Shut from the winds, and from the wholesome skies, In a deep vale the gloomy dungeon lies, Dismal and cold, where not a beam of light Invades the winter, or disturbs the night. Directly to the cave her course she steered; _70 Against the gates her martial lance she reared; The gates flew open, and the fiend appeared. A poisonous morsel in her teeth she chewed, And gorged the flesh of vipers for her food. Minerva loathing turned away her eye; The hideous monster, rising heavily, Came stalking forward with a sullen pace, And left her mangled offals on the place. Soon as she saw the goddess gay and bright, She fetched a groan at such a cheerful sight. _80 Livid and meagre were her looks, her eye In foul, distorted glances turned awry; A hoard of gall her inward parts possessed, And spread a greenness o'er her cankered breast; Her teeth were brown with rust; and from her tongue, In dangling drops, the stringy poison hung. She never smiles but when the wretched weep, Nor lulls her malice with a moment's sleep, Restless in spite: while watchful to destroy, She pines and sickens at another's joy; _90 Foe to herself, distressing and distressed, She bears her own tormentor in her breast. The goddess gave (for she abhorred her sight) A short command: 'To Athens speed thy flight; On cursed Aglauros try thy utmost art. And fix thy rankest venoms in her heart.' This said, her spear she pushed against the ground, And mounting from it with an active bound, Flew off to heaven: the hag with eyes askew Looked up, and muttered curses as she flew; _100 For sore she fretted, and began to grieve At the success which she herself must give. Then takes her staff, hung round with wreaths of thorn, And sails along, in a black whirlwind borne, O'er fields and flowery meadows: where she steers Her baneful course, a mighty blast appears, Mildews and blights; the meadows are defaced, The fields, the flowers, and the whole year laid waste; On mortals next and peopled towns she falls, And breathes a burning plague among their walls, _110 When Athens she beheld, for arts renowned, With peace made happy, and with plenty crowned, Scarce could the hideous fiend from tears forbear, To find out nothing that deserved a tear. The apartment now she entered, where at rest Aglauros lay, with gentle sleep oppressed. To execute Minerva's dire command, She stroked the virgin with her cankered hand, Then prickly thorns into her breast conveyed, That stung to madness the devoted maid; _120 Her subtle venom still improves the smart, Frets in the blood, and festers in the heart. To make the work more sure, a scene she drew, And placed before the dreaming virgin's view Her sister's marriage, and her glorious fate: The imaginary bride appears in state; The bridegroom with unwonted beauty glows, For Envy magnifies whate'er she shows.