Ovid Metamorphoses Book V
TRANSLATED BY A. MAYNWARING, ESQ.
Source: Internet Archive Ovid's Metamorphoses (1826) and this edition of the same.
Metamorphoses Contents
The story of Perseus, continued [from Book IV]. Minerva's Interview with the Muses. The fate of Pyreneus. The story of the Pierides. The song of the Pierides. The song of the Muses. The rape of Proserpine. Cyane dissolves to a fountain. A boy transformed to an Eft. The transformation of Ascalaphus into an owl. The daughters of Achelous transformed to Sirens. The story of Arethusa. The transformation of Lyncus. The Pierides transformed to magpies.
Battle of the Wedding Feast of Perseus and Andromeda
While Perseus entertain'd, with this report,
His father Cepheus, and the list'ning court;
Within the palace walls was heard aloud
The roaring noise of some unruly crowd;
Not like the songs which cheerful friends prepare 5
For nuptial days, but sounds that threaten'd war;
And all the pleasures of this happy feast,
To tumult turn'd, in wild disorder ceas'd:
So, when the sea is calm, we often find
A storm rais'd sudden by some furious wind. 10
Chief in the riot Phineus first appear'd,
The rash ringleader of this boist'rous herd;
And, brandishing his brazen-pointed lance,
'Behold,' he said, an injur'd man advance,
Stung with resentment for his ravish'd wife, 15
Nor shall thy wings, O Perseus, save thy life;
Nor Jove himself; though we've been often told,
Who got thee in the form ef tempting gold.'
His lance was aim'd, when Cepheus ran, and said:
'Hold, brother, hold; what brutal rage has made 20
Your frantic mind so black a crime conceive?
Are these the thanks that you to Perseus give?
This the reward that to his worth you pay,
Whose timely valour sav'd Andromeda?
Nor was it he, if you would reason right, 25
Thatforc'd her from you, but the jealous spite
Of envious Nereids, and Jove's high decree;
And that devouring monster of the sea,
That ready with his jaws wide gaping stood
To eat my child, the fairest of my blood. 30
You lost her then, when she seem'd past relief,
And wish'd, perhaps, her death, to ease your grief
With my afflictions: not content to view
Andromeda in chains, unhelp'd by you,
Her spouse and uncle; will you grieve that he 35
Expos'd his life, the dying maid to free ?
And shall you claim his merit? Had you thought
Her charms so great, you should have bravely sought
That blessing on the rocks, where fix.'d she lay:
But now let Perseus bear his prize away, 40
By service gain'd, by promis'd faith possess'd;
To him I owe it, that my age is bless'd
Still with a child: nor think that I prefer
Perseus to thee, but to the loss of her.'
Phineus on him and Perseus roll'd about 45
His eyes in silent rage, and seem'd to doubt
Which to destroy; till, resolute at length,
He threw his spear with the redoubled strength
His fury gave him, and at Perseus struck;
But missing Perseus, in his seat it stuck; 50
Who, springing nimbly up, return'd the dart,
And almost plung'd it in his rival's heart;
But he, for safety, to the altar ran,
(Unfit protection for so vile a man);
Yet was the stroke not vain, as Rhastus found, 55
Who, in his brow, receiv'd a mortal wound;
Headlong he tumbled, when his skull was broke,
From which his friends the fatal weapon took,
While he lay trembling, and his gushing blood,
Tn crimson streams, around the table flow'd. 60
But this provok'd th' unruly rabble worse,
They flung their darts, and some in loud discourse,
To death young Perseus, and the monarch, doom:
But Cepheus left before the guilty room,
With grief appealing to the gods above, 65
Who laws of hospitality approve,
Who faith protect, and succour injur'd right,
That he was guiltless of this barb'rous fight.
Pallas, her brother Perseus close attends,
And, with her ample shield, from harm defends, 70
Raising a sprightly courage in his heart:
But Indian Athis took the weaker part,
Born in the crystal grottoes of the sea,
Limnate's son, a finny nymph, and she
Daughter of Ganges: graceful was his mien, 75
His person lovely, and his age sixteen.
His habit made his native beauty more;
A purple mantle, fring'd with gold, he wore;
His neck, well turn'd, with golden chains was grac'd;
His hair, with myrrh perfum'd, was nicely dress'd. 80
Though with just aim he could the jav'lin throw,
Yet with more skill he drew the bending bow;
And now was drawing it with artful hand,
When Perseus snatching up a flaming brand,
WhirPd sudden at his face the burning wood, 85
Crush'd his eyes in, and quench'd the fire with blood;
Through the soft skin the splinter'd bones appear,
And spoil'd the face that lately was so fair.
When Lycabas his Athis thus beheld,
How was his heart with friendly horror fill'd! 90
A youth so noble, to his soul so dear,
To see his shapeless looks, his dying groans to hear:
He snatch'd the bow the boy was us'd to bend,
And cry'd: 'With me, false traitor, dare contend:
Boast not a conquest o'er a child, but try 95
Thy strength with me, who all thy pow'rs defy;
Nor think so mean an act a victory.
While yet he spoke, he flung the whizzing dart,
Which pierc'd the plaited robe, but miss'd his heart
Perseus, defy'd, uponrhim fiercely press'd, 100
With sword unsheath'd, and plung'd it in his breast;
His eyes o'erwhelm'd with night, he stumbling falls,
And with his latest breath on Athis calls;
Pleas'd that so near the lovely youth he lies,
He sinks his head upon his friend, and dies. 105
Next, eager Phorbas, old Methion's son,
Came rushing forward with Amphimedon;
When the smooth pavement, slippery made with gore,
Tripp'd up their feet, and flung them on the floor;
The sword of Perseus, who by chance was nigh, 110
Prevents their rise, and where they fall, they lie:
Full in bis ribs Amphimedon he smote,
And then stuck fiery Phorbas in the throat.
Eurythus lifting up his axe, the blow
Was thus prevented by his nimble foe; 115
A golden cup he seizes, high embost,
And at his head the massy goblet toss'd:
It hits, and from his forehead bruis'd rebounds,
And blood and brains he vomits from his wounds;
With his slain fellows on the floor he lies, 120
And death for ever shuts his swimming eyes.
Then Polydaemon fell, a goddess born;
Phlegias, and Elycen, with locks unshorn,
Next follow' d; next, the stroke of death he gave
To Clytus, Abarin, and Lycetus brave; 125
While o'er unnumber'd heaps of ghastly dead,
The Argive hero's feet triumphant tread.
But Phineus stands aloof, and dreads to feel
His rival's force, and flies his pointed steel;
Yet threw a dart from far: by chance it lights 130
On Idas, who for neither party fights;
But wounded, sternly thus to Phineus said:
Since of a neuter thou a foe hast made,
This I return thee: drawing from his side
The dart; which, as he strove to fling, he dy'd. 135
Odites fell by Clymenus's sword,
The Cephen court had not a greater lord.
Hypseus his blade does in Protenor sheath,
But brave Lyncides soon reveng'd his death.
Here too was old Emathion, one that fear'd 140
The gods, and in the cause of heav'n appear'd;
Who only wishing the success of right,
And, by his age, exempted from the fight,
Both sides alike condemns: 'This impious war,
Cease, cease,' he cries, these bloody broils forbear.' 145
This, scarce the sage, with high concern, had said,
When Chromis, at a blow, struck off his head;
Which dropping, on the royal altar roll'd,
Still staring on the crowd with aspect bold;
And still it seem'd their horrid strife to blame, 150
In life and death, his pious zeal the same;
While, clinging to the horns, the trunk expires,
The sever'd head consumes amidst the fires.
Then Phineus, who from far his jav'lin threw,
Broteas and Ammon, twins and brothers, slew; 155
For knotted gauntlets matchless in the field;
But gauntlets must to swords and jav'lins yield.
Ampycus next, with hallow'd fillets bound,
As Ceres' priest, and with a mitre crown'd,
His spear transfix'd, and struck him to the ground.
O, Iapetides! with pain I tell 161
How you, sweet lyrist, in the riot fell:
What worse than brutal rage his breast could fill,
Who did thy blood, O bard celestial spill?
Kindly you press'd amid the princely throng, 165
To crown the feast, and give the nuptial song;
Discord abhorr'd the music of thy lyre,
Whose notes did gentle peace so well inspire;
Thee, when fierce Pettalus far off espy'd,
Defenceless with thy harp, he scoffing cry'd: 170
'Go, to the ghosts thy soothing lessons play;
We loathe thy lyre, and scorn thy peaceful lay:'--
And, as again he fiercely bade him go,
He pierc'd his temples with a mortal blow.
His harp he held, though sinking on the ground, 175
Whose strings in death his trembling fingers found
By chance, and tun'd by chance a dying sound.
With grief Lycormas saw him fall from far,
And, wresting from the door a massy bar,
Full in his poll lays on a load of knocks, 180
Which stun him, and he falls like a devoted ox.
Another bar Pelates would have snatch'd,
But Corythus his motions slily watch'd;
He darts his weapon from a private stand,
And rivets to the post his veiny hand: 185
When straight a missive spear transfix'd his side,
By Abas thrown, and as he hung he died.
Melaneas on the prince's side was slain;
And Dorylas, who own'd a fertile plain,
Of Nasamonia's fields the wealthy lord, 190
Whose crowded barns could scarce contain their hoard.
A whizzing spear obliquely gave a blow,
Stuck in his groin, and pierc'd the nerves below:
His foe beheld his eyes convulsive roll,
His ebbing veins, and his departing soul; 195
Then taunting said, 'Of all thy spacious plains,
This spot thy only property remains.'
He left him thus; but had no sooner left,
Than Perseus in revenge his nostrils cleft; 199
From his friend's breast the murd'ring dart he drew,
And the same weapon at the murd'rer threw;
His head in halves the darted javelin cut,
And on each side the brain came issuing out.
Fortune his friend, his deaths around he deals,
And this his lance, and that his falchion feels: 205
Now Clytius dies; and by a different wound,
The twin his brother Clanis bites the ground;
In his rent jaw the bearded weapon sticks,
And the steel'd dart does Clytius' thigh transfix:
With these Mendesian Celadon he slew; 210
And Astreus next, whose mother was a Jew.
His sire uncertain: Then by Perseus fell
Aethion, who could things to come foretel;
But now he knows not whence the javelin flies i
That wounds his breast, nor by whose arm he dies.
The squire to Phineus next his valour tried, 216
And fierce Agyrtes stain'd with parricide.
As these are slain, fresh numbers still appear.
And wage with Perseus an unequal war;
To rob him of his right, the maid he won, 220
By honour, promise, and desert his own.
With him the father of the beauteous bride,
The mother and the frighted virgin, side:
With shrieks and doleful cries they rend the air;
Their shrieks confounded with the din of war, 225
With clashing arms, and groanings of the slain,
They grieve unpitied, and unheard complain.
The floor with ruddy streams Bellona stains,
And Phineus a new war with double rage maintains.
Perseus begirt, from all around they pour, 230
Their lances on him, a tempestuous show'r,
Aim'd all at him: a cloud of darts and spears,
Or blind his eyes, or whistle round his ears.
Their numbers to resist, against the wall
He guards his back secure, and dares them all.
Here from the left Molpeus renews the fight,
And bold Ethemon presses on the right:
As when a hungry tiger near him hears
Two lowing herds, awhile he both forbears;
Nor can his hopes of this or that renounce, 240
So strong he lusts to prey on both at once:
Thus Perseus now with that or this, is loath
To war distinct, but fain would fall on both.
And first Chaonian Molpeus felt his blow,
And fled, and never after fac'd his foe; 245
Then fierce Ethemon, as he turn'd his back,
Hurried with fury, aiming at his neck;
His brandish'd sword against the marble struck,
With all his might; the brittle weapon broke,
And in his throat the point rebounding, stuck. 250
Too slight the wound for life to issue thence,
And yet too great for battle or defence;
His arms extended in this piteous state,
For mercy he would sue, but sues too late;
Perseus has in his bosom plung'd the sword, 255
And, ere he speaks, the wound prevents the word.
The crowds increasing and his friends distrest,
Himself by warring multitudes opprest;
'Since thus unequally you fight, 'tis time,'
He cry'd, 'to punish your presumptuous crime; 260
Beware, my friends,' his friends were soon prepar'd,
Their sight averting, high the head he rear'd,
And Gorgon on his foes severely star'd.
'Vain shift!' says Thescelus, with aspect bold,
Thee, and thy bugbear monster 1 behold 265
With scorn;' He lifts his arm, but ere he threw
The dart, the hero to a statue grew.
In the same posture still the marble stands,
And holds the warrior's weapons in its hands.
Amphyx, whom yet this wonder can't alarm, 270
Heaves at Lyncides' breast his impious arm:
But, while thus daringly he presses on,
His weapon and his arm are turn'd to stone.
Next Nileus; he who vainly said he ow'd
His origin to Nile's prolific flood; 275
Who on his shield seven silver rivers bore,
His birth to witness by the arms he wore;
Full of his seven-fold father, thus express'd
His boast to Perseus, and his pride confess'd:
'See whence we sprung; Let this thy comfort be 280
In thy sure death, that thou didst die by me!'
While yet he spoke, the dying accents hung
In sounds imperfect on his marble tongue;
Though chang'd to stone, his lips he seem'd to stretch,
And thro' th' insensate rock would force a speech. 285
This Eryx saw; but seeing, would not own; -
'The mischief by yourselves,'he cries, 'is done;
'Tis your cold courage turns your hearts to stone;
Come, follow me; fall on the stripling boy,
Kill him, and you his magic arms destroy.' 290
Then rushing on, his arm to strike he rear'd,
And marbled o'er his varied frame appear'd.
These for affronting Pallas were chastis'd,
And justly met the death they had despis'd:
But brave Aconteus, Perseus' friend, by chance 295
Look'd back, and met the Gorgon's fatal glance:
A statue now become, he ghastly stares,
And still the foe to mortal combat dares.
Astyages the living likeness knew,
On the dead stone with vengeful fury flew; 300
But impotent his rage, the jarring blade
No print upon the solid marble made:
Again, as with redoubled might he struck,
Himself astonish'd in the quarry stuck.
The vulgar deaths 'twere tedious to rehearse, 305
And fates below the dignity of verse;
Their safety in their flight two hundred found,
Two hundred by Medusa's head were ston'd.
Fierce Phineus now repents the wrongful fight,
And views his varied friends, a dreadful sight; 310
He knows their faces; for their help he sues,
And thinks, not hearing him, that they refuse:
By name he begs their succour, one by one,
Then doubts their life, and feels the friendly stone.
Struck with remorse, and conscious of his pride, 315
Convict of sin, he turn'd his eyes aside;
With suppliant mien to Perseus thus he prays:
'Hence with the head, as far as winds and seas
Can bear thee: Hence; O quit the Cephen shore,
And never curse us with Medusa more; 320
That horrid head, which stiffens into stone
Those impious men who, daring death, look on.
I warr'd not with thee out of hate or strife,
My honest cause was to defend my. wife,
First pledg'd to me: what crime could I suppose, 325
To arm my friends, and vindicate my spouse ?
But vain, too late, I see was our design;
Mine was the title, but the merit thine.
Contending made me guilty, I confess,
But penitence should make that guilt the less: 330
'Twas thine to conquer by Minerva's pow'r;
Favour'd of Heav'n, thy mercy I implore;
For life I sue; the rest to thee I yield:
In pity, from my sight remove the shield.'
He suing said; nor durst revert his eyes 335
On the grim head: And Perseus thus replies:
'Coward, what is in me to grant I will,
Nor blood, unworthy of my valour spill:
Fear not to perish by my vengeful sword,
For that secure; 'tis all the fates afford. 340
Where I now see thee, thou shalt still be seen,
A lasting monument to please our queen;
There still shall thy betroth'd behold her spouse,
And find his image in her father's house.'
This said; where Phineus turn'd to shun the shield,
Full in his face the staring head he held; 346
As here and there he strove to turn aside,
The wonder wrought, the man was petrify'd:
All marble was his frame, his humid eyes
Dropp'd tears which hung upon the stone like ice:
In auppliant posture, with uplifted hands, 35 1
And fearful look, the guilty statue atands.
Hence Perseus to his native city hies,
Victorious, and rewarded with his prize.
Conquest, o'er Praetus the usurper, won, 355
He reinstates his grandsire in the throne.
Praetus, his brother, dispossess'd by might,
His realm enjoy'd, and still detain'd his right:
But Perseus pull'd the haughty tyrant down,
And to the rightful king restor'd the throne. 360
Weak was th' usurper, as his cause was wrong;
Where Gorgon's head appears, what arms are strong?
When Perseus to his host the monster held,
They soon were statues, and their king expell'd.
Thence to Seriphus with the head he sails, 365
Whose prince his story treats as idle tales:
Lord of a little isle, he scorns to seem
Too credulous, but laughs at that, and him.
Yet did he not so much suspect the truth,
As out of pride or envy hate the youth. 370
The Argive prince, at his contempt enrag'd,
To force his faith by fatal proof engag'd: [takes,
'Friends, shut your eyes,' he cries: his shield he
And to the king expos'd Medusa's snakes.
The monarch felt the pow'r he would not own, 375
And stood convict of folly in the stone.
Minerva's Interview With the Muses
Thus far Minerva was content to rove
With Perseus, offspring of her father Jove:
Now hid in clouds, Seriphus she forsook;
And to the Theban tow'rs her journey took. 380
Cythos and Gyaros lying to the right,
She pass'd unheeded in her eager flight;
And choosing first on Helicon to rest,
The virgin muses in these words address'd:
Me, the strange tidings of a new-found spring, 385
Ye learned Sisters, to this mountain bring,
If all be true that fame's wide rumours tell,
'Twas Pegasus discover'd first your well;
Whose piercing hoof gave the soft earth a blow,
Which broke the surface, where the waters flow. 390
I saw that horse by miracle obtain
Life, from the blood of dire Medusa slain,
And now, this equal prodigy to view,
From distant isles to fam'd Bosotia flew.
The muse Urania said; Whatever cause 395
So great a goddess to this mansion draws;
Our shades are happy with so bright a guest;
You, queen, are welcome, and we Muses blest.
What fame has publish'd of our spring, is true;
Thanks for our spring to Pegasus are due. 400
Then with becoming courtesy, she led
The curious stranger to their fountain's head:
Who long survey'd, with wonder and delight,
Their sacred water, charming t© the sight;
Their ancient groves, dark grotto, shady bow'rs, 405
And smiling plains adorn'd with various flow'rs.
O happy Muses! she with rapture cry'd,
Who, safe from cares, on this fair hill reside;
Blest in your seat, and free yourselves to please
With joys of study, and with glorious ease! 410
The Fate of Pyreneus
Then one replies: O goddess, fit to guide
Our humble works, and in our choir preside;
Who sure would wisely to these fields repair,
To taste our pleasures, and our labours share,
Were not your virtue, and superior mind 415
To higher arts, and nobler deeds inclin'd:
Justly you praise our works, and pleasing seat,
Which all might envy in this soft retreat,
Were we secur'd from dangers and from harms;
But maids are frighten'd with the least alarms, 420
And none are safe in this licentious time;
Still fierce Pyreneus, and his daring crime
With lashing horror strikes my feeble sight,
Nor is my mind recover'd from the fright.
With Thracian arms this bold usurper gain'd 4*25
Daulis, and Phocis, where he proudly reign'd:
It happen'd once, as through his lands we went,
For the bright temple of Parnassus bent,
He met us there, and in his artful mind
Hiding the faithless action he design'd, 430
Conferr'd on us (whom, oh! too well he knew)
All honours that to goddesses are due.
Stop, stop, ye Muses, 'tis your friend who calls
(The tyrant said); behold the rain that falls
On ev'ry side, and that ill-boding sky, 435
Whose low'ring face portends more storms are nigh.
Pray make my house your own, and void of fear,
While this bad weather lasts, take shelter here:
Gods have made meaner places their resort,
And, for a cottage, left their shining court. 440
Oblig'd to stop, by the united force
Of pouring rains, and complaisant discourse,
His courteous invitation we obey,
And in his hall resolve awhile to stay.
Soon it clear'd up; the clouds began to fly, 445
The driving north refin'd the show'ry sky;
Then to pursue our journey we began;
But the false traitor to his portal ran,
Stopp'd our escape, the door securely barr'd,
And to our honour violence prepar'd. 450
But we, transform'd to birds, avoid his snare,
On pinions rising in the yielding air.
But he, by lust and indignation fir'd,
Up to his highest tow'r with speed retir'd,
And cries, In Tain you from my arms withdrew; 455
The way you go, your lover will pursue.
Then in a flying posture wildly plac'd,
And daring from that height himself to cast,
The wretch fell headlong, and the ground bestrew'd
With broken bones, and stains of guilty blood. 460
The Story of the Pierides
The Muse yet spoke; when they began to hear
A noise of wings that flutter'd in the air;
And straight a voice, from some high spreading bough,
Seem'd to salute the company below.
The goddess wonder'd, and inquired whence 465
That tongue was heard, that spoke so plainly sense
(It seem'd to her a human voice to be,
But prov'd a bird's; for in a shady tree
Nine magpies perch'd, lament their alter'd state,
And what they hear are skilful to repeat). 470
The sister to the wond'ring goddess said:
'These, foil'd by us, by us were thus repaid.
These did Evippe of Paeonia bring
With nine hard labour-pangs to Pella's king.
The foolish virgins, of their number proud, 475
And puff'd with praises of the senseless crowd,
Through all Achaia, and th' Aemonian plains,
Defy'd us thus, to match their artless strains:
"No more, ye Thespian girls, your notes repeat,
Nor with false harmony the vulgar cheat: 480
In voice or skill, if you with us will vie,
As many we, in voice or skill will try.
Surrender you to us, if we excel,
Fam'd Aganippe, and Medusa's well.
The conquest yours, your prize from us shall be 485
Th' Aemathian plains to snowy Paeone;
The Nymphs our judges." To dispute the field,
We thought a shame; but greater shame to yield.
On seats of living stone the sisters sit,
And by the rivers swear to judge aright. 490
The Song of the Perides
'Then rises one of the presumptuous throng,
Steps rudely forth, and first begins the song:
With vain address describes the giants' wars,
And to the gods their fabled acts prefers.
She sings, from earth's dark womb how Typhon rose,
And struck with mortal fear his heav'nly foes. 406
How the gods fled to Egypt's slimy soil,
And hid their heads beneath the banks of Nile;
How Typhon, from the conquer'd skies, pursu'd
Their routed godheads to the sev'n-mouth'd flood: 500
Forc'd ev'ry god, his fury to escape,
Some beastly form to take, or earthly shape.
Jove (so she sung) was chang'd into a ram,
From whence the horns of Libyan Ammon came.
Bacchus a goat, Apollo was a crow; 505
Phoebe a cat; the wife of Jove a cow,
Whose hue was whiter than the falling snow.
Mercury to a nasty Ibis turn'd.
The change obscene, afraid of Typhon, mourn'd;
While Venus from a fish protection craves, 510
And once more plunges in her native waves.
'She sung, and to her harp her voice apply'd;
Then us again to match her they defy'd:
But our poor song, perhaps for you to hear,
Nor leisure serves, nor is it worth your ear.' 515
'That causeless doubt remove, O Muse, rehearse,'
The goddess cry'd, 'your ever-grateful verse.'
Beneath a chequer'd shade she takes her seat,
And bids the sister her whole song repeat.
The sister thus: 'Calliope we chose 520
For the performance.' The sweet virgin rose
With ivy crown'd, she tunes her golden strings,
And to her harp this composition sings.
The Song of the Muses
'First Ceres taught the lab'ring hind to plow
The pregnant earth, and quick'ning seed to sow. 525
She first for man did wholesome food provide,
And with just laws the wicked world supply'd:
All good from her deriv'd, to her belong
The grateful tributes of the Muse's song.
Her more than worthy of our verse we deem, 530
Oh! were our verse more worthy of the theme.
'Jove on the giant, fair Trinacria hurl'd,
And with one bolt reveng'd his starry world.
Beneath her burning hills Tiphaeus lies,
And, struggling always, strives in vain to rise. 535
Down does Pelorus his right hand suppress
Tow'rd Latium, on the left Pachyne weighs;
His legs are under Lilybseum spread,
And Aetna presses hard his horrid head.
On his broad back he there extended lies, 540
And vomits clouds of ashes to the skies.
Oft lab'ring with his load, at last he tires,
And spews out in revenge a flood of fires.
Mountains he struggles to o'erwhelm and towns;
Earth's inmost bowels quake, and Nature groans. 545
His terrors reach the direful king of hell;
He fears his throes will to the day reveal
The realms of night, and fright his trembling ghosts.
This to prevent, he quits the Stygian coasts,
In his black car, by sooty horses drawn, 550
Fair Sicily he seeks, and dreads the dawn.
Around her plains he cast his eager eyes,
And ev'ry mountain to the bottom tries:
But when, in all the careful search he saw
No cause of fear, no ill-suspected flaw; 555
Secure from harm, and wand'ring on at will,
Venus beheld him from her flow'ry hill:
When straight the dame her little Cupid press'd
With secret rapture to her snowy breast,
And in these words the fluttering boy address'd: 560
'"O thou, my arms, my glory, and my pow'r,
My son, whom men, and deathless gods adore;
Bend thy sure bow, whose arrows never miss'd,
No longer let hell's king thy sway resist:
Take him , while straggling from his dark abodes; 565
He coasts the kingdom of superior gods.
If sov'reign Jove, if gods who rule the waves,
And Neptune who rules them have been thy slaves;
Shall hell be free 1 The tyrant strike, my son,
Enlarge thy mother's empire, and thy own. 570
Let not our heav'n be made the mock of hell,
But Pluto to confess thy pow'r compel,
Our rule is slighted in our native skies,
See Pallas, see Diana too defies
Thy darts, which Ceres' daughter would despise. 575
She too our empire treats with awkward scorn;
Such insolence no longer's to be borne.
Revenge our slighted reign, and with thy dart
Transfix the virgin's to the uncle's heart."
'She said: and from his quiver straight he drew 580
A dart that surely would the business do.
She guides his hand, she makes her touch the tes ,
And of a thousand arrows chose the best:
No feather better pois'd, a sharper head
None had, and sooner none, and surer sped. 585
He bends his bow, he draws it to his ear,
Through Pluto's heart it drives, and fixes there.'
The Rape of Proserpine
Near Enna's walls a spacious lake is spread,
Fam'd for the sweetly-singing swans it bred;
Pergusa is its name: And never more 590
Were heard, or sweeter on Cayster's shore.
Woods crown the lake; and Phoebus ne'er invades
The tufted fences, or offends the shades:
Fresh fragrant breezes fan the verdant bow'rs,
And the moist ground smiles with enamell'd flow'rs.
The cheerful birds their airy carols sing, 596
And the whole year is one eternal spring.
Here while young Proserpine, among the maids,
Diverts herself in these delicious shades;
While like a child with busy speed and care 600
She gathers lilies here, and violets there;
While first to fill her little lap she strives,
Hell's grizzly monarch at the shade arrives;
Sees her thus sporting on the flow'ry green,
And loves the blooming maid, as soon as seen. 605
His urgent flame impatient of delay,
Swift as his thought he seiz'd the beauteous prey,
And bore her in his sooty car away.
The frighted goddess to her mother cries:
But all in vain, for now far off she flies; 610
Far she behind her leaves her virgin train; -
To them too cries, and cries to them in vain.
And, while with passion she repeats her call,
The violets from her lap, and lilies fall:
She misses 'em, poor heart! and makes new moan:
Her lilies, ah! are lost, her violets gone. 616
O'er hills the ravisher, and valleys speeds,
By name encouraging his foamy steeds;
He rattles o'er their necks the rusty reins,
And ruffles with the stroke their shaggy manes. 620
O'er lakes he whirls his flying wheels, and comes
To the Palici breathing sulph'rous fumes.
And thence to where the Bacchiads of renown
Between unequal havens built their town;
Where Arethusa, round th' imprison'd sea, 625
Extends her crooked coast to Cyane;
The nymph who gave the neighb'ring lake a name,
Of all Sicilian nymphs the first in fame.
She from the waves advanc'd her beauteous head,
The goddess knew, and thus to Pluto said: 630
'Further thou shalt not with the virgin run;
Ceres unwilling, canst thou be her son 1
The maid should be by sweet persuasion won:
Force suits not with the softness of the fair;
For, if great things with small I may compare, 635
Me Anapis once lov'd; a milder course
He took, and won me by his words, not force.
Then, stretching out her arms, she stopp'd his way:
But he, impatient of the shortest stay,
Throws to his dreadful steeds the slacken'd rein, 640
And strikes his iron sceptre through the main;
The depths profound thro' yielding waves he cleaves,
And to hell's centre a free passage leaves;
Down sinks his chariot, and his realms of night
The god soon reaches with a rapid flight. 645
Cyane Dissolves to a Fountain
But still does Cyane the rape bemoan,
And with the goddess' wrongs laments her own;
For the stol'n maid, and for her injur'd spring,
Time to her trouble no relief can bring.
In her sad heart a heavy load she bears, 650
Till the dumb sorrow turns her all to tears.
Her mingling waters with that fountain pass,
Of which she late immortal goddess was.
Hfer varied members to a fluid melt,
A pliant softness in her bones is fe]t. 655
Her wavy locks first drop away in dew,
And liquid, next, her slender fingers grew.
The body's change soon seizes to extreme,
Her legs dissolve, and feet flow off in stream.
Her arms, her back, her shoulders, and her side, 660
Her swelling breasts in little currents glide.
A silver liquor only now remains
Within the channel of her purple veins;
Nothing to fill love's grasp: her husband chaste
Bathes in that bosom he before embrac'd. 665
A Boy Transformed to an Eft
Thus, while through all the earth, and all the main,
Her daughter mournful Ceres sought in vain;
Aurora when with dewy looks she rose,
Nor burnish 'd vesper found her in repose.
At Aetna's flaming mouth two pitchy pines 670
To light her in her search at length she tines.
Restless, with these, through frosty night she goes,
Nor fears the cutting winds, nor heeds the snows;
And, when the morning star the day renews,
From east to west her absent child pursues. 675
Thirsty at last by long fatigue she grows,
But meets no spring, no riv'let near her flows.
Then looking round, a lowly cottage spies,
bmoking among the trees, and thither hies.
The goddess knocking at the little door, 680
'Twas open'd by a woman old and poor,
Who, when she begg'd for water, gave her ale
Brew'd long, but well preserv'd from being stole.
1 he goddess drank; a chuffy lad was by,
Who saw the liquor with a grudging eye, 685
And grinning cries, 'She's greedy more than dry.'
Ceres offended at his foul grimace,
Flung, what she had not drunk, into his face
The sprinklings speckle where they hit the skin,
And a long tail does from his body spin; 69Q
His arms are turn'd to legs, and, lest his size
Should make him mischievous, and he might rise
Against mankind, diminutive his frame,
Less than a lizard, but in shape the same'.
Amaz'd the dame the wondrous sight beheld, 695
And weeps, and fain would touch her quondam child
Yet her approach th« affrighted vermin shuns,
And fast into the greatest crevice runs.
A name they gare him, which the spots express'd,
That rose like stars*, and varied all his breast. 700
[* Stellio]
What lands, what seas the goddess wander'd o'er
Were long to tell, for there remain'd no more.
Searching all round, her fruitless toil she mourns
And, with regret, to Sicily returns.
At length, where Cyane now flows, she came, 705
Who could have told her, were she still the same
As when she saw her daughter sink to hell;
But what she knows, she wants a tongue to tell,
Yet this plain signal manifestly gave,
The virgin's girdle floating on a wave, 710
As late she dropp'd it from her slender waist,
When with her uncle through the deep she pass'd.
Geres the token by her grief confess'd,
And tore her golden hair, and beat her breast.
She knows not on what land her curse should faU
But, as ingrate, alike upbraids them all, 716
Unworthy of her gifts; Trinacria most,
Where the last steps she found of what she lost.
The plough for this the vengeful goddess broke,
And with one death the os. and owner struck. 720
In vain the fallow fields the peasant tills;
The seed, corrupted ere 'tis sown, she kills.
The fruitful soil, that once such harvest bore,
Now mocks the farmer's care, and teems no more;
And the rich grain which fills the furrow'd glade,
Rots in the seed, or shrivels in the blade; 725
Or too much sun burns up, or too much rain
Drowns, or black blights destroy the blasted plain;
Or greedy birds the new-sown corn devour,
Or darnel, thistles, and a crop impure 730
Of knotted grass, along the acres stand,
And spread their thriving roots through all the land.
Then from the waves soft Arethusa rears
Her head, and back she flings her dropping hairs.
'O mother of the maid, whom thou so far 735
Hast sought, of whom thou canst no tidings hear:
O thou,' she cried, 'who art to life a friend,
Cease here thy search, and let thy labour end.
Thy faithful Sicily's a guiltless clime,
And should not suffer for another's crime; 740
She neither knew, nor could prevent the deed: -
Nor think that for my country thus I plead;
My country's Pisa, I'm an alien here,
Yet these abodes to Elis I prefer,
No clime to me so sweet, no place so dear. 745
These springs I, Arethusa, now possess,
And this my seat, O gracious goddess, bless.
This island why I love, and why I cross'd
Such spacious seas to reach Ortygia's coast,
To you I shall impart, when, void of care, 750
Your heart's at ease and you more fit to hear;
When on your brow no pressing sorrow sits;
For gay content alone such tales admits.
When through earth's caverns I awhile have roll'd
My waves, I rise, and here again behold 755
The long-lost stars; and as I late did glide
Near Styx, Proserpina there I espy'd.
Fear still with grief might in her face be seen;
She still her rape laments; yet, made a queen,
Beneath those gloomy shades her sceptre sways, 760
And e'en the infernal king her will obeys.'
This heard, the goddess like a statue stood,
Stupid with grief: and in that musing mood
Continu'd long; new cares awhile suppress'd
The reigning powers of her immortal breast. 765
At last to Jove, her daughter's sire, she flies,
And with her chariot cuts the crystal skies;
She comes in clouds, and with dishevell'd hair,
Standing before his throne, prefers her pray'r:
'King of the gods, defend my blood and thine, 770
And use it not the worse for being mine.
If I no more am gracious in thy sight,
Be just, O Jove, and do thy daughter right.
In vain I sought her the wide world around,
And, when I most despair'd to find her, found. 775
But how can I the fatal finding boast,
By which I know she is for ever lost?
Without her father's aid, what other pow'r
Can to my arms the ravish'd maid restore?
Let him restore her; I'll the crime forgive; 780
My child, though ravish'd, I'd with joy receive.
Pity, your daughter with a thief should wed,
Though mine, you think, deserves no better bed.'
Jove thus replies: 'It equally belongs
To both, to guard our common pledge from wrongs:
But if to things we proper names apply, 786
This hardly can be call'd an injury.
The theft is love; nor need we blush to own
The thief, if I can judge, to be our son.
Had you of his desert no other proof, 790
To be Jove's brother is, methinks, enough.
Nor was my throne by worth superior got,
Heav'n fell to me, as hell to him, by lot.
If you are still resolv'd her loss to mourn,
And nothing less will serve than her return; 795
Upon these terms she may again be yours
(Th' irrevocable terms of fate, not ours);
Of Stygian food if she did never taste,
Hell's bounds may then, and only then, be pass'd.'
The Transformation of Ascalaphus Into an Owl
The goddess now, resolving to succeed, 800
Down to the gloomy shades descends with speed.
But adverse fate had otherwise deereed:
For, long before, her giddy, thoughtless child
Had broke her fast, and all her projects spoil'd.
As in the garden's shady walk she stray'd, 805
A fair pomegranate charm'd the simple maid;
Hung in her way, and tempting her to taste,
She pluck'd the fruit, and took a short repast.
Seven times, a seed at once, she eat the food;
The fact Ascalaphus had only view'd; 810
Whom Acheron begot, in Stygian shades,
On Orphne, fam'd among Avernal maids;
He saw what pass'd, and, by discov'ring all,
Detain'd the ravish'd nymph in cruel thrall.
But now a queen, she with resentment heard, 815
And chang'd the vile informer to a bird.
In Phlegeton's black stream her hand she dips,
Sprinkles his head, and wets his babbling lips.
Soon on his face, bedropt with magic dew,
A change appear'd, and gaudy feathers grew. 820
A crooked beak the place of nose supplies,
Rounder his head, and larger are his eyes.
His arms and body waste, but are supply'd
With yellow pinions flagging on each side.
Hi3 nails grew crooked, and are turn'd to claws, 8*25
And lazily along his heavy wings he draws.
Ill-omen'd in his form, th' unlucky fowl,
Abhorr'd by men, and calTd a screeching owl.
The Daughters of Achelous Transformed to Sirens
Justly this punishment was due to him;
And less had been too little for his crime: 830
But, O ye nymphs that from the flood descend,
What fault of yours the gods could so oftend,
With wings and claws your beauteous forms to spoil,
Yet save your maiden face, and winning smile?
Were you not with her in Pergusa's bow'rs, 835
When Proserpine went forth to gather flow'rs?
Since Pluto in his car the goddess caught,
Have you not for her in each climate sought?
And when on land you long had search'd in vain,
You wish'd for wings to cross the pathless main; 840
That earth and sea might witness to your care:
The gods were easy, and return'd your pray'r;
With golden wings o'er foamy waves you fled,
And to the sun your plumy glories spread.
But, lest the soft enchantment of your songs, 845
And the sweet music of your flatt'ring tongues
Should quite be lost (as courteous fates ordain),
Your voice and virgin beauty still remain.
Jove some amends for Ceres' loss to make,
Yet willing Pluto should the joy partake, 850
Gives 'em of Proserpine an equal share,
Who, claim'd by both, with both divides the year,
The goddess now in either empire sways,
Six moons in hell, and six with Ceres stays.
Her peevish temper's chang'd; that sullen mind, 855
Which made ev'n hell uneasy, now is kind.
Her voice refines, her mien more sweet appears,
Her forehead free from frowns, her eyes from tears.
As when with golden light, the conqu'ring day
Through dusky exhalations clears away. 860
Ceres her daughter's rape no longer mourn 'd,
But back to Arethusa's spring return'd;
And sitting on the margin, bade her tell
From whence she came, and why a sacred well.
The Story of Arethus
Still were the purling waters; and the maid 865
From the smooth surface rais'd her beauteous head,
Wipes off the drops that from her tresses ran,
And thus to tell Alpheus' loves began:
'In Elis first I breath'd the living air,
The chase was all my pleasure, all my care. 870
None lov'd like me the forest to explore,
To pitch the toils, and drive the bristled boar.
Of fair, though masculine, I had the name,
But gladly would to that have quitted claim:
It less my pride than indignation rais'd, 875
To hear the beauty I neglected, prais'd:
Such compliments I loath'd, such charms as these
I scorn'd, and thought it infamy to please.
'Once, I remember, in the summer's heat,
Tir'd with the chase, I sought a cool retreat; 880
And, walking on, a silent current found,
Which gently glided o'er the grav'lly ground;
The crystal water was so smooth, so clear,
My eye distinguish' d ev'ry pebble there.
So soft its motion, that I scarce perceiv'd 885
The running stream, or what I saw, believ'd.
The hoary willow, and the poplar, made
Along the shelving bank a grateful shade.
In the cool rivulet my feet I dipp'd,
Then waded to the knee, and then I strippM; 890
My robe I careless on an osier threw,
That near the place commodiously grew;
Nor long upon the border naked stood,
But plung'd with speed into the silver flood.
My arms a thousand ways I mov'd, and try'd 895
To quicken, if I could, the lazy tide;
Where, while I play'd my swimming gambols o'er,
I heard a murm'ring voice, and frighted sprang to shore.
"O! whither, Arethusa, dost thou fly?"
From the brook's bottom did Alpheus cry, 900
Again I heard him, in a hollow tone,
"O! whither Arethusay dost thou run?"
Naked I flew, nor could I stay to hide
My limbs; my robe was on the other side;
Alpheus follow'd fast, th' inflaming sight 905
Quicken'd his speed, and made his labour light;
He sees me ready for his eager arms,
And, with a greedy glance, devours my charms.
As trembling doves from pressing danger fly, 909
When the fierce hawk comes sousing from the sky;
And, as fierce hawks the trembling doves pursue,
From him I fled, and after me he flew.
First by Orchomenus I took my flight,
And soon had Psophis and Cyllene in sight;
Behind me then high Mamalus I lost, 915
And craggy Erimanthus scal'd with frost;
Elis was next; thus far the ground I trod
With nimble feet, before the distanc'd god.
But here I lagg'd unable to sustain
The labour longer, and my flight maintain; 920
While he more strong, more patient of the toil,
And fir'd with hopes of beauty's speedy spoil,
Gain'd my lost ground, and by redoubled pace,
Now left between us but a narrow space.
Unwearied I, till now, o'er hills and plains, 925
O'er rocks, and rivers ran, and felt no pains
The sun behind me, and the god I kept;
But, when I fastest should have run, I stept.
Before my feet his shadow now appear'd;
As what I saw, or rather what I fear'd. 930
Yet there I could not be deceiv'd by fear,
Who felt his breath pant on my braided hair,
And heard his sounding tread, and knew him to be
near.
Tir'd and despairing, "O celestial maid,
I'm caught," I cried, "without thy heav'nly aid. 935
Help me, Diana, help a nymph forlorn,
Devoted to the woods, who long has worn
Thy livery, and long thy quiver borne."
The goddess heard; my pious pray'r prevail'd;
In muffling clouds my virgin head was veil'd. 940
The am'rous god, deluded of his hopes,
Searches the gloom, and through the darkness gropes;
Twice, where Diana did her servant hide,
He came, and twice, "O Arethusa!" cried.
How shaken was my soul, how sunk my heart! 945
The terror seiz'd on ev'ry trembling part.
Thus when the wolf about the mountain prowls
For prey, the lambkin hears his horrid howls;
The tim'rous hare, the pack approaching nigh,
Thus hearkens to the hounds, and trembles at the cry;
Nor dares she stir, for fear her scented breath 951
Direct the dogs, and guide the threaten'd death.
Alpheus in the cloud no traces found
To mark my way, yet stays to guard the ground.
The god so near, a chilly sweat possess'd 955
My fainting limbs at ev'ry pore exprest;
My strength distill'd in drops, my hair in dew,
My form was chang'd, and all my substance new.
Each motion was a stream, and my whole frame
Turn'd to a fount, which still preserves my name 960
Resolv'd I should not his embrace escape,
Again the god resumes his fluid shape;
To mix his streams with mine he fondly tries,
But still Diana his attempt denies;
She cleaves the ground; through caverns dark I run
A diff'rent current, while he keeps his own, 965
To dear Ortygia she conducts my way,
And here I first review the welcome day.'
Here Arethusa stopp'd; then Ceres takes
Her golden car, and yokes her fiery snakes; 970
With a just rein, along mid-heav'n she flies
O'er earth, and seas, and cuts the yielding skies.
She halts at Athens, dropping like a star,
And to Triptolemus resigns her car.
Parent of seed, she gave him fruitful grain, 975
And bade him teach, to till and plough the plain;
The seed to sow, as well in fallow fields,
As where the soil manur'd, a richer harvest yields.
The Transformation of Lyncus
The youth o'er Europe, and o'er Asia drives,
Till at the court of Lyncus he arrives. 980
The tyrant, Scythia's barb'rous empire sway'd;
And, when he saw Triptolemus, he said:
'How cam'st thou, stranger, to our court, and why 1
Thy country, and thy name?' The youth did thus
reply:
'Triptolemus my name; my country's known 985
O'er all the world, Minerva's fav'rite town;
Athens, the first of cities in renown.
By land I neither walk'd, nor sail'd by sea,
But hither through the aether made my way.
By me, the goddess who the fields befriends, 990
These gifts, the greatest of all blessings, sends.
The grain she gives, if in your soil you sow,
Thence wholesome food in golden crops shall grow.'
Soon as the secret to the king was known,
He grudg'd the glory of the service done, 995
And wickedly resolv'd to make it all his own.
To hide his purpose, he invites his guest,
The friend of Ceres, to a royal feast:
And when sweet sleep his heavy eyes had seiz'd,
The tyrant with his steel attempts his breast. 1000
Him straight a lynx's shape the goddess gives,
And home the youth her sacred dragons drives.
The Pierides Transformed too Magpies
The chosen Muse here ends her sacred lays:
The nymphs unanimous decree the bays,
And give the Heliconian goddesses the praise. 1005
Then far from vain that we should thus prevail,
But much provok'd to hear the vanquish'd rail,
Calliope resumes: 'Too long we've borne
Your daring taunts, and your affronting scorn;
Your challenge justly merited a curse,
And this uumanner'd railing makes it worse.
Since you refuse us calmly to enjoy
Our patience, next our passions we'll employ;
The dictates of a mind eurag'd pursue,
And what our just resentment bids us, do.'
The railers laugh, our threats and wrath despise,
And clap their hands, and make a scolding noise;
But, in the fact there seiz'd, beneath their nails
Feathers they feel, and on their faces scales;
Their horny beaks at once each other scare,
Their arms are plum'd, and on their hacks they bear
Py'd wings, and flutter in the fleeting air.
Chatt'ring, the scandal of the woods they fly,
And there continue still their clam'rous cry :
The same their eloquence, as maids or hirds,
Now only noise, and nothing then but words.
Summary of Book V of Ovid's Metamorphoses
- Perseus & Phineus
- Pyreneus & the Muses
- The Pierides & the Muses
- Pluto & Proserpine
- Arethusa & Alpheus
- Triptolemus & Lyncus
