“They went to the hills clothed with undying grass and gather flowers ’neath the twilight of dawn, when the quiet meads are white with dew and violets drink the scattered moisture. But when the sun had mounted to higher air at noon, behold! murky night hid the sky and the island trembled and shook beneath the beat of horses’ hoofs and the rumble of wheels. Who the charioteer was none might tell--whether he was the harbinger of death or it was Death himself. Gloom spread through the meadows, the rivers stayed their courses, the fields were blighted, nor did aught live, once touched with those horses’ breath. I saw the bryony pale, the roses fade, the lilies wither. When in his roaring course the driver turned back his steeds the night it brought accompanied the chariot and light was restored to the world. Proserpine was nowhere to be seen. Their vows fulfilled, the goddesses had returned and tarried not. We found Cyane half dead amid the fields; there she lay, a garland round her neck and the blackened wreaths faded upon her forehead. At once we approached her and inquired after her mistress’s fortune, for she had been a witness of the disaster. What, we asked, was the aspect of the horses; who their driver? Naught said she, but corrupted with some hidden venom, dissolved into water. Water crept amid her hair; legs and arms melted and flowed away, and soon a clear stream washed our feet. The rest are gone; the Sirens, Achelous’ daughters, rising on rapid wing, have occupied the coast of Sicilian Pelorus, and in wrath * * * * * Page 364 accensaeque malo iam non impune canoras in pestem vertere lyras: vox blanda carinas adligat; audito frenantur carmine remi. sola domi luctu senium tractura relinquor.” Haeret adhuc suspensa Ceres et singula demens 260 ceu nondum transacta timet; mox lumina torquens vultu ad caelicolas furiato pectore fertur. arduus Hyrcana quatitur sic matre Niphates, cuius Achaemenio regi ludibria natos advexit tremebundus eques: fremit illa marito 265 mobilior Zephyro totamque virentibus iram dispergit maculis timidumque hausura profundo ore virum vitreae tardatur imagine formae. Haud aliter toto genetrix bacchatur Olympo “reddite” vociferans. “non me vagus edidit amnis; 270 non Dryadum de plebe sumus. turrita Cybebe me quoque Saturno genuit. quo iura deorum, quo leges cecidere poli? quid vivere recte proderit? en audet noti Cytherea pudoris ostentare suos post Lemnia vincula vultus! 275 hos animos bonus ille sopor castumque cubile praebuit! amplexus hoc promeruere pudici! nec mirum, si turpe nihil post talia ducit. quid vos expertes thalami? tantumne relictus * * * * * Page 365