ve of no heifer, that begot
thee. Nisus, my father, take vengeance upon me. Thou city so lately
betrayed, rejoice at my misfortunes; for I have deserved them,
I confess, and I am worthy to perish. Yet let some one of those, whom I
have impiously ruined, destroy me. Why dost thou, who hast conquered by
means of my crime, chastise that crime? This, which was treason to my
country and to my father, was an act of kindness to thee. She is truly
worthy[10] of thee for a husband, who, adulterously {enclosed} in wood,
deceived the fierce-looking bull, and bore in her womb an offspring of
shape dissimilar {to herself}. And do my complaints reach thy ears?
Or do the same winds bear away my fruitless words, and thy ships,
ungrateful man? Now, {ah!} now, it is not to be wondered at that
Pasiphae preferred the bull to thee; thou didst have the more savage
nature {of the two}. Wretch that I am! He joys in speeding onward, and
the waves resound, cleaved by his oars. Together with myself, alas!
my {native} land recedes from him. Nothing dost thou avail; oh thou!
forgetful to no purpose of my deserts. In spite of thee, will I follow
thee, and grasping thy crooked stern, I will be dragged through the long
seas."

Scarce has she said {this, when} she leaps into the waves, and follows
the ships, Cupid giving her strength, and she hangs, an unwelcome
companion, to the Gnossian ship. When her father beholds her, (for now
he is hovering in the air, and he has lately been made a sea eagle, with
tawny wings), he is going to tear her in pieces with his crooked beak.
Through fear she quits the stern; but the light air seems to support her
as she is falling, that she may not touch the sea. It is feathers {that
support her}. With feathers, being changed into a bird, she is called
Ciris;[11] and this name does she obtain from cutting off the lock.

[Footnote 1: _The East wind._--Ver. 2. Eurus, or the East wind,
while blowing, would prevent the return of Cephalus from the
island of AEgina to Athens.]

[Footnote 2: _The sons of AEacus._--Ver. 4. 'AEacidis' may mean
either the forces sent by AEacus, or his sons Telamon and Peleus,
in command of those troops. It has been well observed, that
'redeuntibus,' 'returning,' is here somewhat improperly applied to
the troops of AEacus, for they were not, strictly speaking,
returning to Athens although Cephalus was.]

[Footnote 3: _Lelegeian coasts._--Ver. 6. Of Megara