Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
Cadmus and his Queen transform'd to Serpents
4:823 Mean-time, the wretched Cadmus mourns, nor
knows,
4:824 That they who mortal fell, immortal
rose.
4:825 With a long series of new ills
opprest,
4:826 He droops, and all the man forsakes
his breast.
4:827 Strange prodigies confound his
frighted eyes;
4:828 From the fair city, which he
rais'd, he flies:
4:829 As if misfortune not pursu'd
his race,
4:830 But only hung o'er that devoted
place.
4:831 Resolv'd by sea to seek some
distant land,
4:832 At last he safely gain'd th'
Illyrian strand.
4:833 Chearless himself, his consort
still he chears,
4:834 Hoary, and loaden'd both with
woes and years.
4:835 Then to recount past sorrows
they begin,
4:836 And trace them to the gloomy
origin.
4:837 That serpent sure was hallow'd,
Cadmus cry'd,
4:838 Which once my spear transfix'd
with foolish pride;
4:839 When the big teeth, a seed before
unknown,
4:840 By me along the wond'ring glebe
were sown,
4:841 And sprouting armies by themselves
o'erthrown.
4:842 If thence the wrath of Heav'n
on me is bent,
4:843 May Heav'n conclude it with one
sad event;
4:844 To an extended serpent change
the man:
4:845 And while he spoke, the wish'd-for
change began.
4:846 His skin with sea-green spots
was vary'd 'round,
4:847 And on his belly prone he prest
the ground.
4:848 He glitter'd soon with many a
golden scale,
4:849 And his shrunk legs clos'd in
a spiry tail.
4:850 Arms yet remain'd, remaining
arms he spread
4:851 To his lov'd wife, and human
tears yet shed.
4:852 Come, my Harmonia, come, thy
face recline
4:853 Down to my face; still touch,
what still is mine.
4:854 O! let these hands, while hands,
be gently prest,
4:855 While yet the serpent has not
all possest.
4:856 More he had spoke, but strove
to speak in vain,
4:857 The forky tongue refus'd to tell
his pain,
4:858 And learn'd in hissings only
to complain.
4:859 Then shriek'd Harmonia, Stay, my Cadmus,
stay,
4:860 Glide not in such a monstrous
shape away!
4:861 Destruction, like impetuous waves,
rouls on.
4:862 Where are thy feet, thy legs,
thy shoulders gone?
4:863 Chang'd is thy visage, chang'd
is all thy frame;
4:864 Cadmus is only Cadmus now in
name.
4:865 Ye Gods, my Cadmus to himself
restore,
4:866 Or me like him transform; I ask
no more.
4:867 The husband-serpent show'd he still had thought,
4:868 With wonted fondness an embrace
he sought;
4:869 Play'd 'round her neck in many
a harmless twist,
4:870 And lick'd that bosom, which,
a man, he kist.
4:871 The lookers-on (for lookers-on
there were)
4:872 Shock'd at the sight, half-dy'd
away with fear.
4:873 The transformation was again
renew'd,
4:874 And, like the husband, chang'd
the wife they view'd.
4:875 Both, serpents now, with fold
involv'd in fold,
4:876 To the next covert amicably roul'd.
4:877 There curl'd they lie, or wave
along the green,
4:878 Fearless see men, by men are
fearless seen,
4:879 Still mild, and conscious what
they once have been.
Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
Cadmus and his Queen transform'd to Serpents
4:823 Mean-time, the wretched Cadmus mourns, nor
knows,
4:824 That they who mortal fell, immortal
rose.
4:825 With a long series of new ills
opprest,
4:826 He droops, and all the man forsakes
his breast.
4:827 Strange prodigies confound his
frighted eyes;
4:828 From the fair city, which he
rais'd, he flies:
4:829 As if misfortune not pursu'd
his race,
4:830 But only hung o'er that devoted
place.
4:831 Resolv'd by sea to seek some
distant land,
4:832 At last he safely gain'd th'
Illyrian strand.
4:833 Chearless himself, his consort
still he chears,
4:834 Hoary, and loaden'd both with
woes and years.
4:835 Then to recount past sorrows
they begin,
4:836 And trace them to the gloomy
origin.
4:837 That serpent sure was hallow'd,
Cadmus cry'd,
4:838 Which once my spear transfix'd
with foolish pride;
4:839 When the big teeth, a seed before
unknown,
4:840 By me along the wond'ring glebe
were sown,
4:841 And sprouting armies by themselves
o'erthrown.
4:842 If thence the wrath of Heav'n
on me is bent,
4:843 May Heav'n conclude it with one
sad event;
4:844 To an extended serpent change
the man:
4:845 And while he spoke, the wish'd-for
change began.
4:846 His skin with sea-green spots
was vary'd 'round,
4:847 And on his belly prone he prest
the ground.
4:848 He glitter'd soon with many a
golden scale,
4:849 And his shrunk legs clos'd in
a spiry tail.
4:850 Arms yet remain'd, remaining
arms he spread
4:851 To his lov'd wife, and human
tears yet shed.
4:852 Come, my Harmonia, come, thy
face recline
4:853 Down to my face; still touch,
what still is mine.
4:854 O! let these hands, while hands,
be gently prest,
4:855 While yet the serpent has not
all possest.
4:856 More he had spoke, but strove
to speak in vain,
4:857 The forky tongue refus'd to tell
his pain,
4:858 And learn'd in hissings only
to complain.
4:859 Then shriek'd Harmonia, Stay, my Cadmus,
stay,
4:860 Glide not in such a monstrous
shape away!
4:861 Destruction, like impetuous waves,
rouls on.
4:862 Where are thy feet, thy legs,
thy shoulders gone?
4:863 Chang'd is thy visage, chang'd
is all thy frame;
4:864 Cadmus is only Cadmus now in
name.
4:865 Ye Gods, my Cadmus to himself
restore,
4:866 Or me like him transform; I ask
no more.
4:867 The husband-serpent show'd he still had thought,
4:868 With wonted fondness an embrace
he sought;
4:869 Play'd 'round her neck in many
a harmless twist,
4:870 And lick'd that bosom, which,
a man, he kist.
4:871 The lookers-on (for lookers-on
there were)
4:872 Shock'd at the sight, half-dy'd
away with fear.
4:873 The transformation was again
renew'd,
4:874 And, like the husband, chang'd
the wife they view'd.
4:875 Both, serpents now, with fold
involv'd in fold,
4:876 To the next covert amicably roul'd.
4:877 There curl'd they lie, or wave
along the green,
4:878 Fearless see men, by men are
fearless seen,
4:879 Still mild, and conscious what
they once have been.