yit durst the filthy Propets stand in stiffe opinion that
- Dame Venus was no Goddesse till shee beeing wroth thereat,
- To make theyr bodies common first compelld them everychone
- And after chaungd theyr former kynd. For when that shame was gone,
- And that they wexed brazen faast, shee turned them to stone,
- In which betweene their former shape was diffrence small or none.