Apollonius of Rhodes - Argonautica

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No peace by day, no sleep at night I take,
Since these brave chiefs assembled for my sake.
With cold indifference may'st thou look down,
For no man's safety anxious but thy own;
But I, the least solicitous for mine,
Feel for this friend's, that comrade's, and for thine.
Much shall I feel for all this martial band,
Unless they safe regain their native land.

Apollonius of Rhodes
Remote, Medea's fair attendants moan,
Cling round their queen, and groan return for groan.
As when a nest, surcharg'd with callow young,
Falls from the lofty cliff to which it clung,
Th' unfeather'd brood by shrillest cries attest
Their far-flown mother, and their ruin'd nest:
As on the banks Pactolus' streams bedew,
Melodious swans their dying notes renew;
The rivers, gliding the rich vales among,
Bear on their silver streams the soothing song.

Apollonius of Rhodes
When hence your destin'd voyage ye pursue,
Two rocks will rise, tremendous to the view,
Just in the entrance of the watery waste,
Which never mortal yet in safety past:
Not firmly fix'd; for oft with hideous shock
Adverse they meet, and rock encounters rock:
The boiling billows dash their airy brow,
Loud thundering round the ragged shore below.

Apollonius of Rhodes
With rage impetuous forth the monsters came,
And from their nostrils issued streams of flame...

Apollonius of Rhodes
By every woe fate destines me to bear,
And by these eyes, involv'd in night, I swear.

Apollonius of Rhodes
As some fair dame, when Cynthia rises bright,
Beholds the beamy splendours with delight,
Which from her vestment strong-reflected rise;
Thus gloried Jason in the glistering prize.
The flaming rays, that from its surface flow'd,
Beam'd on his cheeks, and on his forehead glow'd.

Apollonius of Rhodes
As when from street to street, in wild dismay,
Affrighted mortals, like pale spectres, stray;
Expecting wars, or plagues, or bursting rains,
That deluge all the harvest of the plains:
Or, as when statues drops of blood distil,
And fancied bellowings the temples fill;
The noon-day sun eclips'd involves in night
Th' astonish'd world, and stars emit their light:
Thus on the beach they stalk'd, a heartless clan!
Like sweating statues, or like spectres wan.

Apollonius of Rhodes
With a parting kiss her bed she press'd,
Clung round each door, and e'n the walls caress'd.
A lock she tore of loosely-flowing hair,
And safe consign'd it to her mother's care,
The sacred relick of her virgin-fame.

Apollonius of Rhodes
Boughs bend with fruit, Earth from her bosom pours
Herbs ever green, and voluntary flow'rs.

Apollonius of Rhodes
The fate of others he had oft foreshown,
But fail'd, unhappy! to prevent his own.

Apollonius of Rhodes
As when a lion from his cavern'd rock,
At distance hears the bleatings of the flock,
To seize his prey he springs, with hunger bold,
But faithful shepherds had secur'd the fold;
Defeated of his prize, he roars amain,
Rends his hoarse throat, and terrifies the swain.

Apollonius of Rhodes
How o'er the new-created world below,
On high Olympus' summits crown'd with snow
Ophion, and, from ocean sprung of old,
The fair Eurynome reign'd uncontroll'd:
How haughty Saturn, with superior sway,
Exil'd Ophion from the realms of day.

Apollonius of Rhodes
With high-arch'd neck, in front the dragon lies,
And towards the strangers turns his sleepless eyes;
Aloud he hisses: the wide woods around,
And Phasis' banks return the doleful sound.
Colchians far distant from Titanus' shore,
Heard e'en to Lycus' streams the hideous roar.

Apollonius of Rhodes
Swift sail'd the ship, the sun refulgent beam'd,
And bright as flame their glittering armour gleam'd.
While to their outstretch'd oars the heroes bow,
The parted ocean whitening foams below.

Apollonius of Rhodes
Th' immortal powers that Jove's proud palace crown,
All on that memorable day look'd down,
The godlike chiefs and Argo to survey,
As thro' the deep they urg'd their daring way.

Apollonius of Rhodes
As when a bull, whom galling gadflies wound,
Forsakes the meadows, and the marshy ground,
The flowery food, the herd and herdsmen shuns,
Now stands stock-still, and restless now he runs;
Stung by the breese, he maddens with the pain,
Tosses aloft his head, and roars amain.

Apollonius of Rhodes
With Chiron came Chariclo to the shore;
The young Achilles in her arms she bore.
Peleus, his sire, with secret pleasure smil'd,
As high in air she rais'd the royal child.

Apollonius of Rhodes
Then heaves he from the couch his haggard bead,
(Like some pale, lifeless, visionary shade)
Propp'd on his staff his way explores, and crawls
With lingering step along the lonely walls:
Diseas'd, enfeebled, and by age unbrac'd,
Thro' every limb he trembled as he pass'd;
Shrunk was his form, with want adust and thin,
The pointed bones seem'd bursting thro' his skin...

Apollonius of Rhodes
A youth unshod amid the crowd appears,
Cause of thy ruin, subject of thy fears.

Apollonius of Rhodes
Haste, royal mother, to your native tow'rs,
Pass with your handmaids there the peaceful hours.
Forebode not here calamities to come...

Apollonius of Rhodes
Turn'd from the murderous scene aside distress'd,
And veil'd her guilty face beneath her vest.

Apollonius of Rhodes
Whene'er he skimm'd along the watery plain,
With feet unbath'd he swept the raging main,
Scarce brush'd the surface of the briny dew,
And light along the liquid level flew.

Apollonius of Rhodes
It chanc'd the nymphs, in neighbouring streams that dwell,
Then kept a concert at the sacred well.
In Dian's praise they rais'd the nightly song,
All who to high, aerial hills belong;
All who in caverns hide, or devious rove
The mountain-forest, or the shady grove.

Apollonius of Rhodes
As when swift hounds, experienc'd in the chase,
Through some wide forest, o'er the scented grass
The bounding hind, or horned goat pursue,
Near, and more near their panting prey they view;
And eager stretching, the short space to gain,
They snap, and grind their gnashing fangs in vain.

Apollonius of Rhodes
Sudden, the vessel, as she sail'd along,
Spoke, wondrous portent! as with human tongue:
Her sturdy keel of Dodonean oak,
By Pallas vocal made, prophetic spoke.

Apollonius of Rhodes
The nymph with joy
Sprung from the deep to kiss the charming boy.
Her left arm round his lovely neck she threw,
And with her right hand to the bottom drew.

Apollonius of Rhodes
As some good housewife, who, to labour born,
Fresh to her loom must rise with early morn;
Studious to gain what human wants require,
In embers heap'd preserves the seeds of fire;
Renew'd by these the brand rekindling burns,
And all the glowing heap to ashes turns:
Thus, kindling slow, love's secret flames invade,
And torture, as they rise, the troubled maid:
Her changeful cheeks the heart-felt anguish show,
Now pale they turn, now like the ruby glow.

Apollonius of Rhodes