Alcyone, the daughter of Aeolus, married Ceyx, who was drowned as he was
going to Claros to consult an oracle. Alcyone was apprized in a dream of
her husband's fate, and finding on the morrow his body upon the shore, she
threw herself into the sea. The Gods, touched by her fidelity, changed her
and her husband into the birds of the same name, who keep the waters calm
and serene while they build and sit on their nests in the surface of the
sea.
"O, poor Alcyone!
What were thy feelings on the stormy strand,
When thou saw'st Ceyx borne a corse to land?
O, I could weep with thee,
And sit whole tides upon the pebbly shore,
And listen to the waves lamenting roar,
O, poor Alcyone!
But now thy stormy passion past,
Thou upon the wave at last,
Buildest, from all tempest free,
Thou and Ceyx, side by side,
Charming the distempered tide,
O, dear Alcyone!"
The Syrens were three in number, and were companions of Proserpine, at the
time of her being carried off; they prayed for wings from the Gods, to
unite their efforts with those of Ceres. {147}
In despair at the uselessness of their search, they retired to the sea
shore, where, in the midst of desolate rocks, they sang songs of the most
enchanting and attractive nature, while those who were drawn by their
beauty to listen to them, perished on the spot.
[Illustration]
"Who, as they sung, would take the prisoned soul,
And lap it in Elysium: Scylla wept
And chid her barking waves into attention,
And fell Charybdis murmured soft applause."