Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Transformation of Actaeon into a Stag
3:206 In a fair chace a shady mountain stood,
3:207 Well stor'd with game, and mark'd
with trails of blood;
3:208 Here did the huntsmen, 'till
the heat of day,
3:209 Pursue the stag, and load themselves
with rey:
3:210 When thus Actaeon calling to
the rest:
3:211 "My friends," said
he, "our sport is at the best,
3:212 The sun is high advanc'd, and
downward sheds
3:213 His burning beams directly on
our heads;
3:214 Then by consent abstain from
further spoils,
3:215 Call off the dogs, and gather
up the toils,
3:216 And ere to-morrow's sun begins
his race,
3:217 Take the cool morning to renew
the chace."
3:218 They all consent, and in a chearful
train
3:219 The jolly huntsmen, loaden with
the slain,
3:220 Return in triumph from the sultry
plain.
3:221 Down in a vale with pine and cypress clad,
3:222 Refresh'd with gentle winds,
and brown with shade,
3:223 The chaste Diana's private haunt,
there stood
3:224 Full in the centre of the darksome
wood
3:225 A spacious grotto, all around
o'er-grown
3:226 With hoary moss, and arch'd with
pumice-stone.
3:227 From out its rocky clefts the
waters flow,
3:228 And trickling swell into a lake
below.
3:229 Nature had ev'ry where so plaid
her part,
3:230 That ev'ry where she seem'd to
vie with art.
3:231 Here the bright Goddess, toil'd
and chaf'd with heat,
3:232 Was wont to bathe her in the
cool retreat.
3:233 Here did she now with all her train resort,
3:234 Panting with heat, and breathless
from the sport;
3:235 Her armour-bearer laid her bow
aside,
3:236 Some loos'd her sandals, some
her veil unty'd;
3:237 Each busy nymph her proper part
undrest;
3:238 While Crocale, more handy than
the rest,
3:239 Gather'd her flowing hair, and
in a noose
3:240 Bound it together, whilst her
own hung loose.
3:241 Five of the more ignoble sort
by turns
3:242 Fetch up the water, and unlade
the urns.
3:243 Now all undrest the shining Goddess stood,
3:244 When young Actaeon, wilder'd
in the wood,
3:245 To the cool grott by his hard
fate betray'd,
3:246 The fountains fill'd with naked
nymphs survey'd.
3:247 The frighted virgins shriek'd
at the surprize
3:248 (The forest echo'd with their
piercing cries).
3:249 Then in a huddle round their
Goddess prest:
3:250 She, proudly eminent above the
rest,
3:251 With blushes glow'd; such blushes
as adorn
3:252 The ruddy welkin, or the purple
morn;
3:253 And tho' the crowding nymphs
her body hide,
3:254 Half backward shrunk, and view'd
him from a side.
3:255 Surpriz'd, at first she would
have snatch'd her bow,
3:256 But sees the circling waters
round her flow;
3:257 These in the hollow of her hand
she took,
3:258 And dash'd 'em in his face, while
thus she spoke:
3:259 "Tell, if thou can'st, the
wond'rous sight disclos'd,
3:260 A Goddess naked to thy view expos'd."
3:261 This said, the man begun to disappear
3:262 By slow degrees, and ended in
a deer.
3:263 A rising horn on either brow
he wears,
3:264 And stretches out his neck, and
pricks his ears;
3:265 Rough is his skin, with sudden
hairs o'er-grown,
3:266 His bosom pants with fears before
unknown:
3:267 Transform'd at length, he flies
away in haste,
3:268 And wonders why he flies away
so fast.
3:269 But as by chance, within a neighb'ring
brook,
3:270 He saw his branching horns and
alter'd look.
3:271 Wretched Actaeon! in a doleful
tone
3:272 He try'd to speak, but only gave
a groan;
3:273 And as he wept, within the watry
glass
3:274 He saw the big round drops, with
silent pace,
3:275 Run trickling down a savage hairy
face.
3:276 What should he do? Or seek his
old abodes,
3:277 Or herd among the deer, and sculk
in woods!
3:278 Here shame dissuades him, there
his fear prevails,
3:279 And each by turns his aking heart
assails.
3:280 As he thus ponders, he behind him spies
3:281 His op'ning hounds, and now he
hears their cries:
3:282 A gen'rous pack, or to maintain
the chace,
3:283 Or snuff the vapour from the
scented grass.
3:284 He bounded off with fear, and swiftly ran
3:285 O'er craggy mountains, and the
flow'ry plain;
3:286 Through brakes and thickets forc'd
his way, and flew
3:287 Through many a ring, where once
he did pursue.
3:288 In vain he oft endeavour'd to
proclaim
3:289 His new misfortune, and to tell
his name;
3:290 Nor voice nor words the brutal
tongue supplies;
3:291 From shouting men, and horns,
and dogs he flies,
3:292 Deafen'd and stunn'd with their
promiscuous cries.
3:293 When now the fleetest of the
pack, that prest
3:294 Close at his heels, and sprung
before the rest,
3:295 Had fasten'd on him, straight
another pair,
3:296 Hung on his wounded haunch, and
held him there,
3:297 'Till all the pack came up, and
ev'ry hound
3:298 Tore the sad huntsman grov'ling
on the ground,
3:299 Who now appear'd but one continu'd
wound.
3:300 With dropping tears his bitter
fate he moans,
3:301 And fills the mountain with his
dying groans.
3:302 His servants with a piteous look
he spies,
3:303 And turns about his supplicating
eyes.
3:304 His servants, ignorant of what
had chanc'd,
3:305 With eager haste and joyful shouts
advanc'd,
3:306 And call'd their lord Actaeon
to the game.
3:307 He shook his head in answer to
the name;
3:308 He heard, but wish'd he had indeed
been gone,
3:309 Or only to have stood a looker-on.
3:310 But to his grief he finds himself
too near,
3:311 And feels his rav'nous dogs with
fury tear
3:312 Their wretched master panting
in a deer.
Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Transformation of Actaeon into a Stag
3:206 In a fair chace a shady mountain stood,
3:207 Well stor'd with game, and mark'd
with trails of blood;
3:208 Here did the huntsmen, 'till
the heat of day,
3:209 Pursue the stag, and load themselves
with rey:
3:210 When thus Actaeon calling to
the rest:
3:211 "My friends," said
he, "our sport is at the best,
3:212 The sun is high advanc'd, and
downward sheds
3:213 His burning beams directly on
our heads;
3:214 Then by consent abstain from
further spoils,
3:215 Call off the dogs, and gather
up the toils,
3:216 And ere to-morrow's sun begins
his race,
3:217 Take the cool morning to renew
the chace."
3:218 They all consent, and in a chearful
train
3:219 The jolly huntsmen, loaden with
the slain,
3:220 Return in triumph from the sultry
plain.
3:221 Down in a vale with pine and cypress clad,
3:222 Refresh'd with gentle winds,
and brown with shade,
3:223 The chaste Diana's private haunt,
there stood
3:224 Full in the centre of the darksome
wood
3:225 A spacious grotto, all around
o'er-grown
3:226 With hoary moss, and arch'd with
pumice-stone.
3:227 From out its rocky clefts the
waters flow,
3:228 And trickling swell into a lake
below.
3:229 Nature had ev'ry where so plaid
her part,
3:230 That ev'ry where she seem'd to
vie with art.
3:231 Here the bright Goddess, toil'd
and chaf'd with heat,
3:232 Was wont to bathe her in the
cool retreat.
3:233 Here did she now with all her train resort,
3:234 Panting with heat, and breathless
from the sport;
3:235 Her armour-bearer laid her bow
aside,
3:236 Some loos'd her sandals, some
her veil unty'd;
3:237 Each busy nymph her proper part
undrest;
3:238 While Crocale, more handy than
the rest,
3:239 Gather'd her flowing hair, and
in a noose
3:240 Bound it together, whilst her
own hung loose.
3:241 Five of the more ignoble sort
by turns
3:242 Fetch up the water, and unlade
the urns.
3:243 Now all undrest the shining Goddess stood,
3:244 When young Actaeon, wilder'd
in the wood,
3:245 To the cool grott by his hard
fate betray'd,
3:246 The fountains fill'd with naked
nymphs survey'd.
3:247 The frighted virgins shriek'd
at the surprize
3:248 (The forest echo'd with their
piercing cries).
3:249 Then in a huddle round their
Goddess prest:
3:250 She, proudly eminent above the
rest,
3:251 With blushes glow'd; such blushes
as adorn
3:252 The ruddy welkin, or the purple
morn;
3:253 And tho' the crowding nymphs
her body hide,
3:254 Half backward shrunk, and view'd
him from a side.
3:255 Surpriz'd, at first she would
have snatch'd her bow,
3:256 But sees the circling waters
round her flow;
3:257 These in the hollow of her hand
she took,
3:258 And dash'd 'em in his face, while
thus she spoke:
3:259 "Tell, if thou can'st, the
wond'rous sight disclos'd,
3:260 A Goddess naked to thy view expos'd."
3:261 This said, the man begun to disappear
3:262 By slow degrees, and ended in
a deer.
3:263 A rising horn on either brow
he wears,
3:264 And stretches out his neck, and
pricks his ears;
3:265 Rough is his skin, with sudden
hairs o'er-grown,
3:266 His bosom pants with fears before
unknown:
3:267 Transform'd at length, he flies
away in haste,
3:268 And wonders why he flies away
so fast.
3:269 But as by chance, within a neighb'ring
brook,
3:270 He saw his branching horns and
alter'd look.
3:271 Wretched Actaeon! in a doleful
tone
3:272 He try'd to speak, but only gave
a groan;
3:273 And as he wept, within the watry
glass
3:274 He saw the big round drops, with
silent pace,
3:275 Run trickling down a savage hairy
face.
3:276 What should he do? Or seek his
old abodes,
3:277 Or herd among the deer, and sculk
in woods!
3:278 Here shame dissuades him, there
his fear prevails,
3:279 And each by turns his aking heart
assails.
3:280 As he thus ponders, he behind him spies
3:281 His op'ning hounds, and now he
hears their cries:
3:282 A gen'rous pack, or to maintain
the chace,
3:283 Or snuff the vapour from the
scented grass.
3:284 He bounded off with fear, and swiftly ran
3:285 O'er craggy mountains, and the
flow'ry plain;
3:286 Through brakes and thickets forc'd
his way, and flew
3:287 Through many a ring, where once
he did pursue.
3:288 In vain he oft endeavour'd to
proclaim
3:289 His new misfortune, and to tell
his name;
3:290 Nor voice nor words the brutal
tongue supplies;
3:291 From shouting men, and horns,
and dogs he flies,
3:292 Deafen'd and stunn'd with their
promiscuous cries.
3:293 When now the fleetest of the
pack, that prest
3:294 Close at his heels, and sprung
before the rest,
3:295 Had fasten'd on him, straight
another pair,
3:296 Hung on his wounded haunch, and
held him there,
3:297 'Till all the pack came up, and
ev'ry hound
3:298 Tore the sad huntsman grov'ling
on the ground,
3:299 Who now appear'd but one continu'd
wound.
3:300 With dropping tears his bitter
fate he moans,
3:301 And fills the mountain with his
dying groans.
3:302 His servants with a piteous look
he spies,
3:303 And turns about his supplicating
eyes.
3:304 His servants, ignorant of what
had chanc'd,
3:305 With eager haste and joyful shouts
advanc'd,
3:306 And call'd their lord Actaeon
to the game.
3:307 He shook his head in answer to
the name;
3:308 He heard, but wish'd he had indeed
been gone,
3:309 Or only to have stood a looker-on.
3:310 But to his grief he finds himself
too near,
3:311 And feels his rav'nous dogs with
fury tear
3:312 Their wretched master panting
in a deer.