The Transformation of Ino and Melicerta to Sea-Gods
4:597 The pow'r of Bacchus now o'er Thebes had
flown:
4:598 With awful rev'rence soon the
God they own.
4:599 Proud Ino, all around the wonder
tells,
4:600 And on her nephew deity still
dwells.
4:601 Of num'rous sisters, she alone
yet knew
4:602 No grief, but grief, which she
from sisters drew.
4:603 Imperial Juno saw her with disdain,
4:604 Vain in her offspring, in her
consort vain,
4:605 Who rul'd the trembling Thebans
with a nod,
4:606 But saw her vainest in her foster-God.
4:607 Could then (she cry'd) a bastard-boy
have pow'r
4:608 To make a mother her own son
devour?
4:609 Could he the Tuscan crew to fishes
change,
4:610 And now three sisters damn to
forms so strange?
4:611 Yet shall the wife of Jove find
no relief?
4:612 Shall she, still unreveng'd,
disclose her grief?
4:613 Have I the mighty freedom to
complain?
4:614 Is that my pow'r? is that to
ease my pain?
4:615 A foe has taught me vengeance;
and who ought
4:616 To scorn that vengeance, which
a foe has taught?
4:617 What sure destruction frantick
rage can throw,
4:618 The gaping wounds of slaughter'd
Pentheus show.
4:619 Why should not Ino, fir'd with
madness, stray,
4:620 Like her mad sisters her own
kindred slay?
4:621 Why, she not follow, where they
lead the way?
4:622 Down a steep, yawning cave, where yews display'd
4:623 In arches meet, and lend a baleful
shade,
4:624 Thro' silent labyrinths a passage
lies
4:625 To mournful regions, and infernal
skies.
4:626 Here Styx exhales its noisome
clouds, and here,
4:627 The fun'ral rites once paid,
all souls appear.
4:628 Stiff cold, and horror with a
ghastly face
4:629 And staring eyes, infest the
dreary place.
4:630 Ghosts, new-arriv'd, and strangers
to these plains,
4:631 Know not the palace, where grim
Pluto reigns.
4:632 They journey doubtful, nor the
road can tell,
4:633 Which leads to the metropolis
of Hell.
4:634 A thousand avenues those tow'rs
command,
4:635 A thousand gates for ever open
stand.
4:636 As all the rivers, disembogu'd,
find room
4:637 For all their waters in old Ocean's
womb:
4:638 So this vast city worlds of shades
receives,
4:639 And space for millions still
of worlds she leaves.
4:640 Th' unbody'd spectres freely
rove, and show
4:641 Whate'er they lov'd on Earth,
they love below.
4:642 The lawyers still, or right,
or wrong, support,
4:643 The courtiers smoothly glide
to Pluto's court.
4:644 Still airy heroes thoughts of
glory fire,
4:645 Still the dead poet strings his
deathless lyre,
4:646 And lovers still with fancy'd
darts expire.
4:647 The Queen of Heaven, to gratify her hate,
4:648 And sooth immortal wrath, forgets
her state.
4:649 Down from the realms of day,
to realms of night,
4:650 The Goddess swift precipitates
her flight.
4:651 At Hell arriv'd, the noise Hell's
porter heard,
4:652 Th' enormous dog his triple head
up-rear'd:
4:653 Thrice from three grizly throats
he howl'd profound,
4:654 Then suppliant couch'd, and stretch'd
along the ground.
4:655 The trembling threshold, which
Saturnia prest,
4:656 The weight of such divinity confest.
4:657 Before a lofty, adamantine gate,
4:658 Which clos'd a tow'r of brass,
the Furies sate:
4:659 Mis-shapen forms, tremendous
to the sight,
4:660 Th' implacable foul daughters
of the night.
4:661 A sounding whip each bloody sister
shakes,
4:662 Or from her tresses combs the
curling snakes.
4:663 But now great Juno's majesty
was known;
4:664 Thro' the thick gloom, all heav'nly
bright, she shone:
4:665 The hideous monsters their obedience
show'd,
4:666 And rising from their seats,
submissive bow'd.
4:667 This is the place of woe, here groan the
dead;
4:668 Huge Tityus o'er nine acres here
is spread.
4:669 Fruitful for pain th' immortal
liver breeds,
4:670 Still grows, and still th' insatiate
vulture feeds.
4:671 Poor Tantalus to taste the water
tries,
4:672 But from his lips the faithless
water flies:
4:673 Then thinks the bending tree
he can command,
4:674 The tree starts backwards, and
eludes his hand.
4:675 The labour too of Sisyphus is
vain,
4:676 Up the steep mount he heaves
the stone with pain,
4:677 Down from the summet rouls the
stone again.
4:678 The Belides their leaky vessels
still
4:679 Are ever filling, and yet never
fill:
4:680 Doom'd to this punishment for
blood they shed,
4:681 For bridegrooms slaughter'd in
the bridal bed.
4:682 Stretch'd on the rolling wheel
Ixion lies;
4:683 Himself he follows, and himself
he flies.
4:684 Ixion, tortur'd, Juno sternly
ey'd,
4:685 Then turn'd, and toiling Sisyphus
espy'd:
4:686 And why (she said) so wretched
is the fate
4:687 Of him, whose brother proudly
reigns in state?
4:688 Yet still my altars unador'd
have been
4:689 By Athamas, and his presumptuous
queen.
4:690 What caus'd her hate, the Goddess thus confest,
4:691 What caus'd her journey now was
more than guest.
4:692 That hate, relentless, its revenge
did want,
4:693 And that revenge the Furies soon
could grant:
4:694 They could the glory of proud
Thebes efface,
4:695 And hide in ruin the Cadmean
race.
4:696 For this she largely promises,
entreats,
4:697 And to intreaties adds imperial
threats.
4:698 Then fell Tisiphone with rage was stung,
4:699 And from her mouth th' untwisted
serpents flung.
4:700 To gain this trifling boon, there
is no need
4:701 (She cry'd) in formal speeches
to proceed.
4:702 Whatever thou command'st to do,
is done;
4:703 Believe it finish'd, tho' not
yet begun.
4:704 But from these melancholly seats
repair
4:705 To happier mansions, and to purer
air.
4:706 She spoke: the Goddess, darting
upwards, flies,
4:707 And joyous re-ascends her native
skies:
4:708 Nor enter'd there, till 'round
her Iris threw
4:709 Ambrosial sweets, and pour'd
celestial dew.
4:710 The faithful Fury, guiltless of delays,
4:711 With cruel haste the dire command
obeys.
4:712 Girt in a bloody gown, a torch
she shakes,
4:713 And round her neck twines speckled
wreaths of snakes.
4:714 Fear, and dismay, and agonizing
pain,
4:715 With frantick rage, compleat
her loveless train.
4:716 To Thebes her flight she sped,
and Hell forsook;
4:717 At her approach the Theban turrets
shook:
4:718 The sun shrunk back, thick clouds
the day o'er-cast,
4:719 And springing greens were wither'd
as she past.
4:720 Now, dismal yellings heard, strange spectres
seen,
4:721 Confound as much the monarch
as the queen.
4:722 In vain to quit the palace they
prepar'd,
4:723 Tisiphone was there, and kept
the ward.
4:724 She wide extended her unfriendly
arms,
4:725 And all the Fury lavish'd all
her harms.
4:726 Part of her tresses loudly hiss,
and part
4:727 Spread poyson, as their forky
tongues they dart.
4:728 Then from her middle locks two
snakes she drew,
4:729 Whose merit from superior mischief
grew:
4:730 Th' envenom'd ruin, thrown with
spiteful care,
4:731 Clung to the bosoms of the hapless
pair.
4:732 The hapless pair soon with wild
thoughts were fir'd,
4:733 And madness, by a thousand ways
inspir'd.
4:734 'Tis true, th' unwounded body
still was sound,
4:735 But 'twas the soul which felt
the deadly wound.
4:736 Nor did th' unsated monster here
give o'er,
4:737 But dealt of plagues a fresh,
unnumber'd store.
4:738 Each baneful juice too well she
understood,
4:739 Foam, churn'd by Cerberus, and
Hydra's blood.
4:740 Hot hemlock, and cold aconite
she chose,
4:741 Delighted in variety of woes.
4:742 Whatever can untune th' harmonious
soul,
4:743 And its mild, reas'ning faculties
controul,
4:744 Give false ideas, raise desires
profane,
4:745 And whirl in eddies the tumultuous
brain,
4:746 Mix'd with curs'd art, she direfully
around
4:747 Thro' all their nerves diffus'd
the sad compound.
4:748 Then toss'd her torch in circles
still the same,
4:749 Improv'd their rage, and added
flame to flame.
4:750 The grinning Fury her own conquest
spy'd,
4:751 And to her rueful shades return'd
with pride,
4:752 And threw th' exhausted, useless
snakes aside.
4:753 Now Athamas cries out, his reason fled,
4:754 Here, fellow-hunters, let the
toils be spread.
4:755 I saw a lioness, in quest of
food,
4:756 With her two young, run roaring
in this wood.
4:757 Again the fancy'd savages were
seen,
4:758 As thro' his palace still he
chac'd his queen;
4:759 Then tore Learchus from her breast:
the child
4:760 Stretch'd little arms, and on
its father smil'd:
4:761 A father now no more, who now
begun
4:762 Around his head to whirl his
giddy son,
4:763 And, quite insensible to Nature's
call,
4:764 The helpless infant flung against
the wall.
4:765 The same mad poyson in the mother
wrought,
4:766 Young Melicerta in her arms she
caught,
4:767 And with disorder'd tresses,
howling, flies,
4:768 O! Bacchus, Evoe, Bacchus! loud
she cries.
4:769 The name of Bacchus Juno laugh'd
to hear,
4:770 And said, Thy foster-God has
cost thee dear.
4:771 A rock there stood, whose side the beating
waves
4:772 Had long consum'd, and hollow'd
into caves.
4:773 The head shot forwards in a bending
steep,
4:774 And cast a dreadful covert o'er
the deep.
4:775 The wretched Ino, on destruction
bent,
4:776 Climb'd up the cliff; such strength
her fury lent:
4:777 Thence with her guiltless boy,
who wept in vain,
4:778 At one bold spring she plung'd
into the main.
4:779 Her neice's fate touch'd Cytherea's breast,
4:780 And in soft sounds she Neptune
thus addrest:
4:781 Great God of waters, whose extended
sway
4:782 Is next to his, whom Heav'n and
Earth obey:
4:783 Let not the suit of Venus thee
displease,
4:784 Pity the floaters on th' Ionian
seas.
4:785 Encrease thy Subject-Gods, nor
yet disdain
4:786 To add my kindred to that glorious
train.
4:787 If from the sea I may such honours
claim,
4:788 If 'tis desert, that from the
sea I came,
4:789 As Grecian poets artfully have
sung,
4:790 And in the name confest, from
whence I sprung.
4:791 Pleas'd Neptune nodded his assent, and free
4:792 Both soon became from frail mortality.
4:793 He gave them form, and majesty
divine,
4:794 And bad them glide along the
foamy brine.
4:795 For Melicerta is Palaemon known,
4:796 And Ino once, Leucothoe is grown.