Ten' ego, nec mirum, vultu decepta puella?

Ut vidi, ut perii! ut me malus abstulit error!
Non equidem ex isto speravi corpore posse
Tale malum nasci: forma vel sidere fallor.
Non me deliciis commovit regia dives,
Coralio fragili, ac electro lacrimoso,

Me non florentes æquali corpore nymphæ ;
Non metus incensam potuit retinere deorum.
Omnia vincit amor: quid enim non vinceret ille?
Non mihi jam pingui sudabunt tempora myrrha,
Pronuba nec castos accendet pinus odores,

Nec Libys Assyrio sternetur lectulus ostro.
Magna queror: nec et illa quidem communis alumna
Omnibus injecta tellus tumulabit arena.
Mene inter comites ancillarumque catervas
Mene alias inter, famularum munere fungi,
Conjugis atque tuæ, quæcumque erit illa, beatæ
Non licuit gravidos penso devolvere fusos ?
At belli saltem captivam lege necasses!
Jam fessæ tandem fugiunt de corpore vires,
Et caput inflexa lentum cervice recumbit,
Marmorea adductisque labascunt brachia nodis.
Equoreæ pestes, immania corpora ponti,
Undique conveniunt, et glauco in gurgite circum
Verbere caudarum atque oris minitantur hiatu.
Jam tandem casus hominum, jam respice, Minos.

430

435

440

445

450

Nor wonderful a maid deceived by looks!
The instant I beheld thee I was lost!

A fatal error carried me away!

Indeed, I had not dreamt that such a crime

Could in that body e'er have taken hold.

Either by form or star am I deceived.

Nor regal wealth could move me with delight,
Nor fragile coral, weeping amber (now),

505

Nor nymphs distinguish'd for their perfect form;
Nor godly fear restrain me, set on fire.

Love conquers all things. Wherefore should he not?
No longer with rich myrrh my brows shall shine,
Nor shall the nuptial pine chaste odours raise,
Nor Libyan couch be spread with Syrian cloth.
I much complain; no less than that the earth,
Although the common nurse of all, with sand
Cast over me refuses burial.

That I, 'midst crowds of (fair) companions,

That I, as handmaid and familiar

'Mongst others might have acted ('neath your roof),
And for your happy wife, whoe'er she'll be,
Ply the (quick) distaffs heavy-charged with wool?
Thou me, at least, as captive, might'st have slain
By right of war. Wearied, at last, my strength
Flies from my body and my drooping head
Reposes on my in-curved neck; my joints
Contract; my alabaster arms give way.

Now ocean-pests, huge monsters of the deep,
Threat with their gaping jaws and flapping tails.
Now, Minos, now, behold the lot of man.

510

515

520

625

530

Sit satis hoc, tantum solam vidisse malorum :
Vel fato fuerit nobis hæc debita pestis,

Vel casu incerto, merita vel denique culpa ;
Omnia nam potius, quam te læsisse, putabo."

Labitur interea revoluta ab litore classis,
Magna repentino sinuantur lintea Coro,
Flectitur in viridi remus sale; languida fessæ

Virginis in cursu moritur querimonia longo.

Deserit angustis inclusum faucibus Isthmon,

Cypselidæ magni florentia regna Corinthi;

Præterit abruptas Scironis protinus arces,
Infestumque suis diræ testudinis exit

Spelæum, multoque cruentas hospite cautes.
Jamque adeo tutum longe Piraea cernit,

Et notas secum, heu frustra, respectat Athenas.

Jam procul e fluctu Minoïa respicit arva,

Florentesque videt jam Cycladas, hinc Strophadasque ;

Hinc sinus, hinc statio contra patet Hermionea.

Linquitur ante alias longe gratissima Delos

Nereïdum matri et Neptuno Egæo.

Marmoreamque Paron, viridemque allapsa Donusam

Prospicit incinctam spumanti litore Cythnon

Eginamque simul sementiferamque Seriphum.

Fertur et incertis jactatur ad omnia ventis,

Let this suffice, to have seen me fall alone.
This plague was owing us by fate, or by
Uncertain chance, or lastly blame deserved;
All I'll suppose, except that thou'd'st me harm."
Meanwhile the fleet glides loosen'd from the shore, 535
And by quick Corus are the mainsails bent,
While now in fresher water bends the oar.

The languid moaning of the wearied girl,

By the long course exhausted, dies away.

Th' Isthmus she leaves, enclosed by narrow straits,
Mighty Cypselida's Corinthian realm,

(So) prosperous; and then immediately
The craggy heights of Sciron she avoids,

540

Passing the cavern of the tortoise, fatal

Unto her folk, and rocks with guests' blood red.

545

Now the Piræus far off she perceives,

And with it Athens, known, alas! in vain.

She next the distant plains of Minos sees,

Views the bright Cyclades, thence th' Strophades,

And then the bay; while opposite to it

550

The Hermionean station open lies.

Delos is left, the most agreeable

By far o'er other (islands) to the dam

Of Nereids and to the Egean god.

She Cythnus sees, girt by a surfy shore,

And, sailing by, Parus, for marble famed,

Blooming Donysa, and, at the same time,
Egina, and Seriphus bearing corn.

Onward she's borne, toss'd by the uncertain winds
On ev'ry side, like to a tiny skiff

556

660

Cymba velut magnas sequitur quum parvula classes,

Afer et hiberno bacchatur in æquore turbo:

Donec tale decus formæ vexavit, et ægros

Non tulit, et miseros mutavit virginis artus,

Cæruleo pollens conjux Neptunia regno.

Sed tamen externam squamis vestire puellam,

Infidosque inter teneram committere pisces

480

485

Non statuit-nimium est avidum pecus Amphitrites;

Aëreis potius sublimem sustulit alis,

Esset ut in terris facti de nomine Ciris,

Ciris Amyclæo formosior ansere Ledæ.

Ac velut in niveo teneræ quum primitus ovo
Effigies animantis et internodia membris

4.90

Imperfecta novo fluitant concreta calore:

Sic liquido Scyllæ circumfusum æquore corpus
Semiferi incertis etiam nunc partibus artus
Undique mutabant, atque undique mutabantur.

Oris honos primum, et multis optata labella,

Et patulæ frontis species, concrescere in unum
Cœpere, et gracili mentum producere rostro.
Tum, qua se medium capitis discrimen agebat,
Ecce repente, velut patrios imitatus honores,
Purpuream concussit apex in vertice cristam :
At mollis varios intexens pluma colores
Marmoreum volucri vestivit tegmine corpus,

Lentaque perpetuas fuderunt brachia pennas.

495

500