lxiiii.

Marriage of Peleus and Thetis.

(Fragment of an Epos.)

Pine-trees gendered whilòme upon soaring Peliac summit

Swam (as the tale is told) through liquid surges of Neptune

Far as the Phasis-flood and frontier-land Æëtéan;

Whenas the youths elect, of Argive vigour the oak-heart,

Longing the Golden Fleece of the Colchis-region to harry, 5

Dared in a poop swift-paced to span salt seas and their shallows,

Sweeping the deep blue seas with sweeps a-carven of fir-wood.

She, that governing Goddess of citadels crowning the cities,

Builded herself their car fast-flitting with lightest of breezes,

Weaving plants of the pine conjoined in curve of the kelson; 10

Foremost of all to imbue rude Amphitrité with ship-lore.

Soon as her beak had burst through wind-rackt spaces of ocean,

While th'oar-tortured wave with spumy whiteness was blanching,

Surged from the deep abyss and hoar-capped billows the faces

Seaborn, Nereids eyeing the prodigy wonder-smitten. 15

There too mortal orbs through softened spendours regarded

Ocean-nymphs who exposed bodies denuded of raiment

Bare to the breast upthrust from hoar froth capping the sea-depths.

Then Thetis Péleus fired (men say) a-sudden with love-lowe,

Then Thetis nowise spurned to mate and marry wi' mortal, 20

Then Thetis' Sire himself her yoke with Peleus sanctioned.

Oh, in those happier days now fondly yearned-for, ye heroes

Born; (all hail!) of the Gods begotten, and excellent issue

Bred by your mothers, all hail! and placid deal me your favour.

Oft wi' the sound of me, in strains and spells I'll invoke you;

Thee too by wedding-torch so happily, highly augmented, 25

Peleus, Thessaly's ward, whomunto Jupiter's self deigned

Yield of the freest gree his loves though gotten of Godheads.

Thee Thetis, fairest of maids Nereian, vouchsafed to marry?

Thee did Tethys empower to woo and wed with her grandchild;

Nor less Oceanus, with water compassing th' Earth-globe? 30

But when ended the term, and wisht-for light of the day-tide

Uprose, flocks to the house in concourse mighty convenèd,

Thessaly all, with glad assembly the Palace fulfilling:

Presents afore they bring, and joy in faces declare they.

Scyros desert abides: they quit Phthiotican Tempe, 35

Homesteads of Crannon-town, eke bulwarkt walls of Larissa;

Meeting at Pharsálus, and roof Pharsálian seeking.

None will the fields now till; soft wax all necks of the oxen,

Never the humble vine is purged by curve of the rake-tooth,

Never a pruner's hook thins out the shade of the tree-tufts, 41

Never a bull up-plows broad glebe with bend of the coulter, 40

Over whose point unuse displays the squalor of rust-stain.

But in the homestead's heart, where'er that opulent palace

Hides a retreat, all shines with splendour of gold and of silver.

Ivory blanches the seats, bright gleam the flagons a-table, 45

All of the mansion joys in royal riches and grandeur.

But for the Diva's use bestrewn is the genial bedstead,

Hidden in midmost stead, and its polisht framework of Indian

Tusk underlies its cloth empurpled by juice of the dye-shell.

This be a figured cloth with forms of manhood primeval 50

Showing by marvel-art the gifts and graces of heroes.

Here upon Dia's strand wave-resonant, ever-regarding

Theseus borne from sight outside by fleet of the fleetest,

Stands Ariadne with heart full-filled with furies unbated,

Nor can her sense as yet believe she 'spies the espied, 55

When like one that awakes new roused from slumber deceptive,

Sees she her hapless self lone left on loneliest sandbank:

While as the mindless youth with oars disturbeth the shallows,

Casts to the windy storms what vows he vainly had vowèd.

Him through the sedges afar the sad-eyed maiden of Minos, 60

Likest a Bacchant-girl stone-carven, (O her sorrow!)

'Spies, a-tossing the while on sorest billows of love-care.

Now no more on her blood-hued hair fine fillets retains she,

No more now light veil conceals her bosom erst hidden,

Now no more smooth zone contains her milky-hued paplets: 65

All gear dropping adown from every part of her person

Thrown, lie fronting her feet to the briny wavelets a sea-toy.

But at such now no more of her veil or her fillet a-floating

Had she regard: on thee, O Theseus! all of her heart-strength,

All of her sprite, her mind, forlorn, were evermore hanging. 70

Ah, sad soul, by grief and grievance driven beside thee,

Sowed Erycína first those brambly cares in thy bosom,

What while issuing fierce with will enstarkenèd, Theseus

Forth from the bow-bent shore Piræan putting a-seawards

Reacht the Gortynian roofs where dwelt th' injurious Monarch. 75

For 'twas told of yore how forced by pestilence cruel,

Eke as a blood rite due for th' Androgéonian murthur,

Many a chosen youth and the bloom of damsels unmarried

Food for the Minotaur, Cecropia was wont to befurnish.

Seeing his narrow walls in such wise vexed with evils, 80

Theseus of freest will for dear-loved Athens his body

Offered a victim so that no more to Crete be deported

Lives by Cecropia doomed to burials burying nowise;

Then with a swifty ship and soft breathed breezes a-stirring,

Sought he Minos the Haughty where homed in proudest of Mansions. 85

Him as with yearning glance forthright espièd the royal

Maiden, whom pure chaste couch aspiring delicate odours

Cherisht, in soft embrace of a mother comforted all-whiles,

(E'en as the myrtles begot by the flowing floods of Eurotas,

Or as the tincts distinct brought forth by breath of the springtide) 90

Never the burning lights of her eyes from gazing upon him

Turned she, before fierce flame in all her body conceived she

Down in its deepest depths and burning amiddle her marrow.

Ah, with unmitigate heart exciting wretchedmost furies,

Thou, Boy sacrosanct! man's grief and gladness commingling, 95

Thou too of Golgos Queen and Lady of leafy Idalium,

Whelm'd ye in what manner waves that maiden phantasy-firèd,

All for a blond-haired youth suspiring many a singulf!

Whiles how dire was the dread she dreed in languishing heart-strings;

How yet more, ever more, with golden splendour she palèd! 100

Whenas yearning to mate his might wi' the furious monster

Theseus braved his death or sought the prizes of praises.

Then of her gifts to gods not ingrate, nor profiting naught,

Promise with silent lip, addressed she timidly vowing.

For as an oak that shakes on topmost summit of Taurus 105

Its boughs, or cone-growing pine from bole bark resin exuding,

Whirlwind of passing might that twists the stems with its storm-blasts,

Uproots, deracinates, forthright its trunk to the farthest,

Prone falls, shattering wide what lies in line of its downfall -

Thus was that wildling flung by Theseus and vanquisht of body, 110

Vainly tossing its horns and goring the wind to no purpose.

Thence with abounding praise returned he, guiding his footsteps,

Whiles did a fine drawn thread check steps in wander abounding,

Lest when issuing forth of the winding maze labyrinthine

Baffled become his track by inobservable error. 115

But for what cause should I, from early subject digressing,

Tell of the daughter who the face of her sire unseeing,

Eke her sister's embrace nor less her mother's endearments,

Who in despair bewept her hapless child that so gladly

Chose before every and each the lively wooing of Theseus? 120

Or how borne by the ship to the yeasting shore-line of Dia

Came she? or how when bound her eyes in bondage of slumber

Left her that chosen mate with mind unmindful departing?

Often (they tell) with heart inflamed by fiery fury

Poured she shrilling of shrieks from deepest depths of her bosom; 125

Now she would sadly scale the broken faces of mountains,

Whence she might overglance the boundless boiling of billows,

Then she would rush to bestem the salt-plain's quivering wavelet

And from her ankles bare the dainty garment uplifting,

Spake she these words ('tis said) from sorrow's deepest abysses, 130

Whiles from her tear-drencht face outburst cold shivering singulfs.

"Thus fro' my patrial shore, O traitor, hurried to exile,

Me on a lonely strand hast left, perfidious Theseus?

Thus wise farest, despite the godhead of Deities spurned,

(Reckless, alas!) to thy home convoying perjury-curses? 135

Naught, then, ever availed that mind of cruelest counsel

Alter? No saving grace in thee was evermore ready,

That to have pity on me vouchsafed thy pitiless bosom?

Natheless not in past time such were the promises wordy

Lavishèd; nor such hopes to me the hapless were bidden; 140

But the glad married joys, the longed-for pleasures of wedlock.

All now empty and vain, by breath of the breezes bescattered!

Now, let woman no more trust her to man when he sweareth,

Ne'er let her hope to find or truth or faith in his pleadings,

Who whenas lustful thought forelooks to somewhat attaining, 145

Never an oath they fear, shall spare no promise to promise.

Yet no sooner they sate all lewdness and lecherous fancy,

Nothing remember of words and reck they naught of fore-swearing.

Certès, thee did I snatch from midmost whirlpool of ruin

Deadly, and held it cheap loss of a brother to suffer 150

Rather than fail thy need (O false!) at hour the supremest.

Therefor my limbs are doomed to be torn of birds, and of ferals

Prey, nor shall upheapt Earth afford a grave to my body.

Say me, what lioness bare thee 'neath lone rock of the desert?

What sea spued thee conceived from out the spume of his surges! 155

What manner Syrt, what ravening Scylla, what vasty Charybdis?

Thou who for sweet life saved such meeds art lief of returning!

If never willed thy breast with me to mate thee in marriage,

Hating the savage law decreed by primitive parent,

Still of your competence 'twas within your household to home me, 160

Where I might serve as slave in gladsome service familiar,

Laving thy snow-white feet in clearest chrystalline waters

Or with its purpling gear thy couch in company strewing.

Yet for what cause should I 'plain in vain to the winds that unknow me,

(I so beside me with grief!) which ne'er of senses enduèd 165

Hear not the words sent forth nor aught avail they to answer?

Now be his course well-nigh engaged in midway of ocean,

Nor any mortal shape appears in barrens of seawrack.

Thus at the latest hour with insults over-sufficient

E'en to my plaints fere Fate begrudges ears that would hear me. 170

Jupiter! Lord of All-might, Oh would in days that are bygone

Ne'er had Cecropian poops toucht ground at Gnossian foreshore,

Nor to th' unconquered Bull that tribute direful conveying

Had the false Seaman bound to Cretan island his hawser,

Nor had yon evil wight, 'neath shape the softest hard purpose 175

Hiding, enjoyed repose within our mansion beguested!

Whither can wend I now? What hope lends help to the lost one?

Idomenéan mounts shall I scale? Ah, parted by whirlpools

Widest, yon truculent main where yields it power of passage?

Aid of my sire can I crave? Whom I willing abandoned, 180

Treading in tracks of a youth bewrayed with blood of a brother!

Can I console my soul wi' the helpful love of a helpmate

Who flies me with pliant oars, flies overbounding the sea-depths?

Nay, an this Coast I quit, this lone isle lends me no roof-tree,

Nor aught issue allows begirt by billows of Ocean: 185

Nowhere is path for flight: none hope shows: all things are silent:

All be a desolate waste: all makes display of destruction.

Yet never close these eyne in latest languor of dying,

Ne'er from my wearied frame go forth slow-ebbing my senses,

Ere from the Gods just doom implore I, treason-betrayed, 190

And with my breath supreme firm faith of Celestials invoke I.

Therefore, O ye who 'venge man's deed with penalties direful,

Eumenides! aye wont to bind with viperous hair-locks

Foreheads - Oh, deign outspeak fierce wrath from bosom outbreathing,

Hither, Oh hither, speed, and lend ye all ear to my grievance, 195

Which now sad I (alas!) outpour from innermost vitals

Maugre my will, sans help, blind, fired with furious madness.

And, as indeed all spring from veriest core of my bosom,

Suffer ye not the cause of grief and woe to evanish;

But wi' the Will wherewith could Theseus leave me in loneness, 200

Goddesses! bid that Will lead him, lead his, to destruction."

E'en as she thus poured forth these words from anguish of bosom,

And for this cruel deed, distracted, sued she for vengeance,

Nodded the Ruler of Gods Celestial, matchless of All-might,

When at the gest earth-plain and horrid spaces of ocean 205

Trembled, and every sphere rockt stars and planets resplendent.

Meanwhile Theseus himself, obscured in blindness of darkness

As to his mind, dismiss'd from breast oblivious all things

Erewhile enjoined and held hereto in memory constant,

Nor for his saddened sire the gladness-signals uphoisting 210

Heralded safe return within sight of the Erechthean harbour.

For 'twas told of yore, when from walls of the Virginal Deëss

Ægeus speeding his son, to the care of breezes committed,

Thus with a last embrace to the youth spake words of commandment:

"Son! far nearer my heart (sole thou) than life of the longest, 215

Son, I perforce dismiss to doubtful, dangerous chances,

Lately restored to me when eld draws nearest his ending,

Sithence such fortune in me, and in thee such boiling of valour

Tear thee away from me so loath, whose eyne in their languor

Never are sated with sight of my son, all-dearest of figures. 220

Nor will I send thee forth with joy that gladdens my bosom,

Nor will I suffer thee show boon signs of favouring Fortune,

But fro' my soul I'll first express an issue of sorrow,

Soiling my hoary hairs with dust and ashes commingled;

Then will I hang stained sails fast-made to the wavering yard-arms, 225

So shall our mourning thought and burning torture of spirit

Show by the dark sombre-dye of Iberian canvas spread.

But, an grant me the grace Who dwells in Sacred Itone,

(And our issue to guard and ward the seats of Erechtheus

Sware She) that be thy right besprent with blood of the Man-Bull, 230

Then do thou so-wise act, and storèd in memory's heart-core

Dwell these mandates of me, no time their traces untracing.

Dip, when first shall arise our hills to gladden thy eye-glance,

Down from thine every mast th'ill-omened vestments of mourning,

Then let the twisten ropes upheave the whitest of canvas, 235

Wherewith splendid shall gleam the tallest spars of the top-mast, 235b

These seeing sans delay with joy exalting my spirit

Well shall I wot boon Time sets thee returning before me."

Such were the mandates which stored at first in memory constant

Faded from Theseus' mind like mists, compelled by the whirlwind,

Fleet from äerial crests of mountains hoary with snow-drifts. 240

But as the sire had sought the citadel's summit for outlook,

Wasting his anxious eyes with tear-floods evermore flowing,

Forthright e'en as he saw the sail-gear darkened with dye-stain,

Headlong himself flung he from the sea-cliff's pinnacled summit

Holding his Theseus lost by doom of pitiless Fortune. 245

Thus as he came to the home funest, his roof-tree paternal,

Theseus (vaunting the death), what dule to the maiden of Minos

Dealt with unminding mind so dree'd he similar dolour.

She too gazing in grief at the kelson vanishing slowly,

Self-wrapt, manifold cares revolved, in spirit perturbèd. 250