The Poetical Works of Addison; Gay's Fables; and Somerville's Chase · Chapter 22Book IV
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How Salmacis, with weak enfeebling streams Softens the body, and unnerves the limbs, And what the secret cause, shall here be shown; The cause is secret, but the effect is known. The Naïads nursed an infant heretofore, That Cytherea once to Hermes bore: From both the illustrious authors of his race The child was named; nor was it hard to trace Both the bright parents through the infant's face. When fifteen years, in Ida's cool retreat, _10 The boy had told, he left his native seat, And sought fresh fountains in a foreign soil; The pleasure lessened the attending toil. With eager steps the Lycian fields he crossed, And fields that border on the Lycian coast; A river here he viewed so lovely bright, It showed the bottom in a fairer light, Nor kept a sand concealed from human sight. The stream produced nor slimy ooze, nor weeds, Nor miry rushes, nor the spiky reeds; _20 But dealt enriching moisture all around, The fruitful banks with cheerful verdure crowned, And kept the spring eternal on the ground. A nymph presides, nor practised in the chase, Nor skilful at the bow, nor at the race; Of all the blue-eyed daughters of the main, The only stranger to Diana's train: Her sisters often, as 'tis said, would cry, 'Fie, Salmacis, what always idle! fie, Or take thy quiver, or thy arrows seize, _30 And mix the toils of hunting with thy ease.' Nor quiver she nor arrows e'er would seize, Nor mix the toils of hunting with her ease. But oft would bathe her in the crystal tide, Oft with a comb her dewy locks divide; Now in the limpid streams she viewed her face, And dressed her image in the floating glass: On beds of leaves she now reposed her limbs, Now gathered flowers that grew about her streams: And then by chance was gathering, as she stood _40 To view the boy, and longed for what she viewed. Fain would she meet the youth with hasty feet, She fain would meet him, but refused to meet Before her looks were set with nicest care, And well deserved to be reputed fair. 'Bright youth,' she cries, 'whom all thy features prove A god, and, if a god, the god of love; But if a mortal, bless'd thy nurse's breast, Bless'd are thy parents, and thy sisters bless'd: But, oh! how bless'd! how more than bless'd thy bride, _50 Allied in bliss, if any yet allied. If so, let mine the stolen enjoyments be; If not, behold a willing bride in me.' The boy knew nought of love, and, touched with shame, He strove, and blushed, but still the blush became: In rising blushes still fresh beauties rose; The sunny side of fruit such blushes shows, And such the moon, when all her silver white Turns in eclipses to a ruddy light. The nymph still begs, if not a nobler bliss, _60 A cold salute at least, a sister's kiss: And now prepares to take the lovely boy Between her arms. He, innocently coy, Replies, 'Or leave me to myself alone, You rude, uncivil nymph, or I'll begone.' 'Fair stranger then,' says she, 'it shall be so;' And, for she feared his threats, she feigned to go; But hid within a covert's neighbouring green, She kept him still in sight, herself unseen. The boy now fancies all the danger o'er, _70 And innocently sports about the shore, Playful and wanton to the stream he trips, And dips his foot, and shivers as he dips. The coolness pleased him, and with eager haste His airy garments on the banks he cast; His godlike features, and his heavenly hue, And all his beauties were exposed to view. His naked limbs the nymph with rapture spies, While hotter passions in her bosom rise, Flush in her cheeks, and sparkle in her eyes. _80 She longs, she burns to clasp him in her arms, And looks, and sighs, and kindles at his charms. Now all undressed upon the banks he stood, And clapped his sides and leaped into the flood: His lovely limbs the silver waves divide, His limbs appear more lovely through the tide; As lilies shut within a crystal case, Receive a glossy lustre from the glass. 'He's mine, he's all my own,' the Naiad cries, And flings off all, and after him she flies. _90 And now she fastens on him as he swims, And holds him close, and wraps about his limbs. The more the boy resisted, and was coy, The more she clipped and kissed the struggling boy. So when the wriggling snake is snatched on high In eagle's claws, and hisses in the sky, Around the foe his twirling tail he flings, And twists her legs, and writhes about her wings. The restless boy still obstinately strove To free himself, and still refused her love. _100 Amidst his limbs she kept her limbs entwined, 'And why, coy youth,' she cries, 'why thus unkind! Oh may the gods thus keep us ever joined! Oh may we never, never part again!' So prayed the nymph, nor did she pray in vain: For now she finds him, as his limbs she pressed, Grow nearer still, and nearer to her breast; Till, piercing each the other's flesh, they run Together, and incorporate in one: Last in one face are both their faces joined, _110 As when the stock and grafted twig combined Shoot up the same, and wear a common rind: Both bodies in a single body mix, A single body with a double sex. The boy, thus lost in woman, now surveyed The river's guilty stream, and thus he prayed: (He prayed, but wondered at his softer tone, Surprised to hear a voice but half his own:) You parent gods, whose heavenly names I bear, Hear your Hermaphrodite, and grant my prayer; _120 Oh grant, that whomsoe'er these streams contain, If man he entered, he may rise again Supple, unsinewed, and but half a man! The heavenly parents answered, from on high, Their two-shaped son, the double votary; Then gave a secret virtue to the flood, And tinged its source to make his wishes good.