THE
FATE OF ACTAEON
James Laughlin
From Gods and Mortals, ed. Nina Kossman
“Bathing the body of nymphs, and Diana,
Nymphs white-gathered about her, and the air, air,
Shaking, air alight with the goddess . . .
The dogs leap on Actaeon,
‘Hither,
hither, Actaeon,’
Spotted stag of the wood;
Gold, gold, a sheaf of hair,
Thick
like a wheat swath,
The
dogs leap on Actaeon.”
--Pound:
Canto IV
Shall I be punished more severely
than Actaeon he
only gazed on the
Goddess from afar in the wood his
dea silvarum venatu fessa solebat
virgineos artus liquido perfundere
rore he maiden limbs in the crys-
tal water while I in my ardor pur-
sued her into the shower laving
with impious (and soapy) hands
the breasts of the celestial as the
warm rain upon them circumfus-
aeque Dianam corporibus texere su-
Ii the nymphs thronging about her
weaving a screen with their bodies
Actaeon was torn to pieces by his
own dogs what fate now awaits me?
BACK
