She spake and, dividing into various bands, the scouts set out. Triton was swimming beneath the waves of the Carpathian sea, pursuing reluctant Cymothoë. She feared her rough lover and eluded his pursuit, her wet form gliding through the embraces of his strong arms. One of the Loves espied him and cried, “Stay! the deeps cannot hide your amours. Make ready to carry our mistress; as a reward for thy services (and ’tis no meagre one) thou shalt have Cymothoë, a complaisant mistress shall she be though she flout thee now. Come and win thy recompense.” The dread monster uprose from the abyss; his billowing hair swept his shoulders; hoofs of cloven horn grown round with bristles sprang from where his fishy tail joined his man’s body. He swam three strokes and at the fourth stranded upon the shore of Cyprus. To shade the goddess the monster arched back his tail; then his back, rough with living purple, was bedded with scarlet coverlets; resting in such a retreat does Venus voyage, her snowy feet just dipping in the sea. A great company of wingèd Loves fly after her, troubling the calm surface of Ocean. Neptune’s palace is all adorned with flowers. Leucothoë, daughter of Cadmus, sports on the water, and Palaemon drives his dolphin with a bridle of roses. Nereus sets violets here * * * * * Page 254 canitiem Glaucus ligat inmortalibus herbis. nec non et variis vectae Nereides ibant audito rumore feris (hanc pisce voluto 160 sublevat Oceani monstrum Tartesia tigris; hanc timor Aegaei rupturus fronte carinas trux aries; haec caeruleae suspensa leaenae innatat; haec viridem trahitur complexa iuvencum) certatimque novis onerant conubia donis. 165 cingula Cymothoë, rarum Galatea monile et gravibus Psamathe bacis diadema ferebat intextum, Rubro quas legerat ipsa profundo. mergit se subito vellitque corallia Doto: vimen erat dum stagna subit; processerat undis: 170 gemma fuit. Nudae Venerem cinxere catervae plaudentesque simul tali cum voce sequuntur: “hos Mariae cultus, haec munera nostra precamur reginae regina feras. dic talia numquam promeruisse Thetim nec cum soror Amphitrite 175 nostro nupta Iovi. devotum sentiat aequor, agnoscat famulum virgo Stilichonia pontum. victrices nos saepe rates classemque paternam veximus, attritis cum tenderet ultor Achivis.” Iam Ligurum terris spumantia pectora Triton 180 adpulerat lassosque fretis extenderat orbes. continuo sublime volans ad moenia Gallis condita, lanigeri suis ostentantia pellem, pervenit. adventu Veneris pulsata recedunt nubila, clarescunt puris Aquilonibus Alpes. 185 * * * * * Page 255