FROM THE TENTH BOOK OF

“ Iphis, the man, has to the Goddess paid

And every fragrant flower, and odorous green, The vows, that Ipbis offered when a maid.” Were sorted well, with lumps of amber laid be

Now when the star of day had shown his face, Rich, fashionable robes her person deck, (tween: Venus and Juno with their presence grace

Pendants her ears, and pearls adorn her neck: The nuptial rites, and Hymen from above

Her taper'd fingers too with rings are gracid, Descended to complete their happy love;

And an embroiderd zone surrounds her slender The gods of marriage lend their mutual aid;

waist. And the warm youth enjoys the lovely maid. Thus like a queen array'd, so richly dress'd,

Beauteous she show'd, but naked show'd the best.

Then from the floor he rais'd a royal bed, PYGMALION AND THE STATUE. With coverings of Sidonian purple spread :

The solemn rites perform’d, he calls her bride,. OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.

With blandishments invites her to his side,

And as she were with vital sense possess'd, The Propætides, for their impudent behaviour,

Her head did on a plumy pillow rest. being turned into stone by Venus, Pygmalion, To which the Cypriots due devotion pay;

The feast of Venus came, a solemn day, prince of Cyprus, detested all women for their With gilded horns the milk-white heifers led, sake, and resolved never to marry. He falls in Slaughter'd before the sacred altars, bled: love with a statue of his own making, which is Pygmalion offering, first approach'd the shrine, changed into a maid, whom he marries. One And then with prayers implord the powers divine: of his descendants is Cinyras, the father of

“ Almighty gods, if all we mortals want, Myrrha : the daughter incestuously loves her

If all we can require, be yours to grant; own father; for which she is changed into a tree which bears her name.

Make this fair statue mine,” he would have said, These two stories im

But chang'd his words for shame, and only pray'd, mediately follow each other, and are admirably well connected.

“ Give me the likeness of my ivory maid."

The golden goddess, present at the prayer, Pygmalion, loathing their lascivious life,

Well knew he ineant th' inanimated fair,

And gave the sign of granting his desire; Abhorr'd all womankind, but most a wife:

For thrice in cheerful flames ascends the fire. So single chose to live, and shunnid to wed,

The youth, returning to his mistress, hies, Well pleas'd to want à consort of his bod:

And impudent in hope, with ardent eyes, Yet, fearing Idleness, the nurse of ill,

And beating breast, by the dear statue lies.
In sculpture exercis'd his happy skill;

He kisses her white lips, renews the bliss,
And carv'd in ivory such a maid, so fair,
As Nature could not with his art compare,

And looks and thinks they redden at the kiss :

He thought them warm'd before; nor longer stays, Were she to work; but, in her own defence,

But next bis hand on her hard bosom lays: Must take her pattern bere, and copy hence.

Hard as it was, beginning to relent, Pleas'd with his idol, he commends, admires,

It seem'd the breast beneath his fingers bent ; Adores; and last, the thing ador'd desires.

He felt again, his fingers made a print, (dint. A very virgin in her face was seen,

'Twas flesh, but flesh so firm, it rose against the And, had she mov'd, a living maid had been;

The pleasing task he fails not to renew; One would have thought she could have stirrd;

Soft, and more soft at every touch it grew: but strove With modesty, and was asham'd to move.

Like pliant wax, when chafing bands reduce

The former mass to form, and frame to use.
Art, hid with art, so well perform'd the cheat,
It caught the carver with his own deceit;

He would believe, but yet is still in pain,

And tries his argument of sense again, He knows 'tis madness, yet he must adore,

Presses the pulse, and feels the leaping vein : And still the more he knows it, loves the more:

Convinc'd, o'erjoy'd, his studied thanks and praise The flesh, or what so seems, he touches oft,

To her who made the miracle, he pays : Which feels so smooth, that he believes it soft.

Then lips to lips he join'd; now freed from fear, Fird with this thought, at once he strain'd the

He found the favour of the kiss sincere: And on the lips a burning kiss impress'd. [breast,

At this the waken'd image op'd her eyes, [prise. 'Tis true, the harden'd breast resists the gripe,

And vier'd at once the light and lover, with sur. And the cold lips return a kiss unripe:

The goddess, present at the match she made, Put when, retiring back, he look'd again,

So bless'd the bed, such fruitfulness convey'd, To think it ivory was a thought too mean;

That ere ten moons had sharpen'd either horn, So would believe she kiss'd, and, courting more,

To crown their bliss, a lovely boy was born; Again embrac'd her naked body o'er;

Paphos his name, who, grown to manhood, walld And, straining hard the statue, was afraid

The city Paphos, from the founder call’d.
His hands had made a dint, and hurt the maid:
Explor'd her, limb by limb, and feard to find
So rude a gripe had left a livid mark behind:
With flattery now he seeks her mind to move,
And now with gifts, the powerful bribes of love:

CINYRAS AND MYRRHA.
He furnishes her closet first; and fills

OUT OF THE TENTH BOOK 01
The crowded shelves with rarities of shells; (drew,
Aids orient pearls, which from the conchs he OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.
And all the sparkling stones of various hue :
And parrots, imitating human tongue,

There needs no connection of this story with the Aud singing birds in silver cages hung i

forier: for the beginning of this inmediately

fellows the end of the last : the reader is only to O that I had been born in such a clime, take notice, that Orpheus, who relates both, was Not here, where 'tis the country makes the crime! by birth a Thracian; and his country far distant But whither would my iinpious fancy stray! from Cyprus where Myrrha was born, and from Hence hopes, and ye forbidden thoughts away! Arabia whither she fled. You will see the reason His worth deserves to kindle my desires, of this note, soon after the first lines of tbis But with the love that daughters bear to sires. fable.

Then, had not Cinyras my father been,

What hinderd Myrrha's hopes to be his queen? Nor him alone produc'd the fruitful queen;

But the perverseness of my fate is such, But Cinyras, who, like his sire, had been

That he's not mine, because he's mine too much: A happy prince, had he not been a sire.

Our kindred blood debars a better tie; Daughters and fathers, from my song retire: He might be nearer, rere he not so nigh. I sing of horrour; and, could I prevail,

Eyes and their objects never must unite, You should not hear, or not believe, my tale.

Some distance is requir'd to help the sight: Yet if the pleasure of my song be such,

Fain would I travel to some foreign shore, That you will hear, and credit me too much,

Never to see my native country more, Attentire listen to the last event,

So might I to myself myself restore ; ! And with the sin believe the punishment:

So might my mind these impious thoughts remove, Since Vature could behold so dire a crime,

And, ceasing to behold, might cease to love. I gratulate at least my native clime,

But stay I must, to feed my famish'd sight, That such a land, which such a monster bore, To talk, to kiss; and more, if more I might: So far is distant from our Thracian shore.

More, impious maid! What more canst thou deLet Araby extol her happy coast,

To make a monstrous mixture in thy line, [sign, Her cinnamon and sweet amomum boast,

And break all statutes human and divine? Her fragrant flowers, her trees with precious tears, Canst thou be call'd (to save thy wretched life) Her second harvests, and her double years;

Thy mother's rival, and thy father's wife? How can the land be call'd so bless'd, that Myrrha Confound so many sacred names in one, bears?

Thy brother's mother! sister to thy son! Not all her odorous tears can cleanse lier crime,

And fear'st thou not to see th' infernal bands, Her plant alone deforms the happy clime: Their heads with snakes, with torches arm'd their Cupid denies to have infiam'd thy heart,

hands, Disowns thy love, and vindicates his dart;

Full at thy face, th'avenging bravds to bear, Some fury gave thee those internal pains,

And shake the serpents from their hissing hair? And shot her venom'd vipers in thy veins.

But thou in time th’increasing ill control, To bate thy sire, had merited a curse:

Nor first debauch the body by the soul; But such an impious love deserv'd a worse.

Secure the sacred quiet of thy mind, The neighbouring monarchs, by thy beauty led,

And keep the sanctions Nature has design'd. Contend in crowds, ambitious of thy bed :

Suppose I should attempt, th’attempt were vain; The world is at thy choice, except but one,

No thoughts like mine his sinless soul profane : Except but him, thou canst not choose, alone. Observant of the right; and 0, that he She knew it too, the miserable maid,

Could cure my madness, or be mad like me!"
Ere impious love her better thoughts betray'd, Thus she; but Cinyras, who daily sees
And thus within her secret soul she said:

A crowd of noble suitors at his knees,
Ab Myrrha! whither would thy wishes tend? Among so many, knew not whom to choose,
Yeguda, ye sacred laws, my soul defend

Irresolute to grant, or to refuse.
From such a crime as all mankind detest,

But, having told their names, inquir'd of her, And never lodg'd before in human breast!

Who pleas'd her best, and whom she would preBut is it sin? Or makes my mind alone

fer?
Th'imagin’d sin? For Nature makes it none. The blushing maid stood silent with surprise,
What tyrant then these envious laws began, And on her father fix'd her ardent eyes,
Made not for any other beast but man!

And looking sigh'd: and as she sigh’d, began
The father-bull his daughter may bestride,

Round tears to shed, that scalded as they ran. The borse may make his mother-inare a bride; The tender sire, who saw her blush and cry, What piety forbids the lusty ram,

Ascrib'd it all to maiden-modesty; Or more salacious goat, to rut their dam?

Aud dry'd the falling-drops, and, yet inore kind, The hen is free to wed her chick she bore,

I le strok'd her cheeks, and holy kisses join'd:
And make a husband, whom she hatch'd before. She felt a secret venom fire her blood,
All creatures else are of a happier kind,

And found more pleasure than a daughter should;
Whom nor ill-natur'd laws from pleasure bind, And, ask'd again, what lover of the crew
Nor thoughts of sin disturb their peace of mind. She lik’d the best; she answer'd,

“ One like you." But man a slave of his own making lives;

Mistaking what she meant, her pious will The fool denies himself what Nature gives : Hie prais'd, and bade her so continue still : Too busy senates, with an over-care

The word of pious heard, she blush'd with shame To make us better than our kind can bear,

Of secret guilt, and could not bear the name. Have dash'd a spice of envy in the laws,

'Twas now the mid of night, when slumbers close And, straining up too bigh, have spoil'd the cause. Our eyes, and sooth our cares with soft repose; Yet some wise nations break their cruel chains, But no repose could wretched Myrrha find, And own no laws, but those which love ordains: Her body rolling, as she roll'd her mind: Where happy daughters with their sires are join'd, Mad with desire, she ruininates her sin, Aud piety is doubly paid in kind.

And wishes all her wishes o'er again.

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Now she despairs, and now resolves to try; There silent lay, and warnd her with her hand
Would not, and would again, she knows not why; To go: but she receiv'd not the command;
Stops, and returns, makes and retracts the vow; Remaining still importunate to know:
Fain would begin, but understands not how : Then Myrrha thus; “Or ask no more, or go:
As when a pine is hewn upon the plains,

I prythee go, or staying spare my shame;
And the last mortal stroke alone remains,

What thou wouldst hear, is impious er'n to name.” Labouring in pangs of death, and threatening all, At this, on high the beldame holds her hands, This way and that she nods, considering where to And, trembling both with age and terrour, stands, So Myrrha's mind, impell’d on either side, [fall: Adjures, and falling at her feet entreats, (threats, Takes every bent, but cannot long abide :

Soothes her with blandishments, and frights with Irresolute on which she should rely,

To tell the crime intended, or disclose At fast, unfix'd in all, is only fix'd to die: What part of it she knew, if she no farther knows: On that sad thought she rests; resolv'd on death, And last, if conscious to her counsel made, She rises, and prepares to choak her breath : Confirms anew the promise of her aid. (press'd Then wbile about the beam her zone she ties, Now Myrrha rais'd her head; but soon, op“ Dear Cinyras, farewell,” she softly cries; With shame, reclin'd it on her nurse's breast; “ For thee 1 die, and only wish to be

Bath'd it with tears, and strove to have confess'd: Not hated, when thou know'st I die for thee: Twice she began, and stopp'd; again she try'd; Pardon the crime, in pity to the cause:”

The faltering tongue its office still deny’d: This said, about her neck the noose she draws; At last her veil before her face she spread, The nurse, who lay without, her faithful guard, Aud drew a long preluding sigh, and said, Though not in words, the murmurs overheard, "O happy mother, in thy marriage bed!” And sighs and hollow sounds; surpris'd, with fright | Then groan'd, and ceas'd; the good old woman She starts, and leaves her bed, and springs a light: shook, Unlocks the door, and entering out of breath, Stiff were her eyes, and ghastly was her look: The dying saw, and instruments of death; Her hoary hair upright with horrour stood, She shrieks, she cuts the zone with trembling haste, Made (to her grief) more knowing than she would: And in her arms her fainting charge embrac'd: Much she reproach'd, and many things she said, Next (for she now had leisure for her tears) To cure the madness of th' unhappy maid: She weeping ask'd, in these her blooming years, In vain : for Myrrha stood convict of ill; What unforeseen misfortune caus'd her care, Her reason vanquish’d, but unchang'd her will: To loath ber life, and languish in despair!

Perverse of mind, unable to reply, The maid with down-cast eyes, and mute with grief, She stood resolv'd or to possess or die. For death unfinish'd, and ill-tim'd relief,

At length the fondness of a nurse prevailid Stood sullen to her suit: the beldame press'd Against her better sense, and virtue faild: The niore to know, and bar'd her wither'd breast, Enjoy, my child, since such is thy desire, Adjur'd her, by the kindly food she drew

Thy love,” she said; she durst not say, thy sire. From those dry founts, her secret ill to show. “Live, though unhappy, live on any teims:” Sad Myrrha sigh'd, and turn'd her eyes aside: Then with a second oath her faith confirms. The nurse still urg'd, and would not be deny'd: The solemn feast of Ceres now was near, Nor only promis'd secresy; but pray'd

When long white linen stoles the matrons wear; She might have leave to give her offer'd aid. Rank'd in procession walk the pious train, “Good will,” she said, “ my want of strength sup- Offering first-fruits, and spikes of yellow grain : And diligence shall give what age denies. [plies, For nine long nights the nuptial hed they shun, If strong desires thy mind to fury move,

And, sanctifying harvest, lie alone. With charms and med'cines I can cure thy love: Mix'd with the crowd, the queen forsook ber lord, If envious eyes their hurtful rays have cast, And Ceres' power with secret rites ador'd. More powerful verse shall free thee from the blast: The royal couch, now vacant for a time, If Heaven offended sends thee this disease, The crafty crone, officious in her crime, Offended Heaven with prayers we can appease. The curst occasion took: the king she found What then remain, that can these cares procure? Easy with wine, and deep in pleasure drown'd, Thy house is flourishing, thy fortune sure:

Prepar'd for love: the beldame blew the flame, Thy careful mother yet in health survives, Confess'd the passion, but conceald the name. And, to thy comfort, thy kind father lives." Her form she prais'd; the monarch ask'd her years, The virgin started at her father's name,

And she reply'd, the same that Myrrha bears. And sigh'd profoundly, conscious of the shame: Wine and commended beauty fir'd his thought; Nor yet the nurse her impious love divin'd: Impatient, he commands her to be brought. But yet surmis'd, that love disturb'd her mind : Pleas'd with her charge perform’d, she hies her Thus thinking, she pursued her point, and laid

home, And lull'd within her lap the mourning maid; And gratulates the nymph, the task was overcome. Then softly sooth'd her thus, “I guess your grief: Myrrha was joy'd the welcome news to hear; You love, my child; your love shall find relief. But, clogg'd with guilt, the joy was insincere: My long experienc'd age shall be your guide; Su various, so discordant is the mind, Rely on that, and lay distrust aside:

That in our will, a different will we find. No breath of air shall on the secret blow,

III she picsag'd, and yet pursu'd her lust; Nor shall (what most you fear) your father know." For guilty pleasures give a double gust. Struck once again, as with a thunder-clap, Twas depth of night: Arctophylax had driven The guilty virgin bounded from her lap,

His lazy wain half round the northern Heaven, And threw her body prostrate on the bed,

When Myrrha hasten'd to the crime desir'd; And, to conceal her blushes, hid her head: The Moon beheld her first, and first rctir'd;

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The stars amaz'd ran backward from the sight, For, while she spoke, the ground began to rise, And, sbrunk within their sockets, lost their light. And gather'd round her feet, her legs, and thighs: Icarius first withdraws his holy fame :

Her toes in roots descend, and, spreading wide, The Virgin sign, in Heaven the second name, A firm foundation for the trunk provide: Slides down the belt, and from her station fies, Her solid bones convert to solid wood, And nicht wiih sable clouds involves the skies. To pith her marrow, and to sap her blood : Bold Myrrha still pursues her black intent: Her arms are boughs, her fingers change their kind, She stumbled thrice, (an omen of th' event;) Her tender skin is harden'd into rind. Thrice shriek'd the funeral owl, yet on she went, And now the rising tree her womb invests, Secure of shame, because secure of sight;

Now, shooting upwards still, invades her breasts, Er'n bashfal sius are impudent by night.

And shades the neck; and, weary with delay, Link'd band in hand, th’accomplice and the dame, She sụnk her head within, and met it half the way. Their way exploring, to the chamber came: And though with outward shape she lost her sense, The door was ope, they blindly grope their way, With bitter tears she wept her last offence; Where dark in bed th’expecting monarch lay ; And still she weeps, nor sheds her tears in vain; Thus far her courage heid, but here forsakes; For still the precious drops her name retain. Her faint knees knock at every step she makes. Mean time the misbegotten infant grows, The nearer to her criine, the more within

And, ripe for birth, distends with deadly throes She feels remorse, and horrour of her sin;

The swelling rind, with unavailing strife, Repents too late her criminal desire,

To leave the wooden womb, and pushes into life. And wishes, that unknown she could retire.

The mother-tree, as if oppress'd with pain, Her lingering thus, the nurse (who fear'd delay Writhes here and there, to break the bark, in vain: The fatal secret might at length betray)

And, like a labouring woman, would have pray'd, Pull'd forward, to complete the work begun, But wants a voice to call Lucina's aid: And said to Cinyras, “ Receive thy own :"

The bensing bole sends out a hollow sound, Thus saying, she deliver'd kind to kind,

And trickling tears fall thicker on the ground. Accurs'd, and their devoted bodies join'd.

The mild Lucina came uncall'd, and stood The sire, unknowing of the crime, admits

Beside the struggling boughs, and heard the His bowels, and profanes the hallow'd sheets;

groaning wood: He found she trembled, but believ'd she strove Then reach'd her midwife hand, to speed the throes, With maiden modesty, against her love; [move. And spoke the powerful spells that babes to birth And sought with flattering words vain fancies to re- The bark divides, the living load to free, [disclose. Perhaps he said, “My daughter, cease thy fears,” | And safe delivers the convulsive Tree. (Because the title suited with her years)

The ready nymphs receive the crying child, And, " Father," she might whisper him again, And wash him in the tears the parent plant distill’d. That names might not be wanting to the sin. They swath'd him with their scarfs; beneath him Full of her sire, she left th' incestuous bed,

spread

[head. And carried in her womb the crime she bred : The ground with herbs; with roses rais'd his Another, and another night she came;

The lovely babe was born with every grace: For frequent sin had left no sense of shame: Ev'n Envy must have prais'd so fair a face: Till Cinyras desir'd to see her face,

Such was his form, as painters, when they show Whose body he had held in close embrace,

Their utmost art, on naked Loves bestow : And brought a taper; the revealer, Light,

And that their arms no difference might betray, Expos'd both crime and criminal to sight:

Give him a bow, or his from Cupid take away. Grief, rage, amazement, could no speech afford, Time glides along with undiscover'd haste, But from the sheath he drew th’avenging sword: The future but a length bebind the past: The guilty fled; the benefit of night,

So swift are years, the babe, whom just before
That favour'd first the sin, secur'd the flight. His grandsire got, and whom his sister bore;
Long wandering through the spacious fields, she | The drop, the thing which late the tree enclos'd,
Her voyage to th’ Arabian continent; [bent | And late the yawning bark to life expos'd;
Then pass'd the region which Panchæa join'd, A babe, a boy, a beauteous youth appears;
And flying left the balmy plains behind. [length And lovelier than himself at riper years.
Nine times the Moon had mewd her horns; at Now to the queen of love he gave desires,
With travel weary, unsupply'd with strength, And, with her pains, reveng'd his mother's fires,
And with the burthen of her womb oppress'd,
Sabæan fields afford her needful rest :
There, loathing life, and yet of death afraid,
In anguish of her spirit, thus she pray'd :

CEYX AND ALCYONE.
“Ye powers, if any so propitious are
To accept my penitence, and hear my prayer;
Your judgments, I confess, are justly sent :

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.
Great sins, deserve as great a punishment :
Yet since my life the living will profane,
And since my death the happy dead will stain,

Connection of this Fable with the former. A middle state your mercy may bestow,

Ceyx, the son of Lucifer (the morning star), and Betwixt the realms above, and those below:

king of Trachin in Thessaly, was married to Some oth-t form to wretched Myrrha give,

Alcyone daughter to Æolus god of the winds. Nor let her wholly die, nor wholly live.”

Both the husband and the wife loved each other The prayers of penitents are never vain;

with an entire affection. Dædalion, the elder At least, she did her last request obtain;

brother of Ceyx, whom he succeeded, having VOL. IX.

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OUT OF TIE TENTH BOOK OF

been turned into a falcon by Apollo; and Chione, Before two Moons their orb with light adorn, Dædalion's daughter, slain by Diana; Ceyx If Heaven allow me life, I will return.” prepared a ship to sail to Claros, there to con- This promise of so short a stay prevails; sult the oracle of Apollo, and (as Ovid seems to He soon equips the ship, supplies the sails, intimate) to inquire how the anger of the gods And gives the word to lanch; she trembling viets might be atoned.

This pomp of death, and parting tears renews:

Last, with a kiss, she took a long farewel, These prodigies affect the pious prince, (since, Sigh’d, with a sad presage, and swooning fell: But, more perplex'd with those that happen'd While Ceyx seeks delays, the lusty crew, He purposes to seek the Clarian god,

Rais'd on their banks, their oars in order drew Avoiding Delphos, his more fam'd abode,

To their broad breasts, the ship with fury few. Since Phlegian robbers made unsafe the road. The queen, recover'd, rears her humid eyes, Yet could not be, from her he lov'd so well,

And first her husband on the poop espies The fatal voyage, he resolvid, conceal :

Shaking his hand at distance on the main ; But when she saw her lord prepard to part, She took the sign, and shook her hand again. A deadly cold ran shivering to her heart:

Still as the ground recedes, retracts her view Her faded cheeks are chang'd to boxen hue, With sharpen'd sight, till she no longer knew And in her eyes the tears are ever new :

The much-lov'd face; that comfort lost supplies She thrice essay'd to speak; her accents hung,

With less, and with the galley feeds her eyes; And faltering dy'd unfinish'd on her tongue,

The galley borne from view by rising gales, Or vanish'd into sighs : with long delay

She followed with her sight the flying sails : Her voice returi'd; and found the wonted way.

When ev'n the flying sails were seen no more, “Tell me, my lord,” she said, “what fault unknown Forsaken of all sight, she left the shore. Thy once-belov'd Alcyone has done?

Then on her bridal bed her body throws, Whither, ah whither is thy kindness gone?

And sought in sleep her weary'd eyes to close : Can Ceyx then sustain to leave his wife,

Her husband's pillow, and the widow'd part And, unconcern'd, forsake the sweets of life? Which once he press'd, renew'd the former smart. What can thy mind to this long journey move,

And now a breeze from shore began to blow, Or need'st thou absence to renew thy love?

The sailors ship their oars, and cease to row; Yet, if thou goest by land, though grief possess Then hoist their yards a-trip, and all their sails My soul ev'n then, my fears will be the less. Let fall, to court the wind, and catch the gales : But ah ! be warn'd to shun the watery way,

By this the vessel half her course had run, The face is frightful of the stormy sea.

And as much rested till the rising Sun; For late I saw a-drift disjointed planks,

Both shores were lost to sight, when at the close And empty tombs erected on the banks.

Of day, a stiffer gale at east arose : Nor let false hopes to trust betray thy mind, The sea grew white, the rolling waves from far, Because my sire in caves constrains the wind,

Like heralds, first denounce the watery war. Can with a breath a clamorous rage appease,

This seen, the master soon began to cry, They fear bis whistle, and forsake the seas; “ Strike, strike the topsail; let the main-sheet fly, Not so, for, once indulg'd, they sweep the main, And furl your sails :" the winds repel the sound, Deaf to the call, or hearing hear in vain;

And in the speaker's mouth the speech is drown'd. But, bent on mischief, bear the waves before, Yet, of their

own accord, as danger taught, And, not content with seas, insult the shore;

Each in his way, officiously they wrought; When ocean, air, and earth, at once engage,

Some stow their oars, or stop the leaky sides, And rooted forests fly before their rage :

Another, bolder yet, the yard bestrides, At once the clashing clouds to battle move, And folds the sails; a fourth, with labour, laves And lightnings run across the fields above: Th’intruding seas, and waves ejects on waves. I know them well, and mark'd their rude comport,

In this confusion while their work they ply, While yet a child, within my father's court: The winds augment the winter of the sky, In times of tempest they command alone,

And wage intestine wars; the suffering seas And he but sits precarious on the throne:

Are toss'd, and mingled as their tyrants please. The more I know, the more my fears augment, The master would command, but, in despair And fears are oft prophetic of th'event.

Of safety, stands amaz'd with stupid care, But, if not fears or reasons will prevail,

Nor what to bid or what forbid he knows, If Fate has fix'd thee obstinate to sail,

Th’ungovern'd tempest to such fury grows; Go not without thy wife, but let me bear

Vain is his force, and vainer is his skill; My part of danger with an equal share,

With such a concourse comes the flood of ill: And present suffer what I only fear:

The cries of men are mix'd with rattling shrowds; Then o'er the bounding billows shall we ily, Seas dash on seas, and clouds encounter clouds : Secure to live together, or to die.”

At once from east to west, from pole to pole, These reasons mov'd her starlike husband's heart, The forky lightnings flash, the roaring thunders But still he held his purpose to depart:

roll. For, as he lov'd her equal to his life,

Now waves on waves ascending scale the skies, He would not to the seas expose his wife;

And, in the fires above, the water fries : Nor could be wrought his voyage to refrain, When yellow sands are sifted from below, But sought by arguments to sooth her pain; The glittering billows give a golden show: Nor these avail'd; at length he lights on one, And when the fouler bottom spews the black, With which so difficult a cause he won :

The Stygian die tbe tainted waters take : “ My love, so short an absence cease to fear, Then frothy white appear the flatted seas, For, by my father's holy flame, I swear,

And change their colour, changing their disease.