Who could wake the crystal spring
To the voice of prophecy?
By the lost Eurydice,
Summon'd from the shadowy throng,
As the muse-son's magic song--
By the Colchian's awful charms,
When fair-haired Jason left her arms--
Spectre of the airy halls,
One who owns thee duly calls!
Breathe along the brimming bowl,
And instruct the fearful soul
In the shadowy things that lie
Dark in dim futurity.
Come, wild demon of the air,
Answer to thy votary's prayer!
Come! oh, come!
And no god on heaven or earth--
Not the Paphian Queen of Mirth,
Not the vivid Lord of Light,
Nor the triple Maid of Night,
Nor the Thunderer's self shall be
Blest and honour'd more than thee!
Come! oh, come!
'The spectre is certainly coming,' said Sosia. 'I feel him running
along my hair!'
'Place thy bowl of water on the ground. Now, then, give me thy napkin,
and let me fold up thy face and eyes.'
'Ay! that's always the custom with these charms. Not so tight, though:
gently--gently!'
'There--thou canst not see?'
'See, by Jupiter! No! nothing but darkness.'
'Address, then, to the spectre whatever question thou wouldst ask him,
in a low-whispered voice, three times. If thy question is answered in
the affirmative, thou wilt hear the water ferment and bubble before the
demon breathes upon it; if in the negative, the water will be quite
silent.'
'But you will not play any trick with the water, eh?'
'Let me place the bowl under thy feet--so. Now thou wilt perceive that
I cannot touch it without thy knowledge.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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