(XXXIII.)
My full heart bids me boldly sing the horses of the ravisher from the
underworld and the stars darkened by the shadow of his infernal chariot
* * * * *
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mens congesta iubet. gressus removete profani.
iam furor humanos nostro de pectore sensus 5
expulit et totum spirant praecordia Phoebum;
iam mihi cernuntur trepidis delubra moveri
sedibus et claram dispergere limina lucem
adventum testata dei; iam magnus ab imis
auditur fremitus terris templumque remugit 10
Cecropium sanctasque faces extollit Eleusis.
angues Triptolemi strident et squamea curvis
colla levant attrita iugis lapsuque sereno
erecti roseas tendunt ad carmina cristas.
ecce procul ternis Hecate variata figuris 15
exoritur, levisque simul procedit Iacchus
crinali florens hedera, quem Parthica velat
tigris et auratos in nodum colligit ungues:
ebria Maeonius firmat vestigia thyrsus.
Di, quibus innumerum vacui famulatur Averni 20
vulgus iners, opibus quorum donatur avaris
quidquid in orbe perit, quos Styx liventibus ambit
interfusa vadis et quos fumantia torquens
aequora gurgitibus Phlegethon perlustrat anhelis--
vos mihi sacrarum penetralia pandite rerum 25
et vestri secreta poli: qua lampade Ditem
flexit Amor; quo ducta ferox Proserpina raptu
possedit dotale Chaos quantasque per oras
sollicito genetrix erraverit anxia cursu;
unde datae populis fruges et glande relicta 30
cesserit inventis Dodonia quercus aristis.
Dux Erebi quondam tumidas exarsit in iras
* * * * *
Page 295
and the gloomy chambers of the queen of Hell. Come not nigh, ye
uninitiate. Now has divine madness driven all mortal thoughts from my
breast, and my heart is filled with Phoebus’ inspiration; now see I
the shrine reel and its foundations totter while the threshold glows
with radiant light telling that the god is at hand. And now I hear a
loud din from the depths of the earth, the temple of Cecrops re-echoes
and Eleusis waves its holy torches. The hissing snakes of Triptolemus
raise their scaly necks chafed by the curving collar, and, uptowering
as they glide smoothly along, stretch forth their rosy crests towards
the chant. See from afar rises Hecate with her three various heads and
with her comes forth Iacchus smooth of skin, his temples crowned with
ivy. There clothes him the pelt of a Parthian tiger, its gilded claws
knotted together, and the Lydian thyrsus guides his drunken footsteps.
Ye gods, whom the numberless host of the dead serves in ghostly
Avernus, into whose greedy treasury is paid all that perishes upon
earth, ye whose fields the pale streams of intertwining Styx surround,
while Phlegethon, his rapids tossed in spray, flows through them with
steaming eddies--do you unfold for me the mysteries of your sacred
story and the secrets of your world. Say with what torch the god of
love overcame Dis, and tell how Proserpine was stolen away in her
maiden pride to win Chaos as a dower; and how through many lands Ceres,
sore troubled, pursued her anxious search; whence corn was given to
man whereby he laid aside his acorn food, and the new-found ear made
useless Dodona’s oaks.
Once on a time the lord of Erebus blazed forth
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proelia moturus superis, quod solus egeret
conubiis sterilesque diu consumeret annos
impatiens nescire torum nullasque mariti 35
inlecebras nec dulce patris cognoscere nomen.
iam quaecumque latent ferali monstra barathro
in turmas aciemque ruunt contraque Tonantem
coniurant Furiae, crinitaque sontibus hydris
Tesiphone quatiens infausto lumine pinum 40
armatos ad castra vocat pallentia Manes,
paene reluctatis iterum pugnantia rebus
rupissent elementa fidem penitusque revulso
carcere laxatis pubes Titania vinclis
vidisset caeleste iubar rursusque cruentus 45
Aegaeon positis aucto de corpore nodis
obvia centeno vexasset fulmina motu.
Sed Parcae vetuere minas orbique timentes
ante pedes soliumque ducis fudere severam
canitiem genibusque suas cum supplice fletu 50
admovere manus, quarum sub iure tenentur
omnia, quae seriem fatorum pollice ducunt
longaque ferratis evolvunt saecula fusis.
prima fero Lachesis clamabat talia regi
incultas dispersa comas:
“O maxime noctis 55
arbiter umbrarumque potens, cui nostra laborant
stamina, qui finem cunctis et semina praebes
nascendique vices alterna morte rependis,
qui vitam letumque regis (nam quidquid ubique
gignit materies, hoc te donante creatur 60
debeturque tibi certisque ambagibus aevi
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Page 297
in swelling anger, threatening war upon the gods, because he alone
was unwed and had long wasted the years in childless state, brooking
no longer to lack the joys of wedlock and a husband’s happiness nor
ever to know the dear name of father. Now all the monsters that lurk
in Hell’s abyss rush together in warlike bands, and the Furies bind
themselves with an oath against the Thunderer. Tisiphone, the bloody
snakes clustering on her head, shakes the lurid pine-torch and summons
to the ghostly camp the armèd shades. Almost had the elements, once
more at war with reluctant nature, broken their bond; the Titan brood,
their deep prison-house thrown open and their fetters cast off, had
again seen heaven’s light; and once more bloody Aegaeon, bursting
the knotted ropes that bound his huge form, had warred against the
thunderbolts of Jove with hundred-handed blows.
But the dread Fates brought these threats to naught, and, fearing for
the world, gravely laid their hoary locks before the feet and throne
of the lord of Hell, and with suppliant tears touched his knees with
their hands--those hands beneath whose rule are all things set, whose
thumbs twist the thread of fate and spin the long ages with their iron
spindles. First Lachesis, her hair unkempt and disordered, thus called
out upon the cruel king: “Great lord of night, ruler over the shades,
thou at whose command our threads are spun, who appointest the end
and origin of all things and ordainest the alternation of birth and
destruction; arbiter thou of life and death--for whatsoever thing comes
anywhere into being it is by thy gift that it is created and owes its
life to thee, and after a fixed
* * * * *
Page 298
rursus corporeos animae mittuntur in artus):
ne pete firmatas pacis dissolvere leges,
quas dedimus nevitque colus, neu foedera fratrum
civili converte tuba. cur impia tollis 65
signa? quid incestis aperis Titanibus auras?
posce Iovem; dabitur coniunx.”
Vix illa[119]: pepercit
erubuitque preces, animusque relanguit atrox
quamvis indocilis flecti: ceu turbine rauco
cum gravis armatur Boreas glacieque nivali 70
hispidus et Getica concretus grandine pennas
disrumpit pelagus, silvas camposque sonoro
flamine rapturus; si forte adversus aënos
Aeolus obiecit postes, vanescit inanis
impetus et fractae redeunt in claustra procellae. 75
Tunc Maia genitum, qui fervida dicta reportet,
imperat acciri. Cyllenius adstitit ales
somniferam quatiens virgam tectusque galero.
ipse rudi fultus solio nigraque verendus
maiestate sedet: squalent inmania foedo 80
sceptra situ; sublime caput maestissima nubes
asperat et dirae riget inclementia formae;
terrorem dolor augebat. tunc talia celso
ore tonat (tremefacta silent dicente tyranno
atria: latratum triplicem compescuit ingens 85
ianitor et presso lacrimarum fonte resedit
Cocytos tacitisque Acheron obmutuit undis
et Phlegethonteae requierunt murmura ripae):
[119] _illa_ ς; Birt reads _ille_ with the better MSS.
* * * * *
Page 299
cycle of years them sendest souls once more into mortal bodies--seek
not to break the stablished treaty of peace which our distaffs have
spun and given thee, and overturn not in civil war the compact fixed
’twixt thee and thy two brothers. Why raisest thou unrighteous
standards of war? Why freest the foul band of Titans to the open air?
Ask of Jove; he will give thee a wife.”
Scarce had she spoken when Pluto stopped, shamed by her prayer, and his
grim spirit grew mild though little wont to be curbed: even so great
Boreas, armed with strident blasts and tempestuous with congealed snow,
his wings all frozen with Getic hail as he seeks battle, threatens to
overwhelm the sea, the woods, and the fields with sounding storm; but
should Aeolus chance to bar against him the brazen doors idly his fury
dies away and his storms retire baulked to their prison-house.
Then he bids summon Mercury, the son of Maia, that he may carry these
flaming words to Jove. Straightway the wingèd god of Cyllene stands at
his side shaking his sleepy wand, his herald cap upon his head. Pluto
himself sits propped on his rugged throne, awful in funereal majesty;
foul with age-long dust is his mighty sceptre; boding clouds make
grim his lofty head; unpitying is the stiffness of his dread shape;
rage heightened the terror of his aspect. Then with uplifted head he
thunders forth these words, while, as the tyrant speaks, his halls
tremble and are still; the massy hound, guardian of the gate, restrains
the barking of his triple head, and Cocytus sinks back repressing his
fount of tears; Acheron is dumb with silent wave, and the banks of
Phlegethon cease their murmuring.
* * * * *
Page 300
“Atlantis Tegeaee nepos, commune profundis
et superis numen, qui fas per limen utrumque 90
solus habes geminoque facis commercia mundo,
i celer et proscinde Notos et iussa superbo
redde Iovi: ‘tantumne tibi, saevissime frater,
in me iuris erit? sic nobis noxia vires
cum caelo Fortuna tulit? num robur et arma 95
perdidimus, si rapta dies? an forte iacentes
ignavosque putas, quod non Cyclopia tela
stringimus aut vanas tonitru deludimus auras?
nonne satis visum, grati quod luminis expers
tertia supremae patior dispendia sortis 100
informesque plagas, cum te laetissimus ornet
Signifer et vario cingant splendore Triones;
sed thalamis etiam prohibes? Nereia glauco
Neptunum gremio complectitur Amphitrite;
te consanguineo recipit post fulmina fessum 105
Iuno sinu. quid enim narrem Latonia furta,
quid Cererem magnamque Themin? tibi tanta creandi
copia; te felix natorum turba coronat.
ast ego deserta maerens inglorius aula
implacidas nullo solabor pignore curas? 110
non adeo toleranda quies. primordia testor
noctis et horrendae stagna intemerata paludis:
si dicto parere negas, patefacta ciebo
Tartara, Saturni veteres laxabo catenas,
obducam tenebris solem, compage soluta 115
lucidus umbroso miscebitur axis Averno.’”
* * * * *
Page 301
“Grandchild of Atlas, Arcadian-born, deity that sharest hell
and heaven, thou who alone hast the right to cross either threshold,
and art the intermediary between the two worlds, go swiftly, cleave
the winds, and bear these my behests to proud Jove. ‘Hast thou, cruel
brother, such complete authority over me? Did injurious fortune rob
me at once of power and light? Because day was reft from me, lost I
therefore strength and weapons? Thinkest thou me humble and cowed
because I hurl not bolts forged by the Cyclops and fool not the empty
air with thunder? Is it not enough that deprived of the pleasant light
of day I submit to the ill-fortune of the third and final choice and
these hideous realms, whilst thee the starry heavens adorn and the
Wain surrounds with twinkling brilliance--must thou also forbid our
marriage? Amphitrite, daughter of Nereus, holds Neptune in her sea-grey
embrace; Juno, thy sister and thy wife, takes thee to her bosom when
wearied thou layest aside thy thunderbolts. What need to tell of thy
secret love for Lato or Ceres or great Themis? How manifold a hope of
offspring was thine! Now a crowd of happy children surrounds thee. And
shall I in this empty palace, sans joy, sans fame, know no child’s
love to still instant care? I will not brook so dull a life. I swear
by elemental night and the unexplored shallows of the Stygian lake, if
thou refuse to hearken to my word I will throw open Hell and call forth
her monsters, will break Saturn’s old chains, and shroud the sun in
darkness. The framework of the world shall be loosened and the shining
heavens mingle with Avernus’ shades.’”
* * * * *
Page 302
Vix ea fatus erat, iam nuntius astra tenebat.
audierat mandata Pater secumque volutat
diversos ducens animos, quae tale sequatur
coniugium Stygiosque velit pro sole recessus. 120
certa requirenti tandem sententia sedit.
Hennaeae Cereri proles optata virebat
unica, nec tribuit subolem Lucina secundam
fessaque post primos haeserunt viscera partus
infecunda quidem; sed cunctis altior extat 125
matribus et numeri damnum Proserpina pensat.
hanc fovet, hanc sequitur: vitulam non blandius ambit
torva parens, pedibus quae nondum proterit arva
nec nova lunatae curvavit germina frontis.
iam matura toro plenis adoleverat annis 130
virginitas, tenerum iam pronuba flamma pudorem
sollicitat mixtaque tremit formidine votum.
personat aula procis: pariter pro virgine certant
Mars clipeo melior, Phoebus praestantior arcu;
Mars donat Rhodopen, Phoebus largitur Amyclas 135
et Delon Clariosque lares; hinc aemula Iuno,
hinc poscit Latona nurum. despexit utrumque
flava Ceres raptusque timens (heu caeca futuri!)
commendat Siculis furtim sua gaudia terris
[infidis Laribus natam commisit alendam, 140
aethera deseruit Siculasque relegat in oras][120]
ingenio confisa loci.
Trinacria quondam
Italiae pars iuncta fuit; sed pontus et aestus
mutavere situm. rupit confinia Nereus
victor et abscissos interluit aequore montes, 145
[120] _Heinsius bracketed these lines as spurious, and neither D nor V
has l. 140._
* * * * *
Page 303
Scarce had he spoken when his messenger trod the stars. The Father
heard the message and, communing with himself, debated long who would
dare such a marriage, who would wish to exchange the sun for the caves
of Styx. He would fain decide and at length his fixed purpose grew.
Ceres, whose temple is at Henna, had but one youthful daughter, a child
long prayed for; for the goddess of birth granted no second offspring,
and her womb, exhausted by that first labour, became unfruitful. Yet
prouder is the mother above all mothers, and Proserpine such as to
take the place of many. Her mother’s care and darling is she; not
more lovingly does the fierce mother cow tend her calf that cannot
as yet scamper over the fields and whose growing horns curve not yet
moonwise over her forehead. As the years were fulfilled she had grown
a maiden ripe for marriage, and thoughts of the torch of wedlock stir
her girlish modesty, but while she longs for a husband she yet fears
to plight troth. The voice of suitors is heard throughout the palace;
two gods woo the maiden, Mars, more skilled with the shield, and
Phoebus, the mightier bowman. Mars offers Rhodope, Phoebus would give
Amyclae, and Delos and his temple at Claros; in rivalry Juno and Latona
claim her for a son’s wife. But golden-haired Ceres disdains both,
and fearing lest her daughter should be stolen away (how blind to the
future!) secretly entrusts her jewel to the land of Sicily, confident
in the safe nature of this hiding-place.
Trinacria was once a part of Italy but sea and tide changed the face of
the land. Victorious Nereus brake his bounds and interflowed the cleft
mountains
* * * * *
Page 304
parvaque cognatas prohibent discrimina terras.
nunc illam socia ruptam tellure trisulcam
opposuit Natura mari: caput inde Pachyni
respuit Ionias praetentis rupibus iras;
hinc latrat Gaetula Thetis Lilybaeaque pulsat 150
brachia consurgens; hinc indignata teneri
concutit obiectum rabies Tyrrhena Pelorum.
in medio scopulis se porrigit Aetna perustis,
Aetna Giganteos numquam tacitura triumphos,
Enceladi bustum, qui saucia terga revinctus 155
spirat inexhaustum flagranti vulnere sulphur
et, quotiens detractat onus cervice rebelli
in laevum dextrumque latus, tunc insula fundo
vellitur et dubiae nutant cum moenibus urbes.
Aetnaeos apices solo cognoscere visu, 160
non aditu temptare licet, pars cetera frondet
arboribus; teritur nullo cultore cacumen.
nunc movet indigenas nimbos piceaque gravatum
foedat nube diem, nunc motibus astra lacessit
terrificis damnisque suis incendia nutrit. 165
sed quamvis nimio fervens exuberet aestu,
scit nivibus servare fidem pariterque favillis
durescit glacies tanti secura vaporis,
arcano defensa gelu, fumoque fideli
lambit contiguas innoxia flamma pruinas. 170
quae scopulos tormenta rotant? quae tanta cavernas
* * * * *
Page 305
with his waves whereby a narrow channel now separates these kindred
lands. Nature now thrusts out into the sea the three-cornered island,
cut off from the mainland to which it once belonged. At one extremity
the promontory of Pachynum hurls back with jutting crags the furious
waves of the Ionian main, round another roars the African sea that
rises and beats upon the curving harbour of Lilybaeum, at the third the
raging Tyrrhenian flood, impatient of restraint, shakes the obstacle
of Cape Pelorus. In the midst of the island rise the charred cliffs of
Aetna, eloquent monument of Jove’s victory over the Giants, the tomb of
Enceladus, whose bound and bruised body breathes forth endless sulphur
clouds from its burning wounds. Whene’er his rebellious shoulders
shift their burden to the right or left, the island is shaken from its
foundations and the walls of tottering cities sway this way and that.
The peaks of Aetna thou must know by sight alone; to them no foot may
approach. The rest is clothed with foliage but the summit no husbandman
tills. Now it sends forth native smoke and with pitch-black cloud
darkens and oppresses the day, now with awful stirrings it threatens
the stars and feeds its flame with the dread fruit of its own body. But
though it boils and bursts forth with such great heat yet it knows how
to observe a truce with the snow, and together with glowing ashes the
ice grows hard, protected from the great heat and secured by indwelling
cold, so that the harmless flame licks the neighbouring frost with
breath that keeps its compact. What huge engine hurls those rocks; what
vast force piles rock on
* * * * *
Page 306
vis glomerat? quo fonte ruit Vulcanius amnis?
sive quod obicibus discurrens ventus opertis
offenso rimosa furit per saxa meatu,
dum scrutatur iter, libertatemque reposcens 175
putria multivagis populatur flatibus antra;
seu mare sulphurei ductum per viscera montis
oppressis ignescit aquis et pondera librat.
Hic ubi servandum mater fidissima pignus
abdidit, ad Phrygios tendit secura penates 180
turrigeramque petit Cybelen sinuosa draconum
membra regens, volucri qui pervia nubila tractu
signant et placidis umectant frena venenis:
frontem crista tegit; pingunt maculosa virentes
terga notae; rutilum squamis intermicat aurum. 185
nunc spiris Zephyros tranant; nunc arva volatu
inferiore secant, cano rota pulvere labens
sulcatam fecundat humum: flavescit aristis
orbita; surgentes condunt vestigia fruges;
vestit iter comitata seges.
Iam linquitur Aetna 190
totaque decrescit refugo Trinacria visu.
heu quotiens praesaga mali violavit oborto
rore genas! quotiens oculos ad tecta retorsit
talia voce movens: “salve, gratissima tellus,
quam nos praetulimus caelo, tibi gaudia nostri 195
sanguinis et caros uteri commendo labores.
praemia digna manent: nullos patiere ligones
et nullo rigidi versabere vomeris ictu.
sponte tuus florebit ager; cessante iuvenco
* * * * *
Page 307
rock? Whence flows forth that fiery stream? Whether it be that the
wind, forcing its way past hidden barriers, rages amid the fissured
rocks that seek to bar its passage and, seeking a way of escape, sweeps
the crumbling caverns with its wandering blasts in its bid for freedom,
or that the sea, flowing in through the bowels of the sulphurous
mountain, bursts into flame when its waters are compressed and casts up
great rocks, I know not.
When the loving mother had entrusted her charge to the secret keeping
of Henna she went freed from care to visit tower-crowned Cybele in her
Phrygian home, driving a car drawn by twining serpents which cleave the
pervious clouds on their wingèd course and fleck the bit with harmless
poison. Their heads are crested and spots of green mottle their backs
while sparkling gold glints amid their scales. Now they swim circling
through the air, now they skim the fields with low-driven course.
The passing wheels sow the plough-land with golden grain and their
track grows yellow with corn. Sprouting stalks cover their traces and
attendant crops clothe the path of the goddess.
Now is left behind Aetna, and all Sicily sinks lessening into the
distance. Ah, how often, foreknowing of coming ill, did she mar her
cheek with welling tears; how often look back upon her home with words
like these: “Be happy, dear land, dearer than heaven to me, into thy
safe keeping I commend my daughter, my sole joy, loved fruit of my
labour. No despicable reward shall be thine, for thou shalt suffer no
hoe nor shall the cruel iron of the ploughshare know thy soil. Untilled
thy fields shall bear fruit, and though thine oxen plough not, a richer
* * * * *
Page 308
ditior oblatas mirabitur incola messes.” 200
sic ait et fulvis tetigit serpentibus Idam.
Hic sedes augusta deae templique colendi
relligiosa silex, densis quam pinus obumbrat
frondibus et nulla lucos agitante procella
stridula coniferis modulatur carmina ramis. 205
terribiles intus thiasi vesanaque mixto
concentu delubra gemunt; ululatibus Ide
bacchatur; timidas inclinant Gargara silvas.
postquam visa Ceres, mugitum tympana frenant;
conticuere chori; Corybas non impulit ensem; 210
non buxus, non aera sonant blandasque leones
summisere iubas. adytis gavisa Cybebe
exilit et pronas intendit ad oscula turres.
Viderat haec dudum summa speculatus ab arce
Iuppiter ac Veneri mentis penetralia pandit: 215
“curarum, Cytherea, tibi secreta fatebor.
candida Tartareo nuptum Proserpina regi
iam pridem decreta dari: sic Atropos urget;
sic cecinit longaeva Themis. nunc matre remota
rem peragi tempus. fines invade Sicanos 220
et Cereris prolem patulis inludere campis,
crastina puniceos cum lux detexerit ortus,
coge tuis armata dolis, quibus urere cuncta,
me quoque, saepe soles, cur ultima regna quiescunt?
nulla sit inmunis regio nullumque sub umbris 225
pectus inaccensum Veneri. iam tristis Erinys
* * * * *
Page 309
husbandman shall view with wonder the self-sown harvest.” So spake she
and reached Mount Ida, drawn by her yellow serpents.
Here is the queenly seat of the goddess and in her holy temple the
sacred statue, o’ershadowed by the thick leaves of the pine wood which,
though no storm wind shakes the grove, gives forth creakings with its
cone-bearing branches. Within are the dread bands of the initiate with
whose wild chantings the shrine rings; Ida is loud with howlings and
Gargarus bends his woods in fear. As soon as Ceres appears the drums
restrain their rattle; the choirs are silent and the Corybantes stay
the flourish of their knives. Pipes and cymbals are still, and the
lions sink their manes in greeting. Cybele[121] rejoicing runs forth
from the shrine and bends her towered head to kiss her guest.
Long had Jove seen this, watching from his lofty seat, and to Venus
he thus enfolded the secrets of his heart: “Goddess of Cythera, I
will impart to thee my hidden troubles; long ago I decided that fair
Proserpine should be given in marriage to the lord of Hell; such is
Atropos’ bidding, such old Themis’ prophecy. Now that her mother has
left her is the time for action. Do thou visit the confines of Sicily,
and armed with thy wiles, lead Ceres’ daughter to sport in the level
meads what time to-morrow’s light has unfolded the rosy dawn; employ
those arts with which thou art wont to inflame all things, often even
myself. Why should the nether kingdoms know not love? Let no land be
free and no breast even amid the shades unfired by Venus. At last let
the gloomy Fury
[121] Cybele and Cybebe are alternative forms in Latin. The normal
English form is Cybele.
* * * * *
Page 310
sentiat ardores; Acheron Ditisque severi
ferrea lascivis mollescant corda sagittis.”
Accelerat praecepta Venus; iussuque parentis
Pallas et inflexo quae terret Maenala cornu 230
addunt se comites. divino semita gressu
claruit, augurium qualis laturus iniquum
praepes sanguineo dilabitur igne cometes
prodigiale rubens: non illum navita tuto,
non impune vident populi, sed crine minaci 235
nuntiat aut ratibus ventos aut urbibus hostes.
devenere locum, Cereris quo tecta nitebant
Cyclopum firmata manu: stant ardua ferro
moenia, ferrati postes, inmensaque nectit
claustra chalybs. nullum tanto sudore Pyragmon 240
nec Steropes construxit opus: non talibus umquam
spiravere Notis animae nec flumine tanto
incoctum maduit lassa cervice metallum.
atria cingit ebur; trabibus solidatur aënis
culmen et in celsas surgunt electra columnas. 245
Ipsa domum tenero mulcens Proserpina cantu
inrita texebat rediturae munera matri.
hic elementorum seriem sedesque paternas
insignibat acu, veterem qua lege tumultum
discrevit Natura parens et semina iustis 250
discessere locis: quidquid leve, fertur in altum;
in medium graviora cadunt; incanduit aër;
legit flamma polum; fluxit mare; terra pependit.
nec color unus erat: stellas accendit in auro,
* * * * *
Page 311
feel the sting of passion and Acheron and the steely heart of stern Dis
grow tender with love’s arrows.”
Venus hastes to do his bidding; and at their sire’s behest there join
her Pallas and Diana whose bent bow affrights all Maenalus’ slopes.
Neath her divine feet the path shone bright, even as a comet, fraught
with augury of ill, falls headlong, a glowing portent of blood-red
fire; no sailor may look on it and live, no people view it but to their
destruction; the message of its threatening tail is storm to ships and
an enemy’s attack to cities. They reached the place where shone Ceres’
palace, firm-built by the Cyclops’ hands; up tower the iron walls,
iron stand the gates, and steel bars secure the massy doors. Neither
Pyragmon nor Steropes e’er builded a work with toil so great as that,
nor ever did bellows breathe forth such blasts nor the molten mass of
metal flow in a stream so deep that the very furnaces were weary of
heating it. The hall was walled with ivory; the roof strengthened with
beams of bronze and supported by lofty columns of electron.
Proserpine herself, soothing the house with sweet song, was sewing
all in vain a gift against her mother’s return. In this cloth she
embroidered with her needle the concourse of atoms and the dwelling of
the Father of the gods and pictured how mother Nature ordered elemental
chaos, and how the first principles of things sprang apart, each to his
proper place--those that were light being born aloft, the heavier ones
falling to a centre. The air grew bright and fire chose the pole as its
seat. Here flowed the sea; there hung the earth suspended. Many were
the colours she employed, tricking the stars with gold and flooding the
sea
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ostro fundit aquas, attollit litora gemmis 255
filaque mentitos iamiam caelantia fluctus
arte tument: credas inlidi cautibus algam
et raucum bibulis inserpere murmur harenis.
addit quinque plagas: mediam subtegmine rubro
obsessam fervore notat; squalebat inustus 260
limes et adsiduo sitiebant stamina sole.
vitales utrimque duas, quas mitis oberrat
temperies habitanda viris; in fine supremo
torpentes traxit geminas brumaque perenni
foedat et aeterno contristat frigore telas. 265
nec non et patrui pingit sacraria Ditis
fatalesque sibi Manes; nec defuit omen,
praescia nam subitis maduerunt fletibus ora.
Coeperat et vitreis summo iam margine texti
Oceanum sinuare vadis; sed cardine verso 270
cernit adesse deas imperfectumque laborem
deserit et niveos infecit purpura vultus
per liquidas succensa genas castaeque pudoris
inluxere faces: non sic decus ardet eburnum,
Lydia Sidonio quod femina tinxerit ostro. 275
Merserat unda diem; sparso nox umida somno
languida caeruleis invexerat otia bigis,
iamque viam Pluto superas molitur ad auras
germani monitu. torvos invisa iugales
Allecto temone ligat, qui pascua mandunt 280
Cocyti pratisque Erebi nigrantibus errant
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with purple. The shore she embossed with precious stones and cunningly
employed raised threadwork to imitate the swelling billows. You might
have thought you saw the seaweed dashed against the rocks and heard
the murmur of the hissing waves flooding up the thirsty sands. Five
zones she added; indicating that the centre was the torrid zone by
embroidering it with red yarn: its desert confines are parched and
the thread she used was dried by the sun’s unfailing heat. On either
side lay the two habitable zones, blessed with a mild climate fit for
the life of man. At the top and bottom she set the two frozen zones,
portraying eternal winter’s horror in her weaving and the gloom of
never-ceasing cold. Further she embroidered the accursèd seat of her
uncle, Dis, and the nether gods, her destined fellows. Nor did the omen
pass unmarked, for prophetic of the future her cheeks grew wet with
sudden tears.
Next she began to trace Ocean’s glassy shallows at the tapestry’s
farthest edge, but at that moment the doors opened, she saw the
goddesses enter, and left her work unfinished. A glowing blush that
mantled to her clear cheeks suffused her fair countenance and lit the
torches of stainless purity. Not so beautiful even the glow of ivory
which a Lydian maid has stained with Sidon’s scarlet dye.
Now the sun was dipped in Ocean and misty night scattering sleep had
brought for mortals ease and leisure in her black two-horsed chariot;
when Pluto, warned by his brother, made his way to the upper air. The
dread fury Allecto yokes to the chariot-pole the two fierce pairs of
steeds that grace Cocytus’ banks and roam the dark meads of Erebus,
and,
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stagnaque tranquillae potantes marcida Lethes
aegra soporatis spumant oblivia linguis:
Orphnaeus crudele micans Aethonque sagitta
ocior et Stygii sublimis gloria Nycteus 285
armenti Ditisque nota signatus Alastor.
stabant ante fores iuncti saevumque fremebant
crastina venturae spectantes gaudia praedae.
LIBRI SECUNDI
PRAEFATIO
(XXXIV.)
Otia sopitis ageret cum cantibus Orpheus
neglectumque diu deposuisset opus,
lugebant erepta sibi solacia Nymphae,
quaerebant dulces flumina maesta modos.
saeva feris natura redit metuensque leonem 5
implorat citharae vacca tacentis opem.
illius et duri flevere silentia montes
silvaque Bistoniam saepe secuta chelyn.
Sed postquam Inachiis Alcides missus ab Argis
Thracia pacifero contigit arva pede 10
diraque sanguinei vertit praesaepia regis
et Diomedeos gramine pavit equos,
tunc patriae festo laetatus tempore vates
desuetae repetit fila canora lyrae
* * * * *
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drinking the rotting pools of sluggish Lethe, let dark oblivion drip
from their slumbrous lips--Orphnaeus, savage and fleet, Aethon, swifter
than an arrow, great Nyctaeus, proud glory of Hell’s steeds, and
Alastor, branded with the mark of Dis. These stood harnessed before the
door and savagely champed the bit all eager for the morrow’s enjoyment
of their destined booty.