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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=475845" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Metamorphosis VIII, 611-724</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Baucis and Philemon</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THUS Achelous ends: his audience hear<br>With admiration, and admiring, fear<br>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>&quot;These legends are no more than pious lies:<br>You attribute too much to heavenly sway,<br>To think they give us forms, and take away.&quot;<br> The rest, of better minds, their sense declar'd<br>Against this doctrine, and with horrour heard. <br>Then Lelex rose, an old experienc'd man,<br>And thus with sober gravity began:<br>&quot;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 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 married and a happy pair:<br>Now old in love, though little was their store,<br>Inur'd to want, their poverty they bore,<br>Nor aim'd at wealth, professing to be poor.<br>For master or for servant here to call,<br>Was all alike, where only two were all.<br>Command was none, where equal love was paid,<br>Or rather both commanded, both obey'd.<br>From lofty roofs the Gods repuls'd before,<br>Now stooping, enter'd through the little door:<br>The man (their hearty welcome first express'd)<br>A common settle drew for either guest,<br>Inviting each his weary limbs to rest.<br>But e'er they sat, officious Baucis lays<br>Two cushions stuff'd with straw, the seat to raise;<br>Coarse, but the best she had; then rakes the load<br>Of ashes from the hearth, and spreads abroad<br>The living coals, and, lest they should expire,<br>With leaves and barks she feeds her infant-fire:<br>It smokes; and then with trembling breath she blows,<br>Till in a cheerful blaze the flames arose.<br>With brush-wood and with chips she strengthens these,<br>And adds at last the boughs of rotten trees.<br>The fire thus form'd, she sets the kettle on,<br>(Like burnish'd gold the little seether shone)<br>Next took the coleworts which her husband got<br>From his own ground (a small well-water'd spot;)<br>She stripp'd the stalks of all their leaves; the best<br>She cull'd, and then with handy-care she dress'd.<br>High o'er the hearth a chine of bacon hung;<br>Good old Philemon seiz'd it with a prong,<br>And from the sooty rafter drew it down,<br>Then cut a slice, but scarce enough for one;<br>Yet a large portion of a little store,<br>Which for their sakes alone he wish'd were more.<br>This in the pot he plung'd without delay,<br>To tame the flesh, and drain the salt away.<br>The time between, before the fire they sat,<br>And shorten'd the delay by pleasing chat.<br>A beam there was, on which a beechen pail<br>Hung by the handle, on a driven nail:<br>This fill'd with water, gently warm'd, they set<br>Before their guests; in this they bath'd their feet,<br>And after with clean towels dry'd their sweat:<br>This done, the host produc'd the genial bed,<br>Sallow the feet, the borders, and the sted,<br>Which with no costly coverlet they spread;<br>But coarse old garments, yet such robes as these<br>They laid alone, at feasts, on holydays.<br>The good old huswife tucking up her gown,<br>The table sets; th' invited gods lie down.<br>The trivet-table of a foot was lame,<br>A blot which prudent Baucis overcame,<br>Who thrusts beneath the limping leg, a sherd,<br>So was the mended board exactly rear'd:<br>Then rubb'd it o'er with newly-gather'd mint,<br>A wholesome herb, that breath'd a grateful scent.<br>Pallas began the feast, where first were seen<br>The party-colour'd olive, black and green:<br>Autumnal cornels next in order serv'd,<br>In lees of wine well pickl'd, and preserv'd:<br>A garden-salad was the third supply,<br>Of endive, radishes, and succory:<br>Then curds and cream, the flow'r of country-fare,<br>And new-laid eggs, which Baucis' busy care<br>Turn'd by a gentle fire, and roasted rear.<br>All these in earthen ware were serv'd to board;<br>And next in place, an earthen pitcher, stor'd<br>With liquor of the best the cottage cou'd afford.<br>This was the table's ornament and pride,<br>With figures wrought: like pages at his side<br>Stood beechen bowls; and these were shining clean,<br>Varnish'd with wax without, and lin'd within.<br>By this the boiling kettle had prepar'd,<br>And to the table sent the smoking lard;<br>On which with eager appetite they dine,<br>A sav'ry bit, that serv'd to relish wine:<br>The wine itself was suiting to the rest,<br>Still working in the must, and lately press'd.<br>The second course succeeds like that before,<br>Plums, apples, nuts, and of their wintry store,<br>Dry figs, and grapes, and wrinkl'd dates were set<br>In canisters, t' enlarge the little treat<br>All these a milk-white honey-comb surround,<br>Which in the midst the country banquet crown'd:<br>But the kind hosts their entertainment grace<br>With hearty welcome, and an open face:<br>In all they did, you might discern with ease,<br>A willing mind, and a desire to please. <br> Meantime the beechen bowls went round, and still,<br>Though often empty'd, were observ'd to fill;<br>Fill'd without hands, and of their own accord<br>Ran without feet, and danc'd about the board.<br>Devotion seiz'd the pair, to see the feast<br>With wine, and of no common grape, increas'd;<br>And up they held their hands, and fell to pray'r,<br>Excusing, as they cou'd, their country fare. <br>One goose they had, ('twas all they cou'd allow)<br>A wakeful sent'ry, and on duty now,<br>Whom to the gods for sacrifice they vow:<br>Her, with malicious zeal, the couple view'd;<br>She ran for life, and limping they pursu'd:<br>Full well the fowl perceiv'd their bad intent,<br>And wou'd not make her masters compliment;<br>But persecuted, to the pow'rs she flies,<br>And close between the legs of Love she lies.<br>He with a gracious ear the suppliant heard,<br>And sav'd her life; then what he was declar'd,<br>And own'd the god. 'The neighbourhood,' said he,<br>'Shall justly perish for impiety:<br>You stand alone exempted; but obey<br>With speed, and follow where we lead the way:<br>Leave these accurs'd; and to the mountain's height<br>Ascend; nor once look backward in your flight.'<br> They haste, and what their tardy feet deny'd,<br>The trusty staff (their better leg) supply'd.<br>An arrow's flight they wanted to the top,<br>And there secure, but spent with travel, stop;<br>Then turn their now no more forbidden eyes;<br>Lost in a lake the floated level lies:<br>A watry desert covers all the plains,<br>Their cot alone, as in an isle, remains:<br>Wondring with weeping eyes, while they deplore<br>Their neighbours' fate, and country now no more,<br>Their little shed, scarce large enough for two,<br>Seems, from the ground increas'd, in height and bulk to grow.<br>A stately temple shoots within the skies:<br>The crotches of their cot in columns rise:<br>The pavement polish'd marble they behold,<br>The gates with sculpture grac'd, the spires and tiles of gold. <br>Then thus the sire of gods, with look serene,<br>'Speak thy desire, thou only just of men;<br>And thou, O woman, only worthy found<br>To be with such a man in marriage bound.'<br> A while they whisper; then, to Jove address'd,<br>Philemon thus prefers their joint request:<br>'We crave to serve before your sacred shrine,<br>And offer at your altars rites divine:<br>And since not any action of our life<br>Has been polluted with domestic strife,<br>We beg one hour of death; that neither she<br>With widow's tears may live to bury me,<br>Nor weeping I, with wither'd arms may bear<br>My breathless Baucis to the sepulcher.'<br> The godheads sign their suit. They run their race<br>In the same tenor all th' appointed space;<br>Then, when their hour was come, while they relate<br>These past adventures at the temple-gate,<br>Old Baucis is by old Philemon seen<br>Sprouting with sudden leaves of spritely green:<br>Old Baucis look'd where old Philemon stood,<br>And saw his lengthen'd arms a sprouting wood:<br>New roots their fasten'd feet begin to bind,<br>Their bodies stiffen in a rising rind:<br>Then e'er the bark above their shoulders grew,<br>They give and take at once their last adieu;<br>At once, farewell, O faithful spouse, they said;<br>At once th' incroaching rinds their closing lips invade.<br>Ev'n yet, an ancient Tyanaean shows<br>A spreading oak, that near a linden grows:<br>The neighbourhood confirm the prodigie,<br>Grave men, not vain of tongue, or like to lie.<br>I saw myself the garlands on their boughs,<br>And tablets hung for gifts of granted vows;<br>And off'ring fresher up, with pious pray'r,<br>The good, said I, are God's peculiar care,<br>And such as honour heav'n, shall heav'nly honour share.&quot;</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>
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THUS Achelous ends: his audience hear
With admiration, and admiring, fear
The pow'rs of heav'n; except Ixion's son,
Who laugh'd at all the gods, believ'd in none:
He shook his impious head, and thus replies,
&quot;These legend..."></div>
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