Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Story of of Cadmus
3:1 Through storms and tempests he the virgin bore,
3:2 And lands her safe on the Dictean
shore;
3:3 Where now, in his divinest form array'd,
3:4 In his true shape he captivates the
maid;
3:5 Who gazes on him, and with wond'ring
eyes
3:6 Beholds the new majestick figure
rise,
3:7 His glowing features, and celestial
light,
3:8 And all the God discover'd to her
sight.
3:9 When now Agenor had his daughter lost,
3:10 He sent his son to search on ev'ry
coast;
3:11 And sternly bid him to his arms
restore
3:12 The darling maid, or see his face
no more,
3:13 But live an exile in a foreign
clime;
3:14 Thus was the father pious to a
crime.
3:15 The restless youth search'd all
the world around;
3:16 But how can Jove in his amours
be found?
3:17 When, tir'd at length with unsuccessful
toil,
3:18 To shun his angry sire and native
soil,
3:19 He goes a suppliant to the Delphick
dome;
3:20 There asks the God what new appointed
home
3:21 Should end his wand'rings, and
his toils relieve.
3:22 The Delphick oracles this answer
give.
3:23 "Behold among the fields a lonely cow,
3:24 Unworn with yokes, unbroken to
the plow;
3:25 Mark well the place where first
she lays her down,
3:26 There measure out thy walls, and
build thy town,
3:27 And from thy guide Boeotia call
the land,
3:28 In which the destin'd walls and
town shall stand."
3:29 No sooner had he left the dark abode,
3:30 Big with the promise of the Delphick
God,
3:31 When in the fields the fatal cow
he view'd,
3:32 Nor gall'd with yokes, nor worn
with servitude:
3:33 Her gently at a distance he pursu'd;
3:34 And as he walk'd aloof, in silence
pray'd
3:35 To the great Pow'r whose counsels
he obey'd.
3:36 Her way thro' flow'ry Panope she
took,
3:37 And now, Cephisus, cross'd thy
silver brook;
3:38 When to the Heav'ns her spacious
front she rais'd,
3:39 And bellow'd thrice, then backward
turning gaz'd
3:40 On those behind, 'till on the destin'd
place
3:41 She stoop'd, and couch'd amid the
rising grass.
3:42 Cadmus salutes the soil, and gladly hails
3:43 The new-found mountains, and the
nameless vales,
3:44 And thanks the Gods, and turns
about his eye
3:45 To see his new dominions round
him lye;
3:46 Then sends his servants to a neighb'ring grove
3:47 For living streams, a sacrifice
to Jove.
3:48 O'er the wide plain there rose
a shady wood
3:49 Of aged trees; in its dark bosom
stood
3:50 A bushy thicket, pathless and unworn,
3:51 O'er-run with brambles, and perplex'd
with thorn:
3:52 Amidst the brake a hollow den was
found,
3:53 With rocks and shelving arches
vaulted round.
3:54 Deep in the dreary den, conceal'd from day,
3:55 Sacred to Mars, a mighty dragon
lay,
3:56 Bloated with poison to a monstrous
size;
3:57 Fire broke in flashes when he glanc'd
his eyes:
3:58 His tow'ring crest was glorious
to behold,
3:59 His shoulders and his sides were
scal'd with gold;
3:60 Three tongues he brandish'd when
he charg'd his foes;
3:61 His teeth stood jaggy in three
dreadful rowes.
3:62 The Tyrians in the den for water
sought,
3:63 And with their urns explor'd the
hollow vault:
3:64 From side to side their empty urns
rebound,
3:65 And rowse the sleeping serpent
with the sound.
3:66 Strait he bestirs him, and is seen
to rise;
3:67 And now with dreadful hissings
fills the skies,
3:68 And darts his forky tongues, and
rowles his glaring eyes.
3:69 The Tyrians drop their vessels
in the fright,
3:70 All pale and trembling at the hideous
sight.
3:71 Spire above spire uprear'd in air
he stood,
3:72 And gazing round him over-look'd
the wood:
3:73 Then floating on the ground in
circles rowl'd;
3:74 Then leap'd upon them in a mighty
fold.
3:75 Of such a bulk, and such a monstrous
size
3:76 The serpent in the polar circle
lyes,
3:77 That stretches over half the northern
skies.
3:78 In vain the Tyrians on their arms
rely,
3:79 In vain attempt to fight, in vain
to fly:
3:80 All their endeavours and their
hopes are vain;
3:81 Some die entangled in the winding
train;
3:82 Some are devour'd, or feel a loathsom
death,
3:83 Swoln up with blasts of pestilential
breath.
3:84 And now the scorching sun was mounted high,
3:85 In all its lustre, to the noon-day
sky;
3:86 When, anxious for his friends,
and fill'd with cares,
3:87 To search the woods th' impatient
chief prepares.
3:88 A lion's hide around his loins
he wore,
3:89 The well poiz'd javelin to the
field he bore,
3:90 Inur'd to blood; the far-destroying
dart;
3:91 And, the best weapon, an undaunted
heart.
3:92 Soon as the youth approach'd the fatal place,
3:93 He saw his servants breathless
on the grass;
3:94 The scaly foe amid their corps
he view'd,
3:95 Basking at ease, and feasting in
their blood.
3:96 "Such friends," he cries,
"deserv'd a longer date;
3:97 But Cadmus will revenge or share
their fate."
3:98 Then heav'd a stone, and rising
to the throw,
3:99 He sent it in a whirlwind at the
foe:
3:100 A tow'r, assaulted by so rude
a stroke,
3:101 With all its lofty battlements
had shook;
3:102 But nothing here th' unwieldy
rock avails,
3:103 Rebounding harmless from the
plaited scales,
3:104 That, firmly join'd, preserv'd
him from a wound,
3:105 With native armour crusted all
around.
3:106 With more success, the dart unerring
flew,
3:107 Which at his back the raging
warriour threw;
3:108 Amid the plaited scales it took
its course,
3:109 And in the spinal marrow spent
its force.
3:110 The monster hiss'd aloud, and
rag'd in vain,
3:111 And writh'd his body to and fro
with pain;
3:112 He bit the dart, and wrench'd
the wood away;
3:113 The point still buried in the
marrow lay.
3:114 And now his rage, increasing
with his pain,
3:115 Reddens his eyes, and beats in
ev'ry vein;
3:116 Churn'd in his teeth the foamy
venom rose,
3:117 Whilst from his mouth a blast
of vapours flows,
3:118 Such as th' infernal Stygian
waters cast.
3:119 The plants around him wither
in the blast.
3:120 Now in a maze of rings he lies
enrowl'd,
3:121 Now all unravel'd, and without
a fold;
3:122 Now, like a torrent, with a mighty
force
3:123 Bears down the forest in his
boist'rous course.
3:124 Cadmus gave back, and on the
lion's spoil
3:125 Sustain'd the shock, then forc'd
him to recoil;
3:126 The pointed jav'lin warded off
his rage:
3:127 Mad with his pains, and furious
to engage,
3:128 The serpent champs the steel,
and bites the spear,
3:129 'Till blood and venom all the
point besmear.
3:130 But still the hurt he yet receiv'd
was slight;
3:131 For, whilst the champion with
redoubled might
3:132 Strikes home the jav'lin, his
retiring foe
3:133 Shrinks from the wound, and disappoints
the blow.
3:134 The dauntless heroe still pursues his stroke,
3:135 And presses forward, 'till a
knotty oak
3:136 Retards his foe, and stops him
in the rear;
3:137 Full in his throat he plung'd
the fatal spear,
3:138 That in th' extended neck a passage
found,
3:139 And pierc'd the solid timber
through the wound.
3:140 Fix'd to the reeling trunk, with
many a stroke
3:141 Of his huge tail he lash'd the
sturdy oak;
3:142 'Till spent with toil, and lab'ring
hard for breath,
3:143 He now lay twisting in the pangs
of death.
3:144 Cadmus beheld him wallow in a flood
3:145 Of swimming poison, intermix'd
with blood;
3:146 When suddenly a speech was heard
from high
3:147 (The speech was heard, nor was
the speaker nigh),
3:148 "Why dost thou thus with
secret pleasure see,
3:149 Insulting man! what thou thy
self shalt be?"
3:150 Astonish'd at the voice, he stood
amaz'd,
3:151 And all around with inward horror
gaz'd:
3:152 When Pallas swift descending
from the skies,
3:153 Pallas, the guardian of the bold
and wise,
3:154 Bids him plow up the field, and
scatter round
3:155 The dragon's teeth o'er all the
furrow'd ground;
3:156 Then tells the youth how to his
wond'ring eyes
3:157 Embattled armies from the field
should rise.
3:158 He sows the teeth at Pallas's command,
3:159 And flings the future people
from his hand.
3:160 The clods grow warm, and crumble
where he sows;
3:161 And now the pointed spears advance
in rows;
3:162 Now nodding plumes appear, and
shining crests,
3:163 Now the broad shoulders and the
rising breasts;
3:164 O'er all the field the breathing
harvest swarms,
3:165 A growing host, a crop of men
and arms.
3:166 So through the parting stage a figure rears
3:167 Its body up, and limb by limb
appears
3:168 By just degrees; 'till all the
man arise,
3:169 And in his full proportion strikes
the eyes.
3:170 Cadmus surpriz'd, and startled at the sight
3:171 Of his new foes, prepar'd himself
for fight:
3:172 When one cry'd out, "Forbear,
fond man, forbear
3:173 To mingle in a blind promiscuous
war."
3:174 This said, he struck his brother
to the ground,
3:175 Himself expiring by another's
wound;
3:176 Nor did the third his conquest
long survive,
3:177 Dying ere scarce he had begun
to live.
3:178 The dire example ran through all the field,
3:179 'Till heaps of brothers were
by brothers kill'd;
3:180 The furrows swam in blood: and
only five
3:181 Of all the vast increase were
left alive.
3:182 Echion one, at Pallas's command,
3:183 Let fall the guiltless weapon
from his hand,
3:184 And with the rest a peaceful
treaty makes,
3:185 Whom Cadmus as his friends and
partners takes;
3:186 So founds a city on the promis'd
earth,
3:187 And gives his new Boeotian empire
birth.
3:188 Here Cadmus reign'd; and now one would have
guess'd
3:189 The royal founder in his exile
blest:
3:190 Long did he live within his new
abodes,
3:191 Ally'd by marriage to the deathless
Gods;
3:192 And, in a fruitful wife's embraces
old,
3:193 A long increase of children's
children told:
3:194 But no frail man, however great
or high,
3:195 Can be concluded blest before
he die.
3:196 Actaeon was the first of all his race,
3:197 Who griev'd his grandsire in
his borrow'd face;
3:198 Condemn'd by stern Diana to bemoan
3:199 The branching horns, and visage
not his own;
3:200 To shun his once lov'd dogs,
to bound away,
3:201 And from their huntsman to become
their prey,
3:202 And yet consider why the change
was wrought,
3:203 You'll find it his misfortune,
not his fault;
3:204 Or, if a fault, it was the fault
of chance:
3:205 For how can guilt proceed from
ignorance?
Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Story of of Cadmus
3:1 Through storms and tempests he the virgin bore,
3:2 And lands her safe on the Dictean
shore;
3:3 Where now, in his divinest form array'd,
3:4 In his true shape he captivates the
maid;
3:5 Who gazes on him, and with wond'ring
eyes
3:6 Beholds the new majestick figure
rise,
3:7 His glowing features, and celestial
light,
3:8 And all the God discover'd to her
sight.
3:9 When now Agenor had his daughter lost,
3:10 He sent his son to search on ev'ry
coast;
3:11 And sternly bid him to his arms
restore
3:12 The darling maid, or see his face
no more,
3:13 But live an exile in a foreign
clime;
3:14 Thus was the father pious to a
crime.
3:15 The restless youth search'd all
the world around;
3:16 But how can Jove in his amours
be found?
3:17 When, tir'd at length with unsuccessful
toil,
3:18 To shun his angry sire and native
soil,
3:19 He goes a suppliant to the Delphick
dome;
3:20 There asks the God what new appointed
home
3:21 Should end his wand'rings, and
his toils relieve.
3:22 The Delphick oracles this answer
give.
3:23 "Behold among the fields a lonely cow,
3:24 Unworn with yokes, unbroken to
the plow;
3:25 Mark well the place where first
she lays her down,
3:26 There measure out thy walls, and
build thy town,
3:27 And from thy guide Boeotia call
the land,
3:28 In which the destin'd walls and
town shall stand."
3:29 No sooner had he left the dark abode,
3:30 Big with the promise of the Delphick
God,
3:31 When in the fields the fatal cow
he view'd,
3:32 Nor gall'd with yokes, nor worn
with servitude:
3:33 Her gently at a distance he pursu'd;
3:34 And as he walk'd aloof, in silence
pray'd
3:35 To the great Pow'r whose counsels
he obey'd.
3:36 Her way thro' flow'ry Panope she
took,
3:37 And now, Cephisus, cross'd thy
silver brook;
3:38 When to the Heav'ns her spacious
front she rais'd,
3:39 And bellow'd thrice, then backward
turning gaz'd
3:40 On those behind, 'till on the destin'd
place
3:41 She stoop'd, and couch'd amid the
rising grass.
3:42 Cadmus salutes the soil, and gladly hails
3:43 The new-found mountains, and the
nameless vales,
3:44 And thanks the Gods, and turns
about his eye
3:45 To see his new dominions round
him lye;
3:46 Then sends his servants to a neighb'ring grove
3:47 For living streams, a sacrifice
to Jove.
3:48 O'er the wide plain there rose
a shady wood
3:49 Of aged trees; in its dark bosom
stood
3:50 A bushy thicket, pathless and unworn,
3:51 O'er-run with brambles, and perplex'd
with thorn:
3:52 Amidst the brake a hollow den was
found,
3:53 With rocks and shelving arches
vaulted round.
3:54 Deep in the dreary den, conceal'd from day,
3:55 Sacred to Mars, a mighty dragon
lay,
3:56 Bloated with poison to a monstrous
size;
3:57 Fire broke in flashes when he glanc'd
his eyes:
3:58 His tow'ring crest was glorious
to behold,
3:59 His shoulders and his sides were
scal'd with gold;
3:60 Three tongues he brandish'd when
he charg'd his foes;
3:61 His teeth stood jaggy in three
dreadful rowes.
3:62 The Tyrians in the den for water
sought,
3:63 And with their urns explor'd the
hollow vault:
3:64 From side to side their empty urns
rebound,
3:65 And rowse the sleeping serpent
with the sound.
3:66 Strait he bestirs him, and is seen
to rise;
3:67 And now with dreadful hissings
fills the skies,
3:68 And darts his forky tongues, and
rowles his glaring eyes.
3:69 The Tyrians drop their vessels
in the fright,
3:70 All pale and trembling at the hideous
sight.
3:71 Spire above spire uprear'd in air
he stood,
3:72 And gazing round him over-look'd
the wood:
3:73 Then floating on the ground in
circles rowl'd;
3:74 Then leap'd upon them in a mighty
fold.
3:75 Of such a bulk, and such a monstrous
size
3:76 The serpent in the polar circle
lyes,
3:77 That stretches over half the northern
skies.
3:78 In vain the Tyrians on their arms
rely,
3:79 In vain attempt to fight, in vain
to fly:
3:80 All their endeavours and their
hopes are vain;
3:81 Some die entangled in the winding
train;
3:82 Some are devour'd, or feel a loathsom
death,
3:83 Swoln up with blasts of pestilential
breath.
3:84 And now the scorching sun was mounted high,
3:85 In all its lustre, to the noon-day
sky;
3:86 When, anxious for his friends,
and fill'd with cares,
3:87 To search the woods th' impatient
chief prepares.
3:88 A lion's hide around his loins
he wore,
3:89 The well poiz'd javelin to the
field he bore,
3:90 Inur'd to blood; the far-destroying
dart;
3:91 And, the best weapon, an undaunted
heart.
3:92 Soon as the youth approach'd the fatal place,
3:93 He saw his servants breathless
on the grass;
3:94 The scaly foe amid their corps
he view'd,
3:95 Basking at ease, and feasting in
their blood.
3:96 "Such friends," he cries,
"deserv'd a longer date;
3:97 But Cadmus will revenge or share
their fate."
3:98 Then heav'd a stone, and rising
to the throw,
3:99 He sent it in a whirlwind at the
foe:
3:100 A tow'r, assaulted by so rude
a stroke,
3:101 With all its lofty battlements
had shook;
3:102 But nothing here th' unwieldy
rock avails,
3:103 Rebounding harmless from the
plaited scales,
3:104 That, firmly join'd, preserv'd
him from a wound,
3:105 With native armour crusted all
around.
3:106 With more success, the dart unerring
flew,
3:107 Which at his back the raging
warriour threw;
3:108 Amid the plaited scales it took
its course,
3:109 And in the spinal marrow spent
its force.
3:110 The monster hiss'd aloud, and
rag'd in vain,
3:111 And writh'd his body to and fro
with pain;
3:112 He bit the dart, and wrench'd
the wood away;
3:113 The point still buried in the
marrow lay.
3:114 And now his rage, increasing
with his pain,
3:115 Reddens his eyes, and beats in
ev'ry vein;
3:116 Churn'd in his teeth the foamy
venom rose,
3:117 Whilst from his mouth a blast
of vapours flows,
3:118 Such as th' infernal Stygian
waters cast.
3:119 The plants around him wither
in the blast.
3:120 Now in a maze of rings he lies
enrowl'd,
3:121 Now all unravel'd, and without
a fold;
3:122 Now, like a torrent, with a mighty
force
3:123 Bears down the forest in his
boist'rous course.
3:124 Cadmus gave back, and on the
lion's spoil
3:125 Sustain'd the shock, then forc'd
him to recoil;
3:126 The pointed jav'lin warded off
his rage:
3:127 Mad with his pains, and furious
to engage,
3:128 The serpent champs the steel,
and bites the spear,
3:129 'Till blood and venom all the
point besmear.
3:130 But still the hurt he yet receiv'd
was slight;
3:131 For, whilst the champion with
redoubled might
3:132 Strikes home the jav'lin, his
retiring foe
3:133 Shrinks from the wound, and disappoints
the blow.
3:134 The dauntless heroe still pursues his stroke,
3:135 And presses forward, 'till a
knotty oak
3:136 Retards his foe, and stops him
in the rear;
3:137 Full in his throat he plung'd
the fatal spear,
3:138 That in th' extended neck a passage
found,
3:139 And pierc'd the solid timber
through the wound.
3:140 Fix'd to the reeling trunk, with
many a stroke
3:141 Of his huge tail he lash'd the
sturdy oak;
3:142 'Till spent with toil, and lab'ring
hard for breath,
3:143 He now lay twisting in the pangs
of death.
3:144 Cadmus beheld him wallow in a flood
3:145 Of swimming poison, intermix'd
with blood;
3:146 When suddenly a speech was heard
from high
3:147 (The speech was heard, nor was
the speaker nigh),
3:148 "Why dost thou thus with
secret pleasure see,
3:149 Insulting man! what thou thy
self shalt be?"
3:150 Astonish'd at the voice, he stood
amaz'd,
3:151 And all around with inward horror
gaz'd:
3:152 When Pallas swift descending
from the skies,
3:153 Pallas, the guardian of the bold
and wise,
3:154 Bids him plow up the field, and
scatter round
3:155 The dragon's teeth o'er all the
furrow'd ground;
3:156 Then tells the youth how to his
wond'ring eyes
3:157 Embattled armies from the field
should rise.
3:158 He sows the teeth at Pallas's command,
3:159 And flings the future people
from his hand.
3:160 The clods grow warm, and crumble
where he sows;
3:161 And now the pointed spears advance
in rows;
3:162 Now nodding plumes appear, and
shining crests,
3:163 Now the broad shoulders and the
rising breasts;
3:164 O'er all the field the breathing
harvest swarms,
3:165 A growing host, a crop of men
and arms.
3:166 So through the parting stage a figure rears
3:167 Its body up, and limb by limb
appears
3:168 By just degrees; 'till all the
man arise,
3:169 And in his full proportion strikes
the eyes.
3:170 Cadmus surpriz'd, and startled at the sight
3:171 Of his new foes, prepar'd himself
for fight:
3:172 When one cry'd out, "Forbear,
fond man, forbear
3:173 To mingle in a blind promiscuous
war."
3:174 This said, he struck his brother
to the ground,
3:175 Himself expiring by another's
wound;
3:176 Nor did the third his conquest
long survive,
3:177 Dying ere scarce he had begun
to live.
3:178 The dire example ran through all the field,
3:179 'Till heaps of brothers were
by brothers kill'd;
3:180 The furrows swam in blood: and
only five
3:181 Of all the vast increase were
left alive.
3:182 Echion one, at Pallas's command,
3:183 Let fall the guiltless weapon
from his hand,
3:184 And with the rest a peaceful
treaty makes,
3:185 Whom Cadmus as his friends and
partners takes;
3:186 So founds a city on the promis'd
earth,
3:187 And gives his new Boeotian empire
birth.
3:188 Here Cadmus reign'd; and now one would have
guess'd
3:189 The royal founder in his exile
blest:
3:190 Long did he live within his new
abodes,
3:191 Ally'd by marriage to the deathless
Gods;
3:192 And, in a fruitful wife's embraces
old,
3:193 A long increase of children's
children told:
3:194 But no frail man, however great
or high,
3:195 Can be concluded blest before
he die.
3:196 Actaeon was the first of all his race,
3:197 Who griev'd his grandsire in
his borrow'd face;
3:198 Condemn'd by stern Diana to bemoan
3:199 The branching horns, and visage
not his own;
3:200 To shun his once lov'd dogs,
to bound away,
3:201 And from their huntsman to become
their prey,
3:202 And yet consider why the change
was wrought,
3:203 You'll find it his misfortune,
not his fault;
3:204 Or, if a fault, it was the fault
of chance:
3:205 For how can guilt proceed from
ignorance?