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XI.
Come, Mercury, by whose minstrel spell
Amphion raised the Theban stones,
Come, with thy seven sweet strings, my shell,
Thy "diverse tones,"
Nor vocal once nor pleasant, now
To rich man's board and temple dear:
Put forth thy power, till Lyde bow
Her stubborn ear.
She, like a three year colt unbroke,
Is frisking o'er the spacious plain,
Too shy to bear a lover's yoke,
A husband's rein.
The wood, the tiger, at thy call
Have follow'd: thou canst rivers stay:
The monstrous guard of Pluto's hall
To thee gave way,
Grim Cerberus, round whose Gorgon head
A hundred snakes are hissing death,
Whose triple jaws black venom shed,
And sickening breath.
Ixion too and Tityos smooth'd
Their rugged brows: the urn stood dry
One hour, while Danaus' maids were sooth'd
With minstrelsy.
Let Lyde hear those maidens' guilt,
Their famous doom, the ceaseless drain
Of outpour'd water, ever spilt,
And all the pain
Reserved for sinners, e'en when dead:
Those impious hands, (could crime do more?)
Those impious hands had hearts to shed
Their bridegrooms' gore!
One only, true to Hymen's flame,
Was traitress to her sire forsworn:
That splendid falsehood lights her name
Through times unborn.
"Wake!" to her youthful spouse she cried,
"Wake! or you yet may sleep too well:
Fly--from the father of your bride,
Her sisters fell:
They, as she-lions bullocks rend,
Tear each her victim: I, less hard
Than these, will slay you not, poor friend,
Nor hold in ward:
Me let my sire in fetters lay
For mercy to my husband shown:
Me let him ship far hence away,
To climes unknown.
Go; speed your flight o'er land and wave,
While Night and Venus shield you; go
Be blest: and on my tomb engrave
This tale of woe."
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Mercuri, Nam Te.
Mercuri, -- nam te docilis magistro
mouit Amphion lapides canendo, --
tuque testudo resonare septem
callida neruis,
nec loquax olim neque grata, nunc et 5
diuitum mensis et amica templis,
dic modos, Lyde quibus obstinatas
applicet auris,
quae uelut latis equa trima campis
ludit exultim metuitque tangi, 10
nuptiarum expers et adhuc proteruo
cruda marito.
Tu potes tigris comitesque siluas
ducere et riuos celeres morari;
cessit inmanis tibi blandienti 15
ianitor aulae
Cerberus, quamuis furiale centum
muniant angues caput eius atque
spiritus taeter saniesque manet
ore trilingui. 20
Quin et Ixion Tityosque uoltu
risit inuito, stetit urna paulum
sicca, dum grato Danai puellas
carmine mulces.
Audiat Lyde scelus atque notas 25
uirginum poenas et inane lymphae
dolium fundo pereuntis imo
seraque fata,
quae manent culpas etiam sub Orco.
Impiae (nam quid potuere maius?) 30
impiae sponsos potuere duro
perdere ferro.
Vna de multis face nuptiali
digna periurum fuit in parentem
splendide mendax et in omne uirgo 35
nobilis aeuom,
'Surge', quae dixit iuueni marito,
'surge, ne longus tibi somnus, unde
non times, detur; socerum et scelestas
falle sorores, 40
quae uelut nactae uitulos leaenae
singulos eheu lacerant. Ego illis
mollior nec te feriam neque intra
claustra tenebo.
Me pater saeuis oneret catenis, 45
quod uiro clemens misero peperci,
me uel extremos Numidarum in agros
classe releget.
I, pedes quo te rapiunt et aurae,
dum fauet Nox et Venus, i secundo 50
omine et nostri memorem sepulcro
scalpe querellam.'
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