Born on Pelion height, so legend hoary relateth,Pines once floated adrift on Neptune billowy streamingOn to the Phasis flood, to the borders Æætean.Then did a chosen array, rare bloom of valorous Argos,5Fain from Colchian earth her fleece of glory to ravish,Dare with a keel of swiftness adown salt seas to be fleeting,Swept with fir-blades oary the fair level azure of Ocean.Then that deity bright, who keeps in cities her high ward,Made to delight them a car, to the light breeze airily scudding,10Texture of upright pine with a keel's curved rondure uniting.That first sailer of all burst ever on Amphitrite.Scarcely the forward snout tore up that wintery water,Scarcely the wave foamed white to the reckless harrow of oarsmen,Straight from amid white eddies arose wild faces of Ocean,15Nereid, earnest-eyed, in wonderous admiration.Then, not after again, saw ever mortal unharmedSea-born Nymphs unveil limbs flushing naked about them.Stark to the nursing breasts from foam and billow arising.Then, so stories avow, burn'd Peleus hotly to Thetis,20Then to a mortal lover abode not Thetis unheeding,Then did a father agree Peleus with Thetis unite him.O in an aureat hour, O born in bounteous ages,God-sprung heroes, hail: hail, mother of all benediction,You my song shall address, you melodies everlasting.25Thee most chiefly, supreme in glory of heavenly bridal,Peleus, stately defence of Thessaly. Iuppiter evenGave thee his own fair love, thy mortal pleasure approving.Thee could Thetis inarm, most beauteous Ocean-daughter?Tethys adopt thee, her own dear grandchild's wooer usurping?30Ocean, who earth's vast globe with a watery girdle inorbeth?When the delectable hour those days did fully determine,Straightway then in crowds all Thessaly flock'd to the palace,Thronging hosts uncounted, a company joyous approaching.Many a gift they carry, delight their faces illumines.35Left is Scyros afar, and Phthia's bowery Tempe,Vacant Crannon's homes, unvisited high Larisa,Towards Pharsalia's halls, Pharsalia's only they hie them.Bides no tiller afield; necks soften of oxen in idlesse;Feel not a prong'd crook'd hoe lush vines all weedily trailing;40Tears no steer deep clods with a downward coulter unearthed;Prunes no hedger's bill broad-verging verdurous arbours;Steals a deforming rust on ploughs left rankly to moulder.But that sovran abode, each sumptuous inly retiringChamber, aflame with gold, with silver is all resplendent;45Thrones gleam ivory-white; cup-crown'd blaze brightly the tables;All the domain with treasure of empery gaudily flushes.There, set deeply within the remotest centre, a bridalBed doth a goddess inarm; smooth ivory glossy from Indies,Robed in roseate hues, rich seashells' purple adorning.50It was a broidery freak'd with tissue of images olden,One whose curious art did blazon valour of heroes.Gazing forth from a beach of Dia the billow-resounding,Look'd on a vanish'd fleet, on Theseus quickly departing,Restless in unquell'd passion, a feverous heart, Ariadne.55Scarcely her eyes yet seem their seeming clearly to vision.You might guess that arous'd from slumber's drowsy betrayal,Sand-engirded, alone, then first she knew desolation.He the betrayer—his oars with fugitive hurry the watersBeat, each promise of old to the winds given idly to bear them.60Him from amid shore-weeds doth Minos' daughter, in anguishRigid, a Bacchant-form, dim-gazing stonily follow,Stonily still, wave-tost on a sea of troublous affliction.Holds not her yellow locks the tiara's feathery tissue;Veils not her hidden breast light brede of drapery woven;65Binds not a cincture smooth her bosom's orbed emotion.Widely from each fair limb that footward-fallen apparelDrifts its lady before, in billowy salt loose-playing.Not for silky tiara nor amice gustily floatingRecks she at all any more; thee, Theseus, ever her earnest70Heart, all clinging thought, all chained fancy requireth.Ah unfortunate! whom with miseries ever crazing,Thorns in her heart deep planted, affray'd Erycina to madness,From that earlier hour, when fierce for victory TheseusStarted alert from a beach deep-inleted of Piræus,75Gain'd Gortyna's abode, injurious halls of oppression.Once, 'tis sung in stories, a dire distemper atoningDeath of an ill-blest prince, Androgeos, angrily slaughter'd,Taxed of her youthful array, her maidenly bloom fresh-glowing,Feast to the monster bull, Cecropia, ransom-laden.80Then, when a plague so deadly, the garrison undermining,Spent that slender city, his Athens dearly to rescue,Sooner life Theseus and precious body did offer,Ere his country to Crete freight corpses, a life in seeming.So with a ship fast-fleeted, a gale blown gently behind him,85Push'd he his onward journey to Minos' haughty dominion.Him for very delight when a virgin fondly desiringGazed on, a royal virgin, in odours silkily nestled,Pure from a maiden's couch, from a mother's pillowy bosom,Like some myrtle, anear Eurotas' water arising,90Like earth's myriad hues, spring's progeny, rais'd to the breezes;Droop'd not her eyes their gaze unquenchable, ever-burningSave when in each charm'd limb to the depths enfolded, a suddenFlame blazed hotly within her, in all her marrow abiding.O thou cruel of heart, thou madding worker of anguish,95Boy immortal, of whom joy springs with misery blending,Yea, thou queen of Golgi, of Idaly leaf-embower'd,O'er what a fire love-lit, what billows wearily tossing,Drave ye the maid, for a guest so sunnily lock'd deep sighing.What most dismal alarms her swooning fancy did echo!100Oft what a sallower hue than gold's cold glitter upon her!Whiles, heart-hungry in arms that monster deadly to combat,Theseus drew towards death or victory, guerdon of honour.Yet not lost the devotion, or offer'd idly the virgin'sGifts, as her unvoic'd lips breathed incense faintly to heaven.105As on Taurus aloft some oak agitatedly wavingTosses his arms, or a pine cone-mantled, oozily rinded,When as his huge gnarled trunk in furious eddies a whirlwindRiving wresteth amain; down falleth he, upward hoven,Falleth on earth; far, near, all crackles brittle around him,110So to the ground Theseus his fallen foeman abasing,Slew, that his horned front toss'd vainly, a sport to the breezes.Thence in safety, a victor, in height of glory returned,Guiding errant feet to a thread's impalpable order.Lest, upon egress bent thro' tortuous aisles labyrinthine,115Walls of blindness, a maze unravell'd ever, elude him.Yet, for again I come to the former story, beseems notLinger on all done there; how left that daughter a gazingFather, a sister's arms, her mother woefully clinging,Mother, who o'er that child moan'd desperate, all heart-broken;120How not in home that maid, in Theseus only delighted;How her ship on a shore of foaming Dia did harbour;How, when her eyes lay bound in slumber's shadowy prison,He forsook, forgot her, a wooer traitorous-hearted:Oft, say stories, at heart with frenzied fantasy burning,125Pour'd she, a deep-wrung breast, clear-ringing cries of oppression;Sometimes mournfully clomb to the mountain's rugged ascension,Straining thence her vision across wide surges of ocean;Now to the brine ran forth, upsplashing freshly to meet her,Lifting raiment fine her thighs which softly did open;130Last, when sorrow had end, these words thus spake she lamenting,While from a mouth tear-stain'd chill sobs gushed dolorous ever.'Look, is it here, false heart, that rapt from country, from altar,Household altar ashore, I wander, falsely deserted?Ah! is it hence, Theseus, that against high heaven a traitor135Homeward thou thy vileness, alas thy perjury bearest?Might not a thought, one thought, thy cruel counsel abatingSway thee tender? at heart rose no compassion or anyMercy, to bend thy soul, or me for pity deliver?Yet not this thy promise of old, thy dearly remembered140Voice, not these the delights thou bad'st thy poor one inherit;Nay, but wedlock happy, but envied joy hymeneal;All now melted in air, with a light wind emptily fleeting.Let not a woman trust, since that first treason, a lover'sDesperate oath, none hope true lover's promise is earnest.145They, while fondly to win their amorous humour essayeth,Fear no covetous oath, all false free promises heed not;They if once lewd pleasure attain unruly possession,Lo they fear not promise, of oath or perjury reck not.Yet indeed, yet I, when floods of death were around thee,150Set thee on high, did rather a brother choose to defend not,Ere I, in hate's last hour, false heart, fail'd thee to deliver.Now, for a goodly reward, to the beasts they give me, the flyingFowls; no handful of earth shall bury me, pass'd to the shadows.What grim lioness yeaned thee, aneath what rock's desolation?155What wild sea did bear, what billows foamy regorged thee?Seething sand, or Scylla the snare, or lonely Charybdis?If for a life's dear joy comes back such only requital?Hadst not a will with spousal an honour'd wife to receive me?Awed thee a father stern, cross age's churlish avising?160Yet to your household thou, your kindred palaces olden,Might'st have led me, to wait, joy-filled, a retainer upon thee,Now in waters clear thy feet like ivory laving,Clothing now thy bed with crimson's gorgeous apparel.Yet to the brutish winds why moan I longer unheeded,165Crazy with an ill wrong? They senseless, voiceless, inhumanUtter'd cry they hear not, in answers hollow reply not.He rides far already, the mid sea's boundary cleaving,Strays no mortal along these weeds stretched lonely about me.Thus to my utmost need chance, spitefuller injury dealing,170Grudges an ear, where yet might lamentation have entry.Jove, almighty, supreme, O would that never in earlyTime on Gnossian earth great Cecrops' navies had harbour'd,Ne'er to that unquell'd bull with a ransom of horror atoning,Moor'd on Crete his cable a shipman's wily dishonour.175Never in youth's fair shape such ruthless stratagem hidingHe, that vile one, a guest found with us a safe habitation.Whither flee then afar? what hope, poor lost one, upholds thee?Mountains Idomenean? alas, broad surges of oceanPart us, a rough rude space of flowing water, asunder.180Trust in a father's help? how trust, whom darkly deserting,Him I turned to alone, my brother's bloody defier?Nay, but a loyal lover, a hand pledg'd surely, shall ease me.Surely; for o'er wide water his oars move flexibly fleeting.Also a desert lies this region, a tenantless island,185Nowhere open way, seas splash in circle around me,Nowhere flight, no glimmer of hope; all mournfully silent,Loneliness all, all points me to death, death only remaining.Yet these luminous orbs shall sink not feebly to darkness,Yet from grief-worn limbs shall feeling wholly depart not,190Till to the gods I cry, the betrayed, for justice on evil,Sue for life's last mercy the great federation of heaven.Then, O sworn to requite man's evil wrathfully, PowersGracious, on whose grim brows, with viper tresses inorbed,Looks red-breathing forth your bosom's feverous anger;195Now, yea now come surely, to these loud miseries harken,All I cry, the afflicted, of inmost marrow arising,Desolate, hot with pain, with blinding fury bewilder'd.Yet, for of heart they spring, grief's children truly begotten,Verily, Gods, these moans you will not idly to perish.200But with counsel of evil as he forsook me deceiving,Death to his house, to his heart, bring also counsel of evil.When from an anguish'd heart these words stream'd sorrowful upwards,Words which on iron deeds did sue for deadly requital,Bow'd with a nod of assent almighty the ruler of heaven.205With that dreadful motion aneath earth's hollow, the ruffledOcean shook, and stormy the stars 'gan tremble in ether.Thereto his heart thick-sown with blindness cloudily dark'ning,Thought not of all those words, Theseus, from memory fallen,Words which his heedful soul had kept immovable ever.210Nor to his eager sire fair token of happy returningRais'd, when his eyes safe-sighted Erectheus' populous haven.Once, so stories tell, when Pallas' city behind himLeaving, Theseus' fleet to the winds given hopefully parted,Clasping then his son spake Aegeus, straitly commanding.215Son, mine only delight, than life more lovely to gaze on,Son, whom needs it faints me to launch full-tided on hazards,Whom my winter of years hath laid so lately before me:Since my fate unkindly, thy own fierce valour unheeding,Needs must wrest thee away, ere yet these dimly-lit eye-balls220Feed to the full on thee, thy worshipt body beholding;Neither in exultation of heart I send thee a-warring;Nor to the fight shalt bear fair fortune's happier earnest;Rather, first in cries mine heart shall lighten her anguish,When greylocks I sully with earth, with sprinkle of ashes;225Next to the swaying mast shall a sail hang duskily swinging;So this grief, mine own, this burning sorrow within me,Want not a sign, dark shrouds of Iberia, sombre as iron.Then, if haply the queen, lone ranger on haunted Itonus,Pleas'd to defend our people, Erectheus' safe habitations,230Frown not, allow thine hand that bull all redly to slaughter,Look that warily then deep-laid in steady remembrance,These our words grow greenly, nor age move on to deface them;Soon as on home's fair hills thine eyes shall signal a welcome,See that on each straight yard down droop their funeral housings,235Whitely the tight-strung cordage a sparkling canvas aloft swing,Which to behold straightway with joy shall cheer me, with inwardJoy, when a prosperous hour shall bring to thee happy returning.So for a while that charge did Theseus faithfully cherish.Last, it melted away, as a cloud which riven in ether240Breaks to the blast, high peak and spire snow-silvery leaving.But from a rock's wall'd eyrie the father wistfully gazing,Father whose eyes, care-dimm'd, wore hourly for ever a-weeping,Scarcely the wind-puff'd sail from afar 'gan darken upon him,Down the precipitous heights headlong his body he hurried,245Deeming Theseus surely by hateful destiny taken.So to a dim death-palace, alert from victory, TheseusCame, what bitter sorrow to Minos' daughter his evilPerjury gave, himself with an even sorrow atoning.She, as his onward keel still moved, still mournfully follow'd;250Passion-stricken, her heart a tumultuous image of ocean.Also upon that couch, flush'd youthfully, breathless IacchusRoam'd with a Satyr-band, with Nisa-begot Sileni;Seeking thee, Ariadna, aflame thy beauty to ravish.Wildly behind they rushed and wildly before to the folly,255Euhoe rav'd, Euhoe with fanatic heads gyrated;Some in womanish hands shook rods cone-wreathed above them,Some from a mangled steer toss'd flesh yet gorily streaming;Some girt round them in orbs, snakes gordian, intertwining;Some with caskets deep did blazon mystical emblems,260Emblems muffled darkly, nor heard of spirit unholy.Part with a slender palm taborines beat merrily jangling;Now with a cymbal slim would a sharp shrill tinkle awaken;Often a trumpeter horn blew murmurous, hoarsely resounding.Rose on pipes barbaric a jarring music of horror.265Such, wrought rarely, the shapes this quilt did richly apparel,Where to the couch close-clasped it hung thick veils of adorning.So to the full heart-sated of all their curious eying,Thessaly's youth gave place to the Gods high-throned in heaven.As, when dawn is awake, light Zephyrus even-breathing270Brushes a sleeping sea, which slant-wise curved in edgesBreaks, while mounts Aurora the sun's high journey to welcome;They, first smitten faintly by his most airy caressing,Move slow on, light surges a plashing silvery laughter;Soon with a waxing wind they crowd them apace, thick-fleeting,275Swim in a rose-red glow and far off sparkle in Ocean;So thro' column'd porch and chambers sumptuous hieing,Thither or hither away, that company stream'd, home-wending.First from Pelion height, when they were duly departed,Chiron came, in his hand green gifts of flowery forest.280All that on earth's leas blooms, what blossoms Thessaly nursingBreeds on mountainous heights, what near each showery riverSwells to the warm west-wind, in gales of foison alighting;These did his own hands bear in girlonds twined of all hues,That to the perfume sweet for joy laugh'd gaily the palace.285Follow'd straight Penios, awhile his bowery Tempe,Tempe, shrined around in shadowy woods o'erhanging,Left to the bare-limb'd maids Magnesian, airily ranging.No scant carrier he; tall root-torn beeches his heavyBurden, bays stemm'd stately, in heights exalted ascending.290Thereto the nodding plane, and that lithe sister of youthfulPhaethon flame-enwrapt, and cypress in air upspringing:These in breadths inwoven he heap'd close-twin'd to the palace,Whereto the porch wox green, with soft leaves canopied over.Him did follow anear, deep heart and wily, Prometheus,295Scarr'd and wearing yet dim traces of early dishonour,All which of old his body to flint fast-welded in iron,Bore and dearly abied, on slippery crags suspended.Last with his awful spouse, with children goodly, the sovranFather approach'd; thou, Phoebus, alone, his warder in heaven,300Left, with that dear sister, on Idrus ranger eternal.Peleus sister alike and brother in high misprisionHeld, nor lifted a torch when Thetis wedded at even.So when on ivory thrones they rested, snowily gleaming,Many a feast high-pil'd did load each table about them;305Whiles to a tremor of age their gray infirmity rocking,Busy began that chant which speaketh surely the Parcae.Round them a folding robe their weak limbs aguish hiding,Fell bright-white to the feet, with a purple border of issue.Wreaths sat on each hoar crown, whose snows flush'd rosy beneath them;310Still each hand fulfilled its pious labour eternal.Singly the left upbore in wool soft-hooded a distaff,Whereto the right large threads down drawing deftly, with upturn'dFingers shap'd them anew; then thumbs earth-pointed in evenBalance twisted a spindle on orb'd wheels smoothly rotating.315So clear'd softly between and tooth-nipt even it everOnward moved; still clung on wan lips, sodden as ashes,Shreds all woolly from out that soft smooth surface arisen.Lastly before their feet lay fells, white, fleecy, refulgent,Warily guarded they in baskets woven of osier.320They, as on each light tuft their voice smote louder approaching,Pour'd grave inspiration, a prophet chant to the future,Chant which an after-time shall tax of vanity never.O in valorous acts thy wondrous glory renewing,Rich Aemathia's arm, great sire of a goodlier issue,325Hark on a joyous day what prophet-story the sistersOpen surely to thee; and you, what followeth after,Guide to a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.Soon shall approach, and bear the delight long-wish'd for of husbands,Hesper, a bride shall approach in starlight happy presented,330Softly to sway thy soul in love's completion abiding,Soon in a trance with thee of slumber dreamy to mingle,Making smooth round arms thy clasp'd throat sinewy pillow.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.Never hath house closed yet o'er loves so blissful uniting,335Never love so well his children in harmony knitten,So as Thetis agrees, as Peleus bendeth according.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.You shall a son see born that knows not terror, Achilles,One whose back no foe, whose front each knoweth in onset;340Often a conqueror, he, where feet course swiftly together,Steps of a fire-fleet doe shall leave in his hurry behind him.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.Him to resist in war, no champion hero ariseth,Then on Phrygian earth when carnage Trojan is utter'd;345Then when a long sad strife shall Troy's crown'd city beleaguer,Waste her a third false heir from Pelops wary descending.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.His unmatchable acts, his deeds of glorious honour,Oft shall mothers speak o'er sons untimely departed;350While from crowns earth-bow'd fall loosen'd silvery tresses,Beat on shrivell'd breasts weak palms their dusky defacing.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.As some labourer ears close-cluster'd lustily lopping,Under a flaming sun, mows fields ripe-yellow in harvest,So, in fury of heart, shall death's stern reaper, Achilles,355Charge Troy's children afield and fell them grimly with iron.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.Deeds of such high glory Scamander's river avoucheth,Hurried in eddies afar thro' boisterous Hellespontus;Then when a slaughter'd heap his pathway watery choking,360Brimmeth a warm red tide and blood with water allieth.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.Voucher of him last riseth a prey untimely devotedE'en to the tomb, which mounded in heaps, high, spherical, earthen,Grants to the snow-white limbs, to the stricken maiden a welcome.365Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.Scarcely the war-worn Greeks shall win such favour of heaven,Neptune's bonds of stone from Dardan city to loosen,Dankly that high-heav'd grave shall gory Polyxena crimson.She as a lamb falls smitten a twin-edg'd falchion under,370Boweth on earth weak knees, her limbs down flingeth unheeding.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.Up then, fair paramours, in fond love happily mingle.Now in blessed treaty the bridegroom welcome a goddess;Now give a bride long-veil'd to her husband's passionate yearning.375Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.Her when duly the nurse with day-light early revisits,Necklace of yester-night—she shall not clasp it about her.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.Nor shall a mother fond, o'er brawls unlovely dishearten'd,380Lay her alone, or cease the delight of children awaiting.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.In such prelude old, such good-night ditty to Peleus,Sang their deep divination, ineffable, holy, the Parcae.Such as in ages past, upon houses godly descending,385Houses of heroes came, in mortal company present,Gods high-throned in heaven, while yet was worship in honour.Often a sovran Jove, in his own bright temple appearing,Yearly, whene'er his day did rites ceremonial usher,Gazed on an hundred slain, on strong bulls heavily falling.390Often on high Parnassus a roving Liber in hurriedFrenzy the Thyiads drave, their locks blown loosely, before him.While all Delphi's city in eager jealousy trooping,Blithely receiv'd their god on fuming festival altars.Mavors often amidst encounter mortal of armies,395Streaming Triton's queen, or maid Ramnusian awful,Stood in body before them, a fainting host to deliver.Only when heinous sin earth's wholesome purity blasted,When from covetous hearts fled justice sadly retreating,Then did a brother his hands dye deep in blood of a brother,400Lightly the son forgat his parents' piteous ashes.Lightly the son's young grave his father pray'd for, an unwedMaiden, a step-dame fair in freer luxury clasping.Then did mother unholy to son that knew not abase her,Shamefully, fear'd not unholy the blessed dead to dishonour.405Human, inhuman alike, in wayward infamy blending,Turned far from us away that righteous counsel of heaven.Therefore proudly the Gods such sinful company view not,Bear not day-light clear upon immortality breathing.
Born on Pelion height, so legend hoary relateth,Pines once floated adrift on Neptune billowy streamingOn to the Phasis flood, to the borders Æætean.Then did a chosen array, rare bloom of valorous Argos,5Fain from Colchian earth her fleece of glory to ravish,Dare with a keel of swiftness adown salt seas to be fleeting,Swept with fir-blades oary the fair level azure of Ocean.Then that deity bright, who keeps in cities her high ward,Made to delight them a car, to the light breeze airily scudding,10Texture of upright pine with a keel's curved rondure uniting.That first sailer of all burst ever on Amphitrite.
Scarcely the forward snout tore up that wintery water,Scarcely the wave foamed white to the reckless harrow of oarsmen,Straight from amid white eddies arose wild faces of Ocean,15Nereid, earnest-eyed, in wonderous admiration.Then, not after again, saw ever mortal unharmedSea-born Nymphs unveil limbs flushing naked about them.Stark to the nursing breasts from foam and billow arising.Then, so stories avow, burn'd Peleus hotly to Thetis,20Then to a mortal lover abode not Thetis unheeding,Then did a father agree Peleus with Thetis unite him.
O in an aureat hour, O born in bounteous ages,God-sprung heroes, hail: hail, mother of all benediction,You my song shall address, you melodies everlasting.25Thee most chiefly, supreme in glory of heavenly bridal,Peleus, stately defence of Thessaly. Iuppiter evenGave thee his own fair love, thy mortal pleasure approving.Thee could Thetis inarm, most beauteous Ocean-daughter?Tethys adopt thee, her own dear grandchild's wooer usurping?30Ocean, who earth's vast globe with a watery girdle inorbeth?
When the delectable hour those days did fully determine,Straightway then in crowds all Thessaly flock'd to the palace,Thronging hosts uncounted, a company joyous approaching.Many a gift they carry, delight their faces illumines.35Left is Scyros afar, and Phthia's bowery Tempe,Vacant Crannon's homes, unvisited high Larisa,Towards Pharsalia's halls, Pharsalia's only they hie them.
Bides no tiller afield; necks soften of oxen in idlesse;Feel not a prong'd crook'd hoe lush vines all weedily trailing;40Tears no steer deep clods with a downward coulter unearthed;Prunes no hedger's bill broad-verging verdurous arbours;Steals a deforming rust on ploughs left rankly to moulder.
But that sovran abode, each sumptuous inly retiringChamber, aflame with gold, with silver is all resplendent;45Thrones gleam ivory-white; cup-crown'd blaze brightly the tables;All the domain with treasure of empery gaudily flushes.
There, set deeply within the remotest centre, a bridalBed doth a goddess inarm; smooth ivory glossy from Indies,Robed in roseate hues, rich seashells' purple adorning.
50It was a broidery freak'd with tissue of images olden,One whose curious art did blazon valour of heroes.Gazing forth from a beach of Dia the billow-resounding,Look'd on a vanish'd fleet, on Theseus quickly departing,Restless in unquell'd passion, a feverous heart, Ariadne.55Scarcely her eyes yet seem their seeming clearly to vision.You might guess that arous'd from slumber's drowsy betrayal,Sand-engirded, alone, then first she knew desolation.He the betrayer—his oars with fugitive hurry the watersBeat, each promise of old to the winds given idly to bear them.
60Him from amid shore-weeds doth Minos' daughter, in anguishRigid, a Bacchant-form, dim-gazing stonily follow,Stonily still, wave-tost on a sea of troublous affliction.Holds not her yellow locks the tiara's feathery tissue;Veils not her hidden breast light brede of drapery woven;65Binds not a cincture smooth her bosom's orbed emotion.Widely from each fair limb that footward-fallen apparelDrifts its lady before, in billowy salt loose-playing.
Not for silky tiara nor amice gustily floatingRecks she at all any more; thee, Theseus, ever her earnest70Heart, all clinging thought, all chained fancy requireth.Ah unfortunate! whom with miseries ever crazing,Thorns in her heart deep planted, affray'd Erycina to madness,From that earlier hour, when fierce for victory TheseusStarted alert from a beach deep-inleted of Piræus,75Gain'd Gortyna's abode, injurious halls of oppression.
Once, 'tis sung in stories, a dire distemper atoningDeath of an ill-blest prince, Androgeos, angrily slaughter'd,Taxed of her youthful array, her maidenly bloom fresh-glowing,Feast to the monster bull, Cecropia, ransom-laden.80Then, when a plague so deadly, the garrison undermining,Spent that slender city, his Athens dearly to rescue,Sooner life Theseus and precious body did offer,Ere his country to Crete freight corpses, a life in seeming.So with a ship fast-fleeted, a gale blown gently behind him,85Push'd he his onward journey to Minos' haughty dominion.
Him for very delight when a virgin fondly desiringGazed on, a royal virgin, in odours silkily nestled,Pure from a maiden's couch, from a mother's pillowy bosom,Like some myrtle, anear Eurotas' water arising,90Like earth's myriad hues, spring's progeny, rais'd to the breezes;Droop'd not her eyes their gaze unquenchable, ever-burningSave when in each charm'd limb to the depths enfolded, a suddenFlame blazed hotly within her, in all her marrow abiding.
O thou cruel of heart, thou madding worker of anguish,95Boy immortal, of whom joy springs with misery blending,Yea, thou queen of Golgi, of Idaly leaf-embower'd,O'er what a fire love-lit, what billows wearily tossing,Drave ye the maid, for a guest so sunnily lock'd deep sighing.What most dismal alarms her swooning fancy did echo!100Oft what a sallower hue than gold's cold glitter upon her!Whiles, heart-hungry in arms that monster deadly to combat,Theseus drew towards death or victory, guerdon of honour.Yet not lost the devotion, or offer'd idly the virgin'sGifts, as her unvoic'd lips breathed incense faintly to heaven.
105As on Taurus aloft some oak agitatedly wavingTosses his arms, or a pine cone-mantled, oozily rinded,When as his huge gnarled trunk in furious eddies a whirlwindRiving wresteth amain; down falleth he, upward hoven,Falleth on earth; far, near, all crackles brittle around him,110So to the ground Theseus his fallen foeman abasing,Slew, that his horned front toss'd vainly, a sport to the breezes.Thence in safety, a victor, in height of glory returned,Guiding errant feet to a thread's impalpable order.Lest, upon egress bent thro' tortuous aisles labyrinthine,115Walls of blindness, a maze unravell'd ever, elude him.
Yet, for again I come to the former story, beseems notLinger on all done there; how left that daughter a gazingFather, a sister's arms, her mother woefully clinging,Mother, who o'er that child moan'd desperate, all heart-broken;120How not in home that maid, in Theseus only delighted;How her ship on a shore of foaming Dia did harbour;How, when her eyes lay bound in slumber's shadowy prison,He forsook, forgot her, a wooer traitorous-hearted:
Oft, say stories, at heart with frenzied fantasy burning,125Pour'd she, a deep-wrung breast, clear-ringing cries of oppression;Sometimes mournfully clomb to the mountain's rugged ascension,Straining thence her vision across wide surges of ocean;Now to the brine ran forth, upsplashing freshly to meet her,Lifting raiment fine her thighs which softly did open;130Last, when sorrow had end, these words thus spake she lamenting,While from a mouth tear-stain'd chill sobs gushed dolorous ever.
'Look, is it here, false heart, that rapt from country, from altar,Household altar ashore, I wander, falsely deserted?Ah! is it hence, Theseus, that against high heaven a traitor135Homeward thou thy vileness, alas thy perjury bearest?
Might not a thought, one thought, thy cruel counsel abatingSway thee tender? at heart rose no compassion or anyMercy, to bend thy soul, or me for pity deliver?
Yet not this thy promise of old, thy dearly remembered140Voice, not these the delights thou bad'st thy poor one inherit;Nay, but wedlock happy, but envied joy hymeneal;All now melted in air, with a light wind emptily fleeting.
Let not a woman trust, since that first treason, a lover'sDesperate oath, none hope true lover's promise is earnest.145They, while fondly to win their amorous humour essayeth,Fear no covetous oath, all false free promises heed not;They if once lewd pleasure attain unruly possession,Lo they fear not promise, of oath or perjury reck not.
Yet indeed, yet I, when floods of death were around thee,150Set thee on high, did rather a brother choose to defend not,Ere I, in hate's last hour, false heart, fail'd thee to deliver.
Now, for a goodly reward, to the beasts they give me, the flyingFowls; no handful of earth shall bury me, pass'd to the shadows.
What grim lioness yeaned thee, aneath what rock's desolation?155What wild sea did bear, what billows foamy regorged thee?Seething sand, or Scylla the snare, or lonely Charybdis?If for a life's dear joy comes back such only requital?
Hadst not a will with spousal an honour'd wife to receive me?Awed thee a father stern, cross age's churlish avising?160Yet to your household thou, your kindred palaces olden,Might'st have led me, to wait, joy-filled, a retainer upon thee,Now in waters clear thy feet like ivory laving,Clothing now thy bed with crimson's gorgeous apparel.
Yet to the brutish winds why moan I longer unheeded,165Crazy with an ill wrong? They senseless, voiceless, inhumanUtter'd cry they hear not, in answers hollow reply not.He rides far already, the mid sea's boundary cleaving,Strays no mortal along these weeds stretched lonely about me.Thus to my utmost need chance, spitefuller injury dealing,170Grudges an ear, where yet might lamentation have entry.
Jove, almighty, supreme, O would that never in earlyTime on Gnossian earth great Cecrops' navies had harbour'd,Ne'er to that unquell'd bull with a ransom of horror atoning,Moor'd on Crete his cable a shipman's wily dishonour.175Never in youth's fair shape such ruthless stratagem hidingHe, that vile one, a guest found with us a safe habitation.
Whither flee then afar? what hope, poor lost one, upholds thee?Mountains Idomenean? alas, broad surges of oceanPart us, a rough rude space of flowing water, asunder.180Trust in a father's help? how trust, whom darkly deserting,Him I turned to alone, my brother's bloody defier?Nay, but a loyal lover, a hand pledg'd surely, shall ease me.Surely; for o'er wide water his oars move flexibly fleeting.
Also a desert lies this region, a tenantless island,185Nowhere open way, seas splash in circle around me,Nowhere flight, no glimmer of hope; all mournfully silent,Loneliness all, all points me to death, death only remaining.
Yet these luminous orbs shall sink not feebly to darkness,Yet from grief-worn limbs shall feeling wholly depart not,190Till to the gods I cry, the betrayed, for justice on evil,Sue for life's last mercy the great federation of heaven.
Then, O sworn to requite man's evil wrathfully, PowersGracious, on whose grim brows, with viper tresses inorbed,Looks red-breathing forth your bosom's feverous anger;
195Now, yea now come surely, to these loud miseries harken,All I cry, the afflicted, of inmost marrow arising,Desolate, hot with pain, with blinding fury bewilder'd.
Yet, for of heart they spring, grief's children truly begotten,Verily, Gods, these moans you will not idly to perish.200But with counsel of evil as he forsook me deceiving,Death to his house, to his heart, bring also counsel of evil.
When from an anguish'd heart these words stream'd sorrowful upwards,Words which on iron deeds did sue for deadly requital,Bow'd with a nod of assent almighty the ruler of heaven.205With that dreadful motion aneath earth's hollow, the ruffledOcean shook, and stormy the stars 'gan tremble in ether.Thereto his heart thick-sown with blindness cloudily dark'ning,Thought not of all those words, Theseus, from memory fallen,Words which his heedful soul had kept immovable ever.210Nor to his eager sire fair token of happy returningRais'd, when his eyes safe-sighted Erectheus' populous haven.Once, so stories tell, when Pallas' city behind himLeaving, Theseus' fleet to the winds given hopefully parted,Clasping then his son spake Aegeus, straitly commanding.
215Son, mine only delight, than life more lovely to gaze on,Son, whom needs it faints me to launch full-tided on hazards,Whom my winter of years hath laid so lately before me:
Since my fate unkindly, thy own fierce valour unheeding,Needs must wrest thee away, ere yet these dimly-lit eye-balls220Feed to the full on thee, thy worshipt body beholding;
Neither in exultation of heart I send thee a-warring;Nor to the fight shalt bear fair fortune's happier earnest;Rather, first in cries mine heart shall lighten her anguish,When greylocks I sully with earth, with sprinkle of ashes;
225Next to the swaying mast shall a sail hang duskily swinging;So this grief, mine own, this burning sorrow within me,Want not a sign, dark shrouds of Iberia, sombre as iron.
Then, if haply the queen, lone ranger on haunted Itonus,Pleas'd to defend our people, Erectheus' safe habitations,230Frown not, allow thine hand that bull all redly to slaughter,
Look that warily then deep-laid in steady remembrance,These our words grow greenly, nor age move on to deface them;
Soon as on home's fair hills thine eyes shall signal a welcome,See that on each straight yard down droop their funeral housings,235Whitely the tight-strung cordage a sparkling canvas aloft swing,
Which to behold straightway with joy shall cheer me, with inwardJoy, when a prosperous hour shall bring to thee happy returning.
So for a while that charge did Theseus faithfully cherish.Last, it melted away, as a cloud which riven in ether240Breaks to the blast, high peak and spire snow-silvery leaving.But from a rock's wall'd eyrie the father wistfully gazing,Father whose eyes, care-dimm'd, wore hourly for ever a-weeping,Scarcely the wind-puff'd sail from afar 'gan darken upon him,Down the precipitous heights headlong his body he hurried,245Deeming Theseus surely by hateful destiny taken.So to a dim death-palace, alert from victory, TheseusCame, what bitter sorrow to Minos' daughter his evilPerjury gave, himself with an even sorrow atoning.She, as his onward keel still moved, still mournfully follow'd;250Passion-stricken, her heart a tumultuous image of ocean.
Also upon that couch, flush'd youthfully, breathless IacchusRoam'd with a Satyr-band, with Nisa-begot Sileni;Seeking thee, Ariadna, aflame thy beauty to ravish.Wildly behind they rushed and wildly before to the folly,255Euhoe rav'd, Euhoe with fanatic heads gyrated;Some in womanish hands shook rods cone-wreathed above them,Some from a mangled steer toss'd flesh yet gorily streaming;Some girt round them in orbs, snakes gordian, intertwining;Some with caskets deep did blazon mystical emblems,260Emblems muffled darkly, nor heard of spirit unholy.Part with a slender palm taborines beat merrily jangling;Now with a cymbal slim would a sharp shrill tinkle awaken;Often a trumpeter horn blew murmurous, hoarsely resounding.Rose on pipes barbaric a jarring music of horror.
265Such, wrought rarely, the shapes this quilt did richly apparel,Where to the couch close-clasped it hung thick veils of adorning.So to the full heart-sated of all their curious eying,Thessaly's youth gave place to the Gods high-throned in heaven.As, when dawn is awake, light Zephyrus even-breathing270Brushes a sleeping sea, which slant-wise curved in edgesBreaks, while mounts Aurora the sun's high journey to welcome;They, first smitten faintly by his most airy caressing,Move slow on, light surges a plashing silvery laughter;Soon with a waxing wind they crowd them apace, thick-fleeting,275Swim in a rose-red glow and far off sparkle in Ocean;So thro' column'd porch and chambers sumptuous hieing,Thither or hither away, that company stream'd, home-wending.
First from Pelion height, when they were duly departed,Chiron came, in his hand green gifts of flowery forest.280All that on earth's leas blooms, what blossoms Thessaly nursingBreeds on mountainous heights, what near each showery riverSwells to the warm west-wind, in gales of foison alighting;These did his own hands bear in girlonds twined of all hues,That to the perfume sweet for joy laugh'd gaily the palace.285Follow'd straight Penios, awhile his bowery Tempe,Tempe, shrined around in shadowy woods o'erhanging,Left to the bare-limb'd maids Magnesian, airily ranging.No scant carrier he; tall root-torn beeches his heavyBurden, bays stemm'd stately, in heights exalted ascending.290Thereto the nodding plane, and that lithe sister of youthfulPhaethon flame-enwrapt, and cypress in air upspringing:These in breadths inwoven he heap'd close-twin'd to the palace,Whereto the porch wox green, with soft leaves canopied over.
Him did follow anear, deep heart and wily, Prometheus,295Scarr'd and wearing yet dim traces of early dishonour,All which of old his body to flint fast-welded in iron,Bore and dearly abied, on slippery crags suspended.Last with his awful spouse, with children goodly, the sovranFather approach'd; thou, Phoebus, alone, his warder in heaven,300Left, with that dear sister, on Idrus ranger eternal.Peleus sister alike and brother in high misprisionHeld, nor lifted a torch when Thetis wedded at even.So when on ivory thrones they rested, snowily gleaming,Many a feast high-pil'd did load each table about them;305Whiles to a tremor of age their gray infirmity rocking,Busy began that chant which speaketh surely the Parcae.
Round them a folding robe their weak limbs aguish hiding,Fell bright-white to the feet, with a purple border of issue.Wreaths sat on each hoar crown, whose snows flush'd rosy beneath them;310Still each hand fulfilled its pious labour eternal.Singly the left upbore in wool soft-hooded a distaff,Whereto the right large threads down drawing deftly, with upturn'dFingers shap'd them anew; then thumbs earth-pointed in evenBalance twisted a spindle on orb'd wheels smoothly rotating.315So clear'd softly between and tooth-nipt even it everOnward moved; still clung on wan lips, sodden as ashes,Shreds all woolly from out that soft smooth surface arisen.Lastly before their feet lay fells, white, fleecy, refulgent,Warily guarded they in baskets woven of osier.320They, as on each light tuft their voice smote louder approaching,Pour'd grave inspiration, a prophet chant to the future,Chant which an after-time shall tax of vanity never.
O in valorous acts thy wondrous glory renewing,Rich Aemathia's arm, great sire of a goodlier issue,325Hark on a joyous day what prophet-story the sistersOpen surely to thee; and you, what followeth after,Guide to a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.
Soon shall approach, and bear the delight long-wish'd for of husbands,Hesper, a bride shall approach in starlight happy presented,330Softly to sway thy soul in love's completion abiding,Soon in a trance with thee of slumber dreamy to mingle,Making smooth round arms thy clasp'd throat sinewy pillow.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.
Never hath house closed yet o'er loves so blissful uniting,335Never love so well his children in harmony knitten,So as Thetis agrees, as Peleus bendeth according.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.
You shall a son see born that knows not terror, Achilles,One whose back no foe, whose front each knoweth in onset;340Often a conqueror, he, where feet course swiftly together,Steps of a fire-fleet doe shall leave in his hurry behind him.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.
Him to resist in war, no champion hero ariseth,Then on Phrygian earth when carnage Trojan is utter'd;345Then when a long sad strife shall Troy's crown'd city beleaguer,Waste her a third false heir from Pelops wary descending.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.
His unmatchable acts, his deeds of glorious honour,Oft shall mothers speak o'er sons untimely departed;350While from crowns earth-bow'd fall loosen'd silvery tresses,Beat on shrivell'd breasts weak palms their dusky defacing.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.
As some labourer ears close-cluster'd lustily lopping,Under a flaming sun, mows fields ripe-yellow in harvest,So, in fury of heart, shall death's stern reaper, Achilles,355Charge Troy's children afield and fell them grimly with iron.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.
Deeds of such high glory Scamander's river avoucheth,Hurried in eddies afar thro' boisterous Hellespontus;Then when a slaughter'd heap his pathway watery choking,360Brimmeth a warm red tide and blood with water allieth.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.
Voucher of him last riseth a prey untimely devotedE'en to the tomb, which mounded in heaps, high, spherical, earthen,Grants to the snow-white limbs, to the stricken maiden a welcome.365Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.
Scarcely the war-worn Greeks shall win such favour of heaven,Neptune's bonds of stone from Dardan city to loosen,Dankly that high-heav'd grave shall gory Polyxena crimson.She as a lamb falls smitten a twin-edg'd falchion under,370Boweth on earth weak knees, her limbs down flingeth unheeding.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.
Up then, fair paramours, in fond love happily mingle.Now in blessed treaty the bridegroom welcome a goddess;Now give a bride long-veil'd to her husband's passionate yearning.375Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.
Her when duly the nurse with day-light early revisits,Necklace of yester-night—she shall not clasp it about her.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.
Nor shall a mother fond, o'er brawls unlovely dishearten'd,380Lay her alone, or cease the delight of children awaiting.Trail ye a long-drawn thread and run with destiny, spindles.
In such prelude old, such good-night ditty to Peleus,Sang their deep divination, ineffable, holy, the Parcae.Such as in ages past, upon houses godly descending,385Houses of heroes came, in mortal company present,Gods high-throned in heaven, while yet was worship in honour.
Often a sovran Jove, in his own bright temple appearing,Yearly, whene'er his day did rites ceremonial usher,Gazed on an hundred slain, on strong bulls heavily falling.390Often on high Parnassus a roving Liber in hurriedFrenzy the Thyiads drave, their locks blown loosely, before him.While all Delphi's city in eager jealousy trooping,Blithely receiv'd their god on fuming festival altars.Mavors often amidst encounter mortal of armies,395Streaming Triton's queen, or maid Ramnusian awful,Stood in body before them, a fainting host to deliver.
Only when heinous sin earth's wholesome purity blasted,When from covetous hearts fled justice sadly retreating,Then did a brother his hands dye deep in blood of a brother,400Lightly the son forgat his parents' piteous ashes.Lightly the son's young grave his father pray'd for, an unwedMaiden, a step-dame fair in freer luxury clasping.Then did mother unholy to son that knew not abase her,Shamefully, fear'd not unholy the blessed dead to dishonour.405Human, inhuman alike, in wayward infamy blending,Turned far from us away that righteous counsel of heaven.Therefore proudly the Gods such sinful company view not,Bear not day-light clear upon immortality breathing.
Though, outworn with sorrow, with hours of torturous anguish,Ortalus, I no more tarry the Muses among;Though from a fancy deprest fair blooms of poesy buddingRise not at all; such grief rocks me, uneasily stirr'd:5Coldly but even now mine own dear brother in ebbingLethe his ice-wan feet laveth, a shadowy ghost.He whom Troy's deep bosom, a shore Rhoetean above him,Rudely denies these eyes, heavily crushes in earth.Ah! no more to address thee, or hear thy kindly replying,10Brother! O e'en than life round me delightfuller yet,Ne'er to behold thee again! Still love shall fail not alone inFancy to muse death's dark elegy, closely to weep.Closely as under boughs of dimmest shadow the pensiveDaulian ever moans Itys in agony slain.15Yet mid such desolation a verse I tender of ancientBattiades, new-drest, Ortalus, wholly for you.Lest to the roving winds these words all idly deliver'd,Seem too soon from a frail memory fallen away.E'en as a furtive gift, sent, some love-apple, a-wooing,20Leaps from breast of a coy maiden, a canopy pure;There forgotten alas, mid vestments silky reposing,—Soon as a mother's step starts her, it hurleth adown:Straight to the ground, dash'd forth ungently, the gift shoots headlong;She in tell-tale cheeks glows a disorderly shame.
Though, outworn with sorrow, with hours of torturous anguish,Ortalus, I no more tarry the Muses among;Though from a fancy deprest fair blooms of poesy buddingRise not at all; such grief rocks me, uneasily stirr'd:
5Coldly but even now mine own dear brother in ebbingLethe his ice-wan feet laveth, a shadowy ghost.He whom Troy's deep bosom, a shore Rhoetean above him,Rudely denies these eyes, heavily crushes in earth.
Ah! no more to address thee, or hear thy kindly replying,10Brother! O e'en than life round me delightfuller yet,Ne'er to behold thee again! Still love shall fail not alone inFancy to muse death's dark elegy, closely to weep.Closely as under boughs of dimmest shadow the pensiveDaulian ever moans Itys in agony slain.
15Yet mid such desolation a verse I tender of ancientBattiades, new-drest, Ortalus, wholly for you.Lest to the roving winds these words all idly deliver'd,Seem too soon from a frail memory fallen away.
E'en as a furtive gift, sent, some love-apple, a-wooing,20Leaps from breast of a coy maiden, a canopy pure;There forgotten alas, mid vestments silky reposing,—Soon as a mother's step starts her, it hurleth adown:Straight to the ground, dash'd forth ungently, the gift shoots headlong;She in tell-tale cheeks glows a disorderly shame.
He whose glance scann'd clearly the lights uncounted of ether,Found when arises a star, sinks in his haven again,How yon eclipsed sun glares luminous obscuration,How in seasons due vanishes orb upon orb;5How 'neath Latmian heights fair Trivia stealthily banish'dFalls, from her upward path lured by a lover awhile;That same sage, that Conon, a lock of great BereniceSaw me, in heavenly-bright deification afarLustrous, a gleaming glory; to gods full many devoted,10Whiles she her arms in prayer lifted, as ivory smooth;In that glorious hour when, flush'd with a new hymeneal,Hotly the King to deface outer Assyria sped,Bearing ensigns sweet of that soft struggle a night brings,When from a virgin's arms spoils he had happily won.15Stands it an edict true that brides hate Venus? or everFalsely the parents' joy dashes a showery tear,When to the nuptial door they come in rainy beteeming?Now to the Gods I swear, tears be hypocrisy then.So mine own queen taught me in all her weary lamentings,20Whiles her bridegroom bold set to the battle a face.What? for an husband lost thou weptst not gloomily lying?Rather a brother dear, forced for a while to depart?This, when love's sharp grief was gnawing inly to waste thee!Ah poor wife! whose soul steep'd in unhappiness all,25Fell from reason away, nor abode thy senses! A noblerSpirit had I erewhile known thee, a fiery child.Pass'd that deed forgotten, a royal wooer had earn'd thee?Deed that braver none ventureth ever again?Yet what sorrow to lose thy lord, what murmur of anguish!30Jove, how rain'd those tears brush'd from a passionate eye!Who is this could wean thee, a God so mighty, to falter?May not a lover live from the beloved afar?Then for a spouse so goodly, before each spirit of heaven,Me thou vowd'st, with slain oxen, a vast hecatomb,35Home if again he alighted. Awhile and Asia crouchingHumbly to Egypt's realm added a boundary new;I, in starry return to the ranks dedicated of heaven,Debt of an ancient vow sum in a bounty to-day.Full of sorrow was I, fair queen, thy brows to abandon,40Full of sorrow; in oath answer, adorable head.Evil on him that oath who sweareth falsely soever!Yet in a strife with steel who can a victory claim?Steel could a mountain abase, no loftier any thro' heaven'sCupola Thia's child lifteth his axle above,45Then, when a new-born sea rose Mede-uplifted; in Athos'Centre his ocean-fleet floated a barbarous host.What shall a weak tress do, when powers so mighty resist not?Jove! may Chalybes all perish, a people accurst,Perish who earth's hid veins first labour'd dimly to quarry,50Clench'd in a molten mass iron, a ruffian heart!Scarcely the sister-locks were parted dolefully weeping,Straight that brother of young Memnon, in Africa born,Came, and shook thro' heaven his pennons oary, before me,Winged, a queen's proud steed, Locrian Arsinoë.55So flew with me aloft thro' darkening shadow of heaven,There to a god's pure breast laid me, to Venus's arms.Him Zephyritis' self had sent to the task, her servant,She from realms of Greece borne to Canopus of yore.There, that at heav'n's high porch, not one sole crown, Ariadne's,60Golden above those brows Ismaros' youth did adore,Starry should hang, set alone; but luminous I might glisten,Vow'd to the Gods, bright spoil won from an aureat head;While to the skies I clomb still ocean-dewy, the GoddessPlaced me amid star-spheres primal, a glory to be.65Close to the Virgin bright, to the Lion sulkily gleaming,Nigh Callisto, a cold child Lycaonian, IWheel obliquely to set, and guide yon tardy BootesWhere scarce late his car dewy descends to the sea.Yet tho' nightly the Gods' immortal steps be above me,70Tho' to the white waves dawn gives me, to Tethys, again;(Maid of Ramnus, a grace I here implore thee, if anyWord should offend; so much cannot a terror alarm,I should veil aught true; not tho' with clamorous uproarRend me the stars; I speak verities hidden at heart):75Lightly for all I reck, so more I sorrow to part meSadly from her I serve, part me forever away.With her, a virgin as yet, I quaff'd no sumptuous essence;With her, a bride, I drain'd many a prodigal oil.Now, O you whom gladly the marriage cresset uniteth,80See to the bridegroom fond yield ye not amorous arms,Throw not back your robes, nor bare your bosom assenting,Save from an onyx stream sweetness, a bounty to me.Yours, in a loyal bed which seek love's privilege, only;Yieldeth her any to bear loathed adultery's yoke,85Vile her gifts, and lightly the dust shall drink them unheeding.Not of vile I seek gifts, nor of infamous, I.Rather, O unstain'd brides, may concord tarry for everWith ye at home, may love with ye for ever abide.Thou, fair queen, to the stars if looking haply, to Venus90Lights thou kindle on eves festal of high sacrifice,Leave me the lock, thine own, nor blood nor bounty requiring.Rather a largesse fair pay to me, envy me not.Stars dash blindly in one! so might I glitter a royalTress, let Orion glow next to Aquarius' urn.
He whose glance scann'd clearly the lights uncounted of ether,Found when arises a star, sinks in his haven again,How yon eclipsed sun glares luminous obscuration,How in seasons due vanishes orb upon orb;5How 'neath Latmian heights fair Trivia stealthily banish'dFalls, from her upward path lured by a lover awhile;That same sage, that Conon, a lock of great BereniceSaw me, in heavenly-bright deification afarLustrous, a gleaming glory; to gods full many devoted,10Whiles she her arms in prayer lifted, as ivory smooth;In that glorious hour when, flush'd with a new hymeneal,Hotly the King to deface outer Assyria sped,Bearing ensigns sweet of that soft struggle a night brings,When from a virgin's arms spoils he had happily won.
15Stands it an edict true that brides hate Venus? or everFalsely the parents' joy dashes a showery tear,When to the nuptial door they come in rainy beteeming?Now to the Gods I swear, tears be hypocrisy then.So mine own queen taught me in all her weary lamentings,20Whiles her bridegroom bold set to the battle a face.What? for an husband lost thou weptst not gloomily lying?Rather a brother dear, forced for a while to depart?This, when love's sharp grief was gnawing inly to waste thee!Ah poor wife! whose soul steep'd in unhappiness all,25Fell from reason away, nor abode thy senses! A noblerSpirit had I erewhile known thee, a fiery child.
Pass'd that deed forgotten, a royal wooer had earn'd thee?Deed that braver none ventureth ever again?Yet what sorrow to lose thy lord, what murmur of anguish!30Jove, how rain'd those tears brush'd from a passionate eye!Who is this could wean thee, a God so mighty, to falter?May not a lover live from the beloved afar?Then for a spouse so goodly, before each spirit of heaven,Me thou vowd'st, with slain oxen, a vast hecatomb,35Home if again he alighted. Awhile and Asia crouchingHumbly to Egypt's realm added a boundary new;I, in starry return to the ranks dedicated of heaven,Debt of an ancient vow sum in a bounty to-day.
Full of sorrow was I, fair queen, thy brows to abandon,40Full of sorrow; in oath answer, adorable head.Evil on him that oath who sweareth falsely soever!Yet in a strife with steel who can a victory claim?Steel could a mountain abase, no loftier any thro' heaven'sCupola Thia's child lifteth his axle above,45Then, when a new-born sea rose Mede-uplifted; in Athos'Centre his ocean-fleet floated a barbarous host.What shall a weak tress do, when powers so mighty resist not?Jove! may Chalybes all perish, a people accurst,Perish who earth's hid veins first labour'd dimly to quarry,50Clench'd in a molten mass iron, a ruffian heart!
Scarcely the sister-locks were parted dolefully weeping,Straight that brother of young Memnon, in Africa born,Came, and shook thro' heaven his pennons oary, before me,Winged, a queen's proud steed, Locrian Arsinoë.55So flew with me aloft thro' darkening shadow of heaven,There to a god's pure breast laid me, to Venus's arms.Him Zephyritis' self had sent to the task, her servant,She from realms of Greece borne to Canopus of yore.There, that at heav'n's high porch, not one sole crown, Ariadne's,60Golden above those brows Ismaros' youth did adore,Starry should hang, set alone; but luminous I might glisten,Vow'd to the Gods, bright spoil won from an aureat head;While to the skies I clomb still ocean-dewy, the GoddessPlaced me amid star-spheres primal, a glory to be.
65Close to the Virgin bright, to the Lion sulkily gleaming,Nigh Callisto, a cold child Lycaonian, IWheel obliquely to set, and guide yon tardy BootesWhere scarce late his car dewy descends to the sea.Yet tho' nightly the Gods' immortal steps be above me,70Tho' to the white waves dawn gives me, to Tethys, again;(Maid of Ramnus, a grace I here implore thee, if anyWord should offend; so much cannot a terror alarm,I should veil aught true; not tho' with clamorous uproarRend me the stars; I speak verities hidden at heart):75Lightly for all I reck, so more I sorrow to part meSadly from her I serve, part me forever away.With her, a virgin as yet, I quaff'd no sumptuous essence;With her, a bride, I drain'd many a prodigal oil.
Now, O you whom gladly the marriage cresset uniteth,80See to the bridegroom fond yield ye not amorous arms,Throw not back your robes, nor bare your bosom assenting,Save from an onyx stream sweetness, a bounty to me.Yours, in a loyal bed which seek love's privilege, only;Yieldeth her any to bear loathed adultery's yoke,85Vile her gifts, and lightly the dust shall drink them unheeding.Not of vile I seek gifts, nor of infamous, I.Rather, O unstain'd brides, may concord tarry for everWith ye at home, may love with ye for ever abide.Thou, fair queen, to the stars if looking haply, to Venus90Lights thou kindle on eves festal of high sacrifice,Leave me the lock, thine own, nor blood nor bounty requiring.Rather a largesse fair pay to me, envy me not.Stars dash blindly in one! so might I glitter a royalTress, let Orion glow next to Aquarius' urn.
CATULLUS.