Her country's ears are tried submissively;
The benefit of " peace with honour" praised;
And much discourse of novel nature flows
From the (poor,) silly girl's unpractised lips.
She says, at one time, that she (greatly) dreads
The present war, and fears the common god,
As, likewise, the king's friends-for sad she was,
And fear'd that e'en her father she might lose-
Who common progeny erst held from Jove;
With base deceits she falsehold now invents,
And frights the citizens by fear of th' gods;
Now omens seeks from others; nor they fail.
She even dared corrupt the sacred seers,
So that, when struck down with the sacred blade,
The victim fell, some of them there were found,
Having the entrails view'd, to urge that Minos
Should be accepted as a son-in-law,
And thus the doubtful chance of war be shunn'd.
The nurse, now mixing sulphur in a pan, With cassia and narcissus, warms them up, Sweet-smelling herbs; and with three-colour'd threads In number three times nine then ties them round;
Spit on the ground, girl, thrice, with me," she said; "Spit thrice; the god unequal numbers likes." Next to great Jove she doubles Stygian rites, Not known unto the Idæan crones, or Greeks; Continuing, she spreads the altars with An Amyclæan olive branch, to change, By vows, the mind of the Iolcian king.
But, when no magic charms firm Nisus move;
Nec possunt homines, nec possunt flectere divi,—
Tanta est in parvo fiducia crine cavendi :-
Rursus ad inceptum sociam se adjungit alumnæ,
Purpureumque parat rursus tondere capillum,
Tam longo quod jam captat succurrere amori:
Non minus illa tamen revehi, quod moenia crescant,
Gaudeat et cineri patria est jucunda sepulto.
Ergo metu capiti Scylla est inimica paterno.
Tum coma Sidonio florens succiditur ostro;
Tum capitur Megara, et divum responsa probantur ;
Tum, suspensa novo ritu de navibus altis,
Per mare cæruleum trahitur Niseïa virgo.
Complures illam Nymphæ mirantur in undis;
Miratur pater Oceanus, et candida Tethys,
Et cupidas secum rapiens Galatea sorores;
Illa etiam, junctis magnum quæ piscibus æquor
Et glauco bipedum curru metitur equorum,
Leucothoe, parvusque dea cum matre Palamon.
Illi etiam, alternas sortiti vivere luces,
Cara Jovis soboles, magnum Jovis incrementum,
Tyndaridæ niveos mirantur virginis artus.
Has adeo voces atque hæc lamenta per auras
Fluctibus in mediis questu volvebat inani,
Ad cœlum infelix ardentia lumina tollens,
Lumina nam teneras arcebant vincula palmas:
Supprimite o paulum turbati flamina venti,
No men can bend him, nor the gods themselves—
Such faith is in the small lock's guarding power--
Again she adds herself associate
I' the undertaking of her foster-child;
Again prepares to cut the purple tuft;
Since now she wills to aid such lasting love;
Nor less, however, may she feel delight,
While the walls spread, that she may be ta'en back,
Pleased to be buried in her native land.
To her sire's reign thus Scylla's fear's opposed;
And thus from off his head is cut the lock
Which on it glisten'd with Sidonian purple;
Then Megara's storm'd, and th' gods' response confirm'd; Then from the lofty ship by new means swung,
The Nisan maid is o'er the blue sea drawn.
A crowd of nymphs admire her on the waves;
Sire Ocean's self admires and beauteous Tethys,
And, dragging sisters with her, Galatea;
Likewise Leucothoe herself, who in
Her sea-green colour'd two-horsed chariot, drawn.
By fishes, passes o'er the mighty main,
And young Palæmon with his goddess dame.
Then the Tyndaridæ, loved race of Jove,
Jove's mighty progeny, fated to live
Alternate days, admire her snowy limbs.
These cries and wailings now she rolls along
The air, amid the waves, in vain lament,
Sadly tow'rds heav'n raising her fev'rish eyes;
Her eyes; for chains her tender hands held fast:
"Ye winds, suppress awhile your blasts, while I
Dum queror; et divos, quanquam nil testibus illis
Profeci, extrema moriens tamen alloquor hora.
Vos ego, vos adeo, venti, testabor, et auræ,
Vos O! Mantina si qui de gente venitis,
Cernitis illa ego sum cognato sanguine vobis
Scylla; quod, ah! salva liceat te dicere Procne ;
Illa ego sum Nisi pollentis filia quondam,
Certatim ex omni petiit quam Græcia regno,
Qua curvus terras amplectitur Hellespontus;
Illa ego sum, Minos, sacrato fœdere conjux
Dicta tibi tamen hæc, et si non accipis, audis.
Vinctane tam magni tranabo gurgitis undas?
Vincta tot assiduas pendebo ex ordine luces?
Non equidem me alio possum contendere dignam
Supplicio, quod sic patriam carosque Penates
Hostibus immitique addixi ignara tyranno.
Verum esto. Hæc, Minos, illos scelerata putavi,
Si nostra ante aliquis nudasset fœdera casus,
Facturos, quorum direptis moenibus urbis,
O ego crudelis, flamma delubra petivi:
Te vero victore prius vel sidera cursus
Mutatura suos, quam te mihi talia capta
Facturum metui. Jam jam scelus omnia vincit.
Ten' ego plus patrio dilexi perdita regno?
Complain; and in my dying hours address
The gods, although I have not profited
By them as witnesses. Ye winds, aye, you
I will invoke, and, O ye gales, if any
Among you come of Mantinean race,
Take note: I'm Scylla, kin to you by blood;
Alas! that I on Procne saved should call;
I am the once most pow'rful Nisus' child,
Whom Greece from every kingdom struggling sought
Where the curved Hellespont surrounds the lands.
I am thy wife, by sacred covenant
Acknowledged thine, O Minos; thou dost hear
These (words of mine) e'en if thou dost reject them.
Bound, shall I thus glide o'er the great gulf's waves?
Bound, shall I spend so many anxious days?
Nor truly am I able to contend
That I deserve another punishment,
Because my country and dear household gods,
In ignorance, I've handed to a foe,
And ruthless tyranny. Yet be it so !
If that some chance our contract had betray'd,
Minos, I might have thought those thus would act,
Whose temples, when their city's walls were razed,
Cruel that I was, with fire I had assail'd.
But, thou being victor, I had fear'd the stars
Their (destined) courses would have alter'd, ere
Thou could'st have treated me, thy captive, so.
Now, now, has wickedness all overcome.
Have I not loved thee more distractedly
Than all my father's realm ? Thee have I not?
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