The Mariners transform'd to Dolphins



3:697 Him Pentheus view'd with fury in his look,
3:698 And scarce with-held his hands, whilst thus he spoke:
3:699 "Vile slave! whom speedy vengeance shall pursue,
3:700 And terrify thy base seditious crew:
3:701 Thy country and thy parentage reveal,
3:702 And, why thou joinest in these mad Orgies, tell."

3:703 The captive views him with undaunted eyes,
3:704 And, arm'd with inward innocence, replies,

3:705 "From high Meonia's rocky shores I came,
3:706 Of poor descent, Acoetes is my name:
3:707 My sire was meanly born; no oxen plow'd
3:708 His fruitful fields, nor in his pastures low'd.
3:709 His whole estate within the waters lay;
3:710 With lines and hooks he caught the finny prey,
3:711 His art was all his livelyhood; which he
3:712 Thus with his dying lips bequeath'd to me:
3:713 In streams, my boy, and rivers take thy chance;
3:714 There swims, said he, thy whole inheritance.
3:715 Long did I live on this poor legacy;
3:716 'Till tir'd with rocks, and my old native sky,
3:717 To arts of navigation I inclin'd;
3:718 Observ'd the turns and changes of the wind,
3:719 Learn'd the fit havens, and began to note
3:720 The stormy Hyades, the rainy Goat,
3:721 The bright Taygete, and the shining Bears,
3:722 With all the sailor's catalogue of stars.

3:723 "Once, as by chance for Delos I design'd,
3:724 My vessel, driv'n by a strong gust of wind,
3:725 Moor'd in a Chian Creek; a-shore I went,
3:726 And all the following night in Chios spent.
3:727 When morning rose, I sent my mates to bring
3:728 Supplies of water from a neighb'ring spring,
3:729 Whilst I the motion of the winds explor'd;
3:730 Then summon'd in my crew, and went aboard.
3:731 Opheltes heard my summons, and with joy
3:732 Brought to the shore a soft and lovely boy,
3:733 With more than female sweetness in his look,
3:734 Whom straggling in the neighb'ring fields he took.
3:735 With fumes of wine the little captive glows,
3:736 And nods with sleep, and staggers as he goes.

3:737 "I view'd him nicely, and began to trace
3:738 Each heav'nly feature, each immortal grace,
3:739 And saw divinity in all his face,
3:740 I know not who, said I, this God should be;
3:741 But that he is a God I plainly see:
3:742 And thou, who-e'er thou art, excuse the force
3:743 These men have us'd; and oh befriend our course!
3:744 Pray not for us, the nimble Dictys cry'd,
3:745 Dictys, that could the main-top mast bestride,
3:746 And down the ropes with active vigour slide.
3:747 To the same purpose old Epopeus spoke,
3:748 Who over-look'd the oars, and tim'd the stroke;
3:749 The same the pilot, and the same the rest;
3:750 Such impious avarice their souls possest.
3:751 Nay, Heav'n forbid that I should bear away
3:752 Within my vessel so divine a prey,
3:753 Said I; and stood to hinder their intent:
3:754 When Lycabas, a wretch for murder sent
3:755 From Tuscany, to suffer banishment,
3:756 With his clench'd fist had struck me over-board,
3:757 Had not my hands in falling grasp'd a cord.

3:758 "His base confederates the fact approve;
3:759 When Bacchus (for 'twas he) begun to move,
3:760 Wak'd by the noise and clamours which they rais'd;
3:761 And shook his drowsie limbs, and round him gaz'd:
3:762 What means this noise? he cries; am I betray'd?
3:763 Ah, whither, whither must I be convey'd?
3:764 Fear not, said Proreus, child, but tell us where
3:765 You wish to land, and trust our friendly care.
3:766 To Naxos then direct your course, said he;
3:767 Naxos a hospitable port shall be
3:768 To each of you, a joyful home to me.
3:769 By ev'ry God, that rules the sea or sky,
3:770 The perjur'd villains promise to comply,
3:771 And bid me hasten to unmoor the ship.
3:772 With eager joy I launch into the deep;
3:773 And, heedless of the fraud, for Naxos stand.
3:774 They whisper oft, and beckon with the hand,
3:775 And give me signs, all anxious for their prey,
3:776 To tack about, and steer another way.
3:777 Then let some other to my post succeed,
3:778 Said I, I'm guiltless of so foul a deed.
3:779 What, says Ethalion, must the ship's whole crew
3:780 Follow your humour, and depend on you?
3:781 And strait himself he seated at the prore,
3:782 And tack'd about, and sought another shore.

3:783 "The beauteous youth now found himself betray'd,
3:784 And from the deck the rising waves survey'd,
3:785 And seem'd to weep, and as he wept he said:
3:786 And do you thus my easy faith beguile?
3:787 Thus do you bear me to my native isle?
3:788 Will such a multitude of men employ
3:789 Their strength against a weak defenceless boy?

3:790 "In vain did I the God-like youth deplore,
3:791 The more I begg'd, they thwarted me the more.
3:792 And now by all the Gods in Heav'n that hear
3:793 This solemn oath, by Bacchus' self, I swear,
3:794 The mighty miracle that did ensue,
3:795 Although it seems beyond belief, is true.
3:796 The vessel, fix'd and rooted in the flood,
3:797 Unmov'd by all the beating billows stood.
3:798 In vain the mariners would plow the main
3:799 With sails unfurl'd, and strike their oars in vain;
3:800 Around their oars a twining ivy cleaves,
3:801 And climbs the mast, and hides the cords in leaves:
3:802 The sails are cover'd with a chearful green,
3:803 And berries in the fruitful canvass seen.
3:804 Amidst the waves a sudden forest rears
3:805 Its verdant head, and a new Spring appears.

3:806 "The God we now behold with open'd eyes;
3:807 A herd of spotted panthers round him lyes
3:808 In glaring forms; the grapy clusters spread
3:809 On his fair brows, and dangle on his head.
3:810 And whilst he frowns, and brandishes his spear,
3:811 My mates surpriz'd with madness or with fear,
3:812 Leap'd over board; first perjur'd Madon found
3:813 Rough scales and fins his stiff'ning sides surround;
3:814 Ah what, cries one, has thus transform'd thy look?
3:815 Strait his own mouth grew wider as he spoke;
3:816 And now himself he views with like surprize.
3:817 Still at his oar th' industrious Libys plies;
3:818 But, as he plies, each busy arm shrinks in,
3:819 And by degrees is fashion'd to a fin.
3:820 Another, as he catches at a cord,
3:821 Misses his arms, and, tumbling over-board,
3:822 With his broad fins and forky tail he laves
3:823 The rising surge, and flounces in the waves.
3:824 Thus all my crew transform'd around the ship,
3:825 Or dive below, or on the surface leap,
3:826 And spout the waves, and wanton in the deep.
3:827 Full nineteen sailors did the ship convey,
3:828 A shole of nineteen dolphins round her play.
3:829 I only in my proper shape appear,
3:830 Speechless with wonder, and half dead with fear,
3:831 'Till Bacchus kindly bid me fear no more.
3:832 With him I landed on the Chian shore,
3:833 And him shall ever gratefully adore."

3:834 "This forging slave," says Pentheus, "would prevail
3:835 O'er our just fury by a far-fetch'd tale:
3:836 Go, let him feel the whips, the swords, the fire,
3:837 And in the tortures of the rack expire."
3:838 Th' officious servants hurry him away,
3:839 And the poor captive in a dungeon lay.
3:840 But, whilst the whips and tortures are prepar'd,
3:841 The gates fly open, of themselves unbarr'd;
3:842 At liberty th' unfetter'd captive stands,
3:843 And flings the loosen'd shackles from his hands.