Inque sinus caros, veluti cognosceret, ibat, Et subito duo sunt, junctoque volumine serpunt, 600 Nunc quoque nec fugiunt hominem, nec vulnere 40 Quidque prius fuerint, placidi meminere dracones. XVI. ACTEON. (III. 143-250.) Among the misfortunes which befel Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, one was the fate of his grandson Acteon. He was a son of Cadmus's daughter Autonoê, whose consort was named Aristæus. The tale is variously related: but all the legends agree in this, that Acteon, who was passionately fond of hunting, was torn to pieces by his own hounds. According to Ovid, the occasion of his death was, his having accidentally beheld Diana, as she was bathing in the valley Gargaphiê, at a fountain of the same name. The goddess besprinkled the unwelcome witness with water, and as he fled from the spot, he was changed into a stag, and his own hounds gave chase to their master, and tore him to pieces. Mons erat infectus variarum cæde ferarum, 145 150 Lina madent, comites, ferrumque cruore ferarum, Fortunamque dies habuit satis: altera lucem Cum croceis invecta rotis Aurora reducet, Propositum repetemus opus. Nunc Phoebus utraque 10 Distat idem terra, finditque vaporibus arva: Sistite opus præsens, nodosaque tollite lina." Jussa viri faciunt intermittuntque laborem. Vallis erat piceis et acuta densa cupressu, Nomine Gargaphie, succinctæ sacra Dianæ, 15 Cujus in extremo est antrum nemorale recessu, Arte laboratum nulla: simulaverat artem Ingenio natura suo: nam pumice vivo 155 Et levibus tophis nativum duxerat arcum. Fons sonat a dextra, tenui pellucidus unda, 20 Margine gramineo patulos incinctus hiatus. Hic dea silvarum, venatu fessa, solebat Virgineos artus liquido perfundere rore. 160 Quo postquam subiit, Nympharum tradidit uni 165 Armigeræ jaculum pharetramque arcusque retentos; 25 Altera depositæ subjecit brachia pallæ ; 170 Vincla duæ pedibus demunt: nam doctior illis Per nemus ignotum non certis passibus errans, 175 (The poet describes the anger of the goddess against the mortal who had thus intruded on her privacy.) 35 Ipsa dea, ut vellet promtas habuisse sagittas, Dat spatium collo, summasque cacuminat aures, 190 200 Ut vero vultus et cornua vidit in unda, 45 "Me miserum!" dicturus erat; vox nulla secuta est. Ingemuit; vox illa fuit; lacrimæque per ora Non sua fluxerunt; mens tantum pristina mansit. Quid faciat? Repetatne domum et regalia tecta; An lateat silvis? Pudor hoc, timor impedit illud. 205 Dum dubitat, videre canes, primusque Melampus Ichnobatesque sagax latratu signa dedere, Gnosius Ichnobates, Spartana gente Melampus. Inde ruunt alii rapida velocius aura, 50 Pamphagus et Dorceus et Oribasus, Arcades omnes, 210 215 220 55 Nebrophonosque valens et trux cum Lælape Theron, Clamare libebat 226 "Actæon ego sum: dominum cognoscite vestrum!" 75 Verba animo desunt: resonat latratibus æther. 231 Prima Melanchætes in tergo vulnera fecit, Proxima Theridamas; Oresitrophos hæsit in armo. Vellet abesse quidem, sed adest; velletque videre, 240 250 XVII. NARCISSUS AND ECHO. (III. 351-510.) Narcissus, the son of the nymph Liriôpê, and the river-god Cephisus, slighted, among others, the nymph Echo, who was enamoured of him, and pined away till she became an incorporeal repetition of sound (Echo). He, however, beheld in a clear fountain his own image, the beauty of which he so vehemently admired, that he pined away from the love for his own form, and was changed into a flower (Narcissus). The legend originally involved a moral lesson, that of warning men that to love mere corporeal beauty, rather than moral excellence, is a pernicious errour, converting the senses into a source of delusion, by which the life of the soul is benumbed (vaprav, to be benumbed, become torpid, whence váρкiσσos), and perishes just as Narcissus perished. (The nymph Echo-whom Juno had deprived of the full use of her voice, so that she could only repeat the last words of another's speech-falls in love with Narcissus.) Jamque ter ad quinos unum Cephisius annos 351 Addiderat, poteratque puer juvenisque videri. 357 Adspicit hunc trepidos agitantem in retia cervos Vocalis Nymphe, quæ nec reticere loquenti, 5 Nec prior ipsa loqui didicit, resonabilis Echo. Corpus adhuc Echo, non vox erat, et tamen usum Garrula non alium, quam nunc habet, oris habebat, Reddere de multis ut verba novissima posset. Ergo ubi Narcissum per devia rura vagantem 370 10 Vidit, et incaluit; sequitur vestigia furtim, Quoque magis sequitur, flamma propiore calescit Non aliter, quam cum summis circumlita tædis Admotam rapiunt vivacia sulfura flammam. O quoties voluit blandis accedere dictis, 15 Et molles adhibere preces! natura repugnat, Nec sinit incipiat; sed, quod sinit, illa parata est Exspectare sonos, ad quos sua verba remittat. 375 Forte puer, comitum seductus ab agmine fido, Dixerat, Ecquis adest?" et "Adest," responderat Echo. 20 Et verbis favet ipsa suis, egressaque silvis Ibat, ut injiceret sperato brachia collo. Ille fugit, fugiensque manus complexibus aufert. 25 Sed tamen hæret amor, crescitque dolore repulsæ. 395 Attenuant vigiles corpus miserabile curæ, Adducitque cutem macies, et in aera sucus Corporis omnis abit; vox tantum atque ossa super sunt: Vox manet, ossa ferunt lapidis traxisse figuram. 30 Inde latet silvis, nulloque in monte videtur; Omnibus auditur: sonus est, qui vivit in illa. 400 410 415 Fons erat illimis, nitidis argenteus undis, Quem neque pastores neque pastæ monte capellæ Contigerant aliudve pecus, quem nulla volucris 35 Nec fera turbarat nec lapsus ab arbore ramus; Gramen erat circa, quod proximus humor alebat, Silvaque sole locum passura tepescere nullo. Hic puer, et studio venandi lassus et æstu, Procubuit, faciemque loci fontemque secutus; 40 Dumque sitim sedare cupit, sitis altera crevit ; Dumque bibit, visa correptus imagine formæ, Adstupet ipse sibi, vultuque immotus eodem Hæret, ut e Pario formatum marmore signum ; Spectat humi positus geminum, sua lumina, sidus, 420 45 Et dignos Baccho, dignos et Apolline crines, Impubesque genas et eburnea colla, decusque Oris, et in niveo mixtum candore ruborem ; Cunctaque miratur, quibus est mirabilis ipse. Credule, quid frustra simulacra fugacia captas? 432 50 Quod petis, est nusquam ; quod amas, avertere, perdes. Ista repercussæ, quam cernis, imaginis umbra est : Nil habet ista sui; tecum venitque manetque, Tecum discedet, si tu discedere possis. Non illum Cereris, non illum cura quietis 55 Abstrahere inde potest; sed opaca fusus in herba Liquitur, et cæco paulatim carpitur igni ; 435 490 Et neque jam color est mixto candore rubori, |