href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@27458@[email protected]#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">57 art crying out and moaning: what wilt thou do then, when thou learnest the residue of thy ills?

Ch. What! hast thou aught of suffering left to tell to her?

Pr. Ay, a tempestuous sea of baleful calamities.

Io. What gain then is it for me to live? but why did I not quickly fling myself from this rough precipice, that dashing on the plain I had rid myself of all my pangs? for better is it once to die, than all one's days to suffer ill.

Pr. Verily thou wouldst hardly bear the agonies of me to whom it is not doomed to die. For this would be an escape from sufferings. But now there is no limit set to my hardships, until Jove shall have been deposed from his tyranny.

Io. What! is it possible that Jupiter should ever fall from his power?

Pr. Glad wouldst thou be, I ween, to witness this event.

Io. And how not so, I, who through Jupiter am suffering ill?

Pr. Well, then, thou mayest assure thyself of these things that they are so.

Io. By whom is he to be despoiled of his sceptre of tyranny.

Pr. Himself, by his own senseless counsels.

Io. In what manner? Specify it, if there be no harm.

Pr. He will make such a match as he shall one day rue.58

Io. Celestial or mortal? If it may be spoken, tell me.

Pr. But why ask its nature? for it is not a matter that I can communicate to you.

Io. Is it by a consort that he is to be ejected from his throne?

Pr. Yes, surely, one that shall give birth to a son mightier than the father.59

Io. And has he no refuge from this misfortune?

Pr. Not he, indeed, before at any rate I after being liberated from my shackles—

Io. Who, then, is he that shall liberate thee in despite of Jupiter?

Pr. It is ordained that it shall be one of thine own descendants.

Io. How sayest thou? Shall child of mine release thee from thy ills?

Pr. Yes, the third of thy lineage in addition to ten other generations.60

Io. This prophecy of thine is no longer easy for me to form a guess upon.

Pr. Nor seek thou to know over well thine own pangs.

Io. Do not, after proffering me a benefit, withhold it from me.

Pr. I will freely grant thee one of two disclosures.

Io. Explain to me first of what sort they are, and allow me my choice.

Pr. I allow it thee; for choose whether I shall clearly tell to thee the residue of thy troubles, or who it is that is to be my deliverer.

Ch. Of these twain do thou vouchsafe to bestow the one boon on this damsel, and the other on me, and disdain thou not my request. To her tell the rest of her wanderings, and to me him that is to deliver thee; for this I long [to hear].

Pr. Seeing that ye are eagerly bent upon it, I will not oppose your wishes, so as not to utter every thing as much as ye desire. To thee in the first place, Io, will I describe thy mazy wanderings, which do thou engrave on the recording tablets of thy mind.

When thou shalt have crossed the stream that is the boundary of the Continents, to the ruddy realms of morn where walks the sun61 ... having passed over the roaring swell of the sea, until thou shalt reach the Gorgonian plains of Cisthene, where dwell the Phorcides, three swan-like aged damsels, that possess one eye in common, that have but a single tooth, on whom ne'er doth the sun glance with his rays, nor the nightly moon. And hard by are three winged sisters of these, the snake-tressed Gorgons, abhorred of mortals, whom none of human race can look upon and retain the breath of life.62 Such is this caution63 which I mention to thee. Now lend an ear to another hideous spectacle; for be on thy guard against the keen-fanged hounds of Jupiter that never bark, the gryphons, and the cavalry host of one-eyed Arimaspians, who dwell on the banks of the gold-gushing fount, the stream of Pluto: go not thou nigh to these. And thou wilt reach a far-distant land, a dark tribe, who dwell close upon the fountains of the sun, where is the river Æthiops. Along the banks of this wend thy way, until thou shalt have reached the cataract where from the Bybline mountains the Nile pours forth his hallowed, grateful stream. This will guide thee to the triangular land of the Nile; where at length, Io, it is ordained for thee and thy children after thee to found the distant colony. And if aught of this is obscurely uttered, and hard to be understood, question me anew, and learn it thoroughly and clearly: as for leisure, I have more than I desire.

Ch. If indeed thou hast aught to tell of her baleful wanderings, that still remains or hath been omitted, say on; but if thou hast told the whole, give to us in our turn the favor which we ask, and you, perchance, remember.