But the vengeance of Juno was not yet satiated. She sent a gadfly to
torment Io, who fled over the whole world from its pursuit. She swam
through the Ionian sea, which derived its name from her, then roamed
over the plains of Illyria, ascended Mount Hæmus, and crossed the
Thracian strait, thence named the Bosphorus (cow-ford), rambled on
through Scythia, and the country of the Cimmerians, and arrived at last
on the banks of the Nile. At length Jupiter interceded for her, and upon
his promising not to pay her any more attentions Juno consented to
restore her to her form. It was curious to see her gradually recover her
former self. The coarse hairs fell from her body, her horns shrank up,
her eyes grew narrower, her mouth shorter; hands and fingers came
instead of hoofs to her forefeet; in fine there was nothing left of the
heifer, except her beauty. At first she was afraid to speak, for fear
she should low, but gradually she recovered her confidence and was
restored to her father and sisters.
In a poem dedicated to Leigh Hunt, by Keats, the following allusion to
the story of Pan and Syrinx occurs:
“So did he feel who pulled the bough aside,
That we might look into a forest wide,
. . . . . . .
Telling us how fair trembling Syrinx fled
Arcadian Pan, with such a fearful dread.
Poor nymph—poor Pan—how he did weep to find
Nought but a lovely sighing of the wind
Along the reedy stream; a half-heard strain,
Full of sweet desolation, balmy pain.”
CALLISTO
Callisto was another maiden who excited the jealousy of Juno, and the
goddess changed her into a bear. “I will take away,” said she, “that
beauty with which you have captivated my husband.” Down fell Callisto on
her hands and knees; she tried to stretch out her arms in
supplication—they were already beginning to be covered with black hair.
Her hands grew rounded, became armed with crooked claws, and served for
feet; her mouth, which Jove used to praise for its beauty, became a
horrid pair of jaws; her voice, which if unchanged would have moved the
heart to pity, became a growl, more fit to inspire terror. Yet her
former disposition remained, and with continual groaning, she bemoaned
her fate, and stood upright as well as she could, lifting up her paws to
beg for mercy, and felt that Jove was unkind, though she could not tell
him so. Ah, how often, afraid to stay in the woods all night alone, she
wandered about the neighborhood of her former haunts; how often,
frightened by the dogs, did she, so lately a huntress, fly in terror
from the hunters! Often she fled from the wild beasts, forgetting that
she was now a wild beast herself; and, bear as she was, was afraid of
the bears.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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