new not. And the day whereon this happened was
the brightest and loveliest of days. I was standing alone in verdant
grass, when, with the joy whereof I spoke, came the thought to me that
it might be well for me to repose in a meadow that appeared to be
shielded from the fervid rays of the sun by the shadows cast by various
trees newly garbed in their glossy foliage. But first, gathering divers
flowers, wherewith the whole sward was bejeweled, I placed them, with my
white hands, in a corner of my robe, and then, sitting down and choosing
flower after flower, I wove therefrom a fair garland, and adorned my
head with it. And, being so adorned, I arose, and, like unto Proserpine
at what time Pluto ravished her from her mother, I went along singing in
this new springtime. Then, being perchance weary, I laid me down in a
spot where the verdure was deepest and softest. But, just as the tender
foot of Eurydice was pierced by the concealed viper, so meseemed that a
hidden serpent came upon me, as I lay stretched on the grass, and
pierced me under the left breast. The bite of the sharp fang, when it
first entered, seemed to burn me. But afterward, feeling somewhat
reassured, and yet afraid of something worse ensuing, I thought I
clasped the cold serpent to my bosom, fancying that by communicating to
it the warmth of that bosom, I should thereby render it more kindly
disposed in my regard in return for such a service. But the viper, made
bolder and more obdurate by that very favor, laid his hideous mouth on
the wound he had given me, and after a long space, and after it had
drunk much of my blood, methought that, despite my resistance, it drew
forth my soul; and then, leaving my breast, departed with it. And at the
very moment of the serpent's departure the day lost its brightness, and
a thick shadow came behind me and covered me all over, and the farther
the serpent crept, the more lowering grew the heavens, and it seemed
almost as if the reptile dragged after it in its course the masses of
thick, black clouds that appeared to follow in its wake, Not long
afterward, just as a white stone flung into deep water gradually
vanishes from the eyes of the beholder, so it, too, vanished from my
sight. Then the heavens became darker and darker, and I thought that the
sun had suddenly withdrawn and night had surely returned, as it had
erstwhile returned to the _Greeks_ because of the crime of Atrcus. Next,
flashes of lightning sped swiftly a