Ovid

“ The Transformation of Clytie.
⁠Tho' guilty Clytiè thus the Sun betray'd,
By too much Passion she was guilty made.
Excess of Love begot Excess of Grief,
Grief fondly bad her hence to hope Relief.
But angry Phœbus hears, unmov'd, her Sighs,
And scornful from her loath'd Embraces flies.
All Day, all Night, in trackless Wilds, alone
She pin'd and taught the list'ning Rocks her Moan.
On the bare Earth she lies, her Bosom bare,
Loose her Attire, dishevel'd is her Hair. ”

“ Why should not Ino, fir'd with Madness, stray,
Like her mad Sisters her own Kindred slay,
Why, she not follow, where they lead the Way.
⁠Down a steep, yawning Cave, where Yews display'd
In Arches meet, and lend a baleful Shade,
Thro' silent Labyrinths a Passage lies
To mournful Regions, and infernal Skies.
Here Styx exhales its noisome Clouds, and here,
The fun'ral Rites once paid, all Souls appear.
Stiff Cold, and Horror with a ghastly Face
And staring Eyes, infest the dreary Place.
Ghosts, new-arriv'd, and Strangers to these Plains,
Know not the Palace, where grim Pluto reigns. ”

“ For all their Waters in old Ocean's Womb:
So this vast City Worlds of Shades receives,
And Space for Millions still of Worlds she leaves.
Th' unbody'd Spectres freely rove, and show
Whate'er they lov'd on Earth, they love below. ”

“ And veils her Face, and marching thro' the Gloom
Swiftly arrives at th' Assignation-Tomb,
For still the fearful Sex can fearless prove;
Boldly they act, if spirited by Love.
When lo! a Lioness rush'd o'er the Plain,
Grimly besmear'd with Blood of Oxen slain:
And what to the dire Sight new Horrors brought,
To slake her Thirst the neighb'ring Spring she sought. ”

“ Close to the Roof each, wond'ring, upwards springs,
Born on unknown, transparent, plumeless Wings.
They strove for Words, their little Bodies found
No Words, but murmur'd in a fainting Sound.
In Towns, not Woods, the sooty Batts delight,
And never, till the Dusk, begin their Flight;
Till Vesper rises with his Ev'ning Flame;
From whom the Romans have deriv'd their Name.
The Transformation of Ino and Melicerta to Sea-Gods.
⁠The Pow'r of Bacchus now o'er Thebes had flown,
With awful Rev'rence soon the God they own. ”

“ To wake the Morn, the Morn to wake the Sun.
⁠Here Atlas reign'd, of more than human Size,
And in his Kingdom the World's Limit lies.
Here Titan bids his weary'd Coursers sleep,
And cools the burning Axle in the Deep.
The mighty Monarch, uncontroul'd, alone,
His Sceptre sways: no neighb'ring States are known.
A thousand Flocks on shady Mountains fed,
A thousand Herds o'er grassy Plains were spread. ”

“ Cadmus and his Queen transform'd to Serpents.
⁠Mean time, the wretched Cadmus mourns, nor knows,
That they who mortal fell, immortal rose.
With a long Series of new Ills opprest,
He droops, and all the Man forsakes his Breast.
Strange Prodigies confound his frighted Eyes;
From the fair City, which he rais'd, he flies:
As if Misfortune not pursu'd his Race,
But only hung o'er that devoted Place.
Resolv'd by Sea to seek some distant Land,
At last he safely gain'd th' Illyrian Strand,
Chearless himself, his Consort still he chears,
Hoary, and loaden'd both with Woes, and Years. ”

“ And gives to Winter Skies long Summer Days.
Now in thy Face thy love-sick Mind appears,
And spreads thro' impious Nations empty Fears
For when thy beamless Head is wrapt in Night,
Poor Mortals tremble in despair of Light.
'Tis not the Moon, that o'er thee casts a Veil,
'Tis Love alone, which makes thy Looks so pale. ”

“ Nor did th' unsated Monster here give o'er,
But dealt of Plagues a fresh, unnumber'd Store.
Each baneful Juice too well she understood,
Foam, churn'd by Cerberus, and Hydra's Blood.
Hot Hemlock, and cold Aconite she chose,
Delighted in Variety of Woes.
Whatever can untune th' harmonious Soul,
And its mild, reas'ning Faculties controul,
Give false Ideas, raise Desires profane,
And whirl in Eddies the tumultuous Brain,
Mix'd with curs'd Art, she direfully around
Thro' all their Nerves diffus'd the sad Compound. ”

“ Out spun the Blood, and streaming upwards flew.
So if a Conduit-pipe e'er burst you saw,
Swift spring the gushing Waters thro' the Flaw:
Then spouting in a Bow, they rise on high,
And a new Fountain plays amid the Sky.
The Berries, stain'd with Blood, began to show
A dark Complexion, and forgot their Snow;
While fatten'd with the flowing Gore, the Root
Was doom'd for ever to a purple Fruit.
⁠Mean time poor Thisbe fear'd, so long she stay'd,
Her Lover might suspect a perjur'd Maid.
Her Fright scarce o'er, she strove the Youth to find
With ardent Eyes, which spoke an ardent Mind. ”

“ The Boy now fancies all the Danger o'er,
And innocently sports about the Shore,
Playful and wanton to the Stream he trips,
And dips his Foot, and shivers, as he dips.
The Coolness pleas'd him, and with eager haste
His airy Garments on the Banks he cast;
His Godlike Features, and his Heav'nly Hue,
And all his Beauties were expos'd to View.
His naked Limbs the Nymph with Rapture spies,
While hotter Passions in her Bosom rise,
Flush in her Cheeks, and sparkle in her Eyes.
She longs, she burns to clasp him in her Arms,
And looks, and sighs, and kindles at his Charms. ”

“ Close by a Lamp, with Maids encompass'd round,
The Royal Spinster, full employ'd, he found;
Then cry'd, A-while from Work, my Daughter, rest;
And, like a Mother, scarce her Lips he prest.
Servants, retire!⸻nor Secrets dare to hear
Intrusted only to a Daughter's Ear.
They swift obey'd: Nor one, suspicious, thought
The Secret, which their Mistress would be taught,
Then he: Since now no Witnesses are near,
Behold! the God, who guides the various Year!
The World's vast Eye, of Light the Source serene,
Who all things sees, by whom are all things seen. ”

“ His Body o'er the Deep was widely spread:
Onward he flounc'd; aloud the Virgin cries;
Each Parent to her Shrieks in Shrieks replies,
But she had deepest Cause to rend the Skies.
Weeping, to her they cling; no Sign appears
Of Help, they only lend their helpless Tears.
Too long you vent your Sorrows, Perseus said,
Short is the Hour, and swift the time of Aid.
In me the Son of thund'ring Jove behold,
Got in a kindly Show'r of fruitful Gold.
Medusa's Snaky Head is now my Prey,
And thro' the Clouds I boldly wing my Way. ”

“ Timbrels, and Boxen Pipes, with mingled Cries,
Swell up in Sounds confus'd, and rend the Skies.
Come, Bacchus, come propitious, all implore,
And act thy sacred Orgies o'er and o'er.
⁠But Mineus' Daughters, while these Rites were pay'd,
At home, impertinently busie, stay'd.
Their wicked Tasks they ply with various Art,
And thro' the Loom the sliding Shuttle dart;
Or at the Fire to comb the Wooll they stand,
Or twirl the Spindle with a dext'rous Hand.
Guilty themselves, they force the Guiltless in;
Their Maids, who share the Labour, share the Sin. ”

“ Yet all still laugh'd at Vulcan in their Hearts.
⁠Thro' Heav'n the News of this Surprizal run,
But Venus did not thus forget the Sun.
He, who stol'n Transports idly had betray'd,
By a Betrayer was in kind repay'd.
What now avails, great God, thy piercing Blaze,
That Youth, and Beauty, and those golden Rays?
Thou, who can'st warm this Universe alone,
Feel'st now a Warmth more pow'rful than thy own:
And those bright Eyes, which all things should survey,
Know not from fair Leucothöe to stray.
The Lamp of Light, for human Good design'd,
Is to one Virgin niggardly confin'd. ”

“ To draw nice Threads, and wind the finest Clue,
While others idly rove, and Gods revere,
Their fancy'd Gods! they know not who, or where;
Let us, whom Pallas taught her better Arts,
Still working, cheer with mirthful Chat our Hearts,
And to deceive the Time, let me prevail
With each by turns to tell some antique Tale. ”

“ Thro' the thick Gloom, all-heav'nly bright, she shone:
The hideous Monsters their Obedience show'd,
And rising from their Seats, submissive bow'd.
⁠This is the Place of Woe, here groan the Dead;
Huge Tityus o'er nine Acres here is spread.
Fruitful for Pain, th' immortal Liver bleeds,
Still grows, and still th' insatiate Vulture feeds. ”

“ Their Kisses dy'd untasted on the Wall.
Soon as the Morn had o'er the Stars prevail'd,
And warn'd by Phœbus, Flow'rs their Dews exhal'd,
The Lovers to their well-known Place return,
Alike they suffer, and alike they mourn. ”

“ For now she finds him, as his Limbs she preft,
Grow nearer still, and nearer to her Breast;
Till, piercing each the other's Flesh they run
Together, and incorporate in One:
Last in one Face are both their Faces join'd,
As when the Stock and grafted Twig combin'd
Shoot up the same, and wear a common Rind:
Both Bodies in a single Body mix,
A single Body with a double Sex. ”