accord to me this boon?

PR. Say what it is that thou art asking, for thou mightest learn
everything from me.

IO. Say who it was that bound thee fast in this cleft?

PR. The decree of Jupiter, but the hand of Vulcan.

IO. And for what offenses art thou paying the penalty?

PR. Thus much alone is all that I can clearly explain to thee.

IO. At least, in addition to this, discover what time shall be to me
woe-worn the limit of my wanderings.

PR. Not to learn this is better for thee than to learn it.

IO. Yet conceal not from me what I am to endure.

PR. Nay, I grudge thee not this gift.

IO. Why then delayest thou to utter the whole?

PR. 'Tis not reluctance, but I am loth to shock thy feelings.

IO. Do not be more anxious on my account than is agreeable to me.[50]

PR. Since thou art eager, I must needs tell thee: attend thou.

CH. Not yet, however; but grant me also a share of the pleasure. Let us
first learn the malady of this maiden, from her own tale of her
destructive[51] fortunes; but, for the sequel of her afflictions let her
be informed by thee.

PR. It is thy part, Io, to minister to the gratification of these now
before thee, both for all other reasons, and that they are the sisters
of thy father. Since to weep and lament over misfortunes, when one is
sure to win a tear from the listeners, is well worth the while.

IO. I know not how I should disobey you; and in a plain tale ye shall
learn everything that ye desire; and yet I am pained even to speak of
the tempest that hath been sent upon me from heaven, and the utter
marring of my person, whence it suddenly came upon me, a wretched
creature! For nightly visions thronging to my maiden chamber, would
entice me with smooth words: "O damsel, greatly fortunate, why dost
thou live long time in maidenhood, when it is in thy power to achieve a
match the very noblest? for Jupiter is fired by thy charms with the
shaft of passion, and longs with thee to share in love. But do not, my
child, spurn away from thee the couch of Jupiter; but go forth to
Lerna's fertile mead, to the folds and ox-stalls of thy father, that the
eye of Jove may have respite from its longing." By dreams such as these
was I unhappy beset every night, until at length I made bold to tell my
sire of the dreams that haunted me by night. And he dispatched both to
Pytho and Dodona[52] many a messenger to consult the oracles, that he
might learn what it behooved him to do or say, so as