Sylvæ, or, The second part of Poetical miscellanies
Dryden, John, 1631-1700.
Page 145
Part of Virgils 4th. Georgick.
Aristeus, having lost his Bees, goes by his Mother's direction to Proteus to know why the Gods had sent this Plague; Pro∣teus tells him they sent it to revenge the injury he had done Orpheus, in being the the cause of his Brides death, and so goes on with the Story of his Passion.
NOw scorching Sirius burnt the thirsty Moors,
And Seas contracted left their naked shores;
The Earth lay chop'd, no Spring supply'd his floud,
And mid-day Rays boyld up the streams to mud:
When Proteus coming to his usual Cave,
The Sea Calf following spouts the brackish wave:
Spread o're the sand the scatter'd Monsters lay,
He (like a Shepheard at the close of day,
Page 146When Heifers seek their stalls, and round a Rock
The bleating Lambs the hungry Wolves provoke)
Sits midd'st the Beach, and counts the scaly flock.
Scarce was he laid, scarce sleep had seal'd his eyes,
When Aristeus, eager to surprise,
Invades and binds him: Strait he starts and roars,
And with shrill noises fills the ecchoing shores:
He flies to his old Arts and strives to 'scape,
By frequent change, and varying of his shape:
All monstrous forms put on, he would appear
A Flame, a Floud, a Lion, or a Bear:
When nought avail'd he turn'd himself again;
And thus spoke with the accent of a Man:
By whose advice hast thou so rashly prest,
Bold Youth, on me? And what doest thou request?
You know, Great God, you know, the Swain re∣ply'd
For who can cheat you? who his wants can hide?
Page 147But strive to change no more: I humbly come,
And by the Gods commands, to know my doom:
For what I'm punish'd, when these plagues arose,
And by what means I may retrieve my loss:
This said, the angry God with fury shook,
His eyes shot flame, and horror chang'd his look,
He gnash'd his teeth, and thus at last he spoke.
No common Gods, no common Gods pursue,
Thou suffer'st what to thy great crimes is due;
At wretched Orpheus suit these plagues commence,
Tho' (fate being kind) too small for thy offence.
To Heavens strict Justice he his wrongs apply'd,
And call'd down vengeance for his perish'd Bride:
She, while she fled from thee, unhappy Maid,
By heedless fear to treacherous Banks betray'd,
Ne're saw the Snake glide o're the grassie ground,
But e're she knew the foe, she felt the wound:
Page 148Her fellow Dryads fill'd the Hills with cries,
In groans the soften'd Rhodope replies;
Rough Thrace, the Getes, and Hebrus streams lament,
Forget their fury, and in grief consent:
While he to doleful tunes his strings does move,
And strove to solace his uneasie Love:
Thee, Thee, Dear Bride, on Desart shores alone
He mourn'd at rising, and at setting Sun:
His restless Love did natural fears expel,
He dar'd to enter the black Jaws of Hell,
He saw the Grove, where gloomy horrors spread,
The Ghosts and gastly Tyrant of the dead;
With those rough Powers, that there severely reign,
Unus'd to pity, when poor men complain:
He strook his Harp, and strait a numerous throng
Of Airy people fled to hear the Song,
Page 149Thither vast troops of wretched Lovers came,
And shriekt at the remembrance of their flame;
With heavy grief and gloomy thoughts opprest,
Meagre each shape, and wounds in every breast;
(How deep, ah me! and wide must mine appear,
If so much Beauty can be so severe!)
With these, mixt troops of Fathers, Husbands, Wives,
As thick as swarms of Bees fly round their Hives
At Evening close, or when a Tempest drives:
With Ghosts of Heroes, and of Babes expos'd,
And Sons whose dying eyes their Mothers clos'd:
Which now the dull unnavigable flood,
With black Cocytus horrid, weeds, and mud
And Styx, in nine large Channels spread, confine▪
The wondrous numbers soft'ned all beneath,
Hell, and the inmost flinty seats of Death;
Page 150Snakes round the Furies heads did upward rear,
And seem'd to listen to the pleasing Air;
While fiery Styx in milder streams did rowl,
And Cerberus gap'd, but yet forbore to howl,
Ixion's Wheel stood still, all tortures ceast,
And Hell amaz'd knew an usual rest.
All dangers past beyond the reach of fear,
Restor'd Euridice breath'd the upper air,
Following behind (for mov'd by his complaint
Hell added this condition to the grant)
When fury soon the heedless Lover seiz'd,
(To be forgiven, if Hell cou'd be appeas'd)
Fornear the consines of Aetherial Air,
Unmindful and unable to forbear,
He stopt, look'd back, (what cannot love per∣swade?)
To take one view of the unhappy Maid:
Page 151Here all his Pains were lost, one greedy look
Defeats his hopes, and Hells conditions broke,
Thrice Stix resounded, thrice Averne shook:
A fatal Messenger from Pluto flew,
And snatch'd the forfeit from a second veiw:
Backward she fell; ah me! too greedy Youth,
(She cry'd) what fury now hath ruin'd both!
Death summons me again, cold fates surprise,
And Icy sleep spreads o're my nodding eyes:
Wrapt up in night I feel the Stygian shore,
And stretch my arms to thee in vain, ah thine no more!
This scarc'd pronounc'd, like smoke disperst in air
So vanish'd the twice-lost unhappy Fair:
And left him catching at the flying shade;
He stood distracted, much he would have said,
Once he had pass'd, and now must hope no more
What should he do? where should he seek repose?
Where flie the trouble of his second loss?
In what soft numbers should the wretch complain?
And beg his dear Euridice again?
She now grew cold in Charon's boat beneath,
And sadly sail'd to the known seats of Death:
But while nine circling months in order turn'd,
Beneath bleak rocks (thus Fame reports) he mourn'd;
By freezing Sirymon's unfrequented stream,
Euridice, his lost Euridice, his theme;
And while he sang this sad event of Love,
He tam'd fierce Tygers, and made Oaks to move:
With such soft Tunes, and such a doleful Song
Sweet Nightingales bewail their ravisht young,
Which some hard hearted Swain hath born away
While Callow Birds, or kill'd the easie prey;
Page 153Restless they sit, renew their mournful strains,
And with sad Passion fill their neighb'ring Plains.
No face cou'd win him, and no charms cou'd move,
He fled the heinous thoughts of second Love:
In vain the Thracians woed, wit, wealth, esteem,
Those great Enticers, lost their force on him:
Alone he wander'd thro' the Scythian Snows,
Where Icy Tanais freezeth as it flows;
Thro' fields still white with frost, or beat with hail,
Constant to grief, and eager to bewail:
Euridice the Gods vain gift employs
His thoughts, and makes him deaf to other joys.
The slighted Thracians heat this scorn increast,
They breath'd revenge, and fir'd at Bacchus feast,
(For what so soon as wine makes fury burn?
And what can wound a Maid so deep as scorn?)
Page 154Full of their God they wretched Orpheus tore,
Scatter'd his limbs, and drank his reeking gore:
His head torn off, as Hebrus roll'd along
Eurydice fell from his dying tongue.
His parting Soul, when flying thro' the wound,
Cry'd ah Euridice, the floods around
Eurydice, Eurydice the banks resound.
