Le tableau des riches inventions qui sont representees dans le songe de Poliphile

THE FIRST BOOK OF POLIPHILE. 2

It seemed to me that I was in a spacious plain, sown with flowers and greenery. The weather was serene, the sun was clear, and it was softened by a gracious wind. For this reason, everything was marvelously peaceful and in silence. I was seized by a fearful admiration because I perceived no sign of human habitation, nor even the lair of beasts. This made me hasten my steps, looking here and there. However, I could see nothing except leaves and branches that did not move at all.

A detailed woodcut illustration shows the character Poliphile walking through a dense, dark forest. He is depicted in the foreground wearing a tunic and a cloak, holding a staff. The forest is thick with tall trees that have textured bark and spindly branches. The ground is uneven and covered with low plants.

The Hercynian Forest A vast, ancient forest mentioned by Roman writers, often used to symbolize a wild, trackless wilderness. But finally, I journeyed so long that I found myself in a large and dark forest. I cannot recall or remember in what manner I could have lost my way. Then I was attacked by a grievous and sudden fear, so much that my pulse began to beat beyond measure and I shivered all over. The trees were so crowded, and the foliage so thick, that the rays of the sun could not penetrate through. This made me fear that I had arrived in the "Black Forest," in which nothing lives except wild and dangerous beasts. Out of fear of them, I forced myself to search for a quick exit. In fact, I began to run without keeping to any path or trail, nor knowing which way I should head, often stumbling over the trunks and stumps of trees that were level with the ground. I went forward sometimes, then quite suddenly I turned backward, now to one side, then to the other, my hands and face torn by briars, thistles, and thorns. And what bothered me most of all was that at every

step I was held back by my robe, which caught on the bushes and thickets. The labor I had from this was so great and so excessive that I was completely troubled. I did not know what to do except complain in a loud voice, but all that was in vain, for I was heard by no one, except for the beautiful Echo a nymph who can only repeat the words of others, who answered me from the hollow of the forest. This made me call for the help of the piteous Ariadne the princess who helped Theseus escape the Labyrinth and desire the thread she gave to the disloyal Theseus the Greek hero to guide him through the Labyrinth the great maze of Crete.

CHAP. II.

The chapter begins with a decorative floral initial letter R. Retracing my steps in this woods, completely troubled in mind without knowing what would become of me, or if I must die in this lost forest, or hope for an uncertain salvation, I made every effort to leave. But the more I went forward, the more I entered into great darkness, very weak, and trembling for the fear I had. For I expected nothing except that some beast would come to devour me, or that striking my foot against a trunk or root, I would fall into some abyss and be swallowed by the earth, as was Amphiaraus a legendary seer who was swallowed by the earth during the war of the Seven against Thebes. Thus troubled in mind, without hope and without reason, I wandered without path or trail. Therefore, seeing that in my situation there was no other remedy, I went to recommend myself to divine mercy, saying: "O very great, very good, very powerful, and very helpful one, if through humble and devout prayers humanity can merit help and be heard, now that I am repentant and sorrowful for all my past frailties and offenses, I supplicate and invoke you, sovereign eternal father, ruler of heaven and earth, that it may please your incomprehensible deity to deliver me from these perils, so that I may finish the course of my life by some other better end." I had hardly finished my prayer, very devoutly uttered and with a completely humbled heart, eyes full of tears, firmly believing that God helps and saves those who invoke him with pure will, when I found myself out of the forest. Just as if from a cold and humid night I had arrived in a clear and serene day, my eyes coming out of such darkness could not well (for some time) suffer the clarity of the Sun. I was parched, sad, and distressed, so much that it seemed properly as if I were leaving a low pit, almost completely broken and shattered by chains and irons, changed in face, weak and slowed in heart, so that I no longer valued anything that was present to me. Besides this, I had such a thirst that the fresh and delicate air could in no way refresh me, nor satisfy the dryness of my mouth. But after having regained a little courage, I resolved by all means to appease this thirst. For this reason, I went searching through that region until I found a large vein of fresh water, springing and bubbling in a beautiful fountain, which became a noisy river across the stones and trunks of fallen and overturned trees in its channel, against which the water surged as if angry and grieved that they thought to delay it, having been increased by several other streamlets, with some torrents generated from melted snows precipitated from the mountains, which did not seem to be very far away, because they were all covered with the white tapestry of the God Pan the Greek god of the wild, shepherds, and mountain wilds. I had several times reached this river during