The Story of of Cinyras and Myrrha



10:457 Nor him alone produc'd the fruitful queen;
10:458 But Cinyras, who like his sire had been
10:459 A happy prince, had he not been a sire.
10:460 Daughters, and fathers, from my song retire;
10:461 I sing of horror; and could I prevail,
10:462 You shou'd not hear, or not believe my tale.
10:463 Yet if the pleasure of my song be such,
10:464 That you will hear, and credit me too much,
10:465 Attentive listen to the last event,
10:466 And, with the sin, believe the punishment:
10:467 Since Nature cou'd behold so dire a crime,
10:468 I gratulate at least my native clime,
10:469 That such a land, which such a monster bore,
10:470 So far is distant from our Thracian shore.
10:471 Let Araby extol her happy coast,
10:472 Her cinamon, and sweet Amomum boast,
10:473 Her fragrant flow'rs, her trees with precious tears,
10:474 Her second harvests, and her double years;
10:475 How can the land be call'd so bless'd, that Myrrha bears?
10:476 Nor all her od'rous tears can cleanse her crime;
10:477 Her Plant alone deforms the happy clime:
10:478 Cupid denies to have inflam'd thy heart,
10:479 Disowns thy love, and vindicates his dart:
10:480 Some Fury gave thee those infernal pains,
10:481 And shot her venom'd vipers in thy veins.
10:482 To hate thy sire, had merited a curse;
10:483 But such an impious love deserv'd a worse.
10:484 The neighb'ring monarchs, by thy beauty led,
10:485 Contend in crowds, ambitious of thy bed:
10:486 The world is at thy choice; except but one,
10:487 Except but him, thou canst not chuse, alone.
10:488 She knew it too, the miserable maid,
10:489 Ere impious love her better thoughts betray'd,
10:490 And thus within her secret soul she said:
10:491 Ah Myrrha! whither wou'd thy wishes tend?
10:492 Ye Gods, ye sacred laws, my soul defend
10:493 From such a crime as all mankind detest,
10:494 And never lodg'd before in human breast!
10:495 But is it sin? Or makes my mind alone
10:496 Th' imagin'd sin? For Nature makes it none.
10:497 What tyrant then these envious laws began,
10:498 Made not for any other beast, but Man!
10:499 The father-bull his daughter may bestride,
10:500 The horse may make his mother-mare a bride;
10:501 What piety forbids the lusty ram,
10:502 Or more salacious goat, to rut their dam?
10:503 The hen is free to wed the chick she bore,
10:504 And make a husband, whom she hatch'd before.
10:505 All creatures else are of a happier kind,
10:506 Whom nor ill-natur'd laws from pleasure bind,
10:507 Nor thoughts of sin disturb their peace of mind.
10:508 But Man a slave of his own making lives;
10:509 The fool denies himself what Nature gives:
10:510 Too-busie senates, with an over-care,
10:511 To make us better than our kind can bear,
10:512 Have dash'd a spice of envy in the laws,
10:513 And straining up too high, have spoil'd the cause.
10:514 Yet some wise nations break their cruel chains,
10:515 And own no laws, but those which love ordains;
10:516 Where happy daughters with their sires are join'd,
10:517 And piety is doubly paid in kind.
10:518 O that I had been born in such a clime,
10:519 Not here, where 'tis the country makes the crime!
10:520 But whither wou'd my impious fancy stray?
10:521 Hence hopes, and ye forbidden thoughts away!
10:522 His worth deserves to kindle my desires,
10:523 But with the love, that daughters bear to sires.
10:524 Then had not Cinyras my father been,
10:525 What hinder'd Myrrha's hopes to be his queen?
10:526 But the perverseness of my fate is such,
10:527 That he's not mine, because he's mine too much:
10:528 Our kindred-blood debars a better tie;
10:529 He might be nearer, were he not so nigh.
10:530 Eyes, and their objects, never must unite;
10:531 Some distance is requir'd to help the sight:
10:532 Fain wou'd I travel to some foreign shore,
10:533 Never to see my native country more,
10:534 So might I to my self my self restore;
10:535 So might my mind these impious thoughts remove,
10:536 And ceasing to behold, might cease to love.
10:537 But stay I must, to feed my famish'd sight,
10:538 To talk, to kiss, and more, if more I might:
10:539 More, impious maid! What more canst thou design?
10:540 To make a monstrous mixture in thy line,
10:541 And break all statutes human and divine!
10:542 Can'st thou be call'd (to save thy wretched life)
10:543 Thy mother's rival, and thy father's wife?
10:544 Confound so many sacred names in one,
10:545 Thy brother's mother! Sister to thy son!
10:546 And fear'st thou not to see th' infernal bands,
10:547 Their heads with snakes; with torches arm'd their hands
10:548 Full at thy face th' avenging brands to bear,
10:549 And shake the serpents from their hissing hair;
10:550 But thou in time th' increasing ill controul,
10:551 Nor first debauch the body by the soul;
10:552 Secure the sacred quiet of thy mind,
10:553 And keep the sanctions Nature has design'd.
10:554 Suppose I shou'd attempt, th' attempt were vain,
10:555 No thoughts like mine, his sinless soul profane;
10:556 Observant of the right: and o that he
10:557 Cou'd cure my madness, or be mad like me!
10:558 Thus she: but Cinyras, who daily sees
10:559 A crowd of noble suitors at his knees,
10:560 Among so many, knew not whom to chuse,
10:561 Irresolute to grant, or to refuse.
10:562 But having told their names, enquir'd of her
10:563 Who pleas'd her best, and whom she would prefer.
10:564 The blushing maid stood silent with surprize,
10:565 And on her father fix'd her ardent eyes,
10:566 And looking sigh'd, and as she sigh'd, began
10:567 Round tears to shed, that scalded as they ran.
10:568 The tender sire, who saw her blush, and cry,
10:569 Ascrib'd it all to maiden modesty,
10:570 And dry'd the falling drops, and yet more kind,
10:571 He stroak'd her cheeks, and holy kisses join'd.
10:572 She felt a secret venom fire her blood,
10:573 And found more pleasure, than a daughter shou'd;
10:574 And, ask'd again what lover of the crew
10:575 She lik'd the best, she answer'd, One like you.
10:576 Mistaking what she meant, her pious will
10:577 He prais'd, and bid her so continue still:
10:578 The word of pious heard, she blush'd with shame
10:579 Of secret guilt, and cou'd not bear the name.

10:580 'Twas now the mid of night, when slumbers close
10:581 Our eyes, and sooth our cares with soft repose;
10:582 But no repose cou'd wretched Myrrha find,
10:583 Her body rouling, as she roul'd her mind:
10:584 Mad with desire, she ruminates her sin,
10:585 And wishes all her wishes o'er again:
10:586 Now she despairs, and now resolves to try;
10:587 Wou'd not, and wou'd again, she knows not why;
10:588 Stops, and returns; makes, and retracts the vow;
10:589 Fain wou'd begin, but understands not how.
10:590 As when a pine is hew'd upon the plains,
10:591 And the last mortal stroke alone remains,
10:592 Lab'ring in pangs of death, and threatning all,
10:593 This way, and that she nods, consid'ring where to fall:
10:594 So Myrrha's mind, impell'd on either side,
10:595 Takes ev'ry bent, but cannot long abide;
10:596 Irresolute on which she shou'd relie,
10:597 At last, unfix'd in all, is only fix'd to die.
10:598 On that sad thought she rests, resolv'd on death,
10:599 She rises, and prepares to choak her breath:
10:600 Then while about the beam her zone she ties,
10:601 Dear Cinyras farewell, she softly cries;
10:602 For thee I die, and only wish to be
10:603 Not hated, when thou know'st die I for thee:
10:604 Pardon the crime, in pity to the cause:
10:605 This said, about her neck the noose she draws.
10:606 The nurse, who lay without, her faithful guard,
10:607 Though not the words, the murmurs over-heard;
10:608 And sighs, and hollow sounds: surpriz'd with fright,
10:609 She starts, and leaves her bed, and springs a light;
10:610 Unlocks the door, and entring out of breath,
10:611 The dying saw, and instruments of death;
10:612 She shrieks, she cuts the zone with trembling haste,
10:613 And in her arms her fainting charge embrac'd:
10:614 Next (for she now had leisure for her tears),
10:615 She weeping ask'd, in these her blooming years,
10:616 What unforeseen misfortune caus'd her care,
10:617 To loath her life, and languish in despair!
10:618 The maid, with down-cast eyes, and mute with grief
10:619 For death unfinish'd, and ill-tim'd relief,
10:620 Stood sullen to her suit: the beldame press'd
10:621 The more to know, and bar'd her wither'd breast,
10:622 Adjur'd her by the kindly food she drew
10:623 From those dry founts, her secret ill to shew.
10:624 Sad Myrrha sigh'd, and turn'd her eyes aside:
10:625 The nurse still urg'd, and wou'd not be deny'd:
10:626 Nor only promis'd secresie, but pray'd
10:627 She might have leave to give her offer'd aid.
10:628 Good-will, she said, my want of strength supplies,
10:629 And diligence shall give what age denies:
10:630 If strong desires thy mind to fury move,
10:631 With charms and med'cines I can cure thy love:
10:632 If envious eyes their hurtuful rays have cast,
10:633 More pow'rful verse shall free thee from the blast:
10:634 If Heav'n offended sends thee this disease,
10:635 Offended Heav'n with pray'rs we can appease.
10:636 What then remains, that can these cares procure?
10:637 Thy house is flourishing, thy fortune sure:
10:638 Thy careful mother yet in health survives,
10:639 And, to thy comfort, thy kind father lives.
10:640 The virgin started at her father's name,
10:641 And sigh'd profoundly, conscious of the shame
10:642 Nor yet the nurse her impious love divin'd,
10:643 But yet surmis'd that love disturb'd her mind:
10:644 Thus thinking, she pursu'd her point, and laid,
10:645 And lull'd within her lap the mourning maid;
10:646 Then softly sooth'd her thus; I guess your grief:
10:647 You love, my child; your love shall find relief.
10:648 My long-experienc'd age shall be your guide;
10:649 Rely on that, and lay distrust aside.
10:650 No breath of air shall on the secret blow,
10:651 Nor shall (what most you fear) your father know.
10:652 Struck once again, as with a thunder-clap,
10:653 The guilty virgin bounded from her lap,
10:654 And threw her body prostrate on the bed.
10:655 And, to conceal her blushes, hid her head;
10:656 There silent lay, and warn'd her with her hand
10:657 To go: but she receiv'd not the command;
10:658 Remaining still importunate to know:
10:659 Then Myrrha thus: Or ask no more, or go;
10:660 I pr'ythee go, or staying spare my shame;
10:661 What thou would'st hear, is impious ev'n to name.
10:662 At this, on high the beldame holds her hands,
10:663 And trembling both with age, and terror stands;
10:664 Adjures, and falling at her feet intreats,
10:665 Sooths her with blandishments, and frights with threats,
10:666 To tell the crime intended, or disclose
10:667 What part of it she knew, if she no farther knows.
10:668 And last, if conscious to her counsel made,
10:669 Confirms anew the promise of her aid.
10:670 Now Myrrha rais'd her head; but soon oppress'd
10:671 With shame, reclin'd it on her nurse's breast;
10:672 Bath'd it with tears, and strove to have confess'd:
10:673 Twice she began, and stopp'd; again she try'd;
10:674 The falt'ring tongue its office still deny'd.
10:675 At last her veil before her face she spread,
10:676 And drew a long preluding sigh, and said,
10:677 O happy mother, in thy marriage-bed!
10:678 Then groan'd, and ceas'd. The good old woman shook,
10:679 Stiff were her eyes, and ghastly was her look:
10:680 Her hoary hair upright with horror stood,
10:681 Made (to her grief) more knowing than she wou'd.
10:682 Much she reproach'd, and many things she said,
10:683 To cure the madness of th' unhappy maid,
10:684 In vain: for Myrrha stood convict of ill;
10:685 Her reason vanquish'd, but unchang'd her will:
10:686 Perverse of mind, unable to reply;
10:687 She stood resolv'd, or to possess, or die.
10:688 At length the fondness of a nurse prevail'd
10:689 Against her better sense, and virtue fail'd:
10:690 Enjoy, my child, since such is thy desire,
10:691 Thy love, she said; she durst not say, thy sire:
10:692 Live, though unhappy, live on any terms;
10:693 Then with a second oath her faith confirms.

10:694 The solemn feast of Ceres now was near,
10:695 When long white linnen stoles the matrons wear;
10:696 Rank'd in procession walk the pious train,
10:697 Off'ring first-fruits, and spikes of yellow grain:
10:698 For nine long nights the nuptial-bed they shun,
10:699 And sanctifying harvest, lie alone.

10:700 Mix'd with the crowd, the queen forsook her lord,
10:701 And Ceres' pow'r with secret rites ador'd:
10:702 The royal couch, now vacant for a time,
10:703 The crafty crone, officious in her crime,
10:704 The first occasion took: the king she found
10:705 Easie with wine, and deep in pleasures drown'd,
10:706 Prepar'd for love: the beldame blew the flame,
10:707 Confess'd the passion, but conceal'd the name.
10:708 Her form she prais'd; the monarch ask'd her years;
10:709 And she reply'd, The same thy Myrrha bears.
10:710 Wine, and commended beauty fir'd his thought;
10:711 Impatient, he commands her to be brought.
10:712 Pleas'd with her charge perform'd, she hies her home,
10:713 And gratulates the nymph, the task was overcome.
10:714 Myrrha was joy'd the welcome news to hear;
10:715 But clog'd with guilt, the joy was unsincere:
10:716 So various, so discordant is the mind,
10:717 That in our will a diff'rent will we find.
10:718 Ill she presag'd, and yet pursu'd her lust;
10:719 For guilty pleasures give a double gust.

10:720 'Twas depth of night: Arctophylax had driv'n
10:721 His lazy wain half round the northern Heav'n,
10:722 When Myrrha hasten'd to the crime desir'd:
10:723 The moon beheld her first, and first retir'd:
10:724 The stars amaz'd, ran backward from the sight,
10:725 And (shrunk within their sockets) lost their light.
10:726 Icarius first withdraws his holy flame:
10:727 The virgin sign, in Heav'n the second name,
10:728 Slides down the belt, and from her station flies,
10:729 And night with sable clouds involves the skies.
10:730 Bold Myrrha still pursues her black intent;
10:731 She stumbled thrice (an omen of th' event);
10:732 Thrice shriek'd the fun'ral owl, yet on she went,
10:733 Secure of shame, because secure of sight;
10:734 Ev'n bashful sins are impudent by night.
10:735 Link'd hand in hand, th' accomplice, and the dame,
10:736 Their way exploring, to the chamber came:
10:737 The door was ope; they blindly grope their way,
10:738 Where dark in bed th' expecting monarch lay.
10:739 Thus far her courage held, but here forsakes;
10:740 Her faint knees knock at ev'ry step she makes.
10:741 The nearer to her crime, the more within
10:742 She feels remorse, and horror of her sin;
10:743 Repents too late her criminal desire,
10:744 And wishes, that unknown she could retire.
10:745 Her lingring thus, the nurse (who fear'd delay
10:746 The fatal secret might at length betray)
10:747 Pull'd forward, to compleat the work begun,
10:748 And said to Cinyras, Receive thy own.
10:749 Thus saying, she deliver'd kind to kind,
10:750 Accurs'd, and their devoted bodies join'd.
10:751 The sire, unknowing of the crime, admits
10:752 His bowels, and prophanes the hallow'd sheets;
10:753 He found she trembled, but believ'd she strove
10:754 With maiden modesty against her love,
10:755 And sought with flatt'ring words vain fancies to remove.
10:756 Perhaps he said, My daughter, cease thy fears
10:757 (Because the title suited with her years);
10:758 And, Father, she might whisper him again,
10:759 That names might not be wanting to the sin.

10:760 Full of her sire, she left th' incestuous bed,
10:761 And carry'd in her womb the crime she bred.
10:762 Another, and another night she came;
10:763 For frequent sin had left no sense of shame:
10:764 'Till Cinyras desir'd to see her face,
10:765 Whose body he had held in close embrace,
10:766 And brought a taper; the revealer, light,
10:767 Expos'd both crime, and criminal to sight.
10:768 Grief, rage, amazement, could no speech afford,
10:769 But from the sheath he drew th' avenging sword:
10:770 The guilty fled: the benefit of night,
10:771 That favour'd first the sin, secur'd the flight.
10:772 Long wand'ring thro' the spacious fields, she bent
10:773 Her voyage to th' Arabian continent;
10:774 Then pass'd the region which Panchaea join'd,
10:775 And flying, left the palmy plains behind.
10:776 Nine times the moon had mew'd her horns; at length
10:777 With travel weary, unsupply'd with strength,
10:778 And with the burden of her womb oppress'd,
10:779 Sabaean fields afford her needful rest:
10:780 There, loathing life, and yet of death afraid,
10:781 In anguish of her spirit, thus she pray'd:
10:782 Ye Pow'rs, if any so propitious are
10:783 T' accept my penitence, and hear my pray'r;
10:784 Your judgments, I confess, are justly sent;
10:785 Great sins deserve as great a punishment:
10:786 Yet since my life the living will profane,
10:787 And since my death the happy dead will stain,
10:788 A middle state your mercy may bestow,
10:789 Betwixt the realms above, and those below:
10:790 Some other form to wretched Myrrha give,
10:791 Nor let her wholly die, nor wholly live.

10:792 The pray'rs of penitents are never vain;
10:793 At least she did her last request obtain:
10:794 For while she spoke, the ground began to rise,
10:795 And gather'd round her feet, her legs, and thighs;
10:796 Her toes in roots descend, and spreading wide,
10:797 A firm foundation for the trunk provide:
10:798 Her solid bones convert to solid wood,
10:799 To pith her marrow, and to sap her blood:
10:800 Her arms are boughs, her fingers change their kind,
10:801 Her tender skin is harden'd into rind.
10:802 And now the rising tree her womb invests,
10:803 Now shooting upwards still, invades her breasts,
10:804 And shades the neck; when weary with delay,
10:805 She sunk her head within, and met it half the way.
10:806 And tho' with outward shape she lost her sense,
10:807 With bitter tears she wept her last offence;
10:808 And still she weeps, nor sheds her tears in vain;
10:809 For still the precious drops her name retain.
10:810 Mean-time the mis-begotten infant grows,
10:811 And ripe for birth, distends with deadly throes
10:812 The swelling rind, with unavailing strife,
10:813 To leave the wooden womb, and pushes into life.
10:814 The mother-tree, as if oppress'd with pain,
10:815 Writhes here, and there, to break the bark, in vain;
10:816 And, like a lab'ring woman, wou'd have pray'd,
10:817 But wants a voice to call Lucina's aid:
10:818 The bending bole sends out a hollow sound,
10:819 And trickling tears fall thicker on the ground.
10:820 The mild Lucina came uncall'd, and stood
10:821 Beside the struggling boughs, and heard the groaning wood;
10:822 Then reach'd her midwife-hand to speed the throes,
10:823 And spoke the pow'rful spells, that babes to birth disclose.
10:824 The bark divides, the living load to free,
10:825 And safe delivers the convulsive tree.
10:826 The ready nymphs receive the crying child,
10:827 And wash him in the tears the parent plant distill'd.
10:828 They swath'd him with their scarfs; beneath him spread
10:829 The ground with herbs; with roses rais'd his head.
10:830 The lovely babe was born with ev'ry grace,
10:831 Ev'n envy must have prais'd so fair a face:
10:832 Such was his form, as painters when they show
10:833 Their utmost art, on naked loves bestow:
10:834 And that their arms no diff'rence might betray,
10:835 Give him a bow, or his from Cupid take away.
10:836 Time glides along with undiscover'd haste,
10:837 The future but a length behind the past;
10:838 So swift are years. The babe, whom just before
10:839 His grandsire got, and whom his sister bore;
10:840 The drop, the thing, which late the tree inclos'd,
10:841 And late the yawning bark to life expos'd;
10:842 A babe, a boy, a beauteous youth appears,
10:843 And lovelier than himself at riper years.
10:844 Now to the queen of love he gave desires,
10:845 And, with her pains, reveng'd his mother's fires.