Chapter 29

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

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

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

*The Fourteenth Book.*

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

THE *Fourteenth Book* OF THE METAMORPHOSES OF OVID.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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