Metamorphoses

Ovid

Ovid. The XV bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, entytuled Metamorphosis. Golding, Arthur, translator. London: W. Seres (printer), 1567.

No kind of thing keepes ay his shape and hew.
For nature loving ever chaunge repayres one shape anew
Uppon another. Neyther dooth there perrish aught (trust mee)
In all the world, but altring takes new shape. For that which wee
Doo terme by name of being borne, is for to gin to bee
Another thing than that it was: and likewise for to dye,
To cease to bee the thing it was. And though that varyably
Things passe perchaunce from place to place: yit all from whence they came
Returning, do unperrisshed continew still the same.
But as for in one shape, bee sure that nothing long can last.
Even so the ages of the world from gold to Iron past.
Even so have places oftentymes exchaunged theyr estate.
For I have seene it sea which was substanciall ground alate,
Ageine where sea was, I have seene the same become dry lond,
And shelles and scales of Seafish farre have lyen from any strond,
And in the toppes of mountaynes hygh old Anchors have beene found.
Deepe valleyes have by watershotte beene made of levell ground,
And hilles by force of gulling oft have into sea beene worne.
Hard gravell ground is sumtyme seene where marris was beforne,
And that that erst did suffer drowght, becommeth standing lakes.
Heere nature sendeth new springs out, and there the old in takes.
Full many rivers in the world through earthquakes heretofore
Have eyther chaundgd theyr former course, or dryde and ronne no more.
Soo Lycus beeing swallowed up by gaping of the ground,
A greatway off fro thence is in another channell found.
Even so the river Erasine among the feeldes of Arge
Sinkes one whyle, and another whyle ronnes greate ageine at large.
Caycus also of the land of Mysia (as men say)
Misliking of his former head, ronnes now another way.
In Sicill also Amasene ronnes sumtyme full and hye,
And sumtyme stopping up his spring, he makes his chanell drye.
Men drank the waters of the brooke Anigrus heretofore,
Which now is such that men abhorre to towche them any more.
Which commes to passe, (onlesse wee will discredit Poets quyght)
Bycause the Centaures vanquisshed by Hercules in fyght
Did wash theyr woundes in that same brooke. But dooth not Hypanis
That springeth in the Scythian hilles, which at his fountaine is
Ryght pleasant, afterward becomme of brackish bitter taste?
Antissa, and Phenycian Tyre, and Pharos in tyme past
Were compast all about with waves: but none of all theis three
Is now an Ile. Ageine the towne of Lewcas once was free
From sea, and in the auncient tyme was joyned to the land.
But now environd round about with water it dooth stand.
Men say that Sicill also hath beene joynd to Italy
Untill the sea consumde the bounds beetweene, and did supply
The roome with water. If yee go to seeke for Helicee
And Burye which were Cities of Achaia, you shall see
Them hidden under water, and the shipmen yit doo showe
The walles and steeples of the townes drownd under as they rowe.
Not farre from Pitthey Troyzen is a certeine high ground found
All voyd of trees, which heeretofore was playne and levell ground,
But now a mountayne. For the wyndes (a woondrous thing to say)
Inclosed in the hollow caves of ground, and seeking way
To passe therefro, in struggling long to get the open skye
In vayne, (bycause in all the cave there was no vent wherby
To issue out,) did stretch the ground and make it swell on hye,
As dooth a bladder that is blowen by mouth, or as the skinne
Of horned Goate in bottlewyse when wynd is gotten in.
The swelling of the foresayd place remaynes at this day still,
And by continuance waxing hard is growen a pretye hill.
Of many things that come to mynd by heersay, and by skill
Of good experience, I a fewe will utter to you mo.
What? Dooth not water in his shapes chaunge straungely to and fro?
The well of horned Hammon is at noonetyde passing cold.
At morne and even it wexeth warme. At midnyght none can hold
His hand therin for passing heate. The well of Athamane,
Is sayd to kindle woode what tyme the moone is in the wane.
The Cicons have a certeine streame which beeing droonk dooth bring
Mennes bowwelles into Marble hard: and whatsoever thing
Is towcht therwith, it turnes to stone. And by your bounds behold
The rivers Crathe and Sybaris make yellow heare like gold
And Amber. There are also springs (which thing is farre more straunge)
Which not the bodye only, but the mynd doo also chaunge.
Whoo hath not heard of Salmacis, that fowle and filthye sink?
Or of the lake of Aethyop, which if a man doo drink,
He eyther ronneth mad, or else with woondrous drowzinesse
Forgoeth quyght his memorie? Whoo ever dooth represse
His thirst with drawght of Clitor well, hates wyne, and dooth delyght
In only water: eyther for bycause there is a myght
Contrary unto warming wyne by nature in the well,
Or else bycause (for so the folk of Arcadye doo tell)
Melampus, Amythaons sonne (when he delivered had
King Praetus daughters by his charmes and herbes from being mad),
Cast into that same water all the baggage wherewithall
He purdgd the madnesse of theyr mynds. And so it did befall,
That lothsomnesse of wyne did in those waters ay remayne.
Ageine in Lyncest contrarie effect to this dooth reigne.
For whoo so drinkes too much therof, he reeleth heere and there
As if by quaffing wyne no whyt alayd he droonken were.
There is a Lake in Arcadye which Pheney men did name
In auncient tyme, whoose dowtfulnesse deserveth justly blame.
A nyght tymes take thou heede of it, for if thou taste the same
A nyghttymes, it will hurt. But if thou drink it in the day
It hurteth not.

Thus lakes and streames (as well perceyve yee may)
Have divers powres and diversly. Even so the tyme hathe beene
That Delos which stands stedfast now, on waves was floting seene.
And Galyes have beene sore afrayd of frusshing by the Iles
Symplegads which togither dasht uppon the sea erewhyles,
But now doo stand unmovable ageinst bothe wynde and tyde.
Mount Aetna with his burning Oovens of brimstone shall not byde
Ay fyrye: neyther was it so for ever erst. For whither
The earth a living creature bee, and that to breathe out hither
And thither flame, great store of vents it have in sundry places,
And that it have the powre to shift those vents in divers caces,
Now damming theis, now opening those, in moving to and fro:
Or that the whisking wynds restreynd within the earth bylowe,
Doo beate the stones ageinst the stones, and other kynd of stuffe
Of fyrye nature, which doo fall on fyre with every puffe:
Assoone as those same wynds doo cease, the caves shall streight bee cold.
Or if it bee a Rozen mowld that soone of fyre takes hold,
Or brimstone mixt with clayish soyle on fyre dooth lyghtly fall:
Undowtedly assoone as that same soyle consumed shall
No longer yeeld the fatty foode to feede the fyre withall,
And ravening nature shall forgo her woonted nourishment,
Then being able to abyde no longer famishment,
For want of sustenance it shall cease his burning. I doo fynd
By fame, that under Charlsis wayne in Pallene are a kynd
Of people which by dyving thryce three tymes in Triton lake
Becomme all fethred, and the shape of birdes uppon them take.
The Scythian witches also are reported for to doo
The selfsame thing (but hardly I give credit therunto)
By smearing poyson over all theyr bodyes. But (and if
A man to matters tryde by proof may saufly give beleef,)
Wee see how flesh by lying still a whyle and ketching heate
Dooth turne to little living beastes. And yit a further feate,
Go kill an Ox and burye him, (the thing by proof man sees)
And of his rotten flesh will breede the flowergathering Bees,
Which as theyr father did before, love feeldes exceedingly,
And unto woork in hope of gayne theyr busye limbes apply.
The Hornet is engendred of a lustye buryed Steede.
Go pull away the cleas from Crabbes that in the sea doo breede,
And burye all the rest in mowld, and of the same will spring
A Scorpion which with writhen tayle will threaten for to sting.
The Caterpillers of the feelde the which are woont to weave
Hore filmes uppon the leaves of trees, theyr former nature leave,
(Which thing is knowen to husbandmen) and turne to Butterflyes.
The mud hath in it certeine seede wherof greene frosshes ryse.
And first it brings them footelesse foorth. Then after, it dooth frame
Legges apt to swim: and furthermore of purpose that the same
May serve them for to leape afarre, theyr hinder part is mych
More longer than theyr forepart is. The Bearwhelp also which
The Beare hath newly littred, is no whelp immediatly.
But like an evill favored lump of flesh alyve dooth lye.
The dam by licking shapeth out his members orderly
Of such a syse, as such a peece is able to conceyve.
Or marke yee not the Bees of whom our hony wee receyve,
How that theyr yoong ones which doo lye within the sixsquare wax
Are limblesse bodyes at the first, and after as they wex
In processe take bothe feete and wings? What man would think it trew
That Ladye Venus simple birdes, the Dooves of silver hew,
Or Junos bird that in his tayle beares starres, or Joves stowt knyght
The Earne, and every other fowle of whatsoever flyght,
Could all bee hatched out of egges, onlesse he did it knowe?
Sum folk doo hold opinion when the backebone which dooth growe
In man, is rotten in the grave, the pith becommes a snake.
Howbee't of other things all theis theyr first beginning take.
One bird there is that dooth renew itself and as it were
Beget it self continually. The Syrians name it there
A Phoenix. Neyther come nor herbes this Phoenix liveth by,
But by the jewce of frankincence and gum of Amomye.
And when that of his lyfe well full fyve hundred yeeres are past,
Uppon a Holmetree or uppon a Date tree at the last
He makes him with his talants and his hardened bill a nest.
Which when that he with Casia sweete and Nardus soft hathe drest,
And strowed it with Cynnamom and Myrrha of the best,
He rucketh downe uppon the same, and in the spyces dyes.
Soone after, of the fathers corce men say there dooth aryse
Another little Phoenix which as many yeeres must live
As did his father. He (assoone as age dooth strength him give
To beare the burthen) from the tree the weyghty nest dooth lift,
And godlyly his cradle thence and fathers herce dooth shift.
And flying through the suttle aire he gettes to Phebus towne,
And there before the temple doore dooth lay his burthen downe.
But if that any noveltye woorth woondring bee in theis,
Much rather may we woonder at the Hyen if we please.
To see how interchaungeably it one whyle dooth remayne
A female, and another whyle becommeth male againe.
The creature also which dooth live by only aire and wynd,
All colours that it leaneth to dooth counterfet by kynd.
The Grapegod Bacchus, when he had subdewd the land of Inde,
Did fynd a spotted beast cald Lynx, whoose urine (by report)
By towching of the open aire congealeth in such sort,
As that it dooth becomme a stone. So Corall (which as long
As water hydes it is a shrub and soft) becommeth strong
And hard assoone as it dooth towch the ayre. The day would end,
And Phebus panting steedes should in the Ocean deepe descend,
Before all alterations I in woordes could comprehend.
So see wee all things chaungeable. One nation gathereth strength:
Another wexeth weake: and bothe doo make exchaunge at length.
So Troy which once was great and strong as well in welth as men,
And able tenne yeeres space to spare such store of blood as then,
Now beeing bace hath nothing left of all her welth to showe,
Save ruines of the auncient woorkes which grasse dooth overgrowe,
And tumbes wherin theyr auncetours lye buryed on a rowe.
Once Sparta was a famous towne: Great Mycene florisht trim:
Bothe Athens and Amphions towres in honor once did swim.
A pelting plot is Sparta now: great Mycene lyes on ground.
Of Theab the towne of Oedipus what have we more than sound?
Of Athens, king Pandions towne, what resteth more than name?
Now also of the race of Troy is rysing (so sayth fame)
The Citie Rome, which at the bank of Tyber that dooth ronne
Downe from the hill of Appennyne) already hath begonne
With great advysement for to lay foundation of her state.
This towne then chaungeth by increase the forme it had alate,
And of the universall world in tyme to comme shall hold
The sovereintye, so prophesies and lotts (men say) have told.
And as (I doo remember mee) what tyme that Troy decayd,
The prophet Helen, Priams sonne, theis woordes ensewing sayd
Before Aenaeas dowting of his lyfe in weeping plyght:
O Goddesse sonne, beleeve mee (if thou think I have foresyght
Of things to comme) Troy shalnot quyght decay whyle thou doost live.
Bothe fyre and swoord shall unto thee thy passage freely give.
Thou must from hence: and Troy with thee convey away in haste,
Untill that bothe thyself and Troy in forreine land bee plaast
More freendly than thy native soyle. Moreover I foresee,
A Citie by the offspring of the Trojans buylt shall bee,
So great as never in the world the lyke was seene before
Nor is this present, neyther shall be seene for evermore.
A number of most noble peeres for manye yeeres afore
Shall make it strong and puyssant: but hee that shall it make
The sovereine Ladye of the world, by ryght descent shall take
His first beginning from thy sonne the little Jule. And when
The earth hathe had her tyme of him, the sky and welkin then
Shall have him up for evermore, and heaven shall bee his end.