Quantcast
  Due to a new server, slow response may occur for which we apologize Portal logo
Login/Register
Bactrian Gold Treasure from Afghanistan, coming soon....
/gemstones/king-natural-history/page_397 - 2
 

Orpheus on Gems

Orpheus on Gems Page of 453 Orpheus on Gems Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
ORPHEUS ON GEMS.
389
Else had he, tortured by its fiery pain, Paid all his stars the remedy to gain.
490 Nor yet the gem he knew that, quells the smart Of scorpion, archer armed with deathful dart, For, mixed with garlic's juice, 'twill surely chase From their deep lurking holes the poisonous race : Like to the human head in shape it grows, And mixed with sharpest wine its virtue shows. This medicine e'en the venomed asp can quell, The asp, sure minister of gloomy hell ! To cure the throat, grind this with fragrant oil From roses pressed and mixed with beastings boil ; Mingled with honey 'twill the mass dispel Of watery humours which the belly swell,
500 Or which, descending from their proper place, With an unseemly load the groin disgrace.— The Coral too, in Perseus' story named, Against the scorpion is of might proclaimed. This also a sure remedy shall bring For murderous asp, and blunt his fateful sting. Above all gems in potency 'tis raised By bright-haired Phoebus and its value praised ; For on its birth it shows a wondrous change ; True is the story, though thou'lt deem it strange : At first a plant, it springs not from the ground, The nurse of plants, but in the deep profound Like a green shrub it lifts its flowery head Mid weeds and mosses of old ocean's bed ; But when old age its withering stem invades, Nipped by the brine, its verdant foliage fades, It floats amid the wrack of sea-things tossed, Till roaring waves expel it on the coast ; Then in the moment that it breathes the air, They say who've seen it, that it hardens there, Or as by frost congealed and solid grown
520 The plant is stiffened into perfect stone : And in a moment in the finder's hands, Erst a soft branch, a flinty coral stands : Yet still the shrub its pristine shape retains, Still spread its branches, still its fruit remains, The bark j-et there though turned to stone we view, And yet the root whence in the depths it grew.
Orpheus on Gems Page of 453 Orpheus on Gems
Suggested Illustrations
Other Chapters you may find useful
Other Books on this topic
bullet Tag
This Page