These words weighed heavily on the mind of King Ceyx, and it was no less his own wish than hers to take her with him, but he could not bear to expose her to the dangers of the sea. He answered, therefore, consoling her as well as he could, and finished with these words: “I promise, by the rays of my father the Day-star, that if fate permits I will return before the moon shall have twice rounded her orb8.” When he had thus spoken, he ordered the vessel9 to be drawn10 out of the shiphouse, and the oars11 and sails to be put aboard. When Halcyone saw these preparations she shuddered12, as if with a presentiment13 of evil. With tears and sobs14 she said farewell, and then fell senseless to the ground.
Ceyx would still have lingered, but now the young men grasped their oars and pulled vigorously through the waves, with long and measured strokes. Halcyone raised her streaming eyes, and saw her husband standing15 on the deck, waving his hand to her. She answered his signal till the vessel had receded16 so far that she could no longer distinguish his form from the rest. When the vessel itself could no more be seen, she strained her eyes to catch the last glimmer17 of the sail, till that too disappeared. Then, retiring to her chamber18, she threw herself on her solitary19 couch.
Meanwhile they glide20 out of the harbor, and the breeze plays among the ropes. The seamen21 draw in their oars, and hoist22 their sails. When half or less of their course was passed, as night drew on, the sea began to whiten with swelling23 waves, and the east wind to blow a gale24. The master gave the word to take in sail, but the storm forbade obedience25, for such is the roar of the winds and waves his orders are unheard. The men, of their own accord, busy themselves to secure the oars, to strengthen the ship, to reef the sail. While they thus do what to each one seems best, the storm increases. The shouting of the men, the rattling26 of the shrouds27, and the dashing of the waves, mingle28 with the roar of the thunder. The swelling sea seems lifted up to the heavens, to scatter29 its foam30 among the clouds; then sinking away to the bottom assumes the color of the shoal—a Stygian blackness.
The vessel shares all these changes. It seems like a wild beast that rushes on the spears of the hunters. Rain falls in torrents31, as if the skies were coming down to unite with the sea. When the lightning ceases for a moment, the night seems to add its own darkness to that of the storm; then comes the flash, rending32 the darkness asunder33, and lighting34 up all with a glare. Skill fails, courage sinks, and death seems to come on every wave. The men are stupefied with terror. The thought of parents, and kindred, and pledges left at home, comes over their minds. Ceyx thinks of Halcyone. No name but hers is on his lips, and while he yearns35 for her, he yet rejoices in her absence. Presently the mast is shattered by a stroke of lightning, the rudder broken, and the triumphant36 surge curling over looks down upon the wreck37, then falls, and crushes it to fragments. Some of the seamen, stunned38 by the stroke, sink, and rise no more; others cling to fragments of the wreck. Ceyx, with the hand that used to grasp the sceptre, holds fast to a plank39, calling for help,—alas, in vain,—upon his father and his father-in-law. But oftenest on his lips was the name of Halcyone. To her his thoughts cling. He prays that the waves may bear his body to her sight, and that it may receive burial at her hands. At length the waters overwhelm him, and he sinks. The Day-star looked dim that night. Since it could not leave the heavens, it shrouded40 its face with clouds.
In the meanwhile Halcyone, ignorant of all these horrors, counted the days till her husband’s promised return. Now she gets ready the garments which he shall put on, and now what she shall wear when he arrives. To all the gods she offers frequent incense41, but more than all to Juno. For her husband, who was no more, she prayed incessantly42: that he might be safe; that he might come home; that he might not, in his absence, see any one that he would love better than her. But of all these prayers, the last was the only one destined43 to be granted. The goddess, at length, could not bear any longer to be pleaded with for one already dead, and to have hands raised to her altars that ought rather to be offering funeral rites44. So, calling Iris45, she said, “Iris, my faithful messenger, go to the drowsy46 dwelling47 of Somnus, and tell him to send a vision to Halcyone in the form of Ceyx, to make known to her the event.”
Iris puts on her robe of many colors, and tingeing48 the sky with her bow, seeks the palace of the King of Sleep. Near the Cimmerian country, a mountain cave is the abode49 of the dull god Somnus. Here Ph?bus dares not come, either rising, at midday, or setting. Clouds and shadows are exhaled50 from the ground, and the light glimmers51 faintly. The bird of dawning, with crested52 head, never there calls aloud to Aurora53, nor watchful54 dog, nor more sagacious goose disturbs the silence. No wild beast, nor cattle, nor branch moved with the wind, nor sound of human conversation, breaks the stillness. Silence reigns55 there; but from the bottom of the rock the River Lethe flows, and by its murmur56 invites to sleep. Poppies grow abundantly before the door of the cave, and other herbs, from whose juices Night collects slumbers57, which she scatters58 over the darkened earth. There is no gate to the mansion59, to creak on its hinges, nor any watchman; but in the midst a couch of black ebony, adorned60 with black plumes61 and black curtains. There the god reclines, his limbs relaxed with sleep. Around him lie dreams, resembling all various forms, as many as the harvest bears stalks, or the forest leaves, or the seashore sand grains.
As soon as the goddess entered and brushed away the dreams that hovered62 around her, her brightness lit up all the cave. The god, scarce opening his eyes, and ever and anon dropping his beard upon his breast, at last shook himself free from himself, and leaning on his arm, inquired her errand,—for he knew who she was. She answered, “Somnus, gentlest of the gods, tranquillizer of minds and soother63 of care-worn hearts, Juno sends you her commands that you despatch64 a dream to Halcyone, in the city of Trachine, representing her lost husband and all the events of the wreck.”
Having delivered her message, Iris hasted away, for she could not longer endure the stagnant65 air, and as she felt drowsiness66 creeping over her, she made her escape, and returned by her bow the way she came. Then Somnus called one of his numerous sons,—Morpheus,—the most expert in counterfeiting67 forms, and in imitating the walk, the countenance68, and mode of speaking, even the clothes and attitudes most characteristic of each. But he only imitates men, leaving it to another to personate birds, beasts, and serpents. Him they call Icelos; and Phantasos is a third, who turns himself into rocks, waters, woods, and other things without life. These wait upon kings and great personages in their sleeping hours, while others move among the common people. Somnus chose, from all the brothers, Morpheus, to perform the command of Iris; then laid his head on his pillow and yielded himself to grateful repose69.
Morpheus flew, making no noise with his wings, and soon came to the H?monian city, where, laying aside his wings, he assumed the form of Ceyx. Under that form, but pale like a dead man, naked, he stood before the couch of the wretched wife. His beard seemed soaked with water, and water trickled70 from his drowned locks. Leaning over the bed, tears streaming from his eyes, he said, “Do you recognize your Ceyx, unhappy wife, or has death too much changed my visage? Behold71 me, know me, your husband’s shade, instead of himself. Your prayers, Halcyone, availed me nothing. I am dead. No more deceive yourself with vain hopes of my return. The stormy winds sunk my ship in the ?gean Sea, waves filled my mouth while it called aloud on you. No uncertain messenger tells you this, no vague rumor72 brings it to your ears. I come in person, a shipwrecked man, to tell you my fate. Arise! give me tears, give me lamentations, let me not go down to Tartarus unwept.” To these words Morpheus added the voice, which seemed to be that of her husband; he seemed to pour forth73 genuine tears; his hands had the gestures of Ceyx.
Halcyone, weeping, groaned74, and stretched out her arms in her sleep, striving to embrace his body, but grasping only the air. “Stay!” she cried; “whither do you fly? let us go together.” Her own voice awakened75 her. Starting up, she gazed eagerly around, to see if he was still present, for the servants, alarmed by her cries, had brought a light. When she found him not, she smote76 her breast and rent her garments. She cares not to unbind her hair, but tears it wildly. Her nurse asks what is the cause of her grief. “Halcyone is no more,” she answers, “she perished with her Ceyx. Utter not words of comfort, he is shipwrecked and dead. I have seen him, I have recognized him. I stretched out my hands to seize him and detain him. His shade vanished, but it was the true shade of my husband. Not with the accustomed features, not with the beauty that was his, but pale, naked, and with his hair wet with sea-water, he appeared to wretched me. Here, in this very spot, the sad vision stood,”—and she looked to find the mark of his footsteps. “This it was, this that my presaging77 mind foreboded, when I implored78 him not to leave me, to trust himself to the waves. Oh, how I wish, since thou wouldst go, thou hadst taken me with thee! It would have been far better. Then I should have had no remnant of life to spend without thee, nor a separate death to die. If I could bear to live and struggle to endure, I should be more cruel to myself than the sea has been to me. But I will not struggle, I will not be separated from thee, unhappy husband. This time, at least, I will keep thee company. In death, if one tomb may not include us, one epitaph shall; if I may not lay my ashes with thine, my name, at least, shall not be separated.” Her grief forbade more words, and these were broken with tears and sobs.
It was now morning. She went to the seashore, and sought the spot where she last saw him, on his departure. “While he lingered here, and cast off his tacklings, he gave me his last kiss.” While she reviews every object, and strives to recall every incident, looking out over the sea, she descries79 an indistinct object floating in the water. At first she was in doubt what it was, but by degrees the waves bore it nearer, and it was plainly the body of a man. Though unknowing of whom, yet, as it was of some shipwrecked one, she was deeply moved, and gave it her tears, saying, “Alas! unhappy one, and unhappy, if such there be, thy wife!” Borne by the waves, it came nearer. As she more and more nearly views it, she trembles more and more. Now, now it approaches the shore. Now marks that she recognizes appear. It is her husband! Stretching out her trembling hands towards it, she exclaims, “O dearest husband, is it thus you return to me?”
There was built out from the shore a mole80, constructed to break the assaults of the sea, and stem its violent ingress. She leaped upon this barrier and (it was wonderful she could do so) she flew, and striking the air with wings produced on the instant, skimmed along the surface of the water, an unhappy bird. As she flew, her throat poured forth sounds full of grief, and like the voice of one lamenting81. When she touched the mute and bloodless body, she enfolded its beloved limbs with her new-formed wings, and tried to give kisses with her horny beak82. Whether Ceyx felt it, or whether it was only the action of the waves, those who looked on doubted, but the body seemed to raise its head. But indeed he did feel it, and by the pitying gods both of them were changed into birds. They mate and have their young ones. For seven placid83 days, in winter time, Halcyone broods over her nest, which floats upon the sea. Then the way is safe to seamen. ?olus guards the winds and keeps them from disturbing the deep. The sea is given up, for the time, to his grandchildren.
The following lines from Byron’s “Bride of Abydos” might seem borrowed from the concluding part of this description, if it were not stated that the author derived84 the suggestion from observing the motion of a floating corpse85:
“As shaken on his restless pillow,
His head heaves with the heaving billow,
That hand, whose motion is not life,
Yet feebly seems to menace strife86,
Flung by the tossing tide on high,
Then levelled with the wave . . .”
Milton in his “Hymn on the Nativity,” thus alludes87 to the fable88 of the Halcyon3:
“But peaceful was the night
Wherein the Prince of light
His reign2 of peace upon the earth began;
The winds with wonder whist
Smoothly89 the waters kist
Whispering new joys to the mild ocean,
Who now hath quite forgot to rave90
While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmed wave.”
Keats, also, in “Endymion,” says:
“O magic sleep! O comfortable bird
That broodest o’er the troubled sea of the mind
Till it is hushed and smooth.”
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收听单词发音
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1
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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halcyon
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| n.平静的，愉快的 | |
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devotedly
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| 专心地； 恩爱地； 忠实地； 一心一意地 | |
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prodigies
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| n.奇才，天才（尤指神童）( prodigy的名词复数 ) | |
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oracle
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| n.神谕，神谕处，预言 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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orb
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| n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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presentiment
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| n.预感，预觉 | |
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sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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receded
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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hoist
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| n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起 | |
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swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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27
shrouds
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| n.裹尸布( shroud的名词复数 )；寿衣；遮蔽物；覆盖物v.隐瞒( shroud的第三人称单数 )；保密 | |
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mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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scatter
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| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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32
rending
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| v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 )；分裂；（因愤怒、痛苦等而）揪扯（衣服或头发等）；（声音等）刺破 | |
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asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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yearns
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的第三人称单数 ) | |
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triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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42
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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iris
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| n.虹膜，彩虹 | |
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46
drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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tingeing
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| vt.着色，使…带上色彩（tinge的现在分词形式） | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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50
exhaled
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| v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气 | |
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51
glimmers
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| n.微光，闪光( glimmer的名词复数 )v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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52
crested
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| adj.有顶饰的，有纹章的，有冠毛的v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的过去式和过去分词 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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53
aurora
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| n.极光 | |
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54
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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55
reigns
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| n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期 | |
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56
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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slumbers
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| 睡眠，安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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scatters
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| v.（使）散开， （使）分散，驱散( scatter的第三人称单数 )；撒 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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plumes
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| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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62
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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soother
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| n.抚慰者，橡皮奶头 | |
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64
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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65
stagnant
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| adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的 | |
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66
drowsiness
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| n.睡意；嗜睡 | |
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67
counterfeiting
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| n.伪造v.仿制，造假( counterfeit的现在分词 ) | |
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68
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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69
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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70
trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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presaging
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| v.预示，预兆( presage的现在分词 ) | |
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implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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descries
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| v.被看到的，被发现的，被注意到的( descried的现在分词 ) | |
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mole
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| n.胎块；痣；克分子 | |
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81
lamenting
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| adj.悲伤的，悲哀的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的现在分词 ) | |
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beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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alludes
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| 提及，暗指( allude的第三人称单数 ) | |
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fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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rave
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| vi.胡言乱语；热衷谈论；n.热情赞扬 | |
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