<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=475833" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Metamorphoses: Book The Eighth</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">NOW shone the morning star in bright array,<br> To vanquish night, and usher in the day:<br> The wind veers southward, and moist clouds arise,<br> That blot with shades the blue meridian skies.<br> Cephalus feels with joy the kindly gales,<br> His new allies unfurl the swelling sails;<br> Steady their course, they cleave the yielding main,<br> And, with a wish, th' intended harbour gain.<br> The Story of Mean-while King Minos, on the Attick strand,<br> Nisus and Displays his martial skill, and wastes the land.<br> Scylla His army lies encampt upon the plains,<br> Before Alcathoe's walls, where Nisus reigns;<br> On whose grey head a lock of purple hue,<br> The strength, and fortune of his kingdom, grew.<br> Six moons were gone, and past, when still from<br> far<br> Victoria hover'd o'er the doubtful war.<br> So long, to both inclin'd, th' impartial maid<br> Between 'em both her equal wings display'd.<br> High on the walls, by Phoebus vocal made,<br> A turret of the palace rais'd its head;<br> And where the God his tuneful harp resign'd.<br> The sound within the stones still lay enshrin'd:<br> Hither the daughter of the purple king<br> Ascended oft, to hear its musick ring;<br> And, striking with a pebble, wou'd release<br> Th' enchanted notes, in times of happy peace.<br> But now, from thence, the curious maid beheld<br> Rough feats of arms, and combats of the field:<br> And, since the siege was long, had learnt the name<br> Of ev'ry chief, his character, and fame;<br> Their arms, their horse, and quiver she descry'd,<br> Nor cou'd the dress of war the warriour hide.<br> Europa's son she knew above the rest,<br> And more, than well became a virgin breast:<br> In vain the crested morion veils his face,<br> She thinks it adds a more peculiar grace:<br> His ample shield, embost with burnish'd gold,<br> Still makes the bearer lovelier to behold:<br> When the tough jav'lin, with a whirl, he sends,<br> His strength and skill the sighing maid commends;<br> Or, when he strains to draw the circling bow,<br> And his fine limbs a manly posture show,<br> Compar'd with Phoebus, he performs so well,<br> Let her be judge, and Minos shall excell.<br> But when the helm put off, display'd to sight,<br> And set his features in an open light;<br> When, vaulting to his seat, his steed he prest,<br> Caparison'd in gold, and richly drest;<br> Himself in scarlet sumptuously array'd,<br> New passions rise, and fire the frantick maid.<br> O happy spear! she cries, that feels his touch;<br> Nay, ev'n the reins he holds are blest too much.<br> Oh! were it lawful, she cou'd wing her way<br> Thro' the stern hostile troops without dismay;<br> Or throw her body to the distant ground,<br> And in the Cretans happy camp be found.<br> Wou'd Minos but desire it! she'd expose<br> Her native country to her country's foes;<br> Unbar the gates, the town with flames infest,<br> Or any thing that Minos shou'd request.<br> And as she sate, and pleas'd her longing sight,<br> Viewing the king's pavilion veil'd with white,<br> Shou'd joy, or grief, she said, possess my breast,<br> To see my country by a war opprest?<br> I'm in suspense! For, tho' 'tis grief to know<br> I love a man that is declar'd my foe;<br> Yet, in my own despite, I must approve<br> That lucky war, which brought the man I love.<br> Yet, were I tender'd as a pledge of peace,<br> The cruelties of war might quickly cease.<br> Oh! with what joy I'd wear the chains he gave!<br> A patient hostage, and a willing slave.<br> Thou lovely object! if the nymph that bare<br> Thy charming person, were but half so fair;<br> Well might a God her virgin bloom desire,<br> And with a rape indulge his amorous fire.<br> Oh! had I wings to glide along the air,<br> To his dear tent I'd fly, and settle there:<br> There tell my quality, confess my flame,<br> And grant him any dowry that he'd name.<br> All, all I'd give; only my native land,<br> My dearest country, shou'd excepted stand,<br> For, perish love, and all expected joys,<br> E're, with so base a thought, my soul complies.<br> Yet, oft the vanquish'd some advantage find,<br> When conquer'd by a noble, gen'rous mind.<br> Brave Minos justly has the war begun,<br> Fir'd with resentment for his murder'd son:<br> The righteous Gods a righteous cause regard,<br> And will, with victory, his arms reward:<br> We must be conquer'd; and the captive's fate<br> Will surely seize us, tho' it seize us late.<br> Why then shou'd love be idle, and neglect<br> What Mars, by arms and perils, will effect?<br> Oh! Prince, I dye, with anxious fear opprest,<br> Lest some rash hand shou'd wound my charmer's<br> breast:<br> For, if they saw, no barb'rous mind cou'd dare<br> Against that lovely form to raise a spear.<br> But I'm resolv'd, and fix'd in this decree,<br> My father's country shall my dowry be.<br> Thus I prevent the loss of life and blood,<br> And, in effect, the action must be good.<br> Vain resolution! for, at ev'ry gate<br> The trusty centinels, successive, wait:<br> The keys my father keeps; ah! there's my grief;<br> 'Tis he obstructs all hopes of my relief.<br> Gods! that this hated light I'd never seen!<br> Or, all my life, without a father been!<br> But Gods we all may be; for those that dare,<br> Are Gods, and Fortune's chiefest favours share.<br> The ruling Pow'rs a lazy pray'r detest,<br> The bold adventurer succeeds the best.<br> What other maid, inspir'd with such a flame,<br> But wou'd take courage, and abandon shame?<br> But wou'd, tho' ruin shou'd ensue, remove<br> Whate'er oppos'd, and clear the way to love?<br> This, shall another's feeble passion dare?<br> While I sit tame, and languish in despair:<br> No; for tho' fire and sword before me lay,<br> Impatient love thro' both shou'd force its way.<br> Yet I have no such enemies to fear,<br> My sole obstruction is my father's hair;<br> His purple lock my sanguine hope destroys,<br> And clouds the prospect of my rising joys.<br> Whilst thus she spoke, amid the thick'ning air<br> Night supervenes, the greatest nurse of care:<br> And, as the Goddess spreads her sable wings,<br> The virgin's fears decay, and courage springs.<br> The hour was come, when Man's o'er-labour'd breast<br> Surceas'd its care, by downy sleep possest:<br> All things now hush'd, Scylla with silent tread<br> Urg'd her approach to Nisus' royal bed:<br> There, of the fatal lock (accursed theft!)<br> She her unwitting father's head bereft.<br> In safe possession of her impious prey,<br> Out at a postern gate she takes her way.<br> Embolden'd, by the merit of the deed<br> She traverses the adverse camp with speed,<br> 'Till Minos' tent she reach'd: the righteous king<br> She thus bespoke, who shiver'd at the thing.<br> Behold th' effect of love's resistless sway!<br> I, Nisus' royal seed, to thee betray<br> My country, and my Gods. For this strange task,<br> Minos, no other boon but thee I ask.<br> This purple lock, a pledge of love, receive;<br> No worthless present, since in it I give<br> My father's head.- Mov'd at a crime so new,<br> And with abhorrence fill'd, back Minos drew,<br> Nor touch'd th' unhallow'd gift; but thus exclaim'd<br> (With mein indignant, and with eyes inflam'd),<br> Perdition seize thee, thou, thy kind's disgrace!<br> May thy devoted carcass find no place<br> In earth, or air, or sea, by all out-cast!<br> Shall Minos, with so foul a monster, blast<br> His Cretan world, where cradled Jove was nurst?<br> Forbid it Heav'n!- away, thou most accurst!<br> And now Alcathoe, its lord exchang'd,<br> Was under Minos' domination rang'd.<br> While the most equal king his care applies<br> To curb the conquer'd, and new laws devise,<br> The fleet, by his command, with hoisted sails,<br> And ready oars, invites the murm'ring gales.<br> At length the Cretan hero anchor weigh'd,<br> Repaying, with neglect, th' abandon'd maid.<br> Deaf to her cries, he furrows up the main:<br> In vain she prays, sollicits him in vain.<br> And now she furious grows in wild despair,<br> She wrings her hands, and throws aloft her hair.<br> Where run'st thou? (thus she vents her deep<br> distress)<br> Why shun'st thou her that crown'd thee with<br> success?<br> Her, whose fond love to thee cou'd sacrifice<br> Her country, and her parent, sacred ties!<br> Can nor my love, nor proffer'd presents find<br> A passage to thy heart, and make thee kind?<br> Can nothing move thy pity? O ingrate,<br> Can'st thou behold my lost, forlorn estate,<br> And not be soften'd? Can'st thou throw off one<br> Who has no refuge left but thee alone?<br> Where shall I seek for comfort? whither fly?<br> My native country does in ashes lye:<br> Or were't not so, my treason bars me there,<br> And bids me wander. Shall I next repair<br> To a wrong'd father, by my guilt undone?-<br> Me all Mankind deservedly will shun.<br> I, out of all the world, my self have thrown,<br> To purchase an access to Crete alone;<br> Which, since refus'd, ungen'rous man, give o'er<br> To boast thy race; Europa never bore<br> A thing so savage. Thee some tygress bred,<br> On the bleak Syrt's inhospitable bed;<br> Or where Charybdis pours its rapid tide<br> Tempestuous. Thou art not to Jove ally'd;<br> Nor did the king of Gods thy mother meet<br> Beneath a bull's forg'd shape, and bear to Crete.<br> That fable of thy glorious birth is feign'd;<br> Some wild outrageous bull thy dam sustain'd.<br> O father Nisus, now my death behold;<br> Exult, o city, by my baseness sold:<br> Minos, obdurate, has aveng'd ye all;<br> But 'twere more just by those I wrong'd to fall:<br> For why shou'dst thou, who only didst subdue<br> By my offending, my offence pursue?<br> Well art thou matcht to one whose am'rous flame<br> Too fiercely rag'd, for human-kind to tame;<br> One who, within a wooden heifer thrust,<br> Courted a low'ring bull's mistaken lust;<br> And, from whose monster-teeming womb, the Earth<br> Receiv'd, what much it mourn'd, a bi-form birth.<br> But what avails my plaints? the whistling wind,<br> Which bears him far away, leaves them behind.<br> Well weigh'd Pasiphae, when she prefer'd<br> A bull to thee, more brutish than the herd.<br> But ah! Time presses, and the labour'd oars<br> To distance drive the fleet, and lose the less'ning<br> shores.<br> Think not, ungrateful man, the liquid way<br> And threat'ning billows shall inforce my stay.<br> I'll follow thee in spite: My arms I'll throw<br> Around thy oars, or grasp thy crooked prow,<br> And drag thro' drenching seas. Her eager tongue<br> Had hardly clos'd the speech, when forth she sprung<br> And prov'd the deep. Cupid with added force<br> Recruits each nerve, and aids her wat'ry course.<br> Soon she the ship attains, unwelcome guest;<br> And, as with close embrace its sides she prest,<br> A hawk from upper air came pouring down<br> ('Twas Nisus cleft the sky with wings new grown).<br> At Scylla's head his horny bill he aims;<br> She, fearful of the blow, the ship disclaims,<br> Quitting her hold: and yet she fell not far,<br> But wond'ring, finds her self sustain'd in air.<br> Chang'd to a lark, she mottled pinions shook,<br> And, from the ravish'd lock, the name of Ciris<br> took.<br> The Now Minos, landed on the Cretan shore,<br> Labyrinth Performs his vows to Jove's protecting pow'r;<br> A hundred bullocks of the largest breed,<br> With flowrets crown'd, before his altar bleed:<br> While trophies of the vanquish'd, brought from far<br> Adorn the palace with the spoils of war.<br> Mean-while the monster of a human-beast,<br> His family's reproach, and stain, increas'd.<br> His double kind the rumour swiftly spread,<br> And evidenc'd the mother's beastly deed.<br> When Minos, willing to conceal the shame<br> That sprung from the reports of tatling Fame,<br> Resolves a dark inclosure to provide,<br> And, far from sight, the two-form'd creature hide.<br> Great Daedalus of Athens was the man<br> That made the draught, and form'd the wondrous<br> plan;<br> Where rooms within themselves encircled lye,<br> With various windings, to deceive the eye.<br> As soft Maeander's wanton current plays,<br> When thro' the Phrygian fields it loosely strays;<br> Backward and forward rouls the dimpl'd tide,<br> Seeming, at once, two different ways to glide:<br> While circling streams their former banks survey,<br> And waters past succeeding waters see:<br> Now floating to the sea with downward course,<br> Now pointing upward to its ancient source,<br> Such was the work, so intricate the place,<br> That scarce the workman all its turns cou'd trace;<br> And Daedalus was puzzled how to find<br> The secret ways of what himself design'd.<br> These private walls the Minotaur include,<br> Who twice was glutted with Athenian blood:<br> But the third tribute more successful prov'd,<br> Slew the foul monster, and the plague remov'd.<br> When Theseus, aided by the virgin's art,<br> Had trac'd the guiding thread thro' ev'ry part,<br> He took the gentle maid, that set him free,<br> And, bound for Dias, cut the briny sea.<br> There, quickly cloy'd, ungrateful, and unkind,<br> Left his fair consort in the isle behind,<br> Whom Bacchus saw, and straining in his arms<br> Her rifled bloom, and violated charms,<br> Resolves, for this, the dear engaging dame<br> Shou'd shine for ever in the rolls of Fame;<br> And bids her crown among the stars be plac'd,<br> With an eternal constellation grac'd.<br> The golden circlet mounts; and, as it flies,<br> Its diamonds twinkle in the distant skies;<br> There, in their pristin form, the gemmy rays<br> Between Alcides, and the dragon blaze.<br> The Story of In tedious exile now too long detain'd,<br> Daedalus and Daedalus languish'd for his native land:<br> Icarus The sea foreclos'd his flight; yet thus he said:<br> Tho' Earth and water in subjection laid,<br> O cruel Minos, thy dominion be,<br> We'll go thro' air; for sure the air is free.<br> Then to new arts his cunning thought applies,<br> And to improve the work of Nature tries.<br> A row of quils in gradual order plac'd,<br> Rise by degrees in length from first to last;<br> As on a cliff th' ascending thicket grows,<br> Or, different reeds the rural pipe compose.<br> Along the middle runs a twine of flax,<br> The bottom stems are joyn'd by pliant wax.<br> Thus, well compact, a hollow bending brings<br> The fine composure into real wings.<br> His boy, young Icarus, that near him stood,<br> Unthinking of his fate, with smiles pursu'd<br> The floating feathers, which the moving air<br> Bore loosely from the ground, and wasted here and<br> there.<br> Or with the wax impertinently play'd,<br> And with his childish tricks the great design<br> delay'd.<br> The final master-stroke at last impos'd,<br> And now, the neat machine compleatly clos'd;<br> Fitting his pinions on, a flight he tries,<br> And hung self-ballanc'd in the beaten skies.<br> Then thus instructs his child: My boy, take care<br> To wing your course along the middle air;<br> If low, the surges wet your flagging plumes;<br> If high, the sun the melting wax consumes:<br> Steer between both: nor to the northern skies,<br> Nor south Orion turn your giddy eyes;<br> But follow me: let me before you lay<br> Rules for the flight, and mark the pathless way.<br> Then teaching, with a fond concern, his son,<br> He took the untry'd wings, and fix'd 'em on;<br> But fix'd with trembling hands; and as he speaks,<br> The tears roul gently down his aged cheeks.<br> Then kiss'd, and in his arms embrac'd him fast,<br> But knew not this embrace must be the last.<br> And mounting upward, as he wings his flight,<br> Back on his charge he turns his aking sight;<br> As parent birds, when first their callow care<br> Leave the high nest to tempt the liquid air.<br> Then chears him on, and oft, with fatal art,<br> Reminds the stripling to perform his part.<br> These, as the angler at the silent brook,<br> Or mountain-shepherd leaning on his crook,<br> Or gaping plowman, from the vale descries,<br> They stare, and view 'em with religious eyes,<br> And strait conclude 'em Gods; since none, but they,<br> Thro' their own azure skies cou'd find a way.<br> Now Delos, Paros on the left are seen,<br> And Samos, favour'd by Jove's haughty queen;<br> Upon the right, the isle Lebynthos nam'd,<br> And fair Calymne for its honey fam'd.<br> When now the boy, whose childish thoughts aspire<br> To loftier aims, and make him ramble high'r,<br> Grown wild, and wanton, more embolden'd flies<br> Far from his guide, and soars among the skies.<br> The soft'ning wax, that felt a nearer sun,<br> Dissolv'd apace, and soon began to run.<br> The youth in vain his melting pinions shakes,<br> His feathers gone, no longer air he takes:<br> Oh! Father, father, as he strove to cry,<br> Down to the sea he tumbled from on high,<br> And found his Fate; yet still subsists by fame,<br> Among those waters that retain his name.<br> The father, now no more a father, cries,<br> Ho Icarus! where are you? as he flies;<br> Where shall I seek my boy? he cries again,<br> And saw his feathers scatter'd on the main.<br> Then curs'd his art; and fun'ral rites confer'd,<br> Naming the country from the youth interr'd.<br> A partridge, from a neighb'ring stump, beheld<br> The sire his monumental marble build;<br> Who, with peculiar call, and flutt'ring wing,<br> Chirpt joyful, and malicious seem'd to sing:<br> The only bird of all its kind, and late<br> Transform'd in pity to a feather'd state:<br> From whence, O Daedalus, thy guilt we date.<br> His sister's son, when now twelve years were<br> past,<br> Was, with his uncle, as a scholar plac'd;<br> The unsuspecting mother saw his parts,<br> And genius fitted for the finest arts.<br> This soon appear'd; for when the spiny bone<br> In fishes' backs was by the stripling known,<br> A rare invention thence he learnt to draw,<br> Fil'd teeth in ir'n, and made the grating saw.<br> He was the first, that from a knob of brass<br> Made two strait arms with widening stretch to pass;<br> That, while one stood upon the center's place,<br> The other round it drew a circling space.<br> Daedalus envy'd this, and from the top<br> Of fair Minerva's temple let him drop;<br> Feigning, that, as he lean'd upon the tow'r,<br> Careless he stoop'd too much, and tumbled o'er.<br> The Goddess, who th' ingenious still befriends,<br> On this occasion her asssistance lends;<br> His arms with feathers, as he fell, she veils,<br> And in the air a new made bird he sails.<br> The quickness of his genius, once so fleet,<br> Still in his wings remains, and in his feet:<br> Still, tho' transform'd, his ancient name he keeps,<br> And with low flight the new-shorn stubble sweeps,<br> Declines the lofty trees, and thinks it best<br> To brood in hedge-rows o'er its humble nest;<br> And, in remembrance of the former ill,<br> Avoids the heights, and precipices still.<br> At length, fatigu'd with long laborious flights,<br> On fair Sicilia's plains the artist lights;<br> Where Cocalus the king, that gave him aid,<br> Was, for his kindness, with esteem repaid.<br> Athens no more her doleful tribute sent,<br> That hardship gallant Theseus did prevent;<br> Their temples hung with garlands, they adore<br> Each friendly God, but most Minerva's pow'r:<br> To her, to Jove, to all, their altars smoak,<br> They each with victims, and perfumes invoke.<br> Now talking Fame, thro' every Grecian town,<br> Had spread, immortal Theseus, thy renown.<br> From him the neighb'ring nations in distress,<br> In suppliant terms implore a kind redress.<br> The Story of From him the Caledonians sought relief;<br> Meleager and Though valiant Meleagros was their chief.<br> Atalanta The cause, a boar, who ravag'd far and near:<br> Of Cynthia's wrath, th' avenging minister.<br> For Oeneus with autumnal plenty bless'd,<br> By gifts to Heav'n his gratitude express'd:<br> Cull'd sheafs, to Ceres; to Lyaeus, wine;<br> To Pan, and Pales, offer'd sheep and kine;<br> And fat of olives, to Minerva's shrine.<br> Beginning from the rural Gods, his hand<br> Was lib'ral to the Pow'rs of high command:<br> Each deity in ev'ry kind was bless'd,<br> 'Till at Diana's fane th' invidious honour ceas'd.<br> Wrath touches ev'n the Gods; the Queen of Night,<br> Fir'd with disdain, and jealous of her right,<br> Unhonour'd though I am, at least, said she,<br> Not unreveng'd that impious act shall be.<br> Swift as the word, she sped the boar away,<br> With charge on those devoted fields to prey.<br> No larger bulls th' Aegyptian pastures feed,<br> And none so large Sicilian meadows breed:<br> His eye-balls glare with fire suffus'd with blood;<br> His neck shoots up a thick-set thorny wood;<br> His bristled back a trench impal'd appears,<br> And stands erected, like a field of spears;<br> Froth fills his chaps, he sends a grunting sound,<br> And part he churns, and part befoams the ground,<br> For tusks with Indian elephants he strove,<br> And Jove's own thunder from his mouth he drove.<br> He burns the leaves; the scorching blast invades<br> The tender corn, and shrivels up the blades:<br> Or suff'ring not their yellow beards to rear,<br> He tramples down the spikes, and intercepts the<br> year:<br> In vain the barns expect their promis'd load,<br> Nor barns at home, nor recks are heap'd abroad:<br> In vain the hinds the threshing-floor prepare,<br> And exercise their flail in empty air.<br> With olives ever-green the ground is strow'd,<br> And grapes ungather'd shed their gen'rous blood.<br> Amid the fold he rages, nor the sheep<br> Their shepherds, nor the grooms their bulls can<br> keep.<br> From fields to walls the frighted rabble run,<br> Nor think themselves secure within the town:<br> 'Till Meleagros, and his chosen crew,<br> Contemn the danger, and the praise pursue.<br> Fair Leda's twins (in time to stars decreed)<br> One fought on foot, one curb'd the fiery steed;<br> Then issu'd forth fam'd Jason after these,<br> Who mann'd the foremost ship that sail'd the seas;<br> Then Theseus join'd with bold Perithous came;<br> A single concord in a double name:<br> The Thestian sons, Idas who swiftly ran,<br> And Ceneus, once a woman, now a man.<br> Lynceus, with eagle's eyes, and lion's heart;<br> Leucippus, with his never-erring dart;<br> Acastus, Phileus, Phoenix, Telamon,<br> Echion, Lelix, and Eurytion,<br> Achilles' father, and great Phocus' son;<br> Dryas the fierce, and Hippasus the strong;<br> With twice old Iolas, and Nestor then but young.<br> Laertes active, and Ancaeus bold;<br> Mopsus the sage, who future things foretold;<br> And t' other seer, yet by his wife unsold.<br> A thousand others of immortal fame;<br> Among the rest, fair Atalanta came,<br> Grace of the woods: a diamond buckle bound<br> Her vest behind, that else had flow'd upon the<br> ground,<br> And shew'd her buskin'd legs; her head was bare,<br> But for her native ornament of hair;<br> Which in a simple knot was ty'd above,<br> Sweet negligence! unheeded bait of love!<br> Her sounding quiver, on her shoulder ty'd,<br> One hand a dart, and one a bow supply'd.<br> Such was her face, as in a nymph display'd<br> A fair fierce boy, or in a boy betray'd<br> The blushing beauties of a modest maid.<br> The Caledonian chief at once the dame<br> Beheld, at once his heart receiv'd the flame,<br> With Heav'ns averse. O happy youth, he cry'd;<br> For whom thy fates reserve so fair a bride!<br> He sigh'd, and had no leisure more to say;<br> His honour call'd his eyes another way,<br> And forc'd him to pursue the now-neglected prey.<br> There stood a forest on a mountain's brow,<br> Which over-look'd the shaded plains below.<br> No sounding ax presum'd those trees to bite;<br> Coeval with the world, a venerable sight.<br> The heroes there arriv'd, some spread around<br> The toils; some search the footsteps on the ground:<br> Some from the chains the faithful dogs unbound.<br> Of action eager, and intent in thought,<br> The chiefs their honourable danger sought:<br> A valley stood below; the common drain<br> Of waters from above, and falling rain:<br> The bottom was a moist, and marshy ground,<br> Whose edges were with bending oziers crown'd:<br> The knotty bulrush next in order stood,<br> And all within of reeds a trembling wood.<br> From hence the boar was rous'd, and sprung amain,<br> Like lightning sudden, on the warrior train;<br> Beats down the trees before him, shakes the ground.<br> The forest echoes to the crackling sound;<br> Shout the fierce youth, and clamours ring around.<br> All stood with their protended spears prepar'd,<br> With broad steel heads the brandish'd weapons<br> glar'd.<br> The beast impetuous with his tusks aside<br> Deals glancing wounds; the fearful dogs divide:<br> All spend their mouths aloof, but none abide.<br> Echion threw the first, but miss'd his mark,<br> And stuck his boar-spear on a maple's bark.<br> Then Jason; and his javelin seem'd to take,<br> But fail'd with over-force, and whiz'd above his<br> back.<br> Mopsus was next; but e'er he threw, address'd<br> To Phoebus, thus: O patron, help thy priest:<br> If I adore, and ever have ador'd<br> Thy pow'r divine, thy present aid afford;<br> That I may reach the beast. The God allow'd<br> His pray'r, and smiling, gave him what he cou'd:<br> He reach'd the savage, but no blood he drew:<br> Dian unarm'd the javelin, as it flew.<br> This chaf'd the boar, his nostrils flames expire,<br> And his red eye-balls roul with living fire.<br> Whirl'd from a sling, or from an engine thrown,<br> Amid the foes, so flies a mighty stone,<br> As flew the beast: the left wing put to flight,<br> The chiefs o'er-born, he rushes on the right.<br> Eupalamos and Pelagon he laid<br> In dust, and next to death, but for their fellows'<br> aid.<br> Onesimus far'd worse, prepar'd to fly,<br> The fatal fang drove deep within his thigh,<br> And cut the nerves: the nerves no more sustain<br> The bulk; the bulk unprop'd, falls headlong on the<br> plain.<br> Nestor had fail'd the fall of Troy to see,<br> But leaning on his lance, he vaulted on a tree;<br> Then gath'ring up his feet, look'd down with fear,<br> And thought his monstrous foe was still too near.<br> Against a stump his tusk the monster grinds,<br> And in the sharpen'd edge new vigour finds;<br> Then, trusting to his arms, young Othrys found,<br> And ranch'd his hips with one continu'd wound.<br> Now Leda's twins, the future stars, appear;<br> White were their habits, white their horses were:<br> Conspicuous both, and both in act to throw,<br> Their trembling lances brandish'd at the foe:<br> Nor had they miss'd; but he to thickets fled,<br> Conceal'd from aiming spears, not pervious to the<br> steed.<br> But Telamon rush'd in, and happ'd to meet<br> A rising root, that held his fastned feet;<br> So down he fell, whom, sprawling on the ground,<br> His brother from the wooden gyves unbound.<br> Mean-time the virgin-huntress was not slow<br> T' expel the shaft from her contracted bow:<br> Beneath his ear the fastned arrow stood,<br> And from the wound appear'd the trickling blood.<br> She blush'd for joy: but Meleagros rais'd<br> His voice with loud applause, and the fair archer<br> prais'd.<br> He was the first to see, and first to show<br> His friends the marks of the successful blow.<br> Nor shall thy valour want the praises due,<br> He said; a virtuous envy seiz'd the crew.<br> They shout; the shouting animates their hearts,<br> And all at once employ their thronging darts:<br> But out of order thrown, in air they joyn,<br> And multitude makes frustrate the design.<br> With both his hands the proud Ancaeus takes,<br> And flourishes his double-biting ax:<br> Then, forward to his fate, he took a stride<br> Before the rest, and to his fellows cry'd,<br> Give place, and mark the diff'rence, if you can,<br> Between a woman warrior, and a man,<br> The boar is doom'd; nor though Diana lend<br> Her aid, Diana can her beast defend.<br> Thus boasted he; then stretch'd, on tiptoe stood,<br> Secure to make his empty promise good.<br> But the more wary beast prevents the blow,<br> And upward rips the groin of his audacious foe.<br> Ancaeus falls; his bowels from the wound<br> Rush out, and clotted blood distains the ground.<br> Perithous, no small portion of the war,<br> Press'd on, and shook his lance: to whom from far<br> Thus Theseus cry'd; O stay, my better part,<br> My more than mistress; of my heart, the heart.<br> The strong may fight aloof; Ancaeus try'd<br> His force too near, and by presuming dy'd:<br> He said, and while he spake his javelin threw,<br> Hissing in air th' unerring weapon flew;<br> But on an arm of oak, that stood betwixt<br> The marks-man and the mark, his lance he fixt.<br> Once more bold Jason threw, but fail'd to wound<br> The boar, and slew an undeserving hound,<br> And thro' the dog the dart was nail'd to ground.<br> Two spears from Meleager's hand were sent,<br> With equal force, but various in th' event:<br> The first was fix'd in earth, the second stood<br> On the boar's bristled back, and deeply drank his<br> blood.<br> Now while the tortur'd savage turns around,<br> And flings about his foam, impatient of the wound,<br> The wound's great author close at hand provokes<br> His rage, and plies him with redoubled strokes;<br> Wheels, as he wheels; and with his pointed dart<br> Explores the nearest passage to his heart.<br> Quick, and more quick he spins in giddy gires,<br> Then falls, and in much foam his soul expires.<br> This act with shouts heav'n-high the friendly band<br> Applaud, and strain in theirs the victor's hand.<br> Then all approach the slain with vast surprize,<br> Admire on what a breadth of earth he lies,<br> And scarce secure, reach out their spears afar,<br> And blood their points, to prove their partnership<br> of war.<br> But he, the conqu'ring chief, his foot impress'd<br> On the strong neck of that destructive beast;<br> And gazing on the nymph with ardent eyes,<br> Accept, said he, fair Nonacrine, my prize,<br> And, though inferior, suffer me to join<br> My labours, and my part of praise, with thine:<br> At this presents her with the tusky head<br> And chine, with rising bristles roughly spread.<br> Glad she receiv'd the gift; and seem'd to take<br> With double pleasure, for the giver's sake.<br> The rest were seiz'd with sullen discontent,<br> And a deaf murmur through the squadron went:<br> All envy'd; but the Thestyan brethren show'd<br> The least respect, and thus they vent their spleen<br> aloud:<br> Lay down those honour'd spoils, nor think to share,<br> Weak woman as thou art, the prize of war:<br> Ours is the title, thine a foreign claim,<br> Since Meleagrus from our lineage came.<br> Trust not thy beauty; but restore the prize,<br> Which he, besotted on that face, and eyes,<br> Would rend from us: at this, enflam'd with spite,<br> From her they snatch the gift, from him the giver's<br> right.<br> But soon th' impatient prince his fauchion drew,<br> And cry'd, Ye robbers of another's due,<br> Now learn the diff'rence, at your proper cost,<br> Betwixt true valour, and an empty boast.<br> At this advanc'd, and sudden as the word,<br> In proud Plexippus' bosom plung'd the sword:<br> Toxeus amaz'd, and with amazement slow,<br> Or to revenge, or ward the coming blow,<br> Stood doubting; and while doubting thus he stood,<br> Receiv'd the steel bath'd in his brother's blood.<br> Pleas'd with the first, unknown the second news;<br> Althaea to the temples pays their dues<br> For her son's conquest; when at length appear<br> Her grisly brethren stretch'd upon the bier:<br> Pale at the sudden sight, she chang'd her cheer,<br> And with her cheer her robes; but hearing tell<br> The cause, the manner, and by whom they fell,<br> 'Twas grief no more, or grief and rage were one<br> Within her soul; at last 'twas rage alone;<br> Which burning upwards in succession, dries<br> The tears, that stood consid'ring in her eyes.<br> There lay a log unlighted on the hearth,<br> When she was lab'ring in the throws of birth<br> For th' unborn chief; the fatal sisters came,<br> And rais'd it up, and toss'd it on the flame:<br> Then on the rock a scanty measure place<br> Of vital flax, and turn'd the wheel apace;<br> And turning sung, To this red brand and thee,<br> O new born babe, we give an equal destiny;<br> So vanish'd out of view. The frighted dame<br> Sprung hasty from her bed, and quench'd the flame:<br> The log, in secret lock'd, she kept with care,<br> And that, while thus preserv'd, preserv'd her heir.<br> This brand she now produc'd; and first she strows<br> The hearth with heaps of chips, and after blows;<br> Thrice heav'd her hand, and heav'd, she thrice<br> repress'd:<br> The sister and the mother long contest,<br> Two doubtful titles, in one tender breast:<br> And now her eyes, and cheeks with fury glow,<br> Now pale her cheeks, her eyes with pity flow:<br> Now low'ring looks presage approaching storms,<br> And now prevailing love her face reforms:<br> Resolv'd, she doubts again; the tears she dry'd<br> With burning rage, are by new tears supply'd;<br> And as a ship, which winds and waves assail<br> Now with the current drives, now with the gale,<br> Both opposite, and neither long prevail:<br> She feels a double force, by turns obeys<br> Th' imperious tempest, and th' impetuous seas:<br> So fares Althaea's mind, she first relents<br> With pity, of that pity then repents:<br> Sister, and mother long the scales divide,<br> But the beam nodded on the sister's side.<br> Sometimes she softly sigh'd, then roar'd aloud;<br> But sighs were stifled in the cries of blood.<br> The pious, impious wretch at length decreed,<br> To please her brothers' ghost, her son should<br> bleed:<br> And when the fun'ral flames began to rise,<br> Receive, she said, a sister's sacrifice;<br> A mother's bowels burn: high in her hand,<br> Thus while she spoke, she held the fatal brand;<br> Then thrice before the kindled pile she bow'd,<br> And the three Furies thrice invok'd aloud:<br> Come, come, revenging sisters, come, and view<br> A sister paying her dead brothers due:<br> A crime I punish, and a crime commit;<br> But blood for blood, and death for death is fit:<br> Great crimes must be with greater crimes repaid,<br> And second fun'rals on the former laid.<br> Let the whole houshold in one ruin fall,<br> And may Diana's curse o'ertake us all.<br> Shall Fate to happy Oenus still allow<br> One son, while Thestius stands depriv'd of two?<br> Better three lost, than one unpunish'd go.<br> Take then, dear ghosts (while yet admitted new<br> In Hell you wait my duty), take your due:<br> A costly off'ring on your tomb is laid,<br> When with my blood the price of yours is paid.<br> Ah! whither am I hurry'd? Ah! forgive,<br> Ye shades, and let your sister's issue live;<br> A mother cannot give him death; tho' he<br> Deserves it, he deserves it not from me.<br> Then shall th' unpunish'd wretch insult the<br> slain,<br> Triumphant live, nor only live, but reign?<br> While you, thin shades, the sport of winds, are<br> tost<br> O'er dreary plains, or tread the burning coast.<br> I cannot, cannot bear; 'tis past, 'tis done;<br> Perish this impious, this detested son:<br> Perish his sire, and perish I withal;<br> And let the house's heir, and the hop'd kingdom<br> fall.<br> Where is the mother fled, her pious love,<br> And where the pains with which ten months I strove!<br> Ah! had'st thou dy'd, my son, in infant years,<br> Thy little herse had been bedew'd with tears.<br> Thou liv'st by me; to me thy breath resign;<br> Mine is the merit, the demerit thine.<br> Thy life by double title I require;<br> Once giv'n at birth, and once preserv'd from fire:<br> One murder pay, or add one murder more,<br> And me to them who fell by thee restore.<br> I would, but cannot: my son's image stands<br> Before my sight; and now their angry hands<br> My brothers hold, and vengeance these exact;<br> This pleads compassion, and repents the fact.<br> He pleads in vain, and I pronounce his doom:<br> My brothers, though unjustly, shall o'ercome.<br> But having paid their injur'd ghosts their due,<br> My son requires my death, and mine shall his<br> pursue.<br> At this, for the last time, she lifts her hand,<br> Averts her eyes, and, half unwilling, drops the<br> brand.<br> The brand, amid the flaming fewel thrown,<br> Or drew, or seem'd to draw, a dying groan;<br> The fires themselves but faintly lick'd their prey,<br> Then loath'd their impious food, and would have<br> shrunk away.<br> Just then the heroe cast a doleful cry,<br> And in those absent flames began to fry:<br> The blind contagion rag'd within his veins;<br> But he with manly patience bore his pains:<br> He fear'd not Fate, but only griev'd to die<br> Without an honest wound, and by a death so dry.<br> Happy Ancaeus, thrice aloud he cry'd,<br> With what becoming fate in arms he dy'd!<br> Then call'd his brothers, sisters, sire around,<br> And, her to whom his nuptial vows were bound,<br> Perhaps his mother; a long sigh she drew,<br> And his voice failing, took his last adieu.<br> For as the flames augment, and as they stay<br> At their full height, then languish to decay,<br> They rise and sink by fits; at last they soar<br> In one bright blaze, and then descend no more:<br> Just so his inward heats, at height, impair,<br> 'Till the last burning breath shoots out the soul<br> in air.<br> Now lofty Calidon in ruins lies;<br> All ages, all degrees unsluice their eyes,<br> And Heav'n, and Earth resound with murmurs, groans,<br> and cries.<br> Matrons and maidens beat their breasts, and tear<br> Their habits, and root up their scatter'd hair:<br> The wretched father, father now no more,<br> With sorrow sunk, lies prostrate on the floor,<br> Deforms his hoary locks with dust obscene,<br> And curses age, and loaths a life prolong'd with<br> pain.<br> By steel her stubborn soul his mother freed,<br> And punish'd on her self her impious deed.<br> Had I a hundred tongues, a wit so large<br> As could their hundred offices discharge;<br> Had Phoebus all his Helicon bestow'd<br> In all the streams, inspiring all the God;<br> Those tongues, that wit, those streams, that God in<br> vain<br> Would offer to describe his sisters' pain:<br> They beat their breasts with many a bruizing blow,<br> 'Till they turn livid, and corrupt the snow.<br> The corps they cherish, while the corps remains,<br> And exercise, and rub with fruitless pains;<br> And when to fun'ral flames 'tis born away,<br> They kiss the bed on which the body lay:<br> And when those fun'ral flames no longer burn<br> (The dust compos'd within a pious urn),<br> Ev'n in that urn their brother they confess,<br> And hug it in their arms, and to their bosoms<br> press.<br> His tomb is rais'd; then, stretch'd along the<br> ground,<br> Those living monuments his tomb surround:<br> Ev'n to his name, inscrib'd, their tears they pay,<br> 'Till tears, and kisses wear his name away.<br> But Cynthia now had all her fury spent,<br> Not with less ruin than a race content:<br> Excepting Gorge, perish'd all the seed,<br> And her whom Heav'n for Hercules decreed.<br> Satiate at last, no longer she pursu'd<br> The weeping sisters; but With Wings endu'd,<br> And horny beaks, and sent to flit in air;<br> Who yearly round the tomb in feather'd flocks<br> repair.<br> The Theseus mean-while acquitting well his share<br> Transformation In the bold chace confed'rate like a war,<br> of the Naiads To Athens' lofty tow'rs his march ordain'd,<br> By Pallas lov'd, and where Erectheus reign'd.<br> But Achelous stop'd him on the way,<br> By rains a deluge, and constrain'd his stay.<br> O fam'd for glorious deeds, and great by blood,<br> Rest here, says he, nor trust the rapid flood;<br> It solid oaks has from its margin tore,<br> And rocky fragments down its current bore,<br> The murmur hoarse, and terrible the roar.<br> Oft have I seen herds with their shelt'ring fold<br> Forc'd from the banks, and in the torrent roul'd;<br> Nor strength the bulky steer from ruin freed,<br> Nor matchless swiftness sav'd the racing steed.<br> In cataracts when the dissolving snow<br> Falls from the hills, and floods the plains below;<br> Toss'd by the eddies with a giddy round,<br> Strong youths are in the sucking whirlpools<br> drown'd.<br> 'Tis best with me in safety to abide,<br> 'Till usual bounds restrain the ebbing tide,<br> And the low waters in their channel glide.<br> Theseus perswaded, in compliance bow'd:<br> So kind an offer, and advice so good,<br> O Achelous, cannot be refus'd;<br> I'll use them both, said he; and both he us'd.<br> The grot he enter'd, pumice built the hall,<br> And tophi made the rustick of the wall;<br> The floor, soft moss, an humid carpet spread,<br> And various shells the chequer'd roof inlaid.<br> 'Twas now the hour when the declining sun<br> Two thirds had of his daily journey run;<br> At the spread table Theseus took his place,<br> Next his companions in the daring chace;<br> Perithous here, there elder Lelex lay,<br> His locks betraying age with sprinkled grey.<br> Acharnia's river-God dispos'd the rest,<br> Grac'd with the equal honour of the feast,<br> Elate with joy, and proud of such a guest.<br> The nymphs were waiters, and with naked feet<br> In order serv'd the courses of the meat.<br> The banquet done, delicious wine they brought,<br> Of one transparent gem the cup was wrought.<br> Then the great heroe of this gallant train,<br> Surveying far the prospect of the main:<br> What is that land, says he, the waves embrace?<br> (And with his finger pointed at the place);<br> Is it one parted isle which stands alone?<br> How nam'd? and yet methinks it seems not one.<br> To whom the watry God made this reply;<br> 'Tis not one isle, but five; distinct they lye;<br> 'Tis distance which deceives the cheated eye.<br> But that Diana's act may seem less strange,<br> These once proud Naiads were, before their change.<br> 'Twas on a day more solemn than the rest,<br> Ten bullocks slain, a sacrificial feast:<br> The rural Gods of all the region near<br> They bid to dance, and taste the hallow'd cheer.<br> Me they forgot: affronted with the slight,<br> My rage, and stream swell'd to the greatest height;<br> And with the torrent of my flooding store,<br> Large woods from woods, and fields from fields I<br> tore.<br> The guilty nymphs, oh! then, remembring me,<br> I, with their country, wash'd into the sea;<br> And joining waters with the social main,<br> Rent the gross land, and split the firm champagne.<br> Since, the Echinades, remote from shore<br> Are view'd as many isles, as nymphs before.<br> Perimele But yonder far, lo, yonder does appear<br> turn'd into An isle, a part to me for ever dear.<br> an Island From that (it sailors Perimele name)<br> I doating, forc'd by rape a virgin's fame.<br> Hippodamas's passion grew so strong,<br> Gall'd with th' abuse, and fretted at the wrong,<br> He cast his pregnant daughter from a rock;<br> I spread my waves beneath, and broke the shock;<br> And as her swimming weight my stream convey'd,<br> I su'd for help divine, and thus I pray'd:<br> O pow'rful thou, whose trident does command<br> The realm of waters, which surround the land;<br> We sacred rivers, wheresoe'er begun,<br> End in thy lot, and to thy empire run.<br> With favour hear, and help with present aid;<br> Her whom I bear 'twas guilty I betray'd.<br> Yet if her father had been just, or mild,<br> He would have been less impious to his child;<br> In her, have pity'd force in the abuse;<br> In me, admitted love for my excuse.<br> O let relief for her hard case be found,<br> Her, whom paternal rage expell'd from ground,<br> Her, whom paternal rage relentless drown'd.<br> Grant her some place, or change her to a place,<br> Which I may ever clasp with my embrace.<br> His nodding head the sea's great ruler bent,<br> And all his waters shook with his assent.<br> The nymph still swam, tho' with the fright<br> distrest,<br> I felt her heart leap trembling in her breast;<br> But hardning soon, whilst I her pulse explore,<br> A crusting Earth cas'd her stiff body o'er;<br> And as accretions of new-cleaving soil<br> Inlarg'd the mass, the nymph became an isle.<br> The Story of Thus Achelous ends: his audience hear<br> Baucis and With admiration, and admiring, fear<br> Philemon The Pow'rs of Heav'n; except Ixion's Son,<br> Who laugh'd at all the Gods, believ'd in none:<br> He shook his impious head, and thus replies.<br> These legends are no more than pious lies:<br> You attribute too much to heav'nly sway,<br> To think they give us forms, and take away.<br> The rest of better minds, their sense declar'd<br> Against this doctrine, and with horror heard.<br> Then Lelex rose, an old experienc'd man,<br> And thus with sober gravity began;<br> Heav'n's pow'r is infinite: Earth, Air, and Sea,<br> The manufacture mass, the making Pow'r obey:<br> By proof to clear your doubt; in Phrygian ground<br> Two neighb'ring trees, with walls encompass'd<br> round,<br> Stand on a mod'rate rise, with wonder shown,<br> One a hard oak, a softer linden one:<br> I saw the place, and them, by Pittheus sent<br> To Phrygian realms, my grandsire's government.<br> Not far from thence is seen a lake, the haunt<br> Of coots, and of the fishing cormorant:<br> Here Jove with Hermes came; but in disguise<br> Of mortal men conceal'd their deities;<br> One laid aside his thunder, one his rod;<br> And many toilsome steps together trod:<br> For harbour at a thousand doors they knock'd,<br> Not one of all the thousand but was lock'd.<br> At last an hospitable house they found,<br> A homely shed; the roof, not far from ground,<br> Was thatch'd with reeds, and straw, together bound.<br> There Baucis and Philemon liv'd, and there<br> Had liv'd long marry'd, and a happy pair:<br</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Ovid">Ovid</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=475833" data-title="Metamorphoses: Book The Eighth de Ovid" data-description="NOW shone the morning star in bright array, To vanquish night, and usher in the day: The wind veers southward, and moist clouds arise, That blot with shades the blue meridian skies. Cephalus feels with joy the kindly gales, His new allie..."></div> </div> </div>

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