Passages from this character's speech that contain the most distinguishing words for Cluster 10 (earine, jarbus, alack, vapours, mishap, hapless…). Matches are highlighted.
miserable wretched Inachus, More miserable Io, thus transformed: I term thee lovely, till I knew thee such; But when thy former beauty I record, Thou ugly art, mishap, and terrible. Can the gods suffer this? How easy it's for those that taste not grief, Bid others be of comfort. There is no reverence endue: not to the gods, If
Full speech
In vain you speak of what you cannot give, As I in vain lament mine Io's lose. But stay, what's he That leads the fairest Heifer tethered fast, That ever drunk of my streams; for Io's sake I love all creatures that are beautiful. Thou churlish herdsman, I know thee, Argus, jealous Juno's Spy, Why canst thou be so fierce to one so fair? The more beast thou. And it's true, Where ere I go, her sad eye follows me, So she too, did not Argus keep her back: See, see, how gently she endures my touch, And makes and offer (had she power) to speak. Hear, take these flowers, and now she kissed mine hand, Whilst piteous tears drop down her tender cheeks. What should I say? poor beast I pity thee, And all the good I can do is to grieve, the hast such a churlish Keeper. What greater can be, Unless there live some understanding spirit In this irrational and savage shape: What wouldst thou have, that in this bestial figure Beggest humane pity? what intends she, think you, By pawing on the ground? Observe her, brothers, It seems she hath writ something in the dust, And see, two letters are imprinted fair, As if it were my Io's Character, And here I read Io. This she? whom I so long in vain have sought, Through forests, groves, and mountains, fields & floods? This she, whom I in finding shall most loose? Oh miserable wretched Inachus, More miserable Io, thus transformed: I term thee lovely, till I knew thee such; But when thy former beauty I record, Thou ugly art, mishap, and terrible. Can the gods suffer this? How easy it's for those that taste not grief, Bid others be of comfort. There is no reverence endue: not to the gods, If this be seen and suffered: Oh my Io. With acclamations I will fill the Meads: In stead of prayers, I'll execrate and curse, And to the burden of mine untuned shrieks The rocks and caves shall echo to thy name. But when your Channels swell, You can have dammes and sluices to discharge Superfluous waters, lest your torrents rage; And will you bar the conduits of mine eyes To ease the flux of my surcharged heart? My care was, Io, to provide a man To be thine husband; but I now must find One of the bellowing herd to call me son: To have some pretty infant draw thy breast, But now must some py'de urchin suck thy teats. But that I am immortal, and the doors And gate to death against me are debarred, I'de weep my self to nothing, and this Being Scatter amongst my floods, that mixed with them, They might (in less than drops) amongst their waves, Convey me to the all-devouring seas, To mix my brine with his, and be so lost; And lost, forgotten: But I am still the same, And Io, I'll still call upon thy name. Oh Jupiter! o Juno! Thanks you immortal gods. Oh my child. From her father? Speak not to me of comfort, Jo's lost! Had she miscarried on the earth, her body Would have given instance of her timeless fate: Or had she been by savage beasts devoured, Her garments stained with blood would tell her death. Had she in mine or these my neighbour floods Perished, they would have born her gently up, And cast her on some bank for burial. Io, where? If under earth, I'll send my springs in search As low as to the Centre, Io, where? If snatched up in the air, Like Due exhaled, With eyes fixed upward I will still thus gaze, Till from the bosom of some gentle cloud, Thou drop into mine arms. Fair Io, where?
Plot summary
Plot — Jupiter and Io
Io boasts of her superiority to her fellow nymphs: they only have mortals for their suitors, whereas she is loved by a god, Jupiter. The nymphs think this an idle vaunt until Jupiter appears and confirms Io’s story. Jupiter conjures up a fog to shroud their love-making, but this makes jealous Juno suspicious. Jupiter turns Io into a cow to conceal his adultery, but Juno asks him to give her the cow, for use as a sacrificial offering. Jupiter has no choice: he hands over the cow, and Juno sets Argus to guard her and treat her harshly. Io’s disappearance worries her father Inachus. He and his friends see Argus maltreating the cow, and notice that she weeps like a human being; she also uses her hoofs to write her name on the ground. Hearing Inachus’ laments, Jupiter sends Mercury to release Io. Argus boasts to Mercury about the tricks his cow can do. Mercury sings him to sleep and decapitates him; Juno finds his body and turns him into a peacock. Jupiter and Juno reach a compromise: Juno will release Io, who will then go into exile in Egypt; Jupiter will leave her alone, but the Egyptians will worship her as a goddess.