Here is the hateful spot, the hollow rock Whence the fierce ravisher sprang forth-- (_seeing the nymphs_) Ah! Ye! I know you well: ye are the nymphs of Ocean. Ye, graceful as your watery names And idle as the mimic flames That skip upon his briny floor, 370 When the hot sun smiteth thereo'er; Why did ye leave your native waves? Did false Poseidon, to my hurt Leagued with my foe, bid you desert Your opalescent pearly caves, Your dances on the shelly strand? CH. Poseidon gave us no command, Lady; it was thy child Persephone, Whose beauty drew us from the sea. DEM. Ill company ye lent, ill-fated guards! 380 How was she stolen from your distracted eyes? CH. There, where thou standest now, stood she companion'd By wise Athena and bright Artemis. We in flower-gathering dance and idle song Were wander'd off apart; we fear'd no wrong. DEM. In heav'n I heard her cry: ye nothing heard? CH. We heard no cry--How coudst thou hear in heaven? Ask us not óf her:--we have nought to tell.-- DEM. I seek not knowledge óf you, for I know. CH. Thou knowest? Ah, mighty Queen, deign then to tell If thou hast found her. Tell us--tell us--tell! 391 DEM. Oh, there are calls that love can hear, That strike not on the outward ear. None heard save I: but with a dart Of lightning-pain it pierc'd my heart, That call for aid, that cry of fear. It echo'd from the mountain-steeps Down to the dark of Ocean-deeps; O'er all the isle, from ev'ry hill It pierc'd my heart and echoes still, 400 Ay me! Ay me! CH. Where is she, O mighty Queen?--Tell us--O tell!-- DEM. Swift unto earth, in frenzy led By Cora's cry, from heav'n I sped. Immortal terror froze my mind: I fear'd, ev'n as I yearn'd to find My child, my joy, faln from my care Wrong'd or distresst, I knew not where, Cora, my Cora! Nor thought I whither first to fly, 410 Answ'ring the appeal of that wild cry: But still it drew me till I came To Enna, calling still her name, Cora, my Cora! CH. If thou hast found her, tell us, Queen, O tell!