Metamorphoses: Book The Tenth Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAAABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII JJAAAAKKLLMNCCOOAAPP EEQQAARRSTUUAAVVWWXX EYZZA2A2B2B2AAC2C2AA AAD2D2DDLLDDLLDDHHDD E2DDC2C2DDE2E2DDAADD DDF2DDD2D2G2G2DDLLAA AAAAD| THENCE in his saffron robe for distant Thrace | A |
| Hymen departs thro' air's unmeasur'd space | A |
| By Orpheus call'd the nuptial Pow'r attends | A |
| But with ill omen'd augury descends | A |
| Nor chearful look'd the God nor prosp'rous spoke | B |
| Nor blaz'd his torch but wept in hissing smoke | B |
| In vain they whirl it round in vain they shake | C |
| No rapid motion can its flames awake | C |
| The Story of With dread these inauspicious signs were view'd | D |
| Orpheus And soon a more disastrous end ensu'd | D |
| and Eurydice For as the bride amid the Naiad train | E |
| Ran joyful sporting o'er the flow'ry plain | E |
| A venom'd viper bit her as she pass'd | F |
| Instant she fell and sudden breath'd her last | F |
| When long his loss the Thracian had deplor'd | G |
| Not by superior Pow'rs to be restor'd | G |
| Inflam'd by love and urg'd by deep despair | H |
| He leaves the realms of light and upper air | H |
| Daring to tread the dark Tenarian road | I |
| And tempt the shades in their obscure abode | I |
| Thro' gliding spectres of th' interr'd to go | J |
| And phantom people of the world below | J |
| Persephone he seeks and him who reigns | A |
| O'er ghosts and Hell's uncomfortable plains | A |
| Arriv'd he tuning to his voice his strings | A |
| Thus to the king and queen of shadows sings | A |
| Ye Pow'rs who under Earth your realms extend | K |
| To whom all mortals must one day descend | K |
| If here 'tis granted sacred truth to tell | L |
| I come not curious to explore your Hell | L |
| Nor come to boast by vain ambition fir'd | M |
| How Cerberus at my approach retir'd | N |
| My wife alone I seek for her lov'd sake | C |
| These terrors I support this journey take | C |
| She luckless wandring or by fate mis led | O |
| Chanc'd on a lurking viper's crest to tread | O |
| The vengeful beast enflam'd with fury starts | A |
| And thro' her heel his deathful venom darts | A |
| Thus was she snatch'd untimely to her tomb | P |
| Her growing years cut short and springing bloom | P |
| Long I my loss endeavour'd to sustain | E |
| And strongly strove but strove alas in vain | E |
| At length I yielded won by mighty love | Q |
| Well known is that omnipotence above | Q |
| But here I doubt his unfelt influence fails | A |
| And yet a hope within my heart prevails | A |
| That here ev'n here he has been known of old | R |
| At least if truth be by tradition told | R |
| If fame of former rapes belief may find | S |
| You both by love and love alone were join'd | T |
| Now by the horrors which these realms surround | U |
| By the vast chaos of these depths profound | U |
| By the sad silence which eternal reigns | A |
| O'er all the waste of these wide stretching plains | A |
| Let me again Eurydice receive | V |
| Let Fate her quick spun thread of life re weave | V |
| All our possessions are but loans from you | W |
| And soon or late you must be paid your due | W |
| Hither we haste to human kind's last seat | X |
| Your endless empire and our sure retreat | X |
| She too when ripen'd years she shall attain | E |
| Must of avoidless right be yours again | Y |
| I but the transient use of that require | Z |
| Which soon too soon I must resign entire | Z |
| But if the destinies refuse my vow | A2 |
| And no remission of her doom allow | A2 |
| Know I'm determin'd to return no more | B2 |
| So both retain or both to life restore | B2 |
| Thus while the bard melodiously complains | A |
| And to his lyre accords his vocal strains | A |
| The very bloodless shades attention keep | C2 |
| And silent seem compassionate to weep | C2 |
| Ev'n Tantalus his flood unthirsty views | A |
| Nor flies the stream nor he the stream pursues | A |
| Ixion's wond'ring wheel its whirl suspends | A |
| And the voracious vulture charm'd attends | A |
| No more the Belides their toil bemoan | D2 |
| And Sisiphus reclin'd sits list'ning on his stone | D2 |
| Then first 'tis said by sacred verse subdu'd | D |
| The Furies felt their cheeks with tears bedew'd | D |
| Nor could the rigid king or queen of Hell | L |
| Th' impulse of pity in their hearts repell | L |
| Now from a troop of shades that last arriv'd | D |
| Eurydice was call'd and stood reviv'd | D |
| Slow she advanc'd and halting seem to feel | L |
| The fatal wound yet painful in her heel | L |
| Thus he obtains the suit so much desir'd | D |
| On strict observance of the terms requir'd | D |
| For if before he reach the realms of air | H |
| He backward cast his eyes to view the fair | H |
| The forfeit grant that instant void is made | D |
| And she for ever left a lifeless shade | D |
| Now thro' the noiseless throng their way they | E2 |
| bend | D |
| And both with pain the rugged road ascend | D |
| Dark was the path and difficult and steep | C2 |
| And thick with vapours from the smoaky deep | C2 |
| They well nigh now had pass'd the bounds of night | D |
| And just approach'd the margin of the light | D |
| When he mistrusting lest her steps might stray | E2 |
| And gladsome of the glympse of dawning day | E2 |
| His longing eyes impatient backward cast | D |
| To catch a lover's look but look'd his last | D |
| For instant dying she again descends | A |
| While he to empty air his arms extends | A |
| Again she dy'd nor yet her lord reprov'd | D |
| What could she say but that too well he lov'd | D |
| One last farewell she spoke which scarce he heard | D |
| So soon she drop'd so sudden disappear'd | D |
| All stunn'd he stood when thus his wife he | F2 |
| view'd | D |
| By second Fate and double death subdu'd | D |
| Not more amazement by that wretch was shown | D2 |
| Whom Cerberus beholding turn'd to stone | D2 |
| Nor Olenus cou'd more astonish'd look | G2 |
| When on himself Lethaea's fault he took | G2 |
| His beauteous wife who too secure had dar'd | D |
| Her face to vye with Goddesses compar'd | D |
| Once join'd by love they stand united still | L |
| Turn'd to contiguous rocks on Ida's hill | L |
| Now to repass the Styx in vain he tries | A |
| Charon averse his pressing suit denies | A |
| Sev'n days entire along th' infernal shores | A |
| Disconsolate the bard Eurydice deplores | A |
| Defil'd with filth his robe with tears his cheeks | A |
| No sustenance but grief and cares he seeks | A |
| Of rigid | D |
Ovid
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