Ovid

“ You both by Love, and Love alone, were join'd.
Now, by the Horrors which these Realms surround;
By the vast Chaos of these Depths profound;
By the sad Silence which eternal reigns
O'er all the Waste of these wide-stretching Plains;
Let me again Eurydice receive,
Let Fate her quick-spun Thread of Life re-weave.
All our Possessions are but Loans from you,
And soon, or late, you must be paid your Due;
Hither we haste to Human-kind's last Seat,
Your endless Empire, and our sure Retreat. ”

“ Sought green Recesses in the wood-land Glade.
Not sighing Suitors her Resolves could move,
She bad them show their Speed, to show their Love.
He only, who could conquer in the Race,
Might hope the conquer'd Virgin to embrace:
While he, whose tardy Feet had lagg'd behind,
Was doom'd the sad Reward of Death to find.
Tho' great the Prize, yet rigid the Decree,
But blind with Beauty, who can Rigour see?
Ev'n on these Laws the Fair they rashly sought,
And Danger in Excess of Love forgot. ”

“ Nor blaz'd his Torch, but wept in hissing Smoke.
In vain they whirl it round, in vain they shake,
No rapid Motion can its Flames awake.
⁠With Dread these inauspicious Signs were view'd,
And soon a more disastrous End ensu'd;
For as the Bride, amid the Naiad Train,
Ran joyful, sporting o'er the flow'ry Plain,
A venom'd Viper bit her as she pass'd;
Instant she fell, and suddain breath'd her last.
⁠When long his Loss the Thracian had deplor'd,
Not by superior Pow'rs to be restor'd;
Inflam'd by Love, and urg'd by deep Despair,
He leaves the Realms of Light, and upper Air ”

“ Whate'er the Cause, in vain the Nymphs contest,
With rival Eyes to warm his frozen Breast:
For ev'ry Nymph with Love his Lays inspir'd,
But ev'ry Nymph repuls'd, with Grief retir'd.
⁠A Hill there was, and on that Hill a Mead,
With Verdure thick, but destitute of Shade.
Where, now, the Muse's Son no sooner sings,
No sooner strikes his sweet resounding Strings,
But distant Groves the flying Sounds receive,
And listning Trees their rooted Stations leave;
Themselves transplanting, all around they grow,
And various Shades their various Kinds bestow. ”

“ Her Limbs, as exquisitely turn'd, as mine,
Or if a Woman thou, might vie with thine,
With lifted Hands, he cry'd, forgive the Tongue
Which durst, ye Youths, your well-tim'd Courage wrong.
I knew not, that the Nymph for whom you strove,
Deserv'd th' unbounded Transports of your Love.
He saw, admir'd, and thus her spotless Frame
He prais'd, and praising, kindled his own Flame.
A Rival now to all the Youths, who run,
Envious, he fears, they should not be undone.
But why (reflects he) idly thus is shown
The Fate of others, yet untry'd my own?
The Coward must not on Love's Aid depend ”

“ Nor come to boast (by vain Ambition fir'd)
How Cerberus at my Approach retir'd.
My Wife alone I seek; for her lov'd sake
These Terrors I support, this Journey take.
She, luckless wandring, or by Fate misled,
Chanc'd on a lurking Viper's Crest to tread;
The vengeful Beast, enflam'd with Fury, starts,
And thro' her Heel his deathful Venom darts.
Thus was she snatch'd untimely to her Tomb;
Her growing Years cut short, and springing Bloom.
Long I my Loss endeavour'd to sustain,
And strongly strove, but strove, alas, in vain:
At length I yielded, won by mighty Love ”

“ E're impious Love her better Thoughts betray'd
And thus within her secret Soul she said:
Ah Myrha! whither wou'd thy Wishes tend?
Ye Gods, ye sacred Laws, my Soul defend
From such a Crime as all Mankind detest,
And never lodg'd before in Human Breast!
But is it Sin? Or makes my Mind alone
Th' imagin'd Sin? For Nature makes it none.
What Tyrant then these envious Laws began,
Made not for any other Beast but Man!
The Father-Bull his Daughter may bestride,
The Horse may make his Mother-Mare a Bride ”

“ Provoke not Beasts, which, arm'd by Nature, fight.
For me, if not thy self, vouchsafe to fear;
Let not thy Thirst of Glory cost me dear.
Boars know not how to spare a blooming Age;
No sparkling Eyes can sooth the Lion's Rage.
Not all thy Charms a savage Beast can move,
Which have so deeply touch'd the Queen of Love. ”

“ Mean time the mis-begotten Infant grows,
And ripe for Birth, distends with deadly Throws
The swelling Rind, with unavailing Strife,
To leave the wooden Womb, and pushes into Life.
The Mother Tree, as if oppress'd with Pain,
Wriths here, and there, to break the Bark, in vain;
And, like a lab'ring Woman, wou'd have pray'd,
But wants a Voice to call Lucina's Aid:
The bending Bole sends out a hollow Sound,
And trickling Tears fall thicker on the Ground. ”

“ Unless to sport, and play a Fault should prove,
Unless it too were call'd a Fault to love.
Oh cou'd I for thee, or but with thee, dye!
But cruel Fates to me that Pow'r deny.
Yet on my Tongue thou shalt for ever dwell;
Thy Name my Lyre shall sound, my Verse shall tell;
And to a Flow'r transform'd, unheard of yet,
Stamp'd on thy Leaves my Cries thou shalt repeat.
The time shall come, prophetick I foreknow,⁠
When, join'd to thee, a mighty [1] Chief shall grow,
And with my Plaints his Name thy Leaf shall show. ”

“ Eyes, and their Objects never must unite,
Some Distance is requir'd to help the Sight:
Fain wou'd I travel to some foreign Shore,⁠
Never to see my Native Country more,
So might I to my self my self restore;
So might my Mind these impious Thoughts remove,
And ceasing to behold, might cease to love. ”

“ Made (to her Grief) more knowing than she wou'd.
Much she reproach'd, and many things she said,
To cure the Madness of th' unhappy Maid,
In vain: For Myrrha stood convict of Ill;
Her Reason vanquish'd but unchang'd her Will:
Perverse of Mind, unable to reply;
She stood resolv'd, or to possess or die.
At length the Fondness of a Nurse prevail'd
Against her better Sense, and Virtue fail'd:
Enjoy, my Child, since such is thy Desire,
Thy Love, she said; she durst not say, thy Sire:
Live, though unhappy, live on any Terms ”

“ Once join'd by Love, they stand united still,
Turn'd to contiguous Rocks on Ida's Hill.
⁠Now to repass the Styx in vain he tries,
Charon averse, his pressing Suit denies.
Sev'n Days entire, along th' infernal Shores,
Disconsolate, the Bard Eurydice deplores;
Defil'd with Filth his Robe, with Tears his Cheeks:
No Sustenance but Grief, and Cares he seeks:
Of rigid Fate incessant he complains,
And Hell's inexorable Gods arraigns,
This ended, to high Rhodopè he hastes. ”

“ Are past, and vernal Breezes sooth the Plains,
From the green Turf a purple Flow'r you rise,
And with your fragrant Breath perfume the Skies,
⁠You when alive were Phœbus' darling Boy;
In you he plac'd his Heav'n, and fix'd his Joy:
Their God the Delphic Priests consult in vain;
Eurotas now he loves, and Sparta's Plain:
His Hands the use of Bow, and Harp forget,
And hold the Dogs, or bear the corded Net;
O'er hanging Cliffs swift he pursues the Game;
Each Hour his Pleasure, each Day augments his Flame. ”

“ And turn'd her snowy Swans, and backward flew.
But as she saw him gasp his latest Breath,
And quiv'ring agonize in Pangs of Death,
Down with swift Flight she plung'd, nor Rage forbore,
At once her Garments, and her Hair she tore.
With cruel Blows she beat her guiltless Breast,
The Fates upbraided, and her Love confest.
Nor shall they yet (she cry'd) the Whole devour
With uncontroul'd, inexorable Pow'r:
For thee, lost Youth, my Tears and restless Pain
Shall in immortal Monuments remain. ”

“ My dear delightful Plains, and Cities fly?
No, let the impious People, who have sinn'd.
A Punishment in Death, or Exile find:
If Death, or Exile too severe be thought,
Let them in some vile Shape bemoan their Fault.
While next her Mind a proper Form employs,
Admonish'd by their Horns, she fix'd her Choice,
Their former Crest remains upon their Heads,
And their strong Limbs an Ox's Shape invades.
⁠The blaphemous Propætides deny'd
Worship of Venus, and her Pow'r defy'd:
But soon that Pow'r they felt, the first that sold
Their lewd Embraces to the World for Gold. ”

“ Make this fair Statue mine, he wou'd have said,⁠
But chang'd his Words for Shame; and only pray'd,
Give me the likeness of my Iv'ry Maid.
⁠The Golden Goddess, present at the Pray'r,
Well knew he meant th' inanimated Fair,
And gave the Sign of granting his Desire;
For thrice in cheerful Flames ascends the Fire.
The Youth returning to his Mistriss, hies,⁠
And impudent in Hope, with ardent Eyes,
And beating Breast, by the dear Statue lies.
He kisses her white Lips, renews the Bliss,
And looks, and thinks they redden at the Kiss ”

“ Her Arms are Boughs, her Fingers change their Kind,
Her tender Skin is harden'd into Rind.
And now the rising Tree her Womb invests,
Now, shooting upwards still, invades her Breasts,
And shades the Neck; when weary with Delay,
She sunk her Head within, and met it half the way.
And tho' with outward Shape she lost her Sense,
With bitter Tears she wept her last Offence;
And still she weeps, nor sheds her Tears in vain ”

“ And humbly draw her Car along the Plains.
But thou, Adonis, my delightful Care,
Of these, and Beasts, as fierce as these, beware!
The Savage, which not shuns thee, timely shun,⁠
For by rash Prowess should'st thou be undone,
A double Ruin is contained in one.
⁠Thus cautious Venus school'd her fav'rite Boy,
But youthful Heat all Cautions will destroy.
His sprightly Soul beyond grave Counsels flies,
While with yok'd Swans the Goddess cuts the Skies. ”

“ With pointed Top, the taper Cypress stood;
A Tree, which once a Youth, and heav'nly fair,
Was of that Deity the darling Care,
Whose Hand adapts, with equal Skill, the Strings
To Bows with which he kills, and Harps to which he sings. ”

“ The Nurse still urg'd, and wou'd not be deny'd:
Nor only promis'd Secresie, but pray'd
She might have Leave to give her offer'd Aid.
Good-will, she said, my want of Strength supplies,
And Diligence shall give what Age denies:
If strong Desires thy Mind to Fury move,
With Charms, and Med'cines I can cure thy Love:
If envious Eyes their hurtful Rays have cast,
More pow'rful Verse shall free thee from the Blast:
If Heav'n offended sends thee this Disease,
Offended Heav'n with Pray'rs we can appease. ”

“ And trembling both with Age, and Terror stands;
Adjures, and falling at her Feet intreats,
Sooths her with Blandishment, and frights with Threats,
To tell the Crime intended, or disclose
What Part of it she knew, if she no farther knows.
And last; if conscious to her Counsel made,
Confirms anew the Promise of her Aid.
Now Myrrha rais'd her Head; but soon oppress'd⁠
With Shame, reclin'd it on her Nurse's Breast;
Bath'd it with Tears, and strove to have confess'd:
Twice she began, and stopp'd; again she try'd ”

“ Thro' gliding Spectres of th' Interr'd to go,
And Phantom People of the World below:
Persephonè he seeks, and him who reigns
O'er Ghosts, and Hell's uncomfortable Plains.
Arriv'd, he, tuning to his Voice his Strings,
Thus to the King and Queen of Shadows sings.
⁠Ye Pow'rs, who under Earth your Realms extend,
To whom all Mortals must one Day descend ”

“ The Virgin Sign, in Heav'n the second Name,
Slides down the Belt, and from her Station flies,
And Night with sable Clouds involves the Skies.
Bold Myrrha still pursues her black Intent;⁠
She stumbled thrice, (an Omen of th' Event;)
Thrice shriek'd the Fun'ral Owl, yet on she went,
Secure of Shame, because secure of Sight ”