Unpolish'd rafters bear its lowly height,
Hid by a grove, as ancient, from the sight.
Here Nereus, and the Nereids they adore:
I learn'd it from the man who thither bore
His net to dry it on the sunny shore.
Adjoins a lake, enclosed with willows round,
Where swelling waves have overflow'd the mound,
And muddy, stagnate, on the lower ground,
From thence a rustling noise, increasing, flies,
Strikes the still shore, and frights us with surprise;
Straight a huge wolf rush'd from the marshy wood,
His jaws besmear'd with mingled foam and blood,
Though equally by hunger urged, and rage,
His appetite he minds not to assuage;
Naught that he meets his rapid fury spares,
But the whole herd with mad disorder tears.
Some of our men, who strove to drive him thence,
Torn by his teeth, have died in their defence;
The echoing lakes, the sea, and fields, and shore,
Impurpled blush with streams of reeking gore:
Delay is loss, nor have we time for thought,
While yet some few remain alive, we ought
To seize our arms, and, with confederate force, 525
Try if we so can stop his bloody course."
But Peleus cared not for his ruin'd herd,
His crime he call'd to mind, and thence inferr'd
That Psamathe's revenge this havoc made,
In sacrifice to murder'd Phocus' shade.
The king commands his servants to their arms,
Resolved to go, but the loud noise alarms
His lovely queen, who from her chamber flew,
And her half-platted hair behind her threw,
About his neck she hung with loving fears,
And now with words, and now with pleading tears,
Entreated that he'd send his men alone,
And stay himself, to save two lives in one.
Then Peleus: "Your just fears, oh queen, forget,
Too much the offer leaves me in your debt:
No arms against the monster I shall bear,
But the sea nymphs appease with humble prayer.”
The citadel's high turrets pierce the sky,
Which home-bound vessels glad, from far descry;
This they ascend, and thence with sorrow ken 545
The mangled heifers lie, and bleeding men;
The inexorable ravager they view,
With blood discolour'd, still the rest pursue:
There, Peleus pray'd submissive towards the sea,
And deprecates the ire of injured Psamathe.
But deaf to all his prayers the nymph remain'd,
Till Thetis for her spouse the boon obtain'd.
Pleased with the luxury, the furious beast,
Unstopp'd, continues still his bloody feast:
While yet upon a sturdy bull he flew,
Changed by the nymph, a marble block he grew.
No longer dreadful now the wolf appears,
Buried in stone, and vanish'd like their fears.
Yet still the fates unhappy Peleus vex'd,
To the Magnesian shore he wanders next.
Acastus there, who ruled the peaceful clime,
Grants his request, and expiates his crime.
STORY OF CEYX AND ALCYONE.
CEYX, the husband of Alcyone, is drowned while on a voyage
to consult the oracle of Apollo-The wife is apprized, in a
dream, of his fate, and throws herself into the sea, when she
and Ceyx are transformed into halcyons or kingfishers.
THESE prodigies affect the pious prince :
But more perplex'd with those that happen'd since,
He purposes to seek the Clarian god,
Avoiding Delphi, his more famed abode,
Since Phrygian robbers made unsafe the road:
Yet could he not, from her he loved so well,
The fatal voyage he resolved, conceal.
But when she saw her lord prepared to part,
A deadly cold ran shivering to her heart,
Her faded cheeks are changed to boxen hue,
And in her eyes the tears are ever new.
She thrice essay'd to speak, her accents hung,
And, faltering, died unfinish'd on her tongue,
Or vanish'd into sighs: with long delay
Her voice return'd, and found the wonted way.
"Tell me, my lord," she said, "what fault unknown
Thy once beloved Alcyone has done?
Whither, ah! whither is thy kindness gone?
Can Ceyx, then, sustain to leave his wife,
And, unconcern'd, forsake the sweets of life?
What can thy mind to this long journey move?
Or need'st thou absence to renew thy love?
Yet, if thou goest by land, though grief possess 585
My soul, ev'n then my fears will be the less.
But, ah! be warn'd to shun the watery way,
The face is frightful of the stormy sea;
For late I saw adrift disjointed planks,
And empty tombs erected on the banks.
Nor let false hopes to trust betray thy mind,
Because my sire in caves constrains the wind,
Can with a breath their clam'rous rage appease,
They fear his whistle, and forsake the seas:
Not so: for, once indulged, they sweep the main, 595
Deaf to the call, or, hearing, hear in vain;
But bent on mischief bear the waves before,
And not content with seas, insult the shore,
When ocean, air, and earth at once engage,
And rooted forests fly before their rage:
At once the clashing clouds to battle move,
And lightnings run across the fields above:
I know them well, and mark’d their rude comport,
While yet a child within my father's court:
In times of tempest they command alone:
And he but sits precarious on the throne:
The more I know, the more my fears augment;
And fears are oft prophetic of the event;
But if not fears, or reasons will prevail,
If fate has fix'd thee obstinate to sail,
Go not without thy wife, but let me bear
My part of danger with an equal share,
And present, what I suffer only fear;
Then o'er the bounding billows shall we fly,
Secure to live together, or to die."
These reasons moved her starlike husband's heart, But still he held his purpose to depart;
For as he loved her equal to his life,
He would not to the seas expose his wife;
Nor could be wrought his voyage to refrain,
But sought by arguments to soothe her pain;
Nor these avail'd; at length he lights on one,
With which so difficult a case he won:
66 My love, so short an absence cease to fear,
For by my father's holy flame I swear,
Before two moons their orb with light adorn,
If Heaven allow me life, I will return."
This promise of so short a stay prevails;
He soon equips the ships, supplies the sails,
And gives the word to launch; she trembling views
This pomp of death, and parting tears renews; 631
Last with a kiss, she took a long farewell,
Sigh'd with a sad presage, and swooning fell:
While Ceyx seeks delays, the lusty crew,
Raised on their banks, their oars in order drew 635
To their broad breasts, the ship with fury flew.
The queen recover'd, rears her humid eyes,
And first her husband on the poop espies,
Shaking his hand at distance on the main;
She took the sign, and shook her hand again:
Still as the ground recedes, contracts her view
With sharpen'd sight, till she no longer knew
The much-loved face; that comfort lost supplies
With less, and with the galley feeds her eyes;
The galley borne from view by rising gales,
She follow'd with her sight the flying sails;
When ev'n the flying sails were seen no more,
Forsaken of all sight she left the shore.
Then on her bridal bed her body throws
And sought in sleep her wearied eyes to close; 650
Her husband's pillow, and the widow'd part
Which once he press'd, renew'd the former smart.
And now a breeze from shore began to blow,
The sailors ship their oars, and cease to row,
Then hoist their yards a-trip, and all their sails 655
Let fall, to court the wind, and catch the gales.
By this the vessel half her course had run,
And as much rested till the rising sun;
Both shores were lost to sight, when at the close
Of day a stiffer gale at east arose:
660
The sea grew white, the rolling waves from far,
Like heralds, first denounce the watery war.
This seen, the master soon began to cry:
"Strike, strike the topsail, let the mainsheet fly,
And furl your sails:" the winds repel the sound, 665
And in the speaker's mouth the speech is drown'd.
Yet of their own accord, as danger taught
Each in his way, officiously they wrought;
Some stow their oars, or stop the leaky sides;
Another bolder, yet the yard bestrides,
And folds the sails; a fourth with labour laves
The intruding seas, and waves ejects on waves.
In this confusion, while their work they ply,
The winds augment the winter of the sky,
And wage intestine wars, the suffering seas
Are toss'd, and mingled, as their tyrants please.
The master would command, but, in despair
Of safety, stands amazed with stupid care;
Nor what to bid, or what forbid he knows,
The ungovern'd tempest to such fury grows:
Vain is his force, and vainer is his skill,
With such a concourse comes the flood of ill;
The cries of men are mix'd with rattling shrouds,
Seas dash on seas, and clouds encounter clouds:
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