 Chapter 3 Part 1 of The Metamorphosis or Golden Asse Now Aurora rode through the heavens, lashing with rosy hand, her horses decked with ruddy trappings. At night restored me, snatched from secure quiet to the day, but my mind was in a fluctuating state from the recollection of the deed which I had perpetrated in the evening. At length, however, collecting my feet under me, joining together my hands upon my knees with my fingers twined in each other, and thus sitting on my bed, I wept abundantly. Now representing to myself in my imagination the forum, the judicial processes, the condemnation, and lastly the executioner, shall I find, said I to myself, any judge so mild and so benevolent as to be able to pronounce me innocent, who am inbrewed with the blood of a triple homicide, and defiled with the gore of so many citizens. This is the journey which the Coldean Diophonies pertinaciously proclaimed would be to me glorious. Frequently revolving these things with myself, I deplored my fortune. In the meantime there was a violent knocking at our doors, and a great tumult before our gate, and without delay a great eruption being made into the house every part of it was filled with magistrates, and their attendance and a miscellaneous crowd. Immediately also two of the lictors laying hold of me by order of the magistrates led me along without any resistance on my part. When we came into the next street immediately all the city pouring forth in a great crowd followed us in a wonderfully compact body, and though I walked sorrowfully with my head inclined to the ground or rather to the realms beneath, yet by looking obliquely I saw a thing altogether admirable, for among so many thousands of people that surrounded me there was not anyone who was not ready to burst with laughter, at length having passed through all the streets, and after the manner of those who with lustral sacrifices expiate by circumferaneous victims the anger of the gods, being led by an angular circumduction into the forum I was placed by the tribunal. And now the magistrates were seated in the lofty pulpit, now the public crier proclaimed silence, when suddenly all the assembly with one voice requested that a cause of so much consequence might be tried in the theatre on account of the concourse of the people which might be attended with danger from its multitude and compression. Immediately the people everywhere running to the theatre filled the seats of it with a wonderful celerity. The entrances also and the whole of the building were crowded. A great part of the populace stood clinging to the pillars, some were pended from the statues, others were half conspicuous from the windows and the beams of the building, and all through an ardent desire of seeing paid no attention to their own safety. Then the public ministers led me through the middle of the proscenium like some victim and placed me in the midst of the orchestra. A certain accuser, therefore, who was of an advanced age, being again called by the loud bellowing of the crier, rose up and having poured water into a certain vessel which was slenderly perforated like a strainer, and through which water flowed by drops for the purpose of limiting the time of speaking, thus addressed the people. A transaction is now brought before you, O almost holy citizens, which is by no means of a trifling nature, but especially regards the peace of the whole city and which, by a weighty example, will be profitable to others. Hence it will be most proper that all and each of you should endeavour for the public dignity that this nefarious homicide may not go unpunished for having cruelly slain so many of the citizens, nor must you think that I have been induced by any private grudge to accuse him more bitterly from a peculiar hatred, for I am the prefect of the night-guard, nor do I believe that my sedulous vigilance hitherto can be blamed by any one. I will therefore faithfully narrate the transaction itself and the deeds that were perpetrated this night. When, about the third watch, I had gone round the whole city, observing everything with exact diligence from door to door, I beheld this most cruel young man everywhere committing homicide with his drawn sword, and three persons having been now ferociously slain by him were laid before his feet, still breathing, and their bodies leaping in an abundance of gore. And he, indeed, being justly alarmed by the consciousness of so dire a deed, immediately fled, and having escaped into a certain house through the protection of darkness, was there concealed during the whole of the night. By the providence of the gods, however, which never suffers the guilty to go unpunished, I took care, before he had clandestinely escaped, to bring him, as soon as it was morning, before your venerable tribunal. You have therefore before you an accused person, one who is defiled with so many murders, one who is evidently guilty, and one who is an arraigned stranger. Courageously, therefore, passed sentence on a foreigner for that crime for the commission of which you would severely punish one of your own citizens. My most bitter accuser, having thus spoken, stopped his loud voice. But immediately after, the crier ordered me to begin to speak, if I wished to make any reply to what had been said. I, however, at that time could do no more than weep, not, by Hercules, so much looking to my terrible accusation, as to my miserable conscience. Nevertheless, assuming a divinely inspired boldness, I answered as follows. I am not ignorant how difficult it is for one who is accused of the murder of three citizens to persuade so great a multitude that he is innocent, though he should speak the truth and voluntarily confess the fact. But if your humanity will allow me, a public audience, for a short time, I can easily show you that I have sustained the danger of my life, not for having deserved to lose it, but through the fortuitous event of a reasonable indignation, which has unjustly caused me to be accused of so great a crime. For, as I was returning from supper, somewhat later than usual, and besides this being intoxicated, which I will not deny was truly my crime, I beheld before the gates of my lodging, but I dwell with your worthy fellow-citizen Milo. Certain most cruel robbers attempt to gain an entrance and to pluck the doors of the house from the hinges, and having with great violence torn off all the bars by which the doors were fastened, they deliberated with themselves concerning the destruction of the inhabitants. Lastly, one of them, who was more prompt with his hands and larger in his body, incited the others, by these words, Hark ye, my lads, let us attack those within the house while they are asleep, with manly minds and active strength. Let all doubt and all sluggishness be banished from our breast. Let slaughter stalk with a drawn sword through the whole house. Let him who lies asleep be slain, and him who endeavours to resist be knocked down. Thus we shall depart from hence safe, if we leave no one in safety in the house. I confess, O citizens, I thought it was the duty of a good member of the community, as through fearing exceedingly both for myself and my hosts, I was armed with the sword, which I carried with me, on account of dangers of this kind, that I should endeavour to put to flight and terrify these most iniquitous robbers. But these perfectly barbarous and atrocious men by no means betook themselves to flight, though they saw that I was armed, yet they audaciously resisted. The battle is a raid, and at length the leader and standard-bearer of the rest, having attacked me with great force, immediately endeavoured to beat me down with a stone, having seized me by the hair with both his hands, and caused me to recline backward. But while he strove to obtain the stone, I, with a sure hand, happily laid him prostrate. And soon after I slew another, who was adhering to and biting my feet, with a blow levelled at the middle of his shoulder-blade, and the third I pierced in the breast as he was unconsciously running against me. Thus peace being vindicated, and the house of my host, and the common safety being protected, I believed that I should not only be without punishment, but also that I should be thought worthy of the public praise, for I have never been accused, even of the smallest crime, but have always been respected by my acquaintance, and have always preferred innocence to every earthly good. Nor am I able to discover why I now undergo this accusation of a just revenge, which I was incited to take against the worst of robbers, since no one can prove, either that prior to this affair there was any private enmity between us, or that those robbers were ever at all known by me, or certainly some spoil should be shown, through the desire of obtaining which it may be believed, that I perpetrated such an unlawful deed. Having thus said, tears again bursting forth, and with my hands supplently extended, I sorrowfully deprecated now these, and then those, by the public pity, and by the love of those dear pledges their children, and when I thought that all of them were now moved by humanity, and were sufficiently affected by the commiseration of my tears, calling to witness the eye of justice and the sun, and commending to the providence of the gods my present casualty, when I had raised my eyes a little higher, I beheld all the people ready to burst into loud laughter, and also my good host and father Milo, dissolving as well as the rest into excessive laughter. But I then said silently to myself, Alas, where is faith, where is conscience? I indeed am a homicide, and am capitally convicted for the safety of my host. He, however, not content that he has not afforded me the solace of defence, laughs at my destruction. In the meantime a certain woman, arrayed in black, ran through the middle of the theatre, weeping and lamenting, and carrying in her bosom an infant, and behind her was another old woman, in ragged and filthy garments, who also testified her grief by similar lamentations. Both of them also shook with their hands branches of olive, which were scattered about the beer on which the dead bodies were laid, and beating their breasts and mournfully weeping, exclaimed, by the public compassion, by the common law of humanity, take pity on these young men who are unworthily slain, and give to our widowhood and solitude the solace of revenge. At least afford assistance to the miserable fortune of this infant, who is left destitute in the first years of his life, and make a propitiatory sacrifice to your laws and public discipline with the blood of this robber. Afterwards the magistrate, who was the elder, arose and thus addressed the people, concerning the crime indeed, which must be severely punished, he who committed it cannot deny it. One only care, however, remains for us, and which is also of a secondary nature, that we should search after the other persons who were the associates of the accused in the perpetration of so great a crime, for it is not probable that one man alone could have deprived of life three such robust young men. The truth, therefore, must be extorted by torments. For the servant who attended the accused has privately fled, and the thing is brought to this issue, that he may by torture be compelled to declare who were the partakers of his wickedness, in order that the dread of so dire a faction may be entirely removed. And without any delay fire and the wheel after the manner of the Greeks, and afterwards every kind of whips were introduced. My sorrow was very much increased, or rather was doubled, because I was not permitted to die entire. But that old woman, who had disturbed everything by her weeping, said, Oh, best of citizens, before you fix to the cross this destroyer of my unhappy sons, suffer the dead bodies of the slain to be uncovered, that being more and more incited to adjust indignation by an inspection of the form, and at the same time of the age of the deceased, you may treat him with a severity proportioned to the magnitude of the crime. These words were applauded, and immediately the judge ordered me to uncover with my hand the dead bodies which were placed on the bed. The liptors by the command of the magistrates instantly compelled me, in consequence of my struggling, and for a long time resisting, the renovation of the preceding crime, by a new exhibition. Lastly therefore, taking hold of my right hand, they extended it to my destruction on the dead bodies. At length, vanquished by necessity, I yield, and though unwilling, snatching off the pole, I disclosed the bodies. But good gods, what an appearance did the thing assume? What a prodigy! What a sudden change of fortune! For, as I was now in the possession of proserpinae, and was considered as one of the family of Pluto, I suddenly became stupefied with wonder on finding things to assume such a contrary aspect. Nor could I, in appropriate words, explain the form of this new spectacle. For those bodies of the men that were slain were three inflated bladders, mangled in different parts, and as far as I could remember of my Vespitine battle, they were cut in those places in which I appeared to myself to have wounded the robbers. Then the laughter which, through the cunning of certain persons, had been for a short time repressed, burst forth unrestrained among the people. Some exceedingly rejoiced, others, by the compression of their hands, mitigated the pain of their belly, and all of them leave the theatre full of joy, and at the same time looking back on me. But I, from the time that I laid hold of the pole, stood fixed and cold like a stone, no otherwise than one of the other statues or columns of the theatre. Nor did I emerge from the infernal realms till my host Milo came, and took me by the hand, and with gentle force drew me with him, reluctant as I was, and frequently sobbing and again weeping. He likewise brought me to his house through certain winding ways, having for this purpose selected the most solitary streets, and by various conversation consoled me, who was still sad and even then trembling. Nor could he, by any means, mitigate my indignation of the injury I had sustained, and which stuck more profoundly in my mind. But lo! the magistrates themselves, with their insignia immediately entering into our house, strove to appease by dressing me as follows. We are not ignorant, O Lucius, of your dignity or your lineage, for the nobility of your illustrious family is extended through the whole of this province, nor have you, for the sake of conchimly, suffered that for which you so excessively grieve. Dismiss, therefore, all the present sorrow from your breast, and expel this anguish from your mind. For this jest, which we solemnly celebrate in public every year in honour of the most pleasant God of laughter, always flourishes with some new invention. The God, also everywhere, propitiously and lovingly, attends the author of the invention, nor will he ever suffer you to be oppressed with mental grief, but will perpetually exhilarate your countenance with a serene gracefulness. All this city likewise will reward you with the greatest honour, for the favour which you have conferred on them, for it will denominate you its patron by public decree, and will ordain that a brazen statue of you shall be erected. To these words I answered, To you, indeed, all most splendid and principal city of Thessaly, I shall be mindful that my gratitude may be equivalent to such honours. But let me persuade you to keep statues and images for those who are more worthy and more excellent than I am, having spoken thus modestly and for a little while smiling with a cheerful countenance, and pretending as much as possible to be joyful, I courteously bade the departing magistrates farewell. And behold, a certain servant running into the house said to me, Your mother Birina requests you to take notice that the hour of the banquet is approaching, at which you promised yesterday to be present. But I, trembling at these words, and abhorring her house even at a distance, said, Tell your mistress that I would most willingly comply with her request, if I could do so without violating my promise. For my host, Milo, conjuring me by the most powerful divinity, who presides over this day, compelled me to promise that I would suck with him this evening, nor does he leave me, nor will he suffer me, to depart from him. On this account I must defer sapping with her to another time. While I was yet thus speaking to the servant, Milo, taking me firmly by the hand, brought me to the next bath, having previously ordered that the bathing utensils should be sent to us when we were there. But I, avoiding the eyes of all men, and declining the laughter of those I met, and of which I had been the artificer, walked covertly by his side. Nor did I remember how I washed or wiped myself, or how I again returned home. Such was the shame that I felt, and so much was I astounded on seeing myself pointed out by the eyes, the nods, and the fingers of all men. Lastly, having hastily taken a small supper with Milo, and excusing myself on account of a great pain in my head, occasioned by my continual weeping, and this excuse being readily granted, I betook myself to rest. CHAPTER III PART II When, therefore, sorrowful in my bed, I revolved in my mind all that had happened to me, till it linked my photos, having put her mistress to bed, came to me very much unlike herself, for she did not bring with her a joyful face nor mirthful speech, but came with a sorrowful aspect and wrinkled forehead. Lastly, having spoke doubtfully and timidly, she said, I of my own accord confess that I have been the cause to you of this molestation. And immediately she drew a whip from her bosom, and, extending it to me, said, Revenge yourself I beseech you on a perfidious woman, or rather inflict on me some greater punishment. Nevertheless, do not I entreat you, believe that I voluntarily occasioned you this anguish and sorrow. May the gods be more favorable to me than that you should suffer, on my account, the smallest anxiety. And if anything adverse is likely before you, may the whole of it be immediately washed away with my blood. But that, which I was ordered to do, for the sake of another thing, has, through my evil destiny, been converted to your injury. Then I, being urged by my usual curiosity, and longing to have the latent cause of this deed unfolded, thus answered. That whip, the most iniquitous and audacious of all things, which you have destined to scourge yourself with, shall be destroyed, being brought to you by the devil, and which you have destined to scourge yourself with, shall be destroyed, being broken into pieces by me, before it shall touch your most soft and milk-white skin. But tell me faithfully, I beseech you, what deed of yours the malignity of fortune converted to my destruction? For I swear by your head, which is most dear to me, that I would not believe anyone who should assert that you have thought of anything baneful to me, nor would I give credit to it, though you yourself should affirm it. Moreover, uncertain, or even adverse event, cannot cause the noxious thoughts to become the subject of blame. When I had finished these words, I thirstily imbibed love from the eyes of my photos, which were moist and tremulous, faint with precipitant lust, and half open, through ardent and absorbing kisses. So she, being refreshed with joy, said, Suffer me, I beseech you, in the first place, carefully to shut the door of the bedchamber, lest I should commit a great crime, through the profane petulance of the words that may fall from me. And having thus said, she barred and firmly bolted the door, and thus returning to me, and embracing my neck with both her hands, she said to me, in a low and very diminished tone of voice, I fear, and profoundly tremble, to disclose the hidden affairs of this house, and to reveal the arcane secrets of my mistress. But I anticipate better things of you in your erudition, who, independently of the superior dignity of your birth, and the sublimity of your genius, are initiated in many sacred mysteries, and consequently know the sacred faith of silence. Whatever, therefore, I shall commit to the penetralia of this religious breast of yours. I beseech you to preserve perpetually shut within its recesses, and to remunerate the simplicity of my narration by the tenacity of your test-eternity, for the power of love, by which I am bound to you, compels me to indicate those things to you, which, of all mortals, are known to me alone. Now you shall know all the state of our house, now you shall know the wonderful secrets of my mistress, to which the souls of the dead are obedient, and the elements are subservient, and by which the stars are disturbed, and the divinities are compelled. Nor does she ever employ the force of this art in a greater degree than when she has lustfully beheld the young man of a graceful form, which is the thing that happens to her frequently. Now also, she vehemently loves a certain Boetian youth who is beautiful in the extreme, and in order to lure him, ardently employs all the power and machinations of her art. I heard her, yesterday, in the evening. I heard her, I say, with these my own ears, threaten the sun with nebulous obscurity and perpetual darkness if he did not more rapidly set and sooner give place to the night, so as to afford her an opportunity of exercising the enchantments of magic. Yesterday she accidentally beheld this youth, sitting in a barber's shop, as she was returning from the bath, and ordered me secretly to take away his hairs, which then lay on the ground, and had been cut off by the scissors. These the barber found me diligently and furtively collecting, and because we were in other respects publicly infamous, through exercising the malefic discipline he took hold of and severely reproved me. Will you not cease, oh most infamous woman, he said, to seal the hairs of beautiful young men? Unless, however, you desist from this wickedness, I will take you, without delay, before the magistrates. And following his words by deeds, he explored with his hands and drew out, enraged, from between my breasts, the hair which was there concealed. Being grievously affected by this deed, and considering with myself the manners of my mistress, who is accustomed to be excessively enraged, and to beat me most cruelly when she is disappointed in a thing of this kind, I deliberated about making my escape, but on your account I immediately rejected that design. When, however, I departed from thence, sorrowful lest I should return with hands perfectly empty, I beheld a certain person shearing, with a pair of scissors, the skins of goats. And when I saw that these were properly bound together, were inflated, and stood of their own accord, I took a sufficient quantity of the hairs of them which were scattered on the ground, and were yellow, and therefore similar to those of the Boetian youth. And these I delivered to my mistress, dissembling the truth. So at the beginning of the night, before you departed from supper, Penfield, my mistress, being now beside herself, ascended into a gallery which was covered with narrow pieces of wood instead of tiles. This gallery, which she privately frequents, is situated in the higher part of the house, has an aperture exposed to the winds, and a prospect of the eastern and all the other climates of the world, especially adapted to these arts. And in the first place she adorned her deadly workshop with its usual apparatus, these, with every kind of aromatics, with plates of metal engraved with unknown characters, with nails taken from shipwreck vessels, and with the members of many lamented bodies exposed to the open air, and also of those that had been buried. Here were noses and fingers, there the nails by which culprits had been fixed to the cross, and to which portions of flesh adhered. And in another place the blood of those was preserved that had been slain, and mangled skulls snatched from the teeth of wild beasts. Then, having charmed the yet-breathing fibers, she made a libation with different liquors, at one time with fauna water, another with the milk of cows, and another with mountain honey. She likewise made a libation with mead. After this she committed to the live coals we burnt, with many aromatics, those planted goat hairs. And then, with the unconquerable power of the magic discipline and the occult force of the gods, who were compelled by incantations, those bodies, the hairs of which smoked with the crashing noise, were immediately changed into a human form, and became sentient, and hurried and walked. Were also the scent of their spoils attracted them. With thither they came, and desiring to enter the house in the place of the young Boetian, they knocked at the gate. When low, you, being intoxicated, and deceived by the darkness of the night, and bravely armed with a drawn sword, like insane Ajax, yet not lacerating how herds as he did, who was hostile to live cattle, before more bold, you deprived of life three inflated goat-skins, in order that your adversaries, being laid prostrate, without any stain of blood, I might now embrace you, not as a homicide, but as a slayer of bladders. And thus, through the facetious narration of Photis, merrily jesting with each other, I said, Now therefore I may enumerate this as the first glory which my fortitude has obtained, and which is, as it were, one of the twelve labors of Hercules, so that my prowess in having slain three bladders may be considered as co-equal to the destruction of the tricorporal garyon, or the three-headed cerebus. In order, however, that I may sincerely and willingly pardon you for the fault through which you devolve me in such great anguish of mine, accomplish what I most ardently desire and show me your mistress, when she attempts anything pertaining to this divine magic discipline, so that, when she invokes the gods, I may at least see her changed into another form, for I am most vehemently desirous of obtaining a nearer and more accurate knowledge of magic, though you yourself do not appear to me to be ignorant of, and unskilled in, things of this kind. I know, and perfectly experienced in myself, that you are not destitute of this knowledge, since you detain me, voluntarily bound and subjected to you, like a slave, as I have always despised metronome embraces. By those bright eyes of yours, and by your ruddy lips, splendid hair, open-mouthed kisses, and fragrant breasts, lastly I neither in anxious to return home, nor am I making any preparations for that purpose, nor is there anything which I prefer to this night. After this she replied, How much do I wish, O Lucius, to affect that which you desire, but my mistress, on account of the envy and malevolence of others, has always been accustomed to perform such arcana alone, remote from the sight of everyone. I prefer, however, the gratification of your request to my own safety, and I will diligently accomplish what you wish, exploring for this purpose a fit opportunity. Do you only, as I at first admonished you, faithfully preserve in silence a thing of such great consequence? And now, sleep being infused into our eyes, which were enfeebled with wakefulness, detained us in bed till it was broad day. Having passed a few nights, voluptuously, after this manner, focus on a certain day, randomy, agitated and trembling exceedingly, and informed me that her mistress, because she had not hitherto made any proficiency in her amours, by other arts, would, on the following night, assume wings and be changed into a bird, and would, thus transformed, fly to the object of her love. I cautiously, therefore, prepared myself for the survey of a thing of such importance. And now, towards the beginning of the night, voluptus brought me, with doubtful and silent steps, to that lofty chamber, and ordered me to look through a certain chink of the door, that I might see what was transacted. And, in the first place indeed, Pamfeel divested herself of all her garments, and having opened a certain small chest, took from thence many boxes, from one of which the covering, being removed, she rubbed herself, for a long time, with an ointment contained in it, from the extremities of her feet to the crown of her head. When also, with the lamp in her hand, she had said much in a low voice, she shook her limbs with a tremulous agitation, and from these, lightly fluctuating, soft feathers extend themselves, and strong wings burst forth, the nose is hardened and incurvated, the nails are compressed and made crooked, and Pamfeel becomes an owl. When this changed, and emitting a querious sound, she made a trial of herself, and gradually leapt from the earth, and soon after, being raised on high, she flew out of doors, with all the force of her wings. Thus she, indeed, was voluntarily changed by her own magic arts. But I, who was not enchanted by any magic words, but only astounded at what was then transacted, seemed to be anything else rather than Lucius. Thus, being exterminated from intellect, and astonished, even to insanity, I was dreaming, though awake, so that, for a long time rubbing my eyes, I endeavored to ascertain whether I was in a vigilant state. At length, therefore, returning to an animate aversion of the present transactions, I took hold of the right hand of photos, and, applying it to my eyes, I said, suffer me, I beseech you, to reap the great and singular fruit of your love, while the occasion offers, and give me a little ointment from the same box. This, my sweetest, I entreat you to grant, by those eyes of mine, which are devoted to you, and thus, by conferring on me a benefit which can never be remunerated, bind me to you a perpetual slave, and not cause it to come to pass that I may stand near you, my Venus, I wing a cupid. Would you, said she, my paramour, act fraudulently by me, and compel me voluntarily to throw an axe at my legs? Shall I thus preserve my Lucius for the Thessalian urgence? Where shall I seek for him when he is changed into a bird? When shall I see him? May the celestial powers, I said, avert from me that crime, that I, who borne on eagle's wings, should be able to fly through all heaven, and be the sure messenger of Jupiter, or the joyful bearer of thunder, should not, after I have obtained this dignity of wings, frequently fly to my nest. I swear to you, by that sweet little knot of your hair, with which you have bound my spirit, that I prefer no other female to my photos. This also occurs to my thoughts, that when once, being rubbed with that ointment, I am changed into a bird of that kind, i.e. into an owl, to avoid all houses, for what a beautiful and agreeable lover will an owl be to matrons. Do we not also see that these nocturnal birds, when they have entered into any house, are solicitly caught and nailed to the doors, that, by their torments, they may expiate the calamity which they pretend to the family by their inauspicious flight? But tell me, what I had almost forgot to inquire? What I must say or do, in order that I may return to this my form of Lucius, having divested myself of those wings? Be not solicitous, she said, about this, for my mistress has shown to me everything which can, again, change such forms into the human shape. You must not, however, think that she did this through any benevolence towards me, but in order that I might be able to afford her a salutary remedy when she returns home. Lastly, considered with what small and frivolous herbs a thing of such magnitude is affected, for a little of the herb dill put into fountain water, with the leaves of the laurel, is given as a lotion, and also to drink. Having frequently asserted this, she went into the bed chamber with great trepidation, and took out a box from the chest, which I, having first embraced and kissed, and prayed that it would favor me with prosperous flights, hastily divested myself of all my garments, and having ardently put my hand into it, and taking from thence a sufficient quantity of the ointment, I rubbed with it the members of my body. And now, balancing my arms with alternate efforts, I longed to be changed into a similar bird. No plumes, however, nor any wings germinated, but my hairs became evidently thickened into bristles. My tender skin was hardened into a hide, and the extremity of my hands, all my fingers, having lost their number, coalesced into several hoofs, and a long tail proceeded from the extremity of my spine. My face was now enormous, my mouth was long, and my lips immoderate and pendant, thus also my ears increased excessively, and were clothed with rough hairs. And while, destitute of all hope, I consider the whole of my body, I see that I am not a bird, but an ass, and complaining of the deed of photos, but being deprived both of the human gesture and voice, I silently exposterated with her, which was all I could do, with my underlip hanging down, and beheld her sternly and obliquely, yet with humid eyes, that she, as soon as she beheld me thus changed, struck her forehead with her addicted hands and exclaimed, Rich that I am, I am undone, trepidation, and at the same time, fascination, have beguiled me, and the similarity of the boxes that deceive me, is well, however, that a remedy for this transformation may be easily obtained, for, by only chewing roses, you will put off the form of an ass, and will immediately become again my Lucius. And I wish I had prepared for this evening, according to my custom, some garlands of roses, for then you would not have suffered the delight even of one night. But as soon as it is morning, a remedy shall hastily be procured for you, after this manner she lamented. But I, though I was a complete ass, and instead of Lucius, a laboring beast, yet retained human sense. Lastly, I deliberated much, and for a long time with myself, whether I ought not to slay that most iniquitous and wicked woman, by frequently kicking and biting her. But better thoughts were called me from the rash design, lest, by punishing photos with death, I should again extinguish for myself solitary sucker. Shaking, therefore, my dejected head, dissembling my temporary injury, and submitting to my most severe misfortune, I betake myself to that most excellent horse of the sable, on which I rode, where also I found another ass-dwelling, who belonged to my late host Milo. And I thought that this is my horse, if there is in dumb animals any secret in natural fidelity, would, being impelled by a certain knowledge and pity, afford me a lodging, and the rites of hospitality. But by Jupiter hospitalis, and the secret divinity of faith, that excellent horse of mine, and the ass, moved their heads towards each other, and immediately consented to my destruction, for when they beheld me approaching to the manger, with my ears fallen, they furiously attacked me, with hostile heels, fearing for their food. And I am driven far away from that barley which, in the evening, I had placed with my own hands, before that most grateful servant. Being thus treated, and expelled to a solitary place, I went to a corner of the stable, while I reflected myself on the insolence of my companions, and meditated vengeance on my perfidious horse, when, on the following day, I should become Lucius again by these sisters of roses. I beheld a resemblance to the goddess Epona, placed in an excavation or niche, in the middle of a pillar, which, also having a middle situation, supported the beams of the stable. This image was carefully adorned with garlands of roses which had been recently gathered. At length, therefore, recognizing my solitary aid, I boldly rise, precipitantly born along with hope, making all the exertion I could, with my four feet extended, and stretching out my neck, and very much advancing my lips, I most strenuously endeavored to snatch the garlands. While, however, I was endeavouring to accomplish this, my boy, to whose care my horse had always been committed, suddenly beholding me, divinely arose, and said, how long shall we endure this vile ass, who, a little before, was hostile to the food of the laboring beast, and now attacks even the statues of the gods. But I will now cause the sacrilegious beast to be both weak and lame, and immediately searching for something with which he might strike me, he found a bundle of wood, accidentally lying there, and selecting from thence a leafy staff, larger than all the rest, he did not cease to beat me, unfortunate as I was, till being frightened by a loud knocking at the doors, and a great tumult, and by the trembling voices of the neighbors, exclaiming there were thieves, he betook himself to flight. And without delay, a band of robbers, having entered the house by violence, seized on everything in it, and an armed multitude surrounded all the parts of the house. The robbers also, running everywhere, opposed themselves to those who flew to give assistance. All of them, being furnished with swords and torches, illuminate the night, and the coruscations of swords resembled the light emitted by the rising sun. Then attacking a certain treasury, firmly closed with very strong bars, which was placed in the middle of the house, and was filled with the wealth of Milo, they broke it open with powerful axes. And from this, when completely opened, they took away all the riches, and divided them among themselves, having hastily tied the bundles into which the portions of the booty were made. The multitude of the bundles, however, surpassed the number of those that were to carry them. Then being brought to extreme poverty, through two great abundance of wealth, they led forth us two asses, and my horse, from the stable, loaded us with the heaviest burdens they could, and expelled us with the blows of staves from the house which was now empty. Leaving also one of their companions behind as a spy, who might inform them what inquiry was made about the robbery, they led us rapidly, and at the same time frequently beating us through the trackless paths of the mountains. And now I, through the weight of things of such magnitude, and through the difficulty of ascending to the summit of the mountain, and the length of the way, was not in any respect different from a dead body. It occurred to me, however, late indeed, but seriously, that I should fly to civil aid and liberate myself from so many miseries by invoking the venerable name of the emperor. At length, it being now broad daylight, as we passed through a certain populous village, which was much frequently on account of fares, I tried to invoke the August name of Caesar in the midst of a crowd of Greeks, but I could only utter the letter O clearly and strongly, and was not able to enunciate the name of Caesar. The robbers also, despising my dissonant clamor and striking in all parts my miserable hide, left it at length through laceration, not even fit for the purpose of a sieve. But at length, Jupiter, whose providence extends to all things, procured for me unexpected safety. For while I passed by many small farms and large houses, I beheld a certain very pleasant little garden in which, besides other delectable plants, there were virgin roses, wet with morning dew. Artantly desiring these, and brisk and joyful with the hope of safety, I came nearer to them. And while, with undulating lips, I longed to eat them, a far more salutary thought occurred to me, vis, that if I should again become Lucius, being divested of the asinine form, I should meet with certain destruction by the hands of the robbers, who would either suspect me of being skilled in the magic art, or would fear that I should betray them by my accusation. At that time, therefore, I'd necessarily abstain from roses, and enduring my present fortune, bit my bridle under the form of an ass. End of Chapter 3, Part 2. Chapter 4, Part 1 of the Metamorphosis, or Golden Ass. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Ted Garvin. The Metamorphosis, or Golden Ass, by Puleus. Translated by Thomas Taylor. Chapter 4, Part 1. Nearly about midday, when the power of the sun causes everything to be hot, we turned into a certain village, to some old men who were known by, and familiar with, the robbers. For their first salutation, their long conference and their mutual kisses enabled me to perceive this, though I was an ass. For they presented them with gifts from the things which were on my back, and by whispers seemed to indicate that these gifts were obtained by plunder. And now, having lightened us of all our burden, they sent us into the nearest meadow that we might there freely feed. Society and feeding, however, could not detain me with the ass or with my horse, because I was a jet unaccustomed to eat hay. But as I was now perishing with hunger, I boldly entered into a little garden, which I saw behind the sable, and filled my belly abundantly with prothurbs, though they were raw. Invoking likewise all the gods, I inspected every place in order to see if by chance I could find in the neighboring gardens some rose trees resplendent with a fiery redness. For this solitude of my resituation now afforded me good hope that if, being removed from the public road and concealed by grows of trees, I should, by taking the remedy, be raised on my feet, I should then, unseen by anyone, be again transformed into the human shape from the prone step of a four-footed beast. Whilst therefore I was fluctuating in that sea of thought, I beheld, a little further, a valley shaded by a leafy grove, among the various plants and most pleasant verdure of which, bright color of red roses shown forth through the view. And now in my breast, which was not entirely brutal, I thought that the grove was sacred to Venus and the graces, in whose shady recesses the royal splendor of that genial flower, the rose, was reducent. Then having invoked joyful and prosperous event, I ran rapidly, so that by Hercules I myself thought that I was not a mass, but that, through excessive velocity, I was changed into a swift horse. That agility, however, an excellent endeavor of mine could not prevent the malignity of my fate. For when I was now nearer to this place, I no longer saw those fresh and delectable roses wet with the divine dew and nectar, which felicitous brambles and blessed thorns produce, nor did I behold any valley, but only the margin of a river's bank, environed with thick-set trees. These trees had oblong leaves like the laurel and produced extended in reddish cups after the manner of a flower that has no scent, which, nevertheless, are fragrant, are called by the unlearned vulgar by a name not at all rustic, laurel roses, and when eaten, are deadly to all cattle. Being entangled with such adverse fates and rejecting even safety itself, I had spontaneously longed to eat of those in the venom roses. But while I slowly approached, in order to pluck them, a certain young man, who, as it appeared to me, was a gardener, perceiving the great loss he had sustained by my having destroyed all his herbs, furiously ran to me with a great staff in his hand, and, taking hold of me, inflicted on me so many blows that I should have been in danger of losing my life, unless I had at length prudently given assistance to myself. Before, with my posterior parts elevated, I frequently kicked him with my hind feet, and having severely punished him, and laid him prostrate at the foot of the next mountain, I liberated myself by flight. Immediately, however, a certain woman, the wife of the gardener, as soon as she beheld him from an eminence, prostrate and half dead, flew to him with lamentation and howling, in order that by her own commiseration she might be the occasion of my present destruction. For all the rustics, being excited by her lamentations, immediately called out their dogs, and everywhere incited them, being driven by fury, they might rush upon and tear me in pieces, I therefore, being without doubt at that time near to death, when I saw that the dogs, who were congregated and exasperated against me, were large and numerous, and fit to fight with bears and lions, availing myself of the account she was suggested by the existing circumstance, put an end to my flight, and again, with rapid steps, returned to this table from which I came. But the rustics, having seized me, the dogs, being with difficulty restrained, and bound me with a very strong thong of leather to the staple of a post, would, without doubt, have scourged me to death. If my belly, compressed by the pain of the blows, filled with those raw herbs, and disordered with a slippery flux, had not by ejecting dung as though through a tube, driven away some be sprinkling them, and others by the fetid odor which was emitted from my now broken shoulders. And without delay, it being now nearly noon, the robbers again led us from the stable heavily laden, and especially me, whose burden was far greater than that of the rest. Now also, when a good part of the journey was finished, I, being exhausted with the length of the way, oppressed with the weight of the burden, and fatigued with the blows of the staffs, and likewise, now being lame and staggering, from the worn-out condition of my hooves, as I was walking near a certain rivulet of gently flowing and winding water, I thought, having happily found an excellent opportunity, I would kindly lie down with my legs bent under me, fully determined not to rise from thence, whatever blows might be inflicted on me, and being also prepared, not only to be beaten, but to die pierced with a sword. For I thought that being now perfectly exhausted and deadbolt, I should be dismissed on account of bodily infirmity, or that the robbers would certainly divide the burden which I carried on my back, between the two other beasts, partly through impatience of delay, and partly through a desire of accomplishing their destined flight, and that, instead of a deeper revenge, they would leave me a prey to wolves and vultures. My evil destiny, however, prevented the execution of so excellent a design. For the other ass, having divined and preconceived my intention, suddenly feigning lassitude, fell down with all that he carried, and lying as if he was dead, did not endeavor to rise, either by the blows of the staves, or by being pricked and raised in all parts by the tail, the ears, and the legs, till the robbers, being wary with posthumous hope, and having conferred with each other, in order that their flight might not be retarded by tending so long on a dead, or rather stony ass, they divided his burden between me and the horse, cut off his legs with a drawn sword, and drawing him, still breathing, a little out of the public road, threw him down a lofty precipice into a neighboring valley. Then I, considering with myself the destiny of my unhappy companion, determined, laying aside guile and fraud to prove myself to my masters to be a worthy ass. For I heard them saying to each other that we should soon stop, and that then the whole of our journey would be a finished, in consequence of having arrived at the place of their abode. I linked, having passed over a little hill of easy assent, we arrived at the destined place, where all the bundles being untied, and brought into their habitation, as I was now liberated from my burden. I refreshed myself by rolling in the dust, instead of making use of a bath. Both the thing, however, and the occasion of self demand, that I should here give a description of the places and the cavern in which the robbers dwelt. For thus I shalt, at the same time, make trial of my own genius, and enable the reader to perceive clearly whether I was also an ass in understanding a sense. There was a dreadful mountain shaded by the trees of a forest, and lofty in the extreme. The oblique windings of this, and the part of which it was surrounded by the most rugged and therefore inaccessible rocks, were environed with valleys full of very deep receptacles of water, and everywhere thick set with thorns, which afforded a native defense. The streams of a fountain falling from the summit of the mountain spread themselves in large bubbles, and rolling through the declivities, poured forth water as bright as silver, and being now divided into many rivulets, and irrigating those valleys with stagnant floods, they enclosed the whole like a calm sea, or a sluggish river. Where the borders of the mountain end, a lofty tower rose over the cavern, fortified by a sheep cot consisting of strong hurdles, well adapted for the habitation of sheep, and having its sides every way extended. Before the door, small branches expanded themselves, so as to serve instead of a wall, in which you might certainly, on my authority, denominate the courtyard of robbers. Nor was it scarcely anything else than a small cottage, covered in a disorderly manner with reeds, in which spies, selected by lot from the band of robbers, as I afterwards found, watched by night. Into this place, where they had both difficulty penetrated, one after another, were their members compressed. On account of the narrowness of the entrance, I and my companion being secured by a strong bridle before the door, they thus spoke in anger to a certain old woman, who was bent with the weight of old age, and to whom alone the safety and protection of so many young men appeared to be committed. Do you, who are the last relics of the grave, the chief disgrace of life, and the only thing loathed by hell, thus idly sitting at home, sport with us, nor ford any solace to these our labors so great and so dangerous, by at least providing for us a supper, though late. You, who are accustomed to do nothing else by day and by night, then greedily engurgitate wine in your insatiable stomach. The old woman, trembling and fearful, on hearing them thus speak, replied, But, oh young man, my most puissant and faithful preservers, there is an abundance of potage for you well boiled, with a pleasant flavor. There is also a great quantity of bread, wine plentiful poured into well purified bowls, and warm water prepared according to custom for your hasty bath. When she had thus spoken, they immediately undressed themselves, and, being naked, refreshed by the heat of a great fire, sprinkled with water and anointed with oil, they reclined before tables largely furnished with food. They were, however, scarcely seated, when behold a far greater number of other young men entered, whom you would immediately suppose to be similarly thieves, for they also brought with them plunder, these gold and silver coin, vases, and silk and garments interwoven with golden threads. These being refreshed by similar bathing, seated themselves on the beds of their companions, and some of them, being selected by lot, were ministrant to the rest. They eat and drink in a disorderly manner, and potage and bread and bowls of wine were heaped in abundance on the tables. They play clamorously, they sing stripperously, and they just continuologically, and in everything else resemble the Theban Lepithae and the semi-brutal centers. Then one among them, who surpassed the rest in strength, said, we indeed bravely broke open the house of Milo of Haipata. And besides so great an abundance of wealth, which we strenuously procured for ourselves, through our fortitude, we departed to our camps with all our band and safety, and have returned home with an increase of eight feet. If this is to be at all considered as contributing to our game, but you, who have robbed in the Boeusian cities, have brought back a debauched number of your troop, having lost your most brave leader, Limechus, whose life I should deservedly prefer to all the spoil which you have brought home. His too great fortitude, however, was his destruction, but the memory of so great a man will be celebrated among that of illustrious kings and the leaders of armies. As to you, who are frugal robbers, you exercise the scrutinizing art in small and servile thefts, timidly creeping through baths, and the little houses of old women. To this one of the latter band replied, are you alone ignorant that larger houses are much more easily plundered? For though large houses contain a great number of servants, yet each of these is more attentive to his own safety than to the wealth of his master. But men who lead a frugal and private life more sharply defend and guard their fortune, if small, at the hazard of their life, or if ample, preserve it cautiously concealed, and in the last place the thing itself will verify what I have asserted. For we had scarcely arrived at Thebes, the city of Seven Gates, when, while we diligently inquire after the wealth of each of the citizens, which is the primary stutter of this art, a certain user named Chris Eros, who was master of a great sum of money, was not concealed from us, who, through the fear of offices and public employments, pretended with great art not to be opulent. Lastly, this man living alone, and remote from others, contended with a small, well-fortified cottage, but beggarly in his apparel, and sorted in his expenditure, set brooding over his bags of gold. We agreed, therefore, first to break into his house, in order that despising the resistance of only one hand, i.e. the hand of Chris Eros, we might, without any difficulty, quietly obtain all his wealth. Without delay, therefore, as soon as it was night, we waited before his gate, as it did not appear to us to be prudent either to take it off the hinges, or remove it, or break it open, lest the noise of the folding doors should raise all the neighborhood to our destruction. Then that magnanimous, standard-bearer, Arla Maccas, through confidence in his well-tried valor, gradually introducing his hand into that part of the gate which was perforated for the purpose of putting in the key, endeavored to draw back the bolt. But Chris Eros, the most iniquitous of all bipeds, having been, for some time, awake and perceiving what was transacted, gradually crept to the door with a gentle step, and at the same time preserving a profound silence, and suddenly, with the most powerful effort, fastened the hand of our leader, with a great nail, to a plank of the door, leaving him also thus fixed by a deadly bond, he ascended to the roof of the cottage, and from thence, vociferating with a very loud voice, beseeching his neighbors, and calling them by their respective names, and admonishing them to regard their common safety, he exclaimed that his house was unexpectedly on fire. Thus everyone, being terrified by the proximity of the impending danger, anxiously ran to procure assistance. Then we, being placed in the ambiguous peril either of falling into the hands of those who were alarmed by the cries of chrysanthose, or deserting our companion, devised by his consent the occasion requiring it, a strenuous remedy. For we cut off that part of the arm of our leader, which joins the hand to the shoulder, by a blow inflicted through the middle articulation, and having left the arm there, we bound up his wound with many rags, lest the drops of blood should betray our steps, and hastily took with us what remained of Lamaquus. And while ignorant of the men in the place, we are urged by the great tumult, and terrified into flight by the instant danger. He, not being able either to follow us rapidly, or to remain where he was securely, the magnanimous and transcendentally brave man, in treating us with many words and many prayers, exhorted us by the right hand of Mars, and by the faith of our oath to liberate him, who was a good fellow soldier, both from torment and captivity. For how is it possible that a bold robber can survive his right hand, by which alone he is able to plunder and kill? He added that he should be sufficiently happy to be willingly slain by the hand of one of his associates. And when he could not persuade any one of us to commit a voluntary parasite, he drew his sword with the hand that remained, and having for a long time kissed it, plunged it with the most powerful stroke through the middle of his breast. Then we, venerating the vigor of our magnanimous leader, diligently wrapped his mutilated dead body in a linen garment, and committed it to the sea to be concealed. And now our lamacus lies buried in all that element, and he indeed terminated his life in a manner worthy of his virtues. Moreover, Alchemists could not withdraw himself from the sinister nod of fortune by his sagacious undertakings. For he having broken open the cottage of an old woman, while she was asleep, when he had ascended into an upper-bed chamber and ought immediately to have slain her by strangling her, was willing first to throw to us everything out of a loftier window in order that we might take it away. And when he had now strenuously thrown out all her goods, and was not willing to spare even the bed of the sleeping old woman, having rolled her out of it, he prepared, in like manner, to throw out the counterpane which covered her. But the most iniquitous woman, falling at his knees, deprecated him as follows, Why, O my son, I beseech you, do you give the poor and lacerated furniture of a miserable old woman to my opulent neighbors, to whose houses this window extends? Alchemists, being deceived by the crafty cunning of these words, and believing that what she said was true, fearing less what he had thrown out before and what he might throw out afterwards, should, through his mistake, not fall into the hands of his associates, but into other houses, thrust his body out of the window in order that he might sagaciously survey everything, and particularly the contiguous houses, of which the old woman had spoken. While, however, he was attempting this strenuously indeed, but without sufficient caution, that most wicked old woman, while yet he was inclined downwards and pendulous, and perfectly astounded with the survey, threw him out headlong, with an impulse which, though feeble, was nevertheless sudden and unexpected. But he, falling not only from a great height, but also on a prodigiously great stone, which happened to lie near the house, separated and burst the articulation of his ribs, and vomiting rivers of blood, escaped from life without being long tormented, having first narrated to us what had been transacted. Him we also buried in a manner similar to the funeral of our former leader, and gave him as a good companion to Lamaquus. Then suffering the wound of a double loss, and rejecting our Theban in their prize, we went to the next city, which is Plataea. There we found a certain man of great fame, whose name was Demacaris, about to exhibit the spectacle of gladiators. For this man, being of most noble birth, and excelling in wealth and liberality, procured pleasures for the public with a splendor worthy of his fortune. Where is the man whose genius is so great, whose eloquence is so powerful, as to be able to explain, in appropriate words, the several species of the manifold apparatus? Here were gladiators famous for the dexterity of their hand. There are hunters of well-tried celerity, and in another place, criminals preparing for their banquets within saint tranquility, food to fatten wild beasts. There were stages consisting of beams fixed in each other, towers formed from the junction of planks after the manner of a circumferaneous house, in which were elegant pictures, in which were the beautiful receptacles of the hunting which was to be exhibited in the circus. And besides this, who can enumerate the multitude and the different kinds of wild beasts? For with the greatest diligence, he had been careful to procure from abroad those noble sub-pulchers of condemned heads. But besides the other apparatus of so beautiful a spectacle, he had procured in some way or other, with all the wealth of his patrimony, a great number of very large bears. For besides those which he had captured by hunting, and besides those which he had bought for a great price, he also solicitously nourished others with sumptuous care, which his friends, contending with each other in kindness, had sent him his gifts. This apparatus, however, of the public pleasure, so illustrious and so splendid, could not escape the noxious eyes of envy. For these bears, being unwavered with their long captivity, and at the same time macerated with the burning heat of summer, and being also morbid from long indolence, were seized with a sudden pestilence, and reduced to a very inconsiderable number. Hence, you might everywhere see lying in the streets, ferrined shipwrecks of half-animated bodies. Then the ignoble vulgar, whom rude poverty compelled to seek for sordid succor to their emaciated belly, and gratuitous food, began to run to the meat which was scattered everywhere. Finding this to be the case, I and this fabulous thought of the following subtle strategy. We brought to our lodging a bear which surpassed the rest and fatness of body, as if we intended to prepare it for food, and having should perfectly strip the skin from the flesh, and carefully preserved all his nails, the head of the beast being also left entire, as far as to the confine of the neck. We attenuate the whole hide by diligently scraping it, and sprinkling it with ashes reduced to a fine powder, expose it to the sun to be dried. And while it is purified by the heat of that celestial fire, we, in the meantime, being powerfully fattened with the muscular flesh of the bear, made those of the troops that were present take the following oath. Viz, that one of our number who excelled the rest, not so much in strength of body as in fortitude, and who especially should undertake this voluntarily, should assume the form of a bear, being covered with that skin, and that also, being brought into the house of Democaries, he should afford to us an easy entrance through the gate, and the opportune silence of the night. This crafty transformation encouraged many of our most valiant associates to engage in the undertaking, and Thracilaeon, being elected by the suffragists of the band in preference to the rest, adventured the peril of that doubtful machine, the height of the bear. And now, with a serene countenance, he concealed himself in the hide, which was now pliable and tractable through its softness. Then we sewed up the extreme parts with a fine seam, and covering the opening of it, though very narrow, with a multitude of surrounding hairs. We also put the head of Thracilaeon into the skin, near the throat, in which the neck of the beast had been cut off. And having left small holes about the nostrils and eyes for the purpose of respiration, we enclosed our most brave associate, who was now entirely made a brute, in a cage which we had bought for a small sum of money, into which he hastily crept with constant vigor of mind. Thus the first principles of the fallacy being begun, we proceeded as follows to the rest. Having obtained by inquiry the name of one Nicannor, who derived his origin from a Thracian race, and between whom and Democaris there was the greatest friendship, we counterfeited a letter in which that excellent friend was made to say that he had dedicated the first fruits of his hunting to Democaris as an ornamental gift. And now the evening being far advanced, trusting to the assistance of darkness, we presented to Democaris the cage in which Thracilaeon was enclosed, together with that forged epistle. But he, admiring the magnitude of the beast, and being delighted with the opportune liberality of his friend, ordered that ten pieces of golden coins should be immediately towed out from the little coffers which he had with him, to us who had brought him so susceptible a present. Then, as novelties accustomed to excite the minds of men to sudden spectacles, many ran together to the brute, admiring its size, whose more curious inspection are Thracilaeon restrained in a sufficiently crafty manner, by advancing towards them in a threatening attitude. When the citizens, with one courting voice, proclaimed Democaris completely happy and blessed, who, after so great a destruction of wild beasts, had been able to resist, in some way or other, the attacks of ill fortune by a new supply, he ordered therefore that the beast should be immediately taken to his newly-fellowed land, and that he should be brought back from Vance when it was requisite with the greatest care. To this, however, I subjoined, be careful, sir, that you do not suffer this animal who is fatigued with the heat of the sun and the length of the way, to be mingled with a crowd of many wild beasts, and which I hear are not well, but rather provide some place of your house for him, which is open and exposed to the wind, or rather, which borders on some like, and is cool. Do you not know that animals of this kind always couch in shady groves and humid caves, and on pleasant hills and near-gallad fountains, Democaris, being alarmed by these admonitions, and considering with himself how many wild beasts he had already lost, assented without hesitation to what I said, and readily permitted us to put the cage wherever we pleased. But I said, we also are ready to watch by night in this very place before the cage, in order that we may more accurately administer meat to the beast seasonally, and give him his custom drink, as he is fatigued from the inconvenience of the heat, and the trouble he has suffered in being broad hither. To this, Democaris answered, we are not in one of your laborer, for now nearly all my servants are, from long custom, skilled in feeding bears. After this, having bade him farewell, we departed, and going out of the gate of the city, we beheld a certain monument, raised at a considerable distance from the public road, in a solitary and secret place. There we opened certain coffins, which, through rottenness and age, were only half-covered, and which contained dead bodies, that were now nothing but dust and ashes, as the receptacles of our future spoil, and having, according to the rules of our art, observed the time of the night in which the moon does not shine, and in which sleep powerfully invades and oppresses the hearts of mortals with his first impetus, we stopped, with our band armed with swords, before the doors themselves of Democaris, as if we had come, according to agreement, to plunder his house. Nor did Thracian Leon less accurately creep out of his cage, availing himself of that time of the night which is adapted to theft, and immediately slew, with a sword, all the guards that were sleeping near him, and directly after the porter himself. Taking the key also, he opened the folding doors of the gate, and to us, who promptly ran and were received into the interior parts of the house, he pointed out a treasury, where, in the evening, he had kindly seen many silver vessels deposited. This being immediately broken open, through the force of our compact cohort, I ordered each of my associates to take as much gold and silver as he could, quickly concealed it in those habitations of the most faithful dead, and returning with speedy steps, reiterated his burdens. For I said that I alone would remain before the doors of the house, attentively observing everything that occurred, till they returned, as this would contribute to our common good. For it appeared to me that the form of bear, running through the middle of the house, was adapted to terrify any of the servants who might happen to be awake. For who, however brave an intrepid he might be, would not, on beholding, the stupendous form of so great a beast, especially in the night, immediately be take himself to flight, and keep himself terrified and trembling in his bolted chamber. End of Chapter 4, Part 1 Sinister events, however, opposed all these plans, which were prepared with salutary counsel. For while we were anxiously awaiting for the return of our companions, a certain menial boy, being disturbed, so the gods ordained, by the noise, crept gently forward, and seeing the bear running without restraint through the whole house, he observed the greatest possible silence. Returned from whence he came, and told everyone, as far as he was able, what he had seen in the house. And without delay, the whole house was filled with a numerous assemblage of servants. The darkness of the night was illuminated with torches, lamps, wax and tallow candles, and other instruments of nocturnal light. Nor did anyone among so great a multitude come without arms, but all of them being furnished with clubs, spears, and drawn swords, occupy and defend the entrance of the house. They also excited those hunting dogs that have long ears and rough hairs to repress the beast. Then I, the crowd of servants still increasing, left the house with a retrograde flight, but concealing myself behind the gate, I beheld Therassalon, wonderfully resisting the dogs. For though he was arrived at the last goal of life, yet not being forgetful either of himself or of us, or his pristine portitude, he struggled against the gaping jaws themselves of Severus. Lastly, reclaiming with spirit the scenic person which he had voluntarily assumed, at one time flying and at another resisting with the various figures and gestures of his body, he at length escaped from the house. Yet, though he had gained his liberty abroad, he was not able to procure his safety by flight. For all the dogs of the next street who were sufficiently fierce and sufficiently numerous mingled themselves in the troop of those hunting dogs, which at the same time came out of the house and pursued him in a similar manner. I then beheld a miserable and deadly spectacle, our Therassalon surrounded and besieged by troops of dogs cruelly attacking and lacerating him with numerous bites. Lastly, not enduring to see him suffer such great pain, I mingled myself with the surrounding crowd of people and thus dissuaded the instigators of the dogs, this being the only thing in which I could give secret assistance to my excellent associate. Oh great and extreme wickedness, I said, we are destroying a large and very precious beast. My artful address, however, to the crowd was of no advantage to the most unhappy youth. For a certain tall and robust man, running out of the house, instantly thrust a spear through the middle of the viscera of the bear. And the like was also done by another person. And beheld, many having shaken off fear, contended with each other and drawing near to and piercing him with their swords. But Therassalon, the illustrious ornament of our band, having at length that spirit of his which was worthy of immortality, vanquished. But not his patience did not violate the faith of his oath by any vociferation or howling. But being now lacerated by the bites of the dogs, cut in pieces by the sword, and imitating with all his might the bellowing of a wild beast, enduring also with the generous vigor his present calamity, reserved for himself glory and rendered back his life to fate. Nevertheless, he had struck that crowd with such great terror and fear that till dawn and even when it was broad daylight, no one dared to touch the beast even with his finger, though he was prostrate on the ground. At length, however, a certain butcher who was a little bolder than the rest, having slowly and timidly cut open the belly of the beast, stripped the magnificent robber of the bear's hide by which he had been concealed. Thus Therassalon also perished for us, but has not perished so far as pertains to renown. We therefore, having immediately collected those bundles which the faithful dead had preserved for us and quitting with rapid step the boundaries of Plataea, frequently considered with ourselves that no fidelity was to be found in life. Because faith, hating our perfidy, had descended to the region of departed spirits and the dead, thus all of us being fatigued with the weight of our bundles and the roughness of the way through which we traveled, and also having lost three of our associates, we have brought these spoils which you see. After he had thus ended his speech, they poured out wine from golden bowls to the memory of their dead associates. And afterwards, having soothed the God Mars by certain hymns, they slept for a short time, but that old woman distributed to us fresh barley in abundance and without major, so that my horse, indeed, having obtained such a great plenty and enjoying it alone, might think that he was received at a pontifical banquet. I, however, though at other times, while I was a man, I had also eaten barley, gradually broken, diminished by the long-continued section and boiled in broth, having explored a corner in which the remainder of the bread, belonging to the whole band, had been heaped together, strenuously exercised my jaws which had been injured by long fasting and now began to be covered with the webs of spiders. And behold, when the night was far advanced, the robbers, being roused from their sleep, removed their camp and being variously equipped so that one part of them was armed with swords, but another was transformed into nightly ghosts. They left through a boat in hasty steps. Nevertheless, not even impending sleep could prevent me from eating incessantly and greedily. And though before, when I was luscious, I could depart from the table, contented with one or two loads, yet then indulging my belly, which was so capacious, I had now nearly eaten the third canister of bread. The bright light of day found me intent on this employment. At length, however, being impelled by asinine shame, but reluctantly departing from thence, I assuaged my thirst in a neighboring remulet. Not long after this, the robbers returned, very anxious and salacious, bringing with them no bundle whatever. Nor even a main garment, but armed alone with swords, they brought with all their hands and all their forces of the band a virgin of a beautiful form. And as the magnificence of her habit indicated, one of the first rank of that country, the virgin was, by Hercules, an object of desire even to such an ass as I was. But she was brought in by them lamenting and tearing her hair together with her garment. As soon as they had entered into the cavern, they thus addressed her in words intended to mitigate her grief. As you are in perfect security, both with respect to your life and your modesty, give a truce to your sorrow for a few days for the sake of our gain, the necessity of our poverty compelling us to adopt this mode of life. But your parents, though they are very avaricious, will nevertheless, without delay, give out of the great wealth which they have accumulated a sum of money adequate to the redemption of their daughter. By these and similar babblings, the grief of the virgin was by no means appeased, for she wept immoderately with her head placed between her knees. They, however, called to the old woman within the cavern and ordered her to sit with the virgin and console her as much as possible with bland conversation. And then they but took themselves to their accustomed employment. But the virgin could not be recalled from her tears which she had begun to shed by any words which the old woman employed, but deploring more profoundly her condition and agitation which she suffered from her continual sobbing made me also weep, and she thus lamented, Is it possible that I, miserable creature, can either cease to weep or consent to live when deprived of such a house of so many attendants, of such dear little slaves, and of such venerable parents? Since I have now become the prey of unhappy repine and made a slave serivially enclosed in this stony prison and prevented from the enjoyment of all those delicacies in which I was born and nurtured, I am placed in doubt of my life and in fear of the torments of executioners, being thus in the power of so many and such outrageous robbers, and of a horrid band of gladiators, the virgin having thus lamented and being debilitated with mental grief, the tension of her throat, the fatigue of her body, she dismissed her market eyes to sleep. She had scarcely, however, closed her eyes when shaking off sleep after the manner of those who are furiously agitated by the nymphs. She began to afflict herself much more grievously and also to beat her breast with her cruel hands and to strike her beautiful face. Profoundly sighing also she thus replied to the old woman who earnestly inquired what were the causes of her new and restored sorrow. Now alas, I am utterly undone. Now I have renounced salutiferous hope, a halter or a sword or certainly a precipice must doubly be embraced by me. On hearing this, the old woman became somewhat more incensed, ordered her with severe countenance to tell her the cause of her sorrow or why, having been asleep, she thus suddenly renewed her moderate lamentations. Do you design, she said, to defraud my young men of the great sum of money which they will attain for your redemption? But if you persist any further in indulging this moderate grief, despising those tears of which robbers make no account, I will cause you to be burnt alive. The virgin, being terrified by these words, kissed the hand of the old woman and said, Spare me, my parent, and, being mindful of human piety, afford some little aid to my most afflictive condition, for I do not think that commiseration is entirely extinguished in you who are venerably hoary through more extended age. In the last place, therefore, survey the scene of my calamity, a beautiful youth of first rank among his fellow citizens, whom the whole city publicly elected for its son and who, besides this, was my cousin, surpassing me by three years, only in age, who was nourished and educated with me from infancy and, separately, dwelt with me in the same house and partook of the same bed chamber and bed, was affianced to me by mutual affection of holy love and whose some time, since, had been dessened by nuptial vows to the marriage compact and was registered as wedded by the consent of our parents. This youth had amoliated victims in the temples and sacred edifices, accompanied by a great multitude of relatives and neighbors. The whole house was covered with laurel, was luminous with torches and resounded with a nuptial song. Then my unhappy mother, supporting me in her bosom, gracefully decorated me with nuptial ornaments and, frequently giving me sweet kisses, extended with anxious wishes her future hope of offspring. When, on a sudden, robbers armed like gladiators, rushing in with great violence, raging as in war, and shining with drawn and threatening sword, did not bring with them the hand of slaughter or repine, but immediately invaded our bed chamber in a condensed and conglopped band. And without any reluctance or even the smallest resistance on the part of our servants, they tore me away, miserable creature, lifeless with dire dread, from the bosom of my trembling mother. Thus our nuptials were disturbed and dissolved, like those of Pyrethus, the daughter of Anthrax. But behold, now also my misfortune is renewed, or rather is increased, by a most inauspicious dream. For I seem to myself to be violently expelled from my home, from my bed chamber, and lastly from the bed itself, and hurried through inaccessible deserts to call on the name of my most unfortunate husband. He, however, as soon as he was deprived of my embraces, even then being perfumed with ointments and adorned with wreaths of flowers, followed my footsteps, while I fled with foreign feet. And while he loudly implored the assistance of the people, lamenting the rape of his beautiful wife, one of the robbers, being moved in indignation through his unfortunate pursuit, slew the unhappy youth, my husband, by striking him with a great stone, which he found lying before his feet. But I, being terrified by the atrocity of the spectacle, am tremblingly roused from the deadly dream. Then the old woman, receiving her lamentations with a sigh, thus began, Be a good courage, my mistress, and do not terrify yourself with the vain fictions of dreams. For not to mention that the images of diurnal sleep are said to be false, nocturnal visions sometimes signify events contrary to what they represent. Lastly, to weep, to be beat, and sometimes also to be slain in dreams, announces a lucrative or prosperous event. While on the contrary, to laugh, to fill one's belly with delicious food, or to be dissolved in venereal pleasure, predicts affliction from sorrow, bodily disease, or other evils. I, however, will recall you from your grief by pleasant narrations and old woman's fables. In a certain city that the king and queen who had three daughters of conspicuous beauty, of these the two elder, though of the most agreeable form, were not thought too lovely to be celebrated by the praises of mankind. But the beauty of the younger sister was so great and illustrious that it could neither be expressed nor sufficiently praised by the poverty of human speech. At length, a multitude of citizens and abundance of strangers whom the rumor of the exalted spectacle had collected together, full of ardent zeal, stupid with admiration of her inaccessible beauty, and moving the right hands to their mouths while their forefinger was placed on their erect thumb, venerated her with religious adorations as if she had been the goddess Venus herself. And now fame hath pervaded the neighboring cities and contiguous regions and hath reported that the goddess whom the azure profanity of the deed brought forth and the dew of the phony billows nourished, now everywhere exhibiting her divinity was conversant with the midst of the people or certainly that once more from the new bosom of the celestial stars not the sea, but the earth had produced another Venus. And due with virgin-like flower thus opinion increased immensely every day, thus extended fame wandered over the neighboring islands a great part of the continent and the multitude of provinces. Now many mortals by long journey on land or over the deep passages of the sea came to behold the glorious specimen of the age. No one sailed to Paphos, no one to Nytus, or even to Sithera for the spectacle of the goddess Venus. The sacred concerns of the goddess were abandoned. Her temples were deformed, her ceremonies neglected, her images uncrowned, and her desolate altars defiled with frigid ashes. While a girl was supplicated in her stead and the divinity of so great a goddess was appeased in the human countenance. And the name of the absent Venus was propitiated in the morning progressions, victims and banquets of the virgin. And now the people frequently assembling in the streets and throwing flowers intertwined with garlands or loosely scattering them prayed to her divinity. This a moderate translation of celestial honors to the worship of a mortal virgin inflamed the vehement mind of true Venus. So that in patient with indignation and raging high in her agitated head she thus discoursed with herself. Behold the ancient parent of the nature of things, lo the first origin of the elements. Behold the bountiful Venus of the whole universe, the honor of whose majesty is divided with a mortal girl and whose name raised to the heavens is profaned by sword terrestrials. Indeed, by sharing in common the expiations which are offered to divinity I sustain an uncertain part of deputed veneration and a girl of noxious morality bears about my celestial image. It is in vain that the shepherd Paris whose justice and faith the mighty Jupiter approved preferred me to such great goddesses on account of my illustrious form. But she who thus rejoices whosoever she be shall not usurp my honors for I will cause her to repent of her illicit beauty and immediately she calls her son that winged and sufficiently rash youth who with his depraved manners condemning public discipline armed with flames and arrows running through other men's houses by night and corrupting the matrimony of all commits such mighty wickedness with impunity and affects nothing useful and good. Him though haughty by genuine license she stimulates by her words she brings into the city and openly shows him psyche for this was the name of the girl and having told him the whole tale concerning the emulation of her beauty groaning and raging with indignation I beseech thee says she by the leagues of maternal love by the sweet wounds of my narrow by the mellifluous burnings of that flame to afford thy parent full revenge through your reverence of me and severely punish that rebellious beauty above all willingly affect this one thing that the virgin may be detained by most ardent love of the lowest of mankind whom fortune has deprived of his dignity patrimony and safety and so infirm that he may not find his equal in misery throughout the world having thus spoke and for a long time and closely embraced her son with ardent kisses she sought the neighboring margin of their affluent shore and with rosy feet trod on the topmost dew of the vibrating waves behold now the water of the profound sea was appeased from its vertex and the marine train which she just began to wish appeared without delay as if she had previously commanded its attendance the daughters of Nereus were present singing choruses and Portunus rough with his cerulean beard and Cilicia heavy with her fishy bosom small polymon the charioteer of the dolphin the company of the tritons everywhere furrowing the sea and while this softly blows his sounding shell that with a silken covering resists the unfriendly ardor of the sun another carries a mirror before the eyes of his mistress the others swim under the two yoked car such was the train which attended Venus proceeding to the ocean in the meantime Psyche perceived no advantage to herself from her admirable beauty she was seen by all and praised by all yet no one neither kings nor nobles nor any of the common people approached as a suitor for her possession in marriage they admired indeed her divine form but they all admired it as an image artificially polished sometime prior to this her two sisters whose moderate beauty had not been celebrated by mankind having been married to suitor kings now obtained happy nuptials but the virgin Psyche sitting desolate at home lamented her desuded solitude sickened her body and wounded in her soul and though pleasing to all nations she hates the beauty in herself but the most miserable father of the most unfortunate daughter suspecting the celestial hatred and fearing the wrath of the gods questioned the most ancient oracle of the mylesian god and sought so great a divinity by prayers and victims nuptials and a husband for the sorrowful virgin Apollo therefore the egregion and Ionian on account of the builders of mylesia gave the following article in latin verse on some high mountains craggy summit place the virgin decked for deadly nuptial rites nor hope a son-in-law of mortal race but a dire mischief vipress and fierce who flies through aether and with fire and sword tires and debilitates whatever exists terrific to the powers that reign on high e'en mighty joe the wing destroyer dreads and streams and stygian shades abhor the pest the king whose days till then had been crowned with felicity on hearing this sacred oracle returned slowly home oppressed with sorrow and disclosed to his wife the mandates of the unpropitious fate many days were passed on this occasion in grief weeping and lamenting but the cruel injuctions of the dire oracle now required to be accomplished now preparations were made for the deadly nuptials of the most miserable virgin now the nuptial was changed into a funeral torch and the sound of the zion or conjugal pipe into the quarrelous lydian measure a joyful hymnil song closed with mournful holling and the wretched bride wiped away her tears with her own nuptial veil the whole city likewise lamented the sad destiny of the royal house and public mourning was immediately proclaimed on the occasion the necessity however of complying with the celestial mandates and fortunately urged the miserable psyche to her destined punishment the solemnities therefore of the mourning full marriage being accomplished with extreme sorrow the living funeral takes place followed by all the people and the weeping psyche attends not her nuptials but her obsequies however while her sorrowful parents who were overwhelmed with such a mighty evil endeavor to delay the execution of the nefarious sentence she herself exhorted them to a compliance in the following words why do you torture your unhappy old age with long continued weeping why do you waste your spirits which indeed are more mine than yours with such frequent groans why do you deform your countenances which in my sight are so venerable with the unavailing tears why do you lacerate my eyes in your own why do you thus tear your horny hairs why thus beat your venerable breasts these must be rewards which you are to receive of my surpassing beauty the truth of which having suffered a deadly blow from villainous envy you too late perceived alas then should you have wept and lamented then bewailed me as one lost when the people of the nation celebrated me with divine honors and when with one voice they called me a new venus I now perceive I now clearly see that I perish through the name of venus alone lead me away and place me on the rock to which I am destined by the oracle I am in haste to accomplish these happy nuptials I am in haste to see my noble husband why do I delay why do I avoid his approach who is born for the destruction of the whole world the virgin having thus spoke was silent and with undaunted steps mingled herself with a splendid procession of people that followed her they advanced to the destined rock of a lofty mountain on the summit of which having left the royal mate alone with the nuptial torches extinguished by their tears they returned home with dejected heads and desponding hearts and her miserable parents indeed sinking under the weight of such a mighty calamity shut up the gates of their palace hid themselves in darkness and abandoned themselves to perpetual night but the mild gales of the gently blown zephyr gradually raised psyche as she stood trembling and weeping on the summit of the rock her garments through the tranquil breath of god orbicularly expanding and bearing her through the hollows of the valley at the bottom of the mountain softly reclaimed her on the bosom of a flowery turf end of chapter 4 part 2 recording by lijay cyple chapter 5 part 1 of the metamorphosis or golden ass this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by ted garvin the metamorphosis or golden ass by pulius translated by thomas taylor chapter 5 part 1 psyche therefore arguably reclining in the flowery valley on a bed of dewey grass the mighty perturbation of her mind being appeased enjoyed delightful repose and being now sufficiently refreshed with sleep she rose with a more composed mind and saw a grove thick planted with vast and lofty trees and a fountain in the middle of the grove gently falling with glassy water near the laps of the fountain there was a royal house which was not raised by human but by divine hands and art you might know from the very entrance of the palace that you beheld the splendid and pleasant residents of a god for the lofty ceilings which were curiously arched with citron wood and ivory were supported by golden pillars and all the walls were ornamented in every part with silver carving beast of various kinds presenting themselves to the view in the vestibule of the palace wonderful was the man indeed and endued with prodigious skill or rather it was some demigod or god who fashioned the silver carving with such exquisite subtlety of art but the very pavement itself consisted of small shells admirably decorated with pictures of various kinds blessed thrice blessed are those you tread on gyms and bracelets the other parts too of this wide extended and regularly disposed palace were precious beyond all price and the walls being everywhere strengthened with bars of gold were so refulgent with their own splendor that even in the absence of the sun they made for the palace a day of its own so bright were the bed chambers the porches and the folding doors the furniture too was answerable to the majesty of this abode so that it might very properly be considered as a celestial palace built by mighty jupiter for his correspondence with mankind psyche invited by the delightful aspect of the place approached to it and assumed me a little more confidence entered within the threshold of the place presently after being allured by the charms of the beautiful vision everything she surveyed felt her with admiration and in the more elevated part of the house she beheld a magnificent repository in which immense riches were contained indeed there is not anything in this universe with which this place is not replete but amidst the admiration which its prodigious wealth excited this was particularly wonderful that this treasury of the whole world was not secured by any bars or doors or guards here while the eyes of psyche were ravished with delight a voice denuded of its body thus addressed her and why my mistress it said are you astonished at such vast riches all these are yours we take yourself therefore to your bed chamber and refresh your weary limbs on the bed and when you think proper repair to the bath for we whose voices you now hear are your servants who will diligently administer to all your commands and while we wait on your person prepare royal banquets for your past psyche can perceive the goodness of divine providence and complying with the diminutions of the incorporeal voices first refresh yourself with sleep and afterwards with the bath immediately to perceiving an adjacent semicircular building near an elevated seat every apparatus requisite for supper she will only recline herself considering this place as accommodated to her refreshment and instantly nectarius wines and numerous dishes of various kinds of food were served in without any visible attendance by the mere impulse of a certain spirit psyche at the same time perceiving no one but alone hearing certain words and having voices alone for her servants after the table was furnished with this splendid banquet a certain person entered and sang without being seen at the same time an invisible musician played on the harp and last of all her ears were ravaged with a full chorus from an invisible band after these pleasures were finished the evening now persuading to propose psyche retired to her bed and when the night was far advanced a certain gentle sound approached her ears then fearing for her virginity on account of the profound solitude of the place she trembles and is filled with horror and dreads that of which she is ignorant beyond any calamity and now her unknown husband approached ascended the bed made her his wife and hastily left her before the rising of the morning light immediately the attendant voices who were the ministers of the bed chamber took care of everything necessary on the occasion this course was continued for a long time the novelty by its constant repetition as it was natural it should became at last delightful and the sound of the uncertain voices was the solace of her solitude in the meantime the parents of psyche grew old and worried sorrow and lamentation and the report of her destiny becoming more widely extended her older sisters came to know all the particulars respecting it and immediately being overwhelmed with sorrow hastened to the presence of their afflicted parents on that very night the husband of psyche thus addressed her for the hands and the ears were the only media of their present communication most charming psyche and dear wife more cruel fortune now threatens thee with a deadly danger which i think ought to be guarded against with the utmost attention for now your sisters who are disturbed through the belief of your death in consequence of endeavoring to discover the place of your abode will soon arrive at the rock on which you were lately exposed if you should chance to hear any of their lamentations neither make them any reply nor even turn your eyes towards them for by doing otherwise you will be the cause of the greatest grief to me and an extreme destruction to yourself psyche ascended and promised that she would act agreeably to her husband's desire but as soon as he together with the night were fled the most miserable psyche consumed the whole day in tears and lamentations exclaiming that she was now entirely lost since securely confined in a blessed prison she was deprived of human conversation and not permitted to give solitary assistance to her sorrowing sisters nor even so much as to see them neither refreshing herself therefore with the bath nor with food but weeping abundantly she retired to rest but her husband coming more early than usual and embracing her weeping thus expostulated with her is this my psyche which you promised me what can I your husband now expect from you what can I now hope for since neither by day nor by night nor even in the midst of our conjugal embraces you cease to be tormented with grief but come act now as you please and comply with the pernicious desires of your soul however when you begin too late to repent of your folly call to mind my serious admonitions psyche after this had recourse to prayers and while she threatens that she shall die for her request is denied extorts from her husband permission to see her sisters to assuage their grief and enjoy their conversation thus he pardoned the entreaties of his new wife and permitted her besides to present her sisters with as much gold and as many jewels as she pleased but he again and repeatedly admonished her with the utmost earnestness not to be persuaded by their pernicious advice to inquire considering the form of her husband nor by sacrilegious curiosity hurl herself from such an exalted fortune and by this means to pride herself of his embraces she thanked her husband for his indulgence and becoming in consequence of it more joyful but says she may I suffer death a hundred times rather than be deprived of that most pleasing embraces for I love thee most vehemently thee whoever thou art even as I love my own soul nor would I compare thee to Cupid himself but this also I beseech you grant to my prayers that your servant Zephyr may convey my sorrowful sisters in the same manner in which he brought me hither then pressing his lips with persuasive kisses murmuring alluring words and fondly folding him in her arms she thus addressed him in soothing accents my dear husband sweet soul of thy psyche be not averse to my request the husband vanquished by the power of Venus reluctantly gave his consent and promised that all things should be accomplished according to her desire and afterwards in consequence of their approach of mourning vanished from the arms of his wife but the sisters having inquired their way arrived in haste at the lofty rock on which psyche was left abandoned and there wept and beat their breast till the rocks resounded with their repeated lamentations and now they called on their miserable sister by her proper name till the spreading sound of their mournful voices gliding down the declivities of the mountain reached the ears of psyche who distracted and trembling ran out of her palace and thus addressed them why do you in vain afflict yourself with miserable lamentations I whom you deplore am now present cease therefore your complaints and at length dry up those tears which you have so long shed for my loss since you may now embrace her whom you have so vehemently mourned then calling Zephyr she acquainted with her husband's commands who entirely obedient to the mandate of Cupid brought them born on the most gentle gales in safety to psyche now they embrace and are embraced and mingle their mutual caresses with frequent and hasty kisses and the joy of finding her alive after they had considered her as dead soon put a period to their lamentations and tears but calm said psyche entered me into my house and recreate your afflicted mind with your psyche having this spoken she led them into her golden palace brought their ears acquainted with the populous family of voices that were subservient to your commands and sumptuously refreshed them in a most beautiful bath and with the delicacies of her immortal table but as soon as her sisters were satiated with this affluence of celestial riches they began to nourish envy profoundly in their hearts and at last one of them with a very particular and curious importunity inquired who was the master of these celestial possessions and who and what sort of person her husband was psyche however by no means violated her husband's injunctions or suffered them to depart from the secret recesses of her bosom but devising an answer adapted to the occasion told them that he was a beautiful youth whose cheeks were yet only shattered with down and that he was for the most part occupied in rural enjoyments and in hunting on the mountains unless by a slip in the course of her conversation she should betray the secret advice having loaded them with rich presence of golden jewels she called zephyr and ordered him to carry them to the lofty rock this being immediately accomplished these admirable sisters as they were returning home burning with the rancor of increasing envy discourse much with each other and at last one of them thus began do but take notice how blind cruel and unjust fortune has proved were you my sister pleased to find that we though born of the same parents should maintain such a different rank in life we who are elder are delivered over to be servants to husbands in a foreign country far exiled from our native land and parents but this youngest sister the offspring of exhausted vigor is raised to the enjoyment of this prodigious affluence and of a god for her husband though she does not know how to use in a proper manner such an abundance of good you saw sister what a prodigious quantity of bracelets the house contained what a number of shining garments what bright gems and what heaps of gold she treads upon in every part of the palace if to all this she possesses a husband so beautiful as she asserts him to be no one in the universe can live a happier life than herself indeed it may happen through long continued association and corroborated affection that her husband who is a god may at length make her a goddess by Hercules it must be so for she already conducts herself in a lofty manner and the woman certainly breathes the goddess who has voices for her servants and commands even the winds themselves but I miserable creature am in the first place tied to a husband more agent than my father and in the next place to one who is bolder than a gourd and shorter than a pygmy and he secures every part of this house with bolts and chains but I replied the other sister and destined to endure her husband whose body is distorted within an articular disease and though on this account he seldom rewards my pains with conjugal embraces yet I am forced to spend a great part of my time in rubbing his distorted fingers which are almost hearted into stone with feted fomentations defiling these delicate hands with nasty rags and stinking pulses thus acting the part of a surgeon more than that of a wife you indeed my sister seemed to bear all this for the patient or rather servile soul for I will speak what I think without restraint but for my own part I can no longer endure that such a blessed destiny should have fallen to one who does not deserve it but only recollect and what a proud and arrogant manner she behaved towards us by her boasting and moderate ostentation she betrayed the haughtiness of her swelling mind of her immense riches gave us but a very trifling part and immediately after being wary of our company ordered us to be turned out of doors and to be puffed and hissed away but I am not a woman nor do I breathe if I do not hurl her head long from such mighty possessions and if our optimally affects you as it ought that is both joined in vigorous consultation how we may accomplish this design in order to this let us neither acquaint our parents nor anyone else with our intention nor inform them that we know anything of her safety it is sufficient that we ourselves have seen what it prevents us to have seen and let us not be the messengers of her happy condition to our parents and the people for those are not properly blessed whose riches no one is acquainted with she shall know that we are not servants but her elder sisters and now indeed let us depart to our husbands and visit our own poor habitations for such they are we compared with her abode and being furnished with more compressed thoughts let us return with greater firmness to the punishment of her pride the two wicked sisters consider this evil advice is good and concealing the precious gifts which they had received from psyche disheveling their hair tearing their faces with dissembled grief and renewing fictitious tears returning to their parents these however the wounds of whose sorrows they had again opened by their narration they hastily take their leave of big with the madness of envy and return to their own habitations machinating nefarious guile or rather parasite against their innocent sister in the meantime psyches unknown husband thus again admonished her in his nocturnal discourses do you perceive what a mighty danger fortune is preparing for you at a distance and which unless you are more firmly guarded against than you have hitherto been will soon assault you near at hand those perfidious she wolves are with mighty endeavors forming base stratagems against you the sum of which is that they may persuade you to explore my countenance which as i have often told you if you once see you will see no more if therefore those worst of sorcerers come again armed with noxious minds and i know they will come avoid all discourse with them but through genuine simplicity and tenderness of disposition you are not able to accomplish this at least be careful not to hear nor answer any inquiries concerning your husband for now we shall have a family of our own and thy as yet infantine womb is pregnant with an offspring which if you conceal my secrets in silence will be divine but if you profane them will be mortal psyche rejoiced in the consoling thoughts of a divine offspring and was related with the glory which we result from our future pledge and with the dignity of a maternal name she therefore anxiously numbered the increasing days and departing months and being ignorant in everything relative to conception wondered how her wealthy womb could receive such an abundant increase but now those pests and most cruel furies her sisters breathing fibrous virulence and hastening their departure sailed with impious celerity then again the momentary husband thus admires to psyche the last day and the most extremist fortune are now arrived the malicious sex and hostile blood have taken arms removed their camp drawn the army into battle array and sound of the charge now thy nefarious sisters are aiming with a drawn sword at thy throat alas most dear psyche what mighty calamities now press upon us take pity both on yourself and me and by a religious countenance of tongue deliver your house your husband yourself and our little one from the misfortune of impending ruin neither see nor hear those wicked women who after the deadly hatred which they have conceived against thee and having trampled on the ties of blood deserve not to be called sisters when like the sirens standing on the mountain they shall make the rocks resound with their deadly voices psyche in words interrupted by sighs and tears thus replied you have for some time convincing proofs of my fidelity and test eternity and the strength of my mind shall be no less approved by you in the present instance only orders effort to repeat his former office and at least grant me the sight of my sisters since I have not permitted to behold thy sacred image by thy fragrant and every way pendulous locks by thy cheeks tender smooth and like my own by thy breast glowing with I know not what kind of heat by my hopes of at least knowing thy face in this little wine I beseech thee to comply with the pious prayers of thy sublime indulge me in the desired embraces of my sisters and recreate with joy the soul of psyche who is devoted to thy will for then I shall no longer be anxious to explore thy countenance now nothing can hinder me from thy embrace not even the darkness of night for I hold thee my life in my arms the husband being fascinated by these words and by our soft embraces wiped away her tears with these fragrant locks assure her that her desires should be fulfilled and immediately anticipated the light of the emerging day but the two sisters who were confederates and mischief without calling on their parents direct their course with precipitate velocity from the ships to the rock and not waiting for the assistance of the elevating wind leap on high with licentious temerity zephyr however not unmindful of the royal mandate though unwilling to execute it restored them reclining on the bosom of the gently blowing gales to the appointed place then with feet equally rapid they enter the palace concealing the foe under the name of sister embrace their prey unveiling a treasury of profoundly hidden fraud under a joyful countenance thus flattered her psyche not now so slender as you were before since you are now almost a mother what mighty good do you think you bear for us in your womb with what prodigious joy will you exhilarate the whole of our house oh how happy shall we be through the nurture of the golden infant who if he corresponds in beauty as he ought to do to his parents will be born a perfect cupid thus by disassembled affectation they gradually invade the soul of their sister who as soon as they had refreshed themselves from the fatigue of their journey with warm baths regaled them on a couch in a most splendid manner with all the dainies of a royal banquet she ordered a harp to speak and someone immediately sang to its harmony flutes to be blown and they immediately sounded a musical band to sing in chorus and it instantly sang and though invisible ravaged the souls of the hearers with the most mellifluous notes but the malice of these wicked women was not softened by the honey sweetness of the music but turning their discourse to the destined fraudulent snares they began in a dissembling manner to inquire what sort of a person she was married to and from what family he was ascended then she through her two great simplicity haven't forgot the former account which she had given of her husband invented a new story respecting him she told them that her husband was of the next province that he carried on a trade with abundance of money and that he was now of a middle age a gray hair being that here and there scattered on his head and without prolonging the conversation any further she again committed them to the charge of the winds while she had loaded them with costly presents but while they returned home subliminally riding on the tranquil breath of zephyr they thus discourse with each other what can we say sister of the monstrous lies of that foolish creature at one time her husband is a young man with the down just beginning to spread over his chin and in another time he is of a middle age shining with hoary hairs who can this be that in a short space of time experiences the alteration of a sudden old age you may depend upon it my sister that this vile woman either forged the slide to deceive us or that she does not herself know the form of her husband but whichever of these is the case she must be deprived of these riches with the utmost expedition indeed if she is really ignorant of the form of her husband she must have married a god and through this pregnancy of hers she will present us with a god however should she happen to be the mother of a divine offspring which heaven forbid I should immediately hang myself let us therefore in the meantime return to our parents and by a well colored deceit prevent them from apprehending our design end of chapter five part one