{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_21765/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_21765","id":"gutenberg_21765","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21765","summary":null,"tags":["Best Books Ever Listings","Category: Classics of Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Poetry","Classical literature","Fables, Latin -- Translations into English","Latin poetry -- Translations into English","Metamorphosis -- Mythology -- Poetry","Mythology, Classical -- Poetry"],"text":"[Transcriber\u2019s Note:\n\n  In the original text, words and phrases supplied by the translator\n  were printed in _italics_. In this e-text they are shown in {braces}.\n  Italics in the notes and commentary are shown conventionally with\n  _lines_, boldface by =marks=.\n\n  Line numbers from the original Latin poem were printed as headnotes\n  on each page. For this e-text, only the line numbers of each complete\n  \u201cFable\u201d are given. Line numbers used in footnotes are retained from\n  the original text; these, too, refer to the Latin poem and are\n  independent of line divisions in the translation.\n\n  Parts of this e-text use material from another edition of the Riley\n  translation of the _Metamorphoses_: George Bell (London, 1893).\n  Details are given at the end of the text, before the Errata. Each\n  segment of the introductory material is individually identified.]\n\n\n\n\n                      THE\n             METAMORPHOSES OF OVID\n\n              Vol. I--Books I-VII\n\nLITERALLY TRANSLATED WITH NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS\n\n                       by\n              HENRY T. RILEY, M.A.\n\n            With an Introduction by\n               EDWARD BROOKS, JR.\n\n\n\n\n        Copyright, 1899, By David McKay\n\n                    Press Of\n          Sherman & Co., Philadelphia\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n  [From Bell edition.]\n\nThe Metamorphoses of Ovid are a compendium of the Mythological\nnarratives of ancient Greece and Rome, so ingeniously framed, as to\nembrace a large amount of information upon almost every subject\nconnected with the learning, traditions, manners, and customs of\nantiquity, and have afforded a fertile field of investigation to the\nlearned of the civilized world. To present to the public a faithful\ntranslation of a work, universally esteemed, not only for its varied\ninformation, but as being the masterpiece of one of the greatest Poets\nof ancient Rome, is the object of the present volume.\n\nTo render the work, which, from its nature and design, must, of\nnecessity, be replete with matter of obscure meaning, more inviting\nto the scholar, and more intelligible to those who are unversed in\nClassical literature, the translation is accompanied with Notes and\nExplanations, which, it is believed, will be found to throw considerable\nlight upon the origin and meaning of some of the traditions of heathen\nMythology.\n\nIn the translation, the text of the Delphin edition has been generally\nadopted; and no deviation has been made from it, except in a few\ninstances, where the reason for such a step is stated in the notes;\nat the same time, the texts of Burmann and Gierig have throughout been\ncarefully consulted. The several editions vary materially in respect to\npunctuation; the Translator has consequently used his own discretion in\nadopting that which seemed to him the most fully to convey in each\npassage the intended meaning of the writer.\n\nThe Metamorphoses of Ovid have been frequently translated into the\nEnglish language. On referring to Mr. Bohn\u2019s excellent Catalogue of the\nGreek and Latin Classics and their Translations, we find that the whole\nof the work has been twice translated into English Prose, while five\ntranslations in Verse are there enumerated. A prose version of the\nMetamorphoses was published by Joseph Davidson, about the middle of\nthe last century, which professes to be \u201cas near the original as the\ndifferent idioms of the Latin and English will allow;\u201d and to be\n\u201cprinted for the use of schools, as well as of private gentlemen.\u201d A few\nmoments\u2019 perusal of this work will satisfy the reader that it has not\nthe slightest pretension to be considered a literal translation, while,\nby its departure from the strict letter of the author, it has gained\nnothing in elegance of diction. It is accompanied by \u201ccritical,\nhistorical, geographical, and classical notes in English, from the best\nCommentators, both ancient and modern, beside a great number of notes,\nentirely new;\u201d but notwithstanding this announcement, these annotations\nwill be found to be but few in number, and, with some exceptions in the\nearly part of the volume, to throw very little light on the obscurities\nof the text. A fifth edition of this translation was published so\nrecently as 1822, but without any improvement, beyond the furbishing up\nof the old-fashioned language of the original preface. A far more\nliteral translation of the Metamorphoses is that by John Clarke, which\nwas first published about the year 1735, and had attained to a seventh\nedition in 1779. Although this version may be pronounced very nearly to\nfulfil the promise set forth in its title page, of being \u201cas literal as\npossible,\u201d still, from the singular inelegance of its style, and the\nfact of its being couched in the conversational language of the early\npart of the last century, and being unaccompanied by any attempt at\nexplanation, it may safely be pronounced to be ill adapted to the\nrequirements of the present age. Indeed, it would not, perhaps, be too\nmuch to assert, that, although the translator may, in his own words,\n\u201chave done an acceptable service to such gentlemen as are desirous of\nregaining or improving the skill they acquired at school,\u201d he has, in\nmany instances, burlesqued rather than translated his author. Some of\nthe curiosities of his version will be found set forth in the notes;\nbut, for the purpose of the more readily justifying this assertion, a\nfew of them are adduced: the word \u201cnitidus\u201d is always rendered \u201cneat,\u201d\nwhether applied to a fish, a cow, a chariot, a laurel, the steps of a\ntemple, or the art of wrestling. He renders \u201chorridus,\u201d \u201cin a rude\npickle;\u201d \u201cvirgo\u201d is generally translated \u201cthe young lady;\u201d \u201cvir\u201d is\n\u201ca gentleman;\u201d \u201csenex\u201d and \u201csenior\u201d are indifferently \u201cthe old blade,\u201d\n\u201cthe old fellow,\u201d or \u201cthe old gentleman;\u201d while \u201csumma arx\u201d is \u201cthe very\ntip-top.\u201d \u201cMisera\u201d is \u201cpoor soul;\u201d \u201cexsilio\u201d means \u201cto bounce forth;\u201d\n\u201cpellex\u201d is \u201ca miss;\u201d \u201clumina\u201d are \u201cthe peepers;\u201d \u201cturbatum fugere\u201d is\n\u201cto scower off in a mighty bustle;\u201d \u201cconfundor\u201d is \u201cto be jumbled;\u201d and\n\u201csqualidus\u201d is \u201cin a sorry pickle.\u201d \u201cImportuna\u201d is \u201ca plaguy baggage;\u201d\n\u201cadulterium\u201d is rendered \u201cher pranks;\u201d \u201cambages\u201d becomes either \u201ca long\nrabble of words,\u201d \u201ca long-winded detail,\u201d or \u201ca tale of a tub;\u201d\n\u201cmiserabile carmen\u201d is \u201ca dismal ditty;\u201d \u201cincrepare hos\u201d is \u201cto rattle\nthese blades;\u201d \u201cpenetralia\u201d means \u201cthe parlour;\u201d while \u201caccingere,\u201d more\nliterally than elegantly, is translated \u201cbuckle to.\u201d \u201cSitus\u201d is \u201cnasty\nstuff;\u201d \u201coscula jungere\u201d is \u201cto tip him a kiss;\u201d \u201cpingue ingenium\u201d is a\ncircumlocution for \u201ca blockhead;\u201d \u201canilia instrumenta\u201d are \u201chis old\nwoman\u2019s accoutrements;\u201d and \u201crepetito munere Bacchi\u201d is conveyed to the\nsense of the reader as, \u201cthey return again to their bottle, and take the\nother glass.\u201d These are but a specimen of the blemishes which disfigure\nthe most literal of the English translations of the Metamorphoses.\n\nIn the year 1656, a little volume was published, by J[ohn] B[ulloker,]\nentitled \u201cOvid\u2019s Metamorphosis, translated grammatically, and, according\nto the propriety of our English tongue, so far as grammar and the verse\nwill bear, written chiefly for the use of schools, to be used according\nto the directions in the preface to the painfull schoolmaster, and more\nfully in the book called, \u2018Ludus Literarius, or the Grammar school,\nchap. 8.\u2019\u201d Notwithstanding a title so pretentious, it contains a\ntranslation of no more than the first 567 lines of the first Book,\nexecuted in a fanciful and pedantic manner; and its rarity is now the\nonly merit of the volume. A literal interlinear translation of the first\nBook \u201con the plan recommended by Mr. Locke,\u201d was published in 1839,\nwhich had been already preceded by \u201ca selection from the Metamorphoses\nof Ovid, adapted to the Hamiltonian system, by a literal and interlineal\ntranslation,\u201d published by James Hamilton, the author of the Hamiltonian\nsystem. This work contains selections only from the first six books, and\nconsequently embraces but a very small portion of the entire work.\n\nFor the better elucidation of the different fabulous narratives and\nallusions, explanations have been added, which are principally derived\nfrom the writings of Herodotus, Apollodorus, Pausanias, Dio Cassius,\nDionysius of Halicarnassus, Strabo, Hyginus, Nonnus, and others of the\nhistorians, philosophers, and mythologists of antiquity. A great number\nof these illustrations are collected in the elaborate edition of Ovid,\npublished by the Abb\u00e9 Banier, one of the most learned scholars of the\nlast century; who has, therein, and in his \u201cExplanations of the Fables\nof Antiquity,\u201d with indefatigable labour and research, culled from the\nworks of ancient authors, all such information as he considered likely\nto throw any light upon the Mythology and history of Greece and Rome.\n\nThis course has been adopted, because it was considered that a statement\nof the opinions of contemporary authors would be the most likely to\nenable the reader to form his own ideas upon the various subjects\npresented to his notice. Indeed, except in two or three instances, space\nhas been found too limited to allow of more than an occasional reference\nto the opinions of modern scholars. Such being the object of the\nexplanations, the reader will not be surprised at the absence of\ncritical and lengthened discussions on many of those moot points of\nMythology and early history which have occupied, with no very positive\nresult, the attention of Niebuhr, Lobeck, M\u00fcller, Buttmann, and many\nother scholars of profound learning.\n\n\n\n\n  A SYNOPTICAL VIEW\n  of the Principal Transformations Mentioned in\n  THE METAMORPHOSES.\n\n  [From Bell edition, omitting Books VIII-XV.]\n\n\nBOOK I.\n\nChaos is divided by the Deity into four Elements: to these their\nrespective inhabitants are assigned, and man is created from earth and\nwater. The four Ages follow, and in the last of these the Giants aspire\nto the sovereignty of the heavens; being slain by Jupiter, a new race of\nmen springs up from their blood. These becoming noted for their impiety,\nJupiter not only transforms Lycaon into a wolf, but destroys the whole\nrace of men and animals by a Deluge, with the exception of Deucalion and\nPyrrha, who, when the waters have abated, renew the human race, by\nthrowing stones behind them. Other animated beings are produced by heat\nand moisture: and, among them, the serpent Python. Ph\u0153bus slays him, and\ninstitutes the Pythian games as a memorial of the event, in which the\nconquerors are crowned with beech; for as yet the laurel does not exist,\ninto which Daphne is changed soon after, while flying from Ph\u0153bus. On\nthis taking place, the other rivers repair to her father Peneus, either\nto congratulate or to console him; but Inachus is not there, as he is\ngrieving for his daughter Io, whom Jupiter, having first ravished her,\nhas changed into a cow. She is entrusted by Juno to the care of Argus;\nMercury having first related to him the transformation of the Nymph\nSyrinx into reeds, slays him, on which his eyes are placed by Juno in\nthe tail of the peacock. Io, having recovered human shape, becomes the\nmother of Epaphus.\n\n\nBOOK II.\n\nEpaphus, having accused Pha\u00ebton of falsely asserting that Ph\u0153bus is his\nfather, Pha\u00ebton requests Ph\u0153bus, as a proof of his affection towards his\nchild, to allow him the guidance of the chariot of the Sun for one day.\nThis being granted, the whole earth is set on fire by him, and the\n\u00c6thiopians are turned black by the heat. Jupiter strikes Pha\u00ebton with a\nthunderbolt, and while his sisters and his kinsman Cyenus are lamenting\nhim, the former are changed into trees, and Cyenus into a swan. On\nvisiting the earth, that he may repair the damage caused by the\nconflagration, Jupiter sees Calisto, and, assuming the form of Diana, he\ndebauches her. Juno, being enraged, changes Calisto into a bear; and her\nown son Arcas being about to pierce her with an arrow, Jupiter places\nthem both among the Constellations. Juno having complained of this to\nOceanus, is borne back to the heavens by her peacocks, who have so\nlately changed their colour; a thing which has also happened to the\nraven, which has been lately changed from white to black, he having\nrefused to listen to the warnings of the crow (who relates the story of\nits own transformation, and of that of Nyctimene into an owl), and\nhaving persisted in informing Ph\u0153bus of the intrigues of Coronis. Her\nson \u00c6sculapius being cut out of the womb of Coronis and carried to the\ncave of Chiron the Centaur, Ocyrrho\u00eb, the daughter of Chiron, is changed\ninto a mare, while she is prophesying. Her father in vain invokes the\nassistance of Apollo, for he, in the guise of a shepherd, is tending his\noxen in the country of Elis. He neglecting his herd, Mercury takes the\nopportunity of stealing it; after which he changes Battus into a\ntouchstone, for betraying him. Flying thence, Mercury beholds Herse, the\ndaughter of Cecrops, and debauches her. Her sister Aglauros, being\nenvious of her, is changed into a rock. Mercury returns to heaven, on\nwhich Jupiter orders him to drive the herds of Agenor towards the shore;\nand then, assuming the form of a bull, he carries Europa over the sea to\nthe isle of Crete.\n\n\nBOOK III.\n\nAgenor commands his son Cadmus to seek his sister Europa. While he is\ndoing this, he slays a dragon in B\u0153otia; and having sowed its teeth in\nthe earth, men are produced, with whose assistance he builds the walls\nof Thebes. His first cause of grief is the fate of his grandson Act\u00e6on,\nwho, being changed into a stag, is torn to pieces by his own hounds.\nThis, however, gives pleasure to Juno, who hates not only Semele, the\ndaughter of Cadmus, and the favourite of Jupiter, but all the house of\nAgenor as well. Assuming the form of Bero\u00eb, she contrives the\ndestruction of Semele by the lightnings of Jupiter; while Bacchus, being\nsaved alive from his mother\u2019s womb, is brought up on the earth. Jupiter\nhas a discussion with Juno on the relative pleasures of the sexes, and\nthey agree to refer the question to Tiresias, who has been of both\nsexes. He gives his decision in favour of Jupiter, on which Juno\ndeprives him of sight; and, by way of recompense, Jupiter bestows on him\nthe gift of prophesy. His first prediction is fulfilled in the case of\nNarcissus, who, despising the advances of all females (in whose number\nis Echo, who has been transformed into a sound), at last pines away with\nlove for himself, and is changed into a flower which bears his name.\nPentheus, however, derides the prophet; who predicts his fate, and his\npredictions are soon verified; for, on the celebration of the orgies,\nBacchus having assumed a disguise, is brought before him; and having\nrelated to Pentheus the story of the transformation of the Etrurian\nsailors into dolphins, he is thrown into prison. On this, Pentheus is\ntorn in pieces by the Bacchanals, and great respect is afterwards paid\nto the rites of Bacchus.\n\n\nBOOK IV.\n\nStill Alcitho\u00eb and her sisters, neglecting the rites, attend to their\nspinning, during the festivities, and pass the time in telling stories;\nand, among others, that of Pyramus and Thisbe, by whose blood the\nmulberry is turned from white to black, and that of the discovery of the\nintrigues of Mars and Venus, on the information of the Sun. They also\ntell how the Sun assumed the form of Eurynome, that he might enjoy her\ndaughter Leucotho\u00eb; how Clytie, becoming jealous of her sister, was\ntransformed into a sun-flower; and how Salmacis and Hermaphroditus had\nbecome united into one body. After this, through the agency of Bacchus,\nthe sisters are transformed into bats, and their webs are changed into\nvines. Ino rejoicing at this, Juno, in her hatred and indignation, sends\none of the Furies to her, who causes her to be struck with insanity, on\nwhich she leaps into the sea, with her son Melicerta in her arms; but by\nthe intercession of Venus, they become sea Deities, and their Sidonian\nattendants, who are bewailing them as dead, are changed into rocks.\nCadmus, afflicted at this fresh calamity, retires from Thebes, and flies\nto Illyria, together with his wife, where they are both transformed into\nserpents. Of those who despise Bacchus, Acrisius alone remains, the\ngrandfather of Perseus, who, having cut off the head of the Gorgon\nMedusa, serpents are produced by her blood. Perseus turns Atlas into a\nmountain, and having liberated Andromeda, he changes sea-weed into\ncoral, and afterwards marries her.\n\n\nBOOK V.\n\nA tumult arising during the celebration of the nuptials, Phineus claims\nAndromeda, who has been betrothed to him; and together with Pr\u0153tus, he\nand Polydectes are turned into stone. Pallas, who has aided Perseus, now\nleaves him, and goes to Helicon, to see the fountain of Hippocrene. The\nMuses tell her the story of Pyreneus and the Pierides, who were\ntransformed into magpies after they had repeated various songs on the\nsubjects of the transformation of the Deities into various forms of\nanimals; the rape of Proserpine, the wanderings of Ceres, the change of\nCyane into a fountain, of a boy into a lizard, of Ascalaphus into an\nowl, of the Sirens into birds in part, of Arethusa into a spring, of\nLyncus into a lynx, and of the invention of agriculture by Triptolemus.\n\n\nBOOK VI.\n\nInfluenced by the example of the Muses, Pallas determines on the\ndestruction of Arachne. She enters with her into a contest for the\nsuperiority in the art of weaving. Each represents various\ntransformations on her web, and then Arachne is changed into a spider.\nNiobe, however, is not deterred thereby from preferring her own lot to\nthat of Latona; on account of which, all her children are slain by\nApollo and Diana, and she is changed into a rock. On learning this,\nwhile one person relates the transformation by Latona of the Lycian\nrustics into frogs, another calls to mind how Marsyas was flayed by\nApollo. Niobe is lamented by Pelops, whose shoulder is of ivory. To\nconsole the Thebans in their afflictions, ambassadors come from the\nadjacent cities. The Athenians alone are absent, as they are attacked by\nhordes of barbarians, who are routed by Tereus, who marries Progne, the\ndaughter of Pandion. Tereus coming a second time to Athens, takes back\nwith him to his kingdom Philomela, his wife\u2019s sister; and having\ncommitted violence on her, with other enormities, he is transformed into\na hoopoe, while Philomela is changed into a nightingale, and Progne\nbecomes a swallow. Pandion, hearing of these wondrous events dies of\ngrief. Erectheus succeeds him, whose daughter, Orithyia, is ravished by\nBoreas, and by him is the mother of Calais and Zethes, who are of the\nnumber of the Argonauts on the following occasion.\n\n\nBOOK VII.\n\nJason, by the aid of Medea, having conquered the bulls that breathe\nforth flames, having sowed the teeth of a serpent, from which armed men\nare produced, and having lulled the dragon to sleep, recovers the Golden\nFleece. Medea, accompanying Jason to Greece, restores \u00c6son to youth by\nthe aid of drugs; and promising the same to Pelias, having first, as a\nspecimen, changed a ram into a lamb, by stratagem she kills him. Passing\nthrough many places made remarkable by various transformations, and\nhaving slain her children, she marries \u00c6geus, when Theseus returns home,\nand narrowly escapes being poisoned by her magic potions. Minos\ninterrupts the joy of \u00c6geus on the return of his son, and wages war\nagainst him; having collected troops from all parts, even from Paros,\nwhere Arne has been changed into a jackdaw. Minos endeavours to gain the\nalliance of \u00c6acus, who, however, refuses it, and sends the Myrmidons,\n(who have been changed into ants from men after a severe pestilence),\nunder the command of Cephalus to assist \u00c6geus. Cephalus relates to\nPhocus, the son of \u00c6acus, how, being carried off by Aurora and assuming\nanother shape, he had induced his wife Procris to prove faithless; and\nhow he had received from her a dog and a javelin, the former of which,\ntogether with a fox, was changed into stone; while the latter, by\ninadvertence, caused the death of his wife.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n  [By Edward Brooks, Jr., from McKay edition.]\n\nP. Ovidius Naso--commonly known as Ovid--was born at Sulmo, about,\nninety miles from Rome, in the year 43 B.C. His father belonged to an\nold equestrian family, and at an early age brought his son to Rome,\nwhere he was educated under the most distinguished masters. Very little\nis known of the poet\u2019s life, except that which is gathered from his own\nwritings. After finishing his education at home he visited Athens, in\ncompany with the poet Macer, for the purpose of completing his studies,\nand before returning visited the magnificent cities of Asia Minor and\nspent nearly a year in Sicily.\n\nAlthough as a young man Ovid showed a natural taste and inclination for\npoetical composition, he was by no means encouraged to indulge in this\npursuit. His father thought that the profession of law was much more apt\nto lead to distinction and political eminence than the vocation of a\npoet. He therefore dissuaded his son from writing poetry and urged him\nto devote himself to the legal profession. Compliance with his father\u2019s\nwishes led him to spend much time in the forum, and for a while poetry\nwas abandoned. Upon attaining his majority, he held several minor\noffices of state; but neither his health nor his inclinations would\npermit him to perform the duties of public life. Poetry was his love,\nand in spite of the strong objections of his father, he resolved to\nabandon the law courts and devote himself to a more congenial\noccupation. He sought the society of the most distinguished poets of the\nday, and his admiration for them amounted almost to reverence. He\nnumbered among his intimate friends the poets Macer, Propertius,\nPonticus and Bassus, while \u00c6milius Macer, Virgil\u2019s contemporary, used to\nread his compositions to him, and even the fastidious Horace, it is\nsaid, occasionally delighted the young man\u2019s ear with the charm of his\nverse.\n\nOvid was married three times. His first wife he married when little more\nthan a boy, and the union does not seem to have been a happy one, though\nit was probably due to no fault of the wife. His second wife seems also\nto have been of blameless character, but his love for her was of short\nduration. His third wife was a lady of the great Fabian house and a\nfriend of the Empress Livia. She appears to have been a woman in every\nway worthy of the great and lasting love which the poet lavished upon\nher to the day of his death.\n\nUp to the age of fifty Ovid had lived a life of prosperity and\nhappiness. Though not a wealthy man, his means were such as to permit\nhim to indulge in the luxuries of refined life, and his attainments as a\npoet had surrounded him with a circle of most desirable friends and\nadmirers. He had even obtained the favor and patronage of the royal\nfamily. About the year 8 A.D. he, however, incurred the great\ndispleasure of Augustus, and was ordered by him to withdraw from Rome\nand dwell in the colony of Tomi, on the shore of the Euxine sea. Leaving\nbehind him a wife to whom he was devotedly attached he obeyed the edict\nof his emperor and entered upon an exile from which he was destined\nnever to return. He died in banishment at Tomi in the year 18 A.D.\n\nThe exact reason for Ovid\u2019s banishment has never been clear, though\nthere have been many conjectures as to the cause. About two years\nprevious to his exile Ovid had published a composition which had greatly\ndispleased Augustus, on account of its immoral tendency. Almost\ncoincident with this publication was the discovery of the scandal\nrelating to Julia, daughter of the emperor. It is probable that the\nproximity of these two events tended to intensify the imperial\ndispleasure, and when some time later there was made public the intrigue\nof the emperor\u2019s granddaughter, the indignation of Augustus gave itself\nvent in the banishment of Ovid.\n\nThe writings of Ovid consist of the _Amores_ in three books; the _Heroic\nEpistles_, twenty-one in number; the _Ars Amatoria_; the _Remedia\nAmoris_; the _Metamorphoses_, in fifteen books; the _Fasti_, in six\nbooks; the _Tristia_, in five books; the _Epistles_, in four books, and\na few minor poems. In the following pages will be found a translation of\nthe _Metamorphoses_.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE METAMORPHOSES.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK THE FIRST.\n\n\nTHE ARGUMENT. [I.1-4]\n\nMy design leads me to speak of forms changed into new bodies.[1] Ye\nGods, (for you it was who changed them,) favor my attempts,[2] and bring\ndown the lengthened narrative from the very beginning of the world,\n{even} to my own times.[3]\n\n    [Footnote 1: _Forms changed into new bodies._--Ver. 1. Some\n    commentators cite these words as an instance of Hypallage as being\n    used for \u2018corpora mutata in novas formas,\u2019 \u2018bodies changed into\n    new forms;\u2019 and they fancy that there is a certain beauty in the\n    circumstance that the proposition of a subject which treats of the\n    changes and variations of bodies should be framed with a\n    transposition of words. This supposition is perhaps based rather\n    on the exuberance of a fanciful imagination than on solid grounds,\n    as if it is an instance of Hypallage, it is most probably quite\n    accidental; while the passage may be explained without any\n    reference to Hypallage, as the word \u2018forma\u2019 is sometimes used to\n    signify the thing itself; thus the words \u2018form\u00e6 deorum\u2019 and\n    \u2018ferarum\u2019 are used to signify \u2018the Gods,\u2019 or \u2018the wild beasts\u2019\n    themselves.]\n\n    [Footnote 2: _Favor my attempts._--Ver. 3. This use of the word\n    \u2018adspirate\u2019 is a metaphor taken from the winds, which, while they\n    fill the ship\u2019s sails, were properly said \u2018adspirare.\u2019 It has been\n    remarked, with some justice, that this invocation is not\n    sufficiently long or elaborate for a work of so grave and\n    dignified a nature as the Metamorphoses.]\n\n    [Footnote 3: _To my own times._--Ver. 4. That is, to the days of\n    Augustus C\u00e6sar.]\n\n\nFABLE I. [I.5-31]\n\n  God reduces Chaos into order. He separates the four elements, and\n  disposes the several bodies, of which the universe is formed, into\n  their proper situations.\n\nAt first, the sea, the earth, and the heaven, which covers all things,\nwere the only face of nature throughout the whole universe, which men\nhave named Chaos; a rude and undigested mass,[4] and nothing {more} than\nan inert weight, and the discordant atoms of things not harmonizing,\nheaped together in the same spot. No Sun[5] as yet gave light to the\nworld; nor did the Moon,[6] by increasing, recover her horns anew. The\nEarth did not {as yet} hang in the surrounding air, balanced by its own\nweight, nor had Amphitrite[7] stretched out her arms along the\nlengthened margin of the coasts. Wherever, too, was the land, there also\nwas the sea and the air; {and} thus was the earth without firmness, the\nsea unnavigable, the air void of light; in no one {of them} did its\n{present} form exist. And one was {ever} obstructing the other; because\nin the same body the cold was striving with the hot, the moist with the\ndry, the soft with the hard, things having weight with {those} devoid of\nweight.\n\nTo this discord God and bounteous Nature[8] put an end; for he separated\nthe earth from the heavens, and the waters from the earth, and\ndistinguished the clear heavens from the gross atmosphere. And after he\nhad unravelled these {elements}, and released them from {that} confused\nheap, he combined them, {thus} disjoined, in harmonious unison, {each}\nin {its proper} place. The element of the vaulted heaven,[9] fiery and\nwithout weight, shone forth, and selected a place for itself in the\nhighest region; next after it, {both} in lightness and in place, was the\nair; the Earth was more weighty than these, and drew {with it} the more\nponderous atoms, and was pressed together by its own gravity. The\nencircling waters sank to the lowermost place,[10] and surrounded the\nsolid globe.\n\n    [Footnote 4: _A rude and undigested mass._--Ver. 7. This is very\n    similar to the words of the Scriptures, \u2018And the earth was without\n    form and void,\u2019 Genesis, ch. i. ver. 2.]\n\n    [Footnote 5: _No Sun._--Ver. 10. Titan. The Sun is so called, on\n    account of his supposed father, Hyperion, who was one of the\n    Titans. Hyperion is thought to have been the first who, by\n    assiduous observation, discovered the course of the Sun, Moon, and\n    other luminaries. By them he regulated the time for the seasons,\n    and imparted this knowledge to others. Being thus, as it were, the\n    father of astronomy, he has been feigned by the poets to have been\n    the father of the Sun and the Moon.]\n\n    [Footnote 6: _The Moon._--Ver. 11. Ph\u0153be. The Moon is so called\n    from the Greek \u03c6\u03bf\u1fd6\u03b2\u03bf\u03c2, \u2018shining,\u2019 and as being the sister of\n    Ph\u0153bus, Apollo, or the Sun.]\n\n    [Footnote 7: _Amphitrite._--Ver. 14. She was the daughter of\n    Oceanus and Doris, and the wife of Neptune, God of the Sea. Being\n    the Goddess of the Ocean, her name is here used to signify the\n    ocean itself.]\n\n    [Footnote 8: _Nature._--Ver. 21. \u2018Natura\u2019 is a word often used by\n    the Poet without any determinate signification, and to its\n    operations are ascribed all those phenomena which it is found\n    difficult or impossible to explain upon known and established\n    principles. In the present instance it may be considered to mean\n    the invisible agency of the Deity in reducing Chaos into a form of\n    order and consistency. \u2018Et\u2019 is therefore here, as grammarians term\n    it, an expositive particle; as if the Poet had said, \u2018Deus sive\n    natura,\u2019 \u2018God, or in other words, nature.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 9: _The element of the vaulted heaven._--Ver. 26. This\n    is a periphrasis, signifying the regions of the firmament or upper\n    air, in which the sun and stars move; which was supposed to be of\n    the purest fire and the source of all flame. The heavens are\n    called \u2018convex,\u2019 from being supposed to assume the same shape as\n    the terrestrial globe which they surround.]\n\n    [Footnote 10: _The lowermost place._--Ver. 31. \u2018Ultima\u2019 must not\n    be here understood in the presence of \u2018infima,\u2019 or as signifying\n    \u2018last,\u2019 or \u2018lowest,\u2019 in a strict philosophical sense, for that\n    would contradict the account of the formation of the world given\n    by Hesiod, and which is here closely followed by Ovid; indeed, it\n    would contradict his own words,--\u2018Circumfluus humor coercuit\n    solidum orbem.\u2019 The meaning seems to be, that the waters possess\n    the lowest place only in respect to the earth whereon we tread,\n    and not relatively to the terrestrial globe, the supposed centre\n    of the system, inasmuch as the external surface of the earth in\n    some places rises considerably, and leaves the water to subside in\n    channels.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The ancient philosophers, unable to comprehend how something could be\n  produced out of nothing, supposed a matter pre-existent to the Earth\n  in its present shape, which afterwards received form and order from\n  some powerful cause. According to them, God was not the Creator, but\n  the Architect of the universe, in ranging and disposing the elements\n  in situations most suitable to their respective qualities. This is the\n  Chaos so often sung of by the poets, and which Hesiod was the first to\n  mention.\n\n  It is clear that this system was but a confused and disfigured\n  tradition of the creation of the world, as mentioned by Moses; and\n  thus, beneath these fictions, there lies some faint glimmering of\n  truth. The first two chapters of the book of Genesis will be found to\n  throw considerable light on the foundation of this Mythological system\n  of the world\u2019s formation.\n\n  Hesiod, the most ancient of the heathen writers who have enlarged upon\n  this subject, seems to have derived much of his information from the\n  works of Sanchoniatho, who is supposed to have borrowed his ideas\n  concerning Chaos from that passage in the second verse of the first\n  Chapter of Genesis, which mentions the darkness that was spread over\n  the whole universe--\u2018and darkness was upon the face of the deep\u2019--for\n  he expresses himself almost in those words. Sanchoniatho lived before\n  the Trojan war, and professed to have received his information\n  respecting the original construction of the world from a priest of\n  \u2018Jehovah,\u2019 named Jerombaal. He wrote in the Ph\u0153nician language; but we\n  have only a translation of his works, by Philo Jud\u00e6us, which is by\n  many supposed to be spurious. It is, however, very probable, that from\n  him the Greeks borrowed their notions regarding Chaos, which they\n  mingled with fables of their own invention.\n\n\nFABLE II. [I.32-88]\n\n  After the separation of matter, God gives form and regularity to the\n  universe; and all other living creatures being produced, Prometheus\n  moulds earth tempered with water, into a human form, which is animated\n  by Minerva.\n\nWhen thus he, whoever of the Gods he was,[11] had divided the mass {so}\nseparated, and reduced it, so divided, into {distinct} members; in the\nfirst place, that it might not be unequal on any side, he gathered it up\ninto the form of a vast globe; then he commanded the sea to be poured\naround it, and to grow boisterous with the raging winds, and to surround\nthe shores of the Earth, encompassed {by it}; he added also springs, and\nnumerous pools and lakes, and he bounded the rivers as they flowed\ndownwards, with slanting banks. These, different in {different} places,\nare some of them swallowed up[12] by {the Earth} itself; some of them\nreach the ocean, and, received in the expanse of waters that take a\nfreer range, beat against shores instead of banks.\n\nHe commanded the plains,[13] too, to be extended, the valleys to sink\ndown, the woods to be clothed with green leaves, the craggy mountains to\narise; and, as on the right-hand side,[14] two Zones intersect the\nheavens, and as many on the left; {and as} there is a fifth hotter than\nthese, so did the care of the Deity distinguish this enclosed mass {of\nthe Earth} by the same number, and as many climates are marked out upon\nthe Earth. Of these, that which is the middle one[15] is not habitable\non account of the heat; deep snow covers two[16] {of them}. Between\neither these he placed as many more,[17] and gave them a temperate\nclimate, heat being mingled with cold.\n\nOver these hangs the air, which is heavier than fire, in the same degree\nthat the weight of water is lighter than the weight of the earth. Here\nhe ordered vapors, here too, the clouds to take their station; the\nthunder, too, to terrify the minds of mortals, and with the lightnings,\nthe winds that bring on cold. The Contriver of the World did not allow\nthese indiscriminately to take possession of the sky. Even now,\n(although they each of them govern their own blasts in a distinct tract)\nthey are with great difficulty prevented from rending the world asunder,\nso great is the discord of the brothers.[18] Eurus took his way[19]\ntowards {the rising of} Aurora and the realms of Nabath[20] and Persia,\nand the mountain ridges exposed to the rays of the morning. The Evening\nstar, and the shores which are warm with the setting sun, are bordering\nupon Zephyrus.[21] The terrible Boreas invaded Scythia,[22] and the\nregions of the North. The opposite quarter is wet with continual clouds,\nand the drizzling South Wind.[23] Over these he placed the firmament,\nclear and devoid of gravity, and not containing anything of the dregs of\nearth.\n\nScarcely had he separated all these by fixed limits, when the stars,\nwhich had long lain hid, concealed beneath that mass {of Chaos}, began\nto glow through the range of the heavens. And that no region might be\ndestitute of its own {peculiar} animated beings, the stars and the forms\nof the Gods[24] possess the tract of heaven; the waters fell to be\ninhabited by the smooth fishes;[25] the Earth received the wild beasts,\n{and} the yielding air the birds.\n\n{But} an animated being, more holy than these, more fitted to receive\nhigher faculties, and which could rule over the rest,[26] was still\nwanting. {Then} Man was formed. Whether it was that the Artificer of all\nthings, the original of the world in its improved state, framed him from\ndivine elements;[27] or whether, the Earth, being newly made, and but\nlately divided from the lofty \u00e6ther, still retained some atoms of its\nkindred heaven, which, tempered with the waters of the stream, the son\nof Iapetus fashioned after the image of the Gods, who rule over all\nthings. And, whereas other animals bend their looks downwards upon the\nEarth, to Man he gave a countenance to look on high and to behold the\nheavens, and to raise his face erect to the stars. Thus, that which had\nbeen lately rude earth, and without any regular shape, being changed,\nassumed the form of Man, {till then} unknown.\n\n    [Footnote 11: _Whoever of the Gods he was._--Ver. 32. By this\n    expression the Poet perhaps may intend to intimate that the God\n    who created the world was some more mighty Divinity than those who\n    were commonly accounted Deities.]\n\n    [Footnote 12: _Are some of them swallowed up._--Ver. 40. He here\n    refers to those rivers which, at some distance from their sources,\n    disappear and continue their course under ground. Such was the\n    stream of Arethusa, the Lycus in Asia, the Erasinus in Argolis,\n    the Alpheus in Peloponnesus, the Arcas in Spain, and the Rhone in\n    France. Most of these, however, after descending into the earth,\n    appear again and discharge their waters into the sea.]\n\n    [Footnote 13: _He commanded the plains._--Ver. 43. The use here of\n    the word \u2018jussit,\u2019 signifying \u2018ordered,\u2019 or \u2018commanded,\u2019 is\n    considered as being remarkably sublime and appropriate, and\n    serving well to express the ease wherewith an infinitely powerful\n    Being accomplishes the most difficult works. There is the same\n    beauty here that was long since remarked by Longinus, one of the\n    most celebrated critics among the ancients, in the words used by\n    Moses, \u2018And God said, Let there be light, and there was light,\u2019\n    Genesis, ch. i. ver. 3.]\n\n    [Footnote 14: _On the right-hand side._--Ver. 45. The \u201cright hand\u201d\n    here refers to the northern part of the globe, and the \u201cleft hand\u201d\n    to the southern. He here speaks of the zones. Astronomers have\n    divided the heavens into five parallel circles. First, the\n    equinoctial, which lies in the middle, between the poles of the\n    earth, and obtains its name from the equality of days and nights\n    on the earth while the sun is in its plane. On each side are the\n    two tropics, at the distance of 23 deg. 30 min., and described by\n    the sun when in his greatest declination north and south, or at\n    the summer and winter solstices. That on the north side of the\n    equinoctial is called the tropic of Cancer, because the sun\n    describes it when in that sign of the ecliptic; and that on the\n    south side is, for a similar reason, called the tropic of\n    Capricorn. Again, at the distance of 23\u00bd degrees from the poles\n    are two other parallels called the polar circles, either because\n    they are near to the poles, or because, if we suppose the whole\n    frame of the heavens to turn round on the plane of the\n    equinoctial, these circles are marked out by the poles of the\n    ecliptic. By means of these parallels, astronomers have divided\n    the heavens into four zones or tracks. The whole space between the\n    two tropics is the middle or torrid zone, which the equinoctial\n    divides into two equal parts. On each side of this are the\n    temperate zones, which extend from the tropics to the two polar\n    circles. And lastly, the portions enclosed by the polar circles\n    make up the frigid zones. As the planes of these circles produced\n    till they reached the earth, would also impress similar parallels\n    upon it, and divide it in the same manner as they divide the\n    heavens, astronomers have conceived five zones upon the earth,\n    corresponding to those in the heavens, and bounded by the same\n    circles.]\n\n    [Footnote 15: _That which is the middle one._--Ver. 49. The\n    ecliptic in which the sun moves, cuts the equator in two opposite\n    points, at an angle of 23\u00bd degrees; and runs obliquely from one\n    tropic to another, and returns again in a corresponding direction.\n    Hence, the sun, which in the space of a year, performs the\n    revolution of this circle, must in that time be twice vertical to\n    every place in the torrid zone, except directly under the tropics,\n    and his greatest distance from their zenith at noon, cannot exceed\n    47 degrees. Thus his rays being often perpendicular, or nearly so,\n    and never very oblique, must strike more forcibly, and cause more\n    intense heat in that spot. Being little acquainted with the extent\n    and situation of the earth, the ancients believed it\n    uninhabitable. Modern discovery has shown that this is not the\n    case as to a considerable part of the torrid zone, though with\n    some parts of it our acquaintance is still very limited.]\n\n    [Footnote 16: _Deep snow covers two._--Ver. 50. The two polar or\n    frigid zones. For as the sun never approaches these nearer than\n    the tropic on that side, and is, during one part of the year,\n    removed by the additional extent of the whole torrid zone, his\n    rays must be very oblique and faint, so as to leave these tracts\n    exposed to almost perpetual cold.]\n\n    [Footnote 17: _He placed as many more._--Ver. 51. The temperate\n    zones, lying between the torrid and the frigid, partake of the\n    character of each in a modified degree, and are of a middle\n    temperature between hot and cold. Here, too, the distinction of\n    the seasons is manifest. For in either temperate zone, when the\n    sun is in that tropic, which borders upon it, being nearly\n    vertical, the heat must be considerable, and produce summer; but\n    when he is removed to the other tropic by a distance of 47\n    degrees, his rays will strike but faintly, and winter will be the\n    consequence. The intermediate spaces, while he is moving from one\n    tropic to the other, make spring and autumn.]\n\n    [Footnote 18: _The brothers._--Ver. 60. That is, the winds, who,\n    according to the Theogony of Hesiod, were the sons of Astreus, the\n    giant, and Aurora.]\n\n    [Footnote 19: _Eurus took his way._--Ver. 61. The Poet, after\n    remarking that the air is the proper region of the winds, proceeds\n    to take notice that God, to prevent them from making havoc of the\n    creation, subjected them to particular laws, and assigned to each\n    the quarter whence to direct his blasts. Eurus is the east wind,\n    being so called from its name, because it blows from the east. As\n    Aurora, or the morning, was always ushered in by the sun, who\n    rises eastward, she was supposed to have her habitation in the\n    eastern quarter of the world; and often, in the language of\n    ancient poetry, her name signifies the east.]\n\n    [Footnote 20: _The realms of Nabath._--Ver. 61. From Josephus we\n    learn that Nabath, the son of Ishmael, with his eleven brothers,\n    took possession of all the country from the river Euphrates to the\n    Red Sea, and called it Nabath\u00e6a. Pliny the Elder and Strabo speak\n    of the Nabat\u00e6i as situated between Babylon and Arabia Felix, and\n    call their capital Petra. Tacitus, in his Annals (Book ii.\n    ch. 57), speaks of them as having a king. Perhaps the term\n    \u2018Nabath\u00e6a regna\u2019 implies here, generally, the whole of Arabia.]\n\n    [Footnote 21: _Are bordering upon Zephyrus._--Ver. 63. The region\n    where the sun sets, that is to say, the western part of the world,\n    was assigned by the ancients to the Zephyrs, or west winds, so\n    called by a Greek derivation because they cherish and enliven\n    nature.]\n\n    [Footnote 22: _Boreas invaded Scythia._--Ver. 34. Under the name\n    of Scythia, the ancients generally comprehended all the countries\n    situate in the extreme northern regions. \u2018Septem trio,\u2019 meaning\n    the northern region of the world, is so called from the \u2018Triones,\u2019\n    a constellation of seven stars, near the North Pole, known also as\n    the Ursa Major, or Greater Bear, and among the country people of\n    our time by the name of Charles\u2019s Wain. Boreas, one of the names\n    of \u2018Aquilo,\u2019 or the \u2018north wind,\u2019 is derived from a Greek word,\n    signifying \u2018an eddy.\u2019 This name was probably given to it from its\n    causing whirlwinds occasionally by its violence.]\n\n    [Footnote 23: _The drizzling South Wind._--Ver. 66. The South Wind\n    is especially called rainy, because, blowing from the\n    Mediterranean sea on the coast of France and Italy, it generally\n    brings with it clouds and rain.]\n\n    [Footnote 24: _The forms of the Gods._--Ver. 73. There is some\n    doubt what the Poet here means by the \u2018forms of the Gods.\u2019 Some\n    think that the stars are meant, as if it were to be understood\n    that they are forms of the Gods. But it is most probably only a\n    poetical expression for the Gods themselves, and he here assigns\n    the heavens as the habitation of the Gods and the stars; these\n    last, according to the notion of the Platonic philosophers being\n    either intelligent beings, or guided and actuated by such.]\n\n    [Footnote 25: _Inhabited by the smooth fishes._--Ver. 74.\n    \u2018Cesserunt nitidis habitand\u00e6 piscibus;\u2019 Clarke translates \u2018fell\n    to the neat fishes to inhabit.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 26: _Could rule over the rest._--Ver. 77. This strongly\n    brings to mind the words of the Creator, described in the first\n    chapter of Genesis, ver. 28. \u2018And God said unto them--_have\n    dominion_ over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,\n    and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 27: _Framed him from divine elements._--Ver. 78. We have\n    here strong grounds for contending that the ancient philosophers,\n    and after them the poets, in their account of the creation of the\n    world followed a tradition that had been copied from the Books of\n    Moses. The formation of man, in Ovid, as well as in the Book of\n    Genesis, is the last work of the Creator, and was, for the same\n    purpose, that man might have dominion over the other animated\n    works of the creation.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  According to Ovid, as in the book of Genesis, man is the last work of\n  the Creator. The information derived from Holy Writ is here presented\n  to us, in a disfigured form. Prometheus, who tempers the earth, and\n  Minerva, who animates his workmanship, is God, who formed man, and\n  \u2018breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.\u2019\n\n  Some writers have labored to prove that this Prometheus, of the\n  heathen Mythology, was a Scriptural character. Bochart believes him to\n  have been the same with Magog, mentioned in the book of Genesis.\n  Prometheus was the son of Iapetus, and Magog was the son of Japhet,\n  who, according to that learned writer, was identical with Iapetus. He\n  says, that as Magog went to settle in Scythia, so did Prometheus; as\n  Magog either invented, or improved, the art of founding metals, and\n  forging iron, so, according to the heathen poets, did Prometheus.\n  Diodorus Siculus asserts that Prometheus was the first to teach\n  mankind how to produce fire from the flint and steel.\n\n  The fable of Prometheus being devoured by an eagle, according to some,\n  is founded on the name of Magog, which signifies \u2018a man devoured by\n  sorrow.\u2019 Le Clerc, in his notes on Hesiod, says, that Epimetheus, the\n  brother of Prometheus, was the same with the Gog of Scripture, the\n  brother of Magog. Some writers, again, have exerted their ingenuity to\n  prove that Prometheus is identical with the patriarch Noah.\n\n\nFABLE III. [I.89-112]\n\n  The formation of man is followed by a succession of the four ages of\n  the world. The first is the Golden Age, during which Innocence and\n  Justice alone govern the world.\n\nThe Golden Age was first founded, which, without any avenger, of its own\naccord, without laws, practised both faith and rectitude. Punishment,\nand the fear {of it}, did not exist, and threatening decrees were not\nread upon the brazen {tables},[28] fixed up {to view}, nor {yet} did the\nsuppliant multitude dread the countenance of its judge; but {all} were\nin safety without any avenger. The pine-tree, cut from its {native}\nmountains, had not yet descended to the flowing waves, that it might\nvisit a foreign region; and mortals were acquainted with no shores\nbeyond their own. Not as yet did deep ditches surround the towns; no\ntrumpets of straightened, or clarions of crooked brass,[29] no helmets,\nno swords {then} existed. Without occasion for soldiers, the minds {of\nmen}, free from care, enjoyed an easy tranquillity.\n\nThe Earth itself, too, in freedom, untouched by the harrow, and wounded\nby no ploughshares, of its own accord produced everything; and men,\ncontented with the food created under no compulsion, gathered the fruit\nof the arbute-tree, and the strawberries of the mountain, and cornels,\nand blackberries adhering to the prickly bramble-bushes, and acorns\nwhich had fallen from the wide-spreading tree of Jove. {Then} it was an\neternal spring; and the gentle Zephyrs, with their soothing breezes,\ncherished the flowers produced without any seed. Soon, too, the Earth\nunploughed yielded crops of grain, and the land, without being renewed,\nwas whitened with the heavy ears of corn. Then, rivers of milk, then,\nrivers of nectar were flowing, and the yellow honey was distilled from\nthe green holm oak.\n\n    [Footnote 28: _Read upon the brazen tables._--Ver. 91. It was the\n    custom among the Romans to engrave their laws on tables of brass,\n    and fix them in the Capitol, or some other conspicuous place, that\n    they might be open to the view of all.]\n\n    [Footnote 29: _Clarions of crooked brass._--Ver. 98. \u2018Cornu\u2019 seems\n    to have been a general name for the horn or trumpet; whereas the\n    \u201ctuba\u201d was a straight trumpet, while the \u2018lituus\u2019 was bent into a\n    spiral shape. Lydus says that the \u2018lituus\u2019 was the sacerdotal\n    trumpet, and that it was employed by Romulus when he proclaimed\n    the title of his newly-founded city. Acro says that it was\n    peculiar to the cavalry, while the \u2018tuba\u2019 belonged to the\n    infantry. The notes of the \u2018lituus\u2019 are usually described as harsh\n    and shrill.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The heathen poets had learned, most probably from tradition, that our\n  first parents lived for some time in peaceful innocence; that, without\n  tillage, the garden of Eden furnished them with fruit and food in\n  abundance; and that the animals were submissive to their commands:\n  that after the fall the ground became unfruitful, and yielded nothing\n  without labor; and that nature no longer spontaneously acknowledged\n  man for its master. The more happy days of our first parents they seem\n  to have styled the Golden Age, each writer being desirous to make his\n  own country the scene of those times of innocence. The Latin writers,\n  for instance, have placed in Italy, and under the reign of Saturn and\n  Janus, events, which, as they really happened, the Scriptures relate\n  in the histories of Adam and of Noah.\n\n\nFABLE IV. [I.113-150]\n\n  In the Silver Age, men begin not to be so just, nor, consequently, so\n  happy, as in the Golden Age. In the Brazen Age, which succeeds, they\n  become yet less virtuous; but their wickedness does not rise to its\n  highest pitch until the Iron Age, when it makes its appearance in all\n  its deformity.\n\nAfterwards (Saturn being driven into the shady realms of Tartarus), the\nworld was under the sway of Jupiter; {then} the Silver Age succeeded,\ninferior to {that of} gold, but more precious than {that of} yellow\nbrass. Jupiter shortened the duration of the former spring, and divided\nthe year into four periods by means of winters, and summers, and\nunsteady autumns, and short springs. Then, for the first time, did the\nparched air glow with sultry heat, and the ice, bound up by the winds,\nwas pendant. Then, for the first time, did men enter houses; {those}\nhouses were caverns, and thick shrubs, and twigs fastened together with\nbark. Then, for the first time, were the seeds of Ceres buried in long\nfurrows, and the oxen groaned, pressed by the yoke {of the ploughshare}.\n\nThe Age of Brass succeeded, as the third {in order}, after these;\nfiercer in disposition, and more prone to horrible warfare, but yet free\nfrom impiety. The last {Age} was of hard iron. Immediately every species\nof crime burst forth, in this age of degenerated tendencies;[30]\nmodesty, truth, and honor took flight; in their place succeeded fraud,\ndeceit, treachery, violence, and the cursed hankering for acquisition.\nThe sailor now spread his sails to the winds, and with these, as yet, he\nwas but little acquainted; and {the trees}, which had long stood on the\nlofty mountains, now, {as} ships bounded[31] through the unknown waves.\nThe ground, too, hitherto common as the light of the sun and the\nbreezes, the cautious measurer marked out with his lengthened boundary.\n\nAnd not only was the rich soil required to furnish corn and due\nsustenance, but men even descended into the entrails of the Earth; and\nriches were dug up, the incentives to vice, which the Earth had hidden,\nand had removed to the Stygian shades.[32] Then destructive iron came\nforth, and gold, more destructive than iron; then War came forth, that\nfights through the means of both,[33] and that brandishes in his\nblood-stained hands the clattering arms. Men live by rapine; the guest\nis not safe from his entertainer, nor the father-in-law from the\nson-in-law; good feeling, too, between brothers is a rarity. The husband\nis eager for the death of the wife, she {for that} of her husband.\nHorrible stepmothers {then} mingle the ghastly wolfsbane; the son\nprematurely makes inquiry[34] into the years of his father. Piety lies\nvanquished, and the virgin Astr\u00e6a[35] is the last of the heavenly\n{Deities} to abandon the Earth, {now} drenched in slaughter.\n\n    [Footnote 30: _Age of degenerated tendencies._--Ver. 128. \u2018Vena\u2019\n    signifies among other things, a vein or track of metal as it lies\n    in the mine. Literally, \u2018ven\u00e6 pejoris\u2019 signifies \u2018of inferior\n    metal.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 31: _Now as ships bounded._--Ver. 134. \u2018Insultavere\n    carin\u00e6.\u2019 This line is translated by Clarke, \u2018The keel-pieces\n    bounced over unknown waves.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 32: _To the Stygian shades._--Ver. 139. That is, in deep\n    caverns, and towards the centre of the earth; for Styx was feigned\n    to be a river of the Infernal Regions, situate in the depths of\n    the earth.]\n\n    [Footnote 33: _Through the means of both._--Ver. 142. Gold forms,\n    perhaps, more properly the sinews of war than iron. The history of\n    Philip of Macedon gives a proof of this, as he conquered Greece\n    more by bribes than the sword, and used to say, that he deemed no\n    fortress impregnable, where there was a gate large enough to admit\n    a camel laden with gold.]\n\n    [Footnote 34: _Prematurely makes inquiry._--Ver. 148. Namely, by\n    inquiring of the magicians and astrologers, that by their skill in\n    casting nativities, they might inform them the time when their\n    parents were likely to die, and to leave them their property.]\n\n    [Footnote 35: _Astr\u00e6a._--Ver. 150. She was the daughter of Astr\u00e6us\n    and Aurora, or of Jupiter and Themis, and was the Goddess of\n    Justice. On leaving the earth, she was supposed to have taken her\n    place among the stars as the Constellation of the Virgin.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The Poet here informs us, that during the Golden Age, a perpetual\n  spring reigned on the earth, and that the division of the year into\n  seasons was not known until the Silver Age. This allusion to Eden is\n  very generally to be found in the works of the heathen poets. The\n  Silver Age is succeeded by the Brazen, and that is followed by the\n  Iron Age, which still continues. The meaning is, that man gradually\n  degenerated from his primeval innocence, and arrived at that state of\n  wickedness and impiety, of which the history of all ages, ancient and\n  modern, presents us with so many lamentable examples.\n\n  The limited nature of their views, and the fact that their exuberant\n  fancy was the source from which they derived many of their alleged\n  events, naturally betrayed the ancient writers into great\n  inconsistencies. For in the Golden Age of Saturn, we find wars waged,\n  and crimes committed. Saturn expelled his father, and seized his\n  throne; Jupiter, his son, treated Saturn as he had done his father\n  Uranus; and Jupiter, in his turn, had to wage war against the Giants,\n  in their attempt to dispossess him of the heavens.\n\n\nFABLE V. [I.151-162]\n\n  The Giants having attempted to render themselves masters of heaven,\n  Jupiter buries them under the mountains which they have heaped\n  together to facilitate their assault; and the Earth, animating their\n  blood, forms out of it a cruel and fierce generation of men.\n\nAnd that the lofty {realms of} \u00e6ther might not be more safe than the\nEarth, they say that the Giants aspired to the sovereignty of Heaven,\nand piled the mountains, heaped together, even to the lofty stars. Then\nthe omnipotent Father, hurling his lightnings, broke through\nOlympus,[36] and struck Ossa away from Pelion, that lay beneath it.\nWhile the dreadful carcasses lay overwhelmed beneath their own\nstructure, they say that the Earth was wet, drenched with the plenteous\nblood of her sons, and that she gave life to the warm gore; and that,\nlest no memorial of this ruthless race should be surviving, she shaped\nthem into the form of men. But that generation, too, was a despiser of\nthe Gods above, and most greedy of ruthless slaughter, and full of\nviolence: you might see that they derived their origin from blood.\n\n    [Footnote 36: _Olympus._--Ver. 154. Olympus was a mountain between\n    Thessaly and Macedonia. Pelion was a mountain of Thessaly, towards\n    the Pelasgic gulf; and Ossa was a mountain between Olympus and\n    Pelion. These the Giants are said to have heaped one on another,\n    in order to scale heaven.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The war of the giants, which is here mentioned, is not to be\n  confounded with that between Jupiter and the Titans, who were\n  inhabitants of heaven. The fall of the angels, as conveyed by\n  tradition, probably gave rise to the story of the Titans; while,\n  perhaps, the building of the tower of Babel may have laid the\n  foundation of that of the attempt by the giants to reach heaven.\n  Perhaps, too, the descendants of Cain, who are probably the persons\n  mentioned in Scripture as the children \u2018of men\u2019 and \u2018giants,\u2019 were the\n  race depicted under the form of the Giants, and the generation that\n  sprung from their blood. See Genesis, ch. vi. ver. 2, 4.\n\n\nFABLE VI. [I.163-215]\n\n  Jupiter, having seen the crimes of this impious race of men, calls a\n  council of the Gods, and determines to destroy the world.\n\nWhen the Father {of the Gods}, the son of Saturn, beheld this from his\nloftiest height, he groaned aloud; and recalling to memory the polluted\nbanquet on the table of Lycaon, not yet publicly known, from the crime\nbeing but lately committed, he conceives in his mind vast wrath, and\nsuch as is worthy of Jove, and calls together a council; no delay\ndetains them, thus summoned.\n\nThere is a way on high,[37] easily seen in a clear sky, and which,\nremarkable for its very whiteness, receives the name of the Milky {Way}.\nAlong this is the way for the Gods above to the abode of the great\nThunderer and his royal palace. On the right and on the left side the\ncourts of the ennobled Deities[38] are thronged, with open gates. The\n{Gods of} lower rank[39] inhabit various places; in front {of the Way},\nthe powerful and illustrious inhabitants of Heaven have established\ntheir residence. This is the place which, if boldness may be allowed to\nmy expression, I should not hesitate to style the palatial residence of\nHeaven. When, therefore, the Gods above had taken their seats in the\nmarble hall of assembly; he himself, elevated on his seat, and leaning\non his sceptre of ivory, three or four times shook the awful locks[40]\nof his head, with which he makes the Earth, the Seas, and the Stars to\ntremble. Then, after such manner as this, did he open his indignant\nlips:--\n\n\u201cNot {even} at that time was I more concerned for the empire of the\nuniverse, when each of the snake-footed monsters was endeavoring to lay\nhis hundred arms on the captured skies. For although that was a\ndangerous enemy, yet that war was with but one stock, and sprang from a\nsingle origin. Now must the race of mortals be cut off by me, wherever\nNereus[41] roars on all sides of the earth; {this} I swear by the Rivers\nof Hell, that glide in the Stygian grove beneath the earth. All methods\nhave been already tried; but a wound that admits of no cure, must be cut\naway with the knife, that the sound parts may not be corrupted. I have\n{as subjects}, Demigods, and I have the rustic Deities, the Nymphs,[42]\nand the Fauns, and the Satyrs, and the Sylvans, the inhabitants of the\nmountains; these, though as yet, we have not thought them worthy of the\nhonor of Heaven, let us, at least, permit to inhabit the earth which we\nhave granted them. And do you, ye Gods of Heaven, believe that they will\nbe in proper safety, when Lycaon remarkable for his cruelty, has formed\na plot against {even} me, who own and hold sway over the thunder and\nyourselves?\u201d\n\nAll shouted their assent aloud, and with ardent zeal they called for\nvengeance on one who dared such {crimes}. Thus, when an impious band[43]\n{madly} raged to extinguish the Roman name in the blood of C\u00e6sar, the\nhuman race was astonished with sudden terror at ruin so universal, and\nthe whole earth shook with horror. Nor was the affectionate regard,\nAugustus, of thy subjects less grateful to thee, than that was to\nJupiter. Who, after he had, by means of his voice and his hand,\nsuppressed their murmurs, all of them kept silence. Soon as the clamor\nhad ceased, checked by the authority of their ruler, Jupiter again broke\nsilence in these words:\n\n\u201cHe, indeed, (dismiss your cares) has suffered {dire} punishment; but\nwhat was the offence and what the retribution, I will inform you. The\nreport of the iniquity of the age had reached my ears; wishing to find\nthis not to be the truth, I descended from the top of Olympus, and,\na God in a human shape, I surveyed the earth. \u2019Twere an endless task to\nenumerate how great an amount of guilt was everywhere discovered; the\nreport itself was below the truth.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 37: _There is a way on high._--Ver. 168. The Poet here\n    gives a description of the court of heaven; and supposing the\n    galaxy, or Milky Way, to be the great road to the palace of\n    Jupiter, places the habitations of the Gods on each side of it,\n    and adjoining the palace itself. The mythologists also invented a\n    story, that the Milky Way was a track left in the heavens by the\n    milk of Juno flowing from the mouth of Hercules, when suckled by\n    her. Aristotle, however, suspected what has been since confirmed\n    by the investigations of modern science, that it was formed by the\n    light of innumerable stars.]\n\n    [Footnote 38: _The ennobled Deities._--Ver. 172. These were the\n    superior Deities, who formed the privy councillors of Jupiter, and\n    were called \u2018Di majorum gentium,\u2019 or, \u2018Di consentes.\u2019 Reckoning\n    Jupiter as one, they were twelve in number, and are enumerated by\n    Ennius in two limping hexameter lines:--\n\n      \u2018Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars,\n      Mercurius, Jovis, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 39: _The Gods of lower rank._--Ver. 173. These were the\n    \u2018Dii minorum gentium,\u2019 or inferior Deities.]\n\n    [Footnote 40: _Shook the awful locks._--Ver. 179. This awful nod\n    of Jupiter, the sanction by which he confirms his decrees, is an\n    idea taken from Homer; by whom it is so vividly depicted at the\n    end of the first book of the Iliad, that Phidias, in his statue of\n    that God, admired for the awful majesty of its looks, is said to\n    have derived his conception of the features from that description.\n    Virgil has the same idea in the \u00c6neid, book x; \u2018Annuit, et totum\n    metu tremefecit Olympum.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 41: _Nereus._--Ver. 187. He was one of the most ancient\n    of the Deities of the sea, and was the son of Oceanus and Tethys.]\n\n    [Footnote 42: _The Nymphs._--Ver. 192. The terrestrial Nymphs were\n    the Dryads and Hamadryads, who haunting the woods, and the\n    duration of their existence depending upon the life of particular\n    trees, derived their name from the Greek word \u03b4\u03c1\u1fe6\u03c2, \u2018an oak.\u2019 The\n    Oreades were nymphs who frequented the mountains, while the Nape\u00e6\n    lived in the groves and valleys. There were also Nymphs of the sea\n    and of the rivers; of which, the Nereids were so called from their\n    father Nereus, and the Oceanitides, from Oceanus. There were also\n    the Naiads, or nymphs of the fountains, and many others.]\n\n    [Footnote 43: _Thus when an impious band._--Ver. 200. It is a\n    matter of doubt whether he here refers to the conspiracies of\n    Brutus and Cassius against Julius C\u00e6sar, or whether to that\n    against Augustus, which is mentioned by Suetonius, in the\n    nineteenth chapter of his History. As Augustus survived the latter\n    conspiracy, and the parallel is thereby rendered more complete,\n    probably this is the circumstance here alluded to.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  It is to be presumed, that Ovid here follows the prevailing tradition\n  of his time; and it is surprising how closely that tradition adheres\n  to the words of Scripture, relative to the determination of the\n  Almighty to punish the earth by a deluge, as disclosed in the sixth\n  chapter of Genesis. The Poet tells us, that the King of heaven calls\n  the Gods to a grand council, to deliberate upon the punishment of\n  mankind, in retribution for their wickedness. The words of Scripture\n  are, \u201cAnd God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,\n  and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil\n  continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the\n  earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, \u2018I will\n  destroy man, whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man\n  and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air: for it\n  repenteth me that I have made them.\u2019\u201d --Genesis, ch. vi. ver. 5, 6, 7.\n\n  Tradition seems to have faithfully carried down the fact, that, amid\n  this universal corruption, there was still at least one just man, and\n  here it attributes to Deucalion the merit that belonged to Noah.\n\n\nFABLE VII. [I.216-243]\n\n  Lycaon, king of Arcadia, in order to discover if it is Jupiter himself\n  who has come to lodge in his palace, orders the body of an hostage,\n  who had been sent to him, to be dressed and served up at a feast. The\n  God, as a punishment, changes him into a wolf.\n\nI had {now} passed M\u00e6nalus, to be dreaded for its dens of beasts of\nprey, and the pine-groves of cold Lyc\u00e6us, together with Cyllene.[44]\nAfter this, I entered the realms and the inhospitable abode of the\nArcadian tyrant, just as the late twilight was bringing on the night.\nI gave a signal that a God had come, and the people commenced to pay\ntheir adorations. In the first place, Lycaon derided their pious\nsupplications. Afterwards, he said, I will make trial, by a plain proof,\nwhether this is a God, or whether he is a mortal; nor shall the truth\nremain a matter of doubt. He then makes preparations to destroy me, when\nsunk in sleep, by an unexpected death; this mode of testing the truth\npleases him. And not content with that, with the sword he cuts the\nthroat of an hostage that had been sent from the nation of the\nMolossians,[45] and then softens part of the quivering limbs, in boiling\nwater, and part he roasts with fire placed beneath. Soon as he had\nplaced these on the table, I, with avenging flames, overthrew the house\nupon the household Gods,[46] worthy of their master. Alarmed, he himself\ntakes to flight, and having reached the solitude of the country, he\nhowls aloud, and in vain attempts to speak; his mouth gathers rage from\nhimself, and through its {usual} desire for slaughter, it is directed\nagainst the sheep, and even still delights in blood. His garments are\nchanged into hair, his arms into legs; he becomes a wolf, and he still\nretains vestiges of his ancient form. His hoariness is still the same,\nthe same violence {appears} in his features; his eyes are bright as\nbefore; {he is still} the same image of ferocity.\n\n\u201cThus fell one house; but one house alone did not deserve to perish;\nwherever the earth extends, the savage Erinnys[47] reigns. You would\nsuppose that men had conspired to be wicked; let all men speedily feel\nthat vengeance which they deserve to endure, for such is my\ndetermination.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 44: _Together with Cyllene._--Ver. 217. Cyllenus, or\n    Cyllene, was a mountain of Arcadia, sacred to Mercury, who was\n    hence called by the poets Cyllenius. Lyc\u00e6us was also a mountain of\n    Arcadia, sacred to Pan, and was covered with groves of\n    pine-trees.]\n\n    [Footnote 45: _Of the Molossians._--Ver. 226. The Molossi were a\n    people of Epirus, on the eastern side of the Ambracian gulf. Ovid\n    here commits a slight anachronism, as the name was derived from\n    Molossus, the son of Neoptolemus, long after the time of Lycaon.\n    Besides, as Burmann observes, who could believe that \u2018wars could\n    be waged at such an early period between nations so distant as the\n    Molossi and the Arcadians?\u2019 Apollodorus says, that it was a child\n    of the same country, whose flesh Lycaon set before Jupiter. Other\n    writers say that it was Nyctimus, the son of Lycaon, or Arcas, his\n    grandson, that was slain by him.]\n\n    [Footnote 46: _Upon the household Gods._--Ver. 231. This\n    punishment was awarded to the Penates, or household Gods of\n    Lycaon, for taking such a miscreant under their protection.]\n\n    [Footnote 47: _The savage Erinnys._--Ver. 241. Erinnys was a\n    general name given to the Furies by the Greeks. They were three in\n    number--Alecto, Tisiphone, and Meg\u00e6ra. These were so called,\n    either from the Greek \u1f14\u03c1\u03b9\u03c2 \u03bd\u03bf\u1fe6, \u2018the discord of the mind,\u2019 or from\n    \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u1fc7 \u1f14\u03c1\u03b1 \u03bd\u03b1\u03af\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd, \u2018their inhabiting the earth,\u2019 watching the\n    actions of men.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  If Ovid is not here committing an anachronism, and making Jupiter,\n  before the deluge, relate the story of a historical personage, who\n  existed long after it, the origin of the story of Lycaon must be\n  sought in the antediluvian narrative. It is just possible that the\n  guilty Cain may have been the original of Lycaon. The names are not\n  very dissimilar: they are each mentioned as the first murderer; and\n  the fact, that Cain murdered Abel at the moment when he was offering\n  sacrifice to the Almighty, may have given rise to the tradition that\n  Lycaon had set human flesh before the king of heaven. The Scripture,\n  too, tells us, that Cain was personally called to account by the\n  Almighty for his deed of blood.\n\n  The punishment here inflicted on Lycaon was not very dissimilar to\n  that with which Cain was visited. Cain was sentenced to be a fugitive\n  and a wanderer on the face of the earth; and such is essentially the\n  character of the wolf, shunned by both men and animals. Of course,\n  there are many points to which it is not possible to extend the\n  parallel. Some of the ancient writers tell us, that there were two\n  Lycaons, the first of whom was the son of Phoroneus, who reigned in\n  Arcadia about the time of the patriarch Jacob; and the second, who\n  succeeded him, polluted the festivals of the Gods by the sacrifice of\n  the human race; for, having erected an altar to Jupiter, at the city\n  of Lycosura, he slew human victims on it, whence arose the story\n  related by the Poet. This solution is given by Pausanias, in his\n  Arcadica. We are also told by that historian, and by Suidas, that\n  Lycaon was, notwithstanding, a virtuous prince, the benefactor of his\n  people, and the promoter of improvement.\n\n\nFABLE VIII. [I.244-312]\n\n  Jupiter, not thinking the punishment of Lycaon sufficient to strike\n  terror into the rest of mankind, resolves, on account of the universal\n  corruption, to extirpate them by a universal deluge.\n\nSome, by their words approve the speech of Jupiter, and give spur to\nhim, {indignantly} exclaiming; others, by {silent} assent fulfil their\nparts. Yet the {entire} destruction of the human race is a cause of\ngrief to them all, and they inquire what is to be the form of the earth\nin future, when destitute of mankind? who is to place frankincense[48]\non the altars? and whether it is his design to give up the nations for a\nprey to the wild beasts? The ruler of the Gods forbids them making these\nenquiries, to be alarmed (for that the rest should be his care); and he\npromises, {that} from a wondrous source {he will raise} a generation\nunlike the preceding race.\n\nAnd now he was about to scatter his thunder over all lands; but he was\nafraid lest, perchance, the sacred \u00e6ther might catch fire, from so many\nflames, and the extended sky might become inflamed. He remembers, too,\nthat it was in the {decrees of} Fate, that a time should come,[49] at\nwhich the sea, the earth, and the palace of heaven, seized {by the\nflames}, should be burned, and the laboriously-wrought fabric of the\nuniverse should be in danger of perishing. The weapons forged by the\nhands of the Cyclops are laid aside; a different {mode of} punishment\npleases him: to destroy mankind beneath the waves, and to let loose the\nrains from the whole tract of Heaven. At once he shuts the North Wind in\nthe caverns of \u00c6olus, and {all} those blasts which dispel the clouds\ndrawn over {the Earth}; and {then} he sends forth the South Wind. With\nsoaking wings the South Wind flies abroad, having his terrible face\ncovered with pitchy darkness; his beard {is} loaded with showers, the\nwater streams down from his hoary locks, clouds gather upon his\nforehead, his wings and the folds of his robe[50] drip with wet; and, as\nwith his broad hand he squeezes the hanging clouds, a crash arises, and\nthence showers are poured in torrents from the sky. Iris,[51] the\nmessenger of Juno, clothed in various colors, collects the waters, and\nbears a supply {upwards} to the clouds.\n\nThe standing corn is beaten down, and the expectations of the\nhusbandman, {now} lamented by him, are ruined, and the labors of a long\nyear prematurely perish. Nor is the wrath of Jove satisfied with his own\nheaven; but {Neptune}, his azure brother, aids him with his auxiliary\nwaves. He calls together the rivers, which, soon as they had entered the\nabode of their ruler, he says, \u201cI must not now employ a lengthened\nexhortation; pour forth {all} your might, so the occasion requires. Open\nyour abodes, and, {each} obstacle removed, give full rein to your\nstreams.\u201d {Thus} he commanded; they return, and open the mouths of their\nfountains,[52] and roll on into the ocean with unobstructed course. He\nhimself struck the Earth with his trident, {on which} it shook, and with\na tremor laid open the sources of its waters. The rivers, breaking out,\nrush through the open plains, and bear away, together with the standing\ncorn, the groves, flocks, men, houses, and temples, together with their\nsacred {utensils}. If any house remained, and, not thrown down, was able\nto resist ruin so vast, yet the waves, {rising} aloft, covered the roof\nof that {house}, and the towers tottered, overwhelmed beneath the\nstream. And now sea and land had no mark of distinction; everything now\nwas ocean; and to that ocean shores were wanting. One man takes\npossession of a hill, another sits in a curved boat, and plies the oars\nthere where he had lately ploughed; another sails over the standing\ncorn, or the roof of his country-house under water; another catches a\nfish on the top of an elm-tree. An anchor (if chance so directs) is\nfastened in a green meadow, or the curving keels come in contact with\nthe vineyards, {now} below them; and where of late the slender goats had\ncropped the grass, there unsightly sea-calves are now reposing their\nbodies.\n\nThe Nereids wonder at the groves, the cities, and the houses under\nwater; dolphins get into the woods, and run against the lofty branches,\nand beat against the tossed oaks. The wolf swims[53] among the sheep;\nthe wave carries along the tawny lions; the wave carries along the\ntigers. Neither does the powers of his lightning-shock avail the wild\nboar, nor his swift legs the stag, {now} borne away. The wandering bird,\ntoo, having long sought for land, where it may be allowed to light, its\nwings failing, falls down into the sea. The boundless range of the sea\nhad overwhelmed the hills, and the stranger waves beat against the\nheights of the mountains. The greatest part is carried off by the water:\nthose whom the water spares, long fastings overcome, through scantiness\nof food.\n\n    [Footnote 48: _To place frankincense._--Ver. 249. In those early\n    ages, corn or wheaten flour, was the customary offering to the\n    Deities, and not frankincense, which was introduced among the\n    luxuries of more refined times. Ovid is consequently guilty of an\n    anachronism here.]\n\n    [Footnote 49: _That a time should come._--Ver. 256. Lactantius\n    informs us that the Sibyls predicted that the world should perish\n    by fire. Seneca also, in his consolation to Marcia, and in his\n    Qu\u00e6stiones Naturales, mentions the same destined termination of\n    the present state of the universe. It was a doctrine of the Stoic\n    philosophers, that the stars were nurtured with moisture, and that\n    on the cessation of this nourishment the conflagration of the\n    universe would ensue.]\n\n    [Footnote 50: _The folds of his robe._--Ver. 267. \u2018Rorant penn\u00e6\n    sinusque,\u2019 is quaintly translated by Clarke, \u2018his wings and the\n    plaits of his coat drop.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 51: _Iris._--Ver. 271. The mention of Iris, the goddess\n    of the rainbow, in connection with the flood of Deucalion, cannot\n    fail to remind us of the \u2018bow set in the cloud, for a token of the\n    covenant between God and the earth,\u2019 on the termination of Noah\u2019s\n    flood.--Gen. x. 14.]\n\n    [Footnote 52: _The mouths of their fountains._--Ver. 281. The\n    expressions in this line and in line 283, are not unlike the words\n    of the 11th verse of the 7th chapter of Genesis, \u2018The fountains of\n    the great deep were broken up.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 53: _The wolf swims._--Ver. 304. One commentator remarks\n    here, that there was nothing very wonderful in a dead wolf\n    swimming among the sheep without devouring them. Seneca is,\n    however, too severe upon our author in saying that he is trifling\n    here, in troubling himself on so serious an occasion with what\n    sheep and wolves are doing: for he gravely means to say, that the\n    beasts of prey are terrified to that degree that they forget their\n    carnivorous propensities.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Pausanias makes mention of five deluges. The two most celebrated\n  happened in the time of Ogyges, and in that of Deucalion. Of the last\n  Ovid here speaks; and though that deluge was generally said to have\n  overflowed Thessaly only, he has evidently adopted in his narrative\n  the tradition of the universal deluge, which all nations seem to have\n  preserved. He says, that the sea joined its waters to those falling\n  from heaven. The words of Scripture are (Genesis, vii. 11), \u2018All the\n  fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven\n  were opened.\u2019 In speaking of the top of Parnassus alone being left\n  uncovered, the tradition here followed by Ovid probably referred to\n  Mount Ararat, where Noah\u2019s ark rested. Noah and his family are\n  represented by Deucalion and Pyrrha. Both Noah and Deucalion were\n  saved for their virtuous conduct; when Noah went out of the ark, he\n  offered solemn sacrifices to God; and Pausanias tells us that\n  Deucalion, when saved, raised an altar to Jupiter the Liberator. The\n  Poet tells us, that Deucalion\u2019s deluge was to be the last: God\n  promised the same thing to Noah. Josephus, in his Antiquities, Book\n  i., tells us, that the history of the universal deluge was written by\n  Nicolas of Damascus, Berosus, Mnaseas, and other ancient writers, from\n  whom the Greeks and Romans received it.\n\n\nFABLE IX. [I.313-366]\n\n  Neptune appeases the angry waves; and he commands Triton to sound his\n  shell, that the sea may retire within its shores, and the rivers\n  within their banks. Deucalion and Pyrrha are the only persons saved\n  from the deluge.\n\nPhocis separates the Aonian[54] from the Act\u00e6an region; a fruitful land\nwhile it was a land; but at that time {it had become} a part of the sea,\nand a wide plain of sudden waters. There a lofty mountain rises towards\nthe stars, with two tops, by name Parnassus,[55] and advances beyond the\nclouds with its summit. When here Deucalion (for the sea had covered all\nother places), borne in a little ship, with the partner of his couch,\n{first} rested; they adored the Corycian Nymphs,[56] and the Deities of\nthe mountain, and the prophetic Themis,[57] who at that time used to\ngive out oracular responses. No man was there more upright than he, nor\na greater lover of justice, nor was any woman more regardful of the\nDeities than she.\n\nSoon as Jupiter {beholds} the world overflowed by liquid waters, and\nsees that but one man remains out of so many thousands of late, and sees\nthat but one woman remains out of so many thousands of late, both\nguiltless, and both worshippers of the Gods, he disperses the clouds;\nand the showers being removed by the North Wind, he both lays open the\nearth to the heavens, and the heavens to the earth. The rage, too, of\nthe sea does not continue; and his three-forked trident {now} laid\naside, the ruler of the deep assuages the waters, and calls upon the\nazure Triton standing above the deep, and having his shoulders covered\nwith the native purple shells;[58] and he bids him blow[59] his\nresounding trumpet, and, the signal being given, to call back the waves\nand the streams. The hollow-wreathed trumpet[60] is taken up by him,\nwhich grows to a {great} width from its lowest twist; the trumpet,\nwhich, soon as it receives the air in the middle of the sea, fills with\nits notes the shores lying under either sun. Then, too, as soon as it\ntouched the lips of the God dripping with his wet beard, and being\nblown, sounded the bidden retreat;[61] it was heard by all the waters\nboth of earth and sea, and stopped all those waters by which it was\nheard. Now the sea[62] {again} has a shore; their channels receive the\nfull rivers; the rivers subside; the hills are seen to come forth. The\nground rises, places increase {in extent} as the waters decrease; and\nafter a length of time, the woods show their naked tops, and retain the\nmud left upon their branches.\n\nThe world was restored; which when Deucalion beheld to be empty, and how\nthe desolate Earth kept a profound silence, he thus addressed Pyrrha,\nwith tears bursting forth:--\u201cO sister, O wife, O thou, the only woman\nsurviving, whom a common origin,[63] and a kindred descent, and\nafterwards the marriage tie has united to me, and {whom} now dangers\nthemselves unite to me; we two are the whole people of the earth,\nwhatever {both} the East and the West behold; of all the rest, the sea\nhas taken possession. And even now there is no certain assurance of our\nlives; even yet do the clouds terrify my mind. What would now have been\nthy feelings, if without me thou hadst been rescued from destruction,\nO thou deserving of compassion? In what manner couldst thou have been\nable alone to support {this} terror? With whom for a consoler, {to\nendure} these sorrows? For I, believe me, my wife, if the sea had only\ncarried thee off, should have followed thee, and the sea should have\ncarried me off as well. Oh that I could replace the people {that are\nlost} by the arts of my father,[64] and infuse the soul into the moulded\nearth! Now the mortal race exists in us two {alone}. Thus it has seemed\ngood to the Gods, and we remain as {mere} samples of mankind.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 54: _The Aonian._--Ver. 313. Aonia was a mountainous\n    region of B\u0153otia; and Act\u00e6a was an ancient name of Attica, from\n    \u1f04\u03ba\u03c4\u03b7, the sea-shore.]\n\n    [Footnote 55: _By name Parnassus._--Ver. 317. Mount Parnassus has\n    two peaks, of which the one was called \u2018Tichoreum,\u2019 and was sacred\n    to Bacchus; and the other \u2018Hypampeum,\u2019 and was devoted to Apollo\n    and the Muses.]\n\n    [Footnote 56: _The Corycian Nymphs._--Ver. 320. The Corycian\n    Nymphs were so called from inhabiting the Corycian cavern in Mount\n    Parnassus; they were fabled to be the daughters of Plistus,\n    a river near Delphi. There was another Corycian cave in Cilicia,\n    in Asia Minor.]\n\n    [Footnote 57: _The prophetic Themis._--Ver. 321. Themis is said to\n    have preceded Apollo in giving oracular responses at Delphi. She\n    was the daughter of C\u0153lus and Terra, and was the first to instruct\n    men to ask of the Gods that which was lawful and right, whence she\n    took the name of Themis, which signifies in Greek, \u2018that which is\n    just and right.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 58: _The native purple shells._--Ver. 332. \u2018Murex\u2019 was\n    the name of the shell-fish from which the Tyrian purple, so much\n    valued by the ancients, was procured. Some suppose that the\n    meaning here is, that Triton had his shoulders tinted with the\n    purple color of the murex. It is, however, more probable that the\n    Poet means to say that he had his neck and shoulders studded with\n    the shells of the murex, perhaps as a substitute for scales.]\n\n    [Footnote 59: _He bids him blow._--Ver. 333. There were several\n    Tritons, or minor sea gods. The one mentioned here, the chief\n    Triton, was fabled to be the son of Neptune and Amphitrite, who\n    always preceded Neptune in his course, and whose arrival he was\n    wont to proclaim by the sound of his shell. He was usually\n    represented as swimming, with the upper part of his body\n    resembling that of a human being, while his lower parts terminated\n    with the tail of a fish.]\n\n    [Footnote 60: _The hollow-wreathed trumpet._--Ver. 335. The\n    \u2018Buccina,\u2019 or, as we call it, \u2018the conch shell,\u2019 was a kind of\n    horn, or trumpet, made out of a shell, called \u2018buccinum.\u2019 It was\n    sometimes artificially curved, and sometimes straight, retaining\n    the original form of the shell. The twisted form of the shell was\n    one of the characteristic features of the trumpet, which, in later\n    times, was made of horn, wood, or metal, so as to imitate the\n    shell. It was chiefly used among the Romans, to proclaim the\n    watches of the day and of the night, which watches were thence\n    called \u2018buccina prima,\u2019 \u2018secunda,\u2019 etc. It was also blown at\n    funerals, and at festive entertainments, both before sitting down\n    to table and after. Macrobius tells us, that Tritons holding\n    \u2018buccin\u00e6\u2019 were fixed on the roof of the temple of Saturn.]\n\n    [Footnote 61: _The bidden retreat._--Ver. 340. \u2018Canere receptus\u2019\n    was \u2018to sound the retreat,\u2019 as the signal for the soldiers to\n    cease fighting, and to resume their march.]\n\n    [Footnote 62: _Now the sea._--Ver. 343. This and the two following\n    lines are considered as entitled to much praise for their\n    terseness and brevity, as depicting by their short detached\n    sentences the instantaneous effect produced by the commands of\n    Neptune in reducing his dominions to a state of order.]\n\n    [Footnote 63: _A common origin._--Ver. 352. Because Prometheus was\n    the father of Deucalion and Epimetheus of Pyrrha; Prometheus and\n    Epimetheus being the sons of Iapetus. It is in an extended sense\n    that he styles her \u2018sister,\u2019 she being really his cousin.]\n\n    [Footnote 64: _The arts of my father._--Ver. 363. He alludes to\n    the story of his father, Prometheus, having formed men of clay,\n    and animated them with fire stolen from heaven.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, were, perhaps, originally three brothers,\n  kings of three separate kingdoms. Having been deified each retaining\n  his sovereignty, they were depicted as having the world divided\n  between them; the empire of the sea falling to the share of Neptune.\n  Among his occupations, were those of raising and calming the seas; and\n  Ovid here represents him as being so employed.\n\n\nFABLE X. [I.367-415]\n\n  Deucalion and Pyrrha re-people the earth by casting stones behind\n  them, in the manner prescribed by the Goddess Themis, whose oracle\n  they had consulted.\n\nHe {thus} spoke, and they wept. They resolved to pray to the Deities of\nHeaven, and to seek relief through the sacred oracles. There is no\ndelay; together they repair to the waters of Cephisus,[65] though not\nyet clear, yet now cutting their wonted channel. Then, when they have\nsprinkled the waters poured on their clothes[66] and their heads, they\nturn their steps to the temple of the sacred Goddess, the roof of which\nwas defiled with foul moss, and whose altars were standing without\nfires. Soon as they reached the steps of the temple, each of them fell\nprostrate on the ground, and, trembling, gave kisses to the cold\npavement. And thus they said:\n\n\u201cIf the Deities, prevailed upon by just prayers, are to be mollified, if\nthe wrath of the Gods is to be averted; tell us, O Themis, by what art\nthe loss of our race is to be repaired, and give thy assistance, O most\ngentle {Goddess} to our ruined fortunes.\u201d The Goddess was moved, and\ngave this response: \u201cDepart from my temple, and cover your heads,[67]\nand loosen the garments girt {around you}, and throw behind your backs\nthe bones of your great mother.\u201d For a long time they are amazed; and\nPyrrha is the first by her words to break the silence, and {then}\nrefuses to obey the commands of the Goddess; and begs her, with\ntrembling lips, to grant her pardon, and dreads to offend the shades of\nher mother by casting her bones. In the meantime they reconsider the\nwords of the response given, {but} involved in dark obscurity, and they\nponder them among themselves. Upon that, the son of Prometheus soothes\nthe daughter of Epimetheus with {these} gentle words, and says, \u201cEither\nis my discernment fallacious, or the oracles are just, and advise no\nsacrilege. The earth is the great mother; I suspect that the stones in\nthe body of the earth are the bones meant; these we are ordered to throw\nbehind our backs.\u201d Although she, descended from Titan,[68] is moved by\nthis interpretation of her husband, still her hope is involved in doubt;\nso much do they both distrust the advice of heaven; but what harm will\nit do to try?\n\nThey go down, and they veil their heads, and ungird their garments, and\ncast stones, as ordered, behind their footsteps. The stones (who could\nhave believed it, but that antiquity is a witness {of the thing?}) began\nto lay aside their hardness and their stiffness, and by degrees to\nbecome soft; and when softened, to assume a {new} form. Presently after,\nwhen they were grown larger, a milder nature, too, was conferred on\nthem, so that some shape of man might be seen {in them}, yet though but\nimperfect; and as if from the marble commenced {to be wrought}, not\nsufficiently distinct, and very like to rough statues. Yet that part of\nthem which was humid with any moisture, and earthy, was turned into\n{portions adapted for} the use of the body. That which is solid, and\ncannot be bent, is changed into bones; that which was just now a vein,\nstill remains under the same name.[69] And in a little time, by the\ninterposition of the Gods above, the stones thrown by the hands of the\nman, took the shape of a man, and the female {race} was renewed by the\nthrowing of the woman. Thence are we a hardy generation, and able to\nendure fatigue, and we give proofs from what original we are sprung.\n\n    [Footnote 65: _The waters of Cephisus._--Ver. 369. The river\n    Cephisus rises on Mount Parnassus, and flows near Delphi.]\n\n    [Footnote 66: _Poured on their clothes._--Ver. 371. It was the\n    custom of the ancients, before entering a temple, either to\n    sprinkle themselves with water, or to wash the body all over.]\n\n    [Footnote 67: _Cover your heads._--Ver. 382. It was a custom among\n    the ancients to cover their heads in sacrifice and other acts of\n    worship, either as a mark of humility, or, according to Plutarch,\n    that nothing of ill omen might meet their sight, and thereby\n    interrupt the performance of the rites.]\n\n    [Footnote 68: _Descended from Titan._--Ver. 395. Pyrrha was of the\n    race of the Titans; for Iapetus, her grandfather, was the son of\n    Titan and Terra.]\n\n    [Footnote 69: _Under the same name._--Ver. 410. With his usual\n    propensity for punning, he alludes to the use of the word \u2018vena,\u2019\n    as signifying either \u2018a vein\u2019 of the body, or a \u2018streak\u2019 or \u2018vein\u2019\n    in stone, according to the context.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  In the reign of Deucalion, king of Thessaly, the course of the river\n  Peneus was stopped, probably by an earthquake. In the same year so\n  great a quantity of rain fell, that all Thessaly was overflowed.\n  Deucalion and some of his subjects fled to Mount Parnassus; where they\n  remained until the waters abated. The children of those who were\n  preserved are the stones of which the Poet here speaks. The Fable,\n  probably, has for its foundation the double meaning of the word\n  \u2018Eben,\u2019 or \u2018Aben,\u2019 which signifies either \u2018a stone,\u2019 or \u2018a child.\u2019 The\n  Scholiast on Pindar tells us, too, that the word \u03bb\u03ac\u03bf\u03c2, which means\n  people, formerly also signified \u2018a stone.\u2019\n\n  The brutal and savage nature of the early races of men may also have\n  added strength to the tradition that they derived their original from\n  stones. After the inundation, Deucalion is said to have repaired to\n  Athens, where he built a temple to Jupiter, and instituted sacrifices\n  in his honor. Some suppose that Cranaus reigned at Athens when\n  Deucalion retired thither; though Eusebius informs us it was under the\n  reign of Cecrops. Deucalion was the son of Prometheus, and his wife\n  Pyrrha was the daughter of his uncle, Epimetheus. After his death, he\n  received the honor of a temple, and was worshipped as a Divinity.\n\n\nFABLE XI. [I.416-451]\n\n  The Earth, being warmed by the heat of the sun, produces many\n  monsters: among others, the serpent Python, which Apollo kills with\n  his arrows. To establish a memorial of this event, he institutes the\n  Pythian games, and adopts the surname of Pythius.\n\nThe Earth of her own accord brought forth other animals of different\nforms; after that the former moisture was thoroughly heated by the rays\nof the sun, and the mud and the wet fens fermented with the heat; and\nthe fruitful seeds of things nourished by the enlivening soil, as in the\nwomb of a mother, grew, and, in lapse of time, assumed some {regular}\nshape. Thus, when the seven-streamed Nile[70] has forsaken the oozy\nfields, and has returned its waters to their ancient channel, and the\nfresh mud has been heated with the \u00e6thereal sun, the laborers, on\nturning up the clods, meet with very many animals, and among them, some\njust begun at the very moment of their formation, and some they see\n{still} imperfect, and {as yet} destitute of {some} of their limbs; and\noften, in the same body, is one part animated, the other part is coarse\nearth. For when moisture and heat have been subjected to a due mixture,\nthey conceive; and all things arise from these two.\n\nAnd although fire is the antagonist of heat, {yet} a moist vapor creates\nall things, and this discordant concord is suited for generation; when,\ntherefore, the Earth, covered with mud by the late deluge, was\nthoroughly heated by the \u00e6thereal sunshine and a penetrating warmth, it\nproduced species {of creatures} innumerable; and partly restored the\nformer shapes, and partly gave birth to new monsters. She, indeed, might\nhave been unwilling, but then she produced thee as well, thou enormous\nPython; and thou, unheard-of serpent, wast a {source of} terror to this\nnew race of men, so vast a part of a mountain didst thou occupy.\n\nThe God that bears the bow, and that had never before used such arms,\nbut against the deer and the timorous goats, destroyed him, overwhelmed\nwith a thousand arrows, his quiver being well-nigh exhausted, {as} the\nvenom oozed forth through the black wounds; and that length of time\nmight not efface the fame of the deed, he instituted sacred games,[71]\nwith contests famed {in story}, called \u201cPythia,\u201d from the name of the\nserpent {so} conquered. In these, whosoever of the young men conquered\nin boxing, in running, or in chariot-racing, received the honor of a\ncrown of beechen leaves.[72] As yet the laurel existed not, and Ph\u0153bus\nused to bind his temples, graceful with long hair, with {garlands from}\nany tree.\n\n    [Footnote 70: _The seven-streamed Nile._--Ver. 423. The river Nile\n    discharges itself into the sea by seven mouths. It is remarkable\n    for its inundations, which happen regularly every year, and\n    overflow the whole country of Egypt. To this is chiefly owing the\n    extraordinary fertility of the soil of that country; for when the\n    waters subside, they leave behind them great quantities of mud,\n    which, settling upon the land, enrich it, and continually\n    reinvigorate it.]\n\n    [Footnote 71: _Instituted sacred games._--Ver. 446. Yet Pausanias,\n    in his Corinthiaca, tells us that they were instituted by\n    Diomedes; others, again, say by Eurylochus the Thessalian; and\n    others, by Amphictyon, or Adrastus. The Pythian games were\n    celebrated near Delphi, on the Criss\u00e6an plain, which contained a\n    race-course, a stadium of 1000 feet in length, and a theatre, in\n    which the musical contests took place. They were once held at\n    Athens, by the advice of Demetrius Poliorcetes, because the\n    \u00c6tolians were in possession of the passes round Delphi. They\n    were most probably originally a religious ceremonial, and were\n    perhaps only a musical contest, which consisted in singing a hymn\n    in honor of the Pythian God, accompanied by the music of the\n    cithara. In later times, gymnastic and equestrian games and\n    exercises were introduced there. Previously to the 48th Olympiad,\n    the Pythian games had been celebrated at the end of every eighth\n    year; after that period they were held at the end of every fourth\n    year. When they ceased to be solemnized is unknown; but in the\n    time of the Emperor Julian they still continued to be held.]\n\n    [Footnote 72: _Crown of beechen leaves._--Ver. 449. This was the\n    prize which was originally given to the conquerors in the Pythian\n    games. In later times, as Ovid tells us, the prize of the victor\n    was a laurel chaplet, together with the palm branch, symbolical of\n    his victory.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The story of the serpent Python, being explained on philosophical\n  principles, seems to mean, that the heat of the sun, having dissipated\n  the noxious exhalations emitted by the receding waters, the reptiles,\n  which had been produced from the slime left by the flood, immediately\n  disappeared.\n\n  If, however, we treat this narrative as based on historical facts, it\n  is probable that the serpent represented some robber who infested the\n  neighborhood of Parnassus, and molested those who passed that way for\n  the purpose of offering sacrifice. A prince, either bearing the name\n  of Apollo, or being a priest of that God, by his destruction liberated\n  that region from this annoyance. This event gave rise to the\n  institution of the Pythian games, which were celebrated near Delphi.\n  Besides the several contests mentioned by Ovid, singing, dancing, and\n  instrumental music, formed part of the exercises of these games. The\n  event which Ovid here places soon after the deluge, must have happened\n  much later, since in the time of Deucalion, the worship of Apollo was\n  not known at Delphi. The Goddess Themis then delivered oracles there,\n  which, previously to her time, had been delivered by the Earth.\n\n\nFABLE XII. [I.452-567]\n\n  Apollo, falling in love with Daphne, the daughter of the river Peneus,\n  she flies from him. He pursues her; on which, the Nymph, imploring the\n  aid of her father, is changed into a laurel.\n\nDaphne, the daughter of Peneus, was the first love of Ph\u0153bus; whom, not\nblind chance, but the vengeful anger of Cupid assigned to him.\n\nThe Delian {God},[73] proud of having lately subdued the serpent, had\nseen him bending the bow and drawing the string, and had said, \u201cWhat\nhast thou to do, wanton boy, with gallant arms? Such a burden as that\n{better} befits my shoulders; I, who am able to give unerring wounds to\nthe wild beasts, {wounds} to the enemy, who lately slew with arrows\ninnumerable the swelling Python, that covered so many acres {of land}\nwith his pestilential belly. Do thou be contented to excite I know not\nwhat flames with thy torch; and do not lay claim to praises {properly}\nmy own.\u201d\n\nTo him the son of Venus replies, \u201cLet thy bow shoot all things, Ph\u0153bus;\nmy bow {shall shoot} thee; and as much as all animals fall short of\nthee, so much is thy glory less than mine.\u201d He {thus} said; and cleaving\nthe air with his beating wings, with activity he stood upon the shady\nheights of Parnassus, and drew two weapons out of his arrow-bearing\nquiver, of different workmanship; the one repels, the other excites\ndesire. That which causes {love} is of gold, and is brilliant, with a\nsharp point; that which repels it is blunt, and contains lead beneath\nthe reed. This one the God fixed in the Nymph, the daughter of Peneus,\nbut with the other he wounded the {very} marrow of Apollo, through his\nbones pierced {by the arrow}. Immediately the one is in love; the other\nflies from the {very} name of a lover, rejoicing in the recesses of the\nwoods, and in the spoils of wild beasts taken {in hunting}, and becomes\na rival of the virgin Ph\u0153be. A fillet tied together[74] her hair, put up\nwithout any order. Many a one courted her; she hated all wooers; not\nable to endure, and quite unacquainted with man, she traverses the\nsolitary parts of the woods, and she cares not what Hymen,[75] what\nlove, {or} what marriage means. Many a time did her father say, \u201cMy\ndaughter, thou owest me a son-in-law;\u201d many a time did her father say,\n\u201cMy daughter, thou owest me grandchildren.\u201d She, utterly abhorring the\nnuptial torch,[76] as though a crime, has her beauteous face covered\nwith the blush of modesty; and clinging to her father\u2019s neck, with\ncaressing arms, she says, \u201cAllow me, my dearest father, to enjoy\nperpetual virginity; her father, in times, bygone, granted this to\nDiana.\u201d\n\nHe indeed complied. But that very beauty forbids thee to be what thou\nwishest, and the charms of thy person are an impediment to thy desires.\nPh\u0153bus falls in love, and he covets an alliance with Daphne, {now} seen\nby him, and what he covets he hopes for, and his own oracles deceive\nhim; and as the light stubble is burned, when the ears of corn are taken\noff, and as hedges are set on fire by the torches, which perchance a\ntraveller has either held too near them, or has left {there}, now about\nthe break of day, thus did the God burst into a flame; thus did he burn\nthroughout his breast, and cherish a fruitless passion with his hopes.\nHe beholds her hair hanging unadorned upon her neck, and he says, \u201cAnd\nwhat would {it be} if it were arranged?\u201d He sees her eyes, like stars,\nsparkling with fire; he sees her lips, which it is not enough to have\n{merely} seen; he praises both her fingers and her hands, and her arms\nand her shoulders naked, from beyond the middle; whatever is hidden from\nview, he thinks to be still more beauteous. Swifter than the light wind\nshe flies, and she stops not at these words of his, as he calls her\nback:\n\n\u201cO Nymph, daughter of Peneus, stay, I entreat thee! I am not an enemy\nfollowing thee. In this way the lamb {flies} from the wolf; thus the\ndeer {flies} from the lion; thus the dove flies from the eagle with\ntrembling wing; {in this way} each {creature flies from} its enemy: love\nis the cause of my following thee. Ah! wretched me! shouldst thou fall\non thy face, or should the brambles tear thy legs, that deserve not to\nbe injured, and should I prove the cause of pain to thee. The places are\nrugged, through which thou art {thus} hastening; run more leisurely,\nI entreat thee, and restrain thy flight; I myself will follow more\nleisurely. And yet, inquire whom thou dost please; I am not an\ninhabitant of the mountains, I am not a shepherd; I am not here, in rude\nguise,[77] watching the herds or the flocks. Thou knowest not, rash\ngirl, thou knowest not from whom thou art flying, and therefore it is\nthat thou dost fly. The Delphian land, Claros and Tenedos,[78] and the\nPatar\u00e6an palace pays service to me. Jupiter is my sire; by me, what\nshall be, what has been, and what is, is disclosed; through me, songs\nharmonize with the strings. My own {arrow}, indeed, is unerring; yet one\nthere is still more unerring than my own, which has made this wound in\nmy heart, {before} unscathed. The healing art is my discovery, and\nthroughout the world I am honored as the bearer of help, and the\nproperties of simples are[79] subjected to me. Ah, wretched me![80] that\nlove is not to be cured by any herbs; and that those arts which afford\nrelief to all, are of no avail for their master.\u201d\n\nThe daughter of Peneus flies from him, about to say still more, with\ntimid step, and together with him she leaves his unfinished address.\nThen, too, she appeared lovely; the winds exposed her form to view, and\nthe gusts meeting her fluttered about her garments, as they came in\ncontact, and the light breeze spread behind her her careless locks;\nand {thus}, by her flight, was her beauty increased. But the youthful\nGod[81] has not patience any longer to waste his blandishments; and as\nlove urges him on, he follows her steps with hastening pace. As when the\ngreyhound[82] has seen the hare in the open field, and the one by {the\nspeed of} his legs pursues his prey, the other {seeks} her safety; the\none is like as if just about to fasten {on the other}, and now, even\nnow, hopes to catch her, and with nose outstretched plies upon the\nfootsteps {of the hare}. The other is in doubt whether she is caught\n{already}, and is delivered from his very bite, and leaves behind the\nmouth {just} touching her. {And} so is the God, and {so} is the\nvirgin;[83] he swift with hopes, she with fear.\n\nYet he that follows, aided by the wings of love, is the swifter, and\ndenies her {any} rest; and is {now} just at her back as she flies, and\nis breathing upon her hair scattered upon her neck. Her strength being\n{now} spent, she grows pale, and being quite faint, with the fatigue of\nso swift a flight, looking upon the waters of Peneus, she says, \u201cGive\nme, my father, thy aid, if you rivers have divine power. Oh Earth,\neither yawn {to swallow me}, or by changing it, destroy that form, by\nwhich I have pleased too much, and which causes me to be injured.\u201d\n\nHardly had she ended her prayer, {when} a heavy torpor seizes her limbs;\n{and} her soft breasts are covered with a thin bark. Her hair grows into\ngreen leaves, her arms into branches; her feet, the moment before so\nswift, adhere by sluggish roots; a {leafy} canopy overspreads her\nfeatures; her elegance alone[84] remains in her. This, too, Ph\u0153bus\nadmires, and placing his right hand upon the stock, he perceives that\nthe breast still throbs beneath the new bark; and {then}, embracing the\nbranches as though limbs in his arms, he gives kisses to the wood, {and}\nyet the wood shrinks from his kisses. To her the God said: \u201cBut since\nthou canst not be my wife, at least thou shalt be my tree; my hair, my\nlyre,[85] my quiver shall always have thee, oh laurel! Thou shalt be\npresented to the Latian chieftains, when the joyous voice of the\nsoldiers shall sing the song of triumph,[86] and the long procession\nshall resort to the Capitol. Thou, the same, shalt stand as a most\nfaithful guardian at the gate-posts of Augustus before his doors,[87]\nand shalt protect the oak placed in the centre; and as my head is {ever}\nyouthful with unshorn locks, do thou, too, always wear the lasting\nhonors of thy foliage.\u201d\n\nP\u00e6an had ended {his speech}; the laurel nodded assent with its new-made\nboughs, and seemed to shake its top just like a head.\n\n    [Footnote 73: _The Delian God._--Ver. 454. Apollo is so called,\n    from having been born in the Isle of Delos, in the \u00c6gean Sea. The\n    Peneus was a river of Thessaly.]\n\n    [Footnote 74: _A fillet tied together._--Ver. 477. The \u2018vitta\u2019 was\n    a band encircling the head, and served to confine the tresses of\n    the hair. It was worn by maidens and by married women also; but\n    the \u2018vitta\u2019 assumed on the day of marriage was of a different form\n    from that used by virgins. It was not worn by women of light\n    character, or even by the \u2018libertin\u00e6,\u2019 or female slaves who had\n    been liberated; so that it was not only deemed an emblem of\n    chastity, but of freedom also. It was of various colors: white and\n    purple are mentioned. In the later ages the \u2018vitta\u2019 was sometimes\n    set with pearls.]\n\n    [Footnote 75: _Hymen._--Ver. 480. Hymen, or Hymen\u00e6us, was one of\n    the Gods of Marriage; hence the name \u2018Hymen\u2019 was given to the\n    union of two persons in marriage.]\n\n    [Footnote 76: _The nuptial torch._--Ver. 483. Plutarch tells us,\n    that it was the custom in the bridal procession to carry five\n    torches before the bride, on her way to the house of her husband.\n    Among the Romans, the nuptial torch was lighted at the parental\n    hearth of the bride, and was borne before her by a boy, whose\n    parents were alive. The torch was also used at funerals, for the\n    purpose of lighting the pile, and because funerals were often\n    nocturnal ceremonies. Hence the expression of Propertius,--\n    \u2018Vivimus inter utramque facem,\u2019 \u2018We are living between the two\n    torches.\u2019 Originally, the \u2018t\u00e6d\u00e6\u2019 seem to have been slips or\n    lengths of resinous pine wood: while the \u2018fax\u2019 was formed of a\n    bundle of wooden staves, either bound by a rope drawn round them\n    in a spiral form, or surrounded by circular bands at equal\n    distances. They were used by travellers and others, who were\n    forced to be abroad after sunset; whence the reference in line 493\n    to the hedge ignited through the carelessness of the traveller,\n    who has thrown his torch there on the approach of morning.]\n\n    [Footnote 77: _Here in rude guise._--Ver. 514. \u2018Non hic armenta\n    gregesve Horridus observo\u2019 is quaintly translated by Clarke, \u2018I do\n    not here in a rude pickle watch herds or flocks.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 78: _Claros and Tenedos._--Ver. 516. Claros was a city\n    of Ionia, famed for a temple and oracle of Apollo, and near which\n    there was a mountain and a grove sacred to him. There was an\n    island in the Myrtoan Sea of that name, to which some suppose that\n    reference is here made. Tenedos was an island of the \u00c6gean Sea, in\n    the neighborhood of Troy. Patara was a city of Lycia, where Apollo\n    gave oracular responses during six months of the year. It was from\n    Patara that St. Paul took ship for Ph\u0153nicia, Acts, xxi. 1, 2.]\n\n    [Footnote 79: _The properties of simples._--Ver. 522. The first\n    cultivators of the medical art pretended to nothing beyond an\n    acquaintance with the medicinal qualities of herbs and simples; it\n    is not improbable that inasmuch as the vegetable world is\n    nourished and raised to the surface of the earth in a great degree\n    by the heat of the sun, a ground was thereby afforded for\n    allegorically saying that Apollo, or the Sun, was the discoverer\n    of the healing art.]\n\n    [Footnote 80: _Ah! wretched me!_--Ver. 523. A similar expression\n    occurs in the Heroides, v. 149, \u2018Me miseram, quod amor non est\n    medicabilis herbis.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 81: _The youthful God._--Ver. 531. Apollo was always\n    represented as a youth, and was supposed never to grow old. The\n    Scholiast on the Thebais of Statius, b. i., v. 694, says, \u2018The\n    reason is, because Apollo is the Sun; and because the Sun is fire,\n    which never grows old.\u2019 Perhaps the youthfulness of the Deity is\n    here mentioned, to account for his ardent pursuit of the flying\n    damsel.]\n\n    [Footnote 82: _As when the greyhound._--Ver. 533. The comparison\n    here of the flight of Apollo after Daphne, to that of the\n    greyhound after the hare, is considered to be very beautifully\n    drawn, and to give an admirable illustration of the eagerness with\n    which the God pursues on the one hand, and the anxiety with which\n    the Nymph endeavors to escape on the other. Pope, in his Windsor\n    Forest, has evidently imitated this passage, where he describes\n    the Nymph Lodona pursued by Pan, and transformed into a river. His\n    words are--\n\n      \u2018Not half so swift the trembling doves can fly,\n      When the fierce eagle cleaves the liquid sky;\n      Not half so swiftly the fierce eagle moves,\n      When through the clouds he drives the trembling doves;\n      As from the God she flew with furious pace,\n      Or as the God more furious urged the chase.\n      Now fainting, sinking, pale, the nymph appears;\n      Now close behind, his sounding steps she hears;\n      And now his shadow reach\u2019d her as she run,\n      His shadow lengthened by the setting sun;\n      And now his shorter breath, with sultry air,\n      Pants on her neck, and fans her parting hair.\u2019\n\n    The greyhound was probably called \u2018canis Gallicus,\u2019 from having\n    been originally introduced into Italy from Gaul. \u2018Vertagus\u2019 was\n    their Gallic name, which we find used by Martial, and Gratian in\n    his Cynegeticon, ver. 203.]\n\n    [Footnote 83: _And so is the virgin._--Ver. 539. \u2018Sic Deus et\n    virgo est\u2019 is translated by Clarke, \u2018So is the God and the young\n    lady;\u2019 indeed, he mostly translates \u2018virgo,\u2019 \u2018young lady.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 84: _Her elegance alone._--Ver. 552. Clarke translates\n    \u2018Remanet nitor unus in illa,\u2019 \u2018her neatness alone continues in\n    her.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 85: _My lyre._--Ver. 559. The players of the cithara,\n    the instrument of Apollo, were crowned with laurel, in the scenic\n    representations of the stage.]\n\n    [Footnote 86: _The song of triumph._--Ver. 560. The Poet here pays\n    a compliment to Augustus and the Roman people. The laurel was the\n    emblem of victory among the Romans. On such occasions the \u2018fasces\u2019\n    of the general and the spears and javelins of the soldiers were\n    wreathed with laurel; and after the time of Julius C\u00e6sar, the\n    Roman general, when triumphing, wore a laurel wreath on his head,\n    and held a branch of laurel in his hand.]\n\n    [Footnote 87: _Before his doors._--Ver. 562. He here alludes to\n    the civic crown of oak leaves which, by order of the Senate, was\n    placed before the gate of the Palatium, where Augustus C\u00e6sar\n    resided, with branches of laurel on either side of it.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  To explain this Fable, it must be laid down as a principle that there\n  were originally many Jupiters, and Apollos, and Mercuries, whose\n  intrigues being, in lapse of time, attributed to but one individual,\n  that fact accounts for the great number of children which claimed\n  those respective Gods for their fathers.\n\n  Some prince probably, for whom his love of learning had acquired the\n  name of Apollo, falling in love with Daphne, pursued her to the brink\n  of the river Peneus, into which, being accidentally precipitated, she\n  perished in her lover\u2019s sight. Some laurels growing near the spot,\n  perhaps gave rise to the story of her transformation; or possibly the\n  etymology of the word \u2018Daphne,\u2019 which in Greek signifies a laurel, was\n  the foundation of the Fable. Pausanias, however, in his Arcadia, gives\n  another version of this story. He says that Leucippus, son of \u0152nomaus,\n  king of Pisa, falling in love with Daphne, disguised himself in female\n  apparel, and devoted himself to her service. He soon procured her\n  friendship and confidence; but Apollo, who was his rival, having\n  discovered his fraud, one day redoubled the heat of the sun. Daphne\n  and her companions going to bathe, obliged Leucippus to follow their\n  example, on which, having discovered his stratagem, they killed him\n  with the arrows which they carried for the purposes of hunting.\n\n  Diodorus Siculus tells us that Daphne was the same with Manto, the\n  daughter of Tiresias, who was banished to Delphi, where she delivered\n  oracles, of the language of which Homer availed himself in the\n  composition of his poems. The inhabitants of Antioch asserted that the\n  adventure here narrated happened in the suburbs of their city, which\n  thence derived its name of Daphne.\n\n\nFABLE XIII. [I.568-600]\n\n  Jupiter, pursuing Io, the daughter of Inachus, covers the earth with\n  darkness, and ravishes the Nymph.\n\nThere is a grove of H\u00e6monia,[88] which a wood, placed on a craggy rock,\nencloses on every side. They call it Tempe;[89] through this the river\nPeneus, flowing from the bottom of {mount} Pindus,[90] rolls along with\nits foaming waves, and in its mighty fall, gathers clouds that scatter\n{a vapor like} thin smoke,[91] and with its spray besprinkles the tops\nof the woods, and wearies places, far from near to it, with its noise.\nThis is the home, this the abode, these are the retreats of the great\nriver; residing here in a cavern formed by rocks, he gives law to the\nwaters, and to the Nymphs that inhabit those waters. The rivers of that\ncountry first repair thither, not knowing whether they should\ncongratulate, or whether console the parent; the poplar-bearing\nSpercheus,[92] and the restless Enipeus,[93] the aged Apidanus,[94] the\ngentle Amphrysus,[95] and \u00c6as,[96] and, soon after, the other rivers,\nwhich, as their current leads them, carry down into the sea their waves,\nwearied by wanderings. Inachus[97] alone is absent, and, hidden in his\ndeepest cavern, increases his waters with his tears, and in extreme\nwretchedness bewails his daughter Io as lost; he knows not whether she\n{now} enjoys life, or whether she is among the shades below; but her,\nwhom he does not find anywhere, he believes to be nowhere, and in his\nmind he dreads the worst.\n\nJupiter had seen Io as she was returning from her father\u2019s stream, and\nhad said, \u201cO maid, worthy of Jove, and destined to make I know not whom\nhappy in thy marriage, repair to the shades of this lofty grove (and he\npointed at the shade of the grove) while it is warm, and {while} the Sun\nis at his height, in the midst of his course. But if thou art afraid to\nenter the lonely abodes of the wild beasts alone, thou shalt enter the\nrecesses of the groves, safe under the protection of a God, and {that} a\nGod of no common sort; but {with me}, who hold the sceptre of heaven in\nmy powerful hand; {me}, who hurl the wandering lightnings--Do not fly\nfrom me;\u201d for {now} she was flying. And now she had left behind the\npastures of Lerna,[98] and the Lirc\u00e6an plains planted with trees, when\nthe God covered the earth far and wide with darkness overspreading, and\narrested her flight, and forced her modesty.\n\n    [Footnote 88: _A grove of H\u00e6monia._--Ver. 568. H\u00e6monia was an\n    ancient name of Thessaly, so called from its king, H\u00e6mon, a son of\n    Pelasgus, and father of Thessalus, from which it received its\n    later name.]\n\n    [Footnote 89: _Call it Tempe._--Ver. 569. Tempe was a valley of\n    Thessaly, proverbial for its pleasantness and the beauty of its\n    scenery. The river Peneus ran through it, but not with the\n    violence which Ovid here depicts; for \u00c6lian tells us that it runs\n    with a gentle sluggish stream, more like oil than water.]\n\n    [Footnote 90: _Mount Pindus._--Ver. 570. Pindus was a mountain\n    situate on the confines of Thessaly.]\n\n    [Footnote 91: _Like thin smoke._--Ver. 571. He speaks of the\n    spray, which in the fineness of its particles resembles smoke.]\n\n    [Footnote 92: _Spercheus._--Ver. 579. The Spercheus was a rapid\n    stream, flowing at the foot of Mount \u00c6ta into the Malian Gulf,\n    and on whose banks many poplars grew.]\n\n    [Footnote 93: _Enipeus._--Ver. 579. The Enipeus rises in Mount\n    Othrys, and runs through Thessaly. Virgil (Georgics, iv. 468)\n    calls it \u2018Altus Enipeus,\u2019 the deep Enipeus.]\n\n    [Footnote 94: _Apidanus._--Ver. 580. The Apidanus, receiving the\n    stream of the Enipeus at Pharsalia, flows into the Peneus. It is\n    supposed by some commentators to be here called \u2018senex,\u2019 aged,\n    from the slowness of its tide. But where it unites the Enipeus it\n    flows with violence, so that it is probably called \u2018senex,\u2019 as\n    having been known and celebrated by the poets from of old.]\n\n    [Footnote 95: _Amphrysus._--Ver. 580. This river ran through that\n    part of Thessaly known by the name of Phthiotis.]\n\n    [Footnote 96: _\u00c6as._--Ver. 580. Pliny the Elder (Book iii, ch. 23)\n    calls this river Aous. It was a small limpid stream, running\n    through Epirus and Thessaly, and discharging itself into the\n    Ionian sea.]\n\n    [Footnote 97: _Inachus._--Ver. 583. This was a river of Argolis,\n    now known as the Naio. It took its rise either in Lyc\u00e6us or\n    Artemisium, mountains of Arcadia. Stephens, however, thinks that\n    Lyc\u00e6us was a mountain of Argolis.]\n\n    [Footnote 98: _Lerna._--Ver. 597. This was a swampy spot on the\n    Argive territory, where the poets say that the dragon with seven\n    heads, called Hydra, which was slain by Hercules, had made his\n    haunt. It is not improbable that the pestilential vapors of this\n    spot were got rid of by means of its being drained under the\n    superintendence of Hercules, on which fact the story was founded.\n    Some commentators, however, suppose the Lerna to have been a\n    flowing stream.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The Greeks frequently embellished their mythology with narratives of\n  Ph\u0153nician or Egyptian origin. The story of Io probably came from\n  Egypt. Isis was one of the chief divinities of that country, and her\n  worship naturally passed, with their colonies, into foreign countries.\n  Greece received it when Inachus went to settle there, and in lapse of\n  time Isis, under the name of Io, was supposed to have been his\n  daughter, and the fable was invented which is here narrated by Ovid.\n\n  The Greek authors, Apollodorus, Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and\n  Pausanias, say that Io was the daughter of Inachus, the first king of\n  Argos; that Jupiter carried her away to Crete; and that by her he had\n  a son named Epaphus, who went to reign in Egypt, whither his mother\n  accompanied him. They also tell us that she married Apis, or Osiris,\n  who, after his death, was numbered among the Deities of Egypt by the\n  name of Serapis. From them we also learn that Juno, being actuated by\n  jealousy, on the discovery of the intrigue, put Io under the care of\n  her uncle Argus, a man of great vigilance, but that Jupiter having\n  slain him, placed his mistress on board of a vessel which had the\n  figure of a cow at its head; from which circumstance arose the story\n  of the transformation of Io. The Greek writers also state, that the\n  Bosphorus, a part of the \u00c6gean sea, derived its name from the passage\n  of Io in the shape of a cow.\n\n\nFABLE XIV. [I.601-688]\n\n  Jupiter, having changed Io into a cow, to conceal her from the\n  jealousy of Juno, is obliged to give her to that Goddess, who commits\n  her to the charge of the watchful Argus. Jupiter sends Mercury with an\n  injunction to cast Argus into a deep sleep, and to take away his life.\n\nIn the meantime Juno looked down upon the midst of the fields, and\nwondering that the fleeting clouds had made the appearance of night\nunder bright day, she perceived that they were not {the vapors} from a\nriver, nor were they raised from the moist earth, and {then} she looked\naround {to see} where her husband was, as being one who by this time was\nfull well acquainted with the intrigues of a husband {who had been} so\noften detected.[99] After she had found him not in heaven, she said,\n\u201cI am either deceived, or I am injured;\u201d and having descended from the\nheight of heaven, she alighted upon the earth, and commanded the mists\nto retire. He had foreseen the approach of his wife, and had changed the\nfeatures of the daughter of Inachus into a sleek heifer.[100] As a cow,\ntoo, {she} is beautiful. The daughter of Saturn, though unwillingly,\nextols the appearance of the cow; and likewise inquires, whose it is,\nand whence, or of what herd it is, as though ignorant of the truth.\nJupiter falsely asserts that it was produced out of the earth, that the\nowner may cease to be inquired after. The daughter of Saturn begs her of\nhim as a gift. What can {he} do? It is a cruel thing to deliver up his\n{own} mistress, {and} not to give her up is a cause of suspicion. It is\nshame which persuades him on the one hand, love dissuades him on the\nother. His shame would have been subdued by his love; but if so trifling\na gift as a cow should be refused to the sharer of his descent and his\ncouch, she might {well} seem not to be a cow.\n\nThe rival now being given up {to her}, the Goddess did not immediately\nlay aside all apprehension; and she was {still} afraid of Jupiter, and\nwas fearful of her being stolen, until she gave her to Argus, the son of\nAristor, to be kept {by him}. Argus had his head encircled with a\nhundred eyes. Two of them used to take rest in their turns, the rest\nwatched, and used to keep on duty.[101] In whatever manner he stood, he\nlooked towards Io; although turned away, he {still} used to have Io\nbefore his eyes. In the daytime he suffers her to feed; but when the sun\nis below the deep earth, he shuts her up, and ties a cord round her neck\nundeserving {of such treatment}. She feeds upon the leaves of the arbute\ntree, and bitter herbs, and instead of a bed the unfortunate {animal}\nlies upon the earth, that does not always have grass {on it}, and drinks\nof muddy streams. And when, too, she was desirous, as a suppliant, to\nstretch out her arms to Argus, she had no arms to stretch out to Argus;\nand she uttered lowings from her mouth, {when} endeavoring to complain.\nAnd at {this} sound she was terrified, and was affrighted at her own\nvoice.\n\nShe came, too, to the banks, where she was often wont to sport, the\nbanks of {her father}, Inachus; and soon as she beheld her new horns in\nthe water, she was terrified, and, astonished, she recoiled from\nherself. The Naiads knew her not, and Inachus himself knew her not, who\nshe was; but she follows her father, and follows her sisters, and\nsuffers herself to be touched, and presents herself to them, as they\nadmire {her}. The aged Inachus held her some grass he had plucked; she\nlicks his hand, and gives kisses to the palms of her father. Nor does\nshe restrain her tears; and if only words would follow, she would\nimplore his aid, and would declare her name and misfortunes. Instead of\nwords, letters, which her foot traced in the dust, completed the sad\ndiscovery of the transformation of her body. \u201cAh, wretched me!\u201d exclaims\nher father Inachus; and clinging to the horns and the neck of the\nsnow-white cow, as she wept, he repeats, \u201cAh, wretched me! and art thou\nmy daughter, that hast been sought for by me throughout all lands? While\nundiscovered, thou wast a lighter grief {to me}, than {now, when} thou\nart found. Thou art silent, and no words dost thou return in answer to\nmine; thou only heavest sighs from the depth of thy breast, and what\nalone thou art able to do, thou answerest in lowings to my words. But I,\nin ignorance {of this}, was preparing the bridal chamber, and the\n{nuptial} torches for thee; and my chief hope was that of a son-in-law,\nmy next was that of grandchildren. But now must thou have a mate from\nthe herd, now, {too}, an offspring of the herd. Nor is it possible for\nme to end grief so great by death; but it is a detriment to be a God;\nand the gate of death being shut against me, extends my grief to eternal\nages.\u201d\n\nWhile thus he lamented, the starry Argus removed her away, and carried\nthe daughter, {thus} taken from her father, to distant pastures. He\nhimself, at a distance, occupies the lofty top of a mountain, whence, as\nhe sits, he may look about on all sides.\n\nNor can the ruler of the Gods above, any longer endure so great miseries\nof the granddaughter of Phoroneus;[102] and he calls his son {Mercury},\nwhom the bright Pleiad, {Maia},[103] brought forth, and orders him to\nput Argus to death. There is {but} little delay to take wings upon his\nfeet, and his soporiferous wand[104] in his hand, and a cap for his\nhair.[105] After he had put these things in order, the son of Jupiter\nleaps down from his father\u2019s high abode upon the earth, and there he\ntakes off his cap, and lays aside his wings; his wand alone was\nretained. With this, as a shepherd, he drives some she-goats through the\npathless country, taken up as he passed along, and plays upon oaten\nstraws joined together.\n\nThe keeper appointed by Juno, charmed by the sound of this new\ncontrivance, says, \u201cWhoever thou art, thou mayst be seated with me upon\nthis stone; for, indeed, in no {other} place is the herbage more\nabundant for thy flock; and thou seest, too, that the shade is\nconvenient for the shepherds.\u201d The son of Atlas sat down, and with much\ntalking he occupied the passing day with his discourse, and by playing\nupon his joined reeds he tried to overpower his watchful eyes. Yet {the\nother} strives hard to overcome soft sleep; and although sleep was\nreceived by a part of his eyes, yet with a part he still keeps watch. He\ninquires also (for the pipe had been {but} lately invented) by what\nmethod it had been found out.\n\n    [Footnote 99: _So often detected._--Ver. 606. Clarke translates\n    \u2018deprensi toties mariti\u2019 by the expression, \u2018who had been so often\n    catched in his roguery.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 100: _Into a sleek heifer._--Ver. 611. Clarke renders\n    the words, \u2018nitentem juvencam,\u2019 a neat heifer.]\n\n    [Footnote 101: _To keep on duty._--Ver. 627. \u2018In statione\n    manebant.\u2019 This is a metaphorical expression, taken from military\n    affairs, as soldiers in turns relieve each other, and take their\n    station, when they keep watch and ward.]\n\n    [Footnote 102: _Phoroneus._--Ver. 668. He was the father of Jasius\n    and of Inachus, the parent of Io. Some accounts, however, say that\n    Inachus was the father of Phoroneus, and the son of Oceanus.]\n\n    [Footnote 103: _Pleiad Maia._--Ver. 670. Maia was one of the seven\n    daughters of Atlas, who were styled Plei\u00e4des after they were\n    received among the constellations.]\n\n    [Footnote 104: _Soporiferous wand._--Ver. 671. This was the\n    \u2018caduceus,\u2019 or staff, with which Mercury summoned the souls of the\n    departed from the shades, induced slumber, and did other offices\n    pertaining to his capacity as the herald and messenger of Jupiter.\n    It was represented as an olive branch, wreathed with two snakes.\n    In time of war, heralds and ambassadors, among the Greeks, carried\n    a \u2018caduceus.\u2019 It was not used by the Romans.]\n\n    [Footnote 105: _A cap for his hair._--Ver. 672. This was a cap\n    called \u2018Petasus.\u2019 It had broad brims, and was not unlike the\n    \u2018causia,\u2019 or Macedonian hat, except that the brims of the latter\n    were turned up at the sides.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The story of the Metamorphosis of Io has been already enlarged upon in\n  the Explanation of the preceding Fable. It may, however, not be\n  irrelevant to observe, that myths, or mythological stories or fables,\n  are frequently based upon some true history, corrupted by tradition in\n  lapse of time. The poets, too, giving loose to their fancy in their\n  love of the marvellous, have still further disfigured the original\n  story; so that it is in most instances extremely difficult to trace\n  back the facts to their primitive simplicity, by a satisfactory\n  explanation of each circumstance attending them, either upon a\n  philosophical, or an historical principle of solution.\n\n\nFABLE XV. [I.689-712]\n\n  Pan, falling in love with the Nymph Syrinx, she flies from him; on\n  which he pursues her. Syrinx, arrested in her flight by the waves of\n  the river Ladon, invokes the aid of her sisters, the Naiads, who\n  change her into reeds. Pan unites them into an instrument with seven\n  pipes, which bears the name of the Nymph.\n\nThen the God says, \u201cIn the cold mountains of Arcadia, among the\nHamadryads of Nonacris,[106] there was one Naiad very famous; the Nymphs\ncalled her Syrinx. And not once {alone} had she escaped the Satyrs as\nthey pursued, and whatever Gods either the shady grove or the fruitful\nfields have {in them}. In her pursuits and her virginity itself she used\nto devote herself to the Ortygian Goddess;[107] and being clothed after\nthe fashion of Diana, she might have deceived one, and might have been\nsupposed to be the daughter of Latona, if she had not had a bow of\ncornel wood, the other, {a bow} of gold; and even then did she\n{sometimes} deceive {people}. Pan spies her as she is returning from the\nhill of Lyc\u00e6us, and having his head crowned with sharp pine leaves, he\nutters such words as these;\u201d it remained {for Mercury} to repeat the\nwords, and how that the Nymph, slighting his suit, fled through pathless\nspots, until she came to the gentle stream of sandy Ladon;[108] and that\nhere, the waters stopping her course, she prayed to her watery sisters,\nthat they would change her; and {how} that Pan, when he was thinking\nthat Syrinx was now caught by him, had seized hold of some reeds of the\nmarsh, instead of the body of the Nymph; and {how}, while he was sighing\nthere, the winds moving amid the reeds had made a murmuring noise, and\nlike one complaining; and {how} that, charmed by this new discovery and\nthe sweetness of the sound, he had said, \u201cThis mode of converse with\nthee shall ever remain with me;\u201d and that accordingly, unequal reeds\nbeing stuck together among themselves by a cement of wax, had {since}\nretained the name of the damsel.\n\n    [Footnote 106: _Nonacris._--Ver. 690. Nonacris was the name of\n    both a mountain and a city of Arcadia, in the Peloponnesus.]\n\n    [Footnote 107: _The Ortygian Goddess._--Ver. 694. Diana is called\n    \u201cOrtygian,\u201d from the isle of Delos, where she was born, one of\n    whose names was Ortygia, from the quantity of quails, \u1f44\u03c1\u03c4\u03c5\u03b3\u03b5\u03c2,\n    there found.]\n\n    [Footnote 108: _Ladon._--Ver. 702. This was a beautiful river of\n    Arcadia, flowing into the Alpheus: its banks were covered with\n    vast quantities of reeds. Ovid here calls its stream \u2018placidum;\u2019\n    whereas in the fifth book of the Fasti, l. 89, he calls it\n    \u2018rapax,\u2019 \u2018violent;\u2019 and in the second book of the Fasti, l. 274,\n    its waters are said to be \u2018cit\u00e6 aqu\u00e6,\u2019 swift waters. Some\n    commentators have endeavored to reconcile these discrepancies; but\n    the probability is, that Ovid, like many other poets, used his\n    epithets at random, or rather according to the requirements of the\n    measure for the occasion.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  This appears to have been an Egyptian fable, imported into the works\n  of the Grecian poets. Pan was probably a Divinity of the Egyptians,\n  who worshipped nature under that name, as we are told by Herodotus and\n  Diodorus Siculus. As, however, according to Nonnus, there were not\n  less than twelve Pans, it is possible that the adventure here related\n  may have been supposed to have happened to one of them who was a\n  native of Greece. He was most probably the inventor of the Syrinx, or\n  Pand\u00e6an pipe, and, perhaps, formed his first instrument from the\n  produce of the banks of the River Ladon, from which circumstance\n  Syrinx may have been styled the daughter of that river.\n\n\nFABLE XVI. [I.713-723]\n\n  Mercury, having lulled Argus to sleep, cuts off his head, and Juno\n  places his eyes in the peacock\u2019s tail.\n\nThe Cyllenian God[109] being about to say such things, perceived that\nall his eyes were sunk in sleep, and that his sight was wrapped[110] in\nslumber. At once he puts an end to his song, and strengthens his\nslumbers, stroking his languid eyes with his magic wand. There is no\ndelay; he wounds him, as he nods, with his crooked sword, where the head\nis joined to the neck; and casts him, all blood-stained, from the rock,\nand stains the craggy cliff with his gore.\n\nArgus, thou liest low, and the light which thou hadst in so many eyes is\n{now} extinguished; and one night takes possession of a {whole} hundred\neyes. The daughter of Saturn takes them, and places them on the feathers\nof her own bird, and she fills its tail with starry gems.\n\n    [Footnote 109: _The Cyllenian God._--Ver. 713. Mercury is so\n    called from Cyllene, in Arcadia, where he was born.]\n\n    [Footnote 110: _That his sight was wrapped._--Ver. 714. Clarke\n    translates \u2018Adopertaque lumina somno,\u2019 \u2018and his peepers covered\n    with sleep.\u2019]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The ancient writers, Asclepiades and Pherecydes, tell us, that Argus\n  was the son of Arestor. He is supposed by some to have been the fourth\n  king of Argos after Inachus, and to have been a person of great wisdom\n  and penetration, on account of which he was said to have a hundred\n  eyes. Io most probably was committed to his charge, and he watched\n  over her with the greatest care.\n\n  It is impossible to divine the reason why his eyes were said to have\n  been set by Juno in the tail of the peacock; though, perhaps, the\n  circumstance has no other foundation than the resemblance of the human\n  eye to the spots in the tail of that bird, which was consecrated to\n  Juno. Besides, if Juno is to be considered the symbol of Air, or\n  \u00c6ther, through which light is transmitted to us, it is not surprising\n  that the ancients bestowed so many eyes upon the bird which was\n  consecrated to her.\n\n\nFABLE XVII. [I.724-779]\n\n  Io, terrified and maddened with dreadful visions, runs over many\n  regions, and stops in Egypt, when Juno, at length, being pacified,\n  restores her to her former shape, and permits her to be worshipped\n  there, under the name of Isis.\n\nImmediately, she was inflamed with rage, and deferred not the time of\n{expressing} her wrath; and she presented a dreadful Fury before the\neyes and thoughts of the Argive mistress,[111] and buried in her bosom\ninvisible stings, and drove her, in her fright, a wanderer through the\nwhole earth. Thou, O Nile, didst remain, as the utmost boundary of her\nlong wanderings. Soon as she arrived there, she fell upon her knees,\nplaced on the edge of the bank, and raising herself up, with her neck\nthrown back, and casting to Heaven those looks which then alone she\ncould, by her groans, and her tears, and her mournful lowing, she seemed\nto be complaining of Jupiter, and to be begging an end of her sorrows.\n\nHe, embracing the neck of his wife with his arms, entreats her, at\nlength, to put an end to her punishment; and he says, \u201cLay aside thy\nfears for the future; she shall never {more} be the occasion of any\ntrouble to thee;\u201d and {then} he bids the Stygian waters to hear this\n{oath}. As soon as the Goddess is pacified, {Io} receives her former\nshape, and she becomes what she was before; the hairs flee from off of\nher body, her horns decrease, and the orb of her eye becomes less; the\nopening of her jaw is contracted; her shoulders and her hands return,\nand her hoof, vanishing, is disposed of into five nails; nothing of the\ncow remains to her, but the whiteness of her appearance; and the Nymph,\ncontented with the service of two feet, is raised erect {on them}; and\n{yet} she is afraid to speak, lest she should low like a cow, and\ntimorously tries again the words {so long} interrupted. Now, as a\nGoddess, she is worshipped by the linen-wearing throng[112] {of Egypt}.\n\nTo her, at length, Epaphus[113] is believed to have been born from the\nseed of great Jove, and throughout the cities he possesses temples\njoined to {those of} his parent. Pha\u00ebton, sprung from the Sun, was equal\nto him in spirit and in years; whom formerly, as he uttered great\nboasts, and yielded not {at all} to him, and proud of his father,\nPh\u0153bus, the grandson of Inachus could not endure; and said, \u201cThou,\n{like} a madman, believest thy mother in all things, and art puffed up\nwith the conceit of an imaginary father.\u201d\n\nPha\u00ebton blushed, and in shame repressed his resentment; and he reported\nto his mother, Clymene,[114] the reproaches of Epaphus; and said,\n\u201cMother, to grieve thee still more, I, the free, the bold {youth}, was\nsilent; I am ashamed both that these reproaches can be uttered against\nus, and that they cannot be refuted; but do thou, if only I am born of a\ndivine race, give me some proof of so great a descent, and claim me for\nheaven.\u201d {Thus} he spoke, and threw his arms around the neck of his\nmother; and besought her, by his own head and by that of Merops,[115]\nand by the nuptial torches of his sisters, that she would give him some\ntoken of his real father.\n\nIt is a matter of doubt whether Clymene was more moved by the entreaties\nof Pha\u00ebton, or by resentment at the charge made against her; and she\nraised both her arms to heaven, and, looking up to the light of the Sun,\nshe said, \u201cSon, I swear to thee, by this beam, bright with shining rays,\nwhich both hears and sees us, that thou, that thou, {I say}, wast\nbegotten by this Sun, which thou beholdest; by this {Sun}, which governs\nthe world. If I utter an untruth, let him deny himself to be seen by me,\nand let this light prove the last for my eyes. Nor will it be any\nprolonged trouble for thee to visit thy father\u2019s dwelling; the abode\nwhere he arises is contiguous to our regions.[116] If only thy\ninclination disposes thee, go forth, and thou shalt inquire of himself.\u201d\n\nPha\u00ebton immediately springs forth, overjoyed, upon these words of his\nmother, and reaches the skies in imagination; and he passes by his own\n\u00c6thiopians, and the Indians situate beneath the rays of the Sun,[117]\nand briskly wends his way to the rising of his sire.\n\n    [Footnote 111: _The Argive mistress._--Ver. 726. Clarke renders\n    \u2018Pellicis Argolic\u00e6,\u2019 \u2018of the Grecian miss.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 112: _The linen-wearing throng._--Ver. 747. The priests,\n    and worshippers of Isis, with whom Io is here said to be\n    identical, paid their adoration to her clothed in linen vestments.\n    Probably, Isis was the first to teach the Egyptians the\n    cultivation of flax.]\n\n    [Footnote 113: _Epaphus._--Ver. 748. Herodotus, in his second\n    book, tells us, that this son of Jupiter, by Io, was the same as\n    the Egyptian God, Apis. Eusebius, quoting from Apollodorus, says\n    that Epaphus was the son of Io, by Telegonus, who married her.]\n\n    [Footnote 114: _Clymene._--Ver. 756. She was a Nymph of the sea,\n    the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.]\n\n    [Footnote 115: _Merops._--Ver. 763. He was king of Ethiopia, and\n    marrying the Nymph Clymene, was either the stepfather of Pha\u00ebton,\n    or, as some writers say, his putative father.]\n\n    [Footnote 116: _To our regions._--Ver. 773. Ethiopia, which, in\n    the time of Ovid, was generally looked upon as one of the regions\n    of the East.]\n\n    [Footnote 117: _The rays of the Sun._--Ver. 778. \u2018Ignibus\n    sidereis,\u2019 means here the \u2018heat,\u2019 or \u2018fire of the sun,\u2019 the sun\n    being considered as a \u2018sidus,\u2019 or \u2018luminous heavenly body.\u2019]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  To the elucidation of this narrative, already given, we will only add,\n  that some of the mythologists inform us, that when Mercury had lulled\n  Argus to sleep, a youth named Hierax awoke him; on which Mercury\n  killed Argus with a stone, and turned Hierax into a spar-hawk.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK THE SECOND.\n\n\nFABLE I. [II.1-303]\n\n  Pha\u00ebton, insulted by Epaphus, goes to the Palace of Apollo, to beseech\n  him to give some token that he is his son. Apollo, having sworn, by\n  the river Styx, to refuse him nothing that he should desire, he\n  immediately asks to guide his chariot for one day. He is unsuccessful\n  in the attempt, and, the horses running away, the world is in danger\n  of being consumed.\n\nThe palace of the Sun was raised high, on stately columns, bright with\nradiant gold, and carbuncle that rivals the flames; polished ivory\ncovered its highest top, {and} double folding doors shone with the\nbrightness of silver. The workmanship {even} exceeded the material; for\nthere Mulciber had carved the sea circling round the encompassed Earth;\nand the orb of the Earth, and the Heavens which hang over that orb.\n{There} the waves have {in them} the azure Deities, both Triton,\nsounding {with his shell}, and the changing Proteus, and \u00c6geon,[1]\npressing the huge backs of whales with his arms; Doris,[2] too, and her\ndaughters, part of whom appear to be swimming, part, sitting on the\nbank, to be drying their green hair; some {are seen} borne upon fishes.\nThe features in all are not the same, nor, however, {remarkably}\ndifferent: {they are} such as those of sisters ought to be. The Earth\nhas {upon it} men and cities, and woods, and wild beasts, and rivers,\nand Nymphs, and other Deities of the country. Over these is placed the\nfigure of the shining Heaven, and there are six Signs {of the Zodiac} on\nthe right door, and as many on the left.\n\nSoon as the son of Clymene had arrived thither by an ascending path,\nand entered the house of his parent, {thus} doubted of; he immediately\nturned his steps to the presence of his father, and stood at a distance,\nfor he could not bear the refulgence nearer. Arrayed in a purple\ngarment, Ph\u0153bus was seated on a throne sparkling with brilliant\nemeralds. On his right hand, and on his left, the Days, the Months,\nthe Years, the Ages, and the Hours were arranged, at corresponding\ndistances, and the fresh Spring was standing, crowned with a chaplet of\nblossoms; Summer was standing naked, and wearing garlands made of ears\nof corn; Autumn, too, was standing besmeared with the trodden-out\ngrapes; and icy Winter, rough with his hoary hair.\n\nThen the Sun, from the midst of this place, with those eyes with which\nhe beholds all things, sees the young man struck with fear at the\nnovelty of {these} things, and says, \u201cWhat is the occasion of thy\njourney {hither}? What dost thou seek, Pha\u00ebton, in this {my} palace,\na son not to be denied by his parent?\u201d\n\nHe answers, \u201cO thou universal Light of the unbounded World, Ph\u0153bus, my\nfather, if thou grantest me the use of that name; and if Clymene is not\nconcealing an error under a {false} pretext, give me, my parent, some\ntoken, by which I may be believed to be really thy progeny; and remove\nthis uncertainty from my mind.\u201d Thus he spoke; but his parent took off\nthe rays shining all around his head, and commanded him to come nearer;\nand, having embraced him, he says, \u201c{And} neither art thou deserving to\nbe denied to be mine, and Clymene has told thee thy true origin; and\nthat thou mayst have the less doubt, ask any gift thou mayst please,\nthat thou mayst receive it from me bestowing it. Let the lake, by which\nthe Gods are wont to swear, and which is unseen, {even} by my eyes, be\nas a witness of my promise.\u201d\n\nHardly had he well finished, when he asks for his father\u2019s chariot, and\nfor the command and guidance of the wing-footed horses for one day. His\nfather repented that he had {so} sworn, and shaking his splendid head\nthree or four times, he said, \u201cBy thine have my words been made rash.\nI wish I were allowed not to grant what I have promised! I confess, my\nson, that this alone I would deny thee. {Still}, I may dissuade thee:\nthy desire is not attended with safety. Thou desirest, Pha\u00ebton, a gift\n{too} great, and {one} which is suited neither to thy strength, nor to\nsuch youthful years. Thy lot is that of a mortal; that which thou\ndesirest, belongs not to mortals. {Nay}, thou aimest, in thy ignorance,\nat even more than it is allowed the Gods above to obtain. Let every one\nbe self-satisfied, {if he likes}; still, with the exception of myself,\nno one is able to take his stand upon the fire-bearing axle-tree. Even\nthe Ruler of vast Olympus, who hurls the ruthless bolts with his\nterrific right hand, cannot guide this chariot; and {yet}, what have we\ngreater than Jupiter? The first {part of the} road is steep, and such as\nthe horses, {though} fresh in the morning, can hardly climb. In the\nmiddle of the heavens it is high aloft, from whence it is often a\n{source of} fear, {even} to myself, to look {down} upon the sea and the\nearth, and my breast trembles with fearful apprehensions. The last stage\nis a steep descent, and requires a sure command {of the horses}. Then,\ntoo, Tethys[3] herself, who receives me in her waves, extended below, is\noften wont to fear, lest I should be borne headlong {from above}.\nBesides, the heavens are carried round[4] with a constant rotation, and\ncarry {with them} the lofty stars, and whirl them with rapid revolution.\nAgainst this I have to contend; and that force which overcomes {all}\nother things, {does} not {overcome} me; and I am carried in a contrary\ndirection to the rapid world. Suppose the chariot given {to thee}; what\ncouldst thou do? Couldst thou proceed, opposed to the whirling poles, so\nthat the rapid heavens should not carry thee away? Perhaps, too, thou\ndost fancy in thy mind that there are groves, and cities of the Gods,\nand temples enriched with gifts; {whereas}, the way is through dangers,\nand the forms of wild beasts;[5] and though thou shouldst keep on thy\nroad, and be drawn aside by no wanderings, still thou must pass amid the\nhorns of the threatening Bull, and the H\u00e6monian[6] bow, and {before} the\nvisage of the raging Lion, and the Scorpion, bending his cruel claws\nwith a wide compass, and the Crab, that bends his claws in a different\nmanner; nor is it easy for thee to govern the steeds spirited by those\nfires which they have in their breasts, and which they breathe forth\nfrom their mouths and their nostrils. Hardly are they restrained by me,\nwhen their high-mettled spirit is {once} heated, and their necks\nstruggle against the reins. But do thou have a care, my son, that I be\nnot the occasion of a gift fatal to thee, and while the matter {still}\npermits, alter thy intentions. Thou askest, forsooth, a sure proof that\nthou mayst believe thyself sprung from my blood? I give thee a sure\nproof in {thus} being alarmed {for thee}; and by my paternal\napprehensions, I am shown to be thy father. Lo, behold my countenance!\nI wish, too, that thou couldst direct thy eyes into my breast, and\ndiscover my fatherly concern within! Finally, look around thee, upon\nwhatever the rich world contains, and ask for anything out of the\nblessings, so many and so great, of heaven, of earth, and of sea; {and}\nthou shalt suffer no denial. In this one thing alone I beg to be\nexcused, which, {called} by its right name, is a penalty, and not an\nhonor; thou art asking, Pha\u00ebton, a punishment instead of a gift. Why, in\nthy ignorance, art thou embracing my neck with caressing arms? Doubt\nnot; whatever thou shalt desire shall be granted thee (by the Stygian\nwaves I have sworn it); but do thou make thy desire more considerately.\u201d\n\nHe had finished his admonitions; and yet {Pha\u00ebton} resists his advice,\nand presses his point, and burns with eagerness for the chariot.\nWherefore, his parent having delayed as long as he could, leads the\nyoung man to the lofty chariot, the gift of Vulcan. The axle-tree was of\ngold, the poles were of gold; the circumference of the exterior of the\nwheel was of gold; the range of the spokes was of silver. Chrysolites\nand gems placed along the yoke in order, gave a bright light from the\nreflected sun. And while the aspiring Pha\u00ebton is admiring these things,\nand is examining the workmanship, behold! the watchful Aurora opened her\npurple doors in the ruddy east, and her halls filled with roses. The\nstars disappear, the troops whereof Lucifer gathers, and moves the last\nfrom his station in the heavens. But the father Titan, when he beheld\nthe earth and the universe growing red, and the horns of the far-distant\nMoon, as if about to vanish, orders the swift Hours to yoke the horses.\nThe Goddesses speedily perform his commands, and lead forth the steeds\nfrom the lofty stalls, snorting forth flames, and filled with the juice\nof Ambrosia; and {then} they put on the sounding bits.\n\nThen the father touched the face of his son with a hallowed drug, and\nmade it able to endure the burning flames, and placed the rays upon his\nlocks, and fetching from his troubled heart sighs presaging his sorrow,\nhe said: \u201cIf thou canst here at least, my boy, obey the advice of thy\nfather, be sparing of the whip, and use the bridle with nerve. Of their\nown accord they are wont to hasten on; the difficulty is to check them\nin their full career. And let not the way attract thee through the five\ndirect circles.[7] There is a track cut obliquely, with a broad\ncurvature, and bounded by the extremities of three zones, and {so} it\nshuns the South pole, and the Bear united to the North. Let thy way be\nhere; thou wilt perceive distinct traces of the wheels. And that heaven\nand earth may endure equal heat, neither drive too low, nor urge the\nchariot along the summit of the sky. Going forth too high, thou wilt set\non fire the signs of the heavens; too low, the earth; in the middle\ncourse thou will go most safely. Neither let the right wheel bear thee\noff towards the twisted Serpent, nor let the left lead thee to the low\nAltar; hold thy course between them. The rest I leave to Fortune, who,\nI pray, may aid thee, and take more care of thee, than thou dost of\nthyself. Whilst I am speaking, the moist Night has touched the goals\nplaced on the Western shores; delay is not allowed me. I am required;\nthe Morning is shining forth, the darkness being dispersed. Seize the\nreins with thy hands; or if thou hast a mind capable of change, make use\nof my advice, {and} not my chariot, while thou art {still} able, and art\neven yet standing upon solid ground; and while thou art not yet in thy\nignorance filling the chariot that thou didst so unfortunately covet.\u201d\n\nThe other leaps into the light chariot with his youthful body, and\nstands aloft, and rejoices to take in his hand the reins presented {to\nhim}, and then gives thanks to his reluctant parent. In the meantime the\nswift Pyroeis, and Eo\u00fcs and \u00c6thon, the horses of the sun, and Phlegon,\n{making} the fourth, fill the air with neighings, sending forth flames,\nand beat the barriers with their feet. After Tethys, ignorant of the\ndestiny of her grandson, had removed these, and the scope of the\nboundless universe was given them, they take the road, and moving their\nfeet through the air, they cleave the resisting clouds, and raised aloft\nby their wings, they pass by the East winds that had arisen from the\nsame parts. But the weight was light; and such as the horses of the sun\ncould not feel; and the yoke was deficient of its wonted weight. And as\nthe curving ships, without proper ballast, are tossed about, and\nunsteady, through their too great lightness, are borne through the sea,\nso does the chariot give bounds[8] in the air, unimpeded by its usual\nburden, and is tossed on high, and is just like an empty one.\n\nSoon as the steeds have perceived this, they rush on, and leave the\nbeaten track, and run not in the order in which {they did} before. He\nhimself becomes alarmed; and knows not which way to turn the reins\nentrusted {to him}, nor does he know where the way is, nor, if he did\nknow, could he control them. Then, for the first time, did the cold\nTriones grow warm with sunbeams, and attempt, in vain, to be dipped in\nthe sea that was forbidden {to them}. And the Serpent which is situate\nnext to the icy pole, being before torpid with cold, and formidable to\nno one, grew warm, and regained new rage from the heat. They say,\ntoo,[9] that thou, Bo\u00f6tes, being disturbed, took to flight; although\nthou wast {but} slow, and thy wain impeded thee. But when, from the\nheight of the skies, the unhappy Pha\u00ebton looked down upon the earth,\nlying far, very far beneath, he grew pale, and his knees shook with a\nsudden terror; and in a light so great, darkness overspread his eyes.\nAnd now he could wish that he had never touched the horses of his\nfather; and now he is sorry that he knew his descent, and that he\nprevailed in his request; now desiring to be called the son of Merops.\nHe is borne along, just as a ship driven by the furious Boreas, to which\nits pilot has given up the overpowered helm, {and} which he has resigned\nto the Gods and {the effect of} his supplications. What can he do? much\nof heaven is left behind his back; still more is before his eyes. Either\n{space} he measures in his mind; and at one moment he is looking forward\nto the West, which it is not allowed him by fate to reach; {and}\nsometimes he looks back upon the East. Ignorant what to do, he is\nstupefied; and he neither lets go the reins, nor is he able to retain\nthem; nor does he know the names of the horses. In his fright, too, he\nsees strange objects scattered everywhere in various parts of the\nheavens, and the forms of huge wild beasts. There is a spot where the\nScorpion bends his arms into two curves, and with his tail and claws\nbending on either side, he extends his limbs through the space of two\nsigns {of the Zodiac}. As soon as the youth beheld him wet with the\nsweat of black venom, and threatening wounds with the barbed point {of\nhis tail}, bereft of sense, he let go the reins, in a chill of horror.\nSoon as they, falling down, have touched the top of their backs, the\nhorses range at large: and no one restraining them, they go through the\nair of an unknown region; and where their fury drives them thither,\nwithout check, do they hurry along, and they rush on to the stars fixed\nin the sky, and drag the chariot through pathless places. One while they\nare mounting aloft, and now they are borne through steep places, and\n{along} headlong paths in a tract nearer to the earth.\n\nThe Moon, too, wonders that her brother\u2019s horses run lower than her own,\nand the scorched clouds send forth smoke. As each region is most\nelevated, it is caught by the flames, and cleft, it makes {vast} chasms,\nand becomes dry, its moisture being carried away. The grass grows pale;\nthe trees, with their foliage, are burnt up; and the dry standing corn\naffords fuel for its own destruction. {But} I am complaining of trifling\n{ills}. Great cities perish, together with their fortifications, and the\nflames turn whole nations, with their populations, into ashes; woods,\ntogether with mountains, are on fire. Athos[10] burns, and the Cilician\nTaurus,[11] and Tmolus,[12] and \u0152ta,[13] and Ida,[14] now dry, {but}\nonce most famed for its springs; and Helicon,[15] the resort of the\nVirgin {Muses}, and H\u00e6mus,[16] not yet {called} \u0152agrian. \u00c6tna[17] burns\nintensely with redoubled flames, and Parnassus, with its two summits,\nand Eryx,[18] and Cynthus,[19] and Othrys, and Rhodope,[20] at length to\nbe despoiled of its snows, and Mimas,[21] and Dindyma,[22] and\nMycale,[23] and Cith\u00e6ron,[24] created for {the performance of} sacred\nrites. Nor does its cold avail {even} Scythia; Caucasus[25] is on fire,\nand Ossa with Pindus, and Olympus, greater than them both, and the lofty\nAlps,[26] and the cloud-bearing Apennines.[27]\n\nThen, indeed, Pha\u00ebton beholds the world set on fire on all sides, and he\ncannot endure heat so great, and he inhales with his mouth scorching\nair, as though from a deep furnace, and perceives his own chariot to be\non fire. And neither is he able now to bear the ashes and the emitted\nembers; and, on every side, he is involved in heated smoke. Covered with\na pitchy darkness, he knows not whither he is going, nor where he is,\nand is hurried away at the pleasure of the winged steeds. They believe\nthat it was then that the nations of the \u00c6thiopians contracted their\nblack hue,[28] the blood being attracted into the surface of the body.\nThen was Libya[29] made dry by the heat, the moisture being carried off;\nthen, with dishevelled hair, the Nymphs lamented the springs and the\nlakes. B\u0153otia bewails Dirce,[30] Argos Amymone,[31] and Ephyre[32] the\nwaters of Pirene. Nor do rivers that have got banks distant in\nsituation, remain {secure}; Tanais[33] smokes in the midst of its\nwaters, and the aged Peneus, and Teuthrantian Ca\u00efcus,[34] and rapid\nIsmenus,[35] with Phocean Erymanthus,[36] and Xanthus[37] again to burn,\nand yellow Lycormas,[38] and M\u00e6ander,[39] which sports with winding\nstreams, and the Mygdonian Melas,[40] and the T\u00e6narian Eurotas.[41] The\nBabylonian Euphrates, too, was on fire, Orontes[42] was in flames, and\nthe swift Thermodon[43] and Ganges,[44] and Phasis,[45] and Ister.[46]\nAlpheus[47] boils; the banks of Spercheus burn; and the gold which\nTagus[48] carries with its stream, melts in the flames. The river birds\ntoo, which made famous the M\u00e6onian[49] banks {of the river} with their\nsong, grew hot in the middle of Ca\u00ffster. The Nile, affrighted, fled to\nthe remotest parts of the earth, and concealed his head, which still\nlies hid; his seven last mouths are empty, {become} seven {mere}\nchannels, without any stream. The same fate dries up the Ismarian\n{rivers}, Hebrus together with Strymon,[50] and the Hesperian[51]\nstreams, the Rhine, and the Rhone, and the Po, and the Tiber, to which\nwas promised the sovereignty of the world.\n\nAll the ground bursts asunder; and through the chinks, the light\npenetrates into Tartarus, and startles the Infernal King with his\nspouse. The Ocean too, is contracted, and that which lately was sea, is\na surface of parched sand; and the mountains which the deep sea had\ncovered, start up and increase {the number of} the scattered\nCyclades.[52] The fishes sink to the bottom, and the crooked Dolphins do\nnot care to raise themselves on the surface into the air, as usual. The\nbodies of sea calves float lifeless on their backs, on the top of the\nwater. The story, too, is, that {even} Nereus himself, and Doris and\ntheir daughters, lay hid in the heated caverns. Three times had Neptune\nventured, with a stern countenance, to thrust his arms out of the water;\nthree times he was unable to endure the scorching heat of the air.\nHowever, the genial Earth, as she was surrounded with sea, amid the\nwaters of the main, and the springs, dried up on every side, which had\nhidden themselves in the bowels of their cavernous parent, burnt-up,\nlifted up her all-productive face[53] as far as her neck, and placed her\nhands to her forehead, and shaking all things with a vast trembling, she\nsank down a little, and retired below the spot where she is wont to be,\nand thus she spoke, with a parched voice: \u201cO sovereign of the Gods, if\nthou approvest of this, if I have deserved it, why do thy lightnings\nlinger? Let me, {if} doomed to perish by the force of fire, perish by\nthy flames; and alleviate my misfortune, by being the author {of it}.\nWith difficulty, indeed, do I open my mouth for these very words;\u201d (the\nvapor had oppressed her utterance.) \u201cBehold my scorched hair, and such a\nquantity of ashes over my eyes, so much {too}, over my features. And\ndost thou give this as my recompense? this, as the reward of my\nfertility and of my duty, in that I endure wounds from the crooked\nplough and harrows, and am harassed all the year through? In that I\nsupply green leaves for the cattle, and corn, a wholesome food for\nmankind, and frankincense for yourselves? But still, suppose that I am\ndeserving of destruction, why have the waves {deserved this}? Why has\nthy brother deserved it? Why do the seas, delivered to him by lot,\ndecrease, and why do they recede still further from the sky? But if\nregard for neither thy brother nor for myself influences thee, still\nhave consideration for thy own skies; look around, on either side, {how}\neach pole is smoking; if the fire shall injure them, thy palace will\nfall in ruins. See! Atlas[54] himself is struggling, and hardly can he\nbear the glowing heavens on his shoulders. If the sea, if the earth\nperishes, if the palace of heaven, we are thrown[55] into the confused\nstate of ancient chaos. Save it from the flames, if aught still\nsurvives, and provide for the preservation of the universe.\u201d\n\nThus spoke the Earth; nor, indeed, could she any longer endure the\nvapor, nor say more; and she withdrew her face within herself, and the\ncaverns neighboring to the shades below.\n\n    [Footnote 1: _\u00c6geon._--Ver. 10. Homer makes him to be the same\n    with Briareus. According to another account, which Ovid here\n    follows, he was a sea God, the son of Oceanus and Terra.]\n\n    [Footnote 2: _Doris._--Ver. 11. She was the daughter of Oceanus,\n    the wife of Nereus, and the mother of the fifty Nereids.]\n\n    [Footnote 3: _Tethys._--Ver. 69. She was the daughter of C\u0153lus and\n    Terra, and the wife of Oceanus. Her name is here used to signify\n    the ocean itself.]\n\n    [Footnote 4: _Are carried round._--Ver. 70. Clarke thus renders\n    this line,--\u201cAdd, too, that the heaven was whisked round with a\n    continual rolling.\u201d]\n\n    [Footnote 5: _Wild beasts._--Ver. 78. The signs of the Zodiac.]\n\n    [Footnote 6: _H\u00e6monian._--Ver. 81. Or Thessalian. He here alludes\n    to the Thessalian Chiron, the Centaur, who, according to Ovid and\n    other writers, was placed in the Zodiac as the Constellation\n    Sagittarius: while others say that Crotus, or Croto, the son of\n    Eupheme, the nurse of the Muses, was thus honored.]\n\n    [Footnote 7: _Through the five direct circles._--Ver. 129. There\n    is some obscurity in this passage, arising from the mode of\n    expression. Ph\u0153bus here counsels Pha\u00ebton what track to follow, and\n    tells him to pursue his way by an oblique path, and not directly\n    in the plane of the equator. This last is what he calls \u2018directos\n    via quinque per arcus.\u2019 These five arcs, or circles, are the five\n    parallel circles by which astronomers distinguish the heavens,\n    namely, the two polar circles, the two tropics, and the\n    equinoctial. The latter runs exactly in the middle, between the\n    other two circles, so that the expression must be understood to\n    mean, \u2018pursue not your way directly through that circle which is\n    the middlemost of the five, but observe the track that cuts it\n    obliquely.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 8: _The chariot give bounds._--Ver. 165-6. Clarke thus\n    renders these lines.--\u2018Thus does the chariot give jumps into the\n    air without its usual weight, and is kicked up on high, and is\n    like one empty.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 9: _They say, too._--Ver. 176-7. The following is\n    Clarke\u2019s translation of these two lines,--\u2018They say, too, that\n    you, Bo\u00f6tes, scowered off in a mighty bustle, although you were\n    but slow, and thy cart hindered thee.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 10: _Athos._--Ver. 217. Athos (now Monte Santo) was a\n    mountain of Macedonia, so lofty that its shadow was said to extend\n    even to the Isle of Lemnos, which was eighty-seven miles distant.]\n\n    [Footnote 11: _Taurus._--Ver. 217. This was an immense mountain\n    range which ran through the middle of Cilicia, in Asia Minor.]\n\n    [Footnote 12: _Tmolus._--Ver. 217. Tmolus (now Bozdaz) was a\n    mountain of Lydia, famed for its wines and saffron. Pactolus,\n    a stream with sands reputed to be golden, took its rise there.]\n\n    [Footnote 13: _\u0152ta._--Ver. 217. This was a mountain chain, which\n    divided Thessaly from Doris and Phocis; famed for the death of\n    Hercules on one of its ridges.]\n\n    [Footnote 14: _Ida._--Ver. 218. There were two mountains of the\n    name of Ide, or Ida; one in Crete, the other near Troy. The latter\n    is here referred to, as being famed for its springs.]\n\n    [Footnote 15: _Helicon._--Ver. 219. This was a mountain of B\u0153otia,\n    sacred to the Virgin Muses.]\n\n    [Footnote 16: _H\u00e6mus._--Ver. 219. This, which is now called the\n    Balkan range, was a lofty chain of mountains running through\n    Thrace. Orpheus, the son of \u0152agrus and Calliope, was there torn in\n    pieces by the M\u00e6nades, or Bacchanalian women, whence the mountain\n    obtained the epithet of \u2018\u0152agrian.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 17: _\u00c6tna._--Ver. 220. This is the volcanic mountain of\n    Sicily; the flames caused by the fall of Pha\u00ebton, added to its\n    own, caused them to be redoubled.]\n\n    [Footnote 18: _Eryx._--Ver. 221. This was a mountain of Sicily,\n    now called San Juliano. On it, a magnificent temple was erected,\n    in honor of Venus.]\n\n    [Footnote 19: _Cynthus._--Ver. 221. This was a mountain of Delos,\n    on which Apollo and Diana were said to have been born.]\n\n    [Footnote 20: _Rhodope._--Ver. 222. It was a high mountain, capped\n    with perpetual snows, in the northern part of Thrace.]\n\n    [Footnote 21: _Mimas._--Ver. 222. A mountain of Ionia, near the\n    Ionian Sea. It was of very great height; whence Homer calls it\n    \u1f51\u03c8\u03af\u03ba\u03c1\u03b7\u03bc\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2.]\n\n    [Footnote 22: _Dindyma._--Ver. 223. This was a mountain of\n    Phrygia, near Troy, sacred to Cybele, the mother of the Gods.]\n\n    [Footnote 23: _Mycale._--Ver. 223. A mountain of Caria, opposite\n    to the Isle of Samos.]\n\n    [Footnote 24: _Cith\u00e6ron._--Ver. 223. This was a mountain of\n    B\u0153otia, famous for the orgies of Bacchus, there celebrated. In its\n    neighborhood, Pentheus was torn to pieces by the M\u00e6nades, for\n    slighting the worship of Bacchus.]\n\n    [Footnote 25: _Caucasus._--Ver. 224. This was a mountain chain in\n    Asia, between the Euxine and Caspian Seas.]\n\n    [Footnote 26: _Alps._--Ver. 226. This mountain range divides\n    France from Italy.]\n\n    [Footnote 27: _Apennines._--Ver. 226. This range of mountains runs\n    down the centre of Italy.]\n\n    [Footnote 28: _Their black hue._--Ver. 235. The notion that the\n    blackness of the African tribes was produced by the heat of the\n    sun, is borrowed by the Poet from Hesiod. Hyginus, too, says, \u2018the\n    Indians, because, by the proximity of the fire, their blood was\n    turned black by the heat thereof, became of black appearance\n    themselves.\u2019 Notwithstanding the learned and minute investigations\n    of physiologists on the subject, this question is still involved\n    in considerable obscurity.]\n\n    [Footnote 29: _Libya._--Ver. 237. This was a region between\n    Mauritania and Cyrene. The Greek writers, however, often use the\n    word to signify the whole of Africa. Servius gives a trifling\n    derivation for the name, in saying that Libya was so called,\n    because \u03bb\u03b5\u03af\u03c0\u03b5\u03b9 \u1f41 \u1f55\u03b5\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2, \u2018it is without rain.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 30: _Dirce._--Ver. 239. Dirce was a celebrated fountain\n    of B\u0153otia, into which it was said that Dirce, the wife of Lycus,\n    king of Thebes, was transformed.]\n\n    [Footnote 31: _Amymone._--Ver. 240. It was a fountain of Argos,\n    near Lerna, into which the Nymph, Amymone, the daughter of Lycus,\n    king of the Argives, was said to have been transformed.]\n\n    [Footnote 32: _Ephyre._--Ver. 240. It was the most ancient name of\n    Corinth, in the citadel of which, or the Acrocorinthus, was the\n    spring Pyrene, of extreme brightness and purity and sacred to the\n    Muses.]\n\n    [Footnote 33: _Tanais._--Ver. 242. This river, now the Don, after\n    a long winding course, discharges itself into the \u2018Palus M\u00e6otis,\u2019\n    now the sea of \u2018Azof.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 34: _Ca\u00efcus._--Ver. 243. This is a river of Mysia, here\n    called \u2018Teuthrantian,\u2019 from Mount Teuthras, in its vicinity.]\n\n    [Footnote 35: _Ismenus._--Ver. 244. Ismenus was a river of B\u0153otia,\n    that flowed past Thebes into the Euripus.]\n\n    [Footnote 36: _Erymanthus._--Ver. 245. This was a river of\n    Arcadia, which, rising in a mountain of that name, fell into the\n    Alpheus.]\n\n    [Footnote 37: _Xanthus._--Ver. 245. This was a river of Troy; here\n    spoken of as destined to behold flames a second time, in the\n    conflagration of that city.]\n\n    [Footnote 38: _Lycormas._--Ver. 245. This was a rapid river of\n    \u00c6tolia, which was afterwards known by the name of Evenus.]\n\n    [Footnote 39: _M\u00e6ander._--Ver. 246. This was a river of Phrygia,\n    flowing between Lydia and Caria; it was said to have 600 windings\n    in its course.]\n\n    [Footnote 40: _Melas._--Ver. 247. This name was given to many\n    rivers of Thrace, Thessaly, and Asia, on account of the darkness\n    of the color of their waters; the name was derived from the Greek\n    word \u03bc\u03ad\u03bb\u03b1\u03c2, \u2018black.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 41: _T\u00e6narian Eurotas._--Ver. 247. The Eurotas was a\n    river of Laconia, which flowed under the walls of the city of\n    Sparta, and discharged itself into the sea near the promontory of\n    T\u00e6narus, now called Cape Matapan. The Eurotas is now called\n    \u2018Basilipotamo,\u2019 or \u2018king of streams.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 42: _Orontes._--Ver. 248. The Orontes was a river of\n    Asia Minor, which flowed near Antioch.]\n\n    [Footnote 43: _Thermodon._--Ver. 249. This was a river of\n    Cappadocia, near which the Amazons were said to dwell.]\n\n    [Footnote 44: _Ganges._--Ver. 249. This is one of the largest\n    rivers in Asia, and discharges itself into the Persian Gulf; and\n    not, as Gierig says, in his note on this passage, in the Red Sea.]\n\n    [Footnote 45: _Phasis._--Ver. 249. This was a river of Colchis,\n    falling into the Euxine Sea.]\n\n    [Footnote 46: _Ister._--Ver. 249. The Danube had that name from\n    its source to the confines of Germany; and thence, in its course\n    through Scythia to the sea, it was called by the name of \u2018Ister.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 47: _Alpheus._--Ver. 250. It was a river of Arcadia, in\n    Peloponnesus.]\n\n    [Footnote 48: _Tagus._--Ver. 251. This was a river of Spain, which\n    was said to bring down from the mountains great quantities of\n    golden sand. The Poet here feigns this to be melted by the heat of\n    the sun, and in that manner to be carried along by the current of\n    the river.]\n\n    [Footnote 49: _M\u00e6onian._--Ver. 252. M\u00e6onia was so called from the\n    river M\u00e6on, and was another name of Lydia. The Ca\u00ffster, famous for\n    its swans, flowed through Lydia.]\n\n    [Footnote 50: _Strymon._--Ver. 257. The Hebrus and the Strymon\n    were rivers of Thrace. Ismarus was a mountain of that country,\n    famous for its vines.]\n\n    [Footnote 51: _Hesperian._--Ver. 258. Hesperia, or \u2018the western\n    country,\u2019 was a general name of not only Spain and Gaul, but even\n    Italy. The Rhine is a river of France and Germany, the Rhone of\n    France. The Padus, or Po, and the Tiber, are rivers of Italy.]\n\n    [Footnote 52: _Cyclades._--Ver. 264. The Cyclades were a cluster\n    of islands in the \u00c6gean Sea, surrounding Delos as though with a\n    circle, whence their name.]\n\n    [Footnote 53: _Her all-productive face._--Ver. 275. The earth was\n    similarly called by the Greeks \u03c0\u03b1\u03bc\u03bc\u03ae\u03c4\u03c9\u03c1, \u2018the mother of all\n    things.\u2019 So Virgil calls it \u2018omniparens.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 54: _Atlas._--Ver. 296. This was a mountain of\n    Mauritania, which, by reason of its height, was said to support\n    the heavens.]\n\n    [Footnote 55: _We are thrown._--Ver. 299. Clarke translates, \u2018In\n    chaos antiquum confundimur,\u2019 \u2018We are then jumbled into the old\n    chaos again.\u2019]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  If we were to regard this fable solely as an allegory intended to\n  convey a moral, we should at once perceive that the adventure of\n  Pha\u00ebton represents the wilful folly of a rash young man, who consults\n  his own inclination, rather than the dictates of wisdom and prudence.\n  Some ancient writers tell us that Pha\u00ebton was the son of Ph\u0153bus and\n  Clymene, while others make the nymph Rhoda to have been his mother.\n  Apollodorus, following Hesiod, says that Herse, the daughter of\n  Cecrops, king of Athens, was the mother of Cephalus, who was carried\n  away by Aurora; which probably means that he left Greece for the\n  purpose of settling in the East. Cephalus had a son named Tithonus,\n  the father of Pha\u00ebton. Thus Pha\u00ebton was the fourth in lineal descent\n  from Cecrops, who reigned at Athens about 1580, B.C. The story is most\n  probably based upon the fact of some excessive heat that happened in\n  his time. Aristotle supposes that at that period flames fell from\n  heaven, which ravaged several countries. Possibly the burning of the\n  cities of the plain, or the stay of the sun in his course at the\n  command of Joshua, may have been the foundation of the story. St.\n  Chrysostom suggests that it is based upon an imperfect version of the\n  ascent of Elijah in a chariot of fire; that name, or rather \u2018Elias,\u2019\n  the Greek form of it, bearing a strong resemblance to \u1f2d\u03bb\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2, the Greek\n  name of the sun. Vossius suggests that this is an Egyptian history,\n  and considers the story of the grief of Ph\u0153bus for the loss of his son\n  to be another version of the sorrows of the Egyptians for the death of\n  Osiris. The tears of the Heliades, or sisters of Pha\u00ebton, he conceives\n  to be identical with the lamentations of the women who wept for the\n  death of Thammuz. The Poet, when he tells us that Pha\u00ebton abandoned\n  his chariot on seeing The Scorpion, probably intends to show that the\n  event of which he treats happened in the month in which the sun enters\n  that sign.\n\n  Plutarch and Tzetzes tell us that Pha\u00ebton was a king of the\n  Molossians, who drowned himself in the Po; that he was a student of\n  astronomy, and foretold an excessive heat which happened in his reign,\n  and laid waste his kingdom. Lucian, also, in his Discourse on\n  Astronomy, gives a similar explanation of the story, and says that\n  this prince dying very young, left his observations imperfect, which\n  gave rise to the fable that he did not know how to drive the chariot\n  of the sun to the end of its course.\n\n\nFABLE II. [II.305-324]\n\n  Jupiter, to save the universe from being consumed, hurls his thunder\n  at Pha\u00ebton, on which he falls headlong into the river Eridanus.\n\nBut the omnipotent father, having called the Gods above to witness, and\nhim, too, who had given the chariot {to Pha\u00ebton}, that unless he gives\nassistance, all things will perish in direful ruin, mounts aloft to the\nhighest eminence, from which he is wont to spread the clouds over the\nspacious earth; from which he moves his thunders, and hurls the\nbrandished lightnings. But then, he had neither clouds that he could\ndraw over the earth, nor showers that he could pour down from the sky.\nHe thundered aloud, and darted the poised lightning from his right ear\nagainst the charioteer, and at the same moment deprived him both of his\nlife and his seat, and by his ruthless fires restrained the flames. The\nhorses are affrighted, and, making a bound in an opposite direction,\nthey shake the yoke from off their necks, and disengage themselves from\nthe torn harness. In one place lie the reins; in another, the axle-tree\nwrenched away from the pole; in another part {are} the spokes of the\nbroken wheels; and the fragments of the chariot torn in pieces are\nscattered far and wide. But Pha\u00ebton, the flames consuming his yellow\nhair, is hurled headlong, and is borne in a long tract through the air;\nas sometimes a star from the serene sky may appear to fall, although it\n{really} has not fallen. Him the great Eridanus receives, in a part of\nthe world far distant from his country, and bathes his foaming face.\n\n\nFABLE III. [II.325-366]\n\n  The sisters of Pha\u00ebton are changed into poplars, and their tears\n  become amber distilling from those trees.\n\nThe Hesperian Naiads[56] commit his body, smoking from the three-forked\nflames, to the tomb, and inscribe these verses on the stone:--\u201cHere is\nPha\u00ebton buried, the driver of his father\u2019s chariot, which if he did not\nmanage, still he miscarried in a great attempt.\u201d But his wretched father\nhad hidden his face, overcast with bitter sorrow, and, if only we can\nbelieve it, they say that one day passed without the sun.[57] The flames\nafforded light; and {so far}, there was some advantage in that disaster.\nBut Clymene, after she had said whatever things were to be said amid\nmisfortunes so great, traversed the whole earth, full of woe, and\ndistracted, and tearing her bosom. And first seeking his lifeless limbs,\n{and} then his bones, she found his bones, however, buried on a foreign\nbank. She laid herself down on the spot; and bathed with tears the name\nshe read on the marble, and warmed it with her open breast. The\ndaughters of the Sun mourn no less, and give tears, an unavailing gift,\nto his death; and beating their breasts with their hands, they call\nPha\u00ebton both night and day, who is doomed not to hear their sad\ncomplaints; and they lie scattered about the tomb.\n\nThe Moon had four times filled her disk, by joining her horns; they,\naccording to their custom (for use had made custom), uttered\nlamentations; among whom Pha\u00ebthusa, the eldest of the sisters, when she\nwas desirous to lie on the ground, complained that her feet had grown\nstiff; to whom the fair Lampetie attempting to come, was detained by a\nroot suddenly formed. A third, when she is endeavoring to tear her hair\nwith her hands, tears off leaves; one complains that her legs are held\nfast by the trunk of a tree, another that her arms are become long\nbranches. And while they are wondering at these things, bark closes upon\ntheir loins; and by degrees, it encompasses their stomachs, their\nbreasts, their shoulders, and their hands; and only their mouths are\nleft uncovered, calling upon their mother. What is their mother to do?\nbut run here and there, whither frenzy leads her, and join her lips\n{with theirs}, while {yet} she may? That is not enough; she tries to\npull their bodies out of the trunks {of the trees}, and with her hands\nto tear away the tender branches; but from thence drops of blood flow as\nfrom a wound. Whichever {of them} is wounded, cries out, \u201cSpare me,\nmother, O spare me, I pray; in the tree my body is being torn. And now\nfarewell.\u201d The bark came over the last words.\n\nThence tears flow forth; and amber distilling from the new-formed\nbranches, hardens in the sun; which the clear river receives and sends\nto be worn by the Latian matrons.\n\n    [Footnote 56: _The Hesperian Naiads._--Ver. 325. These were the\n    Naiads of Italy. They were by name Pha\u00ebthusa, Lampetie, and\n    Ph\u0153be.]\n\n    [Footnote 57: _Passed without the sun._--Ver. 331. There is,\n    perhaps, in this line some faint reference to a tradition of the\n    sun having, in the language of Scripture, \u2018stood still upon\n    Gibeon, in his course, by the command of Joshua, when dispensing\n    the divine vengeance upon the Amorites,\u2019 Joshua, x. 13. Or of the\n    time when \u2018the shadow returned ten degrees backward\u2019, by the\n    sun-dial of Ahaz, 2 Kings, xx. 11.]\n\n\nFABLE IV. [II.367-400]\n\n  Cycnus, king of Liguria, inconsolable for the death of Pha\u00ebton, is\n  transformed into a swan.\n\nCycnus, the son of Sthenelus,[58] was present at this strange event;\nwho, although he was related to thee, Pha\u00ebton, on his mother\u2019s side, was\nyet more nearly allied in affection. He having left his kingdom (for he\nreigned over the people and the great cities of the Ligurians[59]) was\nfilling the verdant banks and the river Eridanus, and the wood, {now}\naugmented by the sisters, with his complaints; when the man\u2019s voice\nbecame shrill, and gray feathers concealed his hair. A long neck, too,\nextends from his breast, and a membrane joins his reddening toes;\nfeathers clothe his sides, {and} his mouth holds a bill without a point.\nCycnus becomes a new bird; but he trusts himself not to the heavens or\nthe air, as being mindful of the fire unjustly sent from thence. He\nfrequents the pools and the wide lakes, and abhorring fire, he chooses\nthe streams, the {very} contrary of flames.\n\nMeanwhile, the father of Pha\u00ebton, in squalid garb, and destitute of his\ncomeliness, just as he is wont to be when he suffers an eclipse of his\ndisk, abhors both the light, himself, and the day; and gives his mind up\nto grief, and adds resentment to his sorrow, and denies his services to\nthe world. \u201cMy lot,\u201d says he, \u201chas been restless enough from the {very}\nbeginning of time, and I am tired of labors endured by me, without end\nand without honor. Let any one else drive the chariot that carries the\nlight. If there is no one, and all the Gods confess that they cannot do\nit, let {Jupiter} himself drive it; that, at least, while he is trying\nmy reins, he may for a time lay aside the lightnings that bereave\nfathers. Then he will know, having made trial of the strength of the\nflame-footed steeds, that he who did not successfully guide them, did\nnot deserve death.\u201d\n\nAll the Deities stand around the Sun, as he says such things; and they\nentreat him, with suppliant voice, not to determine to bring darkness\nover the world. Jupiter, as well, excuses the hurling of his lightnings,\nand imperiously adds threats to entreaties. Ph\u0153bus calls together his\nsteeds, maddened and still trembling with terror, and, subduing them,\nvents his fury both with whip and lash; for he is furious, and upbraids\nthem with his son, and charges {his death} upon them.\n\n    [Footnote 58: _Sthenelus._--Ver. 367. He was a king of Liguria.\n    Commentators have justly remarked that it was not very likely that\n    a king of Liguria should be related to Clymene, a queen of the\n    Ethiopians, as Ovid, in the next line, says was the case. This\n    story was probably invented by some writer, who fancied that there\n    were two persons of the name of Pha\u00ebton; one the subject of eastern\n    tradition, and the other a personage of the Latin mythology.]\n\n    [Footnote 59: _The Ligurians._--Ver. 370. These were a people\n    situate on the eastern side of Etruria, between the rivers Var and\n    Macra. The Grecian writers were in the habit of styling the whole\n    of the north of Italy Liguria.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Plutarch places the tomb of Pha\u00ebton on the banks of the river Po; and\n  it is not improbable that his mother and sisters, grieving at his\n  fate, ended their lives in the neighborhood of his tomb, being\n  overcome with grief, which gave rise to the story that they were\n  changed into the poplars on its banks, which distilled amber. Some\n  writers say, that they were changed into larch trees, and not poplars.\n  Hesiod and Pindar also make mention of this tradition. Possibly,\n  Cycnus, being a friend of Pha\u00ebton, may have died from grief at his\n  loss, on which the poets graced his attachment with the story that he\n  was changed into a swan. Apollodorus mentions two other persons of the\n  name of Cycnus. One was the son of Mars, and was killed before Troy;\n  the other, as Hesiod tells us, was killed by Hercules. Lucian, in his\n  satirical vein, tells us, that inquiring on the banks of the Po for\n  the swans, and the poplars distilling amber, he was told that no such\n  things had ever been seen there; and that even the tradition of\n  Pha\u00ebton and his sisters was utterly unknown to the inhabitants of\n  those parts.\n\n\nFABLE V. [II.401-465]\n\n  Jupiter, while taking a survey of the world, to extinguish the remains\n  of the fire, falls in love with Calisto, whom he sees in Arcadia; and,\n  in order to seduce that Nymph, he assumes the form of Diana. Her\n  sister Nymphs disclose her misfortune before the Goddess, who drives\n  her from her company, on account of the violation of her vow of\n  chastity.\n\nBut the omnipotent father surveys the vast walls of heaven, and\ncarefully searches, that no part, impaired by the violence of the fire,\nmay fall to ruin. After he has seen them to be secure and in their own\n{full} strength, he examines the earth, and the works of man; yet a care\nfor his own Arcadia is more particularly his object. He restores, too,\nthe springs and the rivers, that had not yet dared to flow, he gives\ngrass to the earth: green leaves to the trees; and orders the injured\nforests again to be green. While {thus} he often went to and fro, he\nstopped short on {seeing} a virgin of Nonacris, and the fires engendered\nwithin his bones received {fresh} heat. It was not her employment to\nsoften the wool by teasing, nor to vary her tresses in their\narrangement; while a buckle fastened her garment, and a white fillet her\nhair, carelessly flowing; and at one time she bore in her hand a light\njavelin, at another, a bow. She was a warrior of Ph\u0153be; nor did any\n{Nymph} frequent M\u00e6nalus, more beloved by Trivia,[60] than she; but no\ninfluence is of long duration. The lofty Sun had {now} obtained a\nposition beyond the mid course, when she enters a grove which no\ngeneration had {ever} cut. Here she puts her quiver off from her\nshoulders, and unbends her pliant bow, and lies down on the ground,\nwhich the grass had covered, and presses her painted quiver, with her\nneck laid on it. When Jupiter saw her {thus} weary, and without a\nprotector, he said, \u201cFor certain, my wife will know nothing of this\nstolen embrace; or, if she should chance to know, is her scolding, is\nit, {I say}, of such great consequence?\u201d\n\nImmediately he puts on the form and dress of Diana, and says, \u201cO Virgin!\none portion of my train, upon what mountains hast thou been hunting?\u201d\nThe virgin raises herself from the turf, and says, \u201cHail, Goddess! {that\nart}, in my opinion, greater than Jove, even if he himself should hear\nit.\u201d He both smiles and he hears it, and is pleased at being preferred\nto himself; and he gives her kisses, not very moderate, nor such as\nwould be given by a virgin. He stops her as she is preparing to tell him\nin what wood she has been hunting, by an embrace, and he does not betray\nhimself without the commission {of violence}. She, indeed, on the other\nhand, as far as a woman could do (would that thou hadst seen her,\ndaughter of Saturn, {then} thou wouldst have been more merciful), she,\nindeed, {I say}, resists; but what damsel, or who {besides}, could\nprevail against Jupiter? Jove, {now} the conqueror, seeks the heavens\nabove; the grove and the conscious wood is {now} her aversion. Making\nher retreat thence, she is almost forgetting to take away her quiver\nwith her arrows, and the bow which she had hung up.\n\nBehold, Dictynna,[61] attended by her train, as she goes along the lofty\nM\u00e6nalus, and exulting in the slaughter of the wild beasts, beholds her,\nand calls her, thus seen. Being so called, she drew back, and at first\nwas afraid lest Jupiter might be under her {shape}; but after she saw\nthe Nymphs walking along with her, she perceived that there was no\ndeceit,[62] and she approached their train. Alas! how difficult it is\nnot to betray a crime by one\u2019s looks! She scarce raises her eyes from\nthe ground, nor, as she used to do, does she walk by the side of the\nGoddess, nor is she the foremost in the whole company; but she is\nsilent, and by her blushes she gives signs of her injured honor. And\nDiana, but {for the fact}, that she is a virgin, might have perceived\nher fault by a thousand indications; the Nymphs are said to have\nperceived it.\n\nThe horns of the Moon were {now} rising again in her ninth course, when\nthe hunting Goddess, faint from her brother\u2019s flames, lighted on a cool\ngrove, out of which a stream ran, flowing with its murmuring noise, and\nborne along the sand worn fine {by its action}. When she had approved of\nthe spot, she touched the surface of the water with her foot; and\ncommending it as well, she says, \u201cAll overlookers are far off; let us\nbathe our bodies, with the stream poured over them.\u201d She of\nParrhasia[63] blushed; they all put off their clothes; she alone sought\n{an excuse for} delay. Her garment was removed as she hesitated, which\nbeing put off, her fault was exposed with her naked body. Cynthia said\nto her, in confusion, and endeavoring to conceal her stomach with her\nhands, \u201cBegone afar hence! and pollute not the sacred springs;\u201d and she\nordered her to leave her train.\n\n    [Footnote 60: _Trivia._--Ver. 416. This was an epithet of Diana,\n    as presiding over and worshipped in the places where three roads\n    met, which were called \u2018trivia.\u2019 Being known as Diana on earth,\n    the Moon in the heavens, and Proserpine in the infernal regions,\n    she was represented at these places with three faces; those of a\n    horse, a dog, and a female; the latter being in the middle.]\n\n    [Footnote 61: _Dictynna._--Ver. 441. Diana was so called from the\n    Greek word \u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03c4\u1f7a\u03c2, \u2018a net,\u2019 which was used by her for the purposes\n    of hunting.]\n\n    [Footnote 62: _There was no deceit._--Ver. 446. Clarke translates\n    \u2018sensit abesse dolos,\u2019 \u2018she was convinced there was no roguery in\n    the case.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 63: _She of Parrhasia._--Ver. 460. Calisto is so called\n    from Parrhasia, a region of Arcadia. Parrhasius was the name of a\n    mountain, a grove, and a city of that country and was derived from\n    the name of Parrhasus, a son of Lycaon.]\n\n\nFABLES VI AND VII. [II.466-550]\n\n  Juno, being jealous that Calisto has attracted Jupiter, transforms her\n  into a Bear. Her son, Arcas, not recognizing his mother in that shape,\n  is about to kill her; but Jupiter removes them both to the skies,\n  where they form the Constellations of the Great and the Little Bear.\n  The raven, as a punishment for his garrulity, is changed from white to\n  black.\n\nThe spouse of the great Thunderer had perceived this some time before,\nand had put off the severe punishment {designed for her}, to a proper\ntime. There is {now} no reason for delay; and now the boy Arcas (that,\ntoo, was a grief to Juno) was born of the mistress {of her husband}.\nWherefore, she turned her thoughts, full of resentment, and her eyes\n{upon her}, and said, \u201cThis thing, forsooth, alone was wanting, thou\nadulteress, that thou shouldst be pregnant, and that my injury should\nbecome notorious by thy labors, and that {thereby} the disgraceful\nconduct of my {husband}, Jupiter, should be openly declared. Thou shalt\nnot go unpunished; for I will spoil that shape of thine, on which thou\npridest thyself, and by which thou, mischievous one,[64] dost charm my\nhusband.\u201d\n\n{Thus} she spoke; and seizing her straight in front by the hair,[65]\nthrew her on her face to the ground. She suppliantly stretched forth her\narms; those arms began to grow rough with black hair,[66] and her hands\nto be bent, and to increase to hooked claws, and to do the duty of feet,\nand the mouth, that was once admired by Jupiter, to become deformed with\na wide opening; and lest her prayers, and words not needed, should\ninfluence her feelings, the power of speech is taken from her; an angry\nand threatening voice, and full of terror, is uttered from her hoarse\nthroat. Still, her former understanding remains in her, even thus become\na bear; and expressing her sorrows by her repeated groans, she lifts up\nher hands, such as they are, to heaven and to the stars, and she deems\nJove ungrateful, though she cannot call him so. Ah! how often, not\ndaring to rest in the lonely wood, did she wander about before her own\nhouse, and in the fields once her own. Ah! how often was she driven over\nthe crags by the cry of the hounds; and, a huntress herself, she fled in\nalarm, through fear of the hunters! Often, seeing the wild beasts, did\nshe lie concealed, forgetting what she was; and, a bear herself, dreaded\nthe he-bears seen on the mountains, and was alarmed at the wolves,\nthough her father was among them.\n\nBehold! Arcas, the offspring of the daughter of Lycaon, ignorant of who\nis his parent, approaches her, thrice five birthdays being now nearly\npast; and while he is following the wild beasts, while he is choosing\nthe proper woods, and is enclosing the Erymanthian forests[67] with his\nplatted nets, he meets with his mother. She stood still, upon seeing\nArcas, and was like one recognizing {another}. He drew back, and, in his\nignorance, was alarmed at her keeping her eyes fixed upon him without\nceasing; and, as she was desirous to approach still nearer, he would\nhave pierced her breast with the wounding spear. Omnipotent {Jove}\naverted this, and removed both them and {such} wickedness; and placed\nthem, carried through vacant space with a rapid wind, in the heavens,\nand made them neighboring Constellations.\n\nJuno swelled with rage after the mistress shone amid the stars, and\ndescended on the sea to the hoary Tethys, and the aged Ocean, a regard\nfor whom has often influenced the Gods; and said to them, inquiring the\nreason of her coming, \u201cDo you inquire why I, the queen of the Gods, am\ncome hither from the \u00e6thereal abodes? Another has possession of heaven\nin my stead. May I be deemed untruthful, if, when the night has made the\nworld dark, you see not in the highest part of heaven stars but lately\n{thus} honored to my affliction; there, where the last and most limited\ncircle surrounds the extreme part of the axis {of the world}. Is there,\nthen, {any ground} why one should hesitate to affront Juno, and dread my\nbeing offended, who only benefit them by my resentment? See what a great\nthing I have done! How vast is my power! I forbade her to be of human\nshape; she has been made a Goddess; \u2019tis thus that I inflict punishment\non offenders; such is my mighty power! Let him obtain {for her} her\nformer shape, and let him remove this form of a wild beast; as he\nformerly did for the Argive Phoronis. Why does he not marry her as well,\ndivorcing Juno, and place her in my couch, and take Lycaon for his\nfather-in-law? But if the wrong done to your injured foster-child\naffects you, drive the seven Triones away from your azure waters, and\nexpel the stars received into heaven as the reward of adultery, that a\nconcubine may not be received into your pure waves.\u201d\n\nThe Gods of the sea granted her request. The daughter of Saturn enters\nthe liquid air in her graceful chariot,[68] with her variegated\npeacocks; peacocks just as lately tinted, upon the killing of Argus, as\nthou, garrulous raven, hadst been suddenly transformed into {a bird\nhaving} black wings, whereas thou hadst been white before. For this bird\nwas formerly of a silver hue, with snow-white feathers, so that he\nequalled the doves entirely without spot; nor would he give place to the\ngeese that were to save the Capitol by their watchful voice, nor to the\nswan haunting the streams. His tongue was the cause of his disgrace; his\nchattering tongue being the cause, that the color which was white is now\nthe reverse of white.\n\nThere was no one more beauteous in all H\u00e6monia than Lariss\u00e6an[69]\nCoronis. At least, she pleased thee, Delphian {God}, as long as she\ncontinued chaste, or was not the object of remark. But the bird of\nPh\u0153bus found out her infidelity;[70] and the inexorable informer winged\nhis way to his master, that he might disclose the hidden offence. Him\nthe prattling crow follows, with flapping wings, to make all inquiries\nof him. And having heard the occasion of his journey, she says, \u201cThou\nart going on a fruitless errand; do not despise the presages of my\nvoice.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 64: _Thou, mischievous one._--Ver. 475. Clarke, rather\n    too familiarly, renders \u2018importuna,\u2019 \u2018plaguy baggage.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 65: _In front by the hair._--Ver. 476. \u2018Advers\u00e2 prensis\n    a fronte capillis,\u2019 is rendered by Clarke, \u2018seizing her fore-top.\u2019\n    Had he been describing the combats of two fish-wives, such a\n    version would have been, perhaps, more appropriate than in the\n    present instance.]\n\n    [Footnote 66: _With black hair._--Ver. 478. To the explanation\n    given at the end of the story, we may here add the curious one\n    offered by Pal\u00e6phatus. He says that Calisto was a huntress who\n    entered the den of a bear, by which she was devoured; and that the\n    bear coming out, and Calisto being no more seen, it was reported\n    that she had been transformed into a bear.]\n\n    [Footnote 67: _Erymanthian forests._--Ver. 499. Erymanthus was a\n    mountain of Arcadia, which was afterwards famous for the slaughter\n    there, by Hercules, of the wild boar, which made it his haunt.]\n\n    [Footnote 68: _Graceful chariot._--Ver. 531. Clarke translates\n    \u2018habili curru,\u2019 \u2018her neat chariot.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 69: _Lariss\u00e6an._--Ver. 542. Larissa was the chief city\n    of Thessaly, and was situate on the river Peneus.]\n\n    [Footnote 70: _Her infidelity._--Ver. 545. \u2018Sed ales sensit\n    adulterium Ph\u0153beius,\u2019 is translated by Clarke, \u2018but the Ph\u0153ban\n    bird found out her pranks.\u2019]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Cicero (On the Nature of the Gods, Book iii.) tells us, that Lycaon\n  had a daughter who delighted in the chase, and that Jupiter, the\n  second of that name, the king of Arcadia, fell in love with her. This\n  was the ground on which she was said to have been a favorite of Diana.\n  The story of Calisto having been received into Heaven, and forming the\n  Constellation of the Bear, was perhaps grounded on the fact of Lycaon,\n  her father, having been the first known to take particular notice of\n  this Constellation. The story of the request of Juno, that Tethys will\n  not receive this new Constellation into the Ocean, is probably derived\n  from the circumstance, that the Bear, as well as the other stars\n  within the Arctic Circle, never sets.\n\n  Possibly, Arcas, the son of Calisto, dying at a youthful age, may have\n  been the origin of the Constellation of the Lesser Bear.\n\n\nFABLE VIII. [II.551-590]\n\n  A virgin, the favorite of Apollo, of the same name with Coronis, is\n  changed into a crow, for a story which she tells Minerva, concerning\n  the basket in which Ericthonius was enclosed.\n\n\u201cConsider what I was, and what I am, and inquire into my deserts. Thou\nwilt find that my fidelity was my ruin. For once upon a time, Pallas had\nenclosed Ericthonius, an offspring born without a mother, in a basket\nmade of Act\u00e6an twigs; and had given it to keep to the three virgins born\nof the two-shaped[71] Cecrops, and had given them this injunction, that\nthey should not inquire into her secrets. I, being hidden among the\nlight foliage, was watching from a thick elm what they were doing. Two\n{of them}, Pandrosos and Herse, observe their charge without {any}\ntreachery; Aglauros alone calls her sisters cowards, and unties the\nknots with her hand; but within they behold a child, and a dragon\nextended by him. I told the Goddess what was done; for which such a\nreturn as this is made to me, that I am said to have been banished from\nthe protection of Minerva, and am placed after the bird of the night. My\npunishment may warn birds not to incur dangers, by their chattering. But\nI consider {that} she courted me with no inclination of my own, nor\nasking for any such {favors}. This thou mayst ask of Pallas thyself;\nalthough she is angry, she will not, with all her anger, deny this. For\nCoroneus, one famous in the land of Phocis (I mention what is well\nknown) begot me: and {so} I was a virgin of royal birth, and was courted\nby rich suitors ({so} despise me not). My beauty was the cause of my\nmisfortune; for while I was passing with slow steps along the sea-shore,\non the surface of the sand, as I was wont {to do}, the God of the Ocean\nbeheld me, and was inflamed; and when he had consumed his time to no\npurpose, in entreating me with soft words, he prepared {to use}\nviolence, and followed me. I fled, and I left the firm shore, and\nwearied myself in vain on the yielding sand. Then I invoked both Gods\nand men; but my voice did not reach any mortal. A virgin was moved for a\nvirgin, and gave me assistance. I was extending my arms toward heaven;\n{when those} arms began to grow black with light feathers. I struggled\nto throw my garments from off my shoulders, but they were feathers, and\nhad taken deep root in my skin. I tried to beat my naked breast with my\nhands, but I had now neither hands nor naked breast. I ran; and the sand\ndid not retard my feet as before, and I was lifted up from the surface\nof the ground. After that, being lifted up, I was carried through the\nair, and was assigned, as a faultless companion, to Minerva. Yet what\ndoes this avail me, if Nyctimene, made a bird for a horrid crime, has\nsucceeded me in my honor?\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 71: _Two-shaped._--Ver. 555. Cecrops is here so called,\n    and in the Greek, \u03b4\u03b9\u03c6\u03c5\u1f74\u03c2 from the fact of his having been born in\n    Egypt, and having settled in Greece, and was thus to be reckoned\n    both as an Egyptian, and in the number of the Greeks.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Ericthonius was fabled to be the son, or foster-child, of Athene, or\n  Minerva, perhaps because he was the son of the daughter of Cranaus,\n  who had the name of Athene, by a priest of Vulcan, which Divinity was\n  said to have been his progenitor. St. Augustine alleges that he was\n  exposed, and found in a temple dedicated to Minerva and Vulcan. His\n  name being composed of two words, \u1f14\u03c1\u03b9\u03c2 and \u03c7\u03b8\u1f7c\u03bd, signifying\n  \u2018contention,\u2019 and \u2018earth,\u2019 Strabo imagines that he was the son of\n  Vulcan and the Earth. But it seems that the real ground on which he\n  was called by that name was, that he disputed the right to the crown\n  of Athens with Amphictyon, on the death of Cranaus, the second king.\n  Amphictyon prevailed, but Ericthonius succeeded him. To hide his legs,\n  which were deformed, he is said to have invented chariots; though that\n  is not likely, as Egypt, from which Greece had received many colonies,\n  was acquainted with the use of them from the earliest times. He is\n  also said to have instituted the festival of the Panathen\u00e6a, at\n  Athens, whence, in process of time, it was adopted by the whole of\n  Greece.\n\n  Hyginus tells us, that after his death he was received into heaven as\n  the constellation \u2018Auriga,\u2019 or \u2018the Charioteer;\u2019 and he further\n  informs us, that the deformity of his legs gave occasion to the\n  saying, that he was half man and half a serpent. Apollodorus says that\n  he was born in Attica; that he was the son of Crana\u00eb, the daughter of\n  Attis; and that he dethroned Amphictyon, and became the fourth king of\n  Athens.\n\n\nFABLE IX. [II.591-632]\n\n  Nyctimene having entertained a criminal passion for her father,\n  Nycteus, the Gods, to punish her incest, transform her into an owl.\n  Apollo pierces the breast of Coronis with an arrow, on the raven\n  informing him of the infidelity of his mistress.\n\n\u201cHas not the thing, which is very well known throughout the whole of\nLesbos,[72] been heard of by thee, that Nyctimene defiled the bed of her\nfather? She is a bird indeed; but being conscious of her crime, she\navoids {the human} gaze and the light, and conceals her shame in the\ndarkness; and by all {the birds} she is expelled entirely from the sky.\u201d\n\nThe raven says to him, saying such things, \u201cMay this, thy calling of me\nback, prove a mischief to thee, I pray; I despise the worthless omen.\u201d\nNor does he drop his intended journey; and he tells his master, that he\nhas seen Coronis lying down with a youth of H\u00e6monia. On hearing the\ncrime of his mistress, his laurel fell down; and at the same moment his\nusual looks, his plectrum,[73] and his color, forsook the God. And as\nhis mind was {now} burning with swelling rage, he took up his wonted\narms, and levelled his bow bent from the extremities, and pierced, with\nan unerring shaft, that bosom, that had been so oft pressed to his own\nbreast. Wounded, she uttered a groan, and, drawing the steel from out of\nthe wound, she bathed her white limbs with purple blood; and she said,\n\u201cI might {justly}, Ph\u0153bus, have been punished by thee, but {still I\nmight} have first brought forth; now we two shall die in one.\u201d Thus far\n{she spoke}; and she poured forth her life, together with her blood.\nA deadly coldness took possession of her body deprived of life.\n\nThe lover, too late, alas! repents of his cruel vengeance, and blames\nhimself that he listened {to the bird, and} that he was so infuriated.\nHe hates the bird, through which he was forced to know of the crime and\nthe cause of his sorrow; he hates, too, the string, the bow, and his\nhand; and together with his hand, {those} rash weapons, the arrows. He\ncherishes her fallen to the ground, and by late resources endeavors to\nconquer her destiny; and in vain he practices his physical arts.\n\nWhen he found that these attempts were made in vain, and that the\nfuneral pile was being prepared, and that her limbs were about to be\nburnt in the closing flames, then, in truth, he gave utterance to sighs\nfetched from the bottom of his heart (for it is not allowed the\ncelestial features to be bathed with tears). No otherwise than, as when\nan axe, poised from the right ear {of the butcher}, dashes to pieces,\nwith a clean stroke, the hollow temples of the sucking calf, while the\ndam looks on. Yet after Ph\u0153bus had poured the unavailing perfumes on her\nbreast, when he had given the {last} embrace and had performed the due\nobsequies prematurely hastened, he did not suffer his own offspring to\nsink into the same ashes; but he snatched the child from the flames and\nfrom the womb of his mother, and carried him into the cave of the\ntwo-formed Chiron. And he forbade the raven, expecting for himself the\nreward of his tongue that told no untruth, to perch any longer among the\nwhite birds.\n\n    [Footnote 72: _Lesbos._--Ver. 591. This was an island in the \u00c6gean\n    sea, lying to the south of Troy.]\n\n    [Footnote 73: _Plectrum._--Ver. 601. This was a little rod, or\n    staff, with which the player used to strike the strings of the\n    lyre, or cithara, on which he was playing.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  History does not afford us the least insight into the foundation of\n  the story of Coronis transformed into a crow, for making too faithful\n  a report, nor that of the raven changed from white to black, for\n  talking too much. If they are based upon some events which really\n  happened, we must be content to acknowledge that these Fables refer to\n  the history of two persons entirely unknown to us, and who, perhaps,\n  lived as far back as the time of the daughters of Cecrops, to whom the\n  story seems to bear some relation. Coronis being the name of a crow as\n  well as of a Nymph, Lucian and other writers have fabled that her son,\n  \u00c6sculapius, was produced from the egg of that bird, and was born in\n  the shape of a serpent, under which form he was very generally\n  worshipped.\n\n\nFABLE X. [II.633-675]\n\n  Ocyrrhoe, the daughter of the Centaur Chiron, attempting to predict\n  future events, tells her father the fate of the child \u00c6sculapius, on\n  which the Gods transform her into a mare.\n\nIn the meantime the half-beast {Chiron} was proud of a pupil of Divine\norigin, and rejoiced in the honor annexed to the responsibility. Behold!\nthe daughter of the Centaur comes, having her shoulders covered with her\nyellow hair; whom once the nymph Chariclo,[74] having borne her on the\nbanks of a rapid stream, called Ocyrrho\u00eb. She was not contented to learn\nher father\u2019s arts {only; but} she sang the secrets of the Fates.\nTherefore, when she had conceived in her mind the prophetic transports,\nand grew warm with the God, whom she held confined within her breast,\nshe beheld the infant, and she said, \u201cGrow on, child, the giver of\nhealth to the whole world; the bodies of mortals shall often owe their\n{own existence} to thee. To thee will it be allowed to restore life when\ntaken away; and daring to do that once against the will of the Gods,\nthou wilt be hindered by the bolts of thy grandsire from being able any\nmore to grant that {boon}. And from a God thou shalt become a lifeless\ncarcase; and a God {again}, who lately wast a carcase; and twice shalt\nthou renew thy destiny. Thou likewise, dear father, now immortal, and\nproduced at thy nativity, on the condition of enduring for ever, wilt\nthen wish that thou couldst die, when thou shalt be tormented on\nreceiving the blood of a baneful serpent[75] in thy wounded limbs; and\nthe Gods shall make thee from an immortal {being}, subject to death, and\nthe three Goddesses[76] shall cut thy threads.\u201d\n\nSomething still remained in addition to what she had said. She heaved a\nsigh from the bottom of her breast, and the tears bursting forth,\ntrickled down her cheeks, and thus she said: \u201cThe Fates prevent me, and\nI am forbidden to say any more, and the use of my voice is precluded. My\narts, which have brought the wrath of a Divinity upon me, were not of so\nmuch value; I wish that I had not been acquainted with the future. Now\nthe human shape seems to be withdrawing from me; now grass pleases {me}\nfor my food; now I have a desire to range over the extended plains; I am\nturned into a mare, and into a shape kindred {to that of my father}. But\nyet, why entirely? For my father partakes of both forms.\u201d\n\nAs she was uttering such words as these, the last part of her complaint\nwas but little understood; and her words were confused. And presently\nneither {were} they words indeed, nor did it appear to be the voice of a\nmare, but of one imitating a mare. And in a little time she uttered\nperfect neighing, and stretched her arms upon the grass. Then did her\nfingers grow together, and a smooth hoof united five nails in one\ncontinued piece of horn. The length of her face and of her neck\nincreased; the greatest part of her long hair became a tail. And as the\nhairs lay scattered about her neck, they were transformed into a mane\n{lying} upon the right side; at once both her voice and her shape were\nchanged. And this wondrous change gave her the {new} name {of Enippe}.\n\n    [Footnote 74: _Chariclo._--Ver. 636. She was the daughter of\n    Apollo, or of Oceanus, but is supposed not to have been the same\n    person that is mentioned by Apollodorus as the mother of the\n    prophet Tiresias.]\n\n    [Footnote 75: _A baneful serpent._--Ver. 652. This happened when\n    one of the arrows of Hercules, dipped in the poison of the Lern\u00e6an\n    Hydra, pierced the foot of Chiron while he was examining it.]\n\n    [Footnote 76: _The three Goddesses._--Ver. 654. Namely, Clotho,\n    Lachesis, and Atropos, the \u2018Parc\u00e6,\u2019 or \u2018Destinies.\u2019]\n\n\nFABLE XI. [II.676-707]\n\n  Mercury, having stolen the oxen of Apollo, and Battus having perceived\n  the theft, he engages him, by a present, to keep the matter secret.\n  Mistrusting, however, his fidelity, he assumes another shape, and\n  tempting him with presents, he succeeds in corrupting him. To punish\n  his treachery, the God changes him into a touchstone.\n\nThe Philyrean[77] hero wept, and in vain, {God} of Delphi, implored thy\nassistance; but neither couldst thou reverse the orders of great\nJupiter, nor, if thou couldst have reversed them wast thou then present;\n{for then} thou wast dwelling in Elis and the Messenian[78] fields. This\nwas the time when a shepherd\u2019s skin garment was covering thee, and a\nstick cut out of the wood was the burden of thy left hand, {and} of the\nother, a pipe unequal with its seven reeds. And while love is thy\nconcern, while thy pipe is soothing thee, some cows are said to have\nstrayed unobserved into the plains of Pylos.[79] The son of Maia the\ndaughter of Atlas, observes them, and with his {usual} skill hides them,\ndriven off, in the woods. Nobody but an old man, well-known in that\ncountry, had noticed the theft: all the neighborhood called him Battus.\nHe was keeping the forests and the grassy pastures, and the set of\nfine-bred mares of the rich Neleus.[80]\n\n{Mercury} was afraid of him, and took him aside with a gentle hand, and\nsaid to him, \u201cCome, stranger, whoever thou art, if, perchance any one\nshould ask after these herds, deny that thou hast seen them; and, lest\nno requital be paid thee for so doing, take a handsome cow as thy\nreward;\u201d and {thereupon} he gave {him one}. On receiving it, the\nstranger returned this answer: \u201cThou mayst go in safety. May that stone\nfirst make mention of thy theft;\u201d and he pointed to a stone. The son of\nJupiter feigned to go away. {But} soon he returned, and changing his\nform, together with his voice, he said, \u201cCountryman, if thou hast seen\nany cows pass along this way, give me thy help, and break silence about\nthe theft; a female, coupled together with its bull shall be presented\nthee as a reward.\u201d But the old man,[81] after his reward was {thus}\ndoubled, said, \u201cThey will be beneath those hills;\u201d and beneath those\nhills they {really} were. The son of Atlas laughed and said, \u201cDost thou,\ntreacherous man, betray me to my own self? Dost betray me to myself?\u201d\nand {then} he turned his perjured breast into a hard stone, which even\nnow is called the \u201cTouchstone;\u201d[82] and this old disgrace is {attached}\nto the stone that {really} deserves it not.\n\n    [Footnote 77: _Philyrean._--Ver. 676. Chiron was the son of\n    Philyra, by Saturn.]\n\n    [Footnote 78: _Messenian._--Ver. 679. Elis and Messenia were\n    countries of Peloponnesus; the former was on the northwest, and\n    the latter on the southwest side of it.]\n\n    [Footnote 79: _Plains of Pylos._--Ver. 684. There were three\n    cities named Pylos in Peloponnesus. One was in Elis, another in\n    Messenia, and the third was situate between the other two. The\n    latter is supposed to have been the native place of Nestor, though\n    they all laid claim to that honor.]\n\n    [Footnote 80: _Neleus._--Ver. 689. He was the king of Pylos, and\n    the father of Nestor.]\n\n    [Footnote 81: _The old man._--Ver. 702. Clarke quaintly translates\n    \u2018at senior,\u2019 \u2018but then the old blade.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 82: _The \u2018Touchstone.\u2019_--Ver. 706. It is a matter of\n    doubt among commentators whether \u2018index\u2019 here means a general term\n    for the touchstone, by which metals are tested; or whether it\n    means that Battus was changed into one individual stone, which\n    afterwards was called \u2018index.\u2019 Lactantius, by his words, seems to\n    imply that the latter was the case. He says, \u2018He changed him into\n    a stone, which, from this circumstance, is called \u201cindex\u201d about\n    Pylos.\u2019 \u2018Index\u2019 was a name of infamy, corresponding with the Greek\n    word \u03c3\u03c5\u03ba\u03bf\u03c6\u03ac\u03bd\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2, and with our term \u2018spy.\u2019]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The Centaurs, fabulous monsters, half men and half horses, were\n  perhaps the first horsemen in Thessaly and its neighborhood. It is\n  also probable that Chiron, who was one of these, acquired great fame\n  by the knowledge he had acquired at a time and in a country where\n  learning was little cultivated. The ancients regarded him as the first\n  promulgator of the utility of medicines, in which he was said to have\n  instructed his pupil \u00c6sculapius. He was also considered to be an\n  excellent musician and a good astronomer, as we learn from Homer,\n  Diodorus Siculus, and other authors. Most of the heroes of that age,\n  and among them Hercules and Jason, studied under him. Very probably,\n  the only foundation for the story of the transformation of Ocyrrho\u00eb,\n  was the skill and address which, under her father\u2019s instruction, she\n  acquired in riding and the management of horses. For if, as it seems\n  really was the case, the horsemen of that age were taken for monsters,\n  half men and half horses, it is not surprising to find the story that\n  the daughter of a Centaur was transformed into a mare.\n\n  Chiron is generally supposed to have marked out the Constellations,\n  for the purpose of directing the Argonauts in their voyage for the\n  recovery of the Golden Fleece.\n\n\nFABLE XII. [II.708-764]\n\n  Mercury, falling in love with Herse, the daughter of Cecrops,\n  endeavors to engage Aglauros in his interest, and by her means, to\n  obtain access to her sister. She refuses to assist him, unless he\n  promises to present her with a large sum of money.\n\nHence, the bearer of the caduceus raised himself upon equal wings; and\nas he flew, he looked down upon the fields of Munychia,[83] and the land\npleasing to Minerva, and the groves of the well-planted Lyc\u00e6us. On that\nday, by chance, the chaste virgins were, in their purity, carrying the\nsacred offerings in baskets crowned with flowers, upon their heads to\nthe joyful citadel of Pallas. The winged God beholds them returning\nthence; and he does not shape his course directly forward, but wheels\nround in the {same} circle. As that bird swiftest in speed, the kite, on\nespying the entrails, while he is afraid, and the priests stand in\nnumbers around the sacrifice, wings his flight in circles, and yet\nventures not to go far away, and greedily hovers around {the object of}\nhis hopes with waving wings, so does the active Cyllenian {God} bend his\ncourse over the Act\u00e6an towers, and circles round in the same air. As\nmuch as Lucifer shines more brightly than the other stars, and as much\nas the golden Ph\u0153be {shines more brightly} than thee, O Lucifer, so much\nsuperior was Herse, as she went, to all the {other} virgins, and was the\nornament of the solemnity and of her companions. The son of Jupiter was\nastonished at her beauty; and as he hung in the air, he burned no\notherwise than as when the Balearic[84] sling throws forth the plummet\nof lead; it flies and becomes red hot in its course, and finds beneath\nthe clouds the fires which it had not {before}.\n\nHe alters his course, and, having left heaven, goes a different way; nor\ndoes he disguise himself; so great is his confidence in his beauty.\nThis, though it is {every way} complete, still he improves by care, and\nsmooths his hair and {adjusts} his mantle,[85] that it may hang\nproperly, so that the fringe and all the gold may be seen; {and minds}\nthat his long smooth wand, with which he induces and drives away sleep,\nis in his right hand, and that his wings[86] shine upon his beauteous\nfeet.\n\nA private part of the house had three bed-chambers, adorned with ivory\nand with tortoiseshell, of which thou, Pandrosos, hadst the right-hand\none, Aglauros the left-hand, and Herse had the one in the middle. She\nthat occupied the left-hand one was the first to remark Mercury\napproaching, and she ventured to ask the name of the God, and the\noccasion of his coming. To her thus answered the grandson of Atlas and\nof Pleione: \u201cI am he who carries the commands of my father through the\nair. Jupiter himself is my father. Nor will I invent pretences; do thou\nonly be willing to be attached to thy sister, and to be called the aunt\nof my offspring. Herse is the cause of my coming; I pray thee to favor\none in love.\u201d Aglauros looks upon him with the same eyes with which she\nhad lately looked upon the hidden mysteries of the yellow-haired\nMinerva, and demands for her agency gold of great weight; {and}, in the\nmeantime, obliges him to go out of the house. The warlike Goddess turned\nupon her the orbs of her stern eyes, and drew a sigh from the bottom {of\nher heart}, with so great a motion, that she heaved both her breast and\nthe \u00c6gis placed before her valiant breast. It occurred {to her} that she\nhad laid open her secrets with a profane hand, at the time when she\nbeheld progeny created for {the God} who inhabits Lemnos,[87] without a\nmother, {and} contrary to the assigned laws; and that she could now be\nagreeable both to the God and to the sister {of Aglauros}, and that she\nwould be enriched by taking the gold, which she, in her avarice, had\ndemanded. Forthwith she repairs to the abode of Envy, hideous with black\ngore. Her abode is concealed in the lowest recesses of a cave, wanting\nsun, {and} not pervious to any wind, dismal and filled with benumbing\ncold; and which is ever without fire, and ever abounding with darkness.\n\n    [Footnote 83: _Munychia._--Ver. 709. Munychia was the name of a\n    promontory and harbor of Attica, between the Pir\u00e6us and the\n    promontory of \u2018Sunium.\u2019 The spot was so called from Munychius, who\n    there built a temple in honor of Diana.]\n\n    [Footnote 84: _Balearic._--Ver. 727. The Baleares were the islands\n    of Majorca, Minorca, and Iviza, in the Mediterranean, near the\n    coast of Spain. The natives of these islands were famous for their\n    skill in the use of the sling. That weapon does not appear to have\n    been used in the earliest times among the Greeks, as Homer does\n    not mention it; it had, however, been introduced by the time of\n    the war with Xerxes, though even then the sling was, perhaps,\n    rarely used as a weapon. The Acarnanians and the Ach\u00e6ans of Agium,\n    Patr\u00e6, and Dym\u00e6 were very expert in the use of the sling. That\n    used by the Ach\u00e6ans was made of three thongs of leather, and not\n    of one only, like those of other nations. The natives of the\n    Balearic isles are said to have attained their skill from the\n    circumstance of their mothers, when they were children, obliging\n    them to obtain their food by striking it, from a tree, with a\n    sling. While other slings were made of leather, theirs were made\n    of rushes. Besides stones, plummets of lead, called \u2018glandes,\u2019\n    (as in the present instance), and \u03bc\u03bf\u03bb\u03cd\u03b2\u03b4\u03b9\u03b4\u03b5\u03c2, of a form between\n    acorns and almonds, were cast in moulds, to be thrown from slings.\n    They have been frequently dug up in various parts of Greece, and\n    particularly on the plains of Marathon. Some have the device of a\n    thunderbolt; while others are inscribed with \u03b4\u03ad\u03be\u03b1\u03b9, \u2018take this.\u2019\n    It was a prevalent idea with the ancients that the stone\n    discharged from the sling became red hot in its course, from the\n    swiftness of its motion.]\n\n    [Footnote 85: _Adjusts his mantle._--Ver. 733. \u2018Chlamydemque ut\n    pendeat apte, Collocat,\u2019 etc., is translated by Clarke--\u2018And he\n    places his coat that it might hang agreeably, that the border and\n    all its gold might appear.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 86: _That his wings._--Ver. 736. Clarke renders \u2018ut\n    tersis niteant talaria plantis,\u2019 \u2018that his wings shine upon his\n    spruce feet.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 87: _God who inhabits Lemnos._--Ver. 757. Being\n    precipitated from heaven for his deformity, Vulcan fell upon the\n    Isle of Lemnos, in the \u00c6gean Sea, where he exercised the craft of\n    a blacksmith, according to the mythologists. The birth of\n    Ericthonius, by the aid of Minerva, is here referred to.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Cicero tells us, that there were several persons in ancient times\n  named Mercury. The probability is, that one of them fell in love with\n  Herse, one of the daughters of Cecrops, king of Athens; and that\n  Aglauros becoming jealous of her, this tradition was built upon facts\n  of so ordinary a nature.\n\n\nFABLE XIII. [II.765-832]\n\n  Pallas commands Envy to make Aglauros jealous of her sister Herse.\n  Envy obeys the request of the Goddess; and Aglauros, stung with that\n  passion, continues obstinate in opposing Mercury\u2019s passage to her\n  sister\u2019s apartment, for which the God changes her into a statue.\n\nWhen the female warrior, to be dreaded in battle, came hither, she stood\nbefore the abode (for she did not consider it lawful to go under the\nroof), and she struck the door-posts with the end of the spear. The\ndoors, being shaken, flew open; she sees Envy within, eating the flesh\nof vipers, the nutriment of her own bad propensities; and when she sees\nher, she turns away her eyes. But the other rises sluggishly from the\nground, and leaves the bodies of the serpents half devoured, and stalks\nalong with sullen pace. And when she sees the Goddess graced with beauty\nand with {splendid} arms, she groans, and fetches a deep sigh at her\nappearance. A paleness rests on her face, {and} leanness in all her\nbody; she never looks direct on you; her teeth are black with rust; her\nbreast is green with gall; her tongue is dripping with venom. Smiles\nthere are none, except such as the sight of grief has excited. Nor does\nshe enjoy sleep, being kept awake with watchful cares; but sees with\nsorrow the successes of men, and pines away at seeing them. She both\ntorments and is tormented at the same moment, and is {ever} her own\npunishment. Yet, though Tritonia[88] hated her, she spoke to her briefly\nin such words as these: \u201cInfect one of the daughters of Cecrops with thy\npoison; there is occasion so {to do}; Aglauros is she.\u201d\n\nSaying no more, she departed, and spurned the ground with her spear\nimpressed on it. She, beholding the Goddess as she departed, with a look\naskance, uttered a few murmurs, and grieved at the success of Minerva;\nand took her staff, which wreaths of thorns entirely surrounded; and\nveiled in black clouds, wherever she goes she tramples down the blooming\nfields, and burns up the grass, and crops the tops {of the flowers}.\nWith her breath, too, she pollutes both nations and cities, and houses;\nand at last she descries the Tritonian[89] citadel, flourishing in arts\nand riches, and cheerful peace. Hardly does she restrain her tears,\nbecause she sees nothing to weep at. But after she has entered the\nchamber of the daughter of Cecrops, she executes her orders; and touches\nher breast with her hand stained with rust, and fills her heart with\njagged thorns. She breathes into her as well the noxious venom, and\nspreads the poison black as pitch throughout her bones, and lodges it in\nthe midst of her lungs.\n\nAnd that these causes of mischief may not wander through too wide a\nspace, she places her sister before her eyes, and the fortunate marriage\nof {that} sister, and the God under his beauteous appearance, and\naggravates each particular. By this, the daughter of Cecrops being\nirritated, is gnawed by a secret grief, and groans, tormented by night,\ntormented by day, and wastes away in extreme wretchedness, with a slow\nconsumption, as ice smitten upon by a sun often clouded. She burns at\nthe good fortune of the happy Herse, no otherwise than as when fire is\nplaced beneath thorny reeds, which do not send forth flames, and burn\nwith a gentle heat. Often does she wish to die, that she may not be a\nwitness to any such thing; often, to tell the matters, as criminal, to\nher severe father. At last, she sat herself down in the front of the\nthreshold, in order to exclude the God when he came; to whom, as he\nproffered blandishments and entreaties, and words of extreme kindness,\nshe said, \u201cCease {all this}; I shall not remove myself hence, until thou\nart repulsed.\u201d \u201cLet us stand to that agreement,\u201d says the active\nCyllenian {God}; and he opens the carved door with his wand. But in her,\nas she endeavors to arise, the parts which we bend in sitting cannot be\nmoved, through their numbing weight. She, indeed, struggles to raise\nherself, with her body, upright; but the joints of her knees are stiff,\nand a chill runs through her nails, and her veins are pallid, through\nthe loss of blood.\n\nAnd as the disease {of} an incurable cancer is wont to spread in all\ndirections, and to add the uninjured parts to the tainted; so, by\ndegrees, did a deadly chill enter her breast, and stop the passages of\nlife, and her respiration. She did not endeavor to speak; but if she had\nendeavored, she had no passage for her voice. Stone had now possession\nof her neck; her face was grown hard, and she sat, a bloodless statue.\nNor was the stone white; her mind had stained it.\n\n    [Footnote 88: _Tritonia._--Ver. 783. Minerva is said to have been\n    called Tritonia, either from the Cretan word \u03c4\u03c1\u03b9\u03c4\u03c9, signifying \u2018a\n    head,\u2019 as she sprang from the head of Jupiter; or from Trito, a\n    lake of Libya, near which she was said to have been born.]\n\n    [Footnote 89: _Tritonian._--Ver. 794. Athens, namely, which was\n    sacred to Pallas, or Minerva, its tutelary divinity.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Pausanias, in his Attica, somewhat varies this story, and says that\n  the daughters of Cecrops, running mad, threw themselves from the top\n  of a tower. It is very probable that on the introduction of the\n  worship of Pallas, or Minerva, into Attica, these daughters of Cecrops\n  may have hesitated to encourage the innovation, and the story was\n  promulgated that the Goddess had in that manner punished their\n  impiety. This seems the more likely, from the fact mentioned by\n  Pausanias that Pandrosos, the third daughter of Cecrops, had, after\n  her death, a temple built in honor of her, near that of Minerva,\n  because she had continued faithful to that Goddess, and had not\n  disobeyed her, as her sisters had done. The reputation and good fame\n  of Herse and Aglauros had, however, been restored by the time of\n  Herodotus, since he informs us that they both had their temples at\n  Athens.\n\n\nFABLE XIV. [II.833-875]\n\n  Jupiter assumes the shape of a Bull, and carrying off Europa, swims\n  with her on his back to the isle of Crete.\n\nWhen the grandson of Atlas had inflicted this punishment upon her words\nand her profane disposition, he left the lands named after Pallas, and\nentered the skies with his waving wings. His father calls him on one\nside; and, not owning the cause of his love, he says, \u201cMy son, the\ntrusty minister of my commands, banish delay, and swiftly descend with\nthy usual speed, and repair to the region which looks towards thy\n{Constellation} mother on the left side, (the natives call it\nSidonis[90] by name) and drive towards the sea-shore, the herd belonging\nto the king, which thou seest feeding afar upon the grass of the\nmountain.\u201d\n\n{Thus} he spoke; and already were the bullocks, driven from the\nmountain, making for the shore named, where the daughter of the great\nking, attended by Tyrian virgins, was wont to amuse herself. Majesty and\nlove but ill accord, nor can they continue in the same abode. The father\nand the ruler of the Gods, whose right hand is armed with the\nthree-forked flames, who shakes the world with his nod, laying aside the\ndignity of empire, assumes the appearance of a bull; and mixing with the\noxen, he lows, and, in all his beauty, walks about upon the shooting\ngrass. For his color is that of snow, which neither the soles of hard\nfeet have trodden upon, nor the watery South wind melted. His neck\nswells with muscles; dewlaps hang from {between} his shoulders. His\nhorns are small indeed, but such as you might maintain were made with\nthe hand, and more transparent than a bright gem. There is nothing\nthreatening in his forehead; nor is his eye formidable; his countenance\nexpresses peace.\n\nThe daughter of Agenor is surprised that he is so beautiful, and that he\nthreatens no attack; but although so gentle, she is at first afraid to\ntouch him. By and by she approaches him, and holds out flowers to his\nwhite mouth. The lover rejoices, and till his hoped-for pleasure comes,\nhe gives kisses to her hands; scarcely, oh, scarcely, does he defer the\nrest. And now he plays with her, and skips upon the green grass; {and}\nnow he lays his snow-white side upon the yellow sand. And, her fear\n{now} removed by degrees, at one moment he gives his breast to be patted\nby the hand of the virgin; at another, his horns to be wreathed with\nnew-made garlands. The virgin of royal birth even ventured to sit down\nupon the back of the bull, not knowing upon whom she was pressing. Then\nthe God, by degrees {moving} from the land, and from the dry shore,\nplaces the fictitious hoofs of his feet in the waves near the brink.\nThen he goes still further, and carries his prize over the expanse of\nthe midst of the ocean. She is affrighted, and, borne off, looks back on\nthe shore she has left; and with her right hand she grasps his horn,\n{while} the other is placed on his back; her waving garments are ruffled\nby the breeze.\n\n    [Footnote 90: _Sidonis._--Ver. 840. Sidon, or Sidonis, was a\n    maritime city of Ph\u0153nicia, near Tyre, of whose greatness it was\n    not an unworthy rival.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  This Fable depicts one of the most famous events in the ancient\n  Mythology. As we have already remarked, it is supposed that there were\n  several persons of the name of Zeus, or Jupiter; though there is great\n  difficulty in assigning to each individual his own peculiar\n  adventures. Vossius refers the adventure of Niobe, the daughter of\n  Phoroneus, to Jupiter Apis, the king of Argos, who reigned about B.C.\n  1770; and that of Dana\u00eb to Jupiter Pr\u0153tus, who lived about 1350 years\n  before the Christian era. It was Jupiter Tantalus, according to him,\n  that carried off Ganymede; and it was Jupiter, the father of Hercules,\n  that deceived Leda. He says that the subject of the present Fable was\n  Jupiter Asterius, who reigned about B.C. 1400. Diodorus Siculus tells\n  us that he was the son of Teutamus, who, having married the daughter\n  of Creteus, went with some Pelasgians to settle in the island of\n  Crete, of which he was the first king. We may then conclude, that\n  Jupiter Asterius, having heard of the beauty of Europa, the daughter\n  of Agenor, King of Tyre, fitted out a ship, for the purpose of\n  carrying her off by force. This is the less improbable, as we learn\n  from Herodotus, that the custom of carrying those away by force, who\n  could not be obtained by fair means, was very common in these rude\n  ages.\n\n  The ship in which Asterius made his voyage, had, very probably, the\n  form of a bull for its figure-head; which, in time, occasioned those\n  who related the adventure, to say, that Jupiter concealed himself\n  under the shape of that animal, to carry off his mistress. Pal\u00e6phatus\n  and Tzetzes suggest, that the story took its rise from the name of\n  the general of Asterius, who was called Taurus, which is also the\n  Greek name for a bull. Bochart has an ingenious suggestion, based upon\n  etymological grounds. He thinks that the twofold meaning of the word\n  \u2018Alpha,\u2019 or \u2018Ilpha,\u2019 which, in the Ph\u0153nician dialect, meant either a\n  ship or a bull, gave occasion to the fable; and that the Greeks, on\n  reading the annals of the Ph\u0153nicians, by mistake, took the word in the\n  latter sense.\n\n  Europa was honored as a Divinity after her death, and a festival was\n  instituted in her memory, which Hesychius calls \u2018Hellotia,\u2019 from\n  \u1f19\u03bb\u03bb\u03c9\u03c4\u1f76\u03c2, the name she received after her death.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK THE THIRD.\n\n\nFABLE I. [III.1-34]\n\n  Jupiter, having carried away Europa, her father, Agenor, commands his\n  son Cadmus to go immediately in search of her, and either to bring\n  back his sister with him, or never to return to Ph\u0153nicia. Cadmus,\n  wearied with his toils and fruitless inquiries, goes to consult the\n  oracle at Delphi, which bids him observe the spot where he should see\n  a cow lie down, and build a city there, and give the name of B\u0153otia to\n  the country.\n\nAnd now the God, having laid aside the shape of the deceiving Bull, had\ndiscovered himself, and reached the Dict\u00e6an land; when her father,\nignorant {of her fate}, commands Cadmus to seek her {thus} ravished, and\nadds exile as the punishment, if he does not find her; being {both}\naffectionate and unnatural in the self-same act. The son of Agenor,\nhaving wandered over the whole world,[1] as an exile flies from his\ncountry and the wrath of his father, for who is there that can discover\nthe intrigues of Jupiter? A suppliant, he consults the oracle of Ph\u0153bus,\nand inquires in what land he must dwell. \u201cA heifer,\u201d Ph\u0153bus says, \u201cwill\nmeet thee in the lonely fields, one that has never borne the yoke, and\nfree from the crooked plough. Under her guidance, go on thy way; and\nwhere she shall lie down on the grass, there cause a city to be built,\nand call it the B\u0153otian[2] {city}.\u201d\n\nScarcely had Cadmus well got down from the Castalian cave,[3] {when} he\nsaw a heifer, without a keeper, slowly going along, bearing no mark of\nservitude upon her neck. He follows, and pursues her steps with\nleisurely pace, and silently adores Ph\u0153bus, the adviser of his way.\n{And} now he had passed the fords of the Cephisus, and the fields of\nPanope, {when} the cow stood still and raising her forehead, expansive\nwith lofty horns, towards heaven, she made the air reverberate with her\nlowings. And so, looking back on her companions that followed behind,\nshe lay down, and reposed her side upon the tender grass. Cadmus\nreturned thanks, and imprinted kisses upon the stranger land, and\nsaluted the unknown mountains and fields. He was {now} going to offer\nsacrifice to Jupiter, and commanded his servants to go and fetch some\nwater for the libation from the running springs. An ancient grove was\nstanding {there, as yet} profaned by no axe. There was a cavern in the\nmiddle {of it}, thick covered with twigs and osiers, forming a low arch\nby the junction of the rocks; abounding with plenty of water. Hid in\nthis cavern, there was a dragon sacred to Mars,[4] adorned with crests\nand a golden {color}. His eyes sparkle with fire, {and} all his body is\npuffed out with poison; three tongues, {too}, are brandished, and his\nteeth stand in a triple row.\n\n    [Footnote 1: _Over the whole world._--Ver. 6. Apollodorus tells us\n    that Cadmus lived in Thrace until the death of his mother,\n    Telephassa, who accompanied him; and that, after her decease, he\n    proceeded to Delphi to make inquiries of the oracle.]\n\n    [Footnote 2: _B\u0153otian._--Ver. 13. He implies here that B\u0153otia\n    received its name from the Greek word \u03b2\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2, \u2018an ox\u2019 or \u2018cow.\u2019\n    Other writers say that it was so called from B\u0153otus, the son of\n    Neptune and Arne. Some authors also say that Thebes received its\n    name from the Syrian word \u2018Thebe,\u2019 which signified \u2018an ox.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 3: _Castalian cave._--Ver. 14. Castalius was a fountain\n    at the foot of Mount Parnassus, and in the vicinity of Delphi. It\n    was sacred to the Muses.]\n\n    [Footnote 4: _Sacred to Mars._--Ver. 32. Euripides says, that the\n    dragon had been set there by Mars to watch the spot and the\n    neighboring stream. Other writers say that it was a son of Mars,\n    Dercyllus by name, and that a Fury, named Tilphosa, was its\n    mother. Ancient history abounds with stories of enormous serpents.\n    The army of Regulus is said by Pliny the Elder, to have killed a\n    serpent of enormous size, which obstructed the passage of the\n    river Bagrada, in Africa. It was 120 feet in length.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Reverting to the history of Europa, it may be here remarked, that\n  Apollodorus has preserved her genealogy. Libya, according to that\n  author, had two sons by Neptune, Belus and Agenor. The latter married\n  Telephassa, by whom he had Cadmus, Ph\u0153nix, and Cilix, and a daughter\n  named Europa. Some ancient writers, however, say, that Europa was the\n  daughter of Ph\u0153nix, and the grandchild of Agenor.\n\n  Some authors, and Ovid among the rest, have supposed that Europe\n  received its name from Europa. Bochart has, with considerable\n  probability, suggested that it was originally so called from the fair\n  complexion of the people who inhabited it. Europa herself may have\n  received her name also from the fairness of her complexion: hence, the\n  poets, as the Scholiast on Theocritus tells us, invented a fable, that\n  a daughter of Juno stole her mother\u2019s paint, to give it to Europa, who\n  used it with so much success as to ensure, by its use, an extremely\n  fair and beautiful complexion.\n\n\nFABLE II. [III.35-130]\n\n  The companions of Cadmus, fetching water from the fountain of Mars,\n  are devoured by the Dragon that guards it. Cadmus, on discovering\n  their destruction, slays the monster, and, by the advice of Minerva,\n  sows the teeth, which immediately produce a crop of armed men. They\n  forthwith quarrel among themselves, and kill each other, with the\n  exception of five who assist Cadmus in building the city of Thebes.\n\nAfter the men who came from the Tyrian nation had touched this grove\nwith ill-fated steps, and the urn let down into the water made a splash;\nthe azure dragon stretched forth his head from the deep cave, and\nuttered dreadful hissings. The urns dropped from their hands; and the\nblood left their bodies, and a sudden trembling seized their astonished\nlimbs. He wreathes his scaly orbs in rolling spires, and with a spring\nbecomes twisted into mighty folds; and uprearing himself from below the\nmiddle into the light air, he looks down upon all the grove, and is of\nas large a size,[5] as, if you were to look on him entire, {the serpent}\nwhich separates the two Bears.\n\nThere is no delay; he seizes the Ph\u0153nicians (whether they are resorting\nto their arms or to flight, or whether fear itself is preventing either\n{step}); some he kills with his sting,[6] some with his long folds, some\nbreathed upon[7] by the venom of his baneful poison.\n\nThe sun, now at its height, had made the shadows {but} small: the son of\nAgenor wonders what has detained his companion and goes to seek his men.\nHis garment was a skin torn from a lion; his weapon was a lance with\nshining steel, and a javelin; and a courage superior to any weapon. When\nhe entered the grove, and beheld the lifeless bodies, and the victorious\nenemy of immense size upon them, licking the horrid wounds with\nbloodstained tongue, he said, \u201cEither I will be the avenger of your\ndeath, bodies {of my} faithful {companions}, or {I will be} a sharer {in\nit}.\u201d {Thus} he said; and with his right hand he raised a huge stone,[8]\nand hurled the vast {weight} with a tremendous effort. {And} although\nhigh walls with lofty towers would have been shaken with the shock of\nit, {yet} the dragon remained without a wound; and, being defended by\nhis scales as though with a coat of mail, and the hardness of his black\nhide, he repelled the mighty stroke with his skin. But he did not\novercome the javelin as well with the same hardness; which stood fast,\nfixed in the middle joint of his yielding spine, and sank with the\nentire {point of} steel into his entrails. Fierce with pain, he turned\nhis head towards his back, and beheld his wounds, and bit the javelin\nfixed there. And after he had twisted it on every side with all his\nmight, with difficulty he wrenched it from his back; yet the steel stuck\nfast in his bones. But then, when this newly inflicted wound has\nincreased his wonted fury, his throat swelled with gorged veins, and\nwhite foam flowed around his pestilential jaws. The Earth, too, scraped\nwith the scales, sounds again, and the livid steam that issues from his\ninfernal mouth,[9] infects the tainted air. One while he is enrolled in\nspires making enormous rings; sometimes he unfolds himself straighter\nthan a long beam. Now with a vast impulse, like a torrent swelled with\nrain, he is borne along, and bears down the obstructing forests with his\nbreast. The son of Agenor gives way a little; and by the spoil of the\nlion he sustains the shock, and with his lance extended before him,\npushes back his mouth, as it advances. The dragon rages, and vainly\ninflicts wounds on the hard steel, and fixes his teeth upon the point.\nAnd now the blood began to flow from his poisonous palate, and had dyed\nthe green grass with its spray. But the wound was slight; because he\nrecoiled from the stroke, and drew back his wounded throat, and by\nshrinking prevented the blow from sinking deep, and did not suffer it to\ngo very far. At length, the son of Agenor, still pursuing, pressed the\nspear lodged in his throat, until an oak stood in his way as he\nretreated, and his neck was pierced, together with the trunk. The tree\nwas bent with the weight of the serpent, and groaned at having its trunk\nlashed with the extremity of its tail.\n\nWhile the conqueror was surveying the vast size of his vanquished enemy,\na voice was suddenly heard (nor was it easy to understand whence {it\nwas}, but heard it was). \u201cWhy, son of Agenor, art thou {thus}\ncontemplating the dragon slain {by thee}? Even thou {thyself} shalt be\nseen {in the form of} a dragon.\u201d[10] He, for a long time in alarm, lost\nhis color together with his presence of mind, and his hair stood on end\nwith a chill of terror. Lo! Pallas, the favorer of the hero, descending\nthrough the upper region of the air, comes to him, and bids him sow the\ndragon\u2019s teeth under the earth turned up, as the seeds of a future\npeople. He obeyed; and when he had opened a furrow with the pressed\nplough, he scattered the teeth on the ground as ordered, the seed of a\nrace of men. Afterwards (\u2019tis beyond belief) the turf began to move, and\nfirst appeared a point of a spear out of the furrows, next the coverings\nof heads nodding with painted cones;[11] then the shoulders and the\nbreast, and the arms laden with weapons start up, and a crop of men\narmed with shields grows apace. So, when the curtains[12] are drawn up\nin the joyful theaters, figures are wont to rise, and first to show\ntheir countenances; by degrees the rest; and being drawn out in a\ngradual continuation, the whole appear, and place their feet on the\nlowest edge {of the stage}. Alarmed with this new enemy, Cadmus is\npreparing to take arms, when one of the people that the earth had\nproduced cries out, \u201cDo not take up {arms}, nor engage thyself in civil\nwar.\u201d And then, engaged hand to hand, he strikes one of his earth-born\nbrothers with the cruel sword, {while} he himself falls by a dart sent\nfrom a distance. He, also, who had put him to death, lives no longer\nthan the other, and breathes forth the air which he has so lately\nreceived. In a similar manner, too, the whole troop becomes maddened,\nand the brothers {so} newly sprung up, fall in fight with each other, by\nmutual wounds. And now the youths that had the space of {so} short an\nexistence allotted them, beat with throbbing breast their blood-stained\nmother, five {only} remaining, of whom Echion[13] was one. He, by the\nadvice of Tritonia, threw his arms upon the ground, and both asked and\ngave the assurance of brotherly concord.\n\nThe Sidonian stranger had these as associates in his task, when he built\nthe city that was ordered by the oracle of Ph\u0153bus.\n\n    [Footnote 5: _As large a size._--Ver. 44. This description of the\n    enormous size of the dragon or serpent is inconsistent with what\n    the Poet says in line 91, where we find Cadmus enabled to pin his\n    enemy against an oak.]\n\n    [Footnote 6: _With his sting._--Ver. 48. He enumerates in this one\n    instance the various modes by which serpents put their prey to\n    death, either by means of their sting, or, in the case of the\n    larger kinds of serpent, by twisting round it, and suffocating it\n    in their folds.]\n\n    [Footnote 7: _Some breathed upon._--Ver. 49. It was a prevalent\n    notion among the ancients, that some serpents had the power of\n    killing their prey by their poisonous breath. Though some modern\n    commentators on this passage may be found to affirm the same thing,\n    it is extremely doubtful if such is the fact. The notion was,\n    perhaps, founded on the power which certain serpents have of\n    fascinating their prey by the agency of the eye, and thus\n    depriving it of the means of escape.]\n\n    [Footnote 8: _A huge stone._--Ver. 59. \u2018Molaris\u2019 here means a\n    stone as large as a mill-stone, and not a mill-stone itself, for\n    we must remember that this was an uninhabited country, and\n    consequently a stranger to the industry of man.]\n\n    [Footnote 9: _His infernal mouth._--Ver. 76. \u2018Stygio\u2019 means\n    \u2018pestilential as the exhalations of the marshes of Styx.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 10: _Form of a dragon._--Ver. 98. This came to pass\n    when, having been expelled from his dominions by Zethus and\n    Amphion, he retired to Illyria, and was there transformed into a\n    serpent, a fate which was shared by his wife Hermione.]\n\n    [Footnote 11: _With painted cones._--Ver. 108. The \u2018conus\u2019 was the\n    conical part of the helmet into which the crest of variegated\n    feathers was inserted.]\n\n    [Footnote 12: _When the curtains._--Ver. 111. The \u2018Siparium\u2019 was a\n    piece of tapestry stretched on a frame, and, rising before the\n    stage, answered the same purpose as the curtain or drop-scene with\n    us, in concealing the stage till the actors appeared. Instead of\n    drawing up this curtain to discover the stage and actors,\n    according to our present practice, it was depressed when the play\n    began, and fell beneath the level of the stage; whence \u2018aul\u00e6a\n    premuntur,\u2019 \u2018the curtain is dropped,\u2019 meant that the play had\n    commenced. When the performance was finished, this was raised\n    again gradually from the foot of the stage; therefore \u2018aul\u00e6a\n    tolluntur,\u2019 \u2018the curtain is raised,\u2019 would mean that the play had\n    finished. From the present passage we learn, that in drawing it up\n    from the stage, the curtain was gradually displayed, the unfolding\n    taking place, perhaps, below the boards, so that the heads of the\n    figures rose first, until the whole form appeared in full with the\n    feet resting on the stage, when the \u2018siparium\u2019 was fully drawn up.\n    From a passage in Virgil\u2019s Georgics (book iii. l. 25), we learn\n    that the figures of Britons (whose country had then lately been\n    the scene of new conquests) were woven on the canvas of the\n    \u2018siparium,\u2019 having their arms in the attitude of lifting the\n    curtain.]\n\n    [Footnote 13: _Echion._--Ver. 126. The names of the others were\n    Udeus, Chthonius, Hyperenor, and Pelor, according to Apollodorus.\n    To these some added Creon, as a sixth.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Agenor, on losing his daughter, commands his sons to go in search of\n  her, and not to return till they have found her. The young princes,\n  either unable to learn what was become of her, or, perhaps, being too\n  weak to recover her out of the hands of the king of Crete, did not\n  return to their father, but established themselves in different\n  countries; Cadmus settling in B\u0153otia, Cilix in Cilicia, to which he\n  gave his name, and Ph\u0153nix, as Hyginus tells us, remaining in Africa.\n  Photius, quoting from Conon, the historian, informs us, that the hope\n  of conquering some country in Europe, and establishing a colony there,\n  was the true ground of the voyage of Cadmus.\n\n  Pal\u00e6phatus, and other writers, say, that the Dragon which was killed\n  by Cadmus was a king of the country, who was named Draco, and was a\n  son of Mars: that his teeth were his subjects, who rallied again after\n  their defeat, and that Cadmus put them all to the sword, except\n  Chthonius, Udeus, Hyperenor, Pelor, and Echion, who became reconciled\n  to him. Heraclitus, however, assures us, that Cadmus really did slay a\n  serpent, which was very annoying to the B\u0153otian territory. Bochart and\n  LeClerc are of opinion that the Fable has the following\n  foundation:--They say, that in the Ph\u0153nician language, the same word\n  signifies either the teeth of a serpent, or short javelins, pointed\n  with brass; that the word which signifies the number five likewise\n  means an army; and that probably, from these circumstances, the Fable\n  may have taken its rise. For the Greeks, in following the annals\n  written in the Ph\u0153nician language, while writing the history of the\n  founder of Thebes, instead of describing his soldiers as wearing\n  helmets on their heads, with back and breast-plates, and with darts in\n  their hands pointed with brass, which equipment was then entirely\n  novel in Greece, chose rather to follow the more wonderful version,\n  and to say, that Cadmus had five companions produced from the teeth of\n  a serpent; as, according to Bochart\u2019s suggestion, the same Ph\u0153nician\n  phrase may either signify a company of men sprung from the teeth of a\n  serpent, or a company of men armed with brazen darts.\n\n  This conjecture is, perhaps, confirmed by a story related by Herodotus\n  (book ii.), which resembles it very much. He tells us, that\n  Psammeticus, king of Egypt, being driven to the marshy parts of his\n  kingdom, sent to consult the oracle of Latona, which answered that he\n  should be restored by brass men coming from the sea. At the time, this\n  answer appeared to him entirely frivolous; but certain Ionian\n  soldiers, being obliged, some years after, to retire to Egypt, and\n  appearing on the shore with their weapons and armor, all of brass,\n  those who perceived them ran immediately to inform the king, that men\n  clad in brass were plundering the country. The prince then fully\n  comprehended the meaning of the oracle, and making an alliance with\n  them, recovered his throne by the assistance they gave him. These\n  brass men come from the sea, and those sprung from the earth were\n  soldiers who assisted Psammeticus and Cadmus in carrying out their\n  objects. Bochart\u2019s conjecture is strengthened by the fact, that Cadmus\n  was either the inventor of the cuirass and javelin, or the first that\n  brought them into Greece. Without inquiring further into the subject,\n  we may conclude, that the men sprung from the earth, or the dragon\u2019s\n  teeth which were sown, were the people of the country, whom Cadmus\n  found means to bring over to his interest; and that they first helped\n  him to conquer his enemies, and then to build the citadel of Thebes,\n  to ensure his future security. Apollodorus says that Cadmus, to\n  expiate the slaughter of the dragon, was obliged to serve Mars a whole\n  year; which year, containing eight of our years, it is not improbable\n  that Cadmus rendered services for a long time to his new allies before\n  he received any assistance from them.\n\n\nFABLE III. [III.131-252]\n\n  Act\u00e6on, the grandson of Cadmus, fatigued with hunting and excessive\n  heat, inadvertently wanders to the cool valley of Gargaphie, the usual\n  retreat of Diana, when tired with the same exercise. There, to his\n  misfortune, he surprises the Goddess and her Nymphs while bathing, for\n  which she transforms him into a stag, and his own hounds tear him to\n  pieces.\n\nAnd now Thebes was standing; now Cadmus, thou mightst seem happy in thy\nexile. Both Mars and Venus[14] had become thy father-in-law and\nmother-in-law; add to this, issue by a wife so illustrious, so many\nsons[15] and daughters, and grandchildren, dear pledges {of love};\nthese, too, now of a youthful age. But, forsooth, the last day {of life}\nmust always be awaited by man, and no one ought to be pronounced happy\nbefore his death,[16] and his last obsequies. Thy grandson, Cadmus, was\nthe first occasion of sorrow to thee, among so much prosperity, the\nhorns, too, not his own, placed upon his forehead, and you, O dogs,\nglutted with the blood of your master. But, if you diligently inquire\ninto his {case}, you will find the fault of an accident, and not\ncriminality in him; for what criminality did mistake embrace?\n\nThere was a mountain stained with the blood of various wild beasts; and\nnow the day had contracted the meridian shadow of things, and the sun\nwas equally distant from each extremity {of the heavens}; when the\nHyantian youth[17] {thus} addressed the partakers of his toils, as they\nwandered along the lonely haunts {of the wild beasts}, with gentle\naccent: \u201cOur nets are moistened, my friends, and our spears, too, with\nthe blood of wild beasts; and the day has yielded sufficient sport; when\nthe next morn, borne upon her rosy chariot, shall bring back the light,\nlet us seek again our proposed task. Now Ph\u0153bus is at the same distance\nfrom both lands, {the Eastern and the Western}, and is cleaving the\nfields with his heat. Cease your present toils, and take away the\nknotted nets.\u201d The men execute his orders, and cease their labors. There\nwas a valley, thick set with pitch-trees and the sharp-pointed cypress;\nby name Gargaphie,[18] sacred to the active Diana. In the extreme recess\nof this, there was a grotto in a grove, formed by no art; nature, by her\ningenuity, had counterfeited art; for she had formed a natural arch, in\nthe native pumice and the light sand-stones. A limpid fountain ran\nmurmuring on the right hand with its little stream, having its spreading\nchannels edged with a border of grass. Here, {when} wearied with\nhunting, the Goddess of the woods was wont to bathe her virgin limbs in\nclear water.\n\nAfter she had entered there, she handed to one of the Nymphs, her\narmor-bearer, her javelin, her quiver, and her unstrung bow. Another\nNymph put her arms under her mantle, when taken off: two removed the\nsandals from her feet. But Crocale,[19] the daughter of Ismenus, more\nskilled than they, gathered her hair, which lay scattered over her neck,\ninto a knot, although she herself was with {her hair} loose.\nNephele,[20] and Hyale,[21] and Rhanis,[22] fetch water, Psecas[23] and\nPhyale[24] {do the same}, and pour it from their large urns. And while\nthe Titanian {Goddess} was there bathing in the wonted stream, behold!\nthe grandson of Cadmus, having deferred the remainder of his sport till\n{next day}, came into the grove, wandering through the unknown wood,\nwith uncertain steps; thus did his fate direct him.\n\nSoon as he entered the grotto, dropping with its springs, the Nymphs,\nnaked as they were, on seeing a man, smote their breasts, and filled all\nthe woods with sudden shrieks, and gathering round Diana, covered her\nwith their bodies. Yet the Goddess herself was higher than they, and was\ntaller than them all by the neck. The color that is wont to be in\nclouds, tinted by the rays of the sun {when} opposite, or that of the\nruddy morning, was on the features of Diana, when seen without her\ngarments. She, although surrounded with the crowd of her attendants,\nstood sideways, and turned her face back; and how did she wish that she\nhad her arrows at hand; {and} so she took up water,[25] which she did\nhave {at hand}, and threw it over the face of the man, and sprinkling\nhis hair with the avenging stream, she added these words, the presages\nof his future woe: \u201cNow thou mayst tell, if tell thou canst, how that I\nwas seen by thee without my garments.\u201d Threatening no more, she places\non his sprinkled head the horns of a lively stag; she adds length to his\nneck, and sharpens the tops of his ears; and she changes his hands into\nfeet, and his arms into long legs, and covers his body with a spotted\ncoat of hair; fear, too is added. The Autono\u00ebian[26] hero took to\nflight, and wondered that he was so swift in his speed; but when he\nbeheld his own horns in the wonted stream, he was about to say, \u201cAh,\nwretched me!\u201d {when} no voice followed. He groaned; that was {all} his\nvoice, and his tears trickled down a face not his own, {but that of a\nstag}. His former understanding alone remained. What should he do?\nShould he return home, and to the royal abode? or should he lie hid in\nthe woods? Fear hinders the one {step}, shame the other. While he was\nhesitating, the dogs espied him, and first Melampus,[27] and the\ngood-nosed Ichnobates gave the signal, in full cry. Ichnobates,[28] was\na Gnossian {dog}; Melampus was of Spartan breed. Then the rest rush on,\nswifter than the rapid winds; Pamphagus,[29] and Dorc\u00e6us,[30] and\nOribasus,[31] all Arcadian {dogs}; and able Nebrophonus,[32] and with\nL\u00e6laps,[33] fierce Theron,[34] and Pterelas,[35] excelling in speed,\nAgre[36] in her scent, and Hyl\u00e6us,[37] lately wounded by a fierce boar,\nand Nape,[38] begotten by a wolf, and P\u0153menis,[39] that had tended\ncattle, and Harpyia,[40] followed by her two whelps, and the Sicyonian\nLadon,[41] having a slender girth; Dromas,[42] too, and Canace,[43]\nSticte,[44] and Tigris, and Alce,[45] and Leucon,[46] with snow-white\nhair, and Asbolus,[47] with black, and the able-bodied Lacon,[48] and\nA\u00ebllo,[49] good at running, and Tho\u00fcs,[50] and swift Lycisca,[51] with\nher Cyprian brother, Harpalus,[52] too, having his black face marked\nwith white down the middle, and Melaneus,[53] and Lachne,[54] with a\nwire-haired body, and Labros,[55] and Agriodos,[56] bred of a Dict\u00e6an\nsire, but of a Laconian dam, and Hylactor,[57] with his shrill note; and\nothers which it were tedious to recount.\n\nThis pack, in eagerness for their prey, are borne over rocks and cliffs,\nand crags difficult of approach, where the path is steep, and where\nthere is no road. He flies along the routes by which he has so often\npursued; alas! he is {now} flying from his own servants. Fain would he\nhave cried, \u201cI am Act\u00e6on, recognize your own master.\u201d Words are wanting\nto his wishes; the air resounds with their barking. Melanch\u00e6tes[58] was\nthe first to make a wound on his back, Theridamas[59] the next;\nOresitrophus[60] fastened upon his shoulder. These had gone out later,\nbut their course was shortened by a near cut through the hill. While\nthey hold their master, the rest of the pack come up, and fasten their\nteeth in his body. Now room is wanting for {more} wounds. He groans, and\nutters a noise, though not that of a man, {still}, such as a stag cannot\nmake; and he fills the well-known mountains with dismal moans, and\nsuppliant on his bended knees, and like one in entreaty, he turns round\nhis silent looks as though {they were} his arms.\n\nBut his companions, in their ignorance, urge on the eager pack with\ntheir usual cries, and seek Act\u00e6on with their eyes; and cry out \u201cAct\u00e6on\u201d\naloud, as though he were absent. At his name he turns his head, as they\ncomplain that he is not there, and in his indolence, is not enjoying a\nsight of the sport afforded them. He wished, indeed, he had been away,\nbut there he was; and he wished to see, not to feel as well, the cruel\nfeats of his own dogs. They gather round him on all sides, and burying\ntheir jaws in his body, tear their master in pieces under the form of an\nimaginary stag. And the rage of the quiver-bearing Diana is said not to\nhave been satiated, until his life was ended by many a wound.\n\n    [Footnote 14: _Mars and Venus._--Ver. 132. The wife of Cadmus was\n    Hermione, or Harmonia, who was said to have been the daughter of\n    Mars and Venus. The Deities honored the nuptials with their\n    presence, and presented marriage gifts, while the Muses and the\n    Graces celebrated the festivity with hymns of their own\n    composition.]\n\n    [Footnote 15: _So many sons._--Ver. 134. Apollodorus, Hyginus, and\n    others, say that Cadmus had but one son, Polydorus. If so, \u2018tot,\u2019\n    \u2018so many,\u2019 must here refer to the number of his daughters and\n    grandchildren. His daughters were four in number, Autono\u00eb, Ino,\n    Semele, and Agave. Ino married Athamas, Autono\u00eb Arist\u00e6us, Agave\n    Echion, while Semele captivated Jupiter. The most famous of the\n    grandsons of Cadmus were Bacchus, Melicerta, Pentheus, and Act\u00e6on.]\n\n    [Footnote 16: _Before his death._--Ver. 135. This was the famous\n    remark of Solon to Cr\u0153sus, when he was the master of the opulent\n    and flourishing kingdom of Lydia, and seemed so firmly settled on\n    his throne, that there was no probability of any interruption of\n    his happiness. Falling into the hands of Cyrus the Persian, and\n    being condemned to be burnt alive, he recollected this wise saying\n    of Solon, and by that means saved his life, as we are told by\n    Herodotus, who relates the story at length. Euripides has a\n    similar passage in his Troades, line 510.]\n\n    [Footnote 17: _The Hyantian youth._--Ver. 147. Act\u00e6on is thus\n    called, as being a B\u0153otian. The Hyantes were the ancient or\n    aboriginal inhabitants of B\u0153otia.]\n\n    [Footnote 18: _Gargaphie._--Ver. 156. Gargaphie, or Gargaphia, was\n    a valley situate near Plat\u00e6a, having a fountain of the same name.]\n\n    [Footnote 19: _Crocale._--Ver. 169. So called, perhaps, from\n    \u03ba\u03b5\u03ba\u03c1\u03cd\u03c6\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2, an ornament for the head, being a coif, band, or\n    fillet of network for the hair called in Latin \u2018reticulum,\u2019 by\n    which name her office is denoted. The handmaid, whose duty it was\n    to attend to the hair, held the highest rank in ancient times\n    among the domestics.]\n\n    [Footnote 20: _Nephele._--Ver. 171. From the Greek word \u03bd\u03b5\u03c6\u03ad\u03bb\u03b7,\n    \u2018a cloud.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 21: _Hyale._--Ver. 171. This is from \u1f55\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2, \u2018glass,\u2019 the\n    name signifying \u2018glassy,\u2019 \u2018pellucid.\u2019 The very name calls to mind\n    Milton\u2019s line in his Comus--\n    \u2018Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 22: _Rhanis._--Ver. 171. This name is adapted from the\n    Greek verb \u1fe5\u03b1\u03af\u03bd\u03c9, \u2018to sprinkle.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 23: _Psecas._--Ver. 172. From the Greek \u03c8\u03b5\u03ba\u1f70\u03c2, \u2018a\n    dew-drop.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 24: _Phyale._--Ver. 172. This is from the Greek \u03c6\u03b9\u03b1\u03bb\u1f74,\n    \u2018an urn.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 25: _Took up water._--Ver. 189. The ceremonial of\n    sprinkling previous to the transformation seems not to have been\n    neglected any more by the offended Goddesses of the classical\n    Mythology, than by the intriguing enchantresses of the Arabian\n    Nights\u2019 Entertainments; as the unfortunate Beder, when under the\n    displeasure of the vicious queen Lab\u00e8, experienced to his great\n    inconvenience. The love for the supernatural, combined with an\n    anxious desire to attribute its operations to material and visible\n    agencies, forms one of the most singular features of the human\n    character.]\n\n    [Footnote 26: _Autono\u00ebian._--Ver. 198. Autono\u00eb was the daughter of\n    Cadmus and Hermione, or Harmonia, and the wife of Arist\u00e6us, by\n    whom she was the mother of Act\u00e6on. We may here remark, that in one\n    of his satires, Lucian introduces Juno as saying to Diana, that\n    she had let loose his dogs on Act\u00e6on, for fear lest, having seen\n    her naked, he should divulge the deformity of her person.]\n\n    [Footnote 27: _Melampus._--Ver. 206. These names are all from the\n    Greek, and are interesting, as showing the epithets by which the\n    ancients called their dogs. The pack of Act\u00e6on is said to have\n    consisted of fifty dogs. Their names were preserved by several\n    Greek poets, from whom Apollodorus copied them; but the greater\n    part of his list has perished, and what remains is in a very\n    corrupt state. Hyginus has preserved two lists, the first of which\n    contains thirty-nine names, most of which are similar to those\n    here given by Ovid, and in almost the same order; while the second\n    contains thirty-six names, different from those here given.\n    \u00c6schylus has named but four of them, and Ovid here names\n    thirty-six. Crete, Arcadia, and Laconia produced the most valuable\n    hounds. Melampus, \u2018Black-foot,\u2019 is from the Greek words \u03bc\u03ad\u03bb\u03b1\u03c2,\n    \u2018black,\u2019 and \u03c0\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2, \u2018a foot.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 28: _Ichnobates._--Ver. 207. \u2018Tracer.\u2019 From the Greek\n    \u1f30\u03c7\u03bd\u1f78\u03c2, \u2018a footstep,\u2019 and \u03b2\u03b1\u03af\u03bd\u03c9, \u2018to go.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 29: _Pamphagus._--Ver. 210. \u2018Glutton.\u2019 From \u03c0\u1fb6\u03bd, \u2018all,\u2019\n    and \u03c6\u03ac\u03b3\u03c9, \u2018to eat.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 30: _Dorc\u00e6us._--Ver. 210. \u2018Quicksight.\u2019 From \u03b4\u03ad\u03c1\u03ba\u03c9, \u2018to\n    see.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 31: _Oribasus._--Ver. 210. \u2018Ranger.\u2019 From \u1f44\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2, \u2018a\n    mountain,\u2019 and \u03b2\u03b1\u03af\u03bd\u03c9, \u2018to go.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 32: _Nebrophonus._--Ver. 211. \u2018Kill-buck.\u2019 From \u03bd\u03b5\u03b2\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2,\n    \u2018a fawn,\u2019 and \u03c6\u03bf\u03bd\u03ad\u03c9, \u2018to kill.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 33: _L\u00e6laps._--Ver. 211. \u2018Tempest.\u2019 So called from its\n    swiftness and power, \u03bb\u03b1\u03af\u03bb\u03b1\u03c8, signifying \u2018a whirlwind.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 34: _Theron._--Ver. 211. \u2018Hunter.\u2019 From the Greek,\n    \u03b8\u03b5\u03c1\u03b5\u03cd\u03c9, \u2018to trace,\u2019 or \u2018hunt.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 35: _Pterelas._--Ver. 212. \u2018Wing.\u2019 \u2018Swift-footed,\u2019 from\n    \u03c0\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u1f78\u03bd, \u2018a wing,\u2019 and \u1f10\u03bb\u03b1\u03cd\u03bd\u03c9, \u2018to drive onward.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 36: _Agre._--Ver. 212. \u2018Catcher.\u2019 \u2018Quick-scented,\u2019 from\n    \u1f04\u03b3\u03c1\u03b1, \u2018hunting,\u2019 or \u2018the chase.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 37: _Hyl\u00e6us._--Ver. 213. \u2018Woodger,\u2019 or \u2018Wood-ranger;\u2019\n    the Greek \u1f55\u03bb\u03b7, signifying \u2018a wood.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 38: _Nape._--Ver. 214. \u2018Forester.\u2019 A \u2018forest,\u2019 or\n    \u2018wood,\u2019 being in Greek, \u03bd\u03ac\u03c0\u03b7.]\n\n    [Footnote 39: _P\u0153menis._--Ver. 215. \u2018Shepherdess,\u2019 From the Greek\n    \u03c0\u03bf\u03af\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03b9\u03c2, \u2018a shepherdess.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 40: _Harpyia._--Ver. 215. \u2018Ravener.\u2019 From the Greek word\n    \u1f05\u03c1\u03c0\u03c5\u03b9\u03b1, \u2018a harpy,\u2019 or \u2018ravenous bird.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 41: _Ladon._--Ver. 216. This dog takes its name from\n    Ladon, a river of Sicyon, a territory on the shores of the gulf of\n    Corinth.]\n\n    [Footnote 42: _Dromas._--Ver. 217. \u2018Runner.\u2019 From the Greek\n    \u03b4\u03c1\u03cc\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2, \u2018a race.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 43: _Canace._--Ver. 217. \u2018Barker.\u2019 The word \u03ba\u03b1\u03bd\u03b1\u03c7\u1f74,\n    signifies \u2018a noise,\u2019 or \u2018din.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 44: _Sticte._--Ver. 217. \u2018Spot.\u2019 So called from the\n    variety of her colors, as \u03c3\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03c4\u1f78\u03c2, signifies \u2018diversified with\n    various spots,\u2019 from \u03c3\u03c4\u03af\u03b6\u03c9, \u2018to vary with spots.\u2019 \u2018Tigris\u2019 means\n    \u2018Tiger.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 45: _Alce._--Ver. 217. \u2018Strong.\u2019 From the Greek \u1f00\u03bb\u03ba\u1f74\n    \u2018strength.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 46: _Leucon._--Ver. 218. \u2018White.\u2019 From \u03bb\u03b5\u03c5\u03ba\u1f78\u03c2, \u2018white.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 47: _Asbolus._--Ver. 218. \u2018Soot,\u2019 or \u2018Smut.\u2019 From the\n    Greek \u1f04\u03c3\u03b2\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2, \u2018soot.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 48: _Lacon._--Ver. 219. From his native country,\n    Laconia.]\n\n    [Footnote 49: _A\u00ebllo._--Ver. 219. \u2018Storm.\u2019 From \u1f04\u03b5\u03bb\u03bb\u03b1, \u2018a\n    tempest.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 50: _Tho\u00fcs._--Ver. 220. \u2018Swift.\u2019 From \u03b8\u03bf\u1f78\u03c2, \u2018swift.\u2019\n    Pliny the Elder states, that \u2018thos\u2019 was the name of a kind of\n    wolf, of larger make, and more active in springing than the common\n    wolf. He says that it is of inoffensive habits towards man; but\n    that it lives by prey, and is hairy in winter, but without hair in\n    summer. It is supposed by some that he alludes to the jackal.\n    Perhaps, from this animal, the dog here mentioned derived his\n    name.]\n\n    [Footnote 51: _Lycisca._--Ver. 220. \u2018Wolf.\u2019 From the diminutive of\n    the Greek word \u03bb\u03cd\u03ba\u03bf\u03c2, \u2018a wolf.\u2019 Virgil uses \u2018Lycisca\u2019 as the name\n    of a dog, in his Eclogues.]\n\n    [Footnote 52: _Harpalus._--Ver. 222. \u2018Snap.\u2019 From \u1f01\u03c1\u03c0\u03ac\u03b6\u03c9, \u2018to\n    snatch,\u2019 or \u2018plunder.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 53: _Melaneus._--Ver. 222. \u2018Black-coat.\u2019 From the Greek,\n    \u03bc\u03ad\u03bb\u03b1\u03c2, \u2018black.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 54: _Lachne._--Ver. 222. \u2018Stickle.\u2019 From the Greek work\n    \u03bb\u03b1\u03c7\u03bd\u1f74, signifying \u2018thickness of the hair.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 55: _Labros._--Ver. 224. \u2018Worrier.\u2019 From the Greek\n    \u03bb\u03ac\u03b2\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 \u2018greedy.\u2019 Dicte was a mountain of Crete; whence the word\n    \u2018Dict\u00e6an\u2019 is often employed to signify \u2018Cretan.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 56: _Agriodos._--Ver. 224. \u2018Wild-tooth.\u2019 From \u1f04\u03b3\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2\n    \u2018wild,\u2019 and \u1f40\u03b4\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2, \u2018a tooth.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 57: _Hylactor._--Ver. 224. \u2018Babbler.\u2019 From the Greek\n    word \u1f51\u03bb\u03b1\u03ba\u03c4\u03ad\u03c9, signifying \u2018to bark.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 58: _Melanch\u00e6tes._--Ver. 232. \u2018Black-hair.\u2019 From the\n    \u03bc\u03ad\u03bb\u03b1\u03c2, \u2018black,\u2019 and \u03c7\u03b1\u03b9\u03c4\u1f74, \u2018mane.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 59: _Theridamas._--Ver. 233. \u2018Kilham.\u2019 From \u03b8\u1f74\u03c1, \u2018a wild\n    beast,\u2019 and \u03b4\u03b1\u03bc\u03ac\u03c9, \u2018to subdue.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 60: _Oresitrophus._--Ver. 223. \u2018Rover.\u2019 From \u1f44\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 \u2018a\n    mountain,\u2019 and \u03c4\u03c1\u03ad\u03c6\u03c9 \u2018to nourish.\u2019]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  If the maxim of Horace, \u2018Nec Deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice\n  nodus,\u2019 had been a little more frequently observed by the ancient\n  poets, their Deities would not have been so often placed in a\n  degrading or disgusting light before posterity. There cannot be a\n  better illustration of the truth of this than the present Fable, where\n  Ovid represents the chaste and prudent Diana as revenging herself in a\n  cruel and barbarous manner for the indiscretion, or rather misfortune,\n  of an innocent young man.\n\n  Cicero mentions several Goddesses of the name of Diana. The first was\n  the daughter of Jupiter and Proserpine; the second of Jupiter and\n  Latona; and the third of Upis and Glauce. Strabo mentions another\n  Diana, named Britomartis, the daughter of Eubalus. The worship,\n  however, of Diana as the Goddess of the Moon, was, most probably,\n  derived from Egypt, with the Isis of whom she is perhaps identical.\n  The adventure narrated in this Fable is most probably to be attributed\n  to Diana Britomartis, as Strabo tells us, that she was particularly\n  fond of the chase. Pausanias, in his Attica, tells the story in much\n  the same terms, but he adds, that on seeing Diana bathing, the novelty\n  of the sight excited Act\u00e6on\u2019s curiosity, and prompted him to approach\n  nearer. To explain this fable, some authors suggest, that Act\u00e6on\u2019s\n  dogs becoming mad, devoured him; while others suppose, that having\n  ruined himself by the expense of supporting a large pack of hounds,\n  and a hunting establishment, it was reported that he had been devoured\n  by his dogs. Diodorus Siculus, and Euripides, tell us, that Act\u00e6on\n  showed contempt to Diana, and was about to eat of the sacrifice that\n  had been offered to her; and of course, in such a case, punishment at\n  the hands of the Goddess would be deemed a just retribution.\n  Apollodorus says, that Act\u00e6on was brought up by Chiron, and that he\n  was put to death on Mount Cith\u00e6ron, for having seen Diana bathing;\n  though, according to one ancient authority, he was punished for having\n  made improper overtures to Semele. Apollodorus also says, that his\n  dogs died of grief, on the loss of their master, and he has preserved\n  some of their names.\n\n\nFABLE IV. [III.253-301]\n\n  Juno, incensed against Semele for her intrigue with Jupiter, takes the\n  form of Bero\u00eb, the more easily to ensure her revenge. Having first\n  infused in Semele suspicions of her lover, she then recommends her to\n  adopt a certain method of proving his constancy. Semele, thus\n  deceived, obtains a reluctant promise from Jupiter, to make his next\n  visit to her in the splendor and majesty in which he usually\n  approached his wife.\n\nThey speak in various ways {of this matter}. To some, the Goddess seems\nmore severe than is proper; others praise her, and call her deserving\n{of her state} of strict virginity: both sides find their reasons. The\nwife of Jupiter alone does not so much declare whether she blames or\nwhether she approves, as she rejoices at the calamity of a family sprung\nfrom Agenor, and transfers the hatred that she has conceived from the\nTyrian mistress to the partners of her race. Lo! a fresh occasion is\n{now} added to the former one; and she grieves that Semele is pregnant\nfrom the seed of great Jupiter. She then lets loose her tongue to abuse.\n\n\u201cAnd what good have I done by railing so often?\u201d said she. \u201cShe herself\nmust be attacked {by me}. If I am properly called the supreme Juno,\nI will destroy her; if it becomes me to hold the sparkling sceptre in my\nright hand; if I am the queen, and both the sister and wife of Jupiter.\nThe sister {I am}, no doubt. But I suppose she is content with a stolen\nembrace, and the injury to my bed is but trifling. She is {now}\npregnant; that {alone} was wanting; and she bears the evidence of his\ncrime in her swelling womb, and wishes to be made a mother by Jupiter,\na thing which hardly fell to my lot alone. So great is her confidence in\nher beauty. I will take care[61] he shall deceive her; and may I be no\ndaughter of Saturn, if she does not descend to the Stygian waves, sunk\n{there} by her own {dear} Jupiter.\u201d\n\nUpon this she rises from her throne, and, hidden in a cloud of fiery\nhue, she approaches the threshold of Semele. Nor did she remove the\nclouds before she counterfeited an old woman, and planted gray hair on\nher temples; and furrowed her skin with wrinkles, and moved her bending\nlimbs with palsied step, and made her voice that of an old woman. She\nbecame Bero\u00eb[62] herself, the Epidaurian[63] nurse of Semele. When,\ntherefore, upon engaging in discourse with her, and {after} long\ntalking, they came to the name of Jupiter, she sighed, and said,\n\u201cI {only} wish it may be Jupiter; yet I {am apt to} fear everything.\nMany a one under the name of a God has invaded a chaste bed. Nor yet is\nit enough that he is Jupiter; let him, if, indeed, he is the real one,\ngive some pledge of his affection; and beg of him to bestow his caresses\non thee, just in the greatness and form in which he is received by the\nstately Juno; and let him first assume his ensigns {of royalty}.\u201d With\nsuch words did Juno tutor the unsuspecting daughter of Cadmus. She\nrequested of Jupiter a favor, without naming it. To her the God said,\n\u201cMake thy choice, thou shalt suffer no denial; and that thou mayst\nbelieve it the more, let the majesty of the Stygian stream bear witness.\nHe {is} the dread and the God of the Gods.\u201d\n\nOverjoyed at {what was} her misfortune, and too {easily} prevailing, as\nnow about to perish by the complaisance of her lover, Semele said,\n\u201cPresent thyself to me, just such as the daughter of Saturn is wont to\nembrace thee, when ye honor the ties of Venus.\u201d The God wished to shut\nher mouth as she spoke, {but} the hasty words had now escaped into air.\nHe groaned; for neither was it {now} possible for her not to have\nwished, nor for him not to have sworn. Therefore, in extreme sadness, he\nmounted the lofty skies, and with his nod drew along the attendant\nclouds; to which he added showers and lightnings mingled with winds, and\nthunders, and the inevitable thunderbolt.\n\n    [Footnote 61: _I will take care._--Ver. 271. \u2018Faxo,\u2019 \u2018I will\n    make,\u2019 is sometimes used by the best authors for \u2018fecero;\u2019 and\n    \u2018faxim\u2019 for \u2018faciam,\u2019 or \u2018fecerim.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 62: _Bero\u00eb._--Ver. 278. Iris, in the fifth book of the\n    \u00c6neid (l. 620), assumes the form of another Bero\u00eb; and a third\n    person of that name is mentioned in the fourth book of the\n    Georgics, l. 34.]\n\n    [Footnote 63: _Epidaurian._--Ver. 278. Epidaurus was a famous city\n    of Argolis, in Peloponnesus, famous for its temple, dedicated to\n    the worship of \u00c6sculapius, who was the tutelary Divinity of that\n    city.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  It is most probable, that an intrigue between a female named Semele\n  and one of the princes called Jupiter having had a tragical end, gave\n  occasion to this Fable. Pausanias, in his Laconica, tells us, that\n  Cadmus, exasperated against his daughter Semele, caused her and her\n  son to be thrown into the sea; and that being thrown ashore at Oreate,\n  an ancient town of Laconia, Semele was buried there.\n\n  Semele, according to Apollodorus, was, after her death, ranked among\n  the Goddesses by the name of Thyone. He says that her son Bacchus\n  going down to hell, brought her thence, and carried her up to heaven;\n  where, according to Nonnus, she conversed with Pallas and Diana, and\n  ate at the same table with Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Venus. The\n  author, known by the name of Orpheus, gives Semele the title of\n  Goddess, and \u03a0\u03b1\u03bd\u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03af\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1, or \u2018Queen of the Universe.\u2019\n\n\n\nFABLE V. [III.302-338]\n\n  Semele is visited by Jupiter, according to the promise she had obliged\n  him to make; but, being unable to support the effulgence of his\n  lightning, she is burnt to ashes in his presence. Bacchus, with whom\n  she is pregnant, is preserved; and Tiresias decided the dispute\n  between Jupiter and Juno, concerning the sexes.\n\nAnd yet, as much as possible, he tries to mitigate his powers. Nor is he\nnow armed with those flames with which he had overthrown the\nhundred-handed Typh\u0153us; in those, {there is} too much fury. There is\nanother thunder, less baneful, to which the right hand of the Cyclops\ngave less ferocity and flames, {and} less anger. The Gods above call\nthis second-rate thunder; it he assumes, and he enters the house of\nAgenor. Her mortal body could not endure[64] the \u00e6thereal shock, and she\nwas burned amid her nuptial presents. The infant, as yet unformed, is\ntaken out of the womb of his mother, and prematurely (if we can believe\nit) is inserted in the thigh of the father, and completes the time that\nhe should have spent in the womb. His aunt, Ino, nurses him privately in\nhis early cradle. After that, the Nyseian Nymphs[65] conceal him,\nentrusted {to them}, in their caves, and give him the nourishment of\nmilk.\n\nAnd while these things are transacted on earth by the law of destiny,\nand the cradle of Bacchus, twice born,[66] is secured; they tell that\nJupiter, by chance, well drenched with nectar, laid aside {all} weighty\ncares, and engaged in some free jokes with Juno, in her idle moments,\nand said: \u201cDecidedly the pleasure of you, {females}, is greater than\nthat which falls to the lot of {us} males.\u201d She denied it. It was agreed\n{between them}, to ask what was the opinion of the experienced Tiresias.\nTo him both pleasures were well known. For he had separated with a blow\nof his staff two bodies of large serpents, as they were coupling in a\ngreen wood; and (passing strange) become a woman from a man, he had\nspent seven autumns. In the eighth, he again saw the same {serpents},\nand said, \u201cIf the power of a stroke given you is so great as to change\nthe condition of the giver into the opposite one, I will now strike you\nagain.\u201d Having struck the same snakes, his former sex returned, and his\noriginal shape came {again}. He, therefore, being chosen as umpire in\nthis sportive contest, confirmed the words of Jove. The daughter of\nSaturn is said to have grieved more than was fit, and not in proportion\nto the subject; and she condemned the eyes of the umpire to eternal\ndarkness.\n\nBut the omnipotent father (for it is not allowed any God to cancel the\nacts of {another} Deity) gave him the knowledge of things to come, in\nrecompense for his loss of sight, and alleviated his punishment by this\nhonor.\n\n    [Footnote 64: _Could not endure._--Ver. 308. \u2018Corpus mortale\n    tumultus Non tulit \u00e6thereos,\u2019 is rendered by Clarke, \u2018her mortal\n    body could not bear this \u00e6thereal bustle.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 65: _The Nyseian Nymphs._--Ver. 314. Nysa was the name\n    of a city and mountain of Arabia, or India. The tradition was,\n    that there the Nyseian Nymphs, whose names were Cysseis, Nysa,\n    Erato, Eryphia, Bromia, and Polyhymnia, brought up Bacchus. The\n    cave where he was concealed from the fury of Juno, was said to\n    have had two entrances, from which circumstance Bacchus received\n    the epithet of Dithyrites. Servius, in his commentary on the sixth\n    Eclogue of Virgil (l. 15), says that Nysa was the name of the\n    female that nursed Bacchus. Hyginus also speaks of her as being\n    the daughter of Oceanus. From the name \u2018Nysa,\u2019 Bacchus received,\n    in part, his Greek name \u2018Dionysus.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 66: _Twice born._--Ver. 318. Clarke thus translates and\n    explains this line--\u2018They tell you, that Jupiter well drenched;\u2019\n    _i.e._ \u2018fuddled with nectar,\u2019 etc.]\n\n\nFABLE VI. [III.339-401]\n\n  Echo, having often amused Juno with her stories, to give time to\n  Jupiter\u2019s mistresses to make their escape, the Goddess, at last,\n  punishes her for the deception. She is slighted and despised by\n  Narcissus, with whom she falls in love.\n\nHe, much celebrated by fame throughout the cities of Aonia,[67] gave\nunerring answers to the people consulting him. The azure Liriope[68] was\nthe first to make essay and experiment of his infallible voice; whom\nonce Cephisus encircled in his winding stream, and offered violence to,\n{when} enclosed by his waters. The most beauteous Nymph produced an\ninfant from her teeming womb, which even then might have been beloved,\nand she called him Narcissus. Being consulted concerning him, whether he\nwas destined to see the distant season of mature old age; the prophet,\nexpounding destiny, said, \u201cIf he never recognizes himself.\u201d Long did the\nwords of the soothsayer appear frivolous; {but} the event, the thing\n{itself}, the manner of his death, and the novel nature of his frenzy,\nconfirmed it.\n\nAnd now the son of Cephisus had added one to three times five years, and\nhe might seem to be a boy and a young man as well. Many a youth,[69] and\nmany a damsel, courted him; but there was so stubborn a pride in his\nyouthful beauty, {that} no youths, no damsels made any impression on\nhim. The noisy Nymph, who has neither learned to hold her tongue after\nanother speaking, nor to speak first herself, resounding Echo, espied\nhim, as he was driving the timid stags into his nets. Echo was then a\nbody, not a voice; and yet the babbler had no other use of her speech\nthan she now has, to be able to repeat the last words out of many. Juno\nhad done this; because when often she might have been able to detect the\nNymphs in the mountains in the embrace of her {husband}, Jupiter, she\npurposely used to detain[70] the Goddess with a long story, until the\nNymphs had escaped. After the daughter of Saturn perceived {this}, she\nsaid, \u201cBut small exercise of this tongue, with which I have been\ndeluded, shall be allowed thee, and a very short use of thy voice.\u201d And\nshe confirmed her threats by the event. Still, in the end of one\u2019s\nspeaking she redoubles the voice, and returns the words she hears. When,\ntherefore, she beheld Narcissus[71] wandering through the pathless\nforests, and fell in love with him, she stealthily followed his steps;\nand the more she followed him, with the nearer flame did she burn. In no\nother manner than as when the native sulphur, spread around[72] the tops\nof torches, catches the flame applied {to it}. Ah! how often did she\ndesire to accost him in soft accents, and to employ soft entreaties!\nNature resists, and suffers her not to begin; but what {Nature} does\npermit, that she is ready for; to await his voice, to which to return\nher own words.\n\nBy chance, the youth, being separated from the trusty company of his\nattendants, cries out, \u201cIs there any one here?\u201d and Echo answers \u201cHere!\u201d\nHe is amazed; and when he has cast his eyes on every side, he cries out\nwith a loud voice, \u201cCome!\u201d {Whereon} she calls {the youth} who calls. He\nlooks back; and again, as no one comes, he says, \u201cWhy dost thou avoid\nme?\u201d and just as many words as he spoke, he receives. He persists; and\nbeing deceived by the imitation of an alternate voice, he says, \u201cLet us\ncome together here;\u201d and Echo, that could never more willingly answer\nany sound whatever, replies, \u201cLet us come together here!\u201d and she\nfollows up her own words, and rushing from the woods,[73] is going to\nthrow her arms around the neck she has {so} longed for. He flies; and as\nhe flies, he exclaims, \u201cRemove thy hands from thus embracing me; I will\ndie first, before thou shalt have the enjoyment of me.\u201d She answers\nnothing but \u201cHave the enjoyment of me.\u201d {Thus} rejected, she lies hid in\nthe woods, and hides her blushing face with green leaves, and from that\ntime lives in lonely caves; but yet her love remains, and increases from\nthe mortification of her refusal. Watchful cares waste away her\nmiserable body; leanness shrivels her skin, and all the juices of her\nbody fly off in air. Her voice and her bones alone are left.\n\nHer voice {still} continues, {but} they say that her bones received the\nform of stones. Since then, she lies concealed in the woods, and is\nnever seen on the mountains: {but} is heard in all {of them}. It is her\nvoice {alone} which remains alive in her.\n\n    [Footnote 67: _Aonia._--Ver. 339. Aonia was a mountainous district\n    of B\u0153otia, so called from Aon, the son of Neptune, who reigned\n    there. The name is often used to signify the whole of B\u0153otia.]\n\n    [Footnote 68: _Liriope._--Ver. 342. She was the daughter of\n    Oceanus and Tethys, and was the mother of the youth Narcissus, by\n    the river Cephisus. Her name is derived from the Greek \u03bb\u03b5\u03af\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd,\n    \u2018a lily.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 69: _Many a youth._--Ver. 353. Clarke translates \u2018multi\n    juvenes,\u2019 \u2018many young fellows.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 70: _Used to detain._--Ver. 364. Clarke translates \u2018Illa\n    Deam longo prudens sermone tenebat Dum fugerent Nymph\u00e6,\u2019 \u2018She\n    designedly detained the Goddess with some long-winded discourse or\n    other till the Nymphs ran away.\u2019 He translates \u2018garrula,\u2019 in line\n    360, \u2018the prattling hussy.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 71: _Narcissus._--Ver. 370. This name is from the Greek\n    word \u03bd\u03b1\u03c1\u03ba\u1fb7\u03bd, \u2018to fade away,\u2019 which was characteristic of the\n    youth\u2019s career, and of the duration of the flower.]\n\n    [Footnote 72: _Sulphur spread around._--Ver. 372. These lines\n    show, that it was the custom of the ancients to place sulphur on\n    the ends of their torches, to make them ignite the more readily,\n    in the same manner as the matches of the present day are tipped\n    with that mineral.]\n\n    [Footnote 73: _Rushing from the woods._--Ver. 388. \u2018Egressaque\n    sylvis.\u2019 Clarke renders, \u2018and bouncing out of the wood.\u2019]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  It appears much more reasonable to attempt the explanation of this\n  story on the grounds of natural philosophy than of history. The poets,\n  in their fondness for basing every subject upon fiction, probably\n  invented the fable, to explain what to them appeared an extraordinary\n  phenomenon. By way of embellishing their story, they tell us that Echo\n  was the daughter of the Air and the Tongue, and that the God Pan fell\n  in love with her; by which, probably, the simple fact is meant, that\n  some person, represented under the name of that god, endeavored to\n  trace the cause of this phenomenon.\n\n  If, however, we should endeavor to base the story upon purely\n  historical grounds, we may suppose that it took its rise from some\n  Nymph, who wandered so far into the woods as to be unable to find her\n  way out again; and from the fact that those who went to seek her,\n  hearing nothing but the echo of their own voices, brought back the\n  strange but unsatisfactory intelligence that the Nymph had been\n  changed into a voice.\n\n\nFABLE VII. [III.402-510]\n\n  Narcissus falls in love with his own shadow, which he sees in a\n  fountain; and, pining to death, the Gods change him into a flower,\n  which still bears his name.\n\nThus had he deceived her, thus, too, other Nymphs that sprung from the\nwater or the mountains, thus the throng of youths before {them}.\nSome one, therefore, who had been despised {by him}, lifting up his\nhands towards heaven, said, \u201cThus, though he should love, let him not\nenjoy what he loves!\u201d Rhamnusia[74] assented to a prayer so reasonable.\nThere was a clear spring, like silver, with its unsullied waters, which\nneither shepherds, nor she-goats feeding on the mountains, nor any other\ncattle, had touched; which neither bird nor wild beast had disturbed,\nnor bough falling from a tree. There was grass around it, which the\nneighboring water nourished, and a wood, that suffered the stream to\nbecome warm with no {rays of the} sun. Here the youth, fatigued both\nwith the labor of hunting and the heat, lay down, attracted by the\nappearance of the spot, and the spring; and, while he was endeavoring to\nquench his thirst, another thirst grew {upon him}.\n\nWhile he is drinking, being attracted with the reflection of his own\nform, seen {in the water}, he falls in love with a thing that has no\nsubstance; {and} he thinks that to be a body, which is {but} a shadow.\nHe is astonished at himself, and remains unmoved with the same\ncountenance, like a statue formed of Parian marble.[75] Lying on the\nground, he gazes on his eyes {like} two stars, and fingers worthy of\nBacchus, and hair worthy of Apollo, and his youthful cheeks and ivory\nneck, and the comeliness of his mouth, and his blushing complexion\nmingled with the whiteness of snow; and everything he admires, for which\nhe himself is worthy to be admired. In his ignorance, he covets himself;\nand he that approves, is himself {the thing} approved. While he pursues\nhe is pursued, and at the same moment he inflames and burns. How often\ndoes he give vain kisses to the deceitful spring; how often does he\nthrust his arms, catching at the neck he sees, into the middle of the\nwater, and yet he does not catch himself in them. He knows not what he\nsees, but what he sees, by it is he inflamed; and the same mistake that\ndeceives his eyes, provokes them. Why, credulous {youth}, dost thou\nvainly catch at the flying image? What thou art seeking is nowhere; what\nthou art in love with, turn but away {and} thou shalt lose it; what thou\nseest, the same is {but} the shadow of a reflected form; it has nothing\nof its own. It comes and stays with thee; with thee it will depart, if\nthou canst {but} depart thence.\n\nNo regard for food,[76] no regard for repose, can draw him away thence;\nbut, lying along upon the overshadowed grass, he gazes upon the\nfallacious image with unsatiated eyes, and by his own sight he himself\nis undone. Raising himself a little {while}, extending his arms to the\nwoods that stand around him, he says, \u201cWas ever, O, ye woods! any one\nmore fatally in love? For {this} ye know, and have been a convenient\nshelter for many a one. And do you remember any one, who {ever} thus\npined away, during so long a time, though so many ages of your life has\nbeen spent? It both pleases me and I see it; but what I see, and what\npleases me, yet I cannot obtain; so great a mistake possesses one in\nlove; and to make me grieve the more, neither a vast sea separates us,\nnor a {long} way, nor mountains, nor a city with its gates closed; we\nare kept asunder by a little water. He himself wishes to be embraced;\nfor as often as I extend my lips to the limpid stream, so often does he\nstruggle towards me with his face held up; you would think he might be\ntouched. It is a very little that stands in the way of lovers. Whoever\nthou art, come up hither. Why, {dear} boy, the choice one, dost thou\ndeceive me? or whither dost thou retire, when pursued? Surely, neither\nmy form nor my age is such as thou shouldst shun; the Nymphs, too, have\ncourted me. Thou encouragest I know not what hopes in me with that\nfriendly look, and when I extend my arms to thee, thou willingly\nextendest thine; when I smile, thou smilest in return; often, too, have\nI observed thy tears, when I was weeping; my signs, too, thou returnest\nby thy nods, and, as I guess by the motion of thy beauteous mouth, thou\nreturnest words that come not to my ears. In thee \u2019tis I, I {now}\nperceive; nor does my form deceive me. I burn with the love of myself,\nand both raise the flames and endure them. What shall I do? Should I be\nentreated, or should I entreat? What, then, shall I entreat? What I\ndesire is in my power; plenty has made me poor. Oh! would that I could\ndepart from my own body! a new wish, {indeed}, in a lover; I could wish\nthat what I am in love with was away. And now grief is taking away my\nstrength, and no long period of my life remains; and in my early days am\nI cut off; nor is death grievous to me, now about to get rid of my\nsorrows by death. I wish that he who is beloved could enjoy a longer\nlife. Now we two, of one mind, shall die in {the extinction of} one\nlife.\u201d\n\n{Thus} he said, and, with his mind {but} ill at ease, he returned to the\nsame reflection, and disturbed the water with his tears; and the form\nwas rendered defaced by the moving of the stream; when he saw it\n{beginning} to disappear, he cried aloud, \u201cWhither dost thou fly? Stay,\nI beseech thee! and do not in thy cruelty abandon thy lover; let it be\nallowed me to behold that which I may not touch, and to give nourishment\nto my wretched frenzy.\u201d And, while he was grieving, he tore his garment\nfrom the upper border, and beat his naked breast with his palms, white\nas marble. His breast, when struck, received a little redness, no\notherwise than as apples are wont, which are partly white {and} partly\nred; or as a grape, not yet ripe, in the parti-colored clusters, is wont\nto assume a purple tint. Soon as he beheld this again in the water, when\nclear, he could not endure it any longer; but, as yellow wax with the\nfire, or the hoar frost of the morning, is wont to waste away with the\nwarmth of the sun, so he, consumed by love, pined away, and wasted by\ndegrees with a hidden flame. And now, no longer was his complexion of\nwhite mixed with red; neither his vigor nor his strength, nor {the\npoints} which had charmed when seen so lately, nor {even} his body,\nwhich formerly Echo had been in love with, now remained. Yet, when she\nsaw these things, although angry, and mindful {of his usage of her}, she\nwas grieved, and, as often as the unhappy youth said, \u201cAlas!\u201d she\nrepeated, \u201cAlas!\u201d with re-echoing voice; and when he struck his arms\nwith his hands, she, too, returned the like sound of a blow.\n\nHis last accents, as he looked into the water, as usual, were these:\n\u201cAh, youth, beloved in vain!\u201d and the spot returned just as many words;\nand after he had said, \u201cFarewell!\u201d Echo, too, said, \u201cFarewell!\u201d He laid\ndown his wearied head upon the green grass, {when} night closed the eyes\nthat admired the beauty of their master; and even then, after he had\nbeen received into the infernal abodes, he used to look at himself in\nthe Stygian waters. His Naiad sisters lamented him, and laid their\nhair,[77] cut off, over their brother; the Dryads, too, lamented him,\n{and} Echo resounded to their lamentations. And now they were preparing\nthe funeral pile, and the shaken torches, and the bier. The body was\nnowhere {to be found}. Instead of his body, they found a yellow flower,\nwith white leaves encompassing it in the middle.\n\n    [Footnote 74: _Rhamnusia._--Ver. 406. Nemesis, the Goddess of\n    Retribution, and the avenger of crime, was the daughter of\n    Jupiter. She had a famous temple at Rhamnus, one of the \u2018pagi,\u2019 or\n    boroughs of Athens. Her statue was there, carved by Phidias out of\n    the marble which the Persians brought into Greece for the purpose\n    of making a statue of Victory out of it, and which was thus\n    appropriately devoted to the Goddess of Retribution. This statue\n    wore a crown, and had wings, and holding a spear of ash in the\n    right hand, it was seated on a stag.]\n\n    [Footnote 75: _Parian marble._--Ver. 419. Paros was an island in\n    the \u00c6gean sea, one of the Cyclades; it was famous for the valuable\n    quality of its marble, which was especially used for the purpose\n    of making statues of the Gods.]\n\n    [Footnote 76: _Regard for food._--Ver. 437. \u2018Cereris.\u2019 The name of\n    the Goddess of corn is here used instead of bread itself.]\n\n    [Footnote 77: _Laid their hair._--Ver. 506. It was the custom\n    among the ancients for females, when lamenting the dead, not only\n    to cut off their hair, but to lay it on the body, when extended\n    upon the funeral pile.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  If this story is based upon any historical facts, they are entirely\n  lost to us; as all we learn from history concerning Narcissus, is the\n  fact that he was a Thespian by birth. The Fable seems rather to be\n  intended as a useful moral lesson, disclosing the fatal effects of\n  self-love. His pursuit, too, of his own image, ever retiring from his\n  embrace, strongly resembles the little reality that exists in many of\n  those pleasures which mankind so eagerly pursue.\n\n  Pausanias, in his B\u0153otica, somewhat varies the story. He tells us that\n  Narcissus having lost his sister, whom he tenderly loved, and who\n  resembled him very much, and was his constant companion in the chase,\n  thought, on seeing himself one day in a fountain, that it was the\n  shade of his lost sister, and, thereupon, pined away and died of\n  grief. According to him, the fountain was near a village called\n  Donacon, in the country of the Thespians. Pausanias regards the\n  account of his change into the flower which bears his name as a mere\n  fiction, since Pamphus says that Proserpina, when carried away, long\n  before the time of Narcissus, gathered that flower in the fields of\n  Enna; and that the same flower was sacred to her. Persons sacrificing\n  to the Furies, or Eumenides, used to wear chaplets made of the\n  Narcissus, because that flower commonly grew about graves and\n  sepulchres.\n\n  Tiresias, who predicted the untoward fate of Narcissus, was, as we are\n  informed by Apollodorus, the son of Evenus and Chariclo, and was the\n  most renowned soothsayer of his time. He lost his life by drinking of\n  the fountain of Telphusa when he was overheated; or, as some suppose,\n  through the unwholesome quality of the water. As he lived to a great\n  age, and became blind towards the end of his life, the story, which\n  Ovid mentions, was invented respecting him. Another version of it was,\n  that he lost his sight, by reason of his having seen Minerva while\n  bathing. This story was very probably based either upon the fact that\n  he had composed a Treatise upon the Animal Functions of the Sexes, or\n  that he had promulgated the doctrine that the stars had not only souls\n  (a common opinion in those times), but also that they were of\n  different sexes. He is supposed to have lived about 1200 years before\n  the Christian era.\n\n\nFABLE VIII. [III.511-733]\n\n  Pentheus ridicules the predictions of Tiresias; and not only forbids\n  his people to worship Bacchus, who had just entered Greece in triumph,\n  but even commands them to capture him, and to bring him into his\n  presence. Under the form of Ac\u0153tes, one of his companions, Bacchus\n  suffers that indignity, and relates to Pentheus the wonders which the\n  God had wrought. The recital enrages Pentheus still more, who\n  thereupon goes to Mount Cith\u00e6ron, to disturb the orgies then\n  celebrating there; on which his own mother and the other Bacchantes\n  tear him to pieces.\n\nThis thing, when known, brought deserved fame to the prophet through the\ncities of Achaia;[78] and great was the reputation of the soothsayer.\nYet Pentheus,[79] the son of Echion, a contemner of the Gods above,\nalone, of all men, despises him, and derides the predicting words of the\nold man, and upbraids him with his darkened state, and the misfortune of\n{having lost} his sight. He, shaking his temples, white with hoary hair,\nsays: \u201cHow fortunate wouldst thou be, if thou as well couldst become\ndeprived of this light, that thou mightst not behold the rites of\nBacchus. For soon the day will come, and even now I predict that it is\nnot far off, when the new {God} Liber, the son of Semele, shall come\nhither. Unless thou shalt vouchsafe him the honor of a temple, thou\nshalt be scattered, torn in pieces, in a thousand places, and with thy\nblood thou shalt pollute both the woods, and thy mother and the sisters\nof thy mother. {These things} will come to pass; for thou wilt not\nvouchsafe honor to the Divinity; and thou wilt complain that under this\ndarkness I have seen too much.\u201d\n\nThe son of Echion drives him away as he says such things as these.\nConfirmation follows his words, and the predictions of the prophet are\nfulfilled. Liber comes, and the fields resound with festive howlings.\nThe crowd runs out; both matrons and new-married women mixed with the\nmen, both high and low, are borne along to the {celebration of} rites\n{till then} unknown. \u201cWhat madness,\u201d says Pentheus, \u201chas confounded your\nminds, O ye warlike men,[80] descendants of the Dragon? Can brass\nknocked against brass prevail so much with you? And the pipe with the\nbending horn, and these magical delusions? And shall the yells of women,\nand madness produced by wine, and troops of effeminate {wretches}, and\nempty tambourines[81] prevail over you, whom neither the warrior\u2019s sword\nnor the trumpet could affright, nor troops with weapons prepared {for\nfight}? Am I to wonder at you, old men, who, carried over distant seas,\nhave fixed in these abodes a {new} Tyre, and your banished household\nGods, {but who} now allow them to be taken without a struggle? Or you,\nof more vigorous age and nearer to my own, ye youths; whom it was\nbefitting to be brandishing arms, and not the thyrsus,[82] and to be\ncovered with helmets, not green leaves? Do be mindful, I entreat you, of\nwhat race you are sprung, and assume the courage of that dragon, who\n{though but} one, destroyed many. He died for his springs and his\nstream; but do you conquer for your own fame. He put the valiant to\ndeath; do you expel the feeble {foe}, and regain your country\u2019s honor.\nIf the fates forbid Thebes to stand long, I wish that engines of war[83]\nand men should demolish the walls, and that fire and sword should\nresound. {Then} should we be wretched without {any} fault {of our own},\nand our fate were to be lamented, {but} not concealed, and our tears\nwould be free from shame. But now Thebes will be taken by an unarmed\nboy, whom neither wars delight, nor weapons, nor the employment of\nhorses, but hair wet with myrrh, and effeminate chaplets, and purple,\nand gold interwoven with embroidered garments; whom I, indeed, (do you\nonly stand aside) will presently compel to own that his father is\nassumed, and that his sacred rites are fictitious. Has Acrisius[84]\ncourage enough to despise the vain Deity, and to shut the gates of Argos\nagainst his approach; and shall this stranger affright Pentheus with all\nThebes? Go quickly, (this order he gives to his servants), go, and bring\nhither in chains the ringleader. Let there be no slothful delay in\n{executing} my commands.\u201d\n\nHis grandfather,[85] {Cadmus}, Athamas, and the rest of the company of\nhis friends rebuke him with expostulations, and in vain try to restrain\nhim. By their admonition he becomes more violent, and by being curbed\nhis fury is irritated, and is on the increase, and the very restraint\ndid him injury. So have I beheld a torrent, where nothing obstructed it\nin its course, run gently and with moderate noise; but wherever beams\nand stones in its way withheld it, it ran foaming and raging, and more\nviolent from its obstruction. Behold! {the servants} return, all stained\nwith blood; and when their master inquires where Bacchus is, they deny\nthat they have seen Bacchus. \u201cBut this one,\u201d say they, \u201cwe have taken,\nwho was his attendant and minister in his sacred rites.\u201d And {then} they\ndeliver one, who, from the Etrurian nation, had followed the sacred\nrites of the Deity, with his hands bound behind his back.\n\nPentheus looks at him with eyes that anger has made terrible, and\nalthough he can scarcely defer the time of his punishment, he says,\n\u201cO {wretch}, doomed to destruction, and about, by thy death, to set an\nexample to others, tell me thy name, and the name of thy parents, and\nthy country, and why thou dost attend the sacred rites of a new\nfashion.\u201d He, void of fear, says, \u201cMy name is Ac\u0153tes; M\u00e6onia[86] is my\ncountry; my parents were of humble station. My father left me no fields\nfor the hardy oxen to till, no wool-bearing flocks, nor any herds. He\nhimself was {but} poor, and he was wont with line, and hooks, to deceive\nthe leaping fishes, and to take them with the rod. His trade was his\n{only} possession. When he gave that calling over {to me}, he said,\n\u2018Receive, as the successor and heir of my employment, those riches which\nI possess;\u2019 and at his death he left me nothing but the streams. This\none thing alone can I call my patrimony. {But} soon, that I might not\nalways be confined to the same rocks, I learned with a steadying right\nhand to guide the helm of the ship, and I made observations with my eyes\nof the showery Constellation of the Olenian she-goat,[87] and\nTaygete,[88] and the Hyades,[89] and the Bear, and the quarters of the\nwinds, and the harbors fit for ships. By chance, as I was making for\nDelos, I touched at the coast of the land of Dia,[90] and came up to the\nshore by {plying} the oars on the right side; and I gave a nimble leap,\nand lighted upon the wet sand. When the night was past, and the dawn\nfirst began to grow red, I arose and ordered {my men} to take in fresh\nwater, and I pointed out the way which led to the stream. I myself, from\na lofty eminence, looked around {to see} what the breeze promised me;\nand {then} I called my companions, and returned to the vessel. \u2018Lo! we\nare here,\u2019 says Opheltes, my chief mate; and having found, as he\nthought, a prize in the lonely fields, he was leading along the shore,\na boy with {all} the beauty of a girl. He, heavy with wine and sleep,\nseemed to stagger, and to follow with difficulty. I examined his dress,\nhis looks, and his gait, {and} I saw nothing there which could be taken\nto be mortal. I both was sensible of it, and I said to my companions, \u2018I\nam in doubt what Deity is in that body; but in that body a Deity there\nis. Whoever thou art, O be propitious and assist our toils; and pardon\nthese as well.\u2019 \u2018Cease praying for us,\u2019 said Dictys, than whom there was\nnot another more nimble at climbing to the main-top-yards, and at\nsliding down by catching hold of a rope. This Libys, this the\nyellow-haired Melanthus, the guardian of the prow, and this Alcimedon\napproved of; and Epopeus[91] as well, the cheerer of their spirits, who\nby his voice gave both rest and time to the oars; {and} so did all the\nrest; so blind is the greed for booty. \u2018However,\u2019 I said, \u2018I will not\nallow this ship to be damaged by this sacred freight. Here I have the\ngreatest share of right.\u2019 and I opposed them at the entrance.\n\n\u201cLycabas, the boldest of all the number, was enraged, who, expelled from\na city of Etruria, was suffering exile as the punishment for a dreadful\nmurder.[92] He, while I was resisting, seized hold of my throat with his\nyouthful fist, and shaking me, had thrown me overboard into the sea, if\nI had not, although stunned, held fast by grasping a rope. The impious\ncrew approved of the deed. Then at last Bacchus (for Bacchus it was), as\nthough his sleep had been broken by the noise, and his sense was\nreturning into his breast after {much} wine, said: \u2018What are you doing?\nWhat is this noise? Tell me, sailors, by what means have I come hither?\nWhither do you intend to carry me?\u2019 \u2018Lay aside thy fears,\u2019 said Proreus,\n\u2018and tell us what port thou wouldst wish to reach. Thou shalt stop at\nthe land that thou desirest.\u2019 \u2018Direct your course then to Naxos,\u2019[93]\nsays Liber, \u2018that is my home; it shall prove a hospitable land for you.\u2019\n\n\u201cIn their deceit they swore by the ocean and by all the Deities, that so\nit should be; and bade me give sail to the painted ship. Naxos was to\nour right; {and} as I was {accordingly} setting sail for the right hand,\nevery one said for himself, \u2018What art thou about, madman? What insanity\npossesses thee, Ac\u0153tes? Stand away to the left.\u2019 The greater part\nsignified {their meaning} to me by signs; some whispered in my ear what\nthey wanted. I was at a loss, and I said, \u2018Let some one else take the\nhelm;\u2019 and I withdrew myself from the execution both of their\nwickedness, and of my own calling. I was reviled by them all, and the\nwhole crew muttered {reproaches} against me. \u00c6thalion, among them, says,\n\u2018As if, forsooth, all our safety is centred in thee,\u2019 and he himself\ncomes up, and takes my duty; and leaving Naxos, he steers a different\ncourse. Then the God, mocking them as if he had at last but that moment\ndiscovered their knavery, looks down upon the sea from the crooked\nstern; and, like one weeping, he says: \u2018These are not the shores,\nsailors, that you have promised me; this is not the land desired by me.\nBy what act have I deserved this treatment? What honor is it to you, if\nyou {that are} young men, deceive a {mere} boy? if you {that are} many,\ndeceive me, {who am but} one?\u2019 I had been weeping for some time. The\nimpious gang laughed at my tears, and beat the sea with hastening oars.\nNow by himself do I swear to thee (and no God is there more powerful\nthan he), that I am relating things to thee as true, as they are beyond\nall belief. The ship stood still upon the ocean, no otherwise than if it\nwas occupying a dry dock. They, wondering at it, persisted in the plying\nof their oars; they unfurled their sails, and endeavored to speed onward\nwith this twofold aid. Ivy impeded the oars,[94] and twined {around\nthem} in encircling wreaths; and clung to the sails with heavy clusters\nof berries. He himself, having his head encircled with bunches of\ngrapes, brandished a lance covered with vine leaves. Around him, tigers\nand visionary forms of lynxes, and savage bodies of spotted panthers,\nwere extended.\n\n\u201cThe men leaped overboard, whether it was madness or fear that caused\nthis; and first {of all}, Medon began to grow black with fins, with a\nflattened body, and to bend in the curvature of the back-bone. To him\nLycabas said, \u2018Into what prodigy art thou changing?\u2019 and, as he spoke,\nthe opening of his mouth was wide, his nose became crooked, and his\nhardened skin received scales upon it. But Libys, while he was\nattempting to urge on the resisting oars, saw his hands shrink into a\nsmall compass, and now to be hands no longer, {and} that now, {in fact},\nthey may be pronounced fins. Another, desirous to extend his arms to the\ntwisting ropes, had no arms, and becoming crooked, with a body deprived\nof limbs, he leaped into the waves; the end of his tail was hooked, just\nas the horns of the half-moon are curved. They flounce about on every\nside, and bedew {the ship} with plenteous spray, and again they emerge,\nand once more they return beneath the waves. They sport with {all} the\nappearance of a dance, and toss their sportive bodies, and blow forth\nthe sea, received within their wide nostrils. Of twenty the moment\nbefore (for so many did that ship carry), I was the only one remaining.\nThe God encouraged me, frightened and chilled with my body all\ntrembling, and scarcely myself, saying, \u2018Shake off thy fear, and make\nfor Dia.\u2019 Arriving there, I attended upon the sacred rites of Bacchus,\nat the kindled altars.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have lent ear to a long story,\u201d[95] says Pentheus, \u201cthat our anger\nmight consume its strength in its tediousness. Servants! drag him\nheadlong, and send to Stygian night his body, racked with dreadful\ntortures.\u201d At once the Etrurian Ac\u0153tes, dragged away, is shut up in a\nstrong prison; and while the cruel instruments of the death that is\nordered, and the iron and the fire are being made ready, the report is\nthat the doors opened of their own accord, and that the chains, of their\nown accord, slipped from off his arms, no one loosening them.\n\nThe son of Echion persists: and now he does not command others to go,\nbut goes himself to where Cith\u00e6ron,[96] chosen for the celebration of\nthese sacred rites, was resounding with singing, and the shrill voices\nof the votaries of Bacchus. Just as the high-mettled steed neighs, when\nthe warlike trumpeter gives the alarm with the sounding brass, and\nconceives a desire for battle, so did the sky, struck with the\nlong-drawn howlings, excite Pentheus, and his wrath was rekindled on\nhearing the clamor. There was, about the middle of the mountain, the\nwoods skirting its extremity, a plain free from trees, {and} visible on\nevery side. Here his mother was the first to see him looking on the\nsacred rites with profane eyes; she first was moved by a frantic\nimpulse, {and} she first wounded her {son}, Pentheus, by hurling her\nthyrsus, {and} cried out, \u201cHo! come, my two sisters;[97] that boar\nwhich, of enormous size, is roaming amid our fields, that boar I must\nstrike.\u201d All the raging multitude rushes upon him alone; all collect\ntogether, and all follow him, now trembling, now uttering words less\natrocious {than before}, now blaming himself, now confessing that he has\noffended.\n\nHowever, on being wounded, he says, \u201cGive me thy aid, Autono\u00eb, my aunt;\nlet the ghost of Act\u00e6on[98] influence thy feelings.\u201d She knows not what\nAct\u00e6on {means}, and tears away his right hand as he is praying; the\nother is dragged off by the violence of Ino. The wretched {man} has\n{now} no arms to extend to his mother; but showing his maimed body, with\nthe limbs torn off, he says, \u201cLook at this, my mother!\u201d At the sight\nAgave howls aloud, and tosses her neck, and shakes her locks in the air;\nand seizing his head, torn off, with her blood-stained fingers, she\ncries out, \u201cHo! my companions, this victory is our work!\u201d\n\nThe wind does not more speedily bear off, from a lofty tree, the leaves\nnipped by the cold of autumn, and now adhering with difficulty, than\nwere the limbs of the man, torn asunder by their accursed hands.\nAdmonished by such examples, the Ismenian matrons frequent the new\nworship, and offer frankincense, and reverence the sacred altars.\n\n    [Footnote 78: _Cities of Achaia._--Ver. 511. Achaia was properly\n    the name of a part of Peloponnesus, on the gulf of Corinth; but\n    the name is very frequently applied to the whole of Greece.]\n\n    [Footnote 79: _Pentheus._--Ver. 513. He was the son of Echion and\n    Agave, the daughter of Cadmus.]\n\n    [Footnote 80: _Warlike men._--Ver. 531. \u2018Mavortia.\u2019 Mavors was a\n    name of Mars, frequently used by the poets. The Thebans were\n    \u2018proles Mavortia,\u2019 as being sprung from the teeth of the dragon,\n    who was said to be a son of Mars.]\n\n    [Footnote 81: _Tambourines._--Ver. 537. \u2018Tympana.\u2019 These\n    instruments, among the ancients, were of various kinds. Some\n    resembled the modern tambourine; while others presented a flat\n    circular disk on the upper surface, and swelled out beneath, like\n    the kettle-drum of the present day. They were covered with the\n    hides of oxen, or of asses, and were beaten either with a stick or\n    the hand. They were especially used in the rites of Bacchus, and\n    of Cybele.]\n\n    [Footnote 82: _The thyrsus._--Ver. 542. The thyrsus was a long\n    staff, carried by Bacchus, and by the Satyrs and Bacchanalians\n    engaged in the worship of the God of the grape. It was sometimes\n    terminated by the apple of the pine, or fir-cone, the fir-tree\n    being esteemed sacred to Bacchus, from the turpentine flowing\n    therefrom and its apples being used in making wine. It is,\n    however, frequently represented as terminating in a knot of ivy,\n    or vine leaves, with grapes or berries arranged in a conical form.\n    Sometimes, also, a white fillet was tied to the pole just below\n    the head. We learn from Diodorus Siculus, and Macrobius, that\n    Bacchus converted the thyrsi carried by himself and his followers\n    into weapons, by concealing an iron point in the head of leaves.\n    A wound with its point was supposed to produce madness.]\n\n    [Footnote 83: _Engines of war._--Ver. 549. \u2018Tormenta.\u2019 These were\n    the larger engines of destruction used in ancient warfare. They\n    were so called from the verb \u2018torqueo,\u2019 \u2018to twist,\u2019 from their\n    being formed by the twisting of hair, fibre, or strips of leather.\n    The different sorts were called \u2018balist\u00e6\u2019 and \u2018catapult\u00e6.\u2019 The\n    former were used to impel stones; the latter, darts and arrows. In\n    sieges, the \u2018Aries,\u2019 or \u2018battering ram,\u2019 which received its name\n    from having an iron head resembling that of a ram, was employed in\n    destroying the lower part of the wall, while the \u2018balista\u2019 was\n    overthrowing the battlements, and the \u2018catapulta\u2019 was employed to\n    shoot any of the besieged who appeared between them. The \u2018balist\u00e6\u2019\n    and \u2018catapult\u00e6\u2019 were divided into the \u2018greater\u2019 and the \u2018less.\u2019\n    When New Carthage, the arsenal of the Carthaginians, was taken,\n    according to Livy (b. xxvi. c. 47), there were found in it 120\n    large and 281 small catapult\u00e6, and twenty-three large and fifty-two\n    small balist\u00e6. The various kinds of \u2018tormenta\u2019 are said to have\n    been introduced about the time of Alexander the Great. If so,\n    Ovid must here be committing an anachronism, in making Pentheus\n    speak of \u2018tormenta,\u2019 who lived so many ages before that time. To\n    commit anachronisms with impunity seems, however, to be the poet\u2019s\n    privilege, from Ovid downwards to our Shakspere, where he makes\n    Falstaff talk familiarly of the West Indies. We find the\n    dictionaries giving \u2018tormentum\u2019 as the Latin word for \u2018cannon;\u2019 so\n    that in this case we may say not that \u2018necessity is the mother of\n    invention,\u2019 but rather that she is \u2018the parent of anachronism.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 84: _Acrisius._--Ver. 559. He was a king of Argos, the\n    son of Abas, and the father of Dana\u00eb. He refused, and probably\n    with justice, to admit Bacchus or his rites within the gates of\n    his city.]\n\n    [Footnote 85: _His grandfather._--Ver. 563. Athamas was the son of\n    \u00c6olus, and being the husband of Ino, was the son-in-law of Cadmus;\n    who being the father of Agave, the mother of Pentheus, is the\n    grandfather mentioned in the present line.]\n\n    [Footnote 86: _M\u00e6onia._--Ver. 583. Colonists were said to have\n    proceeded from Lydia, or M\u00e6onia, to the coasts of Etruria. Bacchus\n    assumes the name of Ac\u0153tes, as corresponding to the Greek epithet\n    \u1f00\u03ba\u03bf\u03af\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2, \u2018watchful,\u2019 or \u2018sleepless;\u2019 which ought to be the\n    characteristic of the careful \u2018pilot,\u2019 or \u2018helmsman.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 87: _Olenian she-goat._--Ver. 594. Amalthea, the goat\n    that suckled Jupiter, is called Olenian, either because she was\n    reared in Olenus, a city of B\u0153otia, or because she was placed as a\n    Constellation between the arms, \u1f60\u03bb\u03ad\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9, of the Constellation\n    Auriga, or the Charioteer. The rising and setting of this\n    Constellation were supposed to produce showers.]\n\n    [Footnote 88: _Taygete._--Ver. 594. She was one of the Pleiades,\n    the daughters of Atlas, who were placed among the Constellations.]\n\n    [Footnote 89: _Hyades._--Ver. 594. These were the Dodonides, or\n    nurses of Bacchus, whom Jupiter, as a mark of his favor, placed in\n    the number of the Constellations. Their name is derived from \u1f55\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd,\n    \u2018to rain.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 90: _Dia._--Ver. 596. This was another name of the Isle\n    of Naxos. Gierig thinks that the reading here is neither \u2018Di\u00e6\u2019 nor\n    \u2018Chi\u00e6,\u2019 which are the two common readings; as the situation of\n    neither the Isle of Naxos nor that of Chios, would suit the course\n    of the ship, as stated in the text. He thinks that the Isle of\n    Ceos, or Cea, is meant, which Ptolemy calls \u039a\u03b9\u03b1, and which he\n    thinks ought here to be written \u2018Ci\u00e6.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 91: _Epopeus._--Ver. 619. He was the \u03ba\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03cd\u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2,\n    \u2018pausarius,\u2019 or keeper of time for the rowers.]\n\n    [Footnote 92: _A dreadful murder._--Ver. 626. They seem to have\n    been composed of much the same kind of lawless materials that\n    formed the daring crews of the buccanier Morgan and Captain Kydd\n    in more recent times.]\n\n    [Footnote 93: _Naxos._--Ver. 636. This was the most famous island\n    of the group of the Cyclades.]\n\n    [Footnote 94: _Ivy impeded the oars._--Ver. 664. Hyginus tells us,\n    that Bacchus changed the oars into thyrsi, the sails into clusters\n    of grapes, and the rigging into ivy branches. In the Homeric hymn\n    on this subject we find the ship flowing with wine, vines growing\n    on the sails, ivy twining round the mast, and the benches wreathed\n    with chaplets.]\n\n    [Footnote 95: _To a long story._--Ver. 692. Clarke renders this\n    line, \u2018We have lent our ears to a long tale of a tub.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 96: _Cith\u00e6ron._--Ver. 702. This was a mountain of\n    B\u0153otia, famous for the orgies of Bacchus there celebrated.]\n\n    [Footnote 97: _My two sisters._--Ver. 713. These were Ino and\n    Autono\u00eb.]\n\n    [Footnote 98: _Ghost of Act\u00e6on._--Ver. 720. He appeals to Autono\u00eb,\n    the mother of Act\u00e6on, to remember the sad fate of her own son, and\n    to show him some mercy; but in vain: for, as one commentator on\n    the passage says, \u2018Drunkenness had taken away both her reason and\n    her memory.\u2019]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Cicero mentions two Deities of the name of Bacchus; while other\n  authors speak of several of that name. The first was the son of\n  Jupiter and Proserpina; the second was the son of the Nile, and the\n  founder of the city of Nysa, in Arabia; Caprius was the father of the\n  third. The fourth was the son of the Moon and Jupiter, in honor of\n  whom the Orphic ceremonies were performed. The fifth was the son of\n  Nisus and Thione, and the instituter of the Trieterica. Diodorus\n  Siculus mentions but three of the name of Bacchus; namely, the Indian,\n  surnamed the bearded Bacchus, who conquered India; the son of Jupiter\n  and Ceres, who was represented with horns; and the son of Jupiter and\n  Semele, who was called the Theban Bacchus.\n\n  The most reasonable opinion seems to be that of Herodotus and\n  Plutarch, who inform us, that the true Bacchus, and the most ancient\n  of them all, was born in Egypt, and was originally called Osiris. The\n  worship of that Divinity passed from Egypt to Greece, where it\n  received great alterations; and, according to Diodorus Siculus, it was\n  Orpheus who introduced it, and made those innovations. In gratitude to\n  the family of Cadmus, from which he had received many favors, he\n  dedicated to Bacchus, the grandson of Cadmus, those mysteries which\n  had been instituted in honor of Osiris, whose worship was then but\n  little known in Greece. Diodorus Siculus says, that as Semele was\n  delivered of Bacchus in the seventh month, it was reported that\n  Jupiter shut him up in his thigh, to carry him there the remaining\n  time of gestation. This Fable was probably founded on the meaning of\n  an equivocal word. The Greek word \u03bc\u03b7\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 signifies either \u2018a thigh,\u2019 or\n  \u2018the hollow of a mountain.\u2019 Thus the Greeks, instead of saying that\n  Bacchus had been nursed on Mount Nysa, in Arabia, according to the\n  Egyptian version of the story, published that he had been carried in\n  the thigh of Jupiter.\n\n  As Bacchus applied himself to the cultivation of the vine, and taught\n  his subjects several profitable and necessary arts, he was honored as\n  a Divinity; and having won the esteem of many neighboring countries,\n  his worship soon spread. Among his several festivals there was one\n  called the Trieterica, which was celebrated every three years. In that\n  feast the Bacchantes carried the figure of the God in a chariot drawn\n  by two tigers, or panthers; and, crowned with vine leaves, and holding\n  thyrsi in their hands, they ran in a frantic manner around the\n  chariot, filling the air with the noise of tambourines and brazen\n  instruments, shouting \u2018Evo\u00eb. Bacche!\u2019 and calling the God by his\n  several names of Bromius, Ly\u00e6us, Evan, Len\u00e6us, and Sabazius. To this\n  ceremonial, received from the Egyptians, the Greeks added other\n  ceremonies replete with abominable licentiousness, and repulsive to\n  common decency. These were often suppressed by public enactment, but\n  were as often re-established by the votaries of lewdness and\n  immodesty, and such as found in these festivals a pretext and\n  opportunity for the commission of the most horrible offences.\n\n  The story of the unfortunate fate of Pentheus is supposed by the\n  ancient writers to have been strictly true. Pentheus, the son of\n  Echion and Agave, the daughter of Cadmus, having succeeded his\n  grandfather in his kingdom, is supposed, like him, to have opposed\n  those abuses that had crept into the mysteries of Bacchus, and went to\n  Mount Cith\u00e6ron for the purpose of chastising the Bacchantes, who were\n  celebrating his festival; whereupon, in their frantic madness, the\n  worshippers, among whom were his mother and his aunt, tore him in\n  pieces. Pausanias, however, says that Pentheus really was a wicked\n  prince; and he somewhat varies his story, as he tells us that having\n  got into a tree to overlook the secret ceremonies of the orgies,\n  Pentheus was discovered by the Bacchantes, who punished his curiosity\n  by putting him to death. The story of the transformation of the\n  mariners is supposed by Bochart to have been founded on the adventure\n  of certain merchants from the coast of Etruria, whose vessel had the\n  figure of a dolphin at the prow, or rather of the fish called\n  \u2018tursio,\u2019 probably the porpoise, or sea-hog. They were probably\n  shipwrecked near the Isle of Naxos, which was sacred to Bacchus, whose\n  mysteries they had perhaps neglected, or even despised. On this\n  slender ground, perhaps, the report spread, that the God himself had\n  destroyed them, as a punishment for their impiety.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK THE FOURTH.\n\n\nFABLE I. [IV.1-166]\n\n  The daughters of Minyas, instead of celebrating the festival of\n  Bacchus, apply themselves to other pursuits during the ceremonies; and\n  among several narratives which they relate to pass away the time, they\n  divert themselves with the story of the adventures of Pyramus and\n  Thisbe. These lovers having made an appointment to meet without the\n  walls of Babylon, Thisbe arrives first; but at the sight of a lioness,\n  she runs to hide herself in a cave, and in her alarm, drops her veil.\n  Pyramus, arriving soon after, finds the veil of his mistress stained\n  with blood; and believing her to be dead, kills himself with his own\n  sword. Thisbe returns from the cave; and finding Pyramus weltering in\n  his blood, she plunges the same fatal weapon into her own breast.\n\nBut Alcitho\u00eb, the daughter of Minyas,[1] does not think that the\nrites[2] of the God ought to be received; but still, in her rashness,\ndenies that Bacchus is the progeny of Jupiter; and she has her\nsisters[3] as partners in her impiety.\n\nThe priest had ordered both mistresses and maids, laying aside their\nemployments, to have their breasts covered with skins, and to loosen the\nfillets of their hair, and {to put} garlands on their locks, and to take\nthe verdant thyrsi in their hands; and had prophesied that severe would\nbe the resentment of the Deity, {if} affronted. Both matrons and\nnew-married women obey, and lay aside their webs and work-baskets,[4]\nand their tasks unfinished; and offer frankincense, and invoke both\nBacchus and Bromius,[5] and Ly\u00e6us,[6] and the son of the Flames, and the\nTwice-Born, and the only one that had two mothers.[7] To these is added\n{the name of} Nyseus, and the unshorn Thyoneus,[8] and with Len\u00e6us,[9]\nthe planter of the genial grape, and Nyctelius,[10] and father Eleleus,\nand Iacchus,[11] and Evan,[12] and a great many other names, which thou,\nLiber, hast besides, throughout the nations of Greece. For thine is\nyouth everlasting; thou art a boy to all time, thou art beheld {as} the\nmost beauteous {of all} in high heaven; thou hast the features of a\nvirgin, when thou standest without thy horns. By thee the East was\nconquered, as far as where swarthy India is bounded by the remote\nGanges. Thou {God}, worthy of our veneration, didst smite Pentheus, and\nthe axe-bearing Lycurgus,[13] sacrilegious {mortals}; thou didst hurl\nthe bodies of the Etrurians into the sea. Thou controllest the neck of\nthe lynxes yoked to thy chariot, graced with the painted reins. The\nBacchanals and the Satyrs follow {thee}; the drunken old man, too,\n{Silenus}, who supports his reeling limbs with a staff, and sticks by no\nmeans very fast to his bending ass. And wherever thou goest, the shouts\nof youths, and together the voices of women, and tambourines beaten with\nthe hands, and hollow cymbals resound, and the box-wood {pipe}, with its\nlong bore. The Ismenian matrons ask thee to show thyself mild and\npropitious, and celebrate thy sacred rites as prescribed.\n\nThe daughters of Minyas alone, within doors, interrupting the festival\nwith unseasonable labor,[14] are either carding wool, or twirling the\nthreads with their fingers, or are plying at the web, and keeping the\nhandmaids to their work. One of them, {as she is} drawing the thread\nwith her smooth thumb, says, \u201cWhile others are idling, and thronging to\n{these} fanciful rites, let us, whom Pallas, a better Deity, occupies,\nalleviate the useful toil of our hands with varying discourse; and let\nus relate by turns to our disengaged ears, for the general {amusement},\nsomething each in our turn, that will not permit the time to seem long.\u201d\nThey approve of what she says, and her sisters bid her to be the first\nto tell her story.\n\nShe considers which of many she shall tell (for she knows many a one),\nand she is in doubt whether she shall tell of thee, Babylonian\nDercetis,[15] whom the people of Palestine[16] believe to inhabit the\npools, with thy changed form, scales covering thy limbs; or rather how\nher daughter, taking wings, passed her latter years in whitened turrets;\nor how a Naiad,[17] by charms and too potent herbs, changed the bodies\nof the young men into silent fishes, until she suffered the same\nherself. Or how the tree which bore white fruit {formerly}, now bears it\nof purple hue, from the contact of blood. This {story} pleases her;\nthis, because it was no common tale, she began in manner such as this,\nwhile the wool followed the thread:--\n\n\u201cPyramus and Thisbe, the one the most beauteous of youths,[18] the other\npreferred before {all} the damsels that the East contained, lived in\nadjoining houses; where Semiramis is said to have surrounded her lofty\ncity[19] with walls of brick.[20] The nearness caused their first\nacquaintance, and their first advances {in love}; with time their\naffection increased. They would have united themselves, too, by the tie\nof marriage, but their fathers forbade it. A thing which they could not\nforbid, they were both inflamed, with minds equally captivated. There is\nno one acquainted with it; by nods and signs, they hold converse. And\nthe more the fire is smothered, the more, when {so} smothered, does it\nburn. The party-wall, common to the two houses, was cleft by a small\nchink, which it had got formerly, when it was built. This defect,\nremarked by no one for so many ages, you lovers (what does not love\nperceive?) first found one, and you made it a passage for your voices,\nand the accents of love used to pass through it in safety, with the\ngentlest murmur. Oftentimes, after they had taken their stations, Thisbe\non one side, {and} Pyramus on the other, and the breath of their mouths\nhad been {mutually} caught by turns, they used to say, \u2018Envious wall,\nwhy dost thou stand in the way of lovers? what great matter were it, for\nthee to suffer us to be joined with our entire bodies? Or if that is too\nmuch, that, at least, thou shouldst open, for the exchange of kisses.\nNor are we ungrateful; we confess that we are indebted to thee, that a\npassage has been given for our words to our loving ears.\u2019 Having said\nthis much, in vain, on their respective sides, about night they said,\n\u2018Farewell\u2019; and gave those kisses each on their own side, which did not\nreach the other side.\n\n\u201cThe following morning had removed the fires of the night, and the Sun,\nwith its rays, had dried the grass wet with rime, {when} they met\ntogether at the wonted spot. Then, first complaining much in low\nmurmurs, they determine, in the silent night, to try to deceive their\nkeepers, and to steal out of doors; and when they have left the house,\nto quit the buildings of the city as well: but that they may not have to\nwander, roaming in the open fields, to meet at the tomb of Ninus,[21]\nand to conceal themselves beneath the shade of a tree. There was there a\nlofty mulberry tree, very full of snow-white fruit, quite close to a\ncold spring. The arrangement suits them; and the light, seeming to\ndepart {but} slowly, is buried in the waters, and from the same waters\nthe night arises. The clever Thisbe, turning the hinge, gets out in the\ndark, and deceives her {attendants}, and, having covered her face,\narrives at the tomb, and sits down under the tree agreed upon; love made\nher bold. Lo! a lioness approaches, having her foaming jaws besmeared\nwith the recent slaughter of oxen, about to quench her thirst with the\nwater of the neighboring spring. The Babylonian Thisbe sees her at a\ndistance, by the rays of the moon, and with a trembling foot she flies\nto a dark cave; and, while she flies, her veil falling from her back,\nshe leaves it behind. When the savage lioness has quenched her thirst\nwith plenteous water, as she is returning into the woods, she tears the\nthin covering, found by chance without Thisbe herself, with her\nblood-stained mouth.\n\n\u201cPyramus, going out later {than Thisbe}, saw the evident footmarks of a\nwild beast, in the deep dust, and grew pale all over his face. But, as\nsoon as he found her veil, as well, dyed with blood, he said: \u2018One night\nwill be the ruin of two lovers, of whom she was the most deserving of a\nlong life. My soul is guilty; \u2019tis I that have destroyed thee, much to\nbe lamented; who bade thee to come by night to places full of terror,\nand came not hither first. O, whatever lions are lurking beneath this\nrock, tear my body in pieces, and devour my accursed entrails with\nruthless jaws. But it is the part of a coward to wish for death.\u2019 He\ntakes up the veil of Thisbe, and he takes it with himself to the shade\nof the tree agreed on, and, after he has bestowed tears on the\nwell-known garment, he gives kisses {to the same}, and he says,\n\u2018Receive, now, a draught of my blood as well!\u2019 and then plunges the\nsword, with which he is girt, into his bowels; and without delay, as he\nis dying, he draws it out of the warm wound. As he falls on his back\nupon the ground, the blood spurts forth on high, not otherwise than as\nwhen a pipe is burst on the lead decaying,[22] and shoots out afar the\nliquid water from the hissing flaw, and cleaves the air with its jet.\nThe fruit of the tree, by the sprinkling of the blood, are changed to a\ndark tint, and the root, soaked with the gore, tints the hanging\nmulberries with a purple hue. Behold! not yet having banished her fear,\n{Thisbe} returns, that she may not disappoint her lover, and seeks for\nthe youth both with her eyes and her affection, and longs to tell him\nhow great dangers she has escaped. And when she observes the spot, and\nthe altered appearance of the tree, she doubts if it is the same, so\nuncertain does the color of the fruit make her. While she is in doubt,\nshe sees palpitating limbs throbbing upon the bloody ground; she draws\nback her foot, and having her face paler than box-wood,[23] she shudders\nlike the sea, which trembles[24] when its surface is skimmed by a gentle\nbreeze. But, after pausing a time, she had recognized her own lover, she\nsmote her arms, undeserving {of such usage}, and tearing her hair, and\nembracing the much-loved body, she filled the gashes with her tears, and\nmingled her {tokens of} sorrow with his blood; and imprinting kisses on\nhis cold features, she exclaimed, \u2018Pyramus! what disaster has taken thee\naway from me? Pyramus! answer me; \u2019tis thy own Thisbe, dearest, that\ncalls thee; hear me, and raise thy prostrate features.\u2019\n\n\u201cAt the name of Thisbe, Pyramus raised his eyes, now heavy with death,\nand, after he had seen her, he closed them again. After she had\nperceived her own garment, and beheld, too, the ivory {sheath}[25]\nwithout its sword, she said, \u2018\u2019Tis thy own hand, and love, that has\ndestroyed thee, ill-fated {youth}! I, too, have a hand bold {enough} for\nthis one purpose; I have love as well; this shall give me strength for\nthe wound. I will follow thee in thy death, and I shall be called the\nmost unhappy cause and companion of thy fate, and thou who, alas!\ncouldst be torn from me by death alone, shalt not be able, even by\ndeath, to be torn from me. And you, O most wretched parents of mine and\nhis, be but prevailed upon, in this one thing, by the entreaties of us\nboth, that you will not deny those whom their constant love {and} whom\ntheir last moments have joined, to be buried in the same tomb. But thou,\nO tree, which now with thy boughs dost overshadow the luckless body of\n{but} one, art fated soon to cover {those} of two. Retain a token of\n{this our} fate, and ever bear fruit black and suited for mourning, as a\nmemorial of the blood of us two.\u2019 {Thus} she said; and having fixed the\npoint under the lower part of her breast, she fell upon the sword, which\nstill was reeking with his blood.\n\n\u201cHer prayers, however, moved the Gods, {and} moved their parents. For\nthe color of the fruit, when it has fully ripened, is black;[26] and\nwhat was left of them, from the funeral pile, reposed in the same urn.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 1: _Minyas._--Ver. 1. Alcitho\u00eb was the daughter of\n    Minyas, who, according to some, was the son of Orchomenus,\n    according to others, his father. Pausanias says that the B\u0153otians,\n    over whom he reigned, were called \u2018Miny\u00e6\u2019 from him; but he makes\n    no allusion to the females who are here mentioned by Ovid.]\n\n    [Footnote 2: _Rites._--Ver. 1. \u2018Orgia:\u2019 this was the original name\n    of the Dionysia, or festival of Bacchus; but in time the word came\n    to be applied to any occasion of festivity.]\n\n    [Footnote 3: _Her sisters._--Ver. 3. The names of the sisters of\n    Alcitho\u00eb, according to Plutarch, were Aristippe and Leucippe. The\n    names of the three, according to \u00c6lian, were Alcatho\u00eb, Leucippe,\n    and Aristippe, who is sometimes called Arsino\u00eb. The latter author\n    says, that the truth of the case was, that they were decent women,\n    fond of their husbands and families, who preferred staying at\n    home, and attending to their domestic concerns, to running after\n    the new rites; on which it was said, by their enemies, that\n    Bacchus had punished them.]\n\n    [Footnote 4: _Work-baskets._--Ver. 10. The \u2018calathus,\u2019 which was\n    called by the Greeks \u03ba\u03ac\u03bb\u03b1\u03b8\u03bf\u03c2, \u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u03b8\u03af\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c2, and \u03c4\u03ac\u03bb\u03b1\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2, generally\n    signifies the basket in which women placed their work, and\n    especially the materials used for spinning. They were generally\n    made of osiers and reeds, but sometimes of more valuable\n    materials, such as silver, perhaps in filagree work. \u2018Calathi\u2019\n    were also used for carrying fruits and flowers. Virgil (Ecl. v. l.\n    71) speaks of cups for holding wine, under the name of \u2018Calathi.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 5: _Bromius._--Ver. 11. Bacchus was called Bromius, from\n    \u03b2\u03c1\u03ad\u03bc\u03c9, \u2018to cry out,\u2019 or \u2018shout,\u2019 from the yells and noise made by\n    his worshippers, whose peculiar cries were, \u0395\u1f50\u03bf\u1fd6 \u0392\u03ac\u03ba\u03c7\u03b5, \u1f66 \u1f38\u03b1\u03ba\u03c7\u03b5,\n    \u0399\u03ce \u0392\u03ac\u03ba\u03c7\u03b5, \u0395\u1f50\u03bf\u1fd6 \u03c3\u03b1\u03b2\u03bf\u1fd6. \u2018Evo\u00eb, Bacche! O, Iacche! Io, Bacche! Evo\u00eb\n    sab\u00e6!\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 6: _Ly\u00e6us._--Ver. 11. Bacchus was called Ly\u00e6us, from the\n    Greek word, \u03bb\u03cd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd, \u2018to loosen,\u2019 or \u2018relax,\u2019 because wine dispels\n    care.]\n\n    [Footnote 7: _That had two mothers._--Ver. 12. The word \u2018bimater\u2019\n    seems to have been fancied by Ovid as an appropriate epithet for\n    Bacchus, Jupiter having undertaken the duties of a mother for him,\n    in the latter months of gestation.]\n\n    [Footnote 8: _Thyoneus._--Ver. 13. Bacchus was called Thyoneus,\n    either from Semele, his mother, one of whose names was Thyone, or\n    from the Greek, \u03b8\u03cd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd, \u2018to be frantic,\u2019 from which origin the\n    Bacchanals also received their name of Thyades.]\n\n    [Footnote 9: _Len\u00e6us._--Ver. 14. From the Greek word \u03bb\u1fc6\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2, \u2018a\n    wine-press.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 10: _Nyctelius._--Ver. 15. From the Greek word \u03bd\u1f7a\u03be,\n    \u2018night,\u2019 because his orgies were celebrated by night. Eleleus is\n    from the shout, or \u2018huzza\u2019 of the Greeks, which was \u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u1fe6.]\n\n    [Footnote 11: _Iacchus._--Ver. 15. From the Greek \u1f30\u03b1\u03c7\u1f74, \u2018clamor,\u2019\n    or \u2018noise.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 12: _Evan._--Ver. 15. From the exclamation, \u0395\u1f50\u03bf\u1fd6, or\n    \u2018Evo\u00eb\u2019 which the Bacchanals used in performing his orgies.]\n\n    [Footnote 13: _Lycurgus._--Ver. 22. He was a king of Thrace, who\n    having slighted the worship of Bacchus, was afflicted with\n    madness, and hewed off his own legs with a hatchet, and, according\n    to Apollodorus, mistaking his own son Dryas for a vine, destroyed\n    him with the same weapon.]\n\n    [Footnote 14: _Unseasonable labor._--Ver. 32. \u2018Minerva;\u2019 the name\n    of the Goddess Minerva is here used for the exercise of the art of\n    spinning, of which she was the patroness. The term \u2018intempestiva\u2019\n    is appropriately applied, as the arts of industry and frugality,\n    which were first invented by Minerva, but ill accorded with the\n    idle and vicious mode of celebrating the festival of Bacchus.]\n\n    [Footnote 15: _Dercetis._--Ver. 45. Lucian, speaking of Dercetis,\n    or Derceto, says, \u2018I have seen in Ph\u0153nicia a statue of this\n    goddess, of a very singular kind. From the middle upwards, it\n    represents a woman, but below it terminates in a fish. The statue\n    of her, which is shown at Hieropolis, represents her wholly as a\n    woman.\u2019 He further says, that the temple of this last city was\n    thought by some to have been built by Semiramis, who consecrated\n    it not to Juno, as is generally believed, but to her own mother,\n    Derceto. Atergatis was another name of this Goddess. She was said,\n    by an illicit amour, to have been the mother of Semiramis, and in\n    despair, to have thrown herself into a lake near Ascalon, on which\n    she was changed into a fish.]\n\n    [Footnote 16: _Palestine._--Ver. 46. Pal\u00e6stina, or Philistia,\n    in which Ascalon was situate, was a part of Syria, lying in its\n    south-western extremity.]\n\n    [Footnote 17: _How a Naiad._--Ver. 49. The Naiad here mentioned is\n    supposed to have been a Nymph of the Island of the Sun, called\n    also Nosola, between Taprobana (the modern Ceylon) and the coast\n    of Carmania (perhaps Coromandel), who was in the habit of changing\n    such youths as fell into her hands into fishes. As a reward for\n    her cruelty, she herself was changed into a fish by the Sun.]\n\n    [Footnote 18: _Most beauteous of youths._--Ver. 55. Clarke\n    translates \u2018juvenum pulcherrimus alter,\u2019 \u2018one of the most handsome\n    of all the young fellows.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 19: _Her lofty city._--Ver. 57. The magnificence of\n    ancient Babylon has been remarked by many ancient writers, from\n    Herodotus downwards. Its walls are said to have been 60 miles in\n    compass, 87 feet in thickness, and 350 feet in height.]\n\n    [Footnote 20: _Walls of brick._--Ver. 58. The walls were built by\n    Semiramis of bricks dried in the sun, cemented together with\n    layers of bitumen.]\n\n    [Footnote 21: _The tomb of Ninus._--Ver. 88. According to Diodorus\n    Siculus, the sepulchre of Ninus, the first king of Babylon, was\n    ten stadia in length, and nine in depth; it had the appearance of\n    a vast citadel, and was at a considerable distance from the city\n    of Babylon. Commentators have expressed some surprise that Ovid\n    here uses the word \u2018busta,\u2019 for \u2018tomb,\u2019 as the place of meeting\n    for these chaste lovers, as the prostitutes of Rome used to haunt\n    the \u2018busta,\u2019 or \u2018tombs;\u2019 whence they obtained the epithet of\n    \u2018bustuari\u00e6.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 22: _The lead decaying._--Ver. 122. \u2018Fistula\u2019 here means\n    \u2018a water-pipe.\u2019 Vitruvius speaks of three methods of conveying\n    water; by channels of masonry, earthen pipes, and leaden pipes.\n    The latter were smaller, and more generally used; to them\n    reference is here made. They were formed by bending plates of lead\n    into a form, not cylindrical, but the section of which was oblong,\n    and tapering towards the top like a pear. The description here\n    given, though somewhat homely, is extremely natural, and, as\n    frequent experience shows us, depicts the results when the\n    soldering of a water-pipe has become decayed.]\n\n    [Footnote 23: _Paler than box-wood._--Ver. 134. From the light\n    color of boxwood, the words \u2018buxo pallidiora,\u2019 \u2018paler than\n    boxwood,\u2019 became a proverbial expression among the Romans.]\n\n    [Footnote 24: _The sea which trembles._--Ver. 136. The ripple, or\n    shudder, which runs along the surface of the sea, when a breath of\n    wind is stirring in a calm, is very beautifully described here,\n    and is worthy of notice.]\n\n    [Footnote 25: _The ivory sheath._--Ver. 148. The \u2018vagina,\u2019 or\n    \u2018sheath\u2019 of the sword, was often highly decorated; and we learn\n    from Homer and Virgil, as well as Ovid, that ivory was much used\n    for that purpose. The sheath was worn by the Greeks and Romans on\n    the left side of the body, so as to enable them to draw the sword\n    from it, by passing the right hand in front of the body, to take\n    hold of the hilt, with the thumb next to the blade.]\n\n    [Footnote 26: _Is black._--Ver. 165. He thus accounts for the deep\n    purple hue of the mulberry which, before the event mentioned here,\n    he says was white.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  It is pretty clear, as we have already seen, that the establishment of\n  the worship of Bacchus in Greece met with great opposition, and that\n  his priests and devotees published several miracles and prodigies, the\n  more easily to influence the minds of their fellow-men. Thus, the\n  daughters of Minyas are said to have been changed into bats, solely\n  because they neglected to join in the orgies of that God; when,\n  probably, the fact was, that they were either secretly despatched, or\n  were forced to fly for their lives; and their absence was accounted\n  for to the ignorant and credulous, by the invention of this Fable. The\n  story of Dercetis, as related by Diodorus Siculus, Pliny, and\n  Herodotus, is, that having offended Venus, that Goddess caused her to\n  fall in love with a young man, by whom she had a daughter. In despair\n  at her misfortune, she killed her lover, and exposed her child, and\n  afterwards drowned herself. The Syrians, lamenting her fate, built a\n  temple near where she was drowned, and honored her as a Goddess. They\n  stated that she was turned into a fish, and they there represented her\n  under the figure of a woman down to the waist, and of a fish thence\n  downwards. They also abstained from eating fish; though they offered\n  them to her in sacrifice, and suspended gilded ones in her temple.\n  Selden, in his Treatise on the Syrian Gods, suggests that the story of\n  Dercetis, or Atergatis, was founded on the figure and worship of\n  Dagon, the God of the Philistines, who was represented under the\n  figure of a fish; and that the name of Atergatis is a corruption of\n  \u2018Adir Dagon,\u2019 \u2018a great fish,\u2019 which is not at all improbable. The same\n  author supposes that Dercetis was originally the same Deity with\n  Venus, Astarte, Minerva, Juno, Isis, and the Moon; and that she was\n  worshipped under the name of Mylitta by the Assyrians, and as Alilac\n  by the Arabians. Lucian tells us, that Dercetis was reported to have\n  been the mother of Semiramis.\n\n  Ovid and Hyginus are the only authors that make mention of the story\n  of Pyramus and Thisbe, and both agree in making Babylon the scene of\n  it. It seems to be rather intended as a moral tale, than to have been\n  built upon any actual circumstance. It affords a lesson to youth not\n  to enter rashly into engagements: and to parents not to pursue, too\n  rigorously, the gratification of their own resentment, but rather to\n  consult the inclination of their children, when not likely to be\n  productive of unhappiness at a future period.\n\n  The reader cannot fail to call to mind the admirable travesty of this\n  story by Shakspere, in the \u2018Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream.\u2019\n\n\nFABLE II. [IV.167-233]\n\n  The Sun discovers to Vulcan the intrigue between Mars and Venus, and\n  then, himself, falls in love with Leucotho\u00eb. Venus, in revenge for the\n  discovery, resolves to make his amours unfortunate.\n\nHere she ended; and there was {but} a short time betwixt, and {then}\nLeucono\u00eb began[27] to speak. Her sisters held their peace. \u201cLove has\ncaptivated even this Sun, who rules all things by his \u00e6thereal light.\nI will relate the loves of the Sun. This God is supposed to have been\nthe first to see the adultery of Venus with Mars; this God is the first\nto see everything. He was grieved at what was done, and showed to the\nhusband, the son of Juno,[28] the wrong done to his bed, and the place\nof the intrigue. Both his senses, and the work which his skilful right\nhand was {then} holding, quitted him {on the instant}. Immediately, he\nfiles out some slender chains of brass, and nets, and meshes, which can\nescape the eye. The finest threads cannot surpass that work, nor yet the\ncobweb that hangs from the top of the beam. He makes it so, too, as to\nyield to a slight touch, and a gentle movement, and skilfully arranges\nit drawn around the bed. When the wife and the gallant come into the\nsame bed, being both caught through the artifice of the husband, and\nchains prepared by this new contrivance, they are held fast in the\n{very} midst of their embraces.\n\n\u201cThe Lemnian {God} immediately threw open the folding doors[29] of\nivory, and admitted the Deities. {There} they lay disgracefully bound.\nAnd yet many a one of the Gods, not the serious ones, could fain wish\nthus to become disgraced. The Gods of heaven laughed, and for a long\ntime was this the most noted story in all heaven. The Cytherean[30]\ngoddess exacts satisfaction of the Sun, in remembrance of this betrayal;\nand, in her turn, disturbs him with the like passion, who had disturbed\nher secret amours. What now, son of Hyperion,[31] does thy beauty, thy\nheat, and thy radiant light avail thee? For thou, who dost burn all\nlands with thy flames, art {now} burnt with a new flame; and thou, who\noughtst to be looking at everything, art gazing on Leucotho\u00eb, and on one\nmaiden art fixing those eyes which thou oughtst {to be fixing} on the\nuniverse. At one time thou art rising earlier in the Eastern sky; at\nanother thou art setting late in the waves; and in taking time to gaze\n{on her}, thou art lengthening the hours of mid-winter. Sometimes thou\nart eclipsed, and the trouble of thy mind affects thy light, and,\ndarkened, thou fillest with terror the breasts of mortals. Nor art thou\npale, because the form of the moon, nearer to the earth, stands in thy\nway. It is that passion which occasions this complexion. Thou lovest her\nalone, neither does Clymene, nor Rhodos,[32] nor the most beauteous\nmother[33] of the \u00c6\u00e6an Circe engage thee, nor {yet} Clytie, who, though\ndespised, was longing for thy embraces; at that very time thou wast\nsuffering these grievous pangs. Leucotho\u00eb occasioned the forgetting of\nmany a damsel; she, whom Eurynome, the most beauteous of the\nperfume-bearing[34] nation produced.[35] But after her daughter grew up,\nas much as the mother excelled all {other Nymphs}, so much did the\ndaughter {excel} the mother. Her father, Orchamus, ruled over the\nAch\u00e6menian[36] cities, and he is reckoned the seventh in descent from\nthe ancient Belus.[37]\n\n\u201cThe pastures of the horses of the Sun are under the Western sky;\ninstead of grass, they have ambrosia.[38] That nourishes their limbs\nwearied with their daily service, and refits them for labor. And while\nthe coursers are there eating their heavenly food, and night is taking\nher turn; the God enters the beloved chamber, changed into the shape of\nher mother Eurynome, and beholds Leucotho\u00eb among twice six handmaids,\nnear the threshold, drawing out the smooth threads with her twirling\nspindle. When, therefore, as though her mother, he has given kisses to\nher dear daughter, he says, \u201cThere is a secret matter, {which I have to\nmention}; maids, withdraw, and take not from a mother the privilege of\nspeaking in private {with her daughter}.\u201d They obey; and the God being\nleft in the chamber without any witness, he says, \u2018I am he, who measures\nout the long year, who beholds all things, {and} through whom the earth\nsees all things; the eye, {in fact}, of the universe. Believe me, thou\nart pleasing to me.\u2019 She is affrighted; and in her alarm, both her\ndistaff and her spindle fall from her relaxed fingers. Her very fear\nbecomes her; and, he, no longer delaying, returns to his true shape, and\nhis wonted beauty. But the maiden, although startled at the unexpected\nsight, overcome by the beauty of the God,[39] {and} dismissing {all}\ncomplaints, submits to his embrace.\n\n    [Footnote 27: _Leucono\u00eb began._--Ver. 168. It is worthy of remark,\n    how strongly the affecting tale of Pyramus and Thisbe contrasts\n    with the loose story of the loves of Mars and Venus.]\n\n    [Footnote 28: _The son of Juno._--Ver. 173. Vulcan is called\n    \u2018Junonigena,\u2019 because, according to some, he was the son of Juno\n    alone. Other writers, however, say that he was the only son of\n    Jupiter and Juno.]\n\n    [Footnote 29: _The folding doors._--Ver. 185. The plural word\n    \u2018valv\u00e6\u2019 is often used to signify a door, or entrance, because\n    among the ancients each doorway generally contained two doors\n    folding together. The internal doors even of private houses were\n    bivalve; hence, as in the present case, we often read of the\n    folding doors of a bed-chamber. Each of these doors or valves was\n    usually wide enough to permit persons to pass each other in egress\n    and ingress without opening the other door as well. Sometimes each\n    valve was double, folding like our window-shutters.]\n\n    [Footnote 30: _Cytherean._--Ver. 190. Cythera was an island on the\n    southern coast of Laconia; where Venus was supposed to have\n    landed, after she had risen from the sea. It was dedicated to her\n    worship.]\n\n    [Footnote 31: _Hyperion._--Ver. 192. He was the son of C\u0153lus, or\n    Uranus, and the father of the Sun. The name of Hyperion is,\n    however, often given by the poets to the Sun himself.]\n\n    [Footnote 32: _Rhodos._--Ver. 204. She was a damsel of the Isle of\n    Rhodes, the daughter of Neptune, and, according to some, of Venus.\n    She was greatly beloved by Apollo, to whom she bore seven\n    children.]\n\n    [Footnote 33: _Beauteous mother._--Ver. 205. This was Persa, the\n    daughter of Oceanus, and the mother of the enchantress Circe, who\n    is here called \u2018\u00c6\u00e6a,\u2019 from \u00c6\u00e6a, a city and peninsula of Colchis.\n    Circe is referred to more at length in the 14th Book of the\n    Metamorphoses.]\n\n    [Footnote 34: _Perfume-bearing._--Ver. 209. Being born in Arabia,\n    the producer of all kinds of spices and perfumes, which were much\n    in request among the ancients, for the purposes of sacrifice.]\n\n    [Footnote 35: _Produced._--Ver. 210. Eurynome was the wife of\n    Orchamus, and was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.]\n\n    [Footnote 36: _Ach\u00e6menian._--Ver. 212. Persia is called\n    Ach\u00e6menian, from Ach\u00e6menes, one of its former kings.]\n\n    [Footnote 37: _Ancient Belus._--Ver. 213. The order of descent is\n    thus reckoned from Belus; Abas, Acrisius, Dana\u00eb, Perseus, Bach\u00e6mon,\n    Ach\u00e6menes, and Orchamus.]\n\n    [Footnote 38: _Ambrosia._--Ver. 215. Ambrosia was said to be the\n    food of the Deities, and nectar their drink.]\n\n    [Footnote 39: _Beauty of the God._--Ver. 233. Clarke translates,\n    \u2018Virgo victa nitore Dei.\u2019 \u2018The young lady--charmed with the\n    spruceness of the God.\u2019]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Plutarch, in his Treatise \u2018How to read the Poets,\u2019 suggests a curious\n  explanation of the discovery by the Sun of the intrigue of Mars and\n  Venus. He says that such persons as are born under the conjunction of\n  the planets Mars and Venus, are naturally of an amorous temperament;\n  but that if the Sun does not happen then to be at a distance, their\n  indiscretions will be very soon discovered.\n\n  Pal\u00e6phatus gives a historical solution to the story. He says that\n  Helius, the son of Vulcan, king of Egypt, resolving to cause his\n  father\u2019s laws against adultery to be strictly observed, and having\n  been informed that a lady of the court had an intrigue with one of the\n  courtiers, entered her apartment in the night, and obtaining ocular\n  proof of the courtier\u2019s guilt, caused him to be severely punished. He\n  also tells us that the similarity of the name gave birth to the Fable\n  which Homer was the first to relate, with a small variation, and which\n  is here copied by Ovid. Libanius, deploring the burning of the Temple\n  of Apollo near Antioch, complains of the ingratitude of Vulcan to that\n  God, who had formerly discovered to him the infidelity of his wife;\n  a subject upon which St. Chrysostom seems to think that the\n  rhetorician would have done better to have been silent.\n\n\nFABLE III. [IV.234-270]\n\n  Clytie, in a fit of revenge, discovers the adventure of Leucotho\u00eb to\n  her father, who orders her to be buried alive. The Sun, grieved at her\n  misfortune, changed her into the frankincense tree; he also despises\n  the informer, who pines away for love of him, and is at last changed\n  into the sunflower.\n\nClytie envied her, (for the love of the Sun[40] for her had not been\nmoderate), and, urged on by resentment at a rival, she published the\nintrigue, and, when spread abroad, brought it to the notice of her\nfather. He, fierce and unrelenting, cruelly buried her alive deep in the\nground, as she entreated and stretched out her hands towards the light\nof the Sun, and cried, \u201c\u2019Twas he that offered violence to me against my\nwill;\u201d and upon her he placed a heap of heavy sand. The son of Hyperion\nscattered it with his rays, and gave a passage to thee, by which thou\nmightst be able to put forth thy buried features.\n\nBut thou, Nymph, couldst not now raise thy head smothered with the\nweight of the earth; and {there} thou didst lie, a lifeless body. The\ngovernor of the winged steeds is said to have beheld nothing more\nafflicting than that, since the lightnings that caused the death of\nPha\u00ebton. He, indeed, endeavors, if he can, to recall her cold limbs to\nan enlivening heat, by the strength of his rays. But, since fate opposes\nattempts so great, he sprinkles both her body and the place with\nodoriferous nectar, and having first uttered many a complaint he says,\n\u201cStill shalt thou reach the skies.\u201d[41] Immediately, the body, steeped\nin the heavenly nectar, dissolves, and moistens the earth with its\nodoriferous juices; and a shoot of frankincense having taken root by\ndegrees through the clods, rises up and bursts the hillock with its top.\n\nBut the author of light came no more to Clytie (although love might have\nexcused her grief, and her grief the betrayal); and he put an end to his\nintercourse with her. From that time she, who had made so mad a use of\nher passion, pined away, loathing the {other} Nymphs; and in the open\nair, night and day, she sat on the bare ground, with her hair\ndishevelled and unadorned. And for nine days, without water or food, she\nsubsisted in her fast, merely on dew and her own tears; and she did not\nraise herself from the ground. She only used to look towards the face of\nthe God as he moved along, and to turn her own features towards him.\nThey say that her limbs became rooted fast in the ground; and a livid\npaleness turned part of her color into {that of} a bloodless plant.\nThere is a redness in some part; and a flower, very like a violet,[42]\nconceals her face. Though she is held fast by a root, she turns towards\nthe Sun, and {though} changed, she {still} retains her passion.\n\n    [Footnote 40: _For the love of the Sun._--Ver. 234. This remark is\n    added, to show that the God had not been sufficiently cautious in\n    his courtship of her sister to conceal it from the observation of\n    Clytie.]\n\n    [Footnote 41: _Reach the skies._--Ver. 251. That is to say, \u2018You\n    shall arise from the earth as a tree bearing frankincense: the\n    gums of which, burnt in sacrifice to the Gods, shall reach the\n    heavens with their sweet odors.\u2019 Persia and Arabia have been\n    celebrated by the poets, ancient and modern, for their great\n    fertility in frankincense and other aromatic plants.]\n\n    [Footnote 42: _Like a violet._--Ver. 268. This cannot mean the\n    large yellow plant which is called the sunflower. The small\n    aromatic flower which we call heliotrope, with its violet hue and\n    delightful perfume, more nearly answers the description. The\n    larger flower probably derived its name from the resemblance which\n    it bears to the sun, surrounded with rays, as depicted by the\n    ancient painters.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  No ascertained historical fact can be found as the basis of the story\n  of Leucotho\u00eb being buried alive by her father Orchamus, or of her\n  rival Clytie being metamorphosed into a sunflower. The story seems to\n  have been most probably simply founded on principles of natural\n  philosophy. Leucotho\u00eb, it is not unreasonable to suppose, may have\n  been styled the daughter of Orchamus, king of Persia, for no other\n  reason but because that Prince was the first to introduce the\n  frankincense tree, which was called Leucotho\u00eb, into his kingdom; and\n  it was added that she fell in love with Apollo, because the tree\n  produces an aromatic drug much used in physic, of which that God was\n  fabled to have been the inventor. The jealousy of Clytie was, perhaps,\n  founded upon a fact, stated by some naturalists, that the sunflower is\n  a plant which kills the frankincense tree, when growing near it.\n  Pliny, however, who ascribes several properties to the sunflower, does\n  not mention this among them.\n\n  Orchamus is nowhere mentioned by the ancient writers, except in the\n  present instance.\n\n\nFABLE IV. [IV.271-284]\n\n  Daphnis is turned into a stone. Scython is changed from a man into a\n  woman. Celmus is changed into adamant. Crocus and Smilax are made into\n  flowers. The Curetes are produced from a shower.\n\n{Thus} she spoke; and the wondrous deed charms their ears. Some deny\nthat it was possible to be done, some say that real Gods can do all\nthings; but Bacchus is not one of them. When her sisters have become\nsilent, Alcitho\u00eb is called upon; who running with her shuttle through\nthe warp of the hanging web, says, \u201cI keep silence upon the well-known\namours of Daphnis, the shepherd of Ida,[43] whom the resentment of the\nNymph, his paramour, turned into a stone. Such mighty grief inflames\nthose who are in love. Nor do I relate how once Scython, the law of\nnature being altered, was of both sexes first a man, then a woman. Thee\ntoo, I pass by, O Celmus, now adamant, formerly most attached to Jupiter\n{when} little; and the Curetes,[44] sprung from a plenteous shower of\nrain; Crocus, too, changed, together with Smilax,[45] into little\nflowers; and I will entertain your minds with a pleasing novelty.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 43: _Shepherd of Ida._--Ver. 277. This may mean either\n    Daphnis of Crete, or of Phrygia; for in both those countries there\n    was a mountain named Ida.]\n\n    [Footnote 44: _The Curetes._--Ver. 282. According to Dionysius of\n    Halicarnassus, the Curetes were the ancient inhabitants of Crete.\n    We may here remark, that the story of their springing from the\n    earth after a shower of rain, seems to have no other foundation\n    than the fact of their having been of the race of the Titans; that\n    is, they were descended from Uranus, or C\u0153lus and Tita, by which\n    names were meant the heaven and the earth.]\n\n    [Footnote 45: _Smilax._--Ver. 283. The dictionary meanings given\n    for this word are--1. Withwind, a kind of herb. 2. The yew tree.\n    3. A kind of oak. The Nymph was probably supposed to have been\n    changed into the first.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Most probably, the story of the shepherd Daphnis being turned into a\n  stone, was no other than an allegorical method of expressing the\n  insensibility of an individual. Thalia was the name of the Nymph who\n  was thus affronted by Daphnis.\n\n  The story of Scython changing his sex, is perhaps based upon the fact,\n  that the country of Thrace, which took the name of Thracia from a\n  famous sorceress, was before called Scython; and that as it lost a\n  name of the masculine gender for one of the feminine, in after times\n  it became reported that Scython had changed sexes.\n\n  Pliny tells us that Celmus was a young man of remarkable wisdom and\n  moderation, and that the passions making no impression on him, he was\n  changed into adamant. Some, however, assert that he was foster-father\n  to Jupiter, by whom he was enclosed in an impenetrable tower, for\n  revealing the immortality of the Gods.\n\n  According to one account, Crocus and Smilax were a constant and happy\n  married couple, who for their chaste and innocent life were said to\n  have been changed into flowers; but another story is, that Crocus was\n  a youth beloved by Smilax, and that on his rejecting the Nymph\u2019s\n  advances, they were both turned into flowers.\n\n  The story of the Curetes being sprung from rain, is possibly founded\n  on the report that they were descended from Uranus and Tita, the\n  Heaven and the Earth. Some suppose them to have been the original\n  inhabitants of the isle of Crete; and they are said to have watched\n  over the infancy of Jupiter, by whom they were afterwards slain, for\n  having concealed Epaphus from his wrath.\n\n\nFABLE V. [IV.285-388]\n\n  The Naiad Salmacis falls in love with the youth Hermaphroditus, who\n  rejects her advances. While he is bathing, she leaps into the water,\n  and seizing the youth in her arms, they become one body, retaining\n  their different sexes.\n\nLearn how Salmacis became infamous, {and} why it enervates, with its\nenfeebling waters, and softens the limbs bathed {in it}. The cause is\nunknown; {but} the properties of the fountain are very well known. The\nNaiads nursed a boy, born to Mercury of the Cytherean Goddess in the\ncaves of Ida; whose face was such that therein both mother and father\ncould be discerned; he likewise took his name from them. As soon as he\nhad completed thrice five years, he forsook his native mountains, and\nleaving Ida, the place of his nursing, he loved to wander over unknown\nspots, {and} to see unknown rivers, his curiosity lessening the fatigue.\nHe went, too, to the Lycian[46] cities, and the Carians, that border\nupon Lycia. Here he sees a pool of water, clear to the {very} ground at\nthe bottom; here there are no fenny reeds, no barren sedge, no rushes\nwith their sharp points. The water is translucent; but the edges of the\npool are enclosed with green turf, and with grass ever verdant. A Nymph\ndwells {there}; but one neither skilled in hunting, nor accustomed to\nbend the bow, nor to contend in speed; the only one, too, of {all} the\nNaiads not known to the swift Diana. The report is, that her sisters\noften said to her, \u201cSalmacis, do take either the javelin, or the painted\nquiver, and unite thy leisure with the toils of the chase.\u201d She takes\nneither the javelin, nor the painted quiver, nor does she unite her\nleisure with the toils of the chase. But sometimes she is bathing her\nbeauteous limbs in her own spring; {and} often is she straitening her\nhair with a comb of Citorian boxwood,[47] and consulting the waters,\ninto which she looks, what is befitting her. At other times, covering\nher body with a transparent garment, she reposes either on the soft\nleaves or on the soft grass. Ofttimes is she gathering flowers. And\nthen, too, by chance was she gathering them when she beheld the youth,\nand wished to possess him, {thus} seen.\n\nBut though she hastened to approach {the youth}, still she did not\napproach him before she had put herself in order, and before she had\nsurveyed her garments, and put on her {best} looks, and deserved to be\nthought beautiful. Then thus did she begin to speak: \u201cO youth, most\nworthy to be thought to be a God! if thou art a God, thou mayst {well}\nbe Cupid; but, if thou art a mortal, happy are they who begot thee, and\nblessed is thy brother, and fortunate indeed thy sister, if thou hast\none, and the nurse {as well} who gave thee the breast. But far, far more\nfortunate than all these {is she}; if thou hast any wife, if thou\nshouldst vouchsafe any one {the honor of} marriage. And if any one is\nthy {wife, then} let my pleasure be stolen; but, if thou hast none, let\nme be {thy wife}, and let us unite in one tie.\u201d After these things\n{said}, the Naiad is silent; a blush tinges the face of the youth: he\nknows not what love is, but even to blush becomes him. Such is the color\nof apples, hanging on a tree exposed to the sun, or of painted ivory, or\nof the moon blushing beneath her brightness when the aiding\n{cymbals}[48] {of} brass are resounding in vain. Upon the Nymph\ndesiring, without ceasing, such kisses at least as he might give to his\nsister, and now laying her hands upon his neck, white as ivory, he says,\n\u201cWilt thou desist, or am I to fly, and to leave this place, together\nwith thee?\u201d\n\nSalmacis is affrighted, and says, \u201cI freely give up this spot to thee,\nstranger,\u201d and, with a retiring step, she pretends to go away. But then\nlooking back, and hid in a covert of shrubs, she lies concealed, and\nputs her bended knees down to the ground. But he, just like a boy, and\nas though unobserved on the retired sward, goes here and there, and in\nthe sportive waves dips the soles of his feet, and {then} his feet as\nfar as his ankles. Nor is there any delay; being charmed with the\ntemperature of the pleasant waters, he throws off his soft garments from\nhis tender body. Then, indeed, Salmacis is astonished, and burns with\ndesire for his naked beauty. The eyes, too, of the Nymph are on fire, no\notherwise than as when the Sun,[49] most brilliant with his clear orb,\nis reflected from the opposite image of a mirror. With difficulty does\nshe endure delay; hardly does she now defer her joy. Now she longs to\nembrace him; and now, distracted, she can hardly contain herself. He,\nclapping his body with his hollow palms, swiftly leaps into the stream,\nand throwing out his arms alternately, shines in the limpid water, as if\nany one were to cover statues of ivory, or white lilies, with clear\nglass.\n\n\u201cI have gained my point,\u201d says the Naiad; \u201csee, he is mine!\u201d and, all\nher garments thrown aside, she plunges in the midst of the waters, and\nseizes him resisting her, and snatches reluctant kisses, and thrusts\ndown her hands, and touches his breast against his will, and clings\nabout the youth, now one way, and now another. Finally, as he is\nstruggling against her, and desiring to escape, she entwines herself\nabout him, like a serpent which the royal bird takes up and is bearing\naloft; and as it hangs, it holds fast his head and feet, and enfolds his\nspreading wings with its tail. Or, as the ivy is wont to wind itself\nalong the tall trunks {of trees}; and as the polypus[50] holds fast its\nenemy, caught beneath the waves, by letting down his suckers on all\nsides; {so} does the descendant of Atlas[51] {still} persist, and deny\nthe Nymph the hoped-for joy. She presses him hard; and clinging to him\nwith every limb, as she holds fast, she says, \u201cStruggle as thou mayst,\nperverse one, still thou shalt not escape. So ordain it, ye Gods, and\nlet no time separate him from me, nor me from him.\u201d Her prayers find\npropitious Deities, for the mingled bodies of the two are united,[52]\nand one human shape is put upon them; just as if any one should see\nbranches beneath a common bark join in growing, and spring up together.\nSo, when their bodies meet together in the firm embrace, they are no\nmore two, and their form is twofold, so that they can neither be styled\nwoman nor boy; they seem {to be} neither and both.\n\nTherefore, when Hermaphroditus sees that the limpid waters, into which\nhe had descended as a man, have made him but half a male, and that his\nlimbs are softened in them, holding up his hands, he says, but now no\nlonger with the voice of a male, \u201cO, both father and mother, grant this\nfavor to your son, who has the name of you both, that whoever enters\nthese streams a man, may go out thence {but} half a man, and that he may\nsuddenly become effeminate in the waters when touched.\u201d Both parents,\nmoved, give their assent to the words of their two-shaped son, and taint\nthe fountain with drugs of ambiguous quality.\n\n    [Footnote 46: _Lycian._--Ver. 296. Lycia was a province of Asia\n    Minor, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Caria was another\n    province, adjoining to Lycia.]\n\n    [Footnote 47: _Citorian boxwood._--Ver. 311. Citorus, or Cythorus,\n    was a mountain of Paphlagonia, famous for the excellence of the\n    wood of the box trees that grow there. The Greeks and Romans made\n    their combs of it. The Egyptians used them made of ivory and wood,\n    and toothed on one side only; those of the Greeks had teeth on\n    both sides. Great care was usually taken of the hair; to go with\n    it uncombed was a sign of affliction.]\n\n    [Footnote 48: _The aiding cymbals._--Ver. 333. The witches and\n    magicians, in ancient times, and especially those of Thessaly,\n    professed to be able, with their charms and incantations, to bring\n    the moon down from heaven. The truth of these assertions being\n    commonly believed, at the period of an eclipse it was supposed by\n    the multitude that the moon was being subjected to the spells of\n    these magicians, and that she was struggling (laborabat) against\n    them, on which the sound of drums, trumpets, and cymbals was\n    resorted to, to distract the attention of the moon, and to drown\n    the charms repeated by the enchanters, for which reason, the\n    instruments employed for the purpose were styled \u2018auxiliares.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 49: _As when the Sun._--Ver. 349. Bailey gives this\n    explanation of the passage,-- \u2018The eyes of the Nymph seemed to\n    sparkle and shine, just as the rays of the sun in a clear sky when\n    a looking-glass is placed against them, for then they seem most\n    splendid, and contract the fire.\u2019 From the mention of the eyes of\n    the Nymph burning \u2018flagrant,\u2019 we might be almost justified in\n    concluding that \u2018speculum\u2019 means here not a mirror, but a\n    burning-glass. The \u2018specula,\u2019 or looking-glasses, of the ancients\n    were usually made of metal, either a composition of tin and\n    copper, or silver; but in later times, alloy was mixed with the\n    silver. Pliny mentions the obsidian stone, or, as it is now\n    called, the Icelandic agate, as being used for this purpose. Nero\n    is said to have used emeralds for mirrors. Pliny the Elder says\n    that mirrors were made in the glass-houses of Sidon, which\n    consisted of glass plates, with leaves of metal at the back; they\n    were probably of an inferior character. Those of copper and tin\n    were made chiefly at Brundisium. The white metal formed from this\n    mixture soon becoming dim, a sponge with powdered pumice stone was\n    usually fastened to the mirrors made of that composition. They\n    were generally small, of a round or oval shape, and having a\n    handle; and female slaves usually held them, while their\n    mistresses were performing the duties of the toilet. Sometimes\n    they were fastened to the walls, and they were occasionally of the\n    length of a person\u2019s body. Venus was supposed often to use the\n    mirror; but Minerva repudiated the use of it.]\n\n    [Footnote 50: _Polypus._--Ver. 366. This is a fish which entangles\n    its prey, mostly consisting of shell fish, in its great number of\n    feet or feelers. Ovid here calls them \u2018flagella;\u2019 but in the\n    Halieuticon he styles them \u2018brachia\u2019 and \u2018crines.\u2019 Pliny the Elder\n    calls them \u2018crines\u2019 and \u2018cirri.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 51: _Descendant of Atlas._--Ver. 368. Hermaphroditus was\n    the great-grandson of Atlas; as the latter was the father of Maia,\n    the mother of Mercury, who begot Hermaphroditus.]\n\n    [Footnote 52: _The two are united._--Ver. 374. Clarke translates,\n    \u2018nam mixta duorum corpora junguntur,\u2019 \u2018for the bodies of both,\n    being jumbled together, are united.\u2019]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The only probable solution of this story seems to have been the fact\n  that there was in Caria, near the town of Halicarnassus, as we read in\n  Vitruvius, a fountain which was instrumental in civilizing certain\n  barbarians who had been driven from that neighborhood by the Argive\n  colony established there. These men being obliged to repair to the\n  fountain for water, and meeting the Greek colonists there, their\n  intercourse not only polished them, but in course of time corrupted\n  them, by the introduction of the luxurious manners of Greece. Hence\n  the fountain had the reputation of changing men into women.\n\n  Possibly the water of that fountain, by some peculiar chemical\n  quality, made those who drank of it become soft and effeminate, as\n  waters are to be occasionally found with extraordinary qualities.\n  Lylius Gyraldus suggests, that several disgraceful adventures happened\n  near this fountain (which was enclosed by walls), which in time gave\n  it a bad name.\n\n\nFABLE VI. [IV.389-415]\n\n  Bacchus, to punish the daughters of Minyas for their contempt of his\n  worship, changes them into bats, and their work into ivy and vine\n  leaves.\n\nThere was {now} an end of their stories; and still do the daughters of\nMinyas go on with their work, and despise the God, and desecrate his\nfestival; when, on a sudden, tambourines unseen resound with their\njarring noise; the pipe, too, with the crooked horn, and the tinkling\nbrass, re-echo; myrrh and saffron shed their fragrant odors; and,\na thing past all belief, their webs begin to grow green, and the cloth\nhanging {in the loom} to put forth foliage like ivy. Part changes into\nvines, and what were threads before, are {now} turned into vine shoots.\nVine branches spring from the warp, and the purple lends its splendor to\nthe tinted grapes.\n\nAnd now the day was past, and the time came on, which you could neither\ncall darkness nor light, but yet the {very} commencement of the dubious\nnight along with the light. The house seemed suddenly to shake, and\nunctuous torches to burn, and the building to shine with glowing fires,\nand the fictitious phantoms of savage wild beasts to howl. Presently,\nthe sisters are hiding themselves throughout the smoking house, and in\ndifferent places are avoiding the fires and the light. While they are\nseeking a hiding-place, a membrane is stretched over their small limbs,\nand covers their arms with light wings; nor does the darkness suffer\nthem to know by what means they have lost their former shape. No\nfeathers bear them up; yet they support themselves on pellucid wings;\nand, endeavoring to speak, they utter a voice very diminutive {even} in\nproportion to their bodies, and express their low complaints with a\nsqueaking sound. They frequent houses, not woods; and, abhorring the\nlight, they fly {abroad} by night. And from the late evening do they\nderive their name.[53]\n\n    [Footnote 53: _Derive their name._--Ver. 415. In Greek they\n    are called \u03bd\u03c5\u03ba\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03af\u03b4\u03b5\u03c2, from \u03bd\u03c5\u03be, \u2018night;\u2019 and in Latin,\n    \u2018vespertiliones,\u2019 from \u2018vesper,\u2019 \u2018evening,\u2019 on account of their\n    habits.]\n\n\nFABLE VII. [IV.416-562]\n\n  Tisiphone, being sent by Juno to the Palace of Athamas, causes him to\n  become mad; on which he dashes his son Learchus to pieces against a\n  wall. He then pursues his wife Ino, who throws herself headlong from\n  the top of a rock into the sea, with her other son Melicerta in her\n  arms: when Neptune, at the intercession of Venus, changes them into\n  Sea Deities. The attendants of Ino, who have followed her in her\n  flight, are changed, some into stone, and others into birds, as they\n  are about to throw themselves into the sea after their mistress.\n\nBut then the Divine power of Bacchus is famed throughout all Thebes; and\nhis aunt is everywhere telling of the great might of the new Divinity;\nshe alone,[54] out of so many sisters, is free from sorrow, except that\nwhich her sisters have occasioned. Juno beholds her, having her soul\nelevated with her {children}, and her alliance with Athamas, and the God\nher foster-child. She cannot brook this, and says to herself, \u201cWas the\nchild of a concubine able to transform the M\u00e6onian sailors, and to\noverwhelm them in the sea, and to give the entrails of the son to be\ntorn to pieces by his mother, and to cover the three daughters of Minyas\nwith newly formed wings? Shall Juno be able to do nothing but lament\nthese griefs unrevenged? And is that sufficient for me? Is this my only\npower? He himself instructs me what to do. It is right to be taught even\nby an enemy. And what madness can do, he shows enough, and more than\nenough, by the slaughter of Pentheus. Why should not Ino, {too}, be\ngoaded by madness, and submit to an example kindred to those of her\nsisters?\u201d\n\nThere is a shelving path, shaded with dismal yew, which leads through\nprofound silence to the infernal abodes. {Here} languid Styx exhales\nvapors; and the new-made ghosts descend this way, and phantoms when they\nhave enjoyed[55] funeral rites. Horror and winter possess these dreary\nregions far and wide, and the ghosts newly arrived know not where the\nway is that leads to the Stygian city, {or} where is the dismal palace\nof the black Pluto. The wide city has a thousand passages, and gates\nopen on every side. And as the sea {receives} the rivers for the whole\nearth, so does that spot[56] receive all the souls; nor is it {too}\nlittle for any {amount of} people, nor does it perceive the crowd to\nincrease. The shades wander about, bloodless, without body and bones;\nand some throng the place of judgment; some the abode of the infernal\nprince. Some pursue various callings, in imitation of their former life;\ntheir own punishment confines others.\n\nJuno, the daughter of Saturn, leaving her celestial habitation, submits\nto go thither, so much does she give way to hatred and to anger. Soon as\nshe has entered there, and the threshold groans, pressed by her sacred\nbody, Cerberus raises his threefold mouth, and utters triple barkings at\nthe same moment. She summons the Sisters,[57] begotten of Night,\nterrible and implacable Goddesses. They are sitting before the doors of\nthe prison shut close with adamant, and are combing black vipers from\ntheir hair. Soon as they recognize her amid the shades of darkness,\n{these} Deities arise. This place is called \u201cthe accursed.\u201d Tityus[58]\nis giving his entrails to be mangled, and is stretched over nine acres.\nBy thee, Tantalus,[59] no waters are reached, and the tree which\noverhangs thee, starts away. Sisyphus,[60] thou art either catching or\nthou art pushing on the stone destined to fall again. Ixion[61] is\nwhirled round, and both follows and flies from himself. The\ngranddaughters, too, of Belus, who dared to plot the destruction of\ntheir cousins, are everlastingly taking up the water which they lose.\nAfter the daughter of Saturn has beheld all these with a stern look, and\nIxion before all; again, after him, looking upon Sisyphus, she says,\n\n\u201cWhy does he alone, of {all} the brothers, suffer eternal punishment?\nand why does a rich palace contain the proud Athamas, who, with his\nwife, has ever despised me?\u201d And {then} she explains the cause of her\nhatred and of her coming, and what it is she desires. What she desires\nis, that the palace of Cadmus shall not stand, and that the Sister\n{Furies} shall involve Athamas in crime. She mingles together promises,\ncommands, and entreaties, and solicits the Goddesses. When Juno has thus\nspoken, Tisiphone, with her locks dishevelled as they are, shakes them,\nand throws back from her face the snakes crawling over it; and thus she\nsays: \u201cThere is no need of a long preamble; whatever thou commandest,\nconsider it as done: leave these hateful realms, and betake thyself to\nthe air of a better heaven.\u201d\n\nJuno returns, overjoyed; and, preparing to enter heaven, Iris,[62] the\ndaughter of Thaumas, purifies her by sprinkling water. Nor is there any\ndelay; the persecuting Tisiphone[63] takes a torch reeking with gore,\nand puts on a cloak red with fluid blood, and is girt with twisted\nsnakes, and {then} goes forth from her abode. Mourning attends her as\nshe goes, and Fright, and Terror, and Madness with quivering features.\nShe {now} reaches the threshold; the \u00c6olian door-posts are said to have\nshaken, and paleness tints the maple door; the Sun, too, flies from the\nplace. His wife is terrified at these prodigies; Athamas, {too}, is\nalarmed, and they are {both} preparing to leave the house. The baneful\nErinnys stands in the way, and blocks up the passage; and extending her\narms twisted round with folds of vipers, she shakes her locks; the\nsnakes {thus} moved, emit a sound. Some lying about her shoulders, some\ngliding around her temples, send forth hissings and vomit forth\ncorruption, and dart forth their tongues. Then she tears away two snakes\nfrom the middle of her hair, which, with pestilential hand, she throws\nagainst them. But these creep along the breasts of Ino and Athamas, and\ninspire them with direful intent. Nor do they inflict any wounds upon\ntheir limbs; it is the mind that feels the direful stroke. She had\nbrought, too, with her a monstrous composition of liquid poison, the\nfoam of the mouth of Cerberus, and the venom of Echidna;[64] and\npurposeless aberrations, and the forgetfulness of a darkened\nunderstanding, and crime, and tears, and rage, and the love of murder.\nAll these were blended together; and, mingled with fresh blood she had\nboiled them in a hollow vessel of brass, stirred about with {a stalk of}\ngreen hemlock. And while they are trembling, she throws the maddening\npoison into the breasts of them both, and moves their inmost vitals.\nThen repeatedly waving her torch in the same circle, she swiftly follows\nup the flames {thus} excited with {fresh} flames. Thus triumphant, and\nhaving executed her commands, she returns to the empty realms of the\ngreat Pluto; and she ungirds the snakes which she had put on.\nImmediately the son of \u00c6olus, filled with rage, cries out, in the midst\nof his palace, \u201cHo! companions, spread your nets in this wood; for here\na lioness was just now beheld by me with two young ones.\u201d And, in his\nmadness, he follows the footsteps of his wife, as though of a wild\nbeast; and he snatches Learchus, smiling and stretching forth his little\narms from the bosom of his mother, and three or four times he whirls him\nround in the air like a sling, and, frenzied, he dashes in pieces[65]\nthe bones of the infant against the hard stones. Then, at last, the\nmother being roused (whether it was grief that caused it, or whether the\npower of the poison spread {over her}), yells aloud, and runs away\ndistracted, with dishevelled hair; and carrying thee, Melicerta,\na little {child}, in her bare arms, she cries aloud \u201cEvo\u00eb, Bacche.\u201d At\nthe name of Bacchus, Juno smiles, and says, \u201cMay thy foster-child[66] do\nthee this service.\u201d\n\nThere is a rock[67] that hangs over the sea; the lowest part is worn\nhollow by the waves, and defends the waters covered {thereby} from the\nrain. The summit is rugged, and stretches out its brow over the open\nsea. This Ino climbs (madness gives her strength), and, restrained by no\nfear, she casts herself and her burden[68] into the deep; the water,\nstruck {by her fall}, is white with foam. But Venus, pitying the\nmisfortunes of her guiltless granddaughter,[69] in soothing words thus\naddresses her uncle: \u201cO Neptune, thou God of the waters, to whom fell a\npower next after the {empire of} heaven, great things indeed do I\nrequest; but do thou take compassion on my kindred, whom thou seest\nbeing tossed upon the boundless Ionian sea;[70] and add them to thy\nDeities. I have {surely} some interest with the sea, if, indeed, I once\nwas foam formed in the hollowed deep, and my Grecian name is derived[71]\nfrom that.\u201d Neptune yields to her request; and takes away from them\n{all} that is mortal, and gives them a venerable majesty; and alters\nboth their name and their shape, and calls Pal\u00e6mon a Divinity,[72]\ntogether with his mother Leucotho\u00eb.\n\nHer Sidonian attendants,[73] so far as they could, tracing the prints of\ntheir feet, saw the last of them on the edge of the rock; and thinking\nthat there was no doubt of their death, they lamented the house of\nCadmus, with their hands tearing their hair and their garments; and they\nthrew the odium on the Goddess, as being unjust and too severe against\nthe concubine. Juno could not endure their reproaches, and said, \u201cI will\nmake you yourselves tremendous memorials of my displeasure.\u201d\nConfirmation followed her words. For the one who had been especially\nattached, said, \u201cI will follow the queen into the sea;\u201d and about to\ngive the leap, she could not be moved any way, and adhering to the rock,\n{there} she stuck fast. Another, while she was attempting to beat her\nbreast with the accustomed blows, perceived in the attempt that her arms\nhad become stiff. One, as by chance she had extended her hands over the\nwaters of the sea, becoming a rock, held out her hands in those same\nwaters. You might see the fingers of another suddenly hardened in her\nhair, as she was tearing her locks seized on the top of her head. In\nwhatever posture each was found {at the beginning of the change}, in the\nsame she remained. Some became birds; which, sprung from Ismenus, skim\nalong the surface of the waves in those seas, with the wings which they\nhave assumed.\n\n    [Footnote 54: _She alone._--Ver. 419. This was Ino, whose only\n    sorrows hitherto had been caused by the calamities which befell\n    her sisters and their offspring: Semele having died a shocking\n    death, Autono\u00eb having seen her son Act\u00e6on changed into a stag, and\n    then devoured by his dogs, and Agave having assisted in tearing to\n    pieces her own son Pentheus.]\n\n    [Footnote 55: _When they have enjoyed._--Ver. 435. The spirits\n    whose bodies had not received the rites of burial, we learn from\n    Homer and Virgil, were not allowed to pass the river Styx, but\n    wandered on its banks for a hundred years.]\n\n    [Footnote 56: _So does that spot._--Ver. 441. That is to say,\n    whatever number of ghosts arrives there, it receives them all with\n    ease, and is not sensible of the increase of number; either\n    because the place itself is of such immense extent, or because the\n    souls of the dead do not occupy space.]\n\n    [Footnote 57: _The Sisters._--Ver. 450. These were the Furies,\n    fabled to be the daughters of Night and Acheron. They were three\n    in number, Tisiphone, Alecto, and Meg\u00e6ra, and were supposed to be\n    the avengers of crime and wickedness.]\n\n    [Footnote 58: _Tityus._--Ver. 456. Tityus was the son of Jupiter\n    and Elara. On account of his enormous size, the poets sometimes\n    style him a son of the earth. Attempting to commit violence upon\n    Latona, he was slain by the arrows of Apollo, and precipitated to\n    the infernal regions, where he was condemned to have his liver\n    constantly devoured by a vulture, and then renewed, to perpetuate\n    his torments.]\n\n    [Footnote 59: _Tantalus._--Ver. 457. He was the son of Jupiter, by\n    the Nymph Plote. The crime for which he was punished is\n    differently related by the poets. Some say, that he divulged the\n    secrets of the Gods, that had been entrusted to him; while others\n    relate, that at an entertainment which he gave to the Deities, he\n    caused his own son, Pelops, to be served up, on which Ceres\n    inadvertently ate his shoulder. He was doomed to suffer intense\n    hunger and thirst, amid provisions of all kinds within his reach,\n    which perpetually receded from him.]\n\n    [Footnote 60: _Sisyphus._--Ver. 459. Sisyphus, the son of \u00c6olus,\n    was a daring robber, who infested Attica. He was slain by Theseus;\n    and being sent to the infernal regions, was condemned to the\n    punishment of rolling a great stone to the top of a mountain,\n    which it had no sooner reached than it fell down again, and\n    renewed his labor.]\n\n    [Footnote 61: _Ixion._--Ver. 461. Being advanced by Jupiter to\n    heaven, he presumed to make an attempt on Juno. Jupiter, to\n    deceive him, formed a cloud in her shape, on which Ixion begot the\n    Centaurs. He was cast into Tartarus, and was there fastened to a\n    wheel, which turned round incessantly.]\n\n    [Footnote 62: _Iris._--Ver. 480. Iris was the daughter of Thaumas\n    and Electra, and the messenger of Juno. She was the Goddess of the\n    Rainbow.]\n\n    [Footnote 63: _Tisiphone._--Ver. 481. Clarke translates \u2018Tisiphone\n    importuna,\u2019 \u2018the plaguy Tisiphone.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 64: _Echidna._--Ver. 501. This word properly means,\n    \u2018a female viper;\u2019 but it here refers to the Hydra, or dragon of\n    the marsh of Lerna, which Hercules slew. It was fabled to be\n    partly a woman, and partly a serpent, and to have been begotten by\n    Typhon. According to some accounts, this monster had seven heads.]\n\n    [Footnote 65: _Dashes in pieces._--Ver. 519. Euripides and Hyginus\n    relate, that Athamas slew his son while hunting; and Apollodorus\n    says, that he mistook him for a stag.]\n\n    [Footnote 66: _Thy foster-child._--Ver. 524. Bacchus was the\n    foster-child of Ino, who was the sister of his mother Semele. The\n    remaining portion of the story of Ino and Melicerta is again\n    related by Ovid in the sixth book of the Fasti.]\n\n    [Footnote 67: _There is a rock._--Ver. 525. Pausanias calls this\n    the Molarian rock, and says, that it was one of the Scironian\n    rocks, near Megara, in Attica. It was a branch of the Geranian\n    mountain.]\n\n    [Footnote 68: _And her burden._--Ver. 530. This was her son\n    Melicerta, who, according to Pausanias, was received by dolphins,\n    and was landed by them on the isthmus of Corinth.]\n\n    [Footnote 69: _Guiltless granddaughter._--Ver. 531. Venus was the\n    grandmother of Ino, inasmuch as Hermione, or Harmonia, the wife of\n    Cadmus, was the daughter of Mars and Venus.]\n\n    [Footnote 70: _Boundless Ionian sea._--Ver. 535. The Ionian sea\n    must be merely mentioned here as a general name for the broad\n    expanse of waters, of which the Saronic gulf, into which the\n    Molarian rock projected, formed part. Ovid may, however, mean to\n    say that Ino threw herself from some rock in the Ionian sea, and\n    not from the Molarian rock; following, probably, the account of\n    some other writer, whose works are lost.]\n\n    [Footnote 71: _Grecian name is derived._--Ver. 538. Venus was\n    called Aphrodite, by the Greeks, from \u1f04\u03c6\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2, \u2018the foam of the\n    sea,\u2019 from which she was said to have sprung.]\n\n    [Footnote 72: _A Divinity._--Ver. 542. Ino and Melicerta were\n    worshipped as Divinities both in Greece and at Rome.]\n\n    [Footnote 73: _Sidonian attendants._--Ver. 543. The Theban matrons\n    are meant, who had married the companions of Cadmus that\n    accompanied him from Ph\u0153nices.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The story of Ino, Athamas, and Melicerta appears to have been based\n  upon historical facts, as we are informed by Herodotus, Diodorus\n  Siculus, and Pausanias.\n\n  Athamas, the son of \u00c6olus, and great-grandson of Deucalion, having, on\n  the death of Themisto, his first wife, married Ino, the daughter of\n  Cadmus, divorced her soon afterwards, to marry Nephele, by whom he had\n  Helle and Phryxus. She having been divorced in her turn, he took Ino\n  back again, and by her had Learchus and Melicerta. Ino, not being able\n  to endure the presence of the children of Nephele, endeavored to\n  destroy them. The city of Thebes being at that time afflicted with\n  famine, which was said to have been caused by Ino, who ordered the\n  seed to be parched before it was sown, Athamas ordered the oracle of\n  Delphi to be consulted. The priests, either having been bribed, or the\n  messengers having been corrupted, word was brought, that, to remove\n  this affliction, the children of Nephele must be sacrificed.\n\n  Phryxus being warned of the designs of his stepmother, embarked in a\n  ship, with his sister Helle, and sailed for Colchis, where he met with\n  a kind reception from his kinsman \u00c6etes. The young princess, however,\n  either becoming sea-sick, and leaning over the bulwarks of the vessel,\n  fell overboard and was drowned, or died a natural death in the passage\n  of the Hellespont, to which she gave its name from that circumstance.\n  Athamas, having discovered the deceitful conduct of Ino, in his rage\n  killed her son Learchus, and sought her, for the purpose of\n  sacrificing her to his vengeance. To avoid his fury, she fled with her\n  son Melicerta, and, being pursued, threw herself from a rock into the\n  sea. To console her relatives, the story was probably invented, that\n  the Gods had changed Ino and Melicerta into Sea Deities, under the\n  names of Leucotho\u00eb and Pal\u00e6mon. Melicerta was afterwards worshipped in\n  the Isle of Tenedos, where children were offered to him in sacrifice.\n  In his honor, Glaucus established the Isthmian games, which were\n  celebrated for many ages at Corinth; and, being interrupted for a\n  time, were revived by Theseus, in honor of Neptune. Leucotho\u00eb was also\n  worshipped at Rome, and the Roman women used to offer up their vows to\n  her for their brothers\u2019 children, not daring to supplicate the Goddess\n  for their own, because she had been unfortunate in hers. This Ovid\n  tells us in the Sixth Book of the Fasti. The Romans gave the name of\n  Matuta to Ino, and Melicerta, or Pal\u00e6mon, was called Portunus.\n\n  The circumstance mentioned by Ovid, that some of Ino\u2019s attendants were\n  changed into birds, and others into rocks, is, perhaps, only a\n  poetical method of saying that some of her attendants escaped, while\n  others perished with her.\n\n\nFABLE VIII. [IV.563-603]\n\n  The misfortunes of his family oblige Cadmus to leave Thebes, and to\n  retire with his wife Hermione to Illyria, where they are changed into\n  serpents.\n\nThe son of Agenor knows not that his daughter and his little grandson\nare {now} Deities of the sea. Forced by sorrow, and a succession of\ncalamities, and the prodigies which, many in number, he had beheld, the\nfounder flies from his city, as though the {ill}-luck of the spot, and\nnot his own, pressed {hard} upon him, and driven, in a long series of\nwandering, he reaches the coast of Illyria, with his exiled wife. And\nnow, loaded with woes and with years, while they are reflecting on the\nfirst disasters of their house, and in their discourse are recounting\ntheir misfortunes, Cadmus says, \u201cWas that dragon a sacred one, that was\npierced by my spear, at the time when, setting out from Sidon, I sowed\nthe teeth of the dragon in the ground, a seed {till then} unknown? If\nthe care of the Gods avenges this with resentment so unerring, I pray\nthat I myself, as a serpent, may be lengthened out into an extended\nbelly.\u201d {Thus} he says; and, as a serpent, he is lengthened out into an\nextended belly, and perceives scales growing on his hardened skin, and\nhis black body become speckled with azure spots; and he falls flat on\nhis breast, and his legs, joined into one, taper out by degrees into a\nthin round point. His arms are still remaining; those arms which remain\nhe stretches out; and, as the tears are flowing down his face, still\nthat of a man, he says, \u201cCome hither, wife, come hither, most unhappy\none, and, while something of me yet remains, touch me; and take my hand,\nwhile it is {still} a hand, {and} while I am not a serpent all over.\u201d\nHe, indeed, desires to say more, but, on a sudden, his tongue is divided\ninto two parts. Nor are words in his power when he offers {to speak};\nand as often as he attempts to utter any complaints, he makes a hissing:\nthis is the voice that Nature leaves him. His wife, smiting her naked\nbreast with her hand, cries aloud, \u201cStay, Cadmus! and deliver thyself,\nunhappy one, from this monstrous form. Cadmus, what means this? Where\nare thy feet? where are both thy shoulders and thy hands? where is thy\ncolor and thy form, and, while I speak, {where} all else {besides}? Why\ndo ye not, celestial Gods, turn me as well into a similar serpent?\u201d\n{Thus} she spoke; he licked the face of his wife, and crept into her\ndear bosom, as though he recognized her; and gave her embraces, and\nreached her well-known neck.\n\nWhoever is by, (some attendants are present), is alarmed; but the\ncrested snakes soothe them with their slippery necks, and suddenly they\nare two {serpents}, and in joined folds they creep along, until they\nenter the covert of an adjacent grove. Now, too, do they neither shun\nmankind, nor hurt them with wounds, and the gentle serpents keep in mind\nwhat once they were.\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  After Cadmus had reigned at Thebes many years, a conspiracy was formed\n  against him. Being driven from the throne, and his grandson Pentheus\n  assuming the crown, he and his wife Hermione retired into Illyria,\n  where, as Apollodorus says, he commanded the Illyrian army, and at\n  length was chosen king: on his death, the story here related by Ovid\n  was invented. It is possible that it may have been based on the\n  following grounds:--\n\n  The Ph\u0153nicians were anciently called \u2018Achivi,\u2019 which name they still\n  retained after their establishment in Greece. \u2018Chiva\u2019 being also the\n  Hebrew, and perhaps Ph\u0153nician word for \u2018a serpent,\u2019 the Greeks,\n  probably in reference to the Ph\u0153nician origin of Cadmus, reported\n  after his death, that he and his wife were serpents; and in time, that\n  transformation may have been stated to have happened at the end of his\n  life. According to Aulus Gellius, the ancient inhabitants of Illyria\n  had two eyelids to each eye, and with their looks, when angered, they\n  were able to kill those whom they beheld stedfastly. The Greeks hence\n  called them serpents and basilisks; and, it is not unlikely, that when\n  Cadmus retired among them, they said that he had become one of the\n  Illyrians, otherwise a dragon, or a serpent. All the ancient writers\n  who mention his history agree that Cadmus really did retire into\n  Illyria, where he first assisted the Enchelians in their war against\n  the Illyrians. The latter were defeated, and, to obtain a peace from\n  the Enchelians, they gave the crown to Cadmus; to which, on his death,\n  his son Illyrus succeeded. The historian Christodorus, quoted by\n  Pausanias, says that he built the city of Nygnis, in the country of\n  the Enchelians.\n\n  Some writers have supposed, upon the authority of Euhemerus as quoted\n  by Eusebius that Cadmus was not the son of Agenor, but was one of his\n  officers, who eloped thence with Hermione, a singing girl. Others\n  suppose that Cadmus is not really a proper name, but that it signifies\n  a \u2018leader,\u2019 or \u2018conductor;\u2019 and that he received the name from leading\n  a colony into Greece. Bochart says that he was called Cadmus, because\n  he came from the eastern part of Ph\u0153nicia, which is called in\n  Scripture \u2018Cadmonia,\u2019 or \u2018oriental;\u2019 and that Hermione probably\n  received her name from Mount Hermon.\n\n\nFABLE IX. [IV.604-662]\n\n  Perseus, the son of Jupiter and Dana\u00eb, having killed Medusa, carries\n  her head into Africa, where the blood that runs from it produces\n  serpents. Atlas, king of that country, terrified at the remembrance of\n  an oracle, which had foretold that his golden fruit should be taken by\n  one of the sons of Jupiter, not only orders him to depart, but even\n  resorts to violence to drive him away, on which Perseus shows him the\n  Gorgon\u2019s head, and changes him into a mountain.\n\nBut yet their grandson, {Bacchus} gave them both a great consolation,\nunder this change of form; whom India, subdued {by him}, worshipped {as\na} God, {and} whom Achaia honored with erected temples. Acrisius the son\nof Abas,[74] descended of the same race,[75] alone remained, to drive\nhim from the walls of the Argive city, and to bear arms against the God,\nand to believe him not to be the offspring of Jove. Neither did he think\nPerseus to be the offspring of Jupiter, whom Dana\u00eb had conceived in a\nshower of gold; but soon (so great is the power of truth) Acrisius was\nsorry, both that he had insulted the God, and that he had not\nacknowledged his grandson. The one was now placed in heaven, while the\nother, bearing the memorable spoil of the viperous monster, cut the\nyielding air with hissing wings; and while the conqueror was hovering\nover the Libyan sands, bloody drops, from the Gorgon\u2019s head, fell down,\nupon receiving {which, the} ground quickened them into various serpents.\nFor this cause, that region is filled and infested with snakes.\n\nCarried thence, by the fitful winds, through boundless space, he is\nborne now here, now there, just like a watery cloud, and, from the lofty\nsky, looks down upon the earth, removed afar; and he flies over the\nwhole world. Three times he saw the cold Bears, thrice did he see the\nclaws of the Crab; ofttimes he was borne to the West, many a time to the\nEast. And now, the day declining, afraid to trust himself to the night,\nhe stopped in the Western part of the world, in the kingdom of Atlas;\nand {there} he sought a little rest, until Lucifer should usher forth\nthe fires of Aurora, Aurora, the chariot of the day. Here was Atlas, the\nson of Iapetus, surpassing all men in the vastness of his body. Under\nthis king was the extremity of the earth, and the sea which holds its\nwaters under the panting horses of the Sun, and receives the wearied\nchariot. For him, a thousand flocks, and as many herds, wandered over\nthe pastures, and no neighboring places disturbed the land. Leaves of\nthe trees, shining with radiant gold, covered branches of gold, {and}\napples of gold. \u201cMy friend,\u201d said Perseus to him, \u201cif the glory of a\nnoble race influences thee, Jupiter is the author of my descent; or if\nthou art an admirer of exploits, thou wilt admire mine. I beg of thee\nhospitality, and a resting place.\u201d The other was mindful of an ancient\noracle. The Parnassian Themis had given this response: \u201cA time will\ncome, Atlas, when thy tree shall be stripped of its gold, and a son of\nJove shall have the honor of the prize.\u201d Dreading this, Atlas had\nenclosed his orchard with solid walls, and had given it to be kept by a\nhuge dragon;[76] and expelled all strangers from his territories. {To\nPerseus}, too, he says, \u201cFar hence begone, lest the glory of the\nexploits, to which thou falsely pretendest, and Jupiter as well, be far\nfrom protecting thee.\u201d He adds violence as well to his threats, and\ntries to drive him from his doors, as he hesitates and mingles resolute\nwords with persuasive ones. Inferior in strength (for who could be a\nmatch for Atlas in strength?), he says \u201cSince my friendship is of so\nlittle value to thee, accept {this} present;\u201d and then, turning his face\naway, he exposes on the left side the horrible features of Medusa.\nAtlas, great as he is, becomes a mountain. Now his beard and his hair\nare changed into woods; his shoulders and his hands become mountain\nridges, and what was formerly his head, is the summit on the top of the\nmountain. His bones become stones; then, enlarged on every side, he\ngrows to an immense height (so you willed it, ye Gods), and the whole\nheaven, with so many stars, rests upon him.\n\n    [Footnote 74: _Son of Abas._--Ver. 608. Acrisius was the son of\n    Abas, king of Argos. He was the father of Dana\u00eb, by whom Jupiter\n    was the father of Perseus.]\n\n    [Footnote 75: _Of the same race._--Ver. 607. Some suppose that by\n    this it is meant that as Belus, the father of Abas, and\n    grandfather of Acrisius, was the son of Jupiter, who was also the\n    father of Bacchus, the latter and Acrisius were consequently\n    related.]\n\n    [Footnote 76: _A huge dragon._--Ver. 647. The name of the dragon\n    was Ladon.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The story of the seduction of Dana\u00eb, the mother of Perseus, by\n  Jupiter, in the form of a shower of gold, has been thus explained by\n  some of the ancient writers. Acrisius, hearing of a prediction that\n  Dana\u00eb, his daughter, should bring forth a child that would kill him,\n  caused her to be shut in a tower with brazen gates, or, according to\n  some, in a subterraneous chamber, covered with plates of that metal;\n  which place, according to Pausanias, remained till the time of\n  Perilaus, the king of Argos, by whom it was destroyed. The precautions\n  of Acrisius were, however, made unavailing by his brother Pr\u0153tus; who,\n  falling in love with his niece, corrupted the guards with gold, and\n  gained admission into the tower. Dana\u00eb, being delivered of Perseus,\n  her father caused them to be exposed in a boat to the mercy of the\n  waves. Being cast on shore near Seriphus, the king, Polydectes, gave\n  them a hospitable reception, and took care of the education of\n  Perseus.\n\n  Diodorus Siculus says that the Gorgons were female warriors, who\n  inhabited the neighborhood of Lake Tritonis, in Libya. Pausanias\n  explains the story of Medusa, by saying that she ruled the people in\n  that neighborhood, and laid waste the lands of the nations in her\n  vicinity. Perseus, having fled, with some companions, from\n  Peloponnesus, surprised her by night, and killed her, together with\n  her escort. The next morning, the beauty of her face appeared so\n  remarkable that he cut it off, and afterwards took it with him to\n  Greece, to show it to the people, who could not look on it without\n  being struck with astonishment. On this explanation we may remark,\n  that if it is true, Perseus must have had more skill than the surgeons\n  of our day, in being able to preserve the beauty of the features so\n  long after death.\n\n  Again, many of the ancient historians, with Pliny, Athen\u00e6us, and\n  Solinus, think that the Gorgons were wild women of a savage nature,\n  living in caves and forests, who, falling on wayfarers, committed\n  dreadful atrocities. Pal\u00e6phatus and Fulgentius think that the Gorgons\n  really were three young women, possessed of great wealth, which they\n  employed in a very careful manner; Phorcus, their father, having left\n  them three islands, and a golden statue of Minerva, which they placed\n  in their common treasury. They had one minister in common for the\n  management of their affairs, who used to go for that purpose from one\n  island to another, whence arose the story that they had but one eye,\n  and that they lent it to one another alternately. Perseus, a fugitive\n  from Argos, hearing of the golden statue, determined to obtain it; and\n  with that view, seized their minister, or, in the allegorical language\n  of the poets, took their eye away from them. He then sent them word,\n  that if they would give him the statue, he would deliver up his\n  captive, and threatened, in case of refusal, to put him to death.\n  Stheno and Euryale consented to this; but Medusa resisting, she was\n  killed by Perseus. Upon his obtaining the statue, which was called the\n  Gorgon, or Gorgonian, he broke it in pieces, and placed the head on\n  the prow of his ship. As the sight of this, and the fame of the\n  exploits of Perseus, spread terror everywhere, and caused passive\n  submission to him, the fable originated, that with Medusa\u2019s head he\n  turned his enemies into stone. Landing in the Isle of Seriphus, the\n  king fled, with all his subjects; and, on entering the chief city,\n  finding nothing but the bare stones there, he caused the report to be\n  spread, that he had petrified the inhabitants.\n\n  Servius, in his Commentary on the \u00c6neid, quotes an opinion of Ammonius\n  Serenus, that the Gorgons were young women of such beauty as to make a\n  great impression on all that saw them; for which reason they were said\n  to turn them into statues. Le Clerc thinks that the story bears\n  reference to a voyage which the Ph\u0153nicians had made in ancient times\n  to the coast of Africa, whence they brought a great number of horses;\n  and that the name \u2018Perseus\u2019 comes from the Ph\u0153nician word \u2018pharscha,\u2019\n  \u2018a horseman;\u2019 while the horse Pegasus was so called from the Ph\u0153nician\n  \u2018pagsous,\u2019 \u2018a bridled horse,\u2019 according to the conjecture of Bochart.\n  Alexander of Myndus, a historian quoted by Athen\u00e6us, says that Libya\n  had an animal which the natives called \u2018gorgon;\u2019 that it resembled a\n  sheep, and with its breath killed all those who approached it; that a\n  tuft of hair fell over its eyes, which was so heavy as to be removed\n  with difficulty, for the purpose of seeing the objects around it; but\n  that when it was removed, by its looks it struck dead any person whom\n  it gazed upon. He says, that in the war with Jugurtha, some of the\n  soldiers of Marius were thus slain by it, and that it was at last\n  killed by means of arrows discharged from a great distance.\n\n  The Gorgons are said to have inhabited the Gorgades, islands in the\n  \u00c6thiopian Sea, the chief of which was called Cerna, according to\n  Diodorus and Pal\u00e6phatus. It is not improbable that the Cape Verde\n  Islands were called by this name. The fable of the transformation of\n  Atlas into the mountain of that name may possibly have been based upon\n  the simple fact, that Perseus killed him in the neighborhood of that\n  range, from which circumstance it derived the name which it has borne\n  ever since. The golden apples, which Atlas guarded with so much care,\n  were probably either gold mines, which Atlas had discovered in the\n  mountains of his country, and had secured with armed men and watchful\n  dogs; or sheep, whose fleeces were extremely valuable for their\n  fineness; or else oranges and lemons, and other fruits peculiar to\n  very hot climates, for the production of which the poets especially\n  remarked the country of Tingitana (the modern Tangier), as being very\n  celebrated.\n\n\nFABLE X. [IV.663-803]\n\n  Perseus, after his victory over Atlas, and his change into a mountain,\n  arrives in \u00c6thiopia, at the time when Andromeda is exposed to be\n  devoured by a monster. He kills it, and hides the Gorgon\u2019s head under\n  the sand, covered with sea-weed and plants; which are immediately\n  turned into coral. He then renders thanks to the Gods for his victory,\n  and marries Andromeda. At the marriage feast he relates the manner in\n  which he had killed Medusa; and the reason why Minerva had changed her\n  hair into serpents.\n\nThe grandson of Hippotas[77] had shut up the winds in their eternal\nprison; and Lucifer, who reminds {men} of their work, was risen in the\nlofty sky, in all his splendor. Resuming his wings, {Perseus} binds his\nfeet with them on either side, and is girt with his crooked weapon, and\ncleaves the liquid air with his winged ankles. Nations innumerable being\nleft behind, around and below, he beholds the people of the \u00c6thiopians\nand the lands of Cepheus. There the unjust Ammon[78] had ordered the\ninnocent Andromeda to suffer punishment for her mother\u2019s tongue.[79]\n\nSoon as the descendant of Abas beheld her, with her arms bound to the\nhard rock, but that the light breeze was moving her hair, and her eyes\nwere running with warm[80] tears, he would have thought her to be a work\nof marble. Unconsciously he takes fire, and is astonished; captivated\nwith the appearance of her beauty, {thus} beheld, he almost forgets to\nwave his wings in the air. When he has lighted {on the ground}, he says,\n\u201cO thou, undeserving of these chains, but {rather} of those by which\nanxious lovers are mutually united, disclose to me, inquiring both the\nname of this land and of thyself, and why thou wearest {these} chains.\u201d\nAt first she is silent, and, a virgin, she does not dare address[81] a\nman; and with her hands she would have concealed her blushing features,\nif she had not been bound; her eyes, \u2019twas {all} she could do, she\nfilled with gushing tears. Upon his often urging her, lest she should\nseem unwilling to confess her offence, she told the name both of her\ncountry and herself, and how great had been the confidence of her mother\nin her beauty. All not yet being told, the waves roared, and a monster\napproaching,[82] appeared with its head raised out of the boundless\nocean, and covered the wide expanse with its breast. The virgin shrieks\naloud; her mournful father, and her distracted mother, are there, both\nwretched, but the latter more justly so. Nor do they bring her any help\nwith them, but tears suitable to the occasion, and lamentations, and\nthey cling round her body, bound {to the rock}.\n\nThen thus the stranger says: \u201cPlenty of time will be left for your tears\n{hereafter}, the season for giving aid is {but} short. If I were to\ndemand her {in marriage}, I, Perseus, the son of Jove, and of her whom,\nin prison, Jove embraced in the impregnating {shower of} gold, Perseus,\nthe conqueror of the Gorgon with her serpent locks, and who has dared,\non waving wings, to move through the \u00e6therial air, I should surely be\npreferred before all as your son-in-law. To so many recommendations I\nendeavor to add merit (if only the Deities favor me). I {only} stipulate\nthat she may be mine, {if} preserved by my valor.\u201d Her parents embrace\nthe condition, (for who could hesitate?) and they entreat {his aid}, and\npromise as well, the kingdom as a dowry. Behold! as a ship onward\nspeeding, with the beak fixed {in its prow}, plows the waters, impelled\nby the perspiring arms[83] of youths; so the monster, moving the waves\nby the impulse of its breast, was as far distant from the rocks, as\n{that distance} in the mid space of air, which a Balearic string can\npass with the whirled plummet of lead; when suddenly the youth, spurning\nthe earth with his feet, rose on high into the clouds. As the shadow of\nthe hero was seen on the surface of the sea, the monster vented its fury\non the shadow {so} beheld. And as the bird of Jupiter,[84] when he has\nespied on the silent plain a serpent exposing its livid back to the\nsun, seizes it behind; and lest it should turn upon him its raging\nmouth, fixes his greedy talons in its scaly neck; so did the winged\n{hero}, in his rapid flight through the yielding {air}, press the back\nof the monster, and the descendant of Inachus thrust his sword up to the\nvery hilt in its right shoulder, as it roared aloud.\n\nTortured by the grievous wound, it sometimes raises itself aloft in the\nair, sometimes it plunges beneath the waves, sometimes it wheels about,\njust like a savage boar, which a pack of hounds in full cry around him\naffrights. With swift wings he avoids the eager bites[85] {of the\nmonster}, and, with his crooked sword, one while wounds its back covered\nwith hollow shells, where it is exposed, at another time the ribs of its\nsides, and now, where its tapering tail terminates in {that of} a fish.\nThe monster vomits forth from its mouth streams mingled with red blood;\nits wings, {made} heavy {by it}, are wet with the spray. Perseus, not\ndaring any longer to trust himself on his dripping pinions,[86] beholds\na rock, which with its highest top projects from the waters {when}\nbecalmed, {but is now} covered by the troubled sea. Resting on that, and\nclinging to the upper ridge[87] of the rock with his left hand, three or\nfour times he thrusts his sword through its entrails aimed at {by him}.\nA shout, with applause, fills the shores and the lofty abodes of the\nGods. Cassiope and Cepheus, the father, rejoice, and salute him as their\nson-in-law, and confess that he is the support and the preserver of\ntheir house.\n\nReleased from her chains, the virgin walks along, both the reward and\nthe cause of his labors. He himself washes his victorious hands in water\ntaken {from the sea}; and that it may not injure the snake-bearing head\nwith the bare sand, he softens the ground with leaves; and strews some\nweeds produced beneath the sea, and lays upon them the face of Medusa,\nthe daughter of Phorcys. The fresh weeds, being still alive, imbibed the\npoison of the monster in their spongy pith, and hardened by its touch;\nand felt an unwonted stiffness in their branches and their leaves. But\nthe Nymphs of the sea attempt the wondrous feat on many {other} weeds,\nand are pleased at the same result; and raise seed again from them\nscattered on the waves. Even now the same nature remains in the coral,\nthat it receives hardness from contact with the air; and what was a\nplant in the sea, out of the sea becomes stone.\n\nTo three Deities he erects as many altars of turf; the left one to\nMercury; the right to thee, warlike Virgin; the altar of Jove is in the\nmiddle. A cow is sacrificed to Minerva; a calf to the wing-footed {God,\nand} a bull to thee, greatest of the Deities. Forthwith he takes\nAndromeda, and the reward of an achievement so great, without any dowry.\nHymen\u00e6us and Cupid wave their torches before them; the fires are heaped\nwith abundant perfumes. Garlands, too, are hanging from the houses:\nflageolets and lyres, and pipes, and songs resound, the happy tokens of\na joyous mind. The folding-doors thrown open, the entire gilded halls\nare displayed, and the nobles of king Cepheus sit down at a feast\nfurnished with splendid preparations. After they have done the feast,\nand have cheered their minds with the gifts of the generous Bacchus, the\ngrandson of Abas inquires the customs and habits of the country.\nImmediately one {of them}, Lyncides, tells him, on his inquiring, the\nmanners and habits of the inhabitants. Soon as he had told him these\nthings, he said, \u201cNow, most valiant Perseus, tell us, I beseech thee,\nwith how great valor and by what arts thou didst cut off the head all\nhairy with serpents.\u201d The descendant of Abas tells them that there is a\nspot situate beneath cold Atlas, safe in its bulwark of a solid mass;\nthat, in the entrance of this, dwelt the two sisters, the daughters of\nPhorcys, who shared the use of a single eye; that he stealthily, by sly\ncraft, while it was being handed over,[88] obtained possession of this\nby putting his hand in the way; and that through rocks far remote, and\npathless, and bristling with woods on their craggy sides, he had arrived\nat the abodes of the Gorgons, and saw everywhere, along the fields and\nthe roads, statues of men and wild beasts turned into stone, from their\n{natural form}, at the sight of Medusa; yet that he himself, from the\nreflection on the brass of the shield[89] which his left hand bore,\nbeheld the visage of the horrible Medusa; and that, while a sound sleep\nheld her and her serpents {entranced}, he took the head from off the\nneck; and that Pegasus and his brother,[90] fleet with wings, were\nproduced from the blood of {her}, their mother. He added, too, the\ndangers of his lengthened journey, {themselves} no fiction;[91] what\nseas, what lands he had seen beneath him from on high, and what stars he\nhad reached with his waving wings.\n\nYet, before it was expected,[92] he was silent; {whereupon} one of the\nnobles rejoined, inquiring why she alone, of the sisters, wore snakes\nmingled alternately with her hair. \u201cStranger,\u201d said he, \u201csince thou\ninquirest on a matter worthy to be related, hear the cause of the thing\nthou inquirest after. She was the most famed for her beauty, and the\ncoveted hope of many wooers; nor, in the whole of her person, was any\npart more worthy of notice than her hair: I have met {with some} who\nsaid they had seen it. The sovereign of the sea is said to have\ndeflowered her in the Temple of Minerva. The daughter of Jove turned\naway, and covered her chaste eyes with her shield. And that this might\nnot be unpunished, she changed the hair of the Gorgon into hideous\nsnakes. Now, too, that she may alarm her surprised foes with terror, she\nbears in front upon her breast, those snakes which she {thus} produced.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 77: _Hippotas._--Ver. 663. \u00c6olus, the God of the Winds,\n    was the son of Jupiter, by Acesta, the daughter of Hippotas.]\n\n    [Footnote 78: _Ammon._--Ver. 671. Jupiter, with the surname of\n    Ammon, had a temple in the deserts of Libya, where he was\n    worshipped under the shape of a ram; a form which he was supposed\n    to have assumed, when, in common with the other Deities, he fled\n    from the attacks of the Giants. The oracle of Jupiter Ammon being\n    consulted relative to the sea monster, which Neptune, at the\n    request of the Nereids, had sent against the Ethiopians, answered\n    that Andromeda must be exposed to be devoured by it; which Ovid\n    here, not without reason, calls an unjust demand.]\n\n    [Footnote 79: _Mother\u2019s tongue._--Ver. 670. Cassiope, the mother\n    of Andromeda, had dared to compare her own beauty with that of the\n    Nereids. Cepheus, the son of Ph\u0153nix, was the father of Andromeda.]\n\n    [Footnote 80: _Warm._--Ver. 674. \u2018Tepido,\u2019 \u2018warm,\u2019 is decidedly\n    preferable here to \u2018trepido,\u2019 \u2018trembling.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 81: _Dare address._--Ver. 682. Heinsius thinks that\n    \u2018appellare\u2019 here is not the correct reading; and suggests\n    \u2018aspectare,\u2019 which seems to be more consistent with the sense of\n    the passage, which would then be, \u2018and does not dare to look down\n    upon the hero.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 82: _Monster approaching._--Ver. 689. Pliny the Elder\n    and Solinus tell us that the bones of this monster were afterwards\n    brought from Joppa, a seaport of Jud\u00e6a, to Rome, and that the\n    skeleton was forty feet in length, and the spinal bone was six\n    feet in circumference.]\n\n    [Footnote 83: _The perspiring arms._--Ver. 707. \u2018Juvenum\n    sudantibus acta lacertis\u2019 is translated by Clarke, \u2018forced forward\n    by the arms of sweating young fellows.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 84: _Bird of Jupiter._--Ver. 714. The eagle was the bird\n    sacred to Jove. The larger kinds of birds which afforded auguries\n    from their mode of flight, were called \u2018pr\u00e6petes.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 85: _Avoids the eager bites._--Ver. 723. Clarke\n    translates this line, \u2018He avoids the monster\u2019s eager snaps with\n    his swift wings.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 86: _His dripping pinions._--Ver. 730. \u2018Talaria\u2019 were\n    either wings fitted to the ankles, or shoes having such wings\n    fastened to them; they were supposed to be usually worn by\n    Mercury.]\n\n    [Footnote 87: _Clinging to the upper ridge._--Ver. 733. \u2018Tenens\n    juga prima sinistra\u2019 is rendered by Clarke, \u2018seizing the tip-top\n    of it with his left hand.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 88: _Being handed over._--Ver. 766. Of course, as they\n    had but one eye between them, they must have both been blind while\n    it was passing from one hand to another, so that Perseus could\n    have had but little difficulty in effecting the theft here\n    mentioned.]\n\n    [Footnote 89: _Brass of the shield._--Ver. 783. This reflecting\n    shield Perseus is said to have received from Minerva, and by\n    virtue of it he was enabled to see without being seen. Lucian says\n    that Minerva herself held this reflecting shield before him, and\n    by that means afforded him the opportunity of seeing the\n    reflection of Medusa\u2019s figure; and that Perseus, seizing her by\n    the hair with his left hand, and keeping his eye fixed on the\n    image reflected in the shield, took his sword in his right, and\n    cut off her head, and then, by the aid of his wings, flew away\n    before the other Gorgon sisters were aware of what he had done.]\n\n    [Footnote 90: _Pegasus and his brother._--Ver. 786. Pegasus and\n    Chrysaor were two winged horses, which were fabled to have sprung\n    up from the blood of Medusa, when slain by Perseus.]\n\n    [Footnote 91: _Themselves no fiction._--Ver. 787. His dangers were\n    not false or imaginary, inasmuch as he was pursued by Sthenyo and\n    Euryale, the sisters of Medusa, who were fabled to have wings, and\n    claws of iron on their hands. Ovid deals a sly hit in the words\n    \u2018non falsa pericula cursus,\u2019 at the tales of travellers, who, even\n    in his day, seem to have commenced dealing in the marvellous; as,\n    indeed, we may learn for ourselves, on turning to the pages of\n    Herodotus, who seems to have been often imposed upon.]\n\n    [Footnote 92: _Before it was expected._--Ver. 790. Showing thereby\n    how delighted his audience was with his narrative.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  It is extremely difficult to surmise what may have given rise to many\n  of the fabulous circumstances here narrated. It has been conjectured\n  by some, that Pegasus and his brother Chrysaor, the two horses\n  produced from the blood of Medusa, were really two ships in the harbor\n  of the island where that princess was residing at the time when she\n  was slain by Perseus; and that, on that event, they were seized by\n  him. Perhaps they had the figure of a winged horse on the prow; from\n  which circumstance the fable had its origin. Possibly, the story of\n  the production of coral from the blood of Medusa may have originated\n  in the fact, that on the defeat of the Gorgons, navigation became more\n  safe, and, consequently, the fishing for coral more common than it had\n  been before.\n\n  The story of the exposure of Andromeda may be founded on the fact,\n  that she was contracted by her parents against her will to some\n  fierce, piratical prince, who infested the adjacent seas with his\n  depredations; and that the betrothal was made, on condition that he\n  should allow the realms of her father, Cepheus, to be free and\n  undisturbed; Perseus, being informed of this, slew the pirate, and\n  Phineus having been kept in a state of inactivity through dread of the\n  valor of Perseus, it was fabled that he had been changed into a stone.\n  This interpretation of the story is the one suggested by Vossius.\n\n  Some writers think, that Phineus, the uncle of Andromeda, was the\n  enemy from which she was rescued by Perseus, and who is here\n  represented under the form of a monster; while others suggest that\n  this monster was the name of the ship in which the pirate before\n  mentioned was to have carried away Andromeda.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK THE FIFTH.\n\n\nFABLE I. [V.1-242]\n\n  While Perseus is continuing the relation of the adventures of Medusa,\n  Phineus, to whom Andromeda has been previously promised in marriage,\n  rushes into the palace, with his adherents, and attacks his rival.\n  A furious combat is the consequence, in which Perseus gives signal\n  proofs of his valor. At length, perceiving himself likely to be\n  overpowered by the number of his enemies, he shows them the head of\n  the Gorgon; on which Phineus and his followers are turned into statues\n  of stone. After this victory, he takes Andromeda with him to Argos,\n  his native city, where he turns the usurper Pr\u0153tus into stone, and\n  re-establishes his grandfather Acrisius on the throne.\n\nAnd while the hero, the son of Dana\u00eb, is relating these things in the\nmidst of the company of the subjects of Cepheus, the royal courts are\nfilled with a raging multitude; nor is the clamor such as celebrates a\nmarriage-feast, but one which portends dreadful warfare. You might\ncompare the banquet, changed into a sudden tumult, to the sea, which,\nwhen calm, the boisterous rage of the winds disturbs by raising its\nwaves.\n\nForemost among these, Phineus,[1] the rash projector of the onslaught,\nshaking an ashen spear with a brazen point, cries, \u201cBehold! {now},\nbehold! I am come, the avenger of my wife, ravished from me; neither\nshall thy wings nor Jupiter turned into fictitious gold, deliver thee\nfrom me.\u201d As he is endeavoring to hurl {his lance}, Cepheus cries out,\n\u201cWhat art thou doing? What fancy, my brother, impels thee, in thy\nmadness, to this crime? Is this the due acknowledgment to return\nfor deserts so great? Dost thou repay the life of her {thus} preserved,\nwith this reward? \u2019Twas not Perseus, if thou wouldst know the truth,\nthat took her away from thee; but the incensed majesty of the Nereids,\nand horned Ammon, and the monster of the sea, which came to be glutted\nwith my bowels. She was snatched from thee at that moment, at which she\nwas to have perished; unless it is that thou dost, in thy cruelty,\ninsist upon that very thing, that she should perish, and wilt be\nappeased only by my affliction. It is not enough, forsooth, that in thy\npresence she was bound and that thou, both her uncle and her betrothed,\ndidst give no assistance; wilt thou be grieving, besides, that she was\nsaved by another, and wilt thou deprive him of his reward? If this\nappears great to thee, thou shouldst have recovered it from the rock to\nwhich it was fastened. Now, let him who has recovered it, through whom\nmy old age is not childless, have what he stipulated for, both by his\nmerits and his words; and know that he was preferred not before thee,\nbut before certain death.\u201d\n\n{Phineus said} nothing, on the other hand; but viewing both him and\nPerseus, with alternate looks, he was uncertain whether he should\n{first} attack the one or the other; and, having paused a short time, he\nvainly threw his spear, hurled with all the force that rage afforded. As\nit stood fixed in the cushion,[2] then, at length, Perseus leapt off\nfrom the couch, and in his rage would have pierced the breast of his\nenemy with the weapon, thrown back, had not Phineus gone behind an\naltar, and {thus} (how unworthily!) an altar[3] protected a miscreant.\nHowever, the spear, not thrown in vain, stuck in the forehead of Rh\u0153tus;\nwho, after he fell, and the steel was wrenched from the skull, he\n{still} struggled, and besprinkled the laid tables with his blood. But\nthen does the multitude burst forth into ungovernable rage, and hurl\ntheir weapons. Some there are, who say that Cepheus ought to die with\nhis son-in-law; but Cepheus has gone out by the entrance of the house,\ncalling right and good faith to witness, and the Gods of hospitality,[4]\nthat this disturbance is made contrary to his will. The warlike Pallas\ncomes; and with her shield protects her brother {Perseus}, and gives him\ncourage. There was an Indian, Athis {by name},[5] whom Limnate, the\ndaughter of the river Ganges, is believed to have brought forth beneath\nthe glassy waters; excelling in beauty, which he improved by his rich\ndress; in his prime, as yet but twice eight years of age, dressed in a\npurple tunic, which a golden fringe bordered; a gilded necklace graced\nhis neck, and a curved hair-pin his hair wet with myrrh. He, indeed, had\nbeen taught to hit things, although at a distance, with his hurled\njavelin, but {he was} more skilled at bending the bow. {Perseus} struck\nhim even then, as he was bending with his hands the flexible horns {of a\nbow}, with a billet, which, placed in the middle of the altar, was\nsmoking, and he crushed his face into his broken skull.\n\nWhen the Assyrian Lycabas, who was a most attached friend of his, and no\nconcealer of his real affection, saw him rolling his features, the\nobjects of such praises, in his blood; after he had bewailed Athis,\nbreathing forth his life from this cruel wound, he seized the bow which\nhe had bent, and said, \u201cAnd {now} let the contest against thee be with\nme; not long shalt thou exult in the fate of the youth, by which thou\nacquirest more hatred than praise.\u201d All this he had not yet said, {when}\nthe piercing weapon darted from the string, and {though} avoided, still\nit hung in the folds of his garment. The grandson of Acrisius turned\nagainst him his falchion,[6] {already} proved in the slaughter of\nMedusa, and thrust it into his breast. But he, now dying, with his eyes\nswimming in black night, looked around for Athis, and sank upon him, and\ncarried to the shades the consolation of a united death. Lo! Phorbas of\nSyene,[7] the son of Methion, and Amphimedon, the Libyan, eager to\nengage in the fight, fell down, slipping in the blood with which the\nearth was warm, soaked on every side; as they arose the sword met them,\nbeing thrust in the ribs of the one, {and} in the throat of Phorbas. But\nPerseus does not attack Erithus, the son of Actor, whose weapon is a\nbroad battle-axe, by using his sword, but he takes up, with both hands,\na huge bowl,[8] standing out with figures deeply embossed, and of vast\nmass in its weight, and hurls it against the man. The other vomits forth\nred blood, and, falling on his back, beats the ground with his dying\nhead. Then he slays Polyd\u00e6mon, sprung from the blood of Semiramis, and\nthe Caucasian Abaris, and Lycetus, the son of Sperchius,[9] and Elyces,\nwith unshorn locks, and Phlegias, and Clytus; and he tramples upon the\nheaps of the dying, which he has piled up.\n\nBut Phineus, not daring to engage hand to hand with his enemy, hurls his\njavelin, which accident carries against Idas, who, in vain, has declined\nthe warfare[10] and has followed the arms of neither. He, looking at the\ncruel Phineus with stern eyes, says, \u201cSince I am {thus} forced to take a\nside, take the enemy, Phineus, that thou hast made, and make amends for\nmy wound with this wound.\u201d And now, just about to return the dart drawn\nfrom his body, he falls sinking down upon his limbs void of blood. Here,\ntoo, Odytes, the next in rank among the followers of Cepheus, after the\nking, lies prostrate under the sword of Clymenus; Hypseus kills\nProtenor, {and} Lyncides Hypseus. There is, too, among them the aged\nEmathion, an observer of justice, and a fearer of the Gods; as his years\nprevent him from fighting, he engages by talking, and he condemns and\nutters imprecations against their accursed arms. As he clings to the\naltars[11] with trembling hands, Chromis cuts off his head with his\nsword, which straightway falls upon the altar, and there, with his dying\ntongue he utters words of execration, and breathes forth his soul in the\nmidst of the fires. Upon this, two brothers, Broteas and Ammon\ninvincible at boxing, if swords could only be conquered by boxing, fell\nby the hand of Phineus; Ampycus, too, the priest of Ceres, having his\ntemples wreathed with a white fillet. Thou too, son of Iapetus, not to\nbe employed for these services; but one who tuned the lyre, the work of\npeace, to thy voice, hadst been ordered to attend the banquet and\nfestival with thy music. As thou art standing afar, and holding the\nunwarlike plectrum, Pettalus says, laughing, \u201cGo sing the rest to the\nStygian ghosts,\u201d and fixes the point of the sword in his left temple. He\nfalls, and with his dying fingers he touches once again the strings of\nthe lyre; and in his fall he plays a mournful dirge.[12] The fierce\nLycormas does not suffer him to fall unpunished; and tearing away a\nmassive bar from the doorpost on the right, he dashes it against the\nbones of the middle of the neck {of Pettalus}; struck, he falls to the\nground, just like a slaughtered bullock.\n\nThe Cinyphian[13] Pelates, too, was trying to tear away the oaken bar of\nthe doorpost on the left; as he was trying, his right hand was fastened\n{thereto} by the spear of Corythus, the son of Marmarus, and it stood\nriveted to the wood. {Thus} riveted, Abas pierced his side; he did not\nfall, however, but dying, hung from the post, which still held fast his\nhand. Melaneus, too, was slain, who had followed the camp of Perseus,\nand Dorylas, very rich in Nasamonian land.[14] Dorylas, rich in land,\nthan whom no one possessed it of wider extent, or received {thence} so\nmany heaps of corn. The hurled steel stood fixed obliquely in his groin;\nthe hurt was mortal. When the Bactrian[15] Halcyoneus, the author of the\nwound, beheld him sobbing forth his soul, and rolling his eyes, he said,\n\u201cTake {for thine own} this {spot} of earth which thou dost press, out of\nso many fields,\u201d and he left his lifeless body. The descendant of Abas,\nas his avenger, hurls against {Halcyoneus} the spear torn from his wound\n{yet} warm, which, received in the middle of the nostrils, pierced\nthrough his neck, and projected on both sides. And while fortune is\naiding his hand, he slays, with different wounds, Clytius and Clanis,\nborn of one mother. For an ashen spear poised with a strong arm is\ndriven through both the thighs of Clytius; with his mouth does Clanis\nbite the javelin. Celadon, the Mendesian,[16] falls, too; Astreus falls,\nborn of a mother of Palestine, {but} of an uncertain father. \u00c6thion,\ntoo, once sagacious at foreseeing things to come, {but} now deceived[17]\nby a false omen; and Thoactes, the armor-bearer of the king, and\nAgyrtes, infamous for slaying his father.\n\nMore work still remains, than what is {already} done; for it is the\nintention of all to overwhelm one. The conspiring troops fight on all\nsides, for a cause that attacks both merit and good faith. The one side,\nthe father-in-law, attached in vain, and the new-made wife, together\nwith her mother, encourage; and {these} fill the halls with their\nshrieks. But the din of arms, and the groans of those that fall,\nprevail; and for once, Bellona[18] is deluging the household Gods\npolluted with plenteous blood, and is kindling the combat anew. Phineus,\nand a thousand that follow Phineus, surround Perseus {alone}; darts are\nflying thicker than the hail of winter, on both his sides, past his\neyes, and past his ears. On this, he places his shoulders against the\nstone of a large pillar, and, having his back secure, and facing the\nadverse throng, he withstands their attack. Chaonian[19] Molpeus presses\non the left, Nabath\u00e6an Ethemon on the right. As a tiger, urged on by\nhunger, when it hears the lowings of two herds, in different valleys,\nknows not on which side in preference to rush out, and {yet} is eager to\nrush out on both; so Perseus, being in doubt whether to bear onward to\nthe right or to the left, repulses Molpeus by a wound in the leg, which\nhe runs through, and is contented with his flight. Nor, indeed, does\nEthemon give him time, but fiercely attacks him; and, desirous to\ninflict a wound deep in his neck, he breaks his sword, wielded with\nincautious force; and against the extremity of a column which he has\nstruck, the blade flies to pieces, and sticks in the throat of its\nowner; yet that blow has not power sufficient to {effect} his death.\nPerseus stabs him with his Cyllenian[20] falchion, trembling, and vainly\nextending his unarmed hands.\n\nBut when Perseus saw his valor {likely} to yield to such numbers, he\nsaid, \u201cSince you yourselves force me to do it, I will seek assistance\nfrom an enemy: turn away your faces, if any of my friends are here;\u201d and\n{then} he produced the head of the Gorgon. \u201c{Go}, seek some one else,\u201d\nsaid Thescelus, \u201cfor thy miracles to affect;\u201d and, as he was preparing\nto hurl his deadly javelin with his hand, he stood fast in that posture,\na statue of marble. Ampyx, being next him, made a pass with his sword at\nthe breast of Lyncidas, full of daring spirit, and, while making it, his\nright hand became stiff, moving neither to one side nor the other. But\nNileus, who had falsely boasted that he was begotten by the\nseven-mouthed Nile, and who had engraved on his shield its seven\nchannels, partly in silver, partly in gold, said, \u201cBehold, Perseus, the\norigin of my race; thou shalt carry to the silent shades a great\nconsolation for thy death, that thou wast killed by one so great.\u201d The\nlast part of his address was suppressed in the midst of the utterance;\nand you would think his half-open mouth was attempting to speak, but it\ngave no passage for his words. Eryx rebuked them,[21] and said, \u201cYe are\nbenumbed by the cowardice of your minds, not by the locks of the Gorgon;\nrush on with me, and strike to the ground {this} youth that wields his\nmagic arms.\u201d He was about to rush on, {when} the earth arrested his\nsteps, and he remained an immovable stone, and an armed statue. But all\nthese met with the punishment they had deserved: there was one man,\nhowever, Aconteus {by name}, a soldier of Perseus, for whom while he was\nfighting, on beholding the Gorgon, he grew hard with stone rising upon\nhim. Astyages, thinking him still alive, struck him with his long sword;\nthe sword resounded with a shrill ringing. While Astyages was in\namazement, he took on himself the same nature: and the look of one in\nsurprise remained on his marble features. It is a tedious task to\nrecount the names of the men of the lower rank. Two hundred bodies were\n{yet} remaining for the fight: two hundred bodies, on beholding the\nGorgon, grew stiff.\n\nNow at length Phineus repents of this unjust warfare. But what can he\ndo? He sees statues varying in form, and he recognizes his friends, and\ndemands help of them each, called by name; and not {yet} persuaded, he\ntouches the bodies next him; they are marble. He turns away {his eyes};\nand thus suppliant, and stretching forth his hands, that confessed {his\nfault}, and his arms obliquely extended, he says, \u201cPerseus, thou hast\nconquered; remove the direful monster, and take away that stone-making\nface of thy Medusa, whatever she may be; take it away, I pray. It is not\nhatred, or the desire of a kingdom, that has urged me to war: for a wife\nI wielded arms. Thy cause was the better in point of merit, mine in\npoint of time. I am not sorry to yield. Grant me nothing, most valiant\nman, beyond this life; the rest be thine.\u201d Upon his saying such things,\nand not daring to look upon him, whom he is entreating with his voice,\n{Perseus} says, \u201cWhat am I able to give thee, most cowardly Phineus,\nand, a great boon to a craven, that will I give; lay aside thy fears;\nthou shalt be hurt by no weapon. Moreover, I will give thee a monument\nto last forever, and in the house of my father-in-law thou shalt always\nbe seen, that my wife may comfort herself with the form of her\nbetrothed.\u201d {Thus} he said, and he turned the daughter of Phorcys to\nthat side, towards which Phineus had turned himself with trembling face.\nThen, even as he endeavored to turn away his eyes, his neck grew stiff,\nand the moisture of his eyes hardened in stone. But yet his timid\nfeatures, and his suppliant countenance, and his hands hanging down, and\nhis guilty attitude, still remained.\n\nThe descendant of Abas, together with his wife, enters the walls of his\nnative city; and as the defender and avenger of his innocent mother, he\nattacks Pr\u0153tus.[22] For, his brother being expelled by force of arms,\nPr\u0153tus had taken possession of the citadel of Acrisius; but neither by\nthe help of arms, nor the citadel which he had unjustly seized, did he\nprevail against the stern eyes of the snake-bearing monster.\n\n    [Footnote 1: _Phineus._--Ver. 8. He was the brother of Cepheus, to\n    whom Andromeda had been betrothed. There was another person of the\n    same name, who entertained the Argonauts, and who is also\n    mentioned in the Metamorphoses.]\n\n    [Footnote 2: _In the cushion._--Ver. 34. This was probably the\n    mattress or covering of the couch on which the ancients reclined\n    during meals. It was frequently stuffed with wool; but among the\n    poorer classes, with straw and dried weeds.]\n\n    [Footnote 3: _An altar._--Ver. 36. This was either the altar\n    devoted to the worship of the Penates; or, more probably, perhaps,\n    in this instance, that erected for sacrifice to the Gods on the\n    occasion of the nuptials of Perseus and Andromeda.]\n\n    [Footnote 4: _Gods of hospitality._--Ver. 45. Jupiter was\n    especially considered to be the avenger of a violation of the laws\n    of hospitality.]\n\n    [Footnote 5: _Athis by name._--Ver. 47. Athis, or Atys, is here\n    described as of Indian birth, to distinguish him from the Phrygian\n    youth of the same name, beloved by Cybele, whose story is told by\n    Ovid in the Fasti.]\n\n    [Footnote 6: _His falchion._--Ver. 69. The \u201cHarpe\u201d was a short,\n    crooked sword, or falchion: such as we call a \u201cscimitar.\u201d]\n\n    [Footnote 7: _Syene._--Ver. 74. This was a city on the confines of\n    \u00c6thiopia, bordering upon Egypt. Ovid tells us in the Pontic\n    Epistles (Book i. Ep. 5, l. 79), that \u201cthere, at the time of the\n    summer solstice, bodies as they stand, have no shadow.\u201d]\n\n    [Footnote 8: _A huge bowl._--Ver. 82. Clarke calls \u201cingentem\n    cratera\u201d \u201ca swingeing bowl.\u201d]\n\n    [Footnote 9: _Sperchius._--Ver. 86. This was probably a person,\n    and not the river of Thessaly, flowing into the Malian Gulf.]\n\n    [Footnote 10: _Has declined the warfare._--Ver. 91. This is an\n    illustration of the danger of neutrality, when the necessity of\n    the times requires a man to adopt the side which he deems to be in\n    the right.]\n\n    [Footnote 11: _Clings to the altars._--Ver. 103. In cases of\n    extreme danger, it was usual to fly to the temples of the Deities,\n    and to take refuge behind the altar or statue of the God, and even\n    to cling to it, if necessity required.]\n\n    [Footnote 12: _A mournful dirge._--Ver. 118. Clarke translates\n    \u2018Casuque canit miserabile carmen;\u2019 \u2018and in his fall plays but a\n    dismal ditty.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 13: _Cinyphian._--Ver. 124. Cinyps, or Cinyphus, was the\n    name of a river situate in the north of Africa.]\n\n    [Footnote 14: _Nasamonian land._--Ver. 129. The Nasamones were a\n    people of Libya, near the Syrtes, or quicksands, who subsisted by\n    plundering the numerous wrecks on their coasts.]\n\n    [Footnote 15: _Bactrian._--Ver. 135. Bactris was the chief city of\n    Bactria, a region bordering on the western confines of India.]\n\n    [Footnote 16: _The Mendesian._--Ver. 144. Mendes was a city of\n    Egypt, near the mouth of the Nile, where Pan was worshipped,\n    according to Pliny. Celadon was a native of either this place, or\n    of the city of Myndes, in Syria.]\n\n    [Footnote 17: _Now deceived._--Ver. 147. Because he had not\n    foreseen his own approaching fate.]\n\n    [Footnote 18: _Bellona._--Ver. 155. She was the sister of Mars,\n    and was the Goddess of War.]\n\n    [Footnote 19: _Chaonian._--Ver. 163. Chaonia was a mountainous\n    part of Epirus, so called from Chaon, who was accidentally killed,\n    while hunting, by Helenus, the son of Priam. It has been, however,\n    suggested that the reading ought to be \u2018Choanius;\u2019 as the Choanii\n    were a people bordering on Arabia; and very justly, for how should\n    the Chaonians and Nabath\u00e6ans, or Epirotes, and Arabians become\n    united in the same sentence, as meeting in a region so distant as\n    \u00c6thiopia?]\n\n    [Footnote 20: _Cyllenian._--Ver. 176. His falchion had been given\n    to him by Mercury, who was born on Mount Cyllene, in Arcadia.]\n\n    [Footnote 21: _Eryx rebuked them._--Ver. 195. \u2018Increpat hos Eryx\u2019\n    is translated by Clarke, \u2018Eryx rattles these blades.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 22: _Pr\u0153tus._--Ver. 238. He was the brother of Acrisius,\n    the grandfather of Perseus.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The scene of this story is supposed by some to have been in \u00c6thiopia,\n  but it is more probably on the coast of Africa. Josephus and Strabo\n  assert that this event happened near the city of Joppa, or Jaffa:\n  indeed, Josephus says that the marks of the chains with which\n  Andromeda was fastened, were remaining on the rock in his time.\n  Pomponius Mela says, that Cepheus, the father of Andromeda, was king\n  of Joppa, and that the memory of that prince and of his brother\n  Phineus was honored there with religious services. He says, too, that\n  the inhabitants used to show the bones of the monster which was to\n  have devoured Andromeda. Pliny tells us the same, and that Scaurus\n  carried these bones with him to Rome. He calls the monster \u2018a\n  Goddess,\u2019 \u2018Dea Cete.\u2019 Vossius believes that he means the God Dagon,\n  worshipped among the Syrians under the figure of a fish, or\n  sea-monster. Some authors have suggested that the story of the\n  creature which was to have devoured Andromeda, was a confused version\n  of that of the prophet Jonah.\n\n  The alleged power of Perseus, to turn his enemies into stone, was\n  probably, a metaphorical mode of describing his heroism, and the\n  terror which everywhere followed the fame of his victory over the\n  Gorgons. This probably caused such consternation, that it was reported\n  that he petrified his enemies by showing them the head of Medusa.\n  Bochart supposes that the rocky nature of the island of Seriphus,\n  where Polydectes reigned, was the ground of the various stories of the\n  alleged metamorphoses into stone, effected by means of the Gorgon\u2019s\n  head.\n\n\nFABLE II. [V.243-340]\n\n  Polydectes continues his hatred against Perseus, and treats his\n  victories and triumphs over Medusa as mere fictions, on which Perseus\n  turns him into stone. Minerva leaves her brother, and goes to Mount\n  Helicon to visit the Muses, who show the Goddess the beauties of their\n  habitation, and entertain her with their adventure at the court of\n  Pyreneus, and the death of that prince. They also repeat to her the\n  song of the Pierides, who challenged them to sing.\n\nYet, O Polydectes,[23] the ruler of little Seriphus, neither the valor\nof the youth proved by so many toils, nor his sorrows have softened\nthee; but thou obstinately dost exert an inexorable hatred, nor is there\nany limit to thy unjust resentment. Thou also detractest from his\npraises, and dost allege that the death of Medusa is {but} a fiction.\n\u201cWe will give thee a proof of the truth,\u201d says Perseus; \u201chave a regard\nfor your eyes, {all besides};\u201d and he makes the face of the king\n{become} stone, without blood, by means of the face of Medusa.\n\nHitherto Tritonia had presented herself as a companion to her\nbrother,[24] begotten in the golden shower. Now, enwrapped in an\nencircling cloud, she abandons Seriphus, Cythnus and Gyarus[25] being\nleft on the right. And where the way seems the shortest over the sea,\nshe makes for Thebes and Helicon, frequented by the virgin {Muses};\nhaving reached which mountain she stops, and thus addresses the learned\nsisters: \u201cThe fame of the new fountain[26] has reached my ears, which\nthe hard hoof of the winged steed sprung from the blood of Medusa has\nopened. That is the cause of my coming. I wished to see this wondrous\nprodigy; I saw him spring from the blood of his mother.\u201d Urania[27]\nreplies, \u201cWhatever, Goddess, is the cause of thy visiting these abodes,\nthou art most acceptable to our feelings. However, the report is true,\nand Pegasus is the originator of this spring;\u201d and {then} she conducts\nPallas to the sacred streams. She, long admiring the waters produced by\nthe stroke of his foot, looks around upon the groves of the ancient\nwood, and the caves and the grass studded with flowers innumerable; and\nshe pronounces the Mnemonian[28] maids happy both in their pursuits and\nin their retreat; when one of the sisters {thus} addresses her:\n\n\u201cO Tritonia, thou who wouldst have come to make one of our number, had\nnot thy valor inclined thee to greater deeds, thou sayest the truth, and\nwith justice thou dost approve both our pursuits and our retreat; and if\nwe are but safe, happy do we reckon our lot. But (to such a degree is no\ndenial borne by villany) all things affright our virgin minds, and the\ndreadful Pyreneus is placed before our eyes; and not yet have I wholly\nrecovered my presence of mind. He, in his insolence, had taken the\nDaulian and Phocean[29] land with his Thracian troops, and unjustly held\nthe government. We were making for the temple of Parnassus; he beheld us\ngoing, and adoring our Divinities[30] in a feigned worship he said (for\nhe had recognized us), \u2018O Mnemonian maids, stop, and do not scruple,\nI pray, under my roof to avoid the bad weather and the showers (for it\nwas raining); oft have the Gods above entered more humble cottages.\u2019\nMoved by his invitation and the weather, we assented to the man, and\nentered the front part of his house. The rain had {now} ceased, and the\nSouth Wind {now} subdued by the North, the black clouds were flying from\nthe cleared sky. It was our wish to depart. Pyreneus closed his house,\nand prepared for violence, which we escaped by taking wing. He himself\nstood aloft on the top {of his abode}, as though about to follow us, and\nsaid \u2018Wherever there is a way for you, by the same road there will be\n{one} for me.\u2019 And then, in his insanity, he threw himself from the\nheight of the summit of the tower, and fell upon his face, and with the\nbones of his skull thus broken, he struck the ground stained with his\naccursed blood.\u201d\n\n{Thus} spoke the Muse. Wings resounded through the air, and a voice of\nsome saluting them[31] came from the lofty boughs. The daughter of\nJupiter looked up, and asked whence tongues that speak so distinctly\nmade that noise, and thought that a human being had spoken. They were\nbirds; and magpies that imitate everything, lamenting their fate, they\nstood perched on the boughs, nine in number. As the Goddess wondered,\nthus did the Goddess {Urania} commence: \u201cLately, too, did these being\novercome in a dispute, increase the number of the birds. Pierus, rich in\nthe lands of Pella,[32] begot them; the P\u00e6onian[33] Evippe[34] was their\nmother. Nine times did she invoke the powerful Lucina, being nine times\nin labor. This set of foolish sisters were proud of their number, and\ncame hither through so many cities of H\u00e6monia, {and} through so many of\nAchaia,[35] and engaged in a contest in words such as these: \u201cCease\nimposing upon the vulgar with your empty melody. If you have any\nconfidence {in your skill}, ye Thespian Goddesses, contend with us; we\nwill not be outdone in voice or skill; and we are as many in number.\nEither, if vanquished, withdraw from the spring formed by the steed of\nMedusa, and the Hyantean Aganippe,[36] or we will retire from the\nEmathian plains, as far as the snowy P\u00e6onians. Let the Nymphs decide the\ncontest.\u201d It was, indeed, disgraceful to engage, but to yield seemed\n{even} more disgraceful. The Nymphs that are chosen swear by the rivers,\nand they sit on seats made out of the natural rock. Then, without\ncasting lots, she who had been the first to propose the contest, sings\nthe wars of the Gods above, and gives the Giants honor not their due,\nand detracts from the actions of the great Divinities; and {sings} how\nthat Typh\u0153us, sent forth from the lowest realms of the earth, had struck\nterror into the inhabitants of Heaven; and {how} they had all turned\ntheir backs in flight, until the land of Egypt had received them in\ntheir weariness, and the Nile, divided into its seven mouths. She tells,\nhow that Typh\u0153us had come there, too, and the Gods above had concealed\nthemselves under assumed shapes; and \u2018Jupiter,\u2019 she says, \u2018becomes the\nleader of the flock, whence, even at the present day, the Libyan Ammon\nis figured with horns. {Apollo}, the Delian {God}, lies concealed as a\ncrow, the son of Semele as a he-goat, the sister of Ph\u0153bus as a cat,\n{Juno}, the daughter of Saturn, as a snow-white cow, Venus as a\nfish,[37] {Mercury}, the Cyllenian {God}, beneath the wings of an\nIbis.\u2019[38]\n\n\u201cThus far she had exerted her noisy mouth to {the sound of} the lyre; we\nof Aonia[39] were {then} called upon; but perhaps thou hast not the\nleisure, nor the time to lend an ear to our strains.\u201d Pallas says, \u201cDo\nnot hesitate, and repeat your song to me in its order;\u201d and she takes\nher seat under the pleasant shade of the grove. The Muse {then} tells\nher story. \u201cWe assigned the management of the contest to one {of our\nnumber}. Calliope rises, and, having her long hair gathered up with ivy,\ntunes with her thumb the sounding chords; and {then} sings these lines\nin concert with the strings when struck.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 23: _Polydectes._--Ver. 242. Polydectes was king of the\n    little island of Seriphus, one of the Cyclades. His brother Dictys\n    had removed Perseus, with his mother Dana\u00eb, to the kingdom of\n    Polydectes. The latter became smitten with love for Dana\u00eb, though\n    he was about to marry Hippodamia. On this occasion he exacted a\n    promise from Perseus, of the head of the Gorgon Medusa. When\n    Perseus returned victorious, he found that his mother, with her\n    protector Dictys, had taken refuge at the altars of the Deities,\n    against the violence of Polydectes; on which Perseus changed him\n    into stone. The story of Perseus afforded abundant materials to\n    the ancient poets. \u00c6schylus wrote a Tragedy called Polydectes,\n    Sophocles one called Dana\u00eb, while Euripides composed two, called\n    respectively Dana\u00eb and Dictys. Pherecydes also wrote on this\n    subject, and his work seems to have been a text book for\n    succeeding poets. Polygnotus painted the return of Perseus with\n    the head of Medusa, to the island of Seriphus.]\n\n    [Footnote 24: _To her brother._--Ver. 250. As both Tritonia, or\n    Minerva, and Perseus had Jupiter for their father.]\n\n    [Footnote 25: _Gyarus._--Ver. 252. Cythnus and Gyarus were two\n    islands of the Cyclades.]\n\n    [Footnote 26: _The new fountain._--Ver. 256. This was Helicon,\n    which was produced by a blow from the hoof of Pegasus.]\n\n    [Footnote 27: _Urania._--Ver. 260. One of the Muses, who presided\n    over Astronomy.]\n\n    [Footnote 28: _Mnemonian._--Ver. 268. The Muses are called\n    \u2018Mnemonides,\u2019 from the Greek word \u03bc\u03bd\u03ae\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd \u2018remembering,\u2019 or\n    \u2018mindful,\u2019 because they were said to be the daughters, by Jupiter,\n    of Mnemosyne, or Memory.]\n\n    [Footnote 29: _Phocean._--Ver. 276. Daulis was a city of Phocis;\n    a district between B\u0153otia and \u00c6tolia, in which the city of Delphi\n    and Mount Parnassus were situate.]\n\n    [Footnote 30: _Our Divinities._--Ver. 279. \u2018Nostra veneratus\n    numina,\u2019 is translated by Clarke, \u2018and worshipping our\n    Goddessships.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 31: _Some saluting them._--Ver. 295. That is, crying out\n    \u03c7\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c1\u03b5, \u03c7\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c1\u03b5, the usual salutation among the Greeks, equivalent to\n    our \u2018How d\u2019ye do?\u2019 From two lines of Persius, it seems to have\n    been a common thing to teach parrots and magpies to repeat these\n    words.]\n\n    [Footnote 32: _Lands of Pella._--Ver. 302. Pella was a city of\n    Macedonia, in that part of it which was called Emathia. It was\n    famed for being the birthplace of Philip, and Alexander the\n    Great.]\n\n    [Footnote 33: _P\u00e6onian._--Ver. 303. P\u00e6onia was a mountainous\n    region of Macedonia, adjacent to Emathia.]\n\n    [Footnote 34: _Evippe._--Ver. 303. Evippe was the wife of Pierus,\n    and the mother of the Pierides.]\n\n    [Footnote 35: _Achaia._--Ver. 306. The Achaia here mentioned was\n    the H\u00e6monian, or Thessalian Achaia. The other parts of Thessaly\n    were Phthiotis and Pelasgiotis.]\n\n    [Footnote 36: _Aganippe._--Ver. 312. Aganippe was the name of a\n    fountain in B\u0153otia, near Helicon, sacred to the Muses. It is\n    called Hyantean, from the ancient name of the inhabitants of the\n    country.]\n\n    [Footnote 37: _Venus as a fish._--Ver. 331. The story of the\n    transformation of Venus into a fish, to escape the fury of the\n    Giants, is told, at length, in the second Book of the Fasti.]\n\n    [Footnote 38: _Wings of an Ibis._--Ver. 331. The Ibis was a bird\n    of Egypt, much resembling a crane, or stork. It was said to be of\n    peculiarly unclean habits, and to subsist upon serpents.]\n\n    [Footnote 39: _We of Aonia._--Ver. 333. The Muses obtained the\n    name of Aonides from Aonia, a mountainous district of B\u0153otia.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  According to Plutarch, the adventure of the Muses with Pyreneus, and\n  of their asking wings of the Gods to save themselves, is a metaphor,\n  which shows that he, when reigning in Phocis, was no friend to\n  learning. As he had caused all the institutions in which it was taught\n  to be destroyed, it was currently reported, that he had offered\n  violence to the Muses, and that he lost his life in pursuing them.\n  Ovid is the only writer that mentions him by name.\n\n  The challenge given by the Pierides to the Muses is not mentioned by\n  any writer before the time of Ovid. By way of explaining it, it is\n  said, that Pierus was a very bad poet, whose works were full of\n  stories injurious to the credit of the Gods. Hence, in time, it became\n  circulated, that his daughters, otherwise his works, were changed into\n  magpies, thereby meaning that they were full of idle narratives,\n  tiresome and unmeaning. It is not improbable that the story of\n  Typh\u0153us, who forces the Gods to conceal themselves in Egypt, under the\n  forms of various animals, was a poem which Pierus composed on the war\n  of the Gods with the Giants.\n\n\nFABLE III. [V.341-384]\n\n  One of the Muses repeats to Minerva the song of Calliope, in answer to\n  the Pierides; in which she describes the defeat of the Giant Typh\u0153us,\n  and Pluto viewing the mountains of Sicily, where Venus persuades her\n  son Cupid to pierce his heart with one of his arrows.\n\n\u201cCeres was the first to turn up the clods with the crooked plough; she\nfirst gave corn and wholesome food to the earth; she first gave laws;\neverything is the gift of Ceres. She is to be sung by me; I only wish\nthat I could utter verses worthy of the Goddess, {for} doubtless she is\na Goddess worthy of my song. The vast island of Trinacria[40] is heaped\nup on the limbs of the Giant, and keeps down Typh\u0153us, that dared to hope\nfor the abodes of Heaven, placed beneath its heavy mass. He, indeed,\nstruggles, and attempts often to rise, but his right hand is placed\nbeneath the Ausonian Pelorus,[41] his left under thee, Pachynus;[42] his\nlegs are pressed down by Lilyb\u0153um;[43] \u00c6tna bears down his head; under\nit Typh\u0153us, on his back, casts forth sand, and vomits flame from his\nraging mouth; often does he struggle to throw off the load of earth, and\nto roll away cities and huge mountains from his body. Then does the\nearth tremble, and the King of the shades himself is in dread, lest it\nmay open, and the ground be parted with a wide chasm, and, the day being\nlet in, may affright the trembling ghosts.\n\n\u201cFearing this ruin, the Ruler had gone out from his dark abode; and,\ncarried in his chariot by black horses, he cautiously surveyed the\nfoundations of the Sicilian land. After it was sufficiently ascertained\nthat no place was insecure, and fear was laid aside, Erycina,[44]\nsitting down upon her mountain, saw him wandering; and, embracing her\nwinged son, she said, Cupid, my son, my arms, my hands, and my might,\ntake up those darts by which thou conquerest all, and direct the swift\narrows against the breast of the God, to whom fell the last lot of the\ntriple kingdom.[45] Thou subduest the Gods above, and Jupiter himself;\nthou {subduest} the conquered Deities of the deep, and him who rules\nover the Deities of the deep. Why is Tartarus exempt? Why dost thou not\nextend the Empire of thy mother and thine own? A third part of the world\nis {now} at stake. And yet so great power is despised even in our own\nheaven, and, together with myself, the influence of Love becomes but a\ntrifling matter. Dost thou not see how that Pallas, and Diana, who\nthrows the javelin, have renounced me? The daughter of Ceres, too, will\nbe a virgin, if we shall permit it, for she inclines to similar hopes.\nBut do thou join the Goddess to her uncle, if I have any interest with\nthee in favor of our joint sway.\n\n\u201cVenus {thus} spoke. He opened his quiver, and, by the direction of his\nmother, set apart one out of his thousand arrows; but one, than which\nthere is not any more sharp or less unerring, or which is more true to\nthe bow. And he bent the flexible horn, by pressing his knee against it,\nand struck Pluto in the breast with the barbed arrow.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 40: _Trinacria._--Ver. 347. Sicily was called Trinacris,\n    or Trinacria, from its three corners or promontories, which are\n    here named by the Poet.]\n\n    [Footnote 41: _Pelorus._--Ver. 350. This cape, or promontory, now\n    called Capo di Faro, is on the east of Sicily, looking towards\n    Italy, whence its present epithet, \u2018Ausonian.\u2019 It was so named\n    from Pelorus, the pilot of Hannibal, who, suspecting him of\n    treachery, had put him to death, and buried him on that spot.]\n\n    [Footnote 42: _Pachynus._--Ver. 351. This Cape, now Capo Passaro,\n    looks towards Greece, from the south of Sicily.]\n\n    [Footnote 43: _Lilyb\u00e6um._--Ver. 351. Now called Capo Marsala. It\n    is on the west of Sicily, looking towards the African coast.]\n\n    [Footnote 44: _Erycina._--Ver. 363. Venus is so called from Eryx,\n    the mountain of Sicily, on which her son Eryx, one of the early\n    Sicilian kings, erected a magnificent temple in her honor.]\n\n    [Footnote 45: _The triple kingdom._--Ver. 368. In the partition of\n    the dominion of the universe the heavens fell to the lot of\n    Jupiter, the seas to that of Neptune; while the infernal regions,\n    or, as some say, the earth, were awarded to Pluto.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The ancients frequently accounted for natural ph\u00e6nomena on fabulous\n  grounds: and whatever they found difficult to explain, from their\n  ignorance of the principles of natural philosophy, they immediately\n  attributed to the agency of a supernatural cause. \u00c6tna was often seen\n  to emit flames, and the earth was subjected to violent shocks from the\n  forces of its internal fires when struggling for a vent. Instead of\n  looking for the source of these eruptions in the sulphur and\n  bituminous matter in which the mountain abounds, they fabled, that the\n  Gods, having vanquished the Giant Typh\u0153us, or, according to some\n  authors, Enceladus, threw Mount \u00c6tna on his body; and that the\n  attempts he made to free himself from the superincumbent weight were\n  the cause of those fires and earthquakes.\n\n\nFABLE IV. [V.385-461]\n\n  Pluto surprises Proserpina in the fields of Henna, and carries her\n  away by force. The Nymph Cyane endeavors, in vain, to stop him in his\n  passage, and through grief and anguish, dissolves into a fountain.\n  Ceres goes everywhere in search of her daughter, and, in her journey,\n  turns the boy Stellio into a newt.\n\n\u201cNot far from the walls of Henna[46] there is a lake of deep water,\nPergus by name; Cayster does not hear more songs of swans, in his\nrunning streams, than that. A wood skirts the lake, surrounding it on\nevery side, and with its foliage, as though with an awning, keeps out\nthe rays of the sun. The boughs produce a coolness, the moist ground\nflowers of Tyrian hue. {There} the spring is perpetual. In this grove,\nwhile Proserpina is amusing herself, and is plucking either violets or\nwhite lilies, and while, with childlike eagerness, she is filling her\nbaskets and her bosom, and is striving to outdo {her companions} of the\nsame age in gathering, almost at the same instant she is beheld,\nbeloved, and seized by Pluto;[47] in such great haste is love. The\nGoddess, affrighted, with lamenting lips calls both her mother and her\ncompanions,[48] but more frequently her mother;[49] and as she has torn\nher garment from the upper edge, the collected flowers fall from her\nloosened robes. So great, too, is the innocence of her childish years,\nthis loss excites the maiden\u2019s grief as well. The ravisher drives on his\nchariot, and encourages his horses, called, each by his name, along\nwhose necks and manes he shakes the reins, dyed with swarthy rust. He is\nborne through deep lakes, and the pools of the Palici,[50] smelling\nstrong of sulphur, {and} boiling fresh from out of the burst earth; and\nwhere the Bacchiad\u00e6,[51] a race sprung from Corinth, with its two\nseas,[52] built a city[53] between unequal harbors.\n\n\u201cThere is a stream in the middle, between Cyane and the Pis\u00e6an Arethusa,\nwhich is confined within itself, being enclosed by mountain ridges at a\nshort distance {from each other}. Here was Cyane,[54] the most\ncelebrated among the Sicilian Nymphs, from whose name the pool also was\ncalled, who stood up from out of the midst of the water, as far as the\nhigher part of her stomach, and recognized the God, and said, \u2018No\nfurther shall you go. Thou mayst not be the son-in-law of Ceres against\nher will. {The girl} should have been asked {of her mother}, not carried\naway. But if I may be allowed to compare little matters with great ones,\nAnapis[55] also loved me. Yet I married him, courted, and not frightened\n{into it}, like her.\u2019 She {thus} said, and stretching her arms on\ndifferent sides, she stood in his way. The son of Saturn no longer\nrestrained his rage; and encouraging his terrible steeds, he threw his\nroyal sceptre, hurled with a strong arm, into the lowest depths of the\nstream. The earth, {thus} struck, made a way down to Tartarus, and\nreceived the descending chariot in the middle of the yawning space. But\nCyane, lamenting both the ravished Goddess, and the slighted privileges\nof her spring, carries in her silent mind an inconsolable wound, and is\nentirely dissolved into tears, and melts away into those waters, of\nwhich she had been but lately the great guardian Divinity. You might see\nher limbs soften, her bones become subjected to bending, her nails lay\naside their hardness: each, too, of the smaller extremities of the whole\nof her body melts away; both her azure hair, her fingers, her legs, and\nher feet; for easy is the change of those small members into a cold\nstream. After that, her back, her shoulders, her side, and her breast\ndissolve, vanishing into thin rivulets. Lastly, pure water, instead of\nlive blood, enters her corrupted veins, and nothing remains which you\ncan grasp {in your hand}.\n\n\u201cIn the mean time, throughout all lands and in every sea, the daughter\nis sought in vain by her anxious mother. Aurora, coming with her ruddy\nlocks does not behold her taking any rest, neither does Hesperus. She,\nwith her two hands, sets light to some pines at the flaming \u00c6tna, and\ngiving herself no rest, bears them through the frosty darkness. Again,\nwhen the genial day has dulled the light of the stars, she seeks her\ndaughter from the rising of the sun to the setting thereof. Fatigued by\nthe labor, she has {now} contracted thirst, and no streams have washed\nher mouth, when by chance she beholds a cottage covered with thatch, and\nknocks at its humble door, upon which an old woman[56] comes out and\nsees the Goddess, and gives her, asking for water, a sweet drink which\nshe has lately distilled[57] from parched pearled barley. While she is\ndrinking it {thus} presented, a boy[58] of impudent countenance and\nbold, stands before the Goddess, and laughs, and calls her greedy. She\nis offended; and a part being not yet quaffed, the Goddess sprinkles\nhim, as he is {thus} talking, with the barley mixed with the liquor.\n\n\u201cHis face contracts the stains, and he bears legs where just now he was\nbearing arms; a tail is added to his changed limbs; and he is contracted\ninto a diminutive form, that no great power of doing injury may exist;\nhis size is less than {that of} a small lizard. He flies from the old\nwoman, astounded and weeping, and trying to touch the monstrosity; and\nhe seeks a lurking place, and has a name suited to his color, having his\nbody speckled with various spots.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 46: _Henna._--Ver. 385. Henna, or Enna, was a city so\n    exactly situated in the middle of Sicily that it was called the\n    navel of that island. The worship of Ceres there was so highly\n    esteemed, that ancient writers remarked, that you might easily\n    take the whole place for one vast temple of that Goddess, and all\n    the inhabitants for her priests. Proserpine is said by many\n    authors, besides Ovid, to have been carried away by Pluto in the\n    vicinity of Henna; though some writers say that it took place in\n    Attica, and others again in Asia, while the Hymn of Orpheus\n    mentions the western coast of Spain. Cicero describes this spot in\n    his Oration against Verres: his words are, \u2018It is said that\n    Libera, who is the Deity that we call Proserpine, was carried away\n    from the Grove of Enna. Enna, where these events took place to\n    which I now refer, is in a lofty and exposed situation; but on the\n    summit the ground presents a level surface, and there are springs\n    of everflowing water. The spot is entirely cut off and separated\n    from all [ordinary] means of approach. Around it are many lakes\n    and groves, and flowers in bloom at all seasons of the year; so\n    that the very spot seems to portray the rape of the damsel, with\n    which story, from our very infancy, we have been familiar. Close\n    by, there is a cavern with its face towards the north, of an\n    immense depth, from which they say that father Pluto, in his\n    chariot, suddenly emerged, and carrying off the maiden, bore her\n    away from that spot, and then, not far from Syracuse, descended\n    into the earth, from which place a lake suddenly arose; where, at\n    the present day, the inhabitants of Syracuse celebrate a yearly\n    festival.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 47: _Seized by Pluto._--Ver. 395. Pluto is here called\n    \u2018Dis.\u2019 This name was given to him as the God of the Earth, from\n    the bowels of which riches are dug up.]\n\n    [Footnote 48: _Her companions._--Ver. 397. Pausanias, in his\n    Messeniaca, has preserved the names of the companions of Ceres,\n    having copied them from the works of Homer.]\n\n    [Footnote 49: _Her mother._--Ver. 397. Homer, in his poem on the\n    subject, represents that Ceres heard the cries of her daughter,\n    when calling upon her mother for assistance. Ovid recounts this\n    tale much more at length in the fourth Book of the Fasti.]\n\n    [Footnote 50: _The Palici._--Ver. 406. The Palici were two\n    brothers, sons of Jupiter and the Nymph Thalea, and, according to\n    some, received their name from the Greek words \u03c0\u03ac\u03bb\u03b9\u03bd \u1f31\u03ba\u03ad\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9, \u2018to\n    come again [to life].\u2019 Their mother, when pregnant, prayed the\n    earth to open, and to hide her from the vengeful wrath of Juno.\n    This was done; and when they had arrived at maturity, the Palici\n    burst from the ground in the island of Sicily. They were Deities\n    much venerated there, but their worship did not extend to any\n    other countries. We learn from Macrobius that the natives of\n    Sicily pointed out two small lakes, from which the brothers were\n    said to have emerged, and that the veneration attached to them was\n    such, that by their means they decided disputes, as they imagined\n    that perjurers would meet their death in these waters, while the\n    guiltless would be able to come forth from them unharmed. They\n    were fetid, sulphureous pools of water, probably affected by the\n    volcanic action of Mount \u00c6tna.]\n\n    [Footnote 51: _The Bacchiad\u00e6._--Ver. 407. Archias, one of the race\n    of the Bacchiad\u00e6, a powerful Corinthian family, being expelled\n    from Corinth, was said to have founded Syracuse, the capital of\n    Sicily. The family sprang either from Bacchius, a son of\n    Dionysus, or Bacchus, or from the fifth king of Corinth, who was\n    named Bacchis. The family was expelled from Corinth by Cypselus,\n    either on account of their luxury and extravagant mode of life, or\n    because they were supposed to aim at the sovereignty.]\n\n    [Footnote 52: _With its two seas._--Ver. 407. Corinth is called\n    \u2018Bimaris\u2019 by the Latin poets, from its having the \u00c6gean sea on one\n    side of it, and the Ionian sea on the other.]\n\n    [Footnote 53: _Built a city._--Ver. 408. Syracuse had two harbors,\n    one of which was much larger than the other.]\n\n    [Footnote 54: _Cyane._--Ver. 412. According to Claudian, Cyane was\n    one of the companions of Proserpine, when she was carried off by\n    Pluto.]\n\n    [Footnote 55: _Anapis._--Ver. 417. This was a river of Sicily,\n    which, mingling with the waters of the fountain Cyane, falls into\n    the sea at Syracuse, opposite to the island of Ortygia. This\n    island, in which the fountain of Arethusa was situate, was\n    separated from the isle of Sicily by a narrow strait of the sea,\n    and communicating with the city of Syracuse by a bridge, was\n    considered as part of it.]\n\n    [Footnote 56: _An old woman._--Ver. 449. Arnobius calls this old\n    woman here mentioned by the name of Baubo. Nicander, in his\n    Theriaca, calls her Metaneira. Antoninus Liberalis calls her\n    Misma, and Ovid, in the fourth Book of the Fasti, Melanina.]\n\n    [Footnote 57: _Lately distilled._--Ver. 450. Orpheus, in his Hymn,\n    calls the drink given by the old woman to Ceres \u03ba\u03c5\u03ba\u03b5\u1f7c\u03bd. According\n    to Arnobius, it was a mixed liquor, called by the Romans \u2018cinnus;\u2019\n    made of parched pearled barley, honey, and wine, with flowers and\n    various herbs floating in it. Antoninus Liberalis says, that Ceres\n    drank it off, \u1f00\u03b8\u03c1\u03cc\u03c9\u03c2, \u2018at one draught.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 58: _A boy._--Ver. 451. According to Nicander, the boy\n    was the son of the old woman. If so, the Goddess made her but a\n    poor return for her hospitality.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The story of the rape of Proserpine has caused much inquiry among\n  writers, both ancient and modern, as to the facts on which it was\n  founded. Some have grounded it on principles of natural philosophy;\n  while others have supposed it to contain some portion of ancient\n  history, defaced and blemished in lapse of time.\n\n  The antiquarian Pezeron is of opinion, that in the partition of the\n  world among the Titan kings, Pluto had the west for his share; and\n  that he carried a colony to the further end of Spain, where he caused\n  the gold and silver mines of that region to be worked. The situation\n  of his kingdom, which lay very low, comparatively with Greece, and\n  which the ancients believed to be covered with eternal darkness, gave\n  rise to the fable, that Pluto had got Hell for his share; and this\n  notion was much encouraged by the subterranean nature of the mines\n  which he caused to be worked. He thinks that the river Tartarus, so\n  famed in the realms of Pluto, was no other than the Tartessa, or\n  Guadalquivir of the present day, which runs through the centre of\n  Spain. Lethe, too, he thinks to have been the Guadalaviar, in the same\n  country. Pluto, he suggests, had heard of the beauty of Proserpine,\n  the daughter of Ceres, queen of Sicily, and carried her thence, which\n  gave rise to the tradition that she had been carried to the Infernal\n  Regions.\n\n  Le Clerc, on the other hand, thinks that it was not Pluto that carried\n  away Proserpine, but Aidoneus, king of Epirus, or Orcus king of the\n  Molossians. Aidoneus is supposed to have wrought mines in his kingdom,\n  and, as the entrance into it was over a river called Acheron, that\n  prince has often been confounded with Pluto; Epirus too, which was\n  situate very low, may have been figuratively described as the Infernal\n  Regions; for which reason, the journeys of Theseus and Hercules into\n  Epirus may have been spoken of as descents into the Stygian abodes.\n  Le Clerc supposes that Ceres was reigning in Sicily at the time when\n  Aidoneus was king of Epirus, and that she took great care to instruct\n  her subjects in the art of tilling the ground and sowing corn, and\n  established laws for regulating civil government and the preservation\n  of private property; for which reasons she was afterward deemed to be\n  the Goddess of the Earth, and of Corn. Cicero and Diodorus Siculus\n  tell us that Ceres made her residence at Enna, or Henna, in Sicily,\n  which name, according to Bochart, signifies \u2018agreeable fountain.\u2019\n  Cicero and Strabo agree with Ovid in telling us that Proserpine, the\n  only daughter of Ceres, whom other writers name Pherephata, was\n  walking in the adjacent meadows, and gathering flowers with her\n  companions; upon which, certain pirates seized her, and, placing her\n  in a chariot, carried her to the seaside, whence they embarked for\n  Epirus. As Pausanias tells us, it was immediately spread abroad, that\n  Aidoneus, or Pluto, as he was called, had done it, the act having been\n  really committed by others, according to his orders. As those who\n  carried her off concealed themselves in the caverns of Mount \u00c6tna,\n  awaiting their opportunity to escape, it was afterwards fabled that\n  Pluto came out of the Infernal Regions at that place; as that\n  mountain, from its nature, was always deemed one of the outlets of\n  Hell. Upon this, Ceres went to Greece, in search of her daughter; and,\n  resting at Eleusis, in Attica, she heard that the ship in which her\n  daughter was carried away had sailed westward. On this, she complained\n  to Jupiter, one of the Titan kings, but could obtain no further\n  satisfaction than that her daughter should be permitted to visit her\n  occasionally, whereby, at length, her grief was mitigated.\n\n  Banier does not agree with these suggestions of Pezeron and Le Clerc,\n  and thinks that Ceres is no other personage than the Isis of the\n  Egyptians, supposing that the story is founded on the following\n  circumstance:--Greece, he says, was afflicted with famine in the\n  reign of Erectheus, who was obliged to send to Egypt for corn, when\n  those who went for it brought back the worship of the Deity who\n  presided over agriculture. The evils which the Athenians had suffered\n  by the famine, and the dread of again incurring the same calamity,\n  made them willingly embrace the rites of a Goddess whom they believed\n  able to protect them from it. Triptolemus established her worship in\n  Eleusis, and there instituted the mysteries which he had brought over\n  from Egypt. These had been previously introduced into Sicily, which\n  was the reason why it was said that Ceres came from Sicily to Athens.\n  Her daughter was said to have been taken away, because corn and fruit\n  had not been produced in sufficient quantities, for some time, to\n  furnish food for the people. Pluto was said to have carried her to the\n  Infernal regions, because the grain and seeds at that time remained\n  buried, as it were, at the very center of the earth. Jupiter was said\n  to have decided the difference between Ceres and Pluto, because the\n  earth again became covered with crops.\n\n  This appears to be an ingenious allegorical explanation of the story;\n  but it is not at all improbable that it may have been founded upon\n  actual facts, and that, having lost her daughter, and going to Attica\n  to seek her, Ceres taught Triptolemus the mysteries of Isis; and that,\n  in process of time, Ceres, having become enrolled among the Divinities\n  of Greece, her worship became confounded with that of Isis.\n\n  It is very possible that the story of the transformation of Stellio\n  into a newt may have had no other foundation than the Poet\u2019s fancy.\n\n\nFABLE V.\n[V. 462-563]\n\n  Ceres proceeds in a fruitless search for her daughter over the whole\n  earth, until the Nymph Arethusa acquaints her with the place of her\n  ravisher\u2019s abode. The Goddess makes her complaint to Jupiter, and\n  obtains his consent for her daughter\u2019s return to the upper world,\n  provided she has not eaten anything since her arrival in Pluto\u2019s\n  dominions. Ascalaphus, however, having informed that she has eaten\n  some seeds of a pomegranate, Ceres is disappointed, and Proserpine, in\n  her wrath, metamorphoses the informer into an owl. The Sirens have\n  wings given them by the Gods, to enable them to be more expeditious in\n  seeking for Proserpine. Jupiter, to console Ceres for her loss,\n  decides that her daughter shall remain six months each year with her\n  mother upon earth, and the other six with her husband, in the Infernal\n  Regions.\n\n\u201cIt were a tedious task[59] to relate through what lands and what seas\nthe Goddess wandered; for her search the world was too limited. She\nreturns to Sicily; and while, in her passage, she views all {places},\nshe comes, too, to Cyane; she, had she not been transformed, would have\ntold her everything. But both mouth and tongue were wanting to her,\n{thus} desirous to tell, and she had no means whereby to speak. Still,\nshe gave unmistakable tokens, and pointed out, on the top of the water,\nthe girdle[60] of Proserpine, well known to her parent, which by chance\nhad fallen off in that place into the sacred stream.\n\n\u201cSoon as she recognized this, as if then, at last, she fully understood\nthat her daughter had been carried away[61] the Goddess tore her\nunadorned hair, and struck her breast again and again with her hands.\nNot as yet does she know where she is, yet she exclaims against all\ncountries, and calls them ungrateful, and not worthy of the gifts of\ncorn; {and} Trinacria before {all} others, in which she has found the\nproofs of her loss. Wherefore, with vengeful hand, she there broke the\nploughs that were turning up the clods, and, in her anger, consigned to\na similar death both the husbandmen and the oxen that cultivated the\nfields, and ordered the land to deny a return of what had been deposited\n{therein}, and rendered the seed corrupted. The fertility of the soil,\nfamed over the wide world, lies in ruin, the corn dies in the early\nblade, and sometimes excessive heat of the sun, sometimes excessive\nshowers, spoil it. Both the Constellations and the winds injure it, and\nthe greedy birds pick up the seed as it is sown; darnel, and thistles,\nand unconquerable weeds, choke the crops of wheat.\n\n\u201cThen the Alpheian Nymph[62] raised her head from out of the Elean\nwaters, and drew back her dripping hair from her forehead to her ears,\nand said, \u201cO thou mother of the virgin sought over the whole world, and\nof the crops {as well}, cease {at length} thy boundless toil, and in thy\nwrath be not angered with a region that is faithful to thee. This land\ndoes not deserve it; and against its will it gave a path for {the\ncommission of} the outrage. Nor am I {now} a suppliant for {my own}\ncountry; a stranger I am come hither. Pisa is my native place, and from\nElis do I derive my birth. As a stranger do I inhabit Sicily, but this\nland is more pleasing to me than any other soil. I, Arethusa, now have\nthis for my abode, this for my habitation; which, do thou, most kindly\n{Goddess}, preserve. Why I have been removed from my {native} place, and\nhave been carried to Ortygia, through the waters of seas so spacious,\na seasonable time will come for my telling thee, when thou shalt be\neased of thy cares, and {wilt be} of more cheerful aspect. The pervious\nearth affords me a passage, and, carried beneath its lowest caverns,\nhere I lift my head {again}, and behold the stars which I have not been\nused {to see}. While, then, I was running under the earth, along the\nStygian stream, thy Proserpine was there beheld by my eyes.[63] {She}\nindeed {was} sad, and not as yet without alarm in her countenance, but\nstill {she is} a queen, and the most ennobled {female} in the world of\ndarkness; still, too, is she the powerful spouse of the Infernal King.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe mother, on hearing these words, stood amazed, as though she {had\nbeen made} of stone, and for a long time was like one stupefied; and\nwhen her intense bewilderment was dispelled by the weight of her grief,\nshe departed in her chariot into the \u00e6therial air, and there, with her\ncountenance all clouded, she stood before Jupiter, much to his\ndiscredit, with her hair dishevelled; and she said, \u201cI have come,\nJupiter, as a suppliant to thee, both for my own offspring and for\nthine. If thou hast no respect for the mother, {still} let the daughter\nmove her father; and I pray thee not to have the less regard for her,\nbecause she was brought forth by my travail. Lo! my daughter, so long\nsought for, has been found by me at last; if you call it finding[64] to\nbe more certain of one\u2019s loss; or if you call it finding, to know where\nshe is. I will endure {the fact}, that she has been carried off, if he\nwill only restore her. For, indeed, a daughter of thine is not deserving\nof a ravisher for a husband, if now my own daughter is.\u201d Jupiter\nreplied, \u201cThy daughter is a pledge and charge, in common to me and thee;\nbut, should it please thee only to give right names to things, this deed\nis not an injury, but it is {a mark of} affection, nor will he, as a\nson-in-law, be any disgrace to us, if thou only, Goddess, shouldst give\nthy consent. Although other {recommendations} were wanting, how great a\nthing is it to be the brother of Jupiter! and besides, is it not because\nother points are not wanting, and because he is not my inferior, except\nby the accident {of his allotment of the Stygian abodes}? But if thy\neagerness is so great for their separation, let Proserpine return to\nheaven; still upon this fixed condition, if she has touched no food\nthere with her lips; for thus has it been provided by the law of the\nDestinies.\u201d\n\n\u201c{Thus} he spoke; still Ceres is {now} resolved to fetch away her\ndaughter; but not so do the Fates permit. For the damsel had broke her\nfast; and, while in her innocence she was walking about the\nfinely-cultivated garden, she had plucked a pomegranate[65] from the\nbending tree, and had chewed in her mouth seven grains[66] taken from\nthe pale rind. Ascalaphus[67] alone, of all persons, had seen this, whom\nOrphne, by no means the most obscure among the Nymphs of Avernus,[68] is\nsaid once to have borne to her own Acheron within {his} dusky caves. He\nbeheld {this}, and cruelly prevented her return by his discovery. The\nQueen of Erebus grieved, and changed the informer into an accursed bird,\nand turned his head, sprinkled with the waters of Phlegethon,[69] into a\nbeak, and feathers, and great eyes. He, {thus} robbed of his own\n{shape}, is clothed with tawny wings, his head becomes larger, his long\nnails bend inwards, and with difficulty can he move the wings that\nspring through his sluggish arms. He becomes an obscene bird, the\nforeboder of approaching woe, a lazy owl, a direful omen to mortals.\n\n\u201cBut he, by his discovery, and his talkativeness, may seem to have\nmerited punishment. Whence have you, daughters of Achelo\u00fcs,[70] feathers\nand the feet of birds, since you have the faces of maidens? Is it\nbecause, when Proserpine was gathering the flowers of spring, you were\nmingled in the number of her companions? After you had sought her in\nvain throughout the whole world, immediately, that the waters might be\nsensible of your concern, you wished to be able, on the support of your\nwings, to hover over the waves, and you found the Gods propitious, and\nsaw your limbs grow yellow with feathers suddenly formed. But lest the\nsweetness of your voice, formed for charming the ear, and so great\nendowments of speech, should lose the gift of a tongue, your virgin\ncountenance and your human voice {still} remained.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 59: _A tedious task._--Ver. 463. \u2018Dicere longa mora\n    est,\u2019 is rendered by Clarke, \u2018It is a tedious business to tell.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 60: _The girdle._--Ver. 470. The zone, or girdle,\n    a fastening round the loins, was much worn by both sexes among\n    the ancients. It was sometimes made of netted work, and the chief\n    use of it was for holding up the tunic, and keeping it from\n    dragging on the ground. Among the Romans, the Magister Equitum, or\n    \u2018Master of the Horse,\u2019 wore a girdle of red leather, embroidered\n    by the needle, and having its extremities joined by a gold buckle.\n    It also formed part of the cuirass of the warrior. The girdle was\n    used sometimes by men to hold money instead of a purse; and the\n    \u2018pera,\u2019 \u2018wallet,\u2019 or \u2018purse,\u2019 was generally fastened to the\n    girdle. As this article of dress was used to hold up the garments\n    for the sake of expedition, it was loosened when people were\n    supposed to be abstracted from the cares of the world, as in\n    performing sacrifice or attending at funeral rites. A girdle was\n    also worn by the young women, even when the tunic was not girt up;\n    and it was only discontinued by them on the day of marriage. To\n    that circumstance, allusion is made in the present instance, as a\n    proof of the violence that had been committed on Proserpine.]\n\n    [Footnote 61: _Had been carried away._--Ver. 471. Clarke\n    translates \u2018tunc denique raptam Scisset,\u2019 \u2018knew that she had been\n    kidnapped.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 62: _Alpheian Nymph._--Ver. 487. Alpheus was a river of\n    Elis, in the northwestern part of Peloponnesus. Its present name\n    is \u2018Carbon.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 63: _Beheld by my eyes._--Ver. 505. Ovid here makes\n    Arethusa the discoverer to Ceres of the fate of her daughter. In\n    the Fourth Book of the Fasti, he represents the Sun as giving her\n    that information, in which he follows the account given by Homer.\n    Apollodorus describes the descent of Pluto as taking place at\n    Hermione, a town of Argolis, in Peloponnesus, and the people of\n    that place as informing Ceres of what had happened to her\n    daughter.]\n\n    [Footnote 64: _If you call it finding._--Ver. 520. This remark of\n    the Goddess is very like that of the Irish sailor, who vowed that\n    a thing could not be said to be lost when one knows where it is;\n    and that his master\u2019s kettle was quite safe, for he knew it to be\n    at the bottom of the sea.]\n\n    [Footnote 65: _Plucked a pomegranate._--Ver. 535. It was for this\n    reason that the Thesmophoriazus\u00e6, in the performance of the rites\n    of Ceres, were especially careful not to taste the pomegranate.\n    This fruit was most probably called \u2018malum,\u2019 or \u2018pomum punicum,\u2019\n    or \u2018puniceum,\u2019 from the deep red or purple color of the inside,\n    and not as having been first introduced from Ph\u0153nicia.]\n\n    [Footnote 66: _Seven grains._--Ver. 537. He says here \u2018seven,\u2019 but\n    in the Fourth Book of the Fasti, only \u2018three\u2019 grains.]\n\n    [Footnote 67: _Ascalaphus._--Ver. 539. He was the son of Acheron,\n    by the Nymph Orphne, or Gorgyra, according to Apollodorus. The\n    latter author says, that for his unseasonable discovery, Ceres\n    placed a rock upon him; but that, having been liberated by\n    Hercules, she changed him into an owl, called \u1f66\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd. The Greek name\n    of a lizard being \u1f00\u03c3\u03ba\u03ac\u03bb\u03b1\u03b2\u03bf\u03c2, Mellman thinks that the\n    transformation of the boy into a newt, or kind of lizard, which\n    has just been related by the Poet, may have possibly originated in\n    a confused version of the story of Ascalaphus.]\n\n    [Footnote 68: _Avernus._--Ver. 540. Avernus was a lake of\n    Campania, near Bai\u00e6, of a fetid smell and gloomy aspect. Being\n    feigned to be the mouth, or threshold, of the Infernal Regions,\n    its name became generally used to signify Tartarus, or the\n    Infernal Regions. The name is said to have been derived from the\n    Greek word \u1f04\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2, \u2018without birds,\u2019 or \u2018unfrequented by birds,\u2019 as\n    they could not endure the exhalations that were emitted by it.]\n\n    [Footnote 69: _Phlegethon._--Ver. 544. This was a burning river of\n    the Infernal Regions; which received its name from the Greek word\n    \u03c6\u03bb\u03ad\u03b3\u03c9, \u2018to burn.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 70: _Achelo\u00fcs._--Ver. 552. The Sirens were said to be\n    the daughters of the river Achelo\u00fcs and of one of the Muses,\n    either Calliope, Melpomene, or Terpsichore.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Apollodorus says, that the terms of the treaty respecting Proserpine\n  were, that she should stay on earth nine months with Ceres, and three\n  with Pluto, in the Infernal Regions. Other writers divide the time\n  equally; six months to Ceres, and six to Pluto. They also tell us that\n  the story of Ascalaphus is founded on the fact, that he was one of the\n  courtiers of Pluto, who, having advised his master to carry away\n  Proserpine, did all that lay in his power to obstruct the endeavors of\n  Ceres, and hinder the restoration of her daughter, on which Proserpine\n  had him privately destroyed; to screen which deed the Fable was\n  invented; the pernicious counsels which he gave his master being\n  signified by the seeds of the pomegranate. It has also been suggested\n  that the story of his change into an owl was based on the circumstance\n  that he was the overseer of the mines of Pluto, in which he perished,\n  removed from the light of day. Perhaps he was there crushed to death\n  by the fall of a rock, which caused the poets to say that Proserpine\n  had covered him with a large stone, as Apollodorus informs us, who\n  also says that it was Ceres who inflicted the punishment upon him. The\n  name \u2018Ascalaphus\u2019 signifies, \u2018one that breaks stones,\u2019 and, very\n  probably, that name was only given him to denote his employment. Some\n  writers state that he was changed into a lizard, which the Greeks call\n  \u2018Ascalabos,\u2019 and, probably, the resemblance between the names gave\n  rise to this version of the story.\n\n  Probably, the story of the Nymph Cyane reproaching Pluto with his\n  treatment of Proserpine, and being thereupon changed by him into a\n  fountain, has no other foundation than the propinquity of the place\n  where Pluto\u2019s emissaries embarked to a stream of that name near the\n  city of Syracuse; which was, perhaps, overflowing at that time, and\n  may have impeded their passage.\n\n  Ovid, probably, feigned that the Sirens begged the Gods to change them\n  into birds, that they might seek for Proserpine, on the ground of some\n  existing tradition, that living on the coast of Italy, near the island\n  of Sicily, and having heard of the misfortune that had befallen her,\n  they ordered a ship with sails to be equipped to go in search of her.\n  Further reference to the Sirens will be made, on treating of the\n  adventures of Ulysses.\n\n\nFABLE VI. [V.564-641]\n\n  The Muse continues her song, in which Ceres, being satisfied with the\n  decision of Jupiter relative to her daughter, returns to Arethusa, to\n  learn the history of her adventures. The Nymph entertains the Goddess\n  with the Story of the passion of Alpheus, and his pursuit of her; to\n  avoid which, she implores the assistance of Diana, who changes her\n  into a fountain.\n\n\u201cBut Jupiter being the mediator between his brother and his disconsolate\nsister, divides the rolling year equally {between them}. For {now}, the\nGoddess, a common Divinity of two kingdoms, is so many months with her\nmother, and just as many with her husband. Immediately the appearance of\nboth her mind and her countenance is changed; for the brow of the\nGoddess, which, of late, might appear sad, even to Pluto, himself, is\nfull of gladness; as the Sun, which has lately been covered with watery\nclouds, when he comes forth from the clouds, {now} dispersed. The genial\nCeres, {now} at ease on the recovery of her daughter, {thus} asks, \u2018What\nwas the cause of thy wanderings? Why art thou, Arethusa, a sacred\nspring?\u2019 The waters are silent, {and}, the Goddess raises her head from\nthe deep fountain; and, having dried her green tresses with her hand,\nshe relates the old amours of the stream of Elis.[71]\n\n\u201c\u2018I was,\u2019 says she, \u2018one of the Nymphs which exist in Achaia, nor did\nany one more eagerly skim along the glades than myself, nor with more\nindustry set the nets. But though the reputation for beauty was never\nsought by me, although, {too}, I was of robust make, {still} I had the\nname of being beautiful. But my appearance, when so much commended, did\nnot please me; and I, like a country lass, blushed at those endowments\nof person in which other females are wont to take a pride, and I deemed\nit a crime to please. I remember, I was returning weary from the\nStymphalian[72] wood; the weather was hot, and my toil had redoubled the\nintense heat. I found a stream gliding on without any eddies, without\nany noise, {and} clear to the bottom; through which every pebble, at so\ngreat a depth, might be counted, {and} which you could hardly suppose to\nbe in motion. The hoary willows[73] and poplars, nourished by the water,\nfurnished a shade, spontaneously produced, along the shelving banks.\nI approached, and, at first, I dipped the soles of my feet, and then, as\nfar as the knee. Not content with that, I undressed, and I laid my soft\ngarments upon a bending willow; and, naked, I plunged into the waters.\n\n\u201c\u2018While I was striking them, and drawing them {towards me}, moving in a\nthousand ways, and was sending forth my extended arms, I perceived a\nmost unusual murmuring noise beneath the middle of the stream; and,\nalarmed, I stood on the edge of the nearer bank. \u2018Whither dost thou\nhasten, Arethusa?\u2019 said Alpheus from his waves. \u2018Whither dost thou\nhasten?\u2019 again he said to me, in a hollow tone. Just as I was, I fled\nwithout my clothes; {for} the other side had my garments. So much the\nmore swiftly did he pursue, and become inflamed; and, because I was\nnaked, the more tempting to him did I appear. Thus was I running; thus\nunrelentingly was he pursuing me; as the doves are wont to fly from the\nhawk with trembling wings, and as the hawk is wont to pursue the\ntrembling doves, I held out in my course even as far as Orchomenus,[74]\nand Psophis,[75] and Cyllene, and the M\u00e6nalian valleys, and cold\nErymanthus and Elis. Nor was he swifter than I, but unequal to {him} in\nstrength, I was unable, any longer, to keep up the chase; for he was\nable to endure prolonged fatigue. However, I ran over fields {and} over\nmountains covered with trees, rocks too, and crags, and where there was\nno path. The sun was upon my back; I saw a long shadow advancing before\nmy feet, unless, perhaps, it was my fear that saw it. But, at all\nevents, I was alarmed at the sound of his feet, and his increased\nhardness of breathing was {now} fanning the fillets of my hair. Wearied\nwith the exertion of my flight, I said, \u2018Give aid, Dictynna, to thy\narmor-bearer, {or} I am overtaken; {I}, to whom thou hast so often given\nthy bow to carry, and thy darts enclosed in a quiver.\u2019 The Goddess was\nmoved, and, taking one of the dense clouds, she threw it over me. The\nriver looked about for me, concealed in the darkness, and, in his\nignorance sought about the encircling cloud and twice, unconsciously did\nhe go around the place where the Goddess had concealed me, and twice did\nhe cry, \u2018Ho, Arethusa![76] Ho, Arethusa!\u2019 What, then, were my feelings\nin my wretchedness? Were they not just those of the lamb, as it hears\nthe wolves howling around the high sheep-folds? Or of the hare, which,\nlurking in the bush, beholds the hostile noses of the dogs, and dares\nnot make a single movement with her body? Yet he does not depart; for no\n{further} does he trace any prints of my feet. He watches the cloud and\nthe spot. A cold perspiration takes possession of my limbs {thus}\nbesieged, and azure colored drops distil from all my body. Wherever I\nmove my foot, {there} flows a lake; drops trickle from my hair, and, in\nless time than I take in acquainting thee with my fate, I was changed\ninto a stream. But still the river recognized the waters, the objects of\nhis love; and, having laid aside the shape of a mortal, which he had\nassumed, he was changed into his own waters, that he might mingle with\nme. {Thereupon}, the Delian Goddess cleaved the ground. Sinking, I was\ncarried through dark caverns to Ortygia,[77] which, being dear to me,\nfrom the surname of my own Goddess, was the first to introduce me to the\nupper air.\u2019\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 71: _Stream of Elis._--Ver. 576. The Alpheus really rose\n    in Arcadia; but, as it ran through the territory of the Eleans,\n    and discharged itself into the sea, near Cyllene, the seaport of\n    that people, they worshipped it with divine honors.]\n\n    [Footnote 72: _Stymphalian._--Ver. 585. Stymphalus was the name of\n    a city, mountain, and river of Arcadia, near the territory of\n    Elis.]\n\n    [Footnote 73: _Hoary willows._--Ver. 590. The leaf of the willow\n    has a whitish hue, especially on one side of it.]\n\n    [Footnote 74: _Orchomenus._--Ver. 607. This was a city of Arcadia,\n    in a marshy district, near to Mantinea. There was another place of\n    the same name, in B\u0153otia, between Elatea and Coronea, famous for a\n    splendid temple to the Graces, there erected.]\n\n    [Footnote 75: _Psophis._--Ver. 607. This was a city of Arcadia\n    also, adjoining to the Elean territory, which received its name\n    from Psophis, the daughter of Lycaon, or of Eryx, according to\n    some writers. There were several other towns of the same name.\n    The other places here mentioned, with the exception of Elis, were\n    mountains of Arcadia.]\n\n    [Footnote 76: _Ho, Arethusa!_--Ver. 625-6. Clarke thus translates\n    these lines:--\u2018And twice called out Soho, Arethusa! Soho,\n    Arethusa! What thought had I then, poor soul!\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 77: _To Ortygia._--Ver. 640. From the similarity of its\n    name to that of the Goddess Diana, who was called Ortygia, from\n    the Isle of Delos, where she was born.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Bochart tells us that the story of the fountain Arethusa and the river\n  Alpheus, her lover, who traversed so many countries in pursuit of her,\n  has no other foundation than an equivocal expression in the language\n  of the first inhabitants of Sicily. The Ph\u0153nicians, who went to settle\n  in that island, finding the fountain surrounded with willows, gave it\n  the name of \u2018Alphaga,\u2019 or \u2018the fountain of the willows.\u2019 Others,\n  again, gave it the name of \u2018Arith,\u2019 signifying \u2018a stream.\u2019 The Greeks,\n  arriving there in after ages, not understanding the signification of\n  these words, and remembering their own river Alpheus, in Elis,\n  imagined that since the river and the fountain had nearly the same\n  name, Alpheus had crossed the sea, to arrive in Sicily.\n\n  This notion appearing, probably, to the poets not devoid of ingenuity,\n  they accordingly founded on it the romantic story of the passion of\n  the river God Alpheus for the Nymph Arethusa. Some of the ancient\n  historians appear, however, in their credulity, really to have\n  believed, at least, a part of the story, as they seriously tell us,\n  that the river Alpheus passes under the bed of the sea, and rises\n  again in Sicily, near the fountain of Arethusa. Even among the more\n  learned, this fable gained credit; for we find the oracle of Delphi\n  ordering Archias to conduct a colony of Corinthians to Syracuse, and\n  the priestess giving the following directions:--\u2018Go into that island\n  where the river Alpheus mixes his waters with the fair Arethusa.\u2019\n\n  Pausanias avows, that he regards the story of Alpheus and Arethusa as\n  a mere fable; but, not daring to dispute a fact established by the\n  response of an oracle, he does not contradict the fact of the river\n  running through the sea, though he is at a loss to understand how it\n  can happen.\n\n\nFABLE VII. [V.642-678]\n\n  Ceres entrusts her chariot to Triptolemus, and orders him to go\n  everywhere, and cultivate the earth. He obeys her, and, at length,\n  arrives in Scythia, where Lyncus, designing to kill him, is changed\n  into a lynx. The Muse then finishes her song, on which the daughters\n  of Pierus are changed into magpies.\n\n\u201cThus far Arethusa. The fertile Goddess yoked[78] two dragons to her\nchariot, and curbed their mouths with bridles; and was borne through the\nmid air of heaven and of earth, and guided her light chariot to the\nTritonian citadel, to Triptolemus; and she ordered him to scatter the\nseeds that were entrusted {to him} partly in the fallow ground, {and}\npartly {in the ground} restored to cultivation after so long a time. Now\nhad the youth been borne on high over Europe and the lands of Asia,[79]\nand he arrived at the coast of Scythia: Lyncus was the king there. He\nentered the house of the king. Being asked whence he came, and the\noccasion of his coming, and his name, and his country, he said, \u2018My\ncountry is the famous Athens, my name is Triptolemus. I came neither in\na ship through the waves, nor on foot by land; the pervious sky made a\nway for me. I bring the gifts of Ceres, which, scattered over the wide\nfields, are to yield {you} the fruitful harvests, and wholesome food.\u2019\nThe barbarian envies him; and that he himself may be {deemed} the author\nof so great a benefit, he receives him with hospitality, and, when\noverpowered with sleep, he attacks him with the sword. {But}, while\nattempting to pierce his breast, Ceres made him a lynx; and again sent\nthe Mopsopian[80] youth to drive the sacred drawers of her chariot\nthrough the air.\n\n\u201cThe greatest of us[81] had {now} finished her learned song. But the\nNymphs, with unanimous voice, pronounced that the Goddesses who inhabit\nHelicon had proved the conquerors. Then the others, {thus} vanquished,\nbegan to scatter their abuse: \u2018Since,\u2019 said she, \u2018it is a trifling\nmatter for you to have merited punishment by this contest, you add\nabuse, too, to your fault, and endurance is not permitted us: we shall\nproceed to punishment, and whither our resentment calls, we shall\nfollow.\u2019 The Emathian sisters smiled, and despised our threatening\nlanguage; and endeavoring to speak, and to menace with their insolent\nhands amid great clamor, they beheld quills growing out of their nails,\nand their arms covered with feathers. And they each see the face of the\nother shooting out into a hard beak, and new birds being added to the\nwoods. And while they strive to beat their breasts elevated by the\nmotion of their arms, they hang poised in the air, {as} magpies, the\nscandal of the groves. Even then their original talkativeness remains in\n{them} as birds, and their jarring garrulity, and their enormous love of\nchattering.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 78: _Goddess yoked._--Ver. 642. Clarke renders \u2018geminos\n    Dea fertilis angues curribus admovit,\u2019 \u2018the fertile Goddess\n    clapped two snakes to her chariot.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 79: _Lands of Asia._--Ver. 648. Asia Minor is here\n    meant; the other parts of Asia being included under the term\n    \u2018Scythicas oras.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 80: _Mopsopian._--Ver. 661. This very uneuphonious name\n    is derived from Mopsopus, one of the ancient kings of Attica. It\n    here means \u2018Athenian.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 81: _The greatest of us._--Ver. 662. Namely, Calliope,\n    who had commenced her song as the representative of the Muses, at\n    line 341.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Triptolemus reigned at Eleusis at the time when the mysteries of Ceres\n  were established there. As we are told by Philochorus, he went with a\n  ship, to carry corn into different countries, and introduced there the\n  worship of Ceres, whose priest he was. This is, doubtless, the key for\n  the explanation of the story, that Ceres nursed him on her own milk,\n  and purified him by fire. Some have supposed that the fable refers to\n  the epoch when agriculture was introduced into Greece: but it is much\n  more probable that it relates simply to the introduction there of the\n  mysterious worship of Ceres, which was probably imported from Egypt.\n  It is possible that, at the same period, the Greeks may have learned\n  some improved method of tilling the ground, acquired by their\n  intercourse with Egypt.\n\n  Probably, the dangers which Triptolemus experienced in his voyages and\n  travels, gave rise to the story of Lyncus, whose cruelty caused him to\n  be changed into a lynx. Bochart and Le Clerc think that the fable of\n  Triptolemus being drawn by winged dragons, is based upon the equivocal\n  meaning of a Ph\u0153nician word, which signified either \u2018a winged dragon,\u2019\n  or \u2018a ship fastened with iron nails or bolts.\u2019 Philochorus, however,\n  as cited by Eusebius, says that his ship was called a flying dragon,\n  from its carrying the figure of a dragon on its prow. We learn from a\n  fragment of Stob\u00e6us, that Erectheus, when engaged in a war against the\n  Eleusinians, was told by the oracle that he would be victorious, if he\n  sacrificed his daughter Proserpine. This, perhaps, may have given\n  rise, or added somewhat, to the story of the rape of Proserpine by\n  Pluto.\n\n  According to a fragment of Homer, cited by Pausanias, the names of the\n  first Greeks, who were initiated into the mysteries of Ceres,\n  were,--Celeus, Triptolemus, Eumolpus, and Diocles. Clement of\n  Alexandria calls them Baubon, Dysaulus, Eubule\u00fcs, Eumolpus, and\n  Triptolemus. Eumolpus being the Hierophant, or explainer of the\n  mysteries of Eleusis, made war against Erectheus, king of Athens. They\n  were both killed in battle, and it was thereupon agreed that the\n  posterity of Erectheus should be kings of Athens, and the descendants\n  of Eumolpus should, in future, retain the office of Hierophant.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK THE SIXTH.\n\n\nFABLE I. [VI.1-145]\n\n  Arachne, vain-glorious of her ingenuity, challenges Minerva to a\n  contest of skill in her art. The Goddess accepts the challenge, and,\n  being enraged to see herself outdone, strikes her rival with her\n  shuttle; upon which, Arachne, in her distress, hangs herself. Minerva,\n  touched with compassion, transforms her into a spider.\n\nTritonia had {meanwhile} lent an ear to such recitals as these, and she\napproved of the songs of the Aonian maids, and their just resentment.\nThen {thus she says} to herself: \u201cTo commend is but a trifling matter;\nlet us, too, deserve commendation, and let us not permit our divine\nmajesty to be slighted without {due} punishment.\u201d And {then} she turns\nher mind to the fate of the M\u00e6onian Arachne; who, as she had heard, did\nnot yield to her in the praises of the art of working in wool. She was\nrenowned not for the place {of her birth}, nor for the origin of her\nfamily, but for her skill {alone}. Idmon, of Colophon,[1] her father,\nused to dye the soaking wool in Phoc\u00e6an[2] purple.[3] Her mother was\ndead; but she, too, was of the lower rank, and of the same condition\nwith her husband. Yet {Arachne}, by her skill, had acquired a memorable\nname throughout the cities of Lydia; although, born of a humble family,\nshe used to live in the little {town} of Hyp\u00e6p\u00e6.[4] Often did the Nymphs\ndesert the vineyards of their own Tymolus, that they might look at her\nadmirable workmanship; {often} did the Nymphs of the {river} Pactolus[5]\nforsake their streams. And not only did it give them pleasure to look at\nthe garments when made, but even, too, while they were being made, so\nmuch grace was there in her working. Whether it was that she was rolling\nthe rough wool into its first balls, or whether she was unravelling the\nwork with her fingers, and was softening the fleeces worked over again\nwith long drawings out, equalling the mists {in their fineness}; or\nwhether she was moving the {smooth} round spindle with her nimble thumb,\nor was embroidering with the needle, you might perceive that she had\nbeen instructed by Pallas.\n\nThis, however, she used to deny; and, being displeased with a mistress\nso famed, she said, \u201cLet her contend with me. There is nothing which, if\nconquered, I should refuse {to endure}.\u201d Pallas personates an old woman;\nshe both places false gray hair on her temples, and supports as well her\ninfirm limbs by a staff. Then thus she begins to speak: \u201cOld age has not\neverything which we should avoid; experience comes from lengthened\nyears. Do not despise my advice; let the greatest fame for working wool\nbe sought by thee among mortals. {But} yield to the Goddess, and, rash\nwoman, ask pardon for thy speeches with suppliant voice. She will grant\npardon at my entreaty.\u201d {The other} beholds her with scowling {eyes},\nand leaves the threads she has begun; and scarcely restraining her hand,\nand discovering her anger by her looks, with such words as these does\nshe reply to the disguised Pallas: \u201cThou comest {here} bereft of thy\nunderstanding, and worn out with prolonged old age; and it is thy\nmisfortune to have lived too long. If thou hast any daughter-in-law, if\nthou hast any daughter {of thy own}, let her listen to these remarks.\nI have sufficient knowledge for myself in myself, and do not imagine\nthat thou hast availed anything by thy advice; my opinion is {still} the\nsame. Why does not she come herself? why does she decline this contest?\u201d\n\nThen the Goddess says, \u201cLo! she is come;\u201d and she casts aside the figure\nof an old woman, and shows herself {as} Pallas. The Nymphs and the\nMygdonian[6] matrons venerate the Goddess. The virgin alone is not\ndaunted. But still she blushes, and a sudden flush marks her reluctant\nfeatures, and again it vanishes; {just} as the sky is wont to become\ntinted with purple, when Aurora is first stirring, and after a short\ntime to grow white from the influence of the Sun. She persists in her\ndetermination, and, from a desire for a foolish victory, she rushes upon\nher own destruction. Nor, indeed, does the daughter of Jupiter decline\n{it}, or advise her any further, nor does she now put off the contest.\nThere is no delay; they both take their stand in different places, and\nstretch out two webs {on the loom} with a fine warp. The web is tied\naround the beam; the sley separates the warp; the woof is inserted in\nthe middle with sharp shuttles, which the fingers hurry along, and being\ndrawn within the warp, the teeth notched in the moving sley strike it.\nBoth hasten on, and girding up their garments to their breasts, they\nmove their skilful arms, their eagerness beguiling their fatigue. There\nboth the purple is being woven, which is subjected to the Tyrian brazen\nvessel,[7] and fine shades of minute difference; just as the rainbow,\nwith its mighty arch, is wont to tint a long tract of the sky by means\nof the rays reflected by the shower: in which, though a thousand\ndifferent colors are shining, yet the very transition eludes the eyes\nthat look upon it; to such a degree is that which is adjacent the same;\nand yet the extremes are different. There, too, the pliant gold is mixed\nwith the threads, and ancient subjects are represented on the webs.\n\nPallas embroiders the rock of Mars[8] in {Athens}, the citadel of\nCecrops, and the old dispute about the name of the country. Twice six[9]\ncelestial Gods are sitting on lofty seats in august state, with Jupiter\nin the midst. His own proper likeness distinguishes each of the Gods.\nThe form of Jupiter is that of a monarch. She makes the God of the sea\nto be standing {there}, and to be striking the rugged rocks with his\nlong trident, and a wild {horse} to be springing forth[10] out of the\nmidst of the opening of the rock; by which pledge {of his favor} he lays\nclaim to the city. But to herself she gives the shield, she gives the\nlance with its sharp point; she gives the helmet to her head, {and} her\nbreast is protected by the \u00c6gis. She {there} represents, too, the earth\nstruck by her spear, producing a shoot of pale olive with its berries,\nand the Gods admiring it. Victory is the end of her work. But that the\nrival of her fame may learn from precedents what reward to expect for an\nattempt so mad, she adds, in four {different} parts, four contests\nbright in their coloring, and distinguished by diminutive figures. One\ncorner contains Thracian Rhodope and H\u00e6mus, now cold mountains, formerly\nhuman bodies, who assumed to themselves the names of the supreme Gods.\nAnother part contains the wretched fate of the Pygm\u00e6an matron.[11] Her,\novercome in a contest, Juno commanded to be a crane, and to wage war\nagainst her own people. She depicts, too, Antigone,[12] who once dared\nto contend with the wife of the great Jupiter; {and} whom the royal Juno\nchanged into a bird; nor did Ilion protect her, or her father Laomedon,\nfrom assuming wings, and {as} a white crane, from commending herself\nwith her chattering beak. The only corner that remains, represents the\nbereft Cinyras;[13] and he, embracing the steps of a temple, {once} the\nlimbs of his own daughters, and lying upon the stone, appears to be\nweeping. She surrounds the exterior borders with peaceful olive. That is\nthe close; and with her own tree she puts an end to the work.\n\nThe M\u00e6onian Nymph delineates Europa, deceived by the form of the bull;\nand you would think it a real bull, and real sea. She herself seems to\nbe looking upon the land which she has left, and to be crying out to her\ncompanions, and to be in dread of the touch of the dashing waters, and\nto be drawing up her timid feet. She drew also Asterie,[14] seized by\nthe struggling eagle; and made Leda, reclining beneath the wings of the\nswan. She added, how Jupiter, concealed under the form of a Satyr,\nimpregnated {Antiope},[15] the beauteous daughter of Nycteus, with a\ntwin offspring; {how} he was Amphitryon, when he beguiled thee,\nTirynthian[16] dame; how, turned to gold, he deceived Dana\u00eb; {how},\nchanged into fire, the daughter of Asopus;[17] {how}, as a shepherd,\nMnemosyne;[18] and as a speckled serpent, Deois.[19] She depicted thee\ntoo, Neptune, changed into a fierce bull, with the virgin daughter[20]\nof \u00c6olus. Thou, seeming to be Enipeus,[21] didst beget the Alo\u00efd\u00e6; as a\nram, thou didst delude {Theophane}, the daughter of Bisaltis.[22] Thee\ntoo the most bounteous mother of corn, with her yellow hair,\nexperienced[23] as a steed; thee, the mother[24] of the winged horse,\nwith her snaky locks, received as a bird; Melantho,[25] as a dolphin. To\nall these did she give their own likeness, and the {real} appearance of\nthe {various} localities. There was Ph\u0153bus, under the form of a rustic;\nand how, {besides}, he was wearing the wings of a hawk at one time, at\nanother the skin of a lion; how, too, as a shepherd, he deceived\nIsse,[26] the daughter of Macareus. How Liber deceived Erigone,[27] in a\nfictitious bunch of grapes; {and} how Saturn[28] begot the two-formed\nChiron, in {the form of} a horse. The extreme part of the web, being\nenclosed in a fine border, had flowers interwoven with the twining ivy.\n\nPallas could not blame that work, nor could Envy {censure} it. The\nyellow-haired Virgin grieved at her success, and tore the web\nembroidered with the criminal acts of the Gods of heaven. And as she was\nholding her shuttle {made of boxwood} from Mount Cytorus, three or four\ntimes did she strike the forehead of Arachne, the daughter of Idmon. The\nunhappy creature could not endure it; and being of a high spirit, she\ntied up her throat in a halter. Pallas, taking compassion, bore her up\nas she hung; and thus she said: \u201cLive on indeed, wicked one,[29] but\nstill hang; and let the same decree of punishment be pronounced against\nthy race, and against thy latest posterity, that thou mayst not be free\nfrom care in time to come.\u201d After that, as she departed, she sprinkled\nher with the juices of an Hecatean herb;[30] and immediately her hair,\ntouched by the noxious drug, fell off, and together with it her nose and\nears. The head of herself, {now} small as well throughout her whole\nbody, becomes very small. Her slender fingers cleave to her sides as\nlegs; her belly takes possession of the rest {of her}; but out of this\nshe gives forth a thread; and {as} a spider, she works at her web as\nformerly.\n\n    [Footnote 1: _Colophon._--Ver. 8. Colophon was an opulent city of\n    Lydia, famous for an oracle of Apollo there.]\n\n    [Footnote 2: _Phoc\u00e6an._--Ver. 9. Phoc\u00e6a was a city of \u00c6olia, in\n    Ionia, on the shores of the Mediterranean, famous for its purple\n    dye.]\n\n    [Footnote 3: _Purple._--Ver. 9. \u2018Murex\u2019 was a shell-fish, now\n    called \u2018the purple,\u2019 the juices of which were much used by the\n    ancients for dyeing a deep purple color. The most valuable kinds\n    were found near Tyre and Phoc\u00e6a, mentioned in the text.]\n\n    [Footnote 4: _Hyp\u00e6p\u00e6._--Ver. 13. This was a little town of Lydia,\n    near the banks of the river Cayster. It was situate on the descent\n    of Mount Tymolus, or Tmolus, famed for its wines and saffron.]\n\n    [Footnote 5: _Pactolus._--Ver. 16. This was a river of Lydia,\n    which was said to have sands of gold.]\n\n    [Footnote 6: _Mygdonian._--Ver. 45. Mygdonia was a small territory\n    of Phrygia, bordering upon Lydia, and colonized by a people from\n    Thrace. Probably these persons had come from the neighboring\n    country, to see the exquisite works of Arachne. As the Poet tells\n    us, many were present when the Goddess discovered herself, and\n    professed their respect and veneration, while Arachne alone\n    remained unmoved.]\n\n    [Footnote 7: _Brazen vessel._--Ver. 60. It seems that brazen\n    cauldrons were used for the purposes of dyeing, in preference to\n    those of iron.]\n\n    [Footnote 8: _Rock of Mars._--Ver. 70. This was the spot called\n    Areiopagus, which was said to have received its name from the\n    trial there of Mars, when he was accused by Neptune of having\n    slain his son Halirrothius.]\n\n    [Footnote 9: _Twice six._--Ver. 72. These were the \u2018Dii\n    consentes,\u2019 mentioned before, in the note to Book i., l. 172. They\n    are thus enumerated in an Elegiac couplet, more consistent with\n    the rules of prosody than the two lines there quoted:--\n\n      \u2018Vulcanus, Mars, Sol, Neptunus, Jupiter, Hermes,\n      Vesta, Diana, Ceres, Juno, Minerva, Venus.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 10: _To be springing forth._--Ver. 76-7. Clarke renders\n    \u2018facit--e vulnere saxi Exsiluisse ferum,\u2019 \u2018she makes a wild horse\n    bounce out of the opening in the rock.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 11: _Pygm\u00e6an matron._--Ver. 90. According to \u00c6lian, the\n    name of this queen of the Pigmies was Gerane, while other writers\n    call her Pygas. She was worshipped by her subjects as a Goddess,\n    which raised her to such a degree of conceit, that she despised\n    the worship of the Deities, especially of Juno and Diana, on which\n    in their indignation, they changed her into a crane, the most\n    active enemy of the Pygmies. These people were dwarfs, living\n    either in India, Arabia, or Thrace, and they were said not to\n    exceed a cubit in height.]\n\n    [Footnote 12: _Antigone._--Ver. 93. She was the daughter of\n    Laomedon, king of Troy, and was remarkable for the extreme beauty\n    of her hair. Proud of this, she used to boast that she resembled\n    Juno; on which the Goddess, offended at her presumption, changed\n    her hair into serpents. In compassion, the Deities afterwards\n    transformed her into a stork.]\n\n    [Footnote 13: _Cinyras._--Ver. 98. Cinyras had several daughters\n    (besides Myrrha), remarkable for their extreme beauty. Growing\n    insolent upon the strength of their good looks, and pretending to\n    surpass even Juno herself in beauty, they incurred the resentment\n    of that Goddess, who changed them into the steps of a temple, and\n    transformed their father into a stone, as he was embracing the\n    steps.]\n\n    [Footnote 14: _Asterie._--Ver. 108. She was the daughter of C\u00e6us,\n    the Titan, and of Ph\u0153be, and was ravished by Jupiter under the\n    form of an eagle. She was the wife of Perses, and the mother of\n    Hecate. Flying from the wrath of Jupiter, she was first changed by\n    him into a quail; and afterwards into a stone.]\n\n    [Footnote 15: _Antiope._--Ver. 110. Antiope was the daughter of\n    Nycteus, a king of B\u0153otia. Being seduced by Jupiter under the form\n    of a Satyr, she bore two sons, Zethus and Amphion. On being\n    insulted by Dirce, she was seized with madness, and was cured by\n    Phocus, whom she is said to have afterwards married.]\n\n    [Footnote 16: _Tirynthian._--Ver. 112. Tirynthus was a city near\n    Argos, where Hercules was born and educated, and from which place\n    his mother, Alcmene, derived her present appellation.]\n\n    [Footnote 17: _Daughter of Asopus._--Ver. 113. Jupiter changed\n    himself into fire, or, according to some, into an eagle, to seduce\n    \u00c6gina, the daughter of Asopus, king of B\u0153otia. By her he was the\n    father of \u00c6acus.]\n\n    [Footnote 18: _Mnemosyne._--Ver. 114. This Nymph, as already\n    mentioned, became the mother of the Nine Muses, having been\n    seduced by Jupiter.]\n\n    [Footnote 19: _Deois._--Ver. 114. Proserpine was called Deois, or\n    D\u00eaous \u0394\u03b7\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2 \u03ba\u03cc\u03c1\u03b7, from her mother Ceres, who was called \u0394\u03b7\u1f7c by the\n    Greeks, from the verb \u03b4\u03ae\u03c9, \u2018to find;\u2019 because as it was said, when\n    seeking for her daughter, the universal answer of those who wished\n    her success in her search, was, \u03b4\u03ae\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2, \u2018You will find her.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 20: _Virgin daughter._--Ver. 116. This was Canace, or\n    Arne, the daughter of \u00c6olus, whom Neptune seduced under the form\n    of a bull.]\n\n    [Footnote 21: _Enipeus._--Ver. 116. Under the form of Enipeus,\n    a river of Thessaly, Neptune committed violence upon Iphimedeia,\n    the wife of the giant Alo\u00ebus, and by her was the father of the\n    giants Otus and Ephialtes.]\n\n    [Footnote 22: _Bisaltis._--Ver. 117. Theophane was the daughter of\n    Bisaltis. Changing her into a sheep, and himself into a ram,\n    Neptune begot the Ram with the golden fleece, that bore Phryxus to\n    Colchis.]\n\n    [Footnote 23: _Experienced._--Ver. 119. \u2018Te sensit,\u2019 repeated\n    twice in this line, Clarke translates, not in a very elegant\n    manner, \u2018had a bout with thee,\u2019 and \u2018had a touch from thee.\u2019 By\n    Neptune, Ceres became the mother of the horse Arion; or, according\n    to some, of a daughter, whose name it was not deemed lawful to\n    mention.]\n\n    [Footnote 24: _Thee the mother._--Ver. 119. This was Medusa, who,\n    according to some, was the mother of the horse Pegasus, by\n    Neptune, though it is more generally said that it sprang from her\n    blood, when she was slain by Perseus.]\n\n    [Footnote 25: _Melantho._--Ver. 120. Melantho was the daughter\n    either of Proteus, or of Deucalion, and was the mother of Delphus,\n    by Neptune.]\n\n    [Footnote 26: _Isse._--Ver. 124. She was a native of either\n    Lesbos, or Eub\u0153a. Her father, Macareus, was the son of Jupiter and\n    Cyrene.]\n\n    [Footnote 27: _Erigone._--Ver. 125. She was the daughter of\n    Icarus, and was placed among the Constellations.]\n\n    [Footnote 28: _How Saturn._--Ver. 126. By Phillyra, Saturn was the\n    father of the Centaur Chiron. We may here remark, that Arachne was\n    not very complimentary to the Gods, in the choice of her subjects;\n    probably it was not her intention or wish to be so.]\n\n    [Footnote 29: _Wicked one._--Ver. 136. Clarke translates\n    \u2018improba,\u2019 \u2018thou wicked jade.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 30: _An Hecatean Herb._--Ver. 139. This was aconite, or\n    wolfsbane, said to have been discovered by Hecate, the mother of\n    Medea. She was the first who sought after, and taught the\n    properties of poisonous herbs. Some accounts say, that the aconite\n    was produced from the foam of Cerberus, when dragged by Hercules\n    from the infernal regions.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The story of Arachne is most probably based upon the simple fact, that\n  she was the most skilful artist of her time, at working in silk and\n  wool. Pliny the Elder tells us, that Arachne, the daughter of Idmon,\n  a Lydian by birth, and of low extraction, invented the art of making\n  linen cloths and nets; which invention was also by some attributed to\n  Minerva. This competition, then, for the merit of the invention, is\n  the foundation of the challenge here described by the Poet. As,\n  however, Arachne is said to have hanged herself in despair, she\n  probably fell a prey to some cause of grief or discontent, the\n  particulars of which, in their simple form, have not come down to us.\n  Perhaps the similarity of her name and employment with those of the\n  spider, as known among the Greeks, gave rise to the story of her\n  alleged transformation; unless we should prefer to attribute the story\n  to the fact of the Hebrew word \u201carag,\u201d signifying to spin, and, in\n  some degree, resembling her name.\n\n  In this story, Ovid takes the opportunity of touching upon several\n  fables, the subjects whereof he states to have been represented in the\n  works of Minerva and Arachne. He alludes, among other matters, to the\n  dispute between Neptune and Minerva, about giving a name to the city\n  of Athens. St. Augustine, on the authority of Varro, says, that\n  Cecrops, in building that city, found an olive tree and a fountain,\n  and that the oracle at Delphi, on being consulted, stating that both\n  Minerva and Neptune had a right to name the city, the Senate decided\n  in favor of the Goddess; and this circumstance, he says, gave rise to\n  the story. According to some writers, it was based on the fact, that\n  Crana\u00fcs changed the name of the city from Poseidonius, which it was\n  called after Neptune, to Athen\u00e6, after his own daughter Athena: and as\n  the Areiopagus sanctioned this change, it was fabled that Neptune had\n  been overcome by the judgment of the Gods.\n\n  The Jesuit Tournemine suggests the following explanation of the\n  story:--He says, that the aborigines of Attica, being conquered by the\n  Pelasgians, learned from them the art of navigation, which they turned\n  to account by becoming pirates. Cecrops, bringing a colony from Sa\u00efs,\n  in Egypt, tried to abolish this barbarous custom, and taught them a\n  more civilized mode of life; and, among other things, he showed them\n  how to till the earth, and to raise the olive, for the cultivation of\n  which he found the soil very favorable. He also introduced the worship\n  of Minerva, or Athena, as she was called, a Goddess highly honored at\n  Sa\u00efs, and to whom the olive tree was dedicated. Her the Athenians\n  afterwards regarded as the patroness of their city, which they called\n  after her name. Athens becoming famous for its olives, and,\n  considerable profit arising from their cultivation, the new settlers\n  attempted to wean the natives from piracy, by calling their attention\n  to agricultural pursuits. To succeed in this, they composed a fable,\n  in which Neptune was said to be overcome by Minerva; who, even in the\n  judgment of the twelve greater deities, had found out something of\n  more utility than he. This fable Tournemine supposes to have been\n  composed in the ancient language of the country, which was the\n  Phrygian, mingled with many Ph\u0153nician words; and, as in those\n  languages the same word signifies either a ship or a horse, those who\n  afterwards interpreted the fable, took the word in the latter\n  signification, and spoke of a horse instead of a ship, which was\n  really the original emblem employed in the fiction.\n\n  Vossius thinks that the fable originated in a dispute between the\n  sailors of Athens, who acknowledged Neptune for their chief, and the\n  people, who followed the Senate, governed by Minerva. The people\n  prevailed, and a life of civilization, marked by attention to the\n  pursuits of agriculture, was substituted for one of piracy; which gave\n  occasion for the saying, that Minerva had overcome Neptune.\n\n  With reference to the intrigues and lustful actions attributed to the\n  various Deities by Arachne in the delineations on her embroidery, we\n  may here remark, by way of elucidating the origin of these stories in\n  general, that, in early times, when the earth was sunk in ignorance\n  and superstition, and might formed the only right in the heathen\n  world, where a king or petty chieftain demanded the daughter of a\n  neighbor in marriage, and met with a refusal, he immediately had\n  recourse to arms, to obtain her by force. Their standards and ships,\n  on these expeditions, carrying their ensigns, consisting of birds,\n  beasts, or fabulous monsters, gave occasion to those who described\n  their feats of prowess to say, that the ravisher had changed himself\n  into a bull, an eagle, or a lion, for the purpose of effecting his\n  object. The kings and potentates of those days, being frequently\n  called Jupiter, Apollo, Neptune, etc., and the priests of the Gods so\n  named often obtaining their ends by assuming the names of the\n  Divinities they served, we can account the more easily for the number\n  of intrigues and abominable actions, attended by changes and\n  transformations, which the poets and mythologists attribute to many of\n  the Deities.\n\n  Pal\u00e6phatus suggests a very ingenious method of accounting for these\n  stories; founded, however, it must be owned, on a very low estimate of\n  female virtue in those times. He says, that these fabulous narratives\n  originate in the figures of different animals which were engraved on\n  the coins of those times; and that, when money was given to buy over\n  or to procure the seduction of a female, it was afterward said that\n  the lover had himself taken the figure which was represented on the\n  coin, by means of which his object had been effected.\n\n  Ovid, in common with many of the ancient historians, geographers, and\n  naturalists, mentions the Pygmies, of which, from the time of Homer\n  downwards, a nation was supposed to exist, in a state of continual\n  warfare with the Cranes. Aristotle, who believed in their existence,\n  placed them in \u00c6thiopia; Pliny, Solinus, and Philostratus in India,\n  near the source of the Ganges; others again, in Scythia, on the banks\n  of the Danube. Some of the moderns have attempted to explain the\n  origin of this prevalent notion. Ola\u00fcs Magnus thinks the Samoeids and\n  Laplanders to have been the Pygmies of Homer. Gesner and others fancy\n  that they have found their originals in Thuringia; while Albertus\n  Magnus supposed that the Pygmies were the monkeys, which are so\n  numerous in the interior of Africa, and which were taken for human\n  beings of diminutive stature. Vander Hart, who has written a most\n  ingenious treatise on the subject, suggests that the fable originated\n  in a war between two cities in Greece, Pag\u00e6 and Gerania, the\n  similarity of whose names to those of the Pygmies and the Cranes, gave\n  occasion to their neighbors, the Corinthians, to confer on them those\n  nicknames. It is most probable, however, that the story was founded\n  upon the diminutive stature of some of the native tribes of the\n  interior of Africa.\n\n  As to the fable of Pygas being changed into a crane, Banier suggests,\n  that the origin of it may be found in the work of Antoninus Liberalis,\n  quoting from the Theogony of B\u0153us. That poet, whose works are lost,\n  says, that among the Pygmies there was a very beautiful princess,\n  named \u0152no\u00eb, who greatly oppressed her subjects. Having married\n  Nicodamas, she had by him a son, named Mopsus, whom her subjects\n  seized upon, to educate him in their own way. She accordingly raised\n  levies against her own subjects; and that circumstance, together with\n  the name of Gerane, which, according to \u00c6lian, she also bore, gave\n  rise to the fable, which said that she was changed into a crane; the\n  resemblance which it bore to \u2018geranos,\u2019 the Greek for \u2018a crane,\u2019\n  suggesting the foundation of the story.\n\n\nFABLE II. [VI.146-312]\n\n  The Theban matrons, forming a solemn procession in honor of Latona,\n  Niobe esteems herself superior to the Goddess, and treats her and her\n  offspring with contempt; on which, Apollo and Diana, to avenge the\n  affront offered to their mother, destroy all the children of Niobe;\n  and she, herself, is changed into a statue.\n\nAll Lydia is in an uproar, and the rumor of the fact goes through the\ntown of Phrygia, and fills the wide world with discourse {thereon}.\nBefore her own marriage Niobe had known her,[31] at the time, when still\nsingle, she was inhabiting M\u00e6onia and Sipylus.[32] And yet by the\npunishment of her countrywoman, Arachne, she was not warned to yield to\nthe inhabitants of Heaven, and to use less boastful words. Many things\naugmented her pride; but yet, neither the skill of her husband, nor the\ndescent of them both, nor the sovereignty of a mighty kingdom, pleased\nher so much (although all of them did please her) as her own progeny;\nand Niobe might have been pronounced the happiest of mothers, if she had\nnot so seemed to herself.\n\nFor Manto, the daughter of Tiresias, foreknowing the future, urged by a\ndivine impulse, had proclaimed through the middle of the streets, \u201cYe\nwomen of Ismenus, go all of you,[33] and give to Latona, and the two\nchildren of Latona, the pious frankincense, together with prayers, and\nwreathe your hair with laurel; by my mouth does Latona command {this}.\u201d\nObedience is paid; and all the Theban women adorn their temples with\nleaves {of laurel}, as commanded, and offer frankincense on the sacred\nfires, and words of supplication. Lo! Niobe comes, surrounded with a\ncrowd of attendants, conspicuous for the gold interwoven in her Phrygian\ngarments, and beautiful, so far as anger will allow; and tossing her\nhair, hanging down on both shoulders, with her graceful head, she stands\nstill; and as she loftily casts around her haughty eyes, she says, \u201cWhat\nmadness is this to prefer the inhabitants of Heaven, that you have\n{only} heard of, to those who are seen? or why is Latona worshipped at\nthe altars, {and} my Godhead is still without its {due} frankincense?\nTantalus was my father, who alone was allowed to approach the tables of\nthe Gods above. The sister of the Pleiades[34] is my mother; the most\nmighty Atlas is my grandsire, who bears the \u00e6thereal skies upon his\nneck. Jupiter is my other grandsire; of him, too, I boast as my\nfather-in-law.[35] The Phrygian nations dread me; the palace of Cadmus\nis subject to me as its mistress; and the walls that were formed by the\nstrings of my husband\u2019s {lyre}, together with their people, are governed\nby me and my husband; to whatever part of the house I turn my eyes,\nimmense wealth is seen. To this is added a face worthy of a Goddess. Add\nto this my seven daughters,[36] and as many sons, and, at a future day,\nsons-in-law and daughters-in-law. Now inquire what ground my pride has\n{for its existence}; and presume to prefer Latona the Titaness, the\ndaughter of some obscure C\u00e6us, to whom, when in travail,[37] the great\nearth once refused a little spot, to myself. Neither by heaven, nor by\nearth, nor by water, was your Goddess received; she was banished the\nworld, till Delos, pitying the wanderer, said, \u201cThou dost roam a\nstranger on the land, I in the waves;\u201d and gave her an unstable place\n{of rest}. She was made the mother of two children, that is {but} the\nseventh part of my issue. I am fortunate, and who shall deny it? and\nfortunate I shall remain; who, too, can doubt of that? Plenty has made\nme secure; I am too great for Fortune possibly to hurt; and, though she\nshould take away many things from me, {even then} much more will she\nleave me: my {many} blessings have now risen superior to apprehensions.\nSuppose it possible for some part of this multitude of my children to be\ntaken away {from me}; still, thus stripped, I shall not be reduced to\ntwo, the number of Latona; an amount, by the number of which, how far,\n{I pray}, is she removed from one that is childless? Go from the\nsacrifice; hasten away from the sacrifice, and remove the laurel from\nyour hair!\u201d\n\nThey remove it, and the sacrifice they leave unperformed; and what they\ncan do, they adore the Divinity in gentle murmurs. The Goddess was\nindignant; and on the highest top of {Mount} Cynthus, she spoke to her\ntwo children in such words as these: \u201cBehold! I, your mother, proud of\nhaving borne you, and who shall yield to no one of the Goddesses, except\nto Juno {alone}, am called in question whether I am a Goddess, and, for\nall future ages, I am driven from the altars devoted {to me}, unless you\ngive me aid. Nor is this my only grief; the daughter of Tantalus has\nadded abusive language to her shocking deeds, and has dared to postpone\nyou to her own children, and (what {I wish} may fall upon herself), she\nhas called me childless; and the profane {wretch} has discovered a\ntongue like her father\u2019s.\u201d[38] To this relation Latona was going to add\nentreaties, when Ph\u0153bus said, \u201cCease thy complaints, \u2019tis prolonging the\ndelay of her punishment.\u201d Ph\u0153be said the same; and, by a speedy descent\nthrough the air, they arrived, covered with clouds, at the citadel of\nCadmus.\n\nThere was near the walls a plain, level, and extending far and wide,\ntrampled continually by horses, where multitudes of wheels and hard\nhoofs had softened the clods placed beneath them. There, part of the\nseven sons of Amphion are mounting upon their spirited steeds, and press\ntheir backs, red with the Tyrian dye, and wield the reins heavy with\ngold; of these, Ismenus, who had formerly been the first burden of his\nmother, while he is guiding the steps of the horses in a perfect circle,\nand is curbing their foaming mouths, cries aloud, \u201cAh, wretched me!\u201d\nand, pierced through the middle of his breast, bears a dart {therein};\nand the reins dropping from his dying hand, by degrees he falls on his\nside, over {the horse\u2019s} shoulder. The next {to him}, Sipylus, on\nhearing the sound of a quiver in the air, gives rein[39] {to his horse};\nas when the pilot, sensible of the storm {approaching}, flies on seeing\na cloud, and unfurls the hanging sails on every side, that the light\nbreeze may by no means escape them. He gives rein, {I said}; while thus\ngiving it, the unerring dart overtakes him, and an arrow sticks\nquivering in the top of his neck, and the bare steel protrudes from his\nthroat. He, as he is bending forward, rolls over the neck, {now} let\nloose, and {over} the mane, and stains the ground with his warm blood.\nThe unhappy Ph\u00e6dimus, and Tantalus, the heir to the name of his\ngrandsire, when they had put an end to their wonted exercise {of\nriding}, had turned to the youthful exercises of the pal\u00e6stra, glowing\nwith oil;[40] and now had they brought[41] breast to breast, struggling\nin a close grapple, when an arrow, sped onward from the stretched bow,\npierced them both, just as they were united together. At the same\ninstant they groaned aloud, and together they laid their limbs on the\nground, writhing with pain; together as they lay, for the last time,\nthey rolled their eyeballs, and together they breathed forth their life.\n\nAlphenor sees this, and, beating his torn breast, flies to them, to lift\nup their cold limbs in his embrace, and falls in this affectionate duty.\nFor the Delian God pierces the inner part of his midriff with the fatal\nsteel. Soon as it is pulled out, a part of his lungs is dragged forth on\nthe barbs, and his blood is poured forth, with his life, into the air;\nbut no single wound reaches the unshaven Damasicthon. He is struck where\nthe leg commences, and where the sinewy ham makes the space between the\njoints soft; and while he is trying with his hand to draw out the fatal\nweapon, another arrow is driven through his neck, up to the feathers.\nThe blood drives this out, and itself starting forth, springs up on\nhigh, and, piercing the air, spouts forth afar. The last {of them},\nIlioneus, had raised his unavailing arms in prayer, and had said,\n\u201cO, all ye Gods, in common, (not knowing that all were not to be\naddressed) spare me!\u201d The {God}, the bearer of the bow, was moved, when\nnow his arrow could not be recalled; yet he died with the slightest\nwound {of all}, his heart not being struck deep by the arrow.\n\nThe report of this calamity, and the grief of the people, and the tears\nof her family, made the mother acquainted with a calamity so sudden,\nwondering that it could have happened, and enraged that the Gods above\nhad dared this, {and} that they enjoyed a privilege so great. For\nAmphion the father, thrusting his sword through his breast, dying, had\nended his grief together with his life. Alas! how different is this\nNiobe from that Niobe who had lately driven the people from the altars\nof Latona, and, with lofty head, had directed her steps through the\nmidst of the city, envied by her own people, but now to be pitied even\nby an enemy! She falls down upon the cold bodies, and with no\ndistinction she distributes her last kisses among all her sons. Raising\nher livid arms from these towards heaven, she says, \u201cGlut thyself, cruel\nLatona, with my sorrow; glut thyself, and satiate thy breast with my\nmourning; satiate, too, thy relentless heart with seven deaths. I have\nreceived my death-blow;[42] exult and triumph, my victorious enemy. But\nwhy victorious? More remains to me, in my misery, than to thee, in thy\nhappiness. Even after so many deaths, I am the conqueror.\u201d {Thus} she\nspoke; {when} the string twanged from the bent bow, which affrighted all\nbut Niobe alone; she {became} bold by her misfortunes.\n\nThe sisters were standing in black array, with their hair dishevelled,\nbefore the biers[43] of their brothers. One of these, drawing out the\nweapon sticking in her entrails, about to die, swooned away, with her\nface placed upon her brother. Another, endeavoring to console her\nwretched parent, was suddenly silent, and was doubled together with an\ninvisible wound; and did not close her mouth, until after the breath had\ndeparted. Another, vainly flying, falls down; another dies upon her\nsister; another lies hid; another you might see trembling. And {now} six\nbeing put to death, and having received different wounds, the last\n{only} remains; her mother covering her with all her body, {and} with\nall her garments, cries, \u201cLeave me but one, and that the youngest; the\nyoungest only do I ask out of so many, and {that but} one.\u201d And while\nshe was entreating, she, for whom she was entreating, was slain.\nChildless, she sat down among her dead sons and daughters and husband,\nand became hardened by her woes. The breeze moves no hair {of hers}; in\nher features is a color without blood; her eyes stand unmoved in her sad\ncheeks; in her form there is no {appearance} of life. Her tongue itself,\ntoo, congeals within, together with her hardened palate, and the veins\ncease to be able to be moved. Her neck can neither be bent, nor can her\narms give any motion, nor her feet move. Within her entrails, too, it is\nstone.\n\nStill did she weep on; and, enveloped in a hurricane of mighty wind, she\nwas borne away to her native land. There, fixed on the top of a\nmountain,[44] she dissolves; and even yet does the marble distil tears.\n\n    [Footnote 31: _Had known her._--Ver. 148. This was the more\n    likely, as Tantalus, the father of Niobe, was king of both Phrygia\n    and Lydia.]\n\n    [Footnote 32: _Sipylus._--Ver. 149. This was the name of both a\n    city and a mountain of Lydia.]\n\n    [Footnote 33: _Go all of you._--Ver. 159. Clarke renders the words\n    \u2018Ismenides, ite frequentes,\u2019 \u2018Go, ye Theban ladies in general.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 34: _Sister of the Pleiades._--Ver. 174. Taygete, one of\n    the Pleiades, was the mother of Niobe.]\n\n    [Footnote 35: _As my father-in-law._--Ver. 176. Because Jupiter\n    was the father of her husband, Amphion.]\n\n    [Footnote 36: _Seven daughters._--Ver. 182. Tzetzes enumerates\n    fourteen daughters of Niobe, and gives their names.]\n\n    [Footnote 37: _When in travail._--Ver. 187. She alludes to the\n    occasion on which Latona fled from the serpent Python, which Juno,\n    in her jealousy, had sent against her; and when Delos, which had\n    hitherto been a floating island, became immovable, for the\n    convenience of Latona, in labor with Apollo and Diana. That island\n    was said to have received its name from the Greek, \u03b4\u1fc6\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2,\n    \u2018manifest,\u2019 or \u2018appearing,\u2019 from having risen to the surface of\n    the sea on that occasion.]\n\n    [Footnote 38: _Like her father\u2019s._--Ver. 213. Latona alludes to\n    one of the crimes of Tantalus, the father of Niobe, who was\n    accused of having indiscreetly divulged the secrets of the Gods.]\n\n    [Footnote 39: _Gives rein._--Ver. 230. This was done with the\n    intention of making his escape.]\n\n    [Footnote 40: _Glowing with oil._--Ver. 241. Clarke renders this\n    line, \u2018Were gone to the juvenile work of neat wrestling.\u2019 It would\n    be hard to say what \u2018neat\u2019 wrestling is. He seems not to have\n    known, that the \u2018Pal\u00e6stra\u2019 was called \u2018nitida,\u2019 as shining with\n    the oil which the wrestlers used for making their limbs supple,\n    and the more difficult for their antagonist to grasp. Juvenal\n    gives the epithet \u2018ceromaticum\u2019 to the neck of the athlete, or\n    wrestler, which word means \u2018rubbed with wrestler\u2019s oil.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 41: _Now had they brought._--Ver. 243-4. Clarke thus\n    translates \u2018Et jam contulerant arcto luctantia nexu Pectora\n    pectoribus;\u2019 \u2018And now they had clapped breast to breast,\n    struggling in a close hug.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 42: _I have received my death-blow._--Ver. 283.\n    \u2018Efferor\u2019 literally means, \u2018I am carried out.\u2019 \u2018Effero\u2019 was the\n    term used to signify the carrying of the body out of the city\n    walls, for the purposes of burial.]\n\n    [Footnote 43: _Before the biers._--Ver. 289. The body of the\n    deceased person was in ancient times laid out on a bed of the\n    ordinary kind, with a pillow for supporting the head and back;\n    among the Romans, it was placed in the vestibule of the house,\n    with its feet towards the door, and was dressed in the best robe\n    which the deceased had worn when alive. Among the better classes,\n    the body was borne to the place of burial, or the funeral pile, on\n    a couch, which was called \u2018feretrum,\u2019 or \u2018capulus.\u2019 This was\n    sometimes made of ivory, and covered with gold and purple.]\n\n    [Footnote 44: _Top of a mountain._--Ver. 311. This was Mount\n    Sipylus, in B\u0153otia, which, as we learn from Pausanias, had on its\n    summit a rock, which, at a distance, strongly resembled a female\n    in an attitude of sorrow. This resemblance is said to exist even\n    at the present day.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  All the ancient historians agree with Diodorus Siculus and\n  Apollodorus, that Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus, and the sister\n  of Pelops; but she must not be confounded with a second Niobe, who was\n  the daughter of Phoroneus, and the first mortal (Homer tells us) with\n  whom Jupiter fell in love. Homer says that she was the mother of\n  twelve children, six sons and six daughters. Herodotus says, that she\n  had but two sons and three daughters. Diodorus Siculus makes her the\n  mother of fourteen children, seven of each sex. Apollodorus, on the\n  authority of Hesiod, says, that she had ten sons and as many\n  daughters; but gives the names of fourteen only. The story of the\n  destruction of her children is most likely based upon truth, and bears\n  reference to a historical fact. The plague, which ravaged the city of\n  Thebes, destroyed all the children of Niobe; and contagious distempers\n  being attributed to the excessive heat of the sun, it was fabled that\n  Apollo had killed them with his arrows; while women, who died of the\n  plague, were said to owe their death to the anger of Diana. Thus,\n  Homer says, that Laodamia and the mother of Andromache were killed by\n  Diana. Valerius Flaccus relates the sorrow of Clytie, the wife of\n  Cyzicus, on the death of her mother, killed by the same Goddess; so\n  the Scholiast on Pindar (Pythia, ode iii.) says, on the authority of\n  Pherecydes, that Apollo sent Diana to kill Coronis and several other\n  women. Eustathius distinctly asserts, that the poets attributed the\n  deaths of men, who died of the plague, to Apollo; and those of women,\n  dying a similar death, to Diana.\n\n  This supposition is based upon rational and just grounds; since many\n  contagious distempers may be clearly traced to the exhalations of the\n  earth, acted on by the intense heat of the sun. Homer, most probably,\n  means this, when he says that the plague came upon the Grecian camp,\n  on the God, in his anger, discharging his arrows against it; or, in\n  other words, when the extreme heat of his rays had caused a corruption\n  of the atmosphere. It may be here observed, that arrows were the\n  symbol of Apollo, when angry, and the harp when he was propitious.\n  Diogenes Laertius tells us, that, during the prevalence of the plague,\n  it was the custom to place branches of laurel on the doors of the\n  houses, in the hope that the God, being reminded of Daphne, would\n  spare the places which thereby claimed his protection.\n\n  Ovid says, that the sons of Niobe were killed while managing their\n  horses; but Pausanias tells us that they died on Mount Cith\u00e6ron, while\n  engaged in hunting, and that her daughters died at Thebes. Homer says,\n  that her children remained nine days without burial, because the Gods\n  changed the Thebans into stones, and that the offended Divinities\n  themselves performed the funeral rites on the tenth day; the meaning\n  probably, is, that, they dying of the plague, no one ventured to bury\n  them, and all seemed insensible to the sorrows of Niobe, as each\n  consulted his own safety. Ismenus, her eldest son, not being able to\n  endure the pain of his malady, is said to have thrown himself into a\n  river of B\u0153otia, which, from that circumstance, received his name.\n  After the death of her husband and children, Niobe is said to have\n  retired to Mount Sipylus, in Lydia, where she died. Here, as Pausanias\n  informs us, was a rock, resembling, at a distance, a woman overwhelmed\n  with grief; though according to the same author, who had visited it,\n  the resemblance could not be traced on approaching it. On this ground,\n  Ovid relates, that she was borne on a whirlwind to the top of a Lydian\n  mountain, where she was changed into a rock.\n\n  Pausanias tells us, that Melib\u0153a, or Chloris, and Amycle, two of her\n  daughters, appeased Diana, who preserved their lives; or that, in\n  other words, they recovered from the plague; though he inclines to\n  credit the version of Homer, who says that all of her children died by\n  the hands of Apollo and Diana. Melib\u0153a received the surname of\n  Chloris, from the paleness which ensued on her alarm at the sudden\n  death of her sisters.\n\n\nFABLE III. [VI.313-381]\n\n  Latona, fatigued with the burden of her two children, during a long\n  journey, and parched with thirst, goes to drink at a pond, near which\n  some countrymen are at work. These clowns, in a brutal manner, not\n  only hinder her from drinking, but trouble the water to make it muddy;\n  on which, the Goddess, to punish their brutality, transforms them into\n  frogs.\n\nBut then, all, both women and men, dread the wrath of the divinity,\n{thus} manifested, and with more zeal {than ever} all venerate with\n{divine} worship the great godhead of the Deity who produced the twins;\nand, as {commonly} happens, from a recent fact they recur to the\nnarration of former events.\n\nOne of them says, \u201cSome countrymen of old, in the fields of fertile\nLycia, {once} insulted the Goddess, {but} not with impunity. The thing,\nindeed, is but little known, through the obscure station of the\nindividuals, still it is wonderful. I have seen upon the spot, the pool\nand the lake noted for the miracle. For my father being now advanced in\nyears, and incapable of travel, ordered me to bring thence some choice\noxen, and on my setting out, had given me a guide of that nation: with\nwhom, while I was traversing the pastures, behold! an ancient altar,\nblack with the ashes of sacrifices, was standing in the middle of a\nlake, surrounded with quivering reeds. My guide stood still, and said in\na timid whisper, \u2018Be propitious to me;\u2019 and with a like whisper, I said,\n\u2018Be propitious.\u2019 However, I asked him whether it was an altar of the\nNaiads, or of Faunus, or of some native God; when the stranger answered\nme in such words; \u2018Young man, there is no mountain Divinity for this\naltar. She calls this her own, whom once the royal Juno banished from\nthe world; whom the wandering Delos, at the time when it was swimming as\na light island, hardly received at her entreaties. There Latona, leaning\nagainst a palm, together with the tree of Pallas, brought forth twins,\nin spite of their stepmother {Juno}. Hence, too, the newly delivered\n{Goddess} is said to have fled from Juno, and in her bosom to have\ncarried the two divinities, her children. And now the Goddess, wearied\nwith her prolonged toil, being parched with the heat of the season,\ncontracted thirst in the country of Lycia, which bred the Chim\u00e6ra[45]\nwhen the intense sun was scorching the fields; the craving children,\ntoo, had exhausted her suckling breasts. By chance she beheld a lake[46]\nof fine water, in the bottom of a valley; some countrymen were there,\ngathering bushy osiers, together with bulrushes, and sedge natural to\nfenny spots. The Titaness approached, and bending her knee, she pressed\nthe ground, that she might take up the cool water to drink; the company\nof rustics forbade it. The Goddess thus addressed them, as they forbade\nher: \u2018Why do you deny me water? The use of water is common {to all}.\nNature has made neither sun, nor air, nor the running stream, the\nproperty of any one. To her public bounty have I come, which yet I\nhumbly beg of you to grant me. I was not intending to bathe my limbs\nhere, and my wearied joints, but to relieve my thirst. My mouth, as I\nspeak, lacks moisture, and my jaws are parched, and scarce is there a\npassage for my voice therein; a draught of water will be nectar to me,\nand I shall own, that, together with it, I have received my life {at\nyour hands}. In {that} water you will be giving me life. Let these, too,\nmove you, who hold out their little arms from my bosom\u2019; and by chance\nthe children were holding out their arms.\n\n\u201cWhat person might not these kindly words of the Goddess have been able\nto influence? Still, they persist in hindering {the Goddess thus}\nentreating them; and moreover add threats and abusive language, if she\ndoes not retire to a distance. Nor is this enough. They likewise muddy\nthe lake itself {with} their feet and hands; and they raise the soft mud\nfrom the very bottom of the water, by spitefully jumping to and fro.\nResentment removes her thirst. For now no longer does the daughter of\nC\u00e6us supplicate the unworthy {wretches}, nor does she any longer endure\nto utter words below {the majesty of} a Goddess; and raising her hands\nto heaven, she says, \u2018For ever may you live in that pool.\u2019 The wish of\nthe Goddess comes to pass. They delight to go beneath the water, and\nsometimes to plunge the whole of their limbs in the deep pool; now to\nraise their heads, and now to swim on the top of the water; oft to sit\non the bank of the pool, {and} often to leap back again into the cold\nstream. And even now do they exercise their offensive tongues in strife:\nand banishing {all} shame, although they are beneath the water, {still}\nbeneath the water,[47] do they try to keep up their abuse. Their voice,\ntoo, is now hoarse, and their bloated necks swell out; and their very\nabuse dilates their extended jaws. Their backs are united to their\nheads: their necks seem as though cut off; their backbone is green;\ntheir belly, the greatest part of their body, is white; and {as}\nnew-made frogs, they leap about in the muddy stream.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 45: _The Chim\u00e6ra._--Ver. 339. The Chim\u00e6ra, according to\n    the poets, was a monster having the head of a lion, the body of a\n    goat, and the tail of a dragon. It seems, however, that it was\n    nothing more than a volcanic mountain of Lycia, in Asia Minor,\n    whence there were occasional eruptions of flame. The top of it was\n    frequented by lions; the middle afforded plentiful pasture for\n    goats; and towards the bottom, being rocky, and full of caverns,\n    it was infested by vast numbers of serpents, that harbored there.]\n\n    [Footnote 46: _Beheld a lake._--Ver. 343. Probus, in his\n    Commentary on the Second Book of the Georgics, says that the name\n    of the spring was Mela, and that of the shepherd who so churlishly\n    repulsed Latona, was Neocles. Antoninus Liberalis says, that the\n    name of the stream was Melites, and that Latona required the water\n    for the purpose of bathing her children. He further tells us, that\n    on being repulsed, she carried her children to the river Xanthus,\n    and returning thence, hurled stones at the peasants, and changed\n    them into frogs.]\n\n    [Footnote 47: _Beneath the water._--Ver. 376. Some commentators\n    are so fanciful as to say, that the repetition of the words \u2018sub\n    aqua,\u2019 in the line \u2018Quamvis sint sub aqu\u00e2, sub aqu\u00e2, maledicere\n    tentant,\u2019 not inelegantly [non ineleganter] expresses the croaking\n    noise of the frogs. A man\u2019s fancy must, indeed, be exuberant to\n    find any such resemblance; more so, indeed, than that of\n    Aristophanes, who makes his frogs say, by way of chorus,\n    \u2018brekekekekex ko\u00e4x ko\u00e4x.\u2019 Possibly, however, that might have been\n    the Attic dialect among frogs.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  This story may possibly be based upon some current tradition of Latona\n  having been subjected to such cruel treatment from some country\n  clowns; or, which is more probable, it may have been originally\n  invented as a satire on the rude manners and uncouth conduct of the\n  peasantry of ancient times. The story may also have been framed, to\n  account, in a poetical manner, for the origin of frogs.\n\n\nFABLE IV. [VI.382-411]\n\n  The Satyr Marsyas, having challenged Apollo to a trial of skill on the\n  flute, the God overcomes him, and then flays him alive for his\n  presumption. The tears that are shed on the occasion of his death\n  produce the river that bears his name.\n\nWhen thus one, who, it is uncertain, had related the destruction of\n{these} men of the Lycian race, another remembers {that of} the\nSatyr;[48] whom, overcome {in playing} on the Tritonian reed, the son of\nLatona visited with punishment. \u201cWhy,\u201d said he, \u201cart thou tearing me\nfrom myself? Alas! I {now} repent; alas,\u201d cried he, \u201cthe flute is not of\nso much value!\u201d As he shrieked aloud, his skin was stript[49] off from\nthe surface of his limbs, nor was he aught but {one entire} wound. Blood\nis flowing on every side; the nerves, exposed, appear, and the quivering\nveins throb without any skin. You might have numbered his palpitating\nbowels, and the transparent lungs within his breast. The inhabitants of\nthe country, the Fauns, Deities of the woods, and his brothers the\nSatyrs, and Olympus,[50] even then renowned, and the Nymphs lamented\nhim; and whoever {besides} on those mountains was feeding the\nwool-bearing flocks, and the horned herds.\n\nThe fruitful earth was moistened, and being moistened received the\nfalling tears, and drank them up in her lowest veins, which, when she\nhad turned into a stream, she sent forth into the vacant air. And then,\nas the clearest river in Phrygia, running towards the rapid sea within\nsteep banks, it bears the name of Marsyas.\n\nFrom narratives such as these the people return at once to the present\nevents, and mourn Amphion extinct together with {all} his race. The\nmother is {an object} of hatred. Yet {her brother} Pelops is said alone\nto have mourned for her as well; and after he had drawn his clothes from\nhis shoulder towards his breast, he discovered the ivory on his left\nshoulder. This shoulder, at the time of his birth, was of the same color\nwith the right one, and {was} formed of flesh. They say that the Gods\nafterwards joined his limbs cut asunder by the hands of his father; and\nthe rest of them being found, that part which is midway between the\nthroat and the top of the arm, was wanting. Ivory was inserted there, in\nthe place of the part that did not appear; and so by that means Pelops\nwas made entire.\n\n    [Footnote 48: _The Satyr._--Ver. 382. Herodotus tells this story\n    of the Satyr Marsyas, under the name of Silenus. Fulgentius\n    informs us, that in paintings, Marsyas was represented with the\n    tail of a pig.]\n\n    [Footnote 49: _His skin was stript._--Ver. 387. Apollo fastened\n    him to a pine-tree, or, according to Pliny the Elder,\n    a plane-tree, which was to be seen even in his day. The skin was\n    afterwards suspended by Apollo in the city of Celen\u00e6. Hyginus\n    says, that Apollo hewed Marsyas to pieces. The description here of\n    the flaying is, perhaps, very natural; but it is all the more\n    disgusting for being so. A commentator justly says, that it might\n    suit a Roman, whose eyes were familiar with bloodshed, much better\n    than the taste of the reader of modern times.]\n\n    [Footnote 50: _Olympus._--Ver. 393. He was a Satyr, the brother\n    and pupil of Marsyas. Pausanias describes a picture, painted by\n    Polygnotus, in which Olympus was represented as sitting by\n    Marsyas, clad as a youth, and learning to play on the flute.\n    Euripides, in the Iphigenia in Aulis (l. 576) says that Olympus\n    discovered some new measures for the \u2018tibia,\u2019 or flute. From\n    Hyginus we learn, that Apollo delivered to him the body of Marsyas\n    for burial.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Marsyas was the son of Hyagnis, the inventor of a peculiar kind of\n  flute, and of the Phrygian measure. Livy and Quintus Curtius tell us,\n  that the story of Apollo and Marsyas is an allegory; and that the\n  river Marsyas gave rise to it. They say that the river, falling from a\n  precipice, in the neighborhood of the town of Celen\u00e6, in Phrygia, made\n  a very stunning and unpleasant noise; but that the smoothness of its\n  course afterwards gave occasion for the saying, that the vengeance of\n  Apollo had rendered it more tractable.\n\n  It is, however, not improbable that the story may have been based on\n  historical facts. Having learned from his father, Hyagnis, the art of\n  playing on the flute, and, proud of his skill, at a time when the\n  musical art was yet in its infancy, Marsyas may have been rash enough\n  to challenge either a priest of Apollo, or some prince who bore that\n  name, and, for his presumption, to have received the punishment\n  described by Ovid. Herodotus certainly credited the story; for he says\n  that the skin of the unfortunate musician was to be seen, in his time,\n  in the town of Celen\u00e6. Strabo, Pausanias, and Aulus Gellius also\n  believe its truth. Suidas tells us, that Marsyas, mortified at his\n  defeat, threw himself into the river that runs near Celen\u00e6, which,\n  from that time, bore his name. Strabo says, that Marsyas had stolen\n  the flute from Minerva, which proved so fatal to him, and had thereby\n  drawn upon himself the indignation of that Divinity. Ovid, in the\n  Sixth Book of the Fasti, and Pausanias, quoting from Apollodorus, tell\n  us, that Minerva, having observed, by seeing herself in the river\n  Meander, that, when she played on the flute, her cheeks were swelled\n  out in an unseemly manner, threw aside the flute in her disgust, and\n  Marsyas finding it, learned to play on it so skilfully, that he\n  challenged Apollo to a trial of proficiency. Hyginus, in his 165th\n  Fable, says that Marsyas was the son of \u0152agrius, and not Hyagnis;\n  perhaps, however, this is a corrupt reading.\n\n\nFABLE V. [VI.412-586]\n\n  Tereus, king of Thrace, having married Progne, the daughter of\n  Pandion, king of Athens, falls in love with her sister Philomela, whom\n  he ravishes, and then, having cut out her tongue, he shuts her up in a\n  strong place in a forest, to prevent a discovery. The unfortunate\n  Philomela finds means to acquaint her sister with her misfortunes;\n  for, weaving her story on a piece of cloth, she sends it to Progne by\n  the hands of one of her keepers.\n\nThe neighboring princes met together; and the cities that were near,\nentreated their kings to go to console {Pelops, namely}, Argos and\nSparta, and the Pelopean Mycen\u00e6, and Calydon,[51] not yet odious to the\nstern Diana, and fierce Orchomeneus, and Corinth famous for its\nbrass,[52] and fertile Messene, and Patr\u00e6, and humble Cleon\u00e6,[53] and\nthe Neleian Pylos, and Tr\u0153zen not yet named from Pittheus;[54] and other\ncities which are enclosed by the Isthmus between the two seas, and those\nwhich, situated beyond, are seen from the Isthmus between the two seas.\nWho could have believed it? You, Athens, alone omitted it. A war\nprevented this act of humanity; and barbarous troops[55] brought\n{thither} by sea, were alarming the Mopsopian walls. The Thracian Tereus\nhad routed these by his auxiliary forces, and by his conquest had\nacquired an illustrious name. Him, powerful both in riches and men, and,\nas it happened, deriving his descent from the mighty Gradivus, Pandion\nunited to himself, by the marriage of {his daughter} Progne.\n\nNeither Juno, the guardian of marriage rites, nor yet Hymeneus, nor the\nGraces,[56] attended those nuptials. {On that occasion}, the Furies\nbrandished torches, snatched from the funeral pile. The Furies prepared\nthe nuptial couch, and the ill-boding owl hovered over the abode, and\nsat on the roof of the bridal chamber. With these omens were Progne and\nTereus wedded; with these omens were they made parents. Thrace, indeed,\ncongratulated them, and they themselves returned thanks to the Gods, and\nthey commanded the day, upon which the daughter of Pandion was given to\nthe renowned prince, and that upon which Itys was born, to be considered\nas festivals. So much does our true interest lie concealed {from us}.\nNow Titan had drawn the seasons of the repeated year through five\nautumns, when Progne, in gentle accents, said to her husband, \u201cIf I have\nany influence {with thee}, either send me to see my sister, or let my\nsister come hither. Thou shalt promise thy father-in-law that she shall\nreturn in a short time. As good as a mighty God {wilt thou be} to me, if\nthou shalt allow me to see my sister.\u201d\n\nHe {thereupon} ordered ships to be launched;[57] and with sails and oars\nhe entered the Cecropian harbor, and landed upon the shores of the\nPir\u00e6us.[58] As soon as ever an opportunity was given of {addressing} his\nfather-in-law, and right hand was joined to right hand, with evil omen\ntheir discourse began. He had commenced to relate the occasion of his\ncoming, {and} the request of his wife, and to promise a speedy return\nfor {Philomela, if} sent. {When} lo! Philomela comes, richly adorned in\ncostly apparel; richer {by far} in her charms; such as we hear {of} the\nNaiads and Dryads {as they} haunt the middle of the forests, if you were\nonly to give them the like ornaments and dress. Tereus was inflamed upon\nseeing the virgin, no otherwise than if one were to put fire beneath the\nwhitening ears of corn, or were to burn leaves and {dry} grass laid up\nin stacks. Her beauty, indeed, is worthy {of love}; but inbred lust, as\nwell, urges him on, and the people in those regions are {naturally} much\ninclined to lustfulness. He burns, both by his own frailty and that of\nhis nation. He has a desire to corrupt the care of her attendants, and\nthe fidelity of her nurse, and {besides}, to tempt herself with large\npresents, and to spend his whole kingdom {in so doing}; or else, to\nseize her, and, when seized, to secure her by a cruel war. And there is\nnothing which, being seized by an unbridled passion, he may not dare;\nnor does his breast contain the internal flame. And now he ill bears\nwith delay; and with eager mouth returns to {urge} the request of\nProgne, and under it he pleads his own wishes; passion makes him\neloquent. As oft as he presses beyond what is becoming, he pretends\nthat Progne has thus desired. He adds tears as well, as though she had\nenjoined them too. O ye Gods above, how much of dark night do the\nbreasts of mortals contain! Through his very attempt at villany, Tereus\nis thought to be affectionate, and from his crime does he gather praise.\n\nAnd how is it, too, that Philomela desires the same thing? and fondly\nembracing the shoulders of her father with her arms, she begs, even by\nher own safety (and against it too), that she may visit her sister.\nTereus views her, and, while viewing her, is embracing her beforehand in\nimagination; and, as he beholds her kisses, and her arms around {her\nfather\u2019s} neck, he receives them all as incentives, and fuel, and the\nfood of his furious passion; and, as often as she embraces her father,\nhe could wish to be {that} father, and, even then, he would have been\nnot the less impious. The father is overcome by the entreaties of them\nboth. She rejoices, and returns thanks to her parent, and, to her\nmisfortune, deems that the success of both, which will be the cause of\nsorrow to them both. Now but little of his toil was remaining for\nPh\u0153bus, and his steeds were beating with their feet the descending track\nof Olympus; a regal banquet was set on the tables, and wine in golden\n{vessels}; after this, their bodies were given up to gentle sleep. But\nthe Odrysian king,[59] though he was withdrawn, still burned for her;\nand, recalling her form, her movements, her hands, fancies that which he\nhas not yet seen, to be such as he wishes; and he himself feeds his own\nflames, his anxiety preventing sleep.\n\nIt was {now} day; and Pandion, grasping the right hand of his\nson-in-law, about to depart, with tears bursting forth, recommended his\ncompanion {to his care}. \u201cI commit her, my dear son-in-law, to thee,\nbecause reasons, grounded on affection, have compelled me, and both {my\ndaughters} have desired it, and thou as well, Tereus, hast wished it;\nand I entreat thee, begging by thy honor, by thy breast {thus} allied to\nus, {and} by the Gods above, to protect her with the love of a father;\nand do send back to me, as soon as possible, this sweet comfort of my\nanxious old age, {for} all delay will be tedious to me, and do thou,\ntoo, Philomela, if thou hast any affection for me, return as soon as\npossible: \u2019tis enough that thy sister is so far away.\u201d {Thus} did he\nenjoin, and at the same time he gave kisses to his daughter, and his\naffectionate tears fell amid his instructions. He {then} demanded the\nright hands of them both, as a pledge of their fidelity, and joined them\ntogether when given, and bade them, with mindful lips, to salute for him\nhis absent daughter and grandson, and with difficulty[60] uttered the\nlast farewell, his mouth being filled with sobs; and he shuddered at the\npresages of his own mind. But as soon as Philomela was put on board of\nthe painted ship, and the sea was urged by the oars, and the land was\nleft behind, he exclaimed, \u201cI have gained my point; the object of my\ndesires is borne along with me.\u201d The barbarian exults, too, and with\ndifficulty defers his joy in his intention, and turns not his eyes\nanywhere away from her. No otherwise than when the ravenous bird of\nJupiter, with crooked talons, has placed a hare in his lofty nest; there\nis no escape for the captive; the plunderer keeps his eye on his prey.\nAnd now the voyage is ended, and now they have gone forth from the\nwearied ship, upon his own shore; when the king drags the daughter of\nPandion into a lofty dwelling, concealed in an ancient wood, and there\nhe shuts her up, pale and trembling, and dreading everything, and now\nwith tears inquiring where her sister is; and confessing his baseness,\nhe masters by force her a maiden, and but one, while she often vainly\ncalls on her father, often on her sister, and on the great Gods above\nall. She trembles like a frightened lamb, which, wounded, being snatched\nfrom the mouth of a hoary wolf, does not as yet seem to itself in\nsafety; and as a dove, its feathers soaked with its own blood, still\ntrembles, and dreads the ravening talons wherein it has been {lately}\nheld. {But} soon, when consciousness returned, tearing her dishevelled\nhair like one mourning, and beating her arms in lamentation, stretching\nout her hands, she said, \u201cOh, barbarous {wretch}, for thy dreadful\ndeeds; oh, cruel {monster}! have neither the requests of my father, with\nhis affectionate tears, moved thee, nor a regard for my sister, nor my\nvirgin state, nor the laws of marriage? Thou hast confounded all. I am\nbecome the supplanter of my sister; thou, the husband of both of us.\nThis punishment was not my due. Why dost thou not take away this life,\nthat no villany, perfidious {wretch}, may remain {unperpetrated} by\nthee? and would that thou hadst done it before thy criminal embraces!\n{then} I might have had a shade void of {all} crime. Yet, if the Gods\nabove behold these things, if the majesty of the Gods be anything; if,\nwith myself, all things are not come to ruin; one time or other thou\nshalt give me satisfaction. I myself, having cast shame aside, will\ndeclare thy deeds. If opportunity is granted me, I will come among the\npeople; if I shall be kept imprisoned in the woods, I will fill the\nwoods, and will move the conscious rocks. Let Heaven hear these things,\nand the Gods, if there are any in it.\u201d\n\nAfter the wrath of the cruel tyrant was aroused by such words, and his\nfear was not less than it, urged on by either cause, he drew the sword,\nwith which he was girt, from the sheath, and seizing her by the hair,\nher arms being bent behind her back, he compelled her to submit to\nchains. Philomela was preparing her throat, and, on seeing the sword,\nhad conceived hopes of her death. He cut away, with his cruel weapon,\nher tongue seized with pincers, while giving vent to her indignation,\nand constantly calling on the name of her father, and struggling to\nspeak. The extreme root of the tongue {still} quivers. {The tongue}\nitself lies, and faintly murmurs, quivering upon the black earth; and as\nthe tail of a mangled snake is wont to writhe about, {so} does it throb,\nand, as it dies, seeks the feet of its owner. It is said, too, that\noften after this crime (I could hardly dare believe it) he satisfied his\nlust upon her mutilated body.\n\nHe has the effrontery, after such deeds, to return to Progne, who, on\nseeing her husband, inquires for her sister; but he heaves feigned\nsighs, and tells a fictitious story of her death; and his tears procure\nhim credit. Progne tears from her shoulders her robes, shining with\nbroad gold, and puts on black garments, and erects an honorary\nsepulchre, and offers expiation to an imaginary shade; and laments the\ndeath of a sister not thus to be lamented.\n\nThe God {Apollo}, the year being completed, had run through the twice\nsix signs {of the Zodiac}. What can Philomela do? A guard prevents her\nflight; the walls of the house are hard, built of solid stone: her\nspeechless mouth is deprived of the means of discovering the crime. But\nin grief there is extreme ingenuity, and inventive skill arises in\nmisfortunes. She skilfully suspends the warp in a web of Barbarian\ndesign,[61] and interweaves purple marks with white, as a mode of\ndiscovering the villany {of Tereus}; and delivers it, when finished, to\none {of her attendants}, and begs her, by signs, to carry it to her\nmistress. As desired, she carries it to Progne, and does not know what\nshe is delivering in it. The wife of the savage tyrant unfolds the web,\nand reads the mournful tale[62] of her sister, and (wondrous that she\ncan be so!) she is silent. \u2019Tis grief that stops her utterance, and\nwords sufficiently indignant fail her tongue, in want of them; nor is\nthere room for weeping. But she rushes onward, about to confound both\nright and wrong, and is wholly {occupied} in the contrivance of revenge.\n\n    [Footnote 51: _Calydon._--Ver. 415. This was a city of \u00c6tolia,\n    which derived its name from Calydon, the son of Endymion. Diana,\n    being incensed against \u0152neus, its king, because he omitted her\n    when offering the first fruits to the other Deities, sent an\n    immense boar to ravage its fields, which was slain by Meleager.\n    Ovid recounts these circumstances in the eighth book of the\n    Metamorphoses. Argos, Sparta, and Mycen\u00e6, are also included in one\n    line, by Homer, as having been under the particular tutelage of\n    Juno.]\n\n    [Footnote 52: _Famous for its brass._--Ver. 416. According to some\n    writers, the Corinthian brass became famous after the fall of\n    Corinth, when it was taken and burnt by the Consul Mummius. On\n    that occasion, they say, that from the immense number of statues\n    melted in the conflagration, a stream of metal poured through the\n    streets, consisting of melted gold, silver, and copper; in which,\n    of course, the latter would be predominant. If that was the ground\n    on which the Corinthian brass was so much commended, Ovid is here\n    guilty of an anachronism.]\n\n    [Footnote 53: _Cleon\u00e6._--Ver. 417. This was a little town, situate\n    between Argos and Corinth. It is called \u2018humilis,\u2019 not from its\n    situation, but from the small number of its inhabitants. Patr\u00e6 was\n    a city of Achaia.]\n\n    [Footnote 54: _Pittheus._--Ver. 418. He was the uncle of Theseus;\n    and was (after the time here mentioned) the king of Tr\u0153zen, in\n    Peloponnesus.]\n\n    [Footnote 55: _Barbarous troops._--Ver. 423. Some suggest that it\n    is here meant that Attica was invaded by the Amazons at this time;\n    and they rely on a passage of Justin in support of the position.\n    The story is, however, very improbable.]\n\n    [Footnote 56: _The Graces._--Ver. 429. The Graces, who were the\n    attendants of Venus, were three in number, Aglaia, Thalia, and\n    Euphrosyne.]\n\n    [Footnote 57: _To be launched._--Ver. 445. The ships were launched\n    into the sea by means of rollers placed beneath them, from which\n    circumstance they were said \u2018deduci,\u2019 \u2018to be led down.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 58: _Shores of the Pir\u00e6us._--Ver. 446. The Pir\u00e6us was\n    the arsenal and the harbor of the Athenians, and owed its\n    magnificence to the vast conceptions of Themistocles.]\n\n    [Footnote 59: _The Odrysian king._--Ver. 490. Tereus is thus\n    called, from the Odrys\u00e6, a people of Thrace.]\n\n    [Footnote 60: _With difficulty._--Ver. 510. Clarke translates\n    \u2018vix,\u2019 \u2018with much ado.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 61: _Barbarian design._--Ver. 576. Probably of a\n    Phrygian design.]\n\n    [Footnote 62: _The mournful tale._--Ver. 582. This line is\n    translated by Clarke, \u2018And reads the miserable ditty of her\n    sister.\u2019]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The gravest authors among the ancients, such as Strabo and Pausanias,\n  speaking of this tragical story, agree that the narrative, divested of\n  its poetical ornaments, is strictly conformable to truth; though, of\n  course, the sequel bears evident marks of embellishment either by the\n  fancy of the Poet, or the superstition of the vulgar.\n\n\nFABLE VI. [VI.587-676]\n\n  Progne delivers her sister Philomela from captivity, and brings her to\n  the court of Tereus, where she revolves in her mind her different\n  projects of revenge. Her son Itys, in the meantime, comes into her\n  apartment, and is murdered by his mother and aunt. Progne afterwards\n  serves him up at a feast, which she prepares for her husband; on\n  which, being obliged to fly from the fury of the enraged king, she is\n  changed into a swallow, Philomela into a nightingale, and Tereus\n  himself into a lapwing.\n\nIt is {now} the time[63] when the Sithonian[64] matrons are wont to\ncelebrate the triennial festival of Bacchus. Night is conscious of their\nrites; by night Rhodope resounds with the tinklings of the shrill\ncymbal. By night the queen goes out of her house, and is arrayed\naccording to the rites of the God, and carries the arms of the frantic\nsolemnity. Her head is covered with vine leaves; from her left side hang\ndown the skins of a deer;[65] upon her shoulder rests a light spear.\n{Then} the terrible Progne rushing through the woods, a multitude of her\nfollowers attending her, and agitated by the fury of her resentment,\npretends, Bacchus, that it is {inspired} by thee.\n\nShe comes at length to the lonely dwelling, and howls aloud, and cries\n\u201cEvo\u00eb!\u201d and breaks open the gates, and seizes her sister, and puts upon\nher, {so} seized, the badges of Bacchus, and conceals her countenance\nunder the foliage of ivy; and dragging her along, full of amazement,\nleads her within her threshold. When Philomela perceives that she has\narrived at that accursed house,[66] the wretched woman shudders, and\npaleness spreads over her whole face. Progne having {now} got a\n{fitting} place {for so doing}, takes away the symbols of the rites,[67]\nand unveils the blushing face of her wretched sister; and holds her in\nher embraces. But she, on the other hand, cannot endure to lift up her\neyes; seeming to herself the supplanter of her sister, and fixing her\nlooks on the ground, her hand is in the place of voice to her, as she\ndesires to swear and to call the Gods to witness that this disgrace has\nbeen brought upon her by violence. Progne burns {with rage}, and\ncontains not her anger; and checking the grief of her sister, she says,\n\u201cWe must not act in this matter with tears, but with the sword, {and\neven} with anything, if {such} thou hast, that can possibly outdo the\nsword. I have, sister, prepared myself for every crime! Either, when I\nshall have set fire to the royal palace with torches, I will throw the\nartful Tereus into the midst of the flames, or with the steel will I cut\naway his tongue or his eyes, or the members that have deprived thee of\nthy chastity, or by a thousand wounds will I expel his guilty soul {from\nhis body}. Something tremendous am I prepared for; what it is, I am\nstill in doubt.\u201d\n\nWhile Progne was uttering such expressions, Itys came to his mother. By\nhim she was put in mind of what she might do; and looking at him with\nvengeful eyes, she said, \u201cAh! how like thou art to thy father!\u201d And\nsaying no more, she prepared for a horrible deed, and burned with silent\nrage. Yet when her son came to her, and saluted his mother and drew her\nneck {towards him} with his little arms, and added kisses mingled with\nchildish endearments, the mother, in truth, was moved, and her anger\nabated, and her eyes, in spite of her, became wet with tears {thus}\nforced {from her}. But soon as she found the mother {in her} shrinking\nfrom excess of affection, from him again did she turn towards the\nfeatures of her sister; and looking at them both by turns, she said,\n\u201cWhy does the one employ endearments, {while} the other is silent with\nher tongue torn from her? Why does she not call her sister, whom he\ncalls mother? Consider to what kind of husband thou art married,\ndaughter of Pandion. Thou dost grow degenerate. Tenderness in the wife\nof Tereus is criminality.\u201d No {more} delay {is there}; she drags Itys\nalong, just as the tigress of the banks of the Ganges {does} the\nsuckling offspring of the hind, through the shady forests. And when they\nare come to a remote part of the lofty house, Progne strikes[68] him\nwith the sword, extending his hands, and as he beholds his fate, crying\nnow \u201cAlas!\u201d and now \u201cMy mother!\u201d and clinging to her neck, where his\nbreast joins his side; nor does she turn away her face. Even one wound\n{alone} is sufficient for his death; Philomela cuts his throat with the\nsword; and they mangle his limbs, still quivering and retaining somewhat\nof life. Part of them boils,[69] in the hollow cauldrons; part hisses on\nspits; the inmost recesses stream with gore. His wife sets Tereus, in\nhis unconsciousness, before this banquet; and falsely pretending rites\nafter the manner of her country, at which it is allowed one man only to\nbe present, she removes his attendants and servants. Tereus himself,\nsitting aloft on the throne of his forefathers, eats and heaps his own\nentrails into his own stomach. And so great is the blindness of his\nmind, {that} he says, \u201cSend for Itys.\u201d Progne is unable to conceal her\ncruel joy; and now, desirous to be the discoverer of her having murdered\nhim, she says, \u201cThou hast within {thee}, that for which thou art\nasking.\u201d He looks around, and inquires where he is; as he inquires, and\ncalls him again, Philomela springs forth, just as she is, with her hair\ndisordered by the infernal murder, and throws the bloody head of Itys in\nthe face of his father; nor at any time has she more longed to be able\nto speak, and to testify her joy by words such as are deserved.\n\nThe Thracian pushes from him the table with a loud cry, and summons the\nViperous sisters[70] from the Stygian valley; and at one moment he\ndesires, if he {only} can, by opening his breast to discharge thence the\nhorrid repast, and the half-digested entrails. And then he weeps, and\npronounces himself the wretched sepulchre of his own son; and then he\nfollows the daughters of Pandion with his drawn sword. You would have\nthought the bodies of the Cecropian[71] Nymphs were supported by wings;\n{and} they were supported by wings. The one of them makes for the woods,\nthe other takes her place beneath the roofs {of houses}. Nor {even} as\nyet have the marks of murder withdrawn from her breast; and her feathers\nare {still} stained with blood. He, made swift by his grief, and his\ndesire for revenge, is turned into a bird, upon whose head stands a\ncrested {plume}; a prolonged bill projects in place of the long spear.\nThe name of the bird is \u2018epops\u2019 [{lapwing}]; its face appears to be\narmed. This affliction dispatched Pandion to the shades of Tartarus\nbefore his day, and the late period of protracted old age.\n\n    [Footnote 63: _Now the time._--Ver. 587. This was the festival of\n    Bacchus, before mentioned as being celebrated every three years,\n    in memory of his Indian expedition.]\n\n    [Footnote 64: _Sithonian._--Ver. 588. Sithonia was a region of\n    Thrace, which lay between Mount H\u00e6mus and the Euxine sea. The\n    word, however, is often used to signify the whole of Thrace.]\n\n    [Footnote 65: _Skins of a deer._--Ver. 593. These were the\n    \u2018nebrides,\u2019 or skins of fawns and deer, which the Bacchanals wore\n    when celebrating the orgies. The lance mentioned here was, no\n    doubt, the thyrsus.]\n\n    [Footnote 66: _That accursed house._--Ver. 601. Clarke translates\n    this line, \u2018As soon as Philomela perceived she had got into the\n    wicked rogue\u2019s house.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 67: _Symbols of the rites._--Ver. 603. These were the\n    ivy, the deer-skins, and the thyrsus.]\n\n    [Footnote 68: _Progne strikes._--Ver. 641. \u2018Ense ferit Progne\u2019 is\n    translated by Clarke, \u2018Progne strikes with the sword poor Itys.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 69: _Part of them boils._--Ver. 645-6. Clarke gives this\n    comical translation: \u2018Then part of them bounces about in hollow\n    kettles; part hisses upon spits; the parlor runs down with gore.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 70: _Viperous sisters._--Ver. 662. Tereus invokes the\n    Furies, who are thus called from having their hair wreathed with\n    serpents. Clarke translates, \u2018ingenti clamore,\u2019 in line 661, \u2018with\n    a huge cry.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 71: _Cecropian._--Ver. 667. The Cecropian or Athenian\n    Nymphs are Progne and Philomela, the daughters of Pandion, king of\n    Athens.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  By the symbolical changes of Philomela, Progne, and Tereus, those who\n  framed this termination of the story intended to depict the different\n  characters of the persons whose actions are there represented. As the\n  lapwing delights in filth and impurity, the ancients thereby portrayed\n  the unscrupulous character of Tereus; and, as the flight of that bird\n  is but slow, it shows that he was not able to overtake his wife and\n  her sister. The nightingale, concealed in the woods and thickets,\n  seems there to be concealing her misfortunes and sorrows; and the\n  swallow, which frequents the abodes of man, shows the restlessness of\n  Progne, who seeks in vain for her son, whom, in her frantic fit, she\n  has so barbarously murdered.\n\n  Anacreon and Apollodorus, however, reverse the story, saying that\n  Philomela was changed into a swallow, and Progne into a nightingale.\n  This event is said by some writers to have happened not in Thrace, but\n  at Daulis, a town of Phocis, where Tereus is supposed to have gone to\n  settle. Pausanias tells us, that the tomb of Tereus was to be seen\n  near Athens, so that it is probable that he died at a distance from\n  Thrace, his native country. Homer alludes to the story of Philomela in\n  somewhat different terms; speaking of the grounds of the grief of\n  Penelope, he says, that \u2018she made her complaints to be heard like the\n  inconsolable Philomela, the daughter of Pandarus, always hidden among\n  the leaves and branches of trees. When the Spring arrives, she makes\n  her voice echo through the woods, and laments her dear Itylus, whom\n  she killed by an unhappy mistake; varying, in her continued plaints,\n  the mournful melody of her notes.\u2019 By this, Homer seems to have known\n  nothing of Tereus or of Progne, and to have followed a tradition,\n  which was to the following effect:--Pandarus had three daughters,\n  \u00c6don, Mecrope, and Cleothera. \u00c6don, the eldest, was married to Zethus,\n  the brother of Amphion, by whom she had one son, who was named Itylus.\n  Envying the more numerous family of Niobe, her sister-in-law, she\n  resolved to despatch the eldest of her nephews; and, as her son was\n  brought up with his cousin, and was his bedfellow, she bade him change\n  his place in the bed, on the night on which she intended to commit the\n  crime. Itylus forgot her commands, and consequently his mother killed\n  him by mistake for her nephew.\n\n\nFABLE VII. [VI.677-721]\n\n  Boreas, not obtaining the consent of Erectheus, king of Athens, for\n  the marriage of his daughter, Orithy\u00efa, takes that princess in his\n  arms, and carries her away into Thrace. By her he has two sons, Cala\u00efs\n  and Zethes, who have wings, like their father, and afterwards embark\n  with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece.\n\nErectheus[72] received the sceptre of {that} country, and the government\nof the state; it is a matter of doubt whether he was more powerful\nthrough his justice, or by his mighty arms. He had, indeed, begotten\nfour sons, and as many of the female sex: but the beauty of two {of\nthem} was equal. Of these, Cephalus,[73] the son of \u00c6olus, was blessed\nwith thee, Procris, for his wife; Tereus and the Thracians were an\nobstacle to Boreas; and long was {that} God without his much-loved\nOrithy\u00efa, while he was entreating, and choosing rather to use prayers\nthan force. But when nothing was effected by blandishments, terrible\nwith that rage which is his wont, and but too natural with that wind, he\nsaid, \u201cAnd {this is} deservedly {done}; for why did I relinquish my own\nweapons, my violence, my strength, my anger, and my threatening spirit,\nand turn to prayers, the employment of which ill becomes me? Violence is\nsuitable for me; by violence do I dispel the lowering clouds, by\nviolence do I arouse the seas, and overthrow the knotted oaks, and\nharden the snow, and beat the earth with hail. I too, when I have met\nwith my brothers in the open air (for that is {peculiarly} my field),\nstruggle with efforts so great, that the intermediate sky thunders again\nwith our onset, and fires flash, struck forth from the hollow clouds.\nI too, when I have descended into the hollow recesses of the earth, and\nin my rage have placed my back against its lowest depths, disturb the\nshades below, and the whole globe with earthquakes. By these means\nshould I have sought this alliance; and Erectheus ought not to have been\nentreated {to be} my father-in-law, but made so by force.\u201d\n\nBoreas, having said these words, or some not less high-sounding than\nthese, shakes his wings, by the motion of which all the earth is fanned,\nand the wide sea becomes ruffled; and the lover, drawing his dusty\nmantle over the high tops {of mountains}, sweeps the ground, and, wrapt\nin darkness, embraces with his tawny wings Orithy\u00efa, as she trembles\nwith fear. As she flies, his flame, being agitated, burns more fiercely.\nNor does the ravisher check the reins of his airy course, before he\nreaches the people and the walls of the Ciconians.[74] There, too, is\nthe Act\u00e6an damsel made the wife of the cold sovereign, and {afterwards}\na mother, bringing forth twins at a birth, who have the wings of their\nfather, the rest {like} their mother. Yet they say that these {wings}\nwere not produced together with their bodies; and while their long\nbeard, with its yellow hair, was away, the boys Cala\u00efs and Zethes were\nwithout feathers. {But} soon after, at once wings began to enclose both\ntheir sides, after the manner of birds, and at once their cheeks {began}\nto grow yellow {with down}. When, therefore, the boyish season of youth\nwas passed, they sought,[75] with the Miny\u00e6, along the sea {before}\nunmoved,[76] in the first ship {that existed}, the fleece that glittered\nwith shining hair {of gold}.\n\n    [Footnote 72: _Erectheus._--Ver. 677. This personage really was\n    king of Athens before Pandion, the father of Progne and Philomela,\n    and not after him, as Ovid here states; at least, such is the\n    account given by Pausanias and Eusebius: the order of succession\n    being Act\u00e6us, Cecrops, Crana\u00fcs, Amphictyon, Erecthonius, Pandion,\n    Erectheus, Cecrops II., Pandion II., \u00c6geus, Theseus.]\n\n    [Footnote 73: _Cephalus._--Ver. 681. He was the son of Deioneus,\n    and the grandson of \u00c6olus. According to some writers, he was the\n    son of Mercury; in and the Art of Love (Book iii. l. 725) he is\n    called \u2018Cyllenia proles.\u2019 Strabo says that he was the son-in-law\n    of Deioneus. His story is related at length in the next Book.]\n\n    [Footnote 74: _The Ciconians._--Ver. 710. The Cicones were a\n    people of Thrace, living near Mount Ismarus, and the Bistonian\n    lake.]\n\n    [Footnote 75: _They sought._--Ver. 720. This was the fleece of the\n    ram that carried Phryxus along the Hellespont to Colchis, which is\n    mentioned again in the next Book.]\n\n    [Footnote 76: _Before unmoved._--Ver. 721. This passage may mean\n    that that part of the sea had not been navigated before; though\n    many of the poets assert that the Argo was the first ship that was\n    ever built. It is more probable that it was the first vessel that\n    was ever fitted out as a ship of war.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Plato tells us that the story of the rape of Orithy\u00efa is but an\n  allegory, which signifies that, by accident, she was blown by the wind\n  into the sea, where she was drowned. Apollodorus and Pausanias,\n  however, assert that this story is based on historical facts, and that\n  Boreas, king of Thrace, seized Orithy\u00efa, the daughter of Erectheus,\n  king of Athens, and sister of Procris, as she was passing the river\n  Ilissus, and carried her into his dominions, where she became the\n  mother of twins, Cala\u00efs and Zethes. In the Argonautic expedition,\n  these chiefs delivered Phineus, the king of Bithynia, from the\n  persecution of the Harpies, which were in the habit of snatching away\n  the victuals served up at his table.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK THE SEVENTH.\n\n\nFABLE I. [VII.1-158]\n\n  Jason, after having met with various adventures, arrives with the\n  Argonauts in Colchis, and demands the Golden Fleece. Medea falls in\n  love with Jason, and by the power of her enchantments preserves him\n  from the dangers he has to encounter in obtaining it. He obtains the\n  prize, and carrying off Medea, returns in triumph to Thessaly.\n\nAnd now the Miny\u00e6[1] were ploughing the sea in the Pagas\u00e6an ship;[2] and\nPhineus prolonging a needy old age under perpetual night, had been\nvisited, and the youthful sons of the North wind had driven the birds\nwith the faces of virgins from {before} the mouth of the distressed old\nman;[3] and having suffered many things under the famous Jason, had\nreached at length the rapid waters of the muddy Phasis.\n\nAnd while they go to the king, and ask the fleece that once belonged to\nPhryxus, and conditions are offered them, dreadful for the number of\nmighty labors; in the meantime, the daughter of \u00c6etes[4] conceives a\nviolent flame; and having long struggled {against it}, after she is\nunable to conquer her frenzy by reason, she says: \u201cIn vain, Medea, dost\nthou resist; some God, who, I know not, is opposing thee. It is a wonder\ntoo, if it is not this, or at least something like this, which is called\n\u2018love.\u2019 For why do the commands of my father appear too rigid for me?\nand yet too rigid they are. Why am I in dread, lest he whom I have seen\n{but} so lately, should perish? What is the cause of alarm so great?\nBanish the flames conceived in thy virgin breast, if thou canst, unhappy\n{creature}. If I could, I would be more rational. But a new power draws\nme on, against my will; and Cupid persuades one thing, reason another.\nI see which is the more proper {course}, and I approve of it, {while} I\nfollow the wrong one. Why, royal maiden, art thou burning for a\nstranger, and why coveting the nuptial ties of a strange country? This\nland, too, may give thee something which thou mayst love. Whether he\nshall live, or whether die, is in {the disposal of} the Gods. Yet he may\nsurvive; and that I may pray for, even without love. For what {fault}\nhas Jason committed? Whom, but one of hard heart, would not the\n{youthful} age of Jason affect? his descent too, and his valor? Whom,\nthough these other points were wanting, would not his beauty move? at\nleast, he has moved my breast. But unless I shall give him aid, he will\nbe breathed upon by the mouths of the bulls; and will engage with his\nown {kindred} crops, an enemy sprung from the earth; or he will be given\nas a cruel prey to the ravenous dragon. If I allow this, then I will\nconfess that I was born of a tigress; then, {too}, that I carry steel\nand stone in my heart. Why do I not as well behold him perish? Why not,\ntoo, profane my eyes by seeing it? Why do I not stimulate the bulls\nagainst him, and the fierce sons of the earth, and the never-sleeping\ndragon? May the Gods award better things. And yet these things are not\nto be prayed for, but must be effected by myself. Shall I {then} betray\nthe kingdom of my father? and by my aid shall some stranger, I know not\nwho, be saved; that being delivered by my means, he may spread his sails\nto the winds without me, and be the husband of another; and I, Medea, be\nleft for punishment? If he can do this, and if he is capable of\npreferring another to me, let him perish in his ingratitude. But not\nsuch is his countenance, not such that nobleness of soul, that\ngracefulness of person, that I should fear treachery, and forgetfulness\nof what I deserve. Besides, he shall first pledge his faith, and I will\noblige the Gods to be witnesses of our compact. What then dost thou\ndread, {thus} secure? Haste {then},[5] and banish {all} delay. Jason\nwill ever be indebted to thee for his preservation; thee will he unite\nto himself in the rites of marriage, and throughout the Pelasgian\ncities[6] thou wilt be celebrated by crowds of matrons, as the preserver\n{of their sons}. And shall I then, borne away by the winds, leave my\nsister[7] and my brother,[8] and my father, and my Gods, and my native\nsoil? My father is cruel, forsooth; my country, too, is barbarous;[9] my\nbrother is still {but} an infant; the wishes of my sister are in my\nfavor. The greatest of the Gods is in possession of me. I shall not be\nrelinquishing anything great; I shall be pursuing what is great; the\ncredit of saving the youth of Greece,[10] acquaintance with a better\ncountry, and cities, whose fame is flourishing even here, and the\npoliteness and the arts of their inhabitants; and the son of \u00c6son, whom\nI could be ready to take in exchange for {all} the things that the whole\nworld contains; with whom for my husband I shall both be deemed dear to\nthe Gods, and shall reach the stars with my head. Why say that I know\nnot what mountains[11] are reported to arise in the midst of the waves,\nand that Charybdis, an enemy to ships, one while sucks in the sea, at\nanother discharges it; and how that Scylla, begirt with furious dogs, is\nsaid to bark in the Sicilian deep? Yet holding him whom I love, and\nclinging to the bosom of Jason, I shall be borne over the wide seas;\nembracing him, naught will I dread; or if I fear anything, for my\nhusband alone will I fear. And dost thou, Medea, call this a marriage,\nand dost thou give a plausible name to thy criminality? Do but consider\nhow great an offence thou art meditating, and, while {still} thou mayst,\nfly from guilt.\u201d\n\n{Thus} she said, and before her eyes stood Virtue, Affection, and\nModesty; and now Cupid turned his vanquished back. She was going to the\nancient altars of Hecate,[12] the daughter of Perses, which a shady\ngrove and the recesses of a wood concealed. And now she was resolved,\nand her passion being checked, had subsided; when she beheld the son of\n\u00c6son, and the extinguished flame revived. Her cheeks were covered with\nblushes, and her whole face was suffused with a glow. As a spark is wont\nto derive nourishment from the winds, which, but small when it lay\nconcealed beneath the ashes cast over it, {is wont} to increase, and\naroused, to rise again to its original strength, so her love, now\ndeclining, which you would suppose was now growing languid, when she\nbeheld the youth, was rekindled with the appearance of him before her\neyes. And by chance, on that day, the son of \u00c6son was more beauteous\nthan usual. You might forgive her loving him. She gazes; and keeps her\neyes fixed upon his countenance, as though but now seen for the first\ntime; and in her frenzy she thinks she does not behold the face of a\nmortal; nor does she turn away from him. But when the stranger began to\nspeak, and seized her right hand, and begged her assistance with a\nhumble voice, and promised her marriage; she said, with tears running\ndown, \u201cI see what I ought to do; and it will not be ignorance of the\ntruth, but love that beguiles me. By my agency thou shalt be saved; when\nsaved, grant what thou hast promised.\u201d\n\nHe swears by the rites of the Goddess of the triple form, and the Deity\nwhich is in that grove, and by the sire[13] of his future father-in-law,\nwho beholds all things, and by his own adventures, and by dangers so\ngreat. Being believed {by her}, he immediately received some enchanted\nherbs, and thoroughly learned the use of them, and went away rejoicing\nto his abode. The next morning had {now} dispersed the twinkling stars,\n{when} the people repaired to the sacred field of Mavors, and ranged\nthemselves on the hills. In the midst of the assembly sat the king\nhimself, arrayed in purple, and distinguished by a sceptre of ivory.\nBehold! the brazen-footed bulls breathe forth flames[14] from their\nadamantine nostrils; and the grass touched by the vapors is on fire. And\nas the forges filled {with fire} are wont to roar, or when flints[15]\ndissolved in an earthen furnace receive intense heat by the sprinkling\nof flowing water; so do their breasts rolling forth the flames enclosed\nwithin, and their scorched throats, resound. Yet the son of \u00c6son goes\nforth to meet them. The fierce {bulls} turn their terrible features, and\ntheir horns pointed with iron, towards his face as he advances, and with\ncloven hoofs they spurn the dusty ground, and fill the place with\nlowings, that send forth clouds of smoke. The Miny\u00e6 are frozen with\nhorror. He comes up, and feels not the flames breathed forth by them, so\ngreat is the power of the incantations. He even strokes their hanging\ndewlaps with a bold right hand, and, subjected to the yoke, he obliges\nthem to draw the heavy weight of a plough, and to turn up with the share\nthe plain {till now} unused to it.[16]\n\nThe Colchians are astonished; the Miny\u00e6 fill {the air} with their\nshouts, and give him {fresh} courage. Then in a brazen helmet he takes\nthe dragon\u2019s teeth,[17] and strews them over the ploughed up fields. The\nground, impregnated beforehand with a potent drug, softens the seed; and\nthe teeth that were sown grow up, and become new bodies. And as the\ninfant receives the human form in the womb of the mother, and is there\nformed in all its parts, and comes not forth into the common air until\nat maturity, so when the figure of man is ripened in the bowels of the\npregnant earth, it arises in the fruitful plain; and, what is still more\nsurprising, it brandishes arms produced at the same time. When the\nPelasgians saw them preparing to hurl their spears with sharp points at\nthe head of the H\u00e6monian youth, they lowered their countenances and\ntheir courage, {quailing} with fear. She, too, became alarmed, who had\nrendered him secure; and when she saw the youth, being but one, attacked\nby so many enemies, she turned pale, and suddenly chilled {with fear},\nsat down without blood {in her cheeks}. And, lest the herbs that had\nbeen given by her, should avail him but little, she repeats an auxiliary\ncharm, and summons {to her aid} her secret arts. He, hurling a heavy\nstone into the midst of his enemies, turns the warfare, now averted from\nhimself, upon themselves. The Earth-born brothers perish by mutual\nwounds, and fall in civil fight. The Greeks congratulate him, and caress\nthe conqueror, and cling to him in hearty embraces. And thou too,\nbarbarian maiden, wouldst fain have embraced him; \u2019twas modesty that\nopposed the design; otherwise thou wouldst have embraced him; but regard\nfor thy reputation restrained thee from doing so. What thou mayst do,\n{thou dost do}; thou rejoicest with a silent affection, and thou givest\nthanks to thy charms, and to the Gods, the authors of them.\n\nIt {still} remains to lay asleep with herbs the watchful dragon, who,\ndistinguished by his crest and his three tongues, and terrible with his\nhooked teeth, is the keeper of the Golden Fleece. After he has sprinkled\nhim with herbs of Leth\u00e6an juice,[18] and has thrice repeated words that\ncause placid slumbers, which {would even calm} the boisterous ocean,\n{and} which would stop the rapid rivers, sleep creeps upon the eyes that\nwere strangers to it, and the hero, the son of \u00c6son, gains the gold; and\nproud of the spoil and bearing with him the giver of the prize as a\nsecond spoil, he arrives victorious, with his wife, at the port of\nIolcos.[19]\n\n    [Footnote 1: _The Miny\u00e6._--Ver. 1. The Argonauts. The Miny\u00e6 were a\n    people of Thessaly, so called from Minyas, the son of Orchomenus.]\n\n    [Footnote 2: _Pagas\u00e6an ship._--Ver. 1. Pagas\u00e6 was a seaport of\n    Thessaly, at the foot of Mount Pelion, where the ship Argo was\n    built.]\n\n    [Footnote 3: _Distressed old man._--Ver. 4. Clarke translates\n    \u2018miseri senis ore,\u2019 \u2018from the mouth of the miserable old fellow.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 4: _Daughter of \u00c6etes._--Ver. 9. Medea was the daughter\n    of \u00c6etes, the king of Colchis. Juno, favoring Jason, had persuaded\n    Venus to inspire Medea with love for him.]\n\n    [Footnote 5: _Haste then._--Ver. 47. Clarke translates\n    \u2018accingere,\u2019 more literally than elegantly, \u2018buckle to.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 6: _Pelasgian cities._--Ver. 49. Pelasgia was properly\n    that part of Greece which was afterwards called Thessaly. The\n    province of Pelasgiotis, in Thessaly, afterwards retained its\n    name, which was derived from the Pelasgi, an early people of\n    Greece. Pliny informs us that Peloponnesus at first had the names\n    of \u2018Apia\u2019 and \u2018Pelasgia.\u2019 Some suppose that the Pelasgi derived\n    their name from Pelasgus, the son of Jupiter; while other writers\n    assert that they were so called from \u03c0\u03b5\u03bb\u03b1\u03c1\u03b3\u03bf\u1f76, \u2018storks,\u2019 from\n    their wandering habits. The name is frequently used, as in the\n    present instance, to signify the whole of the Greeks.]\n\n    [Footnote 7: _My sister._--Ver. 51. Her sister was Chalciope, who\n    had married Phryxus, after his arrival in Colchis. Her children\n    being found by Jason, in the isle of Dia, they came with him to\n    Colchis, and presented him to their mother, who afterwards\n    commended him to the care of Medea.]\n\n    [Footnote 8: _And my brother._--Ver. 51. Her brother was Absyrtus,\n    whose tragical death is afterwards mentioned.]\n\n    [Footnote 9: _Is barbarous._--Ver. 53. It was certainly \u2018barbara\u2019\n    in the eyes of a Greek; but the argument sounds rather oddly in\n    the mouth of Medea, herself a native of the country.]\n\n    [Footnote 10: _The youth of Greece._--Ver. 56. These were the\n    Argonauts, who were selected from the most noble youths of\n    Greece.]\n\n    [Footnote 11: _What mountains._--Ver. 63. These were the Cyanean\n    rocks, or Symplegades, at the mouth of the Euxine sea.]\n\n    [Footnote 12: _Hecate._--Ver. 74. Ancient writers seem to have\n    been much divided in opinion who Hecate was. Ovid here follows the\n    account which made her to be the daughter of Perses, who,\n    according to Diodorus Siculus, was the son of Ph\u0153bus, and the\n    brother of \u00c6etes. Marrying her uncle \u00c6etes, she is said to have\n    been the mother of Circe, Medea, and Absyrtus. By some writers she\n    is confounded with the Moon and with Proserpine; as identical with\n    the Moon, she has the epithets \u2018Triceps\u2019 and \u2018Triformis,\u2019 often\n    given to her by the poets, because the Moon sometimes is full,\n    sometimes disappears, and often shows but part of her disk.]\n\n    [Footnote 13: _And by the sire._--Ver. 96. Allusion is made to the\n    Sun, who was said to be the father of \u00c6etes, the destined\n    father-in-law of Jason.]\n\n    [Footnote 14: _Breathe forth flames._--Ver. 104. The name of the\n    God of fire is here used to signify that element. Apollodorus\n    says, that Medea gave Jason a drug (\u03c6\u03ac\u03c1\u03bc\u03b1\u03ba\u03bf\u03bd) to rub over himself\n    and his armor.]\n\n    [Footnote 15: _Or when flints._--Ver. 107. It is difficult to\n    determine whether \u2018silices\u2019 here means \u2018flint-stones,\u2019 or\n    \u2018lime-stone;\u2019 probably the latter, from the mention of water\n    sprinkled over them. If the meaning is \u2018flint-stones,\u2019 the passage\n    may refer to the manufacture of glass, with the art of making\n    which the ancients were perfectly acquainted.]\n\n    [Footnote 16: _Unused to it._--Ver. 119. Because, being sacred to\n    Mars, it was not permitted to be ploughed.]\n\n    [Footnote 17: _Dragon\u2019s teeth._--Ver. 122. These were a portion of\n    the teeth of the dragon slain by Cadmus, which Mars and Minerva\n    had sent to \u00c6etes.]\n\n    [Footnote 18: _Leth\u00e6an juice._--Ver. 152. Lethe was a river of the\n    infernal regions, whose waters were said to produce sleep and\n    forgetfulness.]\n\n    [Footnote 19: _Port of Iolcos._--Ver. 158. Iolcos was a city of\n    Thessaly, of which country Jason was a native.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  To understand this story, one of the most famous in the early history\n  of Greece, we must go back to the origin of it, and examine the\n  fictions which the poets have mingled with the history of the\n  expedition of the Argonauts, one of the most remarkable events of the\n  fabulous ages.\n\n  Athamas, the son of \u00c6olus, grandson of Hellen, and great-grandson of\n  Deucalion, having married Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, was obliged to\n  divorce her, on account of the madness with which she was attacked. He\n  afterwards married Nephele, by whom he had a son and daughter, Phryxus\n  and Helle; but on his taking his first wife again, she brought him two\n  sons, Learchus and Melicerta. Ino, hating the children of Nephele,\n  sought to destroy them. Phryxus being informed thereof, ordered a ship\n  to be privately prepared; and taking his father\u2019s treasures, sailed\n  with his sister Helle, to seek a retreat in the court of \u00c6etes, his\n  kinsman. Helle died on the voyage, but Phryxus arrived in Colchis,\n  where he dedicated the prow of his ship to Neptune, or Jupiter. He\n  there married Chalciope, by whom he had four sons, Argos, Phrontes,\n  Molas, and Cylindus. Some years after, \u00c6etes caused him to be\n  assassinated; and his sons fleeing to the court of their grandfather,\n  Athamas, were shipwrecked on an island, where they remained until\n  found there by Jason, who took them back to their mother. Having\n  mourned them as dead, she was transported with joy on finding them,\n  and used every exertion to aid Jason in promoting his addresses to\n  Medea. \u00c6etes having seized the treasures of Athamas on the death of\n  Phryxus, the Greeks prepared an expedition to recover them, and to\n  avenge his death. Pelias, who had driven his brother \u00c6son from the\n  throne of Iolcos, desiring to procure the absence of his son Jason,\n  took this opportunity of engaging him in an enterprise, which promised\n  both glory, profit, and a large amount of personal exertion. The\n  uneasiness which Pelias felt was caused by the prediction of an\n  oracle, that he should be killed by a prince of the family of \u00c6olus,\n  and which warned him to beware of a person who should have but one\n  shoe. Just at that period, Jason, returning from the school of Chiron,\n  lost one of his shoes in crossing a river. On this, his uncle was\n  desirous to destroy him; but not daring to do so publicly, he induced\n  him to embark with the Argonauts, expecting that he would perish in an\n  undertaking of so perilous a nature. Many young nobles of Greece\n  repaired to the court of Iolcos, and joined in the undertaking, when\n  they chose Jason for their leader, and embarked in a ship, the name of\n  which was Argo, and from which the adventurers received the name of\n  Argonauts.\n\n  Diodorus Siculus says, that the ship was so named from its swiftness;\n  while others say, that it was so called from Argus, the name of its\n  builder, or from the Argives, or Greeks, on board of it. Bochart,\n  however, supposes, that the name is derived from the Ph\u0153nician word\n  \u2018arco,\u2019 which signifies \u2018long,\u2019 and suggests, that before that time\n  the Greeks sailed in vessels of a rounder form, Jason being the first\n  who sailed in a ship built in the form of a galley. After many\n  adventures, on arriving at the Isle of Lemnos, they found that the\n  women had killed their husbands in a fit of jealousy, on which the\n  Argonauts took wives from their number, and Jason received for his\n  companion Hypsipyle, the daughter of Thoas. Putting to sea again, they\n  were driven on the coast of Bithynia, where they delivered Phineus,\n  its king, from the persecution of the Harpies, who were in the habit\n  of snatching away the victuals from his table. These monsters, of\n  hideous form, with crooked beaks and talons, huge wings, and the faces\n  of women, the Argonauts, and especially Calais and Zethes, pursued as\n  far as the islands called Strophades, in the Ionian sea, where Iris\n  appearing to them, enjoined them to pursue the Harpies no further,\n  promising that Phineus should no longer be persecuted by them. To\n  explain this story, some suppose that the Harpies were the daughters\n  of Phineus, who by their dissipation and extravagance, had ruined him\n  in his old age, which occasioned the saying, that they snatched the\n  victuals out of his mouth. Le Clerc thinks, that the Harpies were vast\n  swarms of grasshoppers, which ravaged all Paphlagonia, and caused a\n  famine in the dominions of Phineus; the word \u2018arbati,\u2019 whence the term\n  \u2018Harpy\u2019 is derived, signifying \u2018a grasshopper;\u2019 and that the North\n  wind blowing them into the Ionian sea, it gave rise to the saying,\n  that the sons of Boreas pursued them so far. Diodorus Siculus does not\n  mention the Harpies, though he speaks of the arrival of the Argonauts\n  at the court of Phineus.\n\n  After some other adventures, the Argonauts arrived at Colchis. \u00c6etes,\n  or \u00c6eta, the king, having been forewarned by an oracle, that a\n  stranger should deprive him of his crown and life, had established a\n  custom of sacrificing all strangers found in his dominions. His\n  daughter Medea, falling in love with Jason, promised him her\n  assistance in preserving them from the dangers to which they were\n  exposed, on the condition of his marrying her. Having engaged to do\n  so, she conducted him by night to the royal palace, and gave him a\n  false key, by means whereof he found the royal treasures, and carrying\n  them off, embarked with Medea and his companions. By way of explaining\n  the miraculous portion of the story, we may, perhaps, not err in\n  supposing, that the account of it was originally written in the\n  Ph\u0153nician language; and through not understanding it, the Greeks\n  invented the fiction of the Fleece, the Dragon, and the Fiery Bulls.\n  Bochart and Le Clerc have observed, that the Syriac word \u2018gaza,\u2019\n  signifies either \u2018a treasure,\u2019 or \u2018a fleece.\u2019 \u2018Saur,\u2019 which means \u2018a\n  wall,\u2019 also means \u2018a bull;\u2019 and in the same language the same word,\n  \u2018nachas,\u2019 signifies both \u2018brass,\u2019 \u2018iron,\u2019 and \u2018a dragon.\u2019 Hence,\n  instead of the simple narrative, that Jason, by the aid of Medea,\n  carried away the treasures which \u00c6etes kept within walls, with bolts,\n  or locks of metal, and which Phryxus had carried to Colchis in a ship\n  with the figure of a ram at the prow, it was published, and circulated\n  by the ignorant, that the Gods, to save Phryxus from his stepmother,\n  sent him a sheep with a golden fleece, which bore him to Colchis; that\n  its fleece became the object of the ambition of the leading men of\n  Greece; and that whoever wished to bear it away was obliged to contend\n  with bulls and dragons. Some historians, by way of interpreting the\n  story, affirm, that the keeper of the treasures was named \u2018Draco,\u2019 or\n  \u2018Dragon,\u2019 and that the garrison of the stronghold of \u00c6etes was brought\n  from the \u2018Tauric\u2019 Chersonesus. They say also, that the fleece was the\n  skin of the sheep which Phryxus had sacrificed to Neptune, which he\n  had caused to be gilt. It is not, however, very likely, that an object\n  so trifling could have excited the avarice of the Greeks, and caused\n  them to undertake an expedition accompanied with so many dangers. The\n  dragon\u2019s teeth most probably bear reference to some foreign troops\n  which Jason, in the same way as Cadmus had done, found means to\n  alienate from \u00c6etes, and to bring over to his own side. Homer makes\n  but very slight allusion to the adventures of the Argonauts.\n\n\nFABLE II. [VII.159-349]\n\n  Jason, after his return home, requests Medea to restore his father\n  \u00c6son to youth, which she performs; then, going to the court of Pelias,\n  she avenges the injuries which he had done to the family of Jason, by\n  making him the victim of the credulity of his own daughters, who, in\n  compliance with her pretended regard for them, stab him to death.\n  Medea, having executed her design, makes her escape in her chariot.\n\nThe H\u00e6monian mothers and aged fathers bring presents, for receiving\ntheir sons {safe home}; and frankincense dissolves, piled on the flames,\nand the devoted victim falls, having its horns gilded. But \u00c6son is not\namong those congratulating, being now near death, and worn out with the\nyears of old age; when thus the son of \u00c6son {addresses Medea}: \u201cO wife,\nto whom I confess that I owe my safety, although thou hast granted me\neverything, and the sum of thy favors exceeds {all} belief; {still}, if\n{thy enchantments} can effect this (and what can enchantments not\neffect?), take away from my own years, and, when taken, add them to\n{those of} my father.\u201d\n\nAnd {thus saying}, he could not check his tears. She was moved with the\naffection of the petitioner; and {her father}, \u00c6etes, left behind,\nrecurred to her mind, unlike {that of Jason}; yet she did not confess\nany such feelings. \u201cWhat a piece of wickedness, husband,\u201d said she, \u201chas\nescaped thy affectionate lips! Can I, then, seem capable of transferring\nto any one a portion of thy life? May Hecate not allow of this; nor dost\nthou ask what is reasonable; but, Jason, I will endeavor to grant thee a\nfavor {still} greater than that which thou art asking. By my arts we\nwill endeavor to bring back the long years of my father-in-law, and not\nby means of thy years; if the Goddess of the triple form[20] do but\nassist, and propitiously aid {so} vast an undertaking.\u201d Three nights\nwere {now} wanting that the horns {of the Moon} might meet entirely, and\nmight form a {perfect} orb. After the Moon shone in her full, and looked\ndown upon the Earth, with her disk complete, {Medea} went forth from the\nhouse, clothed in garments flowing loose, with bare feet,[21] and having\nher unadorned hair hanging over her shoulders, and unattended, directed\nher wandering steps through the still silence of midnight. Sound sleep\nhas {now} relaxed {the nerves of both} men, and birds, and beasts; the\nhedges and the motionless foliage are still, without any noise, the dewy\nair is still; the stars alone are twinkling; towards which, holding up\nher arms, three times she turns herself about, three times she\nbesprinkles her hair with water taken from the stream; with three yells\nshe opens her mouth, and, her knee bending upon the hard ground, she\nsays, \u201cO Night, most faithful to these my mysteries, and ye golden\nStars, who, with the Moon, succeed the fires of the day, and thou,\nthree-faced Hecate,[22] who comest conscious of my design, and ye charms\nand arts of the enchanters, and thou, too, Earth, that dost furnish the\nenchanters with powerful herbs; ye breezes, too, and winds, mountains,\nrivers, and lakes, and all ye Deities of the groves, and all ye Gods of\nnight, attend here; through whose aid, whenever I will, the rivers run\nback from their astonished banks to their sources, {and} by my charms I\ncalm the troubled sea, and rouse it when calm; I disperse the clouds,\nand I bring clouds {upon the Earth}; I both allay the winds, and I raise\nthem; and I break the jaws of serpents with my words and my spells;\nI move, too, the solid rocks, and the oaks torn up with their own\n{native} earth, and the forests {as well}. I command the mountains, too,\nto quake, and the Earth to groan, and the ghosts to come forth from\ntheir tombs. Thee, too, O Moon, do I draw down, although the\nTemes\u00e6an[23] brass relieves thy pangs. By my spells, also, the chariot\nof my grandsire is rendered pale; Aurora, too, is pale through my\nenchantments. For me did ye blunt the flames of the bulls, and with the\ncurving plough you pressed the necks that never before bore the yoke.\nYou raised a cruel warfare for those born of the dragon among\nthemselves, and you lulled to sleep the keeper {of the golden fleece},\nthat had never known sleep; and {thus}, deceiving the guardian, you sent\nthe treasure into the Grecian cities. Now there is need of juices, by\nmeans of which, old age, being renewed, may return to the bloom {of\nlife}, and may receive back again its early years; and {this} ye will\ngive me; for not in vain did the stars {just now} sparkle; nor yet in\nvain is the chariot come, drawn by the necks of winged dragons.\u201d\n\nA chariot sent down from heaven was come; which, soon as she had\nmounted, and had stroked the harnessed necks of the dragons, and had\nshaken the light reins with her hands, she was borne aloft, and looked\ndown upon Thessalian Tempe below her, and guided her dragons towards the\nchalky regions;[24] and observed the herbs which Ossa, and which the\nlofty Pelion bore, Othrys, too, and Pindus, and Olympus {still} greater\nthan Pindus; and part she tore up by the root gently worked, part she\ncut down with the bend of a brazen sickle.[25] Many a herb, too, that\ngrew on the banks of Apidanus[26] pleased her; many, too, {on the banks}\nof Amphrysus; nor, Enipeus, didst thou escape. The Peneian waters, and\nthe Spercheian as well, contributed something, and the rushy shores of\nB\u0153be.[27] She plucks, too, enlivening herbs by the Eub\u0153an Anthedon,[28]\nnot yet commonly known by the change of the body of Glaucus.[29] And now\nthe ninth day,[30] and the ninth night had seen her visiting all the\nfields in her chariot, and upon the wings of the dragons, when she\nreturned; nor had the dragons been fed, but with the odors {of the\nplants}: and yet they cast the skin of old age full of years. On her\narrival she stood without the threshold and the gates, and was canopied\nby the heavens alone, and avoided the contact of her husband, and\nerected two altars of turf; on the right hand, one to Hecate, but on the\nleft side one to Youth.[31] After she had hung them round with vervain\nand forest boughs, throwing up the earth from two trenches not far off,\nshe performed the rites, and plunged a knife into the throat of a black\nram, and besprinkled the wide trenches with blood. Then pouring thereon\ngoblets[32] of flowing wine, and pouring brazen goblets of warm milk;\nshe at the same time utters words, and calls upon the Deities of the\nearth, and entreats the king of the shades[33] below, together with his\nravished wife, that they will not hasten to deprive the aged limbs of\nlife. When she had rendered them propitious both by prayers and\nprolonged mutterings, she commanded the exhausted body of \u00c6son to be\nbrought out to the altars, and stretched it cast into a deep sleep by\nher charms, {and} resembling one dead, upon the herbs laid beneath him.\n\nShe orders the son of \u00c6son to go far thence, and the attendants, too, to\ngo afar; and warns them to withdraw their profane eyes from her\nmysteries. At her order, they retire. Medea, with dishevelled hair, goes\nround the blazing altars like a worshipper of Bacchus, and dips her\ntorches, split into many parts, in the trench, black with blood, and\nlights them, {thus} dipt, at the two altars. And thrice does she[34]\npurify the aged man with flames, thrice with water, and thrice with\nsulphur. In the meantime the potent mixture[35] is boiling and heaving\nin the brazen cauldron, placed {on the flames}, and whitens with\nswelling froth. There she boils roots cut up in the H\u00e6monian valleys,\nand seeds and flowers and acrid juices. She adds stones fetched from the\nmost distant East, and sand, which the ebbing tide of the ocean has\nwashed. She adds, too, hoar-frost gathered at night by the light of the\nmoon, and the ill-boding wings of a screech owl,[36] together with its\nflesh; and the entrails of an ambiguous wolf, that was wont to change\nits appearance of a wild beast into {that of} a man. Nor is there\nwanting there the thin scaly slough of the Cinyphian water-snake,[37]\nand the liver of the long-lived stag;[38] to which, besides, she adds\nthe bill and head of a crow that had sustained {an existence of} nine\nages. When, with these and a thousand other things without a name, the\nbarbarian {princess} has completed the medicine prepared for the mortal\n{body}, with a branch of the peaceful olive long since dried up, she\nstirs them all up, and blends the lowest {ingredients} with the highest.\nBehold! the old branch, turned about in the heated cauldron, at first\nbecomes green; and after no long time assumes foliage, and is suddenly\nloaded with heavy olives. Besides, wherever the fire throws the froth\nfrom out of the hollow cauldron, and the boiling drops fall upon the\nearth, the ground becomes green, and flowers and soft grass spring up.\n\nSoon as Medea sees this, she opens the throat[39] of the old man with a\ndrawn sword; and allowing the former blood to escape, replenishes {his\nveins} with juices. Soon as \u00c6son has drunk them in, either received in\nhis mouth or in his wound, his beard and his hair[40] laying aside their\nhoariness, assume a black hue. His leanness flies, being expelled; his\npaleness and squalor are gone. His hollow veins are supplied with\nadditional blood, and his limbs become instinct with vigor. \u00c6son is\nastonished, and calls to recollection that he was such four times ten\nyears before.\n\nLiber had beheld from on high the miraculous operations of so great a\nprodigy; and taught {thereby} that youthful years can be restored to his\nnurses,[41] he requests this present from the daughter of \u00c6etes.[42]\n\nAnd that her arts[43] may not cease, the Phasian feigns a counterfeited\nquarrel with her husband, and flies as a suppliant to the threshold of\nPelias[44] and (as he himself is oppressed with old age) his daughters\nreceive her; whom, after a short time, the crafty Colchian engages to\nherself by the appearance of a pretended friendship. And while among the\ngreatest of her merits, she relates that the infirmities of \u00c6son have\nbeen removed, and is dwelling upon that part {of the story}, a hope is\nsuggested to the damsels, the daughters of Pelias, that by the like art\ntheir parent may become young again; and this they request {of her}, and\nrepeatedly entreat her to name her own price. For a short time she is\nsilent, and appears to be hesitating, and keeps their mind in suspense,\nas they ask, with an affected gravity.\n\nAfterwards, when she has promised them, she says, \u201cThat there may be the\ngreater confidence in this my skill, the leader of the flock among your\nsheep, which is the most advanced in age, shall become a lamb by this\npreparation.\u201d Immediately, a fleecy {ram}, enfeebled by innumerable\nyears, is brought, with his horns bending around his hollow temples;\nwhose withered throat, when she has cut with the H\u00e6monian knife, and\nstained the steel with its scanty blood, the enchantress plunges the\nlimbs of the sheep, and her potent juices together, into the hollow\ncopper. The limbs of his body are lessened, and he puts off his horns,\nand his years together with his horns; and in the midst of the kettle a\nlow bleating is heard. And without any delay, while they are wondering\nat the bleating, a lamb springs forth, and gambols in its course, and\nseeks the suckling dugs. The daughters of Pelias are amazed; and after\nher promises have obtained her credit, then, indeed, they urge her still\nmore strongly. Ph\u0153bus had thrice taken the yoke off his horses sinking\nin the Iberian sea;[45] and upon the fourth night the radiant stars were\ntwinkling, when the deceitful daughter of \u00c6etes set pure water upon a\nblazing fire, and herbs without any virtue. And now sleep like to death,\ntheir bodies being relaxed, had seized the king, and the guards together\nwith their king, which her charms and the influence of her enchanting\ntongue had caused. The daughters {of the king}, {as} ordered, had\nentered the threshold, together with the Colchian, and had surrounded\nthe bed; \u201cWhy do you hesitate now, in your indolence? Unsheathe your\nswords,\u201d says she, \u201cand exhaust the ancient gore, that I may replenish\nhis empty veins with youthful blood. The life and the age of your father\nis now in your power. If you have any affection and cherish not vain\nhopes, perform your duty to your father, and drive away old age with\nyour weapons, and, thrusting in the steel, let out his corrupted blood.\u201d\n\nUpon this exhortation, as each of them is affectionate, she becomes\nespecially undutiful, and that she may not be wicked, she commits\nwickedness. Yet not one is able to look upon her own blow; and they\nturn away their eyes, and turning away their faces, they deal chance\nblows with their cruel right hands. He, streaming with gore, yet raises\nhis limbs on his elbows, and, half-mangled, attempts to rise from the\ncouch; and in the midst of so many swords stretching forth his pale\narms, he says, \u201cWhat are you doing, my daughters? What arms you against\nthe life of your parent?\u201d Their courage and their hands fail {them}. As\nhe is about to say more, the Colchian severs his throat, together with\nhis words, and plunges him, {thus} mangled, in the boiling cauldron.\n\n    [Footnote 20: _Of the triple form._--Ver. 177. Hecate, the Goddess\n    of enchantment.]\n\n    [Footnote 21: _With bare feet._--Ver. 183. To have the feet bare\n    was esteemed requisite for the due performance of magic rites,\n    though sometimes on such occasions, and probably in the present\n    instance, only one foot was left unshod. In times of drought,\n    according to Tertullian, a procession and ceremonial, called\n    \u2018nudipedalia,\u2019 were resorted to, with a view to propitiate the\n    Gods by this token of grief and humiliation.]\n\n    [Footnote 22: _Three-faced Hecate._--Ver. 194. Though Hecate and\n    the Moon are here mentioned as distinct, they are frequently\n    considered to have been the same Deity, with different attributes.\n    The three heads with which Hecate was represented were those of a\n    horse, a dog, and a pig, or sometimes, in the place of the latter,\n    a human head.]\n\n    [Footnote 23: _Temes\u00e6an._--Ver. 207. Temesa was a town of the\n    Brutii, on the coast of Etruria, famous for its copper mines. It\n    was also sometimes called Tempsa. There was also another Temesa,\n    a city of Cyprus, also famous for its copper.]\n\n    [Footnote 24: _Chalky regions._--Ver. 223. Such was the\n    characteristic of the mountainous country of Thessaly, where she\n    now alighted.]\n\n    [Footnote 25: _Brazen sickle._--Ver. 227. We learn from Macrobius\n    and C\u00e6lius Rhodiginus that copper was preferred to iron in cutting\n    herbs for the purposes of enchantment, in exorcising spirits, and\n    in aiding the moon in eclipses against the supposed charms of the\n    witches, because it was supposed to be a purer metal.]\n\n    [Footnote 26: _Apidanus._--Ver. 228. This and Amphrysus were\n    rivers of Thessaly.]\n\n    [Footnote 27: _Shores of B\u0153be._--Ver. 231. Strabo makes mention of\n    lake B\u0153beis, near the town of B\u0153be, in Thessaly. It was not far\n    from the mouth of the river Peneus.]\n\n    [Footnote 28: _Anthedon._--Ver. 232. This was a town of B\u0153otia,\n    opposite to Eub\u0153a, being situated on the Euripus, now called the\n    straits of Negropont.]\n\n    [Footnote 29: _Glaucus._--Ver. 233. He was a fisherman, who was\n    changed into a sea God, on tasting a certain herb. His story is\n    related at the end of the 13th Book.]\n\n    [Footnote 30: _Ninth day._--Ver. 234. The numbers three and nine\n    seem to have been deemed of especial virtue in incantations.]\n\n    [Footnote 31: _One to youth._--Ver. 241. This goddess was also\n    called Hebe, from the Greek word signifying youth. She was the\n    daughter of Juno, and the wife of Hercules. She was also the\n    cup-bearer of the Gods, until she was supplanted by Ganymede.]\n\n    [Footnote 32: _Goblets._--Ver. 246. \u2018Carchesia.\u2019 The \u2018carchesium\u2019\n    was a kind of drinking cup, used by the Greeks from very early\n    times. It was slightly contracted in the middle, and its two\n    handles extended from the top to the bottom. It was employed in\n    the worship of the Deities, and was used for libations of blood,\n    wine, milk, and honey. Macrobius says that it was only used by the\n    Greeks. Virgil makes mention of it as used to hold wine.]\n\n    [Footnote 33: _King of the shades._--Ver. 249. Pluto and\n    Proserpine. Clarke translates this line and the next, \u2018And prays\n    to the king of shades with his kidnapped wife, that they would not\n    be too forward to deprive the limbs of the old gentleman of\n    life.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 34: _Thrice does she._--Ver. 261. Clarke thus renders\n    this and the two following lines: \u2018And purifies the old gentleman\n    three times with flame, three times with water, and three times\n    with sulphur. In the meantime the strong medicine boils, and\n    bounces about in a brazen kettle set on the fire.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 35: _The potent mixture._--Ver. 262. This reminds us of\n    the line of Shakespeare in Macbeth, \u2018Make the hell-broth thick and\n    slab.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 36: _A screech owl._--Ver. 269. \u2018Strigis.\u2019 The \u2018strix\u2019\n    is supposed to have been the screech owl, and was a favorite bird\n    with the enchanters, who were supposed to have the power of\n    assuming that form. From the description given of the \u2018striges\u2019 in\n    the Sixth Book of the Fasti, it would almost appear that the\n    qualities of the vampyre bat were attributed to them.]\n\n    [Footnote 37: _Water snake._--Ver. 272. The \u2018chelydrus\u2019 was a\n    venomous water-snake of a powerful and offensive smell. The\n    Delphin Commentator seems to think that a kind of turtle is here\n    meant.]\n\n    [Footnote 38: _Long-lived stag._--Ver. 273. The stag was said to\n    live four times, and the crow nine times, as long as man.]\n\n    [Footnote 39: _Opened the throat._--Ver. 285-6. Clarke translates\n    the words \u2018quod simul ac vidit, stricto Medea recludit Ense senis\n    jugulum,\u2019 \u2018which as soon as Medea saw, she opens the throat of the\n    old gentleman with a drawn sword.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 40: _And his hair._--Ver. 288. Medea is thought by some\n    writers not only to have discovered a dye for giving a dark color\n    to grey hair, but to have found out the invigorating properties of\n    the warm bath.]\n\n    [Footnote 41: _To his nurses._--Ver. 295. These (in Book iii.\n    l. 314.) he calls by the name of Nyse\u00efdes; but in the Fifth Book\n    of the Fasti they are styled Hyades, and are placed in the number\n    of the Constellations. A commentator on Homer, quoting from\n    Pherecydes, calls them \u2018Dodonides.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 42: _Daughter of \u00c6etes._--Ver. 296. The reading in most\n    of the MSS. here is Tethei\u00e2, or \u2018Thetide;\u2019 but Burmann has\n    replaced it by \u00c6etide, \u2018the daughter of \u00c6etes.\u2019 It has been justly\n    remarked, why should Bacchus apply to Tethys to have the age of\n    the Nymphs, who had nursed him, renewed, when he had just beheld\n    Medea, and not Tethys, do it in favor of \u00c6son?]\n\n    [Footnote 43: _That her arts._--Ver. 297. \u2018Neve doli cessent\u2019 is\n    translated by Clarke, \u2018and that her tricks might not cease.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 44: _Pelias._--Ver. 298. He was the brother of \u00c6son, and\n    had dethroned him, and usurped his kingdom.]\n\n    [Footnote 45: _The Iberian sea._--Ver. 324. The Atlantic, or\n    Western Ocean, is thus called from Iberia, the ancient name of\n    Spain; which country, perhaps, was so called from the river\n    Iberus, or Ebro, flowing through it.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The authors who have endeavored to explain the true meaning and origin\n  of the story of the restitution of \u00c6son to youth, are much divided in\n  their opinions concerning it. Some think it refers to the mystery of\n  reviving the decrepit and aged by the transfusion of youthful blood.\n  It is, however, not improbable, that Medea obtained the reputation of\n  being a sorceress, only because she had been taught by her mother the\n  virtues of various plants: and that she administered a potion to \u00c6son,\n  which furnished him with new spirits and strength.\n\n  The daughters of Pelias being desirous to obtain the same favor of\n  Medea for their father, she, to revenge the evils which he had brought\n  upon her husband and his family, may possibly have mixed some venomous\n  herbs in his drink, which immediately killed him.\n\n\nFABLE III. [VII.350-401]\n\n  Medea, after having killed Pelias, goes through several countries to\n  Corinth, where, finding that Jason, in her absence, has married the\n  daughter of king Creon, she sets fire to the palace, whereby the\n  princess and her father are consumed. She then murders the two\n  children which she had by Jason, before his face, and takes to flight.\n\nAnd unless she had mounted into the air with winged dragons, she would\nnot have been exempt from punishment; she flies aloft, over both shady\nPelion, the lofty habitation[46] of the son of Phillyra, and over\nOthrys, and the places noted for the fate of the ancient Cerambus.[47]\nHe, by the aid of Nymphs, being lifted on wings into the air, when the\nponderous earth was covered by the sea pouring over it, not being\noverwhelmed, escaped the flood of Deucalion. On the left side, she\nleaves the \u00c6olian Pitane,[48] and the image of the long Dragon[49] made\nout of stone, and the wood of Ida,[50] in which Bacchus hid a stolen\nbullock beneath the appearance of a fictitious stag; {the spot} too,\nwhere the father of Corythus[51] lies buried beneath a little sand, and\nthe fields which M\u00e6ra[52] alarmed by her unusual barking.\n\nThe city, too, of Eurypylus,[53] in which the Coan matrons[54] wore\nhorns, at the time when the herd of Hercules[55] departed {thence};\nPh\u0153bean Rhodes[56] also, and the Ialysian Telchines,[57] whose eyes[58]\ncorrupting all things by the very looking upon them, Jupiter utterly\nhating, thrust beneath the waves of his brother. She passed, too, over\nthe Cartheian walls of ancient Cea,[59] where her father Alcidamas[60]\nwas destined to wonder that a gentle dove could arise from the body of\nhis daughter.\n\nAfter that, she beholds the lakes of Hyrie,[61] and Cycneian Tempe,[62]\nwhich the swan that had suddenly become such, frequented. For there\nPhyllius, at the request of the boy, had given him birds, and a fierce\nlion tamed; being ordered, too, to subdue a bull, he had subdued him;\nand being angry at his despising his love so often, he denied him,\n{when} begging the bull as his last reward. The other, indignant, said,\n\u201cThou shalt wish that thou hadst given it;\u201d and {then} leaped from a\nhigh rock. All imagined he had fallen; but, transformed into a swan, he\nhovered in the air on snow-white wings. But his mother, Hyrie, not\nknowing that he was saved, dissolved in tears, and formed a lake\n{called} after her own name.\n\nAdjacent to these {places} is Pleuron;[63] in which Combe,[64] the\ndaughter of Ophis, escaped the wounds of her sons with trembling wings.\nAfter that, she sees the fields of Calaurea,[65] sacred to Latona,\nconscious of the transformation of their king, together with his wife,\ninto birds. Cyllene is on the right hand, on which Menephron[66] was\n{one day} to lie with his mother, after the manner of savage beasts. Far\nhence she beholds Cephisus,[67] lamenting the fate of his grandson,\nchanged by Apollo into a bloated sea-calf; and the house of Eumelus,[68]\nlamenting his son in the air.\n\nAt length, borne on the wings of her dragons, she reached the Pirenian\nEphyre.[69] Here, those of ancient times promulgated that in the early\nages mortal bodies were produced from mushrooms springing from rain. But\nafter the new-made bride was consumed, through the Colchian drugs, and\nboth seas beheld the king\u2019s house on fire, her wicked sword was bathed\nin the blood of her sons; and the mother, having {thus} barbarously\nrevenged herself, fled from the arms of Jason. Being borne hence by her\nTitanian dragons,[70] she entered the city of Pallas, which saw thee,\nmost righteous Phineus,[71] and thee, aged Periphas,[72] flying\ntogether, and the granddaughter of Polypemon[73] resting upon new-formed\nwings.\n\n    [Footnote 46: _Lofty habitation._--Ver. 352. The mountains of\n    Thessaly are so called, because Chiron, the son of the Nymph\n    Phillyra, lived there.]\n\n    [Footnote 47: _Cerambus._--Ver. 353. Antoninus Liberalis, quoting\n    from Nicander, calls him Terambus, and says that he lived at the\n    foot of Mount Pelion; he incurred the resentment of the Nymphs,\n    who changed him into a scarab\u00e6us, or winged beetle. Flying to the\n    heights of Parnassus, at the time of the flood of Deucalion, he\n    thereby made his escape. Some writers say that he was changed into\n    a bird.]\n\n    [Footnote 48: _Pitane._--Ver. 357. This was a town of \u00c6tolia, in\n    Asia Minor, near the mouth of the river Caicus.]\n\n    [Footnote 49: _The long dragon._--Ver. 358. He alludes, most\n    probably, to the story of the Lesbian changed into a dragon or\n    serpent, which is mentioned in the Eleventh book, line 58.]\n\n    [Footnote 50: _Wood of Ida._--Ver. 359. This was the grove of Ida,\n    in Phrygia. It is supposed that he refers to the story of\n    Thyoneus, the son of Bacchus, who, having stolen an ox from some\n    Phrygian shepherds, was pursued by them; on which Bacchus, to\n    screen his son, changed the ox into a stag, and invested Thyoneus\n    with the garb of a hunter.]\n\n    [Footnote 51: _Father of Corythus._--Ver. 361. Paris was the\n    father of Corythus, by \u0152none. He was said to have been buried at\n    Cebrena, a little town of Phrygia, near Troy.]\n\n    [Footnote 52: _M\u00e6ra._--Ver. 362. This was the name of the dog of\n    Icarius, the father of Erigone, who discovered the murder of his\n    master by the shepherds of Attica, and was made a Constellation,\n    under the name of the Dog-star. As, however, the flight of Medea\n    was now far distant from Attica, it is more likely that the Poet\n    refers to the transformation of some female, named M\u00e6ra, into a\n    dog, whose story has not come down to us; indeed, Lactantius\n    expresses this as his opinion. Burmann thinks that it refers to\n    the transformation of Hecuba, mentioned in the 13th book, line\n    406; and that \u2018M\u00e6ra\u2019 is a corruption for some other name of\n    Hecuba.]\n\n    [Footnote 53: _Eurypylus._--Ver. 363. He was a former king of the\n    Isle of Cos, in the \u00c6gean Sea, and was much famed for his skill as\n    an augur.]\n\n    [Footnote 54: _The Coan matrons._--Ver. 363. Lactantius says that\n    the women of Cos, extolling their own beauty as superior to that\n    of Venus, incurred the resentment of that Goddess, and were\n    changed by her into cows. Another version of the story is, that\n    these women, being offended at Hercules for driving the oxen of\n    \u00c6geon through their island, were very abusive, on which Juno\n    transformed them into cows: to this latter version reference is\n    made in the present passage.]\n\n    [Footnote 55: _Hercules._--Ver. 364. He besieged and took the\n    chief city of the island, which was also called Cos; and having\n    slain Eurypylus, carried off his daughter Chalciope.]\n\n    [Footnote 56: _Ph\u0153bean Rhodes._--Ver. 365. The island of Rhodes,\n    in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Asia Minor, was sacred to\n    the Sun, and was said never to be deserted by his rays.]\n\n    [Footnote 57: _Ialysian Telchines._--Ver. 365. Ialysus was one of\n    the three most ancient cities of Rhodes, and was said to have been\n    founded by Ialysus, whose parent was the Sun. The Telchines, or\n    Thelchines, were a race supposed to have migrated thither from\n    Crete. They were persons of great artistic skill, on which account\n    they may, possibly, have obtained the character of being\n    magicians; such was the belief of Strabo.]\n\n    [Footnote 58: _Whose eyes._--Ver. 366. The evil eye was supposed\n    by the ancients not only to have certain fascinating powers, but\n    to be able to destroy the beauty of any object on which it was\n    turned.]\n\n    [Footnote 59: _Cea._--Ver. 368. This island, now Zia, is in the\n    \u00c6gean sea, near Eub\u0153a. Carth\u00e6a was a city there, the ruins of\n    which are still in existence.]\n\n    [Footnote 60: _Alcidamas._--Ver. 369. Antoninus Liberalis says,\n    that Alcidamas lived not at Carth\u00e6a, but at I\u00fclis, another city in\n    the Isle of Cea.]\n\n    [Footnote 61: _Lakes of Hyrie._--Ver. 371. Hyrie was the mother of\n    Cycnus; and pining away with grief on the transformation of her\n    son, she was changed into a lake, called by her name.]\n\n    [Footnote 62: _Cycneian Tempe._--Ver. 371. This was not Thessalian\n    Tempe, but a valley of Teumesia, or Teumesus, a mountain of\n    B\u0153otia.]\n\n    [Footnote 63: _Pleuron._--Ver. 382. This was a city of \u00c6tolia,\n    near Mount Curius. It was far distant from B\u0153otia and Lake Hyrie.\n    Some commentators, therefore, suggest that the reading should be\n    Brauron, a village of Attica, near the confines of B\u0153otia.]\n\n    [Footnote 64: _Combe._--Ver. 383. She was the mother of the\n    Curetes of \u00c6tolia, who, perhaps, received that name from Mount\n    Curius. There was another Combe, the daughter of Asopus, who\n    discovered the use of brazen arms, and was called Chalcis, from\n    that circumstance. She was said to have borne a hundred daughters\n    to her husband.]\n\n    [Footnote 65: _Calaurea._--Ver. 384. This was an island between\n    Crete and the Peloponnesus, in the Saronic gulf, which was sacred\n    to Apollo. Latona resided there, having given Delos to Neptune in\n    exchange for it. Demosthenes died there.]\n\n    [Footnote 66: _Menephron._--Ver. 386. Hyginus says, that he\n    committed incest both with his mother Blias, and with Cyllene, his\n    daughter.]\n\n    [Footnote 67: _Cephisus._--Ver. 388. The river Cephisus, in\n    B\u0153otia, had a daughter, Praxithea. She was the wife of Erectheus,\n    and bore him eight sons, the fate of one of whom is perhaps here\n    referred to.]\n\n    [Footnote 68: _Eumelus._--Ver. 390. He was the king of Patr\u00e6, on\n    the sea-coast of Achaia. Triptolemus visited him with his winged\n    chariot; on which, Antheas, the son of Eumelus, ascended it while\n    his father was sleeping, and falling from it, he was killed. He\n    is, probably, here referred to; and the reading should be \u2018natum,\u2019\n    and not \u2018natam.\u2019 Some writers, however, suppose that his daughter\n    was changed into a bird.]\n\n    [Footnote 69: _Pirenian Ephyre._--Ver. 391. Corinth was so called\n    from Ephyre, the daughter of Neptune, who was said to have lived\n    there. Its inhabitants were fabled to have sprung from mushrooms.]\n\n    [Footnote 70: _Titanian dragons._--Ver. 398. Her dragons are so\n    called, either because, as Pindar says, they had sprung from the\n    blood of the Titans, or because, according to the Greek tradition,\n    the chariot and winged dragons had been sent to Medea by the Sun,\n    one of whose names was Titan.]\n\n    [Footnote 71: _Phineus._--Ver. 399. Any further particulars of the\n    person here named are unknown. Some commentators suggest \u2018Phini,\u2019\n    and that some female of the name of Phinis is alluded to, making\n    the adjective \u2018justissime\u2019 of the feminine gender.]\n\n    [Footnote 72: _Periphas._--Ver. 400. He was a very ancient king of\n    Attica, before the time of Cecrops, and was said to have been\n    changed into an eagle by Jupiter, while his wife was transformed\n    into an osprey.]\n\n    [Footnote 73: _Polypemon._--Ver. 401. This was a name of the\n    robber Procrustes, who was slain by Theseus. Halcyone, the\n    daughter of his son Scyron, having been guilty of incontinence,\n    was thrown into the sea by her father, on which she was changed\n    into a kingfisher, which bore her name.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Jason being reconciled to the children of Pelias, gave the crown to\n  his son Acastus. Becoming tired of Medea, he married Glauce, or\n  Cre\u00fcsa, the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth. Medea, hastening to\n  that place, left her two sons in the temple of Juno, and set fire to\n  Creon\u2019s palace, where he and his daughter were consumed to ashes,\n  after which she killed her own children. Euripides, in his tragedy of\n  Medea, makes a chorus of Corinthian women say, that the Corinthians\n  themselves committed the murder, and that the Gods sent a plague on\n  the city, as a punishment for the deed. Pausanias also says, that the\n  tomb of Medea\u2019s children, whom the Corinthians stoned to death, was\n  still to be seen in his time; and that the Corinthians offered\n  sacrifices there every year, to appease their ghosts, as the oracle\n  had commanded them.\n\n  Apollodorus relates this story in a different manner. He says, that\n  Medea sent her rival a crown, dipped in a sort of gum of a combustible\n  nature; and that when Glauce had put it on her head, it began to burn\n  so furiously, that the young princess perished in the greatest misery.\n  Medea afterwards retired to Thebes, where Hercules engaged to give her\n  assistance against Jason, which promise, however, he failed to\n  perform. Going thence to Athens, she married \u00c6geus.\n\n  The story of her winged dragons may, perhaps, be based on the fact,\n  that her ship was called \u2018the Dragon.\u2019 In recounting the particulars\n  of her flight, Ovid makes allusion to several stories by the way, the\n  most of which are entirely unknown to us. With regard to these\n  fictions, it may not be out of place to remark here, as affording a\n  key to many of them, that where a person escaped from any imminent\n  danger, it was published that he had been changed into a bird. If, to\n  avoid pursuit, a person hid himself in a cave, he was said to be\n  transformed into a serpent; and if he burst into tears, from excess of\n  grief, he was reported to have changed into a fountain; while, if a\n  damsel lost herself in a wood, she became a Nymph, or a Dryad. The\n  resemblance of names, also, gave rise to several fictions: thus,\n  Alopis was changed into a fox; Cygnus into a swan; Coronis into a\n  crow; and Cerambus into a horned beetle. As some few of the stories\n  here alluded to by Ovid, refer to historical events, it may be\n  remarked, that the account of the women of Cos being changed into\n  cows, is thought by some to have been founded on the cruel act of the\n  companions of Hercules, who sacrificed some of them to the Gods of the\n  country. The inhabitants of the Isle of Rhodes were said to have been\n  changed into rocks, because they perished in an inundation, which laid\n  a part of that island under water, and particularly the town of\n  Ialysus. The fruitfulness of the daughter of Alcidamas occasioned it\n  to be said, that she was changed into a dove. The rage of M\u00e6ra is\n  shown by her transformation into a bitch; and Arne was changed into a\n  daw, because, having sold her country, her avarice was well depicted\n  under the symbol of that bird, which, according to the popular\n  opinion, is fond of money. Phillyra, the mother of the Centaur Chiron,\n  was said to be changed into a linden-tree, probably because she\n  happened to bear the name of that tree, which in the Greek language is\n  called \u03c6\u03b9\u03bb\u03cd\u03c1\u03b1.\n\n\nFABLE IV. [VII.402-468]\n\n  Hercules chains the dog Cerberus, the guardian of the gates of the\n  Infernal Regions. Theseus, after his exploits at Corinth, arrives at\n  Athens, where Medea prepares a cup of poison for him. The king,\n  however, recognizing his son, just as he is about to drink, snatches\n  away the cup from him, while Medea flies in her chariot. \u00c6geus then\n  makes a festival, to celebrate the arrival and preservation of\n  Theseus. In the mean time, Minos, the king of Crete, solicits several\n  princes to assist him in a war against Athens, to revenge the death of\n  his son Androgeus, who had been murdered there.\n\n\u00c6geus, to be blamed for this deed alone, shelters her; and hospitality\nis not enough, he also joins her {to himself} by the ties of marriage.\nAnd now was Theseus, his son, arrived, unknown to his father, who, by\nhis valor, had established peace in the Isthmus between the two seas.\nFor his destruction Medea mingles the wolfsbane, which she once brought\nwith her from the shores of Scythia. This, they say, sprang from the\nteeth of the Echidnean dog. There is a gloomy cave,[74] with a dark\nentrance, {wherein} there is a descending path, along which the\nTirynthian hero dragged away Cerberus resisting, and turning his eyes\nsideways from the day and the shining rays {of the Sun}, in chains\nformed of adamant; he, filled with furious rage, filled the air with\ntriple barkings at the same moment, and sprinkled the verdant fields\nwith white foam. This, they suppose, grew solid, and, receiving the\nnourishment of a fruitful and productive soil, acquired the power of\nbeing noxious. Because, full of life, it springs up on the hard rock,\nthe rustics call it aconite.[75]\n\nThis, by the contrivance of his wife, the father \u00c6geus himself presented\nto his son,[76] as though to an enemy. Theseus had received the\npresented cup with unsuspecting right hand, when his father perceived\nupon the ivory hilt of his sword the tokens of his race,[77] and struck\nthe guilty {draught} from his mouth. She escaped death, having raised\nclouds by her enchantments.\n\nBut the father, although he rejoices at his son\u2019s being safe, astonished\nthat so great a wickedness can be committed with so narrow an escape\nfrom death, heats the altars with fires, and loads the Gods with gifts;\nand the axes strike the muscular necks of the oxen having their horns\nbound with wreaths. No day is said {ever} to have shone upon the people\nof Erectheus more famous than that--the senators and the common people\nkeep up the festivity; songs, too, they sing, wine inspiring wit. \u201cThee,\ngreatest Theseus,\u201d said they, \u201cMarathon[78] admired for {shedding} the\nblood of the Cretan bull; and that the husbandman ploughs Cromyon[79] in\nsafety from the boar, is thy procurement and thy work. By thy means the\ncountry of Epidaurus saw the club-bearing son of Vulcan[80] fall; {and}\nthe banks of the river Cephisus[81] saw the cruel Procrustes {fall by\nthee}. Eleusis, sacred to Ceres, beheld the death of Cercyon.[82]\nSinnis[83] fell too, who barbarously used his great powers; who was able\nto bend {huge} beams, and used to pull pine trees from aloft to the\nearth, destined to scatter {human} bodies far and wide. The road to\nAlcatho\u00eb,[84] the Lelege\u00efan city, is now open in safety, Scyron[85]\nbeing laid low {in death}: {and} the earth denies a resting-place, the\nwater, {too}, denies a resting-place to the bones of the robber\nscattered piecemeal; these, long tossed about, length of time is\nreported to have hardened into rocks. To {these} rocks the name of\nScyron adheres. If we should reckon up thy glorious deeds, and thy\nyears, thy actions would exceed thy years {in number}. For thee, bravest\n{hero}, we make public vows: in thy honor do we quaff the draughts of\nwine.\u201d The palace rings with the acclamations of the populace, and the\nprayers of those applauding; and there is no place sorrowing throughout\nthe whole city.\n\nAnd yet (so surely is the pleasure of no one unalloyed, and some anxiety\nis {ever} interposing amid joyous circumstances), \u00c6geus does not have\nhis joy undisturbed, on receiving back his son. Minos prepares for war;\nwho, though he is strong in soldiers, strong in shipping, is still\nstrongest of all in the resentment of a parent, and, with retributive\narms, avenges the death of {his son} Androgeus. Yet, before the war, he\nobtains auxiliary forces, and crosses the sea with a swift fleet, in\nwhich he is accounted strong. On the one side, he joins Anaphe[86] to\nhimself; and the realms of Astypale; Anaphe by treaty, the realms of\nAstypale by conquest; on the other side, the low Myconos, and the chalky\nlands of Cimolus,[87] and the flourishing Cythnos, Scyros, and the level\nSeriphos;[88] Paros, too, abounding in marble, and {the island} wherein\nthe treacherous Sithonian[89] betrayed the citadel, on receiving the\ngold, which, in her covetousness, she had demanded. She was changed into\na bird, which even now has a passion for gold, the jackdaw {namely},\nblack-footed, and covered with black feathers.\n\n    [Footnote 74: _A gloomy cave._--Ver. 409. This cavern was called\n    Acherusia. It was situate in the country of the Mariandyni, near\n    the city of Heraclea, in Pontus, and was said to be the entrance\n    of the Infernal Regions. Cerberus was said to have been dragged\n    from Tartarus by Hercules, through this cave, which circumstance\n    was supposed to account for the quantity of aconite, or wolfsbane,\n    that grew there.]\n\n    [Footnote 75: _Call it aconite._--Ver. 419. From the Greek \u03b1\u03ba\u03cc\u03bd\u03b7,\n    \u2018a whetstone.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 76: _Presented to his son._--Ver. 420. Medea was anxious\n    to secure the succession to the throne of Athens to her son Medus,\n    and was therefore desirous to remove Theseus out of the way.]\n\n    [Footnote 77: _Tokens of his race._--Ver. 423. \u00c6geus, leaving\n    \u00c6thra at Tr\u0153zen, in a state of pregnancy, charged her, if she bore\n    a son, to rear him, but to tell no one whose son he was. He placed\n    his own sword and shoes under a large stone, and directed her to\n    send his son to him when he was able to lift the stone, and to\n    take them from under it; and he then returned to Athens, where he\n    married Medea. When Theseus had grown to the proper age, his\n    mother led him to the stone under which his father had deposited\n    his sword and shoes, which he raised with ease, and took them out.\n    It was, probably, by means of this sword that \u00c6geus recognized his\n    son in the manner mentioned in the text.]\n\n    [Footnote 78: _Marathon._--Ver. 434. This was a town of Attica,\n    adjoining a plain of the same name, where the Athenians, under the\n    command of Miltiades, overthrew the Persians with immense\n    slaughter. The bull which Theseus slew there was presented by\n    Neptune to Minos. Being brought into Attica by Hercules, it laid\n    waste that territory until it was slain by Theseus.]\n\n    [Footnote 79: _Cromyon._--Ver. 435. This was a village of the\n    Corinthian territory, which was infested by a wild boar of\n    enormous size, that slew both men and animals. It was put to death\n    by Theseus.]\n\n    [Footnote 80: _Vulcan._--Ver. 437. By Antilia, Vulcan was the\n    father of Periphetes, a robber who infested Epidaurus, in the\n    Peloponnesus. He was so formidable with his club, that he was\n    called Corynetas, from \u03ba\u03bf\u03c1\u03cd\u03bd\u03b7, the Greek for \u2018a club.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 81: _Cephisus._--Ver. 438. Procrustes was a robber of\n    such extreme cruelty that he used to stretch out, or lop off, the\n    extremities of his captives, according as they were shorter or\n    longer than his bedstead. He infested the neighborhood of Eleusis,\n    in Attica, which was watered by the Cephisus. He was put to death\n    by Theseus.]\n\n    [Footnote 82: _Cercyon._--Ver. 439. It was his custom to challenge\n    travellers to wrestle, and to kill them, if they declined the\n    contest, or were beaten in it. Theseus accepted his challenge; and\n    having overcome him, put him to death. Eleusis was especially\n    dedicated to Ceres; there the famous Eleusinian mysteries of that\n    Goddess were held.]\n\n    [Footnote 83: _Sinnis._--Ver. 440. He was a robber of Attica, to\n    whom reference is made in the Ibis, line 409.]\n\n    [Footnote 84: _Alcatho\u00eb._--Ver. 443. Megara, or Alcatho\u00eb, which\n    was founded by Lelex, was almost destroyed by Minos, and was\n    rebuilt by Alcatho\u00fcs, the son of Pelops. He, flying from his\n    father, on being accused of the murder of his brother Chrysippus,\n    retired to the city of Megara, where, having slain a lion which\n    was then laying waste that territory, he was held in the highest\n    veneration by the inhabitants.]\n\n    [Footnote 85: _Scyron._--Ver. 443. This robber haunted the rocks\n    in the neighborhood of Megara, and used to insist on those who\n    became his guests washing his feet. This being done upon the\n    rocks, Scyron used to kick the strangers into the sea while so\n    occupied, where a tortoise lay ready to devour the bodies. Theseus\n    killed him, and threw his body down the same rocks, which derived\n    their name of Saronic, or Scyronic, from this robber.]\n\n    [Footnote 86: _Anaphe._--Ver. 461. This, and the other islands\n    here named, were near the isle of Crete, and perhaps in those\n    times were subject to the sway of Minos.]\n\n    [Footnote 87: _Cimolus._--Ver. 463. Pliny the Elder tells us, that\n    this island was famous for producing a clay which seems to have\n    had much the properties of soap. It was of a grayish white color,\n    and was also employed for medicinal purposes.]\n\n    [Footnote 88: _Seriphos._--Ver. 464. Commentators are at a loss to\n    know why Seriphos should here have the epithet \u2018plana,\u2019 \u2018level,\u2019\n    inasmuch as it was a very craggy island. It is probably a corrupt\n    reading.]\n\n    [Footnote 89: _Sithonian._--Ver. 466. This was Arne, whose story\n    is referred to in the Explanation, p. 242 / p. 270.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  If it is the fact, as many antiquarians suppose, that much of the\n  Grecian mythology was derived from that of the Egyptians, there can be\n  but little doubt that their system of the Elysian Fields and the\n  Infernal Regions was derived from the Egyptian notions on the future\n  state of man. The story too, of Cerberus is, perhaps, based upon the\n  custom of the Egyptians, who kept dogs to guard the fields or caverns\n  in which they kept their mummies.\n\n  It is, however, very possible that the story of Cerberus may have been\n  founded upon a fact, or what was believed to be such. There was a\n  serpent which haunted the cavern of T\u00e6narus, in Laconia, and ravaged\n  the districts adjacent to that promontory. This cave, being generally\n  considered to be one of the avenues to the kingdom of Pluto, the poets\n  thence derived the notion that this serpent was the guardian of its\n  portals. Pausanias observes, that Homer was the first who said that\n  Cerberus was a dog; though, in reality, he was a serpent, whose name\n  in the Greek language signified \u2018one that devours flesh.\u2019 The story\n  that Cerberus, with his foam, poisoned the herbs that grew in\n  Thessaly, and that the aconite and other poisonous plants were ever\n  after common there, is probably based on the simple fact, that those\n  herbs were found in great quantities in that region.\n\n  Women, using these herbs in their pretended enchantments, gave ground\n  for the stories of the witches of Thessaly, and of their ability to\n  bring the moon down to the earth by their spells and incantations;\n  which latter notion was probably based on the circumstance, that these\n  women used to invoke the Night and the Moon as witnesses of their\n  magical operations.\n\n\nFABLE V. [VII.469-613]\n\n  Minos, having engaged several powers in his interest, and having been\n  refused by others, goes to the island of \u00c6gina, where \u00c6acus reigns,\n  to endeavor to secure an alliance with that prince; but without\n  success. Upon his departure, Cephalus arrives, as ambassador, from\n  Athens, and obtains succors from the king; who gives him an account of\n  the desolation which a pestilence had formerly made in his country,\n  and of the surprising manner in which it had been re-peopled.\n\nBut Oliaros,[90] and Didyme, and Tenos,[91] and Andros,[92] and\nGyaros,[93] and Peparethos, fruitful in the smooth olive,[94] do not aid\nthe Gnossian ships. Then Minos makes for \u0152nopia,[95] the kingdom of\n\u00c6acus, lying to the left. The ancients called it \u0152nopia, but \u00c6acus\nhimself called it \u00c6gina, from the name of his mother. The multitude\nrushes forth, and desires greatly to know a man of so great celebrity.\nBoth Telamon,[96] and Peleus, younger than Telamon, and Phocus, the\n{king\u2019s} third son, go to meet him. \u00c6acus himself, too, {though} slow\nthrough the infirmity of old age, goes forth, and asks him what is the\nreason of his coming? The ruler of a hundred cities, being put in mind\nof his fatherly sorrow {for his son}, sighs, and gives him this answer:\n\u201cI beg thee to assist arms taken up on account of my son; and be a party\nin a war of affection. For his shades do I demand satisfaction.\u201d To him\nthe grandson of Asopus says, \u201cThou askest in vain, and for a thing not\nto be done by my city; for, indeed, there is no land more closely allied\nto the people of Cecropia. Such are {the terms of} our compact.\u201d {Minos}\ngoes away in sadness, and says, \u201cThis compact of thine will cost thee a\ndear price;\u201d and he thinks it more expedient to threaten war than to\nwage it, and to waste his forces there prematurely.\n\nEven yet may the Lyctian[97] fleet be beheld from the \u0152nopian walls,\nwhen an Attic ship, speeding onward with full sail, appears, and enters\nthe friendly harbor, which is carrying Cephalus, and together {with him}\nthe request of his native country. The youthful sons of \u00c6acus recognize\nCephalus, although seen but after a long period, and give their right\nhands, and lead him into the house of their father. The graceful hero,\neven still retaining some traces of his former beauty, enters; and,\nholding a branch of his country\u2019s olive, being the elder, he has on his\nright and left hand the two younger in age, Clytus and Butes, the sons\nof Pallas.[98] After their first meeting has had words suitable\n{thereto}, Cephalus relates the request of the people of Cecrops, and\nbegs assistance, and recounts the treaties and alliances of their\nforefathers; and he adds, that the subjection of the whole of Achaia is\naimed at. After the eloquence {of Cephalus} has thus promoted the cause\nentrusted to him, \u00c6acus, leaning with his left hand on the handle of his\nsceptre, says--\n\n\u201cAsk not for assistance, O Athens, but take it, and consider, beyond\ndoubt, the resources which this island possesses, as thy own, and let\nall the forces of my kingdom go {along with thee}. Strength is not\nwanting. I have soldiers enough both for my defence, and for {opposing}\nthe enemy. Thanks to the Gods; this is a prosperous time, and one that\ncan excuse no refusal of mine.\u201d \u201cYes, {and} be it so,\u201d says\nCephalus:[99] \u201cand I pray that thy power may increase along with thy\ncitizens. Indeed, as I came along just now, I received {much} pleasure,\nwhen a number of youths, so comely and so equal in their ages, came\nforward to meet me. Yet I miss many from among them, whom I once saw\nwhen I was formerly entertained in this city.\u201d \u00c6acus heaves a sigh, and\nthus he says, with mournful voice: \u201cA better fortune will be following a\nlamentable beginning; I {only} wish I could relate this to you. I will\nnow tell it you without any order, that I may not be detaining you by\nany long preamble.[100] They are {now} lying as bones and ashes, for\nwhom thou art inquiring with tenacious memory. And how great a part were\nthey of my resources that perished! A dreadful pestilence fell upon my\npeople, through the anger of the vengeful Juno, who hated a country\nnamed[101] from her rival. While the calamity seemed natural, and the\nbaneful cause of so great destruction was unknown, it was opposed by the\nresources of medicine. {But} the havoc exceeded {all} help, which {now}\nlay baffled. At first the heaven encompassed the earth with a thick\ndarkness, and enclosed within its clouds a drowsy heat. And while the\nMoon was four times filling her orb by joining her horns, {and}, four\ntimes decreasing, was diminishing her full orb, the hot South winds were\nblowing with their deadly blasts. It is known for a fact that the\ninfection came even into fountains and lakes, and that many thousands of\nserpents were wandering over the uncultivated fields, and were tainting\nthe rivers with their venom. The violence of this sudden distemper was\nfirst discovered by the destruction of dogs, and birds, and sheep, and\noxen, and among the wild beasts. The unfortunate ploughman wonders that\nstrong oxen fall down at their work, and lie stretched in the middle of\nthe furrow. {And} while the wool-bearing flocks utter weakly bleatings,\nboth their wool falls off spontaneously, and their bodies pine away. The\nhorse, once of high mettle, and of great fame on the course, degenerates\nfor the {purposes of} victory; and, forgetting his ancient honors, he\ngroans at the manger, doomed to perish by an inglorious distemper. The\nboar remembers not to be angry, nor the hind to trust to her speed, nor\nthe bears to rush upon the powerful herds.\n\n\u201cA faintness seizes all {animals}; both in the woods, in the fields, and\nin the roads, loathsome carcases lie strewed. The air is corrupted with\nthe smell {of them}. I am relating strange events. The dogs, and the\nravenous birds, and the hoary wolves, touch them not; falling away, they\nrot, and, by their exhalations, produce baneful effects, and spread the\ncontagion far and wide. With more dreadful destruction the pestilence\nreaches the wretched husbandmen, and riots within the walls of the\nextensive city. At first, the bowels are scorched,[102] and a redness,\nand the breath drawn with difficulty, is a sign of the latent flame. The\ntongue, {grown} rough, swells; and the parched mouth gapes, with its\nthrobbing veins; the noxious air, too, is inhaled by the breathing. {The\ninfected} cannot endure a bed, or any coverings; but they lay their\nhardened breasts upon the earth, and their bodies are not made cool by\nthe ground, but the ground is made hot by their bodies. There is no\nphysician at hand; the cruel malady breaks out upon even those who\nadminister remedies; and {their own} arts become an injury to their\nowners. The nearer at hand any one is, and the more faithfully he\nattends on the sick, the sooner does he come in for his share of the\nfatality. And when the hope of recovery is departed, and they see the\nend of their malady {only} in death, they indulge their humors, and\nthere is no concern as to what is to their advantage; for, {indeed},\nnothing is to their advantage. All sense, too, of shame being banished,\nthey lie {promiscuously} close to the fountains and rivers, and deep\nwells; and their thirst is not extinguished by drinking, before their\nlife {is}. Many, overpowered {with the disease}, are unable to arise\nthence, and die amid the very water; and yet another even drinks that\n{water}. So great, too, is the irksomeness for the wretched {creatures}\nof their hated beds, {that} they leap out, or, if their strength forbids\nthem standing, they roll their bodies upon the ground, and every man\nflies from his own dwelling; each one\u2019s house seems fatal to him: and\nsince the cause of the calamity is unknown, the place that is known is\nblamed. You might see persons, half dead, wandering about the roads, as\nlong as they were able to stand; others, weeping and lying about on the\nground, and rolling their wearied eyes with the dying movement. They\nstretch, too, their limbs towards the stars of the overhanging heavens,\nbreathing forth their lives here and there, where death has overtaken\nthem.\n\n\u201cWhat were my feelings then? Were they not such as they ought to be, to\nhate life, and to desire to be a sharer with my people? On whichever\nside my eyes were turned, there was the multitude strewed {on the\nearth}, just as when rotten apples fall from the moved branches, and\nacorns from the shaken holm-oak. Thou seest[103] a lofty temple,\nopposite {thee}, raised on high with long steps: Jupiter has it {as his\nown}. Who did not offer incense at those altars in vain? how often did\nthe husband, while he was uttering words of entreaty for his wife, {or}\nthe father for his son, end his life at the altars without prevailing?\nin his hand, too, was part of the frankincense found unconsumed! How\noften did the bulls, when brought to the temples, while the priest was\nmaking his supplications, and pouring the pure wine between their horns,\nfall without waiting for the wound! While I myself was offering\nsacrifice to Jupiter, for myself, and my country, and my three sons, the\nvictim sent forth dismal lowings, and suddenly falling down without any\nblow, stained the knives thrust into it, with its scanty blood; the\ndiseased entrails, too, had lost {all} marks of truth, and the warnings\nof the Gods. The baneful malady penetrated to the entrails. I have seen\nthe carcases lying, thrown out before the sacred doors; before the very\naltars, {too}, that death might become more odious[104] {to the Gods}.\nSome finish their lives with the halter, and by death dispel the\napprehension of death, and voluntarily invite approaching fate. The\nbodies of the dead are not borne out with any funeral rites, according\nto the custom; for the {city} gates cannot receive {the multitude of}\nthe processions. Either unburied they lie upon the ground, or they are\nlaid on the lofty pyres without the usual honors. And now there is no\ndistinction, and they struggle for the piles; and they are burnt on\nfires that belong to others. They who should weep are wanting; and the\nsouls of sons, and of husbands, of old and of young, wander about\nunlamented: there is not room sufficient for the tombs, nor trees for\nthe fires.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 90: _Oliaros._--Ver. 469. This was one of the Cyclades,\n    in the \u00c6gean sea; it was colonized by the Sidonians.]\n\n    [Footnote 91: _Tenos._--Ver. 469. This island was famous for a\n    temple there, sacred to Neptune.]\n\n    [Footnote 92: _Andros._--Ver. 469. This was an island in the \u00c6gean\n    Sea, near Eub\u0153a. It received its name from Andros, the son of\n    Anius. The Andrian slave, who gives his name to one of the\n    comedies of Terence, was supposed to be a native of this island.]\n\n    [Footnote 93: _Gyaros._--Ver. 470. This was a sterile island among\n    the Cyclades; in later times, the Romans made it a penal\n    settlement for their criminals. The mice of this island were said\n    to be able to gnaw iron; perhaps, because they were starved by\n    reason of its unfruitfulness.]\n\n    [Footnote 94: _Smooth olive._--Ver. 470. Clarke translates \u2018nitid\u00e6\n    oliv\u00e6\u2019 \u2018the neat olive.\u2019 \u2018Nitidus\u2019 here means \u2018smooth and\n    shining.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 95: _\u0152nopia._--Ver. 473. This was the ancient name of\n    the isle of \u00c6gina, in the Saronic Gulf, famous as being the native\n    place of the family of the \u00c6acid\u00e6. It obtained its later name from\n    \u00c6gina, the daughter of Asopus, and the mother of \u00c6acus, whom\n    Jupiter carried thither.]\n\n    [Footnote 96: _Telamon._--Ver. 476. Telamon, Peleus, and Phocus,\n    were the three sons of \u00c6acus.]\n\n    [Footnote 97: _Lyctian._--Ver. 490. Lyctus was the name of one of\n    the cities of Crete.]\n\n    [Footnote 98: _Pallas._--Ver. 500. This was either Pallas the son\n    of Pandion, king of Athens, or of Neleus, the brother of Theseus.\n    This Pallas, together with his sons, was afterwards slain by\n    Theseus.]\n\n    [Footnote 99: _Cephalus._--Ver. 512. He was the son of Deioneus,\n    or according to some writers, of Mercury and Herse, the daughter\n    of Cecrops.]\n\n    [Footnote 100: _Long preamble._--Ver. 520. Clarke translates \u2018neu\n    long\u00e2 ambage morer vos,\u2019 \u2018that I may not detain you with a\n    long-winded detail of it.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 101: _Country named._--Ver. 524. This was the island of\n    \u00c6gina, so called from the Nymph who was carried thither by\n    Jupiter.]\n\n    [Footnote 102: _Bowels are scorched._--Ver. 554. Clarke quaintly\n    renders the words \u2018viscera torrentur primo.\u2019 \u2018first people\u2019s\n    bowels are searched;\u2019 perhaps, however, the latter word is a\n    misprint for \u2018scorched.\u2019]\n\n    [Footnote 103: _Thou seest._--Ver. 587. As \u00c6acus says this, he\n    must be supposed to point with his finger towards the temple.]\n\n    [Footnote 104: _More odious._--Ver. 603. Dead bodies were supposed\n    to be particularly offensive to the Gods.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  Minos (most probably the second prince that bore that name), upon his\n  accession to the throne, after the death of his father, Lycastus, made\n  several conquests in the islands adjoining Crete, where he reigned,\n  and, at last, became master of those seas. The strength of his fleet\n  is particularly remarked by Thucydides, Apollodorus, and Diodorus\n  Siculus.\n\n  The Feast of the Panathen\u00e6a being celebrated at Athens, Minos sent his\n  son Androgeus to it, who joined as a combatant in the games, and was\n  sufficiently skilful to win all the prizes. The glory which he thereby\n  acquired, combined with his polished manners, obtained him the\n  friendship of the sons of Pallas, the brother of \u00c6geus. This\n  circumstance caused \u00c6geus to entertain jealous feelings, the more\n  especially as he knew that his nephews were conspiring against him.\n  Being informed that Androgeus was about to take a journey to Thebes,\n  he caused him to be assassinated near \u0152no\u00eb, a town on the confines of\n  Attica. Apollodorus, indeed, says that he was killed by the Bull of\n  Marathon, which was then making great ravages in Greece; but it is\n  very possible that the Athenians encouraged this belief, with the view\n  of screening their king from the infamy of an action so inhuman and\n  unjust. Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch agree in stating that \u00c6geus\n  himself caused Androgeus to be murdered.\n\n  On hearing the news of his son\u2019s death, Minos resolved on revenge. He\n  ordered a strong fleet to be fitted out, and went in person to several\n  courts, to contract alliances, and engage other powers to assist him;\n  and this, with the history of the plague at \u00c6gina, forms the subject\n  of the present narrative.\n\n\nFABLE VI. [VII.614-660]\n\n  Jupiter, at the prayer of his son \u00c6acus, transforms the ants that are\n  in the hollow of an old oak into men; these, from the Greek name of\n  those insects, are called Myrmidons.\n\n\u201cStupefied by so great an outburst of misery, I said, \u2018O Jupiter! if\nstories do not falsely say that thou didst come into the embraces of\n\u00c6gina, the daughter of Asopus, and thou art not ashamed, great Father,\nto be the parent of myself; either restore my people to me, or else bury\nme, as well, in the sepulchre.\u2019 He gave a signal by lightnings, and by\npropitious thunders. I accepted {the omen}, and I said, \u2018I pray that\nthese may be happy signs of thy intentions: the omen which thou givest\nme, I accept as a pledge.\u2019 By chance there was close by, an oak sacred\nto Jupiter, of seed from Dodona,[105] but thinly covered with\nwide-spreading boughs. Here we beheld some ants, the gatherers of corn,\nin a long train, carrying a heavy burden in their little mouths, and\nkeeping their track in the wrinkled bark. While I was wondering at their\nnumbers, I said, \u2018Do thou, most gracious Father, give me citizens as\nmany in number, and replenish my empty walls.\u2019 The lofty oak trembled,\nand made a noise in its boughs, moving without a breeze. My limbs\nquivered, with trembling fear, and my hair stood on an end; yet I gave\nkisses to the earth and to the oak, nor did I confess that I had any\nhopes; {and} yet I did hope, and I cherished my own wishes in my mind.\nNight came on, and sleep seized my body wearied with anxiety. Before my\neyes the same oak seemed to be present, and to bear as many branches,\nand as many animals in its branches, and to be trembling with a similar\nmotion, and to be scattering the grain-bearing troop on the fields\nbelow. These suddenly grew, and seemed greater and greater, and raised\nthemselves from the ground, and stood with their bodies upright; and\nlaid aside their leanness, and the {former} number of their feet, and\ntheir sable hue, and assumed in their limbs the human shape.\n\n\u201cSleep departs. When {now} awake, I censured the vision, and complained\nthat there was no help for me from the Gods above. But within my palace\nthere was a great murmur, and I seemed to be hearing the voices of men,\nto which I had now become unaccustomed. While I was supposing that\nthese, too, were {a part} of my dream, lo! Telamon came in haste, and,\nopening the door, said, \u2018Father, thou wilt see things beyond thy hopes\nor expectations. Do come out.\u2019 I did go out, and I beheld and recognized\nsuch men, each in his turn, as I had seemed to behold in the vision of\nmy sleep. They approached, and saluted me as their king. I offered up\nvows to Jupiter, and divided the city and the lands void of their former\ntillers, among this new-made people, and I called them Myrmidons,[106]\nand did not deprive their name {of the marks} of their origin. Thou hast\nbeheld their persons. Even still do they retain the manners which they\nformerly had; and they are a thrifty race, patient of toil, tenacious of\nwhat they get, and what they get they lay up. These, alike in years and\nin courage, will attend thee to the war, as soon as the East wind, which\nbrought thee prosperously hither (for the East wind had brought him),\nshall have changed to the South.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 105: _From Dodona._--Ver. 623. Dodona was a town of\n    Chaonia, in Epirus, so called from Dodone, the daughter of Jupiter\n    and Europa. Near it was a temple and a wood sacred to Jupiter,\n    which was famous for the number and magnitude of its oaks. Doves\n    were said to give oracular responses there, probably from the\n    circumstance that the female soothsayers of Thessaly were called\n    \u03c0\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1\u03b4\u03b1\u03b9. Some writers, however, say that the oaks had the gift\n    of speech, combined with that of prophesying.]\n\n    [Footnote 106: _Myrmidons._--Ver. 654. From the Greek word \u03bc\u03cd\u03c1\u03bc\u03b7\u03be,\n    \u2018an ant;\u2019 according to this version of the story.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  This fable, perhaps, has no other foundation than the retreat of the\n  subjects of \u00c6acus into woods and caverns, whence they returned, when\n  the contagion had ceased with which their country had been afflicted,\n  and when he had nearly lost all hopes of seeing them again. It is\n  probable that the old men were carried off by the plague, while the\n  young, who had more strength, resisted its power, which circumstance\n  would fully account for the active habits of the remaining subjects of\n  \u00c6acus. Some writers, however, suppose that the Myrmidons were a\n  barbarous, but industrious people of Thessaly, who usually dwelt in\n  caves, and who were brought thence by \u00c6acus to people his island,\n  which had been made desolate by a pestilence. The similarity of their\n  name to the Greek word \u03bc\u03cd\u03c1\u03bc\u03b7\u03be, signifying \u2018an ant,\u2019 most probably\n  gave occasion to the report that Jupiter had changed ants into men.\n\n\nFABLE VII. [VII.661-793]\n\n  Cephalus, having resisted the advances of Aurora, who has become\n  enamoured of him while hunting, returns in disguise to his wife,\n  Procris, to try if her affection for him is sincere. She, discovering\n  his suspicions, flies to the woods, and becomes a huntress, with the\n  determination not to see him again. Afterwards, on becoming reconciled\n  to him, she bestows on him a dog and a dart, which Diana had once\n  given her. The dog is turned into stone, while hunting a wild beast,\n  which Themis has sent to ravage the territories of Thebes, after the\n  interpretation of the riddle of the Sphinx, by \u0152dipus.\n\nIn these and other narratives they passed the day. The last part of the\nday was spent in feasting, and the night in sleep. The golden Sun had\n{now} shed his beams, {when} the East wind was still blowing, and\ndetained the sails about to return. The sons of Pallas repair to\nCephalus, who was stricken in years. Cephalus and the sons of Pallas,\ntogether {with him}, {come} to the king; but a sound sleep still\npossessed the monarch. Phocus, the son of \u00c6acus, received them at the\nthreshold; for Telamon and his brother were levying men for the war.\nPhocus conducted the citizens of Cecrops into an inner room, and a\nhandsome apartment. Soon as he had sat down with them, he observed that\nthe grandson of \u00c6olus[107] was holding in his hand a javelin made of an\nunknown wood, the point of which was of gold.\n\nHaving first spoken a few words in promiscuous conversation, he said,\n\u201cI am fond of the forests, and of the chase of wild beasts; still, from\nwhat wood the shaft of the javelin, which thou art holding, is cut,\nI have been for some time in doubt; certainly, if it were of wild ash,\nit would be of brown color; if of cornel-wood, there would be knots in\nit. Whence it comes I am ignorant, but my eyes have not looked upon a\nweapon used for a javelin, more beautiful than this.\u201d One of the\nAthenian brothers replied, and said, \u201cIn it, thou wilt admire its\nutility, {even} more than its beauty. Whatever it is aimed at, it\nstrikes; chance does not guide it when thrown, and it flies back stained\nwith blood, no one returning it.\u201d Then, indeed, does the Nereian\nyouth[108] inquire into all particulars, why it was given, and whence\n{it came}? who was the author of a present of so great value? What he\nasks, {Cephalus} tells him; but as to what he is ashamed to tell, {and}\non what condition he received it, he is silent; and, being touched with\nsorrow for the loss of his wife, he thus speaks, with tears bursting\nforth: \u201cSon of a Goddess, this weapon (who could have believed it?)\nmakes me weep, and long will make me do so, if the Fates shall grant me\nlong to live. \u2019Twas this that proved the destruction of me and of my\ndear wife. Would that I had ever been without this present! Procris was\n(if perchance {the fame of} Orithy\u00efa[109] may have more probably reached\nthy ears) the sister of Orithy\u00efa, the victim of violence. If you should\nchoose to compare the face and the manners of the two, she was the more\nworthy to be carried off. Her father Erectheus united her to me; love,\n{too}, united her to me. I was pronounced happy, and {so} I was. Not\nthus did it seem {good} to the Gods; or even now, perhaps, I should be\n{so}. The second month was now passing, after the marriage rites, when\nthe saffron-colored Aurora, dispelling the darkness in the morn, beheld\nme, as I was planting nets for the horned deer, from the highest summit\nof the ever-blooming Hymettus,[110] and carried me off against my will.\nBy the permission of the Goddess, let me relate what is true; though she\nis comely with her rosy face, {and} though she possesses the confines of\nlight, and possesses {the confines} of darkness, though she is nourished\nwith the draughts of nectar, {still} I loved Procris; Procris was {ever}\nin my thoughts, Procris was ever on my lips. I alleged the sacred ties\nof marriage, our late embraces, and our recent union, and the prior\nengagements of my forsaken bed. The Goddess was provoked, and said,\n\u2018Cease thy complaints, ungrateful man; keep thy Procris; but, if my mind\nis gifted with foresight, thou wilt wish that thou hadst not had her;\u2019\u201d\nand {thus}, in anger, she sent me back to her.\n\n\u201cWhile I was returning, and was revolving the sayings of the Goddess\nwithin myself, there began to be apprehensions that my wife had not duly\nobserved the laws of wedlock. Both her beauty and her age bade me be\napprehensive of her infidelity; {yet} her virtue forbade me to believe\nit. But yet, I had been absent; and besides, she, from whom I was {just}\nreturning, was an example of {such} criminality: but we that are in\nlove, apprehend all {mishaps}. I {then} endeavored to discover that, by\nreason of which I must feel anguish, and by bribes to make attempts[111]\nupon her chaste constancy. Aurora encouraged this apprehension, and\nchanged my shape, {as} I seemed {then} to perceive. I entered Athens,\nthe city of Pallas, unknown {to any one}, and I went into my own house.\nThe house itself was without fault, and gave indications of chastity,\nand was in concern for the carrying off of its master.\n\n\u201cHaving, with difficulty, made my way to the daughter of Erectheus by\nmeans of a thousand artifices, soon as I beheld her, I was amazed, and\nwas nearly abandoning my projected trial of her constancy; with\ndifficulty did I restrain myself from telling the truth, with difficulty\nfrom giving her the kisses which I ought. She was in sorrow; but yet no\none could be more beautiful than she, {even} in her sadness; and she was\nconsuming with regret for her husband, torn from her. {Only} think,\nPhocus, how great was the beauty of her, whom even sorrow did so much\nbecome. Why should I tell how often her chaste manners repulsed {all} my\nattempts? How often she said, \u2018I am reserved for {but} one, wherever he\nis; for that one do I reserve my joys.\u2019 For whom, in his senses, would\nnot that trial of her fidelity have been sufficiently great? {Yet} I was\nnot content; and I strove to wound myself, while I was promising to give\nvast sums for {but one} night, and forced her at last to waver, by\nincreasing the reward. {On this} I cried out, \u2018Lo! I, the gallant in\ndisguise, to my sorrow, {and} lavish in promises, to my misery, am thy\nreal husband; thou treacherous woman! thou art caught, {and} I the\nwitness.\u2019 She said nothing: only, overwhelmed with silent shame, she\nfled from the house of treachery, together with her wicked husband; and\nfrom her resentment against me, abhorring the whole race of men, she\nused to wander[112] on the mountains, employed in the pursuits of Diana.\nThen, a more violent flame penetrated to my bones, thus deserted.\nI begged forgiveness, and owned myself in fault; and that I too might\nhave yielded to a similar fault, on presents being made; if presents so\nlarge had been offered. Upon my confessing this, having first revenged\nher offended modesty, she was restored to me, and passed the pleasant\nyears in harmony with me. She gave me, besides, as though in herself she\nhad given me but a small present, a dog as a gift, which when her own\nCynthia had presented to her, she had said, \u2018He will excel all dogs in\nrunning.\u2019 She gave her, too, a javelin, which, as thou seest, I am\ncarrying in my hand.\n\n\u201cDost thou inquire what was the fortune of the other present--hear\n{then}. Thou wilt be astonished at the novelty of the wondrous fact. The\nson of Laius[113] had solved the verses not understood by the wit of\nothers before him; and the mysterious propounder lay precipitated,\nforgetful of her riddle. But the genial Themis,[114] forsooth, did not\nleave such things unrevenged. Immediately another plague was sent forth\nagainst Aonian Thebes; and many of the peasants fed the savage monster,\nboth by the destruction of their cattle, and their own as well. We, the\nneighboring youth, came together, and enclosed the extensive fields with\ntoils. With a light bound it leaped over the nets, and passed over the\ntopmost barriers of the toils that were set. The couples were taken off\nthe dogs, from which, as they followed, it fled, and eluded them, no\notherwise than as a winged bird. I myself, too, was requested, with\neager demands, for my {dog} L\u00e6laps [{Tempest}]; that was the name of {my\nwife\u2019s} present. For some time already had he been struggling to get\nfree from the couples, and strained them with his neck, as they detained\nhim. Scarce was he well let loose; and {yet} we could not now tell where\nhe was; the warm dust had the prints of his feet, {but} he himself was\nsnatched from our eyes. A spear does not fly swifter than he {did}, nor\npellets whirled from the twisted sling, nor the light arrow from the\nGortynian bow.[115] The top of a hill, {standing} in the middle, looks\ndown upon the plains below. Thither I mount, and I enjoy the sight of an\nunusual chase; wherein the wild beast[116] one while seemed to be\ncaught, at another to elude his very bite; and it does not fly in a\ndirect course, and straight onward, but deceives his mouth, as he\npursues it, and returns in circles, that its enemy may not have his full\ncareer against it. He keeps close to it, and pursues it, a match for\nhim; and {though} like as if he has caught it, {still} he fails to catch\nit, and vainly snaps at the air. I was {now} turning to the resources of\nmy javelin; while my right hand was poising it, {and} while I was\nattempting to insert my fingers in the thongs {of it}, I turned away my\neyes; and again I had directed them, recalled to the same spot, when,\n{most} wondrous, I beheld two marble statues in the middle of the plain;\nyou would think the one was flying, the other barking {in pursuit}. Some\nGod undoubtedly, if any God {really} did attend to them, desired them\nboth to remain unconquered in this contest of speed.\u201d\n\n    [Footnote 107: _\u00c6olus._--Ver. 672. Apollodorus reckons Deioneus,\n    the parent of Cephalus, among the children of Apollo.]\n\n    [Footnote 108: _Nereian youth._--Ver. 685. Phocus, who was the son\n    of \u00c6acus, by Psamathe, the daughter of Nereus.]\n\n    [Footnote 109: _Orithy\u00efa._--Ver. 695. She was the daughter of\n    Erectheus, king of Athens, and was carried off by Boreas, as\n    already stated.]\n\n    [Footnote 110: _Hymettus._--Ver. 702. This was a mountain of\n    Attica, famous for its honey and its marble.]\n\n    [Footnote 111: _To make attempts._--Ver. 721. Tzetzes informs us\n    that she was found by her husband in company with a young man\n    named Pteleon, who had made her a present of a golden wreath.\n    Antoninus Liberalis says, that her husband tried her fidelity by\n    offering her a bribe, through the medium of a slave.]\n\n    [Footnote 112: _Used to wander._--Ver. 746. Some writers say that\n    she fled to Crete, on which, Diana, who was aware of the\n    attachment of Aurora for her husband, made her a present of a\n    javelin, which no person could escape; and gave her the dog\n    L\u00e6laps, which no wild beast could outrun. Such is the version\n    given by Hyginus. But Apollodorus and Antoninus Liberalis say,\n    that she fled to Minos, who, prevailing over her virtue, made her\n    a present of the dog and the javelin. Afterwards, presenting\n    herself before her husband, disguised as a huntress, she gave him\n    proofs of the efficacy of them; and upon his requesting her to\n    give them to him, she exacted, as a condition, what must,\n    apparently, have resulted in a breach of the laws of conjugal\n    fidelity. On his assenting to the proposal, she discovered\n    herself, and afterwards made him the presents which he desired.]\n\n    [Footnote 113: _The son of Laius._--Ver. 759. \u0152dipus was the son\n    of Laius, king of Thebes. The Sphinx was a monster, the offspring\n    of Typhon and Echidna, which haunted a mountain near Thebes. \u0152dipus\n    solved the riddle which it proposed for solution, on which the\n    monster precipitated itself from a rock. It had the face of a\n    woman, the wings of a bird, and the extremities of a lion.]\n\n    [Footnote 114: _Genial Themis._--Ver. 762. Themis had a very\n    ancient oracle in B\u0153otia.]\n\n    [Footnote 115: _Gortynian bow._--Ver. 778. Crete was called\n    Gortynian, from Gortys or Gortyna, one of its cities, which was\n    famous for the skill of its inhabitants in archery.]\n\n    [Footnote 116: _The wild beast._--Ver. 782. Antoninus Liberalis\n    and Apollodorus say that this was a fox, which was called \u2018the\n    Teumesian,\u2019 from Teumesus, a mountain of B\u0153otia, and that the\n    Thebans, to appease its voracity, were wont to give it a child to\n    devour every month. Pal\u00e6phatus says that it was not a wild beast,\n    but a man called Alopis.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  There were two princes of the name of Cephalus; one, the son of\n  Mercury and Herse, the daughter of Cecrops; the other, the son of\n  De\u00efoneus, king of Phocis, and Diomeda, the daughter of Xuthus. The\n  first was carried off by Aurora, and went to live with her in Syria;\n  the second married Procris, the daughter of Erectheus, king of Athens.\n  Though Apollodorus seems, in the first instance, to follow this\n  genealogy, in his third book he confounds the actions of those two\n  princes. Ovid and other writers have spoken only of the son of\n  De\u00efoneus, who was carried off by Aurora, and having left her,\n  according to them, returned to Procris.\n\n\nFABLE VIII. [VII.794-865]\n\n  Procris, jealous of Cephalus, in her turn, goes to the forest, which\n  she supposes to be the scene of his infidelity, to surprise him.\n  Hearing the rustling noise which she makes in the thicket, where she\n  lies concealed, he imagines it is a wild beast, and, hurling the\n  javelin, which she has formerly given to him, he kills her.\n\nThus far {did he speak}; and {then} he was silent. \u201cBut,\u201d said Phocus,\n\u201cwhat fault is there in that javelin?\u201d {whereupon} he thus informed him\nof the demerits of the javelin. \u201cLet my joys, Phocus, be the first\nportion of my sorrowful story. These will I first relate. O son of\n\u00c6acus, I delight to remember the happy time, during which, for the first\nyears {after my marriage}, I was completely blessed in my wife, {and}\nshe was happy in her husband. A mutual kindness and social love\npossessed us both. Neither would she have preferred the bed of Jupiter\nbefore my love; nor was there any woman that could have captivated me,\nnot {even} if Venus herself had come. Equal flames fired the breasts {of\nus both}. The Sun striking the tops of the mountains with his early\nrays, I was wont generally to go with youthful ardor into the woods, to\nhunt; but I neither suffered my servants, nor my horses, nor my\nquick-scented hounds to go {with me}, nor the knotty nets to attend me;\nI was safe with my javelin. But when my right hand was satiated with the\nslaughter of wild beasts, I betook myself to the cool spots and the\nshade, and the breeze which was breathing forth from the cool valleys.\nThe gentle breeze was sought by me, in the midst of the heat. For the\nbreeze was I awaiting; that was a refreshment after my toils: \u2018Come,\nbreeze,\u2019 I was wont to sing, for I remember it {full well}, \u2018and, most\ngrateful, refresh me, and enter my breast; and, as thou art wont, be\nwilling to assuage the heat with which I am parched.\u2019 Perhaps I may have\nadded ({for} so my destiny prompted me) many words of endearment, and I\nmay have been accustomed to say, \u2018Thou art my great delight; thou dost\nrefresh and cherish me; thou makest me to love the woods and lonely\nhaunts, and thy breath is ever courted by my face.\u2019 I was not aware that\nsome one was giving an ear, deceived by these ambiguous words; and\nthinking the name of the breeze, so often called upon by me, to be that\nof a Nymph, he believed some Nymph was beloved by me.\n\n\u201cThe rash informer of an imaginary crime immediately went to Procris,\nand with his whispering tongue related what he had heard. Love is a\ncredulous thing. When it was told her, she fell down fainting, with\nsudden grief; and coming to, after a long time, she declared that she\nwas wretched, and {born} to a cruel destiny; and she complained about my\nconstancy. Excited by a groundless charge,[117] she dreads that which,\n{indeed}, is nothing; {and} fears a name without a body; and, in her\nwretchedness, grieves as though about a real rival. Yet she is often in\ndoubt, and, in her extreme wretchedness, hopes she may be deceived, and\ndenies credit to the information; and unless she beholds it herself,\nwill not pass sentence upon the criminality of her husband. The\nfollowing light of the morning had banished the night, when I sallied\nforth, and sought the woods; and being victorious in the fields, I said,\n\u2018Come, breeze, and relieve my pain;\u2019 and suddenly I seemed to hear I\nknow not what groans in the midst of my words; yet I said, \u2018Come hither,\nmost delightful {breeze}.\u2019 Again, the falling leaves making a gentle\nnoise, I thought it was a wild beast, and I discharged my flying weapon.\nIt was Procris; and receiving the wound in the middle of her breast, she\ncried out, \u2018Ah, wretched me!\u2019 When the voice of my attached wife was\nheard, headlong and distracted, I ran towards {that} voice. I found her\ndying, and staining her scattered vestments with blood, and drawing her\nown present (ah, wretched me!) from out of her wound; I lifted up her\nbody, dearer to me than my own, in my guilty arms, and I bound up her\ncruel wounds with the garments torn from my bosom; and I endeavored to\nstanch the blood, and besought her that she would not forsake me, {thus}\ncriminal, by her death. She, wanting strength, and now expiring, forced\nherself to utter these few words:\n\n\u201c\u2018I suppliantly beseech thee, by the ties of our marriage, and by the\nGods above, and my own Gods, and if I have deserved anything well of\nthee, by that {as well}, and by the cause of my death, my love even now\nenduring, while I am perishing, do not allow the Nymph Aura [{breeze}]\nto share with thee my marriage ties.\u2019 She {thus} spoke; and then, at\nlast, I perceived the mistake of the name, and informed her of it. But\nwhat avails informing her? She sinks; and her little strength flies,\ntogether with her blood. And so long as she can look on anything, she\ngazes on me, and breathes out upon me, on my face,[118] her unhappy\nlife; but she seems to die free from care, and with a more contented\nlook.\u201d\n\nIn tears, the hero is relating these things to them, as they weep, and,\nlo! \u00c6acus enters, with his two sons,[119] and his soldiers newly levied;\nwhich Cephalus received, {furnished} with valorous arms.\n\n    [Footnote 117: _Groundless charge._--Ver. 829. Possibly, Ovid may\n    intend to imply that her jealousy received an additional stimulus\n    from the similarity of the name \u2018Aura\u2019 to that of her former\n    rival, Aurora.]\n\n    [Footnote 118: _On my face._--Ver. 861. He alludes to the\n    prevalent custom of catching the breath of the dying person in the\n    mouth.]\n\n    [Footnote 119: _His two sons._--Ver. 864. These were Telamon and\n    Peleus, who had levied these troops.]\n\n\nEXPLANATION.\n\n  The love which Cephalus, the son of De\u00efoneus, bore for the chase,\n  causing him to rise early in the morning for the enjoyment of his\n  sport, was the origin of the story of his love for Aurora. His wife,\n  Procris, as Apollodorus tells us, carried on an amour with Pteleon,\n  and, probably, caused that report to be spread abroad, to divert\n  attention from her own intrigue. Cephalus, suspecting his wife\u2019s\n  infidelity, she fled to the court of the second Minos, king of Crete,\n  who fell in love with her. Having, thereby, incurred the resentment of\n  Pasipha\u00eb, who adopted several methods to destroy her rival, and, among\n  others, spread poison in her bed, she left Crete, and returned to\n  Thoricus, the place of her former residence, where she was reconciled\n  to Cephalus, and gave him the celebrated dog and javelin mentioned by\n  Ovid.\n\n  The poets tell us, that this dog was made by Vulcan, and presented by\n  him to Jupiter, who gave him to Europa; and that coming to the hands\n  of her son Minos, he presented it to Procris. The wild beast, which\n  ravaged the country, and was pursued by the dog of Procris, and which\n  some writers tell us was a monstrous fox, was probably a pirate or sea\n  robber; and being, perhaps, pursued by some Cretan officer of Minos,\n  who escorted Procris back to her country, on their vessels being\n  shipwrecked near some rocks, it gave occasion to the story that the\n  dog and the monster had been changed into stone. Indeed, Tzetzes says\n  distinctly, that the dog was called Cyon, and the monster, or fox,\n  Alopis; and he also says that Cyon was the captain who brought Procris\n  back from Crete. It being believed that resentment had some share in\n  causing the death of Procris, the court of the Areiopagus condemned\n  Cephalus to perpetual banishment. The island of Cephalenia, which\n  received its name from him, having been given to him by Amphitryon, he\n  retired to it, where his son Celeus afterwards succeeded him.\n\n\n\n\nThe Hamilton, Locke and Clark\n\nSERIES OF\n\nInterlinear Translations\n\nHave long been the Standard and are now the _Best Translated_ and _Most\nComplete_ Series of Interlinears published.\n\n=12mo., well bound in Half Leather.=\n\n=Price reduced to $1.50 each. Postpaid to any address.=\n\n_Latin Interlinear Translations:_\n\n  VIRGIL--By Hart and Osborne.\n  C\u00c6SAR--By Hamilton and Clark.\n  HORACE--By Stirling, Nuttall and Clark.\n  CICERO--By Hamilton and Clark.\n  SALLUST--By Hamilton and Clark.\n  OVID--By George W. Heilig.\n  JUVENAL--By Hamilton and Clark.\n  LIVY--By Hamilton and Clark.\n  CORNELIUS NEPOS--By Hamilton and Underwood.\n\n_Greek Interlinear Translations:_\n\n  HOMER\u2019S ILIAD--By Thomas Clark.\n  XENOPHON\u2019S ANABASIS--By Hamilton and Clark.\n  GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN--By George W. Heilig.\n\n=S. Austin Allibone, the distinguished author, writes:=\n\n\u201cThere is a growing disapprobation, both in Great Britain and America,\nof the disproportionate length of time devoted by the youthful student\nto the acquisition of the dead languages; and therefore nothing will\ntend so effectually to the preservation of the Greek and Latin grammars\nas their judicious union (the fruit of an intelligent compromise) with\nthe Interlinear Classics.\u201d\n\n=DAVID McKAY, Publisher, Philadelphia,=\n\nFormerly published by Charles De Silver & Sons.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n           *       *       *       *\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Note on the Text:\n\nOvid\u2019s _Metamorphoses_, translated by Henry Thomas Riley (1816-1878,\nB.A. 1840, M.A. 1859), was originally published in 1851 as part of\nBohn\u2019s Classical Library. This e-text, covering Books I-VII, uses\nmaterial from two reprints:\n\nGeorge Bell (London, 1893, one volume). This edition is described on\nits title page as \u201creprinted from the stereotype plates\u201d. These may have\nbeen the original 1851 plates, since the entire _Classical Library_ had\nbeen sold by Bohn to Bell & Daldy, later George Bell.\n\nDavid McKay (Philadelphia, 1899, two volumes), with introduction by\nEdward Brooks. The introductory material from the Bell/Bohn edition is\nabsent. This edition was freshly typeset, correcting a few errors in the\nBell/Bohn edition but also introducing a number of new errors.\n\nThe McKay edition was the \u201cbase\u201d of the e-text. The scanned, proofread\ntext was computer-checked against the text of the Bell edition, and\ndifferences were in turn checked against page images of the printed\nbooks. Where appropriate, the text was checked against one or more\nversions of the Latin original. Most differences are trivial. McKay uses\nAmerican spelling such as \u201chonor\u201d for \u201chonour\u201d, and compound forms such\nas \u201cnorthwest\u201d for \u201cnorth-west\u201d; punctuation is often changed, though\nsome apparent variations may be due to the quality of printing and\nreproduction. Non-trivial differences are listed in the Errata, below.\n\nNote that the title page of the Bell edition lists the translator as\n\u201cHenry T. Riley, B.A.\u201d, while the McKay edition has \u201cM.A.\u201d The sequence\nof dates-- original publication 1851, Riley M.A. 1859, reprint 1893--\nsupports the idea that the Bell edition is a strict facsimile.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n           *       *       *       *\n\n_Errors and Anomalies noted by transcriber_\n\nErrors are grouped thematically:\n  significant errors and inconsistencies;\n  variant spellings, including name forms;\n  Greek;\n  punctuation;\n  line and footnote numbering.\nAbbreviations in the form \u201cII.XIV Exp\u201d mean \u201cBook II, Fable XIV,\nExplanation\u201d (appended to most Fables); \u201cSyn\u201d means Synopsis (prefaced\nto each Fable).\n\n\n_Shared errors and irregularities (present in both McKay and Bell\neditions), with original text in brackets []_\n\nI.XII: the light breeze spread behind her her careless locks\n  _read as \u201cspread her careless locks behind her\u201d_\n  _in McKay, \u201cher her\u201d is printed at a line break and can easily be\n  mistaken for an error_\nI.XII Footnote 82, Pope quotation\n  _McKay reads \u201ctrembling dove\u201d and \u201creached her\u201d; other\n  modernizations in spelling are shared by both editions_\nI.V: the dreadful carcasses\n  _anomalous spelling: both editions normally use \u201ccarcase(s)\u201d_\nII.I _and_ Footnote 16: H\u00e6mus [H\u0153mus]\nII.I Exp: Herse, the daughter of Cecrops (Hersa)\nII.III Footnote 57: 2 Kings, xx. 11 [xx. 7]\nII.XIV Exp: which Hesychius calls ... [Hesychus]\nIII.IV Footnote 62: ... \u00c6neid (l. 620) [l. 260]\nIV.I Footnote 3: Alcatho\u00eb, Leucippe, and Aristippe\n  _text unchanged; may be error for \u201cAlcitho\u00eb\u201d_\nIV.II Footnote 39: \u2018Virgo victa nitore Dei.\u2019 [uitore]\nV.V Footnote 60: The zone, or girdle ... was much worn\n  _Bell has \u201cwas much wore\u201c; McKay has \u201cwere much worn\u201d_\nV.VI Footnote 75: adjoining to the Elean territory [Eleon]\nVI.I: the sley separates the warp\n  _this technical term is missing from many dictionaries_\nVI.III Footnote 47: \u2018brekekekekex ko\u00e4x ko\u00e4x.\u2019\n  _text unchanged (one syllable too many)_\nVII.IV Footnote 89: the Explanation, p. 242 / p. 270\n  _final paragraph of the Explanation of Fable VII.III_\nVII.V Footnote 92: The Andrian slave, who gives his name [its name]\n\n\n_Errors or variations introduced by McKay, with original text in\nbrackets []. Unless otherwise noted, the Bell version was treated as\nthe correct form. Italics in the translation (here shown in braces {})\nare considered non-trivial because they indicate text added by the\ntranslator, not present in the Latin original._\n\nI.II Footnote 19: she was supposed to have her habitation\n  [habitations]\nI.II Footnote 22: Ver. 64. [34]\nI.III Exp: the ground became unfruitful [become]\n--: as they really happened [happen]\nI. VI Footnote 38: Di majorum gentium [Di imajorum]\n  _intended text may have been \u201cDii majorum\u201d_\nI.VIII Exp: ... that the sea joined its waters\n  [... the sea joined in its waters]\n--: the tradition here followed by Ovid [that tradition]\nI.IX: {to endure} these sorrows [to {endure}]\nI.X Exp: where he built a temple to Jupiter [when]\nI.XII Footnotes 83, 84: Clarke [Clark]\nI.XII: Thou, the same, shalt stand [shall]\nI.XIII Footnote 92: mount \u00c6ta [\u00c6tna]\n  _the reference is to the Greek mountain now spelled \u201cEta\u201d_\nI.XIII Footnote 96: Pliny the Elder (Book iii. ch. 23)\n  ... Aous [Aeus]\n  _editions of Pliny vary; the cited passage may also be found as\n  iii.58 or iii.145_\nI.XIII: the wild beasts alone [beast]\nI.XVI Exp: Argus was the son of Arestor [Argos]\nI.XVII: Thou ... believest thy mother in all things [believes]\nI.XVII Footnote 115: He was king of Ethiopia [Ethiopa]\n\nII.I: Ignorant what to do, he is stupefied\n  _McKay reads \u201cstupei/fied\u201d at page break_\n  _Bell has \u201cstupified\u201d here, \u201cstupefied\u201d elsewhere_\nII.I Footnote 13: Thessaly [Thessalis]\nII.I Footnote 18: This was a mountain [A mountain]\nII.I Footnote 24: _Cith\u00e6ron._ [Cith\u0153ron]\nII.I Footnote 41: Cape Matapan [Metapan]\nII.I Exp: the Greek form of it [from]\nII.II: a long tract through the air [track]\n  _Latin: longo ... tractu_\nII.VII: Lariss\u00e6an[69] Coronis [Lariss\u00e6n]\nII.IX: the womb of his mother [the wound]\nII.XI: The son of Atlas laughed [sun]\nII.XIII Syn: her sister\u2019s apartment [apartments]\n  _both editions consistently use \u201capartment\u201d_\nII.XIV: which thou seest [seeest]\n  _this spelling is normal in Bell, but McKay uses \u201cseest\u201d elsewhere_\nII.XIV Exp: Pal\u00e6phatus and Tzetzes suggest [suggests]\n\nIII.I Footnote 1: \u2018Thebe,\u2019 which signified \u2018an ox.\u2019 [signifies]\nIII.II: the victorious enemy of immense size [in immense size]\nIII.II Exp: sows the teeth [their]\nIII.III Footnote 24: _Phyale._ [Phyule]\nIII.III: Now thou mayst tell [mayest]\nIII.III Footnote 39: _P\u0153menis._ [Parmenis]\nIII.III: Leucon,[46] with snow-white hair [Luecon]\n--: her Cyprian brother, Harpalus,[52] [Harpaulus]\n--: Lachne,[54] with a wire-haired body [white-haired]\n  _Bell text was substituted, but Latin simply has \u201chirsuta\u201d_\n--: and Hylactor,[57] [Hylector]\nIII.III, Footnote 56: Ver. 224. [254]\nIII.V: become a woman from a man [became]\n  _participle: \u201chaving become\u201d_\nIII.VI: with the nearer flame did she burn\n  _word \u201cdid\u201d illegible_\nIII.VII: grief is taking away [has taken]\n  _reading \u201chas taken\u201d would require a metrically impossible Latin\n  \u201cad\u0113mit\u201d for \u201cad\u012dmit\u201d_\nIII.VIII, Footnote 89: placed in the number of the Constellations\n  [the number of Constellations]\nIII.VIII: \u2018Lo! we are here,\u2019 says Opheltes, my chief mate [Ophletes]\n--: this Alcimedon approved of [Alcemedon]\n--: now confessing that he has offended [had offended]\nIII.VIII Exp: ... tore him in pieces. Pausanias, however ...\n  [to pieces, Pausanius]\n--: The story ... is supposed by Bochart [Boch\u00e2rt]\n\nIV.I Footnote 1: ... Pausanias says that the B\u0153otians\n  [Pausanius]\nIV.I Footnote 8: _Thyoneus._ [Phyoneus]\nIV.I: the grass wet with rime [went]\n--: they determine, in the silent night [determined]\n--: The arrangement suits them [arrangements]\n--: the most unhappy cause and companion [anhappy]\nIV.I Footnote 22: _The lead decaying._\n  _footnote marker missing_\nIV.II Syn: the intrigue between Mars and Venus [betwen]\nIV.II: nor {yet} Clytie [not]\nIV.II Footnote 37: Abas, Acrisius, Dana\u00eb, Perseus [Danae, Persus]\nIV.II: with her twirling spindle [with twirling spindle]\nIV.V Footnote 48: (laborabat) ... \u2018auxiliares.\u2019\n  [(laborat) ... \u2018auxiliaries.\u2019]\nIV.VII: And what madness can do [what madness man can do]\n  _\u201cmadness\u201d is the grammatical subject: \u201cquidque furor valeat\u201d_\nIV.VII Footnote 57: These were the Furies [furies]\nIV.VII Footnote 63: Tisiphone importuna [importune]\nIV.VII Exp: by whom he had Helle and Phryxus [Phrysus]\nIV.VIII Exp: Bochart says [Bochard]\n  _last letter of \u201cBochart\u201d illegible in Bell_\nIV.X: Soon as the descendant of Abas beheld her [So soon as]\n  _Bell wording adopted for consistency_\n--: When he has lighted {on the ground}\n  _\u201con the ground\u201d not italicized_\nIV.X Footnote 84: pr\u00e6petes [pr\u00e6ptes]\nIV.X: on the silent plain [on the salient plain]\n  _\u201csalient\u201d is clearly wrong, but \u201csilent plain\u201d is also an odd\n  translation of \u201cvacuo ... arvo\u201d_\nIV.X Exp: more common than it had been before [more common that]\n\nV.I: both by his merits and his words [its merits]\nV.I Footnote 7: _Syene._ ... (Book i. Ep. 5, l. 79)\n  _text reads \u201cBook i. Ep. i. 79\u201d; in the Bell printing the letter\n  \u201cl\u201d is damaged and could be misread as \u201ci\u201d_\nV.I: thou, both her uncle and her betrothed [though, both]\nV.I Footnote 8: a swingeing bowl [swinging]\nV.I: the middle of the neck {of Pettalus} [Pattalus]\nV.II Footnote 32: Ver. 302. [303]\nV.III Footnote 43: pressed down by Lilyb\u0153um [Lilyb\u00e6um]\nV.IV: both her mother and her companions,[48] [and companions]\nV.IV Footnote 50: _The Palici._ [Palaci]\nV.IV Footnote 51: Dionysus [Dionysius]\n  _the names \u201cBacchius\u201d and \u201cBacchus\u201d in the same footnote are each\n  correct as printed_\nV.IV Footnote 57: Cinnus [Cinus]\nV.IV Footnote 61: tunc denique raptam Scisset [raptum]\n  _Bell also has \u201ctum\u201d for \u201ctunc\u201d; both words are valid_\nV.IV Exp: the Isis of the Egyptians [the Isis of Egyptians]\n--: the following circumstance: [circumstances:]\nV.V Syn: Ceres proceeds in a fruitless search [the fruitless]\n--: The Sirens have wings [rings]\nV.V: it is {a mark of} affection [a {mark of}]\nV.V: Footnote 67: The Greek name of a lizard being \u1f00\u03c3\u03ba\u03ac\u03bb\u03b1\u03b2\u03bf\u03c2\n  [a lizard \u1f00\u03c3\u03ba\u03ac\u03bb\u03b1\u03b2\u03bf\u03c2]\nV.VI: Erymanthus and Elis [Eyramanthus]\n--: Ho, Arethusa! Ho, Arethusa!\n  _text reads \u201cHo, Arethusa! Ho, Ar-/thusa!\u201d at line break_\nV.VI Exp: the oracle of Delphi [at Delphi]\nV.VII: entrusted {to him} [to {him}]\nV.VII Exp: which signified either \u2018a winged dragon,\u2019 or \u2018a ship fastened\n  with iron nails or bolts.\u2019 [signifies ... nails and bolts]\n--: explainer of the mysteries of Eleusis [Eleusi]\n\nVI.I Footnote 3: the purple [purples]\nVI.I Exp: unless we should prefer [he]\n--: St. Augustine [Augustin]\n--: calling their attention to agricultural pursuits [agricultual]\n--: had himself taken the figure\n  _text has \u201cthe // the\u201d at page break_\n--: numerous in the interior of Africa [is the]\nVI.II: what {I wish} may fall upon herself [what I {wish}]\n--: their wonted exercise {of riding} [of {riding}]\nVI.III: her suckling breasts [sucking]\nVI.IV: after he had drawn his clothes from his shoulder towards his\n  breast [shoulders]\n  _The Latin reads \u201c... umeroque suas a pectore [or: ad pectora]\n  postquam / deduxit [or: diduxit] vestes ebur ostendisse sinistro\u201d. It\n  is possible to construct a Latin variation that would translate as\n  \u201cfrom his shoulders\u201d, but editorial or typographic error is a much\n  likelier explanation._\nVI.IV Exp: Livy and Quintus Curtius [Quintius]\n--: Marsyas may have been rash enough [Maryas]\nVI.V: beyond what is becoming [his]\nVI.VI: forced {from her} [{from} her]\n--: from excess of affection [from the excess]\nVI.VII Footnote 73: and in the Art of Love [and the Art ...]\n\nVII.I: {is wont} to increase [is {wont}]\nVII.II: a counterfeited quarrel [counterfeit]\n--: the guards together with their king [with the king]\n  _Latin \u201crege suo\u201d_\n--: they turn away their eyes [they, turning away their eyes]\n  _Latin \u201coculosque reflectunt\u201d_\nVII.III Footnote 62: ... This was not Thessalian Tempe\n  _\u201cw\u201d in \u201cwas\u201d invisible_\nVII.III Footnote 69: who was said to have lived there\n  [who was to have]\nVII.III Exp: the young princess perished in the greatest misery\n  _text has \u201cin / in\u201d at line break_\n--: the account of the women of Cos being changed [accounts]\nVII.IV Footnote 75: dragged from Tartarus by Hercules [Herculea]\nVII.IV Footnote 86: Anaphe [Anophe]\nVII.V Syn: the island of \u00c6gina [islands]\nVII.V: the grandson of Asopus says, \u201cThou askest in vain [asketh]\n--: the souls of sons, and of husbands [the souls of the sons]\nVII.VI Exp: gave occasion to the report [of the report]\nVII.VII Syn: discovering his suspicions [suspicion]\nVII.VII: {standing} in the middle [{standiny}]\nVII.VIII Exp: as Apollodorus tells us [tell]\n\n\n_Corrections made by McKay, with Bell/Bohn text shown in brackets_\n\nIII.VI Exp: phenomenon (_two occurrences_)\n  _Bell spells \u201cph\u0153nomenon\u201d (error for \u201cph\u00e6nomenon\u201d)_\nIV.IV Exp: beloved by Smilax [Simlax]\nIV.V heading:\n  _Bell misprints \u201cFable IV\u201d_\nIV.VII Exp: Learchus and Melicerta [Melacerta]\nV.I Footnote 17: _Now deceived._ [How deceived]\n  _footnote marker missing in Bell_\nVI.II Exp: Valerius Flaccus relates the sorrow of Clytie [Clyte]\nVI.VI Exp: the ancients thereby portrayed [pourtrayed]\nVI.VII Footnote 74: _The Ciconians._\n  _footnote marker missing in Bell_\nVII.II Footnote 40: _And his hair._\n  _footnote marker missing in Bell_\n\n\n_Variations_\n\nThe readings listed here are \u201cwrong\u201d in the sense that they are\ndifferent from what is found in the Bell/Bohn text, but they are\nacceptable translations of the Latin. The Bell text is shown in\nbrackets.\n\nIII.II: The Earth, too, scraped with the scales [his scales]\n--: nor engage thyself in civil war [a civil war]\n--: the youths ... beat with throbbing breast [breasts]\nIII.III: to bathe her virgin limbs in clear water [the clear water]\nIII.VIII: in vain try to restrain him [strive]\n--: I made observations with my eyes [observation]\nIV.I: the Sun, with its rays [his rays]\nIV.VII: foam formed in the hollowed deep [hallowed]\n  _The Latin has at least three variant readings: \u201cin medio ...\n  profundo\u201d, \u201cimmenso ... profundo\u201d and \u201cd\u012bo profundo\u201d. Riley\u2019s\n  translation must have been based on the \u201cdio\u201d reading._\nIV.X: the name both of her country and herself\n  [... of the country and of herself]\nV.IV: grasp {in your hand} [{in your hands}]\n  _the Latin has only the verb \u201cprendere\u201d (grasp)_\nV.VI: thy darts enclosed in a quiver [the quiver]\nVI.III: oft to sit on the bank of the pool [often]\nVI.V: delay will be tedious to me, and [to me. And]\nVI.VI: she prepared for a horrible deed [horrid]\nVII.II: to go far thence [afar]\n\n\n_Unusual or Inconsistent Spellings and Name Forms_\n\nDieresis is unpredictable in both editions; forms such as \u201cPhaeton\u201d,\n\u201cOcyrrh\u00f6e\u201d and \u201cDan\u00e4e\u201d are common, and have been silently corrected.\nSince the ligatures \u201c\u00e6\u201d and \u201c\u0153\u201d are used consistently, dieresis can be\nassumed even when not explicitly indicated.\n\n_Unless otherwise noted, comments apply to both texts._\n\nIII.VIII Footnote 92: the buccanier Morgan\nIV.VIII Exp: they beheld stedfastly\nV.II, VI.V: villany\n\nC\u00e6us, Calisto, Lilyb\u0153us, Phyale, Phryxus, Progne\n  _these forms are used consistently; the original forms are C\u0153us\n  (\u039a\u03bf\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2), Callisto (\u039a\u03b1\u03bb\u03bb\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03c9), Lilyb\u00e6us (\u039b\u03b9\u03bb\u03c5\u03b2\u03b1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2), Phiale (\u03a6\u03b9\u03b1\u03bb\u03b7),\n  Phrixus (\u03a6\u03c1\u03b9\u03be\u03bf\u03c2), Procne (\u03a0\u03c1\u03bf\u03ba\u03bd\u03b7). Note that in the main text, the\n  name \u201cCallisto\u201d is never used, probably on metrical grounds._\nDamasicthon, Erectheus _and similar_\n  _spellings in \u201c-cth-\u201d used consistently in place of \u201c-chth-\u201d (-\u03c7\u03b8-).\nAch\u00e6a/Achaia; Ethiopia/\u00c6thiopia; Phocea/Phoc\u00e6a; Proserpine/Proserpina\n  _both forms occur, with McKay text following Bell in all cases_\n\n\n_Greek_\n\n_Most errors in Greek words can be attributed to a typesetter who did\nnot know Greek. Errors and omissions in diacritical marks have been\nsilently corrected; only the more significant errors are listed._\n\nI.VII Footnote 47: \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u1fc7 \u1f14\u03c1\u03b1 \u03bd\u03b1\u03af\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd [\u1f35\u03c1\u03b1 \u03bd\u03b1\u03b9\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd (McKay)]\nII.XII Footnote 84: \u03b4\u03ad\u03be\u03b1\u03b9 [\u03b4\u03b5\u03b6\u03b1\u03af (McKay)]\nII.XIV Exp: \u1f19\u03bb\u03bb\u03c9\u03c4\u1f76\u03c2\n  _both texts read \u1f18\u03bb\u03bb\u03c9\u03c4\u1f76\u03c2 with smooth breathing_\nIII.III Footnote 50: \u03b8\u03bf\u1f78\u03c2\n  _both texts read \u03b8\u03bf\u1f7a\u03c2_\nIII.IV Exp: \u03a0\u03b1\u03bd\u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03af\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1 [\u03a0\u03b1\u03bd\u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03b3\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1 (McKay)]\nIII.VI Footnote 68: \u039b\u03b5\u03af\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd [\u039b\u03b5\u03af\u03bf\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd (McKay)]\nIII.VIII Footnote 86: \u1f00\u03ba\u03bf\u03af\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2\n  _McKay reads \u1f01\u03ba\u03cc\u03b9\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 with rough breathing; both have misplaced accent_\nIII.VIII Footnote 87: \u1f60\u03bb\u03ad\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9\n  _both texts read \u03c9\u03bb\u03ae\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9; McKay has initial \u03ce for \u1f60_\nIV.I Footnote 5: \u0395\u1f50\u03bf\u1fd6 \u0392\u03ac\u03ba\u03c7\u03b5, \u1f66 \u1f38\u03b1\u03ba\u03c7\u03b5, \u0399\u03ce \u0392\u03ac\u03ba\u03c7\u03b5, \u0395\u1f50\u03bf\u1fd6 \u03c3\u03b1\u03b2\u03bf\u1fd6\n  _text given as printed; exact form (with consistent capitalization)\n  is probably \u0395\u1f50\u03bf\u1fd6 \u0392\u03ac\u03ba\u03c7\u03b5, \u1f6e \u1f3c\u03b1\u03ba\u03c7\u03b5, \u1f38\u03ce \u0392\u03ac\u03ba\u03c7\u03b5, \u0395\u1f50\u03bf\u1fd6 \u03c3\u03b1\u03b2\u03b1\u1fd6_\nIV.I Footnote 6: \u03bb\u03cd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd [\u03ba\u03cd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd (McKay)]\nV.II Footnote 31: \u03c7\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c1\u03b5, \u03c7\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c1\u03b5 [\u03c7\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c1\u03b5, \u03c7\u03c3\u1f34\u03c1\u03b5 (McKay)]\nVII.VI Footnote 105: \u03c0\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1\u03b4\u03b1\u03b9\n  _text unchanged, but intended form is probably \u03c0\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03ac\u03b4\u03b5\u03c2_\nVII.VI Exp: \u03bc\u03cd\u03c1\u03bc\u03b7\u03be [\u03bc\u03cd\u03c1\u03bc\u03b7\u03c2 (McKay)]\n\n\n_Punctuation_\n\n_The McKay (Philadelphia) edition sometimes uses double quotes where the\nBell (London) edition used single quotes. These are not individually\nnoted; neither is variation between colons and semicolons, and random\nuse of commas. Invisible punctuation at line-end has been supplied from\nBell._\n\n_Shared errors and irregularities in punctuation_\n\nIV.VII Footnote 69: _Guiltless granddaughter._\n  _both print \u201cgrand-daughter\u201d with anomalous hyphen_\nVI.III: \u2018Young man, there is no mountain Divinity for this altar....\n  _This embedded single quote was apparently abandoned by the editor;\n  each double quote for the remainder of the Fable should be accompanied\n  by a single quote._\n\nI.XII Footnote 80: quod amor non est / medicabilis herbis.\u2019\nIV.I: our words to our loving ears.\u2019\nIV.IV: I will entertain your minds with a pleasing novelty.\u201d\nIV.X: {if} preserved by my valor.\u201d\nIV.X: those snakes which she {thus} produced.\u201d\nV.II: oft have the Gods above entered more humble cottages.\u2019\nV.II: Let the Nymphs decide the contest.\u201d\n  _close quote missing in all_\n\n_Punctuation errors introduced in McKay edition_\n\n[Verso of title page] Sherman & Co., Philadelphia\n  _period invisible_\n[General Introduction] about, ninety miles from Rome\n  _here and elsewhere, commas are as in the original_\nI.VI Exp: for it repenteth me that I have made them.\u2019\u201d [made them\u2019]\n  _Bell omits quotes for Biblical citation_\nIII.III: Tho\u00fcs,[50] [Tho\u00fcs,[50],]\nIV.II: and he, no longer delaying [and, he,]\n--: \u2018I am he .... thou art pleasing to me.\u2019 [\u2018I am .... to me.\u201d]\nIV.VII: with newly formed wings? [wings!]\nV.VI: Why art thou, Arethusa, a sacred spring?\u2019\n  _missing close quote_\nV.VI Exp: a mere fable; [fable!]\nVI.II: she says, \u201cWhat madness is this\n  _missing open quote_\n--: exult and triumph, my victorious enemy. But why victorious?\n  [enemy, But why v\u2019ctorious?]\nVI.III: hold out their little arms from my bosom\u2019\n  _missing close quote_\nVII.IV Exp: Egyptian notions on the future state of man. [of man,]\nVII.V Syn: the surprising manner in which it had been re-peopled.\n  _invisible hyphen_\nVII.V: says Cephalus:[99] \u201cand I pray\n  _missing open quote_\n--: not room sufficient for the tombs, nor trees for the fires.\u201d\n  _missing close quote_\nVII.VI: shall have changed to the South.\u201d\n  _missing close quote_\n\n\n_Footnote Numbers_\n\n_Errors in McKay edition_\n\nBk. I, ll. 516-531 (Fable I.XII)\n  Footnotes on this page were printed as 66-69 instead of 76-79\n  (e-text note numbers 78-81); other pages were not affected.\nBk. IV, note 17*.\n  The footnote tag was numbered as a second 17; the note itself was\n  numbered the first of two 18.\n\n_Adjustments_\n\nIn the original text-- both editions-- footnote numbers began from 1 in\neach Book, and started over when the count passed 99. Almost all Books\nhad duplications in the sequence, usually in the form \u201c17*\u201d. In this\ne-text, footnotes have been renumbered consecutively within each Book,\nwithout duplication; Books I and VII continue past 100.\n\n  Interpolations:\n  Bk. I: 51*, 67*\n  Bk. II: 4*, 71*\n  Bk. III: 72*, 88*\n  Bk. IV: 17*, 37*, 77*\n  Bk. V: 46*, 76*\n  Bk. VI: (no change from original sequence)\n  Bk. VII: 4*, 73*, 2* (second series)\n\n\n_Line Numbers (printed as page headers)_\n\nLine numbers in the McKay edition were generally correct, although\ndifferent from those in Bell due to changes in pagination. Some book\nnumbers in the McKay edition were misprinted:\n\n  [II. 550-564] _printed as Bk. XV_\n  [II. 605-632] _printed as Bk. XV_\n  [II. 632-651] _printed as Bk. XIV_\n  [II. 652-675] _printed as Bk. XV_\n  [II. 676-693] _printed as Bk. XV_\n  [IV. 233-237] _printed as Bk. I_\n  [V. 95-123] _printed as Bk. IV_\n  [V. 123-151] _printed as Bk. IV_\n  [V. 350-373] _printed as Bk. IV_","title":"The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books I-VII","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":125333}