Sirens. Little in size,

Mighty in strength;
Saviours of shipwrecked,
Gods honoured for ages.

Nereids and Tritons.

The Cabiri we are bringing,
To hold our feast in quiet;
For where they, holy, govern,
Neptune will sway kindly.

Sirens. To you we must yield:
If a vessel splits,
Unresisted in force,

The crew ye protect.

Nereids and Tritons.

Three of them we have brought with us,
The fourth-he would not follow ;
He said that he was the right one,
Who must think for the others.

Sirens. One god 'gainst other gods
Raises the mock.

Honour every mercy,

Fear ye every evil.

Nereids and Tritons.

Seven of them are there truly.

Sirens. Where remain, then, the three others?

Nereids and Tritons.

We cannot truly tell you;

You may find them in Olympus,
There perhaps the eighth is dwelling,
Of whom no man hath thought yet.
In mercy to us inclining,

Yet all are not yet ready.

For these unequalled ones

Press ever onward,

Ever eager, longing starvelings,
For the unattainable.

Sirens. We are aye wont,

Wherever it thrones,

In sun or moon,

To pray-'tis of use.

Nereids and Tritons.

How our fame on high must shine

This festival perfecting.

Sirens. The heroes of the old time

Are wanting of fame

Wherever it shines:

When they obtain the golden fleece,
You will the Cabiri.

(Repeated as tenor song).

When they obtain the golden fleece,
We ye! the Cabiri.

(Nereids and Tritons pass on).

Homunculus. I look upon the mis-shapen things as bad earthen pots, and the wise ones knock and break their hard heads against them.

Thales. That is exactly what they wish; the rust makes the coin of worth.

Proteus (unseen). Such as that pleases me, the old fabler,—the more wonderful the more respectable.

Thales. Where art thou, Proteus ?

Proteus (ventriloquizing—now near, now far). Here! and here! Thales. I pardon you the old joke; yet no vain words to a friend! I know thou speak'st from a false place.

Proteus (from the distance). Farewell!

Thales (aside to Homunculus). He is quite near. Now shine briskly; he is as curious as a fish; and in whatever form he is, he will be allured by flames.

Homunculus. I will pour at once the fulness of the light, yet within bounds, that the glass may not break.

Proteus (in the form of a giant tortoise). What shines so gracefully fair?

Thales (veiling Homunculus). Good! If you wish, you can see more nearly. Do not be vexed at the little trouble, and show yourself as a man on two feet. It is with our favour and our will, that who likes may see what we hide.

Proteus (in a noble form). Philosopher's tricks are still known to thee.

Thales. It still remains thy pleasure to change shapes. (He uncovers Homunculus).

Proteus. A glittering dwarf! Never before seen!

Thales. He wants advice, and would gladly come to being. He is, as I have heard from him, come quite wonderfully only half into the world. He does not want the properties of spirit, but very much tangible powers; up to this time the glass alone gives him weight, yet would he fain be embodied.

Proteus. You are a true virgin-son! You are before you should be! Thales (in a whisper). It appears to me doubtful on the other side; he is, as I think, an hermaphrodite.

Proteus. So much the better for him, wherever he goes he will suit. Yet it is no use thinking much here, you must begin in the wide sea! There one first begins in the little, and rejoices to swallow the least; one grows then up by degrees, and forms one self to higher deeds.

Homunculus. Here wafts a soft breeze, the vapour rises and the chill pleases me.

Proteus. That I believe, thou dearest youth! And farther hence it is more pleasing; on this small tongue of land the circle of vapour is more ineffable; in front there we can see the procession which is even now floating hither, near enough. Come with me!

Thales. I go with you.

Homunculus. Triple remarkable spirit step!

Telchines of Rhodes (on Hippocamps and Sea-dragons, holding Neptune's trident).

Chorus.

We have been forging the trident of Neptune

With which he reduces the wild waves to silence.

When the Thunderer unfoldeth the full clouds of heaven,

Then Neptune opposeth the terrible rolling ;

And when from above flashes far the jagged lightning,
From the waters below billow dashes on billow;
And what too between them in anguish has striven,
Hurled long by the waves in the depths is engulphed;
To-day then the sceptre to us has been given,
Now hover we festive and tranquil and still.

Sirens. Hail to you, ye priests of Helios,
Blest ones of a cheerful season,
At the hour which, when moved,
Honour to the moon excites.

Telchines.

Thou loveliest queen of the bow there above us,
Enraptured thou hear'st us adoring thy brother-
To the well blessed Rhodus thou lendest an ear-
A Pæan eternal thence riseth to him.

The day course he openeth; and when it is done
He beholds us with countenance of fiery rays.

The mountains, the towns, and the shores and the waters
Are pleasing to him, and are lovely and brilliant.
No cloud hovers o'er us, and if one creeps in,—
A ray and a breath—and the island is clear!
Himself in a hundred bright forms he beholdeth,
The youth and the giant, the great and the gentle.
We, we were the first who the power of the Gods
Represented in worthiest shape of mankind.

Proteus. Let them sing, let them prattle! Dead works are only a jest to the holy life-rays of the sun, that forms, melting, unwearied; and when they have moulded it in brass, they think that is something. What comes at last of these proud ones! The Gods stood great; an earthquake shook them; they are long since melted again. The movement of the earth, however it be, is always but an annoyance; the wave profits life better: Proteus, as a dolphin, will carry thee into the eternal waters. (He changes himself). Already is it done! Now you will most beautifully succeed, I will take thee on my back and marry thee to

Ocean.

Thales. Follow the praiseworthy desire to commence the creation from the beginning. Be ready for quick action! Then wilt thou move by eternal laws, through a thousand and still a thousand forms. And to become a man you are always in time.

Homunculus (bestrides the Proteus-dolphin).

N. S.-VOL. I.

4 B

Proteus. Come spiritually with me into the moist distance, there will thou at once live in length and breadth, thou movest here at will: only strive not after higher ranks: for if thou once becomest man, there is altogether an end of thee.

Thales. Just as it happens: it is also pretty agreeable to be a brave man of one's time.

Proteus (to Thales). One of thy stamp, perhaps! That lasts for a time; for many hundred years have I already seen thee among the pale spirit-bands.

Sirens (on the rocks).

What a ring of clouds is rounding
O'er the moon in circle rich?
They are doves, all love-inflamèd
With their pinions white as light.
Paphos' isle hath sent them hither,
Her serenest choir of birds;
Our feast, it is accomplished,
Cheerful wishes full and clear.

Nereus (stepping to Thales). Although a nocturnal wanderer might call this halo an air phenomenon; yet we spirits are of another and the only right opinion: they are doves, who accompany my daughters' shellpath, with wonderful flight of a peculiar kind, learned of old time.

Thales. I also consider that the best which pleases the brave man, if something holy holds itself living in the silent warm nest.

Pselli and Marsi (on sea bulls, sea calves, and rams).

In the rough rock caves of Cyprus,
By the sea-god never shaken,
And by Seismos never injured,
Surrounded by beings eternal;
And as in the days most ancient,
In silent conscious contentment,
We preserve Cythera's chariot,
And lead, in the nightly whispering,
Through the lovely web of the waters,
Unseen by the new creation,
The loveliest daughter here.
We silently busy, nor tremble
At eagles, nor fierce-winged lions,
Nor at cross, nor moon,

As it dwells and thrones above,
And changing tosses and moves,
And each other expels or slays,
And harvests and towns o'erthrows.
Thus we bring

Onward our loveliest mistress with us.

Sirens. Gently moved, with moderate hastening,
Round the chariot, ring round ring,

Line on line is woven quickly,
Like to serpents, row by row;

Come approach ye sturdy Nereids,

Women strong and pleasing wild,
Come and bring, ye tender Dorides,
Her mother's image Galatea.
Earnest, godlike in appearance,
Of worthy immortality;

Yet, like fair and gentle women,

Sweet and of alluring grace.

Dorides (passing by Nereus in chorus, together with dolphins).

Lend us, Luna, light and shadows
Clearness to this flower of youth!

For dear spouses to our father,

We are come with prayers to show (to Nereus).
They are boys whom we have rescued

From the angry surge's tooth;
And, on moss and rushes bedded,
Warmed them into life again;
And they now, with fervent kisses,
In sweet confidence must thank us,
Favouring, on the dear one's look.

Nereus. The double gain is highly to be valued,
Both to have pity and delight oneself too.

Dorides. Dost thou praise our swaying, father?
Dost thou grant our well-earned joy?

Let us firm, eternal hold them

To our ever youthful breasts.

Nereus. If you would enjoy the beautiful prey, train to yourselves the youths as men; but I could not give what Jove alone can grant. The wave, which ever rocks and shakes you, allows no firmness to love; and when the passion has had its sport and is played off, place them gently upon land.

Dorides. You, sweet youths, we love
well;
you
Yet we must though mournful sever.
We eternal truth desired,
But the Gods will not permit it.

The youths. If

you would refresh us still,

Us, the ship-boys brave and gallant;
We never had it half so well,

And ne'er would better have it.

Galatea (approaches on the shell chariot).

Nereus. 'Tis thou, O my loved one!

Galatea.

O father! The joy!

Delay, O ye dolphins, the sight doth enchant.

Nereus. Past already, they move past in the movement of the circling impetus! What, does the inward, heartfelt emotion trouble them? Ah, would that they take me over with them! Yet one look delights so that it repays the whole year.