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.