Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Greece and Turkey in Europe: Vol. XIX. 1876–79. | | | | Greece: Tempe, the Vale, Thessaly | | Tempe | | Ovid (43 B.C.–18 A.D.) |
| | (From Metamorphoses)
Translated by H. King
LAPPED in Thessalia’s forest-mantled hills | |
| Lies the fair vale of Tempe: down the gorge, | |
| O’ercanopied with groves, old Peneus rolls | |
| From Pindus’ foot his waters to the sea, | |
| Wreathing the woods with mist of silvery spray, | 5 |
| And resonant, through many a league around, | |
| With many a fall. There, in the caverned rock | |
| That makes his palace-home, the River-God | |
| Sits sovereign o’er the stream that bears his name | |
| And all its haunting nymphs. And thither throng | 10 |
| The brother-powers of all the neighbor-floods, | |
| Doubtful or to congratulate or condole | |
| The parent’s hap: Spercheüs, poplar-crowned,— | |
| Enipeus turbulent, Apidonus | |
| Hoary with age, and smooth Amphrysus came, | 15 |
| And Æas, and the rest, that lead their waves, | |
| Weary with many wanderings, to the sea. | | | | |
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