This done, the god flew up on high, and pass’d + 

O’er lofty Athens, by Minerva graced, + 

And wide Munichia, while his eyes survey + 

All the vast region that beneath him lay. + 

’Twas now the feast, when each Athenian maid + 

Her yearly homage to Minerva paid, + 

In canisters with garlands cover’d o’er, + 

High on their heads their mystic gifts they bore; + 

And now, returning in a solemn train, + 

The troop of shining virgins fill’d the plain. + 

The god, well pleased, beheld the pompous show, + 

And saw the bright procession pass below, + 

Then veer’d about and took a wheeling flight, + 

And hover’d o’er them; as the spreading kite, + 

That smells the slaughter’d victims from on high, + 

Flies at a distance, if the priests are nigh, + 

And sails around and keeps it in her eye, + 

So kept the god the virgin choir in view, + 

And in slow winding circles round them flew. + 

As Lucifer excels the meanest star, + 

Or as the full-orb’d Phoebe Lucifer, + 

So much did Herse all the rest outvie, + 

And gave a grace to the solemnity. + 

Hermes was fired as in the clouds he hung; + 

So the cold bullet, that with fury slung + 

From Balearic engines, mounts on high, + 

Glows in the whirl, and burns along the sky. + 

At length he pitch’d upon the ground, and show’d + 

The form divine, the features of a god. + 

He knew their virtue o’er a female heart, + 

And yet he strives to better them by art. + 

He hangs his mantle loose, and sets to show + 

The golden edging on the seam below; + 

Adjusts his flowing curls, and in his hand, + 

Waves with an air the sleep-procuring wand; + 

The glittering sandals to his feet applies, + 

And to each heel the well-trimm’d pinion ties. + 

His ornaments with nicest art display’d, + 

He seeks the apartment of the royal maid. + 

The roof was all with polish’d ivory lined, + 

That richly mix’d, in clouds of tortoise shined; + 

Three rooms, contiguous, in a range were placed, + 

The midmost by the beauteous Herse graced, + 

Her virgin sisters lodged on either side. + 

Aglauros first the approaching god descried, + 

And as he cross’d her chamber asked his name, + 

And what his bus’ness was, and whence he came. + 

“I come,” replied the god, “from heaven, to woo + 

Your sister, and to make an aunt of you. + 

I am the son and messenger of Jove, + 

My name is Mercury, my bus’ness love; + 

Do you, kind damsel, take a lover’s part, + 

And gain admittance to your sister’s heart.” + 

She stared him in the face with looks amaz’d, + 

As when she on Minerva’s secret gaz’d, + 

And asks a mighty treasure for her hire, + 

And till he brings it makes the god retire. + 

Minerva griev’d to see the nymph succeed, + 

And now remembering the late impious deed, + 

When, disobedient to her strict command, + 

She touch’d the chest with an unhallow’d hand, + 

In big-swoln sighs her inward rage express’d, + 

That heav’d the rising aegis on her breast; + 

Then sought out Envy in her dark abode, + 

Defil’d with ropy gore and clots of blood: + 

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 steer’d, + 

Against the gates her martial lance she rear’d, + 

The gates flew open, and the fiend appear’d. + 

A pois’nous morsel in her teeth she chew’d, + 

And gorged the flesh of vipers for her food. + 

Minerva, loathing, turn’d 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 fetch’d a groan at such a cheerful sight; + 

Livid and meager were her looks, her eye + 

In foul distorted glances turn’d awry; + 

A hoard of gall her inward parts possess’d, + 

And spread a greenness o’er her canker’d 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; + 

Foe to herself, distressing and distress’d, + 

She bears her own tormentor in her breast. + 

The goddess gave (for she abhorr’d 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 push’d against the ground, + 

And mounting from it with an active bound, + 

Flew off to heaven. The hag with eyes askew + 

Look’d up, and mutter’d curses as she flew; + 

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. + 

When Athens she beheld, for arts renown’d, + 

With peace made happy, and with plenty crown’d, + 

Scarce could the hideous fiend from tears forbear + 

To find out nothing that deserved a tear. + 

The apartment now she enter’d where at rest + 

Aglauros lay, with gentle sleep oppress’d, + 

To execute Minerva’s dire command; + 

She stroked the virgin with her canker’d hand, + 

Then prickly thorns into her breast convey’d, + 

That stung to madness the devoted maid; + 

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. + 

Full of the dream, Aglauros pin’d away + 

In tears all night, in darkness all the day; + 

Consumed like ice, that just begins to run, + 

When feebly smitten by the distant sun; + 

Or like unwholesome weeds, that, set on fire, + 

Are slowly wasted, and in smoke expire. + 

Given up to envy (for in every thought + 

The thorns, the venom, and the vision wrought), + 

Oft did she call on death, as oft decreed, + 

Rather than see her sister’s wish succeed, + 

To tell her awful father what had pass’d; + 

At length before the door herself she cast, + 

And, sitting on the ground with suilen pride, + 

A passage to the lovesick god denied. + 

The god caress’d and for admission pray’d, + 

And soothed in softest words the envenom’d maid. + 

In vain he soothed. “Begone!” the maid replies, + 

“Or here I keep my seat and never rise.” + 

“Then keep thy seat for ever,” cries the god, + 

And touch’d the door, wide opening to his rod. + 

Fain would she rise and stop him, but she found + 

Her trunk too heavy to forsake the ground; + 

Her joints are all benumb’d, her hands are pale, + 

And marble now appears in every nail. + 

As when a cancer in the body feeds, + 

And gradual death from limb to limb proceeds, + 

So does the chillness to each vital part + 

Spread by degrees, and creeps into her heart, + 

Till hardening everywhere, and speechless grown, + 

She sits unmoved, and freezes to a stone. + 

But still her envious hue and sullen mien + 

Are in ’he sedentary figure seen. + 