Part 18 (1/2)
* * * * Hesperus from us, O comrades, has stolen one away * * * * _Hymen O Hymenaeus, Hymen hither O Hymenaeus!_
_Youths_.
* * * * For at thy advent a guard always keeps watch. Thieves lie in wait by night, whom often on thy return, O Hesperus, thou hap'st upon, when with thy changed name Eous. Yet it doth please the unwedded girls to carp at thee with plaints fict.i.tious. But what if they carp at that which in close-shut mind they long for? Hymen O Hymenaeus, Hymen hither O Hymenaeus!
_Maidens_.
As grows the hidden flower in garden closed, to kine unknown, uprooted by no ploughshare, whilst the winds caress it, the sun makes it st.u.r.dy, and the shower gives it growth * * * * many a boy and many a girl longs for it: this same when pluckt, deflowered from slender stalklet, never a boy and never a girl doth long for it: so the virgin, while she stays untouched, so long is she dear to her folk; when she hath lost her chaste flower from her body profaned, nor to the boys stays she beauteous, nor is she dear to the girls. Hymen O Hymenaeus, Hymen hither O Hymenaeus!
_Youths_.
As the widowed vine which grows in naked field ne'er uplifts itself, ne'er ripens a mellow grape, but bending p.r.o.ne 'neath the weight of its tender body now and again its highmost bough touches with its root; this no husbandmen, no herdsmen will foster: but if this same chance to be joined with marital elm, it many husbandmen, many herdsmen will foster: so the virgin, whilst she stays untouched, so long does she age, unfostered; but when fitting union she obtain in meet time, dearer is she to her lord and less of a trouble to parent. _Hymen O Hymenaeus, Hymen hither O Hymenaeus!_
_Youths and Maidens_.
But struggle not 'gainst such a mate, O virgin. 'Tis improper to struggle, thou whose father hath handed thee o'er, that father together with thy mother to whom obedience is needed. Thy maidenhead is not wholly thine, in part 'tis thy parents': a third part is thy father's, a third part is given to thy mother, a third alone is thine: be unwilling to struggle against two, who to their son-in-law their rights together with dowry have given.
Hymen O Hymenaeus, Hymen hither O Hymenaeus!
LXIII.
Super alta vectus Attis celeri rate maria Phrygium ut nemus citato cupide pede tetigit Adiitque opaca, silvis redimita loca deae, Stimulatus ibi furenti rabie, vagus animis, Devolsit ilei acuto sibi pondera silice. 5 Itaque ut relicta sensit sibi membra sine viro, Etiam recente terrae sola sanguine maculans Niveis citata cepit manibus leve typanum, Typanum, tuom Cybebe, tua, mater, initia, Quatiensque terga taurei teneris cava digitis 10 Canere haec suis adortast tremebunda comitibus.
'Agite ite ad alta, Gallae, Cybeles nemora simul, Simul ite, Dindymenae dominae vaga pecora, Aliena quae petentes velut exules loca Sectam meam executae duce me mihi comites 15 Rabidum salum tulistis truculentaque pelage Et corpus evirastis Veneris nimio odio, Hilarate erae citatis erroribus animum.
Mora tarda mente cedat: simul ite, sequimini Phrygiam ad domum Cybebes, Phrygia ad nemora deae, 20 Vbi cymbalum sonat vox, ubi tympana reboant, Tibicen ubi canit Phryx curvo grave calamo, Vbi capita Maenades vi iaciunt ederigerae, Vbi sacra sancta acutis ululatibus agitant, Vbi suevit illa divae volitare vaga cohors: 25 Quo nos decet citatis celerare tripudiis.'
Simul haec comitibus Attis cecinit notha mulier, Thiasus repente linguis trepidantibus ululat, Leve tympanum remugit, cava cymbala recrepant, Viridem citus adit Idam properante pede chorus. 30 Furibunda simul anhelans vaga vadit, animam agens, Comitata tympano Attis per opaca nemora dux, Veluti iuvenca vitans onus indomita iugi: Rapidae ducem sequuntur Gallae properipedem.
Itaque ut domum Cybebes tetigere la.s.sulae, 35 Nimio e labore somnum capiunt sine Cerere.
Piger his labante langore oculos sopor operit: Abit in quiete molli rabidus furor animi.
Sed ubi oris aurei Sol radiantibus oculis l.u.s.travit aethera alb.u.m, sola dura, mare ferum, 40 Pepulitque noctis umbras vegetis sonipedibus, Ibi Somnus excitam Attin fugiens citus abiit: Trepidante eum recepit dea Pasithea sinu.
Ita de quiete molli rapida sine rabie Simul ipsa pectore Attis sua facta recoluit, 45 Liquidaque mente vidit sine queis ubique foret, Animo aestuante rusum reditum ad vada tetulit.
Ibi maria vasta visens lacrimantibus oculis, Patriam allocuta maestast ita voce miseriter.
'Patria o mei creatrix, patria o mea genetrix, 50 Ego quam miser relinquens, dominos ut erifugae Famuli solent, ad Idae tetuli nemora pedem, Vt aput nivem et ferarum gelida stabula forem Et earum operta adirem furibunda latibula?
Vbinam aut quibus locis te positam, patria, reor? 55 Cupit ipsa pupula ad te sibi dirigere aciem, Rabie fera carens dum breve tempus animus est.
Egone a mea remota haec ferar in nemora domo?
Patria, bonis, amicis, genitoribus abero?
Abero foro, palaestra, stadio et guminasiis? 60 Miser a miser, querendumst etiam atque etiam, anime.
Quod enim genus figuraest, ego non quod habuerim?
Ego mulier, ego adolescens, ego ephebus, ego puer, Ego guminasi fui flos, ego eram decus olei: Mihi ianuae frequentes, mihi limina tepida, 65 Mihi floridis corollis redimita domus erat, Linquendum ubi esset orto mihi sole cubiculum.
Ego nunc deum ministra et Cybeles famula ferar?
Ego Maenas, ego mei pars, ego vir sterilis ero?
Ego viridis algida Idae nive amicta loca colam? 70 Ego vitam agam sub altis Phrygiae columinibus, Vbi cerva silvicultrix, ubi aper nemorivagus?
Iam iam dolet quod egi, iam iamque paenitet.'
Roseis ut huic labellis sonitus celer abiit, Geminas deorum ad aures nova nuntia referens, 75 Ibi iuncta iuga resolvens Cybele leonibus Laevumque pecoris hostem stimulans ita loquitur.
'Agedum' inquit 'age ferox i, fac ut hunc furor _agitet_, Fac uti furoris ictu reditum in nemora ferat, Mea libere nimis qui fugere imperia cupit. 80 Age caede terga cauda, tua verbera patere, Fac cuncta mugienti fremitu loca retonent, Rutilam ferox torosa cervice quate iubam.'
Ait haec minax Cybebe religatque iuga manu.
Ferus ipse sese adhortans rapidum incitat animo, 85 Vadit, fremit, refringit virgulta pede vago.
At ubi umida albicantis loca litoris adiit, Teneramque vidit Attin prope marmora pelagi, Facit impetum: illa demens fugit in nemora fera: Ibi semper omne vitae spatium famula fuit. 90 Dea magna, dea Cybebe, Didymei dea domina, Procul a mea tuos sit furor omnis, era, domo: Alios age incitatos, alios age rabidos.
LXIII.
THE ADVENTURES OF ATYS.
O'er high deep seas in speedy s.h.i.+p his voyage Atys sped Until he trod the Phrygian grove with hurried eager tread And as the gloomy tree-shorn stead, the she-G.o.d's home, he sought There sorely stung with fiery ire and madman's vaguing thought, Share he with sharpened flint the freight wherewith his form was fraught.
5 Then as the she-he sensed limbs were void of manly strain And sighted freshly shed a-ground spot of ensanguined stain, s.n.a.t.c.hed she the timbrel's legier load with hands as snowdrops white, Thy timbrel, Mother Cybebe, the firstings of thy rite, And as her tender finger-tips on bull-back hollow rang 10 She rose a-grieving and her song to listening comrades sang.