The Poetical Works of Addison; Gay's Fables; and Somerville's Chase · Chapter 10The Story of Calisto
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The day was settled in its course; and Jove Walked the wide circuit of the heavens above, To search if any cracks or flaws were made; But all was safe: the earth he then surveyed, And cast an eye on every different coast, And every land; but on Arcadia most. Her fields he clothed, and cheered her blasted face With running fountains, and with springing grass. No tracks of heaven's destructive fire remain, The fields and woods revive, and nature smiles again. _10 But as the god walked to and fro the earth, And raised the plants, and gave the spring its birth, By chance a fair Arcadian nymph he viewed, And felt the lovely charmer in his blood. The nymph nor spun, nor dressed with artful pride; Her vest was gathered up, her hair was tied; Now in her hand a slender spear she bore, Now a light quiver on her shoulders wore; To chaste Diana from her youth inclined, The sprightly warriors of the wood she joined. _20 Diana too the gentle huntress loved, Nor was there one of all the nymphs that roved O'er Mænalus, amid the maiden throng, More favoured once; but favour lasts not long. The sun now shone in all its strength, and drove The heated virgin panting to a grove; The grove around a grateful shadow cast: She dropped her arrows, and her bow unbraced; She flung herself on the cool, grassy bed; And on the painted quiver raised her head. _30 Jove saw the charming huntress unprepared, Stretched on the verdant turf, without a guard. 'Here I am safe,' he cries, 'from Juno's eye; Or should my jealous queen the theft descry, Yet would I venture on a theft like this, And stand her rage for such, for such a bliss!' Diana's shape and habit straight he took, Softened his brows, and smoothed his awful look, And mildly in a female accent spoke. 'How fares my girl? How went the morning chase?' _40 To whom the virgin, starting from the grass, 'All hail, bright deity, whom I prefer To Jove himself, though Jove himself were here.' The god was nearer than she thought, and heard, Well-pleased, himself before himself preferr'd. He then salutes her with a warm embrace, And, ere she half had told the morning chase, With love inflamed, and eager on his bliss, Smothered her words, and stopped her with a kiss; His kisses with unwonted ardour glow'd, _50 Nor could Diana's shape conceal the god. The virgin did whate'er a virgin could; (Sure Juno must have pardoned, had she view'd;) With all her might against his force she strove; But how can mortal maids contend with Jove! Possessed at length of what his heart desired, Back to his heavens the exulting god retired. The lovely huntress, rising from the grass, With downcast eyes, and with a blushing face By shame confounded, and by fear dismay'd, _60 Flew from the covert of the guilty shade, And almost, in the tumult of her mind, Left her forgotten bow and shafts behind. But now Diana, with a sprightly train Of quivered virgins, bounding over the plain, Called to the nymph; the nymph began to fear A second fraud, a Jove disguised in her; But, when she saw the sister nymphs, suppress'd Her rising fears, and mingled with the rest. How in the look does conscious guilt appear! _70 Slowly she moved, and loitered in the rear; Nor slightly tripped, nor by the goddess ran, As once she used, the foremost of the train. Her looks were flushed, and sullen was her mien, That sure the virgin goddess (had she been Aught but a virgin) must the guilt have seen. 'Tis said the nymphs saw all, and guessed aright: And now the moon had nine times lost her light, When Dian, fainting in the mid-day beams, Found a cool covert, and refreshing streams _80 That in soft murmurs through the forest flow'd, And a smooth bed of shining gravel show'd. A covert so obscure, and streams so clear, The goddess praised: 'And now no spies are near, Let's strip, my gentle maids, and wash,' she cries. Pleased with the motion, every maid complies; Only the blushing huntress stood confused, And formed delays, and her delays excused; In vain excused; her fellows round her press'd, And the reluctant nymph by force undress'd. _90 The naked huntress all her shame reveal'd, In vain her hands the pregnant womb conceal'd; 'Begone!' the goddess cries with stern disdain, 'Begone! nor dare the hallowed stream to stain:' She fled, for ever banished from the train. This Juno heard, who long had watched her time To punish the detested rival's crime: The time was come; for, to enrage her more, A lovely boy the teeming rival bore. The goddess cast a furious look, and cried, _100 'It is enough! I'm fully satisfied! This boy shall stand a living mark, to prove My husband's baseness, and the strumpet's love: But vengeance shall awake: those guilty charms, That drew the Thunderer from Juno's arms, No longer shall their wonted force retain, Nor please the god, nor make the mortal vain.' This said, her hand within her hair she wound, Swung her to earth, and dragged her on the ground. The prostrate wretch lifts up her arms in prayer; _110 Her arms grow shaggy, and deformed with hair, Her nails are sharpened into pointed claws, Her hands bear half her weight, and turn to paws; Her lips, that once could tempt a god, begin To grow distorted in an ugly grin. And, lest the supplicating brute might reach The ears of Jove, she was deprived of speech: Her surly voice through a hoarse passage came In savage sounds: her mind was still the same. The furry monster fixed her eyes above, _120 And heaved her new unwieldy paws to Jove, And begged his aid with inward groans; and though She could not call him false, she thought him so. How did she fear to lodge in woods alone, And haunt the fields and meadows once her own! How often would the deep-mouthed dogs pursue, Whilst from her hounds the frighted huntress flew! How did she fear her fellow-brutes, and shun The shaggy bear, though now herself was one! How from the sight of rugged wolves retire, _130 Although the grim Lycaon was her sire! But now her son had fifteen summers told, Fierce at the chase, and in the forest bold; When, as he beat the woods in quest of prey, He chanced to rouse his mother where she lay. She knew her son, and kept him in her sight, And fondly gazed: the boy was in a fright, And aimed a pointed arrow at her breast, And would have slain his mother in the beast; But Jove forbade, and snatched them through the air _140 In whirlwinds up to heaven, and fixed them there: Where the new constellations nightly rise, And add a lustre to the northern skies. When Juno saw the rival in her height, Spangled with stars, and circled round with light, She sought old Ocean in his deep abodes, And Tethys; both revered among the gods. They ask what brings her there: 'Ne'er ask,' says she, 'What brings me here, heaven is no place for me. You'll see, when night has covered all things o'er, _150 Jove's starry bastard and triumphant whore Usurp the heavens; you 'll see them proudly roll In their new orbs, and brighten all the pole. And who shall now on Juno's altars wait, When those she hates grow greater by her hate? I on the nymph a brutal form impress'd, Jove to a goddess has transformed the beast; This, this was all my weak revenge could do: But let the god his chaste amours pursue, And, as he acted after Io's rape, _160 Restore the adulteress to her former shape. Then may he cast his Juno off, and lead The great Lycaon's offspring to his bed. But you, ye venerable powers, be kind, And, if my wrongs a due resentment find, Receive not in your waves their setting beams, Nor let the glaring strumpet taint your streams.' The goddess ended, and her wish was given. Back she returned in triumph up to heaven; Her gaudy peacocks drew her through the skies, _170 Their tails were spotted with a thousand eyes; The eyes of Argus on their tails were ranged, At the same time the raven's colour changed.