Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Transformation of Echo
3:444 Fam'd far and near for knowing things to
come,
3:445 From him th' enquiring nations
sought their doom;
3:446 The fair Liriope his answers
try'd,
3:447 And first th' unerring prophet
justify'd.
3:448 This nymph the God Cephisus had
abus'd,
3:449 With all his winding waters circumfus'd,
3:450 And on the Nereid got a lovely
boy,
3:451 Whom the soft maids ev'n then
beheld with joy.
3:452 The tender dame, sollicitous to know
3:453 Whether her child should reach
old age or no,
3:454 Consults the sage Tiresias, who
replies,
3:455 "If e'er he knows himself
he surely dies."
3:456 Long liv'd the dubious mother
in suspence,
3:457 'Till time unriddled all the
prophet's sense.
3:458 Narcissus now his sixteenth year began,
3:459 Just turn'd of boy, and on the
verge of man;
3:460 Many a friend the blooming youth
caress'd,
3:461 Many a love-sick maid her flame
confess'd:
3:462 Such was his pride, in vain the
friend caress'd,
3:463 The love-sick maid in vain her
flame confess'd.
3:464 Once, in the woods, as he pursu'd the chace,
3:465 The babbling Echo had descry'd
his face;
3:466 She, who in others' words her
silence breaks,
3:467 Nor speaks her self but when
another speaks.
3:468 Echo was then a maid, of speech
bereft,
3:469 Of wonted speech; for tho' her
voice was left,
3:470 Juno a curse did on her tongue
impose,
3:471 To sport with ev'ry sentence
in the close.
3:472 Full often when the Goddess might
have caught
3:473 Jove and her rivals in the very
fault,
3:474 This nymph with subtle stories
would delay
3:475 Her coming, 'till the lovers
slip'd away.
3:476 The Goddess found out the deceit
in time,
3:477 And then she cry'd, "That
tongue, for this thy crime,
3:478 Which could so many subtle tales
produce,
3:479 Shall be hereafter but of little
use."
3:480 Hence 'tis she prattles in a
fainter tone,
3:481 With mimick sounds, and accents
not her own.
3:482 This love-sick virgin, over-joy'd to find
3:483 The boy alone, still follow'd
him behind:
3:484 When glowing warmly at her near
approach,
3:485 As sulphur blazes at the taper's
touch,
3:486 She long'd her hidden passion
to reveal,
3:487 And tell her pains, but had not
words to tell:
3:488 She can't begin, but waits for
the rebound,
3:489 To catch his voice, and to return
the sound.
3:490 The nymph, when nothing could Narcissus move,
3:491 Still dash'd with blushes for
her slighted love,
3:492 Liv'd in the shady covert of
the woods,
3:493 In solitary caves and dark abodes;
3:494 Where pining wander'd the rejected
fair,
3:495 'Till harrass'd out, and worn
away with care,
3:496 The sounding skeleton, of blood
bereft,
3:497 Besides her bones and voice had
nothing left.
3:498 Her bones are petrify'd, her
voice is found
3:499 In vaults, where still it doubles
ev'ry sound.
Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Transformation of Echo
3:444 Fam'd far and near for knowing things to
come,
3:445 From him th' enquiring nations
sought their doom;
3:446 The fair Liriope his answers
try'd,
3:447 And first th' unerring prophet
justify'd.
3:448 This nymph the God Cephisus had
abus'd,
3:449 With all his winding waters circumfus'd,
3:450 And on the Nereid got a lovely
boy,
3:451 Whom the soft maids ev'n then
beheld with joy.
3:452 The tender dame, sollicitous to know
3:453 Whether her child should reach
old age or no,
3:454 Consults the sage Tiresias, who
replies,
3:455 "If e'er he knows himself
he surely dies."
3:456 Long liv'd the dubious mother
in suspence,
3:457 'Till time unriddled all the
prophet's sense.
3:458 Narcissus now his sixteenth year began,
3:459 Just turn'd of boy, and on the
verge of man;
3:460 Many a friend the blooming youth
caress'd,
3:461 Many a love-sick maid her flame
confess'd:
3:462 Such was his pride, in vain the
friend caress'd,
3:463 The love-sick maid in vain her
flame confess'd.
3:464 Once, in the woods, as he pursu'd the chace,
3:465 The babbling Echo had descry'd
his face;
3:466 She, who in others' words her
silence breaks,
3:467 Nor speaks her self but when
another speaks.
3:468 Echo was then a maid, of speech
bereft,
3:469 Of wonted speech; for tho' her
voice was left,
3:470 Juno a curse did on her tongue
impose,
3:471 To sport with ev'ry sentence
in the close.
3:472 Full often when the Goddess might
have caught
3:473 Jove and her rivals in the very
fault,
3:474 This nymph with subtle stories
would delay
3:475 Her coming, 'till the lovers
slip'd away.
3:476 The Goddess found out the deceit
in time,
3:477 And then she cry'd, "That
tongue, for this thy crime,
3:478 Which could so many subtle tales
produce,
3:479 Shall be hereafter but of little
use."
3:480 Hence 'tis she prattles in a
fainter tone,
3:481 With mimick sounds, and accents
not her own.
3:482 This love-sick virgin, over-joy'd to find
3:483 The boy alone, still follow'd
him behind:
3:484 When glowing warmly at her near
approach,
3:485 As sulphur blazes at the taper's
touch,
3:486 She long'd her hidden passion
to reveal,
3:487 And tell her pains, but had not
words to tell:
3:488 She can't begin, but waits for
the rebound,
3:489 To catch his voice, and to return
the sound.
3:490 The nymph, when nothing could Narcissus move,
3:491 Still dash'd with blushes for
her slighted love,
3:492 Liv'd in the shady covert of
the woods,
3:493 In solitary caves and dark abodes;
3:494 Where pining wander'd the rejected
fair,
3:495 'Till harrass'd out, and worn
away with care,
3:496 The sounding skeleton, of blood
bereft,
3:497 Besides her bones and voice had
nothing left.
3:498 Her bones are petrify'd, her
voice is found
3:499 In vaults, where still it doubles
ev'ry sound.