Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Transformation of Tiresias
3:412 'Twas now, while these transactions past
on Earth,
3:413 And Bacchus thus procur'd a second
birth,
3:414 When Jove, dispos'd to lay aside
the weight
3:415 Of publick empire and the cares
of state,
3:416 As to his queen in nectar bowls
he quaff'd,
3:417 "In troth," says he,
and as he spoke he laugh'd,
3:418 "The sense of pleasure in
the male is far
3:419 More dull and dead, than what
you females share."
3:420 Juno the truth of what was said
deny'd;
3:421 Tiresias therefore must the cause
decide,
3:422 For he the pleasure of each sex
had try'd.
3:423 It happen'd once, within a shady wood,
3:424 Two twisted snakes he in conjunction
view'd,
3:425 When with his staff their slimy
folds he broke,
3:426 And lost his manhood at the fatal
stroke.
3:427 But, after seven revolving years,
he view'd
3:428 The self-same serpents in the
self-same wood:
3:429 "And if," says he,
"such virtue in you lye,
3:430 That he who dares your slimy
folds untie
3:431 Must change his kind, a second
stroke I'll try."
3:432 Again he struck the snakes, and
stood again
3:433 New-sex'd, and strait recover'd
into man.
3:434 Him therefore both the deities
create
3:435 The sov'raign umpire, in their
grand debate;
3:436 And he declar'd for Jove: when
Juno fir'd,
3:437 More than so trivial an affair
requir'd,
3:438 Depriv'd him, in her fury, of
his sight,
3:439 And left him groping round in
sudden night.
3:440 But Jove (for so it is in Heav'n
decreed,
3:441 That no one God repeal another's
deed)
3:442 Irradiates all his soul with
inward light,
3:443 And with the prophet's art relieves
the want of sight.
Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Transformation of Tiresias
3:412 'Twas now, while these transactions past
on Earth,
3:413 And Bacchus thus procur'd a second
birth,
3:414 When Jove, dispos'd to lay aside
the weight
3:415 Of publick empire and the cares
of state,
3:416 As to his queen in nectar bowls
he quaff'd,
3:417 "In troth," says he,
and as he spoke he laugh'd,
3:418 "The sense of pleasure in
the male is far
3:419 More dull and dead, than what
you females share."
3:420 Juno the truth of what was said
deny'd;
3:421 Tiresias therefore must the cause
decide,
3:422 For he the pleasure of each sex
had try'd.
3:423 It happen'd once, within a shady wood,
3:424 Two twisted snakes he in conjunction
view'd,
3:425 When with his staff their slimy
folds he broke,
3:426 And lost his manhood at the fatal
stroke.
3:427 But, after seven revolving years,
he view'd
3:428 The self-same serpents in the
self-same wood:
3:429 "And if," says he,
"such virtue in you lye,
3:430 That he who dares your slimy
folds untie
3:431 Must change his kind, a second
stroke I'll try."
3:432 Again he struck the snakes, and
stood again
3:433 New-sex'd, and strait recover'd
into man.
3:434 Him therefore both the deities
create
3:435 The sov'raign umpire, in their
grand debate;
3:436 And he declar'd for Jove: when
Juno fir'd,
3:437 More than so trivial an affair
requir'd,
3:438 Depriv'd him, in her fury, of
his sight,
3:439 And left him groping round in
sudden night.
3:440 But Jove (for so it is in Heav'n
decreed,
3:441 That no one God repeal another's
deed)
3:442 Irradiates all his soul with
inward light,
3:443 And with the prophet's art relieves
the want of sight.