Throughout the land of Thebes miraculousthe power of Bacchus waxed; and far and wideIno, his aunt, reported the great deedsby this divinity performed. Of allher sisters only she escaped unharmed,when Fate destroyed them, and she knew not grief—only for sorrow of her sisters' woes.—While Ino vaunted of her mother-joys,and of her kingly husband, Athamas,and of the mighty God, her foster-child;Juno, disdaining her in secret, said;“How shall the offspring of a concubinetransform Maeonian mariners, overwhelmthem in the ocean, sacrifice a sonto his deluded mother, who insane,tears out his entrails; how shall he inventwings for three daughters of King Minyas,while Juno unavenged, bewails despite?—Is it the end? the utmost of my power?His deeds instruct the way; true wisdom heedsan enemy's device; by the strange deathof Pentheus, all that madness could performwas well revealed to all; what then deniesa frenzy may unravel Ino's courseto such a fate as wrought her sisters' woe?”A shelving path in shadows of sad yewthrough utter silence to the deep descends,infernal, where the languid Styx exhalesvapours; and there the shadows of the dead,descend, after they leave their sacred urns,and ghostly forms invade: and far and wide,those dreary regions Horror and bleak Coldobtain.The ghosts, arrived, not know the way,—which leadeth to the Stygian city-gates,—not know the melancholy palace wherethe swarthy Pluto stays, though streets and waysa thousand to that city lead, and gatesout-swing from every side: and as the seawith never-seen increase engulfs the streamsunnumbered of the world, that realm enfoldsthe souls of men, nor ever is it filled.Around the shadowy spirits go; bloodlessboneless and bodiless; they throng the placeof judgment, or they haunt the mansion whereabides the Utmost Tyrant, or they tendto various callings, as their whilom way; —appropriate punishment confines to painthe multitude condemned.To this abode,impelled by rage and hate, from habitationcelestial, Juno, of Saturn born, descends,submissive to its dreadful element.No sooner had she entered the sad gates,than groans were uttered by the threshold, pressedby her immortal form, and Cerberusupraising his three-visaged mouths gave ventto triple-barking howls.—She called to herthe sisters, Night-begot, implacable,terrific Furies. They did sit beforethe prison portals, adamant confined,combing black vipers from their horrid hair.When her amid the night-surrounding shadesthey recognized, those Deities uprose.O dread confines! dark seat of wretched vice!Where stretched athwart nine acres, Tityus,must thou endure thine entrails to be torn!O Tantalus, thou canst not touch the wave,and from thy clutch the hanging branches rise!O Sisyphus, thou canst not stay the stone,catching or pushing, it must fall again!O thou Ixion! whirled around, around,thyself must follow to escape thyself!And, O Belides, (plotter of sad deathupon thy cousins) thou art always doomedto dip forever ever-spilling waves!When that the daughter of Saturnus fixeda stern look on those wretches, first her glancearrested on Ixion; but the nexton Sisyphus; and thus the goddess spoke;—“For why should he alone of all his kinsuffer eternal doom, while Athamas,luxurious in a sumptuous palace reigns;and, haughty with his wife, despises me.”So grieved she, and expressed the rage of hatethat such descent inspired, beseeching thus,no longer should the House of Cadmus stand,so that the sister Furies plunge in crimeoverweening Athamas.—Entreating them,she mingled promises with her commands.—When Juno ended speech, Tisiphone,whose locks entangled are not ever smooth,tossed them around, that backward from her facesuch crawling snakes were thrown;—then answered she:“Since what thy will decrees may well be done,why need we to consult with many words?Leave thou this hateful region and conveythyself, contented, to a better realm.”Rejoicing Juno hastens to the clouds—before she enters her celestial home,Iris, the child of Thaumas, purifiesher limbs in sprinkled water.
Tum vero totis Bacchi memorabile Thebisnumen erat, magnasque novi matertera viresnarrat ubique dei, de totque sororibus expersuna doloris erat, nisi quem fecere sorores.Adspicit hanc natis thalamoque Athamantis habentemsublimes animos et alumno numine Iuno,nec tulit, et secum “potuit de paelice natusvertere Maeonios pelagoque inmergere nautaset laceranda suae nati dare viscera matriet triplices operire novis Minyeidas alis:nil poterit Iuno nisi inultos flere dolores?idque mihi satis est? haec una potentia nostra est?ipse docet, quid agam (fas est et ab hoste doceri),quidque furor valeat, Penthea caede satisqueac super ostendit: cur non stimuletur eatqueper cognata suis exempla furoribus Ino?”Est via declivis funesta nubila taxo,ducit ad infernas per muta silentia sedes.Styx nebulas exhalat iners, umbraeque recentesdescendunt illac simulacraque functa sepulcris.Mille capax aditus et apertas undique portasurbs habet, utque fretum de tota flumina terra,sic omnes animas locus accipit ille, nec ulliexiguus populo est, turbamve accedere sentit.Errant exsangues sine corpore et ossibus umbrae,parsque forum celebrant, pars imi tecta tyranni,pars aliquas artes, antiquae imitamina vitae.Sustinet ire illuc caelesti sede relicta(tantum odiis iraeque dabat) Saturnia Iuno.Quo simul intravit sacroque a corpore pressumingemuit limen, tria Cerberus extulit oraet tres latratus semel edidit. Illa sororesNocte vocat genitas, grave et inplacabile numen.Carceris ante fores clausas adamante sedebantdeque suis atros pectebant crinibus angues.Quam simul agnorunt inter caliginis umbras,surrexere deae. Sedes scelerata vocatur:viscera praebebat Tityos lanianda novemqueiugeribus distentus erat; tibi, Tantale, nullaedeprenduntur aquae, quaeque inminet, effugit arbor;aut petis aut urges rediturum, Sisyphe, saxum;volvitur Ixion et se sequiturque fugitque;molirique suis letum patruelibus ausaeadsiduae repetunt, quas perdant, Belides undas.Quos omnes acie postquam Saturnia torvavidit et ante omnes Ixiona, rursus ab illoSisyphon adspiciens “cur hic e fratribus” inquit“perpetuas patitur poenas, Athamanta superbumregia dives habet, qui me cum coniuge sempersprevit?” et exponit causas odiique viaeque,quidque velit. Quod vellet, erat, ne regia Cadmistaret, et in facinus traherent Athamanta sorores.Imperium, promissa, preces confundit in unumsollicitatque deas. Sic haec Iunone locuta,Tisiphone, canos ut erat turbata capillos,movit et obstantes reiecit ab ore colubrasatque ita “non longis opus est ambagibus” inquit:“facta puta, quaecumque iubes. Inamabile regnumdesere teque refer caeli melioris ad auras.”Laeta redit Iuno, quam caelum intrare parantemroratis lustravit aquis Thaumantias Iris.
Waiting not,Tisiphone, revengeful, takes a torch;—besmeared with blood, and vested in a robe,dripping with crimson gore, and twisting-snakesengirdled, she departs her dire abode—with twitching Madness, Terror, Fear and Woe:and when she had arrived the destined house,the door-posts shrank from her, the maple doorsturned ashen grey: the Sun amazed fled.Affrighted, Athamas and Ino viewedand fled these prodigies; but suddenlythat baneful Fury stood across the way,blocking the passage— There she stands with armsextended, and alive with twisting vipers.—She shakes her hair; the moving serpents hiss;they cling upon her shoulders, and they glidearound her temples, dart their fangs, and vomitcorruption.—Plucking from the midst two snakes,she hurls them with her pestilential handupon her victims, Athamas and Ino, whom,although the vipers strike upon their breasts,no injury attacks their mortal parts;—only their minds are stricken with wild rage,inciting to mad violence and crime.And with a monstrous composite of foam—once gathered from the mouth of Cerberus,the venom of Echidna, purposelessaberrances, crimes, tears, hatred—the lustof homicide, and the dark vapouringsof foolish brains; a liquid poison, mixed,and mingled with fresh blood, in hollow brass,and boiled, and stirred up with a slip of hemlock—she took of it, and as they trembled, threwthat mad-mixed poison on them; and it scorchedtheir inmost vitals—and she waved her torchrepeatedly, within a circle's rim—and added flame to flame.—Then, confidentof having executed her commands,the Fury hastened to the void expansewhere Pluto reigns, and swiftly put asidethe serpents that were wreathed around her robes.At once, the son of Aeolus, enraged,shouts loudly in his palace; “Ho, my lads!Spread out your nets! a savage lionessand her twin whelps are lurking in the wood;—behold them!” In his madness he believeshis wife a savage beast. He follows her,and quickly from her bosom snatches upher smiling babe, Learchus, holding forthhis tiny arms, and whirls him in the air,times twice and thrice, as whirls the whizzing sling,and dashes him in pieces on the rocks; —cracking his infant bones.The mother, rousedto frenzy (who can tell if grief the cause,or fires of scattered poison?) yells aloud,and with her torn hair tangled, running mad,she carries swiftly in her clutching arms,her little Melicerta! and beginsto shout, “Evoe, Bacche!”—Juno hearsthe shouted name of Bacchus, and she laughs,and taunts her;—“Let thy foster-child award!”There is a crag, out-jutting on the deep,worn hollow at the base by many waves,where not the rain may ripple on that pool;—high up the rugged summit overhangsits ragged brows above the open sea:there, Ino climbs with frenzy-given strength,and fearless, with her burden in her arms,leaps in the waves where whitening foams arise.Venus takes pity on her guiltless child,unfortunate grand-daughter, and beginsto soothe her uncle Neptune with these words;—“O Neptune, ruler of the deep, to whom,next to the Power in Heaven, was given sway,consider my request! Open thy heartto my descendants, which thine eyes behold,tossed on the wild Ionian Sea! I do implore thee,remember they are thy true Deities—are thine as well as mine—for it is knownmy birth was from the white foam of thy sea;—a truth made certain by my Grecian name.”Neptune regards her prayer: he takes from themtheir mortal dross: he clothes in majesty,and hallows their appearance. Even their namesand forms are altered; Melicerta, changed,is now Palaemon called, and Ino, changed,Leucothoe called, are known as Deities.When her Sidonian attendants tracedfresh footprints to the last verge of the rock,and found no further vestige, they declaredher dead, nor had they any doubt of it.They tore their garments and their hair—and wailedthe House of Cadmus— and they cursed at Juno,for the sad fate of the wretched concubine.That goddess could no longer brook their words,and thus made answer, “I will make of youeternal monuments of my revenge!”Her words were instantly confirmed—The onewhose love for Ino was the greatest, cried;“Into the deep; look—look—I seek my queen.”But even as she tried to leap, she stoodfast-rooted to the ever-living rock;another, as she tried to beat her breastwith blows repeated, noticed that her armsgrew stiff and hard; another, as by chance,was petrified with hands stretched over the waves:another could be seen, as suddenlyher fingers hardened, clutching at her hairto tear it from the roots.—And each remainedforever in the posture first assumed.—But others of those women, sprung from Cadmus,were changed to birds, that always with wide wingsskim lightly the dark surface of that sea.
Nec mora, Tisiphone madefactam sanguine sumitinportuna facem, fluidoque cruore rubenteminduitur pallam tortoque incingitur angueegrediturque domo. Luctus comitatur euntemet Pavor et Terror trepidoque Insania vultu.Limine constiterat: postes tremuisse ferunturAeolii pallorque fores infecit acernas,solque locum fugit. Monstris exterrita coniunx,territus est Athamas. Tectoque exire parabant:obstitit infelix aditumque obsedit Erinys,nexaque vipereis distendens bracchia nodiscaesariem excussit. Motae sonuere colubrae,parsque iacent umeris, pars circum pectora lapsaesibila dant saniemque vomunt linguisque coruscant.Inde duos mediis abrumpit crinibus anguespestiferaque manu raptos inmisit. At illiInoosque sinus Athamanteosque pererrantinspirantque graves animas. Nec vulnera membrisulla ferunt: mens est, quae diros sentiat ictus.Attulerat secum liquidi quoque monstra veneni,oris Cerberei spumas et virus Echidnaeerroresque vagos caecaeque oblivia mentiset scelus et lacrimas rabiemque et caedis amorem,omnia trita simul; quae sanguine mixta recenticoxerat aere cavo viridi versata cicuta.Dumque pavent illi, vergit furiale venenumpectus in amborum praecordiaque intima movit.Tum face iactata per eundem saepius orbemconsequitur motis velociter ignibus ignes.Sic victrix iussique potens ad inania magniregna redit Ditis sumptumque recingitur anguem.Protinus Aeolides media furibundus in aulaclamat “io, comites, his retia tendite silvis!hic modo cum gemina visa est mihi prole leaena:”utque ferae sequitur vestigia coniugis amensdeque sinu matris ridentem et parva Learchumbracchia tendentem rapit et bis terque per aurasmore rotat fundae rigidoque infantia saxodiscutit ora ferox. Tum denique concita mater,seu dolor hoc fecit seu sparsi causa veneni,exululat passisque fugit male sana capillisteque ferens parvum nudis, Melicerta, lacertis“euhoe Bacche” sonat. Bacchi sub nomine Iunorisit et “hos usus praestet tibi” dixit “alumnus.”Inminet aequoribus scopulus: pars ima cavaturfluctibus et tectas defendit ab imbribus undas,summa riget frontemque in apertum porrigit aequor.Occupat hunc (vires insania fecerat) Ino,seque super pontum nullo tardata timoremittit onusque suum; percussa recanduit unda.At Venus, inmeritae neptis miserata labores,sic patruo blandita suo est: “O numen aquarum,proxima cui caelo cessit, Neptune, potestas,magna quidem posco, sed tu miserere meorum,iactari quos cernis in Ionio inmenso,et dis adde tuis. Aliqua et mihi gratia ponto est,si tamen in medio quondam concreta profundospuma fui Graiumque manet mihi nomen ab illa.”Adnuit oranti Neptunus et abstulit illis,quod mortale fuit, maiestatemque verendaminposuit nomenque simul faciemque novavitLeucothoeque deum cum matre Palaemona dixit.Sidoniae comites, quantum valuere secutaesigna pedum, primo videre novissima saxo;nec dubium de morte ratae Cadmeida palmisdeplanxere domum, scissae cum veste capillos,utque parum iustae nimiumque in paelice saevaeinvidiam fecere deae. Convicia Iunonon tulit et “faciam vos ipsas maxima” dixit“saevitiae monimenta meae.” Res dicta secuta est.Nam quae praecipue fuerat pia, “persequar” inquit“in freta reginam” saltumque datura moverihaud usquam potuit scopuloque adfixa cohaesit.Altera, dum solito temptat plangore ferirepectora, temptatos sensit riguisse lacertos;illa, manus ut forte tetenderat in maris undas,saxea facta manus in easdem porrigit undas;huius, ut arreptum laniabat vertice crinem,duratos subito digitos in crine videres:quo quaeque in gestu deprensa est, haesit in illo.Pars volucres factae; quae nunc quoque gurgite in illoaequora destringunt summis Ismenides alis.
Unwitting that his daughter and his sonare Ocean deities, Agenor's son,—depressed by sorrow and unnumbered woes,calamities, and prodigies untold,—the founder fled the city he had built,as though fatalities that gathered roundthat city grieved him deeper than the fateof his own family; and thence, at lastarrived the confines of Illyria;in exile with his wife.—Weighted with woe,bowed down with years, their minds recalled the timewhen first disaster fell upon their House:—relating their misfortunes, Cadmus spoke;“Was that a sacred dragon that my spearimpaled, when on the way from Sidon's gatesI planted in the earth those dragon-teeth,unthought-of seed? If haply 'tis the Gods,(whose rage unerring, gives me to revenge)I only pray that I may lengthen out,as any serpent.” Even as he spoke,he saw and felt himself increase in length.His body coiled into a serpent's form;bright scale's enveloped his indurate skin,and azure macules in speckled pride,enriched his glowing folds; and as he fellsupinely on his breast, his legs were joined,and gradually tapered as a serpent's tail.—Some time his arms remained, which stretching forthwhile tears rolled down his human face, not changedas yet, he said; “Hither, O hapless one!Come hither my unhappy wife, while aughtis left of manhood; touch me, take my hand,unchanged as yet—ah, soon this serpent-formwill cover me!”So did he speak, nor thoughtto make an end; but suddenly his tonguebecame twin-forked. As often as he tried,a hissing sound escaped; the only voicethat Nature left him. —And his wife bewailed,and smote her breast, “Ah, Cadmus, ah!Most helpless one, put off that monster-shape!Your feet, your shoulders and your hands are gone;your manly form, your very colour gone; all—allis changed!—Oh, why not, ye celestial Gods,me likewise, to a serpent-shape transform!”—So ended her complaint. Cadmus caressedher gently with his tongue; and slid to herdear bosom, just as if he knew his wife;and he embraced her, and he touched her neck.All their attendants, who had seen the change,were filled with fear; but when as crested snakesthe twain appeared in brightly glistening mail,their grief was lightened: and the pair, enwreathedin twisting coils, departed from that place,and sought a covert in the nearest grove.—There, then, these gentle serpents never shunmankind, nor wound, nor strike with poisoned fangs;for they are always conscious of the past.
Nescit Agenorides natam parvumque nepotemaequoris esse deos: luctu serieque malorumvictus et ostentis, quae plurima viderat, exitconditor urbe sua, tamquam fortuna locorum,non sua se premeret; longisque erroribus actuscontigit Illyricos profuga cum coniuge fines.Iamque malis annisque graves, dum prima retractantfata domus releguntque suos sermone labores,“num sacer ille mea traiectus cuspide serpens”Cadmus ait “fuerat, tum, cum Sidone profectusvipereos sparsi per humum, nova semina, dentes?Quem si cura deum tam certa vindicat ira,ipse precor serpens in longam porrigar alvum.”Dixit, et ut serpens in longam tenditur alvumdurataeque cuti squamas increscere sentitnigraque caeruleis variari corpora guttis.In pectusque cadit pronus. Commissaque in unumpaulatim tereti tenuantur acumine crura.Bracchia iam restant: quae restant bracchia tenditet lacrimis per adhuc humana fluentibus ora“accede, o coniunx, accede, miserrima,” dixit“dumque aliquid superest de me, me tange manumqueaccipe, dum manus est, dum non totum occupat anguis!”Ille quidem vult plura loqui, sed lingua repentein partes est fissa duas: nec verba volentisufficiunt, quotiensque aliquos parat edere questus,sibilat: hanc illi vocem natura reliquit.Nuda manu feriens exclamat pectora coniunx“Cadme, mane, teque, infelix, his exue monstris!Cadme, quid hoc? ubi pes, ubi sunt umerique manusqueet color et facies et, dum loquor, omnia? cur nonme quoque, caelestes, in eandem vertitis anguem?”Dixerat: ille suae lambebat coniugis orainque sinus caros, veluti cognosceret, ibatet dabat amplexus adsuetaque colla petebat.Quisquis adest (aderant comites), terretur: at illalubrica permulcet cristati colla draconis.Et subito duo sunt iunctoque volumine serpunt,donec in adpositi nemoris subiere latebras.Nunc quoque nec fugiunt hominem nec vulnere laeduntquidque prius fuerint, placidi meminere dracones.
The fortune of their grandson, Bacchus, gavegreat comfort to them—as a god adoredin conquered India; by Achaia praisedin stately temples. — But Acrisiusthe son of Abas, of the Cadmean race,remained to banish Bacchus from the wallsof Argos, and to lift up hostile armsagainst that deity, who he deniedwas born to Jove. He would not even grantthat Perseus from the loins of Jupiterwas got of Danae in the showering gold.So mighty is the hidden power of truth,Acrisius soon lamented that affrontto Bacchus, and that ever he refusedto own his grandson; for the one achievedhigh heaven, and the other, (as he borethe viperous monster-head) on sounding wingshovered a conqueror in the fluent air,over sands, Libyan, where the Gorgon-headdropped clots of gore, that, quickening on the ground,became unnumbered serpents; fitting causeto curse with vipers that infested land.Thence wafted by the never-constant windsthrough boundless latitudes, now here now there,as flits a vapour-cloud in dizzy flight,down-looking from the lofty skies on earth,removed far, so compassed he the world.Three times did he behold the frozen Bears,times thrice his gaze was on the Crab's bent arms.Now shifting to the west, now to the east,how often changed his course? Time came, when daydeclining, he began to fear the night,by which he stopped his flight far in the west—the realm of Atlas—where he sought reposetill Lucifer might call Aurora's fires;Aurora chariot of the Day.There dwelthuge Atlas, vaster than the race of man:son of Iapetus, his lordly swayextended over those extreme domains,and over oceans that command their wavesto take the panting coursers of the Sun,and bathe the wearied Chariot of the Day.For him a thousand flocks, a thousand herdsoverwandered pasture fields; and neighbour tribesmight none disturb that land. Aglint with goldbright leaves adorn the trees,—boughs golden-wroughtbear apples of pure gold. And Perseus spoketo Atlas, “O my friend, if thou art movedto hear the story of a noble race,the author of my life is Jupiter;if valiant deeds perhaps are thy delightmine may deserve thy praise.—Behold of theekind treatment I implore—a place of rest.”But Atlas, mindful of an oraclesince by Themis, the Parnassian, told,recalled these words, “O Atlas! mark the daya son of Jupiter shall come to spoil;for when thy trees been stripped of golden fruit,the glory shall be his.”Fearful of this,Atlas had built solid walls aroundhis orchard, and secured a dragon, huge,that kept perpetual guard, and thence expelledall strangers from his land. Wherefore he said,“Begone! The glory of your deeds is allpretense; even Jupiter, will fail your need.”With that he added force and strove to drivethe hesitating Alien from his doors;who pled reprieve or threatened with bold words.Although he dared not rival Atlas' might,Perseus made this reply; “For that my loveyou hold in light esteem, let this be yours.”He said no more, but turning his own face,he showed upon his left Medusa's head,abhorrent features.—Atlas, huge and vast,becomes a mountain—His great beard and hairare forests, and his shoulders and his handsmountainous ridges, and his head the topof a high peak;—his bones are changed to rocks.Augmented on all sides, enormous heightattains his growth; for so ordained it, ye,O mighty Gods! who now the heavens' expanseunnumbered stars, on him command to rest.In their eternal prison, Aeous,grandson of Hippotas, had shut the winds;and Lucifer, reminder of our toil,in splendour rose upon the lofty sky:and Perseus bound his wings upon his feet,on each foot bound he them; his sword he girtand sped wing-footed through the liquid air.Innumerous kingdoms far behind were left,till peoples Ethiopic and the landsof Cepheus were beneath his lofty view.There Ammon, the Unjust, had made decreeAndromeda, the Innocent, should grieveher mother's tongue. They bound her fettered armsfast to the rock. When Perseus her beheldas marble he would deem her, but the breezemoved in her hair, and from her streaming eyesthe warm tears fell. Her beauty so amazedhis heart, unconscious captive of her charms,that almost his swift wings forgot to wave.—Alighted on the ground, he thus began;“O fairest! whom these chains become not so,but worthy are for links that lovers bind,make known to me your country's name and your'sand wherefore bound in chains.” A moment then,as overcome with shame, she made no sound:were not she fettered she would surely hideher blushing head; but what she could performthat did she do—she filled her eyes with tears.So pleaded he that lest refusal seemimplied confession of a crime, she toldher name, her country's name, and how her charmshad been her mother's pride. But as she spokethe mighty ocean roared. Over the wavesa monster fast approached, its head held high,abreast the wide expanse.—The virgin shrieked;—no aid her wretched father gave, nor aidher still more wretched mother; but they weptand mingled lamentations with their tears—clinging distracted to her fettered form.And thus the stranger spoke to them, “Time waitsfor tears, but flies the moment of our need:were I, who am the son of Regal Joveand her whom he embraced in showers of gold,leaving her pregnant in her brazen cell, —I, Perseus, who destroyed the Gorgon, wreathedwith snake-hair, I, who dared on waving wingsto cleave etherial air—were I to askthe maid in marriage, I should be preferredabove all others as your son-in-law.Not satisfied with deeds achieved, I striveto add such merit as the Gods permit;now, therefore, should my velour save her life,be it conditioned that I win her love.”To this her parents gave a glad assent,for who could hesitate? And they entreat,and promise him the kingdom as a dower.
Sed tamen ambobus versae solacia formaemagna nepos dederat, quem debellata colebatIndia, quem positis celebrabat Achaia templis.Solus Abantiades ab origine cretus eademAcrisius superest, qui moenibus arceat urbisArgolicae contraque deum ferat arma genusquenon putet esse Iovis; neque enim Iovis esse putabatPersea, quem pluvio Danae conceperat auro.Mox tamen Acrisium (tanta est praesentia veri)tam violasse deum quam non agnosse nepotempaenitet: inpositus iam caelo est alter, at alterviperei referens spolium memorabile monstriaera carpebat tenerum stridentibus alis.Cumque super Libycas victor penderet harenas,Gorgonei capitis guttae cecidere cruentae.Quas humus exceptas varios animavit in angues:unde frequens illa est infestaque terra colubris.Inde per inmensum ventis discordibus actusnunc huc, nunc illuc exemplo nubis aquosaefertur et ex alto seductas aethere longedespectat terras totumque supervolat orbem.Ter gelidas Arctos, ter Cancri bracchia vidit:saepe sub occasus, saepe est ablatus in ortus.Iamque cadente die, veritus se credere nocti,constitit Hesperio, regnis Atlantis, in orbe,exiguamque petit requiem, dum Lucifer ignesevocet Aurorae, currus Aurora diurnos.Hic hominum cunctis ingenti corpore praestansIapetionides Atlas fuit. Ultima tellusrege sub hoc et pontus erat, qui Solis anhelisaequora subdit equis et fessos excipit axes.Mille greges illi totidemque armenta per herbaserrabant, et humum vicinia nulla premebant.Arboreae frondes auro radiante nitentesex auro ramos, ex auro poma tegebant.“Hospes,” ait Perseus illi, “seu gloria tangitte generis magni, generis mihi Iuppiter auctor;sive es mirator rerum, mirabere nostras.Hospitium requiemque peto.” Memor ille vetustaesortis erat: Themis hanc dederat Parnasia sortem:“Tempus, Atla, veniet, tua quo spoliabitur auroarbor, et hunc praedae titulum Iove natus habebit.”Id metuens solidis pomaria clauserat Atlasmoenibus et vasto dederat servanda draconiarcebatque suis externos finibus omnes.Huic quoque “vade procul, ne longe gloria rerum,quam mentiris” ait, “longe tibi Iuppiter absit!”vimque minis addit manibusque expellere temptatcunctantem et placidis miscentem fortia dictis.Viribus inferior (quis enim par esset Atlantisviribus?) “at quoniam parvi tibi gratia nostra est,accipe munus!” ait, laevaque a parte Medusaeipse retro versus squalentia protulit ora.Quantus erat, mons factus Atlas: nam barba comaequein silvas abeunt, iuga sunt umerique manusque,quod caput ante fuit, summo est in monte cacumen,ossa lapis fiunt: tum partes auctus in omnescrevit in inmensum (sic, di, statuistis) et omnecum tot sideribus caelum requievit in illo.Clauserat Hippotades aeterno carcere ventos,admonitorque operum caelo clarissimus altoLucifer ortus erat. Pennis ligat ille resumptisparte ab utraque pedes teloque accingitur uncoet liquidum motis talaribus aera findit.Gentibus innumeris circumque infraque relictisAethiopum populos Cepheaque conspicit arva.Illic inmeritam maternae pendere linguaeAndromedan poenas iniustus iusserat Ammon.Quam simul ad duras religatam bracchia cautesvidit Abantiades (nisi quod levis aura capillosmoverat et tepido manabant lumina fletu,marmoreum ratus esset opus), trahit inscius igneset stupet et visae correptus imagine formaepaene suas quatere est oblitus in aere pennas.Ut stetit, “o” dixit “non istis digna catenis,sed quibus inter se cupidi iunguntur amantes,pande requirenti nomen terraeque tuumque,et cur vincla geras.” Primo silet illa, nec audetadpellare virum virgo; manibusque modestoscelasset vultus, si non religata fuisset:lumina, quod potuit, lacrimis inplevit obortis.Saepius instanti, sua ne delicta faterinolle videretur, nomen terraeque suumque,quantaque maternae fuerit fiducia formae,indicat. Et nondum memoratis omnibus undainsonuit, veniensque inmenso belua pontoinminet et latum sub pectore possidet aequor.Conclamat virgo: genitor lugubris et unamater adest, ambo miseri, sed iustius illa.Nec secum auxilium, sed dignos tempore fletusplangoremque ferunt vinctoque in corpore adhaerent,cum sic hospes ait: “Lacrimarum longa maneretempora vos poterunt: ad opem brevis hora ferendam est.Hanc ego si peterem Perseus Iove natus et illa,quam clausam inplevit fecundo Iuppiter auro,Gorgonis anguicomae Perseus superator et alisaerias ausus iactatis ire per auras,praeferrer cunctis certe gener. Addere tantisdotibus et meritum, faveant modo numina, tempto:ut mea sit servata mea virtute, paciscor.”Accipiunt legem (quis enim dubitaret?) et orantpromittuntque super regnum dotale parentes.
As a great ship with steady prow speeds on;forced forwards by the sweating arms of youthit plows the deep; so, breasting the great waves,the monster moved, until to reach the rockno further space remained than might the whirlof Balearic string encompass, throughthe middle skies, with plummet-mold of lead.That instant, spurning with his feet the ground,the youth rose upwards to a cloudy height;and when the shadow of the hero markedthe surface of the sea, the monster soughtvainly to vent his fury on the shade.As the swift bird of Jove, when he beholdsa basking serpent in an open field,exposing to the sun its mottled back,and seizes on its tail; lest it shall turnto strike with venomed fang, he fixes fasthis grasping talons in the scaly neck;so did the winged youth, in rapid flightthrough yielding elements, press downon the great monster's back, and thrust his sword,sheer to the hilt, in its right shoulder—loudits frightful torture sounded over the waves.—So fought the hero-son of Inachus.Wild with the grievous wound, the monster rearshigh in the air, or plunges in the waves;—or wheels around as turns the frightened boarshunning the hounds around him in full cry.The hero on his active wings avoidsthe monster's jaws, and with his crooked swordtortures its back wherever he may pierceits mail of hollow shell, or strikes betwixtthe ribs each side, or wounds its lashing tail,long, tapered as a fish.The monster spoutsforth streams—incarnadined with blood—that spray upon the hero's wings; who drenched,and heavy with the spume, no longer daresto trust existence to his dripping wings;but he discerns a rock, which rises clearabove the water when the sea is calm,but now is covered by the lashing waves.On this he rests; and as his left hand holdsfirm on the upmost ledge, he thrusts his sword,times more than three, unswerving in his aim,sheer through the monster's entrails.—Shouts of praiseresound along the shores, and even the Godsmay hear his glory in their high abodes.Her parents, Cepheus and Cassiope,most joyfully salute their son-in-law;declaring him the saviour of their house.And now, her chains struck off, the lovely causeand guerdon of his toil, walks on the shore.The hero washes his victorious handsin water newly taken from the sea:but lest the sand upon the shore might harmthe viper-covered head, he first prepareda bed of springy leaves, on which he threwweeds of the sea, produced beneath the waves.On them he laid Medusa's awful face,daughter of Phorcys;—and the living weeds,fresh taken from the boundless deep, imbibedthe monster's poison in their spongy pith:they hardened at the touch, and felt in branchand leaf unwonted stiffness. Sea-Nymphs, too,attempted to perform that prodigyon numerous other weeds, with like result:so pleased at their success, they raised new seeds,from plants wide-scattered on the salt expanse.Even from that day the coral has retainedsuch wondrous nature, that exposed to airit hardens.—Thus, a plant beneath the wavesbecomes a stone when taken from the sea.Three altars to three Gods he made of turf.To thee, victorious Virgin, did he buildan altar on the right, to Mercuryan altar on the left, and unto Jovean altar in the midst. He sacrificeda heifer to Minerva, and a calfto Mercury, the Wingfoot, and a bullto thee, O greatest of the Deities.Without a dower he takes Andromeda,the guerdon of his glorious victory,nor hesitates.—Now pacing in the van,both Love and Hymen wave the flaring torch,abundant perfumes lavished in the flames.The houses are bedecked with wreathed flowers;and lyres and flageolets resound, and songs—felicit notes that happy hearts declare.The portals opened, sumptuous halls displaytheir golden splendours, and the noble lordsof Cepheus' court take places at the feast,magnificently served.After the feast,when every heart was warming to the joys of genial Bacchus,then, Lyncidian Perseus asked about the land and its waysabout the customs and the character of its heroes.Straightway one of the dinner-companions made reply,and asked in turn, “Now, valiant Perseus, praytell the story of the deed, that all may know,and what the arts and power prevailed, when youstruck off the serpent-covered head.”“There is,”continued Perseus of the house of Agenor,“There is a spot beneath cold Atlas, wherein bulwarks of enormous strength, to guardits rocky entrance, dwelt two sisters, bornof Phorcys. These were wont to share in turna single eye between them: this by craftI got possession of, when one essayedto hand it to the other.—I put forthmy hand and took it as it passed between:then, far, remote, through rocky pathless crags,over wild hills that bristled with great woods,I thence arrived to where the Gorgon dwelt.“Along the way, in fields and by the roads,I saw on all sides men and animals—like statues—turned to flinty stone at sightof dread Medusa's visage. Neverthelessreflected on the brazen shield, I boreupon my left, I saw her horrid face.“When she was helpless in the power of sleepand even her serpent-hair was slumber-bound,I struck, and took her head sheer from the neck.—To winged Pegasus the blood gave birth,his brother also, twins of rapid wing.”So did he speak, and truly told besidesthe perils of his journey, arduousand long—He told of seas and lands that farbeneath him he had seen, and of the starsthat he had touched while on his waving wings.And yet, before they were aware, the talewas ended; he was silent. Then rejoineda noble with enquiry why aloneof those three sisters, snakes were interspersedin dread Medusa's locks. And he replied:—“Because, O Stranger, it is your desireto learn what worthy is for me to tell,hear ye the cause: Beyond all others shewas famed for beauty, and the envious hopeof many suitors. Words would fail to tellthe glory of her hair, most wonderfulof all her charms—A friend declared to mehe saw its lovely splendour. Fame declaresthe Sovereign of the Sea attained her lovein chaste Minerva's temple. While enragedshe turned her head away and held her shieldbefore her eyes. To punish that great crimeMinerva changed the Gorgon's splendid hairto serpents horrible. And now to strikeher foes with fear, she wears upon her breastthose awful vipers—creatures of her rage.
Ecce velut navis praefixo concita rostrosulcat aquas, iuvenum sudantibus acta lacertis,sic fera dimotis inpulsu pectoris undistantum aberat scopulis, quantum Balearica tortofunda potest plumbo medii transmittere caeli:cum subito iuvenis pedibus tellure repulsaarduus in nubes abiit. Ut in aequore summoumbra viri visa est, visa fera saevit in umbra.Utque Iovis praepes, vacuo cum vidit in arvopraebentem Phoebo liventia terga draconem,occupat aversum, neu saeva retorqueat ora,squamigeris avidos figit cervicibus ungues,sic celeri missus praeceps per inane volatuterga ferae pressit dextroque frementis in armoInachides ferrum curvo tenus abdidit hamo.Vulnere laesa gravi modo se sublimis in aurasattollit, modo subdit aquis, modo more ferocisversat apri, quem turba canum circumsona terret.Ille avidos morsus velocibus effugit alisquaque patet, nunc terga cavis super obsita conchis,nunc laterum costas, nunc qua tenuissima caudadesinit in piscem, falcato vulnerat ense.Belua puniceo mixtos cum sanguine fluctusore vomit: maduere graves adspergine pennae.Nec bibulis ultra Perseus talaribus aususcredere, conspexit scopulum, qui vertice summostantibus exstat aquis, operitur ab aequore moto.Nixus eo rupisque tenens iuga prima sinistrater quater exegit repetita per ilia ferrum.Litora cum plausu clamor superasque deoruminplevere domos: gaudent generumque salutantauxiliumque domus servatoremque fatenturCassiope Cepheusque pater. Resoluta catenisincedit virgo, pretiumque et causa laboris.Ipse manus hausta victrices abluit unda,anguiferumque caput dura ne laedat harena,mollit humum foliis natasque sub aequore virgassternit et inponit Phorcynidos ora Medusae.Virga recens bibulaque etiamnum viva medullavim rapuit monstri tactuque induruit huiuspercepitque novum ramis et fronde rigorem.At pelagi nymphae factum mirabile temptantpluribus in virgis et idem contingere gaudentseminaque ex illis iterant iactata per undas.Nunc quoque curaliis eadem natura remansit,duritiam tacto capiant ut ab aere, quodquevimen in aequore erat, fiat super aequora saxum.Dis tribus ille focos totidem de caespite ponit,laevum Mercurio, dextrum tibi, bellica virgo,ara Iovis media est. Mactatur vacca Minervae,alipedi vitulus, taurus tibi, summe deorum.protinus Andromedan et tanti praemia factiindotata rapit: taedas Hymenaeus Amorquepraecutiunt, largis satiantur odoribus ignes,sertaque dependent tectis et ubique lyraequetibiaque et cantus, animi felicia laetiargumenta, sonant. Reseratis aurea valvisatria tota patent, pulchroque instructa paratuCepheni proceres ineunt convivia regis.Postquam epulis functi generosi munere Bacchidiffudere animos, cultusque genusque locorumquaerit Lyncides moresque animumque virorum.Quae simul edocuit, “nunc, o fortissime,” dixit“fare, precor, Perseu, quanta virtute quibusqueartibus abstuleris crinita draconibus ora.”Narrat Agenorides gelido sub Atlante iacentemesse locum solidae tutum munimine molis;cuius in introitu geminas habitasse sororesPhorcidas, unius partitas luminis usum.Id se sollerti furtim, dum traditur, astusupposita cepisse manu perque abdita longedeviaque et silvis horrentia saxa fragosisGorgoneas tetigisse domos, passimque per agrosperque vias vidisse hominum simulacra ferarumquein silicem ex ipsis visa conversa Medusa.Se tamen horrendae clipei, quem laeva gerebat,aere repercusso formam adspexisse Medusae,dumque gravis somnus colubrasque ipsamque tenebat,eripuisse caput collo; pennisque fugacemPegason et fratrem matris de sanguine natosaddidit et longi non falsa pericula cursus,quae freta, quas terras sub se vidisset ab altoet quae iactatis tetigisset sidera pennis.Ante exspectatum tacuit tamen. Excipit unusex numero procerum quaerens, cur sola sororumgesserit alternis inmixtos crinibus angues.Hospes ait: “Quoniam scitaris digna relatu,accipe quaesiti causam. Clarissima formamultorumque fuit spes invidiosa procorumilla: neque in tota conspectior ulla capillispars fuit. Inveni, qui se vidisse referret.Hanc pelagi rector templo vitiasse Minervaedicitur. Aversa est et castos aegide vultusnata Iovis texit; neve hoc inpune fuisset,Gorgoneum crinem turpes mutavit in hydros.