Classic Poem

THE FABLE OF ACIS, POLYPHEMUS, AND GALATEA

FROM THE THIRTEENTH BOOK OF THE METAMORPHOSES

GALATEA RELATES THE STORY

A CIS , the lovely youth, whose loss I mourn,
From Faunus and the nymph Symethis born,
Was both his parents' pleasure; but to me
Was all that love could make a lover be.
The gods our minds in mutual bands did join;
I was his only joy, as he was mine.
Now sixteen summers the sweet youth had seen,
And doubtful down began to shade his chin;
When Polyphemus first disturb'd our joy,
And lov'd me fiercely, as I lov'd the boy.
Ask not which passion in my soul was high'r,
My last aversion, or my first desire:
Nor this the greater was, nor that the less;
Both were alike, for both were in excess.
Thee, Venus, thee, both heav'n and earth obey;
Immense thy pow'r, and boundless is thy sway.
The Cyclops, who defied th' ethereal throne,
And thought no thunder louder than his own
The terror of the woods, and wilder far
Than wolves in plains, or bears in forests are;
Th' inhuman host, who made his bloody feasts
On mangled members of his butcher'd guests,
Yet felt the force of love and fierce desire,
And burnt for me with unrelenting fire:
Forgot his caverns, and his woolly care;
Assum'd the softness of a lover's air;
And comb'd, with teeth of rakes, his rugged hair.
Now with a crooked scythe his beard he sleeks,
And mows the stubborn stubble of his cheeks;
Now in the crystal stream he looks, to try
His simagres, and rolls his glaring eye.
His cruelty and thirst of blood are lost,
And ships securely sail along the coast.
The prophet Telemus (arriv'd by chance
Where Etna's summits to the sea's advance,
Who mark'd the tracts of every bird that flew,
And sure presages from their flying drew)
Foretold the Cyclops that Ulysses' hand
In his broad eye should thrust a flaming brand.
The giant, with a scornful grin, replied:
" Vain augur, thou hast falsely prophesied;
Already Love his flaming brand has toss'd;
Looking on two fair eyes, my sight I lost. "
Thus, warn'd in vain, with stalking pace he strode,
And stamp'd the margin of the briny flood
With heavy steps; and, weary, sought again
The cool retirement of his gloomy den.
A promontory, sharp'ning by degrees,
Ends in a wedge, and overlooks the seas;
On either side, below, the water flows:
This airy walk the giant lover chose.
Here on the midst he sate; his flocks, unled,
Their shepherd follow'd, and securely fed.
A pine so burly, and of length so vast,
That sailing ships requir'd it for a mast,
He wielded for a staff, his steps to guide;
But laid it by, his whistle while he tried.
A hundred reeds, of a prodigious growth,
Scarce made a pipe proportion'd to his mouth;
Which when he gave it wind, the rocks around,
And wat'ry plains, the dreadful hiss resound.
I heard the ruffian shepherd rudely blow,
Where, in a hollow cave, I sat below;
On Acis' bosom I my head reclin'd;
And still preserve the poem in my mind.
" O lovely Galatea, whither far
Than falling snows and rising lilies are;
More flow'ry than the meads, as crystal bright;
Erect as alders, and of equal height;
More wanton than a kid; more sleek thy skin
Than orient shells that on the shores are seen;
Than apples fairer, when the boughs they lade;
Pleasing as winter suns or summer shade;
More grateful to the sight than goodly planes;
And softer to the touch than down of swans,
Or curds new turn'd; and sweeter to the taste
Than swelling grapes that to the vintage haste;
More clear than ice, or running streams, that stray
Thro' garden plots, but ah! more swift than they.
" Yet, Galatea, harder to be broke
Than bullocks, unreclaim'd to bear the yoke;
And far more stubborn than the knotted oak:
Like sliding streams, impossible to hold;
Like them fallacious; like their fountains, cold;
More warping than the willow, to decline
My warm embrace; more brittle than the vine;
Immovable, and fix'd in thy disdain;
Rough as these rocks, and of a harder grain;
More violent than is the rising flood;
And the prais'd peacock is not half so proud;
Fierce as the fire, and sharp as thistles are;
And more outrageous than a mother bear;
Deaf as the billows to the vows I make;
And more revengeful than a trodden snake;
In swiftness fleeter than the flying hind,
Or driven tempests, or the driving wind:
All other faults with patience I can bear;
But swiftness is the vice I only fear.
" Yet, if you knew me well, you would not shun
My love, but to my wish'd embraces run;
Would languish in your turn, and court my stay
And much repent of your unwise delay.
" My palace, in the living rock, is made
By Nature's hand; a spacious pleasing shade,
Which neither heat can pierce, nor cold invade.
My garden fill'd with fruits you may behold,
And grapes in clusters, imitating gold;
Some blushing bunches of a purple hue:
And these, and those, are all reserv'd for you.
Red strawberries, in shades, expecting stand,
Proud to be gather'd by so white a hand.
Autumnal cornels latter fruit provide,
And plums, to tempt you, turn their glossy side;
Not those of common kinds, but such alone
As in Phaeacian orchards might have grown;
Nor chestnuts shall be wanting to your food,
Nor garden fruits, nor wildings of the wood;
The laden boughs for you alone shall bear;
And yours shall be the product of the year.
" The flocks you see, are all my own, beside
The rest that woods and winding valleys hide,
And those that folded in the caves abide.
Ask not the numbers of my growing store;
Who knows how many, knows he has no more.
Nor will I praise my cattle; trust not me,
But judge yourself, and pass your own decree:
Behold their swelling dugs; the sweepy weight
Of ewes that sink beneath the milky freight;
In the warm folds their tender lambkins lie,
Apart from kids that call with human cry.
New milk in nut-brown bowls is duly serv'd
For daily drink; the rest for cheese reserv'd.
Nor are these household dainties all my store:
The fields and forests will afford us more;
The deer, the hare, the goat, the salvage boar.
All sorts of ven'son; and of birds the best,
A pair of turtles taken from the nest.
I walk'd the mountains, and two cubs I found,
Whose dam had left 'em on the naked ground,
So like, that no distinction could be seen;
So pretty, they were presents for a queen;
And so they shall: I took 'em both away;
And keep, to be companions of your play.
" O raise, fair nymph, your beauteous face above
The waves; nor scorn my presents, and my love:
Come, Galatea, come, and view my face;
I late beheld it in the wat'ry glass,
And found it lovelier than I fear'd it was.
Survey my tow'ring stature, and my size:
Not Jove, the Jove you dream that rules the skies,
Bears such a bulk, or is so largely spread.
My locks, the plenteous harvest of my head,
Hang o'er my manly face; and, dangling down,
As with a shady grove my shoulders crown.
Nor think, because my limbs and body bear
A thickset underwood of bristling hair,
My shape deform'd: what fouler sight can be
Than the bald branches of a leafless tree?
Foul is the steed, without a flowing mane;
And birds, without their feathers, and their train.
Wool decks the sheep; and man receives a grace
From bushy limbs, and from a bearded face.
My forehead with a single eye is fill'd,
Round as a ball, and ample as a shield.
The glorious lamp of heav'n, the radiant sun,
Is Nature's eye; and she's content with one.
Add, that my father sways your seas, and I,
Like you, am of the wat'ry family.
I make you his, in making you my own;
You I adore, and kneel to you alone:
Jove, with his fabled thunder, I despise,
And only fear the lightning of your eyes.
Frown not, fair nymph; yet I could bear to be
Disdain'd, if others were disdain'd with me.
But to repulse the Cyclops, and prefer
The love of Acis, heav'ns! I cannot bear.
But let the stripling please himself; nay more,
Please you, tho' that's the thing I most abhor;
The boy shall find, if e'er we cope in fight,
These giant limbs endued with giant might.
His living bowels, from his belly torn,
And scatter'd limbs, shall on the flood be borne:
Thy flood, ungrateful nymph; and fate shall find
That way for thee and Acis to be join'd.
For O! I burn with love, and thy disdain
Augments at once my passion and my pain.
Translated Etna flames within my heart,
And thou, inhuman, wilt not ease my smart. "
Lamenting thus in vain, he rose, and strode
With furious paces to the neighb'ring wood.
Restless his feet, distracted was his walk;
Mad were his motions, and confus'd his talk:
Mad as the vanquish'd bull, when forc'd to yield
His lovely mistress, and forsake the field.
Thus far unseen I saw: when, fatal chance
His looks directing, with a sudden glance,
Acis and I were to his sight betray'd;
Where, naught suspecting, we securely play'd.
From his wide mouth a bellowing cry he cast:
" I see, I see; but this shall be your last. "
A roar so loud made Etna to rebound;
And all the Cyclops labor'd in the sound.
Affrighted with his monstrous voice, I fled,
And in the neighb'ring ocean plung'd my head.
Poor Acis turn'd his back, and: " Help, " he cried,
" Help, Galatea! help, my parent gods,
And take me dying to your deep abodes! "
The Cyclops follow'd; but he sent before
A rib, which from the living rock he tore:
Tho' but an angle reach'd him of the stone,
The mighty fragment was enough alone
To crush all Acis; 't was too late to save,
But what the fates allow'd to give, I gave:
That Acis to his lineage should return;
And roll, among the river gods, his urn.
Straight issued from the stone a stream of blood,
Which lost the purple, mingling with the flood.
Then like a troubled torrent it appear'd:
The torrent, too, in little space was clear'd.
The stone was cleft, and thro' the yawning chink
New reeds arose, on the new river's brink.
The rock, from out its hollow womb, disclos'd
A sound like water in its course oppos'd:
When (wondrous to behold) full in the flood
Up starts a youth, and navel high he stood.
Horns from his temples rise; and either horn
Thick wreaths of reeds (his native growth) adorn.
Were not his stature taller than before,
His bulk augmented, and his beauty more,
His color blue, for Acis he might pass:
And Acis chang'd into a stream he was.
But mine no more; be rolls along the plains
With rapid motion, and his name retains.