Metamorphoses: Book 10 (8) by Ovid

book ten hymen the god of the marriage feast in his robes of saffron blue from Crete through the measureless sky to the land of the Thracian Cygnus Orpheus was calling the God to his wedding though all to no purpose the God attended for sure but the ritual words the joyful faces and omens of favor were sadly missing even the torch in his hand kept sputtering smoke brought tears to the eyes but never ignited however strongly he waved it the outcome was even worse than foreshadowed the newlywed bride while taking a stroll through the grass with her band of attendant Nyad suddenly fell down dead with the fangs of a snake in her ankle when Orpheus the Thracian bard had indulged his grief to the full in the air above he felt he must also appeal to the shades and dared to descend to the river Styx to the 10r in gateway making his way through the shadowy tribes and the ghosts of the buried he came to Proserpina throne besides the Lord of the shadows who rules that dismal domain and clucking the strings of his leer he began you powers divine of the subterranean kingdom where all of mortal creation must one day sink to our doom if you will give me permission to tell you the truth unvarnished by shifty pretenses I've not come down to explore the murky regions of Tartarus nor to enchain the three-headed monster Medusa bore the dog whose coat is bristling with adders I'm here in search of my wife cut off in the years of her youth when a viper she trampled discharged its venom inside her ankle I'd hope to be able to bear my loss and confess that I tried but love was too strong that God is well known in the world above and I wonder whether you know him here I divine that you do if rumor has not invented the tale of that old abduction you two are united by love in the name of these confines of fear in the name of this vast abyss in your realm of infinite silence I Orpheus implore you unravel the web of my dear you rid of these early passing we are all destined for you we may tarry a little but sooner or later we speed to our one habitation this is the place that we all are bound for our final dwelling and yours is the longest reign that the human race must endure Eurydice - when her dew of years has been rightly completed shall own your sway till then I beg you to let me enjoy her if fate forbids you to show my wife any mercy I'll never return from Hades myself you may joy in the deaths of us both as Orpheus pleaded his cause enhancing his words with his music he moved the bloodless spirits to tears for a moment Tantalus ceased to clutch at the fleeting pool xiana's wheel was spellbound the vultures halted there pecking at tedious liver the de naiads dropped their urns and Sisyphus sat on his Boulder the Furies hearts were Assad Assad by the song and the story goes that they wept real tears for the very first time the king and queen of the world below for boat for bore to refuse such a moving appeal and they summoned Eurydice leaving the rest of the ghosts who had newly arrived she slowly trailed along on her wounded ankle Orpheus was told he could lead her away on one condition to walk in front and never look back until he had left the veil of a furnace or else the confession would count for nothing in deadly silence the two of them followed the upward slope the track was steep it was dark and shrouded in thick black mist not far to go now the exit to earth and the light was ahead but Orpheus was frightened his love was falling behind he was desperate to see her he turned and at once she sank back into the dark she stretched out her arms to him struggled to feel his hands on her own but all she was able to catch poor soul was the yielding air and now as she died for the second she never complained that her husband had failed her what could she complain of except that he'd loved her she only uttered her last farewell so faintly he hardly could hear it and then she was swept once more to the land of the shadows robbed of his wife all over again poor Orpheus was stunned like the terrified person who once caught sight of the three-headed hellhound Cerberus chained by the middle neck and whose fear never left him until his nature had changed and the stone crept over his body or poor Lucia transformed to stone or her pride in her beauty whose husband aloneness took her offense on himself and hoped to be changed in her place two hearts that once were united in love and now our separate rocks on the snowy heights of Mount Ida Orpheus wanted to cross the sticks or for a second time but his pleas were in vain and the ferryman pushed him away from the bank so he sat there in rags for a week without eating a morsel of food his anguish his grief and his tears were all that kept him alive cursing the gods of the dark for their cruel unkindness he finally took himself back to Rhoda Pease Heights and to windswept Amos three years went by with the Sun God traversing watery Pisces to mark their ending Orpheus now would have nothing to do with the love of women perhaps because of his fortune in love or he may have plighted his trough forever but scores of women were burning to sleep with the bard and suffered the pain of rejection Orpheus even started the practice among the Thracian tribes of turning for love too immature males and of plucking the flower of a boys brief spring before he has come to his manhood picture a hill and above the hill an expansive plateau green with a carpet of grass but totally lacking in shade shade was provided when Orpheus the heaven-born bard sat down and started to play on his Lear trees suddenly came on the scene the oak of Dona AQAP's of poplars the high leaved dermis Linden's the beach and the Virgin Laurel the brittle hazel the ash that is made into Spears the not free fur and the ilex bending under the weight of its acorns the genial plain tree the maple of many colors the willow that weeps by the river the waterside Lotus the evergreen box and the slender tamarisk myrtle with black and green berries and Laura Steines with blue some of these trees were covered in creeping spirals of Ivy vines came either in tendrils or else supported on Elms then Rouen spruce and the Arbutus laden with berries of red the in the flexible palm which serves for the victors crown and also the pine with its long bear trunk and luxurious hop the beloved of Sibley mother of gods since her favorite Attis discarded his masculine parts for this tree and hardened into its trunk amongst this arboreal throng was lastly the cone-shaped Cypress now a tree but a boy in the past and the darling of Phoebus Apollo the God who pulls on the bowstring and plays on the Lear string this is the story the boys separa --ss adored a stag which was sacred to all the nymphs who haunt the car say in plains a magnificent creature with spreading antlers that cast a shadow above its head the horns were brilliantly tipped in gold and over-the-shoulder around the smooth round neck they had hung a collar subtle studded with jewels on its forehead there dangled a silver amulet held by the lightest of thongs while no less fetching lis pendens of pearls gleamed down from its two ears next to the temples this fearless animal utterly lacking in natural comity visited people's houses and even strangers were welcomed to stroke its neck but the one who cherished it most of all was young separa --ss the best-looking boy on the island of Chios this lad would take the animal out to browse in new pastures or drink from the clay refreshing Springs heed Garland those antlers with bright colored flowers ride to and fro on back like the proudest horsemen and bridle the gentle muzzle with purple reins sweltering heat at noon in the month of cancer the crab whose claws were a glow on the shore in the burning rays of the Sun resting his weary limbs on the grassy earth the stag was quietly enjoying the cool beneath the shade of a tree when a sharp spear pierced him unthinkingly thrown by the young safar assists seeing the creature he loved was cruelly wounded and dying the boy was determined to die himself though Apollo consoled him as far as he possibly could and implored him not to distress himself over much separa Sethe kept sobbing away and asked as a final gift from the gods to morn till the end of time he wept and he wailed till his body drained out and the whole of his body started to turn the color of green the hair that was hanging over his creamy forehead was changed to a shaggy profusion which stiffened and rose to the starry sky in a slender point the gods sighed deeply and sadly exclaimed you'll be mourned by me you will mourn for others and always be there when they mourn for their loved ones such was the shady cluster of trees which Orpheus attracted sitting amidst a crowded assembly of birds and of beasts when he tested his strings with the touch of his thumb to his own satisfaction and judged that the note at their different pitches were tuned to produce harmonious chords he burst into song in the following strain let Jobe be the start of my song Calliope music my mother Jobe holds sway over all job's might I have often proclaimed of old when in weightier vais and I sang of the tightest defeat and the crash of victorious Thunderbolts over the plain of Flegrei ax now there is a call for a lighter note let my song be of boys whom the gods have loved and of girls who have been inspired to a frenzy of passion and paid the price for their lustful desires the king of the gods once fell in love with a Phrygian youth whose name was Ganymede Jupiter found the form he preferred to his usual guys the form of a bird but no mere fledgling would do for him it must be able to carry his lightning he quickly beat the air on the borrowed wings of his eagle and thus abducted the trojan who still - Juno's annoyance mixes Jupiter's nectar and serves the cup at his table Phoebus adored hyacinth 'as the son of amicus and wanted to raise him - to the skies but sadly fate intervened too soon in a way however the boy is immortal when winter is banished by spring and the RAM replaces the watery fish the hyacinth flower appears and blooms in the fresh green grass my father Apollo admired hyacinth us above all others forsaking his shrine at Delphi the navel of Earth he haunted the unwalled city of Sparta close to the river uro tiss his arrows and leer were abandoned his normal pursuits were forgotten he'd willingly carry his favorites nets hold on to his hounds or follow him over the rugged ridges of dangerous mountains his passion was fueled by all the hours that they spent together one day when the Sun was about at its zenith halfway between the twilight of dawn and of dusk the two of them stripped off their clothes and anointed their bodies with gleaming oil to compete with each other in throwing the discus Apollo went first he poised the plate and launched it into the sky where it severed the clouds in its path a long time later the disc descended to solid earth revealing the skill no less than the physical strength of the thrower at once unthinkingly carried away by his sporting zeal the laconian boy dashed forward to pick the plate up but it landed hard on the soil with tremendous force and then rebounded straight in his beautiful face the God went as deathly pay as the lad himself and caught his arms as he fell to the ground to save the life of his friend he desperately rubbed the body dabbed at the wound and applied his herbs but all his medical arts were in vain his lover's injury couldn't be healed in a water garden if somebody breaks the stem of a violet poppy or Lily with yellow stamens thick in its cup the flower will droop and suddenly lower its shriveling head it can't stand up anymore it is gazing down on the earth so with the head of the dying youth his disabled neck too weak to bear the way it was carrying sank to his shoulder fading away hyacinth as' cheated of youth sweet bloom lamented Apollo I see your wound and I see my guilt you are my sorrow and you are my shame you died by my hand and so he shall your epitaph say I I am the cause of your death yet how can it be my fault unless to have played a game or have fondly loved can be called a fault how I wish I could die in your place or beside you but since we are subject to Destiny's laws you can only survive in my heart be recalled in the words of my lips your name will resound in the music I play in the songs that I sing my sighs shall be imaged in you and scored in the marks on a new flower later the time will come when iose bravest of Heroes shall link his fate to this flower and his name be read on your petals and while Apollo was speaking these words with prophetic lips the blood which had spilled from the wound to the ground and darkened the green grass suddenly ceased to be blood and a flower brighter than Tyrian purple rose from the earth and took the form of a lily except that its color was deepest red where the lily is silver that wasn't enough for the God who had wrought this miraculous tribute the cries that had welled from his heart were engraved on the flower and aiai those four letters of mourning and grief could be read in the peddles Sparta was not ashamed of her son hyacinth as' his honor endures to the present time each year by ancient tradition the people process process in the solemn festival called hyacinth iya but if you happened to ask the people of metal-rich amethyst whether they took any pride in the women they called pro poeta teased no they would answer they'd say the same of the men whose foreheads were once disfigured by horns and hint their name of saris key before the doors of these people there stood an altar of jupiter guardian of guests if an innocent stranger observed this altar covered in blood he might have supposed that the sacrificed victims were suckling calves or sheep which had grazed in the local meadows in fact the victims were human guests these horrible rites affronted Venus the mother of life and the goddess of cypress she thought of deserting her cities and Island but then she questioned how have my cities offended what's wrong with this beautiful island no it's the fault of one impious family they should be punished by exile or death or something between the two what punishment could this be but metamorphosis and while she wondered what new appearance to give them she cast her eyes on their horns and had an idea good she said I can leave them those and so she reshaped their eager like frames into fierce young bulls but the lewd pro poeta tease went as far as asserting that Venus wasn't a goddess at all because of the deities anger it said that they were the first to offer their bodies and beauty for sale then after these harlots had lost all shame and the blood no longer ran to their cheeks but congealed as hard as their natures it didn't take much of a change to transform them to solid granite these women scandalous way of life was observed by a sculptor Pygmalion sick of devices with which the female sex has been so richly in Daud he chose for a number of years to remain unmarried without a partner to share his bed in the course of time he successfully carved an amazingly skillful statue in ivory white as snow an image of perfect feminine beauty and fell in love with his own creation this heavenly woman appeared to be real you'd surely suppose her alive and ready to move if modesty didn't preclude it art was concealed by art to a rare degree pygmalions marveling soul was inflamed with desire for a semblance of body again and again his hands moved over his work to explore it flesh or ivory no it couldn't be ivory now he kissed it and thought it was kissing him too he talked to it held it imagine his finger sinking into the limbs he was touching frightened of bruising those pure white arms as he gripped them tight he'd whisper sweet nothings or bring his idol the gifts which give pleasure to girls such as shells from the shore smooth pebbles or tiny birds flowers of a thousand colors lilies and painted balls or tears of amber dropped from the trees he even dressed it in clothes put rings on the fingers and necklaces round the throat hung jewels from the ears and girdled the breasts with elegant bands all these looked well though the naked body was equally lovely he laid this down on a couch well strewn with covers of Tyrian purple and called it his darling mistress then lifted the resting head on the soft white pillows as though it could relish their comfort Venus's festival now had arrived and the whole of Cyprus was making holiday heifers with gold on there spreading horns had fallen struck by the acts on their snow-white necks and incense was smoking his offering laid Pygmalion stood by the altar and nervously asked you gods all gifts are within your power rant me to Wed not daring to say my ivory maiden he used the words a woman resembling my ivory maiden golden Venus was present herself for her own celebration she understood what Pygmalion meant and she signaled her favor the fire on her altar with shooting tongues flared up three times as soon as the sculptor returned he made for his loved one statue and bending over the couch he gave her a kiss was she warm he pressed his lips to hers once again and then he started to stroke her breasts the ivory gradually lost its hardness softening sinking yielding beneath his sensitive fingers imagine beeswax from mount him Metis softening under the Rays of the Sun imagine it molded by human thumbs in the hundreds of different shapes each touch contributing value astonished in doubtful joy afraid that he might be deluded Pygmalion fondled that longed-for body again and again yes she was living flesh he could feel the throb of her veins as he gently stroked and explored at last the hero of pathos opened his heart in a pion of banks to Venus and pressed his lips to the lips of a woman she felt his kisses and blushed then timidly raised her eyes to the light and saw her lover against the sky the goddess graced the union she'd granted and soon when the horns of the moon had grown nine times to their fullness a daughter was born called pathos who gives her name to the island pathos gave birth to a son called sinteres if he'd been childless sinteres might have been counted among the most blessed of men it's a shocking story the owners and fathers I strongly advise you to shut your ears or if you cannot resist my poems at least you mustn't believe this story or take it for fact if you do believe it then also believe that the crime was punished if nature however allows such a crime to be perpetrated I have to congratulate this domain on her distance from countries where Horrors as foul as this have been witnessed the land of Pangaea may boast of her fabulous riches in balsam cinnamon spices frankincense sweated from trees and her various scented flora so long as she keeps her myrrh to herself that new form the tree was a worthless addition Cupid himself denies that his arrows were Mira's downfall and clears his torches of such an indictment one of the three dread Furies apply the Stygian firebrand or filled her with Vipers venom to hate one's father is wickedly wrong but incestuous love is even more wicked than hatred the maiden was courted on every side from over the east her suitors flocked to compete for her hand now Meera choose one choose from them all for your husband the one must not be among them the girl was fully aware of her guilty passion and battled against it she said to herself oh where are these foul thoughts leading me what am I to do trying to do I pray to you gods by the bonds of family love and the sacred laws of parents and children avert this terrible evil resist the crime in my heart if this is indeed a crime I wonder for daughterly Duty cannot condemn this love all other creatures can mate as they choose for themselves it isn't considered a scandal for Bulls to mount the heifers they've sired or for stallions to serve their own fillies goats may cover the young that they've spawned and even a bird can conceive her chicks by a mate who happens to be her father how lucky they are to do as they please how spitefully human morality governs our lives what nature freely allows us the jealous law will refuse and yet there are said to be countries where mothers can sleep with their sons and daughters can sleep with their fathers and natural love is intensified by the double attachment how sad that it wasn't my lot to be born in one of those places I'm merely the victim of chance but why am I talking like this such thoughts are forbidden I must dispel them course it's my duty to love him but just as a father and so if I weren't the daughter of loyal sinteres I should be able to share his bed but since he's already my own he cannot be mine and his very closeness to me is my loss I could hope for more as a stranger I'd willingly move away and abandoned my household if I could escape from the taint of guilt but my evil passion prevents me I need to be here to see his face to touch him to talk to him kiss his lips if I'm not permitted to go any further further underly girl can you contemplate anything further don't you see you're confusing all names and natural ties will you play the role of your mother supplanter and father's mistress will you be known as your own son sister and brothers mother will you feel no fear of the Furies those sisters with black snakes rising on top of their heads who flourish their flaming brands in the eyes and faces of guilty Souls no Mira so far your body is free from the taint of sin do not sin in your mind you must not defile great nature's unbreakable bonds with incestuous Union although you may wish it it cannot be done your father is good and knows what is right how I wish that he felt a passion like mine so Mira debated but sinteres wondering how he should deal with such an abundance of qualified suitors went to his daughter ran over their names and asked her whom she would choose for her husband at first she said nothing and merely gazed on her father's face her eyes diffused with her warm salt tears in her mental turmoil interpreting these as a token of maidenly modesty sinteres said don't cry as he dried her cheeks and tenderly kissed her ecstatic with joy at the kiss the girl replied to his question about the husband she wanted by saying a man like you misunderstanding her meaning her father warmly commended her dutiful child be always as good that mention of duty awakened her guilty conscience and cause her to lower her eyes it was deep midnight when bodies and anxious minds are at rest but sinner Issa's daughter was lying awake tormented by passion she couldn't control and the frantic longings that constantly haunted her desperate now then ready to dare her shame in conflict with wild desire she could form no plan and like an enormous tree which is almost felled and awaiting the final stroke of the axe none knows which way it will fall fear reigns all round it so Meera assaulted and shaken by warring emotions swayed uncertainly this way and that inclining in either direction unable to see any end or relief from her passion but death death seemed to her best she rose from her bed determined to strangle herself in a halter and tied her girdle around a cross beam then crying farewell dear centerís now you can understand why your daughter died she attached the news to her pale white neck the story continues that Mira's words were confusedly caught by the loyal old nurse who still kept watch on her charges threshold the woman got up flung open the doors caught sight of the girdle and screamed the moment she realized what Meera intended to do then beating her breast and tearing her garments she snatched the news from the suicides neck and tore it apart at last there was time to burst into tears to clasp the girl in her arms and to ask her what does this halter mean but Meera said nothing and stood there still as a statue her eyes turned down to the ground in shame angry at being for stalled in her veins suicidal attempts the old woman insisted unveiling her white hair baring her flaccid breasts she implored the girl by her crib and the milk she had sucked as a baby to share whatever was causing her pain but Meera turned away with a sigh the nurse was firmly determined to know the answer and promised her more than a trustworthy ear tell me she said let me help you I've still some energy left if it's passion I know a woman who will cure you by spells and herbs if you're under a curse we can purify you with magical rites if the gods are angry a sacrifice will appease their anger what else can I think is the trouble your family fortunes at least are safely assured for the future you still have your mother and father that last word father provoked the girl to a deep deep sigh but the nurse still has the slightest inkling that Mira was fighting a natural desire though she did suspect that she might be in love she refused to give up and implored the poor girl to confide her secret whatever it might be drawing her close to her aged bosom and hugging her tight as she sobbed away in those frail old arms I know what's the matter she said you're in love you're busy old nurse II will help you once more my darling don't worry I shan't breathe a word to your father Mira broke free from her nurses embrace in a fury buried her face in her pillows and shouted just leave me alone and spare my feelings of shame when the nurse persisted she pleaded please leave me or else stop asking me why I'm unhappy the trouble you're trying so keenly to probe is a crime the old nurse shuddered her hands were trembling as much with fear as with age as he stretched out her arms like a beggar and threw herself down at her darlings feet first she wheedled then tried to scare her come out with the truth she said or I'll tell your father you tried to strangle yourself if you'll only admit to your love I faithfully promise to help you Mira lifted her head and pressed her cheek all streaming with tears to her nurses breasts she tried several times to confess but couldn't come out with the words in her shame she covered her eyes with her dress and exclaimed Oh mother how lucky you are in your husband nothing but that then a sigh the nurses body went cold a shudder ran through her bones as she tumbled at last to the truth and stiffly roughly her white hairs rose up over her scalp banish this hideous love if you can she protested and said much more in the same vein Mira knew the advice was right but to remain determined to die if she couldn't obtain what she wanted all right said the nurse you mustn't live and shall you must live and shall have your she stopped as she couldn't say father although she called on the gods to witness her promise just then the married women were holding the annual rights of dutiful series when dressed in garments as white as snow they dedicate wreaths of golden corn first fruits of the harvest for nine nights also all acts of love and sexual contact with men are counted taboo Kingson Ares's wife Cinque Reyes was one of the throng of women engaged in these holy mysteries so when the king was deprived for a time of his rightful partner that busybody the nurse got hold of him when he'd been drinking and told him about a beautiful girl who truly adored him though lying about her name when asked the age of the girl the same as Mira's she answered and then was ordered to fetch her as soon as she came back home she announced my darling child you can now be happy we've won kore Mira's delight was not wholly unmingled her mind was too much troubled by gloomy forebodings but still she could feel some joy her emotions were all in confusion midnight the hour winged silence reigns and the bow ADIZ the and bodis the ploughman has tilted the shaft of the waggon between the Bears at visit their zenith mira set out on her guilty mission the golden moon had fled from the sky the stars were hiding and shrouded in black clouds Knight was missing her fires first Icarus covered his face then his daughter Arrigoni sacrifice sanctified for her filial piety three evil omen stumbled warned the girl back three hoots the deadly screech owl chanting its sinister mournful music she still went forward the darkness of black night tempered her shame holding on to the nurse with her left hand groping her way through the gloom with her rights and now she stood on the chamber threshold now she opened the door and was led inside her knees were trembling and giving way the blood had gone from her cheeks and all her courage had failed the closer she came to her criminal goal the more she shivered the more she regretted her boldness the more she wished she could turn and run before she was recognised while she faltered the crone took hold of her hand and conducted her up to the Kings High bed then letting her go with the words sinteres take her she's yours she United their two doomed bodies the father welcomed his flesh and blood to that bed of uncleanness gently calming her virginal fears with words of assurance perhaps because of her age he even called her my daughter and she said father to put the finishing touch to their incest filled with her father's unhallowed see that she withdrew from the chamber bearing the fruit of her monstrous crime in her empire swim the act was repeated the following night and other nights after finally sinteres eager to know the mistress he'd taken so many times in his arms came in with a torch which allowed him to see his daughter and what he had done speechless with rage he reached for his gleaming sword and the scabbard that hung close by him Mira took to her heels the shadows of night in the darkness mercifully saved her from death then roaming over the country she left Arabia land of Palms and the fields of Pangaea then she wandered for nine long months until she eventually rested in Sabah exhausted and scarcely able to carry the weight in her womb unsure what to pray for divided between her terror of death and disgust for life.she United her thoughts in the following plea you heavenly powers if any there be whose ears are open to those who confess their vile wrongdoings I cannot deny that I richly deserve to be cruelly punished but hate to pollute the living by staying on earth or the dead by passing below debar me I pray you from either Kingdom refuse me life and refuse me death by changing my form there is a power that responds to confession at least her final prayer found gods of its own to fulfill it while she was speaking the earth closed over her feet and root spread out to the sides through the broken nails of her toes to provide the base of a slender trunk her bones became wood and the marrow inside them survived as her blood was turned to SAP her arms were converted to branches her fingers to twigs and her skin was hardened to form new bark by now the developing tree had encompassed her pregnant belly had sheaths her breasts and was on the point of hiding her neck but Mira could wait no longer and move to meet the advancing growth by sinking down and plunging her head in the bark although the emotion she once had felt were lost with her body she still continues to weep and her warm tears drip from the new tree even tears can have honour the resin distilled from the bark is given the name and fame of myrrh in lasting remembrance the baby however so wrongly conceived had grown in the tree trunk and now was trying to find a way of leaving its mother and issuing forth inside its prison the pregnant belly swelled and stretched with its load no cries attended the birth pangs no voice was left to invoke Lucena in time of travail but still the tree resembled a woman in labor bent double it groaned again and again and was drenched in a downpour of Tears gentle lucena then took her place by the pain wracked branches and laying her hands on them chanted the spells that assist delivery cracks appeared on the tree the bark split open and out came a living baby a wailing boy whom the NIE adds at once laid down on the soft green grass and anointed with myrrh from his mother a beautiful child even Envy would say so he looked exactly like one of the naked Cupid's you see in a picture provided you gave him a quiver or took theirs out to remove any difference time glides stealthily past in its fleeting passage unnoticed nothing has greater speed than the years the child who is born of his sister and sired by his grandfather not long since had been hidden inside a tree and had just emerged as a beautiful baby he soon was a youth than a man and now more handsome than ever enough to attract even Venus and so to avenge the passionate love which had ruined Meera what happened was this while Cupid wearing his quiver over his shoulder was giving his mother a kiss he unwittingly grazed her breast with the tip of an arrow the wounded goddess thrust him away but the scratch went deeper then showed on the surface and Venus herself didn't feel it to start with later entranced by our young man's beauty she cared no more for her usual haunts the shore of Cythera or sea girt pathos nigh dose teeming with fish and amethyst wealthy and metals she even absented herself from the sky for the love of Adonis him she clung to and constantly shadowed the goddess who always liked to pamper herself in the shade and who took great pains to enhance her beauty was roaming the mountain ridges and forests jumping the brambly rocks with her dress drawn up to her knees like Diana's hollowing the hound and chasing more harmless quarry the quick-footed hair tall antlered stag and the gentle deer but she kept her distance from fearless boars and avoided the ravening wolf the sharp-clawed bear and the lion that slaughters the cattle she counseled Adonis to if counsel can make any difference to steer very clear of the wilder game be brave when your quarry is timid she said it's dangerous to counter boldness with boldness take no risks dear lover at my expense or allow yourself to provoke what is well provided with weapons by nature I would not wish your glory to cost me dear your youth your beauty and all that Venus adores will never discourage the Lions the bristly boars or beasts with threatening eyes boars carry the power of the lightning flash in their sharp hooked tusks and tawny lions are hugely aggressive and angly creature angry creatures I hate and detest the whole breed when Adonis asked her the cause of her hatred she answered I'll tell you how I was deeply insulted long years ago the strange conclusion will surely amaze you but all this unwanted hunting has tired me out now look how convenient here's a delightful Pope lar to give us some shade with a couch of grass underneath I'd like to rest with you here and she lay on the ground to recline on the grass and recline on Adonis pressing her burning cheek to the naked breast of her lover then interspersing her words with kisses she started her story perhaps you have heard of a girl who outstripped the fastest of men in running the rumor isn't a fiction she really could beat them moreover you couldn't have said if her speed of foot or her beauty was more prodigious one day she went to consult the God regarding a husband the Oracle answered no need of a husband for you Atalanta avoid all knowledge of men if you can but you shall not escape you will lose yourself without losing your life alarmed by the Oracles warning she lived in the depths of the forest unmarried and fiercely repulsed to the pressing throng of her suitors by setting them terms I cannot be one she explained unless I am first defeated in running compete with me in a footrace the winners reward shall be my hand and body in marriage the losers forfeit is death these must be the rules of our contest young Atalanta was ruthless but such was the power of her beauty that all her impetuous suitors accepted her terms and competed one of the crowd who came to watch this unequal race was a youth hip ama knees while he was taking his seat he was thinking how could anyone take such a risk in pursuit of a wife and thus he dismissed the extravagant passion of all the contenders but once he had seen at atlanta's face and her unclosed body as lovely as mine or as yours Adonis if you are a woman she gasped in what he gasped in wonder and raising his arms said kindly forgive me all whom I blamed just now the worth of the prize you were seeking had not yet entered my mind his heart caught fire as he praised her in hoping that none of the others should win his jealousy made him afraid that they might then he asked why shouldn't I try my luck in the contest fortune favors the brave as Hatami knees carefully weighed his chances the girl passed by on her flying feet to the youth from Bois Asia she seemed to be running as fast as an arrow fired from a Scythian archers bow but her beauty astonished hip Hama knees even more indeed her running enhanced it he saw the bright colored ribbons attached to her knees and her ankles fluttering gaily behind her while over her ivory shoulders her hair streamed back in the wind the white of her girlish skin was also fused with a rosy glow as a marble Hall will be steeped by the Sun in counterfeit shade through a purple awning as hip Hama knees watched her the final lap was run to the finish and soon Atalanta was crowned with the laurel wreath of the winter victor the losers groaned in despair and paid their forfeit as promised undeterred by the suitors fate hip harmonies boldly marched to the front with his eyes firm set on the young girl's face why cultivate easy glory he said by trouncing these laggards you'd better compete with me if fortune allows me the victory you'll not be angry at losing to such a hero as I am my father is McGarry Asst king of on castis and his grandfather was neptune so I am the great-grandson of the Lord of the Seas moreover my birth is matched by my courage and if I am beaten what glory great and abiding must come from defeating hip Hama knees while he was making this speech Atalanta observed him with tender looks uncertain whether she'd rather be winner or loser who is the god she reflected who hates all beauty and wants to destroy this man by bidding him venture his own dear life in order to gain my hand I cannot be worth such a price it isn't his beauty that moves me though that could also affect me he is only a boy I am touched much more by his age than himself and yet he's a man of courage undaunted by fear of death he's descended from Neptune the god of the sea in the fourth generation what's more he loves me and longed so much to make me his wife that he's ready to die if an unkind fortune refuses me to him go well you may fare stranger my bed is polluted by bloodshed marriage to me is a cruel goal no other woman will spurn your suit and a sensible girl would be eager to win you yet why should I worry for him when I've killed so many already it's his decision why shouldn't he die since he isn't deterred by the deaths of so many rivals and seems to be weary of living so must he die because he wanted to live at my side must he pay the price for his love in a death he doesn't deserve the violent hatred my victory will cost me could never be born but who will be guilty not I if only you'd give yup or else if you must be so crazy if only you'd win the race how lovely he is with his boyish face as fresh as a girls poor hip Hama knees no I wish you had never seen me you truly deserve to live if I had been blessed with a happier lot and a churlish fate had not denied me a husband you were the one with whom I should gladly have shared my bed she spoke like a girl who has never fallen in love before not knowing what she is doing not understanding her feelings at atlanta's father and all the people were now demanding the usual race when neptune scion hip Hama knees anxiously called upon me Oh Venus I humbly pray watch over this daring attempt of mine and foster the love you have kindled this touching prayer was wafted to me on a kindly breeze my heart was moved I admit and I didn't delay my assistance in tsipras one of the richest parts of the land is two masses so the inhabitants call it the council in olden times once consecrated the region to me as a special gift to enrich my temples right in its center there gleams a tree with foliage of yellow and branches rustling with yellow gold I chanced to be coming from there with three gold apples I'd plucked in my hand I then went up to hip harmonies nobody else could see me and gave him instructions on how he should use the apples the trumpet sounded the signal and both competitors sprang like a flash from the starting line heads forward at full speed grazing the top of the sandy track you'd think they could skim the ocean dry footed or brush the standing ears in a white cornfield the young man's spirits were lifted by all the cries of support which rang in his ears get a move on go for it go for it now faster at harmonies faster now give it all you have got don't dawdle you're winning I couldn't be sure whether McGarry is's son or SCOE Nia TSA's daughter was more delighted by all this shouting again and again Atalanta held back when she could have gone forward and after a long gaze into his eyes would reluctantly pass him hip hominid sz's mouth was dry with exhaustion he panted for breath and the finishing post was still in the distance that was the moment he dropped the first of the three gold apples I'd plucked from the tree the girl was dazzled possessed by a wish for the gleaming fruit she swerved from the track to pick up the rolling golden temptation if Hama knees hurtled past and the stands resounded with Cheers Atalanta soon made up for the time she had lost as she gathered speed in advance till she left the youth behind her again upon my knees through her the second apple she stopped then followed and overtook him once more the end of the course was in sight o goddess who showed me the way said hip Hama knees be with me now then out to the edge of the course to slow at atlanta's return he tossed the glittering gold with all the power of his youthful strength would she stop Atalanta appeared to waver I forced her to fetch it then made the Apple more heavy and so she was hindered as much by the extra weight as the further delay that it cost my story must not outlast the time of the race itself Atalanta was beaten the victor took his reward by the hand surely Adonis I should have been thanked for my help and honoured with incense upon my knees never remembered and failed to offer incense or thanks my goodwill suddenly turned to anger smarting under this insult I wasn't prepared to allow it to happen again and I roused myself to make an example of both they were passing near to a temple deep in the forest which once the Hiroaki on fulfilling a vow had built two Sibley mother of God their journey had made them tired and they needed to rest for a while it was here that excited by me hip Hama knees felt an untimely urged to make love to his wife quite close to the temple they managed to find a cavernous shelter dimly lit and covered above with natural limestone the place was hallowed by ancient worship and filled with the numerous wooden statues of primitive gods but the priesthood left their hip hominid has ventured inside and profaned the shrine with his lust the statues averted their eyes and tower crowns Sibley pondered whether to plunge the guilty lovers beneath the sticks but the punishment seemed too light so their smooth white necks were thickly covered in tawny Mane's their fingers were bent in the claws their shoulders became four quarters their weight was centered inside their massive chest and they swept the top of the sand with their tails their faces were mirrors of anger their conversation was growls their marriage bed was the forest floor they were lions and frightened all but the mighty mother who tamed them to draw her chariot dearest Adonis avoid the Lions avoid all kinds of creatures that won't turn tail but bear their teeth for a fight avoid them I beg you don't let your courage destroy us both so Venus warned and traveled away through the sky in her Swan drawn chariot warnings however are never heated by courage it chanced that Adonis's hounds had followed a well marked trail and roused a boar from its lair as it tried to escape from the woodland sinner is's youthful grandson pierced its flank with his weapon the creature at once dislodged the blood-stained point of the spear with the crook of his snout as Adonis backed for safety in panic the animal savagely charged and buried its tusks deep into his groin so bringing him down on the gold sand fatally wounded Venus was driving across the sky in her light built chariot borne on the wings of her swans and still on her journey to Cyprus when far in the distance she heard the groans of her dying lover she pulled at the reins of her white plumed birds till she faced his direction from high in the ether she saw him dead in a pool of his own blood leaping down to the earth she tore her dress from her bosom she tore her hair and violently bitterly beat on her breasts revealing the fates for their harshness you shan't hold absolute sway she cried my grief Adonis shall have an enduring memorial every year your untimely death shall be re-enacted and so the tale of my sad lamentation shall last forever for now your blood shall be changed to a flower Proserpina once was allowed to change a beloved nymph into fragrant mint shall I be grudged the transformation of sinner as his grandson so speaking she sprinkled the blood of Adonis with scented nectar touched by the droplets the blood swelled up like gleaming transparent bubbles rising in yellow mud no more than a single hour had passed when a deep red flower rose out of the blood like the flower of the fat fruit which hides its seeds in its leathery rind the pomegranate fruit but this new flower has only a short life flimsy and loose on its stem it is easily shaken and blown away by the winds which give it the name of an M&E wind flower

Channel: Jade Vine

Views: 2,138

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: ovid, metamorphoses, mythology, rome

Id: pYGvDCJgfWo

Length: 54min 59sec (3299 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 12 2017