Nor pity felt for Psyche’s tears and moans,
But, fellow’d with that other in her fault,
Follow’d her to her fate upon the stones;
And from the peak leaping like her below
The self-same way unto the self-same woe,
Lay dasht to death upon her sister’s bones.
EROS & PSYCHE
THIRD QUARTER
AUTUMN
PSYCHE’S WANDERINGS
SEPTEMBER
1
On the Hellenic board of Crete’s fair isle,
Westward of Drepanon, along a reach
Which massy Cyamum for many a mile
Jutting to sea delivers from the breach
Of North and East,--returning to embay
The favour’d shore--an ancient city lay,
Aptera, which is _Wingless_ in our speech.
2
And hence the name; that here in rocky cove,
Thence called Museion, was the trial waged
What day the Sirens with the Muses strove,
By jealous Hera in that war engaged:
Wherein the daughters of Mnemosynè
O’ercame the chauntresses who vex’d the sea,
Nor vengeance spared them by their pride enraged.
3
For those strange creatures, who with women’s words
And wiles made ravenous prey of passers-by,
Were throated with the liquid pipe of birds:
Of love they sang; and none, who sail’d anigh
Through the grey hazes of the cyanine sea,
Had wit the whirlpool of that song to flee,
Nor fear’d the talon hook’d and feather’d thigh.
4
But them the singers of the gods o’ercame,
And pluck’d them of their plumage, where in fright
They vainly flutter’d off to hide their shame,
Upon two rocks that lie within the bight,
Under the headland, barren and alone;
Which, being with the scatter’d feathers strewn,
Were, by the folk named Leukæ, which is _White_.
5
Thereon about this time the snowy gull,
Minion of Aphrodite, being come,
Plumed himself, standing on the sea-wrack dull,
That drifted from the foot of Cyamum;
And ’twas his thought, that had the goddess learnt
The tale of Psyche loved and Eros burnt,
She ne’er so long had kept aloof and dumb.
6
Wherefore that duteous gossip of Love’s queen
Devised that he the messenger would be;
And rising from the rock, he skim’d between
The chasing waves--such grace have none but he;—
Into the middle deep then down he dived,
And rowing with his glistening wings arrived
At Aphrodite’s bower beneath the sea.
7
The eddies from his silver pinions swirl’d
The crimson, green, and yellow floss, that grew
About the caves, and at his passing curl’d
Its graceful silk, and gently waved anew:
Till, oaring here and there, the queen he found
Stray’d from her haunt unto a sandy ground,
Dappl’d with eye-rings in the sunlight blue.
8
She, as he came upon her from above,
With Hora play’d; Hora, her herald fair,
That lays the soft necessity of Love
On maidens’ eyelids, and with tender care
Marketh the hour, as in all works is fit:
And happy they in love who time outwit,
Fondly constrainèd in her season rare.
9
But he with garrulous and laughing tongue
Broke up his news; how Eros, fallen sick,
Lay tossing on his bed, to frenzy stung
By such a burn as did but barely prick:
A little bleb, no bigger than a pease,
Upon his shoulder ’twas, that kill’d his ease,
Fever’d his heart, and made his breathing thick.
10
‘For which disaster hath he not been seen
This many a day at all in any place:
And thou, dear mistress,’ piped he, ‘hast not been
Thyself amongst us now a dreary space:
The pining mortals suffer from a dearth
Of love; and for this sadness of the earth
Thy family is darken’d with disgrace.
11
‘Now on the secret paths of dale and wood,
Where lovers walk’d are lovers none to find:
And friends, besworn to equal brotherhood,
Forget their faith, and part with words unkind:
In the first moon thy honey bond is loath’d:
And I could tell even of the new-betroth’d
That fly o’ersea, and leave their loves behind.
12
‘Summer is over, but the merry pipe,
That wont to cheer the harvesting, is mute:
And in the vineyards, where the grape is ripe,
No voice is heard of them that take the fruit.
No workman singeth at eve nor maiden danceth:
All joy is dead, and as the year advanceth
The signs of woe increase on man and brute.
13
‘’Tis plain that if thy pleasure longer pause,
Thy mighty rule on earth hath seen its day:
The race must come to perish, and no cause
But that thou sittest with thy nymphs at play,
While on a Cretan hill thy truant boy
Hath with his pretty mistress turn’d to toy,
And less for pain than love pineth away.’
14
‘Ha! Mistress!’ cried she; ‘Hath my beardless son
Been hunting for himself his lovely game?
Some young Orestiad hath his fancy won?
Some Naiad? say; or is a Grace his flame?
Or maybe Muse, and then ’tis Erato,
The trifling wanton. Tell me, if thou know,
Woman or goddess is she? and her name.’
15
Then said the snowy gull, ‘O heavenly queen,
What is my knowledge, who am but a bird?
Yet is she only mortal, as I ween,
And namèd Psyche, if I rightly heard.’—
But Aphrodite’s look daunted his cheer,
Ascare he fled away, screaming in fear,
To see what wrath his simple tale had stirr’d.
16
He flasht his pens, and sweeping widely round
Tower’d to air; so swift in all his way,
That whence he dived he there again was found
As soon as if he had but dipt for prey:
And now, or e’er he join’d his wailful flock,
Once more he stood upon the Sirens’ rock,
And preen’d his ruffl’d quills for fresh display.
17
But as ill tidings will their truth assure
Without more witness than their fatal sense,
So, since was nothing bitterer to endure,
The injured goddess guess’d the full offence:
And doubted only whether first to smite
Or Psyche for her new presumptuous flight,
Or Eros for his disobedience.
18
But full of anger to her son she went,
And found him in his golden chamber laid;
And with him sweet Euphrosynè, attent
Upon his murmur’d wants, aye as he bade
Shifted the pillows with each fretful whim;
But scornfully his mother look’d at him,
And reckless of his pain gan thus upbraid:
19
‘O worthy deeds, I say, and true to blood,
The crown and pledge of promise! thou that wast
In estimation my perpetual bud,
Now fruiting thus untimely to my cost;
Backsliding from commandment, ay, and worse,
With bliss to favour one I bade thee curse,
And save the life I left with thee for lost!
20
‘Thou too to burn with love, and love of her
Whom I did hate; and to thy bed to take
My rival, that my trusted officer
Might of mine enemy my daughter make!
Dost thou then think my love for thee so fond,
And miserably doting, that the bond
By such dishonour strainèd will not break?
21
‘Or that I cannot bear another son
As good as thou; or, if I choose not bear,
Not beg as good a lusty boy of one
Of all my nymphs,--and some have boys to spare,—
Whom I might train, to whom thine arms made o’er
Should do me kinder service than before,
To smite my foes and keep my honour fair?
22
‘For thou hast ever mockt me, and beguiled
In amours strange my God, thy valiant sire:
And having smirch’d our fame while yet a child
Wilt further foul it now with earthly fire.
But I--do as thou may--have vow’d to kill
Thy fancied girl, whether thou love her still,
Or of her silly charms already tire.
23
‘Tell me but where she hides.’ And Eros now,
Proud in his woe, boasted his happy theft:
Confessing he had loved her well, and how
By her own doing she was lost and left;
And homeless in such sorrow as outwent
The utmost pain of other punishment,
Was wandering of his love and favour reft.
24
By which was Cypris gladden’d, not appeased,
But hid her joy and spake no more her threat:
And left with face like one that much displeased
Hath yet betray’d that he can wrong forget.
When lo! as swiftly she came stepping down
From her fair house into the heavenly town
The Kronian sisters on the way she met;
25
Hera, the Wife of Zeus, her placid front
Dark with the shadow of his troubl’d reign,
And tall Demeter, who with men once wont,
Holding the high Olympians in disdain
For Persephassa’s rape; which now forgiven,
She had return’d unto the courts of Heaven,
And ’mong the immortals liv’d at peace again:
26
Whose smile told Aphrodite that they knew
The meaning of her visit; and a flush
Of anger answer’d them, while hot she grew.
But Hera laugh’d outright: ‘Why thou dost blush!
Now see we modest manners on my life!
And all thy little son has got a wife
Can make the crimson to thy forehead rush.
27
‘Didst think he, whom thou madest passion’s prince,
No privy dart then for himself would poise?
Nay, by the cuckoo on my sceptre, since
’Twas love that made thee mother of his joys,
Art thou the foremost to his favour bound;
As thou shouldst be the last to think to sound
The heart, and least of all thy wanton boy’s.’
28
But her Demeter, on whose stalwart arm
She lean’d, took up: ‘If thou wilt hark to me,
This Psyche,’ said she, ‘hath the heavenly charm,
And will become immortal. And maybe
To marry with a woman is as well
As wed a god and live below in Hell:
As ’twas my lot in child of mine to see.’
29
Which things they both said, fearing in their hearts
That savage Eros, if they mockt his case,
Would kill their peace with his revengeful darts,
And bring them haply to a worse disgrace:
But Aphrodite, saying ‘Good! my dames;
Behind this smoke I see the spite that flames,’
Left them, and on her journey went apace.
30
For having purposed she would hold no truce
With Psyche or her son, ’twas in her mind
To go forthwith unto the throne of Zeus,
And beg that Hermes might be sent to find
The wanderer; and secure that in such quest
He would not fail, she ponder’d but how best
She might inflict her vengeance long-design’d:
OCTOBER
1
Heavy meanwhile at heart, with bruisèd feet
Was Psyche wandering many nights and days
Upon the paths of hundred-citied Crete,
And chose to step the most deserted ways;
Being least unhappy when she went unseen;
Since else her secret sorrow had no screen
From the plain question of men’s idle gaze.
2
Yet wheresoe’er she went one hope she had;
Like mortal mourners, who ’gainst reason strong
Hope to be unexpectedly made glad
With sight of their dead friends, so much they long;
So she for him, whom loss a thousandfold
Endear’d and made desired; nor could she hold
He would not turn and quite forgive her wrong.
3
Wherefore her eager eyes in every place
Lookt for her lover; and ’twixt hope and fear
She follow’d oft afar some form of grace,
In pain alike to lose or venture near.
And still this thought cheer’d her fatigue, that he,
Or on some hill, or by some brook or tree,
But waited for her coming to appear.
4
And then for comfort many an old love-crost
And doleful ditty would she gently sing,
Writ by sad poets of a lover lost,
Now sounding sweeter for her sorrowing:
_Echo, sweet Echo, watching up on high,
Say hast thou seen to-day my love go by,
Or where thou sittest by thy mossy spring?_
5
_Or say ye nymphs, that from the crystal rills,
When ye have bathed your limbs from morn till eve,
Flying at midnight to the bare-topt hills,
Beneath the stars your mazy dances weave,
Say, my deserter whom ye well may know
By his small wings, his quiver, and his bow,
Say, have ye seen my love, whose loss I grieve?_
6
Till climb’d one evening on a rocky steep
Above the plain of Cisamos, that lay,
Robb’d of its golden harvest, in the deep
Mountainous shadows of the dying day,
She saw a temple, whose tall columns fair
Recall’d her home; and ‘O if thou be there,
My love,’ she cried, ‘fly not again away.’
7
Swiftly she ran, and entering by the door
She stood alone within an empty fane
Of great Demeter: and, behold, the floor
Was litter’d with thank-offerings of grain,
With wheat and barley-sheaves together heapt
In holy harvest-home of them that reapt
The goddess’ plenteous gifts upon the plain;
8
And on the tithe the tackle of the tithe
Thrown by in such confusion, as are laid
Upon the swath sickle, and hook, and scythe,
When midday drives the reapers to the shade.
And Psyche, since had come no priestess there
To trim the temple, in her pious care
Forgat herself, and lent her duteous aid.
9
She drew the offerings from the midst aside,
And piled the sheaves at every pillar’s base;
And sweeping therebetween a passage wide,
Made clear of corn and chaff the temple space:
As countrymen who bring their wheat to mart,
Set out their show along the walls apart
By their allotted stations, each in place;
10
Thus she, and felt no weariness,--such strength
Hath duty to support our feeble frame,—
Till all was set in order, and at length
Up to the threshold of the shrine she came:
When lo! before her face with friendly smile,
Tall as a pillar of the peristyle,
The goddess stood reveal’d, and call’d her name.
11
‘Unhappy Psyche,’ said she, ‘know’st thou not
How Aphrodite to thy hurt is sworn?
And thou, thy peril and her wrath forgot,
Spendest thy thought my temple to adorn.
Take better heed!’--And Psyche, at the voice
Even of so little comfort, gan rejoice,
And at her feet pour’d out this prayer forlorn.
12
‘O Gracious giver of the golden grain,
Hide me, I pray thee, from her wrath unkind;
For who can pity as canst thou my pain,
Who wert thyself a wanderer, vex’d in mind
For loss of thy dear Corè once, whenas,
Ravisht to hell by fierce Agesilas,
Thou soughtest her on earth and coudst not find.
13
‘How coud thy feet bear thee to western night,
And where swart Libyans watch the sacred tree,
And thrice to ford o’er Achelous bright,
And all the streams of beauteous Sicily?
And thrice to Enna cam’st thou, thrice, they tell,
Satest athirst by Callichorus’ well,
Nor tookest of the spring to comfort thee.
14
‘By that remember’d anguish of thine heart,
Lady, have pity even on me, and show
Where I may find my love; and take my part
For peace, I pray, against my cruel foe:
Or if thou canst not from her anger shield,
Here let me lie among the sheaves conceal’d
Such time till forth I may in safety go.’
15
Demeter answer’d, ‘Nay, though thou constrain
My favour with thy plea, my help must still
Be hidden, else I work for thee in vain
To thwart my mighty sister in her will.
Thou must fly hence: Yet though I not oppose,
Less will I aid her; and if now I close
My temple doors to thee, take it not ill.’
16
Then Psyche’s hope founder’d; as when a ship,
The morrow of the gale can hardly ride
The swollen seas, fetching a deeper dip
At every wave, and through her gaping side
And o’er her shattered bulwark ever drinks,
Till plunging in the watery wild she sinks,
To scoop her grave beneath the crushing tide:
17
So with each word her broken spirit drank
Its doom; and overwhelm’d with deep despair
She turn’d away, and coming forth she sank
Silently weeping on the temple stair,
In midmost night, forspent with long turmoil:
But sleep, the gracious pursuivant of toil,
Came swiftly down, and nursed away her care.
18
And when the sun awaked her with his beams
She found new hope, that still her sorrow’s cure
Lay with the gods, who in her morning dreams
Had sent her comfort in a vision sure;
Wherein the Cretan-born, almightiest god,
Cloud-gathering Zeus himself had seem’d to nod,
And bid her with good heart her woes endure.
19
So coming that same day unto a shrine
Of Hera, she took courage and went in:
And like to one that to the cell divine
For favour ventures or a suit to win,
She drew anigh the altar, from her face
Wiping the tears, ere to the heavenly grace,
As thus she pray’d, she would her prayer begin.
20
‘Most honour’d Lady, who from ancient doom
Wert made heaven’s wife, and art on earth besought
With gracious happiness of all to whom
Thy holy wedlock hath my burden brought,
Save me from Aphrodite’s fell pursuit,
And guard unto the birth Love’s hapless fruit,
Which she for cruel spite would bring to nought.
21
‘As once from her thou wert not shamed to take
Her beauty’s zone, thy beauty to enhance;
For which again Zeus loved thee, to forsake
His warlike ire in faithful dalliance;
Show me what means may win my Love to me,
Or how that I may come, if so may be,
Within the favour of his countenance.
22
‘If there be any place for tears or prayer,
If there be need for succour in distress,
Now is the very hour of all despair,
Here is the heart of grief and bitterness.
Motherly pity, bend thy face and grant
One beam of ruth to thy poor suppliant,
Nor turn me from thine altar comfortless.’
23
Even as she pray’d a cloud spread through the cell,
And ’mid the wreathings of the vapour dim
The goddess grew in glory visible,
Like some barbaric queen in festal trim;
Such the attire and ornaments she wore,
When o’er the forgèd threshold of the floor
Of Zeus’s house she stept to visit him.
24
From either ear, ring’d to its piercèd lobe
A triple jewel hung, with gold enchas’t;
And o’er her breasts her wide ambrosial robe
With many a shining golden clasp was brac’t;
The flowering on its smooth embroider’d lawn
Gather’d to colour where the zone was drawn
In fringe of golden tassels at her waist.
15
Her curling hair with plaited braid and brail,
Pendant or loop’d about her head divine,
Lay hidden half beneath a golden veil,
Bright as the rippling ocean in sunshine:
And on the ground, flashing whene’er she stept,
Beneath her feet the dazzling lightnings lept
From the gold network of her sandals fine.
26
Thus Hera stood in royal guise bedeckt
Before poor Psyche on the stair that knelt,
Whose new-nursed hope at that display was checkt,
And all her happier thoughts gan fade and melt.
She saw no kindness in such haughty mien,
And venturing not to look upon the queen,
Bow’d down in woe to hear her sentence dealt.
27
And thus the goddess spake, ‘In vain thou suest,
Most miserable Psyche; though my heart
Be full of hate for her whose hate thou ruest,
And pride and pity move me to thy part:
Yet not till Zeus make known his will, coud I,
Least of the blameless gods that dwell on high,
Assist thee, wert thou worthier than thou art.
28
‘But know if Eros love thee, that thy hopes
Should rest on him; and I would bid thee go
Where in his mother’s house apart he mopes
Grieving for loss of thee in secret woe:
For should he take thee back, there is no power
In earth or heaven will hurt thee from that hour,
Nay, not if Zeus himself should prove thy foe.’
29
Thus saying she was gone, and Psyche now
Surprised by comfort rose and went her way,
Resolved in heart, and only wondering how
’Twas possible to come where Eros lay;
Since that her feet, however she might roam.
Could never travel to the heavenly home
Of Love, beyond the bounds of mortal day:
30
Yet must she come to him. And now ’twas proved
How that to Lovers, as is told in song,
Seeking the way no place is far removed;
Nor is there any obstacle so strong,
Nor bar so fix’d that it can hinder them:
And how to reach heaven’s gate by stratagem
Vex’d not the venturous heart of Psyche long.
31
To face her enemy might well avail:
Wherefore to Cypris’ shrine her steps she bent,
Hoping the goddess in her hate might hale
Her body to the skies for punishment,
Whate’er to be; yet now her fiercest wrath
Seem’d happiest fortune, seeing ’twas the path
Whereby alone unto her love she went.
NOVEMBER
1
But Aphrodite to the house of Zeus
Being bound, bade beckon out her milkwhite steeds,
Four doves, that ready to her royal use
In golden cages stood and peck’d the seeds:
Best of the nimble air’s high-sailing folk
That wore with pride the marking of her yoke,
And cooed in envy of her gentle needs.
2
These drew in turn her chariot, when in state
Along the heaven with all her train she fared;
And oft in journeying to the skiey gate
Of Zeus’s palace high their flight had dared,
Which darkest vapour and thick glooms enshroud
Above all else in the perpetual cloud,
Wherethro’ to mount again they stood prepared,
3
Sleeking their feathers, by her shining car;
The same Hephæstos wrought for her, when he,
Bruised in his hideous fall from heaven afar,
Was nursed by Thetis, and Eurynomè,
The daughter of the ever-refluent main;
With whom he dwelt till he grew sound again,
Down in a hollow cave beside the sea:
4
And them for kindness done was prompt to serve,
Forging them brooches rich in make and mode,
Earrings, and supple chains of jointed curve,
And other trinkets, while he there abode:
And none of gods or men knew of his home,
But they two only; and the salt sea-foam
To and fro past his cavern ever flow’d.
5
’Twas then he wrought this work within the cave,
Emboss’d with rich design, a moonèd car;
And when return’d to heaven to Venus gave,
In form imagined like her crescent star;
Which circling nearest earth, maketh at night
To wakeful mortal men shadow and light
Alone of all the stars in heaven that are.
6
Two slender wheels it had, with fretted tires
Of biting adamant, to take firm hold
Of cloud or ether; and their whirling fires
Threw off the air in halo where they roll’d:
And either nave that round the axle turn’d
A ruby was, whose steady crimson burn’d
Betwixt the twin speed-mingling fans of gold.
7
Thereon the naked goddess mounting, shook
The reins; whereat the doves their wings outspread.
And rising high their flight to heaven they took:
And all the birds, that in those courts were bred,
Of her broad eaves the nested families,
Sparrows and swallows, join’d their companies
Awhile and twitter’d to her overhead.
8
But onward she with fading tracks of flame
Sped swiftly, till she reacht her journey’s end:
And when within the house of Zeus she came,
She pray’d the Sire of Heaven that he would lend
Hermes, the Argus-slayer, for her hest;
And he being granted her at her request,
She went forthwith to seek him and to send.
9
Who happ’d within the palace then to wait
Upon the almighty pleasure; and her tale
Was quickly told, and he made answer straight
That he would find the truant without fail;
Asking the goddess by what signs her slave
Might best be known, and what the price she gave
For capture, or admitted for the bail.
10
All which he took his silver stile to write
In letters large upon a waxèd board;
Her age and name, her colour, face and height,
Her home, and parentage, and the reward:
And then read o’er as ’twas to be proclaim’d.
And she took oath to give the price she named,
Without demur, when Psyche was restored.
11
Then on his head he closely set his cap
With earèd wings erect, and o’er his knee
He cross’d each foot in turn to prove the strap
That bound his wingèd sandals, and shook free
His chlamys, and gat up, and in his hand
Taking his fair white-ribbon’d herald’s wand,
Lept forth on air, accoutred cap-a-pè.
12
And piloting along the mid-day sky,
Held southward, till the narrow map of Crete
Lay like a fleck in azure ’neath his eye;
When down he came, and as an eagle fleet
Drops in some combe, then checks his headlong stoop
With wide-flung wing, wheeling in level swoop
To strike the bleating quarry with his feet,
13
Thus he alighted; and in every town
In all the isle before the close of day
Had cried the message, which he carried down,
Of Psyche, Aphrodite’s runaway;
That whosoever found the same and caught,
And by such time unto her temple brought,
To him the goddess would this guerdon pay:
14
SIX HONIED KISSES FROM HER ROSY MOUTH
WOULD CYTHEREA GIVE, AND ONE BESIDE
TO QUENCH AT HEART FOR AYE LOVE’S MORTAL DROUTH:
BUT UNTO HIM THAT HID HER, WOE BETIDE!
Which now was on all tongues, and Psyche’s name
Herself o’erheard, or ever nigh she came
To Aphrodite’s temple where she hied.
15
When since she found her way to heaven was safe,
She only wisht to make it soon and sure;
Nor fear’d to meet the goddess in her chafe,
So she her self-surrender might secure,
And not be given of other for the price;
Nor was there need of any artifice
Her once resplendent beauty to obscure.
16
For now so changed she was by heavy woe,
That for the little likeness that she bore
To her description she was fear’d to go
Within the fane; and when she stood before
The priestess, scarce coud she with oath persuade
That she was Psyche, the renownèd maid,
Whom men had left the temple to adore.
17
But when to Hermes she was shown and given,
He took no doubt, but eager to be quit,
And proud of speed, return’d with her to heaven,
And left her with the proclamation writ,
Hung at her neck, the board with letters large,
At Aphrodite’s gate with those in charge;
And up whence first he came made haste to flit.
18
But hapless Psyche fell, for so it chanced,
To moody SYNETHEA’S care, the one
Of Aphrodite’s train whom she advanced
To try the work abandon’d by her son.
Who by perpetual presence made ill end
Of good or bad; though she coud both amend,
And merit praise for work by her begun.
19
But she to better thought her heart had shut,
And proved she had a spite beyond compare:
Nor coud the keenest taunts her anger glut,
Which she when sour’d was never wont to spare:
And now she mock’d at Psyche’s shame and grief,
As only she might do, and to her chief
Along the courtyard dragg’d her by the hair.
20