Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
Ocyrrhoe transform'd into a Mare
2:786 Old Chiron took the babe with secret joy,
2:787 Proud of the charge of the celestial
boy.
2:788 His daughter too, whom on the
sandy shore
2:789 The nymph Charicle to the centaur
bore,
2:790 With hair dishevel'd on her shoulders,
came
2:791 To see the child, Ocyrrhoe was
her name;
2:792 She knew her father's arts, and
could rehearse
2:793 The depths of prophecy in sounding
verse.
2:794 Once, as the sacred infant she
survey'd,
2:795 The God was kindled in the raving
maid,
2:796 And thus she utter'd her prophetick
tale:
2:797 "Hail, great physician of
the world, all-hail;
2:798 Hail, mighty infant, who in years
to come
2:799 Shalt heal the nations, and defraud
the tomb;
2:800 Swift be thy growth! thy triumphs
unconfin'd!
2:801 Make kingdoms thicker, and increase
mankind.
2:802 Thy daring art shall animate
the dead,
2:803 And draw the thunder on thy guilty
head:
2:804 Then shalt thou dye, but from
the dark abode
2:805 Rise up victorious, and be twice
a God.
2:806 And thou, my sire, not destin'd
by thy birth
2:807 To turn to dust, and mix with
common earth,
2:808 How wilt thou toss, and rave,
and long to dye,
2:809 And quit thy claim to immortality;
2:810 When thou shalt feel, enrag'd
with inward pains,
2:811 The Hydra's venom rankling in
thy veins?
2:812 The Gods, in pity, shall contract
thy date,
2:813 And give thee over to the pow'r
of Fate."
2:814 Thus entring into destiny, the maid
2:815 The secrets of offended Jove
betray'd:
2:816 More had she still to say; but
now appears
2:817 Oppress'd with sobs and sighs,
and drown'd in tears.
2:818 "My voice," says she,
"is gone, my language fails;
2:819 Through ev'ry limb my kindred
shape prevails:
2:820 Why did the God this fatal gift
impart,
2:821 And with prophetick raptures
swell my heart!
2:822 What new desires are these? I
long to pace
2:823 O'er flow'ry meadows, and to
feed on grass;
2:824 I hasten to a brute, a maid no
more;
2:825 But why, alas! am I transform'd
all o'er?
2:826 My sire does half a human shape
retain,
2:827 And in his upper parts preserve
the man."
2:828 Her tongue no more distinct complaints affords,
2:829 But in shrill accents and mis-shapen
words
2:830 Pours forth such hideous wailings,
as declare
2:831 The human form confounded in
the mare:
2:832 'Till by degrees accomplish'd
in the beast,
2:833 She neigh'd outright, and all
the steed exprest.
2:834 Her stooping body on her hands
is born,
2:835 Her hands are turn'd to hoofs,
and shod in horn,
2:836 Her yellow tresses ruffle in
a mane,
2:837 And in a flowing tail she frisks
her train,
2:838 The mare was finish'd in her
voice and look,
2:839 And a new name from the new figure
took.
Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
Ocyrrhoe transform'd into a Mare
2:786 Old Chiron took the babe with secret joy,
2:787 Proud of the charge of the celestial
boy.
2:788 His daughter too, whom on the
sandy shore
2:789 The nymph Charicle to the centaur
bore,
2:790 With hair dishevel'd on her shoulders,
came
2:791 To see the child, Ocyrrhoe was
her name;
2:792 She knew her father's arts, and
could rehearse
2:793 The depths of prophecy in sounding
verse.
2:794 Once, as the sacred infant she
survey'd,
2:795 The God was kindled in the raving
maid,
2:796 And thus she utter'd her prophetick
tale:
2:797 "Hail, great physician of
the world, all-hail;
2:798 Hail, mighty infant, who in years
to come
2:799 Shalt heal the nations, and defraud
the tomb;
2:800 Swift be thy growth! thy triumphs
unconfin'd!
2:801 Make kingdoms thicker, and increase
mankind.
2:802 Thy daring art shall animate
the dead,
2:803 And draw the thunder on thy guilty
head:
2:804 Then shalt thou dye, but from
the dark abode
2:805 Rise up victorious, and be twice
a God.
2:806 And thou, my sire, not destin'd
by thy birth
2:807 To turn to dust, and mix with
common earth,
2:808 How wilt thou toss, and rave,
and long to dye,
2:809 And quit thy claim to immortality;
2:810 When thou shalt feel, enrag'd
with inward pains,
2:811 The Hydra's venom rankling in
thy veins?
2:812 The Gods, in pity, shall contract
thy date,
2:813 And give thee over to the pow'r
of Fate."
2:814 Thus entring into destiny, the maid
2:815 The secrets of offended Jove
betray'd:
2:816 More had she still to say; but
now appears
2:817 Oppress'd with sobs and sighs,
and drown'd in tears.
2:818 "My voice," says she,
"is gone, my language fails;
2:819 Through ev'ry limb my kindred
shape prevails:
2:820 Why did the God this fatal gift
impart,
2:821 And with prophetick raptures
swell my heart!
2:822 What new desires are these? I
long to pace
2:823 O'er flow'ry meadows, and to
feed on grass;
2:824 I hasten to a brute, a maid no
more;
2:825 But why, alas! am I transform'd
all o'er?
2:826 My sire does half a human shape
retain,
2:827 And in his upper parts preserve
the man."
2:828 Her tongue no more distinct complaints affords,
2:829 But in shrill accents and mis-shapen
words
2:830 Pours forth such hideous wailings,
as declare
2:831 The human form confounded in
the mare:
2:832 'Till by degrees accomplish'd
in the beast,
2:833 She neigh'd outright, and all
the steed exprest.
2:834 Her stooping body on her hands
is born,
2:835 Her hands are turn'd to hoofs,
and shod in horn,
2:836 Her yellow tresses ruffle in
a mane,
2:837 And in a flowing tail she frisks
her train,
2:838 The mare was finish'd in her
voice and look,
2:839 And a new name from the new figure
took.