She pined, and taught the listening rocks her moan.
On the bare earth she lies, her bosom bare,
Loose her attire, dishevell’d is her hair.
Nine times the morn unbarr’d the gates of light,
As oft were spread the alternate shades of night,
So long no sustenance the mourner knew,
Unless she drank her tears, or suck’d the dew.
She turn’d about, but rose not from the ground,
Turn’d to the sun still as he roll’d his round;
On his bright face hung her desiring eyes,
Till, fix’d to earth, she strove in vain to rise;
Her looks their paleness in a flower retain’d,
But here and there some purple streaks they gain’d.
Still the loved object the fond leaves pursue,
Still move their root the moving sun to view,
And in the heliotrope the nymph is true.”
The sisters heard these wonders with surprise,
But part received them as romantic lies,
And pertly rallied, that they could not see
In powers divine so vast an energy.
Part own’d true gods such miracles might do,
But own’d not Bacchus one among the true.
At last a common, just request they make,
And beg Alcithoe her turn to take.
“I will,” said she, “and please you if I can;”
Then shot her shuttle swift, and thus began:
“The fate of Daphnis is a fate too known,
Whom an enamour’d nymph transform’d to stone;
Because she fear’d another nymph might see
The lovely youth, and love as much as she:
So strange the madness is of jealousy!
Nor shall I tell what changes Scython made,
And how he walk’d a man, or tripp’d a maid.
You too would peevish frown, and patience want
To hear, how Celmis grew an adamant:
He once was dear to Jove, and saw of old
Jove when a child; but what he saw he told.
Crocus and Smilax may be turn’d to flowers,
And the Curetes spring from bounteous showers.
I pass a hundred legends stale as these,
And with sweet novelty your taste will please.”
Story of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus
A beautiful youth, named Hermaphroditus, is beloved by a river nymph, who surprises him while bathing, and entreats the gods to unite them in one body; a request which is granted by the indulgent deities.
“How Salmacis, with weak, enfeebling streams,
Softens the body, and unnerves the limbs,
And what the secret cause, shall here be shown;
The cause is secret, but the effect is known.
“The Naiads nursed an infant heretofore,
That Citherea once to Hermes bore:
From both the illustrious authors of his race
The child was named, nor was it hard to trace
Both the bright parents through the infant’s face.
When fifteen years in Ida’s cool retreat
The boy had told, he left his native seat,
And sought fresh fountains in a foreign soil:
The pleasure lessen’d the attending toil.
With eager steps the Lycian fields he cross’d,
And fields that border on the Lycian coast:
A river here he view’d, so lovely bright,
It show’d the bottom in a fairer light,
Nor kept a sand conceal’d from human sight:
The stream produced nor slimy ooze, nor weeds,
Nor miry rushes, nor the spiky reeds,
But dealt enriching moisture all around,
The fruitful banks with cheerful verdure crown’d,
And kept the spring eternal on the ground.
A nymph presides, not practised in the chase,
Nor skilful at the bow, nor at the race;
Of all the blue-eyed daughters of the main,
The only stranger to Diana’s train.
Her sisters often, as ’tis said, would cry,
‘Fy, Salmacis: what! always idle; fy!
Or take thy quiver, or thy arrows seize,
And mix the toils of hunting with they ease.’
Nor quivers she, nor arrows, e’er would seize,
Nor mix the toils of hunting with her ease;
But oft would bathe her in the crystal tide,
Oft with a comb her dewy locks divide;
Now in the limpid stream she views her face,
And dress’d her image in the floating glass:
On beds of leaves she pow reposed her limbs,
Now gather’d flowers that grew about her streams,
And then by chance was gathering, as she stood
To view the boy, and long’d for what she view’d.
“Fain would she meet the youth with hasty feet,
She fain would meet him, but refused to meet
Before her looks were set with nicest care,
And well deserved to be reputed fair.
“ ‘Bright youth,’ she cries, ‘whom all thy features prove
A god, and, if a god, the god of love;
But if a mortal, bless’d thy nurse’s breast,
Bless’d are thy parents, and thy sisters bless’d:
But O! how bless’d, how more than bless’d thy bride!
Allied in bliss, if any yet allied.
If so, let mine the stolen enjoyments be;
If not, behold a willing bride in me.’
“The boy knew naught of love, and, touch’d with shame,
He strove, and blush’d, but still the blush became;
In rising blushes still fresh beauties rose;
The sunny side of fruit such blushes shows,
And such the moon, when all her silver white
Turns in eclipses to a ruddy light.
The nymph still begs, if not a nobler bliss,
A cold salute at least, a sister’s kiss;
And now prepares to take the lovely boy
Between her arms. He, innocently coy,
Replies, ‘Or leave me to myself alone,
You rude uncivil nymph, or I’ll be gone.’
‘Fair stranger, then,’ says she, ‘it shall be so;’
And, for she fear’d his threats, she feign’d to go;
But, hid within a covert’s neighbouring green,
She kept him still in sight, herself unseen.
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 pleased him, and, with eager haste,
His airy garments on the banks he cast;
His godlike features, and his heavenly hue,
And all his beauties, were exposed to view.
“Now all undress’d upon the banks he stood,
And clapp’d his sides, and leap’d into the flood:
His lovely limbs the silver waves divide;
His limbs appear more lovely through the tide;
As lilies, shut within a crystal case,
Receive a glossy lustre from the glass.
‘He’s mine, he’s all my own,’ the Naiad cries,
And flings of all, and after him she flies.
And now she fastens on him as he swims,
And holds him close, and wraps about his limbs.
‘And why, coy youth,’ she cries, ‘why thus unkind?
O may the gods thus keep us over join’d!
O may we never, never part again!’
So pray’d the nymph, nor did she pray in vain:
For now she finds him, as his limbs she press’d.
Grow nearer still, and
