HKB
With middle feet it bound him round the paunch, And with the forward ones his arms it seized; Then thrust its teeth through one cheek and the other;
The hindermost it stretched upon his thighs, And put its tail through in between the two, And up behind along the reins outspread it.
Ivy was never fastened by its barbs Unto a tree so, as this horrible reptile Upon the other’s limbs entwined its own.
Then they stuck close, as if of heated wax They had been made, and intermixed their colour; Nor one nor other seemed now what he was;
E’en as proceedeth on before the flame Upward along the paper a brown colour, Which is not black as yet, and the white dies.
The other two looked on, and each of them Cried out: “O me, Agnello, how thou changest! Behold, thou now art neither two nor one.”
Already the two heads had one become, When there appeared to us two figures mingled Into one face, wherein the two were lost.
Of the four lists were fashioned the two arms, The thighs and legs, the belly and the chest Members became that never yet were seen.
Every original aspect there was cancelled; Two and yet none did the perverted image Appear, and such departed with slow pace.
Even as a lizard, under the great scourge Of days canicular, exchanging hedge, Lightning appeareth if the road it cross;
Thus did appear, coming towards the bellies Of the two others, a small fiery serpent, Livid and black as is a peppercorn.
And in that part whereat is first received Our aliment, it one of them transfixed; Then downward fell in front of him extended.
The one transfixed looked at it, but said naught; Nay, rather with feet motionless he yawned, Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him.
He at the serpent gazed, and it at him; One through the wound, the other through the mouth Smoked violently, and the smoke commingled.
Henceforth be silent Lucan, where he mentions Wretched Sabellus and Nassidius, And wait to hear what now shall be shot forth.
Be silent Ovid, of Cadmus and Arethusa; For if him to a snake, her to fountain, Converts he fabling, that I grudge him not;
Because two natures never front to front Has he transmuted, so that both the forms To interchange their matter ready were.
Together they responded in such wise, That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail, And eke the wounded drew his feet together.
The legs together with the thighs themselves Adhered so, that in little time the juncture No sign whatever made that was apparent.
He with the cloven tail assumed the figure The other one was losing, and his skin Became elastic, and the other’s hard.
I saw the arms draw inward at the armpits, And both feet of the reptile, that were short, Lengthen as much as those contracted were.
Thereafter the hind feet, together twisted, Became the member that a man conceals, And of his own the wretch had two created.
While both of them the exhalation veils With a new colour, and engenders hair On one of them and depilates the other,
The one uprose and down the other fell, Though turning not away their impious lamps, Underneath which each one his muzzle changed.
He who was standing drew it tow’rds the temples, And from excess of matter, which came thither, Issued the ears from out the hollow cheeks;
What did not backward run and was retained Of that excess made to the face a nose, And the lips thickened far as was befitting.
He who lay prostrate thrusts his muzzle forward, And backward draws the ears into his head, In the same manner as the snail its horns;
And so the tongue, which was entire and apt For speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forked In the other closes up, and the smoke ceases.