Metamorphoses

Ovid

Ovid. Metamorphoses. More, Brookes, translator. Boston: Cornhill Publishing Co., 1922.

  1. All unknown to him
  2. came Theseus to his kingly court.—Before
  3. the time his valor had established peace
  4. on all the isthmus, raved by dual seas.
  5. Medea, seeking his destruction, brewed
  6. the juice of aconite, infesting shores
  7. of Scythia, where, 'tis fabled, the plant grew
  8. on soil infected by Cerberian teeth.
  9. There is a gloomy entrance to a cave,
  10. that follows a declivitous descent:
  11. there Hercules with chains of adamant
  12. dragged from the dreary edge of Tartarus
  13. that monster-watch-dog, Cerberus, which, vain
  14. opposing, turned his eyes aslant from light—
  15. from dazzling day. Delirious, enraged,
  16. that monster shook the air with triple howls;
  17. and, frothing, sprinkled as it raved, the fields,
  18. once green—with spewing of white poison-foam.
  19. And this, converted into plants, sucked up
  20. a deadly venom with the nourishment
  21. of former soils,—from which productive grew
  22. upon the rock, thus formed, the noxious plant;
  23. by rustics, from that cause, named aconite.
  24. Medea worked on Aegeus to present
  25. his own son, Theseus, with a deadly cup
  26. of aconite; prevailing by her art
  27. so that he deemed his son an enemy.
  28. Theseus unwittingly received the cup,
  29. but just before he touched it to his lips,
  30. his father recognized the sword he wore,
  31. for, graven on its ivory hilt was wrought
  32. a known device—the token of his race.
  33. Astonished, Aegeus struck the poison-cup
  34. from his devoted son's confiding lips.
  35. Medea suddenly escaped from death,
  36. in a dark whirlwind her witch-singing raised.
  37. Recoiling from such utter wickedness,
  38. rejoicing that his son escaped from death,
  39. the grateful father kindled altar-fires,
  40. and gave rich treasure to the living Gods. —
  41. He slaughtered scores of oxen, decked with flowers
  42. and gilded horns. The sun has never shone
  43. upon a day more famous in that land,
  44. for all the elders and the common folk
  45. united in festivities,—with wine
  46. inspiring wit and song;—“O you,” they sang,
  47. “Immortal Theseus, victory was yours!
  48. Did you not slaughter the huge bull of Crete?
  49. “Yes, you did slay the boar of Cromyon —
  50. where now the peasant unmolested plows;
  51. “And Periphetes, wielder of the club,
  52. was worsted when he struggled with your strength;
  53. “And fierce Procrustes, matched with you
  54. beside the rapid river, met his death;
  55. “And even Cercyon, in Eleusis lost
  56. his wicked life—inferior to your might;
  57. “And Sinis, a monstrosity of strength,
  58. who bent the trunks of trees, and used his might
  59. “Against the world for everything that's wrong.
  60. For evil, he would force down to the earth,
  61. “Pine tops to shoot men's bodies through the air.
  62. Even the road to Megara is safe,
  63. “For you did hurl the robber Scyron,—sheer—
  64. over the cliff. Both land and sea denied
  65. “His bones a resting place—as tossed about
  66. they changed into the cliffs that bear his name.
  67. “How can we tell the number of your deeds,—
  68. deeds glorious, that now exceed your years!
  69. “For you, brave hero, we give public thanks
  70. and prayers; to you we drain our cups of wine!”
  71. And all the palace rings with happy songs,
  72. and with the grateful prayers of all the people.
  73. And sorrow in that city is not known.—
  1. But pleasure always is alloyed with grief,
  2. and sorrow mingles in the joyous hour.
  3. While the king Aegeus and his son rejoiced,
  4. Minos prepared for war. He was invincible
  5. in men and ships—and stronger in his rage
  6. to wreak due vengeance on the king who slew
  7. his son Androgeus. But first he sought
  8. some friends to aid his warfare; and he scoured
  9. the sea with a swift fleet—which was his strength.
  10. Anaphe and Astypalaea, both
  11. agreed to join his cause—the first one moved
  12. by promises, the second by his threats.
  13. Level Myconus and the chalky fields
  14. of Cimolus agreed to aid, and Syros
  15. covered with wild thyme, level Seriphos,
  16. Paros of marble cliffs, and that place which
  17. Arne the impious Siphnian had betrayed,
  18. who having got the gold which in her greed
  19. she had demanded, was changed to a bird
  20. which ever since that day imagines gold
  21. its chief delight—a black-foot black-winged daw.
  22. But Oliarus, Didymae, and Tenos,
  23. Gyaros, Andros, and Peparethos
  24. rich in its glossy olives, gave no aid
  25. to the strong Cretan fleet. Sailing from them
  26. Minos went to Oenopia, known realm
  27. of the Aeacidae.—Men of old time
  28. had called the place Oenopia; but Aeacus
  29. styled it Aegina from his mother's name.
  30. At his approach an eager rabble rushed
  31. resolved to see and know so great a man.
  32. Telamon met him, and his brother,
  33. younger than Telamon, and Phocus who
  34. was third in age. Even Aeacus appeared,
  35. slow with the weight of years, and asked him what
  36. could be a reason for his coming there.
  37. The ruler of a hundred cities, sighed,
  38. as he beheld the sons of Aeacus,
  39. for they reminded him of his lost son;—
  40. and heavy with his sorrow, he replied:
  41. “I come imploring you to take up arms,
  42. and aid me in the war against my foes;
  43. for I must give that comfort to the shade
  44. of my misfortuned son—whose blood they shed.”
  45. But Aeacus replied to Minos, “Nay,
  46. it is a vain request you make, for we
  47. are bound in strict alliance to the land
  48. and people of Cecropia.”
  49. Full of rage,
  50. because he was denied, the king of Crete,
  51. Minos, as he departed from their shores
  52. replied, “Let such a treaty be your bane.”
  53. And he departed with his crafty threat,
  54. believing it expedient not to waste
  55. his power in wars until the proper time.
  56. Before the ships of Crete had disappeared,
  57. before the mist and blue of waves concealed
  58. their fading outlines from the anxious throng
  59. which gathered on Oenopian shores, a ship
  60. of Athens covered with wide sails appeared,
  61. and anchored safely by their friendly shore;
  62. and, presently, the mighty Cephalus,
  63. well known through all that nation for his deeds,
  64. addressed them as he landed, and declared
  65. the good will of his people. Him the sons
  66. of Aeacus remembered well, although
  67. they had not seen him for some untold years.
  68. They led him to their father's welcome home;
  69. and with him, also, his two comrades went,
  70. Clytus and Butes.
  71. Center of all eyes,
  72. the hero still retained his charm,
  73. the customary greetings were exchanged,
  74. the graceful hero, bearing in his hands
  75. a branch of olive from his native soil,
  76. delivered the Athenian message, which
  77. requested aid and offered for their thought
  78. the treaty and the ancestral league between
  79. their nations. And he added, Minos sought
  80. not only conquest of the Athenian state
  81. but sovereignty of all the states of Greece.
  82. And when this eloquence had shown his cause;
  83. with left hand on his gleaming sceptre's hilt,
  84. King Aeacus exclaimed: “Ask not our aid,
  85. but take it, Athens; and count boldly yours
  86. all of the force this island holds, and all
  87. things which the state of my affairs supplies.
  88. My strength for this war is not light, and I
  89. have many soldiers for myself and for
  90. my enemy. Thanks to the Gods! the times
  91. are happy, giving no excuse for my
  92. refusal.” “May it prove so,” Cephalus
  93. replied, “and may your city multiply
  94. in men: just now as I was landing, I
  95. rejoiced to meet youths, fair and matched in age.
  96. And yet I miss among them many whom
  97. I saw before when last I visited
  98. your city.” Aeacus then groaned and with
  99. sad voice replied: “With weeping we began,
  100. but better fortune followed. Would that I
  101. could tell the last of it, and not the first!
  102. Giving my heart command that simple words
  103. and briefly spoken may not long detain.
  104. Those happy youths who waited at your need,
  105. who smiled upon you and for whom you ask,
  106. because their absence grieves your noble mind,
  107. they've perished! and their bleaching bones
  108. or scattered ashes, only may remain,
  109. sad remnants, impotent, of vanished power,
  110. so recently my hope and my resource.
  111. “Because this island bears a rival's name,
  112. a deadly pestilence was visited
  113. on my confiding people, through the rage
  114. of jealous Juno flaming for revenge.
  115. This great calamity at first appeared
  116. a natural disease—but soon its power
  117. baffled our utmost efforts. Medicines
  118. availing not, a reign of terror swept
  119. from shore to shore and fearful havoc raged.
  120. “Thick darkness, gathered from descending skies,
  121. enveloped our devoted land with heat
  122. and languid sickness, for the space of full
  123. four moons.—Four times the Moon increased her size.
  124. Hot south winds blew with pestilential breath
  125. upon us. At the same time the diseased
  126. infection reached our needed springs and pools,
  127. thousands of serpents crawling over our
  128. deserted fields, defiled our rivers with
  129. their poison. The swift power of the disease
  130. at first was limited to death of dogs
  131. and birds and cattle, or among wild beasts.
  132. The luckless plowman marvels when he sees
  133. his strong bulls fall while at their task
  134. and sink down in the furrow. Woolly flocks
  135. bleat feebly while their wool falls off without
  136. a cause, and while their bodies pine away.
  137. The prized horse of high courage, and of great
  138. renown when on the race-course, has now lost
  139. victorious spirit, and forgetting his
  140. remembered glory groans in his shut stall,
  141. doomed for inglorious death. The boar forgets
  142. to rage, the stag to trust his speed; and even
  143. the famished bear to fight the stronger herd.
  144. “Death seizes on the vitals of all life;
  145. and in the woods, and in the fields and roads
  146. the loathsome bodies of the dead corrupt
  147. the heavy-hanging air. Even the dogs,
  148. the vultures and the wolves refuse to touch
  149. the putrid flesh, there in the sultry sun
  150. rotting upon the earth; emitting steams,
  151. and exhalations, with a baneful sweep
  152. increasing the dread contagion's wide extent.
  1. So spreading, with renewed destruction gained
  2. from its own poison, the fierce pestilence
  3. appeared to leap from moulding carcases
  4. of all the brute creation, till it struck
  5. the wretched tillers of the soil, and then
  6. extended its dominion over all
  7. this mighty city.
  8. “Always it began
  9. as if the patient's bowels were scorched with flames;
  10. red blotches on the body next appeared,
  11. and sharp pains in the lungs prevented breath.
  12. The swollen tongue would presently loll out,
  13. rough and discolored from the gaping mouth,
  14. wide-gasping to inhale the noxious air—
  15. and show red throbbing veins. The softest bed.
  16. And richest covering gave to none relief;
  17. but rather, the diseased would bare himself
  18. to cool his burning breast upon the ground,
  19. only to heat the earth—and no relief
  20. returned. And no physician could be found;
  21. for those who ministered among the sick
  22. were first to suffer from the dread disease—
  23. the cruel malady broke out upon
  24. the very ones who offered remedies.
  25. The hallowed art of medicine became
  26. a deadly snare to those who knew it best.
  27. “The only safety was in flight; and those
  28. who were the nearest to the stricken ones,
  29. and who most faithfully observed their wants,
  30. were always first to suffer as their wards.
  31. “And many, certain of approaching death,
  32. indulged their wicked passions—recklessly
  33. abandoned and without the sense of shame,
  34. promiscuously huddled by the wells,
  35. and rivers and cool fountains; but their thirst
  36. no water could assuage, and death alone
  37. was able to extinguish their desire.
  38. Too weak to rise, they die in water they
  39. pollute, while others drink its death.
  40. “A madness seizing on them made their beds
  41. become most irksome to their tortured nerves.
  42. Demented they could not endure the pain,
  43. and leaped insanely forth. Or if too weak,
  44. the wretches rolled their bodies on the ground,
  45. insistent to escape from hated homes—
  46. imagined sources of calamity;
  47. for, since the cause was hidden and unknown,
  48. the horrible locality was blamed.
  49. Suspicion seizes on each frail presence
  50. as proof of what can never be resolved.
  51. “And many half-dead wretches staggered out
  52. on sultry roads as long as they could stand;
  53. and others weeping, stretched out on the ground,
  54. died in convulsions, as their rolling eyes
  55. gazed upwards at the overhanging clouds;
  56. under the sad stars they breathed out their souls.
  57. “And oh, the deep despair that seized on me,
  58. the sovereign of that wretched people! I
  59. was tortured with a passionate desire
  60. to die the same death—And I hated life.
  61. “No matter where my shrinking eyes were turned,
  62. I saw a multitude of gruesome forms
  63. in ghastly attitudes bestrew the ground,
  64. scattered as rotten apples that have dropped
  65. from moving branches, or as acorns thick
  66. around a gnarled oak.
  67. “Lift up your eyes!
  68. Behold that holy temple! unto Jove
  69. long dedicated!—What availed the prayers
  70. of frightened multitudes, or incense burned
  71. on those devoted altars?—In the midst
  72. of his most fervent supplications,
  73. the husband as he pled for his dear wife,
  74. or the fond father for his stricken son,
  75. would suddenly, before a word prevailed,
  76. die clutching at the altars of his Gods,
  77. while holding in his stiffened hand, a spray
  78. of frankincense still waiting for the fire.
  79. How often sacrificial bulls have been
  80. brought to those temples, and while white-robed priest
  81. was pouring offered wine between their horns,
  82. have fallen without waiting for the stroke.
  83. “While I prepared a sacrifice to Jove,
  84. for my behalf, my country and three sons,
  85. the victim, ever moaning dismal sounds,
  86. before a blow was struck, fell suddenly
  87. beside the altar; and his scanty blood
  88. ran thinly from the knives that slaughtered him.
  89. His entrails, wanting all the marks of truth
  90. were so diseased, the warnings of the Gods
  91. could not be read—the baneful malady
  92. had penetrated to the heart of life.
  93. “And I have seen the carcases of men
  94. lie rotting at the sacred temple gates,
  95. or by the very altars, where they fell,
  96. making death odious to the living Gods.
  97. And often I have seen some desperate man
  98. end life by his own halter, and so cheat
  99. by voluntary death his fear of death,
  100. in mad haste to outrun approaching fate.
  101. “The bodies of the dead, indecently
  102. were cast forth, lacking sacred funeral rites
  103. as hitherto the custom. All the gates
  104. were crowded with processions of the dead.
  105. Unburied, they might lie upon the ground,
  106. or else, deserted, on their lofty pyres
  107. with no one to lament their dismal end,
  108. dissolve in their dishonored ashes. All
  109. restraint forgotten, a mad rabble fought
  110. and took possession of the burning pyres,
  111. and even the dead were ravished of their rest.—
  112. And who should mourn them wanting, all the souls
  113. of sons and husbands, and of old and young,
  114. must wander unlamented: and the land
  115. sufficed not for the crowded sepulchers:
  116. and the dense forest was denuded of all trees.
  117. “Heart-broken at the sight of this great woe,
  118. I wailed, ‘O Jupiter! if truth were told
  119. of your sweet comfort in Aegina's arms,
  120. if you were not ashamed of me, your son,
  121. restore my people, or entomb my corpse,
  122. that I may suffer as the ones I love.’—
  123. Great lightning flashed around me, and the sound
  124. of thunder proved that my complaint was heard.
  125. Accepting it, I cried, ‘Let these, Great Jove,
  126. the happy signs of your assent, be shown
  127. good omens given as a sacred pledge.’
  128. “Near by, a sacred oak tree grown from seed
  129. brought thither from Dodona, spread abroad
  130. its branches thinly covered with green leaves;
  131. and creeping as an army, on the tree
  132. we saw a train of ants that carried grain,
  133. half-hidden in the deep and wrinkled bark.
  134. And while I wondered at the endless line
  135. I said, ‘Good father, give me citizens
  136. of equal number for my empty walls.’
  137. Soon as I said those words, though not a wind
  138. was moving nor a breeze,—the lofty tree
  139. began to tremble, and I heard a sound
  140. of motion in its branches. Wonder not
  141. that sudden fear possessed me; and my hair
  142. began to rise; and I could hardly stand
  143. for so my weak knees tottered!—As I made
  144. obeisance to the soil and sacred tree,
  145. perhaps I cherished in my heart a thought,
  146. that, not acknowledged, cheered me with some hope.
  1. “At night I lay exhausted by such thoughts,
  2. a deep sleep seized my body, but the tree
  3. seemed always present—to my gaze distinct
  4. with all its branches—I could even see
  5. the birds among its leaves; and from its boughs,
  6. that trembled in the still air, moving ants
  7. were scattered to the ground in troops below;
  8. and ever, as they touched the soil, they grew
  9. larger and larger.—As they raised themselves,
  10. they stood with upright bodies, and put off
  11. their lean shapes; and absorbed their many feet:
  12. and even as their dark brown color changed,
  13. their rounded forms took on a human shape.
  14. “When my strange dream departed, I awoke,
  15. the vision vanished, I complained to Heaven
  16. against the idle comfort of such dreams;
  17. but as I voiced my own lament, I heard
  18. a mighty murmur echoing through the halls
  19. of my deserted palace, and a multitude
  20. of voices in confusion; where the sound
  21. of scarce an echo had disturbed the still
  22. deserted chambers for so many days.
  23. “All this I thought the fancy of my dream,
  24. until my brave son Telamon, in haste
  25. threw open the closed doorway, as he called,
  26. ‘Come quickly father, and behold a sight
  27. beyond the utmost of your fondest dreams!’
  28. I did go out, and there I saw such men
  29. each in his turn, as I had seen transformed
  30. in that weird vision of the moving ants.
  31. “They all advanced, and hailed me as their king.
  32. So soon as I had offered vows to Jove,
  33. I subdivided the deserted farms,
  34. and dwellings in the cities to these men
  35. miraculously raised —which now are called
  36. my Myrmidons, —the living evidence
  37. of my strange vision. You have seen these men;
  38. and since that day, their name has been declared,
  39. ‘Decisive evidence.’ They have retained
  40. the well-known customs of the days before
  41. their transformation. Patiently they toil;
  42. they store the profits of their labor; which
  43. they guard with valiant skill. They'll follow you
  44. to any war, well matched in years and courage,
  45. and I do promise, when this east wind turns,
  46. this wind that favored you and brought you here,
  47. and when a south wind favors our design,
  48. then my brave Myrmidons will go with you.”
  1. This narrative and many other tales
  2. had occupied the day. As twilight fell,
  3. festivities were blended in the night—
  4. the night, in turn, afforded sweet repose.
  5. Soon as the golden Sun had shown his light,
  6. the east wind blowing still, the ships were stayed
  7. from sailing home. The sons of Pallas came
  8. to Cephalus, who was the elder called;
  9. and Cephalus together with the sons
  10. of Pallas, went to see the king. Deep sleep
  11. still held the king; and Phocus who was son
  12. of Aeacus, received them at the gate,
  13. instead of Telamon and Peleus who
  14. were marshalling the men for war. Into
  15. the inner court and beautiful apartments
  16. Phocus conducted the Athenians,
  17. and they sat down together. Phocus then
  18. observed that Cephalus held in his hand
  19. a curious javelin with golden head,
  20. and shaft of some rare wood. And as they talked,
  21. he said; “It is my pleasure to explore
  22. the forest in the chase of startled game,
  23. and so I've learned the nature of rare woods,
  24. but never have I seen the match of this
  25. from which was fashioned this good javelin;
  26. it lacks the yellow tint of forest ash,
  27. it is not knotted like all corner-wood;
  28. although I cannot name the kind of wood,
  29. my eyes have never seen a javelin-shaft
  30. so beautiful as this.”
  31. To him replied
  32. a friend of Cephalus; “But you will find
  33. its beauty is not equal to its worth,
  34. for whatsoever it is aimed against,
  35. its flight is always certain to the mark,
  36. nor is it subject to the shift of chance;
  37. and after it has struck, although no hand
  38. may cast it back, it certainly returns,
  39. bloodstained with every victim.”
  40. Then indeed,
  41. was Phocus anxious to be told, whence came
  42. and who had given such a precious gift.
  43. And Cephalus appeared to tell him all;
  44. but craftily was silent on one strange
  45. condition of the fatal gift. As he
  46. recalled the mournful fate of his dear wife,
  47. his eyes filled up with tears. “Ah, pity me,”
  48. he said, “If Fate should grant me many years,
  49. I must weep every time that I regard
  50. this weapon which has been my cause of tears;
  51. the unforgiven death of my dear wife—
  52. ah, would that I had never handled it!
  53. “My sweet wife, Procris!—if you could compare
  54. her beauty with her sister's—Orithyia's,
  55. (ravished by the blustering Boreas)
  56. you would declare my wife more beautiful.
  57. “'Tis she her sire Erectheus joined to me,
  58. 'Tis she the god Love also joined to me.
  59. They called me happy, and in truth I was,
  60. and all pronounced us so until the Gods
  61. decreed it otherwise. Two joyful months
  62. of our united love were almost passed,
  63. when, as the grey light of the dawn dispelled,
  64. upon the summit of Hymettus green,
  65. Aurora, glorious in her golden robes,
  66. observed me busy with encircling nets,
  67. trapping the antlered deer.
  68. “Against my will
  69. incited by desire, she carried me
  70. away with her. Oh, let me not increase
  71. her anger, for I tell you what is true,
  72. I found no comfort in her lovely face!
  73. And, though she is the very queen of light,
  74. and reigns upon the edge of shadowy space
  75. where she is nourished on rich nectar-wine,
  76. adding delight to beauty, I could give
  77. no heed to her entreaties, for the thought
  78. of my beloved Procris intervened;
  79. and only her sweet name was on my lips.
  80. “I told Aurora of our wedding joys
  81. and all refreshing joys of love — and my
  82. first union of my couch deserted now:
  83. “Enraged against me, then the goddess said:
  84. ‘Keep to your Procris, I but trouble you,
  85. ungrateful clown! but, if you can be warned,
  86. you will no longer wish for her!’ And so,
  87. in anger, she returned me to my wife.
  88. “Alas, as I retraced the weary way,
  89. long-brooding over all Aurora said,
  90. suspicion made me doubtful of my wife,
  91. so faithful and so fair.—But many things
  92. reminding me of steadfast virtue, I
  93. suppressed all doubts; until the dreadful thought
  94. of my long absence filled my jealous mind:
  95. from which I argued to the criminal
  96. advances of Aurora; for if she,
  97. so lovely in appearance, did conceal
  98. such passion in the garb of innocence
  99. until the moment of temptation, how
  100. could I be certain of the purity
  101. of even the strongest when the best are frail?
  102. “So brooding—every effort I devised
  103. to cause my own undoing. By the means
  104. of bribing presents, favored by disguise,
  105. I sought to win her guarded chastity.
  106. Aurora had disguised me, and her guile
  107. determined me to work in subtle snares.
  108. “Unknown to all my friends, I paced the streets
  109. of sacred Athens till I reached my home.
  110. I hoped to search out evidence of guilt:
  111. but everything seemed waiting my return;
  112. and all the household breathed an air of grief.
  113. “With difficulty I, disguised, obtained
  114. an entrance to her presence by the use
  115. of artifices many: and when I
  116. there saw her, silent in her grief,—amazed,
  117. my heart no longer prompted me to test
  118. such constant love. An infinite desire
  119. took hold upon me. I could scarce restrain
  120. an impulse to caress and kiss her. Pale
  121. with grief that I was gone, her lovely face
  122. in sorrow was more beautiful—the world
  123. has not another so divinely fair.
  124. “Ah, Phocus, it is wonderful to think
  125. of beauty so surpassing fair it seems
  126. more lovable in sorrow! Why relate
  127. to you how often she repulsed my feigned
  128. attempts upon her virtue? To each plea
  129. she said: ‘I serve one man: no matter where
  130. he may be I will keep my love for one.’
  131. “Who but a man insane with jealousy,
  132. would doubt the virtue of a loving wife,
  133. when tempted by the most insidious wiles,
  134. whose hallowed honor was her husband's love?
  135. But I, not satisfied with proof complete,
  136. would not abandon my depraved desire
  137. to poison the pure fountain I should guard;—
  138. increasing my temptations, I caused her
  139. to hesitate, and covet a rich gift.
  140. “Then, angered at my own success I said,
  141. discarding all disguise, ‘Behold the man
  142. whose lavish promise has established proof,
  143. the witness of your shameful treachery;
  144. your absent husband has returned to this!’
  145. “Unable to endure a ruined home,
  146. where desecration held her sin to view,
  147. despairing and in silent shame she fled;
  148. and I, the author of that wickedness
  149. ran after: but enraged at my deceit
  150. and hating all mankind, she wandered far
  151. in wildest mountains; hunting the wild game.
  152. “I grieved at her desertion; and the fires
  153. of my neglected love consumed my health;
  154. with greater violence my love increased,
  155. until unable to endure such pain,
  156. I begged forgiveness and acknowledged fault:
  157. nor hesitated to declare that I
  158. might yield, the same way tempted, if such great
  159. gifts had been offered to me. When I had made
  160. abject confession and she had avenged
  161. her outraged feelings, she came back to me
  162. and we spent golden years in harmony.
  163. “She gave to me the hound she fondly loved,
  164. the very one Diana gave to her
  165. when lovingly the goddess had declared,
  166. ‘This hound all others shall excel in speed.’
  167. Nor was that gift the only one was given
  168. by kind Diana when my wife was hers,
  169. as you may guess—this javelin I hold forth,
  170. no other but a goddess could bestow.
  171. “Would you be told the story of both gifts
  172. attend my words and you shall be amazed,
  173. for never such another sad event
  174. has added sorrow to the grieving world.
  1. “After the son of Laius,—Oedipus,—
  2. had solved the riddle of the monster-sphinx,
  3. so often baffling to the wits of men,
  4. and after she had fallen from her hill,
  5. mangled, forgetful of her riddling craft;
  6. not unrevenged the mighty Themis brooked
  7. her loss. Without delay that goddess raised
  8. another savage beast to ravage Thebes,
  9. by which the farmer's cattle were devoured,
  10. the land was ruined and its people slain.
  11. “Then all the valiant young men of the realm,
  12. with whom I also went, enclosed the field
  13. (where lurked the monster) in a mesh
  14. of many tangled nets: but not a strand
  15. could stay its onrush, and it leaped the crest
  16. of every barrier where the toils were set.
  17. “Already they had urged their eager dogs,
  18. which swiftly as a bird it left behind,
  19. eluding all the hunters as it fled.
  20. “At last all begged me to let slip the leash
  21. of straining Tempest; such I called the hound,
  22. my dear wife's present. As he tugged and pulled
  23. upon the tightened cords, I let them slip:
  24. no sooner done, then he was lost to sight;
  25. although, wherever struck his rapid feet
  26. the hot dust whirled. Not swifter flies the spear,
  27. nor whizzing bullet from the twisted sling,
  28. nor feathered arrow from the twanging bow!
  29. “A high hill jutted from a rolling plain,
  30. on which I mounted to enjoy the sight
  31. of that unequalled chase. One moment caught,
  32. the next as surely free, the wild beast seemed
  33. now here now there, elusive in its flight;
  34. swiftly sped onward, or with sudden turn
  35. doubled in circles to deceive or gain.
  36. With equal speed pursuing at each turn,
  37. the rapid hound could neither gain nor lose.
  38. Now springing forward and now doubling back,
  39. his great speed foiled, he snapped at empty air.
  40. “I then turned to my javelin's aid; and while
  41. I poised it in my right hand, turned away
  42. my gaze a moment as I sought to twine
  43. my practiced fingers in the guiding thongs;
  44. but when again I lifted up my eyes,
  45. to cast the javelin where the monster sped,
  46. I saw two marble statues standing there,
  47. transformed upon the plain. One statue seemed
  48. to strain in attitude of rapid flight,
  49. the other with wide-open jaws was changed,
  50. just in the act of barking and pursuit.
  51. Surely some God—if any god controls—
  52. decreed both equal, neither could succeed.”
  53. Now after these miraculous events,
  54. it seemed he wished to stop, but Phocus said.
  55. “What charge have you against the javelin?”
  56. And Cephalus rejoined; “I must relate
  57. my sorrows last; for I would tell you first
  58. the story of my joys—'Tis sweet to think,
  59. upon the gliding tide of those few years
  60. of married life, when my dear wife and I
  61. were happy in our love and confidence.
  62. No woman could allure me then from her;
  63. and even Venus could not tempt my love;
  64. all my great passion for my dearest wife
  65. was equalled by the passion she returned.
  66. “As early as the sun, when golden rays
  67. first glittered on the mountains, I would rise
  68. in youthful ardor, to explore the fields
  69. in search of game. With no companions, hounds,
  70. nor steeds nor nets, this javelin was alone
  71. my safety and companion in my sport.
  72. “And often when my right hand felt its weight,
  73. a-wearied of the slaughter it had caused,
  74. I would come back to rest in the cool shade,
  75. and breezes from cool vales—the breeze I wooed,
  76. blowing so gently on me in the heat;
  77. the breeze I waited for; she was my rest
  78. from labor. I remember, ‘Aura come,’
  79. I used to say, ‘Come soothe me, come into
  80. my breast most welcome one, and yes indeed,
  81. you do relieve the heat with which I burn.’
  82. “And as I felt the sweet breeze of the morn,
  83. as if in answer to my song, my fate impelled
  84. me further to declare my joy in song;
  85. “ ‘You are my comfort, you are my delight!
  86. Refresh me, cherish me, breathe on my face!
  87. I love you child of lonely haunts and trees!’
  88. “Such words I once was singing, not aware
  89. of some one spying on me from the trees,
  90. who thought I sang to some beloved Nymph,
  91. or goddess by the name of Aura—so
  92. I always called the breeze.—Unhappy man!
  93. The meddling tell-tale went to Procris with
  94. a story of supposed unfaithfulness,
  95. and slyly told in whispers all he heard.
  96. True love is credulous; (and as I heard
  97. the story) Procris in a swoon fell down.
  98. When she awakened from her bitter swoon,
  99. she ceased not wailing her unhappy fate,
  100. and, wretched, moaned for an imagined woe.
  101. “So she lamented what was never done!
  102. Her woe incited by a whispered tale,
  103. she feared the fiction of a harmless name!
  104. But hope returning soothed her wretched state;
  105. and now, no longer willing to believe
  106. such wrong, unless her own eyes saw it, she
  107. refused to think her husband sinned.
  108. “When dawn
  109. had banished night, and I, rejoicing, ranged
  110. the breathing woods, victorious in the hunt
  111. paused and said, ‘Come Aura—lovely breeze—
  112. relieve my panting breast!’ It seemed I heard
  113. the smothered moans of sorrow as I spoke:
  114. but not conceiving harm, I said again;
  115. “ ‘Come here, oh my delight!’ And as those words
  116. fell from my lips, I thought I heard a soft
  117. sound in the thicket, as of moving leaves;
  118. and thinking surely 'twas a hidden beast,
  119. I threw this winged javelin at the spot.—
  120. “It was my own wife, Procris, and the shaft
  121. was buried in her breast—‘Ah, wretched me!’
  122. She cried; and when I heard her well-known voice,
  123. distracted I ran towards her,—only to find
  124. her bathed in blood, and dying from the wound
  125. of that same javelin she had given to me:
  126. and in her agony she drew it forth,—
  127. ah me! alas! from her dear tender side.
  128. “I lifted her limp body to my own,
  129. in these blood-guilty arms, and wrapped the wound
  130. with fragments of my tunic, that I tore
  131. in haste to staunch her blood; and all the while
  132. I moaned, ‘Oh, do not now forsake me—slain
  133. by these accursed hands!’
  134. “Weak with the loss
  135. of blood, and dying, she compelled herself
  136. to utter these few words, ‘It is my death;
  137. but let my eyes not close upon this life
  138. before I plead with you! — By the dear ties
  139. of sacred marriage; by your god and mine;
  140. and if my love for you can move your heart;
  141. and even by the cause of my sad death,—
  142. my love for you increasing as I die,—
  143. ah, put away that Aura you have called,
  144. that she may never separate your soul,—
  145. your love from me.’
  146. “So, by those dying words
  147. I knew that she had heard me call the name
  148. of Aura, when I wished the cooling breeze,
  149. and thought I called a goddess,—cause of all
  150. her jealous sorrow and my bitter woe
  151. “Alas, too late, I told her the sad truth;
  152. but she was sinking, and her little strength
  153. swiftly was ebbing with her flowing blood.
  154. As long as life remained her loving gaze
  155. was fixed on mine; and her unhappy life
  156. at last was breathed out on my grieving face.
  157. It seemed to me a look of sweet content
  158. was in her face, as if she feared not death.”
  159. In tears he folds these things; and, as they wept
  160. in came the aged monarch, Aeacus,
  161. and with the monarch his two valiant sons,
  162. and troops, new-levied, trained to glorious arms.
  1. Now Lucifer unveiled the glorious day,
  2. and as the session of the night dissolved,
  3. the cool east wind declined, and vapors wreathed
  4. the moistened valleys. Veering to the south
  5. the welcome wind gave passage to the sons
  6. of Aeacus, and wafted Cephalus
  7. on his returning way, propitious; where
  8. before the wonted hour, they entered port.
  9. King Minos, while the fair wind moved their ship,
  10. was laying waste the land of Megara.
  11. He gathered a great army round the walls
  12. built by Alcathous, where reigned in splendor
  13. King Nisus—mighty and renowned in war—
  14. upon the center of whose hoary head
  15. a lock of purple hair was growing.—Its
  16. proved virtue gave protection to his throne.
  17. Six times the horns of rising Phoebe grew,
  18. and still the changing fortune of the war
  19. was in suspense; so, Victory day by day
  20. between them hovered on uncertain wings.
  21. Within that city was a regal tower
  22. on tuneful walls; where once Apollo laid
  23. his golden harp; and in the throbbing stone
  24. the sounds remained. And there, in times of peace
  25. the daughter of king Nisus loved to mount
  26. the walls and strike the sounding stone with pebbles:
  27. so, when the war began, she often viewed
  28. the dreadful contest from that height;
  29. until, so long the hostile camp remained,
  30. she had become acquainted with the names,
  31. and knew the habits, horses and the arms
  32. of many a chief, and could discern the signs
  33. of their Cydonean quivers.
  34. More than all,
  35. the features of King Minos were engraved
  36. upon the tablets of her mind. And when
  37. he wore his helmet, crested with gay plumes,
  38. she deemed it glorious; when he held his shield
  39. shining with gold, no other seemed so grand;
  40. and when he poised to hurl the tough spear home,
  41. she praised his skill and strength; and when he bent
  42. his curving bow with arrow on the cord,
  43. she pictured him as Phoebus taking aim,—
  44. but when, arrayed in purple, and upon
  45. the back of his white war horse, proudly decked
  46. with richly broidered housings, he reined in
  47. the nervous steed, and took his helmet off,
  48. showing his fearless features, then the maid,
  49. daughter of Nisus, could control herself
  50. no longer; and a frenzy seized her mind.
  51. She called the javelin happy which he touched,
  52. and blessed were the reins within his hand.
  53. She had an impulse to direct her steps,
  54. a tender virgin, through the hostile ranks,
  55. or cast her body from the topmost towers
  56. into the Gnossian camp. She had a wild
  57. desire to open to the enemy
  58. the heavy brass-bound gates, or anything
  59. that Minos could desire.
  60. And as she sat
  61. beholding the white tents, she cried, “Alas!
  62. Should I rejoice or grieve to see this war?
  63. I grieve that Minos is the enemy
  64. of her who loves him; but unless the war
  65. had brought him, how could he be known to me?
  66. But should he take me for a hostage? That
  67. might end the war—a pledge of peace, he might
  68. keep me for his companion.
  69. “O, supreme
  70. of mankind! she who bore you must have been
  71. as beautiful as you are; ample cause
  72. for Jove to lose his heart.
  73. “O, happy hour!
  74. If moving upon wings through yielding air,
  75. I could alight within the hostile camp
  76. in front of Minos, and declare to him
  77. my name and passion!
  78. “Then would I implore
  79. what dowry he could wish, and would provide
  80. whatever he might ask, except alone
  81. the city of my father. Perish all
  82. my secret hopes before one act of mine
  83. should offer treason to accomplish it.
  84. And yet, the kindness of a conqueror
  85. has often proved a blessing, manifest
  86. to those who were defeated. Certainly
  87. the war he carries on is justified
  88. by his slain son.
  89. “He is a mighty king,
  90. thrice strengthened in his cause. Undoubtedly
  91. we shall be conquered, and, if such a fate
  92. awaits our city, why should he by force
  93. instead of my consuming love, prevail
  94. to open the strong gates? Without delay
  95. and dreadful slaughter, it is best for him
  96. to conquer and decide this savage war.
  97. “Ah, Minos, how I fear the bitter fate
  98. should any warrior hurl his cruel spear
  99. and pierce you by mischance, for surely none
  100. can be so hardened to transfix your breast
  101. with purpose known.”
  102. Oh, let her love prevail
  103. to open for his army the great gates.
  104. Only the thought of it, has filled her soul;
  105. she is determined to deliver up
  106. her country as a dowry with herself,
  107. and so decide the war! But what avails
  108. this idle talk.
  109. “A guard surrounds the gates,
  110. my father keeps the keys, and he alone
  111. is my obstruction, and the innocent
  112. account of my despair. Would to the Gods
  113. I had no father! Is not man the God
  114. of his own fortune, though his idle prayers
  115. avail not to compel his destiny?
  116. “Another woman crazed with passionate desires,
  117. which now inflame me, would not hesitate,
  118. but with a fierce abandon would destroy
  119. whatever checked her passion. Who is there
  120. with love to equal mine? I dare to go
  121. through flames and swords; but swords and flames
  122. are not now needed, for I only need
  123. my royal father's lock of purple hair.
  124. More precious than fine gold, it has a power
  125. to give my heart all that it may desire.”
  1. While Scylla said this, night that heals our cares
  2. came on, and she grew bolder in the dark.
  3. And now it is the late and silent hour
  4. when slumber takes possession of the breast.
  5. Outwearied with the cares of busy day;
  6. then as her father slept, with stealthy tread
  7. she entered his abode, and there despoiled,
  8. and clipped his fatal lock of purple hair.
  9. Concealing in her bosom the sad prize
  10. of crime degenerate, she at once went forth
  11. a gate unguarded, and with shameless haste
  12. sped through the hostile army to the tent
  13. of Minos, whom, astonished, she addressed:
  14. “Only my love has led me to this deed.
  15. The daughter of King Nisus, I am called
  16. the maiden Scylla. Unto you I come
  17. and offer up a power that will prevail
  18. against my country, and I stipulate
  19. no recompense except yourself. Take then
  20. this purple hair, a token of my love.—
  21. Deem it not lightly as a lock of hair
  22. held idly forth to you; it is in truth
  23. my father's life.” And as she spoke
  24. she held out in her guilty hand the prize,
  25. and begged him to accept it with her love.
  26. Shocked at the thought of such a heinous crime,
  27. Minos refused, and said, “O execrable thing!
  28. Despised abomination of our time!
  29. May all the Gods forever banish you
  30. from their wide universe, and may the earth
  31. and the deep ocean be denied to you!
  32. So great a monster shall not be allowed
  33. to desecrate the sacred Isle of Crete,
  34. where Jupiter was born.” So Minos spoke.
  35. Nevertheless he conquered Megara,
  36. (so aided by the damsel's wicked deed)
  37. and as a just and mighty king imposed
  38. his own conditions on the vanquished land.
  39. He ordered his great fleet to tarry not;
  40. the hawsers were let loose, and the long oars
  41. quickly propelled his brazen-pointed ships.—
  42. When Scylla saw them launching forth,
  43. observed them sailing on the mighty deep,
  44. she called with vain entreaties; but at last,
  45. aware the prince ignored her and refused
  46. to recompense her wickedness, enraged,
  47. and raving, she held up her impious hands,
  48. her long hair streaming on the wind, — and said:
  49. “Oh, wherefore have you flown, and left behind
  50. the author of your glory. Oh, wretch! wretch
  51. to whom I offered up my native land,
  52. and sacrificed my father! Where have you
  53. now flown, ungrateful man whose victory
  54. is both my crime and virtue? And the gift
  55. presented to you, and my passion,
  56. have these not moved you? All my love and hope
  57. in you alone!
  58. “Forsaken by my prince,
  59. shall I return to my defeated land?
  60. If never ruined it would shut its walls
  61. against me.—Shall I seek my father's face
  62. whom I delivered to all-conquering arms?
  63. My fellow-citizens despise my name;
  64. my friends and neighbors hate me; I have shut
  65. the world against me, only in the hope
  66. that Crete would surely welcome me;—and now,
  67. he has forbidden me.
  68. “And is it so
  69. I am requited by this thankless wretch!
  70. Europa could not be your mother! Spawn
  71. of cruel Syrtis! Savage cub of fierce
  72. Armenian tigress;—or Charybdis, tossed
  73. by the wild South-wind begot you! Can you be
  74. the son of Jupiter? Your mother was
  75. not ever tricked by the false semblance
  76. of a bull. All that story of your birth
  77. is false! You are the offspring of a bull
  78. as fierce as you are!
  79. “Let your vengeance fall
  80. upon me, O my father Nisus, let
  81. the ruined city I betrayed rejoice
  82. at my misfortunes—richly merited—
  83. destroy me, you whom I have ruined;—I
  84. should perish for my crimes! But why should you,
  85. who conquered by my crime, abandon me?
  86. The treason to my father and my land
  87. becomes an act of kindness in your cause.
  88. “That woman is a worthy mate for you
  89. who hid in wood deceived the raging bull,
  90. and bore to him the infamy of Crete.
  91. I do not wonder that Pasiphae
  92. preferred the bull to you, more savage than
  93. the wildest beast. Alas, alas for me!
  94. “Do my complaints reach your unwilling ears?
  95. Or do the same winds waft away my words
  96. that blow upon your ships, ungrateful man?—
  97. Ah, wretched that I am, he takes delight
  98. in hastening from me. The deep waves resound
  99. as smitten by the oars, his ship departs;
  100. and I am lost and even my native land
  101. is fading from his sight.
  102. “Oh heart of flint!
  103. you shall not prosper in your cruelty,
  104. and you shall not forget my sacrifice;
  105. in spite of everything I follow you!
  106. I'll grasp the curving stern of your swift ship,
  107. and I will follow through unending seas.”
  108. And as she spoke, she leaped into the waves,
  109. and followed the receding ships—for strength
  110. from passion came to her. And soon she clung
  111. unwelcome, to the sailing Gnossian ship.
  112. Meanwhile, the Gods had changed her father's form
  113. and now he hovered over the salt deep,
  114. a hawk with tawny wings. So when he saw
  115. his daughter clinging to the hostile ship
  116. he would have torn her with his rending beak;—
  117. he darted towards her through the yielding air.
  118. In terror she let go, but as she fell
  119. the light air held her from the ocean spray;
  120. her feather-weight supported by the breeze;
  121. she spread her wings, and changed into a bird.
  122. They called her “Ciris” when she cut the wind,
  123. and “Ciris”—cut-the-lock—remains her name.
  1. King Minos, when he reached the land of Crete
  2. and left his ships, remembered he had made
  3. a vow to Jupiter, and offered up
  4. a hundred bulls.—The splendid spoils of war
  5. adorned his palace.—
  6. Now the infamous
  7. reproach of Crete had grown, till it exposed
  8. the double-natured shame. So, Minos, moved
  9. to cover his disgrace, resolved to hide
  10. the monster in a prison, and he built
  11. with intricate design, by Daedalus
  12. contrived, an architect of wonderful
  13. ability, and famous. This he planned
  14. of mazey wanderings that deceived the eyes,
  15. and labyrinthic passages involved.
  16. so sports the clear Maeander, in the fields
  17. of Phrygia winding doubtful; back and forth
  18. it meets itself, until the wandering stream
  19. fatigued, impedes its wearied waters' flow;
  20. from source to sea, from sea to source involved.
  21. So Daedalus contrived innumerous paths,
  22. and windings vague, so intricate that he,
  23. the architect, hardly could retrace his steps.
  24. In this the Minotaur was long concealed,
  25. and there devoured Athenian victims sent
  26. three seasons, nine years each, till Theseus, son
  27. of Aegeus, slew him and retraced his way,
  28. finding the path by Ariadne's thread.
  29. Without delay the victor fled from Crete,
  30. together with the loving maid, and sailed
  31. for Dia Isle of Naxos, where he left
  32. the maid forlorn, abandoned. Her, in time,
  33. lamenting and deserted, Bacchus found
  34. and for his love immortalized her name.
  35. He set in the dark heavens the bright crown
  36. that rested on her brows. Through the soft air
  37. it whirled, while all the sparkling jewels changed
  38. to flashing fires, assuming in the sky
  39. between the Serpent-holder and the Kneeler
  40. the well-known shape of Ariadne's Crown.