Now Jupiter had not revealed himself,nor laid aside the semblance of a bull,until they stood upon the plains of Crete.But not aware of this, her father badeher brother Cadmus search through all the world,until he found his sister, and proclaimedhim doomed to exile if he found her not;—thus was he good and wicked in one deed.When he had vainly wandered over the earth(for who can fathom the deceits of Jove?)Cadmus, the son of King Agenor, shunnedhis country and his father's mighty wrath.But he consulted the famed oraclesof Phoebus, and enquired of them what landmight offer him a refuge and a home.And Phoebus answered him; “When on the plainsa heifer, that has never known the yoke,shall cross thy path go thou thy way with her,and follow where she leads; and when she lies,to rest herself upon the meadow green,there shalt thou stop, as it will be a signfor thee to build upon that plain the wallsof a great city: and its name shall bethe City of Boeotia.”Cadmus turned;but hardly had descended from the cave,Castalian, ere he saw a heifer gounguarded, gentle-paced, without the scarsof labour on her neck. He followed closeupon her steps (and silently adoredcelestial Phoebus, author of his way)till over the channel that Cephissus wearshe forded to the fields of Panopeand even over to Boeotia.—there stood the slow-paced heifer, and she raisedher forehead, broad with shapely horns, towards Heaven;and as she filled the air with lowing, stretchedher side upon the tender grass, and turnedher gaze on him who followed in her path.Cadmus gave thanks and kissed the foreign soil,and offered salutation to the fieldsand unexplored hills. Then he preparedto make large sacrifice to Jupiter,and ordered slaves to seek the living springswhose waters in libation might be poured.There was an ancient grove, whose branching treeshad never known the desecrating ax,where hidden in the undergrowth a cave,with oziers bending round its low-formed arch,was hollowed in the jutting rocks—deep-foundin the dark center of that hallowed grove—beneath its arched roof a beauteous streamof water welled serene. Its gloom concealeda dragon, sacred to the war-like Mars;crested and gorgeous with radescent scales,and eyes that sparkled as the glow of coals.A deadly venom had puffed up his bulk,and from his jaws he darted forth three tongues,and in a triple row his sharp teeth stood.Now those who ventured of the Tyrian race,misfortuned followers of Cadmus, tookthe path that led them to this grove; and whenthey cast down-splashing in the springs an urn,the hidden dragon stretched his azure headout from the cavern's gloom, and vented forthterrific hissings. Horrified they droppedtheir urns. A sudden trembling shook their knees;and their life-blood was ice within their veins.The dragon wreathed his scales in rolling knots,and with a spring, entwisted in great folds,reared up his bulk beyond the middle rings,high in the air from whence was given his gazethe extreme confines of the grove below.A size prodigious, his enormous bulk,if seen extended where was naught to hide,would rival in its length the Serpent's folds,involved betwixt the planes of the Twin Bears.The terrified Phoenicians, whether armedfor conflict, or in flight precipitate,or whether held incapable from fear,he seized with sudden rage; stung them to death,or crushed them in the grasp of crushing folds,or blasted with the poison of his breath.High in the Heavens the sun small shadow madewhen Cadmus, wondering what detained his men,prepared to follow them. Clothed in a skintorn from a lion, he was armed, complete,with lance of glittering steel; and with a dart:but passing these he had a dauntless soul.When he explored the grove and there beheldthe lifeless bodies, and above them stretchedthe vast victorious dragon licking upthe blood that issued from their ghastly wounds;his red tongues dripping gore; then Cadmus filledwith rage and grief; “Behold, my faithful ones!I will avenge your deaths or I will share it!”He spoke; and lifted up a mill-stone huge,in his right hand, and having poised it, hurledwith a tremendous effort dealing sucha blow would crush the strongest builded walls;yet neither did the dragon flinch the shocknor was he wounded, for his armour-scales,fixed in his hard and swarthy hide, repelledthe dreadful impact. Not the javelin thus,so surely by his armoured skin was foiled,for through the middle segment of his spinethe steel point pierced, and sank beneath the flesh,deep in his entrails. Writhing in great painhe turned his head upon his bleeding back,twisting the shaft, with force prodigious shookit back and forth, and wrenched it from the wound;with difficulty wrenched it. But the steelremained securely fastened in his bones.Such agony but made increase of rage:his throat was swollen with great knotted veins;a white froth gathered on his poisonous jaws;the earth resounded with his rasping scales;he breathed upon the grass a pestilence,steaming mephitic from his Stygian mouth.His body writhes up in tremendous gyres;his folds, now straighter than a beam, untwist;he rushes forward on his vengeful foe,his great breast crushing the deep-rooted trees.Small space gave Cadmus to the dragon's rage,for by the lion's spoil he stood the shock,and thrusting in his adversary's jawsthe trusted lance gave check his mad career.Wild in his rage the dragon bit the steeland fixed his teeth on the keen-biting point:out from his poisoned palate streams of gorespouted and stained the green with sanguine spray.Yet slight the wound for he recoiled in time,and drew his wounded body from the spear;by shrinking from the sharp steel saved his throata mortal wound. But Cadmus as he pressedthe spear-point deeper in the serpent's throat,pursued him till an oak-tree barred the way;to this he fixed the dragon through the neck:the stout trunk bending with the monster's weight,groaned at the lashing of his serpent tail.
Iamque deus posita fallacis imagine taurise confessus erat Dictaeaque rura tenebat,cum pater ignarus Cadmo perquirere raptamimperat et poenam, si non invenerit, additexilium, facto pius et sceleratus eodem.Orbe pererrato (quis enim deprendere possitfurta Iovis?) profugus patriamque iramque parentisvitat Agenorides Phoebique oracula supplexconsulit et, quae sit tellus habitanda, requirit.“Bos tibi” Phoebus ait “solis occurret in arvis,nullum passa iugum curvique inmunis aratri.Hac duce carpe vias et qua requieverit herbamoenia fac condas, Boeotiaque ma vocato.”Vix bene Castalio Cadmus descenderat antro,incustoditam lente videt ire iuvencamnullum servitii signum cervice gerentem.Subsequitur pressoque legit vestigia gressu,auctoremque viae Phoebum taciturnus adorat.Iam vada Cephisi Panopesque evaserat arva:bos stetit et tollens speciosam cornibus altisad caelum frontem mugitibus impulit auras,atque ita, respiciens comites sua terga sequentes,procubuit teneraque latus submisit in herba.Cadmus agit grates peregrinaeque oscula terraefigit et ignotos montes agrosque salutat.Sacra Iovi facturus erat. Iubet ire ministroset petere e vivis libandas fontibus undas.Silva vetus stabat, nulla violata securi,et specus in medio, virgis ac vimine densus,efficiens humilem lapidum compagibus arcum,uberibus fecundus aquis, ubi conditus antroMartius anguis erat, cristis praesignis et auro;igne micant oculi, corpus tumet omne venenis,tres vibrant linguae, triplici stant ordine dentes.Quem postquam Tyria lucum de gente profectiinfausto tetigere gradu, demissaque in undasurna dedit sonitum, longo caput extulit antrocaeruleus serpens horrendaque sibila misit.Effluxere urnae manibus sanguisque reliquitcorpus, et attonitos subitus tremor occupat artus.Ille volubilibus squamosos nexibus orbestorquet et inmensos saltu sinuatur in arcus,ac media plus parte leves erectus in aurasdespicit omne nemus, tantoque est corpore, quantosi totum spectes, geminas qui separat arctos.Nec mora, Phoenicas, sive illi tela parabant,sive fugam, sive ipse timor prohibebat utrumque,occupat: hos morsu, longis complexibus illos,hos necat adfiatu funesti tabe veneni.Fecerat exiguas iam sol altissimus umbras:quae mora sit sociis, miratur Agenore natus,vestigatque viros. Tegimen derepta leonipellis erat, telum splendenti lancea ferroet iaculum, teloque animus praestantior omni.Ut nemus intravit letataque corpora viditvictoremque supra spatiosi corporis hostemtristia sanguinea lambentem vulnera lingua,“aut ultor vestrae, fidissima corpora, mortis,aut comes” inquit “ero.” Dixit, dextraque molaremsustulit et magnum magno conamine misit.Illius impulsu cum turribus ardua celsismoenia mota forent: serpens sine vulnere mansitloricaeque modo squamis defensus et atraeduritia pellis validos cute reppulit ictus.At non duritia iaculum quoque vicit eadem:quod medio lentae spinae curvamine fixumconstitit et totum descendit in ilia ferrum.Ille dolore ferox caput in sua terga retorsitvulneraque adspexit fixumque hastile momorditidque, ubi vi multa partem labefecit in omnem,vix tergo eripuit; ferrum tamen ossibus haesit.Tum vero, postquam solitas accessit ad irascausa recens, plenis tumuerunt guttura venis,spumaque pestiferos circumfluit albida rictus,terraque rasa sonat squamis, quique halitus exitore niger Stygio, vitiatas inficit auras.Ipse modo inmensum spiris facientibus orbemcingitur, interdum longa trabe rectior adstatimpete nunc vasto ceu concitus imbribus amnisfertur et obstantes proturbat pectore silvas.Cedit Agenorides paulum spolioque leonissustinet incursus instantiaque ora retardatcuspide praetenta. Furit ille et inania durovulnera dat ferro figitque in acumine dentes.Iamque venenifero sanguis manare palatocoeperat et virides adspergine tinxerat herbas:sed leve vulnus erat, quia se retrahebat ab ictulaesaque colla dabat retro plagamque sederecedendo arcebat nec longius ire sinebat,donec Agenorides coniectum in guttura ferrumusque sequens pressit, dum retro quercus euntiobstitit, et fixa est pariter cum robore cervix.Pondere serpentis curvata est arbor et imaparte flagellari gemuit sua robora caudae.
While the brave victor gazed upon the bulkenormous of his vanquished foe, a voicewas heard—from whence was difficult to know,but surely heard—“Son of Agenor, whyart thou here standing by this carcase-worm,for others shall behold thy body changedinto a serpent?” Terrified, amazed,he lost his colour and his self-control;his hair stood upright from the dreadful fright.But lo, the hero's watchful Deity,Minerva, from the upper realms of airappeared before him. She commanded himto sow the dragon's teeth in mellowed soil,from which might spring another race of men.And he obeyed: and as he plowed the land,took care to scatter in the furrowed soilthe dragon's teeth; a seed to raise up man.'Tis marvelous but true, when this was donethe clods began to move. A spear-point firstappeared above the furrows, followed nextby helmet-covered heads, nodding their cones;their shoulders, breasts and arms weighted with spears;and largely grew the shielded crop of men.—so is it in the joyful theaterswhen the gay curtains, rolling from the floor,are upward drawn until the scene is shown,—it seems as if the figures rise to view:first we behold their faces, then we seetheir bodies, and their forms by slow degreesappear before us on the painted cloth.Cadmus, affrighted by this host, preparedto arm for his defence; but one of thosefrom earth created cried; “Arm not! Awayfrom civil wars!” And with his trenchant swordhe smote an earth-born brother, hand to hand;even as the vanquished so the victor fell,pierced by a dart some distant brother hurled;and likewise he who cast that dart was slain:both breathing forth their lives upon the airso briefly theirs, expired together. Allas if demented leaped in sudden rage,each on the other, dealing mutual wounds.So, having lived the space allotted them,the youthful warriors perished as they smotethe earth (their blood-stained mother) with their breasts:and only five of all the troop remained;of whom Echion, by Minerva warned,called on his brothers to give up the fight,and cast his arms away in pledge of faith.—when Cadmus, exiled from Sidonia's gates,builded the city by Apollo named,these five were trusted comrades in his toil.Now Thebes is founded, who can deem thy daysunhappy in shine exile, Cadmus? Thou,the son-in-law of Mars and Venus; thou,whose glorious wife has borne to shine embracedaughters and sons? And thy grandchildren joinaround thee, almost grown to man's estate.—nor should we say, “He leads a happy life,”Till after death the funeral rites are paid.
Dum spatium victor victi considerat hostis,vox subito audita est; neque erat cognoscere promptumunde, sed audita est: “Quid, Agenore nate, peremptumserpentem spectas? et tu spectabere serpens.”Ille diu pavidus pariter cum mente coloremperdiderat, gelidoque comae terrore rigebant.Ecce viri fautrix, superas delapsa per auras,Pallas adest motaeque iubet supponere terraevipereos dentes, populi incrementa futuri.Paret et, ut presso sulcum patefecit aratro,spargit humi iussos, mortalia semina, dentes.Inde (fide maius) glaebae coepere moveri,primaque de sulcis acies apparuit hastae,tegmina mox capitum picto nutantia cono,mox umeri pectusque onerataque bracchia telisexsistunt, crescitque seges clipeata virorum.Sic ubi tolluntur festis aulaea theatris,surgere signa solent primumque ostendere vultus,cetera paulatim, placidoque educta tenoretota patent imoque pedes in margine ponunt.Territus hoste novo Cadmus capere arma parabat:“ne cape”, de populo, quem terra creaverat, unusexclamat “nec te civilibus insere bellis.”Atque ita terrigenis rigido de fratribus unumcomminus ense ferit; iaculo cadit eminus ipse.Hunc quoque qui leto dederat, non longius illovivit et exspirat modo quas acceperat auras;exemploque pari furit omnis turba, suoqueMarte cadunt subiti per mutua vulnera fratres.Iamque brevis vitae spatium sortita iuventussanguineam tepido plangebat pectore matrem,quinque superstitibus, quorum fuit unus Echion.Is sua iecit humo monitu Tritonidis armafraternaeque fidem pacis petiitque deditque.Hos operis comites habuit Sidonius hospes,cum posuit iussam Phoebeis sortibus urbem.Iam stabant Thebae: poteras iam, Cadme, videriexsilio felix. Soceri tibi Marsque Venusquecontigerant: huc adde genus de coniuge tanta,tot natos natasque et pignera cara nepotes,hos quoque iam iuvenes. Sed scilicet ultima semperexspectanda dies homini est, dicique beatusante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet.
Thy grandson, Cadmus, was the first to castthy dear felicity in sorrow's gloom.Oh, it was pitiful to witness him,his horns outbranching from his forehead, chasedby dogs that panted for their master's blood!If thou shouldst well inquire it will be shownhis sorrow was the crime of Fortune—nothis guilt—for who maintains mistakes are crimes?Upon a mountain stained with slaughtered game,the young Hyantian stood. Already day,increasing to meridian, made decreasethe flitting shadows, and the hot sun shonebetwixt extremes in equal distance. Suchthe hour, when speaking to his fellow friends,the while they wandered by those lonely haunts,actaeon of Hyantis kindly thus;“Our nets and steel are stained with slaughtered game,the day has filled its complement of sport;now, when Aurora in her saffron carbrings back the light of day, we may againrepair to haunts of sport. Now Phoebus hangsin middle sky, cleaving the fields with heat.—enough of toil; take down the knotted nets.”—all did as he commanded; and they soughttheir needed rest.There is a valley calledGargaphia; sacred to Diana, densewith pine trees and the pointed cypress, where,deep in the woods that fringed the valley's edge,was hollowed in frail sandstone and the softwhite pumice of the hills an arch, so trueit seemed the art of man; for Nature's touchingenious had so fairly wrought the stone,making the entrance of a grotto cool.Upon the right a limpid fountain ran,and babbled, as its lucid channel spreadinto a clear pool edged with tender grass.Here, when a-wearied with exciting sport,the Sylvan goddess loved to come and batheher virgin beauty in the crystal pool.After Diana entered with her nymphs,she gave her javelin, quiver and her bowto one accustomed to the care of arms;she gave her mantle to another nymphwho stood near by her as she took it off;two others loosed the sandals from her feet;but Crocale, the daughter of Ismenus,more skillful than her sisters, gathered upthe goddess' scattered tresses in a knot;—her own were loosely wantoned on the breeze.Then in their ample urns dipt up the waveand poured it forth, the cloud-nymph Nephele,the nymph of crystal pools called Hyale,the rain-drop Rhanis, Psecas of the dews,and Phyale the guardian of their urns.And while they bathed Diana in their streams,Actaeon, wandering through the unknown woods,entered the precincts of that sacred grove;with steps uncertain wandered he as fatedirected, for his sport must wait till morn.—soon as he entered where the clear springs welledor trickled from the grotto's walls, the nymphs,now ready for the bath, beheld the man,smote on their breasts, and made the woods resound,suddenly shrieking. Quickly gathered theyto shield Diana with their naked forms, but shestood head and shoulders taller than her guards.—as clouds bright-tinted by the slanting sun,or purple-dyed Aurora, so appearedDiana's countenance when she was seen.Oh, how she wished her arrows were at hand!But only having water, this she tookand dashed it on his manly countenance,and sprinkled with the avenging stream his hair,and said these words, presage of future woe;“Go tell it, if your tongue can tell the tale,your bold eyes saw me stripped of all my robes.”No more she threatened, but she fixed the hornsof a great stag firm on his sprinkled brows;she lengthened out his neck; she made his earssharp at the top; she changed his hands and feet;made long legs of his arms, and covered himwith dappled hair—his courage turned to fear.The brave son of Autonoe took to flight,and marveled that he sped so swiftly on.—he saw his horns reflected in a streamand would have said, “Ah, wretched me!” but nowhe had no voice, and he could only groan:large tears ran trickling down his face, transformedin every feature.—Yet, as clear remainedhis understanding, and he wondered whathe should attempt to do: should he returnto his ancestral palace, or plunge deepin vast vacuities of forest wilds?Fear made him hesitate to trust the woods,and shame deterred him from his homeward way.While doubting thus his dogs espied him there:first Blackfoot and the sharp nosed Tracer raisedthe signal: Tracer of the Gnossian breed,and Blackfoot of the Spartan: swift as windthe others followed. Glutton, Quicksight, Surefoot,three dogs of Arcady; then valiant Killbuck,Tempest, fierce Hunter, and the rapid Wingfoot;sharp-scented Chaser, and Woodranger woundedso lately by a wild boar; savage Wildwood,the wolf-begot with Shepherdess the cow-dog;and ravenous Harpy followed by her twin whelps;and thin-girt Ladon chosen from Sicyonia;racer and Barker, brindled Spot and Tiger;sturdy old Stout and white haired Blanche and black Smutlusty big Lacon, trusty Storm and Quickfoot;active young Wolfet and her Cyprian brotherblack headed Snap, blazed with a patch of white hairfrom forehead to his muzzle; swarthy Blackcoatand shaggy Bristle, Towser and Wildtooth,his sire of Dicte and his dam of Lacon;and yelping Babbler: these and others, morethan patience leads us to recount or name.All eager for their prey the pack surmountrocks, cliffs and crags, precipitous—where pathsare steep, where roads are none. He flies by routesso oft pursued but now, alas, his flightis from his own!—He would have cried, “Beholdyour master!—It is I—Actaeon!” Wordsrefused his will. The yelping pack pressed on.First Blackmane seized and tore his master's back,Savage the next, then Rover's teeth were clincheddeep in his shoulder.—These, though tardy out,cut through a by-path and arriving firstclung to their master till the pack came up.The whole pack fastened on their master's fleshtill place was none for others. Groaning hemade frightful sounds that not the human voicecould utter nor the stag; and filled the hillswith dismal moans; and as a suppliant felldown to the ground upon his trembling knees;and turned his stricken eyes on his own dogs,entreating them to spare him from their fangs.But his companions, witless of his plight,urged on the swift pack with their hunting cries.They sought Actaeon and they vainly called,“Actaeon! Hi! Actaeon!” just as thoughhe was away from them. Each time they calledhe turned his head. And when they chided him,whose indolence denied the joys of sport,how much he wished an indolent desirehad haply held him from his ravenous pack.Oh, how much; better 'tis to see the hunt,and the fierce dogs, than feel their savage deeds!They gathered round him, and they fixed their snoutsdeep in his flesh: tore him to pieces, hewhose features only as a stag appeared.—'Tis said Diana's fury raged with noneabatement till the torn flesh ceased to live.Hapless Actaeon's end in various wayswas now regarded; some deplored his doom,but others praised Diana's chastity;and all gave many reasons. But the spouseof Jove, alone remaining silent, gavenor praise nor blame. Whenever calamitybefell the race of Cadmus she rejoiced,in secret, for she visited her rageon all Europa's kindred.Now a freshoccasion has been added to her grief,and wild with jealousy of Semele,her tongue as ever ready to her rage,lets loose a torrent of abuse;“Away!Away with words! Why should I speak of it?Let me attack her! Let me spoil that jade!Am I not Juno the supreme of Heaven?Queen of the flashing scepter? Am I notsister and wife of Jove omnipotent?She even wishes to be known by hima mother of a Deity, a joyalmost denied to me! Great confidencehas she in her great beauty—nevertheless,I shall so weave the web the bolt of Jovewould fail to save her.—Let the Gods denythat I am Saturn's daughter, if her shadedescend not stricken to the Stygian wave.”She rose up quickly from her shining throne,and hidden in a cloud of fiery huedescended to the home of Semele;and while encompassed by the cloud, transformedher whole appearance as to counterfeitold Beroe, an Epidaurian nurse,who tended Semele.Her tresses changedto grey, her smooth skin wrinkled and her stepgrown feeble as she moved with trembling limbs;—her voice was quavering as an ancient dame's,as Juno, thus disguised, began to talkto Semele. When presently the nameof Jove was mentioned—artful Juno thus;(doubtful that Jupiter could be her love)—“When Jove appears to pledge his love to you,implore him to assume his majestyand all his glory, even as he doesin presence of his stately Juno—Yea,implore him to caress you as a God.”With artful words as these the goddess workedupon the trusting mind of Semele,daughter of Cadmus, till she begged of Jovea boon, that only hastened her sad death;for Jove not knowing her design replied,“Whatever thy wish, it shall not be denied,and that thy heart shall suffer no distrust,I pledge me by that Deity, the Wavesof the deep Stygian Lake,—oath of the Gods.”All overjoyed at her misfortune, proudthat she prevailed, and pleased that she securedof him a promise, that could only causeher own disaster, Semele addressedalmighty Jove; “Come unto me in allthe splendour of thy glory, as thy mightis shown to Juno, goddess of the skies.”Fain would he stifle her disastrous tongue;before he knew her quest the words were said;and, knowing that his greatest oath was pledged,he sadly mounted to the lofty skies,and by his potent nod assembled therethe deep clouds: and the rain began to pour,and thunder-bolts resounded.But he stroveto mitigate his power, and armed him notwith flames overwhelming as had put to flighthis hundred-handed foe Typhoeus—flamestoo dreadful. Other thunder-bolts he took,forged by the Cyclops of a milder heat,with which insignia of his majesty,sad and reluctant, he appeared to her.—her mortal form could not endure the shockand she was burned to ashes in his sight.An unformed babe was rescued from her side,and, nurtured in the thigh of Jupiter,completed Nature's time until his birth.Ino, his aunt, in secret nursed the boyand cradled him. And him Nyseian nymphsconcealed in caves and fed with needful milk.
Prima nepos inter tot res tibi, Cadme, secundascausa fuit luctus, alienaque cornua frontiaddita, vosque canes satiatae sanguine erili.At bene si quaeras, fortunae crimen in illo,non scelus invenies: quod enim scelus error habebat?Mons erat infectus variarum caede ferarum;iamque dies medius rerum contraxerat umbraset sol ex aequo meta distabat utraque,cum iuvenis placido per devia lustra vagantesparticipes operum compellat Hyantius ore:“Lina madent, comites, ferrumque cruore ferarum,fortunamque dies habuit satis. Altera lucemcum croceis invecta rotis Aurora reducet,propositum repetemus opus; nunc Phoebus utraquedistat idem terra finditque vaporibus arva.Sistite opus praesens nodosaque tollite lina.”Iussa viri faciunt intermittuntque laborem.Vallis erat piceis et acuta densa cupressu,nomine Gargaphie, succinctae sacra Dianae.Cuius in extremo est antrum nemorale recessu,arte laboratum nulla: simulaverat artemingenio natura suo; nam pumice vivoet levibus tofis nativum duxerat arcum.Fons sonat a dextra, tenui perlucidus unda,margine gramineo patulos succinctus hiatus.Hic dea silvarum venatu fessa solebatvirgineos artus liquido perfundere rore.Quo postquam subiit, nympharum tradidit uniarmigerae iaculum pharetramque arcusque retentos;altera depositae subiecit bracchia pallae,vincla duae pedibus demunt; nam doctior illisIsmenis Crocale sparsos per colla capillosconligit in nodum, quamvis erat ipsa solutis.Excipiunt laticem Nepheleque Hyaleque Rhanisqueet Psecas et Phiale funduntque capacibus urnis.Dumque ibi perluitur solita Titania lympha,ecce nepos Cadmi dilata parte laborumper nemus ignotum non certis passibus erranspervenit in lucum: sic illum fata ferebant.Qui simul intravit rorantia fontibus antra,sicut erant, viso nudae sua pectora nymphaepercussere viro, subitisque ululatibus omneimplevere nemus circumfusaeque Dianamcorporibus texere suis; tamen altior illisipsa dea est colloque tenus supereminet omnes.Qui color infectis adversi solis ab ictunubibus esse solet aut purpureae aurorae,is fuit in vultu visae sine veste Dianae.Quae quamquam comitum turba est stipata suarum,in latus obliquum tamen adstitit oraque retroflexit, et ut vellet promptas habuisse sagittas,quas habuit sic hausit aquas vultumque virilemperfudit, spargensque comas ultricibus undisaddidit haec cladis praenuntia verba futurae:“Nunc tibi me posito visam velamine narres,si poteris narrare, licet.” Nec plura minatadat sparso capiti vivacis cornua cervi,dat spatium collo summasque cacuminat aures,cum pedibusque manus, cum longis bracchia mutatcruribus et velat maculoso vellere corpus.Additus et pavor est. Fugit Autonoeius heroset se tam celerem cursu miratur in ipso.Ut vero vultus et cornua vidit in unda,“me miserum!” dicturus erat: vox nulla secuta est.Ingemuit: vox illa fuit, lacrimaeque per oranon sua fluxerunt; mens tantum pristina mansit.Quid faciat? repetatne domum et regalia tectaan lateat silvis? pudor hoc, timor impedit illud.Dum dubitat, videre canes. Primumque MelampusIchnobatesque sagax latratu signa dedere,Gnosius Ichnobates, Spartana gente Melampus.Inde ruunt alii rapida velocius aura,Pamphagus et Dorceus et Oribasus, Arcades omnes,Nebrophonusque valens et trux cum Laelape Theronet pedibus Pterelas et naribus utilis Agre,Hylaeusque ferox, nuper percussus ab apro,deque lupo concepta Nape, pecudesque secutaPoemenis et natis comitata Harpyia duobus,et substricta gerens Sicyonius ilia Ladon,et Dromas et Canache Sticteque et Tigris et Alceet niveis Leucon et villis Asbolus atrispraevalidusque Lacon et cursu fortis Aelloet Thous et Cyprio velox cum fratre Lycisce,et nigram medio frontem distinctus ab alboHarpalos, et Melaneus hirsutaque corpore Lachne,et patre Dictaeo, sed matre Laconide natiLabros et Argiodus, et acutae vocis Hylactor,quosque referre mora est. Ea turba cupidine praedaeper rupes scopulosque adituque carentia saxa,quaque est difficilis quaque est via nulla, sequuntur.Ille fugit per quae fuerat loca saepe secutus,heu famulos fugit ipse suos. Clamare libebat“Actaeon ego sum, dominum cognoscite vestrum!”Verba animo desunt: resonat latratibus aether.Prima Melanchaetes in tergo vulnera fecit,proxima Therodamas, Oresitrophus haesit in armo:tardius exierant, sed per compendia montisanticipata via est. Dominum retinentibus illis,cetera turba coit confertque in corpore dentes.Iam loca vulneribus desunt. Gemit ille sonumque,etsi non hominis, quem non tamen edere possitcervus habet, maestisque replet iuga nota querellis.Et genibus pronis supplex similisque roganticircumfert tacitos tamquam sua bracchia vultus.At comites rapidum solitis hortatibus agmenignari instigant oculisque Actaeona quaeruntet velut absentem certatim Actaeona clamant(ad nomen caput ille refert), et abesse querunturnec capere oblatae segnem spectacula praedae.Vellet abesse quidem, sed adest; velletque videre,non etiam sentire canum fera facta suorum.Undique circumstant mersisque in corpore rostrisdilacerant falsi dominum sub imagine cervi.Rumor in ambiguo est: aliis violentior aequovisa dea est, alii laudant dignamque severavirginitate vocant; pars invenit utraque causas.Sola Iovis coniunx non tam culpetne probetneeloquitur, quam clade domus ab Agenore ductaegaudet et a Tyria conlectum paelice transfertin generis socios odium. Subit ecce prioricausa recens, gravidamque dolet de semine magniesse Iovis Semelen. Dum linguam ad iurgia solvit,“profeci quid enim totiens per iurgia?” dixit:“ipsa petenda mihi est, ipsam, si maxima Iunorite vocor, perdam, si me gemmantia dextrasceptra tenere decet, si sum regina Iovisqueet soror et coniunx, certe soror. At, puto, furto estcontenta, et thalami brevis est iniuria nostri:concipit, id deerat! manifestaque crimina plenofert utero, et mater, quod vix mihi contigit unode Iove vult fieri: tanta est fiducia formae.Fallat eam faxo; nec sum Saturnia, si nonab Iove mersa suo Stygias penetrabit in undas.”Surgit ab his solio fulvaque recondita nubelimen adit Semeles. Nec nubes ante removit,quam simulavit anum posuitque ad tempora canossulcavitque cutem rugis et curva trementimembra tulit passu; vocem quoque fecit anilem,ipsaque erat Beroe, Semeles Epidauria nutrix.Ergo ubi captato sermone diuque loquendoad nomen venere Iovis, suspirat et “opto,Iuppiter ut sit” ait: “metuo tamen omnia: multinomine divorum thalamos iniere pudicos.Nec tamen esse Iovem satis est: det pignus amoris,si modo verus is est, quantusque et qualis ab altaIunone excipitur, tantus talisque, rogato,det tibi complexus suaque ante insignia sumat.”Talibus ignaram Iuno Cadmeida dictisformarat. Rogat illa Iovem sine nomine munus.Cui deus “elige” ait: “nullam patiere repulsam.Quoque magis credas, Stygii quoque conscia suntonumina torrentis: timor et deus ille deorum est“.Laeta malo nimiumque potens perituraque amantisobsequio Semele “qualem Saturnia” dixit“te solet amplecti, Veneris cum foedus initis,da mihi te talem.” Voluit deus ora loquentisopprimere: exierat iam vox properata sub auras.Ingemuit; neque enim non haec optasse, neque illenon iurasse potest. Ergo maestissimus altumaethera conscendit vultuque sequentia traxitnubila, quis nimbos inmixtaque fulgura ventisaddidit et tonitrus et inevitabile fulmen.Qua tamen usque potest, vires sibi demere temptat;nec, quo centimanum deiecerat igne Typhoea,nunc armatur eo: nimium feritatis in illo est.Est aliud levius fulmen, cui dextra Cyclopumsaevitiae flammaeque minus, minus addidit irae;tela secunda vocant superi. Capit illa, domumqueintrat Agenoream. Corpus mortale tumultusnon tulit aetherios donisque iugalibus arsit.Imperfectus adhuc infans genetricis ab alvoeripitur, patrioque tener (si credere dignum est)insuitur femori maternaque tempora complet.Furtim illum primis Ino matertera cuuis
While these events according to the lawsof destiny occurred, and while the child,the twice-born Bacchus, in his cradle lay,'Tis told that Jupiter, a careless hour,indulged too freely in the nectar cup;and having laid aside all weighty cares,jested with Juno as she idled by.Freely the god began; “Who doubts the truth?The female's pleasure is a great delight,much greater than the pleasure of a male.”Juno denied it; wherefore 'twas agreedto ask Tiresias to declare the truth,than whom none knew both male and female joys:for wandering in a green wood he had seentwo serpents coupling; and he took his staffand sharply struck them, till they broke and fled.'Tis marvelous, that instant he becamea woman from a man, and so remainedwhile seven autumns passed. When eight were told,again he saw them in their former plight,and thus he spoke; “Since such a power was wrought,by one stroke of a staff my sex was changed—again I strike!” And even as he struckthe same two snakes, his former sex returned;his manhood was restored.—as both agreedto choose him umpire of the sportive strife,he gave decision in support of Jove;from this the disappointment Juno feltsurpassed all reason, and enraged, decreedeternal night should seal Tiresias' eyes.—immortal Deities may never turndecrees and deeds of other Gods to naught,but Jove, to recompense his loss of sight,endowed him with the gift of prophecy.Tiresias' fame of prophecy was spreadthrough all the cities of Aonia,for his unerring answers unto allwho listened to his words. And first of thosethat harkened to his fateful prophecies,a lovely Nymph, named Liriope, camewith her dear son, who then fifteen, might seema man or boy—he who was born to herupon the green merge of Cephissus' stream—that mighty River-God whom she declaredthe father of her boy.—she questioned him.Imploring him to tell her if her son,unequalled for his beauty, whom she calledNarcissus, might attain a ripe old age.To which the blind seer answered in these words,“If he but fail to recognize himself,a long life he may have, beneath the sun,”—so, frivolous the prophet's words appeared;and yet the event, the manner of his death,the strange delusion of his frenzied love, confirmed it.Three times five years so were passed.Another five-years, and the lad might seema young man or a boy. And many a youth,and many a damsel sought to gain his love;but such his mood and spirit and his pride,none gained his favour.Once a noisy Nymph,(who never held her tongue when others spoke,who never spoke till others had begun)mocking Echo, spied him as he drove,in his delusive nets, some timid stags.—for Echo was a Nymph, in olden time,—and, more than vapid sound,—possessed a form:and she was then deprived the use of speech,except to babble and repeat the words,once spoken, over and over.Juno confusedher silly tongue, because she often heldthat glorious goddess with her endless tales,till many a hapless Nymph, from Jove's embrace,had made escape adown a mountain. Butfor this, the goddess might have caught them. Thusthe glorious Juno, when she knew her guile;“Your tongue, so freely wagged at my expense,shall be of little use; your endless voice,much shorter than your tongue.” At once the Nymphwas stricken as the goddess had decreed;—and, ever since, she only mocks the soundsof others' voices, or, perchance, returnstheir final words.One day, when she observedNarcissus wandering in the pathless woods,she loved him and she followed him, with softand stealthy tread.—The more she followed himthe hotter did she burn, as when the flameflares upward from the sulphur on the torch.Oh, how she longed to make her passion known!To plead in soft entreaty! to implore his love!But now, till others have begun, a muteof Nature she must be. She cannot choosebut wait the moment when his voice may giveto her an answer.Presently the youth,by chance divided from his trusted friends,cries loudly, “Who is here?” and Echo, “Here!”Replies. Amazed, he casts his eyes around,and calls with louder voice, “Come here!” “Come here!”She calls the youth who calls.—He turns to seewho calls him and, beholding naught exclaims,“Avoid me not!” “Avoid me not!” returns.He tries again, again, and is deceivedby this alternate voice, and calls aloud;“Oh let us come together!” Echo cries,“Oh let us come together!” Never soundseemed sweeter to the Nymph, and from the woodsshe hastens in accordance with her words,and strives to wind her arms around his neck.He flies from her and as he leaves her says,“Take off your hands! you shall not fold your armsaround me. Better death than such a oneshould ever caress me!” Naught she answers save,“Caress me!”Thus rejected she lies hidin the deep woods, hiding her blushing facewith the green leaves; and ever after livesconcealed in lonely caverns in the hills.But her great love increases with neglect;her miserable body wastes away,wakeful with sorrows; leanness shrivels upher skin, and all her lovely features melt,as if dissolved upon the wafting winds—nothing remains except her bones and voice—her voice continues, in the wilderness;her bones have turned to stone. She lies concealedin the wild woods, nor is she ever seenon lonely mountain range; for, though we hearher calling in the hills, 'tis but a voice,a voice that lives, that lives among the hills.Thus he deceived the Nymph and many more,sprung from the mountains or the sparkling waves;and thus he slighted many an amorous youth.—and therefore, some one whom he once despised,lifting his hands to Heaven, implored the Gods,“If he should love deny him what he loves!”and as the prayer was uttered it was heardby Nemesis, who granted her assent.There was a fountain silver-clear and bright,which neither shepherds nor the wild she-goats,that range the hills, nor any cattle's mouthhad touched—its waters were unsullied—birdsdisturbed it not; nor animals, nor boughsthat fall so often from the trees. Aroundsweet grasses nourished by the stream grew; treesthat shaded from the sun let balmy airstemper its waters. Here Narcissus, tiredof hunting and the heated noon, lay down,attracted by the peaceful solitudesand by the glassy spring. There as he stoopedto quench his thirst another thirst increased.While he is drinking he beholds himselfreflected in the mirrored pool—and loves;loves an imagined body which containsno substance, for he deems the mirrored shadea thing of life to love. He cannot move,for so he marvels at himself, and lieswith countenance unchanged, as if indeeda statue carved of Parian marble. Long,supine upon the bank, his gaze is fixedon his own eyes, twin stars; his fingers shapedas Bacchus might desire, his flowing hairas glorious as Apollo's, and his cheeksyouthful and smooth; his ivory neck, his mouthdreaming in sweetness, his complexion fairand blushing as the rose in snow-drift white.All that is lovely in himself he loves,and in his witless way he wants himself:—he who approves is equally approved;he seeks, is sought, he burns and he is burnt.And how he kisses the deceitful fount;and how he thrusts his arms to catch the neckthat's pictured in the middle of the stream!Yet never may he wreathe his arms aroundthat image of himself. He knows not whathe there beholds, but what he sees inflameshis longing, and the error that deceivesallures his eyes. But why, O foolish boy,so vainly catching at this flitting form?The cheat that you are seeking has no place.Avert your gaze and you will lose your love,for this that holds your eyes is nothing savethe image of yourself reflected back to you.It comes and waits with you; it has no life;it will depart if you will only go.
educat: inde datum nymphae Nyseides antrisocculuere suis lactisque alimenta dedere.Dumque ea per terras fatali lege gerunturtutaque bis geniti sunt incunabula Bacchi,forte Iovem memorant, diffusum nectare, curasseposuisse graves vacuumque agitasse remissoscum Iunone iocos et “maior vestra profecto est,quam quae contingit maribus” dixisse “voluptas.”Illa negat. Placuit quae sit sententia doctiquaerere Tiresiae: venus huic erat utraque nota.Nam duo magnorum viridi coeuntia silvacorpora serpentum baculi violaverat ictu;deque viro factus (mirabile) femina septemegerat autumnos. Octavo rursus eosdemvidit, et “est vestrae si tanta potentia plagae”dixit “ut auctoris sortem in contraria mutet,nunc quoque vos feriam.” Percussis anguibus isdemforma prior rediit genetivaque venit imago.Arbiter hic igitur sumptus de lite iocosadicta Iovis firmat. Gravius Saturnia iustonec pro materia fertur doluisse, suiqueiudicis aeterna damnavit lumina nocte.At pater omnipotens (neque enim licet inrita cuiquamfacta dei fecisse deo) pro lumine ademptoscire futura dedit, poenamque levavit honore.Ille per Aonias fama celeberrimus urbesinreprehensa dabat populo responsa petenti.Prima fide vocisque ratae temptamina sumpsitcaerula Liriope. Quam quondam flumine curvoimplicuit clausaeque suis Cephisus in undisvim tulit. Enixa est utero pulcherrima plenoinfantem, nymphis iam tunc qui posset amari,Narcissumque vocat. De quo consultus, an essettempora maturae visurus longa senectae,fatidicus vates “si se non noverit” inquit.Vana diu visa est vox auguris: exitus illamresque probat letique genus novitasque furoris.Namque ter ad quinos unum Cephisius annumaddiderat poteratque puer iuvenisque videri:multi illum iuvenes, multae cupiere puellae.Sed fuit in tenera tam dura superbia forma:nulli illum iuvenes, nullae tetigere puellae.Adspicit hunc trepidos agitantem in retia cervosvocalis nymphe, quae nec reticere loquenti,nec prior ipsa loqui didicit, resonabilis Echo.Corpus adhuc Echo, non vox erat; et tamen usumgarrula non alium, quam nunc habet, oris habebat,reddere de multis ut verba novissima posset.Fecerat hoc Iuno, quia, cum deprendere possetcum Iove saepe suo nymphas in monte iacentes,illa deam longo prudens sermone tenebat,dum fugerent nymphae. Postquam Saturnia sensit“huius” ait “linguae, qua sum delusa, potestasparva tibi dabitur vocisque brevissimus usus”:reque minas firmat. Tamen haec in fine loquendiingeminat voces auditaque verba reportat.Ergo ubi Narcissum per devia rura vagantemvidit et incaluit, sequitur vestigia furtim,quoque magis sequitur, flamma propiore calescit,non aliter, quam cum summis circumlita taedisadmotas rapiunt vivacia sulphura flammas.O quotiens voluit blandis accedere dictiset molles adhibere preces: natura repugnatnec sinit incipiat. Sed, quod sinit, illa parata estexspectare sonos, ad quos sua verba remittat.Forte puer comitum seductus ab agmine fido,dixerat “ecquis adest?” et “adest!” responderat Echo.Hic stupet, utque aciem partes dimittit in omnes,voce “veni!” magna clamat: vocat illa vocantem.Respicit et rursus nullo veniente “quid” inquit“me fugis?” et totidem, quot dixit, verba recepit.Perstat et, alternae deceptus imagine vocis,“huc coeamus!” ait: nullique libentius umquamresponsura sono “coeamus” rettulit Echo,et verbis favet ipsa suis egressaque silvaibat, ut iniceret sperato bracchia collo.Ille fugit fugiensque “manus complexibus aufer:ante” ait “emoriar, quam sit tibi copia nostri.”Rettulit illa nihil nisi “sit tibi copia nostri.”Spreta latet silvis pudibundaque frondibus oraprotegit et solis ex illo vivit in antris.Sed tamen haeret amor crescitque dolore repulsae.Extenuant vigiles corpus miserabile curae,adducitque cutem macies et in aera sucuscorporis omnis abit. Vox tantum atque ossa supersunt:vox manet; ossa ferunt lapidis traxisse figuram.Sic hanc, sic alias undis aut montibus ortasluserat hic nymphas, sic coetus ante viriles.Inde manus aliquis despectus ad aethera tollens“sic amet ipse licet sic non potiatur amato!”dixerat. Adsensit precibus Rhamnusia iustis.Fons erat inlimis, nitidis argenteus undis,quem neque pastores neque pastae monte capellaecontigerant aliudve pecus, quem nulla volucrisnec fera turbarat nec lapsus ab arbore ramus.Gramen erat circa, quod proximus umor alebat,silvaque sole locum passura tepescere nullo.Hic puer, et studio venandi lassus et aestu,procubuit faciemque loci fontemque secutus.Dumque bibit, visae correptus imagine formaeadstupet ipse sibi, vultuque inmotus eodemhaeret, ut e Pario formatum marmore signum.Spectat humi positus geminum, sua lumina, siduset dignos Baccho, dignos et Apolline crinesimpubesque genas et eburnea colla decusqueoris et in niveo mixtum candore ruborem,cunctaque miratur, quibus est mirabilis ipse.Se cupit imprudens et qui probat, ipse probatur,dumque petit, petitur, pariterque accendit et ardet.Inrita fallaci quotiens dedit oscula fonti!In mediis quotiens visum captantia collumbracchia mersit aquis, nec se deprendit in illis!Quid videat, nescit: sed quod videt, uritur illo,atque oculos idem, qui decipit, incitat error.Credule, quid frusta simulacra fugacia captas?quod petis, est nusquam; quod amas, avertere, perdes.Ista repercussae, quam cernis, imaginis umbra est: