In regions mild of calm and serene air, Which men call earth; and, with low-thoughted care, To such my errand is: and, but for such But to my task. Neptune, besides the sway By course commits to several government, And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns, The greatest and the best of all the main, Lies through the perplex'd paths of this drear wood, 20 30 40 The nodding horror of whose shady brows Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger; And here their tender age might suffer peril, But that, by quick command from sovereign Jove, I was dispatch'd for their defence and guard: And listen why; for I will tell you now What never yet was heard in tale or song, From old or modern bard, in hall or bower. Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape Crush'd the sweet poison of misused wine, After the Tuscan mariners transform'd, Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed, On Circe's island fell: (who knows not Circe, The daughter of the sun, whose charmed cup Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape, And downward fell into a grovelling swine?) This nymph, that gazed upon his clustering locks, With ivy berries wreathed, and his blithe youth, Had by him, ere he parted thence, a son Much like his father, but his mother more, Whom, therefore, she brought up, and Comus named: Who, ripe and frolic of his full-grown age, Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields, At last betakes him to this ominous wood, And, in thick shelter of black shades imbower'd, 50 60 To quench the drought of Phoebus; which as they taste (For most do taste, through fond intemperate thirst), Soon as the potion works, their human countenance, The express resemblance of the gods, is changed Into some brutish form of wolf, or bear, Or ounce, or tiger, hog, or bearded goat, 70 |