Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Story of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus
4:439 How Salmacis, with weak enfeebling streams
4:440 Softens the body, and unnerves
the limbs,
4:441 And what the secret cause, shall
here be shown;
4:442 The cause is secret, but th'
effect is known.
4:443 The Naids nurst an infant heretofore,
4:444 That Cytherea once to Hermes
bore:
4:445 From both th' illustrious authors
of his race
4:446 The child was nam'd, nor was
it hard to trace
4:447 Both the bright parents thro'
the infant's face.
4:448 When fifteen years in Ida's cool
retreat
4:449 The boy had told, he left his
native seat,
4:450 And sought fresh fountains in
a foreign soil:
4:451 The pleasure lessen'd the attending
toil,
4:452 With eager steps the Lycian fields
he crost,
4:453 A river here he view'd so lovely
bright,
4:454 It shew'd the bottom in a fairer
light,
4:455 Nor kept a sand conceal'd from
human sight.
4:456 The stream produc'd nor slimy
ooze, nor weeds,
4:457 Nor miry rushes, nor the spiky
reeds;
4:458 But dealt enriching moisture
all around,
4:459 The fruitful banks with chearful
verdure crown'd,
4:460 And kept the spring eternal on
the ground.
4:461 A nymph presides, not practis'd
in the chace,
4:462 Nor skilful at the bow, nor at
the race;
4:463 Of all the blue-ey'd daughters
of the main,
4:464 The only stranger to Diana's
train:
4:465 Her sisters often, as 'tis said,
wou'd cry,
4:466 "Fie Salmacis: what, always
idle! fie.
4:467 Or take thy quiver, or thy arrows
seize,
4:468 And mix the toils of hunting
with thy ease."
4:469 Nor quiver she nor arrows e'er
wou'd seize,
4:470 Nor mix the toils of hunting
with her ease.
4:471 But oft would bathe her in the
chrystal tide,
4:472 Oft with a comb her dewy locks
divide;
4:473 Now in the limpid streams she
views her face,
4:474 And drest her image in the floating
glass:
4:475 On beds of leaves she now repos'd
her limbs,
4:476 Now gather'd flow'rs that grew
about her streams,
4:477 And then by chance was gathering,
as he stood
4:478 To view the boy, and long'd for
what she view'd.
4:479 Fain wou'd she meet the youth with hasty
feet,
4:480 She fain wou'd meet him, but
refus'd to meet
4:481 Before her looks were set with
nicest care,
4:482 And well deserv'd to be reputed
fair.
4:483 "Bright youth," she
cries, "whom all thy features prove
4:484 A God, and, if a God, the God
of love;
4:485 But if a mortal, blest thy nurse's
breast,
4:486 Blest are thy parents, and thy
sisters blest:
4:487 But oh how blest! how more than
blest thy bride,
4:488 Ally'd in bliss, if any yet ally'd.
4:489 If so, let mine the stoln enjoyments
be;
4:490 If not, behold a willing bride
in me."
4:491 The boy knew nought of love, and toucht with
shame,
4:492 He strove, and blusht, but still
the blush became:
4:493 In rising blushes still fresh
beauties rose;
4:494 The sunny side of fruit such
blushes shows,
4:495 And such the moon, when all her
silver white
4:496 Turns in eclipses to a ruddy
light.
4:497 The nymph still begs, if not
a nobler bliss,
4:498 A cold salute at least, a sister's
kiss:
4:499 And now prepares to take the
lovely boy
4:500 Between her arms. He, innocently
coy,
4:501 Replies, "Or leave me to
my self alone,
4:502 You rude uncivil nymph, or I'll
be gone."
4:503 "Fair stranger then,"
says she, "it shall be so";
4:504 And, for she fear'd his threats,
she feign'd to go:
4:505 But hid within a covert's neighbouring
green,
4:506 She kept him still in sight,
herself unseen.
4:507 The boy now fancies all the danger
o'er,
4:508 And innocently sports about the
shore,
4:509 Playful and wanton to the stream
he trips,
4:510 And dips his foot, and shivers
as he dips.
4:511 The coolness pleas'd him, and
with eager haste
4:512 His airy garments on the banks
he cast;
4:513 His godlike features, and his
heav'nly hue,
4:514 And all his beauties were expos'd
to view.
4:515 His naked limbs the nymph with
rapture spies,
4:516 While hotter passions in her
bosom rise,
4:517 Flush in her cheeks, and sparkle
in her eyes.
4:518 She longs, she burns to clasp
him in her arms,
4:519 And looks, and sighs, and kindles
at his charms.
4:520 Now all undrest upon the banks he stood,
4:521 And clapt his sides, and leapt
into the flood:
4:522 His lovely limbs the silver waves
divide,
4:523 His limbs appear more lovely
through the tide;
4:524 As lillies shut within a chrystal
case,
4:525 Receive a glossy lustre from
the glass.
4:526 He's mine, he's all my own, the
Naid cries,
4:527 And flings off all, and after
him she flies.
4:528 And now she fastens on him as
he swims,
4:529 And holds him close, and wraps
about his limbs.
4:530 The more the boy resisted, and
was coy,
4:531 The more she clipt, and kist
the strugling boy.
4:532 So when the wrigling snake is
snatcht on high
4:533 In Eagle's claws, and hisses
in the sky,
4:534 Around the foe his twirling tail
he flings,
4:535 And twists her legs, and wriths
about her wings.
4:536 The restless boy still obstinately strove
4:537 To free himself, and still refus'd
her love.
4:538 Amidst his limbs she kept her
limbs intwin'd,
4:539 "And why, coy youth,"
she cries, "why thus unkind!
4:540 Oh may the Gods thus keep us
ever join'd!
4:541 Oh may we never, never part again!"
4:542 So pray'd the nymph, nor did she pray in
vain:
4:543 For now she finds him, as his
limbs she prest,
4:544 Grow nearer still, and nearer
to her breast;
4:545 'Till, piercing each the other's
flesh, they run
4:546 Together, and incorporate in
one:
4:547 Last in one face are both their
faces join'd,
4:548 As when the stock and grafted
twig combin'd
4:549 Shoot up the same, and wear a
common rind:
4:550 Both bodies in a single body
mix,
4:551 A single body with a double sex.
4:552 The boy, thus lost in woman, now survey'd
4:553 The river's guilty stream, and
thus he pray'd.
4:554 (He pray'd, but wonder'd at his
softer tone,
4:555 Surpriz'd to hear a voice but
half his own.)
4:556 You parent-Gods, whose heav'nly
names I bear,
4:557 Hear your Hermaphrodite, and
grant my pray'r;
4:558 Oh grant, that whomsoe'er these
streams contain,
4:559 If man he enter'd, he may rise
again
4:560 Supple, unsinew'd, and but half
a man!
4:561 The heav'nly parents answer'd from on high,
4:562 Their two-shap'd son, the double
votary
4:563 Then gave a secret virtue to
the flood,
4:564 And ting'd its source to make
his wishes good.
Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Story of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus
4:439 How Salmacis, with weak enfeebling streams
4:440 Softens the body, and unnerves
the limbs,
4:441 And what the secret cause, shall
here be shown;
4:442 The cause is secret, but th'
effect is known.
4:443 The Naids nurst an infant heretofore,
4:444 That Cytherea once to Hermes
bore:
4:445 From both th' illustrious authors
of his race
4:446 The child was nam'd, nor was
it hard to trace
4:447 Both the bright parents thro'
the infant's face.
4:448 When fifteen years in Ida's cool
retreat
4:449 The boy had told, he left his
native seat,
4:450 And sought fresh fountains in
a foreign soil:
4:451 The pleasure lessen'd the attending
toil,
4:452 With eager steps the Lycian fields
he crost,
4:453 A river here he view'd so lovely
bright,
4:454 It shew'd the bottom in a fairer
light,
4:455 Nor kept a sand conceal'd from
human sight.
4:456 The stream produc'd nor slimy
ooze, nor weeds,
4:457 Nor miry rushes, nor the spiky
reeds;
4:458 But dealt enriching moisture
all around,
4:459 The fruitful banks with chearful
verdure crown'd,
4:460 And kept the spring eternal on
the ground.
4:461 A nymph presides, not practis'd
in the chace,
4:462 Nor skilful at the bow, nor at
the race;
4:463 Of all the blue-ey'd daughters
of the main,
4:464 The only stranger to Diana's
train:
4:465 Her sisters often, as 'tis said,
wou'd cry,
4:466 "Fie Salmacis: what, always
idle! fie.
4:467 Or take thy quiver, or thy arrows
seize,
4:468 And mix the toils of hunting
with thy ease."
4:469 Nor quiver she nor arrows e'er
wou'd seize,
4:470 Nor mix the toils of hunting
with her ease.
4:471 But oft would bathe her in the
chrystal tide,
4:472 Oft with a comb her dewy locks
divide;
4:473 Now in the limpid streams she
views her face,
4:474 And drest her image in the floating
glass:
4:475 On beds of leaves she now repos'd
her limbs,
4:476 Now gather'd flow'rs that grew
about her streams,
4:477 And then by chance was gathering,
as he stood
4:478 To view the boy, and long'd for
what she view'd.
4:479 Fain wou'd she meet the youth with hasty
feet,
4:480 She fain wou'd meet him, but
refus'd to meet
4:481 Before her looks were set with
nicest care,
4:482 And well deserv'd to be reputed
fair.
4:483 "Bright youth," she
cries, "whom all thy features prove
4:484 A God, and, if a God, the God
of love;
4:485 But if a mortal, blest thy nurse's
breast,
4:486 Blest are thy parents, and thy
sisters blest:
4:487 But oh how blest! how more than
blest thy bride,
4:488 Ally'd in bliss, if any yet ally'd.
4:489 If so, let mine the stoln enjoyments
be;
4:490 If not, behold a willing bride
in me."
4:491 The boy knew nought of love, and toucht with
shame,
4:492 He strove, and blusht, but still
the blush became:
4:493 In rising blushes still fresh
beauties rose;
4:494 The sunny side of fruit such
blushes shows,
4:495 And such the moon, when all her
silver white
4:496 Turns in eclipses to a ruddy
light.
4:497 The nymph still begs, if not
a nobler bliss,
4:498 A cold salute at least, a sister's
kiss:
4:499 And now prepares to take the
lovely boy
4:500 Between her arms. He, innocently
coy,
4:501 Replies, "Or leave me to
my self alone,
4:502 You rude uncivil nymph, or I'll
be gone."
4:503 "Fair stranger then,"
says she, "it shall be so";
4:504 And, for she fear'd his threats,
she feign'd to go:
4:505 But hid within a covert's neighbouring
green,
4:506 She kept him still in sight,
herself unseen.
4:507 The boy now fancies all the danger
o'er,
4:508 And innocently sports about the
shore,
4:509 Playful and wanton to the stream
he trips,
4:510 And dips his foot, and shivers
as he dips.
4:511 The coolness pleas'd him, and
with eager haste
4:512 His airy garments on the banks
he cast;
4:513 His godlike features, and his
heav'nly hue,
4:514 And all his beauties were expos'd
to view.
4:515 His naked limbs the nymph with
rapture spies,
4:516 While hotter passions in her
bosom rise,
4:517 Flush in her cheeks, and sparkle
in her eyes.
4:518 She longs, she burns to clasp
him in her arms,
4:519 And looks, and sighs, and kindles
at his charms.
4:520 Now all undrest upon the banks he stood,
4:521 And clapt his sides, and leapt
into the flood:
4:522 His lovely limbs the silver waves
divide,
4:523 His limbs appear more lovely
through the tide;
4:524 As lillies shut within a chrystal
case,
4:525 Receive a glossy lustre from
the glass.
4:526 He's mine, he's all my own, the
Naid cries,
4:527 And flings off all, and after
him she flies.
4:528 And now she fastens on him as
he swims,
4:529 And holds him close, and wraps
about his limbs.
4:530 The more the boy resisted, and
was coy,
4:531 The more she clipt, and kist
the strugling boy.
4:532 So when the wrigling snake is
snatcht on high
4:533 In Eagle's claws, and hisses
in the sky,
4:534 Around the foe his twirling tail
he flings,
4:535 And twists her legs, and wriths
about her wings.
4:536 The restless boy still obstinately strove
4:537 To free himself, and still refus'd
her love.
4:538 Amidst his limbs she kept her
limbs intwin'd,
4:539 "And why, coy youth,"
she cries, "why thus unkind!
4:540 Oh may the Gods thus keep us
ever join'd!
4:541 Oh may we never, never part again!"
4:542 So pray'd the nymph, nor did she pray in
vain:
4:543 For now she finds him, as his
limbs she prest,
4:544 Grow nearer still, and nearer
to her breast;
4:545 'Till, piercing each the other's
flesh, they run
4:546 Together, and incorporate in
one:
4:547 Last in one face are both their
faces join'd,
4:548 As when the stock and grafted
twig combin'd
4:549 Shoot up the same, and wear a
common rind:
4:550 Both bodies in a single body
mix,
4:551 A single body with a double sex.
4:552 The boy, thus lost in woman, now survey'd
4:553 The river's guilty stream, and
thus he pray'd.
4:554 (He pray'd, but wonder'd at his
softer tone,
4:555 Surpriz'd to hear a voice but
half his own.)
4:556 You parent-Gods, whose heav'nly
names I bear,
4:557 Hear your Hermaphrodite, and
grant my pray'r;
4:558 Oh grant, that whomsoe'er these
streams contain,
4:559 If man he enter'd, he may rise
again
4:560 Supple, unsinew'd, and but half
a man!
4:561 The heav'nly parents answer'd from on high,
4:562 Their two-shap'd son, the double
votary
4:563 Then gave a secret virtue to
the flood,
4:564 And ting'd its source to make
his wishes good.