The Story of Nisus and Scylla



8:1 Now shone the morning star in bright array,
8:2 To vanquish night, and usher in the day:
8:3 The wind veers southward, and moist clouds arise,
8:4 That blot with shades the blue meridian skies.
8:5 Cephalus feels with joy the kindly gales,
8:6 His new allies unfurl the swelling sails;
8:7 Steady their course, they cleave the yielding main,
8:8 And, with a wish, th' intended harbour gain.
8:9 Mean-while King Minos, on the Attick strand,
8:10 Displays his martial skill, and wastes the land.
8:11 His army lies encampt upon the plains,
8:12 Before Alcathoe's walls, where Nisus reigns;
8:13 On whose grey head a lock of purple hue,
8:14 The strength, and fortune of his kingdom, grew.

8:15 Six moons were gone, and past, when still from far
8:16 Victoria hover'd o'er the doubtful war.
8:17 So long, to both inclin'd, th' impartial maid
8:18 Between 'em both her equal wings display'd.
8:19 High on the walls, by Phoebus vocal made,
8:20 A turret of the palace rais'd its head;
8:21 And where the God his tuneful harp resign'd.
8:22 The sound within the stones still lay enshrin'd:
8:23 Hither the daughter of the purple king
8:24 Ascended oft, to hear its musick ring;
8:25 And, striking with a pebble, wou'd release
8:26 Th' enchanted notes, in times of happy peace.
8:27 But now, from thence, the curious maid beheld
8:28 Rough feats of arms, and combats of the field:
8:29 And, since the siege was long, had learnt the name
8:30 Of ev'ry chief, his character, and fame;
8:31 Their arms, their horse, and quiver she descry'd,
8:32 Nor cou'd the dress of war the warriour hide.

8:33 Europa's son she knew above the rest,
8:34 And more, than well became a virgin breast:
8:35 In vain the crested morion veils his face,
8:36 She thinks it adds a more peculiar grace:
8:37 His ample shield, embost with burnish'd gold,
8:38 Still makes the bearer lovelier to behold:
8:39 When the tough jav'lin, with a whirl, he sends,
8:40 His strength and skill the sighing maid commends;
8:41 Or, when he strains to draw the circling bow,
8:42 And his fine limbs a manly posture show,
8:43 Compar'd with Phoebus, he performs so well,
8:44 Let her be judge, and Minos shall excell.

8:45 But when the helm put off, display'd to sight,
8:46 And set his features in an open light;
8:47 When, vaulting to his seat, his steed he prest,
8:48 Caparison'd in gold, and richly drest;
8:49 Himself in scarlet sumptuously array'd,
8:50 New passions rise, and fire the frantick maid.
8:51 O happy spear! she cries, that feels his touch;
8:52 Nay, ev'n the reins he holds are blest too much.
8:53 Oh! were it lawful, she cou'd wing her way
8:54 Thro' the stern hostile troops without dismay;
8:55 Or throw her body to the distant ground,
8:56 And in the Cretans happy camp be found.
8:57 Wou'd Minos but desire it! she'd expose
8:58 Her native country to her country's foes;
8:59 Unbar the gates, the town with flames infest,
8:60 Or any thing that Minos shou'd request.

8:61 And as she sate, and pleas'd her longing sight,
8:62 Viewing the king's pavilion veil'd with white,
8:63 Shou'd joy, or grief, she said, possess my breast,
8:64 To see my country by a war opprest?
8:65 I'm in suspense! For, tho' 'tis grief to know
8:66 I love a man that is declar'd my foe;
8:67 Yet, in my own despite, I must approve
8:68 That lucky war, which brought the man I love.
8:69 Yet, were I tender'd as a pledge of peace,
8:70 The cruelties of war might quickly cease.
8:71 Oh! with what joy I'd wear the chains he gave!
8:72 A patient hostage, and a willing slave.
8:73 Thou lovely object! if the nymph that bare
8:74 Thy charming person, were but half so fair;
8:75 Well might a God her virgin bloom desire,
8:76 And with a rape indulge his amorous fire.
8:77 Oh! had I wings to glide along the air,
8:78 To his dear tent I'd fly, and settle there:
8:79 There tell my quality, confess my flame,
8:80 And grant him any dowry that he'd name.
8:81 All, all I'd give; only my native land,
8:82 My dearest country, shou'd excepted stand,
8:83 For, perish love, and all expected joys,
8:84 E're, with so base a thought, my soul complies.
8:85 Yet, oft the vanquish'd some advantage find,
8:86 When conquer'd by a noble, gen'rous mind.
8:87 Brave Minos justly has the war begun,
8:88 Fir'd with resentment for his murder'd son:
8:89 The righteous Gods a righteous cause regard,
8:90 And will, with victory, his arms reward:
8:91 We must be conquer'd; and the captive's fate
8:92 Will surely seize us, tho' it seize us late.
8:93 Why then shou'd love be idle, and neglect
8:94 What Mars, by arms and perils, will effect?
8:95 Oh! Prince, I dye, with anxious fear opprest,
8:96 Lest some rash hand shou'd wound my charmer's breast:
8:97 For, if they saw, no barb'rous mind cou'd dare
8:98 Against that lovely form to raise a spear.

8:99 But I'm resolv'd, and fix'd in this decree,
8:100 My father's country shall my dowry be.
8:101 Thus I prevent the loss of life and blood,
8:102 And, in effect, the action must be good.
8:103 Vain resolution! for, at ev'ry gate
8:104 The trusty centinels, successive, wait:
8:105 The keys my father keeps; ah! there's my grief;
8:106 'Tis he obstructs all hopes of my relief.
8:107 Gods! that this hated light I'd never seen!
8:108 Or, all my life, without a father been!
8:109 But Gods we all may be; for those that dare,
8:110 Are Gods, and Fortune's chiefest favours share.
8:111 The ruling Pow'rs a lazy pray'r detest,
8:112 The bold adventurer succeeds the best.
8:113 What other maid, inspir'd with such a flame,
8:114 But wou'd take courage, and abandon shame?
8:115 But wou'd, tho' ruin shou'd ensue, remove
8:116 Whate'er oppos'd, and clear the way to love?
8:117 This, shall another's feeble passion dare?
8:118 While I sit tame, and languish in despair:
8:119 No; for tho' fire and sword before me lay,
8:120 Impatient love thro' both shou'd force its way.
8:121 Yet I have no such enemies to fear,
8:122 My sole obstruction is my father's hair;
8:123 His purple lock my sanguine hope destroys,
8:124 And clouds the prospect of my rising joys.

8:125 Whilst thus she spoke, amid the thick'ning air
8:126 Night supervenes, the greatest nurse of care:
8:127 And, as the Goddess spreads her sable wings,
8:128 The virgin's fears decay, and courage springs.
8:129 The hour was come, when Man's o'er-labour'd breast
8:130 Surceas'd its care, by downy sleep possest:
8:131 All things now hush'd, Scylla with silent tread
8:132 Urg'd her approach to Nisus' royal bed:
8:133 There, of the fatal lock (accursed theft!)
8:134 She her unwitting father's head bereft.
8:135 In safe possession of her impious prey,
8:136 Out at a postern gate she takes her way.
8:137 Embolden'd, by the merit of the deed
8:138 She traverses the adverse camp with speed,
8:139 'Till Minos' tent she reach'd: the righteous king
8:140 She thus bespoke, who shiver'd at the thing.

8:141 Behold th' effect of love's resistless sway!
8:142 I, Nisus' royal seed, to thee betray
8:143 My country, and my Gods. For this strange task,
8:144 Minos, no other boon but thee I ask.
8:145 This purple lock, a pledge of love, receive;
8:146 No worthless present, since in it I give
8:147 My father's head.-Mov'd at a crime so new,
8:148 And with abhorrence fill'd, back Minos drew,
8:149 Nor touch'd th' unhallow'd gift; but thus exclaim'd
8:150 (With mein indignant, and with eyes inflam'd),
8:151 Perdition seize thee, thou, thy kind's disgrace!
8:152 May thy devoted carcass find no place
8:153 In earth, or air, or sea, by all out-cast!
8:154 Shall Minos, with so foul a monster, blast
8:155 His Cretan world, where cradled Jove was nurst?
8:156 Forbid it Heav'n!-away, thou most accurst!

8:157 And now Alcathoe, its lord exchang'd,
8:158 Was under Minos' domination rang'd.
8:159 While the most equal king his care applies
8:160 To curb the conquer'd, and new laws devise,
8:161 The fleet, by his command, with hoisted sails,
8:162 And ready oars, invites the murm'ring gales.
8:163 At length the Cretan hero anchor weigh'd,
8:164 Repaying, with neglect, th' abandon'd maid.
8:165 Deaf to her cries, he furrows up the main:
8:166 In vain she prays, sollicits him in vain.

8:167 And now she furious grows in wild despair,
8:168 She wrings her hands, and throws aloft her hair.
8:169 Where run'st thou? (thus she vents her deep distress)
8:170 Why shun'st thou her that crown'd thee with success?
8:171 Her, whose fond love to thee cou'd sacrifice
8:172 Her country, and her parent, sacred ties!
8:173 Can nor my love, nor proffer'd presents find
8:174 A passage to thy heart, and make thee kind?
8:175 Can nothing move thy pity? O ingrate,
8:176 Can'st thou behold my lost, forlorn estate,
8:177 And not be soften'd? Can'st thou throw off one
8:178 Who has no refuge left but thee alone?
8:179 Where shall I seek for comfort? whither fly?
8:180 My native country does in ashes lye:
8:181 Or were't not so, my treason bars me there,
8:182 And bids me wander. Shall I next repair
8:183 To a wrong'd father, by my guilt undone?-
8:184 Me all Mankind deservedly will shun.
8:185 I, out of all the world, my self have thrown,
8:186 To purchase an access to Crete alone;
8:187 Which, since refus'd, ungen'rous man, give o'er
8:188 To boast thy race; Europa never bore
8:189 A thing so savage. Thee some tygress bred,
8:190 On the bleak Syrt's inhospitable bed;
8:191 Or where Charybdis pours its rapid tide
8:192 Tempestuous. Thou art not to Jove ally'd;
8:193 Nor did the king of Gods thy mother meet
8:194 Beneath a bull's forg'd shape, and bear to Crete.
8:195 That fable of thy glorious birth is feign'd;
8:196 Some wild outrageous bull thy dam sustain'd.
8:197 O father Nisus, now my death behold;
8:198 Exult, o city, by my baseness sold:
8:199 Minos, obdurate, has aveng'd ye all;
8:200 But 'twere more just by those I wrong'd to fall:
8:201 For why shou'dst thou, who only didst subdue
8:202 By my offending, my offence pursue?
8:203 Well art thou matcht to one whose am'rous flame
8:204 Too fiercely rag'd, for human-kind to tame;
8:205 One who, within a wooden heifer thrust,
8:206 Courted a low'ring bull's mistaken lust;
8:207 And, from whose monster-teeming womb, the Earth
8:208 Receiv'd, what much it mourn'd, a bi-form birth.
8:209 But what avails my plaints? the whistling wind,
8:210 Which bears him far away, leaves them behind.
8:211 Well weigh'd Pasiphae, when she prefer'd
8:212 A bull to thee, more brutish than the herd.
8:213 But ah! Time presses, and the labour'd oars
8:214 To distance drive the fleet, and lose the less'ning shores.
8:215 Think not, ungrateful man, the liquid way
8:216 And threat'ning billows shall inforce my stay.
8:217 I'll follow thee in spite: My arms I'll throw
8:218 Around thy oars, or grasp thy crooked prow,
8:219 And drag thro' drenching seas. Her eager tongue
8:220 Had hardly clos'd the speech, when forth she sprung
8:221 And prov'd the deep. Cupid with added force
8:222 Recruits each nerve, and aids her wat'ry course.
8:223 Soon she the ship attains, unwelcome guest;
8:224 And, as with close embrace its sides she prest,
8:225 A hawk from upper air came pouring down
8:226 ('Twas Nisus cleft the sky with wings new grown).
8:227 At Scylla's head his horny bill he aims;
8:228 She, fearful of the blow, the ship disclaims,
8:229 Quitting her hold: and yet she fell not far,
8:230 But wond'ring, finds her self sustain'd in air.
8:231 Chang'd to a lark, she mottled pinions shook,
8:232 And, from the ravish'd lock, the name of Ciris took.