 | Silenus |  |
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BOOK III.
Come hoofs, come heels, and wine-skins; cow-horns come!
Your spry goats leave to browse the vine, or leap
In airy arches over clefted rocks;
But come you hither, hoist the fir-cone high!
Your spry goats leave to browse the vine, or leap
In airy arches over clefted rocks;
But come you hither, hoist the fir-cone high!
On thymy hills, O shepherds, leave your flocks,
Of mellow-fleece, and bleating let them feed
The breezy down; or, if on roving bent,
Let them seek humid nooks of greenest growth.
Doubt not of increase; their own crook-horned lords
Have keen espial for the ewes' retreat!
Of mellow-fleece, and bleating let them feed
The breezy down; or, if on roving bent,
Let them seek humid nooks of greenest growth.
Doubt not of increase; their own crook-horned lords
Have keen espial for the ewes' retreat!
Your spears becrimsoned by the sneaking wolf,
Array in ivy or the looser vine;
With fir-cone guard their whetted perilous blades;
Commanding victory, we with juicy grape
Offer the cup but hide the pointed steel!
Array in ivy or the looser vine;
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Commanding victory, we with juicy grape
Offer the cup but hide the pointed steel!
Blare horns, crash cymbals, shrill the double pipe:
Yell satyrs; bellow fauns; and shriek ye nymphs!
Leaving the swollen udders to their chance
Of wasteful galaxy-besprinkled grass,
As homeward kine low for the milker's hands.
Yell satyrs; bellow fauns; and shriek ye nymphs!
Leaving the swollen udders to their chance
Of wasteful galaxy-besprinkled grass,
As homeward kine low for the milker's hands.
Tarry no longer by the rills to braid,
Devices freaking your inwoven mats,
With clustered seeds that crest the pointed rush,
O clear-eyed Naiads cool! Haste, come with us,
And show wild people how divinely pure
The shapeliness of those who tend the vine!
Now wends great Dionysus North away
Thro' regions where loud torrents round the rock,
Grinding with thunderous roar its rapid sides,
And, shattering down in cataracts of foam,
Shine forth in wonder, dazzling, iris-spanned,
Of every hue the flowers of summer yield.
Devices freaking your inwoven mats,
With clustered seeds that crest the pointed rush,
O clear-eyed Naiads cool! Haste, come with us,
And show wild people how divinely pure
The shapeliness of those who tend the vine!
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Thro' regions where loud torrents round the rock,
Grinding with thunderous roar its rapid sides,
And, shattering down in cataracts of foam,
Shine forth in wonder, dazzling, iris-spanned,
Of every hue the flowers of summer yield.
He the gay God will lead adventuring feet
And overcome whatever dangers lurk
Of hunger, crouching beast, and raging storm,
Or fury of surprised revengeful man!
And overcome whatever dangers lurk
Of hunger, crouching beast, and raging storm,
Or fury of surprised revengeful man!
Then leave, ye loveliest, your tended bees
To revel on their honey for a while.
Sweetest of sweets new honey from the comb;
But sweeter yet the sweet of hoarded toil,
Gathered unceasingly through burdened hours
Eyed by keen hunger armed with threatening beak.
Then let the little toilers feast their fill!
To revel on their honey for a while.
Sweetest of sweets new honey from the comb;
But sweeter yet the sweet of hoarded toil,
Gathered unceasingly through burdened hours
Eyed by keen hunger armed with threatening beak.
Then let the little toilers feast their fill!
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Athena gave the olive. Wisely ye
The oil expressed pour into slender jars
With lengthened ears that they may hear the rat,
Or any two-legged robber coming nigh.
But if your oil they rob then let them rob:
Better oil wasted than yourselves should lose
The show of thronging people mad for joy,
Falling adown in worship of the vine!
Then hasten forth to join the fir-coned spears!
The oil expressed pour into slender jars
With lengthened ears that they may hear the rat,
Or any two-legged robber coming nigh.
But if your oil they rob then let them rob:
Better oil wasted than yourselves should lose
The show of thronging people mad for joy,
Falling adown in worship of the vine!
Then hasten forth to join the fir-coned spears!
Be tempted, O ye Dryades, a while.
Quit the gnarled safety of your shadowy homes,
They were but acorns in the ancient days,
What time Zeus, nurtured in the mountain cave,
Lay hid from Cronos, child-devouring Sire.
Leave beech and birch, cold ash, and broad-leaved plane,
Ye who can battle with the wintry storm,
And dropping summer garments, lithe and bare,
Resist the strength and teeth of Boreas!
Quit the gnarled safety of your shadowy homes,
They were but acorns in the ancient days,
What time Zeus, nurtured in the mountain cave,
Lay hid from Cronos, child-devouring Sire.
Leave beech and birch, cold ash, and broad-leaved plane,
Ye who can battle with the wintry storm,
And dropping summer garments, lithe and bare,
Resist the strength and teeth of Boreas!
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In vain we hail the Hamadryades;
For each, where her twin leaflets broke the soil,
Lingers contented on the self-same spot.
For each, where her twin leaflets broke the soil,
Lingers contented on the self-same spot.
Placid Limniades persuade to move,
And for a while forego their heavenward gaze.
Assure them heaven is more benign than vast,
And will again their steadfastness requite
When they returning reassume the watch
Of changing glories thro' the day and night.
And for a while forego their heavenward gaze.
Assure them heaven is more benign than vast,
And will again their steadfastness requite
When they returning reassume the watch
Of changing glories thro' the day and night.
For Dionysus plans his march to glow
And gleam with nymphs of river, lake, and wood,
In beauty unconfused.
And gleam with nymphs of river, lake, and wood,
In beauty unconfused.
Come Oreads,
From mountain heights descending: primrose hair
Borne out from rosy features either side,
Quivering like wings that tremble with a song!
Sing to us of great chasms, thunder-split;
Of tempest warfare making noontide black,
Till spent it bursts in sudden torrents down
Sweeping hillsides with all their pines away!
Ye bright ones, tell of lofty things afar,
Stern eagles in their solitary haunts;
Why they on splintered points a livelong day
Blink satisfied and silent in the sun?
And tell us why they ring the mountain-world
Ere swooping downward on a destined aim.
From mountain heights descending: primrose hair
Borne out from rosy features either side,
Quivering like wings that tremble with a song!
Sing to us of great chasms, thunder-split;
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Till spent it bursts in sudden torrents down
Sweeping hillsides with all their pines away!
Ye bright ones, tell of lofty things afar,
Stern eagles in their solitary haunts;
Why they on splintered points a livelong day
Blink satisfied and silent in the sun?
And tell us why they ring the mountain-world
Ere swooping downward on a destined aim.
Tho' coy the Nereids, in beauty proud,
No garments vex the movement of their charms,
Whereon the favoured eyes would love to dwell,
But, ever baffled by the waves and flash
Of sparkling foam, brief glimpses only catch;
And only mortal high, heroical,
Was ever blessed by Nereid's embrace;
As Peleus, who, by Thetis loved, became
Father of great Achilles whose renown
Went level with the Gods'. Ah! they could tell
Of wonders in the blue Aegean sea;
Of caverns where green monsters ruby-eyed,
Guard jewels heaped and sprinkled on the floor,
Crushed gems compounded into glittering sand
In times of Chaos ere the Gods were born.
But they forsake not their own watery world,
Or make brief pauses by the shelving shore
To snood their brine-drenched locks, or watch the sails
Buoyant on dancing laughter-loving waves.
No garments vex the movement of their charms,
Whereon the favoured eyes would love to dwell,
But, ever baffled by the waves and flash
Of sparkling foam, brief glimpses only catch;
And only mortal high, heroical,
Was ever blessed by Nereid's embrace;
As Peleus, who, by Thetis loved, became
Father of great Achilles whose renown
Went level with the Gods'. Ah! they could tell
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Of caverns where green monsters ruby-eyed,
Guard jewels heaped and sprinkled on the floor,
Crushed gems compounded into glittering sand
In times of Chaos ere the Gods were born.
But they forsake not their own watery world,
Or make brief pauses by the shelving shore
To snood their brine-drenched locks, or watch the sails
Buoyant on dancing laughter-loving waves.
Great daughters of the ancient Power that clasps
The rounded earth, the Oceanides;
Beyond the flight of hope to waken them!
In vast Atlantic water leave them still
And undisturbed, awaiting Fate when hence;
In some dim future yet inscrutable,
They shall behold their billows thronged with fleets
Innumerable, as wild-fowl in their haunt
At breeding time on lonely island mere.
The rounded earth, the Oceanides;
Beyond the flight of hope to waken them!
In vast Atlantic water leave them still
And undisturbed, awaiting Fate when hence;
In some dim future yet inscrutable,
They shall behold their billows thronged with fleets
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At breeding time on lonely island mere.
Who would be laggard in a God's advance,
Remaining fixed as flowers however fair?
When she might wander with the nightingales,
Who fly from land to land and loudly sing
Of fairest bloom and all the woodland joy
Their tender gaze collects in passing by.
Remaining fixed as flowers however fair?
When she might wander with the nightingales,
Who fly from land to land and loudly sing
Of fairest bloom and all the woodland joy
Their tender gaze collects in passing by.
What can smile lovelier than a Naiad's lot,
Whose springs well rippling from the coolest depth!
Thro' creviced rock she sees them ever drip
And run atwixt moist stones beneath the grass.
The grasses spreading finger-tips to feel
Unceasing motion thrill them, while the flow
Quiveringly carries on the lustrous day
Thro' sweeps of open space, to wind along
Rich tillage patched with store by homes of men;
And widening out, far-spreading, reach on reach,
Commingles lastly with the sounding sea!
Whose springs well rippling from the coolest depth!
Thro' creviced rock she sees them ever drip
And run atwixt moist stones beneath the grass.
The grasses spreading finger-tips to feel
Unceasing motion thrill them, while the flow
Quiveringly carries on the lustrous day
Thro' sweeps of open space, to wind along
Rich tillage patched with store by homes of men;
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Commingles lastly with the sounding sea!
If she, the dainty and the pure, forego
Fixed contemplation of her sacred charge,
To follow Dionysus' crowded march;
Who will regardless of triumphant chance,
Here linger, conquered by the cark and fret
Of little earthly cares?
Fixed contemplation of her sacred charge,
To follow Dionysus' crowded march;
Who will regardless of triumphant chance,
Here linger, conquered by the cark and fret
Of little earthly cares?
Sound high the shell!
Raise voice and spear; move forward foot and hoof:
Astound the silence of the sleeping hills,
And make the forest shiver with your shouts!
Raise voice and spear; move forward foot and hoof:
Astound the silence of the sleeping hills,
And make the forest shiver with your shouts!
| Silenus | |