14
Orion.
[Book I.
Who cursed him—and the child, an idiot else,
Grew keen, in rapine taking great delight;—
Forceful Biastor;—smooth Encolyon,
The son of Hermes, yet in all things slow,
With sight oblique and forehead slanting high,
The dull retarder, chainer of the wheel;—
And Akinetos—who, since first the dawn
Sat on his marble forehead, ne'er had gazed
Onward with purpose of activity,
Nor felled a tree, nor hollowed out a cave,
Nor built a roof, nor aided any work,
Nor heaved a sigh, nor cared for anything
Save contemplation of the eternal scheme—
The Great Unmoved—a giant much revered.
Grew keen, in rapine taking great delight;—
Forceful Biastor;—smooth Encolyon,
The son of Hermes, yet in all things slow,
With sight oblique and forehead slanting high,
The dull retarder, chainer of the wheel;—
And Akinetos—who, since first the dawn
Sat on his marble forehead, ne'er had gazed
Onward with purpose of activity,
Nor felled a tree, nor hollowed out a cave,
Nor built a roof, nor aided any work,
Nor heaved a sigh, nor cared for anything
Save contemplation of the eternal scheme—
The Great Unmoved—a giant much revered.
Forgotten by their sires in other loves,
Here had they chiefly dwelt, and in these caves,
Save two, Encolyon and the Great Unmoved,
Who came from Ithaca. The islanders
Had driven them thence; and this the idle cause.
The barren stony land had ne'er produced
Enough of grain for food; but by the skill
Of their artificers in iron and brass,
And by their herds of goats and cloud-woolled sheep,
Here had they chiefly dwelt, and in these caves,
Save two, Encolyon and the Great Unmoved,
Who came from Ithaca. The islanders
Had driven them thence; and this the idle cause.
The barren stony land had ne'er produced
Enough of grain for food; but by the skill
Of their artificers in iron and brass,
And by their herds of goats and cloud-woolled sheep,
