Page:Prometheus Bound, and other poems.djvu/48

42 The flowing bound that parts two continents,

Track on the footsteps of the orient sun

In his own fire—across the roar of seas,

Fly, till thou hast reached the Gorgonæan flats

Beside Cisthene—there the Phorcides,

Three ancient maidens, live, with shape of swan,

One tooth between them, and a common eye,

On whom the sun doth never look at all

With all his rays, nor evermore the moon,

When she looks through the night. And nigh to these

The Gorgon sisters three, enclothed with wings,

And wearing snakes for curls, and man-abhorred.

There is no mortal gazes in their face,

And gazing can breathe on. I speak of such

To guard thee from their horror. Ay! and list

Another tale of a dreadful sight! beware

The Griffins, those unbarking dogs of Zeus,

Those sharp-mouthed dogs, and the Arimaspian host,

One-eyed, that moves on horseback, habiting

Beside the river that runs bright with gold,

The stream of Pluto—near them not! anon

Thou'lt come to a distant land, a dusky tribe

Of dwellers at the fountain of the Sun,

Whence flows the river Æthiops!—wind along

Its banks and turn off at the cataracts,

Just as the Nile pours, from the Bybline hills,

His holy and sweet wave!—his course shall guide

Thine own to that triangular Nile-ground,

Where, Io, is ordained for thee and thine,

A distant exile. Have I said, in this,

Aught darkly or incompletely?—now repeat

The question, make the knowledge full! Behold