40 BOrHUNB AND SOFHOCL&S. 



have been a comfort for me : had I been susceptible of any, sorrow, when 

 It rises to an excess, makes one sensible. I remained in sullen silence — 

 I lay motionless — a fatal state ; and more horrible than the most violent 

 agitation. It was not long before my despair gathered new strength : 

 the rocks resounded with my screams — the lions and wild boars echoed 

 them from their dens— the Gods heard them, unmoved! The tortures 

 of those famous criminals which their unrelentless justice pursues, are 

 milder than mine : all hell was in my heart — and what was I guilty of? 

 I loved, and I love still. Are these my crimes, O Jupiter? How long 

 has the thunder-hearted man been the object of thy cruel vengeance? Is 

 it an offence to imitate thee ? And you. Goddess of the sea, do you suf- 

 fer Neptune to give you a rival ? Our interests are united : give me So- 

 phene again. Love! what art thou doing ? Jealous of Sophene's beauty, 

 thy mother detains thee at Paphos. Sophene was thy votary ; thou hadst 

 promised her to my ardent wishes — dost not thou know that she is ravish- 

 ed from me ? But what am I doing ; and why do I address'myself to cruel 

 and deaf gods ? Sophene, you are no more — I have caused your death ; 

 mine alone can atone for my crime. If I delay it, it is to prolong my 

 misery : but now you inhabit either heaven or the Elysian fields ; and 

 I am not worthy of those delicious abodes. 



The only god whose kindness I did not implore, pitied me. A friend 

 to mankind, he often anticipates their desires, in order to give himself 

 up to them ; his power is boundless ; he triumphs over such as even Love 

 could not tame. He reigns amidst the frightful din of arms ; — the 

 dreadful noise of raging storms cannot trouble him whom Jupiter him- 

 self respects, and it is through his favours that the most unhappy mor- 

 tals, in spite of fortune and fate, become gods themselves. 



In a word, sleep shed his soft dews on my eyes, when, on a sudden, I 

 was dazzled by a glaring light that surrounded me ; Cupid broke through 

 the air, and showed me Sophene. " Forbear thy complaints," said he, 

 "I restore her to thee;" he said, and flew away. I fixed my eyes 

 upon her, and enjoyed the pleasure of seeing her, tliough under the abso- 

 lute impossibility of expressing it. It seemed as if she herself tried in vain 

 to speak. Nevertheless, we lost nothing in that involuntary silence : our 

 looks, our sighs, our raptures, were but more eager, more inflamed, 

 more ravishing for it. At length Sophene said to me, " I live, — I love 

 vou !" — " How so," cried I, " is it you ?" The vision flits away, and 

 when I awake, I find myself in a ship among a crowd of ^Ethiopian 

 pirates, whose slave I am. 'Tis thus, ye cruel gods, that ye abuse us 

 weak sons of men ! However, I was astonished at the calmness of my 

 heart ; — I was sorrowful, but my sorrow was tranquil, and when I had 

 no room for hope left, I gave myself wholly up to fluttering expectations. 

 An oar in my hand, I looked wishfully at the companions of my misfor- 

 tunes. Too much weakened to share in their labours, I remained only a 

 spectator of them: "And how," said a barbarian, smiting me, "dost 

 thou think that thou art here to be idle ?" I found in my courage means 

 to curb his brutality. " O, Sosthencs ! the gods fully retaliate the wrongs 

 you received at my hands. O, my father ! let the shameful condition 

 I am reduced to never reach your car." The vessel in which I sailed — 

 Eurycone having put into harbour, to make up the damages it had suf- 

 fered from the tempest — was pursuing its voyage, when we descried it 



