Part 28

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?"

Then Achæmenides, not ragged now, In robes with thorns united, but all free, Thus answer'd his enquiries. "May I view "Once more that Polyphemus, and those jaws "With human gore o'erflowing; if I deem "This ship to me than Ithaca less dear; "And less Æneäs than my sire esteem. "For how too grateful can I be to him, "Though all to him I give? Can I e'er be "Unthankful or forgetful? That I speak, "And breathe, and view the heavens and glorious sun "He gave: that in the Cyclops' jaws my life "Was clos'd not; that when now the vital spark "Me quits, I may be properly intomb'd, "Not in the monster's entrails. Heavens! what thoughts "Possess'd my mind, (unless by pallid dread "Of sense and thought bereft) when, left behind, "I saw you push to sea. Loud had I call'd, "But fear'd my cries would guide to me the foe. "Ulysses' clamor near your ship destroy'd. "I saw the monster, when a mighty rock, "Torn from a mountain's summit, in the waves "He flung: I saw him when with giant arm "Huge stones he hurl'd, with such impetuous force, "As though an engine sent them. Fear'd I long, "Lest or the stones or waves the bark would sink; "Forgetful then that not on board was I. "But when you 'scap'd from cruel death, by flight, "Then did he madly rave indeed; and roam'd "All Etna o'er; and grop'd amid the woods; "Depriv'd of sight he stumbles on the rocks; "And stretching to the sea his horrid arms, "Blacken'd with gore, he execrates the Greeks; "And thus exclaims;--O! would some lucky chance "Restore Ulysses to me, or restore "One of his comrades, who might glut my rage; "Whose entrails I might gorge; whose living limbs "My hand might rend; whose blood might sluice my throat; "And mangled members tremble in my teeth. "O! then how light, and next to none the curse "Of sight bereft.--Raging, he this and more "Fierce utter'd. I, with pallid dread o'ercome, "Beheld his face still flowing down with blood; "The orb of light depriv'd; his ruthless hands; "His giant members; and his shaggy beard, "Clotted with human gore. Death to my eyes "Was obvious, yet was death my smallest dread. "Now seiz'd I thought me; thought him now prepar'd "T'inclose my mangled bowels in his own: "And to my mind recurr'd the time I saw "Two of my comrades' bodies furious dash'd "Repeated on the earth: he, o'er them stretcht "Prone, like a shaggy lion, in his maw "Their flesh, their entrails, their yet-quivering limbs, "Their marrow, and cranch'd bones, greedy ingulf'd. "Horror me seiz'd. Bloodless and sad I stood, "To see him champ, and from his mouth disgorge "The bloody banquet; morsels mixt with wine "Forth vomiting: and such a fate appear'd "For wretched me prepar'd. Some tedious days "Skulk'd I, and shudder'd at the smallest sound: "Fearful of death, yet praying much to die; "Repelling hunger by green herbs, and leaves, "With acorns mixt; a solitary wretch, "Poor, and to sufferings and to death decreed. "Long was the time, ere I, not distant far, "A ship beheld; I by my gestures shew'd "My wish for flight, and hasten'd to the shore. "Their hearts were mov'd, and thus a Trojan bark "Receiv'd a Greek.--And now, my friend most dear, "Tell thy adventures, and the chief's, and crew's, "Who with thee launch'd upon th' extended main."

He tells how Æölus his kingdom holds On the deep Tuscan main, who curbs the winds In cavern'd prisons; which, a noble boon! Close pent within an ox's stubborn hide, Dulichium's chief, from Æölus receiv'd. How for nine days with prosperous breeze they sail'd; And saw the long-sought land. How on the tenth, Aurora rising bright, his comrades, urg'd By envy, and by thirst of glittering spoil, Gold deeming there inclos'd, the winds unloos'd. How, driven by them, the ship was backward sped Through the same waves she had so lately plough'd; And reach'd the port of Æölus again. "Thence,"--he continued--"to the ancient town "Of Lestrygonian Lamus we arrive, "Where rules Antiphates; to him dispatch'd "I go, by two attended. I with one "Scarce find in flight our safety: with his gore "The hapless third, the Lestrigonians' jaws "Besmears: our flying footsteps they pursue, "While fierce Antiphates speeds on the crowd. "Around they press, and unremitting hurl "Huge rocks, and trunks of trees; our men o'erwhelm, "And sink our fleet; one ship alone escapes, "Which great Ulysses and myself contains. "Most of our band thus lost, and angry much, "Lamenting more, we floated to these isles, "Which hence, though distant far, you may descry. "Those isles, by me too near beheld, do thou "At distance only view! O, goddess-born! "Most righteous of all Troy, (for now no more, "Æneäs, must thou enemy be stil'd "To us, war ended) fly, I warn thee, fly "The shore of Circé. We, our vessel moor'd "Fast to that beach, not mindless of the deeds "Antiphates perform'd, nor Cyclops, wretch "Inhuman, now to tempt this unknown land "Refuse. The choice by lot is fix'd. The lot "Me sends, and with me sends Polites true; "Eurylochus; and poor Elphenor, fond "Too much of wine; with twice nine comrades mote, "To seek the dome Circéan. Thither come; "We at the entrance stand: a thousand wolves, "And bears, and lionesses, with wolves mixt, "Meet us, and terror in our bosoms strike. "But ground for terror none: of all the crew "None try our limbs to wound, but friendly wave "Their arching tails, and fawningly attend "Our steps; till by the menial train receiv'd, "Through marbled halls to where their mistress sate, "Our troop is led. She, in a bright recess, "Upon a lofty throne of state, was plac'd, "Cloth'd in a splendid robe; a golden veil "Around her head, and o'er her shoulders thrown. "Nereïds, and nymphs around (whose fingers quick "The wool ne'er drew, nor form'd the following thread) "Were plants arranging, and selecting flowers, "And various teinted herbs, confus'dly mixt "In baskets. She compleats the work they do; "And well she knows the latent power each leaf "Possesses; well their force combin'd she knows: "And all the nice-weigh'd herbs inspects with care. "When us she spy'd, and salutations pass'd "Mutual; her forehead brighten'd, and she gave "Our every wish. Nor waited more, but bade "The beverage of the roasted grain be mix'd; "And added honey, all the strength of wine, "And curdy milk, and juices, which beneath "Such powerful sweetness undetected lay. "The cup from her accursed hand, I take, "And, soon as thirsty I, with parch'd mouth drink, "And the dire goddess with her wand had strok'd "My head (I blush while I the rest relate) "Roughen'd with bristles, I begin to grow; "Nor now can speak; hoarse grunting comes for words; "And all my face bends downwards to the ground; "Callous I feel my mouth become, in form "A crooked snout; and feel my brawny neck "Swell o'er my chest; and what but now the cup "Had grasp'd, that part does marks of feet imprint; "With all my fellows treated thus, so great "The medicine's potency, close was I shut "Within a sty: there I, Eurylochus "Alone unalter'd to a hog, beheld! "He only had the offer'd cup refus'd. "Which had he not avoided, he as one "The bristly herd had join'd; nor had our chief, "The great Ulysses, by his tale inform'd "To Circé come, avenger of our woe. "To him Cyllenius, messenger of peace "A milk-white flower presented; by the gods "Call'd Moly: from a sable root it-springs. "Safe in the gift, and in th' advice of heaven, "He enters Circé's dome; and her repels, "Coaxing to taste th' invidious cup; his head "To stroke attempting with her potent wand; "And awes her trembling with his unsheath'd steel. "Then, faith exchang'd, hands join'd, he to her bed "Receiv'd, he makes the dowry of himself "That all his comrades' bodies be restor'd.

"Now are we sprinkled with innocuous juice "Of better herbs; with the inverted wand "Our heads are touch'd; the charms, already spoke, "Strong charms of import opposite destroy. "The more she sings her incantations, we "Rise more from earth erect; the bristles fall; "And the wide fissure leaves our cloven feet; "Our shoulders form again; and arms beneath "Are shap'd. Him, weeping too, weeping we clasp, "And round our leader's neck embracing hang. "No words at first to utter have we power, "But such as testify our grateful joy.

"A year's delay there kept us. There, mine eyes "In that long period much beheld; mine ears "Much heard. This with the rest, in private told "To me, by one of four most-favor'd nymphs "Who aided in her spells: while Circé toy'd "In private with our leader, she me shew'd "A youthful statue carv'd in whitest stone, "Bearing a feather'd pecker upon his head; "Plac'd in a sacred shrine, with numerous wreaths "Encircled. Unto my enquiring words, "And wish to know who this could be, and why "There worshipp'd in the shrine, and why that bird "He bore,--then, Macareus,--she said--receive "Thy wish; and also learn what mighty power "My mistress boasts; attentive hear my words.