The Georgics Part 3

Moreover now nor change of fodder serves, And subtlest cures but injure; then were foiled The masters, Chiron sprung from Phillyron, And Amythaon's son Melampus. See!

From Stygian darkness launched into the light Comes raging pale Tisiphone; she drives Disease and fear before her, day by day Still rearing higher that all-devouring head.

With bleat of flocks and lowings thick resound Rivers and parched banks and sloping heights.

At last in crowds she slaughters them, she chokes The very stalls with carrion-heaps that rot In hideous corruption, till men learn With earth to cover them, in pits to hide.

For e'en the fells are useless; nor the flesh With water may they purge, or tame with fire, Nor shear the fleeces even, gnawed through and through With foul disease, nor touch the putrid webs; But, had one dared the loathly weeds to try, Red blisters and an unclean sweat o'erran His noisome limbs, till, no long tarriance made, The fiery curse his tainted frame devoured.

GEORGIC IV

Of air-born honey, gift of heaven, I now Take up the tale. Upon this theme no less Look thou, Maecenas, with indulgent eye.

A marvellous display of puny powers, High-hearted chiefs, a nation's history, Its traits, its bent, its battles and its clans, All, each, shall pa.s.s before you, while I sing.

Slight though the poet's theme, not slight the praise, So frown not heaven, and Phoebus hear his call.

First find your bees a settled sure abode, Where neither winds can enter (winds blow back The foragers with food returning home) Nor sheep and b.u.t.ting kids tread down the flowers, Nor heifer wandering wide upon the plain Dash off the dew, and bruise the springing blades.

Let the gay lizard too keep far aloof His scale-clad body from their honied stalls, And the bee-eater, and what birds beside, And Procne smirched with blood upon the breast From her own murderous hands. For these roam wide Wasting all substance, or the bees themselves Strike flying, and in their beaks bear home, to glut Those savage nestlings with the dainty prey.

But let clear springs and moss-green pools be near, And through the gra.s.s a streamlet hurrying run, Some palm-tree o'er the porch extend its shade, Or huge-grown oleaster, that in Spring, Their own sweet Spring-tide, when the new-made chiefs Lead forth the young swarms, and, escaped their comb, The colony comes forth to sport and play, The neighbouring bank may lure them from the heat, Or bough befriend with hospitable shade.

O'er the mid-waters, whether swift or still, Cast willow-branches and big stones enow, Bridge after bridge, where they may footing find And spread their wide wings to the summer sun, If haply Eurus, swooping as they pause, Have dashed with spray or plunged them in the deep.

And let green ca.s.sias and far-scented thymes, And savory with its heavy-laden breath Bloom round about, and violet-beds hard by Sip sweetness from the fertilizing springs.

For the hive's self, or st.i.tched of hollow bark, Or from tough osier woven, let the doors Be strait of entrance; for stiff winter's cold Congeals the honey, and heat resolves and thaws, To bees alike disastrous; not for naught So haste they to cement the tiny pores That pierce their walls, and fill the crevices With pollen from the flowers, and glean and keep To this same end the glue, that binds more fast Than bird-lime or the pitch from Ida's pines.

Oft too in burrowed holes, if fame be true, They make their cosy subterranean home, And deeply lodged in hollow rocks are found, Or in the cavern of an age-hewn tree.

Thou not the less smear round their crannied cribs With warm smooth mud-coat, and strew leaves above; But near their home let neither yew-tree grow, Nor reddening crabs be roasted, and mistrust Deep marish-ground and mire with noisome smell, Or where the hollow rocks sonorous ring, And the word spoken buffets and rebounds.

What more? When now the golden sun has put Winter to headlong flight beneath the world, And oped the doors of heaven with summer ray, Forthwith they roam the glades and forests o'er, Rifle the painted flowers, or sip the streams, Light-hovering on the surface. Hence it is With some sweet rapture, that we know not of, Their little ones they foster, hence with skill Work out new wax or clinging honey mould.

So when the cage-escaped hosts you see Float heavenward through the hot clear air, until You marvel at yon dusky cloud that spreads And lengthens on the wind, then mark them well; For then 'tis ever the fresh springs they seek And bowery shelter: hither must you bring The savoury sweets I bid, and sprinkle them, Bruised balsam and the wax-flower's lowly weed, And wake and shake the tinkling cymbals heard By the great Mother: on the anointed spots Themselves will settle, and in wonted wise Seek of themselves the cradle's inmost depth.

But if to battle they have hied them forth- For oft 'twixt king and king with uproar dire Fierce feud arises, and at once from far You may discern what pa.s.sion sways the mob, And how their hearts are throbbing for the strife; Hark! the hoa.r.s.e brazen note that warriors know Chides on the loiterers, and the ear may catch A sound that mocks the war-trump's broken blasts; Then in hot haste they muster, then flash wings, Sharpen their pointed beaks and knit their thews, And round the king, even to his royal tent, Throng rallying, and with shouts defy the foe.

So, when a dry Spring and clear s.p.a.ce is given, Forth from the gates they burst, they clash on high; A din arises; they are heaped and rolled Into one mighty ma.s.s, and headlong fall, Not denselier hail through heaven, nor pelting so Rains from the shaken oak its acorn-shower.

Conspicuous by their wings the chiefs themselves Press through the heart of battle, and display A giant's spirit in each pigmy frame, Steadfast no inch to yield till these or those The victor's ponderous arm has turned to flight.

Such fiery pa.s.sions and such fierce a.s.saults A little sprinkled dust controls and quells.

And now, both leaders from the field recalled, Who hath the worser seeming, do to death, Lest royal waste wax burdensome, but let His better lord it on the empty throne.

One with gold-burnished flakes will s.h.i.+ne like fire, For twofold are their kinds, the n.o.bler he, Of peerless front and lit with flas.h.i.+ng scales; That other, from neglect and squalor foul, Drags slow a c.u.mbrous belly. As with kings, So too with people, diverse is their mould, Some rough and loathly, as when the wayfarer Scapes from a whirl of dust, and scorched with heat Spits forth the dry grit from his parched mouth: The others s.h.i.+ne forth and flash with lightning-gleam, Their backs all blazoned with bright drops of gold Symmetric: this the likelier breed; from these, When heaven brings round the season, thou shalt strain Sweet honey, nor yet so sweet as pa.s.sing clear, And mellowing on the tongue the wine-G.o.d's fire.

But when the swarms fly aimlessly abroad, Disport themselves in heaven and spurn their cells, Leaving the hive unwarmed, from such vain play Must you refrain their volatile desires, Nor hard the task: tear off the monarchs' wings; While these prove loiterers, none beside will dare Mount heaven, or pluck the standards from the camp.

Let gardens with the breath of saffron flowers Allure them, and the lord of h.e.l.lespont, Priapus, wielder of the willow-scythe, Safe in his keeping hold from birds and thieves.

And let the man to whom such cares are dear Himself bring thyme and pine-trees from the heights, And strew them in broad belts about their home; No hand but his the blistering task should ply, Plant the young slips, or shed the genial showers.

And I myself, were I not even now Furling my sails, and, nigh the journey's end, Eager to turn my vessel's prow to sh.o.r.e, Perchance would sing what careful husbandry Makes the trim garden smile; of Paestum too, Whose roses bloom and fade and bloom again; How endives glory in the streams they drink, And green banks in their parsley, and how the gourd Twists through the gra.s.s and rounds him to paunch; Nor of Narcissus had my lips been dumb, That loiterer of the flowers, nor supple-stemmed Acanthus, with the praise of ivies pale, And myrtles clinging to the sh.o.r.es they love.

For 'neath the shade of tall Oebalia's towers, Where dark Galaesus laves the yellowing fields, An old man once I mind me to have seen- From Corycus he came- to whom had fallen Some few poor acres of neglected land, And they nor fruitful' neath the plodding steer, Meet for the grazing herd, nor good for vines.

Yet he, the while his meagre garden-herbs Among the thorns he planted, and all round White lilies, vervains, and lean poppy set, In pride of spirit matched the wealth of kings, And home returning not till night was late, With unbought plenty heaped his board on high.

He was the first to cull the rose in spring, He the ripe fruits in autumn; and ere yet Winter had ceased in sullen ire to rive The rocks with frost, and with her icy bit Curb in the running waters, there was he Plucking the rathe faint hyacinth, while he chid Summer's slow footsteps and the lagging West.

Therefore he too with earliest brooding bees And their full swarms o'erflowed, and first was he To press the bubbling honey from the comb; Lime-trees were his, and many a branching pine; And all the fruits wherewith in early bloom The orchard-tree had clothed her, in full tale Hung there, by mellowing autumn perfected.

He too transplanted tall-grown elms a-row, Time-toughened pear, thorns bursting with the plum And plane now yielding serviceable shade For dry lips to drink under: but these things, Shut off by rigorous limits, I pa.s.s by, And leave for others to sing after me.

Come, then, I will unfold the natural powers Great Jove himself upon the bees bestowed, The boon for which, led by the shrill sweet strains Of the Curetes and their clas.h.i.+ng bra.s.s, They fed the King of heaven in Dicte's cave.

Alone of all things they receive and hold Community of offspring, and they house Together in one city, and beneath The shelter of majestic laws they live; And they alone fixed home and country know, And in the summer, warned of coming cold, Make proof of toil, and for the general store h.o.a.rd up their gathered harvesting. For some Watch o'er the victualling of the hive, and these By settled order ply their tasks afield; And some within the confines of their home Plant firm the comb's first layer, Narcissus' tear, And sticky gum oozed from the bark of trees, Then set the clinging wax to hang therefrom.

Others the while lead forth the full-grown young, Their country's hope, and others press and pack The thrice repured honey, and stretch their cells To bursting with the clear-strained nectar sweet.

Some, too, the wards.h.i.+p of the gates befalls, Who watch in turn for showers and cloudy skies, Or ease returning labourers of their load, Or form a band and from their precincts drive The drones, a lazy herd. How glows the work!

How sweet the honey smells of perfumed thyme Like the Cyclopes, when in haste they forge From the slow-yielding ore the thunderbolts, Some from the bull's-hide bellows in and out Let the blasts drive, some dip i' the water-trough The sputtering metal: with the anvil's weight Groans Etna: they alternately in time With giant strength uplift their sinewy arms, Or twist the iron with the forceps' grip- Not otherwise, to measure small with great, The love of getting planted in their b.r.e.a.s.t.s Goads on the bees, that haunt old Cecrops' heights, Each in his sphere to labour. The old have charge To keep the town, and build the walled combs, And mould the cunning chambers; but the youth, Their tired legs packed with thyme, come labouring home Belated, for afar they range to feed On arbutes and the grey-green willow-leaves, And ca.s.sia and the crocus blus.h.i.+ng red, Glue-yielding limes, and hyacinths dusky-eyed.

One hour for rest have all, and one for toil: With dawn they hurry from the gates- no room For loiterers there: and once again, when even Now bids them quit their pasturing on the plain, Then homeward make they, then refresh their strength: A hum arises: hark! they buzz and buzz About the doors and threshold; till at length Safe laid to rest they hush them for the night, And welcome slumber laps their weary limbs.

But from the homestead not too far they fare, When showers hang like to fall, nor, east winds nigh, Confide in heaven, but 'neath the city walls Safe-circling fetch them water, or essay Brief out-goings, and oft weigh-up tiny stones, As light craft ballast in the tossing tide, Wherewith they poise them through the cloudy vast.

This law of life, too, by the bees obeyed, Will move thy wonder, that nor s.e.x with s.e.x Yoke they in marriage, nor yield their limbs to love, Nor know the pangs of labour, but alone From leaves and honied herbs, the mothers, each, Gather their offspring in their mouths, alone Supply new kings and pigmy commonwealth, And their old court and waxen realm repair.

Oft, too, while wandering, against jagged stones Their wings they fray, and 'neath the burden yield Their liberal lives: so deep their love of flowers, So glorious deem they honey's proud acquist.

Therefore, though each a life of narrow span, Ne'er stretched to summers more than seven, befalls, Yet deathless doth the race endure, and still Perennial stands the fortune of their line, From grandsire unto grandsire backward told.

Moreover, not Aegyptus, nor the realm Of boundless Lydia, no, nor Parthia's hordes, Nor Median Hydaspes, to their king Do such obeisance: lives the king unscathed, One will inspires the million: is he dead, Snapt is the bond of fealty; they themselves Ravage their toil-wrought honey, and rend amain Their own comb's waxen trellis. He is the lord Of all their labour; him with awful eye They reverence, and with murmuring throngs surround, In crowds attend, oft shoulder him on high, Or with their bodies s.h.i.+eld him in the fight, And seek through showering wounds a glorious death.

Led by these tokens, and with such traits to guide, Some say that unto bees a share is given Of the Divine Intelligence, and to drink Pure draughts of ether; for G.o.d permeates all- Earth, and wide ocean, and the vault of heaven- From whom flocks, herds, men, beasts of every kind, Draw each at birth the fine essential flame; Yea, and that all things hence to Him return, Brought back by dissolution, nor can death Find place: but, each into his starry rank, Alive they soar, and mount the heights of heaven.

If now their narrow home thou wouldst unseal, And broach the treasures of the honey-house, With draught of water first toment thy lips, And spread before thee fumes of trailing smoke.

Twice is the teeming produce gathered in, Twofold their time of harvest year by year, Once when Taygete the Pleiad uplifts Her comely forehead for the earth to see, With foot of scorn spurning the ocean-streams, Once when in gloom she flies the watery Fish, And dips from heaven into the wintry wave.

Unbounded then their wrath; if hurt, they breathe Venom into their bite, cleave to the veins And let the sting lie buried, and leave their lives Behind them in the wound. But if you dread Too rigorous a winter, and would fain Temper the coming time, and their bruised hearts And broken estate to pity move thy soul, Yet who would fear to fumigate with thyme, Or cut the empty wax away? for oft Into their comb the newt has gnawed unseen, And the light-loathing beetles crammed their bed, And he that sits at others' board to feast, The do-naught drone; or 'gainst the unequal foe Swoops the fierce hornet, or the moth's fell tribe; Or spider, victim of Minerva's spite, Athwart the doorway hangs her swaying net.

The more impoverished they, the keenlier all To mend the fallen fortunes of their race Will nerve them, fill the cells up, tier on tier, And weave their granaries from the rifled flowers.

Now, seeing that life doth even to bee-folk bring Our human chances, if in dire disease Their bodies' strength should languish- which anon By no uncertain tokens may be told- Forthwith the sick change hue; grim leanness mars Their visage; then from out the cells they bear Forms reft of light, and lead the mournful pomp; Or foot to foot about the porch they hang, Or within closed doors loiter, listless all From famine, and benumbed with shrivelling cold.

Then is a deep note heard, a long-drawn hum, As when the chill South through the forests sighs, As when the troubled ocean hoa.r.s.ely booms With back-swung billow, as ravening tide of fire Surges, shut fast within the furnace-walls.

Then do I bid burn scented galbanum, And, honey-streams through reeden troughs instilled, Challenge and cheer their flagging appet.i.te To taste the well-known food; and it shall boot To mix therewith the savour bruised from gall, And rose-leaves dried, or must to thickness boiled By a fierce fire, or juice of raisin-grapes From Psithian vine, and with its bitter smell Centaury, and the famed Cecropian thyme.

There is a meadow-flower by country folk Hight star-wort; 'tis a plant not far to seek; For from one sod an ample growth it rears, Itself all golden, but girt with plenteous leaves, Where glory of purple s.h.i.+nes through violet gloom.

With chaplets woven hereof full oft are decked Heaven's altars: harsh its taste upon the tongue; Shepherds in vales smooth-shorn of nibbling flocks By Mella's winding waters gather it.

The roots of this, well seethed in fragrant wine, Set in brimmed baskets at their doors for food.

But if one's whole stock fail him at a stroke, Nor hath he whence to breed the race anew, 'Tis time the wondrous secret to disclose Taught by the swain of Arcady, even how The blood of slaughtered bullocks oft has borne Bees from corruption. I will trace me back To its prime source the story's tangled thread, And thence unravel. For where thy happy folk, Canopus, city of Pellaean fame, Dwell by the Nile's lagoon-like overflow, And high o'er furrows they have called their own Skim in their painted wherries; where, hard by, The quivered Persian presses, and that flood Which from the swart-skinned Aethiop bears him down, Swift-parted into sevenfold branching mouths With black mud fattens and makes Aegypt green, That whole domain its welfare's hope secure Rests on this art alone. And first is chosen A strait recess, cramped closer to this end, Which next with narrow roof of tiles atop 'Twixt prisoning walls they pinch, and add hereto From the four winds four slanting window-slits.

Then seek they from the herd a steer, whose horns With two years' growth are curling, and stop fast, Plunge madly as he may, the panting mouth And nostrils twain, and done with blows to death, Batter his flesh to pulp i' the hide yet whole, And shut the doors, and leave him there to lie.

But 'neath his ribs they scatter broken boughs, With thyme and fresh-pulled ca.s.sias: this is done When first the west winds bid the waters flow, Ere flush the meadows with new tints, and ere The twittering swallow buildeth from the beams.

Meanwhile the juice within his softened bones Heats and ferments, and things of wondrous birth, Footless at first, anon with feet and wings, Swarm there and buzz, a marvel to behold; And more and more the fleeting breeze they take, Till, like a shower that pours from summer-clouds, Forth burst they, or like shafts from quivering string When Parthia's flying hosts provoke the fray.

Say what was he, what G.o.d, that fas.h.i.+oned forth This art for us, O Muses? of man's skill Whence came the new adventure? From thy vale, Peneian Tempe, turning, bee-bereft, So runs the tale, by famine and disease, Mournful the shepherd Aristaeus stood Fast by the haunted river-head, and thus With many a plaint to her that bare him cried: "Mother, Cyrene, mother, who hast thy home Beneath this whirling flood, if he thou sayest, Apollo, lord of Thymbra, be my sire, Sprung from the G.o.ds' high line, why barest thou me With fortune's ban for birthright? Where is now Thy love to me-ward banished from thy breast?

O! wherefore didst thou bid me hope for heaven?

Lo! even the crown of this poor mortal life, Which all my skilful care by field and fold, No art neglected, scarce had fas.h.i.+oned forth, Even this falls from me, yet thou call'st me son.

Nay, then, arise! With thine own hands pluck up My fruit-plantations: on the homestead fling Pitiless fire; make havoc of my crops; Burn the young plants, and wield the stubborn axe Against my vines, if there hath taken the Such loathing of my greatness." But that cry, Even from her chamber in the river-deeps, His mother heard: around her spun the nymphs Milesian wool stained through with hyaline dye, Drymo, Xantho, Ligea, Phyllodoce, Their glossy locks o'er snowy shoulders shed, Cydippe and Lycorias yellow-haired, A maiden one, one newly learned even then To bear Lucina's birth-pang. Clio, too, And Beroe, sisters, ocean-children both, Both zoned with gold and girt with dappled fell, Ephyre and Opis, and from Asian meads Deiopea, and, bow at length laid by, Fleet-footed Arethusa. But in their midst Fair Clymene was telling o'er the tale Of Vulcan's idle vigilance and the stealth Of Mars' sweet rapine, and from Chaos old Counted the jostling love-joys of the G.o.ds.

Charmed by whose lay, the while their woolly tasks With spindles down they drew, yet once again Smote on his mother's ears the mournful plaint Of Aristaeus; on their gla.s.sy thrones Amazement held them all; but Arethuse Before the rest put forth her auburn head, Peering above the wave-top, and from far Exclaimed, "Cyrene, sister, not for naught Scared by a groan so deep, behold! 'tis he, Even Aristaeus, thy heart's fondest care, Here by the brink of the Peneian sire Stands woebegone and weeping, and by name Cries out upon thee for thy cruelty."

To whom, strange terror knocking at her heart, "Bring, bring him to our sight," the mother cried; "His feet may tread the threshold even of G.o.ds."

So saying, she bids the flood yawn wide and yield A pathway for his footsteps; but the wave Arched mountain-wise closed round him, and within Its mighty bosom welcomed, and let speed To the deep river-bed. And now, with eyes Of wonder gazing on his mother's hall And watery kingdom and cave-prisoned pools And echoing groves, he went, and, stunned by that Stupendous whirl of waters, separate saw All streams beneath the mighty earth that glide, Phasis and Lycus, and that fountain-head Whence first the deep Enipeus leaps to light, Whence father Tiber, and whence Anio's flood, And Hypanis that roars amid his rocks, And Mysian Caicus, and, bull-browed 'Twixt either gilded horn, Erida.n.u.s, Than whom none other through the laughing plains More furious pours into the purple sea.

Soon as the chamber's hanging roof of stone Was gained, and now Cyrene from her son Had heard his idle weeping, in due course Clear water for his hands the sisters bring, With napkins of shorn pile, while others heap The board with dainties, and set on afresh The br.i.m.m.i.n.g goblets; with Panchaian fires Upleap the altars; then the mother spake, "Take beakers of Maconian wine," she said, "Pour we to Ocean." Ocean, sire of all, She wors.h.i.+ps, and the sister-nymphs who guard The hundred forests and the hundred streams; Thrice Vesta's fire with nectar clear she dashed, Thrice to the roof-top shot the flame and shone: Armed with which omen she essayed to speak: "In Neptune's gulf Carpathian dwells a seer, Caerulean Proteus, he who metes the main With fish-drawn chariot of two-footed steeds; Now visits he his native home once more, Pallene and the Emathian ports; to him We nymphs do reverence, ay, and Nereus old; For all things knows the seer, both those which are And have been, or which time hath yet to bring; So willed it Neptune, whose portentous flocks, And loathly sea-calves 'neath the surge he feeds.

Him first, my son, behoves thee seize and bind That he may all the cause of sickness show, And grant a prosperous end. For save by force No rede will he vouchsafe, nor shalt thou bend His soul by praying; whom once made captive, ply With rigorous force and fetters; against these His wiles will break and spend themselves in vain.

I, when the sun has lit his noontide fires, When the blades thirst, and cattle love the shade, Myself will guide thee to the old man's haunt, Whither he hies him weary from the waves, That thou mayst safelier steal upon his sleep.

But when thou hast gripped him fast with hand and gyve, Then divers forms and b.e.s.t.i.a.l semblances Shall mock thy grasp; for sudden he will change To bristly boar, fell tigress, dragon scaled, And tawny-tufted lioness, or send forth A crackling sound of fire, and so shake of The fetters, or in showery drops anon Dissolve and vanish. But the more he s.h.i.+fts His endless transformations, thou, my son, More straitlier clench the clinging bands, until His body's shape return to that thou sawest, When with closed eyelids first he sank to sleep."

So saying, an odour of ambrosial dew She sheds around, and all his frame therewith Steeps throughly; forth from his trim-combed locks Breathed effluence sweet, and a lithe vigour leapt Into his limbs. There is a cavern vast Scooped in the mountain-side, where wave on wave By the wind's stress is driven, and breaks far up Its inmost creeks- safe anchorage from of old For tempest-taken mariners: therewithin, Behind a rock's huge barrier, Proteus hides.

Here in close covert out of the sun's eye The youth she places, and herself the while Swathed in a shadowy mist stands far aloof.

And now the ravening dog-star that burns up The thirsty Indians blazed in heaven; his course The fiery sun had half devoured: the blades Were parched, and the void streams with droughty jaws Baked to their mud-beds by the scorching ray, When Proteus seeking his accustomed cave Strode from the billows: round him frolicking The watery folk that people the waste sea Sprinkled the bitter brine-dew far and wide.

Along the sh.o.r.e in scattered groups to feed The sea-calves stretch them: while the seer himself, Like herdsman on the hills when evening bids The steers from pasture to their stall repair, And the lambs' bleating whets the listening wolves, Sits midmost on the rock and tells his tale.

But Aristaeus, the foe within his clutch, Scarce suffering him compose his aged limbs, With a great cry leapt on him, and ere he rose Forestalled him with the fetters; he nathless, All unforgetful of his ancient craft, Transforms himself to every wondrous thing, Fire and a fearful beast, and flowing stream.

But when no trickery found a path for flight, Baffled at length, to his own shape returned, With human lips he spake, "Who bade thee, then, So reckless in youth's hardihood, affront Our portals? or what wouldst thou hence?"- But he, "Proteus, thou knowest, of thine own heart thou knowest; For thee there is no cheating, but cease thou To practise upon me: at heaven's behest I for my fainting fortunes. .h.i.ther come An oracle to ask thee." There he ceased.

Whereat the seer, by stubborn force constrained, Shot forth the grey light of his gleaming eyes Upon him, and with fiercely gnas.h.i.+ng teeth Unlocks his lips to spell the fates of heaven: "Doubt not 'tis wrath divine that plagues thee thus, Nor light the debt thou payest; 'tis Orpheus' self, Orpheus unhappy by no fault of his, So fates prevent not, fans thy penal fires, Yet madly raging for his ravished bride.

She in her haste to shun thy hot pursuit Along the stream, saw not the coming death, Where at her feet kept ward upon the bank In the tall gra.s.s a monstrous water-snake.

But with their cries the Dryad-band her peers Filled up the mountains to their proudest peaks: Wailed for her fate the heights of Rhodope, And tall Pangaea, and, beloved of Mars, The land that bowed to Rhesus, Thrace no less With Hebrus' stream; and Orithyia wept, Daughter of Acte old. But Orpheus' self, Soothing his love-pain with the hollow sh.e.l.l, Thee his sweet wife on the lone sh.o.r.e alone, Thee when day dawned and when it died he sang.

Nay to the jaws of Taenarus too he came, Of Dis the infernal palace, and the grove Grim with a horror of great darkness- came, Entered, and faced the Manes and the King Of terrors, the stone heart no prayer can tame.

Then from the deepest deeps of Erebus, Wrung by his minstrelsy, the hollow shades Came trooping, ghostly semblances of forms Lost to the light, as birds by myriads hie To greenwood boughs for cover, when twilight-hour Or storms of winter chase them from the hills; Matrons and men, and great heroic frames Done with life's service, boys, unwedded girls, Youths placed on pyre before their fathers' eyes.

Round them, with black slime choked and hideous weed, Cocytus winds; there lies the unlovely swamp Of dull dead water, and, to pen them fast, Styx with her ninefold barrier poured between.

Nay, even the deep Tartarean Halls of death Stood lost in wonderment, and the Eumenides, Their brows with livid locks of serpents twined; Even Cerberus held his triple jaws agape, And, the wind hushed, Ixion's wheel stood still.

And now with homeward footstep he had pa.s.sed All perils scathless, and, at length restored, Eurydice to realms of upper air Had well-nigh won, behind him following- So Proserpine had ruled it- when his heart A sudden mad desire surprised and seized- Meet fault to be forgiven, might h.e.l.l forgive.

For at the very threshold of the day, Heedless, alas! and vanquished of resolve, He stopped, turned, looked upon Eurydice His own once more. But even with the look, Poured out was all his labour, broken the bond Of that fell tyrant, and a crash was heard Three times like thunder in the meres of h.e.l.l.

'Orpheus! what ruin hath thy frenzy wrought On me, alas! and thee? Lo! once again The unpitying fates recall me, and dark sleep Closes my swimming eyes. And now farewell: Girt with enormous night I am borne away, Outstretching toward thee, thine, alas! no more, These helpless hands.' She spake, and suddenly, Like smoke dissolving into empty air, Pa.s.sed and was sundered from his sight; nor him Clutching vain shadows, yearning sore to speak, Thenceforth beheld she, nor no second time h.e.l.l's boatman brooks he pa.s.s the watery bar.

What should he do? fly whither, twice bereaved?

Move with what tears the Manes, with what voice The Powers of darkness? She indeed even now Death-cold was floating on the Stygian barge!

For seven whole months unceasingly, men say, Beneath a skyey crag, by thy lone wave, Strymon, he wept, and in the caverns chill Unrolled his story, melting tigers' hearts, And leading with his lay the oaks along.

As in the poplar-shade a nightingale Mourns her lost young, which some relentless swain, Spying, from the nest has torn unfledged, but she Wails the long night, and perched upon a spray With sad insistence pipes her dolorous strain, Till all the region with her wrongs o'erflows.

No love, no new desire, constrained his soul: By snow-bound Tanais and the icy north, Far steppes to frost Rhipaean forever wed, Alone he wandered, lost Eurydice Lamenting, and the gifts of Dis ungiven.

Scorned by which tribute the Ciconian dames, Amid their awful Baccha.n.a.lian rites And midnight revellings, tore him limb from limb, And strewed his fragments over the wide fields.

Then too, even then, what time the Hebrus stream, Oeagrian Hebrus, down mid-current rolled, Rent from the marble neck, his drifting head, The death-chilled tongue found yet a voice to cry 'Eurydice! ah! poor Eurydice!'

With parting breath he called her, and the banks From the broad stream caught up 'Eurydice!'"