Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Story of Cyllarus and Hylonome
12:524 Nor cou'd thy form, o Cyllarus, foreflow
12:525 Thy Fate (if form to monsters men allow):
12:526 Just bloom'd thy beard: thy beard of golden hue:
12:527 Thy locks, in golden waves, about thy shoulders flew.
12:528 Sprightly thy look: thy shapes in ev'ry part
12:529 So clean, as might instruct the sculptor's art;
12:530 As far as man extended: where began
12:531 The beast, the beast was equal to the man.
12:532 Add but a horse's head and neck; and he,
12:533 O Castor, was a courser worthy thee.
12:534 So was his back proportion'd for the seat:
12:535 So rose his brawny chest; so swiftly mov'd his feet.
12:536 Coal-black his colour, but like jett it shone;
12:537 His legs, and flowing tail were white alone.
12:538 Belov'd by many maidens of his kind;
12:539 But fair Hylonome possess'd his mind;
12:540 Hylonome, for features, and for face,
12:541 Excelling all the nymphs of double race:
12:542 Nor less her blandishments, than beauty, move;
12:543 At once both loving, and confessing love.
12:544 For him she dress'd: for him, with female care
12:545 She comb'd, and set in curls, her auburn hair.
12:546 Of roses, violets, and lillies mix'd,
12:547 And sprigs of flowing rosemary betwixt,
12:548 She form'd the chaplet, that adorn'd her front:
12:549 In waters of the Pegasaean fount,
12:550 And in the streams that from the fountain play,
12:551 She wash'd her face; and bath'd her twice a-day.
12:552 The scarf of furs, that hung below her side,
12:553 Was ermin, or the panther's spotted pride;
12:554 Spoils of no common beast: with equal flame
12:555 They lov'd: their silvan pleasures were the same:
12:556 All day they hunted: and when day expir'd,
12:557 Together to some shady cave retir'd:
12:558 Invited to the nuptials, both repair:
12:559 And, side by side, they both engage in war.
12:560 Uncertain from what hand, a flying dart
12:561 At Cyllarus was sent; which pierc'd his heart.
12:562 The jav'lin drawn from out the mortal wound,
12:563 He faints with stagg'ring steps; and seeks the ground:
12:564 The fair within her arms receiv'd his fall,
12:565 And strove his wand'ring spirits to recall:
12:566 And while her hand the streaming blood oppos'd,
12:567 Join'd face to face, his lips with hers she clos'd.
12:568 Stifled with kisses, a sweet death he dies;
12:569 She fills the fields with undistinguish'd cries;
12:570 At least her words were in her clamour drown'd;
12:571 For my stunn'd ears receiv'd no vocal sound.
12:572 In madness of her grief, she seiz'd the dart
12:573 New-drawn, and reeking from her lover's heart;
12:574 To her bare bosom the sharp point apply'd;
12:575 And wounded fell; and falling by his side,
12:576 Embrac'd him in her arms; and thus embracing dy'd.
12:577 Ev'n still methinks, I see Phaeocomes;
12:578 Strange was his habit, and as odd his dress.
12:579 Six lions' hides, with thongs together fast,
12:580 His upper part defended to his waist:
12:581 And where man ended, the continued vest,
12:582 Spread on his back, the houss and trappings of a beast.
12:583 A stump too heavy for a team to draw
12:584 (It seems a fable, tho' the fact I saw);
12:585 He threw at Pholon; the descending blow
12:586 Divides the skull, and cleaves his head in two.
12:587 The brains, from nose, and mouth, and either ear,
12:588 Came issuing out, as through a colendar
12:589 The curdled milk; or from the press the whey,
12:590 Driv'n down by weight above, is drain'd away.
12:591 But him, while stooping down to spoil the slain,
12:592 Pierc'd through the paunch, I tumbled on the plain.
12:593 Then Chthonyus, and Teleboas I slew:
12:594 A fork the former arm'd; a dart his fellow threw.
12:595 The jav'lin wounded me (behold the scar,
12:596 Then was my time to seek the Trojan war;
12:597 Then I was Hector's match in open field;
12:598 But he was then unborn; at least a child:
12:599 Now, I am nothing). I forbear to tell
12:600 By Periphantas how Pyretus fell;
12:601 The centaur by the knight: nor will I stay
12:602 On Amphix, or what deaths he dealt that day:
12:603 What honour, with a pointless lance, he won,
12:604 Stuck in the front of a four-footed man.
12:605 What fame young Macareus obtain'd in fight:
12:606 Or dwell on Nessus, now return'd from flight.
12:607 How prophet Mopsus not alone divin'd,
12:608 Whose valour equal'd his foreseeing mind.
Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Story of Cyllarus and Hylonome
12:524 Nor cou'd thy form, o Cyllarus, foreflow
12:525 Thy Fate (if form to monsters men allow):
12:526 Just bloom'd thy beard: thy beard of golden hue:
12:527 Thy locks, in golden waves, about thy shoulders flew.
12:528 Sprightly thy look: thy shapes in ev'ry part
12:529 So clean, as might instruct the sculptor's art;
12:530 As far as man extended: where began
12:531 The beast, the beast was equal to the man.
12:532 Add but a horse's head and neck; and he,
12:533 O Castor, was a courser worthy thee.
12:534 So was his back proportion'd for the seat:
12:535 So rose his brawny chest; so swiftly mov'd his feet.
12:536 Coal-black his colour, but like jett it shone;
12:537 His legs, and flowing tail were white alone.
12:538 Belov'd by many maidens of his kind;
12:539 But fair Hylonome possess'd his mind;
12:540 Hylonome, for features, and for face,
12:541 Excelling all the nymphs of double race:
12:542 Nor less her blandishments, than beauty, move;
12:543 At once both loving, and confessing love.
12:544 For him she dress'd: for him, with female care
12:545 She comb'd, and set in curls, her auburn hair.
12:546 Of roses, violets, and lillies mix'd,
12:547 And sprigs of flowing rosemary betwixt,
12:548 She form'd the chaplet, that adorn'd her front:
12:549 In waters of the Pegasaean fount,
12:550 And in the streams that from the fountain play,
12:551 She wash'd her face; and bath'd her twice a-day.
12:552 The scarf of furs, that hung below her side,
12:553 Was ermin, or the panther's spotted pride;
12:554 Spoils of no common beast: with equal flame
12:555 They lov'd: their silvan pleasures were the same:
12:556 All day they hunted: and when day expir'd,
12:557 Together to some shady cave retir'd:
12:558 Invited to the nuptials, both repair:
12:559 And, side by side, they both engage in war.
12:560 Uncertain from what hand, a flying dart
12:561 At Cyllarus was sent; which pierc'd his heart.
12:562 The jav'lin drawn from out the mortal wound,
12:563 He faints with stagg'ring steps; and seeks the ground:
12:564 The fair within her arms receiv'd his fall,
12:565 And strove his wand'ring spirits to recall:
12:566 And while her hand the streaming blood oppos'd,
12:567 Join'd face to face, his lips with hers she clos'd.
12:568 Stifled with kisses, a sweet death he dies;
12:569 She fills the fields with undistinguish'd cries;
12:570 At least her words were in her clamour drown'd;
12:571 For my stunn'd ears receiv'd no vocal sound.
12:572 In madness of her grief, she seiz'd the dart
12:573 New-drawn, and reeking from her lover's heart;
12:574 To her bare bosom the sharp point apply'd;
12:575 And wounded fell; and falling by his side,
12:576 Embrac'd him in her arms; and thus embracing dy'd.
12:577 Ev'n still methinks, I see Phaeocomes;
12:578 Strange was his habit, and as odd his dress.
12:579 Six lions' hides, with thongs together fast,
12:580 His upper part defended to his waist:
12:581 And where man ended, the continued vest,
12:582 Spread on his back, the houss and trappings of a beast.
12:583 A stump too heavy for a team to draw
12:584 (It seems a fable, tho' the fact I saw);
12:585 He threw at Pholon; the descending blow
12:586 Divides the skull, and cleaves his head in two.
12:587 The brains, from nose, and mouth, and either ear,
12:588 Came issuing out, as through a colendar
12:589 The curdled milk; or from the press the whey,
12:590 Driv'n down by weight above, is drain'd away.
12:591 But him, while stooping down to spoil the slain,
12:592 Pierc'd through the paunch, I tumbled on the plain.
12:593 Then Chthonyus, and Teleboas I slew:
12:594 A fork the former arm'd; a dart his fellow threw.
12:595 The jav'lin wounded me (behold the scar,
12:596 Then was my time to seek the Trojan war;
12:597 Then I was Hector's match in open field;
12:598 But he was then unborn; at least a child:
12:599 Now, I am nothing). I forbear to tell
12:600 By Periphantas how Pyretus fell;
12:601 The centaur by the knight: nor will I stay
12:602 On Amphix, or what deaths he dealt that day:
12:603 What honour, with a pointless lance, he won,
12:604 Stuck in the front of a four-footed man.
12:605 What fame young Macareus obtain'd in fight:
12:606 Or dwell on Nessus, now return'd from flight.
12:607 How prophet Mopsus not alone divin'd,
12:608 Whose valour equal'd his foreseeing mind.